A/N: Aw yeah! I've spent a LONG time thinking on this story, and debating as to whether or not I wanted to upload it. I had it up on here once, but I deleted it because I was REALLY unhappy with the way it was turning out. I've redone this story a bit, made it more to my liking, and now I have decided to repost it. I hope you like!
For those of you who don't get the wonderful world of guns, don't worry. I had to do some mega research (I looked at pictures and watched Tremors and Jurassic Park) to figure out what I wanted to use here. The amazing modern guns don't come in until later, but the M16 in this chapter is an antique that was used during WWII. Google it. It's pretty darn cool!
Star Fire
Chapter 1: Dreams
Lila and Sammy were cleaning their guns one night when the coach of their shooting club, Coach Donavis, called Sammy's cell. Lila answered when she noticed the caller I.D.
"Hi, Coach Don."
"Evening Lila." he said. " "I wonder if I could talk to Samantha."
"Sure." Lila said as she handed the phone to her sister.
"Hey coach." Sammy said when she answered.
"Evening Samantha. I have some important news to pass on."
"Shoot. Sammy waits."
"It looks like the rest of the club has made their decisions. You will coach them next year." Sammy let out an excited scream.
"Omigod, are you serious?" she asked, hoping her coach wasn't playing some cruel, sick joke.
"Serious as a heart attack, Samantha." he answered. "The team also wants Lila to coach, but only when you can't. Beginning next year, you will make all the decisions. You just need to take the firearms safety class before 4-H starts up again next year. I'll see you two next weekend for the last meeting of the year. Bye, Samantha. Tell Lila I say the same."
Sammy mumbled a "Yessir, thank you sir." before hanging up, her eyes wide with shock. That was the news the teens needed to make their day complete.
"Well?" Lila asked impatiently. Sammy shifted to look at her sister.
"I. . . I…We're coaching the 4-H marksmanship club next year!" she yelled excitedly.
"Oh my gosh, we are?!" Lila screamed. The girls' mother came running in, her own rifle in hand.
"What happened? I heard screaming," she asked.
"Coach Don just called. The club's votes are in. I'm coaching the marksmanship club next year." she said, an ear-to-ear grin stretching along her lips.
"Sam, I'm so proud! Shane, your daughters are the new marksmanship coaches!" Cheyenne called to her husband. He, too, came running into the living room, his father's antique M16 in one hand and a dish of gun polish in the other.
"My baby girls are going to be the new coaches of the marksmanship club for next year?" he asked, a huge grin tugging at the corners of his already smiling lips.
"Yup, dad, we are." Lila piped up. Shane set down his M16 and grabbed his girls up in a huge bear hug.
"That's the kind of stuff I like to hear. My girls following in their dad's footsteps."
Shane barely let go of his daughters when the TV changed from SIRIUS country radio to Avatar. The first season's season finale was on, and it would be the girls' hundred-somethingth time to see it. New episodes weren't due to appear until March, and the girls weren't too pleased.
The hour the episode was on went by rather quickly. Before the sisters knew it, the trio arrived at the North Pole, Zuko got into the city, Aang went to the spirit world, Zhao launched his attack, Zuko lost Aang to Katara, Sokka, and Yue, Zhao killed the moon spirit, Yue sacrificed herself for the moon spirit, and Aang saved the water tribe.
Before they realized it, the clock struck 11. Lila and Sammy headed upstairs to the attic. When the family moved into the house 7 years ago, the 3-room attic was converted to the girls' room, study, and anything else they could think of.
Lila and Sammy went to sleep thinking of how cool it would be to visit the world of Avatar, with certain necessities of course. The girls would need their walkie-talkies, an endless supply of AA batteries, horses and tack, Lila would need her boom box and an unlimited supply of D batteries, her rifle, bullets, and her camera while Sammy would need her gun collection, bullets, her CD's, her karaoke machine and most importantly, her Chinese-English dictionary. Seeing as all writing in the cartoon was in Chinese, they would need a way to understand it all.
The girls woke next morning when the rifle alarm clock began to fire. Groggily, the sisters pulled themselves out of their bunk bed, got dressed, and headed down for their first day of summer vacation.
Completely awake by the time they made it downstairs, the teens began to make breakfast. Sammy pulled out the waffle iron and mix while Lila grabbed the square skillet, the eggs, and a spatula.
Mixing everything, Sammy poured what would be the first waffle in the waffle iron and closed the lid.
Lila cracked four eggs and began to toss them around the skillet. The sizzling woke Cheyenne and Shane. Thinking something was burning, the two ran into the kitchen to see their daughters cooking breakfast.
"We should be used to this by now, dear." Cheyenne said, yawing. Her husband nodded. Lila's watch went off, signaling that it was 6:45.
"We got an hour and 45 minutes until summer camp starts," she said to her sister. The light on the waffle iron began blinking, and Sammy lifted the top iron. As carefully as she could, she pulled the waffle out, until she burned herself. She squeaked.
