Moonpaw(Warrior Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

The dawn was calling for the apprentices, Moonpaw was awake as soon as the first ray of dawn stuck in the apprentice's den. Blackpaw was still sound asleep, as the other apprentices awoke. Moonpaw put a paw on the black cat and nudged him around. All she got was a groan. She knew the Dormouse would never wake up on her call. I did wake him up, he can't say I didn't. Moonpaw padded out of the den. The apprentice's den was just a corner in the camp with a large tree covering it, and a few logs on the side. Moonpaw was sure she would not survive at leaf-bare, she would probably freeze to death.

She could see warriors popping out of their dens, and searched the clearing for a sign of her mentor. There was no sign of the white pelt, she urged to leap into the warrior's den to find her, but that would make a bad impression for a new apprentice. She waited patiently for her mentor, she figured that her mentor would come looking for her at the right time.

"Moonpaw!" Cloudheart meowed. From nowhere Cloudheart was behind her. "Ready for battle training?" Moonpaw was surprised how nice her mentor was.

"Yes!" Moonpaw meowed. Her mentor lead her towards the entrance of the camp. She could finally go out of the camp without her mother stuck around her. She was coming out to train, not to play. She could feel the dawn forest, the mice scattering about, leafs rustling. She could hear and scent every little detail, even the flapping of wings. She wondered what she was going to be doing.

They started running. Each side the stong warrior took was two strides for Moonpaw, she wondered if she would ever get that strong. Moonpaw was struggling to catch up, she felt like she was running for her life. She felt like her paws rattled the ground, scaring the whole forest's mice away. She was sweating and her heart pounding. She hoped that she didn't need to keep it up for long.

Moonpaw caught a glimpse of the warrior looking at her, but she knew if she lost focus of the path ahead she would not be able to keep up again. Though she knew Cloudheart could see the sweat running down her body, but she kept running, and Cloudheart didn't slow a bit. Instead, he quicked just a slight bit, and Moonpaw had to stretch further. She was surprised her mentor was up for tough love, and she knew this would make her stronger, but it would not be a great experience for her, and she knew that she would have to keep up.

The pair kept running along the forest, Moonpaw feeling stronger, each stride of the way. She could see the training hollow ahead of her, and she realised that the last time she was here was when she was kit running around chasing Blackpaw. It felt like ages since she was a kit, sleeping by her mother and feeling the soft fur against her. She was now an apprentice. Not a kit anymore.

The pair arrived at the training hollow, Moonpaw fighting for her breath. She looked at Cloudheart, ready to train. Cloudheart looked back at Moonpaw, with a moment of awkwardness, but the silence was broken soon.

"I thought you may want to do some battle training!" Cloudheart meowed to Moonpaw. Moonpaw's paws were tingling. She could not wait to start battling the huge warrior, or maybe even Blackpaw. The training snapped the white cat out of her thoughts and into training. 

"I thought you may know some basic battle moves?" Moonpaw looked at Cloudheart. Cloudheart was trying to see what she knew. She learnt some moves from Brightpaw, but only a few. That reminded her that it was going to be Brightpaw's warrior ceremony. She went back to focusing on battle training. She looked at her mentor, patiently waiting for her, standing in a battle crouch. 

Moonpaw decided to crouch, and tensed up ready. She watched the white pelt as it stood still, and dug in her hind legs. She aimed at the target, narrowing her eyes. When she thought it was the right time, she leapt towards Cloudheart, but did not land on the fur.