A Promise Between Worlds

by CrafterofTales

When Emma's life hangs by a thread, a mysterious entity offers her a chance to free her family from the Demon World. The catch: she must participate in a competition between people from several worlds, and enter numerous events for the promised wish. Meeting those of other-worldly abilities, she is a child not only relying on smarts and tenacity, but her heart as well.

17. Learning New Tricks

Chapter 17: Learning New Tricks

They arrived to a store labelled with posters of ammunition and weapons of all variety. Emma had seen something like this when Mashu was guiding them through a small section of the Wired, and she'd been hoping to stop by to restock on ammunition. Vash is least anticipating, somehow dawning on him now the questionable dissent of bringing a child to a store like this. Though it seemed evident enough that she would have been searching for a place like this anyway, so it might have been better if she had a bit of guidance.

He looked over his shoulder for the girl following beside him. He's seen many children in his own world who had a gun held in their small hands to protect themselves from others. Many that should have been none at all, and their eyes nearly always had a coldness to them, angry against the world, and not many to look out for them and their happiness. Some times, he's able to help those kids, and some times this fails, and the pain of it will never leave.

This little girl though, with a tomboyish appearance and bright green eyes still filled with innocent and hope to the world she takes great curiosity in as if it was the first time seeing it. This was a rarity, and it filled his heart with some happiness, while still lingered the sadness that she was carrying those weapons at all and he has a feeling those weren't only just for hunting. There was also a strange set of numbers on the side of her neck, and Vash was certainly curious to know the story about that.

Besides, as if he would leave a lone child wandering the streets in a big city like this. She was obviously curious about the world around her, but there was a caution to her gaze, a mixture of wonder and a tension close to fright.

She's never been in a city before, he easily deduced. Well, that does it then, he can't let her be wandering around by herself. The things that could happen in a big city like this.

"Try to stay close, and make sure to be careful with anything inside. Store's like this usually has a lot of dangerous weapons," Vash discloses in an upbeat tone.

Emma nodded up to the man, and he pushes open the store door. An announcing bell-ring as he steps inside, herself following close behind while bright green eyes takes in the surroundings of the interior store at once. Several gunsmen, swordsmen, all the sorts of weaponsmen here, browsing about the glass cases showing various things meant to pierce and stab. She kept a cool-head while walking along with the man in red, who carefully remained attentive to her presence as he casually approaches the counter at the back of the store.

"Hey there! Mind if we use the shooting range you have?"

As Vash spoke with the worker, Emma gazes at the store once more, stepping away from the blonde man in red for a moment as she looks to the glass case, seeking ammunition for her own weapon. She looked in amazement at the metal sheen of katana swords hung on support sticking out of the walls.

A step towards her direction and she abruptly stopped, a large figure passing right by her. "Oh! Excuse me-"

She looked up to the person, eyes wide.

The man peered down at her with a glare-like look. His eyes brown, his human face rough, his right eye permanently closed. Black hair short and spiky, his body wore a long dark fur coat that caped his form to his ankles, his heavy boots with metal clinks and belts, muddy with dark colors she knew at a glance to be dried blood.

But the most startling thing was what he carried at his back, that long hunk of iron that could crush her should it ever fell upon her, a long handle that passed the man's head. A weapon that no mere human could swing so easily even with both arms. By far the biggest hunk of iron with sharp edges in this store - a sword, she soon realized. Do swords really come that big for people? The man's strength immediately declared in demonstration to his easy carry of this weapon.

"Hey! Why'd you stop?" A little boyish voice spoke as something glimmering fluttered from the man's shoulder. An insect-size humanoid with blue flamed-cut hair and beautiful eyes to match, pale skin, and insect-like wings that fluttered from his back. Emma stared, stunned.

A... A fairy? She thought to herself, her eyes glittering with instant wonder and amazement; a mystical being right before her eyes, straight out of fairy-tales every orphan in Gracefield has read.

The fairy-like boy noticed the girl then, his wings rapid as he flew for her. She blinked at his sudden close proximity, her eyes even brighter at his further proof of existence at his up close appearance. A fairy! A real fairy! Ray would absolutely go nuts over this - so would the rest of her family actually.

"Oh! Hello there! Sorry about him." The fairy referred to the large man behind him with a wave of his tiny arm. "He's a little rude, hardly knows when to watch out for others- Hey wait! Guts!"

The blue haired fairy turned around when the sounds of the man - Guts, and his heavy boots moving for the exit of the weaponry store. "At least apologize! Geez, that guy knows no manners. Sorry again!"

He waved his tiny hand bye to the little girl before he flew after his friend? just as the man leaves, barely zipping through between the cracks of the closing door, and catches up to the man outside. Emma staring after them.

A voice of light deadpan humor spoke behind her, "Well he was a ray of sunshine, now wasn't he?"

She turns around, finding Vash standing there, his sight follows after the people she had bumped into before looking back down to her, "You alright?"

"Oh. Yeah, I..." Emma looked back to where the man and his tiny friend left, eyeing back at Vash, "Was that a fairy?"

He glanced back out the front door, "I think so?" He then grinned at her, "Don't worry. You didn't imagine it."

The little girl, with a second opinion to support her witnessing, shaped her mouth an 'O' as she comprehended.

"...Wow." She did her best not to outwardly yell in complete expression of 'I just saw the most incredible thing by far,' less she would disrupt the casual shopping of everyone inside this gun store. Perhaps she was being too easily impressed, especially when something so small would normally pale to the demons she's seen, and also saw a giant purple robot? on screen. But frankly, everything have been impressive, she could hardly pretend indifference to all of it.

An amused grin on Vash at her reaction, practically seeing her glowing feelings, "Believe me. There's plenty more amazing things to see around here."

She nodded slowly in comprehension, "My family would have gone crazy over all of this. None of us have ever even seen a city before." She did well to keep the longing sense at bay in mentioning her family.

"I'll bet," the blonde man in red chuckled lightly, giving one more look to the now distant figure of the man and that huge sword which honestly looked too big to even be called a sword, but then Vash has seen stranger weapons he supposes, there was even a wooden one he once saw someone have.

"We got a booth reserved for us. Ready to show me how good of a gunslinger you are?" Vash asked Emma with encouraging blue eyes.

Emma wordily affirmed, adjusting her carry of her backpack as she then followed Vash to another door led by a worker, and to the next room.

/.\

They were led to one of the many available shooting range. The room they entered was only mildly occupied - few people taking their practice shots at their individual station separated by walls. An open space of an area where remnants of bullet holes behind punctured targets of paper sheets that has a bullseye on them, and mannequins with targets labelled on some parts of its body.

The shooting range echoed with the noise of gunshots, their sounds within this room enough to have Emma feel the vibrancy bounce from the walls. Even as she has become quickly accustomed to the usage of guns, the effects of its power was not yet been numb to her. The blonde man in red didn't seem to mind them though. Had he been here before? Or was he a gun-wielder also, familiar with the repeating sounds of a triggered gun?

"Alright! So then..." Vash knelt down to her level, meeting her with bright blue eyes, "Ready to show me?"

Emma nodded as she equipped her rifle with the safety on first. "Do you know how to use a gun too, mister?"

"A little bit," he said vaguely. A deliberate statement that contracts to his eased unflinching reaction at the practiced gunshots resounding in the room. Emma wondered if there was a reason to this, or if he was just being modest.

She briefly glanced down at her rifle, "Can you give me any advice? It'd be really helpful to learn more how to better handle it."

She wasn't sure what qualifies an expert with a weapon like this. She believes she has the basic know-how and could perform excellent shots at the first try, but she wouldn't mind knowing if there was more she could do to improve herself. It had been a struggle with her fight against Lewis while in a rush to keep ahead from him, with his reaction speed far too much for her to hit his weak point. Maybe there was something she could learn from others who might have a greater experience than her.

"Ah. I don't know about that..." He sheepishly scratched the side of his face before adding, "But I have been wondering. If you don't mind me asking, what do you use those weapons for?"

Emma nodded slowly, "For the bow, I use it mainly to hunt. But for the rifle, it keeps me safe from dangerous creatures."

As he asked, Emma walked up to her assigned booth and up the steps to see over the table and through the open window. A fresh target of a poster with a bullseye on it. "There's a lot of monsters in my world, my family and I call them demons. I don't know what they are exactly, but they can talk and act like people, and their main food source is humans."

Vash visibly flinched, his friendly grin dropped while wide blue eyes stared in surprise as he listens to her telling. "We were living in a world of demons we didn't know about until recently. All of us, my family at the orphanage, and other places like ours - just like us, we were living in a farm meant to be food for the demons. Some of us managed to escape the orphanage and into the wilderness, and were later helped by some friendly demons who didn't eat humans. They helped us find a bunker where there was all sorts of weapons. It's where I got this rifle from."

She picked up her rifle in demonstrative showing, "I had to learn how to use this to fight back somehow, against any demons that we come across and would try to hurt us."

"I see..." Vash said somberly, an etch of horror in his blue eyes as they flickered to the numbers on her neck, the bullet scar on her cheek, and the concealed wound at the side of her head. It was an all too familiar story of struggle, but with monsters thrown in the mix like it was the telling of a scary fairy tale, the big bad monsters prowling on the innocents, the greater horror of this was the reality of it for this young one. His heart is always jabbed with painful sorrow at hearing these turmoil. More so that innocent children are the victim of this. "So you had no choice but to protect yourself somehow..."