"Here, I'll get it." Lila said as she motioned for Sammy to move. Lila slid her knife carefully along the edges of the waffle. She, too, burned herself, but it didn't phase her. Lila was unusually warm-blooded, which caused her to be less affected by heat. She always thought she'd make the best firebender.
Her father had forced both girls to take martial arts and gymnastics classes when they were 6 and 7. Two years had made the girls exceptional warriors, and not many guys would even talk to them for fear they'd say something wrong and cause the girls to hurt them and their reputation.
After everyone finished their waffles, eggs, and O.J., Sammy went upstairs to grab her and her sister's boots, hats, and chaps (A/N: pronounced shaps!) before the girls jumped into their F350 crew cab dually powerstroke diesel V8 with, above all things, LAMBO DOORS! Not only did it have the above mentioned, but it also had a DVD player, CD player, cell phone charger, a cattle guard on the front, window guard in the back, running boards, a sun roof, and lest we forget, the fact that it was black with red and orange flame shooting back from the cattle guard onto the doors and 'morphing' into a girl on horseback with a very expensive rifle. It was the girls' dream truck. That pickup was a dream to drive.
Lila was the one to drive it most of the time. She had gotten her license on her 16th birthday, and now, it had been a little over a year since that fateful day. Thank goodness the girls' parents were rich, or they couldn't have afforded the truck, limo, and Jaguar they had.
"Lila! We gotta go!" Sammy called from the door as her sister attempted to move their Great Dane lying across her lap.
"Take a chill pill! And besides, Munster is on me, so gimme a break!" Lila called from her perch under her monstrously huge dog.
"Munster! Get off Lila or you'll make us late!" Sammy yelled, setting the boots, hats, and chaps down on the table by the doorway. She walked over to her stranded sister, grabbed Munster's collar, and proceeded to pull him off Lila, with Lila pushing, of course. The sisters ran to the door, grabbed their gear, and piled into the truck. Lila realized she left the keys on the key hang, so she ran back inside to grab them.
Lila returned, started the truck, and sped out of the mile-long driveway onto FM 1187, headed towards Gondor Equestrian Center.
As the girls pulled up to the stable, two horses busted out of their stalls.
"Hey Lila, Soto and Shadaw just got out," Sammy said nonchalantly. Sure enough, the two grey quarter horses were tearing around the barn. Lila stopped the truck at the gate, blocking the horses in. Sammy jumped out, grabbed her boots, pulled them on, and ran to get her horse from the hot walker. Lila made a mad dash for her paint she did barrels on. There were only four other people there, and three were beginners who could barely stay on a horse. The fourth was a girl named Mia. She was on a very tall cobalt black Rocky Mountain Horse. Riding in a western saddle, Mia wrapped her lasso around the horn, nudged her horse into a thunderous run, readied her lasso, and took off after the ponies.
Sammy ran up to her champion team penning quarter horse, tied the lead rope onto the halter to make makeshift reins, and tossed the bareback pad on him. She vaulted on her already warmed up horse and took off in the direction of the rogue horses.
Lila, with a saddle, pad, and bridle in tow, ran to the pen her barrel horse was turned out in. Luckily for her, her horse was running around the pen bucking, meaning she was warmed up. Lila grabbed her horse, threw the saddle on as tight as she could, and gently stuffed the bit into her horse's mouth, careful not to injure the horse's lips or teeth. She tied the gate shut, jumped on, and ran to join her sister and friend in the round-up of the little grey horses.
All three girls competed together at team penning, and this situation wasn't much different. They just had no pen and a bigger arena. Sammy took the left flank, Mia took right, and Lila took up drag. Quickly, the girls herded the horses into the round pen. Sammy, on the shortest horse, jumped off and chained the horses in. The whole fiasco took about five minutes in all.
"Well, that really helped me warm up. Trail ride anyone?" Sammy asked.
"I'm game, even though I just came from one." Mia answered.
"How's about we get properly prepared first?" Lila asked. Both nodded, agreeing.
Nothing more interesting happened that day, but it was a Saturday. And not just any Saturday, but the second Saturday of the month. That day just so happened to be the day that Mia was going to spend the night with Sammy and Lila at some remote campsite with their portable TV so they could watch the Avatar marathon.
That night, Lila and Sammy were eagerly awaiting their friend's arrival.
"When is Mia gonna get here?" Lila asked impatiently. "If we don't get going soon, we'll get there after dark."
"Sis, my turn. Take a chill pill!" Sammy added. The doorbell rang and Munster began to bark.
"I'll get it!" Lila screamed. She jumped up, vaulted her three-foot-tall dog, and slammed into the door. She jerked it open.
"Excited much?" Mia asked. Lila nodded. Lila grabbed up the duffel bags, TV, flare gun, three rifles, tent, and their CD's. Sammy grabbed the keys to the truck. She got in the truck while her sister loaded their gear and Mia grabbed her own stuff, which was simply a duffel bag and her 3rd Matinee: Meanwhile CD. Lila and Mia jumped in the truck, Lila started it up, and they were off.
