Hey Guys! I am SOOOOOO sorry that this chapter took so long to get out there. I stated it a few days after the last chapter went up...but things came up involving school and my personal life that were so time consuming that I genuinely had no time to work on this for a decent amount of time. There was even a point where 4 hours of sleep was the norm for me. All ranting aside though, here is the chapter and I hope you all really enjoy it! :DDDDD
P.S. References FTW!
"AAAAAH" a shrill scream resounded through the empty streets near the edge of Death City. A woman with brown hair put up in a ponytail was running as fast as she could. She turned her head to look behind her only to scream again in terror. Behind her a horrifying creature was chasing her making menacing gurgling and hissing sounds. It looked like a horrifying white amorphous blob with deformed human legs and a giant scythe like appendage coming out of its right side. It's face looked melted and sagged slightly on its left side. Despite its demeanor, it moved exceedingly quick, so much so that it was catching up to the woman.
"Come back here cutie! I just want your SOUL!" It cried after her with a menacing laugh to follow.
The woman took the first turn she found, hoping to lose her pursuer by taking another quick turn...however what she came across was nothing but a long alley way. She didn't break stride and continued to run, still clinging to the hope of outrunning the terrifying being. That hope was instantly dashed when she felt a sudden, crippling pain on the back of her leg. She fell down screaming in pain, a huge gash was on her leg where she had felt the pain. She turned on her back only to come face to face with her pursuer. All ability to speak was lost on her now.
"There we go!" the creature said with a menacing smile as he brought his scythe-arm up to his face licking off the fresh blood that had come from its victim. "Now, GIVE ME YOUR SOUL!" The creature brought up it's scythe and then brought it down for a killing blow. The woman managed to scream. She slammed her eyes shut preparing for her end, still screaming as loud as possible. Her screaming was only cut off by a loud metal-on-metal sound. She slowly opened her eyes, expecting to see that same wretched face, but instead she saw a towering figure between her and the monster.
"Don't worry mam, we'll take care of this ugly thing." the figure said calmly. The woman sat up, forgetting about the pain in her leg for a second. She was able to see her savior clearly now. He was a blonde furred kat with brown stripes. She looked over to see that the kat had simply deflected the scythe off to the side with his blade. The blade was a beautiful black blade with a red stripe that was held on a glove of sorts instead of by a hilt.
"Why you!" The hideous creature cried. He swung the scythe-arm back toward the kat. The kat brought the blade up and blocked the scythe, locking it in place.
"Callie! Felina! Could you help this woman?" The kat called out
Within seconds, two female kats came to the wounded woman's side. "We'll get you to a safe spot mam!" The blonde one said cheerily. She and the other female kat stood the woman to her feet, she shuddered slightly at the pain in her leg, which had now come back to her.
"We'll patch that up the best we can." the brown furred one said. "Chance, I expect you and Jake to get back to me and Callie in 10 minutes!"
A cinnamon furred toms face shone on the blade holding the scythe in place. "As if we'll even need that Felina!" he said
"Time starts now!" Felina called
"Hunh?" the monster questioned. He was quickly met with a forward standing kick from Chance, causing it to slide backward. The monster doubled over from the force of the kick, it quickly looked up again to see that Chance had not moved, but the woman had been moved away, out of sight, by the two female kats. "I'll make you pay..." the monster said. Chance moved into a more defensive stance, with Jake between him and the monster. "I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR TAKING THAT SOUL AWAY FROM ME!" it screamed as it lunged wildly at Chance, it's scythe raised and ready to kill.
