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Sunpaw padded after her mentor, fur raised in excitement. Pouncefoot was leading her towards the RiverClan border so he can teach her to hunt frogs. The ground was softer there, as he said. Frogs are abundant in the area during the warm months and especially during rain.

As the ground began to squish under her paws, Sunpaw stopped. Pouncefoot turned to her with warmth in his eyes. "The first thing you should know," he said, "Is to keep your voice low."

"I expected that," she replied quietly. "What good would it be to crash carelessly through the forest, and let all of the prey know you were after them? It would be foolish to think they are all just lining up to have claws ripping them open."

Pouncefoot nodded. "Keep upwind on your prey so that they don't sense your coming. Mice and squirrels have noses like us. Always check the air to be sure that you are facing the wind." He shook out his pelt. "You are young and this is your first time out hunting, I know it may seem tempting to get all excited, but the prey can sense your anxiety too."

Sunpaw dipped her head. "What about techniques I can use for stalking and pouncing?"

"Patience, that's good. Most apprentices would run after a mouse before they know what in StarClan's name they're doing. It is a strength you should keep. Anyway, to your question, Keep low, pawsteps light and nimble. You want to be quick but not running." Pouncefoot dropped to a crouch. His fur was lying flat against his flank and his tail was stiff and straight, hovering just above the ground. His lifted his paw and placed it down softly. He repeated it several times before finally sitting up. "That is how you should appear, flat but don't run yourself along the ground, it could stir leaves or bracken and alert the prey. They'll take any chance to bolt if it means life." He gestured for Sunpaw to try.

She nodded and slowly, lowered herself on her legs, bending and falling slightly back. Her tail dropped to the ground, but she quickly raised it and made it stick straight.

"Good, now, very slowly for now put one paw in front of the other, very nice. Yes, keep going. Lower yourself a little more. Keep a good pace. Okay, now quicken it up a bit. Wait, still place your paws lightly. Watch out for that leaf. Remember to breathe, Sunpaw, no, gently. No it is not impossible, keep your patience. Keep going...good!"

Sunpaw rose up, feeling herself relieve. Her legs ached now from crouching like that. Rolling her shoulders she sat and waited for her next instruction.

Pouncefoot circled her. "You're doing very well. Now for the kill." He got down into his crouch, searching the ground. "Be sure to not only focus on the prey but on everything else around you too. You must know how to sense the world positions, where every twig lies so you know not to step on it, where the prey is facing, and where you might think it would be planning to run if it saw you. You have to think like your prey so you know how to out smart it. Now, watch closely, and then I would like you to try." He shifted somehow and leaped through the air with such speed, Sunpaw barely could follow him with her eyes. He landed with a dull thud and sank his claws into the rich earth, tearing through the grass with ivory claws. It was done and over all within a heartbeat.

Sunpaw blinked as Pouncefoot waited for her to copy his performance. She unsurely got into the hunter's crouch, tail stiff and all. She sat there for a whole minute, pondering what she could do to follow up on Pouncefoot's leap.

"Uh," she murmured. "Here goes nothing."

With that she moved all her weight to her front paws and traced herself to jump, but all that happened was she lost her balence and stumbled forward, knocking her shoulders into a tree.

Pouncefoot shook his head but a purr of amusement rumbled in his throat. "A common mistake you made, daughter. You need to put you weight on you back legs so you can push off from there and land perfectly on your frog. Sometimes I wonder how they could even really consider doing something like that." He chuckled.

Sunpaw felt her pelt heat up in embarressment. She refused to meet her father's eyes as his laugh died down to silence.

"Alright," he said. "Let's take a break on that. How about we try a different technique. The stalking is the same, but instead of getting within a safe and reasonable distance away from the prey, you should come in about maybe a mouse length or two away. Get one forepaw at the ready and swipe at you prey." A paw shot out from Pouncefoot's front and made Sunpaw flinch. "This isn't easy, but is good to know if you are having trouble the way you are."

Sunpaw tried it.

"Faster!"

She attempted the method once more.

"Perfect!"

For a long time afterward they practiced the techniques. The sun was just dipping below the horizon before Pouncefoot told her to stop. Her legs and sides were cramppain and her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath.

And after all that, I never even got to hunt any real prey. I caught a couple leaves, but not one frog!

Pouncefoot watched the darkness of the pines as the last golden light of the day faded. Sunpaw stretched and began padding away, ready to head for her nest, curl into a ball and fall asleep until morn.

"Now where are you going?" Pouncefoot asked.

