Gwen had fallen asleep under a tree in Stein's yard. She had amazingly vivid dreams on his world for some reason.
She was flying high above the smoking ruin that was once Jubilife city, the city that was meant to celebrate the joyful things in life. She'd changed into her shapeshifted form, an enormous sapphire dragon. Gwen threw her head back in a death knell, then snarled, bending down to rip the head off of a hollow in her massive dragon jaws. Around her dragon type pokemon whirled and flew, roaring and screeching. Gwen roared her defiance of the thousands of hollows she and the other shinigami sent to respond to the attack were up against.
"WHEEL AND TURN OR BLEED AND BURN!" Gwen exhorted the pokemon circling around her in the air. "FLY BETWEEN BLUE AND GREEN! SOAR DIVE DOWN BRONZE AND BROWN! WE ARE... WE ARE SHINIGAMI! OUR WILL IS TO PROTECT!"
"OUR WILL IS TO PROTECT!" Gwen bellowed as she sat up.
Morgan in her guise of Karana and Patti, who had come back for some reason, turned their heads in the yard. "You're awake Amy..."
"Sorry, nightmare... a defiant nightmare but a nightmare nonetheless." Gwen smiled wanely.
"Any sign of it Patti?" Liz came around the other side of the lab building. "Kid is beside himself inside."
"Over what?" Amy yawned.
"You were muttering in your sleep!" Patti giggled at Gwen, "It was funny!"
"What did I say?"
"Wheel and turn or bleed and burn! It sounded like something a witch would say."
"funny, there was a witch in that nightmare." Gwen yawned. "But then again, if half the things I've heard about them are true I'd probably be freaked out while awake." Gwen was exhausted.
"Spirit-san is making tea inside." Morgan told Liz. "Don't worry, your Meister won't be missing his tie clip for very long."
"He's freaked out about a tie clip?"
"You have nightmares about witches?" Liz queried with an arched eyebrow.
"Doesn't everyone who's ever contemplated meeting one?" Gwen asked.
"True." Liz sighed. "They tend to be freaky in a weird, gross, sadistic way." She got down on the ground and started looking for Kid's tie clip again.
Gwen sighed. "I'll be right back." She opened the door to the lab. "Hey Stein?" Kid was wringing his hands. "Oh don't feed him black tea Spirit for heavens sake, the poor boy looks like he's going to break down crying. Get him some chamomile!" Gwen scolded the Deathscythe. "C'mon Over the Hill Scythe, honestly, do I have to be the brains for us both? You're a deathscythe for fuck's sake and you don't know how to deal with someone who's clearly on the verge of a panic attack. Go. Shoo!" she intercepted the beaker of black tea that Spirit had meant for Kid. "This won't help you in /that/ state, but it will help me wake up. This dratted Nevada heat makes me want to sleep in the midday." She gulped it down. "Concert starts at 9 and goes to midnight." She added. "Got to be awake for that." She finished the beaker of tea in about one minute, covered her mouth in her sleeve to hide the belch, and sighed. "So..."
"You act like you're older than you look." Kid said with an arched brow. "And drinking it that fast reminded me of a viking."
Gwen glared at Kid. "Just because I don't act the way I look doesn't mean I'm as old as I act." Then to Stein. "Shtein Hakase, do you have a metal detector?"
"Yes, why?"
"Kid-san lost his tie clip, it wouldn't do for the son of Lord Death to be in such distress. And I need some work to wake myself up. If you don't mind."
"Of course." Stein stood and chuckled to Kid. "Remind me to teach you about old souls sometime."
"Old souls?" He asked.
Stein handed Gwen the metal detector. "Old souls, sometimes a person is born with an inkling, a connection to past lives. I think Soul might be one, but its only speculation, you can't tell until someone dies and even then you'd have to go to the trouble of catching their soul for analysis before someone crosses it over or a kisshin's egg eats it."
Kid nodded. "Its unfortunate, too many of the dead are eaten before we can get to them."
"Yes, it is." Stein sighed, puffing out a smoke ring from his cigarette. "They say these souls are often tinted indigo. But not always."
