I successfully hunted a shiny Iron Valiant! Now I'm onto Zorua. Wish these raids were easier to deal with so I can get more Herba Mystica...
This chapter came out meh due to mental issues.
Last ever chapter of 2022! Maybe 2023 will turn out better for me :P
Reviews are appreciated!
Bramblestar sat in the shelter of a hazel bush, watching Minty creep up on a mouse. Frankie and Jessy, the other members of the patrol, were watching from farther around the edge of the clearing.
'I can't believe this!' Bramblestar thought wryly. 'A hunting patrol of kittypets!'
But in the quarter moon since the expedition into Shadowclan's hunting grounds, all three of them were improving their tracking skills- even Minty, who had the twin advantages of being small and light-pawed. The mouse, nibbling something among the roots of a beech tree, had no idea that she was stalking it. She had even remembered to check the wind direction.
Suddenly Minty leaped forward and trapped the mouse under an outstretched paw. "Got it!" she exclaimed.
The mouse let out a squeal of terror.
"Agh!" Minty sprang back, raising her paw, and the mouse scuttled off.
Frankie shook his head with an exaggerated sigh, then took off after the mouse and killed it with a quick blow to the head.
"Neat catch!" Bramblestar praised him as he padded back with the body dangling from his jaws.
Minty's head was hanging as she rejoined the patrol. "I'm sorry," she mewed. "It freaks me out when they squeal. It sounds like… the roaring," she said carefully.
Bramblestar inwardly sighed. Minty was only improving by leaps and bounds because she tried to get out of camp every chance she could. Whenever the she-cat had no choice but to stay at camp, she hid within the tunnels. Anywhere, as long as it was away from Firestar.
"It doesn't freak you out anymore when you eat them, though," Jessy pointed out.
"I know. I'll try to do better next time," Minty promised.
"Your stalking was very good," Bramblestar told her. "Why don't you see if you can scent some more prey?"
Obediently Minty began sniffing around, and soon picked up another scent trail, following it across the clearing with her nose to the ground.
"Well done!" Bramblestar called to her.
"This is odd," Minty muttered. "I don't know this scent, but it must be prey, right?" Bramblestar and the others watched as she vanished among some brambles at the other side of the clearing, then froze with only her hindquarters and her tail sticking out. Feeling his pelt begin to prickle with apprehension, Bramblestar opened his jaws to taste the air. In the same heartbeat, Minty began to back slowly out of the thicket.
"Er... this isn't prey at all," she mewed.
The reek of fox hit Bramblestar in the throat as a snarl sounded from the midst of the brambles. Minty turned and fled across the clearing, her belly fur brushing the grass and her tail streaming out. A young fox exploded out of the thicket behind her.
"Stay back!" Bramblestar snapped at the kittypets. Bounding forward, Bramblestar met the fox at the center of the clearing and reared up on his hind legs to rake the claws of both forepaws across the fox's muzzle. The fox let out a bark of mingled pain and surprise, and lunged at Bramblestar, its jaws gaping. Bramblestar ducked aside and managed to land a blow on the fox's flank before he darted back out of range. The fox whirled to follow him, but it was already looking confused. It hadn't expected its prey to fight back, Bramblestar figured with satisfaction as he dashed in again and clawed its ears with a swift slash of his paw. Letting out a high-pitched screech of terror, the fox backed off, then spun around and fled out of the clearing, vanishing among a thick clump of ferns. At the same moment another Thunderclan hunting patrol raced into the clearing, with Mousewhisker in the lead.
"We heard the fight!" Mousewhisker gasped. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," Bramblestar panted. "Take your patrol and follow it," he added, "all the way to its den."
"Right." Mousewhisker waved his tail to the rest of his patrol, and vanished into the ferns on the trail of the fox. 'It's a good thing they turned up,' Bramblestar thought. 'We can't hope to clear all the forest of foxes, but we need to know where they are, especially now that we're hunting across the border.'
The three kittypets crowded around Bramblestar, their eyes wide with shock. "That was amazing!" Frankie exclaimed.
"I never thought a cat could take on a fox like that," Jessy added, her eyes glowing. "It was the bravest thing I've ever seen!"
"It wasn't hard," Bramblestar mewed, wanting to scuffle his paws in the earth like an embarrassed apprentice. "It was a young fox, and easy to confuse. Besides, it's quite common for us to have to chase off a fox or a badger."
'At least there's one thing I can do on my own…'
"Show me how one would defeat a badger!" Jessy urged him in excitement.
'Why not? It might be needed some day,' he decided.
"Okay." Bramblestar took a pace forward that brought him to her side. "First, get into the hunter's crouch." As Jessy pressed herself to the ground, he added, "Now, remember that your hind legs-" He broke off as he spotted movement in the corner of his eye, and looked around to see Squirrelflight emerge into the clearing. She bounded over to him with an anxious look in her green eyes.
