Mighty Hunter (Closed)

If there was anything he was confident in, it was his ability to catch an immobile object. Bugs moved, sometimes flew, but leaves didn't. They would sit there and wait for him to catch them in his paws, or the wind would push them into a predictable pattern. It was alright practice for becoming the perfect warrior his parents always wanted him to be. It didn't compare to the real deal, but he had cats he had to live up to, so he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to practice.

Cicadakit was crouched not far from the nursery, his tail flicking with concentration as he eyed the fallen leaf before him. The wind was soft, but enough to cause the leaf to flutter ever so closer to where he laid in wait. His hunter's crouch was nowhere near perfect, but good enough for prey without eyes or ears. Slowly, he crept a little closer, one thick paw in front of the other until finally, he pounced.

He gave a fearsome snarl, or at least as fearsome as a kit could muster as he lunged, catching the leaf in his paws as he tumbled forward and rolled onto his back. Success! Cicadakit battered the leaf with his back paws, nipping at the stem as he became absorbed with his hunt.

Mistyfalcon was sprawled near the edge of camp, half-lidded blue eyes taking in what little activity there was. A tortoiseshell kit was chasing after a leaf, and he felt his whiskers twitch in amusement as he watched the kit growl in triumph, tumbling onto the ground with the prize clutched in their tiny claws.

"Keep practicing and you'll make a fine hunter one day." He padded towards the kit, fluffy tail flicking. "What's your name, kit? I'm Mistyfalcon."

His ears flicked at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, pausing his hunt to glance over at the black tom. At any other time, he might have been disgruntled at being interrupted, but he was in a good mood and this cat was recognizing his potential. He wasn't going to turn down the option to gloat.

He hopped up back onto his paws, his quarry kept underpaw to prevent it from escaping... not that a leaf could run if it wanted to. "Thank you! I've been training since I was able to leave the nursery. I wanna get a head start." He purred with pride, an arrogant tone obvious in his squeaky voice. "I'm Cicadakit, soon to be the best warrior in Shadowclan!" He puffed his chest out for emphasis, his tail raised high to portray self-confidence.

Kits, it seemed, almost all had that self-confidence to believe they'd be the best warrior the clan had ever seen. Fewer actually kept that self-confidence, and fewer still had the drive and willpower to see that fantasy to fulfillment.

"You'll learn all you need to once you become an apprentice," He chuckled. He wasn't the greatest at judging age, but Mistyfalcon didn't think it would be long before Murkystrike called for Cicadakit's apprentice ceremony. "You seem enthusiastic, that's good." Enthusiastic kits made enthusiastic apprentices... And with the proper discipline, good warriors.

Cicadakit gave a snort, as though the warrior had missed a flaw in his own words. "If I learn all the basic stuff now, then there's more time to learn the cool stuff!" This 'tip' was given by his parents, meaning the logic was infallible. No cat could reach the pedestal he had placed them on, their words almost bearing more weight than the warrior code itself... He just wished they were here to impart more of their wisdom to him. He wouldn't have to second guess if he was good enough for them if they were here to tell him.

He tried not to think about that though. Pouting and wishing didn't make good warriors, yet more facts he had learned from his parents. "I just gotta train extra hard. Then maybe Flintstar will see and give me a really good mentor!" A great mentor would be beneficial to becoming the greatest, but worse comes to worst he could find a way to train himself properly, somehow.

Mistyfalcon chuckled at the kit's words. They all thought the same way, but practicing on leaves and bugs in camp wouldn't go far compared to doing the real work out in the marsh. "You'll have plenty of time for that... Most cats wind up thinking the 'cool stuff' is boring once they get into their apprenticeship."

Ah, so the kit wanted a good mentor... Well, he was in luck, being born in Shadowclan had perks. "Murkystrike is the one who assigns mentors. You'll do fine regardless, Shadowclan has always had the best warriors around." There was really only one warrior Mistyfalcon wouldn't trust with an apprentice, and... well, he didn't think Murkystrike trusted him enough to give him an apprentice, either.

Cicadakit couldn't help but tilt his head to one side, skeptical of the older warrior's words. How could training be boring? He'd finally be let out of camp, finally train his fighting skills, finally be a warrior! How could any of that be boring? Perhaps those apprentices were just lazy. If there was no ambition to be the best, then he supposed training could be tiresome. However, he didn't have thistledown for brains, he wanted to do this.

