"Doepaw! Doepaw! Doepaw!" The grey she-cat disappeared into the crowd with her mentor, Cinderface. 

My turn was coming up. Stagkit was the next one called up by Gorsestar, where the apprentice ceremony process was repeated. Stagki-paw was given Crowear as his mentor. "Stagpaw! Stagpaw! Stagpaw!" I was chanting, but it was quiet. I was having flash-backs of my previous life.

I was trying to sleep, but I couldn't hold my excitement for the next day's events. My apprentice ceremony! 

I could hear my parents talking to each other, whispering so that they didn't disturb anyone.

"Rain, don't you think she's to small? She's barely the size of a 4 moon-old kit!"

"Bramble, don't you remember how small your littermate was? They're basically the same size! And look at your brother now, he's almost bigger than you!"

I was still a kit at the time, so I didn't really process what they were saying. I went up to them, and asked, "Mom? Dad? What're you guys talking about?"

My mother, Rain, responded. "Nothing, Swift. Go on, go back to bed. It's your big day tomorrow!"

My parents continued whispering throughout the night. I barely got any sleep, and slept in well past sun-high the next morning. The previous night's events only came back to me during my Apprentice Ceremony:

"Swift, we're sorry, but your apprenticeship has been delayed by popular request."

I came to surprisingly quickly, just in time to see Finchkit walk up to the rock. What was even more surprising, is that Gorsestar stepped back from the head of the rock.

Blackleaf walked up in place of him. "Clanmates, as many of you know, I am growing old, and I won't live forever. So it is time I took on an apprentice.

"Finchkit, do you accept the position of Medicine Cat Apprentice?"

Finchkit paused here, and took a deep breath. "I do."

"Then, until you become a full medicine cat, your name will be Finchpaw."

The clan shouted out, excited at the idea of a new medicine cat. "Finchpaw! Finchpaw! Finchpaw!"

"At the next half-moon, Finchpaw with travel to the Moonpool, to meet the other medicine cats and be accepted by Starclan." Blackleaf then leapt down to us, where he touched Finchpaw's nose with his own.

Next, Gorsestar turned to Dahliakit. "Dahliakit, you, like your friends, have reached the age of six moons, and are ready to become an apprentice." Dahliakit's eyes gleamed as she looked up to where Gorsestar stood. "From this moment on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Dahliapaw." After taking a quick look around the clearing, Gorsestar returned his gaze to Dahliapaw. "Foxflame, you have been a great asset to the clan, and you are known for your quick thinking. I hope you will pass down all you know to Dahliapaw."

As Foxflame trotted up to touch noses with Dahliapaw, the clan shouted out in excitement, "Dahliapaw! Dahliapaw! Dahliapaw!"

At last, the leader turned to me. "Swiftkit." He gave me a smile. "You have reached the age of six moons and are ready to become an apprentice."

Those few words calmed all of my nerves immediately. I wouldn't be held back, like last time!

"From this moment on, until you have received your warrior name, you will be known as Swiftpaw." There weren't many cats left for taking on apprentices, so Gorsestar didn't have to look around the clearing. "Honeyheart. You have proven yourself to be a compassionate and strong she-cat. I hope you will pass down all you have learned to Swiftpaw."

"With pleasure, Gorsestar." Honeyheart took her time coming over to me, although it wasn't that long, seeing as she was standing only a few tail-lengths away. "I look forward to mentoring you, Swiftpaw." Honeyheart smiled down at me.

I looked back up at her, and smiled as well. This is really where it starts. The apprentice ceremony. My first step towards greatness.

"Swiftpaw! Swiftpaw! Swiftpaw!" The clan's yowls rang out around the hollow. I disappeared into the mass of cats, immediately being swallowed up.

"Swiftpaw! We're finally all apprentices!" Doepaw was beaming, and standing next to Stagpaw and Dahliapaw.

"Yeah! I was just surprised that Finchkit decided to become a medicine cat!" I sat down in front of them, not beaming, but happy nonetheless. Even if this is the beginning of my path. I stole a quick glance to Dahliapaw. It is also the beginning of her- OO IT'S HAREPAW!!!

The white tom was padding over to us. When the other three saw where my eyes were pointed, the turned as well. "Harepaw!" Stagpaw exclaimed. 

"Hi guys! Welcome to apprenticeship!" Harepaw settled down right next to me. I paid no mind to what Harepaw was saying. OH STARCLAN, HAREPAW IS SITTING RIGHT NEXT  TO ME! I'M GONNA PASS OUT!

Harepaw stood up as a shadow loomed over us. "Hello there." the shadow said.

Wait, shadows don't talk!

At least I think they don't...

I turned around to see massive forelegs right behind me, and had to look up to see the tom in the face. "Molefoot! What are you doing here?"

He gave us a small smile. "Your mentors asked for you. You guys are going out to see the territory."

