Slatepaw walked into camp, keeping his head low. His mouth was full of prey that he quickly deposited onto the fresh-kill pile. With every movement and action he made he could feel his Clanmates staring at him and judging him. The anger of losing out on his warrior ceremony had not gone away, it had only turned into a smolder instead of a raging fire. He also had barely spoken to his mentor since it happened. She would tell him to hunt, clean the elder's den, clean the nursery or help Blackstorm and Slatepaw did so, in a silent anger. He hadn't forgiven Blackstorm for being the sole cause of the loss of his warrior ceremony. If he had just left me alone none of this would have ever happened.
Slatepaw did what Leafdawn asked of him, without complaint, in hopes she would see that he was working hard with his Clanmates, even if he refused to get along with them. He didn't do a whole lot of talking these days, he just wanted to get through the next grueling days, hoping it wouldn't be too much longer before earning his warrior name. His sisters, Mistflight and Dewleaf were living happy lives as warriors and every it made him more and more angry.
"Now that you're done hunting," Leafdawn mewed, causing Slatepaw to turn his attention to her. "Go give Tetra some new moss."
"Okay." Slatepaw replied in a dry tone before heading towards the medicine cat den where Blackstorm kept the extra moss. He stepped inside, breathing a sigh of relief as he found the den empty. He moved to the back of the den and gathered a bunch of moss to bring to the nursery. He left the medicine cat den and crossed the camp quickly to get to the nursery.
Inside Tetra was stretched out across her nest which she had flattened and was clearly clawed up. Her nest was always like this, he didn't know why he just figured it was a rogue thing. "If it isn't the grumpy apprentice." Tetra mewed with a yawn upon seeing Slatepaw. Slatepaw shot her a glare and lashed his tail but set down the moss bundle and began clearing out the old moss while the queen sat up. "You know if you spend the rest of your days sulking, you're just going to make yourself feel worse."
"Don't talk like you know me." Slatepaw grumbled. "You never had to be an apprentice. You don't want I'm feeling."
"You're right." Tetra mewed, licking her forepaw. "But I know what disappointment feels like, every cat does. I lived on my own for moons, you should consider yourself lucky that you grew up surrounded by cats who love you and are willing to protect you instead of cats that would just as easily toss you to the dogs for an extra bite of crowfood."
"I spent plenty of time around rouges when I was gone." Slatepaw snorted as he finished up clearing out the old moss. "I don't need your life story."
"Good because I wasn't going to give it to you." Tetra said with a smug tone to her voice. "I've seen a lot of arrogant cats in my time, both rogues and now warriors. I seemed to join the Clan that has the most arrogant warriors, and yet you somehow top them all."
"If you're trying to get me to open up about how I'm feeling, it's not going to work. I don't care what you or any other cat thinks about me."
"That needs to change." Tetra said, her voice turning slightly dull. Slatepaw turned his head to glare at her once more, she gave him a very serious look.
"It's one thing to not let others bring you down due to insults, but in my short time in this Clan as a warrior I've seen something that really matters. Respect. If your Clanmates don't respect you then what's the point of being a warrior? You'd be better off as a rogue with that attitude."
Better off as a rogue. Slatepaw flicked his tail. "Whatever." He didn't have anything to say in response. He turned away and focused on her nest, thankfully Tetra remained silent for the rest of his work. Once he finished, Slatepaw stepped to the side.
"Thanks, you grumpy badger." Tetra stepped into her nest and stretched out, immediately making a mess of the nest Slatepaw had worked so hard on. Slatepaw rolled his eyes and left the nursery, leaving Tetra to rest. Once he stepped out into the main camp he looked down at his paws. If your Clanmates don't respect you then what's the point of being a warrior? You'd be better off as a rogue with that attitude.
The former rogue's words echoed in his mind, they made him feel unsettled. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Slatepaw shook his head and shoved the thoughts to the back of his mind. He couldn't waste his time thinking about stupid nonsense rambled by a pregnant queen.
Slatepaw let out a quiet sigh, he scanned the camp in an attempt to find Leafdawn so he could do something else. He finally spotted her sitting next to her siblings, Dustfall and Rabbitspring. He begrudgingly padded up to her and looked at his mentor. "What am I doing next?"
"Is Tetra's nest done?"
"Yes." Slatepaw replied, flicking his tail.
"Great. We're going to help the other apprentice's train."
Of course. Slatepaw kept a tepid expression and just gave a nod.
"I'll talk to you two later." Leafdawn mewed affectionately towards her siblings. "Come on, they're going to meet us in the forest."
Slatepaw walked out of the camp following his mentor, the silence between them incredibly noticeable. It had been like this ever since Slatepaw lashed out at her and he refused to apologize. He had no reason too because he felt no guilt over what he did or said.
"You've been working hard lately." Leafdawn mewed, without breaking the silence.
If I'm working so hard then why don't you make me a warrior? He refrained from saying what he wanted to. "Just been doing what you've asked me to."
"Have you thought about what happened? Because I haven't noticed any changes to your attitude toward your Clanmates."
"I'm just trying to become a warrior." Slatepaw grumbled, feeling highly irritated by this conversation.
Leafdawn let out a sigh. "Someday you'll grow up, Slatepaw. Someday." Slatepaw just lowered his head in annoyance as the two of them ventured deeper into the forest. They soon reached the training area where Otterpaw, Russetpaw and Larchpaw were waiting with their respective mentors, Skyfeather, Hailfeather and Sageheart.
