Icy: Hello people! How's life?

Mistypaw: Are you actually expecting an answer to that question...?

Icy: No...

Stonepaw: Icy, you need to lay off the coffee.

Icy: Never!

Mosspaw: If it weren't for her coffee, this update wouldn't be happening.

Stonepaw: Sigh... Right then, carry on.

Icy: Yay! Coffee! Alright, on with the chapter!

Chapter 02

Territorial Fox

"Would all cats gather around for a Clan meeting!" Mistykit looked up from the beetle she and Mousekit had been chasing when Sunstar called.

It's time! Yes! Mistykit left Mousekit to claw at the beetle. The time for kit games was over at last!

It was time to become an apprentice!

She bounded forward to the front of the crowd. Her brother either ignored their leader or didn't hear him. Stonekit was too busy playing with Runningkit. They were both chasing each others' tails. Sometimes Stonekit can be really serious, but then other times he's just... Well, he's just like he is now, I guess. Far too easily entertained... More like far too easily bored and too quick to find a solution... Oh well. Not my problem. Suit yourself, Stonekit, and prepare yourself for the biggest embarrassment of your life. Mistykit quivered her whiskers as she tried not to laugh out loud.

Mosskit calmly padded past a few cats to come forward to the front of the group. She stopped as she stood next to Mistykit. Mistykit exchanged a glance with her sister, whose whiskers were also quivering with amusement. They were obviously thinking the same thing. Mistykit twitched her ear as Sunstar prepared to speak.

"This is a proud day for ThunderClan..." Sunstar began. Mistykit proudly lifted up her chin. "...By naming apprentices we show that ThunderClan will survive and remain strong."

We're finally becoming apprentices! Mistykit forced herself not to shuffle her paws as the anticipation increased.

"Mistykit," Sunstar called her.

He called me first! I'm first out of the three of us! Yes!

Mistykit padded forward. Her tail-tip twitched as she tried to hold in her excitement. She didn't want to embarrass herself.

"From now on you shall be known as Mistypaw."

Mistypaw! My name is Mistypaw! I'm finally an apprentice!

"Thrushpelt!" Sunstar continued. Yes! Her father was going to be her mentor! "You are ready for your first apprentice. You will be Mistypaw's mentor. I know you will pass your strength and courage on to Mistypaw, and teach her the skills that will make her a brave warrior of ThunderClan."

Mistypaw gladly padded forward to her father and touched noses with him. She was an apprentice at last! Exchanging a glance with her father, she could tell that Thrushpelt was as happy as she was. His kits were finally becoming apprentices. He's probably pretty happy that we'll stop attacking his tail, too, Mistypaw retorted to herself.

"Stonekit!" Sunstar continued. Mistypaw exchanged a brief look of amusement with her sister before turning to look at her brother. It's the moment of comedy we've been waiting for!

Stonekit stopped chasing Runningkit's tail. Runningkit skidded and stumbled to a halt, barely avoiding slamming into Stonekit.

"Wha-wha-what?" Stonekit stammered as his eyes widened.

Mistypaw did her best to keep herself from bursting out laughing, but her whiskers quivered and her tail brushed up against the floor.

Sunstar rolled his eyes. "From now until you become a warrior, you shall be known as Stonepaw."

Stonekit, no, Stonepaw, almost looked terrified as he realized he had just messed up his apprentice ceremony. Out of curiosity, Mistypaw found herself looking for her mother within the crowd of the Clan. She found her mother, whiskers quivering just as much as her own. I'm surprised she didn't stop him before the ceremony started... Mistypaw briefly wondered why she didn't, but she quickly decided not to worry about it. She appreciated the entertainment that came from her brother's embarrassment.

Stonepaw, however, was obviously not amused. He looked as embarrassed as a cat could possibly get, if not more. Mistypaw almost wondered if he was going to be sick from the embarrassment.

"Stormtail, you are ready for another apprentice. You will be Stonepaw's mentor. I know you will pass on your bravery and intelligence, and teach him the skills that will make him a brave warrior of ThunderClan."

Mistypaw watched as Stonepaw, trying to regain any dignity left in him, padded up to his grandfather and touched noses with him. Mistypaw curled her tail in amusement as Stonepaw and Stormtail padded to the side of the clearing to stand beside Thrushpelt and her. Mistypaw cast a glance at her brother as she realized that he was shaking with anxiousness.

Mousebrain, Mistypaw thought. You so had this coming!

"Mosskit," Sunstar called, continuing the ceremony. Mistypaw was amazed at how calm her sister was as she padded forward. "From now until you become a warrior, you shall be known as Mosspaw."

Mistypaw was once again amazed at Mosspaw's lack of a reaction. Holy StarClan, this cat is so calm and reserved! How does she do it?

