Learning
to Walk Again
By:
Sinead
Chapter
Thirteen
Dinobot
dodged through the pillars, with me following carefully. The others were
following behind me, following my path. I chose only the most stable-looking
obstacles, leaving the others alone. Talon’s longsword was useless in this
tight area. Dinobot’s sword was much shorter, but wider. It was slightly
longer than his arm, which was ideal in the style that my father and I used.
Finally,
he turned, pushed off of the obstacle in front of him, and flew upwards, over
Talon’s head and landing upon the boy. He rolled free, and then remained in a
“guard” position. With a yell, Talon rushed at him, and thrust his sword at
Dinobot’s mid-section. My husband dodged it to the side, but with a deep yell,
drove the tip of his borrowed sword through Talon’s, pinning it to
the obstacle, almost half-way to the hilt. Talon tried tugging it free, but
Dinobot leapt up, and kicked him away, towards open ground again. I watched, as
Talon snarled, “I’ll fight you for her!”
“Why
would she want that?!” Dinobot replied, throwing a left punch at Talon’s
shoulder. Something cracked, and I felt pain from Dinobot, radiating from his
fist. But on the outside, if you were only watching him, he was in no pain
whatsoever.
“Why
not?!” Talon replied, clutching his shoulder.
“You
don’t know her at all, do you,” Dinobot replied softly, slowly flexing his
left hand.
[Stop
doing that, Dinobot. You broke your wrist.]
[I
know. It’ll heal in a moment.]
Talon
sneered, and kicked out at Dinobot’s chin. He caught it as a glancing blow,
and skidded backwards, but rolled out of it, and stood, rubbing the armor.
“Talon, you idiot. Why would she allow herself to be won over by a show of
force? You know that is not who she is!”
Talon
didn’t answer, but Dinobot put the flexible armor to use, and rolled close to
Talon, then pulled an impressively flexible move, by still crouching close to
the ground, and kicking up, pulling off an almost-split. Talon doubled over in
pain, holding his arms close to his stomach, where I saw a dent the size of
Dinobot’s armored foot. The announcer was mentioning things quickly, always
ready to cut himself off, if one of the two said something. Even his
almost-raucous voice, and way of talking about the fighters, was gone, replaced
by a quick, intense comment.
I
felt no pain from Dinobot, as a result of the kick, so I called over quietly, [Should
I ask how you’re that flexible, and why you don’t have pain while other men
would? You forget to tell me something?]
He
chuckled inwardly, and replied, [No. You’ll find out, though . . . soon
enough . . .]
I
sighed. [Dinobot, get those kind of thoughts out of your mind. Focus.]
Talon
looked up at Dinobot, and then straightened suddenly, loosening the chin-guard,
and lifting his helmet up, spitting blood. “Got me good. Any last words?”
Dinobot
pulled his arms up, resting lightly in an unarmed fighting stance. Before
anything could happen, though, a shadow passed over me. I looked up, and saw a
red . . . a red dragon fly overhead. I looked back at Dinobot, but he was
looking at Talon, watching him carefully. I looked back up, and he dropped
something down, but it clattered on top of the fence. It fell through, and
between the two fighters. I blinked at it, then looked up at the dragon. It
flapped, and then flew off. Dinobot glanced at it. [Alessa, I’m going to
throw it over to you. Get ready.]
[Will
do. What is it?]
[A
message that my Spark received the second it hit the ground. Catch!]
He
moved so quickly, that he seemed to be blurring, and I brought my hands up just
in time, to catch a type of laptop, and stumble back into Fear. He looked at me,
and helped me stand again. I watched, as he kicked Talon’s legs out from under
him, and then leapt away. Already, I sensed that his hand was getting better.
Talon, though, was a wreck. And he kept getting back up. I felt bad for him, I
guess.
But
what he pulled a moment later, stopped all pity then and there.
A
flash of silver, at a rare moment when Dinobot’s guard wasn’t as high as it
had been.
Pain
flooded his left side, up . . . almost by his . . .
I
yelled, and ran over, not caring that my helmet was off. My sword was drawn, and
I stood between Dinobot, who was laying on the ground, breathing hard, wheezing,
and Talon, who held his hand out to me. I moved my sword in warning, but he kept
it still. I glared at him. I didn’t recognize my own voice. “Get away from
my husband.”
He
looked as if he were in shock. “What?!”
