“It fell again!” Zyn shouted out to Tonauac, and though the crashing of the surf drowned out the sound, his groan was tangible as his shoulders sagged and his tail thrashed about as he turned and walked back to the unruly coconut.
The lizardfolk stared down at the sand, scanning for something with which to prop the coconut up on the large bit of driftwood they had found in this more out of the way corner of the beach near campus. Finding an appropriately sized rock he grinned and grabbed it from the sand, shortly before freezing just as he went to place it against the coconut’s base.
“Would it be weird for Vidal to take aim at other rocks? Is that like using a person as a practice target for us?” Tonauac shouted out his question to his friends quite a ways back.
Isak, Zyn, and Xoco all had mixed results in suppressing a laugh mere moments before Isak was the first to start thinking on the question some more. The human’s bemused face quickly turned to puzzlement as he looked up to Vidal and started seeing a bit of merit to the question.
“Huh…” Isak let his confusion be heard. “You know that’s...huh…”
Xoco had her hand to her chin, staring at the rock man who took no notice of anyone’s consternation. “Well...I think that...wait no…”
And Zyn hadn’t even managed to form words, several times trying and taking a breath to start a sentence but making it no further than the beginnings of syllables as he tried to convey in wild flailing hand gestures where words failed him.
Ozzy and Nelli could only look on in concern at their mages, as Vidal continued staring out straight ahead at a large driftwood log that was in the process of being converted into a target holder instead of providing any input on this intense conundrum and the chorus of hemming and hawing around him.
Tonauac was on one hand happy that his concern had not been completely unfounded, but his distress grew as he witnessed his friends being mentally shattered. In a panic, he looked around the beach for a suitable replacement that would not cause any surprisingly troubling questions and found a sufficiently large orange and white shell that would do quite nicely.
“I found this!” Tonauac shouted to his friends, waving the shell above his head. “It’s not a rock in the slightest!”
The other three let out a sigh of relief as they banished their thoughts and Tonauac finally finished forcing the coconut to stay propped up as he ran back to his friends while Patli glided alongside him, as they wanted plenty of space between them and possibly exploding tropical fruit.
But Isak still had to know.
“H-hey buddy uh…” He looked back to Vidal. “Would it be bad for you to attack another rock? Or would it only matter if it was another rock uhhh person like you?”
“I shall do as you command, Master Isak.” Vidal confirmed.
Zyn shook his head with a disapproving frown. “I dunno, that makes it sound distinctly like a war crime.”
“Don’t be silly!” Xoco scoffed. “It would only be a war crime if Vidal was against attacking it but Isak forced him to!”
“I’m not forcing anyone to commit war crimes!” Isak pleaded as he waved his arms about. “That is the very opposite of what I am trying to do here! Tonauac back me up!”
The lizardlad gave a stern nod, tapping a claw to his jaw. “The very fact that you are trying to avoid questionable ethics is evidence of your morals not being so loose and- WAIT WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM!”
Tonauac interrupted Isaks’s flailing to pull his arm towards him, inspecting the four small puncture marks.
“It was just a minor library mishap.” Isak shook his head so he wouldn’t have to make eye contact for this mostly-a-truth, all the while Xoco took advantage of the rare luxury of someone being taller than her to use Vidal as a shield of shame and a puffed up Nelli for additional stealth guilt. “And look! Already has scabs! It’s nothing!”
Not paying attention to the truthfulness of any excuses in the slightest, Tonauac grumbled out his healing spell as he put a scaled palm to the four puncture marks as the redness and all trace of the minor injury vanished by the time he removed his hand.
“Now it is nothing.” Tonauac said with a warm grin that only managed to show the minimum amount of dagger-like teeth. “Just try to keep the injuries small until I’m better at this!”
“What about paper cuts?” Zyn asked, glancing over to Ozzy as he chirped something in his ear. “Or minor abrasions. We wouldn’t want to bother you over noth-”
Tonauac waved it off. “It is only nothing after it’s healed. Until then, it’s practice!”
“Speaking of practice, who’s ready to wind down from the first day of classes with...uh, more learning but the more fun kind!” Isak cheered, followed shortly by his friends cheering in agreement.
All were eager to see just what the rock man was capable of, and yet all of them were apprehensively standing a long ways back just in case.
“Alright Vidal, how about something very non-lethal first.” Isak instructed the rock man in his lightning form. “Try like uh, the kind of shock that would just immobilize someone. Knock them out. And not kill them. Once again this is...this is non-lethal, and also not permanent damage? Am I making sense?”
“Yes, Master Isak.”
“Alright, cool. Hit that coconut over there with a shock of that nature!” Isak shouted.
Not even a second later, Vidal raised his arm as several of the rocks forming a hand rearranged into a three pronged design that fired a thin bright beam of electricity that carried a surprisingly low hum at the coconut all in one swift motion. The coconut wobbled and tipped over, falling into the sand behind it.
“Looks decidedly unexploded!” Zyn said with a thumbs up, Ozzy following suit as best he could with only tentacles to work with. “Which is actually what we wanted!”
Everyone else gave a sigh of relief, though Isak still remained a bit tense. “Tonauac, could you check the coconut for damage? I know it’s not medicine but uh...well I guess it’s biology?”
The lizardfolk looked unsure, scratching behind his head. “Well...I mean I could try…”
“I trust your opinion, doctor...uh…” All blood ran from Isak’s face as he was hit with realization. “I um, I didn’t get your last name.”
