There's No I In Team [Beast Training/Solo]

eady for some trainin', sis?" Her brother taunted as he strolled out of his stable, a small carrier in his grip. With a grin, he faced the pair of them, and even from her spot Jingyi could see the mischevious glint in his eye. From beside her, Dullahan seemed to be suspicious of Guiying. He stomped his hoof and snorted, ears flicking back.

"Aw, come on! Are you two not excited?" Guiying chuckled, sticking his hands into his pockets as he watched the both of them. The brother wouldn't admit it, but he was proud of his younger sister. It hasn't felt like long since she had first left to join the military, yet she has traveled so far in her journeys. And now she has gotten down the way of the sword to the point she felt ready to pick up a whole new field of combat.

While her brother was having his inner monolog, Jingyi just grinned back at Guiying, her hands falling onto her hips. With a challenging voice, the soldier shot back at the beast tamer, "Guiying, since when have I not been excited about beating you? Are you sure you're ready for all this?" Her words were accompanied by the redhead using her hand to gesture to both herself and Dullahan. The goat, meanwhile, just turned his head away. Though he did square his shoulders back and his chest puffed out a bit. It would seem that his tamer's arrogance was rubbing on him.

Guiying's response was a burst of laughter as he shrugged his shoulders, his only visible eye narrowing. "If you insist, lil' sis! Let's get started then! Let's start off with a rather simple team-building exercise?" Kneeling down, the man unlatched the carrier and pulled back the door, allowing a swarm of lizards to crawl out from its depths. They were a hissing mass of grey and black, their purple eyes undeniably adorable to Jingyi.

"I want you and Dullahan to get back all the Yatomori in this swarm I have been growing. You two will need to work together, so play nice, Jingyi. And be careful, they're hoooot!" Guiying belted, the volume of his voice sending the lizards scattering in all different directions.

Immediately Jingyi started to run right only to realize that Dullahan was going left. Retreating backward, the redhead chased after her partner, ready to drag him along with her when she realized that he was chasing some Yatomori towards a corner of the courtyard.

With a grin, she ran away from Dullahan, curving around to meet the lizards at the corner. Before they could scramble away from their fluffy chaser, Jingyi lunged forwards and grabbed the pair by their tails only for her to nearly drop them. Hissing through her teeth, Jingyi quickly flipped around the lizards and instead held them by their clawed feet. By now, Jingyi realized that their backs were glowing hot before a small ember escaped one of the lizards. So that's what Guiying meant by hot.

It took the pair an hour to finally round up all of her brother's lizards, with both Jingyi and Dullahan facing Guiying, who after taking the lizards back, clapped his hands excitedly.

"Good! You finished the friendship test. Now, shall we work on physical capabilities?"

ingyi pumped her arms at her side as she raced alongside Dullahan, looking back over her shoulder ever so often to peek at Guiying, who wasn't far behind with his own beast. Looking ahead, her goat suddenly took a sharp left, prompting Jingyi to turn on her heel and follow suit.

They were "trapped" in a maze, helping each other to keep ahead against their competition. Coming across a barrier, Dullahan slowed his pace to a trot. Getting the goat's drift, Jingyi quickly clambered onto his back and grabbed hold of his horns, bracing herself. Beneath her, Dullahan quickly picked up his speed and charged forwards, leaping over the miniature wall that would have otherwise taken time for his partner to climb over. They learned that the hard way after the goat left his tamer behind the day before.

Once the obstacle was cleared, Jingyi hopped off the beast and continued running alongside him so her weight wouldn't be a burden on Dullahan. From behind her, she could hear Guiying shout something to his bull and the sound of crashing.

Fifteen minutes passed before Jingyi and Dullahan crossed the finish line, ahead of the redheaded man and his bull for once. Coming to a stop beside her partner, Jingyi doubled over and put her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. In her ear, she could practically hear the goat pant as he too recovered from their long-winded race. Straightening back up, Jingyi walked to her brother's stable as Guiying and his bull rested, coming out only once she had found a bucket and filled it with water.

Despite the ache of her muscles, the soldier set it down right in front of Dullahan before plopping down beside it. She watched as the goat gratefully took sips from the water before turning her attention to Guiying.


"So? How was it?" Jingyi called across, sitting down and resting her palms in the dirt. Her finger drew circles in the sand, her attention fixed on Guiying who had paused for dramatic effect.

"Hmmm.... While it has been a difficult journey for the two of you, I guesss you guys can pass this round of training," Her brother informed them with a wink, though it proved ineffective due to his eyepatch.

"But seriously, it's been a good week. If you want to, you can head back to base or whatever. Just make sure to focus on training Dullahan up, though when you go back to your individual training." The "professional" beast tamer continued, patting his own bull on the neck.