"What's wrong Nalien?" Aquilla asks in bored tone while sitting down in the restaurant. "What do you mean?" Nalien responds with a puzzled look on his face. "You have been acting more man whorish than usual and I know you don't have feelings for me so whats going on?" Nalien was blindsided by the question but eventually regained his composure and grins a nervous smile.
"What makes you so sure that something is wrong? Maybe I'm trying something new." Nalien says while avoiding eye contact. Aquilla then gives him a look of confusion.
"What do you mean?" she asks still slightly confused. Nalien takes a deep breath and decides it would be better to tell the truth.
"Look, I'm not just the confidently sexy man you know and love. I have feelings too." Nalien says making Aquilla spit take from trying not to laugh.
"Anyway" Nalien says getting her attention again. "Lately I've been feeling that I am not wanted. That there is no one out there for me. I guess I've been with more women because the women I want doesn't know I exist." he says with a sigh but continues anyway "I asked you out on a whim and I know that might have been wrong but I guess I wanted to see what it was like to go out with an intelligent woman." Aquilla seeing the usually cheerful Nalien come clean like that causes her to turn kind of maternal.
"So the reason you have asked me out was basically because you thought I was smart?" Aquilla asks with a raised eyebrow causing Nalien to smile weakly and shrug his shoulders. Aquilla then goes and sits on the other side of the table next to Nalien.
"What are you..." Nalien's question was interrupted by Aquilla putting up a finger. "I need you to listen to me okay?" Aquilla says with a motherly smile on her face. Nalien only nods in response. "I think the reason you feel this way is because you hang around Quatra and Leiko a little too much and this girl you little. I think that if you distance yourself from the happy couple for a while and go after this girl that you like in the end it will help these feelings go away permanently."
"but what if she doesn't want me? Nalien asks too ashamed to look at her. Aquilla then puts a hand on his shoulder which makes Nalien look at her again.
"What's you're name?" Aquilla asks losing the motherly smile for a drill sergeants scowl.
"Nalien Elvis"
"Are you a man or a woman?" Aquilla asks confusing Nalien.
"A man obviously" Nalien answers timidly.
"Really?" Aquilla asks with a raised eyebrow. "Cause all the men I know wouldn't be crying about whether or not they can or cannot get a girlfriend." she then stands up and points at Nalien with the same scowl. "Grow some balls private!"
"Okay" Nalien says still too ashamed to look at her.
"What was that?" Aquilla says while staring at him.
"Maam yes Maam!" Nalien responds while standing at attention.
"Good" Aquilla says. She then goes and sits down in her original seat across from him causing Nalien to sit back down as well. When the waitress comes back they order what they want and continued on as usual. Everything was fine until they were interrupted by the sound of laughter coming from behind Nalien.
"Oh my god that was hilarious" Leiko says while walking towards the table with Quatra who is holding his head in shame.
"You heard that?" Nalien asks while looking down to avoid eye contact with Quatra.
"How could we not hear sergeant serious yelling at private dumbass to "Grow some balls"" Leiko saying the last part with air quotes.
"How much did you hear?" Nalien asks while also holding his head in shame.
"We came in right around "Are you a man or a woman?"" Quatra says finally breaking his silence while removing his hand from his head to stare at Nalien who had his head in both of his hands. "So we didn't hear why she was telling you to grow a pair."
"Quatra, Leiko, what are you two even doing here?" Aquilla asks with a bored tone while looking at the pair.
"Isn't it obvious?"Leiko says smiling then grabs Quatra's arm. "We're on a date too?" saying this while looking at Quatra who is hanging his head and using his free hand to facepalm.
"But why here?" Nalien asks rather annoyed.
"Relax we won't be here long" Quatra says remembering why they came. "As long as you adhere to my demand." he says with an evil grin causing Nalien and Aquilla to cringe.
"What do you mean?" Nalien asks while narrowing his eyes at Quatra. Quatra then holds out his hand and stares right at him.
"3,000 jewel." Quatra says while staring at Nalien.
"What?" Nalien asks kind of taken back. "Why so much?"
"Don't ask questions?" Quatra asks hand still out while he narrows his eyes at Nalien causing him to grab his wallet and pulls out the amount the Quatra asked for.
As Nalien handed Quatra the money, Aquilla's wristband starts to glow signaling for the first fight of the SCEs.
"Sorry Nalien but it looks like this is where I take my leave" Aquilla says while getting up to leave.
"Good luck" Leiko says while waving at Aquilla as she leaves the restaurant to fight.
"Bye Aquilla" Nalien says kind of sad that he is being left dateless. "It's always me, isn't it?" he thinks to himself as he watches her walk away with a weak smile on his face.
"Well then, I think this is where we take our leave." Quatra says while grabbing Nalien's shoulder. Quatra then turns to leave but remembers something.
"I told Sahara where you lived and she should be there by now." Quatra says reminding Nalien that he allowed Sahara to stay with him.
"So at least you won't be lonely" Leiko adds with a smile while turning to follow Quatra. "Stay safe okay."
"Yeah yeah" Nalien says to get the pair out of his hair. Quatra and Leiko leave right after that out the back door leaving Nalien alone at the table when the waitress comes back with the food.
"Problems with your date?" the waitress asked seeming genuinely interested with a smile.
"Yeah I got more problems than I can handle at the moment." he says with a laugh while running his fingers through his hair.
"Well I go on break in 5 minutes, how about I join you?" The waitress says while putting down the food. "I see you have an extra plate of food." she says with a laugh. "and I'm great with listening."
"I would like that." Nalien says with a smile while looking up at the stunning waitress. The waitress then turns to go back into the kitchen.
"See you soon" she says with a wink as she walks away. While she is walking away Nalien can't help but think she is the most beautiful women he has ever laid eyes on.
