A/N In this chapter, they have a sparring session, eat pasta, and scare the fuck out of Alex. :D AND the plot starts to advance! And I hint at a few things that will happen in later chapters~! Making this an extra long chapter!
Next day...
Alice woke up at about 7:06, so she decided to wake her meister. "Wake up, Brandon." she whispered, shaking him gently.
"Hm?" he asked, opening one eye while waking up. "What time is it?"
She checked the clock. "7:07, exactly."
"Might as well get up." he said groggily, grabbing a new change of clothes. He walked into the shower and changed quickly. As he walked out ofthe shower, seeing Alice helped him remember the previous night's events. "Your turn." he said. Alice quickly took a shower and got out, changing her clothes outside. Brandon didn't really mind. In fact, he didn't get a nosebleed. "Are you ready?" he asked as she finished.
"Yep." Alice said, tieing her hair up into a pony-tail.
"That looks really good on you." he said, grabbing the keys to the car.
"Thanks." she replied.
"Alright. Let's go meet the class." he said, unlocked the car door, and climbed into the car.
Alice climbed into the passengers seat of the mustang. "OK, lets go!"
Brandon quickly drove to the academy, and checked his phone. "We have a half an hour before class begins." he said, putting his phone away.
"OK, cool."
"Hmm...What tactics should we go over?" he asked, thinking of different fighting techniques.
"How about sword fighting techniques? You had experience with guns before, right? You could teach Alex a few things. Soul Resonance should be last, and I was planning on teaching them a few techniques I made myself." Alice replied.
"That sounds good. I'll take Alex to the firing range in the academy, and you bring Samara to the sparring room." Brandon said, thinking of a plan.
"That sounds good." The red-eyed teen smiled.
Brandon quickly glanced up to the courtyard. "It seems that they're already there. Might as well start class early." he said, opening the door.
"Awesome." Alice said, getting out of the car and walking towards the students. "Alright class, ready to begin?"
"Great, her again." Alex mumbled, flipping his hoodie up.
The ex-Kishin chuckled. "Don't worry, you and your weapon will be with Brandon most of today. The rest of you will meet me in the sparring room."
"That's right. You will be with me in the firing range, where I will teach you how to be more proficient with your firearm." Brandon said, walking towards the academy. Alex just rolled his eyes. It was obvious that he didn't want to do anything. "Alice, we will have lunch at 12:00" Brandon said right before he walked into the academy, Alex and Stephane following after.
"Got it, Professor." The German joked. She turned to the remaining three students and grinned. "Please follow me." she said, walking inside the academy and heading toward the sparring room.
. . .
Brandon and his two students quickly reached the firing range, where Brandon set up a target. He then sent it back to about 25'. "Stephane, can you please transform?" Brandon asked, holding his hand out.
"Ok." she said, and transformed into Brandon's waiting hand. When she stopped glowing, she had taken form of the Benelli. Brandon quickly matched her wavelength and turned to face Alex."This is a shotgun." Brandon started, pointing the barrel towards the ground. "The maximum effective range is from 10 feet to about 50 feet." he said, turning to face to target. He squeezed the trigger, and a shot of mixed black and white sprayed out from the barrel and peppered the target, many of which landed in the bullseye. "You try." he said, offering the boy the shotgun. Alex took it and fired a shot from the hip, a spray of blue flying way left of the target. "No no no, aim down your sights." Brandon instructed, raising an imaginary rifle and pretended to aim down its sights. Alex mumbled something under his breathe, and fired. This time, the shot landed on the target, a little left and below the bullseye. "See how much more of a difference it is?" he said, grinning.
. . .
While in the sparring room, Alice was preparing her own students. "Alright, students, I'm going to teach you a special technique that has been in my family for generations," she started.
Samara's hand shot up. "Exactly how did your family develop these techniques?"
"By studying how a Kishin moves when it fights, my family developed these techniques to use the Kishin's fighting style against itself." Alice lied. The students looked at her in awe. "It's effective, I swear. Now Fred, Cam, Transform!" The two twins transformed into swords, landing in Samara's hands. "Time to begin our little sparring match." the ex-Kishin smirked.
. . .
"This is an assault rifle. You use it when your target is in the 50 to the 100 foot range." he said, holding Stephane, who was in her ACR form, in his hands. He then moved the target back to 50'. "You fire it in short, three round bursts for maximum effectiveness." he said, demonstrating. He fired a three round burst, the familiar half black and half white projectiles leaving the barrel and hit the bullseye. "You can also spray and pray if you need to provide cover fire." he said, firing a long, non-stop spray. "Here." he said, handing the rifle to Alex. The boy took the rifle and fired a short burst. He landed within the inner circle, and one round hit the bullseye. "You're doing much better now." Brandon commented, watching the boy fire the weapon.
. . .
Alice turned her nails into 6 inch daggers and charged towards Samara. She slashed at the student, who jumped out of the way quickly and countered by stabbing her in the stomach. Alice charged again, a bit of blood coming out of her mouth. She slashed at Samara again, leaving three large scratches bleeding heavily on the small Belarusian's face.
"Ow!" Samara yelped in pain, jumping away from Alice.
"C'Mon, fight back, you idiot!" Alice yelled, running towards her. She slashed at Samara again, but the small girl deflected the attack with one of her own swords. "You're doing very good, Samara." the ex-Kishin praised, drawing her hand back to stab Samara's shoulder.
The younger student lost balance and fell back. "Ow..."
Alice helped her back up, ready to fight again.
. . .
