End of a Lifetime

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Let all cats old enough to swim gather to hear my words." Basilkit jumped to her feet and raced Brindlekit to the rest of the clan, the dream driven to the back of her mind. Driftriver quickly cleaned her fur, and Basilkit scurried away, annoyed, and cleaned her own fur. "Basilkit, you have reached the age of sixmoons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Basilpaw. Your mentor will be Troutstripe. I hope Troutstripe will pass down all he knows on to you. Troutstripe, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Falconstorm, and you have shown yourself to be brave and quick-witted. You will be the mentor of Basilpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her." Basilpaw hurried to Troutstripe's side and they touched noses. Scragstar then turned to Brindlekit. "Brindlekit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Brindlepaw. Your mentor will be Mossfollow. I hope Mossfollow will pass down all she knows on toyou. Mossfollow, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Jaycloud, and you have shown yourself to be fierce and brave. You will be the mentor of Brindlepaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her." Brindlepaw then raced over to Mossfollow and they touched noses. Basilpaw looked up at Troutstripe.

"What are we doing first?" She asked. "Territory? Hunting? Fighting? Nothing at all?" She stared at him, cocking her head.

He looked at her, amusement in her eyes. "First, we're going to explore the territory. Then, I'll teach you a few little....." He flicked his tail, thinking for the words. "fighting styles. Then I'll teach you how to fish."

Basilpaw lit up. "Ok!" She followed Troutstripe out of camp and to the small thunderpath.

"This is the border with Shadowclan." He led her along the path a few fox-tails from it. "Here's the Greenleaf Twoleg Place. Stay as far from this as possible, especially in Greenleaf." He then led her along a long stretch of water, and Basilpaw could barely make out the forest on the other side. "This is the lake. We take this path to get to the Gathering every full moon." He then stopped at a fence. "Don't ever cross this." He warned her. "This is the Horseplace. It is very VERY dangerous." He emphasized the last very and glanced at her, making sure she got the message. Seeing her nod, they then headed to what Basilpaw supposed was camp. "Ok." They stopped beside a small body of water. "This is the stream we fish from." He paused, looking into the water. "Copy everything I do." He stood still. He suddenly lashed out and a fish flew from the water. He jumped up and caught the fish, quickly killing it. Basilpaw then looked into the water, and, upon spotting a fish, swiftly sliced through the water, catching the fish. The fish flew up out of the water and she tried to catch it, but it fell into the water. Troutstripe laughed with amusement. Basilpaw glared at him playfully, then quickly turned her attention back to the water. As soon as she saw the shape of another fish, she swiped, catching the fish and quickly killing it. "Good job!" Troutstripe smiled. "Let's take this back to camp, and then we'll go practise your fighting moves."

"Mfk." Her voice was muffled by the fish she'd picked up.

It was quiet along the way back and once they reached camp, they dropped the fish off. "Ok. Follow me." Basilpaw followed Troutstripe as he led her to the Clearing. She spotted Brindlepaw already practising, and she hurried over, the wind slicing through her fur. She shivered as she reached her sister, mentor not far behind. "Ok. We'll start off with the basi- Mossfollow." He looked at her, surprised. "Should we show them what to do? Like, the basic fighting moves?"

Mossfollow shrugged. "Ok. Jaycloud would have done the same." Basilpaw pricked her ears, remembering her dream from the night before.

"Basilpaw, come here, please."

"Ok!" Basilpaw scurried over to her mentor's side.

"Me and Mossfollow are going to show you and Brindlepaw some basic moves." Troutstripe said. "Ready?" He asked Mossfollow.

"Yes." She answered as they both crouched.Troutstripe smiled, then snarled and pounced. Mossfollow dodged the attack, landing a blow to his side, her tail high for balance. Both of their pelts were puffed up, as if to seem bigger and more threatening. Mossfollow dashed towards Troutstripe, her paws thrumming on the ground. Troutstripe jumped high, scraping his paw along her back as he went. They stopped, and repeated the couple of moves more slowly for the new apprentices.

"Basilpaw, would you like to try?" Troutstripe asked. Basilpaw nodded eagerly, and rushed to face Brindlepaw. They looked at each other, nodded, and then Brindlepaw lept. Basilpaw dodged the attack, landing a blow to her sister's side. She puffed up her fur, and jumped up, scraping her paws along her sister's back as soon as Brindlepaw rushed towards her. She whirled around to face her sister, and ducked, scraping her sister's belly with her claws sheathed, and ended up underneath her. She pushed with all her force in her hind legs, ending up on top of her sister.

"Good job, you two!! That was excellent for new apprentice's!! Have you ever done that move?" Mossfollow questioned.

They shook their heads. Basilpaw smiled. "Thanks, though!!" She turned to Troutstripe. "What are we going to do now?"

"Well, it's getting late, so we'll head back and get some rest, then start off back here bright and early in the morning!" Troutstripe answered. "How does that sound to you?"

"That sounds great!!" She puffed her fur up proudly as they walked into camp.

She started to head to the Nursery, when Brindlepaw called out, "Basilpaw, we sleep in the Apprentice's Den now, remember?"

"Oops! Ya." She raced over to her sister's side and they headed in, finding a perfect spot and settling down together.

~~~

1 moon later

Basilpaw rushed at the tom, snarling. She ducked his blow, but not before landing one to his side. He then dived for her, and she jumped, landing a long blow to his back. Snarling, he jumped on top of her, and she pushed with all her might, ending up on top of him. He went limp, but she knew this trick. She slackened a bit, and when he started pushing, she snarled in his face, "Not so fast!" Scratching a long scar across him, he landed a blow to her ear and she screeched, then chased him off. She looked around to see most of the battle done. She smiled, then snarled at a she-cat, chasing her off. They kept the Greenleaf Twoleg Place another day. Though it used to be full of twolegs, it was now abandoned and filled with prey, and sometimes they'd find fish in the stream, though mostly, it was a wonderful site for moss. She decided to grab some, and scraped some off the side of the building. She rolled it into a ball, and grabbed it in her mouth. She rushed over to Troutstripe, and he nodded, amusement in his eyes. She raced Brindlepaw and Honeypaw back to the camp, dropping the moss off to Leafspots. Leafspots nodded in thanks and Basilpaw raced after Brindlepaw. Rogues and loners alike had been attempting to take the Greenleaf Twoleg Place, but so far none had been successful. When questioned, they spoke only of a horrible sickness to flee from.