Just like old times? [Ivy&Cai]

[Heathclaw]

"Come on, Thornpaw! Keep up! Stop dragging your feet, slowpoke!" teased Shadepaw. "I'm going to get there before you!" In actuality, he was only a few paces in front of his brother, but those few paces were the difference between first and second, weren't they? He would take those few paces and run with them. After all, all of their kit races were almost always neck-and-neck.

Shadepaw couldn't help but wear a giant grin on his face as he ran around. This was the first time that the two of them had been out of the camp together by themselves as apprentices. It was just like they were kits again, off on another whirlwind adventure together. It had been too long- this was something that they'd needed to do. That was why Shadepaw had jumped on the chance to coax Thornpaw out of camp, for a "hunting patrol" as it were.

"Come on! First to the clearing wins!" he called.

[ivyy]

.: Thornpaw giggled freely as he and his brother raced, he was just behind him, taking it easy. He never felt the competition aspect that his brother, Shadepaw, did. He saw everything that they did all in good fun, he never felt like he needed to win to prove himself. Though winning was never a bad thing, was it? Thornpaw let out an excited trill of laughter as he passed his brother, darting forward like a furry bullet. "Hah! Looks like I've got you beat!" he taunted, amber eyes wide open in the frosty wind.

.: He won the race by just a few mouse-lengths. "Oh-ho-ho!" Thornpaw said in his deepest voice, "Look who won! No suprise!" he mewed. Thornpaw's tail flickered back and forth with excitement and happiness as he panted, mouth open slightly. He had given into Shadepaw's persuasion, and snuck out of camp on their own. It had been a while since they'd been out together. Actually, it had been at least a quarter moon! His multi-shade brown fur shone in the sun, highlighting the lighter hairs around his hind legs and temples. He looked at his brother teasingly, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

[Heathclaw]

"Gah!" Shadepaw cried out, as Thornpaw suddenly darted past him, pulling a burst of energy that had come out of nowhere. At least, that's what it seemed like to Shadepaw. "I'll get you yet!" he shouted back at Thornpaw's taunt, pushing his paws harder into the ground and pushing forward, step by step... and yet he still wound up losing by a few mouse lengths.

"You were holding back until the last second, weren't you?" Shadepaw accused, as he rolled to a stop at the edge of the clearing. "Very tricky of you, putting me in a false sense of security," he chuckled, lowering himself into a crouching stance and twitching his raised tail. His whiskers twitched as well, and he let out a fearsome play-growl as he pounced upon his brother.

So... he'd lost the race, but Thornpaw usually won the races. It was different when it came to wrestling though. He could come up on top here. He just knew it.

[ivyy]

.: "Bah!" he cried at Shadepaw's accusation. "Of course I did! That's how you win races, mousebrain!" he laughed, tail swishing back and forth eagerly. He knew his taunting words would earn him a wrestling match, and he was game. He braced himself as sneakily as possible, claws dug into the earth, muscles tensed. He wasn't surprised when Shadepaw hurled himself at him, like the bear he was. Thornpaw pushed up at his brother with wide paws, they were both big-boned, but Thornpaw was the bulkier of the two. He used this to push his thinner, wiry muscled brother off, standing up with a full blown grin that stretched ear to ear.

.: Thornpaw chuckled and circled his surprised brother, though he had just been assigned to Whitestar in the previous days, the informative training sessions had broadened his horizons on battle, even if it happened to be a play match with his brother. His tail was high in the air as he eyed his opponent, amber gaze beckoning to Shadepaw as if to say 'Come and get it'. When his brother leaped at him again, he jumped to the side, heavy paws knocking into the sleek gray cat's shoulder, knocking him sideways. Thornpaw took the chance to leap on him, laughing happily. "Got ya pinned!" he sung, hopping off as Shadepaw grumbled.

[Heathclaw]

"Oof!" said Shadepaw, as Thornpaw pushed his leap aside using just his front paws. "How did you do that?" he asked, incredulous, as the two of them began to circle. This had never happened before! All the other times, he'd forced Thornpaw into a grappling match, where he could use his wiry body to his advantage- he'd never been simply shoved aside before.

I'm going to get you... just you wait, thought Shadepaw, locking eyes with his brother as they circled. "You're mine!" he roared, leaping at him- and finding himself being knocked once again to the side. And then he let out an oomph as Thornpaw pounced on top of him, knocking the breath out of him. He tried to wriggle out from underneath his bulkier brother, but it was no good- he couldn't toss off his brother's weight.

"Oog. Okay... fine," muttered Shadepaw, as he rolled back onto his feet. "Where did you learn that?" he asked, batting at Thornpaw's shoulder playfully.

