The sky was cloudy and the air was growing cool. Wolfpaw dragged his paws as he followed Glaregaze, Diamondeyes, and Meadowpaw to the training hollow. He'd been training a whole moon and he was aching everywhere.

StarClan made him climb trees, chase prey that he could never catch, and telling him stories of past leaders. Dawn made him swim, climb trees, jump up high ledges in the cave, hide in the dark, and run from one tunnel to another. Wolfblood only taught him battle moves and made him unsheathe his claws, causing both toms to get scratched and harmed. Halfmoon and Lightpelt eyed him suspiciously one day when he went to their den to check an injury on his shoulder. But, they just shrugged when he told them he found a burr in his nest.

Glaregaze and Diamondeyes stepped back to allow Wolfpaw and Meadowpaw room to battle train. Luckily, there claws would be sheathed.

As he crouched down, Wolfpaw noticed Meadowpaw was getting smaller. Was she eating enough, or exercising enough?

Flinching at the pain his muscles, Wolfpaw pounced and both apprentices tumbled over, batting at one another's heads. Wolfpaw kicked at the she-cat's stomach and pushed her off. He then spun around and hit Meadowpaw across the fave with his paw. The gray tabby stumbled and shook her her head. Seeing a advantage point, Wolfpaw jumped and pinned her down.

"That's enough, Wolfpaw," Glaregaze spoke, "you won."

Wolfpaw jumped off Meadowpaw, but she didn't get up. Wolfpaw turned and prodded her side, hoping he didn't hurt her too much.

That's when she jumped up and pounced on him, pinning him to the ground with a pleased look on her face.

"Good playing dead, Meadowpaw," Diamondeyes mewed, standing up. "Now, remember to be careful when you use that as your strategy, if Wolfpaw was a ShadowClan cat he would've bit your neck, killing you instantly."

Meadowpaw let Wolfpaw go and flicked her tail. She raised her head and tail before walking off. Diamondeyes shook her head and followed her apprentice out the hollow.

Wolfpaw then followed Glaregaze out to go hunting. He ignored the pain in his legs as they walked through the cold and grass of the forest. He listened and sniffed for any signs of prey. His senses then made him freeze and perk up his ears.

A rabbit pelted by, like the blink of an eye. Wolfpaw bolted after, his mouth watering at the scent of running prey. He followed after the rabbit past Sparrowwing, Stripeclaw, Hazeleyes, and Twitchwhisker. Pelting by Poundpaw and Russetclaw, who were collecting moss. He jumped and snatched the brown rabbit in his jaws, snapping it's neck with his teeth.

"Nice catch!" Wolfpaw jumped and looked up to see Acepaw on the other side of the stream separating WindClan from ThunderClan. The border separating him from his half-kin.

"Hi, Acepaw!" Wolfpaw perked, trying to hide his confused feelings. "How us everything in WindClan?"

"Well..." Acepaw lowered his head and looked away. "Moortail is a little mad... He's ignoring Sandpaw and Quickpaw completely... And since Flitfoot, Dashpaw, and Honeypaw left our Clan is short a few hunters... I wish there was something I could do, one of our kits is sick and she's looking to me to get the Clan more food, but I'm not exactly the fastest apprentice... It's kind of embarrassing..."

Wolfpaw looked down at his prey and back to his Clan. Acepaw was a good friend to him, he could bear to see him this way.

That's when the idea struck him like lighting in the sky.

"Acepaw, I know exactly what you can do!" Wolfpaw exclaimed, his fur raising with excitement. "Find what looks like an abandoned fox den, go down a tunnel and you'll find yourself in a cave, meet me there tonight and I'll explain everything when you get there!"

Without waiting for a response, Wolfpaw grabbed his catch and ran to camp. Dawn was probably going to be mad at him, but his friend wanted to feel stronger for his Clan.

Wolfpaw paced in the caves, waiting for Acepaw to appear from one of the tunnels, ready for anything that came his way. Hopefully Dawn would understand, Wolfpaw was only trying to help. Wasn't this what StarClan wanted?

