Cloudypaw's spar training

It was the most bestest news ever Eaglefly had ever heard! Daisy the new medicine cat had figured out a cure to the sickness and had gotten it to work and had started healing his clanmates!!


As soon as the tom had found this out his first thoughts were excitment and releif, his clan would be all better now!! AND! his second thought was now he and cloudypaw could get her spar lesson in which he really looked forward to.

She had been a great and eager learner so far and even when sick had done everything she could to keep learning and keep making forward progress something he greatly admired in her, she did not give up no matter how bad the circumstances, she was sick, away from their usual home and yet she still was willing to try and catch the mock pretend prey with him earlier.

Purring at the thought and the fact that she would be on the mend in no time with the cure he went towards the apprentice den.


Eaglefly's thought a little to himself about her clouded eye, it had not seemed to slow her down one bit.. his thoughts on it were the following:

He was her mentor, and mentors were supposed to build their apprentices up and give them as much knowledge and self confidence as possible, so why would he constatnly try and point out her cloudy eye like everyone else seemed to?? No, she was different from other cats sure, but last he checked difference was not any reason to treat someone differently. He would treat her the same as any other apprentice for best or worst.

In fact, he was already coming up with ideas of how she could use what others in the clan called her weakness to her own advantage in a spar... Being the very sneaky and prankster one of the clan, Eaglefly knew a thing or two about tricking others or faking them out and he got another one of his wacky ideas now!!

He drew a little plan diagram up in the dirt with his claw focusing intently on it the goofball was certain this was gonna be a perfect lesson in sparring!

He was thinking that he could show cloudypaw a tricksy move that only she alone could use in fact! Where others in the clan saw her as weak or not able to do things because of her eye, he wanted to work around it and even integrate it into how she could outsmart opponents on the battlefield if things ever came to that.


Looking down at his little sparing chart he nodded shrugging wondering if it actually would work in practice. He glanced around and saw a clanmate in the distance... he closed one of his eyes and faced a bit away from the clanmate but swiveled his open eyeball to the clanmate determining field of view from them and where they could be seen or not and right where the line of sight vanished when he did this. Smirking a bit to himself he nodded, ohhh this could indeed be a cool tricksy move she could use indeed!

Darting over to the apprentice den he nearly plowed right into the entrance on accident because he was so excited to train with her and give her interesting ideas that he had been prepping.

"Cloudypaw! are ya feeling better?!" He meowed eagerly so glad to see her back on her paws for the most part.

"I wanna go training and take you for a practice spar" he purred flicking his tail too and frow.

"I got some ideas!!"

Cloudypaw was finally allowed to move into the apprentice den after so long! She was finally feeling better enough to not be under Daisyfang's constant care. Honestly? Thank the stars for that - the pungent herbs were miserable to be around. Daisyfang was wonderful company but she needed space before she ended up being a medicine cat, too. Upon being released from the medicine den, she set up her own nest. This time, it was going to be separate from her brothers.

She was resting in this new nest, grooming her chest, when Eaglefly stormed into the apprentice den. The chaos that unfurled in only a few seconds made her jump up onto her paws, her eyes were slitted with shock and her ears perked. "Eaglefly! You scared me!" She laughed out. With Eaglefly as her mentor, there was never a dull moment. He made learning fun and interesting. She appreciated that more than he'd ever know. "I'm doing okay! Just a bit of coughing sometimes." She purred. Apart from coughing up phlegm every morning, she felt completely normal.

However, this time, he had a glint in his eyes as he mentioned a practice spar. She knew she was going to be in for a treat. And you know what? She was excited. "Yes!" She mewed, her eyes wide. Curiosity danced in them. She had never sparred before. "U-um, where are we going to spar?" She questioned.

Padding out of the den, she tacked on an additional question since she was unsure of what a spar actually was. "And, err - what's a spar?"

Eaglefly grinned goofily as she answered all his questions...

"scared ya?" he repeated smirking a little his prankster side loving that a lot.

He was so happy that she was well now!! or hmm, almost well, the cough seemed to linger but coughs sometimes were just like that.

She seemed to have her energy back to full amounts!

He led her out of the little temporary camp they had and listened patiently to all her questions,

"sparring is when you practice with a clanmate to fight. It is not a real fight, and no claws or bites are used, if a spar is done correctly, no one should even get hurt in one. It is a chance to practice a battle before having to be in a real battle." he answered doing his best to give a full and good answer. He was really trying his best to think about it like he had never heard of the subject material either, he tried to remember what Flutterpetal had taught him and what he used to make the concepts either.

He missed Flutterpetal very dearly

I wonder if you ever watch me training her, the same way you once trained me... I miss you
he quietly prayed to himself looking up at the sky.

To her, it probably looked like he was just being goofy yet again dazing up into nothingness.


He shook his head suddenly snapping out of the past.

"hmm I found a little place over here that is more-so clear of all the snow and ice so it will be a decent enough spot

He really did wish he could have taken her to the flower fields and they could practice on the soft, tall grass of windclan's true home... The flowers all around them and the rolling hills ... this place was nothing like that at all. It was what he had though and he would do his bestest ever to use it to make her as ready as possible for any fight that came her way.