"This is the final weapon in your arsenal, the sniper rifle." he said, holding the PSG1 in his hands. He then moved the target back to 100'. "It is used to engage targets beyond 100 feet. Since it has a scope, you have to hold your breath when taking the shot, or your breathing will screw it up." he instructed, looking through the scope at the target. He then held his breath and squeezed the trigger. The larger round went flying down the range, hitting the bullseye perfectly. "You try." he said, handing the gun to Alex. The younger meister took the weapon and lined it up. He then squeezed the trigger, forgetting to hold his breath. The shot went left, missing the target by about two feet. "You forgot to hold your breath. Try it again." Brandon instructed. Alex mumbled something,vbut did as he was told. He lined up the crosshairs with the bullseye, held his breath, and fired. "Bullseye!" Brandon said, watching the round hit just inside the small red circle on the target.
. . .
Samara started this time, charging towards Alice and slashing at her. Alice quickly spinned around, so that the only thing cut was a good 6 inches off of her hair. "Nice try~!" she taunted, drawing her hand back to cut Samara's arm. The younger student fell back clumsily. Alice looked towards the clock. "12:00." she muttered. "OK, lunch time!"
. . .
Alex was consistently hitting bullseyes with the sniper, and Brandon felt proud in his teaching. He then looked at the clock. "It's 12:00. Time for a break." he said, patting Alex on his shoulder. Alex got up, and Stephane transformed back to her human form. They then walked out to the courtyard where the other four were waiting.
"How was your training?" Brandon asked as he walked near the group.
"It was-" Alice started, getting cut off by Samara.
"IT WAS AWESOME!" The Belarusian said excitedly, earning weird glances from her weapons. She turned to Alice. "Sorry about cutting your hair though..." she said nervously.
Alice raised an eyebrow. "It's just hair, I couldn't care less if it was cut or not." the ex-Kishin said.
"It seems that you went tomboy." Brandon joked, noticing Alice's shorter hair.
"Since when was I ever girly in the first place?" The red-eyed girl joked back.
"True." he said, and began walking towards the steps. "But you can seduce better than anyone I've seen." he whispered as he walked past.
Alice followed him, blushing madly. "...Was that a compliment or an insult?" she whispered back.
"What do you think?" he whispered, grinning.
Alice would've blushed even more, if that was possible. "...No comment..."
"It was a compliment." Brandon said, pulling the Mustang's keys out of his jean pocket and opened the doors.
Alice climbed into the passengers seat, still blushing seven different shades of red. "Don't try anything..."
"I'm not, I'm not." he said, raising his hands in mock surrender as he climbed into the driver's seat.
Alice looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "...Until we get home."
"I know." he said, grinning. "Where should we get lunch?"
"Hm, dunno." Alice said.
"Wanna see if the next town over has some Italian?" he asked, longing for some pasta.
"Sure." she smirked.
"I love pasta." he said, put the car into first, and sped to the next town. They quickly reached it, and they immediately began looking. "There's one." he said, pointing at a Italian restaurant.
"Cool, lets go there. Hopefully it's not busy." Alice replied.
"Let's hope." the meister said, and pulled into the parking lot. He looked around, and saw there was only a few cars. He then got out of the car and opened the passenger-side door. "After you." he said, gesturing with his hand towards the restaurant's door. Alice smiled, silently chuckling to herself. She quickly got out of the car. Brandon closed the door and followed her into the restaurant. They walked in, and were greeted by paintings of Venice and marble columns along the walls. Brandon walked up to the waiter.
"Hello, table for two please." he said.
"Follow me." the waiter replied, grabbing two menus and began walking.
Alice looked around as they walked. "Fancy." she said.
"Very." Brandon replied. They soon reached a booth table, and sat down. The waiter handed them their menus and walked away. "All of this looks very good..." Brandon said, looking through the choices.
"Yes it does..." Alice agreed, her mouth watering.
"You might wanna close your mouth. You look like a waterfall." he joked, watching her salivate over the food choices.
"Huh?" Alice asked surprised, wiping her mouth. "Uh... sorry..."
"It's ok. Actually, you look kinda cute like that." he said, a small smile forming on his face.
"H-Huh?" Alice asked, blushing and a little shocked.
"Nothing." he said, shaking his head. The waiter then came over.
"Are you ready to order?" he asked, removing a note pad.
"Yes. I will have the Fettucini al Freddo." he said, handing the waiter the menu.
"I-I'll just have some spaghetti." Alice said, handing the waiter her menu.
"As you wish." the waiter said, and walked away.
"Really? Just spaghetti?" Brandon asked, confused by her meal choice.
"Um, yeah," Alice said with a nervous chuckle. "Spaghetti is actually my favorite food."
"No way." he said, blown away by the news. "I thought steak was your favorite food."
"Nope," Alice chuckled. "It's spaghetti."
"Note to self: buy spaghetti." Brandon mumbled to himself.
"Huh?" Alice asked, tilting her head to the side cutely.
"Hm?" he asked, looking up. "Oh, I was just making a mental shopping list." he said, taking a piece of bread from the basket the waiter gave them.
"Oh, OK." Alice replied, tapping her fingers on the table out of boredom.
"Do you want a piece of bread?" he asked, tapping the bread basket.
"When did that get there?" she asked, noticing the basket for the first time.
"It was here the whole time." he said, taking a bite of the bread.
"Oh." she said, grabbing a peice of bread and taking a bite out of it.
"It's fresh. They must've made it earlier today." he said, taking another bite.
Alice chewed thoughtfully before swallowing. "They made this bread exactly two hours, fifty-seven minutes and eight seconds ago."
"How did you know that?" Brandon asked, finishing the morsel.
"I can taste it." The ex-Kishin replied, taking another bite out of the bread.
"So, you can tell its exact time of its creation through its taste?" he inquired.
"Yeah," Alice started. "Like how my sense of smell is better than a normal humans', so is my sense of taste, touch and hearing. My eyesight is worse, though, because I usually rely on all of my other senses." she explained.