Emma looks to the ground with a sadness hinted in her eyes, relating to the man's expressed feelings. "It helped us a lot, and if we want to live, sometimes it can't be avoided."

His face broke into further sadness as he felt the urge to hug her, an instinct response to tell her otherwise, but then she raises her head back up, the following words coming forth by recent experience, "But... I've recently started wondering. Maybe it doesn't always have to be that way? I know it's a risk, but..."

She looks back down to her rifle, "I would like to first find a solution that doesn't have to have anyone die, that we can somehow work together instead. It might not work out, but I'd still want to try. Even though I do hate them for what they've done to my family and others, it's not like I want to kill anybody for it."

A warm glimmer in his sky blue eyes upon those spoken words, a resonating compassion that warmed his bleeding heart. It was a rare achievement for someone to not be hardened by the severity of one's circumstances. That someone would carry and use that gun, but have the desire for a resolution without bloodshed. It couldn't make him feel anymore glad to hear this. That hope in her.

"Hm..." He looks to the poster target at the end of the shooting range, "I guess I can probably give you a few pointers. Lets see what you got."

She then does so. A focused and professional handling of the rifle, as multiple bullets fired and pierce the bullseye poster. The rapid firing was completely unexpected for Vash as he jumped in startled and sprawled out hands - a child knowing how to shoot is one thing, to shoot an automatic weapon is few more steps above that. He watches her steady handling of the decent weapon, the center of the bullseye repeatedly hit, few bullets touching the edge rim of the center dot.

The center target dot was practically eaten completely through, Emma switches the safety on button of the rifle and lowering it, looks back to Vash. "Was that okay?" She asked genuinely.

Vash blinked before letting out an impressed whistle, "That was pretty good. Did anyone taught you how to use that rifle by any chance?"

Emma thinks for a moment, "Not directly. I watched a man use a gun like this, how he reloads and holds it, I just followed what he did."

"You learned by watching?" He asked surprised, to which she nodded. "By yourself? All in a week?"

"The first day actually," she clarified, and that had him gawk momentarily. If it's to shoot a pistol, he can see that but a weapon with a greater artillery ought to lead even longer practices to hone it. She's awfully talented, if a bit depressing and somewhat horrifying actually.

"I can hit moving targets too," she added. "But when it comes to moving and shooting at the same time, it's a little harder. I can still hit things but not as precise."

"Wow, that's really amazing," Vash commended. "I'd say you've got it better than a lot of people I've seen, especially around your age."

Emma smiled a bit at his compliment before beginning to reload her weapon. He observes with captured incredulous at her easy and quick change of the ammo clip to the next one at an easy reach from her backpack, clocking the gun. "I've never really held a gun like this until that day, when we met that man who lived at that bunker. He was just like us, and he also had to learn how to survive by knowing how to use this."

Her eyes sullen with sadness, "He lost a lot of his family. I'm hoping that, if I can win this competition, I'll be able to take not just my family, but him as well, and all the other orphans in the Demon World and bring them to the Human World. But then I met and made new friends here. I thought about it before, but it really hit me how much other people must really want the wish too. I don't know if it's possible, but I want to make sure and see if I can help them with what they're fighting for."

Was she perhaps saying too much to this man whose name she doesn't even know? Perhaps, but then Emma felt no reason to keep her skeptics and caution, even if Ray would demand she does so otherwise - to protect herself from those who may do her harm. She did have faith of a common goal with the nameless man even for his attempt to rid her and her family, and proved her insight of that wolfish fighter whose name in the beginning was also eluded, with how she feels about this person in red coat now, she found it justified and safe to trust in his sense of humanity as well.

There has yet to be a person whom she felt compelled to be wary of, even if familiar with that person for all her life, thus far, she has not met anyone who reminds her of Mama, and as long as she can watch out for such people, then she can be treading safely with self-assurance. It's not to say that her own intuition is infallible, but Emma finds it tiresome to always be on edge around anyone - just as she learned from when she met Sonju and Musica, not everyone they come across are an enemy. The challenge would be how to differentiate one.

But for now, she believes she has a good read on the blonde man, even though he is a little odd, there was this nice, soothing demeanor about him. Even Mama, from when she was loving, always held a calm maturity to her, much like a cool lake in a calm forest with the trees there to protect all of them from the outside world, until it was time for them to walk pass it - in actuality, the trees of Isabella guarded the hideous truth around them while trying to keep the small creatures in the lake from ever escaping.

This person, however, with his brilliant red coat that reminded Emma of roses in the picture books, he seemed much more open about himself, like a ball of sunshine whose rays extends to all. Even if he is withholding certain details about himself, he at least wasn't attempting to delude her questioning that she could pick up on - at least, that's what she felt.

A gentle smile at her said goal, Vash eyes back up to the shooting range with a thought-provoking look before she then asked him, "Do you have a wish too, mister?"

"Hm?" He said, a short second of pondering before he answered, "Want to know a secret?"

A sudden, supposed diverted subject, Emma looked a bit confused before slowly nodding. He knelt down to her level, bringing up his hand to speak discreetly, and whispered as Emma listened closely.

"The truth is... I don't have a wish."

Surprised, Emma looked at him with wide-eyes, "Huh?"

His eyes smiled, "You're not the only one who thinks the way you do. With a competition like this, I wouldn't hold myself back from wanting to help others too. It really would be great to find something where everyone can get what they want, without anyone getting hurt."

Emma watches him aside as he stands up and walks over to the table, picking up one of the many empty bullet shells that popped out from her weapon.

"You're on the right track. Life's a pretty good gift for everyone to cherish."

It was a romantic view of a man who held life highly, Emma regards him curiously and a questioning prompting inside her. Before she could discuss, the tip of Vash's thumb that gently touches the bottom of the empty shell flicks, shooting the shell across by this seemingly meager gesture, and meets the hole that which Emma had made, a masterful perfected center - dead on.

Emma was in awe. "H-how did you do that?" The trajectory of that supposed simple flicker of his thumb, how it just flew as if it were a bullet. Was this another incredible feat an adult could achieve?

A goofy grin on Vash as his eyes smiled at her, "I had some practice for a while."

He collected a handful of bullet shells, "Watch this!" Turning around, he flicked another empty shell and shot it through the hole yet again, all while he was facing the opposite way.

"Whoa!" Emma's eyes widened as Vash demonstrated skillful firing of flicking each and every empty shell through the hole. In different positions such as shooting the shell under his self-lifted leg, and twirling three times with his eyes closed. He'd even got on the table, bend down where he sees the target between his legs upside down, and still managed to flick the bullet shell through the center bullseye.

At her astute observance and greater astound, she realizes that he'd been shooting not only through the same hole, but - almost impossibility - the exact same trajectory. Her eyes adjusting to his quick draw of firing shells, not one of them seem to lean close to the rim of the center. While evidence is shown by the markings of her bullets that imprinted upon the wall behind the target, the shells he fires with just his thumb struck the single embedded bullet in the wall again, and again, and again - every time. His precision far exceeding her own.

For his finale, he balances the shell on his nose with his head hung back and his own back facing the target, a slight sway of himself as he kept the shell standing up, he then flicked the shell with the use of his thumb and this time finger, and it flew with a wonderful spin, going through the hole just like the others, and striking the embedded bullet in the wall just the same as all the others.

"Tada!" He demonstrated with jazzed hands and a wide toothy smile.

Emma stared at him in stunned awe, and once she came back to her senses, she clapped excitedly with arms extended in front of her. "That was awesome, mister! How were you able to make perfect hits without even looking?"

He grinned wider as he grabbed his chin in great, sparkling pride to his skill-show and impressing the spectating little girl (if only he could have the same kind of admiration from women). "Well, having a keen eye helps, but so does keeping a memory of where the target is - as long as you can tell or know when it might move or not, and probably a small ounce of gut instincts also."

Emma looked down to her rifle in handle with remaining awe in her round eyes, and they return to the man. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

The end of his bravado of boast, he blinked at the girl a few times, his eyes glancing quickly at her held rifle. An instant prodding from a small part of his heart tangling with the rest. It reminded him of a similar scenario, of little children witnessing his feats and wanting to learn from him. Vash always managed to dissuade or divert their attention elsewhere.

His heart mourned for the little girl's trouble, but to learn how to shoot more precisely - how to take a life more precisely, that's something he can't do, nor allow for others to do as well, let alone a little girl. If it was for hunting or fending off against monsters, that'd be much more understandable (though he would still be squeamish about it). This seemed like a harmless request of how to flick bullet shells like how he does, but it was pretty apparent enough what she really meant by that request.

And yet, even with this thought, he did not rush to decline this time. Compare to all those who would sometimes request him for his tutelage, inspired by his infamy, all having their own reasons of a vendetta towards someone, or use any helpful guidance he may give them for ulterior motives and criminal acts, this girl did not sound for vengeance or intent to harm others, making her unique from those he's met in his travel. Her words of consideration for those aside herself is sincere, as is her preference for a peaceful outcome. It was a thing to applaud for, to encourage for.

But Vash knew the price of that sort of decision, he himself was only able to go as far as he has because of how good of a gunslinger he was, and the worst of it came when the nasty scars piled up. That was due to his own beginning years and inexperience at the time, and he did not want that to happen to her as well. But her way of thinking wasn't bad in the least!

