"...Who invented Math? Seriously, I know that it's helpful once in a while, but still. Well, this is just perfect, how in the world does Tyler understand some, if not all of it. Now I know why he's doing so bad, because 11th grade math sucks. I mean, I barely understand it. But, in another state of mind, it makes complete sense! I must of known a lot when I was Yattamori, seeing as how whenever I see a problem, another voice calls out the way and answer of the question. So, how can I tell Tyler how to answer without revealing Yattamori?...
December 3rd, 2010
4:00 p.m.
OUR WORLD
Madison's Perspective
As Madison opens the door to her house, she sighs, releaved to finally be away from curious classmates. Ever since her incident yesterday with Amanda in Gym, her friends and other students keep on wanting info on how she did it, where she learned it from, and how she cut Amanda's sword, not to mention her hair. Though, so far, the weirdest question was one that she got from a few of her friends. They kept asking how her eyes turned blue. Blue? Well, this sucks. The only reason her eyes were glowing was because she was letting out a bit of Yattamori and/or spritual pressure. That;s about i. But, she knows that if she even tries to explain it, her friends would think she was playing around and wouldn't take her seriously.
Irritated grunts from the kichen broke Madison's thoughts, and Madison quickly went in to investigate. Madison rounds the corner of the hall to find Tyler, her 16 year-old (17 in 22 days, yes, he was born on Christmas) brother, looking absolutly confused as he stared down at a school book at the kichen table in the dining area of the room. She's surprised, considering Tyler is usually at his girlfriends or at practice her soccer or football (depending on the season).
Tyler looks up and finally notices her.
"Hi." Madison says.
"Hey." Tyler answers.
Awkward.
"What are you doing home? Don't you have practice for indoor soccer?" she asks as she walks passed the granite counter, entering the square kichen area and open the fridge.
"I did." Tyler says, his voice slightly more irritated on the word "did".
"Did?" Madison repeats.
"I wasn't allowed to go to practice."
"Why's that?"
"None of your buisness."
"C'mon, tell me."
"No."
"Did you do something?" Madison asks as she closes the door to the fridge, revealing a coke in her fist.
"Sorta."
"What?"
"I'm going to be kicked off the team because I'm slipping up in Math, ok? You happy? You know now, now back off." Tyler says as he looks back down at the book.
"Aren't they gonna give you another chance?" she asks as she opens her coke.
"Yeah, there's a test tomorrow, and if I do well, I'll raise my grade high enough to stay on the team. But geometry is tougher then it looks."
"Oh, c'mon, how hard can geometry be?"
Tyler looks up at her, and folds his arms across his chest. Ah, crap.
"Really? Fine, you come over here and look at it." Tyler says as he nods his head at the book.
Madison sighs and walks over to look over the page. On it, are letters and numbers, as well as instructions.
Find h(x) f(x)= x^2 g(x)=4x-6
#1.h(x) = f(x) - g(x)
#2.h(x) = g(f(x))
Madison feels her brain go into a complete spiral. What the heck are they talking about? What does the ^ do? And what's x?
A flash a blue sheens over her eyes.
...#1.h(x) = f(x) - g(x) = x^2 -(4x-6)...h(x)= x^2-4x+6....
Her voice floats across her mind in complete confidence.
"h(x)= x^2 -4x +6..." Madison says.
"What?" Tyler says.
"The answer is h(x)= x^2 -4x+6."
"That's right." Madison hears a voice from behind her.
Tyler and she turn to se their mom standing at the entrance of the dining area.
"You're kidding." Tyler says, surprised by Madison's correct answer.
"And number 2 is h(x) = 4(x^2)-6 or 4x^2-6." Madison says, pointing at the problem.
"That's also right." her mom says as she looks at a calculator that she had gotten out before they had noticed her.
Madison's eyes widen as she senses her eyes begin to change. Yattamori is beginning to seep through, explaining her sudden burst of knowledge.
