Tail of the twins [Amber]

Indeed - training was done for the day. Now it was time to rest, recover, reflect - and spend the rest of the day not training, so the two would be nice and refreshed for the next session. Three days a week honestly seemed a little bit intense for the two of them, but if they could keep up, the effort would do a lot to catch the two up to speed!

"Yeah, there should still be some hot water left. Just be careful standing up, alright?" Mikemon gave a smile, nodding to Holly as both the Meiphemon and Shutmon left the room. The doctor would excuse himself back to the office, needing to get through a bit of paperwork. That left Amber and Coal alone for the moment, and as the Black Renamon-X asked her yellow sister what she did today, Amber beamed. "Well, did you know Holly knew how to build things? You see..."

---

It would be a few weeks later.

Though Amber and Coal were still definitely green behind the ears, the two had definitely made a fair bit of progress - and more importantly, gotten used to the schedule in front of them! Amber was made to go through longer and increasingly difficult sections of the obstacle course, and Coal might have finally gotten that circle down - meaning she would have moved onto direct sparring with the Ankomon. Though Iko pulled his punches, he by no means went 'easy' on her, being quick to exploit blind spots and weaknesses in Coal's form to keep her on the back foot.

As for Amber? She'd learned enough about her balance that, when Holly came back to the obstacle course that Wednesday, she'd already see the yellow fox balanced on a stable, yet narrow, tree branch.

"That's the nature of what our abilities do, Coal."

Watching Coal get back to her feet, Iko would briefly rub his nose with the back of his hand. "Our shadow abilities work best at middle range. Close enough where our shadows can strike the enemy, but far enough away that we're out of direct combat. Anyone experienced enough is going to try and press in close - and if you don't know how to defend yourself at close range, without using your known techniques, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage."

As an example, Iko would step in, shoulder right up against Coal's collar. "If I'm right here, and your first instinct is to channel your shadows, you're going to end up right on your back. And if an opponent is able to push you down on your back, your front side and stomach are exposed for a 'blast' or a direct follow-up from the enemy claw. You need to be capable enough to stay alert and on your feet... so c'mon."

Iko stepped back to his initial position. "Try it again."

---

As for Amber?

As Holly showed up, the yellow fox would hop down, and follow along with Holly. The Meiphemon had continued to build more and more onto the course. More ropes, more buffers, more platforms... and were a few clones out there still maintaining the platform? The yellow fox looked up at them, before looking back at Holly as she spoke.

Reflexes? Abilities? "You mean we're going to be doing stuff other than obstacle courses today? I mean," the fox motioned to the exceedingly long course at this point. "This is fun, but Coal's already onto actual fight practice!"

"Unfortunately for something like this, thinking about it and doing it are two entirely different things."

It didn't take long for Iko to settle back into his stance, and as Coal went back into her's? Iko narrowed his focus. He could tell that Coal was trying something - usually, she was quick about correcting mistakes that the wolf pointed out - but what it was, honestly, wasn't too much of the wolf's concern. As Coal 'thought' about it, Iko decided to test Coal in a different way.

He'd close the distance. And if he could get in range, he'd move to shoulder-check Coal against her mane, leaning most of his weight against that front shoulder. Off-hand, he might have looked off-balance - but if Coal sidestepped, she'd suddenly find the wolf's arms going wide. Either way?

This was an up-front effort, to try and simply sweep Coal off of her feet, either with a push or a tackle.

---

"I mean... I have to learn fighting from you at some point, right?"

Amber gave a furrow of her brow, but the moment that Holly agreed, the yellow fox found herself beaming! She'd follow right on along to that round platform, and once the two were on top of it, the fox would flick her ear. She intently listened to the lesson at hand - listening as Holly spoke about the 'Core', right at the center of the body. Amber took a seat, gently pressing a hand to the middle of her chest.

"Dad works a lot with that sort of stuff... 'anything we can put our minds to'?" The fox blinked, wonderinf it it was really so convenient. "As it is, I really only know 'light'. As for how I do it," the fox would stand, press her palms together, and focus. At several points around the fox, the familiar crystal of diamond storm began to appear - but instead of launching forward, the 'gems' - pieces of glass - simply floated in the air. With another 'pulse', the light energy in the prisms built up, and sent forth condensed beams of light towards the dummy, leaving deep singes on the tough surface.

"... I basically... 'tell' light what to do around me." The fox gave a nod, raising her hand. This time, the light traveling to her arm began to bend around, causing it to vanish from sight. "I can create it, somewhat, but I seem to be better at making it do what I want? Its hard to picture, I guess - I mean, light's everywhere."

A lot harder to put into practice.

Though they were sparring, Iko wasn't too rough of a teacher. As Coal picked herself up, Iko would reach out a hand to help pull her up, and make sure that she was still stable, balanced, and ready to keep going. The wolf would take a few steps away to re-set his stance. For the next attempt, Coal decided to be the aggressor, aiming to swipe her claw at his side. In response, the wolf's movement was rather minimal, adjusting to take the hit with his bicep. The hit forced him to dig his feet into the dirt, the wolf giving a nod.

Make every swing towards your opponent's center of gravity. If you can't calculate that, then make sure the core is in the 'path' of your attack. The opponent will be forced to block or dodge, giving the aggressor the advantage. Alright, Coal...

"What do you do from here?"

---

"Dad's the only one in his field? But don't scientists compare notes and stuff?"

How would the doctor know what he was doing was right, without reference? Was he relying on Holly, or were there others with close enough fields? Bah, Amber thought too much about that - her dad was impressively smart, regardless! For now, all she could really do was show her abilities to her older sister, and listen to her advice. She gave a chuckle when Holly called her attacks 'pretty cool'.

