So, I updated early...Don't worry, I'll try to update next week to...but I'm not sure I'll make it, so I'm updating early in case I don't...

Finishing off the last math problem, I glanced at the new clock hung on my bedroom wall, saftely out of reach. The minute hand reached the twelve and the hour hand touched six. Sighing, and throwing my newly chewed pencil onto my comflrter where it got lost in the waves of silk, I walked over to my closet and pulled out a wooden jewelry box that I had taken. My parents would've never had let me take it, as it was the reason we had moved Petalburg city the first place. I opened it, and there, among the rest of others simialr in category with it, was a switchblade handle with my name carved on it. I pulled it out, closed the box, and flicked it open.

Twirling it expertly around my fingers, I sat back on the bed, after putting the box back into the closet. I stopped spinning the blade around my fingers, and I held it firmly by the handle. I remembered when I had first gotten it.

I backed into the dark alley, as the silhoutte of the my attacker appeared in the dimming evening sunlight. I bumped into someon behind me, and I whirled around, my eyes, reflecting terror. It was a boy, about my age, thirteen, but unlike me, he wasn't afraid of the big man looming beofre us, like a skyscraper

He held a knife in his hands, and his eyes glinted defiance at the man befoe us. "Get away from her," he warned , stepping in fron tof me and holding his knife up in a steady position. The man, didn't respond, and he flicked out a knife of his own. I was to terrified to make a sound, so I just stood there, scrunched agaisnt a wall, watching them circle around each other like spar mates. Except this was real.

The boy lunged first and ducked under the man's blow, he stabbed his knife into the man's arm, and thenpulling it out, he grabbed my hand. "Run!" We raced out of the alley, down the empty street and around the corner. He was dragging me, and I was following obediently. I didn't know who he was, or why he was helping me, but i did know that my life was in danger.

He raced through Quarterstone Corner and into a another alley. He turned into a grimy warehouse, where a few other kids, slightly older were hanging. "He's after us!" The boy yelled, pointing behind us with his bloody knife. The black haired girl was off like a rocket, throwing her cigarette behind her, as she brusehd away a curl of pink haired highlights in anticipation.

She reached into her sleeves, and pulled out two wickedly gleaming, razor sharp knives, made for throwing. A bronze haired boy pulled out two long knives, and stared at the door dutifully. The man stumbled into the warehouse, gripping his arm. When he saw, the other teens, he roared frustratedly, and backed out as the bronze haired boy cirled around him.

Sighing in defeat, the man backed out through the door way leaving his dignity behind, put keeping his life. Then they looked at me, not as if I were a piece of meat though. They looked at me as if I was a wolf, just like them, a cub waiting to be taught. The boy who had saved me in the alley handed me a knife lying in a corner without a word.

The bronze haired boy studied me for a second. "Welcome, to the Alpha's."

Sighing, I layed down on the bed, closing my eyes and remembering my first and only boyfriend.

A year later, after my daring escape, I learned about the man that had chased me. It had been a closed topic in the months that came, when I snook out of my house at night, I asked about him, when I found them lurking in an alley on a shopping day with my mother I asked.

Now, a year later my questions were finally answered. "My mother?" I screeched in surprise. The black haired girl with pink higlights, who I had know to be called Rhea nodded, wincing at my loudness.

"Your parents are involved in an international illegal slave trade." I gasped, and then I ran out of the room ever so dramatically. I crashed into a pile in front of Kevin, the boy who had saved me in the alley a year ago, and my best friend. He wrapped me in a hug, as I sobbed.

I had had a hard time believing that my parents would do such a thing, but when I pieced together the secretive looks at the table, and calls they rushed to take, it all pieced together. "Hey, May, its okay." He looked at me, patting my back understandingly.

"My parents," I wailed into his hsoulder as a fresh burst burst of tears came.

"Shhhh," he rubbed my back soothingly. I looked up into his brown eyes and sniffled.

"Its okay," he smiled reassuringly at me and placed a hand on my cheek. Then, he kissed me.

I smiled as i remembered the old times with Kevin, and then I jerked up to look at the clock. Six, forty-five. Time to go. I rushed to my closet.


Straightening my ponytail, on the top of the stairs, I wrapped my leather jacket around me as I walked down the stairs. I headed through the kitchen and into the mudroom, when my mother's vioce stopped me. "May! Where are you going?"

She hurried out of the cooking area behind the counter in the kitchen and hurried over to me. She looked me up and down, and frowned. "May? Why are you wearing your leather jacket? What are you doing?"

"Um..." Quick May, think fast. "Meeting a ...?" My mother perked and eyebrow and crossed her arms expectantly. "B-boy?"

I made my voice sound like barely a whisper, feigning embarassment. "Awwww, May. You don't have to hide things like that from em. Have a nice time!" She waved me off and headed back to the kitchen. I breathed in relief, that was a close one.


I knocked on the back of the grimy warehouse, hearing the muffled sounds of talking and impacts with fabric inside. A blond with brown higlights opened the door and raised her eyebrows when she saw me. "Newbie, huh." She rolled her eyes and beckoned for me to go in.

Gulping, I stepped inside the warehouse, not at all surprised at the inside. A few red mats covered the center of the floor, with people saprring on them. Punching bags hung from the rafters, wrn down and beaten, with stuffing falling out. A few teens were throwing daggers at a painted target, flakes were already missing from the red and white circle. The daggers made a loud and rythmic thud as they thudded into the wall. Teens leaned against the wall, sharpening knives while they talked with their friends. I identified Misty on one of the mats, sparring with a violet haired girl, it was no contest as Misty was throwing an onslaught of punches and kicks that seemed endless.

