Hello readers! This is chapter 2 so enjoy reading.


Thank God, Amadi thought. I thought she was going to destroy me. After a few moments she stopped trembling. Her communications screen began to flash. She pushed a button and spoke softly into the headset that sat loosely on her head, "What's up?"

A voice came through with a crackle. "I...ve a...sion"

"Hang on a moment," she said in the same soft voice. She shifted into her seat and launched into the air. "Go ahead."

"I have a new mission for you and Damyen."

"Does Damyen have to come?"

The voice sighed. "What did you do?"

She blushed. "Why does it have to be my fault?!" She shouted.

"Because, whenever you two fight, it's always your fault," the voice said calmly.

"I was just joking and I did apologize!"

The voice sighed again. "Fine. This can be a solo mission for you. I need you to train my brother. My twin brother."

Amadi broke out in laughter. "So there's another guy walking around with the same pink hair as you!" This time when she spoke she no longer had the same softness. It had changed to a mocking tone.

"No. He had blue hair."

Amadi stopped laughing hard, but still chuckled. "What do you mean had?"

"I mean we switched hair colors. I thought it would be more fun if he got made fun of by you like I had when you went back to normal."

"It will be so much fun," she said with a devious smile appearing on her face. "What do I need to teach him? Math? Science? Engineering?"

"That would be great, but I need you to teach him how to be a pilot."

There was only silence.

"I know you don't like people near your mech, but I need you to teach him."

Amadi stayed quiet. She wasn't really all that great at teaching people things and on top of that some guy was going to be in her mech. She wasn't as protective of her mech as her friend who nearly killed her for it, but still...

"I just need you to teach him the controls," the voice to continued. "Amadi." The voice was pleading now. "I don't have anyone else to turn to." The voice was sad and full of pain.

"Why does it have to be me?" Tears were starting to form in her eyes.

"You and Damyen are the best, strongest and the only ones I can trust."

"Damn it. You know what happened last time I tried-"

"I know how hard it is for you to do this, but it can only be you and Damyen. Your better than back then. It won't happen. I promise." The voice was sincere.

"Why do you have to say such stupid things? I'll teach your brother. I owe you that much at least."

"Thank you."

The communication ended. Amadi broke into tears and entered the coordinates of the pickup point for the pink haired boy to be picked up. She set it to autopilot as she fell into a much needed coma-like sleep.

--

She could see everything vividly. The things that Amadi had taught her weren't enough. The young girl was only in her late teens, about seventeen. She had trained to be a pilot for most of her life. Now, it was her turn to teach. She was put in charge of a girl named Rachel. She was told to teach her everything that she knew. Rachel was only thirteen. Amadi didn't understand why the military kept recruiting such young kids, barely in their teens. She trained the girl to the best of her ability. One day they were sent to fight in a nearby town. There were many casualties, but there was only one that will stick with Amadi her entire life.

It was a sunny day with few clouds in the sky. The girls were doing well. Amadi and Rachel. Everybody called them the Siamese twins because you could never see one without seeing the other. The girls were fighting side by side. Each watching the other's back. Slowly the enemy spread them farther apart from each other until they could no longer defend the other. As soon as they were split the younger girls confidence shot down. She had never been separated from her teacher in battle before and she got scared, made rash actions, which was a bad decision. Amadi always taught her to keep her cool when fighting and to think before strike. She made a wrong move and sliced at her opponent, missing. The other mech placed its sword right through the center of Rachel's...the cockpit.

The alarm had been buzzing for hours. Nobody was left alive to turn it off. The enemy had won the battle. Nothing was left, but the dead bodies of mechs and civilians. Blood ran through the town. The stench of dead bodies mixed with the burnt oil from the mechs and it burned her nose. Amadi was standing alone outside of her mech. It shined black and red in the light. She was thinking about killing herself. She could just do a dive bomb with her mech and end her pain now. Her eyes were empty. Instead of killing herself she wandered into the town. She was tired and weak, but she control where she was going.

