1949/A Training Montage

A Training Montage
Date of Scene:	15 June 2024
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Some months ago, a training session between Fuyuko and Taro.
Cast of Characters:	Fuyuko Yuuhi, Taro Yamada

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Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Again," Fuyuko calls out - though, really, someone could be calling her Lacuna, right now, as she's in her mahou attire, darkness flowing like a captured stream around her hands.

It's late evening and they're practicing in a park, after dark. She's not afraid of Taro, not at all, so the Slasher isn't as large as he could be, but he's fast. She's faster. He has years on her, a novelty, but he's an ambush predator who hasn't ever trained.

"For punches, keep your thumb tucked below your fingers, not with your fingers wrapped around it. That'll just break it, and weaken your blow.

Taro Yamada has posed:
The Slasher shifts, taking in every piece of advice like a sponge. He adjusts his hands to get his thumbs under his fingers, then slowly mimics the punch she had shown him again.

"Like this, sensei?"

She's tiny. She's terrifying. He is going to learn everything from her so he can have an inch of her power.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"That's right. Good, better. Try it again, and this time, put out a spike between each of your knuckles."

She's positive he can put out plenty of spikes. Can he drain individually from each?

"Try and hit me, but if you hit the shield, don't let your flesh touch. I don't want to devour any bit of you, thanks."

Taro Yamada has posed:
He rolls his wrist as the blades slowly push out from between his fingers, a twitch of pain before the strange numbing feeling the blades created kicks in.

"Yeah, I don't want to get eaten either. It's uncomfortable to grow too much back at once," he complains, and he slowly punches at her.

The first few times are experimental, testing his range with the new technique, making sure he's poised correctly. It's only when he gets a nod of approval from her that he begins to speed up.

He has a couple of ideas to spice this up, but basics first! Edo wasn't built in a day.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Can you drain from multiple spikes at once, to increase what you can take? Or is it always the same amount, just divided if you have more of the spikes?"

She watches the motion, nodding approvingly. "Better. We'll need to get you doing that, faster. Good form, though."

She puts her dukes up, ready. The darkness fades away.

"Come on, try and hit me."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I can drain from each one individually. It takes more concentration to pull more of them up at once, though," Taro says, and then snorts in amusement as he sees what his claws look like. "Just think, if I ever do start showing up in photos, we could make our own version of the X-Men!"

And with that, he speeds up. With his greater height, it's trickier for him to try and hit her with a gut punch, but he goes for it anyway.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Good skill to train, then. You need to have as many tricks up your sleeves as possible."

The gut punch is quick, but with his height - he's not that much taller than her, she's not tiny! Taller than average for a woman in Japan, at near 5'7, though smaller than him, in his transformed state, at least.

"You're good. You're not fast enough to get me, but I'm faster than most."

The punch to her gut is deflected with a grasp for his wrist, and he's shoved away.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I can make like a hedgehog if I really have to, but I've only had to pull that out of my pocket like three times," Taro says. He squares his hips so he's not pushed back far, pushes himself back into the stance she showed him, breathes, and lunges again. He rushes at her with another gut punch, but follows with an uppercut so that if she gets too close to him while pushing him away, she risks him striking her face.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
It's a good move. If his uppercut had better form, more weight shifted behind it, it would actually work. Instead, with a quick and controlled shift of her weight, block, and dodge, she avoids both blows and flips him to the ground.

"So," she says, slowly, "That was a good effort. You need to get in the habit of carrying through your whole weight and committing the blow. You're used to running away, which is fine - you're a predator. But you need to remember how to be prey, too. How to commit, like you'll die for good."

A beat.

"But you did good. If you weren't going against me, that tricky little shot would have landed. You're doing better. Keep that hedgehog trick in your pocket, and keep planning it - you might need to do it again sometime."

Taro Yamada has posed:
He ALMOST gets her - but then she's wrenched his arm and his ankle and he goes thudding into the ground. Ooof.

