The official SOLDIER training room was not what Pearl had expected. Bare metal walls, admittedly with several significant dents in them, including one almost four inches deep and eight wide that had left knuckle prints in a reinforced steel wall. Given that, maybe it was unsurprising that there was no furniture present, but still, no training dummies or targets, nothing, for the most elite fighting force Shinra had? Sure, she'd been given goggles, which was nice, but surely Shinra could've sprung for something a little more elaborate. All in all, the place was rather unimpressive.

Den hadn't wasted time. He'd given her a little while to get settled into her dorm, but it wasn't long before she was standing across from him on the training floor with a bared sword. It had been some time since she'd last held one.

"Can't this wait? I'm still a little sore from the infusions and my eyes won't stop watering."

He looked at her. "Pearl, that's not the infusions. That pain never goes away. It's a part of you now."

"What?"

"Enhanced nerve sensitivity comes with more pain sensitivity too. Hits you take will hurt you more than the same strike would a human, even though they will damage you less. Once your senses get sharp enough, you end up with near constant low level pain."

" Shinra'S elite super SOLDIERs don't even have pain immunity? Don't see that on the posters."

"No. But pain is a very important part of combat. Was a Cetran Queen once who made her elite guards immune to pain through sorcery. You might've heard the legend. Malackai was the name."

"Don't think so."

"She sent em to raid a neighbouring tribe, one small enough to be a challenge without being stupidly dangerous. The clan territory's boundary was across a river. Only the other tribe had laid caltrops underwater –you know what they are?"

"Ninja stars that you toss on the ground and wait for them to be stepped on."

"Right. Now, this was in the days before mandatory steel soled military boots… You see where I'm going with this, right?"

"I think so," Pearl said, wincing.

"Good. To be fair to Mal, she was really unlucky in that for a raid like this, she needed to move fast, so maybe they weren't as inclined to scout as they might have been. And with special forces, there's always a pressure not to be less badass than the rest of the squad, so you don't whine unless there's a serious problem. So even if her commandoes noticed all the holes in their feet, as far as they knew, it wouldn't impede their combat efficiency, so they could deal with it on the way home. What do you think happened next?"

"Infections."

Den smiled. "Correct, SOLDIER. They hit one grazing ground of the neighbouring tribe, but all of a sudden Mal's elite Cetran warriors started dropping dead from infected wounds that they had either not noticed or dismissed as unimportant. The raiding party shamans had to exhaust themselves healing said infections, so they weren't at peak combat readiness when the victim tribe countered with cavalry pursuits. So, what happened?"

"Killed to the last man?"

"No, actually. That's why I think this might actually have happened, history tends to be a little messier than legend. Sepsis or not, these raiders were still pain immune elites, and the other tribe was small. But they left a trail of corpses back to the ford, and one burned grazing ground isn't worth hundreds dead. Her super loyal elites suddenly became a lot less loyal thanks to that one bad judgement call, and her heirs were able to use the whole debacle to depose her. Moral of the story, Pearl?"

"Um… pain is good?"

'SOLDIER -the masochist squad' That, she certainly hadn't seen on a poster.

"I wouldn't go that far," – Pearl mentally sighed in relief as Den continued- "but it is important. One- off disposable shock troops can get by with pain immunity, but it's not viable for long term personnel. I hate the Science guys, but they're good at what they do. If you're in near constant pain, you almost do get a certain level of immunity. When you do get stabbed or shot, you're able to take significant pain without passing out. You don't not notice your severed arm, you think, 'ok, that's a problem, but I've got bigger concerns right now.' I hate it, but it works. And on that note, Pearl, hit me if you can."

"What?"

"Traditionally, new recruits earn the right to one session of full contact sparring with their instructor. I prefer to get it out of the way at the beginning, so I can train you without worrying about surprise attacks. Relax, I'm not going to kill you."

Pearl didn't move. "Y'know, they stopped doing this in the army. Too many overconfident instructors got themselves run through or shot."

Den smiled. "Yeah, well, it's harder to accidentally kill a SOLDIER, less you accidentally call in an air strike. So the key thing to remember is 'don't try to kill me'. Honestly, though, I've been in SOLDIER eight years. If you can hit me, I deserve it. You did train with swords, right?"

"A bit." She lunged. Den twisted his wrist, and the swords clashed with a clang. He hadn't put weight behind it, but she felt the vibrations down to her ankles, and almost fell.

Pearl blinked."You know, I was always taught that edge on edge blocks were a bad idea. Damaged the blade."

