3: Training Begins
The sunrise was as usual as every day. Its bright rays peeked over the forest, and its rays entered each den, lighting them up. The main den faced east so the sunlight would always enter that den first and that there was a lot of sunlight. Chris was the first to wake up. He stretched his tightened muscles and looked around the den.
He saw Rachel sleeping, with a smile on her face, curled around the sleeping pups, which all had smiles on their faces, enjoying the warmth from their caring mother. Chris smiled at seeing his family like this. He decided he would go for a quick walk and come back and take the pups for their first day of training. He left the den and took a walk around the territory, eventually coming to the edge of the territory, the border marked with the scent of the Guardians. Chris came to the edge of his border, where there was a river. He leaned his muzzle down towards the river and lapped up some water, clenching his morning thirst.
As he was drinking he heard a noise. Chris immediately put his head up and looked around. He looked across the river to see if the noise came from there. He didn't take his gaze off the opposite side of the border for a second. "Anyone there?" He called out, wondering if he would get a reply. Nothing. He decided to head back to his den to see if everyone was awake. But before he left, he took one last look behind him at the forest on the other side of the river. He then looked back towards the way he was going to go, to his den.
On the other side of the river there was a wolf who smiling, bearing his razor sharp teeth. "Axel, come on, our recon is done here." A wolf behind him called. "Sure thing Brady." He said and turned around and followed his friend back to their pack.
It was a 5 to 10 minute walk to his pack. When Chris got back to his den, he saw that Rachel was awake, waiting for him. "Morning." She said sleepily, as she began to nuzzle his neck. "Morning Rachel." Chris said as he nuzzled her back. "Are they awake?" He asked. "Just waking up." She said as she walked back inside, with Chris following her.
They saw all of the pups stretching, yawning the tiredness away. "Alright kids, ready for the first day of training?" Chris asked. "YES!" They all yelled in unison, except for Humphrey. "Humphrey, are you ready?" Chris asked, hoping to get an answer from him. "Yeah…I guess." Humphrey said meekly. Chris would talk to him later, now they had to get to the field.
"I'll be training you, and your mom will be either here or in the pack healer's den, alright?" He said. The pups nodded. "Good, follow me" Chris said and he led them to a field where they would begin their training. The pups were walking together while Chris walked in the front. "Yes, we finally become wolf guardians" Storm said, excitement at its fullest in him.
"We don't become wolf guardians just yet." Lunar stated. "Yeah, we have 1-2 years of training." Blaze said, pointing out the obvious. "Either way, we all know who will be best around here." Storm said in his over-confident tone. "Yeah me." Blaze said. "I was talking about me." Storm said. "Well with a head like yours, that will never happen!" Blaze said, intimidating Storm. His sisters giggled at this comment and Storm didn't have a come-back for that.
"Alright kids, we're here." Chris said as they walked to a huge field. "Line-up." He ordered. The pups did as they were told and lined up in a row. "This is your first day in Guardian Training. It will become a lot tougher as you go through your training but it is all to prepare you for your future." Chris said. "Guardian Training is divided into steps." He stated.
"The first step covers the first month, where it's basic training alphas do, but an alphas training takes six to eight months and you'll all do it in about 3 months" he said. The pups all listened intently, knowing the training they'd get into. But Humphrey was starting to become concerned because of all the training they'll have to do. "The second phase of training is the Advanced Skills. This is where you will all learn an advanced skill for each and every thing you learn in your first month. That step usually takes about 2-3 months." Chris said.
"The third step is Coordination. In your third month, we will travel to a special territory, where the leader is a friend of mine, and leave you there. You all will have to work as a team. Hunt for food, find water and shelter and you will not have any contact with any other wolf from this or that pack while doing that training. You all will have to survive for a month." Chris said.
"The fourth month will be about Fighting Skills. You will learn more about your strengths and weaknesses, especially when it comes to fighting, both mental and physical limits." He said. "The fifth month will be where you will be in a competition with each other. We will go back to the area and leave you there, but this time you all will have to work on your own to survive." Chris said, memories flashing through his mind as he said this.
"And then there will be the final phase, which will be the longest. This varies in length, but it takes about 9-12 months to finish. This is the phase in where you will learn what it means to be a Guardian. Yes, all the prior phases are about what it takes to be a Guardian. But what it MEANS to be a Guardian is something that one must learn over the course of time. Even when this phase is done, you will still spend the rest of your days learning, training, and doing your best to be a Guardian. At the end of this phase, then we will determine who wins." He said with a smile, eager to see how his pups will do in the training.
"That will be me." Storm said. "The winner will then receive an extra month in training" Chris said with a smile. The pups then began to laugh at Storm's facial expression. "Finally the last month" Chris said. "It's the most hard, strenuous, tiring phase there is." He said. The pups leaned in on what he was going to say.
