Training with captors?!

     For the most part, Suzuki had been treated relatively well, all things considered. She was fed, she was given drinks, even given tea when she asked! ... Unfortunately she was unable to do one of her main things; train. It wasn't like she could have her device or a kendo sword, that might actually be dangerous! As such, Suzu was once more just sitting in her cell.

     She was settled crosslegged on the floor, looking around silently as she thinks on things. She wasn't meditating today though, she was more just somewhat lazily leaning against the back wall of her cell. She was idly fiddling with an edge of her clothing, ensuring that it was sitting right and not too damaged. She leans her head back, looking up towards the ceiling. She'd managed to more or less calmed her thoughts, but she was still rather restless.

    A perhaps familiar of clickity clacking of heels can be heard making their way down the cellblock towards Suzuki's cell. The pace is a bit quicker than Helix' previous visit, both because she's excited and this time she's here for business. When she appears before the cell one change is immediately obvious- she's found a way to transform Bulwark into a simple pair of bracers rather than a pair of enormous shields in order to allow her to move about freely while maintaining her henshin.

    "Prisoner-chan!" she calls out with a cheerful voice. "I've got good news for you!" A short pause, "Okay probably not the 'best' good news but I still think you'll be happy! You've been cooped up in that cell for a while now, right? I saw some security footage of you swinging a spoon around, and it gave me a great idea!"

    She walks up excitedly to the bars and sticks her arms through in a way that'd probably be dangerous if Suzuki also had access to her magic. One of them simply curls around and holds onto the bar, but the other holds out a small, dull grey ball. "It's a civilian device. Go ahead and register yourself on it. It won't let you use magic, but it -will- let you speak with us with Device telepathy."

    She tosses the beat to the girl underhanded, and if she doesn't reach out to catch it it'll hit the ground and roll up against one of her legs. "We have Verdrehen Sturm connected to Bulwark, and Bulwark is connected to that device. You'll be able to talk to her! And more importantly with Bardiche and Bulwark's help you'll be able to practice using her using Visual Mode- it's kinda like what you'd call 'virtual reality'." This is all true, but she's leaving out the fact that Takashi's Axion is acting as an intermediary for the purposes of recording every last bit of information that passes between the two.

Fate Testarossa remembers the girl they captured the other day. Sure, she had a device, and the was interesting, but Fate was more curious about the girl. Who she was... why she had a Belkan device... why she didn't seem to understand what it was saying. All of it was really odd.

Fate was puzzled, and so Fate wanted to know more. Eclipse also wanted to study Suzuki, because there are many people in Eclipse who like pouring over data, Takashi included, so Fate getting a chance to take a closer look wasn't that hard to get.

Fate is here in her barrier jacket, and Bardiche is out in its default bearded-axe form, following after Helix. When the two of them get to the prison cell, Fate lets Helix do most of the talking. She stares through the bars at Suzuki.

When Helix is done explaining the situation, Fate says rather bluntly, "I want to fight you."

She means in Visual Mode, right? Of course she does.

Well, it might be more accurate to say that she will settle for Visual Mode. For now.

     Click clack click clack. Yes, that noise was indeed quite familiar to the Knight. She shifts her gaze down towards the bars of her cell relatively quickly once she begins to hear that, and even began to stand relatively quickly. In spite of everything, she still didn't seem to even remotely hold much of a grudge at the moment. The look towards Helix was even relatively friendly, in a reserved way. "Helix-san." She greets in response, offering a brief bow of her head.

     She takes a couple of steps forward when Helix slid her arms through the bars like that, though really... it wasn't a danger even if Suzu /had/ magic right now. Then again, technically she did! Not that she knew it. But Suzu was honestly not all that interested in making a potentially bad situation even worse by being aggressive at her prisoner. It served no purpose. "...Hmm? Good news? ... Well, even if it's not the best news, I'll take it." Suzuki says calmly, reaching to catch that tossed Civilian device relatively easily. Suzuki lifts the device slightly, looking at it curiously. "...Ah? Interesting. I wasn't aware that devices could do such things. Ah..." She looks at the device in her hand. "...How do you register yourself?"

     Yep. Complete newbie to devices; Suzuki TECHNICALLY wasn't even registered to her device, as Verdrehen Sturm had forced the first henshin more or less on her own, taking Suzu's will to fight and introducing each other as 'good enough' for her. And then... Fate walked up. That girl she'd been curious about before. Who had the melee weapon that was supposedly safer than her own. Suzuki offers a polite bow of her head towards Fate. "...I see. That sounds like fun, I had been interested in a proper fight with you as well, to be honest." Suzuki says softly.

