You need more than strength. (Tag Darkpaw)

[Heathclaw]

"Alrighty!" said Lightheart, turning around in his usual training spot in the pine forest, and smiling indulgently at his apprentice, Darkpaw. "Hrm... yes. Yes indeed. I think it's about time that I started teaching you how to fight, don't you think?"

It didn't seem like he was about to start any sort of combat training whatsoever, of course. Instead, Darkpaw was being treated to an image of her mentor grinning stupidly over a pile of gathered pine cones.

"Alright. Tell me everything you know, or you think you know, about fighting," Lightheart said, picking up one of the pine cones in his claws and waiting for her to speak. Once she'd gotten half-way through her third sentence, he threw it directly at her and picked up another one.

[sadiebutt]

Darkpaw shrugged and began to sleep. "Not much, I mean I haven't really had any training. Basically I only know things that kits practice. So starting anywhere wou-" she meowed stopping mid sentence and ducking.
"What was that for?!" she spat standing up again. Her tail flicked about angrily. Her claws slid out into the ground.

[Heathclaw]

"Come on. Keep talking!" teased Lightheart, tossing another pinecone and snatching up a third. "This is your first lesson. Along with your second, third, and fourth. First off, be prepared for anything!" he said, turning and kicking the pine cone pile out towards her with his back legs, and then darting away. "Second, move quickly! You can't hit what you can't catch!"

"Third, pay close attention to your surroundings... and fourth, be prepared to improvise!" With that said, he clawed his way up the nearest tree, and made his way to a low-hanging, thicker branch. He waited for her to get close, and then he started shaking the branch, knocking a few more pine cones onto the ground. "Come on! Catch me if you can!" he teased, hopping down from the tree.

[sadiebutt]

While Darkpaw had dodged a few pine cones she tripped over three or four. The last one that came rolling down had her face down, her legs splayed in all directions. She glared at her mentor as she stood, tail flicking in annoyance. She bolted toawrds her mentor at the last taunt but ended up flat on her back again. Tripping usually followed any type of walking for the young apprentice. Spitting with anger Darkpaw went after Lightheart yet again. Her amber eyes were bright showing she was having fun even though she went about acting angry.

[Heathclaw]

"Oh, that's no good! You'll need to stay on your feet to catch me, silly!" said Lightheart, as he watched his apprentice trip over her own paws. One would think that a couple of moons of training would have eliminated that problem. But, then again, Lightheart was the mentor, was he not?

He suddenly lunged forward, and bunched up his paws at the last moment, jumping over his apprentice instead. "Haha! Are you overwhelmed yet? The game ends when you can figure out how to get me- otherwise, we'll do this all day!" And with that, he zipped straight out of chasing range again.

"A competent fighter needs much more than strength! You need speed, in mind and body! Come on- just try and catch me!" he said, darting behind a patch of pine trees.

[sadiebutt]

Darkpaw snarled out a curse then bolted after her mentor. After a small distance she slowed down. Her head whipped back and forth attempting to see Lightheart. No success followed with searching with her eyes. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth breathing in deeply. Lightheart's scent hit the roof of her mouth along with some mouse. I can get prey later she thought before trailing along behind Lightheart's scent. She caught a glimpse of the tom and creeped forward. Hopefully he wouldn't have seen her by now.

[Heathclaw]

"What was the fifth lesson? Always keep a level head," Lightheart mumbled quietly, as though he was speaking to himself. "Sixth, never go for the obvious. That should be obvious. Nice try though!" With that said, he spun around rapidly, kicking up a big swath of snow. When the dust had settled, he had disappeared, although his teasing voice remained, floating down from the trees. "Try stepping lighter next time. And approach from downwind, just like in hunting. Oh, and good luck finding me again! Use your sense along with your senses!"

[sadiebutt]

(Sorry for being gone so long)
Darkpaw snarled once again and sat down where she was. So far this was NOT working. She sighed, although he seemed light hearted and a bit playful he also seemed... oh what was that word? "Oh, that's right. Annoying." Darkpaw mumbled bitterly. She sat there thinking a moment, where had his voice come from? "Think, you idiot." she snarled again. The trees! That was it... She stood again and padded over to the nearest tree, if she could see him she'd have a better chance at catching him.
Darkpaw position herself upright, only standing on her back paws and her front paws resting on the tree trunk. Her claws slid out and sunk in the rough wood. "No turning back now."
She'd gotten about four feet off the ground when a noisy bird flew out of the tree distracting her. Darkpaw flew backward and landed on her back with an "Oof".

[Heathclaw]

Huh... that was unexpected... Lightheart thought to himself as he watched his apprentice tumble down from the tree. "Hey, are you alright?" He called down from his tree branch, creeping into view. "You ought to be careful about climbing trees like that. Coming down tends to be a bumpy affair. And you'll never know if it's really worth it."

With that little bit of his speech over with, Lightheart bounded down from the tree, branch by branch, until he reached the ground. "So, uhm, are you sure you're okay? Rainstar wouldn't like it if I brought my apprentice back all broken. It'd be a bit of a pain. So, uhm... you're not feeling too much pain, are you? Huh?" Lightheart asked, tapping her belly with his paw.

[sadiebutt]

"Don't. Touch. Me." Darkpaw hissed. She slowly stood, testing her legs cautiously. Shaking her body a little to get rid of the caught leaf that was on her back she turned to glare at her mentor. Her face softened a little and she looked down in embarrassment. "Umm, I need help with climbing trees. I don't really like the feel of it but I know it's important." she mumbled quietly.

[Heathclaw]

"Climbing trees?" asked Lightheart, tilting his head. "What would you want to do that for? Tree-climbing is one of the most complicated and useless skills known to warrior cats. Sure... it looks cool, but there's no use real use for it. Sure, you could catch another squirrel or something, but it's no good if you break your neck trying to do so. In short, it's just something attention-grabbing and silly, with no real purpose." And then his whiskers twitched up in that goofy grin of his again. "And that's why I'm naturally the master of such an activity! So... you want to learn, do ya? Are you absolutely sure? I mean, are you really, really sure about that? It's gonna hurt. A lot."