Home Again

Michael and the entire group were on the train ride to his home town. He raised his objections, but they promised they wouldn't intrude. The fact of the matter was that this trip home would probably only last one week only until the DWMA is back up and running without any problems. Michael just kept staring out the window while the train traveled down the line. He'd just introduce them to his father and then say good-bye to them after that. Simple.

"Are you okay, Michael?" asked May sensing a little trepidation coming from him. Michael smiled and shook his head, but quickly returned his gaze to the window. May understood why he was in such bad of shape. Ever since the 'incident' this would be the first time since he's returned to his parents' house. May found it horrible to imagine what it would be like. If it was her, she'd definitely be nervous. She sighed…apparently though Michael wasn't in the mood to talk about it. And with him shut away…the entire cabin seemed quieted down. Even Xander seemed to have his boundless energy sapped away being in a place with an atmosphere like this.

"I've never seen Michael's house myself," said Ash trying to create a segue for some conversation to flow. "I've live a couple of towns away and we rode this train back almost every vacation, but I never actually stopped there and got off." Michael glared over at him and that made Ash shut up almost instantly.

"So, that's how you guys met," said May with a slight laugh. She and Michael had met through sheer luck due to her jerk of an old meister. It was after that that Michael had met Ash. Of course, May knew Melody even before she met Michael. So, she guessed their group was formed something similar to Shi and Melody meeting her, her meeting Michael, and then Michael met Ash and Xander. She knew how their group got together, but what about each individual pair? "How did you guys meet anyways?" she asked directing the question over to Melody.

Melody perked up and looked over at Shi, who was running about the train in a child-like excitement. Ze was the only one who didn't seem to pick up on Michael's mood. Melody sighed. "I didn't want to use a regular weapon," she said looking over at Shi, whose attention to this conversation was minimal. "The teacher showed off using his sword…and I just thought, 'how bland is that?' And then when the shock of what I thought came to me, I realized I wouldn't want to use a sword or gun."

(-back in time-)

Melody watched on with the rest of the class, but unlike them she wasn't fixated with amazement. They were all watching as the fight accelerated. Melody on the other hand was growing bored, she couldn't believe that this was really entrancing everybody, but she still found it interesting. She was busy running schematics of what she would do if she was fighting against him. However, without a clear view of her weapon she found it hard to figure it out.

She looked out at the class as she tried to figure out who would be a partner. Almost everyone was riveted to the scene, everyone but one person. Melody wasn't quite sure if it was a male or female, as his back was to her, but he seemed even less interested in the fight then she was. He was staring out the window, probably in some kind of daydream-like state. Melody couldn't blame him and it sufficed to say that this one trait made Melody more interested in him than the others who were fixated like little kids. Melody smiled at this one prospect.

After class, Melody walked out and followed her prospect. She wanted to know more about it and based off of the short introduction she got in class…she knew nothing about him besides his name 'Shi' and the fact that for some reason, he didn't state his gender. Nobody else did, but everybody else was pretty obvious. Melody moved forward with a split second as Shi rounded the corner and left the building.

Melody peered through the slight crack in the door as she looked out. There was Shi underneath a tree, looking up to the branches. He looked like he was quietly contemplating something. Melody had to wonder what it was. Suddenly the young man started to climb the tree up to the top of the tree. "Where's that bird at? He was looking at me funny! I wanna fight 'im!"

Melody couldn't believe this guy's stupidity! What kind of idiot chases after a bird to fig…what kind of idiot chases after a bird for any reason?! She couldn't believe she wasted time watching this idiot act like…well, an idiot! Melody quietly shied away from this scene of unbelievable stupidity. She quickly went back to class to check up on everyone else and find herself an actually 'smart' weapon.

She felt like she had been cheated. Her one promising candidate for her weapon, turned out to be someone with a shockingly low amount of IQ. Once she got back to class, she found herself with a similar conundrum. While Shi seemed like an idiotic stupid fool, the rest of the class seemed mind-numbingly boring. Most weapons she talked to didn't seem to interest her or even worse…they had the worst personality ever. She drifted in and out conversations numerous times, she lost count after awhile. None of them seemed to be intellectual in the slightest.

"TAG!" Suddenly two arms wrapped around Melody's body. They grazed her breasts for a split second, but in the end they were linked together, holding her tight. Melody just barely managed to turn her head enough to catch a glimpse of the Shi fellow. "Catch me if you can!" he shouted as he skipped out of the way. Melody turned around and began to chase after him. She felt like a fool for indulging in this idiot's ridiculous idea, but she was in a bad mood and it was mostly his fault anyway, so she'd just catch him and 'gently tag' him.

Melody quickly lost track of time. The little freak was fast and agile. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't catch him. He was insane in all of his approaches, leaping over teachers, dunking beneath tables, disappearing behind curtains. His strategy was either non-existent or very elaborate.

