Lloyd: Our beta still hasn't gotten back to us - where the hell did she go? - but oh well. We still did pretty well on our own. I'm just a little disappointed that our longest chapter so far only got one review... But I guess I can't really complain with all the people who looked at it at first. But that makes me wonder if we're even writing for any purpose - I feel kind of looked over. :( So please review! We'd both appreciate it. It makes us happy.

On another note, this is about half as long as the last chapter but Genis and I both agree that it's probably the best and funniest yet. It's kind of just a filler chapter until something happens, so bear with us, and enjoy the hilarity of two Earth girls trying to sword fight. And also I decided to change the title, if no one noticed, since it's cooler than what it was before.

Genis: I think the title's cooler now too, especially since you named it that without telling me. I thought that it would be the title on the document page... Guess not. XD

Oh, and reviews are nice. I feed the good ones to my kitty, but only the good ones. Don't let my kitty starve!

Lloyd: -sheepish grin- Oh... I thought I told you that... And if you feed the good reviews to Oreo, then what do you do with the bad reviews? O.o

Genis: The bad reviews are your dinner. : )

Lloyd: Hey!
...If that's the case, please send good reviews. Please.

And now, on with the chapter.

After Genis and Raine had come back, the group went to the inn, where Katherine was waiting for them. She had run up to their room and fetched her sword, since she hadn't bothered to bring it to work like Caitlin had. So now the two of them were training, with Lloyd and Genis sitting to the side and watching, while Raine and Colette were back at the inn (Colette trying to keep the professor from making their dinner), and Kratos wasn't anywhere in sight. The former was laughing quietly at the complete lack of skill both of the girls had. Anyone had to admit that it was amusing - much like watching two little kids pretending to fight.

Katherine struck out at her friend, and it was quite obvious that she still hadn't gotten used to the weight of the sword in her hand, since the attack was slow and sloppy. Then again, they had only been fighting with real swords for a couple weeks other than plastic toys. Caitlin caught her friend's sword between her two blades, which were in front of her in an X. "Careful!" she said, looking at the sword point that was in front of her warily. "I don't want to be killed by you. That's not high on my list of ways to die." So keeping with her comment, she lowered her swords and backed up quickly. Then she took one step forward and slashed at Katherine, and the blow was just barely deflected before the point of the sword grazed Katherine's stomach.

"How long have you guys been fighting?" Lloyd suddenly asked, halting the childish-looking training session between the two friends. He was grinning, obviously having fun watching them.

"Uh...three weeks with real swords. Before that, we used...practice ones for a while with our brothers," Caitlin said, wording it carefully for once. She didn't want to mention the whole 'lightsaber' deal since obviously they wouldn't know what the hell she was talking about.

"But Holy Martel, these are so much heavier than the ones we used to use." Katherine swung the sword carefully and slowly, the weight impairing her movement. "I still haven't quite gotten used to it, and I have no idea how Caitlin is managing to use two at the same time."

"It's not that hard - they're probably lighter than that one," she said, gesturing to her sword with one of her own carelessly. Luckily no one was around or else the small motion might have caused injury. "And you're not allowed to laugh. I bet you sucked at sword-fighting when you pretty much first started."

Lloyd shrugged in response. "Yeah..." he said slowly, almost as if he didn't quite want to admit it. "But it didn't take long to get better! ...I could help you guys if you want," he suggested, and the two girls glanced at each other before Caitlin grinned, nodding her approval. It would be awesome to learn how to use her swords, and who better to help her at least than Lloyd, perhaps the only other twin swordfighter. She knew Katherine would get something out of it as well.

Caitlin stepped aside, closer to where Genis was watching so that she could see her friend getting pwn'd by Lloyd. She knew his sword skills were lightyears ahead of theirs, even though at the beginning of the game they kinda sucked. That just proved how bad the two of them were. He drew his swords, and she noticed that they weren't the wooden blades, like she and Katherine had forced on him in the game. They used the wooden blades all through Kilia, yet were put out when no title came their way, so they gave up on it.

"Ready?" Lloyd asked, and Katherine nodded, looking a little nervous. "Okay." He instantly slashed out at Katherine, though his movements were fairly slow to give her some reaction time, not wanting to cut her to ribbons just because she found it hard to lift her own sword. Katherine gave a funny little sound, probably coming from her obvious fear and nerves, drawing her sword up as quickly as she could without hitting herself and meeting one of his blades before it hit her. However, it was much harder to block the second, so the flat edge hit her leg, most likely giving her another bruise. Lloyd grinned at her. "I don't think you're supposed to get hit." At that, Caitlin laughed.

