Update** I removed the bolded names**
Chapter 3
Nightpaw
Several moons have passed since the gathering and I decided that if I want to get Morningpaw out of my head then I need to put 100% of my focus and energy into my training. I wake up early each morning to run circles around Windclans territory, I even do agility practice around the pointed stones, Specklewing isn't happy that I am out of breath most patrol, but it only makes me more determined.
Thanks to my inherited speed from my father Breezepelt and level-headedness from my mother Heathertail, Specklewing has quickly run out of things to teach me.
"I don't know what else I can teach him Onestar, he is a better hunter than I am! He even helped me with my silent approach when hunting pheasants. He knows the warrior code front and back and he has perfected all of the battle moves I can think of!" Specklewing pleaded to Onestar who just looked thoughtful.
"Hmm, well he is only 5 moons into his training, it would make him the youngest warrior Windclan has ever had." Onestar looked to his deputy Harespring and signaled him over with a flick of his tail, he also called over Breezepelt and Heathertail who were sharing tongues with Nightcloud.
"It appears your son has more talent than we expected." He said to Breezepelt, "Of course he does, he is my son after all. I knew he would be the best warrior as soon as he was born." He boasted and Heathertail rolled her eyes, "He's OUR son Breezepelt, and he doesn't just take after you." Onestar cleared his throat to silence the bickering,
"As I was saying, it appears that Specklewing can no longer maintain his study." Onestar turned to Harespring, "I want you to take over his teaching." Harespring looked startled, "But I am already training Hawkpaw, and he is doing well. What do you think I can teach Nightpaw?" he said looking at from Onestar to Specklewing who looked sad at her apprentice being taken away from her.
"You can teach him about organizing the patrols, maybe test him on battle formations and new moves."
"I respect your offer Onestar but Hawkpaw is Slightbreeze's son, he was a fine apprentice and I promised I would teach his son. I can't just push him aside."
Onestar nodded his head and the little group fell silent for a moment. If Harespring couldn't teach him then there was only one other cat who could.
"I suppose I will teach him." Onestar said and the other cats stiffened with surprise, "Onestar! You have not taken an apprentice since you became leader, certainly you are too busy to-"
"It is true I am not as young as I used to be, but Nightpaw doesn't appear to need much physical training. He needs mental focus and if he is as talented as he appears then he may well be a leader some day." No cat had any objections so it was settled.
"We will make the announcement tonight, where is Nightpaw anyway?"
The rocky ledge was steep as Nightpaw attempted to bound up its pointed stones in one leap, each time he tried he ended up landing just a whiskers length from the top and he slid back on his claws.
"Mouse dung!" I cursed snarling at the structure. My fur was dirty from jumping and falling and my claws were beginning to ache. I let out a huge sigh and looked to the thin line of trees that separated Windclan from Thunderclans territory, the summer heat was beginning to cool and I knew leaf fall was on its way. A slight breeze shifted the tall grass and Nighpaw closed his eyes and enjoyed the wind shifting his short coat.
"Hey Nightpaw! Are you trying to jump up that slope again? Give it up man!" Hawkpaw laughed popping his head out of the tall grass, Windypaw and Graypaw were with him. "Why would I give up? I am so close." I said looking at my claw marks going higher and higher up the rock face. "You're going to pull a paw if you're not careful." Windypaw said her faint green eyes full of concern.
