-Catgirl-of-Bavaria-: Gawd, I love all of you guys who review and show me so much love! I may have gotten this up sooner, but the correspondence class that I have to finish and get in the mail by the 21st has been stealing away my attention. Gotta get it done, you know. But, anyhow, it's here and there's gonna be a race, and I know all of you can guess who it'll be! I actually have a drawing that I drew a few weeks ago of the Phantom, but I'm thinking of revising it, just to make it more spiffy and different. Either way, it'll probably be up in my DA account in the future. It was actually my first time drawing anything mechanical like a star racer, though, so I'm pretty proud of it, revision or not.
Crazyvegimab: I'm so glad I managed to pull Aikka's outfits off, it was exactly the thing I was going for :) I'll have to work on drawing the second outfit, I'll make it pretty, since it really hasn't gotten that much love in the story so far…And Canaan as well! It's in my brain, Mab, so don't worry. As soon as I get some more done on my class, I'll hunker down and draw you that Canaan piccy! .:mobs back with love:. :heart: And I'm glad you liked the Stan/Koji chapter! Arigatou!
Spellcaster Hikaru:lol, I think that the name of this chapter will already answer your little premonition about the new character ;) I actually really feel bad for Jordan too, I mean, every time I re-watch certain episodes, like the last ep, or the one where he tries to give Molly the flowers, I just feel so sad for him, cause he turns into such a hopeless romantic for Molly! It's so sweet, but in a terribly sad way, since we know what ends up happening…Anyway, veering away from the more depressing topics of Oban…All I can say for the possibility of Molly going to Nourasia and a sequel is, possibly and not at the moment. Though I will say that things are probably going to change from their current pace soon. .:shifty eyes:. As for the sequel part, I just don't have any ideas for what to do with a sequel, as of yet. Maybe something will pop into my head later, I dunno. .:shrugs:. Ooh, Rick pins! .:attaches one to her 'vote for Rick' shirt:.
IchikoKitsuneKoumori: Yep, the Earth Coalition needs a new one, and yeah, we're getting a new one…in 2008, though…Still a little while to go…Imagine if Molly were to take Aikka on a trip to the zoo! Lol that'd be something…
Sekai Nerah: Yeah, I always liked the Stan/Koji pairing, myself. And I love long stories too, they're lots of fun, and I'm proud of my Satis too :) So, thank you for your reviews, they have of course helped me get to that 6-page mark! .:huggles Sekai:. And here's the next chapter X3
Shrouded View: Well, I'm really glad you liked the Stan and Koji story for the most part, as well as the lovable Satis! And it's no problem about the warning, I know there are some who like certain types of pairings and those who don't, and it's only fair that writers do put warnings on their things, I think.
Frubaforever: That's all good, and I like how you keep your mind open to different things, that's always a good thing! Anyway, I'm glad you liked it, and yes, I agree, poor Miguel…Gomen nasaii!
APurpleAvacado: Thanks for the tip, I do use the two dash line dealies to break up the different pieces, but I can see from chapter 5 where it might have been a little confusing as to what exactly the scene change was…I just now noticed it! Oo XD Thanks!
Crystal Persian: Yep, I had to give these two a story within the story, just like Savin did during the show X3 gotta love 'em, they're the world's greatest mechanics! .:glomps them both:. As to Aikka's lesson, wellll, read on:D
Fushica: Thank you, thank you! I know, I was sad about Miguel when I was writing it, as well as for Stan and Koji…especially after I gave them such evil relatives…Gawd, I'm growing evil…
Thechickenlittle: Aw, thanks, I really am glad to know that I'm getting the characters right…and it seems that Satis has quite a lot of fans! Lol
Iluvaikka: Here's more!
I love all of the above peoples! They are the targets of my appreciative love and affection! .:huggles:.
Disclaimer: Ok, Oban Star Racers, its characters and plot belong to Savin Yeatman-Eiffel, the wonderful genius who created them, not me. I only borrow the characters and add my own! Such as the new chick!...
--
-Chapter 10-
Gunner Girl
--
The sky the next day on Earth was grey, grey enough to let the high rises of the city blend into the sky. Rain was imminent, which was quite obvious. The day seemed dreary, that was the real word for it.
