"All right! Now that you've got a foundation in the basics. Let's get to weapons training!" Kage cheered. After another day of dedicated research and studying on Earth, Hiro had returned to Kamitsuki and was preparing himself for his next round of training. Having thoroughly enjoyed playing with their human bodies earlier, he was looking forward to getting to play with his waifus in their weapon forms.
"Well?" Kage raised an eyebrow at Hiro, "What are you looking at me for? Summon your bow already."
"Huh?" [My bow?]Hiro couldn't seem to comprehend his combat instructor's words and stared at her dumbfounded.
{*HA* Look at your face! So stupid!}
[Oh, shut up! I never seriously considered actually using that thing. I have two weapon waifus. Why would I need a regular one? I just chose a bow because it came with the legendary equipment set, and it would complete the close-mid-long range weapon trifecta.]
"Your Bow. The legendary weapon you got from Susie-dono with your epic starting gear set, remember. Hurry up!" Kage teasingly reprimanded the distracted Hiro.
"Uh, right," Hiro said hurriedly and summoned his bow. A recurve bow with a dark brown leather-wrapped handgrip and carved arms made of a dark-gold material that looked somewhere between wood and marble stone. Because of its coloration, it took a moment for Hiro to recognize his weapon as a darkened replica of Auriel's Bow from Dawnguard DLC for the video game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
"Good. We will start by aiming for that tree." Kage pointed to a tree at the edge of their clearing that's only noticeable feature was that it was slightly thicker than the others and had several notable horizontal gashes in its bark. "Feet shoulder-width apart. Nondomininate side towards the target. Hold the bow straight out in front of you so that it is perpendicular to your arm." Kage instructed as she stood behind Hiro and used her own body to move his into the correct position. It was rather distracting having her warm fragrant body pressed up against him. But, after a week of it, Hiro now only suffered a small dribbling of a nose bleed because of it and had, for the most part, gotten used to her "hands-on" instructions.
"Grasp the string with your middle and pointer finger. One smooth draw, all the way back to your ear. Breath in. Hold. And. Release." Kage breathed into his ear, making Hiro blush and shudder slightly as a little more blood spurted out of his nose at the memories of the wild time they had just spent together flashed through his mind threatening to overwhelm him. However, he gritted his teeth and reigned in his raging libido to follow her instructions. As he pulled back the string on his bow, Hiro could feel a slight tugging on something inside his chest somewhere around his navel as an arrow of golden light took form on it. The outline of the arrow flickered and sparked like lightning. However, it released no light of its own. Instead, the arrow seemed to be made of light made tangible.
*Twang* The bow string made a satisfying twang, and the arrow made from his mana flew straight and true. Unfortunately, his aim was not as true as the arrow's flight, and it whiffed by the right side of the tree, not even scratching its bark.
{Miss~}
"Turn your head all the way so that your chin is almost resting on your left shoulder and keep both eyes open. I know your right eye is more in line with where your bow is pointing, so your head is telling you that it should give you a better line alone, but that is wrong. You need both eyes open and want to be looking straight at the target to properly judge the distance. From there it's just adjusting your hand-eye coordination." Hiro nodded and drew back on the bowstring once more.
*twang thunk* This time, his arrow of solidified light embedded itself in the trunk of the tree slightly to the left of center.
"Better, but you're shooting low." Kage's experienced eye noticed the minor flaw in the arrow's placement. "You need to remember to take into account the arc of the arrow as it travels. I'm not sure how arrows made of energy will fly compared to arrows made of wood or metal, so you will need to figure that out yourself through trial and error. Take about 10 paces back and try to hit shot the same way you just did."
*Twang* Hiro's third arrow landed on the right edge of the tree, noticeably lower than his previous shot. "See. Now adjust, and don't lose that centerline. Pick a spot on the tree and try to hit it every time," Kage instructed. Hiro fired ten more times, one right after the other, but he was unable to get any consistency. His shots seemed to wander all over the tree. His last one didn't even hit it. Hiro gritted his teeth in frustration at his lack of improvement and quickly drew and released another arrow in anger. It pierced into the ground at the foot of the tree. His worse shot yet.
"Stop!" Kage called, "Take a break. Shake the muscles in your hands and arms loose and try to relax. Archery is a discipline that emphasizes patience, calmness, and control. Getting angry and frustrated won't help and will only make things harder. Your heart must be calm and your mind clear if you wish for your arrows to find their way to your target."
*Huuuu Haaaa* Hiro took a deep breath in and let it out slowly as he walked a bit around his shooting mark, shaking out his arms at his sides, trying to follow Kage's advice. Kagetora might be a strict taskmaster, but Hiro knew from his hell week training that she knew what she was talking about when it came to martial arts. But it was just so frustrating. Why wouldn't his shots go where he wanted them to?!
Deciding he needed a distraction, Hiro plopped down on the soft grass and tried to activate the Power he had the highest expectation for over all the others he had received from the Archdemon of Sloth, Monster Maker. Several transparent brown-tinted screens popped up in front of him. The set up reminded him of his high school friend Gai's hardcore gaming rig. Three 'monitors' in a row with a fourth above the central 'monitor' and three 'keyboards' placed beneath them. All positioned to be within easy mutual viewing and reach from where he was sitting. Before he could investigate any further, however.
