ShC Battle Training

[Dust]

Seemed like no-one else was curious, but Rushingpaw was burning to ask just one single thing,

"If we learn it quick, can we learn the advanced move anyway? Or do we have to wait for everyone?" There was an air of impatience to his question, though he seemed genuinely curious. Truth be told, he didn't want to be held back from it if he got a particularly untalented battle partner... even despite his young inexperience.

@SuspiciousMindz

[The Cannibal]

 

Thornpaw
7 moons. A young lanky black-ticked tom with green eyes.
Posts: 19/100 Apprentice Training: 0/5

Of course it was up to him to find out that some other warrior was hosting battle training for other apprentices, not like he'd ever get invited to any of these things himself. Starclan above it seemed like Shadowclan was trying to keep him down at every turn, forgetting him just like his father had. Well. Whatever, he caught wind of Hawkbite's little battle training extravaganza at the last minute and now here he was, stalking his way through the territory that he barely knew, in order to join it.

Filtering in amongst the other apprentices with a nearly seething glare to his eyes, the young tom listened briefly to the murmurs and questions from the others to see if they had already learned anything and it seems like they hadn't. Good, that means he didn't miss much.

"If we're still doing questions, I got one. Why can't we just go ahead and start. I didn't come all the way out here just to stand around and ask questions." Thornpaw did not look at the other apprentices, he was staring directly at the warrior.

Hawkbite @SuspiciousMindz

[Omari]

Midnightpaw
Shadowclan
She/her
18/100

Midnightpaw seated herself, curling her tail over her paws so that she could comfortably and tentatively listen to Hawkbite’s words. Oh, this was just so exciting! With a grin and a shake of her head, she leaned forward with big, wide eyes of interest.

[ @SuspiciousMindz ]

[SuspiciousMindz]

[Hawkbite]
Enforcer
Shadow Fiend | Just a Scratch | Agatha Kitty

Hawkbite looked between each of them, noting the majority didn't have a question, but a couple did. First, he addressed Rushingpaw, "Everyone wanting to learn the advanced move, will. I will also be holding an advanced battle moves class a few days following this. Perhaps a clan event if there's enough interest for the training," Hawkbite explained. He hoped that satisfied the young tom's curiousity.

A less friendly voice piped in and Hawkbite turned to see the late arrival: a very irritated Thornpaw. His tail flicked a couple times. He'd excuse the tone for now, but he'd quickly put the young apprentice in his place if he kept it up. "Impatience kills, Thornpaw. Jumping straight into a fight without a plan is choosing to be a dumb warrior," Hawkbite spoke through half-gritted teeth.

Hawkbite blinked, letting a few moments pass to ensure no one else had a question or if the two that had one needed to speak again. Assuming everything was fine now, he moved on to the next portion of the class.

"Right," Hawkbite began, looking between each of the apprentices once more. "You're here to learn the basics of battle training, a skill every cat here in ShadowClan needs. What you'll learn today, you'll practice often until the moves are muscle memory. This will also work your muscles and you may end up going back to the camp feeling sore," the Enforcer spoke.

Forepaw Slash

"This first move is simple and some of you might've already been using it without thinking about it. It's a simple forepaw slash," Hawkbite spoke. He rose to his paws, turning and walking up to the tree closest to him to demonstrate. With his right front paw, the tom swiped out fast and hard at the bark, leaving claw marks in his wake. Now, he didn't expect that type of power to come out of the apprentices. That simply took time and practice. "It's simple, but the basis to working your muscles to do damage as I did. Now go find a tree and practice. You're welcome to share trees and make it a little competition if you'd like. I want everyone to practice until your claws aren't getting stuck on the bark," Hawkbite spoke, flicking his tail to dismiss the few.

"I'll be walking around and correcting posture or answering questions as needed, just let me know if you need help."

-----

How This Works
> I'll be posting a date for Hawk's next post.
> Your apprentice has until the next date to make a reply. You're welcome to make multiple and interact with peers and Hawk himself.
> After two skips, your apprentice will have failed the class.

Hawks Next Group Post: November 30th
Could be sooner if everyone replies before this.

@RavensCall - Featherpaw | @Ladiebugg - Shadepaw & Leapmoon | @Omari - Midnightpaw | @Dust - Rushingpaw | @Nixey - Ibispaw | @The Cannibal - Thornpaw

[gravekeeper.]

