wintersoldier
Snowdrops
LG
Lord Zee
Timemaster
Damycles
Izurich
Villamvihar
FunnierPrez
wordcount: 3,885 (+4) (+2 rapport for each other char)
Midna: level 9 EXP: ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// (16/110) (+1 bonus pending)
Location:
Warp Charges: 1
Lvl 13 Geralt (90/130) -> Lvl 13 (92/130) (+1 pending)
Lvl 8 Roxas (24/80) -> Lvl 8 (28/80)
With joining the Lost Numbers, at least for now, being the only logical course of action with their own ship battered and the promise of hope this new one held a frankly irrefutable offer. As such, the seekers hustled on up, only to be faced with another choice: where to go on the ship, and what to do with the time there.
There was a promise of celebration on the line in some ‘carnival town’ which did sound delightful, but Midna didn’t quite feel like she had earned it. She had been driven from battle and realized an awful truth of a deed she had done with her hands, and so she could not rest easy. She didn’t feel like she deserved to celebrate, not until she’d claimed a victory of her own. Improved, prepared for the future, and what better place to do that than a training room.
With a plan in mind, she approached the two people who might be able to lend her a hand, tapping both Geralt and Roxas on the shoulder in quick succession and enquiring ”You two have electrical type powers, right?” thinking she remembered seeing them use them in fights, even if they had never really fought as a proper team before.
“Yeah. From the Orphan, in my case.” Geralt looked at the Twilight Princess, suppressing the urge to ask why, though given that she’d been run off by Z after being hit by his lightning, she could hazard a guess.
”I… guess so?” Roxas replied with a shrug. If by that she meant he had a single spell that happened to be lightning elemental then yes. Although he couldn’t imagine why she would be asking for that specifically. But then he got the answer.
”I know we’ve been through a lot, but was wondering if you’d be able to help me with something? I was sort of a mess in that last fight, I’ve inherited phobias of sword, shield and lighting users, and I’ve been thinking about how to handle the latter better. But I need a user of lightning to test it against, so if you have the time and energy before we get to this carnival place, I’d appreciate the assistance” she explained, aware she was imposing at an inopportune time.
This gave Roxas a bit of a sinking feeling. ”What exactly are you asking me to do?” He asked with a bit of hesitance. In truth he had a pretty good guess at what she was about to have him do, but hey, maybe he was wrong? If this was what he was thinking, then… He really hoped she knew what she was doing.
”This thing” she said, indicating to her flygon that she’d never unsummoned and which was taking up a fair bit of the corridor ”Has a spirit that makes it immune to lighting. Or a whole bunch really. Turns out if you put 10 of the same one into something it becomes that thing, though that is beside the point. The point is that I have that same spirit. So I should be able to become immune to electricity too. I just need to, well, force the issue with lightning that isn’t also infused with light”
”At least I hope that is how this works” she was forced to add after a moment of doubt, but she really really did hope it did.
Roxas’ guess was basically on the money, ”So you want us to shoot some lightning at you because you’re trying to build up an immunity?” It kinda sorta made sense. In a chicken-pox kind of way, that is. This honestly sounded like something a Pscyhonaut like Raz could be a bigger help with. But unfortunately, he wasn’t with them now. ”Well,” Roxas said with a shrug, ”if you’re sure.” Funnily enough, Roxas had no idea that the Flygon was a Pokemon like Scamp was. Although, speaking of Scamp.
”Come to think of it, Scamp here has an electric move or two of his own.” Roxas added with a gesture toward the little puppy dog Pokemon that was following him around, ”So I guess maybe he could help too, if we need it.”
Geralt, on the other hand, was much less hesitant. “If it’s exposure you’re looking for, I have all three, though the shield only comes out when I transform. As long as we’re careful, it shouldn’t be any worse than the training courses at Kaer Morhen.” Though she was reluctant to put anybody else through that, she wasn’t exactly throwing Midna to a group of angry trolls. Just a force of nature known to strike men dead and start blazes that razed homes to the ground. Easy stuff.
Minda gulped at the prospect of going for all three, before shaking her head and then deciding to air on the side of caution with this at least, saying ”We’ll work up to all three. I can even lend you a shield, I suppose”
After that, all that was left was navigating to the elevator, riding up to the 4th floor, scooting past some kind of workshop and then finding the Training Center where they expected to find it. The door slid open after a button push, revealing a variety of equipment, most of which was alien to Midna at least. A beady eyed sandbag watched over typical gear like treadmills and dumbells, as well as a strange statue of all things.
