Warrior Cats: Look To the Stars

Thunderpaw yawned and crept out of the apprentices den. Today was the day of his apprentice assessment. He was excited, but nervous. He didn't know what would happen. He made his way to the gorse entrance, where he found Rainpaw sitting there, her tail curled neatly around or paws. "Hello, Rainpaw," Thunderpaw murmured. Rainpaw just nodded. She wasn't the nicest cat in the clan. She was mostly grumpy, but if you got on her good side, she wouldn't treat you too bad, which is what Thunderpaw was trying to do."It's a nice day out. I love new-leaf. Are you excited for your assessment? I know I am," he tried to sound as mice as he could.

"Yes, I am really hoping to become a warrior soon. I've been in training for at least four moons," she muttered.

"Well, I wish the best of luck to you."

"Thank you, Thunderpaw." Just then, Sunpelt and Thornfur stepped out of Snowstar's den. Thornfur was Rainpaw's mentor. His shoulder was beginning to recover from the fox inccedint the day before, but he was still limpimg slightly."Are you two ready?" the the spiky, brown-colored warrior meowed to them. The apprentices nodded and they walked out of the camp.

"Now Thunderpaw," Sunpelt started when they walked out, "You will be on your own. You must catch a good amount of preyin hunting. You and Rainpaw will be given seperate parts of our territory to hunt." He looked up and made his voice clear so all four cats could hear him. "Rainpaw, you will hunt in the forest near twoleg place, and Thunderpaw, you will hunt by the stream. And apprentices," He looked back and forth at the two apprentices, gazingfirmly into their eyes, "I have sent a CloudClan warriorto each of your huntingterritories. At any time that cat will attack you, and your mentor will watch as you fight. Be on your guard, but don't forget about theprey. Your mentor will be watching you as you go along from time to time, but you will not know when we are there. Now, let's begin, so head to your ground."

The apprentices trotted off. Thunderpaw went straight through the forest and Rainpaw went to the left, toward twolegplace. Thunderpaw couldn't help wondering who the warrior would be, but he remembered to stay focused on prey, too. He came to the stream. The dawn sun made the water sparkle, casting pretty rays around the trees. Thunderpaw spotted a thrush near the stream, pecking on a worm. Thunderpaw stalked it slowly, his belly to the ground as he crouched, ready to spring. He released himself and pounced on the thrush. The bird had just swallowed the worm when Thunderpaw happened to almost swallow the bird. He kicked some dirt and grass on it, figuring he would pick it up later. Then, he heard some scuffling on a small, nearby tree. He noticed a squirrel perched on a low branch, grooming itself. Thunderpaw stalked quietly towards the tree and started to climb it on the other side from where the squirrel was. He tried to remember everything Sunpelt had taught him about climbing. He wasn’t the best climber, but CloudClan cats weren’t exactly known for climbing trees. He came to the branch where they prey sat, too buisy grooming itself to realize that it’s life would be spared in only a few moments. When Thunderpaw was ready, he jumped from the body of the tree to the branch, finding it rather hard scrabbling on the bark. He thought he layed his claw on the squirrel, but what he found was that it had esacped and was scambling up the tree as fast as it could. Fortunately, the tree wasn’t big at all and Thunderpaw could climb up when the squireel reached the top of the tree, with no place to go. Thunderpaw started to climb, keeping his eye on the fluffy creature. When he finally got to the top, the squirrel was panicking, trying to find a place to go. Thunderpaw lunged his paws out to catch the squirrel, but unfortunately the squirrel flung down to a lower branch, and vigorously scuttled down the tree and ran away. Thunderpaw quickly slipped however, and found himself falling from the tree! Luckily, he landed on his paws, and gave himself a good shake. “That’s what you call high action!” he said to himself. How embarrasing! Hopefully Sunpelt wasn’t around to see his failure.

He looked around to scope the floor in case there that squirrel was still around. Instead, he caught site of a mouse near a pile of bracken. He crouched and stalked over, then leaped to pin it down. He thought he had a good hold on it, but it escaped and quickly ran to the bushes several fox-lengths away. “What is wrong with me?” he whispered to himself. He looked over to the only pery he caught so far, the thrush he caught earlier.

Suddenly the bushes nearby rocked. Maybe that mouse had come back? He quietly crouched, ready to spring, but then saw a flash of cream-colored fur jump out of the bush. It was Petalfur! This must be the warrior Sunpelt was talking about. After the wild chase with the squirrel, Thunderpaw had forgotten to keep his ears pricked for the warrior.

Petalfur sprang, claws unsheathed surprisingly, and pinned Thunderpaw to the ground. He wasn’t paying attention, thinking that Sunpelt was watching him from somewhere. Then he pushed up at Petalfur with his hind legs and flung himself on her. He clawed at her back, and then bit at her ear. She threw him off, though, sending him flying almost to the edge of the flowing stream. He carefully got up, knowing that the flowing water was only a couple of paces back. Petalfur leaped at him, but before she could land on him, he ran to a tree, sending her into the stream! Thunderpaw did his best to climb the tree, and he made it to a low branch. When he saw Petalfur step out of the shallow stream, he couldn’t help but laugh when he saw her fur drenched in water. “Think that’s funny?” the wet warrior hissed as she jumped onto the branch. Thunderpaw quickly went back into battle with her, and he pushed her off the branch, sending her with a thump to the ground. He then jumped on her threw her over a fox-length. She got up and attacked the apprentice, her claws, digging into his shoulder. She pushed him to the ground and pinned him down once again, ready to bite his nose, but a yowl spoke up in the clearing, “All right Petalfur, I’ve seen his skills enough. You can go back to camp now and… and get dried off,” with those last words, he chuckled a little bit, and flicked his tail playfully. Petalfur flicked her ears, clearly annoyed that they were teasing her about falling in the stream.

“How did I do, Sunpelt?” Thunderpaw asked after the she-cat padded off to camp. Sunpelt was serious again, and he had a touch of regret in his eyes. “Well, Thunderpaw… I’m not sure if you were truly ready for this assessment. You did well on catching that thrush, but the rest of your hunting didn’t go smoothly.” At that, Thunderpaw just looked at his paws. It looked as if he wasn’t fit to be a warrior yet.

“What about my fighting moves?” He meowed hopefully.

“You did well, but not great. Thunderpaw, I think you still have a lot to learn… and you’re not ready to be a warrior just yet.” Thunderpaw’s eyes clouded and he drooped his ears. “Thunderpaw, don’t take it too hard,” His mentor mewoed sympathetically. “You know, when I had my first apprentice assessment, I didn’t pass the first time.”

Thunderpaw looked up at him, shocked. “But look at me now. I’m one of the best fighters in the clan. Don’t stop believing in yourself. Have faith, Thunderpaw.” Thunderpaw’s eyes lightened. He was happy Sunpelt was his mentor. He was a good fightert, first of all, but inside him was a true a heart.

“Now, let’s head back to camp. Rainpaw will have her warrior ceremony at sunset.”

At that, Thunderpaw didn’t fell comfortable that she would become a warrior now and he wouldn’t, but he got up and padded back to camp with his mentor anyway.