Featherpaw observed Hawkbite carefully, and went to try on a tree. He knew he was doing it right, but the blue-grey tabby kept getting his claws stuck. After some trial and error, Featherpaw found he was successful(or so he thought). He managed to successfully complete the move with all but one claw getting stuck. Featherpaw tried to get it unstuck, but ended up tearing the claw by accident, sending a jab of pain down his paw, and he hissed in annoyance and pain.
@SuspiciousMindz

[The Cannibal]

 

Thornpaw
7 moons. A young lanky black-ticked tom with green eyes.
Posts: 24/100 Apprentice Training: 0/5

Thornpaw

"Yeah, well this isn't a fight now is it? It's training. I think we're allowed to just jump right into training," the apprentice retorted with a minor roll of his eyes. The tip of his tail twitched back and forth while a sharp breath released from his nose. There were more words that were threatening to bubble out of his throat, but he managed to keep those in check. He was just anxious to get started and he knew arguing with the warrior wouldn't really result in anything that he wanted to see.

Thornpaw's ears perked as Hawkbite began speaking again. Finally, a battle move! He would practice it day and night. Whenever, wherever, it didn't matter. This stupid move was going to be burned into his muscles. However meek they may be.

With a little 'heh', the black-ticked tabby went racing over to a tree of his own, mentally daring any of the other apprentices to come to his tree. But his main intention was getting this down right.

[Roll for performance: 10]

Giving an eager lash of his tail, Thornpaw sized up the bark of his opponent and unsheathed his claws. "Take this you mangy roach!" Yowling out, he swiped at the tree, chipping a tiny amount of bark off. Of course, not used to swinging like this, he stumbled forward slightly, put off by his own momentum. The mark he made was miniscule, really only visible to him because he saw himself make it. But he stared at that little mark with a devilish grin. Oh yeah, he would be a warrior in no time. His gaze flickered away to see how the others were doing, probably not as well as him.

@SuspiciousMindz

[Omari]

Midnightpaw
Shadowclan
She/her
21/100

The questions that came from her peers were both welcome and… Not. Rushingpaw seemed to be excited to learn, so she’d give him the benefit of the doubt when it came to the tone that he used. On the other hand, Thornpaw–ew, he definitely had a mean tone. Mean tone and a bad attitude, too!

Tipping her head to the side, she glanced towards the tom, her eyes glinting with distaste for but a moment before she looked back towards Hawkbite. What did this guy know, anyway? He was just an apprentice like the rest of them, questioning a warrior–an enforcer, to be specific–as if he knew any better than the rest of them.

Whatever.

Even if the first move was fairly simple, she was going to give it her all nonetheless! Practice makes perfect–practice makes a good warrior, just like dad was.

Standing up with a lash of her tail, she found herself a tree that nobody else was practicing on–and if someone were to practice on the same tree as her, she’d end up leaving to find another–and lifted one of her forepaws. When Hawkbite made that example, she focused more on the speed than she did on the power behind it, so she made a quick slash at the bark–leaving a small, teeny weeny little scratch. One that was barely even there.

“Aw, no.” She couldn’t help but pout.

[ @SuspiciousMindz @The Cannibal mention just bc midnight gave him a dirty look, so he is more than welcome to give her one back lol ]

[Nixey]

Ibispaw | Shadowclan Apprentice | she/her | 10/100

Listening to each question and the answer in response to it, Ibispaw was sure to listen. The idea of learning an advanced move was rather enticing, but also sounded like a challenge. Which, to be fair, could made it sound a little exciting. Once the dispersed was allowed, Ibispaw headed for the closet tree. Attempting to recall what the older cat did in those few moments, raising her paw before swiping out at the bark.

However instead of leaving a clean trail, her claws got lodged. Carefully, the apprentice removed her paw before swiping again, and again. Repeating the careful processes with a few hiccups here and there.

@SuspiciousMindz

[SuspiciousMindz]

[Hawkbite]
Enforcer
Shadow Fiend | Just a Scratch | Agatha Kitty

[THORNPAW]: His gaze slitted and stared at Thornpaw for a moment, almost daring the apprentice to say something else. He chose to move along with the lesson rather than waste his breath on the apprentice. Hawkbite would make note to humble that one. He would watch as Thornpaw would race to a tree and begin swiping after a yowl. Hawkbite could not hide the eye roll he gave the furball. Oh well. He couldn't say much, he remembered his apprentice days and how eager he was too.

The Enforcer padded over, noting the way the apprentice nearly fell forward. "Keep your weight balanced evenly between your other three paws. Falling over in a real fight will mean you lose," Hawkbite began explaining, spreading his legs apart so Thornpaw could mimic it. "When you swipe, you want to lean into the action, regardless of if you're being hit back or not. Always lean into the motion. You'll give more power in your swipes that way," Hawkbite finished, taking up a spot besides the apprentice and demonstrating once more.