     Suzuki takes a breath as she thinks on things for a few moments, lifting the civilian device in her hand up to look at it curiously for a few moments. "...You already know what I look like, so I suppose ..." She lowers her gaze towards Helix and Fate. "My name is Suzuki Natsume; a pleasure to meet you in a less ... well. Less ambush-like way."

    Despite the fact that Suzuki is a prisoner of the organization she works for Helix is legitimately happy to be able to bring her good news. Her excitement isn't faked at all, and while part of it is because of the research angle that's a much smaller part than actually making the other girl's tenure as a captive more bearable. "Great! I was hoping you'd think so."

    Then with a blink she scratches her cheek, "Um, just get it's attention and then say 'Register New User' followed by your name." She steps away from the bars as Fate speaks up smiling brightly. With a hop-step she'll try to give the younger girl a quick hug before stepping away with a spin, "And -I- want to watch you two fight, Fate-chan, Suzuki-chan! It's going to be a whole bunch of fun!"

    She gives a very informal, fast bow to Suzuki as she introduces herself, "Go ahead and register! Eeee, I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!"

    The girl can barely even stand still right now!

Fate watches as Suzuki approaches. She's awfully friendly, considering it wasn't not too long ago that they ganged up on her and captured here. How odd, to behave in such a way. Fate would expect her to be angry, or to have her pride wounded, or something. Well, it's not like Fate understood people all that well to begin with. She just chalks it up to yet another thing she doesn't understand.

Then Suzuki reveals that she doesn't even know how to register herself? How does she not know that? "What do you mean? Didn't you register yourself with your device?" Fate glances at Helix, and then back at Suzuki. "Just do it like you did the first time." Helix explains it, and Fate nods.

.oO(This is so weird. How does she not know these things?)

Fate tilts her head, and says, "Fun? This is also something you can have fun with? Well, okay. It can be fun." Fate isn't sure what to think of that. She /was/ told to have more fun, but fighting seemed like work. Well, she was still learning.

Suzuki introduces herself, and then Fate responds with, "Fate Testarossa. I'm not from around here, so there's no point in hiding my name."

The hug from Helix results in Fate glancing at Helix, smiling a little shyly, and then turning back to Suzuki. "Well. Are you ready?"

     You just get its attention and tell it to 'register new user'? Hmm. She looks down at the civilian device, and muses a bit. "I see." She murmurs softly. After a few moments, she lifts the device, looking at it. "...Register new user, Suzuki Natsume." She says simply. The Device gives a small ping, but due to the fact it's not an Intelligent Device, it doesn't say anything. Instead, the device reads 'NEW USER REGISTERED' along the surface of it, shimmering as it pings. Suzuki shifts slightly as she feels it begin to make the requisite connection and such. Frankly, she was being a bit trusting, but really. She assumed that anything she did would be watched. So she resolved herself not to show anything she hadn't already multiple times.

     "I somewhat expect that Riventon is also watching this fight, as well." Suzuki says, with a mild edge of ... amusement to her voice? She thinks a few moments. "Hmmm, so you said it's like VR simulation. Does that mean I won't have to hold back at all?" She asks softly. Was... she implying that she /had/ been before? "Or will wounds still be dealt as usual?" She continues. Frankly, the knowledge that her Device was actually a deadly weapon was not something that surprised her, but the confirmation did mean a fair amount.

     To say that Suzuki wasn't angry or her pride wasn't wounded would honestly be a flat-out lie. She was angry. She was frustrated, and her pride /had/ been injured. She had been caught out unawares in the middle of the night. She should have been paying more attention, she should have been able to run faster... many other thoughts had run through her mind. The question of registering gets a bit of a look from Suzuki. "Ah, well... she kind of ... activated in an emergency, there was a monster, and it was threatening the entire crowd. She'd spoken before that a bit, but I honestly don't speak German -- or Belkan, which seems to be close to it." Suzuki responds honestly. "So... I guess maybe not?"

     Which was probably why she wasted so much energy, why she didn't properly understand her device, and why her Device handled most -- if not all -- of her spells. "Well... I consider training to be fun. And this is training... a fight with you wouldn't be fun, but a sparring match or a training match.. that can be fun." Suzuki says with a firm nod. "...At least, in my opinion." Suzuki responds to Fate. The question of if she were ready gets another nod. "Yes. I'm ready."

