Morning Surprise [For Kitty]

[kitty]

Ashkit couldn't help it. She laughed. Lightheart was just that kind of goofy cat. It was impossible to feel down around him. She eyed him curiously as he flopped to the ground, wondering what point he was trying to make. Probably the slacking off one. When she saw his tail gesture that she assumed meant to mean 'Join me here on this nice soft ground of pine needles!' After a brief moment of consideration, she shrugged. She flopped over next to him, feeling the nice smelling pine needles poke into her fur. Luckily she was used to the feel, or it might be a bit uncomfortable.

She was content to just lay there for a while, like Lightheart said - the sun really did feel nice. Ashkit allowed herself to relax, as he instructed. But wait, he wanted her to stand up now. In confusion, she began to rise. Until she felt the tail tapping her back, and Lightheart ordered her to stop.

What in the name of StarClan was he doing? She let out a little mew of protest. If she had to crouch down like this, how were they going to train? Wait a second...crouch! That was it! He was showing her the hunting crouch!

Her assumption was confirmed when he went on to explain what a crouch should be. Ah, clever Lightheart, clever. "Oh, so this is what crouching should feel like?" she mused out loud. "Well, it feels a bit strange, but maybe that's because I'm not used to it. My balance is..." She took an experimental step, but she had to go the right a bit, because Lightheart was stand there, blocking the way to her left. And while her hind leg still made that dull thump sound that it usually made, it certainly seemed easier than what she was doing before. Maybe because more of her weight was on her right side, where she had two good legs? "I don't know. My balance feels a little off, but this is easier than what I was trying to do earlier." When she looked up, she noticed Lightheart gazing at her. Was he trying to think of a way to make this easier? Was he thinking of battle moves?

Who knew. It was Lightheart, after all. Even StarClan probably didn't know what he was thinking!

[Heathclaw]

"Well, it'll take some polishing, but I'm sure that your balance will be just fine soon enough. Maybe it'll wind up being better than mine! Well, it probably will. I've got three left paws, you know?" said Lightheart. As if to prove this point, he took a step forward, and promptly fell over in a theatrical way, bumping into Ashkit on the way down and landing on his back.

"Anyways... back to slacking off," he said, stretching out all four of his paws like petals opening on a flower. "I enjoy relaxing on my back from time to time. I get to see the sky above my head, the clouds... those wonderfully tasty squirrels, not to mention those- whoop!"

Reaching out with a paw, he swiped at something that had fallen out of the pine tree, aimed straight at his face. He blinked a few times, getting over the surprise, and then giggled. "Pine cones. One of ShadowClan's most deadliest predators. Hey... that give me an idea! Stay right there."

And with that, Lightheart jumped back up, roaming around for a bunch of pine cones to gather into a pile. "You may be missing a leg, but your back is perfectly fine, right? So... let's see how good you are at fighting from your back, with all your paws raised up in front of you. Your enemy will be the dreaded pine-cone. Let's see how many of these you can swat away, huh?"

And with that, Lightheart began tossing his pine cones in light, arcing tosses towards his temporary apprentice. This could be fun! I should do this with Darkpaw some time... he mused, as he carefully aimed his throws. Ivytooth would flay him alive if her precious kit took a pine cone to the eye.

[kitty]

Ashkit giggled again. Lightheart was just so amusing and fun to be around. He could lighten up any dreary mood, it seemed. Well, the little she-cat certainly couldn't stay sad for long around him. Any time she felt a bit down, saddened over a hunting crouch, whatever, he was off being his own goofy self and making her laugh again.

Speaking of which, there he went, tumbling theatrically to the ground. This would have been hilarious if he'd just fallen by himself, but on the way down he managed to bump into Ashkit, effectively taking her out in the process. She toppled down on top of the young warrior and rolled off into a heap of legs and fur and pine needles, a bit flustered, before she really started laughing. One cat falling was funny enough, but add a second and it was just plain hilarious. Especially when one of the cats were you.

She finally got her laughing fit calmed down and allowed herself to just lay there on her back like Lightheart was doing. Slacking off, part two, Ashkit thought. He began listing reasons he liked to lay on his back, which she considered and added a couple more herself. The butterflies, the birds... With that, something plummeted from the tree limbs above, straight towards Lightheart. Ashkit gave a little mew of surprise, but Lightheart just swiped at the dark-colored thing. It bounced away and the she-cat realized what it was. A pine cone!

