A new Generation
Five in the morning was way too early for –anyone- in his view. These people were insane, crazy, and downright annoying. Shane cursed as he threw his covers off of him, glaring up at the intercom system on his ceiling that was spouting 'taps'. You would think that they would at least play something better to wake everyone up. And hell with it if he was wearing the horrid uniform in the closet!
He stormed to his doorway, swinging it open, seeing that many of the others were doing the same. In the center of their hallway stood a burly man, whose uniform –had- to have been specially made for him. This was one of those people that were most likely very grateful for the tall ceiling, because if it had been the normal height of a house, he was sure his head would have been touching. Talk about a giant.
"Just what do you think you are doing, boy? Get your ungrateful ass back in that room and get your uniform on!"
Shane lifted an eyebrow at the man, wincing at his loud voice.
"I'm not wearin' that thing! I'm no soldier, and I'm not gonna train to be one, so you can take that stick that's shoved up your rear end and go away!"
The man was in front of him in seconds, hovering inches from his face. Shane backed up quickly into his door, about to move his hand to the door handle and escape this madman, but wasn't as fast as the man in front of him. The Soldier grabbed the door handle, keeping it nice and shut.
"People are dying, women and children getting murdered by faithless bastards. Preventers have been slaughtered mercilessly, and families have been ripped apart. Your parents are much too old to pilot a mobile suit anymore, and with how hopeless this damn war is right now, you are the only ones that we can count on."
The soldier hissed out, fire burning in his eyes.
"Now, will you abandon your people? Will you turn your back on the world?"
"The world? Destruction? Bull shit!" Suoh was leaning on the wall on the opposite side of the corridor, glaring at the man. "If its SO bad, why the hell hasn't anyone noticed it? Why aren't things all over the news?"
The man spun around, red in the face in anger. "We fight so that the world will not be in pain or worry! Many places have been destroyed, and covered up as natural disasters, or simple accidents! Did any of you ever wonder why the dams around New Orleans broke –after- the storm? The perfect cover! The place was in such destruction, that no one was paying attention to the broken bomb pieces or the shards of cracked brick!"
This sent everyone into silence, the recent disaster fresh in their minds. They looked around at eachother, and, almost as an unspoken decision, they all turned, walking back into their rooms to find their uniforms.
"Keep running, girl!"
"I-I-I can't!" Sheila was sitting on the ground, breath heaving. Her eyes were shut tight, pain burning in her chest.
"I don't care what you have to do, but you better be up and going somewhere by the time I get over there, girl!"
Suoh glared at him as he sprinted around the track to where Sheila was, grabbing her around the waist, lifting her up easily onto her feet, and holding her steady as he went. Her feet were stumbling clumsily on the ground, but she was able to stay going, clinging onto him as she tried desperately to keep running.
Kima was well ahead of everyone else, having lapped them all a few times already. Her hair was flying behind her, a huge smile on her face at finally being able to run as much as she wanted. Sweat trailed down her face in beads, her steps just now starting to hit heavily. At first, Franklin, the man who was now in charge of their training, had scolded her, told her that she wouldn't be able to keep a steady speed the way she was going. When she had rolled her eyes and slowed down to please him, however, he had snapped that she should finish what she had started. They had run around twenty laps by now, and she was still not as tired as the others looked. When she saw Sheila and Suoh, she scowled. Damn that man for making Sheila keep running like that. What if she got hurt, or passed out?
She slowed down a little, wanting to be able to keep a relatively steady pace.
Shane was dying. He had run with Kima before, but not this long. Everyone was tired, why couldn't the man just let them rest? Had he never heard of starting out slowly? He was never in that well of shape, and even though he was jogging slowly, he felt as if his chest was burning. He only barely noticed when Franklin yelled at all of them to stop. Thankful, he ran over to where he was, hands on his knees as he fought to catch his breath.
"Next is hand to hand combat. There is going to be another company coming in, so you brats better not get in their way."
"And what about them getting in our way? Aren't we the ones 'you need'." Takeru crossed his arms, glaring at Franklin, his face flushed from the exercise. "And don't we get at least a few minutes to rest? What are you trying to do, kill us?"
"Boy, you will not usurp my authority!"
"Sorry, sir, but that's not taking your authority…" This time it was Neil who spoke up. His voice was breathy and low, and he looked as if he was about to faint. Almost as bad as Sheila, who was on the ground, struggling to catch her breath. "But really, we aren't amazing soldiers or whatnot…We were raised in a perfectly normal family, and the most training most of us have had is gym class, and that barely prepares you for anything."
