Second Chapter. Erm, no message :L
"Venomkit, from this day forward you will be known as Venompaw, and I will be your mentor!" Duststar declared.
Cats murmured to one another as the two touched noses. DarkClans leader never had an apprentice, due to the circumstances he had no apprentice. Venom paw would be the leaders first apprentice, and sure he was a good leader but he was still a new leader. Shouldn't his main priority be making himself an amazing leader, just not an ok one?
Hearing the cats he glared at them all and they quickly fell silent. Some reasoned that he would not have taken an apprentice if he couldn't handle her and the clan. Besides Venomkit was known for sometimes acting like a grow up instead of a kitten. The clan should be fine.
Roaringpaw and Hawkpaw had gotten mentors too, Hawkpaw was the apprentice medicine cat, while Glowingstone was Roaringpaws mentor. Roaringpaw seemed happy to get what he called, a fighting cat. Roaringpaw also made peace with the fact that Hawkpaw wished to be a medicine cat.
"Meeting is dismissed." He called to the clan, then glanced down at Venompaw. "Let's go exploring the tunnels." He suggested.
She squeaked with excitement. To explore the dark tunnels, where few cats except DarkClan could see! All clans were special in their own way, DarkClan could see better in the dark and make traps. Thorntrap himself came up with the ideas and many cats admired that, especially Venompaw.
They went down one tunnel. "This is more of the main tunnel, because from here there are entrances to the other three clans, ThunderClan, ShadowClan, and RiverClan. There is one tunnel at the back of the camp that leads under WindClan, but we will get there later. There is also a tunnel connecting WindClan and ThunderClan together, it was said that it was used in a big battle that involved all four clans. This battle angered StarClan so much they blocked out the sun, not the moon, but the sun." He talked as they walked forward at a brisk pace.
"It is easy to get lost down here, and it is easier to fall into one of our built traps, but this is why apprentices memorize the territory before doing anything else." He continued. "We are coming near the Thunderclan entrance." Duststar began to slow down.
Venompaws head swam. He talked so fast, and the information easily came from him, along with his confident steps throughout the tunnels. How could she memorize that twisty path, and where all the traps were laid? The were so many twists and turns, and it had been proven scent faded quicker down in the tunnels.
She stopped when he did and looked up, above her was the easy to reach ThunderClan entrance. All she had to do was jump up and claw her way to the sunlight, letting the breeze ruffle her fur… Again the sense of being trapped down there washed over her. Was DarkClan a prisoner in its own tunnels?
Duststar walked on and she followed. "There is a secret way to see if there are traps nearby, just look up." He said, halting a short distance away. "So, look up."
She did as told and noticed claw marks scoured the ceiling. To a cat who quickly glanced uop, it was part of the tunnel, but to a DarkClan cat it was a warning. Traps were nearby. Venompaw studied the ground and spotted a bramble line made to trip cats up. It was skillfully place to look like dirt.
"That was put there by Thorntrap." Duststar commented, slightly amused. "You can always tell it is his work by the ceiling only being marked by three scratches."
"What if the roof is too high?" Venompaw inquired.
"We mark the side." He shrugged.
They took a mostly straight path towards WindClan, then backtracked to the main tunnel. On the way back though, he had her lead, and when she got it wrong he didn't correct her. This was how she would learn her way around, by making mistakes and tracing her pawsteps back. It was also a test to see if she could spot traps in tunnels she ad not been in yet.
Venompaw was able to dodge and spot all traps. The path towards RiverClan was a downhill slope halfway, and up hill the other way with twists and turns every now and than. Duststar explained it was because they had to travel under the lake when doing so. ShadowClan was a mess of twists and turns, the most difficult part of the territory lay under ShadowClan.
DarkClan had a big territory, but hunting was difficult, and they needed all that territory to catch enough prey. Patrolling was difficult too, usually instead of checking every tunnel they checked the entrance and nearby tunnels. They had to trust their traps to stop and or discourage the invading cats. That and the chance a warrior would hear invaders while hunting.
