Ginger Has a New Apprentice [FINISHED IN A GIANT BALL OF RAGE AND FURY SO BUILT UP IT IS HOTTER THAN A THOUSAND SUNS ALL SMASHED TOGETHER AT ONCE]

[[ NOTICE: Because Gingerheart and Thrushpaw are my characters, I shall be doing all of Thrushpaw's training in this one topic. Each new post I have will be a new training session, and each will be very long. Please, no one post.]]

Border Patrol and Hunting

The sun was finally setting when Gingerheart had begun to wake up. She finally slept for a full night since... well, she couldn't even remember the last time she had a full day's sleep, but she was thankful for it. It was finally time for her to begin training with her new apprentice: Thrushpaw. Since Cedarfur's death, poor little Thrushpaw had been mentorless, and of course, Sagestar had asked Gingerheart to do it. She eagerly agreed, hoping to help out her son, but at the same time, it was a little painful to see the striking resemblance between Thrushpaw and Cedarfur. Well, no matter. Gingerheart had a duty. With a quick stretch, she shook her long fur out and padded to the apprentice's den. Sticking her head, in she looked for Thrushpaw to find him sleeping in the corner, all curled up in one big ball of fur. "Thrushpaw! Get up! It's time for your training!"

As soon as he heard his mother's voice, Thrushpaw shot up out of his pile of moss. He had been told just the other night that Gingerheart was going to be his mentor and now that it was time, he was already becoming excited. Quickly stretching out his legs, he darted out of the apprentice's den and began bouncing around out of excitement. He was finally going to see what all the warriors have been doing. He was going to be trained!

"Quit bouncing, Thrushpaw. You're acting like a little kit," Gingerheart responded as she watched the young tom bounce around. That certainly didn't look good to other clans. If he were going to be bouncing around like that around the entire border, they would never take him seriously. But then again, he had never actually been out into the territory. That would definitely change. Today was his border patrol, and if there was time, she was going to teach him how to hunt, and they wouldn't leave until he did so.

Thrushpaw immediately stopped bouncing, but he couldn't contain his excitement. His tail lashed around behind him as he sat down, staring at Gingerheart with wide, curious eyes. "What are we going to be doing today, Gingerheart? Border patrol? Oh Starclan, I hope so! You don't know how long I've been waiting to get out of this camp!" he told her, rambling on and on about how he couldn't wait to get all of his training done. Once he knew his way around the territory, he would be able to go all by himself, and when he learned how to hunt, he could actually help the clan! Not to mention the battle training. The other clans wouldn't stand a chance! As he continued, he began making his way towards the entrance of the camp. He had sat there so many times that it was pretty obvious he knew his way around what was right there at the entrance, but once he passed the long grass that grew in the marsh, he had no idea where he was going.

Gingerheart smiled as she saw his energy. It kind of reminded her of herself when she was an apprentice, but she didn't have time to think back. She had to focus on Thrushpaw now. Quickly following him to the entrance, she led him out into the territory with confidence. "Today you will going on a border patrol, and if we have time, I will teach you how to hunt. That's what we will do for the day." She mewed as she steadied herself on her feet before taking off into the marshy territory. She completely expected Thrushpaw to keep up, especially since he was larger than the average apprentice because of his age. It was only when she stopped at the Thunderclan border did she slow down at any moment and then she looked back to see where Thrushpaw might have gone.

It took him quite some time, but before he could catch up, he began running out of breath. What was this crazy cat thinking? He didn't even know she was going to take off like that! How did she think he could stay caught up? Well, he had stayed almost by her side for a lot of it, but he had quickly tired himself out and began slowing down. Of course, she didn't and he soon lost sight of her through the tall grass. Then, there was a moment of panic. He had no idea where he was in the middle of the territory. Was it her plan to just leave him and make him find his way back to camp? He wasn't exactly understand this whole border patrol thing. He thought that they would just make their rounds to the borders and be done, but this was something completely different. "Gingerheart? Gingerheart!" He cried out as he looked around for any clues of where he went. But he quickly stopped and took a deep breath. As soon as he did, he instantly found the comforting scent that was Gingerheart's. It brought back memories of the nursery, being snuggled up next to her, not having to worry about being lost or even a little scared. That's how he would find her. Taking another deep breath, he quickly found which way she had gone. Following the scent trail, a dashed forward, finally slowing to a stop when he broke through the bushes that lined the Thunderpath and managed to make it right next to Gingerheart. He was breathing heavily, and for a moment his eyes were wide with panic, but as soon as he found the senior warrior, he stopped and composed himself. He then took a quick, deep breath to keep himself calm when he caught a huge whiff of... oh Starclan, what was that smell?! He coughed once before backing away from the black ground that was set out in front of him, using his chest to block his nose from the horrid stench. "What is that smell?!" he repeated aloud to ask Gingerheart.

