Chapter 1: A Tenno Named Tooru
After the New War cataclysm wracked the Sol system and nearly decimated the remnants of the Orokin galactic empire, a rift in the fabric of time and space opened. This rift soon opened and turned itself into a white and black hole—sucking everything around it into its singularity and expelling its contents into different timelines and alternate dimensions and worlds across the whole of existence.
One of the things that was sucked into the singularity was the ship of a relatively young Tenno and his younger sister, containing them and their arsenal of weapons and Warframes.
However, during the Transference, the ship was torn asunder—as were the children, causing the two to become torn apart at an atomic level and reformed around their weapons and warframes—combining them with their very souls.
This then led to them being expelled from the white hole onto an alternate version of Japan, where they'd be adopted by a young couple as their own.
(Timeskip)
In the dead of night under a full moon, a figure fell to his knees and stabbed his sword into the ground. He had what seemed to be black armor adorned with golden ornaments, and had some tattered rags on his person, including a long and worn scarf. The figure looked at his hands as they shook before…
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" He howled to the night sky, the noise sounding tortured as he slumped, seemingly catching his breath.
"Howl all you want." A boy's voice said, causing the figure to snap his head toward the owner. "It won't bring her back." He added as he stepped into the light of the moon.
In the background behind the figure, a dojo was engulfed in flames, the stench of burning wood, smoldering bodies and billowing smoke permeated in the air behind him.
The boy himself was small in stature, with brown hair and eyes and fair skin. But these kind, innocent and almost cute features were contrasted by the sinister and evil grin and expression he had on his face.
This was Narukami Sakaki, the boy who had just slaughtered this young Tenno's friend, burned his place of study, and murdered his little sister Otoha. And what was worse—he was a Tenno as well. Four Warframes then appeared by his side, and the ones present were Nyx, Volt, Valkyr and Rhino. All of them were basic Warframes.
The armored figure growled in animalistic primal rage as he stood and threw his right hand to the side, a blade of pure energy appearing in it. Volt and Rhino tried to shoot the sword wielder, but their shots were blocked before they were cut down. Right as the figure went for Narukami, his blade stopped an inch from him against his will.
"Lua brings you strength, Umbra." The psychopathic boy said as he blasted Umbra back, causing the energy blade to disappear. "But you can't touch me. Even I make mistakes, like you." He added as Nyx and Valkyr fired upon the tortured Warframe.
(Timeskip)
Timeskip years later and the same boy, Tooru Kokonoe, was busy walking along the sidewalk on his way to Kouryou Academy, a place where users of the power of Lucifer (soul manifestations) to fight using Blazes (weapons created by a person's Lucifer). He had a goal in mind at this place, and it wasn't just learning new things. No, it was to hunt down the bastard that killed his family, and put him to the sword.
However, on his way to said school, a curious sight drew his attention. It was a girl about his age atop the overpass above him.
She was rather short—probably at most five two or five three—with long white hair that had two belled ribbons in them. She also had fair skin and features that made her look very exotic, he guessed she was probably European. Lastly she also had a pair of dark pink eyes and a petite figure, with an AA-cup bust that made her look almost doll-like.
Needless to say the girl's beauty absolutely mesmerized the young Tenno, and he probably would have found himself being shot by Cupid's arrow, if not for someone interrupting his thoughts.
"Huh. So that's what they mean about her being a pretty little thing." A girl's voice said behind him, causing him to turn around in surprise and find a ginger haired girl with fair skin standing there.
"Uh, how long have you been standing there?" The boy asked.
"Only a few seconds." She replied with a shrug. "So, are you heading to the Academy, too?" She asked.
"Yeah. I was actually just heading there right now." Tooru nodded.
"Oh good! Walk with me?" She offered with a smile.
"Sure." Tooru nodded. They were immediately walking together soon after. As they walked, they had some small talk about the Academy and such. "So, what do you think the test will be?" The boy questioned.
"Honestly? I have no idea." The girl shrugged before they heard screams coming from a nearby building. "But I don't have a good feeling about it." She added.
"Yeah, same." The boy nodded slowly in agreement as they walked away from the building. They had also introduced each other, with Tooru learning that his companion for the moment was named Imari. After this, they sat down in a main hall, both introducing each other and waiting for the headmistress to come forward. After a couple minutes, a woman who looked like a gothic Lolita doll stepped onto the stage and to a podium.
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to Koryou Academy." She began. "I am Sakuya Tsukumo, your headmistress." She continued. "Here you will learn to use your Lucifer powers to fight in service to our world. And to start off, you should take note of the person sitting beside you, because they will be your partner." The woman added.
