Pineshade's Loss

Chapter 10

Pinepaw wakes up to a shove against his side. He opens his eyes to spot Milkpaw standing over him.

"What is it?" Pinepaw grumbles, stretching in place.

"We're going to go training," Milkpaw informs. "Spikepaw and Beetlepaw are already outside waiting with our mentors!" She meows.

"Okay, I'm coming," Pinepaw meows, slowly beginning to get up out of his nest. After he gets up, the two apprentices pad out of the apprentices' den together. They pad over to their mentors and the other apprentices, who are all waiting by the camp entrance.

"You're finally awake!" Beetlepaw cheers.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Pinepaw meows with a yawn.

"Shall we go?" Leafshadow asks the other cats, taking charge as the oldest cat there. After sounds of approval from the other cats, Leafshadow leads the way out of ShadowClan camp and into the surrounding territory, heading over to the small clearing.

"Leafshadow, are you and Lizardtail planning on another litter?" Russetblaze asks the older warrior curiously.

"I don't think so, I think one is enough for us," Leafshadow answers.

"That's fair," Russetblaze responds. "Volenose, you and Rosedawn?" He then asks.

"No, especially after what happened with our first. I don't think we want to take any more risks," Volenose answers as the cats continue to walk.

"That makes sense, I'm glad Acornkit is better though. He will be a strong warrior," Russetblaze meows.

"Thank you," Volenose responds.

The cats then finally make it to the clearing, prepared to do what they did last time, this time without Hawktalon and Ebonyfrost.

"We will do what we did last time," Leafshadow instructs. "We will focus on hunting first and then battling. Since you all probably remember what to do, we can go ahead and start," she meows. Pinepaw nods and begins to pad off away from the clearing. He opens his jaws slightly to try to catch the scent of any prey. Then, he catches the scent of a mouse. The dark gray tom follows the scent until he spots the mouse nibbling on a seed. He crouches down low and stalks closer to the mouse, trying not to make a single sound. Then, once he is close enough, Pinepaw leaps for the mouse. He quickly bites its neck, killing it instantly. He picks it up in his jaws and looks up proudly.

"Good job, Pinepaw," Leafshadow meows, coming out from behind a bush. "Let's head back."

The apprentice and mentor walk back to the clearing together. Pinepaw carries his mouse back with him proudly. Once they return, they notice that all of the apprentices have return, each of them with fresh-kill of their own. Milkpaw looks over at Pinepaw proudly.

Looks like she's finally been getting proper training. Pinepaw thinks.

"Now, we will focus on battling," Leafshadow meows as Pinepaw buries his mouse for later. "The battle pairs will be Beetlepaw and Spikepaw and Pinepaw and Milkpaw. Remember to keep your claws sheathed!" She instructs. Pinepaw looks over at Milkpaw and pads over to her.

"This is going to be fun, we battle practice with each other all the time!" Pinepaw meows.

"Yeah!" Milkpaw purrs. "But this time I'm going to beat you!"

"No you're not!" Pinepaw responds with a purr of amusement.

"Go!" Leafshadow calls out and Pinepaw watches as Milkpaw leaps for him. Pinepaw quickly rolls to the side, dodging her attack. Pinepaw then leaps for Milkpaw as she is trying to get up off the ground, knocking her back down. He pins her to the ground successfully. Pinepaw, having won, gets up off his best friend.

"You did good!" Pinepaw compliments. "Just try to be a bit faster next time," he advises.

"But you did better. That was amazing!" Milkpaw meows happily. "It seems like you're almost ready to become a warrior! But, I have some catching up to do before that happens!"

Pinepaw looks over at the battle between Beetlepaw and Spikepaw, which is still going on. He watches as Spikepaw successfully pins the black tom to the ground, winning the battle.

Wow, he's amazing. Pinepaw can't help but think about the gray-and-white tom.

"I win!" Spikepaw cheers, getting up off Beetlepaw and standing proudly.

"Great job!" Snowpetal meows happily.

"Let's head back to camp," Leafshadow meows. The apprentices gather their fresh-kill and pad back to camp together along with their mentors.