Thank Mrs. Frodo Baggins for this chapter. Im glad you like it enough to message me about it XD~ JC
"You are one sharp cookie Dimak, girl got beaten up on her first day because of your foul choice of placement."
"Ah but these are the results I look for Colonel Graff."
"Dimak I thought you cared about this girl and you put her deliberately in harm's way?"
"You are misunderstanding me sir. I did not place her there for the intentions that she be attacked, but to teach both her and Bonzo Madrid a lesson."
"And what lesson might that be?"
"Lessons to be correct sir."
"Ok so what are these 'lessons?"
"Bonzo needs to learn that he can't control everyone with pure brutality and fear."
"And Anastasia?"
"She needs to learn that there are people in life you can't just walk all over. She has to learn, no matter the consequences, that she can't get by as a loner the rest of her life, respecting only her own thoughts."
"What about her sister?"
"That is why I separated them, so she would truly be alone."
...
"You are to do nothing in practice today. Just bounce around and try to stay out of our way as you acquaint yourself with the Null-G." Bonzo ordered of Ana. Ana's bruises were beginning to fade but life in the Salamander army wasn't getting much better. She had lost any respect she had gained that day when Bonzo and his thugs beat her to the ground. No one wanted to be her friend. Petra was the only one she could have a conversation with, but even then somebody shooed them apart.
"So basically you aren't going to teach me crap." She sighed, and her arm flinched as his hand moved, ready to protect herself if he made a move to strike her again.
"Yes that is basically it. You aren't learning crap or being placed in a Toon, until you learn who the boss is." Bonzo informed her.
"Can't you just transfer me already?" Ana groaned.
"No and precisely for the reason that you asked. I will break you, I always win." Bonzo lectured. He waved for the army to start into the practice area, but stopped Ana as she tried to go in. "I'm not done with you."
"What else do you want man?" she lost her temper again and he tightly squeezed with the hand that confined her on her shoulder until it hurt.
"You didn't say yes sir." Oh he was pushing it now. "Say it. Yes sir."
"As you wish master." She rolled her eyes and her words dripped with sarcasm.
"Cut the attitude."
"Cut your attitude!" Ana snapped in return. She learned that he wouldn't slap her outside of the barracks, cautious of teachers and adults.
"You are so…" he was trying to control his temper.
"You know if you were a little nicer you wouldn't have this much of a problem with me. I think the real issue is you don't realize I am not scared of you, and I never will be. Anastasia Perkins ain't scared of nothen, especially pinpricks like you who think they rule the world." She went on haughtily, hands crossed across her chest.
"You won't win. You lost the last battle and you will lose again." He hissed.
"I don't win battles sir, I win wars." She sniffed. His eye twitched rapidly and she couldn't help herself. Her tongue slipped out of her mouth and wagged tauntingly at him. Before he could snap out another retort, she skipped backwards into the Null-G, making sure to push off effectively enough to reach the corresponding wall. She squeaked as she almost propelled into another kid, but their paths didn't connect.
This is harder than I anticipated… she began to understand as she grabbed hold of the wall she landed on. She clung to it and analyzed the situation. Everyone else already had a handle on it, but she would be lucky to even get advice on how to move. Bonzo came in after her and landed next to her.
"Not so easy is it private?" he jeered, smirking at her lack of mobility.
"Private? I consider myself to be very public thank you very much." She ignored the initial message and looked back down at the Salamander Army. Bonzo rolled his eyes but got onto more important training matters as he bounced away from her. She gripped the wall, unable to figure an exact place to go. Nobody would help her figure it out either, they were too busy being a team.
I didn't even want to come to this place… she thought sadly, for this exact reason. I knew I would be alone. Her eyes slowly closed.
"Look out!" someone screeched and her eyes snapped open as she saw a kid hurtling helplessly towards her. She gasped and jumped off the wall, a bit more powerfully then planned. She twisted in midair, bouncing off the wall she was trying to grab and she flailed her arms to right herself.
She fell into someone, whom wrapped their arms around her as they bounced off another wall. However, since this person had some skills, then stopped at the next wall. A familiar hiss filled her ear and she paled.
