Warriors, Echoing Cries #1 - Lost Minds

Chapter One

    Needlepaw stretched, cleaning her fur quickly. The moon had already faded out of sight, and she didn't have much time before training. When she had first woken up, she had decided to sleep for longer. She regretted that decision now, as she had lost valuable time that could be used to get the moss out of her fur.

Needlepaw hurried out of the apprentice's den, blinking to adjust herself to the light of the rising sun. Lightspots hurried out of camp with a patrol of two other ShadowClan warriors. Fernberry sat in the sun outside the nursery, batting around a moss ball with her one and a half moon old kit, Leafkit. Jaywatcher, her mentor, finished up a conversation with the three senior warriors. Everyone in the clan had started their morning productively, and Needlepaw wanted to do the same.

Before she could hurry over to her mentor herself, Jaywatcher whisked away from the three senior warriors, heading toward her. "Morning, Needlepaw." He begun, dipping his head to her. "I would have woken you sooner, but I had to talk to the senior warriors anyway. No purpose in waking you up when I could have let you sleep longer." Needlepaw blinked gratefully at him, surprised to see no irritation in his tone. Jaywatcher was never the one to get angry . However, most of the warriors she had been hunting or patrolling with when Jaywatcher was busy were hotheaded and got irritated easily.

 As her and Jaywwatcher exited camp, Needlepaw looked around, finding no apprentices but Tanglepaw. "Have the other apprentices already started training?" Needlepaw asked, hoping her two sister's couldn't gain yet another thing to use against her.

Jaywatcher shook out his pelt. "Yes, they're already at the clearing." Clearing his throat, Jaywatcher continued. "With new-leaf, plants have begun to sprout there again." He sighed, immediately picking up his tone into a less sorrowful one. "Training will prevent the forest from consuming what hasn't already been consumed."

As the two cats walked out of camp, neither spoke. Needlepaw found her attention grasped mainly toward the song of the morning birds and the crickets of the insects.

As the two cats reached toward the clearing, Jaywatcher padded ahead of her, heading toward the other mentors. The clearing had been stripped of all plants besides grass and a large tree, allowing for sunlight to filter in. The flat and plant-less area was a well-suited arena for battle training.

Needlepaw had seen this clearing a million times, however. She was more focused on the cats that littered the clearing. Mosspaw and Frostpaw were talking to eachother, and Jaywatcher joined Splashwhisker and Crowclaw. Needlepaw wasn't looking for any of those cats, though. She was strictly looking for a familiar face, the face of a cat she'd been close with for every moon of her life.

"Shaderun!" Needlepaw smiled, running up to her friend. "I see your still training with us."

Shaderun rolled her eyes, looking toward Splashwhisker with an annoyed face."Sneezewind is acting like I wasn't made a warrior for a reason! I don't understand the mouse-brain's logic."

Before Needlepaw could respond to Shaderun's comment, Splashwhisker looked disappointingly toward them. "He's doing his best, you know." The blue-gray she-cat mewed. "You're holding him up to the standard of a senior warrior."

As soon as the warrior stopped talking, Needlepaw turned her back to the she-cat, giving a sarcastic, unimpressed glance toward her friend. "Wow. Looks like you made splashy-splash upset." Needlepaw shook out her fur. "I'd say avoid her for the next moon. She'll probably hold a grudge against you till the end of time!"

The conversation was interupted by the familiar mew of her mentor and ShadowClan's deputy, Jaywatcher. Needlepaw quickly snapped her head around, her full focus now on Jaywatcher. "Wishingstar has decided that you three, along with Shaderun, should take part in a moon of battle training before taking your warrior assessments," As Needlepaw sat down beside Shaderun, Crowclaw leaped up onto the medium-sized tree that shadowed over the rest of the clearing. Jaywatcher and Splashwhisker already sat in it's branches. Clearing his throat, Jaywatcher continued. "We've decided it'd be best to focus on using our pre-existing skills to trick our opponents." Jaywatcher's gaze swept down on the cat's bellow him. "We know and understand that you've already learned everything we can teach you. From now on, we are only here to encourage you to use those per-existing skills to their full potential."

