The Ancient Ones: Age of Nothingness (IC)

[Wheatley Laboratories]

Saturn
Ignis looked on worriedly at Star, when Terry started crying again from hunger.
"Scheisse, but I just fed her!" Ignis again had to rush off to make another bottle of formula. Luckily, however, Rojo the Hawlucha fetched her one before she set off.

"Danke, Rojo." Ignis smiled and patted her Pokemon on the head before letting Terry feed on the bottle. Buoy became jealous and tugged on her pant leg with her teeth. Quetz picked Buoy up, smirking at Ignis. "She's going to do that every day for two years from now on."

"...Vhat scheisse have you gotten me into, Shifu!?" Ignis groaned.

"Now you know my pain." Quetz chuckled at her.

Star has been unstable lately...Perhaps me and Ignis should slip way while she and Serena are occupied. Yet again, Serena and Star serve as good protection for us. And Terry needs the shelter for now.

Zeta walks back over, food in hand. He eats silently, just observing what's going on around him.
Thinking, he creates a small fireball in his free hand and tosses it up and down.
He's thinking of his past again... Little does he know that he's soon getting answers.

[Kaidou]

Thollorrat Village

"Gu Mindefron is a half hour ride west from here... if we can get horses", explained Gohnza, slinging the rifle across his chest with its strap. "If we cannot find any horses in this village, it would... most likely be about... a two or three hours trek, if we go by my pace."

He looked out at the Western horizon; the sun was beginning to set, but before it could even touch the border between the sky and the earth, a large, grey blot came between. A gigantic arcus cloud, almost black, hovering over the Western horizon, slowly eating up the descending sun.

"We're gonna go in there", he said, pointing at the cloud. "That's where we'll have the chance... to take out two top IGSE leaders... within a day or two."

...

In orbit around Kubronos

ES Judgement Day
Capital ship of the IGSE

"How much closer can this ship be brought to the planet?"

"Sir", the warship's captain replied, "we're already orbiting within 15 kilometres of the magic barrier. If we go any closer, our warship will be vaporised."

"The Angels of Kubronos are formidable indeed."

On screen in the command room, linking the lounge of the CEO to the warship's commanders, a massive, brutally-muscular figure with long silver hair slowly climbed out of the pool, every last contour of his body jaggedly outlined and criss-crossed with veins. The tattoo of a black circle between his shoulder blades was clearly visible on screen as he rose from the bath naked, his back turned to the camera, before flexing violently and seizing a long coat from a chair nearby, draping it loosely around his body.

"I have faith that General Kim Il-sung will be able to do his job", said the massive silver-haired man, standing almost 2 metres tall. "Be ready, my soldiers. When the Angels have fallen... we strike the Gate of Gu Mindefron."

Harakiri Haikarakainen
Chief Executive Officer of the IGSE

...

Elsewhere on the ship

Dr
Lam Jih-yeung
林子陽
Chief of Biological Weaponry Research of the IGSE

"If the reports are correct, sir", said the aide, "it seems that Claudius is dead."

"What about Lam Jan-ci?" inquired the doctor, sipping tea quietly from his glass mug, leaning forward and leaning his forearms on the large wooden desk.

"According to General Kim, it appears that her conditioning was unsuccessful", the aide continued, fishing out a manila envelope from his bag and handing it to Dr Lam. "Though her ghoul systems appear to be perfectly functional unlike the previous test subject, it seems she has renegaded..."

The doctor smashed his teacup on the table. The aide reeled back in shock, as the shards of the cup flew in all directions, the hot tea spilling all over the table and mixing with the blood that dripped from the doctor's palm.

"I want the full report", he said, eerily calmly, "in two hours."

"Yes, sir."

Nonchalantly wiping the blood off his hand with a handkerchief, Dr Lam reached for the manila envelope and cut it open with an ivory letter opener, emptying its contents into his lap (the desk being wet from the tea) and leafing through them.

ARTIFICIAL KAKUJA PROGRAMME
CODE NUMBER: #4067B



Name: Lam Jan-ci
Age at commencement of procedure: 18 years 152 days
Year of commencement of procedure: 949
Age at conclusion of procedure: 18 years 309 days
Year of conclusion of procedure: 949
Duration of procedure: 157 days
Current location: Kubronos
Comments:
-Procedure successful. procedure unsuccessful. Subject ghoulified and conditioned ^conditioning unsuccessful, subject failed

Estimated remaining lifespan: 6 months max

ARTIFICIAL KAKUJA PROGRAMME
CODE NUMBER: #4067B



Name: Anthony Haikarakainen
Age at commencement of procedure: 4 years 111 days
Year of commencement of procedure: 936
Age at conclusion of procedure: 15 years 3 days
Year of conclusion of procedure: 947
Duration of procedure: 3907 days
Current location: Kubronos
Comments:
- Procedure unsuccessful. Subject's systems completely unresponsive to medications and conversion treatments.
left arm required amputation when subject was at age of 14 years 341 days -> severe gangrene caused by spike in Rc cell count exacerbated by injection of 0.500 mol/dm³ Tarnovocin solution as muscle relaxant

conditioning failed

Estimated remaining lifespan: 12 years

As his eyes darted back and forth across the contents of the two criminally sparse and cold documents, the doctor silently got up from his chair and left his office, walking down the grey, sanitised corridors of the ES Judgement Day, past the numerous armed operatives who stopped to salute him, and straight down to the basement.

The basement of the Judgement Day belonged to Dr Lam alone. It was there that he conducted his experiments when away from the Supreme HQ.

