Voyage Through the Multiverse (Ended) [IC]

[Petrokovia]

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Rise of the Masked Man

A tall, imposing figure in a black cloak, a white mask, and long, flowing white hair, stood in the doorway of a dimly lit room. The room was rather small, made of stone, with a small wooden desk, a couple bookshelves, and a large floor standing radio, likely dated from the 1940's.

The Masked Man seemed to glide across the floor, as if hovering, as he approached the radio. He pressed a series of buttons, then turned a knob, and a part of the floor in the center of the room opened up, revealing a stairway to a secret room below.

The man levitated down the stairs, down a brightly lit hallway, up to two guards; The two men were wearing all-black uniforms with a silver "R" on the chest, and masks similar to the one the man in the cloak wore.

"Sir!" both men shouted, in unison. They snapped to attention, giving a salute.

The Masked Man ignored the men, staring at a large, metal door behind them. It stood around ten feet tall and wide. Without averting his gaze, the Masked Man spoke, with a deep, metallic voice.

"It is ready?"

The guard on the left nodded.
"Yes, sir!"

The giant metal doors creaked open, their motors straining against their weight.

The Masked Man glided through the gap in the doors; The room inside was comprised of various strange electronics and machinery, with a number of men in labcoats doing various experiments. Most of the scientists paid no mind to the Masked Man, as he approached the back of the room, where a small briefcase sat on a metal table.

The man hastily opened the briefcase. Inside was a tablet with a collapsible antenna on one side, and a number of buttons on the bottom half, below the screen.

The Masked Man chuckled in amusement, as he pulled out the tablet.
"Finally... With this, ultimate power will soon enough be within my grasp."

---

A young adult in a red and white hoodie and yellow shorts stood, looking off the edge of a cliff. From how high up he was on the mountain, he could see miles and miles of mountainous terrain, which gradually faded to hills, then to rolling plains. As the landscape flattened out, it seemed to follow a gradient, from gray and brown rock to green fields. The sky was light blue, with thin white clouds dotting the sky.

Next to the young man, was what appeared to be a giant honey badger, standing around six feet tall. He had course blue fur on his back, but his front was coated in softer cream-colored fur.

The badger was the first to speak, with a deep, but warm voice.
"Johto... Huh. Y'know, no matter how many times we come up Mt. Silver, seeing it from this angle can't get old."

The young man turned to his badger friend, nodding with a smile.
"Yeah, it's breathtaking."

"Heh. If we had a good telescope, I bet we could find our house from here."

The two stared at the landscape for some time, before continuing on their journey, walking up the rocky path.
"We should reach our clearing pretty soon, if we get a move on." the young man-simply known as Gold-remarked.

The badger seemed to reach into his fur, and pulled out a large paper map. The two walked for some time, as the badger-a fire-type Pokemon called Typhlosion-continued reading various facts and warnings off of the back of the map.

"Huh. Says here Graveller are becoming more active, so we should watch out for rock slides..." Ty read, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Maybe we should use the hard-top structure for the tent." Gold thought aloud.

As the two approached a large clearing in the mountain, the sky seemed to darken. Ty's ears twitched, causing him to look up from the map.
"Woah. Hey, bro, how long have we been walking for?" Ty asked, concerned.
"Uh..." Gold checked a watch-like device attached to his left sleeve. "A couple hours or so."

Gold looked up to the sky, noticing that it was getting uncharacteristically dark.
"Uh... Good timing, though... At least we can set up camp..." he said, feeling a strange mix of worry and relief.
"Yeah, let's hurry..."

Soon enough, the two had set up their tent. It was rather large, with a hard, flat top, and thick fabric sides. The tent had metal poles going diagonally from the ceiling to the floor as part of the support structure; It was large enough to house two sleeping bags side-by-side, Gold's backpack, a tiny folding desk, a short bookshelf (which was filled with videogames), a small CRT-type television atop another table, a camp cooler, and two bean bag chairs. Next to the desk with the television, was a small solar-charged generator, which powered everything in the tent.

Almost as soon as they entered the tent, the sound of hail hitting the roof of their tent could be heard. The sound of the hail and wind made for an oddly comforting contrast with the warmly lit interior of the tent.

"Kinda freakish weather today, huh?" Gold remarked, setting up a GameCube with two controllers, and a small television.
"Yeah... Something tells me this isn't a normal storm, though..." Ty answered, a cautious air to his voice. "I feel like something fucking weird is about to happen."