"You will train, and you will train how I tell you to train! Now get over to the damn mats and-"
"No!" Kima glared at him, crossing her arms. "If you don't let us rest, I'm going to go find my father."
"Don't you try and use that against me! You're father would think I am perfectly right in my teachings!"
"Oh, well good, then. I'll just go and make sure he's ok with it."
Franklin stood there stuttering, his face flushed in anger. "Fine! You can have your damn rest time, you lazy slobs!"
"That's what we were intending to do…Or did you not hear us?" Suoh's voice sounded deadly, and it was obvious to all of them that he was holding himself back, keeping from punching the man in the face.
Kima smirked in victory as the group of people that he had been talking about marched into the room. She and the others walked off towards the wall that was in the far right corner, ignoring all the curious look they were getting.
Franklin looked livid. Takeru kept his eye on him as they walked away, nearly expecting him to freak out and spazz on them again. His gaze then moved around the room, glancing over all the new people that had just walked in. Most of them were watching them, and he supposed it made sense. It seemed that most people came in companies, plus the fact that most of them looked to be at least over twenty. Looking around, he figured the oldest of the group of six they had couldn't have exceeded nineteen.
"How old do you think you're supposed to be to get into the Preventers?" He asked, turning back to the others.
"I think the age was around twenty something…."
Kima rolled her eyes. "Stupid ignorant idiots, making us join like this. I didn't even get the chance to tell my family goodbye."
"I bet mine are spazzing….I never saw them, they pulled me over on the side of the road as I was on my way to see them…"
"God dammit! They messed up so much! You would think they would have at least –some- common sense!" Shane slammed his hand into the wall, extremely angry. "I mean, they treated most of us like it was a kidnapping!"
"I-isn't that w-what it was?" Sheila was getting her breath back finally, now able to stand on her own. "We had no choice but to come here….No choice but to do what they say…."
"Which is crap! I mean, its our lives! What right do they have to rule over us? None!"
"Kima, you're sorta loud…." Shane whispered over to her as the group that was practicing on the weights looked over at them.
"I'll scream it, if I want! You hear that?" She yelled over to Franklin, and the group. "You shouldn't be able to control us, you assholes!"
Neil winced. "Causing a disturbance won't help anything, you know."
"Yeah, but it damn well makes me feel better." She stood with her arms crossed, glaring over at Franklin, who was at the moment making their way towards them. Suoh stood, standing right in front of Franklin when he walked over, and even though he was shorter than the man by inches, he still managed to look as if he was looking down his nose at him.
"You got any business here?"
"Get. To. The. Mats. Right. Now." The man looked ready to snarl and bite him, but he was holding himself back, perhaps because the threat to go find their parents still hung in the air. They listened this time, all except Kima, who stood there defiantly.
"Mats."
"No! I won't listen to you. You forced us to come here, you forced us to work, I'm not going to roll over like a submissive little puppy dog and just do what you say! It doesn't work that way!"
"You are fighting for the good of-"
"For the good of the world, I know! But what if I don't want to! What if I just want to live my own normal life! Someone else can go 'save the world!' You can leave me out of it!"
The company across the room had gone still now, a few of them sitting up to better watch the scene. No one in the preventers dared to talk back to Franklin, it was like writing your own death note down and jumping off the building. And here was this woman, no, she couldn't have been more than a girl, spouting off to him as if she owned the world. Most of them were rooting for her. It was a well known fact that Franklin was a bastard.
"Girl. You have five seconds to get over to those mats, or I'll-"
"What, put me in time out? I'm not a child, I ask you not to treat me like one."
Shane sighed, leaving the mats and walking over to her, putting a hand on her arm. "C'mon, Kima, its really not that bad…"
"I said I wasn't going, I'm not going to go."
"Oh, get off your pride trip and just give it up. Its not worth it." He whispered to her, his grip tightening in annoyance.
She looked at him, eyes filled with anger, then jerked her arm free, storming over to where the others were.
Sheila looked worried when she came back, glancing at Shane, then at Kima. "What did he say to you?" She asked, going over and giving her a hug. "You seem upset."
Kima hugged her back reluctantly, then pulled away. "Its nothing. Some people just can't seem to respect why people do things." She hissed, looking pointedly at Shane as he got there.
