I'm baaaack! :D Here to bring you another awesome chapter! Well, I'm not sure if it's gonna be awesome yet, because I haven't started writing yet. :P But who am I kidding? It's ME writing, so it's bound to be awesome. Haha, I'm not really this conceited in real life. But on fanfiction, I can "hop, step jump and/ drew, draw, drawn!/ Chip, syrup, whip!/ Be who I wanna be!" ;)
Lol, I'm hyper and I've been watching too much Shugo Chara! Maybe I should go watch Pucca to balance out my fangirlieness (hah, spell checker has NO suggestions for that!)… Okay, I will. Right after this chapter!
But first, let me just say that I am SO happy about all the nice reviews I've been getting. I love everyone who reads… well, anything I write, pretty much. But reviewers, especially those who become loyal, will have a special place in my heart (unlock!). :)
You may begin reading… now!
April 15th
The rain stopped today. It was still cloudy and pretty windy outside, but at least there was no rain.
Not much actually happened today. Since there's not much too tell anyway, I have to write something down so that I won't forget. Tobe's ninjas.
Quan:
Short blond hair, dark narrow eyes. Likes the flavor of oranges. Quite friendly and willing to help with anything. Naïve, and not very strong.
Daero:
Bright red spiky hair, round brown eyes. Likes reading comics and manga. Strong and fierce in battle. Unpredictable, and has trouble being quiet.
Jin (short for Jinsodo):
Long blue hair, narrow gray eyes. Likes peace and quiet, and rainstorms (crazy?). Has a strong will and is exceptionally wise. Very sarcastic and critical of others.
Odomé:
Short slick black hair, soft blue eyes. Likes music, especially traditional Japanese. Constantly tests himself and, as a result, is well-balanced in battle. Easily distracted by girls (perhaps the reason he practices so hard).
Kuda:
Medium-brown hair in a ponytail, large brown eyes. Likes swords, battle hammers, and pretty much any weapon. Weapons mastery helps him beat any foe he doesn't scare off first. Violent and unreliable; would probably use this journal as blackmail against me.
Now that I've been introduced to all of the ninjas (well, not formally, but I know who they all are and they know me), I felt like I should share that with you. Besides, now that I actually know what they're all like, I'm beginning to realize I've seen them all before. Like, when I think back to one of our previous battles, I'll remember one of the ninjas going berserk on me with a hammer, and now I think "Yep, that's Kuda."
Funny how one's point of view changes so much.
Anyway, enough of that. On to the day's events. (Sorry, I'm using way too many fragment sentences.)
Tobe used the gong to wake us up again. Strangely, I'm starting to get used to it. I kind of hope I don't; otherwise, when I do get to go back, I won't be able to wake up for anything.
Tobe looked sheepish when he spoke. "This is… kind of embarrassing, but I didn't really plan anything today."
"It's sure been less busy around here," Quan mused. "I wonder why…"
Kuda was clearly resisting the urge to punch him, and Jin cut in, saying "Maybe because the one we usually fight is on our team now?"
"Oh, that's it! Garu fits in so well here, I didn't notice."
"Are you kidding?" Daero snapped. "He's been messing up the whole time he's been here! Am I right, master?"
Tobe shot him a glare and he calmed down. "Oh, right. I guess he fits right in."
"Anyway," Tobe continued, "since we don't have anything specific to do today, we can just practice fighting for the day."
"Maybe we can work on the techniques we learned from Sensei Akihiro yesterday?" Odomé suggested.
Tobe shrugged. "If you want."
"Can we practice sword techniques, too?" Kuda asked, glancing meaningfully at me. Tobe saw it as well and rolled his eyes.
We ended up practicing our moves for pretty much the whole day. At first, we just stuck with partners. (Either me or Tobe ended up being left out whenever we switched since we were the best fighters.) I remember I felt really bad when I had to fight Quan, and instead, I ended up teaching him.
After about an hour of this system, we got tired of it. One of us, probably Daero, had the idea to have a free-for-all like they did at the training hall the day before. That was when the real fun started.
