I felt a paw poke me in my side.
,"Wake up you lazy badger! It's time to train!"
I woke with a start, Leaping up and fluffing my fur, looking around wildly.
,"Whoa! Calm down. Are you ok?" the cat asked in concern.
I looked around slowly to see Emberpelt watching me with worry in her green eyes.
Forcing my fur to lie flat, I nodded and sat down, drawing a wet paw over my face.
Narrowing her eyes at me for a second, she suddenly stood up and turned away with a flick of her tail. ,"Ok. Well, If you're sure, come with me. I want to see what you know about hunting and fighting."
Internally happy that Emberpelt was not going to ask questions, I followed her out of the den.
In the center of the clearing, Two cats were rising from their vigil for rosetail. One of them was wolfpaw, and the other was a Black cat with fur that was spiked up with dried mud.
As I stepped out of the clearing and looked back, I saw the other elders come out of their den and pick up rosetail to bury her.
,"It's not your fault. It was an accident." Emberpelt whispered into my ear.
,"I guess" I sighed.
She flicked her tail, beckoning me, saying ,"Come on, a bit of training will get your mind off of it."
Nodding, I followed her into the forest.
We padded through the forest, towards the border between Rubyclan and Sapphireclan.
,"This is the border on the western side of our territory. This border marks the end of our territory and the beginning of Sapphireclan's. Remember the smell well. Sapphireclan cats are paranoid of all the other clans. They've been attacked so many times by other clans that they trust no cat anymore. They don't really even come to gatherings."
She stood and padded off, walking along the border with me padding behind.
Suddenly, she paused and looked at me.
,"What do you smell nightpaw?"
Caught off guard, I jumped slightly. My mind was not on the task at paw, but on the dream I had last night.
,"Umm" I meowed, Quickly opening my mouth to catch a scent.
,"I smell fish" I mewed uncertainly.
Emberpelt chuckled. ,"Yes, that would be Sapphireclan scent, but what else can you smell?"
Pushing past the strong fish smell that was nearly drowning out all the other scents, I realized that I could just make out something else
,"Rabbit!" I Meowed loudly.
Emberpelt hissed at me.
,"Shush Mousebrain! You'll scare off all the prey from here to the rockpool!"
Flattening my ears back and looked down. I could feel my fur heating up in embarrassment.
,"Now, watch me."
Opening her mouth to keep the scent of the rabbit, she dropped into a hunting crouch.
Her eyes narrowed, she glided forward, strategically placing her paws in the areas that were not covered by the fallen brown and crunchy leaves. Her tail was straight out, level with her body so that it wouldn't brush the ground or alert the prey to her presence.
She froze, hesitating for a second.
I held my breath, terrified that making the smallest noise would scare away the prey and ruin the whole hunt.
The brown rabbit's fluffy tail flicked slightly, Its ears flopping as it nibbled on a seed.
Slowly I crouched as well, My eyes trained on the scene before me.
The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a claw.
Suddenly, she pounced, Flinging her body over the tall grass that the rabbit was hiding in.
The animal squealed in panic and tried to flee, but Emberpelt was already on top of it.
With a swipe of her sharp claws, she dispatched the rabbit, Pridefully grabbing it in her jaws and bringing it to me.
I sat, awestruck at how cool my mentor looked as she made her kill.
She dropped it in front to say something, but before she could, I was already reaching for a bite.
A Flame-colored paw swiped the side of my head, and with a yelp, I sat back, looking up at Emberpelt with a confused look.
,"What? What did I do? Aren't we supposed to eat?" I questioned.
,"No." She growled ,"The warrior code says that kits and elders must be fed before the rest of us."
,"Oh." I muttered.
As far as I'd known, You could eat whenever you wanted. Back in Onyxclan, The kits actually got the scraps that were left behind. Foxstar said that it would make them stronger.
,"However" She continued ,"Since we are not on a hunting patrol, we may eat."
My ears pricked up.
,"So, only hunting patrols have to wait?" I questioned.
Emberpelt nodded and leaned down to take a bite out of the rabbit.
I leaned down as well, but Emberpelt moved the rabbit away from me.
,"Not until I see your hunting crouch." She meowed around a mouthful of food.
Using her tail, she lifted the rabbit by its long, floppy ears, maneuvering it so that it looked like a regular rabbit instead of a dead one.
Unsure of myself, I dropped into a clumsy crouch, Lifting my tail up off of the ground like Emberpelt did.
