Oleanderpaw ran as fast as he could, both injured cats close behind him again, he made a sharp turn as the brown queen tried to tackle him like last time.

He looked behind himself whilst running, the tabby was collapsed on the ground, but she was getting up quickly, so Oleanderpaw kept running

...only to trip over a gray ball of fur... They had forgotten about the kit! It stared at Oleanderpaw with it's hollow sockets, tilting it's small, bloodied head.

He tried to get up, but he felt a sudden pressure of teeth around his scruff, the queen had caught up to him and he hadn't even heard her.

She started to drag Oleanderpaw again, but unlike last time, he had been able to get out of her grasp, he scrambled away, maybe he could hide..

Oleanderpaw speeded, he just needed to lose them for a moment! He noticed the forest was getting thicker, the moonless night sky becoming dark green leaves.

It was also foggier here, perfect. Oleanderpaw rolled out of the way as the tabby made another attempt to grab him.

They tumbled down a small hill, and into a bush. They saw the figures of the kit and queen looking around atop the slope.

Then a loud growl echoed from the forest, the pair seemed incredibly frightened by the the noise, and ran for the thinner foliage.

Oleanderpaw also felt fear, what was so terrifying that it scared those things... He honestly didn't want to know, but it decided to show itself anyways.

Four emerald eyes pierced directly into his soul, long, black fangs protruding from its maw... He didn't get to see much more as it's large claw came down on him

Oleanderpaw awoke to something prodding at his shoulder, he let out a fearful hiss as he opened his eyes.

...Only to see not a monstrous beast, but instead, rushpaw...

Rushpaw's ear pinned, “I was only waking you up, chill out,” he grumbled at the younger apprentice, clearly tired himself.

“Oh! U-Uh thanks! Sorry for hissing at you... I was just having a..” Oleanderpaw paused, he wasn't sure if he should tell Rushpaw about the dream.

“a nightmare?” the light-colored tom asked, looking vaguely annoyed, though there was concern in his eyes.

Oleanderpaw nodded meekly. Rushpaw huffed, and to Oleanderpaw's surprise, settled down next to him.

“I don't expect to tell me what it was about, but...” Rushpaw looked a little to long into Oleanderpaw's purple gaze, What was he thinking, he didn't like Oleanderpaw, why did he want to help them so badly!?

“Uh, Rushpaw?” Oleanderpaw tilted his head, “you alright?..”

Rushpaw snapped out of his daze, and muttered something unintelligible. “Nevermind,” he looked as if he was going to get back to his paws, but Oleanderpaw quickly stopped him.

“W-wait, stay, untill i fall back asleep,” The brown tom pleaded, “Please..”

Rushpaw narrowed his eyes, but he didn't move, only lowering his head into Oleanderpaw's nest and huffing loudly.

“thank you,” Oleanderpaw mewwed quietly,  placing his head in his paws. He actually found himself asleep again... But there wasnt the strange cats or the beast, instead a sunny, warm meadow, with a strangely large amount of doves..

Rushpaw accidentally fell back asleep as well, but, he didn't mind... Oleanderpaw was warm.

-----------------------------------

Oleanderpaw woke up again, actually feeling well rested. They quickly noticed that a familiar, pretty tom was lying next to them, snoring softly.

He felt his heart flutter in his chest, somewhat forgetting the horrid nightmare. Oleanderpaw carefully got to his feet, making sure not to wake the other tom.

He noticed that Spiderpaw must have already woke up, seeing that she wasn't in her nest.

Oleanderpaw squeezed through the crevice, and saw that most of the warriors and other apprentices were surrounding the deputy, Sootwhisker, for patrols.

He eagerly approached, seeing his mentor in the crowd. Coalpelt noticed his apprentice, and silently called him over with a tail movement, Oleanderpaw stood next to his mentor.

“Lakegaze, Acidflick, Cinderstone, you'll be patrolling the FallenClan border,” The darkly colored tom commanded, “and Drizzlefur, Weedtail, Haytoe, Spiderpaw, you'll be on the DarkClan border.”

