"You… You… BULLY! SHAMELESS! WOMAN-CHILD! This is straight up child abuse! I am going to call the Universal Child Protective Services! I really will!" Aidan was absolutely livid as he unleashed a string of threats and curses at Gana, who was still grinning from ear-to-ear.
"Oh? Our Little Flame backing down from a fight? I thought we've raised a little Phoenix, not a chicken!" She would not relent, however, as she began to roast Aidan back. Naturally, Gana was ecstatic. She had feigned worry and hesitation all to ensnare the boy into thinking she had no knowledge of the ways of the bow. All to see that look on his face which, to her, was everything.
After all, she did not want to reel in a mere fish to eat, but instead use it to capture a much bigger and much angrier bird!
Having realized that he had been tricked, Aidan could only feel more and more frustrated by his predicament and shouted, "I thought you practiced and trained with guns, not bows! Where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?!"
Gana watched the raving Aidan as he jumped up and down in anger. Taking notice of his rising feathers, especially the two big ones that previously drooped from his head, stiffening straight into what she believed to be a show of intimidation. Whilst this was ongoing, however, Gana noticed another change happening in Aidan's purple eyes as his pupils began to constrict into beads; giving her an impression of a predator ready to pounce on her at a moment's notice. Yet her expression showed no change as if her much despised grin was super-glued right onto her. Clearly, this was not the first time Gana had seen Aidan in such a state.
'Is he a Peacock or a Crow?' Gana chuckled at the sight as an old joke flashed through her head. Feeling like she messed with him enough, though, she looked right at the boy's dangerous eyes and began explaining herself slowly, "My Ma' and the folks from my ol' town used to take me to with em' to hunt critters and beasts and such. Since guns and magic could get really loud and close-range weapons could scare prey away, we opted for bows instead. Plus, they liked the challenge that comes with it… They're weird like that."
Hearing her explanation, Aidan's feathers once again drooped from his head whilst his pupils returned to a normal human shape. Though, instead of kicking up a storm with his usual fiery personality like Gana had expected, his cute cheeks puffed up as tears began to well up in his eyes; his mouth moving as he mumbled his thoughts out quietly, "Still… Why didn't you say anything? I wouldn't have started this bet if I had known… It's just not fair…"
"… Ya never asked…" Hearing her inconsiderate remark, Aidan's eyes started to tremble as his feathers shook uncontrollably. Watching his reactions, Gana suddenly started to feel really bad as a sense of panic began to brew within. Aidan was usually a fiery personality that was quick to raise his fists at any who wronged him - figuratively and physically. So, seeing him cry came as a big shock to Gana as she tried to calm him down, lest she invite the wrath of a particular small blonde.
Thinking up to this point, Gana quickly spoke, "Yer' right! It isn't fair at all, Hahaha! No no no no, don't cry, boy! What I meant was… that… uh…" Tears began to fall on Aidan's cute face like a broken dam as Gana fumbled with her words, trying her best to think of something to calm him down. The boy's mouth began quivering when, suddenly, Gana's previously panic-stricken face brightened up as an idea popped onto her head, she continued, "Right! Just get half my points! Only half and you win! Easy, right?! Please don't tell Hana, alright?!"
With that said, Gana kneeled with a pleading look on her face, her hands clasped together whilst she faced the boy in front of her as if she was praying to a God. Seeing her actions, Aidan chuckled a bit and calmed down, wiping the tears from his face in the process. Nodding towards the pitiful figure, he smiled and said, "Okay… I won't tell Hana, but… did you mean what you said?"
"Yeah!" Filled with hope, Gana's eyes beamed with relief as she vigorously shook her head. Though, strangely, his smile got wider – showing his sharp teeth.
"Realllly?" The strange expression on Aidan's face gave Gana a weird sensation. But before she could ask what was wrong, Aidan turned towards the shooting range and began walking into place, brandishing his slick dark-blue bow. He stood right before the red line, back as straight as a sword, and placed his small fingers onto the neon blue string.
