Shadow was laying outside of the to-be den, letting the wind blow her fur the wrong way.

She spotted Heavy rain in dark sky padding out of his den. He looked unusually tired. Hadn't he slept? Shadow sighed, shaking the thoughts from her head. It was perfectly normal for a cat to be tired.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted her mentor, Pebble by bubbling stream, trotting towards her. "Training time, Shadow" he mewed cheerfully, beckoning her towards him. Shadow quickly flattened down her blue-grey fur and padded after him.

Pebble and Shadow arrived at the training Hollow, a clearing surrounded by doc leaves and nettles. Stretching, Shadow meowed
"So, what's first?" Pebble purred at her enthusiasm.
"We're going to practise the battle move you were struggling with before your final assessment." Shadow felt like she had a butterflies in her stomach. Her finally assessment already! She didn't know whether to be excited or nervous.

"Are you ready?" Challenged Pebble, narrowing his eyes. Shadow dropped into a defensive crouch and bared her teeth.
"I was born ready," she snarled, pushing her nerves away.

At Shadow's words, Pebble leapt towards the blue-grey she-cat, but she dodged him just in time. Determined, she bit down hard on his tail and knocked him onto his back, pinning him down and pummeling his belly, claws sheathed.

"You did it!" Pebble exclaimed, gently pushing Shadow away "I think you're ready to take your final assessment before you become an official cave guard." Shadow waved her tail tail joyfully and raced back to camp to tell her denmate, spark.

When she stepped through the camp entrance, she spotted the tinger tabby tom eating a bat by the fresh kill pile. Shaking her fur out, she trotted over to him.

Spark looked up from his meal and mumbled a greeting to Shadow, his mouth full of bat. Shadow twitched her ears in acknowledgement and settled down beside him. Excitedly, she revealed her news.
"Congratulations!" Meowed Spark; then sighed. "I wish I were becoming an official prey stalker." Shadow batted his ear playfully,
"Don't be silly! I became a to-be before you. We were never going to share an official ceremony."

Spark smiled and touched his nose to Shadow's cheek, before padding out of camp.