Rebecca's Training [Shinku/Kiwi]

[BlacKitten]

Being separated from her was never an issue as far as he could recall. She would always cling onto him, follow his shadow, or drag him around. Tonight seemed to be the night where his little sister had gone missing as he strolled down the crowded streets of Serine City. From every window and lamp, the eye-stingingly bright lights illuminated everything and everyone to the point that shadows had become diminished at almost every angle. The city was so populated and active that he must look straight up towards the black heavens simply to remind himself that it was the middle of the night.

Scanning left and right, his piercing eyes of violet hue scrutinized and scanned every nook and cranny of his surrounding crowds both outside and inside. Such efforts were futile for his little sister was rather short compared to many of these full-grown adults; the girl wasn’t someone that really stood out. Aimlessly sauntering by, he kept his pace sluggish in case he missed a clue, but for all he knew, his legs could be ambling further away from the one he was looking for.

For each breath he exhaled, a puff of smoke steamed out of his mouth. It was only mildly frigid compared to the other islands of North Blue, and being raised around these temperatures, he had a naturally strong resistance to the cold. Along the paved slabs, his disturbed mind became paranoid at the mere glance at some of these buildings. Casinos, strip clubs, and bars, each one of them perhaps flooded with pirates, criminals, thugs, delinquents, or some other riffraff. The mere thought that his little sister could be sheltered among any one of them brought an awkward shiver down his spine. Someone as pure and innocent as her should not be mixed with these tainted, dirty, filthy low-lives. If it had been any other island, he might not have worried as much, but since this was Amino Island –famed for entertainment- finding her shall now be his top priority.

Suddenly, he heard an agonizing yell, a man’s voice. It was close by, and the sound originated from a dark, shadowy alley between two buildings. None of his business, the crime rate was high in this city, so someone experiencing the misfortune of being ganged up should be expected. Pluto would have simply passed by, but then he heard another voice, a determined, resolute, girlish voice that could belong to no other than Rebecca, his younger sister.

Slapping a palm against his forehead, he hung his head, “That… idiot!” His teeth clenched in annoyance; he entered into the shadows where the riffraff dwelled. There were about four tall-standing silhouettes that were surrounding something against the stone wall of a dead end. More accurately, there were five of these gang members, but one of them was lying flat on the ground, wincing, rolling, and groaning in pain. “Rebecca!” he called out fiercely. The sound of his tone drew the attention of the small gang to look towards the light. The boy stood there idly with his mysterious violet eyes gleaming in the dark. The shadow that was casting in front of his feet shortened as he continued his pace forward.

“Pluto!” A responding call of relief announced the wellbeing of the girl who peeked between the bodies that surrounded her.

“Tch… of all the places you could have been…” he paused while trading glances with each of the four hostile figures before him. Each of them was armed with some makeshift of a weapon. As he glimpsed at the body lying at his side, he noticed the fresh blood coating on the knife beside the body. A surge of hatred flooded within him; he was too late. His little sister had already sustained some wounds and beatings by the looks of it, but at the same time, it was incredulous to believe that Rebecca was the one who took out the thug at his flank.

Within the next few heartbeats, he found himself speechless. A silence between them gave them the time to exchange baleful glares towards one another as if it was contest of intimidation.

“You here to pick a fight as well?” an irascible sounding man asked impatiently as he raised his weapon that was composed of a wooden bat with nails impaled around it for extra pain upon impact.

“A fight… no… that’s too gentle of a word. How about a massacre?” he let out a murderous threat.

“Don’t get too cocky,” a shadowy figure lunged out in assault.

“I’m not being cocky here, you four simply cannot impose much of a challenge for me,” he swiveled around the incoming swing of a crowbar. “All of you are undisciplined,” he struck the back of the man’s neck with the knife of his hand. “Your muscles are too rigid,” he grabbed ahold of another man’s hook by the wrist and elbow, and through a simple maneuver of locking the opponent’s elbow, he snapped the joint. The nasty crack of bones was audible for all of them to hear.

Drawing a flintlock from the inside pocket of his leather jacket, another figure pointed and aimed at thin air.

