Sharppaw woke up in a dark, foggy place. He felt scared not knowing what this place actually was. Mist twisted around gray trees and glowing mushrooms stuck up from the dying earth. 

Sharppaw reluctantly padded forward, but felt as if this place was calling his name. He could've sworn that he heard whispering all around him. It was so quiet here. Half of him liked it, half didn't.

"Welcome to the Dark Forest, Sharppaw," A voice meowed up ahead. A large black tom padded from the dark fog, his chin high. He had black eyes with dark blue slits that glowed like fire. His claws were unsheathed and shining. 

Sharppaw crouched to the ground. "W-who are you?" He hissed, flattening his ears. 

"I'm Crowstar. I was leader of the rogues until I died," The tom hissed, tail lashing. 

"The leader of the rogues?" Sharppaw gasped, pelt pricking in fear. He stared in shock at the tom, unsheathing his claws and curling them into the grass.

"We've been watching you, Sharppaw. You hate your father and sister, right? For the way that they treat you? Well imagine if we could train you here," Crowstar smirked. A sick look crossed his face. "Don't you like the idea of training to be a real warrior?"

"As much as I'd love to train here, I don't want to get in trouble with my mother. She would pluck out my whiskers if she knew I trained with the leader of the rogues!" Sharppaw hissed.

"Hmm? But would she really? Don't you think she'd be proud of you training here? You get to learn all kinds of good battle moves," Crowstar meowed. "Some that-"

"No, I.. I can't," Sharppaw interrupted. He then noticed scratches along the tom's throat. Blood oozed from them. Sharppaw tried to turn away, but the tom leaped and pinned him to the ground, claws hooking into Sharppaw's shoulders. Sharppaw whimpered in pain.

"StarClan destined you to train with us. I promise that if you train with us, you'll be the best warrior of all Clans," Crowstar hissed.

Sharppaw glanced at him. He bit down hard on Crowstar's foreleg and heard the tom hiss with pain and annoyance. Then Sharppaw took the energy to shove back the large tom. He slithered out from under him and backed away, allowing the tom to get to his paws. "Then lets have a fight for practice," He growled. 

"Very well, apprentice," Crowstar growled. He crouched and bunched his muscles to leap. 

Sharppaw crouched as well, ready. "I'm ready for your first attack!" He hissed. 

"Heh, but you aren't ready for this," Crowstar hissed. He leaped forward, then twisted in the air and landed beside Sharppaw, dealing a rough blow to his shoulder.  Claws tugged out a clump of fur. 

"Hey!  Why are you using claws?" Sharppaw hissed.

"That's just what we do here!" Crowstar hissed. He leaped over Sharppaw as the young tom was about to slash at his shoulders. "This is why you're here. To train. You obviously need training!" He growled. 

Sharppaw turned on the tom, wanting to fight like a rogue, but he didn't want to. "I haven't been taught any moves!" He hissed. He ducked as Crowstar's paw swiped at his ear, but he didn't expect Crowstar's other paw to lash out and make him trip on the ground. 

Crowstar leaped on Sharppaw, his claws digging into his shoulders and flanks. Sharppaw tried to twist and lash out at Crowstar, but teeth clamped his scruff and he screamed as he was hauled into the air. He felt the breath driven out of him as he landed at the base of a trunk. Fog swamped around him and he shivered, wondering where Crowstar was. Fear sunk into the pit of his stomach. Besides the quiet, he could hear his breathing and own heart pounding. 

A black figure leaped from the shadows and Crowstar grabbed Sharppaw's scruff once more, dragging him away from the tree and twisting him over. "Did you really think I was finished with you? You little-"

"Crowstar! That's enough!" A tom's voice hissed. Another black tom with blue eyes padded over to them. He was only slightly bigger than Sharppaw. "I hope you weren't going to injure him to bad."

"Oh, I wasn't," Crowstar laughed. 

Sharppaw felt embarrassed. I have to win next time! "I promise I can do better," He whimpered.

"You will once we start training," Crowstar pointed out. "You'll learn a new move tomorrow." The black tom began padding away deeper into the fog, leaving Sharppaw alone.

Bloody and battered, Sharppaw staggered as he tried to follow the rogue. He then collapsed on the ground, panting hard. He felt like claws were tugging him back. His vision began to turn black and he heard the faint, faded calling of a cat calling his name.

"Sharppaw! Wake up, please!" 

Sharppaw scrambled awake in his nest. He felt burning scratches all over his pelt. Blood stained his nest. 

"Sharppaw!" Stormpaw gasped. "You're hurt!"

Sharppaw got to his paws but almost slipped in his blood. His shoulder was hurt badly. Stormpaw pressed against him. "Come on, we're going to the medicine den," She hissed. She led him out of the den, stepping over the other cat's nests.

Lightpaw came from the medicine den, dripping moss in his jaws. His eyes widened as he saw Sharppaw. "Sharppaw! What happened?" He gasped, dropping the moss.

"I'm not sure what happened to him. I woke up because I heard him moving around a lot in his nest. Then I saw that he was injured!" Stormpaw gasped. 

"What's all the yowling about?" Mothstripe came from the den, ears pricked. "Sharppaw? What happened to you?" She asked.

Sharppaw grumbled and staggered through the medicine den, Stormpaw supporting his shoulder. His friend allowed him to lay down more easily.

"Stormpaw, I know you're worried for your friend, but go help Lightpaw with the elders' den. I need room to treat Sharppaw," Mothstripe meowed. 

A shape moved in a nest at the far end of the den. The flame-colored pelt of Flamedawn was visible in the dim light. The medicine cat turned around yawned. "What happened to Sharppaw?" He asked, padding over. His white paws were dusty.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Mothstripe sighed. "It looks as if these wounds were caused by a cat," She meowed. Her gaze looked thoughtful, then terror swamped her gaze as though she knew.

"Don't worry about my wounds," Sharppaw begged. "I go out to train every night," He lied.

"Did you scratch yourself on thorns?" Mothstripe sighed.

"Well maybe I did," Sharppaw meowed. He felt Mothstripe working herb juice into his wounds. They burned even more.

"Flamedawn, give me some cobwebs," Mothstripe meowed.

"Alright," The ginger tom grabbed a wad of cobwebs and set them at Mothstripe's paws.

Mothstripe applied the cobwebs to Sharppaw's wounds.

"Hey, Whimperpaw! I heard you got beaten up by a thorn bush! Now look how tough you are!" A mocking voice called through the den entrance. 

Sharppaw was shaking with rage as he heard his sister's imitating voice. He felt his claws curl into the moss, pretending the moss was Frostpaw's pelt.

"Sit still!" Mothstripe hissed. "Just ignore her. She'll get bored of teasing eventually," Mothstripe murmured. "Get some rest," She meowed. She turned to Flamedawn. "Stay here and keep an eye on him. I'll go see if I can find Twistedfoot," Mothstripe meowed, disappearing through the den entrance.

Sharppaw curled up in his nest. Could he attack Frostpaw now that Mothstripe was gone? He decided not to. I'll just get some sleep.