Aura stood in the remains of a bar, not much was left in tact, and a robot over twice the height of Aura was advancing on her. Aura Had originally fought two of the robot's but she had taken out one, but this was seemed smarter. Aura wondered if the Order's computers could learn. Looking Around Aura could see no cover left, with a swear word she formed an Aura drill on her left hand and formed an an Aura axe in the other. Aura dodged the robot again and rushed it, driving the Axe, into it's chest, pulling her other hand back, she thrust it forward only to have the robot grab her and pulls her away. It raised her up to eye level and began to squeeze. Aura cired out as she felt her AUra start to fail, unable to resist. Quickly Aura let her weapons fade back into her Aura, and fomed a blade at her stomch and moved it up slowly cutting through each finger, untill Aura fell back to the ground, breathing hard.

The Robot Seemed unfazed by the wounds and kept coming, sparks comming out of it's severd fingers. It tried to punch Aura again but Aura moved out of the way just in time and cut through the foot of the robot, and at last it to fell and stopped moving. The Var faded away and Sanctuary staff quickly began to take care of the robot's remains, many of them kept their distance from her. "Getting better, no broken bones this time" she said as she moved to the room counsol and turned the safeties back on.

Aura sat down and got her water bottle, she was training for more live fight she had managed to arrange. It had to be kept secret and Aura was not quite sure Lori would approve, but she had never given an order against it. With a smile she downed the water bottle and stood up, walking back to the counsel. She stood thinking of what program to use next.

Lydia wandered through the Sanctuary, unsure of what to do. All she could think about what Phillip's body, how he had no family to claim it. It was just sitting in some morgue. The thought angered Dia, as did the fact that the police was hardly doing anything about the case. It was murder, wasn’t it? So why weren’t they out there trying to find out who was responsible? Why wasn’t anyone doing anything to give him the justice they deserved?

The teenager’s body shook in anger as she spun around and sent her fist flying to the wall. She cringed, waiting for the pain from the impact to start pulsing through her hand, but surprisingly found none. She opened her eyes to see that she had started shifting (big surprise, it seemed to happen whenever she was feeling a particular emotion strongly). Her hand was slowly becoming an off-white, champagne color, matching the topaz on her necklace.

Lydia still had to work on her mutation control too. Sadness began to wash over her as she leaned against the wall and sank to the ground. Phillip..Phil… Someone had to give him justice. But she was so...weak. If her actions during certain past events were any indication, she wasn’t exactly the most battle-savvy person around. She’d always been staying off on the sidelines, watching the action happen but not partaking in it until others were hurt and she forced herself to go and help them. Lyd wasn’t brave like Andrew or Rhythm. She was a coward who didn’t know how to protect herself or the ones she cared about. She needed that to change.

Suddenly she found herself in front of the Training Room, in a cotton t-shirt and leggings. She had no idea how to work the room, but judging from the sounds coming from inside, the room was already in use by someone else. Someone who knew what they were doing. Hopefully he/she wouldn’t mind helping the skin-shifter out. Lyd walked through the sliding doors and surveyed the scene before her. There was a girl who looked around her age taking a swig from her bottle of water, and various staff members cleaning up what seemed to be the remainders of a robot. Did this girl do this? She had a pink glow around her whole body, which obviously had something to do with her mutation.

Dia tried not to judge the girl by her cover, or in this case her pretty pink glow, and approached her. “Um, hi. I came in here to train and learn how to fight and…it seems you know what you’re doing. Do you mind teaching me how to work this room?”

Aura looking over at the girl, even as the glow around her took a more solid look to it. Aura considered the question and at first gave just a nod. "I do not mind, my friend, but first can we start with your name and what your power is?" she asked calmly and warmly. "My name is Aura and my power....." she said and trailed off as her aura suddenly began to flow to her hand and form something, quickly the shape of an axe could be made out, it quickly began to reshape itself until it took the shape of a sword, before finally losing it's shape and flowing back into her over all Aura. Aura's eye's glanced down at the girl's change hand. "If you could tell me what you know of your power's limits, that would be helpful to" she said not wanting to hurt the girl.

