Training Daze

Ripple shakily got back to his feet after tasting the gravel yet again. Honestly he'd lost count a long time ago of just how many times he'd been tossed down. The gravel to his left crunched as the reason for him being tossed down so many times approached. Resolutely he didn't acknowledge the approach beyond flicking one of his pinned back ears. "Hmmmm." A gruff voice hummed. "You're improving." Ripple perked up slightly. "Slowly." He deflated a little. Though he'd take what he could get. Praise was few and far between when it came to his mentor. A huff. "Rest for a few minutes. Then we'll continue." Ripple raised his head to watch as Atlas hopped up on a rock and settled down, closing his eyes but keeping his head raised. While it might seem to most that he was completely relaxed Ripple knew better at this point. A glance at Atlas' snakes immediately gave it away. Their eyes were wide open and glanced around occasionally. The snake of his tail glanced at Ripple and tilted it's head curiously as if asking him "why are you still standing there?" 

Ripple shook his head and took a deep breath. A gentle nudging from his own snakes finally got him to move towards the water of the river for a drink. It'd only been a few weeks since he'd managed to convince Atlas to train him. That had been no easy feat; his body still ached with phantom pain. Or perhaps that was real pain? He wasn't sure. While the older hisser was an excellent and well known fighter he'd never been known to take on apprentices. His efforts to convince Atlas had started by simply asking for advice as to how to find him...

"Atlas huh?" Magmus chuckled deeply. "Quite the hisser you've set your sites on huh?" The wyvern-like hisser settled back onto his wings after hanging up something in the tree he'd been up against. The fire around his neck flickered as he gave Ripple an amused look. Ripple returned the look with a determined look of his own. Magmus was the only way he'd even be able to find Atlas so there's no way he would be backing down so easily. The moment that the two held each other's gazes was tense, but was broken by the arrival of another hisser. 

The two whipped their heads up to look at the source of sudden disappointed sigh. "Magmus..." Astra scolded lightly as she floated over. "Just help him. Clearly if he's come to you he's serious about this. What's the harm?" 

Magmus seemed to relax some and sighed. "Fine fine." He regarded Ripple seriously. "If you truly want a chance at being trained by Atlas first you'll have to find him. Lucky for you I have an idea as to where he should be." He raised a wing to cut off what Ripple was about to say. "Me helping you find him won't guarantee anything though. Atlas is a reclusive hisser for a reason. Doesn't really fancy being around others all that much. You have quite the task ahead of you convincing him to do much more then tolerate ya for a few minutes." He snorted in amusement. "If your truly set on findin him though...." Magmus' dark eyes closed for a moment as he thought. "Well you'll need to follow the river. The one that Yinshe hangs around in if you know it. Last I heard he's staying somewhere along it." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Though it's been some time since I personally have visited him. Generally if he's up for any sort of interaction he'll wander over here." He snorted. "Ask around if you want though kid. Someone else might be able to narrow things down for ya. Now shoo. I have work to do." He playfully flared his fire before returning to what he was doing.

Ripple reluctantly turned away and headed back down the path out of the forest. He paused at a gentle tap on his shoulder. Astra smiled at him as he turned his head, still floating slightly above the ground. "Sorry about him. He can be difficult sometimes." She sighed fondly. "But." She clapped her paws together, her snakes looking excited. "If you want to try and find where Atlas stays I'd try asking Yinshe." She put a paw to her muzzle. "She can be a bit odd but she lives in the river and probably knows it best. If Atlas is still living somewhere on it's banks she'd know."

Ripple nodded, snakes growing excited as his mood lifted. "Thank you. I'll... go talk to her then."

Astra smiled kindly. "I wish you luck. It won't be easy but..." She paused, looking him over. "I feel like you can do it."

Ripple's gaze softened as he replied with a softer, more genuine "Thank you." He turned to leave and tentatively raised a paw to wave goodbye. Astra easily returned the gesture.

It thankfully wasn't too hard to find the serpentine hisser. He cautiously approached the bank and attempted to wave her over. After a couple minutes he finally managed to grab her attention and she came swimming over gracefully. Now while he'd never really spoken to Yinshe before he had heard about her. She apparently had a bit of a split personality that stemmed from her two different forms. It had made him curious to know why that'd happened since he had spoken to Voltage much more often and knew she didn't suffer from the same thing. Perhaps a little shift in personality but nothing like what he'd heard Yinshe was like. Based on the size of the approaching hisser he figured he was dealing with her second personality today. That was fine. She made it to the bank and pulled herself partially out of the water, craning her long neck to look at Ripple. "Hello there. How may I help you?" She asked, whiskers twitching slightly as she smiled at him.

Ripple blinked in surprise and adjusted himself to better look at the massive hisser. "How did you know I wanted something?"

She chuckled softly. "Well putting aside the fact that I don't believe we've ever had just a simple chat, you look like you're on a mission. I know that look." Her fins shifted. "Now. What can I do to help?"

"I'm looking for Atlas. Astra said you might know where he is?" He asked glancing between Yinshe herself and the eels curled up at either side of her head. They seemed to be giving him reassuring looks.

