Warriors What If's...?

What if... Spottedleaf Became a Warrior?

[Written by jo_the_saint]

Spottedpaw crouched, slowly pulling herself through the undergrowth. Pawstep by pawstep she grew closer to the thrush until she was within leaping distance. Perfect.

She flung herself forward before landing at the thrush, throwing her paws down on it and giving it a killing bite. Victory! she thought, turning around to face her mentor who slid out of the undergrowth.

"Well done, Spottedpaw," Thrushpelt purred, pride in his eyes at his apprentice's catch. Spottedpaw beamed at his praise.

"I mean, you did make me practice the hunter's crouch for, like, eight moons," she shot back with a grin before picking up her prey. A bemused mrrow came from Thrushpelt.

"Spottedpaw, you haven't even been my apprentice for eight moons," her mentor spoke, sandy-gray tail whisking over the ground in amusement.

Spottedpaw's eyes widened and narrowed, and she tried to make her case despite the thrush blocking her words. "Yef eime haffe! I'fe feen an affrenphice for ike, eif hoons!"

Thrushpelt rolled his eyes, a good-natured smirk coming over his face. "It's been seven moons and twenty-five days. I counted."

Spottedpaw raised a brow.

"Yes! I did."

The apprentice merely shook her head, a grin coming onto her face. Thrushpelt is a great mentor, she mused as the two walked back to camp.

Suddenly, her mentor stopped, a grin coming over his face, the type he used to have when Spottedpaw was a brand-new apprentice. "I have a great idea!" he said, energy creeping into his voice by the second. Spottedpaw gave her mentor a questioning glance, willing him to go onward. After a moment of silence, he glanced over to her and realized her mouth was still stuffed with the plump thrush she'd caught. "Oh—right. Well, do you remember when you were just starting out as an apprentice and we played that game hide-and-seek?"

Spottedpaw's mind flicked back to the memories. It wasn't a game, per se, it was more of a training session. Usually, the two went out at dawn and returned at dusk, having practiced scent tracking all day. She nodded in response to her mentor's question, considering where he might hide that time. The training hollow? The owl tree? Or—he might go to Sunningrocks like last time?

"Well, we never did get around to you being the prey," he continued, green eyes bright with excitement. "So what if... you were the prey this time? We could drop the thrush back at camp and then come out here and train?"

Spottedpaw's ears perked up and she nodded quickly. Yes! Finally my chance to blend in to the trees! I've been waiting my WHOLE LIFE for this!

Thrushpelt grinned at his apprentice's excitement. "Great! Let's get to camp, then," and with that, he started to fast-walk faster, Spottedpaw excitedly following behind him.

Dropping the thrush off at the camp had been the easy part; the hard part was waiting around for Thrushpelt to tell Bluefur where they would be. He took so long, and it wasn't helpful that the scrawny mouse she had gotten off the freshkill pile was tiny and therefore eaten quickly.

Finally, having found Bluefur, he dashed out of the warrior's den, the grin returning quickly. "Ready?" he asked, excitement lacing his voice as he bounced up and down on his toes.

"Sure thing," Spottedpaw replied, his excitement infectious.

"You go ahead. I'll go to the training clearing and find you from there," he suggested, tail whisking with excitement. Spottedpaw nodded quickly before racing out of camp.