ALLEGIANCES

Someone suggested these, and I considered putting them in the actual story before I posted the Prologue, but it would have thrown the chapter number off and confused me. So it's here now instead. Enjoy, hope this helps~!

ASHCLAN
 Leader
Silverstar: Pretty silver tabby, blue eyes; currently without duties as she is still recovering from the emotional and mental shattering of Chillpaw's betrayal. Mate of Forestheart.
Deputy
Eaglestrike: Gray tabby, yellow eyes. All-around swell guy, currently acting as temporary leader. Father of Sootkit and Spiderkit, mate of Ravenwing.
Medicine Cat
Shimmerfrost: Silver tabby, icy blue eyes. Nasty piece of work, as likely to claw you as to heal you, but loyal to the Clan. Named Shimmerfrost when Rumble died.
Medicine Cat Apprentice
Bluepaw: Blue-gray she-cat, blue eyes. Little cutie, always happy, but slightly scarred from witnessing Bramblethorn's death.
Warriors
Forestheart: Handsome brown tabby tom, bright green eyes; used to always be smiling/joking, but somewhat more somber now. Extremely protective of Silverstar. Silverstar's mate. Mentor to Redpaw.
Reedrush: Pretty, slim silver tabby, green eyes. Usually cheerful, cares for Jaggedclaw. Mother of Blizzardpaw. Mentor to Blackpaw
Darkstorm: Black tom, yellow eyes, powerfully built but somewhat lean. Still a bit lazy, but Frostfeather's pushing him to be stronger. He and Frostfeather aren't exactly mates, but they're romantically involved. It's complicated. Mentor to Firepaw.
 Frostfeather: White she-cat, green eyes, extremely protective of her kits and rather all-around fierce. Mother of Robinpaw and Jaypaw, sort-of mate of Darkstorm, foster mother of Redpaw and Bluepaw.
Petalcloud: Fluffy calico she-cat, formerly a kittypet and a rogue. Known as Primrose before she earned her warrior name. Easy-going, gentle, soft. Foster mother of Firepaw and Blackpaw.
Stormshadow: Dark gray tabby tom. Very aggressive because of his life as a rogue; formerly known as Shredder. Extremely loyal to the Clan, vigorously protective of Petalcloud, Firepaw, and Blackpaw. Mentor to Jaypaw.
Birchpool: Somewhat spacey white she-cat, blue eyes. Had amnesia; still doesn't remember her past, despite talking with Reedrush often, but her hunting and fighting skills have come back to her. Formerly known as Brightflash, requested a new warrior name since she couldn't remember her old life. Mentor to Robinpaw.
Thistlethorn: Blue-gray tom, bright yellow eyes. Fierce, eager to prove himself, hostile towards PeakClan cats. Currently the youngest warrior, which means he has a lot to live up to.
Apprentices
Firepaw: Brilliant ginger coat, fiery amber eyes. Extremely passionate and loud; often brags about warrior life. Short temper that flares up quickly; protective of Petalcloud and Blackpaw. Hates even the mention of Chillpaw.
Blackpaw: Sleek black she-cat, yellow eyes. Very timid, shy, quiet. Strong spiritual side, but she's often afraid to voice her thoughts.
Blizzardpaw: White tom, blue eyes. Boisterous, playful, generally happy.
Jaypaw: Gray tabby tom, amber eyes. Soft-spoken, sensitive, gentle.
Robinpaw: Ginger she-cat, green eyes. Sensitive about her twisted leg; started training half a moon after her brother, but works much harder so they can be made warriors together.
Redpaw: Ginger tabby tom, amber eyes; much like a little Firepaw. Actually idolizes the older apprentice.
Queens & Kits
Ravenwing: Gentle sleek black she-cat, green eyes. Quiet, but thoughtful. Mate of Eaglestrike, mother of Sootkit and Spiderkit.
Sootkit: Large dappled gray she-cat, yellow eyes. Somewhat ashamed of her size; follows her brother obediently, but when not around him she has a strong, fiery spirit and quite a temper. Around her brother she's generally meek and quiet; she looks up to him, despite having quite an advantage height-wise.
Spiderkit: Sleek black tom, green eyes, long, lanky body. Idolizes strong toms like his father; has an extremely sharp tongue and an analytical mind. His body is built for speed, but he doesn't utilize it well. Often gets into scraps because he speaks before he thinks.
Elders
Jaggedclaw: Badly scarred silver-gray tabby tom. Lost one ear and the sight in one eye from an accident on the Thunderpath. Speaks to no one but Reedrush; generally bad-tempered and bitter.

PEAKCLAN
Leader
Stonestar: gray tabby tom, yellow eyes
Deputy
Northstar: White tom with black paws, yellow eyes (need I say more?). Foster father of Brackenpaw, Birdpaw, and Streampaw.
Medicine Cat
Blackmoon: Black tom with a white blaze on his chest, blue eyes.
Medicine Cat Apprentice
Birdpaw: Golden-brown tabby she-cat
Warriors
Rosedapple: Dappled silver she-cat, mate to Northstar, mother of Brackenpaw and Birdpaw, foster mother of Streampaw and Puddlekit.
Fawncloud: Golden she-cat, mate of Foxclaw, mother of Rabbitleap and Mousestep
Foxclaw: Bad-tempered ginger tom, mate of Fawncloud
Smallfire: Small ginger tom, father of Volewhisker; will retire soon
Sparrowfeather: Tabby she-cat
Sleekfoot: Sleek blue-gray she-cat, sister to Stonestar
Volewhisker: Ginger tabby tom, son of Smallfire (deceased) mate of Iceblossom, father of Swankit, Snowkit, and Shrewkit
Hawktalon: Brown tabby tom, brother of Iceblossom, mate of Rabbitleap
Rabbitleap: Gray she-cat with white markings, blue-green eyes, a short tail from an accident when she was a kit. Daughter of Fawncloud and Stonestar, sister to Mousestep, mate of Hawktalon
Mousestep: Golden-brown tom, brother of Rabbitleap, has a stuttering problem
Rainwind: Gray tabby tom
Twigstripe: Thin brown tabby tom, mate of Emberflight, father of Maplekit, Poppykit, and Tigerkit.
Apprentices
Brackenpaw: Golden tabby tom, son of Rosedapple and Lightstar, brother of Birdpaw
Streampaw: Silver she-cat, daughter of Graywing and Lightstar, half-sister of Brackenpaw and Birdpaw
Queens & Kits
Iceblossom: Pretty white she-cat, mate to Volewhisker
Swankit: Ginger-and-white she-cat
Snowkit: White she-cat
Shrewkit: Ginger tom 
Emberflight: Tortoiseshell she-cat, mate to Twigstripe 
Maplekit: Pretty brown tabby she-cat
Poppykit: Tortoiseshell she-cat
Tigerkit: Dark brown tabby 
THE ANCIENT JOURNEY
Only known cats are listed
ThunderClan
Fogheart - gray tabby tom.
Foxpaw - ginger apprentice, apprentice of Fogheart
Birchpaw - pale gray she-cat,
RiverClan
Amberfur - Tortie
Nightpaw - black she-cat, apprentice of Amberfur, died by drowning
Graystorm - gray tom
WindClan
Whitecloud - white she-cat

ShadowClan  
Oakclaw - brown tabby tom
Toadpaw - small brown tabby, Oakclaw's nephew, first death on the journey (exact details unknown)


A bit more in depth than regular allegiances, but eh. Rumble and Bramblethorn died between stories; Rumble was sick, as mentioned in Shattered's epilogue. We'll get more of Bramblethorn's death later. Hopefully this was a good refresher.

A few notes:

• Redpaw was given to Forestheart while he was still mentoring Thistlepaw, because Thistlepaw's training was only half a moon from being completed, and he was able to juggle both apprentices.
• Blackpaw was given to Bramblethorn originally, because the two had bonded while Bramblethorn visited Redkit and Bluekit; Bramblethorn sort of adopted the two kits, and was kind to Blackpaw as well. After Bramblethorn's death, Blackpaw was given to Reedrush even though she was still a queen, because Blizzardkit was close to being apprenticed and Blackpaw was close to Reedrush as well.
• Firepaw and Blackpaw were already pretty old when they joined the Clan, and very adult in their way of thinking because of their rough rogue lives, so Darkstorm wasn't as intimidated by them as he was with most kits; he still didn't like them, but once they were six moons old they were bearable. This was probably the only time he could have been chosen as a mentor (ever), so Silverstar decided to let him mentor Firepaw to perk up his self-esteem.
• Puddlekit (Graywing and Lightstar's kit) died in between books as well, from a kit disease.
• There are more PeakClan cats than just the ones I've listed; PeakClan's numbers will be flexible, probably, just as they were in Shattered. 
• Dapplefern died during Shattered, sort of, it just completely slipped my mind. During the big battle, she ran to the Peak, thinking that she could kill Rosedapple while everyone was busy; Rosedapple was her most hated enemy. They used to be close friends, but Dapplefern was jealous of how popular Rosedapple was with the Clan. After Rosedapple was betrayed by Lightstar, Dapplefern expected to rise in popularity, but it didn't happen. Then, Dapplefern went after Northstar, but he spurned her for Rosedapple. She was even angrier when Northstar stole her apprentice. Feeling betrayed by the Clan, she turned on them and helped Lion, feeding him information. Anyway, her body was later found on the river bed, having washed up there. Blackmoon and Rosedapple were the ones guarding the Clan while Ravenwing gave birth; they made the apprentices stay in the medicine den. Both Blackmoon and Rosedapple said that Dapplefern suffered an "accident" and fell into the waterfall, which then threw her into the river. According to them, it was the fall that killed her, and it was never proved otherwise, although some cats wonder....

Chappy 1, schweet.

Okies, the actual first chappy is up, yayness! Sorry it took so long, I was working 16+ hours just on the weekend doing my pinata...and working on it throughout the week, so yeah. Last week and this week are both going to be kinda crazy, but after that hopefully I'll be in the clear.

