At the would-rather-not-mention-the-name's HQ, Wilson stood on the dojo mat staring down at his teammates sitting down on the bare floor by the side.
"Seriously? No one?" Wilson asked. The look on his face said it all. "I'm disappointed in all of you." He pointed at Dash. "Especially you! I thought we were like rivals or stuff."
Dash casually waved his hand.
"No normal homo sapien will want to be your rival, Wills." He said.
Wilson huffed.
"Speak for yourself." Danny spoke. Wilson smiled and cracked his knuckles. Danny immediately panicked.
"Hey, hey wait. I said nothing about fighting you, okay? I'm just saying that there are some homos who will gladly face you."
Wilson shook his head and said. "You're a coward. Don't give excuses for it. It's infuriating."
Danny stands up.
"Did you just call me a coward?" He asked.
"Yes, I did." Wilson responded.
Danny stood right in front of Wilson, who stood half a head taller than him. They stared right into each other's eyes.
Dash looked away. He did not want to see the brutality that seemed to be hovering over their heads. Fawn chuckled. She could see Danny's legs twitch.
"As if!" Danny said and immediately walked backwards.
"I'm not stupid." He muttered to himself.
"Coward." Wilson brought the insult home.
"It's not cowardice." Danny defended himself. "It's stupidity to face off against a masochist."
"You got that right." Dash quipped.
The door opened and their instructor walked in. Following behind were Charlie and the old ratman with Sofia on his shoulders.
"Sofia." Dash called as he stood up and ran to take her from Edward's shoulders. Wilson watched and smiled as they hugged.
Danny whistled.
"Hey, Wills. Who's the cutie?" Fawn asked.
"Our sister." Wilson answered.
"Sister?"
"You and Dash are brothers?" Danny asked, utterly confused. Wilson was quick to deny.
"Oh, no, no. I don't have a coward for a brother."
Fawn sighed.
"Look, Wilson. You can't share a sister without being brothers." She explained.
Wilson sneered and looked away.
Sofia finally wiggled out of Dash's embrace and ran to hug Wilson.
"Big brother Wilson. I really missed you."
"I missed you too." Wilson said much to the discomfort of Dash.
The instructor finally decided she had seen enough. She sent Sofia back to Edward's arms and made all the four teammates sit down together.
"Okay, everyone listen up." The instructor spoke up. "I will be frank with you. I am not too impressed with how much you have improved as a team. I think the major reason is because you have not been in a life na death situation together. Don't worry, I got a solution for that."
Charlie continued from where she stopped. "The other gangs want in on the action, but they each have their own teams already, so, they are les than willing to compromise. As a result, there will be a short competition to decide who will be representing Forest Gardens in the major competition at the major parts of Tiger City."
"But we don't even meet the bare minimum to apply." Danny said.
"And the deadline is two days' time." Fawn added.
The instructor nodded.
"We know that." She said.
"That's why the competition will only last today and halfway tomorrow. As for the number issue, if you guys win..."
"When you guys win." The instructor corrected.
"Okay. When you guys win, you will get to pick whoever you want out of the losers to become a part of the team. It's all part of the agreement." Charlie said.
Danny nodded. Wilson raised his hand and smiled as he asked.
"You said the fight starts today, right? Who are we beating up?"
"You only need to bear up two teams to win. The first one is a team that call themselves, 'The Devourers'." The instructor said.
Dash cringed. He couldn't help but ask.
"I really have to ask. Is it like a Forest Garden thing to give yourselves lame names or I've just had the fortune of hearing the bad ones?"
"Blame your bad luck." Danny responded.
Charlie chipped in before the insults would blow out of proportion.
"You guys should go gear up. Wear whatever you want. I won't be bothering myself to design your team gears for you if you can't even win."
"You have thirty minutes. In half an hour's time, you should be geared up and all ready to go." The instructor said. "If you're not there by then, forget being able to fight alongside the team, you would be lucky to survive my series of punishments."
Dash, Wilson, Fawn and Danny all looked horrified. No one who ever suffered her punishments wanted to go through it again.
"What are you waiting for? Do I begin the punishments now?"
They quickly ran out of the dojo-like training room. Each of them entered his or her own rooms on the other side of the corridor.
Thirty minutes later, they were in a rickety hovercar that shook as if it were experiencing speed bumps midair. It was grossly uncomfortable for everyone but the instructor and Charlie who had experienced worse and Sofia who squealed in delight.
Wilson probably had it the hardest because he sat by the window and continuously bumped his head against the hard, insanely rough interior of the car while trying to avoid getting impaled by the Dash's unsheathable knife which he refused to keep in any of the storage rings he wore like jewelry on his fingers.
More than once, he had to smack or kick Dash to stop him from getting too close.
*Pak*
"Ow!"
"Keep the knife!"
Dash giggled and faced Wilson with his eyes wide open. "Nope!"