<This is my new logo. link

Yesh, I used a pencil, but…

I got a smackin new tablet today!!!!

…but I got no free art programs to start doing CGI with.

Recommendations, anyone???!!! D: D: >

ON TO THE STORYITOOKAWEEKTOCOMPLETEMAINLYBECAUSEIONLYHAD5MINUTESADAYTOTYPE DDD

Reve was a carefree soul. Probably one of the only ones in Continent Republic these days, before her days in the Cavalry clan.

No clan, no responsibilities, no rivals, no buddies. Absolutely free of all sorts of obligations. Free to waste her life away any way she liked. And she did waste her time any way she liked. All that 7 years since she became a competent full fledged fighter was spent just ambling around, killing random people, riding her Mule where ever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and to hell with the police, she is still going to pull a Ghost Rider on them every damned day.

However, surprisingly, she hasn’t been serious about a fight before. Even though she was a K styler, she hasn’t K styled in years. She did not need to. She learnt quickly, and was smart enough to beat K stylers with her style of fighting. She also unlocked a sure-fire way to stun someone with a Massive. Just turn around, and unleash all that energy at the sky.

It only took one… one… ONE bloody idiot to take all that freedom away.

Reve still hated Nova for ever being able to persuade her into joining the Cavalry in the first place. It was the first time in her life Reve has fallen for that “emotional bullsh**”. A sob story, a couple of hours, and lots of whining by that little 16 year old wannabe K-styler, and then Reve joined the Cavalry, against all expectations. ‘Til now, Reve has still yet to figure out how the heck she fell for her sobbing, whining, and persistence, which she is normally immune to. Wait, I like Nova. She ain’t that bad. Of course she isn’t.

And now, no more speeding around in Mules pretending to be the Ghost Rider, no more killing random civilians, and all that time she has to make for her clan.

However, in spite of all that, Reve has found a solution: stay around that fine thin line of not-quite-drunk. It helped her forget all those negative feelings. Sure, it made her a little loopy. But that’s okay. It was a good feeling. Besides, Reve has something else to be famous for.

In fights, many of her previous opponents -not dead all because of Nova, goody-two-shoes extraordinaire- all remembered the feeling of hopelessness when, and after fighting with her.

Of course, that’s not surprising if you had watched Reve fight. While her opponents were quickly reduced into Butterflying in an increasingly desperate manner through the course of the fight, Reve would still stand her ground, unperturbed, foiling attacks with the slightest of touches.

And the finishing blow would be ridiculously simple, so ridiculously simple that you would not have ever expected it.

They called her the “Turtle”. Reve the Turtle.

Not quite as famous as Legro’s nickname, “Presto” (Which meant quicker than quick in Italian), but it still instilled a kind of fear.

Of course, when Reve fought with Legro, she had lost quite bitterly. Legro’s double butterfly was too fast for her to follow, although she lasted for an impressive five minutes against it without K styling. Also, she managed to squeeze in a “Massive” hit. That was when she realised how rusty she had gotten at K styling after all those years. Maybe she would try out the Double Butterfly.

And now, Reve was, as usual, ambling about in Town-4 with wobbly steps, a silly grin on her face, greeting passers-by with a ridiculously cheery voice. Her rifle was strapped onto her back, and her shotgun to her hip. Her sword was in her hand, and that was why nobody has attacked or approached her yet. The drunkard might accidentally swing that sword into your throat. And then maybe she’ll apologize and give you a good burial with melodramatic crying, but you’re too dead to appreciate it, so might as well just stay away.

She walked by the apartments, rubbing her eyes. The heat is making her feel listless. Red bull, she thought, the words floating in her head and making her mouth it. Maybe I’m not so not-quite-drunk.

She heard crashing sounds up ahead. Raising an eyebrow, Reve walked onward, blocking the sunlight from her eyes with a hand.

The first thought after she saw what she saw made her think that she was insane, or something like it.

She thought that the door was covered in blood.

It probably was. It seemed too real. But she might have gone loopier than usual. After all, she was stepping on the fine thin line of “not-quite-drunk”, and the rest of the world seemed hazy, as usual.

‘Nice trick, guys,’ she said to mid-air, somehow thinking immediately to the street kids whom she barely knew, still having that silly grin, her legs carrying her in front of the door. Surely, this was some pranksters’ idea of a joke, no matter how illogical that was. Crouching down, she peeked inside, and what she saw almost confirmed the fact that she had gone completely loopy.

Two fighters were butterflying each other inside the house. One was a police officer as she was wearing that dark blue uniform, while the other one was moving too fast for her to see properly.

‘Ahahahh, nice show,’ she remarked, her words heard by none beneath the clashing of the swords. Great, I’m going insane. Kavveled help me. Wait, I can’t be insane if I know that I’m insane. So I’m not insane. Damn you, Kavveled. Oh wait, I want— Ok, I should shut up now.

