Eventually sitting around and doing nothing but talking turned out to not be enough entertainment for the group.

“Right, so… How about we train?” Myron clapped his hands together. Excitement bubbled up through him at the acceptance from the Team. “Oh~! This like a dream come true.” He said shivering with excitement and stood.

“Alright, the First Training Session of the Otherworlder Team begins now!” Myron exclaimed. “Uh, give me a moment to think.”

{Snap} “Got it. So I Want Mery and Syl paired up for starters. The Training, as we have no equipment will be based solely on Aether and the Hand-to-hand Combat, no claws.” Dakini looked a bit left out, her ears flopping back on her head but he smiled at her and rustled those silky black strands. “I want you Mery to focus on increasing the Resilience and Stickiness of the [Water Whip] you should forget about it being an offensive move. While I want Syl to repeatedly use Wind Cutter until flows as smoothly as any of her other moves. I want you to be able to use it easy, and then in quick succession.”

“Spawn a few whips at once, and Syl cuts them, then you jump close to each other and fight, only hands, no kicks. Syl will focus on emulating the stance of the [Karate Chop] with her hands acting like her blades, and I want you Mery to focus on finding the correct opportunity. Do that for a bit, then break. Afterwards, go back to cutting. Replenish your Aether and gather your breaths. For starters it would be good if Syl could [Sprout] a tub for Mery to fill with Water. Off you go.” He waved them off and they nodded seriously.

Over the sound of cutting wind Myron finally focused on his little Kitsune.

“How did you like the Battle against the big bad snake?”

“Satisfying. I got to learn a new Ability. Thank you Myron.”

“Hah! No need. I did nothing.” He said and meant it. “How did you like it compared to what your duties where in the battle with the Bubachew Matriarch and her horde?”

“It felt worse and better at the same time.” Myron let her think. “While I enjoyed the experience of learning [Crunch] and using it for major damage, I also didn’t quite like babysitting the First Tier Aimon. While I understand that I had to first try my ability on targets that would be of little consequence if the Ability failed to form, still…”

“I see. Maybe innately you understand your potential for heavy damage. I am willing to bet that your Species of Aimon is not known for tanking or stalling, and while I think versatility is a great card to half in your deck, I see that you don’t care about that right now. At the same time, you don’t hate Body Morph, do you?”

“I don’t. It’s an incredible Ability, it comes to me so naturally that I can’t not use it. I will always transform my bite in some way in order to use [Crunch], it will happen all on its own. The same goes for every single one of my Abilities. It’s just… who I am.”

“Then I hope you see that we can’t really let the abilities that give you the chance to draw near to an enemy waste away. Choro didn’t know what he was doing, and he didn’t care either. What you have is your natural move-set, you would have gotten all of these Abilities even if you had always remained a Wild Aimon without a Bond. So don’t fear them, or hate them, or tie them into Choro. They aren’t Choro, they are Kitsune.” She nodded, if a bit embarrassed by the fact that Myron saw through her disgust at those Abilities which Choro ‘forced on her’.

Myron Continued, “In my mind, and this raises potential implications about the true connection between Aimon and Humans, Kitsune are beings of seduction, of dark magic, of hatred often times, but also capable of deep loyalty and heartfelt love. They can suck out the life from men, or they can let themselves be tortured for the sake of the one they love. What I mean to say is that Foxes are beings of trickery, of subterfuge, or dark dealings, of the night, and of death, but they are also life givers, loyal allies, and emotional, empathetic. So what I believe is that you should let your Kitsune side guide you just a bit more. Trick your opponent, take him off his guard, drive him mad or show him a world of bliss. Approach when he is stuck in his foolish dreams, and strike with devastating force, all at once, a flurry of melee and ranged, of Dark and Fairy, of Physical and Magical damage. Are you willing to go along with this?” Myron asked and she nodded before lunging at him and hugging him tightly.

“Great.” He patted her back for a tender moment.

He looked at Mery and Syl fighting. Their breaths were short, Mery was pushing Syl back, who moved at incredible speeds, depending on her attribute advantage to dodge, and deflect the punches and chops coming her way.

