NOTE: Alas, the Climax of the story is on its way. forgets what I was gonna tell you O YEA I REMEMBER NOW. I changed Whitecloud's mate to Sootfur. Why? Cuz I like the Sootfur/Whitepaw pairing better that's why .. infact, It was my friend who said it should be Whitepaw/Spiderleg but I didn't rele care for that pairing. SO BLAH.Just try to keep in mind Sootfur is the faja of Snowkit NOT Spiderleg. O yea and then theres those two black kits too…hmm…

---Chapter Ten---

Flamepaw felt something hard prod him in the side and he opened one eye to see Brambleclaw standing over him.

"Get up," The warrior meowed, "Some of the kits are already awake!"

Flamepaw rolled over and lazily pushed himself up on all fours. Sunlight was sinking into the den, which was completely vacant except for him and Brambleclaw.

"What are we going to do today?" Flamepaw asked excitedly, feeling suddenly wide awake.

"I'm going to show you some fighting moves. Some of the other apprentices and their mentors have already begun training so you better get moving." He prodded Flamepaw once more to get him to move and together the two cats crawled out of the apprentice's den. Yellowkit was lying outside the nursery with Squirrelflight next to her. The young golden she-cat yawned and held a bored expression on her face. It would be some time before Whitecloud's kits opened their eyes and were old enough to come out and play.

Sunpaw was attending to the elders, but besides that he and Thistlepaw seemed to be the only apprentices who were still left in camp. Flamepaw noticed Rainwhisker sitting nearby, his blue eyes fixed intently on the nursery entrance.

"Can we go now?" Thistlepaw meowed, nudging his mentor. "You promised we'd go out today."

"Huh?" Rainwhisker looked down at him as if he were seeing the young golden brown tabby tom for the very first time. "Oh yeah," He gave the nursery one last longing look before turning away, "let's go."

Flamepaw watched with his head titled to one side as the gray warrior lead his apprentice out of the camp. In the middle of the clearing, Graystripe was gathering cats for patrols, and Firestar sat outside his den sharing tongues with Sandstorm. It seemed like a normal day and yet, Oakheart's scent still hung in the air around him and he shivered as he remembered the StarClan warrior's frightening words. Flamepaw felt his mentor nudge him and he turned to follow Brambleclaw out of the camp and into the shady forest.

The scent of prey flooded his scent glands but he reminded himself they were not on a hunting patrol; instead, he would learn how to fight today! He wondered what moves Brambleclaw would show him as they skirted an old oak tree and made their way to the training area. Foxpaw and Moonpaw were rolling on the ground together, hissing and spitting in a practice fight while Sootfur and Brackenfur looked on, giving advice in between moves. Rollingpaw sat a little ways away, watching intently as Sorreltail showed him how to dodge an attack.

Flamepaw couldn't keep his eyes off of the two fighting apprentices. Moonpaw's muscles rippled underneath his creamy pelt as he pinned Foxpaw down to the ground. Foxpaw, however, was much leaner and faster. She kicked the stronger cat off of her and scampered away, turning around suddenly and lunging without hesitation at her opponent--BUMP!

Flamepaw fell backwards off his paws after he collided with Brambleclaw, who came to an abrupt, unexpected stop. The tabby warrior's ears were pricked up in alarm as he looked up in the sky.

"What's that?" He meowed flicking his tail up towards the tops of the trees. The other mentors turned to see what he was looking at and Foxpaw and Moonpaw broke apart to look too.

Then Flamepaw himself spotted it; above the tops of the trees was a tiny trickle of black smoke that reached up towards the sky. It was very faint from where they were standing, though, and Flamepaw could not pick up the smell of burning plants and smoke.

"It's well into the moorland, we don't need to worry." Rollingpaw meowed as if he was speaking Flamepaw's thoughts. "It's WindClan's problem; not ours."

Brambleclaw smacked the apprentice lightly on the head with his tail. The large tabby warrior's amber eyes were still filled with worry, though Flamepaw was not sure why until it finally hit him. Brambleclaw had a friend in WindClan...Whatshisname? Perhaps his mentor was only fearing for that one cat.

"I say we get back to training already." Rollingpaw said impatiently. He swung a paw at Flamepaw, and lowered his haunches playfully, expecting his brother to fight back. Flamepaw pounced on him, but Rollingpaw rolled over on his back underneath him and played an old trick their father taught them. Flamepaw felt himself lift up into the air and fall backwards as Rollingpaw kicked him away.

"You two fight like kits!" Foxpaw let out a purr of amusement."Let me show you how it's really done." She, too, lowered her haunches and got ready to leap at them, but a second later they all heard the noise of the bushes shaking as a cat raced through them. Flamepaw sat up and noticed that Brambleclaw was gone, most likely heading in the direction of the smoke. The other mentors were glancing at each other as if uncertain of what they should do.

Flamepaw sighed. "Well, we can't let him be burnt to a crisp alone." And with that, the tiny flame-colored apprentice bounded off after the tabby warrior, his littermates and their mentors only a tail-length behind him.