Beauty and the Beast

Cala sincerely regretted their first choice of attack as Aina not being prepared for the blow, in their mind, defeated the purpose of the training. Never mind the intense, almost immediate, and entirely emotional backlash they received from making her bruised and hurt. In truth if Aina had acted anything less than as ready for more as she had Cala would have stopped themselves, but her light-hearted comment about them being crafty did wonders to assuage their guilt and worry, The adorable way in which she wiggled her nose and giggled at them brought Cala no small amount of joy, no small amount of happiness, and as the plum energy orb launched back into them they did not dodge the blow. Instead they surged their Hierro with energy to block the blow also, perhaps, taking the return attack as a bit of penance for surprising her as they had. Though as Aina mentioned her energy reacting on it's own Cala nodded, glad to hear it.

"Indeed my Aina, while we did not mean to surprise you, being able to avoid such a thing in the future is invaluable. Many of our kind hunt by such means. But.... as you wish."

Electing to take into account the distance Aina had made Cala would extend their hand, energy forming in their hand in a swirling black mass, lit upon it'd edges by luminous white light, before that energy began to break apart and fling itself towards Aina as if drawn to her by gravity itself. A barrage of weak Bala like that of an semi-automatic rifle leaving Cala's hand to, relatively lightly on their own, pepper Aina's defenses. No individual Bala would harm her much, or her defenses for that matter, but Cala felt this was a good way to gauge just how much her shield could take by putting it under constant, small increments of pressure.

If Aina avoided the barrage rather than take it head on Cala would respond by sweeping their hand after her, briefly, before ceasing to launch Bala and correcting their aim in front of her to try and cut off her movement with a renewed stream of Bala. Testing Aina's speed if she dodged by nudging her into an abrupt stop and change of direction if she could or, if she could not, more Bala to assault her defenses. For this initial phase of their training Cala kept their attacks against Aina light, probing, as their senses kept a close track of her. Whether Aina could sense the heartfelt and intimate radar Cala really had on her, almost simultaneously attacking her while having the Pesquisa-equivalent of loving eyes on her, remained to be seen if Aina's own senses could pick up on such a thing.

"Let the hunt commence!"

With a prompt and chipper response from Aina, the woman grinned and went on to forge a purple shield around herself meant to tank and absorb the blasts impact. Not being one to be a sitting duck, especially when something felt off with this ominous feeling of being watched, the woman bolted toward the sky to keep gaining distance.

Something within Aina was growing more potent and she knew she needed a strong attack in order to do some damage to him. However, she knew staying in one place wasn't good and just needed another moment or two to get her powers in order before striking down. So, as the balls started to fly upward, she just had to try and see if she could outrun them for the moment as her entire body was drenched in an indigo hue.

"Catch me if you can, Calalaalalal~"

Even as Cala unleashed streams of Bala into the treetops, just a few of the obsidian orbs winging Aina as they swept after her, Cala let a bit of satisfaction, small, warm and happy, seep into his features. Though they were doing something close to battle and risking injury against the other Aina's chipper attitude and beautiful grin made them snort softly and observe her moving further and further away. As Aina broke conventional line of sight Cala lowered their hand and hummed at her cheerful cry, her taunt, and they tilted their head. They paused for only one moment, conflicted for one second, before beginning to stalk forward with purpose.

Normally Cala would not walk into such an obvious goad of a trap, but their Pesquisa still maintained a thorough focus on Aina and her gorgeous plum energy, so they would walk forward into the wilderness for a short time before crouching down ever so slightly. In a burst of speed Cala would continue to travel along the ground, using the boughs and branches of the trees to somewhat obscure their dark form, and closed the gap between themselves and Aina, at least horizontally. Once they were nearly below Aina, assuming she did not try to do anything to stop or disrupt them, would launch themselves off the ground like a pouncing feline. Their free hand, the one not wielding their blade, outstretched and intent on grasp Aina around the waist if they could.

No doubt Aina would have a response to this action but Cala was allowing themselves to be just a bit careless, just a bit more.... fun.... for her sake. Acting just a tiny bit like a more mindless Hollow would even if the irony of doing so was not lost on them those were, for now, what Aina was most likely to have to contend with in her day to day life. However.....

Should Aina be caught successful Cala would grip her tightly, claws just barely digging into that plum energy until they could pierce skin, while they lifted Ceniza into an attempted slow, heavy downward slash with the flat of the blade. Attempting to send Aina careening back to the earth as, though she was nearly his angel, she would have to learn to protect her wings.

