"Lightstar!"

Lightstar snapped out of the terror-inducing memory and turned to find her white furred apprentice, Whitepaw, standing in front of her.

"That was the third time I've said your name. Is something wrong?" Whitepaw asked.

"No, I'm fine," Lightstar replied. Lightstar gave her chest a brisk lick then looked back to Whitepaw. "Was there something you wanted?"

"I was hoping that we could do some battle training together. I went in your den earlier to ask you, but you were still asleep."

"It would be great to train with you," Lightstar agreed with a nod. She wanted to do anything to get the terrifying image of the dog out of her mind, besides, it wouldn't do any harm to train with her apprentice. After all, the fresh-kill pile had just been restocked.

"Great! Do you think Shortpaw and Cedarfoot could train with us as well?" Whitepaw mewed with energy and enthusiasm in her amber eyes.

Lightstar glanced at Shortpaw and his mentor, Cedarfoot, who were talking to Lionclaw and his new apprentice, Thornpaw across the sandy camp. Cedarfoot seemed to be congratulating Lionclaw and Shortpaw seemed to be welcoming Thornpaw as a new apprentice.

"They just got back from a hunting patrol. I think they should rest," Lightstar told her apprentice. The brightness didn't falter in Whitepaw's eyes.

"Alright. I can train with Shortpaw later," Whitepaw mewed.

Whitepaw nodded then walked towards the camp entrance and waited for Lightstar. Lightstar then padded through the vines and out of the camp with Whitepaw trailing behind her.

Lightstar and Whitepaw made their way through the hot, sandy forest that was made of mostly jungle trees. Even through the thick canopy of trees the greenleaf sun still managed to show through. It would be about a moon or two until greenleaf ended.

It only took a little while until Lightstar and Whitepaw reached the wide training gorge where the apprentices would do battle training. Lightstar skidded down the rocks that trailed from the bottom of the gorge to the top until she made it to the ground. Lightstar turned back to Whitepaw and saw that she was down the first few stones.

"So, for this move, you jump up and while your in the air, you twist around to land on your enemy's back," Lightstar told her apprentice once they were both safely on the ground. Whitepaw gave a slight nod and a flick of her ear to show her interest.

"Let me demonstrate." Lightstar lunged up and when she was over her apprentice, she twisted around and landed squarely on Whitepaw, pinning her down to the ground.

"Like that," Lightstar mewed, stepping off Whitepaw. "Only normally in a real battle, you would have your claws unsheathed."

Whitepaw got up and shook some sand and pebbles from her white fur. "Can I try?"

"Go ahead."

Whitepaw suddenly pounced up, twisted, then landed on top of Lightstar, however, she was close to sliding off because she didn't land exactly on Lightstar's shoulders. Whitepaw jumped off Lightstar's back.

"How was that?" Whitepaw asked.

"Good, but look down on your opponent's back when you twist so you know where you land. And also when you do land, push down so they are pinned completely to the ground," Lightstar explained.

"Okay. I'm going to try again." Whitepaw went back a few paces away from Lightstar. She then jumped up twisted and landed on Lightstar's shoulders, then tried pushed her down to the ground, but couldn't. Whitepaw stepped off Lightstar.

"I know that I wasn't able to push you down, but was that better?" Whitepaw asked.

Lightstar got up and shook the sand and pebbles from her own fur this time. "Yes, much better. Quick suggestion though, when you try to push your opponent to the ground, put your whole body into it instead of your paws. But, other than that, you did really well. Now I'm going to show you a defense against the move you just did." Whitepaw nodded, clearly excited to be learning more.

"When you are pinned down by your opponent you can do one of two things. First, you can twist your head around and bite the enemies paw which might make them lose their grip so you can get unpinned. Second, you can struggle, then go limp then, once your enemy loosens their grip on you, you push up explosively, throwing them off your back," Lightstar explained. "Let's try that shall we?"

Lightstar jumped up, twisted and landed on Whitepaw's back, pushing her to the ground. Whitepaw struggled then went limp. Lightstar loosened her grip. Whitepaw pushed up explosively and threw Lightstar off her back. Whitepaw quickly turned to Lightstar and ran towards her. Once she reached Lightstar, Whitepaw pinned the calico down on her back and started battering her mentor's belly with sheathed paws.

"Alright! Alright!" Lightstar let out a mrrow of laughter and Whitepaw got off Lightstar. Lightstar got up and gave her chest a couple of licks to clean it.

"That was really great! Good job with that last part of the move by the way, that was good thinking," Lightstar praised her apprentice and Whitepaw lightened up even more. Whitepaw was a fast learner and one of the senior apprentices along with Shortpaw. "Let's continue shall we?"

~§~

After Lightstar and Whitepaw were finished training it was close to night. They headed back to the FireClan camp through the jungle trees and sandy ground whilst the sun was setting, bathing everything in orange light.

When Lightstar and Whitepaw reached the camp, it seemed as though everyone was in camp. Lightstar turned to Whitepaw and noticed that she looked tired, after all, they did train pretty hard and Lightstar realized that she was tired too. Some prey and rest will help Whitepaw get her energy back. Lightstar thought.

"Why don't you go see if the elders have had anything to eat then afterwards you can get some prey." Lightstar told her apprentice.

"Alright!" Whitepaw trotted across the sandy floored camp and to the elders den, a den made out of a burrow in the ground.

Lightstar padded over to the fresh-kill pile to find that it had been recently refilled. She grabbed a squirrel and took it over to her den.

Once Lightstar reached her den, she set the squirrel down and layed down in front of it with her paws tucked under her. Lightstar started to take slow bites.

When Lightstar finished the squirrel, her belly now full, she closed her eyes. She was very tired from training and it was getting late so Lightstar saw it as a good idea to get some rest. The sand and moss felt comfortable to Lightstar and she adjusted herself in a more relaxing position on her side.

Lightstar was worried about Boulderstar and the rest of RainClan. Did something happen to them? She didn't know, but she hoped they were okay. Even though they were from different Clans, Lightstar always felt that she and Boulderstar were closer than the other leaders because of their past.

Lightstar decided to put off the thought about RainClan and Boulderstar until tomorrow. If she got sleep, Lightstar would be able to think more clearly. Lightstar let out a long yawn and fell into sleep, but not before hoping that she wouldn't have a nightmare like the one last night.

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Heyllo everyone! I'm sorry if you wanted an update for Fierce As Fire sooner, but I've been really busy and trying to work on some other books which I hope you'll like. I really hope that you liked this chapter. It was more of a filler chapter to introduce Lightstar's apprentice, Whitepaw, but I hope you liked it all the same. The picture above is Whitepaw by the way. Tell me what you think of this chapter and the book so far! Thank you so much for reading! (This was about 1333 words by the way)

Vote, Comment, and enjoy reading!

~SkiBunny05🐇🐰🐯