"True… but 'chipped sword' is a better outcome than 'severed arm'. If you ever get into a high grade combat situation, there will be attacks that you won't be quick enough to dodge. If you've got a sword you can't afford to break, use a different one. We have a higher sword budget than the infantry. What else you got?"

Pearl twisted away and thrust low. He stepped past the point and delivered a light kick to her front knee. Her leg didn't fold, and she managed to hold the stance with eyes watering from the pain. Den back off five steps and waited.

"Still on your feet, that's good. But remember, you are not a sword. You're a SOLDIER with a sword. You have other means of attack. Stay flexible."

This time he was the first to attack. She ducked the first slash, and tried to punch with her off hand, but almost screamed when her knuckles met the flat of his sword. Yelping, she shook out her hand, as Den took another step back.

"Good idea, but very risky. Use your limbs, but don't forget, I have a sword too."

Okay, it doesn't look like I can beat him straight up. Time to be creative.

Once she could feel her hand again, she waved him on and leapt back, trying to keep her distance, parrying and countering slightly more slowly than she could. Den switched styles, moving to sheer aggression from blocks and counterattacks. Pearl did her best to keep her distance, ducking and dodging as best she could.

A flurry of strikes kept her on the retreat until her back hit the wall, and she found a sword at her throat.

"You're underplaying. Stop it."

"What?"

"Terry, load Hall of Mirrors."

What?

The world dissolved. She jerked forward into her stance, sword rising, and waited for things to make sense. When she could see again, Dennis was gone, and she was standing in something resembling the inside of a discoball or a hollow gemstone, every facet gleaming with a perfect reflection. Den was gone, although his voice echoed from somewhere in front of her.

"Some people access controls with their phones, but I prefer to have someone I trust in the control room. You don't always have time to take out your phone when you get in trouble."

"Wha- What just happened?"

"An actual real training room for SOLDIER would be destroyed in a week. We …tend to play rough. This… is kind of an illusion, and kind of not, I don't have a clue how it works, but injuries you take here are real, and you can go all out without fear of breaking stuff. Unless you cast a bunch of fire spells, because this is still a confined space, even though it doesn't look like one, so if you burn away all the air in here before the system can replace it… Anyway, take some time to get used to the place. Let me know when you're ready."

Shinra can do this? Some people could cast illusions, but she'd never seen anything this convincing. Reflections were one of the most difficult things to capture accurately. This seemed to be an insanely powerful piece of engineering to waste on pretty backgrounds for a sparring room.

When Pearl turned, a thousand reflections turned with her. Den stayed quiet.

"How do I get out of here?"

"Soon. But for now, why did I pick this setting?"

"There's more than one?"

"Oh, you'll see. It's really something, even if you're used to it."

"Where are you?"

"Not far. Hide and seek comes later, for now, I'm just trying not to overwhelm you. If you could see me, the mingled reflections would give you a headache."

Pearl knelt, examining the ground which was shining her own face back at her. It wasn't glass, but didn't seem as indestructible as diamond. On impulse, she punched the ground, watching her face splinter as another dull ache sped up her forearm.

"Why am I here?"

"I was too lazy to go get a mirror. What do you notice about your reflection?"

She looked at herself in one of the nearest undamaged facets. She didn't notice anything unusual. 'too lazy to get a mirror' implied that it was the reflection that was important, not the environment but she just looked like her. Military bearing, shortish brown hair, gleaming eyes…

"If you're trying to draw my attention to my Mako eyes, I already know about them."

"Huh. That was quick. Maybe you do, but do you understand them? Underplaying is normally a valid tactic, but not with those eyes. Not every random citizen recognises them, but anyone fighting Shinra figures out real fast that they're bad news. No one, nowhere, is going to underestimate you as a threat as long as you have those eyes, unless you're fighting a 1st. And even he's not likely to dismiss you, we've all had scares. The most serious wound I took in Wutai was inflicted by a ninety three year old grandmother I assumed wasn't a threat."

"How did you know she was a grandmother?"

"I'd just killed her son and granddaughters." No change in tone.

Pearl said nothing.

"They were ninjas! What did you think you were joining, SOLDIER? Are you a five year vet with clean hands?"

"…no," said Pearl, after a moment.

"Alright."

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing! It was wartime, there was no point in holding a grudge. Besides, I was busy trying to re-inflate my lung at the time." A reflection burst inwards in front of her, and Den stepped out.

"Terry, neutral."

The room reverted to its normal state, and Den raised his sword.

"Alright, lesson learned. Now, are you going to attack or not? I can't assess your abilities if you don't go all out."

