Sweetberry hissed as, with a flash of iridescent silver scales, the fish dove back into the river and dashed away. She started towards it, slipped on a stone slimy with algae, and fell into the icy water. Looking up, she saw Ripplestrike twitching his long white whiskers in muffled amusement. Doubt filled Sweetberry from her paws to her tail-tip. "I'll never get this right. I can't fish, so I am about as much use to RiverClan as a dead fox!" Ripplestrike brushed his dark-striped tail along her cream-colored shoulder. "Don't give up. Once you get used to it, fishing as as easy as swallowing a minnow!" Sweetberry glared at him. "For you, maybe. But I wasn't born for it. I'm a drypaw." Ripplestrike sighed. "Come on, one more try, Sweetberry!" She ducked her head, but jumped out of the clear, rushing water and back onto the shore. She scored the cool depths with pale green eyes, until she caught a glimmer of scales. Making sure her shadow wasn't over the water(a trick Ripplestrike had taught her), she shot a paw in and scooped the trout onto the sandy bank. She almost lost it as it flopped back towards the shallows, but Ripplestrike hooked it by the gills with a powerful silver paw, then flung it back to his mate. Sweetberry caught it in her jaws and brought her thorn-sharp teeth down on its spine, killing it. She could feel her eyes shining with triumph, and Ripplestrike let out a loud purr. "I told you," he meowed. Sweetberry licked her chest fur, smoothing the creamy strands. She tried to hide the pride radiating inside of her. She was RiverClan now.
For French_Toast!
