"What?" Ashenpaw asked, her eyes wide.
"You heard him," Duskecho meowed. "Fight each other."
"With your claws sheathed, of course. We don't want you really getting hurt, now do we?" Clouddance asked.
"But why?" Amberpaw asked, confusion leaking into every ounce of her voice.
"We need to see how you fight," Duskecho explained.
"With that out of the way, we'll be able to build on your natural skills from there," the tom added.
"It's just a spar," the other warrior meowed when she saw that the two apprentices were still nervous and hesitant. "The goal is to practice your skills, not to hurt each other." With that said, Ashenpaw was feeling better.
"But I don't-" Amberpaw's argument was cut off when her littermate leapt at her, sending both of them onto the ground.
Ashenpaw easily pinned Amberpaw to the soft clearing floor, her tail flicking from side to side. Amberpaw slithered her way out from under her before she leapt at her, but Ashenpaw made a clumsy dodge. The tabby turned and leapt at Ashenpaw again, this time knocking into her side and sending her stumbling off to the side. The dark gray she-cat jumped to the side, then turned and flashed out a paw and landed a messy blow to her sister's side.
Amberpaw let out an annoyed growl as she leapt for her again, but Ashenpaw ducked and turned to face her littermate just in time to be hit in the face with a hindpaw. She stumbled back a few steps before the tabby landed another hit to her chest. Ashenpaw shook her hand violently before surging forward and giving a gentle nip to Amberpaw's paw.
"Hey!" Amberpaw complained, holding up her assaulted paw. "You bit me!"
"Barely," Ashenpaw shot back, hitting Amberpaw with her shoulder and sending her to the ground. The tabby landed with her belly to the sky, but before Ashenpaw could go for it, Amberpaw had turned over and was crouched close to the ground as she glared up at her sister.
Ashenpaw felt the breath get knocked out of her as she got knocked across the clearing, landing on the soft soil at the edge. She quickly caught her breath and lifted her head, to see Duskecho standing where she was, her eyes flicking between the two apprentices. Amberpaw flicked her tail to the side before leaping at the warrior, but Duskecho easily dodged, jumped to the side, then sweeped her paws out from under her.
Ashenpaw stood and rushed at her mentor, leaping and landing on her back. Duskecho flipped over and crushed her under her weight, forcing the air out of her lungs yet again. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Amberpaw rush towards the mostly black she-cat, before she was batted away a few heartbeats later. Ashenpaw finally slithered her way out from under her mentor, taking deep breaths.
"Since when were we fighting you?!" Amberpaw asked, flicking her tail.
"We'll stop when you meet your goal," Clouddance put in, casually grooming his chest.
"What goal?" Ashenpaw asked, tripping over her paws as she tried to dodge a blow from her mentor.
"The one we just made!" the tom meowed cheerfully.
Ashenpaw let out an annoyed growl as Amberpaw jumped into the air and leapt for Duskecho, but the she-cat dodged and cuffed Ashenpaw around the ears as she stood up. The dark gray she-cat jumped to the side as her mentor leapt for her, quickly regaining her balance with wild tail flicks. Amberpaw tried to hit her flank with a fore paw, but Duskecho batted her paw aside with her own and hit her in the chest.
Ashenpaw surged forward, slipping under her mentor as Amberpaw leapt for her. She kicked up her hindpaws and hit her in the belly, and she went of balance from whatever move Amberpaw had done.
Ashenpaw got to her paws, out of breath. Amberpaw was in a similar state. Duskecho, on the other paw, seemed perfectly fine, except for her ruffled fur. She sat down in the clearing and looked at them, causing a confused look on both of the apprentices faces.
"You can relax," Duskecho meowed, seeing their stiff and unpracticed stances. "You met the goal." Ashenpaw and Amberpaw looked at each other out of the corner of their eye before slowly relaxing their muscles.
"The goal," Clouddance meowed, padding over to the she-cats, "was to have you attack Duskecho at the same time. You're partners, you need to make strategies to deal with LightClan cats."
"One of the best ways to do that is to attack them at the same time, or to take turns attacking again and again with unrelenting force," Duskecho added. She stood up and started padding back towards camp. "When we get back, you can each have something to eat."