Sup! Here's a new chapter, I hope you like it! Also please review. Thanks!
Tigerpaw opened his eyes. It had been one moon since his apprentice ceremony, but since then, he felt as if he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. He wanted nothing but to curl up and sleep longer, but he knew that he had to meet Thistleclaw in the training hollow. With a sigh, he padded out of his nest and into the clearing. Thistleclaw was pacing in front of the warriors' den. When he spotted Tigerpaw, he marched over to him.
"Let's go," he meowed. "And remember, claws sheathed."
"I know," Tigerpaw meowed impatiently.
He followed Thistleclaw out of camp, following the now familiar way to the sandy hollow. Thrushpelt was there, with Robinwing and Fuzzypelt, and yes, Bluefur had to be there, with Dappletail and White-eye.
"It feels weird, training with the warriors," he commented.
Fuzzypelt grumbled. "Yes, and we're already done our training. Why do we have to train with an apprentice?"
His fur prickled with dislike towards the black warrior.
"Okay," Thistleclaw meowed. "We're going to set up a mock battle. White-eye, you can have Bluefur, Fuzzypelt and Robinwing. I'll have Tigerpaw, Thrushpelt and Dappletail. My team will try to capture that bramble bush. White-eye, your team will try to capture the ferns."
Tigerpaw nodded. They had done this in the Dark Forest last night. He was bursting with energy, and felt like he could take on the whole of LionClan. He bounded over to Thistleclaw. "What's our plan?" he meowed.
"Thrushpelt, you're fast. You try to sneak over the bramble bush while the rest of us distract him. Dappletail, you guard the ferns, and me and Tigerpaw will try to fend them off. Actually," he added, "Thrushpelt, I want you for the fighting, so Dappletail, stay away from the fighting, but instead try to reach the bramble bush without getting noticed."
The she-cat nodded. "What about the—"
"Go!" Bluefur yowled.
Confused, Tigerpaw sprang into battle. He saw Thistleclaw fighting off White-eye and Fuzzypelt, and Bluefur was attacking Thrushpelt. That meant that only Robinwing was left guarding the ferns. He spotted the dusky brown she-cat flick her eyes warily around. He narrowed his eyes and was about to leap when Bluefur bowled him over.
He spitted with fury, he clawed the gray-blue she-cat. She lashed out with her forepaws, but the blow was still strong, and connected. Tigerpaw noticed Dappletail creeping out from behind a juniper bush, looking cautiously around. Momentarily distracted, Bluefur seized the opportunity and leaped at him again, knocking him to the ground. He went limp, and got ready to surge up. Not yet, he told himself.
Bluefur yowled in triumph and loosened her grip. Tigerpaw surged up, sending the blue-gray she-cat flying. Quickly he leaped towards Robinwing, who wasn't being attacked. He leaped forward, but at the same moment Dappletail burst from the bushes. Robinwing was taken aback by the sudden attack.
"I'll get the bramble bush," he gasped, leaving Dappletail to claw Robinwing. He was about to leap in beside the bramble bush when he heard a yowl of triumph from the other side of the clearing. Fuzzypelt was standing beside the ferns, his tail waving in excitement.
"We win!" he yowled.
"What?" Tigerpaw gasped. "But I was about to—"
Dappletail padded over to him and touched her tail-tip to his ear. "Don't," she murmured.
"Will we at least get a chance to try again?" Thistleclaw meowed. Bluefur nodded curtly.
Tigerpaw unsheathed his claws. "Let's go!" Thistleclaw beckoned with his tail. "This time, Tigerpaw"—he nodded to him—"you will try to sneak off. This time, no one will guard the ferns, but don't be seen!"
Tigerpaw nodded. "Okay."
"No cat will guard the ferns," Thistleclaw continued, "but make sure that no cat sees Tigerpaw. If they do, attack them so they can't yowl out. Got it?" Every cat nodded. Then Thistleclaw raised his voice. "Go!"
Thistleclaw bounded forward with Dappletail, as Thrushpelt caterwauled challenge and leaped onto Bluefur.
