TWEWY: A Fall Into Honor:
This story is about how Joshua became the Composer. The story is from Joshua's point of view, and others if the story needs to. This is a prequel of the game The World Ends With You. TWEWY is made by Square Enix. And I own the OCs. This is a FAN FICTION and not the real prequel. Enjoy! =3
EeveeGen9988: Hey there! The chapter length may be long (very long indeed, ha!) but I never planned for the chapter to be so drawn out like this. But in a way, it's a good way to celebrate a new year, right =3 I want to thank everyone who wished to continue to read this story, as long as it has been so far, even though it may be a daunting task to undertake. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and not faint from attempting to read the longest chapter I've ever written for any of my stories. I'll try to not have such a very long chapter extravaganza again, but since it's the new year, why not? To the next year, hoping that it will be bright and wonderful for all of you for 2016!
Week 2, day 2:
Chapter 46: Vulpine Rush:
They updated the Noise Wiki (as Izo called it) or the Noise Report (as Joshua very much liked to call it) then parted ways. At first Joshua had suggested they should work together to find Shuto, but Izo reminded him crudely it was his idea to do Cadoi City and Molco with Mayu. So the aloof poet dragged Ayumu off, after Joshua scolded his half-brother when Ayumu used 'pissed' to describe Izo's mood.
Mayu and Joshua stood alone and silent until Joshua finally shook his head and sighed. "We have half an hour… we need to act fast, Mayu."
They looked around for clues, but found none in the end. However, Joshua noticed those twins from before still hung around. So he wondered if they knew anything… considering the fact they must have been here for quite some time. Joshua thought Scanning them might help him and his Partner.
So he pulled out his Player's Pin and clenched it, sending himself to the royal blue abyss.
There were a couple Noise symbols wandering around, but he brushed through them like he was wading through water. He went up to those kids, ignoring random RG pedestrian thoughts and concentrated on the tweens. He opted for the boy's thought bubble first.
"…She shouldn't be outside! All pale and pain filled and trying to hide it from me, worries me!"
'That… wasn't helpful!' Joshua thought with a grimace, seeing that hearing about random sessions of pain wasn't his prime objective.
He poked the girl's thought bubble.
"I wish Kenny would stop following me around like I'm a wounded puppy!" the shorter twin thought in frustration. "I know I've been getting headaches often… but he keeps hiding something from me! Why can't he drop this and be how he used to be!? I don't want to be smothered like an endangered animal or something by him! He needs to stop straining himself by worrying about me all, the, time!"
Joshua sighed, cancelling the Scanning Psych. 'Peachy… twins who miscommunicate… Is twin telepathy even a thing…?'
Clearly talking to them in person would squeeze out information better, so he had to find a way to usher them into a Reaper Sigil marked location. But how? If he just had a Meme or they went into a building on their own, he would be able to!
The pale orange, spiky haired twin gasped, throwing her head up as she turned away, "If you want that rainbow mop, I won't stop you!"
In return, the stronger looking twin seemed confused, now sporting a dumb expression. "Huh? Wha? You said auburn hair wouldn't make me look stupid…"
Joshua quirked an eyebrow. He had just started listening to the conversation, so he was confused about the context. Whatever it was, he wasn't interested in hearing about hair dyes…
He noticed the girl was biting her lip, glancing around with a keen glint in her dark eyes. Whatever she was doing, he wished it involved going into a building…
She edged away, pointing past the fiery autumn orange haired tween. "K-Kenny! Isn't that our homeroom teacher!?"
The boy cringed, grabbing his hair with a short scream. "Mrs. Sato!?"
'Mrs. Sato!?' Joshua glanced around, confused. He'd seen Ayumu's old homeroom teacher a couple times over the years, but it didn't seem like she was here… 'Huh?'
"…Hello Mrs. Sato!" she called, waving in the direction behind the broader tween before leaning in to him while whispering, "She's must be wanting to talk to you about… the homework you missed…"
Without warning the boy tween ran past the girl, screaming his head off.
Joshua frowned. 'Wait… Mrs. Sato isn't even here…' It would have been nice to see her though…
After a few seconds, Joshua caught the shorter tween smirking and snickering. She bolted towards Towa Records' store in a flash.
'Ah…' Joshua smirked, placing a hand on his hip. 'A prank…'
Mayu came over, looking surprised and confused. But Joshua turned to her, still smirking. "Here's our chance! She might know about Shuto!"
He praised his thanks to lady luck, the heavens, and that clever, mischievous girl…
Entering the records store, Joshua spotted the prankster, pressing her back to a wall with racks of CDs and records flanking her. Her eyes were clenched shut as she was laughing giddily, almost breathless. She clearly enjoyed her prank.
But as her ebony eyes fluttered and caught his lavender, she stiffened. Immediately frowning, her laughs abruptly cut, and her giddy mood shifted to a bashful one as she eyed him. Her posture was unnatural to her, more wary than it should and less relaxed. When she opened her mouth, her eyes flickered to the side and him in a while. It was absolutely amusing…
"Uh… h-hi…" She let out a sigh, pressing against the wall harder as if trying to flatten her whole body. Simply she pressed a finger to her lips, as her eyes glittered, shadows of her earlier playfulness and glee shining in them. "You didn't see me… got it?" now she sounded slightly demanding, but in a lighthearted way, "You didn't see me-" gesturing to the racks flanking to her. "-g-got it? You just saw shadows…"
Joshua couldn't help but giggle, it was amusing how she thought he was dragging in her twin in to find her.
