Rockpaw slipped under the bramble tunnel, his short fur barely catching on it. He wriggled his haunches through the last mouse-length and straightened up. Wrinkling his nose at the reek of the dirtplace, he quickly trotted across the clearing, and through the tall stone tunnel. As he padded along in the darkness, he silently raged in his head.

Why does Blossompaw have to be such a big-nosed badger, poking her muzzle in where it isn't needed? I don't know how anyone can stand her!

He crept between the rocks around the apprentice den and slid as quietly as he could, between the ivy curtains. Rockpaw slid between Littlepaw's and Briarpaw's nests, trampling slightly over the she-cat's moss. Her snowy-white ears twitched, and her eyelids flickered. Rockpaw held his breath, two of his paws hanging in the air. As soon as her eyes were completely closed, he stepped over Littlepaw's tail. With a large yawn, he settled into his nest, right behind the young tom. It was cold and dry, untouched for quite a bit of time, since before Moonhigh. Now the moon was three quarters across the sky, as he saw through the trees outside, and the sky was a cloudless navy blue.

Considering how tired and droopy her felt, he found it incredibly hard to settle down to sleep. In every position he tried, he was uncomfortable; either his paws were hanging out of his nest, or Skunkpaw's leg was skimming his flank. Over and over again, Rockpaw twisted and turned in the moss, trying to find a good way to sleep.

He lay there for at least an hour, maybe two, watching a spider in the corner of the hollowed-out tree trunk, weave its web. Finally, he managed to drift off to sleep.

He dreamed that he was perching on the edge of the lake, its glimmering sheen of midnight blue sprinkled with glowing stars. Two bright moon floated in the centre, giving off faint silver glimmers. Then, the two moons faded into blue, and the grey dapples merged into slits. The eyes blinked slowly, and the stars swirled around to form a wide smile in the lake. The navy cat face stared up at him, baring its fangs.

Rockpaw took a step back, flattening his ears, also baring his teeth. The cat face rose upwards to be parallel to him, it licked its lips with its starry tongue. Rockpaw felt cool grass under his pads as he took one step back, two steps back, three-

His body was flung back, and darkness surrounded him, whipping at him like the wind as you neared the tips of the mountains. Around and around. Faster and faster. A searing pain pricked in his flank, and two orange eyes stared down at him.

"Wake up, you hibernating rabbit."

Rockpaw blinked a few times up at Mousefoot, raising his head.

"What are you looking at? C'mon - get up." his mentor snapped, flicking his grey ears.

Rockpaw blinked again, trying to focus on his mentor's face. How long had he slept? Not that long, as his paws still ached. But bright sunlight streamed through the vines of the den entrance. He muttered, shaking his head to clear it, "What... do you mean...? Where...?"

"I was going to go on a tunnel patrol with my apprentice, but turns out, that he's too much of a deaf mouse to get out of his nest." Mousefoot sneered.

As the words finally reached his ears, he slid out his claws, digging them into his moss. He forced them back in, tensing his back muscles to stop his fur from bristling. Mousefoot glared at him for a moment longer, before turning around.

He threw his last words over his shoulder, as he slipped through the ivy curtain, "I'll see you in the usual place. Just ne quick about it."

"Yes... Mousedung..." Rockpaw growled after Mousefoot's tail flicked out of view. He curled back up into his nest with a deep sigh. With all the determination he could muster, he pulled himself out of his nest. The apprentice den was quiet, and all of the nests were empty.

Grudgingly, he shuffled out of the den, blinking hard in the bright sunlight. After his eyes had adjusted, he trotted across the clearing to the fresh-kill pile. In his haste, his paw caught a pebble and he stumbled into the stream. Grumbling, he shook his front paws off, and skipped over the small brook. He slumped next to the small hollow in the rock and reached out for a plump robin.

"I would advise you to hurry up, 'paw. Mousefoot looked in a right state."

Rockpaw froze wearily and looked up. A few tail-lengths away, Rosesong, Twilightear, Briarpaw, and Littlepaw sat together, sharing a rabbit. It was Rosesong who had spoken. The ginger-and-grey she-cat was looking at him, with a mix of friendliness and concern. She repeated, "You should hurry up. Mousefoot didn't look to happy. I'm sure he wouldn't want to be waited on."

Rockpaw sighed and nodded, meowing a quick thanks and rushing towards the entrance tunnel. He passed through it in a matter of seconds, with his paws rushing underneath him, and his tail streaming out behind.

The sunlight gleamed faintly on the edge of his vision. Looking up, he saw the Sun a quarter into the sky. It was way past dawn. Rockpaw followed a well-trodden track through the pines, his pale brown paws a blur underneath him. Taking long, wide leaps, he covered the distance between each tree with ease, on and on, until another, but much smaller, mountain's shadow loomed up in front of him.

He slowed slightly, his heart drumming wildly in his rib cage and breath unusually ragged. Through the deep green tree tips, he saw the half stony, half grassy mountain rising against the blue sky. Barely a cloud flew along with the gentle, almost non-existent breeze. Rockpaw slowed down to a halt and stopped in front of a thick hazel shrub, sides heaving. Through its leaves, he could see Mousefoot crouching besides a dark hole at the base of the smallest mountain in AirClan territory.

Hesitantly, Rockpaw slipped passed the bush, as he tried hastily to regain his breath, eyes and tail drooping, Mousefoot watched him make the slow progress towards his mentor. Finally, Rockpaw came to stand in front of him.

