The Ancient Ones: Age of Nothingness (IC)

[The Intergalactic Russian Empire]

Hokkaido, Japan

Pobeda turned to Marguerite, taking a second to look long and hard at her "My name is Pobeda Voyana. I do not know how I got here, and I assume nobody knows. And you are......" he paused, reading the woman's mind. "You are Marguerite Diorè, you were born February 15th, 1993 in the city of Paris, and you're agent of an international organization called Project X which, by the way, is a terrible name. I read your mind, and I assure you that I am not a simple civilian. I could help you, but I really see no reason to do so at the moment."

TARDIS, Borg World

Kadoor looked to the Doctor "So uh, you said we're going to die soon? I'm used to that. I'm Kadoor, by the way, Kadoor Pământ. I think I was sent here to help you, or something." she went over the the TARDIS door and peeked out, seeing the combat below "Ok, first off, what is it that you're fighting?"

[Kaidou]

Manichean Plane
Realm 0
Timere

"The Bonacci Hotel... is gone???" Henry nearly sank to his knees, not so much because he had lost a year of his (albeit greatly lengthened) lifespan, but from the shock of suddenly learning of the hotel's destruction. "What about the civilians?!"

"They all died", said Nekoma, emerging from the ramp of the ship and dragging Mvikkogh the ambassador along tied to a chair and gagged, struggling feebly to get out. Behind him came Yuen Tse-kai and Arjun Singh, the latter leaning heavily on his walking stick as he walked. "There was nothing we could do; Zhou Yu-ke of the Chinese Army came in, planted bombs everywhere, and then blew the place to kingdom come."

"That witch!" Henry spat in anger. "She'll pay for this yuuuge, horrible crime!"

"What about Tanakamaru and Lunes? And Gönad?" Samuel asked the crew. "Are they safe?"

"We don't know", Nekoma replied, shrugging.

Samuel fell silent for a moment, even as the Japanese man turned the chair containing the bigoted ambassador around so that the man, still with the yen symbol stitched into his forehead, could face the boy. Samuel cast a terrifying gaze on Mvikkogh briefly, and the man cowered in fear, closing his eyes and moaning from behind his tape gag.

"In any case", said Arjun in his trademark Northern Indian accent, as he hobbled closer to the rest, "we're at your disposal, if you ever need us." He smiled.

"Thanks a lot", Samuel replied. "By the way..."

He trotted away, before returning with Seishirō and Akita Sr, both of whom were standing by a corner in an almost meditative and trance like state of silence.

"Arjun Singh, Yuen Tse-kai, and Junichi Nekoma", introduced Samuel, gesturing to the three men. He then turned around to face the trio of detectives, and gestured to the father and son duo. "Mr Sora Akita and Seishirō Akita."

"Nice to meet you", greeted Yuen amicably, straightening his tie and shaking Akita Sr's hand firmly.

"The pleasure's mine", Akita Sr replied, with a genuine, jovial smile gracing his 60-something year old face. Yocchi, on the other hand, stood by his side awkwardly, grinning halfway, his Icelandic flag scarf fluttering in the wind.

"Hmm", said Henry, glancing to one side. "It seems Gehrnam's gone."

It was true; the pirate-like guardian had quietly taken his leave while everybody was talking.

"Ah well", said Samuel, shrugging, again casting a cold glance at Mvikkogh, who averted his eyes. "I suppose we can move on now, since we've got the ship and all. Mr Akita, we can travel freely inside the Manichean Plane, am I right?"

"Yes", Akita Sr replied. He adjusted his long trench coat and his hat, as the sea breeze began to pick up and grow stronger. "Right now, you have two options; you can either travel to Tonol, which is an empty but life-sustaining planet, or to Kinhe, which is a trade port owned by the Niril Republic."

"The Niril Republic?" Henry asked.

"It's one of the big political players in this corner of the Manichean Plane", Akita explained.

"Then I say we go to Kinhe!" Henry declared. "We'll dock at one of their ports and then take things from there."

"Sounds good to me", said Yuen, nodding his head in agreement. "I think it'll be a lot more beneficial to our long term goal if we go to the port of an important nation than to some random no man's sky."

Both Nekoma and Singh nodded in agreement.

"If there aren't any objections", said Samuel, walking back towards the ship confidently and grabbing the backrest of Mvikkogh's chair, dragging the man up the ramp as he went, "let's get going now. Mr Akita, please give Captain Hex the coordinates for our next destination."

"Oh yeah!" Henry yelled, thrusting a finger into the air. He was clearly very excited. "This is gonna be YUUUUGE!!!"

"Is he always like that?" Akita asked Nekoma, as he and Yocchi walked towards the ship, following behind Henry.

"In the two or three days I've known him", Nekoma replied, "I would suppose so."

...

And thus, the Super Weapon Retrieval Group (SWRG), as Henry called it, prepared to set off on the journey to their first destination of the Manichean Plane; Kinhe of the Niril Republic.

Super Weapon Retrieval Group

Samuel Guren IX
"Black Horse"


Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange
"Sorcerer Supreme"


Henry Donald Saladass
"Grand Marnier"


Sora Akita
秋田　天空


Seishirō Akita
秋田　世志郎
"Yocchi"


"Cain"


Frederick II
"The Great"


"Ackerman"


Aayla


"Hex"


Arjun Singh


Yuen Tse-kai
袁澤凱


Junichi Nekoma
猫間　順一

[Forever Neutral]

<< DIMENSION G >>
Somewhere in Capital City

One month later . . .

"You're going to answer all the questions I ask you. Am I clear?"

This was said to a corporate official who was being held over the side of a building by his leg. The leg being held by Capital City's new grey-clad vigilante.

"Y-yeah! Sure! Just don't-"

"Shut up! I took down some goons last month. Goons that you hired! They were trying to send something called Lythite through the black logistics channels to get to CongressCorp. What is it and why does the Corptocracy want it!? And before you think about lying, remember that I can tell when I'm lied to, and I won't hesitate to let gravity decorate the sidewalk with your brains. Start talking!"

"S-Sure! We uh, we got a quarterly report from CPS. S-Said they n-needed additional funding. That Congress wouldn't stick it to the oligarchs to fill the gap!"

The vigilante spat. "Of course. Keep talking!"

"U-um, after that psycho chick got nabbed a couple years ago, CPS put a no-contact order on her and s-said anyone caught talking to her is going straight to Peace Farm for immediate reconditioning."

"What does this have to do with Lythite!?"

"B-Because, she was working on metaphysics. You know, time travel, portal jumping. After she was arrested, CPS sent in Special Circumstances to raid her headquarters and private home, and they stole her technology. Few months later, come to find out th-they' reverse engineered her tech. The technology was operational two months after. Prototypes, tests, experiments."

"And?"

"And they got in contact with some far away place. Said it was another dimension and whoever was on the other line was interested in donating to Congress. Weapons, vehicles, men, robots, money -- all of it."

The vigilante could see that this fat-cat wasn't lying. But then, if he wasn't lying, that makes this whole thing far more sinister than originally predicted. This is how far the Corptocracy was willing to go to keep their grip on the city. To keep themselves on top. What could be aliens from another dimension promises them resources, and they lose their minds.

"None of you thought that this could lead to something nefarious? This is exactly why I'm needed, to protect the city from the likes of you. Tell your colleagues that Lythite is off-limits. I've already found one shipment, and I'm going to locate and confiscate the others. That stuff is dangerous, and what you're doing with it even moreso. If I find continued shipments, or if I find out that more orders are being made, I'll know who to come to. And you won't want to see me again. Trust me on that."

"S-Sure! Just l-let me go!"

"Okay." The vigilante released his grip on the man's leg, allowing gravity to do its job. Before he met a splattersome fate, his body halted a few feet above where his doom lied. Held up by a grey cable of some sort. He looked up at the roof but from what he could tell, the vigilante was gone.

[The States of Balloon]

SCP-507 disappeared from his location with a flash, leaving the remains six to continue their adventure without him.

[Cybraxia]

Valkyr - Alistair
Wilfre's Ship
Tokyo, Japan

---

Valkyr turned her head to Ann. "These men killed dozens, if not hundreds, and you wish for me to spare their lives? Their lives were forfeit the moment they allowed themselves to be accomplices in this crime." Valkyr turned back, and charged into the approaching hoard, diving head first into them. After a moment, the sounds of metal on metal were heard, and blood flew as robots and men were cut to ribbons by the claws on Valkyr's hands.

Dresdas spoke. "Don't let yourself be consumed by this, Operator. You must maintain-"

Alistair cut him off. "These men deserve to die! To slaughter like this with reckless abandon... I will paint this ship red with their blood!" Valkyr ripped apart a robot in front of her, and let out an war cry. When she did, Bloodfyre would most likely feel his blood boil, and his arms quicken in their strikes, while her enemies would feel sluggish.

"Rip and Tear, until it is done!" Alistair shouted as Valkyr dove again into the horde.

[Kaidou]

Dimension 50
Kanegi
第50宇宙
金木

Asano Clan Main HQ
浅野一族総本部

The sound of alarm bells erupted throughout the entire castle just as the sun left its midday peak and began shifting towards the West. As he walked out of the prison basement level, Matsushita was alerted to the sudden situation which had just popped up in the HQ.

"General Matsushita, Chimaera troops have entered Kanegi. They're headed straight for the East Wall."

Grunting to himself in irritation, the bespectacled Matsushita pushed his pince-nez further up his nose, before storming out of the prison with one hand resting on his katana's hilt.

"Let's give it to them, then!"

...

In the streets of Kanegi
金木の市街地

Rank 3 Commander
Guy Mariss
"Tor Brother"
One of the Six Tor Brothers
Combatant of the Chimaera (Bielag Army)

"Hakai", sneered the Tor Brother, his face obscured by a Guy Fawkes mask as he tore through the streets of Kanegi, tearing into the terrified civilians with his machete, his squad of Chimaera soldiers following his example. "Subete o hakaishitearu..." ("I will destroy everything...")

The Six Tor Brothers were renowned throughout the Japanese and Chinese territories as incredibly brutal terrorists, frequently carrying out massacres and other horrible atrocities. A number of them had been captured before, but at present, all six were at large and, worst of all, taking orders from Biel Bielag, one of the most insane and psychopathic commanders of the Chimaera.

Of course, on this occasion, they were attacking the most highly fortified territory of the Japanese Empire's remnants; they certainly did not expect Kanegi to put up such a fierce resistance.

Guy Mariss learned that the hard way, when he received a bullet to the chest just as he went down into a basement, sending him doubling down onto his knees in pain.

That basement, as it turned out, was the exit of a secret tunnel connecting that part of the city with one of the military bases outside of the main HQ.

Lieut.
Jirō Ihei
生丙　二郎
Platoon Commander, Matsushita Division

"Good afternoon", Ihei greeted Mariss, as the latter clutched the bullet wound in his chest in silence, attempting uselessly to stifle the spurts of blood that escaped from the crude entry wound. "I believe you are trespassing on our territory. Please die."

Before any of his five Chimaera soldiers could do anything, Ihei had drawn his blade and, in one swift move, cleanly sliced off the Tor Brother's head. As they backed away from him in shock, the terrified Chimaera soldiers could do nothing but watch as Ihei raised his pistol and emptied it into their bodies.

"We have 76 men, am I correct?" Ihei asked, sheathing his katana and placing one foot on Mariss' severed head, as he reloaded his pistol. "Sergeant Shōji?"

"That is correct, sir", the sergeant replied.

"Good", the lieutenant said, with a sadistic grin, as he walked up the stairs, and out into the bright, bloodstained streets. "That's more than enough."

...

Entrance to the Main HQ

Lieut. Gen. Miki Numasawa's convoy had barely arrived when a dark figure scaled up the side of the wall, leaping past the guards who stood there (they fell to the ground with their throats slashed), and landing in front of the female general, who drew her long sword and pirouetted gracefully, pointing the blade at the adversary from a crouching position.

"Well well well, if it isn't one of the Tor Brothers... Guy Meio."

The man in the Guy Fawkes mask raised his hand and flashed Numasawa the bird.

Rank 3 Commander
Guy Meio
"Tor Brother"
One of the Six Tor Brothers
Combatant of the Chimaera (Bielag Army)

"Oh, getting childish now, are we?" Numasawa taunted, as she maintained her position perfectly.

Without even responding, Meio pointed his middle finger at the soldiers standing poised for battle behind Numasawa. Without warning, several tiny calibre bullets were ejected forcefully from a little hole in his middle finger, finding their mark in the soldiers' foreheads and sending reeling to the ground in puddles of blood. The bullets meant for Numasawa were deflected skilfully by her blade, as she slowly stood up to her full height of 180cm.

As they faced off, one of the doors of the exterior courtyard was kicked open, and a corporal was sent flying backwards with an axe buried in his chest. From the door came yet another man in a Guy Fawkes mask, clad in a business suit, holding two tomahawks and wearing a fanny pack with many more tomahawks hanging ready for his use.

Rank 3 Commander
Guy Tienbau
"Tor Brother"
One of the Six Tor Brothers
Combatant of the Chimaera (Bielag Army)

...

Elsewhere in the castle

The unfortunate Tor Brother who attempted to ambush Lieutenant General Shūichi Arima and stab him in the back ended up with a katana run straight through his body.

"Guy Yuurj, isn't it?" inquired Arima sarcastically, as he drove the Tor Brother straight to the window. At the last moment, the general twisted the katana (it was a cheap blade), bending it almost 90 degrees and leaving it stuck in the Tor Brother's belly, before smashing him through the window and leaving him to plummet down 3 storeys. With that, he tossed the scabbard out of the window along with the man, before placing his hand on his own blade, the entirety of which was silvery and metallic, as he slowly walked down the corridor to the exit.

The Demon of the Sangū Division had tasted blood already.

...

Prince Ryūsuke Asano's room

"Lord Asano", greeted Tadashi Sakakibara, tapping on the door and entering the room (this time no longer bothering to bow to the portrait of Asano hanging on the wall), "it would appear that the Chimaera has launched a surprise attack on Kanegi. However, there is nothing to worry about, as we have both General Matsushita and General Sangū here, along with at least 30,000 troops and loyal mercenary armies."

The silhouette of Asano behind the screen was, as always, performing a suspiciously repetitive action at the nether region of his body. This time, however, it seemed that the daimyo was holding a framed portrait in his hand and looking at it.

A minute passed, and Asano moaned in pleasure, chuckling to himself and leaning back in the chair as he breathed heavily, putting the portrait down on the chair.

Eventually, the silhouette of the daimyo put on a yukata and emerged from behind the screen.

If Sakakibara was shocked at Asano's appearance, he certainly didn't show it. But nobody would have judged him otherwise; Asano had lost most of his muscle mass, the only flesh remaining sagging off his forearms (especially his right forearm, since he wrote with his right hand). He was hunched over, and his nape long hair was beginning to fall out in clumps. The bags under his eyes had taken on a sickly purple hue, and his cheeks had sunken in till the shadows were almost permanent. A stale smell emanated from his body; clearly, the man had not showered in a long time.

"Just do whatever you need to", the daimyo said dismissively, as he walked past Sakakibara without even turning his head to acknowledge the retainer. "I need to go take a dump."

As Asano left the room, Tadashi Sakakibara could not help but take a step into his lord's private quarters. Under normal circumstances, he would never have opted to do something like that, but things were beginning to get quite ridiculous; no orders ever came from Ryūsuke Asano anymore, and all the decisions were being made by Sakakibara himself and the generals.

If things continued, Sakakibara thought, only destruction would follow. He was genuinely concerned for his lord.

