To Elias, it almost appeared like Kitty had transported them back to medieval Earth as he stumbled from the shock of teleportation. It took the wizard a moment to fully take in his surroundings. A high castle with soaring towers and guards in shining armor, a bustling and colorful market filled with all kinds of goods both familiar like apples and swords to alien foods and even a bit of off world tech. The rumble of a giant crowd surrounded the Elias as he stared at a scene from right out of childhood fantasy books. He smiled a bit, Phoenix Spire was certainly a whole lot better than Reach

The Wizard quickly checked his bag for all it’s contents: The spellbook, his pair of wands, a shield amulet, and a revolver, and checked his wizarding staff for any damages. He let out a light but relieved sigh after seeing everything was in perfect order.

The moment Kitty mentioned food, a the refreshing scent of freshly baked pastries slammed into his nose and his stomach growled loudly. It had been a while since he had been able to get a decent meal, everything back on Reach had been grabbed out of a convenience store. Elias could feel the fat of eating processed foods sitting around his stomach.

“Yeah,” Elias replied, “I’ll take pretty much anything at this point.” The wizard quickly began walking towards a nearby bakery before skidding to a halt. “Shit,” he muttered, “I don’t have any money.”

Kitty chuckled at the noise his stomach made, then followed after him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I've got it." She then led him into the bakery, a slight smile on her face as she greeted the baker. The baker greeted her with a wide smile, he seemed like a jolly middle aged man with a bit of a pot belly, once again thanking her for helping put the rightful queen back on the throne. "Would you like your usual Miss Youngblood?" "Sure, why not?" Over the few days that she had stayed here with Jaya, she had become a regular costumer at the bakery. 

The baker passed Kitty a small white box, already she could smell its contents and grinned. "Donuts..." Kitty withdrew a coin purse from within her coat, opening it up and putting several coins on the counter, probably too many. The baker had since stop insisting that she not pay so much, thankful for the business as Kitty turned to Elias already munching on a powdered donut with powder all around her mouth. "Get whatever you want."

Doughnuts. Of course. Elias should have guessed that after one moment of looking at Kitty. Though what surprised him more was how quickly the jolly middle aged baker recognized the girl, and how quickly he had the box of doughnuts prepared. It was almost as if Kitty was a regular or royalty of some kind. The wizard quickly picked out a freshly baked cinnamon bagel and kindly thanked the baker before following Kitty outside. They began walking towards the castle, their boots clicking on the cobblestone road.

“Hey Kitty,” Elias started as he munched on his deliciously warm bagel, “If you were to eat a jelly doughnut, could you use your fangs to suck out the jelly first?”

Instead of snapping at him Kitty just rolled her eyes, waving around a chocolate donut. "Oh hardy har har, real funny Harry Potter." They were walking towards the castle, Kitty waving and smiling at people as they passed. She seemed almost like a different person from when he first met her, surrounded by dead bodies with blood running down her chin, now she had a bit of a bounce in her step and she was smiling a lot. "You want one?" Surprisingly she held the box out to him, there were two chocolate donuts left and one powdered with two strawberry frosted donuts. "Oh did I forget to mention I'm related to the Queen? We're going to be training in the castle."

“Oh, you’re related to the queen,” Elias replied quickly, “Are you her daughter or something?” The wizard almost wanted to turn around and find some way to teleport to some other planet. There was no way the queen of Phoenix Spire would be happy Kitty brought a guy home. It could be taken entirely the wrong way or worse. On the plus side, castle life could be fun if the Queen decided to tolerate Elias’ presence, castle life was bound to be fun. Maybe Elias could even get his own ominous tower with a bunch of books and a secret magical laboratory.

The wizard quickly shoved the thoughts from his head and finished his bagel. Kitty offered him a doughnut. Elias shook his head in refusal.

“I don’t have much of a sweet tooth,” He replied as the pair approached the giant wooden doors that lead into the castle.