Gana had a sense of foreboding as waves of confidence began exuding from Aidan. His smile had long since vanished, replaced with an extremely focused expression. He pulled back the string slowly, allowing the blue energy to start forming the shape of an arrow without his posture changing whatsoever.
After pulling it to a certain point, he took aim to the nearest target about 100m away from him, taking his sweet time as he changed the position of his bow to get a better feel of the shot. As this occurred, however, the spectator on the side was experiencing a roller coaster of emotions. Gana had watched the boy's action since the beginning and admitted that his form, attitude and focus went beyond what an average kid his age could do. She wished that she could just go back in time and take back her words. After all, Aidan did not look like he was inexperienced, she believed that he could definitely go beyond 500pts!
Gana despairingly thought to herself, 'Damn… Am I going to lose this bet?'.
After the entire energy arrow had formed, without a word nor glance at her direction, Aidan suddenly went completely still as his aura soared. Gana ceased all her thinking as she looked on with a sense of trepidation, compelling her to nibble her mouth in anxiety. Aidan, devoid of hesitation, relaxed his fingers and released…!
… The bow!
WHACK
Immediately, the entire bow came back swinging towards his face, taking both Gana and Aidan off guard. It whacked him at the side of his face and made his nose bleed, making him scream in pain and dropping the energy arrow, that was originally between his fingers, headfirst through his shoe and into his foot. Piercing through like a hot knife through butter.
"SHIT! OUCH! DAMMIT IT HURTS!" Aidan dropped his bow and curled up in pain, holding both his face and foot simultaneously as tears once again resurfaced on his face. The scene stunned the onlooking Gana in place as everything went against her original thoughts. It had happened way too fast, and her hot-headed brain could not comprehend the situation in front of her properly. However, without thinking about the situation at all, a sudden burst of power filled Gana's body as she propelled herself towards Aidan like a bullet. In but a blurry instant, she arrived next to Aidan, hoping to heal his injuries and relieve him of his pain.
But before she could do anything, a familiar blue energy covered Aidan from head-to-toe, healing his bloody nose and foot in a flash. In a mere instant, the blue light reverted him to his previous state as if the little blunder Aidan had committed had never occurred in the first place. Watching this scene, both Aidan and Gana were shocked… for a moment.
"Right… were in a simulation so ya don't actually get hurt. Maaan, that's embarrassing. I never seen someone actually hurt themselves in one of these before." Gana smiled mockingly, laughing madly at the boy. Aidan, embarrassed beyond belief, blushed and barked back, "Shut up! Don't pretend you didn't run over here with a weird face! I saw you!"
Aidan wanted to share his embarrassment, but unfortunately his words severely backfired. After saying his piece, he immediately felt a slap at the back of his head, catching him off guard and making him trip over himself whilst he was standing up. Sitting on the ground once again, he held his head in shock as he turned to stare at the perpetrator's face. Her aura was cold and her previously irritating face had been replaced with one lacking an expression, she opened her mouth and said, "Idiot, yer' my responsibility right now and it is my duty to take care of ya. Don't ya take someone's genuine worry with a grain of salt, but instead thank them with the bottom of yer' heart. After all, when ya grow up, ya will find that kindness is a luxury not many folks get."
Hearing her stern tone, Aidan knew what he said was wrong. His face was covered in shame as his feathers drooped at an all time low. He stood up and properly faced Gana with his head down, twiddling his thumbs in a cute manner. With a bit of hesitation, he looked up at the tall cold figure and apologized, "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said that…"
Hearing his cute apology, Gana's cold face melted into a warm smile as she patted the boy's head, not minding his small blunder, "Heh its fine. As long as ya take this lesson to heart, it wouldn't be hard to find yerself some friends." Aidan nodded vigorously. "Anyway, hold the bow properly in yer' hands and make sure ya let go with the right hand, not yer' left. Understand? I still need to get me a message from ya after all! Hahahaha."
