Sunpaw felt exhausted. All day he had been asking what Bubblepelt had been told to do. All he wanted to do is be asleep right now, but the sun was right overhead, so no cat, other than the elders would be asleep. Pearlpaw padded into the den. "How's the apprenticeship?" She asked curiously. "It's kind of boring right now... To be honest, I wish that I never told Treetail about my dream at all. I don't know the first thing about being a medicine cat, besides the fact that I give medicine... to cats..." He mewed unenthusiastically. "I'm so sorry to hear that..." Pearlpaw mewed sympathetically. "I'll see you around..." She said. Pearlpaw padded out of the den. "Sunpaw!" Bubblepelt yowled as she ran into the den. "I need you to go collect some tansy." She mewed. Sunpaw nodded. "Take someone with you please." Sunpaw scowled at her. "Why? I'm not a kit!" Bubblepelt looked at him. "Because it's Greenleaf, there's going to be a lot of it..." She mewed. "Oh, sorry..." Sunpaw felt guilty about yowling at Bubblepelt. He padded out of the den, and padded up to Rainpaw, who had just finished gulping down a mouse. "Hey, Bubblepelt's sending me out to collect tansy. Do you want to come with me?" Rainpaw looked at him and mewed back, "Sure, I'd love to!" "Alright, let's go." Sunpaw mewed. They began to exit the camp, and before they left, they stopped when someone stopped them. "I'm coming with you guys, you shouldn't go out there alone." Barkpelt mewed to the two apprentices. "Why?" Sunpaw asked. "We've been getting reports of strong fox scents." Barkpelt mewed. "Alright, let's go." He said.

The three cats padded out of the camp. Sunpaw had to lead the way. He padded over to the area where the tansy grew, by the river. The three cats began to pick up the tansy that was still fresh. The group were all settled, and they turned around to head back to the camp. As they were walking, Barkpelt stopped and his ears pricked up. He dropped his tansy on the ground and mewed to the apprentices. "Something is watching us..." A shadow moved past them very quickly. Before any of the cats could process, the shadow shot at the cats, aiming straight for the apprentices. Barkpelt moved the cats out of the ways. Sunpaw was so scared to even open his eyes, Rainpaw also was too terrified to open her eyes. Sunpaw heard the sound of Barkpelt yowl, and in a few heartbeats, a reek of blood filled the air. The apprentices finally opened up their eyes. The shadow was gone, but Barkpelt was lying there in a pool of blood. Sunpaw stared at the dead cat that was alive a few heartbeats ago. Rainpaw yowled as she saw the shadow dash at them, It was back. The two apprentices dashed straight toward the camp, being slightly faster than their pursuer. The two cats, too scared of what would happen if they got caught, were tiring down, but they had made back to the camp, and the shadow was gone when they turned around. Cats looked at the apprentices in confusion as they enter the camp, terrified. All around, cats were asking what happened. "What's that smell?" "Did you guys kill somebody?" "Where's Barkpelt?" Sunpaw, still terrified replied, "A shadow thing killed Barkpelt!" There was a lot of disbelief. Fogstar exited his den. "What's all the commotion about, and why do those apprentices reek of blood?" Cloudfur padded over to Fogstar and told him what the apprentices said. "Well, lead the way!" Sunpaw, Rainpaw, Fogstar and Cloudfur raced to the place where Barkpelt was laying. "What happened!" Fogstar mewed in disbelief. No cat answered him. "Cloudfur, help me carry him back to the camp." Cloudfur nodded, and the 4 cats headed back to the camp. Treetail raced over to Sunpaw. "I heard what happened. Are you hurt?" Sunpaw shook his head. "But I can never forget what happened." Sunpaw said, processing what happened. Sunpaw padded over to Bubblepelt, and told her that they didn't get any tansy, because they got chased. "Ok, I'm sorry I sent you out there, I put you in danger." Sunpaw mewed back, "It's ok, you didn't know." Sunpaw padded out of the den. Fogstar announced that Barkpelt's loved ones will be holding vigil for him tonight, as he makes his way to StarClan. Sunpaw, still afraid of what happened, padded over to his nest to sleep.

The next afternoon, Bubblepelt padded up to Sunpaw, who was eating a shrew. Sunpaw, "Today's the day you go on your first journey to the Moonpool!" Sunpaw was very excited about this, because he might meet Barkpelt up in StarClan, so he could ask him what happened. Sunpaw and Bubblepelt said goodbye to their loved ones, and headed out to the moonpool. After a long trek, they made it to the hill near the moonpool, Where the other medicine cats were waiting. "Greetings.' Bubblepelt mewed to the other medicine cats. "This is Sunpaw, my new apprentice." "Hello Sunpaw." Meowed Wishpelt, the ThunderClan medicine cat. The other medicine cats said hello, and the cats headed to the moonpool. Sunpaw did as Bubblepelt did, lay by the moonpool, and lapped a few drops of water from the puddle of icy cold water. He was expecting to meet more than just Willowshine this time, if he saw any cats at all...

Thanks for reading Chapter 3 of The True Eight! Sorry if this comes out a bit boring, and if the Chapters are too short, but I hope to make each chapter longer and more interesting!