Returning from her small vacation on the ocean planet and the Melchoir barely much seems to have changed within the academy. Though whatever problem between Kazamir and Sardines had seems to have relaxed a little, they still didn’t have the time to hang out with Yoshi outside of lunch. Always busy, always something to do. Besides that Kreszentia still refuses to talk with her. Try as Yoshi might to get anything out of her, she makes no progress in trying to repair their friendship. It’s times like these where she hopes her grandma is right. Still the tan newearl wouldn’t let that ruin her day. She still had things to look forward to. She has a mission to complete and a new weapon to wait for.
Back home her mom is working on her new sword and is using all sort of parts to build it. Even as she was about to leave Yoshi notices custom and various random parts being brought over to her mother’s room be taken apart and worked with, or so she believes. Why else would her mother bring such oversized blades out of the armory and so many of them? Her mom has no reason to study them. There is also a lack of pole arm when Yoshi takes the time to think about it. Aside from that she also has a meeting with a certain mentor later today. She is an older woman that will be here in the academy all day to lecture some of the older students on something. She still didn’t know what the lecture was about though. Even when she asks around, from both students and teachers, she couldn’t find any information on the specifics.
During Yoshi’s reading time, near the end of the day, she scratches her head to think about what could possibly be told all day. To have faith? A lesson of helping others and how it could start a domino of niceness effect? The good old stick together and why you should work as a team? Thinking about what she could say made her imagine what she could look like. Her father isn’t super buff so it’s not like she should be either. She didn’t sound like a polite and friendly person either. Judging by how she would throw a brick at him, it gave Yoshi the image of a thin strict and harsh woman with glasses talking down on her dad. A raging tornado of sand surrounds her when he messes something up. Then her dad ends up being replaced with herself. Suddenly the idea doesn’t sound very fun. It sends shivers down her spine. She didn’t feel like getting randomly yelled at, or like the idea that she could be attacked by a sand tornado. The sandstorm she had to deal with earlier was bad enough.
So the teal hair girl pulls a juice box out of her pocket and spends some time thinking about how she should greet her. A straw taps her lips. She takes out a second one just in case. At first she starts to think polite and normal, but then she remembers how relaxed her father could be. Maybe that’s why he always gets a brick thrown at him? Or maybe it’s because his mentor just doesn’t care about health and safety? Now the image of a sloppy bored and rude woman comes to mind. Imagining a small potato chip bag hanging from one of her ears made Yoshi realize she’s been imagining this person as a newmen the entire time. Is she even a newmen? Or is she a human like her dad? Deep in thought she reaches deeper and deeper into the recesses of her memory, hoping to come up with some idea of what she looks like. She wasn’t sure if she’s ever met this mentor before, and if she has it was likely when she was still a baby.
When she starts to think to hard she starts to crush the juice box a little too hard and scrambles to drink the rest before she spills any more. She also cleans up accident with her shirt. She gave Sardines all her napkins for something earlier, and left her handkerchief back in the transport hanger by her training ship, so she didn’t have anything else. “Don’t be fooled by her disguise,” her father’s voice echoes in her mind, the same moment she realizes she could have asked someone next to her for a napkin. She didn’t care. It is already too late for regrets. More important than that, how do you approach someone like that? How do you get them to train you either, a lazy person? “Hey, yo, how’s it hanging mah sistah?” her imaginary self randomly says with a slow friendly wave.
Yoshi drops her pencil. She looks forward and nearly drops her book with a face of disgust. How could I even think to talk like that?, she asks in her head. Where did that even come from? The tan newearl quickly relaxes and gets over it. It’s not really that bad but she’s still not saying it. So she comes up with more scenarios to work with.
