Dear reader,
It appears I really got behind writing this, but at least it's here! It's long, it's exciting, and it's probably worth reading! Enjoy the progression of this suspense-filled story.
Chapter 11
Nicole's POV
I leaned against the window in my room, the cool glass pressing against my shoulder as I looked out. It seemed surreal, me sitting calmly within the Resistance base while most of them lounged outside and trained. Not counting Ace, how is it that they didn't suspect anything? And more importantly, how the heck was I going to keep this up?
I looked to Azumi, who'd busied herself fogging up the window and drawing flowers on it. She along was a huge problem, not to mention the intensive training she'd have to undergo. I could only hope she kept up with her naivety because I couldn't afford to have her asking questions. She probably wouldn't because she trusted me so much. It was a good thing she was so shy, I guess, though that might make or break my case at some point in the future.
"Miss?" she called, staring up at me.
"Hm?"
She shuffled around nervously before hopping onto my shoulder and pointing at the Resistance. "They look like nice people, but they tried to attack me...I'm not sure they like me…"
I smiled despite myself, wondering how she could be concerned with something so trivial while I was concerned with the fate of humanity, quite possibly. "'Course they like you." Minus Ace, I added in my head. "They just want you to get stronger."
"But I don't think I can! My master was so strong…and…"she sniffled, "…I'm so weak."
"Don't say that! You're strong, Azumi," I encouraged, pulling her down onto my palm. "You just haven't figured it out yet. We'll have to work hard, but we'll make you just as strong as Percival!"
She made a little noise like she was happy, but before she could say anything a knock came at my door.
"Come in," I called, knowing it was Shun, since he was the only one I couldn't see outside.
Sure enough, the stoic ninja walked into my room, smiling slightly. He sat down on the window seat next to me and watched as Dan and Ace began a battle.
"Everyone's waiting for you and Azumi," he said after a while, not shifting his gaze from the scene in front of him.
I nodded, noticing Azumi scrutinizing Shun. She trusted him, too, I knew. "Are you ready?"
"Um…" she began skittishly. "Maybe we could sit this one out…?"
Shun smiled gently, taking her from my hand and looking her right in the eye while Ingram stood next to her. "You have more power than you think, Azumi, and we're going to help you one step at a time, okay? And no matter what happens, we'll still like you."
"Shun is right. The Resistance stands together through thick and thin," his Bakugan added firmly.
It took her a moment to process this, but soon she was cheering and chanting about being ready for this.
I could only stare at him, amazed at how he and Ingram had basically said the same thing I had only a whole lot better. With his mission complete, he stood up and left smiling once more for us. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous at Azumi's sudden spirit because no matter what happened, they'd still like her, but the same could never apply to me.
-X-
"Master Dan, that was incredible! I can't believe you beat Ace in only one turn!" Baron gushed as I stepped outside, closing the RV door lightly.
Dan smirked. "Heh. It's all skill, Baron. Maybe one day you'll be as good as I am, right, Drago?"
Drago sighed. "Arrogance will only lead to failure, Daniel."
"Such a killjoy!"
Ace smirked at Dan's whining, adding, "Listen to Drago. At least he's got some sense."
"But Drago doesn't have a wallet," Dan pouted.
"I said sense, not cents, you airhead!"
Baron, as the youngest, found the play on words very amusing and burst into huge belly laughs while Mira, who'd been off to the side observing the battle, sighed. It'd probably already been a long day for her, and I was about to make it longer. Looking around for the other members of the group, I saw Shun leaning against the RV, shaking his head at the antics of his comrades. Marucho, on the other hand, smiled and walked over to join me.
"These three never seem to change," he said to me, laughing as Dan began to brag about a new move he'd mastered.
"Figures," I replied, cringing slightly as Baron began to make a beeline toward me. "Oh, no," I whispered to myself, but Marucho laughed slightly at my discomfort.
"Hey! Master Nicky! Wasn't that joke funny?" Baron asked, invading my personal space, his eyes looking huge from their proximity.
"Yeah. Hilarious."
Then Dan, annoyed at dealing with Ace, shouted from across the makeshift field, "Are we gonna start training?"
