Quote:
Originally Posted by Thistledawn
"I got it, I got it." Cherrypaw meowed impatiently, her blue eyes blazing. She felt ready for this. Her white paws couldn't stay still. They wanted to strike at the ginger tom. The younger cat just wanted to go at it. But she knew Blazingcomet was right even if he was just telling her something she'd heard before. She wasn't truly focused the last time. The white cat had been caught up in her own thoughts. Last time she'd been relatively focused on the battle, but she was thinking too much about it. Cherrypaw groaned internally. Could she reach the medium between not thinking and thinking too much? There I go again, the apprentice thought. It was too easy to think too much. Even when she was thinking about thinking. Nothing else, she echoed. The she-cat closed her eyes and made everything go blank. When she opened them, she trained her eyes on her ginger opponent. "A second before I think I need to." She repeated as if she were confirming something important.
The younger cat was more prepared for her mentor's quick movement this time. She noticed that his take off seemed very similar to what he did before. He was going easy on her, but she wasn't upset about it. She wanted a challenge, and using the same approach was a challenge enough for her. She wanted to use her strength to push the tom away, but Cherrypaw was far too little to push away a full grown cat. Maybe she could have managed to push him away if she too had gotten a running start, but she'd stayed put so far. There was another way she could use her small size, however. As her mentor drew closer, Cherrypaw ducked under his chest and tried to escape through the spaces in his legs. The she-cat hadn't moved too late, like she did last time. The apprentice tried to time her movement as perfectly as possible so that if anything, she were a heartbeat or two too early instead of late. She stuck close to the ground, but kept herself light on her paws. |
Cherrypaw's impatience could cost her, especially in battle. Thank goodness this was only a practice, a spar of sorts, to teach her so that she would be better prepared and ready next time. Even as Blazingcomet moved, he was hoping that she was focused. His apprentice had her head up in the clouds half the time, but even he wasn't going to deny that when she did focus, it was clear to see that she was a formidable opponent. At least he had gotten that much to work with. Determination and fire was nothing to sneeze at, but the problem was, that fire seemed to be buried in a sleeping kittypet. A dramatic she cat. Thank goodness it only took a couple of tries to draw it out further. Cherrypaw's quick movement slipping between his legs was faster then Blazingcomet could force himself to move - a twisted paw did have some disadvantages, and while he had taught himself to run, it was impossible to twist himself into the right position.
The tom left something to be desired in the agility department, so it was a good thing that not all fighting relied on agility to win. He was a good warrior, and a good addition to the Clan, he believed. Then again - the tom wasn't exactly the most modest cat, so perhaps he was just telling tall tales again. Even if he was, it couldn't matter that much. Whipping around as quickly as possible (and using his paw to his advantage in this case) the tom's blazing golden optics sparkled as he glanced at Cherrypaw. "Well done," He purred before he leapt at her again, springing off on three legs, without getting a headstart on speed - it was a shorter leap, but Blazingcomet had made it so that he would land a little over her, just in case she started to move further away.
It was a trick his mentor had taught him, but he had figured that he would keep this one thing to himself for now. If war came, it came; Cherrypaw would be unprepared whether she knew the trick or not, and hopefully he would be able to keep her out of it. In the end, unless he had some sort of way to tie her up, there was no way of making sure that she wouldn't get involved in an upcoming battle.