It smells like chocolate peanut butter cookies in the house! ^_^ They taste good too! Yum!
"What're we doing today?" Whitepaw asked, looking at Sparkflame expectantly. Sparkflame stared out in the distance, not hearing her apprentice. Whitepaw tipped his head to one side. "Sparkflame? Hello?" he circled his mentor who snapped back into reality. "Huh? I'm sorry, what?" she asked, heat rising up to her head. "I asked what we're doing today." he meowed. "Oh, uh, battle training!" Sparkflame answered, saying the first thing that popped in her mind.
"Can Breezepaw come too?" Whitepaw looked at her with shining eyes. "I don't know it depends on Pounceclaw." Sparkflame told him. She saw Pounceclaw padding to the apprentices den. "Wait here." she meowed. "I'll see if Breezepaw can come with us." Sparkflame padded over to Pounceclaw. "Pounceclaw, can Breezepaw and Whitepaw practice battle training together?" she asked. "Sure." he meowed. He called Breezepaw and they went out the entrance.
"Okay, we're going to practice partner fighting." Sparkflame meowed. "I'll be a warrior from an enemy Clan, and you'll be fighting me in sync with each other." The two apprentices nodded. "We're in the middle of a battle and you come face to face with Sparkflame." Pounceclaw growled. "What do you do?" "Attack!" Whitepaw yowled and he and his brother charged up to her. Sparkflame dodged easily and swiped at them with paws sheathed. She had an urge to unsheathe her claws but she had to keep them under control. Blazeclaw told her she would be like this. "That was easy to dodge." Sparkflame told the apprentices. "One of you could jump on top of me while the other keeps coming towards me." "Okay." Whitepaw mewed something into his brother's ear and he nodded.
Whitepaw is the fiercer of the two. He's always excited to train-whatever we do. Maybe… just maybe he could be... Sparkflame didn't finish the thought.Whitepaw and Breezepaw charged up at her with Whitepaw leaping on top of her and Breezepaw barreling into her side while she tried to shake them off. Sparkflame reared up and managed to throw her apprentice off her back-a little harder than she meant to. He landed roughly on the ground, but got up quickly and raced back to his brother to help. Together, the apprentices swiped and bit her and finally, Sparkflame had enough.
"Alright! That was very good you two." she praised. Whitepaw and Breezepaw ducked their heads, eyes shining. "It was." Pounceclaw came up to them, his yellow eyes unusually glowing. "I'd hate to be any warrior from another Clan that had to face you. You're perfect together." He turned to Sparkflame and smiled. Sparkflame quickly looked away. She did not like him the way he way he wanted her to. Sparkflame couldn't take a mate; she had other things to worry about. The Dusk Cavern, her apprentice, and Pounceclaw has Breezepaw. Couldn't he tell that he was just a friend?"
"We should get back to camp." Sparkflame meowed. "Maybe catch something for the fresh-kill pile?" The four cats padded through their territory, finding prey easily. Breezepaw opened his mouth slightly to taste the air. "I smell vole." He dropped into a crouch and glided along the ground, the vole not expecting him. Breezepaw pounced on it, killing it neatly with a bite to its spine. "Good catch." Pounceclaw meowed.
They came back to camp, each carrying prey. Sparkflame caught a mouse and a hawk. Pounceclaw caught two mice and vole, while Breezepaw and Whitepaw caught two voles each. They deposited their catch on the fresh-kill pile and Sparkflame picked a vole that Breezepaw caught. Pounceclaw came over beside her.
"You're not going to eat your hawk?" Sparkflame shrugged. She didn't want to bother with this tom. "No." she meowed in between bites. "Now go away. I want to be alone." Pounceclaw looked taken aback. "Sparkflame-" "Don't say anything. Just go." Sparkflame mewed quietly. She wanted to lash out at him. Pounceclaw looked disappointed, though Sparkflame didn't know why he was. Stupid tom, I don't want anything to do with him! Sparkflame felt tired. Ever since her mother died, she wanted to be alone. She couldn't see her in StarClan-the Dusk Cavern banned StarClan warriors from visiting her. Though Sparkflame never saw what StarClan was like, she was a little curious. Maybe Blazeclaw would let StarClan talk to her once.
"No!" Blazeclaw growled. "I'm not allowing StarClan to visit you." "My leader and mother died almost a moon ago!" Sparkflame insisted. "You still miss her?" Blazeclaw meowed, not bothering to hide the shock from his face. "I was close to her." Sparkflame growled. "Don't turn soft on us Sparkflame." Blazeclaw warned. "I'm not turning soft! Far from it! I'm experiencing the things you told me about." Sparkflame glared at him. "I have a question too."
Blazeclaw looked a bit interested at this. "Okay, what?" Sparkflame took a deep breath. Is it right? Should I ask him about Whitepaw? Oh, what does it matter? Just get it over with! "I have an apprentice." she began, looking at Blazeclaw who betrayed no emotion. "His name is Whitepaw. He's always excited to do whatever we we're doing." "Apprentices are always like that." Blazeclaw growled. "I know, but he's pretty good when we train. Would he be good for us to-" "No." Blazeclaw spoke quietly. "Oh, okay, I just wanted to know." Sparkflame meowed. He wasn't done yet though.
"I've seen Whitepaw. He'll betray us in a heartbeat. He won't want to help us. He could tell someone-especially since you're his mentor." Sparkflame was amazed. "You could tell all of that?" Blazeclaw narrowed his eyes. "Yes. I know who's good and who's not. I'll deal with the recruiting. You just help with the planning." "Uh, okay." Sparkflame meowed.
Blazeclaw circled her, a glint in his eyes. "There's more you need to learn though. You need to keep yourself under control." Sparkflame remembered when she was training with Whitepaw and when Pounceclaw was annoying her. "Don't give us away. If you can remember that, then you should be fine. You have a lot of power, Sparkflame. Use it well." Sparkflame nodded. It made sense.
Blazeclaw stopped circling her. "We'll need more apprentices. Once we do that, we'll be able to launch an attack. But for now, we must focus on the present. Not the past or the future. We have a long way to go."
Sparkflame woke up early the next morning. It would be the Gathering tomorrow. The first time since Vinestar died. But she couldn't think about the past. She had to move on, like everyone else did. Sunwing poked her head through the warrior's den. "Oh, Sparkflame, why don't you join the dawn patrol since you're up." she suggested. "Okay." Sparkflame replied. She didn't have anything else to do. "I'll go get Whitepaw.
"Why do we have to get up so early?" Whitepaw complained. "Everyone had to do this." Sparkflame told her apprentice. "This won't be your last time." Whitepaw looked on, sulkily. Sunwing's whiskers twitched. "Apprentices. They always complain." Sparkflame felt hot with embarrassment. "Are you referring to me?" Sunwing purred. "In a way, yes. But Whitepaw is a whole new level!" Whitepaw looked back. "What do you mean?" he asked, confused. Sparkflame shook her head, dismissing the conversation. "Don't worry, let's catch up with the rest of the patrol." she meowed, running ahead.
Sparkflame never felt this light and carefree before. She liked chatting with Sunwing. Sparkflame was about to mark a rock when she smelled something. HailClan! Hailstar stepped out into the open. "Sparkflame." he meowed, dipping his head. "We'd like to speak with Vinestar please."
A cliffie! I love doing that. Hope you're liking it so far! Please review!
~"It's a jungle out there."~