"Remind me why I let you talk me into this?"

Spot sighed as he trotted through Whitetail Woods, Angel following close behind him. "Because it's a good idea and that show is horribly inaccurate when it comes to changelings. Trust me, I served under Chrysalis for decades and I've known Pharynx for years. There's no way that the invasion is going to go anywhere near as sloppily as that botched affair. Watch your head."

Angel ducked beneath a low-hanging branch as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Okay, so what? You really think I'll be able to make that huge a difference when shit hits the fan? One human ain't going to do much against a swarm. Can't we just trust that Shiny and Cadence will be able to do their thing?"

"I prefer to be prepared for the worst," Spot replied, his head on a constant swivel. "Keeps me from being caught off guard when things go wrong, leaving all surprises as pleasant ones. Besides, this training is going to be for your sake more than theirs."

"My sake?" Angel muttered. "What the hay do I have to worry about? It's not like I don't have a reset button handy for if something happens to me."

"And that mentality is the first thing we have to cure. Tree root."

Spot's warning came a little too late, causing Angel to stumble a bit over the offending root. "Woah! Stupid... wait." She looked back up at him. "What do you-"

*SNAP!*

Angel's eyes snapped open as she came back to life. She bolted upright, reaching up and grabbing her neck, sweat beginning to soak her clothes. "He... he killed me. Just, snapped my neck and..."

"Are you really that surprised?"

Angel bolted to her feet, turning to glare at Spot. The changeling sat on the forest floor nearby, levitating several long branches at eye-level. "Wh-what the hell was that for?" Angel demanded.

"That was to ensure that you would take me seriously." Spot nodded in satisfaction at one of the sticks and retrieved a knife from his saddlebags. "I said I was going to train you to fight," he explained as he began cutting into one end of the stick. "I just wanted you to understand the nature of our little sparring sessions."

"So, what?" Angel asked. "We're going to fight to the death over and over?" She smirked, crossing her arms. "Hate to break it to you Spot, but I'm the only one who can come back from that. What happens if you're the one who-"

The spear embedded itself in Angel's chest. She staggered backwards, staring down at it in shock as blood began soaking her shirt. "Wh- what-"

*SLAM!*

Angel cried out in pain as Spot tackled her to the ground. Her cry turned into a shriek as he ripped her makeshift spear out of her gut. "Somehow," he said conversationally, examining the tip of the spear, "I don't think that's going to happen." He positioned the spear above her right eye, and thrust.

Angel awoke with another gasp. Her arms jerked for her face but found themselves constrained. Angel lifted her head and saw that her arms were tied to her sides by several loops of rope, her legs similarly bound. She struggled and pulled, but even the super-human strength provided by her Overdrive was unable to free her.

"You're awake. Good." Angel turned to see Spot sitting nearby once again, several more spears lying on the ground around him. "Still think you have any chance of accidentally killing me?"

Angel groaned, struggling against her bonds once more. "Why don't you let me go and we can see how I do in a fair fight?"

"See, that would be a good idea," Spot said, taking one of the spears in his magic as he stood, "except for two things. One, you won't always be faced with a fair fight. There will be many times when you find yourself at a severe disadvantage and will have to find a way to level the playing field."

Angel huffed, glaring to the side. "Fine. And number two?"

*SNAP!*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!"

Spot casually walked to Angel's other side, ignoring her agony as he lifted his hoof above her other arm. "Two," he said, "you need to learn a different lesson first." Without hesitation, he slammed his hoof down, snapping her left arm as easily as he had her right.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Spot continued to ignore her cries as he walked down to her legs. "Chrysalis is merciless and cruel," he lectured. "Once she learns of your 'undying' nature, she'll take steps to ensure that your resurrections do not provide a problem. Short term, that means tying you up and breaking your limbs, keeping you alive and unable to end yourself." *SNAP!* "Long term will be much the same, with the added fun of you dying of thirst and a few changelings on hoof to break you every time you revive." *SNAP!* "Of course, hearing about this in theory is one thing, but actually experiencing it is another. If all you know of torture is that it's bad, you won't be all that worried about dying and waking up to it. However, if you've felt some small modicum of what she'll do to you..." By this time, Spot had circled back to Angel's head. He gripped it in his forehooves, forcing her to look up at him through tear-stained and terror-filled eyes. "Remember this little lesson the next time you think about using your 'reset button.' It could save you a good deal of agony." His grip on her head tightened.

