//Everybody was kung fu fighting//

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly kicked the punching bag, enjoying it when it almost touched the ground, she kicked it so hard.
Aly loved practicing her martial arts. She loved the feeling of being invincible, like she where on top of the world. Of course, there were things that she hated. She hated that she could never find a good sparing partner, and then she hated settling for the dummies in the Gym. But she had especially strong feelings about never having an opportunity to use her skills in real life.
She wasn't an instigator, or a pacifist for that matter, but she wished that there were a way she could fight without getting into trouble, as in, self defense. Of course, with her luck, there was never a moment where her guard was down, so she never got mugged, had her purse stolen, or gotten into a street fight...not that she ever wanted those things to happen.
Her mind was instantly filled with a flashback of her dad beating her. Punch, punch, slap, shove.
Aly closed her eyes, trying to block the memories out. But it was too late; the storm had already started, and she hadn't yet built her Ark.
If only I had known had to defend myself better back then, she thought.
She pictured what her life would have been like with her father in submission. No bruises, nothing to hide.
Aly sighed, knowing that it would have been a utopia. Too late. Game over.
She did a few back flips to try to clear her mind. No help.
Stupid Jed. She never thought of her father as a "Dad" or "Daddy" anymore. He was a psychotic man, a crazy scientist who deserved the fate he got. Twenty years mandatory. There had finally been some justice in the world.
Punch, kick. The dummy wobbled in defeat.
A smile started to take shape on her face. She pictured the dummy as Jed, thoroughly satisfied after fifteen minutes of punching and kicking.
For about the one millionth time in her life, Aly was looking forward to being a police officer. She couldn't wait for the thrill of taking some jerk who beat his kids to jail. Couldn't wait to use her knowledge of self defense and martial arts.
All she had to do was go the distance, and then she'd be ready...making the world a better place, one bad guy behind bars at a time.
Kick!

[Selah Belle Madison]

Selah walked toward the Sports Centre&Gym, not able to wait any longer. There was just something about this school that made her nervous. And she took out almost any emotion by working out.

It was something she'd always done, and it worked for her. She was glad that she was able to do that, otherwise she'd just be an emotion volcano, ready to erupt.

She hoped no one would be in the gym right now, the more peace and quiet the better. It wasn't a long walk to the gym, but it was long enough. Selah loved to walk, especially at this time of night, but she really wanted to get to them gym and this walk was making her more anxious. She didn't even have her mom's jewelry to calm her down.

She felt weird without the jewelry. It had become a part of her, and she felt empty without it.

Ugh! thought Selah, why does this walk seem so long??

She started to walk faster, but even that seemed to take too long. So, she ran. Her hair was down and it wipped her face as she gained speed. She always wore her hair up when she worked out, but this time she had forgotten to.

Finally, she reached the Sports Centre&Gym door. She turned the handle and could hear someone inside. Aww, Selah thought, I won't be the only one!

She opened the door and saw a blonde girl hitting and punching a punching bag. She looked like she knew what she was doing, at least. She wasn't horrible, but Selah was having a little trouble taking this blonde seriously. Hmm...Maybe she'll spar with me sometime, though, Selah thought as she pulled her wavy black hair up into her signature ponytail, automatically getting ready.

Selah always had trouble finding good sparring partners. They were either intimidated, or not very good.

She walked more into the Sports Centre&Gym, found another punching bag and started hitting. She wondered if the blonde had noticed her at all.

She started to warm up and found the bags weak spots. A kick here, a punch there, round-house up high. "Hey," Selah said, risking her own self-esteem if she were ignored, "I'm Selah. Selah Belle Madison." She attempted a smile as she focused more on the bag in front of her. She had taken the risk of introducing herself, just expecting that she had noticed Selah.

