So I guess I keep writing. As you all know, the next book in the series is Dark River. I haven't read the book in a long time, but I feel I'm just going to replace chapters with 100% new work since the cannon timeline would have had him doing all kinds of stuff he would never be doing as a warrior's apprentice. It would be cool to fully rewrite the entire PoT but I don't have the energy to do that. I will be thorough in my author's notes however.

Chapter 1 is the three going to a Gathering. I honestly wouldn't change much apart from the fact that Jaypaw is still a warrior's apprentice. At the Gathering I would imagine Breezepaw to be glaring daggers at him.

Chapter 2 is just fluff from Hollypaw's point of view. In the cannon, she and Cinderpaw discover Lionpaw and Heatherpaw flirting on ThunderClan territory in the middle of the night. Lionpaw gets discovered another way in this version.

Chapter 3 is Jaypaw going up to the moonpool with Leafpool. But in my version Hollypaw would be going so I'm going to write a new chapter 3 that takes place earlier that day.

Jaypaws claws tore up the sandy earth of the training hollow as he pushed himself to go faster. His heart raced and he took huge mouthfuls of air as he streaked across the ground. Ever since the daylight Gathering he had been spending most of his free time here, sharpening his skills. His duel with Breezepaw had shown him his weaknesses but he would be even stronger and faster the next time they met.

"I think that was even faster than your last time," came Poppypaw's voice from the edge of the clearing. She had taken to watching him in the evenings after all of her apprentice chores were finished. Jaypaw hadn't objected and he quietly enjoyed her presence since he would otherwise be alone.

Panting, Jaypaw stopped for a moment to catch his breath. There was a move Tigerstar was trying to teach him but he was struggling to perform it. It involved some fancy footwork more suited for a sighted cat but Jaypaw wasn't going to give up so easily. I really shouldn't let him help me anymore since what he said at the daylight Gathering. But he has so much to teach me! If he tries to make me do one more bad thing, I'm leaving him forever.

Jaypaw bunched his hindlegs and made a mental image of an enemy in front of him. With another leap, he spun through the air and raked his claws at his imaginary opponent, aiming for its ears before flipping over it to land on the other side. He then dropped low so he was hugging the sand and made a swirling kick with his hindlegs to knock his opponent's legs out from under him.

"Assuming your enemy stayed completely still while he was fighting, those moves would have made quick work of him," Poppypaw mewed, sounding impressed. She padded across the sand toward him. "But you'll never know their actual effectiveness in a fight until you've tried them out on another cat. Try your move on me."

Jaypaw's eyes widened in surprise that she would volunteer to be his practice target. "That would be great! I used to train with Brightheart but I instinctively aim for her blind side and I need to learn on a fully sighted cat."

"I understand," Poppypaw mewed coolly, stopping in the sand a few paces away from him. "Come at me, I'm prepared."

Jaypaw quickly judged the distance between them by scent and the sound of her breathing. With a grunt of effort, he flung himself at her as fast as a snake and raised his paws to strike a soft blow across her ears.

But to his surprise, she simply ducked and he whooshed passed without making contact.

"Hey! Why did you dodge?" he complained, landing on all fours a few tail-lengths away and straightening up.

The she-cat's purr of amusement made his fur hot with embarrassment. "The whole point of having a real cat to train against is so you can adapt your moves against a moving target. If I was standing still then you might as well be practicing against a log or a rock."

Jaypaw's grumbled in agreement with her logic. He would have to improvise on the spot depending on how she dodged his initial attack. Energy raced up his paws as he eagerly thought up a new plan. "Tell me when you are ready and I'll try again."

"Ha, I am always ready!"

"Very well." Jaypaw bunched his hindlegs and sprang again, this time aiming lower so she wouldn't be able to dodge. As he predicted, when she tried to duck, he was still close enough to land a blow with sheathed claws across her cheek. He landed in the sand beside her and ducked low to knock her legs out from under her with his swirling kick.

