My Luna Witch

Training

Rae’s point of view

I woke up early bursting with excitement. I finally get to train to be a warrior! I grabbed a t shirt and some loose fitting pants while quickly brushing by teeth. Rushing downstairs I ate a light breakfast then laced up my boots. I was about to step out the door when my brother called me.

“Hey Rae, not so fast. I want a hug at least before you start your first day.” He said hiding some tears in his eyes as he held his arms out.

I stepped into his arms, “It is just training Alex, I am not going into war yet. There might not even be a war so there is no need to worry.”

“I know sis; I just can’t help but to worry. I never wanted you to be a warrior but I am still proud of you. Go knock them dead.” He said squeezing me a little tighter before letting me go.

“I will.” With that I turned around and headed for the training grounds.

The training grounds were on the far side of the village and backed up to the woods. The grounds consisted of a large dirt field with a stream running through it to give water witch’s something to practice with, a practice building with a lot of sparring mats, and a range of different obstacle courses. All the practice weapons were locked inside the supply room in the practice building. I wonder if they will give me a weapon today. Oh, which one would I choose. I was practically jumping up and down by the time I reached the field.

A few warriors were waiting for me. I recognized April with her fiery red hair and the spirit to match, Cole with jet black hair representing the poison he could create and often tainted his weapons with, and Doug whose power was controlling plants to a degree but he chose to be a warrior just because of his natural strength. Doug could lift a boulder without breaking a sweat and looked like he was built like one himself. They smiled at me as I approached.

April, “Welcome to day one of training.”

“Thanks. What do I start with?”

April smiled, “You can start by running. You need to get into warrior shape before we start teaching you to fight. But don’t worry we will run with you.”

Ugh. I hate running. I thought I would at least get to spar without a weapon on my first day. “Alright, that seems fair.”

“Good.” With that all three of them took off running laps around the field. I kept up with them for a few minutes but quickly started to fall behind.

“How many laps are we doing?”

“30” Doug chimed happy as ever as he round yet another corner. “We will wait for you to finish before moving on to strength training.”

30! We had only completed 8 laps so far as this was a very big field to run around. Within 2 more laps they had lapped me and I fell further and further behind. I was only on lap 20 when they finished their 30 and sat down to wait for me. What felt like forever later I huffed and puffed my way to the group finishing the last of my 30 laps. I collapsed on the ground chugging boatloads of water.

Doug clapped my back, “Not bad for your first day. You will get faster. You ready to go lift some weights?”

“I am going to need a minute.” I barely choked out still winded from the run.

All three laughed. April spoke up, “Don’t worry you will get there. We all started where you are now. It gets easier.”

I am not sure if I believed her. My lungs definitely felt like they were on fire. I gave myself a few more minutes then pushed myself up figuring it was best to go get the weight lifting part over with and then maybe sleep the rest of the day.

…..

Michael’s point of view

My alarm clock sounded way to early at 6am. I sighed stretching my arms above my head. Time to go to training. I threw my legs over my bed and got up throwing on a workout shirt and shorts. Quickly brushing my teeth and hair and I hurried downstairs. I stopped briefly in the pack kitchen grabbing an apple to hold me over until training was over then headed to the training building.

Walking in I smiled at my pack. Today’s training was entry level warriors and I had yet to see what a lot of my younger pack members could do. I made my way to the elevated platform at the end of the room. Joining Mel, who had her long hair wrestled into a messy bun ready to be a hands on teacher, I waited silently as the rest of the class filtered in.

“Good morning everyone.” I said projecting my voice across the hall once everyone had arrived.

I was greeted with cries of “Morning Alpha”.

“I am sure many of you are wondering what I am doing here today. I will join different levels of training class from time to time to check up on how everyone is doing and to give a few demonstrations. I want to make sure we are the strongest pack we can be and will be playing an active role in making that happen.” Turning towards Mel I gestured in her direction, “For those of you that haven’t met her, this is Mel. She will be taking over training for Steve and Darren for a little while. Make sure you show her the same respect you showed them.”

Mel smiled stepping up, “And just to show you how unwise it is to mess with me I will be sparring with the Alpha today in a short demonstration. It is important to be able to call on your wolf’s strength and speed while in your human form.”

With that she turned towards me. We nodded at each other ready to spar. As werewolves we healed quite fast so we didn’t bother with any padding even for practice fight. I shifted my stance putting most my weight on my back foot ready to spring forward. Mel circled me decided where she wanted to attack first. Then suddenly she lunged at me but not fast enough as I brought my elbow up connecting with her arm throwing her off balance slightly. I then brought my fist around aiming for her shoulder. She saw it coming and quickly dodged while landing her on punch on my rib cage with more force than I expected. That is definitely going to bruise. We danced around dodging and landing blows on each other. It was just like old times and I was having a lot of fun. For the first few exchanges it looked like we were evenly match but I wasn’t using the full strength or speed of my wolf, Ash, yet.

Ready to show the newbies our skills? Ash asked me.

Yes, I am, let’s do this.

Immediately I felt Ash’s strength and speed flow thru me and I started landing more and more of my punches on Mel. I wasn’t hitting with full strength as the goal was still practice not to put the other in the hospital but I saw Mel flinch a few times so I was probably still hitting harder than I thought. I was watching her looking for an opening. Then I saw her starting to step closer to me to line up a punch and I quickly moved my leg hooking my foot behind her knee and pulling hard. She landed flat on her back on the mat with a big huff. I stuck out my hand to help her up. The match was over.

“Looks like you win, Alpha” Mel said her pride visibly hurt. She then turned to the crowd who was cheering for both of us impressed with the speed and accuracy we had displayed and gestured at them to quiet down. “Partner up everyone. It is your turn now. Focus on tapping into your wolf’s power to aid you as you fight and you will get faster and better at it over time. The Alpha and I will be around to help you and correct your form.”

With that everyone found their partners and started practicing. I walked around the room analyzing everyone. They weren’t half bad. I corrected a few people’s stances as I walked around and gave tips on how to better connect with one’s wolf. I think this group will end up being fine warriors and soon enough we will need them on patrols. Mel was on the other side of the room helping the trainees on that side and kept shooting me glances. She was probably going to be butt hurt over her loss for a while. Oh well, she will eventually get over it.