"Actually the indigo is not indicative of an old soul." Gwen corrected as she checked over the detector for wear and tear. "Thats an entirely different phenomena, indigo and crystal children have indigo and crystal colored souls, and its indicative of personality traits, rather than connection to a past life. Indigos tend to be unusually creative and bold, crystals tend to be unusually shy and often need the help of others, but when they blossom its supposed to be a miraculous transformation into something graceful." Gwen sighed. "But its just a superstition."
Gwen wandered out of the lab. Liz and Patti looked at her. "Amy-chan, what is that?" Patti asked, running over to look at the instrument.
"Its a metal detector. I'm gonna run it over the battlesite to see if I can find your Meister's tie clip." Gwen chuckled, a small kind smile "Don't worry, I'm the one he was sparring with so I might as well try to fix it."
Liz snorted, rolling her eyes.
Gwen sighed and started moving the metal detector over the ground. "Mind you, I just know how to turn it on, we could find anything."
"Like buried treasure?" Patti asked hopefully.
"Uh... Patti lets just settle for Kid's tie clip. If we don't find it he'll whine and whimper about how much of a failure he is." Liz groaned.
"The son of Shinigami-sama has so little confidence?" Bwwwooop beep boop went the metal detector in Gwen's hands.
"He doesn't lack confidence, he can be swaggeringly arrogant." Liz sighed. "Kid's problem is that he has OCD. He likes things to be symmetrical but he also expects far too much of himself in my opinion. I've never seen him without that tie clip on."
"I see." Gwen sighed. "I have a friend back home, he has it too." She said quietly. "His number is 10, what's Kid's?"
"Eight!" Patti chimed happily.
Gwen just had this small warm smile on her face. "Amy-chan?" Patti pounced. "Try the crator! You should teach me how to make crators! I want to make bad guys go boom with my feet!"
Gwen burst out laughing as she moved towards the crator. "Patti, it takes years of training without a weapon to be able to do that, that means no using your sister, and no help from Kid." She chuckled. "And a lot of discipline. Do you think you can do it?"
"Don't egg her on." Liz sighed.
"I CAN DO IT!" Patti's face glowed with the force of her grin. "I'm Kiddo-kun's partner! I'm supposed to have his back! I wanna learn how to kick like you!" Patti fastened herself to Gwen's leg. "Please Amy-chan, please please?"
"Patti, saying it takes years of training was her way of saying no." Liz pulled Patti off her. Gwen stumbled, and the metal detector went wide only to make a loud noise when it swayed over a part of the crater. Gwen peered in, waving the metal detector over it a second time with the same result.
"hmmm..." She frowned, looking over at Liz and Patti. "I need a flashlight, will you get my backpack from the tree over there?"
"Sure." Patti ran over and came back with the bag. Gwen unzipped a pouch on the side and pulled out a large maglite flashlight. She spun it in her fingers like a sharpshooter with a pistol for a moment before flicking it on and hopping down into the crater she'd made. "tsk, don't know my own strength."
Patti followed. "zooooooooooooooom!" She took a flying leap down to the bottom. Liz slid down after her, a bit more cautious.
Gwen shined the maglite into a crack. Something silver gleamed back. Gwen shoved her hand down the crack and felt around. "Hmmmm..."
When she pulled her arm out her sleeve was torn and her hand was scraped up. Gwen sighed holding up the object. There it was. Kid's skull shaped tie clip.
Patti squealed in delight, dragging Gwen by the arm back into the lab. "SHE FOUND IT SHE FOUND IT KIDDO-KUN AMY-CHAN FOUND YOUR TIE CLIP!"
Gwen's eyes curlicue'd. "MY ARM PATTI PLEASE IT GOT SCRAPED!" She wailed in shock at being dragged. Her left arm, her WEAK arm. The arm she always hated. The arm that on her normal body was cybernetic.
Gwen fell in a heap at Kid's feet, her injured arm holding up the tie clip and she grinned hugely up at him. "Kid-san, I found it."
"SHE FOUND IT!" Patti yelled in joy at the top of her lungs. Patti jumped on Gwen and sent her falling to the ground, giggling and laughing as she pinned Gwen playfully. Gwen coughed, then squeaked, mumbling a feeble 'geroff me.'
