Harsh Heat (Open)

[Jay]

The heat was exhausting despite the fact that it was late in the afternoon and winter in the south... at least to the woman that was slowly dragging her form towards the Oasis. With each step, Nero grimaced a bit feeling the pain in her form from the damage she had taken not only from her assassination work hours earlier, but her stupid irritated attack on a certain noble man that had managed to get under her skin. All of her pokemon had been returned as she had walked away, all save for the Metagross by her side. Meteor wasn't about to leave his trainer in the now exhausted state she was in.

Natashi.... you're losing blood... Meteor stated as his eyes slowly looked back at the small droplets of blood that were slowly being devoured by the sand. You pushed yourself too far... on top of that, you're injured.... The Metagross would have continued playing the oddly angry 'mother' he was, yet Meteor found himself unable to when he found her staring at him in an extremely demanding way. After that, he simply fell silent and continued with her. Once they actually got to the water, it would be better. He wanted to carry her, yet Nero's stubborn pride refused to allow her to do such a thing especially when they were so close to the water.

A good twenty paces before she reached the water, Nero tripped and fell face first in the sand. Her mind and body was exhausted. Meteor looked extremely hurt to see her in that way, yet the dark haired woman slowly forced herself up again refusing the help that her Metagross was all but demanding for her to take. Starting to step again, Nero finally made it and finally bent down into the water. Her hands shakily took up some water, yet the taste of it was refreshing enough, to say the least of it. Breathing in and out, Nero slowly cooled.

[Jester]

Joey struggled through the shifting sand. She had to lift up her legs up high just so she could get back up the dune she had tumbled off of. Rouge waited up at the top for her return. He whinnied for her to hurry up. "Alright, alright. Just give me a second. This sword isn't exactly making this easier." Rouge tossed his head as he gazed across the sands. They were heading toward a nearby oasis they had spotted.

When he looked back down he saw Joey was almost at the top again. He took a step back as she scrambled back to the top of the dune. She panted as she pushed herself up. "Okay, which way now. " Rouge used his horn to point out a route he thought safest. Joey followed with a hand on his flank to make sure she didn't fall again.

The sand continued to threaten to slip out from under their feet as they slowly got closer. Joey let out a sigh of relief as she spotted the water. "Finally." Joey knelt down to cup water in her hands as rouge bent to take a drink himself. After she was able to wet her throat she grabbed the empty water flask on her belt. as she filled it she noticed the metagross. She stared at it a moment before seeing the person next to it. Rouge lifted his head to watch the two. His nostrils flared as he took in the scent of blood. He whinnied in worry as he nudged Joey with his leg. "Huh?" Joey stood up and walked closer to the two. "Hey, are you alright?"

[Jay]

Nero's entire form seemed to freeze when a voice hit her ears, and for a few seconds, she didn't move. Meteor, however, looked rather sharply to the person not far off. How had anyone gotten in that range without him noticing. Meteor was mentally kicking himself repeatedly for letting his guard down even here. The Metagross seemed to turn his full form and was now staring at Joey and Rogue with careful eyes. Despite what he wanted to do at that moment, Meteor held his temper. He reminded himself that he had had to cool Nero's temper just a few hours ago, yet here he was fidgeting over who this new person was.

After a few seconds, Nero finally turned her head and stared at Joey rather blankly. She had... experienced a moment of physical weakness and knew it... How long that woman had been there, Nero had no way of knowing unless she consulted Meteor, yet his surprise at the woman being there was of no good either. After a few seconds, Nero sat back from the water she had been soaking her arm in and turned her form to Joey. "I'm fine," she answered back rather carefully keeping the tone from her voice as she often did. The flatness of it kept it at a lower octave and was far more convincing as a young man's. After years of having it forced on her, Nero knew no difference now.

[Jester]

Joey took another step forward as she looked over the other person. Rouge wouldn't be worried for no reason so she wondered what was wrong. Behind her Rouge noticed how much sand had gotten on to Joey when she fell off the dune. He watched her a moment before pushing hard against her back. "Are yo-AAAHHH!" Joey swung her arms for a moment as the weight of her sword on her back stopped her from catching herself.

Rouge stepped back as she splashed down into the water. Joey churned up the water around her as she struggled to get up. Both the weight of her sword and now wet clothes threatened to keep her down. She sputtered as she was able to pull her top half out over the water. She glared up at the dry Rouge as she tried to pull the rest of herself up. "That's not funny Rouge!" Rouge snorted as he looked over her in laughter filled eyes.

"Seriously Rouge, you could have drowned me! This bloody sword weighs a ton!" Rouge snorted once more as he leaned down to grab the back of her collar and pulled her the rest of the way. Joey glared up at the blue flamed horse as he continued to laugh at her. "Hey, at least I'M cool."

[Jay]

Upon watching this strange event of sorts play out before her, Nero said nothing for a few moments before looking back at the water. Meteor, however, was now staring at the sword and projecting his thoughts at the dark haired woman. "If a sword is too heavy for you, you shouldn't keep it. It becomes nothing but a burden," Nero stated aloud rather dryly as she went back to sticking her fingers and wrist into the water. She fully believed what she said, and the words were far from sarcastic in nature.

Pft... what does a female of her form and stature think to carry such a bulky blunt object.... Meteor's thoughts rolled in Nero's mind psychically, yet the dark haired being didn't answer back any sort of thought or show nay sort of reaction. A part of her wanted to know much of Meteor's questions, yet another part of her knew better than to bluntly ask and possibly start a fight. Fighting when she was injured was illogical.... illogical, yes... Why had she allowed herself to get so irritated before. Nero now found herself mentally kicking herself much as Meteor had been only a few minutes prior.

