Hello, guys, and welcome to a new fanfiction written by yours truly~! Oh wait, you don't know me…? Then meh. Who cares about this stranger, anyway?
I got into Skullgirls two weeks back when it became free for one day (24 hours). I downloaded and installed it, and immediately got interested in its lore and mythos, as well as its characters. They are all so unique, with their own playstyle. The combat is fast-paced and- oh wait, this isn't a review? Oh, sorry 'bout that. Well, other than the fact that the game quickly expired (I only played it for two hours… Got other stuff to do, y'know?), I DID not buy it. I've already wasted 178 ringgit (I'm from Malaysia) on Monster Hunter 4U, so my mom told me not to buy anything else. SO yeah, I'm writing a fanfic about something I only have 2 hours of experience on. Achievement get, I guess?
Researching about every aspect of this game was really fun, and that's what I love about writing fanfics like this. They're fun, and when you post your first chapter, it's really scary to see if people like the passion you put in the text.
This fanfiction is a continuation of Eliza's ending, and... yeah, that's all the 'premise' you're gonna get. I hope you enjoy it. Rate and review, pl0x. Harsh criticism is welcomed, because it at least makes me try to improve my writing.
Big Band found himself running through the night streets.
Well, if a large trench coat could strut with small feet, it would be Big Band at this moment.
Something had gone wrong. Lab 8 just didn't exist anymore. It was gone, scientists and all. Ileum, Leduc, Hive. They were all dead. And so was Dr. Avian.
Because of the new ruler of the Canopy Kingdom.
The Skullgirl had failed to subdue her.
Even the Medici were nothing to that monster.
Stopping his two feet in the middle of a dark, stench-filled alleyway, he turned his head, and inevitably his torso, behind for a quick peek.
"Patricia, come on!" he cried quietly, allowing the bio-mechanical Anti-Skullgirl weapon to pass him with fleeting feet like a spinning ball- one of the perks of being so engrossed with cartoons, while being paired with mechanical body parts.
The sounds of heavy marching took his attention away from the running girl. The rays of artificial light began to illuminate the opening between two buildings, and he, with hesitation nonexistent, followed his partner's decision to delve deeper into the darkness of night.
The two panted through the darkness of New Meridian's ominous corridors, trudging through garbage, climbing up the separating walls of wooden fences, shutting up dogs, and knocking down dumpsters, stirring up said dogs along with the residence of said City. The pursuers were unwavinv in their search and pursuit, causing Big Band to wonder to himself, gravely, how they were still following him and the slowly tiring girl in front of him. But that thought was quickly swept away from his mind.
They needed to get out of here.
Or else hell would descend upon them.
"W-woodwind…" Peacock moaned, with a robotic static in her once-human voice, as she slowed down to a jog, lolling her tongue out high enough for her lower jaw's sharp metallic teeth to not be able to reach the soft, still living tastebuds- or maybe that was also an artificial part of her?- "This is tiring me out..."
Big Band grunted melancholically as he watched her weaken from exhaustion. Before long, she stopped to a halt, and he had no choice but to pick her expectantly light body up on her arms. If she was at tip-top condition, she would have ran even further than him, no matter how much stamina he had in him.
But that was when 'Annie: Girl Of the Stars' was cancelled.
He understood why Peacock would lose all her enthusiastic spirit when her favorite show was pulled off the air for other shows she dubbed as 'pieces of sh*ts'. But why did it cancel? Was it losing popularity? Big Band, or as he was more formally known as: Ben Birdland, had gone to investigate this, and found that the show was still a major hit amongst the Canopy citizens, even after the advent of Beowulf, the once-renown wrestler whom wrestled and killed a drugged Grendel (Ben took the time to investigate his miracle), in the show. It would have be much later before he discovered that it had been her plan all along to capture the two, or more accurately, destroy Peacock herself; and the cancellation was all but a guise to demoralize the little girl for an easy apprehension.
The ordeal had left the young girl in despair, and for three nights- the show was cancelled three days ago- she stayed sleepless, writing frantic letters to bring the show back on. He knew this because he once watched her do this for a night.
She wrote a total of 500 letters.
And now that their home was destroyed, he would have expected Peacock, whom now panted and wheezed on his shoulder, to be even more devastated. Their whole 'family', killed by the choice of one who had no rights to the throne.
We must live on... He thought to himself as he made a turn into the Dagonian-populated seaside, while narrowly missing the searchlights casting into the shadowing alleyways and streets.
As they made their way to the flooded docks, Big Band began to stumble on the weak wooden boards and makeshift floors. The loud, looming creaks sent shivers throughout the resting Peacock, whom had been firmly holding on to her last string of consciousness.
"Stay with me..." he panted as he made his way to the pier. If there was a boat, then he was the first to jump into it and commandeer it.
He also hoped that the Chess Kingdom would at the least welcome them into their land.
"Damn it..."
There was only one boat docked, but it was too small for both of them; heck, it was too small for his own humongous body. He was about to turn around when the sound of heavy boots stomped on the soggy wood planks.
"Hands in the air, Lab rat."
Birdland kept silent, letting the waves sound the moonlit tides. He took one deep breath, and turned his head around.
