Just kidding. Ha! You should've seen your face.
But seriously, how's it going everybody? I know I don't have to say it's been a while since I last posted a chapter because...yeah, it's been a while. For those of you who've been following me since the beginning, or the last few years, you already know I like to make these little author updates so that nobody thinks I've abandoned the story. For those of you who are just joining us this is how I roll.
I want to be honest and tell the truth as to why I haven't had any updates: procrastination. Seriously it makes no sense how much time I've wasted doing everything except what I need to do. My creative flow gets jumbled up and everything just comes to a halt. Whenever I try to force myself to finish these chapters I either drift off onto YouTube, social media or jump on my PS4 and play games. Almost every day I say "I think I'll finish a chapter once I get home." but what happens? I come home and do everything except write a chapter. And quite frankly I've been getting very annoyed with myself because of it, and I don't know how to fix it. It's an issue I desperately want to work on.
That's not to say progress isn't being made. I'm well into a handful of chapters, 7 as a matter of fact...all at the same time. Jesus Christ. On the bright side most of the are already halfway done. I just need to overcome this annoying procrastination phase and they'll be out for your eyes to read.
If you remember back in the Milestone update back in May 2018(Oh my god) I mentioned I was working on 4 chapters: The 1st was supposed to be Beowulf focused chapter, the 2nd was a Painwheel focused chapter, the 3rd was meant to be a Heart Synchronization chapter and the 4th was supposed to be that special Skullgirls x Ghost-Spider x Kill la Kill x RWBY crossover. A lot has changed since then and we're gonna talk about it.
Firstly is the order change: Beowulf and Painwheel chapters are still included but Beowulf is no longer the first chapter that'll be out. There's a really important development I've already reached in Beowulf's chapter that will throw the timeline out of whack if I have the events of his chapter be the first out. I'm going to give brief summaries on what the chapters will be about so we'll already have an idea what we're in for, kind of like an episode guide if you will, but if you want to go in blind then feel free to skip it.
Upcoming Chapters
Heroic League of Badassery: Now that the Medicis are out of commission crime around the city skyrockets - the once organized nightlife has become a scramble to gain control of their old territory among the lesser known criminals. The Player, Filia and Squigly put their teamwork to the test by making an effort to get crime under control and keep the streets of their neighborhood safe...by becoming vigilante crime fighters.
Return of the Howl: The kingdom's greatest hero returns! In wake of the new Skullgirl panic Beowulf makes a legendary comeback to Wulfamania. The show must go on, and this time it's being taken to the streets of New Meridian. In times when fear divides the people the wolf now howls in a pack as he takes on the apprenticeship of a new star, up and coming, the Player. Along with his agent, Zane, the trio work to restore hope in the people, but something sinister lurks in the shadows, a creature higher in the food chain, waiting to devour the wolf and his new pack.
Birthday Blowout: What was meant to be a simple day spent with friend's celebrating Filia's birthday turns into a city wide chase from the Chess Kingdom's military forces after the Player, Filia and Squigly befriend a young woman with extraordinary power.
Strife: The fighting is finally over. The Skullgirl is gone, order is being restored and Valentine is MIA, but the damage has been done. Disowned by her family Carol continues her rehabilitation from the monstrous Painwheel transformation at the Anti-Skullgirl Labs. Despite her hardships she still has her best friend to see her through the darkness.
Road to Skullgirls(Project Title): Several months have passed since Marie's grudge match against the Medicis. New Meridian has seen a new era of peace and quiet for the first time in a while. With all the loose ends coming together it's finally time for a little R&R for the Player, Filia and Squigly...but just when things are finally going their way an unforeseen force from above shatters the illusion of peace and returns to the harsh reality only Canopy knows. A new form of evil arises in Double's place, taking the form of hostile spirits seeking out women who possess strong wills, the recipe for a new breed of Skullgirl. The search goes beyond the limits of the world, a disturbance stretching across a mass multiverse is bringing candidates from all reaches of reality together to cement the foundation of the new Skullgirl. What caused this collision? What does it mean for the other worlds? Can it be reversed? Something has been set into motion and now 4 universes will have to come together to uncover the truth behind this inter-dimensional phenomenon.
