"Gah! I'll never get this right!" Nightpaw Hissed angrily as a brown mouse skittered down into it's hole.
She pawed her face in frustration. This was about the fifth time she'd failed to catch anything.
As a bit of training, Emberpelt had decided to take Nightpaw out on a hunting patrol with Wispclaw, Halfpaw, and a mouse-colored tabby named Underfur.
she still needed training, so once she healed, Emberpelt took the first opportunity she had.
"Dumb Onyx cat. Can't even hunt right." Underfur muttered under her breath before leaping off over a bush.
Emberpelt hissed gently.
"Don't listen to her. Concentrate on your task Nightpaw."
"Right." she said, nodding.
Looking around with her mouth slightly open, Nightpaw caught sight of a large squirrel burying its nuts in the ground in preparation for the coming winter.
She instinctively crouched low, feeling the dirt beneath her paws.
She crept forward, feeling a gentle breeze hit her face. "I'm upwind, I'm low, I'm quiet." She thought to herself, ticking the points off in her head.
It raised its head, the squirrel's beady eyes roving the leaf-fall forest for danger.
Nightpaw held her breath and continued her crawl.
"Oh starclan, please, don't let it run." She thought to herself as she inched closer.
As it went back to burying its nuts, She managed to get in range.
Bending her hind legs, Nightpaw leapt.
She flew through the air, claws out and adrenaline pumping through her veins as she did so.
The squirrel turned and tried to run away, but she was too fast for it.
She landed and snatched it up just before it got out of range, and threw it up so it couldn't run anymore.
She caught its neck in her teeth, killing it with a shrill squeal from the poor animal.
Nightpaw walked over to Emberpelt, her tail held high as she brought her first successful kill to the golden warrior.
She laid it at her paws and looked up at her mentor, whose eyes were filled with pride.
"See Nightpaw? I told you that you could do it." She said with a smile, putting her paw on her head.
She stood with a gentle purr.
"So it seems that you are better at a battle than you are at hunting, but with practice, you'll get the hang of it. I'd bet my tail on it. Now, let's see if you can do it again."
"Aww, what? Can we do some battle training or something?" Nightpaw whined, getting into a fighting crouch and wiggling her haunches with claws unsheathed.
She yelped as Emberpelt cuffed her on the ear with a paw.
"No, you can fight later. For now while we're out here, we hunt. After all, we are on a hunting patrol.
Rising once more to her paws, she grabbed her squirrel and buried it, making sure she could remember the area, and padded off with her mentor, her tail drooping.
When Nightpaw and the hunting patrol came back to the camp, her black tail high in the air with her tailtip flicking proudly.
SHe'd not only managed to catch that squirrel, but she'd also been able to catch a plump mouse.
Pricklefur came by and gave a nod to the hunting patrol, then glanced at Nightpaw and gave a wry smile.
"I can't accuse Onyxclan of stealing our prey if you're giving it to us." He joked sarcastically before walking off towards the nursery.
A growl brewed in Nightpaw's throat as the Black-furred warrior padded off, but Emberpelt's tail flicked her nose, signaling for silence.
With a snort, Nightpaw stomped off towards the fresh-kill pile.
"Nightpaw!"
She turned around and saw Wolfpaw padding towards her.
"Is that your first kill?" He asked curiously.
Nightpaw flicked her tail and gave a muffled answer.
"Oh, right." The grey apprentice mumbled sheepishly.
They walked side by side until Nightpaw could finally drop her catch on the fresh kill pile.
"Ok, Now, Yes, the Squirrel was my first kill thank you very much. The mouse was my second, but Emberpelt helped me with that one." She said proudly to Wolfpaw.
"Cool! I'm not usually allowed to leave camp unless I'm getting Herbs for Greenmane."
"Really?" Nightpaw asked curiously.
"Nightpaw!" Emberpelt called before Wolfpaw could answer. "Take some prey to Birdtail."
Nightpaw looked at Wolfpaw. "Who?"
"Birdtail. A Queen in the nursery. She's really pretty. She's nice too. It's her mate you might have to watch out for, but I think he went on the border patrol." Wolfpaw said, casting an uneasy glance towards the warriors den.
"Hmm. Alright then." Nightpaw murmured, leaning down to pick up her mouse again.
"I'd best get back to Greenmane, see ya later Nightpaw." He said cheerfully with a playful flick of his tail in her direction as he padded off towards the medicine cat den.
With a gentle purr of affection for her friend, She walked to the nursery.
She gently nosed her way into the bracken, only to be tripped up by two little kits, one black, and one grey.
"Quartzclan is attacking! Die Yewstar!" The black she-kit squealed to the sky as she pummeled the grey ones under her paws.
"Enough now you two." Said Birdtail.
They broke apart and looked towards their mother.
"Aww, momma...Why? Can we please keep playing?"
"No, you may no-"
"Momma? Why is there an Onyxclan cat in our den?" said a pure white she-kit next to Birdtail.
Nightpaw gently padded into the den and laid down the mouse.
After a moment, The two kits closest to her squealed in terror and scrambled back, hiding in their mother's long white fur.
"Uh, Birdtail? This is for you."
Birdtail hesitated, trying to subtly put her tail over her kits, but Nightpaw noticed and flicked her tail in annoyance.
"T-Thank you, Nightpaw. I appreciate it." She muttered gently looking down to the mouse.
"You're welcome." Nightpaw said, but before she could say more, one of the kits leaped, hissing, at nightpaw.
"Onyxclan is invading!" The black kit yowled at the top of it's lungs.
Nightpaw stumbled back, trying to avoid the tiny attack, but the kit latched onto her front leg, and bit into it.
"Owlkit!" Birdtail screeched,"Get off of her this instant!"
