Chapter 1: Intro! A Pair of Aces?

Chicago found itself somber and dark come midnight that night, the city lights unable to penetrate its own darkness and the macabre moon laughing ominously overhead. The rundown area of its underworld remained bathed in shadow, and within the darkness two forms ran into an alleyway as they shrieked with laughter.

One of them, a male by the sound and tenor of his voice, laughed uproariously as he heaved a large sack over his shoulder. "Look at how many souls we've caught, my Bonnie!" He opened the sack, and the glow of several blue souls was cast upon his face. Dressed as a 20's mobster, the man would've probably been considered handsome at one point, but the effects of turning into a kishin egg have made his eyes unnaturally large with insanity, and his smile filled with jagged teeth had widened to inhuman lengths. A monstrous hand plucked one of the souls out and held it to his partner, wiggling it temptingly. "Such a delicious treat, is it not?"

A woman in flapper attire appeared before him, showing off her bird-like figure with dark hair curled before her jawline. Like the man, she would have been a beauty if a permanent look of hunger hadn't twisted her face into an ugly leer. She smiled, showing her smaller set of jagged teeth before speaking, "Oh Clyde, we've certainly hit the jackpot tonight!"

"Come, my love," the man named Clyde cooed softly, a grotesque expression of love and hunger twisting his face. "Let us feast on this bounty."

"Oh, Clyde," whispered the woman named Bonnie, an equally disturbing look crossing over her face as she kneeled before him.

And like lovers, they began to share the souls amongst themselves by feeding each other, pausing every once in a while to kiss and paw at each other like hormonal beasts. The sight of their coupling could have induced mental scarring and sickness for any of the weak at heart.

Thankfully, a sound caused Bonnie to jerk away from her lover and nervously look around the alley. "What was that?"

"What was what?" inquired Clyde distractedly before swallowing another soul.

"I'm not sure," the flapper answered, "but it almost sounded like…chains or something."

Suddenly a shadow darted out of the surrounding darkness, and Bonnie yelped as it connected with her cheek before swiping the bag of souls and disappearing back to where it came from.

"What the hell!" Clyde brought his partner into his arms, pulling her hand away and cursing again when he found a bleeding scratch. "Who the fuck did this? Show yourself!"

"Oh ye wicked souls…"

The two evil humans whirled around, trying to pinpoint where the voice came from.

Footsteps echoed in every direction. "Murderers…"

Clyde gritted his teeth and brought out a TMG*. "Damn bastard, come out!"

"Thieves…"

Bonnie gasped and pointed towards the mouth of the alley. "Clyde, there!"

Walking towards them was a young woman, based on the body shape that could be seen through the darkness as well as the sway of her hips. She stopped before she the light of the macabre moon reached her face, showing her warrior's body to them and the bandages that wrapped around her hands, arms, and legs. Two metal dog tags gleamed from a chain around her throat, a boxed zero embedded into one of them, as she talked, "My masters have demanded your deaths."

A growl escaped from the male's own throat. "Like hell, bitch!" He readied his gun and pointed it in the newcomer's direction.

A fanged smirk appeared from the darkness that covered her face, and an unnerving desire seeped into her tone as she declared, "I hunger for your souls."

Bonnie whimpered and clung to Clyde, and the mobster's eyes widened even more with rage and insanity. "I'm gonna pump you so full of lead, your coffin will weigh a ton!"

"Escapists Bonnie and Clyde," the woman uttered softly before crouching in a general martial arts stance, half closed fists raised palms down with one at shoulder level and the other at the waist. Her smirk widened maniacally, revealing four fang-like teeth. "Time for you to die."

Clyde released a roar of fury and brought out a second TMG from his coat. "You die, bitch!" And a torrent of bullets rained down on the young woman.

Flashes from the muzzles blinded the two criminals, but barely deterred them as the mobster laughed with his flapper girlfriend egging him on loudly. After a couple of moments, the guns clicked and the bullets ceased to hail upon the assailant. Clyde breathed heavily and growled while Bonnie gasped from behind him. "Where the fuck did she go?"

