Fluut & Lusk's Training: Different Than We Were Back Then

Fort Earth may not have had the same facilities the old RISING base had, at least not yet, but it still had plenty of room for the superhumans within to train however they saw fit. Fluut and Lusk entered into one such room, a very spacious, drab, silver-colored room. Some basic cubes and prisms stood at random in the room, forming cover and high rises. The room had seen some light use already, but today's use likely wasn't going to be as gentle.

Standing at opposite ends, each marked by a structure behind them, Fluut and Lusk prepared for their spar. Fluut lowered into stance, and Lusk summoned his horn into existence, making good on his statement minutes before.

"Are you ready, Lusk?" Fluut asked.

As they stood off to begin the spar, Lusk was reminded of the days they had done so years before. Back then it had been at Lusk's request. He had requested it many times before then...

--- --- --- --- ---
Some Time Ago...
Namek

"Go!! Fluut!!" Lusk's voice called out, hands raised to his mouth to direct the sound. His Dragon-Clan robes slid unprofessionally as he shouted. His fellow young clansman were watching as well, and looked over at Lusk with a shy wish he'd keep it down.

They all stood atop a large hill, and at the bottom the bare-chested Warrior-types were having a scheduled spar. They moved with such speed and precision that the dragon-clansmen who watched never quite got used to it even as they returned to view every few days.

Lusk continued as the lone cheerer, as the stoic Fluut weaved between the strikes of two muscled Warrior-types. It had been some time since they'd taken to two against one, a necessity once Fluut had eclipsed them in ability. He was talented, and still worked harder them any of them.

And yet again he left his two brothers to regain their breath, laying across the grass. Fluut calmly stepped aside after thanking them, and drank some water from his gourd.

He suddenly paused, ending his drink. He gave out a sigh, before looking up to find Lusk gunning down the hillside as fast as his weak legs could carry him. "If you try the same things expecting different results..."

As Fluut predicted, as had happened time and time again, Lusk's long robes soon tangled up in his rush... causing him to fall face first into a roll down the hill. As he barreled down, Fluut stretched an arm far out to catch his longtime friend and lift him on to his feet.

"Hehe, great battle Fluut!" Lusk declared as Fluut set him down, before brushing some dirt off of him when Lusk didn't seem to care.

"Battle?" Fluut questioned, a slight smile at Lusk's naivety, "That was no such thing. Simply an exercise between brothers."

Lusk thought about this, and brought the courage to ask...

"Say, could you try that with me?"

"That...doesn't seem like a good idea..."
--- --- --- --- ---

It had taken far more then that to convince Fluut, the only one Lusk had the chance of convincing. The traditions of the Namekian warriors were their own, not a novelty to be attempted by the common Dragon-clan. Though to Fluut, it was a matter of Lusks safety.But eventually, years later, Fluut came to see the wish for improvement within his friend, and relented.

While calling Lusk even competent in the Warrior-types customs would be disrespectful to those who spent years of their lives honing the skills, he had indeed been watching Fluut develop his style all this time. He could understand where Fluut was coming from in wanting to get back what he considers lost. Only someone like Lusk who had seen what Fluut was aiming for could help in this.

This left Lusk resolute with helping...but he wasn't just here to help Fluut find his past self. Lusk planned to use this time to find out how far he himself had come since the past, and how to further his future self.

"Yeah...I'm ready, Fluut!" Lusk replied, resting his horn on a shoulder.

--- --- ---
Fluut Vs Lusk...Begin!!

Fluut was the first to strike, an unusual move for the spars. Lusk, however, didn’t falter, immediately grasping his horn and swinging down at Fluut with one arm stretched out to its natural limits. Fluut took the strike to the head, only mildly flinching at the contact. However, it worked—Fluut attempted to counter with a kick attack, but Lusk quickly hopped backwards out of the way.

Without missing a beat, Fluut redoubled his efforts, attempting to again strike at Lusk, getting in close, only to again catch Lusk’s horn; this time, the attack struck his torso, stunning him long enough for Lusk to get clear. However, it didn’t stun him long enough for Lusk to maintain his foothold for very long. Fluut rushed in a third time, and this time raised both arms as the horn tried to come down over his head once again.

Extending your arms for a weapon attack, Fluut thought, Covering this distance, won’t be of much use. You may be able to keep me at bay, but the force behind your strikes will wane…

Pushing the horn away by throwing his arms upwards, Fluut clenched his four-fingered hand and swung out with a straight right punch to Lusk’s chest, causing the larger Namek to cough and stagger backwards.

