The training hollow was filled with sand, making it ideal to practice for battle. It was soft, so a hard fall wouldn't hurt as much. This would be Owlpaw's first time training for battle. "I will teach you some basic moves," Darkheart mewed, "And some basic counter attacks."
"The first," Darkheart began, "is a basic attack. It's called a blow. During this attack, you smash your paw onto your opponents head."
"Claws sheathed or unsheathed?" Owlpaw asked.
"When battle training, we always used sheathed claws. During real battles, we have our claws unsheathed." Darkheart answered. "A counter to this is to avoid getting hit by the paw. Try to strike me."
The apprentice picked up her paw, and tried to hit Darkheart from the side. Darkheart ducked. "You need to do better than that." He mewed. This time, Owlpaw tried to strike from the top, but Darkheart moved his head to the left.
"Now," he mewed, "you try and counter my blows." Darkheart decided to give her and easy one first, a simple side blow. The apprentice dropped her head to avoid the attack. This time, Darkheart came in from an angle, part side blow, and part blow from above. Owlpaw was taken off guard and got hit in the head by Darkheart's paw.
"How do I avoid that?" Owlpaw asked.
"I'll show you." Darkheart answered. "Try to attack me that way." Owlpaw lifted her paw, and tried to blow Darkheart the way he had. But, Darkheart dropped down, and put his back legs into Owlpaw's stomach. "If I was fighting you," he began, "I would be raking your belly right now."
"How do I counter that?" Owlpaw asked.
"You don't," Darkheart answered, "you prevent it."
Owlpaw looked confused. "You must never leave your belly open to attack."
Owlpaw nodded. "I get it." She mewed.
"Let's see how well you get it." Darkheart mewed.
Owlpaw nodded, and Darkheart tried the blow attack on Owlpaw. The apprentice dropped to the ground, rolled onto her back, and stuck her back legs into Darkheart's belly. She then began scrapping them. Darkheart nodded in approval. "Excellent!" he mewed, "You are a fast learner. Let's try that again though. This time I'm not going easy on you, and remember keep your claws sheathed in here."
Darkheart tried t he blow attack again, but Owlpaw ducked, and rolled over. She picked up her back legs to kick into Darkheart, but he jumped over the apprentice. Owlpaw turned around to face him, and tried to strike him with the blow attack. But Darkheart ducked down, rolled over and kicked out Owlpaw's back legs. The apprentice lay on the ground defeated. She stood up and started breathing deeply.
"Can you teach me that?" Owlpaw mewed.
"I can and I will." Darkheart replied. "The jump move is easy. Just jump over or onto your opponent. The leg kick move is more complex. Let's work on it."
Darkheart got down again, roller over, and kicked out Owlpaw's back legs while rolling. "What you have to do," he mewed, "is kick out their legs quickly and powerfully. Try it on me."
Owlpaw stood up, and Darkheart tried to attack her with the blow move, but she ducked, dropped to the ground, rolled over, but rolled away from Darkheart, so when she tried to kick, she missed.
"You have a lot to learn." Darkheart mewed, his whiskers twitching from amusement.