|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 22:09:03 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 22:09:42 GMT -6
Now that Azalea had some gym training under her belt, Aster figured they might as well brush up on her combat skills too. Or rather, he figured they might as well add to them. Azalea hadn’t been a big winner even in the tournament Aster had first entered her in, and since then he had only seen the battles get fiercer, and the tactics more complicated.
They went out to the docks rather than the park, since that was where Azalea would be the most comfortable. Aster let her swim around for a bit to get some energy out, before calling her back to him and starting with the first of their tasks for the day.
Aster’s first priority was to see if she could roar. It was a neat way to get around the defensive maneuvers of other creatures at the start of a battle, as a pre-emptive measure.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 22:10:21 GMT -6
Unfortunately, there was, alas, no way to defend against it when it was levelled against his own creatures in turn. Speed was still the deciding factor in a lot of fights, but it would be remiss for him not to teach her this, at least a little. Thinking on it, Aster said, “Can you make a loud noise for me? As if you were trying to scare me. Be as loud as you can,” he said.
Azalea looked a bit perplexed by the request. {I can do it, but… why do you want me to? Won’t it hurt you?}
Aster felt a slight, wry smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Well, I admit, it’s not very pleasant, but… It’s useful for scaring enemies, you know? And it’s hard to cover their ears in a hurry, so it’s good for catching them off guard. Then you have a moment to attack, or to get away if you want to.”
|
|
|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 22:20:17 GMT -6
When Azalea still seemed hesitant, Aster said, “I’ve gone through it with Avander and Grunty already, so don’t worry about me. I’m used to it already.” This was in fact something of an understatement, as he had gone through it with most of his drakes too, and with Sephyr, and recently he had trained Avander to use his sonic blast, which in the grand scheme of things was really so much worse.
{If you’re sure,} said Azalea, though she still seemed a little dubious about the whole idea. But Aster nodded, and after a moment, Azalea seemed to be preparing herself. There was a sharp intake of breath, and Aster waited, not covering his ears this time so he could hear the full brunt of it and assess whether it would actually be all that effective.
He wasn’t prepared for the sound that actually came out though.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 23:23:46 GMT -6
Aster had asked her to roar, based on more or less the fact that she had a Wiurn parent, and Wiurns were capable of roaring. He had seen one do it before in a tournament, at least, and Avander certainly had no problem with it. But the sound that emerged from Azalea, ultimately, was more of a screech, somewhere between the steaming whistle of a kettle boiling, and the shrill note of a violin being horribly misused.
… Well. It was pretty loud. Aster had gotten what he asked for, just not in the form that he had expected. Aster evaluated the ringing in his ears, and decided that he could work with this.
“Not bad,” he said, fighting down a grimace. It was never a pleasant sensation, even if he was used to it.
{Was I loud enough?} said Azalea. She seemed concerned, and probably not just about this problem, but it was the one thing she had given voice to.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 23:24:44 GMT -6
Aster nodded. It was probably loud enough to startle an opponent if they caught one off guard. “Be a little louder if you can--- the louder the better. But if you can’t do any more without hurting yourself, this is good too.” It was certainly pretty ear-splitting. “Do you think you can do it again?”
{Yes, I think so. I’ll be louder this time,} Azalea said.
“Alright then. When I say ‘screech’, you try it again,” Aster said. “Ready? Screech.” Azalea took another sharp breath in, this time holding it for a minute, before letting out another eardrum-shattering noise. Aster covered his ears this time, so he didn’t get the full brunt of it, but he thought it might really have been louder this time. She was definitely putting a lot of effort into it, he could tell that much.
“Good,” Aster said. “Just like that. How did it feel? Is it uncomfortable to do?”
|
|
|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 23:26:02 GMT -6
It was a tactic that only really worked once in a fight, after which the opponent would wise up to it, so he wouldn’t be asking her to do it over and over in a live combat situation. But he didn’t want to hurt her vocal chords, or wherever else it was she was producing this noise either. And he was going to have to ask her to do it repeatedly while they trained, so if she was hurting, he figured he ought to nip it in the bud as soon as he could, before the repeated strain made it worse.
{It doesn’t hurt,} Azalea said. {I have to push to get the sound out, but it’s not painful.} Aster frowned, and felt through their mental connection to see if he could sense any discomfort, but as far as he could tell, it was as she said.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 23:26:16 GMT -6
“Alright then. As long as you’re okay,” he said. “Ready to try again? I want you to get used to the signal and to the feeling of doing it.” Azalea agreed, so Aster gave her the signal again. “Screech.”
Azalea let loose with another burst of sound. Aster observed her carefully. “That was good,” he said, since the sound that she had produced was sufficient. “But do you think you could do it a little faster?”
{Is it too slow?} Azalea asked. {I can try.} When Aster gave her the signal again, she took a sharp intake of breath, but didn’t hold it for as long as she had done the last two times before letting out the screeching sound. Aster evaluated the quality of it as best he could from behind the protection of his hands over his ears. The quality seemed to be more of a volume with her first attempt.
|
|
|
Post by Noa on May 13, 2020 23:27:58 GMT -6
“Not bad, but let’s try again,” he said. “One more time, screech.”
Azalea did it again, this time trying to take even less time. The volume wasn't quite loud enough this time around, so Aster pointed it out to her, and subsequent attempts focused more on her getting the right volume consistently. The speed would come later; the most important thing was preserving the efficacy of the noise itself. If Aster had to pick one over the other, well... A move that didn't work was essentially useless, wasn't it?
They kept at it for some time, with Azalea slowly getting the hang of preserving the volume while taking less time to get the sound out. Eventually though, they reached a point where Aster was satisfied with it. All in all, it wasn’t a terribly difficult thing to learn, not unlike a concentrated battlecry.
It was time to move on to something else.
|
|