Meeting Old Friends

"Here we are." Walker proclaimed as they stared at the bright, two-story club across the street named the Posto Fantastico. Both hosts and parasites agreed that the best place to look for the Skull Heart would be by rumors, and the club was the best place to start.

"Makes sense, a gathering of scumbags and a few not-so-good secrets told by attention-loving rats." Samson stated.

Walker started to walk there with Filia behind him "How'd you think I got famous?"

"Wanted posters?" In response to that, Walker started grabbing a part of Stalker tightly and stretched it hard "Owowowowowowowow!"

"Care to make that comment again, freak?" Walker asked as he let go of it. Filia and Samson just sweat-dropped at this.

"You guys really don't get along, do you?"

"Not in the slightest."

They went to go into the club before being stopped "Hang on, you can just go in there without cutting line!" They turn to see a tall man in a dark trench coat and sunglasses "In fact, you don't look like you should enter this club at all."

Walker was annoyed by this "Oh yeah, says who?"

"Me, the guy that's about to kick your ass if you don't leave."

"Listen buddy, you do not want to tick me off."

"Why not, weirdo?" His response was a gigantic fist colored black aimed straight at his face, which then sent him flying across the pavement.

"Anyone else feel like acting tough?!" They all scattered. "Didn't think so?" He walked to the door and stared at the bouncer.

"Is your name on the list?"

"Don't need to be."

"Can't let you in if your name ain't it."

The clipboard the bouncer was holding then had a black spike coming out of it "Oh look, there's our name."

"Uh, y-y-yeah, I see it, go in."

The black spike then formed back onto Walker's sleeve as they entered "Gotta make sure others know their place if you wanna come out on top."

"You make it look too damn easy, kid."

"Yeah, I don't think I can pull that off." Filia replied. She looked around and saw that club didn't look like much, having only a small dance floor in the middle surrounded by tables and a bar at the end and a few billiard tables to the side by the toilets. "Are you sure this is where we should get our info?"

"Dirty place, dirty rumors." Walker smirked "Like I said, how'd you think I got famous?" They walked on over to the bar and the bartender walked on over.

"Hey, Walker, who'd you punch to get in this time?" The bartender has a pale skin and blonde hair. Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Tall jerkwad that thought he could take me on. Get me the usual."

"Certainly, and what about her?"

Filia was about to talk before Samson stated "Get us one of your best drinks."

"Samson!"

The bartender whistled at this "Another parasite, just like you, huh, Stalk?"

"Hurry up with the damn drinks already."

Some time later, they bartender arrived with the drinks. Walker gulped his down as Samson drank his. "Say, barkeep, I gotta ask you something."

"Shoot."

"It's about," he looked and dropped his voice into a whisper "the Skullgirl."

"Her, huh, why the interest all of a sudden?"

"Stop asking questions and answer mine, dammit."

"Ok, ok. Look I don't know much, but I heard that guy over there might know something." He pointed to a familiar suited man at the billiards with another familiar and more known person sitting at a table close to him.

"Well I'll be damned." He thanked the barkeep and walked over with Filia behind him while Samson was still drinking the glass of booze. He leaned in on the table as he asked the man "Hm, five balls left. Tch, I could finish this in two turns."

"Only two?" The other man replied, "I could finish this one, watch." He hit the cue ball and it hits them all as they go in "I want whatever we were betting."

"In that case, a fist to your face."

"Then bets off." He lifted his hat and stared at Walker "Last time I checked, you were near the border of the Kingdom."

"And last time I check, you were in a pool of women, Stretch."

Filia looked back and forth between the two "Wait, you know him?"

The other man scoffed "Know him, I'm the one who saved his reckless ass."

"You got women all over your brain or something, it was me who saved you, and it was your ass that was reckless."

"Let's agree to disagree, eh, mon ami?" He suddenly switched to the French accent.

"Drop the accent before I dropkick you."

The other man chuckled "Nice to see you're still violent, Walker."

"And I'd say it's nice to see you're still a French charmer, but I'd be lying."

The suited man then turned to Filia "And who is this young lady?"

Filia blushed at this "Uh, my name's Filia."

Samson then dropped his drink "And I'm Samson, the guy that's gonna throw you outta the window if you lay a finger on her."

"Oooooh, violent, aren't we?" He put his hand out and switched to a French accent "My name is Francis, mademoiselle."

He then got hit in the head by Walker, and replied with an angry look "I warned ya, didn't I?"

