Chapter Text
Prologue: An Intriguing Call
Zanka was sitting on an old roof in a rundown city. He was letting his legs dangle off the edge as he stared into the distance, a familiar weight pressed against his side. Jabber was next to him, their thighs touched as their shoulders bumped. His head rested on Zanka's arm, they were serene. This was routine for them, whenever they had down time in the cities after missions, they'd often split off together to get food, shop, or just to enjoy being out of HQ. They stayed in their comfortable silence until chirping from Zanka's choker broke it.
Chirp Chirp Chirp
Zanka slowly brought his eyes away from the horizon down to the choker on his left wrist, he brought it to his right hand, which was resting on Jabber's waist before clicking it to answer the call. "Enjin, wha's up? It's rare that ya call us, we headin' back this early?"
Jabber quirked open an eye to peer at Zanka's choker, clearly curious about what Enjin could be reaching out to them for. He leaned in to hear the call better, Zanka lifted his wrist closer to Jabber's ear in return.
"Jin-Jin, I'm hurt you'd call Zan-Zan over me. Didn't know you were playing favorites~" he spoke in a teasing tone, easy going as ever.
"Like you would've answered if I did." Enjin sighed over the line, clearly remembering every time he did try to call Jabber first.
Zanka and Jabber just huffed a laugh and shrugged in lieu of a response.
"Anyways, I just came across something I think you two would be very interested in."
The two boys shared a glance, before looking back to the choker, waiting for Enjin to explain further.
"Just found a living Spherite, and he's a Giver to boot."
Both boys sat up upon hearing that, the carefree air between them gone, now intrigue ate at them.
"Huh? How'd ya come across that?"
"Watched him fall from the sky, right into a No Man's Land. My hunches are never wrong, so I decided to investigate, and what'da ya know, alive, uninjured, and a Giver- tch, and a brat- HEY, IF YOU KEEP YELLING AT HER, SHE'LL KEEP YELLING BACK!"
Zanka's arm recoiled from their ears at Enjin's piercing voice, a wince on his face, a grin on Jabber's. He must've recognized where Enjin was.
"Enjin! You at Alice's! Tell that girl I said hi!" Jabber was always fond of chaotic people, and the Stilzas were no exception. The bond he had with them was rather wholesome, though it came across as weird to outsiders. After all, it wasn't every day you'd see a creepy teenage boy learning about neurotoxins from a scary old lady. He grabbed Zanka's shoulders and shook him in excitement, "Oh! Oh! Can you see if she has any sweets right now? Like something old or gross!"
"Okay, okay, but only if you stop yelling in my ear too! Don't need three of you doin' it!"
"Will do, boss man!" Jabber gave a mock salute, grin ever present.
Zanka's eyes slid from Jabber back to his choker. "So, what'd ya need us fer? Doubt ya'd tell us for no reason."
"Mn, keen as always, you're right, I do need you, both of you."
Chapter 1: Crash Course
The burger Rudo was eating was delicious, better than most things he got to have in the Slums, hell, almost as good as the scraps he could scrounge from Nobility's side every once and a while!
After picking him up from No Man's Land, selling him to traffickers, then taking him to that loud grandma's clinic, Enjin had finally treated him to some much deserved lunch. He had been explaining vital instruments and trash beasts to Rudo, who was trying his best to keep up.
"So, if someone cares for something, that something turns into a badass weapon that can be used to beat evil monsters made of junk?"
Enjin sat across from Rudo, slouched in his chair more than what should've been possible for a man of his stature. His eyes were bored and a cigarette lazily hung from his mouth, it wafted into the dank air above.
"Damn, yeah, you're better at explaining it than me, all the important bits, none of the filler. I like that." As he spoke, he fixed his posture, slightly, his eyes shown some mirth, and he smirked as he threw his arm over the back of his chair, still reclined, but at least more presentable as an actual adult.
"Anyways, you get the gist, and now, you get some downtime," he tossed a coin purse to Rudo that jingled when he caught it. He then stood and pushed in his chair, "Have some cash, take a break and go explore. You got some time while I go meet with your trainers." Enjin turned to leave.
