The day was finally here. Breezekit wiggled around under Swiftails tongue. "Keep still," her mother scolded. "Don't you want to look nice when the clan watches you become an apprentice?"

"I don't care what I'll look like, just as long as Cloudstar will hurry up and call us over!"

Cinderkit stared into the clearing. Most of the clan was already there beneath the High Branch. "Hurry up!" she meowed urgently to her mother. "Cloudstar's coming out of his den!"

"Hold your mousetails! Do you want to look messy, too?"

"I prefer looking messy," the silver tabby said, a smile on her face. "Come on, Breezekit! He's calling the cats over!" Dovekit hurtled pass the two she-cats.

"Dovekit, wait up!" Cinderkit called, but her brother wasn't listening.

"Remember? Dovekit's not becoming an apprentice."

"Then why'd he race out?"

"I don't know. Maybe to sneek away again."

"Why would he try to get into even more trouble?"

"I don't know! I doubt it's to cheer us on though..."

"Poor Dovekit..."

"Hey," Breezekit snapped, "if he wanted to become an apprentice he wouldn't have gotten in trouble in the first place!"

Swiftail looked down at her kits. "I think Tigerfang was being a little harsh on Dovekit. He was only going to explore the Apprentices Den."

"Tigerfang makes it so everyone has to follow even the tinniest rules or we'll feel his claws! It's not fair! Mountainclan can have him," Cinderkit mumbled.

"Still, Tigerfang is a good and loyal cat and just wants things to be okay, even if he has to bring up the hardest punishments to sink in th rules. Anyways, look. Cloudstar is calling for you. Now go and walk out there like civalized cats.

"Okay," moaned Cinderkit. The two she-cats padded out of the nursery, their mother behind them. Cloudstar smiled at them. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the High Branch for a clan meeting!" A few cats walked out of their dens and sat down around the huge tree trunk.

"Today, two of our kits have reached thier sixth moon and are ready to recieve their apprentice names. Cinderkit, Breezekit, come here please. Cinderkit, from this day on you shall be known as Cinderpaw. Tigerfang, you trained Echoclaw into a fine warrior. You will be Cinderpaw's mentor. I trust that you will pass on the skills that will make her a fine warrior."

Breezekit had to hold back a laugh. After Cinderkit had gotten so angry at him for postponing Dovekit's apprentice ceremony, he was now her mentor. Though she kind of felt bad for blaming Dovekit because he went into the apprentices den. He didn't really have to get into trouble. I'll be sure to cheer for him extra loud to make up for it.

Cinderkit slowly inched towards her mentor. It was obvious that she was a little uncomfortable being around him.

"Breezekit, from this day on you shall be known as Breezepaw. Robinfeather, you're ready for an apprentice. You'll mentor Breezekit. I'm sure you'll pass on your wisdom to her and teach her the skills that will make her a fine warrior." She ran over to Robinfeather and touched noses with him.

"I'll try hard to be a good apprentice."

"I'll try hard to be a good mentor."

The cats began chanting their new names, Dovekit chanting the loudest.

Cloudstar began to pad towards his den, the cats in the clearing beginning to walk to their own, when he stopped, turned around, and called, "Wait!"

They all turned to look at him. Leafpaw had risen her head from in the medicine cat's den to look up at the white tom. "There's one more cat that should become an apprentice." He looked down at Dovekit. "Dovekit, come forward."

Dovekit looked shocked. He looked to each side before doing as told and stepping forward. Tigerfang's tail was twitching and he looked as though he wanted to leap at the leader.

"Dovekit, from this day until you recieve your warrior name, you shall be known as Dovepaw. So that I can keep an eye on you, I shall mentor you."

Firepaw leapt to his paws. "That's not fair! He gets into trouble so he gets to be your apprentice? You should give him the worst mentor possible!"

"Are you questioning my decision?"

"Yes, I'm questioning you! I'm questioning your decision because it stinks!"

"Yeah!" called Flamepaw, standing up beside his brother. "Why couldn't we, the cats that don't do anything wrong, get to be your apprentice instead of that jerk?"

Cloudstar narrowed his eyes. "And what you're doing now isn't wrong?"

"Of corse not!" Flamepaw yelled. "We're just trying to right a wrong made on your part!"

Cloudstar leapt down from the High Branch and stood so close the Flamepaw's face that the tabby could feel his breathe. "Tell me again, why isn't this wrong?" he growled, unsheathing his claws.

"Because that thing broke the rules! His ceremony is supposed to posponed!" came Tigerfang angry yowl from the other side of the clearing.

"Now you're going to act like this? Tigerfang, your a grown warrior. Your behaviors are that of a kits!"

"No, yours are! Making that furball into an apprentice is going to cost us majorly!"

"How?"

"He's bound to mess up somehow! What if we're in battle and he goes and does something he's not supposed to?"

"Like you haven't?"

"I'm grown warrior!"

"Then start acting like one! My desicion is final! Meeting dismisssed! I'd like to see you three in my den," he hissed finally as he climbed up the tree to his den.

"They were fighting... over me?" Dovepaw's mewed as he approached his sisters.

"Pretty much," Cinderpaw replied. She looked up at the dark blue sky dotted with puffy clouds. "Now what do we do? Wait for our mentors to boss us around?"

Breezepaw growled, "Hey! Mentors don't boss apprentices around! They teach them!"

"Bramblepaw!" came Goldenmoons angry call. "Do as I said and go check the elders for ticks!"

"Well, most of the time, anyways," Breezepaw laughed. Bramblepaw look about ready to explode. For the pass quarter moon, Goldenmoon had been constantly yelling at him. It was either, 'Do what I told you before!' when he'd never told him to anything, or 'Sometimes I wonder if choosing an apprentice was worth the time. I can certainly do better on my own!'.

But instead of going to the elders den, Bramblepaw stared intently at Cloudstar's Den. He then shook his head and did as his mentor told him.

Leafpaw suddenly bounded happily out of the Medicine Cat's Den. "Guess what Goldenmoon just told me?" Without waiting for a reply, she continued, "If my wounds healed enough, I might still have a chance to become a warrior!" Hope flared in her eyes at the thought.

"Thats wonderful!" Cinderpaw said. "Then we could train together!"

"I've got to go. Goldenmoon said he'd take off the bandages as soon as I told you. See ya'!"

"Is it just me, or is something... different about Leafpaw?" Dovepaw said sarcasticlly. "Come on. Let's go see what our mentors want us to do."

"You guys go on ahead. I'm going to go see how Bramblepaw's doing," Cinderpaw decided.

"Suit yourself," Breezepaw mewed. Padding up to Robinfeather, she asked, " What should I do?"

"Littlemoon decided that you and Dovepaw are going to go on a border patrol with me since Cloudstars to busy to do anything with Dovepaw right now."

"Hear that, Dovepaw?" We're going on a border patrol together! Get over here so we can go!"

"Geez, I was right behind you. You didn't have to yell!" The two apprentices followed the tom out of camp, eager to reach the Mountainclan border. Breezepaw felt someone's gaze burning into her fur. She turned around to see Cinderpaw sitting alone in the middle of the clearing, glaring at her. Who got her fur ruffled? she thought as she left the clearing and proceded into Firelcan territory.