While he had spent most of the night pondering a bit of this and that it wasn't until the next morning that he had found a solution to his dilemma and that had been more out of chance. Had he spoken with Juniper a bit more he may have uncovered this little bit of information but as it was it had been he going to the NICE labs.

His Liquid Pain had nearly been exhausted. Normally he would have Ania pick up some when traveling the stars but it occurred to him that someone at the labs should be able to replicate it. Something useful when Ania wasn't present and he ran out. It was there on unrelated business that he laid his lemon yellow eyes upon it. Even conversed with it and learned a little bit about it. Then came the negotiations, the thing was so unrefined and it was clear that it hardly performed such tasks. Such a simple mind.

In any case with his business done he drifted around for a fair bit checking on this and that, had a nap and basically killed time. While he did not know if she had classes this day or when they concluded it wasn't until late afternoon that he returned to the campus invisibly.

He fluttered about distracted from time to time with the pretty blonds. He observed them, even saw a few that he had deals with or with other monsters to exclude from his attention. Only then with a simple reminder did he get back on track with what he was doing.

“Right. Stay focused.” He said to himself finding his way back to her dorm, flying up outside her window and peeking in, probably hoping to see a show of sorts since closed windows and locked doors couldn't hold him at bay.

Knuckles wrapped with glass as he became visible hovering there in place and waiting, not that he had to. If she did not respond in a timely fashion he would just let himself in. Maybe she wasn't even in yet in which case he would make himself at home.

Tiffany was having a bad day. The events of the night before were sort of hazy and muddled in her mind, but she did remember letting Slarr do things to her. She rationalized her actions by telling herself that a lot of what was happening to her was because of the book. It was teaching her how to do magic at a greatly accelerated pace, but it was also messing with her mind. Maybe just feeding off her darkest fantasies, or maybe trying to figure out how to control her.

Either way, Tiffany had felt embarrassed and sort of aroused and kind of frustrated all day. She had a vague recollection of the book instilling a certain set of conditions on the impending orgasm it had been about to force on her at the end of her last "training session." She didn't really remember all of it, but she knew it had to do with Slarr going down on her. All day long, she had been fantasizing about his long, warm tongue... slick and wet and inhumanly manueverable... sliding in and out of her slippery wet sex...

She had barely been able to concentrate in any of her classes. And... at lunch today, a girl named Jenny something, who had a reputation as a being a lesbian had walked by a group of girls sitting together. Once Jenny had passed by, the girls all giggled and one of them made a "V" with her fingers and fluttered her tongue between them in the universal sign for "rug-muncher."

But as Tiffany watched the girl's tongue flick in and out between her fingers, time seemed to slow down. The second or two it took the girl to make the lewd gesture seemed to last for minutes to Tiffany. A sudden image of the girl's head between her spread legs flashed through Tiffany's mind. She moaned out loud as she imagined that tongue flicking rapudly against her slick, wet netherlips and throbbing clit. She was so embarrassed she had left the cafeteria without so much as touching a bite of food.

So, as it turned out, when Slarr got to her room, she wasn't there yet. She had taken a walk to try and clear her head and shake off this weird obsession with getting oral sex that had been stuck in her brain all day long.

It wouldn't be long however, until he heard her footsteps come up to the door and the rattle of the knob as she let herself into the room, planning on throwing herself onto her bed in her frustrated misery...

She hadn't been in her dorm which hadn't really mattered to him. Letting himself in he more than distracted himself in his search for treats. Unlike the Prefect's room there were no cupboards to rummage through, no luxuries like microwaves and even stoves. For most of the student body they had whatever they could find in the recreational area of the dorms.

Still there were all sorts of places that snacks could be kept in. The bedroom had been the first place he looked figuring one wanted to keep treats close at hand. In all his searching he had found that he had wasted a fair bit of time and created quite the mess as always.

Dresser draws were opened with closed tossed aside. Other draws were completely removed and dumped out on the floor. But what treats he did recover were not strawberry, he had eaten all them last night though hope had remained high that she was holding out on him.

Once he had determined that there wasn't any strawberries around he began thumbing through books though he was mainly looking at illustrations rather than reading. Not that he was the brightest of beings or interested in science but he knew enough basic shit to know just how wrong humans were with this various hypothesis and theory.

“Entanglement doesn't work like that you idiots. When was this drivel written?” He looked for a date not that he understood how humans recorded time.

He was searching for something that indicated when it was written when he heard someone approach. Not sure straight away that it was her he had to wait until she got closer and only when he could see the doorknob move had he been certain it was her.

He was seated there as she came into the room. He closed the book abruptly to get her attention. “When was this thing written? Never mind, are you ready for your challenge?”

