Chapter 9.
First Time For Everything, Part 2.
Rhuba was insistent not to learn how to fly. Assuming that she was just put off by the prospect of failure and the embarrassment that comes with it, Garagus planned out a series of tests to prove that she can fly without her having to worry about falling.
He took her to a canyon of spiring plateaus. Below was a sheet of white snow, and going by how flat it was, both guessed it was a bed of ice under there.
"Do you think it'll thaw in the summer?" Rhuba asked as she took a seat across from him up top one of the plateaus.
"Don't distract from our goal."
"This is Your goal, I don't wanna be here!"
Garagus ignored her complaints and instead asked her to follow his lead. "Do you understand how I fly?"
"of course not." Rhuba sighed, looking at him bored.
"Let me rephrase that." Garagus elaborated by saying that although he can fly, he cannot fly as a bird does. It's very different methods being used. "You understand a bird in flight?"
"Sure. He flaps his wings, and he flies." Rhuba let out a sigh, desperate for him to get to the point so she can get this over with.
"Watch me, Rhuba." Garagus balanced himself in a cross-legged position. With some focus and balance, his body lifted from the ground. Rhuba was blown away almost quite literally by it, but she still failed to see the point this demonstration.
"I don't flap my arms. I use a power you're already familiar with." Putting his feet down, Garagus stood tall above her. "Rhuba, knock me off the edge. Right now, with one hard punch."
Rhuba hopped to her feet and dusted herself off before approaching him. He didn't take a battle stance, but she expected some sort of retaliation. This is training to her, so she approached him like an enemy.
"Oof, eh, hehe." Garagus took a hard hit to the gut. He was forced back slightly, but he simply stepped back up to the mark. "The punch didn't work, did it?"
"You asked me to do it in one. I can't."
"Sure. So why not try pushing me this time?" Garagus again took a relaxed stance as he waited for contact.
Rhuba grappled him and began shoving him nearer the edge before his feet slipped away. Garagus dropped a few feet but floated back up.
"Very good."
"How does this help me fly?" Rhuba asked.
"Punching and Pushing. Both exert energy, but are utilised differently." Garagus affirmed. "Now, do as I do." He stretched out a hand and fired off a small blast across the canyon. It dissipated before hitting anything, as it was only meant for a demonstration.
"Hmph." Rhuba also put out a hand. Her blast wave was equal to his but hit a far off cliff which caused some boulders to tumble below in a dust cloud.
"Very good. Consider that, a non-contact punch." Garagus told her. "But the next-." Both their attention was caught by the sudden rumble of falling rocks only just reaching them. It was louder than expected.
Garagus turned to her. He'd forgotten what he was about to say because of the noise, which annoyed Rhuba.
"I could be sitting in a warm spring right now instead of freezing my tits off standing here."
"…Next." Garagus sat cross-legged across from her and gestured for her to copy. "We're going to practice control."
Rhuba hissed at the cold snow under her legs. "We couldn't do this at the village?"
"This next part is dangerous. One mistake and someone could get hurt." Garagus held his hands together, focusing a small ball of energy as he often prepares for his Hail Storm attack.
Rhuba leaned away, but it never fired.
"Focus your mind on this light, Rhuba." Garagus instructed. "no, focus your spirit on the light. Put out your arms, and try to hold it back without touching it."
"huh?"
"I'm going to slowly push it forward. I want you to hold it off until it vanishes."
Energy blasts can travel at the speed of light, but most only travel as fast as they're thrown. Unless they come into contact with something, they'll maintain their form for as long as they can self-sustain.
After Rhuba aimed both hands at the light, Garagus gently pushed it forward towards her.
"Eh…" Rhuba tried to slow it down by thinking, but it wasn't working. "Heh..?" As it got closer, she felt more panicked. "No. NO!" She pulled one arm back and fired a blast of her own with the other.
When the two orbs collided, there was a sudden burst of energy that was perhaps more violent than either was hoping for.
"Well. You technically did what I asked." Garagus sighed as he produced another ball. "Just try to be less explosive this time."
"Wait, You do it." Rhuba pulled together her power and tossed a slow one at him.
Garagus had less time to prepare. Instead of stopping the oncoming blast, he deflected it without it even making contact. From Rhuba's point of view, it looked like he swished it away with a wave of his hand.