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly wasn't scared when the other girl came in. She'd never been afraid of confrontation. Not even in the most dangerous of situations, Aly never backed down.
The girl had introduced herself as Selah Belle Madison, (That's a cool name.) and Aly replied, "I'm Aly. Are you a jaguar?"
Selah definitely looked like a jaguar, a black one (not a black panther. I wonder if people thinking that there is a black panther bothers her. I could understand that. I mean, I get annoyed when people stupidly mistake hedgehogs for porcupines.), a true "He Who Kills In One Leap." She had incredibly fierce eyes that seemed to change colors repeatedly in the short time Aly had known her and black hair with dark brown highlights.
That made Aly question her own appearance. Could people tell she was a hedgehog? She thought she looked like a hedgehog, but she wasn't exactly sure. She was tempted to fiddle with her hair as she thought this, but continued with her exercising.
Flip. Kick. Land. Punch.
She didn't think as she had asked that question, she just asked it. She was reckless like that sometimes, although she usually regretted it later on. She had trouble remembering that now people actually knew she shifted, and wondered is Selah did, too.
Aly continued with her exercising, waiting for a response.
A response that might not ever come, she thought, being pessimistic. This Selah girl seemed kind of quiet. Cool, but quiet. She looked like she could take on the world at any moment and win.
Aly wished she could be that, but even if she tried, everyone always saw her as just another blonde.
Brunettes are taken soooo much more seriously.
Punch. Kick. Flip. Kick.
Take that, Jed.
That would never get old for Aly.
I guess it would only get old if he ever got out of jail and I could actually do this to him, she thought, then kind of regretted the vicious thoughts.
Aly wondered if everybody else here had thoughts like that, even seemingly perfect Selah.
Dang, she thought. I'm never usually that deep.
She took back that thought, thinking about how she was deep enough to explain why a hedgehog would major in law enforcement. And then that made her wonder what Selah's major was. She looked like a martial artist, but you could never tell with some people, like herself.

[Selah Belle Madison]

Selah stopped, stunned, "Um...yeah. Is it really that obvious?"
She still wasn't used to people knowing she could shift.

It was a weird feeling, not having to hide it anymore. Selah wasn't sure if she were comfortable yet. Of course, she was now totally comfortable with her shifting, she loved being a jaguar. It was one of the times she felt free.

Kick! Along with that.

It will definitely take some getting used to, Selah thought, concerning people's knowledge here about shifting.

She started to hit the bag again, hit, kick, round-house, high kick Showing off isn't nice...but.... Selah thought, right before she did a flip which included hitting the bag twice while she was in the air. Ha! I landed it right. why couldn't I have done that at the competition?!

Selah loved to show off. She was very competitive, so intimidation was something she had to master.

Something was threatening to snap inside of her then...that stupid competition followed her everywhere. Selah was tired of having to remember that she could never be as good as she was. Having to hold back all because of a loss of balance.

Selah guessed that she was jealous of Aly in that sense. Aly looked like she didn't have to worry about holding back her strength. Not that she looked very strong.

Aly was tall, but too slender to make her look like normal. That odd amount of non-fat that she had probably wasn't made up by muscle.

Selah smirked internally, thinking of her own muscles. She loved the feel of being able to do things with them that other people couldn't.

People like Aly, from the looks of it, Selah thought.

The only thing she liked about the anger she had about that competition was that it fueled the strength now. Anger was definitely something that empowered her.

Selah had a kick-butt attitude, fueled by her own personality and anger that other experiences brought.

She definitely wasn't a poser; Selah was the real deal. If you made her mad, she would take you down, instead of being all, "I'm going to kill you!" and then never fulfilling, like a poser would do.

Selah hoped that Aly wouldn't make her mad. Otherwise she would take her down. And that would be too bad, because Selah really wanted a friend. A real friend, not one that would be adopted and leave.

Selah repeated her earlier combination, nailing the flip again.

Oh, how Selah loved to show off!

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly shrugged and lied, "Kind of. But I'm really good at reading people." It was totally obvious she was a jaguar.
She tried to act nonchalant as she talked to Selah, but for once in Aly's life, someone was kind of intimidating her. She had just done an amazing flip that Aly would probably never be able to do, even with years of practice. It's probably just the jaguar coming out in her.
A challenge...maybe she would make me more competitive. She looks like the competitive type.
Maybe we could spar sometime, Aly thought.
She pictured being beaten to a pulp by Selah, but then pictured herself beating Selah. It could go either way, but first she would have to ask to be sparring partners someday.
Still, Aly still felt a little threatened. Here was a girl who could shift into a powerful jungle cat and could rip throats as that cat...and Aly was just a hedgehog. Granted she was strong, and if they were fighting as animals, Aly thought she could get in a few hits (Small but mighty.), but just the thought of being weak scared her to no end.
Aly jumped, kicked the dummy, flipped after that kick and then landed on the ground while simultaneously punching the it.
She thought in her head, Jump! Kick! Flip! Land/Punch!
Let's see what you think about that, She Who Kills With One Leap.
Aly was kind of desperate to impress Selah, because she didn't have any friends yet. She was trying to make some, but it was a slow process, even if you were in an IM group.
Aly was having a hard time fitting in at Shifter Academy, so it would be nice to have a friend.
I wonder what grade she's in. She's probably a sophomore or something like that. Man, I'm always the oldest, it seems like.
For some reason, Selah reminded her of Fossy. Not in their looks or anything, just in their personalities. They both had that same kick-butt attitude.
Aly took a deep breath, trying not to think about Fossy. Memories tried to flood in, but Aly managed to block them.
Too much pain for me to handle.
She continued the same pattern as before: Jump! Kick! Flip! Land/Punch! but added some more kicks and jumping and flipping higher.
That time though, she had a shakier landing, but regained her balance.
That's what I get from showing off.