Mayu held his shoulders, hiding from the youthful girl's sight.
The shopkeeper didn't seem to mind a tween was using his store for her hideout, and he seemed to know her from how his eyes gleamed with amusement. Joshua could hear snickers emitting from the guy.
Joshua finally stepped forward, with Mayu shadowing his every move, as he decided to play along.
"Hmm… Did you hear that…?" he murmured with a smirk, faking a confused, yet thoughtful expression now. "Maybe not… seeing that shadows cannot speak…" he met the girl's eye again. "Nor can they help us… oh well!" he shrugged and smirked again.
The girl narrowed her eyes briefly, soon asking in a wary and curious tone, "…Help you?"
Joshua nodded.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you were crafty with sneaking away from that boy," remarked Joshua, edging closer, but the girl didn't seemed pleased by how close he was. "And… you seemed to be there for quite a while… So… we guessed you must have seen everything happening in the district… or… am I wrong…?"
She was quiet, blinking for a while until she shrugged slowly. "…I… tend… to notice things more than my brother…" her response was curt, but she was clearly hooked. "He wouldn't be much help to you… since he was flocking me… and nearly hit a stop sign from worrying about me…"
"I thought siblings spoke good praise of each other…?" mused Joshua as he stared at her.
"Meh… he's stronger, I'm faster, he's big hearted, I'm clever, he's carefree, I've always been… impatient… and a bit more observant than him…" she lowered her eyes, grimacing before giving a shrug. "Sorry, I'm a bit exhausted right now, not to be rude, or…"
"That's fine…" Joshua replied, stepping closer, but froze when a crinkle sounded. Looking down, he had his foot on a folded piece of paper. Normally, when a page was folded like this… it meant an artist abandoned their painting's or drawing's life.
He scooped it up, gasping as he unfolded it to see a sketch of what seemed to be a sun high up in the sky above a lake, and when he reversed it upside-down, it was a moon high in with sky with a pool of stars above the same lake. It reminded him of Yin and Yang... day and night… But what really astonished him was the shading, and how the sun and moon were styled. The sun was round and perfect, the moon slanted as a crescent; almost as if it was a slanted frown…
"Is this yours… by chance?" asked Joshua as he stretched the paper to the ebony-eyed girl. She glanced at it almost blankly then jabbed for it, shoving it into her pocket afterwards and Joshua heard more crinkles produced. 'How much paper is she holding onto…?' He hoped she wasn't hoarding others' precious sketches…
"Y-Yeah," she looked at him, almost like she was reading his next move. "…I do it when I'm bored… whenever… meh…"
"You're quite good…" Joshua remarked softly, but she girl shook her head.
"No, I'm not." She crossed her arms as she looked away. "Their just… dim-witted… I need to carry them around me so my brother doesn't discover one and… rant about how I could be 'the world's award winning artist of awesomeness, greatness, of all very much all times…' ...I… just don't understand how drawing mere sketches makes me a heroine or a superstar… It's a bit stupid. I'm not special, I'm normal as a nobody…"
"…Does your brother know you think this way…?" asked Joshua a bit concerned. She acted like the world was rudimentary… too concrete…
"Nope!" She gave him an incredulous look. "He thinks I can pop off my head easy… and rainbows, lollypops, and kittens, EXPLODE OUT! Normally on days I feel bored or tired… like now… I start to reflect outside of what the world can provide for me… On almost every other day, I'm happy and energetic; not caring about what I see goes wrong… And I don't want my brother to push or strain himself for me. I feel utterly selfish, when he does that… it's horrible… I want to do things for him, to make it up, and I don't really care much what I do in the end for that… And most of all, I want him to be more happy than myself…"
She gazed up at the ceiling, her voice rising up in exhilaration; "I want to just… push myself, by myself, for the things I believe in… If it's worth my energy, worth to achieve if there's a chance… I'll take it! I won't care about what anyone thinks, if it's what I believe into the fullest I, can, run!"
Joshua felt the sides of his lips twitch upward. "Sounds as if you're motivated, and believe strongly about things…"
"People should have the right to chop off chains that trap them! Be allowed to do what they want!" she half-shouted abruptly, then shrugged. "Meh, I'm being too baffling…" After a second or two, she gazed at him bright-eyed. "So, you wanted me to help you? Or, have me blabber my feelings and tear out my heart to gift it to you…? ...Would you like a side-order of nonsense?" her tone was sarcastic, so it was amusing hearing any use of sarcasm used for jokes.
"Former please." Joshua giggled.
The girl relaxed a little with a slight smirk.
He waited a bit before he asked firmly, "Did you see a 7 year old boy, with brown hair? Anywhere in the district… about 30 minutes to now?"
"Mmm… One was squealing and yelling about 'Tin Pin' and 'Stupid Tatsuya!'…" said the ebony-eyed girl mindfully with a shrug. "…I have a good memory… trust me. He nearly knocked me down, and Kenny nearly fainted. I… I had to hold him back from… murdering that poor kid…"
"That's the kid!" exclaimed Joshua feeling excited and hopeful. "His brother is looking for him! And we're trying to help!"
The girl smiled a little. "Oh, so you're not one to ignore these things? Good…" She blinked before twitching her shoulder. "That kid is still here, he was nearby Kenji and me… What? Do you have glasses to find as well?"
"Huh?" Joshua was puzzled by what she meant. "No I'm not!"
