MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/16

### Chapter 16: Peaceful talk... Stonepaw & Icepaw's competition

A half moon later, Zebrapaw and Swanpaw had woken up and did training together, since they were both being assisted by Violetrain. Sandleap, being a queen, still taught Zebrapaw about some things such as how to intimidate a warrior (he already knew about the warrior code), while his sister, Violetrain, took care of his physical training, including hunting.

Swanpaw's mentor, Nutclaw, still didn't seem to understand her, completely, anyway. There were some complicated things she couldn't relay to Nutclaw, such as "What do you think about my warrior skills?" This was even hard to relay to other cats, though, even her mother, Goldenlily. But she still thought he was a great mentor since he taught her very well, along with Violetrain.

Spottedpaw also got up and trained with her mentor, Flameeye. She thought he was very interesting, and a great Clan cat who looked beyond other cats' covers. After joining the Clan she knew why her mother was so skeptical of her joining SnowClan, and she understood the warrior code, too. She also understood why the Clan cats had skeptism towards her when she joined as well, but she was determined to prove to the Clan she was as good of a warrior as the average Clan-born cat. After all, she was only one moon late for apprenticeship.

Then when they were finished training, they were all at the prey pile.

"Spottedpaw, how is your training?" Zebrapaw asked her thoughtfully.

Spottedpaw's eyes lit up. "It is wonderful! I understand why you want to live in Clans now! The thrill of the wild and fighting, something you never get to do in the boring life of a kittypet." She blinked. "Unless you run away, of course, which is what *I* did! And Peonyclaw and Flipsnow, too."

Swanpaw did a thumbs-up, which meant that she was happy for the younger apprentice. Spottedpaw understood and gave her an acknowledging nod.

Flameeye looked at the apprentices talking. Zebrapaw was now almost thirteen moons old, Swanpaw ten, almost eleven, Spottedpaw eight, almost nine. He was happy to be a mentor since he was one of the newer warriors. He looked at Violetrain, Zebrapaw's sister and his cousins' cousin. Word had gone around the Clan that she wanted to be a mentor very soon. The next kit (after Robinkit and Soarkit who were too shy to even talk to Violetrain) to become an apprentice was Thymekit, his nephew. He knew Violetrain was a good mentor though, as she was already practicing with Zebrapaw and Swanpaw, so he felt happy that Thymekit would be her apprentice. Snowstar even secured this arrangement for them, so it wouldn't be a surprise for any cat. Thymekit even said that Violetrain was a kind and friendly cat.

Violetrain was sitting next to Nutclaw, the official mentor of Swanpaw. Zebrapaw and Swanpaw both thought that she only became Swanpaw's mentor to be with Nutclaw but it was okay with them. After all, she was an excellent mentor.

Then Shadowpaw and Rainpaw came over to the prey pile. "Whew, my brain hurts," exclaimed Rainpaw in a humorous way. "My entire body hurts," Shadowpaw added in the same tone. "I would go for a nice brown hare right now."

Spottedpaw mewed amusingly, "There are a ton of brown hares, so I would go for a dozen brown hares." A few cats at the pile laughed.

Violetrain's eyes glinted with a confident and proud light. "They're our apprentices' very finest! Especially for you, Rainpaw," she exclaimed proudly.

Nutclaw nodded. "All of the apprentices did a great job. Even Primrosepaw caught a couple of hares."

Rainpaw's eyes lit up, too. "Really? Which one, I would like to taste one!" Swanpaw gestured, "I also got to taste one, too, and said it was juicy." She figured it was a good thing to do since Primrosepaw did the same for her when she just became an apprentice. She pointed to a small hare, but it was still a good catch for someone of Primrosepaw's skill level. *And condition,* she remembered. So it was an extra good thing in her case.

Zebrapaw exclaimed very thoughtfully, "Our Clan is doing really well. All of our apprentices are training hard and getting enough prey to feed our Clan. And our medicine cat apprentice is training the best she can, too! And all our mentors are doing the best job they can to pass on their great skills to their apprentices, which are us. So this is good!" All the cats that were within earshot agreed with him.

