Ramal
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 6:29:38 GMT -6
Ramal dug through a ton of junk in his pack before he finally found a little scrap of food: some old rations that he had stuffed in there. It wasn't much, but it was hopefully enough to keep him going. It was an old sweet cake that had long since gone kind of stale, and a little bit of jerky. At least jerky didn't really go bad, he reasoned.
Shelly came over to see what he was doing. She yawned widely and eased herself onto the ground next to him. She was sitting just close enough to him that she wasn't touching him. It made him smile. When they had first met earlier that day, she didn't want anything to do with him, but now they were becoming friends. She would rather lay there next to him that lay somewhere else. That was something to be proud of. He wondered if she was just especially friendly, or he was actually an amazing creature trainer after all. He guessed it was that first one.
[2.1, 4]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 6:33:28 GMT -6
Shelly pushed her head into Ramal, knocking him over. Then she sniffed at his stale cake while he was on the ground trying to hold it away from her. "Oh come on, you have so much great food! This one is mine! Plus you wouldn't even like it."
Shelly seemed satisfied with that response, because she snorted and rested her head onto her paws. She was tired after all of that bashing she was doing before. Ramal was glad that she gave up so easily. He knew he'd have no say in it if she decided to pursue it further. It was both scary and exciting to spend time with such a powerful creature. It was a feeling he was looking forward to getting used to.
Ramal was starting to think that this is where he belonged, here with creatures like Shelly. She was so nice and he was so good at showing her new things! They made a great team.
[2.2, 4.2]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 6:37:02 GMT -6
It was nothing like being back home with all their stuffy rules and customs. Everything around here seemed like it was totally free and open. He could even come down to the park with a huge monster and smash old fence posts, and nobody batted an eye! It was incredible to feel so free. It was as if he was a little kid again, starting a whole new life over from scratch. The only thing he missed was the food. He wished he could make food like the cooks did. Then his life would be perfect.
Ramal leaned against Shelly and closed his eyes. He began to daydream about their future successes in the arena. In his visions of the future, they were champions, and everyone was cheering for them. Plus, the prize money was enough to buy him and Shelly both a top notch meal! He loved the idea and a faint smile stretched across his lips.
[2.3, 4.4]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 6:43:16 GMT -6
He was so happy and exhausted that he didn't even notice himself slip off to sleep. He slumped against Shelly's shoulder and closed his eyes for what felt like only a second. By the time he opened them up, it was already twilight. He jumped up in fright, not sure where he was or what was going on. It was sadly not an unfamiliar feeling to him.
"Oh, heya," he said, realizing that he had fallen asleep with his face smashed into a Thundergug's side. She didn't seem to mind, though. When he woke up, she slowly stood up to stretch her legs and swish out her tail. Then she looked down at him as if to ask what they were going to do next.
"Hey, maybe we should hike it back home, you know? I think we should take a proper rest, then we can come back tomorrow to work on my other idea..."
[2.4, 4.6]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 7:11:44 GMT -6
Ramal thought about how to utilize Shelly's terrifying loudness as the two of them wandered back toward his kennel. He was pleased to find out that she was willing to follow him with fewer offerings of food now. That was definitely something he would have to refine over time. Perhaps when the deadline to enter the tournament wasn't looming over him. Right now all she really needed to know was how to squish other monsters. Everything else could come later.
Did that make him selfish? He looked at Shelly and frowned. He didn't want to think of her as only a means to an end. He shook his head. He didn't think that he was doing that. Their relationship was genuine, even if the reason he sought her out was a little weird to begin with. His tiredness was just making him a little silly, that's all. In the morning they would revisit their strategy and everything would be alright.
[2.5, 4.8]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 17:32:20 GMT -6
When Ramal woke up the next morning, he was a little sore from all the heavy lifting, but more than anything he was excited to get started. He couldn't remember his dreams, but whatever they were, they renewed his energy and he was ready to go!
"Shelly!" he called out, tapping her lightly on the shoulder. She grumbled and looked up at him. She didn't want to get up, it seemed. "We have to go, do you want to go to the park? There will be treats!"
