AN/ You know it's been a while when I forget there are only two tomcats in the litter and that they've already been apprenticed (and who Dapple's mentor is). Don't worry I fixed it (I hope). Because I'm inept at writing apprenticeship, this chap is a bunch of mini scenes spanning about four moons.

"And this is the training hollow, where you'll learn how to fight. When you've all learned a little more, you can fight with your littermates or the older apprentices," Bumblestripe mewed.

Dapplepaw did her best to pay attention. She'd been told that Bumblestripe was a great mentor over and over again, but right now it seemed a bit boring. He talked about fighting, hunting, going on patrols, but that was all the did: Talk.

"Bumblestripe," She began, a bit timid, "are we actually going to do any of these things?"

Thankfully, Bumblestripe didn't growl at her like she thought he might. Instead, he purred.

"We'll start now, with an exercise that helps you practice claw motions, and carry two pieces of prey at once."

A spark of excitement flared in her- Hunting! ut words tore out of her mouth, and she didn't know where they came from.

"I'm gathering moss?"

Bumblestripe looked as shocked as she felt. But after a moment, his expression resolved.

"Yes, but it won't be too bad. And tomorrow, we can start the real stuff."

She kept low to the the ground, her tail a plume sticking up above her. She took only the smallest movements, making sure her paws only came to rest on spots of bare ground. Her ears were cocked forward, eagerly searching for the tiny squeaks and scratches of her prey.

The mouse's time was limited. Dapplepaw was coming, and this time, she would not let it get away.

She exhale the strangle breath she had held for the past several second too loudly. The muse looked up, staring directly at her.

This is it! My last chance!

Gathering all her strength into her haunches, she lunged forward. Her claws streaked out, the rest of her body falling behind. They hit on the mouses small body, keeping it still long enough for Dapplepaw to quickly nip it its neck.

She rose, eyes shining triumphantly.

Bumblestripe purred. "Come on, lets see who gets to eat your first catch!"

"In a battle, smaller cats such as yourselves are often able to take down a larger opponent by teaming up. Dewpaw here is going to fight both of you at the same time. If he tays down for ten seconds, you two win. If he gets one of you down for ten seconds, he wins. Winner gets first choice of prey. Claws sheathed!"

Tawnypaw looked over at her. Her brother wasn't especially fierce, for that matter neither was she. Their gazes both locked onto Dewpaw. He was ten moons old, considerably bigger and better trained.

"Get ready!" yowled Whitewing.

Dapplepaw dropped into a crouch, and after a moment Tawnypaw followed her. Dewpaw remained standing, just flicking his ears to show he heard.

"Go!" yowled Bumblestripe.

Instantly, Dewpaw lunged, sending out a paw to bat their legs from under them. She stumbled, but Tawnypaw leaped back, before batting at Dewpaw's muzzle.

Dapplepaw whirled to rejoin the fight. The two toms were wrestling, with Dewpaw managing to stay on top.

Ten seconds. They had ten seconds before they lost.

She crept behind dewpaw, before striking the back of his head. He turned, trying to swipe at her.

He hit her, but not hard enough to knock her down. tawnypaw seemed to have noticed that Dewpaw's full weight not longer pressed on him, and he squirmed out from under him.

Dewpaw spun back to face Tawnypaw, who looked at Dapplepaw. He motioned his eyes in a way that left her momentarily confused, but she soon understood.

While Dewpaw was facing Tawnypaw, she dove at his legs, doing her best to send him tumbling down. While he was off guard and stumbling, Tawnypaw knocked straight into him, tackling him none-too-gently to the ground. Dapplepaw joined the effort, using her full weight to keep him down.

He struggled, but stopped when Whitewing called out:

"Ten seconds up! Tawnypaw and Dapplepaw win!"

"So, what you're saying is that two seven moon old apprentices beat you?"

"No!" Exclaimed Dewpaw. Dapplepaw sighed, trying to bury her ears in her nest. Snowpaw and Dewpaw had a bad habit of talking while everyone else in the den was trying to sleep.

"Well, technically, that did happen, but they practically sat on me! What was I supposed to do?"

"Fight back!"

"Go to sleep!" came a yowl, from a direction suspiciously close to the warriors den. Snowpaw and Dewpaw fell silent immediately, and she didn't have to open her eyes to know that each of their faces wore an expression of complete terror.

"Psst! Amberpaw! Dapplepaw!"

Dapplepaw blearily opened her eyes. It seemed like she had set down for a nap only a few minutes ago, but someone was already calling for her.

Wait- a quick glance out of the den revealed that it had been only a few minutes ago.

"What is it, Snowpaw?" groaned Amberpaw. She vaguely remembered the other cat wandering into the den shortly after she had.

"You two have to come out here! We just invented a new game!"

"Who is we?" She yawned, standing and stretching.

"Me, Dewpaw, Adderpaw, Rainpaw, and Tawnypaw. Hurry up, I wanna get back!"

Amberpaw glanced at her and shrugged. They both followed Snowpaw out of the den, all the way to the training hollow.

"Was it really necessary wake us up for this?" demanded Amberpaw.

"Yes! Come on, let's play!"

Dapplepaw looked, and saw her den mates were sitting in a circle in the hollow. Snowpaw hurried to join them.

The two she cats followed warily, but did as all the others indicated they should, and joined the circle.

"I'll go!" mewed Rainpaw, standing.

She began walking around the circle, tapping each cat on the back as she passed, muttering "Mossball, mossball..."

She came to Snowpaw, but instead of continuing her chant of "Mossball," she exclaimed "Mouse!" and began to run.

"No fair! I just went all the way back to camp!" But still he chased her, only stopping when she sat down in his old spot.

Snowpaw began to circle around them, but this time when he landed on her, he yowled "Mouse!"

Unsure, she began to run. After only seconds it was over, with him in her spot.

"It;s your turn now!" mewed Adderpaw.

She turned to him, tapping him with her tail and beginning her chant.

"Mossball, Mossball…"

The patrol reached the Shadowclan border. Brackenfur, Dovewing, and Bumblestripe all began marking, and Dapplepaw hastened to follow suit.

"Wait! Do you smell that? It's catscent, but it's not any clan," mewed Dovewing.

She bent her head, and on the air she could detect a cat's scent she had never smelt before.

"Yes, it must be rouges," mewed Brackenfur, "But they haven't crossed onto our territory, so there's not much we can do. "

They finished the patrol, but Dapplepaw couldn't help but feel a hint of unease creep into her belly.

AN/ Hi! We're back on a semi-normal schedule, as I'm not doing camp again and have not school to interfere with updates.

But I have a request: I need writing prompts. I'd like to do some short one-shots every couple of days to warm up, but don't want to delve into anything too heavy. So if you have a pairing you don't see enough, a song lyric you think has a lot of meaning, or even a single word that you think would make a good short fic let me know! I'm open to all suggestions, but keep in mind before anyone gives me a pitch for a 50,000 word saga:

Short and sweet. These things will not be over 3,000 words, if that long.

I guarantee nothing. Just because you give me something doesn't mean I'll automatically do it. These are warm ups, not big projects.

PS: yes i did just make cats play duck-duck-goose. no, I do not think that's strange in the slightest.

*rides unicorn into the sunset*