Sorry that it took so long to post this, my head has been filled with ideas for fanfics that I haven't even started. This morning I almost considered canceling one of the stories I currently have on here. But don't worry, Crog's Weapon is going to stay and eventually be finished. I already have an outline done for it, now it all just depends on me typing the chapters up and finding the time to do such. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, they're really appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own Oban Star Racers. OSR is (C) SAV! The World Productions.
Chapter 9
Eva's POV
"Wow, I get to sleep here?!" Kin gasped.
"Yep, you, your sister, and I share this bedroom." I smiled at him. Sarabi than began to rub her head against me, "Oh, and it's Sarabi's room as well." Kin turned to face me.
"Thanks Molly," he grinned at me, "I promise, I won't let you down."
"Good luck using that on Don Wei. Well, I have to get ready for the race. See ya!"
"Wait Molly!" he cried.
"Hm, what is it Kin?"
"You're going up against Toros, right?" I nodded, "I heard that he's never been defeated. Are you sure that you will be okay?" I picked him up and began swing him around, "Haha, put me down, haha, Molly!" I held him up so his face was right in front of mine.
"Don't you worry Kin, I've faced worse danger than some race. I promise you, I'll be just fine." I then began to whisper in his ear, "But I am worried about Jordan though. Knowing him he might some how hit our own ship." He began to laugh, so I put him down and watched as he ran up to Jordan.
"Jordan." He tugged on his shirt.
"What is it kid?" Jordan bent down.
"I wanted to say good luck."
"Aw thanks, but you know, with my superior aim, there's no way we can lose."
"Really?! But Molly said that we would be lucky if you didn't shoot our own ship!"
"What?!" Stan and Koji began snickering, "That's a lie! And who ever told you that is a liar!"
"Big Sis Molly is a liar?" he cried.
"What? I mean of course not" Jordan desperately tried to stop Kin from crying.
"Then you're the liar?" he was going to cry even harder now. Well, I better step in.
"Don't cry Kin, no one's a liar, Jordan is just a party pooper and has to ruin everyone's fun."
"What are you doing?!" Don yelled, "The race is going to start soon and you're not even inside the Arrow!"
"Sorry sir." Jordan and I apologized. I was getting situated when I saw Aikka returning to the Nourasian pit on G 'dar, and to top it off, G' dar was limping! It must have been a tough race. I better try to find Aikka later.
Toros' POV
Damm it all! I'm finally reunited with my daughter and now I've been given commands to shoot her down during the race! Damm it! If only my brother were not so ill, then I could talk to him without having the treacherous council finds out. And then, then my precious Molly would be safe.
-Flash Back-
My beloved wife Kal and I were walking down the halls of the Anima Institution in the grand city I was named after. Our son had just passed away only a couple months after his birth. Kal and I agreed that perhaps we should try adopting. The Anima Institution was not only a school and military academy, but it was a home for all the animas that were abandoned or orphaned. The dean of the institution greeted us in front of his office.
"Prince Toros and Princess Kal, how delightful to have such majestic people at the institute. You have come here to take in a child, have you not?"
"Yes!" Kal answered enthusiastically, "We were hoping to bring one home today!"
"Well," the dean's grin began to die, "perhaps it would be best if you were to come into my office so I could explain." We followed him inside and took our seats, "The problem is that all of the orphaned Crog children that are currently in our institute have already been adopted, and all we have are Nourasians and Humans at the moment…"
"I don't care what the child race is! I said I was going to bring a child home with me today and I meant it!" Kal shrieked. Having a child was her dream, and hearing her doctor explain that she could not bear a healthy child made her fuming.
"Please my dearest," I tried to calm her, "lets be patience and wait for there to be a child of Crog descendent available. Raising a human or Nourasian will do us no good."
"Toros! You of all people should know that I have never been the one to look down on any race! If we adopted a Nourasian, he or she will have a good sense of honor and always be ready to protect the family name! If we adopted a human, he or she will always have life in their eyes and a sense of self pride that will allow them to pursue their goal!"
"Well, I um, I…How about I show you what children are available." The dean said as he switched on his holographic imagery on his desk. He began flipping through pictures of Nourasian and Human children. My wife took every image in with awe. One picture even caught me attention, it was a young human girl, I'm guessing about seven years old, and her eyes were a dark red, a bit darker than her star and stripe tattoos. But what caught me most was her hair color, red on the top of her head and then black going down, I have heard of animas with unusual hair coloring, but I never actually seen one of them.
"Oh Toros, she looks perfect. She's the one I want, I can feel it!"
"Are you sure Princess Kal, after all, although she's an anima, she's also a human. If you just wait a couple of months I'm sure…"
"No! I wouldn't care even if she weren't an anima! She's the one I want to raise!" I allowed a sigh to escape my lips; my wife will continue to persist this situation until she got the child that she wanted.
"May we have the proper information on the human?"
"Yes, like her name." My wife gave a slight death glare at me. I feel sorry for the one who chooses to torment the human; no doubt Kal will rip them to shreds.
"Of course, well we do not know the child's true name, we do however know that she has been called Molly since arriving here. She's been on Kramm for a little bit sort of a month and she is seven years old. Would you please sign these papers?" We filled out all the papers that he gave us, Kal of course rushed through them filled with the excitement of having a child, "Thank you, now if you would follow me." He led us to a large room with Human and Nourasian children from the ages of five to seventeen. I was able to spot out Molly from a group of five Nourasian children, two girls, 15, 7, and 5, and three boys, 17, 12, 6. They seemed to be having a conversation, "Molly," the dean called her, she swiftly came up to us, "This is Prince Toros and Princess Kal, and they have showed an interest in adopting you."