Lightheart cracked another joked and instructed her to remain put, which she didn't mind. The ground was comfortable. She paid little attention to what Lightheart was doing, instead just asking questions. "What were the odds that pine cone would come straight at your face? Bit strange, huh? Maybe it just likes you." She paused in her own wonderings to answer his question. "Well, yeah, its just my leg that's missing. Everything else works fine." She began to turn her head suspiciously when he announced her enemy. "Hey, what are you do-"

She didn't get to finish her first question before she caught a glimpse of the first roundish dark shape flying towards her. It nailed her in the stomach, and another one soon followed, catching her across the forepaw. It took being hit by yet another pine cone for her to realize what the tom was doing. Was he...throwing pine cones at her?! And he expected her to bat them out of the air, just as he had? What was she, super-cat? She flailed out uselessly at the pine cone that followed, and the one after that. They caught her across the belly and the chest. Finally, she managed to knock one away.

She stopped and watched the piny thing bounce away and roll on the ground, momentarily distracted. I hit one! I actually hit one! Another pine cone caught her across the back of the head, though, and she groaned. This was so much harder than it looked. How many pine cones had Lightheart managed to gather in such a short time?! She managed to bat one out of the next three that came at her, and only one more after that. She'd hit, what? Three out of StarClan knew how many pine cones. Wow, she was terrible at that. If pine cones really did decide to turn on the ShadowClan cats one day, she wasn't going to be one of the survivors.

[Heathclaw]

"Oops," said Lightheart, trying to choke back a grin as he watched the little kit flail about, trying to dodge the deluge of pine cones that he'd unleashed. This was fun- he was definitely going to try this with Darkpaw. "Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you all that Ashkit has not survived today's pine cone attack," Lightheart announced in a grave voice, padding up to her and nosing her back on her feet.

"Next time, focus on them one by one. That should help you from being overwhelmed," he added, giving her a friendly wink as she got back up. "I didn't hit you too hard, did I? My aim isn't as it should be- I'm a bit out of a practice. Heh-heh."

"Don't worry though, fighting from your back is some pretty advanced stuff. You did good, Ashkit. Now... I think that'll have to do for today. Your dear old mom has got me on Sunhigh patrol, and I'm going to have to go and get ready. Come on, I'll race you back!"

[kitty]

Ashkit collapsed dramatically, her flailing paws going limp upon Lightheart's announcement that, regretfully, she had not survived the attack from the dreaded pinecones. Sticking out her little pink tongue and closing her eyes, she was feigning death in her playful way. "They killed me," she whispered, gray eyes opening a slit to look up at Lightheart. The warrior nosed her back to her feet and gave her a bit of advice on a way to survive the next vicious pine cone battle. She gave a nod; she would do her best to remember that, but attacking opponents from her back was definitely a skill that was going to tell some practice to master. "Nah, I'm fine. Although you're right, your aim does need some work," the gray she-cat teased.

Ah well, at least it was a pretty advanced technique. According to Lightheart, anyway. She nodded in regretful agreement when he said they would have to go back. Too bad he had sunhigh patrol. They could stay out training longer then. But wait, he had to train Darkpaw, too. Poor tom would be so busy training two cats and keeping up with regular warrior duties! Ashkit worried briefly that training her may prove to be a bothersome task for the warrior, but shoved that idea away. If he'd thought that it would be troublesome, he wouldn't have offered.

Gray eyes narrowing in determination, she meowed, "You're on! I'll so beat you! You better not go easy on me!" She wasn't a terribly fast runner, by normal cat standards , but he would probably get a surprise when he realized that she could actually run rather quickly despite the fact that she had only three legs. "Just say the word and I'm off," she growled, eager for the prospect of another challenge.

[Heathclaw]

"Ha! That's the spirit, Ashkit!" said Lightheart, whiskers twitching. "Keep that up, and you'll be a warrior in no time! Alright... ready? One... two... four... go!" And with that, he burst off into the trees, darting in nimble zigzags between trunk to trunk. Then, suddenly, he veered off of his route, and then seemed to vanish in the trees.

However, in actuality, he looped back around so that he was behind Ashkit. After all, he had to keep an eye on her, didn't he? In fact... did Ashkit even know the way back to camp? Oops. Didn't think that one through...

