05-30-2017, 11:53 PM
Chakravartin unrolled the map he had procured in the village, and idly wondered how far Ozo Mat had gotten on her own. The Spiderchair was theoretically far faster than Appa should be, but he had an instinctive notion that Omni wouldn't allow something so fast to exist in his world.
Minas Tirith was a truly massive city, divided into rings, each guarded by a near-impregnable wall. Aang mentioned the similarity to the city of Ba Sing Se in his own world. Truly, Camelot was quite similar to the Earth Kingdom in many ways.
During the last hour of their trip, Aang convinced Lysandra to take the reigns once more, in order to continue their training in long-distance hands, Chakravartin's Gold, Aang's Stone.
"Are you sure? Just pull back! Come on."
"The connection cuts off after five feet, Aang." Chakravartin sighed, taking a step forward to allow the Palace Hand's biomass to integrate back into him. He was limited to three, after the incident of the previous day, and in their training he had already lost two to the edge of his barrier.
"I don't understand why it would work for me, but not for you Chakra." Aang said, sighing and displaying with his own Stone Glove, "Everything Bending is, is the push and pull of Chi."
"Push and pull?"
"Well, yeah." Aang said, sitting down, cross-legged, and Chakravartin took a similar position, the monk took an instinctive meditative stance, putting his fists together, so that the arrows met at his knuckles. "Attacking and defending, push and pull. Air pulls- negative jing. Yin. Fire pushes, positive jing. Yang. Earth is neutral jing, and reacts with the opposite of its opponent, pulling when the opponent pushes, and pushing when the opponent pulls. And water draws energy from the movement of moving from one jing to the next. A constant cycle of pushing and pulling, like the waves. Yin and Yang."
Chakravartin raised a bushy eyebrow. It wasn't... unfamiliar, he supposed. It would be simpler, if all Fist Powers were so easily defined as the four elements. But as it was- they weren't. Principles that might apply to one Fist User would be irrelevant to another. But at its core...
A Fist User only pulled on their energy when a battle was over. They pushed and pushed and pushed. It was inefficient, and flashy, and destructive. It was Saru. In fact, most duels between Fist Users did not end due to an opponent's skill, technique, or destructive capability. Most duels ended when one of the fighters simply had no more Chi to give.
"...I'm a fool."
"What?" Aang asked, surprised.
"I won't say it again." Chakravartin said, deeply embarrassed. The Palace Hands would lose cohesion once it left a five-foot aura of his Chi? Omni had crippled his Chi, Chakravartin knew, but he assumed it was a limit that was unbreakable. A limit set by a god. But he just wasn't thinking like a Fist User! For too long, he had not used a mortal body. He had relied on having more Chi to throw around than literally anything else alive, for his entire existence.
"You look fired up." Aang said, grinning, "Did you figure something out? Do you think you can pull back a Palace Hand now?"
"The issue, Aang, wasn't that I wasn't pulling. Once my Hand leaves my aura, it's lost."
"Then why are you smiling?" Aang said, his own smile not going anywhere. Chakravartin looked like a kid who had just cracked the secret to a kata his masters had been trying to drill into him for days.
"I'm not pushing hard enough!"
"But... the idea is to bring it back."
"That's irrelevant. If I push as much power as I can into a single Hand, focus my Chi, extend my aura beyond what it was. Aang, when you look at my Palace Hand, you think Earthbending, no?"
"I... yeah." he brought up his own Stone Glove, "That and your whole style is very Earth. Your hands orbit, waiting and reacting. Attacking and defending at the right times. Though, your personality feels more like one of the masters at the Air Temples, back when I was a kid."
"The Palace Hand isn't earth, it's flesh. My flesh. My Chi. I'm not gathering from any other source than myself."
"Fire!" Aang said, eyes lighting up. "You're drawing it from your own inner flame- your Chi! You're a firebender. In spirit anyway."
Chakravartin turned toward Appa's back. and got into his own stance. He grinned fiercely, and focused. He pumped his Chi, what little was left after Omni's tampering, enough that even if he had the other three Palace Hands available to him, they'd be useless while he channeled his strength into this one.
"Fist of God!" he cried, "Palace Hand!" he punched forward with his mind, and the Palace Hand raced forward, sailing.
Aang watched, and broke into a wide smile as the hand sailed clear of the five-foot limit, farther and farther. The Hand turned in mid-air some fifty feet away, and shot back towards them, arcing beneath Appa and rising from the other side. In the hand was clutched an acorn from the forest some forty feet beneath them.
"I knew you could do it." Aang said, slapping the Saru on the back.
Chakravartin merely smiled, bringing the hand back into his regular radius, he stopped pouring so much Chi forward into the strike, allowing it to ebb back to his regular levels. "I shouldn't have doubted you, I suppose." Chakravartin said.
Minas Tirith was a gorgeous place, a city of white spires, a crown on a mountain. The great walls that surrounded each terrace, culminating in the massive citadel, was something that inspired awe. For most people.
