BWAHAHA! My first Black Cat story! Enjoy! Enjoy my brief stint into the Dark Side.
Disclaimer: Black Cat is not mine. Sadly, I think my Muses aren't mine, either. I bought them on sale for 99 cents.
Train was in a bad mood. Train was in a really bad mood. Train felt as though he were going to die. Not only was it pouring rain, he was walking through a forest, separated from his friends, tired, hungry, low on money (as usual), nowhere near a city (or town, or village, or people living in tree-homes…near civilization in general), and, worst of all, he was out of milk. Train grimaced and held a hand to his growling stomach. Sven and Eve had seemed to brush off the fact that they were out of milk way too easily.
"It's your fault for drinking it so much! You're addicted!"
"You'll just have to make do with water."
It's blasphemy! Train thought has he pushed his way out of a bush. Really. He'd thought that they knew him better than that. How could they expect him to replace the wonderful, delicious, delectable drink called milk with a clear, tasteless, not wonderful drink called water? He hopped over a fallen log that lay on the ground and sighed. No one seemed to understand how important milk was to him. A bug flew past him and he shooed it out of the way.
This was all because of that Sweeper job that Sven had forced them to take. 'It will help us pay that last, huge, long bill.' And he had pointedly looked at Train. The job had seemed so simple. The man was a thief, and he stole from the wealthy. The man, one Lian Gen, had been cornered and was about to be dealt with and arrested. Sadly, he'd heard of the infamous Black Cat Assassin and had recognized the time tattoo in Train's chest and had panicked. And to add to the problem, no one had told the trio that Lian Gen could run. He could run fast. Lian Gen had led them on a wild goose chase through the city, the park, around a lake, through a bakery (...?), and finally into the woods. Oh, and apparently Lian Gen was a master at camouflage as well. He had vanished into thin air and in order to have a better chance at capturing this man, Sven had decided to split the group up to even their odds. …not their best idea.
And so here he was; drenched, tired, hungry, lost in the forest, at least three days away from the nearest town, and out of milk.
(Being out of milk was still the worst of it.)
A dark shape suddenly dashed of out a particularly small bush and farther into the forest. Sighing again, Train gave chase. He'd been following this 'shape' for over an hour. The shape led him past trees, a bunny, a bird, more trees, a log, bushes, and more trees. Forests really have many different sights to see.
He finally burst into a clearing just in time to regain his balance before tumbling painfully down a cliff and to his death. Just kidding. Almost, but not quite.
"Close one," He muttered. He was beginning to turn around when he felt a foot on his back and he was sent flying forward. Train was able to turn in mid air just in time to see Lian Gen's smirking face over the cliff edge.
Now normally when people are falling off of cliffs, one of three things happen to them. One is they usually see their life flash before their eyes. But because Train had already seen his life flash before his eyes and decided that his life was anti-climactic and depressing, he never wanted to see it flash before his eyes again. So that ruled out the first option. Number two is that the person falling discovers something very important, and then have an epiphany, realize that 'Oh, my! I really did love so-and-so!', and then contemplate said discovery until the end comes. But Train had already been through all of that: Being your own master was important, he had girly hips (the epiphany), and, contrasting the third point because Train was not one for romance, as he had told Eve several times, he had Saya had not been romantic…at all, and they never would have been.
Number three is to scream one's head off like no tomorrow… because when one falls off a cliff there usually is no tomorrow. But, again, Train was not that type either. Instead, he wondered where in the world his training had gone to put him in a situation like this. Normally he would have been more alert to Lian's presence and anticipated the attack. Then Train blamed his situation on being tired and hungry; blaming this predicament on lack of milk was something he couldn't do. It would be like murdering a child. He wouldn't do it.
Then he sighed again and decided to get out of his current problem.
Lian Gen smirked as he continued through the forest. The famous Black Cat was not as terrifying as he had thought. He gave a laugh. Some Black Cat!
He was turning around a tree when he felt it: a sharp pain in his thigh. With a cry he fell to the ground, clutching the obvious bullet wound. Lian looked around, eyes trying to tell him where the attacker was.
"You know, I was being nice just now, seeing as you tried to kill me."
Train jumped down from the tree trunk he had been sitting on. He smirked at Lian Gen. "I wonder what will make up for it?"
Lian Gen never knew what hit him.
"You. Are. Heavy," Train yelled out before flinging the limp body of his target to the ground. He bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. "Lay off the meat buns." He wiped sweat off his forehead. He was tired…and hungry. But mostly he wanted milk. Train turned and glared at Gen's unconscious, roped, and bruised body. "I blame this on you."
Yawning, he made to pick up the body, but then he changed his mind. He needed a nap. A nap sounded like a good thing. He plopped down and curled up against the tree trunk. "Yes…a nap will be good." And he closed his eyes.
It was a smell that woke Train from his dream about milk. Groaning, he opened his eyes; Lian Gen was still unconscious. Train sat up straight and looked in front of him just in time to see Creed Diskenth step out of the tree in front of him.
…What?
Creed gave him 'the' smile. "Ah. Train. What a pleasure seeing you here."
Train frowned at him. "What are you doing here, Creed?"
Creed put his hands up in a harmless gesture. "Is it odd for someone like me to be taking a stroll through a forest?"
"Yes. Very."
"Then I will have to be honest." Creed turned to face him and Train sprang up, hand reaching for Hades, as Creed said the all too familiar words. "Join me, Train! Together, you and I will rule!"
Train was getting tired of saying no. "You already know my answer, Creed." Train was expecting Creed to yell at him, draw his Imagine blade and do some damage. However, Creed simply laughed.
"Oh, but you might just change your mind…" And he put his hand into his coat pocket. "See, I can give you what you want most right now, but in exchange, you must give me what I want most: you."
Train narrowed his eyes. "Listen, Creed. I-" But he stopped suddenly, and his eyes widened. "Oh my…" Now he knew the location of the smell that had woken him up.
Creed was holding a milk bottle.
Seeing the look in his (hopefully) soon-to-be partner, Creed began moving the bottle side to side. Train began to walk toward him. "That's it, Train," he whispered. "Come and get it."
Train had almost completely forgotten who was holding the bottle; the gentle sloshing sound of the milk was hypnotizing him. Milk, his mind begged. Get the milk…
Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, his hand grasped the milk bottle. He opened it and happily began to drink.
Creed smiled and pet his cat on the head. Finally. He paused, frowning, and listened to Train drink. That had been a little too easy. Then he shrugged. Oh well; Train was now his and would rule by his side as his partner. Maybe he should have thought of this whole 'milk' thing a long time ago. "Well, Train. We should be going. I ho-" Creed was suddenly cut off by a large spray of milk in the face.
Train coughed. "What the-" He looked down at the milk bottle and glared; the bottle just gazed innocently back at him.
The milk was fat free.
Train threw the milk bottle at Creed's face. "Next time you try to cheat me into joining you by using milk, do not use this! This stuff sucks!" And with that, he strode over to Lian Gen, grabbed the rope, and began dragging the man away.
Creed stared at his retreating figure, then he looked at the oh-so-innocent bottle in his hands. He sighed and began to look for Echidna.
Maybe he should have gotten whole milk after all.