Welcome to Gaia! ::

She was out of shape. Out of shape and out of practice. That fight a few weeks ago made that painfully clear. Her injuries had healed but her ego and pride… not so much. She was still so very mad. So very, very mad. Mad at the universe for putting her in that position. Mad at the Negaverse for messing with them. Mad at Nate for nearly getting himself killed. But mostly she was mad at herself for not being able to do more. For putting herself, and Nate, in that situation. She could have just run from the park when they first encountered that lieutenant, should have run when Ida said to when the fight was growing out of proportions, would have never gone through the park in the first place if she had even paused for a moment to think. Should of, could of, would of. None of it could change what DID happen.

Dessie got her a** handed to her, nearly got Nate killed, and if they hadn’t been extremely lucky they all might have been in deeper s**t then what was advisable. There had been a very real possibility of orphaning her daughter. Her infant daughter. Logically she knew that Sarah would be taken care of by Xander and the rest of the Jacobs’ clan but still. That thought alone was a big driving force for her current actions. Whenever she got a chance she was exercising. More often than not using the gear and equipment at the house but also going out and running or using her apartment’s facility. Sadly there was only so much weight training and cardio work could do for her, especially as a civilian. She needed to practice, to train, to fight. Both as Dessie and as Antares. Fighting while powered was challenging and right now she needed that challenge. She needed the focus that was required.

So when Ian asked if there was anything he could do the blonde practically jumped on his offer. Train with her. Train as senshi versus senshi, magic and all. Fight her.

That's what brought her out there to the middle of nowhere. An abandoned building in town where even the cops didn’t go. Their aura might be picked up but then again there were tons of shadowy bolt holes and alleys that would provide plenty of cover for them to disappear into. A place where they could fight without any watchful eyes and without concern about damaging the already rundown building. A perfect spot for a fight.

Dessie grinned at the grumpy man, he looked unhappy at being there but he had asked and when she suggested training he hadn’t turned her down. “Oh I know, it's the only way this can be a fair fight.” Had she been at the same level of skill as before, this fight wouldn’t have been much of a fight. As it were Ian had a pretty good chance of actually coming out the victor in this little tussle. “Ready!” With that she triggered her own henshin pen, the transformation barely finishing before she sprang into action.

Antares’ opening salvo was actually abnormal for her, she jumped up into a roundhouse kick. She tended to be more of a puncher but knew that she needed to become more versatile in her attacks. That was one of the things she was hoping to work on with training like this. The more that she was able to do the better for her all around.

The kick wasn’t quite accurate, nor did it have as much force behind it as it could have… or should have since she meant to curb the strength but not quite that much. And yet it still ended up making Chaldene land on his backside so she mentally shrugged, figuring that it wasn’t too bad if that was the case. Antares had barely settled back down into a ready stance before the other senshi, the ‘stronger’ senshi, came at her swinging. Like her, he was more of a hands-on fighter… when he fought. But unlike him, Antares’ had a close quarters advantage so when Chaldene engaged, she said clearly “First stage scorpions.” She wasn’t about to use her magic, that might be needed later, on a training fight. At least not this time. But stating it outloud this way would let her sparring partner know that had it been a live fight, a real ‘risk your life fight’ she would have called upon her little friends.

Chaldene’s strike landed but Antares countered with an elbow towards the gut. If her ‘magical’ imaginary attack didn’t get a reaction from him then the elbow sure would. Honestly half the time her scorpions didn’t work, or at least didn’t do more than annoy the one they went after. But they were still useful for a distraction or to gain a bit of some distance from the attacker. Sometimes that's all that was needed.

((She didn’t use it but this is what the attack would have done))

Antares just shrugged briefly, “You should have.” She had told him to treat it like a ‘real’ non-lethal fight. One where powers were permitted but apparently they both wanted to hold off using their more esoteric skill set. Her reason was just in case it was needed later for some reason, his… she really didn’t know why he chose not to. Antares had a general idea of what his magic did, but hadn’t really ever had it performed on her, just like her magic had never directly affected Chaldene before. She absently wondered just what it would feel like to be affected by his will-o'-the-wisp magic even as she grimaced from the kick to the knee.

The blonde stumbled a bit before regaining her footing and some distance. “Took fencing in college, doesn’t really help me right now though.” It did seem that her keeping up with some form of sports ment that she was still full of vigor, not that they had been fighting for all that long. With a grin she took a fencing stance, holding an imaginary foil and all, and with an ‘Allez’, performed a few rapid lunges forward, swinging her imaginary sword. She came to a stop a sword’s length from her companion and rolled her eyes, “Only useful if I can get a sword.” Even then she had only worked with regulation foils so real blades would be different. “Besides, there is something so much more satisfying when your punch or,” She moved fast and with precision, “kick lands”. Her leg lashed out, aimed directly for his side.

“Up to you really, mine is a bit more…” What word seemed to explain just how her scorpions worked? “Physical in reaction. Then again I figure it's best to save it just in case it's needed later.” Antares tried to explain. She didn’t particularly like the feeling of having to ‘count’ just how many times she could trigger her magic, to budget her attacks. She didn’t want to be caught in another tight spot without any way to get out of it other than relying on others. She hated that. She was better than that. Especially when that tight spot also put someone she cared about in danger. That was one of the main reasons she was there, training with Chaldene. Being outnumbered was not an excuse, she wasn’t going to go down without a fight nor was she going to let such a fight happen again, not if she could help it.

Like he just did for her kick, she did some avoiding as well… sort of. Rather than taking the strike to her side she took the punch on her arm. It would leave a wicked bruise but it was better than a sore rib. “Because I can protect myself and others.” Because by fighting she wasn’t a victim. She wasn’t just someone who would roll over. Antares might not be able to ‘save the world’ but she could damn well try to save those she loved from evil. She had failed once before… hell would freeze over before she let herself fail again. With more anger and force then she really intended the blonde threw a one, two punch-kick at Chaldene. A punch towards the gut and a heel kick towards his leg.

Antares blocked the incoming strike only to actually freeze when she registered not the closed fist that she expected but an open palm. “Did you…. Did you just try to slap me?” She asked him quite incredulously. “Why a slap? A punch would be so much more effective?” Not that she would have let him punch her in the face but the slap, now that made her stop and actually take several steps back, both mentally and physically. The blonde felt a bit chagrined when she took in her sparring opponent. Yes one should expect to get hurt during training but he looked a little worse for wear, especially since she hadn’t intended to really cause him any real pain.

“Sorry about that,” She apologized before shrugging and responding to his suggestion about finding a lieutenant ‘to beat up’. “No, that would be like picking on a kid.” That's honestly how she was starting to feel for ‘training’ with Chaldene. Like she was picking on someone weaker, which is ironic because by virtue of their magic he was actually stronger. She was just meaner… and fought more. “I just-” She stopped and paced around a bit, “I just need to get better. Stronger. I’ve got Sarah now to protect, and Nate. It’s not just me any more.” Technically it hadn’t been just her for a very long time but everyone, well almost everyone, around her could protect themselves. That wasn’t the case anymore. Not by a long shot. “I just can’t be caught unaware again. I can’t!” That fight, the one where Nate awoke, just made it painfully clear to her that she needed to get stronger. She had too!

With a sigh Antares looked at her ‘brother’ and asked, “Would you rather just go patrolling?” It might be safer for you then training at least, she mentally added. He really needed to train more as well. It didn’t take much more than just a brow raise and Chaldene agreeing to the change of plans before they headed out searching for youma who would be better targets to work her frustrations out on.