ordalias | [Video

[ Good afternoon, Johto. Y'might be greeted to an odd sight today as Xion's Gear comes alive thanks to Bell the Togekiss (who somehow has managed to work it despite not having any... arms, per se). ]

Hah! Yah!

[ Wooden Keyblade in hand, Xion's swinging at an invisible enemy like this. A jump, and she tries an air combo. Least she's not doing any of the fancy stuff she knows, and even if she could, her now human body would make it difficult to do so anyway.

But the expression on her face... and the amount of force it looks like she's putting into the swings... Someone hasn't had a good night nor sleep, that's for sure.

She stops when Axel the Typhlosion walks into view. Training time? Don't we all love some training time! Xion goes into a stance until Axel fires a spurt of bright, hot flames at her. Dodge roll, then she swings at his chest, but obviously makes sure she misses on purpose. She doesn't want to hurt him.

A minute or two of this passes, and somehow, Bahamut the Gible scampers into view. He bumps into the back of Xion's leg, making her stumble slightly, distracting her enough that she can't stop Axel from swiping her wooden Keyblade out of her hand. Clattering to the side and out of reach, Xion only has a few moments before Axel swipes at her again. Guess what happens when you take a Keyblade out of their wielder's hand? Especially when she can't summon it back...

No hand-to-hand experience, either. She tries to block the blow, but then he just... headbutts her. Bearing in mind Bahamut is still behind her, she tries to fall where she doesn't squish him.

Thud.

Xion: 0 | Axel: 1

She lets out a shuddering sigh, maybe a bit frustrated, but not at Axel or anything. At least Bahamut walked out unscathed as he comes up to her face and licks her cheek, but she doesn't move herself from the sandy floor. ]

I need to change this.

[ Seeing all this, Bell thinks the spectacle's over and shuts the feed. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mm. I'm sure. A few bruises won't keep me down.

[ Tries a small, confident grin. Ah, stubbornness. A trait all of Sora's heartspawn seem to have. ]

[That small grin is met with another nod; stubborn will do her good, really. She'll need that to avoid giving up during the harder lessons.]

Then we'll start tomorrow morning, bright and early. You're not going to want to train after the sun really comes up. Think you can manage to get up by then?

[ Nods. She's not gonna be underestimated! ]

I'm not backing out. [ She needs something to distract her. And at the very least, provide an outlet. ]

Good to know.

[A moment later, Lightning walks away as if she's going to leave, but instead she picks up Xion's keyblade and walks back, holding it with the hilt facing it's wielder.]

Try to work on your grip in the meantime. A weapon's only good for you so long as it's in your hand.

[ She grips the handle steadily before slowly pulling it away from Lightning. Gives a nod of thanks back. ]

Work on my grip? [ Like holding it tighter or something else? ]

Yeah. Make sure it can't get knocked from your hand and you'll be better off in the long run.

[Though, truly, she'd lost her blade herself several times and she'd used it for years. Hard to say if Xion had that same luck.]

[ Oh, she's lost it at times. All she'd have to do is summon it back, no matter the distance. ]

Like holding it a different way?

Not necessarily. Just holding it a little tighter can make a big difference.

[Because summoning it back obviously wouldn't work here, or Xion would have done that already.]

[ This whole being "human" thing still weirds her out, not gonna lie. She nods. ]

Right. [ Grips tighter and swings several times to the side. ]

[Understandable, really. It's a lot to get used to all of a sudden, that's for sure.

For now, Lightning just watches for a minute. Still speedy, and not really built for heavy hitting work, but...]

What kind of training did you get with that? Did they teach you to be a fast hitter or a heavy one?

[ Oh, here we go. She stops her movements to look up at Lightning for a moment or two, wondering if her answer would be odd to the older woman. ]

No one taught me.

[Not odd, but certainly curiosity inducing. It's not an answer she's heard before, and it means she'll have to go with her first hunch of Xion being a fast hitter. Should still work, though.]

You're probably better off that way, actually. You don't have to worry about keeping up with a group or mimicking a teacher's fighting style to pass the class.

[ Hah. "Mimic." ]

I should at least still build upon things, right?

Right. And you already have a good place to start. An opponent can't hurt a target they can't hit, so if you focus on that you should be alright.

[Experience colors her tone a little as she says that; the thing with being skinny is you're good on speed. Most of the time.]

[ Xion can tell. Actually, she always sort of did. Lightning walked and talked with the sort of confidence that you know she's been doing this for a while. Xion... sort of just knew things. ]

I can't dodge forever. [ Like just now, but that's more that she couldn't know how to effectively get out of the situation. There's the clear difference between them. ] If I can't hit hard enough, I should at least make that up by the rate of which I hit.

[ Right? And humans and pokemon were different from Heartless. ]

[Well, she was certainly right on the money about this one, that's for sure.]

You don't have to dodge forever. Speed can be used for getting away from a fight, too. [Along with the whacking of your target, but if that fails...well, no shame in bolting. Outrun an enemy and you can generally outlive them.]

You have to be constantly aware of your surroundings for that to work, though. No point in running into an ambush.

[ She nods. ] In that case, I have to outsmart them, then. Somehow.

Right. [A quick gesture at Axel; those flames weren't a certain tell, but she can make a guess.] If he was actually trying to hurt you, you should try to reach the water. He probably wouldn't risk swimming to finish you off if he could avoid it.

Got it. [ Right, the environment... She glances at Axel also, who roars a bit in response when they mention him. ]

Guess I should be lucky we were only just "training" then. [ Quickly rubs her forehead. He didn't put much force into the blow, but it still smarts a bit. ]

Even if it's just training, you still need to be careful. No sense in letting yourself get hurt just because you know they wouldn't hurt you badly.

[Another gesture, this one to Xion's head. She saw that headbutt, after all, and has had experience in dealing with hurt teens.]

We're a lot more fragile than they are, and sometimes they forget that even when they don't mean to. You always need to be on guard even if it's training.

[ Glances up at Lightning's hand. Also randomly notes that Lightning's quite tall, compared to her. ]

Yeah. Sorry. [ Actually can't make up a reason why she's apologizing. Distraction? Letting herself get hit? Dunno why, but having that makes her feel she's already not meeting Lightning's expectations. ]

[This time, Lightning shakes her head. Even trained soldiers make mistakes. They're only human, after all.]

Don't be sorry. Take what you can and learn from it. Learn what you did wrong and try to be sure you don't let it happen again.

Edited 2011-09-05 03:55 (UTC)

Yeah. I'll try.

[ Right. Not letting things happen again... Hm. ]

Thank you, Lightning.

[Video | Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]