Rudo sat the coin pouch on the table and stood to follow Enjin, "My trainer? What do I need a trainer for?"
Enjin stopped in his tracks before slowly turning around with a hand on his hip, exasperation on his face. "Is there anything you don't question, kid?" He took a long drag from his cigarette as he looked into the far distance at nothing in particular, and thought about what he wanted to spoil.
"First of all, you got two trainers, and they'll both be playing a part in making ya a better Cleaner. They're a package deal, so don't go doting on one over the other. They got different skill sets for different purposes, but you'll learn that soon enough. I'll go hunt them down for ya, meanwhile, you," he pointed to the table beside Rudo, "you might wanna hunt down your wallet."
When Rudo turned to the table where his money bag was, he found a mangy white cat pilfering it before running into a nearby alley. Without saying bye to Enjin, Rudo let out a curse and started chasing the feral thing! "Wait! Get back here you flea bag! That's mine!"
Rudo chased the cat for what must've been minutes, just weaving between different alleys, trashcans, and other small tight knit holes in the city's cracks. Just as he started to close in on the cat, he saw a tall stick with a curved top peaking out from a connecting alley. Without a second thought, Rudo grabbed it, with some resistance, and pounced on the cat, catching it in the curved top of the blue stick. With the cat stuck, he started reaching for his bag, trying to find the best way to obtain it without getting scratched.
"Come on, you're a cat! What do you need with a bag of money? Just. Let. Go!" He finally got a hold of the coin pouch!
"Hey! That's mine, ya little shit, give it back, or I'll make ya." The threatening voice came from behind Rudo, it was odd, like it was being filtered through something, he quickly yanked the bag from the cat and let it run off. Rudo then turned around to meet the odd voice's owner.
Rudo was surprised to find a lanky figure approaching him in a unique mask, if not for the deep voice, he wouldn't be able to tell that it was a man. With his stature, he seemed like a young adult, or maybe an older teen? He wore a modest gray and black uniform with blue accents, as well as a large white waist bag with a long tube that peaked out from it.
His face was mostly obstructed by his mask, save for the blue tassel earrings and light ashy blonde hair just barely visible behind it. The mask itself was more vibrant than the rest of his outfit, it was a dark blue with lighter shades throughout resembling fractured eyebrows, it also sported a single horn in the middle, like a beetle's. The bottom of the beetle mask had a normal respirator, same as Enjin's. Upon further inspection, Rudo noticed a familiar badge on the man's chest, was this guy a Cleaner?
The man stopped his steps, he stood at a slight lean, like he was used to holding a counter balance. His hand was out, he was waiting to be given something. That's when Rudo stopped analyzing his appearance to process what he'd said.
Rudo's eyes flicked back down to the badge, then up to the man's covered face as he brought his coin pouch to his chest and tightened his grip on the blue stick. He hunched down, not sure if he wanted to fight or run. "This is my money, you can't just claim it as yours!"
The man let out a deep annoyed sigh, his arm slightly fell before he re-raised it and pointed to Rudo's right hand that held the wooden staff. "I mean da stick." The man tilted his head as he spoke, the movement exaggerated by the swinging of his earrings.
Rudo turned his full focus to the stick to see what was so special about it. That was his second mistake.
Before he could get a better look at the apparent important stick he was holding, he found it pulled from his grip as he was shoved back onto his ass, the lanky man put some space between them after receiving said staff.
He closely observed the stick, tilting his head up to take it in better. Rudo couldn't gauge his expression under the mask, all he could hear was the man's long deep breath of what seemed to be relief.
What's up with this guy? Why's everyone down here so weird?
Then, the masked man's head lowered to meet Rudo's gaze, he spoke chillingly. "Now…" a blue light shone fiery behind the mask's eyes as his hands lit up with cold and misty anima, "time ta teach you what happens when ya touch another person's treasure!" His hands moved quickly as he spun the staff around himself, it glowed and transformed, growing larger while turning into a shiny polished metal. The once rough curved top was now smooth and donned multiple sharp points. With ease, the man swung the staff down fast and hard.
Rudo scuttled back just fast enough to not be caught in the crater left by the metal staff.
