Falconpaw nodded acknowledgely and followed his mentor, excited that he would get to train his battle moves. After all, that was something he hadn't been trained in earlier. With a smile across his mouth he trotted lightly behind his mentor, his paws dabbing the ground softly with each step. He was nervous that he would not learn it well though, for he did not know if he had talent for fighting. So far, his long legs and slim body had proved useful, but he was more worried about battle training than hunting.

*Tigerswipe entered the training hollow and mewed "Now, because of the short leafbare days, we won't have much time. So, let's start." Tigerswipe stood in the center of the clearing and mewed "First, we will do the back kick. Explosive surprise move to catch opponent from behind. Judge opponent's distance from you carefully; then lash out with your back legs, taking your weight on your front paws is the definition and the way to do the move." he then lashed out his back legs and put his weight on his front paws to knock the opponent over. He then mewed "Try it on me. It is okay to mess up." and waited.*

Falconpaw's whiskers twitched as he watched Tigerswipe perform the move for him and he smiled softly. When he was asked to do it he instantly felt his heart drop. "A-alright." he stammered and watched Tigerswipe, trying to do as his mentor had said and judged the distance. Once done he copied Tigerswipe at the best of his ability, though the move became less explosive and didn't even manage to knock him over. Instead he lost his balance, his tail flailing everywhere in an attempt to regain it. He barely managed to do it. Blushing softly he looked up at Tigerswipe, embarrased that his attack had failed so miserably.

*Tigerswipe looked a little disappoints but he mewed "Try again. Practice makes makes perfect. I prefer you to fail now so you can improve on it and not fail in battle." and motioned his tail try again.*

Falconpaw nodded, though detected the slight disappointment in his mentors eyes. Trying again he made sure to keep his balance perfected before doing the move, and then he pushed out his hind paws harder than earlier. This time they contacted with Tigerswipe's fur harder, though it was hard for Falconpaw to push the older cat over seeing that the cat was a lot heavier than himself. None the less, the move went much smoother this time.

*Tigerswipe was knocked unbalanced but regained ground. He nodded and mewed "Good improvement. I almost fell over but I regained ground. I could of recovered. Very good but be more explosive like when you are racing, you explode at the end to win." he knew he had to use analogies with Falconpae for he was a very fast cat.*

Falconpaw nodded eagerly. "Alright. Shall I try it once more or should we try a new one?" he asked, tilting his head softly to the side. He wanted dearly to try once again, and this time he was determined to make it much better. After all, he knew how to race. If he could use the strenght he used when running, he could use it to his advantage while performing this move, like Tigerswipe had just mentioned.

*Tigerswipe nodded and mewed "Yes, try again!" and stood his ground waiting for Falconpaw to hit his legs from under him.*

Falconpaw nodded and grinned sheepishly before he began, not even stopping to judge the distance. None the less he landed perfectly, and with the help of his tail and balance he knocked his hind paws at Tigerswipe. This time he put as much power as if he would spring forwards when running, and at once he noticed that it worked better this way. Paws met fur and with a swift and fast move he twisted around to see if his move had succeeded.

*Tigerswipe grunted as he hit the ground and he got up and quick as he could but if Falconpaw knew more, he would have won. Tigerswipe grinned widely and mewed with pride "Very good! Perfect! It doesn't matter the size of the opponent because this one can knock anyone over, even the large RiverClan cats!" and brushed the moss off and mewed "That was great. Let's do one more move then we will be done for today. This one is called the belly rake. It is one of my favorite moves. A fight-stopper. Slice with unsheathed claws across soft flesh of opponent's belly. If you're pinned down, the belly rake quickly puts you back in control. It is good for smaller cats because you tend to be pinned down a bit. We are going to practice with sheathed claws because this is a very painful move but it is pretty easy. First, I am pinned down." and he flopped on his back and pretended to be pinned down. "Next you reach your back claws up and rake the opponents belly. Once they give a little, use your front claws." he then reached up his back claws and sliced the air and then used his front paws. "I would suggest turning your belly away so they can't counter it on you." and turned his belly away to the side. He jumped up and mewed "Try this with a pretend cat and then once you perfect it, you can try on me." and watched him.*

Falconpaw grinned, pleased to be praised. By then he had realised that praise was what made him keep going on like this. Smirking he listened as Tigerswipe explained another move for him, his ears perked and he had a serious look upon his face as he tried to remember what he had been told. He then watched Tigerswipe perform the move, and understood pretty easily what the whole move was about. He knew very well that it would be painful for the attacker to have their belly sliced at. Shivering he imagined clawing his way through soft skin, possibly damaging the cat for good.

As Tigerswipe told him to try he nodded, laid down and imagined a large RiverClan cat standing over him and threatening to bite his paw off. Making sure that his own soft belly was out of range for the imaginary warrior then copied what Tigerswipe had just done, raking his hind paws across it's belly. Then, once he imagined the warrior backing and letting out a yowl of horror he sliced his front claws in the area where the belly would be located. He smirked and imagined the warrior leaping back off to relieve himself of more attacks, and then Falconpaw got up to his paws, looking at Tigerswipe and searching his face for disappointment, pride or any other expression that might be shown.

*Tigerswipe nodded and gave a grin and mewed "Excellent! Now, try it on me. I will give you a warning though, I will do some counter moves to test you out after. Sheathed claws!" and waited.*

Falconpaw nodded, crept underneath Tigerswipe and laid down, pretending to have been pinned. He made sure to keep his claws sheated so he would not hurt his mentor. Then he made sure his belly was as protected as it could be, then he let his hind paw rake across his mentors belly. Then he raised his front paw, ready to rake it across Tigerswipe's belly as soon as the tom reacted to the first move he had made.

