Mintfangs Journey

Chapter 5

     "Mintpaw wake up!" Drizzlepaw yelled.

     "What why?!" I said grumpily.

     "Our mentors are at the training hollow already! We have to get going!" He said urgently. And with that I shot up as quick as I could and ran out of camp, Drizzlepaw followed, we slowed down as we reached the woods. As we walked to the training hollow everything seemed quiet and beautiful, the trees were full of foliage, the ground was covered in grass, and lots of prey was out of their nests eating.

     "If only we were on a hunting patrol." I thought to myself.

     "Hey Mintpaw were almost to the training hollow, I'll race you there!" Without much warning he ran off leaving me in the dust to catch up, as I ran I could feel the blood pulsing through my veins as I raced to get ahead of him, once I did he put on an extra burst of speed and we were neck and neck as we reached the hollow, where our mentors waited.

     "It's about time you two got here" Yellowstripe growled.

     "Sorry I err slept in." Drizzlepaw lied, knowing he was covering for me I flashed him a grateful look. Ivyheart eyed us suspiciously before talking about what we would be practicing.

     "Mintpaw I want you to stand on your hind legs and balance while Drizzlepaw attacks you. Do you think you can do that Mintpaw?" Ivyheart asked. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can." I said. I practiced balancing a few times to warm up before we practiced the battle move.

     "Drizzlepaw I want you to spring at Mintpaw and try to take out her legs" Yellowstripe instructed to Drizzlepaw.

     "I want you to push up with your hind legs before he reaches you and then twist and land on his shoulders." Ivyheart said and I nodded and got in position. Drizzlepaw nodded and we started slowly pacing in a circle. I was trying to anticipate when he would spring, but his eyes or body movement didn't give anything away. As I stopped for a quick moment he started to crouch and spring at me, when he was mid-air I balanced on my hind paws and used all my force to spring myself into the air, once he landed I twisted myself and landed on his shoulders pinning him down.

     "Well done Mintpaw, even though Drizzlepaw is bigger and more experienced you managed to beat him." Yellowstripe praised me with a hint of a purr in his voice. While Ivyheart started by telling me what I could have done better and then praised me. We did the move a few more times before our mentors told us we could spend the rest of the day hunting together.

     "You did great during training today." Drizzlepaw said happily.

     "Thanks, you too." I purred at his praise.

     "Where do you want to hunt?" I added.

     "I don't care where we hunt. Do you have any specific place?" He replied

     "Yeah, along the path to the clearing there was lots of prey. Why don't we try there?" I say.

     "That's fine with me." He said quickly and he walked away.

     As we walked in silence I listened for the rustling of prey. I heard the chittering of two squirrels and pinpointed them. I signaled to Drizzlepaw to go for the other one and in sync, we took off after them. I caught mine just before it ran up a tree and Drizzlepaw had caught his almost instantly. "Great catch!" I looked at the fat squirrel in his jaws, he set it down.

     "Thanks." He replied and picked up his catch. We caught some more prey and then headed back to camp.

     As we walked back with our catches I smelled something familiar yet strange near one of the bushes but it was very faint. I signaled for Drizzlepaw to stop, I set down my catch and sniffed around the bush to find the horrid smell of a half-eaten rotten bird along with a cat's paw prints. As I looked around I saw a tuft of fur on a branch. As I inspected it I realized who's fur it was, Rat, a rogue who I encountered as a kit, along with her son Claw. "Is everything alright over there?" Drizzlepaw questioned and looked into the bushes.

     "We need to get back to camp and report this to Moonstar, " I said wide eyed and picked up my catch and ran towards camp. He followed puzzled.

     

     Once Drizzlepaw and I got back to camp we discarded our catches onto the fresh kill pile and headed towards Moonstars den. "Come in," Moonstar said. As we approached the entrance.

     "I wonder how she does that" Drizzlepaw whispered in surprise.

     "Well, why don't you ask her once we're done." I said sarcastically, and Drizzlepaw stared at me with wide eyes and shook his head as we walked in. "Moonstar, on our way back from hunting we found some rotten remains along with a strange cat smell." I say quickly not knowing how to explain. "I also found some brown fur on the bush where they were pushed under. I believe it belongs to the rogue Rat." I added.

     She looked at me for a brief moment, "Thank you Mintpaw and Drizzlepaw for reporting this to me. Tell me where exactly you found the remains and I'll send out a few patrols to investigate at dawn." She said with a hint of worry in her voice. We told her where we found the remains and then she called a meeting to tell the clan. She arranged for one patrol to go to the border and two to search the territory. All were to set out at dawn.

     When I woke up I found that the patrols were already gone and the camp was practically deserted, except for Sunpaw, Nightpaw, Drizzlepaw, Sunpaw, & Bearpaw who were all eating. I walked up to the fresh kill pile, not wanting to talk I went to the other side of the camp to eat. But unfortunately, Drizzlepaw got up along with Sunpaw and came and joined me.

     "Hey Mintpaw, did you enjoy sleeping in?" Sunpaw said sarcastically.

     "In fact I did. I haven't slept in for moons, it felt nice to get some extra rest." I purred. And she playfully gave me a dirty look.

     "And why might I ask are you so happy when we have rogues in our territory?" I stared at her for a long moment before replying.

     "Well, I don't see them as much of a threat. I mean we probably outrank them by a lot." I said and ate some of my thrush.

     "Maybe, I mean what if it's the same rogues as last time? They had almost as many rogues in their group as we do warriors." Drizzlepaw pitched in.

     "Yeah well, thanks for the insight and negativity mouse brain." I said grumpily, and with that, he got up and went back to Nightpaw, Sunpaw, and Bearpaw.

     "Great Starclan you're grumpier than a badger now, why'd you have to scare him off?" She said and shook her head.

     "Well, he's getting on my nerves." I said and shrugged, going back to my thrush.

     "You're getting worse than me Mintpaw, and I didn't even think that was possible." She joked and we laughed.

     "Want to go for a walk?" I asked getting up.

     "No, Moonstar said the younger apprentices should stay in camp with two older ones to help protect the camp if needed. And if you haven't guessed we're the younger ones and Drizzlepaw and Bearpaw are our protectors." She said and I laughed.

     "Well if I'm stuck in camp I might as well get more sleep." I said and padded to my nest.

     I woke up to the sound of Moonstar calling a meeting, but I had missed some of what she said from being sleepy. "Warriors and apprentices, Rouges have entered our territory. They're stealing our prey and leaving it to rot. I want you to keep an eye out, be alert and don't inspect anything suspicious without another warrior or apprentice. No kit is allowed outside camp until the rogues have passed. And I want at least three warriors, including any queens, to be in camp to protect the kits. Everything will go on as usual, and if you find any scents, or remains report it to me immediately." She jumped down the Highstone and with that the cats dispersed into their own little groups, either going to their nests or eating. The kits were playing in a small puddle with two queens watching them. Moonstar said everything would go on as usual, but every warrior and apprentice seemed uneasy.

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Thanks for reading :)