A quarter moon had passed since the Gathering, and Ivykit and Dovekit were now six moons old. It was dawn, time for Ivykit and Dovekit's apprentice ceremony.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" Firestar waited until the Clan gathered before continuing, "Ivykit and Dovekit have reached their sixth moon, and are ready to become apprentices. Ivykit, come forward. From this moment, until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Ivypaw. Sandstorm! You were an excellent mentor to Toadpelt. Now, he is a warrior, leaving you free to take on a new apprentice. You will be mentor to Ivypaw."
"Yes, Firestar." Meowed Sandstorm, touching noses with Ivypaw.
"Dovekit, come forward. From this moment, until you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Dovepaw. I will be your mentor." Firestar jumped down, and touched noses with Dovepaw.
"Ivypaw! Dovepaw! Ivypaw! Dovepaw!" chanted the ThunderClan cats.
"Wow! You're so lucky! You got Firestar for a mentor!" exclaimed Ivypaw.
"Sandstorm is an amazing mentor too! She mentored Sorreltail, Honeyfern, and Toadpelt. They were all great warriors. Honeyfern saved Briarkit's life. And Sandstorm was her mentor."
"Firestar was Brambleclaw's mentor. And Cloudtail's. And he was mentored by the last leader, Bluestar. I would love to have him for a mentor."
"Let's just agree that we both got good mentors." Suggested Dovepaw.
"Good idea. Sandstorm is an amazing hunter. She will be a great mentor."
"And Firestar's our leader. He'll be a great mentor too." Dovepaw looked up, and saw Firestar and Sandstorm walking toward them.
"Hi. Are you two ready for your first day of training?" asked Sandstorm.
"Yes!" exclaimed Dovepaw.
"Of course." meowed Ivypaw.
"Good. Today we can show you the borders. We might show you how to hunt a bit on the way back." Decided Sandstorm.
"Cool! I want to catch my own prey! That will be fun!" mewed Dovepaw.
"It would be nice to be able to catch my own prey, instead of having to wait until the hunting patrols come back." Ivypaw added.
"Come on, you two. We have a lot of territory to cover." Meowed Sandstorm. She ran out of the camp, followed by Firestar, then the two newest apprentices. Sandstorm led them out of camp, and toward the lake. After a short time, she stopped under a huge tree. This is the place where apprentices practice climbing. It's called the Sky Oak. We can also catch prey here, even during leaf-bare."
"Wow! Can I try?" asked Dovepaw.
"Not right now. Today we're showing you two the territory." Meowed Firestar, but Dovepaw was already launching herself onto the lowest branch.
"This is fun! And it's so easy! Come try it, Ivypaw!" exclaimed Dovepaw. Firestar sighed.
"She reminds me of Squirrelflight when she was an apprentice." He decided, beginning to climb himself, "Sandstorm, you can take Ivypaw around the territory. We won't be joining you. Dovepaw will be learning how to gather moss." Ivypaw and Dovepaw looked disappointed.
"She can't come?" meowed Ivypaw sadly.
"I have to gather moss?! That's not fair! I want to see the borders!" Dovepaw sounded horrified.
"You can see the borders when you can listen to what I tell you." Firestar reached the branch where Dovepaw was sitting, "And now it's time for you to climb down."
"That's easy." Dovepaw meowed, leaping gracefully from branch to branch until she reached the ground. Firestar followed more carefully.
"Come on, Dovepaw. Time to gather some moss." Firestar called over his shoulder, as he began to walk toward a better place to gather it.
"I want to explore!" Dovepaw was getting desperate, "Sandstorm, can't you make him let me come?"
"Firestar is the leader and your mentor. I couldn't overrule him even if I wanted to. I agree with him now. Go with him to gather moss."
"No!" Dovepaw ran off, toward the sunrise. She heard someone following her, but she couldn't tell if it was Firestar or Sandstorm. She was downwind, so they could smell her and she couldn't smell them. She ran further and further, far faster than the cat chasing her. She kept running until she came to a stream. She easily leapt over it, and continued running. She ran on and on until she smelled other cats again. That's not ThunderClan scent, she realized suddenly, I'm in another Clan's territory! The scent was fresh. The other cats had to be nearby. She turned around, trying to get back to her territory before another Clan's patrol found her. Suddenly, the wind changed direction. The patrol smelled her almost immediately. She tried to run, but she was already tired from running so far. Dovepaw almost made it to the border before one of the other four cats leapt onto her.
"Get off! Help!" exclaimed Dovepaw.
"What are you doing on WindClan territory?" hissed a dark gray tom.
"We need to teach her a lesson!" growled the black tom that had her pinned to the ground.
"Help!" cried Dovepaw.