Right! So those are the last few chapters of the first arc of this story. Yikes...I started writing for this story in 2013, finally had the heart to publish it in 2014 and in 2019/2020 I'm just now getting finished the first half of it.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I already know how I want the story to end, the unfortunate part is I may not be able to make another one until Skullgirls 2 is made and since chances of that happening seem slim once I wrap up this story it's done. It's because of that I have to make sure I wrap up all the loose ends and go as wild as possible before this comes to a close. I think that's why I'm ending this arc with such a bang by using a crossover.
Speaking of which...
The Crossover
All right, this is probably the most time consuming out of all the chapters I'm currently working on. Because this project has become much bigger than I was originally anticipating I had to break up the story in 3 parts. All together I'm estimating the total length may POTENTIALLY break at least 100k words and I've been debating whether or not this is a good thing. Why? I'm not sure if a single story is supposed to be that long. I hate the idea of disappointing you guys and it feels like I have to live up to a really good example since I'm always late with updating chapters.
For right now though...it is what it is. It's being made and if the length turns people off of the story I'll have to carry that. No problem. Like all the other chapters I mentioned before the special is coming along well...in my opinion. While I am trying my best to write this chapter in a way people who aren't familiar with Ghost-Spider, Kill la Kill or RWBY can understand I will recommend a few things before jumping into this, and since I have no idea when it'll actually come out, at this point I predict sometime in 2020 unless I get my procrastination together, I think you'll have time to get up to speed.
Ghost-Spider: There are multiple sources for this character that you can pick up almost any piece of media she appears in and get the basic gist of what she's about. But since this incarnation of the character is my own she has her own unique take that's easy to work with. I recommend taking a look at Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie(please do it's freaking amazing) or the original Spider-Gwen comics since the version I have is based on those two.
Kill la Kill: I recommend watching the first 8 episodes of the anime, or just episode 8 because the crossover chapter takes place within a small time skip that occurs during that episode. But by watching the episodes before it you'll already have a solid grasp of the Kill la Kill universe that coming into this will be a piece of cake.
RWBY: The best part about catching up to RWBY for those unfamiliar is that the story is short and sweet. Easy to understand and open for anybody to dip their feet in the water and then jump right in if they're invested, and the best part? You can watch the entire series for free on YouTube. For RWBY it's best to watch all of Volume 1 and the first chapter of Volume 2, in terms of continuity placement Road to Skullgirls takes place after Volume 1 but before Volume 2, so that's why you don't have to watch the first episode of Volume 2.
I know being turned to an outside source to understand a story is bad storytelling, but that's why I'm trying to make the story and the colliding universes all fit the confines of a standalone adventure so that it can be easy to understand and get into, but when you have 4 universes in one narrative you have to expect being familiar with the original source material at some point during the adventure.
Now that we've got that out of the way I want to share 2 sneak peaks with you. I only want to do that because, as I mentioned, I have no idea when I'm actually going to get this out into the wild. I really don't. I still have to get those chapters out ahead of this special and who's to say I won't be an even more irresponsible writer and come up with another chapter idea in between? I say this because there was originally an 8th chapter that was meant to kind of prelude the crossover in a sense, kind of like an epic foreshadowing if you will.
I prefer the crossover get the sneak peak because it's more or less a standalone story. So I figure there's no harm in showing you guys what I have since I'm incompetent and can't keep a regular writing schedule.
These two previews are taken out of the middle of the action. So there's already something going on and details the first meeting of the main heroes from the different universes. I'll provide a scene context so you can paint the picture a little better without me giving away too much.
Previews
Part 1
Scene Context: A new creature is terrorizing New Meridian, the Player and Filia are on the scene to investigate but immediately get involved when the new foe sets its sights on them.
Another beam was fired at the ground between the friends and catches them off guard. Just as they realized what the beam was a delayed explosion erupts between them and sends them in opposite directions of the plaza. They were finally being bitten for their premature victory distractions, a trait that showed they still had a lot to improve on.
Filia flies into a parked car and destroys the hood and windshield, thankfully Samson breaks her fall by taking most of the damage in his bipedal form, meaning she was going to be alright.