The older she-cat chuckled as her son finally appeared out of the brush and stopped in front of the Thunderpath. "It took you long enough! I thought I lost you back there. But this," She quickly pointed her tail to the Thunderpath. "is the Thunderpath." She told him with a sudden serious tone. "You do not want to go across that unless you absolutely have to. I learned that the hard way. On the other side of here is Thunderclan's territory, their leader is Lionstar."

Thrushpaw quickly got over the smell and looked at Gingerheart. What was so bad about the Thunderpath? "What makes the Thunderpath so bad?" He asked curiously. It just seemed like terrible smelling dirt to him. When curiosity got the best of him, he tiptoed up to the path and lightly set his paw down on it. He quickly pulled it back, both from the amazing heat that was rising from it and how hard it felt. That was not dirt or mud. What was that? It wasn't normal.

Just then, vibrations began to resonate through the ground. Gingerheart could feel it coming, and she wanted to prepare Thrushpaw for what was about to come, but this one was coming much faster than what some others had come. Quickly, she grabbed Thrushpaw by the scruff and pulled him back towards the bushes. Instantly a monster rushed by, sending dust and debris into the air as well as the horrible stench that had already filled the air. Gingerheart's fur was quickly windblown as Thrushpaw's eyes grew even more wide as he watched the thing whirl by faster than anything he had ever seen. Taking a deep breath, Gingerheart calmed herself. "Okay first of all, what did you feel? In the ground."

It took some time before Thrushpaw could gain the confidence to speak again. He looked around, panicking, as his brain tried to figure out what it was that he had just seen. "I.. uh... I felt vibrations. It was rumbling the ground." He finally said in a soft voice after a few moments.

Gingerheart nodded as he correctly stated what he had felt. "Good. That is what you need to feel for every time you come to the Thunderpath. What you just saw was a monster. Monsters are ruthless and won't stop for anything that stands in front of it. Thankfully they only stick to their black path, but they are extremely dangerous. You got it?"

Thrushpaw nodded as he stepped out of the bush towards Shadowclan territory. He was still trying to get over the shock of the monster, but he quickly realized that he was getting left behind once again as Gingerheart began moving on towards the next border. Without thinking twice, Thrushpaw quickly marked the border and followed his mentor.

~~

The next border Gingerheart found herself going to was just a short walk away from the Thunderclan border. It wasn't much of one, but it still held some significance. Still by the Thunderpath, she looked across the way into what was supposed to be a large sea of grass, but now it was black and charred from the fire that had roared through not too long ago. Of course, things were slowly beginning to grow back-- green was spiking up from the dirt, but it wasn't enough to be like it once was. The senior warrior didn't even have to look back to know that Thrushpaw had kept up with her for this border. "This is the part of Thunderpath that we share with Windclan. Going just across here, you will end up in their territory led by Raccoonstar." She said as she stared across the empty field of ash and soot and sprouting plants. She couldn't tell how long it would take for Windclan to be the same, but she wasn't too worried about it.

Thrushpaw easily kept up with her this time as he stared across the Thunderpath, even though every time a monster rushed by, he would flinch before finding that they did indeed stay on their black path. As he studied the scars all across the other territory, he couldn't help but think of what could have happened. He took in another deep breath and just underneath the terrible stench of the Thunderpath was a new smell. Something completely foreign to him. "What's that new smell? It's not the Thunderpath. It's something different..." He said as he gave Gingerheart a look of confusion.

Gingerheart glanced back at Thrushpaw before looking back at Windclan. "What you smell right now is the smell of smoke and ash. Windclan was hurt by a huge fire. It burned everything in their territory, but Windclan made it through. Now they're just in the process of recovering. Good job picking that up. It will be a lot easier to teach you how to hunt later. You'll need your nose." She gave him a small smile before turning and starting towards yet another border. "Now to move on to the Carrionplace."