"What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to get your team killed? Someone could have gotten hurt!" The ever scolding tone in Bonzo's voice filled her head and she winced. Everyone was looking at her as if saying their goodbyes. Oh thanks guys, she mentally glared at them.
"I was just trying to get out of the way! If you had just showed me what to do like you were supposed to-"
"I told you to stay out of the way and figure it out yourself. If you aren't even smart enough to figure out the basic workings of Null-G, then you don't belong in this school." He harshly berated. His true was certainly merciless like his leadership tactics.
Anastasia was silent, staring at the appalled faces of spectators. He had hit a nerve, one she was sorely aware of. "You're right... I don't belong here..." She uttered, barely audible, but Bonzo could still make it out. "That's why I didn't want to be here. I love being on the ground, I love my horses, I love my mother, my father, and all my friends. What I don't love, is sorry punk assholes trying their damnedest to be grown when in fact they are still kids. You're right for once sir, I don't belong here." She had half a mind to push away his arms but that would only further her humiliation. She refused to show how shamed she felt, and kept on a simple poker face.
Was this the point where I'm supposed to break down crying, she asked herself in her head and smiled a little. I guess crying just isn't my thing. Real emotions really weren't ever my thing... Except anger. I have no problem showing everyone that.
"Then why are you here?" Bonzo sounds so bitter. I wonder what could have made a boy think he had to push people down to prove a point? Anastasia tilted her head and looked at his face. He wasn't as tough as he acted, she knew that, but maybe there was something more to him.
"I'm here to support my sister."
"...what a Dull Bob." On second thought, maybe he is just a round about jerk. Her eye twitched and she looked away again, grinning with agitation as she held in her temper.
The more immature younger students giggled at his response, but one look at Anastasia's face and they shut their traps good. She heard one even dare to whisper, "Eek a witch!" She rolled her eyes.
"So... Does the marubo want to keep holding on or is he gonna let go?" See I know slang too, she smirked to herself silently. She was of course referring to the still solidly wrapped arm around her waist
"I will once the piff grabs the wall." He retaliated. She grumbled and grabbed ahold of the wall, feeling his hold loosen. He hesitated as if making sure she was secure, mumbling, then moved away from her. Her eyes followed him, watching how he moved. How does he move so smooth? She pondered. She slid down along the wall to her own private corner to practice.
Ana believed she had a basic understanding of movement by the time the practice was over. She waited until everyone else had left before she followed on out. Hitting the solid ground again felt odd to her and she reeled to the side, stumbling. Her shoulder was gripped to balance her, and she was looking down at Petra.
"You know how to cause a scene, neh?" Petra whistled, bringing up the incident.
"Eh, I guess so. But it's his fault. Why doesn't he just have someone teach me?" She sighed in frustration.
"He doesn't want to waste the effort." She simply put it.
"What do you mean?"
"You said it yourself: You don't belong here. Everyone knows it. If you want to be taught, then you have to prove to him you're worth something. You have to motivate him to help you." Petra prodded her shoulder as if that helped her point.
"And how do I do that? The boy is thickhead." Anastasia groaned, thinking it over.
"Make him like you." Petra suggested.
"Ha! Like that will ever happen. You see how he hates me right?" She scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Something tells me you aren't looking close enough. Did you notice at all that he was worried about you earlier?" She smiled knowingly. Anastasia blinked at her, in complete ignorance. "Think about it." Petra walked away from her, and Ana was left alone there.
She processed through the scene again. "What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to get your team killed? Someone could have gotten hurt!" He said someone instead of they, implying she could have been the someone. He also made sure she was safely on the wall before letting go. And why would he have wrapped his arms around her in the first place instead of saving himself? Now what was it he mumbled?
Anastasia's profiling came to an end as she recalled the words. "Be more careful next time, neh?" It wasn't just the words though, it was the tone. She awed at the wall with this new outlook. Had Bonzo Madrid really been looking out for her?
Perhaps her theory of more to him wasn't so insane after all.
So I have to make him like me? She wondered. And how the hell am I supposed to do that? Anastasia had been faced with the greatest challenge of her lifetime, something she had never had to do before... Make a friend.
To Be Continued...