Chapter One: Kai: Pilot: Kishin Blade; Will the DWMA Ever Be Normal?
Uncomfortable wooden chair? Check.
Smell of dead animal? Check.
Snoring meister, drooling on his paper? Double-check.
Slumped in my seat, I try my best not to follow Black*Star to dreamland and focus on what Stein is saying. I've long since given up on trying to understand what the words mean, but the least I can do is pretend I know what he's talking about. Last night I had dragged myself home to my two-bedroom apartment after another mission – the fifth this month, and it wasn't even halfway over – at an ungodly hour. I hadn't even made it to my bed before I collapsed, instead resigned to sleeping on the couch. All that got me was the backache from hell and the imprint of my hand on my cheek. Yay me. I didn't even sleep that well, damn it.
My name is Kai Blair. I'm sixteen, and a weapon currently studying at the DWMA. After a series of unfortunate events including a failed exchange program, a psycho witch with a squid fetish, and some crazy-ass kishin powers, I ended up being the weapon to the 'Great' Black*Star. No, before you ask, I didn't kill Tsubaki to get here. She's down in Africa with her lover-boy meister, Snow. Last I heard she was nearly a death scythe too. Some weapons have all the luck.
Not that I'm not happy with Black*Star, but he's an obnoxious little bastard sometimes, and it pisses me off to be this tired and still have a whole bunch of souls left to collect. A few weeks ago we had 99 kishin eggs, but when we went to kill our witch we had some complications and… you get the picture. Now we were back to square one and it sucked major potatoes to know that we had to do it all over again. At least we found some sympathy in the form of Maka and Soul, who had gone through a similar situation last year, but at least they had a magically-inclined cat as a friend out of the deal. I just had scorched eyebrows.
"Giraffe!" Patty giggled on the other side of me, doodling a long-necked animal on her paper. Death the Kid, Lord Death's son, had his golden eyes focused on the ceiling in a sure sign of boredom on the other side of the youngest Thompson sister. Liz seemed to be at least attempting to listen to Stein but with her you never could know if she was getting anything. I would never tell her to her face, but she was a poster child for stereotypical blonds sometimes.
To my left, on the other side of Black*Star, sat Soul Eater Evans and Maka Albarn. The pair was pretty famous in all branches of the DWMA due to them having defeated the kishin Asura along with the rest of my new friends. Recently they had actually started dating, which didn't come as a surprise to anyone except maybe themselves. The rest of us had known it was coming since the Exchange Program, when Soul nearly bit the dust after Maka was capture and believed dead. Things ended up working out alright, so no one could really complain, I guess.
I entertained myself with watching Black*Star drool on the desk, silently urging the embarrassing dribble onwards. My meister, though I have some pretty strong feelings for him, was still the same as usual, and still special in the head sometimes (like now, for instances). Childish, arrogant, and reckless were three adjectives that he could easily be described with. Admittedly, he had done a lot of maturing since we had met, but there was still a lot of room for improvement. Never tell him that, of course, because his ego is massive and packs a punch.
The bell rang, startling me and my meister into attention. Black*Star toppled out of his chart, grunting as his elbow smacked against the cobblestone floor. I suppressed a snicker and helped him to his feet before gathering my books and pushing my chair in. He stood, wobbling slightly as he got used to being awake again, and sauntered after me. I questioned his refusal to bring any of the class workbooks with him to school but the teachers did anything.
"What did I miss?" My partner yawned, stretching his arms above his head. For a brief second I enjoyed the flexing muscles in his biceps, but then got around to answering his question with a shrug.
"No idea, your snoring drowned out the sound of Stein's voice!"
Flashing me a cocky grin, he laughed. "Fell asleep too, huh?"
A light, angry blush painted my cheeks as I was caught by the truth. "I was dozing. Maka probably has some notes we can borrow to copy off of."
"I'm so used to having Tsubaki do all that stuff," he wrinkled his nose, not noticing my steps slowing slightly as a shadow crossed my features. Sometimes this would happen, and I always tried to tamp down my jealousy. So what if he'd had another weapon before me? She had Snow now so it wasn't as if I was competing for him, or stealing him. Still, every time he brought her up it made me wonder if he wished things had turned out differently. My gray eyes watched him walk a few steps, then turn around to search for me. The confusion in his eyes was enough for me to feel guilty. Black*Star wasn't like most guys: he was startlingly innocent, even with all his talk. Hell, we had been in a pseudo-relationship for the past few months since I had gotten here and we hadn't done anything more than lean against each other on the couch during a movie.
