[Thistledawn]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

The tom’s twisted paw caught the apprentice, pretty smoothly - although she did nip his paws, which felt strange - Blazingcomet was used to being bitten, but he couldn’t remember the last time someone had just nipped at him. A smile came over his maw even as he crashed to the ground, his paw still hooked around her. Quickly untangling himself, the orange tom got to his paws and flicked some of the grime off of his tail - he was going to have to groom himself better later. ”That’ll do for today, I think. You did good, Cherrypaw - enjoy your evening and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for hunting.” He would drag her out of the apprentices’ den if he had to - hunting was one of his favorite things to train. He’d been worried about possible threats, so battle training had obviously been a priority… but now that he was semi-satisfied with her skills, even if SkyClan were to get involved in something anytime soon, she would be able to defend herself. He was excited to get to train her on the proper stalking techniques (for prey, of course) tomorrow… it’d been one of his favorite things to learn. Perhaps they’d go on a real hunt, too, if she did well on her training - Blazingcomet seemed to recall that feeling like a special treat.

All of the air left her lungs as Cherrypaw hit the ground. The entire thing had happened so fast that she had to question if it was reality or a dream for a heartbeat. The apprentice blinked her bright blue eyes a few times before getting back on all four paws and shaking all of the nature from her pelt. She silently cursed herself for losing, but obviously Blazingcomet had been very clever to use his twisted paw. Cherrypaw didn't let herself be too upset for long. I'll do better next time, she thought to herself. He'll be surprised when that twisted paw of his is no longer an advantage. "Thank you," Blazingcomet's praise made Cherrypaw feel hot under her pelt. "See you tomorrow." The she-cat mewed with a little less excitement. She wasn't sure she'd be able to get herself out of her nest in the morning after this training session. She'd sleep for a moon if she could! But she was happy to be working on hunting soon. Her paws itched to have prey in between them. She hoped maybe she'd get to bring something home to the Clan tomorrow too. The thought brought energy back into her exhausted body.