Chapter 86: The First Part of Training.

"To talk with one almost as crafty as he and to try not to show it was an Uneasy Alliance would be hard."

-RavenShadowIV, The Fourth Warren

Bigwig was pacing along the edge of the Down, as more rabbits slowly gathered near the beech tree.

-"Do you know what this is all about?" Strawberry asked.

-"Bigwig is just eager to show off his..." Bluebell started to say, only to get cut off by Blackberry.

-"This is not the time for jokes."

-"You're right. It is the time for kissing instead."

Bigwig cast a glance at the row of rabbits, and approached them. He had the vague feeling there was someone missing but, he reasoned, if they were too lazy to attend training, they didn't deserve to be in the owsla. He had no reason to waste any time training someone who wasn't even interested.

-"Up on your hind legs, all of you."

The rabbits looked at each other, unsure exactly what the purpose of this order was. Nevertheless, all of them obeyed, some taking longer than others. Nelthilta fell on her back, but got back up.

-"This is hard, Plump Rabbit," she said. "Do I really have to?"

-"Yes, you have to. Also, don't call me Plump Rabbit! My name is Bigwig, and during training, you shall call me 'sir'."

Bigwig walked along the line of rabbits, taking a closer look at each one of them. Judging by their scents, they all appeared healthy.

-"All right, lads," Bigwig said, as he kept staring. "You are going to go through a session of owsla training. It won't be easy. I only allow the very best rabbits in my owsla. If you're not good enough, you'll have to keep training until you are. You will have to complete several difficult tasks and obstacles. I won't tolerate any lack of discipline, or any rebellion of any sort. If I order you to do something, you just do it, no questions asked. If any of you don't feel up to the task, I'm going to ask you to leave now."

Bigwig stared at the others, as he awaited their reaction. Nelthilta cautiously made a few steps back, only to bump into Hyzenthlay. Bluebell hopped forward and playfully tackled Bigwig.

-"You were amazing at pretending to be a strict owsla captain. Good job Plump Rabbit!"

-"I said not to call me Plump Rabbit, and that goes for everyone!" Bigwig cried out in anger, before pinning Bluebell to the ground. "The name's Bigwig, and I was not pretending. There is no room in my owsla for anyone who is more interested in goofing around than taking things seriously. Understood?"

-"Uh...yes?"

-"Good." Bigwig hopped off Bluebell, allowing the joker to get back up. "Now get back at the end of the line and await further instructions."

Bluebell cast a nervous glance at Bigwig, before followed the order.

-"Now," Bigwig continued, "if anyone has any further objections, tell me now. This is your last chance to opt out of training."

He continued to stare at the line of rabbits; they stared back, but remained silent.

-"Where's Hawkbit?" Strawberry asked suddenly.

A look of shock appeared on Bigwig's face. A quick look at the group revealed that Hawkbit was indeed missing.

-"Oh that fool! That..." he took a deep breath to try to calm down. "When I get my paws on him..."

-"Who's Hawkbit?" the other Strawberry asked. "Is he the one who hates digging?"

-"Nobody move until I get back." Bigwig stormed off towards the warren's main entrance, and ran as fast as he could towards Hawkbit and Dandelion's burrow. Along the way, he encountered Blackberry, but the run was too narrow for two rabbits side by side.

-"Get out of my way, Blackberry!" he shouted.

-"What's the matter, Bigwig? Why are you so angry?"

-"Hawkbit skipped training. Again. And on all those newcomers' first day..."

-"Actually, Bigwig, I was going to tell you about that. Hawkbit can't participate in training today, because of his ears."

-"What about his ears? They've been down ever since I came back!"

-"I did something to straighten them, and that prevents him from making any sudden movements."

-"...oh. How long until he can take part again?"

-"If all goes well, that could be tomorrow."

-"Hmm."

With that, he awkwardly hopped back above ground, slightly ashamed at having shouted at Blackberry.

As he returned to the group, he found that most of the rabbits were nibbling the grass. As soon as they noticed he was back, however, most of them stood back up on their hind legs, while Nelthilta pretended not to have noticed him.

-"Now, if all of you are ready, we start training now," Bigwig said. "Follow me, all of you."

He hopped towards another area on the Down, which he used for training; there were several rocks there, and a large pile of twigs. The others followed him, although some, like Dandelion, Bluebell and Nelthilta, were clearly in no hurry.

