(Please tell me if you see any sort of grammatical error! Especially if it says Lead instead of Leaf. Auto-correct can be a nuisance, but it's still a must for me. 😅)

Leaf's POV

Leaf poked her nose out of the leafy den, senses tingling. I know I smell him... She carefully stepped out of the cozy enclosure, a warm summer breeze ruffling her pale brown fur. She stuck her muzzle up in the air, eyes squeezed tightly in concentration. Taking a deep wiff, she finally caught the scent of her brother, Thunder. He's... he's... in the clearing! She concluded, opening her warm blue eyes. With her tail wagging furiously, she bounded away, following the short path of bare dirt to the clearing.

Many of the Earth Tribe were already gathered there, and she had to stop for a second to pick out her brother's familiar form from among the others. Seeing that his back was turned, she stealthily crept forward, her hindquarters waggling back and forth with excitement. He continued to watch the older Earth Wolves who were working, unaware of his sister behind him. Leaf grinned, and, unable to contain herself anymore, pounced on him with a happy yip.

Thunder collapsed from the force of the surprise attack, and he muttered a complaint as she sat on top of him, refusing to let him get up. "Sorry bro!" She exclaimed happily. "You'll have to push me off if you want to move!" Suddenly, without warning, she was thrown off, and a big tan paw was planted on her side.

"Like that?" He said slyly, his blue eyes twinkling.

Leaf squirmed around until she was upright once more. "Yeah, I guess... But I bet you can't catch me!" She added, darting away. Thunder growled playfully and gave chase, scampering after her trailing tail. She weaved in and out of other Earth Wolf legs, giggling at his failed attempts to catch her.

Thunder suddenly uttered a squeak of surprise as his paw got caught in a clump of dirt, tripping him and allowing Leaf the chance to get farther away. However, she turned and padded back over to him as he tried to gather himself. "Heyyy Thunder! Guess what?" she asked with a snicker.

Thunder looked up at her grinning face, a puzzled expression on his. "What?"

"Youuu... Caaan't... Catchme!" She teased, dancing away from him. Unfortunately, she forgot to check behind her, and bumped into a pair of furry legs. "Ah, hey!" They barked, and Leaf felt a heavy stick clatter against her back.

"Ow..." She muttered, and the wolf leaned down to grab their branch. She recognized the wide face of Pine, one of the senior Earth Wolves. He fixed her with a disapproving gaze before carrying on with his task, mumbling something about 'irrigation'.

Thunder popped up next to her, looking amused. "Hmm... what was I gonna say? Oh yeah! Tag!" He barked, dashing away through a passing cluster of wolves. Leaf perked up immediately and shot after him, yipping in mock-anger.

"Thunder, I'll get you for that!" She chased him through the group of wolves, barely registering the heavy branches they carried in their jaws. Suddenly, her paw slipped out from under her, and she tumbled into the ground, knocking into four of the six wolves passing by. Assorted sticks and branches fell to the earth as the wolves carrying them tried to regain their balance. One of them, a she-wolf who was a tad paler than the others, stomped over to Leaf, her tail bristling.

"Leaf!" The wolf, named Trout, barked, "You need to stop! All of this rough-housing is getting in the way of everyone. You too, Thunder!" She added, swinging around to scold the small pup, who was cowering on the sandy ground. "I swear, it's like you two aren't even Earth Wolves! I only hope being put through training will make you see how important our role really is." She continued to grumble irritably as she leaned down to pick up her branch.

Leaf kept her eyes to the ground, not wanting to upset the older wolf any more, while Thunder scuffed at the ground beside her. However, once the group of Earth Wolves had left, she bounced back to her usual self, her tail wagging as she tried to tag Thunder again. "Ha, we can play again! You're it!"

But Thunder didn't move, his eyes averted. He mumbled something under his breath, and Leaf had to lean in to hear what he said. "Not now, Leaf..."

"What? Come on, we always play!"

"Yeah, but we just got told off for doing it."

"So what?"

"Just... Not now."

"Thunder, stop being such a wimp!"

"I said not now!"

He turned and bounded away, not even bothering to look over his shoulder as he left her in the middle of the clearing. Leaf watched him go, confused, and a little hurt that he had stormed off like that. "What's gotten in to him?" She wondered out loud. He was the only one who still played with her. Her two sisters, Mist and Branch, had stopped being fun long ago, when they began to think they were too mature for games. Now they spent their days waiting for their First Training, while Thunder and Leaf played together and actually had fun.

