Finchpaw woke Nettlepaw up that morning. He had fallen asleep in the medicine cat den, but Applebreeze was nowhere to be found.

"Come on, lazy." She purred. "We have to go train."

"All three of us?" Nettlepaw asked groggily.

"Yes, Thornpaw is coming too." Finchpaw said with a sigh. "You two are my closest friends. I wish you could get along better."

I would get along with him if he stopped teasing me, Nettlepaw thought. But closest friends with Finchpaw? For some reason that made him really happy.

He followed the older apprentice out of camp and to the Blazing Maple. The leaf-fall chill had caused most of the moss there to dry up, but it was still a great place to train. If you like having countless obstacles in the way, that is.

Nettlepaw awkwardly stepped over a root wad and into the space where Cloverwing, Stonesong and Applebreeze were waiting as well as Thornpaw.

"We will work on battle training today." Stonesong announced. He always seemed to take control of the training, which made sense as he was a senior warrior, but sometimes it was annoying.

"I understand Nettlepaw hasn't had much experience with this, so he will work alone with Applebreeze before joining us. Then you will split up in pairs to train. Remember, always keep your claws sheathed during training."

Applebreeze and Nettlepaw split off and began to work on some basic moves.

"The first thing you need to know is your vulnerable areas. Your belly and neck, mostly. If you give your opponent access to those areas the battle will quickly change course." His mentor instructed him.

Nettlepaw nodded, remembering how the gray tom had tried to force him on his back during the border fight where both areas would be exposed.

"I want you to try to attack me without letting me at your belly or neck," Applebreeze said. "Now."

Nettlepaw hesitantly took a step forward. "Go on," Applebreeze encouraged.

He lunged, hooking his paws on Applebreeze's shoulders. She took a swipe at his belly, but he clambered onto her back and dodged quickly. As he was reaching to paw at her neck, she fell on her back, knocking the wind out of Nettlepaw. Gasping for breath, she placed a paw on his neck.

"I liked your approach," she said, eyes glinting. "But you need to think through what could happen. When you landed on my back, you didn't think of how I could have done that, did you?" Nettlepaw shook his head.

"Try again." Applebreeze mewed.

This time Nettlepaw immediately went for her belly. As she was defending, he slipped away and grasped her shoulders. He used his weight to push her to the ground, exposing her belly and neck. But she kicked out her hind legs, landing the blow on his belly and sending him flying backward.

"That was better, but you have to be careful doing that because though you exposed my belly, you also exposed yours." Applebreeze commented, panting for breath. "Now I want you to defend while I attack."

This went on for a while until Nettlepaw had learned a considerable amount. He felt like he could have gone back to sleep but Applebreeze had other plans.

Applebreeze smoothed out her fur. "Now we'll train with Thornpaw and Finchpaw. I want you to have practice fighting cats who are also young and quick."

"Wait, before we go." Nettlepaw began. "I have a question for you."

Applebreeze tilted her head. "Okay, ask away."

"Does Liontooth have kin or friends in AutumnClan that you know of?" He asked. Maybe there is a cat he would have gone to warn, if that was really what he was doing last night.

His mentor looked confused. "Not that I know of." She replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason." So where was the deputy going?

Applebreeze gave him another questioning look before leading Nettlepaw over to the other apprentices who were fighting by the Blazing Maple's roots. Thornpaw overpowered Finchpaw, but she thrust out her hind legs, sending him flying backward. She leaped on him and they tussled like play-fighting kits.

"Okay, you two." Cloverwing said warmly. "Time to go against Nettlepaw and see how you do."

Stonesong nodded. "Finchpaw, why don't you fight Nettlepaw? I think Thornpaw needs practice with multiple opponents, and Cloverwing and I can fight him while Applebreeze watches you two," he suggested.

Finchpaw nodded, eyes narrowing as she sized up Nettlepaw. I should probably do that too, he realized.

Finchpaw was scrawnier than Nettlepaw, but he could see her strength under her thin pelt. Her claws and mind were sharp, but he could probably knock her off balance with a blow to the shoulder.

"Ready?" She asked, claws unsheathing then sheathing again. Nettlepaw nodded, and she lunged.

He wasn't expecting the brute strength behind her blows or how quickly she'd overpower him. Nettlepaw was thrown off guard and she pushed him to the ground, but before she could strike his underbelly he twisted and bit her paw, causing her to yelp.

