Chapter 2

Hope all you readers enjoyed the first chapter, this chapter we introduce two new heroes. Please rate and comment as I appreciate any critique be it positive or negative. I'm also aware that I didn't really describe the appearance of Sakomato quite just yet, but I plan to do that throughout the story, but for now, I'll describe it quickly. Sako has black thin hair that reaches down to his shoulders and can cover his eyes. His eyes are an emerald color.

"The Bucher, meet Angel the wielder of Judgment?"

I was sitting on a lonely island of grass under a cherry blossom tree. Everywhere I looked, there was nothing but blue waters, and a sky with not even one cloud. In the real world, I was sound asleep, but in my sleep, I dwelled within my very soul. After a long day, I often liked to meditate to boost my mind and spiritual power. A wind began to blow gently, causing my unkempt black hair to cover my eyes. "So what's my little Sakomato up to?" a familiar voice said from behind me. I turned to see who it was, it was my mother. Her brown hair moved with the breeze, and her majestic hazel eyes met with mine, her expression looked awfully sore. "Nothing Mom, just resting." I answered. "So I see, do you mind if I ask what gave you that black eye since you didn't join us for dinner?" she asked stepping over to me. I hesitated for a moment, thinking she wouldn't like the answer. "I just got tangled up with a guy named Tank that's all." I told her. "Oh really? Did you fight back?" she asked quickly. "I had to, I had no choice." I answered uncomfortably. I wasn't one to pick fights, but the guy forced me to. "I got my partner today," I said trying to change the subject. There was a moment of silence, 'she must be pretty mad at me.' I thought to myself. Then two arms wrapped around me from behind warmly. Then I felt a gentle energy in my eye, alleviating the pain from it. It felt like a healing wavelength. "I'm glad that you've got your weapon finally." She said to me. "Who's your weapon?" she asked. "Her name is Starla Stumblein, she's a daito weapon." I answered. "What a pretty name, I bet she's a keeper, you had better treat her right." She said with a laugh while standing up. "Mom! Of course I will!" I responded back blushing slightly. "That's my boy!" my mom said before walking to the other side of the tree. "You know, I think I should come back here more often, this place of yours really is beautiful." She said before disappearing from my sight. I continued to stare off into the endless distance, feeling a gentle breeze carry my mind away as I fell into a true slumber.

Small, warm hands shook my left shoulder slightly, which led me to open my eyes. It was Misaki again, she looked cheerful as always. "Morning big bro! I heard you finally got your partner!" she began. "Yeah I did, her name's Starla." I replied sleepily. "That's great! Yesterday, my partner slew a hydra, that's my fifteenth kishin egg soul!" she said proudly. "That's great Misaki, just remember to be careful out there." I said to her with a smile. "I will, you should get dressed or you might be late for school." She lectured with a laugh before leaving. Misaki was already on her way to becoming a powerful weapon, I just hope that her partner takes good care of her. I got out of bed and began to repeat the same process as yesterday.

Walking through the massive red doors, I spotted many students wandering around, talking with their friends and colleagues. It was a darn shame I wasn't able to do the same thing just yet. 'I wonder where Starla is?' I wondered to myself. As I was about to take a right turn around the corner, when a voice shouted, "There's no way you can catch me!" Suddenly, the force of a person knocked me down to the ground hard, followed by something soft landing on my chest. "Ouch, what happened?" I asked opening my eyes to see. My eyes widened in shock of what I discovered. It was Starla, who's breasts had broken her fall onto me. "St-Starla!" I said in surprise. "Oh my goodness! Sakomato! Are you ok?" she asked getting back up, her face blushing with embarassement. "Yeah, I'm ok, you just knocked me over is all." I answered with a smile. "Haha! You should really watch where your going Starla," a student said with a chuckle. He passed Starla and helped me up. "Thanks," I said to the guy. "No problem, the name's Judgement Newman, you can call me Judge." He said proudly. The student stood tall and mighty, he wore a black tank top and had short spiky blonde hair. He reminded me of that terrible jerk, Tank from yesterday, but he seemed much nicer so I felt less uneasy. "My name is Sakomato Ouzawa," I introduced myself. "Say, why were you running Starla?" I asked. "Oh, Judge and I were just playing tag until the bell rang." She answered looking at Judge with a funny grin. "Judge Newman, Starla Stumblein, Angel Bouché and Sakomato Ouzawa, please report to the Death Room as soon as possible." The intercom said. "Huh, I wonder what's up?" Starla asked curiously. "Let's not keep Lord Death waiting." I said to Judge and Starla. We then proceeded to head for Lord Death's office, what he wanted us for, I had no clue. (Just to clarify, Bouché means Bucher in French.)