But he didn't have time since Poppypaw quickly dashed forward and slammed into him hard with her head lowered. He sprawled clumsily on the ground as she easily knocked him over in his unstable stance.

"Oh, come on!" he whined, leaping to his paws and angrily shaking the sand from his pelt. "How am I supposed to do the move if you interrupt it like that?"

"In a real battle, cats aren't going to just stand around and let you hit them," she meowed, dragging the words out as if trying to explain something complicated to a young kit. "Keep trying."

Jaypaw's eyes narrowed with a cold understanding. This wasn't just a training session, it was a spar. He couldn't treat Poppypaw as his Clanmate, helping him practice moves, but as his opponent who needed to be outwitted. He'd play her game. He slowly stalked around her, thinking of a new attack in his head. She would probably dodge a different way since he had landed his first blow on her the last attempt. He needed to surprise her with something new.

"That look on your face is making me worried," Poppypaw laughed. "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about winning." Jaypaw raced forward again, kicking up sand behind him as he launched through the air. His first paw swipe missed as she dodged to one side, but he had been expecting it and caught her on the muzzle with his other paw as he spiraled past. He landed neatly and prepared for her to make the next move.

Poppypaw lunged forward, attempting to knock him over as she had before, but this time, instead of crouching low to try and knock her paws out from under her, he rolled over onto his back so his chest faces upwards. She realized his trick too late and yelped as he caught her in the stomach with a powerful kick of both hindlegs. Her fur rustled through the air before she landed with a soft thud a few fox-lengths away in the ferns.

"How- was- that?" Jaypaw panted, his heart slamming against the sides of his chest as he tried to catch his breath. If that had been a real battle, even a sighted opponent would have felt the sting of his claws. He strutted proudly over to her side as she shook out her pelt.

"You never fail to surprise me," she purred. "But how are you able to predict my attacks so easily when you're blind?"

"Lots of training," Jaypaw answered simply. "And it's much easier when there aren't dozens of cats all around making noise and confusing me."

"That's not surprising," she meowed. "You spend every free waking moment practicing your moves."

Even a few sleeping moments too, he thought, but he wasn't going to tell her about Tigerstar.

"Don't you ever get tired of just practicing fighting moves?" she meowed, lying in the sand where she had fallen. "There's more to life than just fighting."

Jaypaw narrowed his eyes at her, curious of what she was trying to say. "Well, there's hunting too- and patrolling."

Poppypaw let out a tiny puff of dissatisfaction and stood up. "Okay, I was just wondering. We can keep practicing if you want."

But Jaypaw was intrigued now. She clearly wanted him to say or do something but he wasn't sure what. "Would you prefer we did something else? It's getting late but I don't mind staying out a little after sundown."

"Let's explore the forest!" she mewed hastily. "Just the two of of us."

"Why?"

"Ughh, just because it would be fun!" Poppypaw moaned in frustration. "We could watch the lake as the sun goes down. Cinderpaw told me it looks really pretty with the sunset reflecting off the surface."

"Blind, remember?" Jaypaw pointed out. "But I'll come with you as long as you promise I won't get in trouble again for staying out too late."

Poppypaw gave a small yip of excitement, and leapt to her paws. "Don't worry, if we get caught I'll say it was my fault. Let's go!" She didn't wait for his response and bolted off through the trees. "Come quick before the sun goes all the way down!"

Jaypaw scampered to keep up, surprised by how eager she seemed. Her gentle paws darted across the ground ahead of him and he followed them until the trees opened up and the scent of the lake grew strong. The nights weren't as cold since newleaf was taking hold and he knew the lake had risen plenty from all the snowmelt.

"Sorry about forgetting you were blind," Poppypaw mewed sincerely, stopping at the water's edge and turning as he pattered onto the pebbles. "I feel like a mouse-brain now."

Jaypaw purred with amusement. "That's alright. I think it's funny how cats can;t remember sometimes. It's actually a compliment because it means they aren't judging me." He cast his gaze in the direction of the lake. He could only guess what it looked like but he knew it stretched far and wide between the four Clan territories.

