CHAPTER THREE - THE HUNTER COMPETITION AND EMOTION EMISSION
" Pepperpaw? Wake up! We're hunting today!" Bluepaw hissed. Pepperpaw groaned and pushed herself up from her nest. Bluepaw was hopping around with her blue eyes glittering.
" Oh, okay, one second," Pepperpaw replied as she got up and stretched. Some of her muscles felt sore from last night from all that practicing she'd done. Pepperpaw wondered why Bluepaw was so angry.
" Let's go, Pepperpaw!" Bluepaw meowed, baring her teeth at her sister. The two sisters ran out of the den and gulped down their freshkill.
" See this pigeon? I'm going to catch one of these," Bluepaw murmured to herself, looking at the feathery wood pigeon she was eating. Pepperpaw observed the shrew she was eating herself.
" Are you done yet? Come on, hurry up!" Pepperpaw urged. Bluepaw wolfed down the last of her pigeon and licked her chops. She jumped up and took off. Ivytail and Thrushwing were waiting just outside the gorse tunnel.
" So, we're hunting today, but before we start, let's go to the training hollow to see your crouches and pounces," Thrushwing meowed. They went to the training hollow with the two apprentices racing forward.
When they got to the hollow, Thrushwing asked to see their hunting crouches. Bluepaw instantly sank down and straightened her back. Her tail was low but it didn't touch the sand. Thrushwing nodded and turned to Pepperpaw.
She lowered her back and made sure it was straight, but not stiff. Pepperpaw's tail stuck out like a rod so she carefully pulled it in a bit and relaxed her position. Pepperpaw stalked forward, lifting her paws lightly, and then pounced on a pile of leaves. They went flying and landed everywhere. Pepperpaw looked up sheepishly and grinned at her mentor.
" Your crouch was good, because at first you were too stiff, but then you relaxed yourself! However, your pounce was slightly off because you landed a bit heavily on your left paw. It is injured?" Ivytail asked worriedly. Pepperpaw examined her paw carefully and shook her head.
" Well, it was pretty good anyways," Thrushwing commented. Pepperpaw looked at him thankfully. She hated having cats worry about her! Didn't they know she could take care of herself?
" If it still hurts I'll go to Sweetsong," Pepperpaw promised as she looked back at Ivytail. Ivytail nodded and started to sweep up the leaves with her long, plumed tail. Pepperpaw started to help and soon all the leaves were swept up back into a neat pile.
" Bluepaw, why don't you show us your pounce?" Thrushwing asked. Bluepaw lowered herself into the crouch and slowly stalked forward. She moved so quickly it looked like she was floating, but Bluepaw didn't make a sound.
Pepperpaw and Ivytail hung back, watching Bluepaw intently as she gathered her paws beneath her. Pepperpaw winced as she heard Bluepaw's tail scrapped the sand but Bluepaw didn't notice as she leaped up and landed in the center of the leaf pile.
" Nice landing!" Thrushwing rewarded. Bluepaw purred happily and then turned to Ivytail.
" Your tail scrapped the sand a bit. That might've scared away a mouse or prey with good hearing, but other than that, well done!" Ivytail meowed.
" Yes, well done, Bluepaw!" Pepperpaw praised. Bluepaw hissed aggressively at her sister, ignoring her.
" So, are we going to hunt now?" Pepperpaw squealed. Ivytail and Thrushwing shared a look, and then nodded in union. Bluepaw went racing ahead, closely followed by Pepperpaw who kept up easily, and entered the forest.
" Wow! It's so big!" Bluepaw meowed, staring up at the green canopy. Pepperpaw nodded, even though the StarClan forest was much bigger than this.
" So, you two will split up and Thrushwing and I will watch your progress. After a while, we'll return and bring our prey to camp," Ivytail instructed. The two young apprentices nodded and ran off, their mentors following them at a distance.