"Huh. Since your sense of taste is so good, could you interpret age of an actual human?" he asked, thinking of an experiment.
"Maybe." she said, finishing off the peice of bread. "Why?"
"I want you to try something when we get home." he said, biting into another piece of bread.
Alice was pretty sure what he wanted her to do. "...You want me to lick you again, don't you?"
"Not exactly, but that could be another way of doing it." he said, finishing the piece of bread.
"Pervert."
"I know." he said, chuckling. Alice blushed, face-palming. The waiter walked up with their food.
"Your meals." he said, putting their plates in front of them.
"Thank you." Brandon said, picking up his fork.
"Thanks." Alice said as the waiter walked away. She picked up her fork and twirled the spaghetti noodles around it before taking a bite.
Brandon impaled a few of the ribbons on his fork and took a bite. "How long has it been since I last had pasta?" he asked himself, savoring the flavor. Alice ate some more of the spaghetti, slurping a noodle into her mouth. "It seems that you are enjoying your meal." he said, putting another ribbon of pasta in his mouth.
"Yep." she said after swallowing her food. "I haven't pasta since my dad died. He used to make spaghetti for me all the time!"
"Well, it is simple and easy, so I can see why." Brandon said, biting down on another fork full of pasta. Alice nodded in agreement, eating another fork-full of pasta. "I just had another meal idea." He said, thinking of an addition to the ground beef "spaghetti" meal. Alice swallowed before looking at Brandon with a confused expression.
"You know how I was going to make a ground beef replica of spaghetti? How about I half the recipient and add half of it as actual spaghetti?" he asked, taking another spoon full of his pasta.
"Sure!" Alice smiled with bright eyes.
"I thought it sounded pretty good. For you, anyways." he said, finishing his meal.
"It does sound good." Alice said, finishing her own meal.
The waiter than walked up with the bill. Brandon took a fifty he had split earlier and put it in the bill. "Do you have the tip?" he asked, feeling bad about asking Alice for money.
"Yeah." Alice said, placing fifteen dollars on the table.
"Thanks." he said, and they walked out of the door. They climbed into the car, and Brandon started the engine. "When we get back, should we teach them soul resonance or go straight to a sparring match?" Brandon asked as he backed out of the parking space.
"If we teach them Soul Resonance, I'll most likely just faint again." Alice pointed out.
"So, straight to sparring it is." he said, turning onto the main road that led back to Death City.
"Yep. I wanna' see if Samara was actually paying attention." The German said calmly.
"Also, I wanna see if Alex can judge distances to his targets. That is an essential skill for a gun meister." he said, accelerating once he reached the main road.
"I guess that would be important to any meister that uses long-distance weapons." Alice agreed.
"True." he replied, and continued driving. They quickly reached Death City, and then the academy at the City's heart. "Here we are." he said, parking in front of the building.
"Alright! Lets fight~!" Alice chided, getting out of the car.
"Let's do this!" Brandon responds, getting out of the car, and then they jogged up the stairs.
"Alright, class, are you ready for another lesson?" Alice asked, before noticing one of the students was missing. She turned to Stephane. "Where is Alex?"
"He didn't want to come back. He said that he was afraid of you using him for some weird example." she said, remembering back to what Alex had told her.
Alice face-palmed. "Alright where is he? I'll drag him back here if I have to."
"He's back home." she replied. Brandon then appeared at the top of the steps.
"Who is back home?" he asked, confused by Stephane's last statement.
Alice turned to Brandon. "Alex skipped school." she said, before turning back to Stephane. "Give me your address." Alice said, giving Stephane a pencil and a peice of paper.
"What? Goddammit, I knew he would be the sort of kid to do that." he whispered, watching Stephane scribble down her adress.
"Here, but please don't hurt him." she said, handing Alice the piece of paper.
"No promises." Alice said, walking back down to the car. "C'Mon, Brandon!" she yelled from inside the car.
"Coming." he called, before quickly turning to Stephane. "I'll try to keep the damage to a minimum." he said, and then jogged down the stairs. He reached the bottom, opened the car door, climbed into his seat, and started the engine. "Where is this place?" he said, putting the car into first and then took off.
"It's in the apartment complex where Soul and Maka live. Apartment 4013." Alice told her meister.
"Gotcha." he said, and slammed the accelorator. They made it there in record time, and quickly found the room number. Brandon was about to knock, but Alice interrupted him. She kicked the door down, making it fly into the opposite wall before storming into the apartment. "We could've knocked." he said, walking in. "Alex!"
The boy, who was sitting on the clutch, watching TV, immediately turned around. "W-what are you doing here?" he stammered, fear overtaking him at the sight of Alice.
Alice smiled sweetly, which meant she was incredibly pissed. "Don't skip class, Alex, or I'll have to punish you severly." she started in a sickly sweet voice. "And, as you can probably tell, I know where you live." she stalked over over to the teenage boy.
The boy trembled beneath her shadow. "Give the kid a break, Alice. You scared him shitless." Brandon said.
She chuckled malicously, wearing a sadistic grin. "Oh, I'm just thinking of all the different ways I can torture that frail body of yours."
"Alex, if you cherish your life, I recommend you come with us." Brandon said, approaching the boy.
"And be stuck with her? Are you crazy?" he replied, pointing at Alice.
"Yes, but that's beside the point. The thing that matters is that you can come with us now, and have me restraining her actions, or you could not come and have her com back later, without my supervision." Brandon explained. Alice's grin widened, showing her sharp wolf teeth. The boy practically went his pants, but nodded his head.
"Good, now come with us. And Alice, play nice." Brandon joked, walking out of the now missing doorframe.
Alice headed toward the door but stopped, waiting for Alex. "By the way, if you skip again, I'll be forced to do an 'experiment' on you." she chuckled.
The boy quickly followed, shuttering as he walked out of the door. The three approached the car, but Alex stopped.