"Again." Garagus asked, with his hands out and ready this time.
This time when Rhuba fired. Not only did he slow the blast's trajectory to a halt, but even reversed it back on itself, just a bit slower.
"oh crap…" Rhuba put her hands out and tried to slow it like he did, but it came in contact before dissipating leaving painful burns on her bare hands.
"Here's the next one." Garagus said, lobbing another ball at her.
"no-Don't!" Too late. Rhuba's had zero time to ready herself and could only put her hands out to shield herself in time before the snowball smashed into her burning skin.
She just silently glared at him. But honestly, the snow was maybe a good idea.
"Say I pass this test. Where will that bring me?"
"If we can pass the light ball back and forth intuitively, it'll teach you about controlling your energy output."
"Those aren't words we'd use…" Rhuba accused with a daring smirk. "You're adapting Granate's terminology aren't you?"
"If it works it works. I can't even remember how I was taught." Garagus could remember he, his brother and friends being edged off a cliff into the sea. Fly, sink, or swim. "I don't even think I got lessons."
"Maybe you Alphas are just born with talent?" Rhuba suggested, still gently washing her hands in the cooling snow.
"Maybe." Garagus generated another light ball and started gently batting it between his left and right hands without it making contact.
Rhuba followed his actions with her eyes. His motions were so simple, but to copy them was so difficult.
"Want me to get you started?" Walking forward on his knees, Garagus gently handed the light to her and helped her bounce towards her other hand. "As if you're going to push it. Put more force than you normally would, but don't make contact."
Before reaching Rhuba's left hand, the ball of light was repelled off towards the sky.
"wow," Garagus chuckled after dodging at the last second. "too heavy, bring it back a little." He summoned another ball, and they tried again and again.
After an hour of freezing her tail off, Rhuba sighed with a tired yawn. She just watched the ball bounce back and forth between her hands hoping Garagus would do something to liven the exercise up a little, other than just adding more power to the next ball of energy.
"I think that's enough for today." He finally said.
"Thank god." Rhuba groaned as she shot to her feet and shook herself warm.
"Before we go back though, just try aiming your power at the ground."
"I can't even feel my toes, Garagus."
"Stop complaining. You've coped with worse."
Rhuba narrowed her eyes at him as she kicked her feet awake and cracked the knuckles in her hands. "Fine…" Rhuba pointed her hands to the ground and concentrated in pushing her power with them.
"I want you to imagine you're holding onto two railings. You're lifting yourself off the ground, with your feet hanging low. Think about how you want to position your arms, and how you want to balance yourself."
Rhuba nodded as she tried to visualise herself coming off the ground. But her feet felt rooted to the world below her, and she felt herself already getting annoyed. An hour of tedious games and what did she have to show for it?
Nothing.
"I don't think it's working, can I take a break?"
Garagus could hear the frustration and apathy in her voice, but he wasn't paying her any mind. His eyes were focused on the small frost particles blowing from her direction as she was emitting her power.
"Garagus." Rhuba called again, dropping all her efforts to try and get his attention.
"Hmm? You were doing good, why did you stop?"
"I was standing there like a moron. I didn't feel any lighter."
"You don't feel lighter, you just fly. The ship doesn't get lighter when it…" Garagus got an idea.
She needs validation. Something to confirm her efforts are working. And he knew how to get her the progress update she needs. "Come on, I'm going to take you back."
Rhuba was relieved to hear those words, but they sounded like they carried more to them than what she was hoping for. "What are you planning now?" She asked, walking into his open arms.
Holding onto Rhuba from behind, Garagus leapt from their training spot and began flying back to the ship.
It was a cold flight, not helped by the last hour of inactivity, baring a few hand motions and channelling small amounts of power.
When they arrived back at the ship, Rhuba felt torn between wanting to jump in the springs at the village, jumping into bed to hibernate, or jumping into a fight with Garagus. She felt like she'd worked her muscles up but hadn't had a chance to use them yet, so a fight would be nice and any of the three would warm her up, so she let him choose.
"I'm taking you up into space." He said when he got behind the control desk.
"Huh?" Rhuba turned for the airlock, but it shut just before she could flee. "No!" Her hands slammed against the hull. It would be simple to tear through the metal and escape, but doing so would strand them on this planet indefinitely.
