Again, my apologies for how late this is. It isn't late for any one particular reason, I just had some stuff to do, and this fell off my radar for a little while. We'll see if regular updates will be a thing after this. See the earlier non-chapter if you haven't already.

Now I have all of the characters more or less where I want them to be initially. So, as a certain Jedi once said, "this is where the fun begins".

Again, more notes at the end.

/

Rose followed Talos into the forest. The Guardians were now on Anima, a continent adjacent to the one that she had been revived on. They had taken a "bullhead," some sort of airship, to a nearby coastal area, but supposedly travel by this method had been restricted to the other nations and continents, so they had taken a short boat trip across the ocean. It had only been a day or so to cross the water, and the trip had gone smoothly. The two Ghosts had said that there were reports of monsters that lived in the sea, but none had attacked them.

Esper and Harmony said that the Fallen Ketch had been heading over Anima when they'd lost it on their long-range scopes, likely because it had put up some sort of stealth field. Rose didn't know what a "Ketch" was, but Talos had said it was a sort of starship with a high priority target aboard, one who was extremely dangerous. She had no idea how normal any of this was. her instincts told her that the things Talos was telling her were beyond strange, but she had no reason not to trust the man right now. After all, she had been dead before he'd arrived.

Plus, Rose thought, He has some awesome weapons.

Right at that thought, the warlock paused, and his sword, Stormshaper, appeared in his hands. The weapon really was beautiful; it was long, double-edged, and broad, and it tapered down to a sharp point. Engravings reminiscent of lightning danced along the length, and it hummed and glowed softly with a light blue hue. Talos looked at it for a few seconds, then turned to her.

"We're going to have to teach you how to better use the Light." Rose could barely contain her excitement at that statement. She hadn't seen him fight since her resurrection a few days ago, but his displays of power on that battlefield were nothing short of awe-inspiring. Would she be able to dominate the battlefield as effortlessly as he seemed to be able to that day?

"You used Arc just minutes after your first resurrection, so that one's probably going to be the easiest for you." He had spoken to her a bit about the differences between the three elements of the Light, Solar, Arc, and Void, but a lot of the more technical stuff had gone over her head. All she really knew was that Solar had to do with nuclear explosions or something, that Arc was like electricity, and that void was all purple-y and weird. "Arc is the light of the storm itself, coursing through your muscles and giving you strength, speed, and agility. When you use it, don't think about containing it - think about directing it. It can dart through your body, making you fast as the lightning it creates, or you can push it into your weapons, or sling it at your targets." As he spoke, a spark popped to life in his hand and danced between his fingers. When he finished, his arm stretched out, and the spark jolted out of his hand and connected with a nearby tree. Splinters of wood exploded outward from its point of impact, buzzing with static. "You can also use similar techniques when designing weapons, like my sword here." He lifted it up, twirling it's girth seemingly effortlessly a few times in the air. "For now we don't have to worry about that. Draw from the storm, let the energy flow through you, and direct it outwards, through your body, through your weapon, or through the air or the ground itself."

"How can I… 'Draw from the storm,' as you say without there being one? Do I have to create one? I saw your sword call down lightning from the sky."

Talos smirked slightly, as if he had been expecting such a question. "The sword has many aspects that are more for show than for functionality. Esper helped me build it, and she advised me to 'make it flashy'."

"Hey!" The construct materialized abruptly in the air next to his head. "You're the one who actually decided to build it that way! Admit it, you recognize that thing's sheer awesomeness, and I know our New Light does as well!" Rose nodded enthusiastically in agreement at that last comment.

Tal chuckled. "You're not wrong, Esper, but that doesn't mean I'm going to actually take responsibility for any of my more questionable decisions that can just as easily be blamed on you. Anyways, hunter, in answer to your more relevant question, no, you don't have to conjure any storms. There's an ample enough source for Arc all around you."