She heard some noises. A foot soldier with a Smith and Weston in his hand stood behind her. "Surrender or die," he said. The voice was still quite young and a little shaky.

Amadi turned around with her arms open as if she was going to hug him.

He pulled tighter on the trigger, but didn't pull it hard enough to shoot her. "I don't want to kill you, so please."

"I'm already dead." She muttered. "I lost everything that mattered. My friends all died out here. And Rachel...I couldn't help her at all." Tears began flowing down her face and hit the ground, adding to the disgusting mess.

The boy put his gun in his holster. "You're not dead, idiot, not yet. You're in pain right now, aren't you?"

She nodded and the tears kept flowing.

The boy walked up to her. She didn't move, except to put her hands down. "Don't be too hard on yourself. I don't mean to brag, but our military's pretty good."

"What are you bragging for?" She said dully. The tears stopping. "You're not even a fighter." She showed her first sign of playfulness since the attack. "And your hair is pink. That kind of guy has pink hair?"

"Shut up," he shouted. It wasn't a loud shout, but it wasn't exactly said nicely. "Come on."

She followed the boy back to her mech. He looked up at it and whistled. "You can actually fly one of these."

Amadi was silent and nodded.

"Good. Then you can work for me."

"I'm not working with the government anymore," she protested.

"I never said you had to. I wasn't happy about killing people and I never will be."

"Then what work will I do?"

He smiled. "Personal business. I need more money to help raise my brother."

"A brother, huh? Must be nice."

"Not really. He's a pain in the ass. Now then, let's go home. By the way my name is Jack."

"Amadi." Home, she thought. I've never really had one other than the military base. I wonder if it will be the same.

--

Her mech landed and some weird alarm woke her up from her slumber. She couldn't remember what she was dreaming about, but she had a small warm feeling in her heart and the word home was stuck in her throat. She opened the hatch to see a tall boy with mildly fair skin in tight-fitting clothes facing a mech with some small form of disdain. He turned around and saw Amadi come out of her mech. His soft blue eyes, almost white, stared at her. She felt as if he was staring into her soul.

"Hey. Are you Jack's brother?"

"Yup. I'm Warren Peese."

"Cute name," she laughed. "And nice pink hair." Warren had grown so much since she saw him last. She thought about how he used to look. Short, thin as a twig, not very strong at all. Now, his shoulders were broad and he had a more defined figure.

The boy blushed. "My brother said that I could only get pilot training if I dyed my hair pink, so please don't make fun of me."

"Listen, I don't normally train anybody-"

"That's okay. I entrust myself to you," he smiled.

The way he said that made a smirk appear on her already smiling face, but it was more sinister than happy. "Are you sure you want to do that?" She joked.

He nodded once and turned around to face the other mech. With a wave of his hand the mech left. "Let's go," he smiled.

"Fine, hop in." The boy climbed into the mech and smiled. This is going to be a little awkward, she thought. She had to slide inbetween Warren's legs to drive. He was too large to fit behind the seat that she easily sat behind when she didn't want anyone to bother her. She took the controls and flew off toward the base she called her home/training facility/maintenance center. She had everything she needed, all supplied by Jack, of course. And was large enough to have over a hundred people live in it comfortably. Normally, it was just her and Damyen, but now they had a new addition, Warren.

Warren was fidgeting continuously behind Amadi. And she wasn't comfortable with it. "Would you please stop fidgeting," she said finally.

"I can't help it. I'm so excited." He still had his huge smile on his face.

"Well, you need to stop. It's really annoying me. We're almost there so cut it out." She looked sternly at the launching pad she was flying over.

"Man, your no fun anymore."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You're not here to have fun. You're here to learn, which reminds me. How are you doing with your schoolwork?"

He flinched.

Amadi felt it. "You idiot. If you can't get through school, how can you expect to fly a mech?!"