“Too slow,” Pluto was already at the gunman’s side, gripping the wrist and stepping on the man’s foot to hinder escape. Rotating the wrist outwards, a sharp pain caused the man to drop straight to a kneeling position as the pistol clattered across the floor. Bending the wrist backwards, he forced the man to rise back up to the tip of his toes, and without hesitance, the boy implanted a kick into the abdomen, hurling the body to slam into the last standing man who tumbled against the sidewall. “Because how narrow this alley is, you’re all forced to attack me one at a time,” the boy continued walking towards the girl who was barely even able to stand.

“Joint manipulation,” Rebecca muttered to herself as she paid close attention to her brother’s movements. The wrist and elbow appeared to be the crucial points to control someone’s body, and the more rigid someone was, the easier it became to manipulate their bodies like a puppeteer. No good, she couldn’t see Pluto’s seriousness in his movements; the boy wasn’t trying to kill them at all. Her presence in being here was what held him back; she was certain of it. He probably didn’t want her to see any horrid images of blood and death; otherwise, these four men wouldn’t be breathing right now.

“I’m sorry, Pluto,” she said softly and apologetically. By the time her brother was close enough, she leaned her weight against him for support. The older one didn’t even make eye contact; he glanced at the woman behind the girl.

“Not again,” he sighed out loud, “I’ve told you to not get involved in other people’s business.”

“U-um…,” the blonde-haired woman stammered a bit before slightly bowing her head, “I’m so sorry. They attacked me, a-and she tried to save me.”

Pluto glared at the little one who rested her head against his chest, “I can see that!” His voice was mixed with disappointment and puzzlement. The girl was too kind and thoughtful, always trying to help to weak and defenseless, but she, herself, was too weak for such a silly idea. He never understood the need to aid complete and utter strangers, people who he had never seen before, people that he knew nothing about.

Stroking downwards against her long and dark hair, he heaved the girl into his arms, lifting the body behind the neck and knees. Striding into the light, he entered into the streets without a word.

[Shinku]

The girl was wearing rather revealing clothes and didn’t show any signs of freezing, despite the cold in the nightly air. Slender legs presented themselves to the public in between the very short-cut yellowish to orange and black colored dress and the high platform boots of the same colors. A long sleeve with back strips on the right side, a fishnet forearm cover on the sleeveless left and black biker gloves on both hands completed the outfit.
Indeed the dress was of such design, that around this part of the town, she might have been mistaken for a woman of a certain business.

A curious thing that business was, for people usually considered it a very unfitting job choice for a woman to make, even though only women could work as whores* – which only showed how bad most people were at simple logic. The middle-class people usually solved this contradictory problem by adding the word “respectable” in front of woman and acted as if that made everything clear and consequential. As if the definition for the word “respectable” wasn’t something that changed depending on where and who you asked. It was basically everybody’s –

(*not counting the male ones who worked under another name and were therefore something different.)

The stares she received from the male audience while walking down the nightly street were plenty and a certain acknowledge of the teenager’s well-developed body. Although she seemed very young and innocent, softly humming a song as she strolled around, some of them might have made further advances if it weren’t for two things:

First were the slightly creepy miniature skull-shaped ornaments attached on her wrists. In fact they were cute enough to not be completely unsettling, and wouldn’t have put off most of the men, who were used to a much worse fashion sense or lacked one altogether and simply overlooked it.
The second thing was harder to overlook, for it was a big-sized hammer, slung to the back of the far too small looking girl. With five feet and five inches and some additional inches from her platform boots, Skelette wasn’t the shortest of girls, but the oversized weapon made her look small in comparison.

The discrepancy was strong enough to keep away the more intelligent thinkers, the ones that could count the odds and gains and sum it up to risk analysis that clearly told them to seek easier prey, just in case. But not everyone could take a “hint”. Already some people were weighing the possibility, that the hammer was merely a toy, a plaything to show off. A pitiful attempt of a teenage girl to look tough and threatening like some pirate or criminal, but with no strength to back it up. There was just no way that a fragile looking girl could lift something heavy-looking like that.

