Warrior Cats: Back to the Wild Book#2

Chapter 1

Mousepelt lowered herself as she eyed the frog before her. It made its strange sound from its throat as it searched the air for its own kind of prey. She slowly crept toward it, trying to keep quiet. Her tail was away from the leaves on the ground with leaf-fall.

Finally, she pounced from her hiding spot and landed on the frog. She bit down hard, killing it instantly. She thanked StarClan for the prey they gave so the Clan could stock up for leaf-bare. She then covered the frog with the dirt to hide her catch.

"Nice catch, kittypet!" The brown and darker speckled she-cat turned to see the skinny cream colored tom, Limptail, with his adorable golden apprentice, Morningpaw. "Don't forget to catch the fake rat!"

"Shut up!" Mousepelt mrrowed with laughter. Just a moon ago, Mousepelt had pounced on a kittypet toy, left in the forest, thinking it was real. She hadn't realized until Ravenclaw, her old mentor, had pointed out its rainbow colored fur. Mousepelt had been so embarrassed about that day and Limptail and Crazyfeather hadn't let Mousepelt forget about it.

"How's your hunting going?" Morningpaw asked, her green eyes shining.

"Not as well as you would expect, young one," Mousepelt purred, "but, I'm not giving up, not until moon shines!"

"You're determination is admirable," Limptail spoke, "but, you need to relax too, not just work."

"And you need to spend more time training and less time mooning!" the three turned to see Ravenclaw and Viperfang come from the bushes. Mousepelt lowered her ears and tried not to keep eye contact with Ravenclaw. Not long ago had the young warrior realized she had fallen in love with the black tom. Viperfang was trying to keep Ravenclaw to herself, but Snaketooth had made it to where Ravenclaw went on patrols with other cats.

"Look who's talking!" Limptail shot a look at the golden tabby she-cat.

"Let's not fight now!" Ravenclaw broke in. "Limptail, how's Morningpaw's battle training been going?"

"Fine," Limptail flicked his tail.

"Very well," Ravenclaw looked over to the apprentice, "Morningpaw, demonstrate what Limptail has been teaching you on Mousepelt, Mousepelt, you're a ThunderClan cat and you want to start a battle, you spot Morningpaw alone in the forest, how do you two react?"

Mousepelt immediately pounced at Morningpaw and the two hit each other. They rolled around until Mousepelt was over Morningpaw and pinned the golden apprentice down.

"There, now," Ravenclaw looked back to Limptail, "if you have time to worship the ground Mousepelt walks on, you have time to make Morningpaw in to a real warrior!"

"Who died and made you deputy?" Limptail spat.

"Judging on Snaketooth's condition, Snaketooth." Viperfang rolled her eyes. Mousepelt let Morningpaw go and went back to the small dug up area where she hid her frog.

"Would you shut up?" Limptail glared to the she-cat.

"Enough!" Ravenclaw shot. "Leaf-bare is on it's way and the fresh-kill pile is looking weak!"

"I'll get right on that when Jumbledstar dies and Snaketooth makes you deputy!" Limptail snapped.

"Knock it off the both of you!" Mousepelt stepped in. "Limptail, you spend more time training with Morningpaw, not with me! Now let's all do what we should during leaf-fall and stock up on fresh-kill!"

"Now look who's acting like deputy!" Vipervang put in.

"She'd be better than these two bickering toms..." Morningpaw grumbled.