Chapter Eleven
Echopaw splayed herself in the weak, leaffall sunlight that flowed throughout the camp like water. A few days had passed and she still hadn't caught a single piece of prey, apart from a mouse that was already half dead. She seemed to be completely missing it and landing nowhere near where it actually was. Her mentor, Dappleleaf seemed to try everything she could but nothing was working, however she kept promising Echopaw that she'll think of a way. This sun is so nice, but I can't enjoy it knowing that I'm failing to be an apprentice. Echopaw thought to herself, her paws prickling with envy. Maybe Berrypaw's right, I should be a medicine cat, but if StarClan accepted Sagepaw as apprentice, then I must be made to become a warrior.
"Echopaw." She recognised the voice of Dappleleaf and leapt to her paws. "We're going to learn some battle moves in the training hollow, you need a break from hunting."
"Okay," she murmured, padding after her mentor. Maybe I'll have a bit more luck with fighting.
Echopaw was surprised to see Pricklepaw and Shellpaw having a practice fight, their mentors Hawkfeather and Icefeather calling out commands as they battled against one another. Dappleleaf watched in delight at her two kits who were deep in concentration. Icefeather stopped them with a flick of her tail. "Did you want to use the training hollow?" she asked.
"Only if it's okay with you," Dappleleaf purred.
"Of course, we can go hunting now we've been here all morning," Hawkfeather meowed.
Dappleleaf dipped her head, "thank you."
"It's nothing," Icefeather responded.
"Goodbye Echopaw!" Pricklepaw called out to her as he left.
"Goodbye!" she responded.
"Okay, let's start with a basic paw swipe, just copy me," Dappleleaf instructed.
Echopaw watched as he mentor swiped the air. "Try to be as hard and quick as you can, that way your enemy won't duck while your paw is mid-air."
Echopaw nodded and swiped at the air with strength and swiftness. That wasn't hard. she thought. "Good," Dappleleaf meowed, "now try to rear up on your hindlegs and do it, keep you tail high then you won't fall over."
Echopaw reared up onto her hindlegs and performed the swipe again, this time not as quickly. "Nice, but next time be a bit quicker," Dappleleaf advised her.
I'm not as bad as I thought i'd be, but then again it's only a paw swipe. "Now we'll do a simple back kick, any time I teach you moves i'll do it first then you copy."
Dappleleaf kicked her back legs into the air, sending a cloud of dust into the air. She makes that look easy, I just hope I can do that. Echopaw kicked out her legs into the air. "Try to go a bit higher next time, but other than that good," Dappleleaf meowed, "I would teach you more, but Mudsplash asked whether you could help clean out the elders den at sunhigh, so we'll just go through the golden rule of the training hollow."
Clean out the elders den? Are you kidding me? "The golden rule is basic; claws must be sheathed at all time, we don't want any injuries from training otherwise we'd have cats dropping off like fur."
Echopaw nodded, "That's obvious."
"I know but alot of cats forget," Dappleleaf meowed.
Well that chapter was boring to write, but probably even worse to read! Please review.