When you can't sleep - fight til you drop instead!
WHERE: Arena Training Room
WHO: Lizor...and anyone who happens to drop by.
WHEN: Not long after Lizor's conversation with Boomer. (within a couple hours our time)
WHAT: Lizor is a bit broody and is working off some tension by training! (going for a walk won't do it this time!)
WARNINGS: Nothing I can think of at the moment. I can change it if necessary ( Read more... )
WHO: Lizor...and anyone who happens to drop by.
WHEN: Not long after Lizor's conversation with Boomer. (within a couple hours our time)
WHAT: Lizor is a bit broody and is working off some tension by training! (going for a walk won't do it this time!)
WARNINGS: Nothing I can think of at the moment. I can change it if necessary ( Read more... )
The fact that he couldn't see the program's eyes made Lizor a little uneasy - but it was countered by the comforting resonance. He knew this program was not Rinzler from the Games, whom he knew about but has never met in combat or otherwise. He figured that if Sam had not derezzed him when he did - he would have ended up fighting him.
Shoving such processes aside, he analyzed the data on the chip - brows furrowing slightly with a curious frown. "You cannot speak..." Well that would make things rather...challenging.
After another pause, Lizor took a few steps forward in a non-aggressive manner so that he could hold out his hand in greeting. "My designation is Lizor. Judging by the energetic resonance I get with other security type programs, I must be a variation of one as well. You must feel it too yes?" He wondered, his tones clipped and to the point.
"Ah...nice to meet you as well Anon." He added a little awkwardly. Even though he had come a long way since his rerezz, his long isolation in captivity still made him rather socially awkward at times. "I apologize if you know me but I do not appear to know you. I have memory damage..." He uttered a little - shoulders tense, but he seemed relaxed enough considering he was meeting a stranger.
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When Lizor apologized for not knowing him, Anon shook his head. They hadn't known each other in the old system, so Lizor had nothing to worry about with not remembering him. He'd asked for a sparring match based solely on the skill level that Lizor had demonstrated while exercising.
Reminded of the request, Anon gestured to the spot on the wall where it had been called up and dismissed, and tilted his head in query. Even if Lizor wasn't comfortable with a sparring match with a stranger, he might be okay with cooperative pairs practice. Actually, that might be better - he hadn't fought side by side often, and he needed more practice in that mode.
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The disc warrior blinked - spotting the gesture to the wall panel, where he had dismissed the spar request. "I..." He started - sounding a little uncertain. Steeling himself for the somewhat embarrassment it was to admit this - Lizor ducked his head slightly - eyes eyeing the black helm.
"I was a captive during Clu's regime - forced to play in his Games for a much longer period than anticipated. I was derezzed playing disc wars and am still rather ah...uneasy...with sparring against other programs. Perhaps we can try co-op training rather than trying against each other." His shoulders were a little tense as was his posture. He didn't like admitting this weakness.
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When Lizor explained his long captivity, Anon winced in sympathy. At least if Lizor had survived for a while, then he hadn't been one of the programs he himself had derezzed in the Games. At the suggestion of co-op training, he nodded enthusiastically, liking the idea. It would be interesting to train with a program he could sense.
Going to the wall interface, Anon scrolled through the co-op training options. Target practice, and all the variations thereof; disc control, where both players getting their throw to match the arcs and rebounds outlined in the air meant that they moved to the next stage; timed tests; unarmed combat training similar to the katas he'd seen Lizor doing earlier; baton training, whether lightstaff, katana or nunchaku variants . . . the list went on.
Turning to Lizor, Anon gestured to the options list, silently asking whether he had any preferences.
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He followed Anon to the wall interface - studying the list as the program brought up the co-op options. His eyebrows raised slightly. He didn't even realize those options were there! The fact that his memories were pulling up blanks when he tried to recall the time before his capture where he would have been in places like this....who knew if there were any changes or if this was the same as it was back then.