Bwahaha. I'll admit, throwing you guys for a loop in the prologue is amusing. And then I kind of giggle at how in Shattered most of the reviews said they disliked Chill, but as soon as he's dead, he becomes slightly more liked. I'll make a note of that. ;)

Anyway, to questions and such:

@Nightfrost: While it's true that kittens don't have to look exactly like their parents, their parents are the most important factor in how a kit looks. I'm not sure if you've had genetics in class or not, but if so then you probably know all about Punnet Squares and all that, to determine genes and stuff. It's true that kits can inherit traits from way back in their lineage, but ONLY if that gene has been passed through the generations. Also, if the trait doesn't show up, then it's probably recessive, and could only appear if the other parent carried it too. For example, take Silverstar's family. Her father, Fadedstar, had blue eyes. Her mother, Whitefrost, had green eyes. Blue is recessive to green, so for Silverstar to have blue eyes, her mother had to carry the trait for both green eyes AND blue eyes. By chance, she passed her blue eyes trait to Silverstar, and Fadedstar did the same, giving Silverstar blue eyes. On the other hand, Silverstar's sister has green eyes, because Whitefrost gave her the trait for green eyes, which was dominant over the trait for blue eyes from Fadedstar. Theoretically, it would be possible for a cat to have a rarer pelt color too, even from far back in their lineage, but ONLY if it was present on both sides. Like with your ginger pelt; assuming that ginger is submissive to blue-gray (I have no idea if it is, just an example) then a ginger kitten could be born to parents that are both blue-gray, if BOTH of them had a ginger cat somewhere in their lineage and the trait for a ginger pelt was passed down to them. Because of how complex that becomes, I try to stick with first generation genetics. Sometimes I'll go a bit farther back (for example, Whitefrost's father was white, but neither of her daughters are completely white, although they have some white markings. Cinderstream carried Whitefrost's white-fur trait and gave it to Chill; for this to happen, Ashstir also had to have a white cat in his lineage) but generally it's easier for everyone to stick with the parents. Is that any clearer? Did that help? ^^;

@Crowstorm: Maybe he managed to get a bit of perspective while training with Silverstar, who knows? It didn't seem to matter, but maybe it will later. I've no idea. @.@

@Shimmertail: Maybe Spider being nice was blatant lies...but he's sort of semi-nice on the inside. Beneath all the cockiness and spitting, that is. And, yeah, I still shudder when I think of Sparklewish. Good charrie, but her /name/....And I'm still waiting on that e-mail, hmmm. :D

@Dawnshine: A dream, yes, but of a real event, as we see in Ch 1. All that really happened. Sootkit never saw it herself (that's why Chill's pelt tends to change in her dream, she doesn't know what he really looked like) but she dreams of the same scene a lot, for some reason....

@AutumnSunsets: There's only one question of yours that wasn't answered in that AN. To the answer the unanswered question, I am not a fan of pie unless it is chocolate pie made by my mom, or sometimes a banana creme pie.

@QueenofthePens: Soot's always been a girl, Spider's the dude.

@Madame Wolfe: Chilly died because Stormshadow killed him, as in Soot's dream. Soot is Ravenwing/Eaglestrike's kit.

@Lynxeye: Silverstar's lost three lives by now, poor girl. I don't think anyone could beat Tigerstar's record, ha. We'll see where Chilly is soon enough. His balance-thingy was more for others protecting him and losing their lives than for someone killing him; sort of a give-receive type deal.Allegiances would be a very good idea, actually, I think I might do that in my next post. The AshClan cats are set in stone, but PeakClan's might change, I haven't quite decided. I really want to try first person again, and I think I have an idea for a perfect story just for that.

@Fae: Hey! I've seen you on the boards (love the way you structure your posts, as weird as that sounds; I couldn't summon up the energy to keep bolding and spacing stuff, ha). Your sister sounds familiar, was she one of my older reviewers? I'm horrible with names, so maybe not...I try to review most of the stories that I read, personally, but I don't read very many stories myself; I have trouble reading stuff on the computer. I actually printed out my 110+ driver's manual for my permit test, rather than read it on the computer. Took a lot of ink, sigh. Don't worry, we'll see more of Chilly; it isn't called Chilled for nothing. C:

@Smokefrost: Possessed? That sounds terrifying, poor kit. Something like that happened in TR, tho, and I hate using the same old stuff, so prolly not. :)

@Fred: Prologues are kinda meant to be short, in my opinion, but that's just me. This Prologue was actually longer than Shattered's, though.

@CrystalSakura: *smacks forehead* I saw those when I read through it like the fourth time, but I don't want to go re-upload the Doc and fuss with it (I can't use Ctrl+F, so finding the lapses is really hard). And yessir, that was Chilly at the end, even though Soot doesn't necessarily know it.

@Ninjakitty: Now I really want to see this picture, ha! You must make a dA. I demands it! Well, I can't really demand it, but I would...appreciate it, I s'pose. Stormshadow is Shredder, I'll clear that up in the allegiances.

Next post will be the allegiances; I think attached to it will be some more charry-bio goodness. Yay!

Chilled up!

Chilled up, so it's epilogue-question time! Yaay!

@Shimmertail: Yeah, he's kind of Jag in my mind too. And ha, yes, CarmeloxToxin was for rizzle. I already kind of was on the fence about it, but your deciding that it was a crack pairing sealed the deal. I think Death and Northy are definitely some of my favorites in this fic, although I'm sort of sad Shimmer didn't get more screentime, so to speak. I like Ratwhisker for Blight, it's perfect; Snakestrike is pretty close to Snake's old name, Snakebite. Dawnfrost kind of strikes me as weird (I use Dawn for creams) but -frost definitely fits her. My first three were Honeyblossom, Fogwing, and Streamfur (which aren't bad) but then I started getting into the weirdness....Wow, your first was JtR? I think it's actually my least favorite, to be honest, but I'm glad you chose to stick around! <3 And when do I get to read that one-shot, mm? You could e-mail it to me, maybe? (princessleopard@gmail.com).

@MansonNoob: I'm not a fan of sandwiches, actually, but thanks. Good luck on the Challenge! :D

@Lynxeye: You actually went and did your review cat by cat? ILY! Slaughter's a big ball of nothing, you're right (in original role-play he was really important, but he was just the cat to get the ball rolling here, I guess). And yes (!!) about Mother's new kit! It was Ravenwing/Eaglestrike's little daughter. I'm surprised anyone got that, nice! About Lion, I really have no idea. The craziness/bitterness was from her death, so in her presence (assuming rogues have an afterlife, which I have no idea about) so in her presence he'd probably mellow out...but he could never be exactly the same again, I guess. And didn't I answer the Bullet thing? I thought I did, eh. Yeah, he's Thistlepaw's father, but that's not what is important about him, as we'll see. Reed doesn't want to go by herself, but she will if she has to. Death will prolly never get over his phobia entirely, but with work (and Frosty will make him work!) he can kind of make it manageable. Knowing him, I doubt it'll stick, but they'll try. How'd you know I was going to name her Icedragon? I considered it, but I didn't think you guys would go for that. And I kind of feel the same way about Northy; he's sort of a more engaging charrie than Silver, so it would have been cool if he was the main character...maybe next time.(I was kidding about Icedragon, in case you couldn't tell. xD).

@Insane Certifiably: I've always wondered about those lil kits, cuz some of them prolly have rogue parents, or something, like Splash in JtR. If they make it to StarClan, what do they do? Again, not taking a stand (for the moment) on the whole rogue-afterlife thing. Clover's scent could have been him hallucinating as he was dying, for all I know. xD Slaughter cared about dying, but Toxin sure didn't, in the end. I like the way Forest changed too, while still maintaining his weird lil grin. I love you too (in a completely creepy way)!

@CrystalSakura: Arg, I totally head-desk'd when I realized that. It's all fixed now, I think; Scorpion died, Shredder lived, yadda yadda. Fixed fixed fixed. Thanks for letting me know. ^^

@Ninjakitty: Ooh, a picture could be cool; one of my friends had someone draw the cover of her fic, and I was jealous. The kit that Mother found was actually Raven/Eagles; all of her own kits are alive.

@JayEyedWolf: Oh dear, you have a point. I didn't realize it had been so long since I touched Singe and Sapphire! The parody is kind of something to do when I've got ideas (which are floating around in my brain for the moment, they haven't really solidified) but I'll try to work on TS: ATOL real soon.

@Moonsong: I like RabbitxHawk too (I like Vole, in that he's a good cat, but he wasn't quite meant for Rabbit). I named Forest Forestheart because of his compassion and generally good nature; remember, he even helped save Foxclaw's life, even though he hated him, among other things. He's just a well-respected, loyal, loving, compassionate cat, so -heart seemed right.

Compare/Contrasaganza!

That title didn't make any sense, I apologize.

Anyway, as promised, a quick comparing/contrasting of what is new/old between the original role-play and Shattered. Divided for your convenience. :)