But what Amber really caught onto was that claw, tracing from her 'core' down to her arm. Amber was listening - she learned that much from mom - but something 'clicked' in her head just in that moment. To help herself from being distracted, Amber repeated what Holly said: "No using this stuff on family and friends... I mean, of course, of course, I don't want to hurt them." Amber's unfocused gaze tightened up, nodding to ensure Holly that she understood. "And... I get what you're saying. But let me just... try something first."

"I mean, you know me. I'm going to be distracted until I get this out." She would chuckle, but then her 'focused' expression would return, as the Renamon-X would turn away from Holly, and raise her arms, palms pointing outward. "From my core outward... follow the path right through my arms..."

A deep breath. The yellow fox would hold her position - and this time, instead of the glass prisms appearing around her, a single 'disc' appeared right in front of the fox. It might have appeared to be a shield at first, but it was too thin, too fine and fragile, and barely bigger than one of her palms. "Focus it onto one point... let it build up..."

From her palms - and, further up, from her core - light energy would flow out right into the disc. Unfocused at first, it would soon converge right onto the central, most concave part of the created lens - and once it built up? Holly would see a bright, multi-colored laser fire right on outwards, over the edge of the mountain - the energy intense enough that it left a small swath of melted snow underneath its path! Amber gave a blink, seeing the lens vanish, looking carefully down at her hands.

... And she gave a laugh. "Wow... dad was right. One shot, and my arms feel like I helped mom move that bookshelf again!"

"Not a bad eye... but there's something more direct you need to consider when working with shadows. Raise your arm as if you're going to block."

Iko, of course, didn't move in for a full swing with his next example. Instead, he gently put his hand right on Coal's bicep - right where he blocked Coal - and started from there. "Hook your forward, pivoting foot right against the side of the enemy's front foot. Then, directly from the point of contact..." Iko would pull his hand back, just as an example, "... use the shadow you created, directly against the enemy's arm, to bind their arm to yours."

He would use a tendril to hold the arm in the bind - and for the next bit, would give a gentle pull. Not enough for Coal to actually tip forward, but enough that she could see that her balance was compromised. "Use a sudden pull. Catch your enemy off-guard, and force them to trip forward - and as they fall into your arm, use your free hand to take a swing at their exposed temple."

Again, Iko didn't follow through, giving less than a tap with his knuckle at the side of her head. Past that, though? He'd release Coal from the binds, and would give a nod - first to the Renamon, and then to the stands. "Garlond, get a few of the padded dummies. Do you want to show her how to use her legs, or do you want me on that?"

---

Dad's history aside, Amber's focus was quickly on her own technique. Indeed, it was a draining one to use, but for a rookie, definitely looked powerful. Amber slowly found herself standing back up straight, blinking as the Meiphemon started to poke around her frame.

"Hm? Well, no, no-one showed me how to do it. I mean... you kind of did?" Amber tilted her head. "You told me about energy flows, and that all sounded somewhat familiar, so I just tried it myself. I wanted to see if I could make something of it if I just put all of my energy forward, and... yeah, yeah, let's try it on a dummy."

It would take a minute to set up, which was fine - Amber needed a breather in order to focus on that again! Once it was set up, though, the fox would run through the steps again. "On command... not really, not yet. I'm probably still thinking about it too much."

But she was able to draw it out again - and just as before, a full-power blast soared right on through, striking the dummy right at the front - causing a deep singe, before it managed to almost explode on contact, with the built-up energy, and set the cloth surrounding it on fire, the broken dummy tumbling into the snow.

Amber blinked... and fell to a knee, supporting herself on a palm to catch her breath.

Coal had improved a lot over the past few sessions. She was more consistent with her shadows, stuttering a lot less in his presence, and consistently asking important questions. Iko, of course, obliged her with an answer. "It really depends on the type of opponent. If there's any holes to exploit in the armor, like a Knightmon, what you really want to do is try and intersect your shadow with one of the openings."

"And if not, in the case of a machine Digimon or similar? A throw would be pretty effective, countering their weight if you're able to pull it off."

Iko's ear gave a flick with Garlond's answer. His specialty was with a strange combat style? As the Renamon would open up the supply room, Iko would give a nod - but as Garlond would try and step away, he'd reach, and would pull gently back at the fox's gloves. "Well, if that's your answer, then it wouldn't hurt you to join in on this practice lesson, would it?" Iko would give a chuckle - and in short order, three practice dummies would be set up.

If Garlond stuck around, he'd now be instructing for two! "Of course, its important to consider your legs as an option, but be warned that any time you position a kick, you're putting your center of gravity at risk by shifting the center of gravity to your ankle. Really, I only want to teach you two kicks."

He'd start with a short, low movement kick, right to the 'feet' of the dummy: "A leg sweep..."

And then, a more animated kick at the ribs. "... and a roundhouse. I'll help you two with the form, but this will take more practice than you'd might expect..."

---

It was definitely draining stuff.

Amber would gladly take the jerky, taking a large, hearty bite out of the tough meat as she slowly worked her way back up to her feet. Additives or not, it was tasty, and a good way for the yellow fox to get back some energy. "So its only something I should do when I have a clear shot - y-you can stop checking my arms now, sis." The fox would pull away slightly, definitely a bit fussy. As for her question?

Amber considered it. "I guess... I know invisibility, and how to get a good angle on the opponent, and am good at 'middle' and long range with what I can do, but..." She tilted her head. "Maybe I'm weak if people get close to me? Like, I can't pose myself or focus, and I can only teleport a few times... what do I do if the enemy gets close?"