Duststar continued to talk about different types of tunnels, and why that was important. Venompaw tried to pay attention, but her mind started to wander slightly. As he began to talk about training tunnels she fell into a trap. It was a dig trap, dig traps weren't deep, but they were filled with rotting prey and or brambles that would disgust any cat, or scratch their face. She fell face first into rotting fish guts.
Duststar leaned over her purring. "Pay attention, next time it could be brambles, or both!"
She shot up embarrassed and jumped out of the carefully concealed hole. "I ruined the cover!" She fretted.
"Relax." Duststar meowed and began to fix it. "This is how you cover it, incase you fall into another one." His whiskers twitched in amusement. He carefully covered the hole with some dirt, and showed her how to use rocks to make it seem more natural.
They walked on to the nearest entrance, which was Wind Clans. "All entrances lead to the shore." He explained. "Wash that smell off in the lake, but be quick!" He ordered as they stepped into the light.
She gasped as wind ruffled her fur for the first time, and the sun shone into her face with no hole to block it. Venompaw felt joy well up inside her and with an excited yelp she jumped into the lake. The cold didn't affect her feelings of happiness, she was outside those twisting dark tunnels! No need to navigate her way carefully in the shallows of the lake.
"Venompaw, hurry up." Duststar demanded sharply.
With a sigh of longing she left the lake and violently shook her pelt dry, and gave it a quick cleaning. No need for dirt to stick to her pelt like mud! They entered the tunnels once more, but now Venompaw was frowning. Thankfully Duststar had resume his lecture about tunnel types and failed to notice her sad look.
They entered camp and Venompaw was ordered to eat something. She spotted her brother Hawkpaw devouring a mouse. Purring she choose a fish and joined him.
"How was your first day?" He asked cheerfully.
"It was amazing! Except I fell into a dig trap." She admitted. "But then I got to go outside! The outside is glorious!"
He purred. "Fell into a dig trap? Was it filled with rotten prey?" He teased.
She wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, and it was super gross. You think fish are gross? Try their guts."
"Luckily for you there weren't any brambles, DarkClan can't afford to waste herbs on careless apprentices." Hawkpaw commented.
She felt a little guilty about not asking him how his day went. "How was your day?" She asked with true curiosity.
"Well DarkClan does have trouble keeping up with herbs, and we have to walk a long way to the garden," The garden was where they grew herbs and it laid outside clan territory. "But I learned that we can collect roots easier. I also had to tour around the territory and learn about traps and how to spot them." He informed her. "Tomorrow we are going to visit the garden."
As Venompaw was about to reply Roaringpaw came storming towards them. "Can you believe it?" He raged. "We have to memorize the tunnel system before we can learn anything of use!"
Venompaw was startled by his anger. "Why so angry, Roaringpaw?"
"I wanted to learn fighting, not different types of tunnel structures!" He growled.
Venompaw thought carefully, than spoke. "Well, I think tunnel types is useful, because we have to fight in them. I heard we learn a move involving a flip, but we need to use a tunnel wall to do so."
He hesitated and began to calm down. "So we learn this stuff to fight better?"
"Yup." She confirmed. "We need to know which tunnel is big enough to turn around in."
Roaringpaw nodded. "Makes sense." He admitted. "Besides, we need to know how to spot traps so we don't fall into one. I didn't fall into a trp today!" He announced proudly.
Hawkpaw chuckled. "Venompaw fell into fish guts here, it was a dig trap."
Roaringpaw pushed her playfully. "Yucky, you love fish that much huh?"
"No, I just wasn't paying attention." Venompaw protested.
They laughed and joked as they finished their supper and the moons glow filled camp through the hole in the ceiling. Their first day as apprentices wasn't half bad, even Roaringpaw admitted he had some fun exploring the territory with his energetic mentor. Hawkpaw went to the medicine cats den while Roaringpaw and Venompaw agreed to sleep near each other in the apprentices den.