Plot

• Pretty much the whole thing in Shattered is new. I can see you staring at me right now, going 'wat?' Yes, it's true, almost the entire plot of Shattered is original/new. You see, in original role-play, I began playing with my new Clan (ForestClan, incidentally) with Silverstar already having her nine lives and Frostfeather already preggers (she was giving birth when role-play began, actually, I think that was my first post). So /everything/ (and I do mean everything) before AshClan was established is almost completely original. Surprised?
• TalonClan DID exist originally. They were even ran by a kitty named Slaughter who overthrew Northstar. That's all true. Even the forest Clans/FrozenClan's relationship was all true, but it really wasn't dealt with very much. FrozenClan was just an excuse to use Northstar/kill the forest Clans, and the forest Clans were just so I could use Silverstar as a new leader of a new Clan. Her parents/past were hardly touched at all during original role-play; same goes for Northy, although the basic bare-bones story (had a mentor who he really loved but died, killed his father for power, was overthrown by Slaughter) is the same. 
• TalonClan was known by another name, which I'll get to in the Names section. However, it wasn't the TalonClan we know today. You see, instead of existing for like only one season like it did in Shattered (barely even that, really) TalonClan (and the rest about Silverstar creating a new Clan which was never technically role-played but just sort of hand-waved as having already happened) took years to build. The end result was that it was an incredibly large Clan, much bigger than the TalonClan we know and hate. It was also created/ran entirely by Slaughter; Lion didn't kill him, or anything. Slaughter never actually officially died, because we never actually got to that point.
• Also, TalonClan was full of cannibals. Yeah, you read that right. Cannibals. Snake was a cannibal. Slaughter was a cannibal. Toxin was a cannibal. Now, FrozenClan/the forest Clans weren't cannibal Clans, but somehow when they came together to make TalonClan, they all turned into cannibals, or something. That was never really made clear, pretty much because TalonClan was just for some evilly delicious tension in role-play. They were just...evil cannibals. Yeah.
• Other Clans existed in original role-play, but they were all incredibly small compared to AshClan. My Clan was actually the most popular by far (over 100 cats compared to 30-40 in the others; we didn't have a character limit). The other Clans were SecretClan (which had wolves as well as cats in it...don't ask, I don't even know), FireClan, SunsetClan, LakeClan, PhantomClan, FrostClan...we kinda had a lot of Clans, yeah. Unlike PeakClan, however, they didn't have a problem with AshClan charging in and taking over. They didn't care so much, so there were few battles (boooring, right?).
• Silverstar's mate wasn't named Forest. He wasn't anything even close to being Forest. Her mate (for all of like three moons before his role-player disappeared) was named Tornadofang, and he was kind of just a big ol' grump. Forest's opposite, really. Silverstar even had four adorable, badly named kits: Timberkit (brown tabby, kind of the inspiration for Timber and, by proxy, Forest himself), Cottonkit (white she-cat...how do the cats know what cotton is, I dunno), Lifekit (silver tabby...Life? I don't know, man)Wolfkit (wolves don't live in GB, but whatever, right?) and...Sproutkit (a calico. I have no idea how a silver cat plus a gray-blue cat created a calico, white, and brown tabby, but whatever). Yeah. You might just now be realizing how bad my old role-play stuff was.
• Frostfeather had kits with a rogue who was never really named/revealed, it just sort of happened because she was just pregnant when I started rping her. She later popped out Ospreykit, Falconkit, and Sparrowkit. Sparrowkit went on to become one of AshClan's FOUR medicine cats (yeah, four...in case the other three die, or something, I guess) and Ospreykit became one of the strongest warriors in the Clan/TalonClan's prisoner...Falconkit never did anything. Ospreykit eventually had a bunch of kits himself, but none of those were used in Shattered, or anything.
• Ravenwing mothered two different litters, by two different cats. One was by Duskheart (mentioned in JtR, if you've read that you'll remember him), but after Duskheart's original mate re-appeared, I created a new mate for her, Eaglestrike. He was the deppy of the old forest Clan, just like in Shattered, and they eventually had kits together. The kits from Duskheart's litter were Pumpkinkit, Spicekit, and Spacekit. Eaglestrike's were Purekit, Passionkit, Spiderkit, and Wispkit. Spiderkit's the only one of Ravenwing's kits that I used for Shattered at all.
• Shimmer...oh, where to being? Shimmer has always been (and will be) one of my most iconic characters, as well as one of my favorites. You know the weird way she spoke when she was younger in Shattered? She was always like that in role-play, throughout her entire life. She also had a weird habit of referencing human movies/slang (once she was watching a pair of cats falling in love and referenced like seven Disney movies, including The Lady and the Tramp). She was extremely weird, but I adored her. She was also sort of evil-ish, in that she had no regard for her Clanmates whatsoever. She pretty much hated everyone, and gave them a tongue-lashing whenever she could, including Silverstar. She had no loyalties to anyone or anything, and her favorite thing to do was to get everyone into trouble. Once, she actually dug a pit and threw some kits inside of it just to watch them sit there and suffer. Yeah, she was not so good...but /so/ fun to role-play! She never had a mate or anything like that (could you imagine?) but she eventually found an apprentice that melted her a bit (Olivepaw, not rped by me, but he warmed up to her really quickly). Besides Olivepaw, the only other cat in the world she cared about was her mother. Shimmer and Silverstar met the same way as they did in Shattered, with Shimmer kind of chilling and grooming herself. However, in role-play, Shimmer and her mother were separated by wolves (wat?), not creepy ghost thingies that only they could see. She also did not have a brother. She did, however, have two sisters....
• ...which brings me to this. That whole tangled family thing in Shattered DID exist in role-play. However, Reedrush wasn't a part of it. Most of it was the same - Whitefrost gave her kit away to FrozenClan, that kit mated with Slaughter, had  kits, and ran off with one of them - however, Cinderstream had /three/ kits in original role-play: Shimmer, Toxin, and a cat you guys don't know named Mercury. That's right; Shimmer and Toxin were sisters! Mercury was pretty much a clone of Toxin, except she liked playing with her prey; i.e., other cats, before she devoured them. Sadistic little gal. I think I eventually killed her off, but I can't remember...also, Northy and Silver weren't originally related.
• Now, with Reedrush, almost everything was the same; she was born in  a strange society (not called the Kalan, but something like it), her father died (he was named Ashheart, though, which technically should have been Ash-heart, except I had a tendency to accidentally type it as Assheart) and she escaped from a Twoleg Pound. However, she was not pregnant; there was no cat named Blitz. Jag found her starving to death and taught her how to hunt; then they went their seperate ways. Reedrush did follow the scent of ash, left by her father, just as in Shattered. When Reedrush and Jag separated, Reedrush scented ash, and ran back to find Jag, only to see that he had been hit by a Twoleg monster. That's obviously the scenario that played out at the end of Shattered, just relocated to a different place in the plot. Anyway, Reedrush and Jag  were totally in love and such; however, Toxin was following them. You see, in role-play Toxin was actually decently aged, and she was looking for a mate. Jag was strong and junk, so she picked him, but nearly killed Reedrush. Jag obviously didn't want her and chased her off, but she followed them all the way to the Clans. Reedrush and Jag joined SecretClan, instead of Silverstar's Clan. Toxin discovered Silverstar there, and raced off to tell her dear daddy about the kitty that got away, which got them into a whole mess of trouble.
• That kind of brings me back to Toxin; again, she was older, and much more sadistic (although just as calculating as in Shattered). She was Slaugther's right-hand gal, and as such she was later assigned to take over a band of rogues. These rogues were led by Tremor, and all of the rogues in his band in Shattered were in original role-play. Blight was with Toxin, however (in this story he totally loved her, although she didn't really care about him) and eventually knocked her up. Toxin gave birth to several kits; Screech, Slit, Sulfur, Ax, and Pulse. Toxin and Blight were eventually chased out by Tremor and co., along with the kits, although Pulse stayed behind because she was a total softy and Toxin didn't like that.
• Rumble wasn't blind. He did, however, have extremely poor eyesight. He had a weird connection with the ground, in that he could sense the voices/movements of cats far away from the tremors in the earth. I obviously kind of twisted that into being part of his weird senses in Shattered, and I made him blind for the fun of it.
• Northstar's story is basically the same. He fled his Clan, stumbled on to SunsetClan (which is closest to PeakClan in this story) and saved a she-cat with kits from killing herself. The leader of SunsetClan (Sunstar) had knocked her up and then carelessly left her for the medicine cat, just like in Shattered. The queen and Northy fell in love, blah blah blah. He also gained an apprentice, little Rabbitpaw, although she didn't have a fluffy tail and wasn't as ditzy. She was more spiritual, but either way she helped Northy defrost. He still hated Silverstar, tho.
• Brightflash was inspired by Whitelight (had to change her name, obviously), a strange she-cat with amnesia who just sort of appeared. Brightflash is kind of spacey and distant just like her, although Whitelight didn't have a kit.
• Thistlepaw is completely original.
• As one of my reviewers mentioned, Buck was originally kind of a hick/redneck cat. I'd prefer not to talk about it. xD
• Flameheart (was that his name? I'm not sure anymore), the cat that Silverstar and co. found at the very beginning of Shattered (that dying warrior with the other warrior who gave him water? Remember?) was based off a background character named Sunbyrn, who was Frostfeather's mentor. I don't know why I spelled burn weird. I don't know why I thought that sounded like a good name. I just...don't know.
• Brightfire was originally a prisoner of TalonClan (he helped Osprey-whatever escape in role-play). His character was pretty much the same, all noble and jazz, except that he was also an excellent orator. I needed a sort of revolutionary for Shattered, so I decided to dig him up and rename him.
• Brightfire's original character had a sister, who did indeed take out Snake's eye in role-play.
• Wanna talk about Death? Let's talk about Death. Death was, in role-play, much cooler than in Shattered. He was big and muscular and strong and no body told him what to do. He was, however, still deathly afraid of kits, just as in Shattered. And, like in Death's chapter, kits were strangely attracted to him, which led to all sorts of shenanigans. Deathy was also really really REALLY lazy, to the point where he just slept/sunbathed all the time and yelled at anyone who wanted to make him do stuff. He and Frostfeather never really knew each other. SOMEHOW he managed to find himself a mate (Starlingfeather), and they had a bunch of kits (two were mine, Dazzlekit and Goldenkit. Dazzlekit's name was later Dazzleflash, which kind of inspired Brightflash's name, a bit). Death is probably one of my other top five cats to rp, and he's appeared in a few other rps in various forms since then.
• Northstar did name a kit after his mentor. However, the kit he named was actually his real son, not the kit of the leader.
• Blight was a more sympathetic character, originally. He totally loved Toxin (although she didn't love him back) and was in general kind of a failure. He was still a cannibal, though. 
• Snake existed as he does in Shattered, but he was more sympathetic too (I spent a lot of time playing with TalonClan in role-play). He still had his lust for silver she-cats (and lost an eye because of it) but he might have been kind of bisexual because he had a weird, extremely close relationship with a tom named Marshfoot. Snake and Toxin didn't interact too much, and Snake was never interested in Cinderstream.
• Marshfoot didn't appear in Shattered, although he was a pretty  interesting dude. He was a rogue (with a Clan name, for some reason) who nearly murdered his own kits because they were hard to take care of. His mate, Clearwater, fled with them and gave them to LakeClan. She eventually fell in love with a rogue named Arrow (an incredibly disturbed but amazing character). None of them were in Shattered.
• Tremor's band didn't change much, except that Phoenix never died (and eventually mated with Shredder. I couldn't remember if it was Scorpion or Shredder while I was writing Shattered, so I guessed, and apparently I was wrong). She actually had two kits (Harpy and Golem, continuing with the weird naming tradition). Swansong didn't die either; she mated with Scorpion. Primrose was the only one to die, in battle. Swansong and Primrose were both still kittypets who adopted Pyro/Merla. Swansong was also completely silent, and a bit of a prude (there was a story I read about how swans don't sing until they die, and their death song is referred to as a 'swansong', which inspired her name, so she didn't tell Scorpion she loved him until she nearly died; it was very dramatic and lovely xD).
• Sprig lived with the band just like in Shattered, although she was actually kind of important. She was FrozenClan's medicine cat, just like she was in Shattered. She trained Rumble and stuff.
• Belladonna was never in any role-play, or involved in any way. She was actually born when I noticed that deadly nightshade had a prettier name, belladonna. And thus, in my terrible, awful brain, her fate rose. Her life/death was decided at the very beginning of the story. The only thing that changed for her was popping out kits; Toxin was supposed to do it originally, but the timeline didn't really allow it. Ah well.
• Redkit and Bluekit are sort of new; back in role-play, Mitch and Natasha did find a couple of cats named Axel and Starsky (pronounced star-ski), but they kept 'em. 
• Blizzardkit/Robinkit/Jaykit are all new. Sootkit's new too.
• Forest is completely new, except for his appearance, which can kind of be credited to Timberkit. His crooked smile kind of came from the Aristocats, which I liked when I was little. xD
• Cane and Amber are also completely new. Carmelo is too.
• As mentioned before, Lion and his friends are based off of a group I used before; I used them first in Snatched, but that was the more idealistic version. In the Shattered version (true to role-play) everyone died and Lion went crazy. In role-play (keep in mind this is a different place than the one where I role-played with Silverstar) he went crazy, gathered some followers, and attempted to kill the leader. 
• Chill is a character I've used twice before; the first time, he met the same end as we see in Chilled's Prologue (and there was more planned for him after he died, I just didn't get around to it; Chilled will use that). The second time (still on-going) he's actually kind of a decent fellow, after a /lot/ of character development.
• Blackmoon has no basis in role-play; he's my brother's character, and I sort of twisted him to suit my own needs. 

I think that's all for the basic plot.