It really puts a perspective on things when he sees others having ideas that resonated with his, although not completely. Forced to either suffer the consequence of sparing a life, or to use that weapon against monsters out to eat her and her family. This really was a fickle situation, putting a test to his own morality, and how far he would be willing to bend it to help the little girl. That want of hers for a better outcome, wondering, hoping, trying. If she could still cling onto that hope of sparing a life, then that was a good hint of what she could be capable of, there was hope for her still - hope for someone who doesn't believe killing to be an option she has to take.

Just like how Rem taught him.

It also wouldn't hurt to guide her a few things so that she wouldn't be killed through any participation of this competition. Not in ways of self-defense that would shoot a person cold-blooded, but rather, a diversion-offense, enough for her to get away and survive. For her life, and the life of those after hers, to be spared.

It was also hard to say no to an adorable face like that. Vash knew he was a weak man.

"I guess I could... but-!" He said suddenly, loudly. "Here's the deal."

He squatted back down and raised his pinky finger, his face serious despite the childish manner of his raised pinky, "I want you to promise not to use it to hurt anyone. You can use it though if it's to help others and protect yourself, okay?"

She looked at his offered pinky in surprise, her green eyes observing the man shortly before a soft smile came to her face.

"Okay. I will." She grabbed his pinky then. A handful grab - as someone who had been secluded from the workings of the world outside her original place of living aside from what the books tells her, there was none she's read that mentioned this type of "handshake," and therefore, was not familiar with the concept of a Pinky Promise. A blatant stare from Vash before his cheeks puffed with mirth while Emma's turn came to be confused.

"You're supposed to hold it like this," he helped by pulling his pinky and then meeting hers, holding around it with a gentle close.

"Oooh," Emma said in epiphany, further widening his smile.

"That's alright. It took me a moment to get it too," he stated, bobbing his and her hand twice. "There. Now we're bound to this promise, so make sure to keep it."

Releasing their hold of each other's pinky fingers, he then rises to a stand. "Alright! Now pay close attention, it might take a moment to catch how I'm tossing these. They tend to go just a little fast."

She eagerly and firmly nodded with a huff and slight pump of her clenched fist, "I understand. I'll do my best!" She said affirmatively, and Vash quietly chuckles delightfully.

Proving her quick assessment and learning reflex, Emma learned how to flick a bullet shell in just a couple of seconds, several seconds more of trying, and she struck the center of the bullseye. Half a minute of learning and watching how Vash shoots his bullet shells, the position of the thumb and how the shell was resting upon the tip, Emma had achieved her own record of perfect bullseyes, watching as the shells she tossed bounced off the red center, much to the incredulous amazement of Vash. For him, it took quite a while to make those kinds of perfect shots, this bright little girl really was something else.

They spiced up their little shell throwing contest as Vash grandiosely cartwheeled outside the booth, tossing the bullet shell and still managed to hit the center perfectly. Emma would have liked to do the same but the table in the booth between her and the range was too high, so she ran, hopped, and twirled instead. It threw off the trajectory of the shell she tossed, and while certainly difficult on her first try that it barely even touched the poster, on her second, she managed to hit the target at the inner rims, and after her third, the bullet shell had struck the center.

"I did it!" She cheered with raised arms, and Vash applauded for her in great awe.

"You really do learn fast!" He said, himself the audience now as he watches her gradually become more acute to hitting the target, eating the doughnuts from his brown bag as if he was eating popcorn at a movie.

She spun around to face him, her face exuberant with the kind of smiling joy she hadn't felt in quite some time. "It's just as you said mister. It was a little tricky, even after memorizing its position. You got every shot though! You're actually a really good shooter, aren't you?"

"Oh well I wouldn't say that..." he said bashfully, eating another mouthful of doughnut, deciding to sit back and watch as Emma resumed her shell tossing. Thirty more seconds passed and Emma's precision while moving about hyper-actively quickly adapted to only perfected hits, until she was out of bullet shells - but the issue of moving and hitting precisely had now been satiated. Though Emma wondered if she should use remaining bullets to continue their play, she knew better than to throw away bullets uselessly.

"OH! That reminds me," Emma said suddenly, looking back to Vash. "I need to restock on ammunition."

"Oh," Vash recuperates as he looks down to the brown bag, flipping it upside down and crumbs of doughnuts only fell. "Looks like I'll have to restock too."

Emma giggled lightly, Vash nicely smiling at instigating the reaction again before then gently ushering her along, "Let's get going then."

She agreed, peeking around the booth as she noticed a few onlookers at theirs taking an interest enough to poke their heads out for the firings of empty shells than actual bullets. She picks up all her things and follows after Vash in near-skips, leaving the room together with him, and in better spirits, much to Vash's own proud accomplishment.

"Any other place you're thinking of stopping by tonight?" He asked as they browsed through the glass counters and all its products of weaponry, crouching down to Emma's level as they await for her new rounds of ammo for both her rifle and pistol. The arrows for her bow she can make easily herself. She paused for a moment, thinking over the question.

"Well... there are a lot of things I like to see. Maybe I might just end up wandering around."

Vash hummed a bit, looking at her with gentle eyes and an encouraging frown, "A little girl shouldn't be out here so late though, don't you have an assigned home around here?"

She looked up to the guns and rifles hung upon the wall beyond the counter, her face calmly expressed. "I do. I'm... not ready to go back yet. I wanted to see a little bit of what being at a city is like. If I want to be able to escape the Demon World to the Human World with my family, I should know a little about what a world that might be something this would be like. If there are cities like the Wired we might end up finding."

"Hm..." Vash said, the balm of his hand under his chin as he seem to look at whatever enchanted items and etc behind the glass, not seeming to be focused on anything, but seems to be in thought. Emma wondered what he could be thinking about before looking back up when a worker came back and gave her the ammo. Just the sort of rounds her guns can fire.

"Want me to show you around?" She then heard Vash asked, looking back at the taller man, his friendly grin her way. "I've been around the city enough, I can tell you a few things I know about it. What do you say?"

Emma observed his face in few glimpses, affirming the sincerity of his offer, "Really? But aren't you waiting for your friend?"

"It'll be alright. I can catch up with him another time, and we might not go too far, do a little window shopping around here and there. I can name you a few places you can check out sometime yourself. Some good restaurants also. Oh! There's also this place called an "arcade," that place has all kinds of games. Although, I don't really know much how to play most of them, to be honest. Hehe."

She nodded, brimming with captured intrigue, "All that sounds great. I'd be happy if you can show me around, or anything you can tell me about the city."

"Well, you're awfully quick to accept it," Vash scratched the side of his face as his friendly expression fell slightly to a befuddled concern, "I mean, I can promise you that I won't hurt you or anything , but you should really be careful around strangers. Never know what they might be hiding."

"Mm. Yeah, but I trust you," she said unhesitant, "I'll have faith that you're a good person, since you've helped me enough already. Plus, you remind me of another kind person, he has the same nice eyes that you do." The kindness that reminded her of Lucas. A soft gaze that cares and consoles anyone those eyes may stumble upon, a compassion and understanding to the hidden pains hiding beneath oneself, himself including.

"Oh well now you're gonna make me blush," He sheepishly scratched the back of his head with a hint of rosy cheeks.

"Also," she then added, mentioning with a firm point of her voice, "It'll be little tiresome to distrust everyone I might come across, don't you think? I wouldn't want to live a life like that."

She could feel Ray banging against her head to refute her statement, but it was just how she felt. It was good to be cautious, and to assume safely that everyone would be out to get her so to know when to immediately act, it had been so for Mama, but it's not the same for everyone, and besides, what sort of life would it be if she remained callous and on guard around all those who may be potential friends? Only pain, as she thought back to the nameless man as an example.

The smile on Vash grew even softer as his eyes did too. Well, that's it then, he is going to look out for this little flower of sunshine.

"Alright then!" He said with exuberance, standing up with his high of a stature. "The doughnuts can wait for maybe just a short while. There's a few things you should watch out for, but for the most part, there's a lot you're gonna like around here."

Entrusting his words, Emma starts for the exit of the gun store, alongside the red-long coat wearing blonde man, who opens the door for her, "After you, young lady."

"Oh. Thank you," she politely rescinded, and then walks out before him, taking to the paved street as she follows his lead again, to anywhere around the lot as a simple sightseeing, a minuscule essence of the Wired.

/.\

In the dark alley grimed with littered trash and wet puddles from a leak at one of the pipes, Garou sat upon the dumpster, legs crossed in a meditative position. The white aura flows around his body, waving without pattern, freely. He raises his hand in close examination to the aura surrounding his limb before lowering it and resting it over his knee. He hasn't a clue what was it that dressed it, though there was a faint idea.

He had learned about the concept of Chi from his old Master Bang, the belief of life energy flowing through all living forms, including the earth. He wasn't sure if this is what it was, since as far as he knows, it wasn't something that was supposed to be seen. Nor just up and appear the way that this has. Before he should think more on this though, he ought to calm down the squirming aura, it was starting to take a damper on him.

So he meditated, a single intake of a breath, holding it in for a moment. He feels the aura around him calmed, its wriggly state coming to a smoother form, and now hangs over his whole being like a worn thick veil as he releases his breath softly. He raises his arm, his sharp wide gaze closely examining the aura with intrigue as the city noise of honking horns and walking pedestrians faintly hums in the background.

Doesn't seem harmful thus far, in fact, there was a faint sense of power he feels. And ever since that stomach agony finally passed, he felt one-hundred percent again, or rather, he never felt better, like he was at one-hundred and ten percent. Whatever this stuff he was wearing, it was warm, bright yet doesn't light up this alley as if it didn't really exist; ghostly almost, hence his first conclusion came that this must be the Chi his old master talked about, which even then didn't really make sense. He was sure that his ex-teacher mentioned energy flow to be inside the body, not out.

