Oh, yeah, it's Cinderpaw's POV! :D So dawns the second day of the separation, as the trio attempts to complete their three very different tasks completely on their own! Although, I suppose, Sootpaw and Cinderpaw aren't exactly on their own…
Willowdream of ForestClan: Yay! I'm so glad you also won NaNoWriMo! :) Great job!
MistClan505: Aw, your reviews always make me smile! :) Here's another chapter for you!
EradrinSkyleaf: I really wanted to get another chapter out on December 1st for all of you, as NaNoWriMo ended and I said I was going to come back after November. And then homework got in the way again and so I had to wait until today to finish this chapter. :( But here it is now! And also, I'm so sorry I forgot your review! I looked back through my email and for some reason couldn't find it. :( So... does an extra-long review reply make up for it? ;)
Nightfeather: Yeah, but if you remember all your embarrassing moments, then you for sure won't repeat them! And I'll definitely try to make the chapters longer from now on. :) I know they were actually really short before. And the gray line thingies come in when you edit your document in FanFiction's Doc Manager when you edit your documents. I was confused about those, too, until I asked someone and they told me about them.
Anova00: Lucky! I was paranoid about missing a detail or two and then people would come back and say things like, "But you said it was this other way in chapter 3!" so I had to go back and recheck.
ShadowHawk: XD I spent too much time thinking about NaNoWriMo and all my story ideas for this story just left my mind. Don't worry, they're all coming back now, though... :)
Bobbie1776: I always try to make my characters more realistic. It's good to know I've finally succeeded and made Dawnpaw, a cat, more like... a human? XD I'm kidding, I get what you mean by humanizing her.
Cinderpaw's POV
The next day dawned with a sky covered in a pelt of gray clouds. That sky seemed to be perfectly in sync with my mood.
From the moment we'd woken up, Foxtooth had been talking. He chattered on and on about the forest we were padding through, the weather, how we might get rained on later, how that would affect our traveling, and what that might mean for the time we actually needed to spend getting to RiverClan's new territory. Then that started him off on a whole new tangent pondering out loud what RiverClan would be like, how they would accept us, if they would chase us out with teeth and claws or if they would welcome us with open paws, if they would be willing to help us, etc., etc., until all I really wanted to do was flatten my ears to my head and yowl at the rain-filled clouds, bringing a waterfall of raindrops down on our heads. Finally, I just couldn't take it any longer.
"I'm going to go hunt," I meowed, loud enough to be heard over Foxtooth. "We'll be needing food if we are to continue on all day."
"Oh, okay," Foxtooth said just as cheerfully as he'd been talking all morning. "I'll come with you! I wonder if we'll catch a squirrel? I do love squirrels! They've got such a wonderful flavor – that nutty sort of taste mixed in seamlessly with the juicy tenderness of a young squirrel's meat! Oh, and those young squirrels are the absolute best, don't you know? They're big enough to have the most meat possible without having that toughness older squirrels generally acquire over time. Do you know what I-"
"I meant I want to hunt alone, Foxtooth!" I half-shouted over all his babbling. "Just leave me alone! You'll scare off all the prey if you keep this up!"
Foxtooth blinked. I couldn't see where his stunned expression was coming from, much less the hurt flickering in his eyes. Couldn't he see how annoying he was being?
"Um… okay," Foxtooth murmured, his eyes downcast as he turned away. "How about I go hunt in a different part of the forest and we meet back here at Sunhigh?"
I rolled my eyes at the nearest tree. Honestly, I got the feeling it cared more for me than Foxtooth here, yammering so much my ears just wanted to shrivel up and fall off onto the ground like poppy seeds from a dried poppy flower. "We can't see the sun, so how will we be able to tell if it's Sunhigh or not?" I asked sarcastically.
"Well then how about we each catch a couple of pieces of fresh-kill and meet back here after we're done?" Foxtooth asked in a small sort of voice. I glanced over at him and saw his shoulders hunched, his head hanging and his back to me. He looked downright miserable. Serves him right, I thought fiercely, turning away. It's only fair. That was exactly how he was making me feel for hours this morning; it's only fair he get a taste of his own medicine. It's only fair that I meet fire with fire.
