Midtown Madness(for newbies)

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Chris mutterred in a panicked state, hurrying down the lanes of
Romania. "This sucks. I can't believe that fatso's nerve.... 80 Akuma for a single guy? What
da fuck is he thinking? I thought the orders were to bring me 'alive'? What the heck...well,
they are level ones, but even so...isn't this overkill???"

Behind him, the streets exploded as a barrage of Akuma missiles followed his trail so closely
they were almost onto him alreadly. "Is this a joke? Am I on some candid reality show? (Break
4th Wall) What on earth is he thinking, Imma gonna rip that @!$^%$#^$&* hat off his #!$#@^%
head...bloody pointy-ears..."

Quickly, CHristian Nightwish turned a sharp corner (which disappeared immediately under a storm
of AKuma bullets) and continued his flight. "Huff, huff...i'm really not the stamina type..."

[ooc: Eh, no one cares if I seem to be in two places at once, right? XP]

Dominique muttered a particularly colourful swear word under her breath. She had been in Romania for two minutes and she was lost already, with her long hair tickling the back of her legs and the marble white rod that was her Innocence propped lazily over her shoulder. She looked around the street she was standing in, hoping to see a telltale sign of where she was, may it be a landmark or just a shop that she had perhaps known about. She sighed as she looked down, having found nothing.

Seriously... These Romanians should try to label the roads a bit... she thought as she continued walking slowly down the street, passing by a few stragglers wandering the town, loitering around, making Dominique wonder if they were lost too. If they were... I wonder how long they've been stuck here... Ten years seems to be a good guess... I shouldn't have came here... She added to herself as she passed by a man sitting in a lonely corner in dirty, ragged clothing, looking around confusedly with a collecting can in front of him.

Dominique heaved another small sigh as she remembered a conversation she had with Komui, who set her on the mission she was on.


"There have been a lot of sightings in a small town in Romania recently," Komui, the head, had said to her, pausing to take a small sip of his coffee from his rabbit patterned cup before continuing. "You are to go there and take a look. It is possible that there is Innocence there, resulting in the Akuma gathering. The details are in this booklet. Good luck!"


Dominique snorted as she thought of what Komui had said. Details indeed... It seems he didn't give enough details, or I wouldn't be lost here...

Dominique was just making a mental note to tell Komui to next time include a map of the affected area in the 'details' next time when she heard a deafening bang followed by loud crumbling. Dominique's head snapped up, looking for the source of the sound, and she quickly found it; a column of dust was rising just a street away.

Holding Nightmare's Scythe firmly in her hand, she ran forwards and turned right into the next street, just in time to see a man with black, shoulder length hair running past her with more than just numerous Akuma's in tow.

"...Oh Jeez." Chris groaned as he saw a young girl get in his way. "Fates, I curse ye like ye curse thee."He mutterred
under hsi breath. There was no time to shout out a cry for her to get away before 80 Akuma tore her apart in a flurry of
toxic bullets, nor did Christian have the breath to do the shouting anyway. So, the young boy did the first thing that came
to his admittedly not very bright mind- he picked the girl up and ran with her slung over his hsoulders.

Damn...I'm sure I skipped the pick-up line part and went straight to picking up....Chris thought sullenly to himself, bracing
himself for the hysteria that may or might follow anytime now.

Dominique gasped as the man actually scooped her up over his shoulders. Her first instinct was to hang on to her Innocence for dear life. The very next thing she did was what most girls would probably do when they have been literally picked up by a man that they had never seen before, and particularly when that man was being chased by tons of monsters.

"JUST WHAT THE CRAP ARE YOU DOING? WHAT DID YOU DO TO GET SO MANY AKUMA AFTER YOU ANYWAY?!?" she shrieked, while trying to wriggle free of the strong arm that was holding her over its owner's shoulder. "Let me go! I can get rid of them! I'm an Exorcist!"

