boxofsleep | (no subject)

Kousyxe spluttered a little as the splash hit him, before seeing what his target had been reduced to - oh, that was just rubbing it in!

...Was it, though? Was this a taunt or a hint? As he ducked and dived, trying to get a hit out on the tiny target, his mind was racing. Demyx wouldn't be setting him an impossible challenge, would he? And Demyx was manipulating these things, they couldn't think, they were just constructs of water...

No. Water and music.

And if he couldn't hit one of those...

He stopped, listening to Demyx's rhythm for a moment - feeling it... and... there. With a lightning-quick motion, he stabbed at the air, at the music itself - catching it on his blade, and redirecting the force into a shockwave, a harsh scream that he sent rocketing towards the little note fluttering past. Little waves of light outlined his attack, faint phantasmal notes shone for a second - but would it do any good?

To be fair, it was what his clones almost always reduced to by default, when they hit--but sure, it could be a taunt or a hint! Why not? It fit, didn't it? As long as Kousyxe thought so, and as long as it motivated him, Demyx was perfectly happy to let that idea stand.

His challenges were hard, yes, but rarely impossible, especially not now that he was training someone he actually liked. The music note flit around, only inches from where Kousyxe slashed one moment, high overhead the next, skimming the sand by his feet the next. It swooped and dove without any regard for the laws of physics.....

Until Yosuke figured it out.

It was like someone tearing an object out of his hands, yanking away a blanket he'd been in the middle of trying to fold. Demyx's fingers stuttered on his sitar strings in surprise, and for a moment, the music faltered; so too did the way the clones and music note moved, suddenly coasting along in a straight line as their own momentum carried them.

The scream was enough to make him wince, but on the other hand, the shockwave was actually pretty impressive; the little note shattered the moment the shockwave hit, dissolving into a spray of water that rained down on Kousyxe and the sand alike. One down, two to go.....

That'd worked? It'd worked! Kousyxe paused briefly, pumping a hand in the air as best he could with it still clutching the blade, before sighting in in his next target. Not going to go after it close-up, this time: perhaps he could pull something like that again?

Okay, that one there. He pulled a second chord out of the air, folding it up, launching it screeching in the first clone's direction in the same way as the last shockwave had gone. The next one, though - okay, he couldn't really do the same thing for a third time. Maybe if he just... what could he do, what was in here-

"Ah!"

There. Weaker than pulling at the melodies he could actively hear, but it'd work - he slashed at the air, his knife singing, a wholly self-generated sonic shockwave rushing towards the last of the clones.

Demyx didn't stop playing, this time. Now that he was prepared for it, it was easier to hear the music twist and warp, break into a screech like the sound of feedback from a microphone and speaker brought too close together. It was kind of painful, but thankfully, the earplugs took the worst of the edge off. The self-generated one wasn't quite as bad, at least.....

Then again, maybe making his sitar make those kinds of noises was just painful in and of itself. Arpeggio was his baby!

"Bravo!" Still, painful noises or not, he'd gotten it! He was totally getting it down! Talk about a fast learner, this was awesome. Now, the question was, could Kousyxe use other sound waves besides instruments? The two clones he'd struck had been reduced to flitting music notes, each with their own respective showers of water as they collapsed in on themselves.

Well, no time like the present; time for a sound test! Demyx stopped playing his sitar, and started singing instead, picking the melody back up in wordless notes. For such an easy-going, comparatively soft-spoken guy, he's got a shockingly powerful singing voice..... then again, given his abilities, was that really so surprising? If he could use this, then Kousyxe could back himself up and provide a power boost just by producing his own sound to manipulate.....

"Hey, thanks!"

The steady beat of the song changing to Demyx's vocals threw Kousyxe for a moment, the rhythms flowing through him shifting, and he stumbled - just for a second, though. He hadn't realised that it would do that to him, that was for sure - was it always going to be that way? Was he always going to be so - tuned in, now?

Still, he could wonder about that later. He picked up the new pattern quickly enough. After all, it was still a constant melody, a constant source - shouldn't be any different, should it? Worth a try... he grabbed at the song, shot it back out, almost easily by now.

"C'mon! Take this!"

And once again, another blast.
This part, he could do.

Interesting, interesting..... Looked like the kid was pretty sensitive to sound, now. Totally tuned in! That was pretty cool. But the question was, how could it be used? What was the shape of that little phenomenon?