When it was in front of Chance it began swinging like mad at him. Chance deflected each of the wild slashes that Came at him, filling the alleyway with a cacophony of metallic clanging noises. Chance continued to solely deflect the slashes until the monster attempted to make a heavy horizontal slash. Chance responded by quickly ducking under the scythe blade instead of deflecting it, causing the monster to slightly lose its balance. Chance then drove his blade (Jake) into the ground, then using him as a ballast, Chance drop-kicked the monster away, sending it flying off of its deformed legs onto the street perpendicular to the alleyway. Chance didn't waste a moment, he stood back on his feet and pulled Jake out of the ground. He instantly bolted for the hideous white blob, blade at the ready. The monster caught itself and landed on its feet just in time to catch Chance running toward it. It made another wide swing at Chance just as he came into range, but Chance's reflexes were much to keen for such an obvious attack. Chance ducked and slashed at the amorphous blob, but only grazed it, he was barely out of range to actually make a good cut. The monster slashed again at Chance after having missed the first time. Chance had no choice but to block it at such a close range. The monster put more force on the blade as Chance held it there, causing Chance to slide along the ground. Chance broke the lock by abruptly adding force on the blade and pushing the monster back. Chance recovered quicker than the monster was able to and made the same drop-kick move he did just a bit ago. The kick landed cleanly with the monsters mid-section, but the monster had quickly recovered and slashed his scythe upward at Chance. Chance had no choice but to remove his paw from the glove in order to side-step the vertical slash. The monster gave Chance no time to recover, it slashed again forcing Chance to jump backwards, away from his blade, but he showed no signs of worry. The monster kept slashing at chance who continued to move backward until he felt his back thud against a wall. Chance was now pinned there between the monstrosity and the wall, he was well within striking range no matter what he did. The blob stood a few feet from Chance with a pleased smile on it's face. "I've got you now!" It said, slowly raising it's scythe and inching toward Chance.
Chance grinned, "There's just one thing you're forgetting." he said. Chance raised his arm up to a 90 degree angle
The monsters smile faded and it stopped it's advance. "What..." before it could finish it's sentence it was run completely through by a blade. The blade stuck fast into the wall Chance was on, just below the position he had his arm in. The monster stared in disbelief at the blade that had impaled it, it was the blade Chance was using against him
"You forgot that there's two of us here." Said a voice from behind the monster. The blob slowly turned it's...head to see Chance's cinnamon furred partner behind him, his arm completely turned into the blade that was now through the monster.
Chance walked behind the blob and grabbed Jake's paw. Jake turned into his full weapon form.
"No..no wait!" the creature tried to reason
"Dist the reaper..." Chance abruptly pulled the blade out of the wall it was stuck in, as well as the monster, apparently known as Dist. "You're finished!" Chance made a wide finishing slash through Dist. The monster left no blood behind, it's body merely faded away in a sense. All that was left behind was a floating red soul. "Do your thing buddy." Chance said holding his arm straight out. Jake turned back into his kat form and and walked up to the soul. Jake held up his paw so that it was right in front of the soul and in a couple seconds the soul absorbed into Jake's paw.
Jake turned to his partner, a huge contented grin on his face. "You know how many that is?"
Chance responded with his trademark toothy grin "13!" Chance held up his fist and Jake bumped it, both letting out a chuckle when they did so.
"Wellll done!" Chance and Jake turned their heads toward the direction the sarcastic voice came from. Callie and Felina were walking toward them with the injured woman being supported on their shoulders. The spot on her leg where the monster had slashed her was bandaged up nicely, no doubt because of Callie's handiwork. She had taken a couple of lessons from Naigus just for this kind of situation.
"Oh, and you think you could do better? Mrs. Only-5-souls?" Jake said as he and Chance walked over to the three women.
As soon as Jake got within striking range, Felina bopped him on the head. "You know, we'd have more if you two didn't feel like showing off all the time!" Jake replied by sticking out his tongue.
"Are you alright miss?" Chance directed his attention to the injured woman Felina and Callie were supporting
She nodded in reply, "Yes I'm okay. He just cut me, but nothing beyond that."
"Well, let us take you home. Here, get her up on my back, I'll carry her." Chance offered. Chance crouched in front of the women and Felina and Callie situated the woman on Chances back. The group then began to walk down the street in the apparent direction of the woman's house.
Meanwhile, atop the darkened rooftops of death city, two pairs of menacing eyes watched the events that had unfolded. "They Desssstroyed my experiment, Dark kat! And I worked on it for ssssssssso long!" said a snake like voice.
