Warren forcibly grinned, though he didn't look at Alex. It took all of his restraint not to let his wavelength loose and blast the smug smile off the arrogant bastard's face. Here to learn? Ha! Dagen couldn't learn anything if they glued a book to his face. "Dagen here was my weapon years ago," he grit his teeth as he spoke, turning his attention to Malencia. "He ever tell you about that? He's got quite the interesting past. His family sure did ki-"

"Warren, chill." Silene grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back from Dagen and inspecting his hand. There were small, light burns on his palm, but nothing that would severely bother him. She glanced back at Dagen, looking at him in a new light. So that was his weapon before her.

Frankly, she could see why Warren was pissed. The man just came off as arrogant, now that she was close to him. "I'm Silene, Warren's current partner. It's nice to meet you two."

Warren took the paper and shoved it into his pocket, staring at the hole the man left in the wall with admiration. 'Maybe this school won't be so bad after all...' He turned, scanning the now desolated store for his weapon partner, but he found nothing. Shrugging, he reached into his pocket for a new piece of gum, fingers fumbling around to carefully extract a stick from the package- and he froze. "Where's my wallet...? SILENE!"

He tore through the night like a bolt of lightning, knocking over several pedestrians in his rush. "I JUST GOT PAID!"

---

"Good, you're here. Help me carry this stuff!"

Warren whipped around fast enough to give himself whiplash at the sound of his partner's voice, eyes dark as the thunderstorm they were usually compared to. He flinched back when he saw what she was wearing. Silene's old clothes had vanished, replaced by a purple t-shirt, tight black jeans, and glossy purple sneakers. In both hands she gripped big bags, filled to brim with what he could only assume was more clothes. "How much did you spend?"

"Four hundred, give or take."

"F-four hundred?" Warren fell to his knees, clutching his chest. So this was how he was gonna die, a dumb-ass weapon induced heart attack. His family would rejoice that the bastard was dead, throw a grand old part. He supposed it was for the best.

"Oh, stop being a baby. It's your fault for leaving me your wallet, you know how I am." She toed him with her new shoes, motioning for him to get up. "C'mon, this stuff is heavy and we're still a few blocks from home." She dropped the bags on top of him, sighing in relief.

---

"Man, I wanted to relax tonight." Warren cracked his neck, a strange gust of wind kicking up the tail of his coat. "Did you have to spend all the money?"

"Shut up, it's your fault for leaving it in your pocket. You know how I am." Silene was nervous, hugging herself and rubbing a circular, comforting pattern in her arms. The entire assignment felt wrong. The building in front of them looked like it had been abandoned for ninety-years; the paint and shingles were rotted and peeling off, the windows were boarded up with splintered slabs of wood, and the once-bright red door hung from one hinge, creaking eerily as it swayed in the wind. The weeds in the yard were wildly overgrown, roots traveling into the house itself, and an abandoned tricycle missing a wheel lay under what was left of the archway, streamers flapping wildly. "Can we just get this over with?"

Warren nodded, picking up on her unease. "Yeah, the drive back to New Death City is gonna take long enough, so we need to kill this kishin egg fast. I want some sleep tonight." He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked up the cracked, cement path. The closer he got, the more the wind seemed to pick up until, blowing his hair and cloak around willy-nilly. It abruptly stopped when he stepped onto the porch and shoved the door open, causing him to pause. Something was wrong.

"Warren behind you!"

Before Warren could react, something smashed into him from behind. His head felt like it had been split in half; vision swimming, he struggled to locate what had struck him before a big, grimy hand closed around his throat. He almost puked at the sight of what held him. Had he not been raised around Third Degree burns and explosive wounds, he might have. The creature behind was his height and roughly humanoid, wearing a black-and-red sweater, brown trousers, and worn work books. A clawed-glove was on his right hand, the blades grating together like nails on a chalkboard. The worst all though, by far, was his skin. It was charred completely, filling the room with the stomach churning scent of burning flesh, and muscle tissue showed through more of the severe spots. A sadistic grin light up his face, a snake-like tongue slithering out. "It's Kreddy, bitch!"

The blade of a scythe suddenly ripped through one of the kishin egg's arms, forcing him to release Warren. The meister leapt back, floorboard creaking underneath him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he murmured, slightly winded. "Thanks, now transform."

"Right!"

Warren spun the scythe around him when his hands closed around it, immediately forcing Freuger to step back to avoid being shredded. "Lets end this fast." He lunged forward, swinging a sideways strike.

"Not so fast," Kreddy blocked the strike with his clawed hand, grinning. "Die bitch!" He jabbed at Warren's stomach, blades pressed together to resemble a thick knife.

Warren stepped to the side, the blow shredding a piece of his coat as it grazed by him, and brought up his fest directly into the kishin egg's chest. "Hexanite strike!" The explosion from his palm discharged directly into Kreddy, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying directly into the stairs, which shattered them.

"It's over now."

"I don't think so." Warren glanced around cautiously, eyeing the wooden wreckage for his opponent. It didn't move, but somehow the burnt man appeared behind him, claws arcing down in a slash. He didn't have time to block, so he braced for impact. The claws dug scoured over his shoulder, slicing through the skin, but the rusty blades weren't sharp enough for anything fatal. "Now it's over!"

