Friendly Competition
Chapter Two: Kill the shoulder angels
"Ever meet someone so infuriating that you aren't sure if you should punch them or fall in love with them?
A/N- GAH! Four term papers due on the same day and an AP test the next day. Geez... hurray for running on three hours of sleep and being in college during my senior year in HS. If I have to write another essay (which I do), I'm gonna go crazy, so I need to finish this chappie as a way of reminding myself that I don't hate writing completely. Plus, my cat spilled water on my keyboard, so now half the time when I press the right shift key, it puts a euro sign before the letter (€Like this€), and if I press the left, it puts the computer into idle mode. –sigh- Anyways, Thanks a lot for all the reviews! That was great for a first chapter! What a nice section! Also, thanks to all you reading, even if you are silent readers! My reviewers get a very special thank you, though.. -tackle-glomps Fool of a Rohirrim and the others-
Mirage stormed back to her room and slumped onto her bed, exhausted.
Why did I let him get to me like that?
She didn't know what was wrong with herself… she almost felt bad for him.
Well, you were pretty mean to him… Her 'good' shoulder angel nagged."Oh, shut up…" She said scathingly to herself, knowing that she was right.
Before she knew what hit her, she was being tackle-hugged.
"Ghwha?" Mirage gasped, jumping a foot in the air again.
"Shut up? Me? But I didn't even say anything yet!" Meriya sighed.
"No, not you…" Mirage groaned.
"Good." Meriya cooed, "So what happened to the visitor? There's no pulverized body on campus… not exactly what I expected..."
"Oh. Him..." Mirage glared.
"You should hear what the girls are saying. They're practically swooning over him. Who is he anyways?"
"Swooning? Over him?"
"Errr… yeah." Meriya said, looking at Mirage confusedly, "Who is he anyways?"
Meriya had never seen normally-complacent Mirage get this worked up, and it was mildly disconcerting. This guy had to be a real pain to get her so worked up.
"One of my father's old students." Mirage snarled.
Meriya surveyed the other girl and cringed.
"Uh oh. I know that tone. What'd he do? IS there a pulverized body on campus?"
"…No. He didn't do anything, really. I guess."
Mirage let out a stressed groan and proceeded to the corner of her room, where a punching bag was hanging.
"So what's got you so agitated?"
"It's… just… that… he…" she panted, punctuating each word with a punch, "Oh, hell. I…hah… don't… know…"
Meriya careful steered Mirage from the punching bag, slightly frightened for her life. Mirage was too strong for her own good… especially when she was angry.
"Come on… what's up?"
For a minute, she almost looked rueful, but it quickly faded.
"I…err… kinda challenged him to a fight…"
"YOU WHAT? Why?"
"I don't know why… I just did."
The fact that Mirage had gone as far as to challenge him to a fight was a testament to how angry she'd been. Mirage let people challenge her, not the other way around. She certainly wouldn't have done so for no good reason.
"Oh reaaally? No reason at all, then?" Meriya said skeptically.
Mirage sighed and massaged her forehead. So she might've been a teensy bit irrational. He'd still deserved it.
I think…At any rate, she felt a headache coming on.
"He tried to recruit my father for some stupid project he's working on…"
"…which means you'd have to inherit all this." Meriya murmured, beginning to understand.
"Right… but the worst part is that dad wasn't even going to go and I blew up at him. I called him a jerk, he called me an amateur, and it snow-balled from there."
"…oh. It was an ego thing, then."
"Yeah…"
"So when is it scheduled for?" Meriya asked.
"…err…" Mirage moaned, begrudging herself for forgetting something.
"You know what this means, don't you?"
"No…"
"It means that you'll have to talk to him to set up the match… or you could just apologize."
A mask of horror planted itself on Mirage's face.
"Number One, I will not apologize to him! Number Two…er… can't you just talk to him for me? I can't do that!"
"What, is the gweat Miwage afwaid to talk to a boy?"