"Cloudypaw? Before we even begin... I want to tell you something. he meowed softly sitting by her side.

"I am going to train you how to fight, how to use your claws and your teeth as weapons, how to become a weapon. But not only do you have to learn how to use them, but WHEN to use them as well. he gave a soft little sigh and small smile to her reassuring her. The story he was going to tell was serious, but he wanted to let her also know it was alright

"My mentor was Flutterpetal, the most loving, caring cat I have known in a long time.
He loved to pick flowers, race me up and down the hills of our old home. Do you know how he died? he gave a little pause looking out over the lake wanting to be lost for a second before continuing,

"he died in a battle with shadowclan. Both clans lost a lot of warriors that day. The reason I tell you this... is because one day you might have to fight for windclan. But I tell you this too because I miss Flutterpetal every day. And I am willing to bet... some poor shadowclanner misses their loved ones that also never got to come home as well"

He looked back to his apprentice and gave her a soft tap on her shoulder,

"so, while I teach you to become a weapon, remember that you can never take back a claw swipe across your opponent, you can never undo the damage that you deal. Remember the code my apprentice, an honorable warrior fights for their home but does not have to kill their enemy."

He stood and walked a short distance away from her and showed her the very basic paw swiping movements, demonstrating how to balance on her three paws freeing up the forth to swing. How to protect her throat by keeping her chin down, tail tucked in to reduce her target area.

After covering the most basic of things he nodded. "good... now let me see you do one of the moves I taught you now. You can try it on me even, just remember not to claw" he chuckled and stood in front of her and winced a little giggling for her to smack at him with her front paw blow move.


"and i'll show you an idea I had for you right after this too


She can use any of the moves you would like. To get our req of me teaching you and you learning it just has to be any valid move, so you do not have to do front paw strike if you do not want to, as long as it is unlocked by apprentice :)

Cloudypaw smiled wide at his jovial spirit. She felt like she could be her true, genuine self around her mentor! His outgoing personality made it easy for her to breathe, metaphorically speaking, unlike some cats in the clan that made her feel like she was carefully trodding on fragile mouse bones. As he started to explain sparring, she stood still. Her ears perked and her eyes sparkling with interest, still softly smiling from his playfulness. Her whiskers twitched in amusement when he abruptly lifted his head to look at the sky under the assumption it was just Eaglefly being... well, Eaglefly! "That makes sense! I didn't realize that we trained how to fight like that." She purred, realizing how silly she sounded immediately after. "So, no claws." She vowed quietly, mostly to herself. It reminded her of the play fights she'd have with her brother, Galepaw. Oh, how that thought stings now. She flicked her ear, silently wondering if Galepaw had already sparred but had failed to tell her about it.

She padded to the little place that he pointed out after a curt nod, staying right by his side. She was curious why he had chosen this clearing in particular, and the longing look in his eyes told her the answer. The forest territory - home, in theory. She had never seen it. The territory beside the lake was all she had ever known. The older cats around her spoke of returning home eventually but it gave her nothing but dread. This was her home!

As he sat down, he said a few scary words about 'telling her something'. With Morningmoon, this always meant she was in trouble. And in recent cases, this meant someone was going to hurt her. The concern was probably spread across her face as she sat down with him. Did he know she was leaving the camp at night occasionally? That'd be ridiculous. She studied his face as she sat next to him, anxiously waiting for him to get to the point. She felt relieved when it was still on the topic of sparring, and her body relaxed. She nodded as he spoke, watching him intently.

As he mentioned his mentor, her eyes widened. Did he look up at the sky because of Flutterpetal? Embarrassment flashed in her eyes and her ears felt hot, and she leaned down to give her chest a quick lick to reassure herself. Hopefully, he didn't see her whiskers twitch. "I'm really sorry about Flutterpetal." She mewed softly. This seemed hard on him, though he tried to keep it light with the tap. "I bet he's so, so proud of you in StarClan. You're the best warrior I've ever met!"

The idea of fighting was such an unfamiliar concept to her. She had never witnessed a true border skirmish or seen warriors of other clans except at the gathering. Further, her adventures with Gorge outside the borders made territories just seem silly. Wasn't every cat just in this together? Eaglefly's words echoed in her mind, an honorable warrior fights for their home but does not have to kill. "Thank you, Eaglefly. For telling me. It's a lot for me to process," She admitted, "I'll never use my claws to end a life on purpose." She shuddered, thinking about the possibility of accidentally doing it.

She shook her head to clear her thought process when he padded away. She immediately stood up, watching him closely. As he demonstrated each move, she mimicked it the best she could. However, when he suggested using the move on him that's when she hesitated. She looked at him blankly for a brief moment. Oh, right! Sparring. "Here I come, Eaglefly!" She teased playfully, her eyes now sparkling with mischief.

She remembered the hunting training in the medicine den and the disappointment she felt right after she missed her leap. She wanted to try again this time, with Eaglefly as the target. She dropped to a crouch, just like he had taught her. Within a few heartbeats, she had launched herself at her mentor with sheathed claws.

Cloudypaw used Jumping Strike on Eaglefly, dealing 9 (6 + 3 for first attack) and costing 7 stamina.

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

Eaglefly
41/50 HP (-9)
120/120 SP