Hody jabbed his trident into the training dummy, piercing it right through the chest and sending it sliding back. He let out a breath, spinning it around in his hand before jabbing at it again. This time he struck it in the head, nearly tearing it right off. He smirked to himself. With how busy he was running the kingdom, he sometimes grew afraid that his skills may have gotten rusty. Training always reassured him he was still in fit and fighting shape.

He spun it around again, this time striking it in it's side and tearing a chunk out of it. He would have to tell the guards to request dummies that were sturdier. This might have been adequate for them, but it was flimsy against the likes of him. To be fair through, they were probably put through the ringer by Turq and Vander as well. The former was stronger then he was, and the later was relentless when it came to training.

Before he could prepare to strike again, he heard footsteps behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Turq walking by. "Turquoise, there you are," he said. Sometimes his son was like a ghost around the castle. You could hardly ever find him.

"Hey pops," Truq greeted casually.

Hody slung his trident over his shoulder. "I don't believe you have any missions or errands today. Care to take a bit to pick up a trident and spar with your old man?" he asked. "I don't believe I've seen you use one in a long time. You must be pretty rusty, and I could show you a trick or two."

The teen raised an eyebrow at his father. "Uh, thanks for the offer, but maybe some other time. Aunt Maria and the others are here, and Uncle Astro said he was gonna spar with me and show me some new sword techniques," he said.

Hody scowled. He forgot his sister and her spouses were supposed to be visiting today. It was more of a casual visit so it wasn't like they had made any preparations or anything. But for whatever reason, whenever Astro came to visit his eldest son was desperate to train with him.

Ever since he had passed on that sword to him he hardly picked up any other weapon, which sort of irked him. The trident was a traditional weapon among waterfolk warrior, and he had figured with Turq being as strong and talented as he was he would continue that tradition. But it seemed he wasn't interested in it.

His other kids didn't seem to be either. Delphine preferred her sword of course. It was hard with her physique and magical ability. Though if he was being honest he would have preferred she used no weapons at all. And Vander used… whatever those things he swung around. It was close to what Topaz used. Which was fine since given how hyper active he was, he couldn't see him having the patience to teach him anyway.

Pyrus used a trident, but the boy didn't seem to have a particularly strong talent for battle, or desire to hone his skills. Hody still trained him, but he didn't push him too hard on it. The boy's strengths lied elsewhere, so he left him be.

"Come on now. You hone those sword skills of yours all the time. Take some time to polish the skills of the most traditional waterfolk weapon," he said holding Sea Spike up. "These have been symbols of our house and defended our kingdom for generations."

Truq clicked his tongue. His dad always went on about their family history and heritage, but considering he was a bastard and wasn't 'legitimate' by royal standards, he really didn't get why it should have mattered to him.

"Sorry pops, but I don't get many chances to train with uncle Astro these days. Besides, tridents really aren't my thing. They're kind of… I know, lame. Compared to swords anyway," Turq said as he began walking off.

"Wha-?! Lame?! Do you know how many enemies I've brought down with this?!"

"Not as many as uncle Astro…"

"I heard that!"

Hody grit his teeth as his son left, and then turned back to the dummy and threw it at another dummy. It pierced right through it, knocking it right over onto the ground.

He wasn't sure if this was some rebellious teenage phase, or those monstrous genes that came from being a titan. But lately Turq has been even more difficult to deal with than usual. Snapping back at him, disobeying his rules, acting as if he was against him at every turn. And despite him just trying to ease up and spend a bit of quality time with him, he still had to not only turn him down, but sass him.

As much as he hated to admit it, it stung him that his firstborn not only turned him down, but did so to go spend time with that fool Asterossa. He didn't know why his son seemed to look up to him so. What could that idiot show him that was superior to the techniques his family had been passing down for generations?

