ThunderClan Territory

[bubble[error].]

Originally Posted by forest

(Sorry for the wait!)

Russetflare smiled. "Well, you certainly suprised me." he meowed. He licked his ruffled fur. Since you have already been taught by some other mentor(s), I'll teach you more complicated moves. he told the apprentice. "First, lets try the duck and twist. You dart under your opponents legs, twist, and rake their belly or push them into the sky and move before they crush you falling down. Try it on me." The tom crouched in front of the young apprentice, ready to defend.

++ Sharppaw = He/His/Him = ThunderClan Apprentice ++

[ it's ok! ]

Sharppaw smiled. he tilted his head at Russetflare's words. "Um... ok? I'll try... I didn't get much training. Mostly hunting, but barely anything, but ok." The black tom watched his mentor crouch. He knew it wasn't gonna be easy. So he tried to dart to the right, but quickly went straight again and attempted to do what his mentor said.

[jay]

Originally Posted by Firebender

++ Sharppaw = He/His/Him = ThunderClan Apprentice ++

[ it's ok! ]

Sharppaw smiled. he tilted his head at Russetflare's words. "Um... ok? I'll try... I didn't get much training. Mostly hunting, but barely anything, but ok." The black tom watched his mentor crouch. He knew it wasn't gonna be easy. So he tried to dart to the right, but quickly went straight again and attempted to do what his mentor said.

Russetflare saw his apprentice dart under him and felt sharp claws rake his belly. That was great! he praised his apprentice. They practiced over and over again. By the time they were done, it was nearly dark.We should get back to camp. It's getting dark, and the nursery probably needs fresh moss, but we can hold that off till tommorow. he meowed before going back to camp.

He saw a huge squirrel at the roots of an oak tree. Dropping into a perfect hunters crouch, he carefully stalked the squirell and then pounced. The squirrel darted up the tree, but with a huge leap, he hooked his claws on the squirrel. He dragged it down the trunk before swiftly killing it and continuing his journey back to camp.

[bubble[error].]

Originally Posted by forest

Russetflare saw his apprentice dart under him and felt sharp claws rake his belly. That was great! he praised his apprentice. They practiced over and over again. By the time they were done, it was nearly dark.We should get back to camp. It's getting dark, and the nursery probably needs fresh moss, but we can hold that off till tommorow. he meowed before going back to camp.

He saw a huge squirrel at the roots of an oak tree. Dropping into a perfect hunters crouch, he carefully stalked the squirell and then pounced. The squirrel darted up the tree, but with a huge leap, he hooked his claws on the squirrel. He dragged it down the trunk before swiftly killing it and continuing his journey back to camp.

++ Sharppaw = He/His/Him = ThunderClan Apprentice ++

Sharppaw smiled. "Ok." He followed his mentor back to camp, watching him catch a squirrel and continued walking like he hadn't stopped.

[Maplefur]

Originally Posted by Wingnettle

Ashpaw (he/him)
Light grey tabby with blue/grey eyes

»»————-　☀︎︎　————-««

Ashpaw's gaze never left Tawnywhisper's eyes, but he concentrated hard on remembering exactly every moment of their previous fight. He nodded, starting to understand why he hadn't been able to hit her even if he had first surprised her with his leap. "I should've striked at your belly when you lifted your front paws, but instead I tried to avoid your attack and I lost the chance." He had never really thought about what could be the weakest spots of a cat, but now he understood what it meant to fight clever, and not only strong.

"So, if I found myself in a similar situation where the enemy makes something that I didn't expect... What should I do exactly?" This was maybe the most important thing that he had to absolutely remember. Since I'm best at surprising attacks, I have to know very well what to do and what not to do. If the opposing is exposing his belly trying to counter attack, I do it first. And what if they don't? This was coming out harder than he had expected.
"Ugh.. What if you managed to swipe out at me? I would lose the chance to attack you, and then?"


[ @Maplefur ]

(Sorry this reply took me longer than usual! I was trying to find a way to cut down on the length of this, but I'm finding that it's hard to truly have a cat teach without the amount of explanation. Or, at least, Tawnywhisper specifically wouldn't want to cut back on the explanation she provides lol)

Satisfaction worked its way into the molly's features—satisfaction that her explanation made sense to the apprentice, and satisfaction that Ashpaw was getting exactly what Tawnywhisper had explained. Training another cat was no easy task. Knowing the tabby held an understanding of the lesson made it easier for her to rationalize all the effort she put behind this lesson. No, her time was not wasted here, and Ashpaw was making certain of that. He was truly a good learner—an ideal apprentice—and a flicker of respect danced through the molly's eyes before she quickly steeled herself.