"I shall take a quick look over this." Lizor assured. "You have just arrived yes? How about you warm up the circuits a little? Show me what you got." His mouth quirked slightly. I all ready had a chance to warm up - I wouldn't want you to start up cold. I shall select the ones that sound interesting so we can begin afterwards."
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Anon began by stretching out his legs, his code responding to being pushed by increasing the upper limits on his tolerances. Then arms, torso, rolling his neck to ease his shoulders, until every circuit was fully active. With his body warmed up, he could move into katas.
In general, they weren't the same versions as Lizor's. One or two were, but the rest were entirely separate. The first one had him moving in a sequence of blocks and punches against a single imaginary opponent; the second against four. The third, more aggressive than the prior two. The fourth, where balance was emphasized even past achieving the correct stance.
His last kata involved his disc, and was considerably more acrobatic than the previous ones. The final move in it was a forward roll, which had Anon sheathing his disc as he came smoothly to his feet and into the proper finishing stance. That complete, he looked over at Lizor to see what the other program had selected.
[OOC: I did four years of karate, so I'm basing Anon's katas on that. I'm guessing you have a similar martial arts background?]
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Lizor perused the co-op options, but he was also watching what Anon was doing reflected in the inactive panel next to the one he was looking at. At one point, he turned to actually watch, silently impressed with the level of skill. When Anon finished - Lizor had a small content narrowing of the eyes, which appeared to be his version of a smile.
"Well done. You have skill." He said quietly with a nod. "I have highlighted the options that appeal to me the most. Such as target practice...disc control. Perhaps once we get used to each other we can try baton work. I admit I am a little rusty on the latter and could use the practice."
He found that a part of him looked forward to working with Anon - his programming resonating pleasantly. It was only his emotional subroutines that were uneasy - but that was only as a result of what he had gone through and nothing to do with the other security program. "You seemed to handle your disc well. Let's see how you do working with a partner."
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Target practice and disc control. Hmm. Anon selected an exercise that had elements of both, in which fast-rezzing barriers would obstruct their ability to get at the target directly. It was possible to destroy the barriers, of course, although they'd only stay down as long as the disc that shattered them was still in the air. Getiing at the targets that way would be a true test of teamwork. In other levels, the barriers would be indestructible and it would be more practical to work out the rebounds needed to catch the twin targets within a given time frame. From the moment that one disc hit, there would be a limited number of nanocycles before it would reset, and both targets would need to be lit in order for them to proceed to the next level. Further up the levels, there would be increasingly complex situations for them to work through.
Anon found that he was looking forward to this.
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He pondered a moment. "I shall place my disc at a power level that should be able to take out most obstacles, but it won't harm you other than a stinging blow. I...do not want to hurt you unintentionally if I mis-calculate a throw." He added this uncertainly. Even the prospect of an accident made him anxious.
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Resonance as a signal? He'd never considered it - then again, the only security program he'd really been near was Tron, and he'd assumed that the resonance was something to do with Tron's position as Chief of Security. (Or something like that - Anon had never paid much attention to titles.)
Experimenting, he concentrated and found that he could adjust his own side of the resonance. He flickered it once - on-off-on - and waited to see if Lizor felt it.
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The sudden change in Anon's energetic signature was enough to make Lizor jerk a little - the hypersensitive jumpy program not expecting it. He turned to blink at Anon - eyebrows raised. "Well...that was interesting. I definitely felt that. Not uncomfortable...just a bit startling. I can expect it now." With a frown - he tried to do the same, searching his coding for the right section. He found it, trying the same flicking off and on signal that Anon did. The ability to turn his signal off would definitely be handy if he didn't want to be noticed. He even went so far to make the left side of his field stronger than the other...then his right. A possible good way to signal a direction to throw for a team effort perhaps.
"I did not realize that I had this ability..." Lizor mused. Who knew what others he had that he had long forgotten about.
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Anon hunted for the field adjustment coding, and found it after a few nanos. He strengthened the field towards the upper part of his body, then down to his legs, reasonably sure that Lizor would feel that. Left, right, up, down. They could get basic direction from that, and refine it as they went along.