The second conclusion would be he had ate something weird, maybe one of those spicy berries giving out a bigger kick than he was prepared for, causing him to suddenly erupt this aura-like substance from his body. Then there was the third conclusion, the face of that boy with green tipped hair coming to mind, and the very strong punch he took as if it was a cannonball but ten times stronger. Whatever that kid did to him, the timing actually fits perfectly, as after that gut punch, he had been carrying that weight of pain inside his stomach throughout the rest of the Preliminary until now, and only now could he not fight it back anymore, and then this appears replacing the pain, which means compare to the first and second, the third seemed much more plausible.

He clenched his fist curiously, his brows furrowed as he had a mind to move the aura in some other ways. The wriggly state returned, but at his intent, the shape turned jagged and sharp, and he looked on in surprise. Raising a brow, he closed all but one finger, leaving his index out, and inputs all his focus onto it. The aura reacted, the jagged shapes dwindling and moved to the finger. The aura seems to register by his will and intentions.

Further intrigued, he inputs more focus into his index, the jagged becomes spikier, much faster. Willfully, he drew back his ferocity, and instead let the aura around his finger expand. He watched with widened eyes as the aura stretches from the tip of his fingers, rising into a thick wavy line out of aura, and had it shape into an almost unstable looking orb above his finger. At its near wretched appearance, he peers with a narrow gaze at the orb, willfully telling the orb to remain steady and stable, until it seemed to register his intentions just that, the orb and the line its attached to his finger much steadier.

"Is that guy alright?"

He did not pay any mind to the spoken whispering comment out from the alley and onto the sidewalk, fascinated by his aura. He uncurled all five of his fingers then, putting his intentions on all of them, and in suit, slow wavy lines of aura rises from each of them, and shaping the ends of the lines of aura into smooth marble-sized orbs.

"Hell if I know. Guy looks like he's on "something". Probably thinks his fingers look like worms."

He paid attention to that statement then, and abruptly turned his head for the speakers on the sidewalk. The duo jolt at his eyes now on them, one clattering with the full-set of armor he wore, the other - a much shorter fellow - with blonde hair in a thick braid and a red coat over his black set of clothing. Golden eyes meeting his wolf-like gilded gaze.

"A... Are you okay sir?" The one wearing armor asked.

Garou stared at them silently, unaware or uncaring of this bringing gradual unease to the brothers that stood outside the alley. He curled his fingers to a close once more, the short rope-lines and their individual orbs retracting back to his glowing worn shell, except for his index finger. He raises the finger a little higher, and without looking at it, mindfully and willfully had the orb grow slightly bigger, its swaying line to his body stretching longer.

"Can you see this?" He asked them.

The Elric brothers spared each other an uncertain glance while Garou continued to stare at them, awaiting their responses. It was the one in full-body armor that answered, "See... see what?"

"You mean your finger?" The shorter one asked, very much a look that already determined Garou to be a loony, but Garou made no heed to that.

"The orb. Do you see an orb?" He clarified.

Once more, the brothers looked at each other. "N...no...?" Again, the armored one, Alphonse, answered, and he clamped his armored gloved hands over where his mouth is, afraid and dreading that he might have said the wrong answer.

"...huh." Was Garou's reaction, and then returned his attention to his glowing hand. Losing immediate interest in the brothers, confirming his suspicions as well. So this was invisible to others but himself?

The Elric brothers didn't know what to make of Garou's response, so they just awkwardly resumed their way, slowly and carefully walking away from the very clearly disturbed man living in an alleyway.

"You know, there's probably a hospital somewhere around here that can help you," The eldest brother remarked with a blunt tone.

Alphonse gently chided him, "That's really not a good way to put it Ed..."

"I'm just saying."

Garou ignored them, returning to his experiment of making the aura do anything his will tells it to. It felt alien yet strangely natural, and he's become invested in its ability of movement the longer he remains here and playing around with this newly worn power. Inevitably, he ended up doing this for quite some time, and all the while, he'd been steadily and surely become more accustomed to its existence.

Testing, watching, and creating stringed orbs that expands from his elbow, knees, the tip of his toe. Things beside his finger however proved to be more difficult, but a little persistence and he was able to accomplish, though a noticeable strain came to him as he felt the urge to huff out a breath after every try, as if he just finished running. Apparently, making shapes with the aura can take a good stamina out of him.

His interest in this new and strange veil flowing around him like a curious child with a new toy suddenly thrown at his feet. Sweats builds up from this exercise, however. Yet he resumed on until he was able to make from his finger a decent, clean shape of triangles, squares, and even cylinders (the toughest one to do).

After taking up all this time getting used to the "worn" aura, having had his fun of this latched wonder, he then considers hiding it or putting it away somehow, as it was starting to feel heavy on him, his breathing even heavier.

Stilling his breath and looking at his arm again, he clenches his hand, willing his next intentions into motion. He observes as the aura slowly sinks into his body, buried under his flesh, until not a remnant of aura was seen. A sense of "better controlled" washed him and he lets out a relieved sigh, feeling much less tired now - though still out of breath, sweat dripping from his entire being.

It was a work out to even keep the aura on, he had a bad feeling that, had he kept it on any longer, he'd probably pass out. This is the preferred state then, having his aura show itself for an extended period of time seems to drain his energy. He should keep attention to that detail.

"Hm..."

Sweats of his exertions slid down the side of his face, controlling the rhythm of his breathing to a steadier pace, as a sudden idea came. With his raised fist, he puts all his focus into his fist. The aura reemerges, shrouding his fist in a bright glow, a feeling of great power fueling inside his hand. It looked burning hot, but he hardly feels its heat.

He hops down from the dumpster, looking at his glowing fist as he walks forward by a few steps. He then eyes at the building in front of him, built by dark bricks cemented in stacks for permanence. He gazed back at his fist, and slowly, very slowly, he un-balled his hand, spreading out the fingers and calmly reaches for the wall.

He gently palm-pressed the surface.

Upon contact, an instant pump of the stone that punched into the concrete, though not all the way through. A huge indent that was far bigger than Garou's own size, his placed hand at the center. The shock of the meager infliction of his palm-press reaching the ground and cracking the edge until it reached passed his feet. The bricks broken, the cement dust. It was as if a massive fist just touched upon this wall, and left its imprint.

Garou gawked. Simply just the meager touch with the barest of his intention was enough to make this kind of effect. His wonder and theory proven at this instance. He steadily retracted his hand and regarded it momentarily, somewhat stunned and even intimidated by it.

This could come in handy.

He preferred using his own strength and skills, with every sort of technique he can absorb into his body to use against and deflect every hero he meets - earned through pain-staking efforts. He wouldn't mind the generosity, as long as the giver doesn't challenge or change or pervert his mission, he certainly hadn't asked for it though. Well, it's not as if he knew how to get rid of it if he wanted to. So for now, he won't complain keeping this with him.

Whether some kind of force or another was on his side that granted him this power, he'll be sure to never give his thanks, as now this ability - for its unknown quality and advantage he may yet uncover still - is his to use.

He tightens his clenching of his fist again and brings back down the aura into his flesh. Just then, he perked at the echoing sound of police sirens singing at a distance. "Uh oh. Probably should have tested this some other place. Time to make my exit."

He climbs up the wall of the building in front of him, hoping twice until reaching the roof. Leaving the scene, jumping more roofs until stopping at the fifth one, he goes to the edge and views the area.

"Guess I should find a place to sleep. If I remember right, there's supposed to already be a room ready for me." He probably should have asked before he left that hospital. Oh well, he'll just find whatever place he can rest for the night, maybe make it his own base too. He also sees a forest at the distant, maybe he can find a cave or a shed to crash.

His gilded glare takes note of the buildings and streets around himself, deciding his next move, when something caught his eye. "Huh? Is that...?"

At the next street, a familiar bob of orange hair stands out from the rest, right by a tall blonde man in red coat, in front of what appears to be a doughnut stand he demonstratively looks to be excitedly ordering from. Without another thought, he jumps from the roof to the next alleyway, and crosses the pavement and street, eyes purely focused on the small beacon of orange hair.

"-That's a lot of doughnuts you're getting, mister. You could get a tummy ache if you ate all that," the little girl apprised factually.

"Mmmm. Probably. But I just can't help myself. I'm something of a doughnut addict I guess you can say," the taller man said before adding on to his selection and choosing at the treat stand. "Oh, I'll have ten of those with the sprinkles on top. Honestly, it's amazing how many kinds there are! I'm basically in heaven right now!"

Garou waltz up behind the child and tapped her shoulder. "Hey."

She had felt the piercing gaze of someone before the tap and Emma hopped in a startle, her voice jumping to her throat and turned quickly. Immediate reaction of wary and alert until she recognized him at once. "Huh-? Oh! Garou!"

Her round eyes regarding him as she calmed down, fully facing the wolfish competitor, "You're up this late too?"

Muffled by five doughnuts hanging out from his mouth, Vash looks over at the sound of Emma, and acknowledged the white-silverish haired teen with a pretty gruff looking expression. He sees though that Emma acted pretty familiar with the person, and watches them with two bags filled with doughnuts carried in his arms and biting away the treats already in his mouth.

"I should say the same for you," Garou stated, head tilting at her. "What are you doing out here? Not with your friends this time?"

