Rockpaw paced up and down the stretch of rock between the warrior den and the apprentice den. Treepaw laid curled up on the large rock beside the den, watching the large crowd of cats on the opposite side of the stream. As his sister flicked her tail nervously, peering over the crowd, Rockpaw turned his head from the murmuring cats. The fur on his spine bristled, and he couldn't help his ears from flattening to his skull. He no longer felt tired. Every whisker-length of his body felt like it was pulsing with adrenaline.

His stomach growled, but he didn't care. Or do anything about it. The bustle of anxious Clanmates was most literally standing on the fresh-kill-pile.

He twitched his ears, trying to block out the loud meowing of the cats. Suddenly, the sound started to die down, and a buzzing silence filled the cave. Rockpaw whipped around to see the crowd parting into half, watching... something.

A few seconds later, Owlstar leaped onto the HighMound and yowled loudly, "Let all those old enough to dig, gather under the HighMound for a Clan meeting."

No need. Rockpaw thought. Those nosy fox hearts are already all there.

He and Treepaw scampered quickly over to the meeting place. He squeezed in between Littlepaw and Briarpaw, who were both sharing worried looks.

As soon as they arrived, Owlstar blinked slowly, took a deep breath, and announced to the Clan, with a grim expression on her face, "As you probably know by now, many of our Clanmates have been injured in recent moons. I have been discussing the matter deeply with my senior warriors, and we have come to a conclusion. On every patrol, there will be at least three warriors and their apprentices. If they have no apprentices, there will have to be at least four warriors. No-one is to go out alone, especially our younger cats. This is for your safety, "Owlstar added as Littlepaw glanced exasperatedly at Rockpaw, "There seem to be many dangers out in our forests: foxes, badgers, rogues, unstable tunnels, and-"

"Oh yes, on the matter of unstable tunnels!" A half-angry, half-worried voice exclaimed from behind Rockpaw. He turned to see Silverwhisker glaring at Owlstar, teeth bared and chest heaving. She demanded, "What happened to Mousefoot? Is he ok? You come in here with his twisted body, don't give us a scrap of information, and expect me not to be worried!?"

Owlstar blinked at Silverwhisker, and sighed, "He's fine, Crystal-"

"He is not fine! Let me see him!" Silverwhisker insisted angrily.

Rockpaw looked between the two she-cats, eyeing each one intensely. He saw a look pass through Owlstar and Silverwhisker, and his mother mewed, "Meeting dismissed. I will supervise in organising patrols for tomorrow, in a moment." She jumped down from the pile of earth and barged through the crowd.

She whisked Rockpaw's fur up as she passed him, her white paws barely skimming the floor. He pushed his way back out through the crowd and looped around. He didn't want to hear what Owlstar wanted to say. It wasn't worth listening to. He had much more important things to do.

He looked for a silver tabby pelt between the other pelts of cats. Ginger. White. Black. There!

Rockpaw nudged Wolflungs with a paw.

The tom turned around, his black striped fur bristling. He asked distractedly, glancing at the medicine den, "Yes? What is it?"

"I'm going out to hunt, ok?" Rockpaw meowed, the breath catching in his throat.

"Mhm. Sure."

"Thanks. See you."

Rockpaw bounded away quickly, before Wolflungs could notice what he had asked. He slid into the entrance tunnel and, after a few moments, ran onto the grass outside. Without pausing, he ran. It felt as if he flew over the ground, stretching his legs farther and farther each time. He dodged between tree trunks and patches of brambles, sprinting as fast as he could. After a tree-length or so, he turned left sharply, heading East.

When his legs felt as if they were made of stone, and his chest was on fire, he slowed down to a trot, then to a slow walk. He took multiple long, deep breaths, letting his nose fill up with the sweet smell of evergreen sap. Ahead of him, he could see the pine trees fading out and a hill rising up. Heart thumping, he sped up again.

As soon as he stumbled over the rise of the heather sprinkled hill, he collapsed besides a large rock. Shadows fell onto him, licking at his paw-tips and stretching a few tail-lengths away. Rockpaw wriggled his shoulders, stretched his front legs and flexed his claws. He tried to regain his breath, as his flank heaved up and down.

He yawned widely and stretched his neck, hearing the bones click gently.

Then, something hit him on the flank, and he was forced to roll onto his back. Looking up, he saw a pair of deep blue eyes staring down at him, and a grin lining a muzzle.

