What's up, you guys?
How is life? :)
This chapter is kinda short, but I think it fits. :)
Enjoy!
(Summary of Last Chapter: Avalon, Blaise, Stacey, and Zachary get asked to join the Dark Forest. PoV: Stacey)
In Which Hawkfrost Teaches Me For The First Time
"So... He's not coming?"
The cat shook his head. "No. He's busy right now. He sent me out to train you instead."
"Uh... Okay. But, can I have your name?" I asked. The thought of training with someone and not knowing that person's name seemed pretty rude to me.
"My name is Hawkfrost," he replied.
I titled my head and took in his appearance. "You remind me of someone I know."
He smiled. "I'm Brambleclaw's half-brother."
"Ah! That explains it."
He jumped down from his rock and padded over to me. "Now, let's get started. What do you have the most trouble with?"
"Uh... Fighting."
"Agility or Strength?"
"Both," I answered unhappily.
"Looks like we have a lot of work to do," he observed. "Since you're small, let's start with agility."
"Okay."
"Now, stand right there,"he said, pointing the spot in front of him. I obeyed. "Now, let's see your crouch." I crouched. Hawk walked around me. "You're too tense around the shoulders and lower back. Relax a bit."
"But, I feel vulnerable if I do that!" I exclaimed.
"Once you get used to doing it that way, you won't feel that way. Now, relax those parts." Slowly, I allowed my muscles to ease. It felt uncomfortable and I felt vulnerable. "That's it. Now, try walking with the crouch like you're about to catch a mouse."
I took in a deep breath and did that. It was like he had flipped a switch. My movements went from awkward and weird to smooth and graceful.
"See? Isn't it much easier now?" asked Hawk.
I laughed. "Yup!"
"Now that you have that down, let's start with a couple of agility moves. I'm going to out my paws out and you're going to touch them. This way, you'll learn how to make quick swipes."
He crouched down and stretched his paws out. I crouched down as well and studied his paws. After a bit, I quickly swiped at one of them. Lighting fast, he retreated his paw so that I ended up hitting air.
Dead Lord, he's fast!
It took me over forty tries just to lightly brush his paw fur. By then my haunches ached in pain and my vision was getting a bit blurry from concentrating so hard.
Hawk seemed sense that I was tiring and stopped the exercise. I quickly sat on my haunches only to experience on of the worst dizzy cases I have ever had. It took a good long two minutes for the world to stop spinning.
"You did average. I won't be hard on you for the first couple of the sessions to let you adjust. After that, however, I'm going to be strict and expect much more out of you."
"You said 'me'," I pointed it out. "Isn't your dad training me?"
Hawk shrugged. "Most likely I'll end up training you. My father's been very busy nowadays."
"Why?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, just overseeing all the training."
"There are more like me?" I asked in awe. I had never thought that there would be others that struggled to fight like I did.
"Yes, quite a number," he said happily. "In fact, we could have enough for an army."
"An army of terrible fighters? You guys aren't going to be winning anything with a group like us."
"Oh, you'll see," he said. "Now, go get a quick drink and come right back. We have some more training to do."
"Uh..." I looked around. "Where do I-"
"Too slow," he said. "Get ready for the next exercise."
By the time he was done with me, I was beyond exhausted. I lay on the ground, taking in deep gulps of air.
"You did alright," said Hawk. "I can see a lot of room for improvement. Tigerstar was right; you do have a lot of potential."
For some reason, I found myself believing Hawk. Maybe he was right. Maybe I could make a decent fighter and hunter. I didn't want to be the best, but I wanted to be able to do well enough that I could carry a bit of the weight that everyone else carried.
I smiled faintly. "Thanks."
"It's my pleasure," he purred.
For a moment, he looked almost exactly like Brambles.
Maybe that's why I trust him.
Maybe I trust him because they are siblings. Because they look alike. Because I see Brambles in everything he does.
Hawk smiled. "Time to wake up. See you later."
My eyes opened. Sunlight filtered to the den giving it a sort of gentle glow. I got up and stretched. Looking around, I noticed most were still asleep. I smiled and walked out of the den. Taking in a deep breath of air, I decided to try hunting.
I walked out of camp and started to sniff around, trying to find something to eat. My nose quickly caught the scent of a mouse. I crouched down low, like Hawk had showed me. I still felt super vulnerable, but I did my best to shake it off. I let my nose guide me to the mouse.
There it was. The mouse itself wasn't very big. It was the size of an apple. I watched it for a moment. Quickly, I pounced. It didn't know it was coming. It managed a quick squeal before going limp in my mouth.
A glow of pride filled me.
I had done it!
I had done it!
And it was thanks to Hawk, too.
This whole training in my dreams thing might actually work!
Stacey! What are you doing? D: Don't trust him!
;) Hope you liked it!
Later!