Training in the Shadows

[nocturnal]

Frostpaw had to admit that he hadn't been expecting to have done it right again. The praise would always be welcome, however, not in the way one would expect. From Frostpaw's perspective, compliments were an incentive to do better if possible, and if not, it was a way of saying to continue not messing up. It was a strange way of looking at things, but it worked, for him at least. His goal of completing the entire training session at moonhigh without any mistakes was tailing closer, only to be put to an abrupt - but not unexpected - stop when Icestar explained the instructions of the next exercise. Sneaking up on the ebony leader would be... difficult, to say the least. The dark she-cat was an exceptional fighter and Frostpaw had no doubt that attempting to sneak up on her would be borderline impossible. Yet, tossing his pride aside, the white apprentice got in line. Regardless of whether he succeeded or not, he still needed to at least try.

As soon as Swiftpaw retreated, Frostpaw sunk down into the proper stance and began to creep forwards. Tail straight, shoulders checked, lower than a hunter's crouch but not too low, either. He walked forwards, slowly, staying in the shadows directly behind Icestar and hoping that the leader wouldn't manage to somehow see him from the corner of her eye. Slowly, he continued, careful not to move too fast or create any alarm by shifting the air. The air... was he blocking the wind? If so, then all of this was futile. Icestar would already know his position! Silently pushing down his exasperation and taking a final step forward, Frostpaw attempted to swiftly slash at the leader's back, claws still sheathed, of course. He then backed up - so that was the purpose of learning to do that - and turned around in his crouch, stalking quickly back into the line of cats.

His... retreat hadn't exactly been as clean as when he had approached the leader. He had been rushing to get back, his form hadn't been perfect, although there probably hadn't been anything too wrong with it either. Frostpaw's retreat had been too slow. How in StarClan did one run while in that crouch? Speed stalking was definitely something that he needed to work on. And because of that, some noise might've gotten through. Nothing loud like a cracking stick, just the sound of pawpads against the earth; something that would like be ignored in the heat of a battle. Regardless, Frostpaw doubted that he had succeeded. After all, he still had much more practicing to do.

@Cas

[cmdR_Paige]

Ashpaw waited a moment before dropping into a crouch. He tried his hardest to make his breathing silent, as he slid over the ground like a slate grey shadow.

He focused his dilated green eyes on his leader's back, tensed his muscles, then shot himself into the night air, hoping he would land the blow.

@Cas

[Puddle~]

@Cas

Ribbitpaw flattened his ears and flinched at Icestar's comment. He'd been expecting to get called out for making so much noise. Practicing a little more, he was determined to get this right. Forwards and backwards, backwards and forwards, he crept around the small area so many times that he lost track of the count. But by the time Icestar stopped everyone to explain the next part, he was feeling somewhat more comfortable. He'd now gotten his forwards creeping down to near silence, with the light crunches hardly audible. But, his backing up still needed a bit of work. He just hoped whatever they were doing next was forwards only.

Listening carefully to Icestar as she explained the next task, he furrowed his brow slightly. Sneaking up on their experienced leader sounded like no easy task, and was definitely evident in the numerous others in the group who attempted it before them. He winced a bit each time one of their paws set off a crinkle of a leaf, or snapped a twig, knowing Icestar had likely heard each of those sounds.

And then it was his turn. A daunting moment, to say the least, as he dropped into his crouch and began creeping forward. Slowly and steadily, he made sure to tread lightly across the shadowy floor, trying his hardest not to make even the tiniest of sounds. Eyes flickered between the target and the ground, as he made sure to watch for both how close he was and where he was stepping. And at long last, he was only a mere couple of mouse-lengths away from Icestar. Now, as if he were preparing to spring with the hunters' crouch, Ribbitpaw got into steady position and wiggled his haunches, pushing off the ground to attempt a leap onto Icestar's back. But when he kicked off, it sent the sound of crunching leaves ringing through the air. Whoops. Did the sound made from pushing off for the attack count as failed sneak attack? He couldn't be sure. All he knew was that he'd at least managed to refrain from making noises up until that point, and for that, he was content with himself.

[Quasar]

Originally Posted by Cas

As Icestar circled the group and observed their crouches, she would cast a cold and disapproving glare in the direction of anyone who made the sound of debris crunching underpaw.

"Good work again, Frostpaw, Mirepaw. Nightpaw, Stagpaw, you'll have to try harder than that. Do not make a sound. Ribbitpaw, your crouch was promising, but you three couldn't sneak up on a deaf elder with the amount of noise you're making." her tail flicked with impatience. She allowed the apprentices to keep practicing for a while longer before she spoke up again.

"Now I want everyone to try an exercise," she began. "I'm going to sit over here with my back turned, and I want everyone, one at a time, to try and sneak up on me. You 'win' if you can manage to sneak-attack me without me hearing you." This part would be fun.

"I don't care what order you place yourselves in, but just one at a time, for now. Group attacks are another topic." She padded a few fox-lengths away, taking a seat beneath a tree, facing away from the group. She kept her senses alert, fairly confident that these youngsters wouldn't be able to catch her off guard. But they could try.

@Mentallyunstable @~RooRoo~ @Zesty Mango @CheetahPelt @Mumble @Puddle~ @Greenleap @Cobralily @bmkmb @Skye

Stagpaw groaned quietly to themself as they got the feedback. As if they didn't already know! They rolled their eyes and started to sneak towards Icestar, this time making little to no noise. They kept their head down so the moonlight didn't reflect off of it and crept closer and closer to the dark furrowed she cat. One more pawstep... and there! Quick as a snake, they leapt at Icestar, hoping to land on her back.

