Please Read and Reviewers.
You can still submit a name and a description for a kit, and I will put them in a clan.
Also, the story refers to a black cat that whose name is mentioned once in this story. Whoever guesses it first is awesome at guessing these types of things and read my story from cover to where it's at now.
Thank you to AGymnast, Redwolf, Feathersky, and Lunara the ara for reviewing so far.
I won't be able to update or work on any of my stories for a couple days.
Chapter 8 Assessment
"I wish I got to go to the gathering," Brackenpaw said, "did you find out any cats from the prophecy?"
"Yes, Diamondwing from Shadowclan, Rainpaw from Windclan, Frostwing from Riverclan… and Shadepaw from Shadowclan. We believe that the last cat is from Thunderclan," Finpaw meowed to her brother, "Featherpaw already knows."
"Did you say Diamondwing? Is she a warrior?" Brackenpaw meowed, trying not to sound as interested as he was.
"Yes," Finpaw meowed.
"I should have been there to congratulate her."
"No, you shouldn't have," Finpaw meowed sincerely, understanding her brother perfectly, "besides, Oceanwinds already padding after you and don't you forget it!"
"Finpaw, you're having an hunting assessment today. I let you sleep in a little because last night was a gathering. But it was a privilege to go, and Amberpaw and the other apprentices really wanted to go," Lightwing said to the Stormclan apprentice as she walked up. Brackenpaw left Finpaw and her mentor talking. She saw Brackenpaw jog up to his own mentor, Icewing, and he seemed to be asking her what they were to be doing that day. Hopefully something exciting, Finpaw said to her self, yes. He had really wanted to go to the gathering last night, so he should do something awesome today to make up for yesterday. Maybe they could train together.
"Okay, where should I choose to hunt?" Finpaw replied to Lightwing.
"This is your assessment, so go wherever you chose. Wolfflower and I will be watching you, so do the best you can," Lightwing said, "don't look so worried, I believe in you. You've trained hard."
"Yes, but it might not look like it since it's leaf-bare," Finpaw argued sadly. Oh great, to add to all her nervousness, the Stormclan deputy was to be watching her, Finpaw thought, now completely worried.
"Don't worry Finpaw. We will be near you, so we will know how much prey is in the area. Besides, it's a nice day out. All the prey will be not staying inside because this is their one chance to be out. All the prey will be looking for food, just like us," Lightwing meowed, and then called to Wolfflower.
"Finpaw is ready to do awesome," Lightwing praised. Wolfflower looked at Finpaw and did an encouraging smile. Finpaw tried to look as confident as she could, and she followed Lightwing and Wolfflower out into the forest. They silently traveled to the middle of the territory, and then stopped. Then Lightwing said, "Okay Finpaw. Good luck on your first assessment, and do your best."
Wolfflower and Lightwing turned and walked away, fading more and more into the trees. Finpaw took a deep breath, and instantly fell low, hiding in the under growth. She remembered her first hunting day, when she was taught to do an balanced crouch, being able to slowly and carefully sneak up on the certain mice or bird. Thunderclan caught mice, Riverclan caught fish, Shadowclan caught frogs, Windclan caught rabbits, and Stormclan caught mostly birds, but would catch mice and almost any prey. They could even catch fish, but they rarely did so because Riverclan hated it when they took their prey, even in Stormclan territory.
But first thing first, and Finpaw sniffed the air. The wind was going towards Riverclan territory, so she had better get as close to their as possible so the prey in the rest of the territory couldn't scent her first. Bird! Once she was near the stream, there was an immediate scent of bird. She circled her head around like an owl, looking for that bird. And she found it. It was stretching its wings, about to take off to flight. If she wanted to catch it, she had to go as quick and quiet as possible. The bird was about to leave, so she had to go quick, and the bird could lift off so fast in its current position, so she had to be quiet.
She ducked down, and slid her paws soundlessly against the mud and moss, and she hoped that Wolfflower and Lightwing were watching her know, because she was confident that she would get this bird. She slid, careful not to drag her tail, and got as close as she could without giving herself away. Crunch! No! Finpaw had stepped on a twig. The bird flew fast, but Finpaw was faster. She felt as if she had nothing to lose, so she pounced. She caught the bird with a strong claw strike, making the bird fall. She hoped that Wolfflower and Lightwing saw that spectacular move.
Finpaw buried the bird in the wet ground, marking it so should could collect it later. She then moved through the forest, looking for the next hunting opportunity. It was presented after a while of looking, and Finpaw found a vole hidden in a bush of brambles. She lowered her tail, hoping that its nervous wavering wouldn't give her hiding spot away. She slowly crept on the vole, hoping Starclan would allow her to catch it. No! As she pounced, it fled over the roots of a tree, and into a bush. One less piece of prey for the clan, and one less piece of prey caught counting for the assessment.
Finpaw stalked, and decided to at least try and catch a squirrel. She had only caught one so far as an apprentice, and she felt as if she should prove her great hunting skills. She unsheathed her claws, and found the thick tree that the vole had fled over. Better not, Finpaw thought to herself, the vole might have alerted other prey that I was in the area. I should find another sop she thought to find this squirrel.
