Industrial District Training

"We're here." Muika stated in her usual tone, backing away from the back of Rei's chair to moved around to face the girl.

Looking around, there certainly was enough space, but Muika's concern, no matter how small the chances were, were the chance that someone might see them.

"You're sure we won't be seen?"

She nods, letting out a quiet sigh as her form changes once more, that strange, armor-like form spreading out across her body and off into her limbs. Once she was completely armored up once more, she stands, lifting the chair idly up from the ground, hiding it nearby as she stretches out a bit more.

"Where we're going? No, no we're not. Have you ever climbed?"

If so, she was going to have to start now, as Rei walks over to the side of one of the many factories around them, her body crouching down before she launches herself into the air, the artificial muscles of her legs launching herself into the sky before she plants her feet against the side of the building and actually runs up it, ending up standing upon the side of the building, looking down at her.

"Climb up using your weapon, your body, and the building itself, and nothing else."

Quote :

"Where we're going? No, no we're not. Have you ever climbed?"

"I have."

Rei, after unleashing her own power, began to scale the building, stopping half way to look down at Muika and speak.

Quote :

"Climb up using your weapon, your body, and the building itself, and nothing else."

Muika nodded before looking from side to side, just to make sure everything was clear before allowing her weapon to form.

She took a short moment to make sure she had good footing, and enough room between her and the building so she'd be able to gain proper speed. Once she was sure of that, she aimed her weapon and fired, the blade shooting out at a rapid pace before lodging itself into the side of the building just as Muika began to run forward. Her foot hit the building for only a moment before she pushed herself upwards, her feet hitting the side of the building only a few times as she continued to propel herself forward.

When she was about at the length of her blade, she yanked it out from it's position and shot again, letting the blade wedge itself in a higher part of the building, the last bit of building she'd need to clear before reaching Rei at the top.

After a few short moments, Muika pushed herself one more time, her step propelling her upwards to the top of the building where she met Rei.

It was probably clear to Rei, if only a little, Muika had had training for this kind of thing -- exactly what kind of training and the intensity of it being left to her imagination.

She watches her, frowning a bit as Muika crests the building, glancing over her form as she lands, silent for a time, not quite sure how to rate her work before finally nodding, turning to the edge of the roof. "Now follow." She launches herself off the roof, starting to run, moving rather faster than a normal human should be able to, not really heading anywhere in particular, just running, gradually speeding up until Muika would be forced to get... creative to continue following her.

"Right." She replied just as Rei took off. 

It didn't take Muika long to realize the best way to go about this. She wasn't allowed to use her ability that made her faster, only her body, weapon, and her surroundings. She took a breath before taking off, using her projectile like a grappling hook to swing and practically fly through their designated course. 

While she'd never done this type of thing before with her weapon, she'd been trained to do things like this using other means as it was crucial for dodging some attacks that could have potentially killed her back then in Bell's Viper. 

Her greatest advantage in a fight was her speed and shooting time, and while Rei was clearly superior thanks to her own ability's advancements, Muika wasn't worried. She didn't need to be superior, she just needed to be strong enough, fast enough to fulfill her goal. That's all she wanted.

She continues to run, occasionally looking over her shoulder to watch Muika as she seems to get her movements down, managing to keep up with Rei so far. Suddenly, the girl pivots in mid-air, drawing her blade out from over her shoulder and slicing at a building as she passes it, carving out a small section of brick which she proceeds to launch into the air before spinning and kicking it with the heel of one of her feet, sending it whistling through the air toward Muika's center of mass. She doesn't look back to see whether she dodges it, just keeping moving, leaping between buildings.

"Nn." She hoisted herself higher, throwing herself farther forward in attempt to dodge the brick Rei had tossed back as they ran. Muika continued in her efforts to move forward, she wasn't worried about a few bricks flying at her, she was determined to do this and do it right, not let anything slow her down. 

Thanks to her own practice in improving her speed and her previous training as a child she knew how to dodge while moving. She'd had to avoid being hit by a lot of things: knives, daggers, hammers, anything metal that could potentially kill her really -- it'd been imprinted into her mind that if you were hit you were as good as dead.

She would continue this for several hours, starting off throwing something at her every few minutes or so, over time beginning to do so more and more often, until she's launching something back at her every few seconds, at the same time still accelerating, demanding more and more agility and speed out of her as  they make their way through the industrial district, keeping track of her out of the corner of her eye to make sure she doesn't get badly injured and left behind.

Eventually, they'd arrive at a large , flat-topped warehouse, where Rei would crouch on the roof, waiting for her student to arrive to begin the next part of her training, likely already rather tired from the trip.

This continued for awhile, hours from what Muika could estimate. The normal human body wasn't meant to handle the stress and strength of the training she was currently occupying herself with, but she showed little signs of it bothering her. 

While this training was becoming more difficult, she'd prefer it over the death battles she'd had been forced into as a child. She couldn't complain, or more like she wouldn't. Complain and be punished, another thing embedded into her mind throughout her childhood. 

She wasn't done yet, despite the skies growing darker and the possibility of a scolding from Iyuki. There was still more to do, she knew it.

Once she reached Rei's destination, she only allowed a single breath to escape her as she awaited Rei's next instructions.

Rei smiles a little, planting the tip of her blade into the roof of the building, eyes narrowed at Muika as she looks her up and down, considering. Then she speaks, a quiet breath escaping her.

"Now that we're warmed up, we can start the real training." She shifts a little, pulling her sword back out of the ground, spinning it into her hand so that she was holding it with the blade reversed, the flat edge pointed toward Muika. "Come. Attack me."