"Partner? What does she mean by that?" Two others wondered.
"That being said, when I give the signal, you will engage your partner in combat." The headmistress continued, much to the shock of the applicants.
"What?!" Imari gasped.
"You can't be serious! That doesn't make any sense!" Tooru added, the protests of all the students got the attention of the loli headmistress.
"This school is meant to teach its students how to fight. Surely you knew that when you showed interest in applying to this academy?" She asked rhetorically, causing the protests to die down. "Now, you have ten minutes to end your fight with your partner. The ones who are defeated will be asked to leave the premises." She continued, causing disbelief to set in among the gathered applicants. "Begin!" She exclaimed, and in moments, the hall was in chaos as students brought out their Blazes to fight.
"Blaze: Prime!" Tooru exclaimed before he was suddenly engulfed in fire, and then stood not with a weapon in hand—but in the shape of an armor, Oberon Prime. And in his hand was the Prime Mourning Star Silva, and the shield Aegis Prime.
"W–W-W-What in the world?!" Imari yelped as she held her Blaze, which looked like a katana. "Blazes are supposed to take the form of a weapon, not armor and a weapon!" She exclaimed, eyes wide.
"I think you'll find that this is just the tip of the iceberg." Tooru said before he got into a stance. "Come at me!" He exclaimed in a challenging tone. Gulping slightly at the challenge before her, Imari charged forward, her weapon poised to strike.
Smirking under his mask, Tooru raised his arm and slammed it down, causing an invisible wave of force to lift Imari up and slam her down, nearly flattening her in the process—almost like a pancake.
"Ow…" She groaned as she struggled to her feet. Blazes didn't normally hurt people since they hurt the soul, but what she just experienced felt pretty physical to her.
"I warned you. Now… Let's see if you can still keep up." Tooru told her before rushing his opponent. Imari raised her sword on instinct as Silva came down upon it.
"Alright!" She yelled, forcing him off before charging right as he shot out Aegis and made it fly around her, and then tried to slash at him. But she was dodged, and then kicked, right into the path of the flying shield—which slammed into her and sent her flying, before Tooru appeared right in front of her again and slammed his mace on her head.
This caused her to hit the floor face first, and to finish her off, Tooru raised his hand again and the same force took Imari into the air and then slammed her down again, causing a crater. He then recalled his shield and twirled his weapon, his victory secured.
"No hard feelings, Imari. I just have to find someone." He told her as he dismissed his Prime loadout. Meanwhile the girl from earlier watched him, and his actions intrigued her, rather greatly.
(Later)
Later that day Tooru went to class, and along the way he bumped into his old friend, Aoi Torasaki. Said friend saw Kouryou Academy as nothing more than an experiment, and all of them merely lab rats chasing cheese at the end of a maze. They soon reached their homeroom class and went inside, where there were plenty of others already there.
"Wow, sure is pretty crowded in here." The boy noted as he and Tora sat down.
"That's going to become a norm, I think." Tora nodded as he sat down in another seat. Soon, someone else entered the room. It was the girl from earlier, she went over to Tooru and stood in front of him.
"You're Tooru, right?" She asked in a small and rather cute voice.
"Um… Yeah. Why?" The boy asked a little awkwardly in reply. He never got an answer as the small girl sat in the seat next to him and started staring at him. The second the Tenno looked at her, she averted her gaze in an almost shy manner.
"Wow, she's good." Tora noted, much to the boy's annoyance. A few moments later, a woman came into the room through the window. Her hair was black and she had fair skin along with blue eyes. She had a modified version of the girl's uniform, which left a lot of cleavage exposed… and had a pair of fake rabbit ears on her head.
"Hello everyone! I'm your teacher Rito Tsukimo, but I insist you call me Professor Bun Bun!" She said in a cutesy voice, hopping in place. Everyone just stared at her, stupefied, which the woman didn't read correctly. "Why so silent, class? Oh, it's because you've got an adorable teacher like me!" She exclaimed in childish giddiness.
'No, we just didn't expect our teacher to wear bunny ears!' The students thought comically.
"Well enough of that. Let me tell you about our school and what you'll see here." The woman said. "You'll be training to work on this world's defense force in pairs, specifically pairs that are pre decided and already set." She continued.
This made Tooru tense up as he turned towards the girl next to him, it was just like the introductory ceremony. This realization and the fact that his eyes finally locked with those of the girl next to him—caused the proverbial "Cupid's arrow" that he felt set its sights on his heart before finally striking true to its mark. Making said organ pound deafeningly within his breast.
