There was no whistle in the air, the ground did not shake, and there was not a cat in sight. The area, which once saw activity from monsters, was now infested by mere rats, scurrying between the cracks and fallen pieces of the nests that once housed hundreds of Twolegs.

Two cats walked along a rough and hot thunderpath, the brown stones smoothed by pulverized remains of nearby structures. They looked in all directions, evaluating the damage that had been done in the latest attack. The reek of smoke from the fires above filled the air as the cats carefully walked over the debris-littered path.

"Bah, fur-brained Twolegs" spat an elderly grey cat, a blue tinge in her fur catching the light. "They keep this up and they'll take every one of their cozy little nests down. And us along with them."

"It's been getting worse now, Panzer. So much of this place lost in such little time" said a small tortoiseshell she-cat.

"Place's proper name's Hamburg by the way," Panzer said. "They've been hitting since you were a kit! Waste of my time. We all know it'll happen eventually. You're dead, I'm dead, we'll all be dead from this."

"It's Littlescent," she corrected, "and, forgive me, but you don't have to sound so... you about it."

"I know your name, runt. And I'll sound however I want about it. Already bad enough I never get to leave that Twoleg cat trap Longstar moved us into. And then, when I do get to leave, it's without my apprentice. Always get some claw-swinging Star-eyed warrior who doesn't know what to look for."

Littlescent let the superior cat's remarks go, as usual. She just wanted to focus on the task of finding her the materials she needed and leaving.

"Even forgot to take my carrying pouches. Almost about as fur-brained as those Twolegs."

Littlescent glanced at Panzer as she looked towards the structures once more.

I really hate how accurate she is on that, she thought to herself. Everything here is completely gone. Burning, collapsed, or something else... even the Twolegs are gone. It's unusual to see an area completely abandoned.

A loud screech was heard nearby, at the intersection. More cries came quickly after the first, and it was followed by silence.

"Great," Panzer said. "My time outside just gets better and better."

Littlescent rushed towards the end of the path in time to see two large cats running into another destroyed structure, one clenched a rat in its massive jaws.

"Run like sparrows! It's all your warriors are good for these days." hissed a grey and black tom towards the fleeing cats. One of the fleeing cats turned around and let out a high pitched cry back at him before turning away out of sight. The tabby turned towards Littlescent and Panzer and his expression softened.

"They won't even fight a kittypet anymore. What's gotten into those cats?"

"So what exactly happened, grunt?" Panzer said.

"Those two wildcats just ran past the boarder and took a rat. I tried to catch them, but they were fast. That's the third time this moon we have caught them breaking the Pact."

"That's an awfully stupid plan for a warrior, chasing what he can't kill. You catch them, then what? You get killed in a fight? The small wildcats are still twice your height."

"I couldn't have known Littlescent was with you," the warrior responded. "I would have chased them beyond the borders—"

"You can't use not sensing Littlesmell as an excuse forever," Panzer spat. "Excuses and plans like that are going to get you killed one of these days. At least have your little runt with you if you're going to be that stupid. Where is the little thing anyway?"

"Panzer, please. It's Shortpaw." a small brown she-cat said from behind a piece of rubble.

"Rightfully," Panzer mumbled.

Her ears dropped at the medicine cat's remark. "And Wolfgang told me to stay here and guard the stuff we found."

"What's that, you found stuff? Finally."

Shortpaw pushed a small roll of white wraps from behind him. It rolled around before falling over into the dust, its soft exterior hardly making a sound as it did.

"Fake-fur wraps. A warrior that knows what to look for, unlike the ones I keep getting to help me. I'll ask Longstar if I can have the little runt with me next time. Now let's go. Sooner we get away from the borders the better. I hate the look those leaf cats give me."

Panzer took the roll in her teeth and turned away from the others, running the direction she and Littlescent came from.

"You shouldn't run off on your own like that," said Wolfgang, and he and Shortpaw took off after her. Littlescent looked towards the place where the wildcats had retreated to before turning to following the others.

It's strange, she thought. LeafClan warriors running from a fight; I know that plenty of warriors from that clan would jump at the chance to fight a former pet...