"I"m used to pulling my punches because I don't want to kill the normies I'm feeding on," he explains, sitting up with a groan. "THe blades heal any wound they create, but if I accidentally snap somebodies spine or hit a kidney, that's got a good chance of going wrong." Ugh. "It's easier pulling it against a freaky monster than a human."

Killling a witch or perhaps some kind of horrible mantis beast? Fine and good! Less great is mauling someone he only wanted to lightly menace.

"I'll keep it in mind. It's handy for helping derail falls, too - I can survive a long fall but I'd rather grab a building if I have to." Oof. Sitting up! She's really strong.

"I have a trick I want to try. Help me give it a runthrough?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"It makes sense; I didn't say it didn't. But if you want to fight things like me, or try your hand at taking on monsters, you can't think of them as human. They aren't human. We're more than human, and we can come back from a lot. Yeah, maybe you want to avoid a spine shot or an organ hit, but fighting one of us, you can't assume you can cut through as easy a human. We're durable."

She raises an arm, and flexes her bicep, then looks at him, nodding.

"Obviously you' should catch a building over falling. Obviously. Come on. Show me what you want to do."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Monsters I can handle. Mahou will be harder. Which is why we're training!" To become the strongest in Japan!! "Against someone who I can see is human but is strong enough to not let me get a move in."

It's not flattery if it's true, ok? Game recognizes game!

He gets back in the stance, lunges forward, and goes for an uppercut, then follows up with a gut blow - but as he does, he grows the blades between his fingers, giving him longer reach.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Don't get cocky. You've lived a long time; some monster might just surprise you. Witches have taken out plenty of people who thought they knew better."

This, because what's the point of being a mentor if you don't at least warn the kids against getting cocky? She had been cocky, she'd be earned that - and she'd still not been enough.

And then Taro gives his best shot, and it's a good one, enough that Fuyuko calls up her shield of void-born darkness, cutting away the blades to spare her guts.

"That was a good trick. You could really screw someone up with a hit like that, being able to extend your reach when people aren't expecting it."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Lemme clarify. Monsters I don't feel like I have to hold back on. Humans, I still feel like I can't go full throttle unless I know they can actually hurt me."

It' s not that he's underestimating witches! It's that he's more likely to underestimate a human! Which is a different but relevent issue!

He grins, hopping back as he shows how he can lengthen and shorten the blades on his hands.He got her!! "Exactly! I've been trying to keep it up my sleeve for now, but I can get up to at least three,four feet for a couple seconds, which is usually enough to stop a fight."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"That's better. You shouldn't go full throttle on too many humans, you're likely to kill them. Since you're determined to stay neutral instead of joining Obsidian, you won't have any allies - you should study everyone you encounter, and think of ways to beat them."

Three to four feet, huh? She's smiling herself, a fierce, toothful grin.

"You might find it harder to get through mahou, with the in-built armor most of us have, but you'll surprise them, if nothing else. That was a good one. Alright - let's try the sequence of strikes I taught you, but use the extending blades whenever you get an opening."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I know a witch will fuck me up, but I can fuck them up right back! And also, like, cuts I make heal instantly on a human, which is ok if I stab someone since it means they won't bleed out, but if I cut off like - a finger?" Purely theoretically if he removed a limb of some sort. "That's not going back on." Don't worry about how hefound this out...

He grins back equally wide, face open with the joy of battle.

"Everyone's my enemy, huh? I can work with that." He hops back into the opening stance of the strikes, counts down from three, and then GOES!!

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"That's assuming you can cut them off," she rolls her eyes a little, still amused. "Mahou are more durable. You can't assume you'll cut right through - so when you're holding back, you need to work on figuring out how much to hold back."

It's important! Don't think you can cold clock someone as easily as you'd usually think..."

And then he's coming for her, and she's ready to put him in his place. Again. They'll be at this for a while.