This ain't no girly talk....

Shade was simply there to hone her skills a bit. Sure, there was the Training Center within Balamb Garden, but the problem there was, Shade was still far too easily available for everyone to run to when something needed done, or an issue needed dealt with. Getting through a single training simulation without interruption was virtually impossible. And going through drills and training exercises was the only way Shade knew how to relax.


The new section to the Dome was installed with the latest holographic technology, much to Shade's delight, even if she never expressed it. She shuffled through the tattered back pack she brought for the simulator discs she chose to use with a scowl of concentration on her face. After selecting the first to try out, Shade ventured to the control panel and slid the disc in, then turned to take a crack at the first fiend on the program.


Today, Shade wanted to perfect her duel wielding skills and jumped right in to charge at Chimera now ready to take her on.

Already waiting for Shade to dig up a monster for them to fight Crucent strapped on her Claws.
Coming here for some decent fighting was just what she needed now, she was angry and hurt, and she needed to take it out on something. So when she'd gotten Shade's query if she wanted to keep her company, she hadn't thought twice about it and had just gone off, leaving a very flustered Aide behind.

Feeling the thrill she always felt when she was about to fight, she cracked her knuckles impatiently so when the Chimera appeared; she was already in her fighting stance, observing the giant creature, watching its snake tail carefully as the Lions head tried to bite after Shade while the Lizard head was preparing a blue magic spell aimed at herself. Ducking and rolling, she slammed her fist in the creatures left lung, causing the Lions head to roar in pain. Finally she could forget everything else and just fight till someone died.

Shade was gunning for the bull's head first and foremost, and by a scant glance during a leap into the air and twist of her body, she caught sight of her Elvaan guest just her own blade came slicing across the neck of the beast. As it reared back with a gurgling attempt to roar in pain, Shade's body completed the spin to land in a crouched position on the ground. "You're late...." she muttered at Crucent after she was done decapitating the fiend in her own creative way.


After the creature disintegrated, Shade brushed her dark strands from her face and prepared for the next challenge. Within moments, four Minotaurs appeared, each wielding a large battle ax looking scythe. Just as Shade prepared her Gryphon weapon and loaded the arrows, she spoke again, pointing out Crucent's ruthless tactics. "Is there a reason why you're acting like you have a personal vendetta against some simple holograms?"


Before waiting for an answer, Shade aimed her crossbow weapon and fired a round of steel arrows before shooting the entire prod section of the weapon to then slice against the creature should it thwart off the first attack. As she ran, her other hand swung her sword to slash diagonally against the other Minotaur's chest

Straightening up after the Chimera vanished, Crucent heard Shade's comment and then her question.

Going after one of the Minotaurs she stabbed it forcefully in it's neck as it threw it's head back to roar and ripped down hard, tearing the monsters throat she replied "Sorry I am late, I've not been having a good week. Me and Zidane broke things off."

Ducking she dodged the attack of one of the other Minotaurs and spun her leg round in an arc tripping it so she could jump onto its chest and punched it repeatedly in the face as it grabbed her waist with a hand and slapped her across the face that would definatley leave a mark later on. Enraged even more by it, Crucent leaned down, curled her fists and slammed her claws into each side of its head, successfully penetrating its temples and causing instant death.

The arrows and prod boomerang had no hassle taking the first Minotaur down. Even as it staggered on its thick hooves for a few brief moments, her prod came swirling back at lightning speed to slice through it's neck as she watched it's head fall clean off and land on the ground with a thud. Hearing the roar of the second Minotaur she previously sliced with her blade, Shade gave an annoying sniff as the bloodied creature charged after her. Her arm extended for the prod to slam back onto the stock before Shade spun about on her heel and ducked at the very last second when the Minotaur swung it's massive weapon for her sword to sink straight through it's gut.