A large purple looking tom-kat, wearing a black cloak, stepped out of the shadows. "Calm yourself Viper. It was a failed experiment anyway, now you can start on a new one." The one named Dark Kat watched as the group walked away, paying particular attention to Chance. "That one is interesting." He grinned menacingly, "I'll need to remember him. Come Viper, let's go back" with that the two seemed to vanish into thin air.
"So how long have you all been students at the academy?" The injured woman asked of the group of kats
Jake smiled broadly at her, "Only about 2 months!"
The woman reeled back in shock, "You've only been there two months and they have you hunting down things like that?"
Felina smiled proudly, "Yup! Our sensei thought that we were all ready to do so since we were so far ahead of the class."
Callie cleared her throat, "You all show such promise that I want to see how you preform in a real mission. I remember in my days that I was also in a similar position, but that's the man I used to be." She said mimicking Sids voice.
The group shared a chuckle. "Oh there is my house! The one with the dog sign hanging off the door."
The group came to a halt in front of the door and Chance lowered the woman to the ground. She hobbled over to the door and unlocked it,opening the door immediately afterward. Before walking in she turned around to say goodbye to her saviors, "Thank you all so much, I would have been dead had you not arrived."
"Don't worry about it mam, I'm just glad you didn't get more seriously injured." Jake replied.
"Yeah, you should try to get home before it gets dark from now on. There has been a recent increase in the amount of pre-kishin...umm...monsters around." Callie added
The woman nodded in response and entered her home.
The group shared a mutual smile after the woman was safely inside. "You two really did do good out there though! Where did you come up with that kick though?!" Felina questioned as the group walked toward
Chance smiled his signature grin at the two girls, "We don't divulge any of our secrets"
"What?! Come on tell us Jake"Callie urged
Jake just stuck his tongue out, "No!"
Jake was cleaning in the hallway at his and Chance's apartment while Chance was in the shower. Suddenly Jake heard the water shut off. Shortly Chance walked out of the bathroom with a billow of steam as the only covering he had. Water was dripping from every visible portion of his body. Jake was in awe and speechless. Chance shot his friend a wicked grin and walked away from his shroud of steam, revealing every part of him. Jake felt his pants get unbearably tight as the brawny yellow tabby walked towards him. "How about we try to fix that 'problem' you have going on down there." Chance said as he slowly leaned in for a …...
"HEY JAKE WAKE UP!"
Jake quickly sat up in his bed, only to be met with a pillow to the face, only further disorienting him. "Wha? What's ….who?" Jake was still reeling from the unexpected wake up call and the "steamy" dream he just experienced. Chance was standing at the edge of Jake's bead with the same pillow Jake had just been assaulted with in his paws, and a goofy grin on his face. Jake quickly sat up perfectly so he could hide the "result" of the dream he just had. "Such a good thing I sleep on my side!" he thought to himself as he looked at the clock beside his bed. It was going on 10 AM. Jake was always the later sleeper of the two, and this wasn't the first time Chance had gotten "creative" with waking him up when need be. "At least I didn't end up on the floor this time" Jake thought to himself as he stretched out, his problem having subsided. "So, why do I deserve the wake up call today?"
"Well breakfast is ready and..." Chance couldn't finish his sentence because Jake was already running off to the kitchen. Chance smiled wide, he didn't always cook breakfast, but when he did, Jake was always ecstatic. Chance sauntered into the kitchen and couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Jake sitting at the table in nothing but his pajama bottoms that he just bought, ravenously eating away at the plates set up for him. "I forget how hungry you can get when you wake up."
Jake stopped and looked up at his friend as he sat down. Chance was shooting him a grin that made Jake recall the dream he had, which he would surely remember for weeks, and he blushed. "So..uh..what was the wake up call for besides breakfast? It's Saturday I wanted to sleep in!"
"You don't remember? Soul and the gang wanted to play some basketball today! They told us to meet them there around 11 and I figured you would want to show up a bit early." Chance said with a wink as he began eating
"Oh yeah! I guess that explains why your in workout gear hunh?" Jake said through a mouth full of pancakes. He forcefully swallowed and gulped down the glass of juice that Chance had also set aside for him. Chance may have been the bigger eater, but when it came to breakfast, Jake could at least keep pace with him. The two continued eating until they were finished. Jake sat back contentedly in his chair rubbing his flat belly. "Dear God Chance, I don't think I ever asked, but where you learned to cook like that?"
