“i kn—” spiderpaw was taken aback at lionstar’s launch, stumbling backwards so that she’d steer clear of him before tripping over her hind paw and landing harshly. “well, er — probably not that??” spiderpaw replied sheepishly, getting back up quickly. “well!! oaky taught me how to smack someone properly, if that’s a thing? there was some cool name for it that i forgot. front paw… something. you know the one?” instincts, instincts. she had those. right? no, yeah.

she wasn’t the best at knowing how to use them, though, so spiderpaw decided to just ‘go simple or go home’ and steal lionstar’s idea of launching. the apprentice bunched up her hind legs, aimed (although with little accuracy), and jumped.

front paw blow!! that was what it was called! lionstar said it wasn’t going to help her anyway, though, so she guessed it didn’t matter anymore. still! at least now she wouldn’t be haunted by the evasion of the word to her memory! spiderpaw watched as lionstar launched at her again and widened her eyes, falling back at the collision and letting out a loud “owwwW.”

“this is totally rigged!” she murmured. she wanted to win! she couldn’t win if lionstar was winning! that, like, defied the Laws of Winning! “w— how am i supposed to win?? is there some secret move i can do that’ll knock you out in 5 seconds? is there a way to cheat? some shortcut on How To Win Faster? not that i need to cheat to win or anything because like i could totally take you - just, like . . . to keep in mind. for future reference, y’know.”

she couldn’t tell if he was trying to be motivating or just shoving his victory in her face. “aye! ‘m not cryin’. you’re crying. and i have no idea what you’re talkin about, i’m totally successfully beating you up. yeah! you get up!” spiderpaw exclaimed, deflecting lion’s words. she leapt towards lionstar for a second time, outstretching her paws. “i’ll win eventually! you just wait & see! and i’m not letting you leave until i do!”

barely catching herself as lionstar dodged, spiderpaw flinched as he swung at her side. “pshshsh, you wish that was the best i got. i think. i don’t know what you wish but??? i guess it doesn’t matter since it’s trash talk??? but it’s not really trash talk?? i dunno. i- just.. in conclusion you’re goin’ down!” thinking for a moment, her battle cry was an “aaaaaaaaaaA!” as she threw herself towards lionstar’s leggies, hoping to latch on to one of them and proceed to not let go for as long as she could.

“no!!!” spiderpaw mumbled, scrambling to use one of her own paws to bat lionstar’s paws away. he was ruining her grip!! panicking, spiderpaw let go of his leg and instead aimed for another leg. legs seemed to be working, and spiderpaw was going to stick with what worked! that seemed like a good enough idea right now, anyway. “hehe, you’re losing to a stupid little bug :) aye, in the words of some wise ol’ dude, come on, you can do better than this.”

“yea! i.. totally do! my favorite activity ever!! so.. fun!” spiderpaw replied, wincing. “i guess learning really is pain, huh.” okay!! she could work with this! if lionstar wanted to play that game, they could play that game. spiderpaw squirmed away before getting up to her paws and trying to ram her side into lionstar’s side. hard.

“im sure it’s like that taste of victory you had earlier that you won’t see again!” okay, to be fair, squishypaw sounded like a cool name. sort of. she could probably do better than bigcatstar. letting out a small “oof” noise as he lashed at her, spiderpaw aimed a thwack at his shoulder. “you’ll be the one crying when i’m done with you!! the first of many i’ll successfully beat up! well, i’ll successfully beat them up because of your training, but aaa. the point is i’ll still beat you.”

ow- aaA- eep— acK-- okay, so that sort of hurt?? maybe he was a tiny bit right about inexperience? then again, bigcatstar’s insults also consisted of calling her squashybug. she could totally take bigcatstar down, inexperienced or not!! “i’d say put your skills where your mouth is, but you don’t have any! any skills, i mean - you do have a mouth.” maybe this was time to insert the almighty front paw smack thing that lionstar had reminded her the name of earlier and she’d forgotten half a moment later. aiming the smack at bigcatstar’s chest, she put a bunch of energy into it, hoping that it’d at least do something.

“i have no idea what you’re talking about! i’m totally winning! mhm! you’re just… a.. sore loser!”

well, he’d sure proven her point when he whacked her on the head. head ringing, she had newfound motivation. “oh, it is so on!!” spiderpaw exclaimed, aiming a series of slaps at lionstar’s head. if it was a war he wanted, a war he would get!!

as lionstar headbutted her chin, spiderpaw was knocked some pawsteps back, cringing a bit. she paused for a second, letting the faint stinging sensation fade away. “oh, well, that’s good for you, because we’re going to be here a while! i’ve got alllllll dayyyy.” once she’d gotten back her stable footing, she put her paw forward and tried to shove lionstar’s head downward — maybe even shove it to the floor? she doubted she’d be able to do that, though…. but that didn’t stop her from trying.