The closer Sakakibara walked towards the screened away part of Asano's room, the stronger his nose stung from the stench that came from there. Whatever was going on in there, it seemed that Asano didn't care one bit about his personal hygiene.

"Oh, my goodness..."

That part of the room was filthy. The tatami was covered in horrible stains all over, as was the armchair. The bookshelf there was devoid of anything except piles of unwashed clothes.

Still filled with curiosity, Sakakibara stepped further inside, looking over the sofa to see what exactly Asano had been looking at earlier.

"What the fuck?!"

Beside the portrait of the anime girl, there was a stack of comic books. As he looked through the stack of books, Sakakibara's face slowly turned from one of confusion to abject anger and frustration. All the books were pornographic; the covers looked rather innocent, but the pages (some of which were frayed at the corners and somewhat damp) were filled with mature content of the most depraved and horrific sorts imaginable.

Clutching his mouth in nausea, the old retainer swiftly cast the books back onto the floor and left the room, coughing and spluttering as he went.

"Who the fuck am I working for???"

...

Tadashi Sakakibara's Private Room

Several Minutes Later...

"What is your name?"

"I am Tadashi Sakakibara, My Lord. I am a lawyer and a military strategist. I wish to serve you, for I believe you are the only one who is worthy of serving the Emperor, of all the lords in this land."

"That is good, Tadashi Sakakibara. Together, we shall build up our empire and strengthen its footing in this turbulent Multiverse."

...

Iwasaki Mitsuhide, Ishida Ootarō, Kuroo Kōki, Yanagisawa Hibiki, Maruichi Shintarō, Kakehashi Tenkū, Takagi Masanobu, Nishigura Atsushi...

岩崎光秀、石田大太郎、黒尾公気、柳沢響、丸市慎太郎、架橋天空、鷹樹正業、西倉淳。。。

Who are all these men?

None of them are worthy to serve the Emperor. They're all power hungry and only look out for their own gain.

Except for this one...

Asano Ryūsuke.
浅野龍介

But what exactly has been going on? What is it that has gone wrong? Was it my fault? No, I only wanted to see our Empire prosper, and its people become wealthy and joyful. There was nothing more to it.

And yet, I ended up serving a man who has deceived me for 30 years. He was 27 then, and I was 49. Yet I followed him like he was a Messiah.

How has it come to this? How have I become the puppet of a man who sits around all day and does nothing but masturbate to anime girls?

He doesn't care. He's no different from all of them. He just wants enjoyment for himself.

And I have dishonoured myself by serving him.

All those men who died under my emergency powers... have they all died wrongly?

There is no redemption for an old fool like me. The spirits of those who have died shall haunt me forever as I traverse the endless fields of nothingness.

...

"Get a medical team! We cannot let him die!"

Tadashi Sakakibara, aged 79, eldest son of Brigadier General Gō Sakakibara, father of five, grandfather of four, and retainer of Prince Ryūsuke Asano, had committed seppuku in his room in the Asano Clan's Main HQ in Kanegi. His insides were splattered all over the tatami as he lay face down, the knife still buried in his belly.

He left no death poem whatsoever, and in his refusal to do so, had taken his reminiscing to the grave with him. The medical team found him just a few minutes after he had lost consciousness, and as the battle raged on outside, general fighting against ranked commander, Japanese soldier fighting against faceless terrorist, a team of doctors in the HQ's hospital attempted to revive the old retainer.

As it all happened, Ryūsuke Asano, clad in his most formal kimono and looking actually presentable for once in the last few months (he had showered), stood by the side of the operating table, watching as the doctors and surgeons furiously tried to revive the old man from his state of hypovolaemic shock induced cardiac arrest.

I cannot respect your wish to leave the corporeal realm, Tadashi Sakakibara.

"Get the defibrillator!"

You will serve me till the day your life expires on its own.

One shock.

And I shall reward you greatly when this war is over.

Two shocks.

You shall not die.

Asystole.

...

[Naval Monte]

Collab with Legokiller and Saint Morning

Dining Room ( 2 Hours Later)

Elizabeth felt like a fish out of water the longer she stayed in the room. The dining room itself made her think of either the same rooms in fancy cruise ships or restaurants, places that people like her rarely enter. Seeing the noblemen and women talking to each other, most of them talking about stuff that Elizabeth has little care about while saying nice things to each other to look good in front of the other nobles. “Whether on Earth or on Saturn some things never change.” she said, spin the wine inside her glass.

The mage/sailor guardian was sitting next to an old man who came in wearing body armor that came straight out of Star Wars, though now he was wearing a suit, and a reporter who like her was looking around the room and the people, occasionally taking a few photos.

Dylan admired the decor of the dining room, the flashing of his camera, and the audible and iconic clicking sound that each snap made filled the dining room as the man eagerly took in his surrounding and the grandness of it all. The room was filled with Saturnian royals of varying origins, while many regarded the visitors with somewhat distant and cold demeanours they were fascinating nonetheless and their coldness only served to spur on him on. “ This is spectacular, do you see this Greg, come on have to admit this is pretty amazing.” He said taking another snap. As he turned within his seat to take various pictures of his surroundings he eventually caught Elizabeth in the line of his camera, blinking, the reporter lowered his camera and titled lowering his camera the reporter nudge Greg and leaned over to the older man. “So what’s her problem eh? You know, besides the whole destroying London thing,” He inquires, his voice but a whisper. “Think I’ll be able to get an interview with her?”

“I see it and I will admit it looks wonderful but I was never the type to like fancy places, I’m more into machines than this.” He told Dylan. Still the engineer looked around the room to take in the spectacle of the room and the party. Like Elizabeth he wasn’t to keen on the nobles and didn’t care for their cold demeanour, responding back in kind to them. When Dylan lean towards him and asked if he can get an interview with Elizabeth the old man frown. “I think you have a better shot getting an interview with the king and queen of this planet than with her.” The old man looked at her, thinking on what could be her problem.

“Maybe she feels like she doesn’t belong in here? Which if that is the case I can relate.”

Dylan frowned for a moment, his eyebrows knitting together in thought as he stares indiscretion at Elizabeth. “I’m going to talk to her,” Dylan claimed, not even waiting for Greg to try to stop him he shifts over towards the Dark Sailor Scout, his camera with him. “Your Elizabeth right? Nice to meet you, I’m Dylan Monroe” He introduced, extending a hand over the table towards the woman in question. “You look awfully lonely over here.”

Greg tried to stop Dylan but the journalist took off before he can do a thing, leaving the old man to go to the woman. Greg sighed. “Bloody idiot. Good luck mate, your gonna need it.” He said, hoping Dylan would come back in one piece. Elizabeth took her eyes away from the glass and looked at Dylan, surprised at someone from Earth wanted to talk to her. Elizabeth looked at the hand and soon took, shaking it. “I’m not alone persay. I came here with three friends but they are sitting somewhere else in this room.” she told him. “So Dylan, why want to see me? I thought most people from Earth hated my guts after what happened in London?”

Unlike the strange and darken witch queen dressed Elizabeth, Serena choose the simple yet elegant flowing pale tan dress, with the upper half having floral patterns. There was a slight transpatternily of the dress that show her soft fair skin behind it. Serena added her own touch of jewelry from her silver heart shape necklace, embedded with a colorful mystic glass orb stone and had a DNA shape in the middle. On her head was the crown champion tiara of Kalos, made of silver and containing a mixture of pink and white diamonds. On Serena’s ears were a rare chain of pearl earrings, said to be made by a shiny pocket monster clam. Serena’s cheerful mood wasn’t disturbed much by the coldness from the nobles, reminiscent of Sailor Saturn’s personality herself. Although, as she walked to her designated seat, Serena wonder if the nobles here never saw an outsider before or the very least, not have to deal with them in a regular basis.

It seemed to be comforting for Serena to sit next to Hotaru, and didn’t mind much for Alice being next to Berly. There was a growing excitement, uneasiness, and curiosity when Serena heard she will be next to Hotaru’s true relatives. Serena imagine what would they be like, and the dreadful thought of one of them could be the bad parent because of what happened long ago. How did they respond to Hotaru doing the time of crisis when she was predicted to bring destruction to the Silver Millennium, and after poor Hotaru placed under a sleeping curse as punishment. It wasn’t helped by the fact that a year ago, Sailor Saturn assist Infinity to destroy all reality as they know it. What a tough cookie to chew on, and likely made them into a cold and bitter folk from such tragic event.

The fact Serena considered herself to be like the big sister for Hotaru, it might be a shocker for the family and the rest of the nobility. Then again, Serena did so much for a girl to grant Hotaru a future and life she can enjoy living, Serena literally dragged her own life and was needlessly ready to throw it away. In retrospect, it was absurd for Serena to do so and almost died because of it. Now, the near death events of Galaxia and back at London haunts her life. However, she earned the love and friendship of Hotaru, and so did Elizabeth. Even if Serena is unable to give it her all and complete her hopes and dreams for the two, perhaps in one of the universes out there, fate had them destined to be with each other. If it exist, Serena could visit it. Serena smiled a little, but took a deep breath as it will be a lot to explain to her family, and her justifications for everything she done so far for their daughter. Especially how Serena end up caring so much for a deeply messed up woman like Elizabeth, and the damages she done to the people of Earth.

Suddenly one of the Large doors near the edge of the room opened and the royal family of Saturn emerged. The Queen, with her long silky locks almost dragging at her feet, moved with the grace of a swan followed by the Her husband (http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/sai ... 0713134205), Prince Kai (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73 ... 413bba.jpg) and Prince Genma (http://i.imgur.com/PG6m69L.png). The royal guards all bowed in response to their arrival, the nobles lowering their head in respect as they made their way to their seat. The Queen’s hand glided through the air like a kite gently caressing the edge of Hotaru’s chair as she passed her, and took her spot at the dining table, the King nervously uttered a few words to a nearby guard before heading out of the room, while the two princes took their seat at either side of Hotaru and Serena.

Hotaru’s gaze had shifted towards the table surface when the royals arrived, but it drifted to her brother Kai when she felt a soft nudge at her ankle. Her eyes on his face, she got a glimpse of the man’s smile before it vanished behind his usual stoic mask. “Nice to see you again, little sister” His voice was deep and held a rather kind tone despite the man’s rather intimidating disposition. Hotaru smiled at him and nodded, before her attention was caught by the sound of her mother clearing her throat.

“Wonderful Guest,” She began, resting her hand on her chest. “It’s a pleasure to have you here on the greatest day in Saturnian history. Not only has my daughter returned but the delegates from Earth have finally arrived.”

The nobles clapped in response, though many of them didn’t seem to pleased by the prospect of either of the two. “Now eat and be merry, tonight we celebrate!”

Elizabeth and the Earth delegates both looked at the door that swung open as the Saturnian royal family entered the room, pretty much grabbing everyone’s attention in the room. Elizabeth looked at the king with a puzzled look as the man looked at least in his twenties or thirties yet had white hair? She was quickly reminded that Hotaru along with the entirety of the planet and the interstellar civilization it was a member of came from a manga franchise that is also a well known anime series, weird hair and eye colors is par for the course for them.

However the appearance of the queen made some of the Earth delegates look at the long raven haired woman with awestruck at her beauty, some also had the addition of lust along with awe. Elizabeth was sure one of the ones who admire the woman and felt a lustful attraction towards her. “I say little Hotaru is going to grow into a fine woman in the not so distant future.” she said to herself, confident that her friend would most likely inherit her mother’s beauty.

When Elizabeth saw the first brother come out she covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh too loudly. “Does this bloke think this party is a D&D convention? Maybe joining this party won’t be so bad if more folks came in dressing like fantasy roleplay characters.” She thought, a few of her suppressed laughter breaking through. The last brother to come out was normal compared to the others to have arrived and while Hotaru was too far for Elizabeth to see her reaction Elizabeth can still see her aura and seeing it take white and bright yellow glow told Elizabeth that Hotaru was happy, which made the woman smile.

When the queen gave the speech about being honored on having the delegates and for her daughter’s return Elizabeth didn’t smile or clap like the other nobles and delegates, she saw through the charade. The queen’s words sounded hollow to the occult detective, almost like she was reciting a line for ceremonial purposes than expressing any joy over the two events; more over thanks to her aura sight Elizabeth can tell that most of the nobles weren’t quite overjoyed about the delegates or Hotaru being in the planet.

“Again, whether on Earth or in Saturn rich sods are all the same. A bunch of cold blooded bastards.” she said, making her contempt at the nobles evident to anyone who heard her, not caring if some of the Saturnian nobles overheard her as she wanted them to hear what she had to say about them.

Serena notice there was something odd about the father, the one with the fancy eyecap eyeglasses, and how he was nervous about this whole banquet. He wasn’t appeared to be glad or happy to see his daughter, and appeared to be quite weird. Perhaps the white hair was natural, or long term stress or depression withered his hair into snow white. Unlike the passionless nobles, seemingly wanting to get this historical event over with and return to do their regular schedule, the Queen was joyful for her daughter’s return and wanted to make contact with Earth. It was… oddly out of character for a Saturnian, more a less, the imagine Serena was painting. The Queen was beautiful and appeared to look like an older Hotaru, except not, and Serena didn’t dig into the overly long straight hair. Hotaru was already a young adult, and had a remarkable beauty of her own. It helped contrast between the horrible twisted adult Hotaru transformed into a wicked mistress, and consumed Serena’s soul. Serena sighed, wondering if she already told Elizabeth the story when the city she stayed for a week was once inside an illusion realm of mirrors.

The oldest brother, maybe, who sat next to Hotaru was clearly a red battle mage. Serena blinked and stared at time, asking herself if Kai is being serious in this whole party affairs or he usually wears this every day. Serena found the whole outfit ridiculous and a cosplayer for a convention, but if his mother or the servants didn’t scorn him for the choice of fashion, or he simply didn’t care. Either way, he is happy to see Hotaru, and Serena found some comfort from this fact.

Serena’s curiosity and eyes meet with the prince who took a sit next to her. He looked so grumpy, exhausted, and uninterested in the whole affairs, he was silent and spoke no words. Maybe it can be a good thing, since he could ignore Elizabeth’s insult to the Saturnian nobility. There is some truth to the witch’s words, but only an example Serena met back in Kalos named Lysandre. But Hotaru didn’t mention much about the Saturnian people and nobility to Serena, so only first impressions and assumptions is all she can work with. This might get ugly.

“Excuse sir?” Serena asked Prince Gemma. “My name is Serena Baker from Kalos, and it's nice to meet you.”

Hotaru let an awkward smile graced her lips at her mother’s speech, the woman was always one for formality and social norms so the mere fact that she would even mention her in her speech was enough for the Saturnian Princess. “How is everything Kai?” The princess inquires rather meekly, feeling rather silly about being embarrassed and slightly uncomfortable in the situation that she was in. Her elder, remaining stoic as ever, leaned over to his sister and whispered to her. “Things have been… rough since you awoken… even worse since the fusion of this universe with Gnosis.” Hotaru basically expected that to be the case. “Mother in particular, you know she was never the same again when Serenity placed you under that curse, this is probably the happiest I’ve seen her in a long time she hasn’t executed a single person since the knowledge of your arrival was known to us all.”

“Execution?” Hotaru gasps, though covers her mouth and flushes red when a couple of nobles glances her way. All it took was one look from her brother and the nobles gaze reasserted themselves elsewhere. “Yes, executions… Mother has been… difficult person to be around and for whatever reason it has grown rapid since the fusion of the universes. I’m quite shock that she would ever let humans visit this planet, but Berly was the first and now these delegates follow.”

