[Fawn]

GRANITECLAW

Though the mountains were not where Graniteclaw usually looked for tell tale signs of the seasons changing, he had no choice but to confront the truth of the matter everywhere he went; the leaves on the trees were beginning to change, and the sunhighs were not quite so hot. Whatever wildlife dwelt on this particular section of the mountain had immediately begun their slightly frenzied collection and consumption in preparation for the unwelcome season that came after leaf-fall.

Graniteclaw was inwardly dreading the possibility of spending Leafbare in the mountains, particularly when the temperatures up here drop significantly in comparison with their own stone-encrusted home turf; he was worried for the kits and the elders, not for himself despite having such a thin pelt.

Striding out of the makeshift camp, the warrior kept up the lead, three cats of varying sizes accompanying him into the surrounding mountainside brush, the distinctive geographical shapes and smells having become 'familiar' now, despite Graniteclaw's initial reluctance to embrace this place.

It wasn't just the landscape that had changed dramatically in preparation for the upcoming season – the cats of the recovering StoneClan had seen their fair share of metamorphosis, but none more-so in the yellow-green eyes of Graniteclaw than Windpaw, his own cherished apprentice. He'd seen her transform from a rambunctious kitten into a smart, intelligent, full-bodied she-cat who was more than ready to embrace her future as a warrior; there was just one last thing that needed to be done before he could appeal to Hawkstar about a ceremony.

Padding alongside him was Scorchedfoot, a seasoned veteran in the ways of the Clan and the mentor to Cardinalpaw, who was also in attendance, and then there was Windpaw, whose strength and endurance was likely more than enough to rival her opponent's – this upcoming battle would reveal everything. Once they were beyond the familiar clutch of stones that had likely fallen down the mountain many many moons ago, Scorchedfoot took the lead, bringing the small group to more level ground, the texture rather gravelly and with sparse vegetation – much like their old battle training grounds back in StoneClan's territory.

”This is good.” Grunted old Scorchedfoot, and Cardinalpaw raced forward excitedly, claws flexing as he got a feel for the chosen battlefield.

Graniteclaw watched him momentarily before speaking up, conscious of Windpaw nearby. ”Should we warm up or wait until Eagletalon gets here?” With Wolfclaw so busy these days, it would be Hawkstar's closest friend who conducted the battle assessment.

”No need for the latter!” called a battle-scarred tom jumping down from the same rocks they'd just passed. ”I'm already here, you can begin warming up.”

A polite nod was exchanged all around, and the mentors went off to one side of the gravel patch to give the participants some room.

OOC: @littleflower - here, figured we should get Windpaw's last training thread taken care of, so she can become a warrior alongside Oceanpaw.

[Deleted]

WINDPAW

 

StoneClan || Apprentice

It's amazing how much can change just six moons. Six moons ago, Windpaw had been a new apprentice; young, naïve, her brown tabby pelt still kitten-soft. Now, Windpaw was a new cat. Her pelt had grown long and silky, her paw pads hardened by long days out on StoneClan's rocky territory. She was smarter, her reflexes lightning-quick, perfect for out on the battlefield.
Battle. How the long-furred tabby longed to feel the wind in her fur, to bear the blood of a beaten enemy on her paws, to return to camp with the rest of the battle-worn StoneClan warriors, head held high. But Windpaw had yet to experience true battle, she’d been forced to flee when the combined forces of RainClan and LightningClan had attacked StoneClan’s camp back in the valley.

Windpaw knew, as she padded alongside Graniteclaw, Scorchedfoot and fellow apprentice, Cardinalpaw, on their way to the mountains' solution to StoneClan's old battle training grounds, that it wasn't long until she'd be receiving her warrior name. Just the thought of being a warrior made Windpaw quiver with excitement. Her whole life had been leading up to becoming a warrior and now, the day of her warrior ceremony was so close, the StoneClan apprentice could almost reach out and touch it.

When the four cats reached their destination, Windpaw was one of the first to dart forwards and let her bright amber orbs wander what was to be the site of today's battle assessment. She wanted to make sure she knew her ground like the back of her paw, the brown tabby apprentice didn't want to be caught off guard and stumble on a root and fail her assessment because of it.

”Should we warm up or wait until Eagletalon gets here?"
Upon hearing her mentor's mew, Windpaw glanced up, amber gaze scouring their surroundings for the named warrior. She was just about to reply, when she spotted the battle-scarred tom making his way towards them. ”No need for the latter! I'm already here, you can begin warming up."

Windpaw inhaled and exhaled, focusing her mind for the battle ahead. Until now, Windpaw had been feeling quietly confident, but now that she was at last here, the nerves suddenly came rushing through her. Focus, Windpaw. This is it; what you've been training for. Go on, show them what you've got!
Banishing her nerves to the back of her mind, Windpaw flexed her claws eagerly, amber gaze drifting to her opponent. The brown tabby apprentice hadn't seen Cardinalpaw fighting before, so she didn't know his strengths or weaknesses, I guess I'll just have to find them when we're actually fighting.

