Amberpaw's Assement

Mudfoot sat in the camp clearing, enjoying the evening breeze. Today he would assess Amberpaw and he had full confidence in this patrol. Amberpaw had been a wonderful apprentice, always having a happy attitude and a hard worker. Mudfoot shook his fur, waiting for his apprentice. First test of the day. Can get to the patrol on time?

"Mudfoot! There you are, are we going to do more training today?" Amberpaw asked eagerly.

"Yes, today I will assess you." He meowed with a smile. "You will lead this patrol and I will test you every now and then along the way." Mudfoot padded to the freshkill pile and grabbed a small mouse, gulping it down in one bit. "Ready when you are."

'Assessment!' Amberpaw thought to himself nervously but also with anticipation. "Alright Mudfoot, I won't let you down. I want to do a boarder patrol along with some hunting, I hope you don't mind!" He said quickly and set off already.

Mudfoot gave a smile at Amberpaw's comment. "I have faith in you, I always will." He chuckled and gave a nod. Good place to start. He thought to himself and trotted after the apprentice.

"Thank you Mudfoot." Amberpaw said, dipping his head. He started immediately and trotted towards the boarder with a sharp nose, many smells raced through his nose as he approached the Thunderpath, "I smell Thunderclan, they must have been on the Thunderpath but the scent is very stale, also a rabbit..." Amberpaw said trailing off at the sound of rustling in the bushes, he crouched down until the rabbit was in site and pounced on it with his strong hind legs and killed it with a quick bite to the neck, "I couldn't help myself, it is rather small but it should be fine." He said smiling proudly to his mentor.

He gave a nod, sniffing the air there was definitely a stale ThunderClan scent. Good job so far. Mudfoot followed the apprentice until he darted off, coming back with a scrawny rabbit. "Good job, but next time, be more aware of your surroundings." He pointed his nose to a bush a fox length away. "There was a larger, more healthy rabbit over there. If you hadn't darted off like that, you might have gotten better food."

"Sorry, yes of course Mudfoot, sorry." Amberpaw said nervously, "I'm going to follow along the side of the Thunderpath to see if the scent continues on." He said sniffing the air cautiously.

Mudfoot gave a nod. "Just remember, don't get caught up in following a stale scent. While you are sniffing out a scent, enemy cats could be making their way to the camp. Yes, a cat's nose is very important but don't let smells deceive you." Mudfoot remembered when he got a good scratch from a pregnant rabbit when he sniffed his way down the wrong hole. The tom waited for Amberpaw to get few paces ahead before following behind, keeping a steady pace. He needs to experience this for himself and not always have a mentor at his side.

Amberpaw thought carefully, "Yes I understand Mudfoot, if this were a big patrol I would have possibly half and half to check each side so there are equal amounts of cat and be very hard for enemies to easily attack, would that have been a good plan?" He asked thinking if something like this would happen later on.

Amberpaw was definitely a fast learner. "A perfect plan." He chuckled. He followed the apprentice, wondering where they were headed next. "Would you like to do some hunting?" He trotted to catch up to the apprentice.

"Thank you!" Amberpaw's eyes lit up at the praise, "Hunting sounds like a good plan, the fresh kill pile has been looking a little empty lately." He added as he smelled the scent of more rabbit and some mice as well, "Over here." He said flicking his tail to the direction of a few rustling bushes where the plumber rabbits where beforehand.

Giving a nod, Mudfoot circled far around the rabbit so he was behind the plump prey. Now he would see if Amberpaw was as good of a tactical hunter as he was everything else. Crouching down, he kept low to the ground, ready to dart left or right, depending which was the rabbit ran.

Before Amberpaw attacked he watched Mudfoot carefully and decided to do the same, he crouched down very quietly and awaited for the rabbit to make its move, the plump rabbit was not aware of Amberpaw's presence and was the perfect target. In the blink of an eye his hind legs left the ground and his claws were unsheathed, blood filled Amberpaw's mouth as he bit into the rabbit, a feeling that would never get old.

Mudfoot stayed low, watching with pride. "Excellent job today. Why don't we hunt some more and head back to camp?" He meowed, the breeze ruffling his fur.

-Time Skip-

The pair hunted for a little while longer, catching two more rabbits, a squirrel, and a vole. "Today was a successful day of hunting, if I do say so myself." He looked down at the pile of prey.