"Mmhmm…" she batted her eyes before gazing at him. "He seemed upset, blabbering about how he hated his brother… and wanted to be alone…" she explained simply, shrugging slightly. "He started to act… I dunno… weirder after a while…"
"Wait! Do you mean… less reasonable…?" Joshua asked, fearing now that Shuto was a victim of being possessed by the Negative Noise like his older brother was. "More… angry? Distressed?"
For a second the girl looked surprised, raising a pale orange eyebrow at him. "Actually, yeah?"
'So, Shuto must have caught the eye of Negative Noise as well… I hope this doesn't run in the Dan family…' Joshua reflected grimly, glancing at his Partner who chose to stop hiding. 'Despite that, this isn't good! We can't let a kid that age fall into dangerous levels of the Negative Noises' influence! …But… maybe… maybe I can check if I'm right again…'
Seeing how the girl was so enthusiastic in helping him…
"Do you, by any chance, know how to play Tin Pin Slammers?" asked Joshua, rewarded by a baffled expression. "It could cheer him up! Steer his thoughts away from his troubles for a while! Plus, we don't want him to be angry when we bring him back to his brother… of course…"
"Are you bribing me?" asked the ebony-eyed girl simply. "My mother will never approve if I got cash from helping out a weirdo…"
'Wierdo!?' Joshua felt appalled and offended. 'Where'd that come from!?'
"Kidding!" she laughed merrily before staring at him. "We literally bumped into each other once in school! Yoshiya Kiryu, right…?"
"Huh? We did!?" asked Joshua, startled by her familiarity with him. "And- wait a minute! How'd you know my name!?"
"Cadoi Square Elementary yearbook…" She tapped her temple. "Good memory! Remember!?"
Joshua could now understand why. Every student spread rumors of him being a freak, so it was a no-brainer for why she would know that. He faintly recalled that day, when he was still going to the elementary school in Cadoi City (the only school planted in the district). But the memory was blurry and half of it wasn't there.
"My brother plays, me too, but my brother is worse." she said as she peeled herself from the wall and ambled to the door. "I could get him to lose, that way, it would give the kid satisfaction of winning…" She spun around to show him her small toothy grin. "Sound good?"
"…You sound like a cunning vixen…" noted Joshua with an amused chuckle.
Before she departed, she said happily, "Meh, you've made my day of boredom flip to fun! What of it?"
Joshua watched as those two twins talked to Shuto, a brown haired boy with brown eyes. His attire looked similar to Tatsuya's, except his clothes were bright coloured rather than dark, and his rat's nest of hair was untamed with the lack of a bandana.
Mayu was beside him, anxious as they watched. "D-Do you think Shuto is possessed?" asked Mayu with worry.
"We'll watch how he interacts with them," Joshua explained gently, giving her a reassuring look. "If it becomes hectic, we'll check for Negative Noise… and step in to fight them if that's the case."
The smoky black haired girl gazed at him with uncertainty, almost like she didn't trust his plan. But then she closed her eyes, clasping her hands together silently for a few seconds. Then she looked at him, nodding.
"I-I hope they don't get h-hurt, Joshua…" she said timidly after a while as the boy twin set up a Tin Pin battleboard. "W-What if… he starts punching them? What if… he starts screaming? What if he just starts to insult them and hurt their feelings!? …J-Joshua… I-I don't like the idea of anything b-bad happening!"
She sobbed and hugged his arm, her pretty eyes filled with sadness and fright.
"I hope that doesn't happen, Mayu…" admitted Joshua somberly, he closed his eyes as he murmured to her gently, "I don't like the idea of this either… but we can't stop anything unless it's the Noise's fault. I don't think it's a good idea to influence the RG citizens' lives… it could lower our brownie points with that Composer…"
The shorthaired girl bit her lip before resting her head against his shoulder. "Joshua… who's the Composer…?"
Joshua's breath hitched.
He wanted to scream how much of a horrible lady she was! How she was keeping Ayumu's emotions hostage from his younger half-brother! How she was unjust and cruel in a kind guise! How she denied them, anyone, a second chance because of stupid reasons! How much… he hated her… But then, he let his hatred ebb (a bit) away for a moment.
Mayu deserved to be her own judge of what she thought about the Composer… He couldn't tell his Partner to hate her… It wouldn't be fair to vent out what he believed without a single shred of thought for his Partner… It… didn't seem right…
All he could say was…
"She judges the Game… and decides who deserves a second chance for living." For a second he hesitated before he choked out painfully, straining to hold back any of his rage in his shaking voice, "O-Only one… can be g-granted… th-that r-reward…"
Mayu gasped, as he expected her to, but she didn't pull away like he wanted her to. Only her grip increased, squeezing his arm harder in her hug.
Joshua didn't want to repeat last week by withholding that information from her like he did with Rei and Izo, when he recalled the expressions and reactions they exhibited to him. His heart instantly flipped, twisted, and clenched from shame and pain.
He waited for Mayu to scream in anguish… or horror… or fury… or something that revolted her to the point she loathed him… Any moment for their short friendship to sever…
The ashen blond clenched his lavender eyes shut. 'I'm sorry…'
"I don't mind… if I don't, Joshua…" she murmured kindly.
"WHAT!?" His eyes shot open and he gawked down at her.
Joshua was shocked, he expected her to cry and scream in terror, in dismay, in distraught… But being mature, confident, and accepting… wasn't how he imagined her reaction!
