Tidepool struck his paw in the river and pulled out a slippery fish. He killed it quickly, then placed it beside the other fish he had caught. 

"Great catch."

Tidepool glanced beside him, seeing Dawnlight. "Hey, Dawnlight," he greeted. "Didn't see you there," he mumbled.

"With leaf-bare coming up, its going to be harder for us," Dawnlight sighed, curling her tail over her eyes. "Us RiverClan cats eat fish, just imagine not having any," she purred. 

"The river will be frozen over, I'll miss fishing," Tidepool sighed. He hooked another fish out of the water and was slightly sprinkled with water. "Reedwhisker says I'm the best fisher in the Clan," he purred.

Dawnlight chuckled. "And I can see that. You're amazing," she commented, her green eyes shimmering.

Tidepool couldn't help but purr with her. He suddenly could feel his pelt burning. What is this? "It's getting late, we should head back. Hopefully we are chosen for the gathering," he mumbled.

"I wonder what the other Clans will report," Dawnlight murmured. Suddenly she pricked her ears. "Hey, what's that yowling all about?" She growled.

Tidepool pricked his ears. He could hear the yowling too. It sounded like cats fighting. He then rushed towards where the yowling was and he could feel his heart pounding. He realized he was heading towards the WindClan border. Were they attacking?

Tidepool stopped and saw that a RiverClan patrol was fighting with a WindClan patrol. He rushed towards them. "Hey, stop!" He growled.

The WindClan deputy, Doveclaw, turned towards him. There was a large scratch across the bridge of her nose. "We found a rabbit on our land that reeked of RiverClan scent!" She hissed.

Tidepool stopped, Dawnlight beside him. "We shouldn't be fighting, not when we have a gathering to go to in just a little bit," he growled. 

"Don't tell me what to do, fish-face," Doveclaw hissed, flattening her ears. "WindClan, retreat!" She yowled. The WindClan patrol then ran back across the border, their tails flicking.

Tidepool saw Iceriver, his mother in the patrol. He noticed a gash in her leg and raced towards her. "Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine," Iceriver meowed.

"How dare they accuse us of stealing prey! We've done nothing," Flintspark hissed, lashing his tail. "They just miss fighting and so they accused us of something we didn't do as an excuse to fight!" He spat.

"That's enough, Flintspark," Rust, the leader of the patrol, hissed. "We should go back now or everyone else is going to be late to the gathering."

Flintspark rolled his eyes. "Of course you'd say that, rogue," he growled. The dark gray tom rolled his eyes. 

Tidepool glared at the young warrior, wondering why he'd say that to a senior warrior. Rust did his best to not make a remark towards Flintspark.

"We need to go back towards camp. Let's go get your fish," Dawnlight meowed, flicking her tail.

Tidepool dropped his fish on the fresh-kill pile. The injured patrol was in the medicine cat den getting their wounds treated. 

"All cats old enough to swim gather around for a Clan meeting!" Flowerstar called. "As you've seen, one of the patrols was attacked by WindClan. They have accused us of stealing prey!" She growled.

Outraged yowls broke out around Tidepool. I know for sure that no cat in RiverClan would kill something on another's Clan's territory. He glanced at the full moon in the sky, hoping Flowerstar would hurry up. RiverClan doesn't need to be late to the gathering.

"We will talk about this after the gathering. I'm going to choose who can to go to the gathering now so we aren't late," Flowerstar meowed. "Nightsky, Lighttail, Tidepool, Rust, Mallownose, Dawnlight, Iceriver, Mistyfoot, Softpaw, and Harepaw," Flowerstar announced. She then began walking towards the camp entrance. "We need to leave now."

Tidepool quickly followed the other cats out of camp, Dawnlight at his side. RiverClan's camp was really close to the gathering place. Just across the small river was the gathering place. 

"I'm interested to see what ShadowClan has to say. I know they got attacked by rogues, I wonder who the new leader is," Dawnlight meowed.

Tidepool could see that they were nearing the river. "It's most likely Snowbird," he meowed. He skidded down the bank of the river, his paws shuffling the pebbles. Tidepool slunk into the river, his paws paddling beneath him as he waded through the cold water. When it's leaf-bare, we can just walk across when it's frozen.

Soon, the RiverClan cats reached the other side of the river. Tidepool climbed onto the bank, his pelt slicked with water. He shook out his fur, his claws digging into the pebbles under his paws. Padding forward, he parted through the reeds, smelling the familiar scent of all the flowers. All the other Clans were already here.

Flowerstar, Reedwhisker, Willowshine, and Sapbriar were making their way to the Great Blossom. Tidepool noticed that Snowbird was sitting in the tree. He saw that Scorchfur was in the deputy's place. So Scorchfur is the new deputy.

