Outsider Chronicles: Resonance of the Shards

A sound Soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body. Considering that, who in the hell thought giving a character from Earth Bet the powers of a Weapon was a good idea? Especially when said Weapon is a bullied girl who wants nothing more than to be a Hero. Looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me...

And we're back. Since I can't be arsed to cover training, emotional talks and shit, this picks up after Taylor gets out the hospital. Oh, and I made some changes to Taylors weapon form in the last chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

"This is so weird!" moaned Taylor as I spun her around, getting a feel for the weight of the weapon and enjoying the soft melody that rang out as the wind rushed over the holes in the shaft.

It had been a month since the Locker and Taylor was finally out of hospital, which meant that I had been able to talk to her about our Triggers and new powers. It had taken a bit to convince her that, yes, she could turn into a weapon, but after she got annoyed and accidentally cut my standing lamp in half, her arguments quickly dried up. Now we were at the Ship Graveyard, trying to get a feel for how best to fight.

It quickly became apparent that Taylor was utterly useless in a fight on her own. Oh, she could change her body parts into weapons, but she had no idea how to fight and her body was still baseline Human. Then, I had her transform and let me give it a shot and quickly proved that Maka was right on the money about Meisters and Weapons being two fighting as one. The second I grabbed her out of the air, my mind synchronised with Taylors and, despite having never fought with a Halberd before, I found that I could spin her around as if I'd been doing it for years.

"Cool though," I said as I grabbed Taylor's shaft and lashed out with a stab that put a hole through a bit of rusted metal.

"True," said Taylor, "Although I'm still not sure how I feel about being 'used' by someone else like this."

"Ah, but I'm not just using you, am I?" I said as I cut another chunk of metal in half, "We're fighting together. Weapon and Meister, two fighting as one."

Taylor snorted.

"Yeah, that sounds good, but its not like you really need me," she grumbled.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"I've seen you training," said Taylor, "You always make fighting look so easy and now you have that Brute ability and sensing power. I, on the other hand, can only turn into a stupid weapon. I can't even fight the bullies on my own! How pathetic is that…"

I sighed. Ever since Danny and Mum had started working to nail Winslow and the Bitches Three to the wall with litigation (helped along by Brandish, who I think had put two and two together and realized that Shadow Stalker was using her status as a Ward to avoid trouble) and Taylor had found that I'd told both sets of parents everything, she'd been rather down. I think that a big part of it had been the fact that she suddenly realized that she could have easily done something about her issues if she had just remembered that Emma wasn't the only one with legal connections and Mum was a lot more experienced in this sort of thing than Alan Barnes. Scarier too, especially when she went into Mama Bear Mode.

Combine that with the fact that she now had powers but no real way to actually use them on her own and my own, much more impressive power set and her self confidence had taken a rather impressive hit.

"Well, to be fair, you're not wrong," I said as I rested Taylor across my shoulders, "I could go out and be a Hero on my own..."

There was a flash of light and an upset looking Taylor appeared next to me.

"Then why don't you?!"she demanded, looking close to tears, "Damn it Roy, why don't you just go out on your own?!"

She stomped a few feet away and dropped down onto a hunk of metal. I narrowed my eyes as I eyed my friend. That...hadn't just been about the difference between the 'usefulness' of our powers and skill levels. No, that had been building for a while and it was just this latest wrinkle that had caused Taylor to erupt.

"Your so strong," said Taylor softly, "You were able to get everyone to back off when they targeted you for being my friend, you can ignore just about anything said about you and now you're strong enough to dent metal without breaking a sweat and thats without mentioning how smart you are…"

She muttered something under her breath that I didn't quite catch, although for some reason I got the feeling I should be blushing right about now. I shoved that thought aside for now though as Taylor turned to me, tears shining in her eyes.

"You could do anything, be friends with anyone at school if you dropped me, but instead you stuck with me, the gawky, ugly girl who can't even be a Cape on her own thanks to this stupid power! Why do you do it Roy? What can you possibly get out of being my friend?! Why do you want to work with me when all I can do is be a worthless lump of metal?!"

I stared at Taylor for a moment as I tried to absorb the rant. Than, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Stellar...CHOP!"

WHAM!

Taylor yelped as she fell over backwards, clutching her now throbbing head where I'd just chopped her with a good portion of my strength.

"Damn it Taylor, I thought you knew me better than that!" I yelled, "We've known each other since we were in nappies for gods sake! You are my best friend and there is no way in hell that I'd drop you as a friend over something as stupid and petty as high school politics. Besides, who at Winslow would I want to be friends with? Most people there are either in gangs or high half the time and those that aren't just aren't the sort of people I want to hang around with."

I knelt down in front of Taylor and put my hands on her shoulders.

