Chapter One: Hello New Provenance!
The silver bullet train squealed to a stop at the station. Yelling could be heard before the doors opened, and when they did, two figures tumbled out wrestling. The crowd parted around the two brawlers, rolling around on the ground. Or rather, one was now on top of the other's back and held his arm. A pink haired teen held down a white haired one.
"You keep messing it up! Did you read the lines I gave you?"
Here we had Kouta "Arch," Watanabe. An impatient, rash, bold, and pink-haired 15 year-old. He was driven by unruly willpower and possessed an incredible amount of stubbornness.
"You know I sleep after I ea-Owowowowowow!"
The white haired boy being scolded was Aero "Ace," Heartfield. He was gluttonous, but still slim. Most people would view the 15 year-old as a sickly, frail boy, and he had the personality to match it. He was compassionate and empathetic. Someone giggled from the train, and two others walked out. A long-black haired girl and another teen with silver locks.
"Didn't you say you were going to perform one when we got out?"
The silver-haired girl questioned the males. This was Tsubasa Kibo, a rebellious and stout girl, who was sometimes indecisive, but wise. The two boys had classified her as the "tsundere," type and recognized her as the only other 15 year-old of the group.
"We would be! If this idiot didn't forget to read the prompts!"
"Owowowow! Sorry! Just let me go!" Arch listened, and got off of Arch. The black-haired girl helped him up as another giggle had bursted from her mouth, covering the peachy lips with her sleeve.
"You two are so silly!" The girl with the red scarf and long, raven-black hair was Setsuko "Snow," Shiro. Although many simply called her by her last name. This girl was prompted as shy, quiet, and dependent on Tsubasa, her older sister, as the youngest in the group, and only 14. She quickly pecked Ace on the cheek and smiled.
"Just get on with it…" Tsubasa growled impatiently.
"So, here we are in a new city!" Led Arch.
"Seems a lot like the last one…" Ace replied lazily.
"Thats because you were either sleeping and eating! Now, when in Rome-" Arch said. Snow chuckled softly, and Tsubasa let out a loose grin.
"Ah! I know that saying!" Ace interrupted. "When in Rome, eat everythi-" Arch hit Ace on the head so much that the latter fell down, steam rising from the wound.
"That's not it at all! Geez, everything is about food!" The two looked at each other, and bowed to their audience.
Tsubasa was the first one to burst into laughter, and Snow held her composure, her face turning red from the attempt. The girls clapped.
"Oi, Dai! You missed it," Tsubasa shouted into the train. A strained voice replied.
"You guys… you left all your bags." The light reflected on yet another silver head, Dai Takahashi, 16. The eldest was tactical and shrewd, but loyal, he was the one who raised the rest and their brother, regardless of legitimate blood relation.
"Maybe I would've seen it if you hadn't all been careless!" Dai continued.
The four sunk their heads to look downwards at the ground. He finally emerged carrying a massive amount of bags, and sweating. "This heat isn't helping either… You guys care to help?" The four rushed to their belongings and cried out their apologies.
Before Dai took on the role of raising the others, he was orphaned and abandoned by the orphanage. He was found by a master of a dojo, who knew many martial arts. The master taught Dai, hoping that he would carry on the dojo. The master was killed by the government for certain reasons and Dai was left alone again at the age of eight. Dai, feeling hopeless as no employees rose to take the position of owner and master, walked aimlessly around the neighborhood. He found Arch near a charred building, on that same evening, he heard crying in a house he thought was abandoned. Ace was crying in the house, with both what seemed to be his parents' corpses. Most likely killed by the intruder whose body was also present. After a year of raising them as a mature eight year-old, he found both Tsubasa and Setsuko huddling in an alley, with only a thin jacket for the two of them.
"Alright, now that we're here. What do you guys want t-" Dai was cut off by screams. He turned his head to the right. Two men, further down the station, were wearing brown overcoats, and a woman, who had bumped into one, had revealed that one had a… tattoo? Dai sensed trouble, maybe they were affiliated with a shady group, he thought. "Let's go!" His voice raised and instantly reached for something invisible at his side. Dai grabbed at air, "ACK!" he yelled and looked around to see if his possession was there.
"Your sword was mailed to the hotel, remember?" Tsubasa scoffed.
"Yeah… you guys will have to do this without me then! Shiro! Tsubasa! Attack them from their right! Arch and Ace! The train is still stationary so get on!" Dai yelled these commands with confidence and swagger, everyone who heard him instantly turned their heads from running, to wanting to watch.
"What will that do?" Arch questioned Dai as the latter held eyes with Ace. Ace grabbed his arms and dragged him onto the train. Dai nodded to the girls and they engaged the two men. The men pulled out knives from a hidden sheath, and a dark, shadowy substance reached from one of the man's coat sleeves and extended the blade of the knife.
"Tch, a Locket and a Catalyst! Were they gonna destroy this place?" Tsubasa muttered to Snow.
"I don't know, but let's just get them!" The girls charged as Dai looked on, worryingly. He knew Tsubasa would be able to handle herself, as she was a Locket and that he trained her himself, but as these two were a pair and they weren't, Shiro would not have her usual advantage. She was in fact, Ace's catalyst partner, and not Tsubasa's. Dai glanced at the two, fighting alongside each other, their cooperation being a complete opposite of Arch and Ace's teamwork. Although Shiro and Tsubasa were not real sisters, they fought like it. Shiro was actually found in a snowstorm by Tsubasa. Being a little crude, Tsubasa named her Setsuko Shiro, or commonly referred to, "white snow." Shiro was unconscious, and had a severe head wound. Someone had knocked her out and brutally turned the snow into crimson red. She had a large number of other injuries as well. When she had woken up, Tsubasa Kibo had tended her wounds and she said that she couldn't remember anything.
