I'll Make a Man Out of You [Closed]

Bloodstrike was the new deputy.... the thought was still new in his head. It gave him a rush of excitement just as much as it did anxiety. He'd asked for the opportunity to receive more responsibility and climb the ranks... now he had. All of his efforts and pains were finally beginning to bare fruit. Bloodstrike's appearance had improved significantly, with his fur clean and laying in the right direction. He no longer smelled of fish and body odor. He had quite a few things on his list to accomplish as fast as possible, one of them being a training session with Sunflower. Not for Bloodstrike himself, but for the lanky warrior with a confidence issue. Skyclan could only ever be as strong as their weakest link. He wasn't entirely sure it was Sunflower, but it was definitely a good place to start strengthening the chain. He had gone to the warrior's den and asked for Sunflower to come with him on a patrol and had also asked him to bring that... "Sky Pelt" or whatever in the world that thing was supposed to be. He had noticed that he carried it with him from the fire, so it must hold some sort of importance. Dawnhawk had been passing by, dropping yet another rabbit onto the fresh-kill pile, which gave Bloodstrike the idea to bring him along as well. Once Bloodstrike, Dawnhawk and Sunflower had made their way to Half-Stone, Bloodstrike slowed himself to a halt and turned to face the lanky warrior.

"Sunflower... I need to address something with you. I'm not mad or anything, so please don't worry... but..." Bloodstrike glanced over at Dawnhawk to see him crouching after something. Bloodstrike's eyes traveled across the forest floor and saw a lizard, which immediately made him shudder. Disgusting things.... he hated their crunchiness and texture. He turned his attention back to Sunflower with a sigh.

"There is no good way to say it so I'm just going to say it. Smokefeather, when she was Smokepaw, had to come to me, another apprentice at the time, for her training because you were too afraid to teach her how to fight. We've both fought a lot together since then, but I can't help but feel that you need a...." Oh Stars what is the word I am looking for??? He didn't necessarily hate Sunflower. Not at all in fact. The lanky warrior was his senior by both age and experience... well, maybe on the latter. "A confidence course of sorts. I really think you could fight at least as well as I could and I'd like to show you that you can. What do you say to a quick spar?" Bloodstrike wasn't really giving him an option, but if he didn't agree outright, he'd turn it into a situation where he would have to agree.

In theory.

Dawnhawk kicked off of the ground and bolted toward the lizard and swung his jaws low in an attempt to snatch it up. Easily, Dawnhawk snatched up the critter in his mouth, instantly killing it. He turned back to look at Bloodstrike and Sunflower, curious to see how this was going to go down. Why did he bring Dawnhawk out here, i he was just going to beat Sunflower up?


OOC: I am going to post the dice roll after this one because there is no dice roll option for some reason o.o

Dice Roll goooooo

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 1

Originally, Sunflower hadn't thought much of Bloodstrike becoming deputy. Wolfstar had appointed the tom who he felt best fit the position and life would continue as normal; with the lengthy tom being at the bottom of the pecking order and going about his usual business staying clear of any confrontation, even with his own clanmates. That was, until Bloodstrike of all cats had sought him out for some unknown reason. What had surprised him even more was the fact that he'd wanted him to bring his sky-pelt with him, which sent an even more uneasy feeling down his spine.

Following Bloodstrike and Dawnhawk, who'd joined them for whatever reason, Sunflower slowed his pace to a stop as the deputy faced him and began to explain himself. Smokefeather... had he really done that horribly of a job in training her? He certainly knew he wasn't an outstanding warrior by any means, but he never realized that the younger she-cat had needed outside help in her training... With a sense of shame falling over him, Sunflower's cowardly demeaner was even more obvious as his abnormally large and goofy looking ears laid flat against his head and his tail stayed tucked under his legs.

Soaking in what had been said, what Bloodstrike said next sent his legs shaking where he stood. A spar with the deputy? He didn't have a death wish and the last thing he'd ever want to do was battle Bloodstrike, much less get his rump kicked doing a  confidence course, or whatever he'd called it.

Taking a hesitant step back, he shook his head, eyes wide with terror as the two tom's gazes met. "N-no," the tall warrior honked shakily, praying with all his might that he'd be able to just go back to camp and do something else.

