Warriors: A New Generation

Chapter Four

"Salvationpaw! Tinypaw!" Her clan yowled. It was loud enough for StarClan to hear from Silverpelt. Salvationpaw's eyes glowed with excitement at being an apprentice. Mossneedle, a black tom with yellow eyes, was her mentor. Tinypaw's mentor was Flutteringwing, a dark gray she-cat with golden eyes. Turtlepaw, Gorsepaw, Dewpaw, and Jaggedpaw had their apprentice ceremony a couple sunrises ago.

   Turtlepaw's mentor is Fallingfoot, Gorsepaw's was Acornspots, Dewpaw's was Sparrowbranch, and Jaggedpaw's was Graymoon. They were all happy with their mentors, not a lot of cats in SkyClan were mean.

   After the ceremony, Salvationpaw asked Lightningstar, "Can all of us go on a patrol together?" Lightningstar nodded, "If all of your mentors agree with it."

   Sparrowbranch, Fallingfoot, Graymoon, Mossneedle, Flutteringwing, and Acornspots all nodded in agreement. "It would be nice to be in a group together since all of these apprentices are new to the jobs and duties." Mossneedle meowed. Salvationpaw looked at Turtlepaw and saw that she had a thoughtful expression. "How about we let Shatteredpaw, Eaglepaw, and their mentors join in? We would have a better chance of getting prey if we have a bigger group."

"It wouldn't hurt to add four more cats, go ahead if they want to." Lightningstar meowed. My first hunting patrol! The older apprentices showed them how to do the hunter's crouch. Salvationpaw tucked in her paws and put her belly close to the floor and raised her tail so the grass won't touch her tail. "That's perfect, Salvationpaw! You got it on your first try!" Mossneedle praised. "I don't know the last time any cat got the hunter's crouch on their first try. I got it on my fifth try."

"Yeah! Good job!" Shatteredpaw exclaimed. Salvationpaw's eyes flowed with excitement. "What are we going to do next?" She asked. All the apprentices looked at their mentors, wondering what they would do next.

Halfswoop meowed, "Why don't we practice hunting? All the apprentices could each have a turn tracking and catching prey." Salvationpaw thought for a moment. That sounded hard. How do you track prey? How do you catch prey? She had seen a lot of warriors catch prey. They always brought at least 3 pieces of prey, and the prey tasted really good. SkyClan cat's are the best hunters ever, she thought. Which means, she would be a great hunter too. "Who wants to go first?" Halfswoop asked.

The apprentices looked at each other nervously, then Salvationpaw meowed, "I'll go first!" Halfswoop nodded and turned to Mossneedle. Mossneedle nodded and looked at Salvationpaw with pride. Mossneedle then beckoned Salvationpaw to follow him through the forest. They arrived at an area that had a lot of dry leaves on the ground, and every time you step on a leaf, it would have a crackling sound that was loud. "You can't step on any of these leaves, Salvationpaw, otherwise, you would scare the prey away. First of all, is there any prey you can smell? Just open your jaws and let the scent fill your tongue." Mossneedle instructed. Salvationpaw parted her jaws and tasted the air, letting scent fill her tongue, like Mossneedle said.

She scented a vole at a nearby tree. "A vole. At that tree." She flicked her tail toward a tree that was old and thin. There were barely any leaves on it. She heard a cracking sound that gave away the vole's spot near the tree. "Just creep forward, doing the hunter's crouch, and make sure that your tail isn't low on the ground and you belly is close to the ground, that way you could easily creep up on the vole. When you're about a tail length away, leap forward toward the vole with you're hind paws. Got it?" Mossneedle told her. It was a lot to memorize, but she was able to understand.

Salvationpaw creeped forward towards the vole, and using silent steps and a powerful leap, the vole was under her paws. "Bite it's neck! You'll kill it if you do!" Mossneedle exclaimed when she was about to land. She took a small bite to it's neck and the plump vole fell limp. "That was great! Let's take it back to the others and see how they do."

Mossneedle took Salvationpaw back to where the others were waiting. "How did it go?" Turtlepaw asked. She looked at the vole in Salvationpaw's jaws. Turtlepaw looked at her mentor and meowed. "Can I go next? I want to catch something now!"

Fallingfoot looked at the other mentors and the other mentors nodded. "Sure," She meowed. "I'm glad I have an enthusiastic apprentice!" Fallingfoot and Turtle went to another part of the forest to hunt. Soon, all the apprentices caught one piece of prey and they each got a turn. "Let's go back to camp," Acornspots suggested. "We've been out here for a while, and I'm starving!" He licked his lips and headed back to camp. The others followed and the fresh-kill pile was stocked with birds, voles, and mice.

"I'm sure you all had a great time hunting." Lightningstar meowed from behind them. "And the fresh-kill pile hasn't been stocked like that in a few moons! It'll feed the whole clan tonight! I'm proud of you all, SkyClan could use a few good warriors." He looked at all of the apprentices and padded toward the fresh-kill pile. Most of their clanmates had already chosen some prey. They all took some prey too. Salvationpaw took the vole that she caught and headed toward a spot near the warrior's den. "Hey, Salvationpaw!" A voice from inside the den called. The cat came out and said, "Do you mind if I share that vole with you? It looks so plump and delicious, like the first vole I caught when I was an apprentice."

"Okay," She said. "This was my first catch, and I'm proud of it." The cat nodded and sat down beside her. The cat was Redfur, a red tortoiseshell she-cat with brown paws, belly, and tail. She was really beautiful, and she didn't have any scars. She was nice and probably the kindest cat in the clan. Redfur took a bite at the vole and chewed it. "Mmm," she said. "I haven't had a vole like this in moons. All of the prey I caught weren't as juicy as this." She took another bite and Salvationpaw took a bite too.

Redfur was right. This was a good vole. She was glad that she caught it and got to share it with her probably most favorite cat in the whole forest, and maybe in the entire world. They soon finished the vole and Redfur meowed, "Thanks, Salvationpaw. I'll see you tomorrow!" She went back inside the den and Salvationpaw was going to the apprentice's den when she heard Fallingfoot meow, "Salvationpaw! Can you search the elders for ticks? None of the other apprentices have time and you're the only one available. You can get mouse bile from Dapplemist."

   She slipped into the warriors's den and Salvationpaw asked Dapplemist for mouse bile and searched the elders for any ticks. She found about two ticks and she went into the apprentices den for a good night's sleep. She flopped onto her nest and sleep came for her a few moments later.

   It was a busy day and she was exhausted.