Vs. The One; Can Symmetry and Asymmetry Work Together?
Kid looks down at the seemingly untouched soil of the blank grave.
Patti is poking a worm with a stick behind him and Liz, giggling to herself. Liz stands with her arms crossed, looking down at smooth soil.
"I could have sworn this was the grave," Kid scratches his head.
"It is! I know it is!" Liz says.
"But wasn't there a hole here?" Death the Kid asks.
"There's a hole here!" Patti laughs. "Mr. Worm's!" The worm slides back into its hole and disappears. "Dang."
"Patti, can we please focus?" Kid groans.
"But he was sooooooo cute!"
"Hey, maybe that barrier thing also covered up the hole? To prevent anyone from spotting this entrance," Liz suggests.
"That's the most probable theory," Kid says.
Patti pops up between Liz and Kid, "Or maybe this is big Mr. Worm's front door and he's asleep!" Liz removes her little sister's hat and pats her head.
"Let's get down there," Death the Kid says.
"How are we going to do that?" Liz asks, placing Patti's hat back.
"First I'll need to take a couple measurements," Kid says.
Liz sighs.
"I'll need to make sure that we dig a hole aligned with the tombstone," Kid points down at the ground a foot from the base of the stone cross. "Then we'll need to make the hole with a radius of 5 feet so we'll have enough room to fit down."
"Isn't there a coffin right there?" Liz asks.
"Yes there is. To the keep the symmetry we'll have to dig two tunnels, each on parallel to the head stone. Those will hook around the coffin and join together directly beneath the entrance hole." Through Kid's whole symmetry rant, he holds his hands up, with his thumb, index, and middle fingers extended. He also constantly flexes his index and middle fingers.
"Forget symmetry!" Patti yells. "Get your ass moving!"
"Patti?" Liz asks, concerned with her sister's sudden outburst.
"Now where's Mr. Worm!?'
"He's under this grave," Liz says slyly. "We just have to go wake him up! Let's get digging!"
"I'm coming, Mr. Worm!" Patti yells as she drops to her knees. She begins to claw through the dirt. In seconds, the hole is several inches deep.
Liz drops down as well, "I knew Patti would be the most helpful. You gonna help Kid?"
"Hold on," He says. "Let me just run back home and grab some measuring tools and a shovel."
"Don't you dare," Liz glares at her meister.
"It's unlocked! Yaaay!" Patti claps her hands, knocking the dirt off of them.
"Unlocked?" Liz turns back to the hole.
Sure enough, a tunnel has been uncovered leading down to a brown coffin. The tunnel then curves to the left and disappears.
"It must take a while for the barrier to completely cover the tunnel?" Liz shrugs, brushing the dirt off her jeans.
"Enough with your wild speculations," Kid sighs. "Let's just hurry this up. It will be a hit and run mission. We get in, find the guys, and get out. Now turn into guns."
"Why?" Patti asks. "In case we run into some early trouble?"
"No, so we can blast a hole through that coffin. It's a vertical tunnel, we can just fall right straight down."
"You just don't want to get dirty," Liz accuses.
"Do as you're told."
Death the Kid tumbles through a hole in the side of a rock cliff. Despite his precautions, the obsessive meister still manages to cover himself with soil. He drops his pistols and swats himself in an attempt to wipe it all off.
"Disgusting! Disgusting!" He growls. "Rotten air, messy dirt, asymmetrical tunnels! It's all disgusting!"
"Oh knock it off," Liz chuckles in gun form.
"Where's Mr. Worm?" Patti asks.
"You can see him a little bit," Liz says in a soothing voice. "First we need to get our friends back."
"Then we can introduce them to Mr. Worm! Hurray!"
"Shhh, Patti!" Kid picks up his guns again. "We're in hostile territory!"
He scans the barren landscape around him. Grey rocks and soil spread until they meet the walls of the marge valley they are in. Off in the distance, four towers stand above the bleak desert.
"We should head there," Kid points with one gun.
Dry wind swirls around the meister as he cautiously makes his way over the shifting ground. The sky is blood red and the clouds black. No mounds or hills can be seen in the valley.
The meister and weapons soon get close enough to the towers to see them in detail. Each tower is made from grey bricks and has one window each near the tops. The tops of the towers are flat.
"What beautiful towers!" Death the Kid smiles as he observes how each tower's window has exactly 15 stones on either side of the keystone. The windows are all facing the same direction, as are the 4 doors on each of the towers. The towers align to form a perfect square. Then, Kid notices that one tower is slightly taller than the others and scowls.
