Training Clearing Encounter (Roleplay Page)/Amber and Rosie

== Amber and Rosie ==
Amber stuck her head out of the tree Rosie was sitting near. "Hi!" She shouted, probably frightening the echidna on accident.
Interrupted in the middle of another bite of her apple, Rosie turns to face whoever made the outburst, immediately noticing a familiar face. The echidna smiles when her light-blue eyes settle on the sight of the android fox.
"Oh, it's you!" Rosie exclaims happily, recognizing her friend from their battle in a distant tournament arena. "It's great to see you back together, Amber! I was worried about you."
Amber giggled. "I'm good!" She said, flipping out of the tree. "How about you? You probably made a name for yourself after you beat me." The android plopped down next to Rosie.
Rosie blushed, her yellow muzzle turning as pink as her fur. "Oh, come on, now! That was just one win! A true warrior doesn't let a victory go to her head, after all!"
"I guess that's true. So... How you been doing?" She said, repeating the question.
"Fine. I'm actually taking a quick break from martial arts practice," Rosie answers, looking at the wide open space before her. "I try to come to this clearing, every day, to work on my fighting skills. As a martial artist, I gotta stay active, you know?"
"Sure... I, erm... actually don't know any martial artists. There's Vane, but I've never met her." Amber said, looking straight forward.
Looking back at the android, Rosie shows a patient smile as she says, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with that."
Amber's tail wagged. "Do you have any friends? I mean, it's OK if you don't..." She said, tripping over her words.
"I have a few, yeah!" Rosie confirms. "Most of them are back in my home dimension but at least two of them are here on Mobius. The two are my closest friends, Raptor and Vanill. They're martial artists, also."
"Raptor? They sound cool." Amber said, her tail-wagging causing her whole body to shake.
"Heh, I think so, too," Rosie agrees, sighing happily. "Raptor is a dragon with a heart of gold. He saved me from a rotten dojo group when I was younger and even helped me awake my true power of aura when I had trouble tapping into it, myself. Then there's Vanill. She's only six but she's super-strong for a little squirrel. She was the first friend I've ever taught martial arts to and, ever since then, we've been great training buddies."
"Nice! I have Lee, my best friend and "older brother" figure. We fought a bunch of craziness together, he fixes me whenever I get busted up." The android said, grinning widely. "His family kinda took me in as one of their own; there's Link and Cassie too, Link can be a jerk and Cassie's like my mom-ish."
"I see!" Rosie responds with a slight chuckle. "Your friends all sound like a pretty balanced bunch. Especially someone like Lee, who's willing to repair you like he did. By looking at you, it's almost like we never had that fight, earlier!"
"He's a tech whiz, kinda his thing." She said, then went quiet, not knowing what to say next.
Rosie remained silent for a moment also, taking a short moment to relax with her friend. Under normal circumstances, the echidna would train, rest, and meditate in the clearing alone, but having a friend over did wonders for the atmosphere of her little sanctuary. It was nice to share her favorite training spot with someone friendly, let alone someone she bonded with, in the field of battle.
"...Speaking of that," Rosie would speak, breaking the silence, "When we brought our fight up close during our match, you handled yourself pretty well against me. Did Lee teach you how to fight like that, by any chance?"
"What? Oh, no... I'm self-taught. Everyone in my group kinda has their own style, mine involves me getting my butt kicked a lot..." Amber said, trailing off.
"Oh, really? Well, maybe I can help you work on some moves!" Rosie offers. "We could have a little play fight right here but this time, while we're fighting, I'll keep an eye on any improvement areas you can work on and coach you through them. I can act as your martial arts tutor!"
"Uhhhhh..... Ok." She walked in a circular motion. "So.... What do I do first?"
Rosie sets down the apple she was eating and rises up to her feet before stepping over to the center of the clearing, where the two could have more room to move around in. She then stops and turns around to face her friend.
"Basically, attack me however you'd like, though try not use your blade like you did in the arena. This will help me figure out what areas we can work to help improve your fighting skills," Rosie answers, tightening up the black belt around her waist. Unlike when they fought in the arena, the echidna's demeanor was more relaxed and pleasant, as she was ready to guide her friend rather than trying to straight up defeat her in battle. "Are you ready to get started?"
Amber balled her hands into fists, giving a weak smile. "Ready." She jumped at Rosie, attempting her downward punch.