    Helix just grins a little when Suzuki intuits that Riventon will be watching without outright saying that she's correct. Then she'll explain with a nod, "Yep! You can go all out and do whatever you want. I think it might still feel like you're hurt hurt and you'll feel like you're getting tired from using magic but in reality your perfectly fine and your not actually using any magic except what's needed to power the simulation itself. I can guarantee you can't permanently harm each other though- the simulation will be created by Bulwark and Bardiche after all."

    She just assume Suzuki will recognize that means the previously mentioned safeties and inability to permanently harm people unless specifically ordered will be in place.

    Then with a smile she issues a mental command to Bulwark and Suzuki will feel a mental prodding, the thus far unnamed civilian device requesting permission for mental contact and to open a datalink. Unhelpfully it has no AI to explain what that actually means, though if Suzuki accepts she'll immediately be able to feel Verdrhen Sturm's presence; the link meticulously designed to allow them to work together at close to full capacity.

    'Hi!' will come Helix' voice inside Suzuki's(and Fate's!), mind as relayed through the various interconnected Devices. 'Isn't this awesome? Now you know how we were able to work so well together!' a mental wink. 'Bulwark, Bardiche- begin Visual Mode.'

    <Yes, Master. Running visual simulation now,> Bulwark responds through their minds.

    Another mental ping from the civilian Device- it hasn't been tampered with too much and will once more require authorization from it's user to allow the simulation.

    Helix lets out a confused verbal, "Oh jeeze! Close your eyes, remember to close your eyes! You were supposed to remind me, Bulwark..." Mentally, Bulwark actually laughs teasingly.

    Once Visual Mode is accepted reality will start to fade away- or rather another reality will start to impart itself -over- the current one. It's that of a wide, open field of short grass and scattered wildflowers with a bright blue sky with a few scattered fluffy white clouds visible. The sun seems to shine down and warm the area, and there is a gentle breeze. Everything can be seen, felt, smelled... 'Visual Mode' is more than just visual!

    Helix will be found floating up in the sky, her shields now fully visible with Bulwark appearing to be in Device Mode.

    Similarly Suzuki will find herself in full henshin already, her Knight Armor present and Verdrehen Sturm in her hands, with the capability of doing everything it normally could with exacting precision- after all, the device is very much connected to the datalink.

    Fate has the option of appearing wherever she wants, however she wants, since Bardiche is assisting in the simulation.

    "Isn't this great?!" Comes the cheerful shout from above, Helix doing a little flying loop in the air. "Go ahead, do whatever you want! There are no rules except the rules you set between yourselves." Then with a happy laugh she adds, "But I suggest you go all out!"

Fate watches as Suzuki registers her device. Well, that was simple enough. Fate doesn't really seem to understand that two of them just taught Suzuki something. Well, on the other hand, one can't really train without at least trying to learn something, right?

Fate doesn't really respond on the topic of whether or not Riventon is watching. Suzuki's question, on the other hand, does get a response.

"You don't have to hold back," confirms Fate. "It'd be a waste of time if you did." Fate really is interested in a 'fair' fight. Or at least, she's interested in a meaningful one. If Suzuki is happy to do it, then all the better.

Suzuki recounts the story of Verdrehen Sturm's activation, and Fate begins to understand. "Oh I see. It activated on its own. That actually explains a lot. You've been using it like that ever since? I guess no one really taught you how to use an Intelligent Device, then."

Fate glances to Helix as she says she intends to start it up, and then gives Suzuki one last look before Fate goes to sit on a nearby bench. She closes her eyes, and Bardiche pings. The mental connection begins, and Fate is suddenly standing in the open field. Her barrier jacket is on and Bardiche is in device mode. She sees very little point in being anyway.

The look in her eyes is serious. She's been looking forward to this for a long time. For reasons she can't explain, ganging up on Suzuki unsettled her. She thought that maybe this would make it up.

Make it up to who? Who knows.

Once Fate is fairly certain that Suzuki has had ample chance to prepare herself, she drops into a defensive posture. Bardiche announces <Scythe Mode>, and the head turns sideways as the energy scythe ignites.

With a burst of speed, Fate is racing forward towards Suzuki, Bardiche in hand held to the side, aiming to slice Suzuki as she flies by the Knight.

     Okay, that connection was ... different. With Verdrehen Sturm it didn't feel nearly as strong or 'direct', probably because of that lack of proper registration. She felt that request, and simply accepted it. It was mental, so it was just a thought 'yes'. She nods slowly towards Euphemia. "I see, then I won't have to worry about accidentally causing injury. Good." Suzu murmurs softly. And then... mental connection! Suzu shifts very slightly.

