Chapter 2

Lavender only just made it to the transport, the driver giving her a slightly disgruntled look as she boarded. Lavender just smiled and gave the driver a good morning as she boarded. As she boarded a voice called out to her.

"Hey Lav! Over here!"

Lavender looked up, spotting a waving arm a little bit further down the transport. She headed down the aisle towards it, dodging various people's feet that tried to trip her and various hands that tried to steal her hat. Finally she made it and sat down next to the waving person.

"Hey there Millie." said Lavender cheerfully.

"Hey Lavender." replied the girl next to her.

Millie was the same age as Lavender but unlike her she was just your regular kid rather than a mage in training. Lavender would have been just like her had she been adopted by anyone other than Links. Millie had long blonde hair that stretched down to the mid point of her back and was never tied up in anyway. Her eyes were a light brown colour which, at least in Lavender's view, seemed to shine. The clothes she wore were definitely a sharp contrast to what Lavender was wearing, consisting of a pair of rugged, partially ripped blue jeans and a black T-shirt with a slogan on the front saying "Yuck! Boys!". It always made Lavender giggle when she saw it and today was no exception.

"So what you been up to?" asked Millie quickly.

"Not too much, Links had me doing homework last night." replied Lavender.

"Yuck! Homework, Links is a big fuddy duddy!"

This caused Lavender to laugh and nod slightly, she knew Links was a bit of a fuddy duddy but she wouldn't wish for anyone else to take care of her.

"You ready for show and tell today?" continued Millie.

Lavender just gave a big smile and nodded quickly.

"What have you got?"

"I'm not telling, it's a secret." smiled Lavender.

"Ooooooh! Come on, what have you got?"

"Nope, wait and see."

"You big spoil sport."

The idle chatter continued as the transport made its way along, picking up a few more student as it went, until it finally reached the school building. Like most of the buildings on Pioneer 2 the school was a tall building that stretched up to meet the dome covering the city. Due to the number of people on Pioneer 2 ground space was at a premium but the school building, although tall, was set in it's own small grounds due to the fact that children needed somewhere to run about between lessons.

The bus had arrived with just enough time for the students aboard to get to their lessons if they didn't dawdle, which normally for Lavender would be a hard task. Today though, Lavender was quick off the mark and headed straight for her class with Millie in tow. Lavender's classroom was on the seventeenth floor of the building but a number of elevators served the different floors along with a staircase. Lavender barely managed to squeeze into the elevator with Millie before it started on its trip up the building.

Upon arrival Lavender headed left and then hung a right, walking through the automatic door that led to her classroom. Most of the time she was eager to get out of class but today she couldn't wait for it to start. The room was fairly light, even though there were no windows in the room. The front wall was covered in a large hovering display that, for the moment, was blank but would soon be lit up with various pictures and such to assist the teacher in her lesson. The right hand wall, the one that housed the door, was covered in various art projects and such that the children had done, whereas the left hand wall held a long electronic notice board that was covered in various notes and reminders. The back wall was fairly plain, housing only a long strip light and a few stacks of boxes.

Most of the class had already assembled and were either sitting waiting or standing around talking. Lavender made her way over to her desk and sat down placing her hand down on a small pad on the desk and waiting for a moment. The pad flashed and a screen folded out in front of her reading "Signed in", it was of course an electronic register to save the teacher a job in class. Presently Millie arrived and sat down in her seat next to Lavender before performing a similar action.

"Why are you so eager to get to class?" asked Millie looking over at Lavender, "You're never this eager."

"Yeah well today is gonna be special." smiled Lavender in response, "Just wait and see."

Millie was still puzzled by Lavender's eagerness but didn't have any time to ask further questions as another voice broke the air.

"Ok everyone settle down now." said a feminine voice.

Lavender looked up to see a middle aged woman walking in through the door. She wore a pair of white cotton trousers with a light blue blouse under a small black jacket. A set of rather large round glasses sat on her nose and her light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. It was Lavender's teacher Sabrina, although Lavender had seen her a few times down at the Hunter's Guild, for which Sabrina worked part time.

"Take your seats please everyone." said Sabrina as she stopped in front of a large desk at the front of the class.