Azumi began to squirm in my pocket as he said this, her excitement quickly wearing off. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut short by Mira, who adamantly stated, "Of course we are! We need her to be ready for when enemies show up."
She shot me a reassuring smile while everyone else nodded in agreement, except Ace, of course. He merely shot me a withering glare and stomped back inside, slamming the door shut behind him. The group exchanged worried glances.
Perfect. If he didn't quit being difficult, he could really jeopardize my mission…unless they all thought he didn't like me because of jealousy. We were the same attribute after all. Yeah…and then if he did suspect something, the rest of them wouldn't listen! Forget my earlier sarcasm, this was brilliant!
Amazing how quickly I thought like a villain.
Dan's spirit didn't seem to be dampened by Ace's lack of enthusiasm. Instead he merely shrugged in an "Oh, well" kind of way, telling me it was his loss. He ran to stand across from me on the field, pulling out Drago and grinning like a maniac. "I'm up first, Nicky, so let's get this party started!"
I forced a smile back, glancing back at Shun to see if there is any way he could get me out of this. But of course, his eyes were closed and he had an amused smirk playing on his lips. Great! He thought this was funny! Not surprisingly, this didn't make me feel any better. I bit back a sigh and pulled out Azumi, trying in vain to instill her with some of my courage (not that I had much). Drago was already on the field, and his partner waited impatiently for me to make a move.
"Okay, Azumi, just breathe and we'll be fine—"
"Oh. My. Gosh. Is that Pyrus Dragonoid?" she interrupted. Upon realizing this, she all but threw herself at the field, growing to her full size without much preamble. "I'm actually meeting, Drago!" she squealed, launching herself at the poor Bakugan and grabbing him around the neck.
"Yes!" he managed to choke out. "I'm Drago!...Dan, I could use some help!"
Dan whistled, impressed. "She's pretty good at this!" A gleam crossed his features. "But what if we add an ability card?" He held up a single card with a single design before slipping it into his gauntlet. "Ability card, activate! Fire Wall!"
"Ooooh, is that jewel where you have the core?" she asked brightly. I felt a twinge within me at the mention of the core. Then she proceeded to ask, unaware of the building fire, "Can I touch it—ahhh!"
Azumi backed up faster than lightening as the fire crawled up in between Drago and her.
"Azumi! Calm down!" I called out, but I couldn't get through to her. She'd gone from bubbly to hysterical in seconds.
"No, Mr. Drago, please don't hurt me!" she pleaded, bowing down to him from a safe distance.
"Azumi!"
She gave up bowing and instead starting running around in circles, screaming shrilly while Drago stood in the middle of the fire, dumbfounded.
"Waaahhhhh!" she wailed, collapsing in front of me and ready to sob.
Dan decided this was a good spot to end the battle and recalled Drago. "That went better than I expected," he remarked, grinning. "Good thing I have such low expectations."
Azumi returned to my hand, a ball of nerves, her small form shaking.
"That…that was terrible!" she cried. "And I looked like an idiot in front of Drago," she added in a whisper.
"No, that was great!" Dan shouted excitedly. "Okay, who's next?" He turned to the others, who all took a simultaneous step backwards.
Wow. I didn't think we'd sucked that bad.
"No takers?" Dan asked, frowning slightly. "Mira?"
"You know what, Dan? Wilda hasn't been feeling too great lately, so I think we should sit this one out," Mira replied with just the right amount of concern for her Bakugan. It was pretty obvious, though, that this was just an excuse.
"Marucho, how about you?" Dan pressed, determined to find a practice partner for me.
"Uh, gee, sorry, Dan—and Nicky—but I can't seem to find Elfin anywhere. Oh well," the smaller boy answered nervously.
"Baron?"
"Sure, I'm all for it, Master Dan!" Baron shouted, smiling ear to ear. "Can we start right away, Master Nicky?"
I laughed nervously, not ready to begin another humiliating battle again. For Azumi, however, I had to pretend that this battle was going to be the best thing since sliced bread. "Yup, let's get to it!"
