Helping an apprentice(Shining and Wolfy)

[shiningheart]

Ripplestream was leading the apprentice, Cedarpaw, to the river for the hunting portion of the challenge. The steel gray tom had promised to show Cedarpaw a special kind of hunting, and Ripplestream knew just how to do that. "Hurry up!" He called back to the trailing apprentice. "We're fishing today!"

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

"Coming!" Cedarpaw tore his nose from an interesting smell and caught up with Ripplestream. "Fishing? Does that mean we get our paws wet?"

(lol Cedarpaw is odd, he likes water!)

[shiningheart]

Ripplestream gave a chuckle. To anyone that knew him well enough, that would signify something either crazy or mischievous was about to occur. "Oh, we'll be getting much more than our paws wet, if you do exactly as I say." He meowed to the apparently eager apprentice.

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

Cedarpaw grinned. Ripplestream was his kind of cat! His paws itched for some kind of action- he couldn't wait to see Ripplestream's special style of fishing!

[shiningheart]

The roaring of the river soon passed Ripplestream's ears. A grin split his muzzle in half, and his paws became a blur beneath his body as he ran toward the mass of running water. When the sparkling water came into view between the tree trunks, Ripplestream veered off the path, dashing toward some boulders. The tallest boulder was at least a fox-length above the surface of the river. A regular cat would have slowed and just sat in the shallows, waiting for a fish to come by. Unfortunately, Ripplestream was far from ordinary. If anything, the tom sped up until he was two tail-lengths from the boulder. Then he made a mighty leap and landed neatly on the top. Once his paws touched the stone, the WaterClan warrior dove head-first into the rushing water.

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

Cedarpaw sped up, trying to keep up with Ripplestream, but due to his shorter legs, fell behind a bit. He stopped as he watched Ripplestream leapt neatly onto the boulder and then dive right in. "Awesome!!!" He wanted to try it himself, but he wanted to know how to do it right. Plus, watching Ripplestream doing this was so cool, he thought! He hurried over to the water's edge, waiting for Ripplestream to come back up...

[shiningheart]

When Ripplestream's head did pop back up, a wiggling fish was held between his teeth. It was a plump thing, a bit longer than a tail-length and a bit wider than Ripplestream's head. The WaterClan warrior swam strongly toward where Cedarpaw stood, keeping his grip on the fish firm to keep the fish from escaping. When his paws touched the sandy bank, he bit down harder on the fish, killing it instantly. Ripplestream put the fish in front of him and rested his paw over the body, like he was claiming his kill. "The trick is to watch where you land. If the wave carries the fish too far away, it will escape before you could even get your bearings right."

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

"That was so cool!!!" He yelped. "Can I try?" He leapt onto the rock, and waited for Ripplestream's okay. Though he was excited, he never forgot to respect those older than himself and listen to them, something his mother taught him from when he was young. He looked down, and could see several fish lazily swimming around in circles near the base of the rock. Thier scales glinted in the sunlight and Cedarpaw leaned over the rock, wanting to catch one just like Ripplestream had.

[shiningheart]

Ripplestream shook his head quickly. "Jump from a smaller boulder." He instructed from where he sat, tail curled neatly over his paws. "You're smaller than me, so jumping from that high could hurt you. Find a fish you want to get before you jump. If you take the time to look for a fish, you'll not only waste valuable oxygen, but energy that will be needed to catch up to the fish." He lay down and took a calm bite of his fresh-kill. "We, as cats of WaterClan, don't give the fish we hunt enough credit. I've hurt myself more times than I can count trying to perfect this technique."

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

"I always wondered why we didn't focus on catching fish when we live by the water." Cedarpaw meowed, shrugging. "I guess we've forgotten?" He leapt to a smaller boulder, acknowledging Ripplestream's admonitions and peered into the crystal clear water, until he had chosen a fat fish and locked his gaze on it. He bunched his muscles and dove over the edge, keeping his eyes on the fish of his choice...

[shiningheart]

Ripplestream watched, his muscles tensed in case the apprentice really did get hurt. He was having second thoughts about teaching this to a cat as young as Cedarpaw was. Many situations ran through his head about what could go wrong. Cedarpaw could lose his balance before he jumped and could hit his head on the boulder. He could go unconscious when he hits the water because he wasn't as heavy as Ripplestream was. The warrior almost yowled outloud for Cedarpaw to stop. If anything happened, it would be his fault. And if Ripplestream knew anything about himself, it was that he was horrible at taking responsibility.

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

Cedarpaw's head broke the surface of the water, throwing drops of riverwater everywhich way. A large fish wriggled in his jaws, and Cedarpaw wore a gleeful expression on his furry face. He doggie (or should that be kitty?) paddled to the shore and, just as he had seen Ripplestream do it, dispatched the fish. "I did it!" He crowed, beaming.

[shiningheart]

Ripplestream released an audible breath of relief as Cedarpaw joined him. "Yes, you did. Good job." He beamed at the apprentice, as proud as his mentor would have been. "Though form and grace will come later." He joked, mussing up the apprentice's fur with a paw affectionately. "You got it much quicker than I did when I was learning this."

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

Cedarpaw flicked his ears in mock offense as Ripplestream teased him about his form and grace. He puffed his chest out proudly at the praise. "Well, I had a good teacher!" He meowed, poking Ripplestream with his paw. He grinned and plopped the fish on the ground.

[shiningheart]

The warrior rolled his eyes at Cedarpaw's obvious sucking up. Or at least, that's what he was doing in Ripplestream's eyes. He snorted derisively. "You had A teacher." He corrected with a joking grin. "As I said back at camp, I made up this move." He leaned in closer, whispering conspiratorially. "Just don't tell anyone else about this move, okay? This will be our little secret." Then he went back to eating his fish in silence.

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

(lol! That one line you said "It will be our little secret' reminded me of the Lion king. XD)

"Of course not!" Cedarpaw meowed, pushing his fish around with his paw, before deciding to bury it to save. He looked at Ripplestream, to make sure he wasn't looking, and then cannonballed into the river. He loved swimming and wondered why others hated to swim. His head broke the surface and he looked over at Ripplestream, treading water..

[shiningheart]

Ripplestream looked up when he heard a sudden flash and just saw Cedarpaw jump into the river. He yowled a bit in surprise when some of the water caught him. "Hey!" He meowed in protest, glaring playfully at the apprentice. "Come on!" He meowed impatiently. "This is a 'who can catch the most' contest! We won't win unless we keep hunting!" He shook his head, pouting a bit. "And I want to hear about Rivertail's stupidity!" He had no doubt Shademoon will tell them all, no matter who won. But still, Ripplestream didn't like losing.

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

Cedarpaw scampered as fast as he could out of the water. He had forgotten the bet and was glad Ripplestream hadn't. "Yes! I SOOOOO wanna hear about Rivertail!" He laughed, shaking the excess water from his pelt. "Can we keep fishing, or are we gonna hunt something else?" He meowed. "What's fastest? There's no way I'm gonna let Hollypaw win the chance to hear those stories!" He purred.

[shiningheart]

Ripplestream sighed a bit. "We can't keep doing this if we want to hunt a lot. As much fun as fishing this way is, it's too slow." He glared at the boulders, like it was their fault dive-fishing, as it will now be referred to as, was too slow. "We'll alternate, from fishing regularly to hunting the small rodents that feed our Clan."

[wolfwarrior4jesus]

Cedarpaw nodded, though he looked a little folornly at the flowing water. "Okay. " He immediately dropped into a crouch as his sensitive nose caught the scent of prey. He stalked it smoothly and then pounced- catching a mouse. He buried it along side the fish he had caught in the river...