"I stole this one from Beepaw's part of the den. Hopefully she doesn't notice, but your den is just so bare!" Foxpaw meowed as he pad up. The sun had fallen half-way down the sky, and the clouds had rolled down with it. Dipperflight gave a small nod, his eyes focused ahead to where the camp entrance would be, if the nursery hadn't been blocking his view he would've had the perfect view. "It's one of my favorite things, even though it isn't mine. Beepaw's really nice though; she'd be happy to share it." The ginger tom pulled all the way up to Dipperflight's make shift den.

The apprentice had barely scrapped moss together before getting distracted, saying he needed to get something else. Dipperflight twitched an ear as he saw what Foxpaw had set down; a shiny two-leg thing. It was mangled like a fox had gotten ahold of it, mostly silvery and shiny, but it had deep sky blue patches. Dipperflight wrinkled his nose, the twoleg object crinkling with a strange sound.

"You keep twoleg objects in your dens..?" He meowed quietly, confused. Foxpaw twitched an ear with slight ununderstanding before his eyes widened with sudden insight.

"Woah, you don't put cool stuff up in your dens in ThunderClan?!" He jumped into the air with excitement. Dipperflight shook his head, and the brightly pelted apprentice calmed down enough to start weaving the scrap into the reed overhang that rooted his small den. "We put all kinds of cool stuff in our den. Beepaw and I both have flowers weaved in our nests, Ravenpaw won't admit it but he really likes to look at them, and Gorsepaw keeps shells in his area. I would too, but I can never find any really cool or pretty ones like him." He sighed, pulling away. Dipperflight blinked, reeling from the onslaught of names of cats he didn't know.

"But why keep something like that if you don't really need it..?" He murmured. Foxpaw thought for a moment before shrugging.

"I like it," he meowed simply. Dipperflight glanced at the shredded shiny twolegs thing woven slightly above his head. Am I something useless that Fennelstorm kept around just to look at? "Oh! Do you smell that? It's the hunting patrol; Ravenpaw's on it! Hang on, stay right here, he's going to flip, it'll be really cool!" He launched away on white paws toward the entrance to camp, which was the thinnest part of the dense reed wall.

        It was quiet for half a moment before Dipperflight heard the sharp "No way! You're lying!" from somewhere near the entrance, and then a pummeling of paws running towards him.

A young black tom came into view, his short, sleek black fur ruffled and deep green eyes narrowed. Dipperflight quickly recoiled, his fur fluffing up as well. Foxpaw strode in right after the dark apprentice, with cocky grin.

"No way. No way you caught a ThunderClan warrior. You're not even strong enough to push me to the ground!" The black apprentice growled, his tail lashing with satisfaction. Dipperflight glanced down to his paws. Oh. Oh boy. I'm such a bad warrior, even RiverClan's weakest apprentice was able to bring me down back when the patrol got me....

       "I did! Dipperflight is cool though, Ravenpaw-- do you know they don't collect things for their dens in ThunderClan?" Foxpaw glowed with energy, his eyes alight as he spoke to the larger apprentice.

      "Of course they don't, stone-head, all clans are different." Dipperflight's fur flattened as he realized Ravenpaw wasn't a threat anymore, and as the night pelted RiverClan cat shifted just right, he caught a glimpse of a large scar across his right shoulder. The dark apprentice noticed the peek, and he shifted uncomfortably, blinking slowly. "I was in an accident as a kit," he mumbled quietly, drawing his paws close to himself.

       "Ah, but a little fall into the low-water riverbed won't stop our Ravenpaw!" Foxpaw jumped, bouncing into the air as he spoke. Ravenpaw glared, but Foxpaw chilled once he caught the uneasy gaze of Dipperflight.

       "Foxpaw, Ravenpaw? What are you-- oh. Oh! I remember you! ...Dipperflight, I believe." A gray tom approached, tabby stripes gently rippling across his pale pelt, his warm amber eyes bright. "I didn't realize Rushfrost had put you over here, though I guess it makes a lot of sense."