Before Rose could ask what he meant by that statement, he opened his palms, and solar Light spewed out of his fingertips. It swirled in front of him creating a burning three-dimensional image floating in the air between them. It showed a cluster of stationary particles surrounded by a cloud of faster-moving, smaller particles. "This is an atom. With very few exceptions, everything you can see, touch, feel, and interact with are made of these. Much smaller than the image I've conjured for you, of course, but this is roughly how they look. The clump on the inside, the nucleus, is positively charged, while the electrons, those things swirling around the outside at high speeds, are negatively charged. The most basic rule about charges is that objects with like charges repel each other, while ones with opposite charges attract each other. Got all that so far?"

"I... think so."

"Great. Now here's the fun part. Electricity is, in simple terms, the flow of electrons from one atom to another. Almost every atom is a source of electricity, if you provide enough of an initial spike of energy, which you can do with your light. The entire world around you is a storm, it's just in balance. Many structures of atoms have a similar amount of positive and negative charge, which balances it out to neutral. But what do you think happens if you were to, say, charge every single piece of an object with massive amounts of negative charge by adding electrons?"

Rose was having a hard time following by now. "Ummm…. I…."

"Let me rephrase the question. Why do you think that tree I blasted earlier exploded when I used Arc light on it?"

It clicked into place. "Oh! Since like charges repel, and the whole thing was charged, it pushed itself apart!"

"Exactly. With a large enough charge, you can perform feats like that, but keep in mind that even smaller amounts of electricity can cause some serious damage, especially against living things or powered machines. Now, under normal circumstances, charge won't distribute itself that way. While there is a raging storm that permeates all of reality around you, it's normally in balance, or harmony. Your job is to create an imbalance with your Light, and weaponize it. Try charging your knife, like you did during the fight."

Rose unsheathed her knife and held it up in front of her, in both hands. She imagined pulling electrons off of atoms, and sending them to dance up and down the length of her blade. Slowly but surely, she felt the blade charge, and saw some cyan sparks jumping up and down its length. "Wow..." she brought a finger up to brush the blade. As she did so, her now lightly-armored hand felt a sudden jolt, and she pulled back, shaking it. It went numb for a few moments.

Talos laughed. "You'll get used to it. Just remember, the flow of charge is what you're using, you're not creating any. Though I suppose it would be possible to do with your Light, it would be a pain. Much easier and more sensible to simply bend the laws of physics and use what already exists than it is to ignore nature's rules entirely."

"This is all a lot to take in, and I think I'm going to need to practice," Rose commented, still examining her knife crackling with electric energy. She gave it a short twirl, then extinguished the current. "Any Grimm nearby?"

"Not reading any on scopes," Harmony chimed in, "But, well, uhm…."

Talos finished the thought. "You can practice against me."

Rose looked at him inquisitively. "Wouldn't it be best to practice on an opponent that I don't have to worry about hurting?"

"I doubt there's anything either of you could do to each other that would be permanent," Esper said, "Unless, of course, you attacked me or Tal attacked Harmony, but, well, that would be rude. There many are benefits to the immortality and regeneration the Light grants you."

"I… so you want me to attack you?"

Tal raised his arms to his sides, palms upwards, as if to say 'bring it on'. "With everything you've got, New Light. If you're up for it, of course?" His helmet materialized onto his head.

Rose considered briefly, then made her decision. She donned her own helm leapt at Talos, knife striking directly at his faceplate. He stepped back slightly, and the swipe came up a little short, but she quickly redirected her stroke and thrust the weapon at her opponent. Sparks danced around the edges of the engraved blade, and a hand was brought up to meet it. The knife thrust through fabric, skin, and muscle, and the point jutted through Tal's palm and out of the back of his right hand. Rose gasped in shock, surprised that her opponent would defend with a move as painful as that, but before she had time to react his other hand smashed into the side of her head. She felt it even through the helmet, and the force of the blow sent her careening to the side. She held fast to the knife, which ripped free from the man's hand as she stumbled a meter or so to the side.

As she looked back, she saw both flesh and glove knitting itself back together. A fiery explosion appeared behind Talos, and it launched him forwards with tremendous velocity. One hand pushed away Rose's knife arm, while the other forearm pressed against her throat, smashing her backwards into a nearby tree. Desperately, she grabbed his shoulder, and willed a current into existance. Talos grunted, then staggered backwards as Arc Light ripped through his body. He responded with a fiery blast of Solar that Rose barely managed to duck out of the way of. She righted herself, then, with a very short wind-up period, hurled the knife straight ahead. It spun blade-over-hilt once before implanting itself directly through the left side of the visor in Tal's helmet.

