"Fang Pup how many times have we told you not to wake us up in such ways"
The silver pup put his head down and pretended to be sorry, but he was being betrayed by his tail, which was swinging wildly from side to side. Ryan smiled as he saw the pups reprimanding the young wolf for running them over.
He gave one last yawn and began walking towards the water and drank some. After he had his fill he looked at his reflection, the roundness of his snout had disappeared, and his horns had grown a decent amount.
Then together with the other pups, he walked to the center of the camp. A few minutes later, the members of the clan began gathering. Dust Thorn looked at the group of Pups and smiled "I should have known that you pups would be here earlier than expected, haha. Usually, you would all come to the center while you are welcomed by the howling of the pack."
Ryan laughed and used his snout to point at Fang Paw "Yeah, there was someone who woke some of us up early."
Dust Thorn nodded and started howling, one by one all the wolves including the new litter of pups howled. After a few seconds, they all quieted down and 7 wolves walked forward and sat in front.
"Due to certain events, our clan is facing a shortage of warriors. Since not every warrior is ready or able to take an apprentice some of you will have to share a mentor."
The pups nodded and looked up at the brown alpha, "From this day onward you stop being pups and you will tend to the needs of our clan. Every step you take must now be for the good and safety of our Tempest Clan."
There was another set of howls that were silenced when Dust Thorn walked in front of the lined-up young wolves. "From this day forward you will be known as Stone Paw, Cloud Paw, Wood Paw...…"
Every time the brown alpha would say a name a set of vines would tangle themselves on all four legs of the newly named wolves. After they had all been named Dust Thorn began pairing them to their new mentors.
"Viper Paw, I would have loved the pleasure of being your mentor and teaching you as much of what your father taught me as I could. The thing is that being Alpha in these times is too much for me already, if I took you as an apprentice now I would lack the time to actually teach you. That is why I have decided that your mentor should be Sun Blaze."
Ryan nodded and looked at the red warrior that was walking forward. He had expected Dust Thorn to be his mentor, but now that he had heard the brown warrior he had to agree. There were several times that they were interrupted during their conversations in the past 6 months. Since they were driven out of their territory the pack had been in danger of starvation many times. There were also some skirmishes with Swamp and Blood Clan when they were patrolling their new border. In reality, he didn't really care who was going to teach him as long as he was able to explore so that he can know more about what's happening in the world.
Once the ceremony was completed some of the warriors ran into the forest and returned with a giant green bull/boar-like creature. It had the physique of a bull and you would totally think that it was a bull if not for the boar-like tusks and the 3 pairs of legs that it had.
The newly made apprentice and mentors were told to eat first. After they had their meal the rest of the clan joined in and soon the giant 8-foot long bull was gone and the only thing that was left was a large core and a pile of bloody bones.
Ryan and some of the other apprentices began putting away the remains underground and he silently and sneakily swallowed the core. After they had finished he walked towards the white pelted she-wolf that was playing with the pups.
"Morning mother how are you doing?"
She turned around and smiled at him and got up "I'm doing great Viper Paw, I still can't believe you became an apprentice. It feels like just yesterday when you were dragging your body through the floor of our old den."
Ryan laughed and shook his head "Well, I'm gonna go now. I still don't know what Sun Blaze has planned for today."
Star Light nodded and began playing around with the pups that were jumping on her. Meanwhile, he returned to the red warrior who was waiting for him "Sorry for the wait Sun Blaze, so what are we going to do?"
The red wolf smiled and looked at the forest "Well the hunting parties and border patrols have already been set. I was in charge of guarding last night so at the moment I'm free. How about you stay here for the day and tomorrow we can go and patrol the border?"
Ryan felt his tail and ears drop but he nodded, "Alright, Sun Blaze I waited this long, waiting another day won't kill me."
The red warrior smiled and nodded "Thanks, Viper Paw, for now, make sure that the den has water. The bone pit has also nearly been filled so if you could use those claws of yours to open up some room."
He looked at Sun Blaze and sighed "So basically do what I do every day?"
The red wolf burst in laughter and nodded "Yeah sorry about that, but night guard really takes a toll on the body. After you are done with those things then you can do whatever you want as long as you are still in camp."
Ryan nodded and began walking towards the entrance of the den where there was an empty bowl that was created by cooling hot lava. The bowl was made so that the pups wouldn't have to get out of the den at night. There were also other bowls throughout the camp to make sure that the injured didn't have to walk to get their water.
After he had refilled them he entered the bone pit and began using the Lava Claw skill that he had purchased. As soon as his claws touched the bones they began to disintegrate into ash. 'No matter how many times I see this it's always so satisfying haha.'
It took him about an hour to finish turning all the bones to ash and he went out of the pit and began looking for the wolf that he needed. Luckily for him, he found the warrior in no time on top of the tree guarding the camp.
He ran up to the young blue warrior and smiled, "Hey River Claw, would you mind giving me a little help?"
The blue warrior turned around and nearly fell from laughter "Ha, Ha, they got you cleaning up the Bone Pit again? Give me a sec."
River Claw gave him a mischievous smile and suddenly a blue light appeared out of his horns. Suddenly as if a fire hose was aimed at him a huge impact of water hit Ryan. After he calmed down from the sudden impact he smiled "Two can play at that game."
He sent a small shot of lighting traveling through the continuous wave of water and a huge yelp was heard before there was a large thud on the ground. Ryan looked at the young warrior who fell onto the mud that he had created using his water magic.
River Claw stood up and looked at Viper Paw annoyed but suddenly his gaze moved towards the ground. Ryan was confused at first but suddenly he felt a strong push that was sending him headfirst into a tree.
Before he hit it he used his Wind Step skill and jumped in mid-air as he pushed off the tree and did some sort of flip in the air. He landed back in the ground in time to see the figure of a brown she-wolf becoming one with the shadow of the tree.
"Mud Shade a sneak attack isn't cool, who knows how bad I might have gotten hurt if I didn't act in time."
He waited but there was no response and he sighed and began using his lighting ability around him.
After River Claw saw Ryan's expression he quickly backed away and climbed one of the trees.
There was a sudden yelp of pain under him before a brown she-wolf appeared.
"That invisible lighting of yours is too unfair, once you know that someones there then it's impossible to be able to get close to you."
Ryann laughed and shook his head "That shadow thing that you do is scary though. If you actually tried you could probably kill me before I could even use it."
When the blue warrior saw that the spar between his clanmates had finished he jumped down and began walking towards them. "Do you two always have to mess around? You act like a pair of pups every time you're together."
Mud Shade looked at River Claw and began laughing "Us? If I'm not mistaken the only one that is like a pup is you with that yelp you gave out. You do know that your yelping could have made the camp panic and think that we are being under attack right? Also, you being here talking to us means that you are not fulfilling your duty."
The blue warrior looked at the brown she-wolf and sighed, "Viper Paw was the one who started it."
Both Ryan and Mud Shade smiled and began walking around camp as they made sure that no one needed anything.
"Viper Paw, since today is your first day as an apprentice and you have been stuck here all day, would you want to go hunting with me?"
Ryan glanced at the sleeping red warrior and thought about it for a bit, "Well Sun Blaze said to stay in camp, however, what he doesn't know won't hurt him hehe."