Thymekit and his mother, Redwater, were watching the cats at the prey pile. Thymekit had already eaten breakfast since the kits and elders eat first, of course, and then the warriors and apprentices, but he still wanted a snack. Redwater decided to watch him from the nursery since she was extra protective of her kit. Thymekit told all the older cats that were there, "I can't wait to be an apprentice! Will Zebrapaw, Shadowpaw, Icepaw, Quailpaw and Stonepaw be warriors by that time?" He was only three and a half moons, so he figured that they were already going to be warriors when he was six moons old.

Shadowpaw nodded. "It is still okay, though! We can still help mentor you." He looked at Violetrain. "In fact Icepaw, Quailpaw and I are already thirteen and a half moons old, so we only have to pass a specific warrior exam in order to be full warriors. Which will definitely be soon!" He was glad Snowstar was a good mentor, like every other warrior in the Clan. He had only become apprenticed to him a few days before he became a leader, so he was the first of Snowstar's apprentices as a leader. He was lucky that he may have not been able to be a leader's apprentice otherwise. He did have apprentices before as Snowpool, though. So Shadowpaw felt truly lucky to have been a leader's apprentice. He remembered that Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw's father, Maplestripe, also used to be Moonstar's apprentice. *Maybe Maplestripe and I will get lucky somehow?* Shadowpaw thought. He always liked thinking that he was privileged above others but he inherently knew every cat was equal.

He looked over at Rainpaw and thought about something. He had a crush on Rainpaw when they were kits, but since she became a medicine cat apprentice, there was no option now. *The ship sunk before it sailed,* Shadowpaw thought but he wasn't really sad. After all, there were a ton of great she-cats in the Clan already, so Rainpaw being untouchable wasn't a bad thing to him. It was a good thing actually. After all, he thought it would be awkward being with the sister of Quailpaw and Birchpaw. *She is also the youngest daughter of my mentor, too,* he remembered.

Violetrain looked very excited. "I can't wait! I want to bond with you well enough so we can be on a good start as mentor and apprentice. Maybe I can also train you earlier like with Quailpaw and Primrosepaw." She winked.

Thymekit beamed. "I do want to train earlier!" Then he paused for a moment and asked, "Will you go easy, though? I am only a kit!" Violetrain nodded eagerly.

Spottedpaw also beamed. "Maybe we can do training all together? That would be very fun! And Shadowpaw, Icepaw and Quailpaw can do their exam all at the same time, too!"

Most of the apprentices and mentors agreed, because they thought it would promote teamwork and relationships within the Clan. Swanpaw, Zebrapaw and Shadowpaw were still wary about Stonepaw, however, since she did a bad act with Swanpaw. They were also wondering about Icepaw since she was too much enamored with Zebrapaw.

"Oh, by the way, I have been meaning to ask, where is Birchpaw, Mountainpaw, Primrosepaw and Dandelionpaw?" Zebrapaw asked no one in particular, since he just wanted an answer from someone who knew it.

Thymekit added, "And Berrypaw?" Zebrapaw nodded. He had almost forgotten about her, since she mostly only hung out with Mountainpaw and Thymekit. But she was still an apprentice the same age as Mountainpaw and Swanpaw.

"They are all sleeping, Shadowpaw and I just checked," Rainpaw mewed softly. "They already did training, though, so they are taking a nap in the apprentices' den." Then she blinked and added, "I think Stonepaw and Icepaw were also still sleeping, but they didn't do training yet."

At the mention of his weird and annoying sister and crazy she-cat who had a crush on him, Zebrapaw looked around for them. So did Flameeye and Shadowpaw and they saw that they were already starting to train with their mentors. However, they were doing double training, and the looks on their faces weren't positive towards each other.

