Jaded View: Chapter twenty

Chapter twenty
Picklekit woke up, the sun high above the camp, ''I slept until midday, that’s new,'' “you finally woke up Picklekit, I thought you’d sleep forever.” Snowflight chuckled, “you should get a meal, before we go to train.” Picklekit nodded, getting up and running through camp, running straight to the prey hole. She picked up a bird, then padded towards her den, she glanced around, seeing Tigerkit talking to Silentfrost. ''I bet he’s a warrior now! ''“Hey Tigerkit!” She ran over to him, her mew muffled by the feathered prey, “not Tigerkit, Tigerfang.” The tom meowed, “woah, you got a really cool name! When I’m a warrior, I want a cool name too!” She mewed, “I bet you will.” Silentfrost meowed, “you should probably eat though, so go along, you’ve got training today as well.” “Okay Silentfrost!” Picklekit bounded away, back to her den. She slumped down, quickly eating up the bird. “There we go, now we can get the others.” Snowflight meowed, getting up, “where’s Lilykit?” “She’s in camp somewhere, probably talking to someone.” The she glanced around, “over there, with Terrierkit. Would you like to go grab her while I get the others?” She meowed, Picklekit nodded, running over to Lilykit and Terrierkit, “Lilykit! Mum wants you to get ready for training!” She mewed, “okay, see you Terrierkit.” She bowed her head to the younger cat, then followed Picklekit to the middle of the clearing. Picklekit could see Snowflight talking to Silkwhisker and Bearscar, before padding away, most likely to find Firetuft. Silkwhisker and Bearscar said something to each other, before the she padded off, trying to find Moldkit, while Bearscar came over to the sisters. “Hey Bearscar!” Picklekit mewed, smiling at the tom, the tom didn’t return her kindness, rather sat down at ignored them. Silkwhisker came over to them, followed by Moldkit and Junglekit. Not long after, Snowflight and Firetuft came over, “are we ready to go now?” Snowflight meowed, “yeah, I’d say so.” Bearscar answered. “Then let’s hurry up and go.” Silkwhisker muttered as the group padded towards the rock barrier. ''I can do this! ''Picklekit ran towards the wall, then leapt as high as she could and grabbed onto it. She climbed up, her heart racing as she confidently got to the top, once she got up, Lilykit was already beside her, “I can’t believe you actually did it, without being scared of falling.” The white kit meowed, astonished, “you’re getting more confident on climbing the wall.” As they waited for the rest of the group to climb the wall, Picklekit thought about what Autumnpelt told her at the Winter Festival, your purpose is in your paws, you choose what you will be, what did it mean, how could she choose what she wanted to be now? Once the rest of the cats got up, they jumped down and began their journey. This time, Picklekit didn’t see Snowkit on the Cloudclan border, no cat for miles even. On the other side, she could only scent the start and end of the Shadeclan and Lightningclan border. After a while of walking, they finally reached their destination. Picklekit followed Bearscar into the hunting area, before she went into the grassy area, she noticed a pale ginger tom, who had blood red tuft. She quickly wiped her head away, quickly running back to the rest of their small group. Picklekit glanced around, noticing Autumnpelt, who was coming over to them, “ah, there you are, I was told by a cat that someone hasn’t been a very good mentor to that training, so I’ll need to have a little chat to you Bearscar.” The she’s tone was cold, but her eyes still shone with the light-hearted personality she usually had. Bearscar begrudgingly followed the tortoiseshell she, off towards a small bramble bush. As they padded away, Silkwhisker growled to Picklekit, “so now your trying to make everyone hate you as well? You must be waiting for something bad to happen.” She was quiet, but her tone was as sharp as her claws, “now, why don’t we start, today is about tracking.” She flicked her tail, “all prey has a different scent, and you’ll need to find a fresh scent.” The she meowed, “if it isn’t fresh, you’ll never find anything, maybe you’ll find prey blood, but that’s it.” Moldkit nodded, then mewed, “what if you find the scent of another clan on our territory?” The tom meowed, “then, you either fight that cat off, or get some warriors to get rid of the problem.” The she smirked, “and if you decided to fight them off, aim for their throats, then they’ll learn their lesson.” Picklekit shuddered, “then, why don’t you two practise hunting.” The she flicked her tail to a pile of fake prey. Picklekit and Moldkit ran over, grabbing some fake prey, then ran back over to the tabby, “start.” The she meowed as she padded to where Autumnpelt and Bearscar went.