"Ahem. Alright, listen up. I want you all to pair up, try to go by size. I want the two girls" He said, as if them being girls was below him, or something, which caused Kima to scowl, " together, you," He pointed at Neil, "And you," This time at Shane. "And you two tall ones, go over to another mat."
After they had paired up, Franklin simply told them to "work on hand to hand combat." Completely ignoring the fact that they might not have known just –what- to do. Kima and Sheila were trying their best, Neil seemed to be teaching Shane, while Takeru and Suoh were merely duking it out.
"You guys look like you need a bit of help, eh?"
Kima turned from where she and Sheila were trying to imitate something they had seen Neil doing.
"Hey! I know you! You helped me the other day!"
The man nodded, discarding his jacket, walking over to them. "You guys seem to be having a bit of trouble."
"Oh, gosh, yes!" Sheila wiped her forward, looking at him as if he were her savior. "He told us to fight, but we don't know anything about it! I don't want him to yell at us again…" She lowered her head, looking sad.
"Not that we care what he thinks." Kima butted in, rolling her eyes. "The stupid butthole. So anyways, you got a name, or do we just call you Soldier?"
"Kyle. But if Franklin come back, make sure its Seargent Lucrize."
"Riiight…."
"So, how do we do this? I mean, I know how to deck a person, but this whole 'martial arts shit' is new to me."
"Alright, well, I don't know the best way to teach it, but how about I do it first, then you guys try and do what I did?"
Sheila smiled sweetly at him, nodding. "That sounds fantastic."
Shane and Neil paused, taking a break to catch their breath, and Shane found his gaze lingering over to Kima's mat, wanting to know how she was doing. Anger and jelousy coursed through him when he saw her. There was a solder behind her, a hand on her hip, the other one guiding her hand into a punch, his body lined up with hers, keeping it in the right shape. He was glaring daggers at the pair as he guided her through a punch, his hand trailing down her skin as she did.
"You wanna back off?" He called from where he was, walking over to their mat. The soldier straightened, looking at him, not saying anything.
"Do you have a problem with someone helping me, Shane?" Kima spun around, her gaze fired.
"Can't you tell he's just trying to feel you up? I mean, please, he can teach you without the whole 'touching' you thing!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about! Are you an idiot, or what? Just go away, Shane, you obviously have no idea what you're talking about! If you think I would let a guy do that-"
"Well, you obviously would! Seeing as you are!"
"He's –helping- me! Goodness, can you not see that? He was just making sure I was doing it right!"
"Alright, alright. Calm down, the both of you. I apologize if my actions seemed as if they were dubious, and if you are uncomfortable with it, I will stop."
Kyle looked between the two, his hands behind his back politely.
"Yes! I am uncomfortable with it."
"Shane! Ugh, just go away!" She turned back to Kyle, completely ignoring Shane. "There's really no problem with it, I know that you weren't trying to do anything like that, and unlike some people, I trust other's when they aren't doing something."
Shane glared at her back, storming back to Neil. "I can't believe her! Wasn't it obvious! I mean, he was all over her!"
Neil raised an eyebrow in amusement, leaning into a fighting position. "I think you're just jealous, really. Maybe you should go ask if you could switch with him? That is, if she's still talking to you." He was ready for the punch that was swung at him, and he easily grabbed Shane around the arm, flipping him and sitting on him to pin him to the mat.
"Admit it, man, you've got the hots for her… Bad."
"I do not! Get off of me!"
"Not until you admit it!" Neil stuck out his tongue, holding in laughter that was sure to only enrage Shane even more.
"I don't have anything to admit! Get off!"
"What in the world is going on over there?" Franklin's voice cut through the gym, and rolling his eyes, Neil slid off of Shane.
Takeru and Suoh paused again, breathing hard. Suoh had won again, and Takeru was just laying there on the mat, breathing hard. He walked over, poking him with his foot.
"You ok?"
Takeru pushed his foot away, looking up at him skeptically. "I'll be just fine. Just don't touch me."
"Touchy."
Takeru stuck his tongue out at him, his eyes moving to where Franklin was yelling at Neil and Shane.
"Does that man ever shut up?" He asked softly, sitting up, his long hair falling into his eyes as he watched the three of them.
"Doesn't look like it."
Shaking his head, Takeru stood up, once again assuming a fighting position. It was going to be a long day. And if this was just the beginning, it was going to be a long couple of weeks.
A/N: Alright, its been quite a while since I've updated this story, but, as promised, here it is .
I hope ya'll like it, more will follow soon.