I dragged the dog's corpse behind a dumpster the best I could, hoping no one would find it too quickly. The smell of death was already becoming quite apparent. Once I'd hid the dog, I jumped on top of the dumpster it was behind. One of the dark-colored lids was open, and the rancid smell of Twoleg rubbish overwhelmed that of the dog. However, the smell didn't bother me; I only smelled the blood that stained my paws. No matter how much I would try to clean up, a light tinge of red coated them.

I dug through the dumpster's rubbish and tried to find an old dog or cat collar, only to no avail. I sat back and sighed with frustration, digging my claws into the dumpster and causing a few small white dents to form on its surface. But at that moment, I suddenly spotted something dirty and black in the trash. I eagerly pulled it out and saw that it was an old dog collar. It was black in color, and it had small holes aligned side-by-side. It was perfect. A smile appeared on my face as I did my best to put it on. It faintly smelled bad and was a bit big, but otherwise it looked great on me.

I leaped down and padded back over to the dog corpse. I plucked a tooth out from its mouth and fastened it into one of the holes of my collar. Once it was lodged in tight enough, I stopped. It looked as if it would be tight enough to stay forever. Hopefully it will, I thought. I decided to leave the rest of the bones. I wanted to earn the rest of my future "trophies" from other enemies in the future.

"D-did you kill that dog?"

I swung my head around to see a thin white tom. His paws were black, and he looked as if he hadn't eaten a good meal in a while. I narrowed my eyes skeptically and decided to act cold.

"Yeah," I hissed in response. "You have a problem with that?"

The tomcat took a step back. "Woah, don't be so hostile," he said, cautious but irritated. "I was just wondering." He looked at me with his amber eyes. "My name is Blackclaw -- I'm from the forest. Who are you?"

I stared at Blackclaw with narrowed eyes. So this stranger was from the forest.. I never exactly trusted the cats who lived there. Still, I answered his question.

"Fang," I muttered.

"Nice name," Blackclaw meowed, smirking. "Fang.." He tried the name out on his tongue, and I hissed.

"Get out of my alley, you forest fool," I growled, raising my hackles.

"Hey, hey, hey! Cool it." Blackclaw looked at me with interest in his gaze. "Maybe we can form an alliance. Then, we could get revenge on the forest cats. I know they've treated you Twolegplace cats wrong in the past, and they've done the same to me."

My fur lied flat, and I thought for a moment, now interested in Blackclaw's words. I remembered that Scourge was killed by a forest cat named Firestar. Because of him, the old BloodClan fell apart.

"I don't know.." I meowed at last. "You'd need a collar like mine. If we're going to be on the same side, I'd like you to join me in helping BloodClan reform as a way of proving your loyalty to me." I would assume he knew what BloodClan was. Luckily, he seemed to understand.

"I can take care of that," Blackclaw said, pleased to do as I said. He jumped into the same dumpster I looked through and reappeared moments later with a filthy, dark red collar. I was glad I found mine when I did; it seemed less dirty, even considering where it came from.

"You're also going to have to crave blood," I added as Blackclaw put on his collar. He looked up at me and tilted his head.

"Blood?" the tom asked. "Like prey blood? No cat who isn't a kittypet cannot crave prey blood, Fang."

"No," I told him, ear twitching. "Like dog and cat blood."

Blackclaw stared at me with widened eyes before mrrowing with amusement. "You underestimate me, Fang," the tom purred. "I've murdered cats before back when I lived in the forest."

"Obviously," I muttered. "I'm sure you forest cats are always given opportunities to kill."

Once Blackclaw lodged one of the dead dog's teeth into his collar, I decided that the tom should have a new name. "Let's change your name," I said to the black-pawed rogue.

"Sure," Blackclaw said coolly. "I never exactly liked my name anyways. Got anything in mind?"

I thought for a moment. Not Bone, not Killer.. Then, an idea came to me.

"How does," I asked at last, "Viper sound?"

"Cool," Blackclaw, now Viper, smirked. "I like it."

I smiled coldly in return. This was the beginning of a new era -- the beginning of the new BloodClan.