Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2010 8:52:52 GMT -6
*Lower Ring - Underground HQ*
...It still wasn't enough, was it ? It was getting tiresome and annoying. Having to repeat the same moves, over and over, time after time, failure after failure. The young man didn't even feel like he was getting any better at this. Everytime he managed to correct a mistake, another one appeared, and while trying to fixing this one, an older one that was supposedly corrected simply jammed the whole thing, and he was forced to do it again... Joychi didn't understand what was going on, what the problem was.
But the problem was very obvious. He was tired and on edge. Being tired made his moves less accurate and steady than they should have been, and being on edge made him lose focus of what moves he was supposed to make, or how he was supposed to make them. Moreover, his earthen gear was becoming less efficient as he lost energy. The soles would crumble on the ground while he slid, or the gloves would stop sticking to his hands while he was hanging on the wall in mid-air. It was getting less and less manageable as time passed, even though Joychi was giving it his best. But he was not a Dai-Li agent, he didn't think about himself or the organization while doing this but about their goals and the task that had been given to him regarding them. The greater good. This was the very reason he kept trying despite becoming a real mess.
When nightfall came, he let himself fall on the ground, amidst the ruins of the wall he inadvertently destroyed so many times. He felt so tired and hungry, having practiced almost all day long. He hadn't even done his prayer, so focused as he was. But now the Lieutenant was a bit too tired to stand up and create the monument to which he'd pray. His breath was so heavy he wondered if his lungs weren't at their limit - it would be very pathetic to die of choking right here just because he overtrained and his lungs gave up. His eyes were staring at the sky, not thinking about anything other than what he'd learnt today. His mind was retracing his steps through the day, the moves and skills he'd learnt and practiced...
"I present my... self to... your service..." He began praying. "I devote my life to your... care, I vow my soul to... being your might..." Joychi was now attempting to strengthen his body for more practice by using his faith. But it was hard to pray coherently while panting like this. He quickly realized that, and that there was no solution to this problem as well. He really did need to rest a little... and to eat. Maybe now was the time to think about himself more than the greater good. The dark-skinned man joined his hands like when bowing and finished that prayer in his mind, eyes closed and breath almost still.
Once that was done, he rolled on his stomach and pushed himself standing. The strength in his legs was not all gone, but he still had trouble walking straight while moving towards the other end of the alley, opposite of where the girls were training. His first objective right now was to eat, so that he could rest afterwards and get better. This kind of training was not the kind where he would have time to think of something else - like feeding, for example. As he exited the alley, he began wandering a bit in the streets... and got lost.
Two hours later, a much better Joychi came back into the alley. He seemed to be standing on his two feet rather well, and his strength seemed to have come back, for the most part. But he didn't seem to be doing very well, despite now having a better form. While he'd gotten lost during this time of wandering, the Lieutenant had run into one of those charity food places. Of course, it cost him a copper piece, but at least now his energy was back, and he wasn't tired anymore - if a bit disgusted by the bland taste of the food. At any rate, he was back full force.
The first thing he did, once back into the alley, was create rock shoes and gloves to keep training. Afterwards, he thought about the moves and recommendations he'd been given by Long Feng and repeated the movements with his limbs, though without moving or Earthbending. He did this several times, without leaving this spot, before deciding he was ready to try again. With a stomp of both feet, he created another wall behind him, and immediately swung his arms backwards to slide across the ground, since his stance was taken the moment he stomped the ground. From what he could feel there was no obvious problem with his movement or trajectory. Even when he stopped and turned round, the motion was still good. And when he stopped in front of the wall to look back at the ground, he was almost surprised, but especially glad, that it was still as... dirty as it was before he slid.
Just to be sure, he performed that twice again. There would be no relying on luck when he'd have to teach the other men. Fortunately for him, it wasn't luck that allowed him to do it right, as the other two attempts were a success as well. Upon coming back towards the wall, Joychi jumped forward and stuck to the wall, without breaking it or fissuring it too much - just a little around his toes and fingertips due to the rock sticking to rock. Checking his stability and position, the Lieutenant proceeded with scaling that wall, and sliding down. For this one, he didn't need to try it again, because he'd already been quite aware of how it worked. As long as the gloves remained and his jump didn't break the wall, he would be alright... hopefully.
While stuck in mid-air, an idea suddenly crossed his mind. Although he'd never clearly seen the Dai-Li do it, he knew they could slide along walls like they could slide across the ground. What a prowess it would be for him if he actually managed to imitate them, without Long Feng even teaching him ! But doing it right away, as he had only just mastered sliding across the ground... that was a little bit reckless, and maybe even a waste of time. Still, Joychi felt confident at the moment, that's why he wanted to at least study how it worked. So he slid down to the ground and pictured it in his mind.
'Sliding along the wall. That means moving along the wall while sticking to it... Unlike sliding down, where it's easy to let gravity take me down, this time I have to maintain a straight trajectory..' The Lieutenant thought while examining the wall, stroking his chin with his rocky finger. His eyes were looking from one edge of the wall to the other, trying to imagine the distance in between being the ground, and somebody sliding across it... But gravity seemed to- "Wait ! Maintaining a trajectory, I can do that !" He told himself excitedly, rising his finger.
The young man then positioned himself right in front of the wall, literally at its feet, in horse stance. Then he stomped the ground and struck the wall with both palms at the same time, before making the motion of pulling upwards. This made the bit of ground he was standing on slide up across the wall, supporting his weight. Being lifted from the ground while still standing sparked a feeling of excitement in the young man, believing he was only inches away from performing the wall sliding technique. "I just need to behave like the platform I'm standing on, and it will work." He told himself while the platform reached the top.
He looked at the wall on his sides. Both of them were long enough for him to try, and probably solid enough that even a mistake bending his gloves to them wouldn't bring them down... Still, he decided to try on the other building, preferring to avoid the risk of accidentally crushing some of the Underground members... After a deep breath, Joychi launched himself against the building's wall and stuck to it with fingertips and toes. That was one thing done. Now remember what Long Feng said: push with the right arm, keep legs implanted, steer with body. Though this time he'd also need to use his left hand to manage the balance.
'There I go.' The young man thought while moving his left leg upwards, then letting go of the wall with both hands and swinging his right arm back. This had the desired effect of moving in a straight line at fast pace, but he had to clench his fist as hard as possible to handle the balance problem. He didn't know gravity was so hard to handle while moving in mid-air - except when "flying" or just jumping in a direction, but those didn't count. At one point, after he crossed almost the same distance as on the ground, his left shoe gave in to the unstable balance and he fell to the ground, rolling on a few feet. Thanks to his reflex of softening the earth enough before impact, no harm had been done, even though he was now a bit dirty. Nevermind that, as the young Lieutenant lifted his eyes to look at his deed, he became very glad and proud to see a long trail of dust going from the wall to his location. This was not perfect, but at least he'd managed to develop this skill on his own. There was a wide smile across his face... right before he collapsed and his earthen gear crumbled to pieces. It had been a good day.
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