Kitty snorted, giving him a side glance. "The Queen is my daughter." As they approached the castle doors Kitty gave a nod to the castle guards, who then in turn opened the doors for them which allowed them to walk inside. "I may look 18, but I'm actually 1516 years old." She then finished up her donuts fairly quickly, tightening her grip on the box as fire spread across her hands. Slowly the box caught fire too until it burned into nothing. Then she began leading him down a hallway, the more they walked the more the hallway seemed to become dusty with cobwebs in the corners. 

"Got anymore questions? Oh and we're heading to the west tower, it's one of the towers that hasn't really gotten cleaned up much yet but I can help with that. I was originally gonna stay there but I prefer the outdoors more." She talked as she walked, it progressively got more creepy old castle looking as they moved. Then they reached a doorway that presumably that led up to the tower. She opened the door and made a hand motion. "After you."

Elias’ jaw nearly dropped off as Kitty said the Queen was her daughter. It almost fell off when Kitty said she was 1516 years old. The wizard did his best to conceal his surprise, he made sure to stand slightly behind Kitty as he regained his composure. Kitty lead Elias through a maze of corridors, each becoming dingier and more dimly lit than the last until they got to what appeared to be the entrance to one of the larger towers within the gigantic fantasy castle. Elias rubbernecked around, checking for any nearby guards.
None.
And it was likely no one was near enough to hear Elias scream.

The Wizard nervously stepped through the door. He was pleasantly greeted with some natural light filtering through tall, narrow slits in the castle’s dark gray stone. Barrels of weapons and racks of armor lined the circular room, though the dusty center had been cleared. A simple wooden staircase spiraled along one of the walls, leading to higher and presumably brighter upper levels where more items were stored, maybe even bedrooms and studies too.

“So,” Elias asked as he slowly walked towards the center of the room, his boots leaving tracks in a thin layer of dust on the room’s floor, “is this the training room? Or are we going higher?”

"I can smell your fear you know." She remarked casually when they entered the room, letting out a cough as the opening of the door triggered a cloud of dust into their air. "A good dusting and we'll actually be able to breathe in here." Kitty then stretched her arms above her head, looking around as her sensitive eyes saw much more than his eyes did. She should probably get started. "You can head up if you'd like, put your stuff away familiarize yourself with everything, get settled and all that jazz. By the time you come back down I'll have this place dust free, mostly."

Elias nodded and quickly scaled the stairs, leaving Kitty to do her fear smelling and dusting. He quickly scaled the tower, strolling through three floors of food, weapons, and a large communal bathroom that appeared remarkably clean until he reached the top floor, which by then was four stories up. Much less of a walk than Elias had originally thought. A tough looking wooden door at the top of the stairs blocked anyone from simply walking inside even though the door was unlocked. Elias strolled in and looked around.

The room was fairly modest sized, roughly the size of most apartments back on earth, except circular and appeared much older with a cone shaped ceiling, though half of it was blocked by a wooden floor which was reachable by a ladder. Carpets of mostly blue sat under some of the more important areas of the building An empty wood burning fireplace sat to one side with a handful of easy chairs ahead and tall bookshelves depressingly devoid of books flanking each side of the fireplace. On the other side sat a queen sized bed with white sheets and a fluffy blue comforter. Light shone through a large curved glass window looking out upon the city. Despite the short walk, the room Elias stood in towered over the rest of Phoenix Spire. The wizard quickly checked the chest at the foot of the gigantic bed and a wardrobe sitting off to the side. Both empty, hopefully signifying no one had taken such a perfect room. The wizard placed his staff and bag on top of the bed. He made sure to grab his wand before heading back down four floors to the training room which apparently wasn’t a basement anymore.

“Hey, I’m back” Elias said as he stepped back down into their to-be training room.

Kitty had mostly done what she said she would do, the room was nearly dust free and the air was much cleaner. She had changed into workout clothes as well, a dark blue tank top with a black activewear jacket over it and some black capri leggings. But she wasn't wearing any shoes, or any socks either. Then she waltz right up to Elias, a slightly amused yet determined look on her face. "Good. Now punch me as hard as you can. I want to see what I'm dealing with."

Kitty asked Elias to punch her the moment he made it to the basement. He paused for a moment.

