Let's go exploring
Ned flicked open her eyes as she was thrown out of the couch she slept on. She caught herself in her fall, and looked up to see a blonde haired boy laughing at her.
“Mornin’, sunshine.”
She stood and glanced at the clock.
“Good morning, are you well rested?”
Alphonse's green eyes gleamed as he grinned,
“Just fine, though not well fed.”
“I will make your breakfast soon, sir.”
They had been living in Stickpage for almost 4 weeks now. Alphonse had been in a rather good mood since Ned’s win against Candy. She guessed the fact she survived the encounter was a win on its own, though, Candy didn’t seem all that bad.
Her name was Ned, a simple maid who looked over a powerful man’s son named Alphonse. She joined the wRHG system as a way to make a profit, and help Alphonse get one step closer to his goal.
They lived in a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. She slept on the couch in the living room / kitchen which was joined in one big room. The only thing that served as separation between to two rooms was the large oak counter that acted as a sort of dinner table with barstool seats. Ned liked sleeping in the living room, mainly because she could see the lights of Stickpage through the balcony doors.
Alphonse crawled over the couch and plopped down into the seat, while the maid took out a pan she then placed on the stove. The girl hummed quietly while she turned on the gas stove, she could feel Alphonse's unwavering stare burn into the back of her head. Ned reached inside of the cupboards next and pulled out a bowl and flour. She was an excellent cook, but an even better maid. Of course, only the best could serve someone of Alphonse’s status, and she was one hell of a maid.
She slowly began to get into a rhythm as she put away the flour and took out the sugar, she had done this recipe so often she didn't even need to measure.
“Ned.”
Ned turned her head slightly as she poured in the milk and vanilla mimicking a mad scientist creating some god awful mixture of chemicals.
“Yes sir?”
“Let’s go exploring.”
Ned took out two eggs, cracking and plopping the yolks in the batter then shooting the shells in the trashcan. She whisked the concoction abusively, not a drop was able to escape the bowl or her deadly spoon.
“Do you mean go for a walk?”
Ned heard a slight snicker come from Alphonse as she dropped the batter into the hot pan making perfect puddles of pancakes.
“Yeah sure, why not? I heard this city has a park too. A little fresh air is always good right?”
His tone signaled for her to engage in conversation,
“Alphonse, are you planning something?”
“Me? Never! Can’t I just go for a simple walk without my motives being questioned?”
“Anyone else I would be fine with, but seeing as it is you, I highly doubt you wish for just a ‘simple walk’.”
“Where’s your faith in me Neddy?”
“Because I know you too well.”
He laughed,
“Aw, you’re so cute Ned. It really makes me sick!”
He jumped up from the couch and he started his way towards his room,
“Let’s get ready to go Ned, I’ll eat those later.”
She sighed, knowing full well Alphonse wouldn’t eat them later, but she flipped over the pancakes already cooking and put the remaining batter in the fridge to throw away later. He was too excited and she knew this day wouldn't end well.
----------------------
“You punk!”
“Really? Is that all you have to say? Just a minute ago you were talking so big, I see you have to resort to petty insults now to try and intimidate me.”
Ned twisted off the cap of her soda bottle and took a swig as Alphonse baited the stranger to hit him. It was one of Alphonse’s bad habits; he loved starting a good fight. It made her job a lot harder, much to her dismay.
“-asshole!”
“Now now, no need to swear! Can’t you see we have a lady in our presence? How rude.”
A triumphant grin stretched across Alphonse’s face as he successfully pushed the man closer and closer to the edge. The maid twisted the cap back on the bottle, her heart raced in anticipation on the incoming attack. She barely noticed the crowd of people gathered waiting on the same thing. Her mind wondered on how this had all began.
____
All through the afternoon Alphonse and Ned had a rather relaxing walk through town, which surprised her. However, their pleasant afternoon abruptly ended when Alphonse decided to walk up to a random man and start an argument with him. The stranger was older than them, though not by many years. He wore a simple attire, black long sleeve shirt and black pants. He had pale skin and black spikey hair.
__________
“-then hit me already!”
“Gladly!”
Ned’s mind snapped back to the present, as the man raised his fist. Ned had responded quickly, it even took the man a moment to realize he hadn’t hit his target. She held him by the wrist; his hand was only inches away from Alphonse’s face.