Hiking up a duffle bag and hugging into her trench coat, a bleach-blonde girl walked down the streets in the air the was humid with impending rain. She was headed for one building, one of the more distinctive of structures in the grey city, one whose white letters shown out in all the grey, reading 'Wei Enterprises,' or, rather, the hangar adjoined to it. That's where she was headed, it was where she'd been told to go. Her dark eyes held a certain amount of tension, but she knew she'd be welcome there. Once they knew who she was…
While on her way, she was nearly there now, a large truck, sported with tires instead of the usual hover gear, drove past her. Looking as it passed, she saw an enormous flatbed hooked up to it. A large, tarp-covered shape on the back wagon made her stop in her tracks; she recognized that shape.
"A star racer," she murmured, staring after it as it headed, nearly too wide for the abandoned street, down the street she'd directed herself in. There was no doubt in her mind, that racer was headed for the same destination as she was.
Grinning widely, she began after the thing, walking quicker than before, her long braid trailing behind her along with the back of her coat. Patting her duffle bag under her arm, she smiled.
"Don't worry, brother, I'll do as I promised,"
--
Aikka stared outside, leaning against the side of the wide garage door of the Wei hangar. Hugging his arms closer, the Nourasian shivered from the cool air. He was back in his first outfit, the white tunic and black jeans, but he found the weather to be a bit too chilly for his coverage.
His expression was contorted with pensive worry as he cast looks towards the grey of the Earthen sky. He did enjoy this weather, but he couldn't help but think that the air was ripe with something other than precipitation. G'dar shared his sentiments, for the beetle had more than once nudged him, as if full of nerve, since he'd arrived with Eva that morning.
Eva, meanwhile, was obliviously ecstatic, helping out the two mechanics, Stan and Koji, rearrange and tarp the three original racers towards the back of the garage. Word from them was, that a fourth, the Phantom, was on its way, though it was running later than they'd arranged. She was so excited, that morning she'd recalled that today, a Monday, was a day she had off from school. And she was treating it like a holiday, having her closest friends around and another racer on its way.
As concerned as he was, Aikka couldn't help but smile every time he turned his gaze back to her; he enjoyed seeing her so happy, and he could only hope that he'd continue seeing this side of her. Though, even as he watched her, he knew, their time together was limited; if they survived the war, eventually certain obligations of his blood would separate them.
He didn't want to admit the other day that Rick had been almost right about there being something else between him and Eva, even if he was possibly the only one that was feeling it. In fact, part of him hoped that he would be the only one who felt something more than friendship; then it wouldn't leave her broken hearted when he had to answer the tradition of his royalty.
He couldn't say if he was falling for her quite yet, but he was lingering dangerously close to the edge.
Something a bit heavy draped around him, shortly after Aikka gave another shiver, for both the cold and his thoughts. Looking at his shoulders, he found a thick, oversized coat wrapped around him. Looking then up, familiar sunglasses stared back at him, a grin on the pale skin below them.
"Sorry, Prince, probably should have bought you a jacket while we were out the other day," he said loosely. Aikka smiled back at the man.
"Thank you, Rick," the Nourasian said, pulling the material to better surround him from the chill in the air. Rick gave another smile and turned for the inner parts of the garage.
"Don't mention it," He told the prince assuredly, while waving ahead to Eva as the girl approached, patting the dirt off of her outfit, now comprised of a crimson shirt to match her eyes, and with sleeves that reached her wrists once she unrolled them. The sides of the sleeves actually showed some of her fair skin, in sections that looked almost as if there had been holes cut into the material. It seemed to Aikka that these holes were meant to be there, as a fashion, and though he didn't quite understand it, it did seem to fit her, as well as the blue jeans that just barely reached her calf muscles before fraying out around her knees.
Eva came up to Aikka, giving a passing pat to G'dar, and examined his new coat. The thing was meant to be a 'half' trench coat, and on Rick, she'd seen it reach his knees, though on Aikka, it served well as a regular trench coat, as it was well on its way to reaching his ankles. The corners of the shoulders were well off his own, as Rick's frame was so much wider and square than his. He almost looked lost in the article, but to Eva it looked almost cute.
"So, where'd we leave off yesterday?" She asked him, and Aikka immediately knew she was speaking of the lessons he was giving her. She had talked him into teaching her how to properly wield a blade, and he had agreed, so long as she first proved her abilities at hand to hand.