On cue, there was a bright flash of light from outside of the tent, and a deafening crack.
"Ow, Jesus H! The hell was that?" Gold shouted out in shock, barely able to hear himself speak over the ringing in his ears.
"Lightning!?" Ty asked, equally loud. His ears were laid backwards, flat against his head, as if pinned.

Gold unzipped the door to the tent, and carefully looked around, trying to avoid being pelted by the golf ball sized chunks of ice coming from the dark skies above. After scanning the surrounding area, he spotted what looked like a small person, stumbling around, dazed.

"Yo, Ty! There's a person out there!"

As Ty came up beside Gold, the two could see the figure turning around, sensing their presence. As the figure turned, it became clear by the silhouette that the creature had three pairs of arms.

Chills ran down Gold and Ty's backs, as they both recoiled into their tent slightly. Five small, circular, red patches on the back of Ty's neck began to glow and heat up, as he moved to a forward crouching position.

The figure came ever closer, and it was now that the light caught it, giving them a clear view of what they were looking at. What stood before them was a small woman with six arms, five eyes, and small fangs. Her black hair was cut in a short bob, with two small tufts of hair put into twin tails on either side. Her choice in clothing seemed rather dated, with a blouse and bloomers in varying shades of maroon, and thigh-high boots.

The strange woman seemed to be struggling with the hail, trying to swat at it; Her efforts were futile, as she was struck continuously by balls of ice.

The red spots on Ty cooled down, returning to normal. He and Gold turned to each other, with expressions of utter confusion.
"...Well, I think it's safe to say that's not a Pokemon. Or a human..." Ty stated, still trying to mentally sort what he was seeing.
"C'mon." Gold said with a grunt, standing to his feet, ducking slightly due to the low roof of the tent. "We can't just leave her out there."
"Uh... Right." Ty agreed, though somewhat apprehensively.

The two rushed out of their tent; The spider girl took a few steps back, clearly distrusting of the two.
"Yo, do you wanna get outta this -Ow!- fucking hail or not!?" Ty shouted, raising his arms above his head and curling forward a bit.

The woman seemed to pause for a moment, before briskly walking into the tent. Gold and Ty followed, closing the tent behind them.

"Ugh." Gold moaned, collapsing into one of the bean bags, and rubbing his head.

The man turned to the newly rescued girl. She was sitting in the corner of the tent, eyeing up the man and the giant badger.

Ty sat in the bean bag next to Gold, unwrapping the cord to a black and purple custom painted GameCube controller.
"Yo, so, uh... What's your name?" he asked, glancing towards the small figure.

"Muffet... What is your name?"

"I'm Ty. This is Gold. We're the Johto Region's current champs, almost nine years running." Ty explained, non-nonchalantly. It was as if he expected Muffet to already have heard of him and Gold.

"Ahuhuhu~" Muffet laughed, amused. "Champions of what?"

Gold and Ty turned their full attention to Muffet, bewildered.
"Uh... Pokemon battling. Almost every major region has a national league by now..." Gold explained.
"Yeah. We're basically sports icons by now." Ty mentioned, pridefully.

"Oh... I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds interesting." Muffet admitted. She stood and gave a small curtsy. "Thank you for saving me, dearies."

"Uh... Don't mention it." Ty replied, shooting Gold a confused look.

Gold turned the GameCube on, and offered a folding chair to Muffet.
"Hey, we were about to play some Smash Bros. Wanna join?"

"A video game?" Muffet asked, looking at the television screen curiously. "I suppose."

As Muffet sat in the small chair, Gold handed her a cheap-looking red knockoff controller. Where the Nintendo logo normally would have been, Gold had at some point used a sharpie to draw a small cartoonish picture of poop, with the words "THE SHITTY BOI" written above it.

Muffet sighed, looking at the crude controller. She had been taken to a strange world, and thrust into the middle of a storm with a couple of strangers. The Shitty Boi seemed to speak to her soul in this moment.
"...Thanks..." she said, somewhat dejectedly.

"Sorry, it's the only other controller we've got with us. We keep it as a spare." Gold said, apologetically.

[The Dark Brotherhood of Deros]

Jurassic Frontier - Monster Hunter Universe
It was a quiet evening in the Jurassic Frontier, and the various creatures of the area were winding down for the evening. Herds of Larinoth settled down together in ring-like formations, keeping their young in the middle for their protection, while packs of Maccao retreated into caves for the night. And while this was happening, two figures were stealthily searching for their prey. The first was a young woman adorned in black armor that let her blend in with the shadows, with a large purple-winged insect on her right arm, and a long double-bladed weapon strapped to her back. The second was a small black and tan cat-like creature wearing pink and white armor complete with a fox-like mask and a round oriental hat.

