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 Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 1:18 pm
 ~Wyatt
Wyatt flew through the air like a rag doll hit by a baseball bat; not even having enough time to get back to his feet after rolling across the unforgiving ground before a Dark Pulse enveloped him. Under the effects of momentary blindness as a sea of dark flowed over his still fairly petite body, it wasn't long before he found himself face to face with the point of an all too familiar sword. Due to the last few rounds of sparring before this, he was obviously fatigued and rather than moving out of the way of the blade by this point, weather it had the intent of hurting him or not, he focused a multitude of electricity to flow off of his fur and into the weapon. At least throughout all of this he had learned a decent lesson on handling pain.
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 1:49 pm
 EbonyEbony froze the sword an inch above the Luxio, her eyes narrowed slightly. Her body tensed with pain as the electricity stuck her, but she could not cry out, for her tightened muscles held her jaws firmly shut.
As the pain passed, she sighed heavily, slowly placing her sword back in it's sheath, which was strapped firmly to her back.
She knelt by Wyatt's side, lifting his chin with her delicate paw. "Well done, Wyatt." She congratulated calmly, her expression blank as the sandy ground beneath their paws.
"You have great endurance, a high tolerance for pain, and the drive to win." She continued, her tone still unchanging. "A worthy opponent for many."
"...But you lack the problem solving ability you'll need to take down opponents much mightier than yourself." She noted critically, nodding to herself. "There are several ways to learn this, the first being to push you to your limits. ...But that, for me, shall be a last resort. To push someone so far is a dangerous thing. Instead, I want you to focus on using your brains, not your brawn. If you see an opening, or an advantage, use it."
She advised, looking at him with a strange expression as she finished.
A few moments later, she was settled down next to him, pulling out a pouch of berries that had been tied to the sheath of her sword.
She opened it, offering Wyatt some. "Take some."
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:07 pm
~Wyatt
Wyatt practically had his eyes closed as he feared retaliation for his last attack. Once he was out of harm's way though his disposition changed from fear to sorrow in the matter of seconds. He hadn't meant to hurt his master in any way, in fact he probably would have done much better in this quarrel if he hadn't had such close bonds with his opponent.
"S-sorry."
He peeped out even though at the moment he was being praised for his efforts. He felt terrible; unsure why he even attempted to do such a thing to her. Such rash actions should have been punished in some way. With a little cringing in his movement the Luxio rolled onto his feet and proceeded to apologetically rub up against his master's leg with a purr listening to her advice with major mental note-taking. Her words seemed pretty on track; he hardly valued his own life so taking hits was no problem, just in tough situations it was troublesome for him to think quickly to get out of messes.
"T-thank you."
He spoke graciously in turn for both the advice and the healing berries offered to him. He didn't wish to accept gifts from his master, but the situation definitely called for a bit of relief for his aches before he even tried to walk anywhere; the Luxio thankful for the fact that no bones were broken in this sparring session.
"I promise to get stronger for you. I'll do whatever it takes; even if you want me back here to train day after day."
He concluded with a promise and a nod.
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 2:52 pm
EbonyThe Lopunny gave him a strange glance for his apology, unsure as to why he felt so guilty. It had been a sparring session, and to inflict injuries upon her had been the entire point.
She's faced a room full of high-ranking guild members; this was no challenge for her, to fight a young Luxio.
Still, she said nothing, although she flinched as he brushed against her leg, purring. Ebony's expression almost seemed strangled, as though more than one mind was reacting to the contact, and doing so in entirely different ways.
Her expression quickly smoothed out to her usual, blank faced stare, however, and although she still twitched slightly, she made no effort to move away.
Such actions were very strange.
She nibbled quietly on a Cheri berry, to ensure that his Electric-type attacks weren't affecting her body in any way, although she felt confident that she still had her full range of movement and flexibility.
"Day after day?" She repeated. "No, we'll be switching back and forth, most likely." She explained calmly, before swallowing a second berry; this one a Pecha.
She paused for a moment, to savour the sweet, fresh taste of the berry, but quickly continued on with what she was saying.
"Tomorrow, I'll be teaching you to properly track and trap a target." She decided. "It'll be difficult, but it won't be as physically demanding as today's sparring session, to give you time to recover."
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 3:12 pm
~Wyatt
Wyatt listened in as his tasks for the next day were described with little detail. Just as frantic as he was last night thinking over how today would go, immediate fears popped into his head but didn't show on his already stressed looking body.
