Colorful Doom

Chapter 5

Nightpaw blinked her eyes open, scanning the apprentice's den. It was empty now, with her being the only apprentice besides Foxpaw. She sighed. The den was lonely without Sparrowwing. She remembered when they had both been kits, without a care in the world. That seemed like so long ago.

Wolffur stuck his head into the apprentice's den. "Battle assessment!" He called cheerfully.

Nightpaw sighed and got up, reluctantly ducking into the open. Her fur was ruffled. She hadn't groomed it for a few days. She had passed her first set of assessments, and her second hunting asessment. Now, she just had to wait a moon for her final assessment.

Wolffur waved his tail around her face. "Hello? You there?"

Nightpaw blinked, embarrassed. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"I was saying that since there isn't any apprentices besides yourself that qualify for battle training, we'll have to ask a warrior. But they're too busy, looking for that pair of rogues. So, you'll have to do apprentice duties." He sighed.

Nightpaw nodded. "Alright then. Which den?"

"Did Rosefeather teach you?"

"Yup." Nightpaw confirmed, digging her claws into the ground.

"Alright then. I won't be in camp. Do the nursery." Wolffur instructed, giving her a lick on the head before trotting out of camp.

Nightpaw turned towards the nursery, in a better mood than before. Leaftail's kits were adorable, and they seemed to like her.

Sunkit and Cloudkit, the two more outgoing ones, ran up to her when she entered the den. She was carrying a wad of moss in her jaws, and set it down before greeting the bouncing kits.

"Hi, kits," She cooed, smiling.

Sunkit bared tiny fangs at her. "How dare you call us kits, ThunderClan scum? We'll teach you!"

Cloudkit leaped on top of her. She pretended to fall to the ground as Thornkit and Runningkit decided to join the fun.

"Rawr! Feel my wrath!" Thornkit dug her claws into Nightpaw's fluffy pelt. Runningkit followed suit, holding down her tail.

Leaftail appeared fron the back of the den, smiling. "Come on now, kits. Nightpaw needs to clean out the nests. She can play later. Stay out of her way, okay?"

Sunkit nodded, trotting outisde. Cloudkit followed. Runningkit and Thornkit curled next to their mother, talking in low voices. They sounded as though they were debating something.

Nightpaw's whiskers twitched as she took apart the old nest, salvaging clean bits of moss. The rest she tossed into the dirtplace. She tucked the other piece of moss together and flattened it, creating a decent nest.

Nightpaw used her tail to brush out all the dirty dust and moss bits on the floor, cramping them into a corner. She finally wet a piece of moss and placed it in front of the only nest in the nursery.

Leaftail gave the apprentice a grateful smile. "Thanks, Nightpaw. The kits really look up to you."

Nightpaw waved her tail. "It was my pleasure."

She padded out of the nursery, looking around camp. It was almost deserted. Blazefur spotted her, then called out from across the camp.

"Hey! Get over here! I need some help!"

Nightpaw sprinted over, smiling at the medicine cat. His gaze was grim as he began to speak.

"Oakstar has green cough, and we're all out of catmint. I need you to come with me to Twoleg Place. Think you can handle it?"