~Make it or Break it, it's Dust~[CedarxDust]

[Cloud of Diamonds]

Oh, yes. It was a bit embarrassing for the MeadowClan leader to caught standing still seemingly daydreaming, but he quickly recovered his stance and natural confidence.

He realized his apprentice was now a little ways ahead of him and quickly jumped forward to stand beside him.

"Yes. Forgive my drifting off, Dustpaw, I was thinking about the future."

The instant after he was done speaking, the muscular tom began to walk again, then quickened his pace, padding swiftly over the hard, cold ground.

He finally broke into a run, panting but enjoying himself. His muscles hadn't worked this much in a while. He stopped for a moment before leisurely padding the short rest of the way to the training hollow.

A good run. He should do that more often, it would help keep him in shape. The mottled brown tabby chuckled grimly. It wouldn't be much of a worry during leaf-bare, though, almost unfortunately.

The thought of the still many more freezing nights to come dulled his happiness when he remembered leaf-bares in ForestClan so bad, that some nights over half the Clan had gone to bed hungry.

StarClan grant that did not happen this season.

These cats...those who had been kittypets..could they truly cope for such a long time? They had done well so far, but..he shifted his paws uneasily. Such troubled times could lead to unneeded violence. Still, he must try and trust his Clan.

Dustpaw should be here soon.

[wild]

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control

Dustpaw nodded, and followed his mentor out of camp. His heart missed a beat when Cedarstar began bounding through the forest. The only activity Dustpaw could recall ever doing was digging in the field, and he was never all that good at running. He soon lost sight of his mentor, his thick fur and muscles slowing him down. He began panting rather painfully, even though he had only been running for not even half of a minute. This is going to be a long few moons, he thought bitterly. His breath ripped out of his muzzle when he finally came to the training hollow. He tried to gain control of his breathing, but failed miserably. He sat on the ground, his legs burning from just a tiny run. "Ergh... pant.... sorry.... pant...." was all he could manage to muster. Once his heart-beat finally slowed, he straightened up, his nose burning with embarrassment. Way to look like warrior material in front of your mentor, who happened to be the leader of the Clan.

"So," Dustpaw meowed, "what are we doing today?" He licked his ruffled fur down, making himself look more decent than he felt. He hoped that they would do a fighting lesson today. They were in the training hollow, so it made sense. Dustpaw was easily able to assume that it would be logical to hunt in the feild and forest. How many mice would you find in a training hollow? He wondered what Cedarstar would teach him. All he knew about fighting he learned from play-fighting, but that was play, not actual fighting. He couldn't tell whether such tactics would work in combat or not. Dustpaw looked at Cedarstar, waiting to receive his knowledge. He also hoped that his training would get him used to exercise. He did not want the results of his small run to occur again. He scratched the soft ground with his claws.

No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone

lyrics; Another Brick In The Wall(Part II) - Pink Floyd

[Cloud of Diamonds]

The gray tabby seemed exhausted from following him, the leader noted. But then, he was young, and strength took moons to build up. He was grateful for the distraction from his troubling thoughts.

With a pang of guilt, he realized the apprentice would be more in shape if he bothered to take him out more often. He vowed to try and organize more opportunities to do so.

Hmmm...what should he teach him as beginning fighting skills? The mottled tom remembered to back to all those moons ago when Elkstar had been his mentor, making him learn every move there was, even when he would've rather been hunting...shaking his head slightly, he made himself return to the present, where he was not the apprentice, but the mentor.

Think, the MeadowClanner said to to himself. What was one of the first things I learned?

The answer came to him in a rush of vivid memory. How to perform a basic swipe at an opponent, of course. It was a move both basic and common, but it was also a vital step of more complicated maneuvers and it had many variations. It was also a good method of teaching accuracy, speed, and muscle control.

He looked at the young tom, and said,

"Today, we will start with learning the frontal strike, claws sheathed. We will stand facing each other, about three tail-lengths away. I want you to come at me and try to hit me with your front paw any way you can, on any part of me you can."

Of course, he wasn't going to make this easy for the little tom. What the tabby was most interested in seeing was what he did first, with no prior training. It would give him a small clue about his natural instinct and fighting style. He backed away until he was at the length he'd specified, brownish yellow eyes carefully watching Dustpaw.

[wild]

Dustpaw listened intently as Cedarstar explained what they would be doing first. Frontal strike? That sounded kind of easy. Dustpaw almost felt as though his mentor was patronizing him, but he would put at least some effort into his 'attack'. He was used to unsheathing his small but sharp claws in play-fights with his siblings, even though since he was a smaller cat then, it had little effect. He was somewhat bigger now. He went from a small little fluff-ball to... well, a big fluff-ball.

Without much thinking, Dustpaw lunged forward. He lifted his paw and swiped, aiming for Cedarstar's shoulder. He made sure he kept his claws in, as he was instructed. He was hoping that his move wasn't so predictable, but as he thought about it, it sure was. Any cat that he would be attacking probably could have easily read it. Dustpaw was a good and fast learner, though, and trial and error was a good method of learning for him.

ooc; I'd make this longer, but if try it will all come out as mindless fluff

[Cloud of Diamonds]

He was surprised by the little tom's speed. He swiftly leaned to the left, but not quite quickly enough, for one of the gray tom's toes still brushed his shoulder fur. Once he had dodged, the mottled MeadowClanner jumped forward, then turned around and sat, waiting for Dustpaw to try again.