"Hey, school isn't exactly what I'm interested in. Flying one of these things, though..." he stopped and laughed ending with a cocky grin on his face.

"You won't be able to learn in one day, ya know."

"I know, but I'm so dedicated to it. I've been doing simulations and reading books-"

"I was beginning to wonder if you could read."

"Stop being so mean." He pouted.

"Stop being so girly," Amadi replied.

Warren turned red and shout, "Amadi!"

"What?" She remained calm and continued to concentrate on landing her mech properly.

They had finally arrived at the base. It was an old military base surrounded by trees and forest. There were however some plants in the small amount of yard they had. Warren was still red and pouting about Amadi being, as he put it 'mean'.

"I wonder if Damyen's back yet," Amadi muttered.

"Yeah. About this Damyen, will I like him."

Amadi chuckled a little. I can't believe him. Jack! You never told him that Damyen was a girl did you? She began to laugh out loud.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Amadi ignored him and just kept laughing.

"Amadi?! Amadi!"

Damyen opened her eyes to find herself back at the main base. Her mech had been shut down for quite awhile. She slowly stood up, opening the hatch, and jumping down like always. It was still amazing that she could land perfectly. The girl straightened herself out, her body feeling heavy like she did something that took all her strength.

There was a dream lingering in her mind, but it seemed impossible to be reality. After all, she didn't even own a needle. And if she scared Amadi away, she would be alone without any possible comrade. "Still, it is odd," the girl barely spoke. Her mech didn't look to be hurt or anything. "Might as well check in with her....she must be pissed that I am late." And Damyen walked in to the landing dock just in time to see Black and Red coming in for landing, carrying an extra passenger. Curious that Amadi would let someone else in her mech. She would be certain to ask about it. "Yo, Amadi!" Damyen blankly stated after switching on the headset.

Amadi spoke quietly into the headset, "Damyen? Are you here?" Amadi smacked herself on the head when she saw the Red and Black mech not too far away. She hopped out of her mech instantaneously followed by the pink haired boy. The boy, not used to jumping out of mechs fell directly on top of Amadi. Amadi glared at him and he instantly stood up and pulled her along with him. "Damyen, I'm gonna need some help with this oaf."

"Wah! Oaf?! Amadi!" Warren, who had just stopped pouting began all over again.

"He's fine. He's just a little-"

"You're Damyen! Thank god, if you were a guy-" He cut himself off and started laughing.

"He don't look okay to me. This pink-haired girl can't even get his genders right." It would have been impossible to pull off the "I am a boy" act if she didn't have on such baggy clothing. "Listen here, pinky. Don't ever, ever suggest that I am a girl!" She punched a wall to add emphasis on the words and proceeded to yank on his shirt collar. "You understand?" Damyen's face twisted into a smirk, evil enough to make Lucifer himself cower in the corner like a little lost puppy.

Warren blushed. "I am not a girl!"

Amadi saw were this was going and she needed a nap, so she went into the base and locked herself in her room.

"Amadi! Wait! Don't leave me with this...at least not alone." He froze as he felt a pair of eyes glare at the back of his head. He felt like someone was using his head as a target for a flamethrower.

"Hm...So the owner left the loyal pet alone, with me." Damyen pulled out a think manual large enough to cover every damn body of water that existed. "Guess we have to do a little test. I got an errand to run real quick, so read over this in the meantime, 'kay?" It dropped to the floor like stone, echoing loud enough for all the other people to glance in their general direction. "Get back to your own business before I kill ya'll in one kick!" She didn't have time to be suspicious, not that she rarely wasn't.

Damyen walked away, leaving the boy to fend for himself and the manual. She traced the pattern Amadi took to her room, but when she stood in front of the door, her body became still and frozen. Not able to think of anything better, the young pilot decided to take a seat to the side of the door. She hugged her knees and dropped her head. The dream played in her mind again, the fear and sadness, not to mention that needle. Had she really gone crazy? Even though the girl didn't think it was reality, she still had a pain of guilt inside telling her to face it head on. Talking about a dream as if it were reality would make her seem crazy. It didn't matter as the words "I'm sorry", slowly drifted out of her mouth.

