Kittypet Clanborn - Tales Unleashed

The First Hunt

Read on to witness Lilypaw's first hunting trip after joining ThunderClan, and the first of many with a certain unlikely friend...

Lilypaw's POV

Chapter 1

"Rise and shine, sleepy-mouse!"

What in the name of...?

My eyelids immediately flew open at the voice that had stolen me from sleep. And I felt as if I was still asleep when I didn't open my eyes to find myself in a cat bed, in a kitchen... in a house.

Instead, I was lying in a neatly-woven moss nest, in the apprentices den, in ThunderClan's camp... in the forest, holy heck! The entirely of yesterday had felt like a dream – leaving my housefolk and their nest, making my way into the forest, being found by a patrol of wild cats, and then joining them and receiving an apprentice name - so no wonder it had taken me a moment to even process where I was.

My name is Lilypaw now! I reminded myself as I stirred in my moss nest, shifting so that I was lying on my back. I nearly had to suppress an excited squeal, and I felt my heat welling up with so many wonderful feelings. And I'm a ThunderClan cat.

My eyes then slowly widened as I slowly noticed the pale, purple and pink light that was leaking through the woven brambles. And Lilypaw the ThunderClan cat has just been woken up incredibly early!

Suddenly significantly more alert and awake, I turned so that I could take a glance at the den entrance, hoping to see who had decided to wake me up at dawn my first full day in a Clan.

And sure enough, I immediately recognized the taller, muscular figure standing before me. I could never forget those piercing blue eyes from yesterday... "Thornclaw?" I whispered, rolling over so that I was now on my belly, and letting out a yawn.

My grogginess then completely faded away for a second time, being replaced by sheer excitement as I quickly realized why the golden brown tabby tom was here. After all, I remembered our first encounter from the day before very clearly.

I finally stood up, taking a step closer to Thornclaw and trying to keep my tail from twitching back and forth. "Is it time for hunting already?" I then asked, flicking my tail towards the small rays of light leaking from the den's roof. "My goodness, it's so early!" You really meant sunrise when you asked to hunt at sunrise, didn't you?

I then heard Thornclaw sniff, and as he walked deeper into the den, away from the shadows, he revealed his narrow-eyed, smug expression. "Exactly," he muttered.

Although I was well-awake now, I couldn't help but let out another yawn after a small purr of amusement. "Wow..." I then breathed, taking another glance around the den and staring wide-eyed at all of the other sleeping figures surrounding us. "Even when all of the other apprentices are still asleep?"

I looked back at Thornclaw to find him looking back at me with the same expression, except that now, he'd raised a single eyebrow. "They aren't going to be too far behind you," he replied to me, giving me a small flick on the ear with his tail.

Then, without waiting for my reply, he turned and began to leave the den. But he only paused after a moment and looked back at me, his pale blue eyes glinting with humor. "And anyway, if you really want to be a Clan cat, you're going to have to learn that you can't sleep in through sunhigh every morning."

I couldn't help but let out a shocked gasp. "Oh my gosh, I didn't-" I then quickly cut myself off, realizing that the golden brown tabby warrior was right, whether his comment had been a joke or not. Warriors don't have time to sleep! Not me, at least! Not when there's so much to see here... so much to learn!