For the first time in her apprenticeship, Skypaw woke to find she had denmates. She was the first one to wake that morning – surprising, seeing as it was the other apprentices' first day and she would have assumed they would be excited to start their training. But the new apprentices slept on, curled up in their nests like gull eggs still waiting to hatch.

    Skypaw picked her way past them and found Dunerunner already waiting for her in the centre of the main cave. His eyes were amused when she met them.

    "I'm just as surprised as you are," she said before he could comment.

    The cream tom flicked his tail over her ear. "If they're sleeping in already then StarClan knows what they'll be doing two moons into their apprenticeships."

    Skypaw purred, thinking back to two moons prior when she herself had been only in her second moon of training.Her entire apprenticeship had become a blur, passing too quickly for her to take notice. Perhaps she had been hunting her first seagulls, or maybe learning how to fight with a partner during battle.

    She was snapped out of her thoughts by her mentor's teasing mew. "About time!"

    Specklepaw, still blinking the sleep out of her eyes, growled softly. Behind her, Windpaw rolled his eyes and Birchpaw shuffled his paws at his siblings' behaviour. Flypaw at least had the good grace to look sheepish as the four of them arrived late.

    "There they are!" Flamestrike said as he limped towards them, Beetlefang at his side. "We were just planning out your day for you."

    Beetlefang surveyed the four new apprentices – not coldly, but not with the utmost warmth either. "We have a schedule to keep up with if you want to be warriors! Now, let's get out of here."

    The ginger tom and the black she-cat scooted their apprentices out the cave entrance just as Shardtooth and Cobaltwing appeared to find Flypaw and Windpaw. If Skypaw was thinking correctly, they would be taking them on a tour of the territory to learn about all the places and prey SeaClan had to offer. As she watched them leaving, slightly envious of their easy day, Dunerunner nudged her shoulder.

    "Think we can join them? It'll be a nice break from all the training we've been doing."

    The grey and white she-cat perked up immediately and bounded after the others.

    "Nice day for a walk, wouldn't you say?" Shardtooth asked as mentor and apprentice padded up.

    "Precisely why we're going to join you, if you don't mind," Dunerunner replied, and the SeaClan deputy nodded.

    "We've just set them the task of finding a way up the cliff," Cobaltwing explained. "We'll see how observant they are."

    Skypaw narrowed her eyes, wondering how the two brand new apprentices would fare. They had never been outside of SeaClan camp before, let along climbed their way up the steep rocks to the plateau above. Watching them, she nearly snorted with laughter – Windpaw trotted with his head and tail held equally high, scanning the sky as if birds would come to lift him up the rock face, while Flypaw kept his head and body low to the ground, hunting for the way up as if it were prey.

    The rest of the patrol followed the two apprentices without comment, though Skypaw itched to correct their posture. How would they ever find the way up if they weren't even looking at the cliff face? This whole path smelled of SeaClan, they would never find the ledges by scent alone.

    When they reached the ledges, the rest of the patrol stopped while the two clueless apprentices wandered onward, too caught up in their task to notice they were being left behind. Eventually, after Windpaw and Flypaw had moved another few foxlengths away, Cobaltwing cleared his throat loudly.

    "We'll be going up this way," he said, waving at the steep ledges with his tail. Flypaw flattened his ears in embarrassment and bounded forward, eager to continue.

    "How were we supposed to find that?" Windpaw looked as if his pride had taken a hit.

    "By scanning the rocks," Skypaw said before she could stop herself. The grey apprentice all but rolled his eyes at her.

    "She's right," Shardtooth said, admonishing the younger tom with a flick to the ear as he came closer. "Now, Skypaw, why don't you show Flypaw and Windpaw how to get up the cliff safely?"

    Annoyed at the grey tom, but eager to show off all her skills, Skypaw wiggled her haunches and sprang at the first ledge. She landed on all fours, crouching and preparing to launch herself at the next step. She was a good jumper – Dunerunner had told her so – and climbing up to the top of the cliff had always been easy for her. From the sounds of the irregular, heavy thumps behind her, the two new apprentices would need quite a bit of practice.

    Shardtooth arrived at the top last, having brought up the rear just in case one of the apprentices slipped. Windpaw was out of breath, but doing his best to hide it. Feeling petty, Skypaw made sure he knew she'd noticed.

    "Can either of you tell me which direction the RockClan border is in?" asked Cobaltwing, his back to the cliff face. Flypaw's eyes widened and he swung his head from side to side – Skypaw wasn't sure if he was shaking his head 'no', or trying to discern the answer.

    "That way," Windpaw said, pointing his tail along the cliff.

    "Correct." Cobaltwing got to his paws. Windpaw gave Skypaw a triumphant look. She brushed past him on her way to follow the patrol.

    They travelled along the cliff edge until they reached Falling Waters, where the stream that divided SeaClan territory from RockClan's fell over the edge of the cliff. Turning, they followed it up, passing Lizard Stones along the way. When they reached High Rocks they turned once more to follow the border between SeaClan and MoorClan.

    The ground here was soft beneath Skypaw's pads, or at least much softer than the rocks she was used to closer to the camp. There were no landmarks dividing the two Clans here, only a scent line that ran the length of the plain. On MoorClan's side she could see yellow grasses that grew taller the further away she looked; on SeaClan's side there was only brown earth and grey rock.

    "My paws hurt," Windpaw complained as they turned once more to travel back in the direction of the camp. Beside Skypaw, Flypaw plodded along, eyes wide as he took everything in, but he nodded in agreement. Begrudgingly, Skypaw realized her own paws were started to ache as well.

    "Not much further now," Shardtooth assured them. "Just one more stop."

