Honeypaw awoke in her nest as the sun rose above the SunClan camp. She stretched, still fatigued. That was until she realised today was the day she was allowed to go hunting for the first time.
She ran out of the den, all exhaustion gone- oblivious to how untidy her fur was.
As she looked around camp, she quickly recognised her mentor, Brightfoot, and raced straight to him with glee.
"Brightfoot! Brightfoot! Is it possible for us to go hunting right now? Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please?" She was leaping up and down in the brilliant sunlight, meowing frantically.
"Alright, alright," Brightfoot meowed as he chewed on a piece of rabbit. "Groom your fur while I finish this rabbit, and then we'll go hunting."
"Okay!" Honeypaw purred as she swiftly groomed her fur. "I can't wait to go hunting!!"
"Let's get this party started, Honeypaw!" Brightfoot chuckled as he laughed at his rambunctious apprentice. "The sooner we get started hunting, the more prey we'll be able to catch!"
Honeypaw leaped to her feet and bolted out of camp, closely trailed by Brightfoot.
She came to a halt near the training area and sat down to await her mentor.
Brightfoot arrived quickly, out of breath, and took a seat on a tree stump next to Honeypaw.
"Ha! I beat you!!" Honeypaw exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with delight, "You're slower than an old badger Brightfoot!"
"Now, Honeypaw! You're younger than I am, and you did get a head start!" Brightfoot purred, his green eyes gleaming with laughter.
Brightfoot rose up after the two had rested and meowed, "Well, should we get on with hunting now then?"
"Yeah!" Honeypaw purred, her brilliant green eyes shining with delight.
"Let's go through the basics before we start hunting real prey." Brightfoot meowed as he gathered leaves and placed them in the clearing's centre.
"The other clans have hunting crouches for pouncing on prey, but out here on the moorland, we primarily hunt rabbits," meowed Brightfoot. "So, to catch rabbits, we chase them down, not stalk them."
"Really? You're swift enough to catch a rabbit?!?" Honeypaw exclaimed, surprised. "Please, Brightfoot, show me!"
"All right! We'll have to be quiet then, or we'll scare away any nearby prey." Brightfoot murmured, stepping forward to try and catch the scent of a rabbit.
"All right, then!" Honeypaw whispered, keeping up with her mentor and mimicking his actions.
"I found one!" Brightfoot hissed softly, stopping and pointing to a neighbouring shrub with his ears.
Soon after, a pale tan rabbit emerged from the shrubbery and hopped into the clearing, oblivious to the two cats monitoring its every move. Brightfoot dashed into the clearing, jumped on the rabbit, and snapped its neck.
Brightfoot padded back to where Honeypaw was waiting, picking up the now-dead rabbit. "And there you have it! That's how you catch a rabbit!" He purred as he buried the rabbit in the soft dirt, stopping other predators from taking the prey, and allowing them to retrieve it later.
"Wow! That was incredible!!!!" Honeypaw exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise. "Do you think I could give it a shot?"
"Sure, why not? Just don't expect to get it on the first time," Brightfoot sighed, "It requires a lot of practise."
"Okay!" Honeypaw purred, pausing to sniff the air for traces of a rabbit.
She immediately detected the scent of a rabbit just across the field and kept an eye on the source of the scent.
After a short wait, a black and white rabbit hopped out into the open, and Honeypaw dashed after it, springing for the rabbit in an attempt to kill it.
Sadly, she had jumped a little too soon, and the rabbit escaped uninjured.
"Fox-dung!" Honeypaw scolded herself for not catching the rabbit. "It got away!"
"Awh! Honeypaw, you did a fantastic job! You were so close to getting the rabbit!" Brightfoot said sympathetically.
"Nearly isn't good enough, Brightfoot! Nearly catching the prey or nearly getting a battle move correct doesn't help the clan does it?" Honeypaw muttered fiercely.
"That's correct, but keep in mind that this is only your second day as an apprentice. There is no such thing as a flawless cat, and we all make mistakes." Brightfoot meowed quietly in an attempt to soothe his apprentice.
Rain began to fall from the heavy grey clouds that had come out of nowhere in the sky, and Honeypaw could hear thunder in the distance.
"There's a storm on the way!" We need to return to camp." Brightfoot padded back towards camp, meowing anxiously.
Honeypaw followed her mentor back to camp with her head down, her eyes still glazed with rage.
"How can I be of any service to SunClan if I can't even capture prey?" Honeypaw hissed angrily at herself, clawing at the soft ground beneath her paws.
The two cats arrived at camp soon after, soaking wet and freezing cold.
"Brightfoot, you'd better go visit Darkberry in the medicine den, you don't want to catch greencough," Honeypaw said, noticing her mentor shaking.
"I'm alright," Brightfoot meowed obstinately, despite his chattering teeth.
"You're not though. You're shivering, and your teeth are chattering," Honeypaw countered, "Just go visit Darkberry. She'll give you some herbs, and you'll feel better in no time."
"All right, alright..." Brightfoot turned and padded towards Darkberry's cave, meowing defeatedly.
Honeypaw groaned quietly and went to rest in the apprentice's den. She snuggled up in her nest near the back of the den and fell asleep quickly, despite the fact that she was still drenched.
Meanwhile, the storm was becoming increasingly severe. The few trees in SunClan territory were being blown around violently by the relentless wind, and any cat who ventured outside the dens was immediately soaked from ear to paw, the thunder became louder and louder, and the raindrops began to collect in small hollows in the ground.
Shortly after falling asleep, Honeypaw was jolted awake by one of her clanmates, Sparkpaw.
"What do you want Sparkpaw?" Honeypaw snarled angrily at being startled awake.
"We need to leave the camp. Now." Sparkpaw meowed solemnly.
"What? Why?! Is this some kind of joke?!" Honeypaw hissed, a little wary of Sparkpaw, who had a reputation for being a trickster.
"No, this isn't a joke, the camp is flooded due to the storm," Rustpaw, the other SunClan apprentice, said gravely, "Until the storm passes, we must seek sanctuary with another clan."
End of Chapter 7
Editors note:
AAAA! A flood! What is gonna happen? Will SunClan have to move? Who knows? I do ;))
Anyways, this chapter was super fun to write, and I adore the overexcitable beans that are Honeypaw and Brightfoot- they're so cute!!
~Evening
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Rivers Of Blood
FanfictionA female Starclan cat gave birth to six kittens, but the father was a Dark Forest Cat. Unfortunately, this was a violation of the afterlife code. To protect the kittens, they were dispatched throughout the clans. However, half of the kittens were gi...
