Sootpaw and all the apprentices would be going to the gathering tonight.

     Sootpaw had crawled out of his den and headed straight to the freshkill pile. Darkear's was munching on the wing of a sparrow. He lifted his head and nearly yowled so loud Sootpaw rocked on his paws.

     "You have to hunt before you get your share." He didn't wait for a response to continue chowing down on his fill. Sootpaw rolled his eyes and high tailed out of camp. He turned around and saw Pebblepaw on his tail. Sootpaw waited for him to catch up and then started strolling in the forest, keeping his senses alert for any sign of prey. Pebblepaw kept up the pace and matched him stride for stride. The made it to the river without any delays. Sootpaw sat down where the water met the earth and unsheathed his paws. He hooked his paw in the water, managing to catch a fat carp and nipped its spine with his teeth for a killing bite. He tossed it in the dirt and tried again, but with no success. Pebblepaw was ranting on about something.

      "Woah! How did you learn to do that? MoonClan cats don't catch fish! Only river cats do that!"

     A river cat was a cat in a clan where they ate prey from the river. Sootpaw felt his cheeks flush hot. He had forgotten that Rainclaw said not to do that in front of clanmates. He sat on his haunches and tried to play it cool.

     "Beginners luck, I guess."

     Rainclaw had also taught Sootpaw how to swim. What was so bad about river cats?

     Pebblepaw joined him by the river and leaned over the water. Sootpaw pushed him back so his shadow was no longer cast over the fish.

     "You'll scare the fish away if they see you. Keep your shadow away from the water." Pebblepaw nodded swiftly and locked his gaze on a pike that was gliding down the current. His tail flicked some leaves in the air, startling the older apprentice causing him to plunge in the cold river. He flailed his paws wildly and dreamed for help. Sootpaw was frantic. Would he be able to keep both of them afloat?

     Pebblepaw was yelping now, "Sootpaw! Sootpaw help!"

     Sootpaw didn't have time to spare. He leaped into the strong current and swam strongly to the other apprentice and grabbed hold of his scruff. He tried speaking through the fur, but wasn't sure the soaked tom could hear him.

     "Don't flounder! Stay still."

     The apprentice must've gotten the point and went dead weight. That made it slightly harder to keep above the current, but his flailing paws were no longer dragging him under. Sootpaw looked around searching for land and moved his paws towards the bank. He would never make it with Pebblepaw with him. He tightened his grip on his friend and stopped swirling his paws. Instead, he let the current cary the two down the river. Pebblepaw was shivering. They washed up on the sand on the other side of the river.

     They were on NightClan territory now! Sootpaw let Pebblepaw out of his reach and shook the water out of his fur. Pebblepaw coughed up some water and frantically began licking his pelt. Looking over at his saviour, he mimicked his actions and the water flew out of his short fur and onto Sootpaw's. He shook his fur out once again and looked around. They had not yet crossed the scent line. NightClan placed their marker farther from the river to make sure the water didn't wash away the scent. Pebblepaw's pelt stopped shaking, but Sootpaw could tell he was still spooked.

     "Uh. Thanks for, uh. Thanks for saving me. By the way, where did you learn to swim?"

     Sootpaw ignored his question. His fur was pricked in frustration. They were on the wrong side of the river! He could feel his face grow heated and he tried to take deep breaths but he was fuming. How could he have landed on the wrong side?

     Pebblepaw narrowed his eyes at his denmate. "Sootpaw? Maybe we should look for some stepping stones of some sort? I'm sure there are some farther down, maybe near warmrocks?"

     Sootpaw nodded, momentarily forgetting about his mistake. He took the lead, with Pebblepaw limping behind. With any luck, they wouldn't run into any patrols. Not that they would be snuck up on. NightClan's territory consisted on tons of tree trunks left behind when the twolegs come chop them down every few generations. When that happens, all of NightClan stays underground. Tunnels wind all around their territory, their main home. Most of the cats there have dark pelts to blend in the dark and very sharp eyes, used to seeing in darkness. On land, they would be easy to spot.

     Sootpaw started thinking about why the clans were named how they were. He knew that MoonClan was named after the roofless camp that they maintain. NightClan for the underground, RuneClan for the crystals that line the rocks in their underground territory  RainClan for the water that drips off their tree leaves continuously, ClawClan for being the clan to win the first battle, SkyClan for being such good climbers, FireClan and DesertClan for living in the heat, TwilightClan and DropClan for the time where they hunt, and Sun and CloudClan for the limis which their trees reach. But what about SoulClan?

     He was knocked from his daydream when his paw got caught in a crack and he tripped tail over head into a trunk of an old tree. He crashed into the chopped down tree and bounced back like a spring. He flicked his ears in embarrassment and watched Pebblepaw snicker silently. Sootpaw got to his paws and was in the lead again. Pebblepaw bounded forward at the sight of one stepping stones. He leaped not-so-gracefylly onto the first one, and then to the next one and finally the last one, without getting his fur wet.

     Sootpaw landed on the first one, with his paws dangling dangerously over the ledge. His claws scrambled on the side before finally pulling himself up. He scrambled to his paws and leaped from the next one to next one and on to land.

     The sun was high in the sky now, and the two apprentices just made it to the MoonClan border, nearest the gathering rock. They were one of the clans that bordered the neutral territory. Pebblepaw was hobbling towards the gathering place and reached the border just before Sootpaw.

     "We can hunt here. Darkear's wouldn't be happy if we returned without prey."

     The two toms separated and begun hunting among the bushes. Sootpaw focused his senses on a scrabbling on the tree roots just near the stiff gorge that bordered the gathering rock. One wrong move and he would plunge to his demise. He let his tail lie still and breathed through his nose to minimize the sound. Then he waited. After a few hearybeats he spotted the brown fluffy animal through the fronds. It was a plump mouse! He wriggled his hind quarters and then pounced, landing sqaurely on the rodents back. He nioeode his spine swiftly and picked it up by the tail. He carried it over to a large beech tree near a small trickle of water ran through the land. He dug a hole between them and buried his catch.

     He heard a slight scrabbling above him and looked up. A russe squirrel was scavaging for nuts around the birch tree. He took his place underneath one of the holly bushes, careful not to prick himself on the sharp leaves. He stared at the prey and water for it to climb down. When it finally did, he leaped from his hiding spot and landed with his paws on the animal's tail. It freaked and sped off in the direction of Pebblepaw and Sootpaw raced after it. Pebblepaw turned around just in time to get trampled by the animal. He thrashed blindly at the animal, but he couldn't pin it to the ground. The squirrel tore up a tree and into a small hole in the trunk. It was gone for good now.

     Pebblepaw looked apologeticly at the younger tom and sat up with a plump thrush clamped firmly in his jaws. Sootpaw had retreaeved his mouse and fish and they were dangling from his jaw. Sootpaw could smell the slimy fish under his nose and his ears twitched. He had never had fish before. I wonder what it tastes like?

    The two apprentices made it back to camp soon after. Sootpaw got strange looks from his clanmates as he padded into camp with a carp, but he proudly placed it on top of the freshkill pile. He decided to munch on a small vole, just to quench his hunger before the gathering. Splashfoot was outside the leaders den and Clawstar was mounted on top of the high ledge.