All things considered, Toudy made for a decent place to train.

Iris extended her hand, Sasha watching as signals flowed through them. They spread down from her fingertips to her shoulder, following the flow of blood to expand to all parts of her body. The panther nodded with a smile.

"See," she said. "A lot easier to focus this way, right?"

The wolf let out a small breath, her fingers flexing as she tested her new power. She punched the air, smiling as she did.

"Okay," Iris admitted. "Maybe you are on to something, Sash."

"Told you so."

She stuck her tongue out at Cici, the fox pouting. Her advice of "just gotta feel it out, Sulky" had done little to help anything. In fact, it only made Iris a victim of blowback. But Sasha knew how to speak the wolf's language. She didn't become the best friend by not paying attention.

"Should I test it?" Iris asked.

"Maybe a little, but don't go overboard. You still gotta fight Alexander in the morning, remember?"

Iris nodded, squatting down to the ground. When she kicked off, the rocks caved under her. Not that she seemed to notice as the wolf went flying like a bird. She came crashing back down several moments later.

"Geez."

Sasha swatted away the debris that came flying at her. Iris still needed to work on her control a bit more, but she was already much better than before. Cici clapped her over the shoulder.

"Nice work, Sulky," she said. "Now you just gotta keep at it so we can all have a super spar."

Iris's tail wagged. "That a challenge, Fox? Don't think just because you're stronger now it's gonna stay like that."

Cici flashed a grin. Sasha quickly stepped between them to remind her friends they had training in the morning.

***

After their talk with the wolf, Alexander's regiment became a lot more palatable.

Sasha would regularly dance around Cici's blows, managing to stick it out for a few rounds before getting knocked aside and carried back to the den. According to the fox, she was getting faster each time. But evidently, she was never quite fast enough.

Whenever Iris came, she was exhausted, but she never required as many bandages moving forward. In fact, the wolf stopped getting so banged up altogether, something Sasha noticed one day as they were lounging in the den, Iris laughing for the first time since they'd entered Alexander's torture camp.

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There was a glow about her. Like she'd returned to the experiment crazy wolf she'd been on Shiny.

"Sounds like mush to me, Sash," she said.

"Agreed," the panther nodded.

Cici pouted. "Oh, you both can eat grubs for all I care."

The fox's tirades became a staple of their training. Something they all looked forward to after so much time acclimating to Toudy's conditions.

But Sasha knew they couldn't stay on Toudy forever. Not when they all had work to do. A Comet Man to beat. Friends to rescue. So when she saw a familiar spider waiting for them one day, she was more than eager to run up and hug her.

"Madame Dyre!" she shouted, giving her a squeeze. "I missed you!"

The spider smiled down at her.

After being away for so long, Sasha was excited to tell her all about the skills she'd learned. The training she'd endured. But she managed to contain herself as the spider put a gloved finger on her lips.

"One thing at a time, my child," she said.

Her gaze shifted to the others, red eyes scanning them all over before she finally spotted Alexander.

"I take it you've been treating them well?" she asked.

The godkiller sniffed.

"This look like a playground to you?"

The spider smirked. "No, but it does surprise me they all survived."

To that Alexander could only roll his eyes.

"Oh, believe me, I tried."

Both Sasha and Iris smiled at each other.

Though it took some practice, Sasha did feel a little more graduate-like after everything Alexander put them through. All the fighting and the signal training. She stood tall, her whiskers feeling all the signals around her. The weakest grad in the cosmos, and she still managed to squeeze some lessons out of the man who killed gods. Madame Dyre gave him a curious look, but Alexander moved swiftly to get rid of the graduate trio.

"Well since you're here, you can take your brats back," he said. "I've done my part."

He flicked his hand in a shooing gesture. Both Sasha and Iris had no problems doing so, only Cici lingering a bit before joining everyone else.

"Eager to go anyhow," Iris said. "Nice as this place is, I'd love to see sunlight again."

"With you on that, Sulky." Sasha immediately fell back into excitement. "Oh, about what I was telling you, Madame. I got to go volcano diving! And then we fought all over Toudy. And then...And then..."

As she recounted every little detail, Madame Dyre nodded in understanding, of which only made her more eager to say more on their training.

Granted, most of what she said had been either annoying or a pain to deal with in the moment. But as they were headed back to the Dyre's shuttle, she wanted to tell her all about it. Even if earned her weird looks from her friends.

"It's like I'm a super cat now," she said. "Ready to take on the whole dang universe."

"Super cat?" Iris asked.

She flashed her a look, but Madame Dyre brought a smile back as she stroked her head.

"One thing at a time, my child," she said. "Lest you've forgotten. Now comes the tricky part."

Sasha purred.

"Oh. Don't worry. I haven't."

She flashed a toothy grin, her eyes full of fire.

"I'm ready to go AIC whacking, Madame."