The woman who was silent the whole time finally spoke up "Good thing someone else agrees with me."

Walker turned to her "Gest pretty damn annoying, doesn't it?" His face then turned to an expression of shock "Wait, aren't you-"

"Finally notice, huh?"

Filia then turned to her and she became shocked as well "You're Cerebella!"

Said circus star twirled her hat on her hands as she looked at both of them "The one and only! If you're looking for autographs, don't hesitate to ask."

Filia walked up to her while pushing her fingers together "I-i-i-in that c-case, w-w-would you…"

"Not now, we're waiting for our informant."

Walker snapped out of his trance "Informant?"

"Yep, why else would we be in a crappy place like this?" Francis stated while holding his nose "The smell is bugging me out, and my suit is at risk of being dirty." He looked at the clock "Odd though, he should be here by now?"

"He actually shouldn't be hard to find, he's the only one that's dressed in a trench coat that would appear here." Cerebella stated while getting out of her seat.

Walker and Filia then looked at each other before Filia spoke up "It wouldn't happen to be black, would it? And wearing sunglasses""

"And has the attitude of a jerk?"

Francis and Cerebella were surprised at the accurate description "Yeah, how do you know?"

Stalker opened his eyes and spoke "Walker whacked him to the corner of the street."

Francis jumped back and so did Cerebella "Dammit, can't you warn me the next time you're gonna open up like that?" He looked back at Walker "So you punched him hard, huh? Knowing you, he wouldn't wake up for a while. What else did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear, that's the only thing I did."

"Unless you count breaking the bouncer's clipboard." Walker had it. He punched Stalker right in his eye, who in response, sprouted two tentacles and choked Walker.

Filia stood back "Should we help?"

"Not unless you're looking for a death wish."

After the two finally calmed down (Don't ask how) Francis asked "So what now, our informant's probably gonna be out for, what, a day, and we really need to get our target."

"What are you looking for?"

"More like who." Francis took out a picture of a female cat-human hybrid "Name's Nadia Fortune. Apparently she took something from us that seemed to be important, not to mention, she's been a pain in our asses."

Walker smirked at him "Really, I thought you never hit women."

"I won't, she'll do it." Francis pointed towards his partner.

Cerebella put on a face of annoyance "Nice, leave all the work to the lady. Guess that proves you're not much of a man."

"She got ya there, Franny."

Francis glared at him before turning back at his accomplice "I, unfortunately, cannot hit women. It is against my code."

"Code?"

"My gentleman code, which requires hitting on women, not actually hitting them."

"Sounds pathetic." She replied .

"A dumbass code if you ask me." Walker then said.

"It sounds like the crappiest crap I've ever heard. *hic*" Samson went.

Filia turned to her parasitic partner "Samson, are you already drunk?"

"How dare you accuse me kid-Whoa, when did we split in two?"

Walker looked at him confused "I thought he only had a glass to drink."

Samson spoke up again "Yeah, and a few other free drinks went by."

"You took them?!" Filia yelled.

Francis looked around "Hey, guys, I think they already noticed."

Walker then grabbed Filia by the arms and dragged her out as Francis did the same with Cerebella "Dammit, I'm not gonna be caught for the theft of a few glasses. That's lame. I'd be a laughing stock."

"You think I asked him to take them?"

"Hey lovebirds, speed it up, I think they noticed."

Both hosts blushed before Walker replied "Why would ya say that?"

Cerebella pointed behind them "They're charging at us."

True enough, some men went running at them for their drinks being taken. All four ran out of the club and away from it. After minutes of running, they hid in an alleyway.

Francis was the first to speak "Remind me never to bring him to bars."

Walker took a peek out of the alleyway "I think we lost them."

"Wait," Cerebella got the attention of both men "why couldn't I just stop them? They would know me."

"Nah, by looks of it, they were too drunk to recognize you."

Filia caught her breath and asked, "How would you know?"

"I've gotten in enough bar fights to know the signs." He said as if he was proud with that.

"Kid, that ain't a thing to be proud of." Stalker told him in an annoyed tone.

Walker ignored him and walked over to Francis "Now that we're in the clear, how about a deal?"

Francis raised an eyebrow and the girls looked at him "A deal?"

Walker nodded "Yeah, why don't we work together and we both might find what we're looking for."

"And what is it that the both of you're looking for?"

Both Walker and Filia said at the same time "The Skullgirl."