Kid snatched the pin from Gwen's hand, causing her to yelp in pain from her skinned arm.
Kid blinked and Gwen pulled herself up. "You're hurt."
"Just a scratch, my left arm is sensitive." Gwen said shyly. She pulled her arm behind her back.
Kid chuckled. "You made yourself asymmetrical trying to help me. Thanks." he grumbled, not looking at her.
"No problem. As I said, its just a scratch."
Patti jumped on Gwen again and she fell over in a heap. /Dratted gigai./ Gwen thought. /My arm is downstairs with the rest of my body but I'm still uncomfortable with people touching it./ "Patti careful you'll squish her" Liz pried Patti off, who was so happy she was cheek rubbing between Gwen's shoulder blades.
"Patti please mercy." Gwen squeaked, a huge blush on her cheeks.
"Aww, but from Kid that was an expression of great gratitude! He's just too shy to admit it." Patti beamed from where she clung to Gwen with an iron hard grip. "to Kiddo-kun there are two great sacrifices a person can make! Their lives and their Symmetry!"
Gwen's mental grumble sent a soft ripple of her soul wavelength through the room, carrying a discontented growl with it. "Patti do me a favor, never, never, NEVER grab me by my left arm. Please. I don't like that arm being grabbed." She pried the blonde off herself and turned, storming up the stairs to the second floor of Stein's Lab.
Patti pouted. Gwen curled up behind the closed door of the room the girls were staying in. "Amy-chan?" Patti looked after her.
"Patti we'll see her later. I want Kid to get his routines done while we primp for the concert that way we aren't late." Liz told her sister.
Gwen tuned the guitar, her hands dancing over the keys as she and her "band" began to play. Rangiku was hiding in her superhero disguise and a bakudo 26 in the club, back up in case something went wrong. "So Death City, are we ready to rock?"
"YEAAAAAAH!" The crowd roared.
Gwen looked over at Morgan and Ichigo on one side. Then Renji on the drums. Rukia had the keyboard behind them. "right, we're the Howling Dragons. And our motto is..." A few stirring chords. "Music to move the Soul!"
She started up rise against, "Collapse; Post Amerika" Gwen knew how to shred. She and Morgan played their guitars in tandem. Renji was pretty bad with a guitar, but he could drum very well. And as Gwen and Morgan wove their voices together and Ichigo joined in, her soul wavelength swelled with the thrill of music.
"We'll knooooooow, this is not a test, ooooh nooooo, this is cardiac arrest, of a world too proud to admit our mistakes, crashing into the ground as we all... all fall from grace!"
A tall blonde figure in a priest's uniform entered the audience, standing at the back, Spirit stood with him, a huge grin on his face. She could smell Stein's cigarette smoke coming from backstage. Satilite, worth dying for, the group tore through the next two songs and when they paused for a breath Gwen grinned. "So... this next song... I'm gonna give the vocals over to Usagi here, the next couple are better for male voices. Of course they're in Japanese but the english words are on that screen and the japanese ones on that one on the other side so..."
Gwen started up the intro for "Tattoos on the sky" and Ichigo raised his voice in stirring tones.
"If I do not wield the sword it is
Impossible to protect you
ah even though all our eyes are open
We're dreaming of flying through the sky.
Wowowo
Those who are living and those who died
The DEKA of sadness even is the same
There is no reason; I don't want to see your tears
My soul calls tattoos on the sky
If I keep wielding the sword it is
Impossible to embrace you
Even if you can reach the moon and mars alike
You cannot reach the truth ya
Wowowo
There is no justice or having the upper hand
Even in you there's unknown power
There is no reason; I only want to protect you
My body howls Tattoos on the sky,
Tattoos on the sky
Tattoos on the sky
Wowowo
There is no justice or having the upper hand
Even in you there's unknown power
There is no reason; I only want to protect you
My body howls Tattoos on the sky
Tattoos on the Sky
Tattoos on the skyyyyyyyyyyy!"
Gwen finished her guitar piece with a flourish. "Kaguro..." She grinned. "Why don't you sing /your/ song now? After all, it was written for /you./" Gwen's expression was smug, drunk on the glory of the guitar.
