Featherook Training Facility

[Nira]

ooc: Applying +1 TP bonus per post with my stronghold unit.

Fast Mover
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: User can move faster than normal.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: User gains a +1 extra movement. This Jutsu can stack with other movement increasement Jutsus. User may only learn this technique once.
Limit: Must learn from Universal Miscellaneous.

0/40

Let's work on your speed a little, shall we? You can't just fall back on gates when you need a boost, since those use up on stamina and take, like, forever to get started on. Keep yourself moving with a bit more purpose. Think about the feeling you get when boosted from enchantment deceptions, which convinces you to be faster. Try and induce that effect artificially. It won't be as powerful, but it's a start. Know that your goal is in reach.

You gotta train physically too. No point having a dedicated mind if your body can't keep up. There's no better speed booster than a bit of cardio. Just dash around the place and increase your stamina. Eventually, you'll get the hang of faster speeds. Well, you'll get used to it without tiring yourself out, in any case. Keep up a consistent physical charge and your body will get used to the introduction of high speed. Live it like it's your life, and it'll never leave you.

Keep your arms in motion as well. It's not just about running and keeping on your toes. In a fight, speed is centered around your experiences in coordination. You have to increase the rate in which you throw out your punches, and pull them back. Your limbs have to act like springs. For every motion that is released, there must be a fluid return. Something to fix you back to an original stance. Abandoning all your structure in an attack is an act to place yourself by death.

[Nira]

?/40

Because of all that, you need to keep a mind to your reflexes. Anyone can blindly throw out a wall of punches, but you can to also be able to avoid such a thing. You have to see what the opponent will do, and then pull away when you need to. Your sister, uh, family sister, not us, is a good example of what to watch out for. She's got a speed boost of her own, and you have to avoid that with your full attention. Every action's reaction applies to the punches you throw.

Nothing against all out offense, speed works with either one. Your minds needs to be into it, though. How cool would it be to punch at the speed of lightning? Thing is, he may just punch into a spike, and that'd be kind of a bother. We'd heal from it, if we weren't in a fight. Still sucks. There needs to be a balance between what you are capable of, and what you can keep up with. Don't ride what you can't control. For every punch you throw, pull back and cover up the opening you made to do so.

Another thing, don't exchange speed and strength. Improve them both. Force is the combination of mass and velocity, the weight of your punch combined with the speed of it. The swiftest punch in all the land has no hold against the target if it has no mass. Nothing beats out light in speed, but a flashlight does a pathetically insignificant amount of damage to you. Everything in moderation is the key to reaching the top of your game. Don't neglect, add strength alongside every ounce of speed.

[Nira]

?/40

Keep the speed to your heart. Blood pumps faster as you get more active, so the rush of blood is a factor that pairs with movement augmentation. It's so odd sometimes. Your entire body pulses with this liquid that you may rarely touch. At any moment, it can spill out, especially while you move at such blistering speeds. Yet it keeps up better than a puppy you've fed. Blood picks up in velocity while you do. It is the true companion in a body free from the anchors that keep them down.

Burning away energy means taking from your weight. Make up the reduced mass with enhanced speed. It's no secret that lighter objects have an easier time moving about. While you shed your weight little by little, your speed must make up for the difference in mass with an increase in speed. As we've discussed, you have to be a balancing scale. Not on that distributes cost and gain equally, but one that keeps the status quo at all times. When you weigh twice as much, your leaps should be twice as far.

Tunnel vision is a horrible thing to have. Goals are important, but don't have desires becoming obstacles. That's only one more thing you have to worry about dodging when you run. The environment is hazardous enough for those that engage in rapid behavior. In a fight, attacks are added into the considerations. Those two are enough to occupy most of a person's thoughts, but always be ready for more. Don't add unnecessary problems that could have been avoided with proper attention.

[Nira]

?/40

Shortcuts exist all over your body. Find a route and figure out the mechanics to go from one position to the next in the lowest amount of time. Straight lines are usually the way to go, but things like gravity tend to interfere. When you know how to judge distances, you accelerate upwards enough to compensate. Movements in reality tend to boil down to arch paths. The distance from you to your goal, plus the energy to compensate for the forces that exist to be in your way.

