::The Last Avatar::
Gamer Edition
BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN
1.10
Training Montage
Part Two
February 1997 -April 1997
February
She had no idea what time it was, only that it was very, very late and she should very much be in bed by now. The reason she wasn't? It was the first full moon Rue hadn't been too exhausted to stay up for and train under. Korra, Aang and some other supposedly less bossy Avatars were trying to teach her the 'Water Whip' technique. Unfortunately because of their differences it was proving to be almost impossible to teach Rue anything. Leaving the teenager to figure out what it was they wanted to teach her on her own while they bickered over the how.
A few days previously Rue had managed to level up her dodge skill to level two. Something she was rather proud of and had given her something of a boost to her rather low mood. Now though, listening to her peanut gallery ignore her in favour of arguing with each other when they had been the ones to insist on her coming out in the middle of the night. In the mother-fucking-cold-ass-night. She was Tasmanian and Rue knew cold when she felt it.
Growling to herself Rue tried again to make a water whip from the snow around her. Making the snow liquid was easy now, it was making the stream of water move the way she wanted it to was the hard part. She'd already smacked herself in the face a few times, making her even colder with every misstep. This time however, Rue's frustration manifested in the water whipping behind her legs and knocking her off her feet.
"Mother fucker!" she growled at the world in general as she lay sprawled in the snow. The others had gone quiet at her words, suddenly seeming to sense her darkening mood. And, well, it was about time, honestly. "If you people are going to fucking teach me, then bloody well teach me something, otherwise shut up and let me figure it out by myself!" she told them fiercely. The silence that followed that outburst was startling in the quiet of the night surrounding Rue, none of the other Avatar's spoke a word. Sighing to herself in the blessed silence inside her own head Rue picked herself up out of the snow and rolled her shoulders while stamping her feet a little to warm herself up from laying on the cold ground. She was quite thankful for her Tassie blood and heavy Water Tribe garb for keeping the cold at bay by this point.
With a deep calming breath Rue closed her eyes and focused on remembering the episode where Katara had learnt the Water Whip. She remembered Pirates, and Zuko being a bit of a dick. Stealing scrolls. Disturbing Reptile Parrot things. Aang being a bit of a dick. Katara being all jelly of Aang's natural ability. Aaaaand there it was. The scroll. Her memory was fuzzy. Damn. She could almost see the forms. But they were skewed and unclear. It was times like this Rue missed the Internet a great deal.
Another growl ripped it's way out of Rue as she tried to follow Katara's motions in her own mind. She could hear the water around her, flowing with her, as she moved instinctively. Rue finished the form and opened her eyes to find a circle of green under her feet and a thin layer of icy water spread across the trunk of a nearby tree. Frowning thoughtfully Rue had to wonder what it was she actually did.
Congratulations!
Your use of Basic Water Bending has upgraded your skill level!
Basic Water Bending is now level 2!
…
CONGRATULATIONS!
ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED!
*Water Flows*
Became proficient enough with Basic Water Bending to make it to level 2
Rue found herself grinning at the words before her. She hadn't figured out Water Whip yet, but her Water Bending in general was getting better. Looking up at the full moon above her Rue sent a silent thanks to Yue and refocused herself. She was going to get that Water Whip down.
Congratulations!
Thanks to your incredible determination you have unlocked a new skill!
+Skill - Focus Lvl 1
March
Rue was glaring at the arrow embedded in the tree a few metres away from her actual target. The weather had begun improving in the last week or so, thus her training had been moved back outside. Yanking the arrow out of the bark she frowned down at it, it really did seem like she shot better when she didn't think about where she was aiming. Unfortunately Staniv hadn't quite gotten that through his thick skull just yet. He insisted that Rue just needed to practice more, focusing her training on slow precise movements with the bow in hopes her aim would improve. It wasn't. In fact, Rue was quite certain her aim was getting worse the longer he made her hold the arrow to make sure her aim was good.
"For Leviathan's sake girl, stop brooding and get back over here! We need to work on that blasted aim of yours!" Staniv roared across the shooting range at her. Rue's temper flared, her 'blasted aim' was fine. His technique was the problem. Focusing too much on the draw, when Rue knew where she wanted her arrows to go, he just kept talking and talking instead of letting her figure it out on her own. With a frustrated growl Rue nocked the arrow in her practice bow and drew and released in the same breath. Her arrow went exactly where she wanted it. Into the irritating, demanding man's bow, knocking it out from under the hand that held it loosely.
