Warriors of FoxClan

Ch. 2

"Fawnpaw! Time to go!" yowled Frostfoot, Fawnpaw's mentor. Shaking the moss and leaves off her sandy fur Fawnpaw opened her eyes to see she was the only cat in the apprentice's den. "Fawnpaw!" Frostfoot, the white fluffy tom hissed. Fawnpaw scrambled out of the den.
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting, it won't happen again." Fawnpaw mewed, I wish I could get used to the warrior life sooner! Fawnpaw had just join OakClan last night.
"Let's go, we will be training with Shadowpaw and Blossommoon today."
"Ok!"
"We will show you around OakClan territory."
"I can't wait!" Fawnpaw replied. With that Frostfoot turned swiftly & left camp with Fawnpaw keeping pace next to him. They soon made it to a shady clearing with a stream & an few rocks on one side. Shadowpaw was practicing his hunter's crouch with Blossommoon, a soft light brown tabby with white patches and kind blue eyes.
"Stay low and keep your wait off your paws. Stop moving your tail! I don't know how many times I've told you to not move your tail." Blossommoon meowed kindly but with plenty of force to make Shadowpaw's black tail stop moving mid wag. Fawnpaw tried to stifle a laugh.
"Oh good. Your here." Blossommoon meowed kindly towards Frostfoot and Fawnpaw. "It's good to see the new clan member up and early."
"I was thinking we could show Fawnpaw around the territory. Wanna come along?" Frostfoot asked. Now Shadowpaw was trying to not laugh.
"Sure, we could take a break from hunting practice." Blossommoon replied, ignoring her student's stifled laughs.
"Ok, let's go." Frostfoot turned to the right and charged off with Blossommoon a mouse length behind. The apprentices raced to catch up.
"What was so funny?" Fawnpaw asked Shadowpaw.
"Blossommoon and Frostfoot." the black cat replied. The two stopped talking when the mentors stopped running. There was a wide sparkling creek before them.
"This is Shallow Creek. It's wide but very shallow. You can catch a few small fish here if your willing to get your paws wet." Blossommoon explained to Fawnpaw. Fawnpaw could see some little silver fish swimming in the water.
"On to the next stop." Frostfoot stood and ran down creek towards the south. The others ran with him. The warriors leapt over a log, while the apprentices raced under.
After running through at least ten fox lengths of emerald green forest, the cats stopped at a twoleg path where Fawnpaw sniffed for crossing people.
"It's clear. Let's go!" the sandy colored she cat meowed. The four crossed the dirt path quickly. On the other side Shadowpaw explained that there was a twoleg bridge that went over Shallow Creek further up stream. The cats stopped to rest in a rocky clearing where small birds and mice could be smelled.
"This is Rock Field. Mice and other kinds of prey can be hunted here. This is also where the elders like to go to relax." Frostfoot explained climbing up onto a flat topped rock. Blossommoon sat next to him washing her paws. "Try to catch something." the white tom commanded. Shadowpaw turned to follow the strong sent if mice. Fawnpaw stood sniffing the air when she dented something new. Twitching her whiskers Fawnpaw stalked between and over hot gray stones.
Fawnpaw walked around a corner of a huge rock and lying in the shadow was every cat's worst nightmare, a badger. Shocked and scared, the cat froze. It's ok, it's ok, it's asleep. Just back up and warn the others. Fawnpaw thought backing up slowly. But when she was half way behind the bolder the beast awoke.
Fawnpaw gasped and whipped around and raced between rocks, kicking up sand and gravel. "Badger!" Fawnpaw yowled scrambling up a steep rocky slope.
"What?" a voice called, Fawnpaw thought it sounded like Shadowpaw.
"Badger! A badger is coming!" Fawnpaw yowled out of breath.
"A badger!" Frostfoot called with worry. Fawnpaw could hear paws and claws scraping over the hot stones. The badger growled behind her. She kept running. "Fawnpaw!" Frostfoot called, at least ten fox lengths from her with Blossommoon and Shadowpaw next to him.
"Frostfoot!" Fawnpaw cried, running faster. Blossommoon hissed and sailed through the air onto the shoulder of the black and white badger. Shadowpaw raced passed her to slash the nose of the badger. Fawnpaw saw the badger's paw before Shadowpaw did. She knocked him out the way and just barely escaped a deadly blow to the head. She could hear the blood roaring in her ears. Giving a fierce battle cry, Fawnpaw wrapped her front legs around the neck of the badger and bit the monster's throat.
