~Chapter 2~
Nout, Jirro and Aero woke early the next morning and met with Chief Theo, taking off into the forest for whatever training he had in mind for them. He brought the boys to a waterfall streaming down the side of a rock face. Theo grabbed onto the rock face and climbed it. The waterfall did its best to try and knock him down, but he wasn't going to allow that. Before long he scaled the entire wall and stood atop it.
"Your turn boys!" Theo shouted from atop the waterfall.
Aero and Jirro charged into the water and began their climb. The rock face was made slippery by the rampant waterfall, they needed a powerful grip to hold on even for a second. It didn't take long for the two boys to fall back down into the water.
"Your turn Nout." Theo called out.
Nout took a deep breath and waded into the water. Nout gripped the rock face using his hands and trunk and began to climb. Whenever he felt his grip start to go he used his tusks to brace himself until he regained his grip. Nout surpassed the point Aero and Jirro had reached and kept climbing. But eventually the slope was Nout's undoing and he fell into the water.
Theo jumped from the top of the waterfall with a thud and returned to the kids. "We'll try again tomorrow. I expect you to improve each and every day."
The three boys were taken to a small elevated stage that they could barely fit on. Theo called on several other Phantine to help with this exercise, gathering hundreds of coconuts while surrounding the stage.
"This is where you boys will hone your defensive abilities." Theo began, "Coconuts will be thrown at you. With such a small stage you won't have much room to dodge and evade, you'll need to focus and truly hone in your defenses. As soon as a coconut strikes your torso, you're done. Last as long as you can boys!"
Nout, Aero and Jirro backed into each other and the coconuts were tossed at them, starting off slow and light. The boys easily batted away and dodged them, but eventually they began throwing them full force and boys separated.
Aero bobbed and weaved to avoid them but was eventually struck and had to stop off the stage. He felt his side where the coconut hit, "That kinda hurt."
"No pain, no gain kid." Theo responded.
Jirro tried to keep from making unnecessary movements, performing the minimal range of motion to dodge each coconut whizzing past him. But eventually one managed to smack him squarely in the back.
Meanwhile Nout was using his tusks, trunk and hands in tandem with a constantly rotating position to cover his defenses. He stood on stage the longest but eventually a coconut managed to get through and bonked him on the noggin.
"Well done boys." Theo complimented them all. They were progressing well.
There was a track of sinking mud in the forest, Theo sprinted through it with great speed for such a big Phantine, demonstrating the path the boys would take. "Get through the mud as fast as you can and I'll time you! Make sure and keep a good fast pace, otherwise you'll sink!" Theo shouted.
He intended to pick them out of the mud if one of them began to sink, but scaring his students a little sometimes brought forward good results.
Nout, Jirro, and Aero stood just outside of the mud and jumped in together. The mud felt like adhesive, restricting their movements significantly. Aero and Jirro pushed through the mud and managed to get a good pace. They were shoulder to shoulder in heading towards the end of the track. But suddenly Nout came up from behind and passed both of them, reaching the end first.
Nout was not as strong, swift, or skilled as Aero or Jirro, but he made up for it with sheer determination.
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