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A rabbit slowly munches on the tall grass in the large open clearing, unknowing of the cat hiding in that same grass. Wildrunner keeps her gaze solely focused on the small animal, ears pricked up to listen to the sounds around her. She takes a light step forwards, then another and again as she creeps closer. A twig snaps beneath her paws and it startles the rabbit, the creature hopping away across the grass. Wildrunner doesn't waste a second as she bounds after it, magic thrumming in her veins and spurring her on.
The wind rushes through her fur as she runs chasing the rabbit, feeling light on her feet as her magic boosts her speed. It's exhilarating.
It's almost like she's gliding, paws barely even touching the ground. The rabbit weaves from left to right, hoping to lose her. But her magic not only makes Wildrunner much faster, it also allows her to swiftly turn her body, kind of like a snake or a weasel.
She leaps and pounces on the rabbit, catching it in her jaws and hauling it back all the way to camp.
She brings the rabbit to the fresh-kill pile, though they need extra food for the festival, the Clan also needs to eat in the meantime.
She takes a moment to relax and wash herself, removing some bits of grass that had gotten knotted into her fur.
A moment later, Sunspark rushes into camp, looking panicked.
"Wildrunner!" Ze yells as ze spots the she-cat first, running up to her while taking gasping breaths, "have you seen Mosspaw!?"
Wildrunner feels bad she has to dim the look of hope in Sunspark's eyes as she tells the feline that no, she hasn't seen Mosspaw.
"Isn't ae supposed to be with you, you were out hunting right?" The younger warrior asks.
A despairing look crosses over her Clanmates face, "exactly! How could I have lost my own apprentice!?"
"Are you sure ae didn't just wander off, there's so many interesting things to see in the forest, I know I often gave my mentor a hard time when I'd get distracted. Scared him half to death with the amount of times I managed to get myself lost."
Sunspark shook zir head. "No, Mosspaw is very cautious, ae would never just wander off."
Their conversation was starting to attract the attention of several Clanmates, who paused what they were doing to look over at them.
Cloverpetal, a fairly serious cat, comes up to the two and asks what's going on, concern evident in her tone.
The news that Mosspaw might be missing shocks the she-cat and she quickly marches off to organize a search party.
Cats mingle together before shooting off in different directions, aiming to cover as much of ShineClan's territory in a short amount of time, Wildrunner offering to check around the borders. With her speed it shouldn't take too long and she can quickly get away from danger if necessary.
Timbernose and Berrywhisker put their tracking skills to use and Cloudwing takes to the skies for a better view. Robinheart runs along with them, his magic allowing him to hear the heartbeats of any nearby creature.
With Minnowfin's swimming abilities, the gray she-cat can easily get to places that are harder to reach for other cats, using underground rivers as shortcuts.
Relieved and grateful for the help of zir Clanmates, Sunspark joins Cloverpetal and the two head off back where Sunspark last saw Mosspaw.
As the sun begins to sink below the treetops, cats begin to grow frantic. There are no signs of Mosspaw anywhere, it's like ae just vanished without a trace.
Wildrunner has already raced around the whole territory twice, briefly stopping to speak to other searching warriors. Still nothing.
Some cats even went back to camp to see if the apprentice had just returned home, but unfortunately they found no Mosspaw.
Wildrunner was seriously starting to consider going across the border when she heard a yowl from the direction of Gemstone Cave, an underground tunnel-system which led to the Luminous Cavern, where ShineClan communicated with their ancestors. It sounded like Thymefur, the medicine cat! Wildrunner remembered they had gone there earlier today, to make sure everything was ready on StarClan's end for the Star Festival.
The yowl sounded pained and it filled Wildrunner with worry for her Clanmate, she quickly she raced through the trees to rush to Thymefur's side, followed by a few other warriors who had also heard the yowl.
She found Thymefur near the edge of the ShineClan border, herbs laying forgotten to the side.
The medicine cat was pinned down by a cream-furred cat, calculating dark blue eyes staring at the tabby who didn't move, as though kept in place by some unseen force. There was a small scratch-mark that still bled on their cheek.
This strange cat didn't seem very friendly and Wildrunner prepared herself for a fight.