Rue watched as Staniv picked the bow off the ground as she stomped back towards him and then he, curiously, burst out laughing at the arrow now embedded in the grip. He looked over at her as she grew closer and held up the bow she'd hit from the other side of the range. "Now that's more like it! Why can't you bloody do that every damn time?" he asked her. Rue rolled her eyes at the man as she yanked the arrow from his bow.
"Because you make me hold the draw every damn time and talk about everything under the sun before you let me loose it, I aim as I nock and then draw and loose quickly so I can shoot at the next dumb-ass to get in my line of sight," she told the man flatly. "If you want to blame someone for my weird-ass technique then blame your dumb-ass Emperor and your good self for throwing me into a battle field before training me," she added before he could comment. Staniv frowned at her a moment, before nodding slightly and then motioned for her to try again. He didn't say a word as Rue turned on her heel, re-nocked her arrow and let it fly in one swift movement. This one hit the desired target. Perhaps not dead centre, fucking wind, but close enough that her trainer did not interfere with her practice again.
Congratulations!
Your use of Basic Shot with your Bow has upgraded your skill level!
Basic Shot is now level 2!
She hadn't told anyone. Wasn't planning to really, but Rue was remarkably glad that she had scored a rest day on her second seventeenth birthday. And wasn't that a weird-ass thought? Who in their right mind would willingly go through puberty twice? Short answer. Rue would. Though she was a little shaky on the willingly part. Did dying, being thrown into a loading screen and not being given a choice in what what happening count as willingly?
Rue was laying on the deck-y walkway thing outside her room with Tera haphazardly flopped next to her, legs everywhere. Because really, Tera was even more all legs than she had been as a normal cat. It was kinda funny watching her try to get up sometimes. Because legs everywhere.
The day was the warmest they'd had so far and there was nothing to do. Both Rue and Tera had become bored quite quickly, birthday or no. With a huff Rue heaved herself into a lazy, sitting, slouch against a wooden beam. Looking at Tera an idea to kill the boredom plaguing them began forming in her mind as she recalled playing with ice cubes with Tera chasing them around the house. A small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth as she unscrewed the water canister she'd started carrying with her lately.
Bending the water out got Tera's attention, her head lifting off the floor slightly as she watched Rue move a ball of water from one hand to the other. A mischievous glint in her teal eyes as the teen watched Tera's pupils dilate, almost completely overtaking her normally golden eyes. Her tail twitched as Rue carefully flicked her wrists, freezing the outside of the water ball, but leaving the inside liquid. Rue grinned at her furry friend and tossed the ball between her hands as she slid to her feet.
"What do you say, girl? Wanna play?" she asked with a little laugh in her voice. She watched with a grin plastered on her face as Tera scrambled clumsily to her feet to chase her mistress. She had a ball after all. A ball the made noise.
Unlike past games Rue did not need to keep up with Tera to keep the ball moving, Bending made the game both easier and more interesting for them both as she could change the things direction with a few well times movements. Eventually the game ended when Tera pounced on the ball, practically sitting on the thing the Coeurl began purring, rubbing her face on the ice ball as Rue had seen her do to the squirt bottle back home.
It was bizarre to watch, but kept Rue giggling at random intervals for the rest of the day.
Swearing silently as she stumbled over yet another tree root Rue cursed Shake and her insane idea to test her stealth and agility in the small forest area on the grounds. Rue was becoming convinced that the trees were out to get her, and would have kept count had small metal objects not kept flying out of nowhere towards her at random intervals. She was sure that she was failing hard at this stealth thing Shake wanted her to try. In a building, sure, she could be as quiet as Yuffie, in the middle of a forest with sticks and leaves and mother fucking tree roots to trip her and make noise with, not so much. Shake wasn't convinced however. In fact she seemed to be of a mind to turn Rue into a ninja or something. If Rue had the time, she would totally take the squat woman up on that. Unfortunately she had an alien squid that needed putting down and becoming a ninja wasn't on her itinerary. If she had an itinerary. She should really figure out her game plan concerning Lady Squid.
Rue was pulled out of her troubled thoughts by the sound of more small metal objects flying her way, she ducked down and rolled away in time before taking off deeper into the wooded area.
