Second Mentor, First Apprentice (Closed for Alex)

"Alright Frostpaw, let's get going." She told her new apprentice.  She started walking towards the exit of camp, looking back every so often to make sure the apprentice was following her.  She walked to the Shadowclan territory, trying to miss the wettest spots in the marsh.  The moon was just a small line in the sky at the moment, not being too helpful with trying to see things.  Clouds also weren't helping as they covered most all the stars.  Well, this must be a great chance for Shira to work on her night vision.

She didn't attempt to make conversation on the way, it would only slow them down.  "This should be a good spot."  She wondered how much she needed to direct an apprentice.  "Watch what I do carefully."  She looked around spotted a lizard run out from under a bush.  She gestured for the apprentice to be quiet.  The lizard didn't seem to know that the cats were there.  Quickly, Shira got into a hunting stance.  She caught the animal in her paws and dug her claws in.  She ripped through the lizards neck, letting a pool of blood fall to the ground.  It was surely dead, there was no doubt of it.

She turned back to Frostpaw.  "Questions?"

(Dice roll)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Frostpaw had been sitting in camp, patiently watching. He had nothing to do, and very few cats to actually speak with, so he watched. Knowledge of his clanmates was useful, as most knowledge was. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his mentor approaching and immediately looked to her. Finally, it was time to train. He followed silently when she requested it of him, light on his feet as he was. Not even the faint light of the stars and moon could light the landscape, leaving Frostpaw less visible than normal. His white pelt did him no favors, he would take every advantage the night could give him.

Finally, Frostpaw stopped, watching Shira carefully. She looked as if she was hunting something, it was then he spotted the lizard, so he became stone, crouching down low himself as to not affect the hunting process. His shorter stature made that easy. He took note of the way Shira was in her hunting stance, the way the claws came down upon the prey. Mentally taking notes, he himself began to get into the hunting crouch, trying his best to imitate his mentor.

Once the lizard was definitely dead, Frostpaw spoke in a hushed tone. "Is my stance correct?" It was difficult to tell by himself if the stance was truly correct, it could be off slightly in ways he would never know. That would just not do, it had to be perfect from the get-go, or he would learn the wrong ways to hunt, the wrong ways to fight, the wrong ways to help his clan.

Shira scanned the apprentice to see if her stance was correct.  "Hmm," she said, seeing if there was anything wrong.  Her eyes went up and down fast, trying to find all the flaws so she wouldn't miss anything.  "Make sure you're steady.  Also, I would suggest keeping lower to the ground, it's good training for when you grow and become more visible to the prey around you."  She had a couple more things she could say, but the stance looked good enough for her not to really care.  Or, at least, good enough for her not to do what she thought was wasting her time on doing something trivial.  "Alright, that looks good enough.  Go try to catch something.  I'll watch and make sure you do it right."

"Good enough?" Frostpaw meowed, with a slight edge to his tone. "I'd like to be perfect, to ensure that I never have to relearn my stance in the moons to come. But if I am 'good enough' for you, I suppose I will move on." Making the corrections to his stance, he scented the air. After moving around for a few heartbeats, a scent came on the wind. Lizard, or at least something like it. Fresh prey seemed to smell a little different than what was on the fresh-kill pile. Strange, yet fascinating.

He dropped as low as he could, ensuring that he followed the advice of his mentor. Suddenly, he spotted it. A fair-sized lizard was hidden in the residual pine needles that seemed to perpetually litter the territory. He crept up quietly, keeping his pawsteps light, and his tail down in the mud, much to his own dismay. The lizard never saw him coming. Frostpaw leaped, paws coming down on top of the lizard. His claws sunk in quickly, ending the life of the prey creature. Once he knew it was dead, the tom gently picked it up in his jaws. No use in bringing back mangled prey.

With graceful steps, Frostpaw returned, prey in mouth, to Shira. Dropping it delicately at her paws, he looked back up at her. "Was that satisfactory?"

