The Rise of a Tyrant

Chapter 1 // Beachpaw

There was a thud as Beachpaw hit the sandy ground, pinned by Rockpaw.
"Caught ya, ya mouse!" The dusky tom mewed, a glint of spite in his yellow eyes.
Beachpaw huffed, shoving a laughing apprentice aside. A very obnoxious, laughing apprentice.

"Shut up, Rockpaw! The sun got in my eyes." Beachpaw responded, shaking the sand out of his cream coat. The clearing they trained in was full of sand with only palm trees here and there. The late newleaf sunlight was super annoying.

A commanding tone rose above the noise.
"Hey! Beachpaw! We don't speak that way." Saltface - a pale gray tom, and Beachpaw's mentor - approached from the side to scold him.
"Instead of complaining, we work on our skills." Another voice chimed in. "Well done, Rockpaw. Excellent agility." Rockpaw beamed at Pigeonwing, his mentor, who congratulated him.

Beachpaw flicked his ears awkwardly, waiting below the two senior toms. Pigeonwing suddenly scratched furiously at his white coat, as if he had an itch, while Saltface gave him a sharp side glance, then looked back at Beachpaw.

"Beachpaw, you don't need to rely on your sight to battle. There's plenty you can do when you use other senses." Saltface stated. "In fact, there have been half-blind cats who were able to battle better than any other!"
Beachpaw's eyes widened. Half-blind, yet Better?
"That sounds so impressive!" Rockpaw awed, brown coat fluffing up. "Can you teach us how?"

"Hmm, what do you think?" Saltface pondered, turning to look at Pigeonwing. However, the white tom was busy scratching the living daylights out of his neck, a wincing expression with each itch.
Saltface sighed in annoyance. "Pigeonwing, I told you you need to see Raventalon about that." He mumbled.
"Ugh- Yeah, yeah, fine." The tom replied, looking at the apprentices embarrassedly. "Sorry, kids, we'll have to call the training off for now."

Rockpaw's expression dropped. Beachpaw sighed, slightly nagged by the lack of relief for his curiosity. The cats began crusading back to camp. Saltface trudged in front, while Pigeonwing was farther up ahead, eager to get back as fast as possible. The tom's grey eyes remained focused on one spot: the direction of the medicine den.

Beachpaw wondered what his sister, Shellpaw, was doing. She had gone out on a different training session near the dunes today - with Stormpaw and Hawkpaw. He kinda missed her, but then again, Rockpaw wasn't that bad.
Suddenly Beachpaw felt a tug on his tail. Yowling, he turned back and hissed.

"Hey, chill! I was just playing!" Rockpaw snickered.
I take that back, he is that bad.
Beachcloud growled. "Rockpaw, I swear to Cloudclan I'm gonna-"
Beachpaw was cut off from a cry to their left.

"Stormpaw, stop!" It sounded like Turtleclaw, the clan's deputy - also Stormpaw's mentor.
Stormpaw was the new apprentice - he's a weird one. He used to be a kittypet, but was brought in by Silvertuft for some strange reason. Beachpaw didn't know much, but whenever Beachpaw had asked stuff about him, the older warriors had told him to shush.
There was another yowl.
"I did what you said!" It was Stormpaw's voice of protest.
Turtleclaw growled at the backchat. "No, never unsheathe your claws in training! Shellpaw, did he hurt you?"

Beachpaw walked over to see what was up; they were near camp anyway, so he wouldn't get in trouble for it.
"I-I'm fine, I promise!" Shellpaw's nervous voice squeaked in response.
Beachpaw could see his sister's pale pelt shimmer as she got up. Stormpaw, looking extremely tall compared to her, sat there awkwardly.
"Seriously, it's okay." She assured him. "He wasn't trying to hurt me."
Stormpaw's long, grey ears flattened. "Why am I always doing something wrong?"
Turtleclaw sighed guiltily and walked up to his apprentice, licking him on the forehead. "It just takes a little bit of self control, that's all. We'll get there buddy."

"Oh, Beachpaw!" Shellpaw's yellow eyes caught sight of her brother. Beachpaw was caught off-guard.
Shellpaw ran up to him happily.
"You're finished early! What happened?" She asked.
Beachpaw rolled his blue eyes. "Pigeonwing got fleas." He explained.
"Oh..!" Shellpaw yelped, leaping away from Beachpaw as if he had redcough.
"Chill, mouse-brain! I'm fine." Beachpaw snapped. His sister calmed, then licked her chest fur embarrassedly. "I've got the rest of the day free, actually."

"Should we go back to camp, too, then?" Stormpaw asked.
"Hey!" Turtleclaw scolded, then paused. "Oh, fine, but you three better pick up the slack tomorrow."

Shellpaw blinked at Stormpaw. "I'm worried about Hawkpaw, anyway."
Beachpaw tilted his head curiously. "What happened to Hawkpaw?" Thinking about it, Beachpaw realised that not even Shellpaw's mentor, Flutterwing, was there.
"Oh, right!" Shellpaw looked back at her brother as if it was common knowledge. "He got clawed by a seagull! Somehow..."

Beachpaw tried not to snort. It's hard not to feel bad for the clumsy apprentice, even though he tries to act cool all the time.
Stormpaw joined the two siblings as they trotted back to camp, though he couldn't help sticking out like a sharp thorn.