Both of the groups nodded, padding towards the camp's exit. Oleanderpaw watched, he wondered if they'd find anything.

“Sunclaw, Troutpool, Ashleap, Mellowblood, hunting patrol,” Sootwhisker meowed, commanding them as he did the last groups.

“Coalpelt, Scorchgaze, Oleanderpaw, you'll also be hunting,” Oleanderpaw purred quietly when he heard his name, his first official patrol! 

“and finally, Smallstripe, Stormpaw, Rushpaw, with me- wait.. wheres Rushpaw?”

“Still sleeping!” Oleanderpaw answered, hoping Rushpaw wasn't in trouble.

“Ofcourse he is...” the tailless deputy grumbled, “Stormpaw, go fetch your brother.”

The fluffy sliver she-cat, who Oleanderpaw had never seen before, ran to the den with a playful bounce in her step, and soon after, had a very annoyed Rushpaw was chasing after her.

Oleanderpaw's whiskers twitched in amusement as he watched the siblings. Coalpelt nudged the distracted tom, “Come on, we're going.”

“Okay!” Oleanderpaw began to follow the two older warriors, “Where are we gonna hunt? I-”

“We'll be hunting in the dark grove, it'll be a good place for you to learn,” Coalpelt meowed, leading his patrol to the camp's exit quickly.

“Ugh... How unlucky,” Scorchgaze grumbled, “to be stuck on patrol with an untrained apprentice.”

Before Oleanderpaw could verbally defend himself, Coalpelt beat him to it, “Hush, all warriors, leaders, and medicine start untrained.”

The red tom rolled his eyes, “well, yeah, but-”

“and don't forget, you were and apprentice to at one point, in fact, you only became a warrior recently, so you have no place to speak.” 

Scorchgaze Scoffed, but didn't say anything else. The trio exited, and started making their way to the thicker part of the woods.

“We're most likely going to run into the border patrol that was sent out earlier, be respectful, both of you.”

The area looked... Familiar to Oleanderpaw, this was the place he saw in his nightmare! His ears flattened, but surely the beast wasn't here.

there were more strange smells here than in the dream, allowing oleanderpaw to separate it from the nightmare version, “what are those scents?” they asked.

“Don't you know anything? This is the best area for gathering herbs and hunting!” Scorchgaze snapped, judging the slightly younger cat.

“Well- I mean I just started training! I'm inexperienced like you said,” Oleanderpaw started, “B-but, when I get more training, I bet I'll know more than you!” 

“Well that's unlikely you bra–” 

“You two, stop bickering,” Coalpelt commanded, annoyed by the two younger cats.

“But he started it!” complained Oleanderpaw, tufted tail lashing, before Scorchgaze could also argue, Coalpelt spoke first.

“If you neither of you don't shut it, we'll go back to camp, and you'll have to explain to Sootwhisker why we didn't bring back prey.”

Both cats begrudgingly nodded, and continued to follow the older cat into the thicker foliage. They walked down a slope, but oleanderpaw tripped, and rolled down, into a bush, just like in his dreams! He quickly got back to his paws, poking his head out of the leaves.

“I'm alright!” they called, stumbling out of the bush with leaves sticking to their pelt. Scorchgaze oh so rudely mrowwed in amusement, whiskers twitching.

He shook the leaves out of his fur, messing it up in the process. Oleanderpaw quickly got over to his mentor, ignoring Scorchgaze.

Coalpelt gave a fond sigh before speaking, “Scorchgaze, since you're so opposed to being around Oleanderpaw, you can go hunt nearby while I train him.”

Scorchgaze nodded, seeming to prefer this option. The red tom disappeared into the foliage, leaving Oleanderpaw and Coalpelt alone.

“Alright, you'll be learning the hunting crouch and mousestalk,” Coalpelt mewwed, “show me what you know already, so I can see how much you need to improve.”

“Alright!” Oleanderpaw lowered themself, they noticably were putting more weight into the right side of their body, making them lopsided, and their tail was also lashing quickly.