Zebrapaw looked at Nightnose strangely. By this point, the entire Clan knew who the father of Sandleap's kits were, considering the way they were acting with each other, although he wished that they could have waited to have kits when he became a warrior. He had only two and a half moons to go when his mentor became a queen, but still. Zebrapaw knew Nightnose was the brother of Nutclaw, who was also in a relationship with his sister, Violetrain, which he thought made it even more weird because Sandleap and Violetrain were cousins, Violetrain was he and Swanpaw's assistant mentor, and Nightnose and Nutclaw were Stonepaw and Swanpaw's mentors. And Sandleap was *his* mentor. *Family relationships just get weirder as you get older,* he figured, and decided not to think much of it. Icepaw was still annoying to him, though.

Swanpaw also looked at Stonepaw and Icepaw. She knew Icepaw was much better than Stonepaw, because she wouldn't do such a dastardly thing to another kit, especially one who was mute. But at least Stonepaw didn't do any weird things like Icepaw did and embarrass herself. But Swanpaw would prefer her sister greatly over Stonepaw any day.

Stonepaw and her mentor, Nightnose, and Icepaw and *her* mentor, Forestcreek, were all in a crumpled grassy patch which was usually used for fighting training. And surprisingly, but somehow unsurprisingly at the same time to Zebrapaw, Stonepaw and Icepaw were glowering at each other.

Nightnose and Forestcreek said that they needed to have double training much to Stonepaw and Icepaw's disdain.

"What? Why? Am I not better than her?" Icepaw complained to her mentor. "I am going to be a warrior soon, while Stonepaw is still going to be an apprentice. I doubt she even deserves to be a warrior by fourteen moons, so therefore I am better than she will ever be!"

Stonepaw glared even more menacingly at Icepaw. "*You* are better? I bet you missed a million hares, and will die a million times from death blows. From being *so* distracted on *something.*"

Their argument caught the attention of the cats at the prey pile.

"As if you are any better!" Icepaw yelled. "You are the cat that pushed my sister into that ditch, you know."

Much to Zebrapaw, Shadowpaw and Swanpaw's fright, Stonepaw exclaimed with boredom, "Whatever, that incident happened many moons ago, so I don't care." She abruptly turned to her mentor. "But Nightnose, I am going to be a warrior soon! Why do I need to duel with her? Her skills are under average!" Nightnose just blinked and froze in his spot, as he had absolutely no experience with arguing apprentices. Forestcreek just sighed and was about to speak for him until Icepaw spoke first.

"You're saying that as if you're older than me, which you are not, fox-dung," Icepaw growled in fury, flicking her tail. "You are one moon more than me to becoming a warrior, so you'd better respect me."

"I don't care, either, dirt-eater," Stonepaw growled back. "I don't think you *act* older, since you are trying to snog Z-"

Much to everyone's fright, especially at the prey pile, Icepaw held up an unsheathed paw and threatened, *"I will gouge out your eyes with my claws! You are a disgrace to the Clan!"*

*"Enough, Stonepaw and Icepaw!"* Forestcreek reprimanded. *"The reason why you two are training* together *is because you were dormouses and didn't wake up yet while the other apprentices already finished their morning training, so you two are the only apprentices who didn't train yet! So Icepaw, sheathe your claws!"* Nightnose nervously nodded.

Stonepaw and Icepaw looked shocked at Forestcreek, then after a few seconds they looked defeated. Then they exchanged angry looks at each other again, but Icepaw listened to Forestcreek and sheathed her claws.

Then Icepaw growled something that only Stonepaw could hear properly, so Zebrapaw tried to perk up his ears to listen, and so did Swanpaw. Swanpaw thought her mute condition made her better at hearing, but she didn't know if it was an illusion or not.

Then Stonepaw's contorted into a menacing face again. *"What are you talking about! I am his sister, you crazy she-dung! What do you mean by stealing him away?!"* She flicked her tail violently at Icepaw.

Icepaw glowered at her in the best intimidating face she could. "I doubt your brother even likes you a tiny bit, but I will still threaten you piece of fox-dung anyway!" Nightnose looked at Zebrapaw anxiously, and so did some other cats at the pile, including Swanpaw, Spottedpaw, Shadowpaw, Nutclaw and Violetrain.

