Skinnypaw wasn't the only one to get struck with Whitecough. Her mother came down with it, which wasn't too much of a surprise, Pinknose had it as well, but thanks to Mooseleap and Whiskerpaw, everyone made it through the Leaf-bare without getting Greencough. It was starting to get warmer now, the snow was melting which made Skinnypaw insanely grateful. Her whitecough now gone, Skinnypaw got back to being an apprentice almost instantly.
Prey was still pretty scarce, it was showing with all of them being rather skinny, skinny by even Skinnypaw's standards. Her ribs were poking out, Nakedpelt and Skinnypaw both showed just how badly prey was needed in the clan. It was still nice to no longer be sick, but she was still really hungry.
"Skinnypaw, are your claws sharp?" Jaytail asked her as she left the apprentice den.
"Uh, yeah. Why?"
"No reason, no reason... so I'm going to leave hunting alone to you today, alright?" Jaytail told her simply as he looked up at the bright blue sky as the sun beamed down on them, though the sun didn't give them any warmth on that cold day.
"Oh, alright. Who knows, maybe with the snow gone I can find something good," She mumbled to herself before turning and trotting out of the camp without farther prompting. She was starting to become hungry and that hunger was making her a tad testy. Every day she wondered if she was turning more and more into her mother. Going into the forest, Skinnypaw looked at the trees, they were still bare, it'll be a while until they get their leaves back. Breathing out peacefully she padded onward. Looking and listening for any nearby prey Skinnypaw kept her ears up high as she searched for anything. She stopped for a moment at the soft nose of something chewing.
Getting down low, she slowly stalked forward. She saw it, at first she thought it was some sort of weird mouse, because that's what it looked like. A chubby tiny mouse chewing on a thin blade of grass. The small mouse had orange fur, that's right, orange fur. It was so odd to her, but with her mouth was salivating at the strange plump mouse. Licking jowls, Skinnypaw wiggled a bit before jumping and pouncing on the creature. The thing actually shrieked at her and tried to get away, but she didn't care, she snapped it's neck. It took all of her strength to not devour the creature, instead she buried it and saved it for the elders or queens who needed it more than she did.
Moving on, Skinnypaw searched around, her ears twitching slightly as she heard another noise. Going towards it, she stopped when she saw a white rabbit shifting through the snow at a fast rate. Skinnypaw was hungry and seeing that rabbit made her stomach rumble loudly, still she knew better than to rush after the plump animal she got down low and waited for a heartbeat before leaping and killing the white rabbit. That was when she heard a loud squeaking, twitching her ears, she looked over to where the rabbit was, and moved the ground around. She then let out a loud gasp. There where the rabbit was standing, was about... she paused to count the little heads, about seven little heads of baby rabbits. They weren't big, at all, they were still blind but this could help the clan greatly! Without hesitation, she picked up the ten babies and killed them off one by one. That was when she heard someone behind her. Turning she was Jaytail.
"Jaytail! Look what I found," She excitedly yelled as she showed him the bodies.
"Good job, that'll help the clan out a lot," Jaytail quickly helped her bury the prey before giving her a soft nod, "I think you're ready."
"Ready?"
"To be a warrior."
Skinnypaw's eyes widened at what Jaytail had told her, "What? are you serious? You think I'm ready? I just got lucky!" Skinnypaw spoke rapidly, "I mean anyone could have found that nest and-"
"Skinnypaw, I think you're ready to be a warrior for many reasons, yes this was a nice find that'll help the clan, but you've shown that you can hold your own against a full-grown warrior from Windclan, also even though you've been sick you've grown too tall for the apprentice den," Jaytail told her as he stood next to her to show that she had indeed grown. She was as tall as he was, not counting her large ears. "I'll help you carry the prey back to camp."
With Jaytail's help, they carried the weird mouse and rabbits back to the camp. Like she thought the rabbit babies helped out a loud, nobody went too hungry for the night.
"Good job with all that prey you found." Willowstorm congratulated her as he licked some blood off of her muzzle making her ears heat up.
"Oh, thank you," She giggled softly.
That was when Flamepaw waltzed right past them, he said nothing, didn't even look at them. He grabbed one of the babies from the pile and walked away into the elder's den. Skinnypaw sighed softly, truthfully, she kind of missed him. Now that she was back into the apprentice den it was just her, Flamepaw, Blackpaw, and Graypaw, nobody wanted her to snuggle with them during the colder moons. Plus, Flamepaw was starting to look... well, sad and alone.
"Mouse-brain-Where are you going?" Willowstorm asked as Skinnypaw walked away
Walking into the elder den Skinnypaw watched as Flamepaw gave the baby rabbit to Featherbelly, and Flowertail the old she-cat lifted her head up and happily ate the baby rabbit. Flamepaw turned and blinked at Skinnypaw.