"For someone who's here to train, your not listening to me very well." she chuckled, jumping off of him.

Rockpaw scrambled onto his legs and scoffed, "I was just tired, that's all."
"Oh, really?" she asked, blinking at him.

"Yes, really! I was tired after out training session yesterday, and I barely slept. Then Mousedung woke me up early and we had to go tunnelling. The-" Rockpaw held himself back from spilling it all out.

"What?" she inquired, tilting her head.

"Well, you know, Silentbird, you being from a different Clan and all, I can't really tell you what's going on in my Clan..." Rockpaw muttered, shuffling his paws.

Silentbird stared at him, her black pelt glowing a gingery-brown in the sunlight. She murmured half-angrily, "Do you not trust me? I'm teaching you the secret moves of LeafClan, and you don't even want to tell me what happened down a rabbit hole?"

"No, no! It's not like that, it's just that-" Rockpaw stammered.

"What?" she demanded, eyes blazing with a mix of fury and sadness.

"I-I- well..."

"What...?!"

"The tunnel collapsed!"

Silence followed this.

Silentbird blinked at him slowly, her eyes wide and hollow. Rockpaw stared at his paws, tail bushing out and throat seeming to close up.

"I-I'm sorry- I didn't know- did he...?" she asked in an apologetic tone.

"No - he's in the medicine den with a twisted paw." Rockpaw replied bitterly, and added silently, And it's all my fault. A little voice answered him, It isn't. He pushed you and he put himself in danger. You were fine without him. Rockpaw nodded.

The black she-cat padded up to him and bent down to press her cheek against his.

"Never mind," he mewed, taking a step to the back, "It's ok. So... What are we learning today?"

She look at him solemnly for a moment, before her face cracked into a smile. She laughed, "Well, first off, you could learn some manners."
Rockpaw glared at her and leaped playfully towards her, paws stretched out. In the last second, she stepped to the side, and he landed on his chest and face.

She sniggered friendlily and nudged him up, "C'mon. I'll show you how to do 'the flick-over'. It was what I did to you, when you were sleeping."

"I was regaining my breath after sprinting here as fast as I could!" Rockpaw countered.

"I know. I know." Silentbird smiled back, and flicked her black ears.

She looked around and pointed her tail at the large rock. She explained, "Usually, we would climb up a tree, but because we don't have any around here, we'll have to use that rock - or any other tall thing we can find. In 'the flick-over', the main objective is to get higher up than you opponent and flick them over onto their back-"

"By landing on their back like a one-winged crow?" Rockpaw asked teasingly.

Silentbird looked at him seriously, then sighed. "No, not exactly. I would say, hmm, a 'fierce eagle' instead of a 'one-winged crow'."

"I beg to differ."

"You what now?" Silentbird stared at him, clearly confused.

Rockpaw's ears felt hot, and he muttered, "I heard Mousedung say it to another warrior, and..."

She grinned and finished, "You wanted to seem like a wise, ol' warrior and impress me with big words?"

"What? No!" Rockpaw exclaimed, shaking his head furiously. "Just show me the move."

"Please," Silentbird blinked at him teasingly.

The fur along his spine rose slightly, as he growled, "...please..."

She flicked his ear with her fluffy tail, and she walked past. She disappeared behind the rock for a moment, before reappearing at the top.

She crouched down on it and, with the sunlight streaming behind her, Rockpaw could almost only see her silhouette on the dark stone. "The trick is," she began, "to make yourself as small as possible, wherever you're doing it. Tuck all of your legs in and your tail and flatten yourself as much as you can to the place where you're hiding."

"Why?" Rockpaw wondered out loud. Then added, "Just so I know."

"So you don't cast any shadows or stand out against your hiding place, if your opponent looks up."

Rockpaw nodded, watching Silentbird intently.

She continued, "When your opponent is the perfect distance away from you, tense your muscles and leap. Always leap with your back legs - that leaves your front legs to be stretched out in front of you. Then, land with your front paws on your opponent's flank, but usually not their back, because that won't work. The momentum will knock them onto his belly, and you can pin them down!"

With that she scrunched up her body even more, then exploded into a straight line that whizzed through the air and landed neatly in front of him.

Eyes wide with excitement and shock, Rockpaw asked, "Could I try?"

"Sure!" Silentbird nodded, smiling.

"Afterwards," Rockpaw mewed as he started to pad behind the rock, "I'll teach you the Double Twist-Turn!"

Word Count: 1687
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