Their names were Moira and Percy, and their query was a large, fiery beast called a Glavenus. There had been reports of one such creature appearing in the area, and it had been causing problems for local traders who couldn't get their wears to other villages due to the beast harassing them. So the Guild sent Moira and Percy out to deal with the problem, as they had taken on such a creature before, and were capable of fighting them. Now both of them were hot on the beast's tail, and they had found footprints and scorched gashes that matched the Glavenus. Moira felt herself being to shake with not fear, but anticipation. The thrill of the hunt always did this to her, and she relished the feeling.

Percy crept up to a large gash in the ground, and noted the scorch marks. "Here's another one. It looks like the meownster is planning on setting up shop permanently, because it's marking it's territory. Nya." He said, earning a grim nod from Moira. "Yeah, no kidding. We can't have that now can we?" She replied as she crept forward, staying on the beast's trail. After several more minutes of searching, the duo finally found the beast sound asleep next to the mangled remains of a Great Maccao. "Look Moira, the meownster had a bite to eat, and then went night-night." Percy said, making Moira smirk.

"Perfect. That gives us plenty of time to sneak up on it. I only wish we had some Barrel Bombs, because that'd be a pretty rude awakening." She whispered back, now creeping up on the sleeping behemoth. Moira could tell that this was an awfully big Glavenus, as it's greatsword-like tail nearly dwarfed some of the surrounding tree trunks, which it no doubt cut down to make room for it's huge frame. Still, it was a Glavenus, and all Glavenus had certain behavior that their instincts gave them. Percy then spoke up. "I don't have Barrel Bombs, but I've got a Meownster Mine and some Mini-Barrel Bombs to set it off if you think that'd work? Nya." He told her.

Moira grinned widely at this. "Oh yeah, that's perfect! Nice forward thinking Percy." She said, making the Palico blush under his fur. "Thank you, nya. I'll go set it up!" Percy replied, sneaking up to the comparably massive beast's face whilst Moira took up a position behind it. Once he reached it, he extracted a small, yellow disk from his pack, and then set it on the ground in front of the Glavenus. He then twisted the top of the device, causing a light on it to glow red, and the sides to open up revealing canisters of gunpowder. From there, Percy extracted a small brown barrel from his pouch that had a fuse sticking out of the top, and then lit it with a piece of flint. Then he quickly placed the now lit mini-Barrel bomb on the mine, and scampered away whilst whispering "Fire in the hole!" to himself.

BOOM!!!

A large explosion rocked the area, causing the Glavenus to rear back and scream in shock and pain. The armor on it's face looked chipped, and one of it's horns had been blown clean off. The Glavenus was clearly enraged by this, as the spikes on it's back began to glow orange, and fire began spewing from it's toothy maw. It let out a massive roar that shook Moira to her core, and like that...

the hunt was on!

Moira attacked first, using her Insect Glaive to vault into the air and onto the beast's back, stabbing the blade directly into it. It roared again, bucking and flailing wildly to attempt to dislodge the huntress, but she stood firm, now repeatedly stabbing into the weak points of it's armor with her hunting knife. After several seconds of this, she managed to hit it in just the right spot to make it twist itself in pain in just the wrong way, making it fall over onto it's side. She jumped off, and immediately sent her Kinsect toward the creature's head, extracting red essence from it, and filling her with strength.

Then she unloaded on the Glavenus, slashing at it's belly repeatedly, and leaving deep gashes in the soft underbelly. The Glavenus was further enraged by this, and managed to jump back up to it's feet, but not before Moira noticed this, and quickly pulled back whilst using the Kinsect to extract white and orange essence from the creatures legs and chest. The Glavenus now attacked, swiping it's large sharp tail at Moira, who quickly rolled out of the way. The beast followed this up with several bite attacks, but Moira was too quick, and retaliated with more slashes.

Percy was busy assaulting the creature too, and his Astalos Spear stabbed into the creatures ankles, making it yelp as the lightning element attacked it. With a swift kick, Percy was sent flying away, but like the cat he was, he landed on all fours and quickly ran back up to the beast. So far it was going pretty well, and Moira felt comfortable with the situation. A few minutes passed, and blows were traded by both sides, until the Glavenus was looking pretty rough. The creature's sword-like tail was becoming dull now, and so it placed the appendage into it's mouth and began grinding it across it's specialized fangs to sharpen it again. A sound comparable to metal on metal resonated across the forest, and Moira knew that the beast was going to swipe at her as soon as the tail was sharpened, so she planned to simply duck below the tail as it swung at her.