"Carrionplace?" All of these places were so new to him. Even though he had heard stories about the Carrionplace, he didn't really know exactly what it was. There were rats, he knew that-- he even heard of how dangerous they were, and now they were going there? That didn't seem very logical. Without another remark, though, he continued to follow Gingerheart towards the next border. It was when they came up to it did he stop and wrinkle his nose again. Starclan, what was with all of these horrible smells? "This is Carrionplace? It smells terrible!"

Gingerheart chuckled as she continued walking past it. "Yes, this is Carrionplace. We don't want to stay here for too long, though. You remember all of those stories of rats? Well, they're true. You don't want to run into a pack of them. We only hunt here if we have nothing left to hunt. Like.. a last resort kind of thing."

Thrushpaw was very glad to continue past that terrible place. "Well, good. I don't want to be here anyway. It's disgusting!" He quickly marked the border and followed behind Gingerheart, not even giving the Carrionplace a second glance as they moved forward on their patrol. Although, as the scenery changed, he became amazed. It suddenly went from a wet, muddy marsh to dry ground and... huge trees? Wow, they were tall! Did they reach Starclan? It sure looked like it. "What is this place?" He asked in amazement.

Gingerheart casually moved through here with ease, not even really noticing the difference between the scenery. "This is Highpine. It is what used to be the border between Shadowclan and Skyclan before... well, before Skyclan disappeared. Now, our territory expands a little bit farther, which is where we are going now." She passed through and quickly into the foreign territory. For her, it felt kind of wrong to be in such a place as she began walking under all sorts of different trees without any comfort of being hidden. There was no underbrush, no shrubs, no tall grass. It was like she was being exposed to the entire world. It almost sent chills down her spine. But there wasn't a need to feel worried. The only clan she had to worry about around here was Windclan. "Over here, all we have to worry about it more of Windclan. The two clans split what was Skyclan's territory, so we own part and they own part. Over here is the border between the two." Well, it wasn't anything special. There was no specific name for the border or any real landmark. The only way to tell was just where the two different scents from the two clans kind of intermingled. She quickly marked the border before turning to the apprentice. "Can you remember all of this?"

Thrushpaw glanced around for a moment, trying to take in the whole scene. It was very strange to be so far out away from the camp, but he felt that he could get around the territory. All he had to do was find one of the borders and he could find his way back to camp any time. Of course, it would take a little more time to get used to everything and every place in the territory, but this was a definite start. He then looked back at his mentor with bright, excited eyes before he nodded quickly. "Yeah. I got it."

Gingerheart smiled at him before she glanced up at the sky. Good. It was only moonhigh. "Well, in that case, I will teach you now how to hunt. We have plenty of time. I hope you're up for the challenge!" she said in a challenging tone. She was ready to see just what kind of skills Thrushpaw had. Maybe he could hunt well or even fight well. As long as Sagestar was proud of both of them, it didn't really matter much other than the fact that his accomplishments would reflect how she taught.

Immediately Thrushpaw dropped into a crouch, even if he wasn't even trying to hunt. He was ready for any challenge she was going to throw at him. "I'm ready!" He told her, his tail lashing around in the air out of pure excitement...

Hours later of teaching a lousy croucher... Thrushpaw forgot Stupidity and learned Hunting Crouch!

Thrushpaw's first try at catching something was nice little toad that had hopped around a puddle. He caught it and killed it.

Thrushpaw's second try was a stray vole that had gotten onto their land. He missed it terribly and it took cover in Thunderclan's territory after dangerously crossing the Thunderpath.

Thrushpaw's third try was another frog that had happened to pass by. He caught it and killed it.

Thrushpaw's last try was an amazingly fat lizard that had found its way around. It was common to see lizards, but this thing was fat!! Because of its morbid obesity, he caught it and killed it no problem.

AND THUS, AT SUNRISE, OUR HEROES CONTINUE THEIR JOURNEY BACK TO THE CAMP WHERE MORE ADVENTURE AWAITS.



/shot

Battle Training

It was another bright and beautiful night underneath the clear skies of Starclan when Gingerheart went back to get her apprentice. This time, it wasn't so late in the night so he should be fully awake. Unfortunately, Gingerheart was never that lucky. Poor little Thrushpaw, after being so worn out from the border patrol and the hunting from just the other day, was lying in his cozy bed of moss in a gentle snooze. He looked so calm and peaceful lying there. But, Gingerheart couldn't just let him sleep the night away. "Thrushpaw, it's time to get up," she mewed softly, walking in enough to poke him awake with one of her paws. "You're going to learn battle training today. I promise it won't be as strenuous as your other training. That will be the only thing you'll do today. Are you ready?"

