Training in the Rain [Honeyfern]

Scorpiopaw fell a little bit in love every time she entered the forests of Shadowclan territory. It was always beautifully clam and peaceful. Even if it was currently pouring with rain. One fat droplet of water landed on the she-cat’s nose and she wrinkled it irritably. Scorpiopaw wasn’t the largest fan of rain. It would soak through her pelt and slick to her sides. Besides which, she was off to do training today and a lot of that could involve rolling around in the dirt. The dirt would probably smear against her soaked coat and all of it would end up in clumps!

She gave a disgusted sneeze before her thoughts turned inwards once more. Scorpiopaw though it was saddening that the apprentices could no longer be trained in the glowing hollow. It had been such a nice meadow before the earthquake tore it apart. The lither apprentice jumped lightly over a fallen tree and landed somewhat unbalanced on the other side. Stupid rain, she muttered under her breath. Opening her mouth to try drawing in the scents of the forest, Scorpiopaw tried to pinpoint on where her mentor was. She probably going to ambush me, the young she-cat decided before apprehensively looking over her shoulder. Trying to shrug off a growing sense of paranoia Scorpiopaw continue on her way to the training hollow. Stupid rain.

A prickly feeling tingled across the back of Scorpiopaw’s neck, itching it’s way down her spine. It was not a nice feeling and it only fuelled the growing sense of paranoia coiling inside her belly. Scorpiopaw tried to ignore it, practicing crouching close to the ground as she stalked along. Her tail would rise over her head and she vehemently tried to stop the knee jerk reaction. Her tail could be seen over the grass if she was stalking and it would be useless to go out hunting if the prey kept getting forewarned of the young she-cat’s approach.

With an irritable huff Scorpiopaw gave up. Scuffing her paws on the ground she took a quick glance over her shoulder so as to try and relieve the paranoia clawing at her insides. See, she thought to herself, nothing there but the stupid old rain! Keep walking or you’ll be late! The young apprentice turned back to the trail and neatly avoided a puddle.

All of a sudden something heavy landed on her back and Scorpiopaw felt her breath whoosh out of her lung. She lay dazed and squashed for a few precious seconds before the she gather her thoughts and attempted to alleviated the weight crushing her by rolling to the side.

OOC: I have to go on a largely unplanned school camp for the rest of the week so I won't be able to post back till Friday. Sooo irritating. Talk then, ;3

IC: Scorpiopaw gave a small huff once she realised that she been fooled. An ugly temper the size of the Four Trees began to rear it’s head before she squashed it. Tawnycloud was right; Scorpiopaw had known that she was there. She’d just forgotten to trust in her instincts. With a sight the young apprentice scuffed her paw across the wet forest floor and smiled slightly in amusement (and embarrassment) as Tawnycloud laughed. Her mentor quickly moved their attention away from the game though and back onto training and Scorpiopaw felt a small flame of excitement alight itself in her chest. Learning how to hunt and fight in the rain could be invaluable in the future. It was with a small (all be it, wet) skip in her step the Scorpiopaw bounded into a crouch.

“Am I going to learn how to fight of how hoards of badgers, scale high rocks with mountains of water coming down them or…or, or am I going to learn how to beat the Thunderclan leader with one swipe of my paw!?” she meowed, anticipation flooding her veins as she turned to her mentor.

Scorpiopaw attempted to muffle her sigh of disappointment. Learning to fight off hoards of badgers could be a valuable skill in the future. What if Shadowclan camp get’s miraculously invaded by the big ugly brutes and everyone excepting myself is either dead or wounded? Scorpiopaw thought to herself as she listened to Tawnycloud mouth off the Thunderclan leader. The she-cat held in a snort of amusement before trying to blow rain off of her whiskers. The thin, dainty lines were drooping with teardrops of water. Having succeeded in her task she turned her dark green eyes back to her mentor and the task at paw.

"Right. If you were to attack me from the front now, I have limited visual range, because the rain is hurting my eyes and blocking my view. If an enemy comes at you in the rain, you want to have the advantage of sight. Yes?"

The smaller she-cat nodded and turned in the direction that Tawnycloud was now facing. The wind whipped away from her and carried the rain clear out of her view. The she-cat’s range of sight was vastly improved and Scorpiopaw gave a little mew of excitement at her ability to see. Forgetting for a moment that her fur was plastered to her body in muddy clumps, the young apprentice took a swipe at an imaginary enemy. All clan cats not belonging to Shadowclan or our allies should fear my claws! The lither she-cat thought to herself as she followed the swipe through with a small pounce.

“I now have the advantage of sight,” Scorpiopaw stated, nodding towards Tawnycloud, “What’s next?”

Scorpiopaw flushed red under her water plastered fur. Hearing her mentor complement her pounce gave her heart a little skip of pride and the she-cat shuffled her paws across the soaked ground. The small cat tried to contain the feeling from leaking out over her face as she shyly dipped her head. Tawnycloud even thinks it could work against badgers, I hope I can prove her right one day! Scorpiopaw thought to herself as she watched her mentor perform a series of movements and attacks. The young apprentice was stuck to the ground, her mind filled with awe and wonderment for the older she-cat.

"If your enemy can't see you, they'll be relying on scent and sound, so if you're quick and light on your feet, you have a much better chance of winning the fight. But, as soon as they feel your claws, they'll be lashing out in your direction. And sometimes the wounds the attacker doesn't know he's giving, can be the deadliest of all."