At least one came to the conclusion that the girl should have better chosen to dream about being a princess, like most of her peers that were trapped in the age where misconceptions blinded their self-concept and leaded them to do spectacular yet foolish things. If she had just stuck at home, waiting for her prince to get her, then her life would have ended different. It wasn’t his fault that she made herself an easy target. Just who was he to ignore it? If he didn’t go after her, then someone else would. The end would be all the same.

“Hey Blondy!” he called to her from the side and she turned around to see what it was about. So predictable, easygoing and naïve, it was all too easy. Only now the man noticed his error. He had mistaken her for a blonde while the girl’s barely shoulder-long hair was only blond on the right side, the other side being completely black. Not like it really mattered what she looked like, as long as she let herself be fooled.

With a few quick steps she was right in front of him and held her hands behind her back, leaning forward and looking up to him with her intense orange eyes.
“What is it Mister? Were you talking to me?” She asked with an innocent smile that almost almost made him stop.

“It’s not safe for a nice little lady like you are, to be walking around alone so late at night.“ He put an arm around her shoulders and put on his most trustworthy smile. “Especially around this part of the town.” Slowly and carful to not appear too pushy, he maneuvered her along, heading to a dark and small alley.
“There are a lot of bad people around.” He explained her.
“Bad people? Like robbers and the like?” She wanted to know, her eyes growing wide.
“Yes.” He nodded, glad that she understood. “Robbers and worse. Men can be very scary beasts if you get caught by the wrong sort.”
“Men that act like scary beast? You mean they would try to eat me if they could?”
She stopped to look around as if she was expecting those men to appear at any moment and he silently cursed himself. Obviously he had pushed her too far and now it would be hard to get her going again. Manipulating innocent had its own sort of difficulty to it.
“Ah! Don’t worry, don’t worry. I know a place where you’ll be safe. Just over there. This is a shortcut.”

The girl began to follow him again and they left the sparkling lights of the main street to enter the murky alleyway.

Not much after they had entered, a big crashing noise was audible from the alley and a few moments later a happily humming teenage girl in a very yellowish dress, came out again. Three dark shadowy figures, who had planned on following her and the man into the alley, turned around and fled. The hint had finally sunk in.

Indeed the world was a funny place, one that wanted to be experienced.

[BlacKitten]

“Ow!” She cried out sharply at the instant prickling sense of pain on her forearm. With the small cut being cleaned and disinfected, an ointment was applied to the shallow wound before being covered up in bandages. Sitting down at the side of her bed, Rebecca occasionally looked directly into her brother’s eyes that were carefully dealing with patching her wounds up. This was the first time that she could remember where Pluto was applying basic medical attention onto her.

“Pluto, are you mad at me?” She could hear her heartbeat rushing out of anxiety for his answer. 

“Maybe a little bit,” he said honestly, “but I’m mostly mad at myself.” A forlorn look was in his eyes; a feeling of powerlessness strangled his heart in chains. Their lives were at stake. In a way, it was fortunate for things could have been a lot worse. There could have been people far worse than those thugs who could have bumped into his sister instead. What stupidity, though, sacrificing one’s own wellbeing for the sake of a complete stranger, she was so naïve and foolish. Unable to fend for herself, how could she, a weak little girl, possibly have handled full-grown adults armed with weapons?

“I’m sorry,” she whispered while looking down at the ground.

“What goes through that head of yours, anyways?” the older one asked while standing back up, “Why do you wish to aid those you have never met? Such people are none of your concern; your own safety should be your top priority. Yet, you throw your own life in danger without even a plan.”

“Because, I…,” she paused to think of a response, “I hate seeing other people helpless. That woman was outnumbered, outmatched, and she had nowhere to run. People who don’t even have the power to defend themselves while being up against a bunch of bullies, I hate that the most.”

A small sigh came out of him; Pluto looked away, disapproving the girl’s actions despite her reasoning. Their mentality weren’t completely different. Just like her, he despised seeing his sister being outnumbered and outmatched, but she wasn’t even aware of the group of people that were after her life as well as his own. So many dark secrets in this world that he desperately kept from reaching her, but inevitably, the evil side of this world became exposed to her innocent eyes. Death, killing, destruction, war, gunshots, wounds, injuries… was it too much to have her grow up as a regular child?

“Pluto,” Rebecca nudged him, “why don’t you teach me how to fight?”