The last place she wanted to be was space. She's never been outside the ship, but she's heard it's cold out there, and it Looks cold. "What are we doing then?" She demanded.
"I'm going to make you fly." He said with a grin.
"And how is that?" Rhuba asked as she darted to take her seat at his side.
Garagus kept his method to himself as he prepped for liftoff.
The engines kicked in and Rhuba was thrown against the backrest of her seat. It's not as thrilling as her usual seat that spins her wildly, but it was still exhilarating to be blasted forward towards an oncoming sky.
Garagus watched their gravity gauge go down as they gained distance from the planet below. He and Rhuba felt no change as the artificial gravity brought on by the ship was still set to that of the planet itself. But once they were free of the world's pull, Garagus directed Rhuba to stand against the back wall.
"I'm going to turn off the gravity in a minute, okay?" His voice started straight, but towards the end, he was starting to smile.
Even Rhuba was holding back laughter. "Okay." Rhuba cheered, preparing herself for the fun she was about to have.
Her first experience with zero gravity was a messy one, but since then she's learned to hold her stomach and actually enjoy floating about.
At the push of a button, the pair of them felt their weight disappear. Garagus's feet remained glued to the ground, Rhuba's however, slipped away from her the moment she tried to walk.
She failed to make traction on the floor and just started drifting across the bridge.
"hmph." Garagus held his hands behind his back as he moved over to her, using his own flying ability to steer and stop himself. "Are you enjoying this?" He asked, watching her curl up as she drifted past him. He grabbed her ankle and held her in place so she had zero noticeable momentum in any direction.
"Hold still for now. You're going to start flying, right this moment." Garagus moved over to the far side of the cabin and held out a hand to her. "Using the skills we just learned, put your hands behind you and push with your energy."
"It won't work. I can't fly." Rhuba sighed.
"Just please, give this your best shot. Come to me." He said with a pleading voice.
Rhuba looked at his outstretched hand. She'd rather he came to her so they could play in the gravity some more.
But if this works, it would make him happy. He'd be proud of her. And it would be nice if this wasn't a total waste of their time.
Rhuba reached to the far wall behind her and pushed. She shut her eyes and visualised herself on those bars Garagus described. Even though she was laying parallel to the floor, in space her ordination was relative only to where her feet were pointing.
So pushing 'down' with her hands should make her body rise 'up' towards Garagus, in theory at least.
Rhuba jolted awake when she felt his hands clasp around her face. She looked up to see him smiling. "You did it." He said proudly as he set her down on the floor beside him.
Rhuba looked back to where she was. She had in fact moved, and didn't even realise.
"Let's go to the other side, follow me." Garagus fell through the air towards the wall so easily. Rhuba kicked off the ground to get there first. "No no, that's cheating. Don't jump. Push, but don't make contact." Garagus reminded her before stopping himself in mid-flight. "I didn't need to touch any surface to slow down, you shouldn't need to touch one to start moving."
Rhuba stood herself on the wall, which to her had become the floor.
By pushing her hands up at Garagus, she was able to give herself the feeling of weight. Enough to walk along the wall without slipping away.
She failed to notice, however, that her actions were directly causing Garagus to drift away from her. But he was able to counterbalance himself.
For now, he was just watching her put what they'd learned into practice. Right now she's just walking, but the methods are still in use.
After stepping over the hallway, Rhuba looked up at Garagus before aiming down to the wall. Sure enough, this simple action caused her to start moving towards him now.
"Good, now aim at me to stop yourself." Garagus encouraged.
If there's any lingering doubt in her mind of what she is capable of, being able to stop mid trajectory will adequately break the laws of motion and surly prove once and for all that she is flight worthy.
"Rhuba stop!" He insisted, putting his hands out to the sides, hoping she'll be able to stop herself before they meet. "Rhuba…"
Instead of stopping, Rhuba just let herself collide and locked her legs around his waist as her arms held onto his.
"You were supposed to stop." He said, putting a hand out to stop them both drifting against the control panel.
"I just learned I can fly. How do you expect me to stop now?" Rhuba leaned in, meeting him halfway for a kiss.
Garagus knew she won't be able to fly on the planet's surface yet, as there is a huge difference between floating in still water and being able to swim upstream.
Rhuba has only just discovered she isn't made from stone, but she still needs to fight against the rapid currents that are Gravity if she wants to master it as he has.