Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 22:11:14 GMT -6
Stamina: 7 Strength: 5 Resistance: 12 Dexterity: 1 Mentality: 0 Special Abilities: Physical Immunity, Electrical Resistance Moves: Pummel Goals: +2 Dex
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:05:05 GMT -6
They had finally made it to the training gym. Nina breathed a long sigh of relief. All they had to do was get through this, and they would be tournament ready. Laputa might not know a lot of things, but she was strong and tough, and Nina had a lot of hope in her ability to pull off some wins
The only thing she really needed was some more agility. It was a bit hard to expect a pile of rocks to move fast, but she thought she could bump up her reflexes and reaction time at the very least. Otherwise, her opponents would take her down before she could even respond. She knew what that was like from experience, and she wasn’t keen to go through it again.
“Are you ready, Laputa?” Nina asked, putting her hand on the Golem’s shoulder. Laputa slowly blinked and turned to look over at Nina.
[12.1, 15.2]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:05:20 GMT -6
She would do whatever it was her master wanted of her. That’s what she always did.
As it was her first time there, Nina wanted to look around and get a good idea where everything was. Each area had its own associated activities. There were ones for strength, accuracy, stamina, and so on. She wanted agility, so she continued to look until she found a good spot.
“You’re a bit heavy to be running around indoors,” Nina said. With that thought in mind, she headed outside with Laputa close behind her. There was a huge pool and an open area to run around in. That looked perfect for what she wanted to accomplish. She made a mental note of the rest of the equipment available in case she needed it and proceeded to the running track.
“Let’s start with this,” she said, looking back at Laputa. The golem lumbered around behind her in no particular hurry. Of course she did.
[12.2, 15.4]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:05:44 GMT -6
“Faster, Laputa!” Nina said. She flew up into the air a few feet, then around Laputa so she was behind her. She gave the golem a gentle push, but Laputa instantly resisted. “No, go, go Laputa!” she said. The golem seemed confused. What was with all the shoving and yelling? Everything was fine a few seconds ago.
Rather than continue to resist forever, Laputa started walking forward. It wasn’t fast, but it was something. “Good job, Laputa, now faster!” she called in her authoritative ‘training voice’.
Nina continued to try to push Laputa along, but it wasn’t working very well. Since she was made of solid crystal, Laputa was extremely heavy. It was hard to get her to do anything she didn’t want to do, and she didn’t really understand the prompt. Nina had not thought to teach her ‘go’ or ‘hurry’ before this. Without that information in mind, Nina realised that she needed to take a different approach.
[12.3, 15.6]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:05:58 GMT -6
This wasn’t like an Equillion who you could just slap on the rump to get them to run. This would require more encouragement.
“Okay, you win, we’ll do something else,” she said. Nina landed and folded her wings away. This was going to require more thought than she anticipated. Why was it that the dumber the creature, the more she had to think? It was a bit funny when she thought of it that way. Like she was thinking for both of them or something.
Nina thought back to what Laputa did know how to do. She would come when called and stop when instructed. What could she do with that? When she thought of it that way, it felt almost too obvious. She would have to get Laputa to come to her rather than trying to push her along. They could get increasingly faster as they traveled along the track.
[12.4, 15.8]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:06:13 GMT -6
Nina flicked her wings back out and floated into the air. This would be much easier if she was flying. She could be more agile and much faster herself from the air. It would be no struggle at all to keep up that way, and she could pay more attention from her aerial view rather than being worried about tripping or being stepped on.
She flew over to the middle of the track a few meters away from Laputa. “Laputa, come here,” she called. She hovered in place, waiting for the golem to catch up to her. Once she did, she scooted back, “Again, Laputa, come here, and faster!”
Laputa didn’t speak the common language, of course. She hardly knew about 6 words, in fact. Nina just hoped that the urgency in her voice encouraged something within Laputa to understand. If not, well, at least she didn’t have to say the same thing over and over again.
[12.5, 16]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:06:30 GMT -6
This wasn’t exactly thrilling for her, either. If she didn’t talk to herself at least a little bit, she feared she might totally lose her mind.
Laputa lumbered after Nina in no particular hurry. “Again, Laputa!” she called out, flying in a loop around her and then back out in front. She did this a few times, calling out to Laputa and flying around her. She constantly weaved around Laputa to keep her on her toes.
“Faster,” she said, giving Laputa a bit of a shove. This time, though, she didn’t stick around, instead flying past to see if she could get Laputa to chase her.
Laputa was clearly a bit confused and possibly also annoyed. It was really hard to tell given her lack of expression, but the good news was that she did pick up the pace. She began to hit the ground harder as her slow plodding walk picked up into something that could be called a jog.
[12.6, 16.2]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:06:54 GMT -6
“Good job, Laputa!” Nina said. She heaped praise upon the golem as if she had just done the best thing she had ever done. “Again, faster!” she said.
This was working, she thought. She whipped around Laputa’s side and shoved her again, this time to the side. “Gotta be faster to catch me!” she teased. She zipped around the other side and gave her another shove from there.
“You know you can do it, Laputa, and I know you can, too! Faster, faster!” she called back as she bolted in front.
Laputa seemed quite frustrated and began a full on gallop. First her hands hit the ground, then she pushed off hard enough to pull her feet up into a leap. They crashed back down with a resounding thud just before her hands hit the ground again. Using the momentum from the movements to make her increasingly faster, she continued.