Such an arrangement also made it easy for Dr Lam to unleash whatever horrors he concocted in his laboratory whenever it was required. More than once, previous abominations of his, sanctioned by Chief Scientist Ayevaku Yangau, had been released upon unsuspecting targets, be it chemical weapons or super soldiers of the most eldritch and horrifying sort. Throughout the course of his 30 years of service to the oligopolistic weapons manufacturer turned political player that slowly ate up its competition, Dr Lam Jih-yeung's weapons had racked up a body count exceeding the tens of billions.

Kubronos was to be no different. If General Kim Il-sung could not unlock the Gate... if Chancellor Narhel of the Niril Republic's government in exile could not destroy the Angels...

"...then I will unleash my third baby", said Dr Lam to himself, as he stopped by a gigantic metal door labelled with a name.

ARTIFICIAL KAKUJA PROGRAMME
CODE NUMBER: #4067B

TEST SUBJECT STORAGE TANK
Name: YOTSUHA IKEGAMI
Age at commencement of procedure: 14 YEARS 8 DAYS
Year of commencement of procedure: 949
Comments:
operationally ready

...

[Prusselanden]

The Woods
"I suppose I'll just have to observe him now and try to find a way to restrain him." Terry looked at Cascabel who seemed tired out of his mind. "I guess he burned himself out. I gotta record that."


Gu Mindefron
"Not only barricades, I'll go on the defense too in case they're too strong to hold back." Uska began to drag large pieces of furniture over the door of the building. Ackerman looked on, then started to help. Since xer right hand was injured xe could only use xer left and so wedged the furniture over xer back to transport it to the door.

"How will we speed up the ritual? This can't possibly hold for five hours!" Ackerman muttered worriedly.

"If Ceiji managed to get back alive by herself, we just might have enough time."

Thollorat
"It's a good thing I was in the cavalry then. I can fly also, so if we don't find anything, I can help transport you over there." Kalo looked up at the cloud. "It seems ominous. I can only hope we can get to Gu Mindefron before all shit goes to hell."

[Legokiller]

Saturn

“Thankfully I installed numerous of data and books to help take care of a human baby.” Star said.

“Wait, Ignis is a mother!?” Serena reacted behind the holographic panel from the perspective of Star’s andriod eyes. “When did that happened?”

“I attempted to keep track of it Serena, but there is gaps in the story.” Star replied. While Sailor Mercury shyly went off to one of the terminals to begin her work, with the permission of Star of course, one of the Saturn's android units approached the group. A was human like, but too bland with her long brown hair and doll-like eyes, and had a brown school outfit. She looked at Zeta with curiosity.

“You’re still trying to discover your past sir?” The android asked.

[The Intergalactic Russian Empire]

Traveler

Kadoor sighed as Hanzo left the room "So much for that, I guess." she muttered to herself. She glanced over to where Clairus and the others were then turned away, deciding to take a walk through the ship. She wondered what would be next for her, and how long she'd be stuck in this adventure. The Troll hoped she might find a place on the ship where she could sit down and relax for a bit, but none could be found so far. She then rounded a corner and saw him: Eridan. His head was hung low, staring to the floor as he walked in her direction. Kadoor made a gasp "Shit."

Woods

Draigo stood from his kneeling position and looked over to James, pausing for a while to think. "Yes, on the condition that you take me back to my universe the moment this is over." He pulled his sword out from the ground and joined the others. "So where exactly are we going?"

New Earth, Palace

A woman sat alone in a lavish throne room, upon a throne of gold cushioned with fine purple fabric. Around her the same two colors covered the throne room, purple banners with golden tassels hung on the walls, a purple and gold carpet upon the floor. She seemed frustrated, one hand on her chin, the other resting on the arm rest of the throne. She tapped her fingers against the throne absentmindedly, thinking about recent events that had unfolded. Levsky had called her a bitch on live TV, Eric and Ann had left a while back for some new adventure through time, and Othrys had thought it to be a good idea to try and pants her a few hours ago. She was not having a good day. She sighed "Ugh, why do things always seem to go wrong around here?" She stood up and stepped down from the throne, walking off to find something better to do, when she was suddenly engulfed in light and disappeared.

N-J

Alena von Meyer appeared in what seemed to be the remains of a village, late at night. "Great, just my luck." She could see a stream nearby, and next to the stream there seemed to be a campfire. She walked towards the campfire cautiously, feeling the soft heat as she got closer. When she reached the campfire she slowly walked into the light and looked around at the people there "..... Okay, pray tell, where the hell am I?"

[Mundeo]

The Woods

"Thank you all for bearing with me. This shouldn't take long... I hope" James then asked the question that was on everyone's minds. "We're going to a place where, no doubt, the majority will stand out like sore thumbs. We're going to planet Earth, to a land known simply as 'Manhattan'"

It seemed that everyone who was currently with James planned on going with him. That simplified things - he didn't have to bring anyone someplace else before heading to New York. Hopefully Mark won't mind all of the company.

"Let's get going, then" The next moment, everyone had vanished, leaving the cabin vacant once again.

Manhattan

The group reappeared in an urban alleyway. To most, the place looked completely alien, but to James, he was back in an old home. It was late at night, the moon casting its pale late down from between towering rooftops. This was New York City, alright. Unless Mark and the others decided to move, the aparment had to be close by. Before he made his way there, though, he decided to let the others get used to the new environment.

[Prusselanden]

Saturn
"You can help him?" Ignis raised an eyebrow when the android walked over to them. "Vhat course of action do you suggest?"

She took off her ribbon and gave it to Terry for while for her to play with.

