"You killed a snake!?" Blackpaw hollered in disbelief. He tumbled out from the apprentice's den, with Treeheart and Shadowleaf following slowly. "Yeah!" squeaked aquapaw, Goldenpaw smiled shyly. She had never killed anything before, and she felt a bit guilty too. "Is that a good thing?" Uttered Goldenpaw, "Heck yeah! you'll be the topic of the conversations tonight! Maybe the elders will tell stories about you, after all, no hamster killed a snake that big!" Goldenpaw turned to the lifeless snake, it was a bit large. A warm rush of pride swept through her little body."So now what?" Sunny squeaked, She saw Shadowleaf and Treeheart talk to eachother quietly.
"I don't know. Let's see what shadowleaf says. He is our mentor." Blackpaw answered, He stretched and sat in a comfortable position, looking as if he was waiting for a long conversation to end. "Yeah." Aquapaw squeaked, She yawned as the morning sun shine on her body, causing her fur to slightly shine. Goldenpaw stayed alert, She wondered about the voice she heard from when she hit the rock. "Why don't you three hunt with Firetail for a little while, he's an experienced Mentor...We have a matter to settle with Shadowleaf," Pearlstar announced, Aquapaw and Blackpaw nodded, But Goldenpaw asked "Where is Firetail?" "With the other aprentices in the apprentice's den. He's waking them up for hunting just now." Goldenpaw's ears perked up higher, "Just now?" she squeaked following her running friends to the apprentice's den. "That means shadowleaf woke us too early! Everyone knows hamsters are best when we get enough sleep!" Blackpaw replied, his head turning around to show he was seriously talking to them. "Wow goldenpaw, If you killed that snake and you didn't get enough sleep yet, imagine you at your full strenghth!" Aquapaw laughed. Goldenpaw nodded, and agreed.
Firetail waited for them with two alert hamsters by him. "Moring firetail, ashpaw, and Blazingpaw." Aquapaw called from a closer distance. "Moring Goldenpaw, Morning aquapaw and blackpaw!" Blazingpaw nodded in greeting."Goldenpaw, is it true that a hamster who is not Clanborn killed a snake!!!" Squeaked Blazingpaw. "Is it good to not be a Clanborn?" whispered Goldenpaw. "No." Aquapaw simply answered, not bothering to add details. "Yes, she did killed a snake," Blackpaw answered. "Wow." Ashpaw and Blazingpaw Squealed. "Time for hunting younge ones," Firetail smiled as he trotted off towards the thorns that surrounded the camp. "Coming!" Called the five hamsters at different times, depending on when they ran after him. "They way to get around these thorns is tricky..." Mumbled Firetail as he squeezed around, "You just have to find an open gap." When he popped out from the otherside, he found his apprenticed allready there, staring at their mentor as he struggled to get some stuck fur off the thorns. "Okay, we will hunt, well, lemme tell you where we can hunt. As you know, we can't hunt in other clan's hunting grounds, since it's against warrior code. And, here's the trick. Always hunt in areas where you'll find nice covering places. Prey lives in those areas.follow, let me show you around." Firetail gently traveled with the others following obeidiently.
"This... it is muddy ground, as you know, you find many worms by simple digging." Firetail nudged the ground with his nose, the ground around it moved slightly. "ohh! moving ground!" Blackpaw excitedly pointed out. "No, it's just like wet earth. rain must've been on it, or water." Firetail explained. Blackpaw nodded."Earthworms, they are the easiest to hunt, easier than ant because of their speed, size and they are common" Firetail began, "There really isn't a special way to catch them." Fire tail walked around the mud puddle, and then countinued onwards until they reached a clump of tall grass. "Tall grass hides flying prey. like moths, gnats and many others. You have to be ready to catch anytime. You just pust around these grass with your paw or nose, and they'll come flying out quickly. So you must Catch them with your mouth, you sort of.. use your mouth as a net," Firetail pushed around the grass, and immediatly, swarms of small flying insects flew upwards quickly. "we'll bother to catch them later..Follow." Firetail quickly trotted off towards an area with more undergrownth.
Ferns and wild flowers poked around underneth the apprentice's feet. "They're soft!" Aquapaw laughed as some grass tickled her nose. "Yes, and in this area, you'll find and rare prey." Firetail said, rummaging around the grass,"Look." All the hamsters gathered around as a lady bug crawled into the tall grass around it. "Cool!" "Wow!" "How rare!" "Ooo!" The apprentices chattered. "Shhh...Some prey can hear us. Now, here's the last type of prey." He walked over to a tree, with all the little apprentices following. "Look closer." They looked at the trunk of the tree, and indeed, little ants crawled in straight lines. "They are small and hard to pick up, and rather sweet for a small snack. They can't make you full but they can make you a bit happy because of their flavor." He then looked towards Goldenpaw,"If you don't know, our clan allows you to eat as many as you wish because ants are practicaly everywhere on trees." Goldenpaw licked around her lips.
"Now that you've known where Food is plentiful, you may pick your choices and hunt. Of course, we could always use a little berry appitizer, but only pick the ones that are like a clump of purple and red berries. They are called Clumpberries Because they grow in clumps.. You have the whole Sunhigh to hunt and a little bit before moonrise to hunt." Firetail smiled as he said. Then he ran off to the direction of the camp, calling "Meet my back at the camp!"
"So... where should we hunt?" Goldenpaw asked Aquapaw, "Where he show'd us I guess." Goldenpaw nodded and dashed off in to the tall grasses and ferns. Aquapaw followed Goldenpaw, thinking this place has alot of prey. The rest went off where ever they wanted to hunt.
Goldenpaw found hunting easier than she expected. Almost as soon as she was there, Bugs and insects scattered around, and she picked them up one by one. "This is easy..." She thought. Then she realized soon that time passed by so fast when she was hunting, it was sunset soon. So she grabbed the freshkill that she had gotten and darted back towards the camp. With ease because of her size, Goldenpaw jumped through a hole in the thorns and found the other apprentices already there, placing their freshkill near the bush with the other freshkills. She followed and placed a few beetles, caterpillers and more. Aquapaw was following Goldenpaw and stuggled through the hole with plenty of freshkill dangling from her mouth. Blackpaw ran towards Aquapaw and whispered something. Immediatly, Aquapaw dashed towards the bush and placed her freshkill, then said to Goldenpaw "Pearlstar wants us!" as she past by Goldenpaw. Goldenpaw followed Aquapaw to a small fern den, it could only fit a few hamsters. Goldenpaw brushed through the dangling fern leaves, while aquapaw did the same. Inside was dark and very comfortable with moss. "Ah, Goldenpaw and aquapaw. I wanted you. " Pearlstar's gentle voice was heard. "Yes?" Goldenpaw Squeaked, she had never been to this den before, and it was dark. "Shadowleaf and I were talking, and we found that we will give shadowleaf one more chance to prove he can be a good mentor." Pearlstar squeaked, his voice deep. "Yes, I will prove myself to be good." Shadowleaf cooly squeaked. "why don't you two go get some food?" Pearlstar asked.