by 
Chapters:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter 2
The moon shined into the room through the giant windows. A cold brisk air swirled throughout the sparse space. A giant shadow sat in a large chair while watching the whimpering figure in front of him at his feet. Contempt and disgust were clearly etched on his face, contrasting against each other, but somehow completing his dark façade.
The figure at this dark man’s feet shook. Tears sat expectantly at the edge of his eyes, waiting to fall.
“Master, please, I beg you. Please,” he begged. The man’s knees shook subtly as he struggled to keep his eyes on his Master. “You have to help me.”
“Oh, do I?” asked the large figure, not having any problem keeping his gaze on the fool. He sat in his chair, looking down on the shuddering man. “May I ask, what was the one rule I told you when you joined this organization?”
The figure grimaced. He searched for something to say as he looked away. Anything that could spare him. However, all the mistakes, the arrogance, it all came flying at him now in his search for words. Why had he put so much trust in this man? He had seemed like the way to survival – to infinite protection. Now, suddenly, he was in the worst situation of his life. Not only that, but this man was not an ally. He was a threat.
He needed to leave.
The begging man got on his hands and knees. He spilled out the only words that had the heart to come to his worthless mouth. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You're right. I failed. Please, please let me live. I'll leave this city. I'm done. I failed you. I'm done…” he gently pleaded. He had to escape.
The man slowly rose to his feet and towered over the groveling figure. The man on the floor flinched and bent down lower, his forehead inches away from the floor. His Master stared down at the peasant with black ice eyes. Unblinking. Uncaring.
“The rule when you joined was a simple rule: Never lose. You broke that rule. Two no-names defeated your entire gang,” he told the floor-man coldly.
He sputtered. “I was weak; they weren't!” He quickly regretted facing the dark man above him and quickly faced his eyes down again. “Please, let me leave. I served you faithfully for five years. Please master,” the man pleaded desperately.
His Master didn’t pity the fool whatsoever. Instead, he continued on with his cold voice. “You used my name numerously as your protector, as your master during the time you served me. Oh no, Darkflame.” The man cringed as his name was covered in ice. “I cannot let you escape alive. Had you not told everyone you worked for me, had you not been so cocky, maybe I could have let you go alive without you being a hindrance to my honor. But as it is…” He crossed his arms as a dry smile formed on his dark face. “I cannot,” he finished.
Every light and hope in Darkflame's eyes was quietly diminished. He stared numbly at the floor. The tears waiting at the brim of his eyes began to freely jump off. His head snapped up to face his no-longer Master.
“No, master. Please!” he cried. His ‘Master' payed no heed to the crying.
“However, where you failed me in life, I believe you will be quite useful in death. Besides, I'm curious how the soul of slime like you tastes,” the dark man finished. With no more to add, the man bent over and picked up his hand. Darkflame moved back a little, but was stuck in his place. His fear chained him down. His face was paralyzed, and he was unable to remove the fear from his eyes, the scared frown burning his muscles. As the man gently pushed his finger through Darkflame's forehead, Darkflame let out one, solitary last gasp. He then spasmed to the floor, and left the world in a quiet shudder. No last goodbyes, no last prayer.
Just a cold, quiet shudder.
The large man walked over to an intercom on a giant wooden desk placed in the room. The room was dark with only a few sparse lights at the door to his room, which really was an elevator. He liked the dark. It made him comfortable. At home.
He gently clicked the call button, “Miss Judai, please send Punkfilter to my condo,” he said dryly to the intercom.
“Right away,” the box squawked in reply.
He walked over to the dead body of Darkflame and tapped it on the forehead twice – the same spot where he pushed his index finger through and killed the filth of the man. He cringed and nearly spat; the soul tasted disgusting. With an expression of sour taste, he proceeded over to his usual seat behind his desk. As he looked down at the dead body, it began to flinch. He looked up as the elevator doors opened. Another man, most likely with the name Punkfilter, entered the dark room.
“Hello, boss. You wanted to see me?” he asked calmly. He wore a dark, dark navy blue suit that was more times than not mistaken for black, with the jacket unbuttoned and his shirt tucked in. His black hair and black eyes made him a foreboding sight. Once he saw death written on the ground, he laughed. His laugh was not very wholehearted, and it never was, never would be. It was a deep chuckle, and gave the room an extra chill. “Did you want to me to take out the trash?” he asked and pointed to the dead figure that was gently stirring.