"In that situation, you try your best to hold onto your senses. Fight against the instinct to react and lash out to the unexpected, which will most likely be your reaction." Tawnywhisper knew this from her own failed first fights, where any surprise had caused her to whip her claws in front of her in a desperate attempt to regain the upper hand. It had not worked in her favor. "It's much better to play on the defensive, though your body will tell you to attack upon that feeling of surprise. Try to recover from it mentally as quick as possible. As soon as you have your brain settled and calmed, you can return to assessing the situation. It will be up to your own judgement call, in those situations, to know when you can become offensive again. Until you are sure, stick to playing the defense." She paused, flickering her pale green eyes down to her paw, which she raised to quickly lick away the sand that had gotten stuck in her pad.

Satisfied when the grains had left her paw, she returned to her explanation. "It is also important to remember that defense maneuvers can hurt your enemy, too. Defense is not just dodging, but there are attacks that are defensive in nature as well. So needing to stay on the defense does not mean that it won't hinder your enemy; they can still take some blows while you are defending if your moves counter theirs." That own piece of knowledge had helped Tawnywhisper fight past her urge to stay on the offensive, had led to her more calculated abilities in battle. It was what had helped her stop holding that viewpoint the apprentice had just brought up, that worry that you would lose the chance to attack. Learning when to be offensive and when to be defensive was not an easy accomplishment. It had taken her many, many battles and experiences to nail it down. That frustration Ashpaw had let out early was understandable; the molly had felt it herself when trying to master this very same thing.

She continued, wrapping up her addressal to the tabby's questions. "So try not to worry about lost chances to be offensive. If you need to stick largely to the defense, and if you need to stray from the back and forth of offensive and defensive, then do that. In the beginning, the back and forth of offense, defense, offense, defense will help you. But in more complicated situations, in real battle, that flow will often be disturbed. You can find your way back to it, but if it is broken do not panic. When in doubt, defend. Your own safety is more important than damaging your opponent."

[Pitou]

**Blackfir**

@FredTheFrog

The black and white tom smiled back at Berryspot, happy to see she had a similar reaction, or at least wasn’t openly mocking him for enjoying the area so much. Slipping into the den, Blackfir was mildly taken aback by the moss covered ground. He walked straight for a curious twoleg object splayed open near a far wall. He walked cautiously over the springy ground and pawed at it tentatively. The tattered life-like parts rattled and crumbled a bit under his touch but the bottom seemed to be rigid and heavy [an old book]. He sat down and looked back at Berryspot when he determined it likely wasn’t going to do anything. ”What do you think it’s for? Twolegs sure do have a lot of stuff”

[Wingnettle]

Ashpaw (he/him)
Light grey tabby with blue/grey eyes

»»————-　☀︎︎　————-««

Tawnywhisper's words made sense, but it looked easier said than done. If even an experienced warrior like her hadn't be able to defense herself at the first element of surprise, Ashpaw would need tons of practice to master that skill. He reminded himself to take some time in the camp and work mentally on those moves; maybe, he would be able to create more unexpected attacks to surprise his enemies.

Ashpaw's grey paws were too full of sand, but right now he didn't care. He was determined not to let himself distracted, but what she said now was probably the hardest thing to get until now. "Wait.. defense moves that are also offensive? I've never heard of it. How can I do it?" He asked curiously while spinning his tail, impatient to continue the lesson but with his head even more filled with questions.

So, for the hardest battles the scheme can be broken. But I guess the best warriors can manage to maintain it. Maybe that is also a skill that comes with time and experience? Ashpaw wondered where all this knowledge came from. How many moons was Tawnywhisper? He guessed she was older than Darkpetal, and she had also probably participated in some battle between clans. Just wait 'till I show him all the new moves I've learnt! My mentor will be very proud then.

[ @Maplefur That's totally ok! It actually helps me a lot, since I don't have much experience at fighting-writing. ]

[Maplefur]

Originally Posted by Wingnettle

Ashpaw (he/him)
Light grey tabby with blue/grey eyes

»»————-　☀︎︎　————-««

Tawnywhisper's words made sense, but it looked easier said than done. If even an experienced warrior like her hadn't be able to defense herself at the first element of surprise, Ashpaw would need tons of practice to master that skill. He reminded himself to take some time in the camp and work mentally on those moves; maybe, he would be able to create more unexpected attacks to surprise his enemies.

