This was a little bit filler, but it will go somewhere. As always, I hope you like it.

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Leopardpaw bounded eagerly after his mentor. Oaktalon led the way to the Sandy Hollow, where ThunderClan went to practice their fighting skills. Sparring was the only thing Leopardpaw would be doing today, and it was his favorite thing.

He rushed ahead as they reached the clearing. Oaktalon frowned at him, but made no comment. Leopardpaw skidded to a stop, sending up a spray of sand. They weren't alone. Mintleaf and Spottedthroat were already there, along with their apprentices, Dawnpaw and Snowpaw. The two younger cats sat together on the far side of the clearing, talking. When Dawnpaw saw him, she narrowed her eyes.

Dawnpaw hated Leopardpaw. And Leopardpaw hated her, too. There had never been a bossier, annoying, or stuck-up apprentice ever. She turned her silver tabby back to him. Snowpaw shot him an amused glance.

Spottedthroat took a position in the center of the clearing and spoke to all the apprentices. "Jaywing has told me that Brackenpaw twisted his ankle on the dawn patrol, and won't be joining us today. So we're going to begin now." He waved his tail for them to come forward. "We're starting by learning a new move, the 'scruff shake'. This is used on rats and cats smaller than yourself. Since you're all a bit older and larger now, yes, you too, Snowpaw, this is an effective technique to learn. Now pay attention… For this move, you grab your opponent by the scruff of the neck and shake them as hard as you can until he or she is too rattled to fight back. I believe, because you are apprentices, that you all have had it used on you during a battle, so you should know what I'm talking about."

They all nodded. It had been used on them.

"Okay, so," Mintleaf said, taking over. "We're going to practice. Obviously we can't practice on each other, because Dawnpaw and Leopardpaw are the same size, and I won't subject Snowpaw to being shaken to death like a rat. Instead, we're going to practice on these balls of moss."

Padding back to the edge of the sand, she hooked three lumps of moss on her claws and hopped back towards them on three legs. She tossed one at each of them.

Leopardpaw caught the wad of moss in his teeth. He knew it was necessary to learn new moves, but he wanted to practice real fighting, on someone else, not on moss. When we do get to fight, at least I can shake them It'll be a fun move to try, he thought. He grinned at the mental image of Dawnpaw being shaken by a big cat.

"Leopardpaw? Leopardpaw!" He looked up in surprise. Mintleaf was glaring at him. "I said, 'Do you want to try first?'" Dawnpaw smirked.

"Uh, sure," he said. Gripping the moss ball in his teeth, he whipped his head back and forth, until the moss was torn free and rolled away. Leopardpaw spit out the bits caught in his teeth.

"Good." Oaktalon had walked over, watching him. "Try again." Leopardpaw grinned and fetched the moss.

"No, Snowpaw, you need to shake your head side-to-side. Like a dog," Spottedthroat instructed. Soon moss was flying everywhere.

Leopardpaw destroyed his moss. He shook his head until he was dizzy. When he stopped, moss bits were scattered around, nothing left in his mouth.

"Good job, everyone." Oaktalon was pleased. "Now we can have some one on one combat practice. How about… Snowpaw and Mintleaf? Just to make things different."

Mintleaf agreed, and the two faced off, dark gray fur circling around fluffy white. They dove, spinning and whirling around each other. Snowpaw leaped at Mintleaf's back, but Mintleaf ducked. Snowpaw sailed over before turning and leaping at Mintleaf again, this time aiming at her legs. Mintleaf tripped, falling on Snowpaw. They both did well, and their mock-battle ended soon. Leopardpaw's tail tip twitched with excitement.

"Okay," Spottedthroat said. "Leopardpaw and Dawnpaw, why don't you two give it a go?"

Leopardpaw groaned internally. Of course, it's Dawnpaw. He was often pitted against her, since they were the same age, but it just wasn't as fun. If she lost, she'd give him the cold shoulder for days. If she won, he wouldn't hear the end of it.

Taking a fighting stance, they glared at each other. Quick as lightning, Leopardpaw darted forward. Dawnpaw was forced to drop to her belly to avoid the blow, which gave Leopardpaw the chance to whirl around and pounce on her. She snarled and wriggled beneath him, but wasn't able to push the larger weight off. Changing tactic, she squirmed until she was on her back and started to pummel his belly with her paws.

Leopardpaw sprang away from her strong kicks, but as Dawnpaw flipped to her feet, he rushed her again. An idea had swiftly come to him. Dawnpaw reared up to fend off his attack but he rammed her and knocked her over. She must be having an off day, because there's no way she's letting me win, Leopardpaw thought.

Same as he had done with the moss, he clamped down on Dawnpaw's scruff and shook her. She was much heavier than the moss, but he managed. She thrashed, lashing out. Her aim caught him square in the nose.

He hissed as he backed away, blinking in pain. Dawnpaw, furious at being shaken, went on the offensive and launched herself at him. They fell into the sand, hitting each other with their paws, not trying to use any special moves.

"All right, that's enough!" Oaktalon called. The apprentices separated, glaring at each other. Leopardpaw shook the sand out of his fur. Dawnpaw licked hers into place.

"That was excellent. You both are skilled fighters. Dawnpaw, you didn't seem quite as focused in the beginning, but you yourself together near the end. Leopardpaw, I'm glad you're trying new moves, but that was what let Dawnpaw attack you, so you might want to practice more."

The six cats continued training until the sun was low in the sky. Oaktalon and Spottedthroat decided it was time to go back, mostly because they wanted to visit their mates in the nursery. As they walked back to camp, Leopardpaw glanced over at Dawnpaw. Her dark silver tabby fur glinted oddly in the orange light. Then he noticed she was staring at him.

When she realized he saw her staring at him, she immediately looked away, dropping back to walk with Snowpaw. She glared at the ground the whole time.

That was weird, Leopardpaw thought. She was probably just imagining what would happen if she tried to push me into the river.

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So there you go. In case you didn't know which Clan that was and didn't bother to check the Allegiances, it was ThunderClan.

Thanks to everyone who has ever reviewed any of my stories!