Barkpaw woke early the next day, so early that the sun was just barely rising up. Poking her head out of the den, she walked out and sat down outside of the den and started to groom her pelt. Getting the stray pieces of moss of her, she finished up her grooming by swiping her paw over her left ear a few times.
"Good morning. Barkpaw." Firestar greeted her with a yawn as he suddenly bent down and started to knead at the ground beneath him. Barkpaw nodded towards him and he simply stretched out his legs before stiffly walking away. Barkpaw watched him walk away before she just simply took in a deep breath and looking up at the dawn slowly creeping up.
"Good morning, Barkpaw."
Not paying attention, she jumped at Graystripe who had come up to her side when she wasn't looking. Graystripe let out a soft laugh at her, his whiskers twitching with amusement at her.
"Good thing you're up early, I have a lot planned for you today. I'm going to show you how to hunt first, and if we have time then I'll teach you a few battle techniques." Graystripe told her as he licked his paw.
Barkpaw looked up at him and grinned.
"Good. Now let's get going."
Together the two of them walked out of camp, Barkpaw felt excitement run through her veins as she followed Graystripe through the forest. Suddenly, Graystripe crouched down and Barkpaw did the same, following him silently this time, Graystripe slowly whispered to her,
"Ok, see that mouse?...Watch me..."
Barkpaw watched him intently, Slowly Graystripe started to creep up on the rodent, then in one quick movement he jumped and landed on the mouse and instantly broke its neck. Coming out of the grass, Barkpaw watched as Graystripe then buried it.
"Now, we bury them so we can come back and get them later," Graystripe told her as he patted the earth below his paws and then gestured for her to follow him once more.
"Oh, a thrush. Think you can get it?" Graystripe asked her as he gotten down on his hunches once more, Barkpaw gotten down as well and watched the thrush intently, nodding at him, she quietly watched the bird peck at the ground, moving forward a bit, she frowned when the bird suddenly looked up and with no warning it took off. Frowning she sat up and looked back at Graystripe.
Graystripe chuckled and trotted up to her,
"Birds are different than mice, see that blue bird over there?" He paused and pointed to the blue bird pecking away at the ground, she nodded, and he carried on, "Good watch me."
Getting down on his hunches, he slowly tiptoed towards the bird, it almost looked like he was gliding across the grass as he stalked up close to the bird. Then in one leap, he jumped and landed on the small animal, he quickly bent down and snapped it's neck effortlessly, and like before, he buried it.
"See? Different. Now. Watch how I did it."
After demonstrating once more for her, she watched with more focus this time, and finally, she spotted another thrush on the ground. Getting down the way Graystripe had taught her, she narrowed her eyes as she watched the bird, getting closer she wiggled her hind a bit into the air before finally leaping into the air and managed to land on the bird beneath her. The bird didn't die, instead, it started to squawk and flap its wings, quickly she bent down a bit down on the bird's neck breaking it instantly. Burying the bird like Graystripe taught her.
"Good catch." Came a soft voice from the Shadowclan border.
Turning, she saw Midnightpaw from before, the black tom cat just sitting and watching her. She looked at him and smiled. Graystripe let out a groan and trotted up.
"Nice catch, let's get going." Graystripe hurried Barkpaw along.
"Hey! I never did get your name!" The black tom spoke as he followed them.
"It's none of your business!" Graystripe shouted to the tom as they continued to trot away. Barkpaw kept walking along, until after a while she started to notice that Midnightpaw was still following them. Watching him just follow them along, she couldn't help but be amused. Unfortunately, Graystripe wasn't as amused as she was, as he stopped in his tracks and let out a bitter tsk. Once he stopped, Barkpaw stopped, and when she stopped, Midnightpaw stopped.
"Don't you have something better to do?"
"Nope."
"Look, you Shadowclan cat! I'm trying to train her here, she can't learn if you keep distracting her with your presence!" Graystripe hissed bitterly and Midnightpaw just laughed a bit at him, his whiskers twitching gently as he laughed.
"Very well, I'll distract her at the clan meeting then." The tom cat winked at Barkpaw, causing her face to suddenly heat up all the way to the tips of her ears. Graystripe only leaned beside Barkpaw and just shook his head,
"Stop that, you fur-brain." Graystripe hissed, not to Barkpaw, but to the Shadowclan apprentice. The apprentice only got up and turned from where he sat, he then quickly bounded away from them.
"Shadowclan. I swear. Take my advice, stay away from that one, he's nothing more than trouble I can feel it in my bones." He shuddered at Barkpaw and ushered her away, together the two of them hunted for a good while, Barkpaw was getting better and better with every new kill she found. By the end of it, she found and caught, two mice, a jay bird, and a thrush. With her head high in the air once more, she trotted into camp happily with her kill. Graystripe and she placed the dead animals down on the fresh-kill pile.
"Hm, That took longer than expected." Graystripe groaned a bit as he stretched his body out. "Still, we do have some time. Let's go out and do a couple of easy battle moves, then we'll call it a day."
Barkpaw nodded energetically and practically rushed back towards the camp entrance and waited for Graystripe.
"Alright, I can see you're excited." Graystripe chuckled softly as he quickly trotted up beside her. Together the two of them left the camp and made it towards the battle ground.