"Alright. Thank you very much."
He agreed to the terms of their next meeting and thanked her for the day's already.
"Anything else you need or may I just head back to my team?..."
He asked, not wishing to leave his master so sudden, especially with the strangely nice mood she was in, but since he had to get back before any of them awoke time was a problem.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 1:02 pm
EbonyEbony, lost in thought once again, waved dismissively.
She had a lot of planning to do for the next day of training, and to have Wyatt present for such planning would take all of the fun straight out of it.
She continued to eat berries, her fluffy ears flicked back behind her head to keep them clean of berry juice.
'To follow the gorge would lead him... Alright.... That's a possibility. The cliff of jagged fangs will offer some unique terrain challenges... As for the second gorge... Yes; the far river will do just nicely.'
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 1:56 pm
~Wyatt
Without word Wyatt nodded and bowed at the Lopunny's order before padding away off into the distance. For the rest of the day it seemed best for him to get rested up, fearing tomorrow's tasks. With any luck he'd be home just in time and absolutely nothing would be suspected of his whereabouts.
-Awkward timeskip-
The next morning, the young Luxio found himself in the same open air as the day before; the brisk morning not doing much for his bruised condition that shown against his pale fur. His Lopunny master not in immediate site he simply stood there with utmost patience, having the strangest feeling that if she was still asleep that she wasn't a morning person that liked to be awoken.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:18 pm
Ebony"Hehehe~" Ebony's eerie cackle echoed from behind Wyatt; the Lopunny having hidden herself in the shadows of a boulder.
Her glowing, crimson eyes watched Wyatt as she began to sing, as though singing a child's nursery rhyme.
"Come and find me if you can, the whole place you'll have to scan.
Be careful of the path you take, safer does not easy make.
Dry is deadly, water cold; keep to balance, you'll live old.
Strength in brain, not body's will; arrogance will have you killed.
An hour long that you must wait, for me to leave a trail to take~"
With her disturbing little tune finished, the slightly psychotic Lopunny darted off into the shadows, disappearing to... wherever she'd been hiding before.
Despite her sudden disappearance, there was a clear scent trail leading north, toward the gorge.
It stretched deep down into the ground, and was by far too wide to jump. Luckily, her path would lead straight off the edge, down toward the rocky floor beneath.
There were two paths down.
The first trail was a smooth, wide trail covered in sand. There were no visible cracks in the rock, and it seemed to be relatively clean.
The second was only two paws widths across, with deep cracks riddled through it. If one were to set foot on the structure, large chunks of rock would simply fall away from the bottom.
The fall to the bottom of the gorge was deadly; not even the Lopunny herself would be in terribly great shape after that.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:43 pm
~Wyatt
Wyatt was barely able to maintain his composure as a cackle quickly followed by a riddle broke the quiet air from directly behind him. He didn't exactly have much time to listen carefully to the words presented to him but he figured he got the jest of it. It was obvious at this point that she was the one to be hunted and as far as he could tell at this moment there was only one direct trail leading to her. Head planted to the ground he mumbled something to himself in annoyance; this seemed a little too easy to start and knowing Ebony there was a strong chance of trickery to follow. He hated when she got all overly crazy like this... Not really paying attention to where he was heading, just simply sniffing along to wherever the trail lead him, his first landmark came upon him fairly quick and the Luxio didn't take long to realize that he was nearly hanging off the side of a cliff. Looking around nervously he jumped back a few steps to more solid ground before regaining his composure and surveying the area. It was obvious by the scent that she had to have gotten down there somehow and the only two possibly pathways in sight included the more obvious sandy walkway and a corroding slant of loose rocks. Though one seemed to be a great deal more dangerous than the other, Ebony's words echoed in his petite head before he made the final decision. Her little riddle discreetly telling him to take the more difficult path despite looks and of course he just couldn't turn down his master's word. Someone should have told her though that he didn't exactly care for heights all that much before this all went down. With more mutterings to himself, this time words of self confidence, the Luxio nevertheless made his way to the cracked slope and proceeded to place a single paw on it. The first step seemed safe despite appearances but that didn't mean he was trusting in the least right off the bat. Thankful of his feline litheness and stature at this moment, one paw after another the decent went by very slowly and cautiously, he occasionally having to get on his hind legs and shimmy along the wall as the path got ridiculously thin in places. It didn't take long for him to regret his decision but he didn't want to think about what awaited him if he decided to take the other path either.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 2:56 pm
As Wyatt's paws touched the solid ground of the rocky floor, it became obvious, that although the difficult path was indeed that, it was also well-supported, and made of strong, relatively water-resistant stone.
