Welcome to another installment of LIVING IN DA SHADOW! OH YEAH! I seriously have no words to thank y'all...I got 40! Yay! Okay, new goal for my lovely readers: I checked my Favorites/Follows status thingy and I have 6 of each. I have 40 reviews and 6 faves/follows. I think we can do better! If you looove my fanfiction and you haven't fave/followed it yet, then do it! Can we pleeeeeeeease have 10 faves/follows by chapter 12? I think we can do it!
Thanks to all of my reviewers. And don't worry. I'll probably use everyone's kits!
PS. I am horrible at thinking of titles, names, etc.
"Glosspaw, your partner is Goldpaw," Sage meowed. Glosspaw went to stand by Goldpaw. Stormpaw was paired with Leopardpaw, while Mistpaw and Moonpaw were partners. The apprentices were in the Training Hollow for the second part of the group training competition.
"Now, here's how it will work. Each pair will come to the center of the Hollow. On our signal, you will attack each other with sheathed claws. Whoever pins their opponent down first wins," Petalheart explained. "Remember, no claws out!"
Come on, just let us fight! Personally, Glosspaw had no qualms towards Goldpaw, but she desperately wanted to prove her skills. Finally, Palefoot stopped talking.
"Stormpaw and Leopardpaw are first," Applefur meowed. The apprentices who weren't fighting stood at the edge of the Training Hollow, while Stormpaw and Leopardpaw got in the middle.
"Okay…GO!" Tallfoot meowed, and Stormpaw leaped at Leopardpaw. She rolled away, but Stormpaw managed to pin one of her legs down. When Leopardpaw struggled to free her leg, Stormpaw swiped at her exposed belly with a sheathed claw. Leopardpaw managed to wiggle free and kicked Stormpaw's chin…hard. His head snapped back, but thank StarClan it didn't crack. Glosspaw breathed a sigh of relief. If her brother got hurt…Leopardpaw would definitely be hearing a piece of her mind, no doubt.
Stormpaw shook his head, trying to recuperate. Using his distraction to her advantage, Leopardpaw grabbed Stormpaw's shoulders and tried to force him down. But he was made of stronger stuff, and instead used her weight against him to his advantage. He somehow loosened Leopardpaw's grip on him and hopped away. She fell forward because she put so much force into trying to push Stormpaw down. Stormpaw leaped on top of her and pinned her down.
"I think I win," he purred. Leopardpaw slumped in defeat while Glosspaw tried not to gloat. Ha! Serves you right, you little…
"Okay, Stormpaw, congratulations. You won. Both of you can rest while Mistpaw and Moonpaw fight," Palefoot meowed. Mistpaw and Moonpaw walked into the clearing.
The fight was short but painful to watch. Mistpaw, who was by far a better fighter than hunter, tripped Moonpaw and basically leaped on top of her. Moonpaw was known for being clumsy, and Glosspaw couldn't help but feel sorry for the older apprentice as Palefoot declared Mistpaw the winner.
"Now, it's Glosspaw and Goldpaw's turn," Palefoot meowed. The evil look in her eye told Glosspaw that she might as well accept the fact that she wouldn't win this challenge. But she would still try.
"Begin!" Applefur yowled. Right after he said that, Goldpaw screeched and leaped at Glosspaw with such ferocity that Glosspaw seriously wondered if Goldpaw was secretly a LionClan warrior. Glosspaw slid out of the way on time, and Goldpaw landed on all fours. Turning to face Glosspaw, Goldpaw's eyes showed nothing but a burning passion to win. Great. She wants to kill me, Glosspaw decided. Goldpaw leaped at Glosspaw again. Glosspaw rolled out of the way and Goldpaw landed on nothing but air…and the ground, of course. The two cats got back on their feet and snarled at each other. Brown eyes met gold.
"Are you guys play-fighting, or is this a real battle? I want to see some action, here!" came Palefoot's impatient yowl. Glosspaw hissed. Time to change up the tactics.
She knew she was smaller than most, so she decided to shrink herself to an even smaller size. She crouched down low and whimpered, like she was weak. Goldpaw saw this as a sign of weakness and leaped again. Jeez, does she ever stop and think, or does she just leap at her opponents? Glosspaw thought irritably. Instead of dodging to the side, Glosspaw stepped back a few steps so Goldpaw landed on the ground again. Using this momentary distraction to her advantage, Glosspaw leaped right on top of Goldpaw and tried to pin her down. It was pretty hard, seeing as Glosspaw was a bit weaker than some apprentices. But her anger allowed her strength, and Goldpaw stopped struggling. Glosspaw didn't loosen her grip, though.
"Okay…uh, Glosspaw is the winner, congratulations," Applefur meowed.
Phew! I thought we would be fighting forever! Glosspaw thought. She decided that she would like to take a nice, long drink in the river.
"Our winners are Stormpaw, Mistpaw, and Glosspaw!" Petalheart meowed.
Oh great StarClan…did I seriously win TWO challenges in a row? Glosspaw thought, wanting to jump in the air to celebrate. I can't believe it! Maybe I'm a Mary-Sue after all...
"Our final challenge in our apprentice training competition is a race!" Petalheart meowed, bouncing up a bit. "Start at this moldy log. Whoever reaches that clump of ferns first wins."
Oh, great. It's so far away! I'm going to pass out before I reach it! Glosspaw thought miserably.
"On your mark…" Tallfoot meowed. The apprentices crouched down low.
"Get set…" Petalheart meowed. Glosspaw did one final neck stretch and tried to calm her rapid heartbeat.
"GO!" Palefoot yowled. The apprentices shot off. Well, most of them did. Glosspaw did a leisurely jog. She didn't want to waste all her energy on trying to get to the ferns. Pretty soon, she saw that almost everyone was starting to get a bit tired. Only Stormpaw and Goldpaw managed to keep their pace. Everyone else was slowing to more of a walk-run thing. Glosspaw saw this as an opportunity and sped up a bit. She knew it wouldn't be enough, but she had to make sure that the mentors knew she "tried".
Needless to say, Stormpaw was first, Goldpaw second, and Glosspaw third. Mistpaw was fourth, Leopardpaw was fifth, and Moonpaw, who managed to trip on THREE brambles, was last.
"Out of all our apprentices, Stormpaw managed to win all three challenges!" Applefur yowled. "He will get the first pick on the fresh-kill pile!"
The apprentices yowled, "Stormpaw! Stormpaw!"
No credit to the cat who won TWO challenges, of course, Glosspaw thought. Still, she was happy for her arrogant brother, and yowled his name extra loud.
Please check out my one-shot, written for Kai Lover911. It's titled Forbidden (LOL, I suck at titles). And remember to fave/follow if you like Living in the Shadow. That's all for me. Let the questions take over!
Trivia: Who was Willowpelt's 2nd mate, and what was his relationship to her (cousin, nephew, etc.)?
QOTC: Who is your least favorite character in Living in the Shadow? Mine's Palefoot, just because.
Random question: Who's your favorite singer? Mine is Taylor Swift.
Thanks for reading! Love, Gloss