Stonepaw's tail became straight up in the air and she retorted, *"Oh yeah?! I bet after he rejects you outright, you will kill yourself out of dep-"*

*"Ahem!"* Forestcreek commanded the two arguing she-cats very loudly. "Stop arguing. Begin sparring." He looked over at Snowstar resignedly who was watching from the mouth of the leader's den next to Petuniaheart. Zebrapaw remembered that his aunt was the mentor of Mountainpaw and Snowstar was the mentor of Shadowpaw.

Then Stonepaw and Icepaw noticed that Zebrapaw was watching them from the prey pile, and they immediately stopped arguing out of embarrassment. Zebrapaw also felt embarrassed that he had some sort of relation with these two. They always usually never bothered each other... unless it had something to do with *him*. But he knew that he had nothing to do with starting the argument because he was talking to the cats at the prey pile. *Maybe they really hate each other,* Zebrapaw figured, annoyed with both of them already.

The cats at the prey pile were still shocked with Stonepaw and Icepaw's behavior, and so was Redwater, Snowstar and Petuniaheart, who were watching from the nursery and leader's den, respectively. Redwater looked at her former mentor, Petuniaheart, and Petuniaheart looked at her back. They exchanged worried looks. Then Redwater looked at Goldenlily, Icepaw's mother, and saw she was still sleeping. She then looked around for Peonyclaw, Stonepaw and Zebrapaw's mother, but she didn't see her anywhere from the nursery.

"What are they doing? Are they trying to eliminate the other?" Shadowpaw whispered to Zebrapaw, very much annoyed at both she-cats. Even if Icepaw was his sister, and he liked her as one, she could act very weird when it came to these issues. *Clearly, she hasn't seen the fine line between the Clan and personal matters,* Shadowpaw figured scornfully. It was surprising to him because she and Stonepaw weren't young apprentices to be ignorant about that rule of the warrior code. They were almost warriors in a moon or so. Shadowpaw hated Stonepaw, of course, because of what she did to Swanpaw many moons ago (and she still shrugged it off, probably even forgetting her punishment), but he had better hopes for his sister. *Maybe it is just a crush,* Shadowpaw figured, but the crush didn't seem to subside for many moons. He was wondering if it was actual love that she had for Zebrapaw.

He flicked his tail uncomfortably. *Hopefully she is still going to be a good warrior and not be distracted with Zebrapaw.* He had faith in Icepaw, his littermate.

Zebrapaw whispered back in a slightly worried tone, "That would be bad for the Clan's reputation if they did, and I doubt they are that crazy to do that. Although you never know with obsessed or maniacal she-cats." He wasn't fully sure what to expect next, or in the future.

Forestcreek told Nightnose to judge both apprentices and he obliged, though still anxious about the whole thing. Then Forestcreek flicked his tail for them to begin the spar.

Icepaw and Stonepaw were still glaring at each other, although it seemed to Zebrapaw that they were both biting their lips to prevent speaking crowfood about each other, and getting reprimanded by Forestcreek again. The entire Clan seemed to be watching at this point in anxiety and unease because of the commotion they made, however the next thing that happened wasn't pretty.

Stonepaw pounced on Icepaw, with her claws sheathed, so Zebrapaw, Swanpaw and Shadowpaw thought that was fine. Icepaw tried to leap out of the way. But then, at the last moment, Stonepaw unsheathed her claws, and scratched Icepaw's flank. Icepaw seemed to feel the cut and scratched Stonepaw's forehead almost immediately, with her claws unsheathed as well. Blood spilled out onto Stonepaw's eyes, which seemed to bring shock into her. Then she hissed very sinisterly at Icepaw and she pounced on the white she-cat again. They both went over in a tumble and started fighting each other as if they were from enemy Clans, and they hissed obscenities at each other, too.

The entire Clan was alarmed now, and Forestcreek, being the closest to them, hissed admonishingly at them, *"STOP! DID I NOT TELL YOU SOMETHING!"*

Upon hearing Forestcreek's voice booming around the Clan, Stonepaw, Icepaw and even Nightnose flinched. The former two stopped fighting, and the latter started stepping backwards slowly, as if he had no idea why he was even there in the first place.