And leave the enemy room to counter!

For this round, Fluut opts to use his Stamina, rolling 17 to keep himself strong through the training! To counter his onslaught, Lusks attempts to use his Intelligence, but rolls only a 10! Fluut wins Round 1!

Fluut's blitz forward was continuously able to dispatch Lusk's raised defenses, and the seconds dragged on, the gentle giant backtracking all over the room. As seconds turned to minutes, it was clear their was little use in Lusk's current strategy.

Round 2, Start!

Pushing himself for some distance, he gained a moment to apply a different stance. With weapon arm pulled in closer to his body, the rotational power of his swings would be amplified as much as his muscle power.

Fluut lunged in, just as Lusk's arm muscle bulged beneath its green sleeve as he gave a tight swing towards the seasoned warrior. But Fluut was just that. He didn't give the weapon a glance, all to knowing of it, even aware this attack would pack far more strength then any of the previous. As it slammed into his shoulder, he withstood it, continuing right in...

Lusk's head flung back from the sharp left, before Fluut moved right in for a body blow, fist crashing into the center of the stomach. The giant was knocked right off his feet, body flinging back first.

In this round, Lusk tries to counterattack with his Strength and Horn skill, only rolling a 9! Fluut however uses his Endurance to take it, rolling a 10! Fluut wins Round 2!

As Lusk rolled across the hard training room ground, he coughed for a moment, and Fluut allowed a moment of respite.

"I can't grasp the pace of the fight at all..." Lusk thought, glancing at his weapon in hand, "I shouldn't expect to do much better against a warrior like him but..."

Round 3, start!

"No...thinking like that..." Lusk pushed himself up using his horn. "Won't help either of us..."

Fluut was walking forward, likely within his own thoughts, clearly indicating it was time to continue. Lusk watched him, considering using his new technique to push through here... "That's not the answer. The Kaihenjutsu won't help me here...trying to wield something like that against Fluut, I'd be even worse off. I'll need more practice before using it against an accomplished fighter."

Fluut began to step around Lusk, Lusk beginning to walk as well, both eying each other as they paced in a circle around eachother.

"Keeping some distance won't work, power won't work...then what..."

--- --- --- --- ---
"Fluut, how is it you can evade every one of my offenses..." Lusk said, sitting across from Fluut after a spar. It had been years since Fluut first refused his friend, and they had grown much. Both were currently roughly the same height and now adults.

Fluut watched the setting sun...

"You're a bit predictable." he answered bluntly. Lusk's head tilted. "You always aim for the same places...use the same movements...the thoughts in your head seem to repeat..."

Fluut's face seemed to sadden a bit with each use of the word "same", for his own reasons, but Lusk didn't seem to notice.

"Well i'm building up solid moves...isn't that what usual practice is for?" Lusk said, leaning back on his hands. He eyed the sunset with comfort, while Fluut saw it as just more of the same...

"Don't get to caught up with the instructed movements, make them your own..." Fluut answered, a calm look across his face, "But don't forget those teachings either... Never forget...but never stop thinking either..."

"Never stop...thinking?" Lusk repeated, not sure what that was really suppose to mean...

--- --- --- --- ---

"So that's it..." Lusk now realized. The rut he had found himself in in the early missions with RISING, unable to find value in combat situations, and how simply training his body more seemed like the correct answer but provided little result. When the Kaihenjutsu had came to mind, and was successfully created, he had felt a huge step away from that.

It was even further back then the war...when he had first been given that instrument-weapon, a symbol that Lusk's aspirations were possible, by an old friend, that had been the huge step forward from his training with Fluut.

Each time simply pushing at a wall had failed...it was new ideas, new angles, which helped him over those walls.

"Never stop thinking..." Lusk repeated mentally. And so he poured over the fight prior for his options, but given he'd been trying to counter Fluuts moves earlier, he knew is friend was being to dynamic to predict...he had to many options...

Then Lusk realized, Fluut had been using such a array of maneuvers and attacks in order to grasp each of the tools in his arsenal. Types of punches, sweeps, throws, he'd been putting it all on the table...so whatever he had left to put down, he would now.

That made it dawn on him, some of what Fluut hadn't yet used...the maneuvers he once diligently practiced on Namek, but had now mostly left him...what he was here to reclaim.