"I didn't really learn, actually, I kinda just started messing around in the kitchen one day and now I got this." he said with a smile as he started to clean off the table.
"Oh here, lemme wash the dishes!" Jake said, hopping up from the table, dishes in paw.
"Don't you still need a shower? Especially since you somehow got syrup on your chest." Chance chuckled as he turned on the water. Jake promptly looked down to see the mat of sticky fur that was on his chest. He blushed as he set his dishes down next to the sink and walked off to the bathroom.
About 10 minutes later Jake had gotten all washed up and put on his workout gear. In truth he never really had a standard set of workout gear, he usually just went in sweats and some t-shirt. Chance made a change to that during one of their shopping trips. Now Jake was sporting a pair of black gym shorts with a clean white muscle shirt, essentially what Chance would wear aside from the colors. Jake walked out into the living room after he got ready to see Chance wiping down the kitchen counters.
"Now those are some workout clothes. You all ready to go bud?" Chance asked
Jake smiled "Yeah, let's show those chumps how to play some basketball!"
Jake and Chance decided to lightly jog over to the park where everyone was meeting up. It was only a few blocks away so it didn't take the two long at all to get there.
Maka and Tsubaki were talking at a park bench as they saw the two kats jogging toward them. Maka smiled and jumped up from her seat. "Jake-kun! Chance-kun!" she yelled as she waved her arm in the air.
"MAKA! TSUBAKI!" Jake yelled back as he eagerly waved his arm in response. Chance smiled at his friends eagerness. Jake started out as a semi-reclusive person, but now he seemed to be a lot more openly social.
"I guess I'm just that much of a good influence on people hunh!" Chance thought to himself with a smirk
The rest of the group perked up when they heard the commotion. They immediately greeted the incoming toms and ran over to the bench.
"Hey you two!" Liz exclaimed as the group joined together.
"Yo!" Chance replied.
"So what made you guys wanna play basketball all of a sudden?" Jake asked as he stretched his arms out
"We just like to play! Besides there's usually a bet involved..." Soul replied with a wicked grin and looked at Maka, "for whoever the captain is."
"NO. I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY!" Maka screamed
The group laughed in response. "Alright then let's pick captains!"
"I'll just sit out and keep points" Tsubaki said
"WHO ELSE COULD BE CAPTAIN BUT ME!?" Blackstar shouted
"Alright, who wants to be the other one then?" Kid asked
The group was silent for a while, then Chance grinned and grabbed Jake's paw and raised it up. "How about Jake is the other captain?"
"Wha? Hey! What if I don't..."
"ALRIGHT JAKE IS THE OTHER CAPTAIN!" Patty cried out
"I like that idea!" Maka exclaimed
Jake sighed, he realized arguing was useless.
"Alright so first let's get teams down. Blackstar you pick first." Maka said
"I get Chance!" he yelled
"Wait! NO!" Jake yelled
"Sorry bud," chance said while he placed his paw on Jake's shoulder, "but he got to me first." Chance then walked over to Blackstars side
Jake's immediately got the picture of Blackstar and Chance being a couple and got … angry. "Alright then, I guess I just have to kick your guys' ass then, hunh? I get Kid!"
"Patty!"
"Soul!"
"Liz!"
"Then I guess I get Maka."
The teams had been divided and Jake and Blackstar were staring each other down with maniacal smirks. "Alright, now let's decide what the bets are!"Soul said with a content grin
"Alright! If we win, Blackstar can't call himself a god at all at school on Monday."
Blackstars face immediately sagged,"Alright then! If we win then..."
Liz cut Blackstar off, "Then Jake has to kiss Chance!" Jake blushed as Liz and Patty started to giggle profusely
"What?! I thought it was just supposed to involve the captain?!" Chance yelled, his face also blushing, Which Jake of course took note of. He really did like it when Chance blushed.