"It's... kind of small." Lysandra said, "I mean, it's beautiful, but Coruscant's city covered the entire Verse! This... is just a really big village, isn't it?"
Aang shook his head, "I mean, they've got more walls than Ba Sing Se, but Ba Sing Se almost had an entire country inside it. Minas Tirith could fit inside the inner ring."
Chakravartin, who had seen the capitals of a dozen worlds crushed under his host's heel, gave it a 7/10, mainly for aesthetic reasons.
"Halt!" six knights, riding winged horses, had come from the edge of the outer trading towns that surrounded Minas Tirith. Appa groaned in surprise, not used to other animals in the sky. "What business have you in Minas Tirith?" the leader of the group said, watching the three uneasily.
"We're simple travelers." Chakravartin said, passionlessly, "We weren't aware there was a customs we should be going through?"
"There is no customs. I'm more concerned with your mount." The knight jerked his lance in the direction of Appa's face, the bison backing up in response, snuffling angrily, "Where did you get it? And what purpose do you intend to use it for?"
"What purpose- to ride him!" Aang said, confused, "What else would we do with him?"
Chakravartin smiled at the pegasi, "He's worried because a sky bison is obviously a more capable flier than their own mounts. They think we'll try to raid the city."
"Well, we promise we won't."
"Where did you find the beast?" another of the knights asked.
Aang, Lysandra, and Chakravartin shared glances. How would the knights consider two Primes? Aang decided to take the more honest option, and see where it led them. "I summoned him."
The knight who had asked seemed disappointed, and the others began to back off instinctively. "You're a Prime? Are these two people you've summoned?"
"No. Just ones I happened to meet." Aang said. "Look, we've been flying for a while, and we really just want to visit the city. Buy some stuff, take in the view."
"It's a shame. Flying beasts like your mount would be grand additions to Camelot's military force."
The first speaker sighed, "Very well, if you're not here to make trouble, we don't want to cause a stir with a Prime. I take it you're here for the Dante's Abyss tournament?"
"Dante's Abyss?" Aang asked.
Lysandra perked up, "Oh, I've heard about them. They were a big deal, the last few years. It's a Prime-only competition, mostly."
"A competition?" Chakravartin asked, very interested.
"A kind of game, where Primes fight each other for prizes." the knight informed them. The knights then turned on their pegasi, heading back for the edge of town, and Aang urged Appa lower towards the city as well.
They had arrived in Minas Tirith.
Minas Tirith was a truly massive city, divided into rings, each guarded by a near-impregnable wall. Aang mentioned the similarity to the city of Ba Sing Se in his own world. Truly, Camelot was quite similar to the Earth Kingdom in many ways.
During the last hour of their trip, Aang convinced Lysandra to take the reigns once more, in order to continue their training in long-distance hands, Chakravartin's Gold, Aang's Stone.
"Are you sure? Just pull back! Come on."
"The connection cuts off after five feet, Aang." Chakravartin sighed, taking a step forward to allow the Palace Hand's biomass to integrate back into him. He was limited to three, after the incident of the previous day, and in their training he had already lost two to the edge of his barrier.
"I don't understand why it would work for me, but not for you Chakra." Aang said, sighing and displaying with his own Stone Glove, "Everything Bending is, is the push and pull of Chi."
"Push and pull?"
"Well, yeah." Aang said, sitting down, cross-legged, and Chakravartin took a similar position, the monk took an instinctive meditative stance, putting his fists together, so that the arrows met at his knuckles. "Attacking and defending, push and pull. Air pulls- negative jing. Yin. Fire pushes, positive jing. Yang. Earth is neutral jing, and reacts with the opposite of its opponent, pulling when the opponent pushes, and pushing when the opponent pulls. And water draws energy from the movement of moving from one jing to the next. A constant cycle of pushing and pulling, like the waves. Yin and Yang."
Chakravartin raised a bushy eyebrow. It wasn't... unfamiliar, he supposed. It would be simpler, if all Fist Powers were so easily defined as the four elements. But as it was- they weren't. Principles that might apply to one Fist User would be irrelevant to another. But at its core...
A Fist User only pulled on their energy when a battle was over. They pushed and pushed and pushed. It was inefficient, and flashy, and destructive. It was Saru. In fact, most duels between Fist Users did not end due to an opponent's skill, technique, or destructive capability. Most duels ended when one of the fighters simply had no more Chi to give.
"...I'm a fool."
"What?" Aang asked, surprised.
"I won't say it again." Chakravartin said, deeply embarrassed. The Palace Hands would lose cohesion once it left a five-foot aura of his Chi? Omni had crippled his Chi, Chakravartin knew, but he assumed it was a limit that was unbreakable. A limit set by a god. But he just wasn't thinking like a Fist User! For too long, he had not used a mortal body. He had relied on having more Chi to throw around than literally anything else alive, for his entire existence.