Crowclaw dipped his head to the deputy. "Shall I assign them partners to spar with?"

Jaywatcher flicked his tail toward the warrior. "I'll do that. I want you watching Frostpaw. She's your apprentice, after all." As Crowclaw looked down toward Frostpaw, Jaywatcher cleared his throat once more, calling down to the three apprentices and Shaderun bellow him. "You can pick who you want to spar with. Each mentor will be watching their apprentice. Not only will I be watching Needlepaw, but I'll also be watching Shaderun."

Needlepaw nodded toward Shaderun, they both knew who they'd be sparring. Needlepaw knew this fight would be easy. The two she-cats knew eachother well. Needlepaw should be able to predict Shaderun's every move.

The two she-cats padded away from eachother until there was a decent distance between them. As the two gave eachother challenging stares, Jaywatcher padded to the branch closest to them, watching them carefully.

"Ready when you are," Shaderun smiled, slipping into a battle stance.

Needlepaw wouldn't give Shaderun the chance to prepare. Without thinking, Needlepaw leaped forward, stretching out her front paws to grab her friend. However, Shaderun was prepared. The she-cat dashed out of the way, sending Needlepaw to faceplant into the ground. Quick as a hawk, Shaderun was on Needlepaw's back, planting her in a pin. However, Needlepaw wouldn't give up that easily! She pushed herself up with great force, freeing herself from Shaderun's hold. Before Shaderun could counter the attack, Needlepaw swiftly turned around, quickly pinning down the tortoiseshell she-cat, not caring about how easily she could escape. She was about to go for the fake killing bite! The winning move! However, as Needlepaw wrapped her jaws around Shaderun's neck, about to finish the battle with a fake killing bite, the tortoiseshell she-cat flipped herself over, exposing her soft and vulnerable belly. Before Needlepaw could take advantage of this, however, Shaderun kicked the grey she-cat off with powerful hind legs.

How can she predict my every move so easily? Needlepaw thought bitterly, after all, she'd been trying to trick Shaderun, however continued to be outsmarted.

Distracted, Needlepaw didn't realize Shaderun was preparing to leap at her. As soon as Needlepaw was pinned down, she had excepted the fact she wouldn't win this battle. However, Needlepaw could tell Shaderun's pin wasn't secure. This was her chance.

As soon as she felt Shaderun's breath on her neck, Needlepaw twisted out of the she-cat's grip,  easily pinning her down.Too easily. Needlepaw flipped her head around as a noise hit her ears. Needlepaw drew her attention away from the noise and back onto the battle as she saw a simple rock tumble through the grass. Flicking her gaze back toward Shaderun, the she-cat had a mischievous glance in her eyes. Before Needlepaw could prepare, Shaderun kicked her off with great force. However, before Needlepaw could processes the events, Shaderun slipped her into a pin. Even as Needlepaw felt the she-cat's breath of her neck, the pin was too hard to escape. Shaderun placed her jaws' around Needlepaw's neck, applying no pressure before drawing herself away from the light-gray she-cat. It was clear who had won.

Needlepaw slipped away from Shaderun, shaking grass and dirt out of her fur. "You only won because I went easy on you!" Needlepaw argued, purposefully getting dirt and grass on Shaderun.

Shaderun rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with Needlepaw's arguement. "Just admit you're a mouse-brain!"

Needlepaw smiled back toward Shaderun, her gaze challenging. "Make me!"

Needlepaw titled her head as Jaywatcher slipped himself off the branch, a small laugh in his mew. "I'm impressed." He began, nodding toward Shaderun. "You clearly know eachother's battle-style well. However, you still managed to trick one another."

Needlepaw looked bitterly away from her mentor, guilt swarming in her belly. Why had she failed to counter every attack? Why was Shaderun, barely half a moon older than her, a warrior moons before Needlepaw would become one herself? Even in her own jealousy, Needlepaw stirred up happiness for her friend. Her friend had been made a warrior early due to her skill, Needlepaw shouldn't be expecting less. Plus, the challenge would sharpen Needlepaw's skills. StarClan knows she needed it.