     'Hello.' She responds, beginning to wonder if they could hear her every thought now. Hmm. That would be troublesome. Of course, the civilian Device likely picks up on that brief worry and limits just how much she transfers to what she actively tries to send. 'It would be very useful, yes. And require much less... tipping off your enemy to your plans.' She responds, her gaze shifting towards Helix's face as she thought on that.

     Aaaand then the request for the visual simulation. Suzuki takes a small breath, hesitating briefly to that. She gave a more tenative 'yes' in response to that. When told to close her eyes, Suzuki gives another small nod, her eyes sliding closed. "Alright." She says audibly, rather than over the telepathy. She shifts back semi-reflexively, moving to take a seat on the ground, resting her back against the wall.

     She finds herself in a grassy field, her gaze shifting around. Verdrehen Sturm was in her hands, and her Knight Clothing(Lighter but faster than Knight Armor) already on her. She was henshined. Alright. "...Interesting." Storm Knight says, turning her device slightly to examine it. "It's good to have you in my hands again, Verdrehen Sturm." She murmurs softly.

                <JAWOHL.>

     "Yes, that's how I've been fighting alongside her like that ever since. Honestly, I believe she's doing most of it now..." Storm Knight responds honestly. She shifts as she looks at that serious look in Fate's eyes. This was training, but it was obvious that this would be a /real/ fight. Not to the death, but to see who's better. And to see who's faster.

     Speaking of fast, Fate was flashing towards Suzuki quickly. She, however, doesn't move. As the scythe was brought towards her, Suzuki shifted, using her kendo training easily. She moves her Device with as little motion as possible; with simple intent. To deflect the blade away from herself, as she took a small sidestep. She angled her blade, intent on allowing the hook of the scythe to catch the lower edge of her device... and then follow through with a simple counter-attack, using Fate's own momentum to attempt to strike Fate's back with her own blade. "Verdrehen Sturm."

                <SCHLAG STREIK.>

     As she did that counter-attack, the blade was suddenly electrified, attempting to send a jolt of electric energy through Fate's back. It seems that Suzuki may have Mana Conversion, herself. As she was actually creating electricity. This, of course, is likely something interesting for everyone recording to note. ...If they even know that it's something rare or special.

Fate's blade catches on the Belkan device, and Bardiche's magical edge pulls Verdrehen Sturm into her own back. The cut itself would be bad, but the electrical shock makes it even worse. Fate stumbles forward, rolling as she hits the ground. She recovers quickly, rolling to her feet and turning to face Suzuki again, but her wine-red eyes are focused on the edge of her naginata.

"Mana conversion? To electricity? So you're just like me."

Fate reaches around behind her to touch her back. It's usually a little sore back there, but Fate remembers that this is a simulation. Bardiche decided to leave out what Fate's back usually looks like. As for the wound, the Barrier Jacket ate most of the damage, leaving a long cut in Fate's cape.

Fate considers her next strike. That reach advantage is hard to get through, yet melee range is Suzuki's element. Fate wants to try it a little more before she moves on to different attack types.

Oh yeah, she planned out roughly how she wants this to go. In some ways, this is still a game to her.

The next charge comes suddenly, but this time Fate is cautious. She races towards Suzuki, holding Bardiche up vertically, one hand high and the other low. She stops a mere foot away from Suzuki, just short of outright ramming into her, and starts to bring the Scythe down... but that's just a feint to see if Suzuki will try to parry again.

The real attack comes from below, as Fate swings the bottom tip of Bardiche upwards, trying to strike Suzuki in the stomach or, failing that, the chin.

One of Fate's feet touch the ground, but most of her weight is still being carried by her magic.

    Helix stays out of their way, intentionally floating high enough in the air for it to be unlikely she'll get hit by any stray shooting spells or end up in their paths unless one of them both intentionally tries to use her as an obstacle- the only one in existence on the wide open plain.

    That said she isn't just here for show- it's very important for her to learn how to deal with close range attackers like Fate and Suzuki and watching the two fight each other at full strength is a perfect opportunity to see how they fight. She needs to learn to predict their movements and know what kind of tricks they might have up their sleeves- even in just the opening strikes it's obvious she'd need to be very careful about opening herself up to counterattacks were she to attempt to use her Terra Sword in close combat with Suzuki.

    In fact, she might have to hit Fate up later for a bit of one on one combat training to get some actual practice in.

