They spent the next few days avoiding the city. Chell tried to hide it, but GLaDOS could tell she was terrified of running into that hunter again.
They continued their training outside of the city in the wheat field, however, and the intensity of it suddenly increased. No longer were they casting small spells indoors.
"We'll start with a simple magic sphere," Elli instructed as he and Chell stood across from each other with a wide distance between them and GLaDOS standing off to the side at what she hoped was a safe distance. 'Magic sphere' was apparently the more technical term for throwing a ball of magical whatever at someone.
"Any particular element?" Chell asked.
"Whatever you can put the most force behind," he replied, a dark red shield forming in front of him.
Black energy formed into a ball in her hand. She focused on him for a second before firing it. Its force wasn't enough to break his shield, but it exploded on impact and formed a semi-sphere of dark, impenetrable fog around him. The fog quickly dissipated with a wave of Elli's hand, revealing that the shockwave had knocked him onto his rear end despite his shield.
"You're pretty vulnerable, caught on your back like that," Chell pointed out with a small smirk.
"If we were actually fighting, I would have dodged that," Elli grunted as he stood up, "Also, you would be dead. All joking aside, that was quite powerful," he studied her for a moment. "Let's see you use Dark Needle. I assume you know that one?"
"Of course."
"Show me."
'Dark Needle' apparently referred to throwing spears of dark magic. "I'm constantly amazed by the creativity involved when naming such things," GLaDOS commented.
Ignoring her, Elli began to conjure what appeared to be a dark red blob that floated in the air, pulsating and rippling as it grew until it was vaguely the shape of a human torso.
"This technique," he explained loudly, making sure both could hear him whether they wanted to or not, "Is a common attack used to pierce and shatter shields. Let's see how sharp yours is."
Chell complied, shooting a single spear, or rather, needle, at the target. It sliced right through like a knife through butter, leaving a perfectly round, sizzling hole in the center of its chest. Elli and GLaDOS both approached it.
"How does this compare to human flesh?" GLaDOS asked curiously.
"I've perfected this model over the years," Elli replied, "It takes bone into account as well. That's a nice little hole in someone's sternum, right there."
"Is this normal?" she asked, glancing sideways at him.
"I've seen users who could cut through anything with Dark Needle," he replied. He turned back to Chell, who hadn't moved. "Can you use Angel's Talons?"
"Yes," she answered, looking strained and starting to breath heavily.
"Let's see it."
Elli repaired the model and stepped back. Three long, silver talons extended from Chell's hand, like the black arm she had used in the Dream Realm. She made a slashing motion in the direction of the target, and the claws detached and shot toward it, growing as they went. When they reached the target, they slashed through it and disappeared, leaving three gaping wounds that almost cut through the entire torso.
Elli simply nodded in approval. "Very good. Yes, very powerful for one so young. I do see one problem, though." He began to walk toward Chell, who was swaying somewhat on her feet and gasping for breath. "You put all of your strength behind each attack, and yes, you would be able to quickly defeat a stronger opponent. That is, of course if your attacks hit. What if we were fighting and those last three shots had missed? You'd be a sitting duck right now, completely drained of energy. That's what happened with the werewolves, you know. You should have been able to defeat them all on your own, but you spent too much strength killing the first few that you were vulnerable to the remainders. Work on striking a balance between force and energy conservation. You only need to make an attacker stop attacking, not obliterate them out of existence."
The dark angel glared at him, looking a bit offended, but she held back and nodded. With that, Elli turned to GLaDOS. "Your turn," he said.
After that display, GLaDOS felt slightly self-conscious about her inexperience. It was hardly fair, of course, since Chell had been doing this her entire life while she had only started a few days ago. Still, GLaDOS hated being out-gunned.
They spent the rest of that particular session working on putting more force behind GLaDOS' magic spheres before moving on to elemental magic, the first spell being that 'Terra Spike' attack Elli had mentioned on that first day. After failing to make the earth or even a rock shift in any way, however, Elli decided to move on.
"Maybe earth magic isn't for you," he said calmly, "We can try water magic next."
"The first elemental magic I used was fire," Chell commented, "Knowing her, she would probably be good at that."
Elli shook his head. "Usually, people are taught water and earth first, since they are generally steady, then wind, then fire last because it is the most dangerous and unpredictable. Your training really was rather… unconventional, it seems."
"It seems to me like you were trained to be a killing machine," GLaDOS pointed out.
Chell shrugged. "You're probably right, actually."
Elli, meanwhile, after finding that he did not bring any water at all, decided to improvise. He swept his arm in a circle and water was drawn out of the wheat stalks and the soil. Soon, they were standing in a completely parched circle of land covered in shriveled wheat while Elli held a floating orb of water. GLaDOS found that, despite being a former AI who used to need to avoid water, controlling water was much smoother. Wind magic, also, seemed to come naturally.
That was only the first day of this new kind of training, however. They spent another few days with Elli working with one of them at a time, Chell working on focus and control over her existing abilities while GLaDOS learned new spells and strengthened old ones. They never saw the hunter on the way to and from their newly claimed training ground, but Elli was certain he was still out there. He guessed the hunter wanted to catch either Chell or GLaDOS alone.
One day, Elli told the two of them to stand across from each other with a wide distance in between. Elli walked up to GLaDOS first.
"If the two of you were to fight, you would be outmatched, correct?" he asked.
"Thus far," GLaDOS agreed grudgingly.
"Of course, that doesn't mean you have to back down. Here's a trick for whenever you're up against someone you know has a lot more experience than you: It's a technique called 'Rebound'," he began, "When she attacks, I want you to make a shield, but rather than thinking of it as something solid, make it flexible, like a vertical trampoline. So when her attack hits-"
"It will bounce right back," she finished for him.