She drifted towards the other side of the territory, wondering where Lightwing and Wolfflower where and how well that they thought Finpaw was doing. She wondered when Brackenpaw was to do his assessment, and did Featherpaw even have an assessment? She trained in one thing, so I guess she didn't have to see if she was better at hunting or fighting. Or in her case, healing and interpreting dreams.
Glad that it wasn't raining, she found a easy-to-climb tree near the other side of the territory. If it were raining, the tree would all be slick, making it very hard and very dangerous to climb.
Squirrel! Finpaw climbed the tree as fast as she could, hoping that her paws scraping against the bark wouldn't alert the squirrel. She hoisted herself up and onto the tree, finding a very small squirrel trying to collect food from the tree. She swiped a paw at it, and brought it down. She grabbed it with her jaws, and climbed down the tree to see Lightwing and Wolfflower waiting at the trunk.
"Nice job so far. You've passed!" Wolfflower meowed, sharing Finpaws happiness.
"You chose a good tree. Easy to climb, and there was a squirrel. Any other tree and we would have told you not to do it in leaf-bare, just in case it was damp and slick," Lightwing praised her apprentice.
"Thanks," Finpaw breathed. One step closer on becoming a warrior, she thought, yes!
"Its past sunhigh, we should get back now," Wolfflower meowed, then led the three cats back to the Stormclan camp. But when they came back, it was not as they'd hoped. Spottedpool and Featherpaw were both running around camp, going back and forth between the medicine cat den, the nursery, and the elders den. Finally Featherpaw ran out of the medicine cat den carrying Melonkit. Runningmist followed worriedly, but then turned back and looked at Mountainkit.
"Follow Melonkit and Featherpaw Runningmist. We can take care of Mountainkit," Palefur offered, sensing how worried Runningmist was.
"Take care of Lilysong too, her kits will be coming soon and Spottedpool doesn't have time to talk to her now," Runningmist was talking so quickly that she was stuttering her words.
Finpaw, Lightwing and Wolfflower instantly ran to Runningmist, "What is it?" they asked.
"Windyfur and Melonkit have greencough. Melonkit visited the elders yesterday, and she must have already had it. I have to go."
Featherpaw appeared in front of them, "Wolfflower, you tell Springstar. She's on a border patrol near the Riverclan border. Lightwing. You go gather some catmint from the patch near the abandoned Twoleg nest. And Finpaw, can you soak some moss with water and bring it to me, and bring some prey for two sick cats?"
They nodded, and each split off into the separate directions. Finpaw grabbed the small squirrel and the larger bird, and headed off towards the medicine den.
"Thank you Finpaw," Spottedpool said, as she quickly grabbed it and put the food near the sick cats.
As Finpaw ran to the stream to get more water for them, she kept on thinking to herself. On day Melonkit had been fine, happy as ever. But the next day, Finpaw kept thinking on how sad and not-thinking-for-herself she looked. She had to get the water as quickly as she could to help Windyfur and Melonkit the best, so that is what she would do.
She slashed up some moss from the earthy forest ground, and carried it to the stream where she was to soak in so she could bring fresh water back to the camp. She tried her best not to get her paws wet when dipping the moss in the water, but she tried and failed. Hopefully all this dirt wouldn't stick to her paws as she walked back.
She grabbed one piece of moss at a time, and took time to try and get as much water as she could within each piece. It was hard to pick in all up in her jaws, and keep the most of the water from dripping out and away from the moss. When she finally finished, she walked back to camp, a trail of drips behind her.
The next morning Finpaw was awaken by Wolfflower calling the patrols, "Morning hunting patrol will be Myself, Wolfpaw, and Brairpath. Morning border patrol will be Wolffrost leading Dragonpaw and Seafur. Second border patrol will be Brightfur leading Bramblepaw and Larkspirit, and noon hunting patrol will be Ebonyflower leading Amberpaw, Icewing, and Brackenpaw. And Thunderpaw will go with Featherpaw to collect catmint, tansy, thyme, poppy seeds, and other herbs."
"What type of training are we doing today Lightwing?" Finpaw asked her mentor.
"Battle training, meet me at sandy flight in wink of a tail!" Lightwing responded. Yes, Finpaw thought to her self, this will be great! But how tired will I be for the prophecy meeting tonight? That I have to go to!
When Finpaw got to Sandy Flight, her mentor Lightwing was already there.
"What are we going to do for training?" Finpaw asked the Stormclan warrior.
"Battle Training," Lightwing answered, then added, "attack me."
"What!"
"Attack me. I wish to see how you would stand against a warrior," Lightwing replied, then she seemed to brace herself.
"'K," Finpaw said, and then planned how to make her first attack. She decided to dive to the side of Lightwing, then kick hard at her legs and try and make her fall over.
Finpaw leaped to the side of her mentor, sliding her legs towards Lightwing. Lightwing swatted Finpaw aside, and then pinned the apprentice down with one strong paw.
"Interesting strategy, but try again," Lightwing said as she let Finpaw up.