"Humph. Looks like he's going to miss out on this fun-fest." She muttered, determined to keep herself happy even when she was alone. But before she could do anything to amuse herself, a familiar voice spoke up behind her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Hold on there, Leaf. You can't have all of that fun just yet! It's time to go." said her mother, Bird, a smile touching her muzzle. Leaf gave her a look of utter confusion, and for some reason that made Bird laugh. "It's time to go to your First Training! Did you forget, Little-Leaf?"

A picture of the beginning of the path that led out of the Earth Camp popped into her mind, and she realized just what her mother was talking about. "Oh! That was today?! Oh oh oh, I can't wait!" All thoughts of her siblings were whisked away, replaced by a surge of excitement that left her buzzing.

Bird chuckled again, amused by her daughter's spontaneous enthusiasm. "Yes, it's today. Thistle and her pups left a cloudpath ago, so now we can head over to the Training Cove. Where is your brother? I know Branch and Mist are waiting by the main path, but I doubt Thunder would have remembered. He's a lot like you," she said with a grin.

Leaf's enthusiasm was momentarily shot down as she recalled his annoyance at playing tag, but she shook it off quickly. "Well, he's much more of a snail than me. He didn't even want to keep playing tag today! But that means I can have all the time to myself, and I can have as much fun as I want!" She yipped, bouncing on her paws. "Oh, I think he went over there," she added as an afterthought, pointing with her nose in the direction he had stormed off.

A touch of sadness appeared in Bird's eyes, but it was gone quickly. She told Leaf to catch up with her sisters, and that she would be there in a few moments. Leaf happily obliged, and she tried to hop all the way to the camp entrance. She only made it so far before stumbling, but she kept on trying, only caring about having fun.

When she reached the tree that marked the entrance of the camp and the start of the main path, she saw Mist and Branch waiting patiently for her. Leaf bounded up to them, her tail wagging furiously, as she thought they looked bored. Bored is always good, since it's an excuse to have fun! She though happily. But before she could say anything, Branch cut her off. "Leaf, I know that look. I'm not going to play with you. This is a serious event!"

"Yeah, this is our first time ever out of the camp, and our First Training ceremony too. It's not a time for games," said Mist, her blue eyes stern.

Leaf pouted, and she was tempted to tell them how silly they were being. They acted like they were her mother, when they were the same age she was!
But she kept her jaws shut, and instead decided to think of how fun being outside of camp would be. There would be all sorts of new places to explore, and maybe even new wolves to meet! She didn't really know what was going to happen, since it was frowned upon to tell pups about their training beforehand, but her imagination was telling her that it would amazing.

After a little bit of waiting, Bird and Thunder came up to meet them, and the five wolves set off on the trail.

Leaf bounced ahead of the others, darting from plant to plant and oohing-and-ahhing at each new discovery. "Mom, Mom, look at how cool this little flower is! It's so pretty, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, it's beautiful!" Bird replied, giving Leaf an affectionate nuzzle. Behind her mother, Lead spotted Mist rolling her eyes, but she didn't care. As long as Bird was happy and she was having fun, Leaf didn't care what anybody else thought.

However, even with her determined thinking, she was thrilled to see that Thunder was looking around too, almost as if he wanted to join in on the fun again. Leaf slowed down slightly, till she was next to him, and she shot him a funny look.
"You look happy again, Mr. Grumpy."

He smiled sheepishly, and ducked his head in an apologetic way. "Yeah, sorry about before... are we still friends?"

"Of course!" Leaf yipped happily, giving him a playful nudge. He giggled and tapped her with his tail before darting ahead, and she had to put on a burst of speed to catch up to him.

The two pups romped around on the path for quite a while as their mother and sisters followed just a few steps behind. Eventually, Bird took the lead again, and Leaf and Thunder settled down enough to be able to walk without too many distractions.

Branch and Mist were stuck to each other like pitch to a pine tree, and Thunder snickered under his breath,  saying that they would stay like that for the rest of their lives and morph into one big wolf, and Leaf couldn't help but break out into peals of laughter. Branch shot her a look. Leaf stuck out her small pink tongue in return, but she was distracted when her mother stopped.

"Mom, is this it?" Mist yipped hopefully, and Bird nodded, relieved. Was she getting tired from that little walk alone? Leaf wondered, but she soon realized that Bird was the smallest thing to think about. Right in front of her stood dozens upon dozens of wolves, with each pelt blending in to the next to create a large, flowing pattern of all sorts of colors.

This is really my First Training! she realized, and with a barely contained wiggle of excitement, she dashed into the crowd.