(-Back to the present-)

"And that's basically why me and Shi are partners," said Melody. "I was too busy chasing him and he was too busy avoiding me that we never actually got to meet the rest of the possible partners for us" continued Melody with a dejected tone, "but it all worked out for the better I suppose. I'm never bored with Shi around, his random winging it style approach and my careful manipulated strategies complement each other."

"Really?" asked May as she looked over at Shi, who still hadn't quite noticed that everybody was talking about mer. Ze was still messing around, running down the train oblivious to the ongoing story. "I guess it does kind of sound like something Shi would do."

"Yeah, but he has actually gotten a lot better since when we first met," said Melody looking over at Shi. "I guess it was just a matter of setting down the rules." The rest of the group looked at each other wondering, how Shi was back then if how he was now was 'better'. "Anyways, What about you Ash, how did you and Xander meet?" asked Melody quickly shifting the conversational spotlight off of her and onto someone else.

Ash and Xander shared a quick glance, but the conversation that went between the two was one that they had had plenty of times before. It was simple. "No," said Ash summing up the result of that conversation. "We have both agreed, any and all discussions on that day will have to wait until we are dead."

"Come on!" shouted Shi, looping hir arms around Ash's neck. "Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!" Hirs little words, very soon became a chant that echoed within the cabin of the train. Neither May, Melody, or Michael was childish enough to join in, but it still appeared to have an effect of Ash who was growing increasingly uncomfortable with echoing words growing louder and louder.

It was only stopped when Xander basically pried Shi off of Ash and threw him halfway down the train cart. "The answer's no!" shouted Xander as he leapt up and after Shi. With the obvious intent to pummel mer into the ground. No one really seemed to be in the mood to leap to Shi's defenses, and figured ze could defend zemself.

"…so ," started up Melody, anxious to remove her poorly chosen partner out of the spotlight once again, "what's your family like, Michael?" Michael paused; he had a look of shock on his face for a second before he returned his gaze to the side and at the window once more. Melody looked over at May, who just shrugged. She honestly had no idea. They had been friends for awhile, but she has never went to his house and seen his family.

She knew his father was a military man and traveled all around the world, but as for the rest of his family, Michael never quite volunteered the information. It wasn't like he and May ever really had a lot of free time to chit-chat. Half of their time was spent fighting Kishins and the other half in class filled with a bunch of other students. They lived in different buildings so they didn't have any night chats. Their time to talk about their personal lives seemed to be very minimal.

(-elsewhere-)

"This Darleen tea is the absolute best," stated a man standing near a window. "The world is coming to an end. You can see it in your bones now." He breathed easily as he looked out at the horizon. "Some people may say it's a shame. People have spent several thousand years building multiple civilizations. We've built skyscrapers, planes, and pyramids. We've done one marvelous job after another and soon…and soon it will be all burnt to ash."

The man was 6 and a half feet in height causing him to tower over the rest of the bodies gathered around his feet. His skin was incredibly pale combined with the heavy wrinkles it made it look like he was encased in a heavy linen. The rest of his body was changed to something much more monstrous. Four sharp claws on each hand, meaning a missing finger. His hair had all fallen out, making him bald. His eyes had lost their color, making them bone white. He clamored around the small room in search of something.

"Where did you disappear to now?" he asked the open room. "You were here just moments ago before I killed these people and…well, I find it hard to believe that you would shy away from this. Anyways, I suppose I should tell you about the end of the world. Ordinarily this wouldn't matter because Lord Death would be holding it back, but Lord Death's era is up! Marburg's back and Marburg was the signal! With him up and activate the other two decided to get their butts in motion! This is our signal as well."

He stopped walking around and crouched down near a table and looked under it. "There you are," he said with a friendly smile. The shadow beneath the table fidgeted and pulled itself free and out into the open. It was a small girl, but she was flat, as flat as the floor and as dark as a shadow. "We need to carve out our own niche. When Lord Death falls so will the rest of the world and fighting over the scraps of a ruined world hardly seems worthy of our abilities."

"So, what do you suggest we do?" asked the shadow, her dark violet eyes were the only color in the black mess on the floor that was her body.

"We go on the offense," said the man. "Lord Death is reeling; Vigrid and Marburg are in recovery. Humans are weak to begin with. If we strike now no one can counter us. We'll win! And if we win now then only thing we have to do from here on out is protect our niche. Our victory is almost assured."

Another new character now I'm not going to flub this up like I did last time (check the last chapter I did a late edit because I forget to credit Colossal-Fighter with creation Anais). Zhavio and Noelle are the works of...Makuta 52! Seriously speaking the quickest way to a character into a story is to submit a villain.