Wolf Camp (Bear Naked 2)

Chapter 3: part 5

Amanda hit the ground hard. Her head spun as she struggled back to her feet. Maybe being a fifth wheel wasn't so bad, she groused to herself. Her training partner, the curvy blond that Tanner was friends with, handed her back the rubber knife. "Relax more when you fall. It will hurt less," she said.

Amanda eyed her suspiciously. It seemed counter-intuitive advice but the other girl seemed genuine. She nodded. She went into a ready stance, cocking her knife arm back. The girl fell into ready stance in front of her. Amanda stabbed forward. The girl ducked and grabbed Amanda's arm.

Amanda took a deep breath as she went over the girl's hips again and willed herself to relax. She hit the ground again. It did, in fact, hurt marginally less.

Well, I guess I will find out if I have the healing gift yet or not. She would either wake up tomorrow on the mend or she would be sore for the rest of the summer. She rolled up and got back to her feet.

"Switch around," Marshall called out.

The girl kept the knife this time. She fell back and stared at Amanda intently. "You ready?" she asked.

"Umm," Amanda started to say, trying to go through the steps of the throw in her head. It was too late, the girl was already coming at her with the knife. She sidestepped clumsily and blocked the attack. She grabbed the arm and turned into it. And stopped, the girl standing behind her. Amanda tugged ineffectually but the girl wasn't going anywhere.

"The trick," Marshall said as he came over, "is to use the momentum of the attack. It's got to be one fluid motion." They broke free of each other and with a gesture Marshall had the girl attack him. He sidestepped easily and then pulled her over his hip in one easy motion. She hit the ground expertly and was back on her feet in moments.

"See?" he said. Amanda stared at him, not sure what she was supposed to have seen. He led her through the motion a couple more times, showing her how she was supposed to be using her attacker's momentum to send them over her hip and to the ground.

"It's actually harder on a short opponent," he said. "Try it on me." Amanda couldn't understand. Marshall was easily twice her size. How did that make it easier? Still, she managed to get him over her hips and on the ground. "Good," he said reassuringly, "you will get the hang of it." He rose and barked at the others to come back to the edge of the field.

It was Brazilian Jujitsu, or something like that. They taught a variety of mixed martial arts in human form as well as wolf fighting. Amanda had decided she wanted to stick with the pack during the human training sessions. Now she wasn't so sure about her decision. She found her way over to where the rest of the pack was. They looked as battered and bruised as she felt. Looking in their faces she had the sinking feeling that, even though this wasn't strictly a competition, they were once again coming in last.