[Selah Belle Madison]

Selah, stopped to listen to Aly and watch her beat up the dummy. "And what do you shift into then?" Selah wasn't impressed by Aly's moves, they were things she had learned a while ago.

Let me see what I can do... Selah thought as she got balanced again, Oh, this will do just fine! Selah does a double round house kick, a high punch, a low punch. She started to sweat which made her hair stick to her face.

She did another flip, which made her land on her hip, she rolled back up and continued to hit the bag. "How long have you been shifting? If you don't mind me asking," Selah said to add onto her question as she hit the bag again.

Before Aly answered Selah started to hit the bag harder, she spun around the bag (which was one of her dance moves) and kicked the side. The bag started to fall closer to the ground, the rope holding it to the ceiling thinning. Selah moved onto a different bag, to give that one a rest. Hit, punch, kick, round-house. (Her normal starting routine.) Double flip, high kick. Something to add a bit of flavor.

Let’s see if she really knows as much as she seems she does Selah thought as she quickly kicked the highest she could on the bag. Aly seems older than me, she is taller and slender, but, Selah thought, Aly seems too skinny to have much muscle on her.

Selah kicked, punched, and took out all of her anxiety on this bag. The rope thinned and it fell closer to the floor, but she didn’t notice this time. Selah kept hitting the bag, she round house kicked it, punched it in every spot she could reach. Each time she hit or kicked she made the noise one of the volunteers at The Orphanage had told her to say “Uts!” .

Everyone who did Martial Arts well had a noise they made when they hit, kicked, punched, or tried to do any damage to their opponent. Selah had learned this when she was ten and a half, and it had stuck with her. She remembered the word the volunteer had told her to use, and it became a memory she thought of fondly. This memory was of the volunteer guiding Selah, teaching her the formal way of Martial Arts. She couldn’t recall the volunteers name, but she remembered she looked up to that volunteer for the longest time. She saw the volunteer as her hero until she was twelve, until she had landed wrong and had almost been paralyzed, had almost died. That’s when the volunteer stopped talking to her, stopped helping her, that volunteer even left The Orphanage.

Hit, kick, round house, flip, double flip, land, punch! Selah thought this as she did every move, That’s for you, you stupid uncaring woman. You stopped caring the second I got hurt. The second I couldn’t compete anymore, the second I wouldn’t compete anymore
Selah hit the bag harder and harder. Finally the bag gave, the rope broke, and Selah looked in shock as she wondered how much it would cost to replace it. And she was still waiting for Aly’s reply.

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly grinned as she watched Selah attack the dummy. She was good. And extremely fun to watch. Definitely a learning experience. Aly laughed as Selah looked at her now broken bag, and hoped that it hid her intimidation.
She knew she wasn't the best, and could guess that she hadn't impressed Selah that much at all. We'll see about that.
"I'm a hedgehog," she said, already anticipating the scoff or weird look that seemed to come with that statement. "And I've been shifting for four years. And before you can ask, I'm a law enforcement major."
Aly didn't look to see if Selah gave her a look about the law enforcement thing, she just continued with her exercising.
Round house. Triple flip. (Let's hope that beats her double flip.) Double high kick. High jump kick.
She gave the dummy a few more kicks and then asked, "What's your major, She Who Kills With One Leap?"
If she wasn't able to impress her with martial arts, Aly hoped to impress Selah with her knowledge of something that most people didn't know.
Aly hoped that her knew strategy would work. From seeing Selah's moves, she knew that she paled in comparison. She guessed that Selah had probably been in tons of martial arts competitions. She looked the type.
Aly felt bad judging Selah by her cover, but she didn't seem like the type of person who opened up very easily. There I go again, she thought.
That of course, made her wonder if Selah was judging Aly in the same way.
If that were true, that would probably end up making Aly made. She hated being judged. She'd been judged all of her life as a blonde, but she would just have to get used to it. She'd face tons of judging as a female police officer.
Aly looked over at the broken dummy, laughing internally, chastising herself for already getting mad for something Selah might not do. Besides, she did seem like a pretty cool person to count as a friend.
She snapped out of her thoughts, and returned to the dummy.
Aly was about to attempt a quadruple flip, something she'd never done before. She started her attempt...and...she was in the air, and on the fourth flip...when...something went wrong.
She lost her momentum in the air, but was somehow able to land a shaky triple flip and then fall on her butt.
Aly laughed uncontrollably for awhile and said, "Well, that's embarrassing. So, repeating my earlier question, what's your major?"

