Trust is just a Five-Letter Word

Disclaimer: Don’t own Candidate for Goddess (Megami Kouhosei). Only have rights to my own characters.

A/N: Characters may be OOC due to the fact that I have only seen a few episodes. I am not proud of this chapter, because it contains some violence, so don’t kill me! Reviews (not death threats) are appreciated.

Chapter four: Training

Ikhny’s new room wasn’t bad. In fact, it was more or less like her old one, except that she had to share it with Mona and Lisa, repairer candidates ninety and ninety-one. They were snobby twins who were blond, blue-eyed, and identical to the last freckle. They didn’t talk to Ikhny at all, and Ikhny was just fine with that, because all they talked about was their partners and how cute they were.

Truth be told, Ikhny didn’t feel like talking to anyone anymore, with the exception of Tak. He cared about her. He was there for her. He saw and treated her as an equal, not as an underling like Hiead.

Ikhny buried her face in her hands when she thought of the look Hiead gave her when Azuma made the partner switch. His eyes had been filled with anger and pride. He would never forgive her for this, but it was for the best. For him and everyone. Ikhny lay down on her bed and closed her eyes…

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"AAAAGGH!"

Ikhny woke up, gasping. Beads of cold sweat rolled down her forehead as she forced herself to calm down. It was just a dream, she told herself. Dreams can’t hurt you.

But for a dream, it felt awfully real. Her scalp was sore, as if Hiead really did yank her hair.

Ikhny froze with fear. She hadn’t really seen the man’s face, but the eyes were too familiar. She could never forget those awful eyes, even if she had amnesia.

Ikhny glanced at Mona’s alarm clock. It was four o’clock in the morning. Ikhny’s eyes drooped in weariness, but she was too scared to go back to sleep, for the fear of having the dream again. Instead, she quietly slid out of bed and changed into her new uniform. Maybe she could go find Tak. He told her before that he was usually up by three o’clock, and he told her to go find him if she wanted to squeeze in some extra training. Well, as long as she was up…

She walked out of the room to find Tak already standing in the hall, like he was waiting for her to come out. He looked up and gave Ikhny a grin.

"Good morning Ikhny," he said cheerfully.

"Tak?" Ikhny felt herself turn red with both shock and embarrassment. "How did you…. When did you… what the…good morning."

"Ready to train?"

"I guess…"

Tak took her hand and started leading her through the halls of GOA. He took so many twists and turns that Ikhny doubted that they would ever find their way back to her room. But finally they stopped in front of a door that said:

"Tak, I can’t go in there!" Ikhny cried. "I need a pass from a…staff…member…"

Tak gave her a skeptical look.

"Okay, so you’re a staff member, but this is for the senior candidates! I’m not ready for something like this!"

"Relax," Tak said as he punched in the code to open the door. "It’s just a virtual reality room. This is the top notch training system for candidates, because one, it boosts their fighting skills, and two, you don’t get hurt at all. Well, maybe a little."

"You really know how to make a girl feel good."

Tak struck a pose. "Thank you, thank you very much." His voice changed; it sounded more…hip.

"Why are you talking like that?" Ikhny asked.

"I’m copying Elvis Presley…you do know who he is, right?"

Ikhny shook her head, and Tak facefaulted.

"Uh… never mind," he said as he picked himself up. "Let’s get down to business, shall we?" The door opened, and Tak bowed. "Ladies first."

Ikhny stepped into a room that was…green. Two large, metal helmets lay on the floor, and a variety of weapons were scattered all over the place. Ikhny gave a start when the door slid shut behind her. But where was Tak?

"Ikhny, catch!"

Ikhny caught the heavy helmet, stumbling slightly due to its weight. Tak stood a corner of the room, and one of the helmets was already on his head. The black visor covered his eyes, but Ikhny could see him smirking as she clumsily tried to place the heavy helmet on her head with little success. After four attempts, he walked over to her and eased the helmet onto her head.

"Is it too heavy?" Tak asked. Ikhny tried to shake her head, but the movement almost caused her to lose her balance, so she kept still.

"Don’t worry," Tak promised. "When the simulation starts, you won’t feel a thing. Now, choose a weapon of your choice. The standard gun, the laser gun, the machine gun, or the sword? And relax, they’re not real."

"Okay…Standard gun," Ikhny said nervously. Tak picked one of the guns off from the floor and tossed it to Ikhny. Then he himself chose a sword, and swung it around a few times.

"Okay Ikhny," Tak said as he continued to test the sword. "We’re going to try…stage four. I think you can handle that."

"Huh? What happened to stages one, two, and three?"

"I think you’re too advanced for that."

"Advanced? You’ve never seen me fight!"