"I heard about the fox," she told him. "Is everything okay?" Glancing down at Jessy, she went on, "Uh... what are you doing?"
"Discussing ways to fight off a badger," Bramblestar meowed.
"Oh... are you?" There was an odd note of strain in Squirrelflight's voice. "We met a badger once in the old forest; do you remember? Me and you and Thornclaw, when I was your apprentice."
She raised her head, and her eyes locked with Bramblestar's. His memories came flooding back. 'She looked at me like that back then, too,' he recalled. 'Just for a heartbeat, as we ran from that badger.'
Squirrelflight gave her pelt a shake. "I'll go check for any more traces of that fox," she mewed.
"Be careful," Bramblestar warned her.
"I can look after myself," Squirrelflight responded. "You trained me well." There was warmth in her voice, but the brilliance of her gaze faded as she looked down at Jessy.
'Wait… she can't be serious,' he started realizing.
"Hold up," he called, just as she was about to turn around and bound out of the clearing. She halted in her tracks.
"You all should head back to the tunnels," he decided. "Frankie, don't forget your mouse."
"I've decided that if I meet any foxes or badgers I'm going to run away very fast," Minty announced as they trekked back toward the camp. "Or climb a tree. They can't climb trees, can they?" she added anxiously to Bramblestar.
"No, they can't," he reassured her. "Then that's what I'll do," Minty decided.
The two waited in silence until the kittypet's voices couldn't be heard anymore. A light rain began to drizzle down on them.
"I remember you wanted to talk before," he stated. "I get the feeling I have an idea on what it is."
Squirrelflight twitched, pelt bristling lightly. "Why talk about it if you already know?"
He tilted his head. "Then please explain to me why you're jealous that I'm training them?"
She sighed, almost inaudible over the pattering of rain. He wondered if he had gotten what was bothering Squirrelflight wrong. "That's… not totally the reason."
But it did confirm that the kittypets bothered Squirrelflight in some way.
"Remember I was going to say something until Jessy came with the plan?"
He nodded slowly, unsure where she was going with this.
"I was going to congratulate you," she said softly.
Bramblestar blinked in confusion, trying to rummage through his head on what possibly he could be congratulated for. So far he led his clan to a dusty tunnel for shelter, almost got several of his cats killed, and angered Shadowclan.
"You and Jessy, mouse-brain!" she hissed.
His thoughts trailed to a halt. 'What?'
"I know I've been… hard on you lately, and on Jessy too. But if you really like her that way, then I don't have a choice but to wish you well now don't I?"
'What?'
Before Squirrelflight could ramble further, he held up his tail to stop her. "Okay, stop." She paused, pelt bristling in nervousness.
"You got all of this because I've been spending time with Jessy?" he questioned. At Squirrelflight's slow nod, he sighed. "I've been spending time with her because I think she can make a good warrior. You know, like a mentor and apprentice? That's like me getting jealous because you and Foxleap used to spend time out in the forest together," he said exasperated.
She ducked her head in embarrassment. "But you treat her the same way you treated me when we were mates," she mumbled.
His ear twitched, sending a few droplets of water splashing onto the ground. "Because you both have a penchant for being reckless and need to be watched?"
She said nothing, though it was clear to see that Squirrelflight was sending waves of embarrassment from her pelt.
"We're not mates," he said. "And neither are we, so I'm not sure why you're jealous all of a sudden," he wondered. "I thought we were going to do the friends thing all over again?"
"I- I don't know. I don't know what came over me," she murmured. "I- yeah, I was acting like a mouse-brain there wasn't I?"
"Let's just go back to camp, alright?" he prodded. They walked silently back to the tunnels, the rain pouring harder on their pelts.
'And now it's even more awkward.'
They finally made it up the slope, where they found Cloudtail waiting for them.
"Hey, Bramblestar! Squirrelflight!" Cloudtail called. "Come check this out!"
Turning, Bramblestar saw that the white warrior was standing a couple of fox-lengths up the slope, a marker stick poking out of the ground beside him. Another stick stood a few tail-lengths away, and another: a whole line of them stretching along the slope well above the edge of the flood.
Relief surged through Bramblestar, making him dizzy. "The water's going down!"
"Thank Starclan!" Squirrelflight breathed in relief.
"Brilliant!" Cloudtail's blue eyes gleamed. "We will get our home back; you can be sure of that."
Now I've just made things more awkward.
No Squirrelflight, you still aren't Bramblestar's mate. And he's not getting together with Jessy. Stop being jelly.
Our resident dragon is busy crying over the fact that his son won't accept his cuddles :(
Tell me how I did.