"Should we knock?" Patti asks.
"Are you crazy?" Kid says. He points to the windows, "We should climb up there."
"They're like 100 feet in the air!" Liz says.
Without responding, Kid sprints towards the towers. He quickly flicks his pistols into the air. He tightens the muscles is his right hand, materializing a green skateboard. Death the Kid throws the board down, hops on, catches Liz and Patti and rockets towards the closest tower without a door.
Stomping down on the back of the board, Kid launches himself off the ground. He unnecessarily ollies in the air as he soars towards the window. Letting the skateboard fall back to the ground, the daredevil lands on the windowpane.
Chained to the dark wall across from him is Black*Star. Blood flows from a wound on the top of his head, his eyes are closed.
"It's Black*Star," Patti whispers. "Is he dead?"
The assassin lets groan escape his mouth.
"He's not alone," Death the Kid replies. He motions towards the other bodies hanging by their wrists to the cold stones.
Soul, Janine, Moon, and Reaper hang in different places along the wall. Moon and Janine are also unconscious. Reaper and Soul have their attention focused down below. Kid and his partners look down as well and gasp at what they see.
Bound to the floor in chains is Tsubaki. Kneeling over her writing body is a woman with neck-long, glossy black hair. She also is wearing green and purple robes and black-bead necklaces. Her left hand is in Tsubaki's mouth and her right is hovering over her chest. Laying next to the women is a long wooden staff. They are in the center of a large chalk-drawn pentagram, with candles lit at every one of the star's points.
"Tsubaki!" Liz whispers in shock.
"Look who else," Kid motions outside the star.
Outside the devil star is a monster; an ogre. The large creature's pitch black body's muscles ripple along his arms and bare chest. His teeth are too big for his mouth. The ogre wears a black cloth around its groin. This is The One of Black Mayhem.
Hanging from The One's claws is a girl wearing tattered trench coat revealing her white blouse beneath it. She also wears a red plaid skirt and buckled boots. The girl is barely conscious.
Around the room are several other figures in black cloaks.
"Maka!?" Patti whispers. "And The One?"
"Dis one ain't got many souls in 'er, no sir-ee!" The strange woman says. Then she closes her eyes and chants, "Kull skull bun bone! Soul Pull!"
Tsubaki screams in agony as the woman's hands begin to glow. The color is deep red. When the shaking demon weapon loses consciousness, the woman pulls her hand out of Tsubaki's mouth. She claps her red palms together and several wispy kishin eggs materialize. The eggs begin to shift and bubble and change shape.
"Take deese outside to reform," The woman commands The One. "After dey do, introduce dem to da others.
The One points at Tsubaki with a long claw, "My?"
"Yes, you can take da weapon," The woman says. "But don't kill 'er yet, same with da one you already got!"
The One then points up at Janine, chained to the wall, "My?"
"Leave 'er fa now! 'Er weapon's still out dere somewhere."
"Grims escaped?" Liz says.
"We'll have to find him," Death the Kid says. "Did you hear that chant? This woman is a witch."
"Should we take her now?"
"She said there were others. Let's see if we can't free our friends, and Reaper and Moon, to help fight."
THe One of Black Mayhem grabs Tsubaki with is free hand and drags both girls towards the doorway. Every other cloaked figure takes a kishin egg and follows. To the Kid's surprise, instead of going through the door, The One taps a section of the wall next to the door. A staircase opens in the floor. The ogre heads down the staircase followed by the other figures. The hole seals itself.
"Lower da white scythe!" The witch commands an unseen figure to do.
Death the Kid turns away from the strange scene inside the tower. He sees the adjacent tower's door open and The One exits it. The other figures release the kishin eggs and walk off through the door of another tower. The kishin eggs float up into the air to continue reforming.
"The towers are all connected," Death the Kid states.
"Oh no," Liz groans as she sees The One make his way towards the skateboard Kid left on the ground. "We've been found out."
Suddenly, a figure jumps out from behind the tower and charges the ogre. It's Grims.
The One bellows in rage and drops Maka and Tsubaki. He runs to meet Grims.
"I hope these walls are sound-proof," Kid groans as he leaps from the tower window.
The One jumps into the air as Grims's hands glow with the colors of the rainbow. Two white, spotted brass knuckles form over his fists. The dim shadow beneath The One leaps at Grims to envelope him in darkness.
