Just like old times, huh? (Scrappy and Shade)

Scrapper continued to walk close to Shade on the trip back, remaining mostly silent. Exploring his own thoughts whilst hoping to keep reminders of Apollo at bay. Casual conversations, went through at various points though. Once they both returned home, Shade went to sleep. He stayed up a bit longer for the morning to pass. Working on his project. Once he was done there, he joined Shade for a decent sleep, a calm one with her presance. He needed to keep a decent routine in play for her anyway, save him being tired all the time.

As normal however, he was the first to awaken. He quietly got up and started making himself some food, basically relaxing with his food for Shade to wake up herself. However, it wasn't that simple. Through time, he had different thoughts. About Shade, Sil's offer, various songs he liked. But mainly about Shade, he still recalled himself never seeing a relationship form between him and anypony else. Now he has Shade, a friggin' assassin with a bigger anger than a stereotypical military sergeant when his men can't listen. Still, he truly does love her. Regardless of that flaw, nopony is perfect. But to him at least, she was.

Shade woke up when Scrapper stood up, but kept dozing for some time, spending a few thoughts on what to do today. She had to get her productivity up again, especially with the information she had given Blackwing with her last rage. Thinking of him caused an angry frown to appear on her face, and immediately Shade concentrated on the sounds Scrapper was making. Sounded like breakfast. Quickly the frown was gone and replaced by a soft smile. With Scrapper nearby, keeping bad emotions at bay was easy enough. But without him she lost control quickly. They would have to do everything together. And so far Shade didn't have a very good grasp of Scrapper's skills and behavior in combat. That was probably a good start. Do some training. Morning, she mumbled, still not moving.

Scrapper smiled at the mumbled greeting from Shade, "Morning Las." He said as he put his empty bowl down and walked over to the counter where he pre-made a breakfast for Shade along with his own, simply picking it up and placing it next to Shade along with a quick,"Sleep well?"

Perfectly, Shade said smilingly before she stood up and quickly streched her muscles awake. Once done with that, she gave Scrapper a short kiss and began her breakfast. I hope you're in for some sparring. If not I'll force you to it anyway, she said, half serious. She actually would force him, but she didn't expect him to say no in the first place.

"I wouldn't want to hurt you las" he said smugly, accepting the challenge through use of words that aren't simply 'OK' "I'm up for that"

If you don't manage to hurt me, I'll be disappointed, Shade answered grinningly and after quickly finishing breakfast went through basic stretching exercises. Hooves and environment, no weapons, no magic. She magically threw over her cloak, but left her harness lying where she had put it before going to sleep. She positioned herself purposefully away from the torches, and would try to move the fight to the dark tunnels. Ready when you are, she said and got into fighting stance.

Scrapper stood up and backed away, he watched Shade do various stretch's but didn't see the need to do so himself. All he did was move his neck so that it made a 'crack' sound and stood up on two hooves and got into his combat stance. "Yeah, I'm friggin' ready." He immediately broke his stance and stood up tall, with his front legs open wide in a taunting pose, "Well? Is my little assassin too shy to have the first go?" He said whilst grinning under his face-mask.

Scrapper was faster than Shade, she already knew that. But she hadn't much else than her speed to work with in a fight. Well, and her discipline, which Scrapper apparently didn't share. Shade was moving as he begun speaking. She was coming straight at him, the fastest attack route possible, and he was looking forward to catching the first heavy blow to his chest, if he didn't do something about it, but his taunt had put him in a bad position. Even if he was fast enough to still do something, Shade was prepared to sidestep a possible counter and attack from his side instead.

Scrapper took the blow to the chest, but that's what he wanted to happen. Before Shade could move her hoof he immediately grabbed it, dragging her towards him further and stopping dead with a hoof out to the left. His actions basically caused a forced close-line on Shade, undoubtedly ending in her being on the floor or at least near it.
He then back stepped to get some distance, now he was at the side Shade was coming from first time.

Shade didn't try to break out of Scrapper's and let herself fall to the ground where she did a quick roll and was on her hooves again, facing her opponent. Without a moment to spare she lunged at him again, feinting an upwards swing to his jaw with her right front hoof. But as she raised her front half up she also brought her right hind leg forward to drive it into his gut.

