Soaringpaw's Battle Training [P]

[Fits]

Heroneye
| she/her | RiverClan | Lionheart |

"Soaringpaw, yes? I'll be teaching you battle training today."

Heroneye had always been ill at ease with the prospect of being designated to teach fighting, in particular. Among the Lionhearts, she was far from the strongest fighter... Though she supposed that could be said for a majority of the possible subjects she could have been assigned to instead. Alright, no more complaining, Heroneye. Just do what you're supposed to, and it'll be fine. Obviously. She had trained her own apprentice in fighting, and that had gone fairly well, so she supposed there was no point in worrying. Easier said than done, of course.

Heroneye was to teach Soaringpaw to battle. From her understanding, she was a new addition to the Clan, a former outsider. Heroneye wasn't too sure what to expect from her in terms of experience, so she supposed she would have to ask about that if she were to train the apprentice properly.

First and foremost, she figured it would be best to introduce herself. There were many names and faces in RiverClan, and there was no reason to assume that Soaringpaw already knew hers. "I am Heroneye, by the way."

She hesitated; perhaps it would be best to mention that she was a Lionheart. Or would that simply make her seem full of herself, eager to flaunt her title to anyone who listened? No, likely not. Soaringpaw, being new to the Clan, likely hadn't yet completely absorbed any honorable connotations for that rank (and likely wouldn't anytime soon, if Heroneye was among the first she'd meet). In any case, introducing herself in that way would likely be more helpful than anything else (Stars, why did she always have to make things so complicated?). "One of RiverClan's Lionhearts. When you're ready, we will head out of camp to begin."

(let me know if anything needs to be edited/changed ^^)

( @Minkuu - Soaringpaw )

[Minku]

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Soaringpaw
RC Apprentice. She/Her. 8 Moons
Agatha Kitty

[ @Fits ]

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Her ears perk up at the sound of the older she-cat's still unfimiliar voice. She knew Heroneye won't really kill her, but that doesn't mean she's a hundred percent sure she's safe anywhere. Better act cautious than end up dead at some random cat's paws "Right" Soaringpaw nodded her head slightly as she keeps her expression mainly serious. Fighting; that was one thing she knew she had to get better at at some point. She needed to learn how to properly defend and attack, She needed to learn and hone her skills. She wanted to know how to fight back when time calls for it. Hunting, too but unfortunately she can't kearn 2 things at once. For now she's focusing of fighting, and hunting she could do tomorrow or later during the day if she has a chance and energy to. And the cat teaching her..Heroneye. "....Interesting name" so Soaringpaw was just slightly interested. Heroneye used to be Heronkit? That name..'Heron' sort of makes sense. Sounds more normal than Brokenstream and his 'Brokenkit' name. Broken. There won't ever be a time where she thinks that's even close to normal. Although she wasn't actually sure what any of these name she encountered could mean. It seems like most of these clan names are rather ambiguous. Her's included. Especially when a cat doesn't seem like what their name suggests. Heroneye's eyes seem pretty normal to the apprentice. There could also be names that seem to not have a meaning at all and just sounds cute or cool. She wasn't really sure. For now whatever meaning it may have remains unknown to her

Heroneye. Another Lionheart she met. She already figured Lionhearts are most likely these well respected warriors that do better than the average. Brokenstream even said it himself, they're the clan's backbone. Heroneye was slightly different from Brokenstream it seems. Though a trend she was seeing with these Lionhearts she'd met so far was that they're usually friendly. Which made sense, she can't really see a selfish power-driven cat become Lionheart anytime soon. "I'm ready, take me to where we're heading" she supposes having a specific mentor doesn't mean needing to always train with that cat for all her apprenticeship; Which is convenient for when she wants training but can't go ask Brokenstream for some reason

[Fits]

Heroneye
| she/her | RiverClan | Lionheart |

Alright, Soaringpaw seemed fairly easy to get along with. It could be hard to tell sometimes, and Heroneye didn't think she'd know what to do with a troublemaker, should she have turned out to be one. No use dwelling on something that didn't happen, though. With that, Heroneye gave a small nod before making her way out of camp, Soaringpaw presumably in tow.

"Do you have any prior experience with combat?" she asked, eyes fixed on the path ahead as she walked. She couldn't know what kind of life the apprentice had led before joining RiverClan. As far as Heroneye knew, it could be anywhere between the pampered lifestyle of a kittypet to the life of the most misfortunate loner, and there would be no point in teaching something the apprentice already knew.

It wasn't long before Heroneye had arrived at her destination: a clearing. To be precise, it was the same clearing in which she'd taught her own apprentice to fight. It had proven a useful location last time, so there was no reason not to reuse it. She came to a stop then, turning back to Soaringpaw as she awaited her response.