"VACATION!" He yelled happily. The pups were shocked at what he just said. Their last month would be their vacation? "You set us up for that didn't you?" Lola asked. "You all should have seen the looks on your faces." Chris said, chuckling a bit. "Not cool dad." Lunar said jokingly. "Well at least you all know now which side you got your funny side from." He said.
"So you're saying I'm not funny?" A voice said which was all too familiar to them. Chris and the pups looked in the direction from where the voice came and saw their mom with there. "Well?" She asked my dad with an evil grin. Chris froze as she was not expecting his wife to be there. Sure, she was loving. But she could be very, rough. "H-Hey Rachel, w-what are y-you doing here?" Chris asked nervously.
"I wanted to see if you guys had started and to see how you're doing. I just didn't expect you'd be talking behind my back." She said, smiling evilly as she made her way past her pups and kept walking towards Chris. "Well I…" He wasn't able to finish as Rachel pushed him on his back and was now on top of him. "You want to know what I'm going to do?" She said. "What?" Chris asked.
Rachel then connected their lips into a lock. Chris closed his eyes to savor moment. "Ewwww!" The pups all said at the same time, seeing their parents making out. Luckily for the pups, their parents didn't go 'too far'. Chris and Rachel both smiled at their pup's reaction. "You all will be doing the same when you meet someone when you become young adults." Rachel said sitting next to her mate. "Ew, mom." They all said out of embarrassment.
"Okay, let's get to work." Chris said. "7 laps first." He ordered. "7 LAPS!" Blaze asked. "That's just a warm-up." Their dad said. The pups groaned a bit but started their training. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. They completed the 7 laps easily. It was a good sign that their physical strengths were beginning to show. Well, except for Humphrey. He had trouble completing the laps, and was exhausted after they had done their warm-up.
"Okay, now to the river for a few exercises." Chris said and led his pups to the river. They arrived there in a few minutes. "Alright, you will have to swim 5 laps across the river, so that's 10 lengths." He said. Storm, Blaze, Lunar and Lola all got into the water excitedly followed by a worried-looking Humphrey. Once again, the pups did well. They swam across the river, which had a slow moving current with ease and didn't show any signs of problems.
But the same could not be said for Humphrey. Yes he did complete the task, but he was really tired at the end of it. His parents saw this, but they had to have him continue because it was for his own good. When the swimming was done, they had to 10 laps around the field. The pups did their best and showed excellent skill, strength and stamina. Humphrey was again dead tired after this exercise. But luckily when they were done, it was already sunset.
"Alright everyone, time to go back to the den." Chris said. He saw his pups make their way past him as they walked but he didn't see Humphrey. Rachel saw him still sitting in the field. "He's over there." She said. "I'll talk to him, you make sure everyone else is back at the den." Chris said. "I'll see you at the den." She said and gave him a lick on the cheek. Chris smiled and went up to Humphrey.
"Hey Humphrey what's wrong?" He asked. Humphrey sighed, defeat present in his voice as he began, "I'm not as good as the others and I don't know if I can become a Guardian." "Look, just because the others seem better doesn't mean you aren't. You have to keep trying and you will get better at it." Chris said, trying to motivate his son. Humphrey didn't reply but let out a sad sigh.
"You know Humphrey, I was just like you when you were small" Chris said. Humphrey perked his ears and instantly looked at his father when he said this. "Really?" Humphrey asked with wide eyes. "You were like me?" He asked again. "Yes, your mother is the only one who knows. Anyway I was a lot like you, but you did something I didn't." he said. "What's that?" Humphrey asked.
"You told me how you were feeling. It takes courage to do that Humphrey, and I'm telling you it's not easy. When I wanted to tell my dad, I always got nervous and every time I tried, I would back down. But you, you told me, and even though it was hard for you, you still did. That shows you have a great mental strength, which right now, you're the only one who has it out of your siblings." Chris said. Humphrey smiled when his dad said this.
"So I still have a chance?" He asked eagerly. "Your chance will come to you; you don't have to find it." Chris said. Humphrey smiled his unique smile, something only he had out of all of his siblings, and hugged his dad. "Now come on, we have to get back to the den." He said. Humphrey started jogging with his dad back to the den.
But about 5 miles north of their pack, there was another pack discussing about plans. "So what do we do sir?" one wolf asked. "How many pups were there?" He asked. "5 pups, sir." The wolf replied. "They began their first day of training today as well sir." The wolf replied. The pack leader didn't respond as he was thinking.
"How is our training going along?" He asked. "The wolves are working 100% sir and some are working even harder!" The wolf stated. "Good, that is good." He said. "Remember we attack in a month, by that time, all our wolves will be ready." He said. "Yes sir!" The wolf said without a second thought and walked outside of the den. "Soon, there will be no more Guardians!" The lead wolf said to himself and smiled evilly.