The Fruits of Training (Terryn)

Terryn let out a deep sigh as he strolled through Korin's Forest, eyes momentarily glancing to the herculean structure that was Korin's Tower. Fend had instructed Terryn and Shoga to spar against each other from time to time, to keep their technique sharp and so the two could learn from each other. He'd be lying if he said he was actually in the mood for it, though.

There was a lot on Terryn's mind. His recent encounter with another deranged, murderous lunatic at the Yahhoy Port weighed heavily on his thoughts. A million questions swam through his head: Why was Earth becoming so dangerous? Why was no one doing anything about it? And most importantly...Could he really carry this burden?

He watched people die that day.

...And he couldn't do anything about it.

The Earthling's tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth as he stepped into the clearing that surrounded the base of Korin's Tower. He looked up and noticed Shoga sitting in the grass, and a bittersweet smile tugged at his lips.

"Yo, Shoga."

Terryn's tone was a tad hollow, and it was immediately clear that something was bugging him. He wasn't going to try and let it show too much, though. Perhaps throwing hands with a buddy was exactly what he needed to blow off some steam.

"You got here early, bud. How you been?"

He walked closer to Shoga, stopping a few feet infront of the feisty guy. Whenever Terryn was faced with Shoga, he felt a weird emotion come over him. It felt like envy, but without the bitter resentment. He really wished he was more like Shoga, who seemed so confident and headstrong in life.

Well, Terryn had it coming, somewhere. He'd always lived his life in his own little comfort bubble. Now, that bubble had finally been broken, and Terryn was left to find his way in the cruelness that was reality.

He just hoped he could handle it.

---

Terryn arrives!

Thread PL: 20,000

PL is set to 15,000 using Training Weights, flavored as Terryn subconsciously inhibiting his power.

KP: 6/6
MP: 0/6
Damage: 0/250%
Word Count: 326

Guess he wasn't the only one who's thoughts were wracked.

Terryn's hands subconsciously snuck into his pockets as Shoga raised himself to his feet and began to talk about his innermost feelings. He hadn't expected it; For Shoga to be this...Unsure, that is. Terryn had always thought that Shoga was his polar opposite. Where he was hesitant, Shoga was headstrong. Where he lacked skill, Shoga had it in bounds.

...But even he was a human, Terryn suddenly realized.

No one was perfect.

Terryn sucked in a somber and long breath, before huffing it out. He shook his head, and gave Shoga a faint smile to gesture that it was okay. "It's okay man. I get the feeling." He nodded faintly. It sounded a lot like the things that were on his own thoughts, after all.

"...I was at that Port again recently, the one where we fought that Demon guy. It...It was being attacked again. This psychotic asshole destroyed an entire cruise ship. I tried to stop him, but I...I just couldn't...!" 

Terryn's voice had begun to crack, and he was forced to bite his lips and look to the skies above him for a second. With his eyes shut tightly, he sucked in a huge breath. It took him a good moment to calm down, but he was eventually able to look back down.

"I saw people die, man...Kids, too..."

Anger, rage, sadness; These were all emotions that swam through Terryn's head. He felt powerless, guilt-ridden, and somewhere, even a bit conflicted too. Was he really ready for this kind of responsibility? He was just some guy...Not some all-mighty superhero.

"For my entire life I've been living in this dumb bubble without the slightest bit of conflict, thinking all is good. I had this stupid amount of power since birth, and all I've ever used it for was to hit on girls... I don't know if Earth's always been this dangerous, or if I've only started to notice it now. But...Goddamn, man...It scares me."

His eyes suddenly flickered up from the grass, finally looking at Shoga. Shit, had he really just gone on that entire tangent? Terryn scoffed at himself, wiping a tear that stung his eye. The hell was he doing? They were supposed to be training.

"Sorry man. I'll uh, save it for group therapy, haha..."

Taking in a  huge breath, Terryn puffed up his chest and rolled his shoulders. With a few cracks and pops here and there, his joints were all warmed up, and he exhaled lengthily through his nose.

"What do you wanna start with? Had anything specific in mind, or should we just go at each other?"

---

Terryn uses [SPARK]Trauma on himself! Emotional crit!

KP: 6/6
MP: 0/6
Damage: 0/250%
Word Count: 326 + 444 = 770

Terryn sighed out; Right. What did crying about anything really solve, in the end? They obviously had their abundance of bullshit to sort out, but this wasn't the time nor the place to unpack any of their emotional baggage. They came here to train, and that is exactly what they were going to do.

"Right. Should be good to blow off some steam anyway." Terryn nodded toward Shoga, a slight grin forming at his friend's usual enthusiasm. He wasn't sure how healthy of a coping mechanism 'punching the sad away' was, but he didn't really care.