"Yeah, my mentor Emberfoot twisted a paw doing that last week." Graypaw said and the two she-cats got into a discussion about what to do when your sprain a paw. "Geeze are you two sure you're not medicine cat apprentices?" Hawkpaw interrupted and the three quickly got into a playful scuffle. I chuckled at my clanmates game, I began to wash some of the dirt out of my claws when I heard my father's distinct voice,
"Nightpaw, there you are. Have you made it up that ridge yet?" the other apprentices broke up their game as the warrior approached. They stood back from Breezepelt apprehensively, ever since they heard he was a part of the dark forest attack so long ago, they didn't seem to like being around him. I didn't blame them, Breezepelt could be harsh sometimes but he always supported me to do my best for the clan and he was my father so dipped my head respectfully,
"Almost, I am really close. With some more practice I bet I can make it in less than a moon." I said pointing to my progress, Breezepelt scowled at it, "You should have made it up by now, are you daydreaming on those morning runs or are you actually training?" my heart fell at his scowl, I had hoped he would have been a little bit impressed. "We will talk about your laziness later, right now Onestar wants to see you." my head shot up, "Onestar? What for?" the other apprentices jaws dropped and they quickly began to taunt me, "OOOOO Nightpaws in trouble!" Hawkpaw snickered, "Onestar must be mad that you finished cleaning the elders den in half an afternoon instead of a quarter of one." Graypaw laughed and Breezepelt glared at them, "He is not in trouble you flea brains! I have half a mind to make you pull ticks from the elders for a week for such comments!" he hissed and the apprentices swallowed loudly and bounded off.
"That's was mean father, they were only joking." I said watching there tails disappear. Breezepelt snorted, "I can't believe you have to train with them, it's a good thing Onestar is taking over your training, I don't want you getting soft headed like those three."
"Wait, what? Onestar is taking over my training?" I stammered, "But what about Specklewing, she is doing a great job."
"Ha, she is barley even a warrior herself, there was no way she could teach you properly, Onestar should have been training you himself from the very beginning." Breezepelt said with a gleam in his eye that made me uncomfortable. "You are going to be leader son, and Onestar is going to train you how to be the best Windclan has ever seen!"
"I don't care about being leader, I just want to bring pride to Windclan, besides what about Harespring? He is young and would be leader if anything happened to Onestar." I said my fur suddenly feeling itchy, "Harespring wont be half the warrior you will be, Onestar sees that already, once you show your true talents then he will make you deputy before next spring! Now come, he wants to announce it to the clan." he said bounding away before I could say anything more. My shoulders slumped and I began to slowly fallow my father back to camp, my thoughts raced and I suddenly became nervous and the only thought that makes me centered and happy was thinking about Morningpaw and her azure blue gaze that could turn any males heart to mud. I wonder if she is thinking about me as much as I think about her.
Morningpaw
"Wow Morningpaw, I cant believe you caught three squirrels! How did you chase them through the trees like that?" Skypaw gushed as she helped me carry the squirrels back to camp, "Its easy, I watched how the squirrels use their tails as balance and steering when they run through the branches and copied that, you also need to have confidence in your own paws. Don't think, just move." I said and Skypaws seemed to hang on every word I said. "That's amazing, did Ivypool teach you that? Berrynose doesn't teach my anything about climbing trees." I thought back to what Ivypool told me,
"Tree hunting should only be done with stealth, if you charge through the branches like that then you will scare away the prey." I tried to stay calm and still when stalking birds but I just couldn't control myself if they tried to fly off, so I decided to practice my maneuvers early in the morning when she wasn't looking. Otherwise she would just critique me and keep my paws on the ground.
"Ivypool is a great hunter in the trees but I just want to do something new." I said my voice muffled through the mouthful of squirrel. When we made it back to camp Scorchpaw and Turtlepaw were busy cleaning the elders dens but stopped when they saw our haul. "Wow, did you catch all of those?" Turtlepaw said, his golden eyes as big as the full moon. Scorchpaw came over and brushed his nose against my cheek, "Nice catch, I bet you will be made a warrior before summer ends." I moved away from his touch and dropped my squirrels in the fresh kill pile, "Uh, Skypaw helped so it wasn't just me." I looked to my friend who was telling Turtlepaw has I used a smaller branch to launch me from one tree to another.
"Oh, um right. She chased them from the tree and I caught them on the ground." The fluffy white apprentice stammered under Scorchpaws skeptical gaze. Lionblaze and Ivypool came over and told Scorchpaw and myself that we were going to do some battle training before the sun set.