The path behind him, covered in sand, suddenly seemed much more deadly. From the lower ground, one could see the massive chunks of rock missing from the path, hidden by the rock itself.
If he were to brush away the sand, he'd find shallow rifts in the stone, where many scorpion-like creatures hid.
Ebony had wasted no time in making the path as deadly as possible.
The next task would be different, with the dry ground beginning to disolve. The ground was damp in some places, where the flood-waters had filled deep holes in the floor of the gorge.
Close to the gorge walls, one would find the path much drier, and looking similar to a combination of the previous paths.
A thin stretch of land twisted endlessly between them; it would take a long time to get down that path, and the areas of sand and water in-between looked quite tempting...
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:14 pm
~Wyatt
Unable to even contain himself during the last few steps, the Luxio couldn't help but leap his way to solid ground. Giving a glance to his new surroundings he sighed as he saw the trek ahead of him. The time span didn't bother him so much but he was already getting quite tired; having worked himself up quite a bit by now. Before the second step of his treacherous journey started Wyatt thought it best to dip his head near a collecting pool of water that seemed reasonably clear compared to the rest of the area. Though he knew there were traps aloft, seeing the demise of the other available path from earlier, it never occurred to him that what he was doing now may be the wrong choice.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:31 pm
His drink, however, was interrupted, as a massive Carvanha leaped from the water, jaws spread to snap at the Luxio's neck, and pull him under.
On some lucky fluke, however, this Carvanha was not the only to spot this prized prey, and their skulls bashed against eachother, knocking Wyatt back from the water, and themselves back into the deep, murky pool.
Maybe it was best to stick to the path from now on...
As he made his way to the end of the gorge, he'd find several dozen columns of stone, stretching gradually higher, like steps, to lead him upward.
The question was; if they all looked the same, how could he tell which ones were safe?
Ebony's scent was strong here, so she was nearby, but... would she reveal herself right away?
Doubtful.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 3:58 pm
~Wyatt
Blinking a few times before figuring out what the hell just happened, Wyatt didn't hesitate at all when walking away from the pool. From the looks of it he was on this trek without drink now but compared to keeping his life that's completely fine. Continuing on the only thing that kept him from straying from the designated path was Ebony's scent which was undoubtedly getting more noticeable as he padded forward; his paws at least becoming accustomed to the rough grounds by this point. Finally reaching the end of the way it was apparent that the Lopunny was here before...But it wasn't like her trail was in any designated place rather just the designated area. This made the Luxio frustrated. He was at a dead end with an even more dangerous looking obstacle in front of him and had absolutely no clue what to do. With a frustrated sigh he sat down in his place and pondered, head hanging deep in thought. It was just then Ebony's riddle raced through his head and he recalled a line that may have pertained to what would happen if he came across a dead end. If she wanted him to wait then wait he shall.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:06 pm
Ebony"Your task is done." Called a voice, and Ebony appeared at the top edge of the gorge, her crimson eyes sparkling with amusement. A bag was strapped tightly to her back. Needless to say, she'd enjoyed the day's death-defying tasks a little too much in the eyes of anyone sane.
Luckily, sanity wasn't her thing.
"Come on u-OH YES." She suddenly remembered.
"Yeah. They're all safe to stand on. I could play hopscotch on them. Good test of patience, though."
The Lopunny giggled mischievously. Oh yes, these games were fun. Great fun.
She slipped the bag off her back, and tossed it down, easing it's fall and guiding it down to Wyatt's feet with an Ominous Wind.
"Food, water, first aid kit. Go to 'er. I'm bored." The Normal-type noted, walking away in an extremely arrogant manner.
Yup.
Sanity was truly not her thing.
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Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:41 pm
~Wyatt
Patience seemed a little overrated as the time of day added on to his previous exhaustion caught up to Wyatt and just as his master arrived on the scene he found himself jumping to his feet and out of his little cat nap. His face was blank as he was spoken to, trying his best not to show irritation. Granted this lesson in survival skills was much needed but he was tired and a tad cranky by this point. He would have gladly joined her for some sort of celebration of his accomplishments that he was oh-so-proud of, but by the time he looked up from the box of crackers and bottled water that he found in her care kit and eagerly dove into she was gone...
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