Tyler turns and looks at their in shock and a little amazment as Madison hurries away from the room towards her bedroom, quickly shutting the door after her. She tries to blink as her breathing begins to slow. She holds herself in her arms as she looks over to see her reflection in the mirror. She's wearing a gray jacket over a belted, dark purple, short-sleeved shirt, matched with dark washed skinny jeans and silver converse. Her hair is parted far on the left side, allowing her to put her bangs to the side of her right cheek, unlike infront of one of her hazel eyes like she does in the Soul Society (A place she still can't contact, grrr).
She looks herself straight in the eye and gasps.
Her usual haxel eyes have a blue glow to them, and Madison can swear that her hair is growing longer by the second, the two clumps of hair she keeps out of her ponytail starting to grow out of her mass of wavy, chestnut hair. Around her neck, Madison sees her circle pendant begining to form, reminding her of how much worry she must be causing Toshiro right about now.
Shje grabs her head and slids down the side of the door to put her head inbetween her legs.
"Please stop, I don't want them to know. Go away, Yattamori. Please, let me stay normal here." Madison says quietly into her legs as she notices the familar silkiness of her choker, which symbolizes her relationship with her zampakutou, Mamori Koudoutai, who she hadn't seen since her duel with Cree.
Mamori Koudoutai! Maybe she knows how to stop the change!
Madison gets up and runs to her bed, quickly placing herself under the covers so that if she changed completely, her mom wouldn't see. She puts her hands together as if she is praying and tightly closes her eyes.
"Please Mamori, hear me and come here. I need your guidance." Madison says.
Slowly, Madison feels her hair, which is now down to below her waist, begin to blow, even though her head is under covers.
Then, she smiles and sighs when she she hears the beating of hooves and neighing next to her bed, the sound of folding wings in the background. She quickly pulls back the covers to see the 10 foot tall white pegasus Mamori standing right next to her bed, her warm eyes starring down at her.
"You called." Mamori says without moving her lips.
"Ok, how do I stop this!" Madison says as she points at her, which is now almost to her hips.
"Um, alright. How many times has this happened?" Mamori asks.
"The eyes, 3. Everything else, it's new."
"Ok, try to concentrate on a specific person. Now, whenever you have this happen, think of that person."
Madison nods and closes her eyes, thinking of one person. As she does, she feels the hair begin to recede to the bottom of her shoulder blades and the power in her eyes fade. She sighs as she reopens her eyes and turns towards the mirror to see her usual self as her reflection. Her hair is normal and her eyes are back to hazel.
"Is that better?" Mamori asks.
"Much, thanks." Madison says as she lays bck on her bed.
She stares up at the ceiling, then Mamori interupts her thoughts.
"What's on your mind?" Mamori says as she lays next to Madison's bed, her wings folding to her flanks.
"Well, it's Tyler-"
"Your brother?"
"Yeah, he's struggling with math. And because of it, he might not be able to play soccer."
"That's a shame."
"It is. And the only way that he'll be able to continue is if he does well on a big test tomorrow. But, from the looks of it, he doesn't understand half of the info."
"So, what are you going to do about it?"
"Me? Are you kidding, he wouldn't want my help even if it would help him gain immortality, not to mention math problems."
"Madison, I know you have a strained relationship with your brother, but you still have to help him when he needs it, especially when something immportant to him is on the line. You can't let passed differences interfere with what's right."
Madison looks away and sighs, thinking about Mamori's look on it. She then turns back to look into pale brown eyes. She sits up in the bed in begins to pet Mamori's face.
"So, what are my options?" Madison says as she smiles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:27 p.m.
Tyler's Perspective
A grunt of irritation rises in Tyler's throat as he looks over more math equations at his desk in his room. So far, he only understands about 60% of the info that he's gone over, and it's starting to annoy him.
Maybe Madison would understand this...
The thought causes Tyler to slam his book shut. He still doesn't understand how Madison was able to solve the equation that he couldn't. At first, she looked absolutly confused like him, but then, something seemed to come over her and she worked it out within seconds. It was strange, but for second after Mom walked in, she seemed, different. Her hair was a little different, and her eyes were...
"Ok, there's no way her eyes were blue." Tyler says as he rubs his head.
He gets up from the desk and turns off his desk lamp.