For their purposes however, a small shooting range at the back of the room was just what the psychologist ordered, given the bulletproofed backwall, and so there they went.
Midna herself vaulted the barrier at the front, completely disregarding the safety notice and sat on it the rest of course, followed by her flygon. There she idly flicked one of the targets out of casual interest, causing it to fall back with a click (increasing a score counter in the process) before turning and presenting herself as a target in its place with a request of ”Alright, hit me. Lightly please”
Geralt looked around the training room, fairly impressed. It was well-equipped, that much was for sure. As they headed to the back and Midna took position as a target, Geralt nodded. “Alright. Roxas, not sure exactly what your buddy there can do, but I know your magic is on the more…robust side. I can start out with a few lightning-covered punches, if we think that’ll be the smoothest way to start off.”
”Scamp'll be a good way to start.” Roxas confirmed. He picked up the Pokémon and vaulted over the railing himself so he could put him back onto the floor, ”Midna needs your help, Scamp, so just go on over and hit her with an electric attack. Just use Nuzzle for now, okay?” The Yamper barked and bounded down the range to where Midna was sitting and proceeded to literally nuzzle against her. But he did so while electrifying his body. It was a low-power attack and wouldn't hurt that much, so that made it a good starting point.
”Let me know when you want to go further!” Roxas called out to Midna from where he stood.
Right after he did Midna gave a yelp of ”Ah!” as she flinched away from the zap she got from the shocking nuzzle, before gritting her teeth and growling in frustration, before muttering ”Come on, it’s just a dog” and then forcing herself to present a hand to get nuzzled again.
After two more zaps Midna at least wasn’t flinching as hard from the attacks, but she was still flinching from the light pain, to the point that her Flygon injected its tail into the situation to block the fourth, effortlessly negating the attack with its earth typing.
”Hey, no, I need to take these thing, I can’t just have you block it all if I’m going to get over this” she told it, pushing the tail aside and instructing it that ”Unless you can show me how you are doing that, then stay out of my way”
The mon made two stomps on the ground and then did a sort of crouch that might have been intended to be informative, but Midna read as frustration, giving the display a dismissive ”tch” before insisting that the others hit her with ”more. I need more dangerous lightning, whatever causes manifestation isn’t concerned with these delicate attacks”
”Okay!” Roxas confirmed, ”Go harder, Scamp! Use Spark!” the Yamper barked to confirm the command and then backed up a few steps. After this he charged forward and rammed into Midna’s side while his body was electrified. This resulted in a stronger jolt, more than three times than that of Nuzzle in fact. Now Scamp was hitting her as hard as he was currently capable of doing.
”Anything?” Roxas called out to Midna. He sort of figured Scamp wasn’t going to be enough by himself, but one could hope. Realistically he suspected it wouldn’t be much longer he’d be getting in there to discharge some lightning of his own. Thankfully his spells had three levels each to them, so when the time came Roxas could start a little easier with Thunder before working up to Thundara and Thundaga.
It wasn’t enough. Midna hissed in pain from the strike and actively stumbled back and away from it than the mere impact of the strike would necessitate. Her breathing was also heightened, the princess practically panting through her nose for a few moments, holding a hand to her chest, before hissing through clenched teeth and demanding ”more!” as her own pokemon looked on with concern, barely controlling its impulse to intervene.
Looking at Roxas, Geralt raised an eyebrow. “I think it’s time for you to really hit it.” She quipped, taking a few steps back.
Roxas held out a Poke Ball in his hand, ”Take a break, Scamp! Return!” At this, a thin red line shot from the ball's center button and enveloped Scamp, pulling him back into his Poké Ball. Roxas punched the button which made the ball shrink to pocket size before he put it away in his bag. Then he grabbed the guard rail and vaulted over it. He had to get a little closer before he could do his thing.
”Brace yourself.” He advised Midna as he summoned Oathkeeper, his white Keyblade. He held up the weapon and pointed its tip straight up and, ”Thunder!” He cast the spell and it called down a series of quick lightning bolts around him, but also on Midna as well.
”Thundara!” The second level spell called down stronger bolts over a somewhat wider area. It even had a slightly longer duration than the previous iteration. But Roxas wasn't quite done.