The white and gray she-cats both had shallow cuts on their bodies, and Stonepaw had a slightly deeper cut in her forehead. They both looked startled by Forestcreek's words.

Rainpaw instinctively got up and went to the medicine cat's den to get cobwebs. Then she came back holding some in her mouth.

"I told you to keep your claws *sheathed!* Yet you didn't listen! It is part of the warrior code, you know!" Forestcreek yelled at them. Then he sighed.

Snowstar, having seen everything, decided that he should do something. He padded up to them and said in an authoritative voice, "You should listen to your mentor, you know. What he is saying is right." He half-expected them to comply until Stonepaw shot up again, "It is not *my* fault she decided to unsheathe her claws first!"

Icepaw growled, "Oh yeah? Well, you are the first one who actually attacked! *I did not!"*

Snowstar sighed. He hadn't expected Blazesky and Peonyclaw's daughter to be like this. When he gave her the punishment for pushing Swanpaw into the ditch when the latter was only a kit, he thought her behavior would change not to hurt Clanmates. Peonyclaw *did* give him permission to do so. But now Stonepaw had hurt Swanpaw's older sister physically. Although Icepaw wasn't off the hook, since she started the conflict in the first place. He wondered if he should punish them since there were some cats who *would* agree with the punishment. Although he was skeptical of punishing the apprentices, especially since Icepaw was normally a good cat and he worried Stonepaw wouldn't change.

Then Peonyclaw came out of the warriors' den crankily. *"What in the Dark Forest was that noise?! Can't a warrior get to have a peaceful nap?"* Then she saw Stonepaw and Icepaw and their cuts. "I didn't think there would be problems from inside the Clan," she said specifically to Icepaw and her daughter. "Especially with *you two!*" Her eyes narrowed. "What in the Dark Forest were you two yowling about?!"

Her son, Zebrapaw, filled her in on the basic details about how they didn't want to train with each other and got into a huge fight. This made Peonyclaw even more incensed.

*"What!? That is it?! I don't know about Goldenlily, but I think Stonepaw should be punished for even being a nuisance to the Clan in the first place!"* Peonyclaw yowled at the top of her lungs.

Stonepaw flinched, getting very hurt by her mother's words. *Nuisance to the Clan? Does she really think that?* Snowstar also was surprised, since Peonyclaw didn't seem like the type to say that to her kit.

"What are you talking about?! Are you saying I am unwanted?!" Stonepaw yowled back at her mother. Her mother blinked a few times before replying. But the reply was surprising for a lot of cats in the Clan.

"If you don't respect others and always talk negatively, then maybe," Peonyclaw muttered indifferently.

Zebrapaw and Violetrain were two of the cats to get shocked. Zebrapaw knew that she could act really annoying and rude, but he also knew that his sister was very conflicted with herself. He thought that Peonyclaw's words would hurt her more. He wanted to speak up but didn't have the heart for it. Violetrain knew Stonepaw was really disrespectful of her elders, but she figured it was just a simple phase. She didn't want her sister to become too disrespectful of their mother, otherwise... she didn't have the heart to think about it.

Swanpaw and Shadowpaw could care nothing about Stonepaw but they were a little worried about what their sister's punishment would be. After all, she didn't normally act like this.

Flameeye and Redwater were just baffled at why Moonstar's granddaughter through Blazesky was acting like this. They didn't think she had any negative paragons to learn from, except from AdderClan, but she was definitely nowhere near AdderClan. When the last battle happened, she was only a kit. As for their father's apprentice, they had no idea why she would complain about training with Stonepaw in the first place, and in such a selfish fashion, too.

Rainpaw just decided that they were stressed from something that no one else knew of and just wanted to use her medicine cat skills on them.

Nightnose and Nutclaw both exchanged fearful looks. They had never seen any cat act so off, except for AdderClan cats that they saw from their first battle, when they were very recently warriors, but the two apprentices weren't AdderClan cats.

