AN: Update? What is this foreign concept?
"Scorchpaw!"
The tom lifted his head lazily at the sound of his name. There was a faint light that fought through the thick leaves overhead and lit up the forest. Scorchpaw blinked once or twice, his amber eyes slowly growing more alert. He slid up into a sitting position, tensing as he noticed the cat before him.
She watched him expectantly for a few moments, clearly looking for more of a reaction from the apprentice. When Scorchpaw refused to give her one, the light brown she-cat sighed.
"Its dawn," Meadowpaw mewed. "I was told to come fetch you."
Scorchpaw gave one terse nod, getting to his paws. He wasn't in the mood to give the she-cat any show of emotion. She seemed fairly normal to him, which meant he didn't have to waste any time trying to make her feel better because of any gut-wrenching churning that could occur in his stomach. Or something.
Meadowpaw sighed as Scorchpaw ignored her. The tom continued to do so, scenting the air to locate the rest of his Clan. They weren't far off. He began to head in their direction, leaving Meadowpaw watching him with a torn expression etched onto her face.
"Wait," she called softly, her voice becoming sharper at the end, as if she regretted the word. Scorchpaw decided that Meadowpaw didn't actually want to talk to him, and he kept walking.
"No, actually!" Meadowpaw cried, padding after the dark ginger apprentice to catch up with him.
It's too early, Scorchpaw though, picking up speed as they neared the group of SkyClan cats who were congregated in a small clearing within the clump of woods that were unfamiliar to them.
"Can't you listen to me?" the she-cat complained, matching Scorchpaw's speed easily. Scorchpaw focused his attention on the cats in the clearing. The cats were flocking towards Ravenstar, who was speaking.
"…I have decided that we are not going through the mountains, which means that we shall have to pass through the Twolegplace Bristlehaze's patrol alerted me of when they went scouting before dawn. However, Bristlehaze believes that we can miss the worst of it if we travel through the foothills of the mountains and what appears to be a forest beyond."
"Why don't we just go through the mountains in the first place?" Cloud-dew called out.
"This is safer," Ravenstar answered.
Scorchpaw hovered at the edge of the clearing, Meadowpaw glaring at him. "How is it safer?" the tom called out harshly.
Ravenstar turned to stare down the apprentice. "That route would take us across many mountains. This one will lead across one or two, if any. There's less of a chance of us losing our cats to the mountains."
When no other cats objected to the plan, Ravenstar continued. "We'll be leaving now."
"What about hunting?" Puddlepaw called out. A murmur of agreement snaked through the crowd of cats.
"I want to reach the mountains by—"
Fawnstep cut the leader off with an apologetic glance at the large black tom before addressing the Clan. "We will hunt, but we will leave these trees no later than sunhigh," the medicine cat decided. "We need food or we may lose cats to fatigue and carelessness. Cats must be in groups of at least three; apprentices must have a warrior with them, preferably their mentor."
"Want to hunt?" Meadowpaw asked politely.
"Not especially," Scorchpaw grunted.
"Oh, come on. It's not like you want to hunt with Ravenstar and Tawnythroat," the she-cat meowed, flicking her tail at the couple. "Spiderpaw can join us, too," she added, remembering that it wasn't just the leader's mate who had an apprentice.
Great. "And a warrior?"
"My mentor. Willowmist," Meadowpaw offered.
Wonderful. Before he could say no, a pretty silver-brown she-cat with light green eyes appeared beside Meadowpaw. "We're taking Spiderpaw and Scorchpaw," she announced to her apprentice. "Leader's orders."
Now you can't refuse. "Let's go, then," Scorchpaw asserted as a small black tom with one blue eye and one green eye joined the group. Willowmist nodded, leading the three apprentices away from the organizing patrols in the clearing.
"We don't have a lot of time or space," Willowmist mewed to the group. Staggering insight, really, Scorchpaw commented silently.
"What can you smell, Spiderpaw?"
Scorchpaw smiled as he sat back. Maybe having the younger cat along wouldn't be so bad; he wouldn't have to do as much work since he didn't have as much to learn.
"Don't get excited, Scorchpaw," the warrior warned. "I need you and Meadowpaw to see what you can smell, too. That way we can help out Spiderpaw if he misses something, and then you won't waste time sniffing around when it's time to hunt."
Stifling a grimace, Scorchpaw scented the air. Mostly, his nostrils were overpowered by the scent of SkyClan nearby. He wouldn't be surprised if all the prey had already fled. Nonetheless, he sifted through the scents of cats, and eventually caught a whiff of a mouse and a sparrow.
"And?" Willowmist prompted the black apprentice.
"There's a mouse over there," Spiderpaw answered, pointing with his tail. "And a squirrel over there. And…is that a rabbit?"
How did I miss that? Scorchpaw thought to himself, angry for letting the younger cat best him.
Willowmist nodded approvingly. "Meadowpaw?" she asked.
"The mouse and squirrel Spiderpaw scented," the light brown apprentice admitted.
Turning to Scorchpaw, Willowmist said, "And you?"
"The mouse that Spiderpaw scented," he meowed. Willowmist and Spiderpaw looked smug. Meadowpaw looked relieved. "As well as," he added, watching Spiderpaw's face fall with amusement. "A sparrow and…" The dark ginger apprentice subtly sniffed the air. "A vole. These woods are laden with prey."