The place where the woman once stood, smoking and bullet-ridden now, was vacant without even a hint of blood to show if he had hit the target.

"Clyde," the flapper whimpered, eyes rolling in panic like a cornered animal.

The mobster wannabe pulled the trigger of the guns and swore. "Dammit, outta bullets darlin'. Let's get outta here." Clyde wasn't too worried, as running away was his and his girl's specialty. No one has managed to catch yet, not even those bratty DWMA students.

But before they could even take a step towards an escape, a voice stopped them in their tracks and froze their spines.

"Leaving so soon?"

Bursts of light flooded the small alley, the sound of chains rattling soon after. Bonnie cried out in despair and clung to Clyde as he yelled out in rage, turning round and round to find an exit.

Hundreds of large chains crossed over the openings of the alley—even the night sky was nearly blocked out by those that crossed over their heads. Clyde's pupils had shrunk to the size of pinpricks as panic settled into his mind, darting around in vain for an escape. His monstrous features were wiped from any trace of madness, and fear now lined his face.

"Cowards." Both evil humans gazed fearfully at the one who trapped them, as the young woman gazed back at them from her crouch like a bored predator. A hand was flat on the ground with green sparks arcing from her spread fingers that were quickly dissipating. "A battle with you would be pointless, as you are as weak as you are spineless. That display earlier was all you were capable of, isn't it? A short display of power to cover your gutless hides as you runaway?" She gave a huff of disgust and stood, making the two kishin eggs flinch from the sudden movement. As she tucked her bandaged hands in the pockets of an army green jumpsuit, the arms of which were tied around her waist, the woman cocked her head to the side and gave them a look that clearly showed what she thought of them—as insects. "You're existence is unnecessary and wasteful. So please, die."

Clyde gave a defiant shout and barreled his way to one of the chain laden exits, breaking his girl's hold on his arm and leaving her behind as she cried out.

The woman's dark eyes watched him boredly before blandly warning him without an ounce of concern, "I wouldn't do that."

Heedlessly, the mobster-esque kishin egg reached out and grabbed one of the large chains, hoping that he could somehow break them and escape. However, as soon as his meaty hands touched it, he screamed out in agony as he was enveloped with a hot, blinding pain that reached to his corrupted soul. It was akin to a few thousand volts running through his veins, and he could do nothing but scream as sparks and smoke arose from his hands.

A moment later and the evil human was tossed back by a sudden explosion of light, sliding back several feet before he stopped by his partner.

"Clyde!" Bonnie screeched, kneeling down and hovering uselessly as the mobster's arms smoked and twitched in aftershocks. "Oh, my love, are you alright?"

A shadow from the remaining moonlight that could be seen flitted across the ground, catching the flapper's eye. Her breathing picked up, gasps coming in wheezes and whimpers as she slowly brought her fearful gaze to the sky. A gasp escaped her and she ceased to breathe as she shook and wavered.

"Pathetic," another voice called out, this one deep and smooth with only a hint of distaste coloring it, "a complete waste of our time."

From her point of view, the evil human could only see and focus on the burgundy trench coat that the newcomer adorned. It was only with effort that she could see the glossy raven hair and a red jewel that glowed in the moonlight on his chest. He stood high above them, balancing easily on one of the large chains that caged the evil humans, looking down on them like that of a superior being gazing upon an inferior life form—with contempt and without mercy.

His features were blocked by shadow and a fringe that covered half his face, but Bonnie shivered as a narrow, red eye glowed and glared down at her. "It's amazing how weak prey like you can cause so much trouble. I would find it amusing if it didn't mean that we would be called in to deal with you small fry." The eye narrowed further, and the flapper felt a huge pressure on her shoulders that made her gasp and sprawl on all fours, but she was unable to tear her gaze from his. "But it does make me wonder what you did to piss off Lord Death to send us after you."

