Jul 31, 2022 17:02:44 GMT -5
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Post by cayenne on Jul 31, 2022 17:02:44 GMT -5
"I'm not hot enough." Such a confident declaration caught the Saiyan off-guard, fumbling for words as they tried to phrase a reply. "What?" That was the best they could do, but alas, the bewildered question only elicited a sharp nod. "That's precisely the issue. Or, I'd assume so. Not like I can really ask advice from any Saiyans unless they've been holding out on me." Tercres looked genuinely baffled as Cayenne continued, staring at the redhead strangely. "And... being hot is important to...?" The Elite smashed her fist into an open palm, smirking. "Advancing my technique!" The guardsman would slowly nod, pretending to understand. "Right. OK. I mean, I've always thought you look... good?"
"Huh?"
"What?"
"What does THAT have to do with anything??" It was Cayenne's turn to look confused, crossing her arms and demanding an explanation with her piercing stare. "Is that not you what meant when you said hot?" Rusty cogs struggled to spin as Cayenne's brain worked hard to process the situation. "Oh. No, of course not! I mean like the flame things I sometimes do!" She swung her arm wide, powering up briefly to form a fiery aura. The motion spat some hissing flames free from the woman's body, but the embers quickly fizzled out afterward. "Yeah, that makes more sense," Nodding to himself confidently, Tercres continued: "And... let's not speak of that previous part again." It earned a predatorial stare from the Elite before she suddenly shrugged. "Whatever you say, bub."
"So this was supposed to be for some sort of technique-?" The attempt to change the topic was graciously permitted as Cayenne shot him a thumbs up. "Right. My Accel Driver-" She'd pause to jab at the open air to demonstrate. "-Obviously makes contact with people. And apparently, the whole flaming aura thing is not a Saiyan thing. Means it is either a human quirk or a Cayenne quirk, either way, I should use it. From stringent tests that would leave Luffa appalled at our scientific rigor, I discovered that getting any fire on someone else benefits me. Doesn't actually burn, but I guess it attacks their energy directly? Makes it harder to use Ki back at me." She wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but the vague explanation was that it simply smothered the opponent's Ki before it could be harnessed and utilized.
The apparent connection was somehow purposefully integrating these bouts of fire into her attacks. Cayenne vaguely heard of aura wrapping or aura sliding before, but she'd yet to meet a Saiyan that goes beyond surface level on most of their techniques. Braccus was an exception, but the king was already busy training her and favored a more distanced combat style. "Honestly, I have no idea how to go about this beyond the theoretical basics. Weaponizing an aura... man, it SOUNDS cool." After all, auras were essentially a sloppy byproduct. Excess Ki leaking from the body. The larger and more ferocious, the less efficient a form or power-boosting technique was. "You have a good place to train?" While Braccus might've not been available, the king did make it clear she was free to use K-OH herself for personal growth. "Yeah, I do." Would it please the king to know she was training on her off time, or would it be what was EXPECTED but not explicitly said when he took her in as a temporary apprentice?
"Alright, you corroded rust-snorting battery-charging crack-stepping two-bit bot, I'm back!" K-OH seemed wholly unimpressed. Then again, it never seemed impressed either. Instead, it simply stood, patiently waiting for Cayenne to start the session as it had before. "Last time you dealt with my new and improved Lucora Gun! ...Though I see your plating got buffed out already." The small scorch marks, while insignificant, made Cayenne proud. It made sense that the plate would either be cleaned or removed after the other day, but it still upset the Earthling. "Heh. By the end of this, they'll need more than some washcloths to get you looking pretty again!" Why was she taunting a soulless machine that quite literally couldn't understand it? It was fun, mostly. One of these days, she'd see about getting a personality matrix installed in it, WITH Braccus' permission of course, to give her partner some of that rustic Saiyan charm she missed in flesh and blood sparring partners.
