[Fawn]

24 Moons. She-Cat. NightClan.

No I won't apologize for the fire in my eyes

---

Hollystorm knew this day would come. As soon as she'd been given an apprentice of her own, Hollystorm had determined her father would want to test her abilities as a mentor. Push her to be better. Push her to live up to his legacy. Hollystorm was determined to rise to the challenge - though admittedly, it wasn't all up to her.

Blackwolf's opinions of his daughter's capabilities would be decided by how well Coalpaw did in this sparring session. He was the older apprentice, but Darkpaw had been trained by Blackwolf personally, and as much Hollystorm hated to admit this, he was a more experienced mentor with moons of battles under his claws.

It is because of this that she woke early, dusk was still settling in, and pulled Coalpaw out of his nest without ceremony. Just as she'd suspected, Darkpaw's nest was empty - and her father had gone out early to get more sparring practice in.

Hollystorm hissed in annoyance, then forced herself to stay focused on what she could control, not what she couldn't. What she could control was Coalpaw. "No food yet. After your battle with Darkpaw. Pick up your feet, we're going out into the forest."

A new temporary training spot had been designated by Pinewhisker the other day, and Hollystorm had already done well to memorize it's location. No doubt Blackwolf was already there. Already confident of his win.

Hollystorm made an impatient flick of her tail, and left camp with Coalpaw.

---

Let me show you my true colors
It ain't your rainbow

Word Count: 256 Words
Tags: Hellion @jet (Pinewhisker mention)

---

70 Moons. Senior Warrior. Tom. NightClan.
-
First, No Sequel

"Again," ordered Blackwolf coolly, circling the dark tortoiseshell with to keep an eye on her stance. They were practicing dodges and sideways rolls until she could do it perfectly. Blackwolf didn't care about testing Darkpaw's abilities against Coalpaw - that was a warm-up. Darkpaw was going to be tested against a young NightClan warrior of his choosing if she performed well enough.

One black ear swiveled to the sound of approaching paw-steps, and he watched as Hollystorm, her green eyes gleaming in the dusky light, joined them with Coalpaw at her side.

"She's good," Hollystorm mewed, watching Darkpaw.

Blackwolf snorted, derisive. "Of course she is." He watched with satisfaction as irritation flared across his daughter's face briefly - before she got it under control. Her eyes narrowed coolly. "Still... Good luck," was her reply.

The senior warrior raised his voice then, addressing Darkpaw and Coalpaw. "Take your places. When I give the word, I want you to fight. Claws out. Don't rip each other to shreds - but a little blood is fine."

This was a simulation of a proper battle. The sooner Coalpaw and Darkpaw got used to pain - as well as inflicting pain on others - the better. They wouldn't get squirrelly when a real attack happened.

Blackwolf's eyes narrowed, and he stiffly settled back to watch the brawl.
"Now!"

Do the Math, No Equal

---
Word Count: 207 Words
Tags: @zen
Notes:

[Deleted]

I need attention, feed my addiction.
I want the action, satisfaction...

---

Blackwolf had woken her earlier than normal, early for NightClan anyway. Today would be a day full of sparring, if all went well, and she was determined that it WOULD go well. How could it not? She and her sisters certainly weren't poor hunters by any standards, but battle is where all three of them really excelled. The impulsive, downright dangerous ideas that often leapt to the fore of Darkpaw's mind while hunting, such as leaping from a tree to catch a passing crow, only served to make her a more creative and less predictable opponent in battle.

Though she would never admit it, she had heard plenty of stories of Blackwolf's battle prowess, though she had never witnessed it herself, not for real, only in practice, and so she followed his direction obediently as they got in some practice before her real opponent arrived. It didn't matter who it was, losing was not an option, so when Hollystorm and Coalpaw arrived she did not stop her practice to acknowledge them until Blackwolf raised his voice to get them into place for the fight.

Shaking out her fur, Darkpaw eyed Coalpaw as she stalked to her own place, sizing him up. She had never faced him before and he was nearly a warrior, as well as Dimstar's son, which may or may not count for anything. He had size on her, but only a couple more moon of experience under an inexperienced mentor. Hollystorm may have been Blackwolf's daughter, but she hadn't been trained by him.

She wasn't worried. She knew how to deal with opponents that had size advantages over her, it was something all apprentices should have been taught early on, seeing as they were smaller than most any warrior they would ever come across. She was confident her own natural skill couple with Blackwolf's more experienced mentoring would counter Coalpaw's extra few moons of training. Unsheathing her claws, Darkpaw was already planning her first move, and her second, and possibly her third if all went according to plan.

She shot forward as Blackwolf indicated that they could begin, giving Coalpaw no more time to assess her or plan his own first move. If he wasn't ready for her by now, he never would be, and this battle would be over quickly. She aimed a blow at his face, but it was only a feint. With her claws unsheathed, she had no desire to do that amount of damage to a Clanmate, but Coalpaw wouldn't know that. Unless he moved into it like a complete frogbrain, her claws wouldn't touch him even if he stayed still. She just wanted to see how he would react, judge which way he preferred to dodge, how quickly he could counter.

---

I like to thrill you, I am what inspires.
Let you explode in a cosmic fire.