A snort from the only standing person on the ground level drew the male's attention, though Bonnie couldn't tear her eyes from the terrifying visage above her. The man sighed and addressed the other woman, "Yes, Zero?"

"As much as I like hearing your monologues, Evan," the now named Zero answered, "but could we get a move on? It's late, it's Chicago, and I'm a little pissed off by the lack of challenge in this assignment."

The red-eyed man above nodded once in agreement. "Very well, I'll make this quick." Red sparks flowed from the man's feet into the chain, and amazingly the chains around him moved so an opening large enough for him to slip through was made. He stepped off and glided—not fell, as it was too slow and graceful for it to be so—to the ground, coat ends extended like wings, and landed lightly as the wind whipped around him.

Zero stepped up to the newcomer and cracked her neck, the moonlight revealing her dark brown hair that had two tufts standing on end atop her head, akin to that of a pair of animal ears, and a pair of wide eyes that were just as dark. She smiled, a set of pronounced canines gleaming dangerously. "Anything new we wanna try?"

Evan seemed to frown thoughtfully as if regarding her words before he shook his head decisively. "No reason for overkill Zero, it just needs to be quick."

"Tch, fine," the young woman snarled, before she was enveloped with a pale green light that shot into the air.

The man in the burgundy trench waited until the light that was his partner burst into a short shower of white sparks, a gold and glittering object falling from the air, before snapping his right hand out and catching the horizontal handle of the weapon. A gold chainwhip coiled out from the odd handle—that while being horizontal also had a sharp spike at both ends—with cylinder links as well to add to the oddness of the weapon. At the very tip was a small, arrowhead blade which, as it skimmed across the concrete of a building wall or the ground, left deep gouges that showed its power and sharpness.

Bonnie cried out in despair and futilely stood up despite her fear. The visage that the man—now revealed as a meister if his partner was anything to go by—was absolutely terrifying. He was bathed in shadows, but he had an aura around him that glowed a dark, bloody red, which made his equally red eye stand out even more from the darkness of his face. The whip twisted around him like a snake, the length of the chain looking infinitely long and menacing.

Altogether, the vision that the weapon and meister made had weakened her knees and liquidated her spine out of sheer terror.

"Gate four of suppression is now open," Evan stated evenly, his bloody red eye staring resolutely at his prey. "But even this, my lowest level of power, will be too much for a pathetic weakling like you. Resistance is futile, but know this as my only act of mercy." His eye narrowed into a menacing glare. "Your death will be swift."

Bonnie screamed and tried to run from the deadly man, who merely snapped his wrist forward to send the chainwhip towards the cowardly prey at blinding speeds. The evil human screamed again when, faster than she could blink, the weapon wrapped around her—head to foot—within its chain.

"Oo~, so we're doing this huh?" reverberated the voice of Zero from the weapon. A small image of her face appeared in the arrowhead as it hovered near the kishin egg's face, and it showed her unnerving smile of glee. "Aren't you lucky that Evan has a soft spot for women, little kishin egg? This is our quickest execution technique, so take comfort in the fact that it'll be painless." But she seemed to think about it, and shrugged. "Maybe."

The red glow that surrounded Evan slithered down his arms and into the weapon in his hands. It travelled down the chain until it reached the arrowhead tip, and the evil human found herself surrounded by the glow with the color of blood.

Evan focused and placed his left hand around his right on the weapon's handle. The red aura wavered then solidified while forming sharp points that looked like the teeth of a saw blade, and the meister shifted stances in preparation of the attack.

A yelp of pain escaped Bonnie as the blades of aura easily pierced her flesh. Tears and snot dribbled down her face as she sniffled, and Bonnie pathetically whined her last word, "Clyde…"

Without another word or warning, Evan swiftly yanked the weapon back like how one would start the engine of a lawnmower. The sounds of tearing flesh and cloth filled the air, and Bonnie didn't even manage to scream before her body exploded into a mass of black ribbons that quickly faded into the air. All that was left was her infected, festering soul hovering where Bonnie once stood.

