Ender's Ally ch6

Prince went into the game room during free time. She had just finished a game, the 3-D one where you controlled some ships and you fought against an enemy. Prince got off of the seat, having just lost to an extremely arrogant boy from Tide. Prince was distracted, but today, her diversion had nothing whatsoever to do with Battle School.

Prince was, though it was a taboo, thinking about her family, most notably her little sister Alexa. She'd been so young when she left…so innocent, not yet corrupted. Her big eyes and brown hair…

Someone tapped her shoulder. Prince jumped. "Y-yes?"

It was Dink, wearing his Rat Army uniform, the only one of her close friends who didn't have command. "Ho Prince."

"Ho, yourself. Whatcha need?"

"Well, this Launchy says she knows you."

Prince was confused. "What?"

He moved aside. And it was Alexa who stood there.

"Y-you…p-passed?"

Alexa nodded. "People call me Lex now. He said you're called Prince."

"When did you get here?" asked Prince.

"A couple of hours ago," said Lex with a grin.

Prince gaped. She tried to restrain the tears that were threatening to fall. She took Lex's hand and took her into the hallway. From there, she took Lex down two levels and into her private quarters. Here, in the privacy that Prince coveted, was where she felt secure enough to let her guard down. She hugged Lex tightly; her hand held her sister's head closely. "Lex…"

Lex hugged Prince tightly too. "I wouldn't rest until I got here."

Prince laughed. "You've always been stubborn."

"And a good actress," aid Lex with a grin. "Along the way, I discovered that this is where I belonged."

"Along the way?" Prince released her; she still held Lex by both shoulders. "What do you mean?"

"My time with the monitor." Lex smiled. "Mom and Dad were so different after you left. Mom spent lots of time sitting on the couch, probably thinking about you. Dad become…distant. It destroyed them when the IF came to get me."

Prince's smile faded. "I-I can imagine." A bell rang somewhere in the distance. "Let's go. You'll need to go back to your barracks."

Lex grinned. "I can't find my way back."

"I'll go with you. It's lunch time for me and your barracks is near the mess hall."

%$%$%$%$%$

Prince went in, got her food and sat down with her friends. Dink noticed Prince's eyes. "Who was that Launchy?"

Prince gulped. "My sister."

Silence.

Bonzo sneered. Dink glared at him. Everyone else followed his lead. "Get out of here. You've been skating on thin ice with all of us for a while."

"Fine then! You're all a bunch of incompetent rat farts!" Bonzo rose forcibly, slamming his hands down as he did. He took his tray, and with one last glare, he left.

"Well, at least he's gone," said Dina.

"I dunno about you guys, but I want an excuse to just mouth him off like there's no tomorrow," said Mome, crossing her arms as she watched Bonzo stalk away from them.

"Eh," said Frost with finality.

Little did Mome know, that chance would come all too soon.

%$%$%$%$%$

In regards to training, Bonzo didn't have any original ideas. He trained his army with cliché techniques that undermined his authority and his soldiers' creativity and initiative. Once a pattern was set, they were to follow it through. He also used scare tactics. Long story short, Dimak was right- Bonzo wasn't ready. As Dimak had thought to himself all those weeks ago, this was probably a sick game that Graff alone knew the rules to.

Pretty soon, one of Bonzo's toon leaders and his second got transferred to another army. In exchange, Bonzo got two Launchies that were small- clearly underage. Their names were Wabe Momette and Ender Wiggin.

Mome and Prince, on the other hand, were revered commanders. Hawk and Jabberwock had just finished their three month training periods and had their first battles the day before. Both had lost, but both armies vowed not to lose the next game and to train as hard as they could. Both Mome and Prince did things that no one else had ever though of- like giving all four toon leaders a second, for instance.

Rox had command of Cat army, Dina had Platypus, Frost had Scorpion, and Petra had Phoenix. All had gotten their orders the day before and were eager to take command of their various armies.

%$%$%$%$%$

One afternoon, Mome was going to practice with her army. Before she left, a message popped up on her desk.

Come to the gym.
It's urgent.

The message's sender was disguised and Mome didn't know whether or not to trust it. In the end, Mome went with her army, stayed for a few minutes to see that all was well, then she left for the gym.

When she arrived, she saw Wabe. Something was wrong with him- he was sniffing and his eyes were red. She didn't see the other figure in the room, a tall eleven year old boy with black hair. "Oh, get over it, you big baby," Bonzo yelled. "That's an order! You're in my army now, and there's no crying if you're a Salamander."

.Thank you, Graff. Now I FINALLY tell Bonzo to go suck an egg.

As she approached, Bonzo went on. "Why should YOU care that your mom died?"
"Christ's holy totem poles! That's enough!" Mome ran in front of Bonzo and slapped him hard. So hard, he was knocked to the ground.

He got up fuming. He opened his mouth, but Mome was quick to interject. "You are the most incompetent commander I've ever had the misfortune to lay my eyes on!" She continued on for as long as she could (an impressive fifteen minutes).

By the time she'd stopped, Dimak had been sent to investigate the cause. "And just what is going on here?"

Wabe's eyes were still red. He tapped his sister's shoulder. "You explain, please."

And so she did.

Dimak crossed his arms. "I'll have to think about what will happen."