Thunderpaw's Training

[Lexie]

Icestar walked with her apprentice right beside her. "We're going to hunt then we can get into some battle training." she meowed. She was happy to get out of camp and into the fresh air. After Bramblethorn's death she wanted to think straight and focus on her apprentice. Finally getting to the forest, she opened her mouth to smell what prey they could catch. She smell mouse, magpie, cardinal, oak, pine, and beech trees. Then she closed her eyes and smelled the air with her nose. She also then smelled some thrush and rabbit. "Tell me what you smell." she meowed. She smiled, knowing that Thunderpaw had a quick mind.

[Tiger]

"Cool," meowed Thunderpaw, trying to keep some bounce in his step. Like his mentor, he didn't want to focus on death. He had never really known Bramblethorn, but she was a warrior and was apparantly a friend of his mother's. "Uhm...prey. Mice and...rabbits? I smell the trees too." The apprentice winced at the strong, piney odor that permeated the coniferous forest. Silently, he hoped that his answer would satisfy his mentor. Icestar was one of the few cats that he respected and he didn't want to disappoint her.

[Lexie]

Icestar smiled at his apprentice. "Good, and a faint smell of Rainclan and cardinal." she meowed. "You've never smelled Rainclan I believe but it smells watery." Taking a step forward she saw a mouse chewing on some berries. "Watch me, you crouch low, but not too low, and then pounce." she intructed. Icestar watched the mouse and it started to scury around a tree. With a small stalk she steped one foot at a time then pounce slightly and swat the mouse with her paw. "You want to keep all your weight on your back feet when you're stepping with your front paws, then you do the opposite with your back." she meowed. Picking up the mouse she laid it infront of you. "How about you try and smell one out?"

[Tiger]

"Okay," Thunderpaw meowed apprehensively. He was a bit on the clumsy side and would rather fight than hunt. Slowly, he began to stalk forward in the method Icestar had described. He looked a bit awkward, moving with only one pair of feet at a time, but it worked: he was silent. The apprentice caught a whiff of mouse-scent on the air. His whiskers twitched and his ears perked up in excitement. A mouse! He continued stalking it and was about to pounce when he clipped one of his hind paws on a tree root and fell over forward. However, by some stroke of luck, the mouse had been slow in getting away and had been right in the path of the falling Thunderpaw. He had crushed the mouse, but it was still a kill. Proudly, he picked up the flat fresh-kill in his jaws, trotted back to Icestar, and dropped it at his mentor's paws. "How's that?" he asked proudly, licking a bit of blood from his chest.

[Lexie]

Icestar purred in amusement. "That's a way to do it!" Her tone was fully of laughed. She pointed her tail up into a low lying tree where a cardinal sat. "Pounce quickly and bite it's neck to kill it," she whispered. She sat down and smiled at her apprentice, knowing he would do something that might make her laugh again, or succeed perfectly and get the bird.

[Tiger]

"Okay," Thunderpaw meowed. Once again, he began to silently stalk the bright red bird, who was unfortunately looking the other way. At nearly the right moment, he leapt through the air, pinning the cardinal between his paws as he lunged forward to bite at it. However, when his teeth were merely a mouse-length away from killing the bird, one of its claws scratched the bridge of his nose. This threw the apprentice off for the tiniest fraction of a second, allowing the cardinal to fly to safety. His jaws closed on thin air and he landed right after, stirring up some dirt the exact tone of his brown pelt. "Missed," Thunderpaw growled angrily, rubbing the small cut on his nose against his shoulder.

[Lexie]

Icestar watched her apprentice carefully. She liked his way of doing things. She noticed a rabbit underneath a bush. "A rabbit's under that fern bush. Creep until your about three fox-lengths away then jump as far as you can." Icestar pointed her nose to a fern bush the rabbit was under. She wanted to see what Thunderpaw would do without a demenstration. See how he does things without sight but words.

