MERRY MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm so terribly terribly sorry this took so long. I'll try to update sooner, I promise.

A shorter update (and a darker chapter), but I'll have another up soon. This is more of an important plot filler. Next chapter they'll be heading out to their first gathering :D

Please Enjoy.

THUNDERCLAN

~ Whitepaw ~

"Whitepaw! Are you keeping up or not?"

Whitepaw skidded to a halt, already panting heavily from the run to the training hollow. His fur was killing him, the sticky late green-leaf air was seeping into his fur, and torturing him as he slowly cooked under his thick white pelt The apprentice's blue eyes found his mentor's and he took a deep breath before answering.

"I'm trying, Berrynose."

"Well try harder. If you want to be a great warrior, then you have to start being a great apprentice. At this point you might as well still be a tiny kit!" The cream warrior scolded.

"Yes, Berrynose. Sorry, Berrynose."

"I want you to go hunt some prey, and don't come back until you've got a piece of freshkill. You should be able to handle that simple task, you're crouch is very good and you are making good progress for a beginner. Of course, you're not as good as I was when I first made learned it. I am one of the greatest warriors this Clan has ever seen and a born natural, after all," Berrynose boasted. Whitepaw suppressed the urge to snarl in annoyance. Instead he turned his head out of the sight of his mentor and rolled his eyes.

Already after the first few weeks of training, Whitepaw was being worked harder than he ever had in his entire life. He came back to camp every night every paws aching and exhausted to the core. He loved being an apprentice and didn't dare complain, but he couldn't help but feel that Berrynose should lighten up a bit. And loose his irritating superior attitude.

"Move along. I'm going to catch up on my rest." With that, Berrynose lay down and rested his head in his paws. Whitepaw narrowed his eyes in disappointment before padding off into the forest.

On light paws Whitepaw slinked through the underbrush, his muzzle ajar as his scent glands were bathed with the smell of prey. His ears twitched as he detected a small, thumping heartbeat and the scurrying of tiny paws. The apprentice dropped into a low crouch, focusing his weight into his haunches so he moved soundlessly. He paused, testing the breeze as his eyes focused in on his prey. The mouse had its back to him, but the faint wind would give him away if he didn't move downwind. He circled around, watching out for loose twigs and things that would rustle loudly under his tread.

The mouse's head looked up as it moved to the next discarded seed and it quickly squeaked and scampered away. Whitepaw cursed, moving to chase but his prey was already gone.

'My stupid white fur. It saw me through the under brush because I stick out. Mousedung!'

Whitepaw's ears pricked and he opened his mouth again, inhaling a deep breath of forest air. He heard the twitter of a songbird and crept to his right, following the scent of his soon to be freshkill. There picking at the ground was a thrush and it had no idea of its impending death.

Whitepaw coiled and sprung, sinking his claws into its back and silencing it permanently with a nip to the next before it could screech in warning. Whitepaw glowed with pride in his achievement and picked his kill up between his teeth, careful not to let his hungry drool soil the bird's feathers or his teeth prick through. The apprentice trotted happily back to his mentor, nudging him with a paw to awake him.

"I did what you asked," Whitepaw mewed, setting the large thrush at his mentor's paws.

"Not as good as I could have done, but it will have to do," Berrynose sighed. Whitepaw's spirits sunk as he tried not to let his tail droop and head lower in disappointment.

"I'm trying, I really am," Whitepaw told the cream furred warrior.

"Well if you even want to start dreaming about becoming a warrior you'll need to try harder," Berrynose scolded. "Don't show weakness, Whitepaw. A strong warrior needs to be alert and valiant."

"Yes, Berrynose. Sorry, Berrynose."

'I just hope I can be as good as Berrynose claims to be,' Whitepaw thought to himself bitterly. 'At this rate, I never will be!'

Once back in camp, Whitepaw set his freshkill down in the pile. He thought about taking a piece of prey to stifle his hunger, but thought better of it. 'I don't deserve to eat right now. I'm not good enough.'

"Hi, Whitepaw!" Bluepaw mewed merrily when she trotted back into camp with her mentor, a mouse dangling from her mouth. She set it down in the pile Whitepaw was staring down at. "Look what I caught!"

"She did a very good job," Foxleap purred. "The mouse never saw it coming."

"Did you catch that thrush, Whitepaw?" Bluepaw meowed. Whitepaw nodded and Bluepaw gazed at him in awe. "It's so big!"

"It wasn't good enough to impress Berrynose," Whitepaw mumbled, focusing down at his paws.

"Can I let you in on a little secret, Whitepaw?" Foxleap asked. Whitepaw shrugged and Foxleap continued in a soft mew, "Berrynose has bees in his brain. Don't let his attitude get to you. Let it make you stronger, a better cat. Berrynose may be hard to impress, but he is a good fighter and hunter. He will teach you well."

"He will?" Whitepaw gazed up at Foxleap, wishing the dark red tom was his mentor.

"He has your best intentions at heart," Foxleap nodded. "And when you finally do impress him, you'll know you've done great because Berrynose expects perfection. Would you like to come? I'm heading out on a patrol."

"Thank you, but no thank you," Whitepaw replied gratefully. "Maybe another time. Right now, I just want to think some things through."

"What about you, Bluepaw?"

"I'd like to visit with my littermate, if you don't mind, Foxleap," Bluepaw said. Foxleap nodded before bounding up the path, out of the hollow, and back into the forest. Once he was gone she turned to the white tom and meowed, "Are you alright, Whitepaw?"

"I'm fine," Whitepaw nuzzled her for a moment before stepping away. "Just a wounded ego. I'm always afraid that I'm never going to be good enough, that my Clan will hate me in the end."

"Don't you dare think that for a moment, brother," Bluepaw growled protectively, leading him towards the path and up the walls of the stone hollow so they could talk in private. "We're destined for greatness."

Whitepaw's ears pricked. "How do you know?"

Confusion and doubt flickered through his sister's blue eyes. "I just know. I can hear...sometimes I can hear them. I think they are our ancestors. As crazy as that sounds, you've got to believe me, Whitepaw. It's like...like an out of body experience. They tell me things I can't understand...and...and they reassure me. That's why I think we're going to be great. I know we are. You, Tigerpaw, me...we're going to be the best warriors this Clan has ever seen. And don't you complain again because I know you're going to be a great warrior, Whitepaw. You're already a great apprentice. You'll prove Berrynose wrong."

Whitepaw was silent for a moment, letting her words sink in as his mind drifted to Tigerpaw. His brother had experienced an odd episode as well just a few sunrises ago. When he had woken up from his sleep he had told Whitepaw the same thing when he had asked.

"What made you feel so ill, Tigerpaw?"

"I...I don't know, brother. When I was fighting it was almost like I wasn't there any more. Like I was still me but I wasn't me. It was an out of body experience."

Whitepaw mused for a heartbeat longer, turning to his sister and touching his nose to her ear. "I believe you. And thank you, Bluepaw."

Bluepaw purred, nuzzling her brother. "I as well. I will stick with you no matter what, Whitepaw. We're going to be great. You'll see."

'Yeah,' Whitepaw thought. 'Berrynose will see. They'll all see.'

~Illumini