"I know that!" Katherine said, backing up a step to go at it again. This time she tried to get a hit in, though it was easily blocked by one of Lloyd's sword and a small clash of steel. Caitlin was watching what Lloyd was doing intently, hoping she could see how he fought for when it was her turn. The small spar was fairly short, ending with Katherine managing to block both, though one of them was pure luck since his sword struck down on almost the tip of hers.

"That was cool," Lloyd said, grinning again as he moved his blades away. Then he looked curious and asked, "Can you guys do Demon Fang or anything?" Katherine and Caitlin glanced at each other for a second before shaking their heads.

"No," Caitlin said, sounding a little bummed. "We've tried but, well, it hasn't really worked out that well." Probably because neither of them knew how to use a tech. Obviously there was no such thing as techs that rely on the usage of mana on Earth. If there was, then school fights would be a lot more interesting.

Lloyd was quiet for a moment before offering, "I could teach you how to use it, if you want... Kratos could probably teach it better, but I don't know if he would." He shrugged, looking at the two girls to see their reaction.

"Sweet!" Katherine agreed, as Caitlin shouted happily, "Sure!" Lloyd laughed, amused by their responses to his offer. Caitlin came over to the two of them, leaving Genis to watch the continued training session, as Lloyd tried explaining what to do. Pretty much his explanation boiled down to concentrating mana and letting it out through a sword, though he had a slightly round-about way of saying it. Probably because he couldn't find the right words to explain quickly.

Once he was done with his explanation, Caitlin looked ready to make her first tech work; she was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet impatiently, wanting to try. "Got it?" Lloyd finally asked, and the two girls nodded, having gotten the gist of his explanation. "Go ahead and try."

Katherine went first, trying to draw in mana. It was fairly difficult, since she didn't know quite how to do that. Nothing felt out of the ordinary, like it could be used for anything like a Demon Fang like in the game. However, after a moment of trying to concentrate on drawing in mana, she felt a slight mental block, which she was sure wasn't there before. Pushing against it gave her a slight headache, but after a moment she could feel something go through her body. Trying not to let it go, she struggled to pull it back, before pushing the power and the name that came with it through her sword. With a cry of "Star Stroke!", a burst of energy went along the ground before petering out fairly quickly. It was a weak tech, but it had still occurred.

"Awesome!" Caitlin cried. "Lemme try." She went through the same process as Katherine, though it took a little while longer for her to find her stored mana, by which time she was getting frustrated. But when she found it, the power from the mana quickly came over her, but then dissipated. She was unable to keep her concentration long enough to draw it in. "Dammit," she swore, before trying again with a determined frown. It happened again, but the third time she managed to push it out through one sword. Like Katherine's it traveled across the ground for just a second before disappearing.

Katherine stood in stunned silence after pulling off her first tech ever. While it may not have been a particularly impressive version of a standard tech, it was a tech nonetheless. For some reason it took Caitlin longer to pull one off, but when she managed it, her's was just as wimpy as Katherine's. "Amazing! I actually used Star Stroke..."

"Yeah, but it still has a long way to go compared to Lloyd. And even further compared to Kratos." The smirk was obvious in Genis' voice.

"Shut up, Shorty. Let's see you do one," Caitlin challenged, knowing full well he had no attacks other than spells that he could use. "Besides, we were never taught how to use techs. I doubt you were perfect your first try."

"Geez, I don't even use a sword. But I bet I could beat you at magic!" Genis kept a huge grin on his face as he charged up a fireball and launched it into empty space. "There, let's see you top that."

Katherine sighed. When did this become a competition? "Genis, I don't think that--"

"Come on, is that all you can do? Pretty pitiful," Caitlin interrupted her friend. "One measly fireball can't do any real damage, and that kendama can't either. Bet you I could top that if I had any elven blood."

Lloyd was laughing at the strange competition, finding it extremely amusing. It seemed like the girl wasn't going to let Genis beat her like that, since she managed to charge up another Demon Fang, quicker than she had before. It wasn't any bigger, but the fact that it took her half the time than it did before was improvement enough. "Ha. I did even better that time. Doubt you can do better with that spell," Caitlin challenged, grinning.