"You look fired up." Aang said, grinning, "Did you figure something out? Do you think you can pull back a Palace Hand now?"
"The issue, Aang, wasn't that I wasn't pulling. Once my Hand leaves my aura, it's lost."
"Then why are you smiling?" Aang said, his own smile not going anywhere. Chakravartin looked like a kid who had just cracked the secret to a kata his masters had been trying to drill into him for days.
"I'm not pushing hard enough!"
"But... the idea is to bring it back."
"That's irrelevant. If I push as much power as I can into a single Hand, focus my Chi, extend my aura beyond what it was. Aang, when you look at my Palace Hand, you think Earthbending, no?"
"I... yeah." he brought up his own Stone Glove, "That and your whole style is very Earth. Your hands orbit, waiting and reacting. Attacking and defending at the right times. Though, your personality feels more like one of the masters at the Air Temples, back when I was a kid."
"The Palace Hand isn't earth, it's flesh. My flesh. My Chi. I'm not gathering from any other source than myself."
"Fire!" Aang said, eyes lighting up. "You're drawing it from your own inner flame- your Chi! You're a firebender. In spirit anyway."
Chakravartin turned toward Appa's back. and got into his own stance. He grinned fiercely, and focused. He pumped his Chi, what little was left after Omni's tampering, enough that even if he had the other three Palace Hands available to him, they'd be useless while he channeled his strength into this one.
"Fist of God!" he cried, "Palace Hand!" he punched forward with his mind, and the Palace Hand raced forward, sailing.
Aang watched, and broke into a wide smile as the hand sailed clear of the five-foot limit, farther and farther. The Hand turned in mid-air some fifty feet away, and shot back towards them, arcing beneath Appa and rising from the other side. In the hand was clutched an acorn from the forest some forty feet beneath them.
"I knew you could do it." Aang said, slapping the Saru on the back.
Chakravartin merely smiled, bringing the hand back into his regular radius, he stopped pouring so much Chi forward into the strike, allowing it to ebb back to his regular levels. "I shouldn't have doubted you, I suppose." Chakravartin said.
Minas Tirith was a gorgeous place, a city of white spires, a crown on a mountain. The great walls that surrounded each terrace, culminating in the massive citadel, was something that inspired awe. For most people.
"It's... kind of small." Lysandra said, "I mean, it's beautiful, but Coruscant's city covered the entire Verse! This... is just a really big village, isn't it?"
Aang shook his head, "I mean, they've got more walls than Ba Sing Se, but Ba Sing Se almost had an entire country inside it. Minas Tirith could fit inside the inner ring."
Chakravartin, who had seen the capitals of a dozen worlds crushed under his host's heel, gave it a 7/10, mainly for aesthetic reasons.
"Halt!" six knights, riding winged horses, had come from the edge of the outer trading towns that surrounded Minas Tirith. Appa groaned in surprise, not used to other animals in the sky. "What business have you in Minas Tirith?" the leader of the group said, watching the three uneasily.
"We're simple travelers." Chakravartin said, passionlessly, "We weren't aware there was a customs we should be going through?"
"There is no customs. I'm more concerned with your mount." The knight jerked his lance in the direction of Appa's face, the bison backing up in response, snuffling angrily, "Where did you get it? And what purpose do you intend to use it for?"
"What purpose- to ride him!" Aang said, confused, "What else would we do with him?"
Chakravartin smiled at the pegasi, "He's worried because a sky bison is obviously a more capable flier than their own mounts. They think we'll try to raid the city."
"Well, we promise we won't."
"Where did you find the beast?" another of the knights asked.
Aang, Lysandra, and Chakravartin shared glances. How would the knights consider two Primes? Aang decided to take the more honest option, and see where it led them. "I summoned him."
The knight who had asked seemed disappointed, and the others began to back off instinctively. "You're a Prime? Are these two people you've summoned?"
"No. Just ones I happened to meet." Aang said. "Look, we've been flying for a while, and we really just want to visit the city. Buy some stuff, take in the view."
"It's a shame. Flying beasts like your mount would be grand additions to Camelot's military force."
The first speaker sighed, "Very well, if you're not here to make trouble, we don't want to cause a stir with a Prime. I take it you're here for the Dante's Abyss tournament?"
"Dante's Abyss?" Aang asked.
Lysandra perked up, "Oh, I've heard about them. They were a big deal, the last few years. It's a Prime-only competition, mostly."
"A competition?" Chakravartin asked, very interested.
"A kind of game, where Primes fight each other for prizes." the knight informed them. The knights then turned on their pegasi, heading back for the edge of town, and Aang urged Appa lower towards the city as well.
They had arrived in Minas Tirith.
![[Image: Green+Lantern+%2321+Larfleeze.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4knYjWR4Ftg/UbffBSdAvAI/AAAAAAAACoU/SGQqiRnByVA/s1600/Green+Lantern+%2321+Larfleeze.jpg)