"Hawkpaw, wake up. It's time to secure the borders. Hawkpaw!" A small, but muscular dark gray tom almost faded into the showed den, as he poked a dark tabby she-cat with a firm paw. His dark green eyes were firm, but contained some amusement, when his Clan mate groaned, and heaved herself to her paws. Her ice-blue eyes were still half closed, but she shook the leaves and grass off of her pelt and stretched.
"Alright, I'm up! Happy, you annoying fur ball!" Hawkpaw snapped, obviously not happy about being woken up, but she playfully butted Stormpaw with her head, as she rushed out of the cave, that the apprentices used as a den. He hissed playfully, and followed her. Stormpaw was a 9-moon old warrior apprentice, while his sister, Streampaw was a skilled hunter. She had been an apprentice for 10 moons, even though they were the same age. Hunters were always apprenticed early, but they took longer to actually become a full-fledged hunter of LighteningClan. Stormpaw was only half a moon older than Hawkpaw, and they two were best friends.
"Come on Stormpaw!" He slipped out of the den, when he heard his, trainer's commanding, but soft meow. Dewriver was a skilled warrior, and was an excellent trainer in Stormpaw's point of view, and enjoyed her company. Her small gray form wasn't much larger than Stormpaw's own form, but she had the agility and strength to match Grayclaw, one of the best warriors in the Clan.
"About time you two lazy fur balls woke up. ThunderClan is probably stealing a moon's worth of prey." Hawkpaw's trainer, Falconwind spoke up, his deep meow slightly annoyed. Falconwind was a very powerful warrior, and well respected within the Clan. He was also harsh and sometimes cold-hearted. Stormpaw often wondered how Hawkpaw could stay so cheerful with a cold trainer like Falconwind, even though no cat could doubt his unwavering loyalty. Hawkpaw bristled as her trainer spoke of ThunderClan stealing their prey. ThunderClan was the last of the original Clans. RiverClan had broke up, but had reformed to become RainClan, and LighteningClan was said to have been built, when ShadowClan and WindClan formed together. No one seemed to know how StormClan had come to be.
"What are we doing, standing here! If ThunderClan thinks they can just stroll into our territory and take what they want, they're going to get a shredded pelt!" Hawkpaw exclaimed, jumping to her white paws, and rushing into the forest, all previous drowsiness gone. Falconwind followed her, his whiskers twitching with amusement. Hawkpaw seemed to be the only one that could ease Falconwind out of his cold shell. Dewriver and Stormpaw followed, racing to catch up.
"Now, remember to be careful, Stormpaw. You've done very well in training, but ThunderClan have some old tricks, from before our time." Dewriver cautioned her apprentice, calmly reminding him, that ThunderClan had learned to adapt to the new Clans, but they still used some fighting moves, that the other Clans had long forgotten. Stormpaw nodded, processing her words into his mind.