After hitting the ground the Player rolls along until the laws of physics exhausted his momentum to eventually bring him to a stop at the plaza's entrance. He was lying flat in the road and didn't want to get back up.
"…It's times like this I wonder where the hell Feng, Cerebella and Nadia are." He mutters to himself while trying to best the pain he endured. "Hey, let's all show up for a snowball fight but go MIA when there's an actual threat terrorizing the streets." He transitioned his tone into a humorously bitter taunt before futilely trying to pick himself up.
With both the heroes down it was time to finish the battle — the creature recovers from the shambles of the old oriental restaurant and targets the player since he was the first to recover.
Its walk picked up into a sprint and its sprint turned into a bull rush across the lot.
The Player felt the ground shaking underneath him and manages to lift his head and see the charging enemy.
"Great…" He sarcastically mumbles before looking over to the other end of the lot and sees Filia laying in her body imprint on the ruined car. He tried to establish a Link with Filia, but he was too injured to fully commit.
"C'mon…C'mon…C'mon… Work, damn it! Work!"
Despite his numerous attempts nothing was able to come out of it, and the trembling earth grew more frequent.
The Player looks ahead once more only to realize the monster was just a few feet away from him, charging like a freight train.
Realizing death was knocking at his doorstep he closed his eyes, tucking his face into his arms, and braced for the worse.
…
...
...
After a brief moment of silence the Player realized he wasn't experiencing any severe physical trauma. He peeks out one eye and sees what appears to be black footwear with blue soles and toe caps — a design similar to a pair of low top converses.
As he pans his head upward he gets a back view of his savior; a figure dressed in a hooded white and black spandex bodysuit that had a unique spider-like design.
"…Huh?"
After hearing his voice the one defending him looks over their shoulder to reveal they were a fellow masked crusader, wearing a full white head mask that had two big eyes with a thick magenta outline around them. The interior lining of the hood was also magenta with cyan web patterns, matching magenta-and-cyan designs on the upper arms of the bodysuit.
"Hey!" The voice revealed the newcomer to be a woman who had stopped the full force of the brute with her bare hands like it was softball.
"Um… Hi?" The Player awkwardly waved at her, clearly unsure how to properly react to the situation.
"Nice to see you're still with us. I'd hate to seem like I'm rushing you but it's probably best to skedaddle. It's only a matter of time before big guy over here loses his-" Just then she was grabbed around the torso by the brute and tossed overhead like a weightless toy being thrown aside "-PAAATIEEENCE!"
Seeing the mysterious helper get flung like a ragdoll brought the Player back to his senses and he quickly retracts his confusion.
"Oh jeez!" He summoned whatever strength he had left and used it to get up from the street and run.
The monster realized the Player was back on his feet and sprints after him, however its pursuit was brought to a halt once both its claws were confined from behind by what appeared to be spider webs.
Looking over its shoulder it sees the hooded woman pulling back on the two extremely durable web ropes, she was also strong enough to pull the creature onto its hind legs.
"Hey! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"
The creature enhanced its strength against the young woman and began to overpower her, dragging her feet along the ground despite her increased attempts at pulling back against the enemy.
The monster realized it was gaining the upper hand and used this to its full advantage, it gave its right arm some slack and swings it around full force with a 180 degree turn which ended up taking the woman off of her feet and propelling in the monsters direction.
It opened its muscular arms and brought them together to lock her in a bearhug.
"Nngh! Grrgh!" The woman tried to break free but to no avail, once she realized it was useless she stopped resisting and was met the annoyed face of her captor. "Uuuuuum, I-I didn't mean me, because I'm clearly not your size. Heh." The eyes of her mask were emoting comical remorse
Unimpressed with this witty attitude the monster unleashes a furious roar at the young woman's face, which was apparently strong enough to blow the hood off of her head. Thankfully it didn't just resort to firing one of those devastating beams at her head. Actually, it was questionable why it didn't just do that in the first place.
Once the creature stopped roaring it stares the girl down to see if she realized the fight wasn't a joke.
