"But didn't Yellowfang know how to properly defend herself?" Starpaw muttered her question to Bluepaw.
Bluepaw nodded to her friend, then looked back at their clan leader.
Spottedleaf continued to check on Yellowfang despite the curious crowd peering over her shoulder. After a few minutes, she turned around and looked at the rest of the clan with a remorseful face, "Yellowfang has...", she let out a huge sigh and then said, "Yellowfang has died.."
The clan members gasped and whispered among themselves.
Firestar softly meowed, "It is time for us to say our goodbyes. We should head back to our dens soon since it's about to turn dark."
The clan listened and made a single line. Everyone respectively shared tongues with their dead deputy.
When every cat finished their goodbyes, the leader walked up to the she-cat lying on the rock.
"Oh, my dear Yellowfang! What can I do without you? You've been here my whole life.." cried the sad leader. "Goodbye, may you have a good life in Cat Heaven."
Bluepaw looked at Starpaw and then meowed, "Come on, let's grab a mouse, and then go to the den."
Two two she-cats slowly grabbed their mice and started to head to the apprentice den. "Hopefully, the next hunting trip will be better," meowed Bluepaw. "I hate losing clan-mates, especially those that have been with us for so long." Bluepaw sounded heart-broken as she curled into a ball on her nest.
Starpaw nodded her head remorsefully and curled up in a ball on her nest.
After the two cats finished their mice, Firestar called for a meeting.
~
Starpaw asked, "What's wrong?" as she saw her friend wiggling like a worm.
Bluepaw looked at her and then meowed, "I'm so excited! I bet Ravenclaw is going to be the next deputy. He is an amazing warrior!"
Starpaw agreed. Even though she hasn't been here for long, she saw great qualities in Ravenclaw. Even though she was new, she could tell he was an amazing warrior.
Once satisfied with the amount of cats present, Firestar announced, "As tradition, we must name a deputy before dawn." He cleared his throat. "I've decided that the next deputy will be..."
The cats were all silent, curious to learn who the next deputy would be.
Firestar exclaimed, "Rednose!"
There was a moment of solve before thetr was a wave of clapping and cheering.
Everyone's faces were gleaming with joy, all except one.
"Are you all right, Ravenclaw?" asked Graypaw, his apprentice.
"Oh, yeah! Just dust in my eyes," Ravenclaw meowed back.
"Okay" replied the apprentice, completely delirious of how Ravenclaw truly felt.
After some cats congratulated Rednose, they slowly started to go back to their dens to call it a night.
Eventually, it was Bluepaw's and Starpaw's turn to congratulate Rednose.
"Congratulations!" yelled Starpaw.
Starpaw then gazed to the side to see Bluepaw's expression. Bluepaw wasn't overly excited, but she wasn't upset either.
Rednose chuckled then meowed, "Thank you. You both should go to sleep soon. There will be early training tomorrow!"
Bluepaw straightened up and nodded her head.
Starpaw and Bluepaw left the line.
"Well, we should go to bed now!" meowed Starpaw.
Bluepaw nodded and both cats trotted towards the apprentices den.
As Bluepaw curled up on her nest, she meowed, "Good night, Starpaw!"
"Night, Bluepaw!" Starpaw meowed back.
~
When Starpaw opened her eyes to see Bluepaw staring at her.
"About time to wake up, sleepy head!" Bluepaw meowed teasingly.
Starpaw yawned and replied, "I'm kind of hungry. We can both get a mouse before training."
Bluepaw looked shocked at Starpaw, but then laughed, "Oh dear! Starpaw, training starts in about a minute."
When Starpaw fully understood what Bluepaw said, she got up and started to stretch. She meowed, "Well what are we waiting for, let's go!"
The two cats trotted towards the tree stump where all the apprentices meet up with their mentors.
When the two cats got there, they saw Firestar talking with Ravenclaw.
When Firestar saw them, he quickly meowed, "Oh, there you are! Starpaw, there isn't an available warrior that is able to be your mentor so far. For now, Ravenclaw and Rednose will be sharing you as their second apprentice."
Starpaw replied happily, "All right!"
Firestar pleasantly nodded and as he walked away, he meowed, "Good. There are a lot of things to do now as ThunderClan is behind all the other clans. Carry on with your training!"
Ravenclaw then meowed, "All right. Bluepaw, you and Rednose will be joining us from now on since we have to train Starpaw too."
Bluepaw nodded towards the warrior as they followed the train to Sunvalley Rocks - where the cats usually train.
~
After a lengthy training session, Rednose decided that every cat should hunt by themselves to get more prey for the clan.
Everyone listened and split up, hoping to find more prey.
During Starpaw's expedition, she smelled a cat that did not belong to ThunderClan. The cat had a faint smell of ShadowClan.
Although Starpaw was new, she had learned what ShadowClan smelled like.
As Starpaw went behind a bush, she could see an old golden-yellow she-cat. Starpaw had learned to drive off any cats that did not belong to ThunderClan. Therefore, after a few minutes, Starpaw jumped and landed on top of the she-cat.
However, the she-cat shock off Starpaw easily. The she-cat pounced and tried to aim for Starpaw's left ear, but Starpaw ducked just in time to avoid the nasty bite.
Starpaw jumped on the she-cat and scratched the she-cat's flank.
The she-cat hissed and kicked off Starpaw into the dust.
The she-cat's kick was quite hard as Starpaw struggled to get back up.
"Knock it off, ThunderClan!" hissed the she-cat.
The she-cat pounced up and Starpaw could see the she-cat right in front of her...