"Ahh! Get off! I'm not invading anything!" Nightpaw yowled as she shook the kit free, making her fly through the air into her mother's paws.
Suddenly, Nightpaw felt teeth clamp around her tail, and drag her out of the nursery.
Nightpaw unsheathed her claws and whipped around immediately when she cleared the bracken covering the entrance, ripping her tail out of harm's way as she did so.
She was met by a black tom with a mud-spiked pelt glaring at her with rage-filled green eyes.
"You! What were you doing in there? Did you hurt any of the kits?" He growled furiously.
"N-No, I wasn't. I was-"
"She was bringing me something to eat. There's no need to worry Thornfur." Birdtail said, coming out of the den and laying her tail over the fearful apprentices shoulders.
"Off you go nightpaw." She said kindly, gently nudging her away towards the apprentices den.
With a furtive glance towards Thornfur, nightpaw hurried away, just to bump into Heatclaw.
Nightpaw looked up, her fur bristling at the sight of the menacing cat.
He looked down at her with unreadable yellow eyes.
"Nightpaw, What are you up to?"
Nightpaw sidestepped the deputy with a nervous smile, but did not answer.
Heatclaw put out a paw to stop Nightpaw.
"Nightpaw, come with me." He said quietly as he stood and walked towards the entrance to the camp.
Looking back at the apprentice den with tired eyes, Nightpaw stifled a yawn and followed.
Together they walked in silence through the forest until Nightpaw caught a scent that set her fur on end.
She stopped as she realized that the foliage was getting much thicker as they continued forth.
Heatclaw turned to Nightpaw.
"What's wrong?"
"We-We're close to Onyxclan territory." She breathed in response.
Heatclaw's yellow gaze burned into Nightpaw's fur as he studied her.
"I'm taking you home. You need to go." He said flatly as he moved towards her and leaned to pick her up by her scruff.
Nightpaw backed away, her fur fluffing up fully, and her claws unsheathing.
"N-No, I'm not going back. I can't they'll kill me, I'm a traitor the Onyxclan! I don't want to die!" She yowled as she turned and streaked away.
She Immediately heard Heatclaw follow at top speed.
Nightpaw ran hard, trying to outrun the Reddish-Orange cat, but he knew the territory better, and was almost on her in a few heartbeats.
She looked up and saw a high branch, but in her panic, she didn't realize that it likely out of reach.
Bunching her hind legs, she leaped, her claws outstretched towards the branch, and her tail streaming out from behind her.
Nightpaw's claws sunk into the wood of the branch as she latched on, and she hauled herself up and looked down.
Heatclaw looked up, slack jawed, as he stared up at the tabby apprentice who was now two whole fox-lengths above his head.
Nightpaw was just as stunned that she'd actually made it, now that she could see the height of the actual branch.
Heatclaw came back to his senses, and with a growl, leaped up, reaching towards the trunk of the tree instead of any of the branches to make his way up to her.
Nightpaw looked around, spying another branch that she might be able to make it to, if her leap to the one she was standing on was any tell.
She readied herself to leap once more, but stopped as Heatclaw called out to her.
"Nightpaw! Wait! Why are you running? Don't you want to go home?"
Nightpaw turned her head to look at the senior warrior.
"I can't go back. I told you, I'm a traitor to Onyxclan. I can't go back. Foxstar will kill me. I may want to go back, but I'm not stupid enough to do so." Nightpaw responded, a slight hiss escaping in her words.
With that, Nightpaw leaped off, launching through the trees with skill that she never thought she had.
Leaping through the trees was seemingly second nature to the young apprentice.
If it were leaf-bare, It would have been even easier, but for now, she had to contend with the branches and leaves battering her face and obscuring her vision as she moved on.
Following the scent of the clan that she was slowly getting accustomed to, she made her way to the clan, and clambered down a tree right outside the entrance to the camp and padded in.
With a loud sigh, she trotted over to the fresh kill pile and picked out a plump mouse that was on the top.
She looked around, hoping to find a nice lonely spot.
After a moment, she spied a small crack in the rocky face of the mountain, behind the boulders of the elder's den.
Making sure no one was watching, she slipped into the crack and entered into a rather snug cave, at least large enough for maybe two full grown cats side by side.
Nightfall purred to herself as she made sure that the cave was empty, and then laid down for her snack, finishing the mouse in only a few gulps.
She sighed,rolling around in the cave for a few moments, before slipping out back into the light.
Heatclaw was arranging a hunting patrol with a few of the warriors and apprentices, along with Wolfpaw, who was likely only going to find herbs for Greenmane.
Nightpaw quickly hid the cave with branches from the elder's bush, and padded over to Wolfpaw.
"Hiya Nightpaw." He said with a friendly flick of his tail.
Nightpaw gave a soft purr of greeting, gently burrowing her nose into his coarse blue-grey fur.
"Going to find herbs?" She asked the tom.
Wolfpaw nodded his head, his tail stuck up proudly.
"Leaf-fall's coming soon, so I need to get a bunch of new herbs to stock up. Especially catmint."
"Well, Have fun then Wolfpaw."
"Wait," He looked at Nightpaw ,"You're not coming?"
Nightfall shook her head.
"Nah, I need a quick nap before I do anything."
She turned away, and trotted to the apprentices den.
She nosed her way in, accidentally trodding on Lightpaw's tail as she passed.
Lightpaw's head shot up, and she hissed fiercely at Nightpaw, before standing and leaving the den with a huff of disgust.
"Sorry." Nightpaw said under her breath.
Tail drooping, she moved to her nest and laid down, Letting her eyes close as she drifted into sleep.
Alright, From here on out, This story is in 3rd person. I just wanted to say that.