Cougarstripe's Shock (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 6

"Hey! Where have you been?"

Cougarpaw laid down in his nest, looking over at Silverpaw, the one who had asked the question. He shrugged.

"Oh, you know, fighting territorial kittypets," Cougarpaw meowed simply, licking his paw. Lightpaw scooted up next to Silverpaw.

"Wait, you were battle training? I thought you were going out to collect moss today," Lightpaw meowed.

"I wasn't talking to you," Cougarpaw snapped to the annoying tom. "I was talking to Silverpaw." Lightpaw growled and narrowed his eyes, turning and flopping into his nest angrily. Silverpaw let out a sigh and shook her head, then returned her gaze to Cougarpaw.

"I don't want to hear your mouse-brained story if Lightpaw can't hear it," Silverpaw meowed, narrowing her eyes. "Lightpaw isn't bad, you just refuse to talk to him. Maybe you should branch out. Maybe talk to Ashpaw or Darkpaw. Don't you want kits? You can't have kits with anyone else, really, in the Clan. The only younger warriors are Lavenderwing and Stormbrew. And, well, Stormbrew doesn't like anyone, and Lavenderwing already has a mate!"

"Don't tell me how I should live my life," Cougarpaw hissed. He really was growing annoyed by Silverpaw. He stood up, ruffling his fur. "I am not going near Ashpaw. Ashpaw and... Shadowpaw..." He cringed after saying the name. "Are always together. And-"

"Why do you hate Ashpaw and Shadowpaw so much? What did they do to you?" Silverpaw asked.

"Shadowpaw..." He shook his head. "No, not Shadowpaw." Cougarpaw's eyes turned to slits and he clumsily walked out of the apprentices' den without another word. Grief overwhelmed him. That's all he felt.

Shadowpaw really killed her... And what have I been doing all this time?

"I need some fresh air," he muttered to himself, heading toward the camp exit. Or... Entrance. Whatever you wanted to call it.

"Cougarpaw, where do you think you are going?" Clawflank called to him. "Well, we might as well go ahead and do a bit of battle training." Cougarpaw felt no happiness whatsoever. He didn't know why he received this sudden feeling of sadness, but it washed over him like darkness over the forest. The tan tom nodded, and followed his mentor out of camp. Clawflank flicked his tail. He looked up, watching the storm clouds floating closer toward them.

"Here we are, the sandy hollow," Clawflank meowed. He turned to Cougarpaw, sitting down. The tan apprentice did the same. "We're going to start simple. First, we'll start with the swipe and dodge." Cougarpaw nodded and watched his mentor. "Here's what you do. You simply scratch the cat in front of you on his or her face or muzzle, and jump back to avoid a blow from them." Clawflank demonstrated, although it was a little hard for one cat to do. "Now you try on me."

Cougarpaw sighed and sat up, fixing his gaze on Clawflank. He narrowed his eyes. Cougarpaw ran forward and growled, raising his paw in the air. Without control, his claws unsheathed and he brought them down on his mentor's cheek. Cougarpaw jumped back as if he were avoiding a paw swipe, but realized what he had done. Clawflank wiped the blood off of his cheek.

"Cougarpaw! What is wrong with you? You know we don't battle train with unsheathed claws!" Clawflank exclaimed, shaking the blood off of his face. Cougarpaw's ears flattened.

"I'm sorry, Clawflank," Cougarpaw replied. "It won't happen again. I don't know what got into me." Clawflank nodded. "You okay?" His mentor meowed. "You seem... Not committed. Down."

"I'm fine!" Cougarpaw snapped. "Let's just get on with it."

"I thought you wanted to battle train, though," Clawflank pointed out.