Versus 3: Eclipse
All You Create
She had to admit. She was nervous. She'd never been to a concert before. She was an avid collector of music, yet she had never graced a live show in her life. How ironic. And now, here she was in the back alley of a club that she probably had no business being in, with the lead vocalist of the band that was playing here tonight. A guy that she barely knew, no less. It gave her goose bumps.
Bra had changed into a white blouse, a long thin black leather coat, matching leather pants and black boots. She was never sure what to wear when she went out because she didn't do it often. She hoped that she wasn't going to embarrass herself by wearing her present ensemble. Nick didn't seem to mind. Look at her! Caring about what other people might think. It was like her worst nightmare come true.
Nick knocked on the back door of the club. "I hope you don't mind chilling with us while we warm up a little. The other guys are probably already here."
"I don't mind," Bra told him quietly. She took a deep breath.
She followed him into club and looked around.
"I'd like you to meet some friends of mine," Nick began. He started introducing his band mates:
Todd - age: 26 - He works alongside Nick at the college and is the drummer in Eroder. He stands about 5'10" and has long blond hair. He appears to be the joker of the group. While he can't seem to be serious off stage, he's always ready to wear out his Pearl drum kit whether he's on or off stage.
Wes - age: 29 - He works alongside Nick at the college and is the bassist in Eroder. His long brown hair is much like Nick's and he seems quite easy-going. But that all changes when this 6'3" monster is thundering out the meanest bass lines anyone's ever heard from a B.C. Rich. Not to mention belting out backing vocals.
Hunter - age: 26 - He works alongside Nick at the college and is the lead guitarist in Eroder. The shortest one in the band, at 5'7", he more than makes up for his size by firing pure sonic alchemy and lightning-fast liquid metal riffs on the custom-built super villain he calls The Black Death. Yet, strangely enough, this red-head isn't much of a talker.
"Guys, this is Bra. She's the one I'm tutoring, the Capsule Corp. daughter," Nick told the rest of the band.
The one they called Todd looked Bra up and down. "Not bad, Nick. But isn't she a little young for you?" He laughed.
Bra frowned. Yet another bunch of people who thought she was a kid. Had she been in her right mind, she would have at least attacked him verbally. Unfortunately, she was so awe-stricken by the fact that she was even in the situation that she didn't know what to do.
"Don't disrespect the lady, Todd," Nick said.
How nice. Not only did he call her a lady, but in a way, he was defending her in the presence of his friends. That was kinda cool.
Nick pulled his guitar out of its case. The Epiphone Gothic Explorer. The jet black apparatus was truly a sight to behold. Bra was almost sure that she could see her own reflection in the body of the instrument. She gazed in awe upon its beauty. Unsure of why she was so fascinated with this guitar in particular, it took all of her power just to breathe.
Nick pulled out a pick and strapped himself in. "Here we go."
He started in on the riff and any beginning rock fan would have thought the song was Metallica's 'Four Horsemen'. She knew the song. It was the Megadeth song 'Mechanix'. She wondered how they were able to play such a song so well without actually playing it exactly like the band played it. Nor was it played the way Metallica played 'Four Horsemen'.
Any normal human would have been struck blind by the speed at which Eroder played the song. Fortunately, Bra was used to watching incredibly fast actions all the time, so watching their handy Mechanix work was like an everyday thing. If humans could move the rest of their bodies as fast as this crew's fingers moved, she'd have a bit more competition when it came to fighting.
As for the vocals, they were a little strange coming from Nick. She'd never actually heard him sing, but it was actually good. He was no Dave Mustaine, of course, but he was getting the job done without making her cover her own ears in pain. That was pretty good.
Bra folded her arms across her chest and nodded her approval. No need to make a huge scene over their performance. For the most part, she was definitely impressed. But there was more to a band than the songs they played which belonged to other people. If they played no original tunes with the amount of power and passion they used to play this cover, then she would not be able to make a proper analysis.
Well, it wasn't like these guys needed the approval of a 16-year-old girl. They were obviously already popular among the night stalkers in town.
"Ahhhh, nothing like a little Megadeth to get you warmed up," the one named Todd said, twirling his drumsticks.
Boy, this guy was really chatty.
"Man, I hated the reverb on that," Wes said, flipping through the settings on his processor. He looked over at Nick. "What's the set looking like?"
Nick continued playing soft arpeggios. "Right. I figured we could play maybe 2 covers and 2 of our own songs. What do you guys wanna do?"
He was a considerate leader. While it wasn't really fair to consider him the leader of the band, he took the initiative that a leader would take. He wanted the other members to have their say in what they would perform. It made so much sense, yet the lack of the entire concept seemed to be the downfall of many bands. Bra couldn't help being somewhat impressed with the way the band was being run.
"I think we should play 'Regret'," Wes said.
Nick nodded. "A pretty fast-paced song of ours. That's okay."
Todd stood up and stretched. "I vote for 'Eternal No More'."
Nick raised his eyebrow. "One of our instrumentals. They wouldn't be looking for that."
Bra looked at the only person who hadn't said a word the entire time. She began to wonder if he could talk. The one they called Hunter sat, cleaning his guitar and looking around as the others spoke.
Nick finally looked over at their silent band mate. "Alright, Hunter. You're the master of picking the right covers. What are they gonna be tonight?"
Hunter put his cloth down and smirked. "'Dirt'," he said. "And 'Space Truckin'."
Whoa. Bra hadn't been ready for such a mix-up. They'd just finished playing a Megadeth song as a warm-up. A WARM-UP. Normal people don't play Megadeth as a warm-up. That's supposed to be your show ender. Then they're gonna pull out some weird ones like Alice In Chains' song 'Dirt' and Deep Purple's song 'Space Truckin'. She was impressed before, but now she was thoroughly impressed. Even if some of the audience knew where the song 'Dirt' came from, not even a quarter of them would probably know where 'Space Truckin' came from.
All she had to do now was hear what these other two songs sounded like.
Someone stepped in on their warm-up. "Alright, guys. We already opened. It's time."
Nick nodded to the man, then looked at Bra. "Well, try to get a front seat. These places can get pretty packed sometimes."
Bra raised an eyebrow. "Even on a Monday?"
"Even on a Monday," Nick told her.
"Okay," Bra said.
On her way out, the one named Todd put his hand on her head. "Don't get lost out there, kid." He had a rather stupid grin on his face.
She was mere seconds away from breaking vital parts of Eroder's drummer's body. He had done several things that she hated all at once. She hated being treated like a child and she hated being touched. But if she broke his arms or legs, he wouldn't be able to play tonight. So she gave him a piercing stare, and he backed off. Ahhhh. That was much better.
When she got out to the main part of the club, she was astounded to see that the place was nearly full. So Nick was right. The place WAS packed on a Monday night. She would never find a seat in all of this mess.
Suddenly she heard a faint sound over the rest of the noise in the place. "Hey! Bra!"
Bra turned to see who had called her name out of all the people in this place.
And there, near the front of the stage, stood Pan. The quarter Saiyan waved frantically at her. And next to her was Marron.
End All You Create
We're on the road again. Some of you out there most likely found this chapter very, very boring. And for that I apologize. Bra has a bad thing about music and she gets a little carried away when she talks about it.
Thank you all for reading. And thank you so much for the reviews. And thank you for having patience with me. And thank you for having faith in me. I hope I never have to wait that long to update again. We may even make it through this part of the Versus trilogy.
Anyway, now that we've bumped into Bra's friends, there seem to be more interesting things on the horizon. What will happen? Find out in the next episode of Eclipse.