Manhattan
Cascabel immediately became alert and hissed. "I smell so many humans in this area..."

Terry grabbed his arm. "Not now. James will kill you if you attack people."

"So where is this, anyways? Why would you guys take me to a place with so many scum?"

"New York, and they're called people." Terry was starting to get impatient. "Why do you want to slaughter people left and right anyways!? What did they ever do to you?"

"Humans round up and kill my kind by the thousands, I'm just returning the favor to them." he shrugged.

[The Palmetto]

N-J

F5 looked to the camp fire, and soon saw a new figure approaching the campfire. Before he could respond, he then saw another one. They were surprisingly calm in their action, not at all especially alarmed. Rather suspicious to the old mech, but he had seen weirder.

"Excuse me?" He asked the goddess, walking over to her. His gun arm was ready to fire at any time, and he'd have no problem killing her if he thought she was a threat.

"You just pop out of nowhere, and your first action is to ask for help from a mythological character? You aren't alarmed or anything? Further more, why are you just walking up to us? We could very well be uncivilized savages ready to kill you just for fun," he continued on, speaking in a frustrated and annoyed voice.

"So that begs the question, what in the Sam hell are you doing here?" He concluded, aiming his gun arm at her.

Aestus noticed Konrad's attempted escape, and merely sent over a few lobsters to keep him down.
"I'll take care of you later," The God of Marine Life told him, before looking over to F5 with a sigh.

"So, why are you here? Certainly seems odd that you'd be around here," Aestus asked her, before pointing to F5, "and don't worry, not all of us will act like him."

[Prusselanden]

N-J
"F5, calm down." Julian walked over to the trio. "Put that gun down, she obviously comes in peace. My name's Julian, and you are in N-J. We're not from here, though. We are here to stop a being called Aetherus."

Frederick teleported over to them. "Hello! I'm Frederick, everybody's king! Who are you?"
"And I am Peter the Great, the czar." Peter grinned from behind Frederick. Abe gave a short wave and walked beside Frederick and Peter to make sure they didn't do anything stupid. "Abe Lincoln."

Newton rolled his eyes, but was relieved that Konrad was contained. He locked the former doctor in a calculus bubble. "That does that, I'm keeping an eye on him from now on."

Konrad screamed and banged on the bubble as his escape attempt was thwarted. "God dang it, I was so close!"

[Legokiller]

NYC - Manhattan

Camille wanted to enjoy the experience of the city that never sleeps in its glory, and the atmosphere without the interruption of Cascabel’s vile temptation. She listened to the babble of slaughtering the innocents, which the demigoddess turned to look at the snake demon with distaste. She had to step in. “The humans of New York City have nothing to do with the crimes of your universe Cascabel. They’re innocent and blissful from such reality. If you wish to return home safely, you have to be friendly to the humans. In return, the humans will be friendly to you.” If any wrong move, things can escalate rather fast in this major city.

Then a brief flash of light engulfed Camille, shapeshifting herself into something that would fit an urban landscape. Camille glance at Cascabel for a second. “Now be in your best behavior or else I have to kick your butt.” She winked.

Rosa panted Diancie on the head, and returned her inside the temporary pokeball. “I hope you got some spare cash James. Diancie can make some pink diamonds to exchange for money, but I don’t want no one here to get greedy.” Rosa still had the problem of three Pokemon here out in the open. She will have to find a safe place for them to stay. She was more concern about the welfare for them, and process to consult with her Pokemon to explain their game plan.

“Blissey, it’s going to be hard, but we have to find a safe place for you to hide.” Rosa said.

“Blissey?” Blissey replied with confusion.

"I know it's lame, but this world doesn't have any Pokemon out in the open. "Rosa said.

[Kaidou]

Gu Mindefron

- Junichirō Koizumi (Basement)
- Fritze Ackerman
- Stephen Vincent Strange
- Ceiji Namikawa
- Yoichi Mineta
- Sun Zi-xiang
- Hex
- Uska Järvinen
- Anthony Haikarakainen
- Yang Chae-moon
- Yaroslav Andreyevich Zhilin

Leaving Koizumi alone in the basement to watch over Saul and the resurrecting thing in the coffin, the rest promptly left the basement, preparing their weapons.

"Here's how things will work", said Ceiji, fixing a dagger to her belt and tying bandages around the fingers of her right hand. "Those of us who can fight will hide here and there and ambush those fuckers. Those who can't fight will stay in the restaurant. Me and Zi-xiang found a couple of weapons, so you'll get to use those."

Zi-xiang brought in a large pile of katanas, sabres, and a spear.

"So it's just me and Yaroslav Andreyevich", said Mr Yang, chuckling sardonically, as he took a gladius from Zi-xiang's pile and played about with its blade.

"Hey, I'll have you know I used to be a HEMA expert when I was young", Yaroslav Andreyevich shot back, half jokingly, picking up a bastard sword. "Then I took an arrow to the knee."

"But don't go too far from the restaurant", said Ceiji to the others, as they quietly left the restaurant, armed to the teeth. "We want to be able to rendezvous the moment Henry-"

It was at that moment that Anthony, all of a sudden, gagged violently. He lurched forward and gripped his mouth with his hand, only for a spurt of blood-laced vomit to spew out of his mouth and nose, splashing all over the floor as he stood there in a horrified daze, his knees trembling. A trickle of bloody tears began to roll from his eyes.

Zi-xiang's jaw dropped.

"Shit!" Anthony spluttered, still fighting hard to stay on his feet. "It's an Rc cell... overload..."

