The swords glanced off each other, and Noki grew more and more furious. With a shrieking battle cry, she swung the blade high over her head, and brought it down with a clang. That was a bad move, as her training instructor easily side stepped her, and swept his leg into her ankle, knocking her off balance and into the ground. The wind was knocked out of Noki, and she tried to get up, and found the blade placed gingerly on the side of her neck. She hissed, and bowed her head in silent defeat.

"You let your emotions take control of you... I will not lie, your passion makes you a fearsome opponent, Noferktii." Her instructor helped the young alien to her feet, and continued. "But you can't rely on brute strength to bring down your enemy if they are vastly stronger than you. You must use their anger and force them to get mad. They will make mistakes. Just calmly and coolly defend, until they wear themselves out. As you did today. Then strike once, and victory will be yours."

Noki bowed, and acknowledged his words. "Thank you, master. I will try to do just that in future". She went to walk away, humbled by his words, when he spoke again. 

"Hey, I have a gift for you..." Noki's training gown was tattered and ripped, and she was bruising around her eye, but she went up to him none the less. He reached into a bag, and revealed a massive pistol, intricately etched with various alien symbols and such. Placing the weapon in her hand, the wizened old man smiled. "Each student who continues my training after today, which is few and far between after that humiliation," He chuckled, and continued, "receives a weapon of my choosing, which embodies their trials and tribulations, that brought them to me. Yours is the Kiss of Death, a kiss you yourself know far too well, but you use that fury to further your own strength, which makes you a strong warrior. May it protect you in your travels, Noferktii."

Noferktii stood there, dumbstruck and jaw dropped, and then jumped into the air. Yes, finally, her own gun! She hugged her master. "Thank you so much!" She regained her composure, and stood awkwardly in front of him. "I mean, I am honored, master. I will treat it with the utmost care, Now, if I may be excused, I have to prepare tonight's mea-" Suddenly, her master spoke up, in a strange accent: "[i]But he's got other things to worry about, like that fucking twerp with the cat-ears.[/i]" Puzzled, she went over to him. 
----
 With a start, a loud gunshot woke Noki, who bolted upright. This caused pain to shoot up her side, and she gripped the wound, wincing. That's right, the doctors, the blaster wound, Rectja... After a quick inspection, she determined she was healed, but still shouldn't exert herself too much. Which couldn't happen, as her friends appeared to have made some new friends. Trying to get up, she was stopped by a nurse, who told her otherwise. Noki snapped at her, "What am I supposed to do? My friends are in trouble because of me. If they die. I will never live that shame down, could you?"

The nurse simply replied, "And if you die, all this will be for nothing. Trust in them, and they will survive. The best you can do, right now, is get better and pay them back for this later. Trust me, this is the only way." Noki sat there, and sighed, burying her face into her hands. As much as she hated it, this was true. Doing anything now will only get her killed. So she got up, and went with the nurse further up the back, where they could take cover and not be in the way. Noki grabbed her pistol, just to be sure, and they proceeded to let the others clean them up.