Congratulations!
Thanks to your training in Agility you have unlocked a new skill!
+Skill - Sprint Lvl 1
The full moon was above her once more as Rue tried once again to learn the Water Whip. The members of her peanut gallery appeared to be giving Rue the time and space she needed to figure the move out on her own. Something she was thankful for as Rue had found over the last few months that, more often than not, when she was having trouble with something it was just easier to let her figure it out on her own. Often when she had help the lesson just didn't stick and then she had to go back and figure it out again anyway. Thankfully it wasn't like that with everything.
With a deep breath Rue slid into position, one more try and then she was bed bound, she decided. Of course, isn't it always the way that when you decide to try something 'one more time' that you finally get it. As it was, Rue's Water Whip did what she told it for once and moved like it was supposed to, snapping at the tree before her sharply. Rue dropped the water she'd been bending out of shock. Had she really just done that? With a whoop of victory Rue punched the air happily. Hell, screw bed, she was going to practice her bending some more.
Congratulations!
Thanks to your determination and perseverance you have unlocked a new Bending Skill!
+Skill - Water Whip Lvl 1
April
As March gave way to April Rue finally began to make progress in her combat training. Not a lot, but some. Enough to placate Gorky some anyway. Rue still had bruises on bruises though. The man seemed to be understanding that Rue wasn't entirely confident, or comfortable, in getting all up-close and personal with her opponents. Hence her choice in weapon. However, Gorky insisted that Rue at least know some basic self defence should she be unable to bend or use her bow at some point. Personally Rue really hoped that never happened.
Shinra had returned in force once the snow had begun to melt in the more mountainous regions of the island nation and Rue was starting to get the feeling Godo's requests were going to make a come back once the fighting started up again. As it was, Rue wasn't sure how good her excuse of 'not being well trained enough' would play out now that she could actually land hits on her trainers if she tried hard enough. She also wasn't sure how long she could pretend that there wasn't a war going on in the outside world. Not to mention her foreknowledge that Godo was going to lose. It didn't really matter what the man thought in the end, not even she could stop the oncoming tide of SOLDIER. It wasn't like she was enhanced. Just a girl that could throw around 'magic water'.
She hadn't been wrong, Rue grimaced as she stood in Godo's study. He wanted her to go out with a contingent of men to the front-bloody-lines in an attempt to push Shinra back even further. Rue had already pointed out that members of SOLDIER would undoubtedly be there, but Godo had pulled the 'but Sephiroth isn't' card that she'd kinda known he would. It was true, Sephiroth was currently fighting in another area and if they moved now she could help the Wutian troops push the line back a mile or two before they even called the 'Silver Demon' back to the front. Rue wasn't entirely convinced, but then Godo pulled out his last play.
"If you do this, Avatar, I will award your bravery with a place here in my court, a title, and, of course, another Water Bending scroll," he pulled his last carrot out of his desk and placed it on the desk between them. Rue glared at the man, he was still trying to bribe her. Six bloody months, and he hadn't learnt anything from all the Wusheng had undoubtedly told him about her from her training.
"I'll do it, but not for you, or your little carrots you're trying to tempt me with," she growled at him. Rue leaned down against the desk, both hands on the wooden surface as she kept a steady eye contact with the Wutain Emperor. "I'll do it for Yuffie, because, even if you don't get it, at least she treats me like a person, not a weapon," she told him quietly.
Rue stormed from the study some time later looking furious. She was really going to fucking murder Godo for this shit.
AN: Aaaaand first Training Montage is now DONE! Whoop!
Unfortunately no Bonus Scene this time, I couldn't think of anything that would add to the chapter that I'm not going to be covering later.
This chapter is shorter than the last, I was running out of idea's for little snippits so I figured I should just bite the bullet and get the training out of the way so the plot can come back and play some more.
OH. MY. GOD. Next chapter. YES.
1.11 is the chapter I've been waiting to write for months now and it's going to be so hard and fun and ffffffffff-LOL to write.
Also, I didn't realise last chapter, but this fic has actually reached 50K words! Holy shit! When the hell did that happen?
This is officially my longest fan work ever and the fact that I'm still going strong with it is amazing.
As always Reviews, Faves and Alerts are appreciated beyond words!
Till next time~
RLK