Dominique struggled to get free, knowing that it was very risky to activate Nightmare's Scythe while moving, as she could easily accidentally stab herself or anyone within a two meter radius of her, which currently meant this man who obviously thought her to be a helpless young girl. Struggle as she may, however, she could not wriggle free, which meant that it came down to whether the man trusted her to be able to deal with the (many) Akuma.

"Exorcist...?"

Chris glanced down in between breaths to see the black and white uniform etched wth the rosen cross insigna. "Oh.
My bad. About the Akuma...its a rather long story that I'd much rather tell over lunch with a nice cup of iced
water and a sandwich, as compared to running a marathorn with 80 killing machines behind my back and telling my
sad tale at the same time."

Looking back for a while, it seemed to Christian that the herd of Akuma had thinned a little. Had he lost some of them?
"Anyway, can even you take on 80 Akumas in one go...Miss?"

Suddenly at the corner above several oval-shaped distorted masses of cannons and agonized faces loomed into view.
"Oh shi-" He cursed. Some AKumas had used their minimal brains to cut them at a shortcut!!!

"Well... perhaps not... but I-" Dominique was cut short, however, by a swear. She craned a her neck to look ahead at the direction that she and her 'savior' were currently running in and found a very good reason for the curse when she spotted a few Akumas standing (Or perhaps floating would be a better word? Dominique found herself thinking) in their way.

"Now's not the time to be thinking about that! Let me down! I might be able to hold them off enough for you to escape!" Dominique yelled over the explosions of Akuma bullets. She did not like the amount of stress that she had put on the 'might', but when she thought of it rationally, she was not experienced enough to possibly think of destroying so many Akuma on her own, but she knew what she said held true; she would definitely be able to hold them off long enough to let the man escape.

"Your choice, miss." Christian grinned suddenly, his white teeth displayed in full as he smiled maniacally,
a wild, madman's glint in the corner of his crimson eyes. Balancing the weight of the Exorcist on one palm,
the young man bent down in his run, stooped low, and with a scoop and a hurl, sent the poor girl flying
above the Akumas before him in one high path, throwing her into the air with some great effort.

Turning back to face the pursuing AKumas hot on his heels, h eleapt into their midst to scatter them and
promote discord. Like a flitting shadow he danced around Akuma missiles, clear of their path, making sure
to keep his eye out for more trouble.

"What the -?" Dominique had just enough time to yell before the man threw her into the air, right over the Akumas. Dominique bit her lips hard to stop herself from screaming. In fact, it was only by her instinct and perhaps luck that she remembered, just a moment before she touched the ground, to break her fall, on the stretch of the street behind the sinisterly floating egg-shaped killing machines.

Dominique landed on her back, rolling two full rotations before stopping in a crouching position. Her eyes just had time to register the man distracting the rest of the Akumas before she realised that she didn't have too much time to activate her innocence, as the Akumas that she had recently just been thrown over were already advancing toward her. She quickly stood up, making a mental note to herself to tell the man what she thought of throwing people, the white rod held firmly in her hands, parallel to the ground.

"Nightmare's Scythe!" Dominique yelled, turning her rod to be at a right angel to the concrete floor and knocking its end onto the ground. Immediately, a long, arced blade materialized, seemingly having snapped out of the top of the rod. The white designs on both ends of the rod turned red, as though blood had been rubbed onto them, and the silver of the rod glowed eerie black before being enveloped by the blackness and turning as dark as a midnight sky. In the next two seconds, Nightmare's Scythe had been activated.

Dominique ran to meet the nearest Akuma, using the end of Nightmare's Scythe as a jumping pole, jumping to the same level as the Akuma and driving her scythe into it.

"Yarujanai, Miss!" Christian catcalled from the sidelines, bending to his right to avoid a spinning missile. "Now try doing
that 80 more times!!!"

Exorcist...Christian thought to himself. And a cute girl at it, man. Today isn't the best of days...

