Do you see that girl? That girl taking on two fully grown men? That girl with the crazy black hair stuffed under mismatched sparring gear? That girl in the white uniform soaked in sweat and stained with blood? That girl in the brown belt with a single white stripe? That girl who's getting the everlasting begeezus punched out of her?
Yea that's ,AJ Aisha Orianna, that Latino girl with the wavy jet black hair, tan skin, a face full of freckles, and a weak looking physique.
And that's AJ taking her black belt test in Tae Kwon Do. That single white stripe on that brown belt is what is between her and that glorious, glorious black belt. That was AJ in the final stage of the test: Sparring, AKA the hardest part. And she's getting the living daylights knocked out of her.
But yet, she didn't give up. AJ kept going, which... surprised some people. The bystanders watched in amazement. Why? Well, AJ not... normal, for two reasons.
One: She was in a car accident a year and a half ago and lost her left leg in the process. The doctors couldn't manage to save it, they tried everything, but AJ was going down hill fast. So the solution was to amputate. And on top of all of that, she is a mute. She was born without the ability to speak.
The second (which really isn't a disability): AJ is adopted. And in said car crash, her adopted mom died. She wasn't really the nicest, but AJ never wanted her to die. She was always very blunt about AJ being adopted. She said that her biological mom didn't want her nor did she want AJ to meet her.
Sounds like a pretty sucky life, huh? Well, it gets better from here... sort of, you'll see and here's where it all starts.
AJ ended up getting her black belt successfully at her much more benevolent adopted grandparent's dojo in Dallas, Texas. There AJ had her only best friend rooting for her: I introduce to you Amy Cole.
Amy ,who is crippled from the waist down, and AJ met in physical therapy, when AJ lost her leg. She has light brown eyes, medium length brown hair, and tan skin. She also has red glasses that AJ hides for fun. She obviously doesn't do karate, but she wouldn't do it anyway. She is short, like, shorter than AJ (that's really short). And like AJ, she is 15 years old.
I guess I'll give you a more in depth description of AJ, too. Like I said, jet black, unruly, short hair, weak and sparely built looking physique, and Latino, very Latino. AJ is in fact a twig... She is very small in stature, but tall ,5'5 tall. AJ has hazel eyes people swear change from chocolate brown to some mix of blue ,brown ,and green,
And lastly like I've said probably three times now, AJ an amputee. Her left leg was crushed to bits, so after all the surgeries and therapies AJ got fitted with one of those semicircle prosthetics but she uses a different one for her other activities.
Let's skip ahead, say about... oh, a month later. Amy's parents ,who lived in New York, invited AJ to their condo for the summer. They went by themselves by train.
AJ was clad in some grey shorts, a red tank top and a pair of red slip on converse. Amy was in some baggy blue jeans and a constellation T-shirt. They both had a backpack, AJ brown, Amy green.
They arrived at the Dart station at the crack of dawn.
"Ugh did we have to get up so early, Amy?" AJ said in sign language.
No one was there except the two girls. They walked down to the waiting area.
"Yes, We need to catch this particular train if we want to get there on time." She replied as the faint chug chug of a train rang out, only to be heard by one of the two girls.
"There is no one here, Amy! We will be on time for this stupid train. And another thing, who is that guy that's calling your name?" AJ pointed behind her. A bearded man in a wheel chair was rolling toward them. AJ could hear him mouthing Amy's name. He had a blanket over his legs and a tweed jacket on. And it looked like he got off the train that just pulled in.
"Oh hi, Mr. Brunner, sir!" She greeted the man.
"Good morning, Amy, Ajax." He looked at each of us as he said our names.
"How do you know my real name? Even Amy doesn't know it!" AJ signed with an extremely surprised look on her face.
"That's your real name?" Amy questioned.
"Like I was saying," Mr. Brunner cleared his throat before Amy could continue. "The train is ready to depart. Come aboard." He waved his hand forward.
They gathered their belongings and followed him up a ramp onto the empty passenger car. The three took our seats, AJ took her own booth and plopped her backpack in the bench across from her. AJ sat in her own booth and Amy sat with Mr. Brunner.
Mr. Brunner pulled out a walkie-talkie and said into it: "all set" and it said back "10-4 all set. Here we go."
The train started to lurch forward. Amy and started talking. AJ pulled out a little engine that she was working on before from her bag and started to mess around with it. She grabbed a few little bits and pieces and started to wire and screw them together until her calloused hands became oily and grimy.
Once AJ finished ,in a little over an hour or so, she had made a remote control hummingbird about the size of her hand.
"I don't think that's going to work." Amy said when she saw it.
AJ raised her eyebrows and grabbed the controller and made the bird fly around her head.
"Your a mechanic?" Mr. Brunner asked, like he took it into consideration in a problem he hasn't found the answer to.
She nodded to him.
"Of course it works ,Cyber-nerd." Amy said.
How did AJ make a bird that fast you ask? Well, she has some sort of natural talent for inventing or making things. AJ started realizing this when she helped her grandfather fix his car. That's when AJ started messing around with things and started to put things here and there mostly making little robots, and then eventually getting involved in engineering classes ,hence the name Cyber-nerd.
The train made a stop in Kentucky and Mr. Brunner moved to the front of the train with the conductor, so Amy came to sit in the booth with AJ.
After they started off again ,AJ flew the little bird around Amy's head to annoy her with the buzzing of its wings and try and steal her glasses. But right as AJ got them into the robo-bird's beak, a few real birds crashed into the car ,through the window that the two were sitting next to.
AJ curled up into a ball to protect herself from the airborne shards of glass. She looked up and saw that they looked like WAY overgrown pigeons.
She looked across the aisle and saw Amy crouched under the table with... a wooden bow and a quiver full of silver shafted arrows? She motioned for she to get under the table. AJ silently did as she motioned.
AJ said in sign language. "What the heck are they?"
This was one of the times that AJ was glad Amy knew how to sign.
"Stymphalian Birds. They have extremely sharp beaks and they can use their metallic feathers as arrows. In other words extremely dangerous." She signed back.
"Do we kill them?" AJ asked.
Amy nodded and pulled out her wooden flute and started to play. The birds flew wildly and started to bump into the tables and walls.
"Music disorients them; makes them fly crazy." She explained in sign.
She nodded to her in understanding. Then AJ had an idea. She pulled the hummingbird from the table and flew it towards the real birds. The buzzing sound of the wings distracted them while the music made them fly all dipsy.
Aaron loaded her bow and shot all five of the birds in a bit over a few minutes.
"What the hell were those?!" AJ signed as she stood up.
"I told you! They're Stymphalian Birds!" Amy shouted as she came out from under the table.
"What like Roman mythology?"
"Greek! Thank the gods I had my flute!" Amy yelled and put her flute in her back pack. But she wasn't normal. Her legs were replaced with ones of a white sheep with cloven hooves.
Before AJ could sign anything else Amy ran over to the front of the car and grabbed the walkie-talkie that had left for them.
"Chiron what's our location?" She spoke into the radio.
"Chester, Pennsylvania." It spoke back.
Amy rolled the radio in her hands ,like she was thinking and said "This is a Code Black. I repeat, this is a Code Black. See you at camp, sir."
"10-4, Good luck." Then the staticky voice fade away. Amy and put her backpack on and AJ did the same.
"Let's head out." Amy was about to jump out the window. She slung her bow across her shoulder.
"Wait, what?!" Amy signed
"Just go!" Amy pushed her to the busted window. Amy flung herself out, then it was AJ's turn. She climbed up the frame, scraping up her palms in the process, and jumped