"And I want to work with you because, no matter how strong I am alone, I'll always be stronger with you," I finished.

"Huh?"

I smirked.

"I'm skilled and strong, but my enhancements are only just out of normal Human range," I said, "Fine for dealing with thugs, but against other Parahumans, I'd be shredded."

"O...K, but what can I do to help with that that a normal weapon couldn't?"asked Taylor.

My smirk widened into a grin.

"Transform and I'll show you," I said.

Taylor frowned, but did as I asked. I caught the Demon Halberd as the glow from her transformation faded and spun her around.

"Alright, first things first," I said as I walked over to a nearby ship, "Let me show you what my Striker power can do on its own."

I flexed my fingers as pale blue energy sparked around them and slammed my palm into the metal. There was a loud clang and the side of the ship cratered as if hit by a massive hammer.

"If this is supposed to make me feel better, its not working," grumbled Taylor.

I grinned.

"It will," I said, "Now, focus on matching my energy like we did when we first teamed up."

Taylor frowned in her reflected image on her blade, but closed her eyes and focused. I did the same, feeling out with my Soul Wavelength. It took about half a minute, but eventually, we got it and out Souls started to Resonate. I grinned as I felt my power starting to go up as a wind began to kick up around me and Taylors blade started to glow.

"You wanted to see what we can do when working together," I said as I opened my eyes and widened my stance, "Well let me show you!"

I spun Taylor, creating a glowing edged disk for a moment, before I caught her already drawn back and ready to swing. Her blade changed shape, the axe and spear portions shrinking as the scythe expanded until it was longer than my arm.

"Soul Resonance," I said as our Resonance reached its peak and erupted into a blast of wind and pale blue light, "Ultimate Skill of the Scythe Meister."

Another flash of light and Taylors blade transformed into a massive crescent of energy. I gritted my teeth as I felt the massive amount of energy surging out of control. I wouldn't be able to hold this for long, not without practice and it certainly wouldn't be at full strength. However, it'd do its job and prove that we'd be a lot better off working together than me going out on my own. Plus, since our Souls were resonating, I could feel Taylor's emotions and she could feel mine. I sharpened my focus and stepped forwards, twisting into a powerful downslash with Taylor.

"WITCH HUNTER!"

The effect was immediate. Because I couldn't properly hold the energy of our Resonance, it all surged out with my cut, resulting in a massive blast of blue energy that sliced my target ship clean in half, along with the one behind it and out into the bay, carving a deep trench in the water and throwing a huge gaiser of water that reached half way out across the bay and was probably visible from the other side of the city.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"

I grinned at Taylor's startled yelp.

"You see?" I said, "Your far more than a weapon."

"H-how…"

"Near as I can tell, your a power amplifier," I said, "The relationship between our powers is like an electric guitar and an amplifier. By myself, I can only create a small amount of energy, but by resonating with you, we can amplify that energy from strong enough to dent metal to, well…"

I indicated to the destroyed ships. Taylor remained silent, apparently trying to absorb the devastation our attack had caused.

"So, still think your useless?" I asked softly.

"I...alright, you've made your point," said Taylor, "But don't you think we should get out of here? Thats going to have drawn a fair bit of attention and we're not exactly in costume."

I blinked.

"Ah, good point," I said.

I turned on my heel and sprinted away from the scene of the crime, Taylor tucked safely under my arm.

"Hey Roy," said Taylor softly as I ran across the rooftops in the direction of the Boardwalk.

"Hmm?"

"I think I love you."

I tripped over my own feet and faceplanted the roof.

I feel a bit guilty for leaving it there, but I have a strong feeling I'll be back at this in no time. Oh well, CLIFFHANGERS HOOOOO!

So yeah, this chapter was mostly because I wanted to work out some of Taylor's inevitable angst before we got into any fights. I actually planned to do a fight in this chapter, but it didn't really work out.

Yes, Roys full name is Roy Stellar. See if you can guess what I'm going for with that name. Speaking of Stellar, would you lot like to see a Megaman Starforce/Worm story? Cus I have a few ideas for that. In fact, thats next on the list.

Oh, and before anyone brings up the fact that Roy calls out his attack names, I'm not going to be stopping that. Its way too much fun.

Just to be clear, that blast was a one off. Witch Hunter is a powerful attack, but mostly Roy will be using it to enhance his attacks, like how Maka does. That one was to make a point about how powerful he and Taylor are when working together.

I might be jumping the gun a bit with Taylor's little admission at the end there, but think about it. Roy is her oldest friend, the one who stuck with her through it all and was always there for her. Plus, she just got to literally share Souls with him. Combine all that together and its a powerful emotion bomb. Plus, I don't feel like messing around with this paring.

And with that, its time for me to sign out. Don't forget to leave a review!