Spiderheart

"Great, I'm thinking we'll practice some hunting techniques for today's training session. Just let me know if this is something you've already been taught, but I think that even if you have, it's good to get a refresher especially since you've gone some time without training" The molly stated. She took a few steps away from Eggpaw, making sure she had space to demonstrate the different techniques she wanted to show him.

"We'll start with the hunter crouch, a very crucial part when it comes to stalking your prey" Spiderheart informed her apprentice, though she assumed he had already been taught that. The warrior quickly dropped into a crouching position, making sure her apprentice could see how she had her paws and tail positioned. "So what you want to focus on is keeping all four of your paws steadily underneath you. Crouch down until your belly is barely touching the ground, but not too close or you'll make sound and scare the prey away. Lastly, keep your tail low to the ground, preferably in level with your belly" The black molly made sure to explain in detail as she demonstrated the move. Once she had showed off the crouching position, she started quietly but swiftly creep forwards in a small circle around Eggpaw. "When moving forward while crouching it's important you know where to put your paws. One wrong step, and your prey is gone. Keep your paws off any dry leaves or twigs that may cause crunching sounds as you walk" She explained as she finished the circle around him, rising up from the crouching position and sitting up, wrapping her tail around her paws. "Now, how about you give it a try?" She meowed with an encouraging smile.

Spiderheart

The black molly watched her apprentice as he performed a hunter's crouch. Impressed by how quickly he seemed to catch on, she gave him an approving smile. Perhaps it was because he already knew most of this from before, but she was still proud of him. "That's really good! And a nice pounce too" Spiderheart purred. Eggpaw certainly didn't seem to have any trouble with stalking so the she-cat decided to move on to the next part of the training session. She wanted to give him the opportunity to actually try to hunt something.

When sniffing the air, Spiderheart picked up the scent of frog, vole, and some other small animals. Perfect, it probably wouldn't be too hard for the apprentice to sniff out some prey. "Eggpaw, since you've got the stalking down, I want to let you try and catch something. Let's start off easy - can you smell anything? And if so, are you able to make out where it is?" She asked him, trying to keep her voice down as to not scare away any potential prey.

Spiderheart

Hazel eyes followed Eggpaw as he sniffed out the mouse and began stalking it. Spiderheart watched from a distance, careful as to not scare away his prey, but close enough to keep an eye on him. He had gotten the stalking down quite well, and the molly was pleased to see how he carefully placed his paws down and avoided any crunchy leaves. Even when he got slightly off track, he soon noticed it and altered his course. Good. She followed him with her gaze as he pounced and ran after the little mouse, and gave him a pleased smile when he came back with the body dingling from his jaws. "Good job!!" She purred, blinking happily to Eggpaw. "We can work some more on that pouncing technique - it's quite difficult to get it right. Other than that you did great, I like that you ran after the mouse instead of giving up when you missed that first pounce. As a warrior, and especially as one of ShadowClan, you should never give up. If you do, you might miss out on opportunities like that" Spiderheart praised him, and gestured to the mouse he had caught.

"I think we should try to work a bit more on that pounce, I think that's the only thing you lack as of right now" She said, looking around. The black she-cat sniffed the air once more. There were still some prey hanging around here. At first, she wanted to just take a rock, place it somewhere and make him practice pouncing on that, but she had a feeling that'd be too easy. Instead, they might aswell get some actual hunting down while training. Eggpaw had already caught a mouse after all, so if he failed to catch something else it wouldn't be a big deal. "Okay, I want you to sniff out something else. This time, I want you to focus on your pounce. Take your time with it - the best time to pounce is when your prey is turned away from you and busy doing something else" Spiderheart informed her apprentice, then sat down and gave him a quick nod to let him know that he could begin.

Spiderheart

Hm, he missed the pounce again? Well, it was nothing too bad she supposed. Even she had a hard time perfecting that when she was younger. What concerned her was that she always seemed to end up to the right of where he was aiming. As Eggpaw padded back to her with a flustered look on his face, Spiderheart was quick to give him a reassuring smile. "It's okay, you caught the frog at least" She meowed, at the end of the day he had caught 2 pieces of prey already and no one could complain about that. "I've noticed you seem to always end up a bit too far to the right of where you're aiming. Balancing is very important, both in battle and hunting. Don't put too much weight on one side, if you feel yourself drifting the wrong way, try shifting some weight over to the opposite side" The black molly adviced her apprentice. She looked around her, then quickly dug up a pebble from the ground. She gave it a quick push with her fluffy paw and watched it roll a couple tail lengths ahead of her and Eggpaw. Spiderheart backed up a few steps and sat down. "Practice on that pebble over there" She gave a flick with her tail in the direction of the pebble. The molly was sure he'd make an excellent hunter, he was a quick learner and good at making up for his mistakes. She was impressed with how he'd still caught both pieces of prey even though he had missed the first pounce. But she knew he wouldn't always be able to rely on that, he needed to get this down.

Spiderheart

Well, that didn't work. If anything, it had made it worse. She'd have to come up with another idea. She also couldn't help but wonder.. what was going on? Spiderheart couldn't recall ever having trouble like that with pouncing when she was an aprentice. And since well, Eggpaw was her first ever apprentice she didn't have enough experience to figure out what was giving him such a hard time. She padded up to him, carefully trying to dust him off with her tail after he had fallen over. "You're right" She agreed, studying the young tom. Spiderheart tilted her head, "What does it feel like, you know when you end up to the right of where you're aiming? Is it balancing that's a struggle or is it something else?" The molly wanted to help him, but she understood that she needed to first try to understand what made it difficult in order to help.