Are You Ready (Bearpaw)

Ashstorm woke up at a normal time for her, but stayed in her nest a little longer.  She knew that she slept later as an apprentice than she did now and she thought Bearpaw should be well rested for her first day out of camp.  As the sun started climbing its way up the sky more, Ashstorm got up from her nest when she felt was the right time.  She strode to the apprentice den.  "Bearpaw?"  She called in.  "Are you ready to go train?"

Bearpaw was practically born ready. It had been a challenge for her to fall asleep that night due to sheer excitement, but she figured that bouncing around in the apprentices' den would only serve as a hinderance to her new denmates. The moment that Ashstorm poked her head into the den, Bearpaw was  up on her paws.
"I'm ready, Ashstorm." She murmured, swiftly making her way past the slumbering forms of the apprentices, "What are we doing today?"
Before everyone had fallen asleep, she had spent some time that night repeating her mentor's name to herself, just quiet enough for her to hear and not disturb the rest of the apprentices' den. How else was she going to remember Ashstorm's name when the time came?

"Am I gonna learn how to hunt? What about fighting? Both sound super fun." The she-cat let her voice rise to a level above a whisper as she padded out of the den.
It would've done her some good to make a quick attempt at grooming her fur before heading out, but she was far too thrilled to begin learning about the ways of a warrior to worry about that.

Ashstorm was happy that Bearpaw seemed so excited for her first day out of camp to train.  Ashstorm started to walk with Bearpaw behind her.  The young apprentice started asking her questions and she was happy to answer.  "I was going to start with hunting and then I can teach you how to fight!"  She said happily.  "Are you excited that you're an apprentice, Bearpaw?"

She didn't want to go too far out of camp in case something were to happen, so the walk wasn't that long, but still far enough out where prey was.  "Alright," she said.  "This is how you hunt.  First, you need to spot something."  She looked around and noticed a squirrel near them.  "When you find something, you need to stay really quiet so you don't scare them off," she whispered.  "Then you get into a stance like this, watch."  She got into a hunting stance, same as she always did.  Slowly, she began walking up to the squirrel.  She grabbed it in her mouth and quickly killed it.  Then she buried it and returned to facing Bearpaw.  "Do you have any questions?  If not you can try."

Ashstorm used -3SP to attempt to catch a squirrel.  The catch was successful!
237SP / 240SP

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 6

Bearpaw smiled gleefully as Ashstorm informed her of the schedule. In fact, she practically tripped over her own paws with excitement as she scrambled alongside her mentor.
“Oh, yeah!” The young she-cat exclaimed, her voice light and cheerful, “I’ve been waiting to be an apprentice for so long. Of course I’m excited!”

When the two of them reached the spot, Bearpaw figured that she should silence herself for a moment to watch and learn. She quietly sat down despite the fact that she was bubbling over with anticipation. Hunting didn’t seem as complicated as she had imagined it to be when she was a kit. Well, at least it looked easy. She wasn’t sure how it would actually feel when she gave it a try for herself.

Wow… The apprentice thought as Ashstorm succeeded in catching a rabbit.
A wide, eager grin brightened her features and a purr rumbled in her throat as she rose to her paws.
“That was so coo-!” Bearpaw caught herself speaking too loudly and instantly lowered her volume, “-I mean… that was so cool.”
It was her turn to try, now.

Her paws itched with enthusiasm and her eyes held a hopeful glow as she made an attempt to copy her mentor’s crouch. A small gray mouse was poking at a seed that was lodged in the ground. It was practically begging to be caught. Bearpaw struggled to hold her balance as she crawled forwards, but she was determined to at least try and make the catch.

The mouse had pulled the seed out of the ground and was about to make its escape, but the apprentice made a leap for it. To her surprise, her claws came into contact with the mouse’s tail, and she was able to snatch it up and kill it with a nip to the neck before it could retreat with its food. Had she really caught something on her first try?

