Lullia's Training Grounds

It's not enough. Lullia decided. Their progress was still far too slow for her liking. Nyvo trailed behind her as they moved across the sand. She looked off into the distance, trying to find.. well, anything, really. Far out across the sand, she saw a chromilla. Looking behind her, she could still see the one she'd just left behind. She nodded vigerously to herself, which almost led to her faceplanting into the sand, and picked up the speed. Nyvo stopped, gave her a confused look for a few moments, then started chasing after her. The chromilla seemed barely closer, but still Lullia sped on. She started panting, beginning to run low on breath, but still she continued on, still she refused to let herself slow.
Finally, she reached the base of the chromilla. Nyvo caught up to her, giving her a bewildered stare. She stayed there only for a few moments, just long enough to catch her breath, then gave him a playful smirk and rolled right back the way she'd came, towards the other chromilla.

Lullia quickly learned that getting hit hurt. A lot. Maybe it would be better if she could avoid that more often, instead of having to keep dealing with it. She was bruised all over from Nyvo's attacks, and Nyvo refused to keep going, looking at her in concern. The other chormilla was too far for something like this, she'd have to use a closer landmark. Or.. hmm.. I could just roll from one end of the chomilla's shadow to the other.
She steeled herself and took off, even though every movement hurt. At the edge of the shadow, she stopped, looking back. Now, even that seemed like so far a distance, and she was so, so very sore... maybe a little rest wouldn't hurt? She started to close her eyes...
"NO!" she shouted, forcing herself to focus. After all, when had she ever taken good care of herself? Wincing as she prepared herself for yet another painful journey, she took off for the other side of the chromilla's shadow.

Nyvo refused to attack Lullia again. She was a little better, but still covered in bruises and very sore. She decided that she'd just have to find something else to get to attack her. Looking around, she finally spotted it. Off in the distance, a terreden was wandering around. Part of her winced at having that thing bat her around, but well, she had to get better somehow. Sighing a little, she took off, with Nyvo in close pursuit.
It didn't take her as long as she'd expected. The terreden was closer than she thought it had been. Okay. Now, how to do this... It swept its tail behind it again, and Lullia grinned. She hopped onto its tail right as it swept by her, and grabbed onto it as tight as she could with her blobby body. The terreden whipped around, but couldn't seem to find her. It thrashed its tail back and forth and against the ground. Lullia did her best to ride with the hits, focusing on giving way to the ground beneath her and hanging on as she waved back and forth.
Nyvo just watched in horror, stunned. He was too shocked to move. Finally, Lullia's grip slipped completely and she was flung into the air. Fear bubbled up inside her. The ground seemed so small... and then she started falling. All she could do was brace herself and hope the impact wouldn't be too bad.
She squished into a pancake, trying to spread out the weight of the impact. The terreden walked away, and Lullia just stayed there, hurting all over.

The chromilla had stopped humming recently, and had started leaning away from her. She wondered if it was upset about the rocks. It didn't seem to be accepting any of her apologies. She hadn't realized it would get so upset. It was probably time to keep moving anyways. She sighed, giving the chromilla a sad look as she left.
"I really am sorry," she whispered.
Nyvo didn't understand why she was getting so sentimental. Chromillas had always creeped him out, just a bit, with their lifeless overwide smiles and their unsettling glowing petals. He was, however, upset that Lullia was upset. He couldn't think of much to do about it other than just keep moving forwards, though.

Well, we're leaving anyways. Lullia thought, crestfallen. Maybe there's time to do something for myself for once. She'd heard about purple poffdula fruits, and how sweet they were. She mentioned the idea to Nyvo, and he seemed to get real excited about it, so she decided that they were going to hunt down a poffdula plant.
Nyvo was really just happy to see her taking care of herself and trying to reward herself. The way he saw it, she'd absolutely earned it.
It took them a few days of wandering to finally find one. By the end of it, Lullia was feeling much better, and she had a determined spark in her eyes again. Having a purpose distracted her from the crushing guilt she felt at having betrayed the chromilla's trust, and finally accomplishing it filled her with satisfaction. Nyvo bit into a large blue fruit, while Lullia pulled off a small purple one.
She hesitated. Somehow, she felt guilty. Looking for the poffdula had been such a selfish quest. And, really, what had she accomplished? She hadn't helped anyone. All she'd done was make a flower sad. She sighed, tossing the fruit to the ground. She didn't deserve anything.
Nyvo rolled the fruit back towards her. Lullia's eyes met his, and just for a moment, something in them filled her with confidence. Just for a moment, because she was worthy in his eyes, she was worthy in hers, too. Tentatively, she grabbed the fruit off of the ground and nibbled at it. The sweetness brought a smile to her face, and seeing her so happy made Nyvo smile, too.
She had done so much work, and she'd come so far to get here. Maybe she did deserve this, after all.