    She winces as Fate takes an early hit and lets out an, "Ohh," of approval as the blonde gets right back up and charges Suzuki, only in a more tricksy fashion. The tenacity of it is appreciated. "Goooo Fate!" she cheers from up above.

    Though she could she doesn't give any combat data to Fate, either directly observed or pulled from the data stream itself. Though she's impulsive she isn't unable to read others and recognized quickly enough that her ally wanted a duel. Unless it's specifically called for there will be no intervention by Helix.

    On Suzuki's side the girl notices that for now she's mostly letting Fate come to her without ceding or gaining any ground. For someone so quick that's an interesting tactic. It makes the girl wonder if it's a specific part of her fighting style or merely due to Fate's aggressive, high speed tactics.

    Cyan eyes meticulously observe the spectacle below.

     "...I suppose? It's just how my magic seems to manifest." Storm Knight responds, giving a very slight shrug at that comment. She took note of that cut in Fate's clothing. No damage to her flesh directly, or at least that's how it looked at first glance. She was right about Fate also having a magical armor, as she'd assumed before. Good. She didn't have to worry about seriously injuring her much in normal fights, either. Still, she might have to consider using her blade more carefully in the future.

     Fate touching her own back got a very slight tilt of the head from Suzuki, watching Fate carefully to try to take in... well, what she could about her. Watching the way she moves, the way she acts, her personality. So far, Fate seemed like a straightforward person. Probably driven, from the immediate attack, but that first attack had been probing, or at least it had seemed like it. "...Did you decide on the design of your device, or was it decided for you? ... I'm assuming the latter, you seem like you'd pick a more functional weapon, from how you carry yourself. Scythes can only hit well if you can get in close enough to hook behind." Suzuki murmurs softly, keeping her naginata up and facing Fate, watching her carefully.

     Okay, Fate was dashing in for a melee attack again it seems, she was bringing the blade down in a horizontal strike. The knight shifts almost immediately, moving to turn to the side to dodge the relatively thin blad, her naginata lifted so that the blade of her device is between herself and the incoming blade -- which meant that that upcoming strike... didn't hit her face or stomach, but instead struck her arm relatively hard, her arm lifting in a way that made her device lift a bit. "...Hmm. ...You handle it well, all things considered, though." She comments.

     Storm Knight takes a soft breath, before she moves suddenly, intent on stepping in towards Fate, with intent to send her off-balance. She shifts her blade slightly, a hand lifting with a glow. "Verdrehen Sturm."

                <SCHLAG.>

     A pair of arrow-shaped magical bolts appear in between the two girls, almost immediately sending the two lightning 'arrows' flying towards Fate. This was mainly a delaying tactic though, she half-expected Fate to evade the two arrows. Meanwhile, she was moving suddenly. She begins to take several quick steps back, circling to the right. Right now, she was treating it somewhat like a kendo match. Not using her speed, but instead the fact that she had -- in her mind -- a superior weapon with better reach.

"Bardiche is meant for more than just melee combat," Fate explains. "When it was first designed, it was for a different purpose. Mother didn't think that I'd be fighting other mages, or magical girls as you call them here."

Fate is slightly off-balanced by Suzuki's sudden movements, but she wasn't commiting heavily to any particular movement. She couldn't afford to, against someone who could use her own momentum against her, or at least that's what she was learning from the first strike.

When the arrows come out, Bardiche autocasts. <Defensor> The yellow magical bubble surrounds Fate, and the two arrows smash into the shield. Fate's eyes track Suzuki as she circles to the side. Nice footwork.

"Besides, this isn't a normal scythe. The energy blade changes a couple of things. For one..."

The bubble drops, and Fate lunges forward, thrusting Bardiche to hit Suzuki with the top of the scythe. "... every edge is always live, and for another..."

Regardless of whether the first hit landed, Fate pulls away from Suzuki and then steps to her left, swinging Bardiche behind Fate's back, before bringing it low and swinging it upward at Suzuki, at an angle that would stab Suzuki if she doesn't avoid it. "... stabbing won't cause your weapon to stick."

"You're good, but if only you think in terms of conventional weapons, you aren't using your device to its full potential."

     "I noticed that bit. My device seems to be far more melee-oriented; and closer to a conventional weapon." Storm Knight responds, both hands resting on the haft of her device. A bubble-type defense against the more focused attacks of her 'Schlag'? Interesting. It seemed to work though, as the arrows had been stopped. Fate had also recovered rather quickly from the overbalancing movement. Very interesting. The girl seemed to be well-trained, though in what was likely a different fighting style.

