The beeps from the alarm clock jolted Lance back into consciousness, quickly shutting the irritating device off and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he made his way to the shower. The hot water poured out of the shower head, the water fully waking him from his sleep. After brushing his teeth and combing his hair he awoke Veronica and Mark to prepare them as well. Soon the trio where all cleaned, clothed, fed, and ready to depart.

The duel had been scheduled for eight so they were a few minutes early when they arrived at the school's courtyard. They were unsurprisingly met with a small crowd, Lance had figured Black*Star was the type who always wanted others to observe him and his feats. Lance had hoped that his theory was correct. His plans had depended on it in fact.

He scanned the members of the audience, quickly spotting Felix and Trish who seemed to be silently arguing, about something of little importance no doubt. He also noticed Kyla waving at him accompanied by a boy of similar appearance, a sibling perhaps? Who was fidgeting impatiently, waiting for the action to begin.

There was also of course Kid with his two pistols the Thompson sisters, calm and collective as always. There were people he didn't recognize as well, a girl with pigtails in a mini skirt and sweater vest clutching a book to her chest greeted him with a smile that he didn't return. A boy with white hair held back by a headband was next to her, red eyes silently studying him before giving him a slight nod of approval. The third person he noticed seemed to be trying to hide behind the girl with the pigtails in an attempt to avoid as much attention as possible.

Been there. Lance thought. Done that.

From what he could make out she was tall with messy pink hair cut short, her apparel seemed slightly odd to him, an old fashion black dress with large white cuffs with a similar collar. She shifted uncomfortably upon noticing his inspection of her so he quickly turned his gaze elsewhere, noticing the red haired man he had encountered before in the Death Room, the current death-scythe, he recalled.

The only one absent was Black*Star himself. Tsubaki was alone on the other side of the courtyard but her meister seemed to be nowhere in sight.

That's odd. Maybe he's just trying to be fashionably late or something. Lance pondered. I mean there's no reason why his weapon can be here but he can't.

He hated to admit but he hoped that he wouldn't show. Lance had been giddy the previous night in devising his plan with Mark on how to handle the ninja, but now that he saw how many people were in attendance he was nervous and it was never good when he was nervous. He'd over think simple things and cause problems. He remembered the first kishen he had fought, he was so nervous that he lost his grip on Veronica and had had to beat him to death with Mark.

His remembrance was short lived as he soon discovered where the assassin had been. From atop one of the spikes that lined the top of the DWMA he stood shouting out something that Lance couldn't make out before jumping off and landing in an imposing squat.

Lance didn't give him the satisfaction of responding to his stunt, that was part of the plan. Ignore everything he does that's not directed directly at him, and he could tell that Black*Star was a little peeved to see his performance had gone without response.

"Too stunned by my amazing entrance to respond huh?"Black*Star asked."Don't feel bad Lance a small guy like you can't help but be in awe to a big man like me!"

"Oh Black*Star."Tsubaki sighed embarrassedly.

Lance did his best to keep his mask of indifference despite the infuriating boasting of his opponent but he knew that to lose his head would be a sign of weakness that his enemy could use to his advantage. Although he did wonder if Black*Star would even know a sign of weakness if it backhanded him across the face.

"It's about time you got here." Kid said, visibly irritated at the chain-scythe meister."I said to be here at eight not eight o five, you would have been here on time if it wasn't for that pointless stunt."

"Whatever."The ninja said dismissively waving his hand, receiving a golden eyed glare from Kid before he went to welcome Lance.

"You know you don't have to do this right?"Kid asked worriedly.

"So you said last time."Lance said."But do you really expect me to back out now that this lovely audience already came all this way looking for a good show."

"Lance….."Kid said pleadingly before giving up, knowing he'd get nowhere against Lance's always stubborn personality."Fine," He grunted.

Turning his attention back to Black*Star Lance addressed his adversary."So are we going to do this or what?"He asked as coyly as he could.

"What's the rush Lance, in a hurry to get your beating?"Black*Star retorted mockingly.

"Oh, so you can be clever. That's quite a surprise." Lance said, flashing a cocky smile he had practiced the night before."I figured you were more the barbaric simpleton type."

This got the desired reaction out of Black*Star, clenching his fist tightly and grinding his teeth he asked Kid to start the duel.

"Well it's about damn time."The white haired boy muttered from the doors to the school where the crowd had positioned themselves.

"Mark, Veronica."Lance said calmly, indicating his weapons to take their forms. Catching them in his hands and entering his battle pose, Mark raised firmly to his chest while Veronica was held to side.

"Shall we begin?"