“Berly’s a human?” Hotaru was shocked by this revelation, under the assumption that the red-headed beauty was Saturnian. The fact that she wasn’t, and yet was the Magister/Court Wizard of the royal family, was not only odd but highly alarming. Even before she was placed under a sleeping curse her mother had a large disdain for humans, something about being betrayed by one though she never went into details and Hotaru was far too young and naive to care to ask for more information. Her brother nodded confirming this, Hotaru didn’t even know how to respond to this.

“In unrelated news, i’m now the gate keeper of the Magical Barrier Surrounding Saturn,” her brother informed. “ So it would be imperative that you inform me when you're leaving… you might have to leave without telling our parents however, make things alot easier.” Hotaru winced, that was true, she hadn’t planned to stay as much as she wanted to, this wasn’t her life anymore. She had friends and family elsewhere and it didn’t feel right to just abandon them to return to her old life. “Duly noted,”

From the corner of her eyes, Hotaru noticed that Serena was attempting to speak to Gemma and she winced, her other brother was a tough nut to crack, she could only hope that he wasn’t too rude to the girl. Gemma’s lazy gaze wandered over to Serena as she introduce herself. Raising his hand to his lips he took the toothpick out of his mouth and eyed the pokemon trainer up and down. “You're a human right?” He inquires, ignoring her introduction.”I don’t sense any dark aura from you, mother must have been wrong when she said all humans,”He places the toothpick back into his mouth, “But i’ll hold my judgement for later, i’m Gemma do with that what you will,” He said leaning back into his seat, his arms crossed.

Dylan didn’t get to respond to Elizabeth’s question as the royals had entered the room, quickly picking up his camera he took several snaps of them from the distance. This would be the first time that anyone would have the chance in meeting the rulers of the Second Largest Planet in the entire Solar System. Lowing his camera he winced in response to Elizabeth’s comment. “Well I wouldn’t say that’s fair, you should look at their perspective before judging them, just like how I want to reserve judgment of you until I understand your perspective of what happened in London. Besides, if you helped beat Galaxia, then you can’t be as horrible as everyone makes you out to be.”

Elizabeth winced a little at Dylan reminding her of London. “What happened there was a mistake.” she uttered, her voice low as guilt over the event hit the woman. “As for my judgement I can tell the nobles don’t care about us because some mages from back hom…” Elizabeth almost called the Earth home but stopped herself at the last second. “Back at Earth, display extra sensory powers either by birth or when they have trained and lived with magic long enough, the latter being for more common with me being the rare exception of being the former.” she explained to Dylan as she no longer have a reason to keep what she knows about magic in her home world a secret.

“One of ESP-like powers is to see people’s auras. Thanks to that I can know a person’s physical, mental, spiritual condition. I can tell when someone is either depressed or possessed, a very handy power to have if your job is being a private investigator.” Elizabeth looked at the crowd and saw the various cloud of energy trailing off everyone in the room.

“So you don’t think I’m the worst human being since Hitler for what happened in London? You have my thanks for not being as judgemental as some people.” she gazed at the other delegates for a brief second. “As for Galaxia I wasn’t expecting her to invade Gnosis just like the rest of you. I heard that Nazi Vampires were heading to the planet but they were a no show and instead she took over.” Elizabeth scratched the back of her head. “I’m not gonna lie, I came in with no attack plan for her because she just came straight out of nowhere.” Elizabeth let out a chuckle, somewhat embarrassed to admit that Galaxia’s arrival caught her off guard. “Tell me about yourself Dylan? I want to know about you more before I can say anymore about myself.” Elizabeth finished her glass and placed the empty wine glass on the table, waiting for one of the many waiters to arrive so she can ask for a refill.

“I’m a human of course. I have some funky set of genes compare to the other humans in this universe and a psychic, but otherwise, I can pass as an ordinary human girl. It’s nice to meet you Gemma.” Serena’s eyes of curious grew when Gemma mention all humans and no dark aura radiating from Serena. Serena found the latter part to be good, since Elizabeth and Hex Maniac Celestine didn’t taint her sweet attitude. There was also the revelation of Berly being a human as well, but it wasn’t a big surprise. Everyone here had a human appearance, and can fit into human society. Well, for a while, as their lifespan and slow aging will catch on. She wondered if Gemma had any magical powers and can read aura. “Hmm, if you can read auras, can you tell me what’s mine Gemma? I can detect auras as well.”

Serena’s alert went off as she listen to Hotaru and Kai’s discussion about their mother. It confronted her suspension and imagination on what happened to one of Hotaru’s parents, and it was the mother. Sometime bad is spiraling down for her, and perhaps her sanity is slipping. Given how her universe merged with one where dark gods and spooky horrors exist, whatever creature that is native may lurk around here. What the most concern she learn, and made her an afraid, is how Hotaru will have to sneak away after this party. There was also execution. This is a bad omen, and Alice is going foresee predictions soon.

Alice meanwhile, was not doing the whole prophesying the future and instead was examining the food and drinks. There was so much food and drinks to try out, it was hard to decide. “Excuse me Berly, but what meal do you recommend for me to eat?” Alice asked in her lofty and elegant voice. The Gardevoir then ask. “You’re quite peculiar and unique from most of the locals here, Berly. If you don't mind answering a simple question, where did you come from and what brought you here?”

“Not much to say,” Dylan shrugged in response. “I’m not a particularly interesting guy, well in comparison to you people,” He waves around the room. “I’m just your typical coloured reporter looking for a good scoop.”

Elizabeth gave the man a small smile. “Don’t sell yourself short there mate. Being a reporter isn’t that bad. Hell, before I was suddenly thrust into this whole sailor gig I was a private investigator. Granted half my cases involved both normal and paranormal cases but for me paranormal crimes are as normal as typical crimes committed by your run of the mill muggle.” Elizabeth sounded bored as she recalled back some of her old cases, most of them being the usual ones with the ones she enjoyed making her smile grow somewhat.

“So the occult underground was finally exposed to the world? It was only a matter of time really. The Grande Noirceur just keeps on making new shite without stop, eventually it was going to break the delicate masquerade that pretty much every since cabal and conspiracy as been trying to maintain since forever.”
“Yeah I heard about the whole Occult underground thing. Greg,” He points over to the old Aegis agent currently sitting alone. “Was telling me more about it earlier, to think a whole world existed right under our nose is amazing, makes you look at life with a different perspective eh?”

“So you were a paranormal officer? Must have been a thrilling career eh? There’s a lot of reporters investigating the supernatural on Earth, ignoring the Silver Millennium for the most part because they are really hard nut to crack.” he points to himself. “Obvious i’m not one of them, kinda like a challenge”

“For instance” he picks up a glass of alcohol and downs it in one go. “I bet I can out drink you,” He claims gently placing the glass back onto the table, a smirk on his face.

When Dylan told her that every reporter around the world was trying to get stories from the underground Elizabeth strangely chuckled at the idea, especially when he mentioned that the Silver Millennium was a hard nut to crack. “I think their experience with the underground would help them out with the millennium, getting reliable information from there is difficult. Everyone there values secrecy so much that they are ready to kill people for them or die with them. As for the underground being another world it is that but it is also a secretive counter culture as well. Granted not all counter cultures makes the world feel so alien and strange that it might as well be a different world entirely.”

When Dylan challenged the witch to a drinking competition she gave the man a smirk.. “I accept your bet.” she saw that her glass was filled and she raised it and drank it down in one go. “What do I get if one this bet of ours?” Her eyes briefly turned red as her smirk grow, her face. “Otherwise I can think on what the losing condition should be and I have a feeling you won’t like it.” Elizabeth let out a sinister sounding laughter but she really has no ill intent on the man, she just wants to mess with him.

Ignoring the laughter that came from Elizabeth, Dylan simply raised a brow, the smirk still on his face. “Don’t know, but I’m sure we can think of something when we get there.” Elizabeth was starting to like this man. “I agree, we can think of what to do after our fun is over.” Just as Dylan’s glass was refilled Elizabeth took his glass and drank from it in one go once more. The witch still keeping her smirk on her face after the act, giving him her glass as an apology token.

“You know. I think this place is a terrible setting for our bet.” Elizabeth got up and reach down to grab Dylan’s hand, helping the man up. “Let’s find a much better place for us. The last thing I want is some prudish noble getting in our way.” Elizabeth began to lead the way as she and Dylan left the dining room.

Gemma played with the pick in his mouth, rocking the chair back and forth a bit in his seat when Serena questioned him. His eyes flashed a multitude of colours and Serena would feel a wave of calmness crash upon her and a glow would soon in case her form- pinkish in nature- the young prince would simply watch from afar continuing to play with the toothpick in his mouth. “ You’ve got more love than is natural, are you sure you’re not some deity or alien pretending to be human?” The prince inquires, though he doesn’t look as if he cares all too much about her answer.

Berly twirled her red locks with her thin fingers, the curls clinging to her finger which danced through them in a circular fashion. She hadn’t once glanced down to the food on her plate, instead watching with intent as the Queen and her royal relatives sat down to dine with the rest and showed more attentiveness to the Queen’s speech than anyone in the room, though unlike the nobles or human representatives she neither clapped or showed her true feelings about the matter. When Alice spoke the red-head had to blink, having been caught of guard as she hadn’t been paying attention to the pokemon. “I suppose I’ll take that as a compliment,” Berly turns her gaze to the surface of the table, her eyes staring hard at the utensils that decorated the grand table. “As much as I try I’m simply not cut out to be Saturnian nobility, I’m actually from Earth, specifically the Golden Kingdom.” She admitted intertwining her fingers together underneath the table.

Serena gave Gemma a blank stare, hoping he wouldn’t turn out to be crazy or have a life shattering reveal in his pocket about Serena’s identity. There was the abnormal gene of something alien inside of Serena’s genetic code, which Star descripted it as a part of a precursor race. Likely the time she was an ancient one, but it wasn’t life alternating and so minor to useless more than anything. “I was a deity once, but it’s a long, confusing, and complicated story that now I regret being one but at time same time happy that I stop an evil god who wanted to destroy existence. Yes, that kind of weirdness.” Serena mumbled a little as she tried to get back on track. “But that’s not the point Gemma. I’m not some alien pretending to be a human, I was born as a human and lived a life as a human. Simply put, I really care for other people and Pokemon, and I give much compassion.” She smiled a little. “And hey, my love and kindness allowed Alice to meet me.”

Alice nodded and whistled, as she wasn’t going to tell Berly the time Star blew up the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace and it did nothing to stop Galaxia. Such comment will make things awkward. Of course, there was something else about the gingered haired lady, as Berly admitted she came from Earth. “Intriguing Berly. I only been to the Golden Kingdom once and sadly I couldn’t appreciate the beauty and wonder of Elysium. Again, it was a short visit and afterwards, I doubt the Golden Kingdom is open for tourist to explore.” Alice then asked. “So how was your life in the Golden Kingdom?”

Before either Gemma or Beryl could respond to their respective partners, the Queen suddenly stood up to her feet and clapped her hands, grabbing the attention of almost everyone in the room almost instantly. “I believe that’s enough eating for now, I believe that it’s due time for a dance don’t you folks agree?” The queen directed everyone towards the dance floor nearby. Beryl was the first to stand and extended a hand to Alice.” Are you coming or what?”

Gemma continued to rock in his chair although he did peer over to Serena. “ I suppose you want to dance as well?” Hotaru, glanced briefly over to Kai, ready to ask him for a dance when a soft hand landed on her shoulder. “Hotaru dear, why don’t you and I have a little chat while everyone is dancing?” Her mother inquires, and Hotaru blinked in surprised, though she would soon nod. “Don’t worry about your brothers, i’ll make sure they are properly cared for.” She nodded to Kai, who nods back in understanding.

“Um, well of course.” Serena replied to Prince Gemma as she stood up from her chair. It was at this moment, Serena was checking him out and see how charming he appeared. Serena offered a hand to the man, and gestured to come along to the ballroom. As for Alice, she nodded but blushed a little as she will have to dance with Berly. The gardevoir wasn’t sure how good of a dancer Berly is, and she will have to work with it naturally. Afterall, Alice was a natural ballet dancer. “I’ll be glad to dance with y-you.” Alice quickly recover from cracking up a little.

“I must warn you Lady Alice,” Berly began, her body instantly moving in perfect sync with the music that began to play through the room. “If you expect me to go slow…” she goes in close, twirling around the pokemon for a moment before gently taking her hand into her own. “You chose the wrong dancing partner.”

Gemma follows suit, gently taking Serena’s hand into his own as he escorts the Pokemon Champion to the dancefloor. As the two walked, Serena would hear a few jeers from a couple of noblewomen jealous of the fact that Prince Gemma, who never danced when asked, was dancing with her of all people. As the music began to play, Serena would find it shocking by how well the Prince moved despite his lazy and uncaring demeanour. “Let’s see if you humans are as good dancers as you are heroes.”

Alice was able to keep her bearing and movement with Berly surprising well, and smiled back at her. “I can adapt just fine.” Alice seemed to enjoy the rapid pace and dance with the red haired woman, as she added her own twist and turns in the dance between them.

Serena chuckle lightly, as the telltale signs of the Prince being native to the human race is visible. The Pokemon champion found it quite adorable. “You have much to learn about humanity Prince Gemma, but I can give you some pointers. Now, follow my lead.” The champion began to assist the prince to perform tango in from of the crowd. She kept it simple, and allow him to add to the already mix style of Kalosian. Perhaps, he would change it around as well.

“If you don’t mind, but could you tell me about what was Hotaru like when she was living in the palace?” Serena asked the prince.

---

Palace Resting Quarters

Elizabeth knocked on the door and waited before entering just to make sure no one was inside. When she heard no one at the other side she tried to open the door but found it locked. “Oh for the love of.” she muttered in a hushed tone, not wanting any near by servant to over hear her. Elizabeth took out a hair clip that Berly put on her and began to use it to pick at the lock.

A few minutes pass and eventually Elizabeth got the door to open. “Yes. I should thank Beryl when I met up with her.” Elizabeth was going to keep the hair clips for future use encase she needed to pick at anymore locks since her skeleton key and lock pick set was with her old clothes and they disappeared along with Sans.

Elizabeth entered the room and saw a massive bed with covers around it. The wall covers were a dark purple color with silver being the second color. The chairs were made with the finest wood the Saturnian monarchs can buy and were painted with the same color as the wall. The bed rails were engraved with depictions of animals native to the planet. Elizabeth walked towards the bed, opening the covers and sitting down. She patted at the spot next to her to let Dylan know he can join her.

Dylan was impressed by how easily Elizabeth managed to break into the room with only a hairclip, it was an impressive feat, and something that he would definitely want to pick up on later on, bottle in hand he poured the powerful liquid in a couple of cups and handed one to Elizabeth. Downing his in one go, and feverishly shaking his head, his throat burning at the sensation, he placed the cup down once more and wiped his mouth. “Whatever is in this thing,it’s pretty potent” he coughed lightly. “Are you gonna drink or what?”

Elizabeth smirked and pour the liquid in her glass and swallowed it, shaking her head as she felt the drink go down her throat. “Bloody hell this stuff is potent. I have to know what is the ingredients for this stuff.” Elizabeth took the liquid bottle and poured more for both Dylan’s and her glass. “I figure you want an interview with me and if this drinking competition is your idea of getting my drunk to spill out my secrets than just know that won’t work. I had others do this to me in the past and I did this to others in return, this would have failed if I wasn’t too keen on revealing anything.” she gulp down her glass, once more closing her eyes as the drink traveled down. She was getting use to the liquid while trying to guess what sort of concoctions were used but so far she couldn’t pick up anything that was familiar.