"No on messes with my friends!" she growled through the badger's fur. She could hear Frostfoot growling and scratching the badger's flanks. The badger reared onto it's back legs. Fawnpaw dug her claws into the badger's neck.
"Fawnpaw, let go!" Blossommoon yowled. Fawnpaw let go and turned to land on her feet. She looked around for her clan mates and saw them in a tree.
"Fawnpaw! Look out!" Shadowpaw called. Then Fawnpaw felt something hit her on the back of her head. Stumbling Fawnpaw scrambled up the nearest tree. "You ok?" Shadowpaw asked. Fawnpaw nodded her head and closed her eyes.
Fawn opened her eyes and smelled the sharp scent of herbs. The medicine cat, Pinetail, a young fluffy light brown and white tabby tom with green eyes leaned over Fawnpaw. "She's up. It doesn't look like that badger or fall did any real damage."
"When can she start training?" Frostfoot asked.
"Tomorrow at the earliest." the medicine cat replied.
"Get some rest Fawnpaw, you did good today." the white cat padded out of the leafy den.
"You are very lucky Fawnpaw. Not only did a badger hit you in the head, but after climbing into that tree you fell at least fifteen fox lengths and landed on your back," he paused for a second,"you should have had serious injuries or be dead." Fawnpaw closed her eyes, I could have died! Is being a warrior really worth this? Fawnpaw thought to herself.
"Hey Fawnpaw." a familiar voice called, it was Shadowpaw, Fawnpaw's closest friend. "How ya feeling?" Shadowpaw asked, pale yellow eyes full of worry.
"I think I'm ok." Fawnpaw rasped.
"That was so cool what you did! Well, until you got hit in the head and fell, but after you claimed into the tree a bunch of warriors came to chase off the badger. Then you fell and Frostfoot brought you back." Shadowpaw explained.
"Let Fawnpaw get some rest, she's had a long day." Pinetail nudged the apprentice towards the exit.
"Good night Fawnpaw!" Shadowpaw called over his shoulder. Then Fawnpaw fell asleep.
Fawnpaw opened her yellow eyes and yawned. Then everything that happened yesterday hit her. The badger, the hit to the head, the fall. Stretching, she shook the dry moss out of her fur and saw Pinetail sorting herbs into neat piles. "Good morning, feeling well?" he asked without looking up.
"Yeah. Can I go back to training?" Fawnpaw asked hoping to leave the stuffy den.
"Sure, just take it easy. No fighting badgers ok?"
"Ok." Fawnpaw walked out of the den, blinking in the light. She saw Frostfoot and Cloudfoot, another warrior, dropping prey into the fresh kill pile. Cloudfoot had a fresh scratch on her shoulder.
"Hey Fawnpaw. I herd you put up quite a fight against that badger." Cloudfoot said when she saw Fawnpaw.
"Cloudfoot was leading a patrol when she herd us fighting the badger. She came and helped fight off the beast." Frostfoot informed.
"Thanks." Fawnpaw said. "We can we go training?" she asked her mentor.
"You ready?" Frostfoot asked.
"Yes." Fawnpaw replied. I wish they would stop treating me like a kit. Fawnpaw thought.
"Then let's go." Frostfoot turned, flicking his white tail in Fawnpaw's face. They walked toward the shady clearing where they met Blossommoon and Shadowpaw yesterday. "Today I'll show you some hunting techniques. I know you can hunt, but I noticed that your crouch was a bit sloppy." Frostfoot commented as they entered the clearing. "Do what I do. Pretebd that leaf," he flicked his tail to a red leaf about a rabbit hop away from him, "is a mouse. Remember, a mouse can feel your foot steps before it hears or sees you. So step lightly, like this." Frostfoot then crouched facing the leaf, keeping his weight off his paws. He stepped forward lightly and pounced landing on the red leaf, making it crackle. "Now you try." Frostfoot stepped away from the crumpled leaf.
Fawnpaw crouched and tried to keep her weight off her paws.
"You have too much weight on your right side!" Frostfoot called. Fawnpaw adjusted her stance. "That's better! Try to stalk now." Fawnpaw stepped as slowly and lightly as she could, focused on the leaf. It moved and she darted at it, claws out. "Very good, but in traing, we keep our claws sheathed." Frostfoot called. Frostfoot showed her how to hunt rabbits and birds.
"We still need to work on hunting birds, but it's getting late. Tomorrow I'll show you how to hunt squirrels and catch fish." Frostfoot walked back towards camp with Fawnpaw trailing behind.