Hello all you lovely people! It is I, Hawkpath, back with another update. I just want to thank everybody who has reviewed, followed, and favorited the story so far. It may not seem like much, but it makes me feel all fuzzy on the inside. But enough of my babbling, on with the things that I do!

Snowystripe34869: That was the point I was trying to get across.

"Get up!" Pain exploded in Flamepaw's ear as Brokenstar's claws raked through it. His eyes immediately jolted open. "The sun rose a long time ago. It's time for training." The orange tom struggled to sit up, still blinking sleep out of his eyes. As quickly as he could, he groomed his fur, and followed Brokenstar out into the camp. His belly grumbled and twisted with hunger, and he gazed over at the fresh kill pile longingly. He shook himself out of his hungry trance, and followed his mentor out of camp, trying to ignore the blood that was trickling down his face from his ear.

It's only my second day as an apprentice, and my ears have already been reduced to shreds. Flamepaw thought bitterly. He sighed inwardly, still padding after Brokenstar. Eventually, he stopped at a little patch of trees and lush undergrowth by the river.

"Now listen up, kit, cuz I'm only going to teach this to you once." Brokenstar grumbled, turning to face his apprentice. "Show me your hunting crouch."

Flamepaw fixed his body into what he thought was a hunting crouch. He focused on keeping his body perfectly still as his mentor circled around him. Brokenstar reached forward with his muzzle. Flamepaw flinched, expecting to be injured for doing something wrong.

Instead, he just adjusted Flamepaw's back paws gently. He took the orange tom's tail lightly in his jaw, and moved it closer to the ground, so it was just barely floating over the leaves.

Flamepaw was surprised at Brokenstar's actions, to say the least. He was being an understanding, helpful mentor.

"Bring your front paws closer to your body, that way, you can build up strength in your hind legs." Flamepaw did as the leader said, finding that the crouch now felt much more natural. He began to stalk forward, pretending that there was prey in the bush ahead. "Very good, Flamepaw." The apprentice looked up sharply at his mentor's praise. "I'm going back to camp. I don't want you to come back until you've caught three pieces of prey. If you come back before sunset, I'll teach you some fighting techniques." With that, the dark tabby dictator walked away.

He almost seemed like a normal mentor for a moment there. Flamepaw thought as he turned to the forest to hunt. He trekked through ThunderClan's former territory, it was where he seemed to be most comfortable, seeing as how he traveled through it every other night for the duration of his kithood.

It wasn't long before he spotted a rustling patch of ferns. Tasting the air, he scented the musk of mouse. He immediately slipped into his hunting crouch, wondering how to proceed. Brokenstar hadn't really told him how to catch prey. Deciding to just go for it, he stalked forward. Almost instantly, the mouse perked up and scuttled off.

Fox dung. Flamepaw thought bitterly, racking his brain for ideas. He began to pace absentmindedly, as the wind tickled the fur on his ear. That's it! Orange tom's head snapped up as he realized what he had to do. I have to keep downwind of the prey! He pranced off into the forest, very pleased with himself. After a while, he came to a stream.

He tasted the air, once again scenting a mouse, which he spotted a moment later nibbling on a beech nut. Flamepaw carefully moved downwind of the small creature. What was it that Whitestorm had said about mice? He pondered. Oh yeah! He said that a mouse will feel your pawsteps through the ground if you aren't careful.

Flamepaw began to creep forward, making his paws absolutely silent. After what seemed like an eternity, he was within jumping distance of the mouse. He leaped, coming down right on top of the prey. He swiftly bit it in the neck, killing it instantly.

Pride flooded throughout his body as he held up his first kill. So this is what it feels like to be a Warrior! Flamepaw understood why Whitestorm, Sandstorm, and Dustpelt spoke so fondly about the warrior code. Hunting for my Clan is the best feeling ever!

Deciding to move on, he buried the mouse. He stalked farther into the forest, hoping to find more prey. Soon enough, he spotted a sparrow scuffling through the undergrowth. Using the same method that he used with the mouse, he stalked up to the sparrow. He was only a few pawsteps away from pouncing, when he stepped on a twig. The noise was practically deafening in the silent forest, and the sparrow fluttered its wings and began to lift off.

Before it could fly off however, Flamepaw took a flying leap, and brought it back down to the ground. He killed it quickly, and buried it with the mouse.

A few moments later, he found a squirrel searching for nuts. He quickly and easily killed it.

"I'm getting pretty good at this!" Flamepaw muttered, gathering his prey. The orange tom returned to camp, proudly bearing his prey. No cat really played him much mind, though. They just went about their normal business. Flamepaw, not at all deterred by his Clanmates' coldness, set his prey on the pile.

"Hey, Flamepaw, did you catch all of that prey?" He heard Willowpaw's voice off to his left.

"Yup!" He faced his sister, standing a bit taller.

"That's amazing!" she exclaimed. "You're gonna be one of the best hunters in the clan at this rate!"

"I sure hope so." the orange tom replied.

"Willowpaw, its time for training, come on!" Russetfur's sharp call broke through their conversation.

"Well, I've gotta go." Willowpaw sighed. "But save me a spot next to you by the prey pile tonight. We'll share that squirrel that you caught."

"Willowpaw! If you're quite done chatting, I would like to begin our training session." Russetfur called once again. Willowpaw gave her brother a look, and trotted off toward her mentor.

"Flamepaw!" The apprentice turned toward the sharp voice that had yelled his name. The voice had come from Brokenstar. "Did you catch three pieces of prey?"

"Yes I did." He said, puffing out his chest and gesturing to the prey he had recently put on the pile. His mentor inspected he prey he caught and huffed in what Flamepaw figured was approval. Brokenstar glanced up at the sky, checking the position of the sun. "There is still a while until sunset. I suppose I have time to teach you some battle techniques."

