Tippaw was deep in thought when her perceiving eyes fell upona foruth apprentice. "Icepaw! Where have you been?" she asked, wondering where the apprentice had been. Then Silentpaw, one of the quietest apprentices ever, spoke up. 'Hmmm, I've never been there before. It sounds twice as interesting as the pond and the river combined. I can't wait!' she thought."I've never been there before Silentpaw, what's it like? Did you see any fox's?" she asked curiosuly.

~~~

The approach of the cat Brightfang startled Shallowstripe. He dropped his misty gaze up to the stars, taking on a more confused look, surpirsed that while he had been in his memories, the camphad slowly been waking up. "Oh, Brightfang." Shallowstripe said, pondering whether or not he should tell her. "I was just...never mind. It was nothing. So what woke you up so early?" he said, deciding for the latter of the two decisions.

The sky was streaked with rays of orange and pink light, and the sun was barely peeking above the horizon. At the other end of the sky the very last faint stars were glimmering faintly. The sky there was a pale, gray like blue. Morning was upon the camp, and it looked like most of the cats were up.

~~~

Bluepaw tricked her, and Ravenspark wasn't expecting the little apprentice to spring up to ink into her back. Smiling, glad that they were finally getting somewhere, Ravenspark watched Bluepaw finish the jump. 'Beautiful really. He'd better have a good grip though. If not, we're screwed.' she thought.

"Why would you want to see a fox?" Sleetpaw meowed, bemused by Tippaw's enthuasiasm. "The size we are...they'd just eat us for breakfast." Shivering at the mental image Sleetpaw glanced at Icepaw ad her eyes widened a bit. She hadn't expected the quiet she-cat to be out doing her own thing. It didn't seem like her.

Then again, her mental voice said snidely, you're shocking yourslf tonight too. Going out and having an adventure, are we? Growling Sleetpaw banished the voice and glanced at Silentpaw, glad he had come up with a suggestion. And a good one at that.

"Sounds fun though. I always hate it when our mentors skip something because we aren't 'strong enough' or it's not for apprentices." Rolling her eyes Sleetpaw managed to crack a smile. "I mean, we can take care of ourselves. We're not a bunch of mewling kits."

[[ Mmmf, I can make them 20-30+ moons if you want, Detters ]]

"Nowhere in particular." Swallowtrill replied in an attempt to sound airy. Thrushsoar sighed and stepped back out into the camp, followed by his uneasy sister.

"I was just outside, looking up at Silverpelt." Thrushsoar glanced back up at the night sky.

"We weren't doing anything bad... Honest!" Swallowtrill butted in anxiously. Thrushsoar rolled his eyes. Sometimes his sister worried too much.

---

"Well..." Coalpaw looked around again, then sucked in his breath. "The trees are useful for numerous reasons. I can hide from you, I can climb on them to ambush you." Coalpaw shrugged. "Sometimes battles aren't really to show how noble a warrior can be." He saw no point in attempting to fight Larkwing if she was a large, hulking tom in the clearing. Coalpaw knew that the trees would aid him in partially covering his scent and hiding him from Larkwing so he could ambush her or use the attack-and-retreat method.

[[ Hope that made sense ._. ]]

---

"I've been... On the outskirts of the camp." Icepaw replied, looking at the three apprentices in turn.

[[ Fail :c ]] 

((You can say he did. Ravenspark is pretty much letting him.))

