******Arrowpaw's POV******

It had been almost a half moon since the previous Gathering. Blossomstar, Dustcloud, and Littlebird has been working hard training Arrowpaw and his siblings. Today would be a unique day for the three apprentices. As Blossomstar had mentioned in the past few days, Arrowpaw, Goldenpaw and Nightpaw were going to have their first hunting assessment today.

Arrowpaw had felt a restless sort of energy swarming his paws that morning as he paced back and forth in front of the apprentice den. Goldenpaw was stretching next to the tree stump, his golden tabby fur looked even shinier in the morning light. Nightpaw was also nearby the entrance to the Apprentice Den chatting with Brackenpaw and Dawnpaw.

"So today is you guys first hunting assessment I hear?" Dawnpaw questioned curiously.

The two older apprentices were waiting for their own mentors to take them battle training. Arrowpaw figured they would be over soon as he could see Vultureclaw and Palenose were both discussing something by the warriors den. Perhaps they're discussing what battle moves to go over with their apprentices.

"Yea." Nightpaw told them, a tinge of apprehension in her voice.

Brackenpaw and his sister didn't seem to notice. Arrowpaw supposed that had to be due to how well he knew his sister. The three cats continued talking but Arrowpaw's mind was no longer on the conversation.

All three of the young apprentices were at least somewhat nervous about the assessment, not that Goldenpaw would ever admit to it. They had never undergone a hunting assessment before, so they weren't sure exactly what was about to happen. Arrowpaw wondered where he would be sent to hunt for his own assessment.

I'd be fine in any location for sure though I wish I knew beforehand where I was heading. The black furred tom stared down at his paws, knowing it was best not to worry about things that were out of his control. He heard paw steps headed his way now, his ears peeking up. Besides, I'll be finding out shortly anyways. He looked up to see Blossomstar, Dustcloud and Littlebird heading towards the apprentice den.

With a graceful leap, Blossomstar landed on top of the tree stump, the two other mentors sitting down on top of the roots. Arrowpaw and his siblings sat down in front of them, ready to here what they had to say.

"As you all should know, your first hunting assessments will be taking place now. As I explained to Arrowpaw yesterday, the two three of you will each be sent into different parts of the forest to try to catch as much prey as you can before sunset." Blossomstar explained in her calm and collected voice.

Dustcloud continued where Blossomstar left off. "You won't know who is watching you out of the three of us while you hunt, but remember to keep focused on hunting, not on trying to find out whose watching you."

Now it was Littlebird's turn. "Goldenpaw, you will be hunting at Snakerocks. Nightpaw, you will be hunting near the Great Sycamore. And Arrowpaw, you will be hunting near the Twolegplace on the far side of Clan territory." The three cats nodded along to the instructions. Arrowpaw could feel his paws itching to get working on the task ahead. The mentors then led their apprentices out of camp to get started.

******time skip******

Arrowpaw kept his body low to the ground as he crept up on his prey. The creature before him was a plump brown rabbit. Arrowpaw was somewhat surprised to find it this near to the Twolegplace but he wouldn't dare question his luck today.

When he considered himself close enough to his target he launched upward and pounced on the creature, quickly dispatching it with a bite to the furry creature's throat. Arrowpaw brushed some leaves over his prey so it would remain hidden as to not become crow food for vultures to swarm on.

So far so good. Arrowpaw's hunting had been going very well. He had caught two squirrels, a rabbit, three mice and a sparrow already. As he padded through the undergrowth, he wondered what else he would find. An opening in the trees was up ahead, out of curiosity Arrowpaw padded towards it.

The tom knew what Twoleg dens were supposed to look like, he had seen a few before with Blossomstar on patrol. What he was surprised to see was two cats sitting up on s fence looking into the forest. One of them looked to be a small flame colored ginger she-cat while the other was a dark brown tabby tom.

Their collars were easy to see even from Arrowpaw's distance away, he shuddered at the thought of having to wear one of those awful collars. How any cat could live such a soft life was beyond him. He was also bit confused as to why they were looking out at the forest. What are those kittypets up to? They weren't on HunterClan territory so Arrowpaw decided just to ignore them for now, turning back into the undergrowth to head deeper into the woods to hunt, not wanting to ponder kittypets and their sorry existence any longer.

*********time skip***********

The three apprentices had a very successful day of hunting. It had taken quite a few trips to collect all the loads of prey they had caught. Along with his previous catches earlier, Arrowpaw had hunted down another squirrel, a small finch and another rabbit. Goldenpaw had taken down four mice, a blackbird, a squirrel and two shrews.

Nightpaw had came back with four mice, two shrews and the most impressive catch: an adder. Arrowpaw and Goldenpaw had been very proud of their sister for catching it. Littlebird, a cat who was not fond of praising her apprentice often, had been thoroughly praising Nightpaw for that addition to the fresh kill pile. All in all the day had been great.