Moon 142 - 172

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    Gatherings become regular for the clans that have settled through a snowstorm and rouges. For a while, they are a welcomed addition to the clans that brought the clans closer together. However, when some leaders begin to become less and less consistent with their appearances, clans start to grow more suspicious of one another. In particular, cats of WindClan grow ever more suspicious of ShadowClan as Crookedstar fails to appear. It is later learned that the leader had been fighting back a particularly rough sickness, but in the moment her absence coupled with the disappearances of cats at the ShadowClan border, some began to wonder if ShadowClan was behind some of the deaths of their clanmates and later blamed the rouges on it.

    ThunderClan suffered through its second territorial fire. Once again, ThunderClan escaped with a considerably low amount of deaths, but the fire would go onto devastate their medical  and prey supply for seasons to come. However, unlike their previous fire in the valley, this fire did not destroy the territory to the point of it becoming  completely uninhabitable, it would go onto cripple the clan. 

    At some point during this time, WindClan and ThunderClan discover a separated mother bear and a cub. This is partially blamed on the snowstorm that displaced so many creatures. Together, the allied clans reunite and remove the pair from their territory.

   

    After moons of Crookedstar's passivity and Reedstar's own reluctance for action, a young group of WindClan warriors decided to take matters into their own paws. Lead by Cuckoostride, warriors Quailsong, Sweetfeather, Brazenspirit, and Desertblaze vow to attack any cats that get near their border in an effort to keep their clan safe. 

    The group's first battle was a total disaster. The inexperienced warriors had gotten their leader, Cuckoostride killed and Desertblaze and Brazenspirit left the clans after coming to realize that their rashness got their friend killed. They had also gotten them killed by breaking the code. Seeing as how this was unforgivable on multiple fronts, it is speculated that this was the reasoning behind these cats leaving their clan. 

    Sweetfeather quickly takes charge of the group and Quailsong is close behind her. Sweetfeather martyrs her former leader and gives the group an official name; The WindClan Protection Front. Slowly, the remaining duo accumulate a new set of followers and they relentlessly attack the bordering ShadowClanners in the names of all that they have lost.

    Crookedstar directly confronts WindClan at a gathering on the attacks that were coming from his clan. Reedstar, having had no knowledge of the group before hand, denies that WindClan had done anything wrong and that he detested whatever this group was up to. Sweetfeather ultimately causes an uproar and claims that she and the others were trying to protect their clan. This results in WindClan having to pay reparations to the other clan in the form of food and medical herbs. 

    Meanwhile, Cloudstar accuses RiverClan of stealing prey from her clan after some evidence of RiverClanners crossing over the boarder. This sparks a rivalry between the two clans.

    It was at this point where more cats went the way of Brazenspirit and Desertblaze. What made this more significant, however, was the fact that plenty of high-ranking cats were turning up missing and were deemed deserters. RiverClan had lost their deputy, WindClan, their medicine cat, ShadowClan, their leader and deputy, and SkyClan had lost their leader and medicine cat and was left under the control of an ill-prepared cat. All at once political scandals and fear of a major war had managed to drive so many away. Instability from medicine cat Wrenmist's and leader Cloudstar's cross-clan relationship that resulted in a litter caused SkyClan to crumple in on itself both patriotically and literally. 

    The clans were in a heavy state of disrepair and tensions spiked due to the sheer vulnerability that cats were feeling. Mallowstar, though never being officially appointed deputy, rose to power and quickly became SkyClan's leader and Aspenstar took charge of ShadowClan with her newly appointed deputy and long time resident in the clans, Brass and herself brought ShadowClan back from a brink.

    This steady stream of reparations simply could not last. Leaf-bare was on the horizon and they hardly had enough to go around. Upon hearing this, ShadowClan is outraged. After a very open argument between the now rivaling clans, a ShadowClan queen named Turtleheart threw herself at Reedstar, causing the tom to declare an official war on ShadowClan.
 

    Both ShadowClan and WindClan battled with ferocity and firmly believed in their own positions. WindClan incorporated their ancient method of tunneling to give themselves a leg up in the fight while ShadowClan took advantage of their abundant resources that they had obtained from WindClan moons earlier. The war was ended in a decisive battle where WindClan managed to sandwich ShadowClan between WindClan forces with the use of tunnels. When Aspenstar called for reinforcements, Brass was on the scene and with a miscalculated lethal strike, Reedstar lost his second life that day. 

    Upon having this happen, both sides retreated. Though Reedstar had been stricken down, ShadowClan had managed to do so through breaking the code. Because of this, the war had no clear victor, though cats from the opposing sides will insist that it was themselves who won on that day.

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    After this battle, the clans go quiet. Rivalries are downplayed and everyone tries to avoid everyone. In fact, the gathering immediately following this battle did not have a Reedstar appearance. The first moon was uneventful. But there is spiritual unrest afoot. Whispers of the Dark Forest crawling back into relevancy make an appearance after a few questionable incidents. But, as some clans lick their wounds, others outwardly try avoid getting any in the first place. The cats fail to notice anything that's off in favor of facing the Leaf-Bare at hand.  

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    The mutual distrust and quiet between clans is maintained until ThunderClan's medicine cat, Tansysting directly addresses the negative eerie presence of dark spirits. She is joined by the other medicine cats in explaining Tansysting's cryptic omens that she has been receiving from StarClan Something sinister was afoot and the clans needed to be wary of that over each other. The medicine cats demand the clans to take action against this new threat and they forcibly put the clans into an unsteady universal peace.