He spun around, scythe blade lopping off the marred head of Kreddy Freuger. It rolled to the ground, coming to a stop several feet away, eyes looking directly at them, and winked. Then the entire body dissolved, leaving nothing but a dark red soul. Silene transformed into her human form, walking up and crouching down to pick it up, then consumed it. After she had, she turned back to her meister, eyeing his wound. "We have a first aid kit in the car, I'll bandage it up before we leave."

Warren rolled his shoulder in attempt to blow it off. "I'll be fine."

"Tough talk for a lazy bum."

"Last I checked, you were bumming money off me."

"Ugh, you never change!" Silene motioned towards the door. "Lets go, this place is giving me the creeps." She walked out the door, Warren following close behind her. Two souls down, ninety-seven more and a witch's to go.

Silene shuffled through another rack, trying to find a new shirt. She had her shopping method down to an art, cursed gifted with the ability to tell how an outfit would look on her with a single glance. Nothing really stood out to her. 'Too skimpy, too revealing,' she stopped on one outfit, taken aback that anyone would call what was basically a lacy bra a 'top'. "Hmmph, this is pointless! This store was made for whores!"

---

Warren looked at Merlin, slightly surprised one of his Headmaster's was at the store, much less offering him gum. He could tell just by the scent of it it wasn't a regular stick (he had memorized them all), but either way... What could go wrong?

"Sure, thanks."

He popped it into his mouth.

---

'Okay, two more racks. Hopefully they have somethin-' Silene was ripped violently from her own thoughts when an explosion rocked the store and Warren went flying by, knocking over half of the stores product line. "Warren!" She bolted over to his side, her left forearm already a scythe-blade, but he didn't even notice her as he rose. He was the most focused she had ever seen him as he rose like a zombie, stomping over to... their Headmaster?

Warren shoved a finger in Merlin's face, his hair disheveled and his face dark. "That was," His violent appearance suddenly changed completely, turning into an extremely wide smile that revealed his soot-stained teeth. "the best gum I have ever tasted! What brand is it and where can I get it?"

Silene stared at him in amazement for a moment, her arm slowly reverting back to the normal. Afterwards, she just went back to looking for a shirt with a shake of her head, done with her meister for the night. "You're still paying for the shirt."

The explosion rocked the chamber, throwing Warren away from the beast and splattering him with warm, sticky blood. He hit the ground hard enough to bounce and roll several more feet, laughing hysterically the entire time. "Where's your fist now? Oh that's right, over there, over there, and over there! AHAHAHAHA" He didn't notice that his scythe wasn't there, nor the fact that he was now alone in the hell as he laughed to himself.

A familiar voice sounded far off in the back of his mind, but he couldn't remember quite place it."Warren..." 

"Hey voice, did you see me blow him up?!" It was like... BOOM!

"Warren, wake up..."

Hearing it again caused him to hesitate, he wasn't sure why. Why would they want him to wake up? He didn't think he was asleep, but the more he looked around the less things made sense. The rivers of lava turned into desks and chairs, the tower of flesh became a tower of old books, and he realized his arm was back. He wiggled his fingers. Yup, all ten fingers were working. That meant...

None of this was real!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Warren woke up just in time to be smacked in the face. Hard. He jerked up, eyes spinning around the room wildly. Yeah, they were definitely in some kind of lab. He saw that pile of books that bad been the tower of flesh off in the corner, and he saw a very pissed off Silene in front of him. The pale expanse of her stomach was visible to the world, along with the lower half of her bra.

Silene hugged him fiercely, squeezing the air out of his lungs with surprising strength. Then she smacked him again, leaving him with a hand imprint on both sides of his cheeks. "Really, Warren? 'Did you see me blow him up'?" She was angry that he had scared her, but mostly she was overwhelmingly happy that they were both alive and had achieved Soul Resonance.

Warren shrugged, rubbing his cheek and tossing another stick of gum into his mouth. "That was a damn good explosion, even if it wasn't real. Speaking of which..."

Meister and weapon simultaneously turned towards the front of the room to demand an explanation, but he had already launched into one. He explained that it was a test and that the others had failed and that was why they were gone (Silene hadn't noticed in her effort to wake her meister, but sure enough the only other people there were Jessie, Alex, Hason Steven), but they had passed by performing soul resonance.

Warren blew it off, unphased by the revelation, but Silene was pissed off. 'They put us through that... that hell as a TEST?!' She was ready to stomp up there and give the stranger a piece of her mind when Jessie suddenly spoke up from the other side of the classroom.

"Besides, I'm used to wearing less than that."

The comment made Silene realize that the entire class could see her bra and she blushed brightly. Warren held something out to her.
"No, I don't want any gu-"

"Just take it, it's my fault your shirt is ripped up. I'll buy you a new one before we go home." In his hand wasn't a stick of gum but his trench coat. She took it with a small, thankful smile and slipped it around her small frame. It swallowed her completely, dragging the ground and sliding up over her hands. Either way, it covered her up.

"Thanks, Warren."

