AN: This is a Swiftpaw chapter, so hurray. Next chapter will be Sunpaw, and we'll learn what life in Windclan with Onestar is like. This chapter is more of an introduction chapter. Swiftpaw is a black tom with one blue, one amber eye and a white splash over his green eye
Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors, never will
"Pouncepaw, you couldn't catch green-cough! I'd beat you in a fishing contest any day." Swiftpaw snorted, his bi-colored eyes glinting with a challenge and a brash smirk on his face.
The ginger and white tom rolled his eyes and snapped back "I accept your challenge, but remember, you won't have a mummy to cry to when you lose."
The black tom stiffened and his green and amber eyes hardened. Every cat of the clan knew that he was adopted from outside the clan, and it was a sensitive subject for him. Now it's personal. He thought bitterly and let out a long, low snarl.
Minnowpaw, Swiftpaw's-totally-not-crush cleared her throat and stepped between the two toms, her blue eyes annoyed "Oh, shut up. We get you hate each other, but you don't have to bother everybody else."
If it had been any other cat, even Leopardstar, Swiftpaw would have attacked them without hesitation- claws sheathed of course. Even if Swiftpaw was arrogant and rude, he followed the code. Not that he respected it.
Pouncepaw rolled his eyes and shoved Minnowpaw out of the way "It's not like have a fishing contest will hurt anybody, if anything, it'll help add to the fresh-kill pile and make this airhead shut up."
Swiftpaw was close to bowling Pouncepaw over and slashing him with claws by that point. Nobody talked to his little minnow that way, and especially not some fish-brained, hot-headed heap of badger dung like Pouncepaw.
Calm down, you can't claw him, but you can show him who's the better tom in fishing, Swiftpaw told himself, his eyes blazing in fury. "You're the one who needs to shut up, you belong in the nursery!" He spat, his claws digging into the damp earth of the Riverclan camp. "Let's go now, see who the better hunter is."
Pouncepaw snorted an unreadable emotion in his eyes for a moment before returning to his annoying and brash self "I'll beat you there!" He retorted turning and dashing out of camp.
"They call me Swiftpaw for a reason." He grinned and leaped to his paws, speeding out of camp and hot on the trail of Pouncepaw. Before long he pulled ahead of the other apprentice, who was painfully slow. "Ha! All the other clans think Riverclan is slow. Wait until they see me."
The lake came into view and Swiftpaw skidded to a halt when he felt to cool water touch the pads of his paws. Yawning, he laid down on the shoreline, waiting for Pouncepaw to emerge from the tall grasses. He wanted to rub his victory in painfully slowly, see Pouncepaw's eyes blaze in anger.
Once Pouncepaw stepped out of the reeds, he stumbled forward and tumbled to the ground, panting for breathe. Swiftpaw leaped to his paws and darted over, a sickly sweet smile on his face "Aww, I thought you said you'd beat me." He purred.
The ginger and white tom snarled and jumped to his paw, though Swiftpaw could still see the rapid fall and rise of his chest as the slower apprentice struggled to catch his breathe. "Shu- . . . Shut up. I'm . . . still the better . . . hunter."
Swiftpaw laughed, trotting back to the lake shore "We'll see about that. You also claimed you were faster than me."
Pouncepaw hissed, stalking up to Swiftpaw on shaky paws "Shut up. Riverclan cats aren't supposed to be fats. What are you, a rabbit-eater?" The short-tailed tom retorted, his green eyes glinting.
"Course not. Rabbits and scrawny and tough, like you! I'm like a fish, slippery and fast," Swiftpaw grinned brashly. Winning put him in a good mood, and winning a race put him in an even better one.
"And fish are tasty too. Are you saying that you're tasty?" Pouncepaw managed to crack a smile and Swiftpaw could have purred. While the two toms often argued and competed against each other, they were close friends and stuck together, side by side.
"Hey, maybe I'm part fish. All the fish I've killed just thought I was family and that's why it was so easy to catch 'em." Swiftpaw suggested, padding over to the tree-bridge and crawling onto a branch hanging over the water. Wince it fell, it was a good place to fish, but only if you were careful and didn't fall off.
"I'm hunting on the half-bridge; see you at sun-high." Pouncepaw flicked his tail and bounded off with his tail in the air.
Swiftpaw watched him go then turned back to the water, watching the shadows flicker and the minnows swim past. He wanted his first catch to be impressive. Finally a decent sized shadow flickered by and Swiftpaw lunged, sinking his teeth into the scaly creature and snapping it's back. He set his kill down on the main trunk of the tree and grinned, admiring his work.
But one fish wouldn't beat Pouncepaw. Swiftpaw continued fishing and scooping, each catch smooth and precise. Once he fell in the river and almost dropped his pile, but luckily he only got a little wet, which was no trouble for a Riverclan cat.
Finally when it was sun-high, Swiftpaw and Pouncepaw dragged their catch back to camp and set them down in separate piles. Honestly, they looked around the same. So to decide who won, Pouncepaw dragged Minnowpaw over and told her to choose.
Swiftpaw bit his lip in anticipation, watching the pretty gray and white she-cat look from one pile to the other, her amber eyes glowing. Finally once she decided, she looked up, directly into Swiftpaw's eyes. He could see the name on her lips, and maybe it meant she favored him.
"Well?" Pouncepaw muttered, his emerald gaze glinting with impatience at her slow manner. Finally, Minnowpaw voiced her decision.
"Pouncepaw."