"Thistleclaw, you were a great mentor to Tigerclaw. I trust you to pass on those same skills to young Mosspaw," Sunstar meowed.

Mosspaw touched noses with Thistleclaw. She gets the deputy as her mentor? Lucky! Mosspaw and Thistleclaw padded over to sit next to Mistypaw and Thrushpelt. She gets the deputy as her mentor! She's so lucky! Oh well, I get our father as my mentor. I'm even luckier!

The Clan began calling out their new names. Mistypaw suddenly found herself bursting with pride. She exchanged a look of excitement with her siblings.

"Mistypaw! Stonepaw! Mosspaw! Mistypaw! Stonepaw! Mosspaw!"

We're finally apprentices! As the Clan meeting ended, Mistypaw was too excited to wonder where different cats were going off to. All she cared about was where she was going to go off to. The best thing about being apprentices? We finally get to leave the camp!

"What are we doing today?" Mistypaw asked her father, attempting to hide some of her excitement but failing miserably at it.

"I'm showing you around all of the territory today. We'd better leave soon, or we won't have enough time to get to all of it," Thrushpelt added.

"Awesome!" Mistypaw exclaimed a bit too quickly. She flattened her ears in embarrassment, but she couldn't help it! She was far too excited about becoming an apprentice! At least that was nowhere close to Stonepaw's embarrassment, she added to herself.

"The entire territory? That sounds tiring," Stormtail meowed. "Stonepaw, we're doing battle training."

"Battle training? Great!" Stonepaw seemed to have regained all of his dignity. Either that, or he was too excited to care.

"What about me?" Mosspaw asked Thistleclaw.

"I need to sort out the patrols, but once that's done I'll teach you how to hunt squirrels and birds by climbing up a tree," Thistleclaw meowed.

"Sounds exciting!" Mistypaw exclaimed to her sister. "Have fun, Mosspaw!"

"Isn't it a little early to teach them tree-climbing? They're still so small," Thrushpelt added.

Worrywart, Mistypaw thought.

"Thrushpelt is right," Stormtail meowed. "It's too dangerous for cats as young as them."

That's more like it! Mistypaw liked how Stormtail always chose his words carefully.

"Yes, but Mosspaw is calm enough, and has enough patience, to wait a moment or two to climb the next branch. Besides, she knows when she's at her limit, unlike two other new apprentices I know," Thistleclaw added. Mistypaw found herself being stared at by the Clan deputy. How does he know that? Has he been watching us? Mistypaw shrugged the weird feeling off. He's the deputy. Of course he's been watching us. He watches everyone! It's not weird that he knows our habits already, it's awesome!

"Thistleclaw, they're just new apprentices! You're not just keeping our new apprentices waiting, you're also keeping the patrols waiting, which means the entire Clan waiting for prey," Stormtail scolded the Clan deputy.

Why isn't Stormtail deputy? Sometimes he seems like he'd do a better job than Thistleclaw at it, Mistypaw thought to herself. But then again, would Stormtail be as willing to sacrifice all of ThunderClan for our pride and victory like Thistleclaw is? No, he wouldn't be! He's far too calm for that. Thistleclaw is obviously better suited to be deputy!

"Come on, Mistypaw, Stormtail's right. Let's go," Thrushpelt called her out of her thoughts. When Mistypaw came back to her senses, she realized Thrushpelt was already at the camp entrance.

"Coming!" Mistypaw called after him. "See you later, Stonepaw. Have fun, Mosspaw!" I shouldn't get lost in my thoughts. I'm finally an apprentice! It's time to go learn the territory! Yay!

Mosspaw merely nodded before Mistypaw left to chase after her mentor. Mistypaw thought it was a little strange that all Mosspaw did was nod. For the first time, Mistypaw wasn't sure how Mosspaw was feeling on the inside. Normally, she could predict her sister's reactions, but today was different.

Something was wrong.

Mistypaw didn't know what it was, but she easily shrugged it off. She chased after her mentor, excitement rushing through her as she rushed to catch up with him.

"Eww! Yuck! What's that smell?!" Mistypaw exclaimed, taking a couple of steps back from the so-called "Thunderpath."

"That's the Thunderpath, as I just said... Twoleg monsters walk on it. Across the Thunderpath, over there," Thrushpelt meowed, pointing with his nose, "is ShadowClan territory." Mistypaw briefly wondered how he could stand the smell of it. Had it been Mistypaw pointing, she definitely would have used her tail. Not that that would make it any better, but still...

"I don't know which smell you're smelling," Thrushpelt meowed, noticing she was still disgusted by it, "the stench of the Twoleg monsters or the stench of ShadowClan territory, but I'll tell you one thing: they're both horrible," Thrushpelt meowed, shaking his head to clear it. "You've heard stories of ShadowClan before. The darkness of the night, which they like so well, passes right through their cold hearts, making them bloodthirsty."

