Me: Update!
"Hey…Isn't that…" Ace began before Lan tapped the guy on the shoulder as he handcuffed the guy.
"Yes?"
"Why the hell did you use my face as a damn springboard, you ass?" Lan demanded.
"Hm?"
The figure looked up at Lan with gold cat-like eyes as his spiky brown hair bounced a little. The sunlight reflected a bit off the six gold-colored disks on his open blue jacket as the red collar with a gold-colored bell tinkled. Sonic noted the XIII Tattoo on his left bicep, slightly hidden under his baggy white shirt. Arthur seemed to be the only one who noticed the guy was packing heat holstered at his left black pant leg.
"Hey there!" the guy grinned.
"Don't give me that crap!" Lan barked, "Apologize right now, dammit!"
"Oi…" Sonic sighed, "My apologies. My friend here is currently mad about you kicking him in the face."
"Uht! I hit him in the face? When?"
"Before you tackled this guy," Arthur replied as he held the guy up, "So you're a Sweeper? Haven't seen one of those in a long time."
"What's a Sweeper?" Ace asked.
"They're special officers," Arthur explained, "They travel the whole world and take on assignments that involve only catching criminals."
"Yep. And Johnson 'Cracker' Mason here is one of them," the man replied, "Name's Train, by the way. Train Heartnet."
"Train!"
Everyone turned to see two people run up. One was Lan's age with long flowing blond hair that ended at her knees. She had calm, calculating pink eyes with bangs just resting above them and a black dress with black running shoes. The other was a man in his early thirties with shaggy green hair under a white fedora. He wore a white formal suit with a red tie. His left eye was covered by an eye-patch while his red eye examined the newcomers to the world. Arthur noted he never let go of the silver briefcase the man had.
"Is it just me, or does everyone here pack heat?" Arthur asked.
"How did you know?" the green-haired man asked, "And just who are you?"
"Name's A. C. Eos, my friend," Arthur replied, "But call me 'Arthur,' since my nickname 'Ace' is this guy's name here."
"Yo," the Akuma No Mi eater waved.
"Name's Yuck!" the green-haired teen belched, "The chick's Sonia."
"I'm not a chick," Sonia growled as she slugged Yuck with her left foot.
"Sonic's the name. Speed's my game."
"I'm Lan Hikari and I demand compensation for the foot to the face, you ass!"
"Honestly, Lan…" Sonic sighed, "Just drop it already…"
"My name is Sven. This is Eve."
"Hello…" the girl bowed.
"Nice to meet you," Lan said as he held out a hand.
Eve stared at it before slowly reaching out. The moment the two touched hands, a shock erupted from them and knocked each other backwards. Lan grasped his hand at the same time Eve did, both screaming out in pain in unison.
"What the hell?" Yuck exclaimed.
"She must have…nanites…" Lan grunted in pain.
"No way! Another Princess?" Train gasped.
"I'm a boy, you fuckin' ass!" Lan snapped before crying out in pain again.
"Tch. We're drawing a crowd…" the man muttered.
"Right, Sven," Train nodded before picking Eve up, "Come on. We'll take you to our house here."
"What?" Sven gasped before Train dashed off with Sonic close behind him.
"Ah…It doesn't seem like my Guild changed since I was gone…" Dark-Slayer awed under an umbrella, "Guess this rain means big sis is back."
Dark-Slayer walked into a bar to see a ton of people of genders and ages varying all enjoying a meal or beer together. He sat down beside a woman. She had a well-endowed figure hidden under a large blue and white coat. Her sea-blue hair was curled at the ends and looked down at the small Teru-Teru Bozu on her neck with sad sea-blue eyes, her tall black hat nearly falling off.
"Juvia-neechan, konnichiwa," Dark-Slayer smiled softly.
"Eh? …Oh!" the woman gasped before hugging Dark-Slayer, "Juvia so happy to see little brother again! Why are you here?"
"The guy who hired me is letting me take a week's vacation here," Dark-Slayer replied, "Oi, bartender! A Darkness Platter, please!"
"Yosh! One Curry with black rice, one cup of Dark Water, and a side of Darkness Fire-Fries," the bartender nodded as a plate of black rice with black curry on it, a cup filled with glowing black water, and steaming black French fries on fire appeared before him from a magic seal.
