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 Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 7:25 pm
Raj was standing again and had just swung his chains at a tree, the metal links wrapping around it three times before there was a loud clank. Three scores were put into the bark by the motion and he flicked his arm to loosen the chains and, with another tug, bring them back to him. He caught one end link to slow the backlash and let it drop beside him. This was easier to work with than the bending he'd tried earlier. That would be better done later on when he was good with these.
Raj looked at the torn up ground around him and frowned, taking a stance after wrapping his chain around his arm more securely. This made for just as good a sort of training as any, putting things back the way they were required more focus than throwing them out of place. Raj spent a lot of time replacing as much earth as he could, leaving gaps of stones he'd hurled and had little chance of putting back.
Upon finishing the replacement, he went back to where Rei and Yoko were only to see their waterbender missing and the girl from before flopped in front of them. Raj looked up at Rei, frowning a bit. "Where did she come from?" He asked, pointing down at Kourou. Rei might not have been paying attention, but it was still helpful to ask. "And where's Yoko?"
(LB-6 Training 17)
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:41 am
Strolling through the forest, Ryuuou realised that he was completely lost. Looking aqround, all he could see was trees and more trees. Looking forward again, it looked like it did behind him; just trees and more trees, not showing any openings for light except up... That's it, up! he thought, starting to climb onto one of the trees, finding out that it was incredibly slippery. But still, he pressed onward ((upward?)) toward the treetops, toward the light. Luckily, the tree he was climbing on was covered in vines, climbing more on those than the trees, feeling more like he was climbing a cliff than a tree. Left foot, Right foot. Left foot, Right foot. He found it hard to keep his legs working; the tree, which was his support, was twisting back and forth, putting him in weird angles to get up on the tree.
After twenty grueling minutes, he made it to the top, where the tree twists to the right, the entire top flat to an extent, as if their was a barrier keeping the trees from doing so. But the sight was incredible; the entire forest stretching onward, just barely able to see the edge of the trees. Looking for a small gap, he found an entrance. He decided to go towards it, hoping it was a river.
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:33 pm
Finally getting to the long gap he found earlier, he found it was a river. Now, it seemed that it was cut off from the water source somewhere further back, but that was an adventure for another time. For now, all he wanted to do was get out of the forest. "Damn, it was a really bad idea going into the incredibly big forest when you have no sense of direction," he said to himself, flustered on how big the river was. Taking out his waterbottle, he thought of taking a drink, thinking twice when he thought of waterbending.
He decided while on the road... er, riverbed, he might as well have a chance to practice. Using his usual technique, he summoned the water, putting it in a shape of a sphere. This time though, it was much easier than before, flwoing and melding into shape rather easily. Before he knew it, he had counted to on hundred twenty, totally on autopilot. So, to make it more challenging, he tried to make a complete ring, which, he found, was much harder, losing shape almost immediately. Spending most of the rest of the day trying, which was probably three hours, he could keep it's shape for foruteen seconds, though it was more like an oval than a ring.
Setting up camp in the middle of the riverbed, he put up a small fire, cookig a rather bland meal of beans wrapped in cabbage he got from the cabbaqge vendor back in the village. Actually, the cabbage wasn't that bad. But the beans basically soaked up all the flavor of it, making it rather tasteless. Sighing, Ryuu curled up in his sleeping bag, falling asleep almost immediately.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:06 am
Waking up in a cold sweat, Ryuuou only then realised a stinging sensation on his legs and stomach. ripping off the sleeping bag, he was horrified to find bugs crawling inside and out of his sleeping bag. Getting up as fast as he could, he shook all the insects off of him, and then to the sleeping bag. Well, he thought, making sure there were no more hitchhikers, rolling up the sleeping bag and packing it up. I guess I'll get a move on this journey.
Yawning aloud, lantern in hand, Ryuu continued on his downward journey to the end of this river, hopeful to come across an old village, or better yet, a way out. Trying to make things interesting, he decided to run and see if he could make a certain time. So, that tree to that tree, he thought, starting to sprint. Though he didn't make it in time, he felt he could run pretty fast. Ok, that rock, to that other tree. This time around, though, he gave it his all, sprinting at an exhillarating rate. passing the tree, he felt he had made it in time, a bit happy for himself. He did this all night long, until night bacame morning; by then, Ryuu was sweating frem his exertions, but happy that he got a chance to test himself to the fullest.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:26 am
An hour after the sun came up, he noticed that the riverbed was starting to get wet, and murky. Before he knew it, he was knee-deep in a swamp, his feet making a sickening 'plop' every time Ryuu raised them out of the muddy water. And once again, he was lost. "Okay, scratch the 'rivertrail' idea. In this forest, it just doesn't work," he said aloud, miserable at his predicament. Then, an idea struck, making him smile. "If I can't walk through this swamp, I'll just walk over it!" walking to the nearest strong-looking tree, he wrapped his arms around it, using the vines as a makeshift failsafe in case he slipped. As a few minutes wore on, he became tired, hooking his legs around the tree, and hoping the vines would take his weight. Unfortunately, they didn't take it very well.