*Tigerswipe thought of a plan. He knew that Falconpaw was going to rake his belly so he turned his belly away and crushed him. He just flopped onto Falconpaw to crush him so he couldn't move.*

Falconpaw let out a squeak as he was crushed to the ground, the heavy load pressed upon him. Of course, if this had not been his mentor he would have unsheated his claws and raked the cat's side, though it was no possibility he could do that without hurting his mentor. Instead he let his sheated paws run across his mentor's flanks, rolling around and wriggling as a worm to relieve himself of the weight on top of him.

*Tigerswipe got up and mewed "Good. But, sometimes the cat that is crushing you has a thick pelt and can take the claws and just will crush you more. Very good though. Training is over today." and smiled.*

Coldember walked into the apprentices' den. It was probably about mid-day now and time for Crowpaw's training. She quickly stalked over to her apprentice and whispered into his ear, prodding him in the shoulder. "Wake up, sleepy head. Time for some training." She repressed a mrrow of laughter when he groaned, then, swiftly rose to her paws and bend her neck down to whisper into his ear once more. "I'll meet you by the freshkill pile." She then walked out of the den, and over to the freshkill pile. She grabbed a small squirrel and started to eat it, waiting for Crowpaw to come.

Crowpaw groaned at Emberdream and sighed in relief when she went away. Ugh, another day of training. When can I have my warrior name and just be done? "Twelve moons, Crowpaw. And none less." he heard his sister meow. She was always doing that, seeming like she knew what he was thinking. He looked around though and saw that both Birchpaw AND Spottedpaw were still away. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion and flicked her nose trying to tickle it, but she remained still, only her sides moving up and down as she breathed in and out. He growled and walked out of the den.

Spottedpaw repressed a loud giggle as her brother Crowpaw tickled her nose. If she hadn't burst out then he would have never suspected she was awake! When she heard him walk out of the den she carefully opened one eye and looked around to se if the coast was clear. She drew in a large breath and glanced at her other brother, Birchpaw. He have his gaze fixed on her, his eyes narrowed.

"You almost got us caught! He almost thought we were awake!" he whispered. "No, he did think we were awake. He just didn't try hard to investigate." Spottedpaw answered back. Birchpaw sighed and looked out of the apprentices' den. His brother had walked out of camp with his mentor Coldember. He chuckled. "OK, we ditched. He's gone." he whispered. Together they rose to their paws and walked out of the den. He glanced around to see if Thunderpaw was around but he didn't see her. He didn't show any signs of his disappointment though, only the tiny glint in his eyes. "You go hunt. I'm gonna eat." he meowed to his sister. She nodded slowly with narrowed eyes, looking slightly determined for some reason, then padded out of camp. He walked over to the freshkill pile and grabbed a vole to munch on.

Spottedpaw padded out of camp. She heard voices, probably from the training hollow. Sounds fun.... Swiftly, she walked over to the entrance of the hollow but hid under a holly bush. She watched to see Falconpaw and his mentor Tigerswipe training and practicing battle moves.

(That took a while to type...)

Falconpaw nodded, trying to remember everything he was told. "What are we going to do tomorrow?" he asked excitedly, his eyes twinkling as he waited for Tigerswipe to reveal what they would do tomorrow. As he did so he caught the slight scent of another cat as well, but didn't manage to figure out who it was. He glanced across his shoulder though, having the feeling that he was being watched. None the less, he said nothing to Tigerswipe and instead waited for the reply.

Snowpaw turned away and headed for the fresh-kill pile, wondering what to do. Hunting sounded good to her - but where was her mentor?

*Tigerswipe nodded and mewed "Tommorow, we will do more battle training. I know you are probably really tired because I know I am. Anyways, I will teach you moves that will help you in hunting and battle. So it will be a battle and hunting day in one so we need good rest." his ears flicked back because he heard rustling in the bushes. He scented the air. Bad training. I am down wind. and growled "Spottedpaw, come to eaves drop I hear. Come out here, I know you are in the bush." and turned to face Spottedpaw with narrowed eyes. Tigerswipe had a strange ambition. He wanted his apprentice to be the best and refused to help others. Eaves dropping was not going to be tolerated.*

Clawpaw returned with some feverfew and poppyseed and quickly sorted them in the medicine cat den. Turning around, she looked for her mentor.

Bluefeather perked her ears. "Back again? Oh goody, you found some poppy seeds and feverfew! We've been needing some more of those."

Falconpaw's ears twitched, accepting what his mentor was saying. He liked the sound of hunting and training in a single day. That way he would learn more. He nodded excitedly at what he said, though the soft scent of another cat drifted around as well. When Tigerswipe told Spottedpaw to come out of the bushes he instantly recognized the scent. Whipping around he glared at the bush where Spottedpaw was hiding, not pleased that she had been watching them. He shrugged softly and watched the place where Tigerswipe was looking at.

Clawpaw nodded with a grin. Sitting down, she waited for her mentor's next instructions as she look at the butterflies flying around, temptation rising in her.

*Tigerswipe glared at Spottedpaw with cold eyes and turned to Falconpaw and mewed "Let's get back to camp." and stalked out ofthe training hollow, lashing his tail at Spottedpaw's face.*