Night fell, the crew entered the moon hut. Covie went to sleep mode very early to be able to wake up tomorrow. (She is a robot drone so she technically doesn't need to but she been doing this since the first day she was created.) Mysty checked on the CI survivor, it is in good condition.
Albur sat on the bed in his room, memorizing things. The monster's roar, Rhea overheating, Juggler and his extremely quick blade, Wilton's chuckle and Cluster's maniacal laugh that echoes. This whole journey in the tumor is an absolute pain, both physically and mentally.
"Why aren't you sleeping?"
Havoc glowed and asked.
"I don't wanna sleep now."
"Then why don't you go do something else other than sitting here and be a BED potato?"
"What can I do? I already ate my nutrient capsules, I..."
"What are you doing now?"
Albur froze,
"Memorizing things....."
"Memorizing what?"
"That monster....Juggler...Cluster...."
"What made you think of them?"
"They...are strong?"
"What makes you think they are strong?"
"Uh....they are powerful?"
"I don't want that answer."
"They....could make us suffer?"
"Because of?"
"We're.....weak."
"Narrow it down."
Albur stared at Havoc.
"We are weak."
"Narrow further."
Albur paused for a while, the ceiling fan is strangely loud.
"I...am weak..."
"Louder."
"I am weak."
"Louder!"
"I am weak! What do you want?"
"Then, if you are weak, why don't you go train?!"
Albur blinked, Havoc stared at him, and sighed heavily.
"Johnson's death is not your fault, and that's it. Why did Juggler cut your arms? Why can Cluster vaporize you like a toy? It's because you didn't train! If you wanna survive, you need to be strong!"
Albur was shocked by Havoc's words. But then, Havoc grunted and made a click tongue sound.
"Ah, I forgot, forced performance never have significant effect."
Albur looked at Havoc talking to himself.
"Never mind, never mind, we are in a tumor, we are trying to survive, those aren't really on the bucket list."
Albur thought for a second. Then suddenly, a Eureka spawned in his head.
"Hey, Havoc."
"Yes?"
"Repeat that word you said just now."
"Uh....? Those aren't on the bucket list?"
"No."
"Never mind?"
"Before that."
"You didn't win because you didn't train?"
"Might be...but after that?"
"Uh.....forced performance never have significant effect?"
"Yes! That's it!"
Havoc was confused, Albur stood up.
"Forced performance is never good...yes! Its never good!"
"Um..."
Havoc is thinking if he should get Mysty.
"Havoc, recall those moments when Rhea trained me."
Havoc blinked, then, he created a screen of a recording. Its the footage of Albur training with Rhea. Albur is obviously not performing well and his face is written in Negative language.
Albur stared at his hands, at gripped into a fist.
"I'm weak, I'm undertrained, I won't improve without training, and forced training won't do good. Then...."
Albur picked up his rifle, and pulled the reload trigger.
"I will just have to train, voluntarily....."
Albur turned around, but then, he found himself face to face with Mysty, who is standing by the door.
"Uh, I heard Havoc say through the walkie talkie.....that....you are going insane."
Albur looked at Havoc in annoyance. Havoc blinked.
"What?"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Albur looked around the living room, Mysty and Havoc stood behind him, she is holding Havoc while she have her hands at her hip.
"See, he is insane."
Mysty blinked,
"I...would say that looks like determination, rather than he lost sanity."
Albur found the thing he is looking for, he took out the metal pillar. Mysty and Havoc stared at him in confusion.
"Oh ho ho.....behold....the training puppet!"
Mysty and Havoc met eyes.
"He is insane...."
Albur rolled his eyes, he then put down the pillar at the ground, standing. He took out the remote for it and pressed it. The pillar started to change its form. Arms started growing out, legs begun to stretch out. It turned from an ordinary pillar into a giant metal puppet with rotatable upper torso with two arms carrying 2 metal sticks and a waist that can bounce the whole upper body forward using elastic force.
Mysty and Havoc was surprised, they looked at the puppet, amazed.
"This is the thing Johnson made. A puppet for training."
Albur pushed the puppet to a bigger place in the hut. He then took a metal stick from the puppet to use as the Prismatic Blade.
Albur held onto the metal stick, he dashed towards the puppet and struck the stick at its hand, its torso rotated, and its hand swung at Albur. He quickly parried it and struck the stick at the puppet's head. The puppet leaned backwards and bounced towards Albur, hitting his head and sent smacked him on the floor.
He quickly stood back up and kicked the puppet before striking it again with the stick. He continued to swing his at quick pace, but its not fast enough. The puppet swung its hands and directly hit Albur at his head. He backed off, and slowly rubbed the injured part.
"Albur...that isn't going to work."