Tiffany looked shocked for a minute or two at finding Slarr waiting for her. Her eyes surveyed the mess he had made of her room, first widening in surprise, then narrowing in anger, then returning to normal as she realized with a resigned sigh what it was he had been looking for.

"Most of my stash isn't here. It has to be kept cold or it will go bad or melt depending on what it is. But you didn't check under the mattress. That's where the stuff that can be warm, and that will get me in trouble, is at. They're small, but that's the only size they generally put out for common use. I think they're like for toast or something in the morning. At the end of the week, I can steal one or two of the bigger jars that they put out for sandwiches, but that's not always strawberry. Sometimes it's grape or that marshmallow stuff."

If he looked under the top of the mattress, he would find 6 small jars of jam. There was only enough for two or three pieces of bread or toast in each one, but they were all strawberry.

"Of course, if you eat them now, I wont be able to get anymore until your next payment is due."

After giving Slarr a minute to make up his mind about the jam, she went on.

"So, do you want to tell me what the hell you are talking about? This is the second time you mentioned some kind of challenge. What does that mean, exactly?"

He watched her race through so many emotions at once. It was a good thing that she refrained from chastising him. Once before a student had and he had to teach Pia her place. Even being one of the smaller beings on the island he could easily deal with a student.

Yes, he saw the anger there but that was nothing to him. Belzar were use to seeing disgust and disdain from their underlings but in the end they always did what they were commanded to do. Of course there were all sorts of betrayal and under handed schemes and he was nearly at the bottom of their hierarchy.

His self imposed exile brought him to this world. He was safer here and Ania could always be sent to get this or that for him. Perhaps one day he would leave Shokushu on these minor excursions, of course he'd go with her for added safety, Slarr was cautious after all.

He discovered the packets of jam in their small plastic rectangular containers. He brought one up to his eye examining it. Working out how to open it he quickly gave up popping the container in his mouth and chewing it whole with the plastic. The other five packets were placed back where he had found her, with her direction of course.

Swallowing down the treat plastic and all he sighed contentedly. “Your challenger. The one to try your hand on and see just how much you have learned and retained from the book.” He approached her stopping short of her then letting his eyes slid up and down her uniformed being.

“You might want to change. Trust me, you'll want to be mobile. And a suggestion? Smoke might help too not that we did any practice with it. You'll see. Now get ready, you'll be at a severe disadvantage if we begin to late.”

Tiffany watched with horrified fascination as Slarr ate the jam packet, plastic and all.

"That can't be good for you," she remarked with mild amusement.

To be honest, Tiffany wasn't really sure she was up to the challenge today. She was tired and frustrated and... well, a little out of sorts to say the least. Still, she supposed she had asked Slarr to teach her, and since he was, for the most part, holding up his end of the bargain (and he HAD warned her that she wouldn't like the training) she really didn't have much choice.

"Ok, I guess. Unless there is some way I can convince you to take a day off..."

She looked at Slarr hopefully at that last remark, but before he could reply, she could already tell by the way his yellow eyes narrowed that the answer to that question was a resounding "NO".

"Ok... ok... nevermind. I'm going..." the blonde replied with a long, deep sigh.

Tiffany stripped out of her uniform and put on workout clothes. Again, she seemed unaware of Slarr as she peeled off her clothes right in front of him. She put on black yoga pants, a snug sports bra for support during strenuous activity, a half shoulder top to cover the bra and a pair of comfortable running shoes. All in all, everything she put on would not be too hot and was lightweight enough to maximize her agility. Sufficiently geared up, she asked...

"So... where are we going?"

Perhaps your digestion can't handle plastic. Mine will have that melted in no time.” In short order he digested most things in mere minutes. The physiology of smoke devils were like that. If he transitioned to smoke before his digestion was complete whatever he had consumed would simply fall out of him. So he had to process foods fast of go without using that ability.

As such his body was like a furnace converting food into energy or incinerating things that others would not consider being food at all. There were some materials that took far longer to “digest” and most of the time they winded up passing through him the next time he switched from solid to gas.

When she asked to put off training those eyes stared at her in a way that gave her an answer. There was too much work he had to put in in this short amount of time to be dissuaded now. In fact he was sort of proud that he had managed to arrange things this quickly even though most of that had to do with plain dumb luck.

He watched her dress not saying a word as if that would dispel a trance she may have been in. If not for the bargain and the fact that they were sort of on a timeline he might have been persuaded in leaving things for the evening but his resolve had been great enough to see him through things.

“Far enough from here.” He pointed out the window. “The rendezvous was set around sundown. I didn't know when you'd get out of class so it was tough to set a time things being on the fly and what not.