"NO!" Blackstar yelled, "I get to pick the bet! Jake has to... " Blackstar got a wicked grin on his face , "Then Jake has to sing in-front of the class on Monday!"
"WHAT?!" Jake yelled out
"I dunno, I kinda like that idea! Or do you think you can't 'kick our asses' anymore?" Chance added while he stuck his tongue out at Jake
At this point Jake was blushing profusely,but Chances comment got straight to his competitive side. "You're ON!"
It was about half-way through the game now and Blackstars team was up by 10 points. "Alright, half-time!" Tsubaki called out
Everyone stopped and they went to their own grouping to rest and regroup. Jake's group sat on the grass near the court. Even from over there they could hear the celebratory chants from the other group, further egging Jake on. "Hey...hah...Maka...hah why do you hah never shoot when you have the ball?"
"What's shooting?" Maka asked. The entire group looked at Maka with surprise. Everyone but Jake knew she didn't know how to play, but this was even worse than they had imagined. Maka started pushing her fingers together with an embarrassed face, "They never told me how to play."
Jake got a very wicked grin on his face. "Trump card!" he thought. "Well the basics to playing are..."
After about 5 minutes Tsubaki called the break for half-time over.
"So you think Jake should sing some Katy Perry or Girls Generation on Monday?" Soul asked mockingly
Jake and his team walked over to the court, Jake's grin still imprinted on his face. "Well I have no problems with Katy at all, but I don't think that that's going to happen anyway."
"Oh yeah?" Chance asked walking with a tad of swagger, "What makes you say that, bud?" Chance was actually doing really well at the game. He was a defensive GOD when it came to point-guard. He and Jake were essentially polar opposites when it came to the game, Jake ended up on offense and making half of the shots for his team.
"Oh, we got ourselves a secret weapon." Jake replied. "We have ball don't we?"
Blackstar nodded and passed Jake the ball, everyone immediately got in position. Jake drove forward, straight into Blackstar and held the ball in his hands as he looked around for someone to pass it to. He smiled really wide whenever he saw Maka get open and passed it straight around Blackstar into her hands.
"Hah! Everyone get Ma..."
Blackstar stopped when Maka began sprinting toward the hoop, this wasn't new...except for the fact that she was actually dribbling! Maka weaved around Liz and Patty and only slowed when she came to Chance. Chance lunged at the ball, thinking he could take it from her, but Maka shifted to the side and seemed to casually toss the ball over her head with one arm...and straight into the hoop. Blackstar was speechless and mouth agape at Makas' amazing display. "Yeah, when she knows how to play, she's amazing." Jake said, adding a pat on Blackstars shoulder. Chance couldn't help but smile.
The remaining half was a lot of back and forth. The game essentially got tied up, but Liz made a three point shot that put them in the lead. Soul made a two point shot when Jake's team got possesion of the ball..
"One minute left!" Tsubaki called out
Blackstar got the ball and checked it to Kid who sent it back immediately. Blackstar rushed toward the hoop, his natural speed going to his advantage. He didn't think to take into account Jake's speed though, Jake made a line drive for Blackstar and cut him off. Blackstar was surprised by this sudden burst of speed and jumped back, leaving the ball open for Jake to take. Jake swiped at the ball and easily got control of it. Now, ball in paw, Jake sprinted at the hoop. Everyone was left in his dust and he had no resistance...except for Chance. The hulking mass that he was stood near the hoop waiting for his friend to try and make it past him. Chance grinned as Jake got near. Jake stopped a bit before Chance and grabbed hold of the ball so that no-one could try to take it from him. Jake and Chance stared each other down for a few seconds before Jake made his move. Jake jumped up and toward the hoop, and Chance. Chance reacted in kind by doing the same. Jake pulled the ball back, away from Chance and out of shooting position just as Chance got close. Jake waited until the two had just made contact, which was inevitable based on their jumps, then he shifted his weight so that all of his momentum went around Chance and made him spin around his body, giving him an opening at the hoop. Jake only had a few seconds, he lobbed the ball at the hoop. It hit the backboard perfectly and went straight in the hoop!