"I think all this studying all day has made me on edge. I need to get some sleep if I want to at least get a D on the test." Tyler says as he gets under the covers of his bed, already in his night wear.
He quickly turns off the light next to his bed and closes his eyes. For a few minutes it's silent, but after the clock turns 11:35, a strange sensation filled the air.
"What the-" Tyler begins to say.
Suddenly, his room begins to contort, until his no longer in his room and is floating in a void.
"Where the heck am I?!" Tyler says as he looks around the area.
"You're in the space between your reality..." a familar voice says.
Tyler turns to see a girl that looks very similar to Madison, floating about five feet away from him, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her hair is chestnut brown and wavy, held up in a high ponytail by a lime green ribbon, bangs covering her right eye and thick strands of hair all that hang down, covering her ears. Her eyes are glowing a slight blue. Similar to what Madison's looked like. She's has a leather string necklace with a green, quarter-sized pendant hanging about six inches from her neck, along with a pink ribbon choker with another lime green gem attached to it around the base of her neck. She wears a pink, sleeveless, over-thing over a kimono with black curly-lined designs and black trimming, lime green arm bands transending from underneath the sleeves of the kimono, along with sandals worn over white sock-like things on her feet.
"And my reality." the girl finishes.
"Ok, 1, where am I, and 2, who the heck are you?" he asks.
"I just said 1, and 2...you can just call me Yattamori." she answers.
"Alright, Yattamori, why am I here?"
"Answer this first."
"What?"
"Find h(x) if f(x)= x^2 and g(x)=4x-6. h(x) = g(f(x))."
"You're asking me math problems?"
"Answer, and I'd hurry, or else."
"What do you mean?"
Yattamori grabs a bow and arrow from thin air and pulls it back hard, then releases it, aiming it high above his head. Suddenly he feels a jerk on his back and he notices Yattamori is now higher then him. He looks up to see an almost invisible rope attached to him and hanging from high in the void.
"You see, everytime you answer incorrectly, I'll shoot an arrow at the rope, causing you to go lower. If you get one right, I'll repair the rope and you'll rise higher, but I'll in return go lower. Then, if you take too long, the same would happen as if you got it wrong. This will occur 5 times, meaning I'll only ask 5 questions."
"So, what happens if I'm lower then you?" he asks.
She points down, Tyler following her finger, and he gasps. Below are sharp rocks and pits of lava, boiling at temperatures that seem to fiction to be a reality.
"If you loose, you'll fall into that pit down there."
"You're joking. That's crazy, one of us will die!"
"I suggest you get as many as you can correct, or else, you'll be leaving this reality."
Tyler gulps as he looks back down at the pit, then breaths a deep breath and looks back up at Yattamori.
"Repeat the first question again."
"So, you accept?" she asks.
"Just repeat the question!"
"Alright, find h(x) if f(x)= x^2 and g(x)=4x-6. h(x) = g(f(x))." she repeats, "You get 2 minutes to answer."
Tyler finds his mind jumbling as he creates a mental picture of the equation in his head. After what seems like eternity, the wheels in his head begin to turn.
Ok, so, g(x) is pretty much 4x-6 and x is x^2. So when combined as g(f(x)), the equation becomes 4(x^2)-6. Or is it 4(x^2)-4? Or is it -3? Dang it, I'm becoming jumbled again.
Suddenly, he felt himself jerk. He looks up to see the bow back in Yattamori's hands, already released. she looks back down at him as the bow n' arrow once again disappears.
"Your time is up. The correct answer is 4x^2-6." she says.
"I didn't even get passed the third step!"
"Then you're going to have to think faster. Next question." Yattamori says, "Amy has an income which is 5/8 of Erik's. Amy expenses are 1/2 those of Erik's, and Amy saved 40% of his income. What's the percentage of how much he saves?"
Tyler grins. He was great at these.
It's easy, just use the equations needed, then multiply it by .4, then one more equation....
"It's 25% percent!" Tyler yells.
Yattamori's expressionless frown turns to a impressed grin as she raises her hands toward his rope. Then, with a slight tug, he's pulled back up, as Yattamori lowers slightly.