"Y'all carry on with the plan", said Yoichi urgently, wrapping his arm around Anthony's shoulder. "This isn't the first time this happened..."

"What the fuck is that?"

"I'll explain... later", Anthony said weakly.

The sound of a shell smashing into a nearby building could be heard clearly.

...

[Prusselanden]

Manhattan
"You want to go? I never did anything to disturb the humans from my world. I tried to stay out of their way but still they round up my kind every year, and they killed my family. Humans never mind their own business and leave other species at peace!" Cascabel grew irritated with Camille and shook off Terry's grip, storming towards the woman. He stared her straight in they eye, his irises burning with hate.

"Face it, Puta."

"Cascabel!"

"You think you can tell me what to do?" Cascabel hissed at Terry. "With James, I don't have to comply with you anymore. You aren't in control anymore."

"I-yeah, I guess you're right, but..."

"But what? See? You can't do anything. Your kind is not only cruel, but spineless and foolish." He flipped a bird at her, which caused Terry to quake in annoyance. However she couldn't do much as her metal enhancements were weak to his fire.

Gu Mindefron
"Yes Ma'am!" Ackerman loaded xer pistol and stooped down behind an overturned table, prepared to take down any enemies. The shell caused xer senses to alert a bit, but since xe was used to explosives during battles, xe didn't mind too much. However, Ackerman still felt xer body tense up in a flight instinct from the sound.

Not now Ackerman...you can't...falter.

Ackerman had noticed Anthony vomit blood and got up from the hiding spot to see if he was ok, but it seemed Yoichi had it under control.

"Are you sure, Yoichi? Anthony needs medical attention urgently, and I'm not sure we have many medics on board."

"I could try to heal him." Uska arranged some cover over his hiding spot to conceal the muzzle of his sniper rifle.

[Kaidou]

Gu Mindefron

"Have we got enough snipers?" Ceiji asked.

Yaroslav Andreyevich put down his sword and raised his hand.

"I can shoot."

"Good", said Ceiji, "so you take over for Uska."

With that, the rest of the group quietly exited the restaurant and found themselves hiding spots nearby, ready to ambush the soldiers who were coming.

The first to show up were not Nizangar Empire soldiers, but a squad of Asian-looking men in beige uniforms, wielding katana. They noticed the restaurant and made to attack the ones guarding it, but were quickly caught off guard by Zi-xiang, who leapt off the awning with a stick, smashing it into the squad commander's face.

Quickly adopting a mantis stance, Zi-xiang began to fight low, attacking the soldiers in the squad at the pressure points, causing them to collapse in spasms, while Ceiji drew her sword and began fighting off the remaining ones.

From the other side of the road came a second squad; a group of men dressed in blue uniforms, wearing tall, bronze helmets with blue feathers that had become soggy in the torrential downpour. As lightning struck, the soldiers in the beige uniforms turned their attention to the ones in the blue uniforms, and vice versa, as they made for each other, suddenly ignoring the presence of the ones who had ambushed them. Blood sprayed all over the streets, before being promptly washed away by the falling rain.

Overhead, an ominous black outline could be seen beyond the grey clouds, one resembling a starship of sorts, hovering outside the atmosphere.

...

Inside the restaurant

"Is there any lemon juice in here?" Anthony weakly asked.

Mr Yang hurriedly rushed to the kitchen in search of lemons.

Left on the couch with Yoichi and Uska, Anthony clutched his stomach and grimaced, attempting futilely to shift to a more comfortable position, still gagging now and then.

"Sorry guys", he mumbled sheepishly, his one arm twitching at random moments. "Don't mean to be a liability."

"Shut the fuck up", Yoichi snapped. "Don't you ever say anything like that."

That was the first time anybody had ever seen him become genuinely angry.

"I'm afraid there's not much that can be done", Yoichi said to Uska, rather dejectedly. "This is... well... beyond medicine."

"Long story", Anthony added.

...

[Prusselanden]

Gu Mindefron
"Not Medicine, magic." Uska looked to both of them. "I just need a constant source of strong light to work with." Uska looked at a few symbols that he had jotted down on his arm and raised up his hand to Anthony. Uska's hand would begin to glow faintly and repair Yoichi's body slowly.

"Don't talk so negatively. You'll only worry your lover further, you know."

He had heard the commotion from outside but didn't seem to react.

I'll get him patched up first, after that we'll have a much better chance at facing the enemy and no one to serve as a drag to us.

...

Ackerman spat on the ground as xe sliced a soldier's head off. Xe raised xer pistol and shot a few more through their torsos. Xe was more worried about the oncoming shape in the horizon.

"Hey, how much longer is the ritual going to take? Our chance of survival may be significantly slashed if that thing gets over here." Ackerman kicked an attacking soldier into a few of his comrades to knock them down. Unlike Zi-Xiang, xe didn't mind keeping xerself in the open. One or two hits might land on xer, but by now they would be mere paper cuts to the former bodyguard as xe would throw soldiers around as if they were rag dolls.

"That Herr Ackerman isn't human"

"More like a monster"

Ackerman let out a growl of ferocity and impaled a soldier on Jontum, then grabbed his katana and used the weapon to behead him. "Let's hope no one else here dies today. I will be a demon if I have to."

[Kaidou]

Gu Mindefron

"My... lover?" Anthony coughed, using his one arm to grip the edge of the sofa to prevent himself from falling off as Uska worked his magic on him. "I don't have a lover."

Yoichi urgently looked out of the door.

