Breathing out, Tanya pushes away the aches and twinges from her last fight and, with total focus, locks eyes with Torchic on the opposite side of a small crowd of onlookers. The chicken glares back, favoring his left leg slightly from their last bout. Then gives an increasingly impressive growl as he kneels down into a runner's launch. A few hushed conversations on the periphery go silent at the sound. There's a moment of total stillness. Before he leaps across the space between them! Sending a scratch for Tanya to deflect then follow with a strike from the opposite limb. But the attack hits nothing but air as the chicken uses his stubby wings to raise himself just enough to avoid the blow, sending another slash with the opposite leg. Seeing no other option with her low maneuverability Tanya steps into the strike, going for a grapple as her opponent descends, enduring a peck that's then used as leverage to pull himself around her outstretched limbs. Catching herself as she stumbles, the former soldier turns to face her opponent as he lands, then, using the momentum hops backwards, spinning around midair. Closing his eyes Torchic takes in a deep breath, filling his lungs as he seems to almost glow from the inside with invisible color. Knowing what's about to happen Tanya pivots and rushes towards him to disrupt the incoming attack. But before she can even cross even half the distance his eyes snap open, tinged with flickering orange, and exhales a shower of sparks. Lifting an arm to protect her eyes, she barrels through the dots, brushing off minor discomfort as the embers crackle and spark as they land. Lowering her arm she immediately transitions to block a kick she knows is going to follow, then counters. Rushing into close range where she can finally press her momentum advantage and gets out two blows before Torchic manages to recover. From there the battle is decided and they both know it, but her opponent's not making it easy. She pushes through every attempt to make space in a single wave of unrelenting assaults, until she finally forces him to commit. In a final desperate move, he throws out a wing in a transparent attempt to hide a followup attack. Batting aside the feathered limb, she lands a clean hit below the joint. As her opponent stumbles, Tanya capitalizes and pulls him to the ground, raising an arm to strike. But instead of following through with the attack, they both freeze as he hits the ground, breathing heavily. After another moment Torchic goes limp as it's clear the fight's over, giving an irritated groan. Seeing this, Tanya lowers her arm and takes a step back, rubbing at the new soot spots with a wince. Suddenly remembering others are watching, she schools her expression to hide her discomfort and project strength. In the two weeks since she'd first met Torchic, he's continued to proclaim his increasingly deluded philosophy, despite all evidence. Considering he's not won even once. Therefore, to save his pride, he continues to attack her every time they meet, –no matter how many times he loses– shouting the same disproven rhetoric of her species being weak and soft, before challenging her to prove him wrong. Continuing to brush off soot as Torchic stands up, Tanya glances at Caretaker who's standing a few feet away and watching the scene with intense focus. After the first fight she'd expected to be disciplined, and –to a point– they were. After they'd been healed, they were both told quite sternly not to fight to unconsciousness, then separated for the rest of that day. However, it appears they were being that precise for a reason. Because when they'd met and fought in the yard a few days later, there was no reaction stronger than some healing magic when they were headed back inside for the day. Caretaker also fussed with her a bit more than usual when they got back to the nursery. But that's just Caretaker. Tanya's not sure how to feel about it. At first she'd assumed it was just out of practical necessity, considering the number of fights she's seen break out every time they go to the yard and the finite number of chansey. But as time's gone on she realized, aside from her species, everyone else is planning on teaming up with a trainer and becoming a 'battler.' A career she's come to understand is some sort of… bloodsport rugby? Admittedly she's not really looked into it, but from what she's heard from the others in the yard, the general idea is to join a team of up to six others, then rotate between a few different arenas around the country, fighting other teams. First to beat everyone on the opposite side into unconsciousness wins. The way they talk about it reminds Tanya a lot of how the more… aristocratic of her classmates at the Academy talked about Mensur. With that frame of reference, she's come to assume the lax attitude toward fighting is just another cultural thing. Honestly, it's no surprise creatures with inborn healing magic are necessary if that's the kind of society she's found herself in. It's so important to her compatriots that the quickest way to start a fight is to suggest they'd be doing anything else when they leave this place. Standing, the chicken shakes his head and transitions the movement all the way down his body, fluffing his feathers before locking his eyes with hers. "Again." He growls, taking his stance once more. Tanya sighs internally as she raises her guard, but before the fight can begin they're interrupted by a voice from the crowd. "Hey! No fair!" Shouts an irritated treecko, "You got to fight her five times already!" The chicken's ire immediately transitions to the creature. "You got a problem with that greenie?" He asks aggressively as the treecko steps into the impromptu arena. Watching as the argument quickly approaches blows, Tanya looks on with a soldier's eye as Torchic blinds the treecko with a flash of his wing before ducking the opening punch. Tanya gets to go to the yard three times a week for about two hours, usually over half that time is spent fighting this stubborn chicken. And the gap between them is closing. She analyzes her opponent as he beats aside the treecko's kick with a wing and transitions into a peck. She'd noticed the trend at the beginning of this week, how quickly he was catching up. Therefore her training regime was updated, expanded