So yeah. This was interesting.
Time- Right before N’s post, and though to when she passes out. Includes Maria, Xio, Haxlia, Patrick, Krory, Hideki
~*Maria*~
During the past few months, I began to realize something. I was still weak. I only knew spark. I didn’t know what else I could do though, since my brother wasn’t around, and all I knew was the only way I could heighten my power was if he was around. It really started to eat away at me, and finally I decided to talk to Haxlia about it. Maybe she could train me more, or teach me more moves. I found her in her room, and spoke up to her. “Hax? I need to talk to you about something.” I said.
“Oh, alright, what is it?” She asked.
“Um, I, need more training.” I said. She blinked at me.
“Oh?” She asked.
“I only know spark. I know it isn’t going to be good enough for the war.” I said softly. “Teach me more?” I asked. She ran her fingers through her hair.
“Well, I’m not an electric type, but, I bet I can get someone to help.” She said.
“Really?! Wow yes! Yes!” I agreed. She smiled a little.
“You’re, sure? You really want this extra training?” She asked. I crossed my arms seriously in front of me.
“Yes. I am sure. I’ll do anything.” I nodded.
“Anything?” She raised her eyebrow.
“…Anything.” I said softly.
“Fine, you want extra training, you got it.” She smiled. “But not from me.”
“Ok.” I said.
“Come with me.” She said. I followed closely behind, and looked up at the back of her head.
“Where are we going, am I going to train now?” I asked. I had only just asked if I could have more training, I didn’t realize that it would start immediately.
“Yep, Xio will train you.” She said. I stopped dead.
“W-What?” I stuttered.
“It’s ok Maria, he’s an electric type, and he’ll help…with a little, persuasion.” She stopped and smiled kindly at me. “If you really want this, you’ll follow through. I believe in you Maria. You can do anything you set your mind to.” She lightly bopped my nose with her finger and I smiled a little.
“Ok.” I nodded. We got outside, and I froze when I saw Xio sparing with the new guy, Hideki.
“If you’re nervous Maria, hide behind the tree for now, come out when I tell you to though.” She said. I did that immediately, and tried to breathe deep and slow. Since the first day I met Xio, he had scared me, for reasons I wasn’t completely sure. Maybe it was his dominating attitude, or the way his eyes pierce right through you, or how it seemed everyone around was worthless to him. Even his girlfriend, Kiki. Which was one thing I didn’t understand. I never really saw them be affectionate towards each other. Well, at least in public. Maybe it was different behind closed doors. Does he really love her? And if he doesn’t, what kind of relationship is that? I shook my head, trying to dismiss my thoughts of all of this.
“What if he has, like, mind reading powers? No, then he heard everything I was thinking and he’ll kill me and leave my scraps for Patrick to find, oh no…” I whispered and proceeded to internally explode.
“...HEY MARIA GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE!” Hax yelled. I poked my head out from behind the tree, and saw Xio looking at me.
“Eep!” I pull my head back a little. I didn’t know what he was going to do. ‘Get a hold of yourself Maria…’ I stepped out completely, but didn’t dare approach him. He gave Hax a glare as she dragged Hideki away. I felt kind of bad for him actually. I hoped Hax would be nice to the new guy. Once Xio looked back at me. I fixed my posture the best I could, and tried to hide the fact I was shaking uncontrollably, my breathing slightly erratic. If I didn’t get myself under control, I would have a panic attack. Xio had his hand behind his head, just looking at me. Sweat ran down my neck. What was I doing here? There was no way I could do this. “Umm…” I made the mistake of letting a sound escape my lips, then suddenly made accidental eye contact with him. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking or feeling. He put his arm out like he was going to touch me, and I flinched slightly.
“Don’t touch her!” I saw a flash of purple in front of me, and Xio stepped back. A few paces to my right, Patrick stood there, looking furious.
“Pa-Patrick!” I ran over to him, relief flooding over me. I knew Patrick wouldn’t let Xio do anything to me. He pushed me behind him protectively. It felt good, knowing someone cared enough to put themselves in the line of fire for me. I’ve never had a shield like that before, but thinking about what was happening right now, I felt…guilty? Why was I feeling guilty?
“I don’t approve of this!” He yelled at Xio. I was surprised with how he was talking to Xio. The old Patrick would never have done that. I peeked around him, and Xio picked up some of the wet, heavy late winter snow off the ground, and formed it into a ball.
“Approve of this? Do I really look like I care if I train her or not?” Xio questioned.
“Regardless, I don’t trust you with her.” ‘Patrick…’ “You are the total opposite of her, cruel, mean, and rather scary and I can’t trust a man like that with Maria. You surely will kill her-“ I saw the back of Patrick’s hair puff up slightly, as well as his tail, and I looked around and up at his face. Snow slid down his skin and his face was cold as a killer, but he didn’t move. I looked at Xio, looking as arrogant as ever.
“I didn’t ask you for a damn lecture pussy cat! Now that you evolved, you think your litter box doesn’t stink? Think again damn Liepard! You still have a long ways to go if you want to talk down to me…” I blinked and Xio was gone, I went to open my mouth, but I felt someone wrap their arm around my waist, and it wasn’t Patrick. I yelped, and Xio had me over his shoulder.
“Put me down! PLEASE! Put me down!” I cried out, trying anything to get away. I kicked, and hit his back, but nothing phased him. I couldn’t see Patrick anymore, and I was so panicked. I regretted this. I regretted agreeing to this. I should have just kept my mouth shut like I always did. Then, I heard a boisterous voice.
