[hr][i][h1][color=salmon]Haruka[/color] & [color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka[/color] [color=fa8072]T[/color][color=e78381]a[/color][color=d58591]k[/color][color=c288a0]a[/color][color=af8bb0]s[/color][color=9c8dbf]h[/color][color=8a90ce]i[/color][color=7792de]r[/color][color=6495ed]o[/color].[/h1][/i]
[hr][hider=Home Alone 3 OST - My Town][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SipPGKrNpU[/youtube][/hider][hr]

Aunt Akemi was pretty thorough with keeping to her word - the twins were shut in their bedroom right after dinner, literally grounding them at home. For the first few days, Shizuka was quite obedient - at Haruka's call he helped with unpacking their bags and personalizing the room, making their new place a little cozier. Unfortunately, the younger twin wasn't the type who could stay indoors and laze around on the bed, letting the rest of the week passed by just like [i]that[/i].

He couldn't take it anymore. "I'm [i]so[/i] bored!" He threw off his sheet. "And the night is still young!"

"Shuddap, Shizu," Haruka slurred from under his blanket. "You're noisy. Just lemme sleep."

Shizuka narrowed his eyes at his brother. He moved over and pulled Haruka up sharply. "You. You're gonna help me with something."

"H-Huh?" The elder twin rubbed his eyes. "Wha---"

"Cover for me, in case Aunt Akemi comes in to check on us."

That got Haruka's full attention. "Wait, you're sneaking out? Where the heck are you going anyway?"

Shizuka had already changed out of his pajamas. He was now wearing a navy-blue hooded windbreaker over a red polo shirt, a pair of dark jeans and black waterproof boots. "[i]Out[/i], obviously."

"I can see that," was Haruka's irritated reply. He jerked his chin at the window. "Didn't you say that this rain is bad news?"

"Yeah I know I did, and that makes me even more determined to go find out what the hell is going on out there." Shizuka gave his twin a brohug. "We didn't come to Verthaven to [i]die[/i]."

"But---"

"[i]No buts,[/i]" Shizuka made a crude imitation of their aunt. He stood up and took a deep breath. He would have to go down one floor before he could leave the walls of the shophouse - one, it would be stupid to phase out of the second-level bedroom and hover above the heads of the busy crowd on the streets outside; two, at current level he's nowhere skilled enough to use his ability to actually walk on air. "Here I go."

Haruka knew that nothing else he say would change his stubborn brother's mind. "Be...careful."

"[i]I'll be back.[/i]"

The older twin rolled his eyes. "Stop that Terminator joke. Not funny."

With a wave, Shizuka sank into the carpeted ground and disappeared.

[hr][i][h1][color=cornflowerblue]Shizuka Takashiro[/color], & [color=springgreen]Cindy Gabrielle Keagan[/color].[/h1]
[sub](Written in collaboration with [@Mr Allen J])[/sub][/i]

[hr][hider=Tsubasa Chronicle OST - 1&0 City][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyn4ZIpGYWo[/youtube][/hider][hr]

Shizuka jogged down the road - the rain was pouring even harder than before, every drop hammering down on his head heavily. He was getting better with his power - largely thanks to his physical prowess - and nobody battered an eye when he popped out of the red-brick wall of the shophouse and slipped under the mass of umbrella-wielders.

... ...

He didn't know for how long he had ran; the crowd on the streets was thinning, and the Asian-looking shops were soon replaced by taller, classier buildings. He slowed down to a walk, his hands in his pockets. His uneasiness grew with each step - he had a feeling that someone was watching, but watching who? From where? And why? As he was mulling over it, the streetlights suddenly went out, and a deafening sound pulled him out of his thoughts:

"...You almost made me crash, [i]you dickhead![/i]"

An angry voice made him stopped in his tracks. Even though it was a voice he had heard just today, it was still fresh to his ears, fresh in his memory. His eyes was beginning to adjust to the darkness - he turned round a corner, glass pieces crunching under his feet...

And he saw the back of a familiar figure.

By this point, Cindy had pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. It gave her enough vision to look around. The second she heard glass breaking (the perk of putting broken glass everywhere was that it stopped sneaky motherfuckers from coming up on you), she turned towards it and shined the light on the person. Instead of being a rapist or someone...it was that Japanese kid - yeah, the one with the weird-ass grey hair (well, in this city, that's like, literally, the least weird thing you could have - but still pretty damn weird).

Shizuka shielded his eyes with his hand at the sudden bright light. "Cindy?" he called out, squinting as he rushed towards her. "Hey, you okay?"

"Shizu? Yeah, I'm fine, boy," Cindy said, raising an eyebrow. She had calmed herself down a bit with the presence of her friend - she took in a few deep breaths before looking ahead. "...But this stupid motherfucker won't be in a second if he keeps standing there like a dumbass!" Like a coin, Cindy flipped right back into her state of heated rage. It was almost like Shizuka could feel it emanate.