“Tsk, you’re getting slower Ned.”
Alphonse turned and walked towards a park bench and took a seat,
“Alright, you may continue.”
“That bastard!”
“If you apologize now for the insults, I will not fight you.”
“You’re out of your damn mind if you think I’ll apologize!”
Ned sighed; she raised her soda bottle and commenced its transformation. Moments later, the light faded to reveal her SP bat. The audience and her opponent didn’t hide their surprise. The small girl rested the giant pop bottle on her shoulders as if weighted nothing.
“I’m guessing you’re a RHG too huh?”
Ned said nothing and just pointed her weapon at the man. This brought a smile to the stranger's face.
“Alright, let’s go then.”
His hands began to glow a bright blue and two gun blades appeared. He pointed them towards Ned and fired, but she deflected the bullets easily with little to no effort at all. The bullets just bounced harmlessly off the bat’s rubbery surface.
The man lowered his guns seeing it wasn’t getting him anywhere. A yellow light took hold of his hands and seconds later a spear appeared, he dashed forward. His speed was unbelievable, and the maid had a hard time keeping an eye on him.
As he zigzagged closer towards her, he raised his spear prepared to strike downwards. She barely managed to dodge to the side, the air cried and crackled as the lightening charged spear split through it ruthlessly. He sliced his spear diagonally towards her, she managed to dodge once more but fell backwards in the process. However, before he could attack again. She kicked him in the stomach as hard as she could.
He immediately folded over. She jumped up and used her bat to shove her opponent’s head into the ground and hold him there with her weapons weight.
"I don't have to kill you, and if you apologize I will let you go."
"... I'm not apologizing for anything, he started it!"
Alphonse then called from the bench he sat on.
"You sound like a child now, pathetic really."
Her opponent pushed off the ground, his sudden burst of strength caught her off guard. He charged towards Alphonse, his hands glowed red. The maid sighed and pressed the button on the handle of her bat.
Streams of soda spewed from the handle of her weapon. She released her weapon and the giant soda bottle rocketed towards the man at breakneck speeds.
The bottle hit her opponent right on the head. A direct hit! He fell to ground unmoving. The maid ran towards the man and dropped to to his level, she sighed with relief hearing he was still breathing. The crowd that had gathered around quickly dispersed as authority rolled in.
Some policemen walked up to her, neither of them looked too happy.
“Hey, didn’t we take you in not too long ago? Ya know there’s a coliseum for this kinda stuff, right?”
The other man frowned at her,
"You've been warned. Do your fights in the correct place, you could have hurt someone!"
Before Ned could defend herself, Alphonse butted in,
“You’ll have to forgive her. She’s new to this place, she’s just so excited to start battling! As you can see.”
The maid stood up and watched as Alphonse began smooth talking her out of trouble. She silently thanked him.
“Hey, you're an RHG am I right?”
Ned turned her attention away from Alphonse and unto the man. He got up and dusted himself off.
“Yes, but, are you alright?”
“I'm fine, don't worry. Anyways, I want you to be in my clan. I could use a fighter like you.”
Alphonse cleared his throat once he had gotten the police to go away.
“Oh really? Too weak to fight by yourself?”
“Shut up, I’m not the one who needs a girl to fight for me!”
Alphonse made a quizzical look at Ned and she frowned, warning him not to continue, so he raised his hands up in surrender.
“Alrighty, ya got a point there mate.”
The older man returned his attention back to the maid,
“So? What do you say?”
Ned stared at the ground and twiddled her thumbs,
“I-“
“She’s in!”
Alphonse gave her a thumbs up.
“Well, I suppose I will join you…”
“Great, we can talk later at the coliseum.”
The man turned, but Ned soon stopped him.
"W-wait, so we are to be clan mates?"
"Yeah."
“My name is Ned.”
"I’m Aiman.”
Ned smiled,
"Nice to meet you."
The girl's smile was contagious and Aiman soon found himself smiling too.
"Nice to meet you too. Well, I'll seeya later."
Aiman turned and Ned could of sworn she had saw him limp, but when she blinked again he was walking tall like before.
Alphonse and Ned headed home too after that, their exploration had come to an end.