"I see you have hunting down" Ivypool beamed at my catch, "Your battle style could use a bit more work thought, you used your size to evade very well but you need to focus on attacking." Lionblaze said as we made our way to the battle training spot, "I can show you how to use your shoulders to knock your opponent of guard." Scorchpaw said walking next to Lionblaze. The two toms were becoming almost identical in size as Scorchpaw grew older and more muscular. His orange tabby pelt became brighter as the black patches that littered his coat grew darker in contrast,
"Staring at Scorchpaw?" Ivypool whispered knowingly in my ear? I jumped a bit and my face heated, "NO, I was just noticing how him and Lionblaze are similar in body type is all." Ivypool snickered but didn't press the issue. My heart fell in my chest a bit at the thought of me and Scorchpaw as mates, he was going to be a fine warrior and he was handsome but whenever I looked at him all I felt was friendship. The stark black pelt and orange eyes I dream about almost every night filled my mind and for a second I forgot to breath. I didn't go to the last two gatherings because I was worried someone would notice me staring at Nightpaw, the last time I saw him my heart was screaming to go after him and for that moment I felt like I didn't belong in Thunderclan, that I belonged with him and him alone.
"Morningpaw, are you with us or in starclan?" Ivypools impatient voice broke my trance and I shook my thoughts away. "Yes, I am here Ivypool. Sorry I must be a bit tried from my hunt." I stammered and Lionblaze began to explain the uses of the badger slam in battle with larger opponents. When he and Scorchpaw performed the move I couldn't really see the benefit since the two toms were practically the same size,
"Um, I don't think you two are a good example." Ivypool cut in and offered to take Scorchpaw's place since she was smaller. When Lionblaze was able to knock Ivypool off balance it made sense. But there was something off about the move, Lionblaze seemed to depend on the fact that Ivypool would feint to left so he could ram into her with his shoulders, what if she jumped over him?
"Lionblaze, what do you do if the opponent jumped over you or instead of running into you they stopped and clawed your face?" I asked and the two warriors thought a moment,
"I was wondering, what if you braced yourself for their impact and instead of using your shoulders you jumped out of the way?" they looked a bit confused,
"Scorchpaw can you help me out?" I asked and my clanmate looked confused as well but went along. We got in position and he charged me, I waited to the last second and jumped to the left, Scorchpaw slid on the soft earth and I used the dust he stirred as cover and jumped his back, flipping him over and pinning him to the ground.
"Very impressive Morningpaw." Lionblaze purred, "That could be a new move in its self." Ivypool agreed. Scorchpaw got up and shook the dust from his pelt but didn't match our mentors enthusiasm. "I could have deflected that easily if we in a crowded battle field, where do you think you will get all that space to evade from?"
"Well this can be for smaller fights, like with a intruder or a fox or something." I added with a shrug and he just snorted. "None the less it is a great idea, we can work on it tomorrow." Ivypool purred giving me a proud lick and I beamed under her affection.
"Ivypool is right, lets get back to camp. Id love to tell Bramblestar that we have such a promising new apprentice." Lionblaze said and let us through the ferns before he followed with Scorchpaw taking up the rear. "Looks like Scorchpaw feels shown up?" Ivypool said looking back at the crestfallen apprentice, "He is just being silly, he thinks he's the best of the apprentices. I think a bit of humility would do him good." I said not wanting to play her game.
"Just remember not to be too cold. Scorchpaw is a handsome cat, and with his skill he will be fighting off every available she-cat in the clan." she chuckled and I rolled my eyes, Scorchpaw was so cocky, it was really annoying sometimes, not like Nightpaw who was so bold and commanding at the gathering. My heart swelled at the memory of his deep voice as he put those stupid Shadowclan cats in their place, and how cute he looked when I told him he had a leaf on his head.
Once again that same tug in my heart brought confusion in my head, why did I feel this way when I thought about him? He was from a different clan, its against the warrior code to favor another clan over your own. Maybe I should apologize to Scorchpaw and let him show me how to do the badger move properly. I have to stay true to my clan, and if my clan wants a loyal and skilled warrior than that's what I will be.