"Yatta! Itadekamasu!" Dark-Slayer cheered before eating.
"It's strange…" a doctor muttered, "It seems his entire body is filled with nanites just like Eve, but he doesn't have a machine to replicate them."
"But what happened that made them cry out in pain and pass out on the way here?" Arthur asked.
"Well, Eos-san, your friend Acid here preformed a scan for me," the doctor replied as Acid appeared beside him.
"It seems that the nanites in Lan tried to take the nanites that continuously be created within Eve, but Eve's nanites attacked in retaliation," Acid explained, "Yet…"
"Yet?" Ace repeated.
"It seems that they took some Chaos and Woo Foo energy from Lan in trade of providing some nanites with a little information. The reason both were in pain was due to their nanites adapting to this new information and progressing by leaps and bounds," Acid continued, "From the recent scans I've made…I suggest you check your VG Hunter, Arthur."
"Yosh," the officer nodded as he took out the screen of the VG Hunter, "Hm?"
"The one on the left are the scans of Eve while the ones on the right are of Lan's," Acid continued, "As you can see, just below the pancreas and where the appendix is suppose to be-from which I can tell that Lan had his appendix removed-is a small metal organ that continuously disperses nanites. Right now, it seems the nanites within Lan are constructing this from their own forms while the nanites in Eve are changing to a fusion of the nanites within Lan and their original forms."
"…What?" Yuck tilted his head.
"Floating dog say what?" Train tilted his head.
"Oi…" Acid groaned, "Dr. Take, if you would?"
"Hai. In short, Eve's nanites and Lan's nanites have appeared to have transfused their abilities with one another, improving their efficiency by leaps and bounds," the doctor spoke as Sven walked in.
"How much was it, Sven-chan? His price!"
"…Hey, hey…We're partners, so don't add the '-chan.' Factoring in expenses, it's 800,000 yen," Sven replied, "Just as I thought, he was a small fry."
"800,000! Excellent, excellent! With this we can eat our first real meal in a long time!" Train cheered.
"Wait. This is our first real income in a long time," Sven scolded, "Half will go to living expenses…part for the car loan and maintenance on our various bases and…"
"That's fine, let's use it all! They say money make the world go 'round, don't they? As soon as Princess wakes up, well go out to eat," Train interrupted, "Alright! We're gonna eat!"
"It goes around 'cause of people like you…" Sven muttered.
"Cool, we get to eat," Ace grinned as Sonic walked inside with a box he held over Lan.
"Curry!" Lan exclaimed as he shot up and snatched the box, hungrily feasting on the contents and box.
"Works every time…" Sonic grinned.
"Much like Sonia and BBQ," Lyra giggled.
"Bar-B-Q? Where?" Sonia and Train asked as they looked around.
"Just what has Train gotten us into…?" Sven sighed as Eve awoke.
"What?" Train gasped.
"Yeah. That's pretty much it," Lan replied, "These guys with a copy of me are going around kidnapping the various protectors and villains of various worlds. One seems to be able to control time like one of our friends, another resembles the guy from the 'Phantom of the Opera,' and the last one is that Protoman-baka we told you about, but he seems darker and scarier."
"Don't forget about Kiryu," Arthur added.
"Yeah…" Lan nodded, "That's still throwing me for a loop since he's suppose to be dead…"
"I get the feeling. I had a good friend once," Train spoke with a nostalgic look on his face, "It was a couple years ago…I met this woman who was…on the other side of the tracks…He never accepted the fact I fell in love with her and killed her on a night with fireworks in the skies…"
"Oh dear…I-I'm sorry…" Sonia bowed, "We made you think of something bad…"
"Eh. It's okay. Sides, I've got Sven-chan and the little Hime here," Train grinned.
"Don't add the '-chan,' you idiot!" Sven barked while Eve paused for a few moments from her vanilla ice cream sundae and then resuming to eat.
"Is this normal?" Yuck asked.
"Yes…" Eve replied between bites.
"So what can your nanites do, anyway?" Lan asked, "Mine turn parts of my body into metal dragon parts."
Eve paused before placing her spoon on the table. She held out a finger and everyone looked at it. It glowed softly before it shifted into a spoon head. She took a bit of her sundae into it and ate it. It changed back to a finger and she resumed to eat with her normal spoon.
