Post by Empty on Sept 17, 2010 20:05:10 GMT -8
~ 1931: Speed 'Demon' ~
Loki carefully shifted his weight, thrusting forwards with a chambered punch; as it shot forwards however, their enemy a gaunt half goat, half daffodil dodged nimbly to the side. Had it not been for Verlassen's outstretched tail the creature would likely have gotten away, yet the nimble human form that they had taken was able to flick the tip of the tail upwards, catching at one hoof and changing the goat's dancing steps into a graceless tumble to the ground. Their meal never had the chance to recover before Loki was upon it, the clear gel costume that they wore bulked up into Gorilla proportions as they swept up the hollow in a great big bear hug before focusing Loki focused their reiatsu into their skin and released hundreds of sharp spikes from scales and gel alike - their pin-cushioned prey gave a violent spasm before falling still.
As they consumed their latest meal, Loki considered the fight - as he always did; they had once again emerged victorious, indeed it had been an easy victory all things considered. Most of the hollows that they encountered these days were far weaker than they themselves, as a result they had to eat more often. Once the difference in strength became clear the number of foes that decided to flee rather than attempt to fight them had increased drastically. Though their skills matched their power, Loki was troubled - he had recently been experimenting with keeping their power levels in line with those of their prey and had noticed one fact that was both startling and worrying; given that they relied so heavily on combating their opponent hand to hand, their ability to close the distance between them and their foes was paramount, yet Verlassen's speed was sorely lacking, even in their most speed orientated forms.
Pausing for a moment, Loki concentrated on the Gel encasing them - sending ripples through the substance as it quickly began to reshape into the form he desired. Soon they stood on four legs, the aspect of Nue was their most agile, the quickest form they could assume by a significant margin; only the Gorilla came close, and that was provided that it was moving in a straight line - and only for a relatively short distance.
The most troublesome thing however, was not running for very long distances; few of their prey would be able to evade them for very long, so most attempted to gain a short distance between them by means of a burst in speed to give them enough time to use Garganta or some similar skill. Nor was moving in a straight line usually an issue, for few of their prey would be so obliging as to stay still or else move in a straight line themselves. No - in terms of their top speed their were few around them that could match Verlassen, yet the ability to keep up with preys' sudden changes in speed and direction was difficult, it meant not only being able to identify when it was about to happen but more importantly it meant changing their own direction and speed in response. It was most vexing to be evaded by a weaker and slower opponent, simply because they were not nimble enough to keep up with the changes in pace. 'A rabbit escaping a fox huh,' commented George idly in responder to Loki's musings, it was an apt enough analogy - though in their case, despite being faster, the fox was still being eluded by the rabbit on occasion.
It was obvious that they needed to develop their speed, but what would be the best way to train themselves? Loki pondered the situation as they finished off the meal in silence that was broken only by the crunching of bones. To be able to quickly reach their top speed yet still manage to change their direction while maintaining such swiftness, that was the challenge.
In their most recent visit to the human realm, Loki had seen an intriguing race, where Humans would climb into 'cars' which could travel at very fast speeds, perhaps even eclipsing Verlassen's own capabilities. Though in truth, the cars could not change their speed so quickly, they often completed rather intricate courses around mountains and similar obstacles – it inspired an idea in Loki as he looked around at the trees within the Menos forest.
Usually it was very difficult to run at their maximum speed within the forest, they constantly had to dodge trees, so picking up the pace brought them too close to the next tree, which they would have to slow down to avoid. But – if Loki was able to bring out Verlassen's top speed more quickly, it would allow them to accelerate more readily, provided that he then worked on changing their direction more smoothly, surely it would pan out. 'And if not the worst we have to worry about is a few bruises.' Many of their previous attempts to improve themselves had been quite risky, yet the idea of training their speed would mean that the risk that they faced would be quite minimal, all things considered.
In the form of Nue, Loki readied himself, balancing Verlassen's weight carefully as he began; suddenly he shifted his weight forwards as he kicked off the back legs, bounding forwards with both forearms like a wolf or a tiger in a sprint. Unlike long distance runs where the left and right sides were moved independently, the sprint moved the two together, relying on the flexing of the torso to increase the span of their steps and provide momentum, while the movement of the tail gave the necessary balance.
The initial steps were slower than Loki would have liked, as they gathered their Gel limbs underneath them, the movements became increasingly fluid, yet the first strides were markedly slower than those that followed. He had taken no more than four strides before they were in full flight, long limbs stretching forwards as they were about to touch the ground and then pressing downwards firmly, kicking off the ground as they pointed backwards, Verlassen's momentum carrying them forward like a rocket across the firm if barren ground of the forest floor. Another half dozen steps followed before Loki attempted to slow down, no more than twenty feet beyond was a eight foot wide tree, at their current pace they would slam into the side.