“Hm?” His eyes widened before making eye contact with her, “what?”

“I’ve seen you fight. You can take down anyone. Teach me how to fight like you, then? That way, I can protect myself, and you won’t have to worry about me.”

“I’m not worried about you!” He quickly remarked at that last remark while looking away again. Clenching his teeth and tightening his fists, he disliked her suggestion. He never really thought about it before since he only learned how to fight properly just recently. “No!” he said firmly, “You have no idea just how many powerful and skilled fighters are out there in this world. I’m not as strong as you take me for; even I have my limits. I have lost most of my fights; I can barely even protect myself.”

“Maru told me something about you,” she said, “He said that you lack passion in martial arts. You fight because of a need. I’m different from you. Even if it’s just a hobby, I want to learn to fight.”

“Tch…,” the image of a panda appeared in his head; his funny-looking instructor had influenced the both of them whether for the better or worse. Maru had introduced them to the world of martial arts and left him enough skill and knowledge to the point where he could learn on his own. There was one thing that Pluto was missing; according to the panda, he was missing experience. Without hundreds of battles and fights ingrained inside of him, his movements were unpolished and lacked refinement.

Hesitation kept him at bay. He couldn’t do such a thing. Besides, teaching was never his strong point; he had never taught anyone anything before, at least not like how Maru did it. More importantly, he adapted a fighting style that would harm other people. “You…,” the boy felt skeptical, “even if I do teach you, such a skill would be of no use to you. Martial art isn’t just about the body. You also need the mindset. You wouldn’t hurt a fly. With your silly empathy for others, martial arts would be a waste on you.”

“Maru also told me…,” Rebecca continued, “that there are ways to fight without hurting the opponent. Teach me that, then.”

“Darn it, Maru!” He grumbled to himself. Scratching his head out of annoyance, Pluto did not expect their conversation to turn out like this. “Yeah, yeah! There is such a way, but they’re high-level stuff. It’s not something you can master overnight.”

“Soooo…,” she leaned her head against him, unwilling to take no as an answer, “How does it work? How can I fight without hurting the opponent?” 

Pluto crossed his arms while avoiding meeting her in the eyes, “The idea is quite simple, but it’s very hard to perfect. Let me sum it up like this: If you push me, I pull you. If you pull me, I push you. Instead of resisting the force, you go along with that force instead.” Such a skill was quite rare nowadays; almost everyone relied on either strength or speed. "The enemy's power becomes your power. The stronger your opponent, the stronger your technique will become."

[Shinku]

It was well past midnight, yet the night was still young and full of opportunities. The possibilities of what she could do were plenty and Skelette wouldn’t even consider to go home to rest already. Not in a town like this where the exciting part of life happened during the nighttime, daytime being for bores only. A fun loving girl like her would not join the ranks of a goody two shoes. Not like she hated that sort of guys and girls, usually she got along well with those kind of people, but that didn’t mean she had to be like them. The happy-go-lucky girl hadn’t become a pirate just to live a life of following the social expectations and moral codes. No, she wanted more. She wanted to see the world and get experiences, experiences only a money loving pirate could get.

The place she was headed to was one where dreams came true. Or got shattered merciless into a hundred pieces.
All depending wherever you were under the favor of the Lady or not. Or probably depending on how nimble and skilled you were with your fingers. They did say that Fortune favored the fools, but cheaters took their luck into their own hands, saying that Fortune favored the bold and you had to be bold to dare to cheat in this town’s establishments who were known to go as far as breaking said fingers, should you get yourself caught. How much saver it was to believe that the Lady smiled upon you and luck was with you as you waited for the dice to be cast, hoping, praying and betting the last of your money against all better judgement. Deep down you know how small the chances are, but numbers and mathematics just don’t seem like a strong and logical argument when you can see the money on the table and start to imagine that it could be yours. The dream is stronger and you only manage to awake, when you run out of money completely and the doormen throw you out by force.

One such unfortunate person just got escorted to the exit, when Skelette arrived. The lanky man was followed by two friends, who had had more luck than him and apparently intended to go drinking with the small winnings they had managed to gain. The big winner was the bank, as always. No matter who won or who lost, in the end it was the gambling den which really made the big money. Here and there they let some normal people win the big money, but only enough to tempt others to try their luck.

