FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The day before his training would commence, Glenn took James to his home within the Cursed Woods. Despite the name, it was actually a pleasant forest, a large wooded area at the base of an impassable mountain far to the west of Porre. James was trying to gear himself up for the prospect of training, trying to forget the fact that it would take at least two or three years. He was worried this would take too long for his friends back home to stay alive from whatever dangers they were in. But Glenn had made his point. What was the point of heading back home quicker just to end up dead with them? As much as he was frustrated with this and even though he could leave anytime he wanted, a part of him agreed with the frog. Too much even. His doubt in his own abilities grew. Soon the two had reached a grassy clearing suitable enough for their training, the knight turning to face his new pupil. James was still curious as to why Glenn was so insistent to train a young stranger, other than by his intrigue and chivalry. "Art thou ready to begin?" "Totally, let's go!" "Ah-ah-ah! Remove thy weapon." "Uh...why?" "As I said before, how canst thou fight when thy cannot even handle thy blade?" "I can handle this!" "Really?" The frog held out his sword, ready to begin combat. "Show me." James did the same, annoyed at having to do this again, but this time he was more careful. He came forwards with his scissors, and attempted a slash which was easily parried to one side. He dodged with another slash, but he was parried yet again, more forcefully as he fell backwards onto the ground. "Agh!" "Well?" "I-i was just careless, come on!" "Very well." James tried yet again. Another slashing attack, but this one he swung so hard, that he ended up unbalancing himself and did his opponent's work for him, falling onto his ass rather ungainly. Snarling with self-frustration, he sighed and accepted his inexperience. "Alright, alright...maybe I need some practice." "Indeed." The amphibian smirked from directly above. "First, relinquish thine blade and use this." He pulled out a regular looking one-handed sword, a very classic-looking blade of no discernibly unique qualities whatsoever, which James took as he put away his scissors against a tree.

"Uh, what is this exactly?" "A gladius, James. A fine sword that has served many a brave warrior in the face of battle. If thou must learn the art of swordplay, one must begin with the basics." "Crawling before you can walk, right?" said the raptor sarcastically. "Precisely. As eager as thou art to wield thy weapon, one must learn how to wield a weapon at all. Thy weapon, while powerful, is impractical. And by thine own admittance, thy skill of swordsmanship is nonexistant." "Alright, alright, I get it." He sighed heavily to loosen himself up and begin with his training, readying his grip of the sword while Glenn switched from his magnificent long-bladed Masamune, to a similarly-lengthed short sword for fairness. "Now, the first lesson of swordsmanship, with our arming swords, is to realise that a sword can not only attack but also defend. Follow my movements." And so the amphibious knight made slow smooth motions in horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions, with James mimicking back. For the most part he followed rather well, easily keeping up. He smiled as he picked up the pace, slashing away with one hand, his other kept to the side which occasionally pulled back in reflex. This is kids' stuff, he thought, everyone knows how to do this surely, why is he even teaching me this crap? But they continued to do them, getting faster and faster by the minute, blades starting to blur before their eyes in shimmering grey streaks until Glenn stopped with approval. "Good. Now, there is something thou must take care of in thy attack. Thy other arm." "My...other arm?" "Indeed. Do not let it hang to the side so uselessly. Allow it to act as a shield, defend thyself like so." He raised his arm in a way that James did not notice before. He raised it as if he had an invisible shield, deflecting a blow slightly from above or from the side, but always in the opposite way of his sword hand. "This will provide two things. Firstly, a temporary defence from the blow of any weapon. Secondly, a reactionary force for thy sword." "Question!" "Aye?" "Firstly, wouldn't a sword cut through my arm anyway? Secondly, what do you mean reactionary force?" "The arm without a sword is what we call thy shield arm. Perhaps in future thou may wield a shield or a targe, but it also allows thee to practice the reactionary force. Imagine a bow. Thy sword is like the arrow, and thy other arm is like the string. When one arm pulls back in the opposite direction at the same time, thy attacking arm provides a stronger blow." "...ohhhh okay." "Good. Now, once again."