"Very good, next question." she says, "A ladder leans against a vertical wall. The top of the ladder is 7m above the ground. When the bottom of the ladder is moved 1m farther away from the wall, the top of the ladder rests against the foot of the wall. What is the length of the ladder?"
"That's easy." Tyler says.
All you need to do is use the pythagorean theorem...
"It's 25 meters." he answers.
"Correct." Yattamori says as she lowers, now equal with him.
"Yes!"
"Next question. I'm thinking of a number. It is an odd number with three digits. All the digits are different and add up to 12. The difference between the first two digits equals the difference between the last two digits.What is the number?"
Tyler's brain freezes. He's bad at these.
"Uh, umm..."
I don't know any numbers like that...
"It's 660."
Yattamori's bow appears.
He got it wrong.
Again, he slips and Yattamori gets higher. His mind begins to freeze. If he doesn't get the next one right, he's dead.
"Sorry, the answer was 741. Last question." she says, "What is f(x) - g(x) if f(x)= x^2 and g(x)=4x-6?"
Tyler blinks in surprise.
I know the answer...
"x^2 -4x+6..." he says.
Yattamori smiles.
"That right!" she says as he is raised.
Tyler smiles back until he notices their positions. Since he got it right, they should be parallel to each other. But, instead, Yattamori is about a foot lower. Meaning...
She lost.
Suddenly, Tyler hears a loud snap.
"You played my game and won. Congrats." Yattamori says.
"Yattamori!" Tyler yells as he grabs for as she begins to fall.
Luckily, he just barely grabs her hand, saving her.
He sighs as Yattamori stares up at him in surprise.
"What?" he asks.
"Why...?" she asks, confusion in her voice.
"Why what?"
"Why did you save me? You almost faced death because of me."
"But, you helped me feel more confident about my position in math and I think I'm a little braver now because of this."
"But-"
"No buts, you helped me. Heck, even Madison helped me today, so I guess I should thank both of you."
She gasps in surprise. Slowly her eyes turn hazel, just like Madison's...
"Tyler..." she says, her voice sounding exactly like Madison's.
His eyes widen.
No...way..
Neighing from below pulls Tyler from his thoughts and causes him to look down in amazement.
With great speed a majestic creature flys up from the disappearing pit of despair and whizzes past them. The animal causes Yattamori to smile and laugh.
"Mamori, come get us, will you." Yattamori yells.
"Mamori?"
Suddenly the large beast comes to float next Yattamori. Tyler's eyes widen as he sees that the creature is a white pegasus, his sister's favorite mythical animal. Yattamori lets go of his hand and plops onto the winged horse's back hugging it as she giggles. She looks up at him when she notices he hasn't done the same. The horse flys higher, putting Yattamori at his height. She reaches out her hand.
"C'mon, she won't bite." Yattamori says.
Tyler nods and places himself behind Yattamori on the Pegasus' back. The horse whinnies happily as Yattamori pats it on the neck. She then turns back towards him.
"Hold on tight."
"Kay." Tyler says as he reaches around her to grab the horses white mane.
She nods as she turns back. She suddenly kicks at the horsees sides.
"Return us to his world." Yattamori says as the horse begins to fly.
The horse replies with a neigh and begins to beat it's wings at full force, causing Tyler to tighten his grip.
He closes eyes tight, then meets a great darkness.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 4th, 2010
3:18 a.m.
Madison and Mamori stand at the foot of Tyler's bed, where he sleeps soundly, returning to world of his dreams.
"Well, that should help him with his test tomorrow." Madison says.
"I told you that entering his mind in dream state would work." Mamori says, her wings folding back to brush her flanks again.
"You were right, ok. I admit it. Thank you." Madison replies.
"You're welcome." Mamori says as she disappears.
"Goodbye, Mamori." Madison says as the last speck of Mamori vanishes.
She turns back to look at Tyler. His words running through her head.
No buts, you helped me. Heck, even Madison helped me today, so I guess I should thank both of you...
Madison smiles and chuckles quietly.
