Leopardpaw's Battle Training

"Come Leopardpaw." Silvercloud motioned to the space in front of them; the training hollow. The she-cat padded quietly into the clearing, sitting down on the far side. "We shall begin with something. Show me a kick with your back-legs with a right-paw slash at the end." She mewed calmly; watching her apprentice intently. Later they would do versus battle training, but for the time being he could practice on thin air. She promised herself she would go easy on Leopardpaw, due to his injuries. But it was more than just that; Silvercloud hated hurting members of her clan.

Leopardpaw frowned slightly, his hind-legs still ached a little, but his determination to prove himself to his mentor blotted the pain out of his mind. Turning slightly he stood on his forepaw's and launched his hind-legs back into the thin air, before rounding in a half turn and slashing out with his right claw just as Silvercloud had asked. This was much more fun than the exercises that he had to do when he was with Nightlead and Moonpaw.

Silvercloud purred with delight at Leopardpaw; his leg seemed to be healing quite well. "Wonderful! Now just try to stretch out your claw longer..." She hesitated slightly, wondering if the apprentice could handle the more advanced move "Stretch out your paw, opening it wider. After the slash double-back and swish at the oppentent, cuffing the oppenent in the ear." She demonstrated silnelty, executing the move perfectly. Her whiskers twitched, remembering the previous battle. "Trust me; it is a move Flamestar didn't forget. Leaves very deep gashes. You jusy must be very fast."

Fast was something Leopardpaw could do, and he knew that this would be a battle technique he wouldn't forget, it seemed so clever and strung together like it was destined by StarClan to fight off cats like Flamestar. Starting the technique again with a back legged kick and turned like Silvercloud told him he stretched his claws as far out as possible and in a half turn clawed at his imaginary opponent, then stood on his hind legs to deliver the final blow, but a stinging pain shot through his leg and he toppled back down. "AH!" A small amount of blood was slowly oozing out his leg, but Leopardpaw ignored the pain, only grimacing at his failure to complete the move.

Silvercloud watched with overwhelming pride as her apprentice stretched his claws. Such a quick learner! The she-cat thought with a pleasant smile. Her expression immediately changed to horror as Leopardpaw toppled down to the grassy hollow. She rushed over to him, sniffing his pelt for any infection. Blood oozed in a steady trickle from the apprentice's leg. "Are you alright? And no, don't even think of getting up until I'm sure you're alright." She paused, breathing deeply "And don't worry about the battle move, it was very difficult. If you were completely healed we would have had it better." Her tail rested on his shoulder, soothingly. She saw Leopardpaw like her kit; young and reckless at times although sweet and soft at others.

"Can I try it again?" Leopardpaw asked turning toward his mentor hopefully, he really wanted to learn this technique, he hoped that it would help him with all his fighting skills, so he wouldn't be left out of any fights because he was injured and stuck in the Medicine Den, he would teach ShadowClan and FireClan a lesson they wouldn't soon forget. Leopardpaw started again turning his back on his invisible opponent and kicked out, turning a tiny bit so that he faced his opponent again and shot his claws out as far as they would go out, Leopardpaw slashed out, jumping back and standing on his hind-legs forcing himself to stand tall and then fall back with all of his claws onto his enemies head. And all he could imagine was those mangy ShadowClan cats.

"No, I don't think th-" Silvercloud was cut off by her apprentice trying the move again, this time performing it perfectly. "Wonderful job! But does your leg hurt?" She mewed with excitement then caution. "If it doesn't I have a move in mind that have gotten rid of a certain ShadowClan cat in battle." Her mind flashed back to the battle, blood pouring out of wounds, nearly none of it hers. A quick roll, slash in the middle, and a perfect half-turn-swipe at the end sent that crow-food eater running.

"It's feeling a lot better, Silvercloud." Leopardpaw lied knowing that it still ached though the bleeding had stopped. Leopardpaw smiled, finally some moves that would bump him up closer to being a Warrior. Mimicking his mentor, he rolled to the side extending one paw and his claws and raking the middle of his fake enemy, and then half-turned using his other paw in a spin swipe to the face of his opponent, to scoring claw marks. "Do you know any moves for two cats at a time?"

"Perfect." She purred to Leopardpaw. Silvercloud knew he would make a wonderful warrior one day; she would be sure of that. "Of course I do!" Her whiskers twitched with amusement. "Watch closely." Eyes now fixed in battle-mode, the she-cat padded into the center of the clearing, head whirling with a battle-move. Within moments her body was in motion, quickly and gracefully. She sprinted to one side of the clearing, a lightning fast half-turn followed. Diving for the invisible front paws of one enemy, her other paw swiped at the other, quick and smooth. Her dive finished, batting at the enemies legs, obviously tripping the warrior. She slid on the hollow before bounding up, finishing with a quick swipe to the other; not already tripped up. Lips pulled back in a snarl as she fell back.