"The room works using robot's who can simulate many thing's a long with holograms of different locations. This helps people train in many different environments against various threats weather they be mutant or human. "The room has safety features to prevent death and normelly these can't be turned off" she siad which was true to an extent.

"I am quite well versed in combat, if you want my help further then showing you the machines. " she offered as she waived for the other girl to come over. "Over here you select the environment and here you select what you wish to face. " she said demonstrating each of the controls for her. "I was brought up on the battlefield" she said as she continued to show Lydia how the machine worked. "Can i ask why you wish to fight?" she said curious more then anything.

The girl, Aura, started off with a pretty standard greeting among mutants. You show me your mutation and I’ll show you mine. Well, except she demonstrated hers first. A pink aura that seemed harmless at first, quickly proved itself to be a formidable, frightening weapon, literally. Lydia watched in surprise and slight awe as the mysterious mutant warped and bended her aura into a large axe, and then a large sword, before seeming to reabsorb it into her body. It was scary, but insanely awesome at the same time. What else could Aura create with her…aura? (Well, it was pretty easy to see where the name came from.)

“My name’s Lydia, and I can change my skin into different textures, like wood or brick or…well, obviously I’m already shifted,” She replied, indicating her glittering, topaz skin. She had decided to leave it be, seeing as how she had to train her mutation as well. And it was hard to shift back, even more reason for her to train and get better with control. “And my limits…hmm, I can only shift into one thing at a time, and it takes some energy and concentration to shift, especially if I’m shifting back to normal.” She shrugged, knowing that her mutation wasn’t that powerful. It was just sort of flashy, an embellishment, and didn’t really have much usefulness other than to show off, in her opinion. But maybe with training that would change.

>> "The room works using robots who can simulate many things a long with holograms of different locations. This helps people train in many different environments against various threats weather they be mutant or human. The room has safety features to prevent death and normally these can't be turned off."

Prevent…death? So the room could get pretty intense. Hopefully it had an easy mode, lest Dia end up in more pain than desired. She could handle a workout, she could handle sweat. She could not handle breaking a bone. Or two. Or five. But she was jumping to conclusions, she had no idea what settings the room had. Surely it had something for beginners. And she had to be brave and be able to confront tough situations, not cower away at the thought of a broken nail. She had to change.

>> "I am quite well versed in combat, if you want my help further then showing you the machines. Over here you select the environment and here you select what you wish to face. I was brought up on the battlefield."

That was very nice of Aura to offer, and the skin-shifter started to become more comfortable. If anything the girl seemed eager to help, and she could use all of the aid she could get. Especially with someone with that much experience, as Aura had alluded. Brought up on a battlefield? She wondered what that meant, but kept her mouth closed while things were explained to her. Lydia nodded as she was shown what controls did what, and did her best to memorize the information. She observed as switches were pulled, buttons were pressed, and so on. This machine is so confusing… She thought, her brain struggling to process everything.

Aura’s last question threw Lyd off. Why did she want to learn how to fight? That was a long, complicated tale that she didn’t want to share. She didn’t want to feel the pain of remembrance, like she had only fifteen or so minutes ago, before she had entered the Training Room. “I…I just want to be able to protect myself and my friends,” she replied, hoping her answer would satisfy the other girl’s curiosity.

"I see, you have a beautiful gift, one that with training could well allow you to protect yourself and your friends with ease. From what i understand, you could touch a diamond and have your skin take on it's traits. I would recommend trying the same few textures, that way it will be easier to practice and rely on each one. The best way to survive is to know yourself, as well as those around you and know that to protect those you care about you may well be hurt or worse" she said even as the room shimmered into what looked like an African plain.

"Don't worry if you ever do get hurt in this room, sanctuary has a very good medical staff, believe me i would know, however on any setting you may get hurt" She said "But the machine can cater to many different experience level's, this one should be good for you. Don't worry if the machine seems hard now, you will get use to it, plus i am here a lot." she said with a smile. it was true Aura spent several hours a day training and much of it in the training room when she could.

"Mutants must help and protect one another. Our powers are wonderful thing's and we would not have them for no reason.We are our powers and they are us no different then an arm or a leg" she said having no idea how Lydia felt about being a mutant but she knew many mutants were scared of their powers or of what they were. Aura felt no mutant should ever need to be scared of what they were.

