Chapter 2: Picking Ticks for a Moon!
Intense fighting, with claws sheathed, took place in the training clearing. As Crowblaze had said, Smokegaze had come late to the training, though it wasn't really a problem; Crowblaze was a stern tom, so two apprentices were quite easy for him to handle.
"Attack!" A deep voice yowled. Applepaw suddenly had the wind knocked out of her. Not knowing who it was, and closing her eyes, she unsheathed her claws and lashed out.
"Hey! Can't you recognize a cat that sleeps in the same den as you?" Applepaw opened her eyes to see Adderpaw pinning her down, his angered golden glare seeming to see right through the brown tabby she-cat, making her shudder in fear. "Sorry," the tom mumbled in a low voice, "I didn't mean to scare you." He backed off, letting Applepaw get up, and when she did, she noticed she'd cut his nose. "And I didn't mean to scratch you. Don't surprise me like that, though, okay?"
"That was the point." A dark-furred tom, made up mostly of ginger, though with some white patches, and deep green eyes. That appearance belonged to only one cat in ShadowClan: Redclaw. His tail lashed, and he glared at Applepaw, snarling.
Applepaw glanced at Smokegaze, who was looking at Redclaw, "and why would you not alert Applepaw's mentor, myself, that is, of this?"
"It was a surprise, you idiot. Some of the cats in our Clan need to stay alert, and surprise attacks seem to be the only solution to that."
"You're only going to get your apprentice hurt by doing that, Redclaw." Smokegaze replied, calm voice taking on a tense tone.
"Don't tell me how to train my apprentice! Adderpaw will be the strongest warrior this Clan has to offer; considering it seems like Applepaw nor Mousepaw will be able to fight worth anything when they're warriors." Redclaw hissed back, "come, Adderpaw, you have much more to learn." The tom's dark ginger tail tip flicked, and off he went deeper into ShadowClan's territory.
"See you later," Adderpaw mewed, blinking at Applepaw before leaving. He bounded off after his mentor, disappearing quickly from view.
Mousepaw hung her head low, "I know I'm a horrible fighter; did Redclaw really need to rub it in?" She pawed at the ground.
"Don't listen to that fox-heart, Mousepaw!" Applepaw meowed, padding over to her friend and flicking her tail tip on Mousepaw's back.
"Applepaw's right, Mousepaw. You can't let cats like Redclaw bring you down." Crowblaze said, "what do you two say to some hunting? We can do more on the battle training tomorrow."
"Hunting?" Applepaw's ears perked, "yes! My favorite!" She smirked, "bet you can't catch more prey than me, Mousepaw!"
"How much do you want to place on that bet?" Mousepaw mewed, glancing up.
"Hmm.. A moon of picking elders' ticks!"
"Woah.. You're on!" Mousepaw mewed before bolting off to find prey.
Applepaw looked at Smokegaze and Crowblaze, "she won't win!" The brown tabby ran off in a different direction, senses alert for prey.
Mousepaw sat by the fresh-kill pile when Applepaw returned to camp, a smug expression upon her face. "I got two frogs and two thrushes."
"
What? How? I only got two frogs!" Applepaw yelped in surprise, tail lashing. "Aw, frog-dung.. One moon of elder tick-cleaning.."
"Yup. Thanks for taking that chore off my shoulders, Applepaw!" Mousepaw mewed in amusement, sliding into the apprentices' den.
"Yes." Applepaw replied to Lostclaw. The tom was once "Longclaw", though his claws had been torn from climbing a tree, retired, and given the name "Lostclaw". "Well, that's good to hear, little apprentice." The elder rasped, laughing a bit before letting out a cough. "You may not think it, but I've always secretly liked hunting better than fighting. I've always been good at fighting, not so much at hunting, but hunting is done more often and keeps the Clan alive. I'm glad to hear that you enjoy hunting so much."
Repeating yourself, blabbering.. I appreciate the kindness, Lostclaw, but please, for the sake of my sanity, stop talking. Applepaw silently pleaded as she nearly gagged from the scent of the nasty mousebile that the cats had to use to get ticks off of the elderly cats in the Clans. Picking the ticks off Lostclaw was especially unpleasant; the bigger the cat, the more ticks they seemed to have, though Applepaw wasn't sure if that was completely true. Lostclaw was a muscular gray tom with blue eyes that had gone blind with age.
"Oh, Lostclaw, you're going to talk the poor thing's ears off!" Spottedheart, a tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes, purred.
"I'm sure she can handle stories and words for a moon. She has to deal with her mentor's for several moons, am I right?"
"Yes, you're right, Lostclaw."
"Ow!" Lostclaw spat, leaping up. His sightless eyes were pointed at Applepaw, and she crouched in fear. "Careful to keep your claws sheathed!"
"I'm sorry; didn't mean to." Applepaw apologized, fear glazed in her wide, green eyes.
Lostclaw mumbled to himself, and Spottedheart attempted to soothe Applepaw, "he's just fragile in age, Applepaw. No need to worry; I promise he won't scratch your eyes out."
"I should hope not." Applepaw joked, though worry was slathered over her voice. She continued picking ticks off Lostclaw, then moved on to Spottedheart.
Thank StarClan they're the only two elders! The apprentice thought, "see you two tomorrow!" She meowed with fake cheerfulness, trotting out of the den, heading for the fresh-kill pile, and picking a mouse to eat before going to sleep.