"You can handle it Ikhny. I can feel it."

"But…"

"Okay, now your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find me and blast me to bite-sized pieces. Be careful though. The battle zone is right in the middle of an asteroid field. Blast them out of your way, if you can. Fail, and I’ll slice you to bite-sized pieces. Ready?"

"W-wait a minute, what does this have to do with battling the VICTIMS?"

Tak sighed. "When you’re in your Pro-Ing, you shoot your opponents and you avoid their blasts, right?"

Ikhny nodded slowly.

"Well, if you have good aim and good agility, you can fight your opponents without the aid of your repairer. You can’t just shoot and hope that you hit something. It takes skill and hard work to become an expert pilot, not dumb luck."

"Oh…"

"Mission begin!" Tak yelled, and the whole room began to change before Ikhny’s eyes. The green swirled away, and a few seconds later, she was floating in the middle of an asteroid field.

"Ikhny!" Tak’s voice sounded distant. "Ikhny, breathe! You can breathe! This is just a simulation!"

Ikhny took a breath, and sure enough, she could breathe. She looked around to try to find Tak, but he was gone. Instead, three large asteroids sped towards her.

"Ikhny, shoot!" Tak’s voice came in, but it was so distant that she had to strain her ears to hear him.

Focusing at last, Ikhny aimed her gum at the asteroids and pulled the trigger three times.

BAM! BAM! She demolished two of them, but she missed one, and moved out of the way with reflexes she didn’t even know she had. Then, twenty smaller asteroids appeared, and this time they were faster. Ikhny blasted seven, but she had to envade the rest. Four of them hit her, scratching her arms, legs, and stomach. When the asteroids were gone, even more appeared, but this time, Ikhny saw something behind the speeding group of rocks: Tak.

She used every bit of agility she had to dodge them, and she blasted the ones she couldn’t avoid. Finally, she reached him, and she fired, but then he dodged her blasts with breathtaking speed. He circled her, moving so quickly that it seemed like there were ten of him. Finally, Ikhny felt the touch of cold steel against her neck. She had lost.

"Mission terminated," Tak said, and the field changed back into a green room. He took the sword away from her neck, threw it into a corner, and took off his helmet. "Nice job, Ikhny."

Ikhny frowned as she tried to pull the heavy helmet off. "What are you talking about? I lost."

"But, you almost won! And in level four, too. The senior candidates can’t even get past level one."

"You’re joking…"

Tak gave her an innocent look. "Is this the kind of face that lies?"

"Maybe." Ikhny then smiled. She had never acted this way before, and it felt good.

Tak offered his arm. "Come, Lady Ikhny," he said. "It is now seven o’clock. How about we go to the cafeteria? No one will be there except us."

Ikhny giggled for the first time in a long time, and took his arm. As she did though, thoughts of the dream floated into her mind, and she released his arm, leaving poor Tak confused.

"What’s wrong Ikhny?" He asked, his eyes filled with worry.

"I had this dream."

"About me?" Tak asked hopefully. Ikhny shook her head.

"No… I think it was about Hiead…"

"HIM?!"

"It wasn’t a good dream! I think… he was going to rape me…" Ikhny stared at the floor.

"No way! That little… Listen, if he bothers you, tell me, and I’ll kick his-"

"But he’d never do that! I’m just saying it was a dream."

"A dream…" Tak shut his eyes, and thought hard. Then he opened them and smiled. "A dream. Right."

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Hiead tried to eat his nice, hot, vile-tasting breakfast, but Reina made that an extremely difficult thing to do. She waited for him by the cafeteria door, followed him to his table, and she started a mindless chat the minute their butts touched the seat. It was enough to drive a person insane!

"Reina," he said through gritted teeth, "I would like to have some peace and quiet for five minutes. Can’t you see that I want to be alone!?"

"But I have no one else to talk to!" Reina whined, pouting her purple lips. "The girls at my bunk kicked me out. They say I talk too much."

"Really? I never knew," Hiead muttered sarcastically. He lifted a spoonful of steaming mush to his lips, but Reina suddenly started to slap him in the back, making his lose his spoonful. "What now?" Hiead yelled, very agitated.

"There’s your old pardner!" Reina said, pointing to the entrance. Sure enough, Ikhny walked into the cafeteria. She was smiling, happy…and she was linking arms with Tak. For some strange, unknown reason, this bothered Hiead, big time.

"Well, aren’t you gonna say hello?" Reina nagged. Hiead snorted, and returned to his meal.

Reina glared at him, and shouted out at Ikhny, "Wonder girl and machine boy! Come sit here!"

End of a cliffhanger chapter four. Reviews are appreciated.