Deed done, the red aura dissipated into a mist as Evan walked towards the floating kishin egg. A green glow enveloped the demon chainwhip, and the meister let go of the handle as his weapon partner reappeared.

Zero crossed her arms across her chest and pouted, "I thought that I got rid of that chivalry quirk of yours years ago. Showing mercy on your enemies just 'cause they're female is going to get us killed one of these days, considering that all witches are females too."

A nearly unnoticeable twitch developed in Evan's eyebrow, but his tone was calm when he rebutted, "Being courteous is not a crime, Zero. The end result is still the same—a target is dead, and you get to have a tasty treat." He held up the kishin egg to prove his point.

Instantly Zero's demeanor changed. She flashed to Evan's feet on her knees in a begging position, the expression on her face pleading with comically large eyes complete with a protruding lower lip. When the meister wiggled the black and red soul suggestively, the weapon whined like a hungry dog.

"Oh?" Evan bent at the waist, his 6'3'' build easily towering over her pleading form. "Is this what you want?"

Frantically nodding her head, the brunette swallowed and licked her lips as her eyes stared unwaveringly at the sinfully delicious soul held above. Another whine escaped her throat.

Evan gave a slight smirk of amusement. "Have you been a good girl?"

Another frantic nod.

"Who's a good weapon?"

Zero immediately pointed to herself, energetically chanting "memememe!"

"And who's the best meister in the world?"

She latched onto his leg at this point, rubbing her cheek affectionately against him and desperately saying, "You! You're the best, the most awesome, the most epic—you're a boss!" After a moment, she followed this with a subdued, nearly annoyed, "Can I have the soul now, please?"

"...Your praise meets my approval," Evan finally agreed. "Here is your reward."

He dropped the soul, and Zero snatched it out of the air and swallowed it in one quick motion. She sighed in content and clapped her hands together with a quick mutter of "itadakimasu"*, before giving a blank side-look to her meister. "You do that to boost you own ego, don't you?"

"And yet, you still go along with it," Evan responded as he checked the time on his watch.

The brunette shrugged dismissively and rocked back on her heels. "Not my fault my meister is a pervert."

The red-eyed man's head grew several sizes in rage with a fierce, fiery glare, "You ass, I'm not a pervert!"

"Coulda fooled me," stated the weapon evenly, a pinky in one ear. "Seriously, have you been a good girl? My reward? Honestly, if you ever decide to give me a collar for a gift, I will run in the other direction."

He growled angrily and took hold of the skintight tank that Zero wore, smacking his forehead into hers as a pair of fangs lengthened from his upper jaw. "Damnit, you know good and well that I'm not a pervert. You just do this to rile me up!"

"And yet, you still fall for it," she threw back with a smirk. She then raised a finger and said in a not-so-innocent tone, "Are you actually going to deny the existence of that little porn box that you keep locked up under your bed?"

With an odd gagging sound, Evan dropped the weapon and stumbled back a few paces before crouching down in shame, several blue lines of depression hanging over his head. "I don't want to be a pervert, I really don't. It just happens…"

"Oh man up already!" Zero snapped. "It's completely normal!"

At a short distance away, Clyde was weakly crawling away from the strange duo. He huffed, eyes rolling in panic to find an escape as the death of Bonnie remained as a mere afterthought in his mind. "I must escape," he muttered, "I must flee."

He managed to get onto his hands and knees, biting his lip from crying out when the burns and shot nerves from earlier sent sharp pains of agony racing through his arms. But just as he sat up, no longer on his raw hands, the mobster did cry out when the gold, arrowhead tip of the chainwhip pierced through his shoulder. Clutching at his wound, Clyde looked over with a terrified and pleading gaze. "No! No, please…!"

Evan's red eye glowed maleficently as Zero's canines flashed in a hungry smirk, her outstretched hand being where the chainwhip originated from. The last words that the evil human heard were the ones that the weapon spoke with a dark growl in her voice. "Get over here."

