Chapter 49: The New Apprentices

"Ash. Ash."
"Huh?" Ash jerked awake. He had had a good night's sleep, and hadn't wanted to wake up yet. He looked up to see Rusty over him, prodding Ash with his paw. "What is it?" Ash yawned, getting to his paws and stretching.
"Goldwing needs to see you, me, Dust, Charlotte and Firefly," Rusty said. "He didn't say why, though..." As Ash got up, Rusty walked over to Firefly and prodded him and murmured down to Firefly. Firefly got up and stretched.
"Let's go then," Ash shrugged, and he exited the den. Rusty followed, and Firefly took up the rear. Ash sniffed the air, and headed into a room on the far side of the hall. Goldwing was there with Dust and Charlotte already. He turned his head as Ash and the others arrived.
"Ah, you're all here! Good," Goldwing nodded. Kabu was sitting next to him, a smile on his face in greeting. They took a seat, and Goldwing began. "Well, even though you've all only been full Benders for about a moon, we have some new apprentices."
"We do?" Charlotte said, "Wow, that apprentices' den is gonna be packed!" She looked around, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Yeah," Dust nodded in agreement, "Charlotte's right... I'm sure glad I'm not an apprentice. Why do we have so many?"
"Well, the bigger the army, the better," Kabu smiled. "Lots of apprentices is good, never mind that the den is now packed. That means we'll have a lot of good, strong Benders, ready to fight the Firebenders whenever they come to attack."
"He's right," Goldwing nodded. "Now, as I was saying, we have some new apprentices: Leafy, Comet, Lily, Aimee, Snakeseye and Cinder. Even though you're fresh, new Benders, this'll be a good experience for you... I want some of you to mentor these apprentices."
Ash grew wide-eyed. Already, he was getting an apprentice? He suddenly became excited, and exchanged looks with Rusty, who looked more eager than Ash felt inside. Dust seemed excited too, like he was about to bounce everywhere with joy. Charlotte was wide-eyed with shock, and Firefly had a shy smile on his face, yet Ash could tell Firefly was excited as well.
"Who am I going to mentor?" Rusty asked, trembling with excitement.
"I'll tell you," Goldwing chuckled, exchanging amused looks with Kabu. "Leafy is a young wolf pup, and Charlotte," Goldwing nodded to the white she-wolf, "You'll mentor Leafy. Comet is a wolf pup, who's quite serious for his age. Firefly, you will mentor him. Lily is an eager she-pup. Rusty, you'll mentor her. I'm going to let Crash mentor Aimee. Snakeseye isn't a wolf, he's a Watermonitor, a type of reptile. He's pretty curious and very smart. Dust, you're mentoring Snakeseye."
Oh, so that's the scale animal I saw the other day, Ash nodded to himself. He turned to Goldwing to hear what Goldwing had to say, despite Ash knew Cinder and knew Cinder was the one he'd be mentoring to be a Waterbender.
"Ash, you'll mentor Cinder, she's very nice and calm," Goldwing nodded. "You saw apprentice ceremonies before, right? You all know what to do?"
The group nodded in unison.
Goldwing smiled, "Perfect. Time for a meeting."

"Leafy, what type of Bender would you like to be?"
The cold winds yowled outside as Goldwing held the apprentice meeting. The meeting he had with Ash and the others was to prepare them since they were not that experience with Bending. All of The Bending Tower was gathered in the training room for the meeting.
"Airbender!" Leafy responded, looking excited.
Goldwing turned to Charlotte. "Charlotte, you will be Leafy's mentor." Charlotte dipped her head to Goldwing, and so did Leafy. Leafy walked over to Charlotte and sat down next to her, looking up at Charlotte with big, excited eyes.
"Coment, what type of Bender would you like to be?" Goldwing turned his head to an orange-red-and-black male wolf pup.
"Waterbender," Comet replied simply.
"Firefly," Goldwing nodded to Firefly, "You will mentor Comet." Firefly dipped his head to Goldwing, and so did Comet. Then, mentor and apprentice joined each other and sat down next to each other as the golden leader continued.
"Lily, what Bender do you want to be?" Goldwing asked a golden she-pup.
"Waterbender," Lily replied in a shy, calm voice.
"Rusty, you will mentor Lily," Goldwing confirmed, and, like Firefly and Comet did, they both sat down next to each other.
"Snakeseye, what Bender do you want to be?" Goldwing asked the reptile-creature.
"Earthbender," responded Snakeseye.
"Dust, you will mentor Snakeseye." Goldwing nodded. Ash watched as Dust trotted up to Snakeseye and sat down next to him, looking full of pride.
"Aimee, what Bender do you want to be?" Goldwing asked a small white she-pup.
"Airbender!" Aimee responded, voice full of enthusiasm.
"Crash," Goldwing nodded to the broad tom-cat, "You will mentor Aimee." And with that, Crash walked up to Aimee, whose eyes shown with respect for her mentor, and he sat next to her, a smile on his face.
"Cinder, what Bender do you want to be?" Goldwing asked the gray she-cat, and Ash's legs tensed with anxiety.
"Waterbender," Cinder replied firmly.
"Ash," Goldwing turned to Ash, almost making him flinch, "You will be mentor to Cinder." Ash got up, nodded, and, heart pounding, walked over to Cinder and sat down next to her. She looked up at him and smiled.

Author's Note:
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayy, apprentices. :3 By the way, I made a TFEOB Super Edition, check it out here [link]