Swipe... duck... swipe... jump... swipe... damn, he's good!
Echopaw hissed as Mudpelt hit her cheek. She tried to dive beneath him, but he plopped down on top of her.
"I win."
Echopaw grumbled unhappy before getting up. She limped a tiny bit before growling at her leg and straightening up. Her mentor looked at her in concern.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine." she assured him. "Let's keep going." She dropped into a defensive crouch. The warrior blinked at her. Cocking his head, he opened his mouth.
"Well, actually," he started, "I was going to go on a border patrol. Would you like to come?"
Echopaw's eyes lit up. "Yeah!"
"Great. I'll be showing you the different scents too, so pay attention on it." he nodded at her. "This isn't just a walk to look at the scenery."
Nodding, the apprentice grinned. "Of course." Border patrol! Border patrol!

Echopaw pawed at a bit of moss growing on a rock. "Soft." she tipped her head and looked at it closer. "Moist. Can I lap water off it?" she tentatively lapped at the moss. Swallowing, Echopaw blinked. "Not bad."
"Echopaw! Hurry up!"
Startled, the apprentice jumped. Looking up, she called: "Sorry!" then bounded up to her annoyed looking mentor.
"I told you, we're on a border patrol, not a walk to look at nature."
"Yeah, sorry."
Mudpelt huffed and turned, walking on with the rest of the patrol. Echopaw followed. "So which border are we going to first?" she asked.
"WindClan's."
"Oh."
"Do you know why that is?" the brown tom glanced back at her.
"Uh.. because..." Echopaw felt stumped. Brain fart. she thought in annoyance. Then a switch clicked in her mind. "Because they accused us of stealing."
"That's part of it. But they accused us of stealing, not the other way. We have had no trace of them on our land."
"Oh." After thinking for a moment, the switch turned the lightbulb on. "They're being hostile towards us, because of the accusation."
Mudpelt smiled at her. "Correct."
Echopaw beamed. Suddenly, a strong smell of moor and rabbits hit her nose. After being amongst the smell of fish and water for so long, the scent made her gag. "WindClan?"
"We're here!" Pebbleclaw called back. "Mudpelt, Echopaw, you go scout the border, make sure no cats crossed."
"Right." Mudpelt nodded.
"Trouttooth, you and I will reset the markers." A dark brown tabby, Trouttooth, nodded at the white warrior.
Echopaw grinned as she followed her mentor. "Do you think any cat will have crossed over?" she asked excitedly.
"I doubt it."
The black she-cat stuck her tongue out. "Don't you wanna fight?"
"Not really."
"But that's what we do, right?" Echopaw's eyes gleamed.
Mudpelt turned to look at her. His eyes were serious. "We protect our clan. Warriors don't just go looking for a fight. If it is necessary, we engage in battle, but only if it's necessary." he narrowed his eyes at her. "And the warrior code says that we do not need to kill to be victorious. Got that?"
Echopaw shrunk back from her suddenly threatening mentor. "Y-yeah. Got it."
Mudpelt nodded at her and turned. Echopaw relaxed and followed him; her jaws open to gather scents.
"Wait." Mudpelt held up a paw as Echopaw bumped into him from behind. "Smell that?"
Echopaw blinked and drank in the scents. "What am I trying to smell, exactly?"
"WindClan."
The apprentice rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah, we're right next to the border."
"No, on our land."
Echopaw blinked and bent down, sniffing. Suddenly, a strong, fresh blast of WindClan scent hit her nose. "Oh."
Mudpelt spun, jumping over her. "Let's go!"