Dominique had to fight back an urge to roll her eyes as she heard a mocking call from somewhere amidst the Akumas where she couldn't see.
"As though I need telling!" Dominique yelled in no direction in particular, not wanting anything to distract her from destoying the Akumas. Dominique had tried to count the number of Akumas that she had destroyed, but it was impossible, she found, to keep count of the number of killing machines she had killed when there was every possiblity that she could be hit by a bullet which would disintegrate her into little more than dust.
She used Tendrils of Darkness once in a while, thanking the heavens subconcsiously for all the Akumas being Level ones, or Nightmare's Scythe's Tendrils would only be able to hold them back.
Soon, the number of Akumas had thined visibly. (or is is just wishful thinking of the dying? Dominique found a nasty voice saying at the back of her head)

"Hnnn~" Chris perched himself ontop of a chimney, catlike in all ideas. "They're retreating, nee~"

Akuma retreat? There's someone giving out orders...I'll have to wtach out...

Hopping over broken tiles over to the female exorcist, Christian Nightwish stuck out one hand, grinning sheepishly.
"Hey!, thanks for the help...those things suddenly decided to chase me for no reason in particular...what's your name?"
He flashed a toothy, affable grin to warm up to the girl.

Dominique swung Nightmare's Scythe at the Akuma in front of her, but to her surprise, missed as the Akuma floated sinisterly backwards. Not daring to even waste time to think, Dominique turned around expecting more Akuma, only to see the spare few Akuma floating backwards. It was a while before she realised that what they were doing was retreating. Under most circumstances, Dominique would have liked to chase after them, but she did not like the thought of provoking god knows how many Akumas just after they retreated.
After all... I should count myself extremely lucky that I'm not a mass of dust on the floor yet... Dominique thought, heaving a small sigh of relief. She inclined her head toward the man, and replied after reasoning that him knowing her name couldn't hurt her.
"I'm Dominique. Dominique Winter. You?" She returned his grin with a small smile.

A young girl walked down the long narrow streets of a small town in Romania near the two exorsists, however a wall kept them seperated. She had short hair that reached an inch above her shoulder and bounced slightly as she walked. Her deep purple eyes seemed to be occupied with thinking, and she wore a plain blue dress with a white apron above it. She was obviously a traveler, as any one could tell by her small carpet bag. She stopped and leaned against the wall.

Amay dug through her bag, and pulled out a few silver coins. Only six left... Things are going to get difficult from now on.. she thought sighing. She put the money into her bag and continued to mess around with it, producing many jingling noises.

((Amay...I'm not an Exorcist. Good luck Nah, dont worry, I'm not your enemy either. Mostly.))

Flashing his best Sunday smile at Dominique, Christian chipped in cheerfully "Hi! People round these parts call me Chris,
short fer Christian Nightwish. Dominique, huh? That's...quite a mouthful. How bout just 'Dom' or 'Nique', or 'Winter'?" He
shook his head a little, clearing his long dark fringe that obscured his eyes with dark shadows. His eyes were a pretty
red, like a couple of ruby gems gleaming in the moonlight, sparkling and clear. "Thanks for the help, again. Whereja
heading?" The young boy walked towards Amay's direction, who seemed not to have the chaos and rubble all around.

Dominique raised a skeptical, even slightly incredulous eyebrow at the young boy whom she now knew to be called Chris.
"You can call me Winter if you want. So, Chris... you sure can smile pretty happily for someone who just survived from the attack of that many Akumas... Although that may just be because you're so happy that you actually survived..." Dominique added darkly under her breath. I'm not even in the mood to tell him what I think about throwing strangers into the air...
Dominique inclined her head toward a rather small girl lolling against a wall a street away. Remembering her mission, Dominique wondered if the girl was a local. If she were, she could perhaps ask her for Akuma sightings or any recent deaths, so she, like Chris, started walking towards her direction.

Amay looked up as she noticed two people walking towards her. She looked around, hoping they where walking towards some body other than herself. However she soon realized that during her day dreaming and worring she had ended up far away from the main part of the city, and was now in some rebble filled area. She also noticed that the people walking towards her where a very strange sight. Both of them had long hair, the boy had black ruffy hair, and the girl had long silky hair.