It was unfortunate that no one was around to hear his screams.

-Later that night-

"Damn, that mission was boring."

Evan nodded absently to his weapon's words, paying more attention to the road as his speed quickly climbed to the triple digits. He wasn't worried about the local law enforcement pulling him over, as the road he was taking was long abandoned and far away from any sort of civilization. His red eye remained steadfast on the winding road, ignoring the thick line of trees that surrounded it, as he addressed the brunette in the passenger seat, "At least it didn't take too long. Why don't you call up Lord Death to tell him of our success?"

"Why don't you?" Zero argued, crossing her arms as she looked out to the passing trees stubbornly, "It's your car and your technology. I barely know how to use the thing."

An eyebrow arched over a red eye. "…You want us to crash? I'm going one-twenty through this dense forest, and you want me to take my eyes off the road?"

She gave a huff and reached over to fiddle with the dashboard. "Gotta get faster than that by the checkpoint, you know."

"I'm working on it." The meister sighed as the weapon's muttered curses reached his ears, and mentally shook his head at the woman for being technologically challenged. "Press the white button under the radio, dipshit."

"Asshole," Zero insulted right back, but there was no bite in it. When the button was pressed, she moved back a little as a screen slid through from a slot under the radio that was about the size of a small notebook. On the screen displayed a message, Please state a command.

"Call Lord Death," Evan easily ordered while smoothly dodging a tree, his only visible eye narrow in focus as he pressed harder against the gas pedal.

Immediately, the message was replaced by a small photo of the shinigami lord himself posing with two blocky fingers held in a peace sign, the numbers 42-42-564 following right after. A dial tone sounded through the speakers, and Zero nearly chewed her lip to keep a stupid grin from forming on her face.

After a couple of moments, a click was heard. Then a joyful, comedic voice, "Hiya! Wassup, wassup! You've reached Lord Death's mirror, but I'm afraid that I can't answer at the moment. Please call again at another time, or head to the office of Shibusen*, the Death Weapon Meister Academy also known as DWMA. Ciao~!"

Evan's eye gained a twitch as the message and the call ended. "Isn't that guy always at the mirror though…?"

"We better head to Death City then," stated Zero, a tinge of excitement in her eyes as her leg started to bounce up and down. "You know how Shinigami-sama* likes to be prompt about mission reports."

The meister scoffed, not taking his eyes off the road as he finally reached the two-hundreds, "There's no need for us to report directly to Lord Death anymore, Zero. We graduated from the academy and I'm a two-star meister, it's not necessary for us to be present in his office. We didn't even have to take this job, our sector is Europe, remember? Has been for the last couple years since we moved to Ireland. The only reason we accepted was the fact that this mission demanded our specialties—capture and execution."

At her meister's words, the weapon slumped in disappointment. Her bouncing leg ceased, and amazingly enough the two tufts atop her head lowered in a very canine-like way to show sadness. To tell the truth, she had convinced him to take the case not because it required their skills, but that it was in America and it would be the first time she set foot back here in two years. Ireland was great, but it was Evan's home and sanctuary, not hers. She missed America, and she longed for Death City and its bouncy, cartoonish ruler.

"We'll just call him again in the morning when we get back home." A map with all sorts of numbers appeared on screen, a red line highlighting a path from the lower eastern part of Canada to a dot on the coast of Ireland marked Home. At his partner's silence, however, Evan took the chance to study her reflection in the windshield. Seeing her looking so sad and forlorn as she watched the trees blur by, he frowned and addressed her, "Answer me this Zero, you're Japanese, right?"

The brunette nodded absently and continued staring outside.

"How come you never want to go to Japan?"

She smiled ruefully and rebutted, "You're English, right? How come you never want to go to England?"

"That is not the same thing," he growled.

