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Post by Fawn on Feb 1, 2015 12:53:47 GMT -5
 A shadow with teeth and claws lurked within the thick, unnamed plant that covered the pond, obscuring the warrior from view while keeping his own sights clear. He had instructed Nightpaw to meet him in the Pine needle Clearing for battle training, and after hunting for the Clan, he had left early, circling back so that he could lie in wait for his apprentice's eventual passing. She had better be on guard. He wouldn't tolerate any more of this lackadaisical approach to her training; if Nightpaw wanted to become a fully fledged member of the Clan, then she was going to have to learn how to fight like one. If this meant she had to embrace an unhealthy amount of paranoia for the first few moons - so be it; he could keep jumping out at her, keep surprising her until her reflexes improved. Blackwolf could have tried a less antagonistic approach, but that wasn't realistic, she needed to be frightened, and then taught how to recover quickly from that fright so she doesn't miss her opportunity to counterstrike.
One would think, that after sustaining injuries as well as becoming a new father, Blackwolf would have little attention to spare the would-be-warrior any time at all, but with those new responsibilities and his wounds nicely healed, he had more time than ever. Parenthood was nice and all - but it was Ghostlight who was, presently, doing all the work. They were learning how to squeak loudly and crawl farther and had some sense of direction; they were cute, make no mistake, he loved the little furballs as only a father could, but they were... a little boring. He still brought Ghostlight prey in the morning and at night, of course. He'd keep his family fed and well looked after - but that didn't mean he was suddenly pressed for time in other areas. Once they became more of a handful, Blackwolf would consider putting aside his mentoring duties for a while, intending to focus all of his tutoring on Hollykit, Coyotekit and Bonekit.
But for now, Nightpaw was his one non-blood-related obligation, and that obligation had better be hurrying to meet with him - he wasn't in the mood to put up with tardiness - or else she wasn't going to hear the end of it.
Word Count: 381 Words
Tags: @nadia
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2015 2:00:33 GMT -5
NIGHTPAW of NightClan
09 Moons. She-Cat. Apprentice
Earlier that morning, Blackwolf had woken Nightpaw to tell her that there would be a training session later after the he went hunting. She agreed to the time and the place and she started to do her chores for the day. The first thing she did was eat, and she grabbed a mouse from the kill pile and ate it quickly before she buried the bones. She then went to the Elder's Den and she grabbed the old and messed up nests. She then went and found some new moss for the nests and she made them for the elders. She chuckled lightly when all they wanted to do was tell her stories and she waited for it to be the right time to go to her lesson. She was kind of nervous though, for she knew that Blackwolf was disappointed in how she acted at the border skirmish with TreeClan. She was just happy to see that the slash she had gotten was healed, even if it was a scar the she would hold onto for the rest of her life now though.
She then started toward the pond, which was where Blackwolf wanted the training today. As she walked, she thought of how she acted, and she knew that she couldn't hold this scar with true pride of happiness, all she did was get used as bait, and thrash in Blackfire's jaws. The thought of the other she-cat though made her growl lowly before she shook her head. The TreeCalnner was not here, so there was no point in being mad about it right now. But as for where she was supposed to meet Blackwolf, she was there, but he wasn't. She decided that now would be the time to use her tracking skills. She took a deep breath and sorted the scents. She found Blackwolf's and she followed it.
As she did, she though of how the mentor was no a father as well. She wondered how he was fairing with that. She had never thought that she would see Blackwolf have a mate, let alone kits. But the three little kits were cute and adorable, and she hoped to be friends with one of them, but she knew that right now was not the best time for that. Right now was the time to focus on finding her mentor, and finishing her training.
Fawn |
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Post by Fawn on Feb 13, 2015 9:06:36 GMT -5
Blackwolf jumped out just as Nightpaw passed by his hiding location, his claws extending as he made to take a punishing swipe at her tail. Better pay closer attention, Nightpaw! It wasn't even as though these were drastic times that could possibly justify his more aggressive means towards her training; no, this was purely his own training strategy that was coming into play, and the lessons taught by Blackwolf of NightClan were not necessarily for the faint of heart. She had located him by scent, and had started to approach the right direction - but the warrior-in-training was given no extra acknowledgment for something he felt even the youngest of apprentices should've been able to do.
Awaiting to see how she handled his ambush, Blackwolf wisely kept his claws away from her shoulder; all the time he'd spent training her would be wasted if the wound was reopened, not to mention that medicine cat of theirs would have something to say to him about it. Gold and blue eyes focused on the she-cat's startled face, he wore a brutish sort of smirk. "Get used to this, Nightpaw. You're going to be ambushed for the next six sunrises until you can defend yourself!" Blackwolf thought back to his training sessions with Tigerscar; the old warlord had had little patience for him, close to retirement as he was, but that didn't mean he was unable to transform Blackwolf into the clawed terror that he was today.
