Jayflight's Vision (OLD)

Chapter 2

"Keep grumbling, Ravenpaw, and I'll have you checking the elders for fleas!"

"Alright, alright, keep your fur on!" Ravenpaw was battle training with Dawnlight and Tawnyshade.

He had already done a good job at the move they were showing him but they kept making him do it again, and again, and again! "I just want to try a different move, that's all." 

In the back of his mind, Ravenpaw heard the bracken shiver behind him and whipped around to see his mentor Dawnlight pin him down with sheathed claws. "Mastered the move, huh?" she said. "Watch out for the enemy's best weapon- the element of surprise!" 

Ravenpaw jabbed out with his hind legs, pushing her off him. She landed with an oof! and Ravenpaw jumped up. "The enemies' best weapon." he repeated, "The element of surprise." 

"Where did you learn that move?" asked Tawnyshade. 

"Oh, I came up with it on my own." Ravenpaw said proudly. 

"Hmm." Dawnlight meowed. "Well, it was a smart move for the situation. Good job Ravenpaw." 

They had been participating in their apprentice training for half a moon, and Jaypaw would be traveling to the SilverTree with Sunwatcher tonight to be accepted by StarClan and meet the other medicine cats.  Ravenpaw was glad he wasn't a medicine cat- there were too many herbs and plants and mixtures and procedures- he wouldn't be able to do it. 

He didn't see how Jaypaw could do it day in and day out. He couldn't see how she was so cheerful about it all the time. Wasn't she ever upset that their father was unknown? Or that leaf-bare was soon and things would be very cold and prey would be scarce?

Perhaps you are the smarter one, whispered a voice in his head. 

Who are you? Ravenpaw thought, startled. 

"Ravenpaw!" Dawnlight's fierce voice snapped Ravenpaw  into the living world. "Training is over. You can go to camp now. "

As Ravenpaw padded back to camp, his thoughts wandered.  He didn't understand some things that other cats enjoyed, like chasing butterflies or playing moss ball. He compared himself in his mind to Jaypaw, which didn't do much except make him a little jealous. She was going to be a bigger deal than him now. By a lot. 

He was a bit embarassed to admit it, but one thing he did enjoy was hearing stories from the elders. Ravenpaw always took his time while cleaning out the elders den or searching the elders for ticks- he liked hearing stories about when his mother was a kit. He wished he could hear stories about his father as a young cat. 

As Ravenpaw came into camp, he was rather lost in thought and didn't notice the huge, almost inch long thorn sticking up only a tail length away. He kept walking, and a few seconds later, he felt it sink into his paw. Ouch!

Ravenpaw let out a howl of pain and limped into camp. He'd stepped on the thorn with his right forepaw. He limped into the medicine den, feeling warm blood trickling over the injury. 

"Jaypaw!" he yowled. "I stepped on a thorn and I need it out!" 

"Coming!" came Jaypaw's call from the back of the den. She had a bundle of leaves and a stick in her jaws. "A thorn?" she asked, setting down her leaves and stick in front of Ravenpaw.

Ravenpaw lifted his paw and let Jaypaw examine it. She wrinkled her nose- the thorn had driven deep into his paw; you could only see the blunt end. 

"Put this stick between your jaws." Jaypaw said. 

"Why?" Ravenpaw asked. 

"Because I'm your medicine cat, and I told you to." Jaypaw wrenched the thorn out just as Ravenpaw bit on the stick, not giving him time to argue back. Ravenpaw let out a yelp of pain and felt blood flow over his paw, but saw the bloody thorn that Jaypaw spat out and silently thanked the stars. 

Jaypaw chewed up the leaves, and not before long she had and plastered them onto Ravenpaw's paw. She then wrapped a sticky layer of cobwebs around his paw and told him that as long as he took it easy on his paw, he would be fine. 

Ravenpaw mumbled his thanks and slouched from the den, feeling angered at his un-alertedness. 

He kept the weight easy on his paw though. 

Ravenpaw had just curled up in his den when he heard some sort of commotion outside. He flattened his ears. Couldn't any cat get sleep here? He thought frustratedly. 

But curiosity got the best of Ravenpaw and he headed outside the den to see what is was. 

The sight was not pretty. A border patrol compromised of Lionpounce, Thunderheart, Alderclaw, and Bounceleap had limped into camp, and they all had several scratches each, but Thunderheart was the worst- he had a particularly nasty gash along one side and was panting. 

"What happened?" came the voice of Twigstar from her den outside of the tree that held StrongBranch. 

Thunderheart could only get out one word, before he passed out. 

"LakeClan!"