It definetly wasn't every girl's dream, but it suited our lifestyle and personalities. Neither of us was big on affection unless we were feeling particularly emotional, and there just wasn't anything that happened in our day-to-day lives to warrant that kind of show. Liz thought it was a little weird that we never kissed or anything, but I trusted him not to be doing anything with other people. At least, I hoped he wasn't.
"Sorry," I quickly caught up with him, smirking. "I got lost in thought."
"Yeah, I figured!" He grinned, socking me in the shoulder lightly.
Out of nowhere, Maka came sprinting up to us, slightly out of breath. We stopped in our tracks, both surprised, as we waited for our friend to get some air. "Professor Stein wants to see you guys, and it's urgent!" She then turned and began weaving quickly through the crowd again as if she expected us to follow her. I set off in pursuit and attempted not to knock anyone over or step on any toes. Black*Star was a little less gentle and left a wake of destruction behind him, something I witnessed as he passed me and I was nearly sent careening into an open locker.
Professor Stein's room still had a blood, dissected animal laying on the front table when we got back. Our teacher was idly twisting the screw that protruded from the side of his head, surveying the students who stood in front of him. I raised an eyebrow, sharing a look with Black*Star. Gathering all his strongest partnerships? In addition to Black*Star and I, our friends stood. Maka and Soul to one side, Kid and the Thompson's on the other. None of them looked like they knew what was going on either, so I just rolled with it until the door opened behind me, causing me to jerk around.
A person stood in the doorway, dressed in a long black dress-like thing that made me wonder about their gender. He/she's eyes were downcast and full of fear, pink hair brushing slightly over their forehead as they scurried into the room like a frightened mouse. I studied them for a moment before matching Maka's description with the face: "Crona?"
He looked up and immediately froze, halfway to Maka's side. Whimpering slightly, he nodded. "Maka," muttering, he curled in on himself and gripped his arm. "She looks scary. I just can't deal with scary people!"
"It's alright, Crona!" Maka soothed, placing a hand on his shoulder with a soft smile. "Kai is Black*Star's new partner! She's really nice once you get to know her!"
Crona bit his lip and whimpered slightly, still looking extremely uncomfortable and not the least bit assured by Maka's words. From what I had heard, he was one of the DWMA's strongest meisters on the account of his weapon, Ragnarok, but he was a total basket case. He wasn't able to go out on missions alone or with anyone other than Maka and Soul, which made it hard for him to go on missions at all. Most of the time he just went to class and stayed at Kid's mansion with the young Shinigami and his two weapons.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here," Stein said with a bored look at all of us. It was impossible to tell whether or not he was actually excited to be delivering whatever news he was tasked with giving us. "I have an assignment for you all."
"Extra credit?" Maka jumped on the opportunity to better her grade. I perked up as well, knowing that my constant missions had thrown my grades into turmoil. I was passing with higher than average marks, but I was third in the class under Ox Ford and it didn't sit well with me to be under such an obnoxious guy.
"Of sorts," Stein agreed, his gaze flicking over all of us. "But first let me explain what exactly I'm talking about and then you can decide if you want to do it. It requires that all of you agree to participate, even you, Crona."
The pink-haired boy whimpered again, cowering behind Maka. I was slightly disappointed that his weapon hadn't made an appearance yet. Having never seen Ragnarok appear from his back before, I was rather looking forward to seeing it spring from his back. We had the same maker, after all, so in a sense I was kind of his big sister. I doubted he knew that little fact.
"After the failure of the Exchange Program, there's been a lot of unrest between the separate branches of the DWMA. Everyone is blaming everyone else for what happened, and a lot of good teams have been ruined due to the abnormal wavelengths they had to spend time with. Lord Death has decided, to boost morale," his voice was monotonous and completely unexcited, ironically, "that a new experimental program is going to take place: the Weapon/Meister Games."
