Basic Training

Scorchfang grunted as he stretched out each limb after padding out of the warriors’ den, stretching his jaws apart in a yawn. Shaking out his bushy fur, he made his way over to the apprentices’ den and called out softly to his firstborn son, Lionpaw. His father, Rowantalon, was originally the young tom’s mentor, but with rumors of him retiring going around camp, he had decided to assign Lionpaw to a new mentor, and with Wildkit still serving his punishment for killing a WindClan cat, he decided to take his son under his wing.

”It’s time to wake up, Lionpaw,” Scorchfang called softly to his sleeping kit, pulling his broad head out of the den to wait for him by the camp entrance.

-... Welp... here we go again...-

Lionpaw wasn´t in his nest, instead he was already up, behind his father...

-Morning Scorchfang- he said, not loud enough to wake up the other apprentices but enough to surprise his father.

Scorchfang’s eyes widened, and he whipped around to find Lionpaw was already standing behind him. He puffed out a nervous breath, his heart racing from the startle. ”Great StarClan, you spooked me!...” Shaking his fur out, trying to jostle away the growing embarrassment from being caught off guard by his own son, he smiled. ”It seems you’ll be having a new mentor now, I assume you know, so I’ll be taking over your training from here on out. What has Rowantalon already covered with you?”

Lionpaw couldn´t help to purr in amusement for a few seconds, but then, at his father´s question, his smile dropped, he stayed silent for a couple of seconds...

-Actually... can i... speak with you for a minute... dad?- that last word came out like soft and scared mew...

The large tabby tom frowned in concern and tilted his head curiously. ”Of course you can, my son. What’s wrong?” he meowed, his voice soft and inviting.

Lionpaw sighed, and started talking, looking down.

-Is just... when i started training with Rowantalon, i couldn´t even be relaxed around him, he changed completely, he wasen´t the same cat i used to know when i was in the nursery... he was harsh, demanding, had to call him by his name... i mean, i know those things are usual and i have to respect older cats but... i can´t even trust and relax around my own kin now...?-

Scorchfang nodded slowly as he listened. He was saddened to admit that he wasn’t ever able to spend as much time with his father as he’d like, so he couldn’t even say if this was out of character for him or not. ”Well, I won’t take sides because I love you both, but I will say that training to become a warrior is a lot of hard work. But you should never feel like you can’t trust your own kin. I was told that he had a pretty rough mentor when he was an apprentice, so that’s probably why he was one to you. I know that Rowantalon still loves you, and it’s far more than likely that he was hard on you because he wants to see you succeed.”

-Are... you sure dad?- asked Lionpaw, looking at his father -I don´t wanna fear my own kin... i don´t want to fear you, or my family-

"I don't think you'll have anything to worry about. If it will make you feel better, I will talk to him about it." Scorchfang rasped his tongue over his son's forehead. "Is there anything else you'd like to talk to me about before we begin training?"

Lionpaw purred softly.

-That sounds purrfect to me- there, puns again, he was okay now, he shook his head -No... i wanna start training now, i wanna put more effort in this-

Scorchfang huffed with amusement. "You're such a silly little thing. Alright, come on."

The deputy led his newest apprentice out of camp and deep into ShadowClan territory, stopping in a secluded spot with a few pine trees and soft earth blanketed by green and brown needles underpaw. "I was thinking we could get started right away with a little battle training. Sometimes whenever a cat hunts, they may encounter a fox, badger, raccoon, or any other natural predator to a cat. If I'm going to teach you to hunt, you'll need to know how to fight first so that you can begin to defend yourself should we stumble into a predator." He took a few steps back and lowered himself into a battle stance. "Now, what I need you to do is attack me. Give me everything you've got, but make sure to keep your claws sheathed. I won't get hurt, so don't worry about me."

Lionpaw nodded, and took a fighting stance, he didn´t know a lot of basic attacks so he went for the most basic he could think of, and making sure his claws were sheathed, he made a front attack.

Lionpaw made a Front paw Strike, dealing 0 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Lionpaw
20/20 HP
70/80 SP

Scorchfang took the blow head on with barely a flinch, nodding in satisfaction. ”You truly do have great potential, but it felt like you were going a little easy. Maybe if you used your claws on an inanimate object you’d do better. See that small pine tree there?” He pointed with his tail to a small pine sapling with many green needles beginning to grow back. He padded over to it, unsheathed his claws, and swiftly thwacked the needles, sending a clean clump of them fluttering to the ground. ”See if you can knock off a clump like this.”

Scorchfang used Front Paw Strike on Sapling, dealing 14 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Scorchfang
100/100 HP
270/280 SP

Lionpaw turned to look at the pine sapling and watched carefully how his father did it, then he walked to it.

-Alright i´ll try... something like...- raises his paw -this?- and this time using his claws, he imitated what his father did, he did took down a lot of needles of the pine, almost as much as the older cat did.

Lionpaw made a Front paw Strike, dealing 0 damage and costing 10 stamina.

Lionpaw
20/20 HP
60/80 SP

"Brilliant!" Scorchfang's orange eyes lit up with pride. "You're truly a natural! Now, we can start your hunting training, and perhaps if you're up for it afterwards we can have a short sparring session. How does that sound?"