It wasn't long before Anthony had become well enough to climb out of the sofa. Reaching for his axe, he cocked his head, slashing the axe and sending the whooshing sound of sliced air reverberating through the room, as he flexed his one arm, its muscles lean but defined.

"Would you like a cup of lemon juice?" asked Mr Yang Chae-moon, emerging from the kitchen with a glass of lemon juice.

"Thank you", said Anthony, sipping the juice from the straw as the restauranteur held the cup for him, before leaving through the door. "Now let's hope this lasts the battle."

...

The three-way skirmish (four-way if one was to include the party holed up in the restaurant) had taken all of half an hour to erupt into a full-out battle, with the tens of thousands of troops filing into every last corner of the city, slaughtering civilians and each other in their violent, unthinking fighting against each other.

From outside watched the commanders of the three sides.

On one end was the young Chancellor of the Niril Republic, accompanied by the two warlords who had been united under him. On another end was a large host of generals working for the newly crowned geriatric Emperor of the Nizangar Empire. And on a third end still was six admirals who had had enough of servitude to the declining Nizangar, and had decided, as a result, to take the future of their country into their own hands.

What they didn't know was that there was a fourth power, hovering outside the magically sealed atmosphere of Kubronos, silently observing the war ongoing beneath.

...

[Prusselanden]

Gu Mindefron
"But Yoichi cares so much about you, and you two seem to be so close with each other, I must have thought you two were...you know, together." Uska blinked without much emotion. "Also, be careful, don't make yourself undergo so much shock. It's nothing to be embarrassed about if you are, anyways. I am dating a much younger person, and if I'm not embarrassed neither should you be."

Uska followed him. "Be careful on that injury. I don't know how long my magic will last." He whipped out his sniper rifle and dove behind a barrier, aiming his rifle out from a hole and shooting down scores of enemy soldiers. Uska could spot Ackerman from the corner of his eye.

Ackerman grabbed a spear from the weapon stash and used it to run through multiple soldiers at once, and then swing the skewered bodies around to scatter more incoming opponents. "Koizumi-san better be speeding it up, I don't like the look of that ship, and plus we'll be flooded with more attackers soon. If only I hadn't left my coat with Seishiro..."

Seishiro....

Ackerman suddenly seemed to explode in terms of attack aggression as xe grabbed an enemy soldier by the neck and tore off his head, throwing at another who tried to ambush xer from behind, knocking him out. Ackerman grabbed the remaining corpse by one arm and swung it around like a whip with unnatural fury. The bizarre weapon did seem to function quite well as it managed to knock out and kill a good number of the enemy.

[Petrokovia]

Gold and Ty watched as Hanzo steamed off.

"Huh..." Ty let out, not sure what to think. On one hand, Hanzo's callous reaction to those around him put Ty off, but he also thought for a moment about it...
He's been through a lot... Actually, Gold and I have been pretty fuckin' lucky not to have gotten killed yet...

Ty thought back to the fight against Galaxia, and to the battle against Sans and a fake Krys.

Gold turned his gaze to Ty.
"Yo, somethin' wrong, bro?"

Ty snapped out of thought.
"Huh? Oh, uh, nah... I'm fine. It's just that Hanzo almost dying made me think."
"Oh... Think what?"
"Well, this entire time, y'know, you kinda forget that you can die."
"Yeah... Do you want to stop? I'll understand if you don't want to be here."
"...No, I'd feel shitty just quitting. We've gotta protect our home."
"Glad to hear. I'd feel more comfortable taking the risk than leaving things up to chance."

The two went silent for a moment, and Ty sighed.
"Man, that's been brewing for a while. Glad to get that out."
"Same... Hey, wanna play some Smash while we wait for Conundrum to wake up?"
"Sure. That'd be nice."

The two went to a corner of the room, and Gold pulled out a pokeball. He held it out, and a laser shot out to the ground, the light morphing and taking the form of a large cardboard box. Gold put the pokeball back into his backpack, and opened the box.

Inside was a twelve inch mini CRT, a gamecube with two controllers, a copy of Smash Bros Melee, and a small portable power cell with two outlets.

Simon approached the two, confused.
"You keep all of that on you?"
"Yeah. It's real easy when you've got pokeballs. I've also got a large tent and a mountain bike."

Simon glanced over to the backpack, which didn't seem particularly full of anything; He still seemed skeptical, but decided not to question it.

---

Bloodfyre walked into the lobby, his head covered in bandages where his left eye was. He slowly sat down in a chair next to Joshua, and looked up at the television.

"The treatment at this facility is wonderful; It is very sanitary. Though, I have not seen a great deal of the equipment they used before..."

The knight cleared his throat, turning to Joshua; his light demeanor waned.
"Have we heard anything regarding the others?"

[Kaidou]

Gu Mindefron

-

- Fritze Ackerman
- Sun Zi-xiang
- Anthony Haikarakainen
- Yoichi Mineta

About sixty or so soldiers lay dead on the ground, mostly from each side attacking the other and vice versa, but also thanks to Ackerman's rampage and Yaroslav Andreyevich's careful sniping of those who looked like they were on the verge of becoming a little bit too inconvenient in the immediate future.

The rain did end up subsiding eventually, as the clouds slowly dissipated and made way for a clear sky. That only made the dark figure in the sky clear; it was, indeed, a starship, one so large it stretched halfway from one end of the visible horizon to the other, the silhouettes of massive guns clearly visibly lining the flanks of the war machine. At that particular moment in time, whatever was controlling it didn't seem particularly interested in what was going on down below, but it was clearly only a matter of time.

"You bastards!"