"There's very few people in this world who get ta touch Lovely without consequence, an' I can assure ya, that ya ain't one a' 'em!" The man pulled the staff from the crater without much effort and got back into his trained stance, he stood at an angle, popping his hip out, likely to balance out the heavy pronged steel beam he wielded with one hand. But before he made another move, Rudo just barely caught his focus shifting to something high up. The man's posture slightly relaxed, though in comfort or resignment, Rudo couldn't tell.
"Wowww, you must've really pissed off Zan-Zan if he can't hide his accent right now."
Another newcomer made themselves apparent.
The new voice, also filtered, came from above, though it was instead eerie and breathy with laughter. Rudo turned his upper body to face the voice, he was startled by what he saw.
It was an ominous looking man perched on a fire escape balcony railing, his knees were brought up to his chest in his squatting position. His hands were loosely entwined and rested in front of him casually like he wasn't currently balancing on a thin rail ready to collapse. His bony fingers were adorned with tight fitting brass rings on his knuckles, all freshly polished.
The new man was similarly dressed to the one in front of Rudo, same insignia, even their uniforms somewhat matched in style, though instead of blue accents, his were magenta. The most notable pop of color was some long knotted up fabric on the back of his waist that mimicked a tail which strongly contrasted with the blue freshly pressed front sash the other wore. Rudo didn't get to see such vibrant colors a lot in the Slums.
The main difference between the two, were their masks. While Zan-Zan wore a blue beetle mask that sat close to his face still showing his ears and respirator, this guy wore a completely black mask that had a long crow like face that jutted out far, the respirator just barely peaked out under the curved beak.
The crow man's long brown locs were decorated with matching brass jewelry that waved and clinked lightly in the breeze. His eyes were obstructed behind his mask, but Rudo could feel the deep stare underneath.
Rudo's focus flitted between the two, clearly anxious, he took a step back.
The crow man let out another deep chuckle. "Relax, little man, Zan's not gonna hurt ya." He reached up to the wire balcony above him and swung from it, jumping off towards the other lanky man with the staff, who to Rudo's surprise, just angled the staff's top towards him.
He landed on the inner curvature of the metal staff with ease. Then, as casually as everything else he'd done so far, the crow man dropped himself onto the staff into a laid-back position that should've been impossible, or at the very least, extremely uncomfortable. He laid his arms on its highest points like he was on the Ground's most comfortable couch.
The man holding the staff made no move to stop this from happening, he just kept his glowing eyes on Rudo. The crow man lazily shifted his gaze from Rudo to the other who was holding up his current seat.
"Come on, Mr. Bad Attitude, you heard Enj, this guy's a Spherite, he probably don't know the first thing about jinki taboos."
The intense stare from the blonde man slightly faltered and cooled, he glanced up to the other, before letting his eyes drop again. Then, with one arm still holding the staff so the crow man wouldn't fall, Zan-Zan began to remove his mask.
The man under the blue mask was actually a boy, clearly older than Rudo, but still with a bit of fat in his cheeks that proved he couldn't be twenty yet. He had somewhat effeminate features which were offset by his odd and sharp eyebrows. He was objectively very pretty with chilling eyes that still glowed bright with anima. His hair was styled into a short two toned mullet, the underneath was a dark brown that matched his brows while the top was a light ashy blonde.
The teen's face softened from it's anger into a somewhat meek expression. He clipped his mask to his belt and moved his free hand to his neck. "Yah, I'd forgotten 'bout that," he huffed a laugh, and a pointed a finger up like he was conveying an idea, "so much for good first impressions, but some lessons are best learned with some fear an' fire, an' that's not a bad one ta get outta the way quickly!"
Rudo was at a loss, the icy anger of the teen before him had completely vanished.
"Ya see, down here, a lot a' us got our treasures, an' we don't like it when people we don't know go 'round touchin' our stuff without permission," he gestured a hand to his staff, "see, this wonderful lady here is my Lovely Assistaff, an' the overgrown oaf on top a' her, is Jabber."