From what she'd seen from Rei, it was likely an attack from her would be able to hit considering her enhanced senses. From what Muika could assume, Rei wanted to see how she fought, her offensive and defensive abilities. That was fine with her. If Rei wanted her to get a hit in, well, she'd try her best.

Without giving an okay, as she deemed it an unnecessary waste of seconds, Muika moved, disappearing in a flash to appear above and behind Rei before firing her weapon. Her strategy was always to fight dirty as there was no such thing as a fair fight. Following unspoken rules while in a battle would be one of the first things to get you killed.

A maneuver to reach an advantageous position was expected. It was what she would have done herself, in Muika's position. Of course, this means that when Muika disappears, Rei is already turning, her blade angling in her hand, impacting the blade as it's launched with just enough force to divert it to the side. A metal hand lifts to grip the cord that held it just below the blade proper, her body twisting once more to haul upon it, hoping to force Muika closer.

Should she succeed in this, Rei would lash out with the butt of her sword, lightly tapping Muika in the side of her head as she comes flying past her while she pivots on the back of one of her heels to track her motion.

"Ch." She only had a few short seconds to react as Rei caught the cord of her weapon, one of the biggest downsides of having a weapon such as this one, and pulled in attempt to bring her closer. 

It was then that Muika used her speed once more, not exactly knowing the proper name for that ability, using the initial force to propel her slightly higher than she'd been before in order to flip over Rei, narrowly avoiding the butt of her sword as she whipped her body around to land in a more desirable position.

The girl smirks as Muika rushes past her, avoiding her weapon by bare centimeters. She'd watch as she comes to a land, already running forward toward her, rushing her with a flurry of sword strikes, gauging her reaction time and timing herself so that she can just barely keep track of her motions, forcing her to evade quickly and precisely, not giving her a chance to use her instant movement.

She hit the concrete they were training on with a thud, Rei just barely grazing her before she rolled out of the way and attempted to gain her footing again. This reminded her of her first days in Bell's Viper, her first fights when she was still learning. All she could do was evade for the most part, but this time, it wasn't because she was too afraid to attack; Rei's abilities were far more advanced than her's, it was taking a lot just to evade much less attack.

Once she regained her footing, Muika rushed forward using her speed advancements again before stopping just short of her current range and firing at the girl once more, not giving as much reaction time as she had during her first attack.

Even as the girl's blade shoots toward Rei, her sword moves up and to the side, parrying it wide with a clang of metal-on-metal.

"A passable attempt. It almost could have hit me..."


At this, for the first time, Rei uses her own Bringer's Light, closing to melee range in the blink of an eye, batting Muika's weapon arm out of the way with one hand while the other drives the pommel of the sword into her gut, attempting to stun and wind her.


"That is, if I were asleep."

Muika retracted her blade as soon as Rei had knocked it away from her, it shooting back into it's holster as soon as Rei began to move the pommel of her sword towards her. She only had a split second to think, and a split second to take necessary action.

In a swift second Muika used her right hand to reach out and grab Rei before the impact of her sword to her stomach while using her left to release her blade into her own hand in attempt to drive it into Rei's arm.

If Muika was worried about any injuries she was bound to receive on her end, she showed no concern over it.

Generally, Muika's reaction to the attack would have been spot-on, as stabbing someone in the shoulder is quite debilitating, and it would have also been so here had it not being Rei who she was fighting. Rei moves at that point, her body shifting just a little to cause the blade to glance off of her hardened shoulder armor, one of her legs wrapping around Muika's, pushing back upon it just as she throws her weight forward, attempting to overbalance her and drive her to the ground.

Should she be successful, Rei would end up on top of her, pinning her down, looking into her eyes from only a few inches away.

"Good... That's a good start. A bit more practice will help quite a lot, but you've got a solid foundation."

Hitting the ground wit ha thud, Muika opened her eyes to see Rei looking straight at her. Muika's eyes showed no surprise, her expression was the same she'd worn through most of her and Rei's conversations, quiet and unreadable.

Rei wrote:

"Good... That's a good start. A bit more practice will help quite a lot, but you've got a solid foundation."

Without a word she lifted her free leg quickly almost as if to kick Rei, but kicking wasn't her priority. Using Rei as a foothold, Muika used her speed to separate and distance herself from the girl, jumping back a few steps to gather her footing.

As the leg is lifted as if to kick her, Rei leaps away, switching her blade into a backhanded grip as she soars through the air, landing in a crouch.

"Again?"

"A fight's not interesting if you're just rolling around beating on each other on the ground." Muika muttered, from the looks of things she had said it without realizing it. "If the fight's not entertaining you're punished."

Her words seemed scripted, robotic, as if one had had them repeated to them time after time, eventually embedding itself into one's head.

"That's not what I was taught." She straightens up, flipping her sword back around in her hand and sliding it back into place in its scabbard. "I was taught that you should fight in one of two ways: First, honorably, in those fights where you are a swordsman. And second, practically, when you are a warrior. Showmanship had no part in that training."

"Huh?" Muika looked at Rei, her eyes looking a bit more focused than they had a moment before, "Did I...say something before?" She felt she had to have for Rei to say something like that. Had she said something without being aware? It was possible but she wasn't one-hundred percent certain.

Before, her only thoughts had been to get out from under Rei, to distance herself again and ready another attack.

She frowns a bit, nodding.

"Yes... You did. Strange, that you can't remember it. Something that... disturbed me a little. We shall speak of it later."

She looks into her eyes, letting out a breath.

"Are you ready to begin again?"

"I did...?" Concern showed on her face, she was worried about what she'd said. Rei had said it'd disturbed her, and that was just cause for more concern to her. "Whatever I said, I'm sorry..."

Rei wrote:

"Are you ready to begin again?"

"S-sure." She said, shaking her head in attempt to clear her mind as she took her stance once more.