Slowly the students took their seats and after a moment Sabrina spoke again.

"Ok then class, I hope you all remembered your items for show and tell today." she said.

"Yes Miss." came a collective response.

"Good good, in that case we'll start now and if we finish before break you can all have a little bit of extra time outside."

Smiles beamed from around the class as Sabrina said this, everyone making a point to be as quick as possible in their presentation.

"Ok then, let's start with Joey then." continued Sabrina as the child in question got up to deliver his piece.

Over the course of the next forty minutes various members of the class got up to talk about their item. As they were on a giant spaceship the items were pretty much all the same but Lavender knew her item would be a surprise. She sat in boredom for most of the time, waiting for her turn to come and hoping to be the next one picked.

"Ok Lavender, you're next." said Sabrina looking down at a list she was holding.

Lavender gave a large smile and ducked her head under the table for a moment. She pushed her hand into her bag and then drew it out, slipping something up her sleeve as she did. After this she got up and headed to the front of the class, receiving some puzzled looks as it appeared that she was not carrying anything. Sabrina gave her a frown.

"Lavender did you forget your item?" she asked tapping a finger on the desk she was leaning against.

Lavender just shook her head and gave her a big smile before slipping a hand up her sleeve and pulling out the item she had recovered earlier. She did a small spin and then fanned out the items in front of her like you would a deck of cards, in fact the item was a small deck of cards, semi circular red cards with an eye on the front. Sabrina and the rest of the class gave a small gasp at the sight.

"Lavender, are those what I think they are?" asked Sabrina quickly.

"These are my cardies." replied Lavender with a smile.

"Lavender, those are not just cards, they are Mahu…a hunter weapon!"

"A hunter weapon?!" came a collective call from around the class.

Lavender just gave an affirmative nod.

"Yeah but I just call them my cardies, my unky Links gave me them for when we go down to Ragol together. We're going there today after school actually, I can't wait. He's going to show me some more cool stuff and maybe he'll teach me how to do another spell or something and…"

"Lavender stop."

Lavender stopped in mid sentence and looked up at Sabrina. Her teacher was sitting perfectly still on her desk, her fingers no longer tapping as they had been before. Lavender slowly met her gaze, one that was stern and held a hint of annoyance, anger and a bit of panic. The gaze made Lavender freeze to the spot, she'd seen that type of look on Links' face before, normally just before he yelled at her. In this case Sabrina didn't yell but she did speak.

"Lavender! You know the school rules, no hunter items are allowed inside the building!" she said firmly.

"But…" started Lavender.

"No buts Lavender, you don't see myself bringing side arms into class do you. The whole of Pioneer 2 might be enthralled with the idea of the hunters and the task they are doing but in this classroom that stuff is left firmly outside the door. Now take a seat and I don't want to see those things in class again."

Lavender stood for a moment unmoved, finally looking down at her feet.

"Yes miss…" she said slowly.

Sabrina and the rest of the class watched as Lavender returned to her seat and for a moment the entire room was silent. Finally a loud bell interrupted the noiseless din and snapped Sabrina back into reality.

"Ok class time for break period. I want you all back in here as soon as the return bell goes, we still have a few presentations to get through before lunchtime."

The class suddenly burst into life, each child grabbing a few things before leaving the class in a huge rush. All that was except for Lavender, she sat still in her seat staring at her desk, her cards tucked up her right sleeve. It wasn't until everyone had left that she slowly left the room and headed down the corridor towards the girl's bathroom. Not many people passed by during break but all of them were sure they could hear someone crying inside.

It was later in the day, during lunch break to be precise, that Lavender sat outside the school building on her own. The lesson between break and lunch had felt three times longer than it was and yet Lavender couldn't remember any of it. She had been looking forward to this for so long and now she just felt utterly crushed. She didn't know what to think or do and wished she could just crawl into a hole and be left alone.

She held her Mahu cards in her hand, the eye on the card crying itself, at least in Lavender's mind it was. There was little in her life she took seriously but her training as a hunter was definitely one of them. She loved being on Ragol, even if it was dangerous. She loved it when Links smiled at her because of her progress. She was happy when he was proud of her and sad if she messed up. It was her dream to become the strongest hunter onboard Pioneer 2, her dream to find out what was happening on the planet below her, her dream to make Links proud of her. Why couldn't anyone else understand that?