And so with the now recognised other hand movement, James relearnt his steps, swinging with the other arm moving in the opposite direction. He soon felt somewhat of a difference in strength now, a somewhat sharper feeling of force with each swing every time he pulled his shield arm back. Swinging stronger, swinging faster and surprising him when he noticed it after quite a while. After continuing this for a certain duration of time, Glenn said: "Good! Now, enough of that. That was merely the initiation. The real training begins within a few weeks." "Wait, what, what do you mean in a few weeks?!?" "Now that thou hast understood the basic movements, we can see how thou shalt deal with reactions and the basic terms of assault, and then improve upon such until it becomes a second nature to thee." "Oh...actually that does sound kinda fun." "Now we begin another exercise James. Put thy sword away." Glenn handed the raptor two sticks of equal length when they put both their swords to one side. The sticks were made of some sort of wood, possibly bamboo but he couldn't tell. All he knew was that he was liking this already. "Oooh awesome!" He began to swing them kung-fu style, whacking the air with solid swings in all directions. The air around him hummed with the speeding blur he swung them at, making little "hwooyah" sounds before Glenn said: "Calm thyself James, these are not used for battle." "Wait what?" "They are merely part of a coordination exercise." The amphibian held his own pair of sticks and wielded them upon his shoulders, the sticks pointing backwards behind him. James did the same. "This is to teach students about hand-eye coordination, to the level that they can expect and deflect an attack from the four most common directional points of where an attack shalt come from." "Really?" "Indeed. There are four directions an attack will usually come from."

He demonstrated by swinging the sticks individually from both sides, as if smacking someone's head about, before swinging them around to the waist level in the same manner. "For most battles, attacks shall come from those four directions. If thou can anticipate them, then thou shalt stand a better chance in battle." "Alright." "We will be doing this particular exercise at least once per day, for coordination is one of the most important attributes in swordplay, as well as in strengthening one's reflexes. Now, I want thee to swing when I swing, with the exact same hand, in the exact same motion to deflect my attack." "Ahhh okay." "We will start with the upper body. Ready?" James nodded and they began the next exercise. Glenn slowly swung his stick from his right hand as did James, clacking his stick against the other's before it was repeated again. Then they used the left hand when the right hand had pulled back to its original position, moving both arms at the same time. At first it was slow and methodical to gauge each other's reflexes, and James got slightly confused at having to move his arms in such opposite directions. But then Glenn picked up the pace, increasing the speed as James quickly kept up very well. He already knew that his reflexes were top-notch, at least compared to a human. In terms of comparison, James had the natural reflexes of an experienced human martial artist. But there was always room for improvement. Glenn was impressed with how well the raptor kept up before stopping after a five-minute test. "Good! Now, we swing both arms high, then both arms low. Ready?" After a slightly awkward start to get James used to this new pattern, they returned to their speed of swinging at each other with their sticks. Right high, left high, right low, left low, continuing with only one or two falters from James whenever he became slightly confused. But he took the coordination well and 10 minutes later, they stopped. "I must say James, thou possesseth a strong natural sense of reflexes." "Hehe, thanks." "How dost thou feel? Tired?" "Mmmm my arms are a li'l bit sore." "I just wanted to see where thy skill laid. Now however, I must instruct thee properly. A warrior must firstly be physically strong. And to perform such, I require thee to strengthen thy muscles." "Yeah? And how do we do that?" "I have a small training area for such purposes over yonder."

In an adjacent clearing beyond the trees, there were several seemingly useless piles of wood and rocks strewn all over the place. Coming closer however, he could see they were crafted with specific ideas in mind. A strong wooden handlebar, several smooth sphere balls of iron of varying sizes with handles welded into the top and numbers carved into their fronts, and lastly what appeared to be a large rubber band around a tree. "What is all this?" "Exercise equipment my lad. The handle is for thy upper body strength, the iron balls for thy arms, and the band around yonder tree for strengthening the legs." "...heh, nice, it's like a li'l gym!" "And thou shalt train here for all of thy training." "Really? But this isn't sword training." "For me it is. To increase the power within thy muscles is but one of the most basic parts of any training. How canst thou hope to become a swordsman if thou canst not look after thy body?" "...uhhhh I guess you got a point. I don't have to eat salads or go on a diet right?" "Good lord no, a fine young lad such as thee requires far more nourishment when training. A balanced diet is all very well, but soldiers in barracks demand the most fattening of foods in order to refill themselves properly. And you shall have the same if you keep your training up." "Awesome. So uh...what do I do?" "I want thee to take the smallest iron ball into thy hands." James walked over to the iron balls, gripping the smallest one marked "8" by its single large handle, as if holding a briefcase. It wasn't particularly heavy but he would not hold it for long. Glenn took one of the bigger ones marked "12". "Okay now what?" "Grab it with both hands, hold it between thy legs and swing." The frog began to swing the ball from between his legs to out in front of him without letting go, repeating the motion while also bending his knees whenever he swung them back between his legs. "Ahhh...okay." "Now, try doing it for at least ten minutes." "Wha-ten!?" "I want to see how thy strength. If thou canst not do ten, then do thy best." Putting his ball down, he walked away to watch James begin to swing. The raptor mimicked Glenn easily enough, swinging the ball back and forth from in front of him to between his legs, bending down everytime he swung back down. It was a strange feeling, and he didn't want to let go of it by accident so he kept a firm grip on it. He could only last for perhaps 2 minutes before he became exhausted enough to stop, dropping the ball and bending over panting.

