|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:05:22 GMT -6
The eve of the contest was growing closer, but Fiera had one last trick she wanted to teach Zazzle- if she could find the time. The purpose of the contest was to celebrate the wonders of a good defense. Armor, spikes, general toughness. Well, what better way to show off a good defense than a good offense? …She was working on it. But she had the clever idea to teach Zazzle how to tackle things with his whole weight, crushing them against his thick, hard shell. If he could show it off well enough, she was sure it would impress the judges. She wasn’t sure how easily it would come to him though- after all, inkrum weren’t exactly aggressive creatures, even if they WERE good at jumping and climbing all over everything. Still, she could only try and see how it went- if he couldn’t do it, there were other things she could do for the contest. Fiera 1 Zazzle 28.1/28.1 Body Slam 1
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:05:54 GMT -6
First things first, she checked her treat pouch. Plenty of springs of fresh, green bamboo stared back up at her. Perfect. These would help grease the wheels. Her and Zazzle were sitting in a shady part of the park. Tall oak trees loomed overhead, and beneath their feet was cobbled bricks, perfect for a pedestrian footpath, though they had come into an area that was more of a courtyard. Fiera plopped her bag down on a bench, letting it fall over to the side. Zazzle stared at her curiously as she rustled around in the bushes, looking for something in particular. Finally she pulled it out- one of the first acorns of the harvest season. It was only mid-September, but she had gotten lucky in finding a few of them that had fallen from the oak trees already. She pocketed the rest, but placed one on the ground in front of Zazzle.
Fiera 2 Zazzle 28.2/28.2 Body Slam 2
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:06:12 GMT -6
He crept up to it and stared at it curiously. Normally he would pay the acorn no mind- there were millions of them in the park after all- but for some reason his owner had taken an interest in this one, so he would to. Still, he couldn’t really see what the fuss was about. “Okay Zazzle- slam!” Fiera said, and the inkrum looked at her quizzically. To fill in the blank for him, Fiera gently nudged him with her foot until he was standing directly over the acorn. Quietly, she was glad she had taught him to tolerate her pushing him around like this. He fussed over it a lot less than he used to. Then she crouched down and gently pushed on the top of his shell. At first she felt him resist as she tried to squish him into the ground, his legs straining with the effort.
Fiera 3 Zazzle 28.3/28.3 Body Slam 3
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:06:30 GMT -6
“Come on Zazzle, slam!” Fiera reiterated, and Zazzle finally allowed himself to be lowered until the bottom of his shell pressed on the acorn. Fiera pressed a bit harder with a sharp movement, and the humanish’s feline ears flicked as she heard a satisfying cracking noise and felt something give through his shell. Zazzle must have felt it too, as he leapt up and backed away the moment Fiera released him. He looked at what “he” had done. The acorn’s shell had cracked, the ripe orange interior spilling out onto the cobbles. Fiera was quick to reward Zazzle for “his” actions. “Good slam, Zazzle! Here you go!” She said, pulling out a piece of bamboo and handing it to him. He accepted it easily, and stared at the acorn more as he chewed, apparently more interested than he had been when they started. Fiera pulled another one from her pocket, setting it up behind him.
Fiera 4 Zazzle 28.4/28.4 Body Slam 4
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:06:48 GMT -6
“Zazzle!” Fiera called, getting the inkrum’s attention with his name. She gestured at the acorn. “Slam!” She said. Zazzle scuttled over hesitantly. He looked at Fiera for reassurance, and she gave him a nod. He lined himself up with the acorn, backing up and walking forward a couple times just to make sure he was aiming himself right. Then he bellyflopped onto the acorn. Fiera heard his shell make contact, but when he backed up again to look, it was unbroken. “...Let’s give that another try.” Fiera said. “Slam!” She repeated, and he lined himself up again for another try on the scuffed acorn, flopping his body forward again to hit it. It still didn’t break. They repeated this a few times until the battered acorn finally cracked in two. It was way more work than Fiera was expecting, but at least it had finally broken. “Good slam, Zazzle!” Fiera said, and tossed him another piece of bamboo.