They choose had their pick of the sleeping areas and choose the center. When Nightfurs second litter came into the apprentice den, the two sibling would be warmest in the center. They snuggled close to each other and Venompaw drifted off to sleep.
Morning came by and Venompaw woke before Roaringpaw. She exited the den without waking her brother, figuring he could wake himself up, and choose some prey from the pile. The sun was just beginning to rise as she started to chow down on a rabbit who dumbly decided the tunnels was its home. She liked rabbits second to fish, and her clanmates enjoyed teasing her about liking the least liked prey.
Venompaw didn't mind since they weren't being mean about it. She finished her prey and waited for Duststar to begin today's training. Because she didn't have the tunnels memorized yet she wasn't aloud out of camp alone. Hopefully soon she would get her home memorized.
Duststar walked out of his den. "Let's get going Venompaw." He called out to her, not getting anything to eat for himself.
She shrugged and ran after him as he raced to the that lead to WindClan. It seemed today they would be exploring the other side of the territory. They raced until the tunnels forked, and both tunnels had claw marks over them. Traps littered the tunnels, and she already had to dodge two.
"We are going to explore this side today and spend the rest of the week memorizing the territory. With luck you will be able to spot a few traps too. Though I can guarantee none of them will be Thorntraps!" Duststar promised.
Venompaw purred agreement. Thorntrap was trully the greatest trap maker of the clan. They walked around the tunnel and he showed her some of the places they used to train. Then he stopped in front of a cold unwelcoming entrance.
"We do not go through this one." He said gravely. "It has a habit of dropping rocks on our heads, and cat bones litter it. Only once could we enter, and it was to bury Redstar. Perhaps it is only meant to be a graveyard? We plan to use it as such since it seems fitting."
Sadness washed over Venompaw, graveyards were meant to be used to visit the dead. The fact that she couldn't visit her mothers grave threatened to send her back into depression. Duststar seemed to sense her mode darkening.
"Let's leave." He meowed gently and steered her away.
They continued the tour of the territory and when that was done she had to re-visit everyplace, than lead him back. If she got it wrong he wouldn't correct her, and they managed to make it back a few hours before evening.
Half an hour later Roaringpaw returned, and when he spotted his sister his face twisted in anger.
"Why didn't you wake me!" He demanded in a whisper.
She looked at him startled. "We are apprentices, we should be waking ourselves up,"
"Well I overslept and was embarrassed in front of the whole clan." He growled.
Angry that he blamed her for his mistake she shot back a sharp retort. "It wasn't the whole clan, because Duststar and I were out on time." She said smugly.
He growled and bunched his muscles. Realizing what her brother was about to do she talked on faster, "If you attack me here in front of everyone you will just bring more shame to yourself. Think and hold your temper, I should of held my temper too. Sorry for goading you and making you angrier."
He calmed down and licked his chest. "Sorry for blaming you for my mistake." He mumbled. He didn't sound too sorry, but she let it slide. Roaringpaw had some pride problems, and she understood that.
The day at camp passed quickly, and she attempted to show Roaringpaw how she caught that fish, even though there was no fish in the stream today. Suddenly the little sun that was able to shine into the water caught some silver in it. She pointed it out to Roaringpaw who spotted it right after. He copied her movements and pulled a fish right out.
With a mighty paw Roaringpaw slammed down on the fish head and grinned viciously. "It's dead, and I killed it!" He announced proudly. "Wanna share it?"
She purred. "Sure."
Roaringpaw took a large bite and pushed it towards her. She copied and they finished the fish in a few gulped. In minutes the fish was gone and the two apprentices lay in the weak light that filtered through the hole in the tunnel.