[Selah Belle Madison]

Selah smiled as she saw Aly land on her butt. Rookie mistake, Selah thought, you never attempt a flip you haven't tried before.

"I'm majoring in photography," Selah said, regretfully. Most people don't expect me to major in photography, I wonder if she expected it... "I know it sounds weird, and you probably weren't expecting it, but I love taking pictures," Selah said with a smile.

Every time she said her major it brought her back to that competition, to that stupid mistake. Selah rubbed her ears, wanting her mom's earrings more than ever. Memories have come to be Selah's enemies, there's nothing in her memories that haven't been tainted (either by her own stupidity or someone else's).

Selah attempted to try to tie the bag back in its spot, but she wasn't tall enough, so she just left in on the floor. She walked over to a set of weights, and started lifting. I should probably pay more attention to what I'm doing... Selah thought as she wondered again how much that bag will cost. She had no money, and her only possessions that are worth something are her mom's possessions she has, and she wasn't going to part with them no matter what.

Selah started with light weights, 20lbs, then went to 40lbs, 60lbs, 80lbs, and so on. She didn't like lifting weights as much as other people, but since the only other bag was the one Aly was on and the one that was about to fall, she had no choice.

Weight lifting didn't let her get out any emotions, it just built up her muscles so she could let out her emotions on something else.

"So...Uh," Selah began, trying to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled, "How long have you been here, at Shifter Academy?"

Aly looked comfortable enough in the Sports Centre & Gym, so it was possible she had been here a while. But then again, Selah probably seemed comfortable too, but that was because she loved the feel of her muscles working, the feel of getting stronger.

That isn’t a weird question, right? Ugh, what if I just screwed up making friends because of this…I should follow my own advice, it’s just like when you flip, don’t do it unless you’ve done it before and gotten it right… Selah couldn’t help but grimace a little bit as she thought of ruining her chances. She had never really had any friends, and this might be her chance.

Selah took out her MP3, still waiting for Aly’s answer. Once she answers I think I’ll just listen to music… Selah, scrolled through her songs, trying to find a good empowering one to use…

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly was still laughing internally at her fall.
There goes my chance at making a friend, she thought. But she smiled...at my mistake. Oh well, better laughing with me than at me.
She wasn't surprised that Selah had said her major was photography. She totally understood why, and also the feeling of people thinking it was an unfitting major.
"I totally get the photography thing. As a jaguar, you're closer to nature and you see things differently. So you want people to see the beauty that you see," Aly said, confident she was right.
Aly was able to tell that Selah was holding back. She had looked a little stiff on some of her flips, especially one that she looked a little hesitant on. Aly figured that the hesitant flip had gone wrong once and there had been an accident. But Aly wasn't one to judge. She could practice for the rest of her life and still be just the tiniest bit hesitant.
"This is actually my first year here. So I'm just as nervous as you are," Aly replied with a wink, going out on a limb, calling Selah nervous even when she looked her most comfortable.
Selah didn't look like the nervous type. She looked completely and utterly confident.
Aly felt a little awkward when Selah went to go weight lift and got out her MP3 player. She hated using MP3 players as escapes out of conversations. Aly hoped Selah had just gotten it out to beat the weird silence, and not because she didn't like Aly. She needed a friend, and she didn't want to lose the one opportunity that had opened up.
Aly quit kicking the dummy because it was actually getting a little boring. She went to go get the jump ropes she had in her gym bag, and walked over to Selah's broken dummy.
She used one of them to fix the dummy on the ground, glad she was tall enough to fix it, and then started using the other, jumping to the beat of a Lady Gaga song she had heard a couple weeks ago: I want your love and I want your revenge; you and me could write a bad romance. I want your love and all your lover's revenge; you and me could write a bad romance.
"There you go," Aly said as she jumped. "All fixed. Now you can take out those emotions you're so obviously building up with weight lifting."

[Selah Belle Madison]

Selah hesitated, it was like Aly could read her thoughts, and she didn’t like it, not one little bit. But she shook it off, tried to be nice…

Selah watched Aly fix the punching bag she had broken. That was nice of her, Selah thought, as she was about to put in her earphones.

But then Aly said something else Selah had been thinking. This chick is really getting on my nerves. Calm down Selah, no reason to get mad…wait yes there is! Who does this chic think she is?! She doesn’t know me, how can she just make assumptions like that? Who cares if she’s right, no one can tell Selah Belle Madison why or why she doesn’t like something!

