Pineshade's Loss

Chapter 4

Pinepaw awakens in his nest. He opens one of his green eyes to get a peek at the rest of the den. He notices that the other apprentices are starting to wake up too and sunlight is shining through the entrance of the den, meaning it must be daytime. The dark gray tom slowly begins to get out of his nest. Despite his excitement, he is still not a dawn cat.

Today is Milkpaw and Spikepaw's first day of training. They all have tried to arrange something with their mentors so they can all train together. They originally only wanted it to be the four of them, but since Hawkpaw and Ebonypaw said they also want to join in, they couldn't say no. After a lot of convincing, all six mentors agreed to their apprentices' proposal. A few moments after Pinepaw stood up from his nest, Leafshadow padded into the apprentices' den.

"Are the all of you up and ready?" The she-cat asks the apprentices once she walks in. That's when all of the apprentices began to quickly get out of their nests, all of them are excited, even Hawkpaw and Ebonypaw, who have both been apprentices for a while. Pinepaw watches as the two sisters quickly head over to their mother, followed by Spikepaw and Beetlepaw. Pinepaw glances over at Milkpaw, who is still slowly getting up from her nest.

"You all can go ahead, I'll stay behind with her," Pinepaw meows, padding over to Milkpaw, knowing she was the only apprentice still asleep when Leafshadow walked in.

"Are you sure?" Leafshadow asks her apprentice, concern showing in her ivy blue eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure," Pinepaw answers, until Milkpaw speaks up.

"No, I'm ready!" Milkpaw quickly meows. "Thanks though, Pinepaw!"

Then, Pinepaw follows Leafshadow and the other apprentices outside of the apprentices' den, padding beside Milkpaw. Once they step outside, they spot Mousetail, Bluepelt, Russetblaze, Snowpetal, and Volenose waiting near the camp's entrance. The apprentices then dash over towards their mentors while Pinepaw stays behind with his.

"Slow down!" Leafshadow yowls with a purr of amusement. Eventually, all of the cats are gathered together near the camp's entrance.

"Shall we go?" Mousetail asks, taking charge since he's the eldest cat in the group, despite the fact that him and Bluepelt are littermates. Once he gets agreements from all of the other cats, he begins to lead the way.

"Where should we train? It will be hard to fit all of these cats in one place," Mousetail asks, waiting for opinions from the other cats.

"Oh! I know!" Leafshadow meows almost instantly. "We could try the small clearing not far from here. It's not much, but it will fit all of us," she suggests.

"That sounds like a good idea, Leafshadow. Any objections?" Mousetail asks. After a few seconds of silence, he speaks up again. "The clearing it is."

"If this goes well, we should do this with all of the other apprentices from now on and make it a tradition. It can be more beneficial for the apprentices by boosting their teamwork and cooperation," Leafshadow then suggests. "I definitely wish I could've had something like that as an apprentice."

"That's a great idea!" Bluepelt instantly meows. "You're very smart, Leafshadow," she compliments.

"Thanks, I get it from my mother," Leafshadow responds with a purr of amusement.

Oh right, Cherrystar is her mother. Pinepaw thinks.

"I guess Juniperleaf didn't get that trait," Russetblaze meows with a purr of amusement.

"Just because she rejected you doesn't mean you get to insult her," Snowpetal meows coldly.

"Calm down, I was just joking!" Russetblaze quickly responds.