[12.7, 16.4]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:07:08 GMT -6
The longer she ran, the faster she got. She used her incredible weight to her advantage to keep the movement going. It was working!
Nina was amazed at how fast Laputa could move with a little bit of encouragement. This was going perfectly! In fact, it was going a little too well. She was worried that Laputa would catch up and absolutely crush her for being a pest. She turned her attention to the track and lowered her head. Now that they were up to speed, she could focus on staying on the track and getting Laputa to follow her. Easy.
She glanced back at Laputa now and then, and the huge crystal creature showed no signs of slowing down. She seemed to have reached her top speed, and it was more impressive than she thought it would be for sure. Nina had never really pushed Laputa to her limits before. She swelled with pride seeing her sparkling creature reach its full potential.
[12.8, 16.6]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:08:34 GMT -6
Some day Laputa would be a champion. Perhaps not this time around, but some day. They would keep pushing each other until they came out as winners. Nina internally beamed at the idea. She was glad she decided to work with Laputa, even if some other creatures might have been quicker or easier to train. What she lacked in cleverness, she made up in devotion and determination. Nina wasn’t about to soon forget that.
Laputa was not going to be tired any time soon. Her endurance was legendary and she would never back down from an order, even if it killed her. Nina did not want her to go that far, however, so after a while of spinning around the track, she considered what they would do next. They could take a break, of course, but they had to have a plan for what to do next. If they stopped for too long, the training wouldn’t be as effective.
[12.9, 16.8]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:08:52 GMT -6
Nina looked down at the track and noticed that every so often there were holes with metal flaps covering them. She wondered for a moment what they might be for, then she noticed some poles lying next to the track. Of course, she could hook the poles into those mechanisms for a more challenging experience. That sounded perfect. Plus, it gave her something else to do while Laputa was resting.
This was one of those times that Nina was appreciative that she did not need as much rest as the average person. She could continue to train and outrun her creatures all day. It was a small blessing given to her by her unusual form. As convenient as it was, though, she still found herself fixated on the ways her body was lacking rather than the ways it gave her an advantage.
“Alright, Laputa, time to stop. Stop!” she repeated the command a few times so that she knew it would stick.
[13, 17]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:09:14 GMT -6
Laputa heard the command, but it took her a moment to consider what to do about it. As she thought about what she was supposed to do, one of her arms hit the wrong place on the ground and she tripped over herself. She went tumbling over, smashing her face straight into the ground.
“Oh, Laputa! Are you okay?” Nina flew over and immediately started fussing over her. Laputa was stuck face down into the ground with her butt high in the air. Nina helped her to right herself by pushing on her shoulders and getting her to flop back onto her butt.
Laputa was now covered in mud from the spongy ground where she landed, but she otherwise looked okay. Nina breathed a sigh of relief again. That seemed like at least the 5th one that day. This tournament training stuff was utterly exhausting. Thankfully, she managed to stumble off the track before face planting. She really didn’t want to pay for fixing up their track if Laputa smashed it up.
[13.1, 17.2]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:09:27 GMT -6
“You stay Laputa. Stay,” she said. It was the opposite of what she had been asking for since they got here, but Laputa was happy to do it. She kept her butt in the wet grass and waited for further instruction.
Meanwhile, Nina began to collect the poles she would need for the next exercise. She placed the poles into the slots in the ground one by one. She spaced them out in such a way that they were a bit uneven. Laputa would have to think to dodge them rather than just repeating a pattern. That might be a lot to ask of such a dense creature, but Nina believed she would do it.
One of the problems with agility training was the amount of awareness it required. Any creature could drag something heavy, but running, ducking, weaving, and diving was a bit more intense than that. It was important that Laputa was able to see incoming attacks as well as dodging them. That was a lot for an elemental golem.
[13.2, 17.4]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:09:44 GMT -6
“How are you feeling, Laputa?” Nina said, floating back over to her. She patted the golem on the head and praised her for a job well done. So far they had been doing great.
“Now we’re going to try, ah…” Nina tried to come up with a name for her new activity. “Pole dancing!” she said, completely unaware of the unfortunate implications that name came with. She must have heard it somewhere and that’s what her mind latched on to when it was time to pick a word. It was a good thing nobody was there to hear it.
“This way, Laputa,” Nina said. She ran over to the poles and wrapped her tail around one. “We’ll be running between these, so you can get used to changing direction while running, okay?”
Laputa’s expression was as blank as ever, but she did follow Nina as she was asked to. Good enough, she thought. Nina called out to Laputa just like she did last time to get her running.
[13.3, 17.6]
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Nina
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Post by Nina on Apr 13, 2024 23:10:02 GMT -6
“This way, Laputa!” she called out. She flew over there herself to emphasize the path Laputa was meant to take.
“This way, c’mon, Laputa, faster!” she called out. She zipped between two poles, getting Laputa to follow her. Soon enough she picked up the pace, and while she was not as fast as she was before, she was able to make a wide turn around the pole that Nina was hovering next to.
“Perfect, Laputa, good job,” Nina said. She didn’t want to stop for more praise, so she flew over to the next pole. “Now this one, Laputa! Faster, faster! Come here!”
Nina continued to call out, clap, and praise Laputa when she made it to the next pole. Each time they went to a new one, she was able to get started faster. Soon enough, she found a rhythm, looking up for the next target as she approached the previous one.
[13.4, 17.8]
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