boxofsleep | (no subject)

(no subject)

Who: Organization XIII members... new and old
Where: TWTNW
When: Sometime mid-358/2 Days, post-Axel's return from Oblivion
What: Induction for the newbies...
Warnings: Nothing too messy. Possible sob bait.

Thirteen had become eight. Rather, fourteen had become nine, to most of the Organization, but that'd never been the calculation on Xemnas' mind. With their numbers so diminished... it'd been time to recruit. It was so hard to find individuals with the strength of will needed and the sheer potential to survive their new life...

But one world had come up with the goods. Younger, perhaps, than Xemnas had wanted at this stage - but strong enough in mind and body, and that was what was relevant.

Of course, they'd still need training...

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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.

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