"No problem."

Congrats on the new baby you two! I'm still alive and still bored as all hell. I don't think too many active people are left, just the RP section for the most part. Wish the balance server stayed up, but I understand why Roloc took it down. Kinda hard to believe we don't have enough people anymore.

Tickles= Cortex

Desbear= Meowth

The stranger threw aside the bow and pulled back his sleeve to reveal a rotted, decomposing arm with solid, protruding bone. Warren's brief sense of satisfaction quickly turned to horror and he attempted to turn away, but he was far too slow. The blow smashed into his solar plexus with enough force to send him hurtling back towards the ground, Silene falling from his grasp.

"Warren!"

He hit the ground hard, struggling for air and clutching his stomach. "S-Silene..." Warren struggled to sit up, then collapsed in a coughing fit, hacking up blood into his hand.

The sight of her meister in pain, his wavelength screaming in protest as he tried to push himself farther than he could go, combined with the unfamiliar, menacing presence terrified her. Helpless, she screamed out in protest as the blade of her scythe-form was leveled with Waren's throat, wavelength fluctuating wildly in panic. Every fiber of her being screamed that this was wrong, but she couldn't do anything to stop it. She was going to kill her best friend.

"Prepare for the ultimate attack. SHINIGAMI DESTROYER!"

"I-I'm... I'M SORRY WARREN!"

She didn't hear his voice when he responded, she felt it in her soul. "It's alright... I don't blame you." He smiled in the face of defeat and she felt a little piece of her slowly slowly dying as her blade arced down.

Then, like the chime of a church bell, a shot rang out. It hit the stranger, stopping him in his tracks, and for a brief moment hoped dawned within her. It was immediately squashed.

"Please refrain from interfering with the experiment. Perhaps an arm will due."

The scythe blade whistled through the air, cutting clean through Warren's arm. It rolled several feet away, hand still clenched into a white-knuckled fist. Warren didn't react for an instance, staring at the stump that was now his right arm and the bloody scythe-blade above him in confusion. A second later, a blood-curdling scream rang out in the chamber, but after a moment he realized it wasn't him.

Silene was screaming, weapon-form shaking violently. "No, no, no, no! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Warren stared up at her and, using his remaining hand as leverage, hauled himself to his feet. Blood spewed from his once-arm like river, leaving a trail as he stumbled toward the stranger, struggling to keep his balance. Once he reached them, he smiled. "Don't... Don't sweat it Silene. I have two arms, but only one of you." Weakly, he wrapped his good hand around the bar of the scythe and tried to pull her free.

Warren leaned against the wall behind him, hands buried in his pocket, eyeing the crowd languidly. Most of them had taken one glance at him and backed several feet away, grouping with the rest to stay away from him like he was some feral beast. He didn't seem care- if he did it didn't bother him, chewing on his gum sluggishly. "Do you feel that, Silene?"

Silene nodded and unconsciously scooted closer to Warren, wrapping her arms around herself nervously. "This place... it feels wrong."

Warren agreed silently, noticing how much more it affected her. Maybe it was a female thing.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the door opened.

"Come in students."

Hovering close to each other, the two walked into the the strangely eerie lab.

Warren landed on the ground softly, smirking. "Now that was an explosion." The small, shriveled red soul of Hitler drifted down in front of him. He yawned loudly, pulling out another stick of gum and popping it into his mouth. "There you go, Silene, soul number one. Told you it wouldn't be hard."

Silene shifted back into her human form, stretching. Staying in her weapon form too long always made her stiff. "Did you really have to block all those missiles? Couldn't you have just dodged? That stuff hurts." She punched his shoulder lightly, but she was smiling. "Good job on beating him, though."

Before they could do anything else a thick blanket of smoke covered the air. They both broke into a fit of coughing, unable to see what was going on. When the smoke cleared, kishin eggs floated all over the field. Mortecai and Archie made quick work of devouring them, save three of them. The soul of the one they had defeated, a soul hovering by a young teenage girls, and one floating by someone holding a chain chakram.

I don't know what the hell just happened, but I don't like it. You three, take your fucking eggs and get your power up already. What were your names? Warren crossed his arms but didn't respond, so Silene went to for both of them. Before she could the tall man, Archie, handed him their records.

Ignoring it she turned to scold Warren, but he motioned for her to take the soul before they changed their mind. With a nod she picked it up and tossed it into her mouth, chewing twice and swallowing. It didn't really have a flavor, but the texture going down her throat felt amazing. Even with the addition of a single soul she felt more powerful, sharper even. She giggled, but was promptly interrupted by Mortecai.

Let's see. Warren and Silene, to maintenance. Warren, I heard your dumb ass chewing gum. Silene, you should try better to stop your man whore.

Warren blinked twice, swallowed his current gum, then popped another piece into his mouth. Silene flushed red with embarassment, but before she could say anything the two yelled at two more groups of students and left. She was speechless with anger.

Warren turned to the other two pairs that had been addressed, eyeing them lazily. The first pair was a girl dressed like a shark with a rather pathetic looking guy as a weapon, and the other pair was two teenage girls. "Anyone know what maintenance is?"