"WindClan? On our land?" Troutstar's tailed lashed angrily. "Those good for nothing, StarClan forsaken rabbit-chasers!"
Stonefur nodded. "And after they accused us of stealing!" the deputy spat.
Pebbleclaw dipped his head to his leader. "With all due respect, Troutstar, there was no trace of them stealing food. They just seemed to have gone over the border then went back. No harm done."
"No harm done? No harm done?!" Stonefur snarled. "They trespassed! We have to teach them-"
"No, Pebbleclaw is right." Troutstar growled, though he still looked angry. "It may have just been some apprentices straying over the border. There's no evidence of them, so we'll leave it for now."
Stonefur grumbled but nodded at his leader. "Alright. It's your decision."
Echopaw sat in anticipation as her mentor returned from talking with their leader. "So? Are we gonna attack?"
"No," Mudpelt shook his head. "Troutstar's decided to leave it alone for now."
"What?!" Echopaw jumped up. "This is an outrage! They trespassed! We have to-"
"Leave it, Echopaw." her mentor growled. "I agree with you that it is an outrage that they would accuse us of stealing then trespass themselves, but I also agree with Troutstar. There's no evidence of theft, we should just leave it alone."
The black apprentice watched in shock as her mentor padded off to the warriors den.

Whisperpaw looked up as Echopaw returned. She cocked her head, her eyes gleaming.
"Hey, Whisperpaw. Yeah, training is fun. I practiced defence moves and attack moves with Mudpelt, then we went on a border patrol where we smelt WindClan in our territory and we told Troutstar but he says since there's no evidence of theft we're going to leave it alone." Finishing, Echopaw realised she run out of air. Immediately, she took a huge breath. Whisperpaw furrowed her brow. She knawed at her paw and Echopaw laughed at her strange language.
"Yeah, I think we should attack too, but what can we do? We're just apprentices."
Whisperpaw shrugged. Motioning outside, then fake chewing, she got up. Echopaw nodded.
"Sure, I'll come eat with you."
The tabby beamed and padded outside, her friend following her. Whisperpaw grabbed a fish and chucked it over to Echopaw. She jumped up and caught it in her jaws. Both of them carried their fish over to a side of the clearing before settling down to eat when-
"Hiya, guys. Can I sit with you?" Lemonpaw beamed at them.
"Nope." Echopaw said.
Whisperpaw shook her head.
Lemonpaw's face fell. "Aw, please?"
"Nope." Echopaw said.
Whisperpaw shook her head.
His shoulders slumped. "Pretty please?"
"Nope." Echopaw said.
Whisperpaw shook her head.
"Not even if I beg you?" Lemonpaw asked.
"Nope." Echopaw said.
Whisperpaw shook her head.
Lemonpaw looked at them. "Why not?"
Echopaw glanced at Whisperpaw. Whisperpaw glanced at Echopaw.
"Dammit." muttered Echopaw. "Alright, you can sit with us."
"Yay!"

"Echo. Echo, wake up."
A paw prodded at Echopaw's side. She groaned and turned.
"Wake up, lazy."
The black she-cat opened one eye. Blackpaw was looking down at her.
"We're on the dawn patrol." he said.
Echopaw sat up, blinking sleep out of her eyes. "Alright." she yawned. "I'll be there in a second."
Her denmate nodded and padded out.
After giving herself a quick grooming, Echopaw stretched and padded out of the den.
"Echopaw, glad you could join us." Stonefur grunted.
The apprentice dipped her head.
"Shall we head off?" asked a tortoishell, Streampelt.
Stonefur looked at Streampelt. "Yeah, sure, whatever you say." he murmured.
Streampelt laughed. "Well, ok, lets go."
Echopaw glanced between them, then another lightbulb switched on. Oh right, they're mates. I forgot. She trotted after the rest of the patrol, nodding to the guard as she passed him. Recognising the route, she realised they were heading to the WindClan border again. Around halfway there, Echopaw's ears picked up a splashing, bounding up to Stonefur, she asked whether she could quickly hunt then catch up. Shrugging, Stonefur sent her off.
Echopaw turned around and ran back to where she'd heard the splashing. She didn't recall there being water here when they came the other day, but splashing means there's water and there's something in it.
Poking her head through some reeds, she saw a fish splashing in a shallow pool. I wonder how it got there. She shrugged and bounded forward. Just as she was about to jab her paw on to the fish, a huge, deafening bang filled her ears.
She screamed
and
things
fell
around
her. She scrambled backwards and another huge
BANG!
filled her ears.
"Echopaw!" The apprentice spun to see Stonefur running towards her when-