Skychasers
is the first book of The Darkfighter Trilogy, a Warrior Cats fanfiction series on FanFiction.Net. Written by Pantherfang, it tells the tale of a group of cats living in a world unlike anything else seen in Warriors fanfiction.
In the Kingdoms, strategy rules all. The four Kingdoms must be willing to sacrifice everything if they are to survive. For many years, the cats of the mountains have warred over control of the Field, an idyllic plain in the middle of the harsh territory. But now, life is growing harder, and cats begin to question if they are really meant to live in the mountains.
Guided by the words of their gods, Lightning Strike, prince of the Eastern Kingdom, and Drifting Snowflakes, a duchess of the Western Kingdom, take the first steps of a long journey. They must unravel the origins of the Kingdoms and find a path to salvation if they wish to survive.
Skychasers was completed on September 19th, 2012. Since then, a sequel called Firewalker has been started.
The fanfic contains examples of:
- Affirmative Action Girl: All throughout her time with the Kingdoms, White Fire fought to allow she-cats to become knights. In the end, her death helped achieve equality.
- Big Bad: Cold Night, a murderous cat who preys on the heroes through dreams and in the waking world.
- The Cameo: A few characters from the author's other fanfictions end up having appearances.
- Disc-One Final Boss: At first it looks like the Southern Kingdom will be the antagonists. However, the villain eventually turns out to be Cold Night.
- Disney Death: Moon's Light seems to die in the first chapter, but she comes back a few chapters later to serve an important role.
- Distant Prologue: The prologue takes place thousands of years before the story, and serves as a sort of "God Origin Story".
- The Exile: By the end of the story, Cold Night is exiled from existence itself.
- Fallen Princess: In Chapter 10, we find out that Ice Storm, princess of the Northen Kingdom, was tortured after being defeated by Lightning Strike.
- Gender Bender: Cold Night is male, but his original incarnation was a female god.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Drifting Snowflakes/Snowdrift sacrifices herself to pull Cold Night to his death and kill him. Unfortunately, he manages to survive, but Snowdrift's selflessness made it possible for Cold Night to be defeated.
- The Legend of Chekhov: The Legend of White Fire, which is told late in the story, is true, and gives the heroes inspiration for the final battle. However, it is later revealed that it wasn't completely accurate.
- Made of Evil: Cold Night actually is pure evil, as he's the physical form of the corruption in a fallen god.
- The Migration: About halfway through the story, what's left of the Eastern and Western Kingdoms band together and head off to find a new home.
- Mind Screw: The story gets progressively more screwy as it goes on, what with hints at time travel and revelations about the gods.
- Missed the Call: Ice Storm was one of the cats originally chosen to lead the Kingdoms to their new home. She was too busy being tortured to go help out, but she does save Lightning Strike's life.
- My Death Is Only The Beginning: Cold Night, the Big Bad, is killed in Chapter 10. However, his spirit survives and preys on the cats from the world of dreams.
- Nominal Importance: Every single named character ends up being important somehow. The sole exception is Eagle Wings, who dies in a death trap in the first chapter. However, Moon's Light, the other cat in the death trap, ends up surviving.
- One-Winged Angel: Done in a very interesting way that borders on Clipped-Wing Angel. After the Final Battle, the gods turn Cold Night into the Devourer of Souls, a giant monster-esque form with incredible power. However, in exchange for this power, Cold Night had to agree to be exiled from existence itself.
- Pieces of God:
- Shortly before the Final Battle, it's revealed that Fire Opal and Cold Night are actually the broken pieces of a fallen god.
- After the final battle it turns out that White Fire and Drifting Snowflakes/Snowdrift are fragments of Felidae come to life as Kingdom cats.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: Cold Night eats souls to grow stronger.
- The Power of Love: Deconstructed. Love is an emotion of mortals, and when a god fell in love, she became a fallen god. This led to the creation and Cold Night, causing most of the hell the cats went through in the story.
- Second Love: In the epilogue, it's revealed that Lightningstrike/Lightningstar eventually got together with Moonlight/Moon's Light and had some kittens. However, he never forgot Drifting Snowflakes.
- Senseless Sacrifice: In the first chapter, Lightning Strike sends Eagle Wings and Moon's Light into what he knows is a death trap just so he can show the other cats that it's a death trap. Moon's Light actually survives, and she starts Lightning Strike's character development by calling him out.
- Shout-Out:
- When Broken Shadow first shows up, Lightning Strike references Mark Twain by saying, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
- In Chapter 24, Cold Night says to Lightningstrike, "Your mate met a terrible fate, didn't she?" It's an obvious reference to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, especially since the author mentions being a Zelda fan on her profile.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Drifting Snowflakes and Lightning Strike were only together for a few days before Drifting Snowflakes died.
- We Have Reserves: At first, Lightning Strike is perfectly happy to send cats to their deaths because he knows that there will be more cats that will fight for him. This changes thanks to his character development.
- What the Hell, Hero?: After it's revealed the Moon's Light survived the death trap in the first chapter, she starts calling the Kingdoms out for their callous treatment of life.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The entirety of Chapter 21: The Legend of White Fire is Raincloud telling the frequently alluded to story of why flesh sacrifices were stopped in the Kingdoms.
