WOTNOPOLIS: 3

Chapter 3

Silence. It seemed to be the only thing holding the room together at the moment.
As the three occupants sat and lied down on their respectable beds, they didn't look at each other. They didn't make much of a sound, excluding the random mumbles and bursts of talking from the sleeping Quater, who was dozing off his pain.
Bano twirled his kama in his hands. Sitting against the wall behind his bed, the day's earlier events were still fresh on his mind. The five black holes of bleeding pain in his back may have helped with bringing up these thoughts. He winced as he moved a little, changing his position. His kama spun gently and they whisked the air. As he stared at the handle, his fingers loosely wrapped around it, he still continued to think of that Punkfilter — how he had so easily figured him out, almost inside and out. His powers were described in a few mere minutes. Bano hated him for it. In fact, he evendespised him.
He let his kama drop in his lap.
Yoyo, who sat perpendicular to him, held her katana in her hands and carefully cleaned them, running a rag Temari had let her borrow swiftly over the blade. She heard the clanking of wood coming from Bano's direction. She turned her head to him with a scowl, as if breaking the silence was a sin.
"You know, that clanking is pretty annoying," she told him, turning back to her near-shining blade.
Bano turned his head with an annoyed glare. "It only happened once, woman!"
She turned her head to him quickly again, a finger against her smirk. "Shh," she whispered. "The idiot's still sleeping."
He hrmphed, laying his arms across his chest dejectedly. Stupid woman.
The silence returned like a thick blanket over the room, making the occupants uncomfortably quiet. They wanted to speak out, but the silence refused to let them. Just like the awake child tucked tightly into bed, just wanting to run back out and stay awake like his elder siblings. Alas, the blanket, just like the silence, tightly bound them to their bed. Uncomfortable.
Bano still thought of the man who had beaten all of them, nearly killing Q and almost critically wounding him. The stab wound near his shoulder burned, and he winced. That basta—
"Alright, I'm going to go sleep. Don't you dare make a sound, pig-head," Yoyo announced. She slid her katana into its holster, the blade quietly sliding against the metal. She then shook the covered sword at him. "Or off with your pig head. Got it, pig-head?"
Bano groaned. "If you stop saying the words 'pig' and 'head', of course, I'll do anything."
"No deal, pig-head." She smirked at him and slid under the covers, taking her glasses off and turning her back to him. "Night, pig-head."
Bano shook his head. "Wait."
“What pig-head?” she asked, her eyes closed and still facing the wall. The window above her bed let the moonlight pass in.
“My butt looks big in purple?”
Yoyo's eyes snapped open in disgust.
"Excuse me?"
Although he knew well that she couldn't see him, Bano held his hands up in defense. "Hey, that wasn't me."
Yoyo rolled over with eyes open just in time for the next line.
"No, don't look around that pillar!"
Her's and Bano's eyes didn't blink once as they stared at the sleeping man. They looked at each other, and then back at Q.
"Mm, you taste like chocola—"
"I'm going to sleep now," Yoyo seethed, turning away from the strange and downright creepy sleep talk and laying down once again.
"Hold on a sec," Bano said quickly.
"No, not listening."
"It's just a question, woman."
She groaned. "Ask me later.”
"No, answer me now."
"You never asked a question."
"Don’t go through that door!"
"Well, you didn't give me the chance to!"
