~ chapter 2 ~

"your mentor will be stripemoon!" flame put on paw out and tapped flashstars shoulder. along with nettle and leaf, she and star were now claws! she shook with happiness and let the thought that flashstar would not let her become a claw drift away. star nudged her and smiled, clearly thinking that this was the best thing ever. as the tribe finished cheering flame saw star being pulled aside by his mentor, hissclaw and found herself left in the clearing along with leaf. she glanced at leaf, but the she cat didn't not seem in the mood to talk and walked away to her mentor. suddenly a large blue grayish tom with stripes lining his back approached flame. stripemoon. he seemed nice and flame purred as she noticed some moss still clinging to his whiskers. stripemoon was the newest sharpclaw in the tribe so it seemed he still had some claw humor. " hi, nice to meet you!" he mewed happily. flame liked this cat." hi she answered and looked up hopefully," are we going to go hunting to day or are you going to show me the danger spots or will we-" stripemoon silenced her with a flick of his tail. " no, sorry, today we have to go gather some moss for the noscratchs." flame felt disappointment. she was really hoping that her first day would be something interesting. "star is probably doing something far better than me!" she thought but kept silent. stripemoon must have noticed the disappointment on flames face because he grinned and puffed out his chest." what about we go train how to hunt after we finish gathering moss?" he suggested. flames face lit up a bit and she nodded. Following her mentor into the forest she reminded herself that by traveling to get moss, she was slowly exploring territory surrounding the tribe. Breathing fat, she rushed to keep up with moonstripe. He lead her past the darkest part of the forest and then by the twolegs and finally they stopped by a large bolder. All over its sticky and gleaming wall moss tingled with rain. Flame also noticed some redfern." redfern, good for scratches."she thought, " echo could use these..". " flame!, what are you doing standing there, come on the moss won't pick itself!" stripemoon called and he pulled moss of the bolder. turning her self from the herbs flame bounded over letting a soft" sorry." she glanced at the much larger bolder then her and prepared her muscles to jump. she let out a yowl and jumped letting her claws scratch the bolder and let a few pieces of moss drop onto her muzzle. "so this is how stripemoon got moss on his whiskers." flame thought shaking it off. stripemoon was purring as he stared at flame and he padded over to her." nice moss gathering." he mewed. flame glared at him." well im sorry that my first time wasn't the best." stripemoon just ignored her and crouched down. " follow me and watch." he said as he glanced at flame. flame snorted and crouched beside him. she really did not want to be shown how to do this but for now she had no other choice. stripemoon tensed his muscled and whispered." first lock on what piece of moos you want." suddenly stripemoon flew into the air and sliced moss down with all of his paws and slide down the bolder, clinging onto it. When he jumped down he rolled his moss into a ball and looked up at flame." the key is to have all claws unsheded and gripe onto the bolder with your claws." he explained. Flame nodded and tensed her muscles, her eyes targeted a piece of moss and she slide her claws out." it might feel a little funny if you grab the bold-" flame launched at the bolder and tried to slice her claws into it as well as the moss, trumpet filled her heart when she felt the moss under her paws until she felt her claws running down the rock. pain and as tickling feeling filled them and flame shut her eyes." oww!!" she yelled and jumped off the rock. her paws her filled with moss but the claws her filled with a uneasy feeling." i told you that it would feel weird if you jab your claws to hard." stripemoon declared. "flame swore under her breath and looked down. rolling her moss into a ball like stripemoon , she was about to pick it up in her mouth when as felt a light tap on her shoulder. Turning around she saw stripemoon shaking his head." what?" she asked. stripemoon picked up his moss and rolled it under his chin while stuffed more into his mouth. he turned and glanced at flame. Flame stifled a purr and smiled at her mentor. stripemoon narrowed his eyes and mewed," don't laugh, we carry more moss this way." his mew was muttered by the moss. flame picked up her moss and did the same. " i feel like a dog. "she said as she followed stripemoon back to the tribe. entering the camp she saw star doing some mock-fighting with leaf, his eyes shining and he was panting. Flame hid behind her mentor. if star saw her now, he would never let her live it down. stripemoon glanced at her and smiled, clearly understanding her mind. they padded to the no no scratch's den and squeezed inside. There were only two elders right now, and both were pretty cranky. rabbitleap and heatflame sat in the middle grooming their fur as rabbitleap was talking about something. heatflame looked up as the two cats entered. "well what do you now..." the old she cat rasped, "the moss has been finally delivered." "And about time too!" rabbitleap croaked as he glared at stripemoon." you , always late with everything." flame's angered bubbled and she expected to hear stripemoon comment but insted he walked over to heatflame and started working around her. "flame you work on the other side." he said. flame rolled her eyes and padded over to rabbitleap. the no scratch glare at her and snorted." you better not follow in that one's foot steps little one." flame ignored him and got to worked. The to cats worked and finally stripemoon released her. " go eat something and then you can maybe go hunting with star and his mentor." stripemoon had said. Now flame was pulling out a sparrow from the fresh kill pile and settled down to