This time Finpaw slid under her mentor's legs, then kicked her paws up against her mentor. Finpaw hit Lightwing with one strong whap, but Lightwing quickly recovered, spun around, and used her own attack against her. Finpaw was surprised, and was caught off guard completely. Finpaw fell down, and was defeated by her mentor once again.
"That was great, but you might want to go a little faster with more control. Try again, but control your slide. Even when you got up after the slide, you still weren't in control and I could push you back down," Lightwing said. Finpaw didn't talk because she was almost out of breath. Then looking at Finpaw's determined, yet sad look she said, "don't worry Finpaw. We're doing this to train, not to know. Next training session will be to know. Now, again."
She took her mentors advice, and tried to figure out how to do it faster, but with more control as well as speed.
Finpaw suddenly looked to the side, then snapped back and slid in less then five seconds. Lightwing was startled when this happened, and very surprised. Finpaw did her best to jump up and spin around before Lightwing turned to see her, and it worked very well. Although while fighting many opponents, this would not work. Finpaw could've used her claws, but she didn't because this was a training session. Besides, she didn't need her claws right then because she had a clear spot on her mentor, which she could hit with a paw.
She was about to pin Lightwing down when she saw just how good Lightwings reflexes were. She even dodged Finpaws strong and controlled blow, then pinned down Finpaw instead. Darn, this plan had gone backwards! Well, she had trained hard and was definitely getting better at fighting. Her mentor was a skilled warrior, but any other apprentice from any other clan would crumple under this blow.
She immediately felt bad. Other apprentices from other clans were in the prophecy together. That must amount to something, it had too. Why would Starclan bring them together if destiny were just going to break them apart? They were friends, but how long would it last?
"Nice job Finpaw, you're definitely improving in your hunting and fighting skills," Lightwing said to Finpaw.
"Thanks, I really tried hard, in hunting and fighting."
"You did and your hard work really showed/paid off."
Spottedpool
"Featherpaw. Ask Ebonyflower to come watch these cats, because she knows a lot about herbs in case it is needed," Spottedpool said to her apprentice.
"Sure, but why? We're here," Featherpaw reasoned/responded.
"I want you and I to go and talk to Springstar. Meet me outside her den."
"If you say so," Featherpaw meowed, curious. She then exited the medicine cat den, and went to look for Ebonyflower. Spottedpool went into Springstar's den, and told her that Spottedpool needed to speak with her. But to wait for Featherpaw, she had said.
Once Featherpaw came, Springstar spoke, "How are Windyfur and Melonkit?"
"They're getting better, but that's not why I needed to talk to you. A while, I got a prophecy from Starclan. Here it is: River's fire, Storm, coming, leaving, Fin's wing, bracken's frost, Feather of Hope, May live or die, Raining courage of eight. I need to speak to Starclan about it, so I must go to the moonstone. Tonight,"
"So you can't wait for the full moon."
"No, today or tomorrow at the latest. We should do I today."
"Who will take care of the sick cats," Springstar wondered.
"Ebonyflower knows herbs quite well. She can," Spottedpool had an answer for that too.
"Wait, we can't go tonight," Featherpaw cut in.
"Why not?" Springstar and Spottedpool both asked at the same time.
"Starclan told me to stay here tonight, I have no idea why. Any other cat, but not me."
Spottedpool sighed, "You're sure?" Featherpaw nodded, then Spottedpool said,
"fine, we can not ignore that and I want you to come with me. Tomorrow night we will go, no matter what."
"Would you like one or two other cats to go with you, or do you want to go to the moonstone alone as medicine cats?" Springstar asked Spottedpool.
"We can take one or two other cats just incase, but we really will be fine. How about Coralheart and Finpaw. Finpaw could use the experience, and Coralheart has only gone three fourths of the way before," Spottedpool replied, as Featherpaw nodded. It would be awesome to have her sister to go with her.
But her mentor answered for her, "That will work, but no more cats. We don't want to walk happily on another clan's territory while we travel. The next time we come, they might question us."
"Good point, but they'll have to figure it out eventually. We have rights to go to the moonstone whenever we please," Springstar said, ending their conversation.
Once they exited the den, Spottedpool asked Featherpaw when she had had the dream. The day before the gathering, they had visited me in a dream, Featherpaw had said to her mentor. We cannot ignore it, I'm sure, she had said. And Spottedpool trusted her apprentice, who seemed to have a closer bond with Starclan then she'd thought at her young age.
Spottedpool separated from her apprentice, thinking deeply. Springstar had been surprised about the prophecy, even though she'd heard many before this one. Featherpaw acted as if she had heard it 100 times, knowing it well, even when this was her first prophecy she had ever heard. What am I missing, Spottedpool thought to herself, how could this be?
The reason Finpaw missed the vole in her hunting assessment was because a looked at pictures of voles and they were sooo cute! I picked out some of the best images from the Internet of them and I put it on my profile if you want to see them. Besides, Finpaw couldn't just catch everything that she found on her assessment.
Also, the reason there was so much apprentice training in this battle was because I felt like I had skipped it before.