A moon later Shadow and her littermates were now a moon old and according to their mother they were old enough to learn how to hunt for themselves. Their father disagreed saying that they should be six moons old when they began to hunt. Shadow crouched in the shadows of their den and listened to her parents argue about when they should learn how to hunt. Her father eventually gave in and agreed, although he insisted that he brought his deputy Twigclaw, who knew about Rain, so that there would be a mentor for each kit. Her mother agreed and then her father left, calling out as he left, "I'll be back by sunhigh with Twigclaw." "ok." meowed my mother as he left. I immediately took advantage of my mother's distraction and quickly slipped out of the den and met up with my waiting littermates. "Did he agree?!" squeaked Birch. "Yes!" I whispered. "YES!" yowled Storm and Birch together defeating the purpose of my whisper. I told them about everything I heard when I eavesdropped while we waited for our father to get back with Twigclaw.
True to his word our father returned by sunhigh with Twigclaw. The three kits swiftly gathered around the two cats firing off question after question, "Who's going to be my mentor?!" squealed Storm, " Who am I getting?!" yowled Birch Shadow just watched tail twitching deep in thought, "Twigclaw looks strict…but I don't want my parents to mentor me…maybe I don't need a mentor! Yes. I'll just train myself." Shadow smirked, pleased with herself. She sauntered over to her father and Twigclaw and casually meowed, "Twigclaw can go back to your clan now, I won't be needing a mentor." Shadow noted that Twigclaw narrowed his eyes at this comment and hissed, "You think you've got it together, kit? Well I can bet that you don't. Skystar I'll mentor this one myself." Shadow rolled her eyes and stalked away. A few heartbeats later Twigclaw as carrying a writhing yowling bundle of black fur out into the forest.
Shadow padded through grouchily forest with her "mentor" suddenly Twigclaw stopped and meowed," Can you hear that mouse?" " Of course I can." snorted Shadow." Then stalk it, owlbrain." taunted Twigclaw. Shadow deftly settled into a perfect hunter's crouch and began to stalk the mouse, careful to not make a noise. Shadow secretly hoped that her new mentor was proud of her. She had never gotten much attention from her parents because her father didn't visit often and her mother was often worrying about her littermates and scolding her when she got into trouble, none the less Shadow still loved them, they were her family after all. She crouched watching the mouse attentively and then Twigclaw purposely snapped a branch and the mouse began to bolt. Shadow hissed in frustration and swiftly leapt at a tree, using it as a springboard and landing neatly on the fleeing mouse. She killed it with a quick bite on the neck. Twigclaw nodded at her catch and said, "well we're off to a good start." at this moment Shadow knew that she would love having Twigclaw as her mentor.
Shadow trained hard with Twigclaw and even harder when he wasn't there to train her. As a result she became a much better hunter and fighter than her littermates. When Shadow was two moons old she was ready to have her final assessment. She passed the hunting assessment with ease and her own father was her opponent in the fighting assessment. Right before the assessment began Twigclaw pulled Shadow aside and swiftly told her this, "Sometimes a cat can be like prey." Shadow blinked and asked, "What does that mean?" Twigclaw didn't answer only wishing her good luck. Shadow stepped into the training ring aware of her mother's worried expression and the jealous expressions on her littermates faces. Skystar stepped into the ring and called the assessment to begin.
Skystar lunged but Shadow saw him coming much slower, she jumped neatly aside and slashed her sheathed claws at his head, cuffing him around the ears. There was a snort of amusement coming from her mother's mouth as she watched her mate, the best fighter in his clan, get beaten by his daughter. Skystar's eyes widened in surprise as he got cuffed he spun around and vaulted over his daughter's head to land perfectly behind her. Shadow whirled around quickly but she knew that he had her in a good position, her mind raced with frantic thought as she tried to think of a tactic to get herself out of the situation. Suddenly she remembered her mentor's words, "Sometimes a cat can be like prey." Shadow finally understood, as Skystar charged sure of his victory she leapt at a tree and sprung off of it, landing on her father's back and using her momentum to shove his muzzle into the ground. Shadow quickly dug all four claws into the ground to keep her father down and grabbed his scruff, biting down slightly so that he knew that she had him in an inescapable position. Skystar finally sighed, " I have lost." Shadow leapt up with joy yowling, "I did it!" she slipped over to the side of the side of the ring where her mentor waited a fiery pride was in his eyes as he purred, "Great job Shadow."