With a stony face the doorkeeper, a bulk of a man who fitted the stereotype to the last hair of his bald head, stopped in front of the door and eyeballed her carefully. Skelette tilted her head to the side before she pulled out a little bag and shook it demonstrative, so the man could hear the money inside. What she got in return was a sneer.

“You’ll need more than just small change if you want to gamble in here. And with that I mean the big banknotes that don’t make sounds when you shake them.” He told her, explicitly but not unfriendly. “Unless you shake them in front of a musician.” He added smiling and she returned the smile. He wasn’t as stupid as he seemed at first and Skelette found that she actually liked him. Maybe she should ask him for a contest later?
“Don’t worry Mister.” She answered. “I have a lot of quiet money, hidden in places I don’t want to mention. In case that someone who would love to steal it overhears us, I mean.”
The doorman gave her another measuring look, then nodded and let her pass him.
And so with high anticipation, Skelette entered one of the wickedest gambling dens of the Island.

[BlacKitten]

“AURGH!!!” a loud thump echoed out as he plummeted to the floor, face down. His right arm was outstretched with his wrist gripped upon by the gentle hands of the girl who took control of his elbow. Everything happened so fast; his mind wasn’t prepared in the slightly. He failed to anticipate any of this to happen without warning. Rolling his head for his face to rest on the ground instead of his nose, the brother glared towards the sister standing at his side. She had the most curious expression on her face as if awestruck by a new discovery.

“What was that for?” he said after moaning in pain. This sensation was nostalgically familiar since that time the panda demonstrated a myriad of joint locks onto his own student.

“Whoa… I pinned you down!” Rebecca still had the look of surprise on her face, never expecting for the maneuver to be this effective. Suddenly, the wrist she held onto seemed to have slipped around her own wrist, coiling like a serpent. At first, she was pulled straight down, and then suddenly, a mysterious sideways force unbalanced her entire body to fall to her side. One side of her shoulder was forcefully raised up during the entire action.

Clambering back onto his feet, the older one nonchalantly rubbed his own shoulder before sliding his hand down to his elbow, making sure every joint in his body was properly aligned. “Just because you had me on the floor doesn’t mean I was pinned down,” he was grateful that the girl’s copied technique remained incomplete in its execution.

“H-how did you do that just now?” The little sister crawled back up, feeling no pain at all. For a brief moment, it was like being manipulated by a puppet master. She looked up towards her brother for an answer, indirectly tricking him to teach her.

“The circling hand motion lets me escape your grasp and grip onto your wrist. I pulled you down to align your arm into a single line. Using your shoulder as the fulcrum, I angled your arm to become a lever that pushed your body aside,” he summed it up. Not so much on logic, everything was about the physical sensation that lets one feel out what the next motion should be.

“It’s like magic!” Rebecca described it with a childish term that seems to undermine the validity of the truth in her brother’s ears.

His head was hung low, “I guess you didn’t understand what I said.” Without another word to warn him, his arms were suddenly pinned against his body. From behind, the little one gave him a taut bear hug, wrapping her arms endearingly around him, squeezing to a suffocating level. “Can you escape this?” She teased.

“This? Humph, easy!” Pluto didn’t even have to look at what was behind him. The hands at his side shifted back as his pointer fingers poked the girl from opposite sides. The girl yelped while immediately collapsing to the floor reflexively. Unlike before, this had nothing to do with joints; he simply poked her sides, causing a ticklish sensation that overwhelmed her for a split second.

“Are you done now? You’re awfully violent today,” he shifted his glance at the little thing below him.

Rebecca wasn’t going to quit this soon. She had just figured out a way to learn to fight. By constantly pestering Pluto with a barrage of attempts to take him down, she would inevitably learn a lot by how he counters them, only to be used against him all over again. “NO!” She smirked mischievously and began charged forth to tackle the standing figure.

Pluto pivoted on his leading foot, spinning around the opposing figure, guiding her force to blend and curve around his own. The change in direction caused the girl to stumble a bit, forced to move in a partial circle as she lurched to one side. Her natural instinct was to straighten out her back to reestablish her balance, but then suddenly, there was a counter-force pressed upwards against her neck, making usage of that instinctive response. Falling backwards, she found herself landing onto one end of the bed that gave her a cushioned her landing.