I know I could probably use this information about their fighting styles against Tobe and his ninjas, but I'm making a pact right now (with you as my witness) that I will never stoop to such a thing.
We didn't have any sparring gloves, so it was more like an all-out brawl than just a spar. Tobe was surprisingly good without his ninjas. I realize I've rarely seen him fight alone, but when he does, he's good. I ended up fighting him several times just to keep him from getting too cocky, but we both had a few small victories with one-another. Like me throwing and drop-kicking him like a soccer ball, and him retaliating by using that pole-vault move I could never learn.
I mentioned before that Quan wasn't very strong, but I forgot to say another good thing about him: he's got extremely fast reflexes. I saw him fighting Jin across the room, and thought about surprising him with an attack. I grabbed a shuriken from the wall and threw it at him. But Quan, while he was fighting, managed to catch it and throw it in the other direction without looking away.
Jin has great endurance, and knows how to control it; he managed to keep going at a normal pace for the whole battle, whereas we kept spending all our energy at one time. Daero had that problem a lot, but he made up for it because when he did attack, he was vicious and strong.
Kuda had trouble avoiding the temptation of using weapons. Occasionally, he would pick up his trusty battle hammer and swing away before Tobe stopped him. He got caught in the moment one time and tried to attack Tobe, but he dodged and Kuda ended up smashing a hole in the wall. He was disqualified from the rest of the battle.
Odomé actually reminded me of Abyo. He loved incorporating acrobatics in his attacks, jumping off from walls and grabbing columns to spin himself around. He seemed to like showing off a lot; one time, he jumped off my head and up to the second floor, then dive-bombed Jin when he wasn't expecting. Jin quickly flipped him and ran off.
The brawl lasted well into the afternoon. Tobe had ordered lunch earlier, and when there was a knock on the door, no one was willing to answer.
I felt someone grab my wrists. "Why don't YOU get it?" said Daero, flinging me to the door. I hit the wood with my back, but still decided to get it. I'd just take the food, toss the deliverer one of my coupons, and then get back in the fray.
It didn't occur to me who the delivery girl was until after I'd opened the door.
They all stopped fighting. Pucca stared at me with her mouth hanging open. My eyes were wide in surprise. Everyone was so busy watching us, even Daero was silent.
"Ummm…" Pucca managed, still gaping.
"Uh, heh heh…" I replied.
"Awkwaaaard…" whispered Quan unhelpfully.
Tobe cleared his throat, ready to explain everything to Pucca. I gritted my teeth and waved my hands, thinking, Oh, please don't!
"Well, Pucca, it's… uh, good to see you," Tobe started gauchely. (Haha, I stole my sissy's word! :P) "Look, I'm just going to say-"
"GAH! UH-UH!" I shouted desperately. Tobe glared at me and was about to finish, when I swiped the boxes of noodles from Pucca and slammed the door.
I was too embarrassed to go outside, to try to explain it to Pucca, or to rejoin the fight, all the way up until dinnertime. Tobe, in an unexpected moment of kindness, saw how upset I was and offered to make dinner instead of ordering out. We ended up making frozen French fries and fish sticks, but it was still very sweet.
...NEVER tell him I said that.
I just came inside; I was going to write more when it started raining again. Ugh! I hate the weather this time of year.
Well, the other ninjas are all mad at me for bringing the flashlight inside; I have to go. I have no doubt in my mind Pucca's coming back tomorrow. This cannot go over well…
Garu
Sorry for the short chapter! It's raining SOOO hard over here right now, and I was afraid I wasn't going to get to publish this one! :O But here it is anyway! Every day this week, rain or shine, busy or boring! I hope…
But I thought the chapter was good despite shortness. Mostly because of the ninjas. I've always loved Tobe's ninjas, and I enjoyed giving them each unique characters. I'll definitely end up using them in another fanfiction. ;)
Pucca IS going to return tomorrow, but I'd love some ideas on what else could happen. :)
Now, SCRAM! (and review while you're at it :P)