to include basic combat skills like how to throw a punch and block, effective grapples, and learn to maneuver quickly with such short legs. But he's been learning too, and what was once easy repeated victories has become increasingly difficult, culminating this morning where they were almost evenly matched. Only an ever smaller bag of tricks carried over from her time in the Army has allowed Tanya to keep a perfect winning record, and the inborn fire spell he showed today is already running the risk of tipping that balance. Turning her attention back to the fight, the treecko's performance started off poor and only went downhill from there, the chicken systematically dismantling his opponent with claw and beak, finishing the beatdown with a shower of tiny embers that sent the treecko to the ground with a cry. Victorious, the bird puffs himself up and looks around to the crowd, before shouting out a declaration like the edict of a king. "I'm the only one allowed to fight Happiny!" He looks around, scanning for dissenters. "Anyone who wants to try has to go through me first!" At this the treecko stands up with a glare, eyes slightly misty as he holds Torchic's gaze before turning and running off towards Caretaker who had already noticed and was heading over. Facing back towards Tanya, he opens his beak to speak again. But before he gets the chance, across the yard, Nurse Zoe gives a piercing whistle from the covered patio the human's usually stay under. Meaning it's time to go in. Torchic stares at her for a second longer, before he clicks his beak in agitation. "This isn't over." He says, literally spitting sparks before he turns and starts walking towards a chansey waving a big cardboard sign with a torchic printed on it. Sighing, Tanya agrees internally as she turns and picks up the pace a bit to catch up with Caretaker, walking alongside her as they make their way to where Matron is holding her own sign. At the rate Torchic is growing she'll need another ace in the hole to keep up, as absurd as that sounds. Thankfully she thinks she's got one. From what she can tell this world's magic isn't the same as the kind she'd known in Germania, though its utility seems equally endless, if not more so. Ever since she first realized magic existed in this world she'd tried intermittently to access it for herself, but with her opponent learning a spell first it shot up her priority list. Even the most basic of healing spells would be invaluable in keeping ahead. Not just for basic surface injuries from Torchic's constant assaults, but also for muscle soreness from training. One never considers how useful healing spells can be in combat. Tanya blinks, scanning over that thought. It'll also be useful to get a headstart for when she starts training to become a nurse. But for now the caretakers refuse to teach the spell, deflecting her requests to when she's 'older.' A logical decision considering what they know about her, her sisters wouldn't have the patience for serious study yet. …Batchmates. She'd meant batchmates. Scrunching her eyes, Tanya shakes her head. Regardless, she's more than capable of the diligence and patience required to learn the spell. It just means she'll have to figure it out herself. Seeing her charge pull up by her side, Caretaker idly rests a limb on Tanya's head, evoking an involuntary chirrup as the pulse of a healing spell removes every ache and scrape. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Unfortunately, the 'access magic' plan isn't new. Ever since she first realized magic existed in this world she'd tried intermittently to utilize it, with little luck. She'd actually had a similar issue back in Germania when she was first learning, it took days before she could consistently access her mana, and even longer before she could pull it at a steady rate. So, calling upon experiences from her past life, Tanya tries to hold on to that strange sensation of Caretaker's mana flowing though her, to find a place where it resonates. As they form back up into the hallway line, Caretaker removes her arm from Tanya's head and she has to dismiss an abnormally large wave of disappointment at the strange, insubstantial sensation of this world's magic leaving with it. A kind of warmth that pervades her entire being, yet defies identification or analysis. Forcing her body to straighten and stop pulling towards the retreating arm, she keeps her eyes front as Caretaker takes her spot bracketing the line. Redirecting her attention inward she follows the batchmate in front of her while she once more tries to find her magic. She doesn't have much luck. Every time Tanya feels she's getting closer, her concentration slips its iron grip and drifts toward Caretaker. Which, as frustrating as that is, it makes a certain amount of sense. She's been invaluable in Tanya's effort to understand her new place in the world and her future career in nursing. Always, whether it's healing from Torchic's attacks or any question under the sun, she's there with a happy smile and endless patience. Also a wealth of knowledge in economics! Despite the slightly rocky start Caretaker had come back the next day and, over the next week, explained the slightly… unintuitive system on how she gets paid. Essentially she's entitled to equal legal right to both her and her partner's income, so they get paid with the same paycheck. But, in a complicated series of laws and court cases that had Tanya confused, the human has total discretion right up until they disagree, then disagreements are handled by an even more complicated system that Tanya's still trying to get her head around. In all honesty it seems almost abnormally weighted for her end, so much so that she'd almost be suspicious if anyone but Caretaker told her. As Tanya considers how this new wealth of fascinating knowledge has been pushing her in ways she's not dealt with since college, the fading feeling of magic suddenly surges back to life. It's return evoking a blink and Tanya turning her attention inward once more. Heading down the hallways, she continues to press into herself and the feeling again disappears like a morning fog under her analytical self assessments. Eventually she completely chases the feeling away as Nurse Zoe opens the door, beckons them in, then closes it behind them