As the creature fell with a resounding thud to the ground and disintegrated away, Shade turned and wiped her brow with her wrist while watching and listening to Crucent. And damn was she pissed.... Hearing the reason why made perfect sense. When the two fiends Cru was attacking finally fell to a bloody heap, Shade nodded her approval at the Elvaan's skill. "That really sucks," she replied, not sure what to say in comfort to her friend. "All I can tell you is to appreciate what good memories came out of it Crucent. Some have very little to keep before they loose someone..."


Shade shook her head from her own somber thoughts and gave the control panel a slight kick to hurry up with a new challenge. Suddenly, a ruby dragon emerged and Shade smirked. There were plenty of these nasty bastards in her home world, and they were quite the challenge. Before either warrior could charge, the overgrown lizard snapped it's wings wide open and blasted them both with an Ultima spell. In a swiping swing of her arm, Shade ignited her Mighty Guard spell to cover both her and Elvaan to offer some protection.

Cursing Crucent nodded to Shade's comment
"Oh we had fun times aplenty. But it seems either it wasn't enough for him or he just is not ready for a commited relationship, cause he would still flirt with anything in a skirt. I can't tolerate that, it hurt too much."

As the Ruby Dragon's Ultima rolled away, she dove straight inbetween it's frontlegs, punched at the softer underbelly, ripped hard at the skin and rolled away before it had time to pin her down with one of its claws. Breathing hard, she got to her feet and flipped her now ruffled braid out of her face before doing a running jump with her feet first, aimed at its massive ribcage. A few seconds later she was rewarded with a loud CRUNCH-sound as the Ruby Dragon threw it's head back and roared in pain, it's tail flailing at Cru.

Shade was just about to charge in when she decided to hold back at the very last moment. By the sounds and the looks of things, Crucent needed this bashing more than Shade did. So she shoved the tip of her blade into the ground and simply kept hold of the hilt while leaning against it. She thought of her own brief lesson in life after hearing Crucent's frustrations.


After the the loud crunch of the dragon's rib cage, the beast wasn't about to give up so easily. With a snap of it's wings, it took to air and out of range of the Elvaan's attacks to take a second or two to regain it's breath and prepared to deliver another blow. During the brief reprieve, Shade responded. "Ya know.... it may just take a little time to adjust to being committed, Crucent. If it's one thing I've learned, it's that people can't switch their ways at the flip of a switch. I'm not saying put up with what hurts you, but I will say some things shouldn't be given up on so easily..... Oh....look out, he's really pissed now..."


The ruby dragon came soaring down, yet at the same time blasting Crucent with a flare before it would rear back up into the air to bring itself out of range again.

Doing a backwards flip to avoid getting a direct hit, Crucent stood up again as the Ruby Dagon landed, it's tail pounding into the ground in anger as it thought of it's next move.

"So what are you saying? I was too hasty calling things off and I should try again?" Grinning mirthlessly she continued "Unless you plan to have this same talk with Zid, Im not sure I dare to try again, just to wind up doubly hurt, even tho I still care greatly for him.'"

Barely dodging another blast of magic from the Dragon, Crucent growled and leapt on its massive neck, punching her claw into it's throath for a hold as she swung outwards and slammed her feet into its larynx, crushing it completely causing the beast to claw wildly at her trying to get her away.

Shade was beginning to pity the dragon hologram at this rate.....

Still, she sighed and waited Crucent out as she finished the fiend and watched it dissipate like all the others after being defeated. She gave her companion a little time to catch her breath now before seeing to the control panel. "Look, I'm not saying dive right back into the fray here, Cru. All I'm saying is.... when you really loose that person? Sometimes... there's no going back. And when being within such an unstable realm as we're in? Anyone is a risk at disappearing at any given moment.... And then it's forever. No going back. No making up for past regrets. No second chances. They're gone and that's it, and it sticks to your conscious every damn day after that...."


With a scowl, Shade turned away and gave the control panel another hearty kick before jerking her sword out of the ground a bit too roughly. Just as an Iron Giant appeared before them, Shade approached near Crucent, but never took her eyes off of the new target. "Just think it through Crucent," She grinded the words through clenched teeth. "Trust me, you don't want that regret on your shoulders..." Her eyes narrowed fiercely on the boss monster to hide her own pain as she shot off to make the first strike against it.

