Smokepaw's Training {Open}

[CATxOFxICE]

Wanderingspirit's white fur stood out against the ground in the hollow. He was waiting for the appearence of his apprentice, Smokepaw. He had always believed the young tom diligent and would have dragged him out here on his own if he didn't think he would be here. The wind ruffled his fur, and the tom planted his claws firmly into the ground. The sun was still rising, and Wanderinspirit couldn't wait to get started.

[Ravenstar]

Smokepaw had only just woke up and eaten and was hurrying so he wouldn't be too late for his training session with Wanderingspirit. As he saw the warrior waiting for him, he hurried up and stopped before him, panting slightly, "Sorry... I wanted to eat before I came so I'd have enough energy.... And... I kinda woke up a little late." He sat and looked up at his mentor, hoping he wasn't too late and Wanderingspirit wasn't mad at him.

[CATxOFxICE]

The tom purred in laughter. "Yes, I see. Now let's begin. We're going to do fight training today, and tomorrow you'll be on border patrol."

Wanderingspirit's paw shot out and brought itself down onto the air. The loose dust on the ground immidiately blew up, but the Warrior was unfased by the contact. "That's the most basic move - a front paw blow. I want you to try it, this always happens with paws sheathed. Now, let me see you try."

[Ravenstar]

Smokepaw nodded, ready to begin. He wondered what a border patrol would be like... he hadn't been on one yet and he was excited to see what it would be like. He didn't really like hunting patrols... you couldn't even eat anything you caught. He watched as Wanderingspirit's paw came down and dust puffed up around it. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Smokepaw raised his paw when his mentor instructed him to try it. He brought it down hard, knowing it would have to be hard to do anything against another cat, but not anticipating the unyielding ground. He gave a small mew of surprise as his paw connected painfully with the ground and leapt to his paws.

Ears flattening against his head, he felt really foolish. Trying again with the other paw, he brought it down softer, thinking it was stupid to use all his strength when it was just the ground.... The second attempt worked better than the first and he didn't hurt himself in the process, "How was that?"

[CATxOFxICE]

"Good. This is usually a blow to the head, so you can use your full strength and your enemies impact will soften your own. Now, try it with your claws, but try it a little altered." A white paw clawed the air this time, but traveling angled and curving up after getting close to the ground. "That was originally the front paw strike, but if you add an uppercut that makes it twice as effective."

Wanderingspirit purred as he watched his appretice.

[Ravenstar]

Smokepaw watched his mentor carefully, rerunning the move over in his mind a couple times before trying it himself, this time more carefully than he had with the first move. Unsheathing the claws from one paw, he tried a couple normal swipes to get used to the balancing on three legs while the other flew through the air. Finally, he tried Wanderingspirit's altered version and tipped a little. Setting his other paw down quickly, he got his balance back before trying again, practicing it a couple more times.

"How was that?" he asked after his last try with it, thinking to himself that it wasn't too hard and that hew as doing alright for his first time practicing them.

[CATxOFxICE]

"That was good." the white tom glanced at the sky. It was sun-high already, Wanderingspirit figured he had just enough time to teach Smokepaw how to fight off a craine.

"Alright. Now let's try and put the fighting moves you've learned together. You know those large birds you see - the craines? To fight these you're going to need that front paw strike. However, we have to turn it into a side rake. Now, usually you won't be fighting them alone but I'll show you how to fight them off if you do encounter them......"

[Ravenstar]

Smokepaw nodded to show he was listening and at least somewhat understood. Front paw strike... turn it into a side rake.... He looked up at Wanderingspirit, "Okay... so, what does it look like? Can you show me?" He wasn't exactly sure how he was suppose to do it, "I mean... the turning it into a side rake part...." He shuffled his paws and looked down at them, a little nervous to be asking. Maybe Wanderingspirit had been expecting him to already know, and he didn't want to disappoint his mentor....

[CATxOFxICE]

"Don't worry, it usually takes awhile. You hold the paw out and strike your opponents flank. It'll take a lot of balance and I don't expect you to do it well until you've been warrior. For now let's switch to patrols. Let's see....." The white tom paused. after the border patrol he would only have to access Smokepaw to become a warrior. "Let's head back to camp and gather some cats."