She whirled around to face Ashstorm with the mouse still limp and dangling from her jaws
“Afhtorm! I cauft it!” Her voice was muffled and her words were botched, but she still managed to smile around the little lifeless body between her teeth.

bearpaw successfully caught a rodent! it cost her 3 sp.
77/80

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

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'Hunting Dice' : 4

Ashstorm laughed slightly when Bearpaw remembered to keep her voice quiet.  "Alright," she said slightly quieter than normal.  "Now you can go try."  She watched Bearpaw take a hunting stance.  She saw the mouse get a seed and turn, about to run.  She began to doubt if the apprentice could catch it, but she still kept silent and just watched.  And she was glad that she did when a moment later the animal was dead in Bearpaw's jaws.

Bearpaw said something to her, which was a little hard to hear because she still had the prey in her mouth.  Although, she was pretty sure she still knew what the apprentice was saying.  "You did!"  The grey she-cat responded.  She was impressed by the ease the young she-cat had when catching the rodent.  She walked towards Bearpaw and brushed her tail alone her younger sister's shoulder as a sort of kind approval.  "Great job,"  she said to her.

"Now you should bury it until we're done, so that no predator steals it while we practice battling."  She told her with a smile.  Ashstorm turned to survey the landscape and see if there was any predators around.  "For battling, all you really need to know is to just use your teeth and claws.  And, most importantly, try to have them not hit you.  I'm not going to tell you exactly what to do, because it honestly depends on the moment.  Most of the time, the best thing to do is just to trust your gut."

As she looked around, of course she could not choose the predator.  And, apparently, she couldn't even find something before it found her.  She heard something behind her and right as she turned around she saw and eagle going strait towards her.  It knocked her to the ground and she willingly turned on her back and stretched her claws out to scratch the underbelly of the large bird.  Some blood pored on top of her from the scratches, dying some of her grey fur red until she was able to go to the river later.  Gross.  She thought.

She looked at Bearpaw.  "Don't be nervous," she told her apprentice kindly.  "Just do what I told you about battling.  I won't let it hurt you."  What she actually meant was 'I'll try to not let it hurt you', but she was afraid that that would make her sister scared, so she just left it at that.  Ashstorm scrambled back up on her paws, prepared to her the eagle more, but unfortunately for her, it wasn't going towards Ashstorm... It was flying towards Bearpaw.

The eagle used Swoop, dealing 20 in damage and using -20SP.
Ashstorm used Belly Rake, dealing 14 in damage and using -10SP.

Ashstorm
60HP / 227SP (-20HP) (-10SP)

Eagle
46HP / 180SP (-14HP) (-20SP)

Bearpaw
20HP / 77SP

Bearpaw made sure to follow Ashstorm's instructions and bury her prey near the base of one of the trees. The only experience that the she-cat had with battling was engaging with play-fighting with her littermates outside of the nursery while their mother was asleep. She had never been face to face with an actual predator before, and she had never had the opportunity to engage in a genuine tooth-and-claw fight, but it wasn't as if most kits had that chance anyway. Bearpaw was curious as to how it would feel.

That was when she spotted it; the eagle swooping down from the sky with its talons outstretched and ready to draw blood. Fear kindled within her heart as the bird made an attempt at snatching up her mentor. She glanced around in confusion before locking gazes with Ashstorm. The apprentice hadn't imagined that her first shot at fighting an enemy would be against something so big and vicious, but it would be cowardly to turn with her tail between her legs.

Her sister had told her to trust her gut, and her gut was telling her to throw an attack at the first vulnerable spot she noticed on the eagle. It was making a move on her, now. The wings of an eagle seemed to make it far faster than the running legs of a cat, so Bearpaw didn't have much time to think. She decided that she would meets its attack halfway with a leap of her own. She charged towards it, her eyes flaming with determination, before her front paws and claws met its wings to prevent it from flying any further. Both predator and apprentice toppled to the ground, but Bearpaw found herself on top.

