Chapter 1
"Sootpaw, Moonpaw, let's go hunting!" Birchpaw meowed. He shook his littermates but they still did not open their eyes. The brown apprentice rolled his eyes. How come I'm the only one in the family that likes to get up early?
The young tom loved mornings. Everything was so clear and fresh. Birchpaw liked to watch the sun gradually dance higher and higher in the sky, and he liked to smell the new fragrances that had popped up overnight. Everything was just so new and fresh in the morning, having had the night to recover. I'll just go by myself then. As always.
Almost every morning, he went off by himself for some early hunting. During the two moons he had spent training so far, he had learned that the early mornings was the easiest time of day to hunt. Prey was slower, easier to catch. It was almost as though they were still groggy from sleeping all night.
"Hey! Hey wait, Birchpaw!"
The young tom turned around and was delighted to see his friend running after him. "Galepaw!"
"I'll come with you. It'll be one of my last hunts as an apprentice. My assessment's today!" The gray and white tom meowed happily.
"Already? Wow!" Birchpaw was pleased for his friend. Although he was five moons older, Galepaw was great friends with Birchpaw and his littermates. It was easy for them to forget they weren't littermates; the four cats were so close it was as if they shared the same thoughts and feelings.
"Let's go!" Galepaw mewed.
"I'll race you there!" Birchpaw challenged. The two toms ran out of camp and sprinted to the river.
"Beat ya!" Galepaw laughed and then gasped for air. Birchpaw didn't say anything as he struggled for air.
"I'll get you next time." Birchpaw said after a moment, but he didn't sound too into it. Without waiting for a reply, he sat himself on the banks of the river and waited patiently. Galepaw settled beside down beside him.
When they returned to camp, Galepaw had two fish and Birchpaw had a trout. They placed their prey on the pile and looked around for their mentors.
"There you are! Been hunting, huh?" Icepelt called to Galepaw as she walked over to the two toms. The gray and white cat nodded to his mentor. "The assessment will start as soon as you're ready then. Are you tired?"
"No, Icepelt. I'm ready. See ya Birchpaw." The eldest apprentice left camp again and this time, his mentor followed him.
"Good luck!" Birchpaw called but there was no response. Shrugging to himself, he glanced around trying to find his mentor.
Wetfoot emerged from the warriors' den at that moment with Graymist. "Ready to go? We'll be practicing battle tactics with Sootpaw and Graymist today."
"Sure am." Turning to his brother he added, "Come on sleepyhead!"
"Not everyone loves mornings." The smudgy gray-toned tom grumbled. The two young cats followed their mentors as they left camp and led the way to the training hollow.
"It's halfway to sunhigh! You can't possibly be tired!" Birchpaw exclaimed.
"Yes and you know I prefer to stay out late. I haven't gotten as much sleep as you have." Sootpaw reminded him.
"Oh, yeah. Right." Sootpaw loved the night as much as Birchpaw loved mornings.
The forest seemed to come alive at night. The stillness in the air made it easier to pick out prey scents and the darkness could be used as a cover; Birchpaw knew how good his brother could sneak around in the shadows. Sometimes he thought Sootpaw could have been born into ShadowClan. He had been going out to hunt at night as often as Birchpaw hunted in the morning; his eyes had adjusted so much he could see better in the dark than he did during the day.
"Alright you two. Enough talking. It's time to start." Wetfoot meowed.
"Today, we'll be working on using your instincts in battle. Knowing battle moves is good and you shouldn't fight without knowing some but instinct is far more important." Graymist said.
"Don't rely completely on battle moves. Try feeling along with what you're doing." Wetfoot added. "Battle moves can be too restrictive at times. If a move is not working, go ahead and change it so it does."
The brothers listened intently, soaking up the lesson like cobwebs soak up blood.
"Sootpaw, you have a lot of strength. I want you to attack Birchpaw like he's an enemy warrior. Birchpaw, use your cleverness to defend yourelf." Graymist instructed.
No sooner had the words left her mouth when Sootpaw threw himself on Birchpaw. Birchpaw jumped out of his way neatly, but Sootpaw had expected this. He flashed his legs out as he jumped so that his sheathed paws still struck a blow to his brother. Quick as lightning, Birchpaw grasped Sootpaw's feet gently but firmly in his mouth and threw him across the field. Sootpaw was not able to recover in time; Birchpaw pinned his legs to the ground, winning the brawl.