"They're at their homes right now. I couldn't really sleep, so I figured I could walk around the city for a while," Emma answered, adjusting the strap-hold of her rifle as she smiled slightly at him. "It's a little scary, but really cool!"

Squatting down, Garou meets her at eye-level, further inquiring, "So do you know this doughnut guy over here?"

Emma introduced the tall man whose name still is not given, but has since accepted him as simply the nice man, "I met him just tonight. He's been helping me a lot and is really good company."

"Oh well that's sweet of you to say," Vash responded in quiet happiness and another hit of soft bashfulness at her sweet words, successfully swallowing the treats before greeting with friendly enthusiasm to Garou with a wave of his hand. "Hey there! Nice to meet you. You a friend of hers?"

Garou stared at him in blatant regard, then reverted back his attention back to the little girl. Ouch. Vash certainly felt that one. Or maybe this guy wasn't exactly the sociable type.

"You should probably think twice before coming out here this late by yourself," Garou looked at the rifle she had by her backpack, and prodded the barrel end of it with his finger. "Well, you're a tough enough kid. Long as you can keep watch of yourself. Plenty of guys around might be able to snap these like toys though."

He stopped his prodding just as she answered, "I have heard that cities can be dangerous. Mister here showed me a few places around this block and told me a lot of things about the Wired. I've never seen anything like it before, and so many people! Have you seen a lot of it yet?"

Garou shrugged. "Been dealing with stomach cramps lately," he said vaguely, looking aside as he spotted the flashing lights of police cars go by, not stopping by this way, fortunately for him.

She noticed his side glance and the police sirens, though withheld any questions to it, asking his well being, "Are you still hurting? Do you need to see a doctor?"

He denied with an usher away hand, "It's passed now, and I'm feeling a whole a lot better. But forget that, there's supposed to be rooms already assigned for us, right? Know where I can find them?"

Hearing that he's feeling much better now, Emma affirmed with her own nod, "Yeah, there's actually a help station you can visit to find what home you'll be staying at. Do you want me to show you where it is?"

"Think you can?" He asked, looking back at Vash as Emma did the same. Meeting both gazes, Vash waved reassuringly with his leather gloved hand.

"Don't mind me. I think it's about time you two should get going to your new homes now. It's way past midnight. You should get some rest," Vash urged them with a friendly smile. "My friend might be back any moment now anyway. It was really nice hanging out with you, Emma."

The little girl turned to him, agreeing happily. "It really was. Will I see you around here again?"

A sad hint of a smile at her asking that question. "I don't know honestly..." Vash softly answered, "I tend to move around a lot. I'm never really in one place for long."

It also doesn't help how often in trouble he somehow always managed to be founded by. He would rather that she wouldn't be so close to the kinds of danger that follows him, but he certainly won't forget the sweet and mature little lady he's made a friend of.

"I hope to see you again, mister," she walked over to him and offered her pinky, "Thank you for tonight. Lets hang out again if we do see each other later, okay?"

Never in his life could he fight off an adoring smile as he warmly takes her pinky with his own, bobbing their hands up and down. "I guess I wouldn't mind that too much. Be safe, Emma. If you ever need any help and see me around, you can come up to me and say hi. Although, I'm sure there's plenty of people around willing to help also, but I'll be sure to do what I can."

His blue eyes then turned somber, "This will be a tough competition. Hopefully tonight is a step that'll get you ahead, but there's a lot more you'll need to watch out for, and there'll be times when if you feel lost and afraid, keep holding onto those ideas you have. It takes a lot of heart and power to follow through with them always, so I want you to be as determined as you can get."

She nodded firmly, her own expression invoking understanding and in thought, as they then released their pinky fingers. Garou quietly observing them from aside as Vash then raised his hand for Emma and him. "You two have a good night now. Take care, and best of luck for the next event!"

Emma waved goodbye to Vash, a glee in her heart in meeting such a wonderfully kind man. After seeing him leave, she turns back for Garou. "We can go check where your new home will be now."

He nodded, eyes following the man before regarding her once more, "Alright. Where to?"

"Well...We'll have to ask any one of the workers here. They should help direct us to the nearest help station."

He sounded out his fathoming with a hum, and rises to a stand, "Lead the way."

They first spoke to the man tending to the doughnut stand and he helpfully pointer the nearest station they are looking for. Quite a couple of blocks away but nothing too bad. She thanked him for his assist, and began her way, followed by Garou close behind. They walked for a few blocks, Emma making quick amazement to the billboards shown from above the rooftops of the tall buildings, and everything else around themselves with a wowed face while Garou watches her reaction.

"This really is your first time at a city, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah. It's really awesome," was her answer, seeing all of it around her like the little kid that she was, the whole place practically a theme park for her.

She really has been secluded most of her life, Garou realized. What is she like twelve or something? It's almost actually kind of outrageous, this coming from someone who has known and seen city after city, dozens of them neighboring each other, and if there wasn't a city there was a forest, the land that goes with it and the ocean outside of it.

Honestly, he'd pick a forest over a city any day. Ruthless as the wilderness is, it was better than the kinds of hidden corruption cities are almost always promised to have, corporations run by the soulless who couldn't give a damn about those at the bottom, as if infested by cockroaches, plus, he had to keep away from places heroes might pop out of, until his time was ready for when he would fight all of them at once.

A sudden thirst came to him as he rubbed his chin with the back of his hand in ridding of another drop of sweat, a slight huff from himself. His experimentation of the newly born ability hiding underneath his flesh having taken quite a quantity of stamina out of him. He wondered if he should keep it inside if it causes this much energy.

"Are you tired?"

He looked back to the little girl who noticed his expression. She was always attentive to her surroundings it seems, pretty perceptive, a little like himself. "Don't mind it," he tells her. "Just need another bottle of cola and I'll be fine."

The sugar in those drinks would do nicely to keep him moving and awake until they may find whatever place he's staying at. There might be a vending machine or a food stand that gives away sodas somewhere around here. He could be a little picky though, always a fan of glass bottles instead of the cans.

"What's cola?"

He walked into a pole then. Head banged against the metal that did nothing to make him flinch, yet he looked stunned all the same. Emma stared up at him in soundless surprised, too caught off guard for an instant word to appear as she watched Garou simply standing in front of the pole with his forehead pressed against it. She was ready to ask if he's alright when he sharply turned for her. Disbelieving eyes at her, and a slow point of his finger for her bewildered face.

"...You don't know what Cola is?"

It's advertised literally in so many billboards throughout the whole city. How's a perceptive kid not notice that?

"U-uh, no?" She answered, confused. "I mean, I've seen some pictures of bottles with names like that around here. I don't really know what they are though. Are they names from a company?"

"It's what they are." He said as if that was the answer to everything. Life. The universe. Just how sheltered was this kid? Kids got to have some bit of sugar drinks every now and then. Maybe not all the time but to be completely oblivious about it - shit, does her world even have Cola? Now that's a thought he doesn't want to keep mulling in his head about, and he felt genuine pity for the girl.

"O-oh." She said. She was utterly lost.

He stared at her in remaining shock, and then abruptly turned back, moving towards a different direction. "Come on."

Taken aback, Emma quickly picks up the pace after him, the roles of whose leading who suddenly switched as if yanked from her feet. "Where are we going? Did I say something wrong?"

"There was a lot of wrong with what you said," he responded without elaborating, looking straight ahead with sharp eyes searching intensely for something.

"I-I'm sorry?" She said with fumbling comprehension that which she cannot find. "I don't really understand..."

"You will," He said with firm sureness. "Just got to find - Aha! There it is. Hey, watch both way before crossing."

Though at a loss, Emma follows his bluntly given command, looking both ways before crossing the street with him. What Garou ended up leading them to was another food stall, but a mobile one. A small restaurant inside the cart cart, with seats installed at its side, the warm smell of cooked beef and spices, and other wonderful flavors of scent that drew Emma in, though she kept her confusion still.

"Hey. You got any soda?" Garou asked when they approached the counter. The chef, wearing a white bandana and apron over his purple-teal sleeves, nodded.

"Yes sir. Would you like something to eat as well?"

Garou paused in consideration. Beside from thirst, he was feeling a little hungry as well, the aura-experimenting efforts having burned most of the fat he just accumulated during his stay at the hospital and all the food he was given. He raises two fingers in ordering. "Two bottles of cola and some gyoza."

"Right away sir!"

The chef getting to work, Garou sits down at the second chair, gesturing Emma to take a seat as well. Still very much confused, she climbs up the first seat and planted herself right next to Garou. "Um. So is Cola a drink-?"

"Here you are. Your gyoza will be ready momentarily," the chef announced, a quick deliverance from the small cooler he has by his feet.

Emma watches with curiosity as the chef gives two bottles made out of glass, a dark brown color filled inside. A red sticker banner wraps around the body, reading in white cursive letters spelling: Coca Cola.

Garou grabs the glass bottle that was placed in front of Emma and pulls off the bottle cap with his finger and thumb - now Emma may not be familiar with soda bottle drinks, but even she could have distinguished that there was a reason for there being a bottle cap opener nearby. Yet before she could be amazed by his easy picking off the cap, he puts back the now open bottle on the table in front of her.

"Here. Drink it."

There was no further explanation. After saying so, he then removed the bottle cap from his own cola bottle, and starts taking a good sip of its contents, sighing in relief once putting the bottle back down. Emma paid attention to his action and expression, looking back at the bottle in front of her. With calm movements, she carefully takes grab of the soda drink with both hands, smelling it first. There was a fizziness that caught her nose, it reminded her of the Club Soda Gracefield had, but there was an undeniable amount of sweetness to this drink, the scent unique to her as well. She already had sugar from the doughnut a while ago, but admittedly, she is rather curious.