-"First, we start with this obstacle course. Your goal is to complete it as quickly as possible. You must also remain as silent as possible; if this wasn't a training session, too much noise would attract elil. You start by jumping into the bushes, then back out. Then, you jump over these rocks, and off on the other side. And finally, you run through this log..."

Bigwig abruptly stopped. The rocks and bushes were there, but the log was nowhere to be seen.

-"All right, mates. When I left this warren a few days ago, there used to be a hollow log here. Where is it now?"

-"Strawberry got stuck inside during your absence," Flyairth explained. "I had to break it apart to rescue him."

Bigwig looked at her, and sighed. The log was one of the most important tools for owsla training; he would have to find another one, but until then, they would have to do without.

-"Fine," he said. "In that case, when you reach the place where the log SHOULD be, you scratch the ground a few times, as if you're digging a hole. After three or four scratches, you start the course again. Questions?"

Before anyone had the opportunity to ask any questions, he shouted:

-"Go!"

-"How many times do we do this?" Blackberry asked.

-"Until I tell you to stop, now GO!"

-"You don't seriously expect me to do that, do you?"

Clover and Hawkbit were sitting in one of the runs leading above ground.

-"You must face reality, Hawkbit. You cannot escape," Clover said.

-"Clover, I already embarrassed myself in front of half the warren. There's no way I am going to let Bigwig and the others see me like this. Dandelion would never let me hear the end of it. Not to mention those newcomers..."

-"I'm afraid you don't have any choice, Hawkbit. The hat will come off tomorrow, but you can't starve until then. You have to silflay."

She placed her front paws on his back, near his tail, and started to push.

-"Can't you bring me something to eat to my burrow?" he begged. "It doesn't have to be flayrah, ordinary grass will do."

-"No, I won't do that."

-"Please, Clover?"

-"No. If you were ill or injured, I wouldn't hesitate to bring you flayrah underground, but you're perfectly fine."

With that, she started pushing him again; Hawkbit did not have the mental strength to fight back.

-"I'll be at silflay with Flora," Clover told him once they were above ground, "Feel free to join us if you want."

Hawkbit, however did not join the two does; instead, some great excitement further away caught his attention. He slowly made his way towards the scene of the action, trying to remain unnoticed.

There were many rabbits were travelling around the owsla training course. However, Hawkbit soon noticed that in addition to Dandelion and Strawberry, all the newcomers were there too. What were they doing there? Was Bigwig seriously training them?

Forgetting his embarrassment, he made several hops closer to the others, no longer trying to stay hidden. However, Hyzenthlay soon jumped out of a nearby bush, and abruptly stopped running as she saw him. Thethuthinnang, who was running behind her, collided with her, knocking her down.

-"You all right, Hyz?"

-"I'm all right, but what..."

The two does were interrupted as Spartina landed on top of them, followed by Nyreem.

-"What is that thing on your head, Hawkbit?" Hyzenthlay finished her question.

-"What is going on around here!?" Bigwig shouted in anger. "I turn my back one moment and everything falls apart. Why..." he suddenly noticed Hawkbit further away. "You! What are you doing here? Didn't Blackberry say you weren't training today?"

-"I didn't say anything," Blackberry replied.

-"Not you, the OTHER Blackberry, the doe!" Bigwig shouted. "Anyway, Hawkbit, what do you have to say for yourself?"

-"I just wanted to take a look," Hawkbit said, completely embarrassed. What are all these rabbits doing here?"

-"Training, obviously. And doing quite well, actually, until you showed up and everyone got distracted."

Hawkbit remained motionless. He had been reprimanded on a daily basis when taking part in owsla training, but Bigwig seemed satisfied with these newcomers. Why were things so unfair?

-"Look, can you step away?" Bigwig ordered. "You're distracting everyone."

-"Uh, yes Bigwig..."

Hawkbit hopped away, but still remained near the training grounds, allowing him to spy on the others from a safe distance. As they started running across the course again, a feeling of worry slowly took control of his mind. What if these newcomers were to replace him in the owsla? His thoughts were interrupted as he saw another rabbit cautiously approach the course. He made his way to the scrape, but instead of helping dig it, he remained next to it, looking at the rabbits as they took turns digging.

"Oh, what is that lovestruck fool up to now?" Hawkbit thought.