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Ivypool stood over her sleeping apprentice and poked her in the side with one paw.
"Get up."
"But I'm still sleeping!" mumbled Silverpaw as she put one paw on her ear in an attempt to block out her mentor.
"Sure you are," said Ivypool. "Oh well, I guess you won't be coming to your first hunting session this morning," the silver-and-white warrior sighed with fake disappointment.
Silverpaw pricked her ear at this, tempted to get up. It only lasted for a second though, and the silver apprentice quickly went back to her sleeping act.
"I was going to teach you all of these special techniques," Ivypool went on. "But now, maybe I should teach them to Flamepaw instead." Silverpaw leapt up, unable to resist the bait any longer.
"I'm coming!" she declared, with a majestic swish of the tail to emphasise. Silverpaw sashayed out of the apprentice's den, head held high.
Once she had entered the clearing that was the main part of the ThunderClan camp, Silverpaw looked around for her fiery-furred brother, Flamepaw. I can't believe that she was thinking about trying to teach him special hunting stuff without me! Silverpaw thought furiously. Finally she spotted 'him', over by the fresh-kill pile with his mentor Cloudtail.
Silverpaw started of towards the two toms with her tail in the air, kinked. She tried to make herself look as dignified and confident as possible, and as Silverpaw neared her brother and his mentor, she could hear what they were talking about.
"-oday we are going out to learn how to hunt with your sister," Cloudtail was saying to his apprentice. Silverpaw stopped in front of the pair and sat down next to Cloudtail, making a big fuss about curling her perfect tail over her snow-white paws.
"Morning Cloudtail!" she cheerily greeted the white warrior. "Flamepaw," Silverpaw nodded to her brother, who muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, 'good morning to you too'.
"Aren't you just soo excited about our first proper hunting lesson, dear brother?" asked Silverpaw in her best little-miss-innocent voice. Flamepaw scowled.
"Aren't you just soo excited?" he mimicked. Well then. Someone was in a bad mood today.
Cloudtail, meanwhile, was watching all of this with an understanding smirk.
"If you two are quite done," he interrupted, "we have a hunting lesson to get to."
"But if you keep behaving like this," added Ivypool, who had come out from the apprentice's den and was now standing behind the two apprentices, "I'm sure that Sandstorm has some ticks for you to take care of." Nu-uh, no thanks! Silverpaw thought, frowning.
Flamepaw whirled around and snapped to attention at this, wide-eyed.
"Good. Now, let's go," nodded Cloudtail, who started off toward the tunnel in the thorn barrier.
Hostility forgotten, Silverpaw and Flamepaw ran side-by-side together after Cloudtail, with Ivypool left to bring up the rear. The group were soon out of sight and in the shady green forest.
Silverpaw bounded along behind her brother's mentor, going over the hunting tips that Amberpaw had given her last night. Watch out for twigs, leaves or anything else that could make a noise when you step on them, Silverkit remembered. Suddenly, the scent of mouse flooded her senses and everyone froze.
"Silverpaw," hissed Ivypool, nodding her head in the direction of the prey.
Silverpaw nodded back at her mentor and dropped into an imitation of the hunter's crouch. She then proceded to crawl through the undergrowth. Through the ferns, the silver-and-white she-cat could see her target. A nice, plump brown mouse. It was nibbling on a nut, back towards it's hunter. This is my chance, Silverpaw thought. She stalked forward a few steps more and then leapt. She landed squarely on the mouse, effectively squishing it before she broke it's neck. Well, that's one way to do it, the apprentice thought, shrugging to herself as she picked up her first catch. Silverpaw suddenly heard loud purring from behind her. She turned around slowly to see Ivypool, who was beaming at her apprentice, chest puffed out.
"You're a natural!" the warrior came out next, his expression one of pure surprise.
"Anyone would think you've been training for at least a moon or two," shock clear in the white tom's voice. Flamepaw appeared next to his mentor, smiling encouragingly. He's a good brother, Silverpaw realised. I made a catch in my first go and he's not even jealous. Well, at least he doesn't look jealous...
A small rustle in a nearby bush caught everyone's attention. This time Flamepaw went after it. Silverpaw walked over to watch, relaxed now that she had her mouse. A squirrel was standing in a small clearing, foraging for food. Crack. That was the sound of Silverpaw stepping on a twig. Alerted, the squirrel jerked it's head up and scampered off. Flamepaw shot out from his hiding place and took off after his prey. A few seconds later a triumphant meow indicated that Flaneoaw had either caught or cornered his prey. Then the orange apprentice himself came out from the undergrowth, the squirrel limp in his jaws. How did he manage that?
"How'd you out run a squirrel with a head start?" asked Cloudtail. Flamepaw grinned meekly.
