The darkness covered his movements and soft conversation the sound of his pawsteps. He crept forward, eyes on his prey. It seemed unaware of his advances but he could never be too careful.

He slid into a crouch, slightly lopsided, tail not quite still as excitement filled him. He bunched his muscles and –

"Gotcha'!" he squeaked a moment too soon and the grey tail whisked away before he had a chance to land on it.

"Nice try, Dewkit," Cinderblossom purred. "But you announced your victory a moment too soon." Beside her, Mothpelt gave a purr of amusement.

The grey kit shook out his fur, looking between the two she-cats before him.

"Did you hear me coming Mothpelt?" His eyes grew wide as she stifled a purr.

"Only in the last possible moment," she replied. "But I'm no warrior, just a simple medic."

Dewkit scrunched his nose up as he remembered the scents of some of Mothpelt's herbs. "I wouldn't want to be a medic. Sorting herbs all day would be boring."

Before Cinderblossom could chastise him for his rudeness, he bounced up, nearly losing his footing in his excitement. "I want to be a warrior, the strongest of them all!"

A soft expression filled Cinderblossom's face. "Perhaps one day you will be." Her tone carried a sadness Dewkit could not quite place but he brushed it off. Of course he would be a great warrior. He would be as quick as Jaystrike and as strong as Bronco and as smart as Sprucetail and as determined as Beaver. The other alley cats wouldn't know what hit them.

"When do I start training?" he asked, quivering with enthusiasm. "Crowpaw's been telling me all about their training and Crisp and Oats were showing me the battle moves they learned their first day." He thrust a paw out at his mother's tail, losing his balance in the process.

Mothpelt steadied him with a forepaw. "All in good time," she purred amiably.

Dewkit huffed. "If I can't train can I at least go play?" he asked.

Cinderblossom turned to the entrance of the cardboard den. "Leafbare is starting to blow in. There will be snow soon." She sounded worried.

Mothpelt rolled her eyes. "All the more reason to have him play now rather than later." She turned to the bouncing kit. "Off you go. I'll take care of your mother."

The grey kit sped out of the den before they could say another word.

He bounded from one corner of the alley cat camp to the other, past the other cardboard dens stacked one atop another. Behind the dens a red brick wall rose even higher, tall enough to block out the light of the sun come midday. The other two walls that enclosed the camp were hard and flat, the same colour as Dewkit's fur. The fourth side, open to the world, led to a calm Thunderpath, with trees lining its sides.

Dewkit made his way to this opening, took a left, and padded down a stretch of grey path. Up ahead, he could see the big expanse of field where the alley cats trained, the grass underpaw brown and brittle now that leafbare was near. There was a small lake there, lined with reeds and bullrushes, and a strange structure crossed its narrowest point. Twolegs walked there sometimes but they appeared rarely now that it had grown cold.

The kit bounded through the grass, preferring its texture to the hardness of the path, and headed for a small group of bushes and trees. Twoleg dens stood tall all around the expanse of green but here, in this little grove, it felt almost like a forest.

He stopped, scenting the air. Dewkit could tell the trainees and their mentors had been here not too long ago; their smells were still fresh. Yet, it seemed too quiet for the group to be training here. Usually, Quartz's strict commands could be heard from where he stood.

Then, Dewkit was barrelled over by a familiar cream bundle. Yowling, he latched onto the figure and the two rolled, finally coming to a halt a couple of foxlengths away.

"I got him!" his attacker cried proudly, fluffing up her cream and white tail.

"No fair, he was supposed to be my prey!" A nearly identical cream and white tom padded up, looking very indignant.

"Should have leaped faster then, Oats," the she-cat replied, shrugging.

"I didn't hear you coming, Crisp," Dewkit offered, getting to his paws. He could now see the other trainees bounding towards them: the light brown forms of Hazel and Finch, the spotted silver and brown of Soren and Olive, Robin's tabby stripes, Webpaw's grey figure, and Crowpaw black as night.

"Very good, Crisp," Hazel praised as she approached. She was one of the older trainees, nearly old enough to become a mentor or provider for the alley cat group.

"You'll be a provider in no time." That was Quartz, voice always loud and strong and commanding attention.

The trainees assembled themselves in a line and, at a flick of Crowpaw's tail, Dewkit sidled in between him and Oats. Quartz's blue eyes ran up and down the line before finally landing on Soren. She flicked her tail and the silver spotted tom stepped forward. With a flick of her ear she called forward Webpaw, who bounced up to the older trainee.

"On your marks." Soren uncurled his tail from around his paws, gracefully sliding into a perfect hunter's crouch. Across from him, Webpaw did the same, though much more energetically.

Quartz's nod was nearly imperceptible, but it was enough. Before Dewkit could blink, Soren had launched himself into the air. Webpaw slid beneath him, flipping onto her back as he sailed by and extending a paw to rake his underbelly. Her legs too short, the she-cat missed by a hair-length. She growled as she flipped back over, wheeling around to face the alley cat.

This time, Soren charged forward, taking the lower route. Webpaw dodged by leaping over him, paws barely touching the ground before turning to catch the spotted tom's tail.

He was too quick, catching her outstretched paw with his own, teeth bared. Knocking the she-cat's blow aside, he retaliated with a blow, bringing a heavy paw down on Webpaw's head. She shook her head, dazed, but did not let her guard down. A strike to Soren's cheek had the tom reeling back, regaining his composure.

Dewkit's wide hazel eyes shifted back and forth between the silver tom and the grey she-cat, mouth hanging open in awe at their speed, their flexibility, their skill. Crowpaw nudged him gently and the kit closed his mouth, though his eyes continued to flick from one trainee to the other.

Finally, Soren had Webpaw pinned beneath him and Quartz called an end to the session.