"Defense mode!" Cayenne was here to test a theory against someone - or, more accurately, something - of high battle power that wouldn't mind getting bonked over and over. K-OH's defense mode would ensure no lasting damage would come to the bot while she worked and remove the tiny issue of it fighting back and kicking her ass during the process. Confident the training dummy had turned into the world's most expensive punching bag, Cayenne went to peel up the upper layers of her battle suit. The sweatshirt, gloves, and helmet were tossed to the side, leaving only her armor and modesty-preserving undershirt. The soldier wasn't sure if the flaming particles got stuffed by her clothing or not, and fighting without it seemed like the smart way to start.
Weights were still strapped to her wrists and sandwiched betwixt her armor, Braccus insisting that wearing them as much as she was physically capable would see significant benefits. Cayenne shot forward, falling into an easy rhythm of stringed melee attacks, flowing one into another as K-Oh kept pace. The robot blocked each and every attack, mercifully never going for a counter as the woman warmed up. Not only would this exercise shake off any rust, but it'd also give a good comparison point to whether or not her attempts at harnessing aura flame later were successful and if it actually mattered. Her mind wandered back to Luffa, having stopped by to visit the scientist before committing to her training to ask for advice. She had helped with the simple but practical idea of precision bullets, and her opinion on trying to work aura had been invaluable.
"I don't believe it has anything to do with your current temperature. You've already observed that stray flames do not burn as natural ones would. The absence of true heat suggests it is similar to fire in visuality only and thus could have a very different ruleset on how it ignites and stays lit. If this strange energy is present in your aura, it is surely possible that your body is produced it whenever you utilize Ki. Therefore you should not even need to weaponize your aura as much as you need to grasp how to purposefully create and control this energy."
Cayenne stroked her chin as if deep in thought. "Yes, of course. That makes sense." Well, most of it did, anyway. The gist was that her excess energy had the flame, so the power within her did too. Her Ki never felt odd. Why would it? Cayenne would've simply adapted to think it was normal if this was some natural phenomenon. Trying to figure out what part was the special goodie she was after would prove exceedingly difficult. "Do you have any tips on how to go about this? Even knowing what the cause is, I still don't feel or see anything different."
"Well..." The scientist adjusted her goggles, mind combing over possibilities. "The closest comparison I can think of is when soldiers are taught how to master the Oozaru. The genetic code and energy for the form are stored solely in a Saiyan's tail and require a kickstart of blutz waves in order to react. From what I have observed, many Saiyans do not feel anything strange in their latent Ki even when they can tap into Oozaru. When first sparked, however, in the transitory phase between man and ape, the difference reveals itself."
"So they only know once it's already happening?" Cayenne's brow furrowed, a bit let down by the news. She'd still be flailing in the dark and trying random things, hoping to strike gold and also hoping she'd be able to fully recognize what caused it. "The same is true for most forms, I presume. Your own ability to freely quadruple your battle power. It was instinctually triggered, was it not? And after the first time, it took long months of practice to fully grasp how to activate it." Yet the critical difference between a transformation and a technique was one multiplied your power while the other made you slightly more adept in combat. Devoting any serious length of time equivalent to learning a form for a technique improvement seemed to be a waste of time.
"Ultimately, the decision falls to you. There is much to consider. I will say that you've shown no hint of any new form since your first, and your techniques still lack skill, as many Saiyans do. Making these improvements in your downtime will have cascading results on the battlefield, no matter how minor and long the improvement took you." Luffa had a point. It wasn't like she had anything better to do beyond working past this buffer zone of power. Cayenne had never been one to shirk a challenge in her youth, and she refused to start doing so now.
Cayenne's methodology was much less flashy than last time. She simply worked. Practicing the same set of motions over and over and over. The day went by, white sun inching across the sky and slowly fading into a haze of purple miasma as night began to blanket the city. Something was stirring in her through the repeated attempts, bloody bandaged knuckles aching as the soldier pushed on. The time came to give it a rest, Cayenne leaving the K-OH unsuccessful but undeterred. An overnight application of healing gel and a good rest was all it took for her to be in proper form come the morning.