They had ignored his ask for a break completely, never drank a sip of water, and for the past fifteen minutes they have being going at it excessively. Mery was down to half her Aether, while Syl had used even more than that, leaving her with only twenty points. He chuckled.

“Stop!” Myron called out, the two Aimon fell dead in their tracks, losing steam Mery turned around sheepishly and looked at him. He shook his head.

“Right, without supervision this has devolved into a brawl that simply shifts between one exercise to another when Mery gets a Hit in. So let’s shake things up a bit, because that was not working.”

“Syl, use all of your Aether but ten points to create a forest spreading away from the farm.” She looked about ready to retort but Myron stopped her. “No, this is training. We aren’t playing games.” He shook his head. “Mery you will use Surge throughout the forest created until everything has been soaked wet. Afterwards you will have 10 Aether points at your disposal, if there is a difference I will give you the Aether from my Pool. After wards. Syl, you are allowed to use only Plant Type Moves, no Wind Cutter, while Mery you are going to use just your feet to attack. Imagine your arms bound to your sides. Actually. After she’s done, Syl, Bind them straight down.” Myron chuckled and then some more. This was training, this was fun.

“Your task Syl is to get closer to the Plant Type Aether, and to find new and interesting ways you can use Plants. Mery your task is to try and move your Water and Fighting Aether through your body better. Hands are good and all, but legs are much more powerful.”

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“Dakini, your job is to constantly badger them with every single trick you can use. Transform into whatever you like.”

“Now. To make this competitive.”

“All three of you are against each other. Each successful strike strong enough to damage the Shield of any of your opponents counts as a point to you. We go until I say we stop, or one of your Shields runs out, or one of you Reaches One Hundred Points.”

“Now, go on. Do your think. Oh! Dakini, [Crunch] is not allowed. I want you to use Dark Aether through your Claws at the easiest, through your tails at best. That is all.”

Myron said and the Aimon moved. A forest appeared, growing from the ground with a rumble, and then as if it had rained for days the earth grew muddy and wet. A mist grew from the heat of the sun and the evaporating water and covered the area. Myron could see nothing that was happening in there, though he knew where his Aimon where and what they were doing through his Bonds with them, making this a lot more like a Team Management Game than he would have believed.

He took a seat up on a fence post and waited as all three of them got into positions. Myron felt so excited he could almost see himself taking flight from the fence post. Aimon were so amazingly cool, this was the best thing he had ever done. ‘Aimon Training! And what an Idea this is!’ Myron patted himself in the shoulder twice. ‘Congratulations are in order if this truly works. Maybe I should add some stakes? No, not yet. It’s too early, and too easy.’

He cupped his hands around his mouth. “3,2,1, GO!” All three of them blasted off, eager to grasp an advantage. Even Dakini, stormed towards the center of the arena. Syl stopped first, as she knew she was the fastest an stalked through the trees, she dug her claws into the tree bark to keep herself aloft and away from the squelching; muddy ground. Myron clicked his tongue. ‘Syl, you can’t do that. Don’t use your claws, only Plants.’ She sent a glare towards his direction but did as asked.

She brought up vines from the ground which she tied around her wrists and used those to maneuver around the forest in as much silence as she could. Little did she remember that Dakini could fly and that doing so was not against the rules, so she did her job well and stocked her two friends from above waiting for them to engage, and try to jump in on the chaos.

Mery was the most naive with how she went about it. Syl dove down from the side. Fast, but not fast enough for Mery whose reflexes where absolutely superhuman. She slid through the ground and ducked under Syl who grabbed her mane and pulled both to them to the mud. They splashed down and already Mery was moving. She chopped down with a kick from above smacking Syl in the head. ‘Not strong enough’ Myron thought as the attack lacked even a bit of Aether. Syl grew angry at having her ambush turn around so she grew plants from the ground which Mery only narrowly escaped by jumping up.