"Fine." She rolled over to her back and sat back up. She instantly glared at the nuisance. "What is it, pig-head?"
“Who was that guy?” he finally asked. He had wanted to know the answer all day, but the chance had never seemed right. Not that it seemed ideal right now, but he had to ask at some point.
She sighed. “That was Punkfilter, the minion of TFK. Are men really that forgetful?” asked Yoyo.
“No, not that. You two have met before, somewhere. You said six years ago. What did all that mean?” Bano asked.
“The man in the yellow jacket! He was an evil peasant,” Q shouted again, then quieted down softly.
“He knows lots of people,” Yoyo answered, ignoring the point he was trying to get to.
“Well, the thing is…” Bano started, but then took a deep breath. His eyes stared at his spinning kama and he shot the blades out of them. “He analyzed my powers in a minute. It took me years to understand them, and out of nowhere he did it like it was nothing. It actually pisses me off.”
“So?” Yoyo asked. “What does it matter?”
“Here, Cherry Coke. Good boy! Fetch!” Q rolled over in his sleep.
“It matters to me. Not to him,” Bano said, pointing at Q, “But it’s important to me. All those years trying to develop my powers and he analyzed them so fast. If you know about him, which you do, I want to know everything. Enough secrets and holding back. Know what I mean?”
“No, I don't,” Yoyo replied, placing her forearm over her eyes tiredly.
Bano sighed irritably. As he looked away from the annoying woman swiftly, he caught a glimpse of a moving shadow in the window. His brown eyes narrowed as he looked back at it. The dark mass seemed to stare back, tauntingly. Come and get me.
He jumped off his bed and onto the ground next to it. “Get up,” he whispered to Yoyo, not yet taken his eyes off of the paned window above the woman’s bed.
“Why?” she asked, taking her arm off of her face. Her eyes held annoyance at his threatening stance. “I’m not going to fight you right now.”
Bano shook his head in frustration. “Amaterasu,” he muttered under his breath. The word barely escaped his mouth when a loud explosion rocked the room.
“Flying pineapples of terror!” Q squeaked as he jumped out of his bed, still half-asleep. “We need a better alarm clock...”
Suddenly, without time to interpret what the sleepy man had just said, Temari broke through the door to the room in tears. Panic was etched on her face, her voice scratched with dread as she screamed, “The bar's on fire!”
Q grabbed Bano's arm. “What's going on?” he asked, rubbing the rest of the sleep out of his eyes drowsily, yet now seemingly alert.
“Amaterasu is attacking,” Bano told his friend hurriedly. His left eye closed slightly as he winced. He had jumped to his feet a little too quickly, and the shock was setting in. The wounds from Punkfilter were still weighing heavily on him.
“How do you know this?” Yoyo asked as she whipped her cleaned swords out.
Bano didn’t answer.
The group ran back into the main room. Temari, still in a state of sheer panic, started to throw water at the fire with frightening force.
“You sure it was him?” Q asked with a frown as he spotted another bucket to fill water with. Bano nodded. Q sighed.
“I can't fight him. I'm still too weak, and he's got a special power against me,” he said bitterly. He looked at his friend with determination drawn into his dark eyes. “But you can win.”
That was all the motivation Bano needed. He jumped over the fire at the door and slid out onto the street, trying very hard to ignore the shocks of pain bolting through his back. He tried to keep his focus. He could feel the sergeant’s presence across the street.

