Warrior Training 101 (Closed)

Grasswhisker stretched lazily as she got up from her nest. Groggily, she tried to think of what to do for the day. No cat had mentioned a patrol to her, so she had the day off. Most cats were out and about already, so she felt bad for the late start. With a yawn, she stepped out into the dismal grey of another leaf-bare day. Her eyes darted around camp, looking for her kits who had recently been apprentice. After not seeing any, it was easy to figure out that they were probably out with their mentors. Wait... why do I feel like I'm forgetting something, She gasped in a sudden remembrance, I'm a mentor! Panic and excitement at the realization made her jump and rush over towards the apprentice den. Some how she had managed to forget that Leopardpaw had been made her apprentice the night before.

One she reached the mouth of the den, the young she-cat peaked in and looked around for her apprentice. Finally, her eyes settled on the sleeping form of the recently apprenticed young tom. With a sigh of relief, she concluded that she hadn't overslept much.

"Thank Starclan," Grasswhisker muttered to herself softly before calling out a bit louder, "Leopardpaw! Get up! It's time to start your training!"

Leopardpaw's paws twitched restlessly in his sleep as he dreamed, but it was far from a happy mouse-chasing vision out in the forest. This was a nightmare.

"Mother! Mother come back!" He watched as his mother ran off into the woods and left him in the dream realm, just as she did in waking. He tried to move, to chase after her, but his paws were stuck in place. Shadows swam in the undergrowth, and the roar of a monster sounded behind him. Just as the darkness was about to consume him, a voice rang out.

"Leopardpaw! Get up! It's time to start your training!"

The golden spotted tom bolted awake, eyes wide. His heart racing frantically, he turned to see his mentor Grasswhisker standing at the entrance of the den. Blinking the exhaustion from his hazel eyes, he let out a big yawn. Clambering to his paws, he extended his spine in a luxurious stretch before padding out of his new nest. With his traditional emotionless expression, he nodded and meowed "Okay, lets go."

"Are you ready? Excited?" The new mentor asked, bouncing lightly as she padded towards the camp entrance. I'm probably more happy about this than he is, Grasswhisker thought to herself taking in his less than amused expressions. She held back a sigh, praying to Starclan that she would be a good mentor. She looked at him questioningly, waiting to hear what he had to say.

As he followed his mentor out of the camp for the first time, his mind was clouded with memories the nightmare had dug up again from the back of his mind. He stared down at his paws as he walked, but looked up at the cheerful she-cat's inquiry. For a moment his face remained expressionless, but he soon came to his senses. It's my first day as an apprentice, my first day to help the clan that saved my life! Suddenly, his eyes lit up with excitement, and he gained a little bounce in his step. Smiling, he purred "Yea, I'm really excited! What are we going to learn first?" His depressed thoughts were banished, for now.

That stopped her dead in her tracks. Grasswhisker hadn't thought that far ahead. For a second she fumbled around in her head for some sort of plan for the day. What would a mentor do? Hunting? Battle training? Borders? That last one stuck with her. Leopardpaw hadn't been out of camp yet, so they'd start off with a patrol.

"How does learning the borders sound? Maybe practice some basics along the way?" The young warrior cocked her head questioningly at the tom cat, a smile still plastered over her features. He seemed to have perked up a bit from what he initially had seemed, which added to her cheerfulness. It would have made her feel like a bad mentor if he was unhappy.

"Okay, that sounds great!" Leopardpaw smiled back at his mentor as they began to walk through the territory. Looking around at the trees, he found himself in a strangely upbeat mood. Something had switched in the usually solitary, prickly tom; maybe it was being in the frost-covered woods, or maybe the thought of adventure. Most of all though, was the thought of helping his clan. ThunderClan had taken him in from certain death in the wilderness; in his mind he had a debt to pay back, with his whole life and loyalty.

Much like most mentors did, Grasswhisker decided to start off by showing him the thunderpath. She suppressed a mrrow of laughter as she remembered the first time she encountered the stench of the thunderpath. Hopefully it wouldn't shock Leopardpaw too much. The she-cat raced out into the forest, enjoying the feeling of running between the trees again. It had been a while since she had her kits.

As they approached it, a monster roared past and the warrior flattened her ears. The smell was still shocking, but the noise still bothered her more. Stories the elders had told about cats losing their lives here flashed through her head.

She looked down at Leopardpaw, forcing seriousness into her voice, "This is the Thunderpath. That giant thing is called a monster. Cats have been injured... or worse, killed. You need to be careful here."

Grasswhisker raced off into the woods, but Leopardpaw had no trouble keeping up with her. Though he was a strong cat, he was not bulky like more of his other clanmates. He was lithe and quick; perfect for racing through the undergrowth at high speed.

As the two cats ran through the forest, Leopardpaw useally found himself at his mentor's side or just a little bit behind. Even though he was fast, his legs were still short. He was sure to be twice as fast when he was full grown.

Smiling and the wind whipped through his spotted pelt, he suddenly skidded to a halt next to Grasswhisker. He had almost run onto the Thunderpath! He was pretty sure she hadn't noticed, so he played it off.

Nodding at her statement, he meowed "What's that scent? Aside from the Twoleg stench." Sniffing the air, he replied "Is that....cat scent?" Suddenly remembering the education Mottledwing gave him in his kithood, he purred "Oh! That's ShadowClan right?"

