The joys of apprenticeship

Shadepaw padded out of the apprentice den as she heard Shimmerkit's false statements.'"Stop that! All of you!" She hissed at the gathered cats. "Shimmerkit, your not useless, Stumppaw, your not useless, and Leopardpaw.…" She growled at Leopardpaw. "Will you forget about this and leave! Go! All of you! Scatter around camp! I don't care!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. For a quiet she-cat, that wasn't normal of her.

Cinderkit flinched and crouched in submission of Shadepaw's anger. "Probably a bad idea to talk so heartless in front of the Clan," Cinderkit quietly muttered. She didn't blame the apprentice for shouting at the group of cats, and it was probably a good thing too. It made Cinderkit realise that everyone was acting so hopeless, as if ShadowClan was slowly dying. "If we want to make a change, a talk with your mentors or Thrushstar would be a great opportunity for us." And with that, the she-cat took Shadepaw's word with a grunt, and headed back to the nursery.

Leopardpaw was in the middle of rolling his green eyes at Stumppaw and Shimmerkit's self-loathing behavior when Shadepaw jumped in, yowling at the group. His cold gaze met hers when she addressed him. "What's wrong with you?" He growled back, standing to his paws. "We were having a civilized discussion about bettering ShadowClan! Stop yelling at us and come back when you have something valuable to say!" His voice rose until it was a yowl as well. He looked after Cinderkit and Shimmerkit, both walking away, and hissed in frustration. They could have been close to figuring something out. What on earth was he supposed to talk to Thrushtar about?

Shadepaw growled at Leapordpaw. "Well maybe you should be less like a mouse brain and END this conversation you useless, fox hearted, cat!" Shadepaw spat. Her ears flattened as she realized what she had said. That was really unlike her. But she growled as she finished her sentence to not show fear. "Don't attack him like you did to Duskpaw, don't attack him like you did to Duskpaw…" Her claws unsheathed but she didn't attack.

Stumppaw growled. "Don't insult your clan mates! The only cats worthless are... Are... No cat, I guess. But still!" He pinned her to the ground with a hiss. "Don't... Don't do that." He let go of her. "Leopardpaw, don't waste that toad. Finish it up." He ordered. "And don't disobey. Come on."

It was obvious that Shadepaw had been heartbeats away from springing at him. He could see the desire to sink her claws into him in her eyes. He was admittedly surprised when Stumppaw, self-proclaimed useless cat, manged to pin her to the ground and ordered him to eat. "There we go. There's the real strength in you, Stumppaw." Leopardpaw purred. He wasn't pleased to have been ordered, but nevertheless he bent his head and swallowed the half-eaten prey in a few mouthfuls. He straightened back up and looked around the clearing. "A fight almost broke out in the middle of camp and there was no one else here to break it up. That's ridiculous." He meowed apathetically. "Maybe our weakness is in our quarreling. If we could find a point of unity, things might turn around for us."