"Great job, Birchpaw but you could work on more offense. Once you have your opponent on the ground, you have the upper paw. Follow it up with some claw work." Graymist commented.
"And Sootpaw, you showed forethought when you tried to scratch him. Even if your battle moves miss, never pass up an opportunity to wound your enemy. But you need to work on your speed and getting past your enemy." Wetfoot mewed.
"Try again, and keep in mind what we've said." Graymist said.
They practiced a few more times. Both toms were showing rapid improvement and neither could gain the upper paw in a fight now; they had become evenly matched.
"You both have done well. We'd better get back before we miss Galepaw's ceremony." Wetfoot concluded the session.
"I don't want to miss it! We have to be there for him!" Sootpaw meowed.
"Come on we'd better hurry!" Birchpaw said. The two apprentices spun around and hurried back to camp. Their mentors looked at each other and purred before following more slowly.
In the end, it was a good thing they rused back to camp. Silverstar was standing on Mossrock, having already called out the summons to the clan. Reedpelt was sitting at the base of the rock, Galepaw and Icepelt on either side of him.
Sootpaw spotted Moonpaw and went to sit with her, Birchpaw following behind him quietly. Graymist and Wetfoot found places to sit next to Oakstrom and Sandclaw and then Silverstar spoke.
"I have called you all together so I can give Galepaw his warrior name. Icepelt tells me he had fine hunting for his assessment." Silverstar announced.
"He will be a warrior the clan can be proud of." The white she-cat meowed. Birchpaw could see Reedpelt and Shinewhisker gazing at their son. It was clear they were proud of him already by the expression in their eyes.
Silverstar hopped down from Mossrock and gathered the words to the age old ceremony. "I, Silverstar call upon our warrior ancestors to look down at this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn. Galepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and defend the clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do." His voice was sure and steady, full of conviction.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. From this day forward you shall be known as Galestrike. StarClan honors your forethought and independence and we welcome you as a full warrior."
"Galestrike, Galestrike!" The clan chanted his new name and Birchpaw was caught up in the excitement. The new warrior glanced around his clanmates proudly. His purrs got louder when Birchpaw and his littermates came up to congratulate him personally.
"Great name, Galestrike!" Sootpaw said.
"Yeah it sounds really tough!" Birchpaw added. Moonpaw said nothing, but her eyes shone with excitement and pleasure and she rested her tail-tip on his shoulder briefly.
"We'll miss you in the den." Sootpaw meowed. "Maybe you'll finally get some sleep, what with Moonpaw's snoring and Birchpaw waking up at the crack of dawn." He added teasingly.
"Hey, I don't-" Moonpaw's protest was cut off when Galepaw laid his tail across her mouth.
"I'll miss you all too. So hurry up and learn what you've got to learn so you can join me!" That got all four of them laughing.
"We will." Moonpaw spoke for the first time. Her mew, so much like her mother's, was soft and laced with determination.
"Galestrike! Come celebrate with us!" Rosedrop, Shinewhisker and some of the toher warriors had already settled down to a feast. It was Icepelt who had called out to her former apprentice.
"Ok!" he responded. Turnong to his friends he asked, "Coming?"
"Yes. We wouldn't miss it for anything." Moonpaw meowed. She and her brothers followed Galestrike and settled down beside him to share prey and talk with their clanmates.
Galestrike, Sootpaw and his siblings stayed out late into the night, talking and laughing and sharing stories. When they started doing more yawing than talking, Moonpaw and Birchpaw headed for their nests. Sootpaw walked with Galestrike to the camp entrance. The new warrior sat down in front of it to sit in silent vigil for the night while Sootpaw went out to do some late night hunting.
"It was a good day. See you in the morning." He said in farewell to Galestrike before leaving. His friend nodded to him and waved his tail.
Sootpaw thought he had never seen such a wonderful night. Galestrike will be a great warrior.
A/N: Yay! Finally got to write with my new characters. It's like a breath of fresh air and I love it. Not much to say but that I have such major things in store and I'm going to work really hard to make this something worth reading. Thank you to all my readers and a bigger thank you to all my reviewers. If there's anything I can do to improve, please let me know!
I got a review from a guest on my prologue saying that I cannot use the name Moonpaw. I just wanted to say that since this is my story, I have the liberty of picking and using whatever names I want to. You don't have to read it if you don't like it.