'Again, until it's second nature to you.' He could hear that terse growl in his ear, that one piece of instructions having been the background noise to his apprenticeship; no matter what he was taught, no matter how he asked to learn or do something else, 'learn it until it's second nature' was Tigerscar's mantra - and it hadn't taken Blackwolf long to understand why. Repetition created muscle memory, which, when it comes down to a fight or a hunt, meant that he could trust his body to respond even when his thoughts were elsewhere or he was taken by surprise. He was the least likely to be thrown off guard - because his instincts had been hammered into him that any sign of trouble from anything that wasn't NightClan was reason to throw up an iron-tight guard at the twitch of a whisker.
Nightpaw would only graduate from this particularly unrelenting training technique when she could prove to him otherwise that she didn't need it. He'd make a warrior of her yet, a fighter and a hunter both that NightClan could be proud of. It was, Blackwolf noted, interesting that she'd shared the same name with the Clan she'd been born in; it had always been the name he'd chosen for Coyotekit, before Ghostlight's kitting-induced-fatigue had robbed him of his desire to argue with her.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2015 10:17:31 GMT -5
NIGHTPAW of NightClan
09 Moons. She-Cat. Apprentice
She had a feeling that something was not right, and that feeling came true the moment Blackwolf jumped from a shrub and swiped at her tail. But instead of defending herself, she jumped away quickly scared for her life. She didn't know what was going on, but she stared at Blackwolf, with fear in her eyes as she shook from the tremors that were from that fear. She couldn't even find her voice to express how mean that was, but then, she had been warned when Blackwolf was named as her mentor, so she knew that rudeness and mean behavior was going to be apart of the training. But for it to come from a tom who just had a litter of kits, that is what scared her the most, he would probably be even more deadly right now, especially if someone was to threaten those kits.
When the tremors finally stopped, her right ear flicked to the tom as he spoke. "Get used to this, Nightpaw. You're going to be ambushed for the next six sunrises until you can defend yourself!" She just stared before she spoke, her voice a little shaky. "Y-yes Blackwolf." She didn't know what else to say, or what else to do, she was just happy that the scare was finally leaving her system. She could tell that he was thinking of something, just by the way that he was acting.
But him thinking like that might have scared her, if she wasn't already. But she kept on her paws, and she even unsheathed her claws as she waited for anything that the tom would throw at her. She was about to redeem herself from that pathetic act that she had just displayed. She didn't want to show that she was a complete mess, so she waited, and watched, very carefully.
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Post by Fawn on Feb 15, 2015 14:03:16 GMT -5
He'd known she would react like that, but it still irritated him - a voice in the back of his mind had dared to be slightly optimistic that she would disappoint him slightly less than usual, but that hadn't happened. "If you're going to retreat, at least make it look like you know what you're doing, not like a frightened little kit who wandered too far out of camp." A jet black tail lashed in time with this scathing bit of advice, the warrior moving fluidly into a demonstration of a proper defensive roll; he lowered to the ground and rolled his weight to the left, using his shoulder to take the brunt of the strain, pressing up from the ground and back into a standing position. "Roll out of the way if you think somecat's about to land on you, then strike immediately. Don't roll with your claws out." He didn't bother to say 'after you distinguish friend from foe' because, if she knew what was good for her, she wouldn't be making friends out of cats who weren't NightClan - and her nose worked perfectly fine, last he'd checked.
Any cat springing out to get the jump on her was likely there to hurt her, not make friends or play some sort of joke. With a name like Nightpaw, it was imperative, in the bicolored eyes of the Clan's fiercest warrior that she embodied her name properly, that she lived up to the prickly reputation of a Clan that had once been called ShadowClan. He didn't expect a personality change, but he did expect her instincts to be sharpened, he expected her to perform like she had any inkling of an idea as to what she was doing; Blackwolf had been training apprentices long enough to know when he had a potential battle champion on his paws, and Nightpaw, unfortunately, didn't show the signs.
What she was, however, was fast and a good hunter. If she'd use her nose and speed a little more, she could make her Clan proud. Remaining standing, Blackwolf watched and waited, expecting her to practice that move until he was satisfied she'd done it correctly; muscle memory was going to be the thing that saved her life someday. She'd thank him, a few moons down the road, for being so hard on her. As for right now, well... Blackwolf forced back a smirk. Nightpaw probably thought he was mad at her.