“And that is in the opposite direction of Birch's turf so we won't have to worry about his no fire stance.” He went invisible guiding her with a touch on her shoulder until they left the dorm behind and got into the jungle where he could become visible once again.

He led her on for a bit, passed streams and around vegetation and overgrowth sticking to a hiking path for the most part then leaving it after about five minutes bringing her to a small clearing.

“Looks like it's not here yet. You better get ready. Oh, and you're not limited to just this area so you know. No rules, there will be none in ordinary circumstances,” none she'd be aware of anyway. “And don't worry about hurting him or whatever collateral damage done to the area. If fires get out of hand I'll snuff them.”[/color]

Tiffany was getting nervous at Slarr's words. That might have been a good thing, considering it dispelled the general sense of malaise that had been plaguing her all day. She felt more focused, more mentally and physically ready for whatever Slarr planned on throwing at her. She was still nervous, though. It seemed like what he was saying to her was not to hold back and hit with everything she had. But outside of the dream training, the most she had been able to do was light a leaf on fire and blister the paint on her dorm room walls...

An obvious look of displeasure came into her face.

"You know... you're extremely cryptic when you talk. Would you please tell me what it is I am supposed to be fighting against? You can't just expect me to fight something that is going to kill me if I lose. I'm not ready for that yet..."

“Kill you? Oh, nothing like that. That goes against the rules ...” He shut up having let that slip. Those yellow eyes looked her over once more then he thought it best to amend what he just said.

“It has been told not to eliminate you. But I gave it no other instructions. Beating you to the brink of death is another matter. I suppose you will want to avoid that.

“Consider it motivation for doing well. Or you can always give up too. I wouldn't mind those desserts.” He pointed a finger to the sky letting out a burst of flame. Perhaps he decided to cut whatever leisure time out. The signal generated a ruckus almost at once. Something was coming towards the clearing quickly coming forth.

Something big. Small trees in it's way were uprooted. The clanking of metallic limbs grew louder as something headed this way. A look towards Slarr showed him with his back leaning up against a tree. He pointed to the opposite side of the clearing from which the sound emanated.

“And that would be your opponent. I assumed it would have been farther out.” He shrugged. Soon after it had emerged into the clearing.

A huge seven and a half foot boxy machine with a face plate behind which she could see several blinking lights. It's powerful arms ended in clamps and it looked like there was a plate on the torso that opened to who knew what. It scanned the terrain then settled on her.

TIFFANY STERLING? It questioned in a booming voice that sounded almost confused as it scanned her with it's senses.

Tiffany's eyes widened with shock and her mouth hung open as the metal monster's voice thundered across the clearing.

"Is... is that a robot?!?"

Tiffany was dumbfounded. Did Slarr build a robot for her to fight? Somehow, that didn't seem likely...

"Wait... its made of metal! Fire won't hurt that! And if it gets hot enough, it would burn ME! That means I'm stuck with just the telekinesis thing and I can only control that in short bursts! What do you expect me to do against this thing?!? I would not exactly call this a fair fight, Slarr!"

Tiffany's voice trembled with a mix of bewilderment, fear and anger.

"Forget it... I can't fight that thing!"

“Is it a robot?” Slarr glanced at the metallic automaton as if analyzing what was obvious as Tiffany went on about weaknesses and how fire wasn't going to be much help. He cocked his head slightly as he regarded her.

“Then don't use fire.” It was as if he had been stating the obvious then sighed. “How often do you think you're going to get a fair fight here? If you can handle this then I don't think there's much to worry about.”

Her refusal got him to narrow his gaze on her. The metal beast simply waited, a massive clamp on it's hip as if displaying a sign of impatience. It may have seemed comical under other circumstances. Slarr simply shook his head from side to side. “I can't call Tinman off now.” Then he turned to the large robot and raised his voice answering for her. “This is she.”

From behind that visor there was a flicker of lights as it processed what was said then lumbered straight ahead at where she was standing. One of those clamp-like arms coming up as if to grab her instead of opening up at range with whatever armament that it possessed. Maybe it didn't have any but that was wishful thinking on her part.

"Damn you, Slarr..." Tiffany growled at the clever imp before turning to fully face her opponent. Apparently, there was no way to opt out of this...

Tiffany's mind quickly assessed the situation. The robot would undoubtedly be far too strong for her physically, but it didn't appear to be very fast as it lumbered forward. She would have to try and outmanuever it. Also, fire might not do much to the metal body, but there seemed to be lights of some kind behind the thing's faceplate. If it had lenses of some kind that it used to "see", maybe she could scorch the surface of them enough to blind it. The clearing was woefully devoid of debris that would be hard enough or heavy enough to throw at the construct, but maybe she hurt it telekinetically...

