Well, hello guys! It's been a while… a long while.. yeah, sorry about that XD I was being lazier than usual, and I hope to update way more often! So, without further ado, let's move on to the review replies!

FrostFall37: Wow, thanks! That's really nice of you to say o:

Leafsplash-Of-ThunderClan: Actually, I don't think Firepaw forgives Snowpaw for a long time.. it plays a big part near the somewhat end of the story, so.. XD Thank you!

Gingerstorm101: Actually, I haven't even finished Bramblestar's Storm yet, this is an after The Last Hope thing xD And you'll see!

Anyways, now on to the story!

Chapter Nine

"Watch where you're treading, you mouse-brain!" Blossomfall hissed, her pelt fluffed up in displeasure.

Toadstep just muttered something under his breath, whisking his tail along the dusty brown path.

Firepaw snorted. She was on a hunting patrol with Blossomfall, Toadstep, Snowpaw, and Brackenfur. And so far, Toadstep kept stepping on her tortoiseshell mentor's tail, and she kept figuring out more bad names to call him each time. It grew old after a while.

Even Snowpaw's behavior had become boring, his cold gaze darting around the bright forest. Firepaw had grown used to the lump of fur being as cold as ice, and as angry as a badger.

Although she would've killed to have the old Snowpaw back.

But, in a way, she was still mad at him. He didn't care about her anymore, and that made her a bit annoyed. Even though him caring was the main reason Firepaw ever got mad at him in the first place.

It… was kind of confusing.

"Look!" Brackenfur's whisper brought Firepaw back to the present, and the tabby apprentice shook her head. She gazed at the golden-brown warrior and saw he was staring at a swaying clump of ferns. Detecting prey, she immediately crouched, narrowing her golden eyes at the green plants. A few moments later, a small, brown mouse emerged, holding a smooth, golden nut in its paws.

Firepaw's eyes brightened, and she stalked forwards, making sure her paws weren't making a sound. The trees swayed ominously above her as she prowled forward. The mouse was eyeing its nut, nibbling it every so often, so it didn't seem to notice Firepaw. When the apprentice felt she was close enough, she leaped.

The mouse squeaked in surprise once it noticed her, but it was too late. Firepaw sank her teeth into the small body of the brown creature and clamped down hard, drawing blood. The mouse let out a small, hoarse sound before falling limp in her jaws.

Toadstep bounded forward, shadows dappling his black and white pelt as he approached. "Great job!" he praised, his voice full of gratitude.

Firepaw ducked her head in slight embarrassment, dropping the dead mouse in the process. "It wasn't that hard," she meowed quietly. "A kit could have done it.."

"Oh, don't talk like that," Brackenfur meowed, his amber eyes glowing in approval. "You did great! That mouse didn't even see you coming."

Firepaw, although a bit overwhelmed, managed a sheepish smile at the two warriors. She cast her gold gaze towards Blossomfall, but she looked like she wasn't even paying attention to her. She was glaring at the back of Toadstep's head, her eyes filled with malice.

Snowpaw stood beside Blossomfall, eyeing Firepaw carefully. The tabby apprentice thought she saw a bit of the old him in the depths of his eyes, but it could have been a trick of the light.

Brackenfur padded forward and picked up the dead mouse in his jaws. He then dug a small hole, dropped the mouse inside, and brushed dust over it, covering it up. "That's what you do when you plan to catch more prey," the golden brown tabby warrior meowed, licking the dust off of his paws.

"We knew that already," Snowpaw commented, his paws shuffling on the ground. Firepaw turned to the snow-white apprentice and saw that some of his awkwardness was showing with the way he moved his paws. She smiled; that was good.

"I know that you knew," the golden tabby warrior replied, narrowing his eyes slightly. He turned his amber gaze to Firepaw and she flinched, her pelt bristling slightly.

Blossomfall stepped forward before Brackenfur could say anything else. She glared at him, her tail fluffing up. "Are you saying I'm not training Firepaw how to hunt?" she demanded. "She caught that mouse just fine!"

