Only Instinct

[Duskstar]

;; The hard stone was cold beneath his pads as Duskstar started toward the Sharp Stones, dull gaze scanning his surroundings. He hadn't yet checked to see if Pebblepaw had caught up, but figured if the gray apprentice had made it this far she could make it to the stones, so he didn't look. Oh, how much she was like her mother. He could see her personality reflected off of each of them every day. Pausing only for a moment the leader started off at a brisk trot, fast, but not as fast as what Shadowpaw had to deal with this morning. It didn't take long for Duskstar to reach the Sharp Stones, looking back for the very first time.

;; "We will start with fighting today." Stated the leader, twitching his short tail. He figured that since Pebblepaw was more like his beloved Iceshadow than her sister, that she may have inherited her fighting skills. Duskstar's yellow eyes met his daughters as he thought for a moment. "Alright then. Give me your best shot!" The tom always figured that teaching by experience was the best way to train an apprentice, as he had never had time to think about technique when fighting, only instinct.

[Fadingstar]

Pebblepaw twitched her whiskers slightly as she made her way into the sunlight and began trotting fast enough as fast as was needed to keep up with her father. It wasn't that difficult but she felt that she must prove herself constantly to her father even if it was just matching his pace step by step. Suddenly a large drop of water landed squarely on her muzlle making her head twitch to shake it off.

She tried not to pay much attention as the rain slowly began to fall faster as she tried her hardest to listen to Duskstar. As she lowered herself down and began to move slowly closer to him. The rain was pouring down now making it hard to see which the stealthy apprentice used to her advantage. Suddenly she dove forward and would use the slick stone to slide under Duskstar turning as she did this. Pebblepaw would kick up at his underbelly, not too hard and with her claws sheathed if he didn't stop her before.

[Duskstar]

;; "Using surroundings to her advantage," Thought the StoneClan leader, "A good approach." So his daughter had inherited his mate's fighting skills. Despite this fact, however, Duskstar could easily see Pebblepaw coming and sidestepped the attack. It was rather easy to dodge attacks like these because they can't change course as well as if they ran. Keeping low with dull yellow eyes narrowed, the tom stared intensely at Pebblepaw, awaiting the next attack. If the apprentice went low once again he would leap into the air instead of sidestepping, attempting to land on his daughter and pin her. If she went high he would duck and roll, stopping on his back and kicking up hard with his hind paws. This would hopefully send Pebblepaw flying in the opposite direction.

;; Duskstar stayed completely aware, stub of a tail twitching as the pouring rain soaked his tabby pelt. Though he may have seemed like an easygoing cat to the ignorant kits who wanted him as a mentor, he was truly rather intense, unafraid to leave apprentices with a few bruises and scratches on the way back to camp. Duskstar would never injure one of course, he just felt that this was the best way to learn to fight.

;; Dull yellow gaze locked with Pebblepaw's, and suddenly, a rather vivid memory flooded into him. He and Iceshadow were laying alone in camp, sharing tongues, back when he was Duskpelt. The soft purrs coming from the she-cat rang into his ears, temporarily distracting him, and the leader was no longer able to look into his daughter's eyes.

[Fadingstar]

Pebblepaw hissed slightly to herself as Duskstar easily sidestepped her attack, she must be failing miserably at this. How was she supposed to prove herself if she truly had no skills in which to do so?

Her ice blue gaze locked onto Duskstar's dull yellow gaze as he awaited her next move. Thinking quickly but at the same time quite extensively she took in her mind mental pictures of what would happen. Most likely Duskstar would be ready if she dove low again since those attacks were easy to dodge when prepared, so she wrote them off to use only when her opponent was already confused.

If she were to go high most would duck under her and if at all possible, depending on their speed, agility, and skill level, they would go for a kick into her underbelly. Most other apprentices at this step then would just attack Duskstar head on thinking that if he could stop every other one somehow that would work, not Pebblepaw however, she knew that he was bigger and stronger than her so that would be a useless attempt that and she was a risk taker.

This meant that seeing as she had a pretty good idea at what Duskstar's counter attacks would be she could hopefully find a way to counter the counter attacks. So diving low again she would allow her father to think that she would be able to be pinned quite easily. Once there as he came down she would roll over to the side and attempt to swing over and hit him with a sheathed paw. If she went to late he would pin her and that would probably end the match since he was bigger than her, that or she could play dead.... Either way this risk took almost perfect reflexes and a litte bit of luck so he would do what she thought he would.

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[Duskstar]

;; Pebblepaw's attacked would've worked, and would've worked very well, had Duskstar not been so distracted by his thoughts. Instead, when the leader finally came to and found his daughter coming toward him, low, he completely forgot his previous plan and found himself being tripped up. The tom, however, with over 14 moons battle experience, wasn't about to let this cause him to get pinned by a six moon old apprentice. Duskstar turned his mistake into a move, rolling swiftly to his paws and counter attacking by attempting to ram his entire body into Pebblepaw, hopefully causing the most likely already unbalanced she-cat to fall, giving him the advantage.

