Halfway to Forever (Training)

Silverwing was excited to finally have her own apprentice, so much so that it had taken too long for her to sleep the night before. Russetpaw's joy over receiving her as a mentor had absolutely sent her heart into overdrive, and even a day later she could still feel it beating a little too fast. The beating showed no sign of slowing however, especially with the extra company she had procured. Sleepypaw had become an apprentice, and her mentor was the lovely and amazing Blazefang. It seemed like fate had given them both apprentices at the same time, there was no way Silverwing could resist dragging Blazefang into a training session. As a familiar battleground stretched out around them, Silverwing turned on the two apprentices with a wide smile. "We've arrived, it's time for your first training session! Blazefang, would you like to introduce our fellow warrior?"Silverwing's tail flicked towards a bush, not just any bush though, this one was special.

Blazefang had noticed Silverwing’s extra activity and knew the younger warrior must be planning something. Sure enough, her suspicions were confirmed when her and Sleepypaw’s first training session suddenly became a joint one with Silverwing and Russetpaw. Then she realized where Silverwing was taking them. “No way,” she chuckled under her breath. Turning to Silverwing, she nodded, then padded towards the bush. “Everyone, this is Bushface. He doesn’t talk much, but he’s a decent sparring partner. He helped out a lot when I was training two apprentices at once and didn’t have another warrior to help me. Silverwing, would you like to start the demonstrations?”

Russetpaw bounded across the moor behind Silverwing with a wide grin, constantly looking around at the territory. It was simply so wide and big; she wondered if there even was an end to the sloping fields. Of course, she was paying careful attention to any landmarks- if she ever wanted to be allowed to go out on the territory alone, she needed to know it like the back of her paw. Some opening in the ground over there (was that a rabbit den, or maybe the tunnels she’d heard so much about?), a smooth rock about as big as a cat on the ground there, and over there, so far away, the faint mountain range that the Moonstone reportedly lay within. Will I really get to go there one day?

As they continued, Russetpaw gave Sleepypaw her best wide grin. Their mentors were friends too! Oh, this would be fun- they’d get to train together! As they came to a stop near a bush, Russetpaw listened intently. Her first training session; she could not mess this up.

Wait.

What?

Russetpaw turned to Sleepypaw, trading confused glances. A bush? How had the bush become a WindClan warrior? Had StarClan turned him into a bush as punishment? Had he always been a bush? How did he help them train? “Heya, Bushface…” she trailed off awkwardly. If she had been any more confused, she was sure her tail would be in knots like the proverbial snake. “Sleepypaw,” she whispered loudly, “Am I missing something… or is that a bush.”

Silverwing understood the two apprentice's confusion, she herself hadn't been confused, but it had definitely seemed like a very stupid joke. Stupid enough to become funny, that is. "Of course, I would love nothing more! Watch closely you two, I'm gonna go over some basic moves." Most of her time as a warrior was spent hunting, something that she was absolutely unmatched at, but that didn't mean Silverwing was a pushover in a fight. A lightning fast paw swiped at the bush, followed by another strike with unsheathed claws. Sure she was showing off a little, but she couldn't help it. "That first attack was what we call a front paw blow, usually done without claws, and the second one was a front paw strike. That one uses claws, but if I catch either of you using claws there will be trouble." She tried to sound as stern as possible, but it just wasn't in her. Maybe Blazefang could pick up the slack on that front. Forcing sadness into her voice, Silverwing added, "I'm sorry, Bushface, you've definitely seen better days. I remember when Blazefang bit off your branch, kind of like this!" The silver warrior bit at a branch, snapping it off entirely. "Oh, snap!" That was funny, she was sure! It was enough to send her into a giggling fit at least. "I think that's about it, right Blazefang?"

“Just about, Silverwing,” Blazefang replied with a chuckle. “There’s one more basic move, though.” The ginger warrior backed up and tan at Bushface, slamming her head into the bush. “That was a headbutt. It’s good for knocking your opponent off balance. And as I told Silverwing here when she was your age, this is far from all. The key is to think on your feet. In the heat of battle, you gotta be ready to try anything.”

Russetpaw watched as closely as she possibly could, taking in Silverwing’s every movement- the way the molly put her whole body behind her paw strike, the way her claws were carefully sheathed, the way her teeth gleamed as she quickly snapped off a branch. Blazefang pitched in, headbutting the bush. That looked like fun, heh.

