From within the depths of a rather large ship, one specifically owned by Athren, an odd pair would walk through the halls - one walking with the confidence of a dweller in said ship while the other was… not so confident - though he would never show it even if the devils from Hell were nipping at his heels. After their last training session, Zerori had been forced to deal with the Crane Master’s constant whining about how the large chamber was ‘too small’ and ‘not appropriate’ for the next session of training they were going to do and after she had to cut their time together short because she had sudden business come up, Zerori had come up with a plan to try and calm the irate old man for the next training session. However, there was just a small, itsey bitsy problem that she had to think about-

How would her… boyfriend? Lover? Significant Other? - Feel about her bringing in another male into HIS territory. She wasn’t stupid, but it was clear that Zerori hadn’t intended to bring any competition in and Shen was enjoyable company. Nothing more but nothing less, either. She had to play it cool and make sure that she’d brought him along with her while Athren was out training or otherwise indisposed.

Hard said than done - for either of them.

“And you’re sure your… who was this again? Afrien?” Shen had sneered, knowing messing up her lover’s name and eliciting Zerori to roll her eyes at him. She turned to him, a snarl on her lips.

“Athren and if I hear one more snide comment from you about him, training me or not, this is going to be the last time you step your foot anywhere. At all.” Zerori added for good measure, narrowing her eyes at him as she walked and taking satisfaction in the way Shen’s grin fell nearly instantly.

“Party pooper,” He muttered, turning to face toward the direction Zerori was leading them. He knew she was taking them to where this ‘Athren’s’ own Gravitron was built, but she never said anything about how large a ‘space ship’ was and why they had so many halls and doors! Little did Shen know that this ship had held a plethora of people - people that Athren had been responsible for and after a terrible tragedy… left the halls and rooms hauntingly silent.

It wasn’t Zerori’s story to tell, however, and so she’d kept that fact to herself and would continue to do so after her and Shen’s contract had reached it’s conclusion. Speaking of-

Finally coming to a stop at a rather large set of doors that felt just a little bit out of place with the rest of the ship, Shen would crane his head up to glare at what Zerori had brought him to, “Is this it?” He grumbled, showing his displeasure in the only way he was technically allowed to.

Zerori snorted through her nose, annoyed but more so amused that he’d started to play by the rules. “Don’t be so shocked,” She jested dryly before confirming, “It is. Now, I’ve installed some higher technology that I’ve been working on in the very rare moments of reprieve I had. It’s nothing too special, I’d imagine but given how difficult it’s been to keep you ENTERTAINED,” Zerori hissed the last word in his direction, “-I think we’ll both benefit from the new additions. That said, this gravitron is WAY different than mine. It’s honestly inspired me to create more additions to my own… if I can ever find the time to do it!” Zerori grumbled.

Shen cocked an intrigued eyebrow up at the explanation before he gave a non-committal shrug and tipped his chin toward the door, “Shall we enter, then? It’s not like we have all day since you’re treating this like some kind of rendezvous.”

Zerori’s face immediately flushed red at the accusation before she turned on him, “The HELL I am! Fuck,” She placed her hand over the panel beside the door, glaring at Shen through the coner of her eye, “-try to keep a guy from getting killed and what does that net me? An asshole, that’s what?” She muttered, hardly beneath her breath however and purposefully loud enough that Shen could hear her. “And people wonder why I like women more than men.” She added with a final sassy scoff before the doors slid away with a hiss.

“I beg your pardon-?!” He’d begun, taken aback by her random confession before Zerori walked in, interrupting Shen with a loud declaration.

“We’re wasting time!” Before she disappeared into the room they’d be spending a LEAST an hour or so inside. After her last session of training with Athren, Zerori had taken the time to get as familiar with the room and it’s amenities as she could. So when she walked in the absolutely ENORMOUS space, she wasn’t surprised in the least to see the various training equipment that remain dormant inside. It was only when she’d pressed a few buttons on the wall inside the chamber that the room would come to life.

The robots that she’d made to act as her interim training partner (and stress relief) would whirr to life from their mechanized slumber, in addition to a few portholes in the walls producing a dozen floating orbs that seemed to scan the area almost immediately after being activated.

Standing inside with her arms crossed and grinning up at the room in pride and excitement that never seemed to grow old, Zerori was unaware of the Crane Master’s look of horror as he witnessed the automatons walk among them like they were people. “What… a ghastly room of horrors! You and your ‘boy toy’ train here?!” Shen hissed, looking at a small floating bot approach him before adopting a stance with such rudeness that it actually freaked the little robot out enough for it to rush away.

