Transcendence Rebels
Chapter 10
Mabel gaped, as did the others, as Lavendyr stood. She couldn't believe what her brother just said. She refused to believe it. There was no way that her twin just accepted his demon name, not without his sister. She felt betrayed as Dipper turned to her.
"Hey, Mabel. Do you want to join us?" He asked.
"No." Mabel replied coldly. He looked taken aback, before shrugging.
"Suit yourself." She glared at him, daggers in her eyes as he walked off to the training space. How could he be so calm about it?
"Hey, man. Are you okay? You keep looking at him like he just became your worst enemy." Wendy remarked. Mabel glanced at her, and shook her head. Maybe she was just overreacting.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied softly, still watching the pair.
"Hey, do you want to pair off with me? I kinda want to do some target practice with my axes. Maybe you can practice with your grappling hook." Mabel tore her gaze from her brother.
"Yeah, sure."
"Look at it this way. At least he's talking. Just leave a good thing be." Wendy advised, and she sighed.
"I suppose you're right."
"I always am, dude." Mabel smiled faintly and ran off to get her grappling hook.
Soon the room was filled with the thud of axes and hooks on targets, as well as wood on wood.
"High. Middle. Low. High. Middle. Low." Alcor told Lavendyr. They were starting with the basics, the demon attacking, the spy blocking. They started off slow, but as Lavendyr learned, they picked up speed.
Slowly she got the hang of it, and Alcor said so when they stopped.
"Thanks." She breathed, panting. The spy let out a deep breath. "Okay, lets see what you got." She put aside her staff, and Alcor did the same. They got into the 'guard' stance, and circled. This time, Lavendyr went on the offensive, and attacked.
The first punch went to the face, which Alcor took. The second went to the chest, which he also took without complaint. The third was dodged, and Alcor drove his fist into her ribs. She blocked, and he looked surprised, as if he didn't know that you could block. He mentioned for her to stop.
"Okay, so my stance is off, I need to guard my face, and I need to learn to block. Anything else?"
"Kicks." She told him. "You need to learn some kicks. Honestly, I'm surprised Diana..." She winced. It still hurt to say her name. "I'm surprised Diana didn't teach you this."
"And I'm surprised that there's still more to learn. Now we're even." Alcor replied stubbornly. Lavendyr grinned.
"Let's get to work then."
She ran him through several blocks, similar to the bowstaff, and several kicks, before putting him on the boxing bag to increase the force behind his punches.
"Come on. You can do better than that!" Lavendyr urged.
"I'm worried that I'm going to hit you." He admitted.
"Seriously!? I'm behind the bag, for gods sake. How the hell are you going to hit me!?"
"I don't know!" In his frustration, he punched the bag so hard, Lavendyr stumbled back.
"Better." He breathed. Alcor examined his hands in wonder, before clenching them, and smiling.
"I think I just figured this out." He remarked, and punched the bag into oblivion.
Later that night, the group of eight huddled around several lamps. None of them dared a fire, for fear of the smoke giving away their location. No-one spoke. Each of them was lost inside of their own minds. It was a while before Lavendyr spoke. And it wasn't really speaking, just a soft singing.
"This is my fight song. Take back my life song. Prove I'm alright song." Her voice was a soft melody, echoing slightly in the warehouse.
Mabel knew the song, and joined in, adding to the symphony.
"My power's turned on."
Wendy too joined in, and the trio's voices filled the room.
"Starting right now I'll be strong. I'll play my fight song."
"And I don't really care if nobody else believes." They grinned at each other as the males of the group looked on.
"Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me."
A surprise voice chimed in as the verse ended.
"Yeah, I've still got, a lot of fight left in me." The other seven stared at him, and Alcor stared right back, confused.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?" He asked. Immediately they looked away.
"It's nothing, man." Wendy assured. Alcor shrugged, got up, and walked to his bed.
Mabel had a thought.
"Hey, why don't we recruit more rebels? Because hey, we can't have a rebellion without rebels."
"She's right, you know." Stan agreed. Ford looked thoughtful.
"Alright. Our first stand against Gideon's rule. Let's do it."
"Really!? I thought you would try to talk us out of it, point-dexter." Stan joked.
"People change with the times, Stanley." He replied solemnly. Lavendyr grinned.
"I think I have an idea. It will be risky, but I reckon we can pull it off." She looked to Ford, who in turn glanced at the other rebels. They all inclined their heads in agreement, and Ford nodded at the spy.
"Let's hear it."