Hello, folks. I'm Clement Rage, and this is one of my entries to Avatar jk137's Canon Character tournament A Winn3r is You! I fought in the last one as Robotnik. This's my entry for the team of Travis, Jeane, and Henry from the No More Heroes canon. I wrote this early because I want to be able to fix it if I mess things up. It's going to be hard to write this team, because
(SPOILERS FOR NO MORE HEROES CANON.-But you should probably read them before reading the story.)
1. Jeane murders Travis' parents, so it'll be hard to write them believably working together.
2. The fight where Travis was killed in the last tournament was subsequently taken off the site, so I can't reference it.
3. I will be exploring Jeane's backstory, which involves VERY dark themes. There won't be anything too graphic in here, but there will be references and hints.
The Damned Reunited
Pain. Her fist wrapped around his left kidney. Once she clenched her fingers, he was finished.
Travis Touchdown saw his sister hesitate. A flicker, some emotion he couldn't identify, and then she lost her moment, and was at his mercy, appealing to his better nature. But he'd come too far to stop now.
"Brother, please don't kill me!"
I wanna bail, but where the hell's the exit?
"We're both in the same business after all"
There's no way out, is there?
"...And I've...had enough."
That's right. All we can do is keep running.
"Sorry Jeane. This hurts me too."
Then let's find the exit they call paradise!
Hesitation, firmed grip, and then twin diagonal slashes, shoulders to opposite hips.
"...It's finally over."
Flash
"Mom? Dad? This's Jeane."
The girl in question extended a hand, smiling.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you both." Her red irised eyes flicked to Travis' father, who had gone white. "We have a lot to talk about." She planted a kiss under Travis right ear, watched his father wince.
His mother blinked, then smiled. "You have plans?"
Another smile. "Of course."
Flash
Travis Touchdown, future Crownless King of the UAA, opened his eyes. Jeane was gone, and he was thirsty, so he headed kitchenward.
"Mom? Dad?"
It was the first time he became acquainted with the smell of blood.
Flash
Ryu looked on as the punchbag burst under impacts, tore, and was finally sliced by twin diagonal slashes. He'd only had one student as motivated as this before. The boy had potential.
Flash
"I'll find you."
Flash
"I can help you to get even..."
Flash.
"Imagine that...you and I, brother and sister."
"Now do you see what I've been through?"
"...Maybe it had to be done. But vengeance...begets vengeance."
"You're right. Draw, brother."
Flash
"Goodnight, Travis."
Slash. Slash. Arterial spray, falling body.
"It's finally over."
Flash
"Hey, I'm Travis."
She looked up from the punchbag, which was visibly denting with each impact.
"Jeane. Nice to meet you. This bag won't last much longer, want to stand in for it?"
He was on the verge of a promising pro-wrestling career, he could take a few hits for a girl who looked like that.
Three broken ribs later...
"Well, you know how to get beaten up. Stop being chivalrous, you're embarrassing me."
She was back the next week, with bruises of her own. He wasn't her equal, not in hand to hand, but she couldn't brush him aside either.
Flash
Twin strikes, blood draining into the sand.
"It's finally ov-"
Flash
"How're your ribs?"
"...I'll live, I guess. Hey, listen, you want to get drinks? I know a decent bar..."
Long, long pause. "... Okay."
"Great. Just a sec."
They arrived at his locker, when Jeane stopped dead.
"What's−"
"Your last name's Touchdown?"
"Uh... yeah, why?"
"...No reason. Hey listen, will some other night be okay instead?"
"Uh, I guess. Is something wrong?"
"I...don't know. I don't...know. "
Flash
"Sorry Jeane. This hurts me too." He wasn't lying, although he desperately wanted to be.
Her eyes closed. "Goodnight...Travis."
His grip firmed, and he moved to strike. The buzz of the Cross Sabre clashing with Tsubaki Mk III sent shockwaves through his arms, but his grip stayed steady as he met his twin brother's eyes.
"Henry!"
"Hello, Travis. How's being dead suiting you?"
"It sucks. How'd you end up here?" Behind them, Jeane fell to pieces again, and faded away into mist. The room swirled around them into the conventional 'fire cavern' model of hell.
Henry stood back, lowering and deactivating his katana. Travis raised his own, and realised his hands were empty, his weapon having disappeared with the illusory desert.
"When you disappeared, Sylvia sent me to look for you. Without the 1st ranked assassin, there's no ranking battles."
"That was the idea. So how'd you find me?"
"Travis, your tournament was broadcasted worldwide. Raidou was the No. 1 assassin for a while, and then Mystique."
"Was? Who beat her?"
"She ordered a pizza. The guy delivering it added laxatives to the topping, and wouldn't give her the recipe for the antidote until she conceded the title to him."