"Fine," I said in a lofty sort of voice, sticking my nose in the air and beginning to pad off through the trees. "Meet you back here." I didn't look back over my shoulder once as I headed off through the trees.
Without Foxtooth's nonstop chatter polluting the air, I came across a mouse within what seemed like moments. Smiling to myself at the solitude, I relaxed into my hunting crouch, moving stealthily through the underbrush. Honestly, I couldn't see why I was so bad at hunting. I was pretty much the best ever at stealth and my claws were the fastest, sharpest, most perfect claws any cat could have. It was just something about the size of the prey. A mouse was so smaller than a cat. And even if there was a humongous rabbit or something, I probably couldn't even catch that. Rabbits were just too fast.
But Foxtooth would be waiting back on the invisible path through the forest, and of course I'd have to catch at least as much as him; otherwise my reputation would never survive. So, rocking my weight back onto my haunches, I fixed my eyes on my prey and leaped.
And missed. The mouse, with a squeal of terror that sounded as loud as a battle yowl, scampered off through the foliage and disappeared between the twigs of a bush. With a growl of frustration, I stuck my nose under the bush to see where it had gone, spotting within moments a small, dark hole near the roots and not a mouse to be found. Hissing under my breath, I withdrew my head from under the branches and glared around at the surrounding trees as if it was their fault I'd missed that mouse.
Whatever. I could find another. I didn't need that stupid little mouse anyway. It probably wouldn't have been that tasty anyway. Huffing out my breath irritably, I stalked away through the trees, my tail twitching angrily. Why did I have to be so hopeless at hunting? Why hadn't I told Foxtooth I'd gone scouting ahead or something? Now, that was something I could do! But I hadn't, and so I had to hunt. Great.
A scrabble of tiny claws on a tree trunk broke through the near-silent forest. I glanced sharply around, my ears swiveling from side to side, trying to place the sound. Finally, I spotted it. It was a squirrel, crawling down from a tree.
My first instinct was to leap at it then and there, but common sense told me to wait. If I was going to catch any prey at all on this hunting trip, I'd have to play this carefully. I'd have to strike at the right moment, silent and deadly as an adder. So, instead of springing, I crouched low to the ground in a perfect stalking crouch, my tail held perfectly still above the dry leaves. I almost began sliding my paws forward over the leaves, but I knew I had to play this one with even more stealth than that; the squirrel would have think it was completely safe for me have a chance at catching it. So instead of making them sound like a snake, I would have to blend my pawsteps completely into the background.
I began inching forward, digging my paws underneath the covering of leaves whenever I heard the wind rustle a branch nearby, so that the squirrel would just think the rustling of my paws was the wind. I'd never tried this tactic before, and was partly curious but mostly hopeful to see if it would work or not. It did; the squirrel didn't seem to notice there was any danger at all. It had already reached the ground and was scampering off to find some acorns or something.
So, now that I could move around without the squirrel noticing, where should I go? The wind was only blowing fitfully in the treetops, instead of on the ground (as the squirrel apparently didn't realize), so checking wind direction wouldn't matter. That meant I could theoretically ambush it anywhere, as long as it didn't take too long to reach. If I waited here long enough, the squirrel would find its meal and head on back up to its treetop nest.
Of course! An idea blossomed into life in my mind. The squirrel would most likely run back to its tree when it got startled, so if I could get around to just beside the tree and then throw something over to the side, the squirrel would run right back to its tree – and I would be waiting there to intercept it.
It was a brilliant plan – the masterpiece of all plans. I grinned to myself and began the agonizingly slow process of stalking over to the tree trunk. It was a whole badger-length away, and the squirrel had nearly finished with its gathering when I finally made it.
Crouching in the shadows beside the tree trunk, I felt around for something to throw. For a moment, I felt panic as my fumbling paws felt nothing but leaves and roots deeply embedded in the hard ground. Then, thank StarClan, I found something small, round, and hard. An acorn.
I suppose it's true that the acorn falls far from the tree, I thought, smirking to myself. That is, when a cat is there to give it a little help. I picked up the acorn between my teeth and, making sure the squirrel's back was turned, gave my head a violent shake and let go. I watched, my heart racing with adrenaline, as the acorn sailed high into the air and landed with a distinct rustle amongst the bushes from which I'd just come from.