Names

•  Silverstreak/star's name actually remained the same; it's one of the few I liked, so I kept it.
• Silverstar's Clan was originally called ForestClan. I was planning for that name to be used in this story as well, which is why Forest exists; he was supposed to die and it was going to be awful and heart-wrenching and she'd name the Clan after him. But you guys loved him tons, and I realized I always kill of the leads, and if you're too used to that, where's the suspense? So I kept him alive, which is actually kind of cruel because now you guys don't know whether the romantic partner will live/die anymore. Yay me!
• Frostfeather was originally named Opalstorm. Ravenwing was Jadeleaf.

• Eaglestrike was named Nebulastar (Nebulapelt as a warrior).
• Northstar had no warrior name, I just never needed one.
• Rabbitpaw's name was Arrowpaw (she wasn't mine)
• Rosedapple's name was Palmribbon (not mine either, thank goodness)
• Lightstar was Sunstar, I don't remember Graywing's old name. Neither of them were mine either.
• Death's name actually was Deathstorm. That's partially why I call him Death in this story, a little private joke for myself. Horrible names, I know. He had a hater named Sparklewish, if that helps.
• Brightfire's name was Firebrand, and Rainsplash's was Dewdrop (I had a thing for compound names).
• Buck's name was Buckheart. Jag's was Jaggedheart. With Forest becoming Forestheart...yeah, I think you see the problem there.
• Reedrush's name actually stayed the same, since she wasn't from the Clans anyway.
• Cinderstream's name was Quicksilver, which makes no sense since it's a human term for mercury. I just thought it was pretty (if you haven't already guessed, I didn't put a lot of thought into these old names). Also, incidentally, Quicksilver wasn't as crazy/needy as Cinderstream was after she ran off. Ah well.
• As mentioned before, Ashstir was Ash-heart. -stir fits more with the Kalan's theme, though.
• Again, Brightflash was Whitelight.
• Natasha and Mitch were Sasha and Mitch (written before the real Sasha appeared and gave birth to her messed-up kits).
• As mentioned before, Flameheart was Sunbyrn (shudder again).
• Brackenheart was originally known as Strongheart. What the dump is that, I don't know. Thus, Northstar's son was named Strongkit.
• Silverstar (senior, the one Silverstreak was named for) went by Tarnish after he fled his Clan.
• BirchClan was ForestClan, ShellClan was AquaClan, and MarshClan was MarshClan. FrozenClan was...AuroraClan (shudder) which didn't make any sense since they didn't have auroras. 
• TalonClan was...oh man...I'm ashamed to even say it. ReaperClan, there. Yeah. ReaperClan. Like the Grim Reaper. Which cats don't know about. Which cats wouldn't care about anyway. That's what they named themselves after. Yeah.

I think that's all the horrible revelations from my past. If not, I'll update it or something...hopefully you guys don't think I'm an idiot now, ha. Looking back, I was pleased at how much I've changed (especially with names...dear God, my names!). So...yeah. xD

T-the end? B-but....;^;

Yeppers, it's the end; we finally finished this marathon. Shattered was close (so close) to being a year old, but I managed to pull through, ha. And we're currently the longest; no other story has 300k, and there's only one over 200k, so I think I'm safely on top for the time being. :D

Anywho, question time...it'll be awhile before I get to do this again (sob) because I'm going to be realllly busy. Ah, well, here we goooo:

@Crowstorm: Leopardpaw is one of the characters in Chilled; one of the main characters, to be exact, although we don't see from her POV.

@AutumnSunsets: I'm not a big Naruto fan, but my little brother is, so I know who you're talking about. All he ever watches is Shippueden, or however you spell, it though, so we don't see Sasuke much. xD Also, Chill was never around Clover at all; he was brought into the camp after a patrol found him wandering the territory. Lion just clung to the hope that Chill was his son...because Lion was craaazy. We'll see Minnow in the sequel, and the kits too, no worries about that.

@InsaneCertifiably: We'll have Chilly's intentions for Silver in the sequel. Can't spill no beans just yet, sorry!

@Shimmertail: Aww, I appreciate your rambling, it makes the reviews more fun to read!

@Lynxeye: Ha. I was going to kill off Forest, there for awhile, but I changed my mind about mid-way through the story, partially because you guys were so attached to him...and partly because if I killed off all my main lovers, what would the surprise be at the end, mm? I'm actually being crueler this way, because now that a story has ended semi-happily, you guys will never know how I'm planning for the others to end. I'm laughing evilly right now, you just can't hear me.

Also, a few people have asked where I RP/where my old RP was. I role-play on Neopets (don't laugh at me!). That's where I got my start (I wasn't looking for a guild, it just sort of...happened) and, incidentally, role-playing is what got me into writing fics in the first place. Where I first started out no longer exists, but I'm currently in a really lovely guild called The Den of Warriors. You guys can find the webbie at http://neopets.com/~tdowexplore. You're welcome to join (it'd be cool if you did) but I'll warn you that we're pretty literate (not crazy literate, though) and you've got to fill out an application to join.

The funny thing was, the guild leader was actually reading Shattered when I first joined, so she kind of thinks of me as a celebrity, which is awesome for me! If you guys want to look me up on Neo, my username is princessleopard (old name, ugh, but the inspiration for my pen name). Shoot me a neomail any time.

If you're not interested in role-play but would like a good laugh, go to http://neopets.com/~_Mistyfoot__. There are all of my old old OLD characters from when I first started out. Many of them have ridiculous names (which I'll address in the comparison thingy) but until I get that up, feel free to guess who was who long ago, and stuff. And remember, if I can go from being that bad to half way decent (I'm decent, right?) then anyone can!

Oh, and also...did I mention that Chilled will be written from FIRST POV? Fun times! I need some practice with it, and I figured...heck, why not?

Anywho, I've got big girl stuff to do now; I'll get the prologue and everything else up when I can, but we'll see when that actually is. Until then....<3

Last POV chapter ;^;

Sorry I didn't update this yesterday, I uploaded the chappy right before I had to go to bed so you guys would have something to read and so I wouldn't be so guilty for continuing to be late. Eh. xD

So, that was our last POV chapter and stuffs. BUT we still have the epilogue (I always title them as being epilogues, so you don't have to freak out that the story is over until you see that, for future reference), which will both tie up some loose ends and untie some other knots for the sequel to deal with. Sweet, rite?

Also, I think the before-and-after list is a definite yes; I'll put it here on the blog, in a separate post so you don't have to read it if you don't want to.

ALSO (tambien en espanol) this blog will continue to be updated and such, as I'll need it still for the sequel. After I post the epilogue, I'll answer questions about Chill's chapter, and after I post the prologue for the new story (when that will be, I'm not sure yet), I'll answer questions from the epilogue, and everything should be normal from there on out.

Tiempo de preguntas (time of questions, literally, but I think it's safe to say we would just say Question Time)!

 @Shimmertail: It gladdens me that you're a fellow Troper. Maybe you'll be the one to start a trope page for my stories? Ha. We'll see what happens to Toxin in the epilogue, and Lion too; however, Lion did not believe in StarClan. He didn't believe they were evil, or anything, that was more Slaughter/Blight's agenda; Lion believed that the Clans were a corrupt system that had to be destroyed in order for him to get over his friends' deaths. He didn't care about StarClan one way or another, really. And yes, I'm fond of how Silverstar killed him too; growth on her part, since she's finally willing to take things to that final level, but there were kinder motives behind it too. And yes, Arrowpaw (she wasn't my character...but my own names were horrible too, so). Rabbitpaw is mostly based on Arrowpaw (except for a few things, like her tail; Arrowpaw had no tail problems or anything), who was role-played by a old friend of mine.

Ninjakitty: Yep, Belladonna is what we call a dilute calico, a white cat dappled with cream and blue. I think they're extremely pretty, but rare, so that's why she was a kittypet. Rosedapple is silver, splashed with darker gray/silver.

QueenofthePens: Paragliding sounds fun, but I'm terrified of heights, ha (especially bridges. I HATE bridges). Northy starting his own Clan would be the coolest thing since the wheel (i.e. it would trump even sliced bread!). And of course Chilled will be spaced like that; all the cool kids do it! And, you know, it's kinda an eye-catcher, which has worked well for me so far. I sort of agree about Forest, though, him having a warrior name feels really...weird. But he's no Daisy or Millie or Purdy, so he's gotta have one.

JayEyedWolf: You're right, I should have included sharp objects. PLEASE don't hit me with objects of any kind. D:

Crowstorm: Mmm, I honestly kind of liked the italic/normal transition; it probably looked weird on the site, though, because the dashes didn't translate right, but I felt that it communicated the quick pace and confusion of battle...but maybe that's just me. Also, no, the place where I role-played (a guild on Neopets) doesn't exist anymore, I don't think, and all I have saved are my old characters.

Everthorn: Hey, buddy! To answer your questions, in my experience the chapters are about 5k, although some have been as low as 3k (and the prologue was 1k, but that doesn't count since prologues are never too long). The longest chapter (Reedrush's first one) was a whopping 19k! As for the pages, I can't give an estimate on that because while I write I often change the fonts and sizes to accommodate my mood/the character (for example, Northstar and Lion were both written in sort of old-fashioned fonts, like Century, whereas Nightshade's were written in a couple really messed up fonts that were all jagged and junk; most of Silverstar's were written in Century Gothic, etc.) so the page numbers varied wildly according to all that.

I think that's all the questions, but I have one more tidbit for you guys. As I just mentioned, the original role-play has all been long deleted BUT I have some of my old characters. They can be viewed here:

http://www.neopets.com/~_Mistyfoot__

Be warned, many of my names are HORRIBLE. Most of the characters from Shattered are there; some are missing or have been changed, but all that will be addressed at the end with the before-and-after thing. A lot of stuff in story is like inside jokes for me based on bad stuff that happened in role-play (for example, if you look on that page you'll see a cat named Deathstorm. Yes, for real. Deathstorm, if you think really hard, probably reminds you of Darkstorm/Death. The reason he's called Death for most of the story was a sort of reminder for me of who he used to be...a way to cringe at my poorly conceived names. Also, as I mentioned previously in the story, Death is MUCH more pathetic than Deathstorm...but they were both paedophobic and lazy, so it all works out.).

I think that's all for now; hopefully the epilogue will be up soon. See ya then!

IT'S THE EYE OF THE TIGER, IT'S THE THRILL OF THE FIGHT

Stupid title is stupid.

Anywho, the battle's over and we're gathering the wounded and dead. Yay for that. Yay for Forest being alive.

A lot of people felt bad for Blight (gasp!). So we'll get this out here right now. Yes, Blight was a horrible disgusting monster of a cat. But he did love Nightshade in the end, even if it was in the most twisted of ways. Because, honestly, I think that if you can convince someone that they love you as strongly as he did with Nightshade, you can't help but lose a bit of yourself to them too. I'm not saying that redeemed him in any way or made him any less completely despicable, but y'know. Fun stuff to think about.

