Stripepaw was born with the name Stripepup, his parents being Puddleleap and Iccalus. He also had a sister, Moonpup, and a brother, Nut. Since Nut was weaned, it was obvious he was going to be the next Alpha. He always got more supported by Lavenderpaw than him and Moonpup, even though they were better than him in the lessons! They started to bully him. When they were five moons old, Moonpup died of pox and Stripepup felt ununderstood and alone. And it became worse when they were made apprentices; Nut was suddenly better in training and Stripepaw made a lot of mistakes. Nut tried to comfort his brother and train with him, but for Stripepaw, that only made it worse. Couldn't he just bully him and not be nice to him? It was embarrassing.
One day, a wolf named Elkpaw joined the pack. She trained together with Stripepaw since they were going to be in the same hunting patrol. At first, Stripepaw hated her. But while talking to each other, he finally felt understood again and they became close friends.