Speed leaves an impact on your body. The recoil bounces away again, but don't stack so much of it in one spot. Accelerate when you must, and only then. For the rest of the time, remain somewhere constant. A steady flow is gentle. You move like a breeze, soothing over the ragged lands. The act of increasing and decreasing from a constant is what you feel as the result of agility. When you rise too quickly, you feel as if you're being crushed. During a fall, your heart skips as you detach from the humbling earth.

Fights are moments that go on for ages. You can break apart combat to countless factors, as long as you have the dexterity to keep up with it. We are agents that move the world, while the world provides the repercussions. A slip will force us to fall, where the ground itself will throw a fist to you. Heavier things take more damage from a trip, but this applies to swifter people as well. Force takes from both factors. Colliding with immovable forces will turn all that agility against you.

[Nira]

?/40

A sudden snap when you need a boost, and backlash for the withdrawal. That's the act of a jab. Copy that motion to your legs to get a dash. Figure out how to repeat that motion indefinitely and you'll have a formidable sprint. Movements are quick, a motion to cover a distance in a certain amount of time. Reduce either one and you'll attain an enhancement of rapid pushes. Unfortunately, manipulating distance is difficult, so we'll focus only on fitting it in less time.

Extra motions must be applied in pragmatic ways. Never use it for actions without value, such as poses. A jab is good, but it shouldn't be held in place if you don't have any other plans for your arm. Pull it back and get ready to unleash another body shift. The best state of your body in a high paced combat scenario is the ready position. Be ready for anything, and do as little as possible to get the biggest result. We don't live in a play. There's no place for drama when we need to outdo an opponent.

Tradition seeks to hold you back. Abandon those ridiculous notions so that you save yourself from excessive waste. Breath as you need to, not as you've been taught to. Every breath is precious, and the idea to take a breath is precious as well. If a breath held in allows for a vital strike to be made, it's a breath worth missing out on. The debt of all your operations will be inevitable. A good warrior with a fast mind will know where to put their debt where it is least momentous.

[Nira]

?/40

Always be ready for a challenge. Life will never stop throwing those at you, and you have to remember to dodge out of the way. I'm afraid you'll have to rely on reflexes when those come up. We can't be ready for a challenge all the time, unless we want to shut ourselves away like a clam. Living is a risk. Danger await in the corners you can't even see, and pounce at your like a hungry predator. The first reaction, and sometimes the only move you can make, is the one born from reflex.

More chances to act has a flip side. Every additional movement allows you to make an additional mistake. There are times for strikes, and times where such a move is foolish in hindsight. You may very well lose an arm for a most regretful blunder. That cost isn't so high to us, but it's not one we can risk. Accept the punishment for a fault and you will be swallowed by the fate that awaits us all. Death claims those that exist in a world they can't handle, and speed is one such a world.

Fatality must not lead to fear, if it has no happened yet. The final assurance of the speedster is the ideal of the balanced mind. A balanced body moves in excellent ways, and the balanced mind directs that body to where it is rewarded. Even if rapid swiftness, it boils down to the most basic instinct of a child. Move as fast as you can through the world, but seek whatever gives you a smile, and turn everything else away. Move towards the perfection of movement you can never attain.

[Father 'Suke]

Learned

[Nira]

Sekondo Nen (Second Sense)
Rank: "D", "C", "B", "A", "S"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: The brawler depending on the rank of the technique the user is capable of reacting through subconscious mind against attacks against the user in different manners such as being flanked, and from behind. This technique makes the brawler incapable of being surprise attacked.
Special: ---
Drawback: The user may only learn this technique by the class that they are. This means that in order to learn the "C" Rank version they must be "C" Class, if they wish to learn the "B" Rank version they must be "B" Class.
Description: A technique where the subconscious mind, where the subconscious body reacts just as they are attacked while flanked or while their back is turn. The body reacts in such a way to where they are capable of withstanding so much. This technique makes it where the Brawler is incapable of being surprised attacked, a sudden second sense kicks in as their body screams out to them yelling at them telling them to move, duck, dodge or anything else within that manner. If an opponent comes to a Brawler at a bar, and attacks with a sword, or a club, the brawler gains the urge to dodge to the left, or to the right, where they are capable of reacting before the action is completed. This works on whenever they are being attacked. This technique however has a major flaw. The user is capable of dodging only whenever the opponent's class is equal or lower to that of the rank of the technique they know. This means that a "D" Class user that knows this technique can not use this against an opponent that is "C" Class or higher.
Limit: Must be a Brawler

S rank
0/100

After a bit of her personal training, Caine called Tarah over. He wanted to plan a spar between Caine and Kalisa, so that Kalisa could try out a few boxing moves on a live target. Caine himself refused to do so, as he didn't think it fair for a boxing master to go on a full out spar. Tarah didn't want to get into a debate over who was stronger, so she agreed. It would be a chance to practice her evasion capabilities, anyway. Caine quickly set up a spar ring. While he did so, the two girls worked on warming up.

