Creamfluff's Hope

*/\* Chapter Twenty */\*

Creampaw stared at Acornstar as he and Thrushwing spoke silently together, leaving Creampaw to stand awkwardly in the center of the clearing. The two finally turned away from their short conversation, and Thrushwing nodded to Creampaw as he approached her.

"I'll be your opponent. Use every move you've been taught against me," Thrushwing said, getting into a crouch and standing across from Creampaw. Creampaw crouched too and went through every move she knew in her head. Yes, she was young, but she knew quite a lot for an apprentice her age. No one had mentioned her loner-blood ever since she began training harder, so maybe it was worth it after all.

Thrushwing suddenly leapt toward Creampaw and she rolled to the side. Quickly getting to her paws, Creampaw jumped on Thrushwing's back and used a front paw blow before jumping off of the tan tabby. 

Creampaw purred in satisfaction when Thrushwing took a second to get back to his paws. Creampaw was about to attack again when she was stopped by Acornstar.

"Creampaw, while Thrushwing was dazed you could've attacked him." He curled his tail over his paws. "Remember that for next time. Go again."

Creampaw and Thrushwing stood across from each other again and waited for one of them to make a move. Creampaw did so, using a leap-and-hold by jumping on her mentor's back and holding on with careful, sheathed claws, swatted at Thrushwing's spine. She jumped off of his back, pushing him on the ground and pinning him down.

Thrushwing flipped over and used a back kick to send Creampaw stumbling backwards as he got back on his paws. Creampaw ran toward Thrushwing as soon as he got back up and grabbed his teeth with his tail and tugged, throwing Thrushwing off balance. 

Creampaw reared up on her hind legs and brought her weight down on Thrushwing. She swatted his cheek and then the side of his neck before strongly pinning him to the ground. Letting out a yowl of triumph, she turned to look at Acornstar.

Acornstar was nodding slowly. "Very nice, Creampaw. Thrushwing, are you alright?"

"Yes," Thrushwing sucked his teeth as he stood up. He turned to look at a scar on his shoulder. "Creampaw just pressed down on a scar, that's all."

Creampaw ducked her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Thrushwing," she muttered. That scar on Thrushwing's shoulder had been from the fox attack, and Thrushwing still winced when licking it.

"That's nothing to be sorry for!" Thrushwing purred. Creampaw picked her head up and stared at her mentor, confused.

"Why?"

"Scars and healing wounds are key points to winning a battle with another cat." Thrushwing explained, looking at his own scar. "Aiming for scars and healing wounds can weaken a cat by reopening them."

Creampaw nodded, remembering that for later battle practices. "Should we go again?"

Thrushwing looked to Acornstar for the answer. Acornstar just smiled. "If you feel the need to, but no. Creampaw is an experienced young one, ahead of her seventh moon with her training."

Creampaw's bushy tail swayed back and forth, and she blushed in embarrassment. Any complement from her leader was a good one. "Thank you, Acornstar. Thrushwing gives me moves to try and I practice them as much as I can between other duties."

With being the only apprentice in the Clan for two moons, some of the warriors helped with the usual apprentice duties. This made more time for Creampaw to patrol and practice, but also left a normal number of duties for her to do. 

"I made a good choice in your mentor then," Acornstar nodded to Thrushwing who nodded back. "MistClan is lucky to have you, Creampaw. I'll see you two back in camp." Acornstar started walking away, dismissing himself with a flick of his brown tail.

"So, Creampaw, can you show me how you're doing with your leap-and-pin? That one's a bugger for a young apprentice." Thrushwing turned to Creampaw. She nodded and ran over to stand by a tree. Thrushwing stood in front of her as she readied herself.

Creampaw leapt backwards and felt the tree bark behind her. She pushed back off the bottom of the tree and in the air. Keeping her paws out in front of her, she landed squarely on Thrushwing's back and pushed him to the ground. Creampaw clumsily pinned him on the ground, except he flipped over and used a back kick to free himself.

"Okay, not bad," Thrushwing said, flipping back over and standing up. "Your leap-and-pin is a little rusty, but it's good. Did you try using it on the fox that day?"

Creampaw nodded. "I did, but it turned into a leap-and-hold after I landed on the fox's back." 

Thrushwing nodded. "The Creampaw-leap-and-hold-and-pin," he joked. "We'll practice that for a bit longer so you can get better with the move. I'm proud of you and how hard you're working, Creampaw."

Creampaw smiled. "Thanks. I'm proud of myself, too." She got into position in front of the tree and went on with practice her leap-and-pin. Thrushwing would occasionally show her how to do it, jumping into the air quickly and landing on a rock just by the tree they were practicing with. 

The cream-and-white apprentice attempted to copy her mentor's exact movements, but her leap always messed her up. Thrushwing stopped her after a bit.

"It's alright if you can't get it right. This is a more complicated move," Thrushwing said, smiling softly at Creampaw. "We can try again later, if you want." 

Creampaw nodded. Her legs ached from jumping off that tree so many times that she felt like her legs would fall off as she followed Thrushwing back to camp. Creampaw suddenly remembered that memory of her and her family from when she shared with StarClan at the Starpool. She had been a new apprentice, not as eager to learn as she currently was. But that image of her with her family... now it made her wonder if her mom would be proud of her, or if her siblings would be training with her if they had lived.

But what about my father?

Creampaw had been told her father didn't want kits in the first place and that he was dangerous, but surely, he wasn't as dangerous as a warrior apprentice?

Creampaw followed Thrushwing into camp and broke off to walk over to Softkit who was playing a game with Butterflykit. Softkit broke away from his game when he saw Creampaw approach and scampered over to her.

"Creampaw!" He purred. "Did you really train with Acornstar like you said?"

"I did. He said my training is going well!" Creampaw reached for the moss ball that the kits were playing with and rolled it beneath her paw. 

"I want Acornstar to say my training is going well," Softkit mewed. "It must be really cool!"

"Acornstar will always call my training good." Butterflykit boasted. "I'm going to be his medicine cat apprentice."

Softkit narrowed his eyes. "Mostly Silverleaf's."

"Whatever." Butterflykit looked up at the sunset which cast oranges and pinks into the sky. "Tonight is the half-moon! I would've been going with Silverleaf to the Starpool tonight."

"You'll have to wait until the next half-moon to do that!" Softkit puffed up his chest. "Warrior apprentices go to the Starpool a couple nights after their apprenticed."

"But only once! I get to go for the rest of my life." Butterflykit stuck her tongue out at her brother. Creampaw purred and rolled the moss ball away from the three. Softkit saw it and went running after it, saying he'd get it and bring it to the nest before Butterflykit would even reach it. Creampaw went over to her den and curled up in her nest, so tired from today's training that she fell asleep the instant she closed her eyes.