DISCAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF THE SECOND DIMENSION. THE STORY LINE YES, THEIR PERSONALITIES MAYBE, BUT THE CHARACTERS ARE FULLY AND 100% UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF DISNEY.
That last golden day had been the last day she'd been truly happy and carefree. The day promised to be perfect. The sky was a clear blue, the sun shined, and the light wind only complemented the gentle warmth of the day. A beautiful young woman of Asian descent with short stylish black hair sat in the grass as she fixed her nine year old's blue hair ribbon.
The little girl had just taken a few steps to play when she turned and ran into her mother's outstretched hands as the bright blue sky of before became hidden behind thousands of red and black scary robots...
Hirano, Stacy sighed and opened her eyes. Four years had passed since a dark force had taken the world and numerous lives in its dark grip. Two years in which she'd started to forget her parents voices, one when she began to forget their faces.
Tilting her face upwards, Stacy slumped against the wall. Not for the first time, she wondered what her life would be like if she hadn't met and joined Candace on that day. She'd probably be dead.
"HIRANO!" The sound of her last name caused her to flinch both physically and mentally. She may not have died four years ago in the takeover, but judging on the tone her name was yelled, Stacy didn't hold high hopes for seeing the light of tomorrow...
Gulping, Stacy turned her head towards the direction the yell came from. Marching towards her was a teen girl with long scarlet orange hair wearing a black tank top, bandanna, short skirt, and knee-high boots. Most freighting to Stacy was the fact that the girl was not wearing her signature dark sunglasses. Meaning that her eyes were fully visible. And they did not look happy.
There was no doubt in Stacy's mind. She was going to die today.
A couple of furious steps later and the girl was in front of Stacy glaring at her. It took all of Stacy's willpower and training to maintain eye contact with her commander and not run for her life.
"Hirano," she growled, "Do you know what day it is today?"
"Uhhhh Friday?"
"And what do we do on Fridays?"
Stacy felt the blood drain from her face as realization struck.
"Oh..."
"Oh's right, Hirano. How do I teach new recruits hand to hand combat so they have a chance of survival against Normbots or Doofen-Gaurds if my partner and second-in-command doesn't bother to show up?"
Uncomfortable and guilty, Stacy lightly fingered the handles of the twin blades that hung on her side.
"It's just that...it's getting closer to that day, and...it's getting hard to concentrate on the now..." She whispered to her commander.
For a few moments, the redhead's expression was unreadable, till at last, it softened a little.
"Fine," she sighed, "Stacy, take the day off, but you better be focused tomorrow. And not one word about this, if the troops hear I let you off, they'll think I'm going soft."
"Thanks, Candace"
Her friend just snorted and rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Hirano."
Stacy smiled back. It didn't happen often, but it was nice to see Candace loosen up a little. Even if she wasn't smiling outright, her blue eyes betrayed her amusement. It was true, what her mother had told her; one's eyes were the gateway to the soul. And Candace's eyes always betrayed her feelings, no matter how fearsome her scowl.
As if hearing her friend's thoughts, Candace pulled out her signature shades from a pocket in her belt and put them on. "Not one word Hirano." she growled before marching down another hallway to doubtlessly terrify her troops.
Stacy continued to smile as she in turn began to head towards her quarters. After a couple of minutes of walking, Stacy paused before suddenly dropping to her knees to avoid getting hit by a combination of wood and technology. The weapon, nun-chucks, continued past her head before pausing mid-air and zooming back to where it came.
Twisting her body so that she was in a crouch and facing her opponent, Stacy glared at her attacker.
"A clumsy throw? That's a bit below the skills of a 'ninja' wouldn't you say?"
Her opponent, a blonde boy about a year older than her, shurgged, grinning like an idiot.
"Well what else was I suppose to do as soon as you detected my presence? The last time I tried tackling, I was nearly shish-ka-bobbed!"
Stacy smirked. "A ninja should know better than to attack directly. Isn't that what you preach to your apprentices?"
He shrugged. Stacy wished he'd stop doing that. It was hard enough not to take him seriously in his modified 'ninja' resistance uniform (dark grey pants, light grey long sleeve tee, and black vest), but every time he shrugged, his spiky, semi-poofy blonde hair seemed to bounce.
He was such a dork.
Swiftly, Stacy leaped, pulling out her twin blades. Most people would have passed out, or at the very least, get out of the way.
Not him. He just smirked and held out his nun-chucks, catching her blades in the chain. Just inches from his face.
"Now who's being direct Stace?"
With practiced ease, he raised the tangled weapons above him before gripping one nun-chuck and threw it and the swords (Stacy included) away from him.
Airborne, Stacy shook his weapon off of hers and twisting her body so that she landed on her feet.
Almost instantly, she felt the metal of his nunchuck's against her neck. "Give up?" she heard him whisper in her ear.
Damm he was fast. Curse his ninja speed and calculating brain to be exactly where she'd land.
Stacy closed her eyes and let herself slump. Just as she expected, the metal slacked. He'd let his guard down. Grinning, Stacy raised her leg and kicked his body away from hers. He'd barely hit the floor when she spun on her heel and placed her swords cross-wise on his neck.
He looked up at her, and smiled. "All right, Stace. Guess my ninja skills are no match for a samurai. Uncle."
Stacy smirked as she withdrew her swords and placed them back in their sheath before offering her hand to him.
"For the last time Albert, I'm not a samurai."
"So are you saying I'm a ninja?"
"Mmmm, maybe if you didn't lose so often. So why the ambush today?"
"You seemed down..."
"So you figured a fight would cheer me up? Typical."
Albert closed his eyes as he placed his hands behind his head and slowly lowered himself into a sitting position against the wall. Stacy stared at him before rolling her eyes and joining him.
"You didn't let me finish." He sighed. "I...understand what's going on in your head at the moment. Better than our brilliant leader." he snorted.
Stacy sighed. "You know, Candace does understand, I mean she did lose family that day like I did, you-"
"I know I know, was at camp and missed the big takeover. But, my life changed, your life changed, Heck, a lot of people's lives changed but Candace..."
Albert opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Stacy sighed. She didn't blame him. A lot of people had difficulty understanding Candace, that is if they had the courage to attempt to do so. Only a few people knew what drove her to create the resistance and continue fighting.
Albert and Stacy were both part of that small group.
"She's one of my best friends, and I trust her. She understands..."
Albert snorted again, but Stacy pretended she didn't hear him.
"...I really don't want to get into this Albert."
This time, she didn't look at him, but she could feel him looking at her.
"Fine. Just let me know the next time you plan on missing training. That way I can cover for you or take you place in demonstrations."
Stacy glanced at him and gave him a small smile. "Thanks Albert. You should probably get going. Don't want your mother to wonder where you disappeared off to."
Albert rolled his eyes before slowly standing up and stretching. "Doubt she'd notice. She's probably trying to find something salvageable to eat. Betcha it's a rat."
Stacy's smile widened. "Then get going, if your mom's not there, Irving must be terribly bored."
"Yeah...Well see ya at school Stace."
"Back at 'cha."
Stacy waited a few moments after he left before continuing on to her quarters. It wasn't much, but at least it was better than living in the streets.
A/N: If the characters seem out of character to you, well, it's because this is the second dimension so, they've had to experience things their first dimension counterparts would consider nightmare material. I hope I did a good job on Candace-2 (she scares me...) and the fight scène. Reviews are much appreciated. Till next time, Frost is out PEACE!