eat. suddenly star plopped down by her." hey!" he panted, his eyes shining." what did you do today?" he sheathed and unsheaded his claws. flame shook her head. i gathered moss for the no scratches. she sighned. stars eyes lost their happiness and pity filled them. " hey thats still nice.." he mewed. flame growled. she didn't need his sympathy. " what about you?" she asked flicking her tail. stars eyes filled with happiness again. I learned some really cool fighting moves and i can flip you if you run into me!" he mewed proudly. " huh." a loud voice came from behind. flame looked around and shrunk back when she saw breeze. " thats all you can do?" he snorted. "big whoop." star didn't turn to face him but instead he looked at flame." do you hear something?" he asked making a stupid face. Breeze growled and grabbed his scruff making star face him. " don't you get smart on me kit!" breeze hisses. star batted him away and faced him. flame raced to her paws and trow herself in front of the toms. "no stop! we are all litter mates, we are not enemies!" flame yelled; desperate to stop a useless fight. breeze bared his teeth and turned, while star gazed stubbornly at him." yea well he's not my littermate, he's a mouse smelling fox." breeze growled and went his way. " shut your trap you fox-heart!" star yowled after him and took a step forward. flame scooted to him and pressed her muzzle into his fur." come on leave him be." she said. Star was still bristling but he nodded and settled again." sorry," he mumbled and let flame groom him. flame licked his fur and stared straight ahead. why had breeze said that star wasn't his sibling and why do those toms fight so much? what was wrong with her family? "hey your licking too hard!" interrupted her thought. she stopped licking and gazed at her brother," oops sorry." star snorted and heaved himself up. suddenly a black persian tom with a yellow tail came running up to star. " star you and your sister are coming with me for hunting." he nodded at flame," stripemoon will meet us there." he said in a husky voice. flame shivered. this had to be hissclaw, star's mentor. flame didn't like the cold look in his eyes, when she stared into them she felt drawn into the darkness. hissclaw turned and flicked his tail to be followed. star started to bound after him but stopped to wait for flame. flame pressed against his yellow fur as they followed hissclaw." your mentor seems mean..." she whispered. star shook his head. "nah, he's strict but a good sharpclaw." flame nodded but found herself having a hard time wondering if he was really loyal to the tribe or himself. hissclaw steered the across the forest until they stoped in a small field. trees surrounded them and sunlight filled the air." shining ground." star mewed. hissclaw nodded and looked around. " since stripemoon isn't here yet, we can start by ourselves. star nodded excited but flame shook her head. wouldn't her mentor be mad? hissclaws opened his mouth and tasted the air. " now," he mewed," tell me what you sent." star's nostrols blaxed while flame tasted the air. " mice, and.."flame started-"squirrel!" star finished, licking his lips. flame crouched down. hissclaw glanced at her and taped his paw. "what are you doing?" he asked. flame glanced up. " getting into my stalking crouch." she anwsered. hissclaw shook his head. " no flame, you need to wait for your mentor." flame was shocked. "but you said we should start!" she argued. hissclaws eyes hardened,m " by we, i ment me and star, not some she cat." he growled. Flame bristled, " but i am training too! i could just train along you and star-" hissclaw was a whisker away and hissed silently," I.SAID.NO." flame backed away. this toms eyes were blazing with a sing of a killer! flame gulped and opened her mouth but star beat her to it. " wait why can't she train us? she is going to learn the same things anyways and-" hissclaw turned on him. Do you question your mentor?!" he growled. star shook his head and looked at flame. " sorry sis..." he mewed and went to hissclaw. the two toms padded into the dept of the forest. flame bristled. "toms!" she cried after them and felt a pelt brush hers. stripemoon was gazing down at her. " now whats wrong with toms?" he teased. flame held back tears and she looked down muttering" i hate hissclaw!" stripemoon glanced at her. "why?" he asked. flame looked at him"he told me that i couldn't train and he threaten me too say something about his idea." stripemoon looked puzzled," but he can't do that...are you sure he said that?" he questioned. flame nodded."where are they now?" he mewed. flame motioned towards the forest. " over there..." stripemoon nudged her. " come on lets go talk to hissclaw." he started padding away, and flame rushed to his side. passing ferns and trees they soon heard mews and yowls. in a clearing hissclaw and star were fighting and flame was horrified to see that their claws were unshedead. she gazed at stripemoon but his face gave nothing away. "hissclaw!" he called running forward. the two fighting cats pulled apart and hissclaw looked up. "what, do you know that you interupted a great training lesson?" he hissed " training lesson?'flame thought, "more like a fight!" she jogged down to star and saw blood dipping from his ear "star!" she cried and started to lick the blood away, but her brother wisked away." hey!" he cried in panic. stripemoon looked hissclaw straight in the eyes. " my claw said you won't let her train with star. is it true?" Hissclaw looked shocked. "what? i offered to train her but she stubbornly refused too with out having you here so i took my claw and started to train him!" flame bristled in confusion "what?!" she yowled. stripemoon tuned to face her, " flame i am getting another story here but i don't know which one is correct. " flames head hurt and she wanted to cry out "your lying!" but instead she looked at star. " no and i can prove it, star was there when everything happened." she smiled at star.