Amaterasu did what looked like an attempt to smile across his serious face. “I knew it,” the sergeant said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Working overtime?” Bano muttered sourly. “And you call yourself a cop. You're a villain.”
“On the contrary. I can never cease working when criminals like you are walking around freely. I am not a villain. I am a protector,” Amaterasu explained.
“Well, I was asleep in bed, not near walking. Now, because of you, I'm on the street. And now about to wallop you. So, you failed greatly to keep this street safe,” Bano seethed.
“You'll defeat me? Laughable,” Amaterasu countered. He wasn’t laughing.
“You burned down an innocent person's bar in the dead of night! She never hurt anyone! That's the tactics of an arsonist and a snake! I’ll kill you!” With his angered words said, Bano shot across the street. Spinning in the air, the pain sparking again as he twisted his back, he used the momentum of his body to slam his kama towards Amaterasu.
Amaterasu deflected the attack with the body of his bazooka, not waiting another second to kick into the air.
Bano's body flipped away as he was hit harshly in the shoulder. He grunted as he forced his body to let himself land safely on the sidewalk in front of the burning bar. The heat warmed his wounded back. The sizzling of the water ferociously hitting the fire rang through his ears. It nearly blocked out whatever criminally cruel words the sergeant was saying.
“The tactics I use to catch criminals are my own to pick. Besides, Temari was harboring criminals for a long time. There is a crime against that, you know.” Amaterasu’s smirk fueled Bano’s anger only that much more.
The sergeant turned his bazooka and aimed it squarely at Bano. The corners of his lips twitched upward more into a devious smile. “Oh, well look at this. You’re in a bit of a spot now, aren't you?” He cocked his bazooka. “See, if I shoot and you dodge, I hit your precious bar,” he pointed his weapon above Bano’s head and at the enflamed hideout.”And whoever is still inside it.”
Bano growled. Q, Temari, and Yoyo were still in there.
“If I don't, you get blown to pieces. Take your pick.”
However, there was no time to ‘pick’.
Without waiting for his answer, Amaterasu blasted a round at Bano. Bano was still stuck in his decision. He saw the blast coming straight toward him. His conscious was going blank. His sub-conscious, however, stayed alert for his life.
His right hand lifted on its own will, and chakra surged through the weapon held in a raised pale fist. The ammo was shot away into the night sky.
Neither the bar nor Bano was harmed. No pick to take from the sergeant.
Amaterasu glared, and his smile slunk. He shot two more rounds at Bano, determined to kill the criminal.
His plans were so easily foiled.
Rushing forward and swinging his kama, Bano was able to counter the shots once, twice more and direct them back to Amaterasu. The sergeant jumped high to avoid his own ammo and then immediately
crouched low to avoid the two swings by Bano.
He's powerful. Amaterasu swapped his bazooka with his semi automatic and pulled the trigger, aiming where Bano was standing and sending the bullets rapidly towards him. Bano darted down the street just ahead of the shot of the bullets and dived behind a building. The building’s bricks cracked as the bullets hit them mere moments after the opponent dodged them.
Amaterasu looked in each direction and glared. He knew his opponent was hiding, waiting to attack at the right moment. An actor’s don’t-care smile appeared on his face as his mind grasped an idea. “You forget,” Amaterasu shouted. “I can blast the bar again if I want to.”
The sergeant crouched and shot his weapon at Bano, who instantly swung at him from behind with his kama ready. As the two swiftly moved past each other, the sergeant could see the angry flare in the opponent’s eyes. His smile only grew larger.
Bano jumped over the crouching Amaterasu quickly and landed in front of the taller man’s face. Before the cop had time to turn around completely, Bano wasted no time in planting a rough kick in the side of his face. Despite the wounds in his back, the force was still incredibly strong, forcing Amaterasu to fly back hard into a street pole. His back slammed into the metal, surprisingly not breaking. However, he slouched to the ground and tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him.
Bano smiled as he watched his attack hit perfectly. Amaterasu pushed himself to his feet and glared at the man before him. “You are powerful for a lowlife,” Amaterasu admitted. “But I'm going to end this right here.” He slid his hand into his pocket and pulled at a small, dark round object. “This high powered explosive grenade is lined and fused with my own chakra. Not only will this not be one you can simply dodge or cut through like the others, but it’s also got quite the powerful aftereffect,” Amaterasu summarized for Bano.
Without giving Bano time to react to the deadly summary, Amaterasu flung the grenade in Bano's direction, his dark eyes ablaze. Hit him. Hit him.
Bano, however, managed to just barely dodge the airborne missile. The grenade skittered away as it exploded and eradicated the spot he had just been standing at. Bano turned his head back at his former spot with a look of half relief and the rest pain. He could feel warm lines of blood trailing down his spine slowly.
A streetlight nearby was snapped from its foundation and crashed across the intersection, the cracked pavement under it keeping it from sinking underground. Every window nearby fragmented into pieces, and even the brick walls close to the blast fractured from the strong force.
Smoke smoldered over the area. A shiver of chakra disrupted the air and hit Bano’s skin, causing him to turn to it. He looked over and could barely believe his eyes.
Oh. Lord.
A wall of flame came blasting towards him, the burning colors brightening his brown eyes. He sprung into the air and landed on the top of a nearby light pole, just missing the fiery doom. Despite missing the flames, he cringed. Another patch of his freshly scabbed over wounds opened slightly again. The warm liquid slid down from it.
Before he could even gasp for a single breath, another object went whirling by his face. Bano swung off the light pole and dashed across the street as the second detonation blew across the night sky.
Buildings shuddered. Screams of innocent people within the radius of the discharged rang through the air. For whatever reason there could be, Bano could only think of one thing: If Q were fighting, his head would have split open already.