Noticing me, she paused in her match, gave a few words to the violet haired girl, grabbed a waterbottale of a worn down chair and headed in my direction. "May." She gave me a small smile after she downed half her bottle of water. "Its good to see you."

"Okay, so why don't we-" She was cut off, as she noticed the lump of my switchblade in my pocket. I quickly shoved my hand inside my pocket and attmepted to cover it up. I had brought it along with me in case I ran into any trouble on the way here, but I hadn't seen a glimpse of any punks or goths besides an occasional Panther. "What's that?" She asked sharply, her eyes narrowing at me.

"N-nothing." Why did I have to stutter? It certainly wasn't helping my cause. She looked suspiciously at me, and without further warning she reached for my arm, yanked it out and was about to grab inside my pocket, when I executed a swinging kick that Kevin had taught me before I had left. She dodged gracefully, and in a smooth motion, yanked out my switchblade.

:May?" She asked in astonishment. "What's this?" The talking had ceased now, and the other street fighters crowded around Misty and I. She looked at me in surprise, "Were you?"

I nodded in response, and then I sat down and told them my tale, leaving out the parts about Kevin and I'l relationship. I was pretty sure they didn't want an inner look at my lovelife.


"Well, former street fighter or not, I'm not going to go easy on you." Misty warned me as we circled around each other. The other Panthers were sitting around the mat, the carefree aura gone now, as they surveyed me and Misty.

She stepped in with a lunging kick, I dodged, knowing that she had expected me to block it, her balance was of for a second, and a swept my leg in a low arcing swipe and mangaed to trip her. She rolled over as I swung down at her, and she stood up, swinging a punch at me. Then she swung a various amount of blows at me, but I was always one step ahead of her. Dodging a swinging jab, and retaliating with a high arcing swing of the foot. In the end, I managed to dodge low and hook my leg around her foot, and topple her backwards, dodging her kick efficiently.

She groaned in defeat as a small smile formed on her face as she studid me more seriously. "What about this one?" She sprang up, and lodged a spinning jump kick towards my gut. I crossed my left armarm with my right foot, deflecting the blow and struck home at stomach, extending my right leg. She smiled wrly on the floor yet again. "Your good may."

"I know," I replied jokingly. she looked up, and I followed her gaze. She was staring intensely at Drew. "You can pair her up with Dawn now," she said through gritted teeth. My eyebrows crinkled curiously as my gaze landed on Drew. He paused his staring match against Misty to look at me with his dark harsh eyes. I immediatly looked down, a small flush forming on the nape of my neck which I hoped was covered by the collar of my shirt.

Against Dawn, I didn't stand a chance. As soon as the match started, she weaved through my punches and jabbed at my pressure points. I was surprised at how fast I had been taken down from such light blows. When I asked her after the match she gave me a small secretive smile. It didn't seem like I was the only one who harbored secrets.


"And now, knife throwing," Misty announced as we made the way over to the target on the wall. Here, she grabbed a small rusty dagger and threw it at the target. It landed with a thud on the outer rim of white. "I'm a piece of crap at it, so just ignore the shittiness of my throws." Misty warned me, a small joking smile on her face. "You try."

Without a further invitation, I pulled out my switchblade, flicked the blade open, and threw it point first into the red target dot. It landed into the slashed wood with a thud, quivering ever so slightly. "Well," Misty commented eyes wide. "Nice shot."

"Beginner's luck," A voice from the corner s piped up. A very black hair colored girl walked up to the target. She threw a black dagger at another target, which thudded into the red dot. Frowning, I backed up a little, grabbed a knife resting on a chair and threw it at the target. It thudded into the red dot, pushing my switch blade over. "Your challenging me?" She asked incredulously. Smirking, she backed up to the halfine separating the warehouse room and threw a dagger at her target. Bam, it hit the red dot.

She turned away in disgust as misty handed me one of her own daggers. I gripped it in my hand, getting used to the peculiar weight of it, and then I threw it at my target. The ebony haired girl, who had turned away in disgust, jumped as the knife hitthe spot. The talking that had started to build up during my match with Dawn ceased again. Eager eyes watched us, as the raven haired girl backed up to two-thirds of the room. She grabbed another knife and threw it at the target. It consistently hit the red target. Misty handed me a pocketknife, something I was more used to and I threw it, crossing my fingers as it flew through the air. Bam! It hit the dot, like the other line of knives I had thrown.

"Ugh," she groaned, blacking up to the opposite side of the room opposit ethe knives, she threw her knife, less carelessly and more cockily now. It hit the white outer rm, the slight change so small, barely noticeable. But Misty noticed it. "Its you and the board, May." I flashed her a small smile and took the knife. Adjusting my grip on the daggers, I focused on the target, and I threw the dagger, rotating my hand so that the dagger would get more edge and spin. Thud, the knife landed on the red dot. Victory. I smiled happily , and had it been normal times, I would've danced around, but I was in a street fighter head out, and somebody was not very happy with me. Or so I thought.

The raven haired girl walked up to me, a smile on her face, which I found peculiar as I had ust ashamed her in front of her fellow street fighters. "Ryanna."

May." I smiled too. I studied her smile, but I could fnd nothing fake or cold about it. "So am I in this thing?"

"Definitely," She said holding out her hand for me to shake. The first of the many, I found later that night.


"May! How was your date? What was his name?" My mom asked as I was making my way up the stairs. She had finsihed cooking a batch of cookies, and she was putting away her oven gloves.

"Good..."

"And? His name?"

"Drew," I responded instantly. Only later that night, I would ask myself why I had picked that name.


WOuld you review if I told you to? Probably wouldn't. You'll probably wait for someone else to do it...in fact, you probably think this note is a scam to goad you into reviewing...would you kill me if I agreed? LOL