Chapter 101 – A Learned Lesson

Sselekk sat at the table in the room he and Kkimira had been given, a deep groan occasionally escaping his mouth as he leaned back so far that his arms dangled behind him. "How could this happen?" he asked out loud.

"I get the feeling that it would have happened either way." his girlfriend said as she busied herself decorating the space. So far she had changed the sheets of the fluffy bed to nice dark green and blue patterned covers and brought some vases in for flowers.

"What do you mean?" Sselekk asked as he lifted his head to look at her.

"Think about it strategically." she said and finished making the bed, "Image, as young and talented as he is, would be perfect for placing in your enemy's employment. Not only could he feed you information about them, but if he steps out of line or if you just feel like it, you could kill his sister, and with that, he would also die and take all your enemies with him."

"Wait, so you think the Law Keeper was trying to plant him in this team so he could eventually use him as a bomb?" the large Sunik man asked.

"With what you've told me," she said in response as she now tried to arrange some more decorations, "I wouldn't put it past him."

"That's low." he said and stood up to begin helping around the room.

"I also get the feeling that the other Viziers were planning this coup for a while." she added, "Your mother was just so outgoing and personable that it made it hard for them to get her alone until now."

Sselekk chuckled as he unfolded a table cloth, "That sounds like her." he said and let the cloth slowly settle onto the table.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked suddenly, getting him to stop and stare at her.

"Beeeecause I care?" he asked unsure of the correct response.

Kkimira shook her head, a gentle smile on her face, "No, I meant why are you helping me instead of helping Rainbow Dash?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You know she's not ready to face the Law Keeper, not like this." she said.

He thought a moment, his eyes narrowed in confusion, "What do I do?" he asked as he lifted his eyes to look her in hers.

"Teach her." she said as she walked up to him and placed her hands on his chest, "Train them both. She must start watching out for herself and her gunner."

He sighed in defeat, "I'll talk to their coach, he's the one to make the final say." he said.

"I don't see anything wrong with {snort} it?" Tusks said flatly, he stood in the middle of a large room near the back of the garage, a large meeting table with chairs surrounding it placed right next to him and Breeze standing on his left. Sselekk and Rainbow Dash stood in front of him as the four of them spoke.

"WHAT?" Rainbow Dash asked as she stood there next to the large Sunik man, "I don't need training!"

"Yes, you do." Sselekk said almost instantly.

"What do you mean?" Breeze asked.

"She depends too much on you to protect her shields, she's a bit sloppy with some of her approaches and she's not properly anticipating her turns, especially at high speeds." he announced.

"HEY!" the pegasus growled.

"He's right R.D." Tusks said, "Last time you slid nearly to the complete edge of the track during one of your sharper turns."

"Tsh, that was one time!" she complained.

"No, it wasn't." Tusks said as his authority rose, "It happens every time you take a {snort} sharp enough turn. You've been slowly {snort} learning your machine. Yes, I {snort} know you learn best by doing, but {snort} the competition is way more advanced now. {snort} Don't forget, with Sselekk here in our garage, you {snort} now effectively have three Sunik ships {snort} once again trying to take you down, and one {snort} less ally on the field to help you out." This got the pegasus to look at him in surprise, and she listened more intently as he spoke. He finally exhaled his stress, and looked to the ground, "We're going to need every {snort} advantage we can get. It won't hurt to {snort} have a general train us on how to {snort} be better than we are now."

Rainbow looked to the ground in anger, she didn't like it one bit, so she mumbled her frustrations and puffed her cheeks in defiance. "Alright, so when do we start?" Breeze said with enthusiasm.

"Not you." the large Sunik man said, "Just her."

Tusks and Breeze looked at him as if the Ex-General had lost his mind, "I'm sorry, what?" the Treeopon said.

"I'm going to teach Rainbow Dash how to defend herself without her gunner." Sselekk repeated.

"You're going to throw off our synchronicity." Rainbow complained.

"No, I'm going to make sure your gunner can depend on you to protect him." the large Sunik said, "So far he's had to deflect every shot sent your way, that only works as long as there is only one ship trying to shoot you. Now, there are three of them, and I can't be your shield." that last part his voice softened, and he turned his head in both shame and defeat.

"You're just looking out for her, aren't you?" Breeze asked.

Sselekk nodded, "Law Keeper Kkelmar is aggressive, nearly ravenous when it comes to competition and battle. He thrives off of it, and will take any opportunity he can to demoralize his opponent. I saw what he's capable of when I released that killer, Mirikka, back into the wild." He shuddered at the thought, remembering those missing scales and the blood that dripped from them, "I'm not going to let him have an opportunity to figure out how to best torture a pony, especially the ones I call my friends." This statement surprised Rainbow Dash, her eyes opening wide in shock, "And since I can't be on the field to stop him, I'm going to protect you all the best way I know how. Rainbow Dash, prepare for the next days of your life to be the toughest you've ever had, I'm going to make you a master at piloting your racer whether you like it or not." He reached his finger to her, placing his claw gently on her nose as he did.

"Do I get a say in this?" she asked worriedly.

Tusks shrugged his arms.

The two of them were now below the surface of the planet, using the winding caves that Sselekk had traveled through to get there. The large Sunik man stood tall with his arms crossed over his chest as he glared at the pegasus. He now wore a uniform similar to the team's thanks to Image and Rarity, the tuft of hair died in the same fashion as Rainbow Dash's mane. She stared up at him both confused and intrigued. He had found a rather large pit filled with mud, and placed large metal poles in the mud to stick up at a distance, "How good is your balance?" he asked.

"Fine?" she said in response.

"Good, then you can stand on those poles." he commented, catching her off guard.

"WHAT?" she asked.

"It shouldn't be hard." he said as he grinned.

"Let's see you do it." she countered. He wordlessly made his way to a raised platform, though the pols and platform were only a few feet in the air, he took the first step; placing the toes of his boot to the pole, and stood there, perfectly balanced, his other leg bent in, while his arms rested on his back. Rainbow gulped in shock.

"The trick is to become one with the pole, just like you become one with your machine."

"Huh?" the pegasus asked as she watched him hop from pole to pole with perfect balance and precision.

"Treat it like an extension of your body, just like your wings, which by the way, you are not allowed to use for this exercise." he warned. She stiffened at his remark, "Yes, Applejack warned me about that." he said as he touched down from completing the course, "If you use your wings to do anything more than balance yourself or stop yourself from hitting the ground, you have to start over." he gently tapped her on the back of the head with his claw and pointed to the beginning of the course.

"But I walk on four legs." she argued, "You walk on two. The balance is going to be different."

"I have two arms that I can use like legs." he said, "I have a long tail that I can use like an arm, and you have wings that can flex like hands. The point of this exercise is to teach you how to adapt."

"Ugh!" she groaned and climbed to the top of the natural slope. She placed her front hoof on the pole, and it began to wiggle.

"Become one with the pole." he said and watched her try to lift herself up, only to have her hoof wiggle off the pole, and she fell into the mud with a shout. "I can tell this is going to take longer than anticipated." he said, and smiled, "Just like when I was young."