Choice - warrior cats fanfic

Chapter Six

Acornpaw struggled under the weight of Cherrypaw as the energetic she-cat pressed her to the ground. Her nose stung from the freezing earth, warping her senses as she struggled to throw her sister off.

She remembered when she was a kit, and Beetlepelt was an apprentice. She had watched him every morning battle train with Runningpaw. She fought to remember what move he had used once when he had been caught in the same situation.

Then, it flickered in her mind.

She twisted under Cherrypaw and raked her exposed belly with sheathed claws before sliding out from under her and leaped to her paws, facing her sister.

"Nice move, Acornpaw," Beetlepelt called from the edge of the training grounds.

She lifted her chin. Perhaps today would be better than the previous days of battle training. Her moves had been clumsy; distracted by the thought of battle lingering in her mind. Everyone was worried. Whispers drifted through the air. ThunderClan continued to be hostile to ShadowClan ever since the Gathering, and there had even been a few small scuffles, but nothing serious. Still, ThunderClan's border remained stronger than ever, a constant reminder that they were still seeking that apparent revenge that Sparrowpaw had told her about.

Acornpaw was so wrapped in her thoughts she barely noticed Cherrypaw's muscles tensing as she prepared to strike. A moment later, she shot through the air, the streak of fur flying at the edge of her vision shocking her out of her thoughts. Without thinking, she clumsily skidded across the ground with a yelp, while Cherrypaw sailed past her, her outstretched paws thumping her on the spine before she landed with a crash on the hard ground.

She flinched, feeling her mentor's frustration radiating across the clearing. She refused to look in his direction, sensing the disappointment coming off in waves. Once again in that quarter moon, she was dozing off on her paws, caught in a haze of worries and wonders. Beetlepelt had always been patient with her, but even that was beginning to fade. She shook her head fiercely, urging herself to stay focused.

Cherrypaw had turned and was preparing to strike again, her copper eyes gleaming with the light of battle. This time, Acornpaw stayed alert. She tensed, muscles stiffening, and pretended she was about to pounce. She locked her gaze on Cherrypaw's paws as if she was aiming there. But even that trick didn't work; Cherrypaw, although seemingly focused on the spar, was completely unaware of small details.

Acornpaw shook her ears. Fine, I suppose I have to learn how to deal with different kinds of opponents.

So instead, she waited for Cherrypaw to strike first. As soon as her sister pounced, Acornpaw was ready. Just as she came crashing toward her, she ducked and grabbed her legs, yanking her out of the air and slamming her to the ground. Cherrypaw let out a yelp of shock, stretching her paws out defensively as her belly was now exposed. Acornpaw instead struck a sheathed paw toward her face, but Cherrypaw had a quick reaction and caught the blow, forcing one of Acornpaw's arms away before aiming a blow with her other paw. It was clumsy, but certainly caught Acornpaw off guard.

"That's enough," Goldpelt sighed, stalking toward them and prying the wrestling she-cats apart.

Acornpaw scrambled to her paws, shaking bits of leaf dust out of her pelt. Cherrypaw looked exhilarated, her nostrils flaring and paws twitching restlessly.

Beetlepelt padded over to Goldpelt's side, his expression unreadable.

"That was..." he trailed off.

"...an interesting fight, I could say," Goldpelt finished for the younger tom. "It was an absolute mess. I've never seen anything like it. Clumsy with hardly any technique, but it wasn't too terrible."