"Now that's cool," Lan and Yuck commented.
"Oh? That's what I said the first time I saw her do that, too," Train grinned before the door was kicked in by three men in trench coats, "Hm?"
"…Duck!" Sonic exclaimed before he, Arthur, and Lan pushed the table up as a shield of sorts while gunshots were fired.
"Every time we eat…" Sven muttered as Eve still ate her sundae and Train a swiped plate of food.
"Yo! We know you're here, Black Cat!"
"Black Cat?" Lan repeated as Train stood up.
"The Black Cat died three years ago," Train said, "Try looking for his grave."
"Yeah right. We know it's you," one replied, "Now come back to Chronos or else."
"I see…" Train smirked.
Train pulled out a black gun with gold ornate on it. Sonic, Ace, and Arthur noted the XIII mark on its sides. Train looked at the three with his gold eyes slit.
"Well…Guess I have to make a delivery," Train smirked.
"Of what?" the third man asked.
"Just some…bad luck," Train replied.
"Die!" the leader roared as each one took out a machine gun, "Black Cat!"
"So it's started, huh…" Sven smoked.
The gunfire soon died down. The three men gasped and took a step back while everyone peeked from behind the shield of wood and cloth. The bullets rolled around at Train's feet while his gun smoked from the hits it took.
"So…are you done yet?" Train asked, eerily calm.
"How did Train do that?" Lan asked.
"Oh, Train was once an assassin before she died," Sven explained, "Even though it took a while since it was busted from using a Burst Railgun, I've managed to fix it up without orichalcum."
"This was specially made…normal bullets can't even give it a scratch. You could say this gun is another partner of mine," Train continued, "Now…I guess it's my turn, isn't it?"
Lan, Sonia, and Sonic shuddered as Ace, Arthur, and Yuck's eyes were shaded. The three men yelped before aiming their guns at Train. He looked at them with cold, uncaring eyes as he shot three bullets. They entered the barrels on the guns and caused them to explode, burning the hands holding them. Train charged at them.
"Black Claw!"
The three men gagged before splattering on the ground in a pile of sliced corpses. Train reloaded his gun as Sonia, Lan, and Sonic stared at the corpses before puking. Train turned to them with his happy-go-luck grin.
"Heh. Sorry you had to see that. Well at least this place has some meat for their steaks," Train laughed.
"Not funny!" Sven barked.
"Well you know how I act whenever Chronos is mentioned!"
"But that was overkill! Literally!"
"How the hell are you guys not disturbed, besides Ace?" Lan demanded.
"…I lost my parents to a burglar," Arthur replied, "I looked out my room and saw the bastard shoot my mom first through the heart and then my father through the head."
"I killed five guys once," Yuck replied.
"I have killed five hundred and twenty-seven men since I was born," Eve replied.
"You'd be amazed what you see and do as a Sweeper…" Sven sighed, "I need another smoke…"
"So what was that Black Cat stuff about?" Ace asked.
"The Black Cat died three years ago…and became a stray! To clean up the world as a Sweeper!" Train replied, his eyes slit.
"But why did you have to kill them?" Lan demanded, unknowingly brushing his hand against a cloth that dropped from Train's pocket.
The cloth glowed, brining everyone's attention to it. The area distorted and changed to the inside of a living room apartment stained with blood and two corpses on one wall. Train's eyes widened as it showed a old man in black and a tattered white scarf aiming a gun at a child-version of Train.
"You wanna live or die, kid…?"
"…What?" the younger Train asked.
"Do you want to live or die…pick one," the man offered.
"Is this Tao?" Sven asked.
"Tao?" Yuck repeated.
The area distorted once more. This time, it was in a small town with a young woman with short black hair and pink yukata. Train was on his knees with her slowly bleeding form on the knees. Everyone noted that he wore a black coat. Train began to cry softly as he watched the scene.
"Stop it…Please, just stop it!" Train begged, "Don't make me see this again!"
"But…" Lan began before seeing his left hand was on the item, "Oops! My bad!"
He moved his hand away from the item and the area changed back into the ruined restaurant. Train walked over and snatched the cloth before walking out. After a few moments, Sven turned to Lan.
"What the hell was that?" Sven asked.
