Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, Disney does. What else is new? But I do own Fantasy, Dimples, Bridie/Buttons, and Jimmy/Sky. Everyone else, owns themselves! As for the knowledge of swords... I got those from websites, and if you go to my page (the one that shows all my fics), you can find the links to them.

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Bridie looked over at the door and smiled. She got up and unlocked the door, opening it to find the elves, faeries, and leprechauns that had agreed to help train Mush. "Welcome to New York!" she exclaimed, and opened the door wide for them all to fit in.

"Where's Mush?" Dewey asked, looking around the dark and drabby room.

Mush stood up hesitantly, and walked the rest of the way down the stairs so he would be on level ground with them. "I'm Mush."

There were a lot more people- if you could call them people- there than he had been expecting. It was a little unnerving... all of them were just standing there, looking at him, sizing him up. There were even three girls with wings, not to mention the four girls with pointed ears. Mush assumed that the other five were leprechauns.

Itey, Specs, and Sky stood up and walked over to them after a minute, all very happy to see them.

"Itey!" one of the girls with wings said, and he hugged him. "It's been a long time."

Itey grinned at her. "It's great ta see ya, Sparrow!"

He then turned to the other two girls and hugged each in turn. "Tag... and Jazz! How are ya?"

Jazz laughed at him. "Ye've got the same accent Race has."

"You jus' pick it up after bein' here so long." Specs said, smiling at the faeries, but then turned towards his fellow elves. "Dewey, how've ya been?"

Dewey smiled at him. "I've been doin' well. How've ye been?"

"Good. And Blue Boxer, how've been doing well?"

Blue Boxer grinned at him and nodded. "It's great to see ye again, boyo."

Specs smiled at her, then turned to a reddish-blonde girl standing on his left. "Leanna! Ya haven't changed a bit."

Leanna grinned at the older boy. "It hasn't been that long. But it is good to see ye."

The last elf nodded along with her. "How's New York?" she asked.

Specs shrugged. "It's not Ireland, Tree."

The girl, Tree, sighed. "No, it isn't."

The hellos continued, and Mush alone stood apart from the crowd. He felt, even more than before, that he didn't fit in with this crowd. He got a sudden urge to run up the stairs and leave through the fire escape, pretending this never happened, but at that moment they all turned back to him again.

"So, this is Mush, is it?" Sparrow asked kindly, her earthy wings flapping slightly.

Bridie nodded. "It is. Mush, these are the volunteers... they'll be helpin' ye with your trainin'."

Mush nodded. "Thanks." He added quietly.

Leanna walked up to him, smiling. "Don't ye worry, lad. No need to be nervous."

"I-I'm not." Mush lied.

Racetrack laughed and joined him. "Really, Mush, dey're good people. You can trust 'em."

Hearing his best friend's voice calmed Mush down a little, and he nodded again.

"Right... now all of ye, sit down. We'll have to decide when the best time to train will be. And where we should do it." Bridie said, and she gestured to the stairs, a couple of old, beat-up chairs, and the ground. She herself settled into one of the chairs, Dewey beside her while the rest got comfortable elsewhere. Mush made sure he stayed near Racetrack.

"When do ye think we should train him?" Bridie asked.

"The mornin' would be best." Blue Boxer said, after some consideration. "Not as many people would be up, and the early mornin' always wakes me up."

"That sounds good to me." Bridie said.

"Will ye be able to get up really early, lad?" Tree asked Mush.

He looked over at Race. "Yeah, dat'd be good."

"But where'll we teach 'im?" Itey asked. "We can't do it here."

"Da forest? Ya know, where I met all of youse?" Racetrack asked.

"That would be a good place." Jazz agreed. "It was big, and pretty much concealed."

"Alright, then. We'll begin tomorrow mornin'. Any questions?" Bridie asked.

Everyone shook their heads, except for Mush. He was surprised; they had made their decisions so fast, he hadn't even had time to think. He watched as they all stood up around him.

"Well, there's a lodgin' house for girls around the block, and that's where we'll be stayin'." Bridie said. "I met the girls today, ye'll like them."

"C'mon, I'll show ya where it is, and then we can go join the newsies at da show." Specs said.

"The show?" Tag asked. "What show?"

"Our friend's show... We'll tell ya about it on the way there." Itey said.

Racetrack held his hand out to Mush. "You comin'?"

Mush looked down at the ground. "I think I'm gonna stay. I'll need some sleep if I'm gettin' up for trainin' tamorrow."

Race sat back down as everyone left the room. "You ok?" When he didn't answer, Race knew something was wrong. "Look, Mush, don't worry about all dis."

"How can I not worry about it?"

"Listen, Mush, we'll teach ya everythin' you'll need ta know-"

Mush cut him off, looking up at him. "It ain't that, Race. I know ya will, everyone keeps tellin' me that." He stood up and walked over to the stairs to lean on the railing. "It's jus' too much stuff in too short 'a time."

"I'm sorry about dat, Mush, but we couldn't tell ya before. You weren't old enough."

"And I'm old enough now?" Mush asked, turning to look at him.

Race sighed. "Well... no. We weren't gonna tell ya until you were twenty."

"Dat's four years from now! How come you told me now?"

"We had to. We need your help now. We never thought it would happen dis soon."