Before she could even get up, Ramal ran over to his things and grabbed an armful of food for her. Then he started waving it in her face. "C'mon you know you want to, don't you?" he cheered. Then he led her out to the public park, the same way he had done the day before. Shelly didn't know if this was going to be an every day experience, but she didn't mind it.
[2.6, 5]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 18:46:51 GMT -6
When Ramal had heard how loud her annoyed roar was, he had a great idea. She was so big and intimidating that he thought she could use that to startle an opponent. It would also give them an advantage against really fast opponents, which he had to admit he was a little concerned about. Shelly was so big that she couldn't move very fast, which was the one major downside he could see being an issue in a fight.
"Okay Shelly, do you remember that sound you made before? I need you to do it again! But like super loud!" Of course, she had no idea what she was talking about, so she didn't do anything. She just kept staring at him looking for more food.
"Shelly, scream! Shout! Roar!" he shouted as loudly as he could and she responded by making a rumbling call back at him. Why was he shouting? She didn't like it.
[2.7, 5.2] [Shelly - Roar - 1]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 19:17:15 GMT -6
"Close, but that's not loud enough! Do it like you did before, when we were training yesterday!" What made her do that, again? Ramal tried to remember. He had been trying to get her to run by taunting her with food, but it hadn't worked. It only made her angry. Well, he didn't like making her angry, but he might have to.
Ramal grabbed another branch (thankfully it was very early spring, and many trees had dropped spare branches over winter) and tied some of her favorite grasses to it. "Alright there, you'll have to forgive me for this..."
He tapped her on the nose with it and pulled it away repeatedly so that she couldn't get to it. As he suspected, he was a lot faster than her since he was much smaller. "I know you can do it! Shelly, shout!" He called as loudly as he could, and finally she called back in response. "YES!"
[2.8, 5.4] [Shelly - Roar - 2]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 19:42:28 GMT -6
"You did it, you did it, hooray!" Ramal cheered, lowering the branch so she could eat all of the food on it. He was so excited that he ran up and hugged her shoulder like he had been doing so far. It was pretty much the only place he could hug her without getting spiked on a horn.
"Let's try that again," he said. He did the same thing he had done before, tying a treat to a branch and waving it around so that she became frustrated trying to grab it. When she finally roared out in frustration, he congratulated her and gave her the snack. Hopefully, she would begin to learn that roaring meant getting a snack and praise.
"Shelly, shout!" he would call out what felt like a hundred times to see if she would learn the word along with the action. Once she had tried it a few times, she was starting to get used to it.
[2.9, 5.6] [Shelly - Roar - 3]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 19:55:32 GMT -6
Once she started to get the idea, Shelly would start to make a loud grumbling noise as soon as the food started to get close to her. That wasn't good enough, though. Ramal insisted that she shout loudly in order to get her treat. "Shout!" he said. He would say it louder, and louder, and louder until she followed suit. "Shout, shout, shout!" he would say, each time getting a little louder and she would get a little louder in turn. By the end, the force of the noise made him shake, even though it was the result he had wanted.
"Yea that's definitely going to work," he said. He thought that any creature small enough to speed around her would definitely be shaking if they heard that. It was almost unbearably loud. He was honestly surprised that nobody came over to yell at them for it. The park was a truly strange place.
[3, 5.8] [Shelly - Roar - 4]
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Ramal
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Posts: 101
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Post by Ramal on Mar 12, 2021 20:10:32 GMT -6
Shelly was going to have to learn how to shout without the branch, so Ramal worked on that next. He went to do the same thing as before, but he tossed the branch aside. When Shelly went to go pick it up, he said, "No, no!" and pushed her away from it. He was lucky that she agreed with him, because he wouldn't be able to physically push her no matter how hard he tried.
"Shelly, shout!" he yelled. Then he did it again, but louder. Since they had been doing this all day so far, Shelly was starting to separate that word from all the words around it. She eagerly called out to him, but not loud enough.
"More, Shelly, shout! Shout!" This time she matched his enthusiasm and roared back at him, full force. He toppled over backwards and started laughing. Yea, she got the picture all right! Now all they had to do was run over to the arena to register so she could show off her shouting to a crowd.
[3.1, 6] [Shelly - Roar - 5]
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