"Ah, yes," Aikka turned fully to her, rolling up his coat sleeves on his arms. "Do you remember the first stance?"
Eva nodded, and shifted into the position he'd taught to her, an authentic stance from the traditional lessons of his people. This had been the first he had learned as well, consisting of her hands sitting in mid-air in front of her, only half curled into fists, with her body standing on a solid foundation of a stance.
This was the first stance learned for a reason; the stance provided readiness if an attack was made from the opponent. In this stance, both hands were ready for defense, but they could also be easily used for offensive attacks.
Though, as he surveyed her, he noticed that her stance wasn't exactly the ideal that he'd taught her. Her weight was distributed slightly off, but he knew it did take a little getting used to, especially for those not used to the style of fighting.
"More weight should be put on your back leg," Aikka instructed, gripping her opposite shoulder and pulling her slightly towards him, giving more weight to the proper leg. "And square your hips a little more, it'll give you more stability."
Eva readily obeyed his instructions, a little too wrapped up in doing so for her to really concentrate on his touch on her shoulder, or even the new one on her hip. Aikka, though, was another story; it seemed that where he'd allowed his hands to go was the only thing that existed. Even if it was just professional advice and guidance, Aikka's mind was betraying him by making it more than it was. His thoughts were taking him places he shouldn't go, places he couldn't go.
While his thoughts got away with him, Aikka decided to double his control on his facial expression of this; even worse would be if Eva happened to notice his expression as being something other than rigid and concentrated instruction. He'd work on harnessing his restless mind again later.
"Good, good," Aikka nodded, circling around her, and coming to a stop in front of her stance. Eva grinned at this, pleased at her own progress. Without warning, Aikka swung a hand towards her from the side, his flat palm slicing through the air.
"Whoa," Eva yelped at the sudden movement, but reacted quickly, sending a forearm to block Aikka's mock blow. She decided to take it a step further, and sent her fist through the air, for his stomach.
Though he knew this was only sparring, and that Eva would have really stopped before actually hitting him, Aikka gently caught the girl's punch in a hand and sent a grin to her. Eva only gave him a grin of her own, and pivoted craftily on her front foot, sending her slightly forwards and into him, as well as her back foot flying in a would-be course to his head.
Aikka smiled at her after surveying the foot that had stopped just short of grazing with his ear and now hung there in mid-air. It had appeared there very fast indeed, and her body had moved in excellent precision and balance; and it had only been yesterday that he'd started teaching the Earthling. Had this been a real fight, even he would have found himself worrying about possible stains on his new clothes from the garage floor.
"Very good, I suspect that you will see a blade in your hands within no time at all, Molly." Eva lit up at his words, and suddenly noticed the presence of her father, who'd apparently been watching for a while.
"Yes, very good, Eva," he told her proudly. Leveling with the now relaxing Eva and Aikka, his expression only hardened slightly. "I just spoke with Stan and Koji, they said the Phantom is almost here,"
"Correction, sir, it is here!" Koji yelled over to them excitedly, while he ran after Stan out of the hangar door and around the corner to guide the truck back. Now the rumbling of the great transportation vehicle could be heard to all of them, and Don turned with a shrug back to his daughter.
"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that, and have you test the thing out with Stan and Koji. So, don't get too involved with another fighting lesson," he told them both, glancing at Aikka as well as his daughter. He was pleased that the prince was teaching his daughter self-defense, but he could only hope she wouldn't have to use it. What was more, he hoped that if it somehow came down to it, something that was becoming his greatest fear these days, that it'd be of some usefulness to her.
Eva suddenly became all the more eager for the new star racer, and it showed vividly on her face. Don smiled at her, a little sadly; it seemed that having her racing wasn't all that frightening anymore. Given the alternative, letting his daughter race had suddenly become a piece of cake.
Aikka and Eva decided to go over and welcome the new racer, watching from the sides as Stan and Koji, along with the trained carriers, gently brought the enormous shape off of the trailer and on to the garage floor. Eva was practically bouncing on her heels, quite ready to give the thing a test run, and Aikka found himself more fascinated by the girl's eager reaction than by the actual process. Even G'dar was glancing over, the racer being something of a new room mate to him.
