Chapter Four
"C'mon, Nettlepaw! Put your weight into it!" Frogtail called to his apprentice.
Nettlepaw was trying to hold down a stuggling Frostpaw. He had almost lost his grip until he pushed down more with his weight. "Fine! You win!" Frostpaw growled.
Nettlepaw loosened his grip on Frostpaw's chest and was surprised when Frostpaw pushed Nettlepaw off with his hind legs.
Frostpaw then jumped up and tackled Nettlepaw, forcing him in the same position he was in moments ago. "Gotcha!" he mewed happily. Nettlepaw just looked up at him, just like he had done with the WindClan apprentice. I must find out who she is! He thought to himself.
"Good work, Frostpaw. Surprising your enemy is a great tactic at winning a battle." Talonswipe's amber eyes shone for the white apprentice. He then looked over at Frogtail. "Looks like they need to try again, Nettlepaw is barely trying!"
Frogtail growled. "One more time. Then we will hunt."
Frostpaw got off of Nettlepaw. "C'mon, Wimpypaw!" Frostpaw taunted.
Nettlepaw got himself up and shook the dust off of him. Blocking his thoughts out of his mind, he glared at Frostpaw, his muscles flexing.
Frostpaw hissed as he leaped at Nettlepaw. Nettlepaw stepped to the right to dodge Frostpaw, but then tripped the white apprentice as he landed. Frostpaw growled in frustration and fought to get back up, but Nettlepaw jumped on top of him.
However, Frostpaw forced both of his back paws to throw Nettlepaw off. This time, Nettlepaw rolled as he landed and jumped away as Frostpaw tried to jump on him. Nettlepaw hissed at Frostpaw as he looked like he was about to attack Frostpaw's right side, but instead, went for his left and knocking him down once more. Frostpaw's eyes blazed with anger as Nettlepaw held him down.
"You've won, Nettlepaw." Talonswipe told the tabby apprentice.
Nettlepaw let go of Frostpaw and let him get up. Nettlepaw looked over at his mentor. "How was that time?"
Frogtail sniffed. "You could have tried harder with your strength." Nettlepaw was about to argue when Frogtail held his tail up. "But tricking your opponent was a good idea. The element of surprise will most likely win any battle." Frogtail praised his apprentice.
"Now, we need to get back to camp because we're going hunting with Brackenheart, Russetpaw, and Appletail." Frogtail told his apprentice.
By the end of the day, Nettlepaw was exhausted from training and hunting. Fortunately, he was proud of his catches, a large frog and a mouse. Russetpaw had a fat rabbit while both of their mentors had a couple of lizards and a shrew, and Appletail had a thrush.
Nettlepaw had tried even harder when his father was around, as he didn't want to disappoint Brackenheart.
Once they had arrived at camp, Nettlepaw saw Owlstar padding back and forth in front of the hollow tree. He also saw Marshpool and Olivewhisker's eyes filled with grief. What happened? Nettlepaw asked himself as there were a group of cats sitting behind the two grieving warriors.
Brackenheart ran from them, "No!" he yowled, his voice thick with grief.
Nettlepaw's heart sank as finally, he saw a dark gray figure on the ground, not moving.
It was Shadepool.
Sorry about the short chapter and missing to update yesterday! My senior picnic was yesterday and after that, there was a pool party and I was whooped after that. Also, tonight is my high school graduation, so this is all you guys get tonight! Goodbye and I hope you enjoy!