Inside Athren’s Gravitron, the sound of grunting and screams that followed after the dull thud of something impacting the walls could be heard. Inside, the newly formed shroud of red and black energy enhancing Zerori’s body and hastening her attacks, the blur of fists and claws could be seen as she rushed this way and that like a fox in the proverbial crowd of trees. Assisting her, after wearing herself down enough to remember that they existed, were the drones that were used to test the prowess of speed and resilience… assuming they didn’t get destroyed before they ever had the chance to do such a thing. She’d lamented a few times they really needed some for of protection against the power of her magic or Athren’s sheer strength because repairing these things was a HUGE waste of time that could have been spent training!

So, as much restraint as it took Zerori with all her new power and speed, she’d did her best to hold back. Her brain worked overtime as she dodged, rolled and flipped out of the way of the blaster fire that the drones laid out in an attempt to hit her. Her mind was awash with ways to make the drones stronger, faster and to also see how long her new ‘armor’ could last. Occasionally, during breaks, Zerori was stopped to admire the look it gave her - vain as she was, Zerori liked to walk with confidence in anything she donned. Magical attire included.

Yet for all of her brief interludes of thought, Zerori still faced one major issue as she sat with a drink in hand and the gravity settings on stand-by for the moment…

As strong as she was with her new ensemble and incredible dangerous new attack… she had NO means to protect herself. Back at the tournament, when Liari had attacked her, the only form of self defense that Zerori even had was a barrier that had… saved her but only BARELY. A wall she’d learned to create using her magic but against the sheer intensity of Liari’s own attack, it’s effectiveness was like that of butter against a hot knife. The issue Zerori was having was how the HELL could she do to improve upon that? Every crazy idea she had involved using it to protect someone or something yet she’d never even tried that before. Maybe she could improve it’s resilience by just letting this little thing peck away at her barrier?

As IF! That’ll only be a waste of time if they can’t even do it! Much less manage to break the barrier in a timely fashion! Zerori lamented angrily, loudly chugging away on an energy drink that she’d stashed away. In times like these where she felt like she never NEVER had enough time - she cheated with a sweet drink was packed with as much terrible shit as it was ‘nutritional value’. Whatever Athren didn’t know certainly didn’t hurt him. When she finished the can, throwing it in a trash chute to prevent waste in the chamber, Zerori got back on her feet and sauntered back over to the chamber to turn it all back up again.

As her fingers rushed over the console, eyes filled with stress and deeply tired rings under her eyes, the sudden chime of a call caught her attention. The gravity taking hold, Zerori materialized her visor just in time to take the call with a stern voice. “Go.”

Surprisingly enough, it was Korn’s voice that greeted her and she paused her walk as he spoke. His voice still sounded strained and weak but she was still relieved to hear it, “Still feeling like shit?” She missed the humor too.

“No more than you do, you stubborn bastard,” She returned, the smallest quirk of a smirk on her lips as it felt like nothing had changed between them. Like she… like she hadn’t nearly killed him hours ago. “...Maybe a little more. I’m used to. KInda want it right now,” She continued, compelled to keep the air free of the silence that had only ever been broken by her voice. “Whatchu want? Kinda busy,” She dismissively said, hoping he actually wouldn’t hang up on her yet in spite of her typically stupid and habitual attempts to isolate herself.

“Talk,” He said simply and by the shuffling she heard on the other side of the line, he was still very much in her bed. Though the faintest sound of something being popped open had her grimace.

“Is that my ice cream?” She growled, already regretting letting Korn live.

“Your old one. Had little… ice sticks on the top of it,” He justified as she hear him physically take a bite and talk with his mouth full, “-tasthes chewy.” In spite of her face blanching at the imagery of ice cream in her freezer that was WAY old, she pretended to gag.

“Throw that shit away, then! Damn, you’re gonna die of food poisoning before your injuries!” In spite of their banter (which she was grateful for), Zerori didn’t stop herself from getting right back into the swing of her training. And by the swing of things, she was literally swinging her arms in left and right hooks - throwing in some deviations and straight punches - as fast as she possibly could. Her armor had dissipated long ago because her magic had been depleting at a rather fast rate so the rest was a bit more than just necessary.

“You’re training,” Came the voice in her ear as she surmised that Korn could hear her various grunt of exertion. She could also hear the tone of disappointment there, too. She ignored the pain that came back with vengeance as the reminder that SHE was the reason he had to remain in bed and abstain from ALL training. She just… couldn’t risk it with how serious his injuries were.

“Yeah,” She said simply, knowing it would be an even worse cut to his pride if she lied to him. “Need…. Needed to get away for a bit because I was angry. Not gonna lie, I really wanted to trash my own apartment and that wouldn’t have-” She gave a grunt as her side hurt from a cramp suddenly coming on. “-been a good idea! Ugh!”

