I'm baaaaack! Chapter 16 is up now and I have decided that I will shorten chapters (split them apart) in order to get them up a little bit faster.

This chapter was scheduled to go up last week but homework stopped me from being able to do so...So I apologize for that but hey, what can any of us do about that?

I'm thinking that I'd like to get a job soon so that may impede our time together a bit more but don't worry. More than anything I want to give you, my readers, a glimpse into the story evolving in my mind.

Please leave reviews and suggestions so that I can improve on my writing skills.

Chapter 16

The Girl in the Closet

Underneath Rinto Laboratories

September 24th ~ 19:52

As the smoke and dust cleared a tall skinny man coughed and wheezed while his new 'lab assistant' shouted, "What was that?"

The man looked around and seeing that his new assistant had survived the explosion, cheered and spun her in the air. The girl frantically asked, "Wha- what are you doing?"

"You survived! This is the first time an assistant of mine has ever survived their first experiment!" The girl looked at the somewhat mental man and laughed.

"Hmm? What's so funny? Do I have something in my hair?" The man began to frantically tear through his hair trying to find whatever it was that was making the small girl laugh. This of course only made her laugh harder.

In between bursts of laughter she said, "Nothing's on your face. It's just… your reaction was funny."

The man looked at the girl with a large grin and said, "Well then, are you ready to begin?"

"Begin what?"

He made a huge sweeping motion as he gestured towards the destroyed disintegration cannon and said, "Repairs, of course!"

Rinto Laboratories – 1st Floor Lobby

20:13

The place was a wreck. There was broken glass near all the windows (probably from vandals), there a ton of empty beer bottles (some broken, some whole), and thousands of papers littered the floor.

Oddly enough Zelko was sitting on Haimaki's back. Only about half an hour ago, the two had been prepared to kill each other, now it seemed as if they were the best of friends.

Tatsu kicked a beer bottle across the room and said, "Looks like a tornado swept through here."

Momo glanced at him and said, "If those earthquakes happen often, it would certainly explain why it looks this bad."

Suddenly we heard a loud thump and then groans of pain. Tatsu drew one of his pistols while Momo drew her older katana. I grabbed my rifle and pointed it towards a nearby door.

Haimaki started scratching the door and we heard a muffled squeak of terror. We all looked at each other with puzzled looks on our faces.

While watching Haimaki slowly scratch the door, Zelko suddenly got a wicked grin on his face and rammed his claws into the brittle wooden door.

A stifled scream echoed out from behind the door along with sniffling as if someone was crying.

"What are you doing?" I kicked Zelko aside and opened the door. Inside was a small woman wearing very large glasses and what looked like a lab coat. She was huddled up in the corner of the supply closet crying hysterically. She had short brown hair and looked as if she'd been through a lot.

She snuffled and said, "Who-Who are you people?"

Momo walked up to her and said, "We are Butei. Who are you?"

The woman ignored Momo and pointed towards Haimaki and Zelko and timidly asked, "What about them?"

This time Tatsu spoke up, "Haimaki is Reki's pet wolf." At this he pulled me over to his side to tell her that I was Reki. "And Zelko is a demon who has been sealed in a pot for the last two hundred years."

Zelko waved his claw and said, "Yo."

The woman's eyes began to water and it looked as if she was going to pass out.

"Zelko don't scare her." Tatsu passed by Zelko and began to help the woman up off the floor.

"Hey! What did I do?"

Tatsu helped her over to a chair, that surprisingly still in one piece. "Now then, can you tell us who you are?"

The woman sniffled again and said, "My name is Amalia Rotzenburg. I am the new lab assistant bu-but my car broke down and then I got lost and then I met a bunch of bikers and then they took me here and the place looked destroyed but I went in anyway and then there was an earthquake and I tripped then-then scratching and-and the claw!"

Amalia said all this in only two gasps of air. It was like being at a horse race with the motor mouth announcers.

Tatsu blinked and slowly began taking what she said apart. Zelko was now completely ignoring Amalia and was rummaging through the closet.

I couldn't help but say, "Wow… you're pretty unlucky aren't you?"

Instantly her eyes began to tear up again and I thought here we go again, when all of a sudden the ground shook again.

As soon as it stopped we heard a familiar shrill voice beneath us, "I thought you said we had to fix it first!"

Momo suddenly started racing towards the sound of the voice.

Another person answered the shrill voice, "And I told you not to push that button!"

Amaila exclaimed, "That's the professor's voice!" She then ran off leaving me and Tatsu alone with Haimaki and Zelko.

Breaking the silence, Zelko asked, "Alright is anyone else as confused as I am?"

I spoke up, "I think that was Riko we just heard… but I thought that Vlad had her?"

Another explosion shook the building and Riko's voice shot out, "Why did you hit the button this time?"

We heard muffled shouting and then, "… And because I love the shaking! It stimulates the brain!"

I looked at Tatsu and he said, "Well we might as well get down there…" Tatsu sighed deeply as he raised his scythe in the air.

Realization suddenly hit me, "Wait a second Tatsu… What do you think you're doing?"

He smiled and said, "Beating Momo and Amalia to the basement." With that he slammed his scythe into the floor.

And we fell…

Now for the ending note!

Their will be more chapters than I previously anticipated. I don't know how many more but there will be more!

I would also like to suggest a few things myself.

- watch?v=byAfC5yW_hw

My friend sent me this an hour ago and is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It is a small animated piece about a ghost, it's not scary or anything, it is actually really cute.

- The anime RWBY ( playlist?list=PLUBVPK8x-XMhCW2fW7ZYlD9MHjvmT8IGK )

It's an amazing anime made by an even more amazing company in Texas called RoosterTeeth, it along with Kingdom Hearts and Hidan no Aria (of course) are the core inspiration for my story and I do hope that you all give it a shot.

Finally to end our little chapter I have a quote I'd like to share with you all. (this may become a regular thing)

"Sadness is just another wall that blocks you from moving on. I know it's hard to get past it, but you've got to brake through."

~ Gray Fullbuster (Fairy Tail)