Croakerpaw bounced excitedly into the training cave. His eyes were alight with glee as he turned around to face his mentor, Goldenglow. "What are we going to learn today?" he yelped loudly. "Are we going to continue hunting, or, oooooh, are you going to teach me to FIGHT? I love fighting! I'm super good at it! I mean, I think I am, I've never tried! Haha."
@The Golden Feline

Originally Posted by The Golden Feline (Post 583140) "We can do fighting! Umm, today we can learn the leap-and-hold. It is perfect for a group of smaller cats fighting a larger cat. Watch me!" she meowed, preparing to demonstrate. Goldenglow walked over to a huge stump. "Imagine this is my opponent," she called to Croakerpaw. She took a massive leap, and jumped onto the stump. Then, with unsheathed claws, she ripped through the bark of the stump. "Always be careful for if your opponent tries to shake you off and squash you! Now you try!" Goldenglow was excited to see how her apprentice did.

"Ok!" The small tom eyed the shredded bark nervously. Are we supposed to use our claws? She'll shred me like she shredded that stump! "Uh, like this?" Bunching his muscles, he leaped into the air, but his legs were too far spread and his paw slipped on loose leaves when he pushed off. With a yelp, he crashed into the ground mere inches from Goldenglow's paws. He sat up with a quiet groan.

Originally Posted by The Golden Feline (Post 583210) "Are you okay?" she whispered nervously. "Get up if you can, try it again! Keep your legs closer together, and if you feel like you're going to fall, next time dig your claws far into the bark." She tried to sound encouraging, but it didn't work.

"Y-yeah, I... I'm fine," he managed. Croakerpaw glanced over at a small, lightly bleeding scratch and immediately felt sick. He jerked his head away and swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. "I'm fine," he repeated, and rose, shaking, to his paws. "I'm ready to try again."

Originally Posted by The Golden Feline (Post 583257) "If you want to quit for the day, I totally understand it, but I love your passion for fighting! You're gonna be a great warrior one day, Croakerpaw!" Goldenglow rejoiced, "And I'll have been your mentor!"

Croakerpaw nodded absently, but felt unnerved by his mentor's excitement. He'd thought that fighting would be fun, but he'd already been injured in a mere training session. Get yourself together, he snapped at himself. Goldenglow expects great things from you. Don't let her down. But as he backed up and leaped again, slashing at the stump, he felt himself doubting his mentor's judgement and motives.

Originally Posted by The Golden Feline (Post 583279) "Croakerpaw, that was great! We can continue working on that today, and focus on another next time, or we can work on another today, and perfect both. You can choose!" she mewed. Goldenglow wanted to let her apprentice choose, it was his first day of battle training. I'm not giving him too much freedom, right, she thought.

"Um." The small tom shuffled his feet. "Can we work on something a little less... violent? And less complicated, maybe? I think this might be a little too advanced for me..." He trailed off, regretting his choice of words. Of course Goldenglow wouldn't drop him down into simpler moves. He knew the she-cat wanted to make him do his best, and he was pushing his luck by asking for less work.

(Maybe Golden could get irritated by his reluctance to fight and give him a scratch or two?)