Dawn: Here's chapter 9! Whoo!
Dusk: So read,
Hollyleaf: Review,
Burt: And kill some graboids!
Everyone: Burt!
The next morning, Echopaw woke to a paw prodding her in the side. She let out a mew of protest before opening her eyes. Brownpaw's kit-ish eyes looked at her in concern.
"All right, I'm up," Echopaw groaned. She slowly got to her paws.
"Dawn patrol," Brownpaw told her. Echopaw let out a squeak of surprise.
"Why did no one tell me?"
"I don't know." Brownpaw shrugged. "Let's go; Gingerthroat and Clearfall are waiting for us." At this, Echopaw raced out of the den.
"What was that for?" Brownpaw asked crossly, padding several fox lengths behind her. "You didn't have to rush like that."
"Sorry," Echopaw mumbled. "My dear half sisters are grouchy furballs, especially after my mood last night."
"You mean when you snapped at Clearfall for being sympathetic for once?" Brownpaw teased.
"Yeah, then." Brownpaw purred with amusement.
"Brownpaw! Echopaw! You may still be mourning, but we have a patrol to do!" yowled Gingerthroat from across the camp. A very irritated Ashtail came out of the warriors den.
"Gingerthroat, don't yowl like that! You scared the fur off my pelt!" he hissed. "And I was sleeping!"
"Sorry, Ashtail," Gingerthroat purred. It wasn't a secret that she held a soft spot for the bad-tempered tom. "We're just going out on the dawn patrol."
"Just don't yowl when all the cats are sleeping, okay?"
"Deal." The tom stalked back to the warriors' den.
"So how come no one told me about the dawn patrol?" Echopaw asked Clearfall.
"Young Brownpaw here begged us to let you come too," Clearfall answered. Brownpaw looked pleased with himself.
"Let's go!" Gingerthroat mewed impatiently. The four cats padded out of the camp, where a very sleepy pair of warriors, Runningear and Spottedpool, mewed a greeting.
"What border are we patrolling?" Echopaw asked.
"ShadowClan," Brownpaw answered. "Since Lightheart was found near the ShadowClan border and Tigerstripe was killed by ShadowClan, we need to make sure there's no more trouble." The four cats walked to the brambles where they had found Lightheart the previous day. There was no sign of any ShadowClan warriors waiting to ambush them, so they proceeded around the bramble patch and past a small puddle reeking of fox dung.
"Eww, fox," Brownpaw complained, wrinkling his nose.
"You know, a little hunting won't hurt," Clearfall mewed suddenly. Echopaw noticed that she had said that because of the delicious smell of mouse that was floating by them.
"You do the honors, Echopaw," Gingerthroat ordered. "Let's see how well Tigerstripe has, um, mentored you." Echopaw bit back a sharp retort. Instead she stalked over to where the mouse was hidden, being careful about where she placed her paws. She leapt and felt the mouse's warm body beneath her claws. She bit, tasting the hot blood of her prey.
"Not bad," Clearfall commented. "For an apprentice." Echopaw scowled, and they continued to walk along the border. All was silent.
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Whisperpaw woke to another of the dark dreams with Tigerstar. Now he was promising to help her fight.
"Just do the normal fighting, and I'll whisper instructions in your ear," Tigerstar had said. Whisperpaw had nodded earnestly. Her life was improving by the day.
"Whisperpaw!" a familiar voice called. She looked around, and spotted her mentor Fightingclaw stalking toward her. "I will teach you how to hunt today," he said when he had reached her.
"Great. Like I already don't know how to do that," Whisperpaw mewed sulkily.
"Who taught you, Echopaw?" Fightingclaw sneered.
"No, Ti--" She was cut off by a shout of anger in her head. "--gerstripe."
"Ahhh, he did, did he? I remember Echopaw telling me that she and Tigerstripe had stayed together from the time they had become friends to the time he was killed."
"Liar!"
"Whisperpaw, Whisperpaw," he mewed, shaking his massive head. "Someone needs to learn manners. I was going to let it go and teach you some basic fighting moves, but you can clean the elders' bedding instead."
"Say you're sorry, and then beg to do battle training," the voice of Tigerstar snapped in her head.
"I'm sorry. Please take me to do battle training!" Whisperpaw wailed.
"Very well. Come." The two cats bounded out of the camp.
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"You know, most apprentices don't know how to fight until they are done with at least one moon of training," Fightingclaw commented as soon as they reached the training hollow. "This may be too advanced for an apprentice your size."
"I'm as tough as any apprentice," Whisperpaw snapped.
"Leap at him. That's the first step to fighting: a surprise attack." Whisperpaw obeyed Tigerstar without arguing. She leapt at her mentor, throwing the larger cat off balance.
"Swipe your paw across his face, claws sheathed," Tigerstar ordered. Whisperpaw obeyed. Then Fightingclaw jumped up and threw the smaller cat off.
"Not bad," he commented. They continued training until sundown, when the padded back to camp tired but ready if anything unexpected happened.
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"Let's go back to camp," Echopaw said to Brownpaw. The two had been happily hunting, and the sun was almost down.
"All right," Brownpaw grumbled. Echopaw could tell that he was having a great time. The two ran back as fast as their legs would carry them. They almost ran into Whisperpaw and Fightingclaw as they stormed into camp. Several cats looked their way.
"What's wrong?" the she-cat Hollyspirit asked. "Are we being attacked?"
"No, we're just in a hurry to get to the fresh-kill pile," Echopaw panted.
"Thank StarClan, I was worried," Duststorm mewed. Suddenly a small shape darted out of the medicine cat's den. It was Quickpaw.
"What's wrong now?" Hollyspirit grumbled. Quickpaw took a deep breath.
"Smallspirit is dead!"
Dawn: Like my cliffhanger? I do hope those few people who read this on my other account will remember this part...
Dusk: So make sure you review!
Hollyleaf: Dawn, Burt stole my whole collection of toy trucks and just went graboid hunting.
Dawn: So?
Hollyleaf: So you're nice. Will you go steal them back for me?
Dawn: No. Wait, why do you have a collection of toy trucks anyway?
Hollyleaf: I just do, okay?
Dawn: For those of you who don't know, in the movie Tremors they use toy trucks to attract graboids, who hunt by sound and hear the vibration. Then they detonate the explosive.
Burt: Boom, end of worm.
Dusk: Burt, you said that in Tremors 3.
Burt: So?
Hollyleaf: Gimme my toy trucks back!
Burt: NEVAH!
Dawn: R&R.