Training Time!

[theblind-bandit.livejournal.com]

Characters: Toph, Terra, Sanzo and anyone else who drops by.
Content: Toph and Terra are going to start training their earth bending.
Setting: Vanaheim area (G3)
Time: Afternoon
Warnings: Appearance of Dan



Terra had first suggested the Elysian fields, but Toph nixed that after hearing all those stories about Lumens. If they were going to train anywhere, it had to be at a place where they wouldn't be bothered. In this "grassy" place, Toph found it acceptable enough to train Terra here.

"Ok, we'll start by taking a deep breath," Toph said. She inhaled loudly, then slowly let it out. "We get ourselves centered: this is so we can take a moment to be one with the earth. We're moving it, but in a way its like a pact with the ground itself. Remember that: NEVER take your power for granted and the earth will always listen to you."

She got up and shook herself a little, extending her arms and legs. "I like to warm up a bit first, just so I don't cramp up or anything. You might wanna do the same."

Once the girls had both done this, Toph stomped softly on her left foot and a rock protruded from the ground, to which Toph promptly sat on. She was maybe two feet up from Terra, and she grinned.

"Ok Terra, show me what you can do."

Comments

[theblind-bandit.livejournal.com]

Tops smiled. "Good, see, you already have the hang of some things. OK, now we're going to try to do something a little more interesting: avoiding collision. You position the rock however you want, and get ready. You're going to need to defend yourself."

Toph got up and made sure she was a fifteen foot distance away from Terra. She closed her eyes, and then slowly brought her arms extended out on front of her, palms up. Toph then spun around and, with her right arm, made a first in the air, her right arm forward. She repeated this with her left arm. Both of these produced rock projectiles that headed straight for Terra, but not before Toph allowed them to hover in the air a moment.

"Now think of yourself training with those heroes of yours!" Toph said. "This is officially your simulation in defense. You're an earthbender and are now having rocks shot at you! What do you do?"

With a small grunt, she stopped the hovering and the projectiles now headed for Terra, and Toph followed up with another circular spin, this time with her palms down, making very noticeable crack in the ground slowly catching up to Terra. It was going to throw Terra off balance so she couldn't successfully block the projectiles.

Now we see what happens, Toph said to herself.

[heartrocker.livejournal.com]

It was good that they were getting to work on defense. Defense wasn't exactly Terra's strong suit. She was good at throwing rocks and the likes, but she never got into a situation where defense was absolutely necessary. She didn't think it was going to be too tough. After all, how hard could it be to stop a few rocks?

Terra positioned her rock so that it was set up right in front of her, so that she could raise it up and block the rocks coming at her. But then the cracking of the ground alarmed her -- partly because she noticed a little too late!

Just as Toph predicted, she loses her balance, and the projectiles weren't blocked. Or at least, not the way that Terra wanted to. The rocks collided, and all it really did was make a huge mess. If it weren't for Terra losing her balance over the crack, that collision and the rocks all over the place certainly would have done just that.

[theblind-bandit.livejournal.com]

Toph sat down and listened well to everything that happened. She felt the shift in Terra's weight and sighed very quietly, knowing what would happen next. She hadn't expected Terra to be able to do all three things: she had actually wanted to test Terra to see what it was they could improve on. She was glad her new friend hadn't been injured by the rock's collisions (it was why she had had the rocks so close together) but also knew she needed to give Tera criticism.

"You have to be aware of your opponent striking at any time!" Toph said. "The reason I'm so good is BECAUSE I'm blind, and so I have to make sure I know what's happening around me. Remember, an opponent won't wait for you to get that right: once they know you're an earthbender, they'll want to exploit your weaknesses. The trick to that is making sure it looks like you don't have any!"

Toph grinned at that, then shrugged. "You aren't doing too bad. Let's get something to eat, and we can continue the lesson. After that we'll probably need to shower because we'll be pretty dusty!"

[heartrocker.livejournal.com]

Terra lifted herself off of the ground shakingly, taking in Toph's words. Sure, Terra was told she wasn't doing too, but that didn't stop her from feeling embarrassed.

After taking in her criticism, she nodded, "Getting something to eat sounds good --" Terra looked up and saw a familiar face when she heard Sanzo speak to them. "Uhm... we were Earth bending!"