***************************************

Picklekit and Junglekit padded out of the cave, onto the path leading back to their territory. “Wanna go to Jaded View again?” Picklekit whispered to Junglekit, “sure, it’ll be easy to get out of camp.” They watched as the other cats walked by them. They slowly padded behind the rest until they made it back to their territory, “Snowflight? Can me and Junglekit go hunt?” She mewed, “hunt, has Junglekit learnt it?” “Yeah! Picklekit taught me a bit.” The she was silent for a second, looking up into the sky, “of course you two can, come back with prey though.” The she shooed them off with a smile on her soft face. The two trainings ran off towards where Jaded View was, they leapt over the river, finally making it to the wonderful view. “What should we start with today?” Junglekit mewed, staring off into the ever-lasting water. “Maybe we should end with hunting, so we don’t eat all the food on the way back to camp.” Picklekit mewed, smiling, the other kit nodded, “what about a play fight? Then we can tell each other how to improve!” Junglekit mewed, crouching down, “you better get ready as well!” The golden tom leapt at Picklekit his claws sheathed and a smile on his face, as he came flying down, Picklekit stepped to the side, making him land on the ground, the tom got up, then launched at her, grabbing onto her leg, “gotcha!” He mewed, dragging her down to the floor, Picklekit reared up, while to other training rolled under her, then placed his hind legs under her. A rustling came from nearby, but the two trainings didn’t care, they just kept fighting, as Junglekit was about to kick Picklekit away, two cats appeared, one was a slim white and silver tom with blue eyes. The other cat looked a bit older than Picklekit and Junglekit, he was a pale ginger tom, with a scarlet red tuft of her on his chest and amber eyes. The younger tom stared at Picklekit, “Bloodkit, I umm, hi.” Junglekit rolled from under Picklekit, “it’s umm good to see you?” The older cat quickly stepped closer to Junglekit and Picklekit, “you know these cats?” He growled to Bloodkit, “yes, from festivals.” The white tom glared at the Shadeclan cats, “You shouldn’t be purring to other clan cats!” Picklekit gulped, then mewed, “Sorry Bloodkit’s mentor, we have been training together here for a bit, we’re sorry we didn’t realise it was your territory. We aren’t allowed to come out here for long, and we just wanted to do extra training together.” Bloodkit looked over at his mentor, “Glaciernose, can I train with them?” “What?! Bloodkit, you have other apprentices back at-” “I am too old to fight with them, their mothers give me a death stare!” The training cut his mentor off, his pelt ruffling, “fine, I can’t be bothered to argue with you, I will come back this way after patrolling the other parts of the territory.” Bloodkit’s eyes filled with joy as he brushed past his mentor to join Picklekit and Junglekit. Glaciernose flicked his tail, padding off, back into the cool forest. “What should we do?” Picklekit mewed, glancing at Junglekit, “I gotta great idea, you two battle train, and I’ll tell you what you should do and how to improve.” Junglekit sat down, flicking his stub tail, “but, I haven’t even met her, can’t we introduce ourselves to each other-” Before the pale ginger training could speak, Picklekit tackled him to the ground, rolling around until she was on top of him. Bloodkit quickly kicked her off, then rolled away, getting up, then leaping at her. “You’ve got to be swift when recovering! Dodge Picklekit!” Junglekit mewed, Picklekit dodged the pale ginger tom, then jumped on top of him, “instead of kicking them, slide from under them, or roll away from them!” Junglekit mewed to Bloodkit. The other kit nodded, rolling away from Picklekit. Picklekit watched, then jumped at him again.

Next Chapter: Jaded View: Chapter twenty-one

Previous Chapter: Jaded View: Chapter nineteen