"Finished already my lad?" "I...arms hurt..." "Hmmm...then we have a lot of training to increase thy fitness." "I...come on I...I just recovered!" "And yet thou fought me without tiring thyself. Do not make excuses." "Alright alright, now what?" James was panting a little, his arms burning with exhaustion. "I want to see thy leg strength." He took the raptor over to the rubber band around the tree, large enough to go around the waist. He stepped inside of the band with one leg, and walked forwards to make sure it was tense around his pantalooned leg. "Now, I want thee to do this." Glenn began to kick forwards, pushing the rubber band outwards, forcing it tight with his leg before it sprang back everytime. The elasticity contained itself tightly against the frog's leg without falter before he stopped. "Ah...o-okay." "See how long thou canst do, until at least ten minutes." "Oh jesus christ..." With effort already weighing down upon him, James stepped into the band and mimicked what Glenn did, walking forwards until the band was tight against his left leg only, and began kicking forwards. The feeling was strange, to kick out only to have his leg pulled back hard with the elastic force, struggling against it. At first it felt a rather rubbery motion. After a minute however it started to take its toll on him, the kicks turning more forced, the effort more strenuous, grunting as he kept kicking his leg out harder and harder, before he felt his limit reached and stopped. "Agh....okay I'm done!" "Good! Now the other leg." "WHAT!?!?" "This is all part of the training regimen I shall set thee out upon James. And we have not even begun thy real training yet, all this I teach thee beforehand. is so that thou canst wield the necessary requirements to begin training! Namely a certain level of fitness and an understanding of the movements of one's weapon." "Oh come ooooon, let's just swing swords already! Can we go back to the sticks?! Those were fun!" "Not today." "Urrrraaaghhhh!"

Frustrated, he swapped the band to his right leg, and with a furious energy he kicked out hard again and again, repeating snap kicks outwards against the force of the band, growling as he pushed himself harder. He was annoyed at all this once again, the pain starting to build in his leg after a minute of enduring restrained kicks. Admittedly he did last longer with the kicks than he did with the balls. And Glenn seemed to notice that fact, marking it down in his head before James ceased with exhausted feet, collapsing onto them after nearly three minutes. "Agh...hhhh...hhh..." "Very good! Thou art a healthy lad for sure with such legs!" "Ah...thanks...can we stop now?" "For today, yes. Now that I hath seen thy level of fitness at the moment, I can plan out for thee a training regimen that shall compliment thy sword training nicely." "Do I...get a...training montage?" "Pardon?" "Like...clips of me..all...running and...lifting and...punching things..." Glenn was confused by this statement and just shrugged it off. "Perhaps another day, but for now, let us get thyself acquainted with the local area." "H-hokay..." James slowly got up, his legs burning as he followed the frog grudgingly, forcing his steps as they came to a small tree stump in the middle of the forest. A hidden ladder laid with in it from a particular angle. The stump was huge, the hole inside carved finely so to allow both of them inside. James tenderly climbed down, feeling unconfident with weakened legs but he managed the short ascent well enough to find Glenn's home. An underground burrow with a small table, a cooking oven with several pots and baskets for storing food, and a few beds nearby. "You live here?" said the raptor with a sense of awe. "Indeed. I hope it is to thy liking." "It's...well, lovely! I mean it's warm and kinda cozy, I'd totally live here!" Maybe if it had a TV or so, thought James privately as Glenn said: "Well thou shalt be happy to know that I will share my home with thee during thy training." "R-really!? But...yanno I can go sleep at the inn or something, I don't wanna crash at your place or-" "James, I am inviting thee, please do not be alarmed." "...why are you being so nice to me?" "Hmm?"