;; Even though the leader was defending against every move his daughter made, he knew that Pebblepaw was doing very well. Usually a new apprentice would attack left and right, eventually tiring themselves out by testing Duskstar's endurance. But no, his daughter used her brain more than her body, taking to thought that her father was larger than her, and using her surroundings, like the rain, to her advantage. This would help several times in battle, for example at a battle against SilentClan. If it was on their territory a decent fighter would use their shadows to their own advantage. Because of this Duskstar felt his heart swell with pride, despite the fact he still couldn't look his daughter in the eye.

;; At some point and time during this time, the StoneClan leader managed to let out a rumbling purr, "You're doing very well Pebblepaw." Duskstar forced himself to look his daughter in the eye to try and follow directly to her next attack. That, and the tom wanted to make sure she knew he was proud and that they weren't just empty words. Deep down Duskstar knew it wasn't Pebblepaw's fault Iceshadow died, but that her gaze simply reminded him of her. At his previous mate's name a trickle of cold sorrow came down through his pelt.

[Fadingstar]

Pebblepaw hadn't been ready for the switch in attack, though besides her.... less than a day battle experience level Pebblepaw was able to dodge most of her father's attack. Loosing her balance as she swerved, narrowly avoiding most of the blow. He did however knock her more off balance by partially hitting her, suddenly she found herself sliding to the ground painfully as the slick ground she had used to her advantage earlier took her down.

Her ice blue eyes closed for a moment, a pain had shot through her right paw as she landed on it improperly. Well that was the price of dodging his move, in a real battle the difference would be being painfully rammed down and probably repeatedly scratched at, this way she only came out witha sprained paw perhaps. Suddenly however she was aware of an odd tingling that remained after the initial pain had passed, Pebblepaw needed to test her weight on it but she didn't want to seem like she would go down in a fight after one little hit.

Pebblepaw thought carefully about her next move, the tingling still remaining long after she decided. She didn't move a bit from where she had fallen, this was the perfect oppurtunity to pretend as though she had been taken down, and then being able to lunge up suddenly at him and slash with asheathed left paw. The gray apprentice was sure that this would also draw away from the fact she had only stayed down because of her paw, she was no wimp.

Her ears perked at her father's praise, her heart swelling but she couldn't open her eyes to see if he truly meant it in fear of throwing off her attack. She definetly wouldn't stop now to tell Duskstar she was injured, probably not the smartest move in the long run but Pebblepaw was too stubborn to admit that one fact.

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[Duskstar]

;; With Pebblepaw laying on the ground, it was natural that her father be worried for her, right? Well, though the tabby leader knew the trick, he was indeed worried whether his daughter was really hurt. After a few heartbeats Duskstar padded to her side, the rain pounding against his back and soaking into his fur. Luckily it was still warm enough as neither of them should get sick. "You alright?" He asked, gazing down at Pebblepaw through the thin sheet of rain. It was starting to die down now, just steadily coming without the constant rumble of thunder, and the dark clouds were beginning to slowly fade into the distance.

;; Suddenly Duskstar felt a blow on the side of his head, and he jumped back instinctively. With a chuckle the tom gazed down at his daughter, "Smart. Ok, come on let's try this again." Shaking out his tabby fur the StoneClan leader padded back to his original spot, "I'm going to teach you a few battle moves to work on for now." Dull yellow gaze met the sky as the rain stopped completely, finally leaving the two cats to some peace. That was the nice thing about stone, it dried very quickly and didn't leave many puddles so long as it was flat enough.

;; Sitting and wrapping his tail around his paws, Duskstar waited patiently for Pebblepaw to join him. She hadn't mentioned anything about being hurt, so he had just assumed she was using her fake defeat as a trick, though hopefully her paw would be good enough to continue fighting. If not his daughter would have to let him know, because he had no intention of going easy on the she-cat.

[ew... short.]

[Fadingstar]

The gray-pelted apprentice let a small smile give her face a light that it didn't often get, though it seemed as soon as it had come it was gone. Then Pebblepaw realized that Duskstar expected her to join him, shaking her head she gazed down at her right paw, she could still feel the sting but it just made her foot feel numb as she sat on the ground keeping most of her weight off of it.

Standing up she tried not to make it look like she was in pain as her foot touched the ground. Moving slowoly she forced herself to bite down the whimper that rose in her throat as the tingle grew into a single sharp pain. Taking another step she realized that the pain she felt every time she rested her paw went away almost as soon as it comes. Perhaps that was just how pain worked, physical anyway since she would know about emotional. Soon she walked on the paw almost normally, every once in a while she would lift it a bit higher than the other however to relieve it for just a bit longer.

Sitting down in front of her father she awaited for what would happen next, hoping that her paw wouldn't get injured any further, or if it wasn't completely impossible that it would just get better all of the sudden.

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