Huh... she's fast, though! What's keeping her from being a warrior? "Hey, Ashkit! Don't get lost! Follow the sound of my voice!" he called, pacing over onto her right side.

[kitty]

Ashkit's whiskers twitched in anticipation - and amusement briefly when she noticed that Lightheart skipped number three - and as soon as he said "Go!" she shot off. However, he managed to get a faster start than she did - He had to have started before he said go![/color] she thought crossly. Soon the tom was out of her sight and in a moment of confusion, Ashkit realized that she had no idea how to get back to camp. She'd been following Lightheart's scent to begin with, but that suddenly disappeared. Where in the name of StarClan had he gone? Had he suddenly grown wings and taken flight? That wasn't fair! He wasn't playing by the rules! ...although the prospect of wings intrigued her. But wait, no way had he grown wings. Cats didn't have wings. They weren't birds, and that was that. So he was obviously around here somewhere.

The gray she-cat slowed, sniffing for their previous scent trail, but she must have gotten off course. Great StarClan, her mother was going to kill her. Wait, no she wouldn't. She would kill Lightheart. But she couldn't do that! Lightheart hadn't meant to lose her. They were having a race, after all! Ashkit wouldn't be able to live with knowing that Lightheart had died because of her. Or in the very least lost his ears. Upon this thought, Ashkit sped her uneven running.

Suddenly a voice sounded behind her, and she turned her head. There, just behind her, was, of all cats, Lightheart - so he hadn't grown wings after all! What the...how did he get back there?![/color] she thought. Had she really managed to pass him? Wow. "There you are!" she meowed, panting. "I'm not lost!" That was a lie - she had no idea where she was. She let the warrior pull a little ahead, hoping he wrote it off as tiredness instead of seeing through her lie. He was still beside her, but now he was - barely - leading the way.

[Heathclaw]

"What? You're not lost?" asked Lightheart, with a mixture of teasing and incredulity. "Well, okay then. See you back at camp!" And with that, he flitted off again into the trees, although he kept himself visible enough so that the kit could keep track of him. Well, if she tried hard enough.

They made it back to the camp without any further incident, save for Lightheart's accidental run-in with a tree just at the edge of camp, and the young warrior motioned with his tail for Ashkit to stop. "There's no fun in just walking in the front door, is it? Come on, we can get a little bit more training in- try and sneak in without being noticed. I'll watch."

[kitty]

Wait wait wait wait. Did he just leave her behind? Great StarClan, she shouldn't have lied. Now she was going to have to find her way back to camp without a guide. Mousedung. Ashkit put on a burst of speed, running as quickly as she could to catch up to the warrior, or at least get him in her sights again. Where was he...where....At least his scent was still strong. As long as he didn't mysteriously disappear again, she could probably follow it the whole way back to camp (although she'd never had to do something like that before so she wasn't exactly great at it - another disadvantage of being held back from apprenticeship. They could at least give her the basic lessons in tracking, right?)

Finally - there! Lightheart's tail! She followed his tail as best she could back to camp, when Lightheart had a...'run-in' with a tree, which was basically a nice way of saying his didn't stop fast enough and ran into it. He gestured for Ashkit to stop and she obeyed, well, obediently.

Upon his next orders, Ashkit merely blinked a few times in confusion. "Wait a heartbeat, how in the name of StarClan am I supposed to sneak into camp?" she demanded. "Why will I need to sneak into my own camp, anyway?" her head tilted, but she didn't question him any further. Instead she padded in her lopsided way over to the camp barrier and examined it. There was a spot there she might be able to squeeze in under...but not without getting covered in thorns. She moved on to looking over the tree Lightheart stood beside. Maybe she could climb it and drop in. Or maybe she could try and jump the barrier. Although that option screamed disaster even more than crawling underneath the barrier. She went back to the tree option. Having never climbed a tree before, this was guaranteed to be amusing to the bystanders.

Placing her front paws on the tree, Ashkit discovered that, even though her front limbs were propping her up, it was still a bit difficult keeping balance on her one hind leg. Okay, Ashkit, on the count of three you'll jump and try and dig your hind leg's claws into the bark. One..two..three! She gave a little jump and managed to dig her hind leg's claws into the bark, as per her plan. Perfect! Now she just had to climb it...one paw in front of the other, she slowly - so very slowly - progressed up the tree. It wasn't until she was a few tail lengths up that she realized something.

