A New Home

Jia

Jia woke up in a different room, she could tell despite the darkness, a room she'd never been in before. She sat up, and the blue dim celling light lit. She was laying in a bed with light grey bed sheets and light grey walls. She went to the door of the room and switched the light on. The room was squared, one corner had the bed, the opposite had a desk, the one she was in had a door and the opposite one had a window. She went to the window and lifted the curtains, outside the sun still hadn't come up and the red moons, less visible from here, lit the night. She looked at her watch, it was the same time she usually woke up. She put her running outfit on and put a sweater over it, left the room and somehow found her way to the outside. 

She was in Ruda, she realised, and she'd probably just left one of the Academy's dorms. She ran through the street that went to the left for a while, after which she turned back and went up to her room to shower. The sun had already come up. She looked at the closet that was next to the door, there was a uniform on it. She could choose between a white short sleeved polo shirt with a green neck and sides or a white tank top with green at the sides. There were also tight white elastic jeans with a green line under the right knee that circled the leg. Jia put the polo shirt over her black long sleeved one and put the pants on, she put her black boots on and tied her hair up in a ponytail, she left to go to the classes. 

She didn't really know where she was going, nor did she fully understand how the classes system worked, but from what she'd overheard from her siblings she had a faint idea. When she left her dorm she wasn't the only one, a crowd full of people dressed like her walked through the hallways. None wore the black shirt underneath or the boots, but at least they were all Green Lights and they all looked at her with disdain. She followed the crowd to a large hallway with lots of doors, she saw a few faces she recognised from the election ceremony and followed them through one of the doors. Inside there was a training room, mats on the floor, various weapons stacked in one of the corners, climbing ropes, pull up bars, barbell benches and free weights were around the room. And in it was the man she'd met the day before. The man who'd been so kind to her and protective over her, who'd wanted to defend her from her parents, who'd been angered to see her being treated that way. The man who'd brought her up to her room and lay her in the bed after she'd fallen asleep in the car. The man that had surprised her. A kindness in him that she'd never seen in a man. He had the bad luck of having to have her in his Squad. She was good, she knew, but she was a Dark in Light territory, nobody would be happy with that. For her to be in that group was a big inconvenience for him, and yet all he'd done was protect her. He'd come to her home in Dark territory wearing his white and green t-shirt and his white pants with green braces hanging to his sides and he'd risked her father's anger. He hadn't been polite, he'd only watched him with angered eyes and taken her away from that house. Held her when she'd been pushed away with disgust. She remembered how it had felt to be held. Not with power and strength like Dun did but with gentleness and protection. She'd felt his breath tickle her hair and his warm hands on her shoulders. 

He now looked at all of the students that had entered the room, he gave her a look, his eyes hiding something that intrigued her. He stood next to a few more people, more Wolf Squad members. One of them was the one that had come with him to pick her up. Zen smiled at all the newlies, his big, kind smile, and passed a hand through his brown hair, it followed his hand back and then fell again over his forehead, one of the strands slightly longer than the others, falling to the edge of his eye.

- "Okay, so it seems you're all here." He started nonchalantly. "So, introductions. My name is Zen, I'm your Squad Leader, this here," He said putting a hand on the man Jia had seen the night before. "Is my second in command, Alt. If there is anything you need," he said, now intently, "you go to your mums and dads because we are your squad partners not your guidance counselors." he joked. A few people in the room laughed, Jia didn't but that wasn't unusual in her. It would have been far more unusual if she had laughed. "No, I'm kidding, you can come to us with anything, really. We are your family now." He said and fixated his bright green eyes on Jia, his tone was strong and motivated, he believed in his words, her heart gave a big thump and she looked at him with wide eyes, her frown lowering as much as she could manage. Zen. Jia had heard talk about him. The youngest Squad Leader in all Fazhan history. Dun had been jealous of him once, though he'd never admitted to it. So this was Zen. He didn't seem as strong as Dun, his smiles and breezy ways made it that way, but Jia had noticed a certain strength in him. A certain power behind his childish expression.

Zen continued talking. "Today we are going to see how good you are, these lovely fellas are going to be the ones fighting you. So, let's start with Nin Juchel, come over here." He said and waved his way.

 A little girl stepped out of the crowd towards them. She had the same green eyes they all had, hers were round and big, distracting in her round, small face. She was very skinny and tiny and had blonde hair tied in a braid that started in her temple and finished in her shoulder blades. She looked tiny and innocent and shy and weak. She didn't even look sixteen. She wore the white and green tank top and white trainers. Zen looked to one of the people standing behind him, it was a man, he was broad shouldered and tall with short dark brown hair. Him and the girl stood one in front of the other with fighting stances. The man attacked the girl, it surprised Jia to see he didn't hold back. She looked fragile and weak, like she could break with a push, and the man doubled her in size. It was admirable that he didn't hold back, Jia knew appearances could be misleading and liked that they knew it too. And appearances were misleading, the girl jumped slightly to the side and easily dodged the man. She was incredibly fast. The man turned, he was fast too but not as much, he threw her a punch that she dodged. She danced around dodging punches for a while and then finally landed one on the man's chest. It wasn't a very hard one which is why she had to hit two more times fast for it to have any effect. The man staggered a little and then jumped at her again. 