"Glad you two could join us." Skyfeather greeted, dipping his head. "We're going to be working on some battle training and we had an odd amount." Why not put one of them against the medicine cat? Slatepaw thought bitterly giving Skyfeather a snide look, he knew very well that Skyfeather had stepped down from his position as medicine cat and knew that he could never stand up to the rest of the warriors with how much experience he lost.
"We'll be pairing Russetpaw and Larchpaw together and Otterpaw will be with Slatepaw."
Slatepaw turned to Otterpaw, the brown tom looked scared. "But Slatepaw is mean." Otterpaw said with a flick of his tail. "And he's so much bigger than me."
"Slatepaw won't be saying anything unrelated to the combat." Leafdawn spoke up. "And he won't be attacking you, you will be attack him and he will be dodging." Great so I'm a training dummy. Slatepaw thought bitterly.
"Okay." Otterpaw's voice was still uncertain but he faced Slatepaw with his head high. Since when has AshClan been breeding so many cowards. He thought about Otterpaw as well as his aunt, Rabbitspring.
"Otterpaw you will be practicing the moves that we worked on this morning." Skyfeather explained. "You may begin."
Russetpaw and Larchpaw stepped off to the side and Otterpaw stepped forward to face Slatepaw. Slatepaw kept his expression stagnant, he would just have to put up with this then he could get away from his Clanmates.
Slatepaw stared down Otterpaw, he could tell the young tom was nervous but his stature, part of Slatepaw wished he could fight back but he would just have to do his best to dodge. Otterpaw ducked down, and was very visibly getting ready to attack. Slatepaw waited and when Otterpaw leapt forward, Slatepaw quickly jumped to the side and Otterpaw hit nothing.
"Try again, Otterpaw." Skyfeather mewed. Otterpaw made another predictable attack that Slatepaw easily dodged. Otterpaw did his best to attack again but Slatepaw continued to side step him. He's slow. He's clumsy and he's obvious. Slatepaw glanced over at Skyfeather. This is what happens when you let medicine cats train warriors.
Skyfeather padded up to Otterpaw who was getting visibly frustrated. "Take a deep breath, Otterpaw." Skyfeather instructed his apprentice. "You have to understand that Slatepaw already has done all the warrior training, and he's very talented. He's not your siblings, you need to be quieter, more sly and less obvious in your actions. Not only that but you need to be able to predict Slatepaw's movements. If he's going to dodge your attacks every single time, then you need to be able to predict to meet him at the position he's going to dodge. Watch how he moves, he has a pattern. I want you to find it."
I suppose that's not bad advice. Slatepaw thought with a flick of his tail. Skyfeather returned to the other mentors and Otterpaw faced Slatepaw with a newfound determination in his eyes. Slatepaw stood his ground as Otterpaw entered another obvious attack stance. Has he been paying attention to my dodges? Let's see.
Otterpaw attacked and Slatepaw dodged the same way that he had before and while Otterpaw attempted to follow up an attack he dodged again. Otterpaw let out a silent curse and attacked again. This time, instead of jumping to the side, Slatepaw jumped backwards, causing Otterpaw to swipe to the side and lose his balance.
Otterpaw turned and glared at Slatepaw who remained expressionless. Otterpaw attacked again, this time going for a higher swipe towards Slatepaw's face. He ducked his head so Otterpaw swung at the empty air. Otterpaw attempted to bring his paw down on Slatepaw's head but he stepped backwards.
Slatepaw met Otterpaw's gaze, the apprentice was getting more and more frustrated but his attacks were getting better. They weren't all the same, he was trying more and more to match Slatepaw's movements and behavior. Otterpaw attacked again, this time moving a lot faster.
However, Slatepaw still swiftly moved backwards, able to match Otterpaw's increased speed. Otterpaw shot forward again and Slatepaw moved to the cide, circling around the tom. Otterpaw whirled around on his paws and lashed out at Slatepaw who leapt forward, but he felt the apprentice's paw faintly brush the fur on his shoulder.
"You touched me." Slatepaw announced.
Otterpaw's eyes lit up and he attacked again. Slatepaw found himself feeling slightly impressed by how the apprentice was moving. He was getting faster, more precise and less obvious. He still had a lot of improvement to make, but Slatepaw found himself having to try a lot more than the did in the beginning.
The training went on for a bit longer before Skyfeather called it to end. "Good work you three, you as well Slatepaw. You challenged Otterpaw a lot." Slatepaw looked at Otterpaw, he found himself feeling slightly out of breath from having to keep up with the apprentice. Slatepaw gave Otterpw an approving nod.
"We're going to finish up here if you want to take Slatepaw back to camp, Leafdawn." Skyfeather mewed.
"Alright." Leafdawn dipped head. "Come on, Slatepaw." Slatepaw nodded and fell in beside her as they began the walk back to camp.
"You did will helping Otterpaw train. He's been struggling a lot with his fighting but I saw a lot of improvement."
"I didn't do anything." Slatepaw flicked his tail. "All I did was dodge, I didn't even try. Otterpaw was the one adapting his skills. Don't give me credit for something I didn't do."
"Hm," Leafdawn let out a quiet noise. "Still. Thank you for allowing him to do that. I hope you learned something as well."
"Sure." Slatepaw lowered his head slightly. He didn't have anything to say, Otterpaw was the one who learned, not him. What could I possibly have to learn from an apprentice? The two of them finally reached camp Leafdawn dismissed Slatepaw and he grabbed prey and went into the apprentice den. He let out a heavy sigh and started eating.
I can get through this. If I keep do what Leafdawn wants eventually she has to make a warrior. She can't put it off forever.