"Today we will be practicing battle moves," Ashpelt announced, sweeping his sharp yellow gaze across the assembled cats.

Frostpaw puffed out her fur in excitement. "Finally!" She yowled, kneading the grass with her claws.

The gray warrior lashed his tail crossly. "Learn when to listen and when to speak, Frostpaw." He growled.

She lowered her head in embarrassment. Willowpaw laid her tail across her friend's back to comfort her.

"Now," he continued, "we'll learn some basic fighting techniques. Lets begin with defense; because, as I am sure you have heard before, the best defense is a good offense. It is also helpful in a situation where you are overpowered."

Frostpaw gave a bounce. "Like a fox fight!"

Ashpelt flicked his ears. "I fought off one of those single-pawed." He boasted.

Willowpaw resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Anyway," Brightblossom interrupted, "Ashpelt, would you help me demonstrate a few moves?"

Ashpelt nodded. "Watch closely." He meowed.

Brightblossom bent into a hunting crouch, and then lowered herself even closer to the ground, digging her paws into the leaf mold. "During battle, stay low; it makes it harder for your opponent to uproot you." With a nod toward Ashpelt, she added, "but sometimes you will be caught by surprise- or strength."

Frostpaw watched, entranced, as Ashpelt slammed into Brightblossom, bowling her over while Willowpaw cringed. Ashpelt pinned her down, but the white warrior raked her sheathed hind paws down Ashpelt's vulnerable underbelly. He let her go and stepped away.

"You see? Raking your enemy's belly like that is a surefire way to put yourself back in control, or at least give you enough time to make a speedy getaway." She gave her paw a quick lick before beckoning to Willowpaw with a nod. "Let's start with you."

Willowpaw hesitated, then padded unconfidently to the center of the hollow. Her pelt tingled with self-consciousness despite the only audience being her best friend and her mentor. To add to the discomfort, the sun's rays shone right into her eyes, nearly blinding her.

"Wait just a heartbeat. I didn't think I needed to teach you, but the first lesson to winning a battle is to believe that you can. There's no reason not to be confident. After all, you've got the best mentor in all the Clans!" Brightblossom meowed, mocking Ashpelt's braggart tone. The tom snapped his glare onto her, flattening his ears. "Lighten up, you old lump! I was just teasing." She said, nudging him with a paw.

Willowpaw couldn't help a purr as it rose in her throat.

Brightblossom spun around to face her apprentice. "There! That's the mindset you need when fighting. Be at ease, but not too relaxed. When you keep at it, you'll find your own rhythm. Alright, now try the belly rake on me." She said.

"Okay," Willowpaw mewed. No sooner had the words left her mouth; Brightblossom rammed into her side, slamming her into the ground, all while driving the air from her lungs. Panic took over and she flailed her paws wildly.

Brightblossom let Willowpaw stand. "Not quite. You need to be quick, or else you could really get hurt."

"Sorry," She muttered, catching her breath. It didn't help the situation that Frostpaw was stifling a purr.

"Don't be sorry, just react faster next time. Again."

The two cats resumed their positions. She darted at Willowpaw, quick as a snake. The apprentice reared up on her hindpaws, swatting at her mentor. Yet, Brightblossom dodged it with ease and landed an unbalancing blow to her exposed underbelly.

"Arg!" Willowpaw spat, folding her ears against her head.

"Its fine, you were doing good. Remember to protect your stomach though. If you see a cat going low for you, stay close to the ground. Think of a badger; they are so low that it's nearly impossible to flip them over." Brightblossom offered.

Willowpaw nodded, although inwardly she heaved a long sigh. This time, she kept the advice in mind as Brightblossom charged towards her. She kept herself close to the leaf-covered floor, feeling the dew between her toes. Her mentor flashed out a paw, and Willowpaw hopped back. She bared her fangs in an involuntary snarl.

"Much better!" Brightblossom meowed, standing up and shaking out her pretty white fur. "Did you notice how my back was against the sun? When fighting, even the little things like that can turn the tides in your favor."

"Yeah, I was half blind the entire time!" Willowpaw mrrowed.

"Now Frostpaw, we shall practice that." Ashpelt said, switching places with Brightblossom and Willowpaw.

Willowpaw sat down under the shade of an oak beside her mentor and trained her eyes upon Frostpaw. I hope she does well, after all her excitement about being able to start battle training. She thought to herself.

Ashpelt gave Frostpaw instructions and a few tips before beginning. For the first round, he bounded over to her, Willowpaw noticed, in a slightly clumsy manner. He swiped at his apprentice's stomach.

Frostpaw tried to jump back, but her paw caught in a tree root causing her to trip and fall.

Ashpelt stood, smirking. "Wow, I didn't even have to do anything. Once more."

While the two continued practicing, Willowpaw leaned over to her mentor. "Can we try it again?" She asked, determined to get it right.

Brightblossom nodded, leading her to a clear patch of ground where they could train.

As the day grew, the cats went over a variety of defensive moves. At last they ended with the mentors stepping aside to let the Frostpaw and Willowpaw try out a mock battle.

"Don't go too hard on each other, and don't forget that your claws are put away for this." Brightblossom reminded them.

