Early Morning Fun, Part 2

Sweetheart waited patiently by the entrance of the camp, busying herself with grooming her white paw and drawing it over her ears. She had told Scorchpaw to meet her as soon as the sun rose over the horizon, and it wouldn't be long now before the newly named apprentice came tumbling out of his new den, eager to learn how to become the best warrior of RiverClan he can be one day.

Scorchpaw slowly opened his jade green eyes. For a moment, he wondered where he was until he remembered that he was in the apprentice's den. He was 'Scorchpaw' now, no longer 'Scorchkit.' Glancing at the opening of the apprentice's den, he could see the pale rays of the sun already spilling in. Suddenly remembering that Sweetheart was waiting for him, he leaped from his nest, shaking moss off his pelt as he did. His mentor was already waiting for him All traces of sleepiness having faded to be replaced with limitless energy, he bounded towards her. "Morning. What are we doing today?"

"Well, I was thinking we could go to the Beech Copse and practice land hunting, and perhaps if the river isn't too frozen we can practice fishing, too. Then if we have time we'll do some battle training. How does that sound?" Sweetheart didn't particularly like the idea of teaching Scorchpaw battle moves so early into his apprenticeship, but she had a feeling the battle against ThunderClan at Sunningrocks was only the beginning...

"Great!" Scorchpaw declared, eyes flashing with excitement. At last, after being cooped up in camp for six moons, he was finally going to learn how to hunt and fight. The thought of battle training particularly excited him, and he hoped that they would have time for that. He flexed his claws, impatient to be get started.

Sweetheart led the way through the beautiful leaf-bare snow until she reached their destination. She then turned to Scorchpaw. "Here we are. Now, land hunting can be very difficult in RiverClan, especially since we do the majority of our hunting by the river. But it's still a very good skill to know when the river freezes over.

"The first thing you need to do is locate your prey. Use your eyes, ears, and nose to detect it." She paused to past her lips and drink in the air, and she quickly spotted a water vole by the partially frozen riverbank nearby. "Now, you'll want to stalk it as quietly as possible. Prey can hear, scent, and even feel you approaching, so be careful. And always stay downwind of your prey." Sweetheart dropped into a hunter's crouch, lifting her belly fur and tail up from the snow, then slowly stalked towards it. When she was close enough, she pounced.

She successfully landed on its back and nipped behind its neck to end its life. Surprise jolted through her; this was the first land prey she had ever caught successfully! And she didn't even get dirty! She brought the water vole back over to Scorchpaw and deposited it next to him. [color=#b38f00]["And that's how it's done. Would you like to try next? Don't get frustrated if you miss your first catch; I'm a warrior and this was my first ever land prey I've ever caught."/color]

(OOC: This is how you hunt. Firstly, use this page here. This will tell you what kinds of prey you can find in which Clan, and the chance of catching them. You choose your own prey you want to hunt, and then you post a reply clicking on the blue button that says "Post reply", which can be found just above the title of the topic. Once you've typed in your text, below the text box you'll see a blue line that says "Dices roll". Below that next to "Dices roll#1:", you'll find a dropbox. Drop the box and select "Hunting Dice," then submit your post. Depending on what number you rolled for your intended prey, edit your post so that you either catch it, miss it, or run into a predator instead. If you're still confused, or if you have any other questions, just lemme know. :3)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 2

Scorchpaw listened carefully to his mentor's words and watched with awe as she skillfully made her catch. He gave the vole that she had caught a sniff. The mouth-watering scents instantly caused him to feel hungry, and he regretted his decision. Now it was his turn. Giving his head a light shake, he scented the air to see if he could find any prey. A few moments passed, and then he caught sight of another similar vole beside the scrubs by the river. He crouched down and began to awkwardly move forward, trying to remember and imitate the graceful movements that Sweetheart had showed. When he thought that he was close enough, he made a lunge for the creature. The water vole, on detecting him, dropped the berry it had been munching and made a run for it. Scorchpaw almost managed to grab it, but he was a tad bit too slow, and the vole dashed into its burrow. The apprentice let out a hiss of annoyance, lashing his tail. I almost had it! Then again, Sweetheard had told him that catching land prey wasn't easy.

OOC: Like this?

The member 'Transient Days' has done the following action : Dices roll

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'Hunting Dice' : 5

Sweetheart purred in sympathy. "That was an excellent first attempt. You're stalking was great, but you need to take softer steps. Rodents can feel you walking on the ground before they can ever hear or scent you. Let's you and I give land hunting one more try, then we'll see if the river's clear enough to try fishing."

She scented for another little creature she could attempt to catch, making sure to stay as close to Scorchpaw as possible in case they accidentally encountered a predator. She quickly found a sparrow fluttering in the snow, and she crouched and stalked. She knew birds were very tricky to hunt; they could take to the sky with one powerful beat of their wings. Once she was certain she was close enough, she pounced.

