A Failure (closed)

As a warrior, Stoatclaw should have been able to handle himself in a fight. His past experiences whether it be in spars, against predators, or even in an impromptu training session spearheaded by an irritable cat mourning the loss of a friend had taught him that his skills in such an area left much to be desired. Even when he had actually tried he had just been an embarrassment. That was fine with him, he could still provide a valuable service to his clan by hunting for them, but then Birdchaser had to surprise him with an apprentice. Even if he was fine with his own mediocrity, he wasn't fine with passing it off onto the next generation of Skyclan cats. Lightningpaw deserved a better mentor, and he would become that cat even if he had to resort to asking others in his clan for help. Of all of the cats in Skyclan, there was only one that he felt comfortable asking for help from. She had been one of the kindest cats he had met, and recently she had also become his deputy. The way he saw it, Wolfblossom wasn't just the only cat he could ask, she was also his best option.

He had put this off long enough. Lightningpaw was already well into her apprenticeship, and they had never gone out together once to train. Stoatclaw could already see himself failing her, it was enough of a push for him to have finally asked for Wolfblossom's help. There was no second guessing himself now. Stoatclaw sat patiently just outside of the Fourtrees clearing, waiting for his deputy to arrive and start their little training session.

"Hey, Stoatclaw!" Wolfblossom trotted toward the warrior with a friendly wave of her tail. Being asked to help had still been a bit surprising to the new deputy, but she'd been happy to accept. Stoatclaw seemed nice enough to her, and it was clear to Wolfblossom that he wanted to do right by his apprentice, and that was something Wolfblossom would be glad to help with.

"Sparring, right?" She mewed, Blackbear had been his mentor, she was pretty sure... And while Blackbear knew how to fight, she... was Blackbear. "The most important thing, I think, is knowing how to use your size to your advantage. Smaller cats are faster and more agile, larger cats are usually stronger and we can throw our weight around, but we're slower. And the trees, of course, we can use to our advantage in combat too."

As his deputy finally approached, Stoatclaw bowed his head in greeting. "Right, I know the basics but not much past that. My mentor didn't really have the time to train me past our first hunting session, but I've managed to learn a little from some of the warriors in camp." Learn wasn't exactly the right word. His "spar" with Blackbear had really just been her trying to hold back from killing him, though that hadn't stopped her from giving him something to remember her by. It was illogical, but he swore that the scar stung any time she was around. His time with Crimsonflame had also ended with the tom berating him and placing him under a branch for the night. Not much to really learn there.

Stoatclaw listened as Wolfblossom went on, wondering which of the two he was. He wasn't exactly small, but if he was comparing himself to the monstrous height of Crimsonflame and Blackbear then he wasn't one of the larger cats either. Maybe he would be able get a feel for which style suited him more when they started their spar. Stoatclaw cocked his head to the side. The only tactic that he knew of that involved using trees in combat was to drop down from above, but Wolfblossom made it sound like there were more ways to utilize trees in combat. "You mean aside from dropping down on your opponent?"

Wolfblossom blinked slowly at Stoatclaw's words. That... Didn't sound like Blackbear. The big she-cat was always looking for a fight, but she would have whipped her own apprentices into shape, too. Had she... Not mentored him? Thinking back, Wolfblossom honestly couldn't remember. 'Sorry, I was too wrapped up in the murder of my dad and holding my siblings together to even notice who your mentor was' wouldn't cut it. Oops. Talk about wanting to smack her head into the nearest flat surface out of embarrassment...

She was deputy now, she couldn't stay wrapped up in her own problems like that. She needed to know her clanmates better. None of her confusion and inner embarrassment showed on her face however, the deputy simply nodded at Stoatclaw. "Alright, so there's work to do, then. You'll be fine. You came to your clanmates before getting into any major fights, though, that's good. And that wasn't your fault, either." Her conversation with Rainpaw came to mind, "I had an idea of checking in on the apprentices more often, to see how their training was going and help if needed. Perhaps I should do the same with their mentors. It would limit things like this, I hope." She murmured, half to herself, half to Stoatclaw.

"A high place to jump from and land on your opponent, that extra force can help pin them to the ground when simply jumping at them from an equal height might not. They're a place to catch your breath and avoid claws or fangs. And the trees offer us a good vantage point, to spot cats or predators on the ground before they see us. You'd be surprised at how many don't bother to look up. And being aware of our surroundings gives us an advantage when fighting and hunting, too." She explained. If he was unsure of even that... Perhaps checking on both apprentices and mentors was needed. How had that flown under their noses? He'd been given an apprentice too, and while she was confident that the younger warrior would do fine - he seemed like a sensible tom - it was alarming that this had happened at all. He'd done the right thing in asking for help rather than fumble about.

Stoatclaw nodded along as Wolfblossom went through her explanation on the practical uses of trees during combat. Not much new information on that front, but one piece stood out to him. "How are you supposed to find enough time to climb a tree in the middle of a fight? Do you just turn and run?" It sounded like a good idea, but it also seemed like it would be hard to execute in a true fight. Stoatclaw shook his head. "I don't mean to be rude, but can we get into the sparring now? I think things might click for me if I had some more paws-on examples." He didn't much care for the explanations, he wanted to see how a real warrior fought. Well, he had seen plenty of that, but his fear had clouded those memories and made his past experiences impossible to learn from. All that remained from those was a fear for his leader and fellow warriors.

"There are always trees close, on our territory. And from what I've seen of Thunderclan from the borders, their trees are often closer together, too. Bolting for a tree might be seen as fleeing by some... And that makes it all the more unexpected when we drop on them from above instead. But yes, picking your spot to do that sort of thing is also important. A moment of distraction might be short normally, but a moment is an eternity in battle." Gruesome and unhappy as the old stories of war were, Wolfblossom had always made it a point to listen to them, to learn from them. She would not repeat the mistakes of previous leadership, nor would she let her clan go unprepared or undertrained.

"Alright, let's spar then." She didn't mind explaining at all, but it was always better to learn by doing, Wolfblossom had thought. Stoatclaw seemed to be of the same mindset. There'd been enough talk. She would start off easy, striking out with a sheathed paw, but it was not likely to stay that way if she wanted him to learn.

Wolfblossom used Front Paw Strike for -7 sp, dealing -10 damage.

Wolfblossom
70 / 70 hp
153 / 160 sp (160 - 7)

Stoatclaw
20 / 30 hp (30 - 10)
80 / 80 sp