"Ah yes. Atlas." Yinshe nodded her head gracefully. "A hard hisser to find, but I can help you." She tilted her head as she regarded Ripple. "Though might I inquire as to why you're trying to track him down?"

Well that was fair he supposed. "I want to train under him." Ripple puffed out his chest and flared his hood confidently. "He's one of the best and I want to learn how to fight, so I decided I'd go looking for him and get him to train me."

Yinshe hummed thoughtfully. "He's never taken on students in the past. Not for lack of hissers trying. You must be quite confident in yourself." Ripple faltered a little. He didn't exactly have a plan per say to convince Atlas to train him. That was still... a work in progress. Something to figure out once he knew where to even find Atlas. Yinshe blinked at him and understanding flashed over her face. "Ah. That's how it is then." She laughed and shook her head, smiling. "I'll take you to him. I have confidence that you'll find a way to achieve your goal."

She slipped back into the water and began slowly swimming down the river. Ripple began to pad after her, gravel crunching under his paws. "So." He started. "You know where he lives then?"

She hummed. "I do." Silence. "Though I believe he isn't aware that I know."

Ripple flicked an ear and tilted his head. "He doesn't? How? No offense but I feel like you're hard to miss."

"No offense taken." She laughed. "I've simply spotted him several times from a distance. After so many times you begin to assume that's where someone stays."

"Huh..." Ripple pinned his ears back and frowned. "So... you don't know for sure?"

Yinshe lifter her head to look at him. "Oh I know. One doesn't have to have irrefutable proof of something to be sure. He's there. Don't concern yourself over that."

Ripple decided to leave it there. Not like there was much else he could do. The only previous hint he had as to where Atlas stayed was to follow the river and Yinshe was leading him down the river. As far as he knew no one else had any idea where the older hisser stayed anyway, so he'd have to trust the information he'd managed to gather. 

The walk was quiet but not unpleasant. Neither of them really had much to say and they both knew they weren't really there to socialize anyway. Finally Yinshe slowed her graceful swim and pulled herself party onto the shore again. "Up ahead is where he'll be. I urge you not to tell others where he is. There's a reason so few others know in the first place. I would be quite upset if you compromised his privacy after I showed you where to find him." She pinned him with a serious look that quickly softened. "That aside, I wish you luck and may the outcome fall in your favor." With that she swam off and Ripple was left standing on the bank by himself.

Now came the hard part. Actually convincing Atlas to take him on and train him. He walked forward with no plan, steeling himself, and hoped for the best.

Ripple groaned as he limped away. Atlas had been... less then thrilled to see him and even less so when he'd made the, in hindsight incredibly stupid, demand that he train him. The response he'd gotten? A near feral smirk and angry hisses from Atlas' snakes before being soundly beat into the ground and forced out of the area and threats of making use of venom next time he showed his face. Ripple plopped down what he felt was a safe distance away and his snakes bumped against him comfortingly. He'd just have to keep trying even under threat of injury.

Atlas was... annoyed. Maybe annoyed wasn't the right word but it's what he was going to stick with. The kid just kept. coming. back. Part of him wanted to be slightly impressed at the young hisser's persistence but that part was quickly squished down by the part of him that was incredibly annoyed at the fact the quiet peace of his home was being continually interrupted. It was almost as if the kid didn't care that every time he showed up Atlas soundly beat him and forced him to leave. Now he wasn't above fighting kids, clearly, but even he could admit at this point that some small part of him felt bad at having to do it so much.

How had the kid even found him? It wasn't like he'd shared where he lived with anyone. Hell he barely even interacted with any of the other hissers that lived in the same general area. His eyes narrowed as he leveled his head against a tree. Maybe Magmus had pointed the kid in the right direction. While Magmus didn't know exactly where he lived the wyvern hisser would have a better idea then most. He huffed as he solidly headbutted the tree, it shook but didn't fall. It didn't really matter how the kid found him. What mattered now was getting him to leave, permanently.

Two months. Two months. The kid hadn't left and still continued to annoy him daily. It didn't seem to be ending any time soon either. From day to day the kid looked just as determined as when he'd first shown up. Perhaps even more so. Now Atlas might call his following decision a lapse in judgment under stress while Ripple might have called it "finally wearing the old, stubborn hisser down." Regardless of what may be the truth Atlas finally gave in. 

He turned to the kid, leveled one of his best glares and grit out, "You know what kid? Fine I'll train you. But don't expect it to be easy. You'll run off once you realize how hard it'll be then I won't have ta deal with you ever again." 

The kid looked back at him in challenge. Welp, Atlas would just have to make things so tough for the kid that he'd leave of his own free will because that was the only way Atlas was getting rid of him at this point. He also refused to admit that he maybe had grown to appreciate the kid's tenacity, but that had nothing to do with his decision.

Ripple smiled to himself at the memories but was broken out of his reminiscing with a gruff shout of, "Alright break time's over. Back at it!"

"Got it!" Ripple trotted back over mentally preparing himself to be thrown onto the ground over and over again. Now though, he might just get thrown to the ground less and he was content with that.