Bano himself had barely escaped when he heard something clank to the ground next to him.
“How many of these things do you have?” Bano yelled angrily at the man who was tossing the grenades as if they were rice at a wedding, or some other odd and happy simile like that. Bano slid away from the small bomb as fast he could and then ducked low. The wall of flame from the earlier grenade just missed his head as it flew by, nearly skimming his hair. Some nearby trash cans ignited by the flames, but Bano realized he couldn't wait long, for the next grenade was surely about to explode.
Suddenly, three cracks of bullets shattered the night air. Bano fell onto his knees just as the third grenade burst into pieces. The force of the blast shoved Bano in the back and forced him to fall forward. His face smashed against the concrete, the blood beginning to flow softly out of his nose, the color distinctly matching his hair. The ground was cool against his cheek. He breathed through his mouth, picking up small grains of dirt. He only sputtered slightly. I need to get up. I need to get up and finish this guy.
He pushed his face up from the ground and wiped his bloody nose with his sleeve. The arm keeping him up nearly gave out from under him.
Come on, get up…
He gritted his teeth and pushed his other arm under him. His fingers scratched into the cement while his muscles burned.
Get up…
He pushed the top part of his body up, his arms trembling. He slid his legs under him and sat on them.
Get up get up get up.
He let his head fall back, and he took a huge gasp of air. From afar, Amaterasu was watching him, waiting for him to fall down again, smiling.
GET UP, NOW.
He threw his head back forward and let his red hair slap his eyes. With all the energy left in him, he narrowed his eyes and pushed his hands against the ground again. He ignored the screams from his arms, and his back tearing. He had to get up and beat this guy. He had to.
Finally, he got himself in a crouching position, and pushed on the ground below him. The quarter of a second he was airborne, he could feel his muscles relax. However, his feet hit the ground again, and he was back inside insanity. He looked up.
Amaterasu was frowning.
Suddenly, there was a crackling, matching the sounds of flames burning through whatever they could. With these two facts put together, Bano quickly noticed exactly what was happening, and jumped out of the way. Unfortunately, though the flames themselves were avoided, the intense heat followed him, capturing his already burning back. The heat began the flare into another fire, squarely on his already wounded back. Bano fell to the ground, yelling curses in pain. He began to roll, trying to put the flames out and end this anguish. The flames spread to his arms, and he smacked them against the ground. The sergeant was watching with a disappointed face.
“Drats. I only hit you with two of those bullets,” he remarked as he crossed the street. “Oh well, no matter. The blast of the grenades did their job. The special chakra in the grenades also hunts down nearby sources of chakra, which is why they continued to come after you.”
Amaterasu was now towering over Bano's body. Smoke arose from his arms and from beneath him as the flames were finally desperately put out. He felt himself coughing blood weakly, strings of it trailing out of the corner of his gasping mouth. The wounds from his previous fight were still heavy on his body, now even heavier with severe burns overlapping them. Only in WOTNopolis could he be expected to take on two challengers that were so powerful in the same day. The bullets were also no small pain themselves. He clenched his teeth tight and determined himself. Even if it cost him his life, he was not going to lose here.
Amaterasu effortlessly pointed the rifle at Bano's head, showing that he was not nearly as weak. Bano quickly swiped his hand to the right and pushed the rifle away from his head. Shots rang out across the night. Amaterasu must have shot at least 15 rounds of bullets, determined to blow his opponent’s head off.
If he had realized he was off target, maybe he wouldn’t have been so defenseless to his rival.
Bano pulled his kama out and didn’t bother pushing any of his chakra through it. There was barely even a few drops left in his body anyway. Instead, he just pushed the blades through the sergeant’s chest.
The shooting violently stopped, and the air went silent.
Amaterasu stepped more than a few steps back, blood spreading profusely from where he was attacked. “Good attack,” he whispered weakly through his clenched teeth. Slowly, he turned, the kama falling out of his chest smeared with blood. Just as slowly as he turned, he slowly limped away from the injured man.
Bano exhaustively fell back onto the ground, too weak to wince at the pain flowing from his back. He did it. He did it.
Suddenly and uncontrollably, Bano shouted to the sky, a burst of anger and triumph exploding from his voice. “You better not come back! Ever! I will kill you! I promise you this day I will wring you! Do you hear me!? I’ll kill you!!”
Bano laughed to himself and let his voice relax itself. He had been very fortunate. His burned arm had been fast enough, and surprising enough to catch Amaterasu off guard. He pushed the rifle away so that the bullets just spattered against the ground. He moved his eyes to his right. Just about 15 bullet shells.
The blood pouring out of him was a bit alarming, but for one reason or another, Bano was at peace. The cold night air swept over him. There was no noise. He couldn’t feel his pain anymore. Maybe, he was just ready to go. Maybe it was his time, right now. Maybe this was what he was expecting out of this battle.
His eyes were becoming heavy and the world around him was darkening quickly. Before his eyes shut him off from the world completely, a faded person came into view.
The only part of her he caught was her long black hair that danced from the soft breeze that lastly swept over him...