     "I didn't notice the fact it wasn't designed to fight against other mages though." Storm Knight adds. The mention of the blade not being normal, and that sudden lunge caused Storm Knight to use her speed in a quick dash to the side, just fast enough that the tip of the scythe grazed/cut her side instead, causing a small wince. "Noted. I'd assumed as much. Good to have it confirmed." She murmurs. and then... that movement. The blade turned, stabbing upwards in an upward slice. Suzuki stepped back, her blade coming down in a downward arc to attempt to knock the upward-swinging blade off to the side, and avoid taking a second strike to her main body; instead allowing to to graze against her shoulder and upper arm. "Hmm. I'm getting the feeling this training is going to be more useful for me than for you..." She takes a deep breath, before she begins to spin her Device, spinning it around as if it were a fan. "...So I won't hide my abilities as I'd intended."

                <SCHWALL.>

     Suddenly, the center of her Device sent out a spinning whirlwind towards Fate, attempting to knock Fate to the ground. Storm Knight then lifts her Device, the bottom edge of the head pulling down, briefly revealing the shape and form of her Cartridge. "Verdrehen Sturm."

                <EXPLOSION.>
                "STURM BLITZ!"
                <STURM BLITZ.>

    The base of the device's head pushes up, the mechanical 'ka-chunk' of the Cartridge loading, and then... an explosion of energy, extremely large and designed for assaulting forts and castles. Lightning consumes Storm Knight, and the tip of her blade extends, creating a plasma blade of its own.

     Honestly, it's not the most impressive of spells normally; it's just comparatively Storm Knight's strongest simply due to the fact that she's such an unskilled mage. She moves forward, stabbing several times towards Fate, attempting to pierce her barrier jacket in several places, with relatively shallow stabs. These were largely fast attacks, almost feints... to hide the final attack. A final, diagonal slash along Fate's body, aiming to cut from her right shoulder to her left hip. It also seemed that Storm Knight didn't care much if Fate was on the ground or not.

    Helix continues watching the pair as the fight, her smile widening as more magic than simple strike enhancements begins to be used. "This is fun! They're both really good at close combat. Suzuki seems a bit more skilled melee, but I think Fate outmatches her by a whole lot when it comes to spellcasting."

    <Yes, Master. Even I can not predict who will come out on top if this battle remains at melee range. They are both very skilled and practiced in their areas of expertise. You have a lot of catching up to do.>

    "What! I don't think I'm that far behind. Okay then, Ms. Smartyshields, what would -my- odds be of defeating either of them in close combat?"

    <Without my assistance, Master?>

    "Yeah, sure!"

    <I would estimate your chances of victory at around twenty percent, Master.>

    "...rude." The girl lets out a sigh, "Okay then, with your help."

    <Close enough to even. Of course I would advise you to do more than fight at near range.>

    "And what if I did everything you told me to and let you go nuts on one of them?"

    <Victory would be certain, Master. Do you even need to ask?>

    "Oho! Really now? You went from doubting to cocky really fast! How would we be so sure to win?"

    <Simple, Master. We would wait for an opening and attack with lethal force when it wasn't expected.>

    "..."

    <I would kill for you, Master.>

    "Aww~. I love you too, Bulwark."

"Maybe you will get more out of it," says Fate, "but It's rare that I get to fight someone like you. I can't really say I've mastered my weapon unless I can handle someone who might have an advantage over me. Besides, I think I'm starting to understand you a bit better now."

What does Fate mean by that? Maybe she's been feeling out Suzuki this whole time, just as Suzuki has her. Whatever she means, she at least seems satisfied. The long-term strategic concerns of this training either escape her, or she just doesn't care about them.

"So you have been hiding something. Alright, let's see it."

Fate might not get much of a chance to see it, as the whirlwind comes at her. It forces her to fly upwards, to avoid getting slammed against the ground, but due to the whirlwind 'upwards' seems to be diagonally up, off to the side, and upside down.

Fate barely has anytime to reorient herself before a cartridge is loaded, and that energy explodes outwards. The force of the blast knocks Fate back even further, her Barrier Jacket getting more and more torn up by this point. In the moment Fate has to watch the plasma blade form, Bardiche fires two energy spheres, one circling around Suzuki to the left and the other to the right. <Photon Lancer>

Casting that spell in this mode is less efficient, which is why she can only make two projectiles, but Arc Saber wouldn't get the job done here.

Suzuki lunges at Fate with a series of strikes. Fate starts to sweat it. Each shallow stab or feint is redirected by the edge of Bardiche's scythe or ducked by Fate turning sideways or flying to the side.