“Back
off. Get out of my sight. Get out.”
The
others stood around Dinobot, who was coming to. I hissed back at him, “Stay
down.”
“Alessa
. . .”
“Dinobot,
do as I say.”
He
was silent, but I heard him relax back against the ground softly. Itosugi
appeared behind Talon in his old fighting armor, sword bared and with guards
backing him. He called over, “They were married shortly after they met. I was
one of the witnesses to them. Now, if you don’t mind coming with me, you’ll
face less time in jail.”
Talon
turned back towards me, revealing another dagger, and readying it for a strike.
I cleared my mind, and then in a blitz of kicks and blows with the flat of my
blade, I knocked him closer to the guards. He tried to stab at my face, but I
ducked it, and elbowed him sharply where Dinobot had left a dent. He made a
“hurk” noise, and spat up blood again. The guards grabbed him, pinning him
down and relieving him of his weaponry, while Kedamono and I ran back to
Dinobot. Brute had already taken his helmet off, and when he saw me, Yokio
Dinobot smiled weakly, his face pale and drawn with pain. I sighed, and said,
“I think the secret’s out about you.”
“Yeah,”
he replied. “If we weren’t . . . I’d be a goner.”
“Got
your heart, didn’t he.”
“It’ll
heal. Small incision.”
Brute
and Fear looked at me in shock. The smaller fighter stuttered, “Jett hit what?!”
I
tapped the handle of the dagger, and Yokio winced. I looked up at his face, and
he closed his eyes, balling his fists. I sighed, and said, “You know this is
going to be messy.”
“Oh,
get it the slag over with.”
I
pulled the dagger free, pushing my hand against the wound quickly, but the blood
slipped by my armor. I couldn’t staunch the blood flow at all. Kedamono handed
me a few towels, and I wadded one, while handing one to Brute, who looked as if
he was going to pass out. “Cut that into strips. Hurry, please.”
He
did, and I carefully had the guys pull Yokio upwards, slowly, so that I could
get a few under him. I tied them around the wadded towel, which was starting to
turn red. Finally, I pushed the third towel against the first, and leaned
forward, kissing my husband. “You’re lucky, you know that?”
“I
hurt.”
“I
know.”
“Ugh
. . .”
I
chuckled, and judged the he was safe to move. We started to lift him, but he
shook his head. “Let me walk.”
“But–”
Termination started to say.
I
cut him off, saying, “You walked off when you broke your leg three years ago.
This is no different. Trust me on that.”
He
sighed, and nodded. Brute supported his right side, while I supported his left,
still holding the towels against the wound. The crowd rose to their feet,
cheering madly, as we left the arena. I looked to Kedamono, who was smiling as
he opened the doors for us. Ronna was standing there. She held a large first-aid
kit under her arm, standing by our rooms. The other fighters were all working
together with each other and with security, keeping the media at bay far from
where we were, letting us pass without having flashes going off in our faces.
Fear opened the door, and my mother and father were in the room, spreading two
blankets over a plastic sheet that was covering the high examination bed. We
laid Yokio down. I cut the towels free, as I heard the announcement.
“A
representative of the arenas
I
didn’t even look up to Brute as I called his name, while Dad told Termination
to go. The two left, and I finished pulling his armor around Yokio’s chest
off. He winced, and I pulled my gauntlets off, and then washed the area around
the wound out. He yelped, as it stung.
I
snorted. “Baby.”
“You
try this!”
“Remember
when I got that wound on my chest? Actually, I feel lucky that I passed out.”
He
groaned, and winced, as I finished cleaning. Ronna handed me a needle and
thread, but I handed it back, pointing to the tape, instead. She handed me a few
strips, and I neatly taped the wound shut. “Don’t ask, Ronna, because you
honestly don’t want to know.”
Mom
tapped my shoulder, and said, “How long?”
I
blinked. “Give me fifteen minutes. If you knock, and don’t hear an answer,
please don’t enter.”
She
nodded, and ushered everyone back outside. I started taking all my armor off,
letting it fall to the floor by the wall. Finally, I was free from the metal
casing, as well as my shirt. Again. Then, only then, did I lean over Yokio, and
reach around him, to cradle him closer to me. He sighed into my shoulder, and I
closed my eyes, feeling the pain start to come, once more.
“Alessa?”
It
was Mom’s voice . . . from the other side of the door.