He expected the ninja to arm himself with Tsubaki but to his surprise he simply raised his hands and resumed his own battle stance.

"Do you intend to use your weapon?"Lance asked.

"Nope don't need one."Black*Star answered, his face contorted into a look Lance recognized as complacency.

Well that's unexpected. Lance thought to himself. But it only makes it that much more enticing.

Forgetting his previous fear of the gathered onlookers Lance tossed back his weapons and clapped.

"Well played Black*Star, well played."Lance complimented. "You truly are just full of surprises aren't you?"

"You know I think I'll prefer to fight you unarmed actually I wasn't looking forward to having to pin myself against a beautiful woman like Tsubaki."He gestured towards her."But since its just you, well this suddenly seems much more enjoyable."

This was all a lie of course. His plans had been specifically for fighting against an opponent wielding a chain-scythe, but Lance did enjoy improvisation.

Kid shot him a worried look but he brushed it off, his main goal had been successful. He had made Black*Star angry once more with his compliments of Tsubaki and by his choosing to fight unarmed as well. Lance was feeling rather pleased with himself until he felt a hard poke at his back and turned around to face both of his weapons with concerned looks etched across their faces.

"Um Lance are you sure about this?"Veronica asked. "I mean you saw what the bloke did to the door."

"Yeah, this wasn't part of the plan."Mark added.

"Well sometimes you have to change plans."Lance said, patting the younger boy on the head."And plus I have more than just a few tricks up my sleeve."He gestured to the deep pockets of his black coat.

"Fine, just kick his arse for me, alright."Veronica said, giving him a firm shoulder squeeze. An unusual sign of affection from his usually tough as nails rapier.

"You can count on it Ronnie."Lance said reassuringly.

"Hey! Are we going to do this anytime soon?"Black*Star complained.

Lance resumed his facade of calm cockiness, flipping his hood up before replying."Whenever your' ready."

Maka didn't know what to make out of Lance but he seemed to be grinding Black*Star's gears more than anyone she'd seen before, and she supposed that counted for something.

Lance waited for Black*Star to make the first move, gesturing for him with a gloved hand until Black*Star charged at him at an incredible speed but somehow Lance had predicted it and narrowly avoided the attack with a simple sidestep.

"Tsk,tsk."Lance snickered as Black*Star quickly turned around and attempted to jump kick him while his back was turned but Lance dunked under that just as calmly as he had dodged the previous attack and Maka had to say that she was impressed.

"Ooh."Patti exclaimed as Lance decided it was his turn to attack and sent a black sneaker directly at the ninja's head that he barely managed to avoid before a black gloved fist was also let loose in a vain attempt to make contact with Black*Star's head.

Soon the two were exchanging blows in a rapid succession of hits and blocks and misses, giving Maka time to fully take in Lance's fighting style. To describe it in a single word Maka thought the best one for it would be makeshift, it seemed to contain several different fighting techniques that fused sloppily with one another and was much less refined than Black*Star's.

She also noticed, with a small shock, that some moves seemed to be directly taken from Kid's reaper fighting style, further adding to her theory that the two new each other more than they had let on.

Maka found herself quickly pulled out of her thoughts as she noticed the fight slowly slip into Black*Star's favor, as Lance's blocks become more pointless and his attacks more infrequent.

"HA! I knew you couldn't outshine me!"Black*Star screamed as he prepared for a finishing blow."BLACK*STAR BIG Wi-"

His sentence was cut short as a surprise kick to his jaw hit its target."You know it's probably not wise to announce your big attack to the enemy in the middle of your fight."Lance explained."Just a word of advice,"

Black*star was up just as suddenly as he had been downed and was quickly back on his assault on Lance even quicker and fiercer than he had been before."No one can outshine the magnificent Black*Star!" The ninja exclaimed without even ceasing his barrage on Lance.

Things weren't looking good for the new Kid. But just as the thought crossed Maka's mind Lance did something very, very unexpected.

That last statement got to Lance even more so than the waves of fatigue or the tremors in his arms from every fist or foot of Black*Star's that he had blocked. Did this loud mouthed excuse for a ninja truly believe that he was putting on some kind of a show? That he was entertaining anyone in the slightest? Well that just wouldn't do.

Jumping up to kick with both feet the ninja expectedly raised his arms to block in an x shape, giving Lance a base to propel himself off. Flipping in the air Lance landed ungracefully on his feet but landing nonetheless a safe distance away from Black*Star as he had intended.

"Let me educate you Black*Star."Lance spoke."While your constant yelling and shouting may be amusing to a select few. The majority of an audience will not be entertained. On the contrary they'll probably be annoyed by your antics. At least if they have any taste whatsoever."