And he was. But more than that, he was obstinate about teaching her everything she needed to know in order to survive.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2015 22:33:47 GMT -5
NIGHTPAW of NightClan
09 Moons. She-Cat. Apprentice
She could hear the venom and anger in the tom's vocals and she hide her cringe. But at being called a scared kit, her claws unsheathed and dug into the ground. The more she thought about it, the more she was starting to hate his criticism and the way he was always mad at her. She flicked her tail with anger as she listened to him then watched him. She watched closely to his movements and she remembered each step and roll and where they went. She was ready to show him the she deserved her name. She had heard talk among the other apprentices about how she didn't deserve to be named Nightpaw. They whispered that she was a disgrace and needed to be renamed for she didn't uphold that legacy. Well now was her time to show differently.
I will show you all. At his command, she lowered herself to the ground and she threw her weight to her left. She was grateful that the roll was to her left, that way her left shoulder took the strain from when she pushed herself back to her paws. She had made sure that her claws had stayed sheathed, and she did the roll again and again, each time, her eyes never left her mentor and they showed that she was mad, but that she was determined as well. Each time she did the move, she got better.
She rolled twice more before she stopped, panting, and just waited for Blackwolf to say something. She had the feeling that she was doing good at it, and she wanted to learn a new move. She was tired of repeating that move over and over already. She focused now on catching her breath as she waited. She took the moment to let her gaze glance over the ponds and she used her nose to sort out the different scents as well. She wasn't about to let anything sneak up on her again, she was done with surprises for now.
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Post by Fawn on Feb 22, 2015 9:22:06 GMT -5
He saw the change in his apprentice, watching with an inwardly gloating sense of satisfaction that Nightpaw had begun to work harder, his 'tough love' approach (that is, frequent criticism) having paid off exactly as he'd expected it to. "Good, now stop." Blackwolf's eyes had never left her form, watching as she crouched and rolled again and again and again; the first couple hadn't been worth watching, but as she progressed, her muscles getting used to this kind of movements, her body remembering exactly what she was supposed to do, Nightpaw's rolling grew more natural.
Blackwolf, satisfied, gave a flick of his tail, allowing her to catch her breath for a few heartbeats. "Now to the right side." It wasn't as if an opponent would always attack from her left side; versatility meant versatility, she had to think on her feet and be able to move in any direction, that was the difference between a proper fighter and a warrior who did whatever they were told and only used the bare minimum of battle techniques (either to the fault of the mentor or a lack of common sense in the apprentice). Obedience was regarded with high marks, but ingenuity was regarded with higher, in the gold and blue eyes of the NightClan champion. He did not make her roll to the right side for very long, just enough to get the muscle memory started; he always preferred a more in-depth teaching method when it came to specific techniques. She was going to have to roll out of the way or risk getting squished.
"Stay on your guard. Use your senses, Nightpaw. Watch, listen, look, scent." It was time to give homage to the ambush pond's name; Blackwolf stepped into the surrounding vegetation, black tail the last thing seen as he vanished amongst the foliage. NightClan may have been known for a swamp-like stench surrounding them, but this scent was home, to Blackwolf, the cool tastes of earth, marsh water and the aromatic scent of pine blended together and overlaid his own individually masculine scent. It would be hard to pick out, but nothing a little concentration couldn't detect. Keeping her in his sights, Blackwolf counted to ten.
Then, he sprang, claws sheathed (no warrior with half a brain attacked with their claws out when jumping from so far away, one nasty landing and you could shatter a claw or twist a paw) upon the apprentice, a singular rapid movement. She would be getting no praise from him, in the event that she cowered again, in fact, Blackwolf was the kind of warrior who would punish her with cleaning out the elders' bedding rather than say 'too bad, better luck next time'. In combat, there wasn't always a next time. If you didn't get it right the first time but were granted the chance to go home and improve, then you'd have to keep working, keep slaving away at these combat moves - because they were going to be the ones that saved your life - and, in the proper circumstances, take another's.
Word Count: 514 Words
Tags: @nadia
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2015 2:05:39 GMT -5
NIGHTPAW of NightClan
09 Moons. She-Cat. Apprentice
"Good, now stop." When she stopped, she felt a small tingle in her left side, and she knew that it was just because she had been doing the same movement over and over and that her muscles were learning. She thought nothing of it and she just waited for her next command. She took the silence and the few moments as the tom thought, to catch her breath and to slow her breathing a little. She didn't realize how out of breath she was until she actually stopped moving. It was amazing on what all could happen while just doing a simple movement over and over again.
"Now to the right side." She knew that it was for training, but she also knew that this was gonna be a bit harder for her, but she didn't care at the time. She crouched and she started to roll to the right just like how she had rolled to the left. Each time she hit the ground with her right shoulder, she felt some pain, but it wasn't as bad as she would have thought it was. The first couple of rolls, Blackwolf could probably see a flinch in her face, but after the third roll, that pain seemed to be replaced with the heat of learning. Her muscles were soon starting to feel the same on both sides, and she kept going. She wasn't going to stop until Blackwolf told her to.