The Glavenus had other ideas.

Rather than swing, the beast instead charged Moira full-force, which caught her completely off guard. It would seem that she underestimated the intelligence of the creature, as it had done something that no other Glavenus had done to her before: it faked her out. She had no time to dodge as the beast's forehead crashed directly into her body, surrounding her in flames and piercing her skin. She cried out in pain as she was sent flying backward into a tree, crashing into it with a resounding thwak! She slumped to the ground, stunned, and panic quickly filled Percy's body as he saw his partner helpless.

"Moira, no!" He shouted, quickly bringing himself between his partner and the powerful Brute Wyvern. He hissed at the beast, and his fur stood straight up. "Keep your claws off of her!" He shouted, but the creature seemed unfazed and roared loudly at him. It reared up to charge, but suddenly there was a sound like shattering glass, and the beast stopped. A large, blue vortex had suddenly appeared between the group, and an unseen force seized both Moira and Percy. The Glavenus was strong enough to back away from the vortex, but Percy's small form was helpless to stop the still stunned Moira from being dragged headlong into it. She collided directly with Percy, and the two of them were sucked up inside of the phenomenon.

The vortex persisted for a few minutes after this, but the Glavenus stood strong and wasn't drawn inside. Then it vanished, leaving the wounded Brute Wyvern alone in the now dark woods, contemplating just where it's query had gone...

And just where did they go? Well, I think you already know the answer...

Pokemon Universe - The Hailstorm
With a flash of light, the hunting duo were flung from the vortex and landed on the ground in a heap. Percy moaned, and then shook his head to clear it. "Meow.... what was that about, nya? Oh my gosh, Moira!" He exclaimed, looking down at his partner who looked like she was now unconscious. This was bad, this was very bad. Not only did Percy have no idea where he was, but his partner was down and out. "Crap crap crap! Think think think! What to do, what to do, what to do?!" Percy asked himself, wincing as a large hailstone crashed into his head. He let out a cat-like yelp, and then quickly searched for some sort of cover.

It was then that he noticed a tent of all things set up not too far from him, and he immediately started dragging Moira towards it. "Don't worry partner, I'll get you back up soon, nya!" He told her as he slowly advanced to the tent. It wasn't very easy though, because Moira was a lot heavier than the equipment he was used to carrying, so finally he decided to take a chance and call out to the tent. "Hey! Hello?! Is there someone there?! We need help, nya! Anybody?!" He shouted, hoping that he would get a response, and also hoping that the response was friendly...

[Petrokovia]

Drawn Through the Multiverse

Albion Base, Kuiper Operating Zone, Terran Republic

"Velpos contacts, twenty eight warships. They've been pulled out of FTL by the gravity wells, just as planned, sir."

Admiral Isaac Markov stood at the wartable of the famed Dreadnaught Hyperion, the flagship of the Terran Republic's space fleet. At the edge of Terran space, the revived fleet of the Order of Andromeda had returned, greater in number, to seek revenge for those fallen in a previous war.

The young admiral looked over to the lead velpos operator, and nodded.
"Confirm ship origins?"

The man looked at the screen of the Velpos, noting the position of the ships, and their classes.
"They are from Andromeda, sir." the man stated, quickly, with only a hint of worry.

The admiral turned to the holographic wartable, picking up a tethered handset. However, he didn't hold the phone to his mouth yet.
"Map them." he stated, sternly.

The wartable projected a 3-dimensional model of the space several light-seconds in all directions away from the Hyperion, showing the 28 ships; A total of 3 dreadnaughts, 5 battlecarriers, 4 battleships, 6 cruisers, 5 destroyers, and 5 logistics ships of various classes.

The hologram then plotted the fleet the admiral had at his disposal; the Hyperion, 2 battlecarriers, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 2 destroyers, 2 minelayers, 1 multi-purpose radio ship, and 1 gravity well unit mothership, for a total of 14 ships.

"Sir, the Andromedans are launching fighters. So far, 100... 200... 250 fighters detected." spoke the Velpos officer.

Markov nodded in acknowledgement, holding the handset to his mouth.
"All hands, battlestations. Set Condition One throughout the ship."

An alarm let out a single, short blare, and the lights in the bridge switched to a red tint. The main door to the bridge closed, sealing the command center. Markov gave orders to the fleet, with focus and determination. The general darkness of the room gave an eerie, commanding feel to the glowing displays of the various computers.

"Launch all fighters. Prioritize defense of the resupply depot as it passes by. All batteries focus on their ships closest to orbit; I want to try to divert their forces from the base... They're likely to try to flank us. Minelayers Pluto I and Pluto II, set identification-dependent mines along our ventral and starboard sides."