*SNAP!*

Angel's eyes snapped open. She leapt to her feet, holding her right arm before her. "Hand Sonic!" she cried. A familiar chime sounded as she frantically looked around, trying to spot her "friend."

"Much better." Angel looked all around her, but she could neither see Spot nor determine from whence his voice issued. "I was afraid your first reaction would be to curl into a ball and weep. I'm glad to see that you aren't so easily broken."

"Like hell I would be!" Angel shouted, her head and eyes constantly moving. "Now get out here so I can show you just how broken I'll make you!"

"A tempting offer," said the voice from nowhere. "Unfortunately, I can't really 'get out there' when I'm already in plain sight. You just aren't looking right."

Another 360 turn revealed nothing. "What are you talking about?" Angel shouted. "I'm looking everywhere!"

"Everywhere but up."

Angel's head snapped back just in time to see the twin spears hurtling towards her eyes.

Left. Right. Forward. Backward. Up. Down too for good measure. And every direction in-between. Angel's eyes kept up a perpetual scan, falling into a pattern that kept her looking in every direction. No sign of him anywhere, and he hasn't said anything. Think, Angel. Think! You're smart. He knows you're smart. He won't come from below, because he'll figure that you would have thought of that. So he's going to use a different type of approach. Come on, what else did those anime and super-hero guys train for? Her eyes kept moving back and forth, but try as she might she couldn't see a single glint of black carapace.

Wait, can't see him, but changelings are masters of disguise. So if I can't trust my eyes... Angel closed her eyes, turning her full attention to the sounds of the woods around her. Most of the animals had been scared off by her earlier screams, but she could still hear the chirping of insects, the rustling of leaves in the wind, a weary sigh...

"You know what, I'll give you this one." Angel's eyes snapped open and she turned to see an annoyed changeling stepping out from behind a tree. "You got the basic point: use more than just your eyes. But really, closing them? What if I'd just snuck up on you? You wouldn't have known anything was up until my spear pierced your back. On that note..." He pointed up at his glowing horn.

*SHLIK*

Angel fell to her knees, staring down at the spear that protruded from her gut. The pain just started to register when Spot grabbed her head again.

"If your opponent's horn is glowing or you think you might have more than one opponent, never let your guard down."

Spot's hellish training continued throughout the morning, with Angel's anger fading with every death as she realized just how easily Spot was killing her each time. As they fought, he lectured her on tactics and changeling strategy, warning Angel that his information was more than a decade out of date and simultaneously reminding her that he was more than a decade out of practice even as he snapped her neck for the thirtieth time. By the time the sun reached its zenith and Spot said they were done for the day, Angel was thoroughly disheartened.

"Bet Sora never had to deal with this," Angel muttered as she walked, kicking a pebble down the path. "Probably just woke up with all his fancy abilities. I'd've taken you out ten times over if I had an Areal Sweep/Spiral/Finish combo up my sleeve. Or some magic."

"I'm sure Sora got beat around just as much as you," Spot reassured. "One doesn't get his level of self-confidence from abilities one doesn't know how to use or twist to suit the situation. Besides, even if you did have magic, I would have just started using some of my own."

Angel rolled her eyes. "And let me guess" she griped. "If I were a more skilled fighter, you'd've stopped holding back so much."

Spot shrugged. "That goes without saying. I served on the border patrol for years. I regularly sparred with Commander Pharynx himself. I won't claim to be the best combatant in the hive, but I was up there."

"Makes a girl wonder why you left if you were so good at it all."

It took Angel a moment to realize that Spot had stopped. She turned around to see him staring out into the woods, lost in memories. "Thing about serving on the border patrol," he muttered, "is you develop one of two attitudes. Either you start to see everything that isn't a changeling as food, or you go soft. And Chrysalis doesn't tolerate softness in her drones." He shook his head and began walking again. "Let's hurry up. You're meeting with the Tyrant's Dogs for lunch, right? Better not keep them waiting."

"Spot-" Angel was cut off by a flash of green fire as Spot shifted into his Golden Retriever disguise. He bounded ahead, looking for all the world like a carefree pet. Angel sighed and started running after him. "That's one way to avoid a conversation."

Author's Notes:

Just a small reminder that this story has a "Dark" tag. Also a short bit to get me back into writing this thing. Expect a new chapter progressing the story in the next two weeks or so.