[Tiger]

Thunderpaw nodded. They have such big ears. Will it hear me sooner? Once more, he dropped his weight to his haunches in a hunter's crouch and began to slink toward the rabbit. One of the apprentice's paws struck a leaf and the rabbit jerked its head upward, frantically sniffing and looking around. All the while, he remained entirely still; the concentration neccessary to keep his entire weight from moving was visible in his expression. When the rabbit seemed to be preoccupied by a leaf of the fern, he took a massive leap, propelled by his strong hind legs. By some stroke of luck, Thunderpaw landed almost right on the rabbit and killed it with a quick bite to the back of its neck. Smirking, he picked up the fresh-kill and trotted back to his mentor, pleased to finally have caught something using traditional hunting methods. The apprentice dropped it at his mentor's paws, not noticing the odd angle in one of the rabbit's hind legs that had probably rendered it lame.

[Lexie]

Icestar smiled as she saw Thunderpaw's skill. Good, he stays still. She thought as the rabbit heard the noise he made. Icestar dipped her head to her apprentice. "Good, now try again on a bird." she meowed. She pointed her nose to a thrush in a tree, who had just flew in. "Just don't let your paws slip again." She was serious this time.
She looked at Thunderpaw and gave a crooked smile. "Nevermind, try something in the undergrowth again." she meowed. "Then try for the thrush, or some kind of bird." She wanted to work on hunting, and make sure it was perfected. She then realized that he still had an awkward time getting prey. "Here, watch me," she meowed. She crept forward slightly and pounced quickly. Grabbing onto a mouse and biting it's neck she smiled. "Try that."

[Tiger]

As Icestar had done, Thunderpaw crept to a nearby bush. He could smell the faint odor of a mouse emanating from its nest under the bush. This time, he pounced a shorter distance and trapped the mouse with his paws before quickly biting its back. He wanted to appear competent in hunting so that he could start battle training. Despite being around the middle of his apprenticeship, he still wasn't much smaller than his mentor. He was a rather large cat.

[Lexie]

Icestar smiled at Thunderpaw. "Perfect, now try the birds again, but watch me first." Icestar crept forward, looking up at a thrush in a tree above her. She backed up and pounced as her large leg muscules launched her into the tree, biting the thrush in the back of it's neck she let it drop to the forest floor. Her figure wasn't very big but under her coat was some muscule, and she had a lot in her legs. "Now you try, your leg muscules will guide you into the tree if you jump right." She looked at her apprentice. "If you catch this, we can start battle training, if not, we will start over." she meowed.

[Tiger]

Thunderpaw's breathing was starting to become heavier as the training progressed. Icestar seemed to be working him unusually hard today...Nonetheless, he inhaled deeply to concentrate and leapt into the tree, hind legs propelling him over a low-hanging branch where he knocked a thrush right out of the air with his powerful right paw. He was too focused on the hunting move to pay attention to his landing, and he hit the ground on his shoulder. Wincing, he got too his feet and killed the helpless bird--the midair strike had managed to break its wing--with a quick bite to the neck before he dropped it in the small pile forming at his mentor's feet. It was at that moment that Thunderpaw's rapidly forming bruise reminded him of something. "Icestar," he meowed, "Mom said that she broke a bone in her shoulder during a scuffle in camp that there was during the battle. Can you tell me more about the battle?" He was referring to the time when a heavily pregnant Tigerstripe had her shoulderblade fractured when Deadsoul who is no longer called Deadsoul kicked her into a rock--or something like that.

[Lexie]

Icestar smiled, watching Thunderpaw's bigger figure leaped into the air. Then she smiled again, hearing Thunderpaw's question. "That battle had scared me to death, facing those broad, muscular rouges and loners. I had actually lost my first life there," she began. "I had lost two warriors from Beachclan, Silentmask and Deadwhisker." She then paused in dead silence.
"Then a lot of warriors were hurt and also killed. We also killed off acouple rouges and made Burntstar loose a life. He had wonderful skills, but Coppertail, his son, and our deputy had finished the battle." She meowed, her tone more serious. "Anything you want me to get into detail with?" She purred.

