A sharp jab tore Shadow from her sleep, she blearily opened her eyes to a crack to see Ivy standing over her. She shot up suddenly, remembering what would happen today.

Unfortunately, Ivy had been standing with her head directly over Shadow's nest. The apprentice cannoned into her mentor's muzzle, resulting in a loud hiss and a heavy wack on the head.

"Sorry!" Shadow squeaked, embarrassed.

Ivy just shook her head disdainfully and walked out of the apprentice den. Shadow quickly smoothed her pelt with a few licks and added after her.

The camp was buzzing with noise and activity. The cats going were preparing themselves, grabbing prey to eat, discussing plans and tactics. The rest of the clan were talking with them with mixed expressions of jealousy and excitement.

"Shadow!"

Nightshade had called her name, now beckoning the apprentice with her tail. Shadow padded over, curious.

"Ivy and I have been discussing our plan, first we'll go to the two-leg place to catch some kitty-pets. " Nightshade started,

"Because you're still an apprentice and haven't been in as many battles you won't be doing much of the fighting. Instead, you'll be the diversion. You'll be the innocent kitty-pet looking for directions."

Shadow wrinkled her nose at the thought of acting as a weak kitty-pet. She quickly nodded after catching a glare from her mentor.

"After you lure them away from their homes, we'll attack and take them captive" The black she-cat instructed.

Shadow nodded, then went to eat some prey. She picked through the fresh-kill pile until she'd found two plump mice. Settling down to eat, she saw Spark and Diamond talking with their heads close together.
'What could they be talking about?' She thought.

Shadow was finishing her prey when Blaze appeared next to her. They started at each other tensely for a few heartbeats before Blaze spoke.

"Good luck I guess." He meowed sharply and padded away. Shadow scoffed at his pathetic attempt at an apology. She pushed the last bite of her mouse away, her appetite ruined.

She saw Ivy beckoning her and quickly buried the prey scraps. Spark was walking towards her, probably wanting to say goodbye before they left. Shadow pretended not to see her and walked towards her mentor.

"We're leaving, go stand by the rest of our group," Ivy commanded. The apprentice nodded and went over to where Nightshade stood with the other cats in their patrol.

Sky raised her tail and led her patrol out of camp, a loud cheer erupted from the other cats. Nightshade led them after Sky, keeping a fast, but steady pace.

As Shadow passed Spark, she saw the hurt look on her sister's face. Ignoring it, she recalled when Spark had ignored her.

Shadow tried her best to keep up with the rest of the patrol, her long fur kept getting caught on bushes and twigs, making it harder to move swiftly through the forest.

They tread through the forest until sun-high, crossing the border into unknown land.

Sky halted her patrol, turning around to address everyone. "This is where we split up. Your patrol leader will decide where you go next. Be back in camp in a quarter moon."

She then turned around veered sharply left, her cats following without hesitation. Nightshade led them to the right, towards the two-leg place.

They traveled all day, arriving at the edge of a two-leg place as night fell. Ivy and Flame went back into the forest to hunt, while Quartz, Frost, Nightshade, and Shadow were left to make nests.

Shadow began collecting ferns, weaving them into nests, and strengthening the sides with vines and twigs. There was no moss so they'd have to do with ferns and bracken as bedding.

No one spoke a word, the only noise that could be heard was the sound of Quartz and Shadow finishing the last two nests.

Shadow almost jumped when Ivy and Flame appeared out of nowhere, jaws heavy with prey.

"Everyone take a piece of prey and go to sleep after that, tomorrow will be a long day." Nightmare said, hooking a vole with her claws and dragging it towards her.

Ivy tossed Shadow a shrew, then took some prey for herself. After carefully burying the prey scraps as to not attracts any unwanted animals, they all settled into their nests.

~~~

The next morning Nightshade woke everyone up before dawn.
"Get up you lazy fleabags, we have some hunting to do!"

Shadow blinked blearily, stretching her stiff muscles. Sleeping in an open area without soft moss to keep her warm, she hadn't been able to get much sleep.

When everyone had woken up enough to function properly Nightshade led everyone into the two-leg place.

Shadow's fur bristled as strange, unfamiliar scents and noises crashed into her. The weird grey surface hurt her paws as she walked across it. Soon they came to a long strip of black. It was about a tree length wide and humongous objects whizzed by on them, leaving a sour stench.

"This is a Thunderpath, two-legs build them for monsters, the big objects that use them to get from one place to another. We'll have to cross it." Ivy explained to her wide-eyed apprentice.

Nightshade crouched down low and crept closer to the foul path, gesturing they to follow her.

"On my signal, run across as fast as you can. Whatever you do, don't stop or slow down!" She hissed, her ears pressed flat to her head as more monsters thundered by.

They crouched there, hunched down, eyes narrowed, for multiple heartbeats. Nightshade was waiting for a long enough gap between monsters to appear, giving them a chance to dash to the other side.

"Now!" She yowled as a silence fell across the path. They exploded forward, paws flying as they raced across the toxic-smelling path as fast as they could. Shadow's heartbeat was erratic, her claws were unsheathed as she forced her legs to move faster.

The vibrations in the hot, sticky, black surface told them another monster was approaching. They flung themselves off the Thunderpath and onto the other side as a red monster sped by, filling the air with a sour stench.

Shadow rubbed her pelt onto the dying grass, trying to get the disgusting odor off of her pelt. Her paws were scraped and sore from pelting across the Thunderpath, the prickly grass didn't make it any better.

After they had all caught their breath, they started walking again. Shadow's ears hurt from all the loud noises, even Sliver's howls were better than this.

She suddenly felt a wave of homesickness and longed for the forest again. She pictured soft forest floors and sunlight filtering through green branches.

They stopped in front of a row of two-leg dens. They all had a small section of grass in front of them, surrounded by a thin wall of wood.

"Which one are we taking first?" Flame asked. Something triggered inside of Shadow at those words, her legs buckled underneath her as darkness clouded her vision.

"Which one should I take?" A voice meowed in a hushed tone.

"How about the gray one?" A different voice whispered back. Silence fell after those words. Then Shadow heard pawsteps come closer. A cat's head bent down, picking up a warm body next to her. She mewed indignantly as cold air hit her side.

"Someone's coming!" The urgent warning caused the cat to drop the bundle of fur and move away quickly.

A sharp claw racked Shadow across the nose, sweeping her back into reality. Ivy was standing over her, an annoyed expression on her face.

"Next time you decide to take a nap, don't do it in the middle of dangerous territory!" Her mentor snapped, jabbing her cruelly with a paw before padding away.

Shadow pulled herself to her paws, and let out a shuddering breath.
'What just happened?'

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts in the comments! What do you think that flashback was about? Don't forget to vote! <33
(Word count: 1355)