AND now that Nightshade/Belladonna is over and done with, we can talk about brainwashing! Believe it or not, I did a bit of research, and the methods that Blight used were very similar to the methods that the Koreans used on American soldiers during the war. AND,some of those soldiers actually did switch side, becoming commies and all. HOWEVER, the effects of said brainwashing didn't always work (cases in point: Robin & Minnow) and when they did work, the condition was extremely unstable (hence Nightshade's craziness and confused questioning of whether or not she should follow Blight) and required constant affirming. That's why Blight had to spend so much time with her, and when she was with others the cracks began to show. And when she saw Buck - the physical representation of the memories she was repressing - everything started going bad. And then the Master died at Buck's claws, which caused the clash of both of her personalities. In the end, only one could remain dominant.

@Dawnshine: The question mark wasn't because /I/ didn't know whether to put Nightshade or Belladonna. It was because Nightshade/Belladonna herself didn't know who she was.

@artemis: Yes, Buck could tell pretty easily that Nightshade was preggers, but remember this is the first time he's seen her in a long time, so her giant belly would be obvious. Blight's been with her every day for moons, so the changes are too small for him to really see. Kinda like how you don't really notice your puppy is growing up, but when your friends come over they comment on how big he is.

@CrystalSakura: They're in the same universe as SnowClan (Fear/Brownfur, remember) but SnowClan won't exist for a long time in this timeline. Too bad Blight doesn't know about the other four Clans, though. xD

I think that's all for now, my brain's kind of in the toilet (AP tests this week and next week! Oh God!). We're close to the end, blah blah blah. c:

WE'RE SO CLOSE

I was gonna update this after I posted the latest chappy, but it was really late...and then I totally forgot until now. Worst blogger ever, I know, I know.

But it kind of just hit me that this next chapter will be the last full Silverstar chapter EVAR. Serious shiz time, man. We're down to the wire, after moons of stalllllling.I'm kind of terrified.

Also, WOW. I'm surprised that a lot of you actually said you're advertising/talking about my story. It's like being a celebrity when you don't know you are. It's cool, and I really appreciate you guys; it's thanks to you all that this story even exists. <3

@WolfOfBloodPack: Silver and Forest are mates. However, they haven't, ah "sealed the deal" as of yet. As mentioned briefly in a previous chapter, Silver didn't want to do any deal-sealing, because being with kits and losing them like Doveflight would be the worst thing ever, and she didn't want to go through that; plus, having a pregnant leader before or shortly after the battle would be hugely bad, since they need her in a leader-y frame of mind to pick up the pieces after the dust finally settles. They do lick and such, but there's just not enough time to show them interacting much, without bogging down the story.

@Ninjakitty: Dapplefern went to go tattle about PeakClan's plans only a few days before the battle; because of Silverstar, she knew when the battle would take place, so she just waited for TalonClan to get close so she could sneak off to talk to them without making her Clanmates suspicious. They were probably around the lake somewhere, and she went around Twolegplace instead of through it, so it didn't take too long...and no one likes her anyway, so they don't watch her very closely. xD

@Mlaia3: *sniffs* Do I smell a Troper here? c:

@Shimmertail: I'm not exactly sure where Scourge's timeline fits in with everything else; because it's only been a few moons after Brownfur fled MarshClan, we know that it is well before Snowkit was probably even born...but not too far, I guess. It could be well within the canon timeline for Scourge to be making BloodClan, and I guess it could be possible for Jaggedclaw to be a part of it in the past...maybe? He might be too old, I dunno. I epic fail with timelines, if you didn't already guess from TR and Snatched. xD

And, I guess my ANs will stay, because it seems you guys like them...I'll try to tone them down after epic battles and junk, tho, honest.

Also, I'll do the before-and-after thing (it's going to be so long, oh God D:) but after the story's over, cuz I'd be spoiling otherwise.

Thanks again to everyone advertising by word of mouth and all, I really appreciate it. I don't think I say this enough; I love you guys! <33

Oh Dear, 50

I'm sorry, I haven't updated this yet! I kinda forgot. DD:

Anyway, we've got time, sooo.

For the people who asked about Northstar/wind; he'll remain Northstar for at least the duration of the story. Only a few cats don't know he isn't really Northstar, and I honestly can't imagine him without the -star suffix. It's kind of part of who he is. C:

@JayEyedWolf: The sequel will only be a few moons ahead of time, so all the main characters (or...at least most of them, mwhaha) will be there. They won't be the focal point, but most of them will still be be-bopping around down.

@CrystalSakura: As Silverstar briefly thinks in this chapter, PeakClan isn't native to the forest; they used to live somewhere else, and presumably wherever they used to live a long time ago had more than one Clan.

@Shimmertail: Ha, for once my innuendo wasn't intentional! And I'm honored that someone would write a fic of my fic (seriously, that's dedication!).

@QueenofthePens: There are similarities, sure, but some things are obviously different. This enemy has been foreshadowed, instead of randomly appearing (seriously, we never heard of them before the book they appeared in) and, although it is similar in that Clans are joining forces, that doesn't necessarily mean they're exactly the same. For one thing, in this battle the other leaders will actually do something in battle, rather than letting Firestar/Silverstar do everything by themselves. And...there was more when I first read the question, but I can't remember them now. Sorry. xD

@Crowstorm: I'll just leave what happened that night to your imagination. It would be awkward for Rosey to be preggo again, ya, but I don't think anyone would really hold it against her now. Dapple is her main hat3r, and....

@Oakwhisper: I'm honored, and you're definitely not a psychopath. I think about it at school too...although that's planning, really. :p

@Frostfirecat: A little late, but happy birthday, darling! *tosses Northy plushie*

@JayEyedWolf (again?): I don't have a warrior name for Hawky just yet, but I will. And, as always, I can't spoil pairings. :p

@:Lynxeye: Thanks! I'm definitely not fond of Jayfeather, as you can see. As for Silverstar's family tree, most of it occurred a long time ago in rp, although there were a lot of changes I had to make for this draft.

I think that's all (it was a lot to reply to!) which is awesome. Hopefully I'll have the next chappy soon. In the meantime, here's the current layout:

Ch 51: Someone's POV (no way!)
Ch 52: Silverstar
Ch 53: Another mystery guest's POV
Epilogue

So ya, not long. xD

I'm Only Kinda Late....

Ya, so, didn't get time to update the blog before I left...and then unfortunately I didn't write anything because

a) Had to do some homework (and by some I mean 100+ AP US History terms)
b) I usually wait at least an hour before starting to write (only when in the car) because for some reason it helps me get my ideas together...and I kinda dozed off.
c) Something wiggity-wack was going on with the battery, so the first time I turned the computer on, it was already at 80%. Ten minutes later, it was at 59%. So...ya.

So those are my excuses for not giving you another chappy when I came home. Please buy them and don't eat me. :D

@Shimmertail: I'm really curious now....Why don't you already have an ff account? They're easy to make. As for my music, I've been listening to Pandora Radio lately (you can thank that beautiful invention for these updates, oh yes). You can see all of my songs that I've check-marked and stuff (the one I listen to most often is the Perfect one; it takes the title as the first song you pick as the title of the station, and I just typed in "Perfect", so don't think I named it that on purpose. I didn't know it was the name of the song, lawl. xD
Anywho, linky:
www.pandora.com/people/princessleopard1
Also, I've no idea what Toxin's warrior name was. Eheh. You can make up one for her, I don't care. xD

@QueenofthePens: Eh, maybe she'll die in the battle, I dunno. I don't think that's what's up with Dapplefern; she just deals really, really badly with rejection (shoulda given that one some thought there, Northstar) and when Lightstar gave her apprentice away, she felt like the entire Clan rejected her...and...we'll see. C:

Silverstar didn't tell Northy because it would seriously completely and totally rock his world. Because, not only is he then responsible for the death of his father, but the sister he never knew he had, too. And then his loyalties will be all squished, and...it would be messy. He needs to keep his head in the game right now, so he's ready for the battle, instead of worrying over past wrongs, and she knows that.

I think that's all for this round...maybe? I dunno, I'm sleepy, so. Stay tuned, and all that...love you guys. <3

Holy New Chapter, Batman!

Yep, me again. You prolly didn't want to see me again so soon...my bad. But 'tis an important chappy, so yay, right?

We're really close to the end, if that wasn't painfully obvious.

@Shimmertail: Maybe (for Dapplefern). Leopardpaw isn't currently connected to anyone at this stage of the planning process, but you would not believe how much crap I just make up on the spot. So who knows, really. xD The Scourge story is still untitled, bleh.

@Ninjakitty: Sandpelt is Hawk/Ice's daddy, and Dapplefern's his sister, so she's Ice's aunty. It shows. xD

I think that's all, since I had about 9 reviews this time. Hope you enjoyed this chappy, tho, it felt epic while I was writing it. Love Pandora's Radio Thingy.

Rabbitpaw's Shenanigans

Yay, another chappy, blah blah blah. :D

@CrystalSakura: I can't remember Firestar's ceremony, but I think Cinderpelt at least came with him to the Moonstone...and I know fo sho that Echosong was with Leafstar when she gained her nine lives in Firestar's Quest. I'm pretty sure that medicine cats are at least there during the ceremonies.

If you guys need a picture, I have a truly wacked-out family tree? Wanna see it? xD

@AutumnSunsets: The Kalan already existed before Cinderstream came with lil baby Reed. Ashstir's mother's mother already made it.

@Shimmertail: I'm sorry for the death of your One True Pairing...but me? Kill Forest? *whistles innocently* Also, it's funny that you mention Timberkit, because in original role-play one of her kits was named Timberkit (although in rp she wasn't mates with anyone called Forest and there wasn't a Timber).

Also, I would again like to point out that my updates are not very long inbetween. Most webcomics/fics only update once a week, and mine are usually earlier than that. If we do a little math, perhaps we'll see. There are 52 weeks in a year. Divide that by 12 months and you get about 4.3 weeks in a month. Shattered is ten months and eight days old. That's about 43.14 weeks. We currently have 48 chapters. So...yeah. I generally update more than just once a week, so I don't really know why it would seem like it's been a long time for you guys...? Sometimes it's a bit more than a week, I know, but life gets in the way, or writer's block sets in, which isn't really my fault. xD

Love you guys as much as ever, though. <3 Also, I'd like to encourage voting on the poll (it's still pretty close despite about 2/3 of you voting for Chilled, because there haven't been many total votes). Also, I'd like to go ahead and give you gives a sneak peek of Chilled, in case it wins. Here's one of our main characters:

As the lil blurb says, this is Leopardpaw, found as a rogue on the territory. Sootkit/paw is our main character; her brother Spiderkit/paw is sort of like our Northstar in terms of how many chapters he'll receive, since the POV is going to bounce between the two of them. Leopardpaw will not receive any POV chapters, so she's kind of like...Frostfeather or Ravenwing. Important, but we don't stare into her mind or anything.

I'm very fond of her design, honestly, but enough about aesthetics. The actual character of Leopardpaw is puzzling; she seems nice enough on the outside, but she's a schemer, and doesn't hold back even when sparring with her Clanmates. She's very antisocial, and has an odd habit of watching the Clan; definitely a suspicious character, especially since she cares to share so little of her past. Most of Spiderkit/paw's chapters will revolve around his suspicion of her.

