Sparrowpaw was awoken by birds chirping in the light of the cool dawn of leaf fall. He knew that he would need to get up for training soon, but he decided he would wait today.
     
Sparrowpaw looked over and saw his sister sleeping peacefully next to him. He envied Batpaw. They had been apprentices for a little over a quarter moon and all Sparrowpaw had done was run the moor. Batpaw had gotten to go hunting and do battle training almost every day. Sparrowpaw sighed loudly, accidentally waking up Batpaw.
        
Batpaw stirred next to him, waking up from her sleep. "Good morning brother." She murmured, yawning as she spoke. Sparrowpaw nodded in greeting, sighing again when he saw Stormheart waiting outside the apprentices den, presumably for him.

"I guess I have to go." Sparrowpaw muttered, getting up from his nest. Batpaw nodded, smiling for an unknown reason. When Sparrowpaw came out of the den, he noticed that Mudpool was standing next to Stormheart. Sparrowpaw turned his head and saw Batpaw trotting out of the den to sit beside him.

Mudpool smiled warmly and spoke "Today, Stormheart and I have decided that you will both train together today." Sparrowpaw glanced at Batpaw excitedly, feeling his heart flutter from not having to run.

Stormheart looked around "We will leave once the dawn patrol comes back."

Sparrowpaw and Batpaw both couldn't stop smiling. "Finally we can train together!" Sparrowpaw said

"I know! Do you know why we're training together?" Batpaw asked

Sparrowpaw shook his head.

"Well, I told Mudpool about how hard your training was and then I said we should train together. Then she went to talk to Stormheart and now we're doing it!"

Sparrowpaw's eyes gleamed "Really? You did that for me?" Batpaw nodded "Of course! Wouldn't you?" Sparrowpaw nodded "In a heartbeat."

Batpaw twitched her whiskers in amusement "I don't think Stormheart is happy about it."
Sparrowpaw looked over and had to cover his mouth to keep from giggling. His mentor looked more cross then usual.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The dawn patrol, led by Antfoot, burst into camp, breathing heavily, as if they had been running. Hawkstar stepped outdoors his den "What's going on?" He asked "Look at this!" Antfoot spat, throwing the remains of a rabbit into the center of camp.

The Clan gasped and Hawkstar sniffed the rabbit. "It reeks of Thunderclan." He growled. Antfoot nodded "We found it at the border."

Blazepaw barged forward, past the deputy "We should attack now!" He snarled. Sparrowpaw noticed an almost crazy look in his den mate's eyes.

Hawkstar shook his head. "We will not attack yet, however I will confront Lightstar at the next Gathering." Blazepaw snorted, as if he wanted a fight. His mentor, Hareleap, silenced him with a stern look.

Once the commotion died down, Sparrowpaw and Batpaw followed their mentors out of camp. "If there's a fight, maybe I can use my new battle moves." Batpaw whispered "I don't know any battle moves." Sparrowpaw grumbled.

Mudpool chuckled and looked back at them "That's why we're battle training today. So you can catch up to your sister." Batpaw looked at him "You'll never catch up to me!" She crowed "Well maybe you can catch this!" Sparrowpaw said, batting her on the side of the head.

Pretty soon, the two were rolling around, play fighting like kits. Mudpool couldn't help but laugh. Sparrowpaw powerfully pushed up and pinned Batpaw.

"Stop! Aren't you both too old for nursery games?" Stormheart growled. "But-"

Sparrowpaw's protest was interrupted when Batpaw pushed up and pinned him before hopping off of him. "I win!" She boasted

"We'll see who wins when the real training starts." Sparrowpaw challenged.

Stormheart snorted and continued walking "Oh, come on Stormheart. There just having a little fun." Mudpool told him, walking faster to catch up. "Training isn't supposed to be fun." Stormheart muttered. Mudpool flashed Sparrowpaw a sympathetic glance before they arrived at the hollow.

"What does Batpaw know?" Stormheart asked. "Well, she knows some of the basic moves. I think today I'll teach her some defense moves." Mudpool replied. "But maybe you should teach Sparrowpaw the easy stuff first." She suggested.

Stormheart shook his head "He will learn better with Batpaw." Mudpool looked like she was going to object, but didn't.

Before Sparrowpaw was ready, Batpaw leaped at him and knocked him over. "Hey! I wasn't ready!" Sparrowpaw protested, shoving Batpaw off. "A great warrior should always be ready." Stormheart meowed sternly.

Sparrowpaw nodded and when Batpaw leaped again, he nimbly jumped out of the way. When Batpaw landed, Sparrowpaw swiped at her, but she ducked and kicked his hind legs out from under him, making him face plant onto the ground.

"Get up!" Stormheart snapped at him. Mudpool looked at Sparrowpaw sympathetically as he got back to his feet. It wasn't his fault he didn't know any moves yet!

"Again." Stormheart said to Batpaw. Batpaw looked hesitant, but leaped at him again. Sparrowpaw tried dodging, but wasn't fast enough and was pinned to the ground again. Sparrowpaw shoved Batpaw off and got up, panting.

"Maybe we should try hunting instead?" Mudpool suggested, seeing that Sparrowpaw was struggling with the battle training.

Stormheart nodded "Maybe we can find something my apprentice is good at."

Sparrowpaw felt like his heart had been stabbed by thorns when he heard that. He drooped his tail and followed the group.
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When they came back to camp at dusk, Batpaw had caught a rabbit and a blackbird, when all Sparrowpaw managed to catch was a measly shrew. He dropped his tiny catch on the prey pile and started towards the apprentices den.

"What's wrong dear?" Sparrowpaw turned to see who the voice belonged to. It was his mother, Dustbreeze. Sparrowpaw sighed heavily and flopped onto the ground. "Training is awful!"

Dustbreeze laid down next to him and licked his ear. "Why is that?" She asked. Sparrowpaw looked down at his paws "I can't do anything right. I have to run every day and never do anything else. So today when I trained with Batpaw, she beat me in everything."

Dustbreeze began calming him with licks, grooming his pelt. "It isn't a competition. You will learn at your own pace." Sparrowpaw sighed "But it seems like Stormheart thinks everything I do is wrong!" Dustbreeze looked at him sympathetically. "He's just trying to make you a good warrior. You can always talk to me if you want." Sparrowpaw felt a little better after that. Dustbreeze led him to the apprentices den where he fell asleep peacefully almost instantly.

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