((All right, Chi has gone back to this silly old story now, and edited after lets see....a year maybe? hm...just a few changes here and there. bows and leaves))

She was aware of the figures that wanted to leave her here, in this abandoned junkyard. She knew they would never notice the sparkle in her eyes; the certain skills she had. Not the love she had with machines; taking them apart, putting them back together, breaking codes and all the stuff. She was alone now, a seven year old left to defend herself from starvation and the harsh weather. After thinking a while, she slowly bent down and with tiny fingers wrote:

Josephine Hazel Kiana Wou Chan

That would be her name from now on, what ever name the figures gave her were forgotten, those silhouettes no longer existed in her world and therefore, no longer deserve a place in her memory.

Now that she had a name, Jo needed a place to live and she knew exactly the right place. The junkyard, it didn't remind her of the abandonment because honestly, there were none. The junkyard was empty; nobody lived there so no one would bother her. Pushing long hair behind her ear, Jo made her way over to the warehouse that stood in the center of the junkyard. It was a sturdy old building, used as a bomb shelter in its early years, the roof and walls were still intact and electricity still seemed to run though.

Everything was going quite perfectly for Jo with the exception of having to find food. Her stomach was already growling at her and she didn't have any ideas as to how she would get some food.

"Someone in here?"

Jo spun about in the direction of the sound, had someone already made the junkyard their home? Thoughts racing, Jo decided to play it safe for a bit and hid behind a few dusty craters in the corner.

"Hello?" Mara tried again as she entered the warehouse wearily, but taking a look around she didn't see anything, "I'm goin insane…" she muttered, turning to leave. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of ice blue eyes watching her cautiously.

"Hey there, I ain't gonna hurt ya, I just saw something so I thought I'd check it out."

"Go away."

"I ain't goin away 'til ya tell me why you're here, you're a young one to be out on yer own. Didja get lost? Or didja ya family leave ya here?"

"Jo doesn't know, but she does know that this is her home, so go away."

Mara glared at the little girl, she was so damn stubborn and strange, why was she referring to herself in third person?! Mara had been kicked out by her own family and she was sure the girl was abandoned as well, but then again she had been twelve. The girl was probably only five; she would never survive out on the streets!

"Look kid, I ain't gonna hurt, ya I just wanna help that's all." An idea popped up in Mara's head so she reached into her bag and pulled out a candy bar, "I'm sure ya hungry, I have a candy bar that ya can have if ya'll just let me help you."

"A-aw right." Jo scowled at the bar, but it was too tempting and her stomach was grumbling at her. She took her time shuffling over to the blonde woman and ate the candy bar quickly, sure now that this woman wouldn't hurt her, "Well? Are you gonna take Jo somewhere or what?"

"Take it easy squirt, I ain't gonna take ya anywhere and I sure as hell don't won't want ya following me around, so we'll make a deal. I let ya stay here and everything however ya want and whatnot, but I get to come here and teach ya everything ya need to know to dish it out here 'til ya can do it on ya own, k?'"

"Kay…Jo supposes it's all right."

"So that ya name? Mine's Mara, leader of the Ravens. We're the only female gang out here and we can beat most of the male gangs around here as is!"

Jo could tell Mara was proud of the Ravens, she liked Mara, the woman was kind and passionate, she was someone Jo knew she could trust, "Jo likes you so Jo will tell you Jo's full name that she calls herself, Josephine Hazel Kiana Wou Chan, leader of junkyard rats, one of thousands around the country Jo is sure."

Mara laughed at the girl's witty response, Jo was obviously very intelligent, even if she gave herself a mouthful of a name, she couldn't see why Jo's family had abandoned her. Ruffling the girl's long black hair, she frowned, she would have to cut that shorter; it was too long and would probably cause future problems. Mara had cut her hair in a boy's style to keep other fighters from grabbing it, it would be better for Jo as well.