Azumi wasn't so ready. She shrieked out immediately at the mention of another battle. "Miss! I don't want to do this again. It's scary!"
"But Azumi! Nemus and I will go easy on you guys. It'll be fun, I promise!" Baron tried to reason with her.
It took another twenty minutes of Baron begging—which turned out to be even more annoying that Azumi begging—for her to agree to another battle. The Resistance cheered upon hearing this and immediately the battle began. Much like the battle with Drago, Baron went first and Azumi acted beyond friendly with Baron's tall Haos Bakugan. This time, though, they didn't launch an attack, leaving me to make the first move.
"Okay, Master Nicky! Make a move!" Baron shouted, grinning the whole time.
"Um, okay." I thumbed through my ability cards, picking one that seemed to be like a relatively weak one. Without having used her in a battle before, I couldn't really know what to play. "This one! Ability activate, Searing Shadow!"
Azumi, who'd merely stood there looking petrified after she'd fawned over Nemus enough, glanced at me. "I don't really know what to do, Miss!"
"Just…feel the energy or…something. I don't know! I'm not a Bakugan!" I snapped exhaustedly. She looked away from me, hurt. I tried to help her again, this time a little more soothing. "Okay, concentrate. It's a power boost, so now you can beat Nemus. Try an attack."
She gave me a confused glance. She didn't look any different, but this didn't seem to faze her. "Like this?" she asked, tackling Nemus.
Baron let out an exaggerated gasp, calling his partner. Though the hit hadn't looked too hard, Nemus was making a big show about staying down and being in pain. I stifled a giggle at the feigned distress on Baron's face.
"Looks like Nemus is down for the count!" Baron whined, giving me a cheesy smile before frowning again and sighing. "You win, Azumi."
My Bakugan looked around at Nemus and then at me. "I…I did?" A slow grin took over her features. "I did it! I won a battle! I won, I won, I won! Miss, did you see? Did you see me?"
I laughed. "I sure did! That was amazing!"
I was actually surprised that she'd believed she'd won so easily, but then again, this was Azumi we were talking about. A single battle and now she was full of courage? That's what I needed! Dan, also impressed by the her sudden change in attitude, cheered our success and chatted about how much more work we could do now that we had confidence. Everyone was elated with our "win." Everyone except Ace.
Everyone had made their way back inside only to find Ace in the communal lounge, looking disgruntled. The cheery banter ended immediately.
"Are you guys done pretending to train her yet?" he asked with ill-disguised venom.
"What's wrong with you?" Dan inquired, bemused. "You missed out, by the way. You could've come along"
"Come along?" he repeated incredulously, standing up. "I'm the one who is part of this team. I shouldn't have to "come along" like I'm some lost puppy."
Mira sensed his hostility and decided to intervene. "Ace, this is not the time for—"
"For what, Mira?" he interrupted angrily, marching right up to her. "For the truth? I am not going to stand here and watch this team render itself useless by putting up with some pathetic girl and her half-brained Bakugan! She is a liability, and you know it, Mira. I don't care who she was or what she knows. Our job is to rescue the Bakugan, something we can't do with her dragging us down like dead weight. Mira, Dan, everyone, open your eyes!"
"Ace!" she yelled, his name hanging in the air with an unspoken threat.
"Don't bother," Ace snapped, coming up to me and staring me down. I didn't know how to respond to his accusations. Sure. They were probably true. But I couldn't help but think it was something else that was bothering him.
"Ace," I tried to say, but he cut me off, too.
"I hope you're happy," he whispered to me so quietly I barely caught it. "Take your Resistance, and do what you want. I'm done."
With that, Ace pushed past me, heading toward his room with an air of finality. The others stared at me, asking with their eyes what he'd said. I couldn't answer. I sat down on the spot. The others were speaking in hushed, hurried tones, but the only thing I registered was the sinking feeling in my stomach.
The dreadful feeling that despite my best intentions, I'd just crippled the Resistance, exactly like Lync would have wanted.
Any guesses as to what happens next?
...Huh, you mean you're not excited?
You'll change your tune when I update in less that five months! xD Thanks for reading, and leave a comment please!
Cocoacharm15