"If someone else needs the chance more than me… I'll be h-happy for them…" she said gently, shifting her head to gaze back at him with a weak smile.
"S-So you don't mind!? Aren't you upset that there's a chance you might never receive another chance, Mayu!?" asked Joshua in horror, concerned about his Partner.
She deserved another chance! She was kind and caring… the world needed more people like his Partner!
"I… I don't want to be selfish or horrible…" Mayu said sadly, "I don't want to steal the chance others have for it. D-Don't worry about me, Joshua…"
The ashen blond was speechless.
A part of him wanted to convince her she should want that second chance… but another admired her confidence blazing in her choice… He hated how she was denying a chance to live! A chance to go back to her friends and family! She needed that chance!
Suddenly he heard the tween girl shrilly scream, "What are you doing!?"
Joshua winced and Mayu leapt away from him to shriek in horror, covering her mouth with her hands looking pale from shock.
Shuto chucked the battleboard at the pale orange haired tween. "Stop it!" She cried out in pain as Shuto picked up the battleboard again, ready to swing it at her, "STOP IT!" Joshua saw how she cowered on the spot, petrified as Shuto swung it, screaming like an insane animal.
"I HATE YOU!" Joshua was disgusted by how grating the child's scream was.
The battleboard was deflected by her twin, who stepped in front of her and swung his fist at the incoming object. In seconds the board was smashed to pieces, amazing Joshua of the strength the blow had to achieve that. That girl was right; her brother was strong!
Shuto began to throw the splintered chunks at the twins now, screaming how much he hated them. The taller twin stood protectively before his twin, taking in the blunt of the attacks, as he spat furiously in his high cracking voice, "Keep away from her! Stop attacking my sister!"
But Shuto didn't relent, nor was affected by the older boy's threats. He continued throwing the broken battleboard's pieces, screaming on the stop of his lungs and advancing towards them, "STUPID MEANIES! CHEATERS! I HATE YOU!"
Joshua couldn't take it anymore! Right away he charged at the crazed child. He used his Player Pin when he passed through the baffled and alarmed twins to stand in front of them.
Two Negative Noise Symbols whirled around Shuto as if they like were the speed of light, letting out distorted growls that almost disabled Joshua's hearing along with destroying his ears. They were absorbing his Soul, making his Negativity rise higher and higher to the point Shuto no longer acted sane, as though he was a untamed animal.
Quickly he entered Shuto's thoughts, cringing at what he heard, "I HATE IT! I HATE TIN PIN! I HATE MY BROTHER! HE HAS NO RIGHT TO GIVE IT UP! NEVER! HE'S A BIG MEANIE! HE MUST BE DOING THIS TO BULLY ME! PUNISH ME! BUT I WON'T LET HIM! I WANT TO HIT HIM IN THE MOUTH LIKE THEY DO IN MOVIES! HE SHOULD DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! BUT THOSE BIG MEANIES THERE! THEY SHOULD DIE FIRST! PUTTING ME AGAINST A HORRIBLE SLAMMER! I'M BETTER THAN HIM! WHY SHOULD I DESERVE PEOPLE GOING EASY ON ME!? MY BROTHER IS A BIG, MEANIE!" Shuto sounded both exasperated and distraught, but Joshua was scared for those twins' lives now. Shuto didn't make sense anymore! His emotions were out of whack! The Negativity was corrupting him! The Noise were corrupting him! This was bad!
Joshua felt dizzy staring at those speeding yellow Noise Symbols, but he tried his best to focus on both. When the timing was right, he sprang forward, punching both Symbols at the same time when adrenaline spiked through him. "FIGHT US! STOP HURTING TATSUYA's BROTHER!"
Bright lights consumed his vision and surroundings. His vision was complete white for a long time, but it cleared like somebody turned off the light switch.
Mayu was behind him, shrieking in horror when he turned around to see what was terrifying her. Hastily he threw his head back around, facing the Noise who were messing with Shuto's Soul with hatred burning in his lavender eyes.
Two green foxes floated above a good distance from him, their bodies had dark yellow markings snaking around them, and they had long yellow to green tattooed tails that flickered back and forth, pointing straight up to the sky. Joshua remembered what they named the Noise a few minutes ago: the Psychedelifox Noise. Named after psychedelic music due to the fact, apparently from Izo, it used many abilities based on the number of tails it gained and could copy other Noise like a mirror. But those Noise didn't draw his attention completely…
There was another Noise, floating higher above in the sky.
A purple fox with white chest fur, was gazing down on them with its ruby red eyes glittering. Snaking around its body, like the Psychidelifox Noise, were similar markings but darkish red instead, along with a longer tail that curled halfway like a feather; turning from yellow to very dark purple, that swished subtly in the wind almost.
Joshua stared at it, wary of the brand new enemy, wondering which tactics Mayu and him should use against it.
The new Fox Noise let out a clear howl, then all of them teleported randomly around the area.
Already Joshua sprinted to his Partner. "Find anything you can grab!" Mayu followed his lead as he passed her.
There was next to nothing lying around, and Joshua bit his lip as he ran around the area with worry bubbling in his chest. 'If I can't find anything for Mayu, she'll be defenseless! I can't allow that to happen! There has to be something!'
Suddenly a shadow fell over them.
Joshua threw himself out of the shade just as Mayu screamed, slamming into a mailbox. Stunned, all he could think about was if Mayu was okay. He should have helped her!
Once he regained his senses, he saw his Partner on her hands and knees, shaking on the ground. One of the Psychedelifox Noise was floating nearby, flames of pale green dancing around it as it faced Mayu, still in its tall sitting position.
