Chapter Two-Hundred Ninety-Four

I have a bit of fun at Berdol’s expense as I watch him meet Violet’s other scions, and do the rest of the inspection.  Olander looks like he’s mostly having fun, too, but I don’t miss the fact that he always keeps Onyx within his line of sight.  He might have found Slimy to be cute, but Violet’s shade definitely puts him on edge.

As the inspection winds down, I think Olander is looking forward to being done, but Berdol and Onyx seem oblivious to his unease.  The last thing Berdol does for the official inspection is check the hatching chambers for the scythemaws.  They’ve long since cleared out, but they’re still an interesting thing to look into.

“I think that’s it, Onyx.  From what I can see, Violet is a thriving toybox and will only get better as she gets used to the sewers.”

“Great!  Mentor Thedeim seemed pretty confident, but it’s good to hear she’s doing well by delver standards, too.”  Her confidence and happiness at hearing the report slip a bit as she continues.  “So… that’s it for official inspection things?”

Berdol nods.  “Yep.”

“Then do you want to spar a bit?  I really want to see what I can do now!”

Olander’s eyes bug out, where Berdol only looks a bit uncomfortable.  “I mean, sure, but I don’t think I’ll be a good spar for you anymore.  I can try to give you a couple more pointers, but I don’t know how much they’ll help you.”

Onyx slumps a little at that.  “I was kinda afraid of that, yeah.  Maybe it’d help you out, though?”

Berdol laughs.  “Maybe some, but I think I’ll need to do some more regular delving to close the gap enough to really make a difference.  Maybe you could spar with Olander?”

Onyx turns begging eyes upon the experienced elf, but he’s having none of it.  “No.”

“Aw, why not!” comes the reply from both Onyx and Berdol, earning an exasperated sigh from him.

“I already told you: I’ve had bad experiences with shades.  If I fight her, it’ll be a fight, and one I intend to finish quickly.”

Onyx tries to turn up the charm with a big wobbling lip, but Berdol has a better idea.

“What about Rocky?”

Olander raises an eyebrow at the tabby catkin.  “There’s still several days before the prize fight.”

Berdol shakes his head.  “I don’t mean you.  Her!”  He points at Onyx, who is looking surprised as well.  “If anyone can keep up with her, it’ll be Rocky, and you can get an idea of what fighting him will be like if we get to watch.”  He turns his focus to the friendly shade.  “We’ll get to watch, right?”

“Er… maybe?  Mentor Thedeim has a secret training room in the caverns, but I don’t know if delvers are allowed to see.”

I can feel her trying to feel my opinion through Violet’s bond, and though I don’t mind her and Rocky showing off, I don’t want to show them any of the established shortcuts.  Thankfully, that’s an easy fix.  I hardly need to think of the solution before Teemo is on his way.  I think he’s looking forward to a bit of an exhibition between Onyx and Rocky.

“I think Teemo’s on the way?  His reaction isn’t exactly negative, but there’s more to it than just a yes.”

Berdol nods at that while I think Olander is trying to contain his eagerness.  No matter how strong the elf is, only a fool would pass up the chance to size up an opponent before a fight, and I doubt fools get the chance to be semi-retired adventurers.  They don’t need to wait long before Teemo pops up, seeming to emerge right from the shadows that make up Onyx’s right shoulder.

“Alrighty, Boss says you guys want to watch an exhibition match between Onyx and Rocky?”  All three nod, despite Onyx wanting to participate, which makes Teemo smile.  “Yeah, I think we can use the training room.  It’ll be more of a spar and coaching than a match, but I still think you’ll all have fun with it.  The Boss wanted me to make a temporary shortcut there, instead of using the established ones.  Gotta keep things secure, you know?”

Berdol nods again, while Olander looks suspicious of me understanding security measures like that.  He doesn’t speak his thoughts, though, and soon the three are heading through a simple shortcut to the training area.

Rocky’s already there.  While he often likes to train in the ring when on his own, he bolted here as soon as he got an inkling of what’s planned.  He seemed pretty eager to teach her a few things after she ascended, and now he not only gets a chance to do so, but also show off a bit to who will certainly be his biggest challenger yet!

He grunts and waves in greetings as the others arrive, and I can see the disappointment in the faces of the delvers.  The ‘training room’ isn’t an official room… I should see if I can trade for one with the Southwood, come to think of it.  Anyway, the room is mostly just an empty cave with a circle carved into the floor.  It’s used equal parts as a place to test attacks and to spar between my scions, so there’s not a lot of room for things like weights, punching bags, or target dummies.  The walls should be able to handle whatever attacks my scions come up with without breaking, and the ring gives them a good field to stay within for their fights.

Teemo makes his way to an outcropping in the wall to watch as Onyx heads for my zombie boxer.

“Thanks in advance, Rocky!  I’ve been wanting to ask you for tips, too, but didn’t know the best time.”  Rocky grunts and she giggles, Olander looking like he’s desperately trying to process the dissonance in his mind at a shade giggling.  “You did say any time is a good time, but I’ve also been busy.  Anyway, please teach me!”