Minutes pass and school is nearing its end. By the time Yoshi returns to reality she could see the eyes of the person sitting next her dart rapidly between her and their book. Yoshi put on a mean gaze as they do. Yeah you better keep reading or I’m gonna kick your ass, is what her face silently says to them. The person sees this and puts the book closer to their face, but as they do Yoshi gets a bad feeling of her own. Without thinking she looks to her teacher who has noticed her goofing off. Before any action could be taken the bell rings and after an awkward stare down the teacher ultimately lets her go. Lucky she put away the juice boxes long beforehand. Nothing to hold her back she scatters with the other students to do their clubs and chores. Under the excuse of looking for more cleaning solution and a mop, Yoshi flees out of her building to begin her mission.
She flees to wonder about the school, going wherever she needs to find this mentor. She hopes it will be without worrying about anything else. In a stroke of luck it didn’t take that long. Out in the next building’s hall, where the art and stage related rooms where, Yoshi catches sight of someone just walking out the auditorium’s red heavy back stage doors. A human woman of natural white hair and religious looking black dress, Yoshi could just barely catch the glimmer of a gold cathedral necklace swaying in the light. The tan newearl silently and victoriously snaps above a large grin. This must be the woman she is looking for. She must have been giving her lectures on the auditorium’s grand stage.
Eager to speak with this woman Yoshi raises a hand and starts to jog forward. “Hey grandma, wait up,” she shouts accidently. After hearing what she says the newearl’s brown eyes widen and her pupils rapidly turn snake like in shock. There goes all that preparation and planning done earlier. Also what if she had the wrong person? She could be in a lot of trouble now. Way to go, Yadira. Strangely, the woman didn’t seem very bother.
The woman halts in place and turns around, but had no plans of stopping. Eyes closed, a warm smile shimmering in Yoshi’s direction, she gives the newearl a simple wave and turns back to continue walking. Yoshi chases after. She obviously has answers Yoshi needs. Seeing that the woman is gaining ground Yoshi picks up the pace, but notices that she isn’t getting any closer. The newearl starts to jog, then run, then leap run. Try as Yoshi may, the old woman wasn’t getting any nearer. So she looks to the floor and slows down a little. Her feet are briskly gliding in place, almost hovering even. She isn’t moving at all. It looks like her feet are touching the floor, but after closer inspection, they’re actually not. Since something is obviously holding her back Yoshi bends down to take a closer look.
Sand. It’s not easy to see but she does see it. Now that she realizes it, she can feel the sand everywhere. It’s not just covering the hallway even. This layer could be spanning several of the school’s building. How could she not have noticed earlier and what does this sand layer do? “Hey!” Yoshi shouts at the woman. “Stop running away, I need to speak with you.” As Yoshi shakes a fist a foot raises and kicks away. Just like that her whole body slides forward and almost loses balance in the process. Woah, the girl shouts in her head. I’m skating. How am I skating? I don’t know how but this is awesome! Yoshi regains her footing and speeds towards her objective.
Big grin and brimming with determination Yoshi zooms onward putting all those ice skating lessons she gained in those tundra excursions to work. Thinking normal skating was too boring for her though Yoshi decides to jump on the wall and ride it. Somehow it works, but not without knocking down a few posters along the way. Before Yoshi could look back to see what she was doing a brick shoots out from the other wall. The old woman must have predicted Yoshi would look back. It’s a good thing she didn’t. Yoshi ducks and avoids it, but just barely. Another brick comes her way and she is forced to jump off the wall, towards the other side of the hall. More of them shoot out her way and the newearl makes all sorts of spinning maneuvers until she summons an earth bat and a wall to block the human woman’s path.
“Give it up, old lady. There’s nowhere for you to run. And don’t think you can fool me with your saint disguise either. I’ve already been warned about that.”
The woman places a hand on the wall for a moment. With her other hand she catches Yoshi’s bat before she could do anything with it. She tosses Yoshi up in the air, catches the newearl by the back of her collar and rams her into the wall to break it. Which almost works had Yoshi not turn the wall into a pair of jaws to snap down on the woman.