Tigerpaw turned around and fled into the trees. Now what? he thought. I'll go around the sandy hollow, he decided. Quietly, he traced his way back to the sandy hollow and started to creep forward. Eventually he looped around to the bramble bush. Yowling in triumph, he pounced on Fuzzypelt, who was guarding the bramble, and raised his tail.
"I win!" he yowled excitedly. Thistleclaw and Bluefur, who were still wrestling, broke apart, along with Thrushpelt and Robinwing.
"Well done," Thistleclaw praised. Tigerpaw nodded his thanks.
"Now what?" Fuzzypelt muttered. "Now are we going to teach the apprentice how to stalk a mouse?"
"No," Thistleclaw growled, overhearing. "Since you seem so eager to get away from here, why don't you go and hunt? We need some fresh-kill."
Fuzzypelt opened his jaws to protest, then clearly thought the better of it. He turned and stalked off into the trees.
Bluefur stared after the black tom in astonishment. "Thistleclaw, you can't just order warriors that are older than you around!"
"Actually, yes, I can. You're looking at the next Clan deputy, just in case you haven't noticed," Thistleclaw retorted. "Now," he meowed, raising his voice, "we're going to practice some battle techniques."
"Okay." Tigerpaw unsheathed his claws.
"Bluefur, why don't you show Tigerpaw what to do against a bigger cat that twice his size?"
Bluefur narrowed her eyes, then spat, "Fine. But if you think you can order me around, you can't." Her voice softened as she added, "Tigerpaw, come here. Pretend that I'm Crookedjaw, for example. Let's see what you can do, then we'll work on techniques."
Tigerpaw sheathed his claws again, remembering just in time that this wasn't the Dark Forest. Then, without warning he leaped.
Quick as lightning, Bluefur crouched down, so instead of hitting her shoulders like he had intended, he landed on her back. Bluefur yowled in triumph and twisted, so that he felt himself being squashed by the greater weight. But Shredtail had taught him what to do in these kind of situations.
Quick as a snake, he wriggled out of her grip. Caught unbalanced, she fell to her side. She scrambled to her paws, but in that moment that it took her to recover, he caught her with a blow to the shoulder, and bowled her over.
"Well done, Tigerpaw." Thrushpelt sounded impressed.
"Yes, where did you learn that leap-and-twist move?" Robinwing put in.
"Well, I kind of worked it out for myself," he stammered.
"Oh," Thrushpelt sounded disappointed, then brightened as he added, "well, maybe you could teach it to us!"
"Well…" Tigerpaw shuffled his paws.
"Maybe not right now," Thistleclaw intervened. "I'm going to take Tigerpaw hunting."
Flashing his mentor a grateful glance, he turned and padded after Thistleclaw. "What can you scent?" Thistleclaw asked.
Tigerpaw lifted his head and tasted the air. "A dog, with his Twoleg, but it's stale. Yesterday's, I'd guess. I can smell Tawnyspots's patrol, heading for Sunningrocks, and I can smell a—" he broke off, staring at Thistleclaw in horror. "I can smell fox!"
Thistleclaw opened his jaws. "You're right," he meowed, "and it's fresh. If we follow the scent we'll be able to track it down."
He took off through the trees, with Tigerpaw close behind. He stopped as a reek of fox flooded over his senses, much stronger than before. He whipped around, snarling, and saw the fox no more than three tail-lengths away, growling at him.
Fearlessly he leaped at the fox, clawing its muzzle. The fox let out a shriek of pain. He heard Thistleclaw yowl and he turned just in time to see him fly straight at the fox, yowling a challenge. Thistleclaw raked his claws down its side.
Tigerpaw hurled himself at the fox, rage burning in his belly. This was ThunderClan's territory! The fox lashed out with his front paws, sending him flying. He landed against a tree, a lay there, winded. The fox barked out a challenge. Faintly he saw Thistleclaw yowl in rage, leaping for the fox's muzzle.
The forest started to shrink away, spinning until it was only a distant light in a forest of darkness. Then the light winked out and everything went black.
Cliffhanger:) sorry bout that. I hope you liked this chapter! - ivyleaf:)