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ShoutFinder: Thank you for helping me with this! The Warriors/Star Wars thing… that was funny! Snowpaw's randomness…hmm. Maybe not THAT random. But perhaps we will find that he is a bit less random in the future? :)

Hello! I'm sorry I haven't updated this recently, but this is February, the shortest (and busiest) month. However, I have some new ideas for this, so don't worry. Oh, who cares about author notes? Let's just get to the story!

Chapter 9

"Storm?"

The gray she-cat, and her sister, had been settling in well with the rest of ThunderClan. I thought they were, anyway. But they seemed friendly enough. Storm and Brackenfur worked well together, I had heard a group of warriors saying. Thornclaw seemingly had enough patience to deal with training Night. Brightheart, with only the skills that comes from being partly blind, and having trained Jayfeather for a short time, helped Night to learn how to at least do defensive moves.

"What is it?" Storm asks me, tail tip flicking, from a corner of the camp. "Acornpaw, right?" At my nod, the she-cat meows, "Well, I'm waiting for Night."

"Do you want to share a mouse or two with me?" I ask. Cindrheart had told me earlier that I should try to become friends with the two newcomers. "I talked to Storm a bit myself," she had told me. "She seems rather shy, but I think if you give her some time..."

"If you're sure," Storm hesitates. "I wouldn't mind eating with another cat."

"All right then," I meow. "I got you a mouse."

Storm sniffs the plump, gray, fluffy prey, and took a bite.

"This is good!" She meows. "Did you catch it?"

"No," I shake my head. "I think Seedflower did."

"Well, she's a good hunter," the silver-eared she-cat mews. "At least, that's what I hear the other cats say!"

"Yup."

"How long have you been an apprentice?" Storm asks.

"Oh, about…" I narrow my eyes in thought. "One moon and a half."

"What do you learn?"

I meow. "Dovewing is my mentor, and she teaches me hunting, and some fighting moves – but she says that I'll learn more when I've been an apprentice longer."

The sound of eating from Storm. I pause to take a breath, and continue on. "Jayfeather, the medicine cat, teaches me about herbs. It's not just me, though. The other apprentices – do you know them?"

The gray she-cat nods.

"Well, they learn which herbs are which with me, as well."

"Anything else?"

"Well…" I think. "Now I remember! Dovewing told me that she had learned to climb trees. She said that she would teach me as well."

"Climbing in trees?" Storm asks, looking more than politely interested in my training. "Hunting and fighting as well?"

"Maybe…" I pause. "I think so. Dovewing mentioned doing more than climbing trees, when I was older. "

"Well," Storm meows, looking slightly determined and, possibly, a bit excited. "If you need any help at all, you can ask me." Adding, half to herself, "I know more about training in trees than anything else."

Before I can ask her what she means by her half-whispered statement, she thanks me for the meal and company, and then, with a final flick of her tail, Storm heads over to her sister and Brightheart, returned from the training clearing.

A few days later, I was just getting out of the tunnel to go into the forest, when I heard a light noise behind me.

Pawsteps.

Light ones, yes, but still.

Quickly spinning around, I turned and leapt at the gray – no, white – no, gray – cat.

"I got you this time!" I cheer as Amberpaw blinks up at me – then shoves me off.

"It was only because of these leaves, Acornpaw," my friend meows, slightly annoyed. "They're really thick."

"You'll get me back sometime," I tell her. "Now come on! I don't want to get left behind!"

We start to run, and I start to feel elated. Amberpaw is behind me, but we are both passing the old Twoleg path, both leaping over small fallen trees, climbing over bigger ones, running, running, running everywhere else. Yes, it was only to catch up with our mentors, but it was fun for while it lasted.

It was the best feeling in the world.

"You're here!" Hazeltail mews after we emerge from the trees into the mossy clears. "We were staring to wonder what took you so long."

"Hazeltail, I'm going to take Acornpaw to that little clearing you found. I want to see how she does in closed- off areas."

"Sure, Dovewing," Hazeltail meows. "Don't be to long. I wouldn't mind Amberpaw and Acornpaw have a practice bout."

"Alright then," Dovewing meows. "See you later."

With a flick of her gray tail, Dovewing leads me over to the far side of the clearing, and weaves her way through several birch trees. I follow, and blink in amazement when I see the little clearing.

Tall trees enclose it, along with bramble bushes. It's surprisingly quiet, and the ground is a mixture of moss and dead leaves. However, I have a question that has been floating through my head, ever since my first hunting lesson. It is too important to pay too much attention to the clearing, and Dovewing is one of the only cats that can answer it.

"Dovewing?" I mew hesitantly as she sniffs the ground, then flicks up her ears. I know her well enough to know that this is not a signal, but her way of using her senses.

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering…" Come on, Acornpaw, get it out!

"Yes?"

"Should I… Should I really use my power to fight and to hunt? Other cats have been fine for seasons without a cat that can move as quickly as lightning. It almost feels like cheating."

Dovewing turns to face me, her blue eyes wondering.

"There are several answers to that, but first I think I should tell you something that happened when I was an apprentice." Her mew almost grows wistful, and then my mentor continues.

