A/NI do not own the movie, Epic; it is owned by Blue Sky Studios. I DO own my OC, Tabitha, and her species, as well as a couple of other characters that will pop up.
tlc234stars: That's fine :) Glad you like Tabitha and the story.
Lady Larka: The first time I ever saw the Boggans (in theaters) my mind immediately went to Shark Tale sharks! And you and I probably aren't the only ones who made that connection.
The rest of the day consisted of Mandrake and Dagda giving Tabitha the grand tour of Wrathwood, and explaining how training would work. It was night by the time everything was done, and it had been late afternoon when Tabitha arrived. So, since it was late, Mandrake told her to go to sleep, and that she would start training in the morning. She grudgingly agreed, to which he laughed at, and commented about her being eager to start training.
The beds were made of feather down from birds, and fresh moss, which was very comfortable. Mandrake told Tabitha it was everyone's responsibility to harvest fresh moss for their beds.
Tabitha fell right asleep as soon as she lay on her bed, and pulled her blanket of animal pelt over her legs. Since she was still wearing her chipmunk coat, there was no need to fully-use her blanket. The next morning, she was jolted from her sleep by water being poured on her head. Coughing and sputtering, she abruptly sat up to see Toxicad leering at her, with two other Boggans behind them. The former was holding a damp, hollowed-out acorn shell. "Morning, Amphy." He said, laughing with the other Boggans.
She only scowled, stood up from her bed, and pushed past the Boggans, wiping her wet bangs from her face. As she squeezed out her ponytail, she caught sight of Dagda. She walked up to him, still squeezing out her hair. "Morning." She greeted half-heartedly.
When he turned to look at Tabitha, his eyebrows shot up. "What happened to you?" He asked.
"Toxicad and his cronies decided to give me the wet Boggan welcome." She explained.
"Ah. There's a good place to dry off your hair. It's on a ledge in the tree, where it catches most of the wind. C'mon, I'll show you."
As she followed Dagda to said ledge, she asked, "Won't Mandrake be cross that you aren't at training yet?"
"Nah, not as long as I actually do it soon. I'm actually the general, so I can do my own training, as well as oversee the warriors' training." He said proudly. "Someday, I'll even be leader of the Boggans!"
"Sounds fascinating." Tabitha said. "Your dad must be proud."
"I guess so. Anyway, here we are." They stopped at a big hole in the trunk of the tree, leading to a large branch sticking out from the tree. "Like I said, this is the best place to catch some wind."
"Thanks, Dagda." Tabitha nodded as he walked away. She stepped out onto the branch. There was indeed a breeze. Not strong enough to knock her off of the branch, but strong enough to blow her hair. She pulled the vine holding her hair up, letting her hair fall loose and into the wind as she turned, facing the wind. Keeping one hand on the tree trunk, in case she was to fall, she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and sighing. She still wasn't used to the smell of Wrathwood, but she knew she would get used to it eventually.
After several minutes, when Tabitha felt her hair, it was dry. She stepped back inside, and began putting it back in its ponytail. As she was finishing, Mandrake came up. "There you are," He said. "What are you doing here?"
"Drying my hair."
"Why?"
"Toxicad decided it was funny to wake me up by splashing me with water. No biggie."
He rolled his eyes, but said nothing else. "Are you ready for your first day of training?"
"I'm ready and rolling!" She said proudly, running on all fours in the direction of the training room before Mandrake could say anything else.
Upon entering the training room, her eyes immediately focused on a lone bow and arrow set. The arrows were simple twigs, so the trainees wouldn't injure themselves with the real rot arrows Boggan warriors used. Tabitha grabbed them and trotted to the practice area for archery.
She had seen Boggan trainees use the bow and arrows, so she vaguely knew how to hold them. She was ambidextrous—meaning she could do things with both hands, as opposed to left-handed or right-handed people—so she felt it didn't matter how she held the bow. She placed the arrow on the string, and laid the other end on her right hand, which was holding the bow. She stretched her left arm back, and took aim at the target, closing one eye.
"Freeze!" A voice snapped, startling her. Relaxing her arms and looking over her shoulder, she saw Mandrake approaching her with a slight frown. "You've obviously never held a bow and arrow properly before. First, you don't grip your bow in the exact middle." He stood behind her, and took hold of her right wrist. "You grip it a hand's width lower." Holding the bow, he moved her wrist so her fist was lower on the bow. "Extend your index finger, so the arrow can rest easier on it."
She did as he said, and extended her index finger. "It's also easier to aim when you extend your index finger." He continued. "Don't hold the end of the arrow that is on the string. Instead, position your index finger above the arrow, and your middle finger below, and have both fingers hooked around the string. Straighten your bow arm all the way, and pull your arrow arm back until it is in a comfortable position." As she straightened her right arm, Mandrake took hold of her left forearm with his free hand, and pulled it back. "And you will want to establish a place to hold your hand when pulling back. For example, your thumb could be pulled back next to the corner of your mouth."