The white hair woman backhands the jaws away with a single arm and aggressively picks Yoshi up off the floor. Though the act looked impressive from Yoshi’s standpoint, the ship’s limiters also reduce the strength of her wall and the potential damage the jaws could have done anyways. With the tan newearl in her grasp the woman grits her teeth and growls, “You got a lot of nerve trying to attack an old woman. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t snap your neck right here and now.” Yoshi doesn’t get the chance to when her face twists into curious confusion, as if she’s seen Yoshi somewhere before. Yoshi does the same. She's the woman in one of the pictures back home, in one of the frames with her father in it. “Oh, great,” the woman groans. She nonchalantly drops Yoshi to rub her forehead in disappointment. “It’s the kid’s kid. Buzz off, kid. I don’t have time to babysit you.”
“Okay first of all I don’t need a babysitter. I just wanted to talk to you. Why are you even avoid me anyways, sheesh? Second of all I wouldn’t have to attack you if you didn’t throw freakin bricks at me. What is wrong with you?”
“Look kid. You’re in Arks. You’re supposed to be stupid and take one to the head,” sasses the old woman. “That’s how this works. I can’t believe your father taught you how to avoid them. He must be really scared if he did so.”
Yoshi jumps to her feet and nearly pokes the woman in the nose. “Look Shimo . . . Shiger . . . Shigromi, my father didn’t teach me squat. I did that all on my own and you better listen to me. Because if you don’t I’ll . . . I’ll . . .”
“Are you a soldier or a babbling moron? Spit it out.”
“I’ll do something crazy. Like really cool that will knock you off your feet.”
The woman rubs her forehead again and lets off a loud sigh. “This is why I hate children. They catch on way to quickly. Anyways it’s Shiomi you little twerp, that’s Mrs. Fraser to you, and I don’t go by that name anymore. Haven’t for a long while now. So go bang your head against a Rappy or something, or whatever you kids do for fun these days,” Mrs. Fraser shoves Yoshi out of the way. “I don’t have time for you.”
“No way, don’t think we’re done yet. You’re going to train me,” Yoshi replies while she pulls the woman back by the sleeve.
Mrs. Fraser rips her sleeve away. “Go ask your father.”
Yoshi catches the arm again and tugs hard enough, with the support of a few earth clamps, to spin Mrs. Fraser around. “Dad won’t take it seriously. Me seriously. He never will. You’re my only option.”
Mrs. Fraser kicks Yoshi in the stomach and into the wall. With her free arm she draws out a pistol and presses it under Yoshi’s chin. “And what makes you think I won’t kill you in the process. Us Diga fight each other to keep strong you know.”
“You pulled out a pistol,” Yoshi exclaims. Instinctively she tries to reach for the weapon but finds that her arms are glued to the wall somehow. She also increases the hardness of her skin just in case. She would shoot a column out to knock it out of her hand, but didn’t want to risk pulling the trigger. Even if she did survive the shot, dealing with the pain didn’t seem fun to deal with.
“And I’m not afraid to use it either,” the old woman grins. “Do you know how many people I’ve killed? For all the breath you’re wasting, you ever seen what it looks like to have your lungs ripped out right in front of you? Do you want to see right now? What makes you think you won’t be another one of my victims?”
Though shivering, the teal hair newearl puts on a brave smile in defiance. “My dad . . . he trained under you and he’s just fine,” she says with a shaky voice. “What reason do I have to think I won’t be fine either? Why can you train my dad but not me? I could even be your greatest student ever you know.”
Mrs. Fraser pushes off the wall and looks to the ground while she walks in a circle. Yoshi didn’t know what sort of buttons she pushed, but she obviously hit something. Judging by how Mrs. Fraser was acting, she may have even two handed slammed on it. The old woman shoots Yoshi a mean look. She walks in a circle and says, “Those times where different. Seeing kin like that— I couldn’t leave it like that. I didn’t have a choice, haha, and I certainly have no reason to justify them to you.” Mrs. Fraser glares at Yoshi again. She starts to breath heavily for a brief moment before she begins to poke with the pistol in the tan girl’s direction. “Times are different now. You have a fully trained family. They have all the weapons in the world. They can provide you everything you need. So go to your damn family for training. They certainly won’t want me around anymore.”