She was certainly left speechless, in fact she was briefly stunned with how loud that roar was. The mysterious fighter remained still in the monsters arms, both eyes on her mask had shrunken in size to small circles. How a mask was able to be so expressive was best left to the imagination.
Anyway, with that cleared up the monster huffs smoke out of its nostrils in a rather snobby way, as if it had just proven a point and needed to rub it in.
Filia managed to recover from her spill, but she was still stuck in her imprint on the car's front. "That…hurt." She slightly lifts her head to see what was going on. She spots the spider themed heroine trapped in the bearhug. "Who is that? Wait! Samson, are you okay?"
"HoT WiNgz." The parasite replied in a daze.
The answer she got prompted an incredulous expression. "What…?" Filia knew Samson was out of it and tried pulling herself out of the car, and with a bit of force she was able to pop right out. "Ooooh. A little sore."
"Filia!" The Player finally regrouped with his partner. "Hey, how are you holding up?"
"I'm fine." She was clearly lying, faking a smile that wasn't fooling anyone. She arches out her back to the sound of a light crack that actually made her feel a lot better. Once that was done she puts her attention back on her Parasite. "Samson? Hey, Samson, are you still with us?"
It took a second to come through but after a few sporadic blinks Samson came around. "Filia? Augh, damn. What happened?"
"The four of us are getting our asses kicked." The Player answered.
"Four?" Samson was obviously confused since he only counted himself, Filia and the Player.
And to answer his question the hooded young woman crash-lands at their feet. The Player and Filia don't even react to her appearance, like it wasn't even a surprise. They just stood there and looked down the moment she dropped in at their feet.
The hooded fighter turns over on her back and opens her eyes to the duo looking down to her. "...Soooo, what's the deal with that thing?" She asked.
"Hell if we know." The Player replied as he offered his hand to help the girl up.
She sees the offer and takes it hand in hand. "Thanks." If it weren't for her mask the two would've seen that she was holding a smile of appreciation.
The monster bellows ferociously, re-focusing the group's attention on the situation at hand.
"This is getting out of hand. We need to bring that thing down ASAP." The Player states in a serious tone.
"Any ideas?" Filia asked.
Nothing came to mind at first, the Player had to think fast before they were rushed again, and then it hit him; their new ally's ability to temporarily subdue the beast with what he thought was rope. A little perk that would've surely come in handy, and gave rise to a new idea.
The Player turns to the hooded fighter. "Hey, do you still have some of that rope on you?"
"Rope?" She initially drew a blank but came to realize what he was addressing. "You mean my webbing?"
"…Sure, yeah," He didn't have time for specifics and just went with it, "do you think you can keep your distance and wear it down? Maybe cause a distraction?"
"On it."
She acted immediately and held out her arms to the two nearest lampposts, using a unique hand gesture that involved extending her thumb, index finger and pinkie while bringing the middle and ring fingers into the center of her palm, once she did that the 'rope' the Player was referring to shoots out from her wrists and latches onto the towering parking lot street lights. She used the webs to slingshot herself toward the foe.
The Player, Filia and Samson took a second to marvel at this unique take on the action, she was like a human spider.
"Wow. Canopy never ceases to amaze me with talent diversity. Yo, Filia, Samson I'm gonna power you up, okay? Do you think you'll be able to take it down?"
Samson grins and swiped his thumb across his nonexistent nose. "Who do you think you're talking to? I wake up every day hoping for a fight. I'll send that thing straight to hell."
"That's what I like to hear."
The Player closed his eyes and underwent his concentrating phase, Samson could feel the power flowing through him, making him feel alive. The dark cocoon forms around Filia, however, unlike usual it didn't take a smaller form, rather it was expanding in size.
Meanwhile the hooded hero was doing a superb job using her agility to stay ahead of the monster terrorizing the plaza. She was able to swing all over the place with ease.
The beast was swinging at where she was rather than where she was going to be, missing all of its claw strikes. It was only able to slice the webs she left behind when slinging to another lamppost.
Growing increasingly frustrated with this game of keep away the giant behemoth grabbed onto one of the parked cars and tossed it in her direction while she was in the middle of shooting a web onto the next lamppost.
