ShadowClan Training Cliffs

[Ian]

Vixenpaw straightened, giving him a sharp nod when he signaled his acceptance. She honestly hadn't thought that Shadestorm would have agreed to train her. He was the deputy after all, and had two apprentices of his own. Where were they, anyways? Anyone lucky enough to be the deputy's apprentice shouldn't be slacking off and doing nothing.

Shaking her head to get rid of her distracting thoughts, Vixenpaw crouched low to the ground, and copied one of the moves she had seen the older apprentice's doing. She darted forward towards the invisible opponent, faking left before swerving back to the right, her paw lashing out in an imitation of clawing the opponent's side. She was fast, and it was an impressive attempt for a new apprentice who hadn't had any formal battle training yet, but there were definitely things she could improve on.

The young molly turned back to Shadestorm once she had finished the move, eagerly waiting for any tips on improvement. Getting on the deputy's good side could never hurt, plus for Dawnstar to have chosen him he had to have been an amazing battler. Vixenpaw had heard the stories about how head made Wolffang, WindClan's deputy, flee in battle.

@Singing Jay

[Singing Jay]

@NinjaBloss

The deputy couldn't help but smile a little as she did a fake swipe. Tricking his opponents was one of his personal favorite ways to fight, sure some might call it unjust of whatever but if he won the battle he didn't really care how it went. Like how he had thrown dirt in the eyes of the fish-breath he had been fighting at the night border-battle, he had lost but only because he was a little sick and more cats from Riverclan had come anyway so they had had to pull back.

"Great job!" he praised and nodded to Vixenpaw as she turned to him. He had done this same thing with Ivykit, letting them do a move and he talked about it and gave them some tips and demonstrations. Ivykit was younger sure but also very skilled and talented so this wasn't all too different.

"My main tip would be to make your first swipe look as convincing as possible and then shift quick" Those two things were the most important in fake attacks, to fool them as well as you could and them make them regret their foolishness.
He wondered if any other apprentices were interested in getting some training with him. It wouldn't surprise him, he was the deputy himself, so who wouldn't want to be around him.

( @Shade. )

[Shade.]

@NinjaBloss
@Singing Jay

Sharppaw was frustrate. Her training wasn't going fast enough, in her opinion. She needed to train more. But when her mentor was unavailable, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Maybe she could observe how others trained or test out some moves on her own. She couldn't really request to join in, but perhaps they'd invite her. The lanky apprentice honestly thought she could figure it out by herself, like always. That's what happened when you couldn't ask anyone anything.

[Ian]

Vixenpaw nodded, pleased that she had gotten praised by Shadestorm, before practicing it a few more times and making sure she took the deputy's advice as she made her fake swipe as convincing as possible. After she felt she had gotten it mostly down, the young apprentice began to turn to ask Shadestorm for more help when she spotted another apprentice, Sharppaw she believed their name was, seemingly frustrated at something. Vixenaw didn't see a mentor with her, so maybe she was in the same situation as her?

"Hey, Sharppaw. Would you like to spar?" Vixenpaw asked, thinking that it would be good training for both of them. She knew there was no way she would be able to beat the older apprentice, but maybe she would be able to pick up a few tricks. Besides, fighting with someone stronger than you was always a good way to improve, and at least Sharppaw was a clanmate so she wouldn't actually be trying to kill or seriously injure her.

@Singing Jay @Shade.

[Pitou]

**Elmshadow & Cougarivy**

Elmshadow padded out onto the sand of the Training Cliffs. He looked back at Cougarivy, recalling just how she'd asked him to come out here. He'd been walking out of camp when she'd caught his eye running over to him. She'd had a smile and the request to get some extra battle training was posed as a question but her high chin and tone were a challenge, a challenge Elmshadow was more than happy to take. He'd smiled back, accepted, then led the way to the training cliffs.

He turned his body and flexed his claws through the grainy sand, his green locked on Cougarivy challengingly. She took the hint and crouched low. "No preamble then? No words of encouragement, no sweet nothings?"

Elmshadow grinned through his prepared scowl. "I thought you knew me better than that. Are you coming or too scared?"

Cougarivy laughed through a growl and bounded over the open ground separating her and Elmshadow. She threw up her forepaws, claws unsheathed, lashing out at Elmshadow. Giving the tom some new scars would be awfully satisfying, a sort of marking her territory, but she also trusted that she wouldn't be able to land a hit so easily on him.

Elmshadow ducked below the glinting claws and pounced off the ground, barreling into Cougarivy's midsection. Cougarivy let out a grunt as she was driven bacakwards. But thinking quickly, she dropped her paws down into Elmshadow's back, letting her claws snag in his pelt, just grazing the skin beneath. Without digging her claws in further, she fought to keep her grip. As Elmshadow's weight brought her down onto her back, she kicked her hind legs out at his underbelly. Elmshadow dropped his head, wrapping his jaws around the she-cat's neck then hopped his hind end around, out of the way of her kicks. He lowered his body to the ground, keeping a firm but gentle grip on Cougarivy's neck so her flailing attacks sailed harmlessly over his head.

