Chapter 26: A New Training

It had been at least a moon. Today was finally the last session of the hard work the senior Benders had them doing. There were so many holes now, it was practically like a minefield. Everyone had to move around the holes, which was hard to do since there was so many. At the top of the hill, there were so many rocks it was like a wall. With all the running they did, there was a clear path around the territory.
Ash put his paw on the ground and a twig snapped. He looked around. His shoulders relaxed. The last day of training, he thought. All morning he had been bracing himself for the pain he'd go through today, as he went through everyday since the past moon. Everyone had gotten used to running and working hard, so Kabu didn't yell as much as he did on the first day, nor did the senior Benders. No one necessarily liked the training (excluding Max, Raoul and Miguel), but were kind of used to it. But no one was still used to the fact that Spots was dead.
Kabu jumped on top of his usual boulder. "We're going to be doing something different, more fun today, as an award for you coping with training so hard."
Everyone exchanged looks of excitement. No one had had any fun since the past moon. Ash couldn't help but wondering if it would be fun to Kabu and not fun to them, or if it would be fun for all of them and Kabu was telling the truth.
"So, some of you will be becoming full Benders soon." At that, all the apprentices started talking. "I said SOON," Kabu yelled, making everyone listen again. "Not now." Ash looked at Kabu and - was that amusement glinting in his eyes? - the deputy went on. "So for today, you'll all be pretending that you are full Benders. We're going to teach you how to patrol properly, hunt properly, and fight properly, and bend properly."
A roar of conversation spread out through the apprentices, but not necessarily the full Benders who were participating.
Mistletoe spoke up, "What about those of us who already are full Benders?"
Kabu nodded, "You'll be learning how to handle an apprentice."
Now all of the full Benders were talking.
"Lucky!" Ash heard Rusty whisper to Crystal, "I wonder who my first apprentice will be."
Ash agreed with Rusty, he was anxious looking to the time when he'd have his first apprentice. Would he be a good mentor? What would the apprentice be like? Ash left all of these questions unanswered as he turned his attention back to Kabu.
"The senior Benders will take groups out who will start with different subjects," Kabu explained, "Twister, Akumu, Dell, Windows, Miguel, Rusty and Slice will be in one group."
Ash looked at them all. Both Miguel and Rusty were looking at Slice, who was unaware of them watching. Uh-Oh, Ash thought, That'll cause some arguments...
"Ash, Charlotte, Dust, Crystal, Twig and Nyx will be in another group."
 Dust looked a bit excited. Ash knew who Nyx was, he saw Nyx the other day, but never heard of someone named Twig. Is she a new apprentice? Ash asked himself.
"Light, Max and Raoul will be in our last group. Now, River will take Rusty's group, Diamond will take Dust's group, and Creature will take Light's group. River, start your group out with Bending. Diamond, start your group out with patrolling. Creature, start your group out with hunting. Rotate around..."
Ash stopped listening to Kabu. Wonder what will happen? Ash thought to himself.

Author's Note:
I figured everyday writing about them training for a whole moon would be too much. 8P So I skipped ahead. ^^ Thanks to Maximumriderules for Twig! And forgot to add... Mia created Zapada, and Perry4464 created Nyx! And be sure to check out the new story blog I created!