-10th of July, 979.
"Spark!" Jotou readied her sword.
"Okay Meko, go for it," Hotaru permitted. The brunette standing in front of Jotou disappeared into shadow. Jotou swivelled her eyes to the back of the house and at the grass.
"Woosh!" The shadows emerged from behind Jotou a second after Fumeko disappeared.
"Ting!" Jotou turned, deflected Fumeko's dagger and grabbed her arm as Fumeko's eyes widened. Jotou threw her onto the grass; "No, I didn't feel any shocks," she stood upright.
"Glad I could help…" Fumeko grunted off the grass.
Hotaru folded her arms, "You need to learn to blink before you fall. It's probably because you flinch and close your eyes that you can't."
Jotou helped Fumeko up; she watched how she held the dagger, "Three fingers folded, thumb and index to twist it…" Jotou noticed.
"Huh? What're you muttering about?"
Jotou held Fumeko's hand, "You're holding onto it too tightly, but other than that, you should have the edge facing your opponent, not the tip."
"I know self-defence Jotou, I'm not planning to become a swordsman," Fumeko begrudgingly followed Jotou's advice.
"You mean, other than running away?" Both their brown eyes seared into each other's.
"That makes sense actually; you sort of know how to fight," Hotaru had watched her train after all.
"Sorta?" Fumeko's glare switched targets.
"Guys! Guys! There're mushrooms near the park! Let's go get some!" Asobi scurried in, holding picked white mushrooms in her hands.
"Asobi, don't pick random mushrooms in the park," Hotaru gave a look of concern.
"Watch and learn," Fumeko told to Jotou before striding forward.
"Meko!" the elf cheered. "Don't eat them yet, we can cook- WOAH!! AH!!!" Fumeko grabbed Asobi by the arm, rolled and flipped her over onto the ground. "Thump!"
Her top hat rolled into the grass as she lied facing the sky on her back. Fumeko stood up, dusting off her hands. Asobi's face quivered, "That really hurt…" before Asobi whined into tears, mushrooms all around her.
Jotou rolled her eyes whilst Hotaru held her forehead. "I won't pick the mushrooms again… I promise… Meko… Meko, I see a light," Asobi reached a hand in the air.
Fumeko groaned, "Enough with your bullshit woman."
"Tell… tell Jotou… ah… eck," Asobi croaked, shutting her eyes.
Hotaru walked over, a little worry in her eyes. Jotou knitted her brows… 'There's no way in hell…' Fumeko felt a little unsettled as Asobi lied there… She did not seem to be breathing…
"Hey! Wake up! The grass is way too soft!" Fumeko shouted and knelt down next to her. Fumeko was only startled when two hands grabbed the sides of her head.
"Soft…" Asobi giggled with her eyes closed, "So soft," she fluffed Fumeko's hair, "Have you been combing?" Asobi asked before leaping up.
"Ugh… you bitch," Fumeko moved away.
"That was a great move Fumeko! It really did hurt, but it'll be Wham, Bam, Pain! To the bad guys!"
Jotou, "Eh… Maybe not against the velatos…"
-11th of July, 979.
"Hya!" the sword twisted in her grip. "Clang!" Against her master's blade. Left! Right! With a spin! "Ha!" "Cli…ng!" The swords met again.
"Good! Now," the master stepped forward as Jotou felt sparks go down her hair.
With the hilt of his blade, "Ow!" he knocked Jotou on the side of the head. Jotou rubbed her temple, "What was that for?"
"For two reasons; first, shut your mouth. Screaming isn't going to make your strikes any better and you're ruining the peaceful atmosphere."
"Harsh…"
"Second, did you feel a jolt through your body?"
Jotou stood straight, "Yeah… it's not exactly consistent when it warns me. It's like, 'Move back; danger oh no! Heads-up!', but other than that, it really doesn't give me anything."
"Hm… alright then. Again," Master Tensuo backed up and gripped his sword.
Jotou readied herself, another used blade from the guild she held. "Engage!" with his words Jotou dashed forward.