“Hurting yourself over it, too, huh,” He grumbled, though she could hear that his words came from a place of concern and not some petulant grumpiness of not being able to join her. It didn’t even sound like he was upset at her for being the reason he couldn’t train.

“Tch,” She scoffed, spinning her body with a sudden spin kick - keeping her leg stretched out for an elongated moment or two before letting it fall to the floor with a loud rumble. “-You just gonna call out every fuckin’ flaw I have or can I end this call? You’re really fuckin’ distracting!” The laugh Zerori heard on the other side of the call was like a warm balm to her soul, not even bothering to hide the smile on her face as she continued her training.

“You’re just a party pooper… what are you… working on?”

Zerori paused, not at all expecting Korn to be interested in the exact kind of training she was doing. Was this his attempt to try and help her in spite of not being here? Well, she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and Korn DID have a tendency to have rare moments of genius-like clarity. Why the fuck not. “I’m trying to think of a way to increase the resilience of my-” She grunted, “-Shadow barrier! Got any ideas? Cuz all I can think of is getting hit by somethin’ over and- UGH! Over again until it breaks!” She stopped, finishing up her issues, “-’cept I can’t do that without someone else here. No offense,” She added for good measure, knowing it might be a sore subject.

The answer he gave after what felt like a few generous minutes of silence on the other end actually had Zerori stop and stare in wonder at nothing in front of her. “Why haven’t you used that weird dummy? It can use your… attacks, can’t it?” And for a long moment, Zerori said in the space of time in the call before she gave a bit of laughter. “What? Did you… not think of that?”

“No! HAH! Wow, I’ve been… phew, been a bit of an idiot today, haven’t I?” Her smile was almost aad and she shook her head and walked back to the console to activate the dummy with some interesting new settings to try. As she typed away, Zerori would give a rare, warm response, “I’m gonna let you go, Korn… and thanks. You always did have your moments!” She added with a scoff of laughter.

“Tch, fuck you… too,” He seemed to struggle to say before giving a grunt and ending the call on a final note. “Eating your… ramen.”

“THROW IT AWAY THIS TIME!”

With that final word, the call ended and Zerori let out a ‘tch!’ before dematerializing her visor away. Behind her, the training dummy that Korn had mentioned would begin to power up - it’s idle posture rising from it’s slumped position into the facsimile of a fighting stance. Then, like before, it would begin to light up with data swirling around it before a copy of Zerori’s own form would stand before her. Humorously, the living Zerori stepped forward to inspect the look and accuracy of the copy before she grinned and brought a hand up to her chin before nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d bang me, too. Heh,” With that final bit of fun, she walked away to gain some distance before watching at the dummy would seem to automatically move.

Copy Zerori threw her hands out to the side, the speed of her arms actually very impressive as it mimicked the move she’d programmed it to use against her. She slammed her palms together, forming a triangle shape in the next moment before her mouth moved - the voice of the computer spilling out from the speakers around her as it yelled, ”TRI-BEAM HAH!” And for a moment, the real Zerori almost completely forgot what she was doing.

Her eyes widened with panic at the incoming attack she stupidly forgot to prepare for and - in a flash of speed - threw her arms up to summon a dark wall of energy in front of her. At the very, VERY last second the attack would smash against the wall and nearly break it right then and there it had been built up so suddenly and not at ALL at her full power. Zerori winced at the impact and felt her boots slide a little from the force of it. Thankfully, albeit barely, the wall had managed to hold up to the attack. So far so good!

Alas, it certainly wasn’t going to be that easy. Unlike Zerori (the living one) the dummy in front of her had no weakness to a lack of energy or magical withdrawal. Not even a minute later after the first discharge of energy, the copy of Zerori would begin to charge up for another Tri-Beam attack - this one a little stronger than the last by design. It smashed against her barrier once more, the beginnings of a fracture in her wall starting to show upon impact. “OH fuck!” Zerori hissed, pushed back once more. “A-Alright HERE we go! J-Just gotta-” She tried to encourage herself, pushing power into her barrier until it eventually began to change.

As it grew in size, looking less like a wall and more like an actual barrier - the next attack that Zerori could feel impact against her would cease in its tracks right then and there. Hell, as she concentrated, she would notice that it looked like it could even cover a large enough area to protect more than just herself! Even still, it was clear that would take a LOT more out of her and they definitely had to stay by her side.

As the finally attack hit, Zerori felt satisfied that she could work with this new form of her barrier and released the continuous flow of magic before falling to a knee. “Hah… Hah... Hell yeah…”