Thrushpaw for the first few moments had only felt the prodding of Gingerhear't paw in his sleep, his eyes flickering underneath their lids quickly and frantically before they fluttered open and he sat up quickly. As soon as he saw his mentor, he stood up on his paws and glanced around in what light was seeping through from the stars. "Whoa how late is it? Why didn't someone wake me up sooner?!" He asked quickly as he pushed past Gingerheart and into the middle of the camp. "I'm ready to go, Gingerheart! Let's do this!" He told her quickly, shaking out his pelt to free it of moss and other little pesky things.

The senior warrior followed behind her apprentice with a small smile on her face. All of his energy he suddenly had was beginning to spread into her and her old bones /shot. No, she was happy for him and glad that he was so excited for training. Standing up tall, she quickly made her way to the entrance of the camp. "Well, if you're ready to go, then so am I! Let's go Thrushpaw. We're headed to just under the burned Sycamore. Do you remember where that is?" In between the very first border patrol and now, Gingerheart had taken Thrushpaw on just a few more border patrols to try and burn the territory into his memory. It really seemed to work after a while and by today, he pretty much already knew where everything was.

Thrushpaw followed just on Gingerheart's tail as she made her way towards the practice grounds. Of course he knew where the burned Sycamore was. It wasn't too far from camp and it was where all the apprentices trained because that's where it was the softest ground. Where else would the apprentices practice without getting too hurt? That wasn't really the point, was it? Well, with Gingerheart, who kenw?

By the time they got there, Gingerheart had already picked out her strategy. She had always done this with her apprentices, but every time she did it, she just hoped that it would help teach them quickly and efficiently. Finally, after studying the large, dead tree, she turned around and faced Thrushpaw. "Alright. Come at me with whatever you have." She told him as she got down into a defensive crouch. It wouldn't take much for her to figure out how he was going to move or what he was planning, but she still wanted to be ready.

The sudden turn of events shocked the apprentice. Wait, she was actually telling him to attack her? What if he actually hit her? Well, he doubted that was going to happen considering she had a lot more experience in fighting. He had none. She even had more of an advantage than he did because she had partaken in the infamous battle with the Deos. Well, if that's what she wanted... With second thoughts running all through his mind, he quickly darted towards her and swatted at her with his paw, only to feel and instant whoosh through the air as it hit absolutely nothing. By the time he looked back up, one of Gingerheart's paws was already coming down on the side of his head. As soon as he saw it, he was expecting the pain of her claws but felt nothing. He just felt the pads on her feet hit his head softly before she stopped and looked at him.

"You won't get anywhere if you practically show your plan of attack in your body. Everything you did showed me just what your were going to do. You reared back and prepped yourself to run, where your eyes were focused told me just where you were going to attack, and of course the way you had moved your body told me which paw you were using and where," She said. "I easily stepped out of the way and got a perfect shot at your head. You need to learn to trick your opponents."

Thrushpaw still continued to look at Gingerheart in awe as she explained everything that he had done and planned out. How could she see that in just a short amount of time? It made no sense to him. It was when she said to come at her again did he really try to think through it this time. If he tried to feign one hit and try another, maybe he could actually catch her off guard. The only issue was that he didn't really know the specific moves that all clan cats were taught. But, nonetheless, he tried again and took off towards Gingerheart's left flank before switching directions. For once, it really seemed to catch Gingerheart off guard as her eyes grew slightly bigger in surprise, but just like the first time, she quickly dodged his attack by managing to get behind him and swiping his feet out from under him with just one paw. It was embarrassing...

As the apprentice was recovering and getting back onto his feet, he looked back to see Gingerheart nodding in approval. "You still have a lot to learn, but you have improved in such a short amount of time. You won't be too hard to teach, but for now I will actually teach you the moves." She said as she dropped into a defensive crouch and urged Thrushpaw to do the same.

"Finally!" he said as he dropped down into the same crouch she was in. It took just a few moments to finally get it right, but when he did, he got an instant nod of approval from Gingerheart.

THEN GINGERHEART WENT THROUGH ALL OF THE MOVES AND STUFFS.

THRUSHPAW TOOK QUITE SOME TIME ACTUALLY LEARNING ALL OF THEM.

