Echoes Off The Wall - Warriors.

Chapter Four

Skypaw sat outside of the medicine cat's den and began gazing around camp. Rockfall was flirting with the other she-cats and Loststar was eyeing him, but it wasn't as if she really cared. She wasn't exactly faithful to him anyways, at least not since she had became the leader of MapleClan. She didn't have any time for an insensitive tom like him, who still thought of the toms as superior. Well, that's what she said at least. He didn't really get what the whole get-up was with toms being the more superior gender in MapleClan. He didn't see why, either. It was stupid, really.

Most of the she-cats were having to train, considering that it hadn't been too long ago that Loststar had become leader of the Clan. They had always been told to stay inside the camp before, now they could actually explore, hunt, and fight. They just weren't so experienced in the last two, not just yet. They still had to practice. Honeypaw and a couple other she-cat apprentices were lucky that they had been born right on the very beginning of Loststar's reign as a deputy. It's the same with all of the she-kits. Froststar had been growing old anyway, that was why he appointed Loststar, then Losthope, as the deputy after Stormfast died. It had only been a matter of weeks until he died and Loststar received her nine lives, as the first ever she-cat leader of MapleClan and possibly the most honored, as of now.

All of a sudden, Firehawk's voice rang out above the sound of the clearing. "Alright! The cats coming with me on Dawn Patrol is going to be Birdflight, Mistcloud, Ravencall, Milkdrop, Bloodfang, and her apprentice, Honeypaw!" Firehawk stated, and the cats that he had called came over to him. Skypaw almost shrieked. Actually, he was almost positive that a sound had escaped his mouth because now everyone was staring at him, including Honeypaw. He couldn't care less about the other cats looking at him, butHoneypaw! That was just plain embarrassing to him. Not to mention, he was also irked that HONEYPAW, of all cats, or just apprentices of MapleClan, could go on Dawn Patrol. She had only been an apprentice for, like, a moon, about as long as him!

Skypaw stared at the patrol with a death glare, so they all quickly looked away. Firehawk had been about the only cat out in the clearing that wasn't staring, and his patrol were all looking at him now. With a wary glance cast at Skypaw, however, he then turned and lead the patrol out of camp. Skypaw sunk his claws into the ground and then pulled out, slinking away.

He walked over to the fresh-kill pile and picked through the prey in there, eventually pulling out a mouse that was at the very bottom. It was plump, and would probably fulfill his hunger within just a couple of bites. He doubted he could be able to eat it all. Whenever his hunger was gone, he picked up the remaining pieces of mouse - there was still quite a bit of it left - and walked over to the Elder's Den, giving it to the elders Foxheart and Thornscratch. "Thank you, Skypaw," Thornscratch said in that raspy voice of his. Foxheart was still fast asleep, as he normally was. Foxheart though, he was old. Over 100 moons old, as a matter of fact, while Thornscratch was only around 70 moons, so he wasn't very old.

Skypaw just nodded in response, then he turned and left the den. He sighed, wondering what he should do. He was still hurting from the pain of that wound Swiftstar had gave him whenever he had been dreaming, and didn't know if he'd be allowed outside of the camp because of it. Skypaw squeezed his eyes shut just at the very thought of Swiftstar, that evil old tomcat, and wondered how he had even become the leader in the first place. Certainly not because he was noble. Then he had to have appointed Froststar as his deputy ... if he thought that Froststar would've ended up becoming a pathetic leader, why did he even appoint him as the deputy? Of course, though, Froststar could hae simply changed his personality, and that could have been what made Swiftstar to hate him, or at the very least, greatly dislike him.

Skypaw frowned as he spotted Ravencall, Whiteclaw, and Rockfall having a conversation. He knew that those three weren't particularly the nicest within the Clan, and certainly, they still thought of the she-cats as inferior. Skypaw still didn't know why they had that rule in the first place. He knew quite a few great she-cats. Take Honeypaw, for example, or Cherryflower. Or Loststar. Kind of ... he didn't like her that much anymore, not after she had appointed him as Medicine Cat Apprentice. He didn't really think he's even gotten around to learning anything from Toadleap yet. All because of that wound of his.