"Here she is," Stan said proudly, as he and Koji managed to pull the tarp off of the racer, revealing a shining beauty of a vehicle, done in shades of deep violet and blue on top of the polished grey of the metal. It looked reminiscent in shape to the Arrows, but did indeed look a lot smoother. The boys had obviously considered looks as well as function this time around, the thing was simply a masterpiece. Looking at the shapes, on the side particularly, Eva was reminded almost of some sort of bat-like wing, which seemed to fit with their name for it, The Phantom.
"She's beautiful," Eva gaped, hardly daring to take her eyes off of it, her mind creating several images of her at the wheel. Or, rather, handlebars. "Can I try it out, you guys?" She looked with suddenly enormous crimson eyes at the boys who'd designed and created it, her hands clasped in front of her in a classic begging position.
"That's what we brought it here for, Eva," Koji laughed, holding his strapped computer to him. "Just let us make sure everything is in check, and you can go nuts,"
"But not too nuts, alright? We want this baby to last at least a little longer than the Arrows," Stan added, tilting a wrench in her direction for extra warning. Eva nodded quickly.
"You got it," she gave them a thumbs up and turned to Aikka, before glancing at G'dar, who'd been rather stationary for the past few days aside from their trips to the countryside to let him graze. She suddenly got a brilliant idea; at least it was brilliant to her.
"Aikka, how bout we have a little race? I'm sure G'dar wants to do something!" Aikka looked at her, surprised at the offer, but nonetheless pleased. Not only was G'dar wanting to stretch his wings, but Aikka himself hadn't had a good, race-induced adrenaline rush in far too long. Not even to mention, racing Eva was just as much fun as it was a challenge.
"I would be honored to race you, Molly," Aikka accepted her challenge with a grin. Eva grinned herself, before turning her attention back to the mechanics and their creation.
"Alright, the tanks are full, the reactors are in check, thrusters…" Koji listed off, coming over to the prince and Eva, scratching the top of his head with a pen. "Everything looks good, Eva, I think we're ready for you,"
"See you on the track, Princess," Aikka playfully grinned and bowed to her before heading off to prepare G'dar. Koji looked a little blankly at her nickname, but nonetheless continued.
"We tried to keep most of the codes the same, but there have been some changes, so don't just go pushing things just yet, Stan and I will help you get it," He trailed off as Eva scaled the ladder up and into the open cockpit, finding the welcoming sight of a bike seat format, though this time it actually fit; it wasn't her grafted-on rocket seat this time. Grinning widely, she glanced off to G'dar's area, finding the prince already mounted and poised for their little race. He cast a glance over to her, a sort of teasing grin. She matched it quickly, finding that he was apparently just as eager for this new race as she was.
"Oh! Hey, can someone start us when we get over to the line?" Eva called to the others from her perch.
"Start you?" Stan asked, before Rick came out of his own office at just the right moment. "Hey Rick, go start those two so we can see how The Phantom flies!"
Rick, caught in that spot where he couldn't escape, shrugged and decided to go along with it. He always did enjoy seeing Eva race, and it'd personally be an honor to start the new champion. It also didn't hurt in the fact that he got a bit of a boost in his pride, knowing he'd taught Eva all he knew. It gave him a bit of solace to know he had some sort of hand in the little mouse's success as a world class racer, almost like his legacy was living on.
"Alright Eva, just race, nothing too fancy, ok?" Koji called as the teenage girl drove the racer out of the shelter of the garage on its three wheels. Likewise, G'dar hobbled his way over, following Eva to the starting line.
"Alright you two kids, play nice! We don't want another pile of scrap, now, do we?" Rick called up to the both of them. Eva, before closing the translucent and violet-tinted glass of the cockpit, threw a wink and peace sign over to the prince, who smiled, before the thrill of competition took over him, and he leaned slightly forwards in his seat, ready for the start.
With a couple of motions from Rick, both G'dar and the Phantom rose, and with the last, wave of a signal, the two of them were off like a shot. Rick, fighting with his now frantic hair, watched as the both of the racers sped off, weaving with each other, creating a brilliant show of grace that to him looked more like frolicking than racing. Grinning, he decided to go find a seat in the stands to better see the race.
Eva managed to tame this star racer quickly, and soon turned her attention to the prince's location. No longer on the right side of her, where he had started, he was grinning at her from the left. A slight motion from his arm told G'dar to go faster, and so the beetle sped a bit forward. They were approaching the first turn now, and Koji came up on the screen to her side.