“You're unbalanced,” Coalpelt commented dryly, “you should be putting more weight into your front paws, and your tail needs to be sticking out straight.”

Oleanderpaw took his advice, his form was better, but it wasn't perfect, still improvable, “am I doing it right?” the apprentice questioned.

“It's good enough,” Coalpelt sighed, “Now, try to crawl silently.”

Oleanderpaw carefully and slowly put paw after paw, quietly advancing towards the bushes. He noticed a red tom behind the leaves, now carrying a starling between his teeth.

Coalpelt also noticed Scorchgaze, “Try to pounce on him,” he meowed with a hint of mischief, “you won't get in trouble for it.”

The brown tom nodded, wiggling his rear before launching himself through the bush, and towards Scorchgaze. Scorchgaze clearly did not expect the suddenly attack, hissing at the other tom and dropping his prey as he slammed into him.

“Aha! Gotcha!” Oleanderpaw rose his head, purring while having the older tom in a sloppy pin. Scorchgaze growled and easily pushed oleanderpaw off.

“You made me drop my prey! why In starclan did you attack me?” he angrily questioned, tail lashing.

“Coalpelt told me I could,” Oleanderpaw answered smugly, head held high. Scorchgaze looked offended as Coalpelt emerged from the bush.

“thats right,” the dark tom stepped closer, sitting down beside his apprentice, “Oleanderpaw, your pounce was good, why don't you go test your skills on real prey?”

Oleanderpaw excitedly turned his head to his mentor, “really? I can actually hunt?” he asked, violet eyes glimmering with hope.

When Coalpelt nodded, Oleanderpaw quickly and quietly ran off, dropping into a crouch when he smelt tasty, live prey..

He spotted a mouse, munching on a tiny bit of something. Oleanderpaw slowly crept towards the little thing... Just needed to get a little closer and he could pounce and deliver a killing bite–

Before he could, a strange teal creature leapt out of the foliage opposite to him, it had an odd barb on its tail, an struck right through the mouse, quickly ending it's life.

Oleanderpaw noticed this thing looked like a cat... It was a cat! But, it was gone before he could confront it, how odd... What if it wasn't real? What if he had just been imagining it just like the visions at the FallenClan border or the dove.

He sighed, just deciding to report it later. no cat would believe him, expect for spiderpaw maybe- 

Oleanderpaw continued to stalk around, waiting to see if there was any more prey... He saw a brown dove, unexpecting and elderly looking.

They crawled closer and closer, he jumped for it, landing his claws on the bird. They snapped the dove's neck, giving it a swift end.

He lowered his head to pick up the bird, but he heard pawsteps, ones that weren't familiar to him. Oleanderpaw rose his head back up, without grabbing the dove, and saw the teal cat-thing a fox-legth away from him, their three amber eyes gleaming with confusing and interest.

Oleanderpaw hissed, ears pinning back, hackles raising. This seemed to frighten the creature, as it turned tail and ran off. He couldn't seem to take his eyes away from where the thing had stood, it was real!

He grabbed the dove, and turned around, running to where his mentor and clanmate were before. He was panting as he got there.

Only Scorchgaze was there, to his displeasure. Oleanderpaw knew that this cat wouldn't believe him, and would most likely make fun of him aswell.

He dropped his dove, huffing and asking, “Wher-wheres Coalpelt?..”

“hunting for more prey- why were you running? Got scared of a harmless bug or something?” the tabby teased, yellow gaze taunting.

“None of your business!” Oleanderpaw exclaimed, “I gotta report to him, not you..”

“Oh come on, what's so important or weird that you can't tell a "normal" warrior, the leader's son, ME!” Scorchgaze sounded like he was gonna go on a rant.

“Well,” mousedung! He hadn't really thought of what to say-

As if magic, Coalpelt appeared from the trees, a squirrel hanging by its tail from his jaw. He raised a catbrow at the two, and gaze a questioning look to Oleanderpaw.