Much to the shock of those who had been positioned outside the restaurant's front door, the battlefield was suddenly cleared as the figure of Samuel emerged from the skirmish, wielding a meat cleaver and brutally hacking the soldiers who tried to turn on him to pieces. Both the giant purple-haired man and the silver-haired lady were with him, but it was Samuel himself, rather than his two lackeys, who seemed to be in worse shape; his body was drenched in the blood of the soldiers whom he had killed along the way, and one of his eyes was badly bruised, from a previous fight.

"Get here", Samuel screamed, swinging his meat cleaver and hacking a passing soldier in the cheek with such force that several teeth were sent flying out. "Get here, you bastards..."

"Is he alright?" asked Zi-xiang.

"Most likely not", Yoichi replied, drawing both his daggers and charging towards Samuel, pushing his way past the bewildered soldiers and landing a kick to his abdomen.

Reeling back, Samuel steadied himself, hacking wildly at the body of a fallen soldier propped up against a barrel, before turning to face his newest opponent.

"You should all die", he gurgled.

...

Thollorrat Village

The only horses in the village seemed rather malnourished, just as the rest of the village's population had, but by Tenri Gohnza's reckoning, that was more than good enough.

Reaching into his pocket with his good arm, the man pulled out a box rendered somewhat soggy by rain and sweat, opening it to reveal a stash of cigarettes. As he looked out, the massive storm cloud that had covered the western horizon was slowly beginning to move east, sending a downpour of rain as it crawled slowly on. In the distance, an ominous black shape was clearly visible; as to what it was, however, one at that distance could only guess.

Gohnza spat a glob of saliva out, lifting five cigarettes out of the box and bringing them into his mouth, before proceeding to bite into the sticks, swallowing the part he had taken straight out, paper and raw tobacco and all. He moved straight down to the filters, before throwing the brown filters aside.

"Let's go."

...

Several kilometres away from Gu Mindefron

"What do you want? Kim Il-sung?"

General
Kim Il-sung
김일성
金日成

As the ghoulish form of Lam Jan-ci gently laid the wounded and gradually weakening Akita down on the soft grass, it circled round the boy and stood between his wounded figure and the massive, imposing Kim Il-sung, dressed in black and wielding a long rifle. Thunder tore through the sky, illuminating the shadowed face of the IGSE general for a brief second.

"Lam Jih-yeung has deemed you to be a failure", said Kim Il-sung in a deep, ominous monotone. "You are to be terminated this instant. Your programme has been terminated."

"Lam Jih-yeung has no hold over me", the ghoul gurgled in response. "You will not lay any harm to my comrades."

Kim Il-sung smiled slyly.

"Don't you just love that word?" he sneered, cocking his head and raising the rifle with just one arm. "Comrade."

"Jan-ci..." Seishirō Akita murmured weakly.

Before either could respond, Kim Il-sung had opened fire on Lam Jan-ci at an incredible pace. The ghoul attempted to evade, but could only scream in pain as sixteen bullets embedded themselves in her body, sending her reeling backwards, maroon blood splashing into the ground alongside the rain.

Kim Il-sung attempted to fire upon her again, but could only lower his rifle in surprise as Seishirō Akita, a wounded, one-legged boy with a shattered rib and damaged eyes, ferociously climbed to his feet and limped forward towards him.

"Who the hell are you?" General Kim inquired incredulously.

"I am nobody", the boy replied. "I am a traitor, a war criminal... a nobody."

"Seishirō!"

Kim Il-sung raised his rifle once again, pointing it at the boy.

"For nineteen years, I leeched off the one man who cared for me... and when he was gone, I betrayed everything that he stood for..."

Tears in his eyes, Seishirō Akita inched closer and closer to Kim Il-sung, who maintained his ground firmly and held his rifle up, pointing it at the boy as he closed the distance between the two.

"Maybe now", said the boy, "it's time to make amends!"

"Yocchi!"

It all happened in an instant.

Kim diverted the rifle away from Akita's head, sending a bullet flying and striking Lam Jan-ci in the shoulder. At the same time, Seishirō Akita leapt, with his one leg, with all his might, and wrestled Kim il-sung to the ground, knocking the rifle right out of his hand.

And Kim Il-sung drew a hidden penknife and ran Seishirō Akita straight through the chest. Straight through the boy's aortic arch, severing it completely, with deadly aim.

"You bastard!"

Deftly, Kim Il-sung leapt to his feet, leaving the penknife buried in the boy's chest, before using his leg to kick his rifle up into the air, grabbing it once again. The ghoul, in horror and shock, attempted to pounce at the General, but was only thrown backwards as a bullet shredded through the air and buried itself in her abdomen. Screaming in rage and pain, the ghoulish figure reeled backwards, blood dribbling from her humanoid mouth, as Kim stepped over Seishirō Akita, raised the rifle, and fired again, hitting the ghoul in the collarbone with deadly accuracy.

Lam Jan-ci had no choice but to run the other direction. Towards Gu Mindefron.

So wounded was she that Kim Il-sung did not even have to run to keep up with her pace. As if mocking her condition, the General locked his rifle, holding it by his side, merely following the ghoul as she left a trail of blood in the water.

And the ghoul shed tears. Or wanted to.

She had no tear glands.

...

Yocchi. Welcome back.

The boy could not help but smile. As his already myopic vision clouded, he looked up into the rainy sky.

The dark clouds had cleared. And he now found himself back in a familiar setting. A little restaurant, replete with wooden furniture and a somewhat oily parquet floor. A bookshelf of manga in the corner. A dusty plastic plant in another corner. And a teppanyaki grill with a bar counter.