[Tiger]

"Yes, please," Thunderpaw meowed, forgetting almost completely about battle training. This was interesting...it was what he was doing battle training for, after all! Also, it was a gory, violent topic that was just right to hold the attention of a young apprentice. "Who's Burntstar, besides Coppertail's dad? Was he like the bad guy?" His green eyes were wide with wonder as he waited for his mentor's reply. This was some good stuff. It wasn't your everyday kind of story, and certainly not the kind you would want to tell to a group of kits.

[Lexie]

Icestar purred. This apprentice had been very clever, but didn't have a great way with words or actions, she could just tell that he'll be one great warrior. "Burntstar was a very powerful cat, he actually was leader of Aquaclan when I was a kit. Morningstar was leader at the time. Yes, Burnstar did a lot of bad things, killing of cats and such. He made Silentstep go elder early because of his blood thirsty heart wanted more and more power. He tried to kill Jaystar, Jayfeather at the time. He had been exiled, and his mate and most of his family went with him. Then Coppertail, Flaxeyes, Honeyfrost, Owlspot, all of them, spread out into different clans, and then, Burntstar wanted to take over the forest again, and made the biggest battle." She let out a deep breath. She looked at Thunderpaw. "Now, if you ever see him, he'll just want some sinister plot to kill you," she hissed. "He will kill you, if not, he'll use you to get to the clans." She had to warn him, if not, Burntstar would do something to her, Whitestar, Jaystar, Hawkstar. She couldn't let that happen.

[Tiger]

"Why would he want to kill me?" Thunderpaw asked, intrigued. "I'm not a leader and I'm not related to him...I'm just an apprentice." Even he knew that bloodthirsty ex-leaders had reasons for picking their targets, and that a cat as young as himself would pose no threat; if BeachClan would ever be up against BurntClan again then he would be killed easily in the battle. He also didn't know that Jaystar was his father. Only Quailpaw and Larchpaw (the ones who looked most like him) knew about that. They probably would have been able to guess on their own, though. It was obvious that the two cats were the most intelligent of their litter by far.

[Lexie]

Icestar gave a crooked smile. "He would kill you because of your weak figure, as so he would call it." She hissed. She stood up, making herself look taller than him. "Now lets get on with training, you have a lot of learn." She snarled.
She stood back. "Here, we'll do something simple, like a dodge." She meowed. "Once I slash a paw close to your ear, then you back away, or duck." She meowed. She slowly aimed for his ear.

[Tiger]

With a speed that was surprising for such a large apprentice, Thunderpaw nimbly ducked away from the blow. His head moved to the other side, followed by his shoulders and the rest of his body. He instinctively lifted his right paw to strike back at Icestar, but he then remembered that she had instructed him only to dodge. Instead, he stepped forward on the paw and turned around so that he was facing his mentor again. He has an open stance and his weight was dropped to his paws so that if she were to attack again, he would be able to easily escape.

[Lexie]

Icestar nodded, meaing good job. Then she jumped to her hind legs and jumped over him. "Do exactly as I did, when I try to get underneath your belly." She meowed. She jumped back over him. Her black pelt blended in with some of the undergrowth. This was one of her favorite spots to train, along with the beach. She dived slowly and tried to get under her apprentice.

[Tiger]

Instantly, Thunderpaw flexed his muscular legs and sprung into the air, twisting around so that he would be able to keep an eye on his mentor. One of the things he had done to entertain himself while he was a kit was play-fight with his energetic, non-traitor sister, Swallowpaw. She had proven to be a pretty skilled fighter, just like him. They had learned a few things from each other, and that was if you took your eyes off of the enemy, then you would soon have a paw to the face as a reward.