"Albus..." Ben growled with growing aggression at the jackal person with the cops behind him.
"We met?" Albums asked, curious as to why he knew his name.
"Newspaper."
"Oh, yeah, I've been in a couple of articles. Even made it on one of the headlines. How'd I forget?"
"Tell your men to leave, and your mistress to stop pursuing us."
"Why should I? She's already issued orders to destroy all the labs, including anyone affiliated with them, without question or hesitation. Basically, I can do whatever I want with you Lab rats." At that moment, he turned his dog eyes to the girl on the trench-coat-wearing individual's shoulder, and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, my 'mistress', as you call her, is interested in that little girl o'er there. Mind if I take it off your tired shoulders?"
"You," Ben leered as he bent slightly into a threatening stance, "Wouldn't dare."
"Heheh," Albus chuckled, adjusting his collar, "Then I just have to take it by force."
The multitude of dark clothed men began to take aim with their black weapons of mass destruction. A familiar helicopter flew omnipotently above the scene, shining its blinding beams at the pier.
The Black Egrets too?
Ben began to fear for the worst.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Oh how that saying fitted him so perfectly now. How he was trapped between corrupt cops and the dictator's trusted henchmen, and a boat he could not fit in...
Wait, he?
Before the eager fingers could push down on the imposing trigger, Big Band created a loud jumbled mess of noise that disorientated the riflemen and Albus himself, due to his sensitive ears. During these seconds of moment's unraveling, he quickly took a gentle hold on Peacock, before hastily placing her on the boat bobbing with the amplifying waves.
"Wait," Peacock said in a sickly voice, "Where're ya goin'? Don't leave me, Big guy..."
"Patricia, I don't have any time to talk-"
"FIRE!" Albus's cry resonated through the seaside district, but there was no gunfire, surprisingly. From what Ben heard, there was a small skirmish behind him, involving the barking of numerous scoldings and the dangerous threat of killing their Princess, Parasoul. Then, when all settled, Albus cried out 'Fire' once again, but this time, a bullet grazed his trench coat. It flicked off the smooth fabric, leaving a mark on his metallic body. The sudden gunfire has shocked Peacock back to- metaphorically- life, and her six eyes were darting all over the place in confusion. But Ben still held on as the bullets bounced off his body of brass instruments.
"Don't come back for me, okay? I know you want revenge, but you aren't doing yourself any good if you're going to get killed in the process?"
"N-no, that's as okay as 'em shows, which ain't okay!" Peacock cried as she began to tear up through her empty eye sockets, "Come on, I-I'll clobber 'em to next Hanukkah-"
A finger on her lip silenced her for the very last time. Ben only stared at her pitifully, before saying, "I know thinking ain't your thing, Patricia, but right now is the time to grow up." A small robotic hand reached out from the shadows of his trench coat, holding an unseen object between its palms. Peacock watched, tears streaming down the dark holes on her face, as the hand unfolded rather quickly in front of her, procuring a small crystal.
"D-Doc's rock candy...?" she asked as she took it, her voice damp with a hoarse, subdued one he knew had been a hidden emotion from the deepest parts of her psyche. Ben sighed, before grunting as the firing increased in intensity, closing his eyes for a brief period. He then opened them again, only to see a pitiful Peacock stare at him with eyes that screamed, within the deepest shades of her skull's shadow, in agony:
'No, please, no'.
"I promise you, dying's not on my agenda. And so ain't your's. Avery'll take care of you..."
Placing an acoustic-filled hand on the derelict life-saver-of-a-boat, he blew a powerful blast of sound without speaking of any farewells, launching the boat far away from where he stood. But all he could hear was Peacock's scream in the loud blares, it's saddening tone shaking him in his core mentalities.
Rock candy? he thought to himself in the precious moments of dark premonitions. Heh... Wait, they sto-?
Suddenly, two arms tackled and grasped his body, then another, and another. A swarm of hands began to restrain him like chains clamping around arms and legs, but he fought back, thrashing and blowing brass punches at the adversaries that began to pile upon him like ants on a succulent insect, or football players upon one man and his winning ball. There were just so many, and to top it all off, Albus had brought it upon himself to punch Big Band in the face, causing his vision to blur and his focus to shatter. Before long, he was on the ground, with a humongous pile of many tens of strong men crushing him down.
Ben slipped into the insidious influence of exhaustion as he thrashed around with all the instrumental weapons in his body. But slowly, he gave in to the inevitable. He heard Albus's indistinct taunts, before receiving a devastating kick to the face that knocked the wind off his lungs. His eyes slowly began to close, but no matter his struggles, he knew his battle had been lost. The last thing he heard before he slipped into the realm of darkness was her name.
"Eliza..."
At that moment, he collapsed like a cut sequoia under the silhouette of the laughing jackal, as if bowing down to the servant of the one who could change the Canopy Kingdom forever.
Today marks the start of the downfall of many.
Forgot to tell you this, but the first three chapters can be considered as an introduction to the story. If you think this chapter revealed little of anything, then I did my job. Hope you enjoyed it. Next update's in the coming week, with no specified day *:P*