"You finally said thank you...and it was that situation..." Madison says as she begins to walk out of the room.
When she reaches for the door knob, she turns back to Tyler.
"You're welcome...good night, and good luck..." Madison says as she opens the door, then walks out, closing the door silently behind her.
December 3rd, 2010
4:00 p.m.
OUR WORLD
Madison's Perspective
As Madison opens the door to her house, she sighs, releaved to finally be away from curious classmates. Ever since her incident yesterday with Amanda in Gym, her friends and other students keep on wanting info on how she did it, where she learned it from, and how she cut Amanda's sword, not to mention her hair. Though, so far, the weirdest question was one that she got from a few of her friends. They kept asking how her eyes turned blue. Blue? Well, this sucks. The only reason her eyes were glowing was because she was letting out a bit of Yattamori and/or spritual pressure. That;s about i. But, she knows that if she even tries to explain it, her friends would think she was playing around and wouldn't take her seriously.
Irritated grunts from the kichen broke Madison's thoughts, and Madison quickly went in to investigate. Madison rounds the corner of the hall to find Tyler, her 16 year-old (17 in 22 days, yes, he was born on Christmas) brother, looking absolutly confused as he stared down at a school book at the kichen table in the dining area of the room. She's surprised, considering Tyler is usually at his girlfriends or at practice her soccer or football (depending on the season).
Tyler looks up and finally notices her.
"Hi." Madison says.
"Hey." Tyler answers.
Awkward.
"What are you doing home? Don't you have practice for indoor soccer?" she asks as she walks passed the granite counter, entering the square kichen area and open the fridge.
"I did." Tyler says, his voice slightly more irritated on the word "did".
"Did?" Madison repeats.
"I wasn't allowed to go to practice."
"Why's that?"
"None of your buisness."
"C'mon, tell me."
"No."
"Did you do something?" Madison asks as she closes the door to the fridge, revealing a coke in her fist.
"Sorta."
"What?"
"I'm going to be kicked off the team because I'm slipping up in Math, ok? You happy? You know now, now back off." Tyler says as he looks back down at the book.
"Aren't they gonna give you another chance?" she asks as she opens her coke.
"Yeah, there's a test tomorrow, and if I do well, I'll raise my grade high enough to stay on the team. But geometry is tougher then it looks."
"Oh, c'mon, how hard can geometry be?"
Tyler looks up at her, and folds his arms across his chest. Ah, crap.
"Really? Fine, you come over here and look at it." Tyler says as he nods his head at the book.
Madison sighs and walks over to look over the page. On it, are letters and numbers, as well as instructions.
Find h(x) f(x)= x^2 g(x)=4x-6
#1.h(x) = f(x) - g(x)
#2.h(x) = g(f(x))
Madison feels her brain go into a complete spiral. What the heck are they talking about? What does the ^ do? And what's x?
A flash a blue sheens over her eyes.
...#1.h(x) = f(x) - g(x) = x^2 -(4x-6)...h(x)= x^2-4x+6....
Her voice floats across her mind in complete confidence.
"h(x)= x^2 -4x +6..." Madison says.
"What?" Tyler says.
"The answer is h(x)= x^2 -4x+6."
"That's right." Madison hears a voice from behind her.
Tyler and she turn to se their mom standing at the entrance of the dining area.
"You're kidding." Tyler says, surprised by Madison's correct answer.
"And number 2 is h(x) = 4(x^2)-6 or 4x^2-6." Madison says, pointing at the problem.
"That's also right." her mom says as she looks at a calculator that she had gotten out before they had noticed her.
Madison's eyes widen as she senses her eyes begin to change. Yattamori is beginning to seep through, explaining her sudden burst of knowledge.
Tyler turns and looks at their in shock and a little amazment as Madison hurries away from the room towards her bedroom, quickly shutting the door after her. She tries to blink as her breathing begins to slow. She holds herself in her arms as she looks over to see her reflection in the mirror. She's wearing a gray jacket over a belted, dark purple, short-sleeved shirt, matched with dark washed skinny jeans and silver converse. Her hair is parted far on the left side, allowing her to put her bangs to the side of her right cheek, unlike infront of one of her hazel eyes like she does in the Soul Society (A place she still can't contact, grrr).