They fought for a while until Zen told them to stop. When they were done he told the girl a few things to correct. After that he called the others out and one by one watched them fight, choosing different members for each new one and telling them what to improve on once they were done. And finally it was her turn. Her partners looked at her with hating eyes, but she could tell that behind the hate they also felt curiosity. 

Zen called a strong man to fight her. He wasn't as broad-backed as the one fighting Nin had been, but Jia suspected he was probably just as strong and just a tad faster. He had long, dirty blonde, greasy hair that he wore in a short ponytail behind him. He had a wide forehead and a squared face, not terribly handsome but had an attractive air to him. He looked at her with a fighting glare, hate in his eyes. Jia looked at him with her usual serious look, her frown ever constant. 

The man ran to her with all his might, and as Jia had suspected he was faster than the first man had been, but she was fast too. She dodged his punch easily by jumping to the side and then stopped the man's next blow with her arm, she stopped the next punch and then kicked in front of her, throwing the man a few feet in the air. She put her hands to her sides and stood up straight. The man stood up fast, his rage increasing as he did so and ran to her. Jia ran to him too, which was something the man hadn't been expecting, it made him slow his pace down. Jia reached the man and punched his stomach with her left fist and then fast she punched twice more, right, left, right. The man staggered a few feet back and got on one knee, panting, his ponytail fell off and his hair fell to his face. He got up and ran again, Jia evaded his next three punches, he turned with the last one and kicked with his left leg. Jia jumped but was surprised by the man kicking again with the same leg. It didn't hit her but it grazed her, she jumped back. And slightly smiled, she was amused. 

Jia threw a punch and the man blocked it with his arm, after which he sent a punch himself to her stomach, Jia put her hands on the man's arm and threw a kick with her right leg. The man leaned back and dodged it but hadn't been expecting her left leg to kick as well. It hit the man in the chest and he fell back, Jia then landed on the floor. She was surprised by the man's strength and speed, she'd fought Squad Leaders in the exam but this man had been stronger than many, maybe not stronger than the ones she'd fought at the end. Then again in the exams they didn't come back after being hit and this man had, it was what had made him good. 

The man took a little while to stand up but eventually did. Jia didn't give him time to attack her, instead she took the offensive. She threw a punch that he had trouble dodging and then threw another. And another and another. The man could only stop the punches and sometimes just barely. Jia mixed in kicks with the punches and the man stopped them too. She was attacking without letting him do anything else. Dancing. She twirled around as she kicked, enjoying herself. Then finally, when the man stopped one of her punches she opened her fist and grabbed his arm, she did the same with her next punch, grabbing both the man's arms and using them to throw herself up, kicking him once, twice and three and four times as she held his arms. Crotch, stomach, chest, face. She flipped after hitting his face, throwing herself into the air, let go of his arms and landed on the floor after her summersault. Landing with her hands and feet on the floor mat. The man was thrown a few meters in the air and landed on his butt and back. Blood pored out of his nose where she'd kicked. Jia stood up and looked at the man who was now lying down, worried for a second that she'd hit him to hard. But the man stood up, a little clumsily and dizzily. He was ready to fight again, Jia realised. It was admirable to see endurance. She liked that in people. 

Zen stopped the fight, though. Jia looked at him, slowly growing aware of the other people in the room, that looked at her wide eyed. The man joined Jia's side and extended his hand to shake. Jia took it a little hesitantly and shook it, afterwards turning to look at Zen. 

- "You have to improve the accuracy and strength of your punches." He said, aloofly. Jia listened attentively and nodded. "And train to get a little more in shape." He said, Jia nodded. Zen looked at her with his big green eyes for a second, just looked. He finally looked away. "Dismissed. Gurah Kensil, come over here." He said, looking back to the crowd. Jia went to where she sat before, crossing paths with the boy named Gurah, who had curvy black hair cut short, he looked at her angrily as they crossed paths. 

Reviews

[Created to Write]

A few things I noticed:
- When she sees Alt, I think he's the one that puts his hand through his hair. Put Zen at the beginning of the sentence, not 'he.'
- When her opponent falls on his but? It's b-u-t-t.

Aloofy? That's an interesting word. "AlOOfy."

Cool chapter! I have a feeling Gurah is going to be her "'fight-school' enemy."

[Evey]

Thanks! And I have to change aloofy, it was supposedly in an aloof way, but I've just recently realised that I've had this word confused all my life! I thought it meant careless in a cheery way and it's almost the opposite, meaning cold and distant. Remind me whenever you see me use it if you can! I suspect I've put it in throughout the story!