Poppypaw heard Jaypaw before she scented him. Oh dear, she thought, he must be in a rotten mood!

The apprentice was stomping heavily, undoubtedly muddying her body with all the dust he must be kicking up. In a storm of anger he stomped into the medicine den where she was supposed to be mixing heather with some herb or another, the only problem was, she had no idea which herb was which or how to mix them.

"Hi Jaypaw," she mewed, remembering Leafpool was out collecting coltsfoot, so she could call him by his real name.

"I hate being you!" he growled, sitting down heavily, "I think I hate it even more than being me, Thornclaw is treating me like a kit!"

Poppypaw snorted, "I hope you haven't got me into trouble?" she asked, praying to Starclan that even this insensitive furball wasn't that stupid.

"No," he hissed moodily, "but if Thornclaw carries on…"

He stopped as Leafpool's scent drifted into the den, and stood up. Pushing out of the cave he called back loudly, "Thanks for getting that thorn out Jaypaw!"

Poppypaw sighed, she had wanted to ask him how to mix these dumb herbs, but he was gone now, she'd have to ask Leafpool and be told off. Again. Really, everyone wanted to be a medicine cat, but she didn't recommend it; the duties were so dull compared to hunting. But then, it was satisfying when she had made seen Mousefur fall asleep from her poppy seed, and the thorn come out of Sandstorm's foot because of her. It felt good to help her clan mates in more ways than hunting and fighting. And she hadn't even spoken to Starclan yet, surely that would be an awesome experience? If she was really the medicine cat's apprentice, that was.

Her heart sunk, what would Starclan say, would they see her as an intruder? Would they even let her share tongues with them? What if, because she'd swapped with Jaypaw, she single paw-edly ruined the whole clan?

She shuddered at the thought.

"Jaypaw, it isn't that cold!" mewed Leafpool, "do you have a fever, because I don't want it getting around the clan!"

Poppypaw shook her head, "no, I just caught a, um, draught, I think. That's all," she mewed. Of course, it was easy enough to lie to Leafpool, but she couldn't tell herself she wasn't scared.

Without eyes she couldn't even see what stage the moon was in, how long did she have?

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Jaypaw woke to the sound of breathing in his ear. Opening his eyes he saw Cinderpaw sitting on one of his paws and staring straight at him, "get up sleepy head! We're doing battle training," she mewed excitedly.

Jaypaw rolled over, annoyed at the apprentice for squashing his paw, what right did she have? They hardly knew each other! Then he remembered, she was his sister for the time being, and sisters did tend to squish you. He shot an annoyed look at Hollypaw, still asleep, remembering having her and Lionpaw sat all over him, just because they could. But to be fair he had sat all over them in return.

"So are you getting up today?" asked Cinderpaw, jerking Jaypaw back to the present.

"Yes, yes," he mumbled, standing up, shaking the scraps of moss off his pelt. "Are we in the training hollow?" he asked, trying to remember where it was. Even though it had been three sunrises since he'd started being an apprentice again, he still found it hard to remember where everything was.

Cinderpaw nodded, "come on!" she mewed, "Thornclaw and Cloudtail are waiting."

Jaypaw followed her out of the den, blinking in the sunlight. It was strange to think that less than a moon ago he couldn't even see the sun, let alone the sunlight!

The two apprentices met with their mentors by the fresh kill pile to have a meal before setting out.

"We're going to be working on that pinning move," mewed Cloudtail, greeting them with a wave of his tail, "so don't eat too much or you may not be able to wriggle out!"

Mrrrow purred Cinderpaw in amusement, flicking her mentor with a tail as she pulled a sparrow out of the fresh kill pile. "Want to share, Poppypaw?" she asked happily, nudging the prey forwards.

Jaypaw sat down next to her, "thanks," he mewed, taking a bite.

When the sparrow was finished, Thornclaw and Cloudtail stood up, stretching in the sunlight. Then the cats padded out of camp, walking through the forest.

Once again Jaypaw marvelled at how easy it was to walk when he could actually see the trees, and didn't have to follow other cats scent trails to find a place. It was true, he was a bad apprentice and hated the sudden degrade of scenting, sensing and hearing, but being Poppypaw did have it's upside.

At the training hollow, Jaypaw and Cinderpaw made their way to the middle, paws scuffing up the sandy earth into billows of dust. Thornclaw padded over, Cloudtail just behind him.

"Poppypaw, you can go first," mewed Thornclaw, "First, you try to pin me, when I get free, I'll pin you, okay?"

Jaypaw nodded, crouching with his belly to the earth. Letting his gaze flicker to a falling leaf he tried to think of the best way to pin a cat bigger than him. Perhaps a surprise attack? Or maybe that head-ducking move Hollypaw loved so much?

Thornclaw made a slight hissing noise, as if he was getting impatient. "In a battle, I'd have flayed you by now, Poppypaw, hurry up before I die of old age!"

Jaypaw decided to try and get underneath Thornclaw.

Cautiously he padded forwards, eyes looking into Thornclaw's. Carefully he came within a tail-length of his "mentor", then shot under him.

Jaypaw remembered being in the nursery, and Daisy's fur. When he and his littermates had got close, it had tickled his nose, or his belly, and made him want to collapse.

Sheathing his claws, Jaypaw ran his tail near the back of one of Thornclaw's legs. The warrior wriggled, trying to get away, and at the apprentice without squashing him.

Suddenly Thornclaw collapsed, and Jaypaw pushed his head up, clinging onto Thornclaw's belly fur. The warrior rolled over, trying to wriggle his legs free, but Jaypaw was already pinning him, holding hi down! He was beating Thornclaw!

Then Thornclaw just stood up, like that, "Don't loose focus," he mewed, "or your opponent will get out and eat you!"

Jaypaw felt his pelt burning with embarrassment, and he lowered his face. Just as he thought he might be able to impress his mentor, and he'd screwed it up.

"Anyway, it's my go," the warrior continued, and Jaypaw braced himself for the pin. How was he going to get out? Maybe he'd have to make sure Thornclaw got distracted like he had.

Thornclaw ran at Jaypaw, bowling him over, even though the apprentice had dug his claws into the earth.

He felt a heavy weight press down on him as Thornclaw pinned him, holding his legs down on either side. Jaypaw instantly wished for his old body, it would have been easier to wriggle out if there was less of him to hold onto. But he wasn't in his body; he was in Poppypaw's and had to deal with it.

Trying to think like a warrior, he tried going limp, but Thornclaw knew that trick and just pressed harder.

Jaypaw frowned – what could he do? Could he do anything? No. If he were in a real battle he would have been ripped to shreds already. He may have had a warrior's body, but not a warriors mind. What was he going to do? Live the rest of his life stuck like this, as a terrible warrior. A she-cat?

Why, Starclan? He asked the sky, but it didn't help, and Thornclaw was still on top of him, waiting for a move to be made.

Jaypaw tried wriggling out – no use. He tried tickling again, but Thornclaw was ready for that and recoiled before he could.

Jaypaw shot out triumphantly, yowling a caterwaul. He'd done it!

Cloudtail padded over, eyes smiling. "So, you're ticklish are you, Thornclaw?" he asked, wiggling a paw at the other warrior. Thornclaw sniffed, "No, I let her win."

Cinderpaw purred, coming over, "sure," she mewed cheekily, "well done Poppypaw, you've found his weakness, but don't sell it out to Shadowclan! Imagine what they could do with a pawful of feathers!"

Jaypaw tried not to, but found himself laughing anyway, "you're go now!" he mewed.