Renji grinned, and when Gwen struck up the tune he sang in a deep tenor voice that made a /lot/ of girls swoon, Standing to Defend You. That was fun, and Gwen grinned. "The way we roll is, every concert each of us gets to pick at least one song to sing solo. So lets see, Kaguro and Usagi have both gone." She looked over at Morgan. "Karana, its your turn."
"I want you to sing it with me, after all its /our/ song."
"I'll do a fast version later if the audience is so inclined. Right guys?" She looked out over the crowd.
Expectant grins and a couple of calls of ascent.
Morgan hesitated, shyly stepping up to the microphone. Renji struck a bell hung by his drum a few times, and Morgan began to play, Gwen joined in on her guitar. Morgan's voice was slow, sad...
"You can't quit until you try
You can't live until you die
You can't learn to tell the truth
Until you learn to lie
You can't breathe until you choke,
got to laugh when you're the joke
There's nothing like a funeral to make you
FEEEL ALIIIIIVVVEEE."
Maka was entranced, she could feel the emotion on Morgan's soul wavelength. /Karana-chan, she's... its as if she feels every word of it with a hundred percent of her soul. There's anguish, anger, joy, pain, love... all of it wrapped up into one roiling package./
Morgan's beautiful contralto voice handled the notes with absolutely no trouble whatsoever.
"ooooh liiiiiifee, just open your eyes,
just open your eyes and see that life is /beauuutiifullll/
Will you swear on your life, that no one will cry, at my funeraaaalll."
Maka leaned on the edge of the stage, looking up at Morgan enrapt. Morgan blinked, looking down at her in surprise, but her voice never faltered once.
Suddenly there was no audience, it was just Maka there at the bottom of the stage. Morgan had this sad, soft smile on the face of her gigai.
"I know some things that you don't
I've done things that you won't
There's nothing like a trail of blood
To find your way back home
I was waiting for my hearse
What came next was so much worse
It took a funeral to make me feeeel aliiiiiiveee
Just open your eyes, just open your eyes,
And see that life is /beaaauuutifulll/
Will you swear on your life
That no one will cry, at my funeral..."
Morgan's guitar faded out and Gwen's picked up the melody, loud, rowdy, defiant. With a deep breath she squared her shoulders.
Kid slipped into the concert hall, taking a seat with Liz and Patti near the front. Gwen crowed, her wavelength thundering a defiant thrill of joy through the hall and the crowd. Kid shuddered and Patti got that trademark huge grin of hers.
"You can't quit until you try
You can't live until you die
You can't learn to tell the truth
Until you learn to lie
You can't breathe until you choke
Got to laugh when you're the joke
There's nothing like a funeral
To make, you FEEEEL alive."
On the chorus, Gwen looked Kid right square in the eyes, bending in and smirking at him. She was /goading/ the young shinigami, challenging him.
"Just open your eyes, just open your eyes
And see that life is /BEAUTIFULL!/
Will you swear on your life
That no one will cry, at my FUNERAAALLLLLLL!"
On "Funeral" Gwen threw her head back, the word a roar of defiance to the skies above the concert hall.
Then the moment was over, Gwen moved on, her guitar's notes melding with Morgan's.
"I know some things that you don't,
I've done things that you won't
There's nothing like a trail of blood
To find your way back home."
There was just this soft hint of nostalgia in her tone, her wavelength giving off just this sweet, sad feeling. Kid knew it, this was a woman who had had a brush with dying herself.
"I was waiting for my hearse,
What came next was so much worse
It took a funeral, to MAKE ME FEEL ALIVE!" Gwen roared.
She gestured for the crowd to join in on the refrain, and a few in the crowd did. Patti had a surprisingly good voice, and she heard a yell of "Yahoo!" from the back before Blackstar joined in. Gwen stomped her foot, Spirit joined in, and before long the concert hall was stomping in time with her melody.
"Just open your eyes, just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful,
Will you swear on your life,
That no one will cry, at my /FUNERALLLL!/"
And then Gwen began to shred, a guitar solo that blazed as brightly as her soul. On the final refrain, Morgan joined in, and so did the entire hall, stomping or clapping in time with the music. Maka was just plain entranced. The joy that came off of Gwen and Morgan's wavelengths as they sang had swept her up.