The Japanese teen followed Cindy's gaze and his curious eyes fell on a strange purple light not far from them. Before he could make out of what it was the light disappeared, then reappeared for a moment - before it charged at Cindy in an erratic zig-zag. Moving with speed and precision unlike any animal.

"Oh shit!" Cindy shouted as the glass that was scattered all over the street started floating into the air. She put her hand up, cellphone flashing forward. "[i]Stay back![/i]" She said as she took steps back. Shizuka did the same at Cindy's order. He needed to know [i]exactly[/i] what kind of monster they were dealing with - otherwise he couldn't really see how they could fight back this thing blindly. Especially when they were at a big disadvantage now.

When...it didn't stop, there was little choice left in Cindy's mind. [i]Warned you.[/i] The thoughts ran through her head as she sent the flurry of broken glass at the figure blindly. There was a demonic screech as the purple eye came to a stop. It jumped high up into the air, the light perching itself on one of the streetlights.

"Why does everything in this damn city want to fight you?!" Cindy asked as she grew glass off her arms...before she realized that she has no real stake in this fight. "Screw this!" Cindy sent off the glass she had around her wrists at the beast, which made it loudly screech.

She quickly turned around and ran back towards her scooter. "Get on! Unless your ass wants to get friendly with him!" Cindy loudly ordered Shizuka to get on the scooter as she immediately hopped on it, and revved it. 

Shizuka obediently hopped on behind Cindy, his hands automatically around her waist, all his attention on the creature to spare any thoughts about the lucky skinship with a girl he only just met today. "I heard ya. Let's go!"

Cindy didn't waste a second in speeding off in the other direction - but the creature quickly gave chase. It hopped from building to building, chasing after the pair, it's purple eye leaving a glowing purple trail.

"Thank God!" Cindy shouted. feeling relieved that she managed to get away from it. "Welcome to Verthaven, kid! Where the weirdest shit goes down daily!" Cindy shouted over the sounds of her scooter's engines.

"Weird?" Shizuka yelled back. "This is awesome! I haven't had so much fun in ages!" Well, he had a killjoy idiot for older brother, duh.

"Boy, you must be loony as Meifeng!" Cindy loudly shouted, rolling her eyes. Before [i]another[/i] question hit her. "Hey wait! Before I even get ahead of myself; is that thing after us?" She couldn't look for herself, otherwise, she'd kill both of them.

Shizuka turned his head around. The violet glow was becoming bigger, brighter. "Of course it is! Can this bike go any faster? That thingy behind us is gonna catch up soon!" He thought he caught a glimpse of its appearance - something that had many feelers or tentacles - but it was too dark to tell.

"It's a scooter, [i]genius[/i]! Does it look like a crotch rocket to you?!" Cindy gritted her teeth as she slammed her foot on the gas pedal. The scooter sped up, but the beast was giving chase. The girl could only afford to give one glance, and saw that it was barely behind them on the roof. She shook her head. This wasn't good - if they stopped for a second, it'd plow right through her and kill both of them. "Don't say you got any ideas as to get out of this! Cause I got nothing!"

Shizuka's jaws tensed as the scooter picked up speed. Okay, Cindy had made it clear that they were probably not going to outrun the monster on her scooter, and from the looks of it the beast wasn't going to let them go so easily either. "Sorry gal, at the moment I've got none!" [i]Damn, at this rate we are really going to be killed.[/i]

"Screw it!" She grew glass on her right arm until her arm was encrusted with emerald-green glass. She swiped her hand at the beast, and triangle-shaped shards of razor-sharp glass came off her arm. Floating in the air for a moment, before Cindy willed the glass to fly at the beast one after the other. In the darkness, she had very little reference as to where that damn thing was other than the purple light she could only look at [i]for a moment[/i]. Most of the glass hit the building that it was one than the creature. Only one shard hit the beast, and it didn't even yelp - Cindy had no idea if her attack even did anything.

Shizuka whistled when the glass popped out from Cindy's arm. [i]So this chick's a Metahuman.[/i] Unfortunately, Cindy's cool attacks didn't work that well against the monster. He was a bit torn about a thought he had, but with the little discovery just now he had made his decision. "[i]Guess it comes down to this, huh?[/i]" he muttered (in Japanese) to himself. Then he spoke louder (in flawless English), "Okay, this idea might sound crazy, but we really have no chance to fight head on against something we don't even know what it is."

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." Cindy hissed in response to what Shizuka said. She was hoping that she could get out of this fast as possible. "If you got something cooked up in that head of yours, now's the time!"

"You'll have to crash your scooter."