Sensing the impending danger she looks to the side and sees the incoming car.
"Oh, god."
She had no choice but to abandon the web, dropping just below the car and avoiding the hit, however there was still the problem of the car flying into the air, it had to be stopped before someone got hurt.
After landing the woman somersaults onto the ground but quickly retaliates, firing a web rope at the car before it could get any farther. She clutched the web with both hands and pulled back in the opposite direction, once again demonstrating her tremendous strength by sending the car flying back at the enemy.
Having not anticipated the little lady's counter the monster was smashed right in the face with the car and fell onto its back in the street with a loud thud.
Just as it began to get up its claws and legs were shot with webbing which kept it pinned to the street. Realizing it was stuck the tamed beast looks up to see the woman perched on a lamppost just in front of it.
"You ever consider chill pills?" She asked in a taunting tone.
Seeing her so laxed annoyed the monster, and though it couldn't see her face it could tell she was smiling under that unique mask which only fueled its rage.
Now that it was empowered with even more anger it was able to muster even greater strength and with it began to break free from the webbing that bound it to the ground. In just a short amount of time it was able to force its claws out of their bind.
Now that she realized the monster was free the hooded woman dropped her witty attitude and became more exhausted that this opponent just wouldn't give up.
"…Seriously? You're still going?" To answer her question it got up on its hind legs and furiously roars at the woman, making her cover her ears for protection. "Welp, guess that answers that."
Now that they were on what felt like round 100 she gets out of her squatting position and stands upright before jumping from the lamppost and to the monster. The woman cocks her hand back, readying a punch.
Previews
Part 2
Scene Context: Ryūko awakens in the woods away from civilization with nothing but her sentient sailor uniform to accompany her. She tries to navigate the maze-like wilderness only to uncover a hostile enemy the likes of which she never seen before. Now her nature hike has turned into a fight for survival.
Once Ryūko began to cross there was a sudden blood-lust in the air, sensing this sudden intrusion on the calm setting Senketsu's eye quickly shifts to the left. "Ryūko, look out!" His frantic voice caused Ryūko to stop in her tracks at the center of the bridge.
"Huh? What's up, Senketsu?"
"On the left!"
Ryūko quickly faces the left only to be met with a swift swipe across the face by a shadow creature. Ryūko is knocked off of the bridge and falls into the creek below, landing on her back.
"Ah!" Ryūko cried out once her butt hit shallow water.
"Ryūko, are you okay?!"
"Yeah. I just- Uh!"
Before she had the chance to process what happened her eyes widened and she regained her awareness, jumping up from the water and drawing a small trinket from the pouch around her hip and it expands into a sword-like form after evolving from a sparkling cocoon veil.
Ryūko threw the blade up in a defensive position and clashes with the sharp claws of her attacker: a black fox creature emitting dark mist from its body. It had sharp, narrow eyes that had an ominous red glow to them.
"What the hell is this thing?!" A surprised Ryūko was caught off guard before summoning her strength to push back against the fox, sending it flying over the bridge where it recovered midair and lands in the creek from the other side of the archway. "Is that some kind of animal?"
"Be careful, Ryūko! This creature has no intent on stopping!"
The fox rushes Ryūko with its speed and draws its claws to counter the blade she had drawn.
Ryūko engages with the shadow creature, matching blow for blow while keeping up with its speed using her impressive agility, demonstrating Ryūko's capability as a competent fighter.
The fox, despite having speed as an advantage, was finding itself in a hard spot by Ryūko's adaption to the challenge it initially posed. It went for a lunging stab and Ryūko shifts her head to the left of the attack, dodging successfully. The fox quickly makes an 180 and comes back with a right lunging stab - Ryūko dodges by squatting under the attack where the fox glided over her and lands back in the water.
Just as the shadow creature had time to turn around it was struck in the side by the blunt side of the blade which sent it skipping along the creek, water splashing everywhere.
Ryūko's merciful attack seemed to pass over the fox's head as it stood back up and hissed aggressively at her.
