SODOKO
After breakfast, which Koala desperately tried to extend for as long as possible, Sodoko gathered her adoptive team into the briefing room to discuss the travesty of last night. Everyone took seats around the room and were not organized in any particular way, except to try and keep as close to the exit as possible. Several team members were trying to bargain for a better seat so they could sneak out when Sodoko put her guard down. Not that she ever put her guard down when it came to assemblies.
Sodoko stood at the front of the room and pounded a thick book on the table for effect. The loud thud made a few chatty Cathies hop in their seats. Sodoko glared across the room and made eye contact with each and every one of them.
"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" her eyebrow twitched.
Eyes looked around the room but nobody wanted to make a remark. Especially a snarky one.
"It could have been worse," said Sheila.
"It could have been worse… it could have been worse," Sodoko took a deep breath, "It could have been better! Much better! Your lack of discipline cost us the match!"
"And away she goes," Cassie whispered to Annie.
Annie hugged Kaylee a little more tightly.
"Yeah, well what could we do about it?" asked Sheila, "Wushu wasn't themselves this time. Who'da thunk they'd split up?"
"Gee, I don't know maybe considering they had a Saunders representative helping them would be kind of a clue," Sodoko berated, "It's clear that all of you need to buckle down and drill discipline into your heads. Especially after that reckless charge into Lin's line."
"Better than doing nothing," said Sheila, "Seesh, why are you so hard up on this? It's not like we lost a championship."
"Because you haven't shown any improvement since I've been here. And that reflects poorly on Ooarai."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, so just tell them we're a bunk of lazy schmucks. Easy fix so let it go."
"No, absolutely not," Sodoko puffed her chest, "We'll have a joint practice with Wu Wei Shu this afternoon. Everyone can leave now."
"Hold it," said Becky making her way to the front of the room, "Just a reminder to make sure you are all packed and ready to leave by tomorrow morning. We start sailing for Germany tomorrow afternoon. Don't forget. Okay, now you can go."
When the room was empty Becky approached Sodoko and put a hand on her shoulder.
"You shouldn't be too hard on them," said Becky, "They really don't like pushy authority figures."
"They need it," rationalized Sodoko, "Or they won't change. Hmph, sometimes it seems like you're the only one that cares about the team."
"That's not true, they all care, just… not as much."
Meanwhile beyond the door Sheila was trying to get a handle on a growingly disgruntled team.
"I thought you were going to do something about her!" whispered a commander.
"Yeah, she's still bossin' us around like she own the place."
""Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got this," said Sheila, "Hey Cassie, mind if I spend the night in your room?"
"Why?"
"Well see, since it's getting so hot I figured I let some air in my room," Sheila smirked, "By leaving the window open."
Devilish grins cracked across the team's face.
A cold breeze blew through the room and over Sodoko. She stirred a little bit and pulled the blanket up. Odd, the blanket seemed to be catching on something. She curled up into a ball and yawned. She legs tapped something long and stiff as she curled up. A prickly sensation ran over her hand. Slightly annoyed she rolled onto her back and rubbed her eyes.
With what she saw she opened her mouth and let out a silent scream. Her face went pale as a ghost and her heart raced at a million miles a minute. A massive spider with a brown fuzzy abdomen as large as a dinner plate and legs as long as an arm sat over her. Its eight eyes were slightly lazy but staring straight at Sodoko over its long fangs.
"Well, seems like Sodoko's running late, eh?"
"Maybe we should go wake her up."
A knock on the door nearly made Sodoko's heart stop. Luckily The heavy thumps didn't disturb the spider.
"Hey, Sodoko, you in there?"
"Help!" she said softly, "Giant spider."
"We're coming in, okay?"
Cassie, Annie, and the school mascot walked into the room and were immediately taken a back.
Cassie started laughing, "Oh you've got to be kidding me. Talk about a wakeup call."
"Don't worry Sodoko, we'll get that off you," Annie reassured.
Cassie ran down the hall, "Hey everyone! Check this out! Sodoko's got a bed mate!"
"And bring some bug spray or something to get a big bug out of here," called Annie.
Everyone flooded into the room and started laughing at the precarious situation. Kaylee the koala crawled to the bed and stared at the spider straight into the eyes. The two animals were just fixated by each other but not doing much else.
"Get this off me," said Sodoko with a quivering voice, "Quickly."
"I'll grab some something to help," said Becky rushing out of the room.
Sheila smirked, "I didn't a 'please' there. Isn't proper manners part of discipline?"
"Please."
"You know what," said Sheila deviously, "I think we should have a little chat, don't you? I mean no time like the present?"
"A chat about what?" asked Sodoko with a mix of fear and irritation.
"Oh about… let's see… your standing as part of our glorified hall monitors. How's about you give it up? I mean you don't really need to burden yourself with that stuff right?"
"What? Are you serious?"
"Okay, enjoy your new friend."
"Fine, fine, I'll stop my association with your disciplinary committee."
The spider started to stir and took a step closer to Sodoko's face.
"Great, and command goes back to me too?"
"Sure, fine, just get this off of me," said Sodoko trying to inch back.
"Great, great, and you'll stop enforcing those silly rules and practices and issuing penalties. Right? Just asking since your new friend seems to be warming up to you."