A week of just walking through the tunnels passed and left Venompaw bored, so bored she was tempted sneak out of the tunnels in the middle of the night. She managed to refrain herself though, promising herself this constant walking would be worth it. She was right in the end, for at the end of that week was the test to see if they could finally walk alone in the tunnel. If they passed it they would began to learn the real important skills, like hunting, fighting, and trap making!
Duststar stood in front of her and Roaringpaw. He looked at them both sternly. "Pass this test and you will begin the second stage in your training." He meowed. "Both of you will be tested separately, and Venompaw, you will go first. Roaringpaw, you will wait here for twenty minutes then start at the WindClan tunnel."
The two apprentice nodded.
"Venompaw, Go through the ShadowClan part of the territory, leave no tunnel out!" Duststar ordered.
She ran off at a speedy sprint. She weaved left and right, a near invisible blur in the dark tunnels. Every now and then Venompaw left marks to show she went through that tunnel, and in record time she had zoomed strategically through every tunnel and went back to where Duststar was waiting.
"Nice time." He meowed.
"How do you know if I actually went through all of the tunnels? She panted.
"Oh, warriors follow you, now go run all over the ThunderClan portion." He flicked his tail.
She went off at a relaxing jog since she had stupidly used all her speed for the first portion of the territory test. She completed the second part in a slower time, but she was confident she had passed. She finished the last two parts, which lay under RiverClan and WindClan in moderate time.
When all was done she reported back to Duststar.
"Tomorrow if you have passed we will begin your battle training" He promised with a purr. "You are my apprentice though, so I am sure you have passed."
They entered the camp and Venompaw was content to sit in the unused part of camp. It was the place she loved most since she could disappear into it. She sat in the corner and closed her eyes, blending in perfectly with the shadows and dark walls.
An hour passed and she felt she had her mind in order when Roaringpaw came in, seeming distraught. She walked up to him slowly, remembering that he had his pride, and if she asked if something was wrong he might not tell her.
"Hey Roaringpaw." She greeted him instead. "Lets grab some dinner, I know my legs are aching."
He nodded numbly and she choose a large hare to split between the two of them. Venompaw took a small bite, even though she wasn't exactly hungry. Roaringpaw nibbled off a piece smaller then what she bit off and that confirmed Venompaws suspicions. Roaringpaw had an appetite to match a starving bear, taking nibbles wasn't his thing.
She frowned and took a bite for herself, wondering what to talk about in order to make him more open to talking about his problems. "So, todays test was exhausting huh?" She mumbled.
"Exhausting." He agreed.
Hawkpaw trotted up. "Mind if I share that hare with you two? You both seem to have lost your appetite." He happily added.
"Go ahead." Roaringpaw shrugged. "I want to go to bed early."
"It isn't even sundown, stay up until it is dark." Hawkpaw urged. "For the sake of your sleeping schedule."
"Fine." Roaringpaw sat back down with a thump.
"Ah, I bet our brother is just tired from the running we had to do today." Venompaw remarked. "I know I am, and I acted like an idiot at the beginning of it too. Using up all of my stamina in the first part."
Roaringpaw seemed to relax a little, hearing that his sister had flawed. "I didn't do too well myself." He admitted.
"What happened?" She asked interested, but attempted to keep her voice friendly instead of prying.
"Glowingstone hinted that I failed it. I just couldn't memorize all of the tunnels under RiverClan!" He admitted.
"Glowingstone also thinks since she was the first made warrior of DarkClan she is special." Hawkpaw snorted. "Don't let your mentor get to you. Only bad mentors put their apprentices down. Now I am off to sort herbs!" Hawkpaw left Venompaw and Roaringpaw.
"How did you really do, sis?" Roaringpaw wondered.
"Well, I really did run too fast at first, but I think I visited every tunnel." She admitted. "Duststar was confident in my abilities."
"Ok." Roaringpaw meowed, keeping his voice emotionless. "Well, I still want to go to bed early and the sun is beginning to set. Night Venompaw."
"Night Roaringpaw."