If the town wasn't a big enough mess before, the brawl taking place made it possible for it to be in an even bigger heap. Buildings were practically torn down, whatever remained of any stall were a few bits of wood, and the ground was covered with cracks that made it look like it was about to break at any second. And the cause? Two powerful kids.

"Avast!" The girl, known as Peacock, fired a cannonball at the boy, known as Mage. As the cannonball was about to touch him, he swung his arms and the ball hit against something and cracked. "Aw crap."

He swung his arms again and this time three green swords appeared out of thin air and flied towards Peacock. She barely dodged them in time as she rushed in with her gun. She tries to stab him with it as a blade comes out of its barrel. But when she looked up the young magician was standing on the blade with his own extending out of his wand and up against her neck. She saw him smiling, and she didn't like that.

"Why the hell are you smiling, pal?! Don't think this is over, you just have a slight advantage."

He was still smiling for a while. He then jumped off and landed a few feet away and held his top hat. "I'm surprised that you're capable of such things. Then again, you did watch too much cartoon."

Peacock was shocked to hear this and wondered why this boy knew how much she enjoyed cartoon slapstick and violence. "How do you know that? You some kinda magical stalker?!"

Mage chuckled at this "You always were the rude and imaginative type, Patricia."

She had enough. She rushed, grab the boy by his collar and pinned him against the wall. She held her gun at him "Okay, first you taunt me, then you say things about me only a few would know, then you say my name and talk about my personality! Better tell me who you are, or you won't be able to jump and land on this blade this time."

The magician reached up to his head "You still don't recognize me, huh, Pat?" He took off his hat and mask. "Sorry about all that brawl, just wanted to test you in the current state you're in."

Peacock has never been so shocked in her life. OUt of all the other twists she's seen, this would be the most shocking for her. Before her, unmasked, stood Mage, aka, Max, her childhood friend. She did the first thing she could think of after seeing her old friend after all these years.

She poked him.

She kept poking at his nose and Mage showed signs of annoyance. "Wow, this ain't no trick, is it?"

"No, it isn't. Now can you please stop poking my nose?"

Peacock closed her eyes and smiled "Nope."

Mage was really annoyed at this. But at the same time, he couldn't be more happy to be reunited with an old friend of his. Eventually he got a hold of her hand and pushed it away "Three years, and you still haven't changed?"

Peacock held up her hands "Growing up seems like a pain in the ass. I don't wanna be an old man like you."

Each of their subordinates rushed up to them and asked if they were all right "Never fear, Bob, I'm not entirely hurt."

"That's a relief, looked like you took a beating there. But what do I know, you probably kicked her butt, right?"

Avery looked at the bodiless figure "Hah, boss probably just let him off easy, considering that she's so strong."

Bob looked back at him "Sure, she might be strong, but not as strong as boss here."

Avery then floated closer to Bob "No way, no one's as strong as our boss, she could level whole building!"

Bob copied Avery's action "Oh yeah, our boss can level a whole city!" He turned to his boss "Ain't that right, sir?"

Mage sweat-dropped "I think that'd be an exaggeration, Bob."

"No it wouldn't be, look a the town. It's a mess."

"Yeah, that's because-" He then stopped and looked at the surrounding. Sure enough, the whole town is falling apart. "We did that much damage, huh?"

Peacock moved her finger under her nose back and forth "Yep. Just proves how powerful we are."

"I really don't think we should be proud of our handiwork, right now." He grabbed his hat and mask and put them back on. "Let's get out of here."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to be arrested. I'm still starting my career as a magician, and it'll fall apart if I get caught." He grabbed her hand and they started to run.

Peacock remembered the times when they were trapped, he would always show her magic tricks. They were simple, but she was amazed either way. He was huge fan of magic then and still is. She would say that's a bit too obsessive, but then again, it was the same for her with cartoons.

"All righty then, Max, let's split like a banana!" She began to run faster as her legs looked like they were moving like wheels. They had been out of view by then.

An hour after the brawl between Peacock and Mage, the streets were being investigated by uniformed men. With the Skullgirl on the loose, they would have to search everything. "Anything new?"

Parasoul walked up to one of the soldiers, to which he replied "Nothing yet, Lady Parasoul. We're not even sure the Skullgirl did this."

"We might as well investigate about what happened." The soldier nodded and walked to investigate elsewhere.

A few feet away Arselite was holding his communicator as Hank who was behind him lifted a large chunk of debris. Arselite spoke into the communicator "Any sign of her, Scope?"

