//------------------------------// // Rainbow Falls // Story: Six wishes for six elements // by Malcolm Merlyn //------------------------------// "You want to make yourself better? Give me your 110% Armin." Rogers said calmly yet firmly as he watched Armin wear himself out from doing pull-ups. "Four." "Sorry..." Armin mumbled. "I just can't do it..." "You can do it. I survived getting needles stuck in my that were the size of bayonets. You sure as hell can do twenty pull-ups." "But you don't even feel it! They go in you and you'd probably pull them out!" "This was when I had asthma by the way and weighed about 100 pounds." Rogers replied. "Now are you going to do the pull-ups or we are going to get old waiting?" Armin sighed to himself as he got on the bar again. After lunch, the captain had done nothing that drive him like an animal. The training he had done at his final days within the boot camp were slowly coming back to him as he recalled the running and all the form of physical tests he and all the other trainees were put through. The only difference here was that Rogers had yet to put him through any form of combat training. This bothered him enough to where he would ask. "Combat training? First I teach you how to hold a rifle the right way, then we'll see how well you hit the target. Judging by the nature of our enemies, chances are you won't need to aim. I just need to know that when the recoil strikes you, you're prepared for it." "Captain... when we finish... will I truly be stronger?" "If some skinny girl that's thirteen can hold up a rocket launcher and fire it without as much as feeling the recoil, you sure as hell can too." There would be some truth in this statement. Armin was slightly more well-built that Sanya, though only marginally. Whether or not this made a difference, Cap already knew. Whether or not Armin knew it would make a difference, he did not know. It was going to stay that way for a long time as the two would continue their training sessions. "By the way... Captain... when you outran that pony... what were you trying to prove?" "I was trying to prove you shouldn't be discouraged." "How so? All you did show to the world was how much better you were than everyone else... and how much better you were than me." "No... I was once like you. Every aspect. I had asthma, weighed 100 pounds and couldn't fight to save my life. The only thing I had was this thing..." Cap said as sat down. "It's called heart. Heart can drive you to great distances. Great distances. It drove me to lift 1 ton when I had been shot. It drove me to survive a plane crash that would have killed a man three times over and survive encased in ice for over 70 years. That is heart Armin. And I only ask you to do the same for yourself. Because heart is something I cannot give to you or anyone. When I beat that horse? I didn't try because there was no need to. I am here to show you that you can accomplish what I have, not to show to the world how much better I am. Even without any form of super-soldier serum or experiments, Armin, I can promise you that you will go far. Very far." "And we're here..." Slade mumbled as he took a look around. Prudently, he had decided to wear his regular clothes, and by regular clothes, I mean a few layers of Kevlar without the metal bits in the armor. This may have made a difference in how much intimidation he demanded silently, only if he hadn't decided to come with a pistol in it's holster and a sword over his shoulder. Sanya, not surprisingly, decided NOT to bring a rocket launcher that weighed about 70 pounds even without the rockets. Just the gloves, which did stand her out from Slade when we considered most humans didn't exactly have cat ears growing out of their heads or cat tails coming out of their waists. "Well... this reminds me of... turkey." "You've been to turkey?" Sanya asked. "How is it? Is it really warm as they say it..." "Yes. And yes. Quite warm. Rather crowded in the bazaars however... reminds me sorta like this... except you bazaar didn't have rainbow colored falls...." Or talking horses. Or mythical creatures for sale as pets. Or gems the size of someone's head. The list went on. "Hey look! It's you!" A REALLY loud scream came from the mouth of a jumpy, pink pony with a mane that resembled somewhat like a balloon that a clown had it's hands on. As in the good type of clowns, not the one who went took a dip in acid. It took all the self-control and restraint Slade had ever mustered in under the span of two seconds not to murder this new creature by either breaking her or her neck in half when she practically jumped on top of him. Naturally, he wanted to berate her so hard till his mouth grew tired, but something told him it wouldn't work this time. Instead, he didn't speak. Just gave her the cold silence that he commonly gave to anyone who was overly friendly with him. "OH MY GOD.... YOU REALLY DO HAVE HANDS.... AND FEET! OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH!" "Thank you?" Sanya asked a bit nervously. "AND YOU CAN TALK! THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!" "Yes. Of course we can talk." Slade murmured as he rolled his good eye. He took two steps back to go grab some materials from the van before the pink blur showed up in front of him to babble incomprehensibly. Normally, he would have shoved the offender aside or more likely, thrown her aside but this time, any annoyance or impatience that normally would have gripped just wasn't there. What just happened, he didn't even see her move. He just turned his head and she was there. Had he not been so irritated and on a short fuse for the day, he may have smiled, or even laughed at the prospect. That was his trick. HE was the one supposed to be making people's head spin. Not the other way around. Nevertheless, his temper would soon be getting the better of him. "Go away." Slade said coldly as he grabbed some bits of steel. "Go away?! After we just met?! We are going to be the BEST of all friends!" Now it took all the self control and restraint not to club her senseless alongside the dirt road. Also took Sanya tugging on his sleeve to move on and have his attention drawn away so he wouldn't be tempted. Showing more patience than he would normally allow, he ignored Pinkie Pie's senseless yammering. "Do they take Liberion currency here?" "Well, it's USA currency from where I come from." Slade replied. "Who knows, maybe someone might have use for benja..." What was that sound? It sounded analogous to a fire engine or an air raid siren in terms of pitch and annoying. Looking up would reveal a mint colored unicorn with a smile that would probably give Tosh another weeks worth of nightmares. Alongside her was a beige colored earth pony with a look of minor disapproval towards her fellow pony. "Hands....." "Excuse me?" Sanya asked. "Did you just so something about..." "Hands...." "My... hands?" Sanya asked as she scratched her head in confusion. She turned around to where Slade was to shoot him the "I dunno what to do look" only to find that he had pulled another one of his old tricks and left her to contend with this joker. "They're real..." Lyra hissed. A rope of drool dripped form her mouth as her tongue hung out like a dog's. "So... can I help you?" "What's in that bag?!" Lyra asked with such energy that Pinkie Pie may have had a run for her money. "Libe... I mean US currency. It's..." "Oh... oh... it's one of the nations in your world right?!" "Umm... yeah..." Sanya said. Will, Slade's world, but at this point, it didn't matter. "Listen... I'll be right back!" Lyra said as she sped off with speeds that'd give Rainbow Dash a run for her money. Bon Bon only shook her head. "I am terribly sorry for bothering you." Bon Bon apologized. "She's... a bit obsessed." "With what? Hands?" "No. Humans. Lifelong obsession. Always said they existed. Turns out she was right." "So where's so going?" "Off to collect a few from..." The massive sack of bits was thrown with such force upon the table, that it almost broke in half. "Is... ha...is...this...ha...good?" Lyra asked as she gestured from the bulging sack of gold coins to the duffel bag of cash. "Umm... sure." Sanya replied as she took a look around for Slade. He wasn't anywhere in sight, but hopefully, he would be pleased with the massive amount of money that they had just seemingly got out of thin air. Well, it would cost Slade about 400,000 dollars, but hopefully he wouldn't need that. Rummaging through her pockets, Sanya would find two things of varying value. A photo of her parents, and a few kopecks.