Alec slowly and carefully crept out of the room, ensuring to tiptoe through the area as quietly as he could. Upon nearing the door, he heard a groan from behind forcing him to stop. He turned around and saw that one of the girls was groaning a little, perhaps in the midst of a troubling dream.
Now sure that none of them had awoken, he crept out of the room and went to the ship's deck.
Once outside, he was greeted by the morning sun slowly rising over the horizon. It had been three days since his return from what should have been his execution and Alec was taking a moment to admire the scenery.
'Take a moment and enjoy the day, you might have the chance later on,' was the quote Manny gave him during an earlier conversation.
In all honesty, it was a play on the famous saying 'stop and smell the roses', but the quote had some significance. As Alec watched the sun slowly rise up, he thought about when was the last time he ever stopped and enjoyed life?
The answer quite simply was never.
Most of the time he was running away, the rest of the time he was stuck in that hellish forest. In the end, it took a near execution to change his mind set and approach to life.
'No, that's not quite right,' he thought, turning to the door behind him. 'It was them. All of them.'
It was strange when he thought about it. Most of his days were just a seeming blur of repeating tasks over and over again with very little change. Then came these otherworldly beings who roped him into a war against an incredibly dangerous enemy.
But more than that, he always found himself at ease when speaking to the girls. There was this 'unknown trait' about them that made a lasting impression on him. So much so that when they were in danger, he had no qualms about putting himself in the enemy's line of sight.
'Is this how everyone in that world is like?' he wondered, as he leaned on the railing and continued thinking to himself. There was so much he didn't know about their world, like why were their names based off of famous ships in naval history? Or how are they able to glide over water like professional ice skaters?
"Oh that's right," he said out loud "the war."
He now chuckled to himself a little at the realization that he was so focused on knowing more about the girls, he completely forgot about the war.
'There'll be time for questions later,' he said, letting out a yawn and stretching a little 'for now, let's enjoy the moment.'
And he did. He spent a few quietly watching the waves lapping against the Defiant, he saw the rest of the base slowly arise to start the day and he saw the rest of the girls slowly wake up and leave the room.
"Good morning comrade," said Tashkent, rubbing her eyes a little.
"Were you awake for long?" asked Richelieu "you must be hungry."
"Funnily enough I'm fine," was the response "I was enjoying the peace and tranquility so much, I kind of let time get away from me."
"Is it me or does he sound weird," said Grozny, eyeing Alec up and down.
"Yes," said Gangut, taking a step back "Alec, did you hit your head or something?"
"No, no I'm fine," he replied, waving his hands "I'm just taking a step back from things and taking a moment to enjoy the scenery. That's all."
"Fine," said Essex "enough of that, about time we get some food."
"Yeah, I am starving," added Bremerton.
As the group were about to go to the dining area, they heard the sound of cheering coming from the base. That and what sounded like instruments playing made the group curious.
Their curiosity got the better of them and rather than having a morning meal, the gang found themselves heading to the base, to find the source of the commotion. The sounds were coming from the abandoned school. As they drew closer and the sounds only grew louder, the group saw the base's inhabitants all seated on some makeshift benches stacked on top of another while Whitney stood in the center of the ground holding a mic.
"Is that safe?" asked Alec to Bearn and Marblehead "I mean won't this much noise attract a patrol?"
"Not really," replied Bearn "Siren activity was mostly centered around those prison facilities and the anchors. Plus, after what happened I imagine Omega is busy trying to recoup her losses."
"Thank you all for coming today," said Whitney to the crowd "with all that's going on around the world right now, it'd be easy for us to sit and only focus on the negative, but instead of that, I want us to focus on the positive which is why I made this event."
"Around this time, most schools in the west had what's called 'Sports day.' It's a day where the children are divided into two teams and get to compete in various sports activities. It's a day off from studies so kids love it and it's a chance for parents to come and cheer their children on."
"So I hope you'll all join hands with me and cheer for the children competing today," she added and turned towards the back entrance of the school. Everyone in attendance then saw a group of twenty to thirty kids come out. As much as some of the kids tried to look confident despite being the center of attention, most of them were understandably nervous which was why they all hid (or at least tried to hide) behind Ms. Isabel.
Seeing their nervousness, Alec immediately took the initiative and cheered for them.