“Go to sleep; it’s getting late,” said the older one, slightly annoyed by how energetic she was.

[Shinku]

The girl half walked half skipped through the gambling den, happy to be here and with enough money to join the fun! The big room was split into smaller sections, each with its own game in progress, but the people were everywhere. If you had a favorite game of chance, you’d first have to be lucky enough to get close enough to play it, which was why most people chose to go where room came free, rather than setting their sight on a certain game. Unless you had VIP status, a thing most noticeable by a person’s clothes, accessory and money but not least by their demeanor, you had to wait.

Skelette passed a table of roulette, giving it a curious glance before heading on. The white ball spinning round and round the circular track that would sooner or later end in having the ball stop in one of the many colored and numbered pockets around the wheel. It was fun enough to watch but not something she wanted to bet her money on. Putting your hard earned cash, or well… someone else hard earned cash (she was a pirate after all), on something you couldn’t control at all, didn’t seem so wise or even thrilling. At the very least, Skelette wanted something she could influence, even if the impact she had wasn’t big on it. There was always her hammer if she’d needed some impact, the girl thought happily.

The second game she stayed to watch was the traditional poker that couldn’t be missing in any self-respecting gambling house. Poker was a game that was not only influenced by luck alone, but also by your skill as a player, but while the game was not completely unknown to the hammer wielding girl, she still didn’t know the rules well enough to play nor did she feel like starting to learn them tonight. Maybe some other day, she thought, turned around and went on.

Somewhere in the distance, the muffled sound indicated that it happened in a room next door to the main hall, someone had gotten in trouble with someone else, or maybe some very crazy people were playing a quite different kind of roulette than the one you found close to the entrance. No one else seemed to notice or care about the shooting and so Skelette decided to not let herself be bothered by it either.

There were doors leading to other places and with great accuracy Skelette chose the one where the most noise was coming from. Her nose for entertainment had not failed her. It wasn’t only louder in here, but darker too. And there were stands for spectators that had gathered here to watch the show. Or the shows, plural.
A bit below the stands where two pit-like lowerings, one left one right. In the one to her left was a big iron cage. Two men were fighting inside it against each other while the audience was taking bets on which one the winner would be. It was so ridiculous that Skelette almost laughed. So those things did exist in real. How stupid, as if one could really call that a fight. They had no clue.

The right pit only had a table in the middle. Here too two men were facing each other, but this time Skelette was very much interested in it. Arm wrestling wasn’t like fighting at all. It was a contest, a challenge!
The red faces of the contestants indicated that they had been going at it for some time already and none was willing to let the other one win, oh no. If the other bastard wanted to win he could very well work for it, because he wasn’t going to just hand it over to him. Skelette nodded to herself. Yes, that was how those things were supposed to be. You faced your opponent and beat him fair and square. You knew that you didn’t want to lose and that the guy on the other side didn’t want to lose neither and everyone gave their best. In the end the strongest one would win.

The man in the right corner (from her point of view), had been struggling for a while now, while the interwoven hands slowly but inexorable got closer to his hand’s side of the table and then it was over. His muscles failed him and with a painful sounding thump, the now limp hand crashed on the wood. The audience cheered (or cursed) and Skelette made her way down to the entrance of the pit, while both winner and loser left the place and the announcer introduced the champion of the arena, asking if there was someone brave enough around to challenge him.

[BlacKitten]

Clambering at the bedside and stalking her prey, the silent figure glued her eyes onto the unconscious victim. Shifting all of her weight down to her squatting legs, she propelled forth, outstretching her arms for embracement. Pouncing on her foe, she clutched tautly around the target, greeting him with her liveliness.

A sudden crushing force from above squished him against the bed below, sandwiched in between and waked him abruptly in his sleep. His felt his arms and legs pinned to his side, so he rolled off to the side in the desperate attempt to escape whatever was pressuring him. Down he goes, falling off the bed and slamming onto floor against his back, and the subtle light revealed the predator behind the assault. “Ow…,” he grumpily glared at his little sister who rested her head against his chest. Violet pupils shifted towards the shaded window with the curtains warding off the morning sunlight.