It didn't take much time to get to the campsite. 30 minutes at best. The teens grabbed the gear out of the back of the pickup and began to set up.
"Oh, snap. I forgot the camping stove." Mia said.
"Oh well. I brought my MRE's. They may not taste too wonderful, but they'll do." Lila finished.
"Hey, ladies," came a voice from Lila's past. Recognizing the mystery and edge to the voice, Lila responded in the only way she knew how.
"You're not supposed to be back for another week, Zane!" she screamed.
"Well, I just couldn't let my favorite three people live another week without me, now could I?" Zane asked. Lila shook her head and laughed.
"I missed the whole lot of ya. Let's just say that military school ain't as tough as they say it is."
"Well, Zane, you're tougher than the average soldier. And that's sayin' somethin'." Mia piped up.
"Yeah, since the head dude at the military camp practically jumped with joy when I finished the obstacle course the first day at least five obstacles ahead of the others. I think I've got a good shot at the army. Another year, and if the war is still going, I'm gonna get to see what Iraq looks like without needing some stupid passport."
Zane took a closer look at the three girls, mostly their hair.
"Whoa, I missed a lot. Mia, you're black and blonde! New hair. Looks good. Sammy, brown and blonde, not too original, but you pull it off. And my baby. Lila, holy shit! You look like a regular fire nation noblewoman with black and red hair. Wazzup with that?" Zane finished, a smile spreading across his mouth.
"Well, we HAD to do something about our bland hair. Highlights seemed the way to go. Sammy got blonde highlights, Mia got black highlights, and I got red highlights. Whadda ya think?"
"One word: wow." Zane meandered over to the tent. The sun was half-set now, and a fire still hadn't been started. Mia reached for her lighter.
"Dang, we can't get a fire going because not only did I forget my camping stove, but I also forgot my lighter. Fuck, I hate it when I do that."
"I see you still haven't changed, Mia. Still as blonde as ever." Zane commented as he leaned down for a hug.
"I RESENT THAT!" Mia squealed. Zane smiled. He sat down right next to the pile of kindling the girls had gotten, picked up two promising looking sticks and began to rub them together. In a matter of seconds, the bone-dry bits of wood ignited.
"Who needs a lighter when ya got me?" Zane asked. Lila sat down next to him and leaned on him. He turned his head and smiled at her.
"So, it's almost six. Avatar should be coming on anytime now. Better set up the TV." Sammy said, moving toward the now set-up tent. She crawled into the tent and grabbed the TV. As she slunk back out, she handed it off to Mia who set it down beside her. Mia began to play with the antennae. She turned the TV on and kept fiddling with the antennae. Finally, she got a surprisingly clear screen to pop up. She changed the channel from whatever it was on to Nick. Avatar had just started.
Mia crawled over to the other side of the fire with Sammy, her sister, and Zane. Zane was leaning against a tree trunk with Lila precariously leaning against his arm, her head resting gently on his shoulder. Sammy was sitting with her knees against her chest, her fingers woven together on top of her knees with her chin resting on it on the right of Lila and Zane. Mia crawled over to the left of her friend and friend's boyfriend. She sat against a tree trunk herself.
The ten hours the marathon was on ended and the teens stretched their stiff muscles.
"I'm game for some sleep. Dunno 'bout y'all. Don't really care, either." Sammy yawned. She crawled to the tent and disappeared inside.
"Well, hun, you can sleep wherever you want. I gotta run check my Harley. Then, I'll be back and I'll just sleep on the ground. Savor one more wonderful night on nothin' but dirt." Zane said, getting up and stretching. He checked his watch. It read 4:03. He began to make his way toward the campground parking lot to make sure no one, or nothing, touched his precious bike.
Upon his return five minutes later, the girls were up singing and dancing to Mia's CD she brought.
"Third Matinee, huh?" Zane asked. Mia nodded. The songs changed from Echo Hill to Silver Cage. Zane walked over to Lila, twisted his arm, wrapped it cautiously around her stomach, and gracefully flipped her over his arm.
"HEY! You remember!" Lila squealed. She and Zane used to do all sorts of dancing for the school talent shows when they were in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. But now, seeing as they were on their senior year in high school, and Zane had been off at military school for the past year, she didn't think he'd remember. But obviously he did.
"Well, ladies, we had better get some sleep, at least." Zane said. "Man, I'll be danged if we don't wake up here in the morning." he mumbled to himself.
Little did he know, he, along with the girls, would end up somewhere they recognized only too well, from a certain TV show they all enjoyed to watch. And, little did they know, fate would give them a helping hand.
So, what do we think of it? Crap? Not crap? Please do tell me, and I'll love you forever! If there's anyone out there who has a favorite gun, lemme know, and if the time's right, I might plug it into the story
READ AND REVIEW PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE!!