An alternate way for Rose to find out about her Mentor's reputation. This is my first 'What If' chapter, so WHAT IF nobody ever mentioned how great he is to her before. Set shortly after he finds her with Jesse.

Dimitri is a Badass God

I swung again, aiming the carefully calculated blow at the back of his shoulders. Exactly as I had expected, Dimitri twisted automatically to block, his hands gripped the baton in both hands- raising it vertically in a sweeping position. Got you Cowboy! I crowed inwardly, as I changed direction, ready to have my own, identical weapon crash full force into his knee caps.

Quicker than ought to be legal, he reversed the direction of his swing, knocking the baton out of my hands and jarring my arm in the process. I bit back a yelp of pain and glared at him instead, my always-short temper stretched almost to breaking point.

"Sloppy, Rose." He berated me.

"Sloppy?" I repeated incredulously. "SLOPPY?! You are impossible to beat! We've been at this for hours and I still haven't landed even a single blow on you!"

"You're getting frustrated." He noted dispassionately.

I rolled my eyes in response. "Well no shit Sherlock!" I said, full-on sarcasm in my voice. "When every move I make is countered by some freaky super-speed maniac!"

"Your attack methods are predictable." He told me blandly; but with a hint of a smile.

The amusement in his eyes irritated me even more, and my defence-system instantly cranked up the snarky dial. "Yeah?" I shot back. "And I'm pretty sure that you were breaking the sound-barrier there. Shouldn't there be a speed limit or something?"

This time the smile was obvious. "Strigoi will always be faster and stronger than you, Rose- even more so than me!" He pointed out. "I'd do you no favours by exaggerating my movements.

For a brief moment I was speechless as I struggled to stop myself smashing his head into something hard.

Stupid condescending know-it all….."Yeah, I get it!" I snapped back. "But how am I supposed to defend myself, keep my enemies at bay and try to think up an attack that'll beat you all at the same time." I held up a hand as he started to speak, asking him to let me finish. "Maybe you can do it." I said flatly, still glaring murderously at him. "But as you are constantly reminding me, you've been doing this for years. Can't we just….. I dunno, take it a step at a time or something?"

He regarded me steadily, his countenance sober now. "You raise a valid point there." He replied seriously; and I felt my mouth drop open in astonishment. He smiled again, a flicker of a laugh that caused a similar flicker in my heart. "Here's how we'll try it." He declared. Walking over to where my baton lay, he picked it up and flipped it neatly at me. I caught it automatically, still numb. "You," He pointed his baton at me, "Will attack me. I will defend only, no more."

My mouth closed and brightened into an ever-growing smile as I considered this. "Really?" I asked eagerly; and he smiled again, the amusement back in his eyes. For some reason it didn't annoy much as much as it had last time.

"Ready?" He asked instead, gripping his baton, and I immediately crouched into an offensive position.

We commenced fighting and I found quickly that it was no where near as fun as I'd thought it would be. For one thing, nothing had changed. He still blocked practically every move. For another, every time he did block as well as those rare times I landed a blow, I think it hurt me more than it hurt him. Every connection that I made, whether it was with his weapon or Dimitri himself, jarred me to the bones whilst my oh-so awesome mentor remained as immobile as granite.

"You're becoming frustrated again," Dimitri said, his voice as calm and easy as though he were merely out for a pleasant stroll. "Try to focus your anger and stifle your urges."

I'm stifling the urge not to throw this stupid thing at you and scream profanities. I thought angrily. Does that count?

Before I could open my mouth to deliver this witty retort, however I heard the door open and shut behind me and an eager voice called out my name.

"And don't get distracted!" He snapped suddenly, the angry tone of his voice startling me more than his words and causing me to turn back in his direction in response. "Five more minutes." He instructed sharply, his stern eyes once again riling my anger.

For the next five minutes we moved so fast even I would have said we were supersonic. No matter how fast we went, though; no matter how many dirty tricks I tried and no matter how much energy I threw into that last-ditch effort, I didn't land any more blows.

At the end of the session I threw my baton into the supply closet in disgust and began to stomp angrily towards the changing rooms. Before I reached them, however I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at Dimitri in surprise, he was smiling down at me approvingly. "Congratulations Roza." He said warmly. "That was very well done out there."

"Oh yeah?" I snapped back, brushing his hand off of my shoulder impatiently. "Well if that's the best I can do I'll be screwed when I come up against a Strigoi. You said yourself that they're tougher than any Dhampir. So thanks for the compliment comrade."

He regarded me levelly again and I started to feel a little embarrassed by my outburst. He was probably only trying to be supportive; but there was no way I was going to apologise now!

"Your friends are still outside. I assume that you don't mean to leave them waiting for ever?" He asked, back to being Distant Dimitri. I felt a slight pang of regret and an uneasiness over why that should be.

Without another word I turned and hurried to get changed, slightly guilty over the Dimitri Incident. However, these emotions soon passed as I began to speculate on the identity of my surprise guest. Who'd have reason to visit me this late at night?

I got my answer as I got outside to find Mason and his friend Eddie standing by the wall talking, clearly waiting for someone.

"Hey guys!" I said, plastering on a smile as I approached them. "Did you come to escort me safely home?"

Both boys smiled at my teasing tone of voice. "Well," Said Mason, completely straight faced, "We'd hate for you to get lost. After all, you haven't been with us long….."

I rolled my eyes and gave him a gentle shove, as all of us began to move. "Jeez it's freezing out here….. You haven't been waiting long have you?"

They glanced at each other, suddenly wary. "Not long." Mason replied cautiously- both boys had a weird look in their eyes. "We left after you finished fighting Belikov….. You looked pretty pissed and you still had a weapon in your hands!" He joked nervously.

The smile vanished from my face. "You saw that." I stated flatly.

He nodded in conformation. "We saw that. You were….." He gulped. "You were scarily impressive." He conceded.

I rounded on him furiously. "Come to gloat Mase?" I asked angrily, viciously scattering a pile of snow a well placed kick. "Come to see exactly how far behind little drop-out girl is?!"

Masons eyes widened in shock. "No, no! I honestly mean it! You were really, really good!"

I laughed again, scornfully; but my anger faded as I realised he meant it. "Oh yeah?" I asked bitterly. "Then why didn't I land a single blow on him. It was simple practise, me attacking, him defending….. Yet I came out with more bruises than he did!" I glared at my hands sullenly, as though they were the cause of all my troubles.

Beside me, Mason sucked in a quick breath with surprise. "But you were still standing!" He said earnestly.

I looked at him sharply and was surprised to find that he meant it.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"Belikov is a God!" He explained.

I snorted. "Exaggerate much?"

"No, I mean it!" He replied eagerly. "He has this killer reputation, he's pretty much famous! But I, suppose you, wouldn't know about that, right?" He asked falteringly.

I snorted. "No, I didn't." I said, feeling a little bit better about myself.

"Well he is!" Mason assured me. "He's a total badass."

"Dimitri is a Badass God." I repeated teasingly; but secretly I was pleased with myself. If that were true….. Then maybe I'd done pretty well after all.