MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/1/7

### Chapter 7: The Fox

Zebrapaw groaned. It was a quarter-moon since Stonepaw pushed Swankit into the hole, but Stonepaw still hasn't recovered from her punishment. She still looked frail and about to wither away, it seemed, and Swankit seemed very scared of them both. Zebrapaw had no idea what he had to do with Swankit.

It was soon going to be time for Birchkit & Rainkit's ceremony in three quarter-moons. Then Swankit & Mountainkit's in a quarter-moon after theirs. He heard Flipsnow was expecting Littleclaw's kits again, her second litter.

He stretched his limbs, and got ready for training. Sandleap gestured him to come and asked, "Do you want to do some more hunting training?"

He replied, "Sure, as long as we're preparing for leaf-bare." She nodded and they went into an area into the forest.

"Ok, so you see that sparrow, right?" mewed Sandleap. Zebrapaw nodded. Sandleap continued, "You have to be silent to catch it. But first, climb a tree next to it—not the same one—and..."

She demonstrated while saying, and leaped onto the sparrow, and bit it severely. The sparrow stopped struggling and died.

"You can also swipe it, but personally, I think it's better to bite it," said Sandleap. "Ok, let me try," said Zebrapaw. He climbed onto a tree, and as soon as he saw a bird, he swiped at it and it fell out of the tree.

Sandleap watched with interested eyes. Then Zebrapaw climbed out of the tree slowly, and leaped onto it, as it was trying to fly up again, and bit it.

Sandleap took the sparrow she caught into her mouth, and climbed down the tree, and buried it. Zebrapaw buried his, too.

"Hmm, cool method," mewed Sandleap. "Though easier, it would take much longer to catch it, and there is a chance it can fly away when you get down. It can also alert the other prey around here to hide, so... not very effective."

Zebrapaw looked down at the bird he buried. "Is there somewhere else we can get prey?" he asked.

"Sure. Our territory is big, since we live on a big part of the mountain," Sandleap replied. "We can catch snowshoe hares in the flat, grassy areas. Since it's close to leaf-bare, they're going to start turning white, remember that."

"Got it," replied Zebrapaw. "What about our prey we caught?"

"We'll take it back first, then go. We don't want too much prey with us, or to forget where we buried it if we go far from it," said Sandleap.

They dug out their prey, went back to camp, and deposited it into the prey pile. Swankit was checking the prey pile, but when she saw Zebrapaw, she stared with a confused expression. That made Zebrapaw uncomfortable, so he walked faster. He looked back only once to see which prey she picked out. His sparrow.

They moved onto a flat, grassy area. "This place is called Rabbit Residence. By cats, anyway. There are tons of them here, there is no doubt about its name," informed Sandleap.

"There can also be Twolegs here going to their green-leaf twolegplace and whatever. But what they like to do is kidnap cats & throw their rubbish everywhere onto the mountains," she continued. "If you see a Twoleg, keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't do anything wrong to us. If it *does* do something wrong, well, scare it off. Their existence is fatal to us cats. If they have kittypets, talk with them to become Clan cats. If they are aggressive towards us, scare them off as well. We don't want soft cats with anger issues in the mountains unless they're here to do *us* some good."

Zebrapaw nodded, processing all this information. Then he told his mentor, "Well, I think I know how to catch a snow hare. Since they're fast, chasing them can be tiring. I can ambush them or chase them." Sandleap nodded and meowed, "Ok, now we have to be quiet if we're stepping onto the clearing. I'll go this way, you go that way. Don't go far."

Zebrapaw nodded again, and kept his eyes peeled. He soon saw an unnoticing rabbit with his back turned on him. Zebrapaw slowly padded towards it, but then it saw him a couple of paw-steps away and immediately started running. Zebrapaw started running, too, but soon, he was very close, and he leaped...

He felt the rabbit under him, and he bit into its neck, and did a paw swipe on it for it to die. He then stepped backwards to see the size of it. It was a plump rabbit, enough to feed three kits, or two apprentices.

Zebrapaw then dug a hole and buried it. He put some dirt on it and wiped off the excess dirt. Then he kept his eyes open for another one. He saw another one, a bit smaller, but effective to feed the Clan. He went slowly behind it, and sliced into its back. It tried to run away, but it was weak, and Zebrapaw caught up with it easily, and sliced it again. It died, too. He buried that one, too.

Then Sandleap came back with three rabbits. "Dig up your prey," she instructed, and he did.

"Whoa, that's *huge!* Pretty amazing for an apprentice like you! Let's bring them back," she remarked.

They both carried their prey back to camp. Then they put their prey in the pile. Sandleap concluded the training and went into the warriors den.

Shadowpaw came back from *his* hunting training with Snowstar and deposited his mice into the pile. He then stared at the size of the first rabbit Zebrapaw caught.

"Uh... you actually caught a rabbit the size of two and a half kits?!" Shadowpaw remarked.

"Well, we can both share it if you want," suggested Zebrapaw, looking down at the rabbit.