The warrior lashed his tail. "That isn't what I was saying at all," he meowed smoothly. "But she's a newer apprentice than Snowpaw is, so I thought maybe she wouldn't know."

"Well, she does know, and she doesn't need you showing her how it's done!" Blossomfall snarled.

That's a lie, Firepaw realized, looking between Blossomfall and Brackenfur. Blossomfall has never taught me how to hunt… She had seen enough of Snowpaw's hunting skills and learned from that. It may seem a bit ironic, but she always trained with him because of Blossomfall and Toadstep's relationship. They weren't really mates, but they were friends, and supposedly that was good enough.

Toadstep stepped forward, sweeping his black and white tail towards Blossomfall. "Calm down," he meowed lightly. "Brackenfur was just making sure… you understand, right?"

Blossomfall glared at him for a moment before she sighed, her tortoiseshell tail going back to its normal size. "I'm sorry," she muttered, looking at her paws.

Brackenfur backed off, dipping his head at her. There was an awkward silence in the air after that, if you ignored the birds fluttering and chirping overhead. Toadstep and Blossomfall were standing and staring at each other quietly, as if talking telepathically. Brackenfur had resorted to licking his paw, and Snowpaw sort of stood off to the side, his white pelt blowing in the slow breeze.

"Well, why don't we hunt?" Firepaw asked loudly, drawing the attention of the rest of the patrol members.

Blossomfall and Toadstep stopped their telepathic conversation and turned their heads towards the ginger tabby apprentice. "Alright," Toadstep meowed, padding forward until he was in the center of the hunting group. "Blossomfall and I will hunt along the lake," he ordered, "Brackenfur, Firepaw, and Snowpaw, you go deeper in the forest and hunt along the WindClan border. Watch out for WindClan warriors."

Firepaw's ear twitched in satisfaction. Since Brackenfur was also joining them, she wouldn't have to deal with Snowpaw alone. The hunting group setted off, Toadstep and Blossomfall heading towards the lake and Brackenfur, Snowpaw, and Firepaw going off towards the WindClan border.

The trees swayed in the wind as the three cats advanced through the forest, stepping on a few fallen branches on the way. But Firepaw wasn't really paying attention. She stared at the back of Snowpaw's head, deep in thought. Snowpaw's been fine so far… or maybe he's preparing to snap or something…

She was snapped out of her thoughts by accidentally ramming into Brackenfur as he stopped. Firepaw quickly meowed out a "Sorry!" as she shook her pelt.

Snowpaw glanced at her for a moment before returning his gaze back to staring at the landscape. Firepaw followed his gaze and saw a long, green moor. Her golden eyes widened in surprise. It looked never-ending!

"Does anyone live there?" the ginger apprentice breathed.

"Of course!" Snowpaw replied, looking at her again. His deep, amber eyes seemed to be indifferent, so it was difficult to tell if he was annoyed or not. "Doesn't Blossomfall teach you this stuff?" he continued. "You've been an apprentice for two moons already!"

"Actually, no," Firepaw muttered, lowering her head in embarrassment. Blossomfall had only been teaching her how to train, and that was it. Other than that one time she showed Firepaw the Sky Oak, Blossomfall had never brought her around the territory or marked borders. Apparently, it was a bit odd, but the apprentice had never really thought about the other Clans that much.

Brackenfur gave Snowpaw a warning glance, and then meowed carefully, "The moor is where WindClan lives. If you're lucky, you might see a patrol." The golden brown tabby warrior turned his head towards the moor, but it was silent, only the grass flowing through the wind and glowing a light green in the sunlight. "..I guess today isn't that day," he said after a short silence.

For some reason, Firepaw felt bothered by the silence of WindClan's territory. Had something happened there? She pricked her ears, but only a still silence met them. How… spooky.

Surprisingly, Snowpaw was the one to break the silence. "Well, are we going to hunt or not?" he mewed, his whiskers twitching impatiently. "We can't worry about WindClan all day."

"True," Brackenfur sighed, shaking his bright pelt. "Firepaw and Snowpaw, you go left and I'll follow you in the bushes. I want to assess you two."