Loki adjusted their speed, shifting some of the Gel within to the right, altering their centre of balance which pulled them off side, at the same time he broke stride, beginning to take steps with his front left and back right paws, then with his front right and back left paws. As he did so, the change dragged them to the right slightly and Loki used the chance to kick backwards and downwards with both left legs; the result was to suddenly send them careening to the right. Loki shifted the gel back to where it had come from, redistributing the weight as he picked up their pace once more, the front legs moving as a pair to offset the hind legs. The change in their direction was barely enough to miss the immense stone tree before them by two feet, despite having nearly twenty feet in which to alter their path by a mere four or five feet.
As they passed the tree, Loki began gathering their pace again as he headed towards another tree, this time he delayed the change until they were only fifteen feet from the tree. Again he repeated the move, this time shifting their weight to their left as he kicked off with the right legs. The tree was thicker this time and at full speed they barely avoided a head on collision as their shoulder struck the immense trunk, the force of the blow spinning them around as they tumbled end over end for ten span, before slamming back first into another tree.
The contact left them winded for a moment before they struggled to their feet, as they did so, Loki turned their head towards their shoulder where they noticed a large stone fragment embedded in the gel, a fragment of the tree 'bark.' Had the Gel been their flesh it would doubtless have hurt quite a bit, yet they felt nothing other than the slight discomfort of the sensation given by the Gel being damaged. Casting their eyes towards the tree they had grazed, Loki noted the large wound in the stony pulp, nearly three feet long, one foot high and half a foot deep, the impact and merely been a graze, yet their great pace and solid weight had been enough to tear such a gouge in the silvery quartz 'wood.'
After resting for a few moments to cool their heels, Loki began again. This time as he gathered speed, he made sure to shift their weight and change their direction earlier, as he did so, the trees were dodged much more easily – despite not needing to slow down as much as before. Indeed, it seemed that allowing twenty feet was significantly too much, to dodge fife feet to the side, time after time they ran through the densest part of the Menos Forest, each time they were able to weave their way through the thickets without needing to slow down a hair. As their confidence continued to raise they were able to change their direction more abruptly, allowing them to get closer and closer to the tree without slowing or giving signs of their intention. By the time that they grew hungry once more in the perpetual night of the Huecco Mundo forests, they had managed to shave the distance from twenty feet down to a mere four feet, despite maintaining their full speed.
Yet to do so they had needed to shift the Gel that formed their costume, or else create more gel to change their centre of balance, they needed to carefully time when to increase the pace of their outside legs while reducing the pace and even stopping their inside legs, increasing the pressure on the ground to drag their other side around in response; they even used their tail as a counterweight, using it's momentum to initiate the process.
It was as they were attempting to change their direction, that they uncovered another such use for their tail though. To begin the weight shift they had swept the tail to the inside, the direction that they would turn in, yet just before they got ready to kick their outside legs, Loki would move it to the outside, to allow the outer legs to gain more purchase, as they kicked downwards and backwards, Loki was then supposed to move the tail back to the centre. Yet as they practised, Loki grew careless, instead of adjusting it back to the centre, he pushed it too far, towards the inside. The move sent them staggering and they barely avoided falling down due to the poor balance they had suddenly been burdened with. However the accident had caused Loki to notice that the sensation was almost identical to when he had previously moved the tail to the outside, to give the outer legs more purchase before they kicked in changing the direction – the only exception was that he had not also shifted the weight.
That inspired Loki to attempt to chain together such changes; between the trees there was little reason to change their direction multiple times, yet were they chasing prey they may well need to change direction time and again in order to prevent their meal escaping. To start, Loki decided to try the manoeuvre at a lower speed – he had no desire to send them crashing into another tree just yet, after all.
Gathering their legs under them, Loki ran forwards gently, mimicking the motion, if not the speed, of their earlier sprint. As he prepared to change directions the first time, Loki shifted their tail to the left and as he did so began concentrating his reiatsu to the left as well, creating more and more gel as he compressed it as much as he could, the result was to drag him slightly to the left.
As their weight pulled them off to the side, Loki broke step, changing to matching the movement of his front left and hind right paw, while those of his front right and hind left paws also matched. Swinging their tail back slightly to the right, Loki altered the angle of their right legs as they rested on the ground and as he did so he kicked backwards and downwards sharply. Up until their everything was the same as normal, yet this time, just as their path changed, Loki began to shift the weight of the gel back to the centre more abruptly, as he did so he sent the tail to the left side once more, as he readied himself with the weight on the right Loki positioned the angle left feet again, kicking off sharply a second time; as he did so he shifted their tail to the centre and began to even out the gel once more.