She was afraid of heights.

Whoops. "Just don't look down, don't look down..." She closed her eyes tight and clenched her teeth and slowly continued on up the tree, daring a glimpse down occasionally. She just had to find a limb that stuck out above camp, and then she could jump down into camp....

Finally she reached a limb. But it was so high...it made her woozy just looking down. Her fur bristled as she stared down into camp, gray eyes wide in fear. Mousedung. She'd have to get Lightheart's fault. So much for impressing him. "Um. Lightheart," she began in a shaky voice. "I-I think I'm stuck."

[Heathclaw]

"How d'you know this is your camp?" Lightheart countered lightly, as though it was the most natural thing to think in the world. "Imagine that it isn't, for a moment. This is a test of your ingenuity, as much as it is a test of your skill. But, come on- it'll be fine. You can do it e- hey, where're you going?

As was usually the case, Lightheart's running at the mouth made him completely oblivious to the fact that his temporary apprentice had decided to go climb a tree in the meantime. What on earth is she thinking? She's only got- he began to think, but that was his sudden worry speaking. Ashkit had proven, to him at least, that she was just as capable as any four-legged cat her age. Who was he to say that she didn't know what she was doing? But, on the other hand, Lightheart knew firsthand that climbing a tree wasn't the safest or easiest thing in the world.

He bounded up to the base of the tree after her, but what precisely was he supposed to do? Let her fall on him if need be? It wasn't like he could catch her- not from that height. He continued to follow her progress, neck craned up to keep her in his sight, and then, she froze. Uh-oh...

"You're stuck? What d'you mean you're stuck? Didja step on tree sap or something?" asked Lightheart, trying to make light of the situation. "Well, hang tight there for a second. I'm gonna climb up and be stuck with you." And he swarmed up the tree after her. "Now, see, it's a lot easier to climb up a tree than it is to climb down. To get down, we're going to have to jump. D'you want me to help you?"

[kitty]

Of course, while LIghtheart had been rambling on about some thing or another - Ashkit had stopped paying much attention to her temporary mentor in her quest to climb the tree - the gray she-cat had gone and gotten herself, quite simply, stuck. Her big gray eyes seemed even larger as she fearfully clung to the limb for dear life. Finally he seemed to notice what she was doing - climbing the tree, that is - and had rushed to the bottom of the tree, gazing up at her intently with a mixture of worry and...curiosity, perhaps. Maybe he was wondering how Ashkit planned on getting down.

Yeah. Ashkit was wondering that, too.

So while she spoke down to him about her, erm, predicament, he replied with a lighthearted, cheery response in what was surely an attempt to lighten up the gray cat's fright. Unfortunately, it did nothing to help her mood and she instead shot him a glare and grumbled, "Crazy old cat. Just hurry up and help me down from here."

Normally she wouldn't have been so rude, but she couldn't help it. When you had never climbed a tree before and then you got stuck, you'd be scared out of your mind, too, and therefor obligated to be a bit grumpy.

Lightheart swarmed up the tree and perched beside her on the branch and then explained what they had to do to get down. Wait, wait, wait. She had to jump? What in the name of StarClan was Lightheart thinking now? The prospect of jumping down from a position so...high was certainly a frightening one, and Ashkit was unsure whether she would rather remain in the tree or jump to the ground.

After a moment of consideration, she caved. "Fine. I'll jump down." After another moment's hesitation in which her independent pride warred with her more clear-thinking mind, she finally, reluctantly, agreed to needing his help. She didn't want it, but yeah, she probably did need it. "Yes, please. I think I do need help."

[Heathclaw]

"Hey, watch who you're calling old!" Lightheart said with a laugh. "I'll have you know that I haven't matured since I was a kit! That's what everyone says, anyway. Whatever that means." He shrugged dismissively... and nearly lost his footing.

"Yah!" Lightheart cried out, digging all sixteen of his claws in and hugging the branch. He froze like that for a moment, and then, once he realized that he was not in fact plummeting down towards the earth, he glanced up at Ashkit, twitching his tail sheepishly. "Aheheheheh... Uhm... I meant to do that?" Keep smiling and laughing, Lightheart. You don't want to freak her out or anything. That would be... what's the word? Bad?