As soon as everything was prepared, and all the obstructions were moved away with the control room, Caine yelled for the girls to start up. Kalisa rushed in as fast as she could, and shot a straight punch right towards Tarah's face. Tarah's black hair trailed behind her head as she moved out of the punch's way. The first lightly brushed across the dark strands, then flew past Tarah's ear. The attack was pretty soundless, but Tarah felt the pressure of its movement. It was a deep displacement in the atmosphere.

For some reason, it was hard for Tarah to anticipate the strike, even though it was obvious enough to dodge. Her innate sense of danger wasn't kicking in. Slightly concerned, the dark haired girl backhanded Kalisa across the chest. The boxing girl flew back from the force of the strike, landing near the edge of the sparring circle. Kalisa's springy blonde hair bounced along with her landing, and evened out on the floor while she lay moaning. The recovery didn't take too long, but Tarah failed to notice.

Tarah did a quick mental check of her instincts. Were her senses dulled somehow?

[Nira]

?/100

Suddenly, Tarah felt a chill. As if something beyond her strength was releasing its energy. She looked down at Kalisa, trying to understand what she was feeling. A power, that was strong enough to trigger her instinctive warning. Kalisa was stronger than the dark-haired girl remembered her to be. The rest of Tarah's memory fragments began to wake, in an effort to observe what was rousing their unknown anticipation. What was coming? They were like curious kittens drawn to a tantalizing ball of string.

The blonde girl jumped forth like a feline towards its prey. Her muscles had tightened, and were as rigid as steel. They were actually steel, in fact, it just didn't look like it. Kalisa moved faster than she did before. Tarah was just barely able to move her body to the side in an effort to avoid a punch to her chest. The danger didn't pass, though. While still in motion, Tarah felt the possibility of danger from Kalisa's outstretched arm. A follow up move that paired with the previous strike in a chain.

Kalisa's arm gained the edge of a blade, as sharp as any sword. To avoid being slashed, Tarah released a burst of flame from her arms and legs, which shot her away like a firework rocket in flight. The violet flame also pushed Kalisa back, sending her rolling along the ground. The sense of danger left from Tarah's head, satisfied that the blonde girl was far enough away. Tarah landed a couple meters away, panting a bit from the close call. Her instincts kicked in a little too late to provide a useless warning.

"Oi! Girls! The focus is boxing, no steel or fire please!" said Caine, "Watch the temper, Kalisa. If you did that during a match, it would disqualify you! Take a break to calm down, you two!"

[Nira]

?/100

While Tarah set her mind at ease, some memories of past fights crept in. Alida's memory fragment drifted back to a time she was alone on top a rocky mountain. It was only a short time since her escape from the arena. She was still being hunted, and today was no exception. A big brute of a man managed to sneak behind the rock she leaned behind. If she hadn't heard the sound of crumbling rocks under the brute's feet, she wouldn't have been able to dodge his first strike. The strongest punch she ever witnessed.

The great brute smashed his hand down on the rock, causing it to break in two. If Alida didn't move, she would have had her skull cracked apart. Sound was the only thing that helped her determine the danger. If the brute was a bit more cautious with sound, she wouldn't have been able to save herself. Her fear mixed with rage, and hung at the back of her mind. It told her to run, to get away, but not to take her eyes off of the great brute. Stay calm and steady, yet dash away like a stray bolt.

The instinctive advice was true, and also hard to follow. Before Alida could fully prepare for battle, the brute disappeared. The faintest sound of crumbling rocks indicated that he was behind. Alida tumbled forward just in time to avoid a fatal swipe of the hand. The pressure that came from her enemy's bloodlust weighed heavily behind her head. Her hair weighed her down, but still stood up on end when it felt the force of the brute's mighty blows. The world was trembling in the presence of the ongoing fight.