For about half a heartbeat that seemed to last seasons, the squirrel didn't seem to notice the rustle. I feared it had all been for nothing until it sat up, tiny ears twitching, and abandoned its nut as it turned 180 degrees and sprinted for the tree. And right into my waiting paws.
I sank my teeth into the squirrel's neck and it went limp. Standing up, I surveyed my catch with a little less than downright awe. I had actually done it. My made-up, on-the-spot plan to catch a quick, tree-hugging squirrel had actually worked! For a moment, I had the crazy urge to yowl my victory to the sky. Then I remembered that Foxtooth was also hunting in these woods and he would probably hear me, as well as any other prey that happened to be around these parts. So, shutting my jaws firmly against the exultant cry bubbling up inside me, I picked up the squirrel and, digging a shallow sort of hole in the ground, I buried the squirrel for later and cleared the spot of leaves, placing the nut the squirrel had dropped on top as a marker. Then, I headed off to try hunting some more.
The rest of my hunting trip didn't go as well as the squirrel, but rather as well as the mouse. I came across a sparrow and a thrush, but both ended up flying off with loud alarm calls to any other prey that happened to be around. After the second time that happened, I was ready to scream with frustration, so I figured it was best if I just headed back to meet Foxtooth. It must be about time by now.
I returned to the little clearing where I'd caught the squirrel, found the nut marker, and dug it up. Then I proceeded back to the invisible path we'd been following through the trees.
Sure enough, Foxtooth was waiting for me back at the path. He glanced up as soon as he heard my pawsteps, and even though we still couldn't see each other, he cried out, "Cinderpaw! You're back! You'll never guess what I caught!"
I rounded a thick tree and saw Foxtooth sitting on the ground, three pieces of prey in front of him. He was looking down at his pitiful imitation of a fresh-kill pile, gently prodding each morsel with a claw. "I caught two mice and a vole," he announced as though it was the finest catch any cat could ever hope of having. "I… um… thought you would like the vole," he said in a slightly quieter voice, bending down and picking up the fattest rodent. "I know you like voles."
Finally, after chattering on for ages, he looked up at me, the vole dangling from his mouth. Then, it wasn't dangling from his mouth anymore, but instead lying on the ground as his jaw dropped. "Is… is that a squirrel?" he whispered, his eyes wide and awed. "You managed to catch a… squirrel?"
"Yep," I muttered, flinging it on the ground. "I… I couldn't find any other prey. And you know why? It's because you scared them all away with your talk!"
I knew it wasn't good to lie, but Foxtooth's reaction was completely worth it. His eyes seemed to lose their glow and he looked away, down at the ground, his mouth shutting noiselessly once again. He closed his eyes, grimaced, and murmured, "I didn't mean to, Cinderpaw. Honest, I didn't."
"And a fat lot of good it did us," I muttered, snatching up the vole and devouring it in a few famished bites. "We'll have to just take some fresh-kill with us."
I picked up one of his mice and started off along the path. I knew I'd been sort of mean, but it was worth it if it would make him shut up for once. Honestly, his voice was just getting so annoying!
"Cinderpaw?"
"What?" I growled, spinning around to glare at him.
Foxtooth seemed to recoil slightly as he saw my expression. And serve him right, I thought viciously. "Um… can I eat the squirrel you caught?" he asked in a barely audible voice, as though he thought anything louder would set me off. To be completely honest, it probably would.
"Fine," I muttered, rolling my eyes as I turned around again. "But make it quick and catch up to me before nightfall. Otherwise you might get eaten by something. Like a fox." I smirked at my own joke and began bounding along through the forest again, looking forward for once to a few completely Foxtooth-free hours.
Well, that was pretty fun to write. Sorry there's not been any AdOTDs lately - I haven't really been able to think of anything to put for them. :( Anyway, on to the AOTD and the QOTD!
AOTD: Yes, I did. I forget if I said this in the last chapter, but I most definitely did. I forgot all the little details of what I'd written before and where I'd left off and everything. So I went back and sort of skimmed through the chapters again.
QOTD: Are you on Cinderpaw's side and think Foxtooth is just a loudmouthed idiot or are you on Foxtooth's side and think Cinderpaw's being overly mean to him?