"All right, breaks over. Back to training, Husband." Kage clapped her hands next to Hiro's ear and ordered him to get back to his archery practice.
"Huh!? Oh, right." Hiro jumped at her surprise attack and climbed to his feet to resume his training.
"What were you spacing out so intently about anyway?" Kage asked after Hiro had taken a few shots. "Trying to think of new ways to mess Erza and me up." She teased, trying to hone her pupil's concentration by making him work through their distracting conversation.
"No!" A fresh jet of blood spurted out of his nose, lending doubt to his words. "I was trying out my Monster Maker power." Hiro quickly explained as he stuffed some rolled up leaves into his nose to stop the flow.
"Ohhh?" Kage put a finger to her lower lip as she tried to imagine what they could use this power for. "We could use some falcons to help us locate prey, or some hounds to aid our hunts. Some arachnid monsters also might be useful for setting traps. Oh, and a good mount for each of us. Speaking of, you'll need riding and mounted combat lessons once you finish your weapons training. Though at the pace you are improving, I would estimate we still have about a month of hard work left before you need to be concerned with that." Kagetora mused.
"Yeah." Hiro nodded in agreement at her words, even as his hands never stopped moving. Pull, aim, release. Pull, aim, release. The repetition was somehow calming and therapeutic once he stopped letting his misses bother him and simply adjusted his aim without getting worked up over it. Their training continued like that for another two hours, with Hiro having a break for a minute every two dozen arrows or so to shake the cramps out of his hands. All the while, Kage continued to try and distract him by discussing their future plans with him.
"Alrighty. Good job, Husband!" Kage gave her man a thumbs up for his hard work, "On to phase two!" She cheerfully announced once Hiro's archery had improved enough that all of his shots were now landing in the same bracket on the tree.
"Lunch first, Kage." Erza, who had recently returned from her morning hunt, gently scolded her overenthusiastic sister, "Darling looks like he is about the faint from hunger." Erza and Kage turned to look at their pale husband, who was standing on shaky knees as a virtual river of saliva flowed out of his mouth as he stared in rapture at the ten-meter long horned viper Erza had strung up over their rustic roasting pit.
"Alright." Kage pouted cutely. "Sometimes I wonder if he loves us or food more." She mumbled under her breath as she felt a spark of jealousy at how passionately their beloved was staring at the food.
*Fuu Fuu* Erza giggled daintily at her sister's grumblings as she returned to fixing their meal. An endeavor that took almost two hours but was devoured in less than half an hour.
*Ahem* Kage coughed to get rouse Hiro out of his postmeal euphoria. "As I was saying earlier. It's time for the next phase of your archery training." she gestured towards where Erza was standing beside a pile of assorted animal remains from their previous meals that they hadn't found a use for with grand sweeping motions, "Moving targets!"
Hiro nodded and readied his bow. He had been expecting something like this. Shooting targets tossed into the air was a classical training method and the logical next step in an archer's training.
"Throw!" Kage shouted, signaling Erza to start as she took a few steps back away from Hiro.
[Odd?] Hiro thought but paid his hot-blooded waifu's unusual action little mind as he shifted his aim slightly above his more elegant waifu's head, ready to catch her first throw.
[WHAT THA F-!?!] Was all our hero could think before *BONGK* a femur bone nailed him square in the forehead.
{Ooooh! You got boned! Son!}
"What was that for!?" Hiro raged as he held his throbbing forehead from where lay sprawled out on the grassy ground.
"Sorry, Darling." Erza apologized as Kage continued to snicker in amusement.
*Chi chi chi Aha ha* "Did it surprise you? Did you think you would just be shooting targets out of the air? Oh no, no, no, my Darling! Nothing so dull and mundane for you!" *Chi chi chi* Kage looked far too pleased with herself at the success of her little prank. "Nice shot, Sis!" She turned to Erza and gave her a big thumbs up.
"Damn it." Hiro growled as he got back to his feet with a noticeable lump on his forehead, "I'm going to get you for this Kagetora."
"Throw," Kage called, ignoring her beloved's threat with a smile on her face. Another monster bone came flying at Hiro, but this time he was ready for it. Quickly taking aim, he loosed his arrow of light at the oncoming calcium projectile and watched in frustration as they passed right by each other.
{Not even enough decency to give a polite greeting. *hmph* How rude.}
Hiro took another hit, this time to his left knee, while Erza gently leaned to the side and avoided his own attack.
"Throw," Kage called again, not giving Hiro time to rest. Hiro quickly tried to regain his stance and snapped off another shot with the same result. He got hit, and Erza avoided his with minimal effort.
[Damn it] He silently grumbled.
"Throw" This time, Hiro tried to take the time to carefully aim his shot before releasing. The result? Before he could even loose his arrow, the hurtled skull slammed into his bow hand, disrupting his concentration and causing the bolt of unstable solidified light to explode in his face.
[Damn it!]
"Well, that's good to know." Kage observed, "Throw." Another try, another bruise.
[Damn it!!]
"Throw"
And again.
[Damn it!!!]
"Throw"
And again.
[DAMN IT!!!]
"Throw"
And again.
[I HATE THIS! GIVE ME A SWORD, A SPEAR, A DAMN STICK!! ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN A BOW!!! HOW IS THIS THE WEAPON OF A HERO!?!]
{Yeah, yeah. Blame the tool for the craftsman's folly. Lame dude. Very lame.}