Chapter 15: Training Cinder

Ash awoke the next day and stretched. He weaved between the sleeping bodies in the Waterbenders' den and trotted towards the apprentice den, wanting to train Cinder with some fighting and Bending before the Firebenders would send them off to do hunting or something. Ash peeked in to see many sleeping apprentices. Ash trotted up to Cinder and prodded her with his paw. Cinder slowly woke up. "We're going to get some fighting training done," Ash whispered. Cinder nodded eagerly and got to her paws, following Ash out of the den.
Ash and Cinder trotted past Firefly and Max, who were both whispering to each other. As Ash and Cinder passed them, they stopped talking and looked at Ash as he passed. Ash examined them curiously and kept walking, Cinder at his heels. As they got further away, Firefly and Max began talking again. Secrets, secrets everywhere, Ash thought, shaking his hanging head.
Out in the yard, as expected, there were Firebenders everywhere. Ash kept low to the ground and slipped through them, Cinder doing the same as she followed him. Luckily, they managed to go unnoticed, and they got to their paws and trotted away from The Bending Tower. Ash trotted towards the clearing with the fallen trees. Ash stood on top of a fallen tree. "Alright then, Cinder," Ash said, "we're going to go over some fighting moves. You can't always rely on Bending, so it's good to have backup. You can be pretty fierce with just hunting. And chances are, you're not going to be in an empty clearing. So we'll practice fight here."
Cinder nodded. "So you're the 'Firebender', and I'm the good guy?" Cinder said.
"Right," Ash confirmed. He then lunged at her, and was surprised as he missed, seeing Cinder scurry quickly away and into the heap of fallen trees. Ash jumped in after her, weaving through the fallen trees, looking for his apprentice. It was hard, because they were in a big mass of skinny trees, not the clearing with a lot of big fallen trees. Because of his size, Ash got stuck in the middle of two of the trees, but squeezed through. He sniffed the air and followed Cinder's scent. He crawled through and saw the tail-tip of Cinder's tail slipping through the branches. Ash crawled out of the pile of trees and saw Cinder darting for a bigger fallen tree and crawling through a hole in it. Ash jumped down and followed. He walked up to the tree and looked in the hole.
Ash was about to give up, when he stopped. I'm supposed to be a Firebender, Firebenders don't give up just because their opponent is unreachable! Ash then got an idea, and, hoping it wouldn't hurt Cinder, bended some water into the hole, and he heard Cinder shriek in surprise and leap out of the hole. Ash then tackled her and had her pinned to the ground. "Haha! Now what do you do?" Ash asked.
Cinder bit Ash's paw, making him flinch, letting go of Cinder. Cinder got to her paws and lunged at Ash, jumping on top of his head. "If I had my claws out right now, I'd be digging into your head and hanging on! But since we're practicing, I'll show a bit of mercy," Cinder giggled.
"Mercy?" Ash echoed, and swung his head around, making Cinder fall off and land hard on the log. "You'll have no mercy coming from me!" he said playfully, lunging at Cinder and pushing her off the log. He gently put his mouth around her neck, careful not to bite down. "Okay, a Firebender has you by the neck, what do you do?"
Cinder swiped at Ash's muzzle and eyes, her claws luckily not unsheathed. Ash pretended he got hit by her claws and backed up. It was then that Cinder slid under Ash's belly, pretending to claw at him. Ash fake-collapsed onto the ground, and Cinder jumped onto his back. "Yes! If I were fighting a real Firebender I would've bitten their neck and have them go off running."
Ash stood up and Cinder jumped off of him. "Yes, your size does give you an advantage. Use that to be able to slip around your enemy, and if you move fast enough you'll be harder to strike. So now, we'll practice Waterbending. This is the top fighting skill you should use. Fighting without Waterbending comes as backup, remember that. So, to do Waterbending, you must imagine water hitting something. Like so," Ash explained, and moved his paws around. A water ball floated into the area, then zoomed and hit a fallen tree. "The faster you imagine it, the quicker it goes, and moving in a motion can do certain things to the water depending on what you do. But for now, focus on getting the water into the area. To Waterbend though, you need a water resource. And Ice River is nearby. Just close your eyes and picture a water ball coming and hitting a tree. Don't expect to get it first try."
Cinder nodded and closed her eyes, and Ash could see her face moving in concentration. She opened her eyes, and looked at Ash. "Nothing happened."
"You probably didn't focus enough," Ash shrugged, "try again."
Cinder closed her eyes again, and it took a while for her to open them. "Still nothing?"
"Still nothing," Ash confirmed.
Cinder sighed. "Third times a charm," she murmured, closing her eyes. Ash watches as a very, very small water ball slowly came into the area, and hit a nearby rock. Cinder opened her eyes. "Well?"
"Third time was a charm," Ash smiled. Cinder looked happy. "Keep practicing with your eyes closed. I'm going to go get us some food to eat while we train."

Author's Note:
Whadda you think Firefly and Max are talking about? :o And I got a new story blog, just head on over to my profile to see it. ;)