Warmth from the girl flooded into him while his body heat escaped into the frigid wooden floor. Leaning up, Pluto pushed off of the mattress to stand up, carrying the extra weight of another human. Like a whimsical kitten, the girl purred and rubbed her cheeks against him, and while she may seem innocent, her arms were crushing his ribs and spine, suffocating him in the process. A hug from Rebecca was like getting crushed between a giant iron vice where excitement and joy fueled her abnormal strength, and at the same time, her laziness turned the boy into a vertical bed to rest against.

At this rate, he never got the chance to sleep in if this girl kept giving him her own version of a wake-up call each early morning. This manner of showing affection was rather painful as well; even breathing became a challenge with his lungs compressed by the sheer coiling force. Dodging, blocking, and escaping had all been tried, but if history was any indication, he would just be wasting his precious energy. Rebecca’s persistence was beyond his control, and even now, the brother could barely even walk with weight slowing him down.

“I think I’ll head outside,” he decided after wanting some fresh air.

The sister stepped back, releasing her grip. Her head tilted to one side, asking curiously, “what about breakfast?”

“I’m not hungry. It feels like my stomach is still asleep,” he answered while turning the doorknob before stepping out of the rented room that was located on the second floor of the hotel.

“I’ll come with you!” she paused to put on her shoes before following the older sibling. After locking the door behind, the little one went to catch up the boy who had just descended the stairs. How mean, Pluto wouldn’t even wait for her to catch up.

Outside, Serine City was less populated in the streets than last night. No more fancy lightings and rowdy voices; even the thieves would keep a low profile under broad daylight. Just recently, they had departed from Dojo Island, and all the wounds received from those hard times had yet to be fully healed.

Watching the back of the boy’s head, Rebecca continued the conversation they had from yesterday, “Pluto, will you teach me how to fight now?” The brother groaned by the constant pestering. Out of the two of them, the younger one had the greater determination.

“Why didn’t you learn when you had the chance at Dojo Island?” he asked.

“Because you weren’t there with me,” the little one replied with hint of anger. Her eyes brightened up before ending with a remark, “I only want you to teach me, no one else.”

[Shinku]

It was early morning when Skelette stepped out into the still sleepy sunlight, the sun being kind of dull, looking as if it had only just woken up. The girl on the other hand looked bright and happy, even though she had not slept at all that night. A bit tired and worn out from all the exercise, this she had to admit, but it was a good sort of exhaustion, the sort which gave you the feeling that you could be proud of yourself because you did a lot of good and worthwhile work.
Her purse was another indication of this. It wasn’t much heavier than it had been when Skelette had entered the gambling den, but that was mostly so because the money inside it was not the troublesome small change but the big paper money which’s value surpassed that of the coins by a lot. There was no doubt that it had been a good day night. For her at least…


A few hours before, the little girl had made her way down to the fighting pit to challenge the three times champion in arm wrestling of this gambling place. There had been much laughter from the audience, but a challenge was a challenge and if you didn’t get your entertainment out of a good evenly-matched fight, then you’d get it by watching a little girl gutsy enough to challenge a man that looked twice as big, about three times as muscular and at least five times as mean as her. The audience wasn’t very picky. If it looked interesting they would watch it. And of course they would make bets. This WAS a gambling den after all.
Most people of course placed their bets on the champion, it was an easy way to make money and they appreciated it. Some more daring gamblers put some money on her, partly because of the odds that promised them a great return, should the little girl win against all expectations and partly because they didn’t like the champion. The clever gamblers started to calculate the weight of her massive hammer, and then they tried a good guess on how strong one had to be to lift it. Then they placed their bets accordingly.