I
opened my eyes, seeing Yokio’s chin, and then croaked out, “Yeah?”
“Good.
You’re alive.”
“Gee,
that’s real motherly of you.”
“Shut
up, Alessa,” Yokio growled fondly, not moving. I knew that his eyes were still
closed. I pulled away slightly, and looked at his chest, then pulled the tape
off of the new scar. He sighed, and said, “So what about the rest of the
armor?”
“Gimme
a moment,” I said, touching the scar. “Huh. He got a lung, too, didn’t
he?”
“Yep.”
“Shush.”
“Alessa,”
he said quietly, “it’s pinching.”
“Huh?
Where? I don’t see where your armor could possibly–”
“Alessa!”
“Oh.”
He
groaned, and let his head fall back, sighing. “You’re impossible.”
I
chuckled, helping him sit up, while I started to pull off the remaining armor.
Once that was done, and he was in the black fighting gear that was like what I
wore underneath my own armor, I walked around the screen to give him his
privacy, while I pulled on a few loose items. He came around the screen, and I
embraced him carefully, knowing that it would still hurt a bit. The door opened,
and I heard the others start to file in. I walked back around the screen,
hopped, really, as I pulled on a pair of socks. The guys all looked at the bed,
but then heard Yokio’s cuss, as he stubbed his toe, looking for a shirt. I
called over, “It should be to your right, hanging on the screen.”
The
top of the shirt disappeared, and Yokio appeared around the screen a moment
later, tugging it over his head. The scar was visible. Dad walked closer, and
poked it, resulting in a rather girlish yelp from Yokio. I turned away,
laughing, and saw the others blinking. Ito-chan shook his head, and Terence Fear
asked, “Are you two really married after all?”
I
felt my face heat up, as I nodded. “Yeah.”
He
looked to Ito-chan. “And you witnessed?”
The
Japanese boy laughed, shaking his head. “No, that wouldn’t be proper. They
were married by Yokio’s culture. And you know who and what he is.”
“Not
exactly,” Terrence replied quietly. “Brute knows more than I do.”
I
looked up at Yokio, and he smiled, then shifted to his robot mode, resting a
hand on my shoulder, catching his balance. I chuckled, and helped him stand.
“What’s the matter? Forgot how tall you really were? That’s not a good
thing, Dinobot.”
Terrence
blinked, and then sighed. “Okay, I give up. I don’t want to know anything
more.”
Itosugi
chuckled. “You remember when she defended Jett from Fang?”
“Yeah.”
“And
those lacerations that she received as a result?”
“Yeah
. . . ?”
“How
do you think that they were healed? What about Dinobot’s chest? Had he been a
real human, like you or me, then he would have died out there. They are bound on
the spiritual level. As for how or why, I don’t know.” He rested his helmet
on the counter-top, and then turned to sit upon it, next to my trophy.
I
chuckled, and looked up at Dinobot. [Can I tell?]
He
blinked at me slowly, and sighed. [Better you than me. You know them better.]
“You’re
right,” I said, chuckling, “I do.”
They
looked at me as if I was crazy. That is, everyone other than my parents, and
Ito-chan and Ronna, strangely. I smiled, and shook my head. “On the day that I
was attacked, Dinobot and his team were visiting the Pavilion. I know that you
know about what wounds I received there. The one that went from my shoulder to
my hip would have been fatal, had Dinobot not, well . . . I’m still
fuzzy about the process, but basically what happens, is that he took the weakest
part of my soul, and replaced it with a stronger piece of his.” I blinked,
frowned, and added, “Or something like that. Anyway, that’s about what
happens, whenever one of us is wounded more than we can handle.”
“Itosugi
wasn’t there, then,” Terrence said.
I
smiled at him. “He was at the Pavilion, when Dinobot returned, on the day or
our small tournament. I didn’t see him, but I knew that he was there. Everyone
who was in the Pavilion at that time, even around it, I will call a witness.”
There
was a fanfare coming from the television, and we all turned to look at it. I saw
Michael “Brute” Forge and Renny “Termination” Thaine standing side by
side, with their helmets under one arm, on top of the announcer’s pedestal.
They looked at each other, and Michael started. “Thank you one and all for
attending this show of deadly grace.”
Renny,
Termination, spoke next. “We have reached a decision about our arenas’
duel.”
