Chapter two: Falling….with style

Whenever Tatsumi felt his eyes fluttering open again, he found himself bound up by chains in a dungeon, icy chains binding him while he was still in his armor!

Urgh…..my head hurts.

However, the moment he tried to move his arms the chains snapped and let him fall to the ground with a colossal THUD, his armor rattling from the impact as he glanced up at the chains and nodded.

I must weigh a few tons inside this armor, at least…..no wonder those chains broke.

Finally, Tatsumi realized something important.

Wait….where are my shields?

The moment he thought about them, Tatsumi almost yelped as they suddenly blinked into existence in his hands, as if summoned by magic!

Good. Looks like they can come and go at my will…..

Just as he was about to leave, he felt the armor around him finally evaporate as he collapsed to the ground on a knee, his breathing ragged as he felt warm blood trickling down his chin.

"Hah…Hah….that armor…..took a lot….out of me…."

Just as he felt himself about to pass out from wearing the armor for such an extended period of time, he heard the door to the dungeon click open, and as he looked up he saw none other than the blue haired woman who had frozen him walk in! As he looked up at her, he saw her eyes go wide as she glanced around confusedly, finally resting her eyes on him as she narrowed them and spoke.

"How did you get in here?"

Incredulous, Tatsumi was about to ask her what the hell she meant when he realized the armor made him look so much taller than he really was, making the real, five foot tall kid he was now look nothing like the intimidating demonic armored man who had turned her horse into clam chowder.

She doesn't think I'm the armored dude…not surprising. I barely think I'm that guy…Should I lie…?

Before he could even speak, he suddenly felt a collar being slapped on his neck as she tugged him out the door as she spoke.

"I have no idea how you snuck into my dungeons boy, but you belong to me now."

XXXXX

As she lead this new boy she had found in her dungeons to a more appropriate place to question him, Esdeath's found her heart beating faster than normal every time she glanced at his face, a fact that troubled her greatly.

Who is this young man….? And this feeling that swells up inside of me each time I look at him….how strange.

As she put such thoughts to the back of her mind, she continued to drag the boy off to her private room to extract more information from him there…

XXXXX

As Tatsumi felt himself being dragged along the floor by this crazy woman, he debated about whether or not he should risk activating Pluto.

If I activate it here, in my state….I might not be able to last five minutes wearing it, being this tired….But I think staying with this woman is just as dangerous.

Managing to steal a glance out a window as she dragged him by one, Tatsumi saw they were almost at the top of the palace, a great big grin spreading across his face as an idea popped into his head!

Oh yeah, I'm doing this.

Activating Pluto and waiting as the Demonic, pitch black armor enveloped him and made him weigh almost ten tons, Esdeath's arm almost flew out of her socket as she turned around and gasped, ice spears appearing around her as she spoke.

"It was you! Your tiny stature may have fooled me once, but no more! Get back-what?"

It was clear she had been expecting him to stay and fight, but instead Tatsumi trudged at a pace a snail could faster than over to the window, crashing through a wall without slowing down until he barreling straight out the window! As Esdeath rushed over to the window and glanced at him hurtling towards the ground, she grunted in frustration.

"That damned boy…..How annoying."

XXXXX

As the emperor and the minister were walking through the grass gardens outside the palace, their guards were following them along faithfully until the emperor stopped and turned to the minister, a flower in his hand.

"Don't they smell wonderful, minister?"

Turning to the tiny boy and taking another massive bite of the meat he had brought along, the minister nodded absentmindedly and spoke.

"Of course, your highness."

The emperor clearly was not pleased, so he turned to his guard to ask his opinion only to find him staring in horror up in the sky, his mouth barely moving as he uttered two words.

"B-B-B-Black meteor!"

Before he could even respond, a crash on par with a dozen explosions sounded off right beside them!

BOOOOOOM!

As a gargantuan plume of dust shot into the air, the minister coughed and hacked alongside the emperor as he spoke.

"Wha-What in the name of your highness was that?!"

As if to answer their question, a large, almost nine foot tall demon wearing armor rose from where the guard had been standing only moments before, the corpse of the guard a mere puddle below the armored demon as it turned to the minister, then the emperor, and nodded slightly.

"Excuse me."

So incredulous that a demon had fallen from the sky and crushed one of his guards, the emperor rubbed his eyes sleepily and turned to the minister.

"Am I dreaming, minister?"

The minster could only watch as the demon lumbered off in the direction of the palace walls, coughing as he replied.

"I-….I have no idea, sir….let us hope so."