And then, she saw the girl –Metro, she recognized her- crumple onto the floor. Clang; thud; groan.

Reve’s grin vanished. Okay, either she was insane, or someone had just tried to kill a police officer in broad daylight.

No… More like an entire house filled with unfortunate non-fighters. She saw it clearly now. Blood. Guts. Intestines. Organs. Dead bodies with missing body parts.

Naww, it’s usually me, I’m the one who is not-quite-drunk, but I drank a little more today, right? Tell me I did, damn you, or Metro’s dead.

Reve finally decided to butt in and find out for herself.

She kicked the door open, brandishing her sword. The stranger -a man, it seemed, without firearms- jumped, slightly startled. Reve felt her jaw slackening as she saw the Fable clan’s insignia on his shirt.

No, I am not loopy.

A sudden flash, and Reve’s sword arm jerked instinctively to defend herself. A flurry of sparks ensued as the man’s blade’s path was completely changed by that slight movement. His eyes widened slightly.

Reve stared at him with her amber eyes. For a moment they were gazing at each other, mesmerized.

‘Red bull,’ Reve blurted, then clamped her mouth shut. He frowned, and dashed at her.

And then, he was at it again with his butterfly. A slight snarl tugged at the edges of Reve’s mouth as she followed his movements with a practiced eye. Drunk or not, she had her rational fighter part of her brain functioning, and that was what separated her from other drunkards. Sparks flew, accompanied by the loud clashing of metal as the blades met, again, again, and again… And Reve was simply tilting her blade slightly to meet his every blow, pushing them off their course with slight nudges.

No, he’s not that great, Reve thought. Just another Butterfly spammer. It was reassuring. The outcome was already known in her mind.

And with every blow deflected, the man felt an increasing fear well up in his stomach. Reve had the ability to strike him down whenever she wanted. This was already his best butterfly, but this girl was not even straining to keep up with him. Her face looked so indifferent… So relaxed…

Please stay this way, please don’t go serious… he prayed silently, a vein pulsing in his temple as he started to feel the first breathlessness of fatigue.

Reve’s arm felt slightly numb after all that blocking. Sparks flew in front of her, the ringing of blades were jarring to her ears, but she remained as calm as ever. This man was simply an average Butterflyer who simply spammed Butterfly with the hopes of hitting you with some lucky slash. Well, it won’t work with Reve. He looked slightly panicked now, which amused the girl. She allowed a smirk to leak onto her face as his blows grew stronger, faster—

Time to let him have a little taste of despair—

Suddenly, he was sailing through the air. His arms wheeled, his eyes widening as a yell of surprise escaped his mouth. What had happened? How did he…?

Sudden revelation as a small part of his brain processed what had happened a moment before. Reve had… She had simply flipped him while he was rushing at her. Impossible…! He was slashing…

Then it dawned on him that she had done the flip block spasm, which had flipped him while fending his attack off at the same time. A very basic K style move. Ridiculously simple. He felt as if a giant hand was squeezing his chest. She had finally gotten a little serious. And I’m going to die. He twisted his body in a somersault, praying to Kavveled that she did not know how to Insta—

But there was none to hear such a cold man’s prayer. The next moment, his torso exploded in blood as Reve whipped out her shotgun, took aim, and shot, all in a split second. Then, a whoosh and a bang as Reve dashed forward even as she kicked a table aside, her sword arm swinging back in preparation for her next move. The blade swung up in another uppercut as she flipped the man just as he was falling, causing him to fly up again.

I…Impossible… This is… This is madness… The man felt strangely numb, losing all strength from his limbs as he stared down to look at her grinning face. She can’t have…That’s not possible to do… So quickly…??

The rifle fired a quarter of a magazine into the man’s head even as he was falling. His sword clattered loudly on the floor.

Reve stood over the man’s limp body, putting her rifle back into its holder, shaking her head.

‘So much trouble for one Fable idiot,’ she sighed, turning to Metro. And while she was at it, she had spotted Imppala lying at the area where the table had been before she kicked it away. Reve smacked herself in the head.

‘Idiot Fable idiots,’ she sighed, grabbing the collars of Metro and her companion, dragging them out the apartment behind her, streaks of blood in their wakes.
—————————————————————————

‘I heard a rifle firing,’ Shadow said as they entered Town-4.

Legro heard it as well. ‘That was about 8 bullets off a Nico,’ she said, cooling the engines off, swinging her legs over the seat as she alighted from the Mule, somehow snapping its stopper out in the process. ‘Something only Reve would use.’

They looked like a perfect match; two fighters riddled with weapons, both wearing the dark colored clothing normally linked to formidable ones. However, Shadow looked different. She was wearing Legro’s gray hoody jacket over her sleeveless shirt, and Legro was missing her jacket, revealing her black colored long sleeved blouse. Meaning that Legro lent Shadow her jacket to cover her arms, so that they would not poke out like a sore thumb in the crowd.

