[Thistledawn]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

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.

Satisfaction rolled over Cherrypaw like a wave. Her lips curved into a smile. She'd done it! Well, she'd avoided Blazingcomet's attack, that is. Her pride must have seemed exaggerated to any other cat, but Cherrypaw felt like she'd won a battle against the entirety of another Clan. Being small and having training battles as her only experience, the white she-cat was at a disadvantage against her fully trained and experienced mentor. Additionally, Blazingcomet was bigger and stronger than his apprentice by far. Cherrypaw thought that meeting his challenge would be impossible, but she manage to turn this around in her favor, even if it was for a few heartbeats. When the apprentice broke out from under the ginger tom's body, she whipped around, almost ready to pounce on the tom. She imagined herself perfectly, pouncing on his back and wrapping her paws around him so he wouldn't be able to shake her off. But she was getting ahead of herself. That wasn't the point of the training and Cherrypaw probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off anyways.

The blue-eyed apprentice smiled happily at her mentor's praise, letting her guard down for a heartbeat. It was pretty good, wasn't it? The ginger tom had purred his words, which made Cherrypaw feel even better about her accomplishment. "Thanks," The she-cat meowed in return. Blazingcomet's approval meant more to Cherrypaw than she thought that he knew. She knew that she was a little annoying sometimes, but she appreciated her mentors effort whenever he was training with her. She loved it when her mentor seemed to care about her training. That alone was more than other cats offered.

Cherrypaw was caught half- off guard when she saw the ginger tom hurl his body in her direction. She should have expected it. Figuring that she'd rather try to fall out of the way than let herself get caught, Cherrypaw let herself fall- in the most ungraceful way- to her right. Her shoulder slammed onto the ground and her paws temporarily rose into the air before they too fell to the ground. "Hey!" She wrinkled her nose, flicking her snowy white tail against the ground.