XXXXX

After lumbering off towards the wall of the palace, Tatsumi's mind was racing at a million miles an hour as he began to pick up speed, each one of his footsteps sounding like a bomb going off as he charged.

Okay…survived the fall from the top of the castle….check. Was polite to the two men I saw when I landed….Check. Escaped the palace…..in progress.

Tatsumi shook his head and sighed as his speed continued to rise, the palace walls growing ever closer!

Let's hope this armor's stronger than those huge walls.

Now at the speed of a full on runaway locomotive, each of his footsteps sending a thunderclap around the palace as he ran, he was almost a hundred feet to the wall when a barrier of ice rose in front of him, the same woman's voice from earlier sounding from behind him.

"You can't escape, Assassin!"

Tatsumi however, had no time to adjust his course and merely crossed his arms and braced himself as he charged full steam ahead into her ice barrier, a deafening CRACK blasting over the palace as he shattered through it!

Thank god this armor's almost invincible. Bulky, hard to turn, not very powerful in the attacking department, and slow….but damn near invincible.

Hearing an angry yell from behind him, he heard the woman speak once more as he felt Ice spears pepper him from behind.

"STOP!"

Tatsumi could only laugh wildly as he kept on running, his voice as carefree as the wind itself.

"I COULDN'T IF I WANTED TO!"

As the walls of the palace came closer and closer, Tatsumi gritted his teeth and crossed his arms to shield the impact a little as he waited to hit it.

This is going to hurt, I think.

Slamming into the massive, super-thick walls of the palace at almost 100 miles an hour, a blast that almost deafened Esdeath rang out as stone and rubble shot into the sky! Approaching the hole in the massive, hundred-foot thick wall, Esdeath glanced at it and gritted her teeth.

Damn Night raid. So he was one of them after all…..

XXXXX

Currently in midair over the imperial capital

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT IT HAPPENED AGAIN!"

Just as was Tastumi was beginning to wonder what god of incredibly high places he had pissed off to get into the second situation like this in one day, he found himself falling like a rock as he felt Pluto beginning to dissipate around him, his energy reserves completely exhausted as he hurtled towards the ground with unconsciousness creeping in!

Can't….pass out….. now!

Focusing his will and energy long enough to re-form the armor in the split-second before he slammed into the ground, Tatsumi tried to raise his head, but the darkness swallowed him whole as he fell into unconsciousness…..

XXXXX

Leone thought her day couldn't get any weirder, but whenever the inn she had been drinking at after returning from watching that armored man fall off a cliff exploded just as she left it, she sighed angrily.

"Damn it all. What is it about today…?"

As she turned around, her jaw actually dropped as she saw that same armored man from earlier laying in the rubble of the inn!

"EH?! Pipsqueak….? But-How-why-WHAT?"

Looking straight up and seeing smoke and rubble billowing outwards from the walls of the imperial palace, she realized he had crashed through the wall and fallen to right here! Scratching her head as she watched the armor dissipate and revealed the same boy from earlier, she sighed as she heard the imperial guard mobilizing.

"Guess we could use a new recruit, after all…anyone stubborn enough to out-stubborn that palace wall and piss of the entire palace guard…..they're okay in my book!"

Picking the boy up and glancing left and right, Leone activated her Teigu and leapt onto the rooftops as she made her way out of the city, and to Night Raid's base…..

XXXXXX

Although he could have sworn he had been knocked out, Tatsumi somehow found himself standing inside an endless sea of black, reflective metal…as far as the eye could see.

"Where….am I?"

As if hearing him, a gravelly voice echoed a reply from all around him.

"You are inside of the necklace."

His eyes going wide, Tatsumi spoke once more.

"Eh?! So does that make you….."

The voice interrupted him.

"Yes….I am Pluto….the deathless armor….the spirit of the danger beast used to forge the Teigu you wield."

Watching as the endless fields of black metal began to swirl around and coalesce into a long dragon that resembled a mountain, the beast's mouth moved as it spoke.

"Long have I been lost…long have I awaited someone who had the capacity to wield me, young warrior. For finding me and rescuing me from those accursed fools…I thank you."

Tatsumi cleared his throat and nodded slowly as he spoke, his voice trembling slightly.

"Y-Yeah….no problem. Listen…why choose me? Can't there be more suitable candidates out there than some guy from a village outside the empire?"

The beast touched a long, black claw to Tatsumi's chest as it rumbled a response.