Elizabeth gave up on trying to figure out what she can get by taste since the ingredients were most likely made using resources from Saturn. Elizabeth lean back, using her free hand to support herself while the other moved her glass around slightly, only having half of the amount of the news shot. “But you are in luck since I’m willing to talk both as a mage and as a sailor guardian!” she said in a boisterous manner. “Ask whatever questions you want Dylan and assuming they aren’t too personal I may not skip them. But in exchange you have to reveal stuff about yourself. One of the major laws with magic in the occult underground is equivalent exchange. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.”

Elizabeth drank down her glass again. “Not even magic is free and believe me you better make sure you know what you're doing with it, the fine print with some spells are a killer.”

Dylan frown when he heard about the downside with magic from his world, taking a shot from the bottle. “If magic comes with steep prices as to risk a person’s life why still dabble with it?” He asked as he refilled Elizabeth’s glass and his afterwards. “Everyone has different reasons for getting into magic. Some do it for the power, others for knowledge, some due it because of a matter of faith or maybe greed or lust. Some are just damn curious about it. But when you have the power to bend reality to your will than you can understand why most would want to stick with magic even if we all place ourselves indebted to magic and have to repay the favor for allowing it to warp reality for us.” she drank down another shot.

“There has to be more reasons to stay with it besides power? Not every mage is that shallow.” Elizabeth shrugged. “Some are like that but you are right that others have different reasons. As I mention for some the knowledge they gain along with the power is enough to keep them going and others treat magic as a part of their faith. So keep magic around because they find the benefits that it gives to be good enough to live with the drawbacks and a few like me were born into magic and for us we really can’t image a life without it. Even if said life would be better than what we currently got.”

Elizabeth spoke in such a somber mood that it was enough for Dylan to pick up that she have thought of what her life could have been if she wasn’t born with magic on several occasions. “No point in crying over what I can’t control. Besides I rather stick with magic and the paranormal because while living life like a normal person is fine and peaceful it would get very boring for me.” she said with a smirk. “Your turn Dylan, tell me how things are going on with Earth since I left because that little mudball has changed a lot.” Elizabeth looked at the bottle and noticed that the bottle was half empty. “Looks like we’re gonna need a new bottle soon.”

“I don’t know about you,” Dylan said after a few moments of silence, picking up another bottle that he managed to snag before the two of them left the party. “But this shit is really good, after you’ve done it a couple of time,” Dylan uncorked the bottle and poured some more of the potent substance into the cups the two had. More than a little tipsy, though he would never outright admit it, though the almost dreamy and far away look that was beginning to form on his face was a dead give away. He locks eyes with Elizabeth, who despite having much higher tolerance to these things due to a variety of reasons, was also falling under the effects of the alcohol. After a few sips herself, the Witch/Sailor Scout could garner that some magic of unknown origin had also been mixed into the alcohol to give it an extra kick , which would explain why she was already feeling the numbing effects the alcohol had on her brain only after 5 or 6 shots. “You’re pretty hot” Dylan blurted out, mostly due to drunken stupor. “Which is weird, seeing as you’ve got that whole gothic vibe going on.”

Elizabeth was vexed that Dylan decided to change the topic and dodge her question but the compliment mixed with the expression he was giving her made Elizabeth forgive the man for now. “Why should that be weird? Us goths can be hot when we want to be.” Elizabeth moved closer to Dylan, her expression also similar to his due to the alcohol. “For a reporter you're awfully attractive, a rare type that I have encountered when it comes to your profession. At least I tend to find most who are either average or have the looks only a mother would love.” she said as she began to giggle hysterically, the alcohol now getting into her head.

Elizabeth drank more of it so she didn’t show Dylan that she was still strong enough to keep on going with their duel. “Maybe if you win I will let you take a picture of what is under my dress.” she blurted out, her bold words being the result of liquid courage and mixed with a decent dose of drunken stupidity. Elizabeth moved closer to Dylan, her face close to his as her grin stretched ear to ear, mischief gleaming from her green eyes. “Maybe you would be more interested in a strip tease or better yet.” She lean to his right ear and whispered. “Or perhaps you would like to see me wearing nothing at all.” Once more the witch giggled as she pulled back, wanting to see the reporter’s flabbergasted expression at what she claim would do if she lost their duel.

Dylan blinked, despite the amount of alcohol that was currently fogging up his thought process, the suggestion made by Elizabeth was enough to sober him up -if only somewhat- giving the woman a rather wolfish grin in response. He shrugged and stroke his somewhat fuzzy, dark, chin. His gaze matching the witch’s. “I’m guess the outcome will be reverse if I lose eh? Fancy that?” He wasn’t going to lie and say that what Elizabeth had offered was tempting, his alcohol induced mind only made it more so, so it wasn’t a surprise that he quickly agreed. “Fine,i’m game”

Elizabeth laughed at his suggestion. “I didn’t think too far on what would happen if you lose but I like that idea, you have my thanks for that idea.” Elizabeth’s gaze on him would unfocus for a bit as the magical energy swirling around in the room began to be too distracting to the witch in her drunken state, a downside to having magic being a part of your sense is being intoxicated makes that particular power stronger for better and for worse. Elizabeth closed her eyes and shook her head, returning her gaze to Dylan.

Elizabeth used her Hell’s Gate and reached her hand through the portal, ignoring the screams of panic at the other side and grabbed a new bottle. Elizabeth can feel that the magic inside the bottle was far stronger than the one they drank. “I think I found the Absinthe of Saturn.” Elizabeth uncork the bottle without even touching it as she felt like showing off with her new powers. Elizabeth filled both their glasses with the new drink. “It was fun playing this game Dylan but I’m afraid this is where you lose.” Instead of looking deterred Dylan was ready to challenge her claim. Both raised their glasses, hitting each other gently but causing some of the alcohol to spill on the bed and finally the two taking their drinks.

As the two of them drank the alcohol began to take effect much more quickly as the two began to see the room around them distort and change, with bright colors and spinning kaleidoscopic, fractal or paisley patterns emerging from the melting walls. The items in the room began to enlarge and bend to form spirals that never seem to end. All the colors in the room began to brighten and highly contrast from each other. “I’m I the only one here tasting purple?” Elizabeth asked Dylan, having a hard time focusing on the man due to what was happening around her. Yet both she and Dylan didn’t wish to admit defeat so the two refill their glasses and continue their duel even as the room around them began to resemble more of a Psychedelic artwork than reality.

[Legokiller]

Throne Room (30 minutes later)

It had been years since Hotaru stood within the grand halls that was the royal throne room of the Planet Saturn. The sight of the five royal thrones that rested elevated within the centre of the room was enough to bring out all sorts of memories, and whether they were good or bad, Hotaru welcomed them all. She moved down the halls like a child in a candy store, at awe at everything that was old and new alike. When she made it to the end of the hall and sat on her throne which rested next to her mother’s, she couldn’t help but to sink into the comforting folds of the chair.

All the while the Queen silently watched her daughter. Her eyes never leaving her for a second, as if she were afraid that if she looked away that she would lose her once more, placing a hand on her chest the Queen took a step towards her daughter, a fond smile on her face. “ Comfortable isn’t it?” She says and Hotaru nods in response, a pleased smile on the younger woman’s face as her hand rubbed the armrest. “ Good, I made sure that it was kept in mint condition, because I knew that one day you would return daughter.” The Queen claims, “I just knew it.”

Hotaru adjusts in her seat, her smile becoming awkward as she rubbed the back of her head. “ Sorry…” The princess suddenly spits out after a few moments of awkward silence. The Queen titles her hand and kneels at her daughter’s side, resting a comforting hand on her arm. “Whatever for dear? You have done nothing wrong.” Hotaru sighs and shakes her head, because that statement was terrible wrong. She has done many things wrong and while she has changed and grown since her early days of terror, she knew that she could never run away from it all. “For taking so long to return… I just didn’t know if I could face you all again.”

“Oh dear, why would you ever be worried about something so trivial?” The Queen couldn’t understand why her daughter would be hesitant to return to the place of her birth. Wasn’t she proud of her heritage and everything that came with it? Was she ashamed of her actions? “It doesn't matter anyway dear, you’re back and now we can be a family a good, just you, your brother, your father and I.”

Hotaru retracts her arm from her mother and looks away from her. “About that… i’m not staying.”

“What?”

“I’m not staying… I only came to visit and to say a few hellos, nothing more, Saturn is my birthplace but it’s no longer my home and while the Multiverse is still threatened by evil I can’t stay here playing princess.”

The Queen stood to her feet. “So… you’re leaving?”

“That’s the plan, I thought we would stay a couple of days, you know to show Serena and Elizabeth around the city if that’s fine with you?”

The Queen looked shocked and almost heartbroken by the revelation, though that was quickly concealed by a stoic mask and a pair of hands that snaked it’s way to her hips.”No,”

“What?”

“You hear me, no, that is not fine with me!” She exclaimed throwing her hands up in the air. “We are your family, not those two buffoons out there, I will not allow you to leave, I cannot allow you to leave.”

Hotaru suddenly stood to her feet. “You can’t stop me or my friend from leaving, mother, I understand your hurt but you have to understand that I don’t want to live with you anymore. I have friends and family elsewhere, you can’t control me. You can’t control everything.” The princess was assertive, despite the glare that her mother was giving her. “ You have to accept that and move on, it’s not like i’m leaving forever i’ll visit, isn’t that enough?”

“NO” The Queen roared as a burst of green energy surged through the room, knocking Hotaru off her feet and causing the princess to stumble into her throne. “Do you realize how long I’ve waited, how much it pained me not to have you around… and now you want to leave me again?”

Hotaru was far too confused and frightened to react properly to her mother’s outburst, having never seen her this angry before. “Hotaru, Princess of Saturn, and bearer of the Goddess of Destruction. If you ever take a step off this planet again..” Hotaru felt a surge of energy rushed through her, her eyes turning green very briefly. “You’ll fall into a death-life sleep, this time for eternity and not even an Ancient One can save you!”

The Princess of Saturn suddenly glowed and in her place was Sailor Saturn who slammed the but of her glaive into the Queen’s stomach. Watching as the Queen doubled over and clutched it in pain before teleporting out of the room.

Dining Room ( 1 hour later)

An hour had passed since everyone started dancing, and soon many of the guest we’re already tired of dancing. Several of the human delegates, including Greg and the Aegis agents who simply sat and watch, were being escorted out by the royal guards to their respective sleeping quarters. The nobles themselves slowly beginning to disperse, though many still linger behind to speak with the princes. There was enough where Alice and Serena had been cut off from interacting with their respective partners leaving the two with nothing better to do than to wait for Hotaru to return and to wonder where Elizabeth had wandered off too.

Serena made a dull and tiresome expression after the long silence and dancing with the prince, and seeing how this vacation ended up losing steam and no money go out there in the city. She yawned as she walked down towards the hallway, almost away from the dining room. “I hope Hotaru is resonating in her past and having a fun time seeing all of her belongings. Perhaps Hotaru is bonding with her mother, and trying to work something out.” She sighed. “We should get moving and find those two, and talk about doing something else here.”

Alice shrugged. She enjoyed the dance with Berly and ended up taking over to add her own fast, and elegant twists in the ballet. Now, she saw this place wasn’t a tourist attraction and without Hotaru to guide them, their were going to be in trouble without the princess. As for Elizabeth, she could have wandered off and done something… Alice closed her eyes and sighed. “Elizabeth got drunk and…” Alice eyes twitched for a moment. “Well, slept with a man… this is a sign of a bad omen” Alice shown the curious, but eh looking Serena, her right hand of three possibilities. One could be the two girls will catch Elizabeth and Dylan in the middle of sex, the second possibility was Elizabeth and Dylan drunk and having a party out of their mind, and the third was the two sleeping on the floor. And then the fourth outcome, which as Alice explained the previous ones, Serena was hone into the fourth one.

“Alice, what about the fourth one?” Serena’s voice expressed a level of concern. More so than her repressed laughter at the awkward dilemmas that could happen. “And what about Hotaru?”

As Alice was about to divulge into Hotaru’s future, the two were met by a sudden flashing light and the sight of a rather frantic Sailor Saturn- although the sailor guardian seemingly didn’t take notice of their presence- for some reason out of breathe as if she had been running away from something or she had recently engaged another in combat. When she finally caught her breathe and notice that both Serena and Alice were assembled in the hall that she had teleported to, she was quite to straighten up, her face reverting to it’s usual stoic expression. “We need to leave, now” she asserted, her eyes flickering around the halls as if she expected that at any moment they could have been surrounded by potential opponents.

Alice nodded. “Alright, we just have to find Elizabeth and avoid any sticky situations she found herself at the moment. As of now, Ms Ashwood indulged in debauchery of alcoholic and slept with a man.” Serena coughed as she gasped at the Sailor Saturn’s appearance. Seeing how she was in a hurry and wanted to leave this place as much as possible. “What’s going on Saturnie?”

Alice raised an eyebrow for a moment, but then shook her head as Serena quickly formed a nickname for Sailor Saturn. As of what matter now, they have to go and find Elizabeth.

Saturn also raised a brow at the nickname, though she had no further reaction to it as she had come to expect these things from her allies at this point. Pushing back a few strands of hair from in front of her face with her delicate fingers, she let out a sigh before regaling, albeit vaguely, what was happening. “Let’s just say that the Queen isn’t too fond of us leaving,” She turned away from them, arms crossed. “ She’s also packs a petty bad punch, she’s… stronger than I remembered”

Glancing over her shoulder to Alice, she spoke once more. “ Alice, can you locate where Elizabeth may be? I feel bad for interrupting her fun, but we need to leave like now.”

“Right this way Saturn.” Alice eyes closed and pointed to the direction where they needed to go. Serena helped her walk, but as of right now, Serena had a bad feeling about what happened with the Queen. “Please don’t tell me out of all the things that could happen, the mother is the wicked queen like one of those fairy tale stories.” Serena bite her lips as she pondered about what Saturn meant by stronger. Oh boy, this sounds ugly and whatever thing Hotaru said to anger her or broke the queen’s heart, this is going to be scary.

“Unfortunately that seems to be the case,” Saturn muttered, having expected events to turn out like this, a small part of her had hope that it wouldn’t have been the case. That her life wasn’t as complicated as thought it was. She knew it was foolish to believe that. “She won’t hurt the human delegates as they have no connection to us and she doesn’t desire to face the consequences of harming another planet’s citizens without explicit reasons, but she will try to harm you guys which is why we need to grab Elizabeth as quickly as possible.”

“Leaving so soon?” Saturn stopped in her tracks. Standing protectively in front of Alice and Serena, when her eldest brother emerged from the shadows, blocking their attempt to get to Elizabeth. The man’s eyes were red as he regarded the three with the utmost contempt, his hand gripping his staff tightly as he swung it around before pointing it threateningly at the trio. “The party has only just begun.” Kai claimed, the eye on his staff flashing open.

“It’s a little rude to skip out on royalty you know,” A voice from behind, alerted the trio to the presence of another, Glancing over her shoulder, Saturn caught to sight of Gemma. His hands tucked into the folds of his pants pocket, his eyes also red in colour, and his chin raised in an arrogant manner.

“Let us through,” Saturn demanded, and Kai frowned in response to her demand. Suddenly his staff’s eye grew in size and the Sailor Guardian of Destruction, felt herself being slammed into a nearby wall.

“No need to be so rough Kai,” Gemma scolded as several copies of himself surrounded both Alice and Serena. “Mother wants them in at least somewhat good condition” All the Gemma copies unsheathe throwing knifes from their pockets and prepared to throw them at the two.