"It will! Surely it will, it just need more effort....."
"No offense, when you have a determination, you are stupid enough to keep doing that blindly."
"Yeah Albur, I think you need someone that could give more training to you. Someone who can give you advices, correct trials, just, that is much better than hitting a puppet."
"Then who would be that person?"
Mysty stared at Havoc, Havoc sighed.
"Do you have a second choice?"
Albur realized what Havoc meant, he exclaimed in annoyance.
"Am I gonna find that woman that killed Johnson?"
"No one is better than her in terms of coaching."
"True."
Albur groaned.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rhea is staying in her room, she is tweaking a device, she knocked on it a few more times before adjusting the buttons.
"Come on, why isn't this blasted thing working?"
Rhea is getting more and more worried. Just then, there is a knock on the door. She turned around, and looked at the door.
"Who is that?"
"Rhea."
Rhea realized it is Albur, she sighed, not knowing how to face him. She put down the device, and stood up.
"Come in."
The door creaked open, Albur is standing by the door. Rhea looked away, avoiding any eye contact. Albur sighed, as he stepped into the room.
"Uh....Rhea?"
"What? What do you want?" Rhea kept avoiding looking at Albur.
Albur put his hands together, super embarrassed and nervous to ask for Rhea's help. He turned around, and looked at Mysty and Havoc at the outside of the room. Mysty smiled awkwardly and gave a thumbs up.
Rhea was also super nervous in her heart. She wasn't sure what does Albur wants. He's gonna scold her again? No way, he looks too nervous. He's gonna blame me again? No wait I shouldn't bother with these, how am I suppose to answer him? Rhea thought to herself.
Albur opened his mouth, but nothing came out. After a while of silence, he finally spoke.
"Rhea...."
"Y-yes?"
"Are you alright now?"
Rhea glanced at him.
"I am. Good as new....."
Albur took a deep breath.
"Can you continue the trial?"
Rhea's eyes opened wide. Not expecting Albur to ask this. She looked at Albur, dead in the eyes.
"Come again?"
Albur felt extremely awkward. He took another breath.
"Can you continue to train me?"
Rhea was sure now. She looked at Albur in disbelief.
"H-huh?"
"I...understand.....what you mean now. If I never train, I will never improve...."
Albur squeezed out the last words.
"I want to...start my training all over again. This time....p-properly."
Rhea looked at Albur, amazed that he realized his problem and want to go and improve it. In fact he is the one who approached her to ask for help. Rhea looked at him for another couple of seconds. And smirked. She slowly walked to the corner of the room.
Albur looked at Mysty, she shrugged. Then, Rhea walked to Albur. He backed away a little, afraid that if she is gonna flick his head or anything. Then, Rhea handed him a metal pipe. Albur stared at it, its the metal pipe he had been using during trials.
Rhea walked to the door, she put a lollipop in her mouth.
"I thought you wouldn't ask for help, the fact that you haven't forgive me."
Rhea rested the pipe on her shoulder.
"But hey, that determination, that is rich coming from you."
Albur laughed awkwardly. Rhea walked out of the room. Mysty stepped aside. Albur walked out of the room, he looked at Mysty, who looked at him as well.
"What are you waiting for rookie? Come on!"
Albur snapped out of it, and quickly ran to the entrance of the moon hut.
Rhea looked around their surroundings. Ensuring no virus lifeforms are nearby. She noticed the human skeletons around.
"Must be the lab Cluster raided earlier."
Rhea turned to Albur. Who was holding on the metal pipe firmly. She also notice Mysty and Havoc is staring at them from afar. She ignored them, and looked at Albur.
"Alright, first rule, before we start anything, let me see what you got."
Albur steadied himself. He lunged towards Rhea and swung his pipe at Rhea. Rhea dodged them one by one while observing Albur's move. She looked at his legs, steady. She looked at his hand, well gripped. She looked at his eyes, not so locked in but pretty decent.
Albur quickened his attack pace, he swung the pipe faster and some did land hits on Rhea. Rhea tanked them and kept dodging. Until after a while, she told Albur to stop.
"Pretty good, you have steady stance, nice grip, but your speed still needs improvement."
"What? The attack pace?"
"Yes, make it even quicker, do better. "
"Wha..."
Albur turned to face air, he tried a barrage of slices. But its still quite slow. Rhea stared at him, and sighed. She poked his head lightly, then she took out the pipe of her own and stepped to in front of Albur.
"Watch."
Rhea gripped onto her pipe firmly, then, she swung the pipe in an extremely ridiculously quick pace. The pipe almost became a blur in her hands. Albur watched in amazement, Rhea then stopped after a few seconds.
"This might not work with a pipe, but if you're using a real sword, the blade is thinner from the side, so there's less air resistance when you swing it this way."
