Sword of The Lanterns

Chapter Four- Killawog

"Come on! Rise and shine, Jaina! Big day ahead!"

Jaina struggled to pull the sheets back up over her head as John shone his ring in her eyes to wake her up.

"Leave me alone!" She moaned sleepily. Impudently, she pulled the covers over her head and curled up in a little ball for warmth.

Not one to be bested by a simple teenager, John tried a tactic his parents used to use on him. "Want me to get a bucket of water and dump it on you to wake you up instead?" He asked.

In a green comet of light, Jaina zoomed out of her room and down the hall, forcing John to follow her so that she wouldn't get lost. Jaina vaguely remembered the way to the training room from when Hal dropped her off last night, and flew in the direction. As she flew, she gradually increased her speed, loving the sensation of joy and freedom that came with flight.

Arriving at the gym, Jaina attempted to stop, but sped right into the outer wall. John flew as fast as he could to catch her before she fell, but thankfully the outer wall was soft and bouncy for such purposes as a headstrong trainee, and Jaina landed on her rump after falling only a foot.

Rubbing her forehead and nursing her wounded pride, Jaina looked up to see Hal staring back at her.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah. Fine." Jaina winced as she discovered a bruise above her left eye.

Hal held out his hand to Jaina, and she gratefully accepted his help. John finally caught up with them there, and that's when Jaina noticed the rhino.

Well, he wasn't really a rhino, and Jaina didn't know what a rhino was, even. That's not even the word she used to describe him.

He was tall and orange, with long, with two tusk-like teeth protruding out of his bottom and his upper lip. He, like Jaina, Hal, and John, wore a lantern ring and a black-and-green uniform.

The orange creature gave a deep chuckle. "So is this the new meat?" He asked Hal.

"Jaina, this is Killawog, my old mentor and the weapons specialist here on Oa. Killawog, this is Jaina." Hal put his arm around Jaina's shoulder.

"So you're a lantern too?" She asked.

Killawog chuckled again. "I like her. She didn't try to run in terror when she first saw me."

Jaina spotted Hal's cheeks turning red, and threw him a teasing lopsided grin as John finally caught up.

"Don't do that again, alright?" He scolded.

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"To answer your question, Jaina, you'll find that many of the people living on Oa are lanterns." Killawog explained.

Jaina's eyes widened, "That many?"

Hal and John joined Killawog on the laughter.

"That many, Jaina," Hal patted Jaina on the back, leading her back into the training room.

"So what are we doing today?" Jaina asked, observing the other Lanterns and their proteges hard at work.

Hal watched a few of them out of the corner of his eye, realizing that many of the trainees had been working hard at this for months, and Jaina, who had just barely started yesterday, was much more advanced than they were.

"Um..." Hal lost his train of thought for a moment. "Killawog! Yes, Killawog and I were thinking that you could get a weapon today."

"A weapon?" Killawog and John asked at the same time. It was immediately clear to Jaina that this was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and Hal had made no such mention of her recieving a weapon to Killawog or John. But she didn't care. She just wanted one.

"Really?" Hal immediately regretted his decision when Jaina's eyes grew big and sparkly in excitement.

"Yeah," Killawog smirked at Hal, not letting him back out of it now, "Follow me, and I'll show you the armory." Wielding his ring hand in front of him, Killawog took off.

Jaina held back a girlish squeal as she copied Killawog, zooming around the corner after him.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" John asked hesitantly.

Hal sighed. "I don't know, John. But what I do know is that we can trust her."

John's eyes widened, "How!?"

Hal shook his head. "I just know."

Before John could chide Hal, the Lantern who had helped him and trained him, both of their rings started beeping.

Hal held his up, and an emerald hologram of Batman, the Dark Knight of the League, appeared.

"Green Lanterns, at the earliest possible convenience, please return to Earth for the League's monthly briefing."

Great. Paperwork. Hal and John barely kept back from groaning.

"Any questions?" Batman asked sternly, preventing both Lanterns from complaining.

John began to shake his head, but Hal remembered at the last second.

"Hey Bruce...does the cave have room for one more team member?

*GASP* Jaina's joining the team!?!? Well, duh, of course she is, this IS a Young Justice fanfiction, after all XP

Hmmm...I wonder what weapon she'll choose ;)