Meanwhile, Aquilla is being led to the place where her fight takes place by a glowing red orb of pure magic energy that came out of her wristband. "I wonder who my first victim is?" she asks herself with a smirk as the orb took her to what looked like the abandoned factory. When she arrives she notices someone familiar waiting for her.
"So your my opponent tonight" Misha says with her signature smile. "Well then I was looking forward to a good fight and the exams delivered."
Aquilla watches Misha who has started to walk towards her. Aquilla then grabs her sword and stands at the ready. "Lets get started, shall we?" Aquilla says with a slight grin.
Misha starts the fight by charging at Aquilla with her fist cocked back. Aquilla keeping her cool uses her sword to write a rune that created an invisible wall that blocks Misha's path. Misha seeing this coming stops right in front of the wall and stares at Aquilla who has a small grin on her face.
"There is more than one way to win these fights." Aquilla says to Misha. "You can be stronger than your opponent or smarter." she says while using her free hand to point at her head.
"Is that so" Misha says with a smile. "I guess flying in blind is kind of a bad thing." she giggles. She then stops giggling and stares at her opponent with a determined look. "But your making one mistake."
"And what would that be?" Aquilla asked with an amused look on her face.
"You're underestimating me." Misha says. Misha then does something that shocks Aquilla. "Wind Dragons..."
"You're a dragon slayer!" Aquilla says eyes wide in shock.
"Roooaaaarrrr" Misha says as she releases a whirlwind from her mouth at the wall Aquilla made. The wind made contact but the wall didn't break. When the wind dissipates, Misha is gone from her spot. Aquilla looks to her left but Misha's fist comes from the right and sends Aquilla into the wall. Aquilla gets up and tries to write a rune to stop Misha but before that can happen she gets caught with a wind aided kick to her ribs which causes her to slide on her feet backwards about ten feet. Aquilla gathers herself again only to see Misha sitting down in the chair ten feet away from her.
"See" Misha says with that smile. "I told you that you underestimated me."
"If I can't slow her down I guess I'll have to speed up" Aquilla thinks to herself. Aquilla then writes runes for speed and wings on her chest causing a release of magic energy that makes Misha stand and stare. When Aquilla emerged, she had large black angel wings and a serious look on her face.
"You have my full attention now." Aquilla says as she stares down the dragon slayer in front of her.
"Good" Misha said the smile gone now replaced with a serious look. "It was starting to get boring."
Elsewhere, at the waterfall on the outskirts of town, another fight was going on. Ken Hitoshi and Jin Soul are currently trading blows on the rocks at the top of the waterfall. Ken Hitoshi seems to have the upper hand while he has one of his chains to hold him in place and the other attached to Jin's Halberd. Ken then pulls the halberd causing Jin to let it go. When Jin let it go, he used his water magic to speed up the current and also the amount of water so that they both fall 100 feet to the rapids below. Since Jin controlled water he would be okay but Ken would fall and the impact would knock him out.
"Or kill him." Jin thought not really bothered by the idea. Jin's plan was working wonderfully, Ken tried to use his chains to stay in place but the current was too strong. They both fall over the waterfall. Jin was able to use the water at the bottom to catch him, but watched as Ken fell about 50 feet until he was caught by a fox spirit.
"Maya, what are you doing here des?" Ken asked barely coherent as she put him down next to the waterfall.
"I came here to cheer you on silly." Maya said with a toothy smile. Maya's smile immediately turned into a scowl when she saw Jin walk back to the guild. "He was really going to let you fall even though it might have killed you."
"That man is a fighting genius des" Ken said while watching Jin walk away. "I guess this is my loss, Jin."
Back at the other fight, Misha and Aquilla became pretty evenly matched. Both were stopping to regroup, and both were covered in bruises and cuts as they stare each other down. Both waiting to find a mistake in the other. As Misha catches her breath, Aquilla begins to sing. Misha realizing whats happening covers her ears with her hands and prepares her biggest roar to silence Aquilla. Aquilla noticing the lack of defense continues to sing as she walks toward the dragon slayer. When Aquilla get to about 5 feet away Misha releases the roar on Aquilla point blank range. The roar was so intense that it made a large hole through the factory wall.
"Direct hit" Misha says as she removes her hands from her ears thinking she had won. What she didn't realize was that Aquilla dodged at the last second fully aware of the dragon slayers plan. Aquilla had used a speed boost to get out of the way, she used her speed to bounce off the wall on the other side of the factory and catching Misha with a well placed kick to the jaw that knocked her out instantly as she flew into the wall.
"This is my win, Misha" Aquilla says as she turns to walk away. As she walks away Aquilla's vision starts to blur and she begins to fall forward only to be caught by Tushika.
"Ready to go home?" Tushika asks with a smile on his face. He did not receive a response because Aquilla had already passed out on his chest causing Tushika to have to hold her up. "I'll take that as a yes."
As Tushika is walking down the street carrying Aquilla, Tushika notices his best friend carrying his girlfriend on his back. They both stop when they notice each other.
"You know this is two days in a row I've seen you carrying her." Tushika says with a laugh while adjusting Aquilla. "Are you sure she isn't going out with you just for the free lifts."
"You're a riot today" Quatra says sarcastically. Then Quatra remembers something important. "You remember what tomorrow is right?"
"Yes, its the day that master loses his magic and gets sick." Tushika says with a worried look on his face. "But at least its only one day a year right?"
"Yeah" Quatra said with a serious tone as he starts walking towards his home. He stop and turns to Tushika. "I have a bad feeling about tomorrow, so watch your back."
"You too Quatra" Tushika says then turns to walk to his home.
There is Chapter 5 so please read and review
Sorry it took so long I had family matters to deal with.
Hopefully I can turn out the next Chapter in a couple of days till then
Peace out