"That's right!" Grasswhisker meowed, impressed with the new apprentice's knowledge. She wrinkled her nose, picking out the Shadowclan stench. The warrior was already impressed by his speed, but he also had a great nose. She glanced down at him before casting her her gaze over the shadowy marshlands. A shiver ran through her as she pictured Shadowclan cats lurking through the undergrowth.

"The thunderpath separates us from the Shadowclan cats. Not only do you need to watch out for monsters, but Shadowclan cats too," Grasswhisker remembered when as an apprentice there had been a bit of a dispute over hunting in each other's territory. The memory seemed fresh. Since then she had become a warrior and had kits. It had been a lot. Now she was here with an apprentice. She stared at the pine tree line for another moment before turning away, "Come on, Leopardpaw, there's so much more to see." The young she-cat bounded away, back into the safety of Thunderclan territory.

Leopardpaw smiled, proud to have impressed his mentor with his knowledge. Thanks Mottledwing! The kind she-cat had taut him most of what he knew about clan life. He listened carefully to Grasswhisker's warning, and nodded understandingly. When the older she-cat bounded off into the forest, he followed close behind and meowed "Where to next?"

Grasswhisker thought for a second, then nodded decisively, "Riverclan!" She raced off into the forest again, heading towards the river. The warrior longed to bring her apprentice to sunningrocks, but knew right now it wasn't theirs. Frustration coursed through her and she picked up speed, eventually skidding to a halt a few tail-lengths off from the river.

"I'm sure you've heard of the fish-eaters that live just beyond here," She flicked her toward the river, nose wrinkled up at the thought of eating fish. Grasswhisker decided to mention sunningrocks too, while they were here. Her tail then flicked to point towards the mass of rocks off in the distance, "See that? Those are the sunningrocks. While it should be a part of Thunderclan territory, Riverclan holds it right now. If you scent the air, you can smell the border."

Leopardpaw launched himself after his mentor as she began to run towards RiverClan territory. Out of all the clans, RiverClan seemed the oddest to him. Swimming, fishing cats? Why is that even necessary? There's perfectly good prey here on the land. He did look forward to seeing the river though, and he was not disappointed.

Stopping at the edge of the bank beside Grasswhisker, Leopardpaw's eyes opened wide in amazement. He didn't realise the river would be this...big! It was quite broad, and it containted so much motion and life. He could see murky water tumbling over the rapids, and small minnows feeding and jumping in the shallows.

Supressing a delighted purr, he listened to Grasswhisker. He was surprised to hear a hint of some emotion in her tone. Disdain? Aggression? He wondered what the other clan had done to ruffle his mentor's fur. Sniffing the air he scented the border she had mentioned, and his nose scrunched in disgust. It smelled like dead fish.

Looking downstream to Sunningrocks, he furrowed his brow concernedly. Speaking up, he asked "If they are rightfully part of our territory, why hasn't Darkstar tried to take them back? Besides, what use could they have to RiverClan, besides sunning of course." Meeting the older she-cat's gaze, he meowed "Don't they hunt fish?"

Her eyes lit up as she watched Leopardpaw's reaction to the river. Many moons ago she had too stood wide eyed, taking it all in. A sigh escaped her throat as he commented on rocks and Grasswhisker looked down at him. My thoughts exactly, The warrior just barely stopped herself from saying aloud. It had been a couple moons now that Riverclan had held the rocks, and in that time Grasswhisker consistently wished Thunderclan had reclaimed their territory. All throughout her kitting, she had wished to stretch out on the rocks and let any bit of warmth that crept through the leafbare chill warm her up.

"I know, it's hard to accept, but Darkstar has her reasons," The she-cat warrior meowed, "We wouldn't want a battle in leafbare. She might just be waiting for things to warm up. Besides we are doing okay without the rocks for now." As she finished speaking, a soft scrabbling noise hit her ears. She flicked her tail to silence her apprentice and turned towards the noise.

A small robin pecked around the roots of a nearby tree. Almost silently, she crept forward, pawstep by pawstep. Hopefully, Leopardpaw was taking note. Finally, once within distance, she leapt, grabbing the startled bird in her claws and letting a triumphant yowl escape her throat. She picked it up and carried it back over to the young tom. They'd been out running a lot a deserved a break. Besides, this wasn't a hunting patrol.

The member 'Ripped' has done the following action : Dices roll

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#1 'Hunting Dice' : 3

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#2 'Hunting Dice' : 4

Leopardpaw nodded understandingly when Grasswhisker explained the situation. That's true, fighting in leaf-bare always leads to disaster. When new-leaf comes though, I hope Darkstar will reclaim them. The golden tom was torn out of his thoughts by the sound of prey scuffling in the bushes nearby. He jumped to alert, but Grasswhisker was already stalking the creature.

Sitting down to wait, he watched as the warrior stealthily crept up on the animal, that had just revealed it's self as a robin. He noted how her paws made almost no sound as they hit the soil, and the perfect formation of the hunter's crouch. He watched as his mentor made the kill, and waved his tail in congratulations.

"Nice catch Grasswhisker!" His mouth watered at the scent of the fresh bird, and he was pleasantly surprised when the gray and white she-cat dropped the creature in front of him. Eyes ravenous, he looked up at the she-cat for permission, just in case he would be doing something wrong by having a quick snack.