Chapter One
The secret faction
"Doncha' have anything that's less.. oh, I dunno.. retarded?"
This question begot the indecisive trainee a sharp slap at the back of her dye-job head, sending hair falling into her face and a hand to rub at the assaulted spot. The scowl was set accusingly in the direction of her Soulmon, the itsy-bitsy Ditto staring at her as blankly as ever from his favored shoulder position.
"Don't be rude to a higher-ranking officer," Claudes chided, and although no one else in the area could tell by that bland, neutral voice, Sissy was sure he found the entire ordeal hilarious. Sissy rolled her eyes and stepped back from the tables, excusing her own presence to speak privately with the annoying blob of green and purple who apparently thought he was Jiminey Cricket. "Oh, and like you think it's not." Claudes merely stared back, unchanging, but by those twin black dots of eyes that sparkled with unescaped mirth, Sissy knew all too well that the genderless fiend was mocking her in his thoughts.
"Well, you're going to have to pick something." he reasoned uninterestedly, monotone seeping into a bored and depressed state, but only with the smallest hair of a fraction noticed by those who knew him oh-so-well. Which, tallying up those said people in total, equaled a full one person. Sissy really wished sometimes she wasn't that lonely number. "But they're all so.. stupid." she sighed, right hand rubbing roughly at her face in dismay. A man standing near by heard this and his beady eyes narrowed in annoyance at the girl's blatant disregard that she was "smack-talking" every weapon specialist in the entire room, and they could all hear her.
"I know," agreed Claudes, his eyes rolling to show exactly how dumb he thought the situation was in general. "But I don't want to pick none," Sissy thought outloud, scratching at the back of her neck sheepishly, twin gray eyes staring down the weapon choices laid out before her. There were long swords, short swords, daggers, bows, cross-bows, axes, hammers, maces, clubs, long sticks that they called a fighting implement but Sissy knew that what they referred to as a "stalf" was actually just a big twig that you could hit people over the head with. All of them, in her observing gaze, had plenty of flaws or things that would cause failure soon enough should others wise up during battle. For instance, many of these swords whose makers claimed were sharp enough to cut steel didn't realize that if the blade was torn out of it's handle then there was no way to put it back in unless you happened to have a forge handy on you at all times.
Sissy groaned loudly, grabbing the attention of those awaiting her choice with impatient glares. She didn't want to choose, though! What was the point? She didn't like any of these weapons, but if she chose none then she couldn't fight with any in the first place. Hand-to-hand combat was not her specialty. Sitting out of fights was just as impossible for her to deal with, because although watching did get fun it would be moronic to attend a fight without some self-defense.
"Francis Mangrove."
The tall female grimaced and made a gagging face, to which Claudes snickered. Sissy absolutely hated her first name, hated it with a passion, and when she was called by it there was only more incentive to make fun of the perpetrator with pranks and such nonsensical jokery. "Yeah?" she asked, not really sure she wanted an answer, turning, only to find a soldier with his arm outstretched, holding a scrap of paper in it. The guy was a bout a head shorter than Sissy, but this didn't seem to ruffle his feathers, instead making him try to be all the more intimidatingly commanding. "You have been sent a message from the General."
Sissy raised an eyebrow, taking the parchment containing more parchment, no doubt with words on it, "Oh-kay.. wait, which General?" This question was given a dark chuckle from the unknown soldier before he turned and left with a well-polished Cloyster Soulmon in tow, the man dismissivey replying as he departed, "I think you know the one."
Slowly, uncertainly, the trainee's eyes fell back to the letter. Without caring to read the outside address, she tore it open and began to read. Meanwhile, though, Claudes was busying himself with heckling the soldier. He had turned into a miniature replica of the figure in uniform, hands on his hips and mug in a silly expression with the tongue sticking out.
"I think you know the one~" the Ditto imitated, voice exactly as the man's had been. Then, in he next instant, Claudes was back to his original self, jelly arms crossed in mild annoyance at the soldier's attitude. However, when he got no hysterical laughter from Sissy at his antics, Claudes leaned in somewhat to spy what the letter read. He read it but as his eyes went over the sentences Sissy spoke them absently.
"Dear Francis and Claudes,
You have been chosen for a special mission. Please report to the storage in the basement.
Leading General of the Three Kings and head master of Oxfield,"
A pause, where both Soulmon and human glanced at one another, repeating the name in unison, "General McMurfree."
It was a god-send. They wouldn't be forced to stand here and decide which weapon they would sign their life away to. Sissy could jump for joy, she felt, she was so happy to have a way to escape this torturous task. "Well, now, we can't argue with the General's orders, can we?" Sissy grinned, seeing the same feeling of relief wash over Claudes through that glint in his charcoal specks. "Like I said before, it would be rude.."
"It's settled then!" announced Sissy and without any further explanation she quickly sprinted through the doors and down a hall towards the storage room, long legs carrying her as fast as possible away from that particular layer of Hades.
"Free at last, free at last, by God almighty we are FREE at last!" she shouted, arm flailing and waving the letter about. Claudes merely gripped tighter onto the fabric of her shirt, clutching on for dear life, as his foolish biped counter-part bounded for the storage room in a fit of childish glee.