[Nira]

?/100

Elsie suddenly spoke up.

You know, Invisibility was always a threat. It's hard to detect consistently, and it's almost killed me a few times. I must thank the brain's vigilant development of threat instincts, yes. It's a unique feeling, impossible to miss. Your subconscious grabs your attention and shakes you about like a menace. It yells at you, quite rudely I must say. So demanding. Oh, I'm about to die, am I? Ah, look at that, yes, quite deadly indeed. How you were able to see the unseen is a bit beyond me, if I'm honest.

I didn't know she was there. She didn't make a sound, had pillows of some sort wrapped under her feet. Well, not puffy pillows. Pads, more like. She had those on, and obviously the flooring of a house isn't an effective indicator of footsteps. No help there. Just after a pleasant teatime with all the monks. You know, sometimes the little ingredients of tea jolts you awake. It keeps you unsteady, forced to remain outside of the beautifully dark lands of sleep. I was grateful on that day.

I'm not sure if I would have survived if I was asleep. I mean, I might have healed if the assassin wasn't good with their information. I never flaunted my healing abilities, after all. But yes, she stood there, ready to strike me down. She probably didn't mean for it, in the end. Didn't have the stomach to handle it. Couldn't be sure since she wasn't talking much after the whole fiasco, but I'm quite a people person. Ah, it's hard to recount the feeling without a body. Think of it like an invasive bit of ice, crawling up the side of your head.

[Nira]

?/100

It's one of those things that is good to use against another, and terrifying to be used against us. Not that I was afraid, but it's gotten my heart pumping a few times. Would it do the same to you? Like, waking up suddenly in the middle of the night with cold sweat on your face, just to see the glimmer of steel in the shadow. She seemed to pick up the knife from my place, though. Well, now that I think about it, it was probably glass from when she broke inside.

That would explain why a few drops of her blood were scattered about afterward. Anyway, like I was saying, she was invisible, but the blade was lit by the moonlight. Barely the smallest glimmer on it. That might have been vital, it's one of those subconscious details that the heart of the brawler managed to detect and react to. I think she might have been related to one of my loyal admirers. Out for vengeance against an apparent puppet master. Naturally, in my shock, I lit my room on fire.

Was quite expensive to repair. She screamed, and backed away as her clothes caught aflame. Threw the blade at me as a last ditch effort. Rather foolish, but maybe that's bravery in her books. I noticed it, of course, but my senses warned me as well. The flames were distracting, so I get that I was stressed. Without my internal voice screaming at me, I might have missed the cue and gotten a shard thrust up into my heart. Never been too wounded, so that's a fearful idea. Bet the instincts would get a bad kick out of that.

[Nira]

?/100

The Saint's voice began to mesh with the other personality fragments

It's odd how instinct works, and how it alerts us of danger. It's a lot like how people say they feel they're being watched. That's something that happens to people, right? Granted, perhaps that said feeling is a work of fiction. That said, it's a reliable basis for how our own instinctive secondary sense works. After all, the world of fiction finds its roots in the world of fact. It's why creatures tend to resemble beasts and humans, when it could resemble something completely unrelated. Originals are rare.

I wouldn't say we're an animal or insect, but those creatures have a similar ability. No matter how quiet you are, they will bolt even if you sneak up behind them. That's what we've adapted into ourselves. Ah, we don't have those air sensing hairs like a jumping spider, but we're good at reading the patterns of the atmosphere at least. We have some good ears to help out. Different winds have different sounds, isn't that kind of funny? I say funny because we don't notice it much.

Well, not noticing is why you're able to function with the brute's extra detection sense. Those are things that the instinct pick up, but let's have a look at it. The flap of a bird's wings, for example. That's a very slow sound, the wind included. Very close to the flapping of a flag. Sort of an ongoing rhyme. It's a wind that snaps. Comparatively, there's the wind from out mouths, the wind that whistles or blows. Nature's pretty handy with that when trees and valleys are involved.