The fox jumped high into the air, initiating a pouncing attack for the kill. Ryūko takes a jumping start and impresses the dark animal with how high she was able to launch herself in the air, this time it received a clean slash right up the middle from the bladed edge.
Ryūko capitalizes off of her first attack by bringing the blade down upon the creatures head with a downward slash, which somehow didn't send it spiking into the creek below, and then using an aerial twist to give herself enough momentum to perform a finisher across the fox's snout using her left elbow. A loud WHACK sounded off upon impact indicating the immense strength behind it.
The fox soars through the air until it hit a tree on the farthest end of the creek. It rebounds off and drops into the water below where it laid motionless.
Ryūko lands in the creak after dropping and cautiously approaches the downed fox, her blade still in hand.
Upon getting a closer look Ryūko saw that this was no normal animal. The unmoving body began to sizzle out of existence, evaporating into a shadowy steam much to Ryūko's shock.
"What the hell? Senketsu…are you seeing this?"
"Yes. I don't know what to make of this. I've never seen anything like it."
"It looked like some kind of fox, but I've never seen a fox like that. Let alone one that just fades out like that.
"This area must be dangerous, we should get out of here while we still can, Ryūko."
"But…what if Mako's out there? We can't just- Huh?"
Ryūko looked over her shoulder to the horror of 3 more dark foxes jumping out of small dark portals, surrounding her in the creek.
Seeing she had more to deal with Ryūko holds her blade at the ready. "More of them?!" She snarls at the fauna.
Like a pack on the hunt the foxes charge Ryūko as a group, all pouncing at her with their claws drawn. Ryūko swings her blade across them one at a time as they came in, knocking them off to the side and their bodies sizzle out until nothing remained, just as the original did.
4 more spawned, much to Ryūko and Senketsu's horror. They all initiate hostility, running toward Ryūko.
"They just keep coming!" She swung her blade against the first fox, successfully slaying and preparing for the second one.
"You're outnumbered, Ryūko! Let's retreat!"
Shiiiing! The claws of one of the foxes clashes with the metal of the blade, the strength behind it was considerable in comparison to the others making the sword repel an inch away from Ryūko's nose as a drop of sweat trailed down her face.
"Yeah! I'm on it!"
Ryūko leans into the force of the attacking fox on a slant and uses it to slip by the shadow once its claws sharply slid down the shaft of her blade, causing it to fall into the water.
With the last attacking fox down and another one spawning where the last one was slain Ryūko runs up the muddy slope and returns to the pathway she was on before being knocked off the bridge. Unfortunately another handful of dark foxes pop out from dark portals on the bridge, blocking off Ryūko's escape route.
Seeing no other option the disadvantaged teen turns around and runs back to the woods leaving the foxes to give chase in a blood thirsty pursuit.
Ryūko ran as fast as she could, but with each step the foxes drew nearer with superior speed. Ryūko reaches the fork in the road and quickly takes the opposite path leading to the denser flora route in comparison to the one she was just on.
The sound of footsteps crushing the leaves spooked the local animals into hiding. During her escape Ryūko noticed a normal fox lying on the ground with a black hazy mist emitting from its body as it laid unconscious.
One of the pursuing foxes manage to get the jump on Ryūko and leaps onto her back, bringing down its weight to slow her down and giving the pack enough time to catch up and jump on as well. Together the pack bring Ryūko down to the ground, forcing her into a defensive ball as they start nibbling over her body.
"Ryūko! The Seki Tekkō!" Senketsu suggested amidst the biting.
Ryūko was trying to reach for the red glove on her left hand, suggesting that was the Seki Tekkō Senketsu mentioned, though despite her efforts the frequent bites to her arm and hands prevented her from making a successful strive. When going for the glove it left her face vulnerable to be attacked. Her best option was to stay curled up until she could find an opening.
"There's too many!" Ryūko exclaimed.
While things were looking grim for the duo a loud gunshot sets off from somewhere in the woods and immediately afterward one of the shadow foxes had a large chunk of its head removed from the face, killing it on the spot.
Hearing the shot attracted the foxes attention to the open wilderness, ceasing their collective biting on Ryūko. Realizing they stopped Ryūko opened her eyes and lowered her arms from her face.
