Chapter 71: Back to the Basics
They regrouped for breakfast. Bren didn’t have too much to report. Apparently, Orenous had decided to use the form of a particularly attractive Bultrong when visiting him, keeping with her habit of not using the same form twice. They’d spoken about his observations regarding Ann’s behaviour, the magic effects he’d seen, and any concerns he’d had. All in all, it was shockingly tame compared to the conversation the girls experienced, though he admitted she had teased him for still being single.
“After how she talked wit’ us, kinda surprised she didn’t wanna get in yer pants ‘erself,” Kat hummed. They were walking out to the training grounds together. Remmi had asked Ann to meet her for another training session and they all decided to attend.
Bren flushed at the words, covering his forehead with a hand. “Thank her Holiness that she did not. I would have combusted on the spot.”
“Aw, come on, you could do it,” Ann teased, smacking his rear playfully. “Pretty sure anyone with the luck to bed her would have nothing but the best night of their lives.”
“That honestly sounds like a problem, to me at least,” Rosalyn said, walking with her arms folded behind her head. “Think about it. We’ve talked about you being so good at all that, that if we ever tried to find another partner for whatever reason, it might be a lesser experience. Imagine that on a Goddess’ level.”
“You three have such strange conversations,” Bren sighed. “It is not only that, though now that you put words to the thought, I agree. No, it simply feels above my station? If that makes sense? I am just a man.”
“A damn good healer,” Kat snorted. “Plus, ye’re in the party wit’ ‘er Champion. Shit’s gonna probably overflow tae you somehow, smartypants.”
“She did tell us you’d be benefiting from being in the party just like everyone else,” Ann muttered, remembering their first run in with the Goddess. “Who knows what that means at this point?”
The four of them fell quiet as they arrived at the training grounds. Remmi was there, dark skin glistening as she worked through her warm-up, and a few other onlookers. It was much quieter than the other day, but some of those present seemed to be there for reasons other than training.
The party split up, Kat and Rosalyn perching on the boulder they’d occupied, and Bren went off to mingle with people who appeared to be some form of nobility. Ann, in the meantime, was waved down by Remmi and approached.
“All right, we’ve got us some decent privacy today. Not complete, but I know those faces, and they’re good sorts. Skills time. Lay it out for me, and don’t be shy,” Ann’s instructor encouraged.
“Well, honestly, have to warn you about a thing or two here,” Ann replied, scratching a claw behind her ear bashfully. “My Path is a bit strange.”
“Eh, you see some shit in your time. How bad could it be?” Remmi shrugged.
“Any of the Paths you run into have a Desire and Libido stat?” Ann asked bluntly.
Remmi cocked a hip, looking up and to her left as she thought, letting her short red hair fall over one eye. “Not in a combat related Path, no. Had a friend way back that decided to make her Path about being a courtesan. She got some interesting things out of that. Similar, at least. Girl had to actually try for that Path, though. Her initial one was an accountant, and she hated it like nothing else.”
“Ok, so I guess that’s a load off, not feeling too strange. Then yeah, let’s get through this,” Ann sighed. Quickly, she went over her skills, the requirements, and their damage. Remmi didn’t so much as blink as she went over Predatory Sensuality, which relieved Ann significantly.
“So, sneaky, with some good boosts to your overall damage, good resource spending skills, and ok stats. Not stellar yet, but you’re young,” Remmi reached up to pat her on the shoulder. “So, you said you haven’t tested out your newest skill, right? Let’s give it a shot here.”
“What, on you?” Ann gasped, stepping back.
Remmi let out a choked laugh. “No! Though I guess it wouldn’t do too much to me. I’ve got a training bag here. One sec, let me get it set up.”
After a moment, Remmi brought out a frame that looked like an inverted L with a hook on it. She set it in the sand, then leaped up above it and slammed a fist into the vertical beam. With a crack, it was forced through the sand and into the stone below. Ann felt the ground shake with the impact and stumbled slightly in her surprise. Remmi landed casually and hooked a burlap sack presumably filled with sand onto the frame.
“Wish they’d install some permanent versions of these, but the groundskeepers always complain about the aesthetics when the field isn’t in use. At least they can fix what I do to it,” the woman sighed. “Ok, back to it. Warm up real quick, do those exercises I taught you yesterday. Focus on your balance. Your paws are dainty for someone your size and you’re essentially tip-toeing around. I’m hoping you get a skill that helps with this shit, but we’ll work with what we’ve got.”
Ann began the exercises. She crouched slightly, bending her legs and feeling the upper parts of her ‘feet’ lower as well. She made sure to lean forward, making her centre of gravity shift to offset her tail. Once she was in a solid stance, she started to shift her weight to the left and right, weaving rhythmically before sliding her paws. She felt the sand get up between her pads, but ignored the slight discomfort.
After a minute or so of the motions, Remmi approached. “Ok, good. Keep going. See your tail here?” she grabbed Ann’s limb, making her jump. “Woah, sensitive. Might need to be careful with that then. Back in stance now,” she chided.
Ann blushed, returning to her combat stance. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to apologise for. That’s your body. Like I was saying, though, your tail’s going to be huge for your balance. It’ll handle most things naturally, but practice makes perfect. Get as low as you can and feel how your tail extends out behind you. Yeah, like that.”