Fawn
Hellion

[Hellion]

Coalpaw! NightClan Apprentice Twelve Moons TAG Fawn @zen WORDS count here NOTES say something nice

Coalpaw respected Hollystorm, but he disliked how she tried to impress her father all the time. It was perhaps the most troublesome quality he found in his mentor. As she woke him up and hurried him along he wanted to protest, but held his tongue. It would be wasted energy. Keeping his mouth shut and staying close to her, he couldn't help what threatened to leave his mouth. He forced himself to focus on not trailing behind and just recite what he wanted to say. "If you had kept up with my training instead of flirting with Sunpulse you wouldn't be so anxious about this sparring," Summed up the gist of it, a sly smile warmed his face as he got lost in his thoughts. Arriving before Blackwolf and Darkpaw, Coal offered a polite greeting to the older warrior and apprentice. He knew of Blackwolf considering the older tom had trained his mother. Would Blackwolf look down on him if he couldn't hold his own against Darkpaw. He knew he was older but Coalpwas wasn't going to take that for granted. It was the amount of training that mattered. He had the basic and some natural abilities but Coalpaw wasn't a fighter. He followed after his mother's pawsteps and preferred to hunt. He didn't expect to win my any means but he also didn't want to be blamed for losing. It wasn't entirely his fault. Listening carefully to Blackwolf's instructions, he let his claws scrap against the ground for a bit. He wasn't afraid of the pain that would be inflicted on him. He was more concerned about his mother's reaction once she saw him. The ebony warrioress fussed a little too much over him, but it was something he had grown used to. Hearing Blackwolf's word to start, Coalpaw narrowed his focused on Darkpaw. She came toward him, paws outstreched to strike. As a counter Coalpaw moved back to put more distance between them. His goal was to defend from her attacks until he found an opening of his own. He didn't have the skills to overwhelm her but he was confident he had the stamina to outlast her. Keeping out of her reach might look like a coward's way but Coalpaw had some sort of plan. The likelihood of it working was still undetermined.

MADE BY VEL OF GS, WW + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

I need attention, feed my addiction.
I want the action, satisfaction...

---

Coalpaw moved back to avoid her claws, disappointing her with no real counter. If all he was going to do was dodge this was going to be a boring battle indeed. Her gaze narrowed in annoyance as she moved forward with him. This was supposed to be a spar, not a game of chase. Well, if he was going to run, perhaps she could lead him. She looked to his right shoulder, crouched slightly, giving clear signals that she was about to aim a strike there, but not so obvious that he would notice if he wasn't actively looking for signs as to her next move. And if he wasn't doing that, then just what was his mentor teaching him?

Instead, she lunged left, her fiery orange gaze switching to his left paw at the last moment as she dove for it, hoping to unbalance him and create an opening for a better strike if he fell for her trick and moved into an attack he wasn't expecting. She likely wouldn't be able to pull off the trick more than once; if he had any brains at all he would figure it out after this, so she was ready to act and make it count if it worked. But it was a trick even an experienced warrior could fall for once, especially when it was pulled off by a 9 moon old apprentice who they might think wouldn't know better than to look directly at the next place they planned to attack.

---

I like to thrill you, I am what inspires.
Let you explode in a cosmic fire.

Fawn
Hellion

[Hellion]

Coalpaw! NightClan Apprentice Twelve Moons TAG @zen Fawn WORDS 180? NOTES coal doesn't like Holly =P

Coalpaw braced to protect his right side but her strike to his left resulted in him stumbling back. Humiliation burned in his face as he glared. Dim amber eyes betraying a look of hurt. He wasn't hurt by the blow, it stung but nothing too painful. Coalpaw was clearly more hurt by the lack of his own training. Twelve moons and falling for a trick. He was annoyed at Hollystorm now more then ever! Looking briefly to his mentor, Coalpaw wanted nothing more then to growl and tell her off but knew he had to focus again. Letting the angry build for Hollystorm, he directed it toward Darkpaw. Using his honed skill of hunting, Coalpaw crouched low and pretend Darkpaw was a small bird. He darted forward to leap onto her in order to engage in closer combat. He was fueled with anger and humiliation he paid little attention to where her claws were, instead he just went for it.

MADE BY VEL OF GS, WW + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

I need attention, feed my addiction.
I want the action, satisfaction...

---

He had fallen for it! Darkpaw's tail lashed once in satisfaction, her arrogance getting the better of her. It might have even been a problem if Coalpaw wasn't also letting his anger get the better of him. Countless times before in training Blackwolf had used her arrogance against her, sometimes he even set her up for it, letting her get a strike in, inflating her ego, making her think she was better than she was only to prove her wrong. It was starting to sink in, she was beginning to keep it under control, but she wasn't fighting Blackwolf. She wasn't even fighting a warrior. Caution was thrown to the wind.

She darted forward as he crouched, unknowingly planning a very similar move. He was low, she could get on top of him easily if she moved fast enough, get his ruff in her teeth and force a surrender, end this battle almost as soon as it had begun, but he moved faster than she had expected. He leaped, but Darkpaw didn't stop moving, ducking low. His paws grazed her as she slipped beneath him and skidded to a halt, throwing her hind legs up at him as hard as she could in a back kick that would connect with a vulnerable belly if she was lucky. If she could knock the wind out of him, she would create an even better opening for herself.

---

I like to thrill you, I am what inspires.
Let you explode in a cosmic fire.

Fawn
Hellion