He let go and bounced away. "You're smaller than me, understand that weakness and adjust. You can't expect to take on a larger opponent head on."

Cougarivy smiled and jumped to her feet. She nodded, smiling playfully. "Right. You're fatter and slower, use that to my advantage."

Elmshadow eyed her sideways. "Don't underestimate your opponent's speed, regardless of their size."

Cougarivy laughed. Elmshadow took the opportunity of apparent unguardedness to leap at the she-cat. But Cougarivy, still laughing, jumped to one side, letting Elmshadow sail past her before turning and leaping onto his back, twisting her claws into his pelt and dropping down to bite at the back of his neck. Elmshadow dropped to roll onto his back. Cougarivy held her breath as the weight crashed into her but she didn't shift her grip on his scruff. As he pulled his body back up, Cougarivy went up with him. Once he gained some semblance of balance, Cougarivy hopped off his back and turned to face him. In a laughing, mocking tone, she mewed, "Don't underestimate your opponent's sense of humor."

Elmshadow smiled sideways. He lashed an unsheathed paw at her before jumping back at her. Cougarivy dropped to the ground, twisting her body so her belly faced up, prepared for Elmshadow to move over the top of her where she'd have a prime angle to tear at his underside. But Elmshadow saw the drop and twisted his body midair to grab at her shoulders as they hit the ground. His weight dragged her body across the sand. She lashed her claws out to grab him as the two tumbled, pulling out tufts of dark grey fur.

The two cats sparred, scuffling the ground and churning up sand, until both broke apart panting and staring down one another. Cougarivy's blue eyes were alight with adrenaline and excitement and even Elmshadow had broken into a small smile. Elmshadow straightened himself. "You've gotten better."

Cougarivy bounced upright, a wide smile brightening her face. "That's because I've been training with the best."

Elmshadow walked over the space between them, Cougarivy felt her pelt heat up as he approached her. Elmshadow pressed his muzzle against Cougarivy's cheek affectionately, then he took a broad paw and scooped it under Cougarivy's front legs, dropping her flank to the ground with a thump. Cougarivy looked up at Elmshadow with wide eyes, her mouth parted in shock but the corners still rounded up in a smile. Elmshadow turned his body slightly and looked down at her. "Never let your guard down."

Elmshadow had promised to help Goldenstep with some extra preparations with kits in case Riverclan attacked and he had his own apprentice to be attending to so he figured he should be getting back. Somehow he felt that neither of those were good reasons to bring up to Cougarivy so he simply offered, "We should be heading back. Don't want you getting too sore." He smiled but started to pad back towards camp. Cougarivy sighed exaggeratedly but pulled herself up and trotted after Elmshadow.

[Pine'Paw]

Pine'Paw padded onto the training cliffs, shifting his feet, but knowing he wanted to train more. He called out. "Mentor! Time for training, uh, maybe!" @Bramble12

[Galaxy_]

Originally Posted by Pine'Paw

Pine'Paw padded onto the training cliffs, shifting his feet, but knowing he wanted to train more. He called out. "Mentor! Time for training, uh, maybe!" @Bramble12

Creamshadow came out. "Its creamshadow not mentor." she hissed (she kinda mean watch out). "And I say when we train. lets go where here so we might as well."

[Pine'Paw]

Pine'Paw grinned. "So, what training for we have today, Creamshadow? I caught a fox yesterday but then I ran into some stupid kittypet and had to eat it cause they were trying to spoil it." He said, sighing. He felt to ashamed. He was sure Creamshadow would yell at him or punish him or hurt him.

[Mistletoe]

@poppy.

~Robinleaf~

The training cliff were very nostalgic for her. They got her in the mood to train as memories from her apprentice days flooded back to her. A smile crossed her face.
“Ready to get started?” Robinleaf turned to the apprentice.

[Zesha]

★ Loonfeather ★

Loonfeather took a breath as he settled in the wait for Snarlpaw. The apprentice would be a pawful, he was sure, but hopefully the training he had received from Sunsnarl would prove to be useful. That or it would make the apprentice cocky and frustrating to deal with.

He had parted ways with Snarlpaw yesterday by telling him that they’d meet at the training cliffs at sunhigh. That would give Snarlpaw enough time to settle in with his new denmates and get to know them, if he wanted. At the moment it was still about thirty minutes until noon, which gave Loonfeather time to collect his thoughts until the apprentice arrived.

( @Winter Jax )