"Why? What did you do this time?" Amadi had the door opened a little and her selective hearing was working to hear everything outside her room at full force. Now, however its attention was turned to her friend.

Warren kneeled onto the ground, because the book was really heavy and he didn't want to hold it. He lay down like a little girl with his feet in the air and hummed a tune of sorts. Damn, I do act like a girl, he thought. He let his legs fall gently to the floor. I wonder if Amadi is okay. I hope that Damyen chick isn't bugging her...wait, what if that was her errand... He ran down the hall that Amadi and Damyen went through and shouted, "Don't worry Amadi, I'll come save you!" without realizing he said that out loud, he was suddenly the center of attention.

Amadi sneezed. That was weird, she thought. A cold shiver was sent down her spine. I hope I didn't catch a cold.

Damyen looked up in surprise. It was too quiet for her to even hear, so how the hell could Amadi hear her? "Huh? W-what are you talking about?" Her voice sped up, clearly a sign of nervousness. "It just kinda slipped out. I mean, I'm not sure why I said it but-" and the voice of a familiar boy echoed down their way. "Maybe I should get going now, you know, other stuff to do and all."

The girl turned away, relieved, but her body language made it evident that she had something she wanted to say. If Warren was coming to destroy their temporary peace, then so be it, but she needed to go. Her hand waved in the air for a goodbye gesture and she continued running down the hall. It seemed like she was always running, except for in battle. The battleground was perhaps the only place where she stood her ground with everything she had.

Amadi sighed. She never just says everything. It makes things more difficult. Oh, well, we can talk later.

Pinky bounded into Amadi's room screaming her name.

"Shut up," she shouted. "Don't you have a book to read or something? You're giving me a headache."

"And here I came t save you," he pouted.

"Okay, a) that pouting makes you look like a girl and b) what can you save me from?"

"Damyen...I thought she would be bugging you, so-"

"Stop. Turn." As she said turn, he turned. "Go read your book." he left pouting, as usual, and went back to his book.

He resumed his position with his legs in the air and hummed again. He paused. "Damn it!" He screamed at himself.

Damyen returned to where she left the boy and his book. She watched him sit back down in a rather feminine manner. "You are a girl. Like I said, at least I know what gender I am. I am, at my very root, male." She smirked like a devil, taking a seat next to him. Her knees came up, while her hands rested in her lap. "Find anything useful so far?" She eyed the curious book; it was the book she had forgotten she owned. "Damage that thing and you are dead, just to warn you." The girl waited silently for his reply, but not caring whether he said anything or not. Her eyes moved around the room, constantly searching for a distraction to get her mind off the here and now. I am so stupid, she whispered in her mind, dragging out a little sigh.

"Want to talk about it?" He asked sweetly, not looking up from the book. "I admit, I am a little too close to my femme side, but sometimes it is a good thing." He paused to wait for a response. He repeated, "Do you want to talk about it?" He looked at her with sparkling eyes of purple. It was true, he looked like a girl through and through, especially with the pink hair.

She scowled at first, completely disgusted with the offer. "Talk about what, miss?" Damyen free fell onto the hard flooring, bouncing a little from the impact. "I'm not femme, thank god. Way too much to deal with if you ask me." She wanted to tell him to forget the book, but that would be unwise. Amadi would most likely kill her. She silently closed her eyes, rolling away from the boy and onto her side. "You know that book is full of shit. It don't tell you a damn thing about piloting. You realize that yet?" He wasn't just feminine, he was gullible too! Her voice expressed no emotion or feeling towards this lesson she gave him. She didn't care, as long as the book was returned to her in the condition it was given.

Warren sighed. "I don't care. Amadi promised that she would teach me and if that means that I have to put up with you then I'm fine with it." He hadn't realized what he was saying and when he did all he could think was 'oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap'.