[Lexie]

Icestar had her claws sheathed as she easily got under the apprentice's belly. The she saw her apprentice finally jump. "See, you need to be quick. If you were being attacked by some cat smaller than you, they could easily get under you quickly." She didn't mean that she was small by any chance, but she was putting out an example. "Try again." She got to her paws and dove a little faster toward her apprentice.

[Tiger]

Thunderpaw, having landed a second earlier, sprung to the side. A very small, svelte cat would have easily been able to follow his sideways slide, but they would have to be quick-thinking and flexible. This time, he tried a different strategy after his dodge: ducking very close to the ground and flexing his legs so he would be able to leap either out of the way or right into battle, depending on what the situation presented.

[Lexie]

"Perfect!" Icestar purred. Suprisingly she noticed how he caught on fast and was able to think quickly. "Now, lets saw I'm a Rainclan warrior, it's raining outside and it's hard for you to move, so you move at an average pase, I'll go a lot faster. Rainclan warriors are used to rain covering their pelt, we like water when we are relaxing on the beach, on our pelts." She swiftly moved on top of the apprentice and put all of her weight onto his shoulders. "Try and get me off."

[Tiger]

Thunderpaw had no idea what to do, so he decided to just try and flop around like a fish that had been caught from the lagoon. It worked for the fish, so why not for the apprentice. He threw himself sideways and started to roll around, trying to get Icestar off of his back. She was heavier than he had expected; of course, she was a full-grown cat and he was only an apprentice. Being a bit larger than a typical cat his age wasn't much of an advantage when up against something bigger than himself.

[Lexie]

Icestar pushed harder on Thunderpaw's shoulders. "Try getting onto your hind legs and falling backwards." She suggested. She new that she would hit the ground hard, but Thunderpaw's weight was nothing, she had wrestled fish heavier than him. She smiled and hoped that Thunderpaw would take his advise.

[Tiger]

Struggling under Icestar's weight, Thunderpaw reared up on his hind legs and flung himself backward with every ounce of strength in his muscles. He silently hoped that his mentor wouldn't pull away at the last second of the fall, leaving him to smack on the ground. Silently, he made a note of that strategy in case he was ever in battle wrestling a cat who tried to pull that trick on him. Although he wasn't very sharp in most other areas of warriorhood, one thing Thunderpaw was utterly dedicated to was becoming the best fighter he could be.

[Lexie]

Icestar let her back hit a ground. "Good." She praised. She looked at Thunderpaw. "Then if you were on a cat's back and they tried to do that, get off their back once they get onto their hind legs." She wanted to give to est advise to the apprentice. "Want to try?" She asked. She leaned her once shoulder down, hoping the apprentice would get onto her broad shoulders. Her shoulderblades were full of muscule. She looked at the ground and smiled.

[Tiger]

"I thought of that," Thunderpaw meowed absentmindedly. "Okay." He jumped on Icestar's back and grasped her shoulderblades with his paws. He tried to make them as wide as possible without accidentally unsheathing his claws; in a real fight, of course he would use his claws! The apprentice concentrated mainly on keeping his balance without being thrown off by anything Icestar might do.

[Lexie]

Icestar jumped to her hind legs right after Thunderpaw was ontop of her back. She arched her back inward and let her back hit the forest floor. "Good." She meowed. Icestar looked at Thunderpaw. The black she-cat sat down and leaned against a tree trunk. "Want to review anything? Do you want to call it quits for today, or keep working?" Icestar wanted her apprentice tell her what he wanted to do. She was just getting started. She loved to teach and let cats learn her different fighting skills. Icestar have her shoulder two swift licks and looked back at Thunderpaw.

[Tiger]

"Whatever you want, Icestar," Thunderpaw meowed excitedly. "I'm not tired." He could train for battle all day if he had to--and he would certainly want to. I'll do just about anything that gets me out of cleaning the elders' den or the nursery. He fluffed his pelt to get out the stray specks of sand and dust that had freed themselves from the frozen ground and found lodging in his fur.