In just a few seconds, Tiffany had planned her first move. She walked toward the metal monster, but angled off to her right a little, wanting to get a little closer, but still keep some distance between her and the robot. Her eyes were fixed carefully on the things legs, timing the strides...

Waiting for the thing to start taking a step, Tiffany would try and telekinetically "grab" it's legs, pulling the back one forward and holding the front one back in an effort to trip the metallic man. If she could get it on the ground, that would be a huge advantage to her...

Slarr snapped his fingers in a theatrical display of going invisible when things got started. Tiffany cut direction and ran and Tinman did the same altering his trajectory. Heavy mechanical legs dug into the ground as it halted but still slid through the earth taring up roots and rocks.

Then coming to a halt it swiveled in her direction. She could hear the cacophony of it's movements. Clanks and whirls, the snip of those heavy clamps as they opened and closed as it redirected itself coming straight at her. Her telekinetic abilities had not been as strong or as practiced but they manifested themselves nonetheless.

Had she tried to push back the massive frame of the robot she would have failed but catching it just right she was able to snare the foot of the robot. It fell forward though probably in a way she was not expecting as the clamps came out in front of it in order to brace it's fall.

But it wasn't doing as an organic would. Rather it used that moment to somersault itself. It was loud yet graceful springing up after the brief roll. She did manage to confuse it enough where it looked back as if to see what it had tripped over. There were a few small holes in the dirt too where it's knees first made contact with the ground. Dirt and grass falling away as it stood swinging it's gaze back to her.

It stood before her canting it's head as it studied her and reevaluated matters. YOU DID THAT? ANALYSIS CANNOT DETECT ANY TERRAIN ALTERATIONS. ONLY A SEVEN PERCENT CHANCE THAT ATTACK WILL BE SUCCESSFUL AGAIN ONCE COUNTER MEASURES AS DEPLOYED.

Lights of various colors winked in and out behind that face plate. Then it's jets kicked in. The robot hovering a foot or so off of the ground before rushing at her head long once again.

Tiffany's hopes of getting the robot on the ground were quickly dashed as the thing somersaulted back to its feet. That trick barely slowed it down. She grew even more concerned as the thing suddenly lifted off the ground and began to fly at her even faster than before.

"Rockets... of course it has rockets..." Tiffany thought glumly to herself. Her mind raced, trying to formulate a new plan.

Tripping it hadn't worked as she expected, but it proved that the robot might be susceptible to misdirection. Keeping her eyes on the speeding mechanical monster, Tiffany backed toward the trees at the edge of the clearing. When it got closer, her plan was to telekinetically pull it out of its planned trajectory at the last second and send it sailing over her head and into the trees. With any luck, she might be able to catapult it directly into a tree and break something inside that metal shell.

It was a clumsy flier. Further it only ever had an altitude of about a foot from the ground for whatever reason. Perhaps it was too heavy, there may have been some sort of defect in those rockets or they were positioned wrong for the bulk of it's body. Better placement would have been on the back. In any case it was just awkward and poor design but had it's uses.

Slippery surfaces could be avoided at least. Ice was no challenge, and other terrain such as mud, sand and snow wouldn't slow it down if those rockets were employed.

As it neared it scanned around her as it analyzed the area around her. She was not moving and it calculated that there was nearly a hundred percent chance she had something else planned. Of course she could have frozen up out of fear too. Still Tinman monitored the area. It had not been educated much on magic.

It had a general understanding of it but hadn't encountered it. So it had no idea what she could do. It's speed assisted her in deviating it as it neared. Too heavy to lift it Tiffany managed to nudge it right into a tree that had been uprooted in the process.

Knocked prone again it reassessed the last few seconds as it pushed itself upright. Those lights flashing in greater speed as it processed all that was going on. There was no damage on the thing other then some pieces of bark and dirt. On it's knees it turned toward her.

It's chest plate sliding open revealing a mostly hollow space from her vantage point. At the bottom of this space had been a series of retractable gadgets that went unseen. But what could be seen was the weapon set at the back center that fired at her now. It's capture cable fired at her. It started as a canister that quickly popped open revealing a line of cable that twisted around and around like the rotors of a helicopter blade as it sought to pin her arms to her sides.

All the while it stood and turned in her direction powering up weapon systems in the event that it would need them. There were plenty of trees and while it's aim would be true if she held still all it would have taken was a little cover if she acted fast enough and that cable would wrap around a tree.

If unsuccessful the best aim would be to close the short distance as most of the long range weaponry wouldn't be employed against students. If she ran she was likely to be more maneuverable in the trees. Even if the cable ensnared her she could still run if she kept her footing.

In the end though she would get tired and as long as his charge held he could pursue her a long time. As it was he had nearly an 80% charge so it would be quite a while in any case ...