Flamepaw gave a little bounce of excitement. What apprentice in their right mind wouldn't be excited about learning battle moves? He happily pranced behind his mentor as they made their way back into the huge forest that the Clan inhabited. After a few minutes of walking in silence, they reached a mossy hollow, where it wouldn't hurt to fall down.
Brokenstar turned abruptly to face his apprentice.

"We'll start with something simple." Brokenstar grumbled. "This is the forward swipe. Keep your balance on your hind legs, and swipe high with your right paw, and low with your left."

The orange tom reared up, trying to emulate the move Brokenstar just demonstrated. He swiped his right paw high, and his left paw low.

"Make the move quicker, and put more weight on your back right paw." Brokenstar advised. Flamepaw took the advice and applied it to his move, trying again. This time, he didn't feel so unbalanced. Brokenstar nodded sharply after Flamepaw finished this move, and immediately moved on to the next one.

They trained for StarClan knows how long, and Flamepaw was learning at an incredibly fast rate. In the span of a few hours, he had gone from learning forward stripes and ducks, to learning how to swipe a cat's legs from under them from them and pin them down. Needless to say, Flamepaw was exhausted. All he wanted to do was sleep for a moon.

"Brokenstar?" He started, knowing full well that what he was about to say could get him fiercely scolded.

"Yes?" He rumbled.

"It's already past sunset, shouldn't we be getting back to camp?"

"We will leave after I teach you one last move." He replied. Flamepaw sighed in relief. He wasn't going to be physically reprimanded. This time.

"Okay. What's the last move?" Instead of speaking, Brokenstar demonstrated the move. He used the move he learned earlier, the one that could be used to pin another cat down. He pinned down an imaginary cat, and lunged forward, chomping down on the cat's imaginary neck. Flamepaw's eyes widened in shock.

"B-but that's a killing move." the orange tom stuttered.

"Is there a problem with that?" Brokenstar growled, stepping slowly and menacingly towards his apprentice.

"T-the warrior code says we shouldn't kill other cats." Flamepaw answered. Brokenstar's eyes flashed with pure defiance.

"The warrior code is forbidden in my clan." Brokenstar told Flamepaw, his voice dangerously sweet as he continued to walk toward the young cat. "Who, might I ask, has been teaching you about the warrior code?"

Flamepaw didn't want to rat Whitestorm out. He was afraid of what his mentor would do to the old tom. But Brokenstar obviously wasn't going to let this go.

"N-nobody." Flamepaw answered weakly, his voice shaking even more than it was before. Brokenstar bared his teeth and leaped at Flamepaw, pinning him down. He unsheathed his claws, poking the sharp barbs into the young tom's fur. The leader leaned in close to Flamepaw's face and growled quietly.

"Who has been teaching you about the warrior code?" As he asked this question again, he raked his claws slowly and painfully through his apprentice's skin, drawing blood. Flamepaw couldn't keep the squeaks of pain from rising in his throat. He had been hurt before, mostly by senior warriors that he had angered, but nothing compared to the clawing that he was receiving right now. And, as far as he could see, Brokenstar had no intention of stopping anytime soon.

As much as he didn't want to get Whitestorm in trouble, the pain was just too much for him.

"It was Whitestorm!" Flamepaw blurted. As soon as he said it, Brokenstar released him from his grip.

"That no good piece of fox dung." the leader spat. "I always knew he wasn't loyal." Brokenstar spun around and sprinted off in the direction of camp. Flamepaw, worried about Whitestorm, immediately followed. However, his short legs didn't carry him as fast as Brokenstar's did, so he fell behind.

By the time he got back to Fourtrees, the whole clan was gathered around two cats. Flamepaw shoved his way through the crowd, needing to see what was happening.

In the middle of the circle of cats, stood Brokenstar and Whitestorm. They were circling each other. Brokenstar had a look of rage and hostility on his face, while Whitestorm was stunningly calm.

"So you've been teaching cats the warrior code, I hear." Brokenstar rumbled. "That's against the leader's word, and according to your precious code, my word is law."

"I will never accept you as my leader!" Whitestorm spat at Brokenstar. "Bluestar is the cat I would die for, not you."

Without warning, Brokenstar leaped at Whitestorm. They began to claw and bite at each other viciously. Flamepaw wanted to go and help Whitestorm, but was afraid of the consequences. This seemed to be the case with a lot of the other cats watching this heartbreaking scene.

Whitestorm was battling with all his might, but he was old, and any cat could see that he was losing energy; fast. It wasn't long until Brokenstar had Whitestorm pinned down. Before the leader could deal the killing blow, however Whitestorm broke in.

"Use your time wisely, Brokentail, because it is coming to an end. The flame isn't extinguished at all."

Brokenstar smirked, thinking nothing of Whitestorm's words. He lunged forward and sunk his teeth into Whitestorm's neck. He left the white tom on the ground to bleed out, as he walked over to the fresh kill pile like nothing had happened.

"Whitestorm!" Flamepaw broke the silence that had covered the camp. The orange tom rushed forward to his dying friend. "Whitestorm, I'm sorry! He wouldn't stop hurting me until I told him that you were teaching me the warrior code."

"It's okay, Flamepaw." Whitestorm wheezed, coughing up some blood. "I knew my time was coming soon. Don't blame yourself, Brokenstar would have killed you if you hadn't told him."

Flamepaw bowed his head, burying his muzzle in Whitestorm's fur.

"Flamepaw, listen to me" the white tom said. "You are the one that will bring order back to the Clans. You will be the one that will save us from Brokenstar's terror. Your path will be a hard one to walk, but it will be rewarding. Just remember that I will always be with you." the noble tom slowly closed his eyes, took one last shuddering breath, and then moved no more.