With his legs apart, Hawkbite lifted his forepaw up and leaned in as he swiped at the tree bark. At the end of the move, Hawkbite left a trail of claws marks across the tree, looking at Thornpaw with a smirk.


[FEATHERPAW]: A hiss caught his attention and Hawkbite turned to look at Featherpaw with furrowed brows. Swiftly, the tom moved towards her, already knowing what could've happened. "Go get that checked by the medicine cat after this," Hawkbite spoke, lifting the apprentice's paw with his own and examining the claw for a moment. It wasn't super serious, but he didn't need any infections coming from this class. "Otherwise, good job. When your claws get stuck, don't just yank them back, that's how you tear them. Instead, try sheathing your claws or coming out the way you swiped. Follow the movement, but backwards basically."


[MIDNIGHTPAW]: Next on the agenda was the pouting Midnightpaw. Hawkbite moved to the tree they had taken and gave her a shoulder tap with his tail. "You're doing good for just learning," Hawkbite ensured, looking at the small mark that she created in the bark. "Similar to what I was explaining to Thornpaw. Lean into your swipes, you'll add more power to it without sacrificing the speed you hit," the Enforcer spoke. "Give it another try."


[IBISPAW]: Hawkbite moved over to the last apprentice he noticed participating. "Good job," he complimented as the move she practiced repeatedly got more and more graceful. He'd have to keep an eye on this one, especially when she became a warrior. If she kept up the good work that was.


Once he did his rounds, the Enforcer took his spot back at the front of the apprentice's line of sight. "Good, now that everyone has practiced that, we can move on," Hawkbite began, looking between them all as his voice rang between the trees. "The move you just learned can be altered to hit different areas of your opponents. The simple swipe is good for hitting their face, shoulders, or flanks. However, you can modify the move to bring your paw downwards on your opponent's head," Hawkbite explained. A flashback from his Sunkissed Creek came back to him. The day he left a warrior with one eye using this one move. The pause in his speech was an obvious one as he struggled to break that thought for a moment.

"I call it a Forepaw Blow," Hawkbite was able to continue. Raising his paw above his head and bringing it down in a quick movement, Hawkbite demonstrated on the air how to perform the move. "It works better on cats that are smaller than you, but if planned out right, it can bring bigger cats down with enough power," he finished.

Duck and Twist

"Now knowing the forepaw swipe and blow, we will try to pair it with a defensive move. We will be practicing ducking for a few minutes then we can move onto adding that swipe into it," Hawkbite explained next.

Without explaining what he meant, the Enforcer crouched down, acting as though there was an enemy in front of him. He made sure they could clearly see the way he was holding himself up, balancing all his weight evenly between his legs and keeping his claws sheathed until he needed them. The Enforcer would move quickly in a dodge movement, turning around on his paws quickly and swiping outwards. Once the move was completed, he'd rise to his paws and turn to the apprentices again.

"For this to work, you need to be able to balance yourself efficiently on your paws. Keep your weight even between them until you're ready to move and when you do move, make sure the weight is evened out on the paws touching the ground," Hawkbite demonstrated the crouch again, lifting his paws up one by one to show how his body would distribute the weight on the remaining paws. "And when you're comfortable with that, twist," He demonstrated this too, his paws doing a little hop and rotating with his body so he did a 45 degree turn. "Do the twist at different angles to help your muscles learn how to move and adjust. Once you're comfortable with that, you can add the swipe at the end," Hawkbite finished, preforming the move one last time and swiping out at the end.

Once he was done, he stood up tall once more, flicking his tail to dismiss the group to practice. They could choose to do it alone or practice with a partner, but Hawkbite wasn't going to dictate that.


-----

How This Works
> I'll be posting a date for Hawk's next post.
> Your apprentice has until the next date to make a reply. You're welcome to make multiple and interact with peers and Hawk himself.
> After two skips, your apprentice will have failed the class.

Hawks Next Group Post: December 9th
Could be sooner if everyone replies before this.

 

@Nixey -- Ibispaw | @Omari -- Midnightpaw | @The Cannibal -- Thornpaw | @RavenzzGlow -- Featherpaw | @Ladiebugg -- Leapmoon & Shadepaw [1 skip] | @Dust -- Rushingpaw [1 skip]

[I'm so sorry for the delay guys! I was in the hospital and couldn't respond and it took me a couple days to recoup enough to get to this!]

[gravekeeper.]

Featherpaw ignored Hawkbite's concerns and practiced the forepaw blow on a pile of leaves. With a bit of failure, he successfully was able to use the move a few times, without injuring himself

Once he got the hang of it, he practiced the duck and twist, and after a few tries, and bruising himself, Featherpaw was able to successfully utilise the move
@SuspiciousMindz