Another gunshot goes off but the bullet was almost quicker than the sound; as quick as the sound passed the limb of the shadow creature is severed, but before it could process what happened, or even register the pain, a 3rd shot was fired and turned its entire head into a shadowy mist, instantly decapitating the fox from the neck.
It took the 3rd shot for Ryūko and Senketsu to realize someone was covering them from a distance, and as such knew it was wise to keep low.
After witnessing the death of two members of the pack one of the foxes quickly retreats into a dark portal, unfortunately for the one left behind, who was still trying to process what was going on, it was looking around for the source of the gunshots and once it looks straight ahead a large hole was blasted between its eyes the moment of the 4th shot - had it been an actual face it would've caved in before exploding into an empty flesh socket exposing the gore that remained within.
The fox remained standing for a second before lifelessly falling over, sizzling out before the body could even hit the ground.
Ryūko gives a hefty swallow, thankful that she wasn't on the receiving end of those shots. "Somebody just saved our asses." She slowly gets up, a bit unsure if it was okay for her to stand, but if the one shooting wanted her dead then surely she would've been dead by now. It had to have been friendly fire.
The shooter was watching Ryūko through the scope of a sniper rifle, they survey the area down the sight to ensure there were no more hostile creatures lurking about.
"Where do you think those shots came from, Senketsu?"
"It sounded like it was being fired from all sides. That echo was something fierce." Senketsu's eye checks every possible angle in the direction Ryūko was facing and he had nothing.
Ryūko takes one last look around and couldn't spot anyone herself, whoever it was they were certainly an effective shot, keeping their location absolutely hidden as to not be discovered. Whatever the case may have been Ryūko was just relieved it was over.
"Ah well. If we run into anyone with a gun around here we'll know who to thank."
Ryūko's sword-like weapon proceeds to sheath itself - the metal blade thinly divides itself in two and folds components of the shaft inward; the point folds into the edge and the edge folds down to the guard. Once it got small enough the weapon reconfigured itself in a metallic cluster that reduces its size to its trinket stature.
"WHOA! THAT WAS SO COOL!" A voice from afar exclaimed in excitement.
Senketsu, confused, looked up to Ryūko. "Did you just mumble something?" He asked curiously.
"Me? No. Why would-"
Suddenly a red blur jumps out from one of the tree tops and darts over to Ryūko almost as quickly as it appeared. Once the blur got close enough it stops just meters in front of Ryūko and uncovers a caped girl in a flurry of rose petals. She was wielding a peculiar ranged weapon in hand.
She had the biggest set of silver eyes ever conceived and her expression was nothing short of astonishment and excitement. Her sudden appearance put a scare in both Ryūko and Senketsu.
The girl wore a black long-sleeved dress with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front and around her skirt has a red trim. She also had a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces and trims around the top and red soles.
Her outfit was topped with a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins. She had a large silver brooch pinned to a wide black belt slung around her hips on an angle, which also carries her ammunition and a pouch.
"Your sword can reduce its size so you don't have to carry it around in a sheath! That is AMAZING!"
"W-Whoa! Who the heck are you?! Where did you come from?!" Ryūko stumbled with a flinch from the girl's sudden fixation with her weapon.
In her excitement the girl unintentionally ignored the questions given to her and got closer to Ryūko with her eyes growing with more curiosity. It was like her joy was mass producing glimmering sparkles around her face, which really helped show off that she couldn't contain her joy.
"Can you determine how small it can become? Can it become microscopic? Is it mechanical? What's it made of? Did you make it yourself? Can I hold it? Please? Please?!"
"…Uh, I don't- Um…I don't think it- Hey, slow down… Wait, what's it made of? I- No, I didn't-" This girl's persistence was a bit, or overly, strong. Ryūko was overwhelmed, not even Senketsu could make heads or tails of this one. "…ENOUGH!" Ryūko finally lashed out in a desperate attempt to get control over the situation.
"Huh? Something wrong?" The girl finally backed down as though she didn't realize she was overbearing.
"No…I just…needed you to take it easy. I couldn't answer any of those questions before you jumped right into the next one."