"She looks great so far, Eva, go ahead and do a roll," he suggested over the screen.
"With pleasure," Eva grinned, before tossing her entire weight to the side, rolling with the curve of the track, sending the instinctual G'dar back with the surprise, giving her a sudden lead over the prince.
Aikka, while assuring G'dar with a swirling pat on his shell, smiled after the Earthling.
"It seems that the Princess is just as agile as ever, G'dar," He shut his eyes, whilst his hand flattened on the white shell beneath him. "But fortunately, so are we! Un sekai G'dar wakar!"
Unknown to the racers, there was one spectator besides Rick in the stands, watching the race as well. Taking in breath with amazement, she watched as G'dar's blue and spotted shell quickly turned to a brilliant and glowing white, dazzled with swirling patterns of Nourasian fashion. The figure that was Aikka and his beetle soon caught up to the Phantom on the second of turns in the triangular shaped track.
"Oh, you're doing that again, are you?" Eva asked Aikka as if he'd be able to hear her, just as the prince sped by on his charged beetle. She pressed the circle on her screen that would send her to Koji. "Hey Stan, Koji, can I use the hyper drive yet, or is that too nuts?"
"We were actually about to suggest it," Stan answered, his toothpick visibly shaking with his words.
"The code is still the same, but don't use it for too long, this track isn't completely hyper drive-friendly," the image of Koji cut in just as the mechanic was pressing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
"Got it," Eva said surely, and tapped in the series to the screen, making sure her eyes were on the track and that her finger was just seconds away from the 'disengage' button. She wasn't about to let this baby crash into the stands, but she was ready to at least catch up to the prince. He had already rounded the second turn, and was on his way to take the third, and final turn.
Thrusters folded out much like they had on the Arrow III, glowing that beautiful white-blue that Eva loved so much. As soon as she engaged, the glow seemed to erupt from all of the clusters, and in turn, sent her flying forward at a speed that would have floored her, had she not been so used to it from her days in the race of Oban. Even though she was used to it, Stan and Koji were right; it was faster than the Arrows. It took no time at all to get the new, lightweight craft to level with, and then pass Aikka and G'dar.
Holding a peace sign high above her head as she passed, she curved around the bend that was the last turn. There was only a stretch before the finish line, she could easily make this race. With a quick poke to the right button, she felt the Phantom slow, only enough to ease back into its normal speed, and out of hyper drive, as the clusters of glowing thrusters faded and folded gracefully back into the safety of the reactors.
However close she now was to the finish line, though, Aikka and his mount would not be put out so easily. The brilliant white of G'dar's charged shell came up beside her, and she just caught Aikka's grin before she leaned forward on the controls, giving her a boost of speed that somehow managed to put her just in front of the beetle. With a bit of a roll, she shifted herself over in order to cut the two Nourasians behind her off. G'dar intuitively reared a little in the air, before Aikka guided him in a glide up and over the craft known as the Phantom.
All Eva had time to notice as she crossed the finish line, was the sudden presence of a great shadow flying above her cockpit. And that was before she noticed G'dar had pulled over her, suddenly making the race a very unsure one. She grinned broadly.
"Nice race, prince," she said, impressed as ever, before continuing after G'dar and his master at a slightly lazier pace, just weaving and rolling around each other for the fun of it for another lap.
Moving a strand of hair from her face, the girl in the stands smiled down at the two frolicking racers from under the bill of her black cap. Her hand moved to clasp two small metal plates that hung from her neck.
"She really is the best," she said to herself quietly as the Phantom and G'dar began back for the hangar. She cocked her head a little downward, casting a shadow over her amused smile. "And 'Princey' ain't that bad either,"
She decided, at the sight of the racers receding back to the pit, that now was the time to head down herself. She watched the man in the stands below her get up from a seat, and suddenly realized she hadn't even realized his presence there before. She gasped, realizing who it was that was sitting rows ahead of her.
Grabbing her duffle bag, she hustled down the stairs nearest her, only hoping not to fall.
"Rick!" She called out, catching the attention of a slightly bewildered Rick Thunderbolt.