Suddenly...a shadowy figure seemed to form behind Fluut for Lusk to see... a vision of the past Fluut. Formed from all the time he had spent watching Fluuts spars, and taking part in them. Lusk immediately had a feeling that Fluut could see it to...and for him, despite his greater strength and the new techniques honed on Earth, that shadow from the past somehow seemed to shine brighter then the present him...

So what Fluut was here to do, was what he believed was the way past his own current wall. The only way over it was for his present self to become one with that shadow... to combine his current skills and those from his upbringing.

Never forget...but never stop thinking.

The two Nameks resumed combat once more, each chasing the ‘image’ Lusk had saw. The image of polish, of a warrior whose carefully honed skills remained just that, carefully honed and always on the forefront. Not a warrior who had gone soft in the moment, up against opponents too weak and too fragile to be worth the effort. Each time, they grew a bit closer, in their own ways.

For Fluut, he remained focused on the sight of the perfect offense and unbreakable defense, a combination that certainly would have been able to catch the fleeing Sentry, while swiftly avoiding the counterattack from the powerful enemy. While Fluut still couldn’t exactly imagine himself taking down said powerful enemy, with or without Nobiru Ude, he may have been able to better weather the assault until backup arrived.

For Lusk, it was to focus on the movements of the shadow, as well as the movements of the real Fluut, trying to spot the differences, and counterattack when an opening appeared, an opening created by that same thing that Fluut sought to eliminate. Both chased after these images, clashing weapon versus four-fingered hands over and over again.

Lusk swung out, cracking Fluut in the torso with the horn—an opening brought on by years of underpractice? No… Fluut had twisted at the last second, preventing the force from doing more than simply causing him to grunt. Fluut countered with another kick to Lusk’s midsection, sending the larger Namek sliding backwards once again.

It was Fluut who had, even for just a moment, caught the shadow first.

In this round, Fluut and Lusk both begin critically thinking about their movements, using their Intelligence! Fluut’s memory and skills win out, the final rolls 13 vs 8! Fluut wins round 3!

"He grasped it..." Lusk noticed as Fluut matched up with the shadow. The clash continued. While the rhythm between Fluut and the image went out of sync repeatedly, he was grasping that moment of unity more and more.

The minutes soon turned to hours....

Lusk's green skin, widely covered by his clothing, was painted with splashes of purple; bruises from the long spar. Fluut had taken swings, plenty, but his less-clothed body clearly had held up far greater. Both were breathing heavily from the extended exertion which would no doubt soon come to an end.

The horn Lusk had trusted in the entire spar was slowing down...his arms had reached their limits. While he'd pushed his stamina far, Fluut still gave off a rigid presence. Lusk quickly sensed Fluut's next intent.

Fluut's hand raised from its side, ki igniting forth in a purple beam. Lusk had of course read it, twisting the horn to easily knock the projectile aside. Then the weapon paused, despite his effort. Lusk looked, to find Fluut's hand holding the horn in place, arm extended across the room.

No, no longer across the room, he'd charged right in now. Lusk tried to wrench his horn free, soon grabbing it with a second hand to overpower Fluuts one. Doing so didn't leave him with enough time however, as a spin-kick knocked into his open side.

Fluut stepped forward, not letting that knock away be just it, rather brutally. Lusk felt similarly however, that this wasn't it, swinging his horn straight up.

The warrior-type had to pull his head back to stop the strike from knocking his chin, a deadly maneuver, killing his momentum. With his defensive focuses mainly on Lusk's weapon, the giants kick almost caught him by surprise, but Fluut caught it against his arm and negated most of the damage.

With a quick shift, Fluut had his arm at the elbow wrapped around Lusk's extended leg. The leg pulled back, but the grip refused it's escape. Both Namekian's caught each others eye in the moment, Fluut needing to decide what he'd do with the hold and Lusk how to escape it...

This segment of the fight lasted a second, maybe two, in real time, but for the two, time stood still. Fluut’s decision came first, and he pulled Lusk’s leg towards him, knuckles on the one hand cracking in anticipation of the follow-up hit. As he was forcibly dragged towards Fluut, it was Lusk who acted first, attempting to swing his other leg around to kick Fluut upside the head.

Fluut’s punch changed to a block, swinging across his own body rather than straight out. However, from this new position came a new challenge. His arm was, for the moment, occupied with one of Lusk’s legs, and the same went for the other arm. Seeing this opening, Lusk, from his less than advantageous position, swung his horn out at Fluut. Fluut tried to reset his stance, to quickly let go and back out of the incoming attack, but his reflexes just weren’t quick enough and he caught the horn under his chin, being the one to stumble backwards from a hit.