"..Y—no. No. He's just some guy. Let it go. I'll talk to him this afternoon at lunch hour."
"Riiight…" Meriya smirked, cutting herself off suddenly with a gasp. "Oh! I ran into Belkin. He said that your dad was looking for you. I knew that I forgot about something…"
Mirage sighed exasperatedly, then began to dread what kind of punishment she was in for. She had insulted her father's guest. This was going to be one looong day.
"Don't wait for me." Mirage groaned, "I doubt I'll be in classes today. Speaking of which, aren't you late for Runological Combat?"
"Crap!" Meriya groaned, hurriedly rushing to gather a few random books from her side of the shared dorm room, "Third time this week… Master Trillian is going to kill me! I gotta go! Good luck!" She called almost inaudibly since she was already starting out at a full-blown sprint. From the room, Mirage could hear the indignant cries of the victims her uncoordinated friend was plowing through during her headlong dash. Dragging her feet as much as she dared, Mirage began to trudge to her inevitable doom.
At the same time, Meriya poked her head through the door of the squat building, saying a short prayer to a random unnamed deity. Seeing that the teacher was busy reading a letter, she slipped stealthily into her seat.
The thing about teachers, she smirked to herself, was that given the right distraction, you could slip anything past them.
And if the letter was about what she thought, it looked like Mirage's fight was just the thing she needed to dodge another detention.
The man in the front of the room looked up briefly from his memo and scowled directly at Meriya.
"Miss Creighton, I'll be seeing you at the end of the day. This is your twelfth tardy this month."
She groaned and melted into her chair, tired from her midday run. Meanwhile, a shrill cacophony of giggles interrupted her pout. She peered around the classroom until she spotted the culprits. Most of the other girls in the class were clustered around something in a corner whispering just loud enough for everyone else to hear.
"…I wonder if she knows anything about him…Think she'd help?" one ventured, appraising Meriya.
Another elbowed her in the stomach, hissing 'Shut up.'
Mirage ignored them both and turned to the boy next her, who groaned loudly.
"If I hear one more word about this Cliff guy, I'm going to knock myself out."
"Tell me about it; I'm jealous. He's all half the girls on campus are talking about. You even see the guy yet?" Another muttered.
"No…" the first grunted, until he spotted Meriya watching, "What about you?"
She sighed and buried her head. The last thing she wanted to talk about was him. She was sure that once Mirage got back from her father's, she would be all day. And it wasn't going to be fun on her eardrums…
"Class." Trillian said, trying a bit too hard to seem nonchalant, "I have just remembered a prior engagement that must be attended to this afternoon. You are dismissed."
A murmur of surprise went up in the class, but no one questioned his judgment. Before a minute had passed, the classroom had cleared completely. As she picked up her things from their untidy sprawl, she mulled things over. It might not have saved her from detention, but it was undoubtedly Mirage's fight that had led him to cancel class. She wasn't about to complain about a miracle… and besides there was the off chance that he might forget—
"Remember, I want to see you in my office at 7 o'clock sharp." He barked at Meriya as she left.
Or not… she sighed.
Meanwhile, Mirage finally made it her father's door for the second time that day and hesitated just outside. She could swear that she could almost hear a conversation…
No. her intelligent side demanded insistently, If you'll just think back to what happened last time you did that, I'm sure you'll find that you will come to the same conclusion as I have: Not a good idea.
Making a face at logic, she pouted.
"Yeah, I get the point." She muttered darkly, rapping softly on the door.
Her father's baritone voice boomed a greeting
"Come on in, Mirage. We've been waiting for you.
We. That can't be good…Mirage thought, groaning inwardly.She timidly stepped into the room, already knowing what was waiting for her.
"Well, whaddya know. The princess finally decided to show up" Cliff smirked, stretching languidly.
"I'm sorry I'm late, father." Mirage said, pointedly ignoring Cliff.
"What, don't I get a 'Hello, Cliff. Welcome to our school. Can I get you anything?'? Not a very good hostess, are ya?"