Pepperpaw stopped and smelled the air. She could smell a shrew near the stream and a squirrel not far away, eating around what smelled like a pine tree. She could tell by the scent of pinesap that drifted her way along with the squirrel's woody smell.
Pepperpaw trotted towards the scent of squirrel and slowed down when she saw it. Pepperpaw dropped into a crouch and gradually inched her way towards the squirrel. Pepperpaw went around on the other side of the thin pine tree so she would get some coverage. When Pepperpaw was a tail-length away from the squirrel that still hadn't noticed her, she pounced.
She landed right on the squirrel. It struggled to get away underneath her paws, and Pepperpaw dove in on it and nipped it neck with her sharp teeth. The squirrel went limp.
" Nice catch!" Ivytail meowed, coming out of her hiding place. Pepperpaw dropped the squirrel and grinned.
" So, what you do now. You dip a shallow hole and drop the prey inside. Scratch a bit of soil on top so you can get it easily, and then mark it. Like this." Ivytail demonstrated by digging a hole and took the squirrel from Pepperpaw. She dropped the squirrel in a covered it with some soil, and then marked it with a strong-smelling pinecone.
" There!" Ivytail meowed with a flourish. Pepperpaw nodded and sniffed the pinecone and then sneezed loudly.
" Should I continue hunting?" Pepperpaw asked. Ivytail nodded and disappeared. Pepperpaw tasted the air and smelled the shrew by the stream. She ran towards the stream since it was some ways away. When the scent of the shrew became stronger she fell into a crouch. She saw it by the stream, basking in the sun while it nibbled on a berry.
Pepperpaw closed in for the kill, and drew her paws under her. She leaped, but slipped on one paw, and landed on the shrew with a paw, right on it's back. Since she landed so heavily on it, the shrew died on contact because it's spine had snapped. Pepperpaw picked it up and took it was from the stream. She dug a hole and dropped the shrew in and the covered it. She marked it with two twigs crossing each other.
" You could've landed better," Ivytail meowed as she jumped out of a tree. Pepperpaw nodded. Ivytail was right. It had been a messy kill.
" Well, go on! Continue hunting!" Ivytail prompted with a purr. Pepperpaw meowed her agreement and watched as Ivytail clawed her way back up the tree and vanished from sight.
Pepperpaw turned away from the tree and smelled the air. Something smelled so good… Pepperpaw drifted away dreamily from the stream and ran towards the source of the delicious scent.
Pepperpaw stopped when the scent got too overpowering. What was she doing? She was supposed to be hunting! Pepperpaw shook her head several times to clear her mind and then walked away from the scent. After a few minutes of walking she tasted the air and smelled a rabbit. She must be close to the WindClan border.
Pepperpaw advanced steadily to the rabbit until she spotted it nibbling in a clearing. There was no coverage and not far away was a burrow that smelled of rabbit. Pepperpaw crouched down and circled the clearing until she was in front of the rabbit. In the split second it took to spin around, Pepperpaw was literally on top of it. She took the rabbit down in a roll and bit the rabbit's neck. Pepperpaw panted happily and dragged the rabbit out of the clearing where Ivytail stood to praise her.
" Nice catch! The delicious scent you detected, that was catnip. You mustn't eat it because it is rare and is the only cure for greencough, I think," Ivytail meowed. Pepperpaw nodded, storing that information in her mind.
" Rabbits are fast and you must be very fast to catch them. That roll technique you used was clever, as you used the rabbit's own momentum to pin it down," Ivytail continued. Pepperpaw puffed out her chest proudly and dug a hole, but Ivytail stopped her.
" Time is up, let's go collect your other prey," Ivytail suggested. Pepperpaw nodded and picked up her rabbit. Ivytail had gone ahead and retrieved her shrew, so all that was left was the squirrel.
They went to get it and returned to the hollow where Thrushwing and Bluepaw were waiting. Bluepaw had a huge pigeon and a couple of mice.