Berdol goes and leans against the wall next to Teemo, with Olander belatedly following, still trying to sort out his feelings about this situation.  He gets a bit of time to process as Rocky grunts and Onyx listens, even donning her spiked gauntlets.

“Looks like he wants her to shadow box a little, so he can get a feel for where she’s at, first,” comments Teemo for the benefit of our guests.  Berdol levitates his clipboard with a fresh bit of paper, probably hoping to glean a few pointers himself as Onyx begins.

She starts off pretty simple with a few slashes, a few stabs, before she starts to look comfortable.  She leans back, lunges forward, slips to the side, parries imagined attacks and counters, all while mostly keeping her form stable.  She soon starts lengthening her limbs and even sends them on impossible arcs to harry her invisible foes, finally finishing with a series of strikes launched from the shadows in the room, coming at angles that would surely catch any delver off guard.

Judging by Olander’s look, that’s how a lot of shades fight.  I imagine that, while it looks cool when a friend does it, it’d be terrifying to try to actually fight a foe like that.  I’m not the only one who notices, either, as Berdol looks over at him.

“Is that… how shades usually fight?  I don’t think I’d do very well against one.”

The elf nods.  “She still has a long way to go, but yeah.  When fighting a shade, it’s always the attack you don’t see coming that gets you.  And with a strong shade, there’s always unseen attacks.”

Rocky nods at his assessment and grunts an explanation that Teemo only partially translates.

“He says she’s not bad, but she needs to get more used to her shadow affinity.  Leo can give her some tips on that once he gets back.  For now, he thinks he can give her a good spar to get her thinking about how to better attack and defend.”

Olander looks doubtful.  “He’s going to teach her?  I’ve read the reports, but still… a shade should have no problem at all dealing with a zombie.”

Rocky’s laugh is echoed by Onyx, the two each making it sound way creepier than I think they mean to.  “Are you kidding?  Rocky’d wipe the floor with me if this wasn’t a friendly spar.”

Even Berdol chuckles and nods at that.  “Just watch, Olander.  You’ll see.”

He still looks doubtful, but the elf quiets to focus on the spar.  Rocky sets his mouthguard and takes his stance, looking light on his feet and ready to rumble.  Onyx tries to mimic him, but he grunts a negative at her.  While I think she could adapt a boxing stance to work with her claws, she should use what skill she already has, rather than trying to improvise on the basics.

Her stance makes me think more karate than boxing, with her hands at different levels, slightly open.  It’s a versatile stance for attacking, blocking, or parrying, but I think the boxing stance is better for absorbing blows or ducking around them.  Onyx takes a moment to focus herself before launching forward with a diagonal slash of her claws.

Rocky easily steps back before stepping in and catching her off guard with several body blows, before he steps back out.  She tries a couple more slashes before she figures out what my zombie is telling her with the pulled punches, and she starts letting her shadowy form shift to try to avoid the attacks.

She looks awkward doing it, but Rocky nods in approval.  Getting the idea is often the hard part.  The rest is just practice.  He grunts and she changes from slashes to stabs, which he easily parries with his raised dukes, letting the gauntlet sail just past his head, or ducks and weaves to launch counters.

She gets plenty of practice with her own dodging, but she doesn’t seem to get any ideas for how to tighten her form with the stabs.  In frustration, she tries to grab his raised hands, only to get a firm rebuke in the guise of a headbut that sends her staggering back a couple paces.  Rocky grunts as she recovers, and Teemo once more gives Olander and Berdol the gist.

“He says it’s a bad idea to grab someone if you don’t know what you’re doing.  He might try to teach her a couple techniques that could work well for her, but a lot of it will require her to figure it out on her own.  The Boss calls it judo.  He only understands the basics, but the basics were all Rocky needed to build his boxing style.  Now he wants her to do that shadowy strike, the one that comes from weird angles.”

Onyx looks a bit winded, but the determined smile on her face makes it plain she’s having the time of her life, even if she hasn’t landed a solid hit yet.  “Here it comes!”

Her gauntleted hands vanish into her body as the shadows seem to lengthen, casting the room in an eerie umbra.  The attacks come without warning nor shout, two spiked hands: one from behind and above, one directly from the side.

Olander and Berdol’s breath fogs as the temperature in the room plummets, Onyx’s shadowy limbs freezing solid as Rocky flexes his affinities.  A heartbeat later, light and heat wash over the area, the shadows beaten back.  The temperature and lighting quickly normalizes, revealing Rocky standing before Onyx, a glove with a lick of flame not even an inch from her face.  She stares at it for a few moments, needing the time to process what just happened, before she smiles wide.  “That’s amazing!”

Berdol looks like he agrees, but Olander looks flabbergasted.

“But… that’s-”

“Not how that works?” interrupts Teemo with a knowing grin.  “Trust me.  That’s precisely how that works.”