"Head out there a littile bit and the machine will send a few targets our way. They are robot's so their is no need to hold back, plus i'll help out she said as the aura around her right hand quickly formed a drill like shape, then let that melt back into her Aura as she lead the way to the middle of the room.

Around them about six human looking robot's came into veiw, another stood further away with a bat. Aura finnaly settled on an Axe. Her Aura also became less smooth and more angled. Though Most of the human robots stayed back, two got brave and approached the pair. Aura almost out of reflec rushed the first robot, but as she did her Axe turned into a hammer, which she struck the first human robot in the chest with, knocking it onto it's back.

>> "I see, you have a beautiful gift, one that with training could well allow you to protect yourself and your friends with ease.”

Lydia smiled at the compliment and grew hopeful. So her mutation could eventually become more useful? Aura looked really young, but she spoke with a lot of experience, a lot more than expected. But the skin-shifter wasn’t complaining. She had found the exact person she needed, and she was going to remain humble and really try to absorb what she was taught.

>> “I would recommend trying the same few textures, that way it will be easier to practice and rely on each one. The best way to survive is to know yourself, as well as those around you and know that to protect those you care about you may well be hurt or worse."

To know herself…how well did she know her mutation, really? She had played around with them before, especially after she met the gang back in LA, but that was all. This was the first time she was trying to really develop them and figure out how to use them properly. And Aura was saying that it was vital if she wanted to be able to protect the people she cared about. It was turning out to be a really good idea, coming there. “I can shift into almost anything solid except metals, for some weird reason. I guess I am pretty comfortable with topaz, er, this,” She said glancing at her topaz-covered arms, “It’s easier than anything else.”

The room began warping into what looked like a savannah, with a clear blue sky above them and tall grass surrounding them. Even the atmosphere changed. The air turned hot and sticky, and the sun really felt like it was beating down on the duo. The training room was…magical. It felt so real. No wonder the controls were so hard to figure out, it was really high tech.

>> “Don't worry if the machine seems hard now, you will get use to it, plus I am here a lot."

Aura reassured her about the safety of the facility and told her about the always ready medical staff. It was as if she had read the skin-shifter’s worried-filled mind. Maybe she had. But she hadn’t mentioned any sort of mental mutation, so she could have just been able to read Lyd’s face and body language to discern her apprehension. She continued nodding as Aura gave a little pep talk about mutations and how great they were. As important as an arm and a leg though? She felt like that was a little much, but maybe that was part of her problem, she needed to think of her mutation as something more important than a little trick.

Then Aura announced that they were starting. “A-already? Six humans, well, human-looking robots, appeared in front of them in the plain, bearing menacing expressions. Two of them charged, but Aura quickly struck one down with an axe-turned-hammer. The other one approached Lydia and she tried not to back away. But she did anyway. Coward… “Aura what do I do??” Really, she had no idea what she was doing. The robot kept gunning for her and she barely ducked under a particularly vicious looking swipe aimed at her face.

Aura was happy the girl pointed to what a topaz was as she honestly had no idea. Jewels were not aura's strength. Though with this girl around she might learn. Aura took note she could not shift into metals, it seemed an important thing to remember in case she had to work with the girl one day. "Good im combat that's what you will want to use then. Aura had another question but decided to wait to ask it.

Aura had no way to protect Lydia from the first blow, But Aura made sure their would not be a second. Aura brought an aura made axe down on the robot's back whare a human's spine would have been. Aura had no idea Lydia was this green, bu she had to learn and she had to let Lydia do the next one herself. " Fight, imagine if you will these people just stabbed you best friend or your mother, they will die if you son win. Through a punch or a kick at them and remember the humans that hunt your friends won't hesitate to gun each of you down. You can protect them, it's ok to be scared, but you have to act to win any situation. " she said trying to comfort the other girl.

"remember these robots are not really people, you can't hurt them really" she said hoping that might help the girl out as well. She hoped it did as the next two humans began to make their was closer to the pair. Aura this time bent down and picked up the sword sheath and slowly took out the blade. Dropping the sheeth she walked torward the human. Her Aura however was no longer around her, the man she found produced a bat. On her first swing Aura cleaved the bat in two, the human robot backing away.