Ashpaw's grey paws were too full of sand, but right now he didn't care. He was determined not to let himself distracted, but what she said now was probably the hardest thing to get until now. "Wait.. defense moves that are also offensive? I've never heard of it. How can I do it?" He asked curiously while spinning his tail, impatient to continue the lesson but with his head even more filled with questions.

So, for the hardest battles the scheme can be broken. But I guess the best warriors can manage to maintain it. Maybe that is also a skill that comes with time and experience? Ashpaw wondered where all this knowledge came from. How many moons was Tawnywhisper? He guessed she was older than Darkpetal, and she had also probably participated in some battle between clans. Just wait 'till I show him all the new moves I've learnt! My mentor will be very proud then.

[ @Maplefur That's totally ok! It actually helps me a lot, since I don't have much experience at fighting-writing. ]

Tawnywhisper smiled, recalling her first run-in with defensive moves that would still injure your enemy. As a kit, her favorite activity was to watch the apprentices. As a result, she went into her own apprenticehood with a plethora of knowledge from the play fights or demonstrations friends would show their fellow apprentices after a hard day of training with their mentor. Recalling that same surprise from both her kit self and the apprentice's friend, she launched into the same explanation that apprentice had given on that day all those moons ago.

"Sometimes your body isn't ready to dodge, and trying to move yourself away from a strike would put you at a disadvantage if you weren't ready to move yet. In those instances, it is better to do a defensive move that would hinder your opponent. For instance," the molly dropped down into a crouch. "If you were to jump at me, like an attacker might to try to get at my ears or to get onto my back--which would be another advantage for your enemy, to hold you down like that. Say I'm not quite ready to leap to the side because of my current positioning. Instead, when my enemy is still in the air I can push myself up," she lunged up as she spoke, "like so, and shove them while in the air. The contact should push them away from you, and will often leave them hurt when they land. Maybe they will recover and land well, but oftentimes your enemy will not be prepared and might land hard on their paws."

Tawnywhisper blinked, pushing away the last lingering moments of her memory and refocusing her attention onto Ashpaw. "If you'd like, you could practice that move now. Perhaps it would be better to focus on that now; if we launch into a full defense round, we might not return to camp until sundown." Her whiskers twitched in slight amusement. It was true that the two of them were spending a long time in that training cave, but the apprentice before her didn't seem to mind. The accomplishment from teaching him was something that, surprisingly, caused thrill to course through each and every fur on the molly's pelt. She had always assumed she'd dread the day that she'd be assigned her first apprentice, but if training with Ashpaw was any indicator it seemed that Tawnywhisper would actually enjoy the work. Such a strange concept to the molly.

[sock]

Originally Posted by Ravensong

**Blackfir**

@FredTheFrog

The black and white tom smiled back at Berryspot, happy to see she had a similar reaction, or at least wasn’t openly mocking him for enjoying the area so much. Slipping into the den, Blackfir was mildly taken aback by the moss covered ground. He walked straight for a curious twoleg object splayed open near a far wall. He walked cautiously over the springy ground and pawed at it tentatively. The tattered life-like parts rattled and crumbled a bit under his touch but the bottom seemed to be rigid and heavy [an old book]. He sat down and looked back at Berryspot when he determined it likely wasn’t going to do anything. ”What do you think it’s for? Twolegs sure do have a lot of stuff”

Berryspot sat next to the thing, sniffing it. "Gross. Might be... an old toy or something? Maybe the kits used it to do something..."

[Wingnettle]

Ashpaw (he/him)
Light grey tabby with blue/grey eyes

»»————-　☀︎︎　————-««

Ashpaw watched as Tawnywhisper crouched in attempt to mimic the situation she was describing, but he had to work hard to play the whole scene in his mind. "So... if I can't avoid an attack I should retaliate?" Was that even a defensive move? To him it looked more of an offensive one, but maybe it was really just a mix of the two... So hard! Mind whirling, he felt relieved when the warrior suggested to try the movements themselves.

The grey tabby positioned himself in front of Tawnywhisper and braced himself for a powerful jump; was he supposed to actually hit her or let her hit him? I suppose that's not a problem. I don't think I can avoid that. When he pushed himself into the air toward the older cat, he knew that he would be prepared if he was to fall back.
Ashpaw leaped with a little yowl in attempt to knock her down and grab her back, claws sheathed...

[ @Maplefur ]

[Moxie Foxy]

A very happy Rainflower paddled through the forest... (OPEN)