Suddenly Emberpelt stuffed the rabbit under the roots of a nearby tree.
,"It got away." She meowed simply.
I sat back, confused.
,"There were two things wrong with that crouch." She meowed, answering the question I was about to ask.
,"First of all, you made way too much noise. When you crouched, your belly hit the floor, making the leaves crunch. You also weren't watching where you were placing your paws."
I looked down. Just as she'd said, My paws were in the wrong place. I hadn't taken the time to pay attention and had put one of my paws directly on top of a thin stick on the ground.
,"The second thing was that you were upwind. The prey have noses you know. They can smell you."
,"They shouldn't be able to." I muttered under my breath.
"Well they can whether you like it or not. Now," She pulled the rabbit back out. "Do it again. And Pay attention. A Hunter needs to stay calm and concentrate. Impatience loses the prey. Didn't you ever learn that?"
I chose not to respond to her question, because I had a answer for her that would have earned me a nice cuff around the ears.
Instead, I faced the rabbit again. I slowly crouched once again and felt the gentle wind in my fur. I was upwind again.
Trying to concentrate, I stalked around the rabbit, giving it a wide berth so that Emberpelt wouldn't smell me and make the rabbit "Run" again.
I watched the brown fur intensely. I wasn't going to let it go this time…
I saw it hop. I did something wrong.
Before she got the chance to move it, I leaped out and Dashed at the animal without a second thought.
Emberpelt threw it towards the tree, and it flew just barely touching the ground.
I double-timed my run, Trying to catch it before it hit the tree.
I couldn't let it go. Scrunching my hind legs behind me, I launched myself towards the rabbit, knowing that we we only around a tail-length away from the tree.
I reached my paws out, my claws stretched out.
I suddenly heard a Yowl of anger, and felt something slam into my side.
I rolled across the ground, Slamming into Emberpelt, who hissed violently and leapt in front of me.
I looked around her paws to see three cats in front of us.
Two of them were warriors, and one was an apprentice. The warriors were both she-cats, one being all black, and the other being an odd unnatural green color.
The apprentice was a small grey tom with really long fur.
"Emberpelt! What are you doing Here? You're quite close to the border, Teaching your new crowfood kits how to steal our fish? Trying to plan an attack on us?" The green cat hissed angrily.
The Black one sniffed and stiffened. I saw the black cat's claws flex, and sidled behind Emberpelt, preparing to run if she needed to.
"Onyx! I smell Onyxclan! Are you plotting with them? You're plotting with them, aren't you!" She looked straight at me with wild eyes.
"You! You're the Onyxclan cat!"
The second she said that, the grey tom shot out from behind the green cat, and leapt at me with a yowl. While he distracted Emberpelt, the two warriors attacked her.
I tried to reach her to help, but the grey apprentice managed to dig his claws into my fur and lightly rake my fur.
Spitting violently, I shook him off and whipped around, unsheathing my claws and just barely scratched his nose, which sent him reeling, giving me the chance to pounce at him and rake my claws down his side.
With a Hiss of anger, He clamped his jaws around my tail, Making me Yowl and fall over. I felt the tomcat's claws dig into my shoulders, and rake down my back. I could feel the blood seeping through my fur as he ferociously clawed my back.
Thinking fast, I kicked out with my hind legs, kicking out his legs, flipping myself over to make him fall on his side. I leapt up, landing on him and winding him.
I leaned down, and bit his ear tightly making him thrash violently in an attempt to get me off, but my claws were too deep into his skin.
Before I could do anything else, I saw the green cat out of the corner of my eye, and I felt her violently attack me, yanking me off of the grey cat. As we fell, I heard a loud ripping noise, and saw the cat's ear tear in half, leaving a large piece in my mouth. I saw him get up and limp away as fast as he could yowling in pain and fear all the way.
The green cat on top of me growled and leaned down.
"You hurt my apprentie you piece of foxdung! Let me teach you the strength of Sapphireclan!" With that, she dug her long claws into my side, making me yowl in agony as I felt them scratching my ribs. Hissing, I swiped my claws at her face, but she leaned back out of my reach, and scratched my snout in response.
She then leaned forward, reaching for my ear, but I managed to kick at her with my hind legs, distracting her just enough to squirm out from under her and Get on top of her.
She thrashed violently, trying to throw me off, but I hung on with all my strength, until she finally managed to fling me off, slamming me into a large rock.
I attempted to rise to my paws again, but too late. The Green cat raised a thin paw, the sharp claws fully extended, and rage filling her eyes.