Before the robot could reach Lydia again, Aura swooped in and cleaved into its back with her pink axe, effectively saving her. The skin-shifter gasped a little, surprised at the suddenness of the entire exercise, and the fact that a robot man thing just tried to attack her. Not once, but twice. And there were still four more waiting. This is crazy, I have no clue what to do, she thought, trying to keep the panic at bay .

>> "Fight, imagine if you will these people just stabbed you best friend or your mother, they will die if you son win.”

My mother… A sadness washed over the teenager, as she thought of the scenario Aura had laid out for her. Yes, if she could save her mother and father from the fatal car crash that ended them, she would. If somehow, by fighting, by kicking and punching and striking, she could somehow prevent their deaths, she would. It was a skewed, altered mentality, but it spurred her a little. The sadness quickly started twisting into determination and anger, perhaps even with a little hate dashed on top towards the robots, her current enemies, or any other person who threatened her loved ones.

>> “Through a punch or a kick at them and remember the humans that hunt your friends won't hesitate to gun each of you down. You can protect them, it's ok to be scared, but you have to act to win any situation."

Act to win, Lydia had to win. She nodded to Aura’s words of…well, she supposed she could call them words of encouragement. They called on her emotions, her memories, to inspire her to fight. She thought past her parents and unearthed the fresh, painful thoughts of Phil. She thought of how if she was stronger she could’ve protected them. How she could pay back the ones who had murdered and hurt her dear friends, if she had the power and the knowledge. Payback…revenge, it was brilliant. She could avenge Phillip. A new motivation rang through her, and in her mind she imagined that the remaining robots, no humans, were the ones who had killed the solar-mancer. Lyd shivered, but not from fear. She shivered from a new feeling, a contradictory feeling that seemed to chill her to her bones but heat up her insides at the same time. It felt kind of good.

>> "Remember these robots are not really people, you can't hurt them really."

Oh but that would not help her anymore. She needed to think of these robots as real, as the stupid, evil humans who had murdered her friend. A guttural sound emerged from her throat, something nearly like a growl. She seemed to adopt an almost savage disposition as she readied herself for another attack, except that time she would be playing offense. She bent her knees and prepared to lunge. Her hands clenched as another duo of humans charged for the two girls. Aura cleanly got rid of one’s bat, and Dia winded up her arm and swung her fist at the one aiming for her. The blow connected, and the man reeled backwards, although not quite knocked off his feet.

The human regained his balance and went for the skin-shifter again. That time, she raised her foot and rammed it into his stomach. As she tried to bring it back down, however, her foot was caught in his hands, and he twisted. She let out a yelp of pain as she spun and fell face-first to the ground.

“S***.”

Aura swung but her opponent dodged her strike and then delivered a kick to Aura that knocked her off her feat. Out of reflex Aura's aura flared up to prevent her from impacting the ground directly. Standing up, aura hand grasped her blade and drove it up at the man, stabbing him directly. Climbing to her feet, Aura extracted the blade, though the robot stood, its appearance had lost the clearness it had before. With her next swing, the robot batted her sword away leaving Aura unarmed.

Aura did not like fighting with her bare hands, none of her familiar attacks worked. Aura threw a normal punch but the robot cought it, for a second its hologram cleared perfectly and it and Aura smiled at one another, then Aura's aura flared to life and cut the robots arm off, Aura then made a quicks ecound strike which nearly cut the robot into two pieces. Looking back to her new ound freind she wonderd how she was doing.

"Get up, the humans won't stop shooting simply becuse your down" Aura said trying to encurage the girl in her own way. She knew very littile about teaching anything. In fact she had once been told she could never lead anything. Aura would ahve tought the girl but all of Aura's attacks relied on her Aura which to Aura's knolage was rather unique. Aura chose not to get involved and instead decided to watch and see how the girl could learn under pressure.

Aura was facing her own opponent, and was winning. She used her aura power to slice through the robot like it was butter. She wasn’t sprawled face-down on the ground like Lydia was. She made it look so easy, it was almost annoying.

>> "Get up, the humans won't stop shooting simply because your down."

