A small, white cat came bounding down to the camp, stopping near her brother. Her training sessions has finally come to a break for lunch time, and a little bit of playing around with her closest friends. Today wasn't going to be an ordinary day. Today, this white cat planned to do something daring.
"Hey Thistlepaw!" She mewed to her muticolored brother as she playfuly pawed his ear. "Where's Sandypaw?"
Thistlepaw blocked her paw, and swiped over her ear instead. With a smile on his face, he mewed, " I don't know, probably still training with her mentor."
Ivypaw sat down and pouted, glancing over at the trees in the direction she came from. "That Thunderclaw. Why does he allways have to take Sandypaw away? We allways have to wait for her!"
Her brother got up and walked towards the fresh-kill pile. Ivypaw ran after him. "Watcha gonna eat this time?" Ivypaw playfully asked. He shouldered her away, then mewed, "I'm going to get the juciest mouse of the bunch! Then ran towarrds the pile. Ivypaw quickly ran after him. "Not unless I get there first!" She began to ran, but at such a short distance, she could never catch up. She saw her brother look down in disapointment. Ivypaw saw none of the mice are huge and round. They've stayed skinny and frail. 'What has it been? A moon? A quarter moon? And still nothing has been plump! What' going on?'
However, she mewed to her brother as-a-matter-of-factly, "What? You thought the mice were actually plump? They can't ever be plump! Why hasn't your mentor told you that yet? Even I know! I must be a little bit ahead of you guys."
"Ahead? No way! I bet you I'll be a warrior by the time you can catch a rabbit!" Thistlepaw teased. He picked up a limp mouse and brought it over to a bush near the apprentice's den. Ivypaw glared at him, and scooped up her mouse before dashing over to her brother.
She almost hadn't even sat down before her brother was just about done with his fresh-kill. 'Why are you eating so quickly? You know that isn't going to help your belly from not getting hungry again!" Ivypaw took a piece of meat and slowly chewed it.
"And you know chewing the mouse slowly isn't going to make it turn bigger?" Her brother nudged her and sprung to his feet. "Show me your skill! I'm sure I'm going to make a much better warrior!" He swiped his tail back and forth in anticipation. Ivypaw gulped down her prey without a second thought. She sprung into the air and landed on her brother's back. Her brother bounced up, causing Ivypaw to fall to the ground since their claws had to be sheathed. Now on the ground, Ivypaw had just enough time to roll over and avoid her brother from pinning her. Almost instinctively, she began to run. Her destination was to small rock, which gave her just enough time to devise a plan.
"Where you running to, Ivy? Am I too much of a warrior that you have to run away?" Ivypaw hear her brother mew in the distance. She didn't slow down, but breifly called out, "Follow me and I'll show you!"
Small rock got closer, and hopefull her plan would work. She ran up the side of the rock, then flipped around and hopped. It all went well- except her brother was a bit behind. She landed on the ground, and at that second her brother pounced on her. She wasn't balanced enough, and fell to the ground.
"Ha! If you were an enemy, would would be mouse-kill!" Thistlepaw mewed triumphantly he kept his weight on Ivypaw, and even though she was squirming, she couldn't get up.
"Good job, you two, but it looks like you were off by just a bit, Ivypaw." The two apprentices' heads turned to where the voice came from. Behind a tree emerged a brown tabby. It was Thunderclaw. A thought slipped into Ivypaw's mind. 'Thunderclaw! That means-' Her brother finished her thought. "Sandypaw!" He hopped to Sandypaw, who backed up a couple pawsteps with the sudden attention. Ivypaw shook off the small drops of water that clung to her pelt. She gave a quick lick over Sandypaw's ear.
"Are you done with your training now, Sandypaw? Can you come with us?" Thistlepaw mewed. Sandypaw opened her mouth, but Ivypaw butted in. "Of course she's done! Why else would she be here?"
"Alright, everybody. Don't we all have jobs to do? Go get buisy now." Thunderclaw mewed to the three smaller cats.
Sandypaw nodded, and Thistlepaw tried a small mew of protest, which didn't work. The three cats walked off. Ivypaw needed to do something interesting, maybe something that apprentices shouldn't do. After she was sure they were a safe distance from eavesdropping ears, she mewed quietly, "Should we do something else?"
Thistlepaw looked up at her. "You have something in mind?" He asked. Ivypaw jumped in front of the two cats. "Let's go hunting by ourselves! That way we can catch a lot of prey, and the whole clan won't be short of fresh-kill anymore!"
Ivypaw looked at her brother as he thought about this idea. "Yeah! We'll be the best, and maybe we can be the youngest warriors there ever was!
"You mean you think if we catch a lot of prey, they might make us warriors?" Ivypaw began to feel herself get excited. "Yeah! Sure! I don't see how else all the other cats get there."
Sandypaw spoke. "But... We just got apprenticed . I'm sure we have a lot more to learn, and maybe we still have a lot to master before we become warrriors..."
"Sandypaw! You want to become a warrior, don't you? We better show the clan we're the best this winter- it might be our only chance!" Ivypaw turned around, and began heading to a once-was abundant prey hunting ground- to Deep Forest. Her brother followed right next to her, and Sandypaw followed close behind. Once deep in the forest, the three cats stood still, trying to trace any scent of a prey.
"Nothing." Thistlepaw stated. "Let's split up. We might have a better chance."
Ivypaw nodded, then padded away in her own direction. now by herself, she stayed close to the ground, trying her best to try to sniff out any source of fresh-kill.
Ivypaw was wandering around the bare-tree forest for a while, untill she caught a certain misterious scent. It didn't smell like any sort of fresh-kill she sniffed out before. 'Maybe it's what plump fresh-kill smells like. Or maybe it's a different animal that would feed the clan for the whole winter!' Ivypaw crept close to the ground, sometimes messing up with the short leg-movement. The colser she got, the stronger the scent she could pick up on. She was closer now, and could hear voices- her brother and Sandypaw's scent seemed to be caught in the mix. Ivypaw walked out of hiding, and as she did, her eyes popped. A massive black silhouette turned its head to her. Its two eyes burned through her pelt just like the sun in the summer.