On a helicopter flying around the town, Scope was on it looking through her, well, scope. "Nothing yet, Chief. This place is as abandon as a school on weekends. Not to mention a complete wreck."

"Yeah," Arselite looked at a blast mark "whatever happened here was definitely destructive. Most possibly a fight." His finger slid along the mark and he looked at his dirtied finger "THey boys should probably check this out. Skullgirl or not, whoever did this is dangerous."

"Roger that, I'll inform Dynamite to get some samples." He put the communicator away and walked to Parasoul.

"Milady, there's nothing we can determine from all this for now. The best we can do is get the lab to scan whatever traces were left behind."

"Alright then, Commander." She looked around with an obvious expression of worry on her face.

"Is anything wrong, Milady?" Arselite asked, concerned and probably blushing.

"No, I'm fine." She smiled at him but that soon faded as she looked at the distance "I just fear that we could be dealing with something worse than the Skullgirl."

Night fell in Little Innsmouth. Most of the local residents would either be asleep or doing some late night fishing.

Kage spent his night checking out a crime scene.

Namely, the scene where the Skullgirl is said to have attacked a week ago. He had been looking around for half an hour now, looking for anything that would lead him to his target. A fairly short figure then came to him. It was completely black and had white eyes and seemed to have a canine-like figure. Kage crouched down "Did you find anything, Inu?"

The dog nodded and ran back the way he came with Kage behind reached a large crater where building remains and small blood pools are present. The dog went near the left side of the crater. When Kage reached him, he found a skeleton bone. Kage reached down and touched the bone and focused on finding the traces. Seconds later, he opened his eyes "Inu," The dog looked at his master "next time, don't lick the evidence." Inu whimpered.

"What a fishy looking pur-son."

Kage stood up straight and scanned his surrounding. "Who's there?!"

The voice replied "Why, just a mere little pussy cat, that's all."

Kage looked behind him, the source of the voice "There!" He then threw a kunai at the roof of a building where a shadow dodged it and leapt off the roof.

"Hey, I could've lost my head."

"That's what I was aiming to do, feline."

The figure stepped forward and revealed to be a cat-human hybrid with marks on her limbs. She is the great cat-thief, Ms Nadia Fortune "How cruel, nyan."

"10 seconds, and I already hate you." Inu growled at her as she stepped back a bit.

"A dog! Man, this is cat-tastrophic for me!" She looked back at Kage "I've never seen you around here before, tell me, what's you're fuzzy business here?"

Kage stared back "My business is none of yours, feline, now beat it."

She then ran up to Kage and put an arm around him "Aw, don't be such a stiff puppy and loosen up."

Kage had kunais against her neck at this point. "Leave before I kill you!"

Ms Fortune smirked and slid her claws along the kunais "Yeah, like that'll happen."

Kage grabbed her by the throat and started to choke her "Do you take me for a fool, worthless cat?! I won't repeat myself," He smashed her against the wall "LEAVE OR DIE!"

She got back up on her feet and got into a fighting stance "Nah, I pur-fur stay and fight!"

"Is that so? Then," He threw a couple of kunais "VANQUISH!"

In a peaceful town known as Maplecrest, it had been hit with heavy rain in the night, so there are very few out. There is, however, one lone figure walking on the streets of Maplecrest. With one objective in mind. To locate an escaped project.

"Damn, what a downpour. At least it's not breaking my view." The figure, Spike, had been looking around for a while and found nothing. "If only there was some sort of item with her DNA or something so I can track her."

A bit far ahead of him was another figure. It was humanoid, though, had a silhouette of what looked like a four-blade wheel behind it. It was getting closer and closer until Spike was able to identify it. They both stopped in their tracks. "Looks like I got my wish."

The silhouette revealed itself to be a monstrous-like girl with the bladed wheel stuck to her back.

"There you are, Painwheel."

She looked up at Spike and growled "Go...away...!"

"Sorry can't do that, I got strict orders to bring you back." Spikes then sprouted out of his fists "Even if I have to use extreme measures."

Painwheel revved up her wheels and got ready to battle "Then...YOU'RE GONNA DIE!"

Note: Sorry there hasn't been anything in a while, school and whatnot. And two of the Skullgirls and Skullboys pair up. That should be interesting. And how exactly does Mage and Peacock know each other? And what does Parasoul mean they would be dealing with something worse? How will both of the last battles go? That's for me to know and for you to find out soon.