"The loser has to fetch new moss for the elders!" Ashpelt added.

Brightblossom rolled her eyes in good humor.

"Hey, it adds competition," he defended.

Willowpaw sunk into a crouch and circled Frostpaw, feeling a wave of nervousness. Frostpaw was always the more aggressive one of the den.

"You're going down!" She joked.

Willowpaw flicked her ears in fake amusement.

Frostpaw then sped forward and batted at her friend's head. Willowpaw stumbled back, giving herself a quick shake. Before she could ready herself again, Frostpaw barreled towards her, ramming, then pinning Willowpaw to the ground.

Willopaw grunted as a stab of pain shot through her foot.

"Sorry," Frostpaw mumbled, loosening her grip.

Brightblossom was about to intervene when Ashpelt put a paw in front of her path. "Leave them be. They must learn these skills someday."

Her protest fell silent as she watched Willowpaw spring up, knocking Frostpaw back.

Taking advantage of the surprise attack, she looked around for anything that could help her end this battle.

The same tree whose roots had made Frostpaw slip up earlier seemed like the perfect opportunity. She sped as fast as she could to its base.

"What is she doing? Running away wasn't part of what you taught her," Ashpelt muttered to Brightblossom. She narrowed her eyes in confusion.

Frostpaw had shaken herself off and began a hot pursuit after Willowpaw.

But Willowpaw was ready. She scrambled halfway up the tree's trunk and then leaped back down- right on top of Frostpaw. She squealed and tried to tried to run away, only to be flattened by the gray tabby.

The mentors raced over to the apprentices. "That was not in training!" Ashpelt protested, helping the cats get untangled. He looked over at Brightblossom pointedly, wishing her to scold Willowpaw.

Despite her eyes gleaming with amusement, she said, "Willowpaw even though you won, that was not in the rules."

Ashpelt continued to stare, so Brightblossom reluctantly added, "And because of that you and Frostpaw get to bring clean bedding to -" She broke off as her eyes found Willowpaw's paw raised slightly off the ground.

"Did you get a thorn?" She asked.

Willowpaw lifted her paw for inspection. A dark brown speck was buried deep in her pad, framed by several scarlet beads of blood. One of them dripped onto the ground, staining part of a yellow leaf burgundy.

"Oh, I didn't know that was there!" Willowpaw mewed.

"Head straight for the medicine den when we get back to camp. We don't want that getting infected." Brightblossom said.

Meanwhile, Ashpelt shot a glance at the sky. "We should begin heading back now; sundown is approaching." He waved his tail for the cats to come.

Brightblossom twitched her whiskers in annoyance at his cocky behavior but followed without a sharp remark.

Willowpaw trailed behind her mentor, each step sending a needle of pain up her leg.

Frostpaw padded up to her friend. Neither of the two spoke, only kept their gaze focused ahead.

Brightblossom fell behind to privately praise Willowpaw. "That was very clever, nice job. Next time follow the rules though."

She glowed on the inside from the compliment, but responded by calmly dipping her head. "Thank you, and I will." Brightblossom pulled back ahead.

"Sorry," Willowpaw said after some time. From the corner of her vision, she snuck a glance at Frostpaw.

But her friend didn't look vexed, in fact, she broke out into a purr. "Its fine I guess. Besides, I'm not even sure what happened. It was all a blur. How did you end up squashing me?" She tilted her head in confusion.

Willowpaw's ears burned. "Well... I um, sort of climbed a tree and jumped down."

Frostpaw halted in her tracks. "No way! That's brilliant!" She mewed. "I'll have to remember that for when I'm fighting ShadowClan!" She dropped into the hunter's crouch and growled at an imaginary enemy. Slipping through the underbrush, she pretended to dodge swipes. Though her form was clumsy, making fronds sway and squirrels scamper back into their nests.

"Some sneak-master you are! All the prey in ThunderClan territory must have been scared away by now!" Willowpaw teased.

"You try, then!" Frostpaw retorted.

Willowpaw copied her, but modified it to where she was moving smoothly between overgrown bushes. She gasped as her pressure was placed on her injured paw, and a lancing sting crawled up her leg. "Ow!" She cried.

Frostpaw was by her side in an instant, offering her shoulder for support.

Brightblossom looked back from her place up ahead, shaking her head in a joking manner. "Great StarClan, its only a thorn, Willowpaw. Just wait until you have to go to battle and get a real injury!" She mused.

Willowpaw's tail drooped at the thought of more pain than what that thorn was causing.

Ashpelt and Brightblossom sped their pace until the apprentices lost sight of them.

"Don't worry; we are almost at camp anyway. I'm sure Fawndapple will fix you right up." Frostpaw mewed.

Suddenly, a screech sounded from up ahead, making Frostpaw and Willowpaw freeze.

Willowpaw opened her jaws to taste the air. Please no foxes or badgers! She pleaded silently. All the scents smelled ordinary as ever.

"Frostpaw, Willowpaw!" They heard Ashpelt yowl. "Go get Badgerstar!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What a nice cliffhanger, right? I know it took me forever to post this, but I found some inspiration, so new chapters are going to be coming more often- especially since summer is right around the corner. Thank you to everyone that waited this long ! .