The beginning of the battle was like a hurricane. Nightpaw slashed at the nearest cat. The opponent cat leaped away, trying to pin him down, as Nightpaw was smaller.

Nightpaw slipped away from the light brown opponent's grasp. But there was no way he could defeat him. Nightpaw found himself bringing his claws down on a apprentice with a cinder pelt. The apprentice was fast, but Nightpaw was almost as fast as him.

The cinder tabby slashed at Nightpaw with full speed. He was larger than him, but Nightpaw dodged the attack, sending a blow on the WindClan apprentice's side.

Nightpaw's opponent backed up, his side's heaving. Nightpaw's spirit lifted. He was winning! But then another WindClan apprentice slid up.

The two young moor cats advanced on him. Nightpaw looked around for help; there was no way he can defeat them by himself. But there was no one to help. Each of his clanmates are forced to go one-on-two, perhaps even three.

As he counterattacked another strike, Nightpaw knew that he is losing. His clan isn't doing very much better either.

But then reinforcements came. Swifstar barreled into to battle, aiming for Patchstar. Soon the two leaders were locked together, battling for their clan.

Nightpaw snapped back into reality as one of the WindClan apprentices swiped at his muzzle. He rolled away, aiming a blow on her rib cage.

Flutterpaw slid to his side, taking care of the cinder apprentice Nightpaw was dealing with earlier.

The other apprentice, a grey speckled tortoiseshell, lunged at him. Nightpaw deflected her blow with his front paws. The blow knocked her backwards. Taking advantage of that, Nightpaw leaped on top of her, forcing her down.

Nightpaw dug his claws into her flesh. He noticed that the WindClan apprentice could not do the belly rake on him, as he is too small. "Don't you dare steal ThunderClan's prey again!" Nightpaw hissed in her ear.

He released her, jumping down from her underbelly. The WindClan apprentice showed her teeth, but then dashed across the border, fleeting away.

Yes!  Thought Nightpaw, One moor cat gone!

He glanced at Flutterpaw on his left. She was fine by herself, counterattacking every blow she received. So Nightpaw turned to his right. Honeywind had a cat pinned down next to him. Her back was facing Nightpaw, so he couldn't tell who.

Whichever clanmate was it, Nightpaw knew that the cat needed help. He leaped and clawed on the she-cat's back, raking his claws on her flesh.

Honeywind snapped and turned. Something small wriggled under her paws, getting loose. Skykit! Nightpaw thought, shocked. What are you doing out of camp?!

Nightpaw whipped around, slashing Honeywind with his claws. The pretty tabby dodged the blow nimbly. "How dare you attack a defenseless kit?"

"I'm not defenseless!" shrieked Skykit just as Honeywind meowed,

"I didn't attack her. I pinned her down."

"And why would you do that?" Nightpaw retorted. His pelt bristled. She was only a kit!

"I was doing self-defense." Honeywind meowed defensively. "She tried to rake my eye!"

Nightpaw glanced at Skykit's claws. They were almost as long as Nightpaw's. Okay, they are kind of long...

Honeywind screamed as a cat pounced on her back. She whipped around to see Lightfire behind her. "Leave the kits-" she stopped, shooting a apologetic look at Nightpaw. "Leave them alone!"

Nightpaw didn't enjoy feeling defenseless, but he have to deal with Skykit first. "What are you doing here?!"

"I was just wandering in the woods," she meowed calmly. "But then I heard a battle and went to help."

"HELP?" exploded Nightpaw. "We have to waste time to save you!"

Skykit flinched, but did not apologize. "I could have saved myself!" She bragged. "You didn't have to interrupt my battle!"

As if you can get out of Honeywind's grasp without my help, Thought Nightpaw angrily. But from the tone of her voice, there was no use telling her that. Instead, Nightpaw tried for another question. "How did you even get here from camp?" He asked, remembering how hard it was to travel to the border at his first day of training. "It's pretty far!"

"Close enough for me!" Skykit mewed. Pain scorched Nightpaw's back. He whipped around to see a ginger tabby raking his back. Nightpaw clawed at the ginger tabby, but he sidestepped and dodged the attack.