“You know I have taught the trash to take care of itself,” the large figure smiled. Darkflame's arms were pushing himself up and the body slowly sat up. His eyes were dim. The outlines of his tears were burned into his dead face like tattoos. As he struggled to stand, the ‘boss’, as Punkfilter had dubbed him to be, intertwined his fingers and rested his chin on top of his knuckles, his elbows planted onto his desk. “Darkflame's presence in the East had been useful to me. Even though the gangs there have been quietly balancing their power for years, he was useful in determining if a new threat would arise in the East. I believed if someone powerful did show up there, Darkflame would annoy them enough for them to defeat them. But, it’s been years and nothing showed up.
“I don't think the two men that Darkflame was defeated by are an actual threat to us, or even worth our time. But, it's possible that this shift in the balance in power of the East may raise them to prominence, even by accident. So I would like you to test them, to see if they should be killed,” the boss commanded. Punkfilter seemed to frown very slightly.
“Test, master?” he asked disappointed. With his hands in his pockets of his dark pants, he shrugged. “I guess I can fight them at sixty percent, and if they do well, I can go at them stronger.”
“If they are weaker than twenty five percent, just kill them. If they are stronger than that, match their power but do not kill them,” the man finished. Punkfilter sighed again at being bound to twenty-five percent. Darkflame's body finally stood stubbornly to its legs. His soulless eyes gazed at the man who had killed him, and the killer looked at him with a dry smile. The body didn’t flinch this time. The boss looked back at the only other living human in the room. “I'll be going with you to watch, as well. Have a little fun, will you?”
The living man nodded. “Of course, TFK.” He smiled and turned on his heel, exiting the room. Before leaving completely, he snapped his fingers without looking back. The trembling and shaking body of Darkflame stopped staring at the boss and lifted his head to look at the suited man. He slowly limped behind, following the exit. As he looked at his follower, the sight of Darkflame's body in such torturous shape made Punkfilter laugh again as the elevator doors shut.
Across town, it was morning. In a certain building, a quiet groan rang. Sergeant Amaterasu was filling out paperwork. He hated paperwork, especially in the morning. It almost made the bad guys not worth catching. However, a different (and definitely more cheerful) sergeant thought otherwise.
“I heard you got duped by some punks on that Silver mission,” laughed a thin, dark skinned woman. Sergeant Amaterasu put down his paperwork to look at the woman with tired eyes.
“I caught Silver, did I not, Sergeant KarateKeyaQ?” he shot back as he caught the stare of her violet eyes. She only laughed.
“Psh, I see Mr. Man is all business today. I just came up to give you the latest gang updates,” she said to him with a cheerful smile.
Amaterasu groaned. She was such a morning person. He hated morning people. He didn’t understand how it was possible to smile on such dreary mornings. Why couldn't she be normal and be upset about mornings?
“Yes, what are they?” he asked, silently hoping to rid her of his office faster.
“Well, let's see...” She looked over the papers briefly. “In the West two new gangs appeared, and you told me to tell you about any new ones since you were looking for some troublemakers.” She poked him in the arm with her pencil that was taken from the back of her ear. “That totally kicked your butt,” she whispered, poking fun at the man's pride. He frowned.
“Not my fault, I was distracted by that criminal, Yoyo,” he grunted. She only laughed.
“Sure, sure. Anyway, one of the new gangs was defeated by the Scorpion gang. That's their fifth gang in a row they've decimated. And then the other gang defeated the Stingrays, which was a surprise. They call themselves the Tiger Gang. Interestingly I hear that gang only has two people in it,” she remarked.
Amaterasu knew that people in WOTNopolis followed the gangs like sports teams. They gambled on it, watched the fights for entertainment, and even secretly cheered when their favorite gang won a fight or dodged the police. It kept people entertained, but Amaterasu had given up caring years ago. Criminals were criminals. They were not to be celebrated as icons. The two that took out the Stingrays could be his group. But the Stingrays were really powerful, so whoever did it must have been demons.
“Oh, and there's a rumor that the Squid gang fell to some unknown group,” she added as an afterthought.
“In the East?” he asked curiously.
“Yeah, it's kind of odd. But it seems to be true,” she said poking her chin with the eraser end of her pencil. She tucked it back behind her ear and grinned at the man. She then handed the sergeant a muffin. “Have a muffin,” she smiled.
“Yeah, thanks,” Amaterasu muttered, groaning again at the cheeriness as he took the muffin.
“By the way, I checked the clock. You did that Silver mission on your time off and then arrived at work an hour early. You work too much, Mr. Man,” she said to him. He looked at her briefly, and then back down at his paperwork. She sighed with a shrug, then left, leaving ‘Mr. Man’ to his work.
Amaterasu should have retaliated, but his thoughts were on the East. And this darned paperwork to finish. He took a bite out of the muffin and shook his head.
Another car drove by and Q pointed excitedly. “And that's a car!” he shouted.
