A New Journey [Antpaw/Skyy]

Antpaw would never be the type of cat who took half the day to wake up. His mind was like a switch, flicking from conscious to unconscious without a second thought. As soon as the waves of unconsciousness passed, and those first few thoughts broke through into his mind, he was awake, reality seizing his mind as quickly as catching a fish. Right there and then, the first sleepy rays of the sun against his eyelids, a particularly loud snore from Lynxpaw, the shifting of Foxpaw not far away, all of it processed in his mind, and the tom’s amber eyes snapped open, despite the sleep that still clung to them.

It only took a matter of moments for his mind to start working, to collect up memories and plans, placing it all together in an orderly fashion, and that alone was enough for the tiny black tom to haul himself to his paws. Without the grace he usually had when moving, the apprentice made his way for the entrance. He had training with Spiderbite, training that came above all else. The thought alone was enough to rumble excitement in his chest, to get the usually prepared tom moving as faster than he needed to across the den. He paid no mind to the tail he stepped on as he went, they would live.

Antpaw broke out of the apprentice’s den in perhaps the most sudden and obvious way possible, uncommon for a cat who spent so much time sneaking about. However, barely a glance around had his locating Spiderbite, almost the moment his mentor noticed him. “Antpaw!” Immediately, the tom’s ears pricked up, a grin stretching wide across his face. “Spiderbite!” he called out in return, immediately spinning toward the tom, and pushing himself forward in large, quick leaps. “We must explore, we must adventure!” Antpaw bobbed his head quickly and deeply, large round eyes all too focused on the black tom as he approached.

“We must, we must!” he chirped in, grin only widening as Spiderbite leapt around, gesturing toward the path out of camp. Antpaw held nothing back, and immediately bounced after the warrior, racing forward to be right at the warrior’s front paw, his black fur puffed up again the morning air. His heart thudded against his chest, the physical remenants of sleep quickly fading. No, this required all his attention and all his skill. Receiving Spiderbite as a mentor couldn’t have been any better than it was. Of all the warriors who graced the clan, he got someone who understood him, and didn’t try and pretend they knew how to sneak better than him immediately.

Their first meeting had been all but jumping, and the older warriors almost knocking him right off his paws. However that hardly mattered to him. Spiderbite was enthusiastic, he understood, he was wonderful, and the idea of adventuring straight away? He was hardly going to fight such a thing. Jumbled thoughts stormed through the apprentice’s mind, each little bit of their surrounding sinking into the tom’s senses. It was only Spiderbite’s voice that drew him out of it, and focusing again, wide eyes watching his mentor speak the words. “What does it feel like for you to be an apprentice, now?”

Antpaw have a thoughtful hum, swaying a little to the side as he walked, before back again. “Very good, very good,” he meowed after a moment, bobbing his head a few times. “Very different! An odd feeling all bubbly and nervous and happy all bundled into one, very excited, yes.” He turned his head around to look back into the clearing, before back again. “Much, much better with you.” Yes, that’s what it came down to. With a little chirp, the tom bounded forward a few steps, before looking back. “Where are our paws going first?”