WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| chapter eight

"I won!"

Owlpaw screeched, skidding to a stop as Sedgestorm's voice sounded behind him.

"As if!" The apprentice felt something crush him, and he looked up to see Sedgestorm. "Battle training today!"

The dark brown tom lashed his tail, narrowing his eyes.

Owlpaw arched his back, throwing Sedgestorm off. He leaped up, whipping around to see his mentor growling, his fur raised.

"Seems as if we're going to have a little pre-battle," the warrior purred.

"Indeed," Owlpaw narrowed his eyes at Sedgestorm, taking in his surroundings. A rock to Sedgestorm's left, a bush nearby somewhere... He wasn't able to look at the rest, for his mentor had jumped towards him.

Sedgestorm started to run towards the apprentice, but the tom knew better. Owlpaw skirted away from his mentor, picking up the pace and running around the older tom. Quickly recalling training, he remembered a move named half-turn belly rake. He swiftly saved that for later.

The warrior whipped around, a bright light shimmering in his eyes, as he bolted towards his apprentice. The smaller tom wasn't able to move quick enough and Sedgestorm performed they had learned last time; forepaw slash. He, with sheathed claws, brought his paw down on Owlpaw's head. With a hiss, the apprentice jerked back. He ducked and rolled away from his mentor, leaping up.

With a very quick surveying of his surroundings, Owlpaw recalled that rock was nearby. The apprentice ran around the rock, crouching behind it. He peeked out from the left side; there was Sedgestorm, turning around and beginning to run towards the rock. With an explosive screech, Owlpaw sprung over the rock, landing on Sedgestorm and he pinned him down.

"Are you done yet?" Sedgestorm asked, smirking and flipping his apprentice over, who was breathing heavily under the warrior's weight.

With a faintly irritated eye roll, Owlpaw shook his head. "Don't think so."

Growling, Owlpaw arched his back to throw the warrior off. But his mentor held his ground, firmly planting him against the ground. Looking up at the older tom, he flicked his whiskers, wondering how he could out. He probably didn't have enough strength to roll under Sedgestorm and away from him. He probably couldn't do the play dead move; it was so overused and everyone knew you just don't go limp and expect to get free.

I'm stuck... Owlpaw realized.

Sedgestorm smiled. "Is it over by default?" He queried.

With a resigned sigh, the apprentice nodded. His mentor got off Owlpaw, almost defensive as if he expected him to start up the mock battle again.

"Today we'll learn two moves. The first one is called upright lock," Sedgestorm began, flicking his tail. "Do you notice anything different about this area?"

Owlpaw surveyed the area - again. He noticed rocks, some taller objects and things that you can hide around. Perhaps jump off of. "There's rocks and a lot of things you can hide around and jump off."

"Good! That will pertain to the next move." Sedgestorm nodded. "This is a complicated, final move on a previously weakened enemy. If you had used a stronger move a little while ago, maybe scruff shake on a smaller opponent, this one would finish them off completely. It's good to use on a smaller cat, like yourself. Or, a smaller enemy can use this on a well-sized cat with extreme strength and speed."

"The cat performing this move must first rear up on their back legs and bring their weight down on the other cat. This will momentarily stun them, possibly. Then, you finish them off with simply pinning them down. However, if the other opponent tries to do a move similar to this, you need to wrestle them and flip them underneath you. Got it?"