Selah had always had anger problems, that’s why she liked to work out, to get all her anger out of the way. But something about Aly just made Selah want to throw something at her. The jaguar in her said to pounce, kill her, or run away; but Selah wanted a friend so badly, she didn’t want to be rude.

You want a friend Selah, you need a friend…but maybe Aly isn’t the right person to be friends with, just think about it, Selah imagined how catastrophic that would be, Maybe I should make a new friend…someone who isn’t so sure that they’re always right and makes assumptions about people they hardly know.

Selah locked her jaw as she tried to be polite, “This is your first year? That’s cool, so you must be nervous then?” Selah was being as nice as she could. “I’m not nervous, I get along with average people pretty well,” she lied, but still stressed the word average.

That wasn’t too bad, I can be nice…nice is easy to be, Selah closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

And then Aly said another thing that was another assumption. She needs to work on her people skills! Does she not know it’s rude to make assumptions?!? Was she raised in a rude town where everyone is rude?! I bet the town motto is “Assume makes an Ass out of U and Me, but what’s wrong with that?”! Selah was making herself more mad at her bad joke, She needs to be taught manners, she need to get some kind of people skill! That was just rude! And before Selah could think anything else, the jaguar in her screamed to throw something, hit something, or just hurt the annoyance!

Selah couldn’t hold it in any longer, “First of all maybe I just like to take pictures, did you ever think of that?! Maybe it’s just a hobby for me and so I decided to major in it! And by the way who said I was nervous? I’m not nervous, I’m perfectly comfortable! This place is better than where I came from, and all I wanted was to make a friend, someone to relate to! And instead I met you! How can you just assume things about a person you hardly know?!? Where were you raised? Have you never had human contact before?? Do you not know decency?!” Selah was getting even more mad as her hand found its way to a 20lbs weight, “And also who said I was obviously building up emotions with weightlifting?! You don’t know me! You never will! Don’t assume things about someone you just met! It’s rude!” Selah shrieked the last word as she threw the weight at Aly, nearly missing her head. “Take some advice, and stay away from me.” The last sentence Selah said as serious as a grave.

Then she bolted out the door, before she heard what Aly said, and quickly changed into her jaguar self, needing something to help her get over her anger, and the fact she might have lost another friend. I don’t care if I was too harsh or not, she deserved it, Selah convinced herself as she ran, all four legs hitting the ground, into the dark night. And thank God I have my some spare clothes to change into behind a tree.

[Alchemy Igelkott]

Aly didn't know what to do. For once in her life, she was clueless. Not to mention the fact that she almost got hit in a head with a weight, scattering her thoughts.

There goes my chance at making a friend, she thought.

Aly's abilities to read emotions had always gotten on people's nerves. It even got on her nerves sometimes. And once she read someone, she couldn't seem to shut up.

Selah had totally snapped and for good reason. Aly was assuming things, and though she was pretty sure her assumptions were right, she was still assuming.

Most people saw it as rude, just like Selah. Aly saw it as rude, too, though she wished it weren't.

Aly had grown up in a town full of people who assumed things. They were usually wrong, but it still hurt.

She guessed that's where she had learned to read people, but she wasn't sure. She always seemed to have that ability; reading body language, glints in the eyes, even the way their eyebrows were held.

Aly sat down on the floor, dropping her jump rope. All she had wanted to do was make a friend, but she had probably just made an enemy.

The thought made her feel entirely alone, more alone than living in Sweden with a grandmother she didn't know.
She had always been an outcast, a nerd, a smart girl, a geek, and she guessed that she always would be.

Aly felt different inside than before. She didn't feel as weak as before, but she didn't feel stronger. She felt more sure of who she was, though.

Aly thanked Selah in a way. She saw through Aly's mask, and that allowed Aly to see through it, too.

"Even though she was making assumptions, too," Aly said. "Assuming I'd never been taught manners."

She never really had been taught manners, they were just expected from her, but she felt that she knew them better than Selah did.

You don't just snap at people like that. Well, you can, but it won't get you very far, and it's definitely not polite. Not that Aly was the epitome of politeness, of course.

Man, I miss my mom.

Aly missed having someone to talk to, someone to share her problems with. She had wished that Selah could have been a person like that, or even just a friend, but their personalities clashed too much, plus the whole assumptions thing.

Back to square one.

Aly was still on the floor, and she gave into her emotions, allowing one single tear to fall from her face. Then she bottled them up, put Selah Belle Madison and her temper and snappy attitude into a box where they would never come out, and left the Sports Centre & Gym, forcing her "average" self to walk as fast as it could, without running away.