"Sunpaw, your mentor will be Crowclaw," announced Ripstar, his dark blue eyes dull and merciless. Sunpaw looked over at the brown tabby deputy, and winced as the warrior treated him to a yellow-toothed snarl. Sunpaw sighed, flicking his yellow-gold tail across his forepaws. For the nine-hundredth time he cursed the color of his fur and his bright, amber eyes, and he cursed the insults, jeers and bullying that they caused. Some days he wished he could be just like his brother, Darkpaw, who had all the violent cruelty and viciousness that made a TigerClan cat great.
"Come on, Wheatypaw," snarled Crowclaw, using one of the many nicknames that plagued Sunpaw's waking life. "We're going to learn how to steal oatmeal from Twolegs." Crowclaw cuffed Sunpaw's jaw and stalked away. Sunpaw shot a longing glance at his sister Slashpaw, who was trotting away with Moonclaw, the only decent warrior in the camp besides Crackleleaf, the medicine cat. He watched as Moonclaw laughed at something his sister said, and he flinched, jealous of her good luck.
"Hurry up!" screeched Crowclaw, casting a blood-chilling glance behind him at Sunpaw. The apprentice shrugged his shoulders and padded after his new mentor. Luckily, Ripstar was in favor of making apprentices into warriors after only four moons, so Sunpaw didn't have to endure training with Crowclaw for too long. TigerClan was so immense, Ripstar could afford to kill off as many apprentices as he saw fit, arguing that the ones who survived were obviously the strongest.
"Let's go, apprentice," muttered Crowclaw darkly, turning towards the RiverClan boundary. Sunpaw could hear the rush of the full river before he saw it. As he came out of he trees at the edge of the water, Sunpaw hazily realized that Crowclaw had disappeared. Moments before he had time to wonder why, he felt a powerful force against his legs, and with a yowl of surprise, was thrown over the edge of the river.
Sunpaw tumbled head over heels toward the water, barely able to catch a glimpse of Crowclaw smiling at him from the bank.
"Ripstar didn't like you, dearie. Have fun!" The crazed deputy spat into he water then turned tail and galloped away. The last thought that entered Sunpaw's fuzzy thoughts was: But Ripstar was my father.