"We're not taking that, right?" he asked, worried about commiting a crime.
"No, we're not taking it because it's ours already." Brandon responded, pulling out the keys and dangled them. "Now shut your mouth and get in." he said, opening the passenger door and folded back the seat. The boy quickly climbed into the back. Brandon then climbed into the driver's seat.
Alice climbed into the passengers seat. "I love scaring people~!"
"I can tell." Brandon said, starting the engine.
"Especially if they're cowards." she chimed, glancing at Alex.
"I'm not a coward. Your just extremely frightening." he shot back, attempting to defend his pride.
"It is kinda true." Brandon said, steering the car around a turn.
"Pffft, I've seen bugs braver than you." Alice taunted. The boy began showing mixed emotions of both hatred and fear.
"Alice, didn't I say to play nice?" Brandon asked.
"Hey, I didn't sew his mouth shut yet, did I?" Alice retorted, completely serious.
"True, but where would you get the stitches to do that?" he replied, being just as serious.
"I'll tell you that when YOU can tell me where I get frying pan to hit people from." Alice smirked. "I know, but you don't~!" Brandon thought long and hard, but his answer sucked.
"Do you keep it in one of your pockets?" he guessed. Alice face-palmed, shaking her head in dissapointment. "I have no idea then. Where DO you keep it?" he asked, now curious.
"None of your business." she replied with a smile. Let it be known that enjoys trolling people.
"C'mon, that ain't fair." he replied, shifting up a gear.
Alice turned to her meister, making her best impression of the troll face. "Problem?"
Brandon did his best imitation of a rage face. "FUUUUUU!" Alice burst out laughing. Brandon also immediately went into compulsions of laughter. Alex on the other hand, was frightened beyond belief.
"What the hell are you two doing?" he asked, confused because he never heard of Internet memes.
"Told ya' he was a coward." Alice said, sobered of all hilariousness.
"Give the kid some slack. You did scare him shitless earlier." Brandon said, rounding a turn. They then drove up to the academy. "Alice, you have to get out before Alex can." Brandon explained, turning the car off.
Alice practically jumped out of the car. "Yay~! Now we can have some more fun torturing- er, I mean teaching- the students!"
"That's what I hoped you meant." Brandn said as he climbed out. "Alex, get out."
The boy mumbled something, and, reluctantly, climbed out of the car and closed the passenger door. Brandon locked the car and the three of them climbed the stairs leading to the courtyard. Alice ran up the steps quickly. "We're ba~ack!" she sang.
"Great!" Stephane exclaimed, happy to have the teachers back.
"And, we're having a sparring match." Brandon added, appearing at the top of the stair way.
"And Alex, next time you think about skipping class rememer what I said." Alice called back, smiling a lazy yet malicious smile. Alex walked towards Stephane, and she transformed into his awaiting hands without saying a word.
"It seems that they're ready to fight now." Brandon said, opening his hand, waiting for Alice to transform. Alice transformed, landing in Brandon's hand. "Are you ready?" he asked, a grin growing on his face.
"We are!" Samara, Cam and Fred said. The two weapons transformed.
"Dude, what did you do to Alex?" Fred asked, seeing a bit of fear on the other meister's face.
"I'd really rather not talk about it." Brandon said, then charged towards Samara, holding his sword out like a spear. Samara defended with one sword and cut Brandon's face with the other. "Nice." he said, grimacing through the pain. He then spun and sliced left, throwing a horizontal slash. Samara's arm was cut wide open and she grimaced, slashing at Brandon. She landed a scratch along his chest, and he retaliated with a vertical slash down her right shoulder. Samara lost balance and fell back.
"Good job. Alice taught you well." Brandon said, helping her up. Samara crossed her swords, charging at Brandon again.
"Oh? Not done, are we?" he asked, quickly blocking the attack. He then dragged one of her swords put of the cross and stabbed at her right arm. She once again fell down, this time unconscience.
"Brandon, I think she's losing too much blood." Alice said.
"On it." he said, and dropped Alice. He then quickly walked over to her unconscious body, and began altering his wavelength. "C'mon, c'mon, work dammit." he said lowly, focusing on the healing wavelength. He quickly matched it, kneeled down, and applied his hand to her stomach. He then focused his wavelegnth on his hand, and a soft, blue light let him know it was working. He held it there for about five seconds, until all of her wounds healed. "There, she should be good." he said, standing up and wiping his hands.
"Now lets fight Alex." Alice said, her image showing up in the blade of the sword.
He looked quickly back at Alex. He was about 50 feet away from the gun meister. 'Perfect assault rifle range.' he thought to himself. As if responding to his thoughts, Stephane transformed into her rifle form. The boy raised the ACR, and began firing short, three round bursts. Brandon responded by raising his sword and used the blade as a shield, and slowly began approaching the boy. Once he stepped within 20 feet of the firearm, Stephane transformed into her shotgun mode. To avoid being blasted by pieces of the boy's soul, Brandon jumped back to 100 feet from Alex. Stephane then transformed into a sniper, and Alex lined up his shot. 'Good. He can judge distance well.' Brandon thought, dodging one of the sniper shots. He then became distracted in his own thoughts, and was rudely brought back to attention by a sniper shot between his eyes. He fell backwards, and Alex lowered his rifle.
"Boom! Headshot!" he taunted. Brandon responded by getting up, and jumped behind the younger boy.
"You forgot to confirm the kill." Brandon said, and knocked Alex to his ass by hitting him with the flat side of the blade. "Class dismissed." he said, beginning to walk away.
Alice transformed back into a human. "Lets go home." she said.
"Yea." he said, and walked down the stairs towards the car. Once they reached the bottom, they both climbed in and Brandon started the engine.
