"And march, one, two, three, four!" Elma repeated to herself. She and Tyhlan were practicing drills together before they began training for the morning. Tyhlan yawned loudly and parroted Elma in Al Bhed, lazily marching behind her. "...And march, uha, dfu, drnaa, vuin..." Tyhlan yawned again. "It's too early," she muttered, flopping down on the ground. "I can't even keep my languages straight. I wanna go back to bed..." "Be tough! Come on, get up!" "The stars are still in the sky...even the captain waits until the stars have faded......Elma, I'm tired. Go back to sleep." "But...today is a big day." "Every day is a big day, when you put thought into it Elma. Every day you're alive is one." Tyhlan grinned lazily and flopped back on to her cot. "Just remember that, and you won't stress yourself out." Elma blinked in surprise. "That's really...wise, Tyhlan. Tyhlan?" Elma glanced over and saw that the blonde girl had fallen fast asleep. She fixed the covers more securely on the other girl, and headed back to her own cot. "Goodnight..." --------------- "And march! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!" Lucil called out to her squad. "Almost done everyone! Remember, today is a big day for all of you!" "Weapon training," Tyhlan whispered excitedly. "I've been waiting. I want to work with explosives..." "Explosives?" Clasko said, trying to keep up. Elma was ahead of both of them, and Tyhlan was catching up. It took everything Clasko had just to stay behind them. "Aren't you worried you'll hurt yourself?" "Nah, I think it'll be fun, blowing Sinspawn up. It'll be awesome. Giant explosions, with fire, and guts and flesh and goo flying all over the place..." "That's gross," Clasko mumbled, turning a faint shade of green. "Doesn't matter how gross it is, as long as the thing is dead." Tyhlan shrugged, and trotted up to Elma's side. "Hey. Excited about today, I bet, seeing as you woke me up this morning." Elma laughed, and grinned sheepishly, putting her hands behind her head. "Yeah, sorry about that." "It's alright," Tyhlan yawned. "I got enough sleep...well, kinda...hey, I've got a question." "Hm?" "Do you know how to use a weapon? I mean, I was just wondering." "Yes, actually. My...father taught me, when I was younger. I'm not a pro or anything, but I do have a little experience." "Cool, your dad taught you? How'd he learn?" "He was a Crusader." "Wow. So like, you're kinda following in his footsteps, huh? He must be proud." "I'm sure he would be...but maybe not. He loved being a Crusader more than anything...he probably would have wanted me to be one." Tyhlan noted the way Elma's voice lowered when speaking about her father, the way her posture grew stiff, and bit her lip. Probably Sin. It always came back to Sin. "I'm sure he would have been proud of you regardless." Elma gave the other girl a weak smile. "Thanks, Tyhlan....really, I mean it." "Anytime, Elma." ---------------- "Today cadets, we're having a very special lesson, as you most likely know from some of your fellow squad members. Are there any questions before we begin?" Lucil asked, glancing around at the young cadets. "Feels like school..." Tyhlan murmured, but she rose her hand anyway. "Yes?" "Well, ma'am, I was wondering, what kind of weapons will we be using?" "For now, we'll be using very lightweight swords, until you all get a handle on weapon usage. The swords are designed to be non-lethal, as well as virtually useless, for that matter, to prevent major injury. Are there any more questions?" As the other cadets took their turns asking questions, Elma realized that the captain seemed very much like a teacher. The older trainees said she would be hard, and she was, but she was fair enough. She didn't push them too much at all. She smiled, pulled her knees to her chest. Another reason why the captain was so great... "Elma? Hey! Spira to Elma!" Elma glanced up, startled. Tyhlan looked down at her and scratched her head. "Were you daydreaming? Come on, get up. We're about to start." -------------------- Tyhlan grazed her fingers over the blade in her hand, and scoffed. "These things can't even give us paper cuts. Elma, is yours sharper?!" she called over to the other girl. "They're all the same, Tyhlan," Elma responded, flipping the sword from one hand to the other in rapid succession. "Mine is the same as yours, which is the same as Clasko's, which is the same as everyone else's." Tyhlan ran over to Elma and inspected her weapon carefully. "Can we switch? I think yours is sharper." "I'm telling you..." Elma sighed. "Fine. Here." "Thanks! Sword fighting, alright! I wonder if we get to have duels?" Tyhlan moved into a mock-fighting position and swished the sword around in front of her. "I challenge you to a duel, Elma!" Elma laughed. "You'll regret that!" "Oh yeah? Come on, you knave!" "Knave?" Elma laughed harder, moving around to dodge Tyhlan's lazy swipes with her sword. "That's the best you can do?" "All who stand in my way will be crush'd!" Tyhlan cried out. Elma blinked and scratched her head. "Where'd you get that from?" Tyhlan shrugged helplessly. "An old book or something. Sounds like the way those snobby Guado talk, huh?" Elma laughed. "That's not very nice...but yeah." "Fair lady," Tyhlan said, fluttering her eyelashes. "Wouldst thou accompany me to the mess hall this evening?" Elma collapsed into giggles. "Cut it out!" Lucil's voice carried out above the chattering cadets. "Everyone, calm down!" The group fell silent, and Lucil paced back and forth. "Today, cadets, we're going to have a one-on-one exercise. Line up!" There was a bit of scuffling as the squad got into a semi-orderly line. Lucil sighed. "We really do need to work on organization...alright, everyone! I'm going to choose a partner for each of you," the group started to groan, but a look from