"Just open your eyes, just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful,
Will you swear on your life,
That no one will cry, at my /FUNERALLLL!/"
The song died away abruptly. There was dead silence in the hall. Then thunderous applause. Then they started up the skillet covers. Rukia sang "Comatose" very well, and then Gwen and Morgan did a duet, "Whispers in the Dark" and "Awake and Alive." Gwen dedicated those two songs to "My sweetheart back home. I love you honey, I'll come home soon." Ichigo struck up one of the songs from Gwen's world, written about him for the Bleach character albums "My blade is my pride." Then Morgan doing Skillet again with, "Eating me away." Ichigo and Renji sang a duet for "Help is on the way" by Rise against.
Gwen could feel the reiatsu of the crowd rising, thrilling as one with them as Ichigo began to sing. Satilite, by rise against.
You can't feel the heat until you hold your hand over the flame
You have to cross the line just to remember where it lays
You won't know your worth now, son, until you take a hit
And you won't find the beat until you lose yourself in it
That's why we won't back down
We won't run and hide
Yeah, 'cause these are the things that we can't deny
I'm passing over you like a satellite
So catch me if I fall
That's why we stick to your game plans and party lines
But at night we're conspiring by candlelight
We are the orphans of the American dream
So shine your light on me
And then Morgan joined in, smiling at Ichigo.
You can't fill your cup until you empty all it has
You can't understand what lays ahead
If you don't understand the past
You'll never learn to fly now
'Til you're standing at the cliff
And you can't truly love until you've given up on it
That's why we won't back down
We won't run and hide
Yeah, 'cause these are the things that we can't deny
I'm passing over you like a satellite
So catch me if I fall
That's why we stick to your game plans and party lives
But at night we're conspiring by candlelight
We are the orphans of the American dream
So shine your light on me
And together they began in earnest.
She told me that she never could face the world again
So I offered up a plan
We'll sneak out while they sleep
And sail off in the night.
We'll come clean and start over the rest of our lives.
When we're gone we'll stay gone.
Out of sight, out of mind.
It's not too late,
We have the rest of our lives.
We'll sneak out while they sleep
And sail off in the night
We'll come clean and start over the rest of our lives
When we're gone we'll stay gone.
Out of sight, out of mind.
It's not too late,
We have the rest of our lives.
The rest of our lives
Patti was jumping up and down, and then Kid yelped as she grabbed him by the arms and pulled him from his seat onto the dancefloor, swinging him around in a happy dance. "PATTI, wait PATTIIII!"
"C'mon Kiddo-kun! This is a concert! We should be ROCKING!"
Because we won't back down
We won't run and hide
Yeah, 'cause these are the things that we can't deny
I'm passing over you like a satellite
So catch me if I fall
That's why we stick to your game plans and party lives
But at night we're conspiring by candlelight
We are the orphans of the American dream
So shine your light on me (shine your light on me)
Because we won't back down
We won't run and hide
Yeah, 'cause these are the things that we can't deny
I'm passing over you like a satellite
'cause these are the things that we can't deny now
This is a life that you can't deny us now
On and on into the night they rocked, Gwen, Morgan, Renji, Ichigo and Rukia taking turns playing, Rise against; Long forgotten sons, Under the Knife, Entertainment, Injection, Saosin; Collapse, Skillet; The last night, Savior, Hero, Feel like a Monster Utada Hikaru; Simple and Clean (Morgan danced for that one, singing and utterly captivating the crowd, male and female alike), Sanctuary, Yui; Rolling star (Gwen had to sing that one.)
At midnight, Gwen sighed. "I hate to end this, but you know, I did promise my manager I'd end the ruckus at midnight." she chuckled. "I figured I'd end with one last fighting song and let you be away."
There was some awwwws of disappointment and noises of anticipation.
Gwen began to strum, a steady medium fast beat. "See... we don't just want to be a fad, we want to be a Phenomenon."
"If you're like us, calling all riders, roll up beside us, no place to hide us,
all freedom fighters, let's unite us, switch on your nitrous and...let's.. go...