"Well, today was rather fun, don't ya' think?" Alice asked, leaning back.
"Yea. We got a lot done." he responded, relaxing into his seat.
"Scaring Alex was kind of funny." Alice chuckled.
"Yea, but I think it affected his performance today." Brandon said, thinking back.
"Oh, well," Alice said. "So, uh, what was it you wanted me to do when we got home?"
"What?" he asked, not remembering their earlier conversation.
"You wanted to see if I could tell a human's age using my sense of taste." Alice said, sticking her tongue out for emphasis.
"Oh yea." he said, the memory coming back to him.
"So, do you remember what you wanted me to do?" The ex-Kishin asked, filled with curiosity.
"Oh yea. I wanted to see if you could tell my age through your sense of taste. I was origionally thinking a kiss, but you interpreted it as a lick." he explained, remembering his experiment.
"Oh." she said simply, blushing like crazy.
"Your still not used to it, are you?" he asked, noticing her blush.
"U-Um, not really..." she replied, looking away shyly.
"It's ok. I'm not really used to it either." he said, a small grin forming on his face. His smile made Alice blushed even more when she turned to face her meister again. "Jeez, you look like a tomato." he joked, seeing how much she was blushing. The ex-Kishin looked down bashfully, her whole face bright red. "Wow, I've never seen you this shy before." Brandon said, quickly glancing over at her.
"H-Huh?"
"You're being very bashful." he explained.
"O-Oh," she replied. "Sorry..."
"You don't need to apologize. It's a natural emotion." he said, smiling a small smile.
"..." Alice just stared out the window, not knowing what to say. Brandon quickly drove home, parking the car in the garage. Alice quickly walked inside the house, took a shower and changed into her pajamas. As soon as Alice walked out of the shower, Brandon went in. He showered quickly, and came out fully dressed in his pajamas. Alice layed on the bed, completely bored. "Ugh, so bored..." she moaned.
"Do you want to play xbox?" Brandon asked, drying his hair with a towel.
"Nah..." Alice said, sitting up. "You can if you want to, but it got kinda' boring to me."
"Really? I'll have to think of something else to do." he said, thinking. "What did you do in your dimension?"
"In my dimension? Well," Alice started. "I'd either crash one of Kidd's parties, go to BlackStar's house to either troll him or eat his food-his reactions never get old-write in my journal-NOT diary-annoy Kidd, or take a nap. There was also the occasional night where everyone would force me and Kidd to play games like 'Truth or Dare' or 'Would you Rather'. Occasionally pool." she paused. "One time, they tried to get me to play 'Seven minutes in Heaven'."
"Really? They tried to get the two of you together? Wow, your dimension is crazy." he said, chuckling a little.
"It's VERY crazy." Alice replied, chuckling a bit, herself.
"Oh yea! I still have the 'experiment' to do!" he said, remembering.
"Oh yeah..."
"If you don't want to, you don't have to." he replied, shrugging.
"As a fellow woman of science, I will not turn down an experiment!" Alice said matter-of-factly. "Besides, I'm curious to see how this'll turn out."
"I respect your attitude as both a scientific and working partner, so let us begin the test!" he said, raising one arm towards the sky.
Alice chuckled at the gesture. "Alright, let's do the experiment!"
"Do it." Brandon said, nodding his head.
"Alright, alright." she laughed, then licked his ear. "I'm guessing you're fifteen or sixteen. Am I right?"
"Fifteen it is." he said, shuttering a little from the wet sensation.
"So, we're both the same age," Alice chuckled. "Cool. I am really surprised you didn't get a nosebleed from that."
"To be honest, I lowered my soul wavelength so that I wouldn't." he said, rubbing the back of his head.
"FYI, if you do that too much your blood will clot and you'll probably die of a cardiac arrest." The ex-Kishin said blankly. "Unless you have hemophilia."
"That's why I only lower my wavelength whenever you do something that may be erotic or sexually stimulating." he replied. Alice chuckled pervertedly. "Judging from your laugh, you enjoy it." he said, analyzing her laughter.
"Maybe." she giggled.
"Heh, and that's why I like you." he said. The weapon stared at her meister, unamused. "What?" he asked, confused as to his weapn's sudden stare.
"...Nothing."
"Weird." Brandon mumbled to himself as he walked over to the generator. He then got an idea half way there, and stopped in his tracks. "Hey Alice, wanna get dressed and see if someone wants to hang out." he asked, grabbing his clothes from earlier that day.
"Sure." she said, grabbing her casual clothes and quickly changing into them. Brandon quickly changed into his clothes when Alice was changing, and was ready as soon as she was done.
"You ready?" he asked, smiling a small grin.
"Yep!" Alice said walking towards the door. She stopped and turned. "Hey, do you have a girlfriend in your dimension?"
"No. Why?" he asked, confused.
"No reason," Alice said. "If you did, though, and she found out you liked me, she'd probably be pretty pissed." she chuckled.
"Probably. But even if I did, how would she find out?" he asked.
"Because emotions are shown in the soul. To those with Soul Perception, emotions can be read as easily as an open book." Alice stated.
"Really? I guess that makes sense using a bit of reasoning." he said, thinking about it.
Alice smiled. "Let's go~."
"Ok." Brandon said, and the two walked out of the door. They walked quickly to Maka and Soul's appartment, and Brandon walked up to the door. Loud music could be heard when he approached it, which surprised him a little. "Are they having a party?" he asked Alice, who was standing behind him.
"Dunno." Alice smirked. "Let's find out."
"Yea." Brandon agreed, and knocked on the door. Maka quickly answered.
"Hello Alice, Brandon." she greeted, looking at the pair carefully. "What brings you here?"
"We were going to see you guys wanted to hang out, but it seems you already have a party going." Brandon said.
"Yeah, we are. Wanna' come in?" The pig-tailed meister asked.