"That was my Dimensional Scream. I can see the past or future with it, but I still can't control which one," Lan explained, "Plus, it happens at strange times all on its own. …Was that…Was that really bits of Train-san's past?"
"…Yeah…When he was seven, he lost his parents because the guy who was hired didn't know they had a child. He never took on jobs when the hit had children," Sven explained, "That other one…I think that was Saya."
"Saya?" Sonia repeated.
"Train's old flame, Saya Minatsuki," Sven replied, "A Sweeper. She died three years ago."
"…So this world is filled with murders, huh?"
"Not all of it, kid," Sven spoke, "Just give this world some time, okay? Hm? Hey, where's that Sonic guy?"
"Train!"
The black-haired man turned to see the Knight of the Wind approach. He turned and continued to walk, trying his best to ignore Sonic. Sonic stopped him by walking in front of him.
"You're not the only one who had that happen."
"?"
"It was a few million millennia ago…" Sonic began.
"Juvia still don't understand why you want Juvia to be here with you," Juvia said as the two sat outside a cliff in the rain, a large parasol over them.
"Because I like being with my big sister on jobs," Dark-Slayer replied before his line tugged, "Ah! I got a bite!"
Dark-Slayer grabbed his fishing lure and pulled. He did this for a few minutes of just letting it go then reeling it in. The last pull got a large black fish with devil wings before them.
"Yatta! I got a big one!" Dark-Slayer cheered before it ate him, "Help me!"
"Juvia will save you! Water Slicer!" Juvia called out.
A water-blue magic seal appeared before her with the symbol of a pitcher of water before it. Various blades of water shot out of her body, slicing the fish to pieces. Dark-Slayer fell out of on part and landed on his head. He got off and shook himself.
"Arigatou, Juvia-neechan!" Dark-Slayer grinned, "Oh boy! I can't wait to get back to the guild and cook this baby! Maybe pack a few large bento for some friends…"
"Man…And I thought I had a hard life…" Train whispered.
"Yeah…" Sonic nodded as the two looked at the stars, "Hey, Train?"
"Hm?"
"Will you take me on as a shooting apprentice?"
"…Yeah."
"Hmm…VG Hunter, eh?" Sven muttered as he examined the VG Hunter spare Arthur had, "So I just do this…then this…and then that goes there…"
"Pretty cool, huh? Made it myself!" Arthur beamed.
"With my help in design," Acid added.
"Yep."
"And recovering the data you accidentally deleted when we were nearly finished with it."
"Yep."
"And for putting you to bed when you were younger."
"...That never was said…"
"I know," Sven nodded, knowing a threat when he heard it, "Hmm…I bet I can integrate it with my attaché briefcase and…"
"Oh, I see! If you do that, then…"
"…..."
Ee and Lan sat in opposite chair in the same room, both observing their left hands. Nearby, Sonia was reading a book while Yuck was busy snoring on the couch with Ace. Ruby mewed on Sonia's shoulder in a yawning-like fashion.
"…You have a strange kitten…"
"Hm?"
"That kitten on your shoulders…It's strange, yet cute…" Eve said.
"I don't see a cat," Lan observed.
'She can see Ruby-chan?' Sonia thought.
"Say, Eve-sama? You get a weird feeling with your nanites right now?"
"Yes…You?"
"Hai," Lan nodded as he stood up, "I'm going to try and practice with them for a bit. Ja ne."
"Ace, wake up," Sonia said as she slugged the pirate in the gut while holding Torunka's staff given to her.
"Ah! What? Hey…How'd you punch me?"
"Torunka-chan's staff," Sonia replied, "When I hold it, it reverses things like Devil Fruit powers."
"Oh…What?"
"Can you go with Yuck to keep an eye on Lan-san?"
"Fine…" Ace sighed before walking out with a snoring Yuck.
"So you can see Ruby-chan?" Sonia asked as she turned to Eve once the two had left.
"Yes," Eve replied, "Is it a spirit?"
"Hai, she's a Duel Spirit."
"Duel Spirit? …So she fights?"
"Not in the way you're thinking of, Eve-chan. It's only in a game called Duel Monsters."
"Duel…Monsters?"