Joshua cried out in anger, summoning his Thrash Splash Pin's Psych. After water engulfed his body, pressing and gushing around him, he skated fluently to deliver jabs and kicks. A few seconds later it teleported away, and Joshua let the water evaporate.
He went to his Partner, helping her up as she cried hysterically. Seeing her like this made Joshua enraged, knowing that he would make sure that Noise would pay dearly for this stunt! He healed her with Rosetta Restore, waiting until the balmy red healing radiance faded before he pulled her away from another falling Easter head. The aftershock made him totter a bit, trying to regain balance before they went to search for Mayu's fighting tools.
Joshua noticed that each Noise had fire circling them on the ground; pale green with a yellow flick for the Psychedelifox; violet with a yellow flick for the brand new one. He wondered what they were for until he noticed the foxes absorbing them, with a new tail sprouting in seconds. If Izo was right about their tails being their magical fees for certain abilities, they would have to act fast and destroy the flames before they came in contact. Apparently, they were immune to any long-range (Negative Attacks, as Ayumu referred to them) attacks, so getting Mayu something to strike them with would be the most ideal motive they had now. But there were no broken down cars, sprawled random items, or wreckages! What could she use!?
He passed by a metal sign pole that was a yield sign.
Slowly an idea crept into his whirling mind.
"I have an idea, Mayu!" Joshua spun on his heels, dashing straight for the sign.
Mayu let out a squeak as the new Fox Noise popped beside her as a red and white speckled mushroom, "W-What are you doing!? There's nothing I can use!"
Joshua flashed her a smirk with a short chuckle, "I'm making you your tools." she caught up to him. "Trust me…"
She bit her lip, gazing at him with dismay, but then her eyes hardened with understanding. "O-Okay!" she squeaked in determination as another Noise popped over as a mushroom.
The ashen blond knelt down and grasped the thick pole with his hand, using his other to touch the ground and keep himself steady. Then he used Transflaration through his right hand only, into the metal pole as blue lapping flames.
'I hope Mayu is okay on her own…' Joshua bit his lip.
An urge to glance back at his Partner tempted him, but he knew he couldn't lose concentration, especially when using blue fire. Blue fire was a dangerous source of fire; Joshua knew it was hotter than normal reddish orange at times. For one thing, he knew he didn't want to burn his knees nor feet. Plus, losing control of his fire wouldn't be a wise decision. All he could do was continue to melt the pole out of the ground and hope, hope that he wouldn't lose his Partner to the Noise in the meantime.
When the metal seemed liquidy enough as it slopped through his fair skinned hand, he grabbed the pole with his other to draw it away from the base it was rooted to. He waited for the liquid metal to stop dripping before he used Thrash Splash to cool it down.
The sign felt pretty heavy as Joshua struggled to hold it; clearly Mayu would also since she was a nice, dainty looking girl… He blushed when he thought of her, soon shaking his head to clear his mind. 'Focus… Focus Yoshiya… focus…'
Mayu might be able to work with the sign pole if it was shorter… so he decided to melt it in half for her.
Laying it down, letting it clatter deeply, he pressed both of his hands to where he estimated the middle part was and used Transflaration again.
His progress ceased when he heard Mayu scream.
Joshua's breath hitched as his eyes widened, turning his head where he crouched above the half melted through pole.
Mayu was backing away as a dark version of herself stalked towards her.
It had pasty white hair, a dark yellow vest and orange jean jacket, a black skirt, yellow and orange striped belt, white bottomed and purple strapped flip-flops, and the pretty eyes it should have had, that were blinking from behind a fancy purple fox mask, were a mixture of copper orange and dark red speckles.
Joshua at once grabbed the sign pole with his hand on the safe spots the melted metal wasn't, starting to pull each side of the pole apart as dread quickened his heart. 'Mayu! I'm coming!' He luckily made the metal soft enough, but it took a few attempts to separate them from each other.
The hot liquefied metal splattered around him, hitting parts of his pants and shoes. But he didn't care! Mayu was defenseless!
He used Thrash Splash to skate towards the two Mayus, which allowed the new pole ends to cool off as he sped towards them. And when he was almost there, the doppelgänger Mayu slapped the real one. Red mist covered his vision, and before he knew it he was thrashing at the fake Mayu, yelling and cursing angrily, "How dare you! Don't you dare touch Mayu!"
But the doppelgänger had a smirk, giggling annoyingly while using Mayu's voice in a way he never wished for her to make herself. It hopped back into the air, evading his punch he threw, to almost stand on the thin air before giggling to reveal it was that purple Fox Noise.
Joshua canceled his water Pin's Psych, snarling at that Noise, "How dare you! Copying Mayu's appearance like it's a thrill!? How sick are you…"
It giggled in a high pitch that no fox should have.
If the people who said his laugh was the most annoying, he should record this Noise's and have them listen to it!
Once the Noise teleported away, Joshua looked at Mayu while softening his expression. "Are you okay, Mayu?"
Her cheek was red where the Noise slapped her; she rested her hand to it tenderly as tears welled up in her pretty turquoise eyes. She quivered as she stood there, whimpering. But soon she bit her lip, nodding as tears slid down her face quietly.
Just watching this made Joshua more furious of that Noise, who reduced Mayu to tears… He clenched harder on one of the sign poles, hardening his lavender eyes.
That Noise… deserved erasure… by his hand alone.