Lucil made them fall silent, "and we're going to test your abilities with weapons. I know that most of you are inexperienced, but I need to see how well you react. The swords are harmless, as I've already said, so there is no worry of injury. Just have...fun with it, for now. Now," she walked through the line-up, and quietly began to pick partners. Elma slumped in disappointment when a very sullen-looking Tyhlan was grouped with a frightened Clasko. When Lucil reached Elma, she paused. "Cadet, may you swing the sword around for me?" Elma blinked, but followed orders, swinging the sword in a perfect arc above her head. Lucil nodded, and walked off, kneeling down to the ground for a second. Elma tilted her head in confusion, but started in surprise when Lucil threw a stone in her direction. She lifted the sword to block, and Lucil chuckled. "As I thought." "How'd you figure it out?" Elma asked, baffled. "Your little fighting game with your friend. Even in a game, an experienced soldier subconsciously reveals their skill." Elma blushed, lowered her head. "Thank you captain..." Another stone whizzed toward her, and she lifted the sword again to block. "Stay on your toes, cadet," Lucil warned. "R-right!" -------------- After a while, the other cadets had stopped their training, opting instead to watch Elma dodge stone after stone. She hadn't been hit once. "Man, Captain Lucil's throwing those rocks faster than the forward on the Luca Goers throws a blitzball," one cadet murmured. "What's that girl's name?" Another asked. "Her name is Elma," Tyhlan said. "She's my friend. She's good, isn't she?" "She's excellent!" One boy with a Besaidan accent exclaimed. "Better than Kehni was yesterday, ya?" The other cadets laughed, and Kehni slumped, rolling his eyes. "The captain is just going easy on her," he said, running his fingers through his brown hair. "It's not like she has to dodge a thousand flaming meteors hurtling to the ground, geez. It's just a bunch of stupid rocks." "It was more like ten meteors, Kehni," Tyhlan muttered, rolling her eyes. "Getting your stories mixed up?" Kehni flushed in anger. "Hey, why don't you shut up?" "Why don't you?" Tyhlan shot back. "I'd like to see you do what Elma's doing right now." "I could do it!" "Sure..." Elma gasped and dodged another stone, and another, tuning out the sounds of her teammates. At first, the stone throwing had been painfully easy, but now, Lucil was serious. The sword bent under the force of the rocks, and Elma was afraid it would snap under pressure pretty soon. "Captain!" she exclaimed, hopping to the side to dodge another stone, "I think the sword is going to break!" "Then stop using the sword! Dodge the stones!" "I can't!" Lucil responded by throwing another stone. Elma rolled to the side to dodge and stood up quickly to side-step another. "You can." Lucil smiled weakly, and addressed her cadets. "As all of you have discontinued your training today," the cadets winced, "you'll have an extra hour of running tomorrow. However, I hope that you've enjoyed the demonstration for today. As you can see, Elma here," she waved her hand over to the exhausted girl, "is an example of an intermediate fighter. Her technique is a bit juvenile, and she needs a lot of polishing, but, she's far more advanced than I expected. I'd like you all to be at her level in a few weeks. You are dismissed." Elma walked off to follow Tyhlan, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "You did very well," Lucil said to her. "Keep up the good work." Elma gave her a tentative grin. "Thank you, Captain." ---------------- "Man! You were awesome today! Like, it was like this Al Bhed movie sphere I saw once! I think it was called, ummm...Lnuilrehk Dekan, Rettah Tnykuh...but what you did was like, twice as awesome as that!" Tyhlan exclaimed, punching Elma in the arm playfully. "Ow...my aches have aches, Tyhlan. Be careful..." Elma fell onto her cot and groaned. "I'm going to be really sore tomorrow." "Aw, alright." Tyhlan patted the other girl's shoulder. "Hungry?" "No, just sleepy." "Well uh, alright. Rain check on the mess hall?" "Of course." Tyhlan grinned. "Okay. Goodnight, sword master!" "Night..." ----------------- Elma was dreaming. The rush of water greeted her ears, and she was back home again, at Kilika. Her father was by the docks, and he smiled at her as she approached. "Daddy?" she whispered, afraid to move any closer. "You did a good job today," he whispered. He looked younger than she remembered, happier. "I'm really proud of you." "You are?" Elma frowned in confusion. "I...I thought you would be mad." Her father laughed. "That's silly now. You have to choose your own path, Elma, dear. But," and he winked. "Your mother, I don't think she'll be happy with your haircut." "I miss you, daddy." Her voice cracked, she felt the tears and blinked them back. He walked over, and pulled her into a hug. "There, there. No tears. No crying. Soldiers don't cry, remember? You're a tough girl." She nodded. "Okay daddy. Sing the Hymn for me? Like you used to?" Her father's deep voice carried over in the wind, and she let the sound rock her away, like the waves of the sea. ----------------- A/N: -rockin' victory music- Chapter three, mission complete! I love X-2's victory music. It rocks my socks. Jack of Spades, a winner is you! The grumpy chocobo is a reference to Sir Auron! But the name is from Final Fantasy V. =P Anyone who can guess the more obscure reference to another Final Fantasy title in this chapter gets Special Edition Toffee Bar Crunch ice cream! Hint: It is in the mock battle between Tyhlan and Elma. Al Bhed Notes: "uha, dfu, drnaa, vuin..."- one, two, three, four... Lnuilrehk Dekan, Rettah Tnykuh-Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. =)
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