Gana walked to the sidelines while laughing, sporting on a devious smile once again. Clearly, Aidan had only looked the part, but does not actually know how to use a bow, which, suffice to say, made her anxiety vanish with the virtual wind. Aidan, on the other hand, acknowledged this fact and could only angerly glance at Gana before walking back into place in front of the shooting range. He replicated his form again, but this time making sure he does not let go of the bow.
In front of his eyes, a bunch of words and numbers that only he could see appeared, showing his progress thus far.
[Arrows: 9/10]
[Previous shot: Utter Failure, -50pts]
[Total Score: -50pts]
Aidan realized that the previous mishap still counted towards his points and he was given a penalty because of it. He figured it made sense since in a real-life situation such a devastating mistake could jeopardize operations easily. Yet, it had still made him feel sour since he only made it harder for himself to win. But such a feeling only lasted for so long as he could feel Gana's irritating gaze mocking him at this very moment. Renewing his determination, he took aim at the same target that he was eyeing earlier; making him pull the string back as far as he can whilst a blue energy began seeping out of the string to form an arrow once again.
He breathed in and held his breath, calming his beating heart as he tried to make his arms stop in place. Aidan could feel Gana's gaze burning his back, making him unable to calm down and stop the feeling of nervousness filling his heart. He could not help but remind himself of their bet and how he was going to lose. Having those thoughts in mind, he unwittingly released the string of the bow and unleashed the arrow through the air.
WOOSH
The arrow was shaky at best and went into a completely different direction to what Aidan had planned, missing his intended target by a long shot. Not long after, it plummeted on the ground as the energy from the arrow began forming a string of words.
Missed, 0pts
Aidan's face was grim as he plucked the string of the bow and aimed at the target once again. He released the arrow and found that it veered off to the left, away from his intended course once again. Gana, watching the entire scene, began laughing at the sight of the arrows completely missing its targets. Making Aidan's face turn darker than it already is. With a strange cackle, she said, "Kekekeke, I wonder what I'll do with ya first? Naturally, that message I mentioned earlier comes first, but maybe later I'll make ya clean my clothes too! Kekekeke."
Hearing her laughs devolve into the cackles of a witch, Aidan was pissed off.
Extremely so.
His pupils began to shrink into beads whilst his feathers, most notably his two large ones, began to rise into sharp red 'swords'. He pulled the string in anger, beyond what he was capable of before as the string broke through his skin and dug into his fingers, drawing blood and making him wince in pain. Yet he did not move nor flinch his hands away from the bow, as if it were transfixed on the palms of his hand.
He did not care!
He just wanted to win!
Gana was shocked by his bold actions as her expression froze on her face, giving her a strange look. 'What happened to him?! He was crying in pain just a minute ago, how the hell could he pull all this off all of a sudden?!' She screamed in her head as she watched Aidan unleash the arrow he had primed earlier. Dissimilar to the previous shots, this particular one felt vastly different in aura and power. It screamed through the air and landed at the border of the inner ring in no time at all! An energy flared from the arrow as the target sunk back into the ground.
+50pts
He had finally scored himself some points!
However, Aidan was not happy. After going through that entire process, the arrow still veered slightly off course to what he originally intended to do. He acknowledged that he still has a long way to go before he could win the bet, but before he could continue, he wanted to find what was missing within his shot that made it veer off its course. The important element he needed to get what he wanted…
He pondered a bit before an understanding smile took over his face. He closed his eyes and stood still, feeling a breeze, one that should not have existed on a moon, caress his body gently.
'Wind! Now I get it!' Accepting that his theory was the right one, Aidan aimed his bow to the next closet target, slightly aiming more towards the right than the left. Once again, he plucked the string beyond the limits of his fingers, taking full advantage of the blue energy healing his lacerations and stressed muscles constantly. Once he was ready, he released the arrow as it sailed powerfully towards the target, topping the previous shot instantaneously. It made a piercing sound as it dominated through the sky and curved slightly to the left – heading directly for the small red circle in the middle of the target.
TUCK
Bullseye.
+70pts.
A great shot.