Think on her paws? Yeah, she could do that! This wouldn’t be hard, right? Russetpaw bounced from paw to paw, eyes bright as she grinned at Sleepypaw. Stars yeah, this would be fun. She was already planning out her own battle strategy- maybe she could slam her head into her opponent’s flank, then batter them with her paws!

“Can I try?” she chirped, bouncing up and down with pent-up energy. “I gotta strategy alllllll planned out!”

"Um, I don't-" This was typically the point where she would have the two apprentices begin their sparring session, but stars how could she say no to that cute little face? "Sure, why not. I don't see a problem with getting in a little bit of practice before the main event, do you, Blazefang?" Silverwing inclined her head towards her fellow warrior. Actually, how were they going to do this? Silverwing flicked her tail off to the side, signaling her mentor to follow. When she was sure that the apprentices couldn't hear, Silverwing let the other warrior know what was on her mind. "How do you wanna do this? Two versus two, you and Sleepypaw versus me and Russetpaw? Sleepypaw versus Russetpaw?" She clearly hadn't thought this through.

“I was thinking the girls could spar with each other,” Blazefang mewed. “As much as I’d love to spar with you again, we probably ought to keep our heads up so we can see more clearly what they’re doing.”

OOC: You two are free to spar! Don’t worry about waiting for me and Romantica to post from here on, we’ll add comments here and there but I don’t want post order to hold up the spar.

The go-ahead given, Russetpaw bounded in circles around her friend, trying to plan out her attack. Maybe she could- or maybe- with a mental shrug, Russetpaw dismissed the idea of ‘strategy’ and instead rushed forwards, cannoning into Sleepypaw and sending them both tumbling across the ground. Careful to keep her claws sheathed, Russetpaw gently thwacked the tortoiseshell she-cat, obviously holding back. She wasn’t quite sure how much ‘oomph’ she was allowed to put behind her strikes, so she stayed on the safe side with just a few gentle whacks that was more akin to a kit’s play-fighting, with no real form, just a good amount of spirit.

Springing back, Russetpaw grinned. “Come on at me, Sleepypaw! I’m ready!”

Russetpaw used Jumping Strike, dealing 9 (6+3) damage and costing 7 stamina.

Russetpaw
20/20 HP
53/ 60 SP (-7)

Sleepypaw
11/20 HP (-9)
60/60 SP

Sleepypaw, with honestly surprising energy, launched herself at Russetpaw. With a startled yelp the red-pelted apprentice tried to duck to the side, albeit too late as Sleepypaw’s jaws found her feathery tail and yanked, throwing her off-balance. Russetpaw rolled across the grass, trying to avoid her fellow apprentice’s paws, and speedily sprung back up (although she nearly toppled over again, but hopefully nocat noticed that), already planning her attack.

Russetpaw sprang forwards, bringing her (sheathed, she wasn’t a loner) paws down onto Sleepypaw’s shoulder and trying to knock her friend off-balance; but she wasn’t quite strong enough to pull off such a move and instead opted to dart back, grinning fiercely at her friend, saving her breath. This was a bit tiring, but total fun!

Russetpaw used Random Recall and Front Paw Strike, dealing 6 damage and costing 12 stamina.

Russetpaw
13/20 HP
41/ 60 SP (-12)

Sleepypaw
5/20 HP (-6)
45/60 SP

Russetpaw’s head ached, just a little, from Sleepypaw’s attack, but after a quick shake she was alright, just a bit winded. Her eyes gleamed playfully as she prepared to surge forwards in a powerful attack that would totally take her friend down. All she had to do was go fast, a quick flurry of paw blows that would 100% end this in her favor. Sleepypaw’s exhaustion was shrugged off as ‘her name is literally Sleepy’, and though Russetpaw somewhat suspected that her strategy might be overkill, she really wanted to show off to Silverwing! She’d been practicing this forever, ever since she was a kit and her family was showing off to her.

Russetpaw twitched her tail, pinned her ears (something Whiteburn had told her to do, even though this wasn’t a real battle) and surged forwards as fast as she could, bringing her paws down onto Sleepypaw’s shoulder- then, as she prepared to dart back as she had done before, she instead followed it up with another flurry of (light) blows, before finally leaping back.

“Do you surrender, Sleepystar?” she asked playfully, albeit with the gleam of triumph in her eyes. Phew. This was tiring. She hoped she wouldn’t have to learn hunting immediately after- her paws were trembling, just a bit.

Russetpaw used Front Paw Strike and Swift Strike, dealing 11 damage and costing 17 stamina.

Russetpaw
7/20 HP
24/ 60 SP (-17)

Sleepypaw ko pending
0/20 HP (-11)
38/60 SP