Only…what crowd? Early afternoon. Hardly anyone was out at early afternoon in Town-4.

Shadow tried to alight, but her forearms stung so much that she even winced. She reached out a hand instead, and Legro grasped it, supporting her as she clumsily hopped off the Mule.

‘I thought Reve was supposed to be in Town-3, taking care of the Fable troublemakers?’ Shadow said, hiding her forearms with the jacket Legro offered her.

The silver-blonde haired girl shrugged. ‘And you think that Reve actually obeyed that? She is the carefree type, and Ganz is already lucky to have her working for us, so he doesn’t really object to her floating about. Nova’s the one taking care of Town-3, together with Nyfe’s team. I hope that they can handle those four from Fable clan.’

Then, her mind wandered back to her first duel with Reve in front of Ganz. At that time, Reve was no drunkard, but she still had that silly aura about her. In the end, Legro defeated her, but her butterfly was no use, and she even had to dish out her fastest double butterfly to get through Reve’s flawless defense… Almost flawless, but not fast enough. And Reve had even managed to deal her a stunning Massive before she fell. Ganz had been impressed, and tried to get her to join the Cavalry, but in the end, it was Nova who did the trick. Legro did not know how.

‘She probably could, with Nyfe and Falerix’s aid, ‘ Shadow said, chuckling. ‘She almost beat me in butterflying, and that’s pretty good, although I would be even more amazed if she can get a scratch on you, Legro.’

Legro did not answer.

The ground felt strange under Shadow’s feet. After so many hours of riding the Mule, her legs felt slightly numb from all the vibrations, and she was somewhat unused to solid ground. She looked up at Legro, wondering if she felt the same, but she outwardly remained emotionless. Shadow sighed. As formidable in combat as she may be, Legro was not as formidable as a person. She seems so… Impenetrable. Emotionless. Cold. Distant.

They strolled down the quite-empty streets of the Shopping Square, glad that it was empty as it was. Shadow would indeed attract much attention with those blackened arms. And who was the cause of it? She increasingly hated Arladerus for kicking the Mule in the first place.

But she had to admit, Arlad’s scream was funny.

Legro pushed open the door of a clinic, allowing Shadow to walk past her first. The air-conditioning inside was a relief to the external heat, but the lack of people inside made Shadow a little annoyed at their equally lack of service. However, those thoughts were banished as a smiling nurse walked towards them from a back room of the counter.

‘2nd degree burns we’re looking at, aren’t we?’ The young girl chirped, putting a hand on Shadow’s shoulder. The fighter looked at Legro with an odd look, which Legro took for mild amusement at the nurse’s cheery attitude, despite them armed to the teeth.

‘I suppose so, it’s boiling petroleum we’re looking at now,’ Shadow said through gritted teeth, her arms started to sting slightly.

‘Oh, dear! Let’s have it looked at immediately!’ The nurse chirped, scurrying out of the counter area. The nurse gave Legro a glance as she ushered Shadow inside the treatment room, smile faltering as she found no emotion within the fighter’s lifeless eyes, but the contact was too brief for her to see the sadness within them. Legro found herself smiling slightly, as if she stole some of the happiness within the nurse’s cheerful gaze.

She unclipped her weapons to put it across her lap as she settled on a cushioned chair, rubbing both temples at the feeling of a slight headache thundering behind it. Must have been the heat.

Tapping her foot against the ground, she waited…

And then, she heard Reve’s cursing voice form outside. She turned to look—

‘…Mother f***ing Fable clan idiots who don’t clean their balls…’

The door swung open, and the auburn haired girl walked in, her hands behind her as if she was dragging something. Legro tilted her head to look.

‘Reve,’ She started, ‘What the hell happened?’

She saw two police officers getting dragged by their collars, bloody and unconscious. Maybe not the female one, since she was still fidgeting slightly. Legro suddenly remembered the rifle spray she heard as they entered the town.

‘Nothing,’ Reve said, , wiping the sweat from her brow as she let go of the two police officers, their bodies limp on the cold ground. ‘Just a Fable clan idiot who tried to kill them. I saved them, y’know. You should have seen the bastard’s face. Funny as hell.’

Legro sighed. She was talking to a sadist. ‘You killed someone.’

‘Someone from Fable clan. Which equals to no one, anyways.’

‘Who are these officers? You know them?’

‘Metro and Imppala. The only two officers, besides Dragoon, who actually survived so long patrolling the Apartments. Pity they’re in the afternoon shift. But then, because of so many people dying in other shifts, they do a lot of overtime—‘

‘And how do you know this?’ Legro said with accusing eyes. ‘Haven’t you been on jobs for the Cavalry?’

‘Uhh…’

‘Skipped them?’