“YOOS A BAD KITTY!” Uh oh. Krory. “Aye aye! Xio naw bother with ta newly evolved, I got this one!” No, no she was going to take Patrick away…I would be alone again…
“You know what Patrick,” I felt a hand move up my thigh a little and I winced, my face getting hot. I felt anger bubble in my stomach, mixed with embarrassment. No one touched me like that; Patrick was the only one I would allow, and want, to do that to me. “I’ll make sure I break her in and kill her good, ciao!” I saw the blurred figures of Patrick and Krory disappear quickly, and I continued shaking like a leaf. We stopped after a couple minutes, and I felt my body hit the ground roughly, and I crawled away from Xio, to what seemed to me to be a semi safe distance away.
"STOP STOP STOP!!! Leave me alone!!! PLEASE PLEASE!" I really was on my own now, and I was absolutely drowning in fear. I defensively stuck out my hand in front of me, even though I knew it wouldn’t stop him from doing whatever he wanted.
“Damn woman, are you always going to hide behind your damn pussy cat of a boyfriend?” He scoffed. His outline became fuzzy, and I knew the wetness in my eyes was apparent.
“Don’t say such things about Patrick…” I tried defending him clumsily. Xio bent down in front of me, and I held my breath.
“But what I am saying is true isn’t it?”
“True?” I breathed. What was he saying exactly? He took my chin in his hand, adjusting my head so I was forced to look at him directly.
“You really want to ALWAYS be protected by your boyfriend.” He stated. I felt him put his claw to my chest, and his tone changed, more intense. “You’ll get him killed, care to have that always be on your mind?” I was on my knees at this point, and I didn’t move an inch. It was true. It was all true. The guilty feeling from before. It was because I had always known I was a liability, and not an asset. I was useless, no, worse than useless, I was a hindrance. My breathing became erratic again, but I stayed silent. Before, I would have broke down, cried. And just waited around for someone to save me, but this time, I was going to save myself, and change. I wasn’t going to be a weakness anymore. I was going to become a strength. Standing up slowly, I addressed Xio in a calm tone for the first time.
“Yes, I want to prove to him I am strong enough to fight on my own.” I said.
“Oh really?” He crossed his arms.
“Well…I mean yeah…obviously I am scared of you but…you are right I do need to get stronger and not rely on Patrick. So please teach me.” I looked him directly in the eyes. Nothing would get accomplished through tears. I realized now the only way I was going to get stronger, to protect Patrick, was through action. Xio looked around.
“I’d say it’s nearly around 6 in the afternoon. Alright…” His claws grew longer, and his signature smirk spread across his face. “I am going to teach you 3 electrical moves, Thunderbolt, Wild Charge, and Discharge in 3 hours…” He paused and I took that opportunity to tell him what I was hearing.
“But that’s only 1 move per hour.” I stated.
“Who said I was only teaching you 3 damn tramp?” He glared a little at me.
“What?” What in the world was he going to put me through?! My wrist was roughly taken, and he pulled me close to him. I placed my hand on his chest, ensuring there was some kind of space still between us. I didn’t look away from his eyes though. That would be a sign of weakness. He, of course, didn’t look away either.
“I said to Patrick I was going to break you in. 4 moves won’t be enough to fight. I am going to force you to learn 3 mores attacks that will benefit your type. So you will have a total of 7 attacks you can perform.” He said as-a-matter-of-factly.
“I-I don’t like this already.” I stuttered, unable to hide the fact I truly was scared.
“Enough with your jabbering, time to get your ass in gear and if you die its your own fault. You’ll also learn how to use Fake Tears since many of the people you may come across will be men, it’s a good idea to use such an attack so they pity you since your boyfriend already does a good amount of that.”
“HEY!” I actually yelled at him. And all he did was shrug.
“You will also learn Substitute since that will be beneficial to trick the enemy if we are in a bind...such as throwing in a decoy while comrades escape. Lastly, I am going to force you to make you grow up, put on your big girl underwear, and use that bitchy voice of yours. You’ll learn Echoed Voice as well since everyone knows…” He picked at his ear and mumbled. “Every guy hates listening to a woman yell at him…total defeat.” He finished talking, and I blinked. I had to do this. I couldn’t stop and turn back now. I put my hands in front of me, and bounced lightly.
“Alright I am ready, even if it kills me…” I was serious. If I didn’t get through this, I might as well be dead anyway, since it would save Patrick in the end. If I couldn’t get through this, then for Patrick’s sake, I hoped I would die. I heard a small chuckle from Xio, and his eyes started to get brighter, and glow.
“You might regret those words later.” No. I wouldn’t.
~*~
“Are you kidding me?! Get up!” Xio yelled. I had fallen within 10 minutes. I did, and got into my stance once more.
~*~
30 minutes later, and I was making progress. But I was beginning to feel everything, and my knees gave out once in a while. Xio would just tell me to get up, or he would kill me. Since I knew he would have no problem doing that, I forced my self up.
~*~
“I-I…” I was face down in the melting snow, blood dripping from my fingers.
“Get up.” Xio commanded. I only felt pains sting. Maybe I should just give up, and die. “You pathetic waste of air!” He kicked me and a fire lit deep inside me. I got back up.
“Call me that again, see what happens.” I said through gritted teeth. He smirked.
“You pathetic waste of air.” He hissed. I went after him, determined to prove him wrong.
~*~
“And, that’s the last move.” Xio said.
“I, d-did it?” I whispered. I couldn’t breathe. My clothes were merely strips covering me up now, but I didn’t care. If Xio had wanted to do something to me, he would have done it by now. I felt nothing, and everything at the same time.
“That’s correct.” He said. “Now you have to practice, and perfect. My job is done.” He said.
“I, did it…myself…now, Patrick won’t, won’t get hurt…because, because…of…” I allowed myself to fall. My objective was complete, and I couldn’t hang on anymore, and slipped into welcoming, and comforting, darkness. I hoped that when, or if, I woke up, Patrick would be with me. I hoped that he would be proud of me.