Shoga suddenly turned his back to Terryn and raced into the forest; Right, Fend probably wouldn't be too happy with them damaging her tower. Terryn silently wondered how that tower had managed to survive all of those years; You'd think someone would've come along with the intention to topple it out of sheer curiosity...

Terryn quickly shook his head- the hell was he thinking about?

Sights snapping to the forest Shoga ran off to, Terryn quickly gave chase. Fiery Ki blazed from his heels as Terryn took off into an agile sprint, deftly gliding across the grass like some kind of Olympic ice-skater.

Zig-zagging through the trees, Terryn locked eyes with Shoga in the distance, who had already prepared himself for their sparring session. A slight grin tugged at Terryn's lips as he skid behind a tree, momentarily fading from Shoga's vision.

Gripping the bark with one hand, Terryn violently altered his path and yanked himself straight toward Shoga, his speed increased by the added momentum of his swing. He didn't slow down as he closed in on Shoga, aiming to dash past him with a quick, sweeping low kick aimed at his friend's knee.

From what Terryn about Shoga, he knew he specialized in defense and counter-attacks. Terryn had the advantage when it came to speed and footwork, and he had to utilize it to the best of his abilities to come out on top.

"Whaddya think? Not so bad, huh?!" Terryn exclaimed with a friendly laugh.

---

Terryn starts the battle by utilizing [Utility]Trailblazer to up his footwork, before attacking Shoga with a [Light]Quickfire for 3,000 damage!

KP: 5/6 (-1)
MP: 2/6 (+2)
Damage: 0/250%
Word Count: 770 + 344 = 1114

The grass rustled and blackened under Terryn's fiery step.

With his low kick narrowly nullified by one of Shoga's signature Spark Cannons, Terryn was back at square one. He blitzed backwards as the cloud of smoke obstructed his vision; With no way to sense Shoga's location, he simply aimed to get some distance and wait for an opportune moment to strike again.

There was a cocky grin on Terryn's face- there was no way Shoga could keep up with him when it came to footwork and speed. All he had to do was keep striking him when his guard was low, and...-!

Terryn's smile was immediately swept from his face as Shoga blitzed through the cloud of dust. He'd totally forgotten that Shoga could sense energy! Within the blink of an eye, Terryn saw Shoga face-to-face with himself. Finding himself totally off-guard, there wasn't a single thing Terryn could do but brace himself for impact!

Shoga's fist crashed into Terryn's jaw with a mighty impact. The sheer force of his blow was enough to shake the very foundation of the surrounding trees, and a mix of spit and blood flew from Terryn's mouth.

"...Tsk! Should'a guessed I wasn't the only one with some new TRICKS!"

Terryn yelled out through the pain, and as the last bits of his sentence escaped his lips, he shot back with a ferocity that matched Shoga's. Terryn's body moved like a bullet being shot from it's chamber, his foot rocketing upward as a jet of flame-like Ki exploded from his heel. The force caused Terryn's leg to shoot forth with a devastating side-kick aimed at Shoga's ribs, hoping to put a dent into his notorious defense!

After striking, Terryn immediately stepped back and cautiously hopped on the balls of his feet, awaiting Shoga's response. This was bad; Shoga suddenly had what it takes to match Terryn in speed and footwork, the one thing he was previously superior in.

He had to buy some time, find out how the hell Shoga had closed the distance between them so fast. If Terryn wasn't able to do that, this entire match would be hopeless.

Despite the odds, Terryn managed to crack a friendly smile. 

"That technique's gotta have some sorta weakness, right? Just gonna take a wild guess and assume you're not going to tell me, huh Shoga?"

---

Terryn gets got by Shoga's blazing speeds! He quickly retaliates with [Light]Scorch Strike for 6,000 damage!

KP: 3/6 (-2)
MP: 4/6 (+2)
Damage: 0/250%
Word Count: 1114 + 366 = 1480

Crap...!

Had he seriously evaded Terryn's blow again? From such a short range, even! Terryn grit his teeth in desperation, at a complete loss of how to tackle such a frustrating technique. Terryn's back tingled with a certain sense of 'danger', and he immediately turned to face Shoga as he called out to Terryn.

The fledgling martial artist quickly held up his guard as he witnessed a barrage of energy blasts careen toward him. They struck into his guard and exploded en-masse, pushing Terryn's feet deep into the dirt as he tried desperately to remain standing.

As difficult as it was, Terryn's focus wasn't on protecting himself from the onslaught of Ki blasts, but rather, on Shoga himself. Terryn had to figure out where all of that speed came from! It almost seemed like Shoga was teleporting, for heaven's sake!