Dad... Thank you...

The man at the counter seemed familiar. He was short. Dressed in a beige office shirt and a striped apron. Grey hair slicked backwards. A quiet, unassuming figure, bearing no trace of the warrior-like ferocity from his mysterious youth.

Upon the boy's entrance, the man turned around.

And he smiled.

A warm beam, a ray of light that could melt through the hardest, fiercest ice.

Let me make you a plate of omelette rice.

And Seishirō Akita burst out into tearful laughter and fell asleep peacefully, aged 20 years, 296 days.

...

[Wheatley Laboratories]

Saturn

“Thankfully I installed numerous of data and books to help take care of a human baby.” Star said.

“Wait, Ignis is a mother!?” Serena reacted behind the holographic panel from the perspective of Star’s andriod eyes. “When did that happened?”

“I attempted to keep track of it Serena, but there is gaps in the story.” Star replied. While Sailor Mercury shyly went off to one of the terminals to begin her work, with the permission of Star of course, one of the Saturn's android units approached the group. A was human like, but too bland with her long brown hair and doll-like eyes, and had a brown school outfit. She looked at Zeta with curiosity.

“You’re still trying to discover your past sir?” The android asked.

Zeta sighs. "Yes." He's puzzled how the android knew, but didn't ask. She probably told by looking at his ears, chances are they were a bit droopy.
"Is... Is there anyway you could help? I'll try anything." He looks at the android, suddenly hopeful. Surely a ship full of A.Is would have some kind of solution.

[Naval Monte]

Gu Mindefron

"Considering our luck having three armies arriving to our location isn't that surprising anymore." Hex said, the woman putting away her gun as the foul necromancer was now silent. When Hex heard what Koizumi suggested she was going to tell him that staying her was a terrible idea and that it was better for them to move to a new location and bring Henry back in there so he wouldn't have to come back fighting an army. But Uska spoke up before she could, agreeing with the plan as he and Ackerman began to set up defenses.

"Since he shared his plan here is mines. We move the ritual location somewhere far away from here. Strange can still use his sling rings to make a portal to take us far away. We can perform the ritual in a safe location and not risk having us meet Henry on the other side fighting against an army." Hex explained before walking off to check the window to see if she can find the armies.

When Koizumi spoke again Hex did not like what she heard, they were going to stay here trying to fight against not one nor two, but three different armies. "This is a suicide mission." she muttered, Strange snorting and agreeing with her along with wishing her luck in the fight. When the ghoul began to hack out blood Strange rushed to him to check on him.

When the sound of the shell hiding something was heard Strange knew that now was the time for action. Hex volunteer to act as another sniper while Strange left to set up magical traps in the building for the soldiers once they finally enter.

[Prusselanden]

Gu Mindefron
"YOICHI, NO!" Ackerman threw aside a soldier xe had been trying to kill and sprinted towards the two, sliding in between Yoichi and Samuel. "Yoichi, don't fight him!"

He'll kill Yoichi...or....Yoichi will...

Ackerman suddenly clenched xer chest as pain seared within it.

What's going on? What am I feeling?

Seishiro...

Uska noticed Samuel and cocked his rifle at the man, just in case Samuel dared make a move on his allies. Ackerman might trust Samuel after all of this, but he himself wasn't so stupid.

Thollorat
"Do you need help on your horse?" Kalo lead the steeds over to the group and looked at Gohnza. Inside, he was worried about how long their mode of transportation would last.
These horses might not last long...but if we feed them, it will take time.

[Kaidou]

Gu Mindefron

Yoichi, upon seeing Ackerman's cue, slowly stood up from his crouch stance, sheathing both his daggers while still flexing and preparing himself for a surprise strike.

Samuel, on the other hand, simply hacked Ackerman in the back, missing xer vitals by quite a large distance, but still managing to make a deep gash, as he shredded through fabric and skin, tearing the meat cleaver out as violently as he had inserted it. Pushing the Prussian bodyguard out of the way, the former bard leapt at Yoichi, slashing at his abdomen and barely missing, as Yoichi deftly twisted his body backwards to avoid the strike.

"Ouch", he yelped. "I think I just tore my lat."

Screaming incoherently, Samuel continued to slash violently, as Yoichi, having no opportunity to draw his blades, could only retreat, pushing soldiers aside as hard as he could to ensure they did not attempt to hack into him.

Eventually growing too angry to put up with the cat-and-mouse game any longer, Samuel hurled the meat cleaver, the blade flying through the air and hitting Yoichi in the thigh. As blood spewed from the wound and turned his white trousers red, Yoichi grimaced and collapsed onto the ground.

Samuel was promptly intercepted by the one-armed, axe-wielding Anthony, before he could get to the one lying on the ground. Weakened by his sudden reaction even after Uska's healing, however, Anthony could not quite swing straight, and Samuel caught his arm agilely, twisting his wrist and stamping him to the ground, before ripping the meat cleaver out of Yoichi's leg and standing over the two fallen warriors, brandishing the crude, bloodstained weapon.

"You're all going to die-"

"Wrong."

From the doors of the restaurant emerged Koizumi, dressed in his grey suit and maroon tie, katana glinting in the light that had begun to rain upon the city as the storm clouds cleared. The sounds of battle continued raging on nonetheless, as the blood of both civilians and soldiers alike continued flooding the city, the men of all three armies ferociously tearing each other apart.

Following closely behind Koizumi was an unmistakeable figure.

His face had a tired and waxen pallor to it, and his hair was dramatically dishevelled and far less coiffed than it had been, but it was, nevertheless, instantly recognisable.