Rudo's eyes followed his hand to the man perched on Assistaff, the man, Jabber, also had his face on display now, his mask too was clipped to his belt. Jabber's features were sharper than Zan-Zan's, he was maybe a year older than the other. His magenta eyes bore deep into Rudo, like they saw through his very soul. He had a wide smile that came across as creepy. Jabber lifted a ringed finger to point at Rudo. "And you must be our lil' Spherite, Rudo, right?"
Rudo didn't know what to think of this duo. "So, Zan-Zan and Jabber? You two Cleaners?"
Instead of answering him, Zan-Zan's face got red, Jabber just burst out in a deep laugh, he brought a hand to his forehead.
"Ha! Zan! You got so excited to introduce Lovely, that you forgot to introduce yourself!" Jabber cackled.
The younger teen grumbled before letting the light in his eyes fade, his staff shifted and the man atop her only had a moment to realize what was happening before he was plummeting to the floor. Jabber hit the concrete with a loud thump, and a weaker chuckle escaped him as he laid there. The other teen spun his staff in it's smaller form before returning it to a sheath on his back. He then approached Rudo with a hand out, offering to shake it in a proper greeting.
"Name's Zanka, Zanka Nijiku. Zan-Zan's a nickname Jabber calls me."
Rudo was a bit shocked by Zanka's eyes. While before they were a bright chilling blue, they were now big and dark, even somewhat sad, like he was looking down a deep well he couldn't see the bottom of. Rudo quickly shook away that thought and looked down to the teen's hand, conflicted as ever, he reached out to shake it. Once their grips met, Zanka pulled Rudo's hand up to his face to inspect his gloves, a new analytic glint in his eyes, any anger or discomfort now gone.
"This yer jinki, ain't it, beautiful gloves, they got a name? Well if yer new ta the existence of jinkis, pro'ly not-"
Rudo was frozen in shock as the excited boy continued to gush over his gloves and question him about them until Jabber leaned between them, his eyes locked on Rudo as he lightly pushed Zanka back. Jabbers' eyes weren't nearly as deep or sad as Zanka's, no, his were sharp with the promise of violence!
"Zan, you're scaring the kid, he looks like he's gonna wet himself."
Zanka slightly jumped and dropped Rudo's glove, he crossed his own arms to help keep his hands to himself. "Ah, sorry 'bout that, I'll be doin' plenty a' analyzin' 'bout your jinki, no need ta overwhelm ya with it now."
Rudo held his hands behind his back to keep them from Zanka. "And why would you be analyzing my gloves?" He also wanted to ask what the heck a jinki was, but that question could sit on the back burner with the hundreds of others that he was thinking up at the sight of these two crazy guys.
"Because we, dear student, are your teachers!" Jabber threw an arm around Zanka's shoulders who remained still, he was clearly sturdy if he could hold up his activated staff and a whole person without breaking a sweat.
"Wait, you mean, you two are my mentors? You guys can't be that much older than me!"
Jabber threw his free hand up in a mock know it all impression, "Ah, but young student, age, does not mean wisdom!" Zanka elbowed him in the side causing him to keel over with a pleased sigh.
Zanka then threw his hand up in the same pose Jabber was just mocking, though he clearly meant it. "Enjin has entrusted us ta help ya become stronger, not only does that mean in fightin', but also in strengthenin' the relationship between ya an' yer instrument. Together, Jab an' I will be focusin' on different things that we might not catch if it were just one a' us mentorin' ya."
Rudo tried to keep up with Zanka, but he was so distracted by the other's unusual accent that he could only catch and understand every other word.
"Basically, one of us will focus on your instrument, and the other will focus on you!" Jabber summarized.
Rudo gave them both a once over, his face fell, not in disdain, but something close to it. He did not like the sound of playing student to these guys.
After a moment, a chirping could be heard from Zanka's wrist, he tapped his choker to answer it.
"Tassels, Claws, where are ya? Got Rudo in the city for y'all to meet."
"Enjin, Jabber an' I just came 'cross him, yer right," Zanka glanced up to Rudo, "he is a brat."
"So you two already met him, wonderful, you give him the whole spiel?"
Jabber placed himself behind Zanka so he could drape his head on his shoulder and talk into the choker better.
"Keep trying to, but someone with a bad attitude keeps interrupting me."
"Tch- like ya don't deserve it," Zanka huffed out.
