The hunting turtle

Turtlepaw rose from her nest and stretched in the morning sunlight, yawning widely. The previous day had been long. Regardless she was instantly energetic and ran towards her mentor, Poplarstripe. "What are we going to do today Poplarstripe? More battle training?" She couldn't wait to get out of camp again.

Poplarstripe lifted his head, eyeing Turtlepaw for a moment before responding. "Eager are we not?" He chuckled, then getting to his paws. "I suppose we could do some more battle training, is that what you'd like to do?" The young warrior asked, beckoning his apprentice to give him her opinion.

"Then can you take me to the river and teach me how to fish?" She had yet to catch any prey, and she wanted to bring back something big to show off to everyone in camp.

Poplarstripe just nodded, "we'll start with fishing then, I realized I haven't taught you yet." The warrior cast a sideways glance her direction before heading off toward the river, traveling on the well known, run down trail that had been beat by generations of paws.

Soon, they arrived at the river. Poplarstrip sat down and waited for Turtlepaw to join him.

Turtlepaw raced after Poplarstripe through RiverClan territory. She skidded to a halt beside Poplarstripe, barely stopping herself from toppling into the water. She leaned over an peered in, looking for any sign of fish. "How do you catch them?" She asked, kneading the ground with her claws impatiently.

"Well, there are plenty of ways, but I was taught by using my fore paw." He started, settling at the water's edge. Poplarstripe kept his hard green gaze on the rippling current under his paws, thankful most of the ice had melted, yet he knew it would still be cold when he dipped his paw in.

After a while of waiting, a flash of silver finally flashed by. The warrior acted in an instant, throwing his paw into the water, claws outstretched. He pulled back, the silver scaly prey flapping wildly at the impact of his claws. He threw it on the ground beside him, shoving his muzzle forward to nip at the fish's neck, killing it.

The young warrior looked up, a smirk on his muzzle. "Just so you could see how it's done." He paused, looking back at the water. "Now, just sit at the edge, wait a while and hopefully another fish should pass by, When it does, strike it with your fore paw and pull it out."

Turtlepaw watched Poplarstripe as he sat next to the bank, watching the water. Time flowed by, and after what felt like forever Turtlepaw was going to ask what Poplarstripe was doing. At that moment, his paw flashed out and Turtlepaw saw a fish arc through the air to land in from of them. He finished it off and instructed her to do the same.

Turtlepaw went and sat by the river's edge, gazing at the water, waiting for another fish to come by. She worked her paws impatiently. This wasn't how she had imagined hunting at all! She saw a flash out of the corner of her eye and shot out a paw, claws outstretched. All she managed to catch was a splash of water into to her face. Turtlepaw hissed in annoyance and sat back down to wait.

Poplarstripe remained quiet, giving his apprentice a chance to try again. It would take a while.

Turtlepaw waited. And waited... And waited.

She was itching with frustration, this was so boring! Finally another silver shape shot through the water. Turtlepaw lunged at it and manged to bat it out of the water, but hadn't gotten a claw on it. She watched as it fell back into the water and vanished down the current. She sighed, and sat back down again to gaze at the water, resigned to her fate.

Eventually she manged to hook a fish out of the water. She picked it up and looked at her mentor for direction.

Poplarstripe watched as Turtlepaw tried and failed again, he knew it would take awhile, but honestly there was really no other way to teach her, she would just have to keep trying until she finally got the hang of it. Which she did.

The young warrior purred, a sense of pride flowing from his tone as he spoke. "Good catch! I know this can be a little boring, how about a little battle training to finish up?" He questioned, not wanting Turtlepaw to end their patrol without excitement.

"Yes!" Turtlepaw mewed happily, battle training was her favorite. She couldn't wait to participate in a real battle. She headed for the training area, "What move are we going to do today?" she questioned her mentor.

Poplarstripe lead her away from the edge of the river and once far enough away he turned to face her. "We can learn whatever you want, you're the learner anyway, plus I've already taught you most of the defensive moves." The young warrior mewed.

Turtlepaw, thought for a second, and decided to see if Poplarstripe would teach her something complicated. "Will you show me how to do a half-turn belly rake Poplarstipe?" She knew apprentices weren't generally taught it until they were just about to become a warrior.

Poplarstripe thought for a moment, a specific request, yes, she must have seen the other warriors do it while training. "Alright, sit still and stand straight, I won't hurt you but I want you to watch how I do it. Then, you can try it on me and I'll guide you." He instructed, flicking his tail as he waited a moment before acting

The young warrior bounded forward, slipping to his side as his back arched into a slight turn. This move helped him slid under the smaller cat, clumsily though, since she was smaller than him. He batted at her exposed underbelly with an outstretched paw as he passed, and without faltering his step or speed, slipped out from under her, turning again and rolling across the ground before jumping back up on his paws. Poplarstripe took a breath before speaking, "it's a very challenging move for a cat f your young age, I don't expect you to get it the first time, but trying now isn't going to hurt."

Turtlepaw watched, whisker twitching with amusement as he wriggled under her. But she had still taken everything in. She started to run at Poplarstripe, and then tumbled over herself until she landed at his paws. Turtlepaw's eyes gleamed in frustration, "How do you control were you slide?" she asked. Even before he answered Turtlepaw charged off to try again. she slid onto her side more smoothly, but slid in a snakelike line and stopped long before she got to Poplarstripe.