But looking back at his Partner, he softened his expression again before coming over to give her a small hug. She hugged back, sobbing into his chest, "J-Joshua… I-I couldn't… attack it… I-It looked… so-so similar to m-me!"
"Shh…" He hugged her harder as he closed his eyes. "Shh… As long as you're okay… it'll be alright… it'll be alright…"
Even with the threat of erasure looming over them, he couldn't bare letting his Partner cry like this. It would be too cruel for his standards to tell her to shut up and fight, that's probably what Izo would do in this situation.
For some reason he found it easier to hug people now, mostly because of Mayu.
He could finally understand why Ayumu did this so often, it gave people gratification to soothe their souls… His father never gave him hugs, just simple pats on the back with a grumble of 'Good job.'. His mother gave hugs to him, but he always sought his father's example instead. He saw his father as what men acted like, and seeing how hugs didn't normally come to him from his father, he didn't really feel the need to hug people as much as his mother encouraged him to.
Even though Ayumu gave him hugs, from how Auntie Chise raised him to cherish people as he should himself, it always felt too weird for him… Hugging people himself always rewarded him with a weird, awkward sensation he never got over until now. It just… never felt right to hug people… to invade their personal space and break up yours… always made Joshua feel like this…
But as Mayu's sobs softened to deep, quiet breaths, he felt warmth rush into his heart.
His hugs never met the skill Ayumu's had, he realized, but with Mayu he could try his hardest to hide that fact. He felt like they could be like this forever… suspended in frozen time that can never cease this precious moment they were sharing…
Suddenly his senses exploded, telling him of danger.
He widened his eyes in horror as a shadow fell over them. 'Gah!' He was forced to thrust the both of them to the side, just as the Noise crashed down as another Easter head.
Joshua hissed in pain, the sign poles easily escaping his grasp. He gazed at Mayu's slightly rounded face to see her blue green eyes were wide with terror. After a few reassuring seconds that they were no longer in danger, he let go of her, and they both got up. Joshua scanned around the area to make sure there weren't any threats he overlooked, while Mayu took longer to recover from how she quivered, still in her shock.
"W-We have to finish them!" he said sternly, frowning at the teleporting Noise. "We need to make sure they don't absorb their flames, Mayu…"
She jerked a bit before she was out of her daze. As she looked to the sign pole halves, she gestured to them meekly. "A-Are they for me?"
"Yes! For you, my dear!" he chirped with a teasing bow. "They may be heavy, but that's all we have for you… crafted by yours truly…"
She giggled at him quietly then bent down to collect her weapons.
At first, she seemed to struggle in lifting them up or keeping a good grasp, but then she gave a nod, regardless of what he saw.
They stuck together as they hunted for the Fox Noise Family, deciding that it would be hard to finish the fight by themselves.
First they met a Psychedelifox, it transformed into a Thrash Mink. Joshua guessed it was its copycat ability.
Despite knowing this, he was unprepared when it shot a wedge shaped bullet at him, but Mayu swung the sign pole halves like katanas at the incoming bullet. It didn't damage the Noise, but Joshua was able to sneak up on it while using his Thrash Splash Pin. He easily took it down in a few punches.
Before they went on, he gave a thumbs up to Mayu who gave a weak smile in return.
The other one teamed up with the pesky purple Fox.
As a Popguin, it slid on its belly like the real one, making Mayu trip and get confused as the purple Fox was charging back and forth as a black Boomer Noise. Joshua tried to aid his Partner, but that purple Fox became a Jelly Noise that jabbed him with one of its blue tentacles.
His body was fried with electricity, which was very unlucky for him since he was using Thrash Splash, because this caused him to spasm as his mind went blank from the pain. After he felt numb and his vision darkened, he couldn't tell what was happening. And he couldn't move no matter how much he tried. When his senses returned, his head hurt and he felt dizzy.
So after he remembered he had a healing Pin, he used it to knock himself back to the present.
Mayu had lost one of her pole halves when the purple Fox crashed through her; it flew far away and turned into particles. Right away Joshua skated on Thrash Splash's water to assist her, but he tripped when the Psychedelifox intervened with his path.
The ashen blond met the ground as all the water surrounding him exploded into blue particles once more; he rolled out of the way before the penetrating bullet of the Thrash Mink hit him.
"There's no way I'll let my shoulder get injured because of you…" he grumbled with anger bubbling through his chest. "Fake or real... you won't hinder me!"
He threw hail at it to surprise it before launching himself into a full watery pummelling assault to finish it off. Instead, it reverted to its kitsune form and became a stone statue of itself. He was unable to take it down like he was planning to, seeing as his hands hurt from jabbing at hard rock. So he gave up on attacking, huffing and puffing from his exhaustion, only to be effectively scorched by its dangerous fire dance.
Joshua cried out, feeling like he was being barbecued alive. He promptly used Thrash Splash to cool himself down, then switched to Rosetta Restore to relieve his wounds and exhaustion before it was too late.
The Noise had already escaped via teleportion, causing him to curse. 'These Noise are troublesome… I need to find Mayu and stick with her if we want to finish these annoying foxes…'
He spotted his Partner alone, so he felt worried she wouldn't be soon when the Fox Noise Family resumed their attacks. So he dashed to her side, finding that she was out of breath as she held the sign pole half with both of her small shaky hands.
