Skypaw training w/ Shadestar

-Anyone who wants to make an appearance can =D-

Current stats
Good idea by Magmafeather to keep track of this on the first post! Here's your stats Sky, then I will list what each is worth next to that.

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Shadestar waited patiently for the young apprentice to get to the tall, dead oak that was a significant landmark in ShadowClan territory. He had met her at camp and quickly told her to eat and then meet him there. He hadn't been a very good mentor so far, much was going on so they had barely the time to train for an extended period of time. The ShadowClan leader was hoping to train with her for the rest of the day and perhaps into the night for some extra advantage. He knew she could be a big ball of trouble when she wanted to be, hopefully he could fix that by the end. A light breeze of wind ruffled his fur as he sat underneath the tree, silently waiting for his apprentice's appearance.

Skypaw carefully padded along the marsh to the dead oak that she knew her mentor was waiting by. Her tummy was slightly full with a small mouse as she didn't want to upset her stomach during their fighting or her pounces or whatever they were going to do. She was slightly nervous as all she had done fighting wise was wrestle with den mates and pounce her mother's tail before she died. Sky sighed and looked down at her paws as she continued to walk when she suddenly bumped into something big and fluffy. She stumbled back and tried to regain her balance but she failed and fell back on her hind. The she-wolf looked up to see her mentor and leaders, "Er- hi Shadestar," she laughed nervously.

For a couple minutes he sat there next to the oak, its leaves rustling in the wind. He sighed. What was taking Skypaw so long? Suddenly he felt something run into him. Quickly standing up and stepping back, he saw the fur of a familiar wolf, Skypaw. "Well first it seems you need to learn how to keep your head up so you know where you're going!" he said. "First we should probably practice hunting." He said, quickly jumping into the lesson to take advantage of the time they had. "Then perhaps we can move to fighting. Now then, there is much prey in our territory, especially around his tree. First you need to learn how to track it. The wind is currently moving away from us, so scents will carry that way. It is best to hunt into the wind so your prey cannot scent you from afar as you are approaching." He crouched low to the ground, sniffing to the air as he went further away from the tree. Scenting a raccoon somewhere up ahead, he stopped. He saw it foraging in the grass ahead of him, its gray fur standing out. "That is a raccoon. First you need to crouch and stalk it. Once you make the approach, you must launch yourself forward in an attempt to stun it, and then make a killing blow to the neck. It takes practice- you probably won't get it on the first try. The best way to learn is to do it yourself- so go at it." He stepped back to allow the female apprentice to pass him so he could observe her form and give her a chance herself.

After Shadestar's many, many words the she-wolf was left slightly stunned. She knew that training would be fierce and challenging but she hadn't thought that Shadestar would make her try something so soon. She gulped nervously and nodded slightly, afraid that if she moved her head too much she would give away her nerves. With a shaky breath, Skypaw crouched low to the ground, careful not to put too much weight on one side of her body, and slowly began to move forward. She kept one eye on the raccoon up ahead and the other on her paws, careful to watch where she was placing them. As she neared the raccoon, though, she kept both eyes on the creature before she launched herself next to the dark being in attempt to stun it like Shadestar had instructed but instead of stopping and giving Skypaw the chance to bite it's neck its eyes darted up to her and scurried off and up the oak tree and into its den. Sky let out a low growl, "Darn raccoon!" She glared up at the tree, her tail lashing.

Shadestar watched the apprentice intently. He knew he had put her in an interesting position and she probably wasn't thinking she would have to hunt so soon (especially after he gave her all of this information!) "Decent." he said, after she growled and began staring at the tree. "It is probably best for you to jump at the raccoon in an attempt to stun instead of beside it- then you're just giving it extra time to get away. Your form was very good, make sure you're not to heavy on either side or that will mess up your jump."

Skypaw jumped slightly at Shadestar's words. She had forgotten the male was there. She turned around, her white fur slightly ruffled but slowly going down, and nodded to him, "Okay, Shadestar," she trotted back over to her mentor, "What are we going to do next?" she questioned.