She looks herself straight in the eye and gasps.
Her usual haxel eyes have a blue glow to them, and Madison can swear that her hair is growing longer by the second, the two clumps of hair she keeps out of her ponytail starting to grow out of her mass of wavy, chestnut hair. Around her neck, Madison sees her circle pendant begining to form, reminding her of how much worry she must be causing Toshiro right about now.
Shje grabs her head and slids down the side of the door to put her head inbetween her legs.
"Please stop, I don't want them to know. Go away, Yattamori. Please, let me stay normal here." Madison says quietly into her legs as she notices the familar silkiness of her choker, which symbolizes her relationship with her zampakutou, Mamori Koudoutai, who she hadn't seen since her duel with Cree.
Mamori Koudoutai! Maybe she knows how to stop the change!
Madison gets up and runs to her bed, quickly placing herself under the covers so that if she changed completely, her mom wouldn't see. She puts her hands together as if she is praying and tightly closes her eyes.
"Please Mamori, hear me and come here. I need your guidance." Madison says.
Slowly, Madison feels her hair, which is now down to below her waist, begin to blow, even though her head is under covers.
Then, she smiles and sighs when she she hears the beating of hooves and neighing next to her bed, the sound of folding wings in the background. She quickly pulls back the covers to see the 10 foot tall white pegasus Mamori standing right next to her bed, her warm eyes starring down at her.
"You called." Mamori says without moving her lips.
"Ok, how do I stop this!" Madison says as she points at her, which is now almost to her hips.
"Um, alright. How many times has this happened?" Mamori asks.
"The eyes, 3. Everything else, it's new."
"Ok, try to concentrate on a specific person. Now, whenever you have this happen, think of that person."
Madison nods and closes her eyes, thinking of one person. As she does, she feels the hair begin to recede to the bottom of her shoulder blades and the power in her eyes fade. She sighs as she reopens her eyes and turns towards the mirror to see her usual self as her reflection. Her hair is normal and her eyes are back to hazel.
"Is that better?" Mamori asks.
"Much, thanks." Madison says as she lays bck on her bed.
She stares up at the ceiling, then Mamori interupts her thoughts.
"What's on your mind?" Mamori says as she lays next to Madison's bed, her wings folding to her flanks.
"Well, it's Tyler-"
"Your brother?"
"Yeah, he's struggling with math. And because of it, he might not be able to play soccer."
"That's a shame."
"It is. And the only way that he'll be able to continue is if he does well on a big test tomorrow. But, from the looks of it, he doesn't understand half of the info."
"So, what are you going to do about it?"
"Me? Are you kidding, he wouldn't want my help even if it would help him gain immortality, not to mention math problems."
"Madison, I know you have a strained relationship with your brother, but you still have to help him when he needs it, especially when something immportant to him is on the line. You can't let passed differences interfere with what's right."
Madison looks away and sighs, thinking about Mamori's look on it. She then turns back to look into pale brown eyes. She sits up in the bed in begins to pet Mamori's face.
"So, what are my options?" Madison says as she smiles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:27 p.m.
Tyler's Perspective
A grunt of irritation rises in Tyler's throat as he looks over more math equations at his desk in his room. So far, he only understands about 60% of the info that he's gone over, and it's starting to annoy him.
Maybe Madison would understand this...
The thought causes Tyler to slam his book shut. He still doesn't understand how Madison was able to solve the equation that he couldn't. At first, she looked absolutly confused like him, but then, something seemed to come over her and she worked it out within seconds. It was strange, but for second after Mom walked in, she seemed, different. Her hair was a little different, and her eyes were...
"Ok, there's no way her eyes were blue." Tyler says as he rubs his head.
He gets up from the desk and turns off his desk lamp.
"I think all this studying all day has made me on edge. I need to get some sleep if I want to at least get a D on the test." Tyler says as he gets under the covers of his bed, already in his night wear.