- - -

Amaterasu cringed against the wall. He had limped away from the ended fight and into an alley. That hoodlum had thrown a blade right into his chest and yanked it out. Blood dripped down his uniform and out of his mouth. He slowly slid his back against the brick wall and sat down. He pressed the back of his skull against its cool bricks.
“You lost?” A voice had interrupted his few seconds of peace. Amaterasu knew who it was without looking up.
“Yeah, they're stronger than I gave them credit for, Renden.” Amaterasu put extra emphasis on the name, sounding as if the man was mad at him.
A figure behind Renden smirked. “Oho, that's a surprise, indeed. It seems I can use this, indeed,” whispered the figure, adding one too many “indeed”s.
Amaterasu glared, still without looking at either of them. “Of course. I knew you'd be scuttling around somewhere if Renden is here, Destinykil.”
Destinykil chuckled.“Yes, yes. You're very tough and scary, crouching in the dark,” Destinykil mocked as he pulled the cloak off the top of his head. “I saw you go by, and thought to myself, 'How often do we see a cop in the East?' So thought I'd follow. The excellent me always can see when things are up, indeed.”
“You failed to capture them, but fear not Sergeant. We're gonna have fun with them,” Renden crackled behind his black cloak. The street lights cast ominous shadows upon the ground. The light flickered across Renden's face, making it seem as if he were wearing an evil mask.
Amaterasu stood up, grunting at the pain in his chest. “Not likely. You two are criminals. I'll be ending your lives here,” he told the two with all the conviction he could muster. Destinykil sighed.
“You know, you never say, 'give up', or, 'turn yourselves in', or, 'I'm hauling you to jail'. It's always ‘straight to death with you’,” Destinykil muttered loudly. He turned on his heel nonchalantly and walked away, picking up his hand and waving to the sergeant. behind him. Renden wasted no time to follow.
“We'll see you around, Sargey,” Renden mocked exaggeratedly and followed his partner.
Amaterasu groaned in pain and slunk back against the wall. He had the wounds of two fights bearing on him. And all the criminals he had gone after had gotten away, alive. “Maybe I should quit working overtime,” he mused to himself quietly.

- - -

The blue of the dawn seeped into his opening eyes. He squinted and shut them again, narrowing his eyebrows. He was lying on the ground, somewhere he had no recollection of. Small scenes of the fight from who knows how long ago burned brightly in his closed eyes. He sighed deeply. Ah, his body felt great at least. A little exercise, a nice nap, these things...
Wait, what?
Bano’s eyes snapped open back to the dawn and he lifted the top part of his body up quickly. He moved his head as his eyes scattered over his surroundings. Why on Earth did he feel great? He had burns on his arms and some that covered up the five wounds from the fight before that! What in the world was going on? Why in the world was he still there?
Why on Earth did he feel so great?
Beside him on the sidewalk was a girl who had jumped slightly from him suddenly sitting up so abruptly. Bano, as his eyes scanned the area, found his eyes catching her. He stared at her, and she stared back.
She blinked quietly, her grey-blue eyes disappearing for a moment.
“What's going on?” Bano asked her, confusion filling his voice.
“Um, I was taking care of the wounds you got in your fight,” she answered, equally confused. He noticed subtly that she had an accent, but a sweet voice.
Now Bano blinked, not only at her, but at himself for noticing such things. “O-Oh,” he stuttered. He felt a bit embarrassed and relaxed his tense and confused shoulders. “Er, thanks.”
She smiled and took his arm in one hand. The sleeve was already rolled up, and the burns were somewhat gone already. It must have been what she was working on before he woke up. She gently continued to pour chakra into the burn. “You like ticking off the police?” she asked, concentrating more on healing the man’s arm than a conversation with him.
Bano looked away with his eyes. “Heh, I've been doing that since day one,” he told her coolly. She just shrugged. The embarrassment crept back into his face and he flushed. He was being so uncool.
Suddenly, she sighed irritably. “You're very hurt; quit moving around so much,” she chastised and pushed him back onto the ground. She looked back at his arm and started back to work without another word. Bano laid there quietly.
The mysterious girl concentrated on her chakra. “You know, that was stupid, fighting him like that,” she commented.
“He attacked my friend's bar. I wasn't letting him get away,” Bano answered. She pushed her black hair out of her eyes and shrugged. Bano suddenly asked, “Wait, how do you know I fought Amaterasu?”
She looked at him briefly, then back at his arm. “I just so happened to be walking around,” she answered.
He nodded, not really caring much th she could have been lying. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Clair,” she answered, picking up her head and smiling at him. “And you?”
“Bano,” he replied, giving her a weak smile in return.

Ooh. Ren&Des make their appearance.