Presently a shadow washed over her and with a quick flick he slipped the cards up her sleeve again. She looked up to see three boys standing over her, one she recognised as Martin from her class. Martin was a bit of an idiot and everyone hated him, he had a way of getting very annoyed and back stabbing people. Lavender looked at the other two boys for a moment, she didn't recognise them, but they appeared to be older than she was.

"Hey Lavender." said Martin cheerfully.

"Hi." replied Lavender slowly.

"Can we see them?"

"Hmm?"

"Those cards, the Mahu? Can we see them?"

"You want to see my cardies?"

"Yeah, they look really cool! Miss is such an old fuddy duddy!"

"Yeah!" agreed one of the boys next to Martin, "I've never seen a hunter weapon before, can we have a look?"

Lavender looked at the trio slightly unsure on what to do."

"What if we get caught?" she asked slowly.

"No worries," said the third boy, "I know a place where you can show us in secret."

"Well….I guess so." replied lavender getting to her feet slowly, "Where?"

"Follow me."

The boy set off, closely followed by Martin and the other boy. Lavender took hold of her dress and lifted it slightly off the floor so she could jog without tripping over it. The boy lead them round the back of the school building and then down a narrow path between the back of the kitchen and waste disposal area. Finally the boy stopped and turned around.

"Ok this should do, we won't be interrupted here." he said, "Can we see them now?"

Lavender looked at the trio for a moment, still a little unsure and then finally slipped the cards from her sleeve and held them up. Almost immediately Martin made a snatch for them and caught Lavender completely by surprise. Before she knew it her cards were in Martin's possession and from there they passed onto one of the other boys.

"Wow, these are so cool! I think I'll keep em." he said.

"Huh?!" said Lavender quickly, her expression one of shock.

"Nah, I had first dibs remember." said the other boy snatching the cards for himself.

"Hey I wanna see em!" cried Martin grabbing the boy's wrist.

"Give me my cardies back!" cried Lavender, rushing at the boys.

Martin heard her cry and let go of the boy's wrist, stepping to one side and tripping Lavender as she ran forwards. Lavender fell flat on her face, her hat falling from her head and landing in a puddle of dirty water. The three boys just laughed as Lavender began to pick herself up and turn towards them. Their laughter got louder as they saw the wavering expression on Lavender's face.

"Give me my cardies back!" she cried again, a few tears forming in her eyes as she ran at them again.

This time Martin stepped to the side and pushed her into the second boy, who in turn pushed her into the third. Lavender couldn't do anything as she was flung between them and them promptly found herself falling to the ground again as one of the boys tripped her once more.

"Awww she fell down again." taunted Martin with a laugh.

The third boy started to fan himself with Lavender's cards like they were a fan as Lavender picked herself up again. The sight almost made her burst into tears as she screamed once more and ran towards him. She soon found herself unable to move as Martin and the other boy grabbed her from both sides. The last boy put the cards into his pocket and then opened the door to one of the waste disposal bins, the bin being basically a large hole in the ground into which the kitchen waste was thrown before transport to the recycling plant. Martin and the boy holding Lavender picked her up and carried her over to the open door before throwing her forwards into it.

Lavender couldn't do anything to stop her fall and she landed face first in the pile of rubbish consisting of potato peels, left over lasagne and lumpy custard amongst other things. Above her she could hear some movement and slowly lifted her head to look up. Martin and the two boys were jeering down at her and pulling faces.

"Come on lets go." said Martin turning round and walking out of sigh.

The two boys with him gave a nod to each other and a final laugh at Lavender before heading off themselves. It was now time for Lavender's wavering expression to break and the tears finally arrived. She let herself drop back down into the rubbish and lay still for a moment sobbing slowly to herself as the smell of the bin filled her nose. Finally after a minute she managed to pick herself up and wade across to the ladder that led up the few feet to the top of the bin. She climbed it slowly and then collapsed to her knees as she got to the top.

