𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓭𝓻𝓸𝓹'𝓼 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 〄 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

chapter one

Pearpaw's feet burned as she walked along with Mangopaw, Ivypaw, Petalblaze, and Orcamask. They were walking alongside each other, feeling the heat of the white sand below.

"Petalblaze, could we please go hunting?" Ivypaw begged. "It's so hot." Pearpaw stifled a groan. She was bad at hunting. Patrolling was so much easier, even if they did have to endure the long stretches of burning sand.

"Look on the bright side, Ivypaw!" Orcamask said. "We have sea wind, and there are some trees up ahead for shade." She motioned towards the small patch.

Pearpaw's friend sighed. "I guess, Orcamask." She trotted ahead, her tail lifted.

Petalblaze looked at Orcamask. "We are reaching the end of the patrol, and we need prey. After all, Dawnrise needs to feed her kits. Pearpaw, Mangopaw, Ivypaw, you should try hunting in the Grass Patch."

Mangopaw nodded vigorously. "Yes, Petalblaze," she replied. "Pearpaw, last one to the Patch is a Pincer Crab!" She ran along the sand, paws flinging up clouds of tan.

"And it'll be you!" She shouted back, speeding along the border. Running was her specialty. She let her body relax, feeling her paws graze the sand. Tensing up wouldn't work on loose sand, but Mangopaw couldn't do it.

As the three apprentices reached the grass, they began to hunt, looking for mice and lizards.

They had teamed up to kill a rodent-like thing that Ivypaw called a "shrew," and Mangopaw had found a small mouse. Ivypaw had caught a couple lizards and was standing by their buried catch.

"What's next?" Pearpaw asked, washing her paw pads. Dirt was horrible compared to sand; she was glad it was only a small part of TideClan's territory.

Mangopaw's eyes sparkled. "Well," she began, eyes lighting up, "Why don't we do a hunting competition? We could see who can hunt the more before, let's say, sundown." She trotted around her sister and Ivypaw.

Ivypaw's eyes shimmered. "What are the boundaries?" She asked, interested. "Can we hunt on the sands?"

The orange tabby hopped around the small dirt patch. "Not this time," she replied. "Only in the Grass Patch. Small area, sure, but there's prey."

Pearpaw was confused at this. How was this dry, palmless land prey-filled? There was nothing besides a few mice and lizards. It was hardly the size of TideClan's camp. "You're on!" She said out loud, ears turning and mouth open. Mouse over there, is that a lizard? Smells decent, might go for that. But Mangopaw might, too. Ivypaw would try to please Rosewish. I'll go for the mouse. I can beat Mangopaw, but not Ivypaw.

"Three, two, one!" Mangopaw called. She darted closer to the sand, mouth opening to taste for prey.

Ivypaw immediately slipped between a few shrubs, following the lizard's scent.

The mouse escaped across the border...Mangopaw never said we couldn't cross it. What's the worst that would happen? The last rogues were here were before we were born. She headed across the scent line, which she noticed wasn't marked. Pearpaw tasted the air again to find where the mouse was hiding. In that tiny bush. She crouched down and stalked forward.

Pinpointing the prey once more, she leapt onto the bush and bit down onto the brown mouse. "Aha!" She yowled, at the same time as Mangopaw's cry of "Ah!"

Pearpaw jerked up. "Mangopaw?!" She called. "Where are you?" She leapt across the border, mouse in her jaws. A muffled shout from under the ground told her that Mangopaw had somehow gotten under the earth. "How did you get there?" She said frantically.

Ivypaw joined her, another lizard swinging in her jaws. "What happened?" She said, her voice muffled behind the mouse.

"It's a tunnel!" Mangopaw yowled back. "Don't dig! It's interesting down here, the entrance is over there! By the weird green tuft with the red starfish."