Lullia knew there was something she'd been forgetting. After all, it had been very intentional. She had been trying not to focus on strength.

Something told her she used to care a lot about it, more than the average person. But.. well, she'd been born again, given a new chance, and she had this feeling in her gut that her old life hadn't exactly been all that great. But still, it was a necessary skill... unfortunately.

Lullia and Nyvo had decided to take a bit of a break. They weren't sleeping, not yet, but they were pausing, at least. Lullia started pummelling the sand. Nyvo's eyes had been drifting closed. He was so very tired, and they'd been walking for so very long, but someone needed to make sure Lullia didn't do anything stupid, or hazardous to her health, or both.

Lullia's nubhands were starting to throb painfully, and they had bruised a little. Still, she kept going at it. Something about the activity had rekindled that drive in her, that relentless need to be stronger, that whispering that she still hadn't done good enough, that it would never be good enough.

She kept punching the sand until a few sharper pieces cut into her nubhands. At least the wounds healed up quick enough. She didn't care anyways, she kept going.

Lullia looked over at the big rock Nyvo had brought over for all the rock-throwing. She couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at how much more her own meowler could lift than she could. Granted, he was much, much larger (she wasn't much bigger than a tennis ball, after all),  but she felt useless by comparison.

Today would be the day she worked to change that. The rock would be a very good place to start. She didn't just want to push it, she wanted to lift it right off the ground. Even if it was just more than three times her size.

Maybe this was a dumb plan.

Either way, Lullia was going to lift that rock. It would happen. No better time to start than now.

First, Lullia reasoned, she was going to have to be able to push it, then to turn it over, and then she could work towards lifting it. Lullia shoved her body against the rock, reaching out two little nubhands sideways and throwing her weight agianst it.

It didn't budge.

Hmm. Well. This would be.. harder than anticipated.

Lullia shoved harder. Still nothing. Harder still. She just slipped backwards into the sand.

This was also going to take a while, wasn't it?

Well, she had the time. She'd keep pushing at it until something happened.

Something would happen, right??


Welp.

She'd just have to see.

Lullia was too tired to notice it off in the distance. She was too distracted to notice once it started to come closer. Nyvo was too engrossed in his poffdula fruits. At least, until it was close enough that he could smell it. There was something so terribly, terribly familiar about that scent.. Nyvo's head lifted, and there it was. The terreden. It seemed upset, and it was headed straight for them. More specifically, Lullia.

Nyvo took a step in front of her, yowling at the terreden, fangs exposed and fur bristling. The terreden's ear twitched. It turned down towards him and swiped.

Nyvo flew to the side, whimpering as he started falling, stomach churning. He landed in the sand with a terrible thump, and after that he did not get back up. Then, the terreden turned towards Lullia, claws raised. She flattened herself against the ground, and the terreden chopped down the poffdula tree. Lullia was exhausted, but she had no choice. She needed to run.

The terreden was in quick pursuit. It caught Lullia in cupped paws, but there were gaps around its claws and Lullia just barely squeezed through. It clawed at her again, this time it had caught on to her trick and as she instinctively ducked it lowered its paw and she almost missed the jump. It sent up a cloud of sand, and for a moment Lullia was blinded. Her eyes were full of the stuff, but she managed to force them open, vision blurring. The terreden had gotten sand all over its sensitive star. Its head reared back, mouth opening...

Lullia stepped out of the way as far as she could, but she was still blasted back by the sneeze. Sand at the edges of it skyrocketed, forming a tunnel of sorts. She started running. There was still enough left in her, if barely.

The terreden had gotten distracted and lost track of her. It lowered its nose to the ground, trying to trace her scent, but the sand had all been distrubed and she was already lost. The terreden wandered away again, upset.

Lullia looked out over the sand, and saw that ominous, far-too-still dot on the horizon. Had she really ended up that far away? She started running, gut twisting, and if she had a heart, it would be beating double-time.

Nyvo's eyes had opened. The terreden had winded him, and damaged his legs, but nothing more. He couldn't stand up, not quite yet. Lullia collapsed into him, relief flooding every other sense and emotion. Nyvo was ok. She was so tired, so very, very tired... Nyvo curled himself around her and they were both unable to keep themselves from falling asleep.