" Well done, Pepperpaw," Thrushwing meowed. Pepperpaw dipped her head and took the praise.
" That's a big pigeon!" Ivytail meowed to Bluepaw who smiled and sniffed the pigeon.
" So, shall we discuss the hunt? If so, Bluepaw will go first," Thrushwing added curtly. Ivytail jerked her head up a bit but allowed it.
" Bluepaw's bird-hunting technique is excellent. She climbed a tree to catch the pigeon and didn't slip. The kill was neat and clean. Bluepaw smelled the mice nest from some distance away. Her paw steps were light and not a single creature sensed her," Thrushwing finished.
" Nice job!" Pepperpaw meowed to her sister. Bluepaw smirked and Pepperpaw narrowed her eyes at her sister.
" Pepperpaw easily caught the squirrel with a standard technique. The shrew she caught was easy enough but she slipped on the mud, which actually contributed to her kill. The rabbit was cleverly caught. She used the split heartbeat it took for the rabbit to turn, and then used the rabbit's momentum to flip it over and pin it down," Ivytail boasted. Pepperpaw shrugged with a slight smile.
" I guess both of our apprentices excel at hunting," Thrushwing meowed with a purr. Ivytail purred back.
" Well, why don't we help you bring the prey back?" Ivytail proposed. Thrushwing agreed and picked up Bluepaw's mice. Ivytail picked up Pepperpaw's muddy shrew and squirrel, leaving Pepperpaw to carry her rabbit.
" Wow! I can't wait to eat that rabbit," Scorchsong meowed. Pepperpaw gave her the rabbit as she padded through the gorse tunnel. Bluepaw took her pigeon to the nursery, and the mentors put the rest of the prey in the freshkill pile. Pepperpaw took her own shrew and shared it with Mousepaw. Bluepaw and Shrewpaw devoured a few mice together.
" Is Shrewpaw mad at you?" Pepperpaw asked as they consumed the shrew. Mousepaw shrugged, and then finally nodded. She purposely stuffed her mouth so she wouldn't be able to talk.
" Oh. Well, Bluepaw's mad at me too, because yesterday I kicked sand over her by accident, and today I kicked leaves over her!" Pepperpaw exclaimed. Mousepaw swallowed and purred loudly.
" Who knows what you'll kick over her next!" Mousepaw purred. Pepperpaw glanced at Bluepaw, who was still eating, and started to purr too.
" Maybe I'll, I don't know, maybe I'll kick water on her gorgeous pelt!" Pepperpaw mocked. She burst out in purrs as Mousepaw mimed being Bluepaw by lifting her chin and strutting around like a stork.
" You look just like her when you do that, Mousepaw!" Pepperpaw grinned as Mousepaw sat down again. The two leaned against each other as they laughed. Pepperpaw noticed that Bluepaw was watching them with a wistful look.
" Is Shrewpaw fun to be around?" Pepperpaw asked suddenly. Mousepaw shrugged.
" Sometimes, but you have to know him really well because when he talks, his jokes are hidden inside his words," Mousepaw explained. Pepperpaw nodded and glanced back at Bluepaw, who was walking away from Shrewpaw. He looked after her with a dejected look, and Pepperpaw felt a surge of pity for the young tom. Bluepaw clearly didn't understand him.
" Do you think we should invite Shrewpaw? He looks really lonely," Pepperpaw meowed, pointing to Shrewpaw with her striped tail. Mousepaw dipped her head and called her brother over.
" Shrewpaw! Come join us!" Mousepaw yowled. Shrewpaw stiffened when he saw Mousepaw, but relaxed and padded over thankfully.
" I was about to die with that she-cat. She's about as fun as a mouse and far less tasty!" Shrewpaw meowed as he joined the two she-cats. Pepperpaw purred because it was so true!
" She is pretty serious," Mousepaw admitted. She didn't like to make fun of other cats behind their back.
" And she had absolutely no sense of humor!" Pepperpaw put in. Shrewpaw smiled and nodded vigorously.