Petuniaheart wondered why her niece was acting very violent with Icepaw, but she didn't think much of it. After all, she knew they were fighting over Zebrapaw. Icepaw had a crush on Zebrapaw, and Stonepaw was trying to defend her brother from her indirectly, ever since Zebrapaw had told his sister about his lack of interest in Icepaw. Though she did think that they shouldn't go over the extremes.

Spottedpaw was just puzzled as she didn't think that this was how normal MoonClan cats acted. To her, it seemed more like the characteristics of an AdderClan cat.

Snowstar wondered what he should do. With Stonepaw's first punishment, he didn't hesitate because Swanpaw, Swankit at the time, hadn't done anything wrong. And if Swankit hadn't been found by his youngest child, Birchpaw, Birchkit at the time, then the same thing could have happened to her that Stonepaw's punishment entailed. But this time, Icepaw had started the conflict and riled up Stonepaw. So he decided to give them a lighter punishment.

"Since you both acted like cats from enemy Clans, you will have to now work together like normal Clanmates and take care of the elders. You can leave the den only for essential stuff. And you will sleep in the elders den. This punishment will last two days," he told them strictly.

Of course, Stonepaw and Icepaw were even more shocked at his words. Their skin had probably turned pale with anxiety. Then they started to complain.

"What?! What if she kills me in my sleep?!" Icepaw shouted in reply to Snowstar, to everyone's surprise, including Stonepaw.

"Oh, that is your opinion of me?!" Stonepaw yowled, fury bubbling up again. *"I will bet StarClan that you will stoop down SO low as to sneak out of the elders' den to go meet a certain black and white stripe-"*

*"SHUT UP!"* Zebrapaw growled at both of them. *"Shut up, okay! If one of you even references me again, I will claw your throats out!"* Everyone looked at Zebrapaw then. Peonyclaw looked relieved that her son was doing something useful. Stonepaw and Icepaw both looked startled, since they didn't think Zebrapaw would yell at them like this.

Swanpaw and Shadowpaw looked between the three cats with anticipation for *something* unexpected to happen, whether it be anything.

"Now *go to the elders' den!"* Zebrapaw yelled at them dismissively. "You are ruining the peace of MoonClan! We are just trying to eat here, you know!" Snowstar just nodded in agreement at them, and so did Swanpaw.

Then Rainpaw looked at everyone, wondering if she should put the cobwebs on.

Stonepaw and Icepaw looked at everyone, too, especially at Zebrapaw, still shocked. Then they glared at each other but did nothing else other than walking over to the elders' den in stark silence. But then Birchpaw came out of the apprentices' den, grumpiness on his face like Peonyclaw's.

"What happened? I could barely nap a wink with cats screeching," Birchpaw yawned, feeling a little irritated, but he was more calm about the situation. He looked at Stonepaw and Icepaw and saw they had cuts, Stonepaw having a deeper cut in the forehead.

Zebrapaw told him about how they were arguing with each other during double training and they got so angry that they fought each other with their claws unsheathed. Surprisingly, Birchpaw didn't look that surprised, almost as if he may have anticipated this explanation from his observation. Then he nodded and turned to Stonepaw and Icepaw and narrowed his eyes, saying calmly, "If you want to kill each other, don't do it in MoonClan camp. And wait until you're warriors." Then he blinked. "But you can only do that if you are willing to break the warrior code."

Then he went back inside the apprentices' den leaving his words hanging in the atmosphere. Stonepaw and Icepaw said nothing, but they were instead surprised about Birchpaw's response. So were most of the cats, especially Rainpaw, Petuniaheart, Snowstar, Zebrapaw, Swanpaw, Shadowpaw and Peonyclaw.

Then the two grounded apprentices went inside the elders' den, sulking. Then Rainpaw went after them and offered to put the cobwebs on them. Icepaw was okay with it while Stonepaw didn't want to look at anyone, including Rainpaw.

The rest of the day went by in mostly silence, with hushed whispers about the white and gray apprentices' behavior.