Tippaw looks shrewdly at Sleetpaw. "Well, first off it sounds interesting and second, you know me. I'm always out for trouble. Besides, fighting off an actual fox sounds like it would be soooo much FUN!" she says. Then she turns her wavering attention back to Icepaw. "Liar! I can tell you are one because you're soo terrible at it! Now where did you really go?" she says, sniffing offended that Icepaw would try to pull one over her.

~~~

"Ah. Yes. Do you think we should stop them? With Tippaw there, you know they're up to no good. Sleetpaw may provide some trouble for her, but Silentpaw will just let her roll right over him. (sorry if I seem PPing, but this is based off what I have already read and replied too. I can change it)." Shallowstripe says, his teeth gleaming in the remaining night air.

(Man O.O Shallowstripe is coming off as way smarter than I planned him to be. I need to fix that.)

OoC: Silentpaw would let someone just roll over him.^^ So it's fine.

BiC: Silentpaw looked at his paws as the two other apprentices discussed his iead, surprised yet glad they considered it. He diddn't just want to follow them around like a lost kit all the time. "No, we did not see a fox, luckily." He mused to Tippaw's enthusiastic question's, shivering slightly. "I agree with Sleetpaw; a fox could eat us alive. But the denseness and fact cats don't seem to go in there a lot would make it a great place for them to hide or build dens." Okay, maybe his idea was not the best one. Rather then let himself fret, the tabby apprentice turned his attention to Icepaw wondering, like Tipppaw, where she'd really been. There was the scent of forest and dew on her pelt; not normal camp scents. 

Larkwing almost purred with relief, but held herself back. Praising an apprentice too much had the same effect as making them feel worthless. It hampered their natural growth. Blinking blue eyes she nodded somberly. "You are correct. The trees would provide advantageous cover, as they stretch all around us. As for not being noble, that depends on the cat, no?" She bit back a small laugh of amusement. "But it is true. If we fought 'nobly' all the time then where would we be? Battles are won by proving you are the stronger one, whether it be by manipulating their minds to fear you or simply tearing apart their leader."

She shrugged casually at this, as if the thought was the norm for any cat in the Dark Forest. Perhaps it was. Many leaders had met their end through such bloody means, almost always not by their choosing.

Glancing around Larkwing rolled her shoulders and then turned her gaze back to Coalpaw. "Now, attack me. But not using the trees. What I want you to do is use the stone battlefield to your advantage, okay? Begin when you are ready." With that Larkwing stood and arched her back, readying her muscles for the battle. Her ears pricked, waiting for any tell-tale sign of attack.

--

Seeing that the adventure was slowly losing favour at the mention of foxes and then Icepaw's appearance Sleetpaw could only shrug casually and dip her head in acquescience. "You know, Tippaw's right," Sleetpaw added uncomfortably, feeling like she was interrogating the poor apprentice. 

"But, uhm, if it's private you don't have to tell us. Or at least, me. Tippaw seems really eager to know all your secrets." Sleetpaw let out a nervous laugh, hoping Icepaw would just explain she had been bored and visited the river or something normal like that. But then she would have told them straight off, no? It wasn't a crime amongst these young cats to go out and have some fun. It wasn't as if they would rat each other out. 

--

Crowsong had to shake her head guiltily. "I don't know, to be honest," she whispered. "Poppyfrost was...an unknown entity to me. I always thought she was one of the most amazing cats in my life and that it happened. So I suppose I'm curious about the why, and that's why she won't go away."

Scuffling her paws like an embarrassed apprentice Crowsong sighed, her voice growing softer though no less husky. "Do you think this is an omen? If the Dark Forest cats are visiting us...me?" 

"Liar?!" Icepaw resisted the urge to arch her back and hiss at Tippaw. She couldn't ever stand insults, even if they were true. "You have no right to call me that when you're about to do the same thing!" Then as if she said to much, Icepaw clamped her mouth shut. She wondered if she was even doing the right thing. Clan cats didn't normally accept loners, and she was lucky enough to be even tolerated. It wouldn't be wise to go around insulting them now.

---

Coalpaw was unsure of his tactic, but he always preferred feigning attacks and letting the opponent do most of the work. He stared up at the night sky idly, wondering if Larkwing would be caught off guard by a surprise attack. After a momentary pause, Coalpaw then took off, charging towards Larkwing at a startling speed. He clawed and bit her shoulder, unsure of the amount of damage she took. He then hurtled pass her, stopping at a nearby rock to see the damage she had taken.

[[ Derp, hope that wasn't power-playing since you can determine how hurt she is x.o ]] 

Larkwing was knocked back by the force of Coalpaw's charge, her paws skidding and scrambling for purchase against the slick stones. Approving his use of the smooth field against him she neatly rolled over and then pushed herself off the ground, licking her wounds out of habit. For the time being they acted natural, stinging whenever she moved, but nothing leaked out of the cuts. There were advantages to being dead, after all.

"Very good," she growled, a light shining in her azure eyes. Padded forwards she slipped into attack-mode, eyes narrowing on her target. Or what seemed to be her target. Staring at Coalpaw's shoulder, as if she meant to copy his move, she darted forwards, arcing over his head to land on his back.

[It's fine with the PP. <3 And I hope this isn't PP as well. xD] 

Tippaw arched her back and was about to hiss at Icepaw, when a thought arose to her. "Well," she said, "I wont tell on you if you don't tell on us. Then we'd be even. No harm done." 'Clever girl....' she thought to herself, knowing full well what she was actually doing. There's a little known fact that you'd do best to not trust Tippaw spreading around camp. It didn't look like Icepaw knew this at all (stop me if I'm PPing).

~~~

Hissing slightly, Ravnespark muttered something under her breath as she felt the little apprentice latch on to  her back. The claws of Bluepaw were deep, well, fairly deep in her back. Ravespark rolled over much like a two-leg's dog hoping for a treat stupidly.

She bared her teeth, trying to hiss, and roll Bluepaw off at the same time, but she had a rather nasty habit of not being able to multi-task. Bugged, she flicked her tail annoyed, and continued to roll around in the black dirt of the forest.

"Uh, it's alright, Tippaw." Icepaw's mind raced to a solution. "I'll come with you guys instead! We can venture through the forest and across the river!" Icepaw feigned excitement, her whiskers twitching and tail flicking impatiently.

---

Coalpaw only followed Larkwing's gaze for a moment, then wanted to hit himself for falling for such a stupid trick. Startled by her speed, Coalpaw followed his initial plan and tried to climb to the top of the rock. Before he could launch it, Larkwing had landed on him. With a little 'oof', Coalpaw scrambled furiously, utilizing his small body to scramble out from under Larkwing, scratching and biting his way out from the she-cat.