Fiera 5 Zazzle 29.0/29.0 Body Slam 5
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:07:04 GMT -6
He ate it quickly, and Fiera set up another acorn for him to try body slamming. “Alright Zazzle, are you ready? Slam!” She said, pointing at the acorn extra hard for emphasis. She wasn’t sure if it had the desired effect in Zazzle’s mind- he was a somewhat simple creature- but something about this seemed to be clicking, because it took him a lot less time to line up a shot at cracking the acorn. This time he almost seemed to lunge forward a bit, still striking it with his belly, but a bit harder this time. The acorn still didn’t split open all at once, but when he pulled back to check Fiera could see that there was a large crack in it. They were getting there. “Okay, let’s give it another go. Slam, Zazzle!” Fiera commanded, and Zazzle obeyed, bringing his shell down hard on the hapless target.
Fiera 6 Zazzle 29.1/29.1 Body Slam 6
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:07:20 GMT -6
This time, it split completely in half. Perfect- just what she was looking for. Fiera gave him another treat for the effort and pulled out another acorn. These were small, easy targets, but they’d give him a much needed place to aim, and a satisfying crunch when he got it right. Now that he could break them easily, Fiera decided to step up the difficulty a bit- making him attack a moving target. The humanish held the acorn where Zazzle could easily see it, and pointed to it. “You ready, Zazzle? Then- slam!” She said, and threw the acorn right at the ground. Zazzle leapt after it, trying to smash it with his shell- but missed, overshooting the acorn and sliding to a stop while it bounced away across the cobbles. Fiera walked over to pick it up. “Ooh, good try. But not good enough. Let’s give that another try.” She said, and pulled her arm back to throw it again.
Fiera 7 Zazzle 29.2/29.2 Body Slam 7
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:07:42 GMT -6
“Slam!” She called out, and tossed it at the ground again. This time Zazzle was ready, following its movement with his eyes. He bunched his legs up and, to Fiera’s delight, made an impressive leap towards it, putting that jumping ability that inkrum were known for to good use. He tackled it, missing it with his limbs- but that was the point, smacking his shell onto the top of it harshly. The leap put extra force into the blow, and Fiera could hear the loud crack of the acorn’s husk from a mile away. Sure enough, as Zazzle hopped off she could see its contents spilled onto the ground. “Perfect! Good boy, Zazzle!” Fiera said, and showered him in bamboo sprigs. He was starting to get the hang of this! For now though, acorns were old news. she wanted to move up to bigger, harder to break “prey” just to test her pet’s limits.
Fiera 8 Zazzle 29.3/29.3 Body Slam 8
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:08:00 GMT -6
From acorns, Fiera moved up to whole branches she found out in the woods- sometimes after a bit of searching while Zazzle waited patiently. She started with smaller twigs, still green and bendy, having Zazzle chase them around for a bit before he threw his whole weight onto them, belly first. Slowly but surely she worked up to much larger branches she found lying around, and soon Zazzle was snapping branches two, three inches in diameter, easily breaking them under the solid weight and hardness of his shell. Each break was accompanied by more cheering from Fiera, uncaring about whoever might here, and showering her pet in more bamboo… before Fiera scampered off into the woods again to find more victims for Zazzle to break. As they trained, Fiera saw an improvement in Zazzle’s attitude too. More confident, more ready for action each time she set a branch down for him.
Fiera 9 Zazzle 29.4/29.4 Body Slam 9
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2024 22:08:19 GMT -6
He was moving faster, and hitting objects at much sharper angles, focusing his weight into the smallest surface area for maximum force. Combined with his impressive leaps, it was highly effective. His shell was so hard that there was very little that didn’t splinter under its force. Soon Fiera was even dragging over small rocks for Zazzle to split, and they didn’t fare much better, shattering under his weight and effort. After enough rounds of this, the cobbles they trained on were covered in splinters and shards of stone. It looked like a storm had swept through, scattering debris across the entire courtyard. Fiera however saw it as the sign of a job well done. Zazzle breathed heavily with the effort, and Fiera saw it as the sign she needed to let him rest. “Good job, Zazzle.” She said, giving him an affectionate rub on the ear. “Let’s go home.”
Fiera 10 Zazzle 30.0/30.0 Body Slam 10
|
|