" Do you want to go outside and have a race?" Mousepaw suggested. Pepperpaw meowed an enthusiastic "yes" and was echoed by Shrewpaw.
" Wait, I have to ask Ivytail. I'm sure she'll say yes, though," Pepperpaw meowed as she ran to the warrior's den. She quickly spotted Ivytail who was sharing tongues with Ripplefur, a silver tabby.
" Ivytail, can I please go outside and have a race with Mousepaw and Shrewpaw? Please, Ivytail?" Pepperpaw begged. Ivytail looked up and nodded. Pepperpaw squeaked happily and dashed out of the den.
" She said yes, so let's go!" Pepperpaw squealed. Shrewpaw jumped up and darted out of the gorse tunnel. Mousepaw and Pepperpaw tore after him excitedly.
Pepperpaw quickly caught up to Shrewpaw but couldn't pass the long-legged tom. Mousepaw was just behind Pepperpaw.
Pepperpaw saw her chance as she spotted a tree stump dead ahead. If she turned to the right, Shrewpaw would take the longer path and fall behind.
As if he sensed Pepperpaw's plan, Shrewpaw put on a burst of speed. However, after they both curved around the tree stump, Mousepaw was ahead of both cats. Pepperpaw dug her claws into the dirt and launched herself forward by half a tail-length. She did the same thing a few more times until she passed Mousepaw. The shore was a few tail-lengths ahead. All three apprentices ran as fast as they could, but Pepperpaw won!
" You did… Really well!" Shrewpaw panted. Pepperpaw took the praise, panting too hard to reply. Mousepaw had flopped down in the shallow water, letting the chilly lake water cool her pelt. Pepperpaw copied her friend and lay down in the water. It felt so good, touching her skin through her dark gray tabby pelt.
" Well, we ought to get back to camp," Mousepaw meowed, getting up. Her fur was wet so she shook it out. Shrewpaw nodded and quickly lapped up a few mouthfuls of lake water. Pepperpaw got up and quickly quivered her pelt to dislodge the water.
" Good idea, we don't want anyone worrying!" Shrewpaw replied. They trotted back into the forest from the shore and chatted all the way to camp.
" Shrewpaw, where were you?" Bluepaw demanded as the three of them pushed through the gorse tunnel, laughing at Shrewpaw's joke. He immediately stopped purring and stared at Bluepaw.
" You were sleeping, should I have woken you up? I was with Mousepaw and Pepperpaw, at the lake," Shrewpaw replied breezily. Bluepaw frowned and narrowed her eyes at the mention of Pepperpaw.
" Well, didn't you think of inviting me? And for the record, I was awake," Bluepaw huffed. Shrewpaw shrugged and turned away.
" Anyways, I'm sure you wouldn't like what we were doing. We were getting all muddy-" At this, Bluepaw scrunched up her nose in disgust,"-and we were being silly," Mousepaw meowed. Pepperpaw nodded, trying to help Mousepaw's case.
" I like being silly!" Bluepaw protested. Mousepaw shrugged reluctantly.
" We were splashing water and rolled in wild garlic. Afterwards we went swimming in the shallow part of the lake so take the scent off," Shrewpaw explained, returning to the three other apprentices with a blackbird in his jaws.
" Why don't we share?" Shrewpaw suggested, signaling to the bird with his tail. The other cats agreed and they dove into the meal hungrily. After all, arguing was always tiring!
" Now that was a yummy blackbird," Pepperpaw meowed, licking her chops. Shrewpaw nodded and ate the last bit of blackbird. Mousepaw started to say something, but sneezed on a feather.
" Who caught it?" Bluepaw asked. Mousepaw shrugged and sneezed again.
" How are we supposed to know!" Shrewpaw purred. Bluepaw purred back and tipped her head as she watched him with her shiny blue eyes.