“Snap out of this,” Saturn demanded. “She’s controlling you guys, wake up!”

Alice quickly stood behind the disturbed and shocked Serena, who couldn’t believe how their mother would be mind controlling her sons to do this horrible action. And this new Gemma is uncanny and freaky, and Serena didn’t know much about the guy. Hopefully this is only magic, and not the brother's true personality that came to light. “Gemma, do you really want to do this? What made you decide to harm us?” Serena questioned. Alice whistled, unamused by the throwing knifes and ready to defend themselves.

“Gee you sure talk alot,” Gemma admonished, “Maybe you should be more worried about how you're going to defend yourself, rather than if I have a say in the matter.” Without hesitation the princes unleashed the blades at the two, though the original, would launch himself forward, blade in hand as he attempted to strike at both Alice and Serena. If Serena were to engage the prince in hand to hand, she would soon realize that the lazy prince was more agile than was to be expected, so agile in fact that he was able to jab Alice in several points around her body, and with each jab the pokemon would feel movement in the part to be impossible followed by numbness.

“Then how about you sit down you creep!” Serena conjured up a pink bubble psi shield around Alice and Serena, and halt his attacks. The storm of knifes were only a distraction, false and a mere illusion to fool them of the danger. Serena gritted her teeth as she felt the numbness from Alice, who only smirked and chuckled as she stood, injured but her serene red eyes turn to the Prince.

“You’re only good with those cheap magic tricks aren’t you?” Alice’s body shine brightly, instantly engulfing the bubble as Serena guarded her eyes from being blinded. “Serena, let’s show these spoiled brats a lesson.” The now human bride figure told Serena, wielding a rapier and gestured it into a position as she was sworn to protect the trainer. Serena nodded as the bubble vanish, a wave of telekinetic blasts strikes at the clones of Gemma and the real one himself, slamming them against the wall in a unimagine amount of force.

The clones all dispersed the moment the slammed into the wall, however, just as the original was about to hit it as well. Gravity suddenly acted upon him and the prince found himself falling onto his back. “Pay attention,” Was all that Kai said after altering the gravity around the prince. The younger prince huffed, but quickly got to his feet and cracked his knuckles in preparation. “Don’t waste time, kill them now.”

“Fine, but you're blowing possible hours of fun,” A strange glow surrounded the younger prince’s hand, as he got into an offensive stance. “All it will take is one blow, that’s all I need” the prince smirked, as he readied himself to attack the two.


Before Gemma can deliver the blow to the three grows a bloodcurdling screech echo through the hall, the source coming from behind them. The two princes, sailor guardian, trainer and pokemon would hear heavy footsteps as something was sprinting towards them. Soon all parties would be hit by a nauseating stench in the air, one that would smell all too familiar to Serena and Alice for the stench was the warning sign of something from Inferno coming towards them.

From the hall they can see the creatures responsible for the terrible stench should they have been other people with them most would have fled in fear at the thing charging towards the group. The entity was a tall, deformed, quadrupedal creature whose skin is peeled off and hanging from its back.

It had a malnourished, skeletal appearance. The skin that was peeled off appear to be rotten and some parts of it's bones appeared by made of both black iron and plastic. The eyes of the creature were stitched shut and it's lips peeled back, it had plastic tubes both inside and out of it's body that was flowing both it's blood and a dark purplish substance.

It's arms and legs were covered in a iron exoskeleton with it's claws resembling old rusty fishing hooks. Back also had a pair of wings that at the mid point broke off and multiplied as black, feathery, tentacles. The maws on the tips of said tentacles had inflamed, diseased gums attached to teeth that resembled those found on a bear trap.

The tail was also covered in the same exoskeleton of iron, the sides having bone-like spikes and the tip being like an arrow head. The demon had a serpentine, puffy, rotten tongue. The teeth were long and serrated.

The decaying eyes of the creature stated at the two princes, hatred beaming towards them. The tendrils rose up and the teeth began to chatter, the sound of the metals scrapping together being heard for all as the demon was ready to devour it’s latest prey. Behind the demon a trail of broken furniture and blood along with other substances stained the walls and floors, most coming from the creature’s body. Once the demon was close to the princes it rose its left claw and swipe down to cleave them in two while the mawed tentacles slithered on the ground and targeted their legs to catch them.

“As if,” Gemma huff, balancing on his heel and leaping backwards to avoid the blow. Taking to the air, he sent threw several knives at the approaching tentacles, pinning several down onto the ground as he landed on his feet several feet away. Kai didn’t even bother to move, and simply shifted his staff upwards, the beast would suddenly feel the effect of gravity sending it flying upwards and slamming through the ceiling of the halls with little effort on Kai’s part. “ I see Hotaru forgot to warn you, as long as I have absolute control over this planet’s gravitational force.” He pivoted on his heel towards the direction where the beast came from. “Are you going to come out here, or will I have to drag you out?” He called, ignoring the tentacles that were unable to get to him due to some unforeseen force surrounding himself.

Meanwhile, Gemma playful hopped between each tentacle that stuck at him, sent knives in it’s directions. Alice rolled her eyes as she causally hovered over the ground. Who been teaching these children powers to influence an entire planet anyway? No matter, Serena used her telekinesis to get a grip onto Gemma as Alice knew she shouldn’t kill the man and hurt Hotaru, so instead, her hands were conducting a wave of electricity. The power was weak, but it wasn’t made for harming, instead, Alice raised her arms in form at the man.

“Thunder wave!” Alice casted out the wave of electricity at Gemma, paralyzing him and making his amazing speed and agile immobile to sluggish speeds. Serena then used her telekinetic grip on him to send him away from the monster, intending for him to hit the wall to knock him out. Serena gasped in fear as the new monster appeared, stepping back as she thought it was here to destroy everyone. Well, it wasn’t and just Elizabeth’s creation… It wasn’t helpful or so.

The demon screeched as the knives broke through the skin on the tentacles. However the knife throwing prince would see the skin bulging as blood began to travel down to the areas where the knives were lodged in, blood squirting out. Just as the demon was going to fire the knives back at the prince it was sent flying to the ceiling where it screeched again in pain, the knives flying all over the place.

From the hall that the demon came from the group would see the shadows darken as to make visibility difficult. “Gravity hacks? Well I will give you points for having something different. After seeing some many baddies with god powers it gets repetitive pretty quickly.” Elizabeth said as she was still in the shadows. The demon screeched once and a cloud of poisonous miasma began to seep out of it’s pores as it charged to Genma, annoyed at the prince's knives and his playful attitude towards the fight.

“Bloody hell I’m not in the mood to hear that thing screeching throughout the whole day. I regret summoning the thing.” she murmured. Elizabeth didn’t seem to do much, using her inactivity to greatly annoy Kai. Just as the prince thought of using his powers to drag the woman out from the shadows A Hell’s Gate would appear behind him and out would come Elizabeth who would try to deliver a solid punch to the back of his head.

Just as he was about to hit the wall, Kai flicked his staff upwards and willed himself to stop. Growing annoyed with the presence of these intruders. “ Seriously do you really think, we should be fighting right now, all of this could be avoided if you simply stay here.” He twirled his staff and slammed it onto the ground. “But no, you all had to be rebels” Everyone in the room with the exception of Gemma and Saturn would feel themselves been pulled towards the ground with incredible force, though individuals such as Serena and Elizabeth would be able to resist for a period of time, they would soon find themselves on their knees. However, before Kai could slammed them into the ground, a new player entered the fray.

“Now is that anyway to treat our esteemed guest?” Kai heard, the male turned in surprise, but didn’t have time to react as a powdery substance was thrown into his face. The Tall male blinked, stumbling backwards, before dropping his staff- which clattered to the floor- as he clutched his face and collapsed to the ground.

“Wow, Kai-” Gemma called out, feeling his movement slowed by whatever ability Alice possessed in her new form. Yet just as he was about to move towards his downed brother, the same powdery substance was thrown into his own face and just like Kai, he was out.

“Honestly, I just had these floors cleaned as well,” Suddenly a figure emerged from the shadows, dusting her hands off on her long dress. Her flowing red hair glinting in the lighting of the halls. “Get that thing out of here” Berly demanded. “Good Goddess I’ll never be able to forget that scent!”

For a old looking and mysterious prince like Kai, he does act like a spoiled boy who couldn’t get his way in battle. Serena hated getting on her knees to this jerk of a persona Kai had, but once it was gone, Serena quickly stood and and dusted her dress. “What a relief.” Serena smiled a little as she took a deep breath, but then coughed as the foul scent of the demon was unbearable! “Izzy, I agree with Berly, send that monster away.”

Elizabeth tried to fight against the increase gravity in the room, even using her own staff to stand on her feet. But eventually she was forced to her knees. She turn to the demon, no luck even it was hit by the increased gravity. However Elizabeth wasn’t the type to give up so easily as she tried to recite a chant for a spell. However she would not need to use her magic as the two princes were hit with a powdery substance in their faces which made the two fall down, freeing her and Serena from the gravity trap.

Elizabeth got up and saw that their savior was Berly. “Thanks luv, I owe you one for the save.” When Berly complained about the smell Elizabeth was willing to agree, mostly because it’s screeches and scent were not helping the woman with her hangover. Elizabeth summoned her gate and the demon fell through. “Next time I will summon something that would smell like lavender” she joked.

“Hmph, that’s the least you could do,” The redheaded witch stated, folding her arms as she looked over the unconscious forms of the two princes. “Now then, I suppose we shall be on our way then, that powder will only knock them out for an hour or so” The redhead gaze flickered to each member of the group. “I hope you have some teleportation powers, cause there’s no way we’ll be able to escape by any other means” Beryl moves over and picks up Kai’s staff “I’ll be confiscating this, thank you very much” She states.

“Why are you helping us?” Saturn inquires, after getting back to her feet.

Berly rolls her eyes. “ It’s not like I purposely came out here to aid you, I was minding my own business when I smelt that horrid creature, which lead me here. Why I decided to help you renegades only Goddess knows,” She taps Kai’s staff and watched as she slowly levitated above the ground. “Hmm, though I suppose being a rebel isn’t that bad.” She shifted the staff in her grasp, rubbing her hand over it. “ I always wanted to fly,”

Saturn raised an eyebrow at Berly, finding the woman thoroughly confusing, though decided that they didn’t have time to ponder on the oddity of the woman. “Unless anyone else here as teleportation abilities, I guess we all will be boarding the Saturn express.”

Serena turn to the wounded Alice, who seemed to be holding up just well, and the human magical warrior looked up to the tall woman. There wasn’t much time to investigate and question why Berly is coming with them, but Serena will have toll with it. “Well, you’re welcome to come with us and if you have nowhere else to go, stay with me and Alice. I command a huge spaceship and have a house for you to crash in, if you intend on staying for a long period of time.” Serena said Berly.

“I can open up a wormhole back to the ship, but I can foresee that Star already docked the battleship at a spaceport. Although Saturn express is quicker and I won’t harm myself from opening up the portal.” Alice then blinked. “Perhaps Frisk and the others are gone off to meet with Conundrum by now.”

“So you always carry around powders that can knock people out?” Elizabeth asked, somewhat suspicious on the idea of servants being able to carry a magical substance like that around. Granted she was being hypocritical herself since she had carry all sorts of magical substances before with some having the same properties.

“As long as we're not going back to Earth, I honestly don’t care,” Berly told Serena and Alice. Turning her attention to Elizabeth, Berly wrinkled her nose. “So what if I do? You have a problem with a woman being able to defend herself?”

When Berly took the staff and began rubbing it, making the more immature parts of Elizabeth giggle like a schoolgirl. When she responded to Elizabeth’s question about her carrying the powder she only shrugged. “Nope. I have no problem with that. I’m just a bit worried is all since I know some people tend to use powders like that for more… questionable purposes.”

Berly gave Elizabeth a deadpanned look. “ You are a very strange woman, “ She silently wondered if it had to something with Elizabeth’s age or her experiences as a non-Golden Kingdom citizen. “TP us out of here, I rather not be caught fraternizing with the enemy by the Queen.’ Berly told Serena.

Elizabeth only return Berly’s response with a smirk. “I get that alot.” She form a circle with her finger and created a gate. “Here is the gate. Watch your step and make sure all of your belongs are packed in tightly and don’t try to look at anything that looks odd unless you want to spend most of your days in a padded cell in the funny house.” she told everyone as though she was working in a airline. “I will join you all momentary, I have some unfinished business to attend to.” Elizabeth walked over to where Kai was lying. Once she was close to the unconscious prince she lifted her staff as high as she can go and brought it down on his “crown jewels”. She would repeat the process a few times before turn away. “Now I feel better.” she said to the group as she return back to them.

“I have the right of mind to smack you upside the head with this staff,”Berly said, glaring weakly at Elizabeth. “However, I’m too elated to particularly care that you just damaged the royal jewels, so you are pardon.”

Serena glared at Elizabeth and made a sheepish frown at the witch, knowing on what kind of powder Elizabeth wanted could end up on her or someone else for… after night specials. Serena cringed a little, but paused as Elizabeth went ahead and destroyed his crown. “You surely did earned his hatred outside the Queen’s mind control Izzy… Now, ahem, let’s leave this world and never come back.” Serena said, showing a sign of pity for the princes and the royal family. It was a short lived family reunion and the break is all over. The champion took out a bag of bandages to help Alice out of her wounds from the stabs, showing courage as the two entered the Hell’s gate.

“Saturn, I’m sorry this had to happened to your brothers.” Serena was worried and pondered on how Saturn felt about the whole experience. “This was rather an unfortunate turn of events, and I can’t forgive what the Queen had done to them. It was completely wrong.”

Elizabeth still had her usual smirk. “Don’t worry he will live and may still have kids in the future. I made sure to hit him very lightly… well as lightly as I can while trying to gauge how strong I am now.” The witch like to think she didn’t do any permanent damage to the prince. “Besides you guys have magic, any damage I would have done would be healed once he is found.”

The Saturn Ship

Berly snorted, though didn’t make any attempt to continue the conversation as the group appeared onboard this Saturn ship she has heard Serena mention a couple of times. “Hmm, fancy, i’m quite shocked actually.”

Saturn moved her hand towards Serena’s shoulder and held onto it. “ It’s ok Serena, I expected things might not have gone well..” She sighed and moved her gaze towards her feet. “I guess, a small part of me hope that this wouldn’t be the case” Suddenly Saturn glowed and reverted to her civilian form. “I j-just… I didn’t want things to end like this.” She held back the tears that threatened to fall from her face. “ I still love them, i’ll always remember them… but I can’t help but feel like I betrayed them.”

Serena turn the shoulder’s holding from Hotaru into a full blown hug, gently wiping the tears from her sweet cheeks and nodded as she understand her feeling. Serena was silent for the moment, allowing Hotaru to cool down and relax. “Maybe it is tough for your mother and disheartening for her to see you go away from home once again. I know it feels awful to betray the people you love, but… I can see you wanting more out of your life and become an adult. After all, we have to move out of our parents home and explore the world.” Serena patted Hotaru’s head. “It’s going to be okay now.”

Star and surprising, a dozen of pink little clefairies wearing funky contruction hats were there to watch the new arrivals at the bridge, while being busy repairing the ship with a small tools that its holographic beams instantly fixed the damage structure within seconds. The group of fairy pokemon acted like the audience and made a sweet cute voice of sympathy to Hotaru.

“Welcome aboard to the…” Star paused as Alice asked the AI not to speak of the planet they were justed in. “Nirvana, miss…” Star looked at Berly, curious about the newcomer.

