The Lion

A quiet step around the corner and one single curl of hair can be seen peeking, a red laser trains on it, waiting patiently for more. Slowly a small forehead emerges and then one eye, a nose; the laser is now trained on the child's face. Suddenly the reaction: about to pull his face away, the face and curly hair is drenched with a water blast.1

"NOOOOOOOOO!" The boy charges around the corner and assails his attacker of 13 years with balls of water shot from what looks like a bazooka.2

The prepubescent girl yells a high pitched war cry and barrels through a curtain on that 3rd floor of the dorm, bringing light into the room of the 10 year-olds still sleeping. Groans are heard as the small wet boy, only 7 years old, stands outside.3

"If you dun come out, Imma gonna come in!" The small girls look at each other in horror, most of them awake now.4

"Girls versus boys," the girl pants, looking around, "Are you kids in?"5

One of the small girls is struggling into a tunic, pants and shoes, still untied she reaches under her bed and pulls out an old-school water gun.6

"Where's water?" She whispers.7

"We switched 'em on in both airwells."8

The little girl swings her gun around, breaking the water capsules open inside stored from last time, swishing the liquid around. She nods and they charge through the doorway.9

Outside on the tiles there are 5 boys including the already moist 7 year old. The two girls discharge all their water while backing away. As they get further down the hall way and are pretty wet, they make a quick run and jump into the airwell. Caught for a moment in the updraft, they grab onto the wall ladders and the older girl pulls out a hose. She plugs it into her gun, loads up, and passes it. The boys stand looking over the edge at them, but several girls start screaming and they whip around, guns at the ready.10

The two girls jump down to the 1st floor landing and begin running down the hallway, knocking on the walls. They go from room to room and urge girls to get up and out. Back in the hallway the older girls, 17, 18, have been waiting a while for the summons and look to the 13 year old for leadership. More and more girls come out and the 13 year old silently directs them to the airwells.11

"Waters on, hover-boarding is allowed, bots are out, ground floor is out!" She yells and waves a group to follow her. 12

They leap into the air and climb the walls. Like bugs , they crawl onto the second floor landing and upright themselves. Here it is eerily quiet. The rest of the girls are headed to the boys floors of 4 and 6 from their 1st, 3rd, and 5th floor dorms. The girls are suddenly realizing how small their group is. Eyes wide and shivering in excitement, they can hear yells and roars above them but only faintly. They look at each other grinning. Somewhere the order originates that sends the girls running, their thin shoes gripping the dry floor, when hundreds of little boys barrel out of the dorms and into the hallway, soaking the girls. They shriek and send bursts of water from paint ball guns and modified weaponry from a bullet shooting era. Older water guns are used as well and are proving to be the best of all.13

Kids dash to the water hoses and back into the fray while some are chased down from other levels. The 13 year old who began the mess is jumping up the ladder to the quiet floors to catch her breath. She climbs up to the empty 5th floor, where her own room is. Boys aren't allowed into girls rooms, unafraid she walks down the hallway, halfway, near where her room is and leans against a wall. The floor is still pretty dry here, so she sits.14

After a moment her panting subsides and she can hear the battle cries and shrieks of laughter. She hears a clatter down the hall and a very young girl, with a water blaster bigger than herself being dragged behind, comes slowly running with small pattering feet.15

With a gapped smile the toddler lands on the girl's lap and shakes the empty gun at her.16

"Puh-lease?" She asks.17

The girl looks both ways and props the child on the floor and kneels on the other side of a tile. Another quick glance and she digs her finger nails into the floor pulling the tile up against much suction and resistance. A blast of warm air comes up, but she reaches in and pulls out a hose. Switching something on, she fills her own gun first and hands it to the toddler who grins with thanks. She then fills up the bigger gun, which is much heavier than she is used to. She marvels at its quality and durability. It doesn't seem to be old and she guesses that the kid had picked it up when someone had dropped it. It probably used to be a boy's. It is fantastic and she silently vows to never give it up; as long as it works.18

Quickly she puts the hose back in order and pops the tile back into the floor. She stomps her foot down on it and with a FWOOP of vacuum pulling it tight, the tile is inconspicuous again.19

