Firepaw awoke in his nest, yawning. "Patrol?" he guessed when he saw Stormpaw before him.
Stormpaw shook his head. "Training," he meowed. "Lionheart just has to finish sorting the dawn patrols, and we can go."
"Hopefully we practice something other than hunting," Firepaw murmured, padding out of the den. He'd only been in the Clan for a half moon, but each day was spent practicing hunting. Firepaw himself hadn't caught anything yet, which just made him feel ashamed.
"Tigerclaw mentioned fighting, so maybe we'll be going to the sandy hollow," Stormpaw told him.
Ravenpaw joined them, yawning. His eyes were half-shut, and it seemed as if he were fighting exhaustion. "Morning," he mumbled.
"You alright?" Firepaw asked, concerned. "Why are you so tired lately?"
"Just sleeping troubles," Ravenpaw shrugged. "Spottedleaf says it should clear up soon."
It seemed like he was hiding something, but Firepaw didn't get the chance to press further before Tigerclaw padded up to them. "Enough chatter!" he ordered. "Ravenpaw, stop slouching! Open your eyes."
Ravenpaw immediately sat straight, his eyes wide. He seemed startled by the appearance of his mentor. "Y-yes, Tigerclaw!"
"Are we battle training?" Stormpaw asked, lifting a hind paw to scratch his ear. "It's been way too long."
"I'm surprised a kittypet complains about not having to do hard work," Tigerclaw growled. "Hold your tongue, Stormpaw!"
"Yes, sir." Stormpaw rolled his eyes.
Tigerclaw only lashed his tail in response. "Ravenpaw, come along!" he told his apprentice. "Lionheart and these two will join us when he's finished with patrols. In the meantime, I need to test you on what you remember. I don't expect it to be very much."
Ravenpaw nodded tentatively. "Yes, Tigerclaw."
The dark-furred tom followed the warrior out, looking back at his friends only for a split second. It was a few more moments before Lionheart padded over to the duo. Two patrols left while they spoke, while the third quickly scarfed down the remains of yesterday's prey.
"We will be battle training today," Lionheart informed them. "Stormpaw, I'll refresh your memory before Tigerclaw and I teach Firepaw anything."
"Sounds good," Stormpaw mewed, shrugging.
The trip to the sandy hollow was done in silence. The early morning air only made Firepaw feel more tired, as it often did. He hated waking up at dawn; he felt as if he never got enough sleep, likely because he was used to sleeping at least twice as much as a kittypet. At least I'm not as tired as Ravenpaw, he thought.
Ravenpaw stood waiting in the sand, while Tigerclaw sat to the side. Firepaw bounded excitedly over to his friend. Stormpaw followed, making Firepaw be comfortably squished into the middle. As Lionheart joined Tigerclaw and assumably asked him about the lesson, Firepaw turned to Ravenpaw.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.
Ravenpaw had lately been behaving very differently as opposed to the day they met. The day that Firepaw lost his collar, the older apprentice was quiet and tentative but very clearly happy. The black tom smiled and laughed then. He could enjoy himself. Nowadays, he seemed to be constantly looking over his shoulder and jumping at the slightest sound.
"Was it the battle?" Stormpaw added. "I'm sure it was a traumatic experience seeing Redtail be crushed, and we won't judge you if that's what's bothering you. We just want to help."
Ravenpaw's olive eyes briefly flashed over to Tigerclaw, who was currently responding to Lionheart in a low voice. He looked sideways at his denmates and whispered, "I'm fine. I've just been having sleeping troubles. I've been over the battle for days now."
"Are you sure?" Firepaw continued pressing. Unfortunately, the two warriors interrupted before he could get an answer. He quickly turned his head to face them.
"Stormpaw, Lionheart will quickly review with you on the other side of the hollow," Tigerclaw announced. "Meanwhile, I'll start the lesson with Ravenpaw and Firepaw. You'll just have to hurry if you don't want to miss much of it."
"Alright," Stormpaw mewed, seemingly unbothered by the thought of missing a portion of the lesson. This was strange to Firepaw, especially considering how excited the bicolored tom had been before about battle training.
Lionheart began padding away, and Stormpaw joined him at his side. Firepaw and Ravenpaw both watched them go until Tigerclaw began speaking again.
"You already know this move, Ravenpaw, so I want your pathetic tail to help me teach Firepaw," Tigerclaw ordered, resulting in a submissive nod from Ravenpaw. The large tabby turned to make direct eye contact with the former kittypet.
"This is a painfully simple move, so I'll be pleasantly surprised if you somehow manage to mess it up," he told Firepaw. "It's called the Leap-and-Hold. This is a move I teach apprentices first, since you lot are so tiny that you'd be easily overpowered in a battle."
"So how does this help?" Firepaw inquired, flicking an ear. He tried to show that he was paying attention and fully interested by asking, but that only seemed to anger the harsh giant.