“Thanks Serena,” Hotaru said, squeezing the other girl into a tight hug before pulling away. “You’re right, I shouldn’t be down, not when I have you guys as my support…” She looked over to the demon door which closed after Elizabeth had entered, effectively cutting off the sight of the planet hall of the place she once called home.

Staring at the door, she couldn’t help but feel as though time had slowly considerable. She wasn’t sure if that was a figment of her own imagination but as everyone interacted, seemingly unaffected by the slowly effects of time, a sense that something was wrong gripped at her. Her legs felt wobble, as if they lacked support to remain standing and she her mind slowly becoming blank devoid of thought. She blinked as a strong and numbing feeling overcame her, her eyes dilated and seemingly rolled upwards as her eyelids shutted once more. Yet this time, they did not open again. The holder of the Sailor Guardian of Destruction, body slowly came crashing to the ground. Landing with an audible thud as the princess of Saturn laid there unmoving, her face pale and expressionless.

“Hotaru?” Serena jaws slowly dropped as the one who she cared for so much became drowsy. “Hotaru, are you okay?!” Serena panicking once the small black haired girl’s eyelids closed and collapsed down into the floor. “No… this can’t be happening, Hotaru, wake up!” Serena kneed down and began to shake the princess’ body, trying to awake her as Alice, who deformed back into a Gardevoir, eyes shrank as Serena was breathing hard. Serena placed a hand onto Hotaru’s cheeks, and lifted her head to see if she’s breathing. It seems too, or is it?

Star’s mouth was opened in astonishment, while the Clefairies were speechless and confused on what the heck just happened. “Commander, my reading on Hotaru… Out of all the times, you never gave her a surname in my database! Regardless, Hotaru ‘Bunny’ fell into a deep slumber caused by a unique kind of magical force within her body. I have to study this further, but this isn’t natural nor her health points to this being ever possible.”

“What!” Serena gasped as she shaked the expressionless Hotaru. “How did this happened!” Serena’s eyes were already watery, as tears began to roll down her cheeks as she hated to see what cruel fate had bestowed upon poor Hotaru.

Elizabeth saw Saturn and Serena talking with each other and didn’t interfere with their sisterly bonding time, especially since Hotaru needed the moment as she look as though she was about to cry at any second. Elizabeth feel that something was off but she wasn’t sure what until she saw Hotaru fall down to the ground unconscious. “Oi Hotaru what’s wrong.” the worried mage shouted but the sailor guardian didn’t respond. It was later found that she was hit by a curse. “This has to be the sleeping curse that Pluto told us about. What kind of mother curses her own child!” the furious witch clinch her fingers into a fist. Brainwashing her own sons and now this, it looks as though with the queen the only thing good about her is her looks as her soul doesn’t match her outward beauty.

Elizabeth rubbed her temple; rage and hangovers don’t mix well, nice lesson to learn. “I kinda hoping the humans down there realize what is going on in the palace but I have a feeling that instead they are going to believe whatever garbage the queen is going to spew.” Elizabeth walked up to Hotaru and went down to pick her up, which Serena quickly clinged onto the small girl’s body as she wanted not to let go. Elizabeth sighed as Serena was making things difficult. “I’m not in the mood to deal with this.” Elizabeth summoned her staff and tapped at her shadow. “Oi wake up you lazy sacks of shite. I need you guys to carry those two to the nearest bed room.” Her shadow began to wobble and soon black tentacles emerged from the shadows as the Tenebraes grabbed the two girls and lift them up in the air.

Elizabeth’s shadow seemingly broke away as it moved on it’s own to find the nearest bed room for the two girls. Looking down Elizabeth saw that her own shadow was still there. “So our Saturian princess is now in a curse induced coma. How do we break the curse?” she asked Beryl.

Beryl was just as shell-shocked by the turn of events as the others. Even she hadn’t notice that something was off about the princess until it was too late, even if she had noticed beforehand, she couldn’t have done anything to prevent what was to come. She sense the powerful dark energy that shrouded the princess was greater than anything she could combat. When Elizabeth inquired how to break the curse, Berly couldn’t answer her with certainty, “I don’t know… i’ve never…” Suddenly a lightbulb went off in her head. “Wait… the talismans… we can use the talismans to wake her!” Berly claimed turning to Elizabeth.

The witch was intrigued with what Beryl told her. “Let me guess, the Talismans is in a heavily secured, top secret location, that is rigged with numerous booby traps.” she said in a slightly teasing tone, she was aware that if the Talisman can wake Saturn then everyone would make sure that no one would get their hands on it save for either the queen or the other scouts. “Do you know the locations of these Talisman or do we need the other scouts help with them?”

Alice sighed for moment she massages her poor Serena on the head and her back, and soften her tone. Her eyes were closed, but she opened them up. “There is no secret location for the talismans and there is only three of them. Only the welders of the talismans and we saw them once before… I don’t recognize the two others well enough, but I remember clearly of one, Pluto.” The Gardevoir’s eyes were confused and fazed, not sure how these visions were clear, nor how they connect to each other outside of the vision.

“Unfortunately, we have a problem on our hands,” Berly said. “While Pluto does possess one of the three Talisman, both Uranus and Neptune have lost their to the multiverse. You can Thanks Sailor Galaxia for that by the way.”

“It was all over the Silver Millennium news, they’ve checked every nearby universe with no luck in finding either the Aqua Mirror or the Galaxy Sword. Until both of those are retrieved, there’s no way Pluto is going to let us borrow her own.” She informed the others. “Oh and we have another problem on our hands as well, we would essentially be setting off alarm bells if we woke Saturn through this method. The talismans were meant to wake her when the universe needed a good old resetting,” She glancing at Serena. “While I don’t doubt your friendship and bond, I don’t know if it will be enough to snap her out of erase everthing mode, but this is our only shot.”

“Of course there is always a catch with these sort of things.” The witch sighed, not too surprised that getting the Talismen wouldn’t be so easy. “We will deal with the alarm system once we have all three talismen and while Pluto will be greedy on handing over her piece she should at least be helpful on giving us some useful tips on where to begin our search.”

Star glanced at Elizabeth. “I doubt Pluto would hand over her talisman, and there is a possibly the talisman could activate only by their original users.”

“How could the Queen even learn this power, it’s like she was entrusted by Queen Serenity to use this power if something goes wrong or what!” Serena crossed her arms. “And now, we have to gamble the fate of the universe to save Hotaru from this curse, and I have no idea if the rest of the sailor scouts even care about Hotaru.” Serena stop weeping as she looked at the others.

“Honestly, you people worry far too much,” Berly admonished,” Obviously Pluto isn’t going to be willing to hand over her talisman, do you know how powerful that thing is?” The redhead witch pointed out. “ All we need to do is get Pluto to steer us in the right direction for the other two talisman, and when we retrieved them, bring them back and let their original owners use them to wake her up.”

“ Well...that’s not exactly true Serena… it’s more that she might have gotten help stealing the information about the spell.” Berly muttered, seemingly withdrawing information.

“Great, the Queen of Saturn is willing to become a bad parent and prepared for this to happened in the first place.” Serena eyes drifted away. “Of course, it should be obvious that Serenity won’t passed that spell to her if she’s going to condemn other people in such a fate as well… Berly?” Serena looked at the witch. “The Queen gotten helped to steal the spell, what exactly do you mean by that?”

Berly sighed and looked away from the others. “Have you guys ever once wondered why I of all people, a human, was living on Saturn and so closely to the royal family?” She bite down gently on her lower lip. “ It’s because I was tricked into doing so, just like how to Queen was tricked into helping those monsters… I think they call themselves Archons? Not sure, but one of them has been influencing the Queen since before I arrived, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they bestowed the knowledge of the Sleeping Curse onto her.” The redhead explained.

Elizabeth didn’t bother to try and state that was her plan to go to Pluto to get information since Beryl was reinforcing the fact that right now that is the only way Pluto will ever help them, she is often too busy looking at the timestream and being cryptic and mysterious. Kinda like half the people she knew now that Elizabeth looks back. When Beryl told everyone that the queen knows the spell because secrets of the spell was stolen information it piqued Elizabeth interest. Eventually Beryl confessed on who helped the queen get the information.

When the Archons were revealed as to be the perpetrators Elizabeth’s grip on the staff tighten, she took a deep breath and let out the air, trying to keep her rage from exploding. “Why am I not surprised. Your universes and ours are linked no doubt they would begin to mess around with your people like they have with the humans in my universe since… forever.” The witch told Berly. If the Archons are involved than obviously something larger is going on, they wouldn’t be after alien royals unless there is something they can gain.

“I think they wanted to take Hotaru out of the picture. I don’t think the Archons would like having someone who can easily reset everything and not have said person under their control. The only reason one god can have that power and not be bothered by them is because he is a forgotten god and those guys are way more powerful, too much for the Archons to handle.”

Elizabeth walked over to the wall and placed her hand on the wall. “I’m going to create a gate to Pluto. How much as the floating dwarf planet changed since this world merger happened?” she said without looking back. “As for the Archons I think I know which one it may be.”

“The Archons!” Serena felt like more and more, that universe wanted to punish the whole group after the Sailor Galaxia war and the Flowey incident. “First they kidnapped Sans, and now, they wanted to make his…” Serena cringed. “‘Girlfriend’ go to sleep, ugh. Hotaru and Saturn aren’t the kind of people who would easily reset the universe over trivial factors. Only if the Silver Millennium is in danger, and if that is the case, then maybe the Archons want to play out terrible schemes across the planets in the solar system or even worse.”

Serena’s turn to Elizabeth and made eye contact. “Who is it?”

“Does it matter? He’s a prick either way,” Berly asserted. “With false promises to admittedly stupid people,” The comment seemed to have been directed more towards herself than to anyone else. A look of regret flashing through her eyes for a brief moment.

“So are you ladies ready for a Ladies night out? Cause I sure as hell am, in the meantime maybe you should inform the others and have them begin their search for the princess’... boyfriend was it?”

“Her ‘boyfriend’ is Sans, I know. I can see those two showing signs that they’re in love and comfort each others… But there’s something off about it and I wondered if this relationship would last long enough. The worst thing about Sans being gone is we know where he is, but the small skeleton is imprisoned in Heaven.” Serena lowered her tone, gloomy and afraid. “Where the prick lives.”

Alice turned to Serena and back at Berly. There is something else about this woman who hinted some promise the archon could have been made to herself maybe? It seems possible, as she looked like Berly regretted it. “We have to see Pluto first, and figure out our first clue to where the two Talismans are located.“

Elizabeth trace her finger on the wall to create the new portal. “It does since Kether is the strongest Archon of the bunch. That bastard is always clinging to monarchs and nobles and this even includes presidents and prime ministers. After all, if you control the ones on top than you can easily control everyone else below them.” Elizabeth didn’t bother hiding her scorn at the Archon for how he controls the world. When Beryl mentioned that Kether makes false promises to stupid people Elizabeth snorted. “Ain’t that the truth sister. My entire race has been suckers for those guys and their dark cousins since time immemorial.” Elizabeth tone was getting higher as she was now letting her rage at the gods take control.

“No point in sulking, open the gate to Pluto.” Elizabeth nodded to what Beryl said and kept on repeating the tracing, adding in new sigils inside the circle while chanting. Eventually the portal will appear. “It’s kinda sad that Hotaru once told me that Saturn may be the one place I may belong.” she turn to the group, her eyes showing sorrow even though she still had her usual smirk. “I honestly felt like I didn’t belong in there.”

[Prusselanden]

Manichean Plane
Realm 0
Timere

"The Bonacci Hotel... is gone???" Henry nearly sank to his knees, not so much because he had lost a year of his (albeit greatly lengthened) lifespan, but from the shock of suddenly learning of the hotel's destruction. "What about the civilians?!"

"They all died", said Nekoma, emerging from the ramp of the ship and dragging Mvikkogh the ambassador along tied to a chair and gagged, struggling feebly to get out. Behind him came Yuen Tse-kai and Arjun Singh, the latter leaning heavily on his walking stick as he walked. "There was nothing we could do; Zhou Yu-ke of the Chinese Army came in, planted bombs everywhere, and then blew the place to kingdom come."

"That witch!" Henry spat in anger. "She'll pay for this yuuuge, horrible crime!"

"What about Tanakamaru and Lunes? And Gönad?" Samuel asked the crew. "Are they safe?"

"We don't know", Nekoma replied, shrugging.

Samuel fell silent for a moment, even as the Japanese man turned the chair containing the bigoted ambassador around so that the man, still with the yen symbol stitched into his forehead, could face the boy. Samuel cast a terrifying gaze on Mvikkogh briefly, and the man cowered in fear, closing his eyes and moaning from behind his tape gag.

"In any case", said Arjun in his trademark Northern Indian accent, as he hobbled closer to the rest, "we're at your disposal, if you ever need us." He smiled.

"Thanks a lot", Samuel replied. "By the way..."

He trotted away, before returning with Seishirō and Akita Sr, both of whom were standing by a corner in an almost meditative and trance like state of silence.

"Arjun Singh, Yuen Tse-kai, and Junichi Nekoma", introduced Samuel, gesturing to the three men. He then turned around to face the trio of detectives, and gestured to the father and son duo. "Mr Sora Akita and Seishirō Akita."

"Nice to meet you", greeted Yuen amicably, straightening his tie and shaking Akita Sr's hand firmly.

"The pleasure's mine", Akita Sr replied, with a genuine, jovial smile gracing his 60-something year old face. Yocchi, on the other hand, stood by his side awkwardly, grinning halfway, his Icelandic flag scarf fluttering in the wind.

"Hmm", said Henry, glancing to one side. "It seems Gehrnam's gone."

It was true; the pirate-like guardian had quietly taken his leave while everybody was talking.

"Ah well", said Samuel, shrugging, again casting a cold glance at Mvikkogh, who averted his eyes. "I suppose we can move on now, since we've got the ship and all. Mr Akita, we can travel freely inside the Manichean Plane, am I right?"

"Yes", Akita Sr replied. He adjusted his long trench coat and his hat, as the sea breeze began to pick up and grow stronger. "Right now, you have two options; you can either travel to Tonol, which is an empty but life-sustaining planet, or to Kinhe, which is a trade port owned by the Niril Republic."

"The Niril Republic?" Henry asked.

"It's one of the big political players in this corner of the Manichean Plane", Akita explained.

"Then I say we go to Kinhe!" Henry declared. "We'll dock at one of their ports and then take things from there."

"Sounds good to me", said Yuen, nodding his head in agreement. "I think it'll be a lot more beneficial to our long term goal if we go to the port of an important nation than to some random no man's sky."

Both Nekoma and Singh nodded in agreement.

"If there aren't any objections", said Samuel, walking back towards the ship confidently and grabbing the backrest of Mvikkogh's chair, dragging the man up the ramp as he went, "let's get going now. Mr Akita, please give Captain Hex the coordinates for our next destination."

"Oh yeah!" Henry yelled, thrusting a finger into the air. He was clearly very excited. "This is gonna be YUUUUGE!!!"

"Is he always like that?" Akita asked Nekoma, as he and Yocchi walked towards the ship, following behind Henry.

"In the two or three days I've known him", Nekoma replied, "I would suppose so."

...

And thus, the Super Weapon Retrieval Group (SWRG), as Henry called it, prepared to set off on the journey to their first destination of the Manichean Plane; Kinhe of the Niril Republic.