"It was leaf-bare. I had just caught a blackbird, and then we heard – well, I heard – a fox in the hollow. The Clan managed to fight it off, but a day or two later, Lionblaze brought me along to chase the fox away." Dovewing's mew drops low. "He fought it off by himself. I just helped to herd it out of Clan territory. On the way to the fox's den, I asked him why he had to do it alone, when a patrol of ordinary warriors could chase the fox away. He said it was easier this way, that no one would get hurt. I told him that it was wrong, like cheating."

"Do you think that I shouldn't use my powers?" The words are as tough to get out as a clump of feathers, but I have to know.

"No!" Dovewing spits suddenly, leaping to her paws. "You should. I wanted to tell you that I understand how you are feeling. You feel like you're cheating because you can do something your Clanmates can't."

"Yes!" I feel like sagging with relief. "But how is using my powers good when other cats can't?"

Dovewing looks deep into my eyes, blue looking into light green. "If our Clanmates had the power to hear far away, and to be undefeated in battle, and to move like lightning, then they would have those powers. But StarClan gave you your power, not them. You have to use your power, and believe that you have it for a reason."

"Okay, Dovewing," I look up at my mentor happily. "Thank you."

Then, I leap.

Time doesn't slow down like it does for Lionblaze, but instead, it speeds up. I flash in the middle of my leap to behind Dovewing. She spins around, and I catch her ear with a dark gray tabby paw.

"Be quick, Acornpaw! You only have a heartbeat," Dovewing reminds me as I start batting at her light gray ears.

Rolling away from my paws, Dovewing backflips – backflips! – into the air. When she lands, I flash onto her back, and start scrabbling with my forepaws. My mentor drops down on the ground, then rolls again, but I jump off so I don't get squished.

Dovewing eyes me with approval. "Nice job! You had a good move there, when you used your power to get onto my back when I landed. Here, let me show you how to backflip, if you're up for it. Then we have to go back to Hazeltail."

Nodding, I watch while Dovewing stands on her hindpaws, stretches out her front paws – to give her balance, she explains – then she flips backward.

"It's a little harder than flipping forward," Dovewing explains. Is she panting ever so slightly? "But with you, I think you should go with leaping – you seem to be the most comfortable with that – for a while. When your legs get more used to leaping, then you can try flipping backward."

"Can I still try it?" I plead. Even though I understand the reason of my mentor's words, part of me wants to – no, is determined to try to backflip.

Thank StarClan, Dovewing nods. I shakily rear up on my hind legs, stretch out my front paws, and flip backward. To my surprise, I don't mess up on the backflip, but my amazement barely lasts as I land, utterly winded.

"Told you," Dovewing comments. "Don't worry about it. We'll work on it later. Now come on," she flicks her ears in the direction of the mossy clearing. "They're starting to pace."

"Come on," Storm urges me. "It's great up here!"

Narrowing my eyes at a branch just below the older she-cat, I leap. Part of me wants to flash, but then common sense kicks in. Besides me, only Jayfeather, Lionblaze, Cinderheart, and Dovewing know about my power. It's good practice to leap for branches. And anyway, how would I explain it to Storm?

The trouble is, I can't. At least, I can't without Storm wondering if I have always liked eating stale mice.

The branch dips a little under my weight, but somehow I get my balance. Storm glances at me.

"I need to see how you climb trees to help you." She looks a bit more excited now. "Do you want to race to the top? It's a fairly big tree."

"Sure!"

I reach out a paw to a nearby branch – strange, it's not very leafy – but Storm stops me.

"See that branch?" She points with her tail to a higher branch, with more leaves, almost right above her head.

"Watch and learn."

Storm reaches out with one front paw, grips the branch, claws unsheathed, and then does the same with the other paw. She leaps up then, the leaves shake, and her forelegs disappear along with her.

"If I was in a battle," Storm explains, popping her head out and making more leaves shake. "I would be much quicker and quieter, but I wanted to show you how to do it. I choose the leafier branch for cover from the ground. If there's a cat down there," She flicks her tail to the ground. "I will be harder to see. You just have to be careful not to let the leaves shake."

"What if there's wind?" I mew.

"It depends on how much there is. If it's only a slight breeze, then the branches might only quiver. But if there's a stronger wind, the branches will shake harder, especially if there's a storm. But," Storm cautions me. "You shouldn't climb trees while a storm is happening. A branch could break off, and you might fall with it!"

I gaze at her in amazement. "You sound like a mentor!"

"Well, I'm mentoring you for a while, aren't I?" Storm is beaming now. "Come on, let's race!"

We start to leap up the tree. Part of me is wondering how I have ever run without knowing what this feels like. How I have even moved without knowing what these greenleaf branches feel like as I brush against them? I'm not going very fast, not very slow, but I can see the greenness of it all go past me.

Imagine that you are climbing a mountain that you have climbed dozens of times before. There's a fog all around you – exciting, misty, and brushing past you as you continue climbing – but you know the way up the mountain, so you're not worried. Now change the mountain to bark, and the fog to leaves and branches, and that is what I was feeling.

For the second time in several days, I felt the best feeling in the world. There weren't any worries about my power, or Dewpaw, or Snowpaw, or even about the prophecy. I was just climbing up and up and up in that light green fog, with a new friend just ahead.