"Who are you?" Amber said warily, circling the male fox that had just appeared behind her. "My name is not of importance right now," He growled in a dark voice. He was a dark red fox with sharp teeth and claws and looked really tough. Amber unsheathed her claws and continued circling. She would fight if she had to, even if she had no training at all. "Why are you stalking me?" She asked. The stranger snarled after seeing Amber unsheathe her claws. "Put those claws back in!" He avoided the question, a tint of hatred in his voice. "All right, All right, calm down Shadow! We are not here to fight her," A voice sounded from her right side. Amber turned her head to the sound of the voice. There were two more male foxes, One around her age, with a sandy colored pelt much like her own, and one much older with a bright red pelt. "Who are you and how do you know me?" Amber asked with general curiosity. She kept her claws unsheathed. "We are from a group called the Maple group and we wanted to talk to you," The older one said. "Why? Who told you about me?" Amber asked with suspicion. "No one has told us about you. We saw you lose your catch to some robbers and we wanted to help you," He said calmly. "We want you to come with us and join our group. It''s better to live and hunt with others in my opinion." Amber thought for a moment and silently agreed with him. "Okay, I'll come but I'm not promising that I'm staying," She said after a moment of thinking. She followed them through a separate passageway in the canyon and across a small field of sand. "We've arrived," The older one said. The small male fox around her age went into a den and the fox called Shadow went into a separate den to the side. "You're back!" A small group of 3 kits ran toward the older fox and a vixen walked over that Amber guessed was his mate. "I see you were able to get the new recruit you were hoping for!" The Vixen said after nuzzling her mate. The Vixen had a bright orange pelt and seemed nice. "I'm Sophie!" The Vixen said. "You've probably met my mate, Red, the younger fox around your age, Dusty, and the aggressive one, Shadow," Amber nodded. She thought Red was a slightly unoriginal name but she didn't say anything. "My name's Amber," Amber said as nicely as she could. Sophie pointed at one of her kits, a dark red one, "This is Cherry! She was born a moon ago," Then she pointed at a Bright red one, "This is Scarlett, she was born the same time as Cherry," Finally, she pointed at a small Sand-colored one, "This is Dune, he came out of the nursery for the first time two days ago!" Amber smiled at all of the kits who looked up at her with a wondrous gaze. "Okay!" Red said. "Now that we are done with introductions, Amber can start her trial!" Amber looked up with panic. "Trial?! What trial?! You never said anything about a trial!" She said in alarm. "Of course there's a trial! How else would we know what you are useful for?" Red said, looking at Amber as if it's obvious. Amber started to worry that she wouldn't pass and that she would be forced to live by herself again. "Relax, it's not that hard!" Red said calmly. He beckoned for Amber to follow him and so she did. He took her to a small ditch in the ground. He crouched down so Amber did the same. "There are lot's of mice here so I can test you with hunting," Red said quietly, trying not to alert the prey. Amber nodded and slowly stepped down into the ditch. Immediately, she heard the squeak of a mouse and started to slowly step toward the small creature, still in a crouch position. Heart beating fast with excitement, Amber reached the appropriate position to leap at the prey. "NOW!" The thought exploded in her brain and she leaped in an arc, toward the creature. It looked up, terror in it's eyes but it was too late. Amber nipped the spine of the mouse and was dead instantly. She ran back up the side of the ditch and dropped the mouse at Red's feet. "Wow. I didn't think you were going to do it that fast!" He said, impressed. "You've obviously shown that you are a hunter so let's head back to camp." "Wait, that's it?" Amber asked, disbelief etched in her voice. "Yeah!" Red said. "Told you it wasn't hard." Amber stared at him for a moment and then suddenly realized that he wasn't lying. "Welcome to Maple group!" He smiled.
Some of the names made by my irl friends Everything else by me Next: None yet Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/625543654