"Sure. C'mon, Alice." he said, turning his head to look at her meister. Alice followed Brandon into the house. All of Spartoi, except Killik and Ox, where there. "What's the occasion?" Brandon asked, looking at the large amount of people in the relatively small appartment.
"Soul was bored and wanted to throw a party." Maka replied. "I told him not to, but he didn't listen to me." she sighed. "He almost never does listen."
"Well, that's the type of guy he is." he replied, quickly glancing over at the white-headed weapon. Alice nodded in agreement.
"This was supposed to be just for friends," Maka started. "But, I guess we can count you two as friends. But, I'm still a bit... unsure about Alice." she turned to the ex-Kishin and narrowed her eyes. "Remember, I heard everything while we where in the RV, so I know her Kishin lineage."
"Don't worry, Alice isn't like a regular Kishin. She's learned to control herself." he said, lowering his voice so eavesdroppers didn't hear their conversation. Alice glared at Maka, feeling an immediate disliking of her.
She didn't trust her. At all.
Brandon noticed the friction between the two, and attempted to lessen it. "I sense a bit of friction between you two." he said, looking back and forth between the two girls.
The two continued to glare at eachother, completely ignoring the brown-haired meister.
"Um, hello?" he asked, waving his hand in between their line of sight. Again, they ignored him and stared at eachother until Alice's eyes turned from red to red-orange out of anger. "Alice, control yourself." Brandon instructed in a tone of sudden seriousness, knowing what would happen if her eyes completely changed to amber.
"..." Alice closed her eyes, un-sheathing and re-sheathing her claws silently in an attempt to calm down.
"I'm sorry, she just has some social problems she is working on." he said, apologizing to Maka.
Alice glared at Brandon, taking out her pan. "If only you knew how tempted I am to hit one of you with this pan..."
"Seriously, where the hell do you get that thing?" Brandon asked, turning to look at Alice.
"None of your business."
"It's like trying to pry open a door with a wet noodle." Brandin muttered to himself, giving up his investigation. Alice and Maka burst out laughing at the comment. "It seems that the two of you enjoy my comedic skills." he said, chuckling a little to himself.
"Maybe." Alice replied.
"I'll take that as a yes." he said, grinning a little. Alice just sighed at his stupidity. "Can we come in?" he asked, turning to face Maka and gesturing to the main room where the party was.
"Sure." Maka said, moving out of the way.
"Thanks." he said, and walked inside. Alice followed her meister, avoiding Maka's gaze. The room itself was actually much larger than it appeared. Most of the group was on the couch, watching TV. The others were standing, talking amongst one another. On the table was a small set of speakers with someone's iPod plugged into it, playing a mix of modern and classical rock. There was a small tray of snacks and plastic cups with two bottles of soda sitting next to the music set, with half of the food missing already.
Alice looked around. "Nice." she murmured to herself as Pink Floyd's 'Brick in the wall' started playing. She hummed along to the classic rock song. Brandon walked near the couch, sitting down in one of the arm chairs. Alice sat in a another chair near Brandon.
"What's up?" he asked, attempting to start a conversation.
"Huh?" Alice, who lost herself in the awesomeness known as Pink Floyd, asked as Patty walked up behind her. The gun quickly brought her hands down on Alice's shoulders, making the latter squeak out of surprise.
"What?" Brandon asked, turning his head towards the sudden squeal. Alice hissed at Patty, while Patty jumped up and down laughing. Brandon just began chuckling to himself. Alice gave Brandon an annoyed look. "What? That was funny!" he replied.
"No it wasn't!" Alice retorted indignantly, blushing from embarassment.
"Fine, fine. Still, I've never actually seen you scared before." he said.
"I wasn't scared, I was just starled!" Alice retorted accidently her German accent, which comes out only when she's scared or drunk.
"Sie in einem Akzent sprechen Deutsch." he said, feighning a German accent. Alice muttered to herself in German.
"What does that mean?" Patty asked Brandon.
"It means 'You're talking in a German accent'." he clarified, thinking about what he just said.
"Alice is German?" Patty asked, making Alice face-palm.
"Yes, Patty." she said, still using her German accent. "I am German."
"You couldn't have figured that out through her accent?" he asked, generally confused by Patty's stupidity.
"What accent?" Patty asked, this was enough to make Alice face-desk.
"Don't you think she sounds different than a normal American?" he asked, fighting the urge to snap and tell her how stupid she is.
"Yeah, but she sounded French to me~!" Patty replied, earning an annoyed look from Alice.
"Liz? Can you please take over from here? I think my IQ is actually being depleted in this conversation." Brandon asked, turning to the older girl.
"Mio dio, sta cazzo ritardata." Brandon said, his native Italian accent emerging. Alice walked up to Patty and gave her a long, stern history lecture on how Hitler was Austrian and that nazism originated in Prussia, not Gernany.
"Thank you, Alice." Brandon said when she finished explaining the history lesson.
"Alice, have you ever considered being a history teacher?" Liz asked. Alice just stared at Liz stupidly.
"Technically, we're teachers already." Brandon added.
Alice sighed, then realised something. She turned to Brandon. "So, you're Italian?" she asked, taking note of the accent he used.
"Yea. My last name is Pazzo, which is Italian." he explained.
"Cool." Alice replied. "If only we became friends with a japanese dude..." she said, being reminded of Hetalia.
"Your thinking of an anime, aren't you?" he asked, realizing what she was hinting at.
"Maybe."
"I know. You're thinking of Hetalia." he said, remembering the anime's name.
"You're psychic!" Alice gaped in mock surprise. "What am I gonna' say next?"
"To complete the axis powers, I'm pretty sure both Maka and Tsubaki are Japanese." he said, thinking of his friend's nationalities.