"Oh yeah? How about this! Aqua Edge!" Genis conjured three spinning blades of water as quickly as he could and sent them off into the wild blue yonder.

"Ah, um, Star Stroke?!" Katherine tried to get her own attempt in between the two competitors, managing to increase the size of her attack slightly, and willing it to go further. For her second ever Star Stroke, that was a good improvement.

"You never did better with Fireball, so it doesn't count," Caitlin said, sticking her tongue out at Genis, before looking at Katherine. "Hey, how'd you do that?" she complained, gesturing to the now disappeared tech with one of her swords.

Lloyd stopped laughing, though he had a huge grin on his face. "I can do even better than that," he said, and Caitlin turned to him curiously. "Sword Rain!" The girl stared at the tech, wanting very much to know how to do it, since it actually looked a lot harder than it did in the game. It actually seemed really difficult to move fast enough to stab with a sword that many times, but she still wanted to learn since that was her favorite tech.

Katherine looked on with interest as well, although she would have thought it impossible to pull off with only one sword. It wasn't until she had looked closely when Lloyd used Sonic Sword Rain (her first, and only tech to reach max uses) that she realized he only used one sword. So maybe... "Lloyd! How do you do that one?"

Meanwhile, Genis stuck his tongue back out at Caitlin, charging up another fireball. "You never said it had to be Fireball. Burn, Fireball!" This time he put more strength into the attack, creating not one, but four fireballs, all flying out to nowhere.

"Yeah I did. I said that I doubted you could do better with that spell," Caitlin pointed out, though she looked put out that he had managed to do so well on Fireball. "...Bet you can't do more! Like, ten or something!" She had pulled the number from the max amount of fireballs gained in another Tales game, even though it would mean the spell was very advanced.

"I don't really know exactly," Lloyd said, shrugging. "I think the mana focuses in just this one sword, making it move really fast." Then he paused for a second, thinking, before adding, "And I have something cooler than Fireballs!" With that, he jumped up and cried "Tempest!" at the same time, spinning rapidly through the air, and then landing a little awkwardly as soon as he stopped, looking a little dizzy. Caitlin laughed at him, noticing this, before trying her one and only tech again. It took her a moment, but when she finally shouted out, "Demon Fang!" the attack was bigger and went further than Katherine's just because she had forced it to.

Katherine stared as Lloyd jumped and spun in the air. As cool as it was, she doubted she would ever be able to do that. She couldn't even do a cartwheel, or whatever it was that they had tried to teach her in third grade P.E. And from how dizzy Lloyd had been, even he still hadn't mastered it. "Woah. But you've got that moment after you land when you're vunerable. I don't know how useful that would be in battle..." She concentrated a moment, swinging her sword to release another Star Stroke. This time it was as big and went as far as Caitlin's last one had, and though she didn't know it, slightly less effort had pushed it.

"So what? You still can't cast that spell. And no one can do ten fireballs! That's insane!" Genis focused harder, putting as much energy into his six fireballs as he could, reaching the limits of his strength. Lacking energy, he stumbled a little after releasing the spell.

"Rita can," Caitlin mumbled under her breath, since they obviously would not know who the Vesperia mage was. "And you can't do any melee attacks either, so it's okay if I can't do one spell." Even though it was an awesome spell that she really wished she could do. It wasn't her fault that she was a slight pyro... "So, let's call this a draw," she suggested, albeit a little grudgingly, not wanting to lose a contest of any kind. But she only had one tech that she wasn't very good at, so that wouldn't help at all to beat all six of Genis' fireballs.

"A draw?! No way! My spell was way better than your Demon Fang. I win." Genis crossed his arms and smirked. "Unless you can do six or seven Demon Fangs at once, you'll never beat me."

Caitlin frowned for a second before smirking. She knew it was impossible to do more than three Demon Fangs at once, so she just did the next best thing. "Demon Fang!" she shouted, sending the attack straight at Genis. "I win."

"Hey!" he yelled, jumping out of the way, barely. Genis glared before sending an Aqua Edge at the girl. "I win."

Katherine resisted the urge to facepalm. "You guys, this is just stupid. Why are you both so set on winning?"

Caitlin jumped aside before the spell hit and scowled at the younger kid. "Hey, I don't like water," she protested, getting up. "Hey, Lloyd? Wanna help?" she asked, grinning at the other dual swordsman. Lloyd hesitated for a second before grinning back.