"Yeah, come on. You can do it," he yelled, followed by some of the girls also joining in the cheer. This was enough to get everyone in the benches to start cheering as well, resulting in the children growing less nervous and becoming more confident as they entered the school grounds.
"And thank you for that show of appreciation Alec," said Whitney, causing everyone to turn towards him, immediately making him nervous.
"Aw look at that," said Pamiat "he's got no problem facing down Siren ships but is totally speechless in-front of a crowd."
A few of the girls like Bearn, Richelieu and Intrepid did their best to stifle the chuckle, while Marblehead, Gangut, Algerie and Essex turned away to hide their grins.
"I just thought of something," said Whitney, "Alec, how about the girls participate in these events too?"
"What?" he shouted, "Ma'am I don't mean to be rude but setting them up against kids is unfair competition. They're practically superhuman by our standards."
"No, no I don't mean against the children," corrected Whitney. "I meant against each other. We can divide them up into two groups and have them compete in the same events as the kids."
"So if a few of them run relay race…" said Rossiya.
"Then you'll compete in another relay race as well," continued Whitney.
"Well how about it ladies?" asked Alec, turning to them.
"Hmm…" said Tashkent "it'd be nice to do something that doesn't involve Sirens."
"Plus, it does give us the opportunity to answer another important question," said Rossiya, exchanging quick glances at the girls next to her.
"That's right," said Bremerton, cracking her knuckles "it's high time we find out which faction here is the best."
Noticing the competitive nature in the girls start to bubble to the surface, Alec took a few steps back. As nice as it was to see the girls getting fired up, he did not want to be caught in the inevitable frenzy that followed.
"And you're going to be the ref," said Essex, turning to Alec.
"What?"
"Ms. Whitney," called out Bremerton "can Alec be the judge for all the competitions?"
"Yeah sure, why not," replied Whitney with a shrug "he can join Manny and I."
And so Alec found himself as part of the judges for today's competition. Whitney gestured him to where Manny was seated while the girls went back to the ship to change into what they called 'free-flowing.'
"I used to remember attending at least one of these events every month," said Manny to Alec, as he took a seat next to him. "I'm actually quite interested in seeing these girls' athletic capabilities."
"Trust me you're in for a surprise," said Alec, now scanning through the events list. The card in-front of him listed down five events and time in the middle for a lunch break. The events were a race, relay, javelin throw, bun catch and chariots.
"Chariots?" he said aloud, on seeing the last event.
"It's a game involving four people: three people work together to hold the third person up and move them around the field, like a chariot. The participants wear headbands, and members who form the chariot usually have a headband value of ten while the person riding the chariot has a headband value of fifty or higher."
"Usually, they'd have plenty of teams from the two major groups competing to see who can grab the most headbands. But in this case, it'll come down to who can grab the rider's headband first."
"You sure know a lot about this game," commented Alec.
"It was pretty famous in Japan but during the shuffle, we had a few members from the FoC come over and teach it to us. We'd often have friendly matches with other forces and my crew participated every time."
"Of course, we never won though," he added, pursing his lips.
Alec turned and noticed Richelieu and the others coming to the field, but there was no sign of the girls from the Eagle Union or the Northern Parliament.
Curious, he left his seat to go out and ask them what happened.
"We couldn't find any alternate clothes to fit us," replied Richelieu.
"We thought about competing in our swimsuits…" said Algerie, followed by Alec's eyes nearly popping out of his skull.
"But then we figured it might be a distraction," said Jeanne D'Arc.
"Good call," said Alec, trying not to imagine Algerie or Jeanne D'Arc in their swimsuits running a relay.
"By the way, where are the others?" he asked.
"They found some clothes to change into so it'll be a while before they get here."
"Where did they find it?"
"On the ship," replied Richelieu.
Alec now saw the rest of the girls coming towards the field. When they got closer, he nearly fainted at seeing their choice of clothing.
For starters, Pamiat Merkuria and Grozny wore some weird prison shirt that extended all the way to their knees, Gangut practically looked the same, except for a warden hat and not wearing her usual cloak, Taskhent wore something similar to Gangut except she had her hair tied up in a bow instead of letting it loose like usual, Minsk too wore had on a 'prison warden' themed outfit, except her top only covered half her chest and not her stomach, Rossiya wore a pair of tight-fitting black pants and a top that only covered her chest.