[ivyy]

.: Thornpaw pranced happily back and forth, he rarely beat his brother at wrestling, and he was enjoying basking in his glory. "Oh, Whitestar taught me," Thornpaw said lightly, "He showed me how to use my weight to knock my opponent off balance." he mewed, his breathing slowing down as they walked side by side, not going anywhere in particular. His tail tip swished back and forth joyfully, flicking at the occasional gnat or fly. The afternoon was warmer than the previous few. There was little to no wind blowing through the grassy clearing, and the sun was fighting to break through the clouds overhead.

.: Thornpaw didn't mind the Leafbare, his longer fur protected him from the biting winds and tufted paws shielded his toes from the frosty earth. "Hey, didn't we come out here to hunt, anyways?" he said, gazing over the yellow grasses of the clearing, watching carefully for any signs of life. He held his tail low to the ground now, remembering his and Whitestar's training session just a couple days ago. Thornpaw held his ears close to his head, if there were any mice around, he didn't want to scare them off. "I bet you I can catch a whole raven!" he mewed teasingly.

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[Heathclaw]

"Oh, Whitestar taught me," said Thornpaw, as though it were nothing.

Of course. Whitestar. Not for the first time, Shadepaw felt a twang of jealousy. Of course it was Whitestar. Thornpaw had only been training with his new mentor for no more than a quarter moon or so, and he was already pushing way ahead of him. Hawkclaw never taught him any of that cool stuff! Nooo, it was just apprentice duty this, rote training that. Ugh. And now Thornpaw was overpowering him in wrestling matches, and he could have sworn that his brother was even faster than before in their last race.

Right. Hunting. Sure. Alright. Maybe he could turn things around in that respect. "Catch a raven, huh? Not if I catch it first!" he returned, giving Thornpaw a little headbutt before stalking off into the grass. "First one to catch a piece of prey wins!" I'll show you... You're not getting ahead of me this time.

[Cai]

FOX ATTACK!

A hungry fox was a dangerous fox. An angry, hungry fox was even worse. And today, there was one just like this. This fox had not been having a good day at all, leaving it hungry, angry and ready to snap at the slightest thing. It was a female fox, and she had managed to find absolutely nothing to eat since yesterday, thanks to a run in with a hostile host on a land she had thought deserted. She'd been drawn in by the scent of a juicy rabbit, but was astonished to find herself chased off by angry cats, leaving her bruised and scratched.

So she'd wandered well away from the open hills which had turned out to be infested by pesky cats. And then she'd headed towards the woody cover of a forest instead, hoping to find small creatures sheltering from the cold-season chill. But as she trotted through the trees, a scent floated on the breeze. It turned out that this forest was not altogether free from cats either. There was a definite reek in the air... and it was coming from not far away. The vixen curled her lip in a snarl, slipping out into a clearing, her nose quivering as she tracked the source of the unpleasant smell. Instantly she spotted two small figures. And they were heading straight for her.

Without a moment's hesitation, the fox attacked. Teeth bared, muscles tense, fur spiked out. She lunged, her sharp jaws snapping towards the lighter-furred cat, malice glinting in her eyes...

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[ivyy]

"Hah, we'll see about that!"

[/b] he chuckled quietly, slinking beside his brother in the taller grass. His amber eyes darted around the clearing, searching for any signs of life. Thornpaw flattened his ears, his gaze trained on small sparrow hopping along in the weeds, hurrying to collect the last seeds of the season. Thornpaw's ears pricked when the bird screamed a warning call and shot into the air.

Thornpaw cursed silently to himself at the loss, it would've been nice to win all the challenges his brother had presented him with today. With his tail lashing behind him, he picked his head up. Thornpaw's chest spasmed in shock and terror as a reddish brown blur streaked at him, the foul smell of the beast reached his nostrils as he stood frozen in place. A fox. Thornpaw shut his eyes and tensed, bracing for impact.

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[Heathclaw]

Focus... Focus... Focus... Shadepaw chanted to himself as he stalked along, just a few foxlengths away from his brother. And yet... he couldn't focus. No matter how much he tried to remember Hawkclaw's training, his mind kept drifting to other things, mostly related to the cat beside him. He'd slipped into one of his sullen moods, and it would take some doing to get him out of it.

However, his ears pricked up as a sudden sour smell invaded his nostrils. Shoot! he thought snapping his head up instantly- one of the things that Hawkclaw had beat into his mind at the very beginning of training was that sour smells were definitely bad news. He tensed, searching for the trouble that could strike at any moment. Maybe it was just cro-

Several things suddenly happened at once- First, a large furry blur burst out at them, heading for Thornpaw. Second, Shadepaw's eyes turned towards his brother, and saw that he was not moving. And then, without even thinking, he charged into action, tackling his brother to the side. "MOVE!" he shouted, as he pushed his brother out of the way.