He quickly turns off the light next to his bed and closes his eyes. For a few minutes it's silent, but after the clock turns 11:35, a strange sensation filled the air.
"What the-" Tyler begins to say.
Suddenly, his room begins to contort, until his no longer in his room and is floating in a void.
"Where the heck am I?!" Tyler says as he looks around the area.
"You're in the space between your reality..." a familar voice says.
Tyler turns to see a girl that looks very similar to Madison, floating about five feet away from him, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her hair is chestnut brown and wavy, held up in a high ponytail by a lime green ribbon, bangs covering her right eye and thick strands of hair all that hang down, covering her ears. Her eyes are glowing a slight blue. Similar to what Madison's looked like. She's has a leather string necklace with a green, quarter-sized pendant hanging about six inches from her neck, along with a pink ribbon choker with another lime green gem attached to it around the base of her neck. She wears a pink, sleeveless, over-thing over a kimono with black curly-lined designs and black trimming, lime green arm bands transending from underneath the sleeves of the kimono, along with sandals worn over white sock-like things on her feet.
"And my reality." the girl finishes.
"Ok, 1, where am I, and 2, who the heck are you?" he asks.
"I just said 1, and 2...you can just call me Yattamori." she answers.
"Alright, Yattamori, why am I here?"
"Answer this first."
"What?"
"Find h(x) if f(x)= x^2 and g(x)=4x-6. h(x) = g(f(x))."
"You're asking me math problems?"
"Answer, and I'd hurry, or else."
"What do you mean?"
Yattamori grabs a bow and arrow from thin air and pulls it back hard, then releases it, aiming it high above his head. Suddenly he feels a jerk on his back and he notices Yattamori is now higher then him. He looks up to see an almost invisible rope attached to him and hanging from high in the void.
"You see, everytime you answer incorrectly, I'll shoot an arrow at the rope, causing you to go lower. If you get one right, I'll repair the rope and you'll rise higher, but I'll in return go lower. Then, if you take too long, the same would happen as if you got it wrong. This will occur 5 times, meaning I'll only ask 5 questions."
"So, what happens if I'm lower then you?" he asks.
She points down, Tyler following her finger, and he gasps. Below are sharp rocks and pits of lava, boiling at temperatures that seem to fiction to be a reality.
"If you loose, you'll fall into that pit down there."
"You're joking. That's crazy, one of us will die!"
"I suggest you get as many as you can correct, or else, you'll be leaving this reality."
Tyler gulps as he looks back down at the pit, then breaths a deep breath and looks back up at Yattamori.
"Repeat the first question again."
"So, you accept?" she asks.
"Just repeat the question!"
"Alright, find h(x) if f(x)= x^2 and g(x)=4x-6. h(x) = g(f(x))." she repeats, "You get 2 minutes to answer."
Tyler finds his mind jumbling as he creates a mental picture of the equation in his head. After what seems like eternity, the wheels in his head begin to turn.
Ok, so, g(x) is pretty much 4x-6 and x is x^2. So when combined as g(f(x)), the equation becomes 4(x^2)-6. Or is it 4(x^2)-4? Or is it -3? Dang it, I'm becoming jumbled again.
Suddenly, he felt himself jerk. He looks up to see the bow back in Yattamori's hands, already released. she looks back down at him as the bow n' arrow once again disappears.
"Your time is up. The correct answer is 4x^2-6." she says.
"I didn't even get passed the third step!"
"Then you're going to have to think faster. Next question." Yattamori says, "Amy has an income which is 5/8 of Erik's. Amy expenses are 1/2 those of Erik's, and Amy saved 40% of his income. What's the percentage of how much he saves?"
Tyler grins. He was great at these.
It's easy, just use the equations needed, then multiply it by .4, then one more equation....
"It's 25% percent!" Tyler yells.
Yattamori's expressionless frown turns to a impressed grin as she raises her hands toward his rope. Then, with a slight tug, he's pulled back up, as Yattamori lowers slightly.
"Very good, next question." she says, "A ladder leans against a vertical wall. The top of the ladder is 7m above the ground. When the bottom of the ladder is moved 1m farther away from the wall, the top of the ladder rests against the foot of the wall. What is the length of the ladder?"