Mistyfalcon was right about one thing though. "Mhmm," he hummed in agreement. "Shadowclan is the best clan. I'm guaranteed to have the better mentor compared to any other clan's apprentice." Windclanners were all weak rabbit-chasers, Riverclanners were all fat and lazy, and Skyclanners were all oversized squirrels. He didn't have a good insult for Thunderclan yet, but he was sure just not being Shadowclan was enough to warrant some scorn. He was confident in his ability to be better than them, but being the best in Shadowclan would require some work.

"I just can't wait until I can prove it." It was wrong to wish for battle, but he didn't care, consumed by fantasies of using the skills he learned to subdue someone else, to prove his superiority more to himself than anyone else.

By the expression on the kit's face, Mistyfalcon could tell that Cicadakit didn't quite believe the claims he'd made, but Cicadakit would come to realize them in time. The kit was young still, and full of optimism and stubborn pomp.

"Exactly." He smirked. Though at the rate the rogues were killing and injuring Shadowclan's warriors, Mistyfalcon was loathe to get the kit's expectations any higher than they were.

"You'll be an apprentice soon enough." He stated. "I remember being just as impatient, at your age. I was finally apprenticed, and on one of my first trips out into the marsh, me and another apprentice were attacked by a snake." He turned slightly, lifting his foreleg to show off the two punctures that had scarred. Seasons later, and they weren't the largest or most noticeable scars Mistyfalcon had... But he had no desire to recount being attacked by dogs or the crazed Skyclanner that had taken his ear as fresh-kill.

Cicadakit's eyes widened in awe at the mention of battle. Against a snake, not a cat, but a battle nonetheless. "Wow!" he chirped, his tail flicking with intrigue.  Mistyfalcon definitely had more interesting scars elsewhere, but his attention was easily shifted to a smaller mark when the warrior pointed it out to him. He always saw scars as signs of heroism, having been in a fight a lived through it. Perhaps it was a greater show of skill to leave a fight without any marks, but what was the point if you couldn't show off something more tangible?

"Did you kill it afterward? Was it venomous?" He pressed for more information. While he was nearing apprentice age, he looked more like a kit than ever as he shuffled on his paws in anticipation.

"I was lucky it wasn't, or I probably wouldn't be standing here. We did manage to kill it, though snakes move much faster than you would think." He and Brighteye had both missed slicing the thing into ribbons, neither of them having expected just how quickly the snake could move. It had scared poor Ebonysong half to death when she'd seen that Mistyfalcon had been bitten, and he'd been unceremoniously shepherded to the medicine den after.

"Still... Snakes are more predictable than some other predators, at least. And they lack the intelligence that makes fighting a dog or fox more dangerous." Or another cat, for that matter.

Cicadakit could imagine it in his head, though much more fantastical than it may have happened in life. Mighty warriors against a massive serpent, coiling and hissing. He couldn't wait to do something similar, to have his own battles, though he would have to wait a little longer. Hopefully his snake wasn't venomous either. Dying to a snake was not the way he wanted to go, he needed something more heroic than that.

"Have you ever fought a dog or fox?" he asked, tilting his head to the other side this time. He had always heard of dogs as dumb brutes. Definitely smarter than a reptile, but certainly not smarter than a cat, right? He wasn't naive enough to think a cat could take on a dog alone either, but worse comes to worst a cat could climb a tree or something.

It was only natural, he supposed, that the kit was curious. Mistyfalcon had been at that age, as well.

And then he'd actually been mauled by a dog and watched his best friend die to the same one. And a fox had killed Condorpaw. He and Murkystrike, along with Loudnose who'd still been a 'paw, had killed that one, at least. But there would always be more foxes in the forest, just as twolegs and their filthy dogs would continue to show up at the most inopportune time. It was a shame really, that they couldn't get rid of them all. Mistyfalcon would've liked to, as foolish as the notion was. If not foxes or dogs, it would be something else. That was life.

"Unfortunately." He grimaced. Dogs, foxes... Both had been responsible for loss and heartbreak and injury. "Neither are things you want to face, even in a group of experienced warriors."

Mistyfalcon had confirmed his suspicions, though not in the way he expected. There was no pride in surviving an attack by such a terrifying predator, but reservation. Even Cicadakit wasn't mouse-brained enough to go looking for canines to fight for glory, but surely there was some satisfaction that came from chasing one-off or killing it, at least a little.

Still, something was telling him not to press. Maybe the scaring on Mistyfalcon's face, maybe the tone of his voice, but it was enough to keep him from boasting... his fighting prowess at least. "Then I'll be sure to avoid them then. I can be sneaky if I wanna be. A fox wouldn't even know I'm there," he purred. It wasn't hard to tell that Cicadakit would be more built towards strength-based feats than stealth, but he was determined to master both.