“Coalpelt!” Oleanderpaw quickly started to explain, “i-i saw a cat! But it wasn't like- fully a cat, it didn't looks normall! And it had three eyes, and a weird tail!”

“Slow down,” Coalpelt muttered through the squirrel's fluffy tail in his jaws. The older tom noticed the look on Scorchgaze's face, it looked like the tom believed Oleanderpaw.

“Three eyes?.. the thing- well rogue I saw had six eyes!- what color was it?” Scorchgaze questioned Oleanderpaw, which surprised them quite a bit.

“it was black and teal- and REALLY fluffy-”

“So its a different one from what I saw... I saw something like it! But it had yellow fur and some brown markings, it has a massive, weird tail, like I said, six eyes, and horns!”

Oleanderpaw tilted his head, “Really?” Scorchgaze nodded. Oleanderpaw wondered how many of those creatures were out there...

“If it's a real thing, we should head back to camp and report it to flarestar,” said Coalpelt, “i ran in to the border patrol, their heading back to camp, we should join them for safety in numbers Incase it decides to strike.”

The younger cats gave a noise of agreement, picking up the prey they caught. Oleanderpaw really hoped theses creatures weren't aggressive.

-----------------------------------

They had met up with the patrol, and Oleanderpaw found himself having a nice chat with Spiderpaw on the way back, “thats why I think more cats should stop eating mice and rats.”

“hm,” Oleanderpaw took a moment to think, she did have a point, “welh, rats make since not tah eat, cause they feed in carrion, but mice are cleaner-” he was muffled by the dove between his teeth.

“thats what the clan wants you to think, but actu-”

“You two, hush up! Save your conspiracy theories for when we're back in camp,” Weedtail snapped.

“What if I don't want to "hush up?" How can you stop me, hm?” spiderpaw smirked at Weedtail, challenging him playfully.

“I bet I could easily get ya a muzzle full of yer own fur,” the sand colored tom threatened, clearly not amused.

“We're here,” Drizzlefur told his patrolmates, slipping into the clans entrance. Oleanderpaw trotted in, dashing to the fresh-kill pile to deposit his first ever catch!

“I'll report what you saw to Flarestar,” Coalpelt walked by Oleanderpaw, looking for the leader with Scorchgaze close behind him.

“Thank you!” Oleanderpaw purred, walking over to where spiderpaw had sat down to groom herself. A pinkish apprentice laid next to her, that must be fennelpaw!

“hey,” Fennelpaw calmly meowed, licking his paws, “its nice to officially meet you, Oleanderpaw.”

“Yeah! Nice to meet you too,” oleanderpaw cheerfully mewwed, “I never thanked you for making my nest- so- Thanks!”

“Your welcome,” Fennelpaw looked at Oleanderpaw, than looked over to Spiderpaw, “i can believe this is the cat that Rushpaw was cuddling up too, he's way to sweet!”

“Hehe, yeah,” She responded. Oleanderpaw felt his pelt warm up, ofcourse they saw that! He was so embarrassed!

“Ohh? What's this i hear?” as if being summoned by some malicious entity, Acidflick appeared, “My baby brother has a cruuush?”

Oleanderpaw stared at his older sibling, and just turned around, this was so embarrassing, he felt like melting into the ground!

“So it is true! Oh Ollie, your first love,” they teased, xyr tail raising playfully. Oleanderpaw decided this was enough, and ran to the apprentices den, ditching their older kin and friends in embarrassment.

He slammed into his nest, wanting to disappear! He liked rushpaw, but he didn't like other cats knowing about it! The brown Tom's tail lashed as he remained face down in his nest. He ended falling asleep without even realizing it!

---

A/N: AGGGHVDHSHXGSY 2000+ WORDS HOW DID I DO THIS!!! This chapter was so silly to write! From the nightmare to oleander's lovely embarrassment! Also it's the first introduction of a very special kitty this chapter... I sure wonder what these scorpion cats are up to!! Hehe! Sorry if the chapter ending felt rushed, I'm tired RN and just needed to finish it before I lost motivation to finish the chapter-