"I think tridents are cool…"

Hody whipped his head around, and was surprised to see Cetus standing nearby. He turned towards his nephew. "Cetus, what are you doing here?" he asked. Not that he wasn't happy to see him. Out of all of his sister's children, Cetus was by far the easiest for him to get along with. Probably because his waterfolk genes were the strongest among them all.

The boy walked over and leaned against the wall nearby. "Well, my dad is gonna train with Dorado and Turq, so… you know, I snuck off." He didn't want to get roped into their training. It was bad enough when it was just Dorado, but when his cousin Turq also got involved it made him look that much worse by comparison.

Hody raised an eyebrow. "You didn't want to train with them?" he asked. It seemed like pretty much everyone did these days.

Cetus shook his head. "I'm not really all that good with swords. Or with any weapon really. I'd only end up slowing them down," he said shrugging.

Hody was curious. "Any weapon? I find that hard to believe. I could understand swords and sickles, or whatever those ridiculous weapons your sister uses." Who the hell used a giant pair of scissors? "But surely you must be able to fight properly with something. Did your mother not teach you to wield a trident?" he asked.

"Ugh… not really." Maria did still train sometimes, but not as often as his father or Amber did. He had never even considered asking her anyway. He doubted he would have fared any better than he did with swords.

Hody scoffed. "Honestly, what was my sister thinking?" he asked. How could Maria possibly look at his boy and not realize his latent potential? It was a shame. "Of course you can use a trident. It's in your DNA. Come here, I'll show you."

Cetus looked hesitant. "Uh… you sure about that?"

"I most certainly am," he said as he picked up the extra trident laying off to the side. He walked in front of the training dummy, and Cetus walked over to meet him. He handed the shield the weapon, and then stood beside him. "Start off with something simple, a thrust. Watch my stance closely," Hody said getting into position.

Cetus looked at him, and then did his best to mimic his uncle. "Good, good. Make sure your feet are firmly planted, knees bent, and…" Hody suddenly jabbed forward, and Cetus could practically feel the piercing power behind the strike. It was like he was sliced through the air itself. "There, now you try."

The boy nodded nervously, and then turned towards the dummy. He gripped the weapon tightly, brought his arm back, and then stabbed forward and stuck the dummy right in the chest. The blow was rather lackluster when compared to his uncle, and the dummy barely even moved.

"Good…"

Cetus looked at his uncle surprised. "What?"

"I said good. Your technique was flawless. Quite impressive for your first try," Hody said nodding. "You lack power obviously but that should come with time and training. When starting off, it's always preferable to have proper form and technique rather than raw power. A clean and deadly strike is more likely to bring down a for more than a powerful but sloppy one."

Hody walked over and then tapped the dummy on its neck. "Try aiming here. You don't need much power when going for vital points after all."

Cetus nodded again, and then got back into his stance. He thrust the trident once more, hitting it right in the neck. This time it was knocked back a bit more, thanks to him aiming for a far weaker spot. "Excellent," Hody said smiling. "A perfectly performed strike. I know you had a talent for this."

Cetus looked up at his uncle curiously. "You… you really think I'm good at this?"

"Of course I do. Do you really think I haven't developed an eye for such potential after all these years? With proper training and guidance, I have no doubt you'd make a fine warrior. One worthy of the Waterfolk heritage," he said.

Cetus looked down at the trident, and then back up at his uncle. "Could you… maybe teach me how to do that throw you did earlier?" he asked.

Hody smirked. "That's a bit advanced. It may take a while for you to get the hang of something like that. But I suppose I could show you the proper throwing form and technique. After all, with your blood it shouldn't take you too long to get a handle on it."

Astro had been taking a break from training with Dorado and Turq, and had been taking a short stroll through the castle when he noticed something.

Something that was very odd.

Of all of his kids, the one who he was the least likely to see training was technically Aqua. But that was really only because her means of combat relied heavily on her magical skills rather than her physical ones. But Cetus was a very close second. So it was weird to see him in the yard training with… a trident.