Amadi was lying in her bed tossing and turning. She couldn't get what Damyen had said out of her mind. She felt another shiver go down her spine and a little red flag was waving back and forth in her head. I just left Warren alone with a person who so as far as I know only doesn't hate me and that's a little bit ify right now too. She shot out of bed and ran down the hall into the room Warren and Damyen were in. She walked in quietly thinking that maybe they were actually going to get along.

"You don't have to." Damyen stood up in haste, while turning away. "You wouldn't be the first!" The girl strode past him, keeping her head up. She didn't want to listen to anything else. Hearing something other than herself would tick her off even more. "If Amadi promised to teach you, than go bug her, young student." She passed through the door, a turn down the hallway to her room. Before that, she glanced back in time to see Amadi.

Amadi noticed Damyen leaving. Sorry Damyen, she thought. She stomped into the maintenance room, which is actually more like the living room. "What did you do?!"

Damyen lay against the wall just around the corner. "He did everything!" She deepened her voice a bit more to try and mask her identity, and because she was not in the mood to use a happier tone of voice.

"I did not!" Warren protested. "I just said something stupid."

"Like always?" Damyen said.

"Yeah, wait...yeah.."

"At least you're honest." Damyen had to give him some points for that, but it wasn't enough to reverse her anger.

"Warren, think before you say things," Amadi said, filled with rage. "Got it?"

Warren looked up at her in silence.

"Warren!"

"What? I was thinking."

Amadi glared at him for a moment and walked off toward the launching area. Soon, mech start up noises could be heard and 'launching' was said on the loud speaker.

"Launching?" Damyen's head snapped toward the noises and came around to stare at Warren." You damn pinky! Could you be any more idiotic?" She placed her palm to her forehead, holding back the rage. "I'll be testing you tomorrow with questions from that manual so be sure to read it all tonight, girly." She headed over to her room and locked herself in. People were so literal sometimes. The girl sat on her bed while attempting to distract herself from punching and completely destroying her room.

"Well, now I'm depressed. I hope Amadi comes back soon. I don't want to be alone with Damyen for long." He sighed. "Better start reading." He flipped open to a random page and screamed at the top of his lungs for a full minute.

Damyen stopped breathing for a moment, proceeding with loud laughter. It was the scream of an innocent boy who had just witnessed something downright dirty. Better start writing that quiz, she thought. It would be a good lesson for him. Seeing as even Damyen learned a thing or two about piloting. The girl sat on her bed, scribbling do down questions, all the while grinning wider and wider, letting some chuckles escape.

"What is this?" He slammed the book shut. "Maybe it was just my imagination...I hope not." he reopened the book to an even worse page. He screamed longer and louder than the first time.

Damyen giggled. "He's really reading it...I guess I'll make more questions from that part as well." She didn't feel any pity toward him. Her trainer made her read it, hence Warren had to read it. "You are a good boy, Pinky," she said to herself. What would Amadi do if she saw this? Damyen would most likely be punished, and she didn't care. He was learning and that was something.

"Not reading this!" He screamed. He searched through the book, not reading, but looking.

She was curious as to why there hadn't been another scream. Damyen tiptoed out of her room and passed into them maintenance room to see Warren flipping through the pages. She had never seen anyone become interested so fast. Sneaking in from behind was simple. He wasn't paying any attention to anything around him. "Oh, I definitely recommend studying this in detail," the girl pointed to a very descriptive picture. "I comes in handy," and she trailed back into her room like a ghost.

Warren blushed, but chose to completely ignore Damyen. "I just want to know what the title is..." He found the title page. He read aloud, "A Girl's (and Fanboy's) Guide to YAOI!"

Damyen heard 'yaoi' echo off the walls. Oh yes. He was a good studious boy. The quiz was done and the trainee was training. She quietly listened to random music, waiting for Amadi's return