I think the chapter order will be Sootpaw, Sootpaw, Spiderpaw, Sootpaw, Sootpaw, Spiderpaw, etc. Sootpaw's the main focus, but Spiderpaw lets us see what's going on with the home front.

This is probably all really confusing (but hopefully interesting) since most of you guys don't know the broad strokes of Chilled's plot. Sorry, but it would be too spoiler-y for Shattered right now. xD

Uh, anyway, hope you enjoyed this lil glance. Sorry about the size of the picture, it won't format right. If you click on it, it'll be big and you can read the blurb on the side. ^^

Until next time~

Nine lives, oh jesus

Finally completed Silverstreak's nine lives. Hope you guys enjoyed finally discovering her tangled family tree. (Seriously, I tried making one for AshClan, and it's like...impossible. Dear God.)

Queen Of The Pens, you can quote me if you like, I don't mind. xD

Autumn_Sunsets: Sweet! Someone finally asked if Blight's ever done this before, and why. How exciting! I promise those questions will be answered, I'm just not sure if it'll be in-story, or not. If I can't do it in-story, I'll answer it either here or in my final AN.

@Tears of a Black Wolf: I dunno if I like them or not, I don't generally pay attention to the artists of songs I like, ha.

@Bluefire Eternal: I'm the same way, I keep an eye on the books through wikis, cuz I can't stomach reading them anymore...I just like making sure that canon hasn't changed much, important things like how StarClan/the Dark Forest work, that sort of thing.

Rainshimmer, I've missed you tons! Glad you're back! Slaughter is totally a pedophile, but so are a lot of cats in the Warriors series (cough Ashfur and Brambleclaw, cough). And you asked about the 'whys' of Blight's stuff too, which makes me happy.

@Thewhispers: Thanks for pointing that out. Curse you, blind toms!

Everyone hates Dapplefern. I wonder why....xD She'll get her comeuppance eventually, methinks.

I suppose that's all for now. Thanks for the reviews, as always. <3

Chapters 44 and 45

Made it past the FFN glitch (obviously) and forgot to answer reviews last time. So.

Nightshade, bearing kits? Geez, that would be incredibly cruel. Do you really think I'm that mean? D:

I mean, I am that cruel to my charries, and theoretically it could be possible, I guess. But still.

@Crowstorm: As shown in this newest chapter, Minnow had no way of knowing if Nightshade was aware of the situation, or whose side she'd be on. She also didn't know what Blight was planning, so going along with it might not have helped her; the problem is she has no idea what happened to Nightshade, and whether or not Blight was trying the same thing with her.

@Autumn_Sunsets: Good point about Merla and Pyro! Unfortunately, being rogues they don't have much of a kithood, so these sort of adult ideas are important in their lives. Obviously they don't know about the moral and mental implications of taking a life, but they've experienced so much violence already (by way of Maggot's constant raids as well as the loss of their mother) that it seems like the only way they can respond.

@QueenofthePens: Yes, the brain-washing is extreme...but the scary part is, I based it in fact. Koreans tried this technique (almost exactly) on American soldiers during the Korean war. They actually managed to turn some soldiers onto their side as well, although like we see with Nightshade, the result was both destructive and fragile; keeping such a hold is very, very difficult. As Blight is finding out, what with Nightshade breaking Minnow out and all.

@Shimmertail: We'll see Toxin's alliances soon, don't you worry. Once upon a time, they were kind of in love (a squicky, twisted kind of love, ya), but now....

Hmm, I thought the cliffhanger was worse than you guys seem too...but I guess I haven't connected enough dots for you yet. It's all so clear to /me/, but...I've obviously got the privileged information here. ^^

@PricelessCatLady: I found the answer on the forums, and the person who posted it got it from Yahoo Answers. You're welcome. :)

@Shimmertail: Again, congrats on the kittens! And you're right, we'd really be in for it if Shimmerpaw was evil. She kind of was in role-play...she was a bit of a psychopath, really, since she didn't care about anyone but herself. xD

Chappies 43 y 42

Yay, Nightshade craziness is always good to her about, right?

Sorry, I keep forgetting to update this blog. Don't think I've forgotten about you, darlings. <3

Aaah, TLK II. I couldn't even tell you the last time I watched that; Scar's ebil mistress was cool, but the kinda crappy Romeo/Juliet bit was a lil much for me.

Crystal-Sakura, you asked why I kinda gave up after the first series. Well, I'll keep it simple: once the Clan sent out cats to go find a magical talking badger who sounded like Yoda, I was turned off. It only got worse when they introduced the Tribe (who is apparently so useless they have to have outsiders help them with all their problems; if they had the cougar hunting them all this time, you'd think they'd be strong just to survive; instead they can't handle a bunch of rogues and need the Clan cats) and then the whole FeatherxCrowxLeaf fiasco just really drove home how much the Erins hate their she-cat characters. She-cats always suffer way, way more than the toms, ESPECIALLY in relationships.

Queen of the Pens, you asked why Silverstreak was refusing to get her nine lives. She was not; she simply did not have time. It has to be during the night, but the first night she had to train with Northstar (if she'd not gone to their first training session together, the seeds of distrust would have been spread...or fertilized...or sprouted...something metaphory like that) and the next night she had to speak with Cane/Amber. There was no time in between, so she's going to do it the next night.

I think that's all, mff. I'm tired. xD

Chapter 41

Random quick update, yay.

Queen of the Pens, the only admirer that you listed that I can refute is Buck; he's having a steamy affair with Jag while Northy gets it on with Silver and Rose plots his death, remember? xD

That's a very interesting idea, Shimmertail, although as always my lips are sealed. Still, the things you guys think of are really cool. xD

Crystal Sakura, you have a point about Blackmoon's name. However, I'm pretty hardcore against anything /written/ after the first series (not including Firestar's Quest, as I felt it was a more back-to-basics story. I am personally very, very much against using Moon or Sun as a prefix or suffix. Both the moon and sun are heavenly bodies just like the stars; they basically control the cats' entire lives with their rotations. I kind of compare them to the Holy Trinity; no one ever names their character Starkit unless they want to be made fun of, just like no one names their child Jesus. And no one should name their kit Moonkit or Sunkit any more than they would name their kid God or the Holy Ghost (although that would be a pretty BA name).

Also, SkyClan's Destiny is kind of an embarrassment for the whole Warriors series; there was a Frecklewish, and that should really say it all. xD

Chapter 40

Yay, landmark 40th chappy~

For all those who asked, Chill is completely, definitely, and totally NOT Lion's real son. Lion knows this, in the back of his mind, but he can't directly think about it. It doesn't make sense, really; Chill is too old, and completely white versus Clover's ginger and white. Chill also has blue eyes, which neither Clover nor Lion had.

Snowfur, I will be the first to say that I hate this timeline. It's messy and uncoordinated even when I have the events organized, because in order to portray some events I have to skip around in time and it's even a little confusing for me sometimes, so I understand where you're coming from. I'll probably never do a story this complex because of it. xD

Whether or not the Clans are "good" or "bad" isn't Lion's priority. He knows Silverstreak isn't guilty of anything, but Fadedstar cost Lion his kits; in a way, Lion is doing the same by killing Silverstreak. He knows that individual cats may be good, but in his mind the Clans are a corrupt, evil system that he must bring down, no matter the cost, to ensure that he will never lose his family (which now consists entirely of Chill) again. It's kinda tragic, really. :3

Chill also knows that he isn't Lion's son. He's actually of apprenticing age, although he's very small for his size. Because of how old he is, he does remember his past, including his real mother. That's why he was alarmed about Lion mentioning his mother; he thought Lion meant his biological mother, that he'd figured out who Chill really was.

Lion hasn't killed any of his followers yet...but any cat still in TalonClan is a coward or deserter from the original Clans. Some cats joined to protect their kin, but most of those have probably fled, like Brightfire and Rainsplash. The original FrozenClan cats make up most of TalonClan, but they want to kill the BirchClan cats and take their revenge on Northstar anyway, so everything works out for them.

We'll see about who Blight sides with, but remember that at heart Blight is a coward out for his own self first; he'll side with whoever has the power.

Carmelo is currently united with Toxin; they might or might not have a physical relationship, although an emotional one might also be possible. Carmelo isn't a very slimy, shifty cat, although he is charismatic; he'll only turn on Lion if Lion shows signs of betraying him, or if his increasing psycho-ness becomes truly evident. We might find out how he and Toxin met, but I'm not sure yet.

That's a very interesting idea, Crystal-Sakura, but I of course can't say anything about that. Chill will probably and obviously play a part in the sequel, but...well...we'll see. xD

Snowstar of RiverClan, I'm afraid I don't know who Featherthorn is...and the only defining features of Carmelo (physically) would be his golden fur and eyes, but you said the eyes are different, so I'm not exactly sure how their pelt color makes them extremely similar...?

And you're welcome (since I'm sure you'll thank me, because you lovely people usually do) for the quick update!

Chappy 39

Yay, Lion's insanity. Honestly, I felt that this chapter was really, really bad because I was having CRIPPLING blockage, and everything I tried with him just felt awful. Lion is one hard nut to crack, lemme tell ya. D:

For those still wondering about what the heck Belladonna looks like, you can try googling "blue calico" or "dilute calico". A blue calico is a cat that has blue patches instead of black, and cream instead of ginger, like a normal calico cat. I think they're very pretty myself, and she's the first character I've had with that coloring (it doesn't look very good on pictures, but if you see one IRL it is sooo pretty <3). Too bad she's such a head case, eh?

And, about Brightflash...no. *awkward cough* Originally she was Lightflash, but it was awkward because of Lightstar, so I changed it to something almost the same, but...there's Brightfire. Eheh. I'm an idiot sometimes, I know. She'll need a name change, but it's okay. She's based off a character named Whitelight (rhymes D:) who had amnesia, although I never had the opportunity to delve into her past.

*tosses Shimmertail a Northy plushie with Super-Sleeping Action* It would be sweet if you named them after my characters, but please don't name any of them Belladonna. She'd be doomed from the start. xD

Some of your predictions were also very interesting. It's a given that Lion will attack Silverstreak (no one else is taking his revenge from him), but why do you think that Eaglestrike and Stonestar will die? It's possible that Eaglestrike might (not saying anything more about that, mhm) but Stonestar has nine shiny-and-spiffy new lives. Do you think Lion or TalonClan could take them all away?

CrystalSakura, you asked about Mousepaw's stutter. I just threw it in there when I first made him (because...I can?) but the reason he switches words is actually something I learned from observing my teacher (he has a very bad stutter). When he gets to a word that he's stuck at and knows he can't get past, he'll switch to another word or phrase that is easier for him. Like Porky Pig (no offense to any stuttering readers).

