Versus 3: Eclipse
--Everyone You Meet--
Two weeks can be an eternity. It seemed like forever since she and Goten decided to be 'just friends' and so far it was going relatively well. Relative, that is, to the fact that she wanted to be more than friends with him. But they carried on as they always had.
She would get done with tutoring early, then sneak over to Goten's apartment. There they would play a few video games or just sit and talk. (They dared not spar for fear that her father would hunt them down.) And sometimes they would just sit silently.
Then some nights, she would go to an Eroder show. She never invited Goten to those. For some strange reason every time she talked about their performances, he seemed a little uneasy. But she always had the company of Pan and Marron.
It was amazing to see how well Marron and Wes had hit it off, but soon the inevitable happened. The return of Uubu. Marron had told Bra and Pan the whole story about how Uubu was back for good, but that she couldn't ignore this perfectly good guy she was seeing now. Bra had to wonder why Marron would choose a two-week romance over a lifetime love. Because that was exactly what Marron and Uubu had. Of course, it was an off-and-on kinda love, but they had something special.
Pan seemed to be the only one without that special someone in her life. That must have been what kept her in such a good mood. Not having to worry about her relationship with some guy. She always seemed so carefree and she was always cheerful. Bra began to believe that 'twas better never loved at all than to have loved and lost. The only thing Pan seemed interested in was the new gravity machine that Bra had built.
The gravitron had taken Bra over a week to complete between school, concerts and sneaking out to see Goten under her mother's nose. But she'd finally gotten the machine up and running. It gave Bra a very good place to work off her frustrations. And if it hadn't been for her father's regeneration tank, she never would have made it out of the house after she trained.
Pan could feel the difference in Bra's strength over the past couple of days and insisted on knowing how she got so strong. Bra finally broke down and told her about the gravitron she'd built using her grandfather's old blue-prints combined with her mother's upgrade plans. Pan seemed impressed. She wanted to train in it herself sometime.
Surprisingly the only other person who knew about Bra's gravitron was Goten because she'd told him about it. But he told her that her increases in strength were definitely noticeable and that her father had to know what was going on, seeing how he had one of his own.
Nick, on the other hand, noticed nothing. Of course, being a regular human, she never expected him to notice a change in her power. He did, however, notice a change in her study habits. Thanks to him, she was paying more attention during tutoring than she had been before. That was a miracle. How had he managed to do something no one else seemed to be capable of? Simple enough really, yet Bra never knew it was happening until it was too late.
Eroder had started playing new songs at their shows with stranger lyrics than usual. The songs were about certain points in history. It was an ingenius plan really because Nick knew that the only thing that seemed to get through to Bra was music. When had the band come up with the new songs in such a short time?
Either way, the little scheme worked and Bra was learning things that she'd never known or cared to know about history. And some of it was actually pretty interesting. Goten had been right all along. Learning about the wars was a lot like their martial arts lifestyle. The only hard part was learning to sort through the names and dates. With Eroder's songs, that part became simple.
And now life seemed to be getting on track again for Bra. She was actually learning things about history and enjoying some of it in the process. She was still close to Goten. Her training was going well. And her mother hadn't been giving her grief lately.
"The only thing that would make my life better now is if I could get things together with...you-know-who," Bra said to Pan as they sat in the hall outside of their first class.
It was early on the morning of the second history test of the year. Pan was sitting on the floor with her face buried in her history book, while Bra just sat with her back against the lockers. She looked at her friend and frowned.
Pan undoubtedly felt the pair of eyes on her and she looked over at Bra. "You seem pretty mellow about this whole test thing. My mom and dad are expecting a much better grade this time. I know your mom's in a frenzy about it."
Bra nodded. "Yeah, but I'm not worried. I'm gonna pass this time. Maybe even get an A."
Pan looked a little surprised. "After the devastation we both suffered on the first test, how could you be so confident?"
"I know a lot more than I did back then," Bra told her simply.
"Boy, Nick Carnage must be one great tutor, if you're this confident about a history test," Pan said. She smiled. "Can I have him next?"
Bra laughed. "No, I think I'm stuck with him at least until the end of the year."
"I don't like this. You're a little too happy. That's MY job, remember? You're the constantly depressed anti-social basket-case," Pan said.
