Chapter 11-Stormpaw POV- 4 Moons Later
Stormpaw's stomach was twisted in knots as he set out into the woods for the hunting portion of his warrior assessment. He wished he could have taken his assessment in new-leaf, when there was plenty of prey, but no, it was still leaf-bare, and Stormpaw was being watched while he hunted. He saw his mentor Rosepool's ginger pelt pass by in the bushes, but he pretended not to notice.
Stormpaw sniffed the air, he smelled a faint trace of squirrel. He padded cautiously along, until the scent was stronger. He shifted his hips down into a hunting crouch and slowly moved his paws forward. His long grey fur rustled some leaves and he dug his claws into the ground waiting for the squirrel ahead of him to run. Stormpaw saw he squirrel's head jerk upwards, and he knew he had to hurry before it darted up a tree out of his reach. He gathered his strength and sprang into the squirrel, killing it with a swift nip to the neck.
Stormpaw's chest swelled with pride as he buried his catch in leaves to retrieve at the end of his assessment. He sniffed the air once more, but this time there was no prey-scent. Traveling farther into the woods, he caught a glimpse of Flamepaw's vivid coat. Stormpaw crouched down in case Flamepaw was about to catch something. It was extremely important that Flamepaw do well on his hunting assessment, because he wasn't a very good in battle training. Stormpaw lifted his head up, and spotted Flamepaw stealthily sneaking up on a blackbird. Sadly, Flamepaw stepped on a dry leaf, alerting the blackbird he was stalking who flew away into the sky. Flamepaw cursed, "Fox-dung!" And Stormpaw carried along.
Stormpaw had caught two more mice by the time Rosepool came to tell him his assessment was over. "Did-did I pass?" Stormpaw asked, shaking. "Of course you did." Rosepool mewed warmly, blinking her soft blue eyes. Stormpaw's face lit up and he raced back to camp, stopping only to retrieve his squirrel from the ground.
He met his siblings along the way, and Honeypaw darted up to them as soon as they reached the camp entrance. "Did you pass?" She asked them all. Her eyes lingered on Flamepaw in worry. All the apprentices nodded in excitement except for Flamepaw, he stood with his head hung, and his tail drooped. "Fla-Flamepaw?" Honeypaw mewed carefully. The Flamepaw exploded with joy, "Yes!" He shouted, practically bursting with excitement. Every cat's eyes flooded with relief and they cheered together, they couldn't wait to be warriors. Honeypaw then smiled at them and whispered, "Mistybird said it's time I go to the Moonden." Her soon-to-be-warrior litter-mates were excited by the idea of the mysterious Moonden. Honeypaw just smiled, but her paws were tingling with anticipation.
Note: Since these Clans are different than the 4 regular Clans, I changed some of their traditions. One being that medicine cat apprentices do not visit the Moonpool/stone/den until the medicine cat decides they are ready to face StarClan, not on their first half-moon of apprenticeship.
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