The result was not just a sharp turn to the left, but an equally sharp turn to the right, the change achieved with alternating strides. Loki skidded to a halt as he trotted back to examine their foot prints. Each time they had changed their direction, the inner paws had left short, blurred prints as they gripped the ground more tightly than usual before shifting with the change in orientation; the outer paws on the other hand had left deeper yet more distinct marks, the result of a single powerful push. The footprints from one change in direction were the mirror image of the change in the other direction, as if to further underscore the different roles of the legs.
Impressed that it had proceeded so smoothly, Loki attempted to increase the pace, managing to reach their top speed in just two paces; after he had done so, he also changed their direction not once or twice but nearly half a dozen times, with every pace changing their direction, careful to gauge the distance between the trees, intent on cutting a rather hectic course around the vast stony trunks. Hours swept by as Loki concentrated on the task he had set himself, forgetting for a time the increasingly powerful tug of his hunger as he buried himself in his new obsession.
~ The Turtle and the Hare ~
However no matter how powerful Loki had become, no matter how disciplined and ascetic he might aspire to be; Verlassen became increasingly hungry. Though time seemed immaterial in the sunless, skyless world of Huecco Mundo, the clock within each Hollow could not be denied – hunger was the great constant. After nearly thirty hours of continuous practice even the most fastidious among the souls of Verlassen could not deny – they were growing hungry once more. It had been nearly four months since their last meal, now, after such a strenuous workout – it could be denied no longer.
Suppressing their power, Loki transformed from Nue into Genbu, adopting the less intimidating turtle like form had two purposes; for starters they appeared less dangerous, so those who wished to attack them would be less cautious, the second being that Loki wished to apply what they had learned of movement to this – their slowest form.
As Loki travelled from their original location he suppressed their power further, in the Menos forest there were many different types of potential foes, yet with their power so drastically curtailed they would appear no more powerful than the lowest of hollows – barely enough for a more powerful foe to bother attacking to begin with. This time they did not seek out a big meal – merely something with which to dull the edge of their hunger while they tried out what they had learned.
They did not have long to wait; in their weakened state, they soon attracted a likely candidate, the bone frilled, golden hare that flashed towards them was likely less powerful than Loki himself had been before the Souls of Verlassen had gathered together into their Gillian form, yet in their Genbu form with their reiatsu suppressed, they probably seemed an easy choice in prey.
As the hare bore down towards them, looking to streak past their right hand side as a two foot long blade flashed out of the hare's flank, yet Loki had no intention of allowing the opportunity to test their new found skills go to waste. Kicking off with their right legs, Loki was careful not to disturb their reiatsu as he narrowly avoided the bursting lunge of the hare who was momentarily caught off guard by their sudden evasion.
As their legs had left the ground, their snake-like tail flickered out towards the hare; Samantha had been placed in charge and she was intent on biting the offending hare in half. Yet the momentum of the sudden movement caused them to rotate, changing their orientation in the air and making Loki stumble, this allowed the rabbit to gather it's balance once more and evade their attack. 'Hey! I nearly had it – be careful!' Samantha cursed angrily.
As it bounded away, the hollow turned in a tight circle towards them once more – putting on a dash of speed as the Genbu form of Verlassen squared off against it. 'I can use this,' Loki thought in delight. They had not noticed it while they had been training earlier, but with the sudden and severe movement of the tail it had been much easier to rotate their body – changing the direction they were facing entirely. While the hare had been forced to step around to face them; if they were able to use the momentum from their tail correctly... Loki urgently sent his thoughts to Samantha; though she was less than impressed by the delay it might cause in eating the daring hare, she liked the idea that they might be able to surpass the faster more agile rabbit due to her own actions.
As the hare lunged by them this time, it came closer, attempting to prevent Loki from evading by simple virtue of needing to evade further; yet it was to no avail, kicking backwards and to the left to avoid their attacker, Loki's movement was joined a moment later by Samantha's sudden sway to the left, which spun the airborne Verlassen nearly sixty degrees. Even as Loki thust their feet downwards to the ground, Samantha was striking to their right, towards the passing rabbit, as she did so her teeth tore a bloody rent in the golden hare's back.