[Nira]

?/100

I like to think that the secret to it lies in the realm of vision, too. It has to involve more than what we've been given so far. There's rarely ever a time where you find yourself in a place with no reflections. Considering that, perhaps our subconscious mind notices the subtle shifts in the world's mirrors. Water's an obvious choice. That thing reflects the heavens and still have room to spare, the natural mirror that is always flowing. We can't always rely on it being present, though.

The effect is duplicated by the standard housefly. They have so many additions to their eyes, certainly enough to see all the things that sneak up on them. How a fly swatter lets you hit one accurately in beyond me. Are those tools really much faster than a hand? I do hope our extra instinctive senses have the courtesy and ability to warn us of gigantic fly swatters. I'd hate to be defeated like a common insect, really eats away from the value of life. It fits, but in an insulting way.

Like I've said, I'm not sure. It could come from something else, but that's my guess of it. We spend our lives watching the world through our eyes. It's not unreasonable to think that our deepest selves have picked up on the more precise details in the visible spectrum. Really look at yourself sometime, see the world that surrounds you day to day. How many things have you missed? Pick up a little figurine that's been there all your life, and stare deeply at the details. It's been there the whole time, you just haven't seen it.

[Nira]

?/100

Maybe it's something about the scents in the air. Sort of like dogs, you know? The sense of smell might not be as effective for us, but we recoil from horrible smells. It could be that we recoil away from the smells that indicate danger. I'm not too sure what those would be, unfortunately. Perhaps the sweat of another person, when they are directly behind us and close enough to whiff. That would give a certain degree of alarm, where we could react. That's in odor invasion, of our personal space I mean, we could be rejecting that.

It's all a guess, but they're all possibilities. The subconscious mind is much more powerful than our usual set. The mark of a clever mind is one that is as precise as it ever needs to be. Then again, I think this ability you have was born of brute effort, might not be intelligent at all. So then, in what ways are we exceeded by animals? There's physical ability, can't quite match the size and strength of a lion. As we get stronger, our instinct grows at our side. Do the muscles matter?

You could think of it as seeing with the visions of the blind. A sense of the world that you're not quite sure you had. The subconscious mind has no eyes. It has no nose or ears and mouth or skin. It is without a physical body, a world all on its own. What feeds it is our conscious mind. When we finish experiencing the world, we pour all our experiences and knowledge into the subconscious. A smoother, but similar, transaction between our shadow clones, yes?

[Nira]

?/100

There are times were you feel a leap of anxiety. When the emotion of fear is intact, then it's felt as that. The sense of prediction that goes behind your heads is based in distance and intent. What comes before a punch? Can we predict a punch that chooses not to wind itself up? I've seen some of Caine's better moves. I don't think all of them would trigger the senses we've built up with our instinct. The timeless soul can see it, but the body in limbo will always fail at the same given task.

Think of every person as a circle. The circle being the range they can throw out an attack. Arms reach, so to speak, but with the legs included. That is extended by weapons, of course. When a person places you within their reach, you will feel in danger. When they make a motion of attack, you'll be under threat. Threat is what activates whatever feeling that marks your instinctive sense. It is the time when you choose the method of evasion. You're able to choose a good one, because the senses want to take you out of your opponent's circle.

You have your own circle as well, so keep that in mind with your attacks. If you don't have a proper tactic to avoid detection, people can react properly to you as well. Bubbles of threat floating around everywhere, each person ready to be set off. So how is it done? Compression, maybe? As we move forward, we compress the world in front of us, just a bit. An emptiness is left behind us. After a brief moment, the wind rushes in to fill the gap. If our bodies can read the compression of the world, that may be the gateway.

[Nira]

?/100

Deena here.

I had a fight once before with a dragon, you've seen that memory I'm sure. Well, it's not my only fight with the dragon, but it's the only one I recall right now. As we've said, there is a basis for what a person's attack range is. When you're inside that range, ever movement that can strike you gets picked up by your sense. In a way, you're keeping yourself in the moment of destruction, where the simplest of motions are a great risk. Live in oncoming destruction, and you will constantly feel the shock of death.

I wouldn't worry about special attacks while the doom ward is active, but it's a different story for physical strikes. I mean, the doom ward works on those as well, but I meant when we are bare to the world. Our shells are so soft, fragile yet durable. A living contradiction that lives with perception. Compared to eggs, we're untouchable gods. Then, you pick up a little pin, and push in into your hand. At that point, you body screams, because it fears the end of its existence.