"How about a 'Hi. Why do you insist upon being so damned infuriating?'" Mirage grimaced.
"Aw, I didn't mean anything by it. Loosen up."
Mirage snorted and started to say something, but he stopped her. Meanwhile, Koas looked on in amusement.
"Listen. I'd prefer to go into this without any hard feelings, alright?" Cliff smiled.
"Fine." Mirage grunted
"I'm glad you said that," her father grinned heartily, "because I've decided that you should be the one to show him around the school. Hospitality to our guests is very important to me.
For a few moments, Mirage's mouth opened and closed without making a sound, but she finally regained her senses and glared at both people in the room.
"Whaa? If it's so important, why don't you do it yourself?"
The instant she said it, she regretted it. An angry light came to her father's eyes, making them flash to life. Mirage prepared herself for the repercussions of her words, but instead her father cracked a menacing grin that left no room for argument.
"Prior engagement." He said unconvincingly. "But I guess since you don't want to, I'll just leave you two alone to get to know each other. I'll let you out for your fight at five."
With that, he turned and left the room, and Mirage could swear that she heard the subtle clicking of a lock.
Both blinked and looked at each other for a moment, and Mirage rushed to the door and tried the handle.
"That old coot locked us in!" Mirage glared in indignation.
"Coot? Where's your respect for your father?" Cliff grinned sarcastically.
"Oh, come on. Like you're happy with him right now."
Cliff grinned roguishly at her and winked broadly.
"Well, I could think of worse company to be locked in a room with…"
Mirage let out a frustrated groan, but couldn't help but allow a small grin to break through her defenses.
You're sympathizing with the enemy! Her shoulder devil screamed, complete with military uniform. Is it normal for me to personify the voices in my head?Sorry, but no. the shoulder devil said, shrugging before disappearing.
Mirage shook her head violently and stomped over to the door.
"Hey, whatcha doin'?" Cliff said, cocking his head to the side.
He was startled out of his complacency as Mirage landed a well-placed kick to the door and it splintered along the seams and bowed over.
"Getting out of here."
She stormed out, not even looking back at the still-shocked Cliff.
"Would it have been that bad to spend time with me?" Cliff muttered to himself, not really wanting to know the answer.
Hours later Koas returned to his apartment, only to find the door demolished and his fighters gone. With a shrug, he hoped that sense had gotten the better of the two and that the two star fighters had seen how foolish the whole thing was. He knew better than to hope for something so obviously untrue, though. It'd be better to just get on to mediating the fight… cancellation wasn't very likely if he knew his daughter's temper.
Meriya walked on the path that led to the locker rooms. As she arrived, she began to plot her ambush on her friend, but she was snapped out of her devious plotting by a group of giggling girls leaving the building. She rolled her eyes in exasperation; they were probably trying to peak at Cliff while he was dressing for the match in the adjoining changing building. The guys had tried to make some inconspicuous peep holes, but the girls had the sense to cover them while they were dressing. Meriya wondered musingly how the guys would feel if they knew what it was being used for on the girl's side, especially since they were all so jealous of Cliff. Her face broke into a grin at the thought of it until she realized that someone else was padding down the path. Mirage was running at top speed toward the locker rooms.
"Hey, Mirage!" Meriya called.
The other girl smiled distractedly in her direction, then rushed on.
"Sorry, but I can't stop to talk." She called, only slowing her pace a bit.
"Why not? The match doesn't start for another ten minutes…"
"I don't want Cliff to get to the arena before me!"
"Okaaay… but I think he's already in the dressing room…"
The effect of the statement on Mirage was akin to someone poking her with a hot fire tong. Her eyes widened, and Meriya was careful not to get in her way to avoiding being run over like an unfortunate rabbit beneath the wheels of a semi-truck.
"Dammit…" Mirage mumbled, running off.