without entering. Stepping away as the line dissolves, Tanya watches her… batchmates head off in every direction. The door of the playpen is permanently open nowadays, giving total access to the room except for overnight and naptime, allowing Tanya some privacy. They've been getting bigger, so the space was on the verge of beginning to feel cramped. Normally, when the feeling of magic fades completely from her awareness, Tanya would have moved on to more productive pursuits. But with Torchic's advancements and a few rather vague statements from Caretaker about 'finding her own partner someday' makes Tanya suspect learning magic has become more important. Sitting down in a low traffic area, partially obscured by a cardboard box of miscellaneous junk, Tanya breathes and closes her eyes, pulling on the first tricks she'd been taught at the Academy to find her magic. Unfortunately, back then she hadn't had much trouble finding her mana, so she'd skipped over this stumbling block for the most part. Well, she's paying for it now. Honestly, this entire situation reminds her of the Academy days. At the thought, Tanya reflexively calls on a training formula to her mind and tries to feed into a phantom orb. Realizing how ridiculous that is, she snorts at the behavior and dismisses the equation from her thoughts. But, as moments turn to minutes of fruitless searching, she's distracted by the sound of one of her sisters crying out in pain! Head snapping up, Tanya immediately reaches for her core as she scans the sky for- She blinks, looking down from the grey speckled drop ceiling and towards the scene below. The story quickly pieces itself together. One of her siblings, still a bit high energy from her time outside, tried to climb up a pillow mountain from some game yesterday and fell off, upsetting herself. With an analyzing gaze, Tanya confirms she's uninjured as a caretaker –wearing a mauve nurse's cap– walks over and kneels down to comfort the wailing Happiny. After a moment, she starts humming a soothing song and sending out green motes of healing light. But as Tanya watches from across the room with a careful eye on her own senses, she notices something… odd. That same warm sensation of magic rises within her again, but scanning more carefully she realizes that the healing spell isn't the only piece of spellwork, the peasant song the caretaker's humming is also… more somehow. The sensation coming from nowhere within her mind, but somewhere else. Somewhere without a place. Mind sharpening to razor focus, Tanya closes her eyes and sits back down, trying to hold onto the feeling and isolate it. Taking a deep breath and crushing the smallest bit of hesitation, she calls on one of the first things they taught at the Academy; and falls into herself. Dropping down into the dark as the world falls away. Official source ıs N()velFire.net In that dark place, alone, Tanya sits isolated from anything aside from the senses within her 'soul,' searching for the source of that sensation with ever greater rigor. Yet still, she still finds nothing. Unfortunate, and unsurprising, this isn't the first time she's gotten to this point. But every time she gets this far she finds herself getting- Her instructors are shouting, they've been shouting for hours, they rotate so they never have to sto- Her body makes a strange, unfamiliar, noise. A kind of keening cry. Tanya takes a deep breath and shakes her head to clear away irrelevant memories. That training saved her life more times than she could count. Hardening her expression, she pushes deeper as the magic slips further away. And now it'll help her again. She prods empty space, searching for a source of a fading feeling, and the mana she knows she ha- Vision blurring from lack of sleep, Tanya stares into the middle distance as the core clicks and whirs in her hand, iterating equation after equation into the brass to hover a few inches off the ground and not allowing her mana flow to slip for even a second. "There's movement on map square F36. What's the effect of the barrage on square G33?" The soldier responds without thought. "Good effect. Enemy unit is broken and in a rout, due east." The artillery cannon next to her fires, the still burning powder glittering in the night as it exits the barrel too quickly, without a projectile to push. For a moment she can hear nothing but the ringing of silver bells. "...ffect on map square E19?" The soldier responds without thought. "I have seen no barrage on square E19." He leans down to her ear and shouts. "Repeat last! Barrage effect on mapsquare E19!" Iterate force equations. Maintain mana flow. "-barrage on square E19." She continues. Another cannon fires a blank shot, more distant, she can hear one of her classmates collapse to the ground as his nerve breaks. "Where have you seen movement? Barrage effect on map square G33?" The drill marshal shouts as he draws his service revolv- Someone slams against her! Limbs grasping, restraining her movement– scrambling to take her mage orb they tumble through the air, as the enemy drags herdow-! Imbued with a shadow of that strange, impossible magic. Tanya's mind quiets, visions of the past fade. And, if only for an instant, her entire world shrinks to just this moment. Opening her eyes, Tanya sees her sister wrapping her in a hug, singing the same calming tune. The moment lasts less than a second and drags out for decades, but afterwards, her sibling opens her eyes and reaches up to pat Tanya on the head. "It's OK." She says with another pat. The former soldier gives a tired huff that's meant to be a laugh. The girl is trying to mimic a caretaker's tone of voice. She's not doing a very good job. "You startled me." Tanya says, voice level. Happiny tilts her head. But as she opens her mouth to respond Tanya's mind catches up with reality. "How'd you do that?" She asks incredulously, pointing at her sibling's mouth. Happiny crosses her eyes to see what Tanya's pointing at, then touches her own mouth to double check. "The song?" She asks. "The magic." Tanya insists. She blinks at the phrase, but continues regardless. "Chansey taught me." Happiny says, Inflection indicating the caretaker with the green cross on her hat. After another moment she seems to notice Tanya staring at her with undivided focus. "Want me to teach you?"