Tabitha positioned her arm so the tip of her thumb was ghosting over the corner of her mouth. "Is this good?" She asked, not moving a muscle. She felt Mandrake let go of her arms, and back away.
"Good. Now, aim for the target, and let your arrow fingers relax. When you let go of the string, flick your hand back. Do not relax your bow arm."
Licking her lips, Tabitha aimed the tip of the arrow at the target. She let her left-hand fingers relax, and flicked her wrist back.
The arrow flew through the air with a sharp whistle, and embedded itself into the target made of animal hide, stretched over and attached to a hoop of wood, that was hanging from the wall. The arrow sunk in lower than how she would have liked, but she had just fired her first arrow, and felt very proud.
"You'll have to remember your position, as when you are out in battle, your enemies won't give you time to precisely position yourself as you did just now." Mandrake said. "You'll have to position yourself on the fly from memory."
Tabitha nodded. As Mandrake left, glancing at other trainees along the way, she went back to shooting more arrows, pausing to collect them from the target every now and then. She kept Mandrake's tips in mind, and slowly got better at the archery.
Another Boggan had been watching her for a while. This one was a warrior; a wasp, wearing a hummingbird skull with a broken beak. After a while, he spoke up, "You might not want to close one eye when you aim."
"How else will I aim correctly?" Tabitha challenged. "I get double-vision with either the arrow, or the target, so I don't know where I'm aiming."
"There's a trick I used when I was practicing archery. Focus on the target. There's double-vision with the arrow, two arrows, right? Try aiming the right arrow in the middle."
Tabitha drew back, and focused on the target. As the wasp said, there were two arrows. She aimed the right "arrow" in the middle, and let the string go. The arrow was too far to the left. "This time, aim the left arrow in the middle, and see what happens." The wasp continued.
Tabitha drew another arrow, and focused on the target again. This time, she aimed the left "arrow" in the middle. Zip! The arrow flew, and buried its head in the center of the target.
"Boom! Whatta ya think?" The wasp smirked, crossing both pairs of arms.
"Not bad." Tabitha nodded. "Very useful. I'll have to remember that." She turned around and held out a hand. "I'm Tabitha, by the way."
"Name's Sting." The wasp answered, shaking her hand. "You're not bad at archery, for a first timer. But I guess that's because you got tips from Mandrake himself."
"Why was that? I mean, I'm grateful, but I figured he'd leave me to learn on my own."
"I think that because you aren't a either a true Boggan—like Mandrake and Dagda—or a bug—like myself—and he let you join anyway, he wants to be sure his decision isn't wasted."
"That makes sense." She nodded.
"At any rate, if you need any more tips, just holler."
"Thanks again, Sting." Tabitha went back to her archery. She didn't get perfect bull's-eyes, but her aiming was a lot better.
Later, she decided to put the bow and arrows down for physical training. She knew how to defend herself, so she figured she didn't have much to learn. All she needed was a sparing partner.
"Hey," A big Boggan greeted her. He wasn't as big as Toxicad, and he looked friendlier, for a Boggan. He wore the usual Boggan armor, as well as a piece of bark on his head. "Need a sparing partner?"
"Sure do." Tabitha nodded. "I'm Tabitha."
"I know. I saw you yesterday. I'm Barlow." He held up his hands, and told her to punch them.
She balled up her fists, and punched his left hand as hard as she could. "C'mon, Tabitha, I barely felt that." Barlow grinned.
She punched him again, trying to do it harder. "You punch like a girl!"
Gritting her teeth, she threw her weight into her third punch, nearly sending her toppling to the ground. "All right, listen. First, widen your feet and lift your back heel up." Barlow advised. "Keep your knees bent, so you can better throw your weight into the punch. But don't fall." He winked, making her roll her eyes.
"I didn't do it on purpose." She grumbled. As he gave her tips on throwing a punch better, she followed his advice, and continued to punch his hands. Eventually, they moved onto a stuffed dummy, which comically looked like a Leafmen. Remembering Barlow's tips, Tabitha let everything she had at the dummy, punching as hard as she could. "Good ways to build up your arms is pushups, and either weight-lifting, or chin-ups." Barlow continued. "Plus, it'll give you great muscles."
"Thanks," Tabitha nodded. "I really appreciate it."
A/N Ugh, this chapter feels horrible! I've been having TERRIBLE writer's block! But I managed to get this done, as bad as it is.
I am not an expert on archery or throwing punches. Most of the info I got online, and some was from common sense.
Those two Boggans-Sting and Barlow-are ones I made myself. As stated, Sting is just a regular ol' wasp. I figured since there was a mosquito, there had to be other bugs as well. He's voiced by Wallace Shawn, who has a quite distinctive voice.
The other Boggan is just a standard Boggan. On that note, I feel that there are two categories of Boggans: one, pure-blood Boggans, such as Mandrake and Dagda, and the shark-Boggans, and two, bugs that have joined the Boggans. Back to the character, Barlow is again, a standard Boggan. He's voiced by one of my favorite actors, Wayne Knight.
This chapter was horrible! But I blame writer's block :3 Hopefully, chapters will get better.