From there she had nowhere to go. She whipped around herself, the [Water Whip] having grown on the bark of a nearby tree, shriveling up the thing in the process, and she dodged. Syl through a Shrieking Mandrake at Mery’s way and she couldn’t block the noise with her hands so her eyes saw stars and she fell from the tree, her Ability destabilizing into a deluge of water that slapped the ground hard.

At that moment, a soft breeze landed in front of Syl, her owlish eyes were big and red and dark and Syl faltered. [Astonish] Dakini used it and Syl recoiled form the wave of Dark Aether that rocked her mind about, causing her nose to bleed and her temper to rise. The trees around them moved, the canopy growing fierce and dense, the roots reaching for Dakini’s talons and the branches barring her path. The owl-fox squawked and yipped in one breath, and as the forest rose to wrap her in its bind, she disappeared like a mirage.

She howled jumping from tree to tree and Syl shivered, her head snapping to the direction of the howl only to be met with a [Headbutt] right in the dome. Myron had never restricted the use of her head, despite wanting her to focus on her legs. Which she also tried to do as she spun around and kicked with turbulent orange energy, transparent and yet like a fire. The attack was dodge, Mery was shoved back crashing through a tree with devastating force, and disappeared into the mist, nowhere to be seen.

Syl placed a strand of hair back in order with her trembling hand and schooled her facial expression into one of cold control. She kept her anger in check, understood that it was coming from a place of Ego, and that this was training, she would win, whilst following Myron’s crazy rules and she wouldn’t let her habits be her limitations. She was a Sword, and the Sword followed it’s master’s commands.

Myron watched on for an hour or two as the fights grew less frequent but the forest all the more destroyed. And without extensive use of Abilities with large Areas of Attack like Surge or Petal Blizzard. Myron forced Syl and Mery to dispense with their regenerated Aether whenever it reached above 10, and that left them with too little to be able to use those attack. Mery and Dakini had not managed to complete a single Ability with the limbs they weren’t used to using, but the amount of Aether they were able to gather and the speed was rapidly accelerating to the point that if it clicked, the attack would be devastating, and potentially a new Ability entirely. But Myron didn’t push them.

He wanted them to figure it out on their own. If they didn’t then he would brainstorm with them some Idea or feeling and go along with that.

Syl on the other hand had truly taken this training to heart and had not let her anger, disappointment, or any other negative emotions influence her performance. After the debacle of the start she had been on top of the game consistently, even going as far as not attacking with her arms and legs at all unless they where writhed in plants. Which Myron approved and encouraged many times throughout the training session.

Myron pulled himself away from the Status sheets and the sense of the Bonds, he turned to Farmer Keegs who was fast approaching. “It’s time for Lunch, and a good rest, don’t you think?”

“It’s close enough, just let them fight a bit more, Syl is close to winning, and we will be right there.”

“Oh there is no rush Myron. Let them have fun.”

“Heh! I wouldn’t call it fun. Syl is incredibly frustrated right now. I think she’s going to be glaring at me until we reach Great Oak City at least.”

The old man laughed when Myron explained to him his devious training scheme and the reason why it was so frustrating for each and every one of his Aimon. He slapped him on the back, not unkindly, and rested his arms on the fence, placing his chin on top.

“What is the Duke’s Capital like? Do you go often?”

“For someone like you, who hasn’t seen a city yet… It will be a very refreshing experience, at the very least. It’s majestic.” Farmer Keegs thought back to his memories of the City. “Fantastical even, though I’d say its Lord has a penchant for order and he chose the meadows well, for they offer no… whimsy, no Spice.” He continued.

“Where would you suggest we go? If we want to capture more of that whimsicality? Which I, for one, really do.”

“You seem like the type.” The Farmer nodded and stretched. “Go West from the Capital in a straight line. If you want unique terrain, go West, if you want safe and trodden go South. The Closer to the base of the Blue-Valley Mountains you go, the more Dead a Region is. Old Lords and Clans inhabit those places. The Duke is an exception for how north he is, hence why he is a Duke. To the West? Things are more dangerous, and a bit more… funky. You’ll understand when you walk upon it.”

“And what lord rules over the Region bordering the Duke to the West?” Myron asked.

“Baron Gummie, Dhokta Gummie.”