Hello everyone! Welcome to my very first chapter of "In the Rain" I hope you enjoy!
Please, please, review this story, it means a lot and motivates me to write more and more, and lemme tell you now I tend to fall out of my writing habits when I'm not very motivated. It's greatly appreciated when someone favorites, follows and reviews, and I take that to heart :) By the way, it's only been ten minutes and I already have 22 views. So thank you for that, it means a lot! Now enough rambling, onto chapter one!
The sunlight gleamed into the apprentice den, shining brightly through Foxpaw's eyelids. The wind brushed her fur, sending slight chills up her spine. She twisted crossly to her side, attempting to stay asleep despite how badly her eyes threatened to open.
"Foxpaw! Foxpaw!" A familiar voice echoed throughout the den, ringing through Foxpaw's small ears. She groaned in frustration, writhing aimlessly along the dirt although she knew no matter what she'd be getting up in a couple moments. "Foxpaw! You have to get up. You're first day of training is today!" Her mentor, Mapleberry exclaimed obnoxiously loud, her shrill voice noisily filling the air within the den. Most likely Foxpaw was the only apprentice left behind in the den. As usual. She wasn't exactly believed to be... Clan-born. Although it was possible that she was, and was abandoned by one of the opposing Clan cats which left her on her own throughout the storm.
"I'm coming, I'm coming..." She mumbled crankily, gradually rising to her paws as the rubble and dirt that trapped itself within her tiny rubber claws vibrated as she walked towards the exit of the den. Pieces of twigs and moss dropped from her hind legs as she shook herself, stretched, and yawned before walking out and into the clearing of Camp where the noises grew abruptly louder, and Mapleberry sat angrily waiting beside the fresh kill pile, her tail straddling her flexing paws.
"Mapleberry, I didn't mean to-"
"Save it." She muttered, getting to her paws with a quick huff before tossing a scrawny vole at Foxpaws's paws. "Eat this, quick. We have to leave to training with Riverpaw, Beepaw and Hollypaw now." She licked her chops, staring at the thin and rather frail apprentice who bushed out her fur before chowing down the small vole, licking the dry blood that crusted its neck where it had been killed. She'd never liked the taste of blood, prey or not, she found it disgusting, and hid the taste of it with heavy amounts of meat. She spat out a rather sharp bone, letting it sit, sharp side facing downwards, while she kicked sand atop it and glanced towards Mapleberry, who watched in boredom. Her mentor rolled her eyes, stood up straight, and headed off down the pathway towards the arena where apprentices generally practiced their fighting skills against one another.
"Mapleberry, will I get to fight today?" She asked, only a couple fox-tails from the Clan Camp. Mapleberry hissed under her breath, her tail twitching in frustration. "If you ask, you won't get to fight. Understand? Don't ask. Plus, you seem fairly small for an average apprentice. You're fur is still silky smooth like any day-old kit, and you can barely follow orders. So most likely, no, you won't today." She muttered in a strict tone, the sun glistening down on the two cats who padded across the pebbles and rocks that made a passage way across the stream like a bridge, and straight down the circle of oak trees that fielded off the arena. Foxpaw cringed, scrambling after Mapleberry in an attempt to catch up without falling into the lake and getting stranded by the waters flow, sending Mapleberry to chase after her in an angry rage.
"Okay." Foxpaw concluded with a curt node, eyeing Mapleberry who only snorted, her tortoiseshell fur twitching uneasily as the pine tree branches scratched at her back during their walk down the rocks. The plinks and plonks of the tiny pebbles cluttering under their feet felt rather calming, the sun passing behind some clouds to leave a nice cool breeze to brush by them. The damp grass smelled of pungent mint and pinecones, that sent Foxpaw into a deep sniffle, her white chest fur quaking slowly. She'd received her name from one of the queens, in which had said she, just as any cat named Foxpaw, looked exactly like a fox. Her markings were rather similar, except for strange patterns along her back of white dots that resembled those of a deer. She shifted uneasily across the prickly pines underfoot, trampling across as she attempted to thunder past and reach the arena as quickly as possible, to get as much done today as she could, and hopefully even get to train, which seemed unlikely because of Mapleberry's attitude.
It isn't my fault I'm small and my fur is like a kits. Right? I mean my apprentice ceremony was only yesterday!
Shaking her head rather violently, Foxpaw followed Mapleberry through the underbrush that led straight into the arena, squirming past the brambles that poked viciously at her side, sending Foxpaw to yelp as she attempted to pass by easily. "Foxpaw! You're supposed to go in through the other hole! Not the smaller one beside me!" Mapleberry exclaimed, her tail flicking Foxpaw's nose, sending the apprentice to sneeze in return.