"I didn't," he said, dropping the prey for the moment. "It ran into a tree." A stunned silence fell over the ThunderClan cats as they pondered this. Finally, Silverpaw's mentor spoke.
"Wow," Ivypool remarked. Cloudtail snorted.
"Even I didn't know squirrels could be so dumb," he said. Silverpaw just stared at her brother, then at the squirrel.
"So . . ." Flamepaw trailed, sounding slightly awkward, "what are we going to do now?"
Cloudtail answered, "Now, I'm going to teach you two how to do a proper hunter's crouch and stalk. Later, if we have time, we'll do some more hunting." Ivypool nodded, but flicked her tail.
"If you don't mind, though, I think that we should do it with our own apprentices. These two have basically spent every minute of their lives together, and need to get used to training apart. Come on Silverpaw," she said, turning to leave the area. Her apprentice sighed. Now comes the part where we spend the entire morning learning how to crouch properly. Joy.
oOo
Everyone was already inside when the camp came into Silverpaw's view. The apprentice picked up her pace at this and soon was inside. The first thing that Silverpaw noticed was that almost all of the warriors were lounging about, sharing tounges and gossiping, Cloudtail included. Another thing was that Dovewing and Bumblestripe weren't in sight. Silverpaw walked over to the fresh-kill pile and deposited her mouse, along with a vole that she had just caught. As Silverpaw turned around, she heard excited murmurs sprout among her Clanmates. A quick look around uncovered the reason.
Dovewing and Bumblestripe were standing outside the medicine cat den, both looking very excited. And in love. Like the gazing-into-each-other's-eyes-like-nothing-else-exists thing. Egh. Silverpaw guessed that they were expecting kits. This was confirmed when the pair headed toward the nursery.
"Hey, Silverpaw!" called Bumblestripe. "Can you go and fetch some moss?" Silverpaw nodded and turned to head back out, only to realise that she didn't know where moss grew. After a scan of the clearing, the silver apprentice spotted Amberpaw and her siblings, Dewpaw and Snowpaw.
Silverpaw trotted over to Amberpaw and asked her if she could come with her. The orange-and-white she-cat agreed and they both walked over to the entrance. They didn't get a chance to leave, however, before a loud yowl cut through the air.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" the two apprentices turned to see Bramblestar on his perch above the rest of ThunderClan. Silverpaw walked over to join the crowd that was forming below their leader. Amberpaw came and sat next to her, eyes shining. Oh! Silverpaw realised as she watched her fellow apprentice groom herself. Amberpaw is having her ceremony! Everyone fell silent and waited for Bramblestar to speak. The brown tabby leapt down from his ledge and stood in front of the ThunderClan cats.
"Today we have three apprentices who are ready to become warriors," he began. "Amberpaw, Dewpaw and Snowpaw, come forward." The three littermates came to stand together in front of their leader. "I, Bramblestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn." Cloudtail and Brightheart were sitting side-by-side at the edge of the mob, watching their kits.
"Amberpaw, Snowpaw and Dewpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" The trio quivered with excitement and answered.
"I do," Amberpaw's voice rang out loud and clear.
"Yes," Snowpaw said, sounding as if he still couldn't believe what was happening.
"I do," said Dewpaw, quieter than the rest.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names," Bramblestar took a deep breath before continuing. "Amberpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Amberspots. StarClan honours your courage and skill, and we welcome you to ThunderClan as a full warrior." The leader rested his chin on Amberspots' head and she licked his shoulder.
Then Bramblestar turned to face the other two. "Dewpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Dewheart. StarClan honours your intelligence and kindness and we welcome you as a full warrior." Again Bramblestar rested his chin on the new warrior's head and Dewheart licked his shoulder. Finally the ThunderClan leader turned to Snowpaw. The white tom quivered slightly as the brown tabby continued. "Snowpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Snowfire. StarClan honours your enthusiasm and skill in battle and we welcome you as a full ThunderClan warrior."
"Amberspots! Snowfire! Dewheart!" The whole Clan, Silverpaw included, started cheering and congratulating the new warriors. Bramblestar raised his voice so that the cats could hear him over the noise and said, "All three of you must sit vigil at the camp entrance tonight." Then the chanting overtook and Bramblestar could no longer be heard. Silverpaw kept her eyes on the new warriors, who were surrounded by cats now. That will be me one day! The silver apprentice walked over to the fresh-kill pile and picked out a thrush. As she did so, Silverpaw noticed that her mouse was gone. The she-cat padded over to a nice quiet spot at the edge of the clearing and and started to eat.
"Silverpaw, after you finish, we're going out for another lesson. I'm going to teach you how to collect moss and replace bedding!"
Yeah, no thanks, Silverpaw thought, glaring at her mentor.