Meriya shrugged and decided to go get a good seat, though with only ten minutes to the fight, she had a sneaking suspicion that it'd be standing room only.
When Dai arrived the arena was already packed to capacity. Rumors spread quickly in any school, especially when fights are involved. Within just a few hours, most of the students had packed in to see the main event. High in the stands, Dai and his friends filtered into their block of seats while both Cliff and Mirage were stretching in the center of the floor.
"My bets are on the guy." one of Dai's friends muttered, "You see those muscles?"
"I don't know…" Dai said, gently rubbing his splinted arm, "She's got a lot of latent rage."
"Oh, trust me. You'll wanna bet on the guy."
"Huh? Why'd I wanna do that? It's kinda… homo." Dai puzzled.
"Hey! Getting beat up by a girl is more… y'know… than thinking a guy can win against her."
"Aw, shaddup. I'm putting 100 GP on Mirage."
"Whatever… you're on. You'll see." The boy said with a fatuous smirk.
Dai gave him a piercing look, but let it go. After all, he was probably just trying to seem like he knew more than Dai did about this Cliff guy… No matter how good this Cliff was, one thing was for sure. Dai knew he'd be leaving the arena with twice the money.
As Mirage entered the arena, she noticed that there had never been this many of her peers assembled to view one of her fights, not even when she sparred with her father. The place was utterly packed, and she had a suspicion that they were all rooting against her. Shaking off the uneasy feeling, she turned to Cliff.
"Well," Mirage grinned, trying to resist the urge to call off the fight, "You ready, old-timer?"
"I'm still not sure about this, but if you still insist…" Cliff scowled.
"I do."
Shrugging, he knelt down to stretch his legs and tried not to notice how perfectly her Jingu outfit flowed over her curves as she bent over to tie her training slippers.
No dirty thoughts before a match, Cliff. You'll get distracted. His good shoulder angel sighed, reprimanding him sweetly.
He felt like finding a fly-swatter and plastering his conscience to the wall.
Within a matter of seconds, his inner battle was interrupted by Koas' entrance into the ring in his official gear.
"Now, I want a fair fight, you two. You know the rules. Fighters, in your positions. At the sound of the gong, you may begin."
A harried-looking first year scurried down from the stands under the withering stare of Koas and rang the ancient gong in the corner of the room. The noise reverberated through the enclosed space, and before anyone could even look back to the ring, the fight had begun. Cliff reluctantly started out with a barrage of punches, all of which Mirage blocked or dodged easily.
"That all you got?" She grinned, deftly landing a punch past his defenses that hit him squarely in the stomach.
He flew backward a few feet and gasped, half for air and half in shock.
Ok, so she wasn't a joke. He'd have to take this girl seriously…no one had landed a punch on him since he was an underclassman student.He dodged her next slightly weaker attempts at punches and aimed another barrage of punches at her. He might have had qualms about hitting a lady, but she sure didn't have any about beating him to a pulp. Besides, the sooner he got this over with, the less injuries they'd both sustain.
One of his punches hit its target and sent her flying.
He cringed and rubbed the back of his neck ruefully. This was why he didn't like sparring with women
Mirage stumbled to her feet, body aching.
What's wrong with me? I shouldn't be getting this tired. I'm not even going at it full-force, and I don't think he is either…A punch like that shouldn't do this to me.
She ignored the way she was now panting, and ran in for another attack. She feinted to the right, and then, once again within range, aimed a triple kick at his chest. Cliff staggered back and appraised her.
"Not bad." Cliff murmured, a trickle of sweat making its way down his face.
He tried for a fairly straightforward kick. Mirage blocked it, but even something that should have been so simple was now draining her energy at an alarming rate. Her mind was starting to get foggy, but one thought rang out in the panic.
Something's not right…In the stands, Dai winced and his friend let a look of pure awe cross his features.
"How can she be standing after that?" He murmured, nervously brushing his hair out of his face.
"What do you mean? It was only one hit. Afraid you're going to lose?"