No...? No??? Bloodstrike just... stared for several heartbeats after hearing the word. He'd never heard a cat refuse a spar. Was that thing? Did cats do that sometimes? After Bloodstrike tried to wrap his brain around a refusal to fight... a harmless spar no less and the fact that Sunflower was visibly shaken with fear... he shook his head to clear the weirdness.

"It's just a spar Sunflower... I'm not going to really hurt you..." But he had a feeling those words were useless. Sunflower was already in full blown panic mode. For that moment, Bloodstrike tried to consider what other job he could give Sunflower that didn't involve anything mildly scary... but that was forest life. There was no other option. Sunflower had to toughen up, or at least be willing to fight when a situation called for it.

Bloodstrike's eyes went to the blue skypelt in Sunflower's mouth. He would try one other thing before taking extreme measures, but he would steal away Sunflower's skypelt if that was the only way to get him to fight back. Hopefully.

"Sunflower pick... spar with me or spar with Dawnhawk. He's barely out of his apprentice stage. Surely you can take him." Bloodstrike shot a look in Dawnhawk's direction with a very clear message: Don't you dare beat him up or I will break my paw off in your dirt hole.



Dawnhawk spat out his lizard with some force after being voluntold he might have to spar with Sunflower. He eyed his taller, but far lankier opponent. That fox-hearted old twig isn't a match for me! Fresh out of apprenticehood or not! I'd wipe up the ground with that guy! But Dawnhawk held his tongue. While he'd be able to fight Sunflower with confidence, it was his dad that he was not so sure he could beat. Especially not if Bloodstrike was angry.

"I mean... I'll try to be a good match for you Sunflower..." Dawnhawk volunteered.... unwillingly and begrudgingly...

With a look of shock and disbelief still on his face, Sunflower listened as Bloodstrike spoke. He was crazy, absolutly crazy. For some-cat to even have that much faith in his ability to battle was almost worrying and he couldn't believe what he'd heard. Turning his gaze from the deputy and then to his son, who'd began to speak, the only thing he could do was shake his head back and forth.

"N-no..." he said again, his meek toned voice muffled through the skypelt that he held between his teeth. "I c-cant battle... n-not him... or-or you..." Sunflower choked out, his legs growing even more shaky at the thought as he leaned backwards.

Bloodstrike just stared for a moment. How did this tom manage to stay in Skyclan without someone killing him? He sighed, deciding that he needed to take more drastic measures. Sunflower had to have some combat ability, even if he was afraid to use it. Bloodstrike was determined to get him to realize his own potential. He didn't have to love fighting like the deputy himself did, but he had to at least be confident enough to handle himself. Smokefeather could have died as an apprentice if she hadn't been resourceful enough to take care of herself. It baffled Bloodstrike that Sunflower had visibly felt shame hearing the news that his apprentice had sought outside help because he'd done so poorly, and yet he didn't want to improve himself? Clearly Sunflower was the opposite of him, in which Bloodstrike would much rather die than be considered a failure to himself or to his clan. Sunflower apparently, feared injury or death more than any amount of dishonor. He noted that Sunflower had leaned backward and put more of his weight on his hind legs...

"Don't you dare try to run," Bloodstrike warned, a slight growl in the back of his throat. He hoped that his moment of seriousness would be enough to freeze Sunflower in place... just long enough for the deputy to dart forward. His jaws shot out for the skypelt in an attempt to take it away from Sunflower with minimal damage to it. If this was the only way to convince the goofy tom to try to fight back, then so be it.


Dawnhawk stared and struggled to keep a smile off of his face and suppress the laughter threatening to burst from his mouth at any moment. He scooped his lizard back up in his jaws and selfishly ate it while his father was trying to convince the moronic "warrior" to fight him. For now he would stay quiet and just watch, but if Sunflower tried to run or shout, he would assist his dad in trying to keep him in place and quiet.

Letting out a gasp at the deputy's sudden jolt forward, Sunflower feared the worst and with his body as rigged as a frozen tree branch, clenched his eyes shut. Waiting for the pain from Bloodstrike's claws sinking into his pelt, the feeling never came and for a moment he wondered if he'd finally died. Prying open one of his eyes, he saw that Bloodstrike infact hadn't attacked him, but instead was now barely a foxlength away from him and latched onto the sky-pelt.