While in mid-leap, he felt a searing pain in his tail-tip, shooting straight up into his spine. But adrenaline quickly it, and as soon as he hit the ground, he bolted, praying to StarClan that his brother would do the same.

[Cai]

FOX ATTACK!

Instead of getting her teeth into the brown-furred cat, the vixen got a bite of grey tail-tip instead, her sharp canines slicing into the tail and slicing the very end of it clean off. The cat immediately scrambled away from her, and she let out a vicious snarl, spitting the severed tail-tip out and streaking after the other youngster, the one with more brown on his fur. She had had enough of these stupid, selfish cats, so insolent and greedy. They took all the prey in the territory and they were too cowardly to fight one-on-one, so they banded together and sent her packing! What chance did she, one lone fox, have against an infestation of raggedy cats?

At least she could take out her frustration on these two half-grown cubs. They would be an easy fight. One quick snap, and the life would be gone from them. And she was gaining on them fast...

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[ivyy]

Thornpaw stood with his eyes shut, awaiting the devastating blow. But it didn't come where he'd expected it, no, it didn't have like the stinging pain of puncture wounds, either. Some heavy force slammed into the apprentice's side, knocking him sideways. Thornpaw's amber eyes popped open, white spots blurring his vision momentarily. It was his brother, oh thank goodness, only his brother! He thanked StarClan for his luck.. but in a moment's time his enthusiasm died. Thornpaw thought of his brother, why had he thrown himself in front of snapping jaws? Had the fox injured Shadepaw instead of him?

Thornpaw twisted, searching for his brother. To his relief, he could see his seemingly unharmed litter-mate streaking towards the forest. That reminded him, the fox. All of his thoughts and feeling had flashed through his mind in only 10 seconds time, his head rushing a mile a minute. His powerful legs propelled him after his brother, running like a scared mouse. He could almost feel the fox's hot breath on his hind legs, only motivating him to go faster. Shadepaw was already out of sight, he'd disappeared into the forest, when white hot pain stabbed through Thornpaw's left hind paw. He stumbled, his sprinting made clumsy, and rolled into the undergrowth.

[Heathclaw]

When the fox had leapt at them, it had left the path to the forest wide open, and Shadepaw had darted straight towards it. They were safer in the woods- it was more familiar than the forest, and they could climb the trees in a pinch. That would work, wouldn't it? He couldn't remember if foxes could climb trees. But they could use their height to their advantage, couldn't they?

He turned around as soon as he got to the tree line, expecting to see his brother right beside him- he was the faster one, after all. Instead, he saw his brother just racing to keep in front of the fox. In fact, he saw Thornpaw take a tumble and fall, right before his eyes, as the fox nipped at him. "THORNPAW!!!" he shouted, sprinting forward, even though he knew he would never make it in time. "HELP!!!"

[Cai]

The fox had snapped at her quarry's heel as he ran from her, and now she was so close to him that she could see the panic in every line of his body, could almost taste his fear. And it drove her on, speeding up just a tad more to make that last stretch which would let her lock her jaws around the creature's neck and draw the blood to end its life and-

Dazzling white burst out from the undergrowth, too fast to be much more than a blur. Suddenly there was a scuffle of red, white, red, white, rolling over and tumbling to the ground. The fox was flung off its paws by another creature, a fast-moving figure who had charged straight at it full pelt and caterpaulted over and over with claws locked into coarse red fur. The fox's prey was lost: the small cat was far away now. And now the fox was was no longer the only hunter in the area. Whitestar had found his apprentice at last, and in a flash of fury, he tackled the beast which threatened Thornpaw to the ground, though it bested him in size and snapped with ferocious jaws. He faced off with the beast, his face fixed in a snarl as his mind flicked over battle strategies.

But Whitestar had a reluctant ally today. Unwittingly, unknowingly, a second warrior was to join the fray and fight with a brother he had long since renounced. It only took a heartbeat for Hawkclaw, drawn in by his own apprentice's cries, to process what he was seeing. A white cat locked in battle with a snarling red fox. Whitestar. In that singular moment, all that had passed between Hawkclaw and Whitestar was forgotten, because Hawkclaw would never have chosen to leave Whitestar to fight alone. The dark tabby slammed into the fox, knocking it away from Whitestar, who sprang to his paws in an instant.

The battle broke temporarily, and Whitestar's eyes met Hawkclaw's for an instant, and an instant was enough to remind Whitestar that this, this was how they should have been all these years. Fighting side by side, just like the brothers they had once called themselves should. And then the hardness surfaced in Hawkclaw's stare, and both cats knew nothing would be different just because they were forced onto the same side once more. Hardened, the two fought mechanically in cold anger. They darted nimbly away from the fox's snapping jaws, and they snaked in to bite and harry whatever part of it they could. Blood soon streamed, and the fox screamed her pain and rage. Beaten again. She turned and fled, limping and leaving a trail of scarlet drops. But neither Hawkclaw nor Whitestar made to chase her, for they had duties far greater than pursuing a fox crossing onto ShadowClan's territory.