Well, they'd soon find out, wouldn't they? The music notes burst apart as they were struck, and as suddenly as it began, it was over; nothing was left to attack except a fine settling mist. Demyx lets his singing fall to a close, grinning and applauding. "Nice job!"

He scratches the back of his neck, thoughtfully looking Kousyxe over and reaching for Arpeggio again. Much as he doesn't like fighting, he's always thought the best offense was a good defense, sometimes. This part is necessary, even if it's distasteful. "Okay, so we've got an idea of how your powers work, and your fighting style. Think you're ready to pull it together and try protecting yourself?"

Kousyxe rubbed his head for a moment as the singing died back and he had a chance to catch his breath - all of a sudden, the quiet seemed weird. Still - the compliment from Demyx was worth a wide grin, he figured. He was getting this. No problem!

Idly, once more, he flicked one of his knives into the air a couple of times, then nodded. "Alright, let's do this!" he said, throwing all the enthusiasm he could manifest into the words.

"That's the spirit! Rock on!" Demyx flashed a thumbs up at Kousyxe before taking to his sitar again. This tune isn't too different, but still--there's a sharp syncopated beat designed to be jarring, now, as bubbles flood the air and whirl around them. They coalesce into three more clones, no different than the first set, save for their intentions. Two back off immediately, circling wide to try and keep out of range, all the better to flank Kousyxe and dart in to exploit any openings he left.

The other one, though? That rushed Kousyxe as soon as it formed, swinging its sitar in a tight arc at his head to go for the biggest advantage it could get from the element of surprise. There was a lot more give and take this time around, more for Kousyxe to pay attention to and keep track of, more that he needed to care about and react to appropriately as he learned and adapted on the fly. The stakes weren't exactly dire, but they were still there; his constructs might have been water, but they still packed enough force that each blow would be about equivalent to a hard punch from a normal person.

Yes, even the music notes, small as they were. As quick and erratic as those were liable to be, he was probably going to need to learn the value of a good solid blocking technique, if not a strong counter-attack.

No chance to feel for the beat, this time, and that rough rhythm one that had him thrown at the start - Kousyxe fell back on sheer physical defense as the first clone rushed forward and swung. He yelped slightly, stumbled back, but he'd at least managed to get his blades up and raised to take the worst of the blow. His recovery from the hit was far from graceful.

He couldn't let the clones push him around, couldn't let the beat push him around. He had to strike back - and the first clone to strike got an awkward knife to the face.

The clone wavered around Kousyxe's hand as it and the knife plunged straight through its face, eyes opening comically wide in surprise; Kouxyxe would get a full-body spray this time, as it collapsed down into a music note. But even that didn't stop it from rushing forward, intent on skimming straight under the outstretched knife to ram into Kousyxe's chest; that one, obviously, was working on an agenda of pure aggression.

Meanwhile, another clone rushed at Kousyxe from behind while he was dealing with the first, sitar swinging to club him squarely in the back. It was ready to dance back as soon as it made its shot, whether it hit or not; the other two were playing it considerably safer, as it were, more intent on harassing their target while their fellow was a straightforward distraction. A bit of tactics mixing never hurt, after all--a lot of the people left were straight-up bruisers, but not all of them were. Xigbar, for example, or Axel.....

The splashing was expected, but Kousyxe still couldn't help but give a splutter as it hit him in the face. Still, he couldn't really call it unwelcome in this heat... the note smacking into him, though, he could do without. And something else hitting him from the rear, too? Not cool! He let out an 'oof!', stumbled for a second, but recovered quickly enough to spin around - his blades whirled in a circle, singing, leaving a shockwave behind them.
Okay, where did that thing go...?

The shockwave kicked up a vicious cloud of sand, but it was no use; the clone had skipped blithely back out of range, waiting for another chance to strike--a chance it might soon get, with vision obscured like this.

Of course, that chance was far more open to its other two companions. The little musical note darted in to smack him again as Kousyxe presented his back to it when he whirled, sure to remain close and throw itself at him as long as it could manage. In the meantime, though, the other clone charged in to smack Kousyxe from the side, aiming to peel away as soon as it hit or missed, much like its fellow.

Damn. That'd made things harder on him - same as ever. When did he ever manage to do something right without it having a catch?
Those things were going to keep bashing him backwards and forwards unless he tried something else, weren't they? He was going to try and take out that damn note, first, though. While he could hardly call himself irritated, it wasn't making it any easier for him to think about what he was doing! Okay, back to the sonic attacks. Self-generated for the moment, with that beat being what it was: he started shooting them off wildly.