"They… They drained my… energy…" she panted hard as she hung her head, her bangs drifting over her face and creating a shadow. "J-Joshua… I'm… I'm exhausted… I-I don't know if… I could… continue…"
"Hang on, let's let Rosetta Restore decide on that!" He closed his eyes, sending his energy to his Pin and thought about his Partner. When he reopened them, the red restoration radiance bathed Mayu, tinting her with a reddish glint. Her eyes were closed in relaxation, as his Pin worked its magic. She accidentally dropped the pole half when Joshua was almost done replenishing her energy and healing whatever attacks were dealt to her when Joshua had been zapped. He handed her the dropped weapon afterwards, keeping his eyes locked with hers.
She widened her eyes in awe as she stretched, soon murmuring in surprise as she adjusted her grip, "It… it feels like I-I got the best night sleep I'll ever have!"
"I know. It's a great feeling, isn't it?" Joshua smiled as she gave a slow nod. "But we better finish off the rest now, Mayu."
"Y-Yes! We should!" Her eyes hardened with focus, but Joshua couldn't help but chuckle from how cute she was being.
"Stand by me!" Joshua shouted as he charged forward, going straight for the Psychedelifox that made its appearance nearby.
Flames of pale green swirled close to it, and before they started to head for their creator, Joshua used Thrash Splash to skate on the water over them. In response, they hissed into pale steam as Joshua created his path of water.
The green Fox Noise didn't seem pleased by this, changing into a Popguin and slid towards him squawking in fury. He leapt above it before it struck him down; landing then doing a figure eight to charge for the Noise.
Mayu struck its face in an uppercut, causing it to flip backwards as it squawked in agony. Joshua went behind it before it crashed painfully to the ground, letting loose blows that swatted it forward. Again Mayu struck it cleanly, and a light green wad of light materialized from Mayu's chest. It shot for Joshua, and he accepted it, hitting the fake Popguin back to his Partner.
The light continued to and fro as they continued to rally with the Noise. And each attack they dealt allowed the light puck to soar to each of them, filling them with adrenaline. After a while the Noise was felled, and a flare of white glittered around Joshua's body.
It was just like when they fought Iwao, Joshua realized as a flood of trust surged through him along with adrenaline that caused him to grin widely. Like that day, he figured him and Mayu could create another special combo like he had done with Ayumu and Rei.
He recalled Sanae mentioning an occurrence much like this… he had said, "When two people who share a Pact; a special bond they allowed themselves to forge to aid another; they are able to achieve Fusion. Only if one or both of them has the Fusion Pin, they will be able to let loose a special power with the ones they trust… or, the ones they share the Pact with. Normally you would only have Fusion with your Partner, unless you have started a new week or have lost them forever to erasure… Joshua, this power should be respected and used wisely in a fight, and Players should understand the perfect time to reveal their bond's strength when midst in battle…"
'Now's… not the time…' Joshua thought as the blank white Pin Sanae had Kazumasa deliver to him glowed, altering into an imagery of a stormy sea that had raged waves as a large monstrous water shark head that appeared ready to chomp down on its prey. 'We need to save up a little time to use Fusion…'
Mayu was wide-eyed as blue green glitter swirled around her own body, gleaming like the water of the sea. Speechlessly she locked eyes with him, but he shook his head. "It's not a good opportunity yet, you'll know when it's time!"
Suddenly the purple Fox was a black Boomer Noise again, he sidestepped out of its path to elude collision. It switched back to its real form before teleporting nearby Mayu. She tried to swing at it but it slapped the pole out of her grasp. Joshua ran to help her as she tried to retrieve it, but the Noise had already teleported above it. Violet flames sprouted nearby the fox, swiftly heading towards the fox.
Joshua stopped at once, his heart stopped briefly. "Wait! Mayu!"
His Partner continued towards it, and he felt his heart twist as he yelled out to her, "Mayu stop! T-The flames!"
It was as though she was deaf to him, and he couldn't help but feel dread torturing his senses. She was going to be erased if she tried to retrieve her weapons! He had to stop her! He pushed hard on his feet to sprint for her, grabbing the back of her upper left arm and immediately pulled her to him hastily. The flames burst in front of Mayu just as Joshua's spine met the pavement and Mayu fell on her shoulder.
Right away the Fox Noise let loose that eerie giggle as it absorbed the flames, new tails sprouting besides its original.
"Why... why didn't you listen to me!?" screamed Joshua as he loosened his hold, grudgingly shifting into a sitting position as he glared down at her. "You could have been erased!"
Mayu didn't reply as she lay there, silent as tears rolled down her blank face. It made Joshua angry that Mayu nearly got herself erased! She nearly spelled her own doom if it hadn't been for him!
"You... you would have erased yourself! You wouldn't exist anymore!" he continued distraughtly as he shook, pressing his palms to the ground to steady himself as his heart winced. "Did you know that!? Did you!?"
It was too quiet... too tense... and he felt he would go insane if his Partner didn't explain herself! He couldn't wrap his mind around the reason for why she ignored his warnings, ignored the hazard that was right in front of her, just for the sake of retrieving her weapon!? Was she stupid!?
"I... I... I didn't want to be useless..."
At once Joshua stiffened. 'Huh...?'
"I... tend to be useless for people around me..." she softly whimpered as she quivered, increasing the flow of tears she wept. "Everything... goes wrong because of m-me... I need... to not be h-horrible... but I a-am..."
"N-No you're not..." He felt appalled at what he was hearing, his fury ebbed away as he stared at his Partner, now lost to the confusion and disbelief flowing through him. "Why are you horrible? You're sweet, gentle, resourceful..."
