Minkpaw training with Barkclaw

Barkclaw yawned slightly, flicking his tail. He had decided to come to the marshes; he liked ShadowClan's territory more than RiverClan's. Barkclaw's gray eyes glanced around as he tried to see if Minkpaw was coming. He thought for a moment of what was happening back in StormClan; his own sister had been taken, among other wolves. However, he decided to try not to think of the current situation, and instead thought about what he could teach Minkpaw while waiting for her to come over.

Minkpaw hurried into the clearing. She had followed Barkclaw's scent trail to find him.  "Hope I came in time. I forgot where you said it was going to be, so I followed your scent. No offense, but it's pretty distinct." Minkpaw joked. She grinned and woofed, "So, what're we gonna do?" The brown and black apprentice asked, taking a look around. 'He sure chose a good spot for mug bogging.' Minkpaw thought, shaking off her paws that had captured mud. 'Hope we're not finding herbs.' She turned her attention back to her mentor.

[Sorry for not posting sooner!]

Barkclaw's gray eyes glanced over towards Minkpaw as the new apprentice ran over, and he nodded at what she said, smiling slightly upon hearing her joke. "I suppose that marshes and mud can leave a pretty strong scent," He replied, before hearing Minkpaw speak again. "Alright, well, to start, welcome to the marshes. The marshland can be a good place to practice fighting moves in, as if you can perfect learning how to fight in this kind of territory, you'd probably be good nearly everywhere else. We can also try hunting frogs, lizards, and the sort; maybe a mouse or two if we're able to. I could try to find a stream if you were interested in fishing, but for now, how about either fighting or hunting, to start off on?" Barkclaw said, waiting for his apprentice's response.

Minkpaw angled her ears, her habit while she is in deep thought. 'Hmm... the clans are pretty peaceful with each other as I heard, but the two legs are always lurking. Maybe if they try to attack camp, I could fight them off alongside the older wolves! The prey is plentiful, I could learn to hunt later. Besides, fighting is the coolest!' Angling her ears back forward, Minkpaw woofed, "Fighting would be good for the current... situation.  Besides, the fresh kill pile is plenty full." The apprentice decided. "Err... if that's okay?" She added, looking up at her mentor.

Barkclaw nodded as Minkpaw spoke; the large warrior was a decent fighter, and he hoped he'd be able to show Minkpaw some useful battle moves. "Sure, if that's what you'd want to do." The warrior said in reply to her question. "The first thing you need to know about fighting is that you should always be prepared, and expect to be surprised. In battle, it's important to surprise your opponent, however, and to use whatever you can to your advantage. Take this marshland, for example; if some other wolf or Twoleg entered here, they probably wouldn't be prepared for this kind of territory. With practice, you'd be able to best them in a fight." Barkclaw started, pausing for a moment.

Minkpaw nodded. "Would the marsh and mud slow them down? Like, I heard that WindClan wolves live in moorlands, ThunderClan lives in a forest, and SunClan lives in the mountains. So... they may not be used to running in this soggy of ground?" Minkpaw woofed, pressing her paw against the ground, blinking. "And some of their moves would be a little off...?" She said, her gaze fixed on the soggy ground. Mink lifted her gaze  back toward her mentor, waiting for him to answer.