While Lana and Blaine were at dinner, someone in the dorms drank a cup of tea.
[Quest Complete: Consume Lana's Sleep Tea 7 consecutive days: 7/7
Reward granted: Bronze nonstick]
Paul noticed the nanostick appear in his system's inventory. He selected it with some excitement.
[Do you wish to use bronze nanostick?]
[Yes/No]
He selected yes.
[Plus 5 skill points. Would you like to allocate skill points?]
Programming 5
Augmented reality 5
Virtual Reality 5
cybersecurity 5
Security 5
Hacking 5
Convert metal to computer parts 5
Build System 5
Command Computer 5
Command Computer components 5
Build Machines 5
Build advanced machine 5
Build advanced Weapon 5
critical thinking 5
Complex problem solving 5
networking 5
[Yes/No]
[Yes]
[+3, Build Systems, +1 Build Advanced Machines, +1 Build Advanced Weapons]
[ERROR: System must be upgraded before new points can be allocated.]
Paul was unhappy but went to bed, quickly falling asleep.
-------------------------------
"Time under a willow tree?" Blaine asked curiously.
Lana nodded. "First, trees have personalities. Generally speaking, Weeping Willows are gentle and protective, cradling almost. It was the first tree I ever grew. I have created a combat style using it." She chuckled, "I guess I should back up a bit."
"When we were 5, the person who ran our orphanage liked to watch the Olympics. Two sports she watched were gymnastics and acrobatics. Having watched them with her, I fell in love with them. Dobin helped me find videos, having always been good with technology. He helped me perfect my moves under and with the willow. It may seem like work but it was fun and it was a bonding time we shared that didn't involve fear."
Blaine smiled.
"Of course, we would always eat our meals in secret under the tree as well."
"It sounds wonderful."
"It was."
Blaine frowned a bit looking at his watch. "It's time to head back. We do have PT in the morning."
Lana nodded with a smile, "thank you for today, truly."
Chekof and Karlen, having smelled a human and non-human walk by that they couldn't see, knew it was time to head back as well. They both just used their noses to tell the two stuck to the route and arrived safely.
Blaine turned himself visible in the stairwell again and they walked through. Despite her being with him, he knocked on the door and had Kattie let them in. If she opened it herself, it would have beeped which could have tipped off invisible watchers. He closed the door and placed her bags on her bed, allowing her to become visible now they were safely in her room.
"Blaine, do you think we can trust Sergeant Tanaka?"
"Why do you ask?" He looked confused.
Lana sighed, "I'm curious of where I stand. I don't want anyone to know what I can do but I need to test it out… Can we trust him? To not put it in my record?"
"I don't know. I'll talk to Chekof and see what he says. Karlen might have input as well since he's in that class as well."
Lana nodded, "thank you again. I really appreciate everything you've done. I don't know how I'm ever going to repay you."
Blaine looked her in the eye, "smile."
She laughed.
He grinned, "good enough. Don't forget to study before going to bed. See you at breakfast," and he returned to his room.
Kattie waited for the door to close, "you still don't get how much he likes you, do you?"
"Kattie, even if that were true, he's a bird and I'm a fish. His family would never accept me." Lana turned to her new clothes and lovingly removed each item from the bags. She had never even seen such beautiful clothes and soon she'd be wearing them. Kattie smiled watching her hang up each item, touching the cloth of each as she pulled her hand away to get another item.
With Phase 2 now in full swing, curfew was now 9 but Lana still wanted to be in bed by 8. With PT every day but Sunday, she wanted to not be tired when she got up. Feeling confident with broken bones, she decided to study treating infections and was in shock. Apparently, different plants treated different infections. There was no such thing as a one-plant-treats-all. She studied until 7:30 then asked Kattie to join her with meditations.
At breakfast, everyone noticed her hair was now only blond and she was wearing it differently as well. She was getting looks from people she didn't think noticed her before. She tucked her head in and found her seat. She looked at her plate as she ate.
Dobin and Blaine sat at almost the same time. "What's wrong?" Dobin asked, beating Blaine to it."
"People keep looking at me! Did I suddenly sprout three heads?"
Blaine laughed, "no, it's because you look really cute with your hair like that."
Lana looked shocked, "should I go back to it the way it was?"
Karlen looked at her, "don't let them get to you. We have your back if anyone tries anything."
Lana smiled, "thank you."
Chekof winked at her with a smile before inhaling his two plates of meat.
Lana smiled and Kattie squeezed her hand.
The rest of the day was uneventful until combat class. Chekof met her and told her the teacher agreed to a match that was off the record.
"He said, and I quote, if students want to spar on their own time after class, that's no business of his, end quote," Chekof smirked.
Lana smiled, "so take it easy on the lesson today?"
He nodded, "we'll just make it look good."
Today, he had her practicing blocks. The first half of the day was upper body with the second half being lower body. It seemed like class had just started when it was time to stop. Knots formed in Lana's stomach. She hung back near the wall waiting for the hall to clear. At the end, all that was left was Lana, Chekof, and Blaine. The teacher had gone to his office.
Lana walked into the ring in the middle which was elevated about a foot and about 10-feet in diameter. Blaine stepped up, sword in hand. "What do you think? Want to try it?"
Lana gulped but nodded. "However, if you have a weapon, I get one too." She flicked her wrist and was suddenly holding her whip.
Blaine chuckled, "a vine versus a sword?" He shrugged, "well, alright then."
Lana smiled a sweet smile then held up three fingers. She began counting down.
3.
2.
1.
As he rushed toward her, she swung her white-energy-infused vine at the sword then twirled like a dancer. She twisted the sword out of his grip and used the whip to send it out of the ring with the sweetest smile on her face.
Blaine was dumb founded. He hadn't expected that. He only paused for a brief second but that gave her the edge for first strike. She used an open palm strike to his med-section and flipped away.
Kyle: She's good. You going to let her win?"
Blaine chuckled: That wouldn't be helping her.
Kyle stepped just a bit to the side to observe the fight.
Blaine saw where she was going and met her there. She may have trained for years with her brother but he trained for the same amount of time with professionals. "I'm sorry," he called and he punched her in the same place she got him. She doubled over a small bit but not as much as he expected.
As he had a split second of being stunned, "don't be," she kicked from the opposite side he punched and performed a three kick action – thigh, side and head. She put more strength in this time having used the move before. He was a strong person and she knew he could take more of her strength. He dodged the blow to the head but not the other two.
"Ow!" he responded with an attempt to kick her but she flipped away again. He chuckled and met her at the new spot swinging a new punch. She decided to take the punch as she jumped. He got her hip instead of her side. It hurt but she still flowed through with her move. She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed off his thighs with her feet. Once clear of his arm, she flipped her legs around, adjusting her hands so an arm was around his neck and she used her momentum to bring him down but he didn't drop without a fight.
Blaine used her momentum against her and flipped himself, breaking her grip to land on top of her instead of under her. He pinned her arms, "give up?" with a huge grin on his face.
She chuckled, "this time…"
He helped her up and looked at Chekof. "You've got more power in you then you let on young lady."
Lana smirked, "it would be unlady-like if I didn't have secrets Sir Chekof!"
"Let's go get dinner. That fight made me hungry," Chekof replied.
**********************************
\Join me on discord at https://discord.gg/wuNsfeGP Or Patreon at patreon.com/MindyLeeCrouch
If you'd like to donate to me via PayPal, https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=8PCLHZTXAPFPC
Constructive criticism is welcome as it helps me become a better writer.