Markov's second in command, a grizzled Vice Admiral named William Sargsyan, glanced over to Markov, with a skeptical look.
"That'll bring them over the majority of our main guns. I get what you're trying to do, but wouldn't that limit our fleet's movement?"

Markov cracked a smile, pressing a button on one of the side panels of the wartable. The battlefield hologram was updated, with a number of red dots in a grid-like pattern, spread across the field.

"Until recently, we've only been able to scatter these FTL-stopping gravity wells, and activate or deactivate them all at once. However, by jury-rigging transponders tuned to different frequencies to each unit, and relaying the activation signal from the gravity well mothership through the multipurpose radio ship and tuning it to different frequencies, we can isolate different units. Our radio ship isn't advanced enough to process individual signals to each single unit, but we can send signals to groups of gravwell projectors, to create 'FTL Dead Zones'." the admiral explained, taking some limited pride in his plan. "That way, we can deactivate the projectors where our ships are, while keeping the Andromedans from accessing their FTL capabilities."

Sargsyan nodded along, a little less skeptical.
"Huh... Wouldn't they be able to tell which areas were active or not based on which radio signals are being produced?"

"Yes," Markov admitted. "But, I thought about that... There are units which overlap, and some occupy the same space. That way, we can use several different frequencies to activate the same areas; As long as we keep up the pressure, they should find it difficult to determine which frequencies go to which areas of the field. In addition, the radio ship has several 'dud' channels that can be used as decoy frequencies. That should make it even more difficult. The overlapping fields will also allow us more precise control of what areas are FTL-dead."

The vice admiral nodded approvingly, convinced.
"Nothing's ever perfect, but this seems pretty fool-proof."

Markov nodded, but his expression turned slightly sour.
"Our current positioning is pretty obvious, though..."

William rested his hands on the wartable; the faintly glowing light on its surface made the table warm. An oddly inviting sensation, for something designed for war and violence.

The vice admiral looked down at his hands, then up to the holographic map.
"...Is that why you only sent fighters to the port side of the fleet?"

Admiral Markov nodded.
"They know that the resupply depot will be passing by, and that it's incapable of avoiding the battlefield, since it's a large geostationary complex. Either they go for the easy route over the less defended area over top of our ships, or they try to gun through the fighter screen anyway... I'm expecting them to call the former's bluff, and try the latter. Just as they get within range of the fighters, I want the Hyperion and the rear group to make an FTL jump just behind our fighter screen, placing us between the enemy and our depot."

The holographic battlefield updated with the hypothetical placements of the ships in Markov's scenario, showing the Hyperion and the rear detachment facing down the Andromedan fleet, with the rest of the Terran fleet still in their current position, now behind the majority of the Andromedans.

Sargsyan chuckled.
"So either they're forced to maneuver past the bulk of our heavy firepower, or they're forced into being flanked."

Suddenly, the command center shook as the Hyperion was struck by a heavy barrage of lasers. Another alarm rang out through the bridge. However, this one was different than any alarm normally heard in the command center. This was a repetitive, high-pitched beeping.

"Captain, it's four forty-five." the Velpos officer stated, matter-of-factly.

"What-?" Markov looked over to the officer, boggled.

Reality

A tall, athletic, American man in his early twenties blinked, shaking his head. He moved the cursor of his laptop over to the menu button of the game he was playing, pausing it. Glancing across his desk, he found the beeping timer, and pressed the off button.

The man sighed, looking at the paused menu screen of Solar Commander 3: Andromeda's Revenge. Looking to the bottom right of the computer screen, the clock read 4:45 AM. He glanced around his bedroom, the only illumination coming from the screen of his laptop. Despite this, he was able to spot his uniform and equipment very easily, hanging in a closet across the room.

Setting his headphones aside, the man stood up, and went through his usual morning routine. After his shower, he put on his uniform, navy blue and reminiscent of the uniform of a police officer. Over top of his uniform, he wore a khaki trench coat and a black fedora.

Stepping out of his apartment, the man locked his door, and made his way out of the lobby and into the city outside. Despite the similarities to cities back home, and the amount of time he had spent stationed in Japan, certain aspects of Tokyo still amused the man. The lack of waste bins or litter was the most pleasant; certainly an improvement upon Philadelphia and its suburbs.

The man made his way to Shinjuku Station, picking up a copy of The Japan Times along the way. He boarded the Yamanote Line, moving to the side of the subway car in an attempt to avoid the bulk of the crowd.

