Runningstar was checking on Cloverleaf again when he heard a scream coming from the gorse tunnel. He said a quick goodbye and rushed out of the nursery.

Catkinheart was there, dragging a black tom through the tunnel. She looked exhausted, and finally collapsed.

"Catkinheart!" Cried Runningstar, bounding toward the she-cat. He tried to pick her up, but she pushed away. "No," She gasped. "I'm fine…Just please help me get Shadownight to the medicine cats den."

Runningshadow slung one of the tom's paws over his shoulder while Catkinheart put the other around hers. "What happened?" Asked Runningstar.

"I don't know…but Shadownight just came running for me to tell me something important…but then he must have been really tired or something because all of a sudden he just fainted…" Catkinheart started to cry.

"Don't worry, Shadownight will be fine," Runningstar mewed, giving Catkinheart a lick. "Mossflower will take good care of him."

Catkinheart didn't say anything more until they got to Mossflower's den.

The black and white she-cat was just arranging some herbs on her shelves and holding each one out to quiz Weavepaw, and she saw the three cats making their way toward her den.

"Runningstar, what are you- Shadownight, are you okay?"

Catkinheart explained everything to the black and white she-cat.

"Oh my, here, put him in that corner over there. There's plenty of nice moss there, and since the cottonwoods are in season it'll be even softer…that's it, it's okay…Good job."

Catkinheart wiped her tears away with the back of her paw. "Is he going to be okay, Mossflower?" She sniffled.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he's just fine, especially when I have Weavepaw to help," Mossflower purred. "Come on, Weavepaw, let's look over poor Shadownight here…"

"Mind if I watch you?" Asked Runningstar. He wanted to see how Weavepaw was keeping up.

"Don't you have your own apprentice to train?" Mossflower growled. "Trailpaw's been waiting all morning to train with you! Now shoo- Catkinheart did, now you should."

Runningstar backed out of the den guiltily and tried to scent out Trailpaw. He hoped he hadn't sent him on a patrol.

Fortunately, it turned out he hadn't. Trailpaw was sitting down on a tree stump outside the apprentice's den, alone. He was sunning himself, but looked very bored.

"Trailpaw!" Called Runningstar. "Trailpaw, come here!"

The tabby tom looked up happily, his amber eyes glittering. "Are we gonna train?" He asked happily.

"Yes," Runningstar mewed. "I think it's time we trained some more."

"Great!" Trailpaw exclaimed, jumping to his paws. "So what will we do today? Fighting practice? Hunting practice? Just practice? What?"

"Shh, calm down," Runningstar growled. "We can do fighting practice if you want. You haven't practiced fighting yet."

"Yes!" Yowled Trailpaw. "I can't wait! Learning how to fight will be so much fun!"

"Don't get too excited," Runningstar growled. "It will spoil your session. Come on, let's go."

Trailpaw was prancing excitedly behind Runningstar as they went out of the camp.

"Do you smell that?" Asked Runningstar.

Trailpaw lifted his nose high in the air and sniffed noisily. "Um…vole, I think," He mewed. "And some fox, but it's stale. It must have just been passing by."

Runningstar lifted his nose and sniffed too. "Yes, great job," He praised. "Do you think that you can get the vole?"

"Aw, I want to fight!" Trailpaw groaned, putting his front paws in front of him and lifting his rump high in the air.

"Shh, you'll scare all the prey away from here to Fourtrees if you keep yelling like that. Fine, I'll go get it. You go to the Sandy Hollow."

"No no, I'll go get it," Whispered Trailpaw. He got into the hunting crouch with his body low to the ground and his hind legs high in the air.

"Trailpaw, that's how to hunt a bird!" Hissed Runningstar quietly. Trailpaw got distracted really easily, which was a downside for an apprentice.

The tabby tom shot up into the air and blushed, embarrassed. "Oh, yeah…sorry…"

"That's fine, but we should probably just go train now. The voles are gone now, you scared them away."

Trailpaw hung his head and followed after his mentor glumly. He didn't even say anything else the entire way there, except when he stopped by a bush near the Owl Tree. He stuck his nose into it and sniffed.

Suddenly, he wrinkled his nose and jumped back. "Ew!" He hissed. "What is that horrible smell?"

Runningstar opened his mouth to smell. He froze. He had smelled that before…but it seemed like so long ago that Runningstar didn't remember what it was.

Soon, Trailpaw gave in and rummaged around the bush. "Trailpaw, what are you doing?" Exclaimed Runningstar. "That could be dan…" His voice trailed off as he saw what Trailpaw had dragged out of the bush.

Runningstar felt sick. It was what he had seen not too long ago…when he was coming back from the moonstone where he had gotten his nine lives. He had seen a rat similar to the one that Trailpaw was holding between his teeth, right inside WindClan territory. What were all these rotten rats doing in the forest?

"Trailpaw, put that down this instant!" Runningstar snapped. "It could be infected! You'd get sick!"

At the words "you'd get sick" Trailpaw squeaked with fear and dropped the rat to the ground.

"I wonder what a rat is doing here on ThunderClan territory?" Runningstar pondered. "They don't live here."

Trailpaw shrugged. "I dunno. Can we go training now and forget about it? It's probably some old carrion that got carried in by a badger or a fox."

"Good observation," Runningstar purred to his apprentice. "And yes, we should probably just hide this away again and go to the Sandy Hollow quickly." Runningstar gestured to Trailpaw for him to follow him.

The tabby tom reluctantly followed, still keeping a careful eye on the rat.

When they got to the sandy training clearing, Runningstar poised himself in front of his apprentice. "Okay. Today we're just going to learn simple attacks. Attack me," He mewed, getting into a defensive stance.

Trailpaw smiled to himself and got into a crouch. He rushed for the light brown tom, unsheathing his claws, and leaping with outstretched paws.

Runningstar slipped to the side and tripped Trailpaw with his back leg. "You'll have to be a little more strategic," Runningstar explained. "Try again, and this time try to attack me when I least expect it."

Trailpaw nodded, his amber eyes glittering with determination. He started to break into a run, his claws far out in front of him, and he went straight for Runningstar again.

Runningstar reached out and tangled his paws in with Trailpaw's, then flipping him on the ground.

Trailpaw got up slowly, spitting sand out. His wet nose was covered with sand.

"Okay, try not to attack me with your paws out in front of you," Runningstar mewed. "It will tell your enemy that you are going to attack them."

"Ok," Trailpaw mewed, eyes shining with tears of frustration. He backed away and got into a crouch. He slowly and quietly unsheathed his claws into the sand.

Runningstar watched his apprentice carefully. If he was going to get angry this easily, he wouldn't be a good warrior in the long run. They had to work to get rid of that habit.

Trailpaw started running toward Runningstar and jumped to one side of him, then as Runningstar took a swipe for him Trailpaw whipped around to the other side, out of Runningstar's reach, and ran his paws down his mentor's other flank.

"That's much better!" Cried Runningstar. "Great job! That's the kind of fighting I'm looking for here."

Tears spilled out of Trailpaw. "I did it," He huffed.

"Are you okay, Trailpaw?" Asked Runningstar.

Trailpaw nodded. He was just fine, but the only reason he was crying was because he had shut his eyes so tight that the tears of frustration had billowed out of his eyes.

"Now that you've picked up simple fighting, it's time that you learned more technical moves, like how to kick cats off of you and how to partner fight," Runningstar explained to his apprentice.

Trailpaw was only half-listening. Because to him, this part of his training was a huge breakthrough in his life.

Yeah, it was a horrible way to end the chapter, but...anyway, review! I can give you a little rotten rat plushie!