Darkness of the night passing through their hearts? Is that legit? Mistypaw blinked. Wait a minute, bloodthirsty... for fighting a lot of battles? Just like Thistleclaw? Mistypaw wanted to ask, but she knew better than to ask aloud. She'd ask some other time, whenever that may be.

"And over here..." Mistypaw chased after her mentor, running along the border.

"This is Sunningrocks," Thrushpelt explained.

"Didn't we just fight over this?" Mistypaw asked.

"Yes, we just won it back, but I bet those fish-faces will be back within less than a moon to try and claim it again. Regardless, we'll just fight them back again and again. It's a never ending war, Mistypaw. It's a lose-lose situation. It's one that you don't want to be a part of, but we're all forced to be a part of. Come on, that's enough of RiverClan. Let's move on. Do you see that large area of grass over there?" Thrushpelt asked, pointing with his tail.

"Yup, I see it. I can see the wind moving! Just how harsh are those winds, anyway?" Mistypaw asked in amazement.

"I don't know. Don't ask me, ask some WindClan warriors," Thrushpelt retorted in reply.

"I smell rabbit," Mistypaw announced suddenly. "We don't usually have rabbits on our territory, do we?" Mistypaw had only had rabbit once or twice. Usually when she did, she heard a Clan member talking about how it had jumped over the border.

"That's probably the WindClan scent being carried over here by those harsh winds you mentioned," Thrushpelt explained. He suddenly began to creep backwards through the undergrowth.

"Why are you crawling like that?" Mistypaw asked, giving her father a very confused look.

"I smell fox," Thrushpelt hissed through his teeth.

Mistypaw immediately crouched down beside her mentor, trying to copy her father's crouch. She had no idea whether her crouch was right or not, but it was the best she could do.

"Good," Thrushpelt meowed, standing up. "Nice instincts." His look turned from serious to amused. "There isn't a fox here. I just did that to see how you would react."

"Really...?" Mistypaw asked her father, glaring at him through narrowed eyes.

"Really," her father responded. "There are no foxes here except for the two of us."

"The two of us? How are we foxes?" Mistypaw exclaimed. How are we foxes? Neither one of us have ginger fur, and I certainly hope that neither of us plan on eating any kits!

"We're foxes because of how we're traveling all around the territory. We're sneaking around it like foxes do. We're being territorial foxes," Thrushpelt explained. His tail wiped the ground back and forth. Partially from being annoyed and partially from force of habit, Mistypaw launched a sheathed paw to stop it.

Thrushpelt, some of this stuff sounds very strange. Are you making this up as you go? She wondered. Obviously you are... Did you know you would be my mentor before today? If I had to guess, probably not...

"Good job," Thrushpelt meowed, bring her back to her senses.

"Wait a minute, did you just tell me 'good job' for attacking your tail?" Mistypaw asked, unable to hide her surprise.

"Yep. Even the simplest move can help you in the most complex battle. It all comes from the basics, only getting more complicated from there," Thrushpelt began explaining once more. Her father sure knew how to talk!

But somehow, Mistypaw found herself remembering all of this.

"Now, you've only got one more thing to learn today, and then I'll leave you to your peace in the apprentice den," Thrushpelt meowed as they began to go back to camp. Well, Mistypaw assumed that was the direction they were going in. Mistypaw recognized this area from earlier in her father's tour, so she was pretty certain that was where they were going.

"What is that?" Mistypaw asked.

"You've got to gather yourself some moss for a nest," Thrushpelt meowed as he curled his tail-tip in amusement. "I'm sure that if you asked your mother nicely, and beat your brother and sister there, then you could probably get some moss from her nest from the nursery, but I'd hurry if I were you."

"Got it!" Mistypaw exclaimed, scampering off in the direction she assumed was back to camp. I've learned so much today and traveled so much farther than usual! It's strange. I should be extremely tired by now, but I'm not! I'm just really excited! I'm finally an apprentice! Just the thought made her really happy, perhaps happy enough to do anything, and deal with any situation, even the situation of death.

And perhaps she would need to, shortly enough, because death was just around the corner.

Icy: And... CUT!

Mistypaw: Why there? Come on, Icy, why, why, why?

Icy: Because I felt like it, alright? Because I felt like it... Besides, this is a pretty lengthy chapter compared to the last two. I'm very proud of it.

Mosspaw: Sure you are...

Icy: I am! I'm very proud of it!

Stonepaw: Are you really?

Icy: Okay, that's enough with you three! Let's go ahead and end this AN before it gets too long. See you next time!

~Icy and the crew