James couldn't comprehend this from a total stranger, even one so chivalrous as a knight. "You're trying to teach me to fight with swords, you wanna give me training exercises, you're giving me a place to sleep, and you don't even ask me for money or some kind of service. Why?" "Because I want to help thee." "But...this is going so out of your way, how do you know I won't be more trouble than I'm worth?" "Thou shan't be, if thou placeth all of thine efforts into thy training." "But...wh-what if I can't?" "We shall overcome that in time. That is why we train, to advance beyond our current limits to become stronger, to become more skilled, to increase our levels of strength and understanding." "...I..." "Why dost thou feel unnerved?" "You're just...you really want to waste three years of your life...just to train me?" "I am not wasting anything. I am not well equipped enough to teach an entire school of young students when the armed forces of Guardia are perfectly capable of teaching any enthusiastic youths such. And in this era of what has largely become peace in our time, there are few who wish to train at all, free from the shadow of tyranny that once darkened this land." "I...I guess you have a lot of free time then." "If I can raise a young warrior to become greater things within the midst of my twilight years, then I shalt be happy. But it all depends on thee. Thou art free to leave at any time, with only my warnings and best wishes." "...th-thank you. You...you really wanna do all this for me?" "Only because I hate to see a young lad such as thee walk onwards to thy certain death." "Well...I-i-i guess I can try..." "Very well. Now, let me acquaint thee with thy new surroundings." And so James was given a place to sleep and eat from the courteous gentlefrog. After all that he'd been through, he felt rather lucky that someone so wonderfully noble wanted to do such a thing, whether it was due to his uniqueness of not being from this world, or by something else.

James began to wonder if there were other motivations that Glenn had in wanting to teach him for such a long period of time. Was he really honestly saying that he wanted to train the raptor to becoming someone more capable of surviving? Or was there another motive that would occur further down the line? His distrust would nag at him, but he had no evidence to support it, so it silenced itself for the time being. Days would pass when James was given continuous training. Lifting weights, strengthening legs and the upper body, training within his reflexes with sticks and repeatedly making the simplest sword swings that soon became instinctive to him without even thinking. Half the time he wasn't even realising he was doing it correctly, his mind elsewhere occasionally, arm swinging automatically to register correctly. One day, perhaps three weeks later, Glenn brought only two sticks, with one given to James. "Hey, where's the other two?" "Oh, my apologies, I appear to have lost them." "Oh...how we gonna be able to do this then, just swing back and forth?" "No no no, we do it in-" Without warning, the frog swung hard at James from one angle and the raptor immediately deflected it with a practiced swing back at him precisely. "Wh-what the hell!?!?" Glenn did not stop and swung at him again, soon entering a strange mimic of a fencing contest. The swings Glenn made were exactly that of the training he had before, and soon James began to realise halfway what was happening. He was testing him. He fought back, swinging the same way, defending himself well, the two barely managing to hit each other as the sticks clacked against each other repeatedly. The sword motions he had been imprinted with for three weeks were coming to him easily. "Hah!" The frog swung at his legs and James barely deflected it after a lengthly clack-clack-clack of deflected swings at his head, but he managed to block and hit back, blocked in turn as they fought across the clearing. Not a single word came between them, before Glenn somehow managed to disarm James harmlessly so with a strange maneuver. He strafed inwards very close to James, and stripped the stick from his arm before he was tripped and put on the ground.

"Very good!" said Glenn with a smile. "Your reactions are superb!" "Ah...th-thanks...so...this training's working then." "Indeed. Had I attacked thee before all this, I guarantee that thy face would resemble that of a ripened sack of grapes." "Hhhahaha...well you made your point I guess. So...are we training yet?" "Aye. Now we begin thy training." After the initiation, Glenn felt James was ready enough to learn how to properly wield a sword. The basic movements had been covered for at least a month, regularly so that James could mimic them if he had a stick in his hand perfectly. With the training gladius once more, James was given a few tips. "Firstly, when one is about to do battle, one should stand like this." The frog held his own short sword gripped readily to fight, pointing diagonally forwards, before moving his feet into an appropriate stance with legs apart and diagonal of themselves. "This is to maintain one's balance within battle." "How exactly does it do that?" "Consider this. Stand normally for me." James just shrugged and stood as always, feet slightly splayed and horizontal of each other. Glenn walked forwards and immediately shoved him hard enough to make him nearly fall over. "Wha-HEY!" "How didst thy balance feel?" "W-well I nearly fell!" "Now stand like I showed thee." James sighed and stood like Glenn had just done, feet diagonal, legs spread a little with knees tensed. The next shove from the frog was somewhat not as strong despite being the same force. "See how thy legs strengthen thy balance when placed in such a manner?" "Ohhhh...do I have to be like this all the time?" "Only when standing still ready to defend, so that thy opponent cannot force thee off thy balance so easily." "Riiight...okay then." "Now, keep thy pose, bend thy legs with strength, and swing like so!" The basic movements were repeated once again, and James followed suit, swinging left, then right, up, then down, diagonal, then reverse. Glenn would make his swings stronger and the raptor did his best to mimic them, minding his balance with each swing and correcting himself if he ever swung too hard. Soon they would stop after James' arm turned a little weary from repetition. "Now let us see how well thou canst wield thy blade against an opponent." "Alright, I'm ready!" "Haha, not against me this time."