"Errr… no. I have to go talk to someone about something, though."
"That's a bail-out if I've ever heard one. Whatever, though. If you wanna miss the action…"
"Don't worry…" his friend grinned, "I'll be back for my money."
With that, he got up and headed for a group of girls in the other corner.
"Freakin' flirt…" Dai muttered.
"Listen, you don't look so hot." Cliff whispered, concerned, "Maybe we should call it a draw—"
"Don't patronize me." Mirage hissed, glaring daggers at him.
"Fine then." Cliff shrugged regretfully.
In one fluid motion, he swept her feet out from under her with a subtle kick to the back of her knees.
Mirage collapsed in an ungraceful heap and attempted to get up yet again, but a strong hand kept her down. She looked up with a glare and prepared to slap Cliff's hand away until she recognized the face above her. It wasn't Cliff, but her father.
"You lost. I know you're not used to it, but you can either accept defeat gracefully or it will be imposed upon you."
He turned away to face the students.
"THIS MATCH GOES TO CLIFF FITTIR. NOW, GET BACK TO YOUR STUDIES, YOU LAZY WORMS!" He bellowed in his usual tone.
"Listen, sorry about that. Here, let me help you out." Cliff stammered, holding out a hand to Mirage, who merely glared.
With more effort than she ever remembered expending, she got up without saying a word and staggered to the door, Cliff following closely behind. The moment she was out the door and away from the eyes of her classmates, her legs collapsed from under her.
"What the hell?" Cliff shouted, running to the unconscious girl's aid, "There's no way I did this."
Among the first of the students out because of her crappy standing-room-only seating, Meriya came outside with a sympathetic smile on her face, ready to execute a cheer-up glomp on her friend, only to see a distraught-looking Cliff hovering above Mirage's prone form.
"What happened?" Meriya gasped, then thought about it for a moment. Students were already beginning to form a crowd around them.
" I didn't do anything. I swear." Cliff gasped.
"Whatever. You can explain later. We just need to get her back to her dorm now."
Cliff nodded, still slightly shocked, and loaded her over his shoulders, fireman-style. After a deadly silent walk to the dorms, they reached Mirage's single room and deposited her onto her bed. She stirred slightly but kept a deathgrip on Cliff's arm.
"Mmmm…" She purred groggily, still very unconscious, "My teddy…"
"Err.. how do I get her off?" Cliff choked.
"I think you're stuck. She's got a vice-grip like you wouldn't believe." Meriya giggled, watching a look of panic spread across Cliff's features.
He struggled for control of his arm, but Mirage just gripped it tighter and more insistently.
"It's like a finger trap." Meriya grinned, "The more you struggle, the tighter it gets."
"Great…" Cliff slumped resignedly and Meriya finally took pity on him and dragged a desk chair over to the side of the bed.
"Sit." She commanded, "I doubt you'd admit it, but the fight took some energy out of you."
He shrugged noncommittally and sat, inwardly relieved that she had offered it before he had to ask.
"I assume that you don't know what happened anymore than anyone else." Meriya said, her gray eyes suddenly stern, as if daring him to lie to her.
"You sayin' that I did this?" Cliff growled fiercely, "I don't know who you are, but I wouldn't do anything like this to anyone, especially a girl."
Meriya sighed.
"No, I'm not saying that this was your fault. I was just gauging you. So you saw that this wasn't natural, too?"
"Well, old man Koas said that she was a decent fighter, and I know he's not the type to sugar-coat matters to protect egos. Besides, when someone passes out after a simple sparring match, ya know somethin's wrong." He looked at his arm in wide-eyed fear.
"Say, she doesn't have a disease or something, does she?"
"No." Meriya said scornfully, "but I probably should get the campus doctor to check her out. Think you can handle her for a few minutes?
"Err.. I guess…" Cliff stammered, unable to mask his panic at the prospect. He'd never been a good care-taker. The first time he'd watched his younger sister she'd ended up falling down a flight of stairs, off a couch, and from the top of the refrigeration unit (though he still couldn't figure out how she'd gotten there in the first place).