The skin-shifter did as she was told and got up onto her feet. Her enemy, the evil human, sneered at her as he started for her again. He probably thought she was easy pickings, that she wouldn’t stand a chance. That she would lose. Dia clenched her fists. Losing was out of the question for her. She had to win and get stronger and learn. Aura made no movement to help her, so she knew defeating her opponent was all on her. She had to let go of her instincts of self-preservation and instead give into instincts of battle, if she had any.

The man raised a fist and swung it at her, but she stepped back quickly enough to avoid most of the attack. His hand barely grazed her stomach. Lydia winded her leg back and planted a kick on his shin (that’s like, the fool-proof way to hurt predators or whatever, right?), this time quickly and carefully withdrawing her foot to avoid getting flipped over again. The human winced in pain but quickly regained his composure. No doubt her topaz skin was causing more pain than she normally would in her regular form. She tried kicking him again, but he dodged the blow and lunged for her, knocking her down. Lyd felt the air get squeezed out of her as she collided into the ground, the man still on top of her. She tried pushing and kicking him off, but to no avail. She cringed as he brought his fist down, hitting her on the side of her jaw.

Aura, some help would be great right now, she thought, pain radiating from her face. Unfortunately she only managed to get out a weak “Aura…” and a helpless look.

Aura was pretty sure she may have screwed up somewhere is the ordeal. Aura had simply always known the basics of fighting, where to punch, whare to protect. It was why she imagined her first thought was of her Aura flaring into existence and killing her target. It had been one of the few people she had killed she knew she had regretted. She had no idea if the girl was a mutant or animal or even the reason for the fight. Anything before that was a blank, a large disturbing blank.

The Man's next punch, never landed, Aura's stood her Aura sword just below the startled man robot. The man was backing away, holding what should have been a stump, but a cut hologram emitter left only a cleanly cut gray rod. "I was always told i should never lead or teach" she said shaking her head. "Aura tilted her head and thought, even as she reformed her Aura sword into a drill like shape. Aura was trying to Figure out how better to help Lydia.

"This takes a lot of practice. " she said, as the program forced the one armed man forward again. Aura considerd the power. She could not form Daggers and swords, however Aura figured a blunt fist would work best in crushing. The Idea flared to mind though Aura's mind was already picking apart the flaws. "If you can get in close, a punch to jugular" Aura ran her fingers over her neck to show the area. "Your fist could crush it, that cuts off blood to the brain" Aura said her voice growing happier at the end. "The nose can work to, it's soft and if hit hard enough could hit the brain" she saide continuing her thought aloud. "You all right" She asked concearned Aura stood ready even as the program forced the one armed man forward before it would release any other fighters.

>> "I was always told I should never lead or teach."

Wait, what?! Lydia managed to groan even as the robot/man/hologram continued to squish her lungs with its weight. Then why had she offered to help…? The girl decided that she had made a mistake to come into the Training Room that day. She hadn’t exactly been expecting for things to be easy, but she hadn’t been expecting to get her ass completely kicked either. And it seemed her plea for help had fallen on deaf ears.

She watched as Aura tore apart another one of the humans, wishing she had some sort of deadly power like her, and felt very…powerless? Was that the right word? She felt weak. How did Aura, who looked to be Lydia’s age, have so much skill and prowess? How was she such a good fighter? How long had it taken her to get that way? If she wasn’t currently fighting off a robot that had her pinned to the ground and was trying to get another good swing in, she would’ve shook her head in wonderment.

>> "If you can get in close, a punch to jugular. Your fist could crush it, that cuts off blood to the brain. The nose can work to, it's soft and if hit hard enough could hit the brain.”

Ah, some welcome advice. Lyd’s mind raced as she weighed her options, and decided to go for the nose. One reason being that she had no idea what the jugular was, much less where it was. And two, nose hitting brain sounded like a much for satisfying way to hurt the annoying man.

She thrust her fist at the human’s nose, not hitting it as hard as she would’ve liked to, but drawing blood anyhow. The human released her arms to clutch his nose, and she capitalized on the distracted moment to strike his chest next. Lydia wriggled out from under him and she scrambled to her feet, breathing hard.

>> "You all right?"

Well, at least Aura sounded concerned. “Yeah, thanks for that quick tip,” she replied, her voice sounding a little gravelly and rough, “How long have you been doing this, Aura? You’re way too good.”

