Wahoo! Chapter ten, peeps! Double digits! Party! Anybody got vodka? Just kidding, I'm not even close to legal drinking age. But still, party!

P.S. I'm using vocab that I didn't know existed until today, so the words with the numbers after them in the parenthesis are at the bottom, and they're defined, too!

Chapter Ten: Haven City Gym

"Yes, Monte, I am serious," Torn asserted as he herded two little children from under the bunk they'd hid beneath at Monte's outburst.

"How hard could it be?" I asked, looking the kids up and down.

The first was a boy, who I instantly recognized as the Kid that followed Kor everywhere, which he was obviously not doing at the moment, as the old man was nowhere in sight. He looked slightly startled, but recovering from the shock quickly, grinning at Torn's annoyance at Monte's yell. For some strange reason, I felt as though I'd seen him before, a time that I could hardly remember. His crocadog was over in the corner, relieving himself on a bunk post.

The other was a little girl who reminded me faintly of Keira; she even had the same name! She had blue-green ringlets hanging about her face, and slightly too-big clothing. A small wrench was clutched in her tiny hand, another similarity to the Keira I'd known since diaper-dom.

Torn ignored my query and went ahead explaining Kor's absence. "Kor's under the weather with a bout of flu, so he can't watch these two right now," he said, "That's where you four come in."

"Let me guess, we have to watch them until he recovers," guessed Nat. "Piece of cake."

"No, not a piece of cake," Monte said. "Sorry, but the closest I've ever come to babysitting is telling Natalie to get out of that rotting tree when we were twelve." He retreated a couple steps as mini-Keira walked up to him, swinging the wrench a little.

"Don't tell me you're scared of two little kids, Monte," I laughed.

"No," he retorted, just a tad too quickly to be believed. "I'm scared for them. Who knows what could happen if inexperienced teens try to care for children and have no idea what they're doing."

"How about we worry about problems in the present, instead of things that haven't, nor probably will, happen?" Natalie said.

"Just get going," Torn ordered, turning to the maps on the back wall, marking possible points for new safehouses.

"Sheesh," I muttered. "Come on Scruffy," I called to the crocadog, and he trotted out the door behind us

***

"Hey guys!" Rodney and Rodrick chorused as we entered the gym. They had a habit of doing that; I just passed it off as a twin thing.

"Looks like you've got a couple tag-a-longs," Rick observed, crouching down to the Kid's level and ruffling his hair. The Kid giggled, smiling up at the twins. "Why didn't you tell us these guys were coming."

"It was kind of a last minute thing," Natalie said. "We only found out they were coming this morning."

"Ah, so Torn chose the tell-you-right-before-you-leave approach," Ney said, sharing a knowing look with his brother. "He pulled that one with us once."

"He made you babysit?" I asked.

"We wish," Rick said.

"Nah, he made us clear Metal Heads away from the Sacred Site."

I'd never been to Dead Town, nor had I seen the Sacred Site, so naturally I was curious as to why is was a big deal. However, every time the Battle of Dead Town was brought up in conversation, Phen seemed a little on edge. So instead of asking about the Site, I changed the subject to something we should've been talking about in the first place.

"So," I said, "are we gonna stand here and chatter, or are we gonna fence with real(istic) swords?"

"I thought you'd never ask, grasshopper."

Oh, there was no way in hell that Phenric was taking that "grasshopper" tone with me!

"Really?" I asked, grabbing an foil, pausing only to think how strange it was to name a sword "foil."

"Oh, ho ho! I think we've got a challenge here!" Ney said, grinning.

"Not just a challenge, but a fencing challenge, mate!" Monte said enthusiastically, and clasped his hands together.

And of course, Natalie put her two cents in with a, "Not only a fencing challenge, but a fencing challenge between Dezer and Phenric!"

I held up the hand that didn't have a sword clutched in it. "I think we get it, guys." I added just a hint of playful sarcasm, for effect.

"Quoth Dezerae, are we gonna talk or are we gonna fence?" Phen thrust his own foil my way.

"Okay, low blow!" I said, dodging and slashing back, with a balestra(1).

He countered with a fleche(2), and ran behind me. I whipped around and ducked just as his foil came swishing over my head. I straighted up and swung my sword. Phenric parried, and a second later lunged(A/N: I think y'all know what that means), forcing me to parry his attack. It went on for a few minutes; parry, lunge, coupé(3), balestra, lunge, fleche...

"Too slow!" I said as another of his lunges missed, and hopped back a few feet.

I swung my sword, and Phenric stepped backwards and tripped over Scruffy, who was walking by behind him. He fell to the floor with a crash, and using this to my advantage, I ran up and poked him in the chest with my foil. "I win."

"I guess the student is now the master," he laughed. I smirked; there were two things I prided myself on: fencing and the fact that I could disable a Hellcat Cruiser's weapon system in six minutes flat.

I extended a hand to pull him up. "Now? Are you saying you just noticed?" I asked, still grinning.

A mischievous look came over his face. I knew what he was going to pull, but before I could pull my hand away, he grabbed it and pulled me onto the ground with him. I whapped him on the arm in retaliation, but alas, my grin gave me away.

I guess some things were amusing, if a little annoying.

Blah, blah, blah… You know the deal, read and review, please!

(1) balestra-a forward hop or jump, typically followed by an attack such as a lunge or fleche.

(2) fleche-lit. "arrow"; an attack in which the aggressor leaps of his leading foot, attempts to make the hit, and then passes the opponent at a run.

(3) coupé-an attack or deception that passes around the opponent's tip.

Sorry for the wait, though. A little (or maybe not so much) thing called "high school" got in the way.

Oh, and I realized that Tess hasn't been heard from for the last few chappies. I promise I'll try to get her back in the story.

Tess:/sarcastically/ Thank you. /walks off exasperatedly/