Test Your Strength

[John Silver]

Silver’s cybernetic eye flickers to a orange tint as Gourmand’s voice rumbles from behind him. Silver wasn’t to keen about the warlord ever since that disaster that happened in the old barn involving the lions plus what he heard about what went down during the last training session from Zamora and others there. Silver’s cybernetic arm whirls as it switches gears into his gun and promptly fired a shot at the ground right smack in front of Gourmand.

“Looks like you and I are the only ones without a sparring partner? Let’s see how ye fair against this Ol’ cyborg?” The ursid sneers


“That sounds like a good plan. Best of luck to you, friend.”

The large bear nods “and to you” a moment later the giant rears up into his hind legs as the unicorn charged at his flank and back, body shifting to hopefully move out of the way of the charging unicorn. A massive paw shoots out aimed to cuff Nikolai in the side as he would pass by.

[The Gourmand]

Anga leaned back, lifting their head up in confusion. They obviously had no idea what the dog’s play bow was supposed to mean. But they did understand the words.

“Yeah, okay.”

Conversation was not the hyena’s strongest suit. They took right to their species’s own body language, and this was universal; Anga sneered, leveling their head with their shoulders and bringing their tail up straight. Aggression.

Truth be told, Anga thought the hound dog was the only one around they might stand a chance against. They set to try and make the dog nervous, then take a bite once the twitches exposed a weakness. It was how the clan drove other animals off their kills. It was all about standing your ground. Anga started to push forward, but a weird sound distracted them. They saw the fire from the gun and blinked; now they knew they didn’t stand a chance against the others here.

~*~

The Gourmand seemed fairly occupied digging what he’d brought out from the seat of his pod.

“I can hardly remember the last time I’ve used these. Did you know I--”

The ground below his machine exploded, creating a noise that drowned him out and threw dirt and rocks up to his level. However, since his pod floated, the impact to the ground below hardly left it or its occupant any worse for wear. Now thoroughly agitated, the beast continued in silence, and locked a large oval-shaped shield made of what appeared to be a glimmering white metal onto his left wrist. Made from the same material, a helmet with a row of narrow spines decorating the skull appeared and was placed on his head.

Crimson eyes stood out starkly against the white brim of the helmet.

“If you could kindly refrain from interrupting me again.”

With a burst of what had to be great physical strength, he used his arms to swing himself over the edge of his pod. He dropped to the ground shortly after, revealing that there was a sheath held at his right side. Sure, he was immobile without assistance, but he was also more than a match even standing in one place.

Bringing his left arm up, the cut through the royal insignia on the shield caught the sun. In a sudden movement, he unsheathed the white metal sword and held it at his side. There was a small blue crystal right at its tip.

“Where was I?” he asked coyly, “Did you know, I used to be an Atlantian royal guard?”

It sounded like the Gourmand was just making idle talk with Silver, but his body language betrayed something else completely; he bent his left arm to place the shield in front of his body and lifted the blade over his head -- he was ready, elated, for a fight.

“I could have been captain of the guard, in fact.”

[John Silver]

“If you could kindly refrain from interrupting me again.”

The ex pirate only raises a brow as the warlord continues his chatter now moving out of the floating pod much to John delight as he was eager to see his battle style outside of the damn tin clam of his.


“Where was I?” he asked coyly, “Did you know, I used to be an Atlantian royal guard?”

“That so? I am a knight for he queen where I’m from” chin tips upwards for a brief moment motioning to the vast sky. Two toned eyes looking to the heavens as he sucks in a breath, taking in the crisp air

“I could have been captain of the guard, in fact.”

“Then why aren’t yeh?” Silver’s arm whirls and clicks with a mechanical hum as the gears turn and he switches to his sword which glints for a moment in the light as he raises his arm and launched forward with a thrusting motion

[Copper]

Copper gave a small twitch of an ear when the hyena gave no response at all to his playful invite. Instead of feeling miffed, or assuming Anga didn’t care, Copper just figured the kid wanted to get right to it. Anga’s next move of lowering their head and baring their fangs just added to Copper’s guess. Sure. He could roll with that no problem. Chief had never really been one to play either so Copper was used to this. It was familiar and he could slip right into the role it left open for him.

Pulling himself upright once more, Copper bared his own teeth and let a low growl rumble in his chest. If the kid wanted to jump right in, Copper could follow just fine. The sound of the gunfire barely even fazed the hunting dog and when the hyena turned to look, Copper took the moment as an opening and jumped forward to shove his weight into Anga’s side. Even though Anga was younger, at least by a little, he was still a good deal bigger than Copper, so while Copper was sure he would catch them off guard, running straight into them hadn’t exactly felt nice.

“Don’t look away. You leave yourself open.” Copper said as he jumped back away from them. Giving them time to right themself if his shove had happened to knock them off their feet.

[The Gourmand]

Anga felt the blow, severely startling them. Their response came right from the brainstem -- they whipped their head around and snapped. They hadn’t even thought about it. Wild hyena life was rough and other predators hated your guts; quick reactions were the difference between life and death. Anga bit before they even started to steady themselves.

Once Anga had stood up fully again, they seemed to realize what they did. It occurred to them that it might be worth an apology, but Anga decided not to say anything. This was to be expected, right? They were supposed to be training. Besides, Anga didn’t really feel like they bit into anything.

They went right back to it. They jumped to one side, hoping to fake the hound dog out, before quickly changing course and charging from the other side. Instead of using their jaws, which Anga was now abundantly aware could do major harm, they lowered their neck and went for a headbutt instead.

After all, seriously injuring your own ally would be stupid.

~*~

“You’re still a slave, I see.”

The Gourmand made his tone free of pity. He tried to keep his response neutral, but the culmination of all his life experiences resulted in him being unable to disassociate serving the crown with abuse. Certainly he worked to liberate the ones who suffered, but those who willingly helped the oppressors, especially if they were aware the system was unfair, the Gourmand felt no desire to save. The warlord hadn’t decided yet which one Silver was.

The shield rose to the Gourmand’s front, deflecting the opposing blade quite handily. He smiled slightly, reflecting that with all the cool offensive weapons around, things like shields were terribly underrated. He would put his to good use. The Gourmand responded, swinging down with the heavy white sword, but pointedly aiming far to the right to avoid actually making contact.

“Prejudice,” he responded simply to why he’d never become captain of the guard, “Your prospects of getting a good lot in life are low when you look like I do. I’m a bit too far past the line between merfolk and monster you see.”