Back in the Game (Private, Shizu and I)

Jeremiah Rukin was sitting on the steps of the DWMA, the very same place he met his beautiful meister. Coincidentally, that was the exact reason he was there today. He had organised for them to meet at this memorable location, so they could discuss a proper hunt for souls instead of accidentally running into them in their new apartment. Instead of his usual burnt orange attire that was completely destroyed in the fire, he was wearing much more acceptable clothes. Instead of a wrinkled old button up, he had a new, crisp and clean white shirt that already had its sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A new pitch black waistcoat covered his chest and donned a new, black top hat upon his head. "Come on, where is that girl? She was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago... Maybe I'm just impatient?" He muttered to himself.

Shizu Resu. She was an average girl. Besides coincidentally running into kishin eggs, having a father that was a kishin egg, being watched by a pesky sorcerer and more, she was normal. And like most normal people tend to be, she was late. Of course she didn't notice that she was late until she looked at the clock that sat on the bar of the resteraunt she had been working at to pay for some of the medical bills. "Oh no! I hope he won't be mad..." the meister repeated to herself after clocking out and rushing out of the resteraunt, still dressed in her uniform. Within a few minutes, Shizu had arrived at the place her weapon had scheduled for them to meet at and nearly fell over trying to catch her breath. "Sorry... I'm... late!"

Jeremiah chuckled and looked up at his meister. "It's about time you showed up! I was beginning to think you'd forgotten." He shot to his feet and smiled at Shizu, raising his arms to show off his outfit. "I finally got around to a wardrobe change. How do I look? I think I look fantastic with out my blood stained and burned clothes. Speaking of which..." Jeremy finally realised what his meister was wearing and he cocked his head at an angle. "That's a very questionable costume for hunting souls, but... Hey, I'm not complaining." The boy shrugged and began questioning why a girl like Shizu would be wearing a uniform like that.

"That looks a lot better!" Shizu took a quick look at her uniform and replied,"No, No, I just came straight from work. I didn't have time to change and if I did, who knows how long you'd have been waiting here..." The meister's hands took off the mini top-hat that was included with the uniform and studied it for a moment. "...but that's beside the point. We need to get back into the swing of things and get those souls all collected! That time in the hospital really took a toll on us and our goal." From what she recalled, the uncanny duo had collected two souls, each by pure luck. Or the lackinb of luck if you think about it...

"And I don't know if you've noticed, but I got a new arm, too. Blade and all! Plus, a few extras I'm probably not going to tell you about at this stage..." He held out the new ebony arm for her inspection for a few moments, then drew it back to his side. It was newly polished, and much more intricate than his previous arm, requiring a lot more gears to function and even had golden line patterns in most areas. How he afforded it was not legal. "Anyway, I've invented a new device that should help us on our mighty quest for epic souls. Guess what it is. Go on, guess! You'll be stunned."

"That's...that's amazing!" She marveled at the weapon's new limb, inspecting it's wonderfully crafted gears and little gizmos and gadgets. Suspicions welled up as he said that he 'couldn't tell her at this stage' and the little meister tried to figure out what or why that was. Though when he asked another question, Shizu's train of thought went to something completely different. "Uh, lets see..is it a anti-flamable suit? Because that would really come in handy." She asked and shuddered at the thought of their previous... mishaps.

Jeremy shuddered himself as the memories of the flames returned. "That would be good, but I've already done my best to make my new suit fireproof. That's not the point though. The point is..." Jeremy reached into his waistcoat pocket and pulled out a device. It was basically a large metal box with a screen on the top, with a target in the middle. "It's a Kishin detector! The target on the screen points to where the nearest Kishin egg is, which will be very useful." He held out the device for Shizu to examine, but was thinking a single thing over and over while he was explaining. Please don't ask how it works, please don't ask how it works...

"How do you even make these things!?" Shizu exclaimed and snatched the device from her weapon's hands. "You're probably the handiest person I've ever met... ever." The meister handed the device back and took a deep breath. "Well... the longer we wait the more souls other people are getting from us, so let's see how well that machine of yours actually works in the field!" He managed to make that? I just mentioned it once and he made it a real thing. Is he magical, or something? She thought and looked at her uniform, thinking she should probably change.