The eagle was still far more experienced than her, and it outshined her as far as size went, so Bearpaw found herself struggling as she made an attempt to hold it down for as long as possible to Ashstorm could attack it as well. Bursts of adrenaline seemed to rush through her veins in the midst of the scuffle, and it was unlike anything that she had ever felt before.

bearpaw used "run and tackle" on eagle, dealing 6 damage and costing 10 stamina.

bearpaw
hp - 20/20
sp- 67/80

eagle
hp - 40/60
sp - 180/200

ashstorm
hp - 60/80
sp - 227/240

The eagle lashed under the apprentice and a worried expression came over Ashstorm's face, although she tried to hide it.  The warrior rushed over to the apprentice.  She was doing a good job of keeping the predator down without hurting herself, but Ashstorm didn't know how long that would last.  Ashstorm unsheathed her claws and began wildly slashing at the eagle.  With a rush of power, the eagle dashed to fly up, knocking Bearpaw off of them.

"Are you okay?"  Ashstorm said quickly, looking at Bearpaw with concern.  Although, that look quickly changed to a brief look of pain as the claws on the birds talons sliced down her back.  It could still fly, but not very well. A couple more blows and it would be dead, Ashstorm guessed.  There was nothing to worry about... right?  She again looked over at Bearpaw, making sure the apprentice really was okay after falling to the ground.

Ashstorm used Rending Front Paws, dealing 15 in damage and using -25SP
The eagle used Talon Strike dealing 10 in damage and using -10SP

Ashstorm
50HP / 202HP (-10HP) (-25SP)

Eagle
25HP / 170SP (-15HP) (-10SP)

Bearpaw
20HP / 67SP

Bearpaw let out a breath as the eagle retreated to the skies after Ashstorm began to claw at it. Any other cat would've told her to be grateful that the predator had flown away, but in truth, the apprentice felt the slightest bit disappointed. It felt as if the fight had barely even started. She quickly rose to her paws to give her mentor a glance and a nod of confirmation to show that she was alright. However, she couldn't help but flinch when the shadow of the winged creature grew bigger and its talons raked across the warrior's back.

"Are you okay?!" The she-cat gasped, facing her mentor once again.
The she-cat realized that there was barely any time to check up on each other. Somewhere in the back of Bearpaw's mind, she was glad that it had returned to continue the fight, but she decided to not say that out loud. That same adrenaline rush returned as she lifted her front paw to strike at the eagle as it rushed past. Her claws made immediate contact with both feathers and flesh, and as the blood from its wound leaked onto the tip of her white paws, Bearpaw couldn't help but stare with a glint of satisfaction in her eyes. Despite the fact that she seemed to be enjoying the fight itself, she still couldn't help but feel worried about Ashstorm. The eagle had attacked her the entire time, and the talon marks were still visible and bleeding. Surely that was worse than any mark Bearpaw had gotten from falling to the ground a while back.

bearpaw used "front paw strike" on eagle, dealing 6 damage and costing 10 stamina.

bearpaw
hp - 20/20
sp - 57/80

eagle
hp - 19/60
sp - 170/200

ashstorm
hp - 50/80
sp - 202/240

"I'm fine!"  Ashstorm exclaimed pretty convincingly.  She was fine, but it sort of didn't feel that way.  She ran back to attack the eagle along with Bearpaw.  She turned around and kicked the eagle with her back legs.  It was almost dead.  Just a little more...

But then it turned to Bearpaw.  It flew up quickly and scratched the apprentice with it's talons.  Bearpaw was definitely hurt.  It was easy to tell because of the blood that spit out of the wound.  Ashstorm's heart beat fast and she just stood staring at the apprentice for a moment.  Tell me you're okay.  Please, tell me you're okay.  She said inside her mind.

Ashstorm used Back Kick, dealing 15 in damage and using -15SP
Eagle used Talon Strike, dealing 10 in damage and using -10SP

Ashstorm
50HP / 187SP

Eagle
4HP / 50SP

Bearpaw
10HP / 57SP