"You sound a bit like you have experienced something similar yourself. Anything you wanna talk about?"
taking the short downtime to actually think about what Shade told her, Crucent frowned. Did she really want to see Zidane gone for good or would she try mending her broken fences with him?

As the Iron Giant appeared Crucent decided to sit this one out, at least to start with. Watching Shade go after it, she sighed a little. What she actually wanted was Zid back, an apology for flirting like he was still single would also be nice, but she wasn't gonna hold her breath for that to happen, he was after all 16. He was behaving perfectly normal for someone his age. and she was twice his age...

Getting up she said "you make good points, you almost always do but... I don't even know if he'd have me back anyway..."

Hearing Crucent's question ignited a fury within Shade as she lunged after the enormous fiend just as it's massive cleaver weapon came down upon her. In her fake facade of attack, her true intentions was to fool the fiend that she would strike, but instead, Shade ducked and rolled across the ground in between its legs to roll back upon one knee and fire her steel arrows viciously into it's back before firing the prod boomerang again. Knowing the giant creature would be distracted by the attacks, Shade lunged again with her sword to sink the steel weapon into its back. Before tearing away, she flipped the lever beneath the hilt for the jagged teeth to spring out and encase the blade on both sides and rip into the fiend's flesh with a hard twist of her wrist before yanking the blade back out of its body.


As the Iron Giant roared out in pain, it twisted about with a stagger while swinging it's weapon and trying to find its attacker. Shade gave it wide berth to collect her breath and calculate her next move. As her feet kept in constant motion, she much resembled a stalking panther, pacing back and forth, back stepping a bit, shifting her position and stance in fluid motion while keeping her fierce hues locked on the fiend's every movement. "My experience isn't worth hearing Crucent.... I made my mistake.... now I have to live with it.." After catching her breath, Shade aimed her Gryphon again to fire the arrows into the giant's eyes and successfully blinded it. Before she did anything else, she replied again. "You should both lick your wounds and think, Crucent. Nothing good comes from rushing such matters. All I'm saying is.... make sure such a decision isn't based solely out of scorn, because the lifetime of regret is by far more painful..."


Reminded of her own sent Shade into a personal rage that the Iron Giant fell victim too. With a running bolt, Shade tore after the blinded creature and gave a leap to sink her blade deep into the the giant's chest with another violent twist of the jagged blade. She never released the weapon or pried it free as the boss fell back with her still upon its chest.

Seeing just how much her question had enraged Shade, Crucent practically lept out of the way as the Iron shavings started to fly.

"I'm sorry for your loss Shade, whatever it was..."

Standing back just a little more, to be on the safe side as Shade took her seemingly neverending anger out on the monster Crucent said heard Shades last comments as the Iron Giant gave up on life and said "okay; I promise I will think it over and not make any hasty decisions. Then I just have to wait and see how he feels about it"

Even though the Iron Giant lay still upon the ground, Shade's blade never moved as she remained still on one knee atop its chest and her hand gripping fiercely around the hilt until it shook from her pent up emotions. She took a moment to catch her breath and regain her composure as the hologram beneath her tried to fizzle out since it couldn't dissipate completely so long as her blade was still connected to it.


Finally, Shade rose up and jerked the sword out from the beast with a sickening sound of shredded flesh before leaping from the corpse's chest and land on the ground. "It's not just a loss, Crucent.... when such a thing happens..." Shade managed to raise her gaze and meet Cru's head on with a haunting tone in the words that followed. "...you loose a part of yourself as well, that you'll never get back. You never heal from it, nor are you ever the same..."


Shaking her head from her own burdens, Shade approached the control panel again and began flipping through the program for another challenge. "As for seeing how this so called Zidane feels about it, be sure to take in more than just his words. The eyes reveal more than what's spoken, as does one's movements. Pride has a way of holding back words, so be sure you hear and see more than that when the two of you cross paths again."