    Skypaw looked to Dunerunner, puzzled, but her mentor only gave her a mysterious twitch of his whiskers.

    She was the first one to tackle the ledges, moving downwards this time. Only once did she hear a mew of distress as Flypaw lost his footing, but Dunerunner was right behind to steady him. Then, Shardtooth took the lead once more.

    Finally, they arrived at the rocky beach where she and Dunerunner had hunted seagulls not long before. There were no more of the birds, only their abandoned nests, but as Skypaw looked closer she realized there were small creatures moving amongst them. She looked to her mentor, but he looked just as confused as she did.

    "What are those?" Flypaw asked slowly, padding closer to one of them. Skypaw shifted closer.

    The creature was about the size of a small rabbit, with a hard, pale red shell covering most of it. From its body stuck up two small antennae – but, as Skypaw looked closer, she realized there were two very small eyes on the stalks. And then, her eyes focused on the pincers it held up in front of it.

    She jumped back just in time, but Flypaw was not so lucky. The creature seized the tom's nose in its pincer and the black apprentice yowled in pain. He jumped back, but the creature held on tight.

    "Ger'off!" Flypaw cried, bouncing around.

    "Hold still," Shardtooth said. When the apprentice did not listen, Skypaw tackled him to the ground. The deputy poked at the creature's underbelly, where eight legs flailed wildly. He scored it with a claw and the creature dropped away from Flypaw. Shardtooth pounced in that moment, killing the creature.

    "What is it?" Skypaw asked, sniffing at it. It smelled of the salt of the sea, but also of fresh meat. Flypaw's nose was bleeding, but he moved closer too, curious about the animal.

    "It's a crab," Cobaltwing said, approaching it slowly. "I used to come here to hunt them once in a while."

    Crab, Skypaw thought, poking at the creature.

    "You're telling me we're going to eat this?" Windpaw asked, scrunching up his nose.

    Cobaltwing nodded, completely serious. "They're actually quite delicious. And filling." He looked out over the rocky beach where more of the creatures scuttled about. "If we can catch a few more the Clan will have a feast tonight."

    Windpaw was looking at the creatures skeptically, but Skypaw had already leapt to her paws. Without hesitation, she bounded for the first crab she saw and wheeled around it. Its stalk eyes followed her and its pincers clicked threateningly. Careful to avoid them, the she-cat jumped away and back forward, attempting to unbalance it. Instead, a pincer found her paw.

    She hissed in pain, but refused to cry out in front of the younger apprentices. She had been an apprentice for four months now and it was time to show off everything she'd learned.

    Her paw stung but she continued circling, suppressing her limp. The crab's eyes followed but it seemed less concerned about the danger it was in now that it had wounded her. It clicked a pincer and Skypaw flinched but did not back away.

    The next time its pincer came close she ducked out of the way, then clamped her jaws down around it. She lifted the creature into the air and it flailed wildly, its free pincer clipping her whiskers. Skypaw dropped it and it landed on its back, legs grasping for purchase on the rocks around it.

    The she-cat came down at it with unsheathed claws but the creature had managed to flip itself over and it scuttled away into a gap between two close set rocks. Skypaw stuck her head in after it, but her whiskers brushed against rock too close for comfort, and she knew she would never fit through.

    "Good first try," Shardtooth said, coming up to her with a crab swinging from his jaw.

    Cobaltwing and Dunerunner, both with crabs of their own, gathered behind him. "You still have much to learn, though," Cobaltwing added.

    "Look, I caught one!" The cry came from Flypaw. The blood was beginning to clot around his nose but, as he ran up to them, the crab in his jaws came to life and swiped at his nose, reopening the wound. He dropped the animal with a surprised cry and it skirted away, slightly wounded but still very much alive.

    Dunerunner purred in amusement. "Good catch. But you should make sure it's very dead next time." The apprentice ducked his head.

    "We should head back," Shardtooth decided. "Flypaw needs to go see Lilyfeather, and these crabs will make a nice addition to the freshkill pile before tonight's meeting."

    Skypaw thrilled at the idea of a meeting and eagerly snapped up the nearest – very dead – crab. The warriors had caught a total of six and each member of the patrol trotted into the camp bearing a prize.

    "What are those?" Specklepaw asked, echoing Flypaw's earlier question when she spotted them. She sniffed at it suspiciously, whiskers twitching.

    "Crab?" Gannetstar's voice surprised Skypaw and she dropped the crab on the freshkill pile with a quick nod. The SeaClan leader purred. "I haven't had crab in much too long. Cobaltwing, is this your doing?"

    The dark blue-grey tom nodded. "Though Flypaw is really the one to thank for discovering them." The apprentice's nose was still bleeding freely but the tom nodded his head enthusiastically.

    "Go to Lilyfeather to get your wound checked," Shardtooth ordered his apprentice. As an afterthought, he nodded at Skypaw. "You too. You hide it well, but I know that crab caught your paw." Skypaw felt herself heat up, but nodded dutifully.

    "I'll save you a spot, and some crab," Dunerunner called as she padded away. "And then we can tell the whole Clan about our crab hunting tonight!"

    Skypaw could imagine it already: sitting beside her mentor, enjoying their hard-caught meal, and entertaining the rest of the Clan with their stories. Her heart pounded joyfully – but not nearly as hard as the pain in her paw. Forgetting her pride, she limped over to the medicine den.

// It's been a while! But I had some extra time the other day and I have a week break from school fast approaching so I thought I'd take some time to update. Skypaw's character is slowly starting to develop more, and I hope the run-in with the crabs was exciting! Throwing in some lesser known prey/predators to keep things interesting.