'StarClan's Gift'

First Fox Fight?

I padded through the forest,Dusksky,Reedquake and Icepetal following behind me.

Icepetal hurried to match her pace with mine,smiling at me. "It's a lovely day out here! It feels like good hunting weather!"

"Yes,it's so warm and sunny."I replied.

There was a sound from a ways away,but I ignored it,assuming it was a bird.

We padded along the edge of a river,the waves lapping lazily at the shore,sending sprinkles of water over my fur.

It felt nice.

"Maybe we could go for a swim?"Reedquake suggested. "I'm getting hot."
He shook his pelt,and sand flew off his fur,along with a bit of water.

"Okay,but only a small swim."Icepetal shrugged.

I meowed in joy,and dipped a paw in.
It was cold!
Leaping back,I rammed into Reedquake,who was just about to follow me in.

"Oof!"

"Sorry!"I apologized. "It was just surprisingly cold."I grinned sheepishly.

"I'm fine."He shrugged,then pushed me into the water.

"Hey!!"I splashed around in the water,sending waves onto the dirt where Dusksky was lounging.

She hissed angrily, "I don't want to get wet!"

"Sorry!"I hurried out of the water,making sure to shake my fur out far away from the grumpy she-cat.

I was licking my fur smooth when I heard a sound like none other.
"What was that!"I yelped.

"It was a fox,and it sounds like it's either hurt,or hurting something."Dusksky meowed,getting to her paws quickly.

"Then let's go!"I was already running as fast as I could toward the sound,almost tripping and stumbling a couple times.

I followed the sound through the forest,the rest of the patrol at my heels.

Then the fox came into sight.

It was fighting with a crow.

Yep.That's right. A crow.

And the bird was giving a good fight,knowing to peck the fox in the exposed eyes and face.

Icepetal wasted no time in leaping on the fox,wanting the crow for herself.
She grabbed the crow's neck in her jaws and crunched down.Then she yanked the dead bird out from under the fox's snout,and threw it over to my paws.

Woah,she was fast!

I picked it up and set it behind me,then focused on the angry fox charging at me.

It swiped its claws at my head and I ducked,using my front paws to trip the fox.

Only having three legs slowed me down though,and the fox managed to steady itself before it fell over.

But Reedquake and Dusksky were already by my sides,attacking the fox.

Soon enough the fox was retreating,howling and growling in furry.

"And don't come back to our territory!"Reedquake shouted after it.

"Let's hunt a bit more,one crow won't keep us full."Icepetal mewed.

"Okay,I'll take the crow back to camp, though."I offered.The truth was I was quite tired, and even a bit frightened.

"Okay,be safe.If you run into the fox again,just run to camp."

I nodded,picking up and crow and heading toward home.

As I entered the camp,Squirreltail and Silverpaw approached me.

"Good looking bird! But it smells like fox!"Silverpaw spat,her nose wrinkling.

"Yeah,we had to fight off a fox to steal this.It was on our land."I boasted. "I did really well."

Squirreltail purred. "I bet you did."

Silverpaw smiled. "And it was all because you got rid of that burden."She nosed my left-leg-stump.

Squirreltail nodded. "You did the right thing,it must've been hard though."

I shrugged. "Would you like to share this?" I didn't want to be the center of attention anymore.

Squirreltail shook her head. "I've got things to do,but mabye my apprentice will.See you later, Silverpaw."

The bushy tailed she-cat bounded off,leaving me and Silverpaw.

"So?"I tilted my head.

"Sure! Let's head over there and you can tell me all about the fox battle while we eat!"

"Okay! Let's go!"