Black*Star and the crowd were all left speechless by Lance's sudden change in demeanor.

"Let's take for instance your entrance. Now I can appreciate theatrics as much as anybody, more so in fact I adore them and use them frequently myself, but the way you came in just made you seem arrogant and headstrong. Not to mention stupid."

"Huh?" Came Black*Star's confused response to hearing Lance's analysis of his performance.

"Now look at how I have carried myself. I have remained calm and composed even in the heat of combat, adding an aura of mystery to my character that even now is getting more interest than your mindless screaming ever could."

Clenching and unclenching his fist Black*Star grinded his teeth in clearly expressed rage, shaking with unreleased wrath.

"Oh? Struck a nerve have I? Afraid I've stolen your attention even further or is it that a small part of you is realizing that there's some truth to what I said and is reprocessing everything you thought you ever knew about showmanship?"

Travelling beyond the speed of sight, Black*Star appeared in front of Lance and landed a hard blow across his face, staggering him almost off his feet but Lance remained standing, quickly straightening himself.

"Well that's more like it."Lance cackled, rubbing his injured cheek."Now the gloves are off, figuratively speaking of course."

And with that the fight continued with even more intensity than it previously had and Lance had to consider why he kept pushing his luck. Black*Star was undeniably faster and stronger than him, he only managed to avoid ending up as a bloody pulp by relying on his cunning and wits and he had the feeling that they wouldn't last him that much longer either. There was only one way for him to win this. He had to hit Black*Star with one of his soul jolts.

"Hey Black*Star what was that move you were going to hit me with earlier?"Lance asked between deep breaths.

"Hmm? You mean my big finisher move."Black*Star answered, also heaving a little."What about it."

"Well." Lance smirked mischievously."How about we stop prolonging this thing and end it right here and now? Your best move verses my best move."

"You know I think I like the sound of that."Black*Star agreed."We'll see who the brightest star in the sky is once and for all."

Hiding his gaze beneath the shadow of his hood Lance watched as Black*Star let the sparks of his soul wavelength fly. So he can use his soul wavelength too, that might prove to be problematic. But whatever, there's no more room for strategy in this fight. It's all up to chance now.

"So you know that trick too I see."Lance said, letting loose a few sparks of his own to add false certainty to his goading."That just means it's going to be that much more fun when I'm standing over your fallen body."

"Enough talk."Black*Star said simply before charging.

Putting more of his soul than he had ever before into his connected palms Lance charged to meet his opponent, remaining silent while Black*Star unsurprisingly yelled in battle lust.

When their attacks met Lance could feel his whole body shake from the forces of the two souls meeting in combat. The two souls locked in battle were enough to push both combatants to their knees as they desperately tried to overtake the other and for a single moment both souls were evenly tied in their attempts to throw off the other.

But then that moment passed.

Both Lance and Black*Star were shot flying in opposite directions, propelled by the combined might of their souls, each skipping across the cobblestone floors of the courtyard.

Black*Star barely managed to breathe a faint "Ow." as he attempted and failed to return to his feet.

Lance on the other hand was completely unconscious. The blast of energy had sent him significantly farther than it had shot Black*Star, sending him straight into the small wall that surrounded the courtyard and had left a deep dent where his head had made contact with it.

"Oh bollux," Veronica muttered as she walked over to inspect the limp form of her meister sprawled along the ground. Sighing as she bent down to try and gently slap him back into consciousness, and sighing once again as a large blob of drool trickled down to his chin."Bloody hell…"

"Well that was disappointing, to say the least."Mark said, looming over the lifeless shell that was Lance."He didn't even follow the plan."

"Oh you two and your stupid bloody plans," Veronica moaned as she heaved Lance up and laid him against the wall."Wake up."She said firmly as she snapped her fingers in front of his face to no avail.

"Ha! I knew I'd beat him."Black*Star boasted, leaning heavily on Tsubaki for support.

"Did you listen to anything he said to you Black*Star?"Soul asked, making his way to the center were Kid, Death-scythe, Tsubaki, and Black*Star stood."I was hoping you'd have learned something."

"Do you really think a big man like me would listen to a small fry like him?"The ninja laughed."I'm the man who surpassed god, remember?"

"Don't remind me."Soul sighed.

"Well I think I'm done here."Death-scythe said."Bye Maka my dear."

"Is he okay?"Maka asked Veronica, ignoring her father.

"Of course he's fine. He's just being a baby."Veronica said as she began to shake him against the wall.

"Um are you sure that's wise?"Kid asked warily.

"Yes I'm sure."Veronica stated bluntly as she stated smacking Lance repeatedly in her attempt to wake him up."Come on already."