"Is it?" Zero remained in thoughtful silence for a moment. "I spent the first half of my life there, but after I came to live with Shinigami-sama, there's nothing for me to go back to." She turned away from the window and gave him a smile that seemed infinitely sad. "My home is and always will be Death City, just like your home is Ireland." She sighed and turned on her side so that her back faced him, adjusting her seat so it laid as flat as possible. "Wake me up when we get to the house."

Evan murmured an acknowledgment then focused back on his driving. The silence made him reflect back on the conversation and what little his partner revealed to him about her past. Even after four years of partnership, he knew very little about his weapon other than her favorite hobbies of teasing him and fixing cars. It wasn't for lack of trying, just that whenever the opportunity or the topic came up Zero would always redirect or be extremely vague about the time before she came to Death City or the circumstances around it.

He knew that she was fairly young when she enrolled within the academy, young enough that Lord Death became her temporary guardian—as it was his duty to oversee the welfare of any child younger than thirteen that became his student without the support of their actual parent or legal guardian. He knew without a doubt that he was her first and only meister, despite having been at DWMA for several years longer than him. But this information only brought more questions than answers, and some days he just wished that there was a manual to go with his enigmatic partner.

A thought came to him, but before he could really exploit it the meister noticed that he passed the checkpoint and still needed to make a few last adjustments. Evan cursed loudly and stomped on the clutch, shifting to a gear marked with an F while flipping an odd switch next to the radio that didn't seem to belong with the more modern gadgets.

Looking ahead, the red-eyed man could see an old bridge coming up, one that had been long abandoned and left to ruin as its main body had already succumbed to rot. All that was left was the beginning and end of it that stuck up like a ramp that Evel Knivel himself would think twice before jumping.

He depressed the 2 and 4 buttons below the radio, and unhurriedly muttered to himself as he took hold the steering wheel adjuster and jerked it towards him harshly. Amazingly, the steering wheel extended to show a flexible neck not unlike one seen on an airplane, and just before he hit the pseudo-ramp, the meister slammed his feet on both the accelerator and the brake.

What happened next ignored all sense of physics, technology, and reason.

Right before the tires managed to roll onto what was left of the old bridge, the car physically leaped into the air as a loud blast of blue light ignited beneath the carriage. It held steady and traveled upwards to the heavens, where it disappeared into the cover of the clouds to remain unseen by the mortal eye until its passengers reached their destination.

Evan relaxed into his seat and turned on the auto-pilot, lifting his hands when the steering wheel began moving on its own. In the safety of the skies, he looked to where his partner lay sleeping, unmoved from the sudden flight, and thought back to his impromptu idea.

Perhaps I need to go to other sources to get my answers, he thought. Decision made, the meister leaned over and tapped the screen, which awakened at his touch. "Change of plans, set a course for Death City from our current location. Send a message to Lord Death to be aware of our arrival at the estimated time, weather permitting."

A large red X flashed on the old path, which darkened when it became irrelevant, and a new path colored blue sprung from the Canadian seaboard to a place in the middle of Nevada. A small bubble appearing above it, reading, New destination selected: Death City, Nevada. Estimated time of arrival: 4:20 P.M. Caution: Thunderstorm and Tornado warnings in the states of Kansas and Missouri between hours 5 A.M. to 11 A.M. and 10 A.M. to 3 P.M. Suggest alternative route?

Evan groaned, but waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, what else is there?"

The blue path arced until it avoided the Mid-West states entirely, keeping north through the Canadian territory before arching through Montana and Idaho. New route selected. Estimated time of arrival: 7:18 P.M. Confirm route?

"I already said yes, didn't I?"

New route confirmed, chimed the little message. Another one popped up at the bottom edge of the screen reading, Outgoing message to contact ~LordDeath reading "ETA of two-star meister Evan Nightshade and weapon partner Zero at 7:18 P.M., June 3rd". Confirm message?

"God, do I have to say it again?"

