[Thistledawn]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

All of his apprentice's white fur was nearly blinding to the older tom. He shook it out of his eyes, his face, even though it had never left her body - trying to get rid of it. That was something he hadn't expected. Besides, even with her claws sheathed, she landed a few blows. Blazingcomet was about to back away and come back for another attack, but he decided to go easier on her for her first time - instead, he lashed out with his own tiger-orange paws, golden eyes a blaze of excitement. He was aiming to pin her - and he moved at as quick of a pace as he could, without her being able to react.

Soon, once she had learned more, he wouldn't have to worry about her reactions; they would come naturally, just as they did to him now. Or, some of them did. Some reactions still took a long time, which the tom didn't like. He was careful to keep his claws sheathed, focusing on nothing but the "battle" at hand, making sure that his movements were at least pretty good. Cherrypaw was still young... while it was important that she learn to fight and hunt by a decent age, it was also important that she learned at a good rate. The tom was nervous that if he pushed her too hard she would freak out, and if he didn't push her hard enough, she would accuse him of thinking she was incompetant.

While that wasn't true, Blazingcomet was trying to find the right in between stage where she would think that he was pushing her enough, without pushing her way too hard. The tom's eyes gleamed as he continued practically thrashing, trying his best to pin her, although he wouldn't have been disappointed if he were to lose this particular mock-fight. Against an apprentice, sure, it could be humiliating, but it was also somewhat of a proud moment, knowing that you had trained your apprentice well enough that they could do something like this on their own. It made Blazingcomet proud, anyways.

Satisfaction bubbled up in Cherrypaw's chest as she watched her mentor shake his head. Perhaps her panicked movements didn't seem quite so panicked to her mentor. She half expected him to easily stop her paws and take her down with ease. The younger cat seemed to have surprised her mentor instead. Suddenly winning the first time didn't matter as much to her. At least she'd done something remotely right. Blazingcomet didn't even tell her exactly what to do. She had figured something out on her own. And on top of all of that, she felt contact after a few of her blows.

Cherrypaw wasn't surprised when her mentor began throwing around his own paws. Of course his movements were more calculated than hers were. After all, Blazingcomet had far more experience than Cherrypaw. Her mentor impressed her, as he always did. The tom seemed skillful in battle and the younger she-cat always felt motivated to meet his skill level one day. It seemed nearly impossible sometimes. She had to remind herself that she was still only 7 moons old. The she-cat was hardly anything more than a kit. She wished time moved faster. Or maybe she wished that training to become a warrior didn't take so long. She remembered what it felt like to be a kit wishing to move into the apprentice's den. Now she wished that she were a warrior already.

Blinking rapidly, the white cat tried to block her mentor's paws, ducking and shifting her body every once in awhile to avoid the blows she couldn't block. She tried to keep up for as long as she could, but the pace of the fighting was too fast for her. She felt herself tiring, her paws becoming more aimless and lost than they were before. What small amount of strength and force that they may have had before was now dwindling away. The only strength she was fighting with now was the false strength of pure adrenaline. Cherrypaw was panting as she tried to keep up with the older cat, but she was miserably failing. She tried to follow the ginger tom's paws with her blue eyes, but he was moving far too fast for her to make out anything more than an orange blur. Blazingcomet's blows began to land, causing the she-cat to lose her balance and her wit.