Gregor and the Prophecy of blade

Chapter 8

Snow day, whoohoo! Here's chapter 8, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Before I let you read the story though, I have one thing to say: I am now officially obsessed with TUC. I've read them so often that I am now positive that the underland exists and am currently planning a trip there with my equally obsessed friend over the summer. I know. I'm weird. Many people have told me this. :P Happy Holidays :-)

Disclaimer: I am not Suzanne Collins. Therefore, I don't own TUC. Need proof? If I were, then this would be being published as we speak, er, write.

M POV (again.)

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my door. It was that rat. Have I mentioned that he really gets on my nerves? I rolled out of bed. All the clothes and fabric are so soft. I wonder what they're made of… back on track, you. I opened the door a crack.

"What do you want?" I snapped. Hey, I am not a morning person.

"Well someone is in a bad mood this morning. Come on, we're training today, unless you've forgotten." Morning? Already? Cheese.

"No I haven't. Now go away!" I shut the door nearly missing his tail. Pity. I stretched and plodded out in the general direction of the bathrooms. I was met halfway by a servant who brought me clothes. Blue. Nice. I got to the bathrooms. The warm water looks so nice… Wake up! I shook my head and filled the tub/ basin/mini pool-ish thing with cold water and jumped in.

"h-h-holy Cra-ackers!" bad idea. Too late now, though. I dunked my head in and swam around. Much better. I dried off and got changed, remembering to take my iPod out of the pockets. I dried and brushed my hair as best I could. I noticed a piece of string on the edge of the basin and used it to tie my hair. Hey, it works.

Somewhat awake now, I made my way to (or tried at least) the same place we ate yesterday but got (shocking though it may seem) lost. Great. At least I knew where I was. I mean, that's a step, right? Never mind. Don't answer. I was back in front of the museum.

"Are you lost?" a small, thin, quivering voice asked. I whirled around, caught off guard. There was a thin girl with paler skin than the normal underland variety. There was something about her eyes though. They looked, and you have every right to call me crazy, older, wiser, I don't know. They just looked different. They were still purple, but there was an unnerving amount of depth to them. I shook my head to clear it.

"Yeah, sort of. If you don't mind me asking, but who are you?" she chuckled softly.

"I am Luxa's cousin, Nerissa. I believe you were heading to eat before you went to train with the others?"

"Yeah, but how did you know?" she gave me a mysterious look.

"I have my ways of knowing." And she led me to the hall. I waved to the others, who were halfway done. When I turned to thank her she was gone. Now that's creepy.

I sat between Lizzie and… no one. As I ate I looked around. Boots and Hazard were clicking with Temp; Ripred and Lizzie were talking. Odd. I always thought he was anti-social or something. Gregor and Luxa were just sitting there, staring at each other. Say it with me now- 'aw!' Vikus was talking to Howard and a spider at the other end. Then, Luxa got up.

"Come, it is time to train." Everyone but Ripred and Vikus and the kids got up. Luxa cast her rat bond a withering glance but he continued stuffing his face. She didn't stop glaring as they walked to where the bats waited. I didn't miss the fact that Gregor had a hard time not laughing. To tell you the truth so did I.

When we reached the bats, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only were Aurora and Nike there, but so was Orion. Immediately I walked over.

"Hey, dude. Miss me?"

"But I saw you yesterday!"

"I'm just kidding! So are you gonna train with us today?" I asked as we followed the others.

"Yes. But it is not clear whether I will join the quest." He replied.

"Well, I don't see why not. The prophecy doesn't specify how many bats. It just says 'fliers'."

"That is true." We reached the arena and I got off his back. I waved bye to Orion and walked over to join the others. Gregor and Luxa were staring at each other again. It's beginning to get old, though. They're always doing it. This guy, I think his name's Mareth, walked over.

"Alright, we will start by running laps. Try your best to keep up." He and the others took off. I followed, but I'm not as fast. You should've seen Gregor though! He beat us all! I finished last and caught up to the others, breathing heavily. I caught this girl who looked a lot like Howard looking at me with undisguised disgust and contempt. Evil little harpy…. I stuck my tongue out at her; I know real mature, right? She returned the gesture. Back and forth until someone in front of us cleared their throat. Nervously, I looked up. Mareth was standing there, looking slightly amused with a sword in each hand.

"If you two are quite finished, I would suggest you join the others for training, Stellovet." She looked ashamed of being caught. She shot me another evil glance. This technically isn't hell, but I'm pretty sure she belongs there.

"As for you, Overlander, you will train with me. Have you had any training in the Overland? Ripred tells me they have an activity that is a variation of sword fighting."

"No, sorry."

"That is alright. I will show you basic attacks and blocks. Then we will see if you can put them together." He handed me different swords until I found one that wasn't too heavy. I copied his moves for a while before we tried sparring. How'd I do? I sucked. Ah well. You can't have everything. Mareth nodded at me and stopped the others. He signaled at three other Underlanders who wheeled out these cannon-ish things. Everyone seemed to know what to do here.