The three of us entered through the shrine gate, Lord Death was standing next to a girl who wore a plain white kimono. Her light long blonde hair shimmered as she turned to us. "Heya! It's good to see you all again!" Lord Death said happily. "Good morning Lord Death, what's going on?" I inquired mannerly. "I'm glad you asked. Since you and Starla are fairly new here, I thought it would be wise to pair you two up with another set of partners as well. Mr. Newman, could you come over here please?" he asked. Judge stepped over to the girl and Death. "If you haven't guessed it yet, this is Angel Bouché, Judge's meister." He said to Starla and I. "Pleased to meet the two of you," Angel spoke softly. "And Angel, these are your two partners, Sakomato Ouzawa, Starla Stumblein's meister. "It's nice to meet you as well." I replied cheery-like back. "Hey Lord Death, mind if we show these two what we can do?" Judge asked sounding eager. "Of course, just don't tear the room apart." He said backing away slowly. "What do you think they're about to do?" Starla asked me in a whisper. "I don't know," I answered nervously. Angel and Judge stood in front of each other, until Judge replaced his form with a giant, sharp curved executioner axe. Angel took hold of the massive weapon, looking quite intimidating. "Soul resonance," the two partners said simultaneously. Embers rose from the blade, then gave birth to bright flames that emitted from the axe head. Angel jumped up high above the ground, readying her weapon for what looked like an attack. "Blade of Redemption!" she shouted out with valor. She swung the axe horizontally, and a cut made of flames soared across the room. When it was far away, it exploded, sending a strong wind at Starla and I. When Angel came back down, the winds died out and Judge reverted back to his human form. I was speechless at the sight of that sheer power. "Judge has the ability to generate elemental flames when synchronizing with Angel." Death said as he applauded the two. "Wow! That was awesome!" Starla said as she joined Death in applause. "Yeah, you two make a really great team." I said to them. "Thank you all," Angel responded with a graceful bow. "I thought it be best if you Starla trained with Angel and Judge in order to discover each other's true powers." Death said looking at Starla and I. "Today, I want you Sakomato to practice using Starla with these two, then tomorrow, you all embark on your first mission together." He finished. "Alright! It's about time we got some action!" Judge said excitedly. "I look forward to practicing with you two." Angel said with a small smile. "Same to you," I replied back. "Splendid, now head to the dojo, I've freed that room up for you all to use, and try not to destroy it Judge." He said nervously. "No guarantees boss!" Judge said with a big smile on his face.