Looking back at Garou who was waiting for her while watching expectantly, she gazes back to the bottle in her hands, picks it up and takes a sip of the Cola.

Her eyes widened, a sparkle in those bright greens as an explosion of sweetness and rich flavor met her tongue. It tasted ripe, fizzy, sugary, and delicious.

Now she understands. This is a taste of the Human World.

Garou observed the instant enjoyment to what was obviously the girl's first ever taste of this world-wide phenomenon of a drink, an entertaining sight, hearing her exclaim, "Mm! Incredible! This soda tastes incredible!"

Garou nodded, pointing to the drink in her hands, "That there is Cola. You either don't have that, or whatever orphanage you lived at is out of touch with the rest of your world."

"Mm! Oh, well... you're not wrong," Emma confided, taking another small gulp of the soda drink, touching upon another splash of the flavor that turned spicy cold down her throat it made her shiver slightly. She sets the bottle back down, "Most of what we thought about our world was what we read from books. There was a lot of things the other orphans and I always dreamed of trying. All the places to visit, and everything."

"Don't you go out often?" He asked. He remembered her mentioning once when they were at Beast Valley, her orphanage being a school for her as well. So excluding the immediate thought of her ever going out and attending public schooling - a bullet dodge he should say - there ought to be other places she must have seen.

"We had a whole forest outside our house where we play at all the time, but beyond that was a wall that surrounded our home. We've never actually been or seen the outside world until recently."

Garou blinked, "For your whole life?" At her nod, he closes his head in towards her, "Not even once?"

"Mm. When me, Ray, and Norman - they're the other orphans of our family, were very little, we went to the gate. We weren't supposed to, but we were really curious. It's what separated us from the outside world. We never really saw anything then, just the other end of the tunnel."

That tunnel that continued to haunt her with riled up feelings of painful dread and sorrow, of horror and first instance of betrayal to the trusted figure of her family's entire life. Garou immediately knew the strangeness of her seclusion, which sounds almost extreme if she and her family never once stepped outside their home, beyond that orphanage.

"Don't you get newspapers, or have a radio, or something?" He asked with an arched white brow.

She rested the tip of the soda bottle against her chin, her green eyes subtly dampened as she stared at the counter with no focal point, "No. We didn't have any of those. Not even a phone... Pointing out all of that, it really should have been obvious to us that something was off, but at the time, we just accepted everything as normal."

And now Garou was even more baffled, frowning. What orphanage doesn't have any access to news? Never seen the outside or even allowed to? How's an orphanage supposed to run if they don't even have phones to be contacted by those interested in adopting? Or what if there was an emergency? Hell, her world might even have Cola but she wouldn't know because she pretty much sounds to be completely separated from society - and thinking on it for a moment, he actually can't tell if that was good or not, but it sure as hell ain't normal.

"There was definitely some kind of communication used," Emma resumed, "but only Mama ever uses it, and she keeps it in a secret room. But anyway..." Her clutch of the soda bottle tightens, fingerprints pressed against the hard cold glass as a haunting memory comes back to her. "We had to leave that orphanage, as it turned out, it wasn't safe for any of us. It hurt though, having to leave it, it was the only home we knew."

Garou's sharp gaze trails after the numbers tattooed on her neck. She looked obviously well-fed, and had just explained the loving life that she basically saw the other orphans her family, her caretaker her Mama, but to what she tells thus far, and those number she has and doesn't seem to mind as if it was a birth mark than it was something that normally shouldn't even be on a person - at least in his world it doesn't.

He remembered then her declare, his meeting with her a second time - her want to save her family. His white brows furrowing, a question came to him and about to leave his mouth until the waft of warm food takes his attention, as the chef brings out his orders. Rows of gyoza dumplings set out for him in two plates, and other utensils and small bowls granted for him to use.

"Here you are. Enjoy your meal!" The chef says, and begins cleaning his kitchen.

"Thanks," Garou said, taking a small bowl and chopsticks. He starts picking up one gyoza and holds it by the chopsticks over his bowl when he paused, and then shows it to the little girl. "You ever had gyoza before?"

"Those are dumplings right?" Emma asked, at his continuing holding out of the gyoza, she blinked first before her brain registered and she sets down the Cola bottle on the counter-table and reaches out with her hands, carefully getting a hold of the chopsticks by his allowing giving and holding the gyoza by between the tips meanwhile. "Um, thank you. I've had it before, but they were more round. I don't know if they had the same name. I didn't realize they can come in different shapes."

"There's a bunch of names that goes with different kinds of dumplings," he said, staring at her for a bit before looking away. He finds a menu stationed at the napkin holders and picks it up, looking through it briefly with Emma watching him curiously. His sharp gaze regards the chef once more, "Hey. Can I make another order?"

"Of course," the chef said, "What else would you like?"

"All of them."

It was a request that took both the chef and Emma by shock. "A-All? No one has ever ordered that many at my store..." The chef spoke dreadfully before a sudden shine of determination flames passionately in his eyes. "I've been preparing for this day to come. Understood! Please give me a moment!"

As the chef began preparing his kitchen for the incredible order, Emma sputtered out, "Th-that's so many! Are you ordering for the both of us? I don't think I can eat all of that..."

"Most of them aren't for you anyway," Garou bluntly told her, getting a packet of sauce and handing it to her. "You said you wanted to try new things. You're going have to learn each of these names if you want to know them beside just being dumplings."

Wearing her still baffled look, Emma eyed back at the gyoza held at the chopsticks given to her. After a brief moment of simply looking at the gyoza, she brought it closer to her, smelling the delicious scent of beef. "You know, recently, I've started wondering a lot what the world lived by other people is like, what kind of cities they have, all of the new things to see and try."

"Mm." Garou hummed, and pour the sauce from the packet into her bowl. "Guess now's your chance."

After doing so, he then picks his second small bowl and starts piling gyoza in it, adding sauce to that as well. Seeing his beginning to consume the gyoza, the comforting delight he shows at the beginning bite dipped in sauce, Emma gradually follows his pattern. Dipping the gyoza in the sauce as well, and eats it using the chopsticks.

Another exemplary taste of what the Human World has in store.

After much determined work, the chef finished making each few sets of all the dumpling variety in his station, not all at once, but it was perfect in its own way as it granted Emma an experience she can take one at a time. Garou satiating his appetite at his picking of the food, eating at a slower pace at each given dish at a time, thus giving him moments of opportunity to watch and hear Emma's expressed comments to the delicious taste of each different types of dumplings, much to the chef's own humbling delight, enjoying each new dumpling and having it all go down with a drink of her cola. It was appealing on its own how he managed to unearth a Cola-drinker, that she hasn't known the best and classic sweet drink until now.

For about a while, they enjoyed eating at this humble food stand in main silence, until Emma could not eat anymore, feeling full after three dumplings. Garou, in the meantime, ate the rest and upcoming dish being served. It was quite a list of them, and Emma was surprised that even for someone years older than herself, he was able to finish each serving. Judging by his well-built body though, Emma can imagine and reason that, as someone who must work out a lot, he'll be in need of many calories he can intake.

"...OH!" Emma was then surprised, blinking widely as Garou suddenly gives her his attention again, cheek filled with gyoza. "Your arm's all healed up! That's incredible!" The hospital must surely have the most amazing doctors or devices that helps heal what was his fractured limb in such a short amount of time!

"Oh. Yeah," Garou casually looked at his arm before regarding back to her, "I just needed food. Good enough nutrition helps heal the bones."

"R...Really?" She asked. "That's... really?"

That sounds almost impossible. At least, from what she understood, and know from experience. Broken bones can take months to heal, but this person was able to heal in just a couple of hours all by eating nothing but food? True the nutrition would be good for the body, but there's usually more to it than that and he seems to miraculously skip those extensive steps.

He nodded, eating another gyoza. "What? You find that hard to believe?"

"I mean... I always thought broken bones need time to heal. Sure I've seen you heal fast before, but I didn't know people could heal their bones that quickly too..."

They don't, she could hear Ray say in her head. Worse yet that it's the bone itself shattered, rather then dislocated which would have been the best case since it'll only need to be popped back into place and heal with time. Shattered bones could take not only time to heal but surgery as well.

He shrugs, "It worked for me."

Huh... well okay. She can't deny what's obviously in front of her. She picks up her bottle of Cola again. "I would have liked that when my leg was broken."

Garou hummed, resuming his eating and finishing his next row of food. After having their meal, her watchful gaze captured by the astounding amount of different sorts of dumplings Garou finished with such ease. The chef graciously heeded them for the challenge of Garou's order, quite proud of his own effort. After giving their respectful thanks for the meal, Emma delightfully finished her bottle of Cola as well Garou with his.

"Alright. Let's keep moving," Garou said. Emma, putting down her now empty bottle.

"Oh. Right," she said, thanking the chef once more and climbing down the chair, quickly catching up to Garou. "That was an amazing meal."

"Probably didn't eat enough," He hummed again, awaiting her to re-take the lead, which she did, and they resume their movement for the help station. Once finding it, the process was the same as it did for Emma the first time she with Gon and Killua came to a place like this at Officer Jenny's guidance, and like before, had a guard to help guide them. As it turns out, Garou's place of living was also somewhere on the outskirts of the city, within the forest area, though farther from where Emma, Gon and Killua's apartments were.