Albur nodded, he tried again. He found a place of the pipe that seems to be thinner at its side. He tried to swing the pipe while the pipe stays the thin side when slashing. He practiced a few more times, with Rhea guiding him next to him.
"A little higher."
"Nice."
"Don't stab."
"Good."
"Great."
"Wider angle."
"Brilliant. "
After a ten minutes. Albur could swing the pipe at a faster speed compared to the last time. Rhea smirked.
"Well done. Looks like you are ready for your third lesson."
Albur looked at Rhea, curious about what the next lesson will be.
Rhea took a few steps back. She entered a stance and raised her pipe.
"Now, like always, I will attack you, but this time, I don't want you to attack me, I want you to block my attacks."
"Huh, uh, o-ok."
Rhea then quickly dashed towards Albur and struck her pipe. Albur blocked it quickly, but Rhea pushed his pipe away and prepare to land another strike. Albur blocked the next strike, Rhea backed off and aimed for Albur's hip. He blocked it again.
"Ok...pretty basic...."
Rhea sped up her attack. She begun to strike Albur's pipe continuously, scrape sparks are seen on the pipes. Albur slowly backed off as Rhea attacked more quicker. Rhea observed Albur's eyes, who was focusing on his own pipe. Then, she suddenly switched to attack Albur's leg.
Albur managed to withstand the attack, but then Rhea swung the pipe and shoved it at his face. Before it hit his nose, she stopped. She retracted the pipe, and sighed.
"This is the problem you're having while fighting Juggler. In battles, you shouldn't just focus on attacking, you must defense as well. And to do that, you must look carefully at your opponent's attacks."
"H-huh?"
"You need quick reaction speed, so that when opponents attack you, you can choose how to prevent getting hit. Either dodge, block or add a bruise on your face."
Rhea pointed her pipe at Albur.
"Again, do better."
Albur looked at the pipe, he took a deep breath, but Rhea already dashed towards him. He quickly blocked the stab, he focused his eyes at Rhea's pipe. She kept striking Albur while he kept blocking and blocking with his pipe. Rhea used horizontal swipes and vertical smashes, but Albur kept failing to block them and they hit his face.
"Don't just try to block, dodge too, you have full control of your body."
Albur took a few steps back, trying to catch his breath. Rhea crossed her arms.
"Hey, you hear me?"
"Uh.....yeah, I did."
Rhea sighed, she looked at Mysty and Havoc who is still peeking.
"Hey you two, stop hiding!"
Mysty and Havoc slowly walked out of the moon hut. Albur turned around, and realized the 2 of them had been watching them this whole time. They slowly walked to the 2.
"You guys have nothing to do?" asked Rhea.
"No just, want to see if you two would have any accidents, you guys no longer train in the digital realm remember?" said Havoc.
"We could care for ourselves."
Mysty looked at Albur who steadied his breathing, she looked at Rhea for a while.
"Uh, Rhea?"
"Yeah?"
"I uh...could you....coach me as well?"
Rhea was surprised to hear that from Mysty. During their last trial she literally dislocated her backbone, now its Mysty who approached.
"Wait, what? You too? V-voluntarily?"
Mysty nodded lightly, Rhea stared at her.
"I....thought you wouldn't want me to train you again."
"I learnt the lesson, last time when we fought the shadows, if it wasn't you who reminded me when the enemy grab my limbs they do worse, I wouldn't be standing here healthily."
Rhea lowered her head, and nodded.
"Ok, but then, Albur..."
Albur raised his head,
"Ah, I think he could train with the puppet then. He need to train his reaction speed ain't it?" asked Havoc.
"Yes."
"Then, his puppet could do."
"Huh? Puppet?"
Albur immediately got what Havoc mean. He went into the hut and took out the puppet and showed it to Rhea. Rhea's eyes opened wide as she looked at the puppet.
"When did you guys have this?"
"Johns.....John built it, for training purposes."
Rhea turned back to look at the puppet. She rotated its upper torso which made its arms spin. She thought for a while.
"This spinning speed is fast, but not fast enough."
"Oh, but this is what we got now."
Rhea put her hand at her chin and thought, then, she had an idea. She enlarged her battle bot suit and searched its 4 dimensional bag. Then, she took out a small bottle from it.
"What is that?"
"Lubricating oil, it makes the rotatable parts smoother and could spin even faster."
Rhea put a few drops of lubricating oil at the rotatable parts of the puppet. Then, she rotated it, it spun, and this time it is way faster.
"There we go."
"Oh shoot, that is gonna hurt if I get hit by it."
"That will make you desperately try to block its attack and dodge no?"
"I hate that you are correct about it....."