"Demon Fang!" both of them shouted at once, two of the attacks headed toward the mage. They were purposefully ignoring Katherine's comment.

"Hey, that's not fair! Katherine, keep them off me while I cast!" Genis was already charging up more Fireballs, sending two at each of the opposing teens.

"What? This is just...whatever." Katherine turned to Lloyd and Caitlin, sending a Star Stroke to Lloyd then swinging her sword at Caitlin. For protesting against fighting so much, she was really getting into it.

Lloyd just quickly jumped out of the way, since he couldn't duck the fireballs and jump over Star Stroke at the same time. Then he sent another Demon Fang at Genis before he could get another spell off. Caitlin yelped when the fireballs came towards her and ducked, though one of them singed her cape. "Hey, you burnt my cape!" she shouted, before yelping again when her friend swung and quickly putting her swords up as well. It was a little awkward, being on the ground after ducking, but she managed.

Katherine saw the Demon Fang go past out of the corner of her eye, while still attacking Caitlin. Genis had barely managed to get his last spell off before needing to jump out of the way. "Yeah? Well, you're a sore loser! Cheater!" Katherine laughed while dodging Caitlin's blows. "And don't you dare say you're winning because you're not."

"Winning cheaters!" Caitlin shouted, grinning hugely.

Katherine glared, continuing her attacks on Caitlin. Meanwhile, Lloyd and Genis kept at it, Lloyd dodging a fireball while Genis started to charge up another. Lloyd started to attack and stopped, mid-tech. Wondering what made his friend freeze up, Genis stopped the spell and looked where Lloyd was. Fear was evident on both faces, because there was Kratos. Complete with the Aurion Glare. Both girls stopped too, glancing over to what was now a symbol of absolute terror.

"And what might you be doing?" The question was obviously directed at Lloyd and Genis, but Caitlin and Katherine were not exempt from the glare.

"Well, we were training," Lloyd said with a small, nervous laugh. "But then it became a contest.... She started it." He pointed over at Caitlin, who just looked at him like he was an idiot.

"No, Genis did," she argued, trying to ignore the glare by just not looking at Kratos.

"I did not! You did!"

"Guys, can you stop arguing for two seconds? Err, I don't think Kratos particularly cares who started it anyways." Katherine tried to smile, but it wasn't genuine.

"While that is true, your input is not necessary. Lloyd, Genis, if you have that much energy left, a more efficient form of training could be found. And there is never a reason to be fighting for no reason." The boys hung their heads, and the girls backed away slowly.

"Bastard mercenary," Caitlin mumbled under her breath, despite the fact that Kratos probably heard with his angel hearing. Then, so that she could be heard by more people than just Katherine, she added, "Isn't that fighting training too? It helps with sneak attacks since you don't always know when or how you're going to get attacked." She stumbled over her words a little as she tried to figure out exactly what she was saying while speaking, which left her a little confused and at a loss for good words. When she brought it up, Caitlin was also looking at a point above Kratos' head, not trusting herself to look down at his glare.

"However, training in and of itself holds a purpose. In addition, fighting without warning is different than fighting without a purpose." Kratos' eyes narrowed even further as he spoke, although it was difficult to tell as everyone avoided looking at them.

This was one of those moments when Katherine was sure that Kratos was exactly like her dad. She wanted to jump in and defend Caitlin, but at the same time, she knew that would probably make things worse. At least, it did whenever she tried to defend her younger brother. It was times like that that she really wished her dad wasn't as big as he was. He could be really scary.

"We had a purpose. We were training," Caitlin said, telling a half-truth. They were training...for a little bit, before the contest. Not while they were fighting, but she supposed it could be counted as so. "It was just...an improvised training."

"As already stated, a more effective form of training could and should be found." With that, Kratos turned back to Genis. "Your sister would like to speak with you." Kratos turned around and walked away.

Genis glanced at Lloyd, then at the two girls. "I'll see you guys tomorrow, right?" he asked, looking back to make sure Kratos wasn't leaving without him.

"Yeah, no doubt," Caitlin answered, looking up from scowling at her feet. She had been about to say something else to Kratos before he walked off, which kind of annoyed her. Genis grinned before running off after the mercenary in order to go talk to Raine. "Well, we better head to the inn. I'm tired."

Sheathing their swords, the three teenagers went up to the inn, goofing off the short distance there. It seemed like it'd be fun being with the regeneration group if that evening had been anything to go off of.