Looing straight back at Shade, Crucent replied "very well. Now, can you find some decent monsters for me to kill this time around, or do you only have kid's stuff programmed?"

Smiling she winked at Shade as she felt a bit carefree and more like her usual self again. By a stroke of miracle it seemed this impromptu killing spree and Shade's talk had helped.

With a single sound nod, Shade reverted her attention back to the control panel. Hearing Crucent's request, she quickly flipped to the boss archives and chose one for the Elvaan to play with. The image slowly appeared to reveal Spira's version of the Ultima weapon, now snarling at its chosen victim. Turning, Shade waved her hand for Cru to have it.

"Watch for its status effect spells, Crucent. And its armor makes it virtually impossible to penetrate, so don't be surprised if those claws of yours don't get very far."

With that said, Shade crossed her arms and gave her a smirk as her sign that she was sitting this one out.

Looking at the thing, and listening to Shade, Crucent's jaw dropped.

"And you figured you'd leave this just for me? your so kind" Making a face at Shade, she circled the creature slowly, watching it as it in return observed her closely, for a few minutes before it swiped at her with it's massive paw. Instinctively she jumped as far back as she could to not get hit by the talons on this thing.

Swearing like a dunken sailor Crucent shouted "FEEL FREE TO JOIN IN ANYTIME, HOPEFULLY * BEFORE * I DIE!" as she stared at the creature. It was alot faster then it's size indicated, so she didnt dare that her eyes off it as she spoke.

Hearing Crucent's sarcasm as well as catching the look the Elvaan warrior gave her, Shade simply raised a single eyebrow at her and shrugged her shoulders with a faint smirk twitching at the corner of her lips. "What... you telling me you can't handle this? The mighty Crucent? The very mighty Elvaan who bites furniture?" Oh how the rumors of reputation spread like wildfire throughout the realm. And here was Crucent's chance to back them up.


After watching her companion successfully dodge the first attack, Shade nodded calmly with approval at Crucent's tactical moves. Her eyebrow rose up again by hearing the woman scream at her, which then brought a pondering scowl over Shade's face.


"Die? Oh Crucent, there is no risk of you dying. It's a simulation. It can be shut off at anytime." Her monotone would surely anger her friend as she watched the Ultima boss charge it's first spell against Crucent in attempts to cast a confusion effect against her. Shade knew the spell to come and had her weapons ready in case she would have to block Crucent's own attacks should the spell hit her and take full effect.

Watching the creature prepare a magical blast of something very nasty no doubt, Crucent held back till the last second before she dived and rolled in between it's frontlegs, slipped out straight behind its leg, climbing onto it's back and straddled herself across it's neck. Then she gave Shade a Look, and feeling another wild surge of adrenaline she shouted down

"you wanna see me 'handle' this thing?!?! i'll handle it well and good!"

Using her Claws to hold her onto the creature's back, she climbed her way onto it's head and in a swift move; leaned down and shoved both Claws into it's eyes, ripping them out before leaping down and again got out of its range as it shrieked with pain.

The boss wasn't nearly finished.

It may have been blinded, but it's other senses worked well and good. It's long, massive tail lashed out for where it heard Crucent's feet land upon the ground, and in expectations to what direction she would take to flee, it's two extra long arms lashed out it's deadly steel like claws with it's confusion blast shot in the opposite direction, should the fiend's assumptions be wrong.

Meanwhile, Shade leaned against the control panel and yawned while observing the practice. She knew exactly what her Elvaan companion needed right now, and it was certainly no assistance in handling the great Ultima weapon.

As Crucent landed, the tail came straight at her lags and knocked them efficiently out from underneath her. causing her to fall on her butt. However that was a good thing in this case as it also fired off magic going in the opposite direction.