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For some eight years Mara visited Jo regularly everyday to teach her how to fight and every day basics for living on the streets. Sometimes Mara even brought one of her gang members and gradually Jo met every one of the Ravens and was a sort of reserve member of the gang. Jo's skill and love in electronics was constant and Oro, the computer she built at age ten, was her pride and joy.

She began to develop her own character and style, sporting a pair of baggy dark blue cargoes and a black sleeveless shirt, goggles always seen on her head or covering her eyes as she worked. A silver armband circled her upper right arm in an intricate celtic design and a dragon pendent hung from her neck, both special gifts from Mara and the Ravens for saving the Ravens in an incident that almost ended them.

Along with a change in taste of clothes, came a change a look as well. Jo's hair was now a mess of thick chin length black hair. She had grown a lot, now standing about four and a half feet tall and still growing.

Jo's personality took off on its own, constantly referring to herself in third person, Mara and the other Ravens had tried to fix it, but it had already fixed itself upon Jo, so they gave up. Jo had become the Ravens private hacker, her love and skill in breaking codes escalated as the years as well as her fighting skills until she was widely known as The Silver Wolf among hackers and gangsters alike.

Mara had also pulled Jo into dash racing; the perfected hover cars now had a place in the underground for illegal race gambling. Soon mechanic joined master hacker and skilled fighter as Jo's list of abilities. In these few years, she managed to open her junkyard into a mech shop, at first only for Mara and her team, but later on for all dash racers.

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Today was yet another day of dash racing prep time for Jo, she was fifteen now, and she was sitting alone with Mara talking about what Jo would do with her life.

"So Jo, what do ya think now? I've taught ya everything ya need to know, everything I can teach ya. Think ya can hike it out on ya own now?"

"Jo doesn't know Mara…"

"Ya still don't know?! Do I still need to help ya? I can't help ya forever Jo, sooner or later I won't even be here any-"

"Jo doesn't want to hear about it, Jo doesn't want to hear that you're going to die some day and leave Jo. You're like a mother to Jo, you can't leave."

"Jo, it'll happen, here, take these. They were given to me by the old leader of the Ravens. Ya remind me so much of my younger days, squirt."

Standing up and facing Jo, Mara reached down to her sides and took out two black bladed daggers. Jo stood there in surprise as Mara shoved the daggers into her hands, and then clasped the daggers' sheaths onto Jo's belt by her sides.

"Mara! Jo can't take these! They're your daggers!"

"Oh just shut ya trap and take them, they're a gift."

"How are you supposed to fight now?"

"I'll fist fight, how else? Gee squirt, ya supposed to be the smart one. Plus I gotta go prep for the race, see ya squirt!"

Jo scowled at Mara when she said that and sighed, placing the daggers into their sheaths. She would pay Mara back later; right now she had to check Mara's dash racer to make sure everything was set and ready.

The government had done a pretty good job with the dash racers, taking regular old cars designs, changing out the wheels and replacing them with the hover system, but Jo had transformed them into something completely different. Mara had a race type design, already built for speed, but Jo had upgraded ion boosters to give it an extra boost and transformed the government's regular hover system into a more powerful upgraded hover system. It used up less energy and recycled it more efficiently then the government's style.

Jo could remember the accident quite clearly, she had screamed Mara's name and found lost tears streaming down her face as team members pulled her back from the wreckage. It had been a horrible nightmare for her, it wasn't an accident, she had seen the back hover engine blow out, and she had seen the black dash racer that slammed Mara's red one off the track.

Jo had seen the smile on that girl's face, the girl that smiled to herself as she watched Jo sob and cry Mara's name. Jo hid in her junkyard for days, mourning Mara's death.

Yet again, she would leave another life behind her and she would proceed with her life like before. The loss of Mara shook Jo a lot, but she slowly got over it, and went through another change. Jo dyed the tips of her hair blue and got a silver wolf tattooed on her belly, naming it Mara Jo in memory of the day her life began, the day she met Mara and gave herself the name Josephine Hazel Kiana Wou Chan.