Warriors: Mooncry's Vision

Chapter Three

"Moonkit, Redkit, and Mistlekit, you have all reached the age of six moons, and will now begin your training as apprentices." Stormstar glanced around the entire clan, flicking his tail. "You three will now take the name 'paw until you receive your warrior names."

Stormstar looked directly at Moonkit, who felt her pelt bristled excitedly. "Moonkit, you will now be known as Moonpaw. You will be mentored by Sedgewhisker." Moonpaw turned to the clan, spotting the ginger she-cat as she made her way to the front of the crowd.

Moonpaw touched her nose to Sedgewhisker's, and the clan cheered her name. Finally, I'm an apprentice! "Redkit," Moonpaw turned to watch her brother be named, "You will now be called Redpaw. You will train under Honeyspeckle."

A fluffy-looking white and ginger she-cat stepped forward to touch noses with Redpaw. "Mistlekit, you will now be named Mistlepaw. Fognose will be responsible for your training."

Mistlepaw moved over beside Moonpaw whilst waiting for Fognose to get to the front of the clan, whispering smugly, "I get to train under Fognose! I'm going to be trained by a legend!"

Moonpaw rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm very excited for you." Crossly, she thought, The only reason he's a "legend" is because he is related to White-eye. Moonpaw watched Mistlepaw touch noses with Fognose, then she turned eagerly to Sedgewhisker.

"When do we get to see the territory?" Moonpaw asked, and Sedgewhisker forced a smile. "Not yet, Moonpaw. Let's finish the ceremony, then we can discuss it." Moonpaw cursed herself inwardly. Mouse-brain! You're not a kit anymore, so calm down!

She dipped her head, looking at Stormstar. "Ashfall will now assign patrols." The white tom turned around and stalked into his den. Ashfall stepped forward to stand where he had been. "Tigercloud, Hobblepaw, Larkcall, Redpaw, Honeyspeckle, Moonpaw, Sedgewhisker, and myself for sunhigh patrol..."

Moonpaw felt a jolt of excitement. Sunhigh would be here very soon! She relished the thought of her first patrol, and couldn't help but smile. She was so enthused, in fact, that she didn't hear the rest of the patrols Ashfall assigned.

"Alright, sunhigh patrol, be ready to go soon." Redpaw looked at Moonpaw with wide green eyes. "Our first patrol! And we get to go with the deputy!" Moonpaw purred her agreement. "I suppose we should join them?" She asked, raising a paw to point to the gathered patrol. "Good idea."

Moonpaw and Redpaw passed Mistlepaw, who looked jealous, on their way. "Don't worry, Mistlepaw," Redpaw called back, "You've got a patrol later." Mistlepaw scoffed in response, but Moonpaw ignored it.

"Are we all present?" Ashfall asked, looking over the group before nodding. "Alright. Per Stormstar's request, we are to split up the patrol into two. We'll discuss specifics when we get into the forest."

Moonpaw wondered what grass would feel like under her feet as the began walking towards the upward slope that she had dreamt of scaling ever since she opened her eyes. It's finally happening!

"Hey, Moonpaw!" Moonpaw hardly heard the voice, but turned to look for the source of the noise, and spotted Brightkit racing towards her. Moonpaw looked away pointedly, picking up her pace to move into the middle of the patrol. "I just wanted to tell you-"

She almost felt bad, skimming past the tom-kit as she tried to keep up with Sedgewhisker. Moonpaw looked over her shoulder, seeing Brightkit staring after her with a broken-hearted look. She felt a prickle of guilt, but decided she could apologize later. She was on a patrol, after all.

Moonpaw forced herself to turn her head around and look ahead, pushing Brightkit out of her mind. Later. The group soon passed through a gorse tunnel, emerging onto a flatland full of grass and trees.