"Shit. Maybe I should've done that instead."
"Come to think of it, Dark Star might be down here somewhere... "
"So how'd you get in here? And why?"
"Oh, well, when I heard a portal to hell had opened in Metropolis I thought I'd drop in and say hi. Got a visitor's pass from Charon. Nice fella." Henry adjusted his coat. "So how's things? I'm going to see Jeane next, you can come if you like."
"What? She's here?" Somehow, that had never occurred to him, in all his time here. "You know her?"
"Oh, sure, she was one of the founders of the UAA. Nice enough once you get to know her. I figured, since I was in hell anyway, might as well make a day of it. Family reunion."
"Henry, she killed our parents."
"So? They dumped me on an orphanage in Dundalk because they couldn't afford to keep twins. I'm not bothered about what happened to be honest."
Travis took a battle stance, then dropped it and sighed. "Lucky bastard."
"Want me to tell a few stories? You might change your mind."
"Fine. So, you coming?"
" Uh... Oh fuck it, I'm already in hell. Why not?
"Let's go find her. According to the receptionist, she's in the circle of Wrath, and if we're in the Violence section now, that means a good hour's walk."
00000000000000
It was dark. He hadn't bothered to provide her with anything like heating...or clothes, beyond the collar linked to the radiator by a length of chain. Electricity, furniture... everything was extraneous to his needs in the apartment, although the room, now locked, where he kept his toys was more comfortable. Strangling an adult with her chain would take more strength than a fourteen year old girl possessed. Her benefactor was a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them.
Footsteps in the corridor. Too soon. An unfamiliar tread. Someone new? She shrank back into a corner as the door creaked open wide. Unusual, normally he opened it as little as possible to forestall escape attempts.
A familiar silhouette framed the doorway, taking one step inside as his eyes adjusted, then found her.
"Jeane, I hope you're ready for –Holy Fuck!"
An instant of confusion, before a memory surfaced and the illusion dissolved.
"T- Travis?" Her body began maturing, but he wasn't even watching, staring into nothing.
"Shit, Dad, why?" So, that explained the scars. She'd told him the story, there in the desert, but he hadn't really been able to connect the two images, his genial, doting father, and this empty apartment with its chains and bars.
"How...long?"
She was back to normal now, and with adult strength, was able to tear her collar apart. Clothes materialised on her body.
"Ten years, give or take. Here to make molestation a family tradition?"
"No! Fuck, no! I didn't know about this, I swear!"
"I told you."
"Yeah, but..."
"Here to fight, then?" She took a stance. Travis stepped back. Last time, she'd beaten him when he had a katana, he doubted he was capable of taking her on empty handed. Henry's blade crackling into life settled the issue.
"Settle down. I didn't come here so you could fight each other."
Jeane glanced up. "Hey Henry. How's Sylvia?"
"...We're divorced now. With both of you down, I wasn't able to keep up with her expenses."
"Aww." Said theatrically, with a smile, although that could just be that she was out of the apartment.
"How long are you here for? Or are you dead?"
"Travis is."
"Yeah, they let me out to watch the tournament. That was some fight. TV Reception down here's pretty good."
"Uh... thanks, I guess."
Henry looked at them, killed his katana. "Better. So, how do you feel about coming back to life? I met a guy on my way down here, says he'll let you out of hell if you enter a tournament on his behalf."
Travis looked up.
"What kind of tournament?"
"He didn't say. One second." He took a brown jar from his pocket and threw it at the ground, and a huge horned demon materialised. "This's Death by Chocolate." The siblings nodded, noting that his extremities began to immediately liquefy in the heat of nearby Hellfire.
"Hi. It's a little hot down here, so let's make this quick. You'll be entering on my behalf against BORED, the same people who employed Travis for tournament two, although I didn't meet him there."
"What will we be doing?" Surprisingly, Jeane asked the question.
"The rules aren't set in stone yet, but teams of at least three are going to be competing against each other in challenges. We have to negotiate the rules with BORED representatives, so we can't say with any certainty what any of those are going to be."
"Should we wait?"
Henry shook his head. "My permit to visit you expires tomorrow."
Travis glanced at his sister. "At least three in a team."
"Yeah. Double or nothing, I'm bringing up neither of you or both of you. Try not to kill each other."
Pause. Then Jeane: "I'm in."
Immediately, Travis: "Fuck. Me too."
" See you there." Death by Chocolate vanished, leaving only brown stains in his wake.
"How do think we'll do?" Henry asked his recruits.
Travis. "A family tree this fucked up, how can we lose? ...By the way, Henry, what's in any of this for you?"
"...They said I could be a playable character in the sequel."
"You have got to be shitting me!"
There it is, folks. My entry. PLEASE let me know if anything feels wrong, I want to do this justice.