Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Way of Sword

So you wish to master the art of weilding a sword? A very dangerous and beautiful art is it indeed. Only few actually master the sword, while many die by it. Many weild a sword, all for different reasons, some to protect their home and loved ones, others for purely evil purposes and destruction, which path you take is up to you and you alone. Be as it all may though, it is time for you to embark on your quest to master the way of the sword, and earn the title of Swordsman. Let use now begin with your journey.

You are probably excited about mastering the way of the sword and want to jump in head first, but you must start out small, baby steps. The first step on your path to learning the ways of the sword, is to find yourself a master, someone who can teach you the basics of the sword. Luckily for you there are several Master Swordsmen out there, all with their own special styles, that gladly take in new pupils. I will now tell you about each of them and what they specialize in.

Sir Gavan the Honorable: Sir Gavan is a mighty knight, Gallade capable of human-speech actually, funny huh? Dressed in a armor and weilding a sword and shield, as do his students. Sir Gaven specializes in medieval combat, meaning arming sword and buckler combat. He teaches his students a balanced style of attacking and defending, though their method may seem slower compared to others. This man is very honorable and teaches morales to his students among swordsmenship. His school, or castle rather, is located deep within the Lunar Range, the mountain range North of Kanto. (Swords of Specialty: Single-handed swords, such as Gladius, and Spatha)

Master Tatsuya the Swift: Master Tatsuya, another hybrid swordsman, a Scyther hybrid actually. Reowned for his swift style of combat. He is feared by his foes due to his speed and skill with a sword. He dresses in very light clothing and weilds a slim light sword. Due to his speed style of combat he, just like his students, does not carry a shield nor armor. He teaches his students a speedy style of combat, focusing on attacking your foe and taking them out as quick as possible to avoid being hit. His asian-style school is tucked away deep within the Vein Forest of Almia region. (Swords of Specialty: Light Single-handed swords, such as Wakizashi, and Katana)

Lord Gandalfr the Beserker: Lord Gandalfr, a truly fierce man. This man goes by many nicknames, each describing how gruesome and cruel he is in battle. Dressed in a coat of Mightyena skin and carrying a massive Greatsword, this man's pure strength is surpassed by none of the other teachers. His style of swordsmanship, which he teaches to his students, is based purely on attacking and utterly destroying your opponent at all costs, because of this the only thing of importance is your sword, a very big and powerful one at that. His savage school is located within the winding caverns of Stark Mountain. (Swords of Specialty: Massive Two-Handed swords, such as Claymore, and Longsword)

Lady Clemence the Stalwart: Lady Clemence, an elegant woman of very high standing and upbringing. She is none for the elegant flow of her defensive and parrying style of swordsmenship, not unlike that of fencing. Sporting light and flexible armor and weilding a light Rapier, Lady Clemence deflects and guards all attacks thrown at her, few have lain their sword upon her. Her style, which is passed onto her students is purely defensive, deflecting all blows as you wait for the perfect moment to strike down your foe. Her beautiful academy is located within the high class part of Crimson City, of the Prism region. (Swords of Specialty: Light Single-handed swords, such as Estoc and Messer)

Once you have chosen the master you wish to learn from, seek out their location and ask them if you may train under them as their pupil. They may require you to perform some sort of task before they take you under their wing, what those tasks may be I'm not sure. If and when they do decide to teach you their way of the sword, you must stay there at the school and go through their basic training course. You will learn the very basics of their style of swordsmenship. Once they feel you have covered and mastered the basics of whatever style they teach, your teacher will allow you to take a sword from their stock and call it your own. Though the sword must be of their style. Also, the teachers are well-known for having their student study alongside their most faithful Pokemon. Trainer and Pokemon must both work together to accomplish their tasks. So choose your most faithful Pokemon, only that one is allowed with her on this mission. Once you have passed the basic course, report back to HQ with your new blade as proof.

Objectives:
---Seek out the master Swordsman you wish to learn from.
---Convince the master of your choosing to take you in as their pupil.
---Complete their basic course and return with your new sword as proof.

Opposition:
---Any Pokemon you may come across on your journey to the master's school.
---Any Pokemon or person your master may ask of you to face. Not themselves.

Obtainable Pokemon:
---None

Reward:
---Class title of "Swordsman".
---The rest varies

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Participating: Eddie

"I am using a fairly quick sword, so shouldn't I go with Master Tatsuya?" Eddie asks himself. "But I used to use a large sword, like Lord Gandalfr...Agh, it's too hard to choose!" he yells, putting his hands on his head and letting himself fall onto the couch. "Well, I can't leave until I choose, and I have to be able to be decisive if I want them to take me seriously. So...I pick Lord Gandalfr." he concludes, then hops off the couch and takes the brave sword off his back and puts it on the table. He takes the silver sword off his back and holds it with one hand. "Still too light, but it will have to do." He puts it back on his back and departs from the HQ.

Skarmory lands at the base of Stark mountain and starts to buck Eddie off of its back, as to say "get the hell off of me'. Eddie slides off of the bird and returns it to the pokeball and minimizes it as he puts it in his pocket. "So this is where he is." he notes, then starts walking into the cavern leading into the mountain. "I guess I'm going to have to go on a hunt, right?" he asks himself, then starts to look around at the walls surrounding him. They were a reddish-brown, and the cave itself was fairly dark, only lit by an occasional Slugma. As he walks down the cramped passage, he keeps his ears open for any sign of life throughout the cave, besides the pokemon.