They took the trolley to their destination, the trolley empty of anyone beside themselves and along with a guide man to help them find the building where Garou will stay, and Emma has the pleasant experience to see the city glittering with white and rainbow lights pass before her eyes a second time.

"So that doughnut guy you were with. He a competitor?" Garou suddenly spoke, standing beside the seat and leaning against the open window, looking down at Emma beside him, her fingers holding the window frame with her chin resting upon it, viewing the city before looking up to him.

"Oh. Yeah, he is," Emma answered. "He's really skillful too, at least I think so. He might be a gunner, although I didn't really see him use a gun, he's really good at aiming. Like really good."

She looked at the people she watches by as they gradually moved closer to the city outskirts. "There's a lot of competitors here that are so amazing. I saw videos of them having incredible powers. Footage from the Preliminary."

"Oh? You saw that too?" Garou asked, facing the window and resting his elbows upon the window frame as well, feeling the gentle breeze.

Emma nodded, "I couldn't have imagined just how strong people are in other worlds. I never ever knew humans could even be that strong or move so fast. There was even someone riding in that giant robot!" She extended her arms up to emphasize her point of the massive size of purple armor being before bringing them back down and grasp the window frame.

"Mm," He said as he looked out the view, not sounding as impressed though it did took him by surprise at the start. "Yeah. Also saw your friends made the list."

"Yeah! That was really great..." Her start of enthusiasm congratulations for her friends suddenly dwindled to deep thoughts that blanked her face. "It's actually a little overwhelming too. I mean, it's inspiring that humans can be that strong. I would have loved to be like that too. It's a lot to process but I'm still going to try my best, and work really hard. But if we are going to compete against everyone who's that strong and can do incredible things like that, I can't stop wondering how I'm going to catch up with everybody else."

With her, she has her weapons and her wit, and once, she had fought against a devilishly clever demon whom she had barely managed to have yield his life in the end, in fact, she actually could have died much sooner if it wasn't for the nameless man and Ray arriving just in time. If it hadn't been for everyone she was with, she couldn't see herself getting so far.

But here, she is without anyone to add in personal strength. She managed an alliance with Gon and Killua, but it's a wonder if they may be able to stay together throughout the whole competition. Which means she'll have to pull her own weight somehow. Learn from her previous defeats, miscalculation, and press onward. She only has one life, and with that, any mistake can prove to be fatal. And if losing here means for her to return to her potentially dying body, then she can't make any misjudgments or such. She has to be careful, to be even wittier when bullets and arrows alone will not be enough.

Garou shrugs, "Get stronger then."

She glances back at him as he returns his, "Not much is gonna happen by looking in awe and dreaming about it. You got to make it happen if you want something done. If a guy is faster than you, then just be faster than him. If a guy's stronger than you, then be stronger than him."

A simple solution to a seemingly simple question, Emma responds, "I figured, but-"

"See? You get it."

"R-right. I mean, I would have like that if I had known it was possible, or know how to, but I don't know if..."

The side of logic bringing ease and reasoning to her desire of wanting to be as strong as defined. The rules of every world and the logic and limits that goes with them could very much vary, and Emma wasn't sure if she could be physically capable as Gon, Killua, and all the other competitor's she has witnessed while here.

She stops when he points at her assertively. "It's that kind of doubt that's going to lag you behind," he said firmly. "Stopping to think about it just waste time. Besides, you think anybody got strong easy?"

"No. I figure that they must have been through a lot to get there," Emma answered, looking over the grasped frame and tapping her foot against the metal wall, "I know that doubting would just hold me back. I would like to be that strong if I knew how. There just wasn't anything like that where I came from, nothing like flying people or anyone who could punch boulders. I'm pretty athletic as it is, but it'd be really awesome if I could do either of those."

She reminisces softly, eyes gentle in deep pondering, "I once played and pretend that I could do those sorts of things when I was little. My friend Ray would point out how silly it was, and I get where he was coming from. I never really thought I could actually do it. In my world, none of us thought it was actually possible. There were strong humans like Mama, this other man I met, and other people we read about in books, people in the Olympics or held a world-record and so. There were monsters in our world who were bigger and stronger, and there was one who was so extremely fast no one could have seen him move until he was already at another place."

Her thoughts travelled to her two places on her body she had been wounded from and refrained herself from touching. A keen attention from Garou as he listened silently, a dawned revelation that there were monsters in her world too, and a near baffling reveal of no human who have the same extreme strength as those in his world could do.

Emma looked up to the night sky, "but there wasn't any human who could do what those competitors did, or Gon and Killua, and you actually, not to that extent. It's why I found it all so amazing when there are other people who are not only the strongest people I have ever seen, but can use real magic and melee weapons that shoots lasers and so many other things! ...Maybe that was what's wrong, that we never thought that we could do more. That maybe there are other people who could do incredible things and we just didn't know. Or maybe our world just works differently from others. I don't really know, I did try to be strong once, but it didn't go well..."

Even if she can dream of jumping over that wall and cliff with an abyss that extends so far, the truth of her reality was that she could never reach over it no matter how much she practice and plays around the forest. That was undisputed, and there was simply not enough time to look for such an extravagant way. To play the cards that she was only capable of drawing, and to do so with the biggest resolve she could amount, even as it doesn't always end in success. But that was the reality that which she had to have the strength to keep going.

"Hm..." There was a lot of "maybes" than he personally liked, the kind of world that tells people what the expectancy of a person's power and limitation was, an acceptance to that standard apart from this child, who proves that there were some people who held wonders that question said limitations. Garou looked ahead in thought, watching as the buildings began to lessen as they were entering the suburban areas. He spotted a small store then, light glowing through the glass windows and doors that shows its open status.

"Wait here, I'll be back."

"Huh?" As soon as Emma said that, Garou grasped the edge of the window and casually flips himself over and out. Emma was so abruptly taken by sheer surprise, as well as for the guard, she stared dubiously as the white-silver haired fighter casually strides across a path towards the store, hands in his pocket as if there was no sense of urgency for him. There wasn't much power for her to "wait" as the trolley continued to move, his figure steadily decreasing in size and their sight of him.

"Can... can we stop the car for him?" She asked the guide man.

He shook his head, "Not unless it's an emergency, or if he's deliberately stepped off."

She looks back to where Garou had left, her view soon blocked by crowds of trees they were just arriving to. She couldn't fathom his abrupt leave, though strangely enough she did not doubt his ability to catch up to them, as natural as it would be. With what she has seen his capability, she has a feeling that it wouldn't be an issue, though it's a wonder still.

A couple of seconds later and Emma spotted a dash of white carried by black speedily moving through the trees, then sudden vanished. A tinge to her stomach as she felt something approach, the roof of the trolley was bumped, and Emma was startled once more as Garou's head plopped upside down from the roof. The guide man just as so, though he decided to watch quietly and simply see what unfolds.

"I'm back," he waved, and easily climbed back into the moving trolley in single grace. A ball carried by a long net dangled in his clutched hand, he did not heed Emma's confused stare as he quietly went to the other side of the trolley, and hangs the net by the grip support beams above, the ball hanging low.

He then turns to her bewildered face and points the ball, "I want you to hit this."

"...Huh?" The request so out of nowhere, Emma didn't know what to read from this. "Why?"

"Cause I don't like how your world is," Garou declared with a pointed finger, "Clearly, you got to expand your horizons a bit more. Don't try to keep yourself locked down and wondering. Sure you're not much stronger than most people here, especially if you're without those weapons. If you want to make up for that though, you better have other assets you can use, and that means using your own body for that."

"Well... yeah, that does make sense. I mean, if I hit someone at their weak points I can have a better chance." Beside from knowing the weak points of the Demons of her world in order to permanently kill them. She also had taken the tactic of hitting the important part when the nameless man had her hostage and she had to hit him in the "jewels" to free herself.

"Good, you got a good grasp of that. That's a decent start, but knowing where to hit isn't the only thing you got to know. If the other guy has a tougher skin than your own fist, you got to work that fist enough to break through most things as hard as stone."

To hear that standard for a child, it's nothing less than absurd. However, although taken aback a little, Emma did not outright dismiss his words he spoke seriously, looking back to the hanging ball. There was a firm belief in his words that Emma didn't have it in herself to deny or object them, and it was wondering if he really held that belief for her as well. "How should I hit it though?"

He looked at the ball, lifting his hand for it. "Just..."

He first ushered her to stand back with waving fingers, which she did so as she watches him attentively. He raised his arms, a stand of martial prep and ready offense, legs spread slightly apart with his feet finding support against the floor to bear with the moving trolley. In a few seconds, his arms flowed in a dance-like river, and rushed his fists in consecutive attacks that slammed the soccer ball, an elegance followed by violent moves.

Emma watched in awe as his audience, along with the guard who stood by himself with equal amazement, until Garou finished his demonstration, concluding with an upward angled kick that triple-tapped the ball into slamming the ceiling three times, and briskly brought back down his leg back, the ball falling back down and bounced along the net, scuffed with the beating it endured and swayed heavily.

He looked back at her, pointing with his thumb to the ball, "Like that."

"Can I really...?" She asked, quite stricken as she barely managed to capture all of his movements. There was a lot of things she can believe herself to be capable of, there was a lot of things she can believe in others, in dreams, in achieving the future of a better world. But all that was grounded to what she herself was currenlty physically capable of, she knew the difference between believing in herself to fight and believing that she could fly. And right now, those were too many moves she had trouble keeping up with, to try it all out herself...