In a strike to her left she twirled around, clanging with the blade in a higher pitch. Her eyes scoffed, twisting her sword over the master's blade and bending her knees to swipe below.
Her back straight and head away from the opposing metal, but Master Tensuo turned his sword straight down—"Tink!"—deflecting Jotou's attack immediately.
He swung up; Jotou's legs twisted with one another to quickly move her sword up and—"Clang!"—she knocked his sword further up as she put her left leg outward to keep steady.
With Jotou's arm held up high, she twisted it rightwards to strike! Her master's blade met with hers stopping the attack. Jotou moved in her infinity pattern, her legs moving in as every clang thundered.
Tired of the same tactics, she swerved her blade in the infinity pattern and brought it upwards instead, making her master raise his sword high to deflect her attack.
However, with the momentum she had going, she brought the blade down- … No sound came as Master Tensuo caught the blade of her sword in between two fingers, with his own blade behind him.
Jotou watched in shock; "Good, you're adapting," her master commended before he pulled her blade forward slightly. He spun his sword in between his fingers. "Shing!" In a twist he struck her sword.
Jotou had seen this before… Her master let go, leaving a massive gash in the metal of her blade. It already felt unwieldy, "Still, don't try to best me," he chuckled. Jotou took a breath, pulling back. "You're learning on your own. You will find your own techniques that suit you best."
'Can't fight with this sword now… It's gonna crumble to the next attack. Wait, this isn't the end of his attack-' Jotou went through her head before jumping back to reality.
As she suspected, there was a blade coming for her head, but- "Clink!" Jotou used her sword to block her face and deflect her master's final attack.
Jotou panted the adrenaline out—bubbled up eyes. She watched her sword break into two and one end fall onto the ground. "Think I'll learn that move?" Jotou kicked the fallen metal.
"Maybe," he shrugged. "Tell me, did you feel jolts that time?"
Jotou tried to recall, "No… Nothing warned me, I just knew you would try to attack me one last time."
Master Tensuo stretched, "Alright… Then go pick up the sword with the blue hilt. It's still noon."
-18th of July, 979.
"Blinding light!" Asobi yelled out against Fumeko who tried to blink, but…
"AHH!!!" she looked straight towards Asobi's wand, shunning her eyes after it was too late. The flash of white disappeared from the grass as bugs jumped and fluttered away from the scene.
"I told you this elf would harbour a vengeance! I told you! Now she's taken her revenge! My eyes! MY EYES!!!" Fumeko rolled on the ground, holding onto her face.
"I thought the spell wasn't supposed to bring harm!? Oh no!" Asobi ran over with guilt in her green eyes. She was unable to help Fumeko who was rolling too much.
"It's not…" Hotaru uttered.
"TELL THAT TO MY STINGING EYES!!! I can never see delicious food ever again!"
"I think my healing's master level at this point, I can heal them; if your eyes are actually burning," Hotaru moved to her. Trying to catch her… "Stop!" she held Fumeko to the ground.
Asobi held Fumeko up as Fumeko let go of her eyes. Hotaru opened her lids, checking them, "They're a little bit bloodshot, but I think you're overreacting," Hotaru summoned water.
"AH! Ah. Ah...ah," cooling water seeping in and healing. "Overreacting? I couldn't see shit, everything was white!"
"Well, you should be blinded, but the spell wouldn't actually damage anything… If your eyes are bloodshot… hm. It's fine now; Asobi take her inside please."
"Okay," Asobi pulled Fumeko to her feet, waddling as she brought Fumeko to the house, "Come on Meko, we can go make sandwiches."
"It better be good ones…" Fumeko seethed.
_
"You need to learn to control the magnitude of Thundering Strike. You keep doing it in outbursts, but you can't be destroying buildings around you all the time," Hotaru stated.
Jotou watched the test dummy, "Easier said than done…" she held a rusted sword. "Control… Control…"
"Remember! You choose what to do; that includes your affinity!" Hotaru cheered from afar.