"Yes! Yes! Get this spider away!"
"Okay," Sheila clapped her hands, "Let's get this bug out of here. Where's Becky?"
"I'm back! I'm back!" said Becky carrying several implements.
A shovel, bug spray, aprons and gloves, poles, it seemed like she brought anything she could get her hands on just in case it could be useful. First aid kit, shoes, another blanket, air horn. Just about everything except the kitchen sink which she would have probably brought if it weren't connected to the wall.
"Okay," said Sheila, "Shovel first at the head to keep it from biting down. Hmm… let's prod the damn thing out the window and quickly close it so none of its friends show up. Sodoko, you stay perfectly still and think of nice things. Aprons and gloves on everyone."
The team put on their protective clothing while chatting away. Sodoko was petrified as she lay straight and staring into eight black glossy eyes. Sheila slipped the shovel between Sodoko and the spider as the team started to lightly prod at its behind. The spider didn't budge.
"A little harder girls, might have to get it a bit angry," Sheila tapped it with the end of her shovel, "Come on now, get out of here."
The team started prodding harder and harder and soon the spider started to stir. First it tried to skitter closer to Sodoko's face but they wouldn't have any of that. The forced the spider onto the ground and jumped back as it walked across the room. It tried to climb the wall but Cassie gave it a little smack and it dropped off. Taunting and laughing they managed to coax it out the window back to where it belonged.
"And that's that," said Sheila taking off her gloves.
Sodoko jumped out of the bed and patted herself down as if there were thousands more spiders on her. After hyperventilating and escaping her moment of panic she flattened her hair.
"It might come back! Why didn't you kill it?"
Cassie chuckled, "And let the hundred other creepers take its place? No thanks."
"What?"
"It's kind of a guard dog," said Annie, "With a giant spider like that around the other giant bugs keep away."
"It's true," said the room.
"Righty-oh," said Sheila, "So practice is off today, enjoy and pack up when you can."
"What? No, we're practicing this afternoon," said Sodoko, "We're going to drill and –"
"No we're not," Sheila smirked, "You forget already? You gave up all your power and put back in me. And I say the day's free. Anyone disagree?"
Nobody raised a hand. Not even Becky.
"Great, great. Well let's go have some fun."
"Come on Sodoko," said Becky with a friendly smile, "Let head into town, eh?"
Becky and Sodoko headed into Sydney and took a seat at a small restaurant. Outside on the patio they sipped their drinks and enjoyed the pleasant weather while they waited. Still, the events of this morning were nagging at Sodoko.
"Don't let it eat at you," said Becky.
"I don't get it," pouted Sodoko, "They're such an undisciplined mass and they needed somebody to whip them into shape."
"Yes… but there's a right way to do and a wrong way."
"And I did it the wrong way?"
"Maybe, but maybe you just needed to ease up a bit."
"Uh huh, and what would you have done?"
"I don't know to be honest," Becky shrugged, "I've been trying to figure that out since I joined the team."
"At this rate there's no way you'll be able to put up a fight against St. Glorianna and Anzio," Sodoko glanced at her watch, "The servers are running late."
"You're too uptight," Becky giggled.
"Hey! What're you two doing here?"
Alisa of Saunders sauntered up to the patio and leaned over the small fence. She extended a happy greeting. It was rather strange through, Wu Wei Shu should be having practice at the moment also she wasn't wearing the school uniform of Wu Wei Shu.
"Shouldn't you be at practice?" asked Sodoko.
"Back to your Saunder's uniform?" asked Becky.
"Yeah, silk feels nice but there's nothing like my good old one," Alisa hopped over and took a seat, "Hey there, just a cola for me. Thanks. So what brings you guys out? Should you be at practice too?"
"Well since we're travelling tomorrow the team decided to take the day off," said Becky.
"Sounds like a great idea," Alisa browsed, "I'll take this one. Sodoko, how's your time with Koala been?"
"Aggravating."
"Ha, ha, that's how'd I'd some up my time too," Alisa leaned back, "Geez, if I had a nickel for all of problems Wu Wei Shu had. I'm betting Koala's got it better right, Becky?"
"Oh trust me, we have our problems too. What's wrong with Wushu? From our little match it seems like they improved by leaps and bounds."
"Heh, heh, heh, you like that? It was all me," said Alisa, "Commander Lin wanted to keep us all tied up together and staying still at the station."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, none of them will move without an order. The only way I got them to move was promising to take full responsibility."
"And that's why you're here now, I guess," said Sodoko.
"Yeah, kind of suck but hey it's a day off. So how's Koala holding up?"
"Go for it Sodoko. I won't be offended."
"Undisciplined, aggressive, self-centered Aussies! Every time I tried to get them to form up they wouldn't listen. They won't hold ground, charge when they want, fall back whenever things get a little scary. If Miho were here this wouldn't have happened."
"Uh-huh," Alisa sighed, "Thanks for the food. How much do I owe you?"
"Don't worry about it," said Becky, "I'll expense it. Well I think we should head back and start packing. It's a long way to Germany."
"Well enjoy that," said Alisa, "Any places you can recommend around here?"
"A few, but shouldn't you pack too?"
"Wu Wei Shu had everything set before we left for here. I've just got a few things left but it won't take long. So places?"