But then again, if he could do it, then it might be something worth a try after all.

He nodded, moving around her with her head turning in follow, and he stopped behind her. "If you're going use kicks, make sure you got a firm footing. Don't try to stop the ball either, hit it while it's moving."

He waited for her then, blinking those small gold irises. Emma regarded him a little longer before eyeing back at the hanging ball. While he made a good case, she wasn't sure if he understood her of only finding the questionable absurdity of following one's super power skills and not because she disbelieved having that potential, and she was even less sure if there was any merit to this while there are people here who could fly and control giant robots.

But, since he already made the effort of getting this ball and setting this up, it would be a shame not to do it. Now hopefully, he wasn't actually asking her to do exactly as he had done it, while she just barely got the swift direction and motion of his limbs, she didn't have the current body that was physically capable of those moves. Though there was one move she was able to catch, that last kick he did.

It seemed simple enough. She wasn't sure at all if he actually meant "do what he does" but she can probably manage that part. The ball was a little high for her though, maybe if she jumped...

"You don't need to think about it," Garou started at her continuing hesitance, "just-"

Her mind memorizing the flow of his movement and perfecting the timing as soon as she leaped off from her feet, when the ball reaches to the preferred position in the midst of its swaying, Emma threw an angled kick in a flowing rush of a river just as he done it, and struck the ball a single time. The ball swung back by the force of her kick, not on the same power as Garou, though she indeed put in all her effort, and it hit the window frame behind.

Garou was cut to silence, mouth hanging open before he could finish his words. He watched in remaining stunned expression as Emma fell back down, wobbling on her feet but managed to find a firm footing in time, her hands even put out like how his were, and looked back at Garou with a faint huff of her breath.

"Like that?" She asked.

He blinked, three times. "Uh..." His widened gaze back to her, "Yeah. Pretty much."

The hell? Did she just...

She followed his last kick perfectly, the jump was an added improvisation, yet even with that and dialing back the power, she basically did his kick. His old master's kick (when Bang was being casual of course). Didn't she mention not knowing martial arts? Yet she was able to do this that it would usually take most newbies months to perfect? The only time when someone basically got that kind of kick perfectly on the first try... was Garou himself.

His curiosity invested now, he stands back up and approaches the ball, grabbing it to a sudden stop. "Hey, try doing this too."

"Oh. Sure," Emma said simply, having thought that this would be one time. It had been originally, but Garou had a changed his mind.

For the rest of this short trip, Garou continued demonstrating, this time, single attacks that showed just a hint of the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, mixed with other movements he's picked up. After every shown attack, Emma followed each almost perfectly (she had to hop for every attack but still, she was able to hit them nearly the same as Garou). Garou was in wonder as to how she was doing it, and focused intently on her. A curve of the trolley rails that faintly tilted their transport and he naturally adjusted his footing, peeking from the corner of his eye though, he spotted Emma following his feet movement, matching his positioning.

There was only one sort of people who could grasp something at just a glance, the sort of people like Garou himself. Looks like he's found another genius like him.

After a moment, they actually reached their destination, and it was only until when their guide man called them out of their take-turns of beating the soccer ball that they realized this. Emma having built up a sweat following after Garou's simple attacks while he remained sweat-free, not even exhausted in the least.

"That was fun!" Emma said in a huff, wiping the sweat away with her arm before adding, "We probably shouldn't have done that inside the trolley though."

Garou only hummed in agreement, taking down the soccer ball with its net. He held it in his hand for a moment before giving it to Emma, "Here. Keep it. You could do some more practice with this."

"Really?" Emma accepted the ball and net as it was handed to her, a gradual smile bloomed her face as she told him, "Thank you!"

They stepped off the trolley and followed after the guide man leading the way. "You're actually a pretty fast learner, aren't you?" Garou asked her as they walked across the sidewalk.

"Yeah. I learned a lot faster than the other orphans in our old home. I'm actually one of the top three kids with the highest test scores. Learning quick is how I was able to know how to hunt or how to use a gun."

"Seriously?" He said. At her nod, the guide man then suddenly spoke to them, having arrived to an apartment complex. This one was much different from her and where Gon and Killua were staying at, with gray, olive-green walls and a black roof overhead.

Emma looked, "Oh. I guess we found your new home."

Garou sniffed, looking at the place idly. They followed after the guide man to the lobby, where they met one of the staff behind the desk and he happily introduces Garou to the building.

"I guess I should go back to my apartment now," Emma said, adjusting her backpack.

"You going to be alright heading back by yourself?" Garou asked her, leaning aside in looking at her.

She nodded. "I'll be fine. The guide man will lead me back."

He looked at her for another moment until another staff worker came, offering to help him find his apartment room. With that, he started his follow. Emma giving him a wave of her hand. "Good night."

To her own pleasant and light of happiness in her heart, he fanned his fingers at her then resumed his follow after the staff. Emma watches him leave until he turned the corner. Letting out a small breath, she looks back to the awaiting guide man. "Okay, I'm ready."

They then took another trolley and towards where her apartment complex is. It was enough of a night for her to see the city, her need for sleeping etching at her, though she held it comfortably inside her head. As she rode the trolley, she thought back everything that happened tonight. Meeting that nice blonde man whose name she does not know, trying out doughnuts and Cola for the very first time, better honing her precision of aiming just as that tall blonde man in red has, and just now learned some things she was surprised and appreciated Garou showed her, once again at awe of his capability.

There really are a lot of incredible people here...

She thought back to all the people she witnessed. The power they have, the tools they have at hand. Her endless thoughts of how she may catch up to all of them, heeding the advice of the doughnut man and the wolfish dark fighter. Her thoughts always straying to those amazing people, never relenting, her brows furrowing the deeper her thought goes.

If it was truly possible to be that strong. Strong enough to punch through a boulder, be so blindingly fast, even be able to fly...

You should not subject yourself to only your understanding of your world.

She remembered the words of the Demon God of her world. Perhaps she should do better than to simply accept things as unrealistic. That simply wasn't the case any more, she should know, and more than ever now that she is here. It felt like a dream to Emma. A dream full of fear and excitement, the hope that awaits near the end, and the threat of its abrupt cut before her reach.

Her brows furrowed even further, settling to a single idea, she looks back to the guide man. "Can we stop at a different place, please?"

/.\

Her balled fist knocked on the white door at middle of a soft, gilded lit hallway that has several other doors, plated numbers beside them as she stood in front of one in particular. The door opens then, Emma's round green eyes met the figure of Gon, his wear of a white tank top shirt and green pajama shorts that reached his knees.

His amber eyes wide at her presence, unexpected of her to accept his invite and come here this soon at this late hour. "Emma?"

She sees Killua coming up behind Gon, dressed similarly as Gon but a black tank top and dark blue shorts, holding the same questioning and surprised gaze as Gon has when he spotted Emma.

"I'm sorry I woke you guys up. I know it's really late, but... well..." She began, looking at her hands that were intertwined together. Not exactly nervous, only wondering the best way of how she can go about this. With what she has holding at her heart.

"No. It's fine," Gon kindly assured her, his glimmering confusion and curious regard remaining as he picked up the sight of her behavior, wondering if something wrong had happened, "It is pretty late though. Is everything alright?"

Encouraged by his gentle amber eyes, Emma inhales a small bit of air and held it in. The boys patiently awaiting for her, until with a release of her breath, she said it.

"I want to learn Nen."

---

Competitors Introduced:

Guts and Puck (Berserk)

A/N: And there! I had so much more planned for this chapter, with other characters from different series being introduced but I had to cut it short since in the original script that I had in mind, Emma would have just noticed Vash and then resume her way while he leaves eating his doughnuts happily. But it suddenly drifted to her being noticed by him and, well, why wouldn't he? And in addition to that, why wouldn't she stop to see him eating a bunch of doughnuts in single bites? Also, Emma needed to restock on ammunition, so realistically she would have to go to that shop anyway, and so who else better to join her if only to look out for her?

Emma is strong but in the perspective of other characters, they'll see her as a sweet little girl to protect, and for certain characters, they're the sort of people who are very protective of people and friends anyway. I just find it a nice and comforting thought that, for all the harrowing things she had to overcome and being determined enough to do so, she and her family are children that I just want someone to save and protect *cries*

It'd be nice of someone to look out for her, but she isn't helpless either, though I do suspect some people in the story will underestimate her. I'm just hoping it won't get annoying.

There's a lot of "must rewrite" that I've been getting into for all the previous chapters. May continue to do so in order to demonstrate the character's personality much better as well as other things like deciding what NPC should spell out as (Contestant, Competitor, Combatant?) I'm really picky that way, at least in a way that I feel it best. One example of a rewrite I did, I changed the dialogue between Vash and Emma but not by so much. I'll probably end up updating the previous chapters as well, but for now, I hope this has been a fun story to read thus far.

I'll be MIA as college days have returned and there is much studying and assignments I must complete. So I wish to post this chapter before going off grid to focus on my school, and when I return I may hope that I shall resume my other stories, quite a few of them I've been stalling on working on due to lack of inspiration. Writing New Stories always invigorates me, hence why I'm so very focused on A Promise Between Worlds right now, but it'll likely won't be long until my passion and interest will dwindle as well, although I do have plans for how this story will unfold.

I hope for everyone to have a safe day, thank you for reading. Please leave a kind and honest review!