"Michelle, these are the blood balls." Instead of Mareth, though it was Howard. He held what looked like a golf ball that was filled with... blood? Howard must have noticed my look.

"What is the matter, Michelle?" he looked confused.

"Is there really blood in this?" man these people must be more violent than I thought…

"No, of course not!" He laughed. I don't get what's so funny. I'm guessing I looked like a grumpy two year old because he laughed some more. Maybe it is pretty funny… Focus! Do not get distracted by the cute Underlander. Wait, did I say cute? Um, let's pretend I never said that, okay?

"So, what's the point of these blood ball things?" I asked.

"Watch." He said. I turned to face Gregor and the other underlanders. Gregor didn't get in line, though. Maybe this was his first time doing this? Odd. Anyway, Luxa was first. She walked up, held her sword out in front of her and three other underlanders began turning handles on the cannons. She swung her blade a few times and- Wham! Nine of the little balls were terminated.

"Whoa." I whispered.

"Yes, it is quite impressive." I forgot Howard was there. Oops… "Would you like to try?" I hadn't noticed that the others were done. Strangeness.

"Sure?" it sounded more like a question. Howard led me over and showed me how to stand. On Mareth's signal, they started turning the handles. I panicked and swung the sword around wildly. When I stopped, I only hit one. But the balls were still going. I got hit in the head with one and it burst. Cheese. I looked up trying to ignore the red dye dripping around my eyes and saw quite a few people trying not to laugh. Well, at least they had the decency to be polite about it. But of course one girl just had to laugh. Stellovet. Urgh! Obnoxious little… I noticed Howard walk over and I wiped the paint off my face.

"That was very good for a beginner."

"Eh you're just saying that."

"No I am not, the first time I tried I did not hit any of them and I lost my grip on the sword."

"Really?" It's hard to believe that. I mean come on! Luxa walked over.

"Oh yes, it was extremely funny. Aurora, Henry," here she winced slightly, "and I could not stop laughing." She smiled.

Gregor now stepped up. Three more cannons were wheeled over. What?!? That 'game' is hard enough as it is, and they're making it harder? Wow. Some random Underlander arranged them in a circle around Gregor. A couple more of them came over and on Mareth's signal they began cranking the handles at surprisingly fast speeds. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Maybe that was unnecessary, because when he stopped, none were left intact. Ho-ly schwa.

"What just happened?" I asked, expecting Howard or Luxa to answer me, but, no, it had to be the rat. Splendid. Note the sarcasm, peoples.

"Gregor here is what we'd call a rager down here."

"And that would mean…"

"That would mean we are natural born killers. Excellent fighters, very rarely defeated, etcetera."

"Oh that explains quite a bit I mean- wait we?"

"Yes, Michelle, Ripred is a rager also." Howard explained. Mareth walked over.

"Now, we will train with the fliers. Mount you." Some of the bats flew down from the top of the arena where they were flying around. I saw Nike, Aurora, Orion, and a few bats that I didn't recognize. I'm guessing most of them were bonds because everyone paired off except Gregor and me, until Orion came over and Gregor was left there standing awkwardly. Mareth must have noticed this because he came over with another bat besides his bond. I shrugged and began talking to Orion about random pointless, but still funny things.

Gregor POV

This was the portion of training he had been dreading. It wasn't his fear of heights, just that he missed Ares. Maybe he could just train with Ripred… But no, Mareth was already over with a dark grey, almost black, bat with bright gold streaks.

"Gregor, meet you Electra."

"Um, hi, Electra." Gregor said nervously.

"Hello Overlander." She looked about as uncomfortable as he felt.

"You two will be training together today. Electra will be accompanying you on the quest." Gregor got on Electra's back, and they took off. As they trained, Gregor tried to talk with her.

"So, um Electra, how are you?" Gregor asked. She seemed like a quiet bat and that was fine with him; he just felt out of place with everyone laughing and talking. Even Michelle was talking with that other bat. How did that happen?!?

"I am fine, and you Overlander?" Gregor winced. He disliked being called 'Overlander'; it sounded so formal.

"I've been doing pretty good since I came back. Please, call me Gregor. I'm not used to being called Overlander." she nodded the best she could while flying.

"so, how come I've never seen you before Electra?" he was truly curious. Gregor recognized most of the bats, and he thought he'd recognize one as unique as Electra.

"I was still very young during the war of time. I had to stay home with my mother while my sister was out having incredible adventures and meeting new people and Fliers."

"oh, so who's your sister?"

"she is Howard's bond, Nike." Nike had a sister? He didn't know that.

"wow. You know it's not that great to be out there in the middle of the fight. Its pretty scary. I'm a rager and I freaked out." She shrugged.


After they warmed up, they began practicing different fighting techniques and tricks. When it wasn't their turn, Gregor couldn't stop looking at Luxa. She and Aurora were doing these impressive flippy twisty tricks. After a while though he noticed Howard glaring at him. Uh oh. He was going to get it now.

A/n: okay chapter 8: my holiday gift to you people. how'd you like it? Your opinions are very important. More Gluxa next chapter; promise. you probably won't here from me till '09. happy holidays!

Eb.