Chapter Two: Evaluation Day
Joxnpaw woke up in his den. His skin felt cold and his eyes stung. He looked to his right and there lie a small, feeble apprentice like himself. It was his litter mate Tahsispaw. He realized he still had fur, claws, and a tail. He only dreamed of being a pirate, but to his dismay he was only a mediocre apprentice of shadowclan.
When he was old enough to catch his own prey he wandered into a two legs nest and his life changed. Inside the two legs nest there was a magic illuminating box where the pirates lived. Joxnpaw was entranced by the twolegs pirate with a pirate hat and dreadlocks. The pirate was in the magic box four times each moon every seven days. Joxnpaw made a habit of visiting the twolegs nest to see the pirate in the box. He was ashamed to even tell his littermate Tahsispaw about his fascination with pirates.
Today was Joxnpaw and Tahsispaw's evaluation. While Joxnpaw had been daydreaming of life as a pirate again, Tahsispaw pounced on Joxnpaw in excitement for their evaluation.
"We're going to be warriors soon!" Tahsispaw mewed in excitement. Joxnpaw shook his head and tried to put his mind in reality. He knew he would need all his concentration if he wanted be able to catch the three mice needed for the evaluation. He thought of how easy it would be to catch mice if he were a pirate. Tahsispaw padded out of their shared apprentice den.
"Good luck!" exclaimed Hopepaw, Rainpaw, Waynepaw, and Joepaw, their fellow apprentices. "Today you join Maxpad and Davidwing in the ranks of warriors!"
As Joxnpaw walked out of the den, he looked around his beloved camp. By the leader's den, Jasonstar and his deputy Safastorm were sharing tounges. When they saw him staring, they quickly stopped, embarrasses. Joxnpaw let out a purr of amusement. Every cat in Shadowclan knew about their "secret" love. Nearby, he saw Sethwhisker, Henryfur, and Michaelstripe coming in from the morning patrol. By the medicine cat's den he saw Nerypool. the medicine cat, training Sangpaw, his apprentice, in the art of asexuality. By the apprentice den, he saw Chrispaw, Anniepaw, and Xingpaw, the younger apprentices, watching the four older apprentices play-fight. And finally, he saw Kellykit and Alicekit being scolded by Ellispelt, the only queen in the nursery. Joxnpaw sighed, distracted again by a sudden thought about pirates.
Suddenly, a small bundle of fur rolled into him. "Oh, hi there Jesskit..." mewed Joxnpaw. Tahsispaw ran up to Jesskit. Taking Jesskit's paw in his mouth, Tahsispaw exclaimed, "I need meat!" Joxnpaw, exasperated, pulled Jesskit out of Tahsispaw's mouth. Tahsispaw scurried to the fresh kill pile and made dirt on it. "Don't worry, Jesskit, he's just nervous." sighed Joxnpaw. He didn't understand why Tahsispaw was so excited to be something other than a pirate.
Maxpad, Joxnpaw's mentor, padded up to him. "Ready for your big day?" Joxnpaw nodded, trying to appear as excited as Tahsispaw did. "Well too bad, mousedung." replied Maxpad. "You're a failure." Joxnpaw scowled, but secretly agreed. He was a failure... "Relax, I'm kidding. Now go get some fresh kill and meet me at the thorn barrier when you finish."