Scrapper didn't see the faint move, but rather the entire lunge in general. He had little time to react after he realized her actual attempt but it was enough. Scrapper braced himself, he held against the force of the kick whilst having a good grip on Shade's leg. He still felt his own hooves dig into himself from the force but it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.
He threw her onto the ground and quickly sat on top and began to repeatedly strike Shade's head with his left and right hooves.

Scrapper didn't have time for more than one strike. During the fall Shade and pulled in both hindlegs to bring them in position for pushing Scrapper away, which they did. Shade couldn't keep up with Scrapper in terms of strength, and he was heavy as well (especially compared to herself), but with the back to the ground she was in a position to put all the strength she had in her hind legs to use and there wasn't much Scrapper could do against it. Shade noted the metallic taste in her mouth as she stood up after pushing the earth pony off, but didn't mind it. She kicked a nearby torch roughly in Scrapper's direction, both to distract him a tiny bit and reduce the light around here, and followed the burning projectile, waiting for Scrapper's reaction to the torch before deciding on a way to attack.

Scrapper didn't react to the torch, it merely bounced near him and he didn't fear getting a burn. Focused entirely on his opponent, she was trying to make it darker. He saw Shade following behind the torch, and made unnaturally fast steps towards her, closing the distance in a second, dragging along a powerful uppercut.

Shade had expected him to do something, but she hadn't been prepared for this kind of speed. Shade tried to deflect the blow, but completely in vain. Pain shot through her jaw as the hoof connected, and only thanks to reflexes she found herself backing up when her vision cleared again.

This was... unnatural. Normally she would have expected such speed from charging pegasi if anything. Coming from an earth pony, Shade found it rather exciting. With a slightly bloodied grin she was prepared to completely dodge Scrapper the next time he attacked, she didn't expect herself to be able to succeed in close quarter combat against him and had to try to get into an area dark enough for her to disappear without her spell.

Scrapper jumped backwards after his successful attack,now he felt bad. But he needed to keep Shade visible to avoid being at a disadvantage. He made a taunting bow, "Sorry Las, hope I'm not too much for you to handle" He said smiling under his mask, whilst keeping his eye's on her.

You're fast, you could probably drown me in attacks. Why aren't you doing that? Another torch was removed and extinguished. Shade's section of the hideout was already relatively dark, but it wouldn't be enough as long as the three remaining torches were still burning. For them, Shade would have to get past Scrapper. She charged at him again, not intending to actually attack. She was concentrated on his movement, the smallest twitch would be her signal to get out of the way. His speed wouldn't surprise her again.

Scrapper feigned a direct over-head strike to the oncoming Shade, so that he could quickly intercept Shade whether she tried to go past him or not. He simply couldn't let her darken the room, because it was clearly her objective. She wanted to be drowned in attacks? She'll get it in a second if she actually tried for an attack.

Shade had no interest in a lengthy exchange of blows, which Scrapper would probably win, but she had to make sure she would have some time to take care of the torches. She noticed his movement in time to drop near the ground, turning around her front hooves and bringing her hind legs forward to sweep Scrapper's hooves away.

From the looks of it, she's going to either slide under him or knock him over. Perfect, the trick worked. As Shade slid close enough to trip him up, he quickly jumped forward and high. Aiming to land on Shade with his two back hooves. His weight would be the main damage doer here.

If there was one thing Shade didn't do in a fight was to stop. Keep moving until there was a safety distance. Whe she saw Scrapper jumping she stemmed her hooves into the ground and used her remaining speed to lift her body over, and jumped away sideways, out of the crouching position she had ended up in. The escape was narrow, but successful. She had hardly given herself any upward push when she had jumped, and so she didn't gain enough altitude to get her hooves under her body again. After a quick roll she was up again anyway, and quickly made her way to the nearest torch, mentally marking another one as target. In one swift motion she picked up the first torch and threw it, her aim without fault. The burning ends collided in a shower of sparks, and both torches came to a halt roughly underneath the makeshift shower. They were still burning.

Scrapper would catch up with her before Shade was at the shower to extinguish the torches, but at least they were near the wall now and not in the center of the hideout. Shade changed course into the now quite dark areas, keeping close taps on Scrapper.