Before Anon had the chance to experiment further, the first set of targets materialized at the back of the room. Part of the training was in working out whether they had to be hit in any particular order, or if they were on a time limit. Timed targets would change color once hit, gradually fading back to the original color.
There were two sets of targets at the back of the room, and a larger final target at the back of each group. It was fairly easy to calculate that the larger targets would have to be hit last.
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His next words were silenced as the first set of targets flashed up in his peripheral. In one smooth motion, Lizor reached up and pulled his disc - the edges flashing brightly, before dimming to acceptable powered down levels. His helm materialized with the motion - the clear face shield sliding into place.
Might as well give this resonance shifting method a try.. He readied his cast as he eyed the targets - shifting his energy field to his right side - to tell Anon that he was going for the right group of targets.
He spun to gain momentum - hurling his disc at a curve so that it would rebound off the wall to angle at the targets, pinging off of them smartly before hitting the one in the back. Lizor, so used to always moving to prevent his own deresolution by someone else's disc, was all ready in a roll, then almost a flip to catch his disc in mid-air when it returned.
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Anon watched the cast and the roll-flip that brought the other program upright to catch his disc, impressed again at the agility he was showing. It told him a lot about how Lizor had been fighting - one-on-one combat, for so long that the habits were as automatic as Anon's own disc pull.
Anon's own battle mode had changed so often, and had lasted such a short time, that he'd never had a chance to develop signature moves. Most of what he knew was efficient, effective, but not at all elegant - unlike Lizor.
He strengthened his field on the left side to warn Lizor of his intent, then cast his disc at the targets. It rolled around in a mirror line to Lizor's, hitting the back target last and then returning to Anon's hand. He hadn't moved since the flick of the wrist that had sent his disc towards the targets, and as it returned, he lifted his hand slightly to grab it. It smacked into his palm, humming quietly.
Over the hum of their activated discs, a female voice announced, "Level One complete. Proceeding to Level Two."
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When it came to disc fighting - Lizor wasn't accustomed to having fun. But there it was. They had barely started and he was enjoying himself. It felt almost...wrong. But Crash it! It was so good. It felt real good to work and cooperate with a partner. A team. Right down to his core programming where it hummed pleasantly. Energizing him, making his circuits shine brightly.
Targets flashed up again. Since it was still early in the round, they weren't timed yet. "Hmmmmm." Lizor mused with a smirk. Easy. The targets were arranged to see how the participants could do arcs and angles. An arrangement of targets were on both the ceiling and the floor with a pair on the back wall.
The intention was to toss the disc in an arc - hitting the targets on one surface...and angling it just right so that when it bounced off, it would go to the other targets, finishing at the back wall. A modification of Level One but not so straight forward.
After analyzing this in moments, Lizor flicked his energy field to signal down..then up on the right side - he threw his disc powerfully, the momentum causing him to spin in a modified cartwheel - where he landed in a crouch. His disc arced to the floor - dinged the tragets, angled up to the ceiling, dinged those targets, then it angled to the back wall - hitting the final target before zooming back. Lizor caught his disc, back flipping while he did so and landing on his feet.
There was not quite a grin, on his face - but there was definitely a light in his eyes.
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Anon's disc angled up sharply, hit half the targets on the ceiling, bounced down to catch most of the floor targets, rebounded thanks to the spin he'd put on it and went backwards to catch the ceiling targets he'd missed the first time around. Back down again for the remaining targets, angling off the side wall and finally hitting the last target and returning to him. He had to roll forward and leap to catch it, as that kind of move inevitably sent his disc up high.
He was grinning as he did so. He hadn't expected to enjoy training this much, but here with another security program, he was having fun.
"Level Two complete. Proceeding to Level Three."
The old targets faded, to be replaced by another set. These ones seemed at first to be a random scatter, and the final targets were at the front instead of the back. They'd have to hit those from behind.
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