He now knew what his sister's favorite books meant by "love at first sight".
"W-wait, does that mean…?!" A student exclaimed, trailing off.
"That's right! The person sitting next to you is your new partner!" The woman exclaimed energetically. "Additionally your IDs can be used as credit cards and you'll also have a weekly allowance, so use it wisely." She continued. "Oh, and one more thing. Kouryou Academy is no place for infants. So no funny business." She added. This caused Tooru to blush as…. Certain images of the girl next to him entered his mind. They were images that made him twitch uncontrollably.
"Don't tease us like that!" He yelled with his blush still in place.
(Later)
Once classes were done for the day, Tooru was thrown out of Tora's room at sleep hour. To sum it all up, said friend told him to man up before closing the door on him. Now the Tenno stood outside his shared dorm as he tried to figure out what to say upon entering before deciding to not say anything at all. As he entered, he noticed the room was dark.
"Huh. Maybe she wasn't that thrilled about being my roommate." He mused, feeling a bit dejected before he heard the door to the bathroom open behind him, prompting him to turn around… and he blushed heavily when he saw his roommate in nothing but a white button up shirt. She also still looked like she had freshly gotten out of the shower.
"Huh? Oh, hi Tooru." The girl said as she looked at her new partner, which—again—caused the boy's heart to throb like mad in his chest.
"What the—?! Julie, what are you wearing?!" The boy gasped. He'd learned the girl's name soon after class, and sure enough, even her name was exotic and beautiful. Much to the dismay of the poor boy's heart.
"My pajamas." The short girl replied like it was simple.
"Yeah, no. Those are not pajamas!" The taller of the two said in denial.
"Well, I sleep in them, so that makes them pajamas." Julie shot back calmly before she started approaching him, forcing Tooru to back up against a wall.
"Uh, Julie, what are you doing?" The boy questioned in confusion more than panic, and he wasn't expecting this but honestly was kinda expecting worse.
"What you did at the screening exam, it interests me." She told him. "What was that armor and weapon you used?" She asked curiously. This actually had the effect of calming the boy's nerves a bit, finding her question rather welcoming and an opportunity to gain a bit of her trust.
"I personally call it a Warframe, and it's called Oberon Prime. The weapon with him was the Mourning Star Mace, Silva, and the shield was Aegis Prime." He explained. "Those aren't the only things I have available, though." He added.
"They aren't?" Julie asked with interest.
"No, I actually have a lot more of them at my disposal. Weapons and Warframes." The boy nodded. "And unlike Blazes, they have the ability to harm a person's body." He added.
"Ja, I saw. It's really interesting." The girl nodded.
"Say, how did you remember my name so quickly, anyway?" Tooru asked in slight confusion.
"Oh, it's fairly hard to forget." The shorter girl said. "It sounds similar to Thor, the god of Thunder from my homeland." She continued.
"And where's that?" The Tenno asked.
"Scandinavia." Julie replied before she started feeling tired. "I'm so tired. I think it's the time zone difference." She said with a yawn.
"Oh, well maybe you should get some—sleep." Tooru said before she collapsed in his lap, which nearly gave him a heart attack from the sheer amount of cuteness that he saw when he gazed upon her sleeping form.
Reigning in his hormones, he picked up his roommate and put her on the bottom bunk and wished her sweet dreams before he got ready for bed. When he got that done, he turned in for the night himself.
All things considered, Tooru couldn't help but think that having Julie as his permanent Duo partner didn't sound like such a bad thing after all. But for the time being, he'd put that on the back burner for now.
It was only the first day, after all.
Dragon Emperor0: And here's the first chapter of my rewrite of my Absolute Duo/Warframe crossover. Hopefully this time it'll be a bit better in terms of quality than the original. Particularly because I plan to end the whole 'Will they won't they' harem choice narrative that's so annoying about other shows like this—before it even has a chance to start.
ThermalsniperN7: That, and you've got someone who knows a lot about Warframe to help describe certain things that pop up that are related to it. Kinda like how the antagonist is sounding an awful lot like that vain and manipulative gas lighting bastard, Ballas, despite being a Tenno himself. What the hell happened there, anyway? Why's he even rogue?
Dragon Emperor0: Knowing the fact that the Stalker was once a Tenno himself, it could be a result of Void Madness. Or maybe he's just a vindictive ass. Either way, keep an eye on Excalibur Umbra over there, he'll be important towards the end of the story.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah. What Umbra does will make everyone question if Tor's Warframes and Weapons are even Blazes at all. Anyway, see you next time!