It took little enough energy...but it reminded him of his younger days when he seemed filled with strength, able to conquer any enemy or hunt the most energetic squirrel. But those days were long gone. Oh, he was still as great he had been, perhaps even more. He was young for a leader, even. Still, there were those happy times when his only concerns had been feeding his Clan and fighting for it, and spending time with his dearest friends. It seemed like more moons had passed than actually had since then.

Looking at the white and tabby tom, he remembered his own youth once more. His own parents dead, the leader raising him as his own son, Littlewhisker and Russetpelt, and the journey...it almost seemed like a dream now.

Well, he was daydreaming. Um.

He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Not that it was ruining his 'leader stance' or anything, but it was unusual. Hmm.

[wild]

Dustpaw narrowed his eyes with satisfaction. He had at least made some contact with his mentor, but not enough to supposedly injure a real opponent. The young tom used his swift learning ability to find that being faster would definitely help, and to not make his moves so obvious would also prove to be beneficial. Dustpaw flexed his claws, scraping them against the cold ground, thinking of how to handle a next move. He knew that he would have no time to think like this in actual combat, but this wasn't the real deal now, was it? Dustpaw took into account his distance from things that may interrupt his next move. Things look very good for him. He was thankful that the training hollow was fairly big.

Dustpaw charged at his mentor, aiming for a swipe toward the right side of Cedarstar's face. He kicked out with his right back leg, propelling him into the opposite direction, and swiped with his other paw. The idea was to get his mentor to dodge his left paw and head right into his opposite paw which he was really using to strike with. Dustpaw hoped that this would make both him and his mentor proud.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

It was almost a relief when Cedarstar realized what his apprentice was trying to do. This was a kind of move he'd practiced against multiple times, one that was almost like instinct. He ducked, quickly crawling under the leaping apprentice, then jumped and turned simultaneously, to lightly slap the apprentice's tail with outstretched paws. The MeadowClan leader then twisted, licking some dust off his fur - oh, the irony - and sat proudly, looking back upon the young tom with some satisfaction.

Even though he'd easily managed to dodge the little cat's strike, it had been a surprisingly clever move for one so young. He knew he'd never taught it to the tom, so it was more than likely he'd figured it out himself. Cedarstar purred. Good. No good fighter was complete with improvisation.

He was quick, too - by the time the mottled brown tabby figured out what Dustpaw meant to do, his claws had been mere pawlengths from his face.

With several moons' more training, he would be a very capable warrior. It was too early to say what his name might be, of course, but with speed like that perhaps Dustfoot might suit him. Speaking of names...he went over the other apprentices in his Clan. They were all older than his apprentice - and from what he could tell, they seemed to be coming along fairly well. Maybe it would be time for an assessment soon.

[wild]

Well that went well, Dustpaw thought irritably. Already the young tom was getting impatient. He desperately hoped that the warriors he faced wouldn't be able to dodge him so easily. Not only was combat training work, but it was making him frustrated as well. On the bright side, his mentor looked somewhat satisfied with him. He then realized that his mentor was pretty old, and he must have trained against his moves many times. The thought calmed him down a bit.

Dustpaw stalked around his mentor, circling him, thinking of a next attack. He stopped suddenly and went in the opposite direction. He made a dash for Cedarstar's side and attempted to knock his mentor over. It wasn't thought out very well, and probably not his best move. Dustpaw knew that if his attacks weren't so spaced, he could perhaps catch Cedarstar off guard as he day-dreamed. If was worth a shot, but for now the little tom focused on his current attack.

[Cloud of Diamonds]

OOC: XD Pretty old? Cedar's actually kind of young for a leader, only 44 moons. It's true he got lots of fighting practice though, even though he didn't want to.

Another attack, he realized as he heard the patter of paws behind him. Dustpaw was determined and trying new techniques, good. The leader quickly swerved, but he wasn't quite fast enough and his apprentice's charge made his paws skitter as he attempted to regain his balance. In a few seconds he aimed a (claws sheathed, of course) blow at Dustpaw's side, though the mottled tom was careful not to put too much force behind it.

He wouldn't be caught daydreaming again, that was for sure. Now that he knew what the tabby MeadowClanner was capable of. But Cedarstar wasn't about to let the little cat rest on his fresh-kill.

[wild]

Dustpaw was greatly encouraged when he finally managed to actually hit Cedarstar. He figured his attack was rather predictable and that he wouldn't succeed, but was proven wrong; and he was quite happy about it. The blow that his mentor returned caught him off guard. He never thought about his mentor fighting back. Well, now he knew. Dustpaw staggered off to the side, and was thankful that Cedarstar did not force the little cat to fall over. That would have been embarrassing, and it would have gotten him dirty.

For some reason it felt as though the two have been training all day, but they had been training for a few minutes. Dustpaw knew that the day would be long, and he would have to deal with this for many moons to come. Until he received his warrior name, of course. He wondered what kind of a warrior name he would get. Once again, the young tom was getting distracted, and by his own curiosity this time. Dustpaw found himself staring into space thinking. He sat down and tilted his head to the side, his green eyes lost in his own little world of thought.

ooc; And things were going so well up to this point XD I wanted to bring out some of Dust's personality.