She lunged. Den switched styles again, using stop thrusts and cross counters every time she attacked, ( the flat of his blade, but enough to sting). When she figured out the pattern, he switched again, using the blade for defence, but attacking with open handed palm strikes–while fists hurt the victim more, open hand strikes were less likely to damage the attacker. So, for all his experience, he was not entirely immune to pain. Interesting. She'd always had a flair for hand to hand combat, and it wasn't long before he switched again, a footsweep sending her stumbling backwards to give him time to leap back. And continue to flee from her, bouncing off the walls and ceiling with hands and feet and head, turning cartwheels and flips and somersaults for what seemed like pure dramatic effect. After a while, Pearl couldn't help but get into the spirit of it, turning a cartwheel or three for the first time since she was about five, but she couldn't catch him, and eventually stopped trying. Whereupon, Dennis came right at her, switching styles for something that should have been ludicrous, all high kicks and spinning. But somehow, he was fast enough to land several hard hits to her ribs with the flat of his sword, do a handstand, and then kick her in the jaw while upside down. The strike knocked her back four paces, enough space to glimpse the next oncoming spinning kick and catch the boot, grabbing and swinging–

The fireball hit her chest. Her body armour took the hit, but the fireball still knocked her off her feet and into a wall hard enough to bounce, before landing face down on the floor. And Den had made his point. She had things to learn, above and beyond ordinary infantry combat.

"Were… the backflips… really necessary?"

"You tell me. What was the purpose of that little display?"

"You said…to assess… me?"

"Right. But what else?"

"You wanted... to show off?"

"Why?"

"Was there a reason?" The pain was not fading all that much, but it was becoming clear that it wasn't going to be lessened much by lying still. Pearl sat up, wincing.

"There's always a reason for the exercises I run. Maybe it's not always a good one, but there's always a reason."

"Then… to… put me in place, assert your dominance. If so, you're kind of a dick."

"Maybe so. What else?"

"…For training? So I'll do what I'm told?"

Den sighed. "Being a SOLDIER isn't quite what people think it is. All you see on TV is Sephiroth slicing stuff into onion rings, but you've gotta learn a lot of boring stuff fore you get to that level. Lesson one, tomorrow, is how to hold things without breaking them. Everything on the SOLDIER floor is built to take abuse, but you'll need to learn how to shake hands without hurting people before we let you leave. Raw recruits can get a little frustrated with all the boring lessons, and I found that I usually had to lay down the law sooner or later, show them that I can do the TV somersaults, that all this boring stuff isn't timewasting. The farther along they are in training, the more likely it is that I have to hurt them, so I get it out of the way early, make sure you know that I know what I'm doing. And I can also assess you, even though I'm supposed to use the training room for that."

"Isn't that what we've been doing?"

"You'll see. Can you stand?"

"Ugh…I'll try." Pearl stood. She was capable of it, her body was not weakened or damaged, but the impacts from training blazed, and she slumped back. She could and would get up if she really needed to, but the right motivation was apparently important for powering through pain.

"I can stand, but I don't want to just yet."

"Fair enough. While we wait, I'll do some more assessing. How many languages do you speak?"

"…One and a half."

"Midgar standard and Wutai?" Every soldier picked up a little Wutai during the war, to varying degrees. Pearl's probably wasn't perfectly grammatically correct, but she could usually make herself understood.

"Right."

"Well, if you ever want to make 2nd, you need at least three. I recommend Gi, no one speaks it anymore, so you won't be challenged on your ability."

Pearl said nothing.

"Y'see, SOLDIERs are not blunt instruments. Speaking the right language can mean the difference between a peaceful surrender and slaughtering an entire garrison. And despite what AVALANCHE says, most of us prefer option A. Raw power is easy, Hojo and Scarlet can make lots of powerful toys. The key virtue of SOLDIER, what makes us different from the other monsters, is restraint . Remember that."

"I will," said Pearl, meeting his eyes.

"Good. Up to going back yet? Sorry to rush, but there's a lot of demand for the use of this room, so we'd better move at least as far as the control room. I can get someone to carry you back if you like."

"No, I'll manage." She hauled herself up right, and bruises that hadn't formed yet blazed, but this time she didn't give up. "Gagh! Are you sure this doesn't get any better?"

"Nope. But don't worry, you do get better at dealing with it as time passes. A little. You ever need to incapacitate a SOLDIER for a couple of seconds, slap his ears, that really stings if you aren't prepared for it. Get some rest, I'll call you tomorrow to start proper training."

She gained her feet and slowly left, passing approximately thirty SOLDIERs of various levels en route.