Scrapper found himself just watching Shade getting the torches under the shower, one more action and the little light that was left would disappear. Shade had moved into dark areas, but he could still see her slightly. Combining that with more focus on hearing let him pin-point where Shade was. She wanted a bunch of attacks? This is it.
Scrapper shot up with the same unnatural speed and charged into her, forcing her against the nearest wall. "This is the way you wanted it Las, sorry." He said calmly as he hit Shade across the face first, to daze her. He followed that with a flurry of attacks, unnaturally fast and strong. He hit her in various places, the stomach, legs, chest. All having enough force to keep her against the wall. His last action to the dazed mare was a powerful strike to the chest. He backed up and took a taunting pose, standing tall with his hooves crossed. Allowing Shade to fall to the floor. He really felt bad about doing this, but she said it herself, she would have made him do this even if he protested.

Though she tried, she couldn't defend herself against the attacks. Some of the bows she managed to weaken, but that was all she could do before all air was pressed out of her lungs and she fell to the ground. And there she finally got the time she needed. Her body hurt, and she was gasping for air, but Shade's self control was better than this. Scrapper was on his hind legs again, stupid mistake. One of Shade's hind legs hot out and kicked away one of his hooves to make him fall over. With his concentration broken, she forced herself to get away, now making sure no sound would escape her. They were near enough to the exit to the tunnels for Shade to disappear there before Scrapper could focus on her silhouette again. She didn't go far and kept close behind the opening to the hideout, where she allowed herself a few seconds to recover a bit from the recent onslaught. For Scrapper, she had probably simply disappeared just now.

Scrapper didn't think Shade would recover enough for that trick, he fell over and his head hit the floor hard, leaving him dazed for a few seconds. When he got up, Shade disappeared. Since she wasn't attacking, he assumed she was taking a breather. Or planning something else.
"So your gonna play like that? Well, bugger." He said sarcastically as he got back up and looked around, he tipped his goggles up to see a bit better in the dark. His face-mask was already down and he didn't need to pull it back up. He relaxed a little, whilst still keeping his eye out for Shade or even a slight sounds.

After the pain of breathing had subsided enough, Shade came out again, but didn't approach Scrapper. She moved through the thickest shadows around, which didn't get her far, but into a position where she could get to the last standing torch before Scrapper. Without caring if she was seen now she galloped forward towards the light source, Scrapper would certainly notice her. Shortly after, the torch was out.

That left only the ones at the very end of the hideout, but Shade didn't care about them anymore, it was dark enough here now. Without her spell, it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough, now Shade was in her element. Scrapper might notice movement in the shadows, but how Shade would attack was hidden. In the first moment she had the impression he had lost her, she made sure that he wasn't looking straight at her and went in from his left side with the strongest blow into his solar plexus she could muster, and ready to deliver follow up blows wherever it seemed suitable.

'Oh Eff' is all Scrapper could think to himself when he saw Shade cut the lighting. Now it was dark, all he had was a dim night vision that came naturally and that was little use. His headache night vision is better than this but he didn't want that right now.
He heard her though, only a little to late. He felt Shade hit him around the stomach and he couldn't stop himself from doubling over and falling on the floor, giving of a sudden "Agh!" as he got hit, and a 'Thud' as he hit the floor.

In the last second he had moved a bit. Shade felt that she hadn't hit exactly as she wanted, but even an iccurate hit in the area was usually efficient, as Scrapper demonstrated the expected result. Without missing a beat Shade turned on her front hooves and gave him a buck to his chest, though she couldn't go full force with that without risking breaking a rib, but it would be proper repayment for Scrapper's last attack. Knowing that he would need a tiny bit to recover to be a noteworthy opponent again Shade retreated afterwards.

It wasn't long at all after Shade retreated for Scrapper to get back up, seconds even. He was in his combat stance and he was listening, and keeping an eye out for even the faintest flicker of change. He knew Shade could be quiet, but the sounds of movement can be heard if he focused enough. So that's what he did, stayed still and focused for any change whatsoever.