"[i]OH HELL NO![/i]" Cindy shouted almost immediately. "Might as well just stop and let that thing tear us a new one instead of breaking my bike [i]for no damn reason[/i]!"

"We have to distract that thing then I can do [i]something[/i] to get us out of this shit," Shizuka replied in a rush. "If you don't want to die you'll have to trust me just this time!" He then shouted even louder, the unwillingness was clear in his voice. "Fine, I'll even pay you a new bike, dammit!"

Okay, the options were: trust this loony kid and his stupid plan, or get brutally murdered by the purple-eyed monster. God damn it. Cindy just wanted to grab her damn phone and head back to the apartment, not engage in a shitstorm. Cindy let out a sigh. Give this boy a chance, and if it ended horribly, then she'd just scoop his eyeballs out with a glass spoon. "You fucking better pay for this shit - if you don't have some sort of superpower that gets us out of this, it's going to be [i]your[/i] fuckin' head I'm going for!"

"That depends on how long you can hold your breath later!" He seriously didn't want to break the promise, but dire situation called for dire measures. He mentally waved off the image of a furious Haruka from his heated mind.

Time to enter the depths of madness, and go along with this abnormally retarded plan. Every part of Cindy was telling her to find some way to put some more distance, but there weren't too many options. There was a wall that belonged to a bar. Cindy closed her eyes and kept going straight, even as her scooter hit the curb and drove towards the wall. She felt oddly disconnected - like she trusted Shizuka. She didn't realize it yet, but green glass was coating her skin.

Shizuka tightened his hold around Cindy's waist and braced himself (he was careful not to hug her too hard - he felt like he's going to break her if he did). When the bike hit the wall and threw them off into the air, he said into her ears, "Now hold your breath! And keep your eyes shut!"

"Holy sh---" Cindy screamed, and was regretting every second of listening to this dumb ass boy. Though, he ordered her to hold her breath - which was hard as fuck given the fact that they're getting flung through the air. This kid some sociopath or something? Whatever. Cindy did her best - slammed her eyes shut, and held her breath to the best of her ability.

Shizuka focused his thoughts on Cindy - expanding his power to every part of the girl, and they ghosted through the wall, the tables and chairs...all the solid objects that were in their way. He finally switched off his ability and gasped; they crashed onto a flat platform, his back bumping into a drum set while shielding Cindy from the impact with his body. "Ow..."

"Oh God..." Cindy panted, repeating those two words over and over again as she looked around. Eventually managing to calm herself down as she realized that she was in a god damn bar. She wasn't in heaven, but she was still alive! Looked like that crazy boy knew what he's doing after all. Maybe. The first thing Cindy did after she came to was put distance between herself and Shizuka - sliding forward out of his grasp, then standing straight up.

Shizuka winced as he got up also. "Ah, sorry." He swore the sound of clanging cymbals was still ringing in his ears. His fingers brushed the broken face of...the bass drum. He pondered about what he should say to her, but Cindy beat him first.

"It's okay, uh..." Cindy scratched the back of her new as she looked around the dark room. "Thanks." She said before she whipped out her cellphone, and turned on the flashlight function. She looked around, and saw a bar... a bunch of chairs. She saw a light switch and ran over to it, but when she flipped it up, nothing. Oh yeah, there's a blackout. Jesus Christ, this day kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Oh my God... My scooter better be okay...damn thing was a Metropolitan." Cindy said to herself. She turned back towards Shizuka, "Okay, we should probably wait for..." When she looked forward, she saw the purple light peaking in through one of the windows. Getting a more clear look at the beast, it was tall...it had a multitude of tentacles, and a big orb for a body. It had one purple eye, the same eye that was stalking them.

First instinct had Cindy break the window that it was looking through, and the storm of glass shards at it. It let out a screech of pain as it hopped through the window. Coming in clear view of Cindy's flashlight. It's armored grey skin, surrounded by a layer of a liquid...almost like water. It stood up high in the air, raising it's tentacles into the air.

Rather than worrying about the exposure his power, this beast was the more pressing issue right now. Shizuka narrowed his eyes at the hideous creature beyond the window - he guessed this was probably the thing that had been giving him goosebumps ever since he arrived at Verthaven...wait, what if this thing was only a minion of a much larger main body, the central commander of more of such monsters? What if this one called forth more of its comrades here? Shizuka shook his head at the thought of the worst-case scenario.

Cindy took steps back. Creating more glass. "Oooookay..." she said, her arms were covered in thick gauntlets of glass. "Um... Think we gotta scrap with this thing!" No choice, really. It chased them all over Knightdale.

Shizuka raised a hand, reaching for Cindy's shoulders. "Hey, I got your back." And he meant what he said. Now that it was clear they had no way to destroy this beast - at least not in their current state - it's down to him to make sure they could get out of this crisis all in one piece with his 'secret weapon'.

"Let's get outta here. Together."