Flamepaw's Quest

Chapter 7

Flamepaw grinned and raced forward, leaping towards the duck. The duck called in fear and began waddling away, outstretching its brown wings. She chased it until it flew away, stumbling into the river bed.

The cold water hit her hard, and she choked on water beginning to splash around on the river bed.

"Flamepaw!" Dusktail shouted, rushing through the marshy plants.

Flamepaw was a swimmer, though no exactly a great one, and she created a fair amount of noise as she made her way back to the shore, completely soaked.

"Great. Now you've frightened all the fish!" Dusktail exclaimed. "What were you even doing?"

"There was a duck, and I thought I could catch it," Flamepaw explained, coughing up water she had accidentally swallowed.

Dusktail sighed, and Flamepaw knew he was disappointed with her. "Please, just grab the moss. Never have I had to deal with an apprentice like you before."

Flamepaw sadly made her way towards the moss that grew on the side of the beds, shivering from wind against her wet fur. She grabbed some moss with her teeth and brought it over towards Dusktail, stomping lightly on it. Unfortunately, this action caused drops of water to drip from her pelt, and the moss ended up becoming more wet.

"Give me that," Dusktail called, grabbing the moss from her. He began stomping on it, and Flamepaw watched from the distance as he squeezed the water out.

"Dusktail, I'm sorry," she told him. 

"I know you are. Just please do not try any other stupid things. We'll keep the moss here until we return," Dusktail explained. 

"Aren't we learning hunting moves?"

"We're starting hunting moves on forest prey, not fish, so we'll be in the woods. Come on," he called, leading her past the river beds towards another part of the forest. She followed him, hoping he wasn't too disappointed. She knew she was a tougher apprentice for him, but she couldn't help it. She was stubborn and wanted to learn.

Dusktail stopped in a nearby clearing, ordering her to sit down. Flamepaw obeyed, gazing up at her mentor. His eyes didn't shine in disappointment anymore, but they did not gleam with pride.

"Hunting forest prey is not as common, but we rely on it especially in leaf-bare. It is a skill you must learn, which is why we'll learn it first. You'll often find some squirrels and birds around here, as well as mice. Sometimes, you'll see an occasional rabbit here. Like I said, the only time besides leaf-bare you'd catch forest prey would be on your way to the river. Fish is what we mainly eat."

Flamepaw nodded, trying to listen for once.

"So we'll start with the basic crouch position," Dusktail explained. "Allow me to demonstrate."
She watched as he crouched down, his body weight leaning on his back legs. His body arched downwards, and he kept his eyes forward, as if he were really searching for prey. His tail remained down.

"Now you try," he ordered.

Flamepaw nodded, thinking it looks easy. When she crouched however, she knew if was not.

"You need to get your body down lower," he instructed, pushing her back down with his paw. She was nearly at the floor level, and she arched her back paws, keeping her eyes peeled.

"Tail down," he reminded her.

She nodded and kept it down, trying to keep a perfect pose. Her legs were growing tired though, and she felt like giving up on the pose.

"Perfect," Dusktail said.

"Really?" she asked, standing up.

"Well, you just lost it, but let's keep practicing."

Throughout the remainder of the day, she kept practicing her pounce, eventually learning a leaping method too. It was much more exciting than what they had been learning, yet she found herself wanting to learn even more.

As Dusktail called the day to a close, Flamepaw realized how much her stomach was growling, and she nearly forgot about the moss by the riverbed. Her pelt was no longer wet after standing in the sun all day, and she found the moss still positioned nicely by the tree where Dusktail had left it.

Following Dusktail back to camp, she apologized one again for the mishap that had taken place earlier and distributed the moss to No-Claw, who expressed much gratitude for the lovely neat.
Tired and hungry, Flamepaw ate two whole fish and was working on her third when Mothpaw came over.

"Gosh, are you hungry?" she asked.

"I haven't had anything to eat at all today, and I was working hard training," Flamepaw explained.

"Well, I've got some exciting news," she purred.

"What's that?" Flamepaw asked.

"Mountaineye's making me a full medicine cat!" she exclaimed.

"Already?" Flamepaw wondered.

"He says I'm very advanced and that he's old, so he wants to take me now instead of waiting another moon or so. Oh, I can't wait to receive my new name!"

"Congrats," Flamepaw purred, taking her last bite of fish. She laid back, stuffed.

"How's training going?"

"All right. All I've managed to do so far is make a complete fool of myself."

"How?" Mothpaw asked with concern.

"Oh, I tried to catch a duck today and ended up falling into the riverbed, but it's okay. I didn't drown. Dusktail was upset though. I know I'm a tough apprentice to train. I just hope he has enough patience to train me," she sighed.

"Of course he will. Goldstar assigned him to you for a reason. Well, good luck, Flamepaw. I'll see you later with my new name!" Mothpaw purred. She bounced off, leaving Flamepaw to wonder how good of a medicine cat apprentice she was when she diets began. Obviously she was good if Mountaineye called her advance.

Sighing, Flamepaw made her way back to the apprentice den, hoping she'd become a better apprentice in no time.