"Oh! Oops. Guess I didn't realize I was throwing so many at you at once. I tend to go crazy when it comes to weapons. Heh, heh."
"Hmm. Yeah, I can tell." Despite the initial introduction Ryūko found herself entertained with the girls rambunctiousness, in fact she reminded Ryūko of her missing friend, Mako, so much so that she got a chuckle out of her personality shift. Back on the topic Ryūko took notice of the girl's weapon. "Hey, is that a-?"
The girl followed Ryūko's eyes down to her weapon and was already one step ahead. "Sniper rifle? Yep. Customizable, AND it can turn into a scythe. This is Crescent Rose - love of my life, slayer of Grimm. Made it myself."
"A sniper rifle…" Senketsu comments, now looking up to Ryūko. "She's the one!"
Ryūko looks down to Senketsu having already put 2 and 2 together. "Yeah, she has to be." She nods.
The girl inclined a brow curiously as it looked like Ryūko was talking to her chest. "Has to be what?" She asked innocently.
"Were you the one who saved me from those foxes?"
"Oh! Duh…of course that's what you meant. Heh. Yep! I saw you were in trouble and thought I'd lend a hand at a distance. They never saw it coming."
"Neither did I." Ryūko smiles. "You're a damn good shot."
"Aaaaw. Thanks! As a Huntress it's my duty to help those in need. Heh. Uuuuh, I'm Ruby Rose by the way. It's nice to meet you, um-?"
"Ryūko Matoi."
"Huh…'Ryūko Matoi,' hm?" Ruby repeated to verbally sample the name for herself. "That's a really cool name!"
Nothing too big, just early introductions to our heroes, but Ryūko and Ruby's meeting does happen a little later into the story, but you know what I mean.
All right...we talked about why I'm a useless piece of work, the last few chapters of the first arc and looked a little deeper into this crossover special. I think there's only one last thing left to mention.
Chapter Revisions
I figure now is the best time to talk about this before just springing it up after I finish and upload all the future chapters. Spoiler alert, I have no editor or proof-reader! Whenever I go back and look at all the stuff I upload I see typos and errors aplenty. That irks me because I don't really have time to go back, overlook everything and make edits and so on. So to remedy this I plan on going back to the very beginning and polishing up every chapter, however with it are going to be a few noticeable changes for those who have been with this Skullgirls story from the beginning.
What changes? Other than fixing typos there will be entire new scenes added to certain chapters and some chapters will be taken down entirely, either because I feel it doesn't add anything to overall story or to add some meat onto thinner chapters; for example the Halloween 3 part special might be taken down to become one whole chapter with entire story changes ~ you know how the Player and Filia were the ones who investigated the house as a pair originally? There will be a revision to rework the entire thing where it's the Player and Squigly because Squigly has astrophobia and on the night of the special there was a sudden thunderstorm. While Squigly had Leviathan to keep her at ease it makes more sense for her to stick with the Player since there had to be a duo among them when they split up.
See where I'm getting at? That's what I have in mind for all the chapters once I have the entire first arc done. Then once all that is out of the way we can get into the second arc. Whenever that'll be.
Well. I believe this author update has gone pretty well. You all know I'm not dead and I got to update you on everything that's been going on with me and why I haven't been around for almost a year. If it wasn't the procrastination holding me up I guarentee you it'll be trying to restrain myself from overbloating this crossover special because the 1st part is already almost 50k words long, and I know for a fact the 2nd is meant to be longer because the that's getting past the intro and into the big problem, then part 3 is the climax and such, sooooooo while I plan for it being shorter it'll still be long.
Random little quick bit here - but I think I've come up with an official title for the crossover too, I'm thinking 'Subspace Nexus,'
Subspace; A space that is wholly contained in another space, or whose points or elements are all in another space.
Nexus: A connection or a series of connections linking two or more things
And when you put them together the whole thing is basically the concept of the idea. The title is still a work in progress but I'm liking that one so far.
Welp! We're done here! Thanks for tuning in guys, as always I appreciate you all for sticking to my nonsense and dealing with my non-existent schedule. I still can't believe Skullgirls almost has 200 followers. That is nuts to me!