Leading him through to the training grounds again, something new was in the midst of it all. A tall humanoid shape, black as coal and standing resolute in the middle of the clearing, faceless but with limbs in a pose as if ready to strike. "The hell is that?" "A training dummy, one that can stand up to blades but never become broken. It is hewn from a particularly smooth steel not of this era, but is resoundingly tough." "Hah, cool." "Now...stand before the dummy and swing as I hath taught thee." Nodding, the raptor walked forwards with gladius in hand, ready to attack as he did so, swinging his blade against the advanced steel as each strike resounded with a clang of a successful blow. Now and again James would swing too hard and lose his balance not only from the swing but from the impact also. He would learn this lesson over time long into the sunset as Glenn advised him. "Do not throw all of thy force into one swing! That is the way of a savage berserker, not a knight!" "Hwah!" "Good James, that's it, focus thy energy! Control thy blade, allow it to strike only as far as thou shalt allow it to. Thy blade is under thine control, do not allow the blade to control thee!" "What do you HYAH, mean by that!?" "If one swings too strongly, the blade will take upon a life of its own and carry its wielder with it to an uncertain fate. Only thy hand should wield thy blade, and thy hand should control it, striking precisely towards a specific target, rather than wildly flinging itself across the land." "R-right! HYAH!" A particularly strong diagonal slash scraped across the metal, much to the frog's delight as James continued to swing and strike and begin learning to control his swings with each passing minute. Soon he became too tired to properly do so, tapping the armour weakly. "Huuu...huuu..." "Very good. Thou art improving certainly." "I feel like I'm...just crawling through this training." "Indeed." "Am I....good enough to wield a sword yet?" "Thou shalt still require much more training before we properly do battle to test thy skill." "D-dammiiiit...nnngh...when do I get to fight!?" "When thou ceases upon requesting violence to occur. That is not the way of the knight." "N-no?" "Not at all. A knight upholds the law, they do what is right by their kingdom, to protect the weak and the innocent from harm against all forms of evil." "What...what if the law changes like...like some kinda dictator's in power and they order you to like, kill someone who's weak or even innocent, but you're still under orders from them?" "Ah...a good question. That depends on what thy code of honour says to thee." "Code of honour?" "Indeed. If one considers orders from thy superior to be unjust, then it shall be disputed." "Oh please, none of this bureaucracy bullshit. If something's wrong, you don't do it, right?" "Precisely. But alas, there are occasions when orders shalt conflict with one's desires." "So...what would you do?" "I would do by my own code of honour, for I hath sworn myself to never harm the weak or the innocent. Dost thou not remember the wounded ogre when I found thee?" "Yeah...how come you didn't kill him?" "He was wounded without arms. It would not be a fair fight, and while a creature such as him would not have spared me in a similar stance, I shall not sink to the level of such fiends. And if my superiors disagreed with me, then I would dispute it with them, even if they threatened me with discharge." "Well...that sounds good I guess. You're a real cool guy, sir Glenn." "I thank thee. We are done for today. Now let us rest." They headed back into the frog's home underground, with James settling into his new bed and resting himself from the workout of today, feeling as if he'd swung that blade a thousand times each way. He would occasionally gaze at Glenn curiously, wondering what he was thinking. Wondering about what sort of past he had when he was an official knight, rather than some sort of epic sword-wielding noble-hearted vigilante. He was the kind of person James admired the most. Someone who was not bound by official capacity to the law, but had just as much, if not even stronger morals than the law itself, using his own mind rather than his government to decide right or wrong. Incorruptible even he suspected. A deep admiration grew in his heart, as he soon went to sleep.