Warriors: A Hunting Expedition
Squirrelpaw lashed her tail angrily as her sister Leafpaw quietly sorted herbs.
"You SAID you'd go hunting with me when you had time Leafpaw!" she yelled.
Leafpaw looked up from her herbs. "You're right, I SAID I would go hunting, but I didn't PROMISE you I would."
Squirrelpaw was mouse-tails away from clawing her sister's herbs to dust. "Just because you're a medicine cat apprentice doesn't mean you can be all smart like that!" she snapped.
"Now you can't just-"
"Would you two quit arguing?" Cinderpelt said, hobbling over to the growling she-cats. "Now Squirrelpaw, what you said was uncalled for, you should apologize."
"Sorry." she mumbled, shooting a look at her sister, but Cinderpelt didn't seem to notice.
"Good. Now Leafpaw, I know you have work to do, but why don't you go out with your sister?" Cinderpelt offered to the young apprentice.
"But you just said I had work to do, I just can't-"
"I think I can handle it." Cinderpelt said, cutting Leafpaw off before she could protest further.
Leafpaw sat for a few moments, clearly torn between her duties and a day out. "Oh... alright. I guess I can have a little fun."
"Gee, you couldn't sound a little more excited?" Squirrelpaw mewed sarcastically, earning a glare from her sister.
"Now go on you two." Cinderpelt nosed them towards the camp entrance. "Oh, and bring me back something, a mouse would be nice!" she called, slipping back into the medicine den.
"Great! Now let's get going." Squirrelpaw said, bounding for the camp entrance before skidding to a stop when she realized Leafpaw wasn't following. "Come on Leafpaw, what are you waiting for?"
"Shouldn't we bring Dustpelt with us? He is your mentor after all." She asked.
Squirrelpaw huffed. "Dustpelt's just an old badger, we don't need him slowing us down."
"But-"
"Leafpaw, can't you just live a little? We're old enough to know what we're doing!" She was getting tired of this already, and they hadn't even gone out yet!
Leafpaw looked ready to retort, but dropped her tail shortly after. "It doesn't seem safe, but you're not going to give up on this... fine, let's go."
"Well, then get your tail out there!" shoving her sister towards the entrance. With a squeak and a hiss, they set out for the forest.
"You aren't pulling your legs in far enough!" Squirrelpaw said as her sister failed the hunting crouch for the fifth time.
"I'm not a warrior apprentice! I don't hunt mice, I hunt herbs!" Leafpaw protested. After a few attempts (and a slight cuff to the ear), she finally perfected the hunting crouch.
"Finally! I thought we'd grow old and slow by the time you got it." Squirrelpaw said, an humorous glint in her eyes.
"Oh shut up!" Leafpaw said, annoyed. She butted her sister in the shoulder hard, but the smile she had betrayed her emotions to Squirrelpaw, who purred slightly.
Scenting the air, Squirrelpaw picked up a trace near a copse of trees. "Leafpaw, over there!" Nudging her sister towards the thicket.
"Okay, okay, I'm going for it." she said, dropping into the hunter's crouch. Edging closer and closer, making sure she was upwind of her prey, she creeped up, then pounced...
and promptly fell into a hole.
"Leafpaw!" Squirrelpaw yowled. "Leafpaw, are you okay?" But her sister's response was muffled under the ground, only till she got closer did she hear the words, "I think I'm okay. Just get me out of here!"
"O-Okay, I'll try." She'd never hauled a cat out of a hole before, the only logical conclusion was to pull on her tail until she popped out.
"Hrrgh, come on, come on!" Squirrelpaw growled through a mouthful of fur. She tugged for a while, then fell to the ground, exhausted.
"Yeesh Leafpaw, it shouldn't be this hard to get you out! Have you been getting one too many mice?" Squirrelpaw said, letting out a sigh of defeat.
"Are you calling me- Eep!" Leafpaw cut herself off, scrabbling at the ground firecely with her hind legs. "Squirrelpaw, pull me out, hurry!" her meow was tinged with alarm. Squirrelpaw forgot all about her exhaustion, and started to tug on her sister's tail as hard as she could.