"I was getting to that," Tigerclaw growled. "Don't speak unless asked a question!" He sighed. "All you have to do is leap onto your opponent's back and cling onto their fur with your claws. With any remaining claws and teeth, strike anywhere you can get to. I teach this to new apprentices because this move is only useful if you're a small cat going up against a larger opponent, which you definitely will be."
"Tigerclaw, can I go make dirt?" Ravenpaw interrupted quietly, his eyelids drooping.
"Maybe a dip in the river will get you awake," Tigerclaw threatened without answering.
Ravenpaw folded his ears back and widened his eyes.
"And no, you cannot," Tigerclaw continued. "You've already used up your three times for the moon."
"There's a limit on making dirt?" Firepaw meowed.
"Yes, there is!" Tigerclaw hissed. "All because of this disgrace abusing his chances to go, just to lounge in the forest and be lazy. I've caught him myself!"
"He can have one of my turns," Firepaw offered. "Maybe he actually has to go."
Tigerclaw stared for a very long time at the ginger cat. Eventually, he sighed grumpily and meowed, "Fine. Ravenpaw, hurry up!"
Ravenpaw flashed a quick glance of thanks in Firepaw's direction before running off into the trees.
"Do you want me to practice the move?" Firepaw asked the warrior.
"Obviously," Tigerclaw growled. "How else would you learn it?" He stepped into the sand. "Go on then. I'll let you attack first, but afterwards we'll see how well you do against the counter move." He narrowed his eyes. "And remember, sheathed claws! Only unsheathe them far enough to cling onto my fur."
Firepaw nodded, looking over Tigerclaw's body. Was this a trick? Knowing the warrior, he expected for him to actually perform the counter this time instead of the second. It was only like him, after all. Tigerclaw may not go so far as to kill unjustly, but he definitely wasn't the most honorable around.
"Well?" Tigerclaw huffed. "Go on!"
Firepaw crouched, then springed. He landed on the brown tabby's broad back. He quickly unsheathed his claws to cling onto his long fur, doing his best to not slice skin. He lifted a forepaw and hit the back of his neck multiple times, and he used the other to swat his back. He'd forgotten that using just his hind claws wouldn't keep him on, so he fell off almost immediately.
"Very smart," Tigerclaw sarcastically commented.
"No one's perfect," Firepaw retaliated calmly as he got to his paws and shook the sand out of his coat.
This was when Ravenpaw returned and joined them. "What did I miss?" he asked.
"Not much," Firepaw replied, then turned to Tigerclaw. "Maybe I can practice on Ravenpaw?"
"He's only taller than you," Tigerclaw snorted. "He doesn't weigh any more than you do! But sure, be my guest."
"Do you want me to counter him, Tigerclaw?" Ravenpaw mewed.
Tigerclaw lashed his tail. "Of course, you mouse-brain! He needs to learn to counter the counter."
Ravenpaw and Firepaw turned to face each other. Firepaw was much wearier now, although he was going up against another apprentice. He crouched and leapt onto his friend's narrow back. Almost immediately, Ravenpaw crumpled to the ground due to the weight. I still have some of my kittypet fat, Firepaw realized as the tom let out a pained cry. I weigh more than he does!
"My paw!" Ravenpaw whimpered as Firepaw hastily climbed off.
"I'm so sorry!" the ginger tabby meowed. "Are you okay?"
"He's fine!" Tigerclaw answered for his apprentice.
"I twisted it," Ravenpaw murmured, holding it up. "It hurts!"
"He needs to go see Spottedleaf," Lionheart input as he and Stormpaw padded over. "Why doesn't Firepaw take him?"
"They'll both be missing out on valuable training time," Tigerclaw argued.
"This is just review for Ravenpaw, and Firepaw has plenty of time to continue learning the move," Lionheart insisted calmly. "While we wait for them to return, we can teach Stormpaw."
Tigerclaw hesitantly nodded approval, then turned to the two. "Don't take your time."
"We won't," Firepaw assured him, supporting Ravenpaw as they padded away.
About halfway to camp, Ravenpaw stood completely on his own and free of support. Firepaw's eyes widened in shock. "I thought you hurt your paw," he meowed.
"I didn't," Ravenpaw admitted. "I just wanted to get out of the training session. I didn't mean to drag you with me."
"I can just go back and say that Spottedleaf asked for you to stay in camp," Firepaw suggested. "And why do you want to skip?" When Ravenpaw remained silent and refused to make eye contact, he added, "I won't hate you for your reason. I just want to know. I'm your friend! I care about you, you know."
Ravenpaw was quiet for a while longer, but eventually sighed. "I can't keep it to myself anymore. I'm losing sleep over it!" His eyes wide, he looked straight at Firepaw. "I saw everything. Oakheart didn't pull Redtail into the path of the boulder. Tigerclaw did."