Fate has to be careful here, as a wrong move against a cartridge powered blade could end up getting Bardiche damaged. It may only be a simulation of Bardiche, but letting it get cut in half would still put an end to this fight.

Still, Fate parries and dodges, stalling for the moment when her attack comes in. Suzuki's final strike, the diagonal slash, lands. Fate had no real choice in the matter. Trying to parry it with Bardiche would be the same as giving up her weapon. Unfortunately her Barrier Jacket, which was already suffering, gets a massive cut in the middle of it.

Fate is launched upwards and backwards from the strike, clutching her chest and looking down at Suzuki while she tries to catch her breath.

Yet, at the same moment Suzuki's strike lands, the two homing Photon Lancer orbs catch up and try to strike her from behind.

"Not bad. As long as you have that, you've got the advantage at short range." Fate's own device doesn't have a cartridge system, after all. "I don't think you'd do well at longer ranges against a Midchildan Mage, though. Not unless your casting gets more efficient. Unless there's something else you aren't showing me?"

Between all the strikes she's recieved, Fate is actually a significant distance in the air. She wont not be easy to hit with a melee strike from the ground.

For the moment, at least, Fate seems content to try to catch her breath.

     "...You never truly master your weapon, there's always more space to grow and learn." Suzuki responds to that comment of Fate's learning! Really it was a very mature thing for a 14 year old to say, possibly a parrotting of something her parents have said in the past. She was a bit focused during that attack though, which resulted in ... well, she wasn't really prepared for Photon Lancer, the two shots striking her dead on. This caused her to stagger back -- which was both because of the photon lancer, but also because of the use of her Cartridge System. A lot of energy, but the shock of the energy was hard on her body -- and the simulation simulated that far more than Suzuki would like.

     Fate is up, high in the air. She watches her quietly for several moments as she thinks on that, listening to her as she spoke. She simply stood there, catching her own breath at the same time as Fate. It was several moments before she responds, "No, you're right. There's very little that I can do against someone at range." She shifts her Device up, aiming the tip towards Fate. "...I can do something about those in the air though."

                <ABSTEIG.>

    A magical circle began to form suddenly behind Fate. A sudden burst of energy attempted to burst her down towards the ground. She shifts her device thoughtfully. Could she do a binding spell as well? Hmm. She would have to experiment with that later. Could she /fly/? She shifts slightly, looking towards her Device inquisitively. However, regardless... for now, she'd have to work with what she's known and figured out.

Suzuki can do something against someone in the air? What does that mean? As Fate ponders this, Bardiche pings a warning. She doesn't have time to look behind her, darting forward with a burst of speed. The edge of the burst catches Fate, knocking her downward into the ground.

Yet, she lands on her feet, bends her knees to absorb some of the shock, and then jumps straight backwards.

"Not bad. From here we could keep trying that. I could pelt you with spells from afar, and you could try to knock me into the ground. If we kept at it long enough we'd probably have a clear winner..."

"... but I don't think that's very interesting, and I don't think either one of us would have much to learn from it."

Bardiche vanishes, and becomes a yellow icon on Fate's hand. Her barrier jacket, or at least the simulation of it fades away to reveal normal clothes.

"I expect you'll continue to improve your skills? I will, too. I look forward to our next meeting."

Bardiche pings Bulwark, signaling that it's time to end the simulation.

    Whether or not Suzuki is sad that the fight is ending before a clear winner is decided, Helix sure is. The girl pouts a little, but obediently closes her eyes and waits for reality to reassert itself. Bulwark will cooperate with Bardiche and allow a smooth transition out of Visual Mode, though technically speaking Bardiche could have ended it even without Bulwark- it'd merely be a bit more jarring.

    As reality fades back in several things are clear. The first is that any physical harm simply doesn't exist. The same is true of magical harm- including Suzuki's use of the virtual Cartridge. Likewise physical and magical fatigue that would normally be caused by the fighting isn't there- Linker Cores are still just as close to full charge as they were previously.

    Any mental fatigue, however, is still very much around. Luckily Helix wasn't taxing herself too much, other than observing, so she picks herself up off the ground(yes she had simply fallen over when Visual Mode began) and gives a stretch. "I was hoping you'd keep fighting, but that was pretty fun! Visual Mode is pretty amazing. I hope you enjoyed it too, Suzuki-chan."

    She tilts her head a little, "I'm not sure of an Ancient Belkan Device is capable of it though. You'd probably have to ask Verdrehen Sturm."