Kid's shoe collides with the side of The One of Black Mayhem's head, knocking him away from Grims. The shadow recedes as well. Grims reels back away from his surprise savior.
"Whoa! Death the Kid?" Grims sputters
"No need to thank me," Kid smiles.
"You jerk! I had him! Not cool stealing my soul!" Cool Grims yells.
"You're welcome," Liz sighs.
"Why are you down here anyway?" Grims asks.
"You guys have been gone for three hours!" Kid says.
"Three hours!? That can't be, we've been here for 15 minutes at the most."
"You have!? Time must work differently here, or something."
"Watch out, Kid!" Patti squeals. Her meister looks up to see The One swing his claws at him. Kid performs as back-flip and dodges the attack. While The One is focused on the Grim Reaper, Grims punches the serial killer with his brass knuckle. It has little effect on the ogre.
The One roars as he claws at the demon weapon. Cool Grims ducks out of the way and aims another punch at Jack's gut. He catches Grims' arm and raises his other claws. Before he can swing, Death the Kid shoots a wave of pink bullets at him. The orgre is forced to release Grims and retreat.
"Thanks," Grims says, rubbing his torn sleeve.
"Why didn't you thank us before?" Liz asks.
"Because you didn't save me," The arrogant Cool Grims answers.
"Come on guys," Death the Kid says. "He's coming back!"
The One of Black Mayhem's shadow jumps at Kid. He fires bullets from his guns into it. The shadow slinks back to the ground as The One swings his claws at Grims again.
"You asshole!" He shouts as his brass knuckles disappear. "You don't deserve to live!"
The One growls and attempts to attack Grims again.
Grims's fingers transform into gun barrels, "Together, Kid!"
"Together!" Kid agrees.
Both the demon weapon and meister fire at their opponent at the same time. Unfortunately, Grims' bullets hit the ogre first, knocking him away from the second wave.
"No!" Grims yells. "Sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen!"
"Never mind that!" Kid yells. "He's coming back again!"
The One lunges at Kid.
Kid starts firing at the ground around him kicking up plumes of dust and dirt. The One rips through the cloud to find he missed his target. Kid, who had just jumped up into the air, lands on the ogre's back and shoots at the back of The One's neck.
The One roars in pain and grabs Kid by the legs. He throws the Grim Reaper off of him at at the wall of the tower. Kid hits the hard stones, coughs up a little blood and falls down onto his skateboard, "Beelzebub." He mutters when he sees his board is still around.
The One throws his shadow at Grims. The demon weapon raises his pistol fingers. The solid shadow strike the metal barrels and fly up into the air. It falls back down on a collision course with Grims.
Kid jumps to his feet and kicks Beelzebub at the serial killer, "Tornado Flip!"
The spinning skateboard knocks the shadow away from Grims. It hits the ground and slides back towards The One of Black Mayhem.
"Good shootin' Kid!" Patti cheers.
"Thanks, Death the Kid!" Gangster Grims says.
"No problem!" Kid says. "Let's finish this guy!"
Grims' fingers turn back to normal. Then, his arm transforms into a spotted scythe blade.
The One of Black Mayhem charges at Kid in a final attempt to kill him.
The Grim Reaper fires a single shot at The One, stunning him. Then, Grims jumps into the air, completes his transformation, and lands on The One. The blade cuts through the ogre's back as he evaporates. A kishin egg floats where he once was.
"Good work, Kid!" Grims says, sticking into the ground.
"Good work yourself!" Kid smiles. "I didn't know you were an autonomous weapon."
Grims turn back to his human form, "All of my personalities are."
"So lucky!" Liz says as she and Patti turn back into their human forms.
"So who's getting The One's soul?" Patti asks.
"Would you like it Grims?" Kid asks.
"Why me?" Grims asks.
"You made the final blow."
"Oh… well in that case," Grims approaches The One of Black Mayhem's soul. He grabs its tail and sticks out his tongue. Grims places the kishin egg on his tongue and pulls it into his mouth. The weapon chew for a while and then swallows. "That's soul number three!'
"Only three?" Patti giggles.
"I'm 12. I don't get to go on missions much."
"I'll have to see to my father that you do," Kid says. "When we get back home of course."
"But now, we have to save everyone inside," Liz says.
"I'll keep Tsubaki's souls safe until then," Kid extends a hand out and raises his pinkie and index fingers. "Konso!"
The kishin eggs are sucked into Kid's hand.
"Cool," Grims says. "Now let's get moving!"