Ann lowered herself, crouching until she was almost waist height with her instructor. It was easier than she thought going so low would be, since this put her well below half her normal height. Paying attention, she felt her tail extend back behind her, pointing directly back.
“Good, now shift your weight to the right,” Remmi directed.
Ann moved as instructed, feeling her balance shift, Remmi’s hands on her sides as she leaned. Now that she was actually paying attention to it, she felt her tail move to the left as she did, centering her weight once more. It was a subtle movement, but once pointed out, she couldn’t stop paying attention to it. Taking initiative, she tried the other direction, and found her tail adjusting to the right.
“Good,” Remmi said softly, using her hands to adjust Ann’s stance slightly. “Your body’s going to do a lot of this on its own, but it’s really fucking important to understand why. Especially when you’re up close with a Warped. Knowing where all your bits are is crucial, and your tail being out of place trying to balance can get it grabbed, snapped, bitten, torn, whatever. I know Lupine don’t have the best control over these things, but you’re going to want to practice.”
“More drills?” Ann sighed, moving herself back and forth, trying to get used to feeling her whole body.
“More drills!” Remmi replied cheerily, before standing and slapping Ann on the ass, sending her tumbling in the sand. “Come on, you’ve got hands. Catch yourself next time.”
Ann spat sand out, gritting sharp teeth as she listened to Remmi laugh. “Kinda hard when you don’t expect it.”
“And that’s another thing to work on. Handling surprise attacks. Listen, pup. You’ve got some good skills holding you up here. Get your technique to match them.”
Firm hands once again gripped Ann’s side, easily getting her into the needed position. For some reason, being manhandled by Remmi didn’t set off the same feelings that Kat doing similar things did. Maybe it was the emotion behind the rest of their relationships? Regardless, the strong fingers poking her muscles, prodding her as she moved, guiding her into the proper motions, felt comforting. Grounding, she supposed.
After a few minutes, Remmi was satisfied with the warmup and told her to stand.
“All right, new skill, time to see how it goes. Have at it,” she said, waving Ann toward the bag and taking a few steps back.
“Let’s see,” Ann muttered.
She approached the sandbag, running a hand along the rough burlap. Taking a step back, she fell into a stance. One foot forward, the other bracing her, with her fists at her side. Closing her eyes, she focused on A Fistfull of Love, willing her Desire into the skill. She felt the resource drain, a heat building in her hand. Opening her eyes, she saw her right fist had taken on a bright purple glow, flecks of light dancing around it as she held the power.
Placing her left fist against the bag, she turned and drove her glowing hand into the sack like she’d done hundreds of times in her old life. She felt the familiar impact, the rough cloth scraping against her knuckles, and then a blast of wind. Staggering back, she flinched and closed her eyes.
Once she regained her balance, she opened her eyes, looking up at what she’d done. The bag was gone, or at least blown off the stand. In addition, the sand around the stand was blown back, leaving bare stone in a ten foot circle.
“Shit girl,” Remmi whistled. “That’s a flashy one. Definitely fits as your most expensive move. Bag’s twenty feet over thataway. Just snapped the rope. Go grab it.”
Doing as she was told, Ann trotted over, grabbing the bag by the rope and lifted. Well, she tried to lift it. Straining, she could drag the bag, but couldn’t quite get it over her shoulder to carry.
“The fuck is in this thing?” she asked, panting as she dropped it in front of Remmi.
“Rocks. Heavy ones, too,” her instructor explained simply, shrugging muscular shoulders.
Ann was starting to realise how easy the dark-skinned human was going on her.
“Ok, one more time, but keep your eyes open. You need to see how this works more than anyone else. You can adjust how you hit once you fully understand it.”
“I’ve only got two in me, so it’s this and I’m done,” Ann said, walking back up to the bag.
“No wonder your girlfriends are so happy,” Remmi laughed.
“Shut up,” Ann grumbled, focusing.
She kept her eyes open this time, repeating the same motions as before. She felt and saw the power being drawn from her core, purple strands snaking out to wrap around her fist, leaving the purple glow she’d had before.
Once again, she delivered a punch, putting her weight behind the blow. She lowered her centre of gravity and forced herself to keep her eyes open this time.
The moment her fist made contact, the glowing purple magic from her hand rushed forward. A heart beat later, a secondary impact slammed into the bag, purple sparks flying outward. Not only that, but it blasted off the surface with the unfocused force, creating a shockwave around the point of impact. Ann felt her ears being blown back, and she braced to resist the push of the wind.
“Shiiit,” she whispered to herself as she watched the rope snap again, sending the rock bag tumbling.
“Better!” Remmi clapped. “Now go bring it back.”
Groaning, Ann walked over and began dragging the stupidly heavy bag back to her teacher. The new ability was definitely on par with Kat’s All In, and it felt great to be able to use. Something she could do some disgusting damage in a single hit with. Smite used to be that, and was still a staple of her fighting style, but this was on a completely different level.