He went still, then pitched backwards.

She'd killed him. She'd killed him!

The rational part of her mind knew that he'd stand up again momentarily, fine, but that didn't stop her from feeling terrified at what she'd just done for a few moments. A look of horror flashed across her face.

The feeling passed with a brief sigh of relief as Esper's shell spun above the corpse, and it promptly pulled out the knife and sat up straight.

"That was good. Very impressive. Even if I WAS going easy on you, I didn't expect that kind of ferocity from you."

"Heh. Going easy you say?"

"Well, the sword didn't come out." Flaming wings sprouted from the back of his armor, and a luminescent blade materialized in his right hand. "So, I'd say so, yes."

Rose crossed her arms and made a pouty face at him, before realizing that her helmet was still covering her face. Feeling rather silly, she slid it off of her head and then took a step forward, helping Tal up to his feet as he dismissed his flaming weapon.

"Want to see how long you can survive with me attacking you?"

"I think I'll spend most of my time running."

Talos cocked his head slightly. "I'll give you a head start, then.

"One." Rose blinked. "Two." Her eyes widened, and she turned away. "Three." Rose took off through the trees, running at breakneck pace. Lightning pulsed through her muscles, propelling her faster than a normal human could ever hope to go. "Four." She was two far away to hear the fifth count, but by that time she had already drawn her sniper rifle and looked back towards where she had come from, down the scope. A moment later, she saw a bright flash and heard a loud noise, and an explosion flared up from that direction. Talos rose into the air and bolted towards her, looking like an inferno with wings.

Rose squeezed off a sniper round, which Talos doged with a burst of flaming air. A fireball whizzed through the air towards her, and she rolled out of the way. It passed her harmlessly and singed the ground she had been standing on. She bolted off to the right in a zigzag pattern, feeling the air rush by her as she ran. She drew the submachine gun that Talos had given her shortly after their first battle, and sprayed off a few shots towards him. The flaming aura surrounding him absorbed the shots with little issue, and he responded with a torrent of fire launched directly towards her center of mass. She once again leapt out of the way, but this time she was slightly slower, and the bottom of her cloak burned away instantly under the heat.

Seeing her chance, Rose jumped upwards and sprung off of a nearby rock formation. She twisted in midair, charging her blade with Arc energy as she had before, and brought it swiftly towards her opponent in a vicious point-first thrust. She followed through, expecting to strike his armored form - only to keep on going across her normal trajectory and hit nothing but air and a vaguely purple hued haze. She used her light to jump again in mid-air, righting herself before hitting the ground. She landed on her feet without stumbling and started to look around, scanning for her targe-

Wait. Was her chest supposed to feel this hot?

Rose looked downward, and saw with some surprise that the tip of a rod-hot blade was protruding out of her chestplate, straight through her sternum.

Before her senses disintegrated away, along with the rest of her body, one final thought ran through Rose's head.

Oh.

/

Rose sat up with a gasp. Her hands moved of their own accord, pattig and prodding around her torso, as if instinctively checking to see if everything was back in the right place after being stabbed through the chest.

"Well… that was terrifying."

Harmony floated above her. "You did well! Quick thinking, clever maneuvers, and powerful focus of the Light. There's no shame in losing to someone who's way more experienced than you."

At that, Talos stepped into view, offering a hand to help her up. She took it, though hesitantly; she was still getting over the fact that she had died for the first time. Well, for the first time that she could remember anyways.

She pulled herself up and shook her head. Harmony had told her that most guardians became more 'greedy,' almost, for skills and tools that would help them in combat. Whether it was this change, an aspect of her pre-resurrection self's competitive instincts, or a combination of the two, but she found herself simultaneously frustrated and interested in the way her opponent had simply seemed to flash out of existence in an instant.

"Wh- What was that you did? Where you just…. Disappeared?"