You also asked about /why/ Dapplefern is crazy (most people just guessed who she was and left it at that). Dapplefern isn't crazy, exactly, but she has an enormous ego because of her snazzy looks. She's always been able to get what she wanted, but Northstar was not at all interested (and a little creeped out, because he's not exactly experienced in these sorts of matters) and rejected her. She's acting kind of like an angry cheerleader, but since this is a life-or-death kinda world, things are a liiittle more serious.

Now, one final issue that I'd like to address. Someone named "Nightfrost" left a review that kind of irked me. I'd like to address her concerns, if I may.

Firstly, I had never said that cats have to look identical in order to be related...but they do have to share their traits with their parents. Maybe you haven't gotten to genetics in middle school yet, but kits inherit their traits from their parents. It wouldn't make sense for them to look wildly different, although many different-looking kits can appear in a litter depending on how many fathers there were. Secondly, I never said that all white cats with blue eyes were deaf. In real life, roughly 70% of them are, but not all. Whitestorm didn't have white fur and blue eyes; his eyes were yellow, so he's not exactly the best example there. Also, if you remember, both Chill and Blizzardkit are white with blue eyes...so not even all of my own characters are deaf. Also, I would appreciate if you'd work a bit on your grammar and spelling before critiquing another writer. ^^;

Please understand that I definitely appreciate any and all critique, so long as it actually...makes sense. Y'know what I mean. xD

Anyway, our beautiful 40th chappy should be here soon. C:

PMD: Sapphire

So, since I'm writing a PMD fic, I figured they deserve their own question-answering posts. Crystal-Sakura asked all the questions, so:

* It isn't that Dewdum loves dew (although they do), it's that a long time ago that's what their town was known for, because it was so pretty. It became a tradition to have the dew on the roofs all day, and they had to preserve that after the weather grew warmer, so it falls to some fabulous Ice Pokemon to keep it going.

*For the squiggly e, go to Insert -> Symbols -> More Symbols and just look for it. To get it in every word I type "Pokemon" while I'm writing, then go back to Ctrl+F to find and replace "Pokemon" with Pokémon.

*Thanks for the heads up, I need to change it eventually.

*Sapphire knows about birds/bugs the same way we know about dinosaurs and smilodons. Around Ash Ketchum's time (in the first few episodes of the anime, anyway) normal animals existed. This is way in the future (somewhere in the ball park of 2000 years) but humans would still remember them existing, even if they all went extinct. They probably have cute little old nature shows and everything.

*Igglybuff is the pre-evolved form of Jigglypuff. You're thinking of Wigglytuff (confusing, ain't it?)

*Most teams want to be legend teams, since they still get to do rescue/exploration team stuff with the bonus of chatting with Legendary. It's pretty much everyone's ambition.

V-Day, Hooray

Yay, somewhat fluffy chapter. Good times. :3

Few small answers

*giggles* I kind of half-way named Cane/Amber after Cain/Abel. It just sort of fell into place, there was no real beginning for the idea of them.

Natasha and Mitch aren't exactly mates; they're old friends, but they kind of have romantic feelings for each other. When Natasha found Red/Bluekit, she was hoping the two of them could raise them together, but she unfortunately couldn't produce any milk.

Crystal-Sakura, don't worry! Your reviews are crystal-clear (*giggle*, I'm so lame) to me, and I do the same thing when writing AN's (or answering these questions D:). And the sequel might or might not include Chill/be related. We'll see. @.@

Lynxeye: Why did Sandpelt retreat?

Pretty much all of the answers that you listed, actually. PeakClan was outmatched (although not outnumbered) and from the very beginning the raid was pretty much doomed. He was also worried about her words, since he was the deputy and could barely land a blow on her; he knew his warriors wouldn't fair much better. And, he needed some time to regroup and rethink their battle plan. Retreating was really all he could do, since PeakClan was losing.

Crystal-Sakura also mentioned something about the rogue-band names, which I meant to justify but forgot to. So:

The rogue band actually comes from original role-play (really far back). It was a lot of fun, although the events were quite different (Blight really did get into the band, but he had Toxin with him, and she actually was pregnant; they didn't kill anyone, although they tried it). Mostly their names were just sort of fun and random when I first created them, and I wanted to preserve a bit of the old spirit, since this new story is drastically different from the silliness of my old rps. Phoenix and Griffin were both originally kittypets, and kept their names; same for Swansong and Primrose. Swansong and Primrose actually adopted Merla and Pyro; the two little kits didn't remember anything but their names. Scorpion and Shredder come from a dear rp-friend of mine with cats of the same names (one of them became Swansong's mate originally, the other mated with Phoenix, but I always got them mixed up and I can't remember which was which now).

Chapter 37 uppp

Lawl, what I loved about the reviews for these chapters was that for Chapter 36 you were all "Death's phobia is so funny :D" but by Chapter 37 you were all "...D:". Bwahahaha.

Yes, the psycho kitty was obviously Dapplefern. Just making sure you guys remembered the good ol' days. :p

Jeremy Irons has one of the coolest voices ever, so if some of you imagine Northstar talking like that, more power to you.

For those who mentioned Northy being good, keep in mind that this is all benefiting him. Sure, Stonestar doesn't trust him now, but if he can prove himself in battle then he hopes that will change, and he's hoping that Silverstreak will die during/after the battle. Once the battle's over, if everyone is still alive he'll be focused on taking them down again. Yay.

Queen of the Pens, your dot points have utterly convinced me. Rosedapple must secretly be the killer; so secretly that I didn't even know! Truly, your brilliance astonishes me. Would I be wrong to assume that you already knew about the (rather passionate) affair that Buck and Jag are having behind closed doors? :)

Shimmertail, I will neither confirm nor deny your theory. But, a few things you might have to reconsider:

a) Reedrush is not Ashstir's biological daughter. He mentions that his mate brought Reedrush with her, and that although Ashstir raised her as his own, she is not his daughter.

b) When did Cinderstream's sister leave the Clan? If Reedrush was not Ashstir's daughter and Cinderstream's sister lived in BirchClan, that means the father would be a BirchClan tom. Wouldn't Silverstreak have mentioned by now a queen that ran off with one of her own kits? That would be big news, even if it happened a long time ago. Silverstreak would remember that, maybe even recognize Reedrush, depending on how old she was when her mother left the Clan.

I think those were all of the answerable bits I really had during these reviews...but, these reviews were all very lovely and juicy, and I thank you all for that! You guys are the reason Shattered exists, just as much as I am. <3

Chappy 36~

Whew, that was a fun battle to write. I hope you guys are as satisfied as I am after that. xD

Now, onto the reviews, I suppose...although there weren't as many as usual and they were shorter. Mff.

Crowstorm: if Cane needs to cross Amber's territory to get to the moss clearing, then wouldn't the siblings meet before they got the the clearing?

A-ha! I was waiting for/hoping someone would ask this question. Yay. :D

Yes, Cane needs to cross Amber's territory. But when he mentioned something about going through it looking for trouble, he was just bluffing; he knows Forest has some sort of alliance with the forest cats, and hopefully if he impresses Forest, he impresses the Clan. It was purely a bluff; if/when he goes to meet in the clearing, he's gonna be uber-stealthy about it, because the last thing he wants is to show up to parley all battered and bloody, right? You aren't very intimidating with a bloody nose. ;)

Also (and I know you guys don't know this, so I'm not holding it against you xD) Cane and Amber are very different from one another. Amber is very punctual; she likes having and following plans, and so she'll show up right on time at nightfall. Cane, on the other paw, enjoys being fashionably late, so he would probably head out a bit later; thus they would miss each other, although Cane's group might scent Amber's on the way there.

And, finally, Amber's a little distracted now by the giant fire raging on her territory. The meeting is a few days away, but she's going to have to spend time surveying the damage/lives lost. She isn't going to be preoccupied much with Cane and his doings.

Queen of the Pens: I still don't properly understand why Forest left. Did he just leave because he was momentarily angry, or was it a full anger that hasn't yet faded?

Forest left for several reasons. First, he wasn't sure how much Silverstreak truly cared about him, and he was frustrated because he didn't know. He envies others like Eaglestrike (especially since Eaglestrike is another tom) because they're closer to Silverstreak than he is. He feels like Silverstreak keeps her distance from him, because she's too internally confused about her own feelings. And he knows that Silverstreak cannot fully come to grips with her feelings; she left Frostfeather/Ravenwing partially out of anger, but also because she couldn't deal with the feelings of their betrayal. Forest was afraid if he pushed her too hard, she would flee again; at the same time, he felt like he couldn't wait any longer. He had to know how Silverstreak felt. So while anger played a part, it wasn't the whole story. He cares for her very deeply, even now.

Shimmertail: Who was your favorite warrior from the First Arc?

That's actually a really hard question for me, ha. I loved Yellowfang and Cinderpelt both to death, as well as Brightheart and Sandstorm (even when she was a little butt-munch! :3). Graystripe too (he was cool before Millie came along, gah). And I loved Littlecloud...but above all, my favorite character in the entire series has to be Whitestorm. I just love him to death. <3

*twiddles thumbs* I'm sorry that we won't have a Lion chappy for some time...but hopefully Nightshade will intersect with Lion too. We've got a lot to do. D:

For those wondering about the time-line, the day of the battle with PeakClan is Day 51. Nightshade/Blight are scheduled to reach Lion by Day 64. It's debatable how long it will be after that before Lion actually sets out on his mad quest. :)

Chapter 34

So, 'twould appear that another chappy is up. So. :3

It appears more NorthxSilver fans have joined the ranks. *giggles* Once again, I'll admit I considered it~ But Northy is a bit older than she is (as someone mentioned, hurrhurr) although not by a whole lot considering the various ages of mates in the Warriors series; he's prolly somewhere about a year older than Silverstreak, although I'd have to do the math using secret information to know fo' sho'. He still calls himself Northstar, by the way; he hasn't changed /that/ much (and for all Stonestar knows, he was still a leader at some point).

Broken Memories: If Blight (DIE) and Silverstreak's groups ever meet up, would Nightshade even recognize Buck as a friend instead of an enemy?

Who knows? It depends on just how great the brain-washing is, and how much Nightshade really remembers about her past; how much she's repressed. Who knows? She might just snap under the strain and kill Buck.

*cough*

*giggles* Lynxeye, don't be scared. I'm glad I can make you feel that way; writing is all I do, it's nice that I'm good at it. A little. xD

Frostfirecat, that's an excellent idea. I'll think about that~

Chapter 34, dawgs

Aight, 'nother chapter's up and all. Mopey Silverstreak fun times.

Now, a whole whole bunch of you guys asked about how Northy felt about Silver. So I'll go ahead and address this now (and address smaller questions that are about the same thing in a bit, this is just broad-spectrum info).

It seems like most of you guys think Northy feels bad for Silver. This is exactly not the case! He feels bad because he realizes that if they destroy Silverstreak, the odds of them being able to beat Lion are slim to none. He's worried about the cats that he cares about; he knows Rabbitpaw and Rosedapple will both fight against Lion with all they have, but it won't be enough. He knows PeakClan will be killing innocent cats, which will hurt their development as a true Clan, especially in StarClan's eyes. By attacking Silverstreak's group, he's pretty sure Stonestar is sealing their doom. He also knows that it is really the only thing that Stonestar can do at this time. It's lose-lose for PeakClan, and this is why he feels bad; Northstar is all about control, and now he cannot control anything.