"You ran here?" his mentor asked blankly, eyeing Rockpaw.

"Y-yes...?" Rockpaw replied, tilting his head slightly.

"Really fast?" Mousefoot inquired further, his deep orange eye widening a bit.

"Yes." Rockpaw straightened his back proudly, smiling at his suddenly friendly mentor, but panting all the while.

"Are you out of breath?"

Rockpaw started to nod, but he stopped, and stared at Mousefoot, narrowing his eyes. "No!" he meowed defiantly, just as his chest heaved again.

Mousefoot scoffed and turned around. He padded through the pitch-black tunnel and disappeared into the shadows. Rockpaw followed quickly, his paws feeling like they'll fall off any second. Through the darkness, Mousefoot's voice sounded.

"We're going to be continuing the emergency escape tunnel until sunhigh. Now that you know the basics of tunnelling, and you've tried it out of the training tunnels, you can help us today."

"Us?" Rockpaw asked, feeling his way through the shadowy tunnel. He felt Mousefoot's tail tickling his nose, which was always a good sign.

"Yes, 'us'. Frosttail and Greyshard are going to be joining us." Mousefoot mewed.

Greyshard...? Great WindClan, no...! That moody fox-heart- Rockpaw began silently, only to break off as a wave of panic hit him. His nose had lost Mousefoot's tail. he whipped around, fur starting to bristle, only to jump as a paw tapped him on the flank.

"We're going this way. Honestly, you should be able to know by now, which way is which." Mousefoot meowed irritably.

Rockpaw found his mentor's frisking tail-tip again and padded after him. With each step, the sucking darkness seemed to give way. At first, Rockpaw barely noticed it, but then he saw a pair of pointed ears showing against the walls of the tunnels.

"Where's the light coming from?" he asked.

"So you noticed? Well done. It took Littlepaw twice as long to see Twilightear." Mousefoot's praise echoed lightly off of the walls. He added, "There's a shaft up ahead, that leads upwards - it lets in light."

Rockpaw felt warm inside. His mentor had finally praised him, and not for being a forgetful badger. He nodded, then, remembering Mousefoot wasn't looking at him, murmured in agreement.

Soon, Rockpaw thought he heard some scrabbling from in front of him. He could see by now, a small tunnel leading sideways and upwards. Yellowish light poured from it, seeping like pale golden water into the tunnels. A few tail-lengths ahead of him, he saw a flicking pale ginger tail-tip peeking out behind the corner of the twisting tunnel. As they went further, Rockpaw saw Greyshard and Frosttail crouching besides a dirt wall. The tunnel ended abruptly ahead of them, and its earthy walls were lined with stones of all shapes and sizes.

Mousefoot nodded towards the pair of cats and called out a greeting.

Frosttail paused from his work and meowed, "Hey, Mousefoot. I see you finally made it." The white tom smiled.

Mousefoot replied, twitching his ears, "We would have made it sooner if there wasn't a dormouse in the apprentice den."

Greyshard chuckled wryly, not even looking up from where she was scraping at the wall. Frosttail grinned at Mousefoot, before gesturing at the rubble piles around them. "Mousefoot, you can start enforcing the walls with those stones, ok? And Rockpaw, you can clean up the piles of dirt, alright? You know what to do - just push them into the gaps in the walls."

He turned back to continue his work, while Mousefoot immediately started rolling stones into crevices in the walls. Rockpaw watched him groggily for a few moments, his eyes still flittering with want of sleep. With aching paws, he started sweeping the piles of dirt laying around Greyshard and Frosttail, away. He scooped up pawfulls of soil and patted them into cracks in the tunnel.

After what seemed like his tenth pawfull, his eyes were starting to give in. Every few seconds, they shut, then bounced open again. He yawned widely, raising his haunches up high and stretching his front paws.

"Hey, watch it!" Greyshard swatted at him with her paw, claws unsheathed.

Rockpaw lurched back and straightened up. He turned from the pale tortoiseshell and rested his head on a comfy patch of dirt on the wall, as he scraped absent-mindedly at the dirt. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He relaxed his muscles and yawned. The rhythmic sound of scrabbling and rolling stones, along with a pleasant crumbling sound, filled Rockpaw's ears. His paws stopped moving and he started to drift off to sleep.

Slowly, the crumbling became louder and louder, and soft pieces of something fell onto his pelt.

This must be what snow feels like... Rockpaw thought dreamily.

Suddenly, something heavier landed on his pelt, and he heard the pounding of hurried paws.

"Rockpaw! MOVE!"

He squinted his eyes open, to blurrily see a bundle of tabby fur heading at him. Two unsheathed paws hit his chest and his flipped over. He landed on his back, and his paws tumbled over him, causing him to roll onto his belly, through his head. The pain spread through his neck and to the base of his tail.

With flattened ears and a growl echoing in his throat, he stumbled up and demanded angrily, "What was that for-?" He broke off as the light from the shaft illuminated a bundle of fur spread on the floor of the tunnel, and a huge rock next to it. Piles of dust and earth lay scattered around it, and two pairs of eyes, one green, one blue, glowed in the darkness either side of it.

Word Count: 2006
Hehehe... Don't tell me I didn't warn you.
What?
The title says 'Chapter 13' and it's halloween soon. It would be a shame if someone died.
XD
Hope you like it!
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Bye!