That third rail they proposed last year should be done by 2020... the man thought to himself, silently wishing that the train wasn't so crowded. I wonder if it'd be worth it to bum a ride off Marguerite 'til then...

For the most part, this had become routine, but on a slow, grey day like this, the annoyance of a crowded subway seemed much more potent. The American decided to think about his work, instead.

Teru's busy with the Shibuya Crossing case, so he won't be in this week... I'll have to catch him up next Wednesday... I doubt there'll really be a whole lot to tell, though... the man lamented. We've had a few small breakthroughs in finding A, but overall things have gone pretty cold... What are we doing wrong?

After some time, the subway stopped, and the man slowly made his way out of the station. There was some overcast and mild humidity, but overall it was calm; It was a day that felt like time slowed down. Birds chirped on occasion, but other than that the only sounds were the soft murmur of traffic and pedestrians.

The man eventually found himself at the entrance to a large military base. A large sign in front of the gate read "International Military and Police Defense Organization - Tokyo Headquarters," below some Japanese text, saying the exact same thing.

Like the rest of the city, the base seemed oddly quiet; There were only a few officers standing watch at the main gate. Upon seeing the trenchcoat-clad man approaching, one of the guards walked several feet forward from the gatehouse to meet him, approaching with a quick stride.

The guard greeted the man in a friendly, yet professional tone.
"Tadayoshi, sir! How was your weekend?"
"Eh, the usual." the man responded, in a somewhat bored tone. "Things have slowed down quite a bit since, uh... Since Agent A left."
"Oh, right..." the guard's expression hardened as he took Tadayoshi's ID and looked at his badge.

The guard gave Tadayoshi's ID back, and signaled for the gate to open. Tadayoshi made a long walk into the main building on the base. He made his way through the building, mostly ignoring those he passed as they scurried around, already preoccupied, until he entered his office. It was a large room with a central table, a water cooler, several white boards with notes scribbled hastily on them, and cork boards with various pictures and documents pinned to them; In the center of one was a picture of another, rather attractive American man in a similar IMPDO uniform as Tadayoshi's, with the text "Marcus Erskine - Agent A" typed below it.

Along the wall to Tadayoshi's left, there were five doors, each one leading to a personal office with a desk and computer. One of them was taped off at the moment, whereas three of them had lights on inside.

As if sensing Tadayoshi's presence, the three doors opened, and from them came three people, dressed in similar IMDPO uniforms. The first to greet him was a short woman with shoulder-length black hair. She seemed happy at Tadayoshi's arrival.

"Bonjour, Dan! How was your weekend?" she asked cheerfully, in a rather thick French accent.

Another American male, of rather average appearance, stood in the doorway to the fourth office. He leaned against the wall just outside of his office, as the other two approached the center table.
"The usual?" he interjected, with a slight sarcastic tone. He tossed a can of soda to the fourth member of the group, an African American man named Terrell Anthony.

"Yeah, nothing much." Tadayoshi dismissed, heading towards his office.

Terrell opened the soda he was given, setting it aside without drinking it. As he sank into his chair, he looked over to Tadayoshi.
"So Cap-Two, Did you have any breakthroughs about where he might be?"

The man spun around to address his coworker, nodding.

"Well," Tadayoshi began, perking up slightly. "The Tokyo PD got wind of some sketchy activity up North. Apparently, two known former Yakuza members were killed. One of them was an amplificata."

The soda-tosser, Chase Tyrane, cocked his head to the side slightly out of curiosity.
"You think Marcus offed them?"

"Rumor has it they were reaching out to police." Tadayoshi nodded, casually gesturing to Chase's chair, inviting him to sit. Chase strolled up to his chair, and barely pulled it back from the table before the next question came, this time from Marguerite.
"So, we will be reviewing information gathered by the Tokyo Police at the scene, I assume?"
"Precisely... I've got some things I need to straighten out in my office first, then we can head out." Tadayoshi said, making his way through the door to his office.

The other three waited around the table for a few minutes, the silence of the office taking over. However, soon there was a loud crack and bright flashes of light from Tadayoshi's office, and gusts of wind shattered the glass door and blew papers and trinkets from the man's desk around. His computer monitor was thrown from the desk, embedding itself in the wall.

The three sprung up from their seats, rushing into the office.

"Merde! Dan, are you-?"

Marguerite stopped in her tracks, as she found the office empty; Tadayoshi was nowhere to be found. Chase and Terrell both peered over her, looking in dismay into the office.

"The fuck?" was the only thing that could come out of Chase's mouth, as he was at a loss for words.