"I'm gonna get you out Leafpaw, even if it kill- Ahh!" She let out a yell of surprise as she collided with her sister, stumbling backwards before her right paw caught in a hole. Twisting with pain, she dropped to the ground with a thump, Leafpaw tripping over her soon after.
"Ow! My paw, Leafpaw wha-" her mew died out as she caught the terrifed expression on her sister's face.
"S-S-Squirrelpaw, I think we got to get out of here!" She said urgently.
"Well I would but my paw is twisted, besides what's got you in a hurry? You look like you've seen a fox!"
"T-That's because..."
"Yes?"
"T-T-There's..."
"Spit it out!" Squirrelpaw impatient mew gave Leafpaw a moment of clarity.
"There IS a fox!" She yelled as the animal hauled itself out of the hole. Growling, it started to advance towards the two.
"What do we do Squirrelpaw?! I don't want to die!" Leafpaw wailed.
"Calm down! I've got a plan." Squirrelpaw said, hauling herself to her paws.
"What is it? We kind of don't have much time here! Tell me!" she insisted.
"We fight."
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me, we fight it." Unsheathing her claws, she hissed at the fox, who snarled in return.
"Ooh, alright." she looked ready to cry, but she unsheathed her claws as well, ready to fight.
A loud yowl cut across the forest, and both she-cats and fox turned their heads to look, as Dustpelt burst from the bushes, landing on the fox and beginning to shred its ears.
"Get back, you worthless creature!" He said, giving it a sharp blow on the head. A few more hits, and the fox growled once more, and retreated back into the hole from where it came.
"Dustpelt!" Leafpaw cried, racing over to the warrior, nearly knocking him over. "Thank you for saving us!"
"You're lucky I heard you yelling from across the forest, and only me too, it would've been terrible for your sister there if a whole patrol found you both. Isn't that right, Squirrelpaw?"
Squirrelpaw looked up from her paws to face Dustpelt. "Before you say anything, I know I shouldn't have gone out without you, and I'm sorry. You can punish me when we get to camp."
Dustpelt pricked his ears in surprise. "Well, that's something you don't see everyday, you owning up to something. I suppose I won't punish you for this, you did try to save your sister after all. Just... ask to go hunting before you go off next time?" He finished awkwardly.
Squirrelpaw sighed with relief, thankful she wasn't in deep trouble. "Yes Dustpelt, I understand fully."
"Great." The warrior nodded. "Now, let's get you two back to camp."
"Come on Squirrelpaw, I'll help you back." Leafpaw offered.
"Thanks, Leafpaw." Nuzzling her sister's cheek as they walked back to camp.
The three soon arrived at the camp. Cinderpelt hobbled over to the pair of apprentices as Dustpelt peeled off to report to Firestar.
"Well? Did you two catch anything besides an injury?" She said, eyeing Squirrelpaw's twisted paw.
"Actually..." Leafpaw said, leaving her sister's side to run back to the camp entrance before dashing back with a mouse in her jaws. "We found this!"
"Great! I see Squirrelpaw taught you well. Maybe you'd like to be a warrior apprentice now?" She chuckled, tucking into her mouse.
"Never! I think I'll leave the warrior stuff up to Squirrelpaw, she really knows her stuff!" she looked affectionately at Squirrelpaw.
"It was nothing, but thanks sis." She purred, returning the look to her sister.
"Now, since you wanted me to go hunting with you so badly, why don't you learn about herbs with me? You'll be down a while with that leg after all!"
"What? I- I didn't agree to this!" she blinked in surprise. "Medicine stuff isn't really my thing, honestly!" she started to back away.
"Now, now. Cinderpelt can't heal you in the apprentice's den. Come on, you can start learning and maybe you'll have a basic sense of all the herbs."
"Basic? I-I didn't agree to this! Heeeeeeelp!" she yelled as she was herded into the medicine den, Cinderpelt purring with amusement after them.