Dai hoped that the simple hand-to-hand combat training that he had given her was enough. The two sides engaged, and Tsubasa drew the locket away. It was Locket against Locket, Catalyst against Catalyst. Shiro quickly took up her fighting stance, and purposely drew herself in, as Dai had told her. This was to make the opponent feel larger and therefore more reckless. The menacing Catalyst slashed, and Shiro simply side-stepped. She spun under his extended arm, and delivered a rib-crunching punch. Dai chuckled.
"Now, you get down," Shiro said to herself. She put her hands on the ground, her feet raised and poised to strike as her opponent groaned, "And launch!" she exclaimed. Shiro pushed herself up and forward, launching her feet straight into the chest of the bomber.
"Gahck!" The receiver yelled.
"I'm not done yet!" Shiro began delivering a series of kicks into the already injured abdomen. As the two began their descent, she stopped and flipped in the air, delivering a high kick straight down onto the head of her opponent. The concrete cracked under the force as the body hit the ground.
Dai cringed at the sight, "I think she took it too far…", he said, just as he heard a chuckle from the collapsed body. He gasped. The man stood up as his trenchcoat slipped off, and revealed that he was being protected by shadows. At that same moment, Tsubasa let out a cry of pain. The man had slashed her arm.
"You think that you can take us down just like that? A bunch of kids? What a joke." The Catalyst said. Dai stepped back in surprise and after a moment, put his head down in defeat.
"No… The only joke here, is those two!" Dai lifted his head with a smirk on his face, he pointed at the train as the top came off with an invisible force, and Arch and Ace came out. The force was undoubtedly Ace's psychic powers as a Locket. Not only is he a telekinesis user, he also has access to other psychic abilities, such as mind reading and manipulating what a target sees. As a drawback to this, his eye's change color and he loses mobility for the duration of use. Looks like he didn't need to use much effort to burst through the metal. There wasn't even a lingering color of orange that is usually in his eyes when he activates the power. They landed right behind each man and kicked their legs from under them.
"Her Ace! Looks like we got ourselves some…" Arch said.
"Shady enemies," Ace continued. There was silence for a second as the joke set in.
"What…" Everyone present said as Dai facepalmed. He quickly recovered.
"Now!" Dai yelled to Tsubasa. She caught on quickly; the blood from her wound floated out and solidified into two knives which appeared in each boy's hand.
Tsubasa was a blood-wielder, but was still a novice and could only control her blood. She often uses it to harden certain parts of her body, or make it so that she has great piercing force. But if its outside her blood, she can use it to make weapons and speed her healing. The boys quickly put the knife to the men's throat like mirror images. Although Arch had a wide grin on his face while Ace looked laxed. The authorities soon arrived and took the two away in L/C pair restraints. A girl about the group's age greeted them.
"Well, well... looks like we have some..," the blond-haired female had clicked her tongue on the top of her mouth and put a smirk to appear on her curved lips, "very interesting individuals..."
"We do our best," Ace spoke for the group. He didn't know what it was, but he could sense a mysterious aura around her. Furthermore, he couldn't break into her head even if he tried, "I just don't want to see anyone get hurt, same goes for Snow here." Setsuko poked her head out from behind Ace and nodded.
The blonde had stared at all of the heroes and heroines at the scene with her lime-green eyes and folded her arms, giving some slight interest in them, "... You all could prove yourselves here, I can tell... As a Locket, we could use some of you here in our, um, let's say, government," the sounds of her gentle tone had shown a bit of pity and generosity for the group as she spoke to them with a tilted head.
Dai stepped in front of the others and said, "Thanks, but no thanks. We're not gonna be here long. Just touring and stuff." The others nodded behind him. All, except Arch.
"Huh!? But I wanna get a cool uniform!" He whined as Ace dragged him away from the scene. Dai was left there only by himself.
"You hesitated when you said government. Why?" He asked demandingly.
The girl had stood there, blinking at Dai with a sly smile, "People have called our authorities such as, 'Government, or somewhat a, 'Council'. Why do you have be so tense, boy?" The female Locket had teased him and snickered at his question, seeming to be like an ordinary person would do, unexpected from a government official.
"The others have already picked up a mysterious and dark vibe coming off of you. I'm just a human; so, unfortunately, I don't feel it completely, but… You are a threat to them and I will not let any harm come to them if I can do a thing about it. I want you to remember that in order to protect them… I will do things that they should never do. I will do things that will make you think that I'm not human." Dai swiftly turned around after his statement and sped up to join the others.
Kazuki Mika, the 5th ranked seater, the girl who spoke to the group, rose her wrist to her mouth and spoke, "Lockon? I've found some interesting people," she paused once more as static had been retrieved. "Yes, I know." Another moment of silence had filled the atmosphere. "Blood? He is also in my area? I don't sense him. I'll pursue him though." Kazuki paused again. "No, forget them, they'll just be a waste of time," the Locket had turned her heels to the crime and left after communicating with.. whom?
R&R please!
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