Destination, for navigation, man up ya stations, feel the sensation surround invasion,
with communication, move quick, we might avoid contamination."
Ichigo jumped in with Gwen, his alto tenor voice joining in. Renji was about two lines behind him in jumping in.
"Down, Here comes the sound, everyone pound your feet to this Phenomenon, Now let's make it
loud, let's show 'em all how you move to this phenomenon, Roll! Open your soul, maybe lose
control inside of this phenomenon, just let your self go, and let everyone know you move to
this phenomenon."
Morgan raised her voice in a beautiful, songbird like harmony with Ichigo and Renji's deeper tones and Gwen's alto. And behind her, Rukia joined in with her soprano. The five singers wove their tones around each other. Soul grinned at their harmony, clearly they were well practiced.
"Don't let these spiders crawl up beside us, they want to bite us, inject the virus. Raise up
the lighters, praise to the righteous, we need to guide us, get...prepared..to.. go..if you're
like us, calling all riders, roll up beside is, no place to hide us, all freedom fighters,
let's unite us, switch on your nitrous..and.. lets..go.."
Gwen began to stomp and motioned for the crowd to join in on the chorus.
"Down, Here comes the sound, everyone pound your feet to this Phenomenon, Now let's make it
loud, let's show 'em all how you move to this phenomenon, roll! Open your soul, maybe lose
control inside of this phenomenon, just let your self go, and let everyone know you move to
this phenomenon."
Ichigo and Renji alternated lines on the next verse, Ichigo thrust his fist in the air on "LETS GO!"
"Can't take it anymore, shake until we move the floor, what are we waiting for? Let's go! I'm
tired of being ordinary, don't care if there's people staring, I'll rely on your strength to
carry me on. I'm not invisible like you, next time things get a little messed up, I'll shine,
but I'll never be see through. I'm fine just tryin to wake the rest up.
Down, Here comes the sound, everyone pound your feet to this Phenomenon, Now let's make it
loud, let's show 'em all how you move to this phenomenon, roll! Open your soul, maybe lose
control inside of this phenomenon, just let your self go, and let everyone know you move to
this phenomenon."
They came to a sudden stop, bowing before thunderous applause. The curtains fell. As soon as Gwen got to the green room Rangiku broke cover and squealed. "OH MY GOODNESS! YOU WERE ALL AMAZING! OOOOH RUKIA I DIDNT KNOW YOU HAD THAT KIND OF MUSIC IN YOU."
"Ah, I don't have a golden throat like Morgan's." Rukia blushed. "But I did my best. I liked it."
"i'm gonna get some air after that and some tea before I go back and get to bed." Gwen yawned.
She smiled drowsily, looking up at the laughing moon, which was so /alien/ to Gwen, walking down the street. "What a glorious thing creation is." She mused. "A moon with a face like a person, and a sun with the same. How unique. I wonder if the stars have faces too."
"Dunno." A voice came from behind her. It was Kid. "Your arm looks better."
"Concealer." Gwen said dismissively. "I just look up at the night sky, the vastness of it all. You know, look in one direction and you have billions of stars with billions of planets and some of them might have life. I wonder what shinigami are like out there in the cosmos."
"Speculating about aliens huh. Well they probably don't call themselves by that name."
"True, no guarantee they use scythes either, even though a blade is a useful tool for cutting and combat, and a long pole would give them better reach, there are multiple ways of achieving the same end with the same two components." Gwen sighed dully.
"What's wrong?" Kid asked.
"Tired."
"The way you sang, it felt like you put your soul into every note."
"I did indeed. Its easier for me to express myself with music than with words. Karana's the same way. Of our little group, the other three sometimes act like the protective older siblings. Add in Thalia's older brother Tetsuo and you have well... an odd mix."
"Your manager."
"Yeah. We're a Nakama affair, thats how we roll."
"What's Nakama mean?"
"Nakama are people who aren't always related to you by blood, but who are still your family because they feel like family in your heart. Liz and Patti are your Nakama right?"
"I suppose." Kid sighed. "I never thought about it that way."
Gwen chuckled, then yawned. "i'm tired Kid, I just needed some fresh air."
"Wait..." Kid ran after her... "Are you..."