Speed was essential to keep up in battle as far as Aina was concerned. It mattered how fast you could react, attack, recover, summon energy, and think on the fly. So, she knew she had to be aware of her surroundings and observed him running through the forestland below her. When she saw that, the woman knew to hurry the hell up with whatever she was doing.

So, as Cala bolted from the grasslands below her, he would be greeted with an eruption of plum light as she summoned up a giant ball of energy meant to be on par with a cero. Focusing all her offensive potency into this strike, she turned around to avoid getting caught up in both of the hollow's attacks, hoping that this burst of destructive power would cancel them out, harm him, or at least send him backward.

As far as she was concerned, Cala must've been the stronger of the pair, so she assumed it would be alright, and only time would tell what the results of her assault would be. If it failed, she would undoubtedly be struck by his blade and forced into a defensive position to at least try and minimize some of the damage done to her.

Cala quickly learned what many wiser warriors could impart onto them: that to put oneself at the mercy of gravity and momentum without any way to manipulate your own trajectory was a BAD idea. Or to be more concise: jumping in combat is usually a stupid idea unless you can fly. An ability Cala lacked and thus they had no real way of dodging Aina's retort in the form of a potent blast that they grunted at the impact of. Their blade did not strike her full-on and, instead, as Cala was flung away the flat of their blade only weakly struck her left ankle.

Turning in mid-air was usually pretty disorienting for people but, thankfully for Cala, being able to see all around themselves also gave them the benefit of seeing how their body looked in three-dimensional space. With their body still flying away from Aina Cala summoned forth a tendril of Fade on their spare hand and compacting and extending it like a tendril, they would grasp a branch above and swing their body into their current trajectory. Using the tendril to pivot on they found themselves flipping over the branch from behind before landing atop it in a crouch. Their face angled toward Aina Cala would nod with respect and approval at her retort and, opening their mouth, would fire off a quick Cero in her direction. The singular blade of white-outlined-obsidian sailing towards her with appreciable speed.

After launching this Cero Cala would then begin to Sondio through the tree boughs after her and, where not possible to reach one conveniently, would form a platform of air to assist in their pursuit of their beloved Aina. Once Aina had either endured or, more likely, avoided the Cero Cala would take the opportunity to throw some Siegebreaker Bala at Aina. These Bala designed to counter and drain defensive techniques like Aina's reactive energy by being "coated" in small bits of Cala's Fade since the Fade would usually not drain Cala's own energy but, should theys trike the energy of another, they would latch on and begin to drink in the energy they touched.

Well, at least her attack seemed successful. However, that didn't mean the battle was over. It just meant she won that particular round.

So, ready to be on the defensive or offensive, Aina watched Cala and noticed him summoning a lot of energy. With a respectful nod given back to him, she forged a streak of plum energy in an attempt to make a sword that was dense in her power's influence. From there, she would jolt forward and slice the attack in two if everything went as planned. Since the intent was to slice the cero, have it split into two, and be turned away to the ground to explode. But, of course, if that didn't work, she would accept whatever consequences happened.

And regardless of what happened, she would have been taken off guard by the likes of soindo, given its quietness and speed. Aina was quick on her feet, but these movements of shunpo and soindo still were insanely fast to her. When he shot off those bala, she would have hit the ground with a thud at that point. Feeling pain in her back, legs, and overall spiritual body, she'd cough and feel more tired than before from the draining effect of fade.

Yet, even with her head spinning and damage taken, the woman bolted away from Cala to recover, observe and then prepare for her next attack as she was trying to summon more spiritual energy; but needed a moment of reprieve to catch herself as she was pushing herself a fair bit in this fight.

Cala observed with satisfaction as Aina summoned forth a blade of energy and sliced their Cero in twain, deflecting it successfully, though the she was struck by the Bala and sent tumbling. Normally Cala was at least minutely pleased by claiming the energy of another, and Aina's energy was like an addiction to them, but this once they wished they did not feel it returned to them. Seeing their beloved Aina in such dire straits made them grimace briefly, pausing as they leapt down to the forest floor with her, using a tendril of Fade to cushion their fall and to slide down to the ground once again.

Watching Aina flee with their senses for a handful of seconds Cala nodded and began to let their energy flare fully, the exertion billowing the air around them as they grit their fangs and slowly wrenched their mouth open, putting all they could into their next Cero. The ball of energy would waver, rupture and flare with barely controlled energy. Cala would then drop to all fours, claws and feet digging into the ground as they fired off the Cero not at Aina but a bit above her head and would scythe their neck from left to right. Their Cero not targeting Aina but instead cleaving through many tree trunks around her and sending them tumbling down all around her.