Feeling slightly guilty but pushing it back, Nettlepaw sent a blow to her shoulder and tried to shove her down, but she lashed out with a paw to his neck which he had forgotten about defending.

"Hare dung!" Nettlepaw cursed as they both rested on their hind paws, panting. Finchpaw let out light laugh. "I didn't think it would be that easy to beat you."

Nettlepaw rose to his paws, fake-snarling. "Oh yeah? I'll show you easy!"

He leaped forward, grasping her shoulders and using his weight to push her to the ground. He struck quickly, pawing at her underbelly, and leapt away hastily remembering Applebreeze's warning.

"No fair, I wasn't ready!" Finchpaw complained. She darted forward and began to leap, but before she left the ground she changed course. Nettlepaw, who had been prepared to defend himself from her leaping approach was caught off guard and overpowered. But when she pinned him down she forgot about defending herself, and Nettlepaw pushed her off him with his hind legs.

"Finchpaw, being beaten by a kittypet?" Thornpaw taunted, clambering over a root to meet the two. "I thought you were better than that."

Finchpaw's tail twitched and she bristled. "Lay off, Thornpaw." He looked genuinely surprised, as if he really thought she'd think he was funny.

"Why are you defending him?" He sneered. "Is he your best friend now? What about me?"

"Okay, let's calm down." Applebreeze stepped in before Finchpaw could reply. "Nettlepaw, I want you to fight Thornpaw." There was a gleam in her eyes, and Nettlepaw padded over to her to talk to her.

"Why should I fight him? He's only going to cheat!" He snapped. Applebreeze only smiled.

"I'll be watching. I don't think he's going to try anything. Besides, you fight well when you're angry."

She's right, Nettlepaw realized. He thought about how he had taken down Finchpaw when she taunted him, and how he had overpowered the gray tom at the border fight after his insults.

"Okay, but I'm not going to like it." Nettlepaw said grumpily. When he turned back around, Thornpaw was ready with a sneer on his face.

Sizing him up like Finchpaw, Nettlepaw realized he wasn't as quick or smart as his sister. He was sturdy and strong, but not very lithe. Nettlepaw narrowed his eyes, suddenly feeling better about the fight.

He made the first move, darting forward to strike his shoulder before retreating back again. Thornpaw leaped at Nettlepaw, but he dodged and rolled out of the way.

While Nettlepaw was lying on his back, Thornpaw took the opportunity to pin him down and lash at his neck. Nettlepaw rolled out of the way just in time, but the blow still landed on his shoulder painfully.

Nettlepaw threw Thornpaw off of him, tussling and rolling down a slope. They hit a root and Nettlepaw landed on his paws, but Thornpaw tripped when he landed and Nettlepaw used it to his advantage.

Nettlepaw placed a paw on Thornpaw's neck. "Got you." He said, but the apprentice looked back up at him with a malicious glare.

Nettlepaw felt a cold pain in his shoulder and realized Thornpaw had clawed him. "Hey, no claws-"

Thornpaw gripped his shoulders with his claws painfully, shoving him to the ground. Rage filled Nettlepaw and he slashed at Thornpaw's face, while the golden apprentice lashed at his ear.

Nettlepaw barely felt the pain but he did feel teeth in his scruff jerking him away before he could strike back. He locked eyes with Thornpaw, and the tom glared back ferociously.

Applebreeze let go of his scruff. "Nettlepaw!" She snapped. "Why would you use claws after I told you not to!"

"He did it first," Nettlepaw mumbled, instantly feeling guilty. I shouldn't have followed his pawsteps. I'm just as bad as he is.

"I don't care whose fault it was! You're taking care of the elders for a moon, and hopefully you can think about this while you're busy with that."

Nettlepaw took a step back, ears flattened. He had never seen Applebreeze truly angry before, except for the battle when she had fought off the gray tom.

"We're going back to camp." Applebreeze said gruffly, beginning to pad off. Nettlepaw followed her lead, numb to the blood dripping from his torn ear onto his face.

As Nettlepaw was limping back to camp, he caught Thornpaw's glare. He returned it with one of his own, realizing he wasn't just a rival. Thornpaw was his enemy, and Nettlepaw wasn't sure he could ever be friends with that cat, no matter how much Finchpaw wanted him to be.