Probably shouldn't mention it takes a soul to find a soul... Jeremy shook off the strange feeling of guilt and smiled. "I want to start hunting and all, but I think you should probably get changed into something more battle-worthy. Sadly, making you a new outfit something I didn't get around to doing." Jeremy shrugged and simply stood there. He had forgotten that most if her clothes were destroyed in the fire, apart from the few he saved. "I was gonna say we should head back to the apartment to get you changed, but do we even have an apartment anymore?"

"Yeah... no. We kinda... don't. That's why I spoke yo the higher-ups and they allowed me to live in the girl's dormatory for a little while. So the DWMA also provided some uniforms for me to borrow." Shizu explained and tapped her fingers together. "So I guess I should go and get changed, shouldn't I?" She had to admit, the meister would miss her old clothes and was sad that the rest of her possessions were also... burned.

"Right, yeah. So the girls dorms are just across from the boys, right? Yeah, it is." Jeremy began to walk in the direction of the dorms and grabbed onto Shizu's hand, pulling her along. "We don't have any time to waste! As you said, the longer we wait the more souls others are taking!" So Jeremy just dragged her along to the dorms for a few minutes, ignoring any complaints she might make. When they reached the dorms, a Jeremy could see Dexter right outside the boys dorm watering plants. Hey, Cogs! Long time no-" "I don't care Dex, this has nothing to do with you."

"Hey, I can only walk so fast in these!" Shizu complained aloud and gestured toward the heels she had been wearing, which still didn't make her even as tall as Jeremy. As they walked along and past Dexter, the meister waved and smiled for a split second before resuming her protest against Jeremy dragging her along. "Fine, fine, I'll go get ready!"

"Yes! Go! The sooner, the better!" Jeremy shouted as she left to change into more combat worthy clothes. He couldn't help bit see Dexter grinning from the edge of his sight. "What are you so smug about, rock eater?" Dexter didn't respond for a moment, a stupid grin still on his face. "You seemed awfully ecstatic at the thought of your meister getting changed." Jeremy's face went red with anger or embarrassment. He stormed toward Dexter and grabbed him by the collar, then began punch him in the chest, knowing that it wouldn't hurt the boy, since he has an especially large gem covering that area. But he was missing it. "What the hell, you crazy bastard?!"

When the meister was finally able to get all the way back to her dorm and room, it had already been awhile. Getting lost happened quite a lot to her when she didn't go to the specified destination that often. She grabbed the handle of the door and swung it open, hurriedly grabbing some proper clothes, ignoring the room-mates that also accompanied the living space. "Where is she off to now?" one of the two girls whispered to her friend. Trying her best to ignore their gossip, Shizu dashed out the door with her clothes and shoes ready. "Let's do this."

"What the hell, man?! Do you want to shatter my Frickin' gems?" Jeremy shoved the meister away from him. "Dexter, I swear, if I hear you saying anything like that again, I am going to annihilate you." Dexter raised his arms and slowly backed away. "Dude, I'm sorry! It was only a joke! You know, kidding? Just calm down." Jeremy turned away and breathed slowly, trying to calm himself. "I'm sorry, Dex. You know I haven't been fine since the fire. I just... I'm sorry." The weapon sighed and removed his hat. "Well, I didn't hear you deny it, either..." Jeremy spun around again and stormed towards him. "Oh, that's it, you're dead!"

"Hey, hey, Cogs! Im sure whatever you two are fighting about isn't worth beating up Dexter... for the one-hundred seventy-fifth time." The meister advised while dashing over in her school-provided uniform. You may be expecting a cute little skirt and a sweater, but instead this meister was equipped with armor. That's right, armor. The Academy heard about their little fire-problem and were generous enough to give Shizu something to help that out. The armor was crafted to deafeat a dragon-based witch and of course fire had been a big problem at that time. It was similar to a samurai's armor rather than a knights. "So, how do I look?" She asked with snd pleased smile.

Jeremy released Dexter and stared in awe, his bottom jaw gaping. "T- those aren't clothes, that's body armour!" The weapon stepped closer to her for a closer look. "Suddenly, I feel very vulnerable. Well, at least we know you have something to defend yourself with, rather than just destroy." Jeremy shrugged, entirely forgetting about his ordeal with Dexter a few moments ago. Dexter walked up beside Shizu and whispered in her ear. "Shizu, I would be careful of Cogs if I were you. You know, he hasn't been the same since the fire." But before Shizu could respond, the meister bolted away, afraid that Jeremy would beat him up again. "Don't know what got into him. Shall we?" Jeremiah pulled the Kishin detector out of his pocket, and the target pointed North-West.