‘No!’ Reve said, shaking her hands in front of her. ‘Definitely not. I simply made Nova—‘

‘You made Nova handle all of them?!!’

‘Most of them, but I did the dangerous ones.’

Legro stared at Reve’s sheepish grin for a moment, then groaned and buried her head in her hands. Nova was only 16. Too young and inexperienced to fight without anyone at her back.

‘I tell you that if Nova gets killed on an assignment because you did not aid her, Ganz will kill you. Personally.’ The blonde haired girl said darkly, without lifting her head.

‘I’d love to see him try,’ Reve said with a mockingly cheerful voice.

‘Argh,’ Legro said, exasperated, and after that, she heard Reve plant herself on the chair beside her, lighting a cigarette while waiting for the nurse to attend to the officers on the ground. She sighed again, and cooled down.

Out of everyone in the whole planet, Reve was the only one who drove her a quarter crazy.

Beside her, the auburn haired fighter stared out of the window to a small music shop, where violins, guitars and cellos were displayed at the window, then gazed at Legro, a certain sadness filling her eyes.

Reve could still recognize that 14 year old music prodigy who had suddenly vanished from the world, the one with those beautiful, melancholic eyes…

————————————–

Town-3 was relatively peaceful that day.

Pod and Spade were free fighters, and they had the honor to say that they had irritated Reve the Turtle to no end when she had been among them three musketeers, not that Reve was a willing member.

But in Spade’s opinion, they were not irritating, just obsessively fun loving. Irritating and fun loving are very different things. At least, he thought so.

Poking his cup of coke with the blunt edge of his katana, Spade rested his head on the table in the café, letting out a bored sigh. Pod was doing something similar to disassembling his pistol, but it was more like playing with the little springs and hooks.

‘Hey, Pod, is being obsessively fun loving irritating?’ Spade asked the black haired, 17 year old boy, who was stretching a coil of spring.

‘No, it ain’t, if you’re not the one being irritated,’ he said without thinking much, observing the spring stretching as if it were something extraordinary.

‘But then if fun loving isn’t irritating people, then how can anyone be irritated?’

‘No, I didn’t say that it was us.’

‘But then I’m talking about us.’

‘Oh, I knew that.’

‘So if all irritating people are fun loving, then nobody gets irritated?’

‘Depends on the fun loving irritant in question.’

‘But fun loving people aren’t irritants.’

‘Oh, you’re right. Depends on the fun loving person in question.’

‘What about us?’

‘Well, we’re not irritating.’ Pod let go of one end of the spring, watching it snap to its original position. ‘Hey, this is pretty interesting.’

‘Poddy! But Reve said we were.’

‘That’s because she’s a girl. Girls are irritated easier.’ Pod replaced the spring into the pistol, starting to reassemble it.

‘So we’re irritating to girls, but not irritating to guys!’

‘Yes, I suppose!’

‘But guys and girls are supposed to be equal.’

‘But they aren’t the same. Guys got balls, Girls got those two—-‘

‘Pod! You’re being a pervert again!!’

‘What’s wrong with having—–‘

An old woman behind them raised a wilted finger, and delivered such a loud “shh” that Spade saw cracks in his glass, and Pod had to cover his ears since she was doing it right into his ear.

‘Darn it, that old woman,‘ Pod hissed, gathering up the parts of his pistol which had dropped onto the floor when he jumped.

Spade laughed out loud.

Pod flashed him a murderous gaze.

Spade clamped his mouth shut.

‘At least there aren’t any more Fable clan here killing people,’ Pod sighed, clicking a part into place.

‘Well, I heard that Reve was coming over from what Falerix was sayin’. Or she was supposed to,’ Spade said, sitting up and balancing his sword on a finger.

‘Yay! So we meet her today?’

‘We heard those false news from Falerix all the time, don’t we?’ Spade frowned at Pod as if he was a retard.

‘No we don’t. Once, Reve really showed up. And we poked fun at her to our heart’s content.’

‘She did? I think I— Oh! It was the one where…’

‘She ended up shoving nades into our mouths,’ Pod laughed.

Spade started laughing, and the balance of his sword was broken. It fell onto the table, smashing his cup of coke.

Pod glared at him. Spade glared at the old woman behind him.

The old woman raised her finger again, and took a breath.

Pod screamed—

The window beside them shattered open with a deafening crash—–

Something green and oval shaped tumbled into the café, dropping onto the floor behind Pod. He jumped, seeming to realize what just flew through the window. Shoving his pistol together in a hurry, he grabbed Spade’s collar, and launched himself out of the café through the window.

‘Goddarned old lady—-‘ He muttered.

Spade yelled bloody murder as the café flashed orange. Then brown. Then black.

~To be continued

Author’s note: WRITER’S. BLOCK. GARKKK.

(-pokes Pod and Spade.-)