“Uh,” the wizard replied, “Okay I guess.” Elias quickly slipped out of his thin green army jacket and shifted a little bit in his well worn, but comfortable jeans baggy white t-shirt and scuffled his high-top black converse weren’t loose. He hadn’t really read how to throw a proper punch, but Elias figured it couldn’t be that hard.

He clenched his left hand into a fist and started walking slowly towards kitty, though he quickly began picking up speed. Elias pulled his fist far back and threw a left hook straight at Kitty’s stomach, aiming to strike just left of her bellybutton.

Kitty was knocked back just a step and wheeled slightly, her jaw clenched. "Alright, not terrible but not great either." Within a second she had regained her composure and walked over to Elias, taking his left hand. "But that's not really how you throw a punch, not how you should make a fist either." She made his hand into a fist, but put his thumb on the outside rather than the inside of the fist. "If you keep your thumb tucked in like that you're going to break it." 

Then Kitty walked around him, moving him into the right position. "Bend your knees a little bit, stagger your feet." She got back in front of him and pushed his head down a little. "Chin down." Then she made his other hand into the proper fist and brought both of them up to the sides of his face. "Hands up." Kitty looked at the stance she just put him in and nodded, "Now push off your back foot and jab quickly. The lead foot will slide forward slightly before impact." Kitty stood in front of Elias again, making a motion with her hands. "Okay now try and punch me again. If you can throw the punch properly this time on the next one I'll show you how to stop one."

So Elias had managed to knock her back a step. In his opinion, it was pretty good since he had never thrown a punch before. Though he also wasn’t surprised that it was an awful punch. He silently followed Kitty’s orders. Wider stance, bent at the knees. Hands in front of face like a brawler. Then it dawned on him, a punch wasn’t so much a sledgehammer as it was a snap. He needed to be fast and precise, the power would follow behind. He probably wanted to strike with the smallest area possible, the first two knuckles.

“Okay,” Elias replied, he raised his fists properly in front of his face and chest. The wizard dew his left fist down to his belt and punched. With his shoulders stiff and a slight step forward with his right foot, Elias fist rotated as it flew towards Kitty’s face, the first two knuckles aiming to perfectly collide with her nose.

Kitty had planted her feet into the ground this time so she didn't move when the fist slammed into her nose. There was a sickening cracking and crunching noise and zKitty's head flew back a bit and she very nearly stumbled back. Blood gushed out of her now broken nose and down her face, which made the grin she shot Elias look a bit scary. "Excellent." Kitty reached up and winced, setting her nose back into place, the broken bones healing within a couple seconds. Kitty walked over to one of the tables that had been pushed against the wall, grabbing a rag and wiping away the blood from her face. Within a couple seconds it didn't even look like her nose had ever been broken. "That was much better Elias."

Then she walked back over to Elias, her lips tugging upward in a slight smirk. "Alright now try and do that again and I'll show you a possible way to stop a punch."

Blood splattered on Elias’ fist as it crunched into Kitty’s nose. The surprising shock of the impact made the Wizard question if his own fist was alright after such an impact. Though Kitty’s grin was what made him take a step backwards. It was almost as if she enjoyed getting hit. Elias made a mental note not to mess with that too much.

The wizard watched as Kitty set her nose back into place, it quickly healed afterwards, though still left the sticky crimson blood on her face. She asked Elias to punch her again.

“I’m starting to think you like getting hit,” Elias commented as he threw a right handed punch at Kitty’s jaw.

In a lightning fast movement Kitty caught his wrist with one hand while the other grasped his forearm. She turned so that her back was facing Elias's front and moved a step closer before bending slightly, the hand on his forearm sliding up to his bicep. Then using her own strength she flipped him over her shoulder, which would have left him sprawled on his back on the floor. She still had a decent grip on his arm, twisting it just enough to cause pain but not enough to injure him while she planted her foot in his stomach with enough force to keep him down. "It's not that I like getting hit, I'm just used to getting hit. You don't really think about pain or getting injured much when you can heal a broken nose in under a minute." Kitty held him down with her hand twisting his arm for a couple moments before releasing her grip, taking her foot off of his stomach and extending a hand to him to help him up.