That was the trouble with power without control, wasn't it? It had unintended consequences! Collateral damage and side effects, if you would, like kicking up a choking, blinding cloud of sand around Kousyxe. Even Demyx couldn't help coughing, backing farther away to keep clear of the miniature sandstorm Kousyxe was engulfing himself in. Geez, the kid was really jumping the gun, wasn't he? Talk about over-excited.....

His shockwaves nailed the little music note--eventually, and through pure luck more than anything else--, though it might have been hard to tell, given the reduced visibility. The clones, however, were playing a safer game, using the cover of the flying sand to their advantage. They were swarming now, dancing around Kousyxe to swipe at him from all angles and make things as confusing as possible. The wet sand sticking to them didn't help in the slightest, either--wasn't built-in camouflage really something?

Aw, crap. There was no point in him shooting off any more attacks until the sandstorm died down - or at the very least, he'd need to focus. To not hit the sand when he was firing. For the moment, he was just striking at whatever came within knife range, hoping for the best: when he could actually see worth a damn, he started aiming off more targeted blasts, aiming for head-level to try and stop them splashing up any more sand.

First day in the coat and it was already covered in mud. Ah, hell.

The knives sang through the air, but did very little good; these clones were cautious, quick to duck out of the way of the swings as soon as they came. It's only once the sandstorm dies down that they started to have trouble--there was only so fast they could dodge, after all, and even with them playing distraction tag with each other, they couldn't evade Kousyxe forever.

One erupted in a muddy spray, then the other not long after; Kousyxe was left dealing with two humming music notes soon enough, swooping and diving like erratic but vicious birds of prey as they came after Kousyxe. Now high overhead and divebombing his face, now peeling away to skim low over the sand and try to knock him off his feet. Pesky little things, those--weak, but insanely maneuverable.

Damn it, tiny things, come here and let him hit you! Even if Kousyxe couldn't be truly angry at the things, the thoughts that ran through his head at the little notes' attacks were ones of frustration and annoyance. He was definitely starting to ache from it all, too.

Still: he'd been through worse, hadn't he? Shadows were bigger targets than these were, they were more of a threat, and he'd seen enough of those in the past few months... nothing to it, keep trying to aim the shockwaves right, and - aha! If he could call his blades out of nothingness, surely he could do the same when they already existed? He started to throw them, launch them at the notes, returning them to his hands once they'd reached their destination. Perhaps that'd kick up less sand, too.

Kousyxe was right--his knives easily responded to his call, pulled back to his hands in the blink of an eye. They kicked up far less sand, too; infuriating as the little things were, and as many times as they darted away only seconds before impact, it wasn't a bad method at all.

Soon enough, Kousyxe had managed to skewer both of them, leaving him with a pair of knives dripping with muddy water and Demyx's song drawing to a close. He whistled encouragingly, planting Arpeggio in the sand again and leaning on it. "Nice work! What've we learned so far, huh?" After all, he's no fan of fighting, himself--if he's going to subject his student to it, it'd damn well better have a purpose.

Whew. Kousyxe shook the mud off his blades, and started flicking one up into the air as he spoke. "That your water guys hit hard? Ow, man," he commented, putting on a light-hearted facade before he turned more serious, stopping his idle motions. "Seriously... Huh. Keep my eyes open, keep moving, try new things? Remember to watch my back? And ...watch the terrain if I'm going to start throwing soundwaves," he finished with a shrug. He'd known how vicious air attacks could get, he'd thought: what were the shockwaves he'd used but compressed, agitated air? Shaking everything up? That... hadn't occurred to him.

Demyx couldn't help but laugh at the protest, smirking knowingly at Kousyxe. And that had been easy mode, too, purely a practice run. "If you think that's bad, just wait'll you meet my Dancers." Banter exchanged, Demyx tugged the earplugs out and rocked back on his heels to listen, nodding approvingly. He snaps his fingers, pointing at Yosuke.

"Right, great! See, you're ahead of the curve right there; most of the rest would just make sure you knew how to fight, use magic, and do basic recon, and that's about it. Here, you're learning real strategy and rules to apply to all your missions, whatever they actually are. That actually wouldn't have been a bad strategy though--if you were doing it on purpose, I mean, and if you were facing something that actually needed to breathe. Keeping those sound waves focused enough that you didn't get caught in the spray, you'd have whoever or whatever it was on their knees blind and choking in no time. Then you could close in and finish them off without a lot of trouble, or pick them off at a distance."