Terrell took a step into the office, in a futile attempt to get a better view of the room.
"Where'd he go?" he asked, both worried and utterly confused. "What was that sound? The hell is going on?"

After a brief moment, Marguerite turned around. Her expression changed subtly, hopeful yet unsure.
"We should get the Commissioner. He might know what to do..."

---

Suddenly, Tadayoshi had the wind knocked out of him, his lungs were on fire, he could barely move, and he had no idea which way was "up."

After a few seconds of random, desperate flailing and disorientation, he felt his hand break free of wherever he was; He kicked his legs, finding that he was in fact underwater.

The man surfaced, coughing vigorously, expelling saltwater from his lungs. No matter the amount of coughing, it felt like someone was burning his lungs from the inside. After what felt like an eternity, Tadayoshi felt cool sea air hit his lungs, as his lungs finally expelled the water, and returned to normal.

Tadayoshi felt his heart racing, and his entire body nervously shook with adrenaline, and he gasped for air, trying to catch his breath.
Jesus fucking Christ... was the only thing going through his head at the moment, repeating over and over, as eventually he began saying it aloud.

He looked around, as wave after wave calmly passed by him, obscuring his vision of the horizon. The ocean didn't seem to care that he was there; the scenery around him was oddly calm, which helped Tadayoshi regain his composure. He continued looking around, not seeing land anywhere around him.

"Oh, shit..." the man cursed aloud, in despair. "Fuck, where the hell am I?"
I can't just swim out in one direction... If I wind up going further out to sea I'm dead... Who knows if I'm even close enough to land to swim there anyway?

Tadayoshi thought for a moment. He took off his trench coat, and spread it out so it would float on top of the water. He saw his hat drift by, and placed it with his coat.

Nevermind exhaustion or starvation, I need to find a way out of the water, or I'll die of exposure... he thought, forcing himself to come up with a survival plan.

Two small metal boxes extended from Tadayoshi's belt.
"If I could fly out-"

The man thought for a moment.
Well, no shit... Tadayoshi mentally kicked himself. Flight jets aren't gonna work underwater. Next idea...?

Tadayoshi racked his brain, but in the moment couldn't come up with anyway to get out of the water; looking around, there wasn't any driftwood or scraps of any kind. That's when he saw a large ship approaching quickly to his right. The man took an orange emergency whistle from his utility belt, and held it in his mouth, blowing frantically and trying his best to wave at the ship.

The ship seemed to notice him, and turned to approach, and it was moving fast. Very fast. Faster than any ship the man had ever seen, and faster than he thought was even possible for a ship of that size. As the ship approached, he noticed strange purple markings on its hull, and that the ship was bristling with guns of various caliber. A crane arm swung out, and lowered its cable to Tadayoshi, who gripped it maybe a bit too tightly.

Tadayoshi was hoisted onto the deck, where he laid, sprawled out on his back. If he hadn't just almost drowned, the man probably would be more open to questioning why he was picked up by a strange, glowing battleship, but for now he was just glad to be on something dry and solid. The wooden deck seemed much more comforting now than he would have imagined.

After some time, Tadayoshi stood up, noticing that the purple markings went across the deck as well. He looked directly in front of him, where a rather attractive blonde woman in her mid-twenties stood. She was wearing a purple blouse and khaki shorts; Not exactly the attire that one would expect of a sailor. However, aside from this woman, the ship seemed deserted; Through the windows, Tadayoshi saw that even the bridge didn't have any activity, and had no lights on.

Tadayoshi approached the woman, rather gratefully, and extended his hand.
"Hey, thanks for picking me up! I'm guessing that you're the captain?"

The woman looked at the man in front of her curiously.
"Who are you?" she simply responded.

[Mundeo]

The Multiverse is a very big place - the biggest place, in fact. It's infinite size cannot be measured by mere, well, measurements. And within this vast and endless Multiverse are an infinite number of much smaller but still very immense and usually boundless universes. Don't think about it too much. Sometimes, small groups of universes are grouped together and are connected, but most are seperate from the rest, residing cozily within their metaphysical boundaries. This is how the Multiverse has been for time immemorial: contained and comfortable, blissfully unaware of the entire rest of reality that exists around them.

If that's how things stayed, we wouldn't be here now, would we?

Now, these "walls" as we'll put them, are not quite as "solid" as they used to be. Is it age? Was it of someone's doing? Or something's? Was this innevitable that this softening would occur? All very good questions, none of which can be answered at the moment, unfortunately. So now the boundaries that have kept universes separate for so much time are beginning to dissolve, and what was never meant to happen shall begin to unfold. Adventures, mysteries, wars, miracles and catastrophes on scales never before seen shall now unfurl before your very eyes.