"I think it might be too late for me to be friends with Maka, and besides we still need Prussia and North Italy. You seem to be more like South Italy." Alice replied.
"The closest person with a personality like North Italy would probably be either BlackStar or Patty." he joked, thinking about characterization.
Alice chuckled, dropping her tone to a whisper. "If we somehow get out of this dimension, and stuck in mine, Kidd would be a perfect Prussia."
"Yea, probably." he said, chuckling a little.
"...I wonder if that'll actually happen." Alice said, still whispering. "Kidd is trying to invent a device that can make the mirrors in the death room transport him to different dimensions for a short while." she explained.
"Do you know what he is using to do it? Because if you do, then we could probably use it to get back to our dimensions." he said, also lowering his voice.
"He's a using a metal that only Reapers can get called 'Tekchnomalagois' and technology that hasn't been invented in this dimension." Alice explained sadly. "If we can somehow dig over six-thousand miles underground, we could probably get some Tekchnomalagois, but that's highly unlikely."
"We could borrow the Nautilus." Brandon joked, thinking of '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'. Alice face-palmed. "What? It was a joke!" he said. He then noticed Liz staring at them as they talked. "Goddammit, I hope she isn't getting any ideas." he whispered, nodding his head in
"What d'ya mean by 'ideas'?" Alice asked, slightly panicked.
"Not the current conversation, but an idea about us 'dating'." he said, realizing why she was panicked.
Liz started walking towards the two with a smirk. "Mein Gott!" Alice whisper-yelled.
"Maledizione." Brandon whispered to himself as she approached.
Liz approached the two. "So, what'cha doin~?" Alice stiffened.
"Nothing. Why?" he asked plainly, showing no emotion.
"Just wanted to know what you guys were talking about." Liz said, glancing back and forth between the two. "I understand if it's 'personal', though."
"It's not, but a higher educational education is required to understand what we are talking about." he said monotonously, again showing no emotion.
Liz was confused so Alice decided to confuse her further. "Have you ever heard of Tekchnomalagois?"
"You made that up." Liz accused.
"No she didn't. It is an extremely strong metal, stronger than titanium, and is rumored to have a potential of opening a rift in the time-space contiuem, making a gateway of sorts to parallel universes." Bandon explained, taking on a tone of a scientist.
Liz got so confused, she just left quietly. When she was gone, Alice turned to Brandon. "Y'Know, the technology is what gives it that ability. The only significance of the metal is that it's the only thing that can kill a reaper." Alice whispered. "If it's turned into a weapon, that is. By itself, it's completely useless."
"Wait, it is the only material that can kill a reaper, and Kidd used you to kill Lord Death..." he trailed off, his eyes widening a little at his conclusion.
Alice sighed. "Let me explain. Kidd melted some Tekchnomalagois and merged it with the metal in my sword form, much like how Medusa turned Ragnorak into Black Blood." she explained. "I'm stuck with it now."
"Is the Tekchnomalagois actually part of your human form?" he asked, an idea beginning to brew in his mind.
"Yeah. It's in my blood, now. Why?" Alice asked.
"Well, that isn't going to work now." he said, scrapping the idea he had. "We could have saved the trouble of digging thousands of feet underground if I could harness some from your weapon form, but that would hurt you, and I don't want you t get hurt." he explained, keeping his voice low.
"Even if we could do that without hurting me, we don't have the technology." Alice reminded her meister.
"Well, what exactly IS the technology?" he asked, thinking he might be able to replicate it.
"I don't know. Kidd invented it, too. He made just about every new invention in our dimension and he never tells anyone how." Alice shrugged. "I think he called it something like 'Magitechnology'. He does have the ability to steal a witch's magic, y'know. He could've made it from witch magic..."
"Well then, our next step to getting home is obvious." he said, creating a plan to return to their original dimensions.
"Recreate Magitechnology? I don't think so, neither of us can use REAL witch magic. You just use a copied wavelength, Kidd can use actual magic." Alice said. "His aunt is the Grand Witch. She taught him how!"
"We should get someone who can use magic. But they need to be strong..." he trailed off, thinking of powerful witches. "Medusa."
Alice gaped at Brandon and dragged him outside. "You want to WHAT?!"
"I said we need to recreate it by using Medusa. What did you think I said?" he asked, thinking she misheard him.
"I know what you said, but we are NOT getting her help. She is the sworn enemy of the Academy and we're Academy Students! She will kill us!" Alice replied angrily.
"Who said she would help us willingly?" he asked, a shark-toothed, satanic grin growing on his face.
"...Look, Brandon. Kidd killed her twice, and now she's out for his blood. If we try to make her help, she will definately kill us." Alice said, thinking. "We should trade with her. If she helps us create Magitechnology, we'll help with her experiments..." The ex-Kishin said reluctantly, sighing. "I think that might be the only way to get her help without starting a war between her and the Academy."
"...goddammit." he sighed, wanting badly to deny the truth in her last statement.
"We should go home and pack. We're leaving tomorrow morning." Alice decided.
"Fine. I need to wash my clothes when we get back though." he said, remembering the clothes he was wearing was his last pair of clean clothes. "Good night!" he called through the door at the rest of the group before they walked back to the car.
"Alright." Alice said, climbing into the passengers seat. "I hope you know we can't take any of the cars. If the Spartoi come looking for us, they'll know it's ours and it'll lead them right to Medusa, meaning not only will she stop helping us but that we'll also lose the Academy's trust and we won't be able to come back."
"We have to walk then. Cazzo." he spat, his Italian accent emerging again.
"Yep," Alice said. "I'm not sure about you, but I'm used to walking long distances. I had to walk from Germany all the way to England to learn English, y'know. I also had to sneak on a boat."
"That is a 632.7 mile walk." he said, quickly doing the math using the two countries' latitudes.
