Queen's Princess

PART III: Chapter 21

"I know better than to make a bet with you," I said as I walked out of my house with Odessa right behind me. It had taken me a while to get her hair back to what it was before. She was right, it was a hassle to get it back into braids and a ponytail. 

"Ya should have known I was going to win," she chuckled.

"I need to get better at not being flustered by ya."

"That's not going to happen," she said and I began to follow her.

"What are we going to do?" I asked her.

"Well, we're going to get ya trained up to become stronger."

"That's not really going to happen, Dez."

"Sure it can. If I bulked up, so can you."

"But you're consistent with what ya do. I'm not."

"That's why we gotta start doing that today."

We walked into the junk yard where we practiced our sparring and training together. It had been a while since we trained. The last thing we were training together was with weapons. Odessa was finally wearing her magnetic gauntlet on her left forearm along with her knife in the strap on her leg. She moved a few things aside and we got in our circle. We stretched for a bit before we warmed up with the practice sparring, which she dominated and kicked my ass many times into the sand. 

"Alright, I think we're warmed up enough. Now, let's get into it first. Ya already have worked well on your legs with your runnin', so let's start working on that upper body strength."

"You're going to work me to the bone, aren't ya?"

"You're about to find out."

Months had gone by and I was doing the same thing over and over with practicing to get my upper body strength on par with hers, but I just knew I wasn't able to be as strong as she was. I don't think anyone could be that I know of. I started training before the sun was even up and well after the sun was down. My arms felt like jelly the first few weeks I was doing this with her, but everytime I hear her voice in the morning, was all the more to get up and get ready for the day. While she was my greatest supporter, my biggest motivator. Progess was slow to show, but it all came to a halt one day.

I opened the back door to find Odessa was standing by the work bench with Carnage leaning against the wall and her gun was on the work bench. Closing the door after I stepped outside, I walked up to her. Her mind seemed to be distracted because she was staring off into space, even when I shook her to try to snap her out of it.

"Oh, sorry, Y/N," she said.

"What's the matter, Dez?"

"It's just that," she shook her head. "I-It's nothing actually. Ready to get training for today?"

"Yeah."

Instead of going to the junk yard to spar, we did it right in the back part of my house. This time, we were using our weapons we had created. I had my swords in my hands and she had her gun out right now. Carnage was placed in the sand and the knife was still in the strap on her leg. 

"Ready?" she asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Go!" she said and charged towards me. 

To prevent hurting me, she had created these rubber bullets for her gun. However, they still hurt like hell whenever it was shot. I had to get that off of her first, but with her magnet, she'd just pull it right back. She grabbed her knife and threw it at me. I used my sword to push it aside, but she called it back, barely missing my arm by a few inches. I dropped the hilts of my swords and put them together to make the blade nunchucks. I charged towards her, swinging the blades back and forth. However, she kept blocking with her magnetic gauntlet, pushing the blades aside as she created an opening for herself. I turned and kicked the gun from her hand.

"Well done, Y/N," she said, her magnetic gauntlet opening, calling Carnage.

She grabbed onto the handle and swung it at me. I ducked underneath it, but her gun came flying back towards her and she placed the tip of it on my forehead.

"Checkmate."

I sighed and sat on the sand, "I can never beat ya."

"Don't feel too bad, Y/N. Ya did disarm me," she sat beside me.

"For about three seconds."

"That's more than last time we fought against one another like that. Ya just gotta keep at it, Y/N. If ya need to go to the junk yard and train, then you should go over there."

"I've trained for as long as you have and I haven't seen any change. I've practiced with my weapons and when I think I have gotten a handle on them, I don't and screw up either by cutting myself or dropping them."

"Y/N, we're all not perfect when it comes to our weapons. Sometimes I forget to pull Gracie back and the knife is just sitting out in the sand somewhere. And sometimes I even overswing Carnage and forget to reload. We all have our bad days, Y/N," she placed her hand on my shoulder.

"I just give up, Dez."

"Ya can't give up. What about what we're going to do?"

"More like what you're going to do. You're going to go back into Junkertown, defeat Mason, and become the Queen of Junkertown. I was never going to accomplish it because I am not even half as good as ya. Hell, not even a quarter as good as ya. Ya have everything going for you while I don't. Ya have strength and ya have speed as well. Something I wish I had but I cannot obtain the strength part."

I stood up and grabbed my swords and the hilts that were in the sand. Swinging the door open, I walked inside and sat down on the edge of my bed, not knowing if Odessa went back to her house or not. I flopped down onto the cushions and put my arm over my eyes, falling asleep.

In the morning, I wasn't greeted by the usual voice of Odessa. Growing worried whenever the sun was high in the sky, I got up and slid down the sand dune. Walking towards the back door, I knocked on it, only to be greeted by her mother.

"Hello, Mrs. Stone."

"I take it you're looking for Odessa."

"Yeah. I am. Is she back in the central area?"

"Actually, I have no idea where she went."

"What?"

"She came back home when you two were finished with your training session and left. Hasn't returned since then."

"I see. T-Thank you."

"Of course. If I hear anything, I'll let ya know."

"Thank you," I said and walked back up the sand dune.

Heading inside and sitting on the edge of my bed, I stared down at the floor and reached up to feel the necklace that she gave me. If only I didn't storm off last night, maybe she would have told me what she was up to.