How could they do this? Didn't they know how special her cardies were to her? Maybe that's why they took them? She looked up slowly, spotting her hat, which now lay trampled in a puddle, stained and wet. She got up and crossed to it, clutching the hat in her hand and holding it to her breast as she burst into sobs again. In the distance she caught the sound of a bell, the bell that signified the start of afternoon lessons but Lavender didn't move. Instead she chose to stand crying in the deserted back street clutching her hat.

When Lavender finally decided to move it was well into the afternoon period but she didn't care. The thought of going back to class hadn't entered her mind and instead she headed once again towards the girl's bathroom. Once there she crossed to a sink and looked at herself. She hadn't bothered to clean herself up after being pushed into the bin and bits of food still stuck to her in various places. She slowly brushed a bit of potato peel out of her hair and then got some toilet paper to wipe a custard stain on her front. After a short while she was looking a little better but it was obvious to tell that she had taken a bad fall. Finally she put her hat in the sink and ran a little hot water onto it before trying to wash the mud off it.

Afternoon break was fast approaching as Lavender finally sat down on a toilet seat in the bathroom. The stains on her clothing were now little more than discoloured spots but they were still fairly obvious. Her hat was still soaking in the sink but right now her thoughts were elsewhere. She had lost her cardies, a present from Links that she cherished with all her heart. What was she going to say to him when she got home tonight? Would he understand what had happened? She hadn't told him that she was taking them after all. Would he be angry? Would he yell at her?

She pressed her eyes together. She didn't like it when Links yelled at her, she didn't like to upset him after all he'd done for her in the past, all that he was doing now. Somehow she had to get them back! But how? She wasn't strong enough to force them into giving them back! Or was she? She slowly looked at her hands and then looked away. No she couldn't, not against people! But then they aren't really people said a small voice in her head. Was the voice right? Yes…yes it was! She looked at her hands again and clenched her fists. She'd make them pay for what they did to her!

She leaped from her seat and crossed to the sink, pulling her hat out and giving it a good shake. She finally stuck it on her head, small trickles of water running down the side of her head from the wet hat above her. She adjusted the hat slightly and then marched purposefully from the bathroom, heading down towards the exit.

She arrived outside the building just as the break bell rang and quickly found herself a bench to sit in opposite the main entrance. There she waited for Martin to appear and after a little while he did. The crowds of children seemed to wash away into nothingness as Martin's face appeared out of the doorway accompanied with the two boys that had been with him earlier. Lavender wasted no time and sprung from her seat, walking purposefully towards the group, barging a few people out of the way as she went. One of the boys spotted her as she approached and announced her presence for her.

"Hey look, she's back!" he said pointing at Lavender as she walked up.

Martin and the other boy didn't say anything as Lavender stopped a few meters away and glared at them.

"Give me my cardies back!" she screamed, her voice so loud that the entire schoolyard heard and turned round.

"Your what? What you talking about Lavender?" asked Martin casually throwing a grin at his two companions.

"I'm warning you! Give them back!"

"Or what? Maybe we should throw you in the bins again."

"Give them BACK!"

As Lavender's scream pitched her palms lit up with a red glow and, before he knew what was happening, Martin found himself lying on the ground groaning in pain. His clothing was smoking lightly as if he'd been standing too near to a fire and a few patches had been burned away. His two companions looked at each other for a moment and then ran at Lavender only to meet a similar fate to Martin. Lavender glared down at the three boys, everyone around her deadly silent, before she collapsed next to Martin and started to pound her fist into him.

"Give them back! Give them back! GIVE THEM BACK!" she cried over and over, each of her cries accompanied by as harder punch.

"Lavender stop it!" came a shout over her cries.

Lavender stopped in mid punch, she recognised the voice all too well. Slowly she looked round to see Sabrina standing behind her, a look of astonishment and disbelief on her face. Lavender's eyes went wide at the sight and she looked back at Martin below her. Fear gripped her a second later as she started looking frantically from Sabrina and back to Martin over and over. The full extent of what she'd done suddenly clicked and she did the only thing she could think of, she ran. Pushing through the crowds of children around the scene she ran as fast as she could and didn't look back.