Finally, Acepaw came stumbling down a tunnel and looked around him. Wolfpaw ran over to greet his friend.

"Acepaw!" The dark gray tom spun to look in Wolfpaw's direction and ran over.

"What's going on?" Acepaw demanded. "What's so secret that I have to come down here?"

"Just come with me and don't freak out," Wolfpaw began heading off to where Dawn waited, "trust me, this'll make both of us useful to our Clans."

As the two made their way through the soggy ground of the caves, Wolfpaw opened his mouth in search of Dawn's wolf scent. She was lying near the stream that ran through the caves, looking in to the water as if someone else was looking back.

"Dawn!" Wolfpaw cried out.

The she-wolf lifted her head and eyed both the apprentices. Wolfpaw could smell Acepaw's fear scent, but the WindClan tom stayed close behind the silver apprentice. Dawn stood and walked up to both of them, her gaze stuck on Acepaw.

"Wolfpaw, who is this?" she asked, her tail low, "this training is for special cats."

"Acepaw's special!" Wolfpaw growled. "He cares for his Clan just as much as I care for ThunderClan! He just wants to get stronger and faster for his Clan, train the both of us, he won't tell anyone!" he turned to his scared friend. "Won't you?"

"If this is what you believe will help, I'm right behind you, Wolfpaw,"  Acepaw spoke with determination in his amber eyes, "I won't tell anyone, you can count on that!"

Dawn sighed angrily and Wolfpaw wondered if she'd chase them both out. But, all the wolf did was lower her head and shake.

"Fine, but don't tell anyone else," Dawn thumped her tail on the ground, "this training is for you two and you two alone!"

"We understand." Wolfpaw bowed his head.

"We understand." Acepaw echoed, following Wolfpaw.

"Very well," Dawn growled, "Let's begin, I want you two to race through the tunnels, first one to catch the other wins. This will determine your WindClan skills as well as your ShadowClan skills."

"ShadowClan skills?" Acepaw tilted his head in surprise.

"I'm learning to be a great warrior, who's trying to see the point of views of other Clans," Wolfpaw explained, "but, I'm still loyal to ThunderClan, if it meant harm will come to ThunderClan I will teach them what to do."

Acepaw nodded and stood next to Wolfpaw. Dawn stood before them and held her tail high. Once she dropped her tail the apprentices bolted off in separate directions.

Wolfpaw ran in to one tunnel and tried adjusting his eyes to see in the darkness. He sniffed around, hoping to catch Acepaw's scent. He ran down another tunnel, but ran in to a dead end. He shook his head and ran out again. He headed into another tunnel, then another, then another. He could finally see where he was in the darkness. A drop of water made him jump until he remembered how gloomy it was outside. It must be raining. The stream was still low, the tunnels wouldn't flood.

Berrybush suddenly came across his mind. The day she had shoved he, Poundpaw, and Meadowpaw away from the collapsing tunnel entrance. She was one of ThunderClan's best warriors and her StarClan given strength was taken away before Wolfpaw's eyes as the falls crushed her. A flood happened soon after and Wolfpaw had to get the younger apprentices out of the cave before they all drowned. The next day the barn cats harassed them and RiverClan held them hostage.

Wolfpaw pressed on with his lesson and continued searching for Acepaw. His mouth open to catch the scent of his WindClan companion.

He finally came across a tunnel with a cat's familiar scent. Wolfpaw neared and recognized Acepaw's scent. He crouched down and pounced at the dark gray tom and they both stumbled in to lights from the caves. Wolfpaw pinned Acepaw down with pride, but then felt sick at the thought of Acepaw getting mad at him for attacking him.

"You have to show me how you did that!" Acepaw meowed excitingly.

"Very good, young ones," Dawn walked up as Wolfpaw climbed of Acepaw. "Acepaw, if you wish, you may return tomorrow with Wolfpaw, but remember, not a word!"

"I understand!" Acepaw jumped up. "And I have to come back tomorrow, my Clan is expecting me to do my best!"