"Sorry!" She replied, flushing hot with embarrassment as she glanced directly towards the other three apprentices who sat huddled in their own corner of the field. They whispered among one another, sending Foxpaw to angle her ears in that direction to catch their words before realizing she was eavesdropping. She paused, her ears flattening as she faced the ground and stared at her paws.
"Today we'll have two pairings. Riverpaw pair up with your sister, and Beepaw pair up with Foxpaw." Hollypaw's mentor, Reedfern announced from Mapleberry's side atop a tree branch, perching rather comfortably on the thick wood.
"Dang it! Why do I have to be paired up with the weirdo!" Beepaw groaned, sluggishly sliding towards the smaller apprentice slowly. Foxpaw squirmed uneasily, watching Hollypaw's and Riverpaw's gaze flickering with something she couldn't really understand. Hopefully they didn't agree with Beepaw completely. She was just their friend, after all. The mentors sighed, and Reedfern rose to his paws. "Today you'll just be showing us what you think is standard fighting amongst the Clan. Show us what you now, and what you think are the proper moves."
The apprentices nodded, ready to face off one another, battle-ready. "You're going down, bird-brain." Beepaw hissed maliciously, her tongue swiping at her jaw rather devilishly as she attempted to appear as terrifying as possible. Foxpaw felt her ears flatten instinctively, for just about the fiftieth time that day, drawing further and further away from Beepaw till her back hit the trunk of the nearest tree that bordered the arena from the outside.
"And, start!" The loud yowl that erupted from Riverpaw's mentor, Bramblebreeze rang throughout the air, most likely heard all the way from Camp. His voice was followed by Beepaw's equivalently thundering battle cry, as the large apprentice lept forward, catching Foxpaw's fur in her paws. Foxpaw could feel a hint of Beepaw's claws, wincing rather mildly before whipping her hind legs around as she tried her hardest to kick off her opponent. Beepaw only snickered, the greatly visible smirk across her maw flashing for a quick moment before Foxpaw managed to yelp, pushing Beepaw off with her muzzle as she unsheathed her claws for just a moment. Foxpaw glanced to her flank, where the slight amount of blood dripped from her skin. It was barely there, but all in all it still stung. The weight of Beepaw's body on Foxpaw's was lifted only seconds later, following a grumpy exclamation from Beepaw.
"Hey! What'd you do that for! Didn't you see? I was winning!" Beepaw claimed, appearing to not even be the least bit tired, although Foxpaw was panting like mad. Riverpaw had Beepaw pinned down, his head cocked as he stepped off of his friend afterwards. "You aren't allowed to unsheathe your claws, Beepaw! You never did that when you played with us!" Riverpaw meowed, sitting down on the ground with his back straight. His brown tabby fur glistened in the sunlight, twitching as a piece of pine drifted down from the tree above them and onto his pelt.
Beepaw rolled her eyes dryly. "Yeah, yeah. Who cares? I won. That's all that matters." She muttered under her breath, staring directly into Riverpaw's eyes, a flicker of something unusual that she had never seen before flutter by her gaze. Although Riverpaw didn't seem to repeat the same expression, only remaining just about as curious as Foxpaw.
"Uh-Huh.. That's what matters..." Riverpaw sighed, shaking out the pines from his fur and hurrying off back to Hollypaw. He glanced back towards Foxpaw, who hid in the shade of the large pine tree, pawing at the sand sullenly. She didn't want to have any other apprentice helping her out, even if he was just doing it for some selfish reason, like showing off that he knew how to fight correctly and properly. Foxpaw wanted to be able to fight without another apprentice or warrior watching her and keeping an eye out a couple paw-steps away. She lifted her head, facing the cold glare Beepaw laid on her, sending Foxpaw into praying to MoonClan for a surge of strength that would lead her out of flinching away.
She wasn't weak, she couldn't be weak. If she showed a sign of weakness, she swore Beepaw would eat her alive, and eventually, all the mentors would join in. The six month and a day old apprentice rose to her paws, shook out her fur, and flicked her tail tentatively. She was going to face them, and she would face them with as much courage and strength that she thought she had. Which was practically none.
"Foxpaw. Would you say you've had enough of fighting for the day?" Reedfern questioned quizzically. As if he was checking whether or not Foxpaw could withstand the pain, even though they all knew her cut only felt like getting scratched by a twig. Which, as Foxpaw knew from personal experience, that it wasn't too bad. She shook her head, flicked her tail, and stepped forward, paws digging deep into the earthy ground as she stared forward confidently.
"Let's fight."