...

[Prusselanden]

Gu Mindefron
ACKERMAN!
"Goddamit." Uska leapt out from behind the barricade and ran forward to Ackerman, who was struggling to get up from the ground. The Finn lifted xer in his arms and leapt away from the fight between Yoichi and Samuel.

"Yoichi! Anthony!" Ackerman turned back at the battle and squirmed in Uska's arms. "They need help! I need to-"

"Sh. Stay here." Uska unsheathed his combat knife and charged at Samuel, but he stopped when he spotted Koizumi walking out of the door.

Ackerman's eyes widened, then welled with tears.

"Henry!"

[Kaidou]

Gu Mindefron

Silently, Henry surveyed the carnage.

His eyes, too, slowly rose up to Samuel, who dropped the meat cleaver, his own pupils contracting in abject horror.

"What a mess", said Henry, brushing his hair out of his eyes, only for it to fall back. "There's blood everywhere, and there's a big war going on... I haven't been this confused ever since my father gave me a small loan of a million dollars forty-five years ago, believe me."

Samuel's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. He bent down, picked up the meat cleaver, and stood back up, his entire body dripping with the blood of the numerous people he had hacked and slashed along his way to the restaurant. By then, the street along which Mr Yang's restaurant was located had become largely free of soldiers, them not intending to get tangled with the skirmish that was going on between the strange individuals up there.

And then he charged straight for Henry, screaming wildly.

"You are not Henry!" he roared, so ferociously that it sounded as if his vocal cords would tear any moment. "You're a liar! You're not Henry! You're-"

And he was deftly incapacitated by Koizumi, who did not even have to draw his katana, but simply removed it from his belt and slammed the hilt straight into Samuel's belly.

The boy screamed in pain and collapsed onto the ground on his knees, passing out just shortly afterwards.

"No, seriously, what's going on?" Henry asked again, still in confusion.

"No time to explain", said Koizumi, replacing his katana to his side. "But we came here to rescue you."

"But how did you-"

Koizumi, with his free hand, raised up a little glass ampule, within which was a white liquid that was ever so slightly greenish at the edges.

"Saul of the Ouroboros", he replied. "I've got the first soul I need to pay back my debt to Tōjō."

"Then perhaps it's time to go?"

From around the corner came Ceiji, holding her sabre by her side, dressed far less sharply than during her military days, but still looking rather decent nonetheless.

It was a bittersweet moment when she saw Henry, standing outside the restaurant's door.

"Hello, beautiful", said Henry, casting a lecherous gaze at Ceiji, his eyes shifting to her cleavage, barely visible at the point where her shirt was left unbuttoned. "Nice to see you're healthy and all."

Ceiji rolled her eyes.

"Same old Henry, I see", she murmured. "Now, let's get the fuck out of this hellhole before-"

"Say", asked Koizumi, pointing at the ominous black starship in the sky, "what's that?"

Anthony, helping Yoichi to his feet and wrapping his one arm round the other boy's shoulder to support him so he wouldn't have to stand on his wounded leg, grimaced as he looked at the ship.

"I know that ship", he said. "It's the flagship of the Intergalactic Security Enterprises."

"How do you know that?" asked Henry incredulously. Clearly, his seven months of being dead and frozen in a coffin had not eaten away at his memory. "That's kinda-"

"Director Harakiri Haikarakainen is my father", Anthony replied, almost disturbingly nonchalantly.

...

En route to Gu Mindefron

- Po
- Ammy
- Issun
- Kalo
- Tenri Gohnza

"We should be reaching... in at most half an hour", yelled Gohnza over the torrential rain that continued to fall from the sky. "Assuming nothing pops up... we're making good time!"

The rain cleared, and the sun eventually rose high, dispelling the clouds, but at the same time, revealing the gigantic black spaceship in the sky. And it wasn't much further down, just as the outer gates of Gu Mindefron appeared, that the two figures appeared.

One was a horrifying, ghoulish figure, limping away as hard as it could, towards the city, leaving a trail of blood in the muddy grass as it went. Pursuing the wounded ghoul, carrying a gun, was a massive, middle-aged Korean, wearing a pair of gigantic turtleshell glasses and strutting in a sadistic and menacing manner, all while maintaining a mocking distance between the ghoul.

"Stop", said Gohnza to the others, "that man is Kim Il-sung, and he's-"

He did not even have the time to finish his sentence, for it was at that very moment that Kim Il-sung twisted around suddenly, pointed his own rifle at Gohnza, and fired a single shot that tore straight into Gohnza's shoulder with a splatter of blood and knocked him straight off the horse.

"Bandits, eh?" snarled Kim, turning his sights away from the ragtag party and resuming his mocking pursuit of the ghoul. "Perhaps it would be best if you stayed away permanently."

...

[Prusselanden]

Gu Mindefron
Ackerman's heart sank when even the presence of Henry could not improve Samuel's mental state. If anything, it made it even worse. Ackerman tried to get up to approach Henry, but Uska returned to xer and picked xer up.

"Your back is badly injured. Don't move for now, I'll heal you later."

"I've been through worse." Ackerman grinned through the pain.

"I know you have, but this is not the time to push yourself." Uska walked to the others. "So, what's our route of escape?"

Road
Kalo immediately halted his horse and dismounted to check if Gohnza was ok. Only a shoulder wound, but things could get worse. Kalo morphed his hand into an energy cannon while propping Gohnza up with another. He pointed the cannon at Kim, positioning his own body to protect Gohnza.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you."