I glared at the large man in front of me.
"I am good enough to be a Verorian." I raged. I was close to angry tears. "At least let me prove it to you." I growled. I needed to be in this group. I would definantly be a part of this war. And being a Verorian was my last chance. The Varorian group consisted of about three thousand people, all specially trained to be elite in battle. They fought for the same thing I did, to bring down one man. The man who for the past thirty years had been tormenting my people. I needed to train with the best, and the Verori were the best. The man sighed exasperated.
"I've already told you. I won't allow women, or children, to join my army." The man was General Tinoral, the leader of the 'rebel' group against the empire.
"I'm not a child anymore! And I'm just as good as those things you call men!" I screamed at him. I smashed my fist on his dest. He righted the bottle that had overturned in my wake.
"Fifteen is hardly called an adult. And women can't take war and killing." He sighed, playing with his pen, as if thinking that if he ignored me, then I would dissappear. He was in for dissapointment.
"I'll prove it to you. Let me show you I can fight!" I pleaded again. "I've vertually killed myself trying to get here and talk to you. I've spent most of my life waiting to prove myself worthy of this war. Please, don't send me away without even testing me. If you can prove I'm nothing but a weak girl, I'll go away without complaint. But if you can't then let me join your army." My voice quieted, trying to negotiete, and not cry. "Please." I whispered, desprate. He sighed, I had made him feel obligated.
"Fine. If you prove can yourself then." He said, thinking hard. "Tomorrow, I'll get my men that are training now to fight you. You can kill none of them, and I'll tell them they can't kill you. If you can prove your worth something, I'll think about it."
"Thank you!" I cried. "Please, I won't let you down!" I lept out of the room before he could change his mind.
~~~~~~~
The next morning I awoke on a branch in the tree outside his office tent. I lept down and entered, to find no one there yet. The stray rays of sun were just lighting up the sky, so I wasn't all to suprised. I decided it would be bad to look around the tent so I flopped in one of the chairs and sort of meditated, with my eyes open. I guess it could be called daydreaming, except I didn't think, I just sort of spaced on nothing.
About thirty minutes later the big man entered, jumping slightly seeing me there fully awake and consentrated.
"You have a long wait. Getting up too early will not help you at all." He said, not looking at me again, and going along as if I wasn't there.
"This isn't too early. I usually get up this early." I replied, shrugging. "I have my reasons." I sank back into the chair. Smiling sweetly. She sat lounging and watching him go about his business, signing papers mostly. She watched with a smirk. Finally he slammed his hands onto his desk, upsetting the same bottle I had the night before, grabbed at it quickly and glared at me.
"Leave, I'll give you your trial when its time. Let me do my work. Go and bother the others that get up at this ungodly hour." He growled, and I lept up and out, laughing. I found the cooks up, and asked if I could help, which they were more than happy to let me. I worked at that until the sun was fully over the horizon, the went to find the General. He was just leaving his tent again, shielding his eyes from the sudden difference in light.
"Stay here." He ordered, and I stood by the enterance as he went down the rows of tents and beat on them with a long polished stick.
"Get up girlies! Time to have some fun!" He shouted, and men stumbled out dazedly in his wake. I covered my hand with my mouth. Waking up usually isn't as hard as they were making it seem. But I guess its from the excessive training they do everyday. Finally he had them all lined up outside of their tents. "We have a special guest that came to me last night and said she is better than all of you trained killers. Who's up to prove her wrong?" The men eyed me, and I blushed, feeling bad about what I'd said during my rampage.
I was led to one of the training areas they had set up, and thirty men were put against me. I felt my mood blacken again. This was not fair in the least. I was given a practice katana like them. I weighed it in my hand and was glad to know it wasn't that bad of a choice, though I knew they probably had better. I took a readying stance, and the captain signalled for us to start. I lept between my opponents, sweeping legs out from under them with the blunt side of my sword, stopping blows aimed at me that I knew I couldn't avoid, and jumping between them nimbly. When they where about half as small, I started feeling tired, but I kept going. I was having to block more, which wasn't going to work well after a while, since my arms grew tired more easily than my legs. Suddenly the one man who had been holding back came at me, his Katana raised, I blocked him, but it jarred my arms terribly, and I lept away as quickly as I could. Suddenly I was the one being chased, by this man, and I had to block a few more times. Suddenly I tripped, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground and his blade's edge was at my throat. It pressed down, and I felt it cut me a little. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. I had lost.
"Iric, thats enough." The general's voice was harsh. The blade came away from my thoat. I let out the breath that I'd been holding in, and opened my eyes. A couple of the men I had knocked down were standing around me, one with his hand out to help me up. I knocked it away angrily. I picked myself up and went to the fence that surrounded the area.
The General was standing there with a nuetral look on his face.
"You win." I said bitterly. "I'll go." I turned around and started off heading into the woods beyond.
"Wait." One of the men called after me. "Why don't you join our group?" I stopped in shock. Could I really be allowed to stay. "We need one more person right?" He was talking to the general. "Since we're not that good, it shouldn't be a change to much right?" I turned around to see a blonde haired youth standing beside the general with a hopeful look on his face.
The general looked doubtful. I saw him work things over in his mind. "I guess. If she can keep up with our routine." He turned around and walked away. I stood in disbelief, was I actually allowed to be a Veronian?
"Well, come on girl. Come meet your new team." The man's words cut through my shock. I raced back and couldn't help but hug him.
"Thank you!" I cried.
"Hey hey, watch it. Don't make them think your more of a girl than you really are." He laughed, prying me off. "Your actually really good. Its hard for them to take on eachother, and you were doing really well, until Iric decided to go at you. He's really good, but also a coward, who won't fight unless he knows he'll win for sure." He had a discusted look on his face. I didn't say anything, feeling the mood suddenly turn sour. He led me to pair of tents that held three to each. "Your new 'family' is in there. I'll introduce you." He smiled guiltily. I suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Hey guys. I have a new groupy. Come meet her!" The first to come out of a tent was a big head full of bushy red hair, followed by a bigger body, and a happy smily face. I gulped. Next cam a scrawny man, out of the same tent, who wore specticals and seemed unhealthy. Next came a normal humanish man, though he didn't have much muscle. I could tell he was a slacker. The last to come out was another black haired man, who seemed utterly 'different'. A dark aura came off of him.
"The big man is Ray, the geek is Thio, The almost normal one is Quincy, and Mr. antisocial is Zethen. I'm Jerom. Nice to meet you. We'll be your new family." My 'savior' gave me a big grin, and I tried to smile back.
"I'm Yiri." I replied with a small voice. My hopes at having a chance to get close to that man came crashing down on my head. This was going to be a long war.
~~~
(Not finished yet, this ends chapter 1... I think... XD)
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