And ooh lala, Bano and Clair. ;OO

From across the street of where Bano and the girl were, Temari was wailing. “My bar,” she cried as she hugged a piece of broken wood close to her. Q had watched her quietly lament the bar's state for the past ten minutes.
The fire had been taken care of, but at a high price. The walls and roof of the bar were gone. Most of the open room was covered in ash and soot and the smell of smoke was wafting heavily upon them. The entire front entrance of the bar had suffered heavy damage.
Q walked over and patted her on the shoulder, watching her sob over the piece of wood she clung to her chest.
“Don't worry, Temari,” he said sullenly. “We're gonna fix all of this. We'll repair it all and build an even bigger and fancier bar. You're not losing this place, got it?”
She looked at him, her big teary eyes holding hope in what he said. She nodded happily.
Yoyo, who had been sitting off to the side inside the part of the bar that had been left mostly untouched, noticed her good pig-headed friend wander back. “He's back,” Yoyo announced as she sat in the corner of the bar cleaning her swords. She looked at the black haired girl that walked next to him and frowned with narrowed eyes. “Oh, and he brought a friend. Ugh, men. Repugnant.”
Q ignored Yoyo's strange ramblings to herself and smiled at the two of them. His smile faded quickly, though, as he saw that the girl with Bano was being used as a crutch. Bano came through the door and he grimaced at the sight.
The bar had been hit pretty hard. If the bazooka hadn't hit it, the fire would of gone out in this brick building pretty fast but the explosion changed everything. Blasted man.
“Don't worry. We're gonna make it better than new. As our new hideout, we're gonna make this place a gangster pad,” Q said and renewed his smile. He could feel everyone here was pretty down, and this was confirmed by the dagger stares everyone gave him. “Can I have some Cherry Cokes, Temari?” he asked nervously, changing the topic.
Clair let Bano slide into a seat that was still intact. He groaned softly from the minor pains and aches. After checking if he was okay, she turned to Q and asked, “You guys are a gang? What's your symbol? What's your animal?”
Before an answer could be spoken, Temari came back with a deep frown. “The fridge burned down, somehow,” she sighed.
“We don't have those, yet…” Bano felt sweat running down his forehead at how stupid that sounded.
“Noooooooooo!” Q wailed. He dramatically clutched at his heart. “Darn them! Darn them all! They got a friend more precious to me than Bano! They got the Cherry coke!” He laid on the ground, curling into a ball. “I hate them all!”
Yoyo rolled her eyes and Bano looked over at Q with a worried glance. “More precious to you?” he asked sadly.
“Is he okay?” Clair looked alarmed. “Was he hurt, too?”
Yoyo sighed. “Only when he was dropped on the head as a baby…” she muttered. Clair looked disturbed, but Temari only laughed.
“He is hurt, but he's fine,” she answered with the truth. Clair sighed in relief.
“There's no hope. We should of never come here. They killed my favorite,” Q eerily muttered, shivering.
“Favorite?” Bano asked, a frown curving into his face.
Yoyo stood up and walked over to Clair. “She has a point, whoever she is. As a gang, we need a symbol and an animal.”
“Cherry coke!” Q yelled as he pushed his fist into the air, sitting up on the floor. “We need to make our symbol our lost love and hope! The only one who we could trust!”
“Trust?” Bano’s eyes now frowned as well.
Yoyo beat Q over the head with her club, and Clair jumped. “Any ideas thataren't purely idiotic?” Yoyo asked.
Temari spoke up. “You should be the man eating squids that kill thousands a year.”
Everyone in the bar cringed. Too creepy.
“I know,” Clair spoke.
“Who are you?” Yoyo questioned, resting her club on her shoulder.
“Clair,” she answered with a small smile. “Anyway, you should call your gang ‘The Fuzzy Bunny Gang!’” she said to them cheerily.
“No,” Bano said instantly, for the first time looking at the girl in annoyance.
“No,” Yoyo agreed with Bano.
“No,” Temari muttered.
“I like it!” Q jumped up and was instantly bonked by Yoyo, knocking him back into his sitting position on the floor with a pout. “Fine. We can be the Eagle Gang. Nothing says freedom, bravery, honor, nobility—”
“He's actually got a good one,” Yoyo commented with a smile, nodding.
“I bet he likes the eagle more than me, too,” Bano grumbled.
“Oh! Majestic,” Temari said and Clair nodded in agreement.
“—Heart touching, trustworthy, sweet flavored, carbonated, and fizzy like cherry—” Yoyo and Bano both stomped Q into the ground. Clair tried to pull Bano back to his seat.
“So, Eagle Gang it is. It works,” Bano agreed, letting Clair sit him down again. He put his hand up as the sun came through the wall and got into his eyes.
“Symbol?” Yoyo asked, crossing her arms.
“GP,” Bano instantly said. Q nodded in agreement.
“Of course, the symbol could be nothing but that,” Q added.
“What the heck?” Clair asked, raising her eyebrows in confusion.
“Don't ask,” Yoyo muttered. “Men hardly make sense. Just better if you don't ask.”
“Who's the leader?” Clair asked curiously. Yoyo and Bano pointed sorrowfully at Q. Q began to open his mouth.
“If the next two words out of your mouth are ‘Cherry’ or ‘Coke’, then pain is on the way,” Bano warned. Q shut his mouth. Bano nodded to himself. “So what now?”
“You guys need to go shopping for some supplies to rebuild the bar with,” Q told them from his spot on the floor. He looked up at Clair. “You can help, too, if you'd like. I'll stay back at the bar and make sure nothing happens here while you guys are away.”
Bano couldn't help but act a bit surprised. The plan was great. “Wow, great thinking, Q.”
“Yeah, you really surprised us all,” Yoyo added.
“And here I was thinking you were some kind of idiot,” Temari joined with a smile.
“First impressions might not be always true,” Clair finished.
“Gee thanks guys. And don't forget to get some Cherry Coke while you're gone,” Q smiled.
Clair, Bano, and Yoyo left the bar, Clair almost instantly taking back her ‘first impressions’ comment. Bano was walking much better now, not needing his human crutch any longer. Whatever that girl had done, it worked wonders.