It was in the middle of a heated battle. Thrushpaw and Gingerheart had decided to do a sort of mock battle (claws sheathed of course) and Thrushpaw was becoming exhausted. He hadn't moved this much... well, ever, and it was obvious he was getting tired. He had finally managed to get a few moves in on Gingerheart but now his breaths were becoming heavy and his moves were becoming easier to read. She had taught him both offense and defense and they had practice both, but now it didn't seem like it was going to go on for much longer. "Alright," she said as she stood up from her crouch and lowered her defenses. "We are done for the day. You have done a great job! We will go back through all of this again tomorrow so you better be ready bright and early!"

Thrushpaw instantly fell to the ground and took a deep breath. He could finally relax. He was completely exhausted almost to the point of collapse. Thankfully though, Gingerheart had cut it off. "So... we can go... back to camp?" He asked her in between heavy breaths.

Gingerheart nodded. "Yes. Let's go! Up on your feet!"

THEN THEY WENT BACK TO CAMP LIKE BOSSES AND STUFFS.




Yeah I'm totally getting lazy on this...

Assessment :D

"Thrushpaw, get up! It's time for your assessment!" Gingerheart shouted into the apprentices den as the sun was beginning to set. If they didn't hurry and get out into the territory, there wouldn't be enough time for Thrushpaw to get all the way done. He would have less time than anyone else, but hey, maybe he would do just fine in a shorter time period. He did really well in his hunting training every time they went out, maybe it will be the same for this.

Blinking for a few moments, it took Thrushpaw a little bit of time to get up before giving a big yawn and stretching himself out. He wasn't exactly too sure how ready he was for the assessment, but he had to be whether or not he felt he was. "I'm coming," he told Gingerheart as he padded out, his body already becoming jittery from nerves, but he didn't let it stop him. He padded past Gingerheart and was already heading into the territory, preparing himself for what was to come.

Simply watching him go by, Gingerheart quickly smiled and caught up with her son, wondering if he was excited or if he was just plain nervous. Maybe he was both like she had been for her assessment. Who knew. She then followed him into the territory, only stopping when they finally reached their meeting point. "Alright, Thrushpaw," she mewed as she looked at him with a serious look in her eye. "For your assessment tonight, you will have until sunrise to collect as much prey as you can. As soon as the sun comes up, you must collect what you have gotten and bring it back here. That is when I will tell you whether or not you have passed. But if you fail, you will have to wait for more training and another assessment before you can become a warrior. Are you ready for this?"

Honestly, the apprentice wasn't really too sure. He didn't want to fail this and the reality of it was all too real. He could fail. But if it was just hunting, he felt that he had a sort of advantage. He was great at hunting... at least after he learned how to crouch... That's what his mother had told him anyway, and a compliment from her was no easy feat. Well, he guessed he'd just have to be ready. With a quick nod of his head, he prepared himself. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be!" he told her while he glanced around the territory trying to get some kind of plan in his head. He thought of starting around Highpine and working his way in towards a lot of the puddles that have made homes in Shadowclan territory. It would make things a little bit easier especially since Highpine seemed to be crawling with prey when he went of his several border patrols. If that didn't work, he would just have to go closer towards the Thunderpath, even though he wanted desperately to avoid that.

YOU KNOW WHAT. GOOGLE CHROME YOU'RE STUPID AND YOU RUINED MY LIFE AND MY MUSE. FOR THAT, I DON'T EVEN CARE. IF I EVER FEEL LIKE COMING BACK AND EDITING THIS, I WILL BUT NOT TONIGHT. JUST NO. NO. I FREAKING REFUSE YOU FREAKING PIECE OF CRAP GOOGLE.

THRUSHPAW CAUGHT A FAT FROG WITH NO PROBLEM AND KILLED IT.

THRUSHPAW CAUGHT A THRUSH WITH A LITTLE BIT MORE DIFFICULTY AND KILLED IT.

THRUSHPAW CAUGHT A TOAD AND KILLED IT.

THRUSHPAW WENT FOR ANOTHER VOLE BUT MISSED IT.

THRUSHPAW MADE UP FOR IT WITH A LIZARD.

THRUSHPAW ENDED HIS WONDERFUL ASSESSMENT BY CATCHING ANOTHER FROG.



TL;DR-- THRUSHPAW IS A BOSS HUNTER AND PASSED HIS FREAKING ASSESSMENT LIKE THE AMAZING BOSS HE IS. NOW. WARRIOR TIME.

for the sake of hunting training... Will be posting another post for assessment later.

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

'Chance Dice' : 3, 4, 3, 6

This one is for assessment.

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

'Chance Dice' : 4, 5, 5, 3, 4, 5