And Zerori would have found that adorable had Shen not just piss on her lover again. She turned her head to him, her lips curled back to reveal sharp teeth, “Run that by me ONE more time! C’mon,” She cracked her neck threateningly before walking toward the middle of the room, “I’m gettin’ tired of trying to be NICE to you!” She groaned, reaching the console that spanned a good circumference of the middle of the room before her hands were gliding over the control panel. “Because you can’t seem to WAIT to get out of here, we’re not gonna fuck around. We’re gettin’ into it and you’re not gonna hold back from this last bit of training!”

The settings were simple. Just shy of 95 times the Earth’s gravity, Zerori was soon inputting how long they were going to keep up the session for and what other ‘additions’ were going to test their prowess. Once everything was input, the sound of the machine activating could be heard as it gave a high to low rumble before the lights in the room changed from their white and bright shine to a blood red that almost made things difficult to see! By ‘almost’, however, Zerori could boast that she had no trouble at all seeing through the nefarious atmosphere of red. It was actually quite invigorating.

Suddenly, though not unpredictably, Zerori could feel the weight of the gravity made from the machine upon her shoulders and gave a groan from the stress of it, “U-UGH, this… never… gets any easier,” Though that was technically a lie since she was already getting used to the great difference of power from when she trained with Athren and now. Taking a few careful steps, Zerori looked over at Shen to see that he was staying stock still, his body not even shaking in the midst of the incredibly powerful forces pressing against him. “You good?” She questioned, a little concerned.

Without saying anything, however, Shen would merely begin to take slow, calculated steps forward in what looked like slow motion before he stopped and gave a groan. “This is more than I… anticipated,” He would admit, his voice strained as he tried to speak clearly. He gnashed his teeth, the illusion of hardly being affected by the intense force completely removed from his face. Then, his muscles would suddenly flex in a similar manner to when she’d first trained with him and Zerori realized why Athren had her transform when they’d fought each other.

Before, she was still struggling to find the core of her power and push herself… now, she was able to utilize the force of gravity without tripping over herself and it appeared that the role had reversed between her and Shen.

She grinned, mischievous to no apparent end, before leaning down and rushing toward Shen, “You good now?!” And without waiting for a response from him, would attempt to swing her body around as she closed the distance and try for a side kick right into the Crane Master’s gut. Interestingly enough, the kick would never connect - instead Zerori would find herself grappled in between Shen’s beefy arms as he looked at her through his dark sunglasses.

“Already playing dirty? I seem to have taught you well. A shame it will do you no good against ME!” He roared, switching his grapple into a tight hold before turning his body and attempting to throw Zerori into a wall.

Surprised and literally swung off her feet, Zerori would take a moment to recalibrate her balance before forcing herself to recover in mid-air just before her face could impact against the wall. She eased back and stepped back to the floor - muscles still straining but by the look of victory on her face; she was hardly out of the game just yet. “Not bad! You almost got me! Now it’s my turn and you know what they say about the ‘bigger they are’!” She laughed, lurching forward into another run before she leapt into the air with an arm pulled back.

Shen didn’t deign to play any games, however, and immediately brought his arms up and formed some kind of triangle with his hands - Zerori’s eyes widened, far too deep into her attack to stop now. With a yell of his signature technique, “Tri-beam HAH!” Zerori would find herself with a face full of energy blowing her up and away from him. And this time she really did hit the wall of the chamber with a loud and painful THUNK!

As she fell to the floor on a knee, Zerori would groan and bring a hand up to her face. It burned - GOD, it burned! Just how much power did this guy have and, the better question - HOW did she forget about the technique she was meant to master today? I’m gonna consider THAT my one and only wake up call, Zerori lamented, looking back up at Shen before getting back to her feet. “Alright, then… we’ll cut right to the chase. That uh… triangle hand thing you taught me last time. Yeah, that packs a fuckin’ punch! So, let’s see if I paid any attention to you that time, yeah?”

Still staring at Zerori as she spoke, Shen would bring his hands back into a familiar stance - a silent beckoning that she was clear to proceed.

Adjusting her stance, Zerori thought back to what he had told her - remembering the way he’d held his hands and that the most important aspect to remember was to put EVERYTHING into the attack. To leave anything out was to disrespect the power of the Tri-Beam. Her palms slapped together, fingers interlocking a second later before she pulled her hands apart and created the signature triangle shame with the fingers. Already, she could feel the power gather between her palms as a mote of powerful energy began to flicker to life. Instead of the yellow that Shen had when he’d sucker punched her in the air with the attack - dark red energy would gather instead.

Huh, Zerori noted with a brief look of interest before she schooled her features back into intense concentration. Good to know that won’t ever change! She looked up at Shen a moment later as the power inside of her palms had grown to such a degree that she could actually FEEL the burn of her own power.