He paused for a moment to let that sink in before he began speaking again. "Each branch is going to be sending a team of eight to compete. There will be a total of four rounds, each with different rules, and different kishin. It will be centered around combat and strength, and in the end, their will only be one winning pair, from one team. That weapon/meister pair will go down in history as the strongest of their time."
Stein continued, prattling on in a disinterested voice, but he had already won Black*Star and I over. I could see Kid's interest growing steadily, and Maka had been hooked from the second Stein had mentioned extra credit. Soul looked a little less excited, but I could see that he would agree to whatever Maka's decision was on the matter. Crona looked like he was about to wet his pants.
"We're in!" Black*Star gave a big thumbs up with his loud proclamation and I smirked in agreement at his side.
Maka and Soul shared a silent look, having a silent conversation before Soul finally shrugged. "It sounds cool."
"Let's do it!" Maka smiled, nodding at Stein.
Kid, of course, gave his answer without conferring with his weapons. Patty was too busy drawing a rather grotesque picture of a people-eating giraffe to really care, and Liz was absentmindedly listening while she painted her nails. Lord Death's son was on board, his gold eyes showing his determination. I knew from that moment that he felt he had something to prove, and that he was going to be a tough competitor.
Finally, it was just Crona. The skinny boy shivered under the collected gazes of the group, and seemed to shrink as the silence stretched. As we waited, I tugged on a lock of my red hair in agitation and glanced at the clock. I really wanted to go out and get some combat practice in with Maka, Soul, and Black*Star today, but if this meeting stretched out any longer I doubted that anyone would have time. The girls had all already agreed to a sleepover at Maka's, while all the boys were migrating over to Kid's mansion. Since it was a Friday we had planned to stay up late and watch some of the newer movies Liz and Patty had swiped from Kid's collection.
I was too nervous to tell any of the other girls that it was my first sleepover.
"I don't know if I can handle this…" Crona sighed, but as he spoke a black shape rose out of his back and formed the creature known as Ragnarok. He was small, black, and had a white 'X' on his face along with two rather odd eyes. His fists began bashing at the pink head of his meister and Crona yelped, trying to duck away in vain. I watched in fascination as Ragnarok bullied Crona into agreeing, and then Maka in turn made Ragnarok stop picking on Crona with the bribe of candy.
"You're a horrid girl!" Ragnarok said around a mouthful of sweets, two lollipop sticks protruding from his mouth as he grumbled. "He's my meister! You'll make him soft!"
The small being seemed to look around before seeing me. As we studied each other, he smacked Crona upside the head. "Hey! Who the hell is this?"
Crona whimpered again, clearly confused and overwhelmed by his weapon, stayed silent.
"Name is Kai Blair," I grinned, amused. "Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, 'nice'. Not when you're around these people!" Ragnarok sneered, yanking on Crona's hair. "Alright, now let's leave. These guys stink!"
"These guys are my friends!" Crona protested weakly as he shuffled out the door.
Black*Star snickered after he left, obviously finding as much humor in Crona's predicament as I had. Maka frowned slightly, but she and Soul found each other's hands and he gave her fingers a tight squeeze. I barfed a little in my mouth.
"Alright, let's get our asses down to the courtyard!" I urged, grabbing Black*Star's arm and pulling him towards the door. "Stein, do you feel like being a referee?"
The professor shrugged and began wheeling himself towards the door, so I took it as a yes. We all began moving through the school, following our rolling teacher, and I took a moment to think about the Weapon/Meister Games. The last genius idea Lord Death had ended up nearly getting most of the DWMA's weapons killed, myself included, as well as a good number of meisters. I felt like my nervousness was justified, but… I wanted to enjoy myself. Black*Star and I might actually have a shot at winning, if we could get Kishin Blade up to par before it was time.
Excitement buzzed through my veins as I considered the possibility of someday being known throughout the world as the strongest weapon/meister pair in any of the branches. Could we succeed? Was it possible?
Looking at the cocky grin of my meister, I had no doubt we could.
Or, you know, we could die trying.
(Author's Note: Yeaah! We're back! *does a happy dance* So, thoughts on the new story? Are you guys intrigued? I hope so... anyways! Reviews are greatly appreciated, as well as favorites and follows! And, if you haven't read the prequel to this, it's a little bit necessary to understand, so... check out the Experimental Weapon/Meister Exchange! Happy reading!)