"Well I suppose the hunting part takes practice to learn how to perfect your technique." he replied. "Try tracking something now and following its scent trail. But be quick about it" He said gruffly, looking at the sky. His long list of instructions seemed to have taken up quite a bit of time. Nevertheless, he would not cease his training right now. "After this we can have some sort of contest between the two of us." Perhaps some kind of pleasant competition would help with the training?

Skypaw looked around, her eyes taking everything in quickly yet at the same time slowly and her nose sniffing around. At the mention of a competition her ears perked up, the only sign she had given Shadestar that she had heard his words. Sky opened her mouth slightly, taking in the scents around her before she distinguished another raccoon, but one different from before. Her tail whipped slightly towards Shadestar before she crouched down like before. Carefully, Skypaw crept forward until she saw the creature. It looked younger and smaller than the coon before had been, possibly a female then. Remembering Shadestar's words Skypaw jumped in front of the animal. Unlike last time the raccoon froze, giving Sky the time to leap forward and bite its neck, the killing blow. The raccoon only struggled for a moment before it went limp in her jaws, a metallic flavor filling her senses and staining around her mouth.

Shadestar watched the female's efforts intently, noticing every movement as she successfully tracked a female raccoon. Perhaps the male's mate? He thought idly as he watched. The white pelted apprentice made quick use of the raccoon, successfully tackling and killing it without a second thought. The leader allowed a small smile to spread over his face before it disappeared. He approached the female wolf. "Very good. You learn quickly. How does your first kill taste?" He thought back to his first, it was very adrenaline pumping and exciting for him, certainly. "You can dig a hole and leave the fresh-kill there, where we can return for it later to bring it to camp." He said.

Skypaw made a slight face and said around the raccoon's body, "It tastes furry." With that she nodded and started to dig a hole slightly bigger than the raccoon before dropping it in the hole and covering it back up with the dirt. She moved her jaws slightly, trying to get rid of the excess fur in her mouth. She then licked around her mouth, trying to her the blood off of her muzzle but knowingly failing. With a sigh at the failed attempt, Sky looked up at her mentor expectedly.

Ignoring the blood that dyed her muzzle crimson, Shadestar thought about what they should go about doing next. She had proven herself to be a very adept hunter- even at this early stage in training- so it could be a good idea to further expand these skills. "How about if you kill 3 animals within a 10 minute period, you can decide where we go and what we do next?" He knew it probably wasn't the best prize in the world, but he couldn't think of anything else and it was giving him an excuse to observe her hunting skills.

Skypaw's ears twitched slightly, "Er- are you sure?" she questioned, nervous about showing any more hunting skills. Stunning the raccoon and killing it was placed in the category of luck in her opinion. She shifted her paws uneasily and looked around, her green eyes wondering if she could do what Shadestar had suggested.

"If anything, it can only do good." He said aloud, making up his mind. "Ten minutes is a long period of time, and there is plenty of prey around here. They might have heard the noises the raccoon made though, so you might want to hunt elsewhere. Meet me back here in 10 with the stuff you've found?" He sat down and looked at the apprentice expectantly with golden eyes. They softened. "I am sure you will do fine." He said, giving her a slight, rare smile before it disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Now go on!"

Skypaw was stunned slightly before nodding. Without saying anything, Sky turned around and bounded away from her mentor. She immediately started to sniff out for any small animals that she knew she could bring down on her own. She stayed somewhat crouched down as she looked around, not wanting to let prey have the time to notice her before she hunted it. Almost a minute after her scouting, Skypaw scented another raccoon. A moment later she spotted it eating away on some berries from a bush. The creature's body was small so it must be a youngling. Throwing caution to the wind, Sky jumped in front of it. It immediately jumped up and started to run away but Sky ignored that and leapt after it. the poor animal was too slow compared to her and she easily caught it between her jaws and bit down. The result was a little messier than before as blood splatted down at her paws, covering them in the warm body liquid.

