Peppermintpaw hid in the Training Den, a deep underground cavern next to the leader's den. She had decided to slip behind an old, battered rock. The musty scent of it disgusted her. Suddenly, she heard pawsteps from the entrance. She peeked over and saw Whispersage. "Perfect..." she mumbled. As soon as he was within her range, Peppermintpaw scrambled up the damaged stone and leaped at him. Whispersage saw her coming, but didn't even try to get out of her range. She had misjudged her jump and landed face-first in the flattened soil, scuffing it into piles. Whispersage let out a chuckle and helped her up, much to her embarrassment. "Trying to sneak attack your mentor without proper training?" he asked playfully. It had been quite a few days since the Ghostcry incident, and RubyClan was mostly to normal. The hysteria had died down for the most part, and apprentices were learning again. Peppermintpaw had gotten a lot of up-close battle training, just in case the wolves attacked. However, she had learned nothing about sneaking and hunting.

"Then teach me! Teach me!" Peppermintpaw squealed, covering her shame of misjumping. So, Whispersage told her all about hunting. (AN: I didn't feel like typing a wall of text about how to hunt, and I'm pretty sure you don't wanna read one, either.) After a while, Peppermintpaw felt she had memorized most of the things she needed to know, and they set out from the camp.

"So, where do you think we should go for your first hunt?" Whispersage asked. Peppermintpaw was quick in her answer. "The Crystal Caves!" she mewed excitedly. So they set off towards the Crystal Caves. Part-way there, Whispersage picked up a scent of mouse. "Stop," he whispered. "Do you smell that?" Peppermintpaw nodded. "Remember what I told you about the hunting crouch, how you have to get down silently?" Peppermintpaw nodded again. "Try it now to catch that mouse." Peppermintpaw dropped down into a somewhat awkward hunting crouch, trying to keep her tail from lashing. She snuck up closer to the mouse, and then leaped at it. However, the mouse got free of her paws, and started to scurry away. Peppermintpaw knew she shouldn't, but chased after it anyway. It squeezed into a tiny hole, and Peppermintpaw gave up.

Seeing the disappointment in Peppermintpaw's eyes when she returned, he decided not to scold her just yet. "Come on, we're almost to the Crystal Caves." So they kept going, and eventually they made their way to the Caves. "How exactly do you catch bats?" Whispersage questioned, trying to see if she remembered. "When they're asleep, you snag them off the ceiling, and when they're awake, you leap up and hook your claws into their wings!" she answered. "Good! Now try it!" he said. Peppermintpaw slunk into the cave as quiet as she could. She kept looking down at her feet nervously, worried she'd kick a rock and wake up the bats already.

Luckily, however, she didn't, and she finally reached a place where plenty of bats were sleeping. She hopped up and snatched a bat, her claws killing it before it could make a sound. She dropped on the cave floor and caught a few more, before she missed and woke the whole cave up. She started leaping at the flying masses, her face being battered by the onslaught. She did manage to catch one from the group, but that was it. However, she had caught a good amount for her first hunt, and felt proud of herself.

"Good job, Peppermintpaw!" Whispersage praised. They carried the bats back to the camp, where they were met with an amazing sight. Crystalpaw was standing in camp, and all of the cats were staring at her. Her alabaster tail was long and fluffy, yet flickered like fire, with a glorious powder blue tip. Her eyes seemed to be filled with power, and her ears were rimmed with gold. Her claws and teeth seemed to be flickering with pure energy. Crystalpaw spotted Peppermintpaw in the crowd, and managed to get to her.

"Peppermintpaw, you know Ghostcry's prophecy? StarClan visited me in my dreams last night and told me I was the 'one who held this clan's fate upon my chest'! They gave me powers and special training, and said I'm destined to prevent a war from breaking out between the clans and stop the seven demons of the dark forest!" mewed Crystalpaw, hyper and excited as can be. "I caught a bunch of bats-" Peppermintpaw started, but nobody listened as they were back to cheering and pestering Crystalpaw.

Life went on after that, everything Peppermintpaw achieved being overshined by her sister. Every hunting patrol Crystalpaw was in only got prey from her, because nobody else had a chance to catch anything. In border scuffles, everything was resolved in mere seconds - thanks to Crystalpaw. Peppermintpaw was jealous, though happy for her sister. Sometimes her jealousy made her feel like there was a demon whispering in her head. But life went on.