By now everyone had gathered around the unconscious meister, staring in mild confusion at the scene in front of them. Patti and Mark were both giggling as Veronica groaned in frustration, while Kyla, Maka, Tsubaki, and Trish simply gave small looks of horror at the sword's actions.

It was only after a few moments before Lance woke up with a yelp."Ow, okay ow. I'm up! I'm up for god's sake!"He cringed as Veronica gave one last slap to make sure."As if cracking my head open wasn't enough…"He complained before noticing all the faces around him.

Pushing his glasses back up Lance quickly regained his composure. "Umm…."Lance managed to mumble as the crowd continued to stare at him expectantly.

Oh my god, oh my god. Lance thought as he fought to keep his legs from buckling under the weight of all their heavy stares. What do I do? What do I do?

Kid, seeing his friend's plight quickly swooped to his aid."Hey guys have you all met Trish and Felix? There new students here as well," Kid said quickly."Mark, Veronica let me introduce you to my friends."

Lance sighed in relief as the rest of the students happily intermingled with one another. Ooh that was close. Lance thought. Disaster averted.

Or so he thought.

For at that very moment Lance saw someone exit the doors of the DWMA, the lady with the eye patch he had seen in the Death Room, she seemed to know everybody because she greeted them all individually, taking special care in talking to the pink haired girl who had been hiding behind the other girl with pigtails. She smiled warmly at all of them before noticing Lance.

"Your Damon's son, aren't you?"The lady asked Lance.

Lance could feel a chill make its way up his spine. Nobody ever mentioned his father around him and that was how he preferred it.

"You could say that."Lance answered without meeting her eye.

What she did next brought all the attention once again back to Lance. Pulling him in with surprising strength the lady gripped him into the hardest bear hug in his relatively short life.

"Oh you poor boy."She whimpered, squeezing even tighter."You poor, poor boy."

"Can't breathe."Lance managed to spit out as the strange woman continued to mercilessly hug the life out of him.

"Marie you're suffocating him!"Death-scythe said, running to Lance's aid.

Upon noticing that what Death-scythe said was true she immediately put Lance down who was gasping for air.

"Oh, I'm sorry I guess I don't know my own strength."Marie said.

"You nearly choked him to death!"Veronica snarled as she held Lance as he got back to his feet.

"It's okay Ronnie I'm fine."Lance said as he straightened himself into standing position.

Veronica, realizing she was still clutching her meister, quickly pushed herself away from him and crossed her arms.

"Why does everyone want to put their hands on me today?"Lance complained, temporarily forgetting his previous nervousness."I've been knocked out, slapped for no reason, and almost suffocated. What's next on the agenda is one of you planning to try to shank me or maybe try to beat me over the head with a baseball bat."

"Lance."Mark said.

"Oh sorry. With a cricket bat?"Lance corrected.

"Lance."Mark said again.

"What Mark?"Lance asked, irritated.

"You're being very loud."

"Oh."Lance squeaked inaudibly, realizing his small rant had been the focus of attention since the hug. Shrinking into his own mind for fear of death, Lance produced a mask of expressionlessness and stuffed his hands in his pockets to cover the vortex of panic in his head.

"Lance if you ever need someone to talk to don't hesitate to find me."Marie smiled, placing a hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Um thanks I guess."Lance said awkwardly scratching his head, who is this lady? And why does she know about my father? And more importantly why does she even care?

Lance sighed in relief as the people clustered around him slowly began to part ways, only a few bothering to stay.

"Whew, well I think that could've gone much worse, all in all."Lance said to Kid once he thought no one was in earshot.

"Are you hurt at all? You hit your head on the wall pretty hard."Kid questioned worriedly."And your clothes are all out of symmetry."He said straightening Lance's coat.

Lance sighed, shaking his head."It's good to see something's never change"

"Well that was quite the show."Kyla said smoothly as she stepped towards them."Tell me, what happened to that shy little boy I met yesterday?

"Well….I….um."Lance stammered again faced by the prying DeathBucks employee.

"Ah, there he is."She said, flashing white teeth."I think I'm starting to understand your game Lance Rodriguez."

"My game?"Lance chuckled despite himself."It's much more of an act really."

"Kyla can we go already I'm hungry."The boy with similar black hair moaned.

"Fine just give me a moment Tom."Kyla responded with a frown.

"Okie dokie."Tom agreed.

"I'll be seeing you Lance."Kyla said extending her arm which Lance reluctantly shook.

"Friend of yours?"Kid asked as they watched her leave.

"Yeah."Lance said."I suppose you could say that."