Later that morning, they come back to the house. Dawn is at school by this time. We go down into the basement, where the training equipment is.
Once at the bottom of the stairs, I have to ask what Slayers usually start out doing first.
"Watchers usually start with the punching bag," Anya answers me.
I look at the blue punching bag that hangs by a chain, from the ceiling. I then walk over to it, and get into a Slayer stance. I guess watching Buffy in action has paid off for me.
I feel them watching me, as I punch the punching bag as hard and fast as I can. And as I do, I realize that I already have it down pat. Maybe it's because I've watched Angel punch his.
After a while, I get down dodging knives and such, targeting, and other stuff down pat. And when I do, I turn around and face them.
"I can't do the next thing by myself. Plus, we could all use a little practice." I walk up to them with swords in hand, and hand them each a sword. Then I pull mine out that Angel gave me a while back. "Wills?" I say, selecting her to start with. Then I add to the others, "You guys should practice while Will and I begin."
I walk over to stand in the center of the room.
Willow and I face off.
"Whenever you're ready," I reply. "And here are some tips. Don't let your sword get away from you, and give it all you have. Don't hesitate. You won't hurt me."
She raises her sword towards mine, and I raise mine, making our swords clash together. We let our swords depart and then go at one another again. As she comes towards me, I sidestep out of the way and she turns around to come at me again. I let our swords clash and then push off. She staggers back a couple of times and then I point my sword down.
"I think you can go now. Practice with someone else."
She obeys to go practice with Anya, when I call Xander over.
We face off.
"As I told Wills. Don't hesitate. You won't hurt me."
He looks a little unsure.
"I know swords. Angel taught me everything I know about sword fighting," I inform him. I then add, "You first."
He brings down his sword and ours meet. We both push off from one another. He comes at me again and I step back and turn in a circle, before I bring mine down on his and push off. He staggers back a step and smiles at me, as I lower my sword. He does likewise.
"You're a real sword master," he says with a cocky grin.
I know he's joking, so I smile back at him.
"Yep. Now go practice with Wills. It's Anya's turn."
He obeys, and Anya and I face off. I don't need to give her tips or go that easy on her. She's a former Vengeance Demon of 2,000 years. She knows what she's doing.
Anya lunges forward and our swords clash full force. We both push off and twirl around, before we bring them down again. We're evenly matched. We push off again and she comes at me again. I take a step back, avoiding the sword, and bring mine down on hers.
"Give up yet?" I ask with a smile.
She smiles back and says, "Nope."
We push off and I twist with the sword, making her drop hers. I hold mine to her and then lower it.
"Well done," I praise her with a smile.
"You too, Cordelia."
She picks up her sword.
I watch her walk over to join the others.
Afterward, I go over to them and we put our swords away, we replace them with stakes. We train with those, before we put all weapons away to do physical training without weapons.
Once I think we have all done our best, we go upstairs to take a break. By this time, it's in the middle of the afternoon.
After we take a break, I watch them leave to head home.
After Dawn gets home from school and has her homework finished, I teach her what I taught the others. I go easy on her, because I know Buffy never taught her. She was afraid of what would happen to her sister. I understand that.
Dawn does well when we practice.
After practice, it's evening, so we have some dinner, relax until ten, and then we go to bed.