As long as you pay attention, and don't become a slave for your subconscious mind, the world can be slipped through. It's as easy as a game. Just have your head cleared so that you can see the gaps between attacks, and exist only there when a strike occurs. Yes, the reflexes draw from your internal thoughts, but it might not be the only thing that leads you. When reflexes activate in that precious moment, it must draw from all your memories. Not only how an animal would act, but how you as a person would act.

[Nira]

?/100

Oh, break's over, your sister there's attacking you. Watch out, she still has that speed boost active. I'm pretty sure she's using some augmentations. Perhaps chakra gates. Oh, look out, punch coming from the left, standard straight. It won't carry any further force, so just move your head out of the way. To your left, actually, so that she can't do a follow up punch with her left. Yeah, there we go. No wait, jump, she's kicking from below! Ah, she's definitely faster, was almost a blur there. She supposed to be living metal, too.

Aw, guard your face, we got caught up in a combo attack. She wanted you to jump, we don't have any sidestep evasions then. Crap, we should have stayed on the floor. Yep, arms up, watch out for that hammer fist. Oh wow, that really hurt. Even when she's not in weapon form, your sister hits pretty damn hard. Soft metal is still tough, huh? Of course it is, bloody heavy like a sack of gold. Well, there was some knockback, so you have some distance between her. Try and maintain it, fight with some caution.

Looks like she's not letting you keep the distance, she's trying to start up some infighting again. She's definitely way faster. I'm guessing she learned how to open up the first of the gates. Faster than before, but still slow enough to keep up. You should arm yourself as well. The first one is safe to open, you won't be able to keep up with her as you are now. Not without taking some more hits. You have more strength, but it won't mean a thing if you can't land solid blow. Ah, I think she's onto you, not letting up on her punches. Trying to disrupt us.

[Nira]

?/100

Oh, that totally reminds me. This is Tanni by the way.

Music has its own little combat detections, you should try and invest in that when you get the chance. You'll need to work on your singing and pick up some more instruments, but we'll get it done. How does it work, you ask? Vibrations of course! The world is oscillating all over the place, all the time. Nothing's motionless, not even when you reach the coldest point. There's a reason for it, but not anything you'd care about. Point is, every moment sends vibrating bits of the world colliding with each other.

When this collision reaches you, and believe me it will, it tends to outpace an attack. Not always, as with the case of unpredictable attacks that flow alongside the tiny movements of the world. Shivers are basically a large scale vibration of your body, and it's how you react in intense situations. Fright or absolute cold will send your body to shivers. In fear, it is a defense that keeps you alert. That's the one that instinct likes to use, I'd bed. Shivers in the cold are just to keep you warm, mostly.

Okay, you know how hot stuff likes to mesh with cold stuff? Like, uh, weather patterns do that I think. So, things that are hot, with high vibrations, will diffuse into the lower vibrations of the cold. Similarly, when you're under attack, you want to move away from the high vibration threat area to enter a safer cold spot. The action of evasion is a dodge to remove the intensity of a situation. Once you're out of the way, you can cool down. Heat is pain, after all. That last thing you want is to burn out.

[Nira]

?/100

Careful of injuries from avoidance. It dodging a blow involves twisting your neck too far, it may be better just to receive the attack. The first act of dodging is a reaction most of the time, but the time after that is up to choice. It's your judgment after the initial movement, and you can do whatever you want to continue a fight. Overcoming your senses is just as important and improving them. The subconscious catches the smallest details, but that makes it about as accurate as an abacus.

By that, I meant it's deadly accurate, but only for pure logic. It's right about the basic foundation of a scenario. To dodge, you have to move your body out of the way of an attack before it strikes. This dodge must be performed in the time before the attack hits its mark. Those are all the factors in play. If you follow them absolutely, you'll injure yourself by making a movement that shouldn't have been done. Harm comes to those who aren't able to judge for themselves.

Pain is a good thing. If you ever have an option to remove it, don't. It's not a good experience, but it supports you throughout your life. The fear of pain gives you the rush of energy to perform superhuman feats. There is so much we are willing to do to run away from pain. If it never existed in the first place, we aren't running away from anything. Even the fearless recognize the necessity to avoid the touch of agony. I can't speak for masochists, but I guess they know the difference between the severity of pain.