( @Minkuu - Soaringpaw )

[Minku]

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Soaringpaw
RC Apprentice. She/Her. 8 Moons
Agatha Kitty
"Buried past, a tale forgotten by it's own teller"

[ @Fits ]
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Soaringpaw followed her into the territory, keeping an eye on her surroundings and the cat she was following. If she was led somewhere she wouldn't walk out of alive she'd be able to tell and she won't fall for it. It was when Heroneye asked her about her previous combat experience that her expression faltered and the feeling of unsure stuck in her mind. She was glad Heroneye was mainly focused on the path they were walking on. Of course she hasn't, so she'd say no. But how would that come across as? Would that make her seem like a kittypet who never had the need to work or fight? Would that make her seem too weak? "I don't" she responded with a steady voice, the apprentice figured shouldn't think for too long or sounded so hesitant "I wasn't taught anything prior to joining. But I'm willing to grow stronger" now stop talking. She's just had a bad feeling with cats looking down on her ever since she met another cat and she wanted to make sure it's clear she wanted to be a better version of herself. Racing her previous self until she can't anymore. Training's better late than never. She wasn't on time at all, compared to the apprentices here who start training a few moons earlier than where she is now. Her parents were supposed to teach her, it was a grudge she still help even if she was going to get the lessons she needed in this clan anyway

If she was ever asked more specific questions about her past, she'd have to resort to lying or avoiding the question all together. She could conjure a fake past, a fake story of what her life was like prior to joining. Make it seem like she remembered, she knew. What did she knew about herself anyway? She used to be Sora, she joined at 8 moons, her parents probably left her in some way at some point, may even the cause of her memory lost

Once they reached the clearing, her blue eyes made a quick scan across the clearing, just to make sure. Right, it seems..safe here. It was a clearing so there wasn't any objects lying around that could become a problem later on. She had no complaints (not that she ever had any in the first place). After taking in the sight she waited for the lionheart's instructions on how she should begin

[Fits]

Heroneye
| she/her | RiverClan | Lionheart |

There was a pause after Heroneye's question. Not terribly lengthy, but just long enough to make her wonder if she'd offended the apprentice somehow. But then Soaringpaw's response came: apparently, she'd hadn't any battle experience yet. But she was willing to learn more, Soaringpaw had added. Good. That was what mattered; every apprentice started somewhere, after all, be it at six or eight moons. At least Soaringpaw was willing to admit it; she'd rather that than have a false impression of her abilities and push her too far, or set her expectations too high and create conflict.

"We'll start out simple, then," Heroneye said plainly. She would start with the same move she had with Softpaw, seeing as it was about as straight-forward as fighting moves got. Depending on how Soaringpaw did with this, she would select the next moves from there. "The front paw blow, it's called." Though she supposed that the name itself wasn't especially relevant (not unlike this train of thought, Heroneye...)

"One crouches, preparing to strike, before lunging at one's opponent to deliver a strike to their face." She acted out the move as she spoke, imagining an opponent's muzzle somewhere ahead of her. She still felt a bit silly, attacking the air in such a way, but she hoped that wouldn't show too much in her body language. Fighting was fluid and flexible, not rigid and awkward, after all.

"If you're ready, you can try it yourself." Telling apprentices (or anyone else, for that matter) what to do would never not feel awkward, in Heroneye's mind, but it was all for the sake of the lesson, right? Who was a mentor if not someone to boss apprentices around? What a funny thought... "Otherwise," she added after a pause, "I will go into more detail, if need be." There, perfect. Not too demanding, not too lenient. Probably. Hopefully.

( @Minkuu - Soaringpaw )

[Minku]

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Soaringpaw
RC Apprentice. She/Her. 8 Moons
Agatha Kitty
"Buried past, a tale forgotten by it's own teller"

[ @Fits ]
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Front paw blow. Soaringpaw could guess what that'd most likely look like. A blow with a front paw, straight forward enough. Although she'd guess move names won't matter in the long run when you're in a middle of the fight. She silently noted how Heroneye did the blow, crouching and striking. The move itself was kind of like a slap. She'd have to pay attention to her opponent's movements and also her own balance. The crouch would have to be stable in order to not make too much noise or fall to her side. How? She'd try to balance her weight and pay attention to her surroundings for that.

She watched the Lionheart strike out at her imaginary opponent, watching how her paw moves while doing the attack; she figured she probably didn't more details since striking with your front paw is as simple attack could get. So as soon as Heroneye finished talking, she nodded and gave it a try. Soaringpaw was sort of nervous as the younger cat really didn't want to make any mistakes in front of anyone; but if she didn't make an attempt then the whole lesson would go to waste and she wouldn't do anything but make herself look like a coward.

