Warriors: Judging Eyes

~CHAPTER 1~

Fawnpaw jumped awake with a yelp as a burst of sharp pain shot through his tail. 

"You gonna sleep all day, or are 'ya gonna get up and be productive?" meowed Thriftberry as he dropped Fawnpaws tail out from his mouth.
  After a loud groan from the apprentice, the tan tom narrowed his eyes, and said in a gruff voice, 
"I’ll tell you what, you clean up the elders den and I'll let ch’ya hunt in the lake.”

Fawnpaws eyes sparkled as he sprung to his feet, and dashed out to the large hollowed-out tree stump that is the elders den.

<●☆●>

  It had been a couple moons since fawnpaws naming ceremony. He and his new mentor, Thriftberry, have gotten along well. 

/~○♤○~\

“Remember, a battle could happen at any moment anywhere. Especially since Craneclan wants us ten fox-lengths away from their border. Quite dumb if you ask me. But it could happen, whether you’re in the medicine den with a major injury, or at fourtrees. They don’t care.” Thriftberry warned him. “Claws sheathed, teeth bared, bite your enemy’s weak points, forelegs, neck, and face. And if you get lucky, the stomach”

"I thought I could hunt in the lake…?" Questioned fawnpaw 

"You can do that in a bit, right now, this is more important." Responded the tom as he continued walking around his fur-less apprentice.

"But we need more fresh kill at this ti–"

"Stop talking and listen." Thriftberry interrupted with annoyance laced in his meow

 The tan warrior stopped walking and sat two tail-lengths away from fawnpaw. "now, attack me."

fawnpaw's golden eyes widened. This was his first spar against Thriftberry. And he's the most agile warrior in Swanclan. This was going to be difficult, but fawnpaw wasn't giving up so easily. 

"Okay…"

Thriftberry watched as his gray-spotted apprentice crouched and charged toward him. Before fawnpaw could make contact, however, the warrior got up on his paws and stepped to the side just enough for the apprentice to hit the ground with a soft thud.
fawnpaw stood up quickly and shook off leaves and dirt from his skin.

"never charge straight at your opponent." Meowed his mentor as he sat back down. "Try again." 

This time, the apprentice lunged forward and swung his front paw at his mentor's left shoulder.
Thriftberry rolled out of the way and landed neatly.

fawnpaw growled. He wanted to be able to win fights like this! He was supposed to learn how to fight in a real battle. 

"What did I say before?" The apprentice looked up at him, still growling. "Never charge straight at your opponent!"
The tan tom gave him a look. He started pacing slowly around the apprentice, tail held high, watching as fawnpaw grew more and more frustrated by the second.

  Finally, the older cat spoke, "You're getting frustrated over nothing. If I really want to train you to become a great warrior, then you've gotta work harder." Thriftberry's voice changed slightly to something softer.
The apprentice lowered his head and sighed. He didn't understand why he couldn't defeat his mentor. was it because he wasn't learning correctly? was it because Thriftberry isn't a good mentor? or is it because fawnpaw just isn't good enough? maybe he would be better off being a medicine cat...

"I know you're thinking badly of yourself right now." Said the tan tom, "it's your first spar against a warrior, so I didn't expect much."
Thriftberry's tail swished as he stood in front of fawnpaw. "Now, go to the lake" His tone shifted again.
Fawnpaw nodded and ran into the undergrowth.

°•/~♤~\•°

The sun was setting over the horizon when he returned to camp with two fish clenched by the tail tightly in fawnpaws jaw.

 The apprentice happily padded to the center of the camp and plopped the two fish into the fresh-kill pile. 

"Two fish… not bad, better a measly mouse." Muttered a large black tom.

Fawnpaw silently cringed when he said that. A mouse and a squirrel were all he was able to catch earlier that day.

"Thank you…" mumbled the apprentice as he bowed his head and stepped towards the apprentice den. 
   inside, he saw the familiar coloring of his best friend, wildpaw, talking to a brown tabby she cat.

"oh, hey Fawnpaw! did you have a good session?" asked the energetic tom.

"Uh, yeah it was good, how was yours?" fawnpaw meowed as he silently padded over to wildpaw and layed down, loaf style.

"eh it was okay- waxstripe kept telling me that I wasn't hunting correctly. even though I was still catching them!" complained the ginger-and-white apprentice, his tail twitching as he spoke.
"How was your training, marigoldpaw?"

"Pretty good I'd say. fallowpelt said that I did really well!" mewed the tabby happily.

the three continued talking when a deep meow called "every cat who can hunt for themselves gather by the highrock!"

the three cats stood up and exited the den. none of them knew if they should gather with the others or not, so they just stood at the den entrance.

the warm copper eyes of Plumstar looked at the group. "you three, come join the others." She beckoned the young cats. The apprentices followed their leaders orders and joined the others.
"Tonight is a full moon. so we have a meeting at fourtrees. I would like our newest apprentices to join us." she meowed.

yes! finally! we get to go to a meeting! I've heard stories from marigoldpaw. and wildpaw retelling stories from some of the others that went. this is going to be so exciting!

fawnpaw got so lost in thought that he found wildpaw standing directly in front of him.

"come on fawnpaw! they're waiting for us!" He pleaded.

"o-oh sorry..." fawnpaw mewed as he started to walk towards the group of cats. soon being followed by wildpaw.

/~○♧○~\

Fawnpaw took in the new scent of fourtrees as he and wildpaw walked around a bit.

"This is so cool!" Said wildpaw in awe. 

Fawnpaw simply hummed in response.

<○☆○>

Wildpaw groaned, "Craneclan is taking sooooo long. I swear I'll be an elder by the time they get here."

"They're taking their sweet ol' time. They're as slow as snails." Fawnpaw complained as he played with the ginger toms swaying tail.

The two stayed like that until the apprentices caught a whiff of a certain scent. Craneclan.

"Oh my Starclan, finally." Breathed the impatient fluffy apprentice.

The two apprentices stood up and padded over to the tall rock. On the tall rock stood the four clan leaders. One looked mildly upset, two looked like a mixture of confusion and expectedness, and the other looked infuriated.

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