"More than just an interest." Kal corrected him. She then bent down so that she was eye to eye with her, "Hi Molly, you don't have to call me Kal, mom or mommy or mother would do just fine! Oh, I can tell we're going to have so much fun! We can go shopping for your wardrobe, I can buy you toys, we can bake treats, oh, I can't wait, I'm too excited!" Kal then suffocated the human in a tight hug. I began to laugh thinking about how sorry I felt for the young creature. Kal would make sure she had no rest. I then felt her pull on my pants.
"Laugh." She said in Crog's tongue. It seemed that she already began practicing the language. The next 4 years would be some of the most memorable. Kal always kept a tight watch on "her" Molly. And sure enough, slowly but surely, Molly and I created a father's daughter's bond. But as fate would have it, our seemingly perfect happiness would come to an abrupt end on the four years mark.
-End of Flashback-
My poor daughter has suffered many scars from the hands of destiny, now she would be forced to receive another through me. What would you do Kal? No, that's a stupid question. Knowing you, you would have risked everything to save that one girl. The one girl you and I had grown to love so much.
The next two hours were a blur. Molly, unlike her gunner, showed no resentment in her eyes after I took down their ship. I wonder if I will ever be able to make it up to her.
Eva's POV
Why does it have to rain now?! Just my luck! I took cover in the nearest racer pit. I heard some type of animal screech. I quickly turned to find it was G'dar. "I didn't know the Nourasian pit was so close." G'dar shrieked again, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Then I noticed the gauze around his leg, "You had a rotten day to." I began petting him, as he seemed to calm down. I then heard the voices of Aikka and his fencing master. I walked up the stairs so I could watch them. Aikka was defiantly more suited for a bow than a sword. He spotted my shadow and lunged at me. Sadly for him, my instincts made me knock his sword out of his hand and pin him to the ground.
"Molly!" he looked shock.
"Hi Aikka! Sorry about that." I apologized as I got off of him, "So, do you greet all your guests that way, or am I just special." I smirked, he began blushing.
"Forgive me, I did not realize that it was a friend watching me."
"I wanted to talk to you, seeing that we both lost our races today."
"That is clearly a lie!" Aikka's fencing master walked out. "Any opponent would rejoice at our defeat! She is clearly a spy, and we must deal with her as one deals with spies."
"Do I look like a spy to you!" there was no way I was going to let this guy talk so ill of me, "Fine, if you're just going to accuse me, then I guess I leave. See you Aikka."
"Molly wait!" Aikka grabbed my hand before I could walk down the stairs, "Please forgive the rough intrusion, the race was especially hard on you today. Having the man that raised you to shoot you down like that, I myself could not bare such a thing." Canaan looked completely dumb struck. I guess Aikka didn't tell him that Toros was my adopted father, "Would you like to talk in my room?" I nodded. Aikka said something to Canaan as we passed him, not sure exactly what though.
I glanced around Aikka's room as I walked in. They were candles all around the room. Aikka's bedding was made up of fur from some type of animal. There were scrolls neatly organized on the shelves, the Nourasian symbols were hanging on strings across the room, "Please sit." I complied and sat on the bed, he sat on a chair right across from me, "Why are your eyes filled with such curiosity right now?"
"Huh? Oh, well first I've never seen a traditional Nourasian room before, and secondly I was wondering how come the inside of the Nourasian pit is structured differently than the earth pit."
"Ah yes. I believe that each team pit is built to accommodate that specific specie. So where humans use 'electricity' I believe it's called, you have what's the term, outlets in your pit. While Nourasians do not use electricity, except in the case we need to communicate with another planet's government, we have no need for outlets."
"That makes sense."
"Strange."
"What's strange?"
"You were just betrayed by your father and yet you don't feel distressed or angry."
"Well, I sorta knew about it already. I had a conversation with him and he warned me that this would probably happen."
"What exactly would happen?"
"That the council would order him to take me down during the race."
"So you knew then."
"Pretty much, of course I did my best to keep the ship from getting hit, but in the end it wasn't enough."
"I'm glad to see that you're alright." He smiled at me. For the next three hours we told each other stories from our lives. We both fell asleep eventually.
Ring, Ring, Ring!!!!!! Huh? What time is it? I glanced at my watch. It's one in the morning! Damm it! Don Wei's going to kill me!
"Molly?" Aikka said sleepily, "What happened?"
"We fell asleep. I better get going before the team freaks."
"Take care Molly." He whispered into my ear making me blushed. I ran down the stairs and down the trail to the earth pit.
Aikka's POV
I watched as Molly ran down the road. It was the first time I ever felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in the same room as some one outside of my family, "Prince Aikka?" Canaan knocked.
"Come in. Canaan, why do you look nervous?"
"I wasn't sure if the earth girl was still in here." I blushed as I understood what he meant.
"It was not like that! We simply talked, nothing more than that!"
"As I hope it stays. Either way, your father wishes to speak to you."
"So early?"
"It is merely evening in Nourasia my prince." I got up and walked to the video room as Satis referred to it. An image of my father appeared as I bent down on my knee.
"Prince Aikka, as you know you shall be competing with the earth team in your next race." I nodded, "You must shoot them down."
"What?! But…."
"Silence Aikka! This is an order. If you refuse, you risk banishment from the court. Do you understand?!"
"Yes," I gulped, "I will do what is asked of me in order to win the race.
