A sleek figure ran through the trees. It sniffed ravenously at some brush, then decided for something else. It chose and nut, and was about to take a huge bite out it when a faint rustling was heard. The figure paused, testing the wind and forest around it. After concluding that nothing was wrong, it picked up the nut again and had sank its teeth into the crispy outside of the shell.

POUNCE! The wind was immediately knocked out of the figure. It was never regained, as the life was immediately drained out of him through a deep puncture wound to its neck. There was nothing left to grasp on to, just the sour taste of death.

"Great job, Rosepaw!" meowed Berrynose. Amazingly, he had not carried his arrogance into his life as a mentor, as several other cats thought he would.

Rosepaw beamed up at Berrynose, proud of her first catch. "Thanks, Berrynose!"

Berrynose merely nodded, now concentrated on a thrush in a nearby tree. He crouched on his haunches, then pounced. There was a short alarm call as the air was pressed from the bird's lungs, then silence.

"Good job, Berrynose!" squeaked Rosepaw. She had just been made an apprentice, and her fur was still nursery soft, her voice still kit-like. She lifted her green eyes to Berrynose and grinned. "Can I try now?"

"It's nice that you want to try, but did you hear that thrush call?" Hollyleaf had appeared with a shrew in her mouth, which she had dropped in order to speak. Rosepaw nodded. "Well, so did every other creature in the forest. The prey'll be hiding now, so we'd best get back to camp." Hollyleaf nodded at a disappointed Rosepaw. "I promise I'll get Berrynose to bring you out again later, Rosepaw, and then you can try."

Berrynose scoffed it all off. "It was all because of that stupid thrush," he muttered, cross now. He followed Hollyleaf back to the camp, where they dropped off their catch and retreated to their dens for brief naps.

"Don't mind him, he's just stuck-up sometimes," whispered Hollyleaf to Rosepaw, a hint of playfulness in her voice. She stalked off to her nest in the warriors' den and quickly fell asleep.