Bushcloud stared at Lionpaw with disgust. Sparkfire hissed, her gaze a blaze of ice cold fury.
"Do not look at our daughter like that! This is why I couldn't stay mates with you!" Sparkfire growled, her voice colder than ice.
"Shut your mouse eating jaws. I'm not just looking at Lionpaw." Bushcloud snarled.
Lionpaw watched Bushcloud's gaze and saw it rest on her brother, Daisypaw.
"He's hardly a real Tom." Bushcloud declared.
"Go away dung face, I am about to train my apprentice." Her mentor, Sizzle, snapped.
"Of course, wise old rogue!" Bushcloud muttered, tail lashing as he stalked off.
She saw Sizzle's eyes darken as his past was brought up, but then he shook his pelt as if to shake the thought away.
"I'll be training you today, daisypaw."
And then he ran into the forest.
"Oh you're so on!" Lionpaw giggled, bounding into the greenery and past the trees. Daisypaw waited a moment before setting off on a trot, a bit startled. Lionpaw didn't look back. She was so close to Sizzle. She then leapt, clutching his tail. He flicked his ear and spun around. She yelped with joy as his whip-like tail flung her off like a leaf. His brown fur looked black in the shade, and she kept reaching for the wrong thing instead of his fur. Eventually, she caught sight of him again as he leapt up on a branch. She snuck up behind him and pushed Sizzle off the branch, pinning him down. Lionpaw began panting, her tail bushed up. Her muscles relaxed and she loosened her grip.
"Never let go of an enemy!" Sizzle laughed, kicking her high into the air; making her screech like an eagle. Then she fell into the tree. Slowly, she thought of how to ambush him. Smugly, Lionpaw leapt up and up the tree branches, until she could see Sizzle like he was prey. Snap. The branch beneath her snapped, causing her to go tumbling down. She was so high, and branches all around her were breaking and stabbing and tangling into her pelt. Daisypaw was screaming beneath her, while Sizzle hadn't noticed yet. Then sizzle turned and stared, eyes wide. She felt two branches lock on her hind paw. She was stuck. Scared and hurt, Lionpaw screeched for Sizzle as more branches tumbled down. A flash of fur above her made her realise something. Those branches were being snapped by a cat. Claws, scraping against wood. Golden and white fur fell gently before being crushed. Golden and white fur, like her fathers. But her father wouldn't do that, would he? No, of course not.
"Someone's up there!" Sizzle yowled, seeming to realise after her.
"I know! They're snapping the wood!"
Sizzle's face became determined. He began shuffling up another tree. The claws scraping stopped and the final branch fell, cutting her paw free a little bit. Now there was hardly any branches other than weird but thick ones that couldn't hold a paw properly. The rest had been tangled or swiped out by the many branches tumbling down. She squealed and reached for sizzle.
"There are really thick branches right close to the root!" She managed to cry out through the pain.
"Is your leg fully jammed? Is the blood in your head?" She heard sizzle meowing. Her head hurt. She shut her eyes.
