Splotchpaw battle training

"Come on Splotchpaw, time for battle training" Spottedfeather mewed to her new apprentice, silently slipping back out of the den. She waited outside, scooping snow out of the entrance of the apprentice den. Dewstar wanted all battle training to be done first, just in case Thunderclan wanted battle, or was under attack.

The newest apprentice slowly opened her soft blue eyes. Oh, yes. This was the first day of training.

Battle training.

The thought intimidated the cat. What would happen if she accidently killed some cat with a move she had learned during this training? Killing a cat? That would be awful! Resolutely declaring to herself that she would never kill a cat, Splotchpaw heaved herself to her paws and promptly shook the sleepiness from her muscles.

The apprentice had decided at in all of the training, that this would be the worst for her. Splotchpaw had always thought that fighting never solved anything. Honestly, she thought that talking about it, and sorting things out had the best shot at keeping cats alive, and reaching a fair deal.  But, this training was necessary to become a warrior.

Another thought occurred to her as she made her way towards her mentor. How was she going to do this? Socializing wasn't her forte. This would become a problem, is she couldn't even say hello to any of her clan mates.  

Looking up at her mentor, Splotchpaw nodded politely to the warrior, however, no dialogue escaped her mouth.

Spottedfeather smiled and motioned for the apprentice to follow her out of camp. She padded into the sand, looking back to Splotchpaw. "We are doing battle training today. Now, first, I want you to do what I do." She slashed a tree trunk with her claws unsheathed.

Splotchpaw silently followed her mentor out of camp. Her blue eyes wide as she attempted to take in the forest. By the time she would become a warrior, the apprentice would have to know this territory like the back of her paw. The forest was a beautiful place, despite it being in the middle of winter, the sun light casting down on the white winter snow thought the thick trees. Silence hung over the forest, and the only sound was the crunching of the cats' footsteps.

As her mentor lead the way into the clearing, her thoughts slowly switched from the breath taking forest, to Spottedfeather. The warrior's voice broke the spell of silence. Her dark blue eyes watched her mentor demonstrate the move, noting the arch of the paw, and the curve of the claws. Determined to get this done as fast as she could, Splotchpaw took a few steps toward the same tree, then attempted the same move. Her claws crapped the outer bark of the tree, exposing the raw bark on the inside. The light chestnut contrasted sharply with the dark oak bark. The new apprentice looked up at Spottedfeather for the next instruction. Her shy demeanor causing her to not meet the eyes of her mentor, only looking up at the warrior's chin, before back at the snow covered sand.

Spottedfeather looked back to her apprentice, motioning her forward. As soon as she stepped forward, she slid forward silently and slipped under her belly and patted it softly and with sheathed claws. She darted back out and mewed to her. "That is the belly rake, but usually you do it with unsheathed claws. Now try to slide under my belly and hit it with sheathed claws. I will avoid it, but not try too hard, because I am known for my agility."

Slightly determined to get it right, the small apprentice surged forward and quickly slipped under her mentor, and as she slid on the sandy ground, she lifted her paw up so it grazed her mentor's soft belly fur. After she had managed to slip away, Splotchpaw scrambled to her paws and looked up at her mentor for her approval.

"Very good! Now lets do the run and tackle" she mewed before running at her apprentice and tackling her, but not full strength.