“Yes, yes, we know,” Yoyo answered, disheartened.
“And that's a crack in the sidewalk,” Q explained, pointing his finger down at his feet.
“What started this?” Yoyo asked Bano, glaring at him accusingly.
“And that's an angry pedestrian who's staring at me,” Q exclaimed, his finger retreating from pointing.
“Well, earlier Temari said I knew a lot about the city and now Q’s determined to show he knows more about it than me,” Bano told Yoyo, ignoring her glare.
“And now the pedestrian is trying to take his daughter away from me. And that's a balloon!” Q jovially called out, pointing his finger at the floating red plastic.
“Wow, he's a buffoon.” She shook her head. Her eyes wandered over the road they were walking on, and she frowned. “By the way, we shouldn't be walking down the street,” Yoyo whispered while checking over her shoulder.
“Why not? It’s a nice enough day out,” Bano answered, looking up at the sky with his hand shielding his eyes. “Your skin could use a little sun.”
“It isn't the weather! You guys are a gang that has made many enemies after defeating Darkflame. They'll come after you,” she whispered hurriedly.
“We've been in fights before, but we come out okay,” Bano said, relaxed.Then again if we went back we could nap.
“A bus! A city bus!”
“No, you've been in fights in your hometown. You may have been the strongest in your hometown, but every gang here was the strongest in their hometown. You guys are just sitting bait,” she explained. He shrugged the warning off.
“By the way, I have a question. You mentioned a West Side, what does that mean?” he asked. It kind of bugged him to know so little about WOTNopolis.
“Ooh, it’s a dog!”
“Ah, well, you know that there are really two parts of WOTNopolis, divided up even more so, right?” she asked.
Bano shook his head no.
“Geez, totally clueless man,” Yoyo groaned, shaking her head in disgust. “WOTNopolis sits where all six counties of Animea meet right?”
“Six counties?” Bano asked. She frowned.
“Men are so slow,” she lamented, hiding her face in her hand. Bano glared at her.
“You're one more man-hating line away from a hit,” Bano snapped.
“Ooooh, a trash can!”
Yoyo put her hand back at her side with a heavy sigh. “Okay, fine. Look, Animea used to be 6 countries. These countries fought each other all the time. But they also traded a lot with their allies, and alliances changed a lot. Eventually they grew similar customs, and from there the leaders worked out a way to make the countries allied together. As it grew more dependent they decided to unify. Animea. Suna, Sandia, Shado, Glaceria, Miasta, and Stormu all gave up their independence for the sake of survival. As you know, Animea is in war with other countries on its borders, especially Mangaka, so it was good they did conglomerate a hundred years ago or we'd of been annihilated,” Yoyo ended.
The look on Bano's face clearly asked “What war?”
“Lordy, there is a level to ignorance. Only a shallow man could care so little—” Bonked.
“I warned you,” Bano said as his fist sat atop Yoyo’s head.
“Oh man, what a day! I found a door!” Q called out, not realizing he was both being stared at by people and ignored by Yoyo and Bano.
Yoyo slapped Bano's fist away. “Anyway, so they picked the spot where all the countries met to make WOTNopolis. This would be the capital. But the problem is that each country had really odd climates that all met at one point. So automatically WOTNopolis became a place for the weird and power hungry. The urbanized city is the Main City of WOTNopolis. This area is two parts. The East and the West. Outside of this is the rural zones which change dramatically in weather patterns,” Yoyo finished.
“Oh look, a vendor! Yes, I would like to look younger. How did you know?”
“So, what's the big deal about the East and the West?” Bano asked.
“The East is the old city. The gangs here hate all forms of change and they control it with an iron fist. Which is why you two are in danger,” Yoyo went on.
“A bird! They have birds in the city? I bet Bano didn’t know that,” Q glared unreasonably.
“Ah, I see. So basically we are like awesome now ‘cause we took out the Squid gang,” Bano smiled. He then began to muse to himself, “Bano the Amazing, maybe? Bano the Fearsome, perhaps?”
“Gah, you don't get it at all,” she gave up.
Suddenly, something made her feet weigh down and stop her. Her back straightened, her eyes widening a couple fractions. The air was suddenly cold, very cold. This presence…It couldn't be.
Her eyes washed over a man that was quietly making his way down the street. He was wearing a familiar dark, dark navy blue (or was it black?) suit, his hands calmly placed in his pockets. People fled out of his way as they saw him. They knew exactly who he was as well.
(END OF PART 1 of Chapter 2. Continue Reading Below.)
Last edited by quater on Tue Nov 09 2010, 00:29; edited 14 times in total
Looking forward to the next chapter.
