Chapter 6
"A Fox's Secret."
8/2/16 - 8/3/16
"Stay focused!" A silver tom swiped his claws on the ginger tom's ears.
The silver tom went in for the other's throat, but the ginger tom turned around and reared his hind legs to kick his face.
"No, no, no!" The silver tom snarled. "What are you doing?!" The silver tom smacked his paw on the ginger tom, knocking him down. And he pressed his paw on his cheek, almost crushing him.
"Don't you dare dodge me like a coward! A true warrior takes the scars given to him, don't you ever forget, Foxpaw!"
Foxpaw feels the silver tom remove his weight off and gets up, but he received a cuff of an unsheathed paw on his face, leaving a long scar that goes from his invisible eyebrow and near his cheek.
"Let this teach you never to disobey me," he told Foxpaw. "Remember who offered you a chance to train like a warrior when you were just a kit? Me! So you better learn your place, understand?"
Foxpaw fought a growl rising in his throat.
"Yes, Silverhawk, I understand."
Foxpaw feels two paws on his side, and a splash of water on his face. Foxpaw shot up and coughed. He saw Stoatpaw's head in his sight, upside down.
"I knew it would wake you up!"
"Where did you get water?!" Foxpaw demanded. Stoatpaw stood on his hind legs and points his paw to the ceiling, a gaping hole was dripping with water.
"It rained last night, so I just poked it with my claw and it popped." Stoatpaw said, sitting down and puffing his chest. "Pretty smart, huh?"
"No!" Foxpaw snapped. Stoatpaw winced at his angry tone.
"You just made a hole in the apprentices den! Why didn't you leave it alone?!"
Stoatpaw flattened his ears.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know…."
"That's no surprise! You never think before doing something mouse brained!"
Foxpaw turned and stomped out of the den, leaving Stoatpaw bewildered.
The ginger tom saw Duckpaw standing outside of the den, staring at him in shock.
"What was that about?" She demanded.
"Stoatpaw's stupid pranks left a hole in the den! Now we're at risk to get soaked if there's a storm coming."
"The warriors can patch the hole," Duckpaw replied. She shook her head.
"Honestly, Foxpaw, you're changing for the worst. Stoatpaw doesn't mean any harm and you treat it like he committed a crime."
Stoatpaw padded out of the apprentices den, and quickly gets away from Foxpaw.
Duckpaw leaves Foxpaw to go to the white tom. Foxpaw lashed his tail.
They don't know what I've gone through. Everyone always liked them, but not me, thanks to my mother.
Foxpaw's mother fell in love with a ShadowClan cat, and he was result. When his mother died giving birth to him, almost none of the remaining queens wanted to nurse him, so he was smaller than the other apprentices. Every cat always glared at him and refused to acknowledge his existence.
Luckily, Foxpaw's mother was Eaglecry's younger sister from a different litter, so he always has support from her whenever she wasn't busy.
But one night, Silverhawk came into Foxkit's dreams and promised to make him a warrior worth respecting.
So yeah, Foxpaw worked harder with him than Mousepatch ever did, which was rarely never. He'll show them. Foxpaw will show them what a "half-Clan scum" can do.
Mousepatch led Foxpaw to the clearing. He saw Seabreeze and Stealthpaw with Eaglecry.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Thornstar wants me to watch your fighting abilities." Eaglecry said.
"That way, he'll decide whether or not you're ready to be warriors."
Mousepatch nudged Foxpaw.
"This is Stealthpaw's first time, so go easy on her."
I know I know, don't treat me like I'm stupid.
Foxpaw notices that Stealthpaw was sleeping while sitting.
Seabreeze nudged Stealthpaw with her paw. The golden she cat woke up and looks at Seabreeze.
"Are you alright? You seem tired…"
"No, no I'm good." Stealthpaw gets up and pads toward Foxpaw. He saw how tired she was. Her tail was limp and her fur was untidy.
Is she training with Silverhawk too? Nah, he would have said so if it was true.
"Remember. Claws sheathed and no blood shed." Eaglecry warned.
"Begin!"
Foxpaw shot off like a rocket. He rammed his front paws on Stealthpaw's chest, she wailed with surprise, and he pinned her down. Stealthpaw suddenly fell limp under his paws, and a small trail of blood trickled from her forehead.
Foxpaw stared at her in horror as he got off of her.
"Stealthpaw? Stealthpaw, wake up!"
Mousepatch moved him out of the way as Eaglecry and Seabreeze rushed in to check on Stealthpaw.
"She's not responding," Eaglecry said. "We have to take her to Palewhisker."
Seabreeze carried Stealthpaw by her scruff and carried he to camp. Eaglecry told Mousepatch. "You go with Seabreeze." He nods and left. Eaglecry turned to look at Foxpaw.
"What did you do?"
"I just pinned her! She fell limp when it happened, I just…" Foxpaw didn't realize how strong he became. Just because he was small doesn't mean he doesn't deliver blows like a badger.
"I'm sorry…"
Eaglecry ran her tail on his spine.
"I know it was an accident. Let's just see how she's doing."
Cats were already talking about Stealthpaw, and most of the senior warriors were glaring at Foxpaw.
"What do you expect from a ShadowClan cat?"
"Just like his father, a ruthless cat."
Foxpaw growled as he lowered his head with shame. He immediately goes inside the medicine cat den and sees Stealthpaw curled in a nest as Palewhisker moved from her.
"Come in, Foxpaw." She said, not moving her eyes from her patient. Foxpaw pads inside the den and stares at Stealthpaw.
"Is she gonna be okay?"
"She's just exhausted." Palewhisker told him. "Whatever she's doing at night contributed to her weakness, she could be frail for a while."
Foxpaw looked at his paws. No matter what, Foxpaw always plays it safe when training. Duckpaw was right, maybe he was changing for the worst.
"Foxpaw." He looked up to Palewhisker. "It's not your fault. The cats who say so are complete fools. Stealthpaw just became careless about her health-."
"Then can I help her? Can I make sure she's getting what she needs?"
Palewhisker blinked at him.
"I… I'm sure Yellowpaw will appreciate an extra paw around. I'll just need to talk to Mousepatch about it."
Foxpaw felt relieved hearing that.
Don't you dare go soft, Foxpaw. You know what's waiting for you if you do!
Foxpaw frowned hearing Silverhawk's warning. But he wasn't going back on his promise, not even for a threat of a Dark Forest cat.
So, just to recap: Foxpaw is half ThunderClan and ShadowClan and everyone hated him. Silverhawk, noticing his insecurities and low self esteem, groomed Foxpaw to become his apprentice as a kit, and the training intensified by the time he became an apprentice.
As for his parents… I'm not telling, at least not right now, in the next chapter or the one after the first chapter, but his father was hinted.
As for the disclaimer: Silverhawk belongs to Erin Hunter, and the OCs belong to ME.
