Shapeless Hero

15 - Skill Issues I

The red tint of the early morning hours has vanished, allowing the giant cliffs of Tyllat to present themselves in their full palette of colors. The strip of beach that separated the sea from the rocky formations has widened to a big, wet desert during the current ebb, as the two moons orbiting the planet lure the ocean away. My training begins on this temporarily vast beach.

"Keep your eyes open, knobhead!", the commander shouts from the sideline and I promptly fail to follow her advice. The reward is a punch to my face by the fist-swinger in front of me. My opponent doesn't drop a witty remark after my blunder, which my ego appreciates a lot. Not that one should expect the silent sand golem to say anything in the first place. 

I try to recover from the punch, but my training partner continues with a kick into my side. I end up on my back after a few rolls on the beach sand.

I asked the commander to teach me some swordsmanship, as the bulky man from my vision suggested. The commander agreed to do so but this is not what I imagined. My opponent doesn't even have a sword!

"By the gods, you move like you never had a proper fight!", the commander shouts to me, smiling. Of course, the martial expert would notice. The golem executes only simple movements. I can tell, how easy it should be to defeat. So, what's holding me back?

"Regretfully, I have never learned to handle myself in a fight, your grace.", I respond in a soft and refined, male voice. 

Fighting against the sand golem is not the marble creature that I was 10 minutes ago. I now sound and appear as an elf with an androgynous face, vibrant green eyes and a light complexion, contrasted by my dark blue tailcoat and trousers, both screaming "nobility" with their swirly, golden metallic accents. This character is one of the units from a fantasy-themed strategy game with gorgeous visuals. I have no idea, if it's historically correct for this world, but going by Karls 19th century briar pipe, I should be fine.

"No fights whatsoever? Then again, you act the part really well.", the commander shouts over to me, crossing her arms. The golems creator, Karl, stands next to the commander, watching the fight silently with the aforementioned lit briar pipe in his beak.

The commander continues: "How about, you try to stay as close as possible to the golem without getting hit? Take your time reading your enemy for now."

"Understood!" I respond with the slightly posh accent, the character would have in-game. It feels natural to talk like that, while in this shape.

The golem prepares another punch, utilizing the momentum of its leap towards me. This time I dodge away. I don't get hit, yet my heart races—both from the fact that I successfully dodged, but also due to my lack of any mental fortitude that is needed in a fight.

Too absorbed by my thoughts about the close call, I don't realize the golems follow-up. Another kick to the side, another fall to the ground. Pain shoots through my torso. But taking my new strength and speed into account, I'm back on my feet much quicker this time. I hear a heavy impact where I just stood up from. The golems stomp left a crater in the sand, where my head would have been half a second ago. Did... that thing get faster?

I dodge backwards to gain some distance. The golem doesn't let up and moves towards me for another attack. I dodge again. Our little dance repeats many times like that.

A few hours in, with the sun reaching its zenith soon, the commander asks: "Are you really not tired?" She and I share the same puzzlement, it seems.

"Oddly enough, not so much, your grace. I feel as tired as one does after a ten minute walk in the gardens.", I say between dodges. The golem is much faster now, but so am I. I feel the same satisfaction I'd get, whenever I finally managed to avoid all attack patterns of a very difficult boss in a game.

I still have to hit the golem even once, though. It troubles me, that I didn't get any fighting ability from shapeshifting into the elven noble. The character wasn't exactly weak in the game. 

The game? 

The game! 

That's very likely the problem: The graphical fidelity was great, but the character animations for attacking were very basic animation loops, like swinging a sword once or drawing a bow. The units would do that, standing in place while facing their enemies, who would act similarly. I bet, my Morphing skill just finds no proper attacks for absorption!

"You're still too easy to distract, Fylka.", the commander says under an exasperated sigh. The end of her sentence is punctuated by a kick into my side from the golem. I wasn't motionless during my train of thought, but since the fight picked up some significant speed, even small distractions are fatal. 

Over the last few hours, the golem has been adapting to my improving dodging skills. At the beginning, the sandman used kicks and punches worthy of a school yard squabble. Now, it's throwing something very reminiscent of world class muay thai kicks, but with enough power to catapult me a dozen yards across the beach sand - like right now.

With a splash, my body hits the shallow water in a low angle. I slide another handful yards into the sea. Before I could come to a stop, I adjust my position and rise. My feet sink a little bit into the wet sand below the ankle-high water. I feel the water drip down my back and it would have probably soaked my clothing, if the fabric and leather weren't part of my body.

"Holy shit, you're still up? That rank of yours in General Physique really shows!" August shouted from a good amount of yards away. He's snacking on a tree branch. This is just entertainment to him, isn't it? 

Not that I mind entertaining August. He's alright in my books, despite spying on my stats. But this can't go on forever. The sand golem constantly increases its speed and I don't want to fight it for days. I need a way to beat the golem, before this turns into a torture workout, but neither I or the character, I imitate have the moves. 

Moves... moves... I need a moveset ! 

Realizing my stupid oversight, I facepalm and cackle. "By the gods, I'm an idiot!"

Fighting games ! So far, I focused only on classic fantasy games, due to Karls recommendation of a disguise as a noble last night. But being in a world of sword and sorcery doesn't stop me from turning into modern fighting game characters, right? 

And so I shapeshift again.

The golem closes the gap between us in a zig-zag and swings its fist with sound barrier breaking speed towards my head. But preceded by a swish sound, the whole arm of the golem explodes into chunks of sand.

I ready my scythe-shaped blade made of blond hair for a second attack while readjusting my light brown ushanka with a hand. Let's see how much of her moveset I can use. Do combos work too? Can I juggle my opponents with them? Now is a great time to find out.