As Ryuu put his full weight on the vines, they untwined, creaking, and then snapping, sending Ryuu into a backwards tumble towards the ground. Thinking as fast as he could, he motioned himself back to the tree, and wrapped his arms and legs to the tree, constricting the tree as hard as he could. It rubbed all his skinn on his arms, legs, and stomach raw, but it slowed him down just enough, falling into the water with a plop; luckily, his stunt kept him from any injuries, and trying again, he climbed up to the top of the tree, where it trails off to the side in stead of going up. As he soon discovered, the trees were interconnected in a few places, a continuous twisting path. In the distance, he could see the edge of the forest. Looking behind him, he could see the Great Tree, Large and awe-inspiring. He took a moment to observe the view, a pang of sadness of how beautiful it was. Much different than the frozen tundras of the North Pole, beautiful though it may be. Just in a different way, he thought, turning back around toward the edge, wanting to get out of the lonely forest.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:56 am
Finally getting to the edge of the forest, Ryuu grabbed the trunk of the tree he was on, sliding down easily. He found it quite dry, passing the swamp a few miles back. The ground was full of tall green grass, and as he crossed out of the forest, he found an old road; it was covered in grass, but was distinguishable by the comparison of the grass in the road and the grass out of the road. Hopefully, he'd soon be back on the road to Ba Sing Se.
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:55 pm
Rei had been hanging from a tree by his legs, oddly enough. For no apparant reason, either. He just hung there, while Raj was practicing, and Yoko was talking. "I could help him train but.." He thought out loud, thinking of jumping down and offering to help, until he saw big rocks being thrown every where, he shook his head and smiled. "Maybe not, I'm good enough right now." He sighed happily he hadn't followed the spur of them moment and helped him train, he'd probably get hammered by a few rocks, and he didn't feel like that, especially thinking of all the bruises. He began to drift off, not completely because he was a little worried that he could fall and knock his head on the hard earth, and Raj might not see him, and fling a rock an-, it was probably better not to think about it. When Yoko was giving the little speech, Rei only heard a bit of it, and hardly what Yoko had said, so he waved while upside down, smiling.
Right when he thought he would fall asleep and fall down, the Waterbending Kourou stumbled upon them, and spilt all of her shiney little trinkets. Instantly catching his eye, he flipped himself off the branch and landed beside all of the things, smiling. "You know, she just dropped in, had a nice Fall if y'know what I meen. Went for a trip." He grinned, making all of the little subtle puns and such to Raj, before trying to remember what he vaguely heard Yoko say. "I think he said something about going off somewhere, I'unno." He shrugged his shoulders, just sorta looking at everything she had. "Wanna share?" He grinned, hoping she'd say something before Raj's Personality kicked in, and hit him for trying to get something.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:00 am
Raj sighed and frowned, resisting the urge to bust Rei's head open simply because of Kourou. It wasn't like he had been successfully protected from violence when he was younger, but he wasn't going to actively show it to her either. "Have you ever been hit so hard you couldn't remember your own name?" He growled at the airbender as he noticed Rei's mischievous eyes wandering. Funny thing was, if either of them knew what had happened to Rei before, Rei would be able to truthfully answer that with a "yes" or at lesat a "kind of."
"Kid, you're in the middle of a very large forest...How did you get out of Ba Sing Se without being stopped?" Raj asked, noticing how her hands were slicked over with a layer of ice. Great, just when Yoko had to leave, a kid shows up with frozen hands. May as well work on a method to thaw them. He had two ways that could work. Act like he was going to try and smash the ice off and maybe the resulting panic would cause it to break by her bending power or...actually try and smash the ice off and hope he doesn't crush her hands.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:11 am
Rei decided to share a bit, he had a nice nap, they avoided Kazuki again, he was in a good mood, and of course there was the bonus this might knock Raj off balance for a secound or two. "You bet." He said with a sly smile, he didn't know a terrible lot of everything that happened, but he knew a lot of it that gave him answers like those. "I'm betting she ran really fast." He nodded to his own answer, still looking at everything she had, then stopping his gaze at her frozen hands, whew, Yoko sure did pick a great time to go. Moving around a bit, to really tell her badly her hands were frozen, he guessed she was a Waterbender, so that sort of surpised him why she couldn't melt the ice herself, but Waterbenders needed lot'sa movement with their hands and feet to do stuff like that, so he wasn't all that surprised. "So Raj, you wanna take a crack at it?" He said, laughing while saying it over the pun. Poor her, with Yoko she could have gotten it just melted, but with Raj, he'd probably smash it off her, and break a finger or two, Rei had a idea hit his mind, but he wasn't all sure to try it, it probably wouldn't hurt, but the hands being there would most likely ruin what he was planning.