Not the best track record… he admitted to himself ruefully. At least she's unconscious… what's the worst that could happen?
He really hoped that he didn't find out the answer to that particular question either.
Meriya hurried out, leaving him with only one way to deal with the awkwardness of the situation.
"So…" he said nervously, glancing over at Mirage from his chair.
He couldn't help but notice how pretty she was when she wasn't screaming at him.
"How about the weather?" He blurted, hoping his thoughts didn't return to what he was fantasizing about when he saw her at the beginning of the match.
Think clean thoughts… like fluffy kittens… and… err, bars of soap. Clean.
Unfortunately, that conjured some very naughty images that involved a shower.
"Gahaaa…"Cliff groaned, burying his head in his arms, trying not to think at all.
…And just when Cliff thought he'd go insane, the school's female doctor bustled into the room, all business.
"My name is Doctor Elida Tremain. Where's the patient?"
Meriya pointed to the cot that was lined against the back wall, where Cliff was anchored to Mirage.
"You kids…" She muttered, "I don't see why you feel like you have to beat each other up to prove your strength. Maybe if we had a good psychiatrist, there wouldn't be as much of a need for my services. You, there--." She snapped at Cliff, then trailed off.
"Don't tell me the Cliff they were talking about was you, Clifton. Did you do this? You should be ashamed. What would your mother say if she saw what a ruffian you've become?"
"Yes'm…" Cliff murmured, acutely aware of Meriya in the corner trying not to laugh out loud.
"Cl-Clifton?" She sputtered quietly.
"I'm still in touch with your mother, you know. Close friends try not to drift apart. I know for a fact that it'd break her heart to know that her son had done this to a lady almost a decade younger. I mean, really, Clifton. I thought she brought you up better."
"Yes'm… I'm sorry." Cliff muttered even more meekly, cowed from the older woman's verbal diatribe.
His toe traced a rueful pattern onto the dorm floor and he refused to look the doctor in the eyes. Meriya was awed: the woman had reverted the great Cliff into an apologetic ten-year-old with just a few words. Well, she couldn't refuse that she was enjoying the show. She was taking pleasure in his pain in a way that could only be described as cruel.
The doctor looked at him severely once more and pulled a small pill from a bottle, placing the tablet under Mirage's tongue.
"Someone will need to stay with her to keep an eye on her and give these to her every four hours. It's seven now, so the next dosage should be at…"
"What? Dammit, it's seven already? Sorry, Cliff, I gotta go…"
Cliff panicked and tried to grab ahold of her arm, but she danced just out of reach.
"You can't leave me alone with her again! I could barely survive ten minutes!" Cliff begged frantically.
"Listen, you'll be fine. I have to go to detention. Now."
She left, and Cliff sank into despair, trying desperately not to think about the next few hours.
"You'd better wake up soon…" Cliff moaned miserably, feeling his arm starting to cramp.
A/N- Wow, I got this out relatively quickly for me. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, that a month isn't quick. Well, I'm usually pretty sporadic in updating, so I hope I get reviews for my dedication. –cough- hint –cough-. Sorry I'm not very good at fight scenes, but I haven't had much practice with them. Anyhow, I know that Mirage is not yet IC, but I've been thinking about that little dilemma. This story isn't only going to be about Mirage's dojo. In fact, in about a chapter or two, it will focus more on Quark. It's basically gonna trace all the big events in their lives/relationships. Maybe not the SO3 storyline as much as other aspects, but it'll eventually get there. So I find myself wanting to write her this way at first, then gradually incorporating changes as she evolves. Just an idea, but I like it. Well, enough babbling. Please go and review now…-smiles-
Perwinkle box: You know you wanna click me… don't deny your urge. You also have an urge to go read the author's other fic that is basically pure insanity and karaoke, What The? SO version. –cough- blatant plug –cough-