The ginger tabby slammed on top of Nightpaw, wrestling with him. Nightpaw aimed another blow at his underbelly, making the soft fur bleed.

The WindClan cat lunged, grabbing Nightpaw's tail. Shoot! Thought Nightpaw, I forgot to hide my tail! He twisted making his muzzle close to the tabby tom's back. If all of his force, Nightpaw hauled himself forward and sunk his teeth into the ginger tom's flesh.

Nightpaw's opponent was knocked back, but Nightpaw felt as if the move was a mistake. The taste of blood lingered in his mouth. He could feel the red liquid between his teeth.

You were born a killer, Nightpaw... The voice in his mind whispered. You will kill this cat... just like how you killed your littermates... Nightpaw's throat filled with dread. He wished that he never came to this battle, never sunk his teeth into a cat's back...

Sensing Nightpaw's pause, he ginger tom leaped on top of him on his four paws. Nightpaw snapped back into reality, but it was too late; the ginger tabby was overpowering him. He dug his claws in Nightpaw's shoulders, not allowing him to do the belly rake.

Nightpaw struggled to get free. The tom's grip tightened, steadying him. Nightpaw gasped for breath. The moor cat sunk his claws in more. Nightpaw could feel his shoulder flaring in pain. He felt his vision blurring, like how he did the time he fell into the lake... Nightpaw willed himself to stay conscious. But he felt his energy fading away.

Just when Nightpaw was about to give up and faint, the ginger tom roared in pain, releasing his grip. A golden pelt slid up to him.

"Are you okay?" Sunpaw asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." meowed Nightpaw, glad that his sister came. He looked at her in the bright blue eyes. "Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome," mewed Sunpaw. "But can we focus on attacking that flea-pelt first?" She pointed to the at the ginger tabby tom with her tail.

Nightpaw charged at him, ignoring the pain still lingering in his shoulder. The two littermates fought together, slashing the WindClan cat from both sides of his flank.

Meanwhile, Swiftstar had Patchstar pinned down with her claws. "The prey is ours. And don't you dare take it." She hissed in his ear.

"Retreat!" Yowled Patchstar. The WindClan cats dashed across the border. The WindClan deputy Hareleap looked as if she wanted to continue and fight, but thought better of it. Soon the moor cats disappeared over the hills.

"We won!" Sunpaw mewed, her tail high with triumph. "And it's our first battle!"

Nightpaw nudged her with his tail. He pointed at his clanmates, who were huddled together, looking at something that Nightpaw couldn't see. "What's going on?"

"I dunno." His sister meowed. "Let's check it out."

Nightpaw came into a halt as they stood beside their father, Ambershine. Sunpaw had his golden pelt, while Nightpaw had his amber eyes. Nightpaw glanced at his black pelt. Who knows where that came from? None of his parents have a jet black pelt. "What's going on?"

"Volepaw's badly injured." Rainfire mewed close to him. Nightpaw peered at Volepaw's scrawny body. His hind thigh looked bruised and swollen. "We need to get him to Dappleleaf!" Dappleleaf was ThunderClan's Medicine cat.

"Yes." Redpelt agreed. "Can you walk?" He asked the apprentice.

"I'm not sure." gasped Volepaw, wincing at the pain. Nightpaw looked around. There was no sign of Volepaw's littermate, Branchpaw.

Spidernose and Stormflight padded next to him, supporting Volepaw's frail body on both sides. With help, Volepaw limped towards the direction of camp.

"You two should go." Ambershine meowed to his kits. Nightpaw could tell that he was proud of them, winning their first battle. "We'll meet at camp."

Sunpaw and Nightpaw were soon running though the forest. They slowed down to catch their breath.

"Thank you for saving me." meowed Nightpaw again. He met his sister's eyes for the second time. "And I really, really, mean it."

Sunpaw purred. "You can be such a mouse-brain sometimes."

"You too!" joked Nightpaw. "Want to race to camp?"

"As long as you don't fall over the cliff!"

Nightpaw's fur rippled as he dashed over branches and trees. He was glad that the tension between the him and Sunpaw was gone. They were close siblings once again.