“You ready?!” She yelled, preparing to launch it at Shen.

His only response would the lack thereof, prompting Zerori to scoff, “-the least you could do was humor me,” She muttered before reaffirming her stance, pulling her arms toward her and then launching them forward with a yell, “Tri-beam HAH!” She imitated Shen, thinking it was the least she could do even if it sounded kind of stupid to yell her technique out like that. Like a cannon, the red energy would burst out from her hands and speed toward Shen with such incredible speed that Zerori almost couldn’t believe that SHE’d done that.

Shen, on the other hand, was unshakable in his resolve as he tensed his muscles and threw his arms across himself before letting out a bellowing yell. Incredibly, as the attack collided against him, it wasn’t his body at all that had even been touched by the attack. Instead, as if by the sheer power of his voice, the attack she’d sent at him would just halt in it’s momentum - trying it’s hardest to stay on it’s designed course before it finally appeared to just explode into nothingness!

All that would be left of Zerori’s version of the Tri-beam would be small motes of red light that would fall and disappear like her attack had.

Needless to say, Zerori wasn’t fucking shocked and Shen… well, whatever he had done seemed to really take it out of him. With a huff, he dropped his arms and gave a groan. “Well, consider me quite frankly shocked and awed, Zerori… Well done,” He tried to roll one of his shoulders - only for him to wince and then nearly lose the concentration he had to keep his muscles taut. It did him no favors for the impending cramp that was soon to come, however.

Zerori decided that it was probably time for a bit of mercy and proceeded to walk back over to the console as Shen nursed his cramping shoulder. Inputting some commands into the console, soon a small area would be lit up with a bright white light before Zerori called out to Shen, “Go take a rest there! I’m going to practice this neat little trick and see if I can’t improve on it! I’ve got a bit of a score to settle with someone,” She stepped back to the console once more as she spoke, activating one of the programmable training dummies before she looked over at the dummy in question.

As Shen gave a scoff at her student’s sheer AUDACITY, he would still find himself walking over to the brightly lit up area and, upon stepping into it, would give a sigh of relief. It was a respite from the gravity and it provided him with an area to rest with a small cooler. Indeed Zerori took all aspects of her training seriously and the mini fridge was absolutely her idea.

Looking back at Zerori, he was able to see what was happening with the training dummy and as it morphed and changed with some kind of holographic technology (the very same Zerori used in conjunction with her magic) his eyes would widen behind the sunglasses and his jaw would drop.

It had taken Zerori some time and… a LOT of trudging through trauma - but she’d manage to remember what Liari had looked like the last time she had seen her. Though it was crafted at a much smaller scale given Liari had been fucking enough last time she’d seen her. Truly, the vision of nightmares.

She stepped away from the console, summoning her magic to bring out the vectors of her Shadow Claws before she brought both hands together and cracked her knuckles - the Shadow Claws mimicking her movement. Suddenly, however, Shen’s voice would call out in what Zerori thought sounded quizzically like panic, “WAIT! Is THAT was Liari looks like now?!” He knew she’d gotten powerful, immeasurably so, but to look so different after only a short time.

Zerori’s expression of confusion melted into one of pity and worry before she looked back at Liari… it wasn’t her friend anymore, not really. The guilt she’d felt when she’d hurt Liari was faded away to a dull ache, replaced by the guilt of running away when the truth slapped her in the face with just how much Liari had changed.

“...Yeah. It’s pretty wild innit?” Zerori grumbled, her voice muted to almost a whisper as she sighed through her nose. The longer she stared at the static dummy that shared Liari’s appearance, the harder Zerori’s gaze would grow before she spoke once more - her voice devoid of pity and guilt. “That’s why I’m gonna stop her. For HER sake and for the sake of this place I call home. I fled last time, Shen… fled because I was afraid to die but now? Now I know what truly lies beyond the realm of the dead and I ain’t scared of what happened after death. Now when I know it’s not the end…”

And next time, hopefully more powerful than she was, Zerori can finally beat some sense into Liari. It was doubtful, however, and she knew she needed help to get it through to the Majin girl that she met all those months ago that power didn’t mean everything. She didn’t know what Zero had done to her after they’d met… but she was glad Liari had apparently got her own vengeance.

Now, it was Zerori’s turn to return that favor.

Her arms came up, hands shaped in the triangle form of the attack before she released a yell - the energy coming together MUCH faster this time - and it impacted against the training dummy. She could feel that it definitely hit, yet as the smoke cleared, the smug but immovable face of Liari remained like a grim reminder of their difference in power.

She hoped it wasn't an ill omen.