"Y'know Jab, you could be talking about either one of them with the way I found Rudo, ha!"
Enjin and Jabber shared jokes at Zanka and Rudo's expense until a ringing could be heard from Jabber's own choker. He pulled himself from Zanka and turned away to answer his call, while he spoke to the person on the other end, Rudo focused on Zanka, who was now relaying coordinates to Enjin. "Yeah, just Southeast a' that noodle place we tried last time we were here, the one with the broken lights… alright, see ya shortly."
Both teens hung up around the same time and regrouped with Rudo.
"Just got off with Riyo, said she needed cords cuz she finished shopping."
"Why'd she call you fer cords? Ya can't find yer way outta paper bag."
Instead of responding, Jabber just smiled and lightly started jumping from toe to toe like he was warming up. Zanka closed his eyes and sighed before he opened them again, his anima glow returned as he reactivated Lovely and placed her at an angle against the ground. Jabber made a run for her and jumped on Lovely's flat side as Zanka swung her up, launching Jabber in the air.
He went higher than any building and looked around, Rudo could just barely see him point in a specific direction before waving and falling back down fast, only to be caught by Zanka and Lovely who placed him down gently.
"Aw, Zan, could'a let me hit the ground."
"An' give Eishia more work? Nah, save the hospital visits fer after a good fight." Zanka fondly smiled at the crazy man.
"But Alice is in town, I wanna visit Granny and get some of her gross food!" Jabber whined.
"Already gotcha covered on that."
The three boys turned to face Enjin who could be seen walking into the long alley from a jeep he parked at the entrance. He tossed a bag to Jabber who caught it eagerly and gazed inside like he was just gifted bricks of gold.
"What's our E.T.A. fer Riyo?" Zanka asked Jabber.
"Hm? Oh give her like a minute, was like half a mile out North, or something."
A figure jumped down beside the four men.
"That was South, Jabber." It was a girl, she wasn't wearing a mask like the others were when Rudo first met them. She was around Rudo and Zanka's age, but she was physically a bit smaller than she should've been. Her vibrant red hair was in an odd lopsided bun with random loose strands, it matched her wide green eyes nicely. She spun a pair of scissors in her hand and wore a custom Cleaner uniform like the others, though hers was far less concealing even with its baggy sleeves and legwarmers.
Was this the Riyo they were talking about?
"Great, gangs all here, now we can head back to HQ and officially get Rudo's initiation started!" Enjin turned from the teens and started to lead them to the jeep.
Rudo followed after Jabber and Zanka who were shoulder to shoulder behind Enjin, they were muttering to each other quietly. It didn't seem like they were sharing anything private or secretive, they just decided that a lower volume was all they needed to match the distance from their faces, which were not very far apart. Riyo stayed close to Rudo and bumped him lightly with her shoulder as they walked.
"So, you must be Rudo, I'm Riyo, nice to meetcha!" Her eyes were large and a bit scary, just offset by her relaxed expression and tone.
Rudo started blushing.
She's a girl! And she knows my name? Can't mess this up, can't mess this up!
"H-Hi, I'm Rudo."
FUCK! She just said my name! Of course she already knows it, bet that ass Enjin already told her!
She just smiled and continued their conversation to help Rudo get over his embarrassment.
"So Rudo, wanna sit in the trunk with me? Speaking from experience, Zanka and Jabber aren't the most fun to sit next to as a newbie. Bet one of you've already set the other off."
"Wow, how'd you guess?"
Her eyes locked on the two boys in front of them.
"Well, first tell me what Enjin told you about them, so I can see what you already know."
Rudo thought back to Enjin's vague words before that cat stole his wallet.
"He said that they were gonna be my mentors, and that they'd be helping me with different skills."
"Alright, and what have the boys themselves told you?"
"Eyebrows told me that they'd help me get stronger and improve my relationship with my gloves, I think? The other guy didn't say anything much of value."
Riyo chuckled, "Better not let Zanka hear you call him that, or you'll wake up matching him."
Rudo froze in his tracks, "H-He'll shave my eyebrows?"
She shook her head and gestured for him to keep following, "Nah, he wouldn't… Jabber would."
Rudo was not excited.