First she needed to focus on the crouch, which she doesn't exactly know how it's supposed to look like apart from the example she was given earlier. She dropped down, trying to mimic what Heroneye's looked like. She kept her tail steady and straight behind her, though wasn't the problem she felt like she had encountered. Something about the crouch felt slightly unbalanced and shaky. It could be the nervousness locked inside her mind, making these harder; but she knew it was unbalanced so she had to fix it before she actually makes a strike and fall on her face. She tried to recall what Heroneye's looked like; close to the ground but not too close, legs ready to spring herself forward. And the weight distribution was probably more even

Her right felt heavier, so she was most likely leaning too much to it; So without taking too long she quickly tried to shift her positioning a bit to make her crouch feel more stable. Better, but not exactly what one would call perfect. Good enough, most likely. Now that that's slightly improved she sprung herself forward using her legs, bringing her paw down on the air in front of her. She imagines...maybe a medium sized warrior in the middle of a battle and she was smacking her paw down on their face as hard as possible. Her legs stumbled forward a bit as she finished the attack. And she already knew her hypothetical opponent could've taken advantage of that in a real fight "I believe there was...a few things wrong" that was her first attempt, she'll try again and again if it needed to be like that but first she needed an evaluation of what exactly she needs to improve on

[Fits]

Heroneye
| she/her | RiverClan | Lionheart |

Heroneye watched as Soaringpaw tried the move on her own. Though she could have done much worse for a first attempt, it was clear that she would need more practice before she could get the move down. She recalled that Softpaw had had similar issues with regards to balancing at first, but had made considerable progress, even during their lesson alone. Surely Soaringpaw wouldn't be much different, right?

First things first, Soaringpaw's balance was off as she crouched. It was clear that the apprentice had done her best to correct this before leaping but wasn't able to completely. Heroneye wondered briefly if Soaringpaw had done her hunting training yet, seeing as hunting and fighting oftentimes required similar skills. Brokenstream was her mentor, if she recalled correctly, and she wouldn't be surprised if he'd already completed it with Soaringpaw. Still, though, she couldn't be sure.

It was assumed already that Soaringpaw was aware of her balance, so Heroneye began what would hopefully be some advice. Balance was a tricky thing to pinpoint, and mastering it tended to come down to practice more than anything. But that didn't mean that Heroneye shouldn't at least try to give some actionable advice, she supposed. "Focus on staying balanced. If you feel as though you are leaning on one side or paw, using your tail to offset it may help."

She moved on, then. Soaringpaw had put a lot of force into her attack, but that seemed to come to her detriment when she stumbled towards the end. "Prioritize staying balanced, even over delivering an especially strong attack. In that heartbeat you've spent regaining your balance, your opponent is already flying back towards you." No amount of strength mattered if one's opponent could simply overpower one in the end. Though perhaps counterintuitive, it would likely be best to avoid putting one's full strength into an attack--until one could handle it, of course.

"If you're ready, try again," Heroneye said, giving a single nod with her best attempt at an encouraging expression.

( @minkuu - Soaringpaw )

[Minku]

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Soaringpaw
RC Apprentice. She/Her. 8 Moons
Agatha Kitty
"Buried past, a tale forgotten by it's own teller"

[ @Fits ]
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Balance..and control. That was of the things she needed to fix right now; she knew she should use her tail to balance herself, and that's mainly what a tail is for though she didn't realize she didn't actually know how up until this point. She knew what it was used for, but it didn't matter if she didn't know how to use it. Think, Soaringpaw, if it feels wrong it probably is. "I'll try to" she silently went over what had went wrong in her mind. She needed to fix her mistake in order to move on, shouldn't she? She figured she'd get better with time but she didn't want to know what'd happen if she messed up in front of someone who was out for her blood. It showed inexperience and it showed weakness. Inept. It was everything opposite of what she wanted to be like.

What she gathered from Heroneye's next words was that she shouldn't put all her power into one attack. She probably should've expected that coming. She knew an opponent could've easily attack her if she was to falter for even one second. She knew. So why was that something she had a problem with in the first place. The unsettling image of her messing up during a battle and her enemy tearing her down wasn't going to leave her mind. But it's the truth wasn't it? Any mistake she made could be taken advantage of. She had the luck to still be alive up to this point and she wasn't gonna give up everything she's believed in. That she could learn and grow; that she could learn from her own mistakes and other's. It's going to haunt her but she didn't need to give herself the burden. She didn't need anything to hold her back if it was just going to make her fall further down. One of the first thing noticed about her when she joined was her courage, and she wasn't letting that go anytime soon; as if she didn't have any she wouldn't have tried joining this clan in the first place

This was her second chance, and she needed to make sure she got it right. She took a second to collect herself before crouching down again, trying to not look nervous or shaky. This was where her first mistake was at originally. She struggled with her own balance. She still did, but her tail had managed to give her a helping hand in making sure she doesn't topple. This..was still far from perfection..far from what Soaringpaw wanted. But it was an improvement and she liked seeing herself improve, cause it meatn she was actually making progress. It did though make her realize how unstable her previous crouch actually was.