Yet as the barrage ended, and Shoga once again faded from view, Terryn picked up on a very slight thing. It wasn't a dramatic revelation, but perhaps that information alone was enough for him to figure it out!

Terryn remained on the defensive as Shoga unleashed a flurry of jabs toward him. He attempted to bob and weave his way through most of the blows, allowing the remaining ones to crash into his guard.

As another punch sailed toward him, Terryn suddenly grinned to himself...

And lowered his guard.

Shoga's fist crashed into Terryn's cheek, yet Terryn immediately moved to grab Shoga by the wrist and clench down hard with an iron grip. His eyes snapped toward his friend as let out a muffled chuckle.

"...You're just taking off really fuckin' fast, aren't ya!?"

Terryn laughed again, trying his best to enforce his grip even harder. The Earthling reeled backwards with his hips, as flames once again began to sputter out from his heel.

"In that case...I got you now, Shoga!"

A vicious noise resembling a gunshot echoed out through the forest clearing as Terryn's leg rocketed upward, propelled by the immense force of his burning Ki shooting out from his heel like a miniature explosive. In a single and violent motion, Terryn kicked straight upward, aiming to collide with Shoga's chin!

As long as Terryn could get Shoga in a hold and keep him from dashing around, he was sure to win...! At least, that's what he thought...But he should know by now that Shoga was no slouch when it came to combat, and there was definitely more to the Flash Dash than he had figured out so far.

---

Terryn attempts to catch Shoga's wrist to keep him from "teleporting"!

Using 2 MP and Crane School Secrets, Terryn empowers his [Light]Quickfire by +20%, for 6,000 damage! Terryn takes 1,200 damage recoil.

KP: 2/6 (-1)
MP: 2/6 (-2)
Damage: 8/250%
Word Count: 1480 + 420 = 1900 

"Haha! Really?! As if you could suddenly teleport!"

Terryn replied enthusiastically at Shoga's surprise when Terryn had figured out the Flash Dash's gimmick. In the back of his head, there was likely some sort of alternate universe where Shoga miraculously had learned to teleport like Fend, but that seemed way too far-fetched for him. Also, Terryn could see him bend his knees before taking off, so it was kindof a dead giveaway.

Nevertheless, Shoga was powerless to evade Terryn's incoming rocket kick, and found himself tumbling through tree after tree. Terryn hissed through his teeth as he saw Shoga careen through the forest. "Oh, yikesss..." That...Really looked like it hurt. A lot. Had Terryn overdone it?

Terryn wasn't sure what to do now; He had kicked Shoga so hard that he couldn't even see him anymore. Lacking the ability to sense energy, Terryn had to fully rely on his senses to figure out where Shoga was. Or rather, where he would attack from...

Sure enough, Terryn soon began to hear distant...Rushes, he supposed. They were abrupt and loud gusts of wind, cut short by a fraction of a second before continuing. Terryn hardened his gaze, trying to steady his breathing as he reverted to his stance.

"Alright, focus..."

No amount of focus was going to prepare Terryn for the speeds Shoga was traveling at.

He blitzed from the treeline in the blink of an eye, leaping high as he hurled a Spark Cannon straight towards Terryn! Terryn gasped aloud, quickly raising his guard before the Spark Cannon crashed into him. The blow sent him skidding backwards a few feat, leaving a nasty stinging sensation in his forearms.

Terryn quickly gazed through his guard, only to see that Shoga had cleared the remaining distance between them in that split second! Too late to evade, and too hurt to guard effectively, the massive haymaker crashed straight into Terryn! A muffled, breathless huff escaped him as he was thrown back several meters, tumbling straight through a tree before grinding to a halt along the grass.

"Huff-! Shit, that's rough!"

Climbing to his feet, Terryn quickly dusted himself off before re-engaging Shoga. He tried to inch closer to him, slowly circling around him with a raised guard. Terryn really needed to figure out a way to counter that dash of his; He knew how it worked- now all he needed to do was form a plan!

Knowing he needed more time to think, Terryn hopped closer to Shoga to test him in close-quarters, throwing a few quick jabs and hooks his way. He purposefully didn't toss out any kicks for now- it'd leave him too open.

Figuring out strategies on-the-go was more fun than Terryn had anticipated. It was moments like these that he grew to appreciate the thrill of fighting more and more, instead of fearing it.

---

Taking full damage from the Spark Cannon!

KP: 4/6 (+2)
MP: 4/6 (+2)
Damage: 36/250%
Word Count: 1900 + 474 = 2374