Lionblaze, Brackenfur, Graystripe, and Blossompaw were nearby, and heard her cries. They ran to help her, and were joined by Firestar. The ThunderClan patrol raced over the border to where Dovepaw was being attacked.
"Let her go!" hissed Firestar, "ThunderClan saved WindClan less than a moon ago, and you're already attacking innocent apprentices who don't even know how to hunt or fight yet when they accidently cross the border!" He looked angrily at Dovepaw, "You will be punished when we get back." He didn't notice the light brown tabby apprentice running back toward the WindClan camp at her mentor's command.
"Why shouldn't we attack any cat who crosses our border." Snarled the dark gray tom.
"Crowfeather, you need to learn to respect leaders, and Breezepelt get off of my apprentice now, or you will regret it."
"Your apprentice? So the Clan leader himself has failed to show his apprentice some discipline. Since ThunderClan can't teach its apprentices discipline, we'll do it for you." Snarled Crowfeather, "Teach her a lesson," he added to Breezepelt.
"I'll take Crowfeather," Lionblaze whispered to Graystripe and Brackenfur, "One of you can take Breezepelt, and the other can have Owlwhisker." Graystripe and Brackenfur nodded. Breezepelt was about to dig his claws into Dovepaw, when Firestar jumped onto him, and pulled him off of Dovepaw.
"You will regret that." He hissed into Breezepelt's ear. He saw Lionblaze leap over him onto Crowfeather. Graystripe and Blossompaw fought Owlwhisker together, and the WindClan cats knew they had no chance. Then, reinforcements arrived. Sedgepaw led Nightcloud, Weaselfur, Harespring, and Antpelt to the battle. They attacked the ThunderClan patrol fiercely, and Dovepaw found herself facing Sedgepaw, who had been an apprentice for several moons. Graystripe left Blossompaw battling Owlwhisker to help her, but he was stopped by Nightcloud. She would have to face Sedgepaw herself.
"Your leader isn't going to save you now." Hissed Sedgepaw.
"I can beat you!" growled Dovepaw. Sedgepaw tried to jump onto her, but she moved out of the way. He tried to claw her, but she instinctively dodged. He tried again, and she dodged his attack again. Dovepaw watched Sedgepaw carefully, trying to remember the moves she used while defending against them.
Sedgepaw was confused. This cat couldn't have been an apprentice long, and her name wasn't announced at the Gathering. That meant she had become an apprentice since then. So why was she dodging everything she threw at her so easily? She couldn't have had much battle training yet, if any. She should already have been running for home. How well could she do in battle?
Dovepaw saw her opening. Sedgepaw let down her guard for a second, and Dovepaw used it. She lashed out with her claws, ripped Sedgepaw's ear to shreds. She tried again, and this time sliced her nose. Sedgepaw cried out in pain. Sedgepaw doubled her efforts, but Dovepaw continued to dodge. She hissed in frustration, and tried to jump over Dovepaw to attack from behind. Dovepaw reacted without thinking, and reared up on her hind legs to slash Sedgepaw's belly, then turned to face the older apprentice.
"Still think I need someone to save me?" hissed Dovepaw. Sedgepaw looked around for a second, and realized the ThunderClan cats were winning. Crowfeather was gone, along with Owlwhisker and Harespring. Firestar was now against Antpelt. Graystripe was still fighting Nightcloud and Lionblaze was battling Weaselfur. Blossompaw had beaten Owlwhisker, but she was badly injured after Antpelt had attacked her from behind, and lay unmoving near Graystripe. Unfortunately for Sedgepaw, the second she looked up was all it took for Dovepaw to strike again, and in that time her other ear was shredded.
Sedgepaw was furious. This stupid, untrained, ThunderClan kit was beating her. How? Both of her beautiful ears were torn to shreds, her nose was sliced in half, and her soft underbelly had been clawed badly, yet ThunderClan's new apprentice was unharmed. She tried again and again to get her claws into Dovepaw, but she couldn't do it. She always dodged perfectly, and both aimed and timed her counterattacks flawlessly. Dovepaw and Sedgepaw continued to fight, and Dovepaw continued to escape unharmed while Sedgepaw received more and more scratches.
Lionblaze had sent Weaselfur running, and looked around. Antpelt looked ready to run off, Firestar didn't need his help. Nightcloud was still fighting against Graystripe, but she looked ready to run too. He saw Blossompaw lying near Graystripe and ran over to see if she was ok. She was injured badly, but she looked like she would live. He remembered Dovepaw. He looked around for her, thinking she wouldn't be able to defend herself if she was attacked. A single glance told him that he was wrong. And he knew there must be something special about her. She didn't even have a scratch on her, while Sedgepaw was clawed badly. Since she had never had any training, it was obvious to him. Dovepaw was the third.