Amay quickly realized that they where both probably much older than her. She quickled stood straight, she had been leaning against the wall, and smiled softly. '' Hello '' she said in a voice that brimmed with Innocence.

Chris raised one brow as he assessed the newcomer expertly. "Hmm....interesting..." He murmurmed to himself
thoughtfully, brushing a rebeling lock of hair past his ear. "Akuma attacks don't faze me so much nowadays..." He
told Winter carelessly, without much thought, his eyes dazed and faraway. As if recalling something, he slapped a
fist in a palm in realization. "Oh ya! Listen, I got some stuff on... why don't you have someone else take you around
fer a while? How bout you?" He turned to the young cloaked girl. "You got some free time on yer hands?" Without
waiting for an answer, he turned with a swish of his clothes, waving distantly back at the two girls. "That's that, then.
So long~!" And the young boy disappeared into the shadows of the suburbs of Romania.

"Something on...? What...?" Dominique started to ask, but before she could finish, Chris had vanished, slipping through the ruins. "What a flighty guy..." Dominique muttered, rubbing a sore on her back where she landed on which she just started to feel.
"Well then... Hello," Dominique walked a few steps closer to the girl. "Are you a local? What's your name?"
It didn't occur to Dominique what a stupid question she asked until after she asked it. The girl looked pretty much nothing like a Romanian, but Dominique kept her fingers crossed that she could at least be able to help her find her way.

Amay cocked her head as Chris spoke. When he began asking her questions her face became Dumfounded. '' Uhh I'm not really sure what your ask- '', however before she could complete the sentence he had darted off.
Amay sighed as she looked at the girl, who was now asking her questions as well.
'' My name is Amay Tottle '' she paused and smiled softly '' I'm sorry, but I'm not a local, I'm just a traveler, but I've been here for a few weeks '' she explained.

"Amay... I see... My name is Dominique Winter... You can call me Winter if you think Dominique is a mouthful too," Dominique added, thinking about Chris' comment about her name. She gave Amay a polite smile.
"So, you're not a local? Oh well, can you at least guide me to an inn?" Dominique asked, her back now really sore. Dammit... It really hurts now... Dominique cursed mentally.

Amay nodded '' Sure, of course I'll show to you an inn '' she smiled softly as she began walking.
'' That's an intresting Jacket '' she said as she stopped and looked at her.
'' You're hair is so pretty '' she said as she looked at it, then turned and began walking again.
'' So what brings you to this rural part of Europe? '' she asked.

"Thank you," Dominque said, looking around to face the young girl at the comment on the jacket; the Exorcist's uniform. Dominique wondered if Amay were trustworthy, and soon came to a decision.
"I'm an Exorcist, and this is my exorcist's uniform; you may have heard of us," Dominique explained, gesturing at the Rose Cross Sign, wincing slightly as her sore gave a sudden ache. "As for why I am here in this god-forsaken part of Europe, I'm on a mission, and I do hope that you will be able to help me with it?"

Amay cocked her her head, obviously confused.
'' Exorcist? '' she paused then smiled brightly '' I've never heard of them ''.
When Dominque explained that she was on a mission.
'' Sure I'll help you with what ever it is ''.

"An exorcist is a person who fights Akuma with Innocence, Amay," Dominique explained briefly, smiling slightly. "An Akuma is a killing machine that the Millinium Earl makes from a soul, a machine, and the grief. They're those round, egg-like things with cannons pointing out of them that were here just now... but you were probably lucky enough to not have seen them..." Dominique added darkly, then hitched the smile back on. "Because a normal human would be dead, you know?"
Dominique grinned broadly when Amay agreed to help with her mission.
"Great! Thank you," Dominique exclaimed delightedly.

Amay listened as Dominique explained what an Akuma was, she gulped some as she explained how it appeared.
Moma.. she thought, when Diminique replied ' Great, thanks ', she smiled brightly.
'' No problem, so what exacly is your mission? '' asked Amay.