Like snapping out of some sort of trance, Silvercloud was immediately back to hr normal-self; face composed and heart warn and caring. "Think you can handle that?" She paused before lowering her voice "Consider yourself special Leopardpaw, that is a move that no one but me knows. I made it up."

Leopardpaw stood with his mouth wide open, if he didn't have a leg injury he wouldn't be able to do this, such an advanced move, that only Silvercloud knew, he would be the top apprentice in no time flat. But he had to prove to Silvercloud that he could fight as hard as any other cat, and that she didn't have to be so careful over him. Padding to the center of the Training Hollow, he raced to the edge and turned at an instant, he returned to his invisible ShadowClan warrior and shot out a single claw hooking the fake warriors leg and pulling him back while using his other paw to trip him up even more, but he stumbled backward before he could even finish the blow growling at himself inwardly, he knew he could do better than this.

Silvercloud watched silently; his strong beginning and his tumbled edge. "If you can master this they won't stand a chance." She paused quickly; she needed to teach him hard moves. She needed him to be one of the best. "Don't worry Leopardpaw, first time. Try again. You'll get it. If you're leg starts to wrench tell me; we don't need you to hurt yourself." The she-cat paused slightly, whiskers now twitching with amusement "If you perfect this you can show the other apprentices and watch their eyes widen." She chuckled quietly.

"I'll keep trying, the others won't believe how much I've improved." Leopardpaw tried again, using most of his energy to ignore the pain of running on his injured leg, but accidentally slipped and fell, scratching his leg slightly, shaking dust out of his pelt. He returned to the center of the hollow and raced to a corner doubling back at full speed this time he managed to reach his imaginary foe, and hooked one of his forepaws from under him, pushing him over with his other he immediatly rose on to of him and raked his claws down on his unprotected belly. Though his moves weren't that fast he had got the basic form down. "How did you think up a move like this?"

Silvercloud nodded; impressed by the apprentice's progress. She pondered his question for a few seconds before answering "It was in battle one moon. A feirce one at that. We were outnumbered; 2 to 1. Two toms cornered me and my friends turning their backs to me, not helping. My rage just got the best of me I guess. Mind focusing on how to defeat them, I leaped, which is the only thing different as to the move I just taught you, squarely over their heads. Then the motions just came to me, almost as if StarClan was guiding me." The silver she-cat paused, remembering the moment. Her mother had spoken to her. "It was a wonderful battle; somehow we managed to win." Emotion spread through her mind; her friends turning their backs on her. Stupid toms.

"That was wonderful. Now pick up the speed a tad more. After you've mastered that we can work on variations to suit different clans to add on to that one."

It was a number of times before Nightpaw finally started getting a hang of the move, running faster and and fight harder, spurred on by imagining himself in Silvercloud's place when she had developed the move, all alone in a hopeless battle, all odds against her, fighting her life and Clan, when her so called friends weren't there. Until he finally had the speed and completeled the move though not as well put together or powerful as Silvercloud, he had something to show for his training as the sun rose higher. Panting hard Nightpaw padded up to Silvercloud, limping slightly. "Can we take a break?"

"Didn't I tell you to tell me if you're leg started acting up?" Silvercloud's eyes clouded with worry, but quickly composed herself "Yes, we can have a break ..." Her voice calm and gentle "Actually, let us stop for the night. Yo are obviously beat and have made wonderful progress. Tomorrow if you'd like, we can start this again. Or hunting if you wish." She ran her tail along his flank. "Good job today Leopardpaw." She was gleefully happy that she got the chance to finally show someone else the move she had spent a moon perfecting. Silvercloud hoped that one day that move would save his life.

Leopardpaw walked back to the apprentice den exhausted from a long day of training his eyes closed shut quickly. Sleeping immediately with dreams of battle and blood.

Silvercloud nodded towards teh apprentice den as Leopardpaw and her padded back to camp. She inclined her head silently to the skies; to her mother and to StarClan. "I hope I am training him how you wish mother." she mewed to herself, so quietly no one could hear her. Light blue eyes fixed on the warrior's den, she padded over to it. Very few cats were still awake, only one or two sharing tongues. Her silver fur shone in the moonlight, angelic-like. Wary paws dropped into her nest and eyes closed immediately.