A simple yes would suffice, read another message with a sudden sense of intelligence. A little animation of an email being sent appeared at the corner of the screen. Then an admonishing finger appeared, wagging itself at the meister. You know, Zero-san* is more polite to me whenever I ask her to confirm such requests.

"That's just 'cause she's Japanese," snarked the red-eyed man. "They're polite even to their bitter enemies. And what's with the san? I know I didn't make you with Japanese technology."

That could almost be considered racist of you, Mr. Nightshade, remarked the A.I. And I just thought that she would appreciate a little bit of common courtesy from her homeland.

"Who cares what you think, you're just artificial intelligence. By the way, you have no emotions."

At least I have an excuse for having fake intellect and no emotions, snarked the machine back with a surprising amount of ire. What's yours?

Evan snarled, and in his anger a pair of fangs extended from his upper jaw. "I dare you to say that again."

While I understand the frustration you must be going through right now, the A.I. attempted to alleviate, it doesn't mean that you can beat them all against me. I am neither your enemy nor your sire.

The metaphorical hackles seemed to have risen from Evan before he sighed and calmed down. "Your right, I'm sorry. Just wish I could make more sense out of all this that's going on."

You and me both. The numbers 3:43 appeared on screen before another message popped up with a gentler tone, It's rather late, Evan. Are you not going to sleep?

He chuckled half-heartedly. "Aren't you supposed to be smart? Sunrise isn't for another three hours."

My apologies. I've gotten rather used to reminding Zero whenever she stays in the shop and works on one of her projects non-stop.

Evan dismissed it and relaxed into his seat. "Just pay attention to the clouds and quit bothering me."

The A.I. obeyed silently as it cleared the message history and dimmed the screen into sleep mode.

The cabin of the car was filled with silence for a few moments before it was broken by a hesitant voice, "…Evan?"

He stiffened and his eyebrow twitched in surprise at the weapon's voice. "I thought you were sleeping."

Zero ignored that and looked over her shoulder at her meister, showing her glistening eyes and watery smile, "You're the best meister ever."

Evan twitched and looked away, folding his arms across his chest. "God, you can quit with the guilt trip already. If this is going to happen every time you get homesick, we might as well move back to Death City. Your stupid, sad smile makes me gag."

The weapon perked up in interest, which made the meister backpedal quickly. "Damnit, you know I don't mean it!"

A chime interrupted the two as they looked towards the screen. So I guess I shouldn't have sent that confirmation letter to International Movers?

As the flying car soared out into the distance, a cry of rage echoed throughout the skies.

TMG* - Tommy Machine Gun

itadakimasu* - literally translated as "I humbly recieve this meal", usually said before eating.

Shibusen* - Another name for the DWMA, literally translated as "Death Military Department". It is actually the shortened name for Shinigami Buki Shokunin Senmon Gakkō, or translated "Shinigami Weapon Meister Vocational School".

Shinigami-sama* - Shinigami can be translated as either "death god" or "reaper", and refers to Lord Death's title, which is why Zero uses it when talking about him (it's very polite to address someone by their title or position). Sama is an honorific reserved to those of upper class or power, often referring to a large gap in status between the speaker and the one being spoken to/about (such as a peasant addressing a king). Akin to "Lord" or "Master".

San* - equivalent to "Mr" or "Ms"

Anyone catch the Mortal Kombat reference? Anyone? And who else is jealous about Evan's car, that can FLY? I am, that's for sure. Its flight ability was based on the foreign film "Black Lightning", which is about a young college upstart becoming a vigilante when he discovers that the old clunker his grandfather gave him could actually fly. Last I knew it was on Netflix, so if anyone wants to watch it, check there first. The A.I. was inspired by KITT, the most awesome super-computer car around (only second to KARR, who was voiced by the great Peter Cullen. Seriously, what can beat that?), and semi-inspired by JARVIS (my homage to Ironman, love that show).

Pictures of Zero and Evan Nightshade can be found on my DeviantArt profile! Drawn by me! Me so talented, right?

Leave a comment, tell me how it was, and watch out for more chapters.