Daisy was out in the courtyard training the next day when Toadobuki called her inside the dojo. In the training hall, he'd taken the items Daisy had gotten from the village yesterday - the boxes, the rope - and had thrown them, rather haphazardly about the room. Daisy looked about, confused. 

"What's this?" she asked. 

"Our training ground," Toadobuki said. Nimble as a cricket, he mounted a nearby pile of boxes. The top half of the pile was tipping dangerously, but if that worried Toadobuki, he sure didn't show it. "Come, let's begin." 

"Whoa, whoa, wait a moment," Daisy protested. She gestured to the now-messy training hall. "You mean to tell me that this is our training ground? Where we're going to train so that I can defeat Birdonna?" 

Toadobuki nodded, and Daisy stared at him in disbelief. What was the old toad thinking? 

"Do you want my help or not?" Toadobuki demanded. 

Daisy nodded uncertainly. "Okay...I guess. So, what do I do?" 

"What do you think? Attack. Imagine me as Birdonna and attack." 

Daisy shifted into a battle stance. Okay. This was supposed to help her defeat Birdonna, so she was going to do the best she could. Daisy took a minute to contemplate an attack. Hmm. Maybe she should kick over the pile of boxes Toadobuki was standing on -

Her sensei was suddenly flying down towards her. Daisy barely had enough time to throw up her hands before the old toad knocked her flat on her back and sent her spinning into another pile of boxes, which toppled and crashed down all over her, one bonking her painfully on the head in the process.  

As she fought to dig her way out, Toadobuki padded up to her. 

"Too slow," he said.  

"What?" Daisy said sharply, growing angry. 

"You're too slow," Toadobuki said. "You are taking too long in deciding how to attack. Choose and option and act. That is all that you need to do." 

Daisy managed to wrangle herself from beneath the boxes, and once she was out, she dusted herself off. "It's not that easy, old man," she said. "It's not like you're a beginner. You're an expert. I have to choose my moves carefully, or I might get beaten to a pulp." 

"Sometimes, thinking things through is what will get you beaten to a pulp," Toadobuki countered. 

Daisy glowered at him. "Wasn't one of the first things you taught me 'don't act impulsively'?" 

"There's a difference between impulse and speed," Toadobuki said. "If you fight impulsively, you are being foolish - you're not thinking at all. But speed...speed is quickly analyzing your options and choosing one just as fast to act on."  

Abruptly, Toadobuki made a jab for Daisy's stomach. Daisy quickly sidestepped. 

"See?" Toadobuki asked, looking pleased. "That was speed. You had a couple of options when I attacked you like that: you could take the blow, block, but leave you open for another attack, or move your entire body out of range of the attack and give you another angle to hit me. And you chose the correct one." 

Daisy supposed that he was right.  

"Now, again!" Toadobuki commanded. "Remember: speed, not impulse." 

They sparred for half an hour, nonstop, before the old toad was satisfied. By the time they were done, Daisy's gi was soaked with sweat, and she was sure that she had purpling bruises all over from constantly getting socked and kicked.  

Toadobuki assured her that she was improving before instructing her to go take a bath, but Daisy wasn't so sure. She still felt like she was taking too much time in determining how to act. It was no wonder she got hit so many times! 

They practiced again the next day on the same perilous battleground. After sending her crashing into boxes and onto her back for the umpteenth time, Toadobuki said, "All right, let's take a break. Get some water and take a breather." 

Daisy scrambled to her feet...before angrily kicking over a towering stack of boxes. She'd tried to keep her frustration in check during the practice, but she was afraid that if she didn't let some of it out, she'd explode. 

"Something the matter, Daisy?" Toadobuki asked her calmly.  

"Yes!" Daisy snapped. "I don't understand: why aren't I getting any better?" 

"You are getting better," her sensei said.  

"No, I'm not! I'm still too slow, and you keep sending me to my butt!" Daisy knocked over another stack of boxes. "The duel is tomorrow! How'm I going to win against Birdonna?" 

"On the contrary," Toadobuki said, stroking his white mustache, "the strength of your kicks and punches has improved exponentially. Your speed is top-notch, and your balance is getting better every time we spar." 

Daisy groaned and sank to her knees. "Maybe," she grumbled. "But if Birdonna's armed with those gymnastics instruments, there's no way I can win, even with my speed." 

Toadobuki nodded vigorously, as if she'd just said something very important. "Exactly," he said. "Therein lies your problem." 

Daisy stared after him as he glided out of the training hall, sliding the door closed behind him. She wrung her hands and grumbled to herself. Why did the old man always have to be so cryptic? Still, he must have wanted her to mull over what she'd said, since "therein lay her problem". 

Daisy pondered her own words for the rest of the day, through lunch, practice drills in the courtyard, her bath, and dinner, but no new ideas came to her.  

But when she was doing one last mop-up of the dojo before bedtime, a thought suddenly hit her: Birdonna would be using her gymnastic ribbon and clubs during the match, most likely. So why couldn't she? After all, she'd been trained at the famous Chai Kingdom School of Choreography and Gymnastics (before she'd lost the scholarship). She was familiar with Birdonna's weapons, and knew how to use them herself. 

Was this what Toadobuki had been hinting at? 

Daisy hurried to her bedroom and pulled out a small knapsack from under her tiny bed. It was her CK Gymnastics Team bag, which she'd used to tote her clubs and ribbon back and forth between practices. Her stuff was still inside - her trusty, worn orange clubs and her equally trustworthy, slightly frayed orange ribbon.  

Daisy stood up, gripping her gymnastics equipment in hand and nodding slowly to herself. Yes, this could work. She could give Birdonna a taste of her own medicine! 

But first, there was practice to be done.