"B-Bad things happen..." She closed her eyes. "They always happen... to the p-people I know..." She paused, letting out a sob soon, "W-Whatever I do... I mess up... horrible things happen to people... and I am to b-blame... I'm always the person r-responsible... J-Joshua..."
The ashen blond watched her as he frowned, unable to find any words to console her. How could bad things happen to people because of her? Mayu couldn't do that to people... she wasn't a jinx... She... was shy...
"Y-You shouldn't put up with m-me..." She didn't stop trembling as she lay there. "I wanted to be useful for once... I thought if... if I could help you... then I'd be useful... I had to get my weapon back in order to fight along with you... or... I would be useless... I'm not like you, Joshua... but I wanted to feel that we are e-equal, just like you told me y-yesterday... I can be u-useful to you... but I'm distracting you instead... You... must be so frustrated with me..."
"I... didn't want you to be erased, Mayu..." he said quietly, closing his lavender eyes as he shook his head. "I was afraid, afraid that you would never be my Partner if you were gone..." He felt heat behind his eyes, and his breath hitched as he tried to stop his tears from running out as his voice shook, "You made me scared... you made me worried... I-I didn't want to lose my Partner..."
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be..." He ignored how his spine ached as he gently reached towards his Partner. "I shouldn't have gotten so angry... it wasn't your fault... You're still new to the Game, and-"
"You're just taking care of everyone..." Mayu murmured softly as she slowly grasped onto his offered hand, and he pulled her up to sit beside him. "I understand why you would b-behave like that, and, I-I guess I earned it..." She gave him a weak smile, as she squeezed his hand. "You care about people, Joshua... ...It's sweet, how you want to make sure we're okay... B-By getting on my c-case... you're trying to make sure I won't make the same mistake..."
"I-I wasn't like this before..." Joshua sighed, setting his gaze towards the pale sky. "I used to think it was okay to be anti-social, that nothing else mattered than the Reaper's Game... And the only person, other than my guardian after my parents died, that I cared about the most was my brother... that we can be outcasts together... as long as the both of us were safe..." He let out a chuckle, shaking his head lightly as he turned his head back to Mayu. "But now... I care too much about others."
Mayu slowly stood up, holding her hands together as she murmured softly, "At least... you're not selfish..."
A smirk formed on his face, and he got up as well. "You're hardly selfish yourself, Mayu..."
She blushed at once, turning away before flinching. He frowned as he opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong before he hardened his expression, crouching immediately as he glared at the Noise who giggled eerily. 'Is it... waiting for us? No... Noise are prone to attack at any given leeway... so why? Why hasn't it attacked yet?'
Suddenly he noticed how it was missing some of its tails... 'It...' The pole half was gone. '...It destroyed Mayu's weapon? Why didn't it attack us when it had the chance?' Noise weren't all that smart, but considering the fact it destroyed Mayu's weapon and not them was puzzling. Did it have some idea of how important it was to get rid of Mayu's only way to attack? As it continued to giggle he wondered if Noise actually had some form of personality... or intelligence of some kind... But why was this Noise different than the rest of its Noise Family? Did it only want to taunt them? Or...
It howled as flames started to circle it again, watching them with narrowed ruby red eyes.
'It'll attack this time...' He felt strongly about the fact that this time, this Noise wasn't going to play around with them. It must be bored of them now and wanted to pollute the rest of Shuto, rather than having a detour with them. He clenched his fists as he turned to his Partner, and nodded. 'We have to do it now... we need to take it out with Fusion before it uses any of its tails to take us down!'
"Put your trust in me!" he shouted passionately as the pure white light around his body intensified.
Mayu grabbed his hand, squeezing it tenderly as she turned to the Noise. Beside him as she shouted out in determination, "I promise I will!"
Their bodies were engulfed in their auras, the light near their intertwined hands met and altered into a beautiful vivid hue of the ocean. Suddenly warmth drowned his heart and hope filled his soul, and they ascended gradually into the air.
Joshua looked down to find clear water leaked through the ground, swishing and swirling as it swallowed the area below.
The Noise floated higher as the water became disturbed, changing from gentle to violent waves that thrashed, leaping up and down. In the end the sea dragged the Noise into it, tossing it out and in, its body smashing into the trouncing, irate waves.
This continued for who knows how long, but then the waves grew so violent that all the water arose and submerged Mayu and him. Despite being underwater, it didn't feel like it because he wasn't soaked nor was fighting for oxygen. Then the sea went down, thrashing with waves until all the water was drawn to the side.
By now the purple Fox was desperately paddling with no avail, being swept under then its head broke for the surface briefly. This didn't last long, because it was dragged down as the water began to dip down drastically as a gigantic thrashing wave rushed into creation. Nothing was heard but blaring torrents of water and the air was shaking.
The waves spun and thrashed until it was a large water shark head with glowing crests of the waves for eyes and a massive opened crested wave of fangs readied to chomp down. Then it crashed down slowly on the Noise that was trying to save itself but it was too late, the waves' shark head crashed down onto the Noise, swallowing the Noise whole.
Adrenaline and warmth started to drain away like the calm water now, sinking down into the ground. And when the water was gone, the purple Fox Noise was no more.
As Joshua and Mayu floated down, their feet met the ground lightly and soundless in sync.
Joshua smirked as the light blinded him once more. "That, is my judgment…"
To be continued… hope you enjoyed the chapter =3