'Not quite what I had hoped for,' Loki conceded, though he had been prepared for the spin and had avoided tumbling as a result, he had hoped the momentum from Samantha's sudden movement would have spun them in a complete half circle. 'Still, quite promising.' Yet it had spun them more than before, perhaps it was simply a case of needing to get the timing down right – it had certainly been enough to make their attack on the hare much easier; despite being slower than their attacker, the agile move had allowed them to attack when it had not been expected.
Yet it seemed that the hare was not finished yet. Struggling to it's feet even as Loki closed the distance between them, the hare gathered began running away – it seemed that the hare had realised that the hunt had turned sour and that it was time to cut its losses, yet Loki would have none of it.
Scrambling after the hare on their four stumpy legs was difficult, though they were able to make their way between the trees quickly enough, it was in the open ground between the vast stony columns that the hare would gain distance. Soon enough their prey would have gained enough distance that it could afford to escape into garganta if it so chose. However were they to attempt to change into another form it would take them far too long.
Snarling in frustration, Loki considered giving into Samatha's cries to increase their power level – so that they might overtake their attacker in but a moment. It would be all too easy if they were to make use of their true ability, yet one of the main reasons Loki had sought this prey was to see how far they could push the speed of Genbu – their most slovenly form. As they wound their way between the tree trunks they noticed the wounds on the hare had faded away to almost nothing, it's speed was increasing at the same time; soon they would loose their quarry. Was this their limit?
Loki rushed as fast as their legs would take them, sending fine streams of reiatsu to the joints, manipulating the softer gel to create their movement; it was the only way that their gel like costumes would move after-all, otherwise they would be hard shapes of gel.
Intent on overtaking or at least catching up to the fleeing hare; while Loki fought down the urge to increase their overall reiatsu he began to redirect more of the reiatsu that they were already emitting to their legs, as he did so – the streams of reiatsu touched not just the joints but the limbs themselves, as this happened Loki found the joints easier to move – the strain far reduced for a moment and his speed easily eclipsing his earlier attempts; indeed it was comparable to their speed in their earlier training.
However the unexpected boost in speed proved too much for Loki as he attempted to pick his way between the trunks; instead of managing his careful progress between the stone columns, he slammed directly into one. A few moment's later he felt the tell tale sensation of the hare's energy fluctuating then disappearing, their prey had escaped using Garganta.
Yet while Samantha opened her mouth and screamed angrily, biting at the tree trunk and ripping off a considerable chunk of the stone 'pulp', Loki was silent. 'So you noticed it too?' Gertrude enquired of Loki quietly, in response he simply nodded their head, however as their body was moved the attention of all the souls in Verlassen was instantly focused on the exchange. 'I do not know what exactly happened,' she continued – ignoring their sudden audience for the moment, 'But I do know that it was far more valuable than a single meal.'
Loki agreed and redirected the attention of the souls who had not noticed what had caused their sudden disgrace, 'Regardless of the outcome,' Loki grimaced at the memory of slamming into the tree, for it had been embarrassing indeed, 'for a moment we were moving very nearly as fast as we usually can.'
'So what?' Samatha growled in irritation, she had been happy that her efforts had maimed their opponent and to have lost their meal due to Loki's clumsiness was far from appreciated. 'We were running faster earlier - so why couldn't you handle it?!' She swayed sinuously almost threateningly back and forth as she glared at Verlassen's mask through the snake tail's eyes.
To that, Loki could do naught but concede, 'I'm sorry,' Loki admitted quietly, 'I wasn't prepared for it, so I failed you all. I apologise.' Had he been anticipating the sudden change in pace he would have been able to avoid the tree, yet the unexpected burst was enough to catch him off guard.
His sudden and obviously heartfelt apology did much to dissipate Samantha's anger as well as that of many of the other souls who were also upset at missing out on their meal. Samantha seemed slightly unsure of what to do as her movements slowed then became less lash-like, far more gentle, 'It's okay,' she offered in an uncharacteristic forgiving tone. 'So how does how speed make any difference?' She asked as she hastily looked to change the direction of the conversation.
'If we had increased our reiatsu that would be one thing, but we were able to so dramatically increase our speed without doing so.' Loki said it quietly, 'It could mean we can go much, much faster.'
~ The Sky is the Limit ~
Their hunger needed to be sated however, regardless of the hare's escape. In the distance they could feel the presence of a number of not inconsiderable powers, far from weak – the presences they they felt were stronger by far than the hare, yet weaker than they themselves were by a large margin; in all likelihood it was a number of Gillians. Loki quickly tracked them down and the resulting battle was quickly fought and done with – this time they had no need to hold back their prowess and so Verlassen's victory was indisputable as they tore asunder the three Gillians.