Super Weapon Retrieval Group

(Image)
Samuel Guren IX
"Black Horse"

(Image)
Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange
"Sorcerer Supreme"

(Image)
Henry Donald Saladass
"Grand Marnier"

(Image)
Sora Akita
秋田　天空

(Image)
Seishirō Akita
秋田　世志郎
"Yocchi"

(Image)
"Cain"

(Image)
Frederick II
"The Great"

(https://www.google.com/search?q=yoite&newwindow=1&prmd=ivsn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBj8Hyyq3RAhUDySYKHWx4BV4Q_AUICCgB&biw=320&bih=460&dpr=2#imgrc=mlcwdRWa6T1XhM%3A)
"Ackerman"

(Image)
Aayla

(Image)
"Hex"

(Image)
Arjun Singh

(Image)
Yuen Tse-kai
袁澤凱

(Image)
Junichi Nekoma
猫間　順一

"Then off to Kinhe we go! I Hope we succeed. It's just a shame that we couldn't have saved the Bonacci hotel and the residents, but, ah, war is war." Ackerman sighed and followed Henry onto the ship. Xe supported Fred, whose back could not take the actions he just went through back at the cafe.
"Ach! I might just die on this trip!"
"Don't say that sir, you have to come back with us. Also, It's nice for you guys to come for us, Mr. Singh." Ackerman smiled at Arjun.

[Kaidou]

Manichean Plane
Realm I
Kinhe

In the three hours leading up to the jump to the next Realm (the time needed for the ship to process the coordinates), the crew occupied themselves with menial things. After all, nothing was known about the planet Kinhe which they were headed to, so there was no point in speculating.

Samuel and Arjun, both highly skilled in Western chess, spent the entire time duelling each other (They ended up tied at 6-6), while Henry stayed in his room, reading a book about finance and currency trading. Seishirō and his father didn't talk, each keeping to themselves; the boy read the novels his father had saved from the restaurant as they abandoned it, while the old man simply sat at the window, looking out into the black emptiness of space as they traversed through it. Yuen Tse-kai and Junichi Nekoma, for the most part, argued with each other about the ethics of white lies and Immanuel Kant's universalisability theory.

The party was alerted to the jump to Realm I by a sudden beeping, informing everybody not to make any sudden movements as the craft jumped dimension. Then a bright flash burst forth all around the ship, and the next thing they knew, they were all in Realm I of the Manichean Plane.

Just up ahead was a smallish, turquoise-green planet encircled by a set of thick rings and with a tiny volcanic moon just at the corner. What was intriguing, however, was the fact that there were two giant asteroids situated where the ship had just entered, flanking it. Both asteroids were held in place by a bluish, barely visible force field, in turn held in place from somewhere on the planet. Into the asteroids had been carved text.

"It looks like a memorial or plaque of some sort..." Henry gazed out of the windows, trying his best to read it.

NIRILÖMEN MIJNISTROSGOK KÄNTSR

1. MONIRU
2. WIRASCHÖ
3. TIKLOBEI
4. IROJI
5. KUSUMMË
6. ALVIN ROBERTSON DRIVER
7. IRANOME
8. RANEMOSA
9. BUKHIROYYO
10. NIYIVU
11. AIGELMAN
12. WINOMU
13. ROHO
14. TAMKU
15. NASSE

CHANCELLORS OF THE NIRIL REPUBLIC

1. MONIRU
2. WIRASCHÖ
3. TIKLOBEI
4. IROJI
5. KUSUMMË
6. ALVIN ROBERTSON DRIVER
7. IRANOME
8. RANEMOSA
9. BUKHIROYYO
10. NIYIVU
11. AIGELMAN
12. WINOMU
13. ROHO
14. TAMKU
15. NASSE

"So it seems that's a list of all their Chancellors thus far", said Samuel as he read the names, Seishirō standing beside him and tiptoeing to look out of the window too. "But it seems like there's some guys doing a bit of restoration..."

Beside one of the asteroids (the one with the English carvings), men in space suits were using what looked like a massive drilling vehicle powered by some brightly glowing rocks, which were visible through the glass panes which showed the interior of the vehicle. They were carving more text on the 13th name, such that three more letters were added to it.

13. ROHOJËN

Having gone past the two asteroids which formed a sort of gate to the planet, the ship entered the atmosphere and headed straight down.

The entire planet seemed to be covered in thin coniferous forests, with a terrain that was very much gentle; no mountains could be spotted, and the only bodies of water were tiny and secluded, hiding amidst the tall pines. On the horizon rose a massive structure, grandiose and technologically advanced, yet clearly ancient. It was there that a large number of ships were clustered, all of which clearly mercantile.

"Seems like that's a good place to dock", Nekoma commented.

"Jivüe, Aquila nar kurkü. Gövellen duzelph soljde iritemi hokko. Randin-Pjamitt o grönek duzelphin ttën söv mikkamërinosenjar.

A brief pause, and then the voice spoke again.

"Attention, crew of the Aquila. Please identify yourselves and state your intentions. A landing permit will be granted to you shortly after that."

...

[Prusselanden]

Manichean Plane
Realm I
Kinhe

In the three hours leading up to the jump to the next Realm (the time needed for the ship to process the coordinates), the crew occupied themselves with menial things. After all, nothing was known about the planet Kinhe which they were headed to, so there was no point in speculating.

Samuel and Arjun, both highly skilled in Western chess, spent the entire time duelling each other (They ended up tied at 6-6), while Henry stayed in his room, reading a book about finance and currency trading. Seishirō and his father didn't talk, each keeping to themselves; the boy read the novels his father had saved from the restaurant as they abandoned it, while the old man simply sat at the window, looking out into the black emptiness of space as they traversed through it. Yuen Tse-kai and Junichi Nekoma, for the most part, argued with each other about the ethics of white lies and Immanuel Kant's universalisability theory.

The party was alerted to the jump to Realm I by a sudden beeping, informing everybody not to make any sudden movements as the craft jumped dimension. Then a bright flash burst forth all around the ship, and the next thing they knew, they were all in Realm I of the Manichean Plane.

(Image)

Just up ahead was a smallish, turquoise-green planet encircled by a set of thick rings and with a tiny volcanic moon just at the corner. What was intriguing, however, was the fact that there were two giant asteroids situated where the ship had just entered, flanking it. Both asteroids were held in place by a bluish, barely visible force field, in turn held in place from somewhere on the planet. Into the asteroids had been carved text.

"It looks like a memorial or plaque of some sort..." Henry gazed out of the windows, trying his best to read it.

NIRILÖMEN MIJNISTROSGOK KÄNTSR

1. MONIRU
2. WIRASCHÖ
3. TIKLOBEI
4. IROJI
5. KUSUMMË
6. ALVIN ROBERTSON DRIVER
7. IRANOME
8. RANEMOSA
9. BUKHIROYYO
10. NIYIVU
12. WINOMU
13. ROHO
14. TAMKU
15. NASSE

CHANCELLORS OF THE NIRIL REPUBLIC

1. MONIRU
1. MONIRU
2. WIRASCHÖ
3. TIKLOBEI
4. IROJI
5. KUSUMMË
6. ALVIN ROBERTSON DRIVER
7. IRANOME
8. RANEMOSA
9. BUKHIROYYO
10. NIYIVU
12. WINOMU
13. ROHO
14. TAMKU
15. NASSE

"So it seems that's a list of all their Chancellors thus far", said Samuel as he read the names, Seishirō standing beside him and tiptoeing to look out of the window too. "But it seems like there's some guys doing a bit of restoration..."

Beside one of the asteroids (the one with the English carvings), men in space suits were using what looked like a massive drilling vehicle powered by some brightly glowing rocks, which were visible through the glass panes which showed the interior of the vehicle. They were carving more text on the 13th name, such that three more letters were added to it.

13. ROHOJËN

Having gone past the two asteroids which formed a sort of gate to the planet, the ship entered the atmosphere and headed straight down.

The entire planet seemed to be covered in thin coniferous forests, with a terrain that was very much gentle; no mountains could be spotted, and the only bodies of water were tiny and secluded, hiding amidst the tall pines. On the horizon rose a massive structure, grandiose and technologically advanced, yet clearly ancient. It was there that a large number of ships were clustered, all of which clearly mercantile.

"Seems like that's a good place to dock", Nekoma commented.

"Jivüe, Aquila nar kurkü. Gövellen duzelph soljde iritemi hokko. Randin-Pjamitt o grönek duzelphin ttën söv mikkamërinosenjar.

A brief pause, and then the voice spoke again.

"Attention, crew of the Aquila. Please identify yourselves and state your intentions. A landing permit will be granted to you shortly after that."

...

Ackerman had been eating a pack of French fries xe had smuggled onboard the ship, occasionally glancing over at Seishiro, a strange, troubled look on xer face. Fred on the other hand, was practicing flute. When he heard the radio message, he set it down and notified Henry and Samuel.
"What should we tell them?"

[Naval Monte]

Manichean Plane
Realm 0
Timere

Strange was shocked to hear about what happened in the hotel. Strange thought about what he could have done if he was there but those thoughts were short lived, he knew that even with his powers he was still one man. He may be able to save some but not all, at least not without using the powers of the Eye of Agamotto and risk causing time paradoxes. "While this is a great tragedy we must remember our main objective gentlemen, we must get to these weapons before people like that general could." Cain told the group, making Strange nodded in agreement to Cain. "His right. We can't do anything to change what happened to the Hotel but we can make sure that a greater tragedy doesn't happen."

When the option came on where to go everyone chose the location with the republic as they would have a more populated location to gather supplies for their journey. Once everyone boarded the Aquila Hex ordered the crew to ignite the engines and the ship soar through the skies. Eventually the generators would be operational for the jump and once word reached that they can open gates again the ship would enter the first realm in the Manichean Plane.

---

Manichean Plane
Realm I
Kinhe


As everyone on the ship waited for the sensor systems and computers to process the coordinates of the next gate jump and everyone began minimal tasks many in the crew either were performing their usual duties or were in the lounge or bar areas of the ship. Marie was down in the gym and was practicing her sword fighting moves while James was off doing whatever he pleased. Strange was meditating, his astral soul picking up different books and reading them at his own pace.

Cain was sitting on a coach and was fast asleep, using the dreamlands to access other dimensions without having to physically travel to them. Hex herself was in the commander's quarters and no one was quite sure what she does in there and most don't even bother her once she is inside unless there was an emergency. When the alarm that they were ready to head towards the next world came up everyone in the ship knew to be ready.

Soon they all arrived and everyone from the bridge were the first to see the planet before anyone else in the ship. "Captain we have reached our destination." Hex responded back. "Get us down to the planet pilots and make sure you find us a nice port, I don't want to worry about some random thug trying to steal our ship." the pilot on the other line laughed and generally made light of the idea of someone being dumb enough to steal their ship, a general attitude that Hex shared. The crew in this ship would make sure that no one will take this ship.

The cameras of the ships began to take pictures of the world that they were all seeing along with the plaque carved into the asteroids. When they saw a group of men in space suits craving a new name most let the men be and let the ship go down. As a voice asked for their intentions on the planet Hex replied with. "I'm captain Hex of the Aquila. My people wish to buy some supplies and equipment for our ship and too take a break after having a long voyages." she told the operators.

[Aeternabilis]

Wilfre's Ship; Somewhere Above Hokkaido, Japan

"That doesn't mean you gotta be so brutal about it!" Ann yelled back at Tenno. The Warframe dove into the next wave of enemies and went berserk with her metal claws, and Ann could tell her complaints were falling on deaf ears. With a sigh, she decided to just focus on her own thing for the rest of the pre-battle. As she blew away a squad of the strange shadow creatures, Ann could tell there was something familiar about them. They look like the bad guys from Drawn to Life, she realized. Dark Walkers, or something. Totally the same, even the way they kinda puff into smoke when they die. And didn't they say we're fighting Wilfre? He's from that game too. This is getting really weird. Almost completely not focusing on the fight now, just absentmindedly blowing foes away before they got too close, Ann had become absorbed in her thoughts. Ooh, I bet he moved universes like we did! And if he came here with an attack plan and everything, he can probably just do it whenever! I wonder if those Project X people can do it too? She internally gasped, getting very excited now. A significant breeze, outside of her normal attacks, could be felt in the corridor as she also unconsciously excited the air. If they can that means we can go home! Ooh but it also means that we can go anywhere in any story we want, too! I gotta tell the others when we're done here! Speaking of that, when will we be done here? She looked around the hallway they were fighting in, and the tide of enemy soldiers seemed to be slowing down considerably. "Hey, guys?" she called out. "Think we can signal the others yet? This zone is looking pretty safe!"

[Kaidou]

Manichean Plane
Realm I
Kinhe

"I suppose the captain will handle that", Henry replied, as he sat by the window, looking out and watching the ship slow down as the effects of gravity and the atmosphere began acting on the craft.

They weren't exactly sure what Hex had said to the guy on the other end, but from what he said in reply, it seemed that the ship had been cleared.

"The Aquila has been cleared for landing at Dock No. 27."

"Well, that's great", Henry remarked matter-of-factly.

As the ship flew past the initial building they had seen on the horizon, the crew soon realised how large the airfield of Kinhe actually was; as far as the eye could see, the entire expanse was covered in a sprawling network of landing docks, skyscrapers, commercial buildings, and other futuristic looking structures, with the planet's ubiquitous pine trees growing in the small empty spaces in between. A large number of merchant ships, some escorted by what appeared to be government ships (they had coats of arms emblazoned on their sides) were flowing in and out of the ports, some entering portals, others blasting off into space.

From a nearby landing pad came a brief flash of light, followed by a massive holographic display of numbers.

20

"Seems like that's how we'll find our place", Nekoma remarked, leaning on the window. "Interesting system."

Eventually, after about five minutes, the ship had found its assigned dock, and was guided into it by the air traffic control vehicles.

"Well, here goes."

...

"Welcome to Kinhe", came a voice that had passed through a megaphone. As the ramp of the ship extended, with Samuel and Henry disembarking together, coming face to face with a female NCO with a megaphone, flanked by two men of lower rank.

She had an attractive, youthful face (mid to late twenties) and figure ("8/10", thought Henry, controlling his expression), and a pair of grey eyes which complemented her professional, lipstick-free smile. Her uniform consisted of a black tunic with gold buttons and dark green lining, coupled with black trousers and ankle height black dress shoes polished to a mirror shine, along with a dark green beret with a sleek bronze insignia and a pair of white gloves. Her silk brown hair was tied into an elegant bun, and her chest was adorned with several colourful ribbons. Three golden chevrons screamed for attention on both upper sleeves of her black uniform.

Conservative, but still quite attractive nonetheless.

"I am SGT Ceiji (pronounced 'SAY-jee')", the lady said to Henry and Samuel in a genteel, elegant mezzo-soprano voice that naturally soothed the nerves. "Me and my men will be inspecting your ship before you and your crew may disembark. Are you the captain?"

"No", Henry replied, unconsciously turning his gaze to the sergeant's chest. "But I could bring you to her."

"Please do", SGT Ceiji replied. "The sooner we get this formality over with, the quicker you may go in."

"Say", Henry added, as he, Samuel, the sergeant, and her two men entered the ship, "You wanna go drinking later?"

Before he knew it, Ceiji had connected the back of her hand to his cheek.

"No", she replied tersely.

...

"I presume you are the captain?"

The door to Hex's control room slid open, with Ceiji standing in the doorway.

"I presume you are the captain?" she asked. The sergeant reached into her pocket and took out her military identity card, flashing it to Hex.

"My two men will be searching this ship for contraband goods. In the meantime, please show me some identification."

...

[Prusselanden]

Manichean Plane
Realm I
Kinhe

"I suppose the captain will handle that", Henry replied, as he sat by the window, looking out and watching the ship slow down as the effects of gravity and the atmosphere began acting on the craft.