"So far it looks like that'll be the biggest thing to work on, huh? You're not bad, you just need to tighten up your routine, practice those steps until you've got better control. And we'll do some more freestyle, too--that's another thing people don't think about around here. They want power, not creativity, and that's what's really going to save your neck in a jam. They hardly ever consider non-combat uses for abilities, either, and they don't really work together much. I want us to hit on all of that eventually, alright? If you can get out of things without a fight, there's really no reason to risk your neck, and we've got too good a thing here to waste."

Kousyxe nodded at Demyx's descriptions, taking in the logic of it all. The idea of leaving an opponent blinded and choking? That was interesting, that was something that hadn't occurred to him - perhaps it never would have occurred to the person he once was, especially not in such a cool, calm discussion. He knew that his powers weren't as flashy as some of what he'd seen in the past, what he'd (or what Jiraiya'd) used: he'd have to learn to get creative.

"Yeah, makes sense," he replied. "I don't particularly want to get beaten down either! So we're going to work on all that sort of stuff?" A pause, and he nodded. "I can do that."

He'd have to do it, wouldn't he?

"That's what I like to hear! Nobody likes to get pounded on." Demyx grinned, flashing a thumbs up. "We'll work on it all, but probably not today. You've got one more thing you need to cover today, and anything past that's optional. But you can't improvise without having enough variety of tricks up your sleeve to string together into a routine, am I right? So I brought you some presents to round out your repertoire."

Was he a great guy, or what? Such a thoughtful teacher! Demyx dug into a pocket, tugging out a full stack of five gleaming panels. He tossed them at Kousyxe, one by one, and offered an explanation with each throw. "You've got your healing right here, and your fire, your lightning, your ice, and your wind. No getting beaten up this time; this is target practice so you can get used to casting these things, and maybe improve your aim a little."

That done, he reached for Arpeggio again, his flashy summons this time calling a full half dozen water clones to the field. Once Kousyxe wa ready, they'd start moving about--not nearly as fast as before, this time milling around in an aimless but quick walk. Enough to provide a challenge for learning how to aim at a moving target, but not enough to be too frustrating. "Go ahead and start with whichever you want. Any questions?"

"Yeah. What do I do with..." He held one of the panels out, looking at it, focusing - seeing it dissolve away, feeling the magic work its way through him. "...Right."

Wind? One of these was wind power? Alright, he was back in action! Not that he wasn't already, with the stuff he'd discovered, but this was familiar ground - and right then, that was useful to know. The other stuff, too... wait, lightning? would he really be able to do it? When he'd spent his Shadow-fighting career falling over at electric attacks?

...Still. No heart. No Persona. That was done. Why should that hold him back?

Might as well get it over and done with. Okay. He could do this... he tried to focus on the thought of electricity arcing, visualise it firing off at the targets.
The end result wasn't the best Thunder to ever be cast, but it had at least worked.

"Ha! Oh, yeah, I've got this! Man, I wish the others could've seen that..."

Edited 2014-02-17 00:26 (UTC)

Demyx nodded in satisfaction as the question answered itself. Good man! That was using your head, it wasn't too hard to cast spells. The hard part was control and power modulation, really, and getting creative with them..... But the magic? Once you figured it out, that was a snap! And that was what they were doing right now, letting him figure out the different types he'd need.

The tune is a lazy drawl this time, meandering and relaxed to suit the pace of their new exercise. It wasn't long before Kouxyxe got the hang of even Thunder, though--Demyx whistled in approval, watching a pair of clones writhe as the line of bolts struck them, collapsing into a pair of music notes. "Nice work! You've got plenty of time to show them, once you get the hang of it all, right?"

"Sounds good to me," Kousyxe responded, flicking a blade into the air and catching it in celebration. Right, what next... if he could do that, use the element that had been his weak spot in his old life - he could do any of them, couldn't he? Okay, which now...

That first hurdle out of the way, the Fire and Blizzard trials went smoothly, at least as far as getting the spells out went: better than the Thunder had looked, at any rate. Okay, he could get used to those - he grinned wildly at the sight. "All right!" And now, for the last one...

...well. In terms of performing Aero correctly, it probably wasn't the greatest ever. However, as wind attacks went, the miniature whirlwind that he'd shot at the clones (kicking up yet more sand) was a definite cut above the rest of what he'd been doing.