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

Shira's expression remained unchanged as the apprentice was scolding her about how "good enough" wasn't a good enough answer.  She opened her mouth to say something more, but stopped herself when she noticed that he seemed to find something to catch.  She followed his gaze to the lizard.  She was impressed on how he stayed towards the ground like she instructed.  At least the apprentice I got is a good listener, even if he is sassy, she thought.  He was quiet and killed it fast, much to Shira's liking.

When he came back, her eyes darted between him and the lizard.  "Yes, it was fine," she said.  She could have given him more praise than that for what a good catch he made, but instead she brought up what he said before.  "Now, I didn't want to say this before since you were going after prey, you're welcome for that, but I feel like this needs to be said.  'Good enough' is a great thing to here coming from me, I don't say anything near the word 'good' for other apprentices or kits.  But you need to listen to me kit," she lowered his status, but then reminded herself that probably wasn't a good thing to do for someone younger than a warrior.  So she sighed and corrected herself.  "I meant apprentice, I am definitely not going to be that mentor that tells you you're special or amazing or great at doing this or that, so you better get used to that."

After a brief pause, she opened her mouth to speak once more.  "Now, I'll look for a predator, since you're hunting is fine.  You probably won't like what I have to say because it's not specific, but basically use your claws or teeth.  Everyone fights a little differently and so I'm not going to try to make you fight like me or anything.  Fight like how you want to and I'll tell you if you're doing it wrong."

She looked around for a while.  After a moment, she spotted a fox not far off, eating a piece of prey it had caught itself.  She quietly ran up to it, gesturing for Frostpaw to follow.  She wanted to sneak up on it... unfortunately that didn't happen.  She stepped on a stick that cracked under her weight.  Suddenly, she felt bad for not watching the ground.  The fox's surprised yet angry gaze fell up on the warrior.  Shira swallowed, but quickly got into a fighting stance.

The fox then leaped away from it's prey and bit down hard on Shira's back.  She winced with the sharp pain from the teeth that dug into her back, feeling the blood start to soak her fur around the wounds.  Thankfully, the grip loosed momentarily and she was able to escape from it.  She then turned back towards the fox and sprinted as fast as she could, until she hit into it. It started wobbling around, giving the two a great moment to attack.

The fox used Iron Bite dealing -17 in damage and using -30SP.
Shira used Sanctum Strike dealing 8 in damage and using -10SP.

Shira
43HP / 60HP
127SP / 140SP

Fox stunned for one turn
52HP / 60HP
150SP / 180SP

Frostpaw
20HP / 20HP
57SP / 60SP

Frostpaw was slightly disgruntled that his mentor did not understand the meaning behind his previous words. "You misunderstand. I don't care about your praise, I care about being correct so that I can hunt better in the long run. If I have a flaw, eventually it will catch up to me. I apologize if I sounded as if I cared otherwise. Truly, I do not need you to praise me, I am already used to the lack of it." The small, white tom flicked his tail in vague annoyance. He couldn't expect everyone to understand him every time. Shira was doing, as she would put it, a 'good enough' job of training him, there was no reason for him to say anything more. At least not today.

Though Frostpaw was wanting to say something when Shira told him 'to use claws and teeth'. Obviously! This wasn't training, this was hoping he figured things out. No matter, he would go to Burningwing, he could spar with him. Frostpaw was sure Burningwing would be happy to fight. So he kept his maw shut, and followed his mentor quietly. He trailed only a little bit behind, scenting the air for predators. As he caught the scent of a fox, he heard a sharp crack through the air. Frostpaw's own icy gaze fell upon the culprit, a twig beneath his mentor's paw. Really? Just... really? Frostpaw immediately hid himself, sinking low to the ground to hide as best he could. He would have to wait until the fox had engaged his mentor to strike, there had to be an opening.

Had Frostpaw cared for his mentor more, he might've winced when she was bitten. This was the life of a warrior though, and she seemed tough enough to take it. Once the fox was distracted, Frostpaw darted into action, leaping onto the fox's back. Digging his claws through the auburn fur, he began to scratch, even trying to make his way up to the neck to get a killing blow. It was in vain, however, because one buck of the fox sent him off its back. He landed gracefully on his paws, waiting for another opening. It'd have to happen eventually.

