The lost leader

The furious Grassclan warriors gathered around Crowpool, the poor tomcat was shaking, he was hurt badly from Owltai's punishment. The other cats were hissing and yelling at him *"How dare you pretend to be Harestar!", "You deserve every punishment! Foxdung!".* Owltail silenced them and stepped towards Crowpool slowly as the "Foxdung" breathed heavily from all of the pain. The deputy of Grassclan stared into his eyes with an intimidating expression before snarling "What is your real name? Answer me now!". Crowpool stared at him in fear, he never thought that he would ever feel more panicked than the time he became a leader, and yet... He took a deep breath and growled "Crowpool... My name is Crowpool.". Owltail relaxed his expression and got closer to him, "Crowpool, huh. I should have known that you were a fake right from the start! Harestar would never insult our medicine cat!". Pigeonflight smiled mysteriously at his words, Crowpool protested "She tried to hurt a sick apprentice!". "Shut your muzzle, will you?" Pigeonflight meowed calmly. "Silence! Both of you!" the deputy shouted and asked Crowpool more questions "Why did you impersonate our leader? What did you and those other stranger cats want from us?!". The injured tomcat suddenly raised his head, in all of his anxiety he had forgotten why he lied in the first place, "I did it to prove my bravery and to save a young she-cat's life!" he meowed. "Explain." a Grassclan cat spoke.

"I never meant to steal from you, hurt you, or dishonor Harestar. I just wanted to go through your clan peacefully!" Crowpool meowed, Owltail looked at him curiously as he continued, "Are you familiar with a cat named Bloodgem? He has kidnapped Celeste! Me and my friends were trying to get to his barn to save her!". "Yeah right! What a lie!" Pigeonflight humphed, Owltail however was still interested in his backstory. "At first the only reason why I wanted to help her, was to win Skyfeather's trust once more." Crowpool's voice became more clear "You see, Skyfeather and I belonged to a big group of cats, to which I were the leader. After a couple of years, we were separated and when she saw me again I was wearing this." he showed everyone his collar, before continuing "She thought that I had betrayed her and ran off to become a kittypet. In order to convince her that she was wrong, I joined her on a journey to help Mythicalclaw save Celeste.". The Grassclan cats glanced at each other and the brown and grey cat started feeling confident "After a while I realized that the she-cat meant a lot to Mythicalclaw, Tetranose and Melodywish, as much as Skyfeather meant to me. That is why I pretended to be your leader, even after my friends left your clan and I apologize." Crowpool finally finished his explanation, the other cats and their deputy were now in dilemma. "That is a... Very interesting story Crowpool. But how do we know that you are not lying again?" Owltail grinned in a sly way.

Just as Crowpool started to feel puzzled, lightning struck next to Pigeonflight, startling her and leaving her clanmates in shock. Right after the lighting, strong winds began to blow and flowers bloom right before Crowpools feet , "IT MUST BE AN OMEN FROM STARCLAN! THE STRANGER WAS BEING SINCERE!" a warrior shouted as the rest of the cats and Owltail stared at the tomcat in surprise. Crowpool puffed out his chest and smiled "So... Now that you believe me, will you help me save Celeste?". Owltail thought about his request for a moment and then sighed *"Fine."*