Hawkclaw's breath was ragged, and he inspected a small wound on his chest before passing it off as nothing. He looked at Whitestar, who stared after the fox, watching as the red fur disappeared over the border. A ShadowClan patrol would find that fox and finish it easily, since it was all but destroyed now. Slowly, Whitestar turned to face Hawkclaw, his piercing stare as sharp as ever and meeting Hawkclaw's guarded gaze once more. Neither blinked, and it became a battle of wills, until in the end both looked away simultaneously, turning to their wayward apprentices.

"How could you be so foolish?" Whitestar spoke the second he was sure that Thornpaw was not seriously injured, his voice low and fast. "You left camp without permission. You told no one where you were. You blundered into the path of a full-grown fox! Can you imagine what would have happened if Hawkclaw and I had not shown up?." Whitestar looked Thornpaw straight in the eyes, his own expression full of quiet anger. He spoke softly enough for Hawkclaw and Shadepaw not to be able to hear, but in a voice which made his anger quite apparent. "You could have been killed and no-one would have known where to find you! What if I hadn't had a training session planned today? Nobody would even have realised you'd left, Thornpaw! Whitestar drew silent for a moment, before continuing in a very soft voice. "I'm disappointed. I would've thought I taught you better than to let your brother lead you astray."

Meanwhile, Hawkclaw was not quite so quiet with his confrontation. He hauled his apprentice aside, and put his face close to the youngster's. "I have never seen you do anything this stupid!" He snapped. "You nearly got yourself killed! And your brother, for StarClan's sake! Do you have bees in your brain? Did you get dropped on your head in the nursery? What made you think you could get away with sneaking out like half-witted kits? Well I'll tell you now: You ever sneak out again while I am your mentor and you will be sorry!" Drawing breath sharply, with the loud scolding over, Hawkclaw gave his apprentice one last glare and roughly pushed him in the direction of camp. "Get moving. You're going to be rebuilding nests for the rest of your life." He growled, flinging a glance over his shoulder. Whitestar met his gaze once more, and Hawkclaw paused, eyes narrowed.

"This changes nothing." He said shortly, then stalked back to camp with his apprentice in tow.

Whitestar watched his old nursery-mate leave, his face expressionless, despite the bitter regret inside him. Of course nothing had changed. Nothing would ever change. This was the way it would be forever. "Come on. Back to camp. You have dens to clean."

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[ivyy]

.: A mottled brown cat blurred through the undergrowth of the gloomy forest, the moist, cold air of Leafbare seeping into his coat as he ran. He was low to the ground, trying to stay as hidden as possible, although Thornpaw knew the vicious beast wouldn't be behind him. No, the sounds of battle were still quite loud behind him. His intense amber eyes were oddly dead as he hurried forward, staring forward blankly, only watching for obstacles in his direct path. Thornpaw slowed, his sprint turning into a trot as he stared down at the scarlet drops before him. Had Shadepaw been injured?

.: Thornpaw didn't notice as the yowls and snarls behind him died away, the small droplets that dotted the frosty earth below him has his full and undivided attention. Though it was hard to follow the trail, there wasn't too many red spots, and the trail kept zig-zagging and twisting. At last his brother came into sight, he breathed a sigh of relief, nothing immediately struck him as alarming. His gaze swept over the gray cat, starting at his face, down his torso, his legs, his tai- Oh! Shadepaw was missing the tip of his tail! Thornpaw jogged to his brother's side, "Shadepaw, are you okay?" he asked anxiously, eyes locked on his brother's wound.

~~~

.: Thornpaw's head was bowed as he sat before his quietly furious mentor, he could almost feel the composed anger radiate from the strikingly white cat. He listened to Whitestar's quiet lecture in silence, his ears held back to his head in shame. He took all of his mentor's scolding, knowing quite well he deserved every bit of it. His claws were unsheathed and flexed firmly into the hard soil beneath them. His ears were bright pink with embarrassment and shame.

"I'm disappointed. I would've thought I taught you better than to let your brother lead you astray."

.: Thornpaw winced visibly at Whitestar's words, he had hoped so fiercely to make his mentor proud. What a stupid thing to do, let Shadepaw convince him to sneak away. He had always been the trouble maker, always the one to get him in mouse dung. He lifted his head, looking up at Whitestar. "I'm sorry, I won't ever do a thing like this again." Thornpaw whispered, tuning out the yells of Hawkclaw in the background. He stood, ready to face his punishment.

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