Skelette took off her hammer, placed it next to the arena entrance against a wall and sat down on one of the chairs to wait for the staff to bring a new table for them. Small as she was, Skelette hadn’t been able to get the announcer’s attention soon enough and another person had stolen the first challenge of the day from her. She didn’t have to wait long for her turn however. In less than a minute the champion had smashed his opponent’s hand on the table, breaking said table in the process and probably turning the little finger bones of his opponent into even smaller pieces. Strangely enough this only served to increase Skelette’s anticipation. This was the sort of opponent she loved! He was strong and he knew of his strength and she couldn’t imagine him to hold back on a girl. It was a big challenge and the bigger the challenge the more she would enjoy winning the competition and embarrassing her opponent. With a big smile and a nod she acknowledged her opponent. They interlocked their hands. The announcer made sure that everything was in order and gave them the signal to start…

After this, fighter after fighter challenged her to an arm wrestling duel, everyone believing that surely they were strong enough to beat her and expecting that for sure now, after wrestling that last guy, she must already be tired out. And Skelette had shamed them all. Not even losing one fight. This was HER arena, it was a test of strength and nothing else. Not tactic, not speed (though of course it also played a small amount into it, but small enough to be ignored as far as Skelette was considering thing) it was a match of pure strength. The ability she was most proud of having.

[BlacKitten]

In contrast to the empty streets, there were crowds of people flooding inside a particular building, but since it was a gambling zone, Pluto held no interests because everything would always be statistically against him if he participated in making a bet. His impression of gambling was equivalent to winning a lottery, completely depending on luck. Even if there were skills to increase the chances, he still would be uninterested in such matters.

Suddenly, his wrist was grasped firmly before a great force pulled him towards that very building. “Hey!” He called to his sister’s attention, “where are you taking me?” Albeit a silly question, it was said instinctively. Rebecca’s social nature guided her towards the crowd whereas Pluto’s antisocial nature guided him away from the people. But no matter the polar opposites of their way of thinking, the girl always seemed to have gotten whatever she wants between the two of them.

After stepping inside, there was a one on one competition between two contestants. “They’re arm wrestling?” After a blink, Rebecca realized that she had never seen a competition such as this before, but what astonished her even more was the challenger. A short-haired girl who appeared skinnier than herself stepped up to face the muscular opponent who seemed to be physically superior than her in every single way.

Even Pluto was befuddled at first; this pipsqueak was barely any taller than his younger sister. However, to be wielding such a large hammer along with her confident look, perhaps there was more to this girl than what meets the eyes. Still, how could this little one possibly stand a chance with those skinny arms?

The very big and the very small interlocked their hand with the elbow resting on a small table, and when the announcer signaled the start of the duel, the unexpected happened. That girl dressed like a bumblebee won almost effortlessly, noticeably savoring the moment of embarrassing her opponent.

“She won?” With a slight gaping mouth, the incredulous sister couldn’t quite believe it had she not seen it with her own eyes. There had got to be some trick here. Was the difference in the size of muscles completely irrelevant?

As analytical as he tried to be, Pluto couldn’t quite solve this simple puzzle. Seeing it one time might not be enough, so he waited for the next person to step up to face the new champion. Sharpening his vision, even squinting, his violet hued eyes watched every bulging chunk of muscle in the challenger’s arm that fought singlehandedly against the little girl’s stick-like arm. Once again, the girl won. Impossible? Was this really strength against strength? From a martial art perspective, not a single stance or body alignment could overcome a stronger opponent from an arm wrestling position. At best, it would help by having the dominant foot in front while using the dominant hand, but there was nothing to his knowledge that could accomplish what this girl had just done.

A voice nearby made a peculiar comment, “Sheesh! I’ve lost count as to how many people she just went up against. Did none of them tire her out at all?” The eavesdropping was cut short when the younger sibling tugged his wrist even closer towards the event.

“Pluto! I want you to try to arm wrestle her!” Her eyes were fired up at the thought.

“Don’t wanna,” the older one said blatantly.

“Why not? Are you afraid you’ll lose?” Rebecca tried to stir some of her brother’s rebelliousness to her question.

As he tried to pull his wrist free from her grasp, the older one belittled her attempt, “You don’t seriously think you can persuade me like that, do you?” That was a tactic only that only those who valued their pride above all else would fall for, but things like pride and honor didn’t suit his taste. Persistently, his little sister dragged him all the way to the challenger’s spot, arousing much attention from the pairs of eyes around the two of them. 

"Can I just lose on purpose?" he was completely unmotivated the more his sister urged him to arm wrestle with this duo-color-haired girl.