Day two. Tiny flickers of orangish-red accompanied her combo by the end of her training.
Day three. Flare-ups were rare, but much more grandiose than before. For now, it was simply a light show.
Day four. Lunch with Luffa and Tercres, half a day's time relaxing before jumping back into the thick of things. Not much progress.
Day seven. Cayenne was silent as she trained. Muscles glistening with sweat, eyes partially bloodshot, mind focused solely on the task at hand. She had started to get a knack for the strange feeling of her fire. A warm, slippery grasp that melted away before she could latch on. Bit by bit, her grip improved. By now, the thousands of repetitions had trained her arms to act like machines, capable of performing the full string of attacks blinded. "Reset." Cayenne's voice was coarse, run dry by saying the same thing an impossible number of times in a row. K-OH obeyed, moving to the middle of the training field and awaiting her next move. Having long since run out of stupid robot insults and bad jokes to lighten the mood, Cayenne grunted as she adjusted her stance, sapphire eyes staring intently at the machine.
Punch. Kick. Elbow. Sweep. Each strike flared her power, traces of embers flying from the impact. "Reset." Again she went, concentrating with all her might to pull forth the strength. "Reset." It came like a burst dam. A flood of Ki-induced flames ignited on Cayenne's body, crackling with hostile intent as her next blocked blow left behind a pocket of angry embers. K-OH's combat programming seemed confused by the new development, the droid's temporary power slightly fading enough for the Elite's next attack to hit uncontested. At once, the movements stopped, Cayenne blinking incredulously and looking down at her glowing body with a widening smile. "That wasn't too bad, was it?" A crooked, tired laugh peeled from her lips as the Earthling fell to a sitting position. The tug of inner fire remained, tiny and dormant, but present nonetheless. In the future, she could see about trying to apply it to ranged techniques... but for now, Cayenne was content to bask in her personal victory.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"What does THAT have to do with anything??" It was Cayenne's turn to look confused, crossing her arms and demanding an explanation with her piercing stare. "Is that not you what meant when you said hot?" Rusty cogs struggled to spin as Cayenne's brain worked hard to process the situation. "Oh. No, of course not! I mean like the flame things I sometimes do!" She swung her arm wide, powering up briefly to form a fiery aura. The motion spat some hissing flames free from the woman's body, but the embers quickly fizzled out afterward. "Yeah, that makes more sense," Nodding to himself confidently, Tercres continued: "And... let's not speak of that previous part again." It earned a predatorial stare from the Elite before she suddenly shrugged. "Whatever you say, bub."
"So this was supposed to be for some sort of technique-?" The attempt to change the topic was graciously permitted as Cayenne shot him a thumbs up. "Right. My Accel Driver-" She'd pause to jab at the open air to demonstrate. "-Obviously makes contact with people. And apparently, the whole flaming aura thing is not a Saiyan thing. Means it is either a human quirk or a Cayenne quirk, either way, I should use it. From stringent tests that would leave Luffa appalled at our scientific rigor, I discovered that getting any fire on someone else benefits me. Doesn't actually burn, but I guess it attacks their energy directly? Makes it harder to use Ki back at me." She wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but the vague explanation was that it simply smothered the opponent's Ki before it could be harnessed and utilized.
The apparent connection was somehow purposefully integrating these bouts of fire into her attacks. Cayenne vaguely heard of aura wrapping or aura sliding before, but she'd yet to meet a Saiyan that goes beyond surface level on most of their techniques. Braccus was an exception, but the king was already busy training her and favored a more distanced combat style. "Honestly, I have no idea how to go about this beyond the theoretical basics. Weaponizing an aura... man, it SOUNDS cool." After all, auras were essentially a sloppy byproduct. Excess Ki leaking from the body. The larger and more ferocious, the less efficient a form or power-boosting technique was. "You have a good place to train?" While Braccus might've not been available, the king did make it clear she was free to use K-OH herself for personal growth. "Yeah, I do." Would it please the king to know she was training on her off time, or would it be what was EXPECTED but not explicitly said when he took her in as a temporary apprentice?