Q and Temari waved the three off until they couldn’t see them any longer. Q then turned to the manager. “Temari, do you have any paint?” Q asked as he pushed himself off of the floor.
“Yes, around back,” she smiled, hoping to herself that the fire hadn’t reached back there as well.
“Great,” he smiled.

- - -

“I hope you know what to do,” the voice finished reading.
“Yes, yes, it'll be a piece of cake,” the small man said. Two blades were tied to his back and he wore a bandanna over his head. “We, the Rat Gang, will not be so easily defeated by these wusses.”
“So, you're gonna listen to this note?” asked the deep voice of a tall silver haired man.
“Normally I wouldn't,” the short man droned, “But seeing who it’s by and what it is, I think we can make an exception. I am trusting you to lead the gang to battle.”
The big man smiled and grunted his approval.

- - -

Bano clumsily carried the big pieces of wood and dragged behind him a refrigerator that wasn't exactly easy to carry.
“This isn't exactly easy to carry,” Bano muttered his thoughts.
“Man up,” Yoyo growled, carrying only a bag filled with nails and other small building supplies.
“Oh, I really don't want to hear that from you,” Bano grumbled.
“Man up, man up, man up,” Yoyo chanted with a smile. Clair smiled at Yoyo’s obnoxious attitude and took a few pieces of wood off the top of the refrigerator for Bano.
“Thanks,” Bano smiled.
“You're wounded; you need to be helped,” she said back.
“No, I'm really quite fine now,” Bano answered.
“You still need some rest,” Clair added.
“Whatever,” Bano grunted. He caught up with Yoyo, who had stopped. The street they were on was completely deserted of people and they had ended at a fenced in compound.
“Well, I am very lost,” Yoyo muttered, running a hand through her short hair.
Bano dropped the stuff. “Lost? You're the guide! Come on!”
“Well, you see, I, uh…” Yoyo stammered.
Bano hit his forehead with his palm. “You’re kidding me.”
“Shut up, pig-head!” she snapped. She looked around, and suddenly pointed. “Look there’s a warehouse. We can just go inside and ask for directions.”
No one objected. Yoyo grunted and led the way into the deserted town.
As they advanced upon the warehouse, Bano commented quietly, “In a situation like this, Q would say keep going forward. A step back is a step undone and something else stupid. So let’s go inside that building.” He suddenly regretted quoting his friend in an argument in favor of something.
They crossed the empty and decayed grounds in silence. The warehouse door hung open uninvitingly. Bano slid inside first to check the area. Instead of finding boxes stacked everywhere like he expected, he saw a very sparse room with a set of boxes in the middle. He poked his head back outside and waved the other two in. They entered without question.
A small man was perched against the counter, napping peacefully. The dim light showed he had two swords tied to his back. The three looked at each other, and Clair stepped forward to the counter. “Um, excuse me,” Clair spoke up. The man stirred lightly, and Clair continued. “Hi, we're kind of lost, can you help us?”
The man woke up and looked confusedly around. “Um, oh, lost you say? Sure. Where did you come from?” he asked her dazedly.
“Well, we need to get back to our bar,” Bano answered.
“Ah, of course, your bar…” the man said sleepily. Then his eyes jutted open. “Hey! No one can come into my secret lair! You guys can't do this!” Clair staggered back to Bano and Yoyo.
“Er, bipolar much,” Yoyo muttered, raising an eyebrow.
“Sorry, sorry, we mean no trouble, really,” Clair smiled nervously. “We left our friend at a bar, and he needs us to bring back some goods. We just picked out our gang symbol today,” Clair called out.
“Geez, she made herself at home with us fast,” Yoyo muttered again as she listened. Bano nodded.
“Are you going to keep doing that?” Bano asked.
“Oh! Congratulations on the new gang symbol. I remember when…” The man suddenly stopped and glared at them. “Quit distracting me.”
He pulled out his two blades. Two giant kuri knives. “I am the one and only King Of Blades! I am going to slaughter you here and now. No one stands up after they see the terrible powers I wield.”

