Training
I cringed as my mother pounced on a mouse passing by our stump and broke his neck. She dragged him across the pine needles inside by the tail.
"I wanted rat!" I whined.
"We have to jump at the chance of any food to survive, Cloudkit." She replied.
"But I wanted rat!"
"We have to do what we must." She answered. She started to bite off small chunks of the mouse and throwing them onto the pine needles for me. Only me. I was born in this stump, in the heart of ThunderClan territory, located in where the camp used to be before it burned down. It was only me because Skykit was taken by the Twolegs and Birdkit ate the poison. It had all started when a a Windclan cat reported a strange, green oozing object that had Twoleg scent on it. As soon as someone put their paw on it to investigate, they died. Then the Twolegs started throwing more oozing balls into the forest right at us that exploded into ooze when they hit something. Almost all the cats in the forest died because of that or the Twolegs trapping them. It was only me and my mother along with some other stray survivors, including the last leader, Firestar. I sadly thought back to Birdkit and Skykit as I gnawed on my meat. They had only died because of the Twolegs. We were here first, they should never have laid one of their dirty paws on our land!
My mother interrupted my thoughts.
"You're almost six moons old! We should make the journey to Firestar soon!"
That cheered me up. To become an apprentice, and train with my mother! She had already taught me a few moves, to defend from stray cats.
One week later, my mother started to get me ready for the journey.
"We will be passing through Twoleg territory." She stated, "You will need to learn to defend against Twolegs."
She grabbed two moss heavy branches and leaned them against a tree.
"Those are the Twolegs legs. When a Twoleg comes near you, never jump onto its back or face. That will agitate it more. Aim for the legs, so they fall and become vulnerable."
After she explained, she demonstrated it to me. She first hid behind a bush and watched the "legs". Then she lifted her haunches up and pounced onto them. I carefully noted she didn't aim for the very bottom, a bit above so you can harm the ankles. She skillfully hooked her claws into the moss and swung the branches about, making them fall. She then aimed for something on the ground; which she told me was the head, and gripped onto it with full strength, scratching down the Twoleg's back.
"Now you try." She offered, propping the branches back up.
I nervously crouched underneath the spiny bush and watched the branches for movement. I then bent my legs, lifted my haunches, and sprang into the air at the branches. Frustratingly, I missed by a fraction of an inch as well as losing the element of surprise.
"Try again." Encouraged my mother.
And so I did. I backed into the bush, lifted my haunches, and jumped forwards. I made it! I hooked my claws under the moss, just as my mother had did, and shook the branches. The fell onto the forest floor. I tackled the imaginary head and scratched the imaginary back. I finally stood on top of the legs, panting, and proudly declared,
"Hooray for Cloudkit the Twoleg Slayer!"
I pummeled my mothers belly and defeated her, too.
My mother laughed. "I could never defeat the all mighty Cloudkit Twoleg Slayer!"
"Thats right you couldn't!" I replied triumphantly.
"Get off, silly. We should continue with your training. You passed the first level!" She declared.
"Yay!" I mewed happily.
"But first we should get you something to eat. Follow me. Watch my hunting technique."
She suggested.
I followed my mother as she slunk through the bushes, nose in the air. She flicked her head to the right. I saw a bird pecking at a beech nut on the ground.
"Stay quiet," She whispered, "And watch closely."
She crouched down and started to slowly walk forward, not disturbing a single leaf. The bird was completely unaware of our presence. She slowly lifted her haunches and prepared to pounce. She sprung off the ground, shooting high into the air before landing her paws directly on top of the bird. She went in for the finishing bite and brought it back to me. We shared it gratefully.
"Now you try." My mother said in between bites. She flicked her tail at a robin roosting on a nearby tree trunk. It looked tasty. I crouched down, just as my mother had shown me, and slowly slunk forwards, my tail just barely suspended off the ground. I bent my knees, getting ready for a well-aimed pounce. I jumped up high, and just as my paws reached the stump, the bird flew out of my grasp. I almost had it!
"Great job!" My mother congratulated me. "Next time, focus a bit more on your timing."
We continued on for hours, hunting, combat skills, and the apprentice ceremony. After a long day of training, I gratefully flopped down onto my little hay bed. My mother lay down beside me on her bed. She blinked her eyes slowly.
"Tomorrow, you'll learn much more." She said sleepily.
"Like what?" I inquired.
"All about our ancestors, StarClan. The cats in StarClan are cats that have died here, in the world of the living. Skykit and Birdkit are up there right now, watching over us."
Just then I felt a whole lot better, knowing that Skykit and Birdkit were up in there own clan.
"Good night." I said to mother.
"Good night, love." She said back to me.
I woke up to the morning chatter of birds and the crisp smell of fresh pine needles. I yawned and stretched my paws out in front of me luxuriously. I woke my mother with a poke to the belly.
"Wake up! It's time to learn about Starclan!" I squealed.
Mother yawned.
"First, I will tell you about the original three clans. They were called TigerClan, LeopardClan, and LionClan.
LionClan had beautiful flowing manes, and were brave and trustworthy. LeopardClan had amazing dark spots, and were stealthy and cunning. TigerClan had stunning black stripes against orange fur, and they were magnificent and powerful. They didn't always have those stripes, though. This is the story of how TigerClan got there stripes.
When the big cats first walked the forest, TigerClan and LionClan both had pure gold coats, but only LionClan cats had a mane of long hair like the rays of the sun. The TigerClan cats wee jealous of these golden manes, and they were jealous of LeopardClan's ability to run faster than any other cats. Jealousy made them bitter, and they started hunting at night and keeping to the shadows during daytime..."
She continued for a long time before she finally finished the story. She also told another story, How LeopardClan won the river.
When she finished, I looked around for wild boar. They sounded scary.
"Enough about the original three clans, lets get on with StarClan." She declared.
"StarClan is the place where all good cats go when they die, such as the clan leaders. It's where you and I will go when it's our time. Birdkit and Skykit are up there, as I said before. They have all the thing other clans have, hunting territory, a camp, and warrior and apprentice ceremonies. They have a medicine cat, but no leader." My eyes bulged. No leader? Who would tell them when to go on hunting trips and do the ceremonies? I shared my thoughts out loud.
"They don't need a leader, they're all the leader." She answered.
"Oh."
"Lets continue. All the bad cats go to The Place of No Stars when they die, because they have done very bad things, like killing there Clanmates."
"Who would do that!?" I exclaimed.
"The cats in The Place of No Stars."
"They must be really bad to kill there own Clanmates."
"Yes, they are very bad cats." She mewed. "Now you are ready to become an apprentice."
"When do we leave, when do we leave!?" I said with joy.
"Bright and early tomorrow morning." She replied.
"Go back inside and wait for me. I'll go catch you a mouse."