"That's easy." Tyler says.
All you need to do is use the pythagorean theorem...
"It's 25 meters." he answers.
"Correct." Yattamori says as she lowers, now equal with him.
"Yes!"
"Next question. I'm thinking of a number. It is an odd number with three digits. All the digits are different and add up to 12. The difference between the first two digits equals the difference between the last two digits.What is the number?"
Tyler's brain freezes. He's bad at these.
"Uh, umm..."
I don't know any numbers like that...
"It's 660."
Yattamori's bow appears.
He got it wrong.
Again, he slips and Yattamori gets higher. His mind begins to freeze. If he doesn't get the next one right, he's dead.
"Sorry, the answer was 741. Last question." she says, "What is f(x) - g(x) if f(x)= x^2 and g(x)=4x-6?"
Tyler blinks in surprise.
I know the answer...
"x^2 -4x+6..." he says.
Yattamori smiles.
"That right!" she says as he is raised.
Tyler smiles back until he notices their positions. Since he got it right, they should be parallel to each other. But, instead, Yattamori is about a foot lower. Meaning...
She lost.
Suddenly, Tyler hears a loud snap.
"You played my game and won. Congrats." Yattamori says.
"Yattamori!" Tyler yells as he grabs for as she begins to fall.
Luckily, he just barely grabs her hand, saving her.
He sighs as Yattamori stares up at him in surprise.
"What?" he asks.
"Why...?" she asks, confusion in her voice.
"Why what?"
"Why did you save me? You almost faced death because of me."
"But, you helped me feel more confident about my position in math and I think I'm a little braver now because of this."
"But-"
"No buts, you helped me. Heck, even Madison helped me today, so I guess I should thank both of you."
She gasps in surprise. Slowly her eyes turn hazel, just like Madison's...
"Tyler..." she says, her voice sounding exactly like Madison's.
His eyes widen.
No...way..
Neighing from below pulls Tyler from his thoughts and causes him to look down in amazement.
With great speed a majestic creature flys up from the disappearing pit of despair and whizzes past them. The animal causes Yattamori to smile and laugh.
"Mamori, come get us, will you." Yattamori yells.
"Mamori?"
Suddenly the large beast comes to float next Yattamori. Tyler's eyes widen as he sees that the creature is a white pegasus, his sister's favorite mythical animal. Yattamori lets go of his hand and plops onto the winged horse's back hugging it as she giggles. She looks up at him when she notices he hasn't done the same. The horse flys higher, putting Yattamori at his height. She reaches out her hand.
"C'mon, she won't bite." Yattamori says.
Tyler nods and places himself behind Yattamori on the Pegasus' back. The horse whinnies happily as Yattamori pats it on the neck. She then turns back towards him.
"Hold on tight."
"Kay." Tyler says as he reaches around her to grab the horses white mane.
She nods as she turns back. She suddenly kicks at the horsees sides.
"Return us to his world." Yattamori says as the horse begins to fly.
The horse replies with a neigh and begins to beat it's wings at full force, causing Tyler to tighten his grip.
He closes eyes tight, then meets a great darkness.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 4th, 2010
3:18 a.m.
Madison and Mamori stand at the foot of Tyler's bed, where he sleeps soundly, returning to world of his dreams.
"Well, that should help him with his test tomorrow." Madison says.
"I told you that entering his mind in dream state would work." Mamori says, her wings folding back to brush her flanks again.
"You were right, ok. I admit it. Thank you." Madison replies.
"You're welcome." Mamori says as she disappears.
"Goodbye, Mamori." Madison says as the last speck of Mamori vanishes.
She turns back to look at Tyler. His words running through her head.
No buts, you helped me. Heck, even Madison helped me today, so I guess I should thank both of you...
Madison smiles and chuckles quietly.
"You finally said thank you...and it was that situation..." Madison says as she begins to walk out of the room.
When she reaches for the door knob, she turns back to Tyler.
"You're welcome...good night, and good luck..." Madison says as she opens the door, then walks out, closing the door silently behind her.
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