”Thundaga!” The third level spell called down even stronger bolts over an even wider area, and for a longer duration still. This, at last, was as hard as Roxas could go with electrical attacks. ”Well? Anything?”
In front of him Midna was too busy being engulfed in a storm of electricity, her face fixed in a mix of pain, fear and frustration as she shuddered and convulsed as it coursed through her body. Beside her, her flygon, caught in this final wave, stood firm for a moment, and then reached a claw down to bump the princess. She snarled at it through clenched teeth, only to see it sort of squat down, breath in, raising its claws up, and then breathe out, claws flowing down with the exhalation and then sweeping out.
She blinked, and then, with little left to lose with her plan seeming to have failed. Copied it, shaking limbs being drawn up with a breath, drawing the electricity to a spot where she had control of it as she planted herself firmly on the ground, and then with an exhalation she mimed pushing the electricity down into her grounded feet, letting it flow through, down and out of her. In, concentrate, out, disperse. In, concentrate, out, disperse. Till it was as natural as breathing and she didn’t need to think about it any more, and her fear could harm her no longer.
A rather bloody and scorched Minda grinned toothily as the storm ended, before clapping her flygon on the shoulder and then finally replying to Roxas that ”Yeah, that did it”
Geralt looked on as Midna slowly overcame the lightning surrounding her, eventually grounding herself with the help of her Pokemon. She nodded, before replying, “And you mentioned swords and shield before, too? Are you ready to move on to that, or do you need a few minutes?” She’d recently dealt with a weakness of her own, though she shortcutted her way through that with a Fusion. She could respect how important this was for Midna.
”I…” she wavered, before deciding ”yes. Yes,, let’s do it!” with growing enthusiasm. She stepped forwards, a bit unsteadily re-vaulted the barrier of the firing range (who’s reinforced back wall hadn't saved its floor from being scorched by the final aoe lighting storm).
”Just to be clear, we don’t need to go all out and spar or something, I could not manage that right now” she said as she stepped into a small ring intended for that kind of fight training. She flicked a hand, summoning the icy tower shield, and with a kick slide it across the floor to the opposite side, before also summoning her Sun on a Stick. The spiky club looked menacing, but from experience it was very weak when not hitting something that was on fire, making it, in her mind, a perfect practice weapon.
”Alright, let’s see how bad this gets. I’ll at least learn that” she said as she gripped the the bat in two hands and took a defensive posture, before having a thought and saying ”Somehow, the fact that I’ve never actually practiced with a weapon feels so much weirder now than it does when I’m actually intending to fight with them. All borrowed instinct and training, but now that I’m actually thinking about it I’m thinking about it too much” she adjusted her stance a little bit here and there, before shaking her head and then saying ”whenever your ready” because she was as ready as she’d ever be.
Geralt took the shield and hefted it with a grunt of exertion, letting the weight settle before drawing the Sign of Quen in the air, her steel sword coming shortly after. It never hurt to be safe, as she’d learned last time she had a friendly spar with an ally and nearly died during it.
When Midna gave the go ahead, she stepped forward, flourishing her sword in a quick twirl, before taking a very light swing at the haft of the club in Midna’s hands.
For her part, the princess did manage to block the blow, though it was a little bit shaky and she was rather wide eyed while doing so. ”Yeah, that’s a different and still not fun feeling compared to shields and lighting. But. I’m managing. Put on the last of the three, so I can face her death” she requested, referring, in her mind, to both Urbosa’s ends.
Nodding and taking a small breath, Geralt released it as the sword in her hand became cloaked in eldritch lightning, before once more giving a test swing at the haft of the club. Wouldn’t do to catch her by surprise and hurt the Twili.
Midna froze upon seeing the lightning despite her new immunity, her irrational fear response completely ignoring that new facet of herself as she was reduced to a deer in headlights in the face of Thunderblight Ganon’s fighting style. There was no shaky block this time, as the club was simply struck from her grasp despite the carefulness of the test swing, leaving her facing down the tip of the electricity enshrouded blade, panting hard and fast.
Geralt sighed as Midna froze and her weapon was sent skittering across the floor, pulling her sword back and watching the other woman closely. “Midna?” Her brow furrowed as she watched Midna, and Geralt took a step back to give her some room.