As for Stonestar, a lot of you guys seem to think he's a baddie now. Really, the whole point of PeakClan is to illustrate one thing: the line between good and bad is slim. We know Blackmoon is a cat of excellent character and merit, and yet he betrayed Silverstreak...but he did so in an attempt to ensure the survival of his Clan, to protect his Clanmates and restore PeakClan to their former StarClan-loving glory. Stonestar is making the same choice; he knows his control over PeakClan is weak. They've been under weakened leadership for too long. Stonestar knows the only way to make PeakClan powerful is to unite them, and they have a common enemy in Silverstreak. Stonestar believes it's their only choice, and unless something happens for PeakClan to see Silverstreak as an ally (while still following Stonestar's ruke) he has to go through with it, even though he knows it's wrong and hates himself for doing it.

Now, specific questions:

Bluefire Eternal: ANOTHER green-eyed silver cat 0_o? You just want to mess with our minds, don't you? There's no possible way Silverstreak, Toxin, Shimmer, Reedrush, AND Minnow can all be related somehow... Or can they?

BWAHAHAHA.

Actually, Minnow's a role-play character of mine, fairly recent. She was perfect for the role, and it's always easy to use characters you know, so I stuck her in. She's not important in the Toxin-family-web.

Queen of the Pens: I know Northstar likes Rosedapple. But is he in love with Silverstreak? Weird, I know, but I think it's possible...and I actually like the pairing.

You never fail to impress/amaze me with the things you think of! And it's funny, because I actually considered this in original role-play (even though they were both spoken for at the time, it still seemed so delicious it was worth a thought) but I decided against this. In this story, they don't even have the grudging respect for each other that they did in role-play; it's just hatred. Now, it would be incredibly interesting for the two of them to overcome that and build a relationship, but I don't believe a romantic relationship between the two of them is in the future. Neat thought, though~

Chapters 31 y 32

"y" is "and" in Spanish. xD

Shimmertail: Shimmer is Toxin's niece, isn't she?

Toxin is one and a half years old, Shimmer is almost six moons. It'd be possible, assuming that Toxin's sister grew up and had kits at a relatively young age. Whether or not that's right...we'll see. ;)

Crowstorm: But why didn't Northstar ir Silverstreak say Rabbitpaw's or Shimmer's names?

Originally I wrote it because of necessity, but after you asked I really went and thought about it...and things might have actually turned out worse if they'd been using names! If Silverstreak had asked about "Shimmer", Northstar would have been angry. He's heard of two Shimmers (he knows Silverstreak said her name was Shimmer once, and the real Shimmer said her name was Shimmer) so for all he knows, "Shimmer" is just a name the rogues are told to use when they're in trouble. He'd think she was mocking him, kind of calling Rabbitpaw a rogue. If Northstar had asked where Rabbitpaw was, Silverstreak would have been confused; this confusion would have led to her being distracted and trying to reason with Northstar, but he hated her so much it wouldn't have mattered. Silverstreak wouldn't have wanted to fight, and would have probably been killed before they discovered Toxin. And, anyway they both say "she" or "her" because they both assume the other knows who they're talking about.

Lynxeye: So why does she still follow his orders? Does she hope to become next leader of TalonClan? Or does she just haven't any other perspectives?

Toxin is a twisted case. She truly does know her father is a monster, and she sort of hates him for that. But, at the same time, her mother abandoned her and left her to Slaughter to raise, allowing Slaughter to effectively shape her in a much more powerful way than Blight did to Nightshade. Slaughter has an amazing amount of control over Toxin. Being rational, she knows his actions are wrong, but she still cares about him on an emotional level. Like any daughter, she wants to make her father proud; she even kills Snake primarily so she'll get all the glory.

Frostfirecat: Will their be a chapter in Forest's point of view now?

Maybe! It'd be interesting to write from his perspective, but I haven't decided (also, have you read your mail lately? I'd like to know what your story idea is first before giving my blessing ^^;).

Lynxeye: Could Toxin and Reedrush possibly be littermates? They are vagualy the same age, aren't they? What does Silverstreak have to do with them? There was a point in the Snake chapter, when he thought about Toxin's mother where I thought she might have come to FrosClan as a kit from another Clan- BirchClan? But I still don't see where the link to Silverstreak can be. She's not old enough to be the littermate of Toxin's mother, is she?

Not much I can say here, but it's certainly an interesting theory! You're correct with Toxin and Reedrush being the same age. I can't say much about what Silverstreak has to do with either of them (*whistles*) but I can tell you that Toxin's mother did come from one of the forest Clans. To clarify with ages: Toxin and Reedrush were somewhere around one year and a half at the beginning of this story; Silverstreak was two and a half years old at the beginning. So it's possible, but Toxin's mother would have had to only have been a year or so old when she kitted.

Interesting questions, guys, I can see your minds working. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun to watch you squirm, but, well...have faith! All will be explained/revealed eventually. <3

Chapter 31 (oh mai!)

Yay, action-packed chappy. Everyone wins, except you guys because that cliff-hanger was incredibly cruel. I'm kinda sorry. :D

Question time!

Flamesong: By the way, is Forest's leg healed? Or did he just stand by while everyone jumped from the trees?

Forest's leg isn't completely healed, but it's been a little over a moon now since his injury; he's regained a lot of use of his leg, but it isn't perfect. Forest didn't jump down from the trees, but he did serve as one of the pairs of blinking eyes that freaked out the PeakClan cats; the way Forest planned it, they acted as a sort of kitty conveyer belt, going up the tree, leaping down, staring at PeakClan while moving down to make room for the next cat and to keep PeakClan guessing; when they were the last cat they would jump into the tree again.

Lynxeye: But where was Northstar in this chapter? He would surely have been against this meeting, wouldn't he? After all, Stonestar could have come to an agreement and even become friends with Eaglesstrike, which surely would damage his reputation in PeakClan, after he spoke that badly about them. Was he hunting? Or was he just sure Stonestar would trust his word over anything Eaglestrike might say and didn't see any reason to interfere?

Good question! Northstar was there (we didn't see him, he was hanging out in the nursery with Rosedapple like he tends to do) but he preferred not to say anything. He knows Stonestar is the mellow type, even the type that might talk to the rogues. However, once again, the best story Eaglestrike could give would be basically the same as Northstar's, only with Northstar in the wrong. Logically Stonestar would conclude that the rogues had planned their stories together and were lying to get revenge on Northstar by having the Clan turn on him. Northstar also knows how honest Eaglestrike is; he doubts Eaglestrike would try anything fishy, to trick Stonestar into believing him/succeeding in his goals. As we know, he was wrong. AND, Northstar knew that tensions would only build between the two groups, and at this time he thinks Silverstreak's group is very small and weak; war is EXACTLY what Northstar wants. He'd like nothing better than to stain his claws with BirchClan blood.

No Queen of the Pens questions to report (I am both shocked and disappointed) so there we go. Sit tight for the next chappy, I'll write as quickly as my poor baby fingers can~

Chappy 30~

Wow, 30 chapters! That's some sort of milestone, or something. I dunno. xD

Questions, yay, stuff. :p

Queen of Pens: But would there be so many cats without owners in the city? Wouldn't they be caught and taken to a pound, or something like that? If it was a small city, then it wouldn't have so many cats, although nothing would be done to control them. But if it were a large and prosperous city, say, somewhere like Sydney, there would be people trying to control the stray animal population.

It all depends on where you live! I live in a very (very very) small town. We have Animal Control, but they really don't do anything, and we only have one shelter here; it's almost always full. Because of this, animals here are not rounded up very often; it's just too much work, and they breed like crazy. I go to a woman to have my hair cut, and she used to have a log-cabin style place in the middle of town. Living underneath her house were FOURTEEN black cats! (I counted them while they were chilling outside while waiting for my brother's hair to be finished). And that's not counting the ones I could hear moving around underneath her house! And that's just one place. There are probably hundreds of strays in my town, no one really cleans them up.

That being said, this Twolegplace is medium-sized. They probably have AC and two or three shelters, but cats have a way of keeping hidden most of the time. They burrow under buildings, or live in abandoned lots like Cane and Amber. If people don't go into those abandoned lots, who is going to report them to AC? Competition is obviously going to be fierce, but considering most cat litters are anywhere from ten to four kittens (my friend's cat had a litter of a whopping fourteen, poor girl) the number of living cats will be high.

Queen of Pens: Also, why did the guards let Reedrush in? They had no idea what she were going to do. For all they knew, she could be one of Cane's minions who had disguised her scent. She might have had an army behind them, ready to take advantage of the less guards. Reedrush refused to tell the guards what her business with Amber was; she might have even killed Amber when she had the chance. Don't you think that that level of trust with strangers would spell Amber's doom?

Firstly, Reedrush could never be Cane's minions. Cane is a firm believer in tom supremacy (as Amber is the opposite). He'd never trust a she-cat with an important mission, like invading Amber's home. Secondly, if there was an army, why would Reedrush have Jag at her side? If she was really trying to be sneaky, surely Jag would be hiding with the others, not right there flashing his tom-ness in their faces? Thirdly, both Amber and Cane are extremely arrogant, and actually quite trusting of cats of their gender. They've earned reputations for taking cats in without many questions, but they are also known for being incredibly brutal if that trust is betrayed. Not very many cats want to tangle with them. And then, both Amber and Cane are very assured of their own personal power, and think themselves above the other's tricks. Fourthly, Amber was not quite alone; Flicka was waiting just outside, and as she's Amber's trusted right paw, if there was even the slightest hint of a struggle, Flicka would be in the room immediately ripping the threat to shreds. And, finally, Amber was curious. Any cat working with Cane would know that a tom strolling into the heart of Amber's territory was a death sentence. And because toms and she-cats are so segregated in Amber/Cane's groups, seeing a she-cat and a tom together was a very strange thing. Amber was wondering how this could be so; obviously they were not her agents, nor were they agents of Cane, so who did they belong to? She knew the only way to pry an answer from them was to talk to them face-to-face, and she did not believe herself to be in any real danger. Despite her soft looks, Amber is a very fierce and skilled fighter; she would not be on top if she wasn't.

Lynxeye: How does he (Brightfire) get along with Death, then?

Remember, Brightfire and Frostfeather never had a true relationship; Frostfeather's not the type for lasting things, and she had a bit of a reputation. Brightfire knew that, but he let himself be weak for a night, and they had their little fling. Things are more complex now that he's a father, and it'll be awkward, but he harbors no resentment towards Death for his advances. Now, he might be angry with Death for his lack of any gentlemanly qualities....

Shimmertail: I was also wondering: what happened to Toxin?

You remember her? I'm surprised! She'll have her moment, just you wait. She's a smart one. ;)