While Snowpaw's eyes brightened in excitement, Firepaw's fur pricked with confusion. An… assessment? But I was only apprenticed two moons ago! Blossomfall hasn't even taught me how to hunt properly!

Shaking her head, the ginger apprentice padded in the direction Brackenfur had ordered, Snowpaw trailing after her. Swallowing her last ounce of fear, she quickened her pace, rushing along the side of WindClan's moor.

Firepaw settled near the fresh-kill pile, opening her jaws in a yawn. It was only just a while after sunhigh, but she felt more tired than ever after that hunting patrol. She had managed to catch a small, scrawny sparrow, but Brackenfur felt bad and allowed her to pass. Firepaw still felt it was a bit unfair, since Snowpaw caught two mice and a squirrel and just barely passed. But she supposed if Brackenfur, a senior warrior, had done it, then her father would've done the same.

Firepaw got to her paws, stretching, and then selected a bird from the fresh-kill pile. She settled down again, licking her lips as she stared down at the plump black bird. Just as she was about to take a bite, she was prodded by a paw. Looking up in annoyance, she saw Blossomfall staring down at her, her green eyes narrowed to slits.

The ginger tabby apprentice immediately scrambled to her paws. "Uh, yes, Blossomfall?" she asked quickly, her fur fluffing up.

"I need to show you something," the tortoiseshell replied, sitting down on her haunches. "It's very important."

"Does it have anything to do with special training?" Firepaw asked, dropping her voice to a whisper.

"No, it's a surprise," her mentor meowed, turning around and heading towards the thorn barrier. She lashed her tail, indicating that Firepaw should follow. The ginger apprentice forgot her black bird and dashed after her mentor, her paws thrumming against the ground.

The two cats raced through the forest, passing by many trees along the way. Firepaw couldn't help but admit that she felt alive, running through a wide space.

Suddenly, Blossomfall skidded to a halt, almost sending Firepaw crashing into her. The ginger tabby managed to stop just in time, although with a small hiss of annoyance when she stepped on a sharp pebble. Carefully licking her paw pad, Firepaw looked up to see the lake, although a bit higher than before. It splashed roughly along the shore, leaving dark brown sand as the water went back to the lake.

"This is what I wanted to show you," Blossomfall meowed, walking behind Firepaw and settling down. "The lake is rising. We can use this to our advantage."

"Advantage? How?" the ginger tabby asked, an edge of disbelief on her voice.

"Toadstep was talking to me earlier," Blossomfall continued, ignoring Firepaw. "He knew about our training, Firepaw. He… he said I was a terrible mentor…"

Firepaw's ears pricked. Toadstep said that? In her heart, she felt a bit of truth to the black and white warrior's words. But in the back of her mind, Firepaw felt a bit bad for her mentor. She may have pushed her around before, but now, she just looked broken, her green eyes glowing in desperation.

"I don't want him to think bad of me like that," Blossomfall said, looking like she was about to choke up. "I… Firepaw, I like him too much…"

That nearly broke Firepaw's heart. She hesitated for a moment, and then padded towards her tortoiseshell mentor, her eyes filled with sorrow. "Blossomfall, I-"

Suddenly, her mentor's eyes blazed with anger, and she let out a low hiss. Blossomfall tucked her head, and then charged.

Firepaw barely had time to react. Blossomfall knocked into her, unbalancing her off her paws. She fell into the lake's churning water.

"It's all your fault!" she thought she heard Blossomfall snarl. Her tortoiseshell mentor pressed her paws against Firepaw's shoulders, holding her below water. The ginger apprentice flailed, seafoam bubbles swarming around her.

As she struggled longer and longer, she felt exhaustion weighing her down, and her long fur didn't exactly help either. She thought she saw Blossomfall push harder, but Firepaw couldn't feel her mentor's paws anymore. She choked in the water for a moment longer before losing consciousness.

Whooo, long chapter! And a cliffhanger… xD Hope you guys aren't mad, I promise I won't make the next chapter's ending a cliffhanger! Anyways, like it? Hate it? Review and tell me what you think!

~Orangeflight of ShadowClan