They weren't exactly sure what Hex had said to the guy on the other end, but from what he said in reply, it seemed that the ship had been cleared.

"The Aquila has been cleared for landing at Dock No. 27."

"Well, that's great", Henry remarked matter-of-factly.

As the ship flew past the initial building they had seen on the horizon, the crew soon realised how large the airfield of Kinhe actually was; as far as the eye could see, the entire expanse was covered in a sprawling network of landing docks, skyscrapers, commercial buildings, and other futuristic looking structures, with the planet's ubiquitous pine trees growing in the small empty spaces in between. A large number of merchant ships, some escorted by what appeared to be government ships (they had coats of arms emblazoned on their sides) were flowing in and out of the ports, some entering portals, others blasting off into space.

From a nearby landing pad came a brief flash of light, followed by a massive holographic display of numbers.

20

"Seems like that's how we'll find our place", Nekoma remarked, leaning on the window. "Interesting system."

Eventually, after about five minutes, the ship had found its assigned dock, and was guided into it by the air traffic control vehicles.

"Well, here goes."

...

"Welcome to Kinhe", came a voice that had passed through a megaphone. As the ramp of the ship extended, with Samuel and Henry disembarking together, coming face to face with a female NCO with a megaphone, flanked by two men of lower rank.

She had an attractive, youthful face (mid to late twenties) and figure ("8/10", thought Henry, controlling his expression), and a pair of grey eyes which complemented her professional, lipstick-free smile. Her uniform consisted of a black tunic with gold buttons and dark green lining, coupled with black trousers and ankle height black dress shoes polished to a mirror shine, along with a dark green beret with a sleek bronze insignia and a pair of white gloves. Her silk brown hair was tied into an elegant bun, and her chest was adorned with several colourful ribbons. Three golden chevrons screamed for attention on both upper sleeves of her black uniform.

Conservative, but still quite attractive nonetheless.

"I am SGT Ceiji (pronounced 'SAY-jee')", the lady said to Henry and Samuel in a genteel, elegant mezzo-soprano voice that naturally soothed the nerves. "Me and my men will be inspecting your ship before you and your crew may disembark. Are you the captain?"

"No", Henry replied, unconsciously turning his gaze to the sergeant's chest. "But I could bring you to her."

"Please do", SGT Ceiji replied. "The sooner we get this formality over with, the quicker you may go in."

"Say", Henry added, as he, Samuel, the sergeant, and her two men entered the ship, "You wanna go drinking later?"

Before he knew it, Ceiji had connected the back of her hand to his cheek.

"No", she replied tersely.

...

"I presume you are the captain?"

The door to Hex's control room slid open, with Ceiji standing in the doorway.

"I presume you are the captain?" she asked. The sergeant reached into her pocket and took out her military identity card, flashing it to Hex.

"My two men will be searching this ship for contraband goods. In the meantime, please show me some identification."

...

"Henry!" Ackerman scolded. "Are you ok? You shouldn't talk to a customs officer like that. Trust me, they can be pretty scary at times. Whelp, looks like she's not that interested in you. But there's a lot of other ladies out there."
Frederick nodded and gazed at the port in wonder.
"When I get back I may build one of these, Eh?"

A fellow Captain walked over to the crew of the Aquila. "Frederick! What a surprise!"
"Ah. Captain Delaflote. What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"I am just here for a refuel. I never expected you."
"Me neither, it's been years since we met.
"Who's your little friend there?"
"Hallo, I'm called Ackerman!" Ackerman smiled and waved.
"Yes. And would the rest of you please introduce yourselves to me ?"

[Kaidou]

"Henry!" Ackerman scolded. "Are you ok? You shouldn't talk to a customs officer like that. Trust me, they can be pretty scary at times. Whelp, looks like she's not that interested in you. But there's a lot of other ladies out there."
Frederick nodded and gazed at the port in wonder.
"When I get back I may build one of these, Eh?"

"Huh", said Henry, as he rubbed his cheek. "I suppose you're right."

While SGT Ceiji talked with Hex, the two men who had followed her on board began to search the ship. Both were dressed in the same uniform as she was, but they were significantly more muscular and significantly less decorated. One of the men had a single golden chevron on each sleeve and one orange ribbon. The other man had nothing.

"Wonder how long it'll take", said Samuel to Ackerman casually. He clutched his cello case tightly.

[Prusselanden]

"Henry!" Ackerman scolded. "Are you ok? You shouldn't talk to a customs officer like that. Trust me, they can be pretty scary at times. Whelp, looks like she's not that interested in you. But there's a lot of other ladies out there."
Frederick nodded and gazed at the port in wonder.
"When I get back I may build one of these, Eh?"

"Huh", said Henry, as he rubbed his cheek. "I suppose you're right."

While SGT Ceiji talked with Hex, the two men who had followed her on board began to search the ship. Both were dressed in the same uniform as she was, but they were significantly more muscular and significantly less decorated. One of the men had a single golden chevron on each sleeve and one orange ribbon. The other man had nothing.

"Wonder how long it'll take", said Samuel to Ackerman casually. He clutched his cello case tightly.

"Mmmmm...."
A fellow captain approached the crew of the Aquila. She was an older blond with hair tied in a bun. She had a strong, serious face and wore an American space colony uniform.
"Captain Delaflote! What a surprise!" Frederick genuinely smiled at his old accquaintance.
"Frederick! Nice to meet you again. What are you doing here?"
"I'm...traveling with some other travelers." he gestured to Ackerman and the others.
"Nice. I'm Captain Paulina Delaflote." she introduced herself to the others.
"Hallo, I'm called Ackerman!" Ackerman said.

[Kaidou]

"Mmmmm...."
A fellow captain approached the crew of the Aquila. She was an older blond with hair tied in a bun. She had a strong, serious face and wore an American space colony uniform.
"Captain Delaflote! What a surprise!" Frederick genuinely smiled at his old accquaintance.
"Frederick! Nice to meet you again. What are you doing here?"
"I'm...traveling with some other travelers." he gestured to Ackerman and the others.
"Nice. I'm Captain Paulina Delaflote." she introduced herself to the others.
"Hallo, I'm called Ackerman!" Ackerman said.

"Hmm?" Samuel looked at the lady who had just showed up, cocking his head to one side, before smiling and making brief eye contact with his fiery hazel eyes. "I'm Samuel. Nice to meet you, Captain Delaflote."

"Nice to meet you, Pauline! How are you?" Henry greeted, wearing an amicable grin on his face as he shook the other captain's hand. "I think they're still searching the inside of the ship, so we can't go just yet." Just further down, a uniformed man with a rifle stood and watched the ship for any suspicious activities. "I presume you know Frederick?"

[Prusselanden]

"Mmmmm...."
A fellow captain approached the crew of the Aquila. She was an older blond with hair tied in a bun. She had a strong, serious face and wore an American space colony uniform.
"Captain Delaflote! What a surprise!" Frederick genuinely smiled at his old accquaintance.
"Frederick! Nice to meet you again. What are you doing here?"
"I'm...traveling with some other travelers." he gestured to Ackerman and the others.
"Nice. I'm Captain Paulina Delaflote." she introduced herself to the others.
"Hallo, I'm called Ackerman!" Ackerman said.

"Hmm?" Samuel looked at the lady who had just showed up, cocking his head to one side, before smiling and making brief eye contact with his fiery hazel eyes. "I'm Samuel. Nice to meet you, Captain Delaflote."

"Nice to meet you, Pauline! How are you?" Henry greeted, wearing an amicable grin on his face as he shook the other captain's hand. "I think they're still searching the inside of the ship, so we can't go just yet." Just further down, a uniformed man with a rifle stood and watched the ship for any suspicious activities. "I presume you know Frederick?"

"Indeed, he helped me fight off an alien invasion on Our space station. We gave him an astronaut suit and he went out and started pummeling them with his bare hands."
"Aw, you give me too much credit, Captain." Fred slightly reddened. "We also know because I know her great great great great great great grandfather, Paul-Henri Delaflote. He lives at my place now."
"Oh. I never knew you did that stuff anymore, old man." Ackerman sniffed. "...Why don't you?"
"I've grown too old to do that stuff." he then shot Henry a serious glare.
Do not say anything stupid in front of Captain Delaflote, understand?

[Kaidou]

"Indeed, he helped me fight off an alien invasion on Our space station. We gave him an astronaut suit and he went out and started pummeling them with his bare hands."
"Aw, you give me too much credit, Captain." Fred slightly reddened. "We also know because I know her great great great great great great grandfather, Paul-Henri Delaflote. He lives at my place now."
"Oh. I never knew you did that stuff anymore, old man." Ackerman sniffed. "...Why don't you?"
"I've grown too old to do that stuff." he then shot Henry a serious glare.
Do not say anything stupid in front of Captain Delaflote, understand?

"Ah", said Samuel lackadaisically, placing one hand on his cello case. "Sounds like you've had a fun life, Fred-"

One of the two men who had been searching the ship had appeared behind the boy, standing almost perfectly still.

"Open your cello case", he said.

The boy turned, gulped uncomfortably, but acquiesced, kneeling down and opening the case gingerly to reveal his seemingly normal cello and its bow. Just those, plus a cube of rosin, and a few pencils tucked away in a little compartment, too far to damage the cello.

The immigration officer searched the case, before giving Samuel the all clear sign and heading back into the ship. Just as he went back in, Akita Sr and Nekoma exited from the ramp, both noticing Delaflote.

"Junichi Nekoma. A pleasure." Nekoma nodded at Captain Delaflote and thrust his hands into his pockets, looking out into the distance, the landscape a blend of forest and cutting edge technology.

Akita Sr, on the other hand, smiled and nodded at Delaflote, opting for a more humble introduction.

"I'm Akita", he said. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs..."

[Prusselanden]

"Indeed, he helped me fight off an alien invasion on Our space station. We gave him an astronaut suit and he went out and started pummeling them with his bare hands."
"Aw, you give me too much credit, Captain." Fred slightly reddened. "We also know because I know her great great great great great great grandfather, Paul-Henri Delaflote. He lives at my place now."
"Oh. I never knew you did that stuff anymore, old man." Ackerman sniffed. "...Why don't you?"
"I've grown too old to do that stuff." he then shot Henry a serious glare.
Do not say anything stupid in front of Captain Delaflote, understand?

"Ah", said Samuel lackadaisically, placing one hand on his cello case. "Sounds like you've had a fun life, Fred-"

One of the two men who had been searching the ship had appeared behind the boy, standing almost perfectly still.

"Open your cello case", he said.

The boy turned, gulped uncomfortably, but acquiesced, kneeling down and opening the case gingerly to reveal his seemingly normal cello and its bow. Just those, plus a cube of rosin, and a few pencils tucked away in a little compartment, too far to damage the cello.

The immigration officer searched the case, before giving Samuel the all clear sign and heading back into the ship. Just as he went back in, Akita Sr and Nekoma exited from the ramp, both noticing Delaflote.

"Junichi Nekoma. A pleasure." Nekoma nodded at Captain Delaflote and thrust his hands into his pockets, looking out into the distance, the landscape a blend of forest and cutting edge technology.

Akita Sr, on the other hand, smiled and nodded at Delaflote, opting for a more humble introduction.

"I'm Akita", he said. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs..."

Fred flushed and scowled at Henry. "It wasn't that entertaining. I was just doing my job here."
"Delaflote." she nodded at Akita Sr. And Nekoma. "But it's Ms. I'm not married, Mr. Akita. It's nice to meet you two. So, what business does the Aquila have on Kinhe? Are you doing a refuel?"

[Kaidou]

Fred flushed and scowled at Henry. "It wasn't that entertaining. I was just doing my job here."
"Delaflote." she nodded at Akita Sr. And Nekoma. "But it's Ms. I'm not married, Mr. Akita. It's nice to meet you two. So, what business does the Aquila have on Kinhe? Are you doing a refuel?"

"Well..." Samuel shrugged, as Arjun and Seishirō walked down the ramp, the latter carrying a sling bag across his chest. "I suppose that's one way you could put it. We're not from this multiverse, you see. We've come to explore this place."

Arjun smiled at Delaflote as Samuel spoke, leaning on his walking cane.

[Prusselanden]

Fred flushed and scowled at Henry. "It wasn't that entertaining. I was just doing my job here."
"Delaflote." she nodded at Akita Sr. And Nekoma. "But it's Ms. I'm not married, Mr. Akita. It's nice to meet you two. So, what business does the Aquila have on Kinhe? Are you doing a refuel?"

"Well..." Samuel shrugged, as Arjun and Seishirō walked down the ramp, the latter carrying a sling bag across his chest. "I suppose that's one way you could put it. We're not from this multiverse, you see. We've come to explore this place."

Arjun smiled at Delaflote as Samuel spoke, leaning on his walking cane.

"Yes, my younger self loved to amuse himself with fun, but he has oddly been dormant lately. So my original personality is in charge of my body." Frederick said to Samuel. "Can't say I miss him though."
Ackerman walked over to Seishiro. "Look Seishiro, we're in Kinhe. Isn't it cool here?" Xe gazed in wonder at the landscape before them.
Delaflote nodded back at Arjun. "I am Captain Delaflote of the STM-ILL-0134."

[Kaidou]

Ackerman walked over to Seishiro. "Look Seishiro, we're in Kinhe. Isn't it cool here?" Xe gazed in wonder at the landscape before them.
Delaflote nodded back at Arjun. "I am Captain Delaflote of the STM-ILL-0134."

"Well", Henry replied, shrugging, "Let's just wait and see what's gonna happen."

...

"Yeah", Yocchi replied dreamily, chuckling awkwardly as he looked out into the distance. "It's pretty cool. Both temperature and looks, you know... heh heh..." He let out a breath, a cloud of steam shooting forth from his mouth and disappearing in the crisp, morning air.

...

"A pleasure to meet you", the Indian lawyer replied, resting on his walking stick and watching as Yuen came out of the ship, clad in a flowing trench coat as if imitating an action movie badass.

Yuen, noticing his companion speaking with Delaflote, nodded at the lady, straightening his horn rimmed spectacles.

"I'm Arjun, and that's Yuen Tse-kai."

[Mundeo]

Hex's Ship

As soon as the captain of the ship gave the green light, James was ready to teleport him and Marie on board, but a sudden attack from an aquatic beast forced them to simply run in. He certainly didn't apreciate being pushed in by a bunch of soldiers. Nonetheless, they were now in the ship, which was no win another dimension. This Captain Hex better plan on bringing them back to Metropolis once he's finished making the repairs.

But before he did that...

He held the Spear of Destiny in one hand, and with the other he took out the crystal. They were out of the reach of the Daevas and Archons, so there was no better place to do it. He placed the crystal on the floor, then, pointing the spear towards the floor, brought it down upon the crystal.

Tallon IV

Dammit! Beetle broke out, too? Samus was not going to let him get away, as much as she would rather never listen to him again. She ran back to her ship, not caring if Jeremie followed her or not, and looked down at the console. Just as she expected, there was a new signal that was created by Beetle going through his portal. Wherever he was going, Samus was going to try her hardest to get there as well.

"Adam, follow that signal!"

Right on it.

The starship floated away from the platform, and in moments was back in the planet's outer atmosphere. Samus didn't know what she was following after, but she was sure as hell going to follow it. She had barely left the orbit when a wormhole appeared in front of her and swallowed her ship without a trace.

---

"What the hell just happened"

Whatever had happened to your new friend. And before you ask, Lady, I have no idea where we are.

Another universe. Once she was able to stabilize the ship's coarse, she was able to get a good look of this new world that she now found herself in. Skyscrapers soared below her as her ship glided over the Capital City.