Shizu's eyes looked to the other meister, in a sort of nervous manner. Different...? Different how, like... a phobia of flames or just... Though the weapon in question interrupted her thoughts again. She was about to ask Dexter what he meant, but her words never met with his retreating form. "Yeah, better get to it!" she responded in the most enthusiastic way possible. "That kishin egg will hope it never set foot in the same country as us." With that in mind, she adjusted one of the shoulder guards and began walking.

"Now, that's the spirit!" Jeremy replied to her enthusiasm. But as soon as he started walking, the target on the machine disappeared. A small spark could be seen through the vent on the side of the metal box and soon, smoke came out. "What the- Ah, bloody hell! So much for that." The weapon dropped the box and and made a sickening smash when it made contact with the ground. "The main power core was breached and destroyed. There's no way to repair that." There goes that Kishin egg I used. If you hadn't guessed already, the machine needs a Kishin soul to track them, so the soul is used as the main power source.

"...So I'm guessing we'll have to find them the old fasion way, don't we?" The meister asked, slightly disappointed that the invention failed to carry out its purpose. "Oh well, guess there's no fixing it now. We have a kishin egg to kill." Shizu enthused and looked up ahead. There seemed to be a dark aura eminating from an alleyway. The aura almost looked toxic as the meister inspected it closer. "I think we may have found a sign of it."

"Sweet. Let's go check it out." Jeremy followed his Meisters gaze towards an alleyway, then headed in that general direction. "Oh right, I'm supposed to be the weapon, aren't I? Hello, Cogs!" He face palmed and turned into his weapon form. The blade was much darker than before, almost black instead of a sort of rust. Even the dial and mechanisms were sleeker and better designed. "Wow, I never knew how much impact my arm had on my weapon form. I hope I still handle easily. Come on, Shizu. Let's roll." The blade was still buried into the ground, like the sword in the stone. But not like Excalibur.

Shizu marveled at the blade's now smooth look and wielded it much easier than she had previously. With hardly any thought, the meister charged at the source of the supposed kishin egg's source. Apparently, the armor had also affected her personality and gave her a fake sense of courage. In the pitch-black alleyway, there were a few things that stood out bright than stars on the murky night sky... There were a pair of the most ghastly white eyes you could imagine, this as well as the blue hue of three hovering souls. Each soul hovered above a desecrated corpse and they were all devoured as quickly as the kishin egg could manage. "...I scent a familiar..." it's eyes seemed to on glow brighter as it backed farther into the darkness.

Jeremy's eyes widened in the blade. Oh shit. Is that who I think it is? Because if it was, either he's gonna have to kill him, or Shizu's gonna find out about the heist. "Umm, who are you, strange... Figure? We will... Uh, annihilate you! Yes!" Jeremy has never been the best actor. "Maybe we should just, uh, skip this guy and find a different one! He's already killed three people, what if they were, um, weapons and stuff?" This will be really embarrassing if it's not who I think. For once I'm actually hoping Suhas is nearby.

"You're not whimping out on me here, are you?!" The meister sounded and looked rather shocked. "Pull it together! This guy is going down!" The samurai armor-wearing Shizu grunted and looked at Attor, who looked very unamused. "What's the meaning of this, exactly?" the kishin egg questioned and turned his attention to the door to the left that just swung open. "Oh Atty! I found the..." a sorcerer announced as he barged through the opening with a glowing blue bag, but was cut off when he saw Shizu and Jeremy. Oh no, this isn't too good. he thought and decided to improvise. "Attor, I've come here to bring you to an end..." Suhas had a deadly look in his eyes, which really confused the toxic kishin. "Wh-" Attor was going to ask, but was cut off by Suhas rushing and pinning him to the ground. "I got it, Shizu! Leave him to me..." Shizu, of course, only backed up and looked side to side. "Oh... uh... yeah. if you, um, say so?"

If you think Shizu is confused, you haven't even looked at Jeremy. Why is Suhas attacking Attor? Why the hell are they here? And what in the bloody hell is in that bag?! Wait... "Shizu, before you do anything, open that bag. The one that Suhas has." Jeremy instructed. Jeremy tried to piece things together. Okay, Suhas has a mysterious blue glowing bag, with Attor, a Kishin egg standing outside. Oh shit. The weapon looked up at his meister from the blade. "Actually, don't even bother opening the bag, just take it and run! I think it's filled with souls!" He had already begun heating up for the battle.