Shade slowly walked around, featuring a grin as she watched Scrapper. There was still proper light in one corner of the hideout, but he didn't approach it. Well, if he wanted to continue in the dark, Shade wouldn't complain. This time she came from his right, but instead of simply hitting him, she attempted to throw him to the floor and hold him there. She didn't weight much, but with the right grip it didn't matter. One hindleg swept one of his away while Shade grabbed Scrapper's right foreleg near the shoulder and pulled it upwards into a position that it wasn't really supposed to be in.

Scrapper found himself under a lock, on his chest and being pinned in a type of wrestling move. Shade twisting his leg in a bad position admittedly hurt. He made various grunts of pain, trying to resist the pain.

He sat like that for about a minute, letting Shade have her fun. Before finally realizing he had the use of his other leg, he twisted it, along with the rest of his body other than his locked leg, quickly so that it went around Shade's neck. Putting them in motion so that he flipped her over and locked her down by keeping his legs crossed around her neck. He leaned forward and punched Shade in the forehead once, as strong as he could muster in that position. Nearly choking her as well with the pressure he had in his legs.

Shade was already getting bored and was about to say something when Scrapper surprised her once again with unnatural speed. Before she could react she found herself in his hold, and a moment later the hit on her head increased the dizzyness from earlier again. She tried to get out of his grip, but she was in a bad position and Scrapper was the stronger pony. She struggled a bit, but then recognized that she had lost. She extended a leg and knocked on the floor two times to signal her surrender.

Scrapper acknowledged the taps and released his lock on Shade, going from a self-defense mood to a concerned one. He didn't truly want to hurt Shade, but she didn't really give a choice in matter.
He got up slowly, "Woo, that was fun!" he dusted off his jacket and stretched a little, "I'll be honest, CQC might not be your thing Las, you should stick to what you normally do. Good idea trying to shift the battle with darkness though, I have to admit." He made a quick gesture with his hooves and offered Shade a hoof to help her up, "Your pretty good! Not perfect, but Smart!"

Shade looked somewhat surprised at Scrapper's comments. That sounded familiar... She took Scrapper's hoof and stood up, looking thoughtfully at him, before showing a slight frown. Yes, she recognized him now. She had met him before, fifteen years ago in Canterlot. Didn't I say I'd beat you this time?

"There was a last time?" He said curiously as he tried to remember any fight between them since they met. There was none, which confused him. He tried thinking further back, until he finally made the connection. Shade was the filly the dropped a vase on his head and tried to stab him with a flimsy kitchen knife! But who then allowed for his escape from that very house. That stopped him being sent to a dungeon for stealing stuff.
"Aye, it seems so. Oh well, better luck next time. Maybe you can have your little kitchen knife like before!" He said happily, before going over and giving Shade a quick cuddle and a kiss as a 'Sorry for being forced into nearly breaking your jaw'

Shade answered the kiss, one that would taste rather bloody for Scrappy, thanks to himself. Don't know if that still counts as kitchen knife, she said when they parted and her combat knife flew over from her harness, while the two still burning torches were put up nearby. The blade hovered between them, the flickering light hardly reflecting on the blackended metal. Near the hilt - also black, what else - was an engraving on either side of the weapon. Shade's cutie mark on one side, a winged hammer on the other. However, when Shade looked at it, she remembered who had crafted the knife. She didn't start weeping yet again, but a sad look was clearly visible. Courtesy of Quicksteel. One of the best blades she's ever crafted.

"Well, maybe next time we can fight with Blades" He grinned whilst observing Shade's blade. With a curious stare, he took hold of it as it floated. Holding it there just to let Shade know he only wanted to look at it.
He was impressed, he wouldn't bother going into the details but as an avid fan of bladed weapons he could tell this one would do damage when used right, only question he had was if Shade could use it as well as he could. He began doing simple tricks with it, juggling, throwing it from behind him to his front and catching it etc. Generally showing off as he likes to.