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:08 pm
"I donno how I got here." Kourou replied, sitting up with some difficulty. Her eyes wandered to all the things she dropped, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to keep them around. Or the 'borrow' things without asking. Or leaving the Ba Sing Se without telling anyone. She wanted to pick up all her things and take off. The little waterbender didn't really trust the airbender for some reason. She blew on her hands, wanting to warm it up, but instead the ice thickened. "Come on, melt already..." She mumbled, then gave a heavy sigh as she looked up at the two. "I can't get it to melt..."
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:22 pm
Raj frowned at the girl's situation. "Well, blowing on it doesn't help...Don't you know how to focus your energy differently yet?" He offered, he kind of hoped for at least a "sort of" so that she might be able to unfreeze it herself. Otherwise, he'd start using his way. And it definitely wasn't an easy way.
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:17 pm
"But... I don't know how to..." Kourou said, looking as if she was about to cry. The girl was too soft. Then again, she did have a sheltered life. She tried to rub the two ice covered hands together. They were starting to become numb.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:25 am
Raj let out a sigh and shook his head. "Guess we'll try it my way then..." He mumbled, stepping firmly on the ground. The earth shot up on either side of Kourou's hands, chipping away bits of ice but not really accomplishing much. The stones dropped back, more or less, into their original place, bringing a little more ice--and poor little Kourou--down with them. So much for Plan A. He looked down at the girl with a sigh and shook his head. "I might have to drop rocks at this rate..." He remarked, looking at Kourou with a small frown. She was scared out of her wits, but that wasn't making the ice go away.
(Raj: LB-6 Training 18 )
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Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:31 pm
Raj shook his head and left Rei and Kourou to their own devices, deciding his help wasn't what the girl needed even though the airbender wasn't going to be much better for her.
He took his stance out in the forest again, legs spread apart and arms held out on either side and hooked at the elbows. He took a firm step forward and brought his right leg forward to get balanced before kicking the stone that popped up from the earth due to his first step. Raj frowned for a moment and shook his head at the effort. It wasn't as hard anymore. He needed to try something new.
Raj took the Horse stance again and moved his arms alone this time, swinging them out diagonally to try and make a piece of earth burst out without touching it. Trying to move earth a short distance away wasn't working except for making it bulge slightly. He got a little more abrupt and rough with his movements, swinging both arms up in front of himself and jumping back in surprise when he pulled up a slab of stone that stopped shy of blocking his hip. It was a good start definitely. He was surprised to get it up that far honestly. It would make for a good defense.
Raj: LB-6 Training Post 19
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Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:52 pm
Raj flexed his muscles and let out a breath, taking a step, swinging his right fist around and bashing the slab of rock he'd managed to bring up as a makeshift shield. He folded his arms and nodded in approval at how far it slid along the dirt before crashing into another rock that he'd thrown over there before. Both rocks had crumbled into rubble which further pleased Raj with how much force he was starting to manage.
He took the Hung Gar stance and shifted around quickly, jabbing his foot into the ground to create a small furrow along the ground which popped a rock out four meters ahead. He then struck at the ground with his left hand in a claw-like manner and thrust his right palm at the rock that bounced up from that. He jumped and turned in the air halfway, striking the backs of his hands against the ground. A few rocks bounced from the blow and he placed his hands with the backs to each other in front of his face before spreading them out in an arc, pulling the rocks with them like he was trying to block more than one attack. He jumped to the side since he didn't have a very good hold on the rocks he'd tried to use and almost dropped some of them on his head. They had arced like he wanted, but it was scattered still, making holes where his imaginary attacks were going to get through.
Raj spent his time trying to get more rocks out of the ground and to spread them in a more controlled set. He started working on keeping them up as well so he didn't have to jump out from behind a safe place so quickly. Now that he was a little better at keeping the rocks in place, Raj tried blowing them out toward the source of his imagined attacks. It worked well enough except when he had rocks aiming above. Since he worked on making them just go outward, there was a time or two he had to jump to avoid one that went straight up or arced just a little that it made little difference.
(Raj: LB-6 Training Post 20)
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