"To sleep?" Sunpaw asked as if it was a question.

"Sleep? No, no, no. Are you joking? This is ShadowClan. We hunt at night. We use the darkness of the black sky as our advantage against other animals. If you were a mouse, scurrying about the roots of pine trees, a mistake you have made, my friend, a huge mistake indeed.

Sunpaw just stared at him. "Hunting now? After all that work?" She asked. "Are you insane?"

"Perhaps," Pouncefoot replied simply. "Are you? You have the ShadowClan blood, Sunpaw. The darkness is not just of our territory, it is of our hearts. We are not soft, lazy RiverClan cats sunning themselves on rocks all day, we are not scrawny WindClan warriors who are not the least bit interested in hunting like a real cat, we are not noisy ThunderClan, bringing the weak in with the weaker, no. We are ShadowClan, we are power, bravery, wisdom. Use it, Sunpaw, use it like the ShadowClan cat you are."

Sunpaw tilted her head.

Pouncefoot looked at his paws. "It seems as though I went a little to beyond myself in explaining. Let's just hunt shall we? Remember all I have taught you, and taste the air." He parted his jaws and took a light breath in. "Once you have the scent, carefully follow it until you have spotted the frog. I am going off, meet me back here when you have something."

Sunpaw watched as he disappeared into the darkness of night. She was alone in the terrritory, left to recall a day's worth of mentoring to capture one mere frog. She spat in disbelief, thinking that every apprentice had to go through this just to learn to hunt.

It all seems ridiculous to me.

Sunpaw sniffed the air, trying to take in all scents that littered the marshy forest surrounding her. She tasted grass and pine on her tongue, but nothing unusal like a frog.

Then it came upon her. A peculiar smell that left her both disgusted and tempted. Flexing her claws, she turned around and padded through the trees, letting the scent of prey guide her paw steps. It wasn't long before a faint croak echoed through the breeze, rasping and low. Sunpaw prayed the the squishing beneath her paws would fade to silence as she spotted the frog through a bed of reeds. It was probably no bigger than her paw, but Sunpaw was eager to sink her claws deep into its moist flesh.

The frog's belly expanded as it croaked again, eyes unblinking as Sunpaw lowered herself very carefully to the ground. Slowly, she eased her weight to her back paws, unsheathing her claws and slightly piercing the ground.

Once more, the frog croaked.

Sunpaw was very still.

In a flash of movement, she shot her leg out from under her in attempt to scoop the frog towards her chest and bite it, but the creature leaped high into the air, soaring over Sunpaw's head. She braced her legs and pushed off from the ground, head flying over the rest of her body. With a snarl, she snapped her jaws over the frog's leg and brought it down, smashing it vigorously against the ground, killing it instantly.

She stared down at her prey, pride welling up inside her chest. She caught her first frog! Shaking out her pelt, she took it in her teeth and headed back to the place Pouncefoot taught her the skills. Her father was already there, two frogs lying dead at his paws. Sunpaw flicked her tail.

"I did it! I hunted!" She exclaimed, dropping the prey beside the other two.

Pouncefoot purred. "Congratulations! Now you truly are a ShadowClan warrior," he mewed, a bright glow of amber warmth beaming from his eyes. "Did you thank StarClan?"

"What?"

"StarClan, did you thank them?"

"For what?"

Pouncefoot touched the frogs with his nose. "For the prey! Did you thank StarClan for the prey?"

Sunpaw blinked a few times at him. "Oh, uh...no." She stared at her paws, expecting to be scolded.

"Here let me show you," Pouncefoot said, leaning over the frogs and placing his paw over them. "StarClan," he began, eyes closed and voice soft and level, "Thank you so much for this prey. It gave its life for us, for ShadowClan and gave a wonderful milestone to this lovely apprentice Sunpaw. Light her path, so that she live her life as she was meant to."

Sunpaw stared at him. She had never known he could be so spiritual. He mesmerized her with his simple words of gratitude for a diminutive little frog. He still sat motionless, like he was continuing his prayers within the safety of his mind. She gave one look at the prey, before placing her paw over Pouncefoot's and shutting her eyes. As her world faded to complete blackness, she murmured, "Thank you Radiantmask, Tigerspirit. I go through a hard day like this a thousand times over before I let anything or anyone destroy your well being. I hope to see you soon."

When she opened her eyes, she found that she was gazing thoughtfully up at the stars, as they winked down upon her.

Aw! I liked this chapter! What did you think? Review!

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