Shadestar waited next to the tree, his dark tail swishing back and forth against the summer grasses. He kept his eyes to the sky as he waited, making sure he could see no approaching storm. The tree was placed atop a slight hill, so this made surveying the land a bit easier, though most of it was forest. He saw no predators or other dangerous situations at the moment, but this could change in an instant.

Skypaw sent down the young raccoon, debating whether or not she should take it back to Shadestar now or make another hole. Siding that it was better to bring it back to her mentor and with the other raccoon, Sky made her way back over. The walk only took a few paw steps before she was digging up the hole and placing the body next to the other fresh kill. Without waiting to listen to her leader, the apprentice turned heel and began to track for another source of prey. After a while of searching, a tingey scent filled her nose. It smelt like waste and a little like blood. She whipped her head around in search for whatever the scent was coming from to see a rat scurrying about the short grass. With a lash of the tail, she crouched down and stepped lightly, thinking a rat could most likely feel you, the sneaky little beasts. As she got closer to the creature she noticed that it was washing itself in a small puddle. With a deep breath, Skypaw leaped at the animal. Before it could even react she had already bitten into its flesh and killed it. With a small smile she made her way back to her small fresh kill pile by Shadestar to put the kill before searching for her last bit of prey.

(now that we're back at camp i'll mention the gathering thing)

Shadestar watched, passive, as Skypaw brought back her other two prey, digging one up in the process. She was going pretty quickly with this hunting, and though that was great, Shadestar didn't want her to hurt or strain herself. He sighed as he watched her disappear without another word; there had been an obvious strain on their relationship since the gathering, but he didn't regret anything. His eyes narrowed slightly as she returned, and then his face returned to "normal". "Good." he said. "Now what would you like to do next?"

Skypaw swished her tail a little bit, a sign that she wanted to be anywhere than with her mentor though she hid the feeling well enough. The glared at the ground slightly before looking up at Shadestar with sarcastic happiness, "I don't know? I thought you controlled my actions like the leader you are," and with that she did let her glare lose on her mentor.

"I do, but I keep my word and follow the rules" He replied, now noticing she didn't even care to skirt around the issue delicately. "Choose someplace so we can continue with this, I don't have time for this. If you don't pick I will, and it probably won't be too pleasant. Obviously you don't understand how a Clan works and how to follow directions, so perhaps I should pick, though clearly you'll just disobey me anyway."

Tail whipping now, Sky glared harder at Shadestar, her heart hammering against her chest, "You wouldn't understand my perspective on the Clan rules, so don't scold me about them!" she snapped before turning tail and walking away before she stupidly attacked her leader. She stalked off, tail still lashing, in a random direction, not bothering to know where she was going.

Shadestar sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. 'You wouldn't understand my perspective' he snorted. Just another "misunderstood" apprentice. "You don't understand my perspective on the rule you've broken. You don't understand at all." He stood up and trotted to keep close behind her to follow. She clearly had no idea where she was going, but he wasn't about to lead her somewhere else. This was wasting time, but perhaps it was good thing she could let off some steam.

Skypaw's ears were perked slightly, hearing footsteps behind her that she chose to ignore. She needed to get the anger off her chest but it was so difficult without lashing out at someone else, the only other option was to ram herself headfirst into a tree or even a buck, maybe. But she couldn't without Shadestar seeing and thinking she was crazy, which she was. With a sigh Sky looked over at the oak they had met up at longingly.

Shadestar coughed loudly at her, wanting her to know he was waiting. Now she was wearing down on his patience drastically. "Okay then do you want to just keep hunting. I told you, it's your choice, I don't care." He said loudly, still following close behind. He rolled his golden eyes at her and she continued to walk in a random direction.

Skypaw squared her shoulders but decided not to act childishly right then. She stopped and looked back at Shadestar. She nodded her head, "Sure, let's do that," she agreed as she began scouting the area for any moving life.

"Okay." He said, surprised at how fast the female wolf agreed to doing something else. Was she bipolar or something?

(lol)