"Alright, you corroded rust-snorting battery-charging crack-stepping two-bit bot, I'm back!" K-OH seemed wholly unimpressed. Then again, it never seemed impressed either. Instead, it simply stood, patiently waiting for Cayenne to start the session as it had before. "Last time you dealt with my new and improved Lucora Gun! ...Though I see your plating got buffed out already." The small scorch marks, while insignificant, made Cayenne proud. It made sense that the plate would either be cleaned or removed after the other day, but it still upset the Earthling. "Heh. By the end of this, they'll need more than some washcloths to get you looking pretty again!" Why was she taunting a soulless machine that quite literally couldn't understand it? It was fun, mostly. One of these days, she'd see about getting a personality matrix installed in it, WITH Braccus' permission of course, to give her partner some of that rustic Saiyan charm she missed in flesh and blood sparring partners.
"Defense mode!" Cayenne was here to test a theory against someone - or, more accurately, something - of high battle power that wouldn't mind getting bonked over and over. K-OH's defense mode would ensure no lasting damage would come to the bot while she worked and remove the tiny issue of it fighting back and kicking her ass during the process. Confident the training dummy had turned into the world's most expensive punching bag, Cayenne went to peel up the upper layers of her battle suit. The sweatshirt, gloves, and helmet were tossed to the side, leaving only her armor and modesty-preserving undershirt. The soldier wasn't sure if the flaming particles got stuffed by her clothing or not, and fighting without it seemed like the smart way to start.
Weights were still strapped to her wrists and sandwiched betwixt her armor, Braccus insisting that wearing them as much as she was physically capable would see significant benefits. Cayenne shot forward, falling into an easy rhythm of stringed melee attacks, flowing one into another as K-Oh kept pace. The robot blocked each and every attack, mercifully never going for a counter as the woman warmed up. Not only would this exercise shake off any rust, but it'd also give a good comparison point to whether or not her attempts at harnessing aura flame later were successful and if it actually mattered. Her mind wandered back to Luffa, having stopped by to visit the scientist before committing to her training to ask for advice. She had helped with the simple but practical idea of precision bullets, and her opinion on trying to work aura had been invaluable.
"I don't believe it has anything to do with your current temperature. You've already observed that stray flames do not burn as natural ones would. The absence of true heat suggests it is similar to fire in visuality only and thus could have a very different ruleset on how it ignites and stays lit. If this strange energy is present in your aura, it is surely possible that your body is produced it whenever you utilize Ki. Therefore you should not even need to weaponize your aura as much as you need to grasp how to purposefully create and control this energy."
Cayenne stroked her chin as if deep in thought. "Yes, of course. That makes sense." Well, most of it did, anyway. The gist was that her excess energy had the flame, so the power within her did too. Her Ki never felt odd. Why would it? Cayenne would've simply adapted to think it was normal if this was some natural phenomenon. Trying to figure out what part was the special goodie she was after would prove exceedingly difficult. "Do you have any tips on how to go about this? Even knowing what the cause is, I still don't feel or see anything different."
"Well..." The scientist adjusted her goggles, mind combing over possibilities. "The closest comparison I can think of is when soldiers are taught how to master the Oozaru. The genetic code and energy for the form are stored solely in a Saiyan's tail and require a kickstart of blutz waves in order to react. From what I have observed, many Saiyans do not feel anything strange in their latent Ki even when they can tap into Oozaru. When first sparked, however, in the transitory phase between man and ape, the difference reveals itself."