"Am I what?"
"Forget it." Kid scuffed the dirt with his toe.
Gwen's internal growl caused Seiryuu to stir. Gwen could see him in her inner world, coiled around a sleeping Saeyamaru. "Good, then I'm getting some alone time. If you have something constructive to ask me, then ask, if not, get lost so that I can think for a bit." Gwen snapped, striding away.
Kid watched her go, then he took off after her. "Amy..."
"Hmm?"
"Are you a shinigami?"
Gwen rolled her eyes skywards. "You /know/ I'm not. You and your father are the only ones."
"But you knew that old superstition?"
"Thats because I have had a lifelong fascination with myth, legend, and folklore and an exhaustive memory for all three of those." Gwen sighed, getting annoyed.
"But your senses are so honed."
"I was sickly and weak as a child, my left arm was so bad i couldn't even lift a textbook with it. I learned how to fight because I wanted to toughen up. Now I can slam a kisshin's egg's face into a brick wall, and their head through it. Thalia and Usagi have both seen me do it. Now I ask you, if I can shove a demon's head through a wall, do I need to train as a Meister? Because quite honestly, my only needs are to defend my soul from those who would consume it. I have no desire to apply that talent for anything other than self defense or recreation."
Kid sighed. She was on the defensive. He wasn't going to get anything out of her. "Sorry Amy."
"Whatever." Gwen could hear Michael Weston's coaching in her head. /If someone accuses you of being something, don't break your cover by fessing up. Thats an amateur move. Instead, just play your role harder./ Gwen's role was the sometimes hostile, emotionally aged, overly joyful Amy Selene, the lead singer for the band "Howling Dragons" and a fighter. She had an image in her head of what the cover should act like. She knew she had to prove she wasn't an /idiot/ when it came to under cover work.
Shinigami-sama had been watching the concert from the Deathroom, examining the place in the mirror to see if he recognized it. He watched "Amy" walk away and Kid finally letting her go. "Sorry Kid, but I don't think Mirai will reveal herself so easily to you."
Gwen flopped on the bed back in Stein's lab, curling up on the bunk in the room the girls were sharing. Rukia was on the video phone with Dawn. "So how's your training with Botan?"
"ITS SO HARD! But I'm not gonna give up!" The pokemon coordinator beamed. "No need to worry! Besides, when it really gets busy Keiko-chan makes lunch, and Yusuke really understands a lot of the reasons why I want to learn to fight alongside Piplup."
"Good, you're in great hands with her, and since your world doesn't have much in the way of defenses against spiritual threats, every hand able to fight is important. Your world needs to develop some amount of spiritual sovereignty. Please Dawn, train with the objective of independence. Its important for your world. Though I have to say your attitude on this is surprisingly shinigami like." Rukia chuckled.
"Uhuh, and maybe if we ally with Shibusen I can attend there! I'd learn a lot then wouldn't I?"
"Yeah I'll bet you would, thats what I like about you Dawn. You may get discouraged when something goes wrong, but you pick yourself up and try again every time. And believe me, what you're trying to learn how to do is hard, it took me six years to learn how to fight hollows. But its worth the hard work."
Dawn nodded. "I know." She smiled serenely. "No need to worry."
"No need to worry then." Rukia smiled.
In her dreams that night, Gwen dreamed of the very event that had put Dawn on the path of the warrior, rather than the path of the coordinator. /My will to protect is my greatest strength, and my failures to protect are my madness./
FLASH! An enormous adjuchas named Goliath had left Twinleaf town a smouldering ruin. Most of the people had run for it, and succeeded in getting away thanks to their pokemon. But Goliath had the deceased pluses of many of the villagers in chains. He was eating them one by one, and his henchmen had Gwen, Dawn and Morgan bound, forcing them to watch. Dawn's mother had gotten her warning and fled, with as many people as would go with her, to Lake Verity to meet the reinforcements from Soul Society. Stein, Akon, Nemu and Washu had helped to evacuate Professor Rowan's lab and take his research with him.
"DEEEEEEDEEEEEEE!" Kenny yelled, struggling against his bonds.
Dawn screamed, suddenly becoming hysterical. "KENNY! YOU BASTARDS LET HIM GO THATS MY FRIEND LET HIM GOOOO!"
