Warrior Cats: CloudClan's Ending

Three

   "Lynxear!" Cedarpaw greeted his mentor with enthusiasm the next morning.

   "What is it?" Lynxear purred.

   "I caught that squirrel last night!" Cedarpaw's eyes gleamed with pride.

   "Oh, really? My breakfast smelled a bit like you," Lynxear blinked.

   Cedarpaw was even happier. His own mentor ate Cedarpaw's first legitimate catch!

   "I was thinking about teaching some new battle moves today?" Lynxear suggested.

   Cedarpaw nodded and trailed behind his mentor. Unexpectedly, Lynxear turned and headed to Heatherwing. They exchanged some words, then Heatherwing called for Emberpaw. Emberpaw joined them and then they all headed out into the forest.

   "So, where did you go last night?" Emberpaw asked, "Don't think I didn't notice you leave!"

   Cedarpaw flicked his tail eagerly, "I went out to get revenge on that squirrel. And, guess what? I caught it!"

   Emberpaw widened her eyes, "Really? Good job!"

   "And even Lynxear ended up eating it!" Cedarpaw gleamed.

   "Nice!" 

   The apprentices were silent from then on. They didn't have much else to talk about. However, Lynxear and Heatherwing kept talking. Cedarpaw started wondering how much happened to them in order to keep a conversation going this long. Finally, they arrived at the training spot. 

   In CloudClan, you didn't have to train in any particular place. But this place was the most popular, it had perfect trees for climbing and hunting. Most assessments happened here too.

   Lynxear twitched his ear.

   Cedarpaw knew the signal. It was something that he and Lynxear created to train with the other apprentices. Cedarpaw jumped on Emberpaw. Surprised, his sister shrieked and couldn't fight back.

   Cedarpaw battered his back paws against her soft underbelly, claws sheathed. Emberpaw took a bit to gather up her senses, but once she did, Cedarpaw realized that he was a few tail-lengths away from her. His sister had strong hind legs! Maybe because she was so quick when it came to hunting, she was amazing at it.

   Emberpaw launched herself at him, yowling. Cedarpaw heard her yowl before he saw her, he ducked and rolled to the side. Most cats questioned why CloudClan practiced fighting on the ground, when they use trees for everything. Cedarpaw knew the answer. Any cat can become trapped on the ground and unable to jump on any trees. In that case, the cat needs to know how to defend himself on the ground too.

   Cedarpaw jumped on Emberpaw's back and leapt onto the nearest tree, he crawled up and onto a branch. Emberpaw regained her balance from being jumped on, she looked around blindly. She couldn't seem to find Cedarpaw. Cedarpaw let out a soft laugh and jumped from the branch, he landed square on her shoulders.

   "Ow!" Emberpaw shrieked, clearly defeated.

   Cedarpaw got off of her, "You weren't expecting any of that, were you?"

   Emberpaw just whimpered and pushed herself up, but she shrieked in pain and fell back down. Cedarpaw dropped his smile, his eyes wide. Had he hurt her?

   Heatherwing rushed to her apprentice's side, "Emberpaw! Are you okay?"

   Emberpaw shuddered, "My shoulder!"

   Lynxear stood to the side. Cedarpaw could tell he wanted to help, but he'd just be in the way. Cedarpaw dug his claws into the ground. He hurt his own sister?

   Heatherwing nudged Emberpaw up and had her lean on her. Heatherwing looked back at Cedarpaw, "Be more careful next time!" She snapped.

   Cedarpaw shrinked into a crouch. He stared at the ground in horror. He felt Lynxear's tail on his back. 

   "You didn't mean to," Lynxear sympathized, "Heatherwing is just protective of Emberpaw."

   Cedarpaw sighed.

   Patchjaw looked over Emberpaw, pressing gently on her shoulder. She growled whenever he did it. Driftpaw watched from the side, watching Patchjaw intently, in case he had to do it later.

   Cedarpaw and Driftpaw were very distant ever since they became apprentices. Cedarpaw missed the times that he would play with his brother when they were kits. But Driftpaw was busy learning to become a medicine cat, Cedarpaw had to accept that.

   Patchjaw shook his head, "Her shoulder is just displaced, I can set it back in place quite easily."

   Emberpaw widened her eyes, "More pain is just what I need!"

   Patchjaw's eyes sparkled, "You'll be fine afterward."

   Patchjaw placed his paws on Emberpaw's shoulders, then he quickly shifted his weight onto them. Emberpaw shrieked in pain. She moved her foreleg, relieved to be able to move it.

   "You'll have to stay in the medicine tree for a while," Driftpaw said, "A couple days at least."

   "Aww!" Emberpaw whined, "I wanted to train!"

   Heatherwing purred, "We'll train as soon as you're better!"

   Lynxear flicked his tail, "You're dismissed, Cedarpaw."

   Cedarpaw nodded his head and headed out of the medicine tree.

   "Hey there!" A voice nearly scared Cedarpaw out of his fur. Sighing, he realized it was just Silentstep. That gray and white tom always snuck up on cats.

   "Sorry," Silentstep laughed nervously, "It's a habit."

   "I've noticed," Cedarpaw noted, "Did you need something?"

   "Nah," Silentstep admitted, "Just felt like talking to you."

   "Oh."

   It was rather quiet after that. So much for a conversation, Cedarpaw thought.

   "This is awkward," Silentstep coughed, "I'll just go." 

   Cedarpaw watched the tom get up and walk away. He chuckled. He looked at the entrance as Hawktalon, Willowclaw, and Dawnfall walked through. Each were carrying a piece of prey. This was a really good greenleaf.

   Cedarpaw sighed. He had displaced his sister's shoulder! He felt horrible, he didn't even want to train anymore. Cedarpaw curled up right there in the sun, his pelt nice and warm. It was a nice day, he noted, and was soon snoozing the day off.