Somewhere in the back of Nero's mind, she was wary that this woman could use the sword, yet something about just the air of the woman stated otherwise. Probably stole it from a corpse or something of that nature..... Though that didn't mean that she couldn't use it... any fool could use a weapon to kill.... Nero kept her senses open for the most part with this new thought on the rise. She'd defend herself if need be.

[Jester]

Joey began to wring out her clothes as she glared out of the corner of her eye at Rouge. Rouge just shook his head before bending down to drink once more. "You're luck I wont push you in." He simply rolled his eyes as he swished his fiery blue tail. Joey looked up when she heard the person speak. She grinned as she finished wringing out her clothes. "Its not to heavy, just tends to be a pain at the worst times. Besides, if I couldn't manage this I wouldn't make a very good fighter."

She then reached back and and wrapped her hand around the long handle. She pulled it free and set it standing in the sand next to her. Joey turned to look at the other person. "So what brings you to the desert?" Joey felt Rouge's eyes on her back and wondered if he'd try pushing her in again.

[Jay]

The dark haired woman didn't answer back about the sword and simply mentally shook her head at it. She would never carry such a bulky thing around, but then again, she was not a blunt out fighter either. Needles and long range attacks were more of her specialty at the end of it all. When the question of what she was doing out in the desert came, Nero seemed to turn her full attention to the girl then and there. "I was working and walking," she answered back rather easily summing up her entire set of endeavors as of the past few days as well as the most recent hours.

Meteor sweat dropped at the comment but seemed to mentally relax at the response of sorts. "And you?" she asked after a moment more or less turning it around out of habit rather than anything else. Do you think she is a bandit? came Meteor's thoughts solely directed at Nero. The dark haired woman seemed to close off her mind from the Metagross which only caused him to mentally sigh understanding that she was keeping her thoughts from him until she had made a decision for herself. Despite the fact that they had been together for so long and shared their thoughts through psychic connections more often than not, they were indeed two different people with two different thoughts and not fully one.

[Jester]

Joey turned so her back was toward the water. That way it would be easier to move out of the way if Rouge did anything. "We're out here to do some training. We wanted to try training in different climates and places." Rouge pawed at the ground at the word 'training'. It was making him want to practice. Joey looked at him with an eyes raised. "Now?" Rouge nodded as he pawed at the sand once more.

Joey let out a sigh as she picked up her sword. "Alright, but no more pushing me into the water." She spread her legs in a steady stance as Rouge suddenly charged at her. He lowered his head and her sword clanged against his horn. She was pushed back a few feet beside the water. She gritted her teeth as she pushed back against him. She stopped moving back as he continued to push against her. Neither were budging.

Neither would be surprised if the person was weirded out by what they were doing."Alright Rouge, we'll only do this for a little while." Rouge snorted as he continued to try to push her back. Joey pushed back just as hard and was able to push him back slightly.

[Jay]

More surprised rather than perturbed by what she saw, Nero watched this odd 'training' and couldn't help but mentally sweat drop at it more. After a moment, she pulled out a few bandages and just went to work on her arm and side but kept an eye on the girl. "Structural brute force is ineffective in most environments," the dark haired woman stated rather flatly. "Though close range does show benefits time wise." Why was she even critiquing the movements? She was an assassin not a teacher... -.-; Rai would probably have had a fit if he heard her talks right now... eh... oh well. Nero wasn't fully sure what she expected to get as a reaction, yet something in her was demanding that she say something about swords and what not.

This person... was far from normal, as it already appeared with one carrying a large weapon that would probably startle a crowd beyond belief just as easily as gunshots would. However, it was far from Nero's nature to usually take notice of such things outside of the general mechanics that worked in self-preservation and taking fight against such a thing. Now the question was no longer why such a thing had caught Nero's attention so much as it was what was she going to fully do about it if anything? If there was a threat, Nero could react easily, yet this just seemed..... "Why are you training in such a way?" was the final question that came from the dark haired cross-dresser.

Meteor had nearly attacked when he had caught sight of the girl's version of 'training'. His entire form had stiffened rather hard as his belief that Nerio was in danger came to full circle. However, when this odd 'training' came about, he relaxed again and watched it rather carefully. Much like Nero's quiet acceptance of it, Meteor slowly seemed to take on the idea that this was simply what was going on. That didn't stop questions as to why, of course, but he was more apt to not attack on sight now that he had seen the weapon: lucky for this girl as far as Meteor believed anyways.

[Jester]

Rouge narrowed his eyes as he felt his hooves scraped against the sand under him. He huffed as he pushed back harder against Joey. His ears twitched when he heard the person asked why they were training like this. Wasn't it obvious? Joey chuckled when she saw the confused look in Rouge's eyes. She made sure not to let up as she answered. "Simple, It's to help us hold our ground no matter how much strength behind an opponents blow or the terrain."

Joey felt her feet begin to slip once more. She dug her feet down and pushed hard. This time Rouge was pushed back even farther. He snorted as he struggled to stop sliding back. When he couldn't stop he twisted to the side and shook his head. Joey grinned as she pulled back and rested her sword across her shoulders. "I also to some speed training with my other pokemon. We try to train according to our natural skills."
Joey thought of the times she got Makura to zap her sword so she could work on keeping her grip on it.

[Jay]

Nero was rather quiet after this and seemed to slowly stand upwards and then took everything with a new center of eye. She guessed... that if one didn't have a training partner that was human... then pokemon did seem to at least hold somewhat of an option. However, attacking her own pokemon, even if it was to train, was outrageous in the mid of Nero. She'd rather fight the entire gang she was in alone rather than make her own pokemon fight each other. However, again, that was Nero.

Meteor, who had had quite enough of watching the fight, had resolved to instead start using psychic on the water causing it to ripple and bend more than normal before finally rushing upwards and sprinkling here and there. It was, in all cases, for his own amusement, in the end of it all.