    Speaking of, with the exercise complete the mental link between Suzuki and her Device is gone as well, Bulwark having severed the datalink seamlessly with the end of Visual Mode.

     Tch. She'd have to work on the casting time of Absteig; it still took too long to cast -- she wasn't used to it just yet, and Fate had gotten out of the way of it too easily. She began to muse on how she could use it better in the future. Possibly a series to corral the target to the ground? If she used a Cartridge with it, she could possibly have enough energy to create a 'cannon' of them by making a difficult-to-escape ring... that might be harder to escape. But she already used more catridges than was ideal.

     Still, Fate had recovered easily. As Fate leapt back, Suzuki dashed forward towards melee range; though she stopped when Fate didn't seem intent on a followup. "...It wouldn't be, no. And while I could continue shooting Schlag arrows at you, your bombardment spells seem superior. It'd be a losing battle. Mm. If I learn to fly, I could probably even things out well enough, due to my speed." She says, lowering her Device as Fate speaks. "Of course. ... Someone said they would help teach me how to actually manage my own mana, instead of Verdrehen Sturm managing all of it at present." Suzu murmurs. Yep. She wasn't even casting her own spells. Which was likely why she called out to Verdrehen Sturm before every attack -- and why their casting times were possibly longer than they should be.

     Suzuki shifts slightly as she opens her eyes, looking up towards Helix. "There was a clear victor. It may not have been obvious to an observer; but I was out of mana." Suzuki says, slowly beginning to push herself up to her feet again. "Or at least, out of any useful amount of mana for use without passing out or even being able to run." Suzuki murmurs. She'd had to use a lot of mana to keep up with Fate's speed.

     "I'm fairly certain that I'm only touching the very tip of the iceberg of Verdrehen Sturm's capabilities, even from what little I've seen of Testarossa-san's abilities." Suzuki murmurs, her eyes half lidding. "...Regardless, it's rather late, so you two should likely get rest. I'm sure you have work to handle tomorrow."

Fate may be running with a villainous crowd, but some part of her is still just too gentle to finish off an opponent 'just because she could'. It would give her no satisfaction whatsoever to see Suzuki fall. It's just not her way.

Fate listens as Suzuki says she doesn't even know how to manage her own mana. "I thought it was odd that you weren't casting any spells." Fate considers. She /could/ teach Suzuki such a thing... but... no. No, she can't teach an enemy something like that. Suzuki may have learned a few things already, but actually taking it so far as to teach her how to use magic would probably be crossing a line.

"If you get the chance, it would be to your benefit to learn it. Your device can only do so much for you. It's better if you use your device to compliment your abilities, rather than make up for a lack of them."

Fate glances up and down the hall she's standing in, and the various cells lining it. Fate might start to take a liking to Suzuki, but they're seperated by more than just bars. She frowns at the thought of that.

"I learned a lot about you today, and I think our superiors got the data they wanted." Fate looks up to Suzuki to see her eyelids getting heavier. Fate still has a bit of adrenaline running through her, but... she could probably use the sleep, too.

"Thanks for your time."

Fate said that despite the fact that Suzuki is very much a captive audience. Fate turns to leave, and starts walking off. Sleep does sound like a good idea about now.

    Helix considers the two for a moment, "I suppose you're probably right; especially if you were running out of mana. If it took that much out of you you really should learn to cast on your own; there's a lot of benefits to it over relying on your Device." She won't knock the fact the device can cast attack spells on it's own at all, though- she thinks that's awesome! It's just... better as a supplement than a mainstay.

    "I can't help you with that myself, especially not right now, but I hope that person does teach you." The girl offers cheerfully.

    She notices Fate gazing up and down the hall and offers a bright smile to her, and then shines it on Suzuki. She steps forward to the bars of Suzuki's cell, ending right next to them with a little drop onto her heels. "Suzuki-chan! I know we met under bad circumstances and that our paths may cross in ways that set us against each other. But despite all that... I hope we can still be friends!"

    In truth Helix has some pretty uncommon feelings when it comes to how to treat her enemies and rivals. Right now she isn't even considering Suzuki either of those- she's just someone she got to meet in a particularly unkind manner.

    "Hehe!" After a moment of smiling at the older girl she'll step away, waving as she goes, "I hope the next time we meet can be under better circumstances!"

    Then she'll jog a bit to try and catch up to Fate, attempting to grab one of her hands while walking backwards just a bit faster to try and tug her along, "You're an amazing fighter, Fate-chan..!"