“Why do you think I’m coming to you? Dad says you are family,” Yoshi shouts. In a lower much calmer voice she gulps and adds, “He always looks at your picture and says you just don’t visit often enough.”
Ms. Fraser growls and spins around. It looks like she is about to throw her pistol to the ground but hesitates. Instead she flattens out wrinkles in her dress and walks away. In a calm voice as well, trying to pretend nothing happened, she says, “Like I said, I don’t have the time for you. I can’t shy away from my duties.”
Yoshi couldn’t believe she got away with that. That no pistol was fired and she remains unharmed. Though still a little shaken by everything she quickly looks around for an escape plan. Since she figures that she can’t just skate away anymore, she builds something similar to a picture frame to underlap her and free her from the wall. She can’t be sure it would work but it’s better than letting the old woman get away. So she does and just as predicted she couldn’t get free, but she could also feel the hold weaken. So she slides her and the frame in Ms. Fraser’s direction, unintentionally knocking more things down along the way.
“Ask dad or even Dimitri for an excuse then,” Yoshi shouts. “He’s the one who suggested I look for someone in the first place. I’m sure he can help you out.”
“I thought that was a joke. Don’t tell me Dimitri actually gave you a band already?”
Before Ms. Fraser could look at Yoshi, the tan newearl slides into view and steps off the wall to pat at her wrist. For a brief moment it glows with blue runes between neon blue lines. With great confidence in her voice Yoshi responds, “You better believe he did.”
Mrs. Fraser plants a palm on her face in dismay. “Great, Dimitri has a hand in this. Why couldn’t you be more like your father? He would have never been this annoying.” She takes a moment to glance down the hallway. “. . . Or this violent. Fine, if it will get you to leave me the fuck alone, I’ll do it.”
“Alright,” Yoshi cheers and leaps for joy. She runs up to her new mentor’s side and smiles at her. “When— when do we start? Where are we going to train? Oh, oh, I need to figure out what I should pack. What should I bring— and I can’t believe you pulled out a pistol though. That’s crazy. What if someone saw you?”
Ms. Fraser keeps looking forward. “They won’t. I made sure of it.”
Yoshi leans forward. “How can you be so sure?”
The woman bonks Yoshi on the head. “What do you think the sand was for, kid? To redecorate the place with little heart and rainbow cutouts? Use your pea sized brain for once.”
“What if the cameras saw you?”
“I hate cameras, so I had those disabled.”
“You just can’t disable cameras. That’s going to get you in trouble.”
“I have religious backing,” says the woman with arms spread wide. She nearly hits Yoshi in the face too. “I could use any damn excuse I want. Anyways, your fat whale ass left a big mess back there. You better clean it up before I report you for it.”
Yoshi grabs onto the sleeve and slides forward under it. “I am not a whale . . . you old hag. You helped too you know. You’re the one who made me do it.”
“Old hag, huh? You're going ot have to do better than that, kiddo. I also wasn’t the one sliding on the wall like a braindead bird that couldn’t stop flapping.” Ms. Fraser takes out some sort of device with the academy’s logo on it and places it against her ear. With a sinister look on her face she thumbs as a button and says, “Better start cleaning.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll get cleaning, geese.”
“That’s what I thought.”
As Yoshi begins to pick up the pictures and paper she knocked down earlier, she looks to Ms. Fraser and shakes her fist again in anger. Stupid school rules. Now I have to waste my time cleaning this mess up. I could be training right now, or better . . . eating some food. Can’t even be assed to help me, what a bitch. Yoshi pulls out a small cake from her sleeve and aggressively opens it. A random bricks flies out of nowhere, but since Yoshi uses her teeth that same moment to open the wrapping, she avoids it unharmed. She doesn’t even notice it. Oh great, now I’m sounding like my mom, ugh..
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Also, you gotta love that logic: "I'll train you if you leave me alone." Is that even possible? lol~
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