Uh…now what? She wondered as the man got up, nose still bleeding. Apparently she hadn’t hit him hard enough to do any damage to the brain. Too bad.

"I don't know becuse i am unsure of my age, i don't recall much before my powers emerged, but im sure i fought before that. The Bulk of my training with my powers...." she started as she made Her way closer to lydia. "I had no choice, my powers emerged and i accidentally cut through the spine of the girl i was fighting, she dies from the shock or blood loss. My loving human parents then let me rot, for a long time. I was saved by a woman, who then trained me. "We ate breakfast and then each day for training we had to fight a human. The fights were always to the death. Humans with automatic weapons and morters often attacked us as well, those unable to cope, died" she said looking away.

"We fought every day, weather humans or sparred with each other. But then i made the a mistake for which i never repent, the Mistake i wa sstripped of the right to command. I lead a small group against a human unit, we had taken heavy losses and were in retreat, my good friend fell a bullet tearing through his knee. I had been tought to kill such a wounded person so they would not be captured. I disobeyed orders and ran. a few days later, the humans struck, the initial morter assault tour through our sleeping quarters and the structure fell on me, only my aura kept me alive. I watched everyone die for that error." she said as she made Her way to Lydia's opponet. This Time Aura formed an Axe and stood so the human would have to first get through her.

"I failed my team and i learned i had to get stronger, so since i came here, i have trained every day, at least 6 hours a day when other duties need to be seen to, longer on my days off" she said honestly. She was constently training, trying to make herself stronger and more powerful, trying to reach the height of her powers and be able to wipe out humanity. "that first year or so, i spent a lot of time getting beaten nearly to death in sparring matches, our leader could heal, so we were enchuraged to do as much damage as we could without killing" she said simply. "I must become stronger, to protect our kind and to repent for those i have failed" she went on. "Learning to fight is painful but the pain of watching your friends die is much worse" she replied, trying to let Lydia ctach a breath. "With other Mutants it's a good idea to know what they can do, so you know how to work with them". Aura felt a strange pain pulse through her but ignored it.

Lydia stared at Aura with shock during her entire story. If it could be called a story…there was so much trauma and violence involved, it was more like a nightmare. Well, the emergence of Aura’s mutation was horrible enough, and then there was mention of fights to the death and humans and how the hell was the girl still alive? How was she not going nuts from all of that pain and suffering?

Lyd just stood frozen, trying to absorb everything Aura was telling her, and didn’t even react when the human started towards her again. Thankfully her training mentor stepped in between them in time, and the human faltered, realizing his new opponent was much stronger and that simple brute force would not do.

She could feel the guilt exuding from other girl’s words, and Lyd couldn’t fathom how hurt she must’ve been through all of that, how hurt she must still feel.

>> "I failed my team and i learned i had to get stronger, so since i came here, i have trained every day, at least 6 hours a day when other duties need to be seen to, longer on my days off. That first year or so, i spent a lot of time getting beaten nearly to death in sparring matches, our leader could heal, so we were enchuraged to do as much damage as we could without killing. "

Six hours a day? Longer on certain days? More death matches? “Holy s***,” she mumbled, still reeling slightly from everything Aura was telling her. Who was the leader and what was the group she spoke of? Who would make a teenage girl go through things like that after everything she’d already gone through? She shook her head.

>> “I must become stronger, to protect our kind and to repent for those i have failed. Learning to fight is painful but the pain of watching your friends die is much worse."

It wasn’t hard to understand what Aura was saying. Her words stabbed Lydia in the heart, and instead of anger, sadness rose up in the girl again. Her friend had died. She hadn’t seen him, but it was her fault he was in that turf at that time. He’d been going to see her.

Lydia felt she should say something, anything, to show her sympathy and empathy. Or to simply say something to say something, because eventually Aura would probably be expecting a reply. But she didn't know what to say. The other girl had been speaking so...plainly, with little discernible emotion other than guilt and maybe a little sadness.

“Aura...um...please, can we do this again? If you don’t mind training with a novice like me. I just…I’d be more comfortable with you around, and you can teach me through demonstration.” Way to confront the issue.