With their muscles now aching and their breathe burning with energy, exhaustion making them pant gently, Cala would gently rise to their feet and begin to walk after Aina as the trees fell down around her. They were taking things slow for a moment, letting themselves catch their breathe, and letting their energy try and recover a bit. That Cero had taken quite a bit out of them, all that they could put into one individual Cero anyways, and like a particularly heavy set of reps at the gym it left them feeling it afterwards though not COMPLETELY depleted as far as their energy was concerned. They did still have the energy to rush forward and snatch Aina from beneath the falling trees if it seemed like she would be overwhelmed by the tumbling timber and move her to safety.

"Don't worry. I'm not a soft girl, Cala. I will be okay. This is a hard workout for me, but you can't grow if you aren't pushed."

With a smirk on her face, even if the woman was sweating, she made sure her voice was heard through the battlefield since she could project her words further out so he could listen to her. After all, she WAS at least a few buildings high up from him.

Well....until he started flinging trees at her. Dumbfounded, the woman yelled out in surprise and summoned a fluster of indigo flames at the tree. Since she couldn't think of something else to destroy them with, her instinct was to turn to fire since no pile of wood could endure a forest blaze.

Bolting backward more, she just wanted to maintain her distance. He would mop the floor with her physically, but they both were pushing themselves, and she at least had the long-distance advantage and flight and needed to make the most of it with her energy reserves. So, as she fought against the strain, the woman wriggled her nose, relaxed her body, and focused on just sitting with the pain.

In moments, she yelled and let off a flurry of Bala's toward him to make the male exert himself and produce more energy. She had no intent to kill him, but it could give him a few burns, raddle his ears, and cause debris to go everywhere across a small house area. As she panted, she wiped away the sweat and continued.

"I've gotta keep pushing myself, so let's go, big boy."

Cala's senses contracted and focused on Aina as she conflagrated one of the trees that had been about to land on her. An action that made Cala pause, their body stiffening in.... fear? A sudden, cold stab of worry and apprehension would arrest their motions, their skin beginning to permeate with sweat and they nearly, nearly erupted toward Aina to help her but as her motions drew her further away they paused. With their senses still following Aina as she retreated Cala did divert their senses briefly, taking in the indigo flames of the fallen tree, Cala grimaced at this.

As Aina began to gather energy to let loose her Bala Cala would summon forth a wall of Fade to intercept and absorb the balls of plum energy, though he would also hold up a hand to Aina, signaling for her to stop.

"One moment, my Aina, I would like to put out these flames...."

Turning their Fade to the indigo fire Cala would smother the flames with the Fade and, feeling another stab of that unknown, cold fear that wrenched their gut, would exhale sharply once it was done. With the fire put out, the threat to the forest Aina lived in extinguished, Cala would begin to gather their own energy and nod at her.

"Then try this next....."

Gathering up a Cero in their maw Cala would extend both hands outward, forming spheres of energy within their grasp, before flinging out those spheres and have them break apart into two small clusters of Bala that arced at Aina from slightly different angles. Once they got closer to Aina Cala would then fire off a Cero that, mid-flight, would break in twain and hone in one Aina, from above and below. By this point Cala began to feel.... tired.... they had not pushed themselves like this since sparring with Ariadna and they did not even have the benefit of having an opponent with a massive reserve of energy to leech off of.

It seems this was turning into an energy fight. This was just the type of thing that Aina needed to exercise that aspect of her soul further. If she were going to produce some unique kind of power, she wanted to make sure she had the fuel and strength to support it. And what better way than by getting used to straining herself like this?

So, when those numerous bala's came at the woman, she smirked, wriggled her nose, and had a circle of plum energy devour and explode around her as she temporarily put a makeshift shield around herself to protect from the fall out of the blows. Of course, a loud bang, explosion, and shockwave would come of this. And when it was over, she promptly broke the energy shield as she needed time to recover.

However, that wouldn't come as she noticed Cala had spilt one cero into one. With her eyes widened with anticipation, Aina saw one coming from below and another from above. Not having much time to react, she gritted her teeth and tried to push a large sum of energy into her arms and limbs to try and physically stop it. Her foot would try to deflect the other while her arms would grab the one from above.

While she could chuck away the top cero into the ground in a loud boom, the other one lacked enough stopping strength to prevent it from exploding, and she was sent flying back down to earth in a small carter of smoke, debris, and dirt. Panting, dirty, and covered in bruises, Aina spat some blood in her mouth and slowly came to her feet before holding her hand.

"God damn, that packed a punch. I'm gonna need a breather for a second."

Sounding out of breath, the woman fell back on her butt and chuckled once she was out of the hole and chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. This is what we are here to do: train. And you can't train if you don't get your ass knocked down a few times."