I suppose you'd still win. You're right, CQC isn't my strength, and you're the fastest pony I've ever seen. I rely on unprepared enemies I can kill with the first strike. And if I don't get that, I prefer fighting from the distance. Shade's horn glowed for a short moment before two of her shurikens suddenly shot forth from behind Scrapper, one of them cutting off some lose strands of Scrapper's mane, the other passing by near his neck. Shade magically caught them and kept them floating besides her, a smirk on her face. She took her knife back into her telekitic grip and gave it a flick into her direction as well, catching it securely in her hoof. The weapon had been created especially for her, and so it lay perfectly in her hoof, and acting a little out of her way she also started playing around with it, just to show Scrapper that she could handle the weapons she carried. Different to him however, she didn't do anything that caused the knife to be out of her hold for more than the shortest moment. After a few seconds of whirling it around in her hooves Shade suddenly looked to her left just as she threw the knife. A moment later it hit a cardboard box dead center, embedded to the hilt. The cardboard box of course didn't have enough mass and stability to withstand the impact and a large rip now rendered it destroyed. The knife flew back to Shade, and after she had removed every bit of cardboard she found on it, she placed it back in its sheath on her harness, her cloak placed besides it moments after. Don't know about you, but I'll take a shower now.

"Not bad" He said, quietly at Shade's accuracy. Feeling he could do better. "I think I'll fix the mess you made of the torches, then join you. If you'd like that is." He said smugly. Going over and picking up the torches quickly, so Shade could get in. He put them back up and lit the one that got extinguished earlier. It didn't take him long, once he finished that he tapped his hooves to a song he recalled just now. "By the way, if I needed a mane-cut I would have asked! I like the messy style"

I was hoping you'd join me, would be boring alone, Shade said smirkingly as she opened the valve, and first of all rinsed her mouth. There were definitely tastier things than blood.

The cold water felt good, now that Scrapper had managed that most of Shade's body was hurting in some way. It was nothing serious, in a few hours she'd probably notice nothing of that anymore. Well, apart of her jaw, she expected that to last a little bit longer, but it wouldn't impair her. Scrappers complain about the unwanted mane-cut made Shade look at him and chuckle a bit. It's not like your mane is any less messy now.

"I'm picky!" he replied happily. He finished tapping his hooves and began taking off his mask, goggles and other snazzy accessories. Then joined Shade, noting her rinsing her mouth. "Sorry, again. You made me do it." He said quietly, comfortingly and slightly apologetically to her, whilst being snuggling next to her under the rain of cold water. In his mind, he couldn't actually wait for his next visit with Sil, he had too, but although he knew he would probably get a crap load of pain from it, he wanted it gone more than anything right now.

I think I know how you can make up for it, Shade replied and threw her front hooves around his neck as she kissed him. Should taste better now, she said, interrupting the kiss only for a moment, before indulging in temptation again.

"Back for more huh?" He said smugly after the surprise kiss from Shade, and seeing that same look in her eyes. Getting just that moment to speak before Shade started kissing him again, he slowly pushed Shade on her back this time. Half expecting to be pushed over later, he broke the kiss for a few seconds to get a word out, "I think I can handle that payment, you think you can handle it?" he said before reconnecting the kiss again.

Shade would have pushed over right away, but with pain still lingering, she decided to let it be the way it was. Time to test that, she said daringly in another short interruption of the kiss, before things got too dirty to be described here.

------ About half an hour later ------

I'd have nothing against it if the nights always started like this, Shade said happily as she held her head under the water one last time before stepping away from the shower. Her magic's glow wandered through her mane and tail, wringing out most of the water. The spell wasn't nearly as useful on her coat, but it would dry fast enough. She put on her harness and cloak and snatched herself a carrot from their supplies. Alright, we need something to do while this Silvern Gleam is trying to figure out that spell. Since apparently there are rumors about me now I want to know what they say. Also I still lack some equipment since I've left my saddlebags on the surface, so I have to do a stroll through the Undermarket and the city anyway. Since scavenging is your forte I guess you're fine with that?

Scrapper made a quick stretch and shook his head violently to dry his mane, ending up with it as it always seems to stay. Messy. Still not fully dry, he replied to Shade in a happy manner, "Yup, sure thing Las. Going for a bit of shopping? It works!" He started to put his gear back on. "Or, shopping in my case means taking things that might not be mine or mindless destruction."

I've left my bits with my saddlebags, so I couldn't pay anyway, Shade said shruggingly. Let's see what they say about me then Quickly she climbed up the rope to the upper exit of the hideout and disappeared in the shaft.