"So ya don't think I can do this?" Mush asked heavily.

"No, I do think you can do dis. Jus' give them time, and they will, too."

"I hope so."

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"The first thing we need to teach ye about is swords." Puck said. She was pacing back and forth in front of a very tired Mush and the other five leprechauns who were there to help her this morning.

"Swords?" Mush asked, only a little surprised.

"Ay, swords. Ye'll need to learn everything about them." Puck explained, pulling a silver sword out of it's case around her waist.

Smirk raised his hand. "I've got a question."

"What?" Puck asked.

"Why do we need to know everything about swords?"

"Because that's what ye'll be usin' most of the time." Puck said. "Now shut up, Smirk."

"Yes, m'am." Smirk said, grinning.

Mush smiled in spite of himself and thought that it was no wonder Race fit in so perfectly with these people.

"Me an' Trolley will show ye a few moves for ye to copy." Puck pulled Trolley out of the line. "Got your sword?"

Trolley nodded, pointing to the sword's holder wrapped around her waist. "Ye gave it to me."

"Good, now get it out." Puck said, brandishing her sword in front of her.

Racetrack nudged Mush as Trolley pulled out a gold-tinted sword and put it in front of her. "Watch Trolley, she has no idea what she's doin'..."

Mush grinned as he watched her try and block Puck's swing. She missed it, and the sword went straight through Trolley's stomach. Mush's eyes widened in shock.

"Trolley, are you alright?!" He rushed forward, not noticing that he was the only one to do so. When he reached her, however, she was grinning. She pulled her shirt up just enough so Mush could see the sword had bent and gone around her instead.

"Gotcha."

Mush froze. "You... what?"

Stress rolled her eyes, but laughed all the same at Mush's face. "That was horrible, Trolley."

"Didn't even look real." Marbles agreed. But she, too, was grinning.

"We saw ya put da spell on it before it touched ya." Race said. He was trying not to show his grin.

Trolley frowned. "Oh, shut up. Mush believed it."

"What can ye expect from a human... no worries, laddie, you're not quite as human as the rest." Stress said.

"You can put spells on things?" Mush asked, now amazed.

The six of them smirked proudly.

"Ay, we can." Marbles said.

"So watch out for the wee people!" Puck warned, laughing.

Mush laughed along with him- his relief that no one had gotten hurt was greater than his embarrassment at having believed her.

"Now, back to teachin' ye..." Smirk said, reminding them all of their task.

"Ah, yes. Why don't ye take out your own sword... be careful now, don't cut yourself... there ye go." Trolley said.

Mush stared at his sliver sword. It was engraved with words in a different language, with pictures surrounding it. But he couldn't make out what they were.

"The part ye hold is called the hilt. The other part is the blade." Puck said, pointing to the parts on her own sword.

"Wow, dat's it?" Mush asked.

"No, that's the simple part o' it." Marbles said. She pulled her sword out of its case also, and held it up so he could see it. "See this, at the end of the hilt?" Mush nodded. "That's the 'pommel'. It connects the hilt and the tang."

"The tang?" Mush asked.

"The rest o' the hilt is called the tang. But ye can't see it, it's covered by the 'handle', or the 'grip'..." Stress paused and pointed to it on the hilt of her sword. "And the 'cup guard'..." Again she paused and pointed it out to Mush. "Underneath the cup guard is the 'Ricasso'. Don't worry, ye can't see it at all."

"Right..." Mush said, trying to remember everything.

"And ye see this silver part here, right below the cup guard?" Trolley asked. "That's divided into three parts. These two are called the 'pas dane'. And this part," She points to each part as she names it. "Is the 'Quillons', or 'Cross-Guard'. And this part o' it, that comes to the side of the handle, is the 'knucklebow'."

Mush nodded. "Alright... does it really matter if I know all dat?"

Smirk laughed at him. "No, it won't matter too much when you're fightin', but knowin' Bridie-"

"And the rest o' the elves." Puck added, smiling.

"Ay, knowin' them, they'll be askin' ye questions about it. But don't worry, it'll comeas second nature after ye start fightin' with it." Smirk continued.

"Now, the blade. The most important thing ye need to remember is that the top part of the blade is the weakest, the bottom half the strongest. So ye'll need to be careful when you're fightin', because if whoever it is you're fightin' hits the top o' it hard enough, it can break." Marbles explained.

"Dat's easy enough." Mush said.

"Good." Race said. He leaned over and pointed at Mush's sword. "Dis indentation here, dat's called da fuller. Some swords, like mine," He showed it to him, "don't have dat part of it. It's not needed, but it makes da sword lighter, and helps make it more flexible. Not ta mention stronger."

"Is a flexible sword good?" Mush asked.

"Yeah, flexible swords are mush better when fightin'." Smirk said. "Ye think ye got all that?"

"I hope so." Mush said.

"Good, we'll teach ye how to hold it now..." Puck said.

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Horrible place to stop, huh? But, for once, it was getting too long. The beginning was a bit blah, but I really liked when they were teaching him about the sword... I learned loads myself. I really think you should go and look at the picture of the sword, I have the link above, the one in the parentheses will bring you right to it. It'll help a lot, having a visual. Anyway, sorry it took so long, I hope you enjoyed it!! Have a great day!!