Shadowpaw agreed with the idea, and they both ate the rabbit. When Zebrapaw bit into the rabbit he tasted tons of juice & meat. The flesh seemed to taste just right, and the juice was savory. It lulled his senses greatly... and it made him want to eat more... and more...

"Um... mouse-brain? What are you doing?" mewed Shadowpaw with a glint of humor in his tone. Zebrapaw found himself biting nothing at all. He straightened up, looking a little embarrassed. This made him disappointed and meowed, "Aw, man, there's no more?"

"I mean, it's really big, enough to feed the two of us, but it's not as big as the mountains, you know," replied Shadowpaw, getting up. "But whoo, that was a really filling meal! I'm going to go make some dirt then take a nap."

"Um, ok, then, Shadowpaw. That rabbit was really tasty, indeed!" responded Zebrapaw, also getting up. "Good night, I guess?"

Shadowpaw looked back and smiled, then paid his attention back to the Dirtplace.

Then out of the blue, someone yowled, "*THERE'S A FOX!"*

It was Fireclaw, Zebrapaw's brother. He was running wildly about from something big and orange, and it had a weird snout. Its tail was bushy.

*"HELP ME, MOONCLAN!"* he shrieked.

*"Ahh! A fox!"* screamed Mountainkit. *"Zebrapaw, do something!"*

*"I DON'T KNOW WHAT A FOX IS!"* Zebrapaw screamed back.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Sandleap, coming out of her den. "It must have followed us, Zebrapaw!" Then she yawned and replied, "And I barely got to sleep a few winks."

A ton of warriors hissed at the fox, but the fox kept swiping and a few warriors jumped back. Sandleap joined them.

Zebrapaw remembered what Sandleap just said. He thought about how peaceful their walk was back to camp. That it must have followed them back without showing any trace. He looked at the fox, then at Mountainkit.

The fox, then at Mountainkit. Zebrapaw needed to do something.

Facing in the fox's direction, Zebrapaw braced himself for a sprint, took a deep breath, and started to run... and run... and finally...

*"FOR MOONCLAN!"* hollered Zebrapaw, as he leaped onto the fox's back gracefully. He dug his claws into the fox's back, and it growled. It tried kicking motions, trying to boot Zebrapaw off, but he held on tight, thinking if he died, it would be for MoonClan's safety.

*For MoonClan... For MoonClan...* thought Zebrapaw, closing his eyes. Suddenly he heard panting, and hissing sounds. It was a weird hiss, like only air was in the hiss. Suddenly, he realized which cat would do that.

"Swankit?" said Zebrapaw surprisingly. He saw the light yellow & slightly pinkish fur of Swankit, and she was also on the fox's back, scratching at the fox's neck. Her hind legs' claws were dug into the back of the fox.

The fox was running wildly among camp, scaring all the cats. The warriors were trying to chase it out of camp, and some got close enough to claw on it. But Swankit & Zebrapaw were trying to keep their balance on the fox's back.

He spotted Birchkit, Goldenlily, Shadowpaw, & Icepaw in the crowd calling out for Swankit.

"Swankit, what are you doing here?!" Zebrapaw exclaimed. Swankit looked up, her expression focused. She nodded down to her mother, Goldenlily. Zebrapaw had no idea what it meant.

*Is she doing this for her mother? Is she saying her mother is scared for her? Is she saying her mother will save her?* were Zebrapaw's thoughts.

"How did you get up here?!" Zebrapaw meowed almost indignantly. How could a kit help this situation?

Swankit put her two paws together and lifted them up and then down again, as if they were jumping on something.

"Swankit, *you-you JUMPED on here?!"* Zebrapaw yowled. He couldn't believe a kit could help this situation, even if it were a kit whose ceremony was in a moon.

Suddenly, while they were trying to communicate, the fox did one final kicking motion, and the two of them got hurled off of its back into the air.

*I'm falling,* thought Zebrapaw peacefully... as he became one with the ground.

#### Later ----

Zebrapaw woke up in Lilypool's den. He saw Swankit awake, too. Birchkit & Mountainkit were with Swankit. So were her siblings & family. Peonyclaw, Blazesky, Primrosekit & Quailpaw were with Zebrapaw.

"Zebrapaw, are you okay?" asked Peonyclaw frantically.

"I'm fine, what happened to me?" replied Zebrapaw calmly.

Lilypool arrived and mewed serenely, "No need to worry, they were just a little shaken up. But my, were they really brave to tackle a fox like that!"

Rainkit was with Lilypool. She looked proud of herself about something.

"Oh, right, I forgot to ask, what happened to the fox?" asked Zebrapaw. Swankit nodded, also wanting to know.

"It ran away," answered Birchkit nonchalantly.

Zebrapaw just nodded, and wondered if his actions meant that he was a good warrior.

Zebrapaw was mostly interested in sleeping in the apprentices' den, after meeting that experience.
**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 6: Swankit & StonepawNext Chapter: Chapter 8: Medicine Cat →*

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