It had been a half moon since the battle against GardenClan and CliffClan. The whole clan was severely impacted by the loss of territory, prey, and healthy warriors, not to mention the thick snow that still blanketed the territory despite leaf-bare almost being over.

Berrypaw sighed as he spotted the fresh-kill pile that consisted of only a skinny shrew, an ancient squirrel, and two measly mice.

The elder, Goldenbreeze, along with the help of senior warriors had dug way too many graves over the past half moon.

Four graves had been dug for the cats that had been killed in the battle. Ravenwind had died soon after from losing too much blood. Rippleshade had starved to death as he refused to eat and instead gave his share to Lilacice and her kits.

The medicine cats were going to the Star Oak to share dreams with StarClan, so the LeapClan cats were put on edge. Sure, all medicine cats had free range of all clan's territory with reason, but with the high tensions between the clans, would the others respect that rule?

Dawnpaw padded up to Berrypaw, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, Berrypaw! Do you want to go hunting with me and Sunnypaw?" The she-cat asked, sending her friend a warm smile.

"S-sure, Dawnpaw!" Replied Berrypaw. "Where should we hunt?"

Dawnpaw tilted her head to the side, thinking for a few heartbeats, before picking out a place to hunt.

"How about over by the Large Birch?" Dawnpaw decided at last.

"T-that sounds good!" Agreed Berrypaw.

The three apprentices headed off to the hunting spot, huddling close together in the leaf-bare chill.

As soon as they got there, Berrypaw opened his mouth, trying to scent for prey.

He was still just a novice in hunting, so it took him quite a while to find a scent, and even then, Berrypaw wasn't completely sure as to what kind of prey it was.

He padded as carefully as he could, making sure to keep his tail down and his paws light.

Dawnpaw and Sunnypaw had gone another way, following a different scent, so Berrypaw was on his own for this piece of prey.

Berrypaw felt exposed in the snow; the bright whiteness contrasting with his russet pelt. He kept his jaw open, making sure to not lose track of the scent. Finally, he got close enough to spot the piece of prey.

A mouse!

And a rather plump one, too!

Berrypaw crept up closer, eager to contribute to his clan.

He pounced, quickly killing the mouse with a bite on its spine. Just as he was about to pick the mouse up, something barreled into him.

Berrypaw let out a squeak of alarm as a dark brown cat pushed him away from his fresh-kill.

The cat picked up the mouse and started sprinting towards the CliffClan border.

"H-hey!" Berrypaw protested, ramming into the cat.

The cat fell over, clinging desperately to the prey.

"G-give it back!" Demanded Berrypaw, hoping he sounded even the slightest bit intimidating.

The cat hissed. Berrypaw now recognized him as Marshpaw of CliffClan.

"No way in StarClan am I going to give this to you! I earned this fair and square!"

Berrypaw looked at him, confused. Dawnpaw and Sunnypaw burst out of the undergrowth to where Berrypaw was.

"I'd hardly call thieving fair," Dawnpaw pointed out.

Marshpaw hissed again, louder this time. A patrol of CliffClan cats came out from the thick corpse of trees on their side of the border.

"What's wrong, Marshpaw?" Asked a golden cat, concerned.

"These LeapClan cats are stealing our prey, Honeybreeze!" Marshpaw announced.

A silver cat narrowed her eyes and hissed. "I'd expect no less from those bunch of cowards."

A golden tom nodded in agreement. "I'm with you on that, Silverwind."

While Berrypaw and Dawnpaw were occupied, Marshpaw sliced Berrypaw's cheek.

Berrypaw hissed in pain, instinctively stepping back a bit.

"Let's teach these LeapClan thieves a lesson!" Grumbled the golden tom.

"I agree with that, Lionfang," meowed Silverwind, narrowing her eyes even more.

The three apprentices were instantly overwhelmed. Berrypaw was against Silverwind and Marshpaw, Dawnpaw was against Lionfang, and Sunnypaw was against Honeybreeze.

Berrypaw sprinted away from the cats against him and leapt onto Honeybreeze's back, digging his claws into the she-cat's back.

"Run to camp!" Berrypaw ordered Sunnypaw.

The golden apprentice gave Berrypaw a nod before sprinting away towards the camp.

Berrypaw got bucked off of the CliffClan warrior and fell down on the ground hard.

Instantly, enemy cats were upon him.

Getting through until reinforcements came was a nightmare.

By the time more LeapClan warriors came, Berrypaw had scratched nearly everywhere and was breathing very heavily.

The backup patrol consisted of eight cats; Fawnpounce, Mossleap, Pineclaw, Sparkheart, Silverclaw, Koileap, Sunnypaw, and Cherrypaw.

Fawnpounce and Cherrypaw attacked Honeybreeze; Mossleap and Pineclaw went after Lionfang; Silverclaw and Koileap were against Silverwind; Sparkheart and Sunnypaw fought Marshpaw.

Berrypaw and Dawnpaw tried to help out as much as possible, but they weren't very useful as they were both pretty injured.

The LeapClan cats won the skirmish, leaving the enemy cats with deep scratches. And, better yet, the mouse that Berrypaw caught was still unharmed.