" I just wanted to make conversation since everyone else is so quiet," Bluepaw meowed back, glaring at Pepperpaw while she said this as if it was Pepperpaw's fault that no one was talking.
" What do you want to talk about then?" Pepperpaw asked. She glared right back at her sister.
" Let's talk about hunting! Or battle training! Or… Medicine cat training," Bluepaw hissed. Pepperpaw stared at her sister in confusion. What was she talking about?
" What do you mean, Bluepaw?" Mousepaw inquired. Bluepaw glowered at Pepperpaw for another moment and then turned to Mousepaw.
" What I mean is, well, if you're an apprentice but you spent lots of time in the medicine cat den and you're probably spending more time there than with your own kin, then I'd say that cat was a medicine cat apprentice!" Bluepaw replied, adding a growl at the end.
" But there aren't any medicine cat apprentices," Shrewpaw meowed.
" Not any official ones," Bluepaw agreed. Pepperpaw watched her sister carefully. Did Bluepaw think she was training to be a medicine cat?
Then it hit her. Since she had promised to tell Sweetsong about all her dreams, she had been going into the medicine den. Bluepaw had probably seen her and thought she was secretly training!
" We're all loyal warriors, dedicated to protecting our Clan! Not one of us would do something in secret," Pepperpaw pledged. Shrewpaw and Mousepaw nodded, agreeing with Pepperpaw's short speech. Bluepaw still looked angry, though.
" How are you protecting your Clan? By guarding them, or making sure they stay healthy?" Bluepaw demanded. Pepperpaw jerked her head back as Bluepaw swiped a sheathed paw at her.
" By guarding them of course! Why else would I train to be a warrior? Being a warriors is the best!" Pepperpaw yowled happily, spinning around. Bluepaw tilted her head and frowned.
" But… Why were you always going into Sweetsong's den?" Bluepaw stammered. Pepperpaw stiffened and stopped spinning. She would have to lie about this one…
" Oh, I just… needed some… therapy… to help me with the stress of all this competition! I mean, after all, you guys are amazing at everything! And me? I'm… mediocre," Pepperpaw finished. She inwardly grimaced. She sounded so transparent!
However, the three apprentices apparently bought her lie. Pepperpaw watched them smile at her and felt her heart wrench. She shouldn't have lied to her friends… Bad idea!
" Really? You need therapy? Oh, poor Pepperpaw," Mousepaw sympathized, brushing noses with Pepperpaw. Shrewpaw nodded and awkwardly smiled at her.
" I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions, Pepperpaw. I really am sorry. I should've known! I mean, you always talk about warrior stuff in your sleep," Bluepaw half-joked. Pepperpaw froze and slowly twisted around to face her sister.
" I… talk in my sleep? What do I say?" Pepperpaw asked with a fake smile. Bluepaw shrugged.
" You talk about swipes, and balancing, that sort of thing. Once you said something about red willows, or something like that," Bluepaw meowed, looking up at the sky as she tried to remember.
" Wow, that's quite random!" Shrewpaw purred. Pepperpaw joined in, but she was furious with herself. Talking about Redwillow in her sleep? Who knows what she'd reveal next!
" Well, that's also why I went to therapy. I was thinking too much about being a warrior and it started to crowd my dreams. I'd wake up, thinking about battle moves or something. Then I'd go to Sweetsong and she'd help me relax by talking about clouds, or moss, anything other than warrior-involved stuff," Pepperpaw explained.
" Wow…" Mousepaw meowed, trailing off. Pepperpaw shrugged. The story sounded real enough, why not go with it?
" Come on, the moon's coming up, let's go to sleep." Bluepaw yawn hugely and made her way to the den. Shrewpaw yawned too and followed her.
" I'm tired too, let's hit the moss," Mousepaw meowed sleepily. Pepperpaw watched them leave, not feeling a bit tired, until she remembered Redwillow. She ran to the den and hopped into her nest. She shut her eyes and drifted away from reality.
