When Ryan woke up the next morning he expected to be surrounded by pups but to his surprise, there was no one there. He was a bit creeped out since it was the first time that he was alone in the spacious den.
He quickly ran outside to see what was up. When he got out of the den he was again blinded by the light of the raised sun. After his eyes began getting used to the brightness he began looking around trying to find the pubs.
The adults were once again in the sun talking but he noticed that there were a few that were missing. He began walking around and he found the pups. They were playing around in the pool that was made the day before.
He couldn't help but sigh "These brats traded me for a pool," he thought.
Ryan began walking towards them and found River Paw looking after them. He stood next to the young wolf and looked at the pups jumping around in the pool. "How long have they been here?" he asked.
River Paw looked at him in surprise "Oh Viver Pup there you are, they've been here before sunrise. They woke up Flame Claw and had him get Sun Blaze to heat the water."
He nodded "Sorry Sun Blaze but it looks like this will become a regular routine for you," he thought. Then he looked back at River Paw "Is there a reason that they didn't wake me up".
When they were stuck in the cave and the pups woke up before him they would wake him up, so now he was curious as to why they didn't.
River Paw nodded and pointed at Fang Pup with his nose "Fang Pup made sure that no one woke you up, he said that out of all of them you were the one that worked the hardest so you needed more rest".
Ryan was surprised he had already gotten a good impression from the small pup but now he began to see him in a new light.
He laid his head on the grass and after a good while he began stretching, "Hey River Paw what do you do as an apprentice" he asked.
The young wolf looked at the sky and sighed "Well it's hard once we turn 6 months we get paired up with a warrior. They will teach you how to track, hunt, and fight."
Ryan nodded the old geezer had already told him most of that. He looked closer at the young wolf and saw that he was a little depressed "Is something wrong River Paw" he asked.
The wolf was snapped out of his trance "Oh it's nothing, I was just thinking on how I could improve my fighting, at the moment I get beat by most of the other apprentices."
"Oh is it because of your techniques?" he asked.
River Paw shook his head "No the techniques that flame claw taught me are great it's just that since I'm still young I don't have the power needed to actually do them."
Ryan was confused "Do you think that you might be able to give me a demonstration".
The young wolf looked at him "I would need another apprentice with me to give you one otherwise I'll look weird".
"How bout I go against you?" asked Ryan.
River Paw shook his head "No you are too young, I don't want to hurt you".
Ryan jumped around "Please that way I can learn something early on".
The wolf looked at him for a long time but finally nodded "alright but just one technique and that's it. Charge at me."
He nodded and began running at River Paw ready for impact as he was planning to tackle him. Ryan knew that there were not going to be any good results but since he had the chance he didn't want to waste it. He ran at full speed and prepared to feel the collision.
What he didn't expect was that River Paw quickly spun and used his back leg to push Ryan right paw inwards. He found that his whole body-slammed to the ground and since he was going as fast as he could he even rolled in the ground.
After a few moments he began standing back up on all fours, his stomach was hurting and he was also kind of dizzy. He began shaking his head to see if it could help him focus his vision.
River Paw went to him and began nuzzling him "Are you okay I knew that we shouldn't have done it".
Ryan shook his head "No it's fine it's a good experience for me" he said looking at the young wolf. He then was surprised when he felt wet fur touching him, when he turned around he found Fang Pup and the rest looking at him worried.
"Great figures that you guys notice me when I have an epic fail," he thought.
Fang Pup leaned next to him helping Ryan stand up correctly "Are you hurt Viper Pup" he asked.
Ryan shook his head "No me and River Paw were having fun don't worry about me, go back and play in the pool we will start training in a bit."
The other pups nodded and quickly ran to the pool but the four pups that he had woken up with the days prior stayed still looking at him. "Don't worry I'm alright now, go I have something to talk about with River Pup.
The four pups hesitated but in the end, nodded and walked back to the pool.
He found River Paw with a shocked expression while looking at the pups. "What's up River Paw, why do you have that expression," he asked.
The young wolf looked at him "Looks like they really care about you".
Ryan nodded "of course we are family after all so it's natural that they would come here and ask if I'm okay"
River Paw looked at him "Not just that Viper Paw didn't you notice how fast they arrived".
He thought back and nodded; they did appear rather quickly; he fell down and only a few seconds had passed but they were able to get out of the pool and run to him.
The young wolf sighed "They all were prepared to attack me before you stood up, the reason that they arrived so quickly was because they were charging at me but stopped when they saw me helping you get up".
Ryan was surprised but what he heard "Looks like they truly care about me," he thought.
Without him realizing he had begun to think of them as friends but after what he had just heard he finally began thinking of them as a family.
He turned around to look back at the pool and found them playing around but they would steal small glances in his direction. He signed "Little ones no matter what I'll make sure that you survive till you die of old age," he said to himself.
Ryan turned back and looked at River Paw there was something that was bothering him "Hey River Paw that move that you did there isn't that specifically made to fight another one of us".
The young apprentice nodded "Yeah it is".
Ryan looked at him confused "Why would we need to fight each other, we are a family why train to hurt one another".
River Paw shook his head "It's not meant for us it's meant to be used against other packs."
He was surprised when he heard the young wolf "There are other groups that we have to fight?"
The apprentice nodded "Yes we have to protect our territory from others, that's the reason that I'm worried about my fighting. The reason that my attack worked on you was because you are young and weaker than me but the others are not".
Ryan nodded "Are the attacks from other packs frequent".
River Paw took a minute to think about his response "Well attacks on each other camps is rare but it is common for a fight to occur when we are patrolling".
He began to get shivers running down his back "Crap they also attack the camp" he thought as he looked at the pups that were playing in the river "Looks like my job protecting you is going to get hard".
He turned around to look at the apprentice "Well if you have problems similar to the one with the attack you showed me earlier than your problem is strength".
River Paw nodded "Yeah I either have the choice to evolve or grow up which both take time and the first one is easier said than done".
Ryan looked at him and then thought about his plans.
[status]
Name: Viper Pup
Health: 50/50
Stamina: 23
Strength: 13
Agility: 21
Mana : 0
Magic: N/A
"Just like I thought we are also facing that problem," he thought.
Ryan thought that with some tweaks to the method it would also work for the apprentice. "Hey, River Paw do you think that you could help me with something".
The young wolf nodded but was clearly confused. "On my first day, I saw that there was someone that had tree-like characteristics. Do you know where we can find her?"
River Paw looked at him "Tree-like characteristics? Do you mean Wave Whip the female with leaves and vines in her body?"
Ryan was a bit surprised and thought "Wow you guys are straight forward calling them females not lady, or women. I thought that wolves would have another way of addressing them but I guess they don't".
He nodded "Yes that sounds like her".
"Well she should be at the Sunning Rock, I won't be able to go with you since I have to take care of the pups."
Ryan nodded and walked towards the pool. "I've been dying to try this out", he thought.
He gave a small howl, the pups immediately stopped jumping. He gave them a sign to follow him using his snout. They began getting out of the pool and shook themselves dry before running to him.
The first one there was Fang who had gotten out as soon as he saw Ryan howling. After they were all in front of him he began to speak "Let's go together to find Miss Wave Whip so that she can help us with training."
They all began walking towards the Sunning Rock with tails wagging leaving River Paw with his mouth opened.