"Do you want me to describe what I see?" she mewed invitingly. "I don't know if it will mean anything to you but-"

"Sure, go ahead?" he interupted. Poppypaw was one of the few cats in the Clan he considered his friend and he liked the sound of her familiar voice. "Tell me what you see."

She took a deep breath, her mind reaching out into the distance. "Firstly, the lake is as dark as fox's eyes and just as cold. But as the sun is setting beneath the horizon, it's sending a long path of gleaming red across the surface towards us, sort of like a tail."

Jaypaw purred and closed his eyes as he tried to imagine it. "The sun has a tail? I picture a giant glowing fox now."

"No not like that, silly," she laughed, and gave him a friendly nudge with her paw. "The sun is round- not fox-shaped!"

"So it's a really fat fox," he joked, his whiskers quivering. "Keep describing things."

She rumbled with amusement and turned her head back to face the lake. "I can see new leaves growing all across the four Clan's territories and the shadows are long and stretching across the ground. Above us, the clouds scattered in the sky are pink like the nose of a kit, but I'm sure they'll turn orange and red soon as the sun sinks lower behind the mountains in the distance."

"It all sounds very nice," Jaypaw meowed, casting his blind gaze up towards the sky. "I can sort of guess what it all looks like."

"I really wish you could see it," Poppypaw sighed wistfully. "It looks as beautiful as Cinderpaw said it would be."

A sharp pang of longing struck Jaypaw in the side. "I wish I could too." It was a cruel fate being blind, but he couldn't change that no matter how hard he wished. Instead, he let his senses drift out into the air around him, feeling the pebbles beneath his paws and breathing in the air as it traveled towards him across the lake. "I may not be able to see, but I can still smell and hear what's going on around me."

"Like what?" Poppypaw asked curiously.

Jaypaw took in the cool scents and calmly let it out in a slow breath. "First, I can hear the hooting of the two owls across the water by ShadowClan's territory. They have a nest nearby and the eggs will probably be laid soon now that newleaf is here. Also, I can smell the fish on the wind coming from RiverClan; those fat fluff-brains are eating well tonight." He tilted his head towards the moors. "And what sounds like two apprentices are dashing through the tall grass on WindClan's territory. I think they are talking about-"

"Why did you stop?"

Jaypaw blinked in surprise, angling his ears in the diction of the border. He could have sworn he recognized one of the voices coming from the moors, but it wasn't a WindClan cat. Lionpaw? What in StarClan was his brother doing with a WindClan apprentice on WindClan territory? "Follow me," he mewed to Poppypaw, standing up and darting across the shoreline.

"But why? We were having such a nice conversation," she complained, stumbling after him in her haste to follow. "I was starting to think we-"

"It's Lionpaw!" he interrupted, a feeling of uncertainty mingling with a deep sense of curiosity. Whatever his brother was doing, Jaypaw needed to find out. "Come quick and don't make a sound."

Jaypaw lead the way across the pebbles, hugging the edge of the water as close as he could without getting wet. As long as he stayed near the lake, it wasn't considered trespassing on enemy Clan territory. Poppypaw followed behind him, her excited breathing muffled as she tried to keep quiet. Just like him, she seemed to know something peculiar was going on.

The WindClan scent markers grew pungently thick and Jaypaw knew he was far enough past the ThunderClan border that he would be in trouble if he was caught. But he had to know what his brother was doing. "We're going to cross into WindClan," he whispered to Poppypaw who was still creeping behind him.

"You sure you heard Lionpaw?" she asked. "There's no way he could accidentally travel this far into WindClan."

"Of course I know it's him!" Jaypaw growled, spinning around to give her what he assumed to be a fierce glare. "He's doing something he shouldn't, and he's going to get in trouble for it."

And then Jaypaw busts Lionpaw and Lionpaw's punishment is confinement to the camp for a moon just like Jaypaw's. I was going to write out the entire scene, but I think you get the point what happens and I want to move on to the next chapter. Gotta follow the warrior code, breh Lionpaw!