Jotou took a deep breath, knowing what she fought for, "Thundering Strike!" she swung for the dummy from a standstill.
The sound in the area went silent, the air shifted hue. "Brrr… BLAST!" Yellow lightning shot out into the dummy; out the other way and into the sky.
Thunder echoed past their house and who knows how far it went… Hotaru shielded her ears, checking for bleeding, but none of the windows were shattered, so…
The lightning subsided, leaving behind a shattered dummy, some of the material being whisked away by wind as dust or ash—the sight of Jotou falling onto the grass.
Jotou moaned continuously, "I think I'm getting good at detecting internal bleeding now… Ngh!"
-21st of July, 979.
Their swords clashed again, one blue hilted, the other black leather. Finishing their set, Jotou moved back, "Master? I feel like I should move my sword up and down too. The infinity pattern doesn't seem the most efficient."
"Then do as you please, I think you've caught onto the basics. Now make something of it. Are you ready to go again then?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. My friends and I figured out that my 'Shocky-Sense-Thing' only activates when my guard's down. So, no help when my guard's up; useful for sudden sneak attacks though," Jotou relayed before dashing forward.
The master moved forward, Jotou tried more complex moves. Right! Left! Downnn… Right! Up! Fall back and left! Her bladework swift between her fingers.
"That's good," Master Tensuo replied, before deflecting Jotou's strikes and swiped his feet low, knocking Jotou onto her ass, "You still need to figure out more though."
Jotou grunted, taking a breather on the ground. "As for your spell that keeps failing… Your energy is shifted between your stances.
How you swing, how you turn; it determines the weight of a strike. I'm no expert in magics, but perhaps try shifting your energy to flow through your body, to your intended release point.
Releasing it all as an 'outburst', controlled or not, might be the reason why it keeps harming you instead. You're trying to let the energy out, instead of flowing it through."
-24th of July, 979.
"Silcelot…" Hotaru stated. The pitch-black night under the treeline of Kria Park did not do much to hide the feline creature that reflected in the dark.
Patterns of brown fur prowling; its shining silver tail like two needles split so thin. Like plated silver armour, its body was covered in some sort of hide in parts.
Its teeth glimmered when its helmeted face turned with piercing yellow eyes. "Roar!" The 'silcelot' pounced forward, noticing four prey stalking it.
"Oh no!" Asobi shouted into the night.
"Asobi, blind it!" Jotou ordered.
"Blinding light!" with a whisk of her wand and a spin for flair in the tense moment, she threw her spell by the tip of her wand.
The purple headband that gleamed, disappeared into shadow, reappearing atop of the dashing creature and- "Slice!" Piercing under its unprotected neck, the blood gurgled as the creature tried to roar.
Fumeko brought her dagger up, sitting atop of the fallen silcelot about half her height. Its legs gave out, eyes staring at the other three walking out of the bushes.
"I didn't say go and kill it… Now we have to deal with this?" Jotou pointed to it, "This… Silce… a lot?" her brows knitted, "We get it, you've been training."
"Pfft, hardly a challenge," Fumeko got off of it, wiggling the blood off her dagger.
Asobi nudged the corpse with her foot, "Poor kitty…"
"Silcelot; silverfish, ocelot. The exoskeleton on its body is worth a lot. Depending on the condition, it's around five to nine gold," Hotaru replied.
"We came here looking for slimes, not, skinning wildcats," Jotou rested a fist on her hip.
"Hm…" the redhead's eyes looked up, "Technically… we don't have to do that," she grinned. Fumeko looked behind Hotaru, hearing shifting behind the shrubs.
A jolt went through the blonde's hair, making her turn and take a step back, pulling out her sword. Her left arm hovered around Hotaru defensively while she faced the danger; eyes… all with a yellow glow.
"I suspect that blinding light wasn't a bright idea," Fumeko's eyes glazed over.
"Nice hindsight detective," sparks covered her blade.
"More kitties!"