Hurry up!(sunset)

[twilight]

The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight and there was no wind to stir the leaves of the tall trees. Still on the ground the heat brought out the creatures and the plants were doing well. Leopardfire bent down to examine the plant in front of her. She took a deep breath and smiled. Looking over he shoulder she tried to locate her apprentice.

"Ashpaw come here!" She waited with her tail around her paws for the young tom. " We should get all the catmint we can right now while it is good, and then we will come back for the borage. Now tell me why it is good to collect herbs in midday." She smiled and waited for him to reply.

[sunset]

Ashpaw walked over to where his mentor was standing. He didn't know the answer to her question. "Uh, cause the sun is out?" He smiled, knowing he was wrong, and waited for the asnwer. He didn't know if he had already been taught this or not, so it might be a bad thing that he got this wrong. No big deal though, he would get it right next time. Hopefully she wouldn't be mad...he slipped into a trance, wondering about her reaction.

[twilight]

Leopardfire rolled her eyes, she tried hard not to laugh and keep a strait face. "That is part right, the reason is because the herbs have been in the sun long enough to dry and they are good to collect now." She bent down and started to pick the leaves off carefully. "Now be careful and hep me, make sure you only get the leaf so new ones can grow." She moved over so that he could get at the plant as well. If the borage plant is this big as well, we will have enough of both of them to last a good while.

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[sunset]

Ashpaw nodded, glad that he had gotten part of the question right. Carefully he bit the leaf off like she had said, and looked up for approval. He was surprised at how big the plant was, after all she had made it seem like a big deal to find these and here was a whole bunch of them. Shrugging, he picked more leaves off, waiting to see how much they needed. He wanted to say something, but it was kind of awquard for some reason.

[twilight]

Leopardfire picked more leaves also until they had as much as they could carry. "Thats enough, we should get these back to camp and then come back for borage. After that I will teach you some fighting moves." She began to move the leaves into a large pile with her tail so she could pick some up. "Even though you are a medicine cat you will still need to know how to protect yourself if you are in danger." She bent down and picked up as much as she could carry, waiting to make sure he got all the rest before she headed toward the camp.

[sunset]

He picked up the rest, and trailed behind, his tail dragging. He knew it was important to learn how to fight. What if needed to defend himself, or a patient? He sighed to himself, knowing he couldn't get out of it. It was part of his training. He didn't want to fight. Or learn to fight. That's why he became a medicine cat. He spun around to pick up a leaf that had fallen, but didn't make any effort to keep up.

[twilight]

Leopardfire knew how her apprentice felt about fighting, thats why she wanted to get it out of the way. She slowed her pace until she was matching his. She sighed inside wondering how she would make the fighting training fun, being a medicine cat she had no idea how too. Suddenly a new scent pasted her nose. She slowed to a stop and placed the herbs at her paws. Taking in the scent again she confermed her first thought, it was a badger, young and male. In the next second it came out into the open, and started for them. "Ashpaw, you need to go for he-" Her sentance was cut short as the creature barreled into her side.

[/center]

[sunset]

Ashpaw stood frozen. He had no idea what to do. His mouth had fallen open, and the herbs lay at his paws. He watched his mentor get hit by a huge creature that could only be badger-which he identified from stories-and he knew that wasn't good. He wanted to run, to camp or anywhere, but he couldn't leave her there. She couldn't beat a badger by herself, no warrior could do that. So having no training, he lept towards the badger, claws unshethed, fear knotting his belly.

[twilight]

Leopardfire hit the ground hard. It took her a bit to get herself back up, and when she did the sight almost made her fall again. Ashpaw was charging at the badger claws unshethed. "No Ashpaw run!" She ran to help him, when she got closer she dodged the badgers large claws and raked her own down it's side. She then ran back a few paces and looked around, she needed to see how Ashpaw was fairing. He had no idea what to do, and who was she kiding, she didn't either.

[/center]

[sunset]

Seeing what Leopardfire had done, he brought his claws along the badger's side. It's massive head swung around to face him, and he froze again. The badger however, didn't hesitate in swinging at Ashpaw's head. The blow left him dizzy, and it seemed as if the world were spinning. He heard Leopardfire hissing, obviously trying to get the badger's attention. He, however, was intent on Ashpaw. Trying to clear his head, he shook once, srcatched at the creature's nose, drawing blood. He shuddered, and was hit again by the badger's paw, and felt claws go deep into his side.

[twilight]

"No!" She growled and launched herself strait at the badgers head, she had to get it away from Ashpaw if he were to live. She leaped into the air and came down on the badgers head, it tried to shake her off but before it could she scratched at it's eyes, making it blind. Right after that she was flung off. This time it took her much longer to get up, she could feel the blood pooling on her head where she hit a rock. Still she had to help Ashpaw so she stood once more.[/center

[sunset]

Ashpaw knew they were both in trouble. He was bleeding heavily from his side, and her from a gash on her head. But the badger was blind now, from her quick thinking. He wished he could have helped her, and felt bad. He could do that later though, and Leopardfire wasn't n any shape to continue. So he went closer to the badger, who was swinging his head and thrashing around. He batted at his head, claws attacking where ever they hit. It was easy to take out his anger this way, but e still hated doing it. Then the badger turned. Was he giving up, and leaving?

[twilight]

Leopardfire moved slowly back toward the badger so she could help. When it turned she looked at Ashpaw, "we have to attack it some more so we know it leaves!" She unshethed her claws and took her swipes one at a time since she was still very weak. Soon enough from both there attacks the badger ran off. Leopardfire laid down on the ground no strengh to move. "Thank you Ashpaw, for helping me. If you went for help like I said I might have died." She let out a small uneven purr.

[/center]

[sunset]

Ashpaw just stood there. "ya." Was all he said. He had never wanted to fight. Ever. All he wanted to do was help others. That's the point of his job. And he had just hurt someone. Ok, a badger, but still. He trembled, and images of his mother falshed in his head. What he wouldn't give to talk to her right now. Just a few words of her advice...but he knew that would never happen. "Wanna...rest?" He asked, and layed down, putting his head on his paws. He didn't know how far he could walk right now, he was kind of shaken. Leopardfire looked worse than him however.

[twilight]

She sighed, feeling bad that Ashpaw had to do that. He was young and shouldn't have to fight for his life. Still that was the way things were. "Don't worry Ashpaw, that badger will leave, and it will be better in no time. So will we, but first we have got to get back to camp and fix ourselves up. It wouldn't be good if we both went now would it." She started to stand up, almost falling twice. When she was on her feet again she started to walk, she took each step slowly making sure she would stay up as she went.