Two pairs of wide green eyes turned in the direction Tawnycloud was pointing. A small gasp of surprise rolled off the she-cat’s tongue as she spotted the v-shaped nick. Images of a fast paced and deadly battle filled the young apprentice’s head as she tried to imagine what her mentor had gone through to achieve such a wound. Privately Scorpiopaw wished she could one day live to be as amazing as Tawnycloud was and go on to teach her own apprentice the moves Tawnycloud was teaching her now.

Scorpiopaw tore her eyes away from Tawnycloud’s tail and gave her lither body a little shake. I have to focus, she thought to herself, now follow what Tawnycloud did and slowly repeat it. The small she-cat copied her mentor’s moves to the best of her abilities, ending the cycle with swipe at the bush. Too slowly Scorpiopaw tried to leap away from the leafy opponent and it wetly slapped back into place, hitting the young apprentice square across her muzzle. Scorpiopaw attempted to muffle a cry of alarm as she fell away from bush, hotly landing on her paws a few feet away.

“Ow,” she mewed, lifting one paw to rub it against her nose. Her eyes began to smart and Scorpiopaw furiously tried to ignore the pain and concentrate on rubbing her nose.

OOC: Bit of a lousy post, sorry. ;3

IC: Scorpiopaw distantly heard her mentor checking over the small wound. Her head was still ringing slightly from the backlash of the bush. Internally the young she-cat agreed with Tawnycloud, the event would probably only leave a nasty bruise. An unfortunate mark that would fade over time. Scorpiopaw didn’t like the idea of going back to camp only to explain to the other apprentices that she’d been attacked by a bush. A light flush flew over her cheeks and the apprentice was glad for the fur that covered it. In a way Scorpiopaw was glad when Tawnycloud proclaimed the two of them would be working on theory.

"In the build of a badger, it's built for strength and warmth. So, what will be it's downsides, do you think? Speed. So, if you ever do find yourself fighting a hoard of badgers you can never expect to win against, your best bet is to run. If the scenario is that you are alone in an abandoned territory and you have no Clan to run to and warn, climb a tree; badgers can't climb, either."

Scorpiopaw sat back on her hind legs to listen and tried her best to ignore the slight throb in her nose. Curling her wet tail over her paws to get comfortable the she-cat thought over what her mentor had said. Supposing I can’t reach a tree because I’m in an open area? The apprentice thought to herself, what then? She voice the question, an inquisitive look on her face.

Scorpiopaw nodded her head. So it seemed that whatever the situation it was almost always more practical to run in the other direction if a badger was after you. Unless she had another warrior present or her mentor was with her the young apprentice would strive to stay out of the ugly brute’s way.

That wouldn’t mean she didn’t think herself capable of fighting off a badger it would just be smarter to strategically retreat. The dusty she-cat twitched her still throbbing nose and mentally ticked off the things Tawnycloud had said; clumsy, slow, incredible stamina and strong. On the edge of her mind Scorpiopaw thought it would be best if she made friends with someone incredibly strong.

Pushing herself to her paws the small she-cat turned to the bus again. She was determined not to make a fool of herself more than once and theory or no theory she wouldn’t be able to beat a badger by talking to it. Crouching low to the ground Scorpiopaw gave herself a moment to compose her thoughts, before leaping forwards. The young she-cat raked her right paw down the side of the bush before quickly springing away again. Making the movement fluid she jumped forwards again and completed the actions previously shown to her, dashing to the side to avoid the sharp and wet rebound of the stick. When she landed somewhat stably some tail lengths away the apprentice let out a little meow of delight.

“I did it Tawnycloud! I did it!”

OOC: ;3

Scorpiopaw hissed in surprise, green eyes widening to the point where the young she-cat thought they might fall from her head. Fur the colour of dusty sand dunes, stood on end and she felt a yowl quickly claw its way out of her throat. One minute Scorpiopaw had been training with her mentor and the next they were almost living out one of her nightmares. That or a practical exercise that was never supposed to come true. The huge, ink black wolf stood over her like death itself and the normally calm and polite apprentice quickly felt her tail fly up and over her head.

Names were often given according to attributes and the poisonous, ugly and dangerous side that over took Scorpiopaw when she was angry or endangered once again reared its scorpion like head. Tawnycloud was quickest to act, leaping in front of the young she-cat in an attempt to protect her. A little voice inside Scorpiopaw’s head helpfully informed her that if the wolf was going to attach they were both screwed and leaping in front of her would only prolong the death.

“Run!” her mentor hissed, fluffing up to appear larger.

“I’m not leaving you!” Scorpiopaw meowed uncomfortably. She counted Tawnycloud as one of the few cats she was close to (and there were very few of them) and if her mentor went down then she would too. The rational part of Scorpiopaw’s panicked mind informed her that this was a stupid solution and she should run for help. But really all the she-cat could think about was those large teeth closing around her neck and ending her life. Strangely the wolf seemed to flinch away from their bold and defensive stances and though Scorpiopaw didn’t have much thought room left to process this information, the she-cat tried to study the black hulking frame for answers. Finally the mixture of sent and posture lit a light bulb inside the she-cat’s mind.

“I think it’s scared,” she whispered under her breath.