What was even more strange was seeing him actually look invested in it. Whenever Astro made him train, he always just went through the motions. He did what he was told, but he put in the bare minimum. Right now though? The look on his face, his concentration, his focus… he was trying.

Cetus brought his arm back, letting out a breath before throwing the trident at the dummy across the yard. It hit the dummy in the shoulder, and Cetus snapped his fingers in annoyance before running over to retrieve it.

"He's quite talented for someone so inexperienced."

Astro looked over and saw Hody approaching, a smirk on his face. Astro grunted before turning back to his son. "He certainly seemed invested in it." For once.

"Well, he finally has a proper tutor to make him so."

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

Hody chuckled and kept watching as Cetus set up another throw. "Well, he's a quick learner. I only showed him that throwing technique a while ago, and yet he's already getting the hang of it." It had taken Hody himself a while to get his aim down, but Cetus was nailing the dummy almost every time. Maybe not with the pinpoint accuracy he was going for, but still. "I can only imagine the fault lies with you."

Astro looked at him annoyed, but then turned back to Cetus. He had managed to nail the dummy right in the chest, and the look on his face was once Astro had never seen it during training before. He was excited. "I think you're right…"

Hody looked at his brother-in-law surprised. "What?"

"I said you're right," Astro said simply. "Maybe I'm not the right one to teach him. He never tries half this hard when he's with me." His attempts when he was training with Astro was always half-hearted. And he always hung his head when Astro tried to critique or instruct him. Like he thought he was going to chop his hand off if he said or did the wrong thing. "Maybe he's better off with you instructing him."

Hody was more than a little shocked to hear the words come from Astro. "So you admit that I'm a better teacher than you?" he asked.

"I didn't say that," Astro said, scowling. "I'm saying your better suited for-"

"I'm Better, right," Hody said. "Took you long enough to admit, but I'll give you credit. Better late than never I suppose."

"If I was a bitter man, I'd challenge you and take you down in your own castle. Lucky for you I don't feel like defanging you in front of my son…"

Cetus pulled the trident from the dummy and then turned around towards them. He spotted his uncle first and was about to ask if he saw, but then saw his father. His face fell, and he nearly dropped his weapon. "Oh, hey dad… did you uh… did you see that?" he asked nervously.

It was no secret how his father and uncle felt about each other, and he couldn't imagine that Astro was thrilled to see that he'd skipped out on training with him to go train with his uncle instead. "I did," Astro said simply. "And good job."

Cetus blinked, a little surprised to hear the words. He typically didn't get much praise from him. Well, not when it came to training anyway. "Thanks…"

Astro turned and began walking off. "I'm going to head back to Dorado and Turq. Do your best." He knew if he stuck around that Cetus would be too worried about him watching to really focus on what he was going. As he walked off, he looked towards Hody. "Don't fill my son with any of your nonsense."

"You mean like you have mine?" Hody asked, raising an eyebrow. "I know how you talk about me in front of my son."

"Yeah but… I talk like that about you in front of everyone."

Hody rolled his eyes before making his way back over towards Cetus. "An excellent throw. Be sure to practice so you can become more consistent with it. Now, if you're like I could show you some other close combat techniques you can practice with later."

Cetus watched the direction his father left in, and then turned back towards Hody. "Uh, sure. I guess I wouldn't mind." He hadn't fallen on his face yet, so this was working out better than his usual training. And if he had his own drills at home then maybe his father wouldn't drag him along with Dorado and Lars so much.

Hody smiled and got into a stance. It was nice to have someone who was actually eager and willing to learn some more of their traditional techniques. He had honestly been worried that there wouldn't be a chance to properly hand them down to the next generation. But between Pyrus and his nephew, he might get his chance yet.

"Great. Now, this is a technique to deflect an enemies attack and hit them with a counter…"

A/N: One-shot for Princesscallyie, featuring Hody and his favorite nephew. I think Hody would enjoy being able to pass down some traditional Waterfolk combat techniques down to Cetus.