A sudden breeze chilled Acornpaw as she and her mentor padded through the forest. The wind blew through the trees, the leaves whispering with each gust. The two cats paused at a small grassy area in the forest. Maplecloud sat down and began to clean his paws. What was he doing? Weren't we on a hunting patrol? "Come on, let's go!" Acornpaw growled playfully, nudging his shoulder with her paw.

Maplecloud continued to groom himself. "I'm waiting for you. Go out and catch something, and make sure that I don't steal your prey." He mewed. Acornpaw purred and bounded off into the forest.

She stopped and sniffed the air. The swift wind threw her off, but she managed to find a trail and follow it. It led her to a plump hare, which was nibbling on some tall grass. Acornpaw crouched down and stalked closer to it, but a flash of orange fur tackled her prey before she could pounce. "Hey!" She hissed. Maplecloud looked up at her with the prey in his mouth, then jogged off.

Acornpaw signed and went the other way, finding a trail rather quickly this time. But it was disappointing; a mouse, small enough to barely feed a kit, was slowly stepping over the tree roots. Acornpaw realized that she needed to be fast in order for her to catch it before Maplecloud, so she stalked closer to it a bit quicker. She accidentally stepped on a leaf, causing the mouse to scurry off into a bush. "Mousedung!" She cursed under her breath.

"Try to relax a bit. Don't act so fidgety." A voice said from behind her. Her mentor appeared from behind a tree. "Pay attention to your paws. And remember to keep your tail low, I could see it from a few trees away." He told her. She sighed and ran off to catch something else. He didn't have to treat her like a kit, she knew what she was doing!

Acornpaw spotted a songbird pecking at the ground. She was skilled in hunting birds, so this would be simple. She stalked closer to it, remembering Maplecloud's advice. She was in front of it, but that didn't bother her. The snap of a twig from behind the bird startled it and it flew towards her. Acornpaw leaped up and grabbed the songbird with her claws, twisting her body to land safely on the ground. She held her catch proudly as she saw Maplecloud step out from a patch of tall grass.

He purred as he approached her. "Nice catch!" He mewed.

"Thanks," Acornpaw mewed through a mouthful of fur. She dug up the ground and placed her catch in the small hole, then covered it with earth to hide it. The two cats padded away to a patch of wildflowers. "Now what?" Acornpaw questioned.

Maplecloud chuckled softly. "Eager, aren't you?" He grinned. "We're going to try to catch some lizards just through that bush over there," he flicked his tail towards a holly bush with an oddly large hole in it, suggesting that many cats had gone through it to get somewhere. "But it will be difficult. Through there is the Boulder Field, and snakes can often be found there. Be careful and make sure to never come back here without a warrior." He warned. Acornpaw nodded in response and they stepped through the bush.

Sure enough, it was a field of boulders. She saw the sand kick up near one of the rocks; there were lizards here. Maplecloud looked around the field. "Stay here and watch me." He whispered, lowering himself into a crouch and stealthily stalked an unknown creature. He paused and she saw the dusty brown tail of a lizard. He pounced, landing square on the prey, and killing it quickly before it could even move. He brought it back to Acornpaw and set it beside her. "Now it's your turn."

At his command, she stood up and sauntered into the heart of the boulder field. She paused and sniffed the air, smelling an odd scent. But the strong scent of lizard was soon detected and she tracked it, eventually seeing a blue-green head peeking out of the ground. She crouched down and carefully stepped forward. Once she was close to it, she pounced, doing what Maplecloud had shown her and landed on the lizard, killing it quickly. The lizard struggled in her jaws, but fell limp when she bit down on it's throat. She trotted back to her mentor, proudly dropping her catch at his paws. He purred in admiration. "Good job! We should be heading back now, the gathering will be starting soon." He mewed, picking up the two lizards in his mouth.

They walked back to camp, stopping once to retrieve the songbird previously caught. Acornpaw stepped through the camp entrance and saw the cats who were going to the gathering in a large patrol. She dropped her catches on the fresh-kill pile and joined the others, meeting up with her sister Emberpaw. "Are you excited?" She asked her sister.

The ginger she-cat nodded her head. "Yeah! We should get to know the other apprentices. I heard that someone in Cedarclan survived a dog attack."

"Wow," Acornpaw gasped in amazement. Just then, the cats began to move into the forest. Acornpaw followed them, excited for the gathering about to take place.