Starla opened the big iron doors that revealed the dojo Death had told us about. "This looks like the place," Starla said stepping into the spacious room. I came in after her, followed by our two new partners. "Sakomato," Angel called. "Yes?" I responded turning to face her. "It's important to know I don't want you to hold back, if you want to become strong, you have to find your limits and increase them." She said seriously. "Oh, ok, but don't you go easy on me either." I replied back. She gave out a small laugh, "Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it." She said. "Now, let's begin," she said as Judge morphed to his axe form and into Angel's hands. Starla walked up to my right side, looking ready to fight back. "Let's do this," I said anxiously. "Right," Starla said as she went into my hand in her daito form. I held her in my offensive stance, ready to strike. "Now, attack me!" Angel yelled furiously. I dashed forward and brought my blade down hard, striking against Judge and Angel, facing firm resistance. She pushed back and swept me off my feet with a sweep of the leg, causing me to land on my back. Before I got up, Angel pointed her axe right in my face. "You're gonna have to be faster than that if your want to survive a fight!" she said before raising her axe. I rolled to the side and stood before she swung. The force from her strength put a split in the floor, and I saw my opportunity to attack. I tackled Angel with my shoulder and reluctantly struck her in the gut with the butt of the handle. She grunted as she barred her teeth in pain. "Sorry!" I called out sorely regretting hitting her. 'I know were just practicing, but I don't want to hurt her.' I thought to myself. She simply looked up at me and smiled, then said, "That's more like it! Here I come!" she called before rushing forward and attacking. She swiped and slashed as I parried her strikes. I was better at defense rather than offense so this was easy for me to do. Then, I blocked a vertical strike, but she followed up with a push, then a jab to my stomach, then a full horizontal swing that left a cut across my torso. I ignored the pain the best I could, then fought back even harder. Our attacks grew faster, stronger, and overall deadlier. I was beginning to fear that someone was going to get hurt, but I suppressed the feeling and kept going. Finally she jumped back, she was breathing heavily now, and beads of sweat rolled down her face. "Now it's time, to see what you can really do, be ready!" she said firmly grasping Judge. I looked down at the blade I held, and saw Starla's reflection. "Sako, how do you plan to become a master meister and make me into a Death Scythe?" she asked me. I paused for a moment, and found my answer. "I'll honor your wish, by fulfilling the duty as a meister to cleanse this world of evil, and harvesting the wicked kishin souls for you." I said to her. Her eyes glistened with amazement, as if that was the answer she had been hoping for. "Are you ready to give this a shot Starla?" I asked her. "Of course Sako, whenever you're ready!" she responded happily. I held the blade out in front of me in concentration. Embers began to rise from Angel's axe again, I assumed she was going to demonstrate her true power again. I ignored that, and matched my soul wavelength completely with Starla's. "Soul resonance!" we both shouted. A wind began to swirl around me, and the sword I held began to vibrate with a soothe metallic sound. Then, it mutated into a slightly longer blade that went from silver to complete black with white dots that looked like stars on it. The whole weapon gave off a white-bluish glow, similar to the light that comes off the moon. A strange sense of power came over me, and I felt incredible strength flow through my body. Angel set her weapon ablaze and charged at me. I broke into a sprint, shouting a battlecry with Starla raised above my head. Before I brought the blade down, I screamed, "Dracofire!" and in a flash, our weapons clashed. Starla was now ignited with a roaring purple flame, and Judge's bright orange flames tried to fight the fire back. "That's enough." Angel said as she eased up, I did the same, and lowered our weapons. "Remarkable Sakomato and Starla, you both did very well." Angel said softly. "Thank you Miss Bouché and Mr. Newman." I said with a respectful bow. "HAHAHA! I like this guy! He knows how to show respect to the Judge!" he said triumphantly. "Eh? Hehehe, no need for the formality Sako." Angel said with a gentle giggle. "That was awesome Sako! I didn't know you could wield a sword like that!" Starla said excitedly. "Neither did I, we have these two to thank for that." I replied. Angel gently laughed then turned to exit the room along with Judge. "We'll need our rest for tomorrow, I suggest you save up the rest of your strength for the mission." She finished. "Man I haven't fought like that in a while! That was so awesome Angel! I could just kiss ya right now I'm so pumped!" Judge yelled happily. Right after he finished, Angel's fist met with his face, forcing him to the ground. "Don't even think about it!" she said angrily. "I-I said I could! I didn't say I would!" Judge snapped back. Starla and I laughed at the sight before we exited the dojo.

I was now back home with my mom and sister at the table, enjoying some smoked salmon. "So how are my two little heroes doing today?" mother asked. "I', doing awesome my meister Robin and I filled our quota for the day and killed a one eyed librarian!" Misaki said enthusiastically after swallowing salmon. "That's great hon, and what about the man of the house?" she inquired. "Huh? Oh yeah, I met some new friends today. They got me ready for tomorrow's mission." I answered. "Well that's wonderful sweetie, it's great that your finally making friends." She said happily. Misaki put down her chopsticks and asked, "Oh Sako, can you do that one trick with fire?" "Ok, but just one time," I answered. I took the lighter off the table, lit a chopstick, then placed it in my mouth. Putting the chopstick down, I blew out a trail of embers that landed on my empty plate, and died out. "Wow! That's so cool! How do you do that?" she asked eagerly. "Now now Misaki, a good magician never reveals his tricks." Mom answered for me. "Oh Sako! How's your new partner Starla doing? Have you made a move yet?" she asked sinisterly giggling. "Misaki! Don't ask questions like that! It's not polite!" Mom said sounding upset. I blushed a bit, remembering this morning how Starla knocked me over. "Haha, your so funny Sako!" Misaki teased. "Oh brother," I said to myself.

Wow that's a lot of words! Lol, I hope it's not too long for y'all, I try to keep things interesting and not boring. O.O Please rate, review, comment, whatever you like to let me know how I'm doing!