"A clever manipulation of the Void." Talos held up his hands, which glowed with purple energy. "With it, a Guardian can bend the fabric of space, bringing two points that are normally far away from each other close to each other and tear a hole between them, and-" He disappeared, and materialized a few meters further back "-step across the corridor. Most guardians can only use one elemental aspect of the Light at once, but some veterans can weave techniques from multiple different elements into their style. It takes quite a bit of familiarity - I can really only do it with a void blink. Once, long ago, I saw Osiris - a great warlock - send out a flurry of different elemental attacks in quick succession. It was a sight to be hold, but not something achievable by most, at least not without nearly a millennium of practice."

Rose didn't really understand all of his technical jargon yet, nor did she know who most of the people he mentioned were - she had just woken up for the first time two days ago after all - but she got the jist. It was a technique that was part of a discipline of the Light that she had never touched before, and wouldn't likely be able to dabble in any time soon.

"Is there something similar that I might be able to learn faster? This ability seems incredibly useful."

"Only if you know what you're doing with it, or if your enemy isn't expecting it. Though, you can do something similar with Arc light - though the technique is a bit different. I'm not quite as good at it myself, but I think I can demonstrate." Arc light surged through his body, lifting his feet off the ground briefly. Suddenly, a bright flash appeared, and a bolt of lightning flashed across Rose's vision. When it cleared, Talos was standing in a different place. "It helps to think of yourself as flowing from one place to another when trying that. After all, like all Arc light's uses, it does utilize a difference in charge to create a flow of current. Of course, don't be discouraged if you can't get it right aw-"

Rose leapt forward and imagined herself flowing from where she was standing to a few meters in front of her. She got it immediately, much to Talos' surprise. She turned back to see him staring at her, helmet off, head cocked, and mouth open slightly, as if confused.

Ha. That should teach him not to underestimate me.

"I…. well, that was strange."

"What, Impressed with how quick of a learner I am?"

"Well, yes. But even so, that wasn't like any blink I've ever seen. I swear it looked like you had turned into some sort of twisting red… mass of some sort. And what's more," He walked over to where she had been standing before, leaned down, and picked something up off of the ground. When he held it up, rose could see that it was a red petal. "Well, at least the name we chose for you is accurate."

Esper immediately started scanning the rose petal. "Hmmm. This isn't actually normal matter. It's made pretty much entirely of paracausal energy. It should fade in a little while." As if on queue, the petal immediately started to flicker. After a few seconds, Talos found that he no longer held anything in his palm.

"It's…. Probably some sort of residual effect from before her resurrection. Everyone here does seem to have some mild paracausal attributes to them. I doubt my resurrection wiped it away." Harmony's shell spun as she hovered beside Rose's head. "It's definitely a strange quirk, whatever the source. But at least it's useful."

Talos shook his head, as if to clear his mind. "We can study this later. I think this was enough training for now. It's about time to get moving. Harmony, you have a sparrow pattern, right?"

"Yes. Where are we going?"

"I believe the nation we are heading towards is called Mistral. The Ketch flew in that direction. We should be able to use our technology to access any data that the kingdom might have collected on the Ketch's flight path, whether they know what they were seeing or not."

Rose nodded. "What's the plan if we meet anyone?"

"Well, I think we should try to keep our powers, or at the very least out immortality, a secret. There's no way to know how the people would react. You should keep your helmet on wherever possible when interacting with people, on the off chance we come across someone who knew the old version of you. Best not to open that can of worms."

"Fair enough. Now what's this 'sparrow' you mentioned?"

/

Oh, I'm sure that their plan will go wonderfully, and the helmet will definitely not come off exactly when it is most convenient for the plot. Ah, the wonders of plot contrivance.

Anyways, yeah, sorry this is late, but considering my track record this ain't too bad. I have some ideas for what I'm gonna do next, and I'll try and get the next chapter out soon as well, but again, feel free to pitch any ideas to me that you think would be cool or interesting. If I agree that it would be cool, there's a good chance something like it will be put in.

Anyway, interested to hear what you think of how I did this little "Training" scene. I think I'm proud of it, but i'd love to hear thoughts.

Until next time, I guess.