- - -

Q smiled. They had finally shown themselves.
He hummed quietly as he stepped off the ladder he had been on for the past hour or so and put the paintbrush down. “Can I help you?” Q asked friendly, turning around with his smile.
Around thirty men stood in the road staring back at Q. A tall and buff man carrying a lance spoke up in a deep voice. “You are Q, correct?”
“Yes, I am.” Q answered as he wiped his hands on his jeans. He continued to smile and could feel his chakra burning. His battle lust was strong.
“Then we are here to kill you and your gang,” the man said bluntly in his deep voice. He swung his lance over his shoulder.
“I'm afraid they aren't here,” Q grinned. “But this won't take long anyway.”
“Heh, tough guy huh?” the man asked, and the group laughed. “Hate to break it to you, but you are way outnumbered.”
“That's fine,” Q smiled. “I actually had a little something I wanted to try out.”

- - -

Bano turned to the black haired girl. “Can you fight?” he asked sincerely.
“Yes, I’m fairly decent,” she replied. Chakra pulsed into her hands and glowed a bright blue. For a few seconds, it formed, finally turning into a solid blue mass.
A bow.
She then formed and shot an ice arrow and blew a hole into the wall across the room.
King Of Blades looked at her with a startled expression.
“Oh,” Yoyo smiled. “That's great! We can use this.” She nodded at the warehouse man. “Let's beat this sucker.”
“Yeah!” Clair smiled. Bano was still feeling foolish for asking the question, but nodded.
King Of Blades rushed across the room and swung his knives in their direction. The group split up with Yoyo catching the blades against her two katana. Clair dashed across the room and blasted a row of ice arrows at the attacker. The man dodged them almost easily, but was then kicked in the back by Bano. His kama dug into his kuri knives, and he managed to shove one away from his body.
“Oh shoot!” King of Blades yelled in surprise as he flipped away. Yoyo's katana sliced through the air as she flew by King of Blades and landed against a wall.
His chest burst open with blood from the swift attack, and he fell forward and against the ground. From there, three ice arrows raced to the top of his skull and ended him.
“Well, for the King of Blades, he was no match for ours, was he?” Yoyo asked Bano.
“Not at all,” Bano smiled back.
“You guys were great!” Clair cheered.
“You did fine yourself,” Bano complimented. “Let's hurry back to Q and tell him how we beat this guy down.”
“Hm, we never did get those directions though…” Yoyo mused.
“Good point.”

Yay. Its up.

Yaay.
Now I can go back to my own account.

The part with Q, the fridge being burnt down and cherry coke... amazing xD

You're mum wasn't.

It was awesome! :D
But not the bar burning down part. The poor bar.

death-chan wrote:Ooh. Ren&Des make their appearance.

And ooh lala, Bano and Clair. ;OO

ROTFL. I love how Abby said not to post and Deaths post is in the middle xD

Oh shit.
It said that? >__>

My bad.

Yes, it said that xDD;

It's okay :P

Poor Death. xD

So awesome. I figured out Clair was making her entrance as soon as something about an accent was said. *is so proud*

Totally awesome. 8D

Oiy mate! A tiddly doo dah!









Wow....that was not a British accent at all....I am not sure it's even real.

You make us Brits sound so uncool ):

Maybe that was Australia mixed with African mixed with pigeon.

CLAIRVOYANTdisease wrote:You make us Brits sound so uncool ):

Not really. If you guys talked like that you'd be the coolest people on the face of the planet. If anyone did they would be.

^ Um.......... Okay? o_o;
You'll be talking like that for the rest of the fanfic, now, right?

Can't do it I don't have that level of cool.

We do say mate an awful lot here though... o_o

I say eh a lot. Ama says I say it more than Canadians. Its weird, mate!

I say eh a lot too ^_^

I say "What?" and "Huh?" and "I'm wingin' it" a lot. ^__^