Three days had passed, and Cedarpaw was enjoying what might be the last warm weather. It was definitely leaf fall now. She lay on a rock by the river, listening to the calm sound of the current.

She had been visiting Wind any chance she had now. Apparently, Flowerfeather and Leaffall met him a couple times as well. He told her stories about their apprenticeships. It turns out, Leaffall was really confused about his Warrior name when he first got it. Cedarpaw couldn't blame him.

"Cedarpaw!" The brown apprentice was instantly tackled by a black ball of fuzz.

"Duskpaw! What was that for?"

"We're battle training together!"

"It's about time!" Cedarpaw jumped up excitedly.

"Runningfox and Echostream are waiting for us." Cedarpaw followed her friend to the training hollow. Their mentors sat there patiently.

"Okay you two," started Echostream. "Neither of you have done a lot of battle training, and that is our mistake."

"You two are going to learn a move that's perfect on larger attackers," Runningfox continued. "I'm a real battle, unsheathe your claws, but for now, keep them sheathed. Echostream and I will demonstrate."

Cedarpaw watched as Echostream and Runningfox went face-to-face. Echostream suddenly leaped onto Runningfox's back. Runningfox let out a false yowl of pain. She faked a couple swipes and then fell back to the ground.

"Easy enough." Echostream smiled. "Now, you two try on us."

Cedarpaw walked up to her mentor. She realized that she could look at her without tilting her head. She took a deep breath and then bounded up onto her mentor's shoulders. But, before Cedarpaw could  inflict any 'pain,' Echostream easily shook her off. Cedarpaw looked at Duskpaw. She wasn't having any luck either.

"Try again." Echostream's ears twitched in amusement. "But latch your claws onto my fur and hold on tight. That way, you'll be able to stay on top."

"One more thing." Runningfox jumped in. "Your opponent might roll over, so be prepared to jump off at any time. You don't want to get squished."

Cedarpaw nodded her head. It was a lot to take in! She took her position in front of her mentor again. She ran through all the directions in her head. She jumped onto her mentor and quickly sank her claws into the thick white fur.

Echostream twisted and shoke her body, but Cedarpaw managed to hold on. But before she could move any more, her mentor rolled over and pinned Cedarpaw to the ground.

"Well, I tried," Cedarpaw said in defeat. "That was fun though." After multiple tries, she finally got hold of it. By now it was sun high and she was tired.

"Good work," Echostream praised. "Go take a break. We're going on a hunting patrol at sundown."

"Okay," Cedarpaw agreed, holding back a retort. She and Duskpaw walked back to camp, chatting happily.

"I wonder when our first battle will be?" Duskpaw asked. "I love battle training."

"Honestly, I'm fine with not having a battle yet. I'm not that good," replied the brown she-cat. "It took me forever to understand that move!"

"You'll be fine," Replied Duskpaw. "Hey look! There's Skypaw and Willowfly! Let's go say hi!"

"You go ahead." Cedarpaw said, hiding the toxic thoughts in her head. "I'm going to find a trout."

"Alright!"

Cedarpaw walked to the fresh-kill pile. There was a trout! She picked it up and headed to her den. She sat down and waited for Duskpaw.