Bra frowned. "Well, you can still be the social one and you can be as happy as you want. I just feel really good about this test, that's all."
"Yeah, you said that last time and we saw where that got you," Pan reminded her.
"You're right about that. But everything's different this time. Everything is in harmony," Bra replied. She sighed. "Well, almost everything..."
Pan shoved her book into her bookbag. "Back to the Goten thing--"
"Shhhhhhh! What? Do you want the whole school to know?" Bra hissed.
"Sorry!" Pan whispered. "Anyway, I know my uncle. He's crazy about you, but he wants what's best for you. Besides, you'll probably be able to wait him out till he gives in. This little stalemate won't last long."
"It's been two whole weeks," Bra said. "I don't know how much longer I can go on with this 'just being friends' thing."
Pan grinned. "Well, if you're ready to move things along, then put him under a little pressure."
"How so?" Bra asked. This was interesting.
"Well, I'm not saying that you should jump into the sac with him," Pan said. She thought for a minute. "Although..." She shook her head. "No. Anyway, you could use your womanly charms in other ways."
"I don't have womanly charms," Bra told her. "Besides, I've tried everything... Almost everything..."
"You probably don't even flirt with the guy like you're supposed to," Pan commented.
"We're friends now, remember?" Bra said. "Friends don't flirt."
"Not on purpose. But if you accidentally flirted with him and showed him that you can be a lady while still playing the tough-girl role, you might be able to get through to him," Pan explained.
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Bra questioned.
"Hey, don't ask me. You're the one who wants him. You have to be willing to put in a little work for what you want," Pan told her. She smirked.
As soon as she said that, Goten came walking down the hall. "Goooooood morning, ladies. Hope you're ready for the big test today."
Bra was about to start talking, but Pan interrupted. "I'll be ready as soon as I take a trip to the little girls' room." She gave Bra a look, then hurried away.
Goten smiled at Bra, then went on unlocking the classroom door.
Bra stood and walked into the quiet classroom, taking her usual seat. It was nice to get to school early. The halls were quiet. There were no crowds around to interfer with the pleasant silence that surrounded them for at least another 15 minutes. It was magic hour. There was no longer a red-haired nuissance to get in her way during this perfect time alone with Goten. That counselor had transferred over a week ago. And good riddance, as far as Bra was concerned.
"So, this is where we see if your new tutor came in handy," Goten said. "You haven't really talked about Mr. Carnage's tutoring much. Has it been going okay?"
"Let's just say I've really got a handle on things this time," Bra answered.
Goten raised his eyebrows and nodded. "I sure hope so. I can't help feeling your power. I really hope we can get back to sparring soon. I want to see how much you've improved."
Bra smirked. "I can't guarantee it won't be the last thing you ever see." Ah. She was getting her old flare back now. Just the thought of putting her new found power up against Goten's thrilled her. After she passed this test she could just take it home to her mother and she would have to give her permission to at least fight someone again. It had been such a long time since she'd had a decent sparring partner. She could have easily sparred with her father, but she didn't want to do that until she'd tested her new strength. Then when she was sure that she was strong enough, she'd challenge her father to a rematch. She'd show him. But first she had a score to settle with this one.
"We'll just have to see about that, now won't we?" Goten said. He went into his briefcase and started thumbing through some papers.
Yeah, she had everything under control here.
Pan entered the room, followed by some other students. She looked at both Goten and Bra, frowned and walked over to her seat. "What is this? I left so you could flirt. What do you call this? Cause I know it ain't flirting."
Bra shushed Pan. "You know he might hear us. Just leave this to me."
"Whatever. You're never gonna get what you want like that," Pan said.
Bra ignored her. She'd learned to do that with this one. Pan tended to get annoying when she said more than 5 or 6 sentences during the course of a day.
And so the rest of the class entered and soon it was test time...
--End Everyone You Meet--
--Hello again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Versus 3. I know it was mostly yammering, and I know that was a huge jump in time and I know things are moving a little faster than they should, but I felt it was the right thing to do. Some of you may disagree. If so, let me know.
--As always, thanks for being there throughout these times. I know it's been hard to put up with my "troubles", but I hope that doesn't change your feelings toward the story. See ya next time.