Checking the Borders

[Dragonstar]

Dragonstar calmly padded toward the border after the excitement of the apprentice ceremonies. He stopped and waited for his apprentice to catch up to him. After this, he'd take Mysterypaw hunting.

[sea]

Mysterypaw looked at his mentor in pure excitement. "So...where is this?" Mysterypaw asked. He liked being outside the camp. It was so much more fun. He escpecially liked being away from the nursery. The new kits were driving him crazy.

[Dragonstar]

" Last time we were here, we were at the Sageclan border. Now, we're at the Vervainclan border. " He meowed. " Now take a good smell, and remember that ste- I mean scent. " He smiled cheesily.

[sea]

"Good, Starclan, they stink! What do they do, roll in fox dung for fun?" Mysterypaw said, his nose wrinkling in disgust. Then he smiled with a joking hint,"Well, at least it would be hard not to recognize. You could smell that a mile away!"

[Dragonstar]

" I'm not sure what gets on their pelt, but it's not good, " Dragonstar meowed. His smiled grew wider. " Now, let's see " He thought a moment.

" Look, see that squirrel by that spiky bush? " He asked. He crouched low to the ground. " I'm gonna show yo how to catch a squirrel, then we'll go through it step by step."

[sea]

Mysterypaw smiled and nodded in excitement. He loved watching cats hunt. It was the thrill, the cool way they moved...it was amazing. He waited, and watched to see what his mentor would do.

[Dragonstar]

Dragonstar crouched lower to the ground. He pulled himself toward the squirrel. Once he was close enough, he pounced on it. He lifted up his paws and saw the squirrled smushed. " Oopsies, " He meowed.

[sea]

Mysterypaw laughed. "You know, you should do that more often. All you'd have to do is site on them. Easy enough." he said. Then he pursed his lips. "Darn. That wouldn't work. It would be hard to do that...well, you just smash them somehow. You seem good at it." he laughed again, then asked, "OK, can we please move away from this border? My nose is screaming for non-polluted air!" he gasped like he was going to die.

[Dragonstar]

" Okay, " Dragonstar laughed and buried the squirrel. He walked a bit deeper into the forest and sat down. " First, we have to track or prey. Do you hear or smell anything." The leader enjoyed having an apprentice like Mysterypaw around.

[sea]

Mysterypaw smiled. Then he flicked his ears and heard a delicate scuffling. He looked at Dragonstar, and whispered, "There is a mouse over there." he turned his head to the right, his nose pointing at a big oak tree. Beneath it, was a small mouse, eating a seed be the huge roots.

[Dragonstar]

" Okay, now crouch like this, " He meowed and crouched down. His tail went lifeless and dropped silently onto the ground. He waited for Mysterypaw to copy.

[sea]

Mysterypaw copied as he was shown, and he crouched, his tail though was keeping him balanced, so he kept it an inch off the ground, and he looked at Dragonstar for the next move.

[Dragonstar]

" Now slowly creep up on it " He whispered. He crept a few cat tail lengths. He studied Mysterypaw's crouch and it was quite good.

[sea]

Mysterypaw did as he was told once again, and he silently padded a couple of steps. One pawstep at a time, he told himself. He was going to get this right. He would do it as good as he possibly could.

[Dragonstar]

" You're doing great, " Dragonstar whispered. " Now, keept going until you think it's a perfect place to pounce. Then jump on it. "