"Do not discredit yourself, boy. You think location of birth has anything to do with your heart? Only those with the unyielding, stalwart and ironclad desire to never give in may wield me….no one less. My wielder must be strong enough to smile whenever he stands on the door of death, he must be valiantly enough to fight until blood gushes from his every pore when outnumbered a million to one with nothing but a broken dagger….he must be willing to fight the unfightable, withstand the strongest of tides, and push back the strongest of mountains. I can tell, boy…..you possess all of these things. Deep inside you, somewhere in the farthest reaches of your soul….lies the soul of a warrior that would do all the things I spoke of and more if it meant saving even one of the people he cared for."

As Tatsumi opened his mouth to say he didn't have any of those things, the beast spoke before him.

"Tell me I am wrong, boy. Tell me You would run away if the person you cared for most lay dying before you, their life in your hands."

Suddenly seeing an image of Sayo and Ieyasu in his head, Tatsumi angrily shook his head and yelled back.

"Of course I wouldn't! Who the hell kind of person would run away in a situation like that, huh?!"

The beast only produced a deep, bestial rumble in its throat as it spoke.

"Exactly as I thought…well done. To formalize this pact of ours….you must know of my trump card."

Touching a claw to Tatsumi's forehead, Tatsumi saw images of how to activate it and what it did and gasped as he spoke.

"THAT'S SO AWESOME!"

The beast ignored him and spoke.

"In any event, you must be careful with its use. It is immensely draining, and CAN kill you if you are unprepared. Now, you are needed back in the real world….."

The world around him vanishing before he could speak any more, Tatsumi felt himself falling back into reality…

XXXXX

His eyes shooting open as he sat straight up, Tatsumi glanced around the room to try and figure out where he was, only to fall straight back down onto the bed he had been on!

"Ouch!"

Sitting up a bit more gently this time, Tatsumi glanced around the room only to see seven people he had never seen before staring at him strangely. Feeling his face, Tatsumi spoke awkwardly.

"What? Do I have something on my face…?"

As he felt his face, the woman in yellow who he had seen before falling off that fortress wall and in front of the recruiting office stepped into his view, grinning as she spoke.

"Hey there. Feelin' Better…?"

Staring at her for a full second, Tatsumi angrily pointed at her as he spoke.

"You again! You made me fall off that cliff! ARGH!"

Scratching her head as if to say 'Whatcha gonna do?', the woman smiled apologetically as another woman, this one with a metal hand, approached him with a cigarette in her mouth as she spoke.

"Leone here tells me you fell from quite a few high places and survived…and you may wield a lost Teigu…..You got a name, boy?"

Grinning, Tatsumi hooked his thumb into his chest and proudly spoke.

"I'm Tatsumi!"

The woman looked dubiously at him as she spoke.

"Should I know you or something?"

Tatsumi slumped over in defeat as he sighed.

"No….."

The woman looked confused as she shook her head and continued.

"Anyway…..since Leone brought you back here….I need to see you in action for myself before I let you join."

Hearing the words 'Let you join', Tatsumi stood up slowly and turned to the woman.

"Wait, Join?! Who ever said I wanted to join? Aren't you guys' assassins?"

Before the metal armed woman could responded, Leone replied.

"We're assassins, yeah…but we only kill the scum that live in the empire, Tatsumi. What we do is murder, no question…but we kill the bad guys!"

Rubbing his chin, Tatsumi was thinking about this when the metal armed woman spoke flatly.

"That, and if you don't join we'll have to KILL you!"

His face going pale, Tatsumi was about to feel sick when he heard her chuckle and wave her metal hand as she laughed.

"Hahahah….sorry, bad joke. We won't kill you, but you won't be able to leave, either…."

Tatsumi once again rubbed his chin as he thought it over for a second before sighing.

"Guess I don't have a choice then."

The woman snapped her fingers as she grinned and turned to a man wearing a leather jacket with probably the most fabulous hair Tatsumi had ever seen.

"Good. Bulat, since Leone says he's an armor-wielder, I'll leave this to you."

As they all lead Tatsumi out to a small courtyard where the man in the leather Jacket stood and turned to him as Tatsumi made his way into the courtyard too, he turned to the woman with the metal arm.

"Okay, so for this 'test'…..Do I need to win, or….?"

The man in the leather Jacket spoke first, however.

"Nope. Just show us what you got! Don't worry…"

Suddenly, Tatsumi took a step back as the man seemed to sparkle!

"I'll go easy on you."

Tatsumi felt a shiver run down his spine.

That man is scary!

Before his eyes, Tatsumi watched as the man suddenly was encased in armor that looked wicked cool as he swung a large spear, gesturing to Tatsumi.

"Come on, then! Show me what you're made of!"

Sighing, Tatsumi nodded.

