Quote:
Originally Posted by Thistledawn
"No cat would be able to do anything without confidence." Cherrypaw countered, panting harder than her mentor was. She shook the dirt off of her pelt. Confidence was one of Cherrypaw's defining qualities. At least, that's what she thought. There's too many cats fussing over their insecurities, she thought. If every cat in SkyClan had a fraction of Cherrypaw's confidence (or ego more like), they'd rule all of the Clans. "At least I have some." She muttered, unsure if he mentor could hear her or not.
Cherrypaw took in a couple deep breaths, feeling like she was stretching out her lungs past their capacity. She was trying to get a large intake of air while she still could. Occasionally, the apprentice found herself struggling or even forgetting to breath while she fought. She was too focused on other things, such as watching her opponent and thinking about her next move. It was hard to focus on so many things at once. And it was hard to be good at what she was doing at the same time. Cherrypaw figured that it would just take practice, but she wanted to be good now. Blazingcomet offered a lot of knowledge and she just wanted to learn it all at once, not over the span of six or so moons. The apprentice also wanted a chance to prove herself to her Clan, but she didn't want to wait until she was a warrior for that chance to come.
Excited to do something else, Cherrypaw nodded, showing that she understood the goal. But that didn't exactly mean she knew what she was going to do. it would be hard to take the tom down. If the apprentice still thought defending herself against Blazingcomet's attacks was hard, she wouldn't think so anymore. Cherrypaw was small, practically weightless compared to the tom, and only a little stronger than a kit. If she threw herself at him with as much force as she could manage, it seemed to her that it was unlikely that he would fall. Blazingcomet's defensive stance probably ensured that he was perfectly balanced. However, maybe Cherrypaw could unbalance the tom. It may not have been the best and most tactical idea- and it might not have been what her mentor had in mind- but it was the only idea that the apprentice had come up with.
Once the two cats were both ready, Cherrypaw sprinted to the right. Her paws were moving so fast over the ground that it felt like she was hovering over the earth. The wind rushed into her ears, sending a tingling sensation through her small body. Just as quickly as the apprentice launched herself forward and to the right, she switched directions, now sprinting towards the left. After a heartbeat or two, she moved to the right again. She did this up until she was about a tail-length away from the ginger tom. She hoped that her direction changes might have made Blazingcomet lean in a certain direction in anticipation of her attack. With no where else to go, Cherrypaw closed the space between the two cats by pouncing on the older cat, aiming towards his shoulder, trying to get him to fall to his right.
[ Really bad writers block while writing this. Sorry! ] |
Sometimes Cherrypaw's personality - not necessarily the whole thing, but parts of it - really ticked Blazingcomet off. He was the first tom to understand things like having a big ego, but now that he was getting older and his pride had been wounded some by the mess with his mate - or former mate - had definitely taught him that there was a lot he didn't know. A lot he had to learn. Someday his apprentice would learn the same thing. Blazingcomet set his frame and prepared for a charge from the fluffy white apprentice. A frown came over his features as he watched her weaving back and forth, changing directions every few seconds, and he would step a little to the opposite side of her attack, frowning the whole time, clearly disapproving of whatever strategy this was. What can she be thinking? With the way Cherrypaw was moving, her final attack would have less "oomph" to it. She was going to use up all her energy and time on trying to confuse him!
Blazingcomet was confused, alright, but not in the way that she had been thinking. He wasn't unstable - instead he was worried, that he had left something out in speaking to her. However, there was a chance that a younger warrior - one who was new out of training, or even another apprentice - would be easily tricked by her try. Blazingcomet knew that he, for one, would have been more confident that Cherrypaw was just being stupid and there was no strategy to her plan, and would have ended up being beaten by the fluffy apprentice. As she sprang through the air, it was only a fraction of a second - not enough time for him to move out of the way. Now, Blazingcomet's left paw was his twisted one. It wasn't strong enough to hold his weight, and it was a liability in battle. His shoulders, however, were quite strong - they had become that way through moons of training, running, fighting.
There was a scar on one of them - Blazingcomet couldn't always remember which, but he knew that it was there. Cherrypaw aimed for the limb with the twisted paw, giving him the chance to stabilize himself with his good paw. While the impact shook him - and momentarily caught him off balance, he was able to get himself back up with his right paw. "Good!" The tom mewed, a pleased tone in his voice as he settled, his defensive stance going down in a symbol that he was getting ready to say more. "But... I will tell you now that you made a couple of mistakes. First of all, it's fine to try and confuse your enemy - especially if they're young - but you won't catch an older warrior off balance like that. You're going to use your energy trying to weave back and forth and your final blow won't have as much power." He stopped, glanced at Cherrypaw to see if she was listening, and then continued.
"Secondly, you aimed for a weak spot - which was smart, and would be normally, but since I'm bigger then you - and my other leg was still good - I was able to catch myself. It might be a good idea to aim for a good limb instead... so, if you had aimed for my right leg, I probably wouldn't have been able to catch myself with my left. Does that make sense?" Blazingcomet turned his golden gaze down to meet Cherrypaw's, a little bit of worry showing in them. Was he overloading her with all of this information?