[Undertaker]

Beastspark couldn't help but scowl down at Cherrypaw and her antics, she wasn't taking anything seriously and just messing around. Maplepaw fixed up his act quickly though. He stifled the urge to chuckle at the apprentice as he heads straight into a bush. Emberpaw apparently saw it too considering she stated the obvious.

"You're setting to much weight down on your paws, raise them higher and set them down lightly but swiftly, try balancing on the tips of your paws instead of the whole paw, " Beastspark called to Maplepaw as he heard him lumbering around. He felt like he might be asking for too though.

"You barely listened to a word I've said and haven't even bothered following my direction," Beastspark growled exasperated. "Cherrypaw, go back to camp." She lacked discipline and respect, he wasn't wasting his time or anyone else's on her.

"Whitepaw, don't use your claws, it's mud not ice." He called, hurrying over to the tom as he finds himself unable to keep his balance. "You'll make too much noise, and if they get stuck on something you might pull a claw out." He chastised lightly. "Fix your stance, make it a little bit wider so your paws line up with your shoulders. Extend your tail a little higher it will help with your balance. Don't set all of your weight down on your whole paws, you're hoping for traction and you won't find it in the mud." Leave to Whitepaw to find the muskiest spot to practice in. "Lower yourself a little closer to the ground and crawl forwards out of the mud."

"That's a good hunting crouch, Emberpaw," he nodded at her technique only the problem was, "but we're not practicing hunting. Stealth requires that you're lower to the ground, keep your tail still and raised higher, don't let it drag but you don't want it waving around in the air either. Your head needs to be up, not focused on anything to pounce on. Keep your eyes up, though be mindful of any light." Beastspark felt he sounded like a broken recording, but thankfully he didn't seem to mind.

He watched Finpaw weave through the shadows and the territory with great skill. Dreampaw was doing well, she needed to learn to the difference between running and jogging and slithering and gliding. She had the crouch down, but her paw steps were just a tad to noise for his liking.

The deputy observes their footwork, their speed, where their eyes tended to swerve, where their ears would twitch. If he was being honest, they all needed a lot more work. But clans weren't built in a day, he wasn't going to be around to help them, but he was sure if they continued to practice and kept at it they'd be stalking through the night in no time.

"Gather round, everyone, we're going to play a game." He called a halt to their practice in the firm voice. These guys still had training and patrols to do tomorrow, he didn't want to keep them out all night. "The game is simple, I'm going to a father fox, and..." He meowed, green eyes shifting around until he spotted the two he wanted. "Doepaw and Finpaw are going to be my cubs, we're the hunters." Finpaw seemed to had gotten most of it down and Doepaw didn't really need the extra stealth training.

"The rest of you are going to be a family of mice and our prey. As mice, you can hide and move around however you'd like, but do not go past those bushes," he points his tail in the direction where the pine trees thinned out, "those brambles, the ash tree, and that small boulder will be will mark our border. You're not allowed to go past them. If you do, you'll have to take a vow of silence and become a tree." He told them all. It gave the group several large fox lengths to move around and enough hiding places.

"If one of the hunters catch the prey, they turn into one of my cubs and have to help us hunt. Hunters must actually catch prey, you can't say you just see or hear them. No claws and fangs allow, beyond pouncing I want no roughplay. Mice, use everything you've been taught to not get caught, you can even see if you can outsmart the foxes if you'd like. When I call a stop, the game is over. Whoever has the most members wins." It was like hide and seek, only they'd be allowed to run and hide as they pleased. "Any questions?" He asked, waiting a second before looking over to Finpaw and Doepaw.

"Finpaw, eyes close and ears covered, Doepaw, it might be a little uncomfortable, but cover your ears as well. The rest of you, I'm going to count to ten, move around as you like, once I'm done we're going to start hunting." With that he started counting.

@~RooRoo~ @gs29513 @Lynxpaw @Slushie @Socks @Arie @Finpaw @Sugarglider @hope @Splashy @~Splash~ @x ghostie

[~RooRoo~]

Cherrypaw nodded. She straggly started moving and found a pile of leaves. She rolled in mud then went into the leaves. She had hid her scent and is now hiding.

[Sorrow]

Yes! A game! Emberpaw jumped as Beastspark started counting. She climbed into a broken tree stump. Doepaw, and Finpaw will never find me!

[gs29513]

Maplepaw tried to slink into the corner of the area he could hide in. Rolling in some mud, he hoped his pelt would blend in.

[dino.]

----Frigidpaw----

Ah, so this was the endgame. Literally. It was a game. Frigidpaw straightened up and blinked at Beastspark. Somehow this wasn't exactly what he had been expecting. Just roll with it, Slatepaw's voice echoed in his ears. You'll probably be able to evade most of these suckers, and win the whole thing.
He took a deep breath, and then immediately found the nearest tree. He managed to silently haul himself up the trunk, his claws digging deep into the bark. He managed to drag himself to a tree branch and settled down, his tail hanging limply off as he narrowed his eyes at the cats below.

[Splashy]

+ @Undertaker +
Whitepaw took mental notes of the Deputy's words and straightened out his legs with his shoulders, held up his tail a bit to both keep it out of the mud and for Beastspark's reason, and lightened up his weight on his paws, trying to make them lighter. He then lowered himself and sheathed his claws and slowly creeped out of the mud onto a harder and firmer part of the ground. He then lowered his tail a bit and continued going, flattening his ears a bit so they didn't poke up into the air and show off his spot. Using his good eyes, he made sure to avoid the mud puddles, as he didn't want to try and prove himself with that, as he knew Beastspark wouldn't approve, even if he did it successfully.