The one that Alec was most concerned about was Chapayev, who wore on a very short pair of pants and a top that exposed at least seventy percent of her chest and left very little to the imagination. Alec was generally concerned they were going to have a 'slip up' leading to who knows what.
"Please dress normally, please dress normally, please dress normally," Alec muttered under his breath as he turned to the girls from the Eagle Union. All he could do was pray that none of them had such revealing clothing.
He first saw Marblehead, who wore a pair of tennis pants and a sports bra with a small hole in the center, which slightly exposed her chest, Cooper tied up a portion of her hair into a bun and wore a white top and green skirt. She was by far the best dressed among the group. Intrepid, Shangri-La Bunker Hill and Essex, all wore a long sleeved black top on top of which was a white baseball shirt and a pair of white shorts and Casablanca also had her hair tied up in a ponytail while wearing what looked like a cheerleader uniform with a top that exposed some of her chest and was open on her sides. Though her stomach was technically covered, the fact that the fabric was see through felt like a wasted effort.
"Oh well, at least they aren't so 'eye catching.' Wait, where's Bremerton and…"
Alec nearly lost his footing when he saw Bremerton and Reno. Bremerton for starters had on a flowing white top that only covered her chest and a short skirt that went to her knees. Reno was also dressed as a cheerleader, but unlike Casablanca, her top covered only her chest while her skirt was miraculously shorter than Bremerton's.
'One guest of wind and half the population on this base is done for,' thought Alec, as he approached the girls.
"Well Alec?" asked Bremerton, who looked like she was about to twirl around, but Alec quickly stopped her.
"What is going on with your clothes?" he whispered, in an effort to try and sound calm.
"Hmm?" asked Rossiya, glancing at her clothes "I don't see anything wrong with it."
"Alright just take a moment Alec," he said "all I'm saying is that it was a real surprise seeing you out of your regular clothes into something more… casual."
"Ah I get," said Gangut with a cheeky smile "Alec doesn't want anyone here leering at us. He wants to keep us all to himself."
"Only half of that is true," he countered, then quickly shifted attention "Chapayev, Bremerton and Reno, what is going on with your clothes?"
"But these were the only things they had left," replied Bremerton "do you think it's showing off too much?"
"That would be an understatement. Now go back and change before…"
"AAAHHH this guy next to me fainted," shouted one of the audience members.
"What happened to him?" asked another audience member.
"Wait a second," said a third person "this guy's nose is bleeding… did he faint from a nosebleed?"
"Wow I never expected something so anime to happen in real life," muttered Alec, as he turned to the crowd then turned back to the girls.
"I take back what I said, fainting from a nosebleed is a one in a billion thing and now that that's happened it highly unlikely it'll happen again."
"So, we don't have to change?" asked Chapayev.
"Nope, go ahead and have fun," he replied and went back to his seat.
"Alec," said Whitney, casting a sidelong glance "are those the only clothes those girls could find on that ship?"
"Yeah, pretty much," he replied with a shrug "really makes me wonder who owned that ship before I sto… I mean borrowed it."
With that out of the way, the event began in earnest.
One by one the events went by. The children did give it their best effort and Alec got engrossed to the point, he actively cheered for some of the participants. Of course, when that happened, Manny and Whitney had to remind him of his position as a judge and how he had to remain impartial.
Pretty soon, the kid's events ended and it was time for the girls to participate. Since there was a short break, Alec decided to go check up on the girls.
"Hello Alec," said Richelieu, bowing slightly to him.
"Hey Richelieu, are the girls ready?" he asked.
"Perhaps you should see for yourself," she replied, with a worried smile.
Alec went past her and almost immediately felt the hostility in the air.
"Its about time you see the glory of the Northern Parliament," said Rossiya, cracking the knuckles in her hands.
"Oh is that right?" asked Bremerton with a purposely coy look "for all your talk about power, I don't see even a single aircraft carrier with you, while we have five."
"There's no need to rule the sky when we've taken control of the ground," countered Gangut.
"Ladies," said Shangri-La, adjusting her glasses "I do believe that Ms. Gangut called us aircraft carriers useless."
"Them's fightin' words ya hear," growled Intrepid.
Despite being with them for only a short time, Alec knew full well that even if he were to get involved now, it would do little to calm them down. It seemed that both sides were riled up and were intent on proving their faction was the superior one.