Turning, he saw the teenaged girl, with her snake of bleached hair trailing behind her, a trench coat flapping in the wind of her running, a duffle bag clutched to her by both hands. More intriguing, though, was the girl's eyes, even her skin tone and her hair color. It felt to the ex-pilot that he was looking at someone familiar. Perhaps it was some old fan, for how she called his name… He was actually quite used to random people coming up to him calling his name.
"Hey, kid…you want an autograph or something?" Rick asked his potential fan as she finally made it to the bottom of the stairway. She looked up at him with wide eyes, but shook her head.
"Actually, I need to talk to Don Wei," The girl said certainly, but with her voice wavering with some slight nervousness. Rick looked at the teen, puzzled. Come to think of it, she looked about Eva's age, when she had joined up with Wei Enterprises. His breath suddenly hitched; there was no way that Don had abandoned two daughters, right?
He shoved that idea from his head, this girl looked nothing like Eva, Maya or Don…Though she did still look familiar for some odd reason…
"Well, I'm his assistant now, so what do you need to talk to him about? Lookin' for a job?" Rick told her professionally, while he turned and walked down to the track, beckoning her to follow him. The mysteriously familiar goldenrod-blonde followed after, hugging her bag to her again and clasping her hand protectively around her necklace. "I'll tell you right now, he's not that keen on having female workers,"
"Well, I wanted to talk to him about his daughter, actually…His daughter Eva…or Molly." She looked at Rick knowingly. The man turned suddenly to her, a look full of surprise. And had they not been hidden beneath his shades, the girl would have noticed that his eyes were extremely wide indeed. How could she have known Eva's alias?
Suddenly, as he looked at the expression on her face, Rick spotted something even more familiar than her appearance. That set look that showed so much stubborn determination reminded him instantly of someone, not that her appearance hindered that.
Instead of asking her how in the world she knew about Eva's other name, Rick asked something else.
"What's your name?"
--
"Great race, you two, and Eva, you worked the Phantom beautifully!" Koji congratulated the two racers as they got back into the garage. "She flies just how we wanted her to,"
Eva climbed down the ladder, and looked to her father. He gave her a smile, which she readily returned. She never got tired of praise from her father, especially when it came to racing.
"Wonderful job, Eva, I think we're going to have a winner this year!" Don said proudly. Eva grinned as Aikka made his way over from settling G'dar into his spot.
"Thanks, dad," Eva said proudly, turning to Aikka. "So, how do we decide who won?"
"Well, if we really want to know, we could always ask Rick, I believe he saw the whole race," he returned her grin, hiking up his oversized coat. "But I'd be satisfied with it simply being a draw,"
"Says you!" Eva laughed, playfully pushing his arm. "Where is Rick, anyway?" she then asked curiously, noticing then that Rick wasn't even available to them.
"Maybe he's still outside," Stan suggested from between the Phantom's reactors. "We definitely haven't seen him."
"Hm. Come on, Aikka, let's go look for him!" Eva said readily, grabbing the prince's hand and tugging him along towards the garage door. The prince, in turn didn't have time to object, but laughed at her enthusiasm. He still loved that side of her.
However, before she even made it with the prince out the door, Rick came around the corner, scratching his head a little confusedly.
"Rick! There you are!" Eva said excitedly, having practically run into the man. "We need you to tell us," Eva trailed off, noticing a girl accompanying the man, standing off to the side, rather timidly. The girls' eyes met, and suddenly Eva was struck with familiarity. Even Aikka sensed something familiar about this new girl.
"Sorry, Little Mouse, your dad's got a visitor," Rick said with a little smile.
With that, he walked past her, ruffling the red hair on top of her head. Eva reluctantly broke her contact with the other girl, and turned, following Rick with her gaze. Soon, the girl followed Rick in. The blonde gave a quick glance back to Eva, then an odd look towards Aikka, one that almost looked of envy. Aikka then turned to her as the girl turned back towards Rick, calling Eva out of her trance.
"Molly, do you know this girl?" Eva shook her head slowly.
"I feel like I do, though, it's so weird…Maybe I've seen her in school or something?" She answered. Her look of thought turned to determination, and she grabbed Aikka by the hand again. "Come on, we're gonna find out who she is," with that, Aikka was dragged over to a tarp-covered reactor of one of the pre-Phantom racers, and watched as Rick and the girl made their ways over to Don.
