Rookie Training

It was yet another cold morning in the forest. Sparkfire bushed out her fur as she padded out of the warm warriors' den and into the chilly air, attempting to keep the warmth from the den and her nest within her. Today would be the first day of her new apprentice's training. She was curious to see what Rookpaw could do, though not exactly eager. She would much rather be doing her own thing without having to watch some apprentice all day, but that was Clan life.

Making her way over to the apprentices' den, she poked her head inside and, without any regards for the other sleeping apprentices, loudly meowed, "Alright, Rookpaw, get up. You're not a kit anymore, you can't sleep past dawn. Get ready and meet me by the entrance. Make it quick." She slipped out of the den and padded over to the thorn barrier guarding the entrance of the camp, settling down into a sit and beginning to groom herself as she waited for the dark gray molly.

Rookpaw cracked one eye open at her mentor's voice and slowly climbed to her paws with an irritated grumble. She did like the fact that her mentor was no-nonsense though. She could respect that. The black tabby shook out her fur with a yawn and padded out of the den with no regard for stepping on tails or paws or otherwise. Spotting Sparkfire by the entrance to camp, she loped over to the warrior and stared at her expectantly. This wasn't actually her first time out of camp as she and her sister Tulippaw had escaped when they were still kits, but going outside of camp was still exciting nonetheless. "I'm ready." she meowed, her voice still groggy with sleep. "I don't want to do any of that stupid stuff apprentices do like learning how to listen for birds or whatever. I know how to hear. Can we do something cool? I want to learn how to fight." Rookpaw was large for her age and she made a point to puff out her chest, trying to make herself look bigger and more intimidating.

At Rookpaw’s rather bold suggestion, Sparkfire’s gaze lit up, and her tail swung up eagerly into the air. ”You know, that sounds like a great idea. Hey, while we’re on the subject of skipping crucial steps in your training, why don’t we go ahead and find a fox for you to beat up? Seeing as how you know how to use your teeth and claws as well and all. Oh, or perhaps I could even let you try and guess where the border between ShadowClan and SkyClan is without risking stepping into their territory. I’m sure you know how to smell, too, huh?”

The fake enthusiasm flickered out immediately, and the warrior glared sternly down at her apprentice. ”No. You can’t fight without learning how and where to strike. You can’t patrol without learning other Clans’ scents. The basics are very important; you need to learn how to listen for prey, predators, invading cats, uprooting trees.... The list goes on and on. So quit your bellyaching and let’s teach you how to listen — as well as how to show your mentor some respect.” With a snort, Sparkfire turned and led her apprentice out of camp and into the territory.

Rookpaw stood her ground, staring defiantly back up at her mentor, her eyes blazing. She couldn't fight back, though. She was an apprentice and Sparkfire was her mentor. With a reluctant huff, she averted her gaze and made do with sulking, steeling herself and hunkering down like some sort of gargoyle. She let Sparkfire get a few foxlengths ahead of her to show she wasn't going to take this lightly before she rose back up to her paws and followed the warrior out of camp. The young molly glowered as she took in the surrounding marshy forest. She didn't like it when someone told her "no". After they had been walking for a while, Rookpaw picked up the pace a little, getting closer to Sparkfire. "So?" she called impatiently, staring at the black cat for an answer. "What are we doing first?"

Sparkfire flicked her ear at her apprentice’s tone of voice, but didn’t answer right away. Only after they made it to the center of the pine grove did she finally turn around to address Rookpaw. ”Alright, punk. You wanna learn something new? I think I’ve got a perfect first lesson for you, one that will help you learn how to control your movement and stretch out your claws. And it doesn’t even have anything to do with listening or any of that stuff you’ve made perfectly clear you don’t want to do.”

The molly padded over to one of the larger gray rocks covered in bright green moss and placed her forepaws on it, positioning herself in a sort of stretch. Then, she extended her claws out as far as they could go until the tips touched where the rock ended and the moss began, and she swiftly drew her paws back to shave off the green lichen in a neat strip. ”First lesson of the day: learning how to properly collect moss.”

Rookpaw's eyes brightened momentarily as her pestering seemed to work but the expression soon fell again as it was revealed what she would have to do. "Collecting moss?" she snarled. "Are you serious? What good will that do anyone?" Angrily, she lashed out at the moss on a nearby rock and promptly got it all stuck in her claws. With a howl of frustration, the dark apprentice threw herself down onto the ground and tried to get the moss unstuck, grumbling to herself. Eventually Sparkfire's discipline would pay off, but that day probably wouldn't be today...

"Well, for starters," Sparkfire began sternly, using a strong large paw to pin Rookpaw's mossy paw to the ground, "if you were fighting an enemy right now with that lack of claw control, you would've ripped it clean out by now." She lowered her head and swiftly untangled the moss from her claw before letting her go. "Alright, fine, I'll just assume you don't feel a thing for Ravenmist. That poor queen will decide to have another litter with Daisyflame, but she won't have a fresh bed of moss to deliver them in. These kits will contract illnesses in old bedding, or they'll freeze to death on the cold den floor. Hmm, or let's think about when Tulippaw falls ill and she starts losing fluids due to her sickness. She won't have the strength to make it to any water sources on her own, so she'll need someone to bring her some water-soaked moss. Oh, wait, but her sister wouldn't have collected any moss for her or her mother because she was more concerned about fighting."

The dark apprentice glowered up at Sparkfire as she spoke, glaring at her for a long time until she finally turned her gaze away, back down at her paws. "Don't talk about my mom like that..." she growled, her tail lashing. "Or Tulippaw. But fine, I'll collect this stupid moss..." She swiped at the moss again but made a show of doing it the right way, shooting Sparkfire dirty looks the whole time. Rookpaw definitely was a pawful but she would learn her lesson someday.