Rosie keeps her eyes on Amber as she approached then, once the android was within range of hitting her, she quickly sidesteps out the way and lets her hit the ground instead.
"When you attempt a lengthy aerial attack like that when you're opponent has their guard up, you're giving them more time to evade and counter," Rosie warns. "You should try staying away from those jumping attacks unless you're sure you can land a direct hit with them."
Amber faceplanted the ground when her target moved. Standing up, she waited for Rosie to move next.
Noticing that her sparring partner was ready for more, Rosie shifts into her Taekwondo-style fighting stance, all set to take her turn attacking. "Instead of starting off with those wide air attacks, try closing on your foe with fast, lighter blows to veer past your opponent's defenses and pummel them with a quick barrage of attacks, then when they try to come back at you with a counterattack, act fast and defend yourself then quickly go in to strike any openings they make while attacking. Like so..."
The echidna quickly dashes up close to Amber and throws two fast straight punches to her chest, then one more punch towards the face. Although her strikes didn't have all that much power within them, they still pack enough force inflict a good amount of damage to her target while, at the same time, allowing Rosie to channel more of her natural speed into her attacks, making them harder to defend against and combinations easier to execute. This was precisely the kind of close-range battle tactic Rosie was trying to demonstrate to Amber.
Amber took the first two punches, but gripped Rosie's first on the third punch and tried giving the Echidna a soft kick to the stomach. It was a good counter attempt, but Rosie wasn't just about to let her friend get a free hit off her. Instead, she remains on guard and steps over to her right, dodging the incoming kick at the nick of time.
"Don't let your guard down!" She coaches as she attempts to counter with two fast roundhouse kicks to Amber's left side, aiming for the abdomen then the head, letting out a quick little kiai on the second attack. "Hyah!"
Amber was hit, getting thrown away like a ragdoll.
"That's another thing. Even when you find an opening, your opponent isn't always just going to let you hit them without trying to defend themselves. You have to keep your guard up, whether your going in for an attack or not, because they can end up attacking you at any time, even when you're sure you're going to land a clean hit." The echidna says, waiting for Amber to rise back up to her feet. "Otherwise, you might get blindsided by an attack you don't even see coming."
Amber huffed. "I stink." She stood back up, drawing her fists again.
At that moment, Rosie began to get a little worried. She never liked to see a friend become discouraged. "Hey, you shouldn't put yourself down like that. Mastering martial arts takes practice. Nobody becomes an expert brawler overnight, after all. The important thing is to never stop trying, and that goes for any new thing you try. You have to keep going at it and going at it some more until you finally start to improve, little by little!" Rosie encourages, showing a patient, reassuring smile. If there was one value Rosie liked to live by, it was perseverance. "Heh, you want to know how many fights I loss before I finally started to get better?"
"I bet I have a higher amount." She joked. "How many?"
The echidna crosses her arms, a sly smirk forming on her muzzle as she simply says, "One...hundred."
Amber blinked. "OK, you win.... what kind of opponents were they?" She asked, getting distracted.
"Well... Where I come from, almost everyone is a martial artist wielding attributal power, trying hard to better themselves. I just happened to be at the bottom of the pack at the time, which meant I was struggling and struggling just to be able to win a match. I haven't had much luck back then... Nobody thought I would ever get better," Rosie looks down a bit as she recalls her experience, already beginning to remember the sadness and frustration she had to go through during her childhood. However, she looks back up at Amber with gleaming, passionate eyes. "...But I never gave up! No matter how many times I got tossed aside, I picked myself right back up for another try. Thanks to a lot of perseverance and plenty of help from those that cared about me, I was able to tap into my true power and finally win my first sparring match, and it only went up from there! That's why when I see a friend having trouble with their training, I want to be able to help them. I know I don't have all that much experience as a sensei but, basically, I want to try and pass on the care and patience my family and friends gave me so those I care about can improve too!" Rosie declares, raising her right fist close to her heart as if making a pledge. "Cause that's the kind of impact I want to make for my friends, as a martial artist!"
Amber just stared at Rosie, causing a moment of awkward silence between the two. The echidna warrior blushes a bit in embarrassment, looking down and rubbing the back of her head.
"...S-sorrry. I guess i got a little too far into it," Rosie apologizes.
"No, it's OK. Strong memories?" Amber replies.
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