"Correct."
He then walked over to Chell.
"Remember what I've taught you about conserving your energy," he began.
"I know to go easy on her," Chell replied with a smirk.
"I'm serious, Chell. You don't need to kill every opponent you face."
Elli then walked off to the side, nodding to Chell, who fired a sphere of darkness.
GLaDOS instinctively threw up her usual shield, remembering at the last second to make it flexible. Rather than explode on impact, the sphere was caught by the shield, which bent inward slightly from the sphere's momentum. Before it could bounce back, however, the sphere exploded. The shield absorbed the blast, but dissipated as a result.
"It needs to be sent off faster," Elli called, "Make the shield bouncier."
Again, Chell attacked. This time, the shield bent dangerously close to GLaDOS as it caught the sphere, but sent it flying back to Chell, who had to block. GLaDOS was reminded of how Chell had sent bombs flying back at that moron and wondered if she had used a form of this spell to do that.
They practiced this a few more times before returning to the city. The next day, however, Elli asked to speak with them in the kitchen rather than head out to the training ground.
"Remember when we first met, and I said I would eventually ask you to get an item for me as payment for your training?" he asked. They both nodded. "It's time," he said, "I think – actually, I know – you're ready now."
"What is this item?" GLaDOS asked.
"It's a special sword. It's become imperative that I have it," Elli explained.
"Let me guess – we'll have to steal it," Chell said.
"Yes, of course," he replied, "And as you have probably assumed as well, you will have to steal it from someone very powerful."
He began to pace about the room and they knew they were in for a lecture.
"Before assimilating into human society, angels governed themselves with monarchies. These royal families believed, and still do, that they were the descendants of Azrael's top lieutenants. While most these monarchies no longer technically rule anyone, they maintain power and influence. The sword is located in the manor of a royal family of dark angels. They are quite far away, but transportation won't be a problem."
"What is it that makes this sword 'special'?" GLaDOS inquired.
Elli sighed, as if he didn't want to answer that question. "It's made out of a material called 'Demonite', the only thing that can permanently kill a demon."
"Why do you need it? Are you going demon hunting?" Chell asked, somewhat sarcastically.
"There's no need. There are so few demons left that many people don't know they exist," Elli explained, "The sword is practically useless, anyway. Demonite can only harm demons and things that were made demonic by demons. With almost all of the demons gone, people began to throw Demonite weapons away. Only weapons held by the most famous demon hunters remain, hanging on walls as decorations, like that sword."
He went on to explain what sort of security they would face, where in the manor the sword most likely would be, and gave each of them a simple, unadorned chain necklace that he said would mask their auras. He also advised that they do not use magic unless absolutely necessary.
"Every spell leaves a faint residue," he explained, "It will alert them to your presence and may even allow them to track you. Of course, that shouldn't be a problem considering my method of transportation…"
He went to one of the many shelves in the shop and pulled a small pouch off of one near the ceiling.
"This is teleportation powder. I've already enchanted it to know where to go. All you have to do is throw a handful down at your feet to get you there and throw down another handful to get back," he explained.
It was decided that they embark on this journey the next day, however, so they could try to come up with a plan and make sure they were well rested.
That night, GLaDOS decided to finally bring up something that had been bothering her ever since this ridiculous adventure began.
"I've been wanting to ask about your training," she said to Chell as they both lay in bed in the dark.
"About the whole don't-obliterate-things spiel?" the angel asked unenthusiastically.
"No. About before that, in Aperture," GLaDOS prompted.
"Oh."
"What were they trying to do with you?" she asked, "What experiments did they conduct on you?"
"I… I'm not sure," Chell answered, "Dr. Rattmann seemed to be training me… He would force me to learn some attack and then use it on something."
"Like that hybrid?"
"Yeah, sometimes I would have to fight something powerful like that, but usually it was just some disposable test subject. Heck, there were times when it was just a normal human they dragged down from the other labs," she forced out a small laugh, "Still, no matter how weak my opponent was, Rattmann always wanted me to attack harder, faster, stronger. If they weren't dead immediately, he wasn't happy."
"I see," GLaDOS said, "That's why you're so brutal. But was that it? Did all they do was force you to kill things or did they ever perform any sort of procedure on you or anything else?"
"Well," Chell replied with a frown, "They did keep injecting me with something. Whatever it was, it would make me stronger, but I couldn't really control myself. It made me feel so angry and confused that I couldn't really think; I could only kill."
"Do you have any idea what it was?"
"No."
"Hmm," was GLaDOS' only reply. She turned this information over in her head, whishing she was back in her body rather than in this human form so that she could neatly store this away in an organized file that could be sifted through later.
A/N: Sorry about the short not-much-happened chapter, guys. I'm still not sure how they're going to siege the castle, which is why I procrastinated from beginning this. The whole training thing was originally something that I would brush over like "They trained for about a week blah blah blah", but then I thought this would be a good time to let you know what the characters can do at this point as well as give some techniques that I know will be used often some names so writing about them would be a bit more convenient. Then I knew that GLaDOS and Chell would talk at some point about Chell's past, and thought this would be a nice place to put that to give this chapter a bit more sustenance.
I wanted to get the part about them laying siege to the castle out before I go on a two-week vacation, but just didn't have the time. I wanted you guys to have some sort of update, though, so you wouldn't have to wait until I got back. I will be writing the next part while on vacation, so hopefully the next part will be out around July 5th or 6th when I get back. The good thing is that since I will be writing the next part and then retyping it is that I will be able to fix it as I type it, though. Still, sorry about the long waits between updates