At the end of this passage was an opening that lead to a rather large room, with stone stairs leading down to a lower level. Large boulders were stacked on top of each other. Other boulders were perched alone in the ground, and others were reduced to pure rubble. "Is there where I need to be?" he asks. He looks around some more and sees a figure bashing a boulder. It was a human-like figure, but had fur covering its silhouette and a snout on its head. "If that's a human, there's no way that boulder will..." he starts to say, but is interrupted by the crumbling of the boulder under the massive strike from the man. "break?" he finishes.

Eddie starts to step forward, and the figure stops moving, then turns his head towards Eddie. He freezes for a second, and neither person makes a move, until Eddie keeps making his way down towards the large, fearsome man. When he makes his way to the bottom, the man demands. "What do you want?"

"My name is Eddie, I wish to train under you, lord Gandalfr." Eddie requests, making sure to bow his head out of respect.

The man turns his back to Eddie and grunts. "You are too puny to be a student of mine." he says.

Eddie looks at the man and his eyes open wide and he asks. "What do you mean, I'm too puny?"

"I mean what I said. You are too puny. Small, a runt." Gandalfr says, then faces Eddie again and holds out his sword with both hands, puts the point towards the ground and buries the blade about halfway to the hilt. "Pull this out and hold it in front of you." he demands.

Putting his hands on the hilt of the sword, Eddie plants his feet firmly and pulls on the blade, to see how hard it would be to unsheathe it from its earthen scabbard. "This shouldn't be too hard." he says, then twists the sword slightly to the left, then to the right, then pulls the on the blade, making grunting noises as he does so. Ever so slowly, the glistening blade creeps out of the hole made by Gandalfr, and he finally pulls the tip out of the ground and holds the whole sword in the air for a few seconds, and lets it drop to the ground.

Even though mildly surprised, Gandalfr doesn't show it, and instead, restates the demand. "Now, hold the point to my face." he says.

Eddie looks down at the sword, then back at Gandalfr. "O-okay." he stammers, then brings the sword away from the ground, but only slightly. Slowly, he brings it to the waist of the giant man, then to the chest. By this time, his arms are shaking and his knees, which were firmly planted, are starting to ache because of the massive sword. He then makes another grunt and brings the tip to Gandalfr's face, huffing and puffing, but proud nonetheless.

"Now I will consider you." Gandalfr states. "If you want me to train you, you will have to prove to me that you can take it, and will not quit, or die on me." he says, then grabs the blade of the massive sword and plucks it from Eddie's hands and plants it in the ground again, putting both hands on the top of the hilt.

Eddie gave a look of disbelief, but was relieved at the stress being banished from his body. "Okay." he responds.

Eddie stands back from the boulder and inspects it from afar, then gets close and kneels to look at the base, where it is attached to the ground. He then looks a point a bit away from the rock and walks over to it and stops. "Okay, let's try this." he says, then runs towards the boulder and jumps, both knees folded, then he extends them right as he gets close to the boulder, and pushes on the rock, resulting in him propelling himself into the ground. "Nope. That didn't work." he says, then gets back to his feet and dusts his hair and his clothes off. "This is going to take a lot."

Standing in front of the rock again, Eddie hugs the rock and pushes his legs forward in the ground, trying to pull the rock onto himself. The boulder decides to stay where it is and not budge. "Oh, come on!" he says, starting to get annoyed. "There must be something I can do!" he complains. He sits down in front of the rock and examines it closely. The shape, the base, the ground it's in, everything and says to himself. "I think I know how to do it, now." He gets up and stands in front of the rock, his legs spread far apart, and his hands on the rock. Starting to put pressure on the rock, he breathes in and out slowly, making sure the breaths are deep, and puts more and more pressure onto the rock, gradually.

Eddie can feel the rock starting to move, if only a little, and he keeps pushing, lifting the rock's edge farther and farther from the ground, reaching an inch off the ground on the side closest to Eddie. The boulder hits the ground again with a sigh from Eddie. "Okay, I know how to do it, I just need to gain some more physical strength." he says, then sits on the ground, then rests his back on the ground and spreads his arms out, as if he were waiting to embrace the ceiling. "Just need to work on my strength..." he mumbles, drifting off to sleep, worn out from the whole day.

With each swing, his body becomes more and more tired, but it seems to be getting easier, the the exhaustion of his body is getting to him. "Dammit, why won't this thing break?" he asks, then sticks the sword in the ground and leans on the hilt. "How can I swing this thing so I can break the boulder?" he asks. Now that he has stopped with the constant work, he can feel his arms and legs pulsing. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." he says along with the beats of the blood pulsing through his aching muscles.

Eddie stands up on both feet and grabs the giant sword once more. "Okay, I have to do this." he says, then pulls the zweihander from the ground and lets the tip rest on the ground. He pushes his foot so that he starts running, the sword making a horrible noise as it scraped across the ground. This sound caused Ganadlfr to come out of his hiding and he sees Eddie.

"What are you doing?" he asks

Eddie doesn't answer. Instead, he uses centripetal force to lift the sword above his head, then he brings it crashing down onto the boulder, the sword making it halfway through the large stone He twists the blade, splitting the rest of the boulder and making it fall to the ground. The tip of the sword hits the ground as well.

"...Impressive. You used your head to fuel your body and give you power." Gandalfr says, then walks over to him and grabs his sword. "But really, treat swords with more respect. The sword is only as good as the person who is wielding it."

Eddie nods.