Warriors: A Changed Fate

Chapter 5

Mistypaw exits the apprentices' den. She yawns and stretches out her legs. Then, she watches as Applebranch's gaze locks on her.

"Oh, finally, you're awake!" Applebranch meows, padding over to her. "Did you sleep well?" He asks her. Mistypaw nods in response. "Good, because today is your first day of real training." Applebranch explains.

"Yay!" Mistypaw cheers happily.

"Bearpaw and Sagepaw have been impatiently waiting for you to get up." Applebranch tells her. "They're very excited as well." He meows.

"Are we all training together?" Mistypaw asks her mentor. Applebranch nods.

"Yes. We're going to participate in a tradition that has been going on for a while now. I did the same thing when I was an apprentice. Smokefur and Ashstar were apprentices around the same time I was, so we got to do it together a couple times." Applebranch explains. "If you've heard stories about Duskstar and Addertooth, they were apprentices at that time too." He meows. "Cloudheart is my littermate, but she obviously was a medicine cat apprentice instead so she couldn't participate." He mentions. Mistypaw nods.

Wow, Applebranch is really talkative. Mistypaw thinks.

"Anyways, let's get moving." Applebranch meows. "Follow me." He adds. Then, Applebranch begins to walk over to Mousetuft, Daisybloom, Bearpaw, and Sagepaw. Mistypaw follows him closely. Soon, they reach the other cats.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Applebranch asks them.

"Yeah!" Bearpaw cheers happily, but all of the other cats simply nodded.

"I love the enthusiasm, Bearpaw. Let's go then." Applebranch meows. Then, Applebranch leads the other cats to where they will be training.

"All apprentices train in a very small clearing in the middle of the forest in ShadowClan territory." Applebranch explains. "This has been the spot for many moons now." He meows. "Once we get there, we will focus on hunting first and then battle skills. This will be fun, but it will be even more fun once Toadkit, Frostkit, and Nettlekit become apprentices." He tells the apprentices. The apprentices nod in response. Soon, the cats arrived at the clearing.

"Since none of you know anything, I will demonstrate some things to you. Since we will hunt first, I will share the basics of that with you." Applebranch meows. "Since I am the most skilled out of the three mentors, I will be teaching the three of you." He mentions. "Now, when hunting, you have to make sure you stay as quiet as possible so you don't scare away the prey. Once you locate what you want to catch, you must crouch down low like this." Applebranch explains, crouching down low. He is so low that he is almost touching the ground. "Then, you must slowly and quietly sneak closer if necessary." He meows, beginning to take a few slow and quiet steps forward. "And then, once you're close enough, you leap onto your prey and bite into its neck to kill it if necessary." He meows. He then leaps forward, his front paws hitting the ground first and then his hind paws. "Do you three understand?" Applebranch then asks the apprentices. They nod in response. "Then, go try it on your own. You go off into the forest and try to catch something. You have one attempt. If you catch it, great! If not, then we'll keep on practicing. Whether you catch it or not, you still return back to the clearing afterwards. Your mentor will follow you and observe your progress." Applebranch meows. The three apprentices nod and then go their separate ways.

Mistypaw walks off in her own direction and she notices that Applebranch is following her. The gray apprentice stays alert, sniffing the air for the possible scent of prey. Then, she catches the scent of a mouse. She spots the mouse eating a seed beside a tree. She crouches down low and sneaks closer, staying quiet. Then, she leaps for the mouse. However, she loses control and missed the mouse, leaping right into the tree.

"Ow.." Mistypaw meows. She then hears Applebranch purring with amusement. "That wasn't funny!" Mistypaw complains.

Oh StarClan, why am I stuck with him as a mentor? Mistypaw thinks.

"I'm sorry Mistypaw, but it was just funny to me." Applebranch replies, still purring with amusement. Mistypaw rolls her eyes. "Anyways, let's head back to the clearing." Applebranch then meows. Mistypaw nods and then the two cats walk back to the clearing together.

When the two cats got back, Bearpaw and Daisybloom were already back. Bearpaw has a squirrel in his jaws and he is sitting there proudly. Mistypaw can't help but roll her eyes at Bearpaw as well.

"Did ya catch anything, Mistypaw?" Bearpaw then asks the other apprentice. Mistypaw shakes her head. Applebranch purrs with amusement.

"She did leap right into a tree though." Applebranch adds, still finding it amusing. Bearpaw and Daisybloom then purr with amusement as well.

"You three are lucky that I'm not seriously hurt." Mistypaw replies with a sigh.

"Stop taking things so seriously, Mistypaw. We're just having fun!" Bearpaw meows. "Lighten up a little." He adds. Then, at that moment, Sagepaw and Mousetuft returned. Sagepaw, like Mistypaw, returned with nothing. Sagepaw looked disappointed with herself.

"I wasn't even close..." Sagepaw meows, a sad tone in her voice.

"Don't worry, Sagepaw! You'll catch something soon, I know it." Bearpaw meows, purring at his littermate.

"Bearpaw is right. It's only your first time. You can only improve from here." Mousetuft meows. Sagepaw nods.

"At lease you didn't leap right into a tree." Mistypaw mumbles to Sagepaw. Sagepaw purrs with amusement at the thought of Mistypaw running into a tree.

"It's not funny!" Mistypaw then meows.

"Now, we will focus on battle skills." Applebranch meows. "However, for this, I decided that I will tell you three absolutely nothing. I would like to see how you three already know how to defend yourselves. Even though you don't know any moves, I would like to see if any of you have an idea on what to do. You will each battle against your mentor, but don't worry, we will go very easy on you since you don't know anything. Just defend yourselves in the best way you can." Applebranch explains. "Then, from what ideas you have, we will build up." He adds. "Now, pair up with your mentor and when I say we will start, we will start. Remember to keep your claws sheathed." He meows. Mistypaw turns around and faces Applebranch. "Now, start!" Applebranch meows.

Mistypaw takes this moment to leap for Applebranch, but she misses and lands on the ground on all four of her legs. She tries it again, but this time Applebranch purposely allows Mistypaw to leap onto him. Mistypaw pretends to claw at him and Applebranch pretends to be in pain.

"Okay, you win." Applebranch replies, easily letting the new apprentice and former kittypet win. Mistypaw looks around at the others and she sees that they have finished as well. Bearpaw defeated Daisybloom but Sagepaw lost against Mousetuft.

"Did you all have fun?" Applebranch asks the apprentices. They cheer, even though Sagepaw cheer wasn't even enthusiastic. "I'm glad, it will be even more fun with more apprentices." He responds. "Now, let's head back to camp." He meows. Then, all six cats walk back to ShadowClan's camp. Once they arrive, they hear wonderful news. While they were gone, Wolfclaw had her kits successfully. They are named Dovekit, a gray she-kit, and Sootkit, a dark gray tom-kit. The apprentices are overjoyed at the news since it means that there will be more cats to spend time with in the future.