"Hey, Don, you got someone to see you!" Rick told the older man, who in turn gave a confused look to his assistant, then to the teen-age girl.
"Ah, can I help you, young lady?" Don asked professionally, still trying to puzzle what this girl could want. "If you are looking for a job, I'm afraid I have none to offer at the moment,"
"I don't need a job, I already have one." The girl shook her head with a smile. "I've been sent here in order to protect your daughter, Eva."
Don's eyes instantly widened. This girl, who looked to be a year younger than his daughter, was going to protect his Eva? More importantly, who had sent her? It couldn't have been President McMillan, could it?
Meanwhile, Aikka exchanged looks with Eva, each contemplating the same things. Even Stan and Koji seemed to be paying attention to the happenings from behind the guise of their computers.
"Were you sent by the president? And how do you intend to protect my daughter?" he raised an eyebrow at her, not seeing any weapons visibly on her. At this, the girl grinned eagerly, and set her bag down, unzipping the thing as she went.
As she leant down, Eva caught the glint of something around her neck, something that gleamed at her, and at the same time, clacking metallically together. Suddenly, something seemed to click. Around her neck were two military ID tags, both seeming a bit old and worn, and they were tags that she was sure she'd seen before…
"With this," The blonde said, triumphantly pulling a large and heavy-looking hand cannon out of her duffle bag, earning looks of wide and unbelieving eyes, along with a few gasps. "Don't worry, it isn't loaded. I've also got this,"
She set her hand cannon gently on the ground, pulling out what looked like a handgun, then some different-looking cartridges that appeared to belong to the hand cannon. Setting all the smaller items back into their proper holdings and back into the bag, she then did the same with her cannon.
"And I got a military license, don't worry," she flashed a card at the slightly perturbed look of Don Wei. It wasn't everyday someone just popped in, showing off their collection of firearms. Eva, though, was putting everything together, and she found that this girl seemed just like an old friend, one she hadn't seen in a year. "As to who sent me, well, does this mean anything to you guys?"
She lifted a sleeve of her trench coat and showed Don the inside of her wrist, though Eva and Aikka couldn't see from their standpoints. They did see, however, Don Wei's face change to one of surprise, though he seemed pleased just as well.
"You were sent by the avatar," Don said, hushed, and with a bit of a smile spreading over his face. The girl in front of him nodded. Eva suddenly came out from behind the reactor, not daring to believe what she heard. She walked carefully in the two steps she took from her hiding place, taking delicate steps, like the scene before her would disappear if she moved too harshly. Aikka watched as well, a bit stoic.
The blonde looked over at Eva, who paused in her tracks. She made no movement, but gave Eva a smile.
"He wishes he could be here himself, but as you guys know, things in the galaxy are getting a bit hectic," She took off her cap, revealing her hair to actually have two colors to it, which only made everyone's memory jolt, and made Eva's actually click. While the majority of her hair was dyed blonde, it appeared as if she had let her roots grow in, giving a dark brown splash on top of her head. Everything about this girl made sense to Eva now.
"You're…" Eva began, almost inaudibly, staring at the girl, who was still smiling at her, knowingly. She gave a flash of a glance to the Nourasian behind Eva, but then turned back to Don Wei.
"My name is Janni Wilde, and it is my duty and my honor to protect the one person my brother cares most about," She told them with a smile.
"Jordan's sister…" Eva murmured finally, still staring at the gunner girl before her.
-Catgirl-of-Bavaria-: Woot! So Jordan has a little sister!
Oh yeah, and I remember, I was writing the bit of Aikka and Molly's sparring while I was watching some Kung-fu special on animal planet, called 'The Animal Within,' which I was fascinated by…I really miss the martial arts. Anyway, I noticed that the stance Aikka took in episode 9(when he and Jordan get in a fight) kind of came to me as a mantis type of stance, and that was enjoyable to my otaku-geek mind XD But anyway, I actually do have at least some experience in the martial arts, as I took Tae-Kwon-Do for a few years, so I am trying to use what I know(or, remember, rather) and what I get off of fighting shows and kung-fu type of fighting styles to give Aikka his little lessons :) And the race was tons of fun to write, too!
Next chapter: More on Molly's newest guardian, including her encounter with a certain galaxy deity… someone admits their feelings, if only a little…And what will become of that little unsettling feeling that Aikka had at the beginning of the chapter?