Windpaw was being surprisingly quite; mainly because of the many nerves, nibbling at her conscious like hungry mice. Taking one final breath, Windpaw stepped forward, meeting Cardinalpaw's gaze evenly. She Flashed a confident, white-fanged smile her opponent's way, "Right, let's go!"
She got into a basic battle stance, adrenalin racing through her veins, her blood up and pumping. She nodded to her opponent to make the first move. You can do this, Windpaw, you can do this.

[Fawn]

GRANITECLAW

The moment the battle commenced, Graniteclaw felt his chest tighten and his breath quicken in a surprising amount of anxiety; relax, wheedled the sensible side of himself that knew he shouldn't be worried. She knows what she's doing, and you trained her well. This newfound anxiety had nothing to do with his pride as a mentor or how good he was at being a StoneClan cat – it had everything to do with the fear that he might not have prepared her properly, that he had missed some crucial battle move that Cardinalpaw would display and Windpaw wouldn't know how to react to. That he had somehow made an error in his teachings, and now his first ever apprentice was going to get defeated on in a battle assessment and later defeated in a real battle situation due to his own poor job at training her properly.

Graniteclaw smoothed the fur down on his ruffled chest, aware of Scorchedfoot looking at him out of his peripherals, the aged tom chuckling.

”Is she your first apprentice?” he murmured, and Graniteclaw, not willing to tear his eyes away from the fight – Cardinalpaw had decided to attack first, his incredibly quick movements seeming almost unexpected for such an excitable tom – answered without looking. ”Yes. What number is Cardinalpaw?”

”He'll be my eighth,” rasped the old cat, and the stone gray tom finally did look over at him, not so much out of surprise but out of a kind of awe-inspired respect, dipping his head sincerely to acknowledge the much more senior mentor. To have trained eight apprentices...
I'll bet he's not even worried.

The stony gray tom straightened, gazing back at the battling apprentices with a newfound kind of fire, willing the duaghter of Warhawk and Pyrelight to succeed. Willing her to show how much she'd learned and how hard she'd worked. Willing her to live up to the expectations placed unfairly upon her shoulders. You can do it Windpaw. We have worked so hard.

Cardinalpaw recovered from the hit he'd received to his chest, and with equal speed and deftness, reached through her defenses to catch her on the jaw, the bigger would-be-warrior intending to stun and subdue her with a few well placed swipes.

Graniteclaw leaned forward, yellowy green eyes narrowed in concentration.

She has to have seen that coming.

But what if she didn't?

[Deleted]

WINDPAW

 

StoneClan || Apprentice

As soon as Cardinalpaw made the first move, Windpaw's mind automatically switched to battle mode. Blood racing through her veins and adrenalin pumping, the brown tabby she-cat reacted to the other apprentice's move with lightning-fast reflexes, darting out of the reach of the excitable young tom.
The brown tabby apprentice quickly responded with a simple frontal paw blow aimed for her opponent's chest, leaping backwards as soon as she had dealt the blow. Amber orbs flickering over the larger apprentice for a moment, seeking out any signs that may reveal his next move, Windpaw kept moving by dancing from paw to paw; a moving target was much more difficult to hit than a motionless one.

Cardinalpaw quickly recovered from his blow to the chest and managed to get past Windpaw's defences and catch her on the jaw. For a heartbeat or so, Windpaw stumbled backwards, caught off guard by the larger tom's move, but she swiftly recovered,  just about managing to dodge several well-placed swipes. Aware of Graniteclaw watching her intently, Windpaw decided to take this battle up another level and she knew exactly how.

Amber orbs narrowing in concentration, Windpaw darted to one side, all her thoughts focused on this battle. Heart racing, the apprentice took a few breaths before springing forwards, paws outstretched and aiming to land on Cardinalpaw's shoulders. Graniteclaw had told her that it was a good move for when your opponent was larger than you, so in this situation, faced against Cardinalpaw, it was an ideal move. But would the other apprentice see it coming?

[Fawn]

GRANITECLAW

Cardinalpaw hunkered down almost as though to let her land on his shoulders - and Graniteclaw's own immediately stiffened, the stone-gray tom sensing what Cardinalpaw was up to - Windpaw's opponent ready to roll with the brown tabby she-cat and likely crush her beneath his back if she wasn't careful.

Graniteclaw would have liked nothing more than to shout out a warning, to foil Cardinalpaw's plans for his apprentice but for one, that would be cheating, and two, how would she learn if she didn't make a few mistakes here and then? Of course, the stone-hued warrior would have preferred it didn't happen during her battle assessment, but if it did, there was nothing that could be done about it. She was an apprentice still, and though he would have vouched for her to StarClan and above if necessary to make her a warrior, there was always a slim chance that he had overestimated her abilities.

Had he placed too much merit in her being the daughter of Warhawk? Had he placed her upon a pedestal far too high?

Careful, Windpaw. Watch him closely.