“Zipactonal.” Tonauac answered, completely unphased.
“Doctor Zipactonal, I trust your medical expertise!”
Tonauac kicked at a small mound of sand with his boot as he shifted about on his feet, looking to his new friends who were all smiling and giving reassuring looks. Even Patli gave him a small nod. He shook his head, running over to the coconut once more and inspected its green skin for damage. There was a small spot where the green had darkened, feeling a bit warm to the touch. Fishing out a small pocket knife, he set about cutting a hole in the coconut to inspect its insides, then took a sip of the liquid within. Tonauac walked back to the group as he took a few more sips before conjuring a small ball of magelight in his hand to look inside.
“Well?” Xoco asked, echoing the intrigue of the group.
“Minimal damage to the outer uh...skin? Water within doesn’t taste hot so it didn’t cook it.” He tipped the coconut up once more, gulping down the last of the water. “Still refreshing, and also I was thirstier than I thought. We could always crack it open and see how the meat inside looks but uhhhh looks good?”
Isak nodded, smile returning in full. “Okay good. And Vidal do you think you could smash it open or something? Just to be thorough.”
“Master Isak.” Vidal looked down to his mage. “I will be able to perform that task with greatly increased efficiency if you switch me to my water form.”
The group looked on with fast growing curiosity, and Isak’s brow threatened to raise high enough to leave his face before he finally responded. “Uhhh, I mean yeah uh hang on.”
The slight mist from his storm spell was enough to switch Vidal into that swirling form of rock and water. Vidal held out his left hand to Tonauac, who stared bewildered for a moment before he understood the gesture and placed the coconut in the rock man’s hand.
Holding out the coconut in front of him and away from the group, who took several steps back in slight concern, Vidal’s free hand morphed into something resembling a stone nozzle of sorts. And in a fluid motion fired a tiny, high pressure stream of water from his altered hand as he swept it across the coconut diagonally downwards. The top half fell, cut perfectly clean, and Vidal morphed his hand back into rocky fingers to catch it in the same unflinching motion. He handed it back to Tonauac, staring with mouth agape as Patli tilted his head.
A reaction echoed by everyone else minus Ozzy, whose beak was hidden under a mass of tentacles. The crashing surf was a close approximation of the white noise that filled their heads at the moment.
“Awesome.” Isak creaked out in the smallest voice before he was unable to hold back a chuckle or several.
“That would, um.” Xoco searched for the right words as she picked her jaw up off the beach. “Have many applications.”
Zyn tried for words, and cleared his throat before he collected himself. “You should name this stuff, Isak.”
Isak just looked over to him with visible confusion.
“Yeah so like, Vidal knows what you’re calling for.” Zyn explained. “Kinda like his own spells! Would still help once you’re sending mental commands with the Familiar link!”
The human clenched his jaw together, feeling his mouth go dry before he mustered a response. “Yeah...yeah there’s an idea uh...I don’t know...Water Slice? Very lethal so I’m gonna be careful with that one.”
“A wise choice.” Xoco said, collecting herself enough to look down to Tonauac who was still frozen in place as he stared at the perfectly cut halves of the coconut.
“And how about uhh…” Isak thought over the first tested ability. “Stun Beam? For the non-lethal lightning beam.”
Xoco and Zyn both nodded their agreement to the name, finding it a great deal less unwieldy though Tonauac looked as though he had been hit by the newly dubbed ability. He finally came around as he shook his head, startling his friends who had seen him just standing there frozen.
“RIGHT! Yes!” Tonauac announced, yellow eyes lighting up once more as he looked over the coconut halves. “Looks like it’s nothing major. Now this is a coconut, and not a person of flesh and blood so be careful with it but it looks like this would be a good non-lethal takedown! Also would anyone else like some coconut?”
The lizardfolk stacked the halves on top of one another as he used his pocket knife to begin carving off pieces to eat, handing out a few to his friends as Isak thought of his next move.
“How about...Water Cannon?” Isak proposed while munching on coconut meat. “For the next move. Also non-lethal. Like just a blast of water that would knock something off its feet? Can you do that Vidal?”
“Please specify a target.” The rock man turned back towards the driftwood target range, currently lacking in coconuts.
Isak grabbed one of the coconuts from the sack and ran down to the log, finding the shell that had been knocked over and propping up the next target. He ran back to the group as Tonauac handed him another piece of coconut, and he wondered if the lizardlad had really believed that he had gotten adequate nutrition today.
“Alright Vidal, hit that coconut with a water cannon!” The human shouted.
Vidal morphed his hand once more into the nozzle configuration, this time not focused nearly as fine as he unleashed a blast of water that knocked the coconut clear off its wooden pedestal to send it sailing through the air before it crashed into the sand. Applause broke out and the four friends cheered on.
“I'll get it.” Isak announced, managing one step towards the coconut before Vidal held out an arm in front of him.
“Allow me, Master Isak.” Vidal said as he broke into a short sprint, closing the distance somewhat until he was about 60 feet from the coconut. At which point he reeled his nozzle bearing arm back, morphing it into another three prong form that shot out a long stream of water that was then whipped forward like a liquid tentacle that grasped at the coconut and quickly reeled it back into Vidal’s free hand. The rock man then raced back to the four friends, who were for the second time this afternoon staring in amazement and wonder.
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