"Good hunting," Willowmist agreed. "Scorchpaw, why don't you try catching the sparrow you scented? Meadowpaw can go for the squirrel and Spiderpaw for the mouse."
"I want to hunt the rabbit!" the black tom complained.
"I'll do that," Willowmist deflected. "The Clan will be hungry and we don't want to miss out a good chance for prey.
Spiderpaw visibly deflated, dragging his paws slightly as he went off in pursuit of the mouse. "Ravenstar would have let me try," he mumbled. Scorchpaw guessed that he was the only one who heard.
Pricking his ears, Scorchpaw followed the scent of the sparrow. The forest had grown quiet as SkyClan divided into patrols and silently watched their prey. Scorchpaw spotted his sparrow quickly, pecking at some seeds at the base of an oak tree. The apprentice dropped into a hunting crouch, creeping through the fronds of New Leaf grass as the bird ate calmly. The prey here obviously wasn't used to being hunted.
When Scorchpaw was a tail-length away from the bird, it looked up. However, not being hunted meant not having good reflexes. The sparrow had hardly even spanned its wings before Scorchpaw had pounced and dealt the killing blow. He quickly gave thanks to StarClan for the easy catch before turning to head back to where he had left the other three cats. There was no need to catch extra prey since most cats could hunt for themselves, and the rest could share with cats like Willowmist who found rabbits. They wouldn't want to waste prey by catching more than they needed, since they couldn't take much of it with them.
Scorchpaw met up with Spiderpaw, who was watching his catch glumly. It was a fairly skinny mouse, and the kill hadn't been clean. "Bad luck," the ginger apprentice grunted, not enjoying the look of solemnity on Spiderpaw's face.
"Whatever," Spiderpaw sighed, eyeing the plump sparrow with envy.
Meadowpaw appeared then, dragging a squirrel alongside her. She plopped down beside Scorchpaw with a smile of relief. "I thought it was much smaller," she laughed. "I would have opted to catch something else if I'd known. I—"
The she-cat broke off when she noticed the sulking Spiderpaw. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked him nicely.
"My catch is dumb," the tom sighed.
"Oh, please," Meadowpaw chuckled. "All prey counts."
She's good with others, Scorchpaw complimented in his head. Shaking himself, he curled his lip. So?
Willowmist appeared empty-pawed. Scorchpaw gave her a 'well' look. She sighed. "Bristlehaze and I were hunting the same rabbit. He caught it a heartbeat before I toppled on top of him. Stupid tom was downwind of me and didn't notice."
"But you were upwind so it's fine that you didn't?" Scorchpaw challenged.
The warrior shot Scorchpaw a glare. "You do not speak to a warrior that way," she warned slowly and quietly. The apprentice tried not to grin, knowing he had pushed her over an edge. "Let's just head back to the clearing."
Picking up his sparrow, Scorchpaw led the way back to the rest of SkyClan. Many of the cats had already returned, and elders had their food. The tom lay down, taking a bite of his sparrow. Ugh, feathers, he thought to himself. He plucked a few off, taking another bite. It wasn't that bad. In fact, Scorchpaw was much hungrier than he had realized. In a matter of minutes he had devoured the bird. He licked his paws contentedly, watching other cats finishing up their meal. In the end, only a mouse and a finch were left untouched.
"Take them," Ravenstar commanded Lionpaw and Mistpaw. The two apprentices shared a smile as their fur brushed when they bent for the pieces of the prey. Scorchpaw gagged to himself.
"Do me a favor," a voice behind the tom said. Scorchpaw whirled around to see Thornstrike.
"Yes?" Scorchpaw asked calmly.
"Never fall in love, it disgusts me."
Scorchpaw couldn't hold back a purr of amusement. His father cuffed him lightly over the ears. Scorchpaw tackled his father, and the two tussled for a few moments before Thornstrike sat up, assuming an air of seriousness.
"Smokestripe has joined us," he meowed in a low voice. The dark ginger apprentice nodded.
"When we reach the mountains, we will strike."
"How will I—"
"I'll yowl," the tom answered before Scorchpaw could finish his sentence. "When I do, try to injure as many cats as you can. Our goal is Ravenstar, don't forget. Smokestripe will go for him, but we'll help if needed. Understand?"
"I understand," Scorchpaw answered.
"Good," Thornstrike confirmed, raising his voice back to its normal level. Ravenstar yowled for the attention of SkyClan as he did, and Scorchpaw turned to watch with a glint of hatred in his eyes. The conversation with his father had inspired him.
"It is sunhigh," Ravenstar announced. I'm baffled, really, Scorchpaw sneered silently. "We'll head for the edge of this forest. From there we must cross a couple fields, and then we'll see what we must face."
Whatever, Scorchpaw sighed inwardly. Bristlehaze headed to the front of the group, clearly taking the place of deputy in Creekstone's absence. He led the energized cats onwards towards their latest goal. Scorchpaw hung back as he usually did until everyone else had abandoned the clearing. He followed after the last cat, jumping as he heard a voice behind him.
"I know what you're planning, Scorchpaw."