"Now, would you rather keep practicing your punches or do you want to learn how to do what I just did? Since it's your first day I'll give you a choice."

Before Elias’ fist could connect with Kitty’s jaw, the wizard almost immediately found himself on the ground belly first with his arm twisted behind his back. His shoulder burned with the unusual angle his arm was being held at.

“Ungh,” Elias groaned, trying to slip out of Kitty’s tight grip, “Yeah, let’s try doing this, but less pinning and more blocking.”

Kitty chuckled, then helped Elias to his feet with an amused smirk on her face. "Alright, but that's less fun." Kitty waited until Elias got into stance, then lowered his arms just slightly. "Alright I'm going to show you how to block a punch now." Kitty got into her own stance, but brought her fist forward at a much slower pace so she could explain what he should fo. "You take a half step back using the foot opposite of the punch and bat it aside with your forearm." As she spoke the hand that wasn't clenched into a fist reached out and grabbed his arm, guiding it through the steps before stepping back again and resuming her stance. 

"Because you're human, obviously I'm not gonna hit even half as hard as I usually would. Maybe even less than that..." She trailed off then shrugged, moving forward quickly with her fist aiming for the middle of his chest.

Elias listened carefully to Kitty’s explanation. It was simple enough, just a step back and a deflection. There was a kind of simple brilliance to it. The defender was making himself a smaller target while making it easier to deflect a punch. Though the little fear in him made Elias wonder whether or not ‘half power’ was really as weak as she let on. The wizard raised his fists in a ready position in front of his chest to block Kitty’s oncoming punch.

Half power was still a hell of a lot faster than what Elias expected. Kitty’s fist suddenly blurred towards his stomach. Elias only managed to deflect the blow away from his stomach, after which it squarely struck his shoulder and threw the wizard to the floor.

“You call that half power,” Elias questioned, rubbing the bruise he could feel forming underneath his t-shirt.

Kitty suddenly straightened, rubbing the back of her neck and giving him a slightly sheepish smile. "Sorry, I'm used to going all out. It's been awhile since I've had to hold back my strength." She yet again helped him to his feet, her sheepish smile turning apologetic. "Do you want to go through that again or do you want ice?" Normally she would have just laughed at him and told him to get up, but she'd go easy on him on his first day. "If you wanna go another round I promise I'll be gentler."

“I can take a hit or two,” Elias retorted as he stood up, his wince was obvious when he put weight on his injured shoulder, “But I wouldn’t mind you going a little slower, maybe I’ll last longer.”

Elias grinned and quickly stepped forward, throwing another low punch with his uninjured right arm towards kitty’s abdomen. If she blocked that, he would take another step backwards and go for a kick aimed at her chest.

She easily blocked his punch by batting it away with her forearm, a smirk beginning to grow on her face. She saw the kick as well and caught his ankle before it even made contact, raising a brow and looking down at it. "My my, moving to second base already?" Maintaining a firm grip on his ankle, she gave it a yank which would most likely pull it forward. Her other hand made a fist, moving forward and under with the intention of having it impact his stomach yet again. Although there wasn't nearly as much power in it as her previous punches did. There was a teasing and slightly cocky smirk on her face, taunting him. "And sweetie I meant softer, not slower. I don't do slow."

Another blur straight towards the stomach. It’s speed hadn’t decreased, but there wasn’t enough force to knock Elias on the ground, even if he had only been standing on one foot. The force of the punch still stung, though.


“Second base?” Elias questioned as he tried for another punch, he intentionally missed to give himself enough time to whip his wand from his pants and point it towards Kitty, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kitty snickered at Elias's question, shaking her head and shoving his leg back in an attempt to knock it off balance before letting his leg go. Then her eyes fell on his wand, her cocky and teasing smirk growing wider as she stalked forward despite the threat the wand might pose. "What? You going to fire blast me?" She taunted him, still moving towards him. "Do it, I dare you."