      "Oh, hi... Sagecloud, right?" Dipperflight stood, stepping out of the den. Ravenpaw and Foxpaw both took quick steps back so they weren't blocking his way.

       "Yeah! I know, I almost didn't recognize you by your dry pelt, you looked almost all black when you were soaking wet." The tom purred. Dipperflight nodded.

       "Um-- you too." He looked down to his paws.

        "Were they helping you set up your den?" He meowed, nodding to the shiny twoleg object.

       "Yeah! You don't think Beepaw will mind, do you?" Foxpaw leaped in front of Dipperflight, who shuffled backward as the ginger tom moved to be face to face with the slim warrior.

       "Don't jump around and cut off guests," he  meowed gently before continuing, "you should probably ask her about it. She's very reasonable though, but you can go get on it now." Foxpaw nodded brightly before trotting away toward a thick reed den smelling of mouse bile, old moss bedding setting at the den's entrance.

       Ravenpaw looked up to Sagecloud. "Am I done for the day...?" He asked, his nearly low voice rumbling.

"You did wonderfully hunting today, I'm sure Troutface saw and will be okay with it." Ravenpaw gave a firm nod, though a light glimmered in his dark green eyes as he pad off. Dipperflight's eyes softened as he saw the full extent of the scarring on the young tom's right side, stretching from his shoulder muscle across and patchy across his torso and ending at his sharp hipbone, his gait slightly off in his hindquarters. Sagecloud sighed lightly.

"Is he.. okay...?" Dipperflight murmured quietly. "Can he still be a warrior?" Sagecloud shifted his gaze to the dark tabby.

"He works harder than any other apprentice," He smiled brightly, purring, "he's one of the best ones we have because of it." Dipperflight looked down to his paws, brows scrunching together in thought. He's so young, and already he has to face the hardships of living. "You know," he pale gray tabby brought him out of his thoughts, "I've always found Ravenpaw inspirational. I had bad things happen to me, too...," he paused, tensing slightly but pushing through with a bright smile, "but thinking of Ravenpaw... his chances of becoming a normal warrior like you or I were slim to none. But he pulled through. He fought and suffered and cried to be where he is. To consider him.. it really makes you want to fight, too." Dipperflight picked his gaze up to meet with the warm, soft amber-brown eyes.

"Yeah but...," he breathed, "What do I even have to fight for?" Sagecloud's eyebrows raised. "Do I even have a clan to fight for? I ran away. I ran away from friends and my nonexistent family. I ran away from my fears. I don't have anything."

"You have a future. Cats you haven't met, relationships you haven't formed, old friends, new friends, everything. You never know who or what's going to come. But you can fight for it. Don't ever give up, Dipperflight."

Dipperflight swallowed. That's all so far away though. Anything could cut it all off any second, and then all of the fighting wouldn't have been worth it.

"Rushfrost is sending out an extra night patrol, just so you know." Sagecloud meowed before turning to leave, sunset light bathing his light gray fur. "One squirrel-chaser is enough for our territory." He meowed with a teasing smirk. Dipperflight backed up into his den with a slight, awkward smile, his mind on the extra patrol. It won't be enough to keep Fennelstorm all the way away, but maybe enough to keep him away for the night.

//
AN

I photoshopped this one too guys. It's Foxpaw. Yeah, if you guessed, the trash he brought for Dippy was a cool ranch doritos bag ahaaa. I love cool ranch Doritos.

Kids are very annoying. I literally could not concentrate to write this because my fam is watching someone else's kids (6 & 3) and they are t h e  m o s t annoying creatures to walk the planet. Yeah, some are very sweet and adorable, but these ones are hecka annoying.

Though, Cypresskit and Plumkit (those kits from back in chapter two I think it was) personalities were helped along by the tragically aggravating experiences with these two kids.

I drew a set of character icons, too, if anyone is interested I might post them next chapter. I didn't do Rushfrost or Daisystar though because I made it back before I actually wrote them and fell in love with them.

Anyway, kids and art aside, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that I didn't make too many errors.