Chapter 16: The Deer Strikes Back

After Ash and Cinder returned from training, Ash wasn't too surprised that when he walked in he saw Fireblade growling at him. "Hey, you! We've been looking all over for you," Fireblade snarled, "you're supposed to be on a hunting patrol with Stella, Slice, Airia, Firefly and Max!"
Ash stifled a sigh. He was not in the mood for hunting with Airia, not after all of the things they've been through. Reluctantly, Ash scanned the yard and headed over to the patrol, who were all waiting impatiently for him. Ash looked to see Stella looking up at her mentor Hachiko. "Now," Hachiko was saying, "this is your first time going on a patrol on your own. You are to show no mercy to these Benders, and don't take it easy on them. We're going to see how well you can do. Got it?" Hachiko growled.
Stella nodded, and Hachiko padded off. Stella then looked at Ash. "Where've you been?" she asked, no edge to her voice at all.
"Never mind that, I'm here now," Ash muttered, not daring to look at Airia. "Let's go."
With that, Stella nodded and lead them out into the forest. Ash followed, walking alongside Firefly, who was examining the forest absentmindedly. Max was sniffing the ground, apparently detecting something. Slice was padding by herself, looking lost in her thoughts. Airia's expression was blank as she looked ahead.
Stella looked at them. "Look, I'm not the meanest, toughest Firebender around, so...for this one time, I suppose you can enjoy yourselves. But you gotta hunt some. And here's the deal. Since I am treating you nicely, you have to make it seem like I gave you an incredibly hard time. If Hachiko finds out I was friendly, I'll be punished."
"I dunno, I think I'd rather see someone who doesn't live at The Bending Tower suffer a bit," Max muttered, glaring at Stella. Ash could tell he wasn't buying the whole "I'm-a-friendly-Firebender" thing, but Ash, on the other paw, truly believed Stella wasn't an evil Firebender.
"Look, this is in exchanged for a bit of fun for you guys," Stella said in a sweet voice, "so unless you want me to give you a hard time, because I do have the guts, then you're going to have to help me out a bit here." Stella gave Max a small smile, and he snorted, but looked frustrated.
"Oh, fine. Happy?" Max said.
"Yes, yes I am," Stella smirked.
Ash sniffed the air. "Oh, it seems there's a deer not too far off. That'll do us some good."
"I'll come with you," Firefly nodded, "you're going to need more than one animal to take down a deer, they can be kind of wild sometimes, y'know."
"I'm coming too," Max said quickly. Ash could tell he wanted to get away from Stella, since she seemed to be teasing him slightly, and apparently Max took it as an insult.
Ash shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
The three trotted through the forest, leaving Stella, Slice and Airia behind. Boys working together and girls working together. I suppose that works, Ash figured. He needed a break from thinking about Slice's depression over Miguel and about Airia, anyway.
Ash looked around and sniffed the air. "The deer's close!" Ash hissed. He stepped over a stick, and sniffed the air again, but stopped. He trotted in a different direction and saw an oddly stacked pile of leaves. He brushed them off, and jumped as he saw Tiggerpaka standing there on the rock, frozen into place. Wow, he took my claim really seriously, Ash thought. "Tiggerpaka?"
Tiggerpaka looked at Ash. "What? Can't you see that I'm busy?!"
"Um, Tiggerpaka...the job is done. You can move now," Ash said.
"Good! Another good deed done!" Tiggerpaka exclaimed triumphantly. He looked from Ash to Firefly to Max. "So, what're y'all up to? I can help out for sure!"
"Um, we're hunting," Firefly said, "but we're fine, Tiggerpaka, we...we don't need any..." his voice trailed off. As usual, Firefly was being shy.
"Nonsense, nonsense, my boy! I can help any cause. You don't need to insist that you don't need my great assistance." Tiggerpaka then jumped on Max's head, who glared up at him in frustration. "Now, let's track down this measly animal we're hunting and kill it! Ya, ya!" he hit Max in the head, making him growl.
Ash then sniffed the air. "The deer has moved to the clearing with the fallen trees. Let's go find it," Ash said. He trotted in the direction of the clearing, Max following behind him, Tiggerpaka still riding on his head. Firefly followed by Ash's side, sniffing the air occasionally to make sure the deer was still there.
They eventually made it to the clearing. Ash spotted the deer behind a mass of logs; its head was down but Ash could slightly see its back. "There he is," Ash whispered, "or she." He turned to Firefly and Max. "Alright. I'll get it from the front. Max, you sneak around and try to get it from its backside. Firefly, you get to where its head should be. Any questions?" he said.
"Yes! What do I do?" Tiggerpaka asked.
"Um...You go sit in a tree and if anyone gets hurt or something you can swoop in and try to save us," Ash muttered. Besides, we're not gonna get harmed anyway, Ash thought.
Firefly and Max headed in separate directions, hiding so the deer couldn't detect them. Ash crawled among the ground, heading slowly for the deer. Its head was still down, Ash could tell it was eating food. Alright, deer, you're mine, Ash thought, stifling his instinctual growl.
Suddenly, the deer rose its head. Ash grew wide-eyed and took steps back as he saw how huge it was. He took steps back as the deer spotted it and climbed over the logs, glaring at Ash, looking as if it was about to attack. Ash gasped as he realized who he was facing.
Memories of when he was an apprentice suddenly flashed before Ash's eyes. A deer had charged into him, leaving a bleeding cut on his side. Eclipse had healed him, but the deer was deadly. He remembered a voice saying: "...they went to go kill it..."
Ash startled back to reality and dodged to the side as the deer charged at him, and the deer missed. The deer was still alive, and it was back.
Ash prepared for a fight for survival.

Author's Note:
Does the chapter title remind you of Star Wars, much? xD
...I'm considering StellaXMax...