"You go and stand over there." He ordered Barkpaw, she nodded and practically ran to the other side. Getting down low, she wiggled her hind playfully.
"Ok, we're going to do this with our claws sheathed, come at me and try and get my neck, again, claws sheathed," Graystripe told her, she nodded and positioned herself a bit before charging forward towards Graystripe, Graystripe got into a different position, and before Barkpaw even got to him, he managed to swipe the side of her head and cause her to go tumbling onto her side.
"Ok, not bad, but it can be easily blocked, as you saw," Graystripe spoke up as Barkpaw got back up. Shaking her pelt to get the dirt off. "Now, try it this way, roam around a bit and try to get the surprise on me, like you're hunting something." He told Barkpaw who happily nodded and disappeared into the grass.
Stifling her breathing, she silently stalked through the grass until she saw a good spot to attack him, his left side. Narrowing her eyes, Barkpaw watched him for a few seconds, his ears were perked up as he seemed to be listening out for her. Silently moving forward, she wiggled herself a bit before charging forward, Graystripe turned to look at her, but couldn't block in time and she managed to head-butt his side as hard as she could.
Graystripe let out a gasp as the air knocked out of him, once down on the ground, Barkpaw simply put her paw on his neck and smirked slightly. His eyes narrowed slightly and he snorted.
"Cheater. I told you to come to me, not to knock the wind out of me. Still...Good job." Graystripe groaned softly as he slowly sat up. Barkpaw smiled at him and Graystripe just looked at her. "Ok, now...Urg..You got the element of surprise on your side that's for sure. Now-"
Barkpaw, still being close to him, just hit him in the face with her paw. Graystripe only looked at her and chuckled.
"Smarty." He gently cuffed her ear in response as he winked at her. "In all seriousness, back up and get on your back, I'm going to be on top of you and I want you to use your hind legs to push me off of you. Ready? Go."
Backing up, Barkpaw got down onto her back and Graystripe got onto of her, placing both of his large paws onto her shoulders, she couldn't help but see just how intimidating his paws and the tip of his claws was, she didn't want to be on the other side of those. Breathing out, she reeled her hind legs back and kicked Graystripe as hard as she could in his stomach. Once more, he let out a gasp but didn't get off. Huffing out, She rapidly continued to kick him in the stomach before he suddenly fell off of her gasping some more. He let out a gag and Barkpaw heard the wet sound of something wet hitting the ground by him.
"I said to kick me off, not to kick me till I throw up what I ate." He scolded her as he gagged out bitterly.
She lowered her ears at him apologetically and he sighed.
"Alright, let's try again. Use your paws to push me up and off, do not just kick me this time." Graystripe ordered and she nodded while making herself still, Graystripe got on top of her once more and Barkpaw took a deep breath in and sprung her hind legs just a little below his stomach and instead of just kicking him, she used the lower half of her body to move him up and off of her. It didn't really make him go flying, seeing how he was rather heavy but she did manage to push him off. Still, she did wind up doing a backward summersault and getting back onto her paws.
"Alright, nice job...Urg...I think I need to rest for a moment...And go and see Leafpool while I'm at it. Let's call it a day." Graystripe grunted in pain as he now started to limp away towards the camp, Barkpaw followed happily behind him.
"Ok, go and give the queens something, then eat something yourself, and rest up. We'll probably go on patrol later if Leafpool gives me the ok that is." He groaned and limped into Leafpool's den. Barkpaw just smiled softly and walked over to the fresh-kill pile, grabbing a thrush and a mouse she walked over towards the queen's den she gave Daisy the mouse and Sandstorm the thrush. Once they said their thanks, she trotted back to the pile and grabbed the blue jay and sat down to eat. She wasn't even halfway finished with her bird when Spottedpaw came up to her.
Spottedpaw laid down next to her and quickly started to groom her fur. Barkpaw looked at him as he raked his tongue along her back, she just shrugged lightly and leaned up to lick his chest. She could feel the vibrations of his chest as he purred. She pushed the rest of her meal towards him and Spottedpaw happily at it up, not before licking the blood off of her muzzle first. She just looked at him and stood up, scratching at the dirt below her.
"Urg. So gross." Petalpaw sneered at the two of them. Barkpaw felt Spottedpaw wrap his tail around hers and just sneered right back at her.
"But it's alright when you and Darkpaw get together like this, right?" He asked her bitterly.
"Yeah, it is, because Darkpaw and I are normal." Was all Petalpaw said before trotting into the apprentice den?
"Normal.." Spottedpaw sneered in a mocking voice before rubbing up against Barkpaw's neck with his head. Barkpaw felt herself purr and then she stretched out and clawed out at the ground before yawning sleepily. Graystripe walked up to her, causing her ears to perk up.
"Alright. Well, Leafpool told me to rest up for the rest of the day. So we'll finish today early, oh, and remember, you can't leave the camp without the accompaniment of another warrior." He told her and she just nodded, she already knew about that rule, her mother had told her before she even became an apprentice. Graystripe walked away and into the warrior's den, Barkpaw gently licked one of her paws and swiped it over her ear.
All and all, today was an interesting day, and still, she hasn't felt discouraged and she was going to keep going strong, to prove that she has what it takes to be a warrior.