"Yay!" Doepaw squealed.

We jogged over to our mentors, who where standing at the entrance to the camp. "Come on you guys, we've got a whole day of exploring to do!" Cinderface, the cheeriest of the bunch, exclaimed.

We quickly followed them out of the camp, our tiny legs trying to keep up with their strides. The moor was so... vast. You could see as far as the old barn, and as far as the forest, just from the top of the hollow.

Man, it's great to be back. Starclan is great, but I really missed this stuff.

"There aren't any 'landmarks', so we'll take you around the borders, show you some key spots for hunting and training, and then you lot can sleep." Crowear called back to us. From what I've heard, Crowear is the fastest cat in the clan.

That just means some new competition.

I had been the fastest in our old group, the next fastest being Doe. I looked over to where Doepaw was prancing around. She didn't look much like Doe, but they shared a name.

Hm.

"Can you lot smell that?" Honeyheart was looking back at us.

The smell tickled my nose. "Who can't smell that? Ew!" Dahliapaw complained.

"Oh, shush. That smell is Riverclan, one of the other four clans." Honeyheart continued. "I'm going to go ahead and assume you know what the lake is. We won't be able to scent Shadowclan cats, since they are on the other side of the lake, but we'll be able to scent Skyclan and Thunderclan today."

Skyclan? Who's in Skyclan? I thought there were only four cats! There's a fifth?

Standing by the lake, Foxflame said, "This here is the lake. From here," He took a few steps away from the shore, "to here is neutral land. This is so that cat's from other clans can get to Gatherings. It is not neutral hunting land. Honestly, it's Riverclan's territory, since they are the only one who eat fish." I saw Foxflame shudder at the thought.

"Yes, and you all will go to your first gathering sometime in the next couple of moons!" Cinderface exclaimed. I looked around me to see that all the other's eyes were lit up with excitement. 

We continued exploring the territory, Crowear stopping every once in awhile to either catch a rabbit or show us a good place to hunt. We finally stopped at a large, wide oak tree that stood out on the plain moorland. "What's this place?" Doepaw questioned.

Crowear answered,"This is the point where the borders of Windclan, Thunderclan, and Skyclan meet. Not many generations ago, Skyclan moved from their old place to here, behind Thunderclan and Windclan." 

"Where was their old place?" Stagpaw continued.

Honeyheart responded this time. Pointing with her tail, she said, "Do you see those mountains over there?" I could barely see them, just their tips over the horizon. "Imagine that distance, and then do it around fifteen times. That's about how long the journey is. Or at least, that's what the elders always said."

I could tell that the mountains were already tree-lengths upon tree-lengths away. Just thinking about the distance made my paws ache.

"I can tell you lot are getting tired. We'll do a quick show of the training hollow's, and then we can head back to camp." Crowear said.

My entire body sighed with relief. I still had the body of a kit, and as long as I did, I would be tired after long walks like this. Once I grew into a normal-sized body, my endurance would increase.

"And this is the training hollow, where you will be spending most of your waking hours as apprentices." Crowear finished, "Unless you lot prove to be troublesome, then you'll be cleaning the elder's ticks for moons."

I shuddered at the thought of being stuck in camp all day. My legs would grow restless and stiff, and I've already had six moons of that.

We entered back into camp through the heather, where Crowear and Cinderface both immediately went to Gorsestar. "They're going to tell Gorsestar how the tour went. Meanwhile, you all can go and get something to eat. You've earned it. After that, you have the remainder of the day to yourselves." Honeyheart explained.

I padded over to the fresh-kill pile, Doepaw and Stagpaw at my side. I grabbed a large rabbit, big enough for all of the new apprentices to share. "Dahliapaw! come and share this rabbit with us!" Stagkit shouted out, nearly across the entire camp to where Dahliapaw was standing.

Dahliapaw quickly trotted over to our little eating-space, and settled down to take a few bites. "Thanks you guys. I needed this."

"We all did! And it's no bother, you're always welcome to share prey with us!" Stagpaw said.

You may regret saying that...

I quickly excused myself, and went over to the Apprentice's den, deciding to get some sleep. There was a single nest that didn't have a cat scent in it.

"You can have that one. I didn't have time to make enough once you got back." I turned around to see Harepaw standing at the entrance to the den. "Plus, it's next to mine!" A smirk steadily grew onto his face. 

I nodded in gratefulness, and circled around my nest, finally closing my eyes, and settling into a nice sleep.

That was almost as long as the last chapter of FirepawxSandpaw. Just under 1750.

I know I ended kind of abruptly, but this chapter took awhile, and I wanted to get it out.

There was no riddle last time, or question, so no answer obviously.

I'm also writing this in 1st hour. At school.

I don't have the brain power to think of a question, sorry.

Anyways, see ya next time.

-Maple