"Can anyone tell me why Soren was able to pin Webpaw down?" The silver she-cat stepped towards the line of trainees as Soren and Webpaw rejoined the lineup.

Dewkit yearned to answer her question but Olive beat him to it.

"Webpaw opened up a weak spot – in this case her side," the light brown she-cat responded. "With enough speed, Soren was able to give her a blow to the ribs, which would cause her to recoil, and then push her over and pin her."

"Very good, Olive." Quartz beamed at the trainee; Webpaw looked like she might murder her.

"Who's up next?" The trainees perked up immediately.

"Me!" Dewkit said, bouncing up before he could stop himself. Quartz paused.

"Dewkit, you are not yet a trainee," she said pointedly, but not unkindly. "Your time will come. For now," she ushered him back into line, "it would be best if you continued to watch."

"Observation can be a formidable skill." The voice startled Dewkit and he turned to meet the white-rimmed eyes of a pitch black tom. He felt his insides squirm as golden eyes pierced right through him, making him feel incredibly small.

"Nightchaser, how nice of you to join our training session," Quartz said, though there was an evident edge to her voice. "We were just about to start another round. Perhaps Crowpaw and Hazel this time?"

Neither trainee seemed enthused to be training in front of Nightchaser. Dewkit knew Crowpaw expected to lose – fighting was not the tom's greatest skill by far – and to have Nightchaser watching must have only made the feeling worse.

Sure enough, Hazel had Crowpaw pinned in a matter of heartbeats.

"Can anyone tell me what went wrong this time?" Quartz asked.

This time, Dewkit beat everyone else to it. "He was not quick enough!" Had the trainee moved a moment sooner, Hazel wouldn't have hit him with the front paw strike, which led to her bowling him over with her weight and pinning him.

Before Quartz could respond, Nightchaser stepped in. "Wrong. He let his guard down, expecting Hazel to attack from the sides instead of head on like she had the previous couple of strikes."

Dewkit refused to look at the tom, though he could feel his eyes on him.

"Precisely," Quartz replied. "Though Dewkit was also partially correct. Had he been quick enough, he might have dodged the frontal attack."

This time, Dewkit did turn to look at Nightchaser. The tom only bowed his head to the silver she-cat, flicking his tail in farewell. Then, he was padding off in the direction of the alley cat camp.

"I think that's enough for one day," Quartz decided. The remaining trainees breathed a sigh of relief.

Only Olive seemed disappointed. "Can we go hunting instead?" she asked eagerly.

Soren groaned at his littermate's enthusiasm. "Give it a rest, will you? You can't protect and hunt for the Clan single-pawed. And, besides, the providers will have caught more than enough prey by now." He flicked his tail at the sun, now past its highest point.

"I'll go with you," Webpaw offered, stepping forward. Olive seemed startled but nodded her thanks.

"Don't stray too far," Quartz ordered. "I'll send one of the providers to you when we get back to camp. Finch, go with them."

The small brown tom huffed but did as told.

"Race you back to camp!" Crisp cried once the makeshift hunting patrol had departed. She poked Oats in the side, who hissed in annoyance, but leaped to his paws all the same. He took off after his littermate, Robin following close behind. Hazel and Soren exchanged a look and pelted after them as well.

Crowpaw got to his paws slowly, stretching as he did so. Dewkit stayed at his side, watching the racing trainees sadly. He glanced down at his twisted back leg, averting his gaze quickly.

"Come on, let's get back to camp," Crowpaw mewed, letting Quartz take the lead.

"But camp is so boring," Dewkit whined, knowing Cinderblossom wouldn't let him out of her sight once he was back inside the confining walls.

"Well, where else would you want to go?" the black tom asked, glancing sideways at the kit.

"Anywhere! We could go explore some of the gardens along that busy Thunderpath that Leo was talking about the other day. Or we could go to that park where Bramblefire spotted a raccoon. Or maybe we could go to the edge of the Twolegplace and watch the sunset!"

Dewkit's excitement got the better of him and he nearly planted his face in the ground as he stumbled over his own paws.

Crowpaw sighed, helping the kit back up. "Those are all quite far away and we would need to take a lot of fence-ways to get there. I'm not sure you're big enough to get on top of some of those fences."

As nicely as Crowpaw said it, Dewkit knew what he truly meant. He glanced at his back leg once more, silently cursing it as he limped along. He decided to change the subject.

"Is Nightchaser always like that?"

"Like what?"

"Grumpy. Distant. Kind of mean."

Crowpaw grunted. "He's been like that ever since we got here, yes."

"Why does he seem to hate me so much?"

This time, the trainee took a little bit longer to respond. "It's a long and complicated story, and I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you it. Let's just say Nightchaser has trouble fighting some of his demons."

The roundabout answer was not satisfactory in any way to Dewkit but he could see Crowpaw's resolve not to say anything more. The grey kit dragged his feet on the ground, hoping the older tom would change his mind.

It worked.

"Tell you what," Crowpaw said once they were on the grey path that led to the camp. "Quartz told us we would have the day off from training tomorrow. Why don't we go on an adventure?"

It wasn't quite what Dewkit had been hoping for, but it was a tempting proposition nonetheless. As they entered the camp, he immediately spotted Cinderblossom, whose tail flicked happily as she noticed her kit's return.

Dewkit's heart sank. "I don't think Cinderblossom would let me out of her sight if she knew I was exploring the Twolegplace."

Crowpaw flicked an ear dismissively. "Leave that to me."

// I've decided I'm going to change my update schedule for the summer... Which means you get two chapters a week now! I'm doing July Camp NaNoWriMo with this story so that will force me to keep writing. Since there are two POV's, Dewkit chapters will come out on Wednesdays (a day early this week because the first update was on Friday instead of Sunday) and Lightpaw chapters will come out on Sundays.