"So they only know once it's already happening?" Cayenne's brow furrowed, a bit let down by the news. She'd still be flailing in the dark and trying random things, hoping to strike gold and also hoping she'd be able to fully recognize what caused it. "The same is true for most forms, I presume. Your own ability to freely quadruple your battle power. It was instinctually triggered, was it not? And after the first time, it took long months of practice to fully grasp how to activate it." Yet the critical difference between a transformation and a technique was one multiplied your power while the other made you slightly more adept in combat. Devoting any serious length of time equivalent to learning a form for a technique improvement seemed to be a waste of time.
"Ultimately, the decision falls to you. There is much to consider. I will say that you've shown no hint of any new form since your first, and your techniques still lack skill, as many Saiyans do. Making these improvements in your downtime will have cascading results on the battlefield, no matter how minor and long the improvement took you." Luffa had a point. It wasn't like she had anything better to do beyond working past this buffer zone of power. Cayenne had never been one to shirk a challenge in her youth, and she refused to start doing so now.
Cayenne's methodology was much less flashy than last time. She simply worked. Practicing the same set of motions over and over and over. The day went by, white sun inching across the sky and slowly fading into a haze of purple miasma as night began to blanket the city. Something was stirring in her through the repeated attempts, bloody bandaged knuckles aching as the soldier pushed on. The time came to give it a rest, Cayenne leaving the K-OH unsuccessful but undeterred. An overnight application of healing gel and a good rest was all it took for her to be in proper form come the morning.
Day two. Tiny flickers of orangish-red accompanied her combo by the end of her training.
Day three. Flare-ups were rare, but much more grandiose than before. For now, it was simply a light show.
Day four. Lunch with Luffa and Tercres, half a day's time relaxing before jumping back into the thick of things. Not much progress.
Day seven. Cayenne was silent as she trained. Muscles glistening with sweat, eyes partially bloodshot, mind focused solely on the task at hand. She had started to get a knack for the strange feeling of her fire. A warm, slippery grasp that melted away before she could latch on. Bit by bit, her grip improved. By now, the thousands of repetitions had trained her arms to act like machines, capable of performing the full string of attacks blinded. "Reset." Cayenne's voice was coarse, run dry by saying the same thing an impossible number of times in a row. K-OH obeyed, moving to the middle of the training field and awaiting her next move. Having long since run out of stupid robot insults and bad jokes to lighten the mood, Cayenne grunted as she adjusted her stance, sapphire eyes staring intently at the machine.
Punch. Kick. Elbow. Sweep. Each strike flared her power, traces of embers flying from the impact. "Reset." Again she went, concentrating with all her might to pull forth the strength. "Reset." It came like a burst dam. A flood of Ki-induced flames ignited on Cayenne's body, crackling with hostile intent as her next blocked blow left behind a pocket of angry embers. K-OH's combat programming seemed confused by the new development, the droid's temporary power slightly fading enough for the Elite's next attack to hit uncontested. At once, the movements stopped, Cayenne blinking incredulously and looking down at her glowing body with a widening smile. "That wasn't too bad, was it?" A crooked, tired laugh peeled from her lips as the Earthling fell to a sitting position. The tug of inner fire remained, tiny and dormant, but present nonetheless. In the future, she could see about trying to apply it to ranged techniques... but for now, Cayenne was content to bask in her personal victory.
TWC: 2,002
WEALTHY: +10% Zeni
TRAINING GEAR (PL): +75% from Super Weighted Clothing | +25% from Training Dummy | +10% from Pre-Workout Mix (3/10)
ROOKIE BONUS: +65% PL
TECH: Using this thread to learn my approved upgrade; [T1O1] Heated Accel Driver
WEALTHY: +10% Zeni
TRAINING GEAR (PL): +75% from Super Weighted Clothing | +25% from Training Dummy | +10% from Pre-Workout Mix (3/10)
ROOKIE BONUS: +65% PL
TECH: Using this thread to learn my approved upgrade; [T1O1] Heated Accel Driver