"Flowerstar, you're very late, care to explain?" Gorsestar glanced at the RiverClan leader, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. 

Flowerstar glared at the WindClan leader. She looked as though she would go first, but she glanced at Snowbird. "You should go first," she offered.

"Then I suppose I should go first," Snowbird sighed, sitting up on her branch. "Unfortunately, the rogues attacked ShadowClan, and Tigerstar was killed," she sighed.

Sad murmurs rippled throughout the Clans. He had been at the battle to help ShadowClan, but he didn't think Snowstar would actually become leader. He wondered why she would choose her mate as deputy, since leaders typically didn't choose kin as deputy.

"I am now ShadowClan's new leader now, since Tawnypelt also died. Scorchfur is my deputy," Snowstar meowed, dipping her head.

"Snowstar! Scorchfur! Snowstar! Scorchfur!" The Clans cheered. Tidepool  

"We also lost Adderstone, Ratscar, Pinenose, Yarrowleaf, and Spikefur," Snowstar murmured, hanging her head with sadness. "But we do have some good news. We have three new apprentices: Spirepaw, Hollowpaw, and Sunpaw."

Tidepool cheered the three apprentices' names. He saw the three of them looking embarrassed, yet proud. He suddenly remembered the days of being an apprentice and he felt good remembering it.

"RiverClan is doing well," Flowerstar meowed. "All except for the fact that WindClan claims we killed their prey, even though we didn't," she growled, glaring at Gorsestar.

Gorsestar bristled. "We know it was RiverClan! A rabbit on our land reeked of RiverClan's nasty fishy scent!" He hissed.

"Calm down," Squirrelstar pleaded. "I doubt RiverClan did this. Besides, what warrior would kill prey without reason?" She asked.

She does have a point. Tidepool glanced up at Gorsestar, hoping he would let go of his claim. He glanced at Flowerstar, seeing that the she-cat looked tired of this. 

"Well, whatever you think, Gorsestar, RiverClan hasn't crossed your border. We don't have reason to, and no cat in the right mind would kill prey and not eat it," Flowerstar meowed, flicking her tail.

Gorsestar rolled his eyes, then sat up on his branch. "WindClan has a new warrior: Woodpelt. We also have our new medicine cat, Applefoot," he announced.

"Woodpelt! Applefoot! Woodpelt! Applefoot!" The Clans cheered, their yowls echoing around the hollow.

"The prey is also running well in WindClan," Gorsestar meowed. "That is all I have to announce," he meowed, dipping his head.

Squirrelstar then stepped forward. "ThunderClan has a lot of news. First, I would like to announce four new warriors: Beetalon, Blackstep, Tuftear, and Smokyflame," she announced.

As the Clans cheered for the new warriors, Tidepool noticed that Smokyflame wasn't there. Where was the new warrior, had he gotten sick? 

"We also announce three new apprentices: Mudpaw, Nightpaw, and Featherpaw," Squirrelstar announced.

Tidepool saw a black she-she-cat and a brown tom duck their heads in embarrassment. Where was the third cat? He assumed the other two were Nightpaw and Mudpaw. That's when he noticed Peachfur wasn't with the other medicine cats. Did something happen?  

"I would also like to sadly announce the death of Pearlshine. She was killed by the rogues and then Mudpaw and Nightpaw were kidnapped. We have them back now, but we also have Frostheart back. As many of you know, Frostheart left ThunderClan as an apprentice to join the rogues, but she is back now," Squirrelstar explained.

Tidepool bristled, and he heard protests coming from other Clan cats. Did she seriously let that code-breaker back into ThunderClan? He flattened his ears in disgust.

"I also have more news. Our medicine cats were given a prophecy," Squirrelstar meowed. "StarClan claims that there is a fifth Clan, SkyClan, and I had chosen a few cats to go on the journey to find this Clan," Squirrelstar explained, flicking her tail.

Tidepool tensed. There was a fifth Clan? That couldn't be possible, there were only four Clans, there couldn't be another! He noticed the cats around him protesting and questioning Squirrelstar. Some of the cats were gasping in shock, and Tidepool got to his paws.

"How can there be a fifth Clan?" Dawnlight questioned. 

"Why did you wait to announce this now?" Snowstar growled, lashing her tail.

"I thought your medicine cats had learned about this!" Squirrelstar hissed. 

"We didn't!" Flametail protested.

Soon, an argument broke out between the leaders and medicine cats. Tidepool felt a growl rising in his throat. Of course ThunderClan had kept something as important as this secret.

"Stop! Look at the sky!" A cat yowled.

Tidepool tensed as he looked up. Clouds were covering the moon, and the light faded from the clearing. 

"The gathering is over, let's go!" Flowerstar yowled.

Tidepool winced. He glanced at Dawnlight, then couldn't help but wonder why the fifth Clan wasn't with the four Clans.