Closing his eyes for a split second, a dark black flash of light enveloped the courtyard, blinding everyone except the other man in the armor until it subsided, with everyone's eyes going wide as even the man in the armor seemed taken aback. However, it was Leone who spoke what was on all their minds.

"Daaaamn."

As they all stared at the nine-foot towering behemoth before them who held twin gargantuan greatshields, he slammed his shields together and spoke.

"Come on, then."

Not even bothering to move as the man charged at him and lunged at him with a spear, Jacob sighed as the spear clanked harmlessly off his armor.

"I'm telling you, it's useless! This armor's almost invincible!"

The man in the other set of armor laughed as he spoke.

"Yeah? Interesting. Oh yeah, just call me Bro, ok?"

Putting that out of his mind as 'Bro' came at him, Tatsumi slowly raised a massive shield and slammed it into the ground with a large BOOM in an attempt to crush the man, but he effortlessly dodged around his swing and laughed as he threw a dozen more thrusts.

"That armor's fat and slow! But damn…..it's tough."

Closing his eyes inside the armor as he felt more clangs reverberate through it, Tatsumi debated with himself.

Should I try out my trump card? I'd like to see the attack power of this thing. Yeah…..i'm doing it.

As Bro threw a dozen more thrusts in an attempt to find a weak spot, Tatsumi again lashed out with a shield, but he was too slow as Bro once again danced around his attacks, chuckling as he did so.

"Hrm…..that armor is something else, Tatsumi! But can't it attack? Being Invincible is cool and all, but it's kinda boring if you just stand there and swing shields at me."

Tatsumi grinned devilishly under his mask as he spoke.

"Thought you never ask, bro."

Taking a deep breath, Tatsumi spoke the words that would activate his trump card, shown to him by the beast he had met while unconscious.

"Pluto's trump card…break the doors of hades!"

Just as he had seen in the images in his head, chains suddenly appeared around his wrists and attached themselves to the shields, a fact that Bro laughed at.

"Your trump is attaching chains to your shields? Those things probably weigh two tons, what're gonna do, throw…..them…?"

His voice trailed off as Tatsumi let his shields fall to the ground as he wrapped his armored hands around the chains, laughing as he did so.

"You know, bro….what a good idea! But I got a better one…."

To the utter shock of everyone watching, Tatsumi grabbed the chains and actually began swinging his massive, two ton greatshields about like huge, two ton chain flails the size of trucks! Keeping them in a tight arc beside him as near-hurricane force winds began to whip around the courtyard, Tatsumi gritted his teeth as he tasted blood in his mouth.

Damn…even more draining than I planned for…..need to finish this.

Suddenly bringing his right shield down on top of Bulat with an ear-splitting bang, Bulat barely moved out of the way in time as he was suddenly put on the defensive as Tatsumi could suddenly reach around the entire courtyard!

"Well, I asked for attack power…..Damn."

Laughing, Tatsumi swung his massive flails all around the courtyard, each one landing with the force of a bomb blast as Bulat found himself hard pressed to evade them all! Thinking that Tatsumi would be vulnerable up close, Bulat was proven wrong as Tatsumi instantly pulled a shield back into his hands in time to block his thrusts, Bulat only barely managing to dodge the second shield as it came hurtling towards him from above! Just as he barely dodged a shield slamming down in front of him, Bulat backed up only to see the other swinging across the courtyard, about to pulp him between the two shields! Suddenly, however, a loud retching noise was heard as the chains vanished without warning along with the armor as everyone turned to see Tatsumi coughing up huge amounts of blood, wiping his chin as he shakily fell to the ground.

"Whoa….everything's spinning. Guess that trump card's a little out of my league, huh? Only got to use it for about twenty seconds…"

As everyone raced over to him, he looked up at bro as he stood above him still in his armor and shakily spoke.

"You think I got in, Bro?"

Strangely, he somehow still managed to sparkle as he showed Tatsumi a thumbs up.

"No worries. Power like that, Kid…..you got talent."

And once again, Tatsumi found himself falling into the inky black void of unconsciousness…..

XXXXX

Unfortunately, the beast inside of his armor didn't pay Tatsumi a visit while he was unconscious. Also unfortunately, it seemed only strange dreams from long ago rushed in to fill the gap…..

In the dream the filled his mind, Tatsumi saw a man who was clearly a lot taller than him wearing armor that looked exactly like Pluto standing beside a man who had an air of Regal Authority. The wielding of Pluto turned to this man and spoke.

"My Emperor…..it seems the city has not yet fallen."

The Emperor man turned to him and frowned as he replied.

"So it seems. I suppose you needed to intervene after all, Arthur."