She watched as he stepped into the vegetation around them and started to blend in. This was the next part of the training. He didn't tell her too, but she stopped her rolls and she closed her eyes for a moment to calm herself. She watched her surroundings and listened to everything around her. After a few moments, all she heard was the movement of the small animals moving around, but her ear flicked to a sound that was larger and more menacing. That was when Blackwolf sprang out at her and she made no thought. She knew that his claws were sheathed and she quickly crouched and threw her weight to her left shoulder and she rolled out of the way before she sprang back to her paws and thought before she made her own movements.
He hadn't said anything about her not being able to attack back, so she sprang at him, with her own claws sheathed. She was moving toward his back legs as she wouldn't be surprised if he moved quicker than her, but she knew that it was worth a try to try and impress him right?
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Post by Fawn on Mar 1, 2015 9:22:28 GMT -5
It was with a fervor that would have shocked onlookers that Blackwolf burst from cover; half-anticipating Nightpaw to crumple under the scare of such a heated attack, it was a decent surprise when the she-cat, burning with a desire to prove herself, not only executed a successful left-side shoulder-roll, but unsheathed her claws and proceeded to attack him. Good. She's learning. Blackwolf's pride was intact whether an apprentice of his failed or succeeded, his ego was an immovable thing, like a boulder in a stream, it would take years to wear down, if it ever did; the reverse, however, that it could grow larger and more solid than it already was, was something that could happen. Having a pupil that actually wasn't as mousebrained as she looked was going to change how he looked at her, and how he viewed his own teaching methods; they could call him strict and overzealous, but if they had seen Nightpaw a few hours ago, they would've been bowing down to his mentoring prowess after what she'd just done.
With moons upon moons of experience, and the flint-hard philosophy that apprentices didn't need to be coddled, Blackwolf avoided her blows with ease, proceeding to showcase another battle move in his long and detailed repertoire of fighting techniques. With a well-aimed swipe of his front paw, he knocked the she-kitten's legs out from under her, his paw now on the back of her neck to keep her pinned, claws unsheathed though he did not pierce her skin or even penetrate the layer of short dark fur that covered her. "You reacted like a warrior. Keep it up and maybe you'll get your ceremony on time." and you'll actually earn that name of yours, too. She had done well to roll at the right time - if she hadn't, he would've crashed into her like the dropping of a tree bough; the trek back to the apprentices den would've been short and mostly painless, but the bruises would've formed in the morning and Nightpaw would've been limping her way out of the den the next day. And if she'd frozen like she had before, then in Blackwolf's opinion, she would've deserved every bruise she got.
Blackwolf lifted his paw and stepped back, the stillness of his tail at last conveying that he wasn't as irritated with her as he had been. "Three more times, then you can rest." The tom rose evenly to a standing position and began to dissolve back into the foliage; though he had entered the bushes on her left side, he would be slinking, silent as a TigerClan warrior, through the vegetation to attack from her right side - really make her use her senses if she was to anticipate his attack.
Word Count: 458 Words
Tags: @nadia
Notes: Since this is just going to be very repetitive, xD you can post one last time with Nightpaw to sort of 'end' the thread, and we'll do something else with them later. She's going to need an assessment soon~ Maybe Blackwolf can arrange a mock battle between Nightpaw and Starlingcry (Blackwolf's last apprentice before Nightpaw). That sound good?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 14:54:34 GMT -5
NIGHTPAW of NightClan
09 Moons. She-Cat. Apprentice
He had moved, just as she had expected, but she kept swatting at him. With each swat, she made sure that her claws were sheathed, for she was not about to cause any injuries. But she did not stop her attacks. But with each movement she made, he made another, and another, and each one was more advanced that she had thrown at him. She didn't mind it, for each time, she watched his moves. But she lost her focus with one attack, and he swept her paws from under her. She felt the pressure of his paw on the back of her neck and she laid still. She knew that this battle was over, even though it wasn't much of a battle. With his words though, she felt a bubble of pride well in her chest.
She was happy to get that praise, for it was something that made her feel like she did right. But with the speed that he had been going when he made the initial attack, she was glad that she rolled, or she would be heavily bruised more than she is already. She could tell that she was sore already, but if he had just barreled into her, well, she would be lucky to be able to get up as soon as he lifted his paw. And once he did, he gave a set of commands to go with it. She rose and saw that his tail was still, which was good in her opinion for that meant that he wasn't irritated with her anymore, or at least not as much.
She watched him slink into the foliage once more, and she calmed herself to listen, look, and scent. She heard his movements to her left, but then, his scent moved to the right. Was it a prank of the wind? That was when he moved toward her and she rolled, but a little late. He clipped her as he had barreled and she fell to the ground, which ended that quickly. But she was ready as he did it twice more, before they went back to camp for the day. As she walked to camp, she felt the soreness of her muscles, but the pride of her being able to please Blackwolf with their training.
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