Getting to her feet, she quickly dived the other way, following the tail and had had more then enough. Running up along its tail once more she gathered up her energy; and before the creature had time to react Cru felt the pulse of energy in her feet then unleashed her Footwork as she swiped at the monsters head with her foot, hammering painful kicks in rapid succession, with both her feet now engulfed in Fire that certainly would harm the creature but not herself. After about 30 secconds, the creature was in enough of a daze that she felt it was safe to leap down and dodging its arms, she growled as she stepped in and stabbed it violently in its chest making it shriek in pain as it clawed at her, swatting her away.

Now livid with anger, Crucent actually reverted for a few seconds to when she was a kid so as the monster held her down with its paw she grabbed it in the softer wrinkles of its skin and bit down as hard as she could to get it to let go again wich it did. She then flipped backwards to get back on her feet, and panting hard, she ran in raising an arm over her head and at the same time ducked and rolled inbetween its frontlegs, ripping open it's skin and exposed the massive ribcage.

Crucent seemed to have the situation well under control, as Shade spared a few glances at the Elvaan going kick wild on the boss fiend. She busied herself prying off her worn out leather gloves just as Crucent displayed her airodimatics across the air to then deliver a massive blow beneath the Ultima Weapon, and a sicking crunch of bones to follow.


Shade's gaze slid over to see the blood and organs come spilling out of the creature and onto the ground just as she was crouched down and examining her own sword for any possible repairs needing done to the weapon. Slowly shaking her head, she didn't need to see the healing spell cast over the boss fiend to know that Crucent was in for a rude awakening. Just as swiftly as it's wounds healed, now the Ultima could see clearly again and raged after the Elvaan with a full charge and it's front arms lashing out to swipe at her

Feeling Certain she killed the damn thing when she ripped open its chest, Crucent took it as a personal affront when the damn thing actually bloody healed itself back to full health.

"How the hell am I meant to kill this piece of "#¤%??? do I need to cut it's head off or something?!"

Looking at Shade, then the monster, then at her own Claws, Crucent got an idea, then started running straight at Shadeand as she ran up to the other woman, looked her straight into her eyes, winked at Shade as she said "Im really sorry but this is all I could think of Then grabbed Shades Gunblade, asnd ran back to the creature, jumped onto its big arm and continued straight to it's neck where she slashed through it's neck cutting it's head off before somersaulting back onto the ground and returning the Gunblade to Shade.

Shade's initial shock was luckily well hidden. For the first few seconds, it took all of her strength to muster the will to keep herself in check from tearing after the Elvaan with a death scream and a chrarging blow of her Gryphon. She swallowed hard against the ignited rage, but watched Crucent use her sword effectively, to deliver the deathblow to the boss fiend.

Holding her breath as she held her temper at bay, Shade reached out and snatched the Wolf's Bane back from Crucent's hands. "It's not a Gunblade.... I don't have the right to weild one...."

Her eyes narrowed as she struggled to keep her breath steady now and slammed the tip of the sword into the ground for it to stand on its own. Her piercing gaze never left her friend until she crouched down in front of her sword. Her voice was calm, yet a warning tone strummed though it. "But let me show you something...."

Her fingers carefully unlatched the handle of the sword for a small compartment to open and reveal a single black feather tied within the hilt. Her steel hues now looked back up to the Elvaan warrior as she allowed her companion to see what she revealed. "Sometimes..... there's more to a weapon than just slashing and killing, Crucent.... bear that in mind the next time you choose to take another's. If anything would have happened to this...." The thought alone sent a bolt of fear through her, but Shade snapped the small door of her hilt closed and latched it seculrely. She slowly rose back to her feet and sauntered to the control panel. "I trust you will never speak of it to anyone, Cru...."

Watching what Shade showed her, Crucent looked at the feather. She didn't know why it was so important to her friend, but she realized it was. Extremely so. Looking into her friends eyes, Crucent nodded and said "I really am sorry, I won't do it again, I promise, but it was all I could think of to kill it, My own Claw blades just weren't long enough"

Smiling playfully at Shade, Crucent couldn't help herself one last time tho and nudges her as she said "but you handled my taking your weapon remarkably well, even so"