Warriors: Uprising (Book 1)

Chapter 13

     Blizzardpaw didn't want to wake up. She was sleeping peacefully until the sun shone on her in the Apprentices' den. "I don't want to get up yet...!" she protested at nothing as the fluffy apprentice slowly opened her eyes. Blizzardpaw squinted as the sun continued to shine on her. Well, maybe I can meditate as Sandcoat said... She thought and sat up, then closing her eyes and steadied her breathing. There weren't any sounds to listen to, but it felt relaxing and calm to do it.

Blizzardpaw's ears shot up as she heard pawsteps coming from outside the Apprentices' den. She tried to sniff out the scent of what cat it was as it got closer, but she couldn't identify it at all. I need to wait until their pawsteps get closer for me to pounce... Blizzardpaw thought as the pawsteps now came into the den.

Closer... Closer...

Now!

She pounced on whatever or whoever was in front of her and pinned it down.

"H-Hey!" the mew was from a tom, Blizzardpaw opened her eyes to see a smaller version of Lionsplash in front of her. It was Dampkit.

Blizzardpaw quickly got off him and blushed. "Sorry! I thought you were Sandcoat trying to sneak up on me while I was meditating..." She mewed to Dampkit.

He blushed and got up. "It's alright... I'm fine," he replied, licking some furs on his chest.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Blizzardpaw asked, tilting her head to the side a bit.

"I just wanted to check on you. Since you are the only apprentice in here, I just wanted to make sure you weren't lonely." Dampkit blushed again, looking away shyly.

Blizzardpaw gave a bright smile and went over to Dampkit to nuzzle him. "Aw, you're so sweet!" she purred.

Dampkit's fur got hot with embarrassment, so he just froze there.

"Well, I will go find Sandcoat now! Bye! ~" She licked his cheek and left the Apprentices' den.

Dampkit stood there, his fur still hot, and gave a tiny mew.

*

Blizzardpaw and Sandcoat were behind Driftclan territory again.

"I'll be teaching you two things." Sandcoat started. "First, I'll be seeing how well you can track a cat. Then we will hunt for a bit!" He meowed.

Blizzardpaw smiled. "Yay!"

"Okay, close your eyes for a little while, then try to find me." the mentor instructed.

Blizzardpaw nodded and closed her eyes. She heard pawsteps quickly going away from her.

I guess we're playing hide and seek then! She thought, then kept her eyes closed for a little longer.

A few heartbeats later, Blizzardpaw opened her eyes to see her mentor completely gone. Before she tracked his scent, she looked in the bushes on both her left and right side first and behind the trees. Okay, tracking time! She thought, then sniffed the air. It took her a little while before she caught the scent trail, but when she did, she ran down the path Sandcoat had chosen.

She ran a little farther down the path away from Driftclan and then stopped to sniff the air. It seems like he went... This way! She ran into a bush on her right. Doing her best to keep track of Sandcoat's scent, since the smell of the bushes messed with the trail.

Blizzardpaw continued through a few more bushes and took a few more turns until she ended up at a small, flowing stream of water. His scent ends here... So where is he? The young apprentice thought as she looked around. Maybe I can use my meditation to find out! She sat on her hindquarters and closed her eyes. She calmly breathed as she tried to listen for any pawsteps around her, but all she heard was the stream flow.

What she didn't notice is Sandcoat standing right beside her.

Sandcoat's scent is powerful! He has to be close by! She thought.

"Ahem," he said.

Blizzardpaw looked at him momentarily before looking back and closing her eyes, "Oh hi Sandcoat."

She glanced back, "Wait, Sandco-" Blizzardpaw got pounced on and pinned down by Sandcoat once more.

"You were close, but you stopped and thought my scent ended there." He mewed.

"Aw!" She pouted and looked away, a bit embarrassed.

Sandcoat got off of her and smiled. "It's okay. The next time we do this, you'll get me for sure!" the cream tom encouraged her.

Blizzardpaw got up as well and smiled, "I won't let you down, Sandcoat!"

He chuckled. "Good to know! Now let's get back to camp before some cat worries about us," He meowed.

"But what was the second thing we would do?" Blizzardpaw asked eagerly.

"Oh, we were just going to hunt a little, but we can do that on the way back."

"Yay!"

*

Back at Driftclan camp, Sandcoat and Blizzardpaw sat next to each other close to the Medicine cat den. They were sharing a nice gull that Sandcoat had found in the fresh-kill pile. Otterpelt had come out the den with Stormfish right behind her.

"Now if your paw acts up again, let me know." she meowed.

"I will, thank you, Otterpelt." Stormfish replied and dipped his head, then headed back to the Warriors' den.

The medicine cat looked over at the two cats eating the gull. "Hey Blizzardpaw and Sandcoat!" She mewed happily.

"Hi!"

"Hello."

"How's the training going so far?" She asked them.

"Blizzardpaw is learning very well." Sandcoat meowed, taking another bite out of the gull.

Blizzardpaw just gave an enormous smile to Otterpelt.

"Great! Oh also, are you two going to the gathering Vertexclan and Driftclan are having?" Otterpelt went on.

"I didn't know there would be a gathering soon!" Blizzardpaw hopped up and looked at Sandcoat. "Are we going?"

Sandcoat was silent for a little.

"Sure." he said.

Blizzardpaw hopped around excitedly. "Yay!"