"Carry me!" The child proposes and without grudge the prepubescent girl snatches her up and begins to run down the hallway. She bounds over the edge and after a moment directly into the fray on floor 2. The toddler, now securely latched to her shoulders, begins unloading her water pistol into the faces of the taller boys. She hollers with all the power her mighty little lungs can muster as her vehicle plummets through the crowd shooting monstrous blasts of water at the boys. In awe and reverence she eyes her weapon and grins. The balls are serious, pushing the boys back and knocking guns out of their hands right and left. Those who are quick on their feet gain them back after only a moment, but a few are picked up by small girls and boys who have no guns yet.20

The girl stands a moment catching her breath in the middle of a crowd of girls, when over the yells of laughter and war, she hears one of the boys roar.21

"SHE HAS THE LION!"22

Everyone immediately knows who she is and what the lion is. Several boys look in awe. One single boy, leaps up in the crowd and continues to battle-cry as he crosses through the group of girls. He springs as if to tackle the girl, but his meager weight of 50 pounds cannot do much. One of the older girls catches her as she falls back and picks the toddler off her back. The girl bounces back upright and barrels forward with her gun in front of her and shooting. She clears a path for herself easily, growling and snarling with a broad smile. Girls dash after her squirting the boys away that are determined to get more. At one point however, she slips with bad footing and hits the tiles. She slides over the edge into the airwell and flips and falls head over foot then back onto the first floor. She slides a few paces more on the floor and immediately gets up, dashing into the first room she can get into. It is empty and the beds are messy. She crouches on the floor and pants, waiting. 23

She can see feet running by, one pair stalling outside of her door, undecided. Warbling cries come down the hall and squirts of water hit already wet bodies and the floor. The boys move away from the girls with guns and she peeks out of her room.24

But she was mistaken and so she quickly pulls her head back, it was the girls who were being chased by some boys. More boys come onto the 2nd floor and an idea is passed around the group.25

"If yer inna room thats not yers," One boy shouts, "We'll getchya ejected!"26

She hears an older girl brave the threat and leap out of the room she's in. The boy in front of her own door, runs and leaves her exit free. She jumps through the curtain and blasts at the boys from behind, knocking them down and making them lose precious time. She jumps into the airwell and straps the water gun to her belt; there are 3 floors she needs to climb to get to her room. Thankfully her gun is more than half filled with air, making carrying it easy.27

She steps on the rungs and hears others jump into the well. She looks down and sees boys scrambling up after her. Girls are hanging onto them, trying to delay them, but it only helps so much.28

She picks up the pace and starts jumping rungs, the gun painfully whacking her side. Her arms ache and she sees only one option. She stops climbing, only a few rungs above the rest and pulls the gun back into position. Normally, no one shoots a water gun in the airwells because of the draft. The warm wind that slows the fall disperses the water into a fine mist that doesn't end up doing anything.29

Does she dare? She wonders. The boys have stopped, looking at the king of water guns warily; normally it wouldn't work. But might it work this time?30

She decides to take the test. The gob of water she shoots at the nearest boy forgoes the push of the wind just enough to get a lot of water in his face. He, not thinking, uses a hand to wipe it out of his eyes; he uses the hand that was holding his weapon. As soon as he realizes his mistake, he jumps after it, but it is buffeted up by the wind and a girl on the wall catches it. She now has two guns and rushes to the hose to fill them.31

Bringing back her courage, the 13 year old girl shoots water gobs at the other kids and as her gun gets lighter she gets faster. She passes the 4th floor and her gun is empty. She is almost at the 5th floor landing when she makes the jump. Pulling her tunic away from her body to catch the wind in an umbrella shape, she is propelled the last few feet to the floor. Two girls pull her up easily and get her standing.32

They are her dorm room mates and they pull her along with them into their room and collapse on the bed. The two other girls get up and dash back out with their still full water guns, not yet ready to just let the boys give up.33

The other girl is still lying on the bed and she starts laughing to herself weakly. Looking at the empty water gun in her hands, she sighs and shoves it under her bed. She is glad that the wind dried her clothes and she blearily tries to get up. She finds however that she'd rather not and she smiles as she hears the girls outside being onslaught by some toddlers. She hears them whisper a plan and run, then jump back into the airwell. A little while later she hears the whoops and yells of victory, as she is almost completely asleep. Once she finally drifts off, everyone is going back to their rooms, laughing and talking freely.34

The girls of her room come back as one of the last, giggling and loudly joking groups. When they see her, snoring quietly, they hush and watch her sleep in awe. She is, after all, the official winner. She is the one who tamed the lion and everyone knows and eagerly anticipates, that a retaliatory attack on her will occur soon.