"Time!" Jake's team wins!" Tsubaki called out with a big smile
"YEAH!" Jake and his team yelled
Blackstars team wasn't exactly depressed, aside from Blackstar himself, who was just about crying on Tsubaki's shoulder. "I can't call myself a God, I can't..."
Chance rushed over to Jake, "Dude that was awesome!" What was that thing you did?"
Jake smiled at his friends adoration, "I just shifted my weight so my momentum went around you, that's all." Jake saidw hile rubbing the back of his head.
"JAKE!" Patty called to Jake. He turned to face her and she was waving his phone in the air. "YOU HAVE A CALL!"
Jake quickly ran over and took his phone from Patty. "Hello? Oh hi Jackie!" Jake walked off toward the ally to continue his conversation.
"Hey Jacky!" Jake cringed, he really hated the monickers she gave him. "Do you have some time tomorrow to help me with..."
"Jake! How much longer you gonna be?!" Chance called to Jake. Jake put up 5 fingers and Chance gave him a thumbs up.
"Was that Chance?" Jackie asked, ignoring how rudely she was unintentionally cut off
"Yeah, we're out playing basketball with Kid and the group!"
"OOOOOO, you get to see Chance in workout gear, all sweaty and hoooooot!" Jackie teased.
"grk." Jake looked over to see no-one was near him. Then he looked over at Chance...who was chatting up Maka. "...nah...I think...I'm letting that dream go Jackie." Jake said flatly
"WHAT?!" Jackie yelled so loud that it forced Jake to move the phone away from his ear. "You are head over heels for him and you're going to give it up just like that?!"
"Yeah, he's straight Jackie, there is almost no doubt about that."
"Listen, Jake. I know that it doesn't seem likely, but don't give up! You two are waaaay to perfect for each other!"
Hearing that made Jake smile, the thought of him and Chance actually being together still filled him with joy every time. "I guess, listen I gotta go, but yeah I'll help you with whatever tomorrow right after school OK?"
Jake ended his conversation and hung up. He turned around to be surprised by Liz standing right behind him. "AH! Oh, uh, hey Liz! Did you have..."
"So how long have you liked Chance?" She asked with a wicked grin
Jake immediately blushed and clasped his paws over her mouth. "SHHHHHH!" Jake looked behind Liz to make sure that no-one else was there. He heaved a relieved sigh when he saw that there was no-one else, and he moved his paws from Liz's' mouth.
"So you dooooo like him!" Liz commented
Jake opened his mouth and was about to deny it, but realized he couldn't given the display he just went through. "Goddammit, why do these random people always have a knack for finding this out?! Yeah...I do. I have ever since I met him. But..." Jake motioned with his head to Chance, who was still talking with Maka. "He's obviously straight."
There was a bit of silence between the two, until Liz suddenly broke out laughing. "HAHAHAHA!"
Jake jumped back out of surprise, "What's so funny?!"
Lizs' laughter slowed down to an eventual halt. "Yeah he's toooooootally straight because he's over there talking to Maka about how YOU looked good today."
"What?!" Jake shot up, his eyes growing widely
"Yeah, during the game and how you look in those clothes. She asked when you got them and Chance said that it was just a few days ago. 'He looks good in them doesn't he?' was his EXACT comment!"
A smile slowly began to play across Jake's face. "He thought I looked good?" Jake stood silent for a moment. "That doesn't mean he likes me, or men for that matter, I mean I hear guys say other guys look 'hansom' or 'good' all the time, but..." Jake brought his gaze to meet Liz's'. "Thanks Liz. Could you just be careful to..."
"Don't worry!" Liz put her finger over Jake's lips, "You're secrets safe with me."
Jake smiled and the two walked out of the alley.
"Hey bud! You ready to go?" Chance called as he eagerly went over to his partner "I figured we could go and get some groceries since we're out!"
Jake held his smile, "Yeah! Sounds like a plan buddy!"
P.P.S: The next one should be up within a few weeks, I've had time to mull it over and pretty much know what I wanna go for. Thank you all for reading!