Frostpaw used Jumping Strike, dealing 7 (+3 unfocused) (+1 night finesse), and using 7 stamina!

Shira
43/60 HP
127/140 SP

Fox [stunned for 1 turn]
41/60 HP (-11)
150/180 SP

Frostpaw
20/20 HP
50/60 SP (-7)

"Good," Shira yelled to the apprentice right before she bit the foxes back and tore away a piece of it's flesh.  It was almost like a sort of revenge, however the fox didn't get the chance to rip off her flesh.  So it was like revenge, but Shira felt that she did better than the puny fox.

After she looked back at the apprentice to give some advice.  "Fighting when they aren't paying attention to you is always good strategy, so good job.  If you can get them to not be able to fight in some way, even if just for a moment, that's always helpful."  Then she saw the fox find it's footing again.  Shira really didn't like that... she just wanted to be over with this.

Shira used Snap, dealing 10 in damage and using -7SP.
The fox is no longer stunned.

Shira
43HP / 60HP
120SP / 140P

Fox
31HP / 60HP
150SP / 180SP

Frostpaw
20HP / 20HP
50SP / 60SP

Frostpaw nodded, listening to his mentor's advice. Excellent, knowledge. As soon as Shira took a bite out of the fox, Frostpaw got a running start, flinging himself onto the fox once more. This time, however, instead of getting bucked off, the apprentice was able to dig his claws into the side of the fox's neck, solidifying his hold. It'd take more time to get him off this time, a perfect chance for his mentor to strike.

Frostpaw used Leap-and-Hold, dealing 6 (+1 night finesse) damage, and using 15 stamina! The Fox is pinned for 2 turns!

Shira
43/60 HP
120/140 SP

Fox [pinned for 2 turns]
24/60 HP (-7)
150/180 SP

Frostpaw
20/20 HP
35/60 SP (-15)

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

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'Effect Dice' : 5

Shira tilted her head in pleasant surprise when the apprentice immediately pinned the fox to the floor.  "Well done," she told Frostpaw.  She gave an approving nod, which was one of the kindest things you could ever see Shira do, before she went on to attack the fox again.  She went up on her hind legs and used all of her force to hit down hard on the fox's head.

Shira used Upright Lock, dealing 10 in damage and using 20SP.

Shira
43HP / 60HP
100SP / 140SP

Fox
14HP / 60SP
150SP / 180SP

Frostpaw
20HP / 20HP
35SP / 60SP

Frostpaw was pleased with the nod, and dug his claws in harder. His body rocked with the force of Shira's blow to the fox, but he managed to hang on, keeping the fox pinned beneath his body. The fur around his claws was turning crimson, and the fox struggles became weaker with every moment. Soon it would be defeated, and Shadowclan would be safe from yet another threat.

Frostpaw continued using Leap-and-Hold, dealing 6 (+1 night finesse) damage, and using 15 stamina!

Shira
43/60 HP
100/140 SP

Fox [pinned for 1 turn]
7/60 HP (-7)
150/180 SP

Frostpaw
20/20 HP
20/60 SP (-15)

Shira slashed at the foxes side until enough blood out that it had bleed out.  She watched the animal go limp under the apprentice's claws.  She hit the animals paw with her own and it didn't move, letting her know that it was dead.  "Good," she said in a very matter of fact voice, even though she was secretly very pleased.  "Pinning the opponent is always smart strategy, as I've said before, so good job with that.  You were able to use wit as well as strength, so I will say that you have done well on that.  Overall, I think this was a successful hunt and battle.  So, well done and keep up the good work.  Maybe we could go on a patrol once more someday and I can see if you have kept up these skills.  Until then, let's make our way back to camp."

Shira turned and started heading back to camp.  There was a last part to that which she only said in her mind to the apprentice.  If you keep up your quick learning skills and you keep using both your brain and strength, you might just be able to be the best warrior Shadowclan has seen, Frostpaw.

Shira used Front Paw Strike, dealing 10 in damage and using --7SP.

Shira
43HP / 60SP
93SP / 140SP

Fox
-3HP / 60HP
150SP / 180SP

Frostpaw
20HP / 20HP
20SP / 60SP