He could only pray that they didn't accidentally destroy the sports grounds in the process.
They now heard a bell sound, indicating that the break was over and it was time for the second half of the events to start. With that, Alec headed back to his place, followed by Richelieu and the other members from Iris Libre.
"I hope those girls are fired up," said Whitney, while Alec took his seat "this may not be what they're used to, but it'd be nice if they still try their best."
"Hopefully they don't try too hard," he said.
"By the way Manny, who are you rooting for?" asked Whitney.
"Bremerton, I mean the Eagle Union," he replied and immediately looked away.
The first event was the relay. The judges saw Gangut and Marblehead head to the starting positions. As they did, many members in the audience were drawn to the Eagle Union's cheerleaders, including one of the judges.
The two took their positions and Isabel counted them down.
"3…2…1… go," she shouted and the two took off like a pair of cheetahs. No, they were significantly faster than a cheetah, so much so that they covered the field in the span of only a few seconds.
"Wait, what?" said Alec, blinking at what he saw.
"What… just happened?" asked Whitney, still trying to figure out what she saw.
"I swear I blinked for like one second and then…" said Manny.
"Gangut was the winner," said Richelieu.
"Wait a second," said Whitney "you saw that?"
"Of course I did," she replied casually "though Marblehead has the type advantage, Gangut is known far and wide for her speed."
"Well then I guess that settles that," said Alec "winner, Gangut."
Gangut understandable pumped her fist up in response, then took a breath and shook Marblehead's hand.
"Next time, it'll be me crossing that finish line first," said Marblehead.
"Looking forward to it," countered Gangut, as the pair left the field.
The next event was the javelin throw. The audience and judges saw Cooper coming to the field for the Eagle Union, followed by Pamiat Merkuria, representing the Norther Parliament. The two took their respective positions, grabbed their javelins and assumed the stance.
When Isabel gave them the signal, Pamiat went first. Unfortunately, the young destroyer misjudged her strength, causing the javelin to tear through numerous trees till it went out of sight.
"Oh, my, god," said Manny, as he, Whitney and the rest of the audience saw the newly made clearing in disbelief. Even Alec, who had witnessed the girl's power on numerous occasions couldn't believe what he saw.
It took a moment for Isabel to snap back to reality and when she did, she gestured for Cooper to go ahead. The audience watched and were not at all surprised when she effortlessly threw her javelin. Unlike Pamiat though, Cooper made sure to put in as little effort as possible, resulting in the javelin landing just outside the marked area.
"Um, judges," said Isabel, turning to the trio "who's the winner?"
"I'd say Pamiat won that one," stated Whitney "for all we know, that javelin could still be sailing through the air."
"I'd actually say she went out of bounds," said Alec "Which is why I'm giving the win to Cooper."
"Guess I'm the tie breaker then," said Whitney with a wry smile. The veteran politician took a moment, no doubt weighing the information in her mind before coming to a conclusion.
"The winner of this round is the Eagle Union," she declared.
Now Cooper was the one who raised her fist up in victory and gave the audience a nice big smile.
"We should do this again back at our headquarters," suggested Pamiat.
"Hehe, looking forward to it," said Cooper as she and Pamiat walked off the field.
Now it was time for the relay race. For the Norther Parliament was Minsk, Chapayev and Rossiya. For the Eagle Union was Bremerton, Reno and Intrepid.
Upon seeing the participants, at least half the audience suddenly became very interested.
"Wow," commented Bremerton "it's not often we get so much attention."
"Just focus on our goal Bremerton," said Intrepid, turning to her cheerleading sisters and waving at them.
"If we win this, the competition swings in our favor," said Reno.
"You're right, you're right, just focus on the competition," said Bremerton, heeding the advice of her friends.
In response, Bremerton decided to take a deep breath. Unfortunately for her though, the act put too much strain on the zip at the center of the top, causing it to snap and shoot out, landing right in the center of Alec's head.
Manny and Whitney froze, their mouths hanging wide open in shock. The crowd froze, shocked at the sudden turn of events. Chapayev looked at Bremerton in shock while Rossiya went over to Alec and Minsk silently wondered if she could every accomplish such a feat.
"Alec, are you okay?" asked Rossiya "Alec! ALECCCCC!"
There are many moments in history people remember. Man walking on the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall and color television. Today was no different for on this day, humanity saw the first headshot made with a zipper.