The princess blinked, her unfocused eyes unfixing their gaze from the shocking blade, and panting turned to hissing of frustration through clenched teeth. Only after forcing a deep breath did she manage to reply that ”That… was so much worse all together”
”Which is… so stupid. It can’t hurt me any more. It can’t. It can’t!” she told herself, trying to hammer it home as she bent down, picked up the bat and requested they do it ”again!”
As commanded, Geralt lifted her blade, watching Midna’s eyes to be sure she was ready, but relented. “If you say so,” she said, taking another swing, even harder than the last.
Knowing it was coming helped, the extra strength in the hit not so much. Preemptively gripping her weapon tight kept it in her hands when her body froze in fear stopped her from dropping it, and so it was she instead who dropped to one knee. In some ways, however, the forced movement helped; her body automatically reacted to prevent her from going down entirely, feet shifting, a magical hand spreading out to brace against the ground, proving she could indeed move.
Despite this, it was all she could muster to lunge a fourth and final hand forwards, grabbing the blade, its edges biting into her hand and drawing blood even as the electricity was unleashed into her body, only for her to earth it all, killing the cloak of lighting. Then a moment later it flared to light with new electricity, this all her own.
As Midna’s fourth hand appeared and grabbed her blade, Geralt let go of the weapon and stepped back, drawing the Sign of Quen again and focusing on the magic, a bubble of protective energy appearing around her, as she called out to Midna. “Midna! Drop it!”
”Huh?” Minda replied, her expression of delight turning to one of confusion, that confusion and the remaining underlying stress, causing her to take a heartbeat longer than she normally would to let go of the blade and move to step away from it.
Watching Midna carefully, Geralt dropped the Quen bubble and slowly stepped forward, leaning down to pick up her sword. “Well…whatever that was, it seems to have overcome your fears, if even for a moment. Would be worth looking into moderating that manic energy that came with it, though. Still, it’s progress. Nilfgaard wasn’t built in a day.” She affirmed, though part of her, likely the Orphan, was angry that her lightning had been usurped. “If you could use that against Z when he inevitably shows his face again, he’d be in for quite the surprise, as well.”
”Use what?” Midna asked, confused, before thinking she got it and saying ”Oh you mean this?” as she held up the bat close to her chest and charred it with Urbosa’s lighting powers and then explained that ”I’ve been able to do this for a while. It was Urbosa’s thing, along with using a sword and shield. Ironic that I’m both scared of a thing I can do, I know, and that I’d now be terrified of her now”
Geralt blinked, then nodded. “Hmm. Not sure I’ve noticed that before now, though I’ve not used the Orphan’s lightning on my own weapons terribly often, either. Having that fear weighing you down isn’t helpful, I’m sure. Do you want to try again, or is that enough for now?” She asked.
Midna raised her hand to check how the cut she’d given herself grabbing the sword was (bleeding a fair amount), then looked down at her lighting scorched body and decided that ”I think that’s enough. I know I can do it now, and I probably should have this all looked at” and then after a beat, gave a short bow and a ”Thank you both for helping me with this, especially with time that could have been used relaxing after a lighting storm instead of making our own indoors”
Despite herself, Geralt gave a small chuckle. Barely audible, but it was there. “True. I’m sure Blazermate or Sandalphon would be happy to give you a quick fix.” She nodded at Midna, stowing her sword and putting down the shield she’d been given. “And there’s your shield.
Roxas had been watching in silence ever since Geralt. He figured she knew what she was doing and probably didn’t need him getting the way, just as she hadn't gotten in his or Scamp's way. But now that it was over, there was one last thing Midna loomed like she needed. And so Roxas decided to use the last of his MP to do that for her. ”Heal!” He said suddenly, using his Curaga spell to patch the Twilight Princess up. Technically it affected himself and Geralt too but neither of them were injured so they wouldn't feel any difference. ”There ya go. Couldn't just leave you injured like that, ya know?”
”Thank you both” she replied, flexing a repaired hand and then using it to tap the shield, popping it away into the twilight realm, along with her bat. After that she added ”I need to pay you back for this, so hopefully this carnival town will have something worth paying for” offering to cover some kind of expense. It’d be the least she could do to make up for the leisure time she’d just taken up.
“If you insist,” Geralt replied. She wouldn’t say no to a good meal.
With any luck they’d not have much longer to wait till they arrived.
