Rats (Warrior Cats)

Rats are an enemy species in Erin Hunter's Warriors book series.

Description
As in real-life, rats are small, beady-eyed creatures with wedge-shaped heads and long, thin, bald tails. They heavily resemble mice, but are bigger, stronger and much more aggressive. Individually they pose no threat to cats, but in large numbers they can be quite dangerous, even to the biggest and toughest of cats. Furthermore, their bites can cause infection and their bodies sometimes carry diseases which can cause sickness and even death.

History
Rats serve as antagonists many times throughout the franchise, nearly always attacking in huge swarms. Although the cats are usually victorious, the battles nearly always result in one or more cats being injured or killed or both.

Clear Sky and Thunder's scuffle
After catching a rabbit out on the moorland, Clear Sky and his son Thunder were attacked by three large rats. The rats fought the two toms over the prey and fled when they were overpowered.

The end of Hailstar
When a RiverClan patrol led by Hailstar and his deputy Crookedjaw was searching a Twoleg barn for dry grass, a swarm of rats attacked them, wounding Sedgecreek and causing Hailstar to lose his last life.

Bluestar moves ever closer to death
Bluestar, Tigerclaw, Firepaw, Graypaw, Tigerclaw, and Ravenpaw were ambushed by rats on their way back from the Moonstone. Although the rats were defeated, they were able deprive Bluestar of her seventh life.

ShadowClan's plague
Several ShadowClan cats got sick after they ate diseased rats brought to the fresh-kill pile from the Carrionplace. Nightstar and his deputy Cinderfur died of the sickness.

The destruction and reforming of SkyClan
At some point after being driven out of the forest and settling in the gorge, SkyClan encountered a huge colony of rats. For the seasons, the tiny, but clever and vicious creatures scared away SkyClan's prey, stole their kits and killed their warriors. After a last failed attempt to drive the rats away, Spiderstar disbanded SkyClan. The surviving cats became kittypets, loners or rogues. In the caves, the rats scratched the walls, leaving deep horizontal scores to mark their victory and ownership of the gorge. As the years passed, the rats' hatred of SkyClan was passed on to their descendants and they formed into a huge hive-minded army led by a certain, exceptionally intelligent rat who could speak cat, albeit not very well.

It is revealed that after the original SkyClan was driven out of the Forest, the ancestors of these rats attacked the gorge where the Clan had set up camp and drove them out. The surviving cats became kittypets, loners or rogues. In the caves, the rats scratched the walls, leaving deep horizontal scores to mark their victory and ownership of the gorge. Firestar at first thought these were from kits, and made it the nursery.

Many moons after the attack, Firestar and his mate Sandstorm came on a quest to rebuild SkyClan. As the Clan started to rebuild, they set up a patrol. On this patrol, the Rat Leader showed up and informed the cats that his kind killed the previous SkyClan before and they would now kill them again. The rats attacked SkyClan, and the warriors fought fiercely. When the SkyClan cats begin to gain the upper hand in the battle, the leader orders his followers to retreat.

SkyClan attacked the old abandoned Twoleg barn where the rats lived, knowing someone would have to attack first. However, the rats seemed to have anticipated this and surrounded the cats as they entered the barn. The warriors put up a tremendous fight, but were eventually forced to retreat from the rats' increasingly overwhelming numbers. The SkyClan warrior, Rainfur, was swarmed and killed by the rats, and Firestar lost his second life to the rat leader.

Having been cornered by the rats in a tree, the warriors formed a new plan; to find the rat leader and kill him. The cats tried to trick the leader into showing himself, but he was too clever to fall for the ruse. With Spottedleaf's spirit to guide him, Firestar realized that the mass of rats were taking commands from the leader through small movements, such as a twitch of the tail or brush of fur. Firestar traced the movements to the center of the pack and identified the real rat leader. Without warning, Firestar attacked and killed him. Without their leader to guide them, the remaining rats fled.

The rats return
Some seasons later, SkyClan discovered that the rats had returned and were starting to rebuild their army, so they set up a plan to attack them before could grow strong enough to overwhelm them.

Their plan was to try to block some of the holes in the pile of Twoleg rubbish the rats were using as a nest, then scare them, making them flee to the open holes so they could attack. All of the cats were eager to kill the rodents, as they tried to destroy SkyClan after their first victory with the original SkyClan.

The plan succeeded, although Waspwhisker was severely injured in the battle.

Attacked while on a journey
Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw, Tawnypelt, Crowpaw, Stormfur, and Featherpelt were attacked by rats near a trash dump. Although the six travelling cats were able to defeat the rats, Tawnypelt got an infected bite on her shoulder, causing her to limp painfully for most of the rest of the journey. Her wound eventually healed after being treated by Midnight, and later by Stoneteller.