"Hai…"
Lan stood outside in the lush backyard of the mansion-like hideout. He performed a few stretches before activating his Dragon Claws. He stared at them and gawked. They resembled actually dragon arms and claws than dragon-like versions of Rex's Smackhands. He changed his right arm back to normal and began to feel the other. The feel of the silver-cobalt metal scales was a warm one, strangely contrasting with the normal cold feeling metal should have. He changed it back before engaging his Dragon Tail. The blades sticking out of the ends had spiked backs on them now and the scales were just like on his arms. He gave a practice swing and a Foo-Orb shot out of the end and decimated five trees.
"Whoops…"
"What was that?" Sven demanded as nearly everyone ran outside.
"Me," Lan replied as his Dragon Tail went back into his body.
"What?" Train exclaimed, "H-How did you…was that the nanites?"
"Yeah," Lan replied before showing his left Dragon Claw, "But they've changed how my weaponry looks like."
"Hmm…" Arthur muttered as he looked at the new form, "Have you checked all your armor?"
"Not yet. Just the Dragon Claws and Dragon Tail."
"Try your Dragon Wings," Acid spoke.
"Alright…Dragon Wings!"
Train and Sven gawked as Lan's back glowed. They thought they saw the clothes on his back vanish in a few places as two large metallic-scaled blue dragon wings erupted from his back. A strange backpack-like device grew at the end where his wings emerged with two blades sticking out at the lower sides. Two large cobalt orbs attached the wings where the claws on the 'elbows' of the wings were.
"Hmm…They're different, too," Lan analyzed.
"Wh-What?" Train gawked, 'He turns his body into dragon parts? That's way different from Princess's abilities with her nanites…'
"So who were those guys yesterday, Train-san?" Lan asked as his wings vanished into his body.
"They were lower members of Chronos, my old…friends and their alliance…"
"You were in the Mafia, weren't you?" Arthur asked.
"Yeah. Chronos controls nearly ninety percent of the entire planet through almost everything," Train explained, "If it falls…"
"This whole world collapses, right?" Lan asked.
"Yeah. It's needed as much as a gun needs a bullet," Train replied.
"…Say…Where are Eve and Sonia?" Acid asked.
"Inside still," Sonic replied, "I noticed Eve was getting into Duel Monsters."
"Duel Monsters?" Sven repeated.
"Something we learned about in the last world we were in, Train," Sonic replied, "Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get to see her duel someone. Preferably not me."
"Why?" Sven asked.
"My deck is used for judgment," Sonic replied solemnly, earning confused looks from everyone, "It's nothing. Just forget I said anything."
"So how is it?" Dark-Slayer asked.
"Good…" Fox replied before shoving another bite of sushi into his jaws.
"Nee-chan prepared the rice and the seaweed. I just got the spices and fish," Dark-Slayer chuckled as Juvia gave Static, on her lap, another piece of sushi.
"You're a bit strange…" Rua said.
"Of course. Everyone is strange in more ways than one," Dark-Slayer chuckled, "I, for one, prefer to befriend enemies than fight them. Unlike four certain others…"
"Okay, talk. Why the…" Crow paused as he looked at the children in the room, "…heck is Kiryu with you? He's suppose to be dead!"
"Guess that's what he meant by saying he's undead," Dark-Slayer spoke.
"He's a zombie…" Ruka gulped as she hid behind Aki.
"For some reason, I'll believe in almost anything nowadays…" Crow muttered.
"That's because we're friends with people from others world from advancements in technology that revives beings as computer programs to the age of pirates with strange and powerful fruits that give you powers beyond your imagination at the cost of swimming," Jack rolled his eyes.
"You're telling me about not being able to swim…" Dark-Slayer muttered.
"Hm?"
"The guy who hired me to do all this made me eat one of those fruits," Dark-Slayer explained as he made his tail appear and swiped Wolf's sushi before he ate it.
"Why you…" Wolf growled.
"Don't you think you'll get in trouble since you brought Juvia-sama here?" Geo asked.
"Nope! She asked to join this mission," Dark-Slayer replied, "The guy who hired me told me she could do it for half a year."
"Juvia will do her best," Juvia spoke with a semi-bow so that the bento of sushi and Static didn't fall off her lap.
"Right…" many of the prisoners sweatdropped.
Me: And here's another chapter! Juvia I do not own.