The man who wore Pluto waved his hand as he lumbered forward to edge of the cliff they stood on that overlooked a city under attack by a massive army, pausing as he reached the edge to speak.

"No worries, my lord. Pluto and I are more than enough to handle these runts…..I'll only be a bit."

As the man leapt from the cliff and fell an entire mile to the battlefield, another man approached the emperor, a massive pair of scissors in his hands as he turned to him and spoke.

"Arthur never changes, does he? He is a most fearsome warrior….."

The emperor smiled softly as he watched an armored Arthur barrel through the city gates with his shields raised high, leading the endless hordes of his troops into the city.

"Yes…Until he finds someone who's as stubborn as he is."

The man with the scissors laughed.

"You think someone that stubborn exists? I'm no-Huh?!"

Pausing as a great ruckus rose up from the valley below, the Emperor and the man with the scissors watched as another massive group of people suddenly appeared behind their army, a group of Teigu wielders in the front! As if to clarify, cries of 'Rebellion, Rebellion!' rose up from all around the valley! The emperor cursed as he walked to the edge of the cliff, his fists trembling with rage as he saw Arthur and Pluto holding back two hundred thousand men and half a dozen Teigu Wielders, his troops being slaughtered on both sides!

"Traitors…..I'll kill them all!"

Before the man with the scissors could respond, they were both captivated as a massive beam of black light shot into the sky from the valley below, and only the emperor seemed to know what had happened.

"No….if Arthur Activated his trump card….things are bad!"

Both of them watched as Arthur's twin two ton greatshields spun around him on their chains in massive arcs, killing dozens around him as the traitors encircled him on all sides, a tide of frothing, angry soldiers all around him! As Arthur continued to fight against the tide of traitors, the man with the scissors seemed to bite back sadness as he turned to the emperor.

"Sire….we need to leave. It's not safe here."

As the Emperor turned to leave with him, he got one last look at Arthur Pluto, teigu users and soldiers surrounding him as he fought like a demon, blood seeping from every crack of his armor as he roared a challenge, his voice booming over the valley.

"FIGHT ME, TRAITORS! BY HIS HIGHNESS, I'LL SEE HALF YOUR SMILING FACES IN HELL THIS DAY!"

That was the last time anyone saw Arthur or Pluto for Five hundred years.

XXXXX

His eyes slowly fluttering open, Tatsumi found himself in a normal sized bedroom as he sat up in bed, rubbing his necklace as he thought about the dream he just had.

"That man…..Pluto's last user…died in the rebellion Five hundred years ago."

But why, he thought, had the armor shown him that? To show him how small he was compared to Arthur, the armor's last user? Tatsumi laughed as he thought that.

"Yeah, probably. I almost died from Twenty Seconds of that trump card….that man used it for five minutes it seemed like. Guess I got something to aspire to."

Cradling the obsidian necklace in his hand and staring at the jewel in it, Tatsumi sighed as he let it fall back to his chest and swung himself out of bed.

Making his way to the door, Tatsumi opened it and walked out into the hallway only to bump into Leone, the girl in yellow who grinned and slammed Tatsumi on the back as she spoke, her arm around his back.

"That was great, Tatsumi! Eyyyah, that was so cool!"

Suddenly, she got a little too excited and pulled him straight towards her chest, Tatsumi's coughs echoing up.

"Cant…..breathe…..boobs."

Pulling him out, Leone suddenly whacked him on his head, this time serious as she talked.

"But be more careful! That trump card of your is pretty wicked, but we can't our newest recruit dying on us!"

Scratching his head, Tatsumi lowered his head for a while before grinning like an idiot.

"Yeah….sorry. Guess I got carried away, huh?"

Rolling her eyes, Leone put her arm around his back as she led him through the hallways to the main hall.

"Yup. But no worries, big sis is here for you!"

Laughing along with her, Tatsumi and Leone finally arrived in the main hall where everyone else was waiting for him, all of their eyes turning to him as the woman with the metal arm extended a hand.

"Welcome to Night raid, Tatsumi. You're in."

And just like that, Tatsumi grinned like an idiot and laughed as everyone surged around him, excited to welcome their newest member.

Hey, chapter two's done! I knew that attack power would be a problem when I thought of Pluto, and it seems a couple of you out there did too…but no worries, for your storyteller has resolved that problem with his trump card! God damn, that thing is cool in my opinion. I mean, if you've played dark souls just imagine swinging two havel's greatshields around like toys and crushing people with them! If not, just think really big, really heavy shields being swung around like chain flails and crushing literally everything. Cool shit. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'm so excited about how many good reviews and favorites the story got! Keep them coming!