"Yeah! I meant to do that! Just showing you what not to do while you're high up in a tree like this. Er... let's get down, shall we?" Lightheart began looking around the tree for lower limbs that he could reach. But then, there was the problem of getting Ashkit down with him... but he had an idea for that.

"Alright Ashkit. I'm going to show you how it feels to fly. It... er... it shouldn't be too scary. But I'll make sure you get down safely." He glanced back down at the pattern of branches he'd picked. It ought to be fine, as long as Ashkit didn't flail around... they'd be fine. "Do you trust me?"

Ashkit certainly looked nervous about it, but she finally gave her his consent. "Okay. Turn around. Carefully now," cautioned Lightheart. Man... if Ivytooth saw this... He'd need all four paws to get down safely... so he'd need to carry Ashkit with his mouth, by the scruff of her neck.

"Mrmph... you alright?" Lightheart asked, making sure she was calm before starting down. There were three branches in between them and a safe ground landing. Okay Lightheart. No goofing around here. Use those skills you trained so hard to get. He couldn't exactly take a deep breath with a kit in his mouth, but he steadied himself, and took the first leap, digging his claws in deep as he landed.

The next one was an easy one- almost straight down, and he made it quickly, tilting his head up to keep Ashkit from thudding into the branch. Just one more... but it was going to be a doozy. He bunched up his muscles, made the big leap, landed it... and then realized that he was still moving forward, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Mouse Dung!

Thinking quickly, he dug in deep with a forepaw and pushed off the branch, so that he spun over in the air, digging in tightly with his teeth so as not to lose hold of Ashkit. Within moments he felt the impact of the ground against his back, unclenched his teeth and let out an oof as Ashkit landed on his stomach. He was seeing all sorts of stars at this point- but thankfully they weren't the ones of StarClan- the branch had been pretty low to the ground. It hurt like the dickens though.

"Guh... Er... Please exit the belly area in an orderly fashion. Thank you for flying with your good pal Lightheart," he joked weakly. "You okay Ashkit? That was quite a ride, huh? Aheheheheh..."

[kitty]

Ashkit was suddenly a lot less comfortable about getting help down from the tree from Lightheart. She was pretty sure he didn't "mean to" slip and almost fall out of the tree, which made her very excited for the trip down (notice the sarcasm there!). But he was the only way she'd get down, and also her temporary mentor until they could prove she was teachable, so she hesitantly gave her consent when he asked her about it. Flying didn't sound so bad though - much, much better than jumping had. Maybe now she could see what birds felt like!

"Do you trust me?" he asked, and she gave a hesitant "Yes.." before he instructed her to turned around - carefully. And the next thing she knew, his teeth were embedded in the scruff of her neck and she was lifted from the limb. Automatically her limbs flailed - she was just so high and now she wasn't even touching anything! She had to really trust Lightheart to let him do this to get them down. After a moment she realized flailing was futile and gave a nod when he asked if she was alright, just dangling in his jaws.

Suddenly they were flying through the air - and the mere heartbeats they were in the air certainly did feel like flying! She liked the way the wind felt in her fur (birds were so lucky!). But then they landed and she grunted just from the force of Lightheart's teeth in her neck - the landing had jerked her down, pulling on the place where fangs met fur and skin.

The next jump was quick an easy; there were in the air for barely a heartbeat before she felt the painful pressure on her neck from the impact of two bodies meeting with a tree branch. Her tail brushed against the branch - that was a close one.

Finally, just one more jump. Lightheart took a big leap - Ashkit knew it must have been a bigger jump that the others because they were in the air longer. And then she felt his paws connect with the branch and she let out the breath she'd been holding...which was probably a good thing because she probably would have yowled when she realized that Lightheart had overshot and that they were still going through the air. Lightheart's teeth clamped into her scruff even tighter and she winced in pain. And then she felt the impact of the ground...only it wasn't on her. She'd landed safely on top of Lightheart, which had probably been his intent, but the landing was still jarring. She had to wonder how Lightheart felt. Any last breath of she had was forced from her lungs in a 'poof' noise.

Ashkit rolled off of her mentor of sorts, laughing a winded, weak laugh. "There should be a warning for it. 'Crash landings likely', or something," she joked in return, flopped on her side. Her back was to him now, but she wasn't feeling up to rolling over right at that moment. "I think I will be...after a moment..." she answered a bit breathlessly. "What about you?"