Michael
continued. “I am ashamed of my once-teammate’s behavior. He acted crassly,
without the honor that my Arena Marshal Kedakai spoke of, after her win. He
acted upon resentment towards Kedakai’s husband, Dinobot, as they were keeping
their marriage a secret until this season was over. I, Brute, no longer
recognize him as an arena-comrade, or as a friend for that matter.”
“As
for Dinobot,” Termination continued, “I would be honored to the highest
level if he were to join my arena, however . . . I know that he will be taking
Talon’s place in the WeyQuinTree Arena. From here on in, I, on behalf of my
Arena Marshal Extinction, pull from the Team Deathmatch.”
“I
as well, on behalf of my Arena Marshal Kedakai, withdraw from the Team
Deathmatch. The final battle in the Regional Championships shall now take place,
between the Arenas Berkshire and
They
climbed down, amid silence, and picked up the dropped gear that everyone had
left behind when we ran to protect Yokio Dinobot. I sighed, and said, “They
worded it well.”
When
they entered, I ran to Michael, and hugged him, then ruffled his hair, smiling
sadly. “That must have been hard for you to withdraw in my place.”
He
nodded. “Yeah.”
He
looked up, saw Dinobot, looked back at me, and I smiled again. “He doesn’t
mind, as long as you stay only as close as a brother.”
“Advice:
Don’t cheat on him. He’s glaring at me, and I would really hate to have him
against me one-on-one,” Michael said, inching so that I was between him and
Dinobot.
My
husband grinned evilly, but at my glance, it turned into an innocent look. I
sighed, and we sat to watch the final battle between the arenas that would go
onto the Nationals, for the team death-match. I sighed. “The teams really
don’t know how to work with each other.” An idea struck. “You know how we
have platoons, Da?”
“Yes
. . . ?”
“What
if we cut the amount of fighters that we have in a platoon in half? That would
result in better teams, and not to mention, people who you can rely upon in any
situation.”
“Almost
like you and lover-boy?” Hoshi jeered over. Her disposition changed
immediately, as she said, “Are-chan . . . me and Ganko are leaving back for
I
looked back at her, and then ran over to embrace her, as she started to cry. I
sighed, and said, “You’ll always be my best friend, Shi-chan.”
“Heh
. . . I’m ‘death beloved’ again, am I? Or the number four? How about I’m
the beloved poem? Or the city or teacher?” she asked through tears, smiling
faintly.
“I
got you to chuckle, didn’t I? And I’ll have you as the ‘Beloved teacher’
any day.”
“Yeah
. . .” She wiped at her eyes. “I’m going to miss you, Alessa.”
I
nodded, and turned to watch the screen, keeping one arm around her shoulders.
Kale Savage came forward from the shadows, shifting my arm carefully until I
wasn’t holding onto her anymore and he was. She looked surprised when I stated
to walk back to Yokio, but then looked up to Kale, who smiled and squeezed her
shoulders. “But before you go, Hoshi, you have to let me bring you to a
movie.”
“O-okay.”
I
chuckled, and he looked up at me. “Double-date? Or more? Maybe Nahele can take
the blonde over there . . .”
I
shook my head. “Nah. We’ll make plans so that you and Hoshi are all
alone.”
“
. . . you’re cruel to a boy who has never been on a date before.”
I
was watching the screen, wincing when Factor took a good blow to the back, but
he rolled quickly out of it, his sword snapping around until it rested upon his
opponent’s, Heion’s, neck. I sighed, and said, “Liar.”
“Yep.”
We
laughed, and I leaned back against Yokio, who wrapped his arms around my waist,
and sighed into my neck. [Things can only get better from here, Alessa.]
[I
know. When we get home, I have to meet them . . . whoever ‘they’ are.]
[You’ll
know them. Hmm . . . apparently, Ronna is a good fighter, wouldn’t you say?]
I
smiled, kissed his chin, and said, “Yes . . . and I’m going to be forging
your own sword, once this season is over.”
“You
mean you get to rest?”
The
fighters all laughed, and I replied, “Dinobot, we have three weeks of falling
out of shape, and then we have to start training again.”
“Yeah,
but for some reason, the Kedakai always came back as if she never took a
rest!” Terrence called over.
I
looked at him blankly. “Look at who my father is. He doesn’t let me rest.
It’s either training, forging new armor, or something random.”
“Oh.
Hehe . . . duh!”
I shook my head. Luckily, it was nearly over.