Luckily, he'd been holding onto the blue colored pelt himself and hadn't let go. What in StarClan's name was Bloodstrike doing and why would he try to take away the sky-pelt of all things? Wasn't this supposed to be a battle training session?

"L-let g-go," Sunflower mumbled, his gaze having most unfortunately locked onto the deputy's.

Bloodstrike clamped down onto the sky pelt, but upon seeing that Sunflower had it firmly between his teeth, he didn't pull on it. He didn't know how sturdy this thing was and it was not his intention to destroy it... merely threaten it's existence. Sunflower stuttered out a weak, "let go", which only made Bloodstrike clamp down tighter. His fur bristled, wondering if he could fully get Sunflower to release it.

"I'm not letting go. Do something about it! Take it back from me!" Bloodstrike said, though not with any level of threat in his voice. If anything, it was encouragement.

Tears dripping down the sides of maw, Sunflower had no where else to look but into Bloodstrike's intimidating, olive gaze and it sent shivers down his spine. Listening as the deputy spoke, Sunflower had no choice but to keep pulling back in a feeble attempt to get the Skypelt back, but the lengthy tom was already clumsy enough on his paws to begin with and this situation didn't help him whatsoever.

He tried with all his might to use whatever strength he had, but within an instant, his large paws slipped from under him, sending his rump over his head as he rolled backwards. The air that was once just filled with the two tom's struggled grunts was overtaken by a horrid ripping sound, and having tumbled back a couple foxlengths, Sunflower landed with a 'thump.'

Not quite knowing what exactly had happened, the pale pelted tom pushed himself up and gave his pelt a shake. One of his paws throbbed, but nothing seemed to be broken... Remembering what'd caused him to lose control, he snapped his head towards Bloodstrike, his amber gaze wide in disbelief. "N-no," he breathed softly as he stood up to his full height, his legs shaking and tears continuing to run down his tear-stained face.

Bloodstrike couldn't... imagine what he had just witnessed. How this lanky goofy cat survived for as long as he had was a mystery. The burlier tom didn't let go of the skypelt as Sunflower somersaulted backward... somehow. The rip in Bloodstrike's ears caused him to pause for a moment. Was... was the skypelt supposed to do that? He was distracted again by Sunflower's sniveling and cowering. A long, loud sigh escaped through Bloodstrike's teeth and his eyes were beginning to look weary.

"Sunflower... touch my nose... and I will let your skypelt go..." If he could at least get Sunflower to bop him on the nose, he'd reward the gangly coward by releasing his skypelt. In all seriousness... he really hoped it was okay. The rip made him wonder... did it make noises like real pelts did? He hoped he didn't damage it. That wasn't his intention. If he could at least get a paw strike to the nose from Sunflower then he would consider it progress. Day one of... stars knew how many days it would take to get Sunflower to fight back.

Eyes wide and appalled at what had just happened, Sunflower listened to Bloodstrike as he spoke but barely acknowledged what the deputy had said. Skypelts... could they break and if so, had his really been killed? The sound that it'd made wasn't something he'd ever heard before and it certainly wasn't something he ever wanted to hear again, that was for sure.

Tears welling in his amber eyes once more, he fixed his gaze onto Bloodstrike, his abnormally large ears pinned to the back of his head as far as they would possibly go. He wanted him to touch him on the nose? He... he could do that right? If it meant getting his pelt back then he clearly had no choice. How hard could it be... unless it was a trap of course... but no, he wanted the skypelt back so desperately that he decided then and there that he'd do it. Hopefully, Bloodstrike would keep his promise...

Inching forward, Sunflower lifted a paw, but as he did so, his blood pressure began to rise and his heart began to race. What if it was a trap? He needed to be quick so that Bloodstrike couldn't catch him off guard.

Swinging his lengthy, twig like leg forward, the pale pelted warrior took a swing at Bloodstrike's maw and to his surprise, it landed much more solidly than he originally thought it would. Not wasting any time, Sunflower ducked down and grabbing the skypelt, shuffled backwards in a hurry. Turning around, he bounded away with the pelt between his teeth, flailing in the wind behind him as he hightailed it away from the deputy and warrior. Hopefully, that was what Bloodstrike had wanted him to do and he'd never have to speak of their little encounter again.