"I already fed the elders or did you not just see that?" Flamepaw asked as he walked right past her.
"Are you going to keep being a mouse-brain or do you want to talk?" Skinnypaw asked as she turned to face him.
"Don't be fighting in here, apprentices." Flowertail snapped slightly, the old queen took notice of the tension between the two of them really fast.
"I want to talk to you, in the apprentice den." Skinnypaw walked past Flamepaw quickly to the apprentice den. She heard Flamepaw sigh out. Sitting at her mossbed she didn't have to wait long for Flamepaw as he came into the den.
"What?" He asked with a bit of an attitude.
"Look, I want to continue being your friend, but I can't if you keep being a mouse-brain then you'll just end up alone with that attitude of yours," Skinnypaw put it bluntly as she pointed at him. "I know, it's irritating, I also know that you will be a warrior, it's bound to happen sooner or later, Flamepaw, but you can't blame others for your mistakes otherwise... you'll just be unhappy all the time, blaming everybody else... just... think about it, okay." Skinnypaw turned and walked out of the apprentice den. Hopefully, Flamepaw will finally start thinking about other cats instead of himself.
"I, Doestar, leader of Thunderclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices. They has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in their turn." Doestar called out loudly to everybody. Skinnypaw felt her paws tingle as she looked excitedly at Graypaw.
"Skinnypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" Doestar called to her and Skinnypaw felt her breath get caught in her throat excitedly.
"I...I do!" She breathed out excitedly.
"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. Skinnypaw, from this moment you will be known as Skinnybreeze. Starclan honors your dedication and enthusiasm, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan."
Doestar placed her on Skinnybreeze's head. Skinnybreeze sucked in a deep breath before licking Doestar's shoulder.
Skinnybreeze stepped to the side and allowed Doestar to turn to Graypaw.
"'Graypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?" Doestar asked Graypaw who nodded,
"I do!"
"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. Graypaw, from this moment you will be known as Graycloud. Starclan honors your courage and honesty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan." Doestar then repeated the process with Graycloud. Happily, he licked her shoulder before sitting next to Skinnybreeze, the two of them grinned at one another before turning back to the clan.
"Skinnybreeze! Graycloud!" The cats all called out loudly. Skinnybreeze knew she was beaming as she looked down at the cats below and smiled, finally, it happened.
"You two will now hold a silent vigil for the night," Doestar ordered, "Thank you for understanding..." She whispered to Skinnybreeze before walking down. Skinnybreeze smiled before walking with Graycloud to the entrance of the camp.
"Hey, when you finish your vigil, don't be shy about sharing a bed with me, okay?" Willowstorm told her before walking off to the warrior's den. Skinnybreeze felt pride rush through her. Still, she kept quiet and before sitting at the camp entrance with Graycloud. The two stayed quiet and watched the entrance.
Skinnybreeze felt like she was about fall flat on her face. She was exhausted, but she knew better than to fall asleep. Thankfully, the sun started to rise. The sun rise was beautiful as the pink hues rose up turning the black sky a beautiful pink and blue combination.
"Skinnybreeze..." Jaytail walked up to her, forcing her to look back at him. "Are you two ready to be relieved?"
They both nodded silently and Jaytail chuckled, "alright, get going you two."
Both of them still stayed silent as they tiredly walked into the warrior den. Willowstorm opened one of his eyes when they entered the den. He then perked up, and tiredly looked up at the two. Skinnybreeze took up his offer and laid beside him. Willowstorm chuckled at her before letting out a soft "oof!" as Graycloud practically rested on Willowstorm's back. Willowstorm twitched his ear at Graycloud. Mintstare decided to join in as she rested next to Skinnybreeze. Skinnybreeze giggled as Mintstare laid her head on Skinnybreeze's back. Skinnybreeze sniffed before resting her head under Willowstorm's chin and happily purred. It didn't take long for her to finally fall asleep.
Skinnybreeze opened her eyes sleepily before stretching out, and licking her paw and swiping it over her ear. Getting up she shook her pelt free of moss.
"Skinnybreeze, wait," Nakedpelt walked up to her, Skinnybreeze looked at her mother, and sniffed for a moment. "I need to talk to you, alone. Let's go for a little hunt."
Skinnybreeze looked at her mother a little confused before walking out of the camp with her mother. They walked up to the lake where they stopped abruptly. Nakedpelt looked down at the water before looking at Skinnybreeze.
"You're old enough to know the truth now," Nakedpelt told Skinnybreeze.
"What truth?"
"Skinnybreeze there's a reason why I left Skyclan and why I never went back to them."
"Why?"
"Skinnybreeze, your father...Sage... Sageleaf..." Her mother stopped and paused, swallowed deeply as she seemed to just be lost in thought for a moment. "...Oh Starclan, Skinnybreeze..."
"What? What did he do?"
"Oh Skinnybreeze, he tried to kill you after you were born."