“All right, leave it there,” Remmi told her. “That’s solid, and with how you explained the math on the damage, it’s only going to get stronger. You should understand, however, that you need to limit your expectations. Don’t get a big head, it’ll get you dead. Now that I’ve seen it, I know I can take that and keep going, no problem. Hells, Polaris could too, if you could even hit either of us.”
“Yeah, thought that’d be the problem,” Ann sighed. “I have to make contact. No clue what happens if I miss.”
“My theory is the force goes out, but since it misses, just dissipates. Essentially wasting all that Desire. Levels are going to help, but you need to make sure you fucking hit when you use that skill. Grab whatever you’re fighting and don’t let the fucker go.” Remmi nodded, then fell into her sparring stance.
“Now that that’s out of the way, you said you have claws? Show me what you can do with ‘em!”
Ann grinned, getting into the crouching ready stance Remmi had shown her, and extended her claws.
“Ooh, pretty. You let your girlfriends paint those?” Remmi asked, grinning.
Ann sputtered, completely caught off guard by the comment. Remmi, of course, chose exactly that moment to cross the distance between them faster than Ann could react and bury a fist in her stomach. Ann gasped, falling back to clutch at her gut.
“Another lesson,” Remmi said calmly, crouching next to Ann. “You don’t need a fancy skill to create openings. Use what brains you’ve got and stack the effects. C’mon, get up,” she said, standing and walking back away from Ann.
Ann felt her temper rising. It was such a basic jab, and it had gotten her so effectively. She’d heard better shit talking in hockey arenas. Worse, too, but still. She focused, bringing her fists up, then uncurling them with her claws extended.
Remmi didn’t try to rile her up this time. Instead, she shifted, placing her weight on her back foot, and pushed off. The fighter was on Ann in a second, and she desperately warded off the opening rush with her forearms.
“Come on, Ann. Can’t be blocking all day,” Remmi chided, making her point by ducking to Ann’s left and landing a punch in her side.
Grunting, Ann watched, waiting for an opportunity. One came as Remmi wound up for her next punch, muscles rippling in her right arm as she flexed. Ann ducked to her right, targeting the unprepared arm. A rush of air between her fingers and she felt her claws make contact.
With Remmi’s own forearm.
“Good instincts, but any fighter worth their shit’s going to know how to guard a weak spot like that,” her teacher said, stopping.
Ann took the pause to ram the open palm of her left hand into Remmi’s chest. It was, again, like hitting a mountain. The woman didn’t budge but grinned down at her.
“Good. Better. You know you’re in a fight and you’re not letting me get away with showboating. Though you can’t really do much to me, that’d be a bad hit for anyone around your level.” The woman casually reached out and grabbed Ann’s hand, moving it around easily despite her resistance. “Yeah, these are good. Natural weapons are always preferable when you’re a scrapper. If you get better, they’ll always be there for a fallback.”
Ann muttered to herself, standing and rubbing her palm. She could feel the start of a bruise there. “Can’t believe I might be something like, well, you,” she said, starting to rub her wrists.
“You’ve got a long way to go, but stick with it and you’re going far. Provided you don’t die early,” Remmi said, shrugging. “Not sure what your Path is, but you obviously have a good one.”
“Yeah, definitely do,” Ann agreed. “So, to kinda go over things, I need to work on balance, being more aware of my surroundings, and finding openings without relying on skills?”
“That’s the gist of it, yeah,” Remmi nodded. “You already know how to throw a decent punch, and twist your body correctly to take advantage of that rotation. You clearly learned that somewhere, but I won’t press. It’s basics of a real fight you seem to be lacking. No clue where you learn to throw a punch, but not how to actually fight.”
“That’s… honestly an interesting point,” Ann mused. “I kinda learned it because it got my body moving, but I never really applied it.”
“Damn strange up north. Oh well, helps you, so I won’t complain. Let’s get some more sparring in. Maybe we can call the princess over to have a bout or two if she’s looking bored.”
“Kat? Fistfighting?” Ann asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Fuck no. We’ve got training swords. You won’t get any experience training against a weapon if you don’t fight someone using one. Actually, fuck it. Kat!” Remmi called, raising a hand to her mouth as she shouted.
“Aye?” Kat shouted back.
“Grab a training sword and kick your girlfriend’s ass for a bit!”
“Be my feckin’ pleasure!” Kat shouted back, that wild grin on her face telling Ann she was in for a beating this time. Kat turned, kissed Rosalyn quickly, and hopped down from the boulder.
Bren had wandered over, finishing with his socializing, and joined Rosalyn up on the rock in Kat’s place. “No broken bones yet?” he shouted.
“Still in one piece for now!” Ann called back. “Though I’ve got a feeling Kat wants to change that.”
“Don’t let her!” Rosalyn cheered. “Do your best, hon!”
‘Hon’. That was the first time Rosalyn had called her something like that, besides the playful mentions of her wolf features. Ann flushed with pride as she turned. Kat met her gaze, sword arm swinging as she warmed it up.
“Gonna need a room after this?” Ann asked, matching her lover’s energy with her own grin.
“Depends how much o’ a fight ye put up,” Kat growled, eyes widening as she focused.
Remmi raised her hand, then dropped it. “Begin!”