"This is for Strikepaw you Onyx crowfood!" She yowled, her paw swinging down to my face.
I closed my eyes, accepting my fate, preparing to feel the rake of claws over my throat, But it didn't come. Instead, a loud and and familiar hiss came as the weight on top of me disappeared.
I opened my eyes to see Wispclaw tumbling away from me, locked in vicious battle with the green cat.
Shakily I stood as a few more Rubyclan cats joined the fray.
"Nightpaw, look out!" Somecat yowled, and I spun around, just in time to duck under the attack of a huge brown tom.
He whipped around in midair with amazing agility, and charged the moment he landed, ramming his body into mine, sending a shock of pain down my whole body.
I Hissed, reeling back from the blow, but managed to regain my senses just before another attack from him. Leaping up, I used the same move I did with Rosetail, allowing the apprentice to slam into the rock below me, bouncing him back with a yowl of agony.
Another yowl sounded, this time less aggressive, and the fish-smelling cats backed away all at once, except for a grey warrior with black stripes who grabbed the disoriented and bloody apprentice I fought against.
I watched as the wounded Sapphireclan cats ran off, disappearing off who knows where.
I looked around. Everyone was wounded, but it seemed like everyone was in good spirits, except one cat here. A very small cat with white and black fur was scowling and assessing the battlefield, until his eyes landed on me. Once they did I saw his lips pull back into a snarl and he stood.
"You!" He yowled loudly, causing all of the cats to look at him.
"What do you have to do with this Onyx cat? Are you planning something with those mousebrained Sapphire cats?"
He advanced towards me, and I instinctively crouched and unsheathed my claws, weak, but unwilling to flee if a fight did start.
"I-I did nothing." I said, mentally cursing myself for the stutter in my voice."I don't know those cats."
The short warrior continued slowly stalking towards me.
"Uh huh, good excuse bu-" He was suddenly stopped by Emberpelt stepping in his way.
"Kindly leave my apprentice be Crowface. We were merely doing some training. She would have had no time to plot an ambush in the first place." She walked over to me and nudged me up."Now, Nightpaw and I will be getting back to the camp for the day."
I stood and prepared to walk alongside my mentor, but just then, the blood loss kicked in, and I began to fall, only to be caught by a familiar Split-pelted apprentice.
"I'll come too." Halfpaw said, holding my weight with his shoulder.
Together, we made our way back home.
Once we entered camp, Emberpelt walked off to report the attack to Wickerstar, while Halfpaw took me to the medicine cat's den.
The second we went in, we both heard the medicine cat's deep meow.
"Well now, look what we 'ave here. One day, 'an already good 'an battle-worn. What kinda' training Emberpelt puttin' ya through?" He purred, a laugh slipping out as well.
"Wolfpaw!" Greenmane yowled "Get in 'ere 'an tend to this injured cat!"
"Coming Greenmane!" Wolfpaw responded from deep within the den.
A minute later, he ran out and up to me.
"Nightpaw! What in starclan happened?"
"Sapphireclan cats attacked while they were training." Halfpaw responded as I laid down on my side, too weak and in too much pain to stand any longer.
As Halfpaw left with a gentle meow of goodbye, Wolfpaw set to work, licking my wounds clean and putting poultices of goldenrod on my wounds, along with some catchweed to hold it in place.
Once he finished, he got me some food to put into my stomach, some water to soothe my thirst, and invited me to sleep.
Gladly I ate, drank, and laid my head on my paws, my tail draping itself over my nose, and closed my eyes, falling into a deep sleep.
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Heyooo errkitteh!
Been a good while since I've been writing much of anything, so here I am suffering at 3:30 in the goddamn morning to give you a nice long chapter as an apology for not updating literally anything. Don't worry, I haven't died tho. Just...Severe depression.
Anywhosles, no more depressing stuff. I have a bit of a request. I am human, and I fuck up. Badly. Do me a favor, and if you see any odd continuity issues from the big (like accidentally calling Onyxclan, Shadowclan) to the small (like someone's fur color is wrong). Please note, if something changes from one chapter from the next, follow the continuity of the newer chapter. (For Example: Nightfall's eyes are blue in chapter 3, but red in chapter 5. The red will be the correct color, because chapter 5 is the newer chapter, meaning the info has been changed/updated. The blue eye color would be the incorrect color for Nightfall's eyes.
Ok, so, sorry for long outro, but just needed to say that.
Cya L8tr Katz and Kitties! :3