The tom's tail-tip twitched, his jaw tightening as he let the memories of the past few moons pile upon themselves, solidifying his confidence and strengthening his commitment to Windpaw; she would do well. Even if the assessment didn't go as planned, Graniteclaw had the cuts and bruises to prove that she was fully capable of becoming a warrior, preferably sooner rather than later. She was the real deal, with her father's natural talents for battle and hunting, she was also fast and clear-headed, a throwback to the olden days when they had been WindClan, small but wiry and strong.

She would be a welcome addition to StoneClan's warrior ranks.

OOC: @littleflower - D: So sorry for how long this took! Seriously! I apologize! We can wrap it up pretty soon, I think, you can powerplay/take control of Cardinalpaw if you like.

[Deleted]

Windpaw had already anticipated Cardinalpaw rolling, so when the larger tom went to do just that, the brown tabby she-cat landed one last blow at the back at his head before leaping off, landing nimbly beside Cardinalpaw. There was a brief time space, a few mere seconds, when Cardinalpaw, who was mid-roll, had exposed his vulnerable underbelly.
Seizing the opportunity, Windpaw lunged forward, raking her paw along the underside of her fellow apprentices, making sure to keep her claws sheathed. Cardinalpaw immediately reacted by jolting backwards, quickly scrambling to his paws. For a moment the two opponents eyed each other, neither making a move until heartbeats later, when Cardinalpaw took it upon his paws to bring their battle up another level. He raced forwards and landed a heavy frontal paw blow on Windpaw's head.

Windpaw reeled backwards at the impact, her vision blurry for a moment. C'mon Windpaw, you can do this! she recovered quickly with several front paw strikes aimed at Cardinalpaw's face, his whiskers in particular. Windpaw knew that the whiskers, though they may not seem it, a sensitive area.
The larger apprentice managed to dodge the first blow, but he still found himself suffering the effects of the second and third blows. Hissing in annoyance, Cardinalpaw hurled himself at Windpaw, driven purely by frustration that, though smaller, his opponent was starting to beat him. It was a thoughtless move, the brown tabby she-cat dodging it easily, leaving Cardinalpaw to go flying into the rocks behind her.

Windpaw's immediate reaction was to rush over her fellow apprentice to check if he was alright. Cardinalpaw picked himself up from the rocks, snorting in disgust. The brown tabby StoneClanner went to help him, but he pushed her away, "I don't need your help."
The larger apprentice shook the dust from his pelt, his gaze thick with annoyance at himself. Windpaw took a step back, expecting Cardinalpaw to make his next move, to continue the battle from where they left off, but the other apprentice gave her a shrug, walking off to go see his mentor.
The brown tabby StoneClanner just stood there for a heartbeat, watching Cardinalpaw, a smile creeping to her face. Wait, does that mean I won?

ooc - No worries about the long wait. ^.^ I've been so busy lately, which is why this reply took such a long time. Thankfully everything's calmed down now, but yeah. I wasn't all that sure about taking control of Cardinalpaw, so I hope I did it okay?  Oh, and I couldn't help but notice in your last reply that you wrote about when StoneClan used to be WindClan... This may just be me getting confused, but wasn't it SkyClan that became StoneClan, not WindClan? Sorry, just felt the need to point that out.

[Fawn]

GRANITECLAW

The young tom had been on pins and needles from the moment the fight had begun - forcing himself to take deep, slow breaths in the hopes he might calm some of the nerves flitting about beneath the surface of his calm exterior. Yellow-green eyes had watched the fight with flashes of excitement, worry and of course, pride.

Pride the likes of which he had never felt, as Graniteclaw gazed upon his apprentice, victorious in her assessment fight against a worthy opponent. He allowed himself a smile, even more pleased when Eagletalon nodded approvingly.

"She's got determination." Mewed Scorchedfoot, his tone of voice conveying praise, Graniteclaw's stony gray ears swiveling to catch the senior warrior's words. "She fought well today. You should be proud, Graniteclaw. Not bad for your first apprentice."

Accepting these words heartily, Graniteclaw dipped his head in thanks, finally moving from his spot to wave over the young she-cat with a proud sway of his tail, walking out to meet her halfway.
"Well done, Windpaw!" He mewed, very rarely the energetic sort, but unable to contain himself this time. "I got worried at times, but you showed off all your hard work these past few moons."

Graniteclaw had also noticed how the apprentice had approached Cardinalpaw to help him up, and he was pleased to see that she had not let go of the chivalry her father had been well known for. Warhawk had fully and unconditionally earned his new name, but he had done so fairly and honorably. It was a wonderful thing to see, that trait of decency passed on into his offspring.

Graniteclaw hoped that would carry on well into her warriorhood.

@littleflower - Whoops, you're absolutely right. ^^; They used to be SkyClan, not WindClan! Sorry for how long it took for me to respond to this, seriously. Now we just have to get a hold of Bloo for Windy's ceremony, unless you wanted to bypass it all together?