Lusk dropped to the ground, Fluut no longer holding him up, but he was quick to regain himself as Fluut did the same.

Even a seasoned fighter would suffer a moment’s delay in such a situation. One who had lost his edge would be even more so…

Both Fluut and Lusk pass the Survival Round, Lusk doing better than Fluut (Lusk Intelligence 25; Fluut Strength 17)!!

A look of determination was bright across Lusk's face as he stepped in...only to drop to one knee in exhaustion. Lusk eyed the shadow just as Fluut did his friend's moment of weakness, and the giant released a yellow blast from his palm. As Lusk predicted the past Fluut's movements, Fluut stepped into the shadow, and became it...

Stepping forward, Fluut's body turned and his foot-worked weaved, evading the blasts which fired at him. Lusk focused his aim, propping his arm with the other: "Ha!!"

The blasts continued, and Fluut and the shadow went out of synch, as a deep look of focus appeared in the Namekian's eye. The blasts pierced through the shadows movements, Lusk correctly predicting it now, but Fluut had surpassed those movements in the moment. Each of the blasts missed the warrior.

An open palm pressed into Lusk's face like a truck, seemingly breaking the nose as purple blood began to flow forth. Lusk winced at the pain, managing to stand up from the momentum of the blow. His arm swung out with its weapon, but Fluut's torso angled out of the way, as he jabbed at Lusk's chest with his fingers.

Lusk promptly pulled back, spinning his body around, and slamming his weapon into Fluut's guard. Both arms had raised in time thanks to the moments used to gain spin, and took the blow. Fluut winced from pain at the heavy impact, and heat rushed to his head. He pushed the horn aside, a mad look in his eye.

...

Fluut raised his fist quickly to continue, before the look in his eye dissipated at the sight of Lusk's blood soaking into his green shirt, the man wearily leaning forward.

As Fluut seemed to regain some of his bearings, coming out of his sort of trance and back into reality, he was hit by an intense wave of exhaustion. He suddenly leaned his head back, now aware of the sweat which coated his body, and the feedback of his muscles. With that came a sense of progress, and this came to Lusk as well.

"That should do for the day..." Fluut said simply, despite the intensity the spar had risen to, it was said as if it was old times.

"For the night..." Lusk corrected...the training session having taken up the entire day for the two and poured into nighttime. His regeneration had closed up his nose injury but the blood was still present...

Stepping forward, Lusk tripped in his weariness, Fluut catching him on his shoulder and helping him up.

The results of Fluut's rolls added to 18 Training Points! Despite losing all three main rounds, with a +6 bonus for having 5 over Fluut on the Survival Roll Lusk comes out with a whole 15 Training Points!

"Perhaps this was too extreme..." Fluut said, now holding a heavily bruised and blood covered Lusk. But a content Lusk looked back with surprise.

"Not at all..." Lusk said, attempting to stand straight in response, "I'm committed to at least this much."

"So you are." Fluut nodded. The two began to walk out of the training room, the days work done. "It was quite the battle..."

"It was no battle." Lusk replied, looking forward with a a look of pride, "But an exercise between brothers."

The same Fluut had said of himself and the Warrior-type training partners years before...

Fluut now understood that at the very least, Lusk was at his back on this path. They were different then they were back then on Namek. Though...what would this really mean...?

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Note: So, initially wasn't sure how to score a sparring session. But I have an idea now, but this might be case-by-case. For example, if a sparring session is had by only one player; they would only get the normal training judgment. But we shall see.
-----
I've decided to grant the regular training judgment, in addition to extra bonuses where I see fit.

Scale:

So, overall...going to give this a 5. Enjoyed the interactions, the relationship these two characters has is made more clear here. On top of the expression of syncing with the shadows of their former selves. Very good over all, at least to me.

Now, on the other hand; the setup such as the flashback and internal monologue was mostly TK. As such, if I where to use the same scale, I'd give another 5 to Lusk. That might seem too much or too generous, so for now I'll say its 3, but should SSJ think it best; 5.

Fluut and Lusk gain an additional 5 TP as a bonus for this training session. In addition, Lusk gains another 3 TP as an extra bonus.

Final TP Gains from this training
Fluut: 23
Lusk: 23

Welp..going to point out I didn't do the math in my head, and didn't realize they'd both total out to 23. Oddly satisfying.