Technique used – Consumir for Sólido Cielo (Solid Sky)
That done they sent out their senses once more, intent to discover any potential 'playmates,' yet even after they had suppressed their powers Loki noted that the part of the Menos forest in which they were training was annoyingly vacant – most likely any hollows in the vicinity had cleared out during the brief struggle.
Realising that they would have to continue their training without such assistance, Loki settled back onto their heels as he considered the task before them. With the sudden increase in pace, the potential danger to their body had also increased, the trees around them were solid enough that were they to travel at too high a pace and lose control – they might knock themselves out. What they needed was a more open expanse in which to practice - such as the sands above.
It was as he considered the idea that Loki was hit by a sudden flash of memory; for a moment he remembered when 'he' as an antelope with four arms sprouting from his back, had climbed into the sky atop a staircase made from his own reiatsu after he pushed it into 'steps.' In an instant the flashback was gone, none of the souls within Verlassen had been an antelope, of that Loki was quite sure. In all likelihood it had been the memory of one that they had eaten just moments ago, many times now they had been eating a meal when they had been blessed with sudden inspiration, some new way in which to use their powers – it was a legacy of those that they had sacrificed to be where they are, the memories of the fallen.
Loki could have simply scaled one of the nearby stone trees or even changed into Nidhogg and flown up, then pushed his way through the sand above; however Loki felt that it was his duty to put to good use what he had learned by consuming others. How else might he justify their deaths for his own continued existence?
In the memory he had gathered his reiatsu and pushed it together, forming 'steps' or blocks of reiatsu upon which he had stepped. As Loki considered the situation he changed their form once again, this time he shifted from Genbu to their Humanoid form, for it would be the easiest in which to climb the stairs.
Gathering their reiatsu was easy enough, though directing it to form before him was unlike anything he had previously attempted. The closest, amusingly enough was a Cero of all things, or perhaps Oscurecer; they had focused their attentions so heavily on increasing their own capabilities that they had given little attention to developing techniques that took place outside of their own body or their gel – perhaps they would need to redress that in the future.
Picturing a single rectangular block to begin with, Loki tried to keep the shape in mind as he focused on his reiatsu as it spilled from their body unused, unexploited, a simple waste. The release of reiatsu was something that was usually unutilised unless he was using a technique; as a result there was an abundance of energy at hand.
Guiding the energy into the simple shape proved easy enough, soon Loki had formed a rough 'box' like shape of reiatsu, it could be sensed yet was unseen by the eye. Frowning in concentration, Loki picked up one foot and gingerly tested the top of the surface; had it been their own foor he might have exhibited more caution, but even were the limb destroyed – the Gel shape could be reformed easily enough.
Yet instead of exploding or damaging the foot in any way, the energy instead was displaced by the gel 'flesh' making way for the solid intrusion. In annoyance, Loki realised that the reiatsu construct would need to be harder, less malleable – in that way it was much like the Gel that they created, it could be made harder or softer as needed.
As he retracted his foot, Loki concentrated on the reiatsu within the box like shape once more; this time he pictured a much thinner step, that way there should be less movement he reasoned. As he tested the surface this time, the resistance he felt was markedly more than before, instead of passing through freely, the 'box' felt as if it were made from a substance thicker than water, it flowed sluggishly around the foot much like gel that had yet to be shaped oozed.
Yet unlike with gel, where the difficulty was in creating the initial shape, it seemed that this was much more easily accomplished with the reiatsu than with the Gel – instead the difficulty seemed to be maintaining the shape once created, for Gel it was almost exactly opposite, for the Gel would retain it's shape once made.
With that comparison in mind, Loki focused on the shape once again – concentrating this time not so heavily on forming the shape as he did on maintaining his 'image' of it. As he placed his foot on top of the 'step' he pushed down experimentally and felt the reiatsu began to flex as it attempted to make way for the weight above. However this time he was ready for it, as the reiatsu within the shape began to shift, Loki focused his efforts willing it to remain motionless. It trembled for a time before solidifying, with one leg suspended in the air atop the makeshift step, Loki gradually transferred his weight across to it, finally he lifted his remaining foot off the ground.
Though he was sinking downwards ever so slowly, Loki was completely off the ground, seemingly unsupported in mid air. It was a grand success.
Nearly an hour more passed as Loki experimented with the steps, making one after another and moving between them. It was while doing so that he allowed his concentration to slip slightly and the step he was on moved upwards; the unexpected movement nearly caused Loki to tumble from the block suspended nearly fifty feet in the air, however he managed to steady himself in short order. With that Loki began concentrating on how to move the blocks once he had made them, it was a startling discovery.