"I forgot how many months it took to get there..." Alice said, trying to remember but failing.
"Probably three or four." he said, guessing. "Since we're gonna be walking in the desert, I should probably get my hat and glasses again..."
"Hm? I thought Medusa was in Italy." Alice replied, a bit confused. She used her Soul Perception to reach across the world before seeing the witch. "Nope, she's in Germany... Goddamnit, what is that bitch doing in MY country?!"
"If you were a Medusa, why would YOU be in Germany?" he asked, hoping the question would help them brain storm.
"Probably looking for another test subject." Alice dead-panned.
"And I'm guessing in order to get her help, that has to be me before she finds a different one?" he asked.
"No. I'm sure she'd want as many test subjects as she can get." The German replied, sighing.
"Then we need a flight to Germany." he said, starting the car and began driving to the neighboring town's airport.
Alice sighed. "Home sweet home~!"
"Guess I better brush up on my German." he said, noticing his aged knowledge of the German language.
Alice looked at Brandon. "OK, but we'll have to lay low. I'm not sure if my Kishin self is in this universe, if she is I might get mistaken for her and we'll have to hide. That'll make it hard to find Medusa, don't ya' think?"
"Wait, 'your Kishin self'? What the hell is that?" he asked, confused by her statement.
Alice sighed at his stupidity. "Because this dimension is less advanced than mine, IF I'm here I will not be human." she explained. "I was born as a Kishin, remember?"
"Wait, so there is another you running around? Fuck." he said, realizing how much harder this dimension's Alice could make the duo's objective.
"I know... I wonder if my personality is different..." Alice trailed off, lost in thought.
"Well, you'd probably be more violent." Brandon said, analyzing the change in her personality before and after she was a Kishin.
Alice expression twisted into one of horror. "What if I'm a boy in this dimension?!"
"Well, it-er-he would probably be similar to me." he said, thinking about a boy version of Alice.
"...Why do you think that?" Alice asked her meister.
"Well, he would be violent, vulgar, extremely perverted, satanic, and destructive. Just like me." he said, listing the possible personality of a male Alice.
Alice raised an eyebrow. "Whatever." she muttered.
"Holy crap, would I have another one of me here, too?" he asked, realizing the possibilty.
"Probably. He or she would most likely be in Italy or something." Alice replied.
"Probably." he said, thinking about it. He then immediately began refraining from laughter, failing miserably.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Could you imagine me as a chick?" he asked, chuckling while he talked.
"Yeah." Alice said, bursting out laughing. "It's actually pretty easy~!"
"I bet she would be." he joked, laughing even harder.
Alice laughed even harder. "Can you imagine me as a guy?"
"I dunno, that one's kinda hard." he said, thinking about it while laughing.
"Well," Alice giggled. "When you do, tell me what you think I'd look like~!"
"Well, you'd probably have short black hair, smaller eyes, probably be pretty muscular, and would probably wear a black shirt and black pants." he said, guessing the mail surrogate's appearance.
"Well, a girl version of you would probably have long, wavy hair, large eyes, pretty thin with a body shape like Tsubaki's and would be wearing a short white tank-top and a short red skirt with high-heels." Alice guessed, voicing her imagination.
Brandon made of a face of confusion and slight disgust. "High heels? Really?" he asked, shuttering at the visualization of the female replica.
Alice chuckled. "No. You'd probably be wearing tennis shoes and jeans, not high-heels and a skirt." she replied, then added, "High-heels really hurt your feet. How can ANYONE stand wearing them?"
"Dunno. Besides, you were right. I would never wear anything but jeans and sneakers, no matter my gender. They're just too vital to my style." he said, dismissing the previous mental picture for the new one.
Alice chuckled. "Hehe, what do YOU think you would like as a girl?"
"Probably a tall, lean figure with long, wavy, light brown hair, relatively large eyes, a graphic tee, a pair of jeans, and some black sneakers." he said, explaining the picture he had of a female him.
"Cool" Alice said. "If I was a boy, I think I'd have short hair, be thin with moderately large eyes and would be wearing black and white."
"Sounds about right." he said, pulling into the parking lot of the airport. "You go get tickets, and I'll wait here." he said, pointing towards the terminal. Alice quickly walked in and bought two 5:00 PM plane trips to Berlin the next day. She quickly walked back to the car. When she arrived, she saw Brandon had his headphones in, and was watching something on his phone.
She eyed him curiously, taking out one of his earphones. "Dude, are you watching porn?" Then she heard someone speaking in German. "Let me rephrase that; are you watching GERMAN porn?"
"I wish." he joked, pausing the video, then took out the other ear bud. "I'm brushing up on my German."
"Oh." Alice replied, walking around and jumping in the passengers seat. "I got the tickets."
"Good. What time is the flight?" he asked, turning the car on.
"5:00 PM. In Germany, that'd be around 12:00 AM."
"Wonderful." he said sarcastically. "Should we teach class tomorrow, or just call it off?"
"Call it off. You need as much time as you can get to brush up on your German and I need to work on keepin' my fucking mouth shut." Alice replied.
"Well, it seems a bit of me has rubbed off on you." he said, noticing her vulgarness.
"..." Alice just looked ahead, sighing. "Just drive."
"Ok, fine." he said, and drove quickly home.
"Say, what time is it?" Alice asked.
"It is...9:00." he said, pausing to take out his phone and quickly checked it.
"Why am I so tired?" Alice muttered to herself, getting out of the vehicle.
"Probably a delayed reaction from your insomnia." Brandon suggested, filling a bucket with soap and water.
"Most likely." Alice said, going inside, laying on the bed and going to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Brandon quickly washed his dirty clothes and pajamas, put on the a fresh pair of pj's, and laid down on the futon. He quickly fell asleep as soon as he was comfortable.