The next thing she needed to do was the attack itself. Balance over strength. Balance over strength. She sprung herself forward, striking the air in front of her with less power than before; it made her movements easier to keep in check. This time she managed to land herself with less problems. It doesn't look like it from the outside, but internally she was proud of her achievement. She quickly gave a mental shake to herself; this was only the beginning, she'll have plenty of time to quitely celebrate once she actually reaches her goals. Now she only knew to work. "that was..better?" she knew it was better than last time but she wanted to hear an actual confirmation

[Fits]

Heroneye
| she/her | RiverClan | Lionheart |

Heroneye nodded in approval at Soaringpaw's second attempt. It was far from perfect, sure, but there was some improvement. It was also clear that the apprentice was taking the Lionheart's advice to heart, which was a good sign in Heroneye's mind. Even if Soaringpaw couldn't do everything first try (who could?) she was willing to put in the effort and sometimes ego-breaking work of improving.

"We'll move on for now," said Heroneye. This move, being among the simpler ones, uses skills that reappear throughout battling. Dwelling on the same move likely wouldn't result in much progress--not as much as trying slightly more challenging moves, anyway. She was fairly certain. "We'll come back to this, though." At this stage, she felt it would be best to wait until Soaringpaw had built up some confidence before they properly sparred, anyway.

She remembered one of the moves she'd taught Softpaw, and it seemed it would be a good fit for Soaringpaw as well, one that would ideally help her practice agility and focus, as well as a more practical view of how to approach an "enemy".

"Next is the 'leap-and-hold'. In this move, one darts around one's opponent before leaping onto their back. It can be very effective, but it requires speed and awareness," she explained. "Imagine that I'm an opponent, and you want to use this move on me. Before anything else, you'll have to try to get around me. Of course, though, an opponent wouldn't just let that happen." The final part--And I won't, either--went unsaid (it was just a bit too high-and-mighty to be vocalized, Heroneye thought)--as she slipped into a defensive crouch, prompting Soaringpaw to attempt the first stage of the move.

( @minkuu - Soaringpaw )

[Minku]

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Soaringpaw
RC Apprentice. She/Her. 8 Moons
Agatha Kitty
"Buried past, a tale forgotten by it's own teller"

[ @Fits ]
[Letting you know my mentions changed into @/Spooky Minku for the month! So you don't keep accidentally mentioning the wrong person lol]
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post 11

They next move would be slightly harder to pull off, she guessed. More complicated and with it's own set of risks. Leap-and-hold. These names were all pretty straightforward, it seems. But that's for the better. She listens to Heroneye's short explanation, trying to see how she'd go about this move. She needed to trick her opponent. Outspeed them. Catch them off guard. This time, she'd need to come up with an effective way to somehow latch herself onto her opponents back while avoiding any of their attacks. But how would one do that successfully? If she did the attack normally it'd be too predictable and an opponent would be able to guess her movements. But what if she went the other way? If she could someone trick someone to think she was going right but launch herself left that could work, but it left the question of whether or not she's even be able to do it without falling. Especially if the plan required sharper turns. But she could always try.

Although there was a chance that this strategy would've been too commonly used and expected. It'd give her a small advantage but if her opponent comes prepared, what does she do next? She could make another turn if that's the case. But by that point her opponent would've already been expecting that move... Although in a real fight she's be using more moves than just a leap-and-hold. She could try to use another attack if she didn't have any other way to properly leap onto her oponent without risking too much. Kind of like a plan B or C. But for now..she'll try to focus mainly on what move Heroneye's currently teaching

She faced Heroneye, getting ready to try out her plan; it was nice having an actual target now..it's not like this move could be done on something else. She sprung herself forward, slightly to her right, trying to make the older she think Soaringpaw was going for that side before darting to her left. The apprentice used her tail as a form of steering wheel a tad bit; seeing as it helps her maintain her balance during the front-paw-blow, it may come in handy when she moves. She wasn't sure how much it helped, but she damn hoped it did. If she succeeds, she'll leap onto the Lionheart. If she doesn't and Heroneye catches on, she'll use her paw to strike; both as an instinct to try to do something to retaliate since it was the first thing that would've came to mind after being the first thing she was taught. If that still fails..well..she fails, basically.