There was a fierce rustling in the nearby bushes that startled the sparrow into flight, and a large raccoon about her size barreled out and hissed at her.

Just her luck... She spat at the creature and fluffed out her fur. "Scorchpaw! Stay back! This thing can knock you out with one bite!"

(OOC: Just like that! Good job! :3 ...And it looks like you get to see how the battle system works now, too XD)

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 10

For a few seconds, Scorchpaw remained rooted to the ground, too surprised by the sudden appearance of the racoon to respond immediately. Then Sweetheart shouted out a warning, and Scorchpaw started back to his senses. Darting to safety behind Sweetheart, he stared out warily at the raccoon. What should I do? I haven't learned about how to fight.... His first time out of camp with his mentor, and they had to run into a predator. Great. Just great. Hopefully Sweetheart was strong enough to take on the racoon on her own.

OOC: Bring it on!

Sweetheart spat furiously at the raccoon before leaping behind it and gripping as hard as she could on its tail, yanking hard and unbalancing it.

Sweetheart used Tail Yank on Raccoon, dealing 5 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Raccoon is Stunned for one turn.

Sweetheart
45/45 HP
150/160 SP

Raccoon
25/30 HP
300/300 SP

Sweetheart then rose herself up on her hind paws and began thwacking the creature's face with unsheathed claws as hard as she could, causing it to squeal and hiss with rage.

Sweetheart used Upright Front Paws on Raccoon, dealing 11 damage and costing 20 stamina.

Raccoon is no longer Stunned.

Sweetheart
45/45 HP
130/160 SP

Raccoon
14/30 HP
300/300 SP

The raccoon impatiently shook the blood from its face, staining the ground red, then slashed out its razor-sharp claws at her, knocking her to the ground.

Raccoon used Quick Swipe on Sweetheart, dealing 20 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Sweetheart
25/45 HP
130/160 SP

Raccoon
14/30 HP
290/300 SP

(OOC: Of course I'll go more into details on how to use the battling system later, but for now you can use this page here to see what the battle moves are. As you can see, depending on rank each cat has access to different moves, and they deal different amounts of power. HP stands for Health Points, and SP stands for Stamina Points, which is how much energy each move uses up. If a cat runs out of either HP or SP, they are unable to fight.)

Scorchpaw's eyes widened when the raccoon knocked his mentor to the ground. Blood from her wound spattered across the snow. The crimson was eerily pretty against the white background, but he took no notice of it. "Sweetheart! Are you okay?" He shouted.

OOC: I see. This is a short post. I don't have time for a longer one.

Sweetheart stumbled up to her paws, shaking the blood away from her face. "Don't worry, I'm fine." Thinking quickly, she recalled one of RiverClan's signature moves that she had seen them use during the battle against ThunderClan for Sunningrocks, and thankfully there was a river nearby. She turned back to Scorchpaw. "Scorchpaw, you hide and don't come out until the battle's over. But don't worry, I plan on finishing this swiftly."

Once she was sure her apprentice would be safe from the predator, she yowled and swatted at the raccoon to get its attention, then bolted towards the nearby river, relieved to hear the creature pursuiting her with a furious spat. Once she was right next to the river, and once the raccoon caught up to her, she gripped its scruff hard between her teeth and shoved its face into the frozen water for several moments, digging her claws into its shoulders to keep it there as it desperately squirmed for air.

Sweetheart used Underwater Clinch, dealing 9 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Raccoon is Stunned for one turn.

Sweetheart
25/45 HP
120/160 SP

Raccoon
5/30 HP
290/300 SP

The raccoon's movements began to turn sluggish, and at the first few bubbles Sweetheart let go. She didn't want to kill it; after all, it could be a mother of raccoon kits. But she still wanted to let it know it wasn't welcome in RiverClan territory. Now that it was weakened, she finished it off with a quick swipe of her claws across its nose to remember her by, the nose slicing open and spilling its rancid-smelling blood everywhere. It squealed in pain and shook its head, sending droplets of water and blood everywhere, before racing back to where it came from

Sweetheart used Front Paw Strike, dealing 9 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Raccoon is KO'ed.

Sweetheart
25/45 HP
110/160 SP

Raccoon
0/30 HP
290/300 SP

Following his mentor's instructions, Scorchpaw ran to take shelter behind a bush. Only when the raccoon finally gave in and ran away did he emerge from his hiding spot. "Why did you let it go?" He asked, gazing warily in the direction the creature had fled. "Not that I'm interested in eating it, but it attacked us first." If he were her, he would have killed the raccoon without a second thought, but he could tell that Sweetheart had deliberately allowed the raccoon to escape. "You're not concerned that it will attack some other cat?"