Gwen hissed, seethed, screamed angrily. Something ugly was rising inside of her. A shinigami existed to protect souls. Every soul Goliath ate pushed her closer to the edge.
Goliath lifted Kenny by his soul chain. "DEEEE DEEE! TAKE CARE OF MY POKEMON FOR ME! YOU GET STRONGER AND KILL THIS GUY YOU HEAR ME?"
"KENNY!"
"!" Gwen's reiatsu shot through the roof and she roared in outrage. She wasn't just going to kill Goliath, she was going to MUTILATE him before she did!
Goliath opened his massive jaws. He looked right in Dawn's eyes and shoved Kenny's plus right into his mouth.
Gwen's bonds broke. Her reiatsu disintegrated the hollows nearest her. Goliath squeezed, Kenny screamed and yelled encouragement to Dawn. "GET STRONGER DAWN AND SHOW THIS GUY WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!" He yelled as the last of his soul went down Goliath's gullet.
Dawn screamed hysterically. Gwen ripped any hollow that got near her in half, tearing and crushing masks and sending blasts of razor sharp ice, sharp as Stein's scalpel, at the enemy. Goliath waded towards them, holding the soul of a little girl in his grip as a hostage.
Gwen snatched the girl's soul, stamping Saeyamaru to her forehead to Konso her. She was half in and half out of Dragon form. Sapphire blue chakra, not reiatsu, flowed from her forming into wings and a tail, which burst from her back. Her body became covered in scales, horns came from her head. She changed into a creature, half human, half huge sapphire dragon. And very much resembling the jinchuriki of Naruto's world. But this was no Bijou being cut loose inside her, this was a Dragon God, Seiryuu the Harmonious One of the East. And they were both, so enraged, that the world seemed tinged in the red of anger.
"MOOOOOOOOOOONSTAARRRRR! I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!" Gwen yelled as she sat up, startling Maka, who glared at her.
"MAKAAAA CHOP!" WHACK Gwen ended up being gently whacked with a wooden spoon. "Thats for scaring me."
"G... gomen, I've had a lot of nightmares lately." Gwen blushed slughtly, looking shyly up at the younger girl. "What are you doing here?"
"I needed to get some things from Stein for my extra credit assignment, we're leaving tomorrow to go hunt a Kisshin's egg."
"need a third man?" Gwen asked hopefully. "I can shove his head through a wall and you can decapitate him with Soul. Simple, swift, and effective with a minimum of effort, time and potential for injury."
"Wow... you're brutal."
"I have a bit of a macabre sense of humor. Besides, thats my usual self defense tactic when something tries to eat my soul. Shove their face where they can't pull it out, then bust their neck. I'd run but if I let it live it would just eat something else."
"Common sense." Maka sighed, yawning. "Anyway, I have to get some books for my project." She set down a tray of breakfast. "I made this for you, since Stein can't cook too well."
"Thanks." Eggs, and bacon. Gwen took a great big forkfull and shoved it into her mouth.
Maka left, and Gwen sighed. She went to get her Mirai costume as soon as she sensed the girl's reiatsu retreating. She had some things to do.
"Let me monitor Maka."
"We ALL have to get that monitoring in. You follow Kid today." Gwen told her.
"Settle down children." Stein grinned. "Rangiku, I need you to place the next clue in the library, get on your costume. Remember your alias is "Nekomata."
"HAIIII!" Rangiku beamed. "What section?"
"Mythology. Here's the book you need to find. Tease her, get her attention, heckle her a bit and put the clue in this book. Students don't have to go to class the day before an extracurricular lesson because they're supposed to be researching their current mission assignments." Stein told her. "Maka /always/ researches her own assignments so..."
"As Tachikoma-kun would say, Roger!" Rangiku bustled off happily big bustier wobbling as she went. "ooooh, I'm gonna boob smoosh her! That will be so much fun! I just /know/ she's going to react in a far more interesting way than Taichou!"
"Rangiiiikuuu." Stein growled, cigarette dangling from his mouth as he went.
Gwen giggled. Morgan rolled her eyes. "No wonder Delphine hits that."