But where do I come in?

Like many grand adventures do, our journey begins in a tavern...

---

---

Traverse Town - The Hub of All Hearts

The air was warm and cheerful and full of song and joy. The tavern was full of eople of all sorts of different universes relished in eachother's company. This town was already a hub of sorts, connected dozens of small universes together, but very soon, this place was going to become a part of a much bigger whole.

And sitting alone at a table was the Wanderer, with not a drink in hand. He was expecting many guests to join him on his adventure through the Multiverse; it only a matter of when they were going to arrive...

---

But in a whole other sector of reality, an adventure of a different kind if about to begin...

---

The depths of space...

That perfect military mind... The wisdom of Adam Malkovich continued to serve even after death. Until today, I had no idea that the minds of leaders and scientists were frequently uploaded to computers. My incredible reunion with Adam may have saved the universe...

But how will the beings of the universe view our resolve? I doubt they will understand what we did... the danger we barely averted. They will hold tribunals and investigations. They will hold us responsible. Adam understood this, and he spoke to me in my anger...

"Do not worry. One of them will understand. One of them must."

I've reflected upon his words, and I see the wisdom in them. We are all bound by our experiences. They are the limits of our consciousness.

But in the end, the human soul will ever reach for the truth... This is what Adam taught me.

Just one detail still bothers me. This ship can only be started manually. Yet, before I faced the Omega Metroid, the ship moved on its own, guided by someone's hands. Is it possible? Adam...?


The computer lit up, displaying a flight plan from the remnants of the planet behind...

"Lady, what's troubling you? You wonder how I started the ship? Just think about it. They lent me a hand..."

"Adam?"

"You think you've heard the last of me, lady? I sure hope you didn't"

"I've had my suspicions, but I can't help but be surprised" Samus looked out through the glass blast shield of her ship - she out over the countless stars spread out before her. Behind her was the remains of Planet SR388, homeworld of the parasitic menace known as the Metroids. The destruction of the planet was of her own doing, but it was for a much greater good. If it weren't for her, a much greater terror would have been unleashed across the galaxy...

"So... now what do we do?"

"We run"

Intentionally crashing a Galactic Federation research station doesn't exactly improve the relationship. They had planned on using the virus that had taken over the station and killed everyone on board, and weaponizing it. They had no idea that the instant they sent a task force on board, the X Parasite would have immediately killed them and replicated their bodies. Nothing would have been able to stop them. Samus had no other alternative but to irradicate the X Parasite by any means necessary.

"And where do you think we're going to run to, Lady?"

And in that next moment, a hole in time and space opened and swalled the gunship. They both vanished without a trace.

[Skylus]

Link - Wind Waker Universe

Beneath the waves of the vast Great Sea was a forgotten Kingdom, abandoned by her people when it was clear there was no hope left. That was around 500 years ago.
Surprisingly, the flags still flapped around on their flagpoles, as if they were still above the surface of the water high above.
The Sun's rays filtered through the depths of the Great Sea and hit the ocean floor, lighting up the surrounding area.
Not that there was much left, anyway.

A strangely carved red boat was rocking back and forth in a pool of water near the entrance to the castle. If you were to get close enough, the boat seemed to be alive, if that was even possible.
Well, he was in fact alive.
In a way.
The King of Red Lions raised his head and gazed at the castle he had once lived in, so long ago.
"Link", he stated solemnly. "It is time for you to face your destiny. The Blade of Evil's Bane has been restored to her formal glory. Go forth, go forth into the castle and deal with Ganon before it is too late."
A young boy around the age of 12 who had blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, and was wearing the Hero's Clothes, looked at Red for a second, then up at the castle before him.
"So it's come to this." muttered the boy as he reached behind him and with one fluid motion, drew the Master Sword from its scabbard.
As Link left Red's prow and got onto dry land, Red gazed upon him.
"I believe that you have the strength and Courage to defeat Ganon and free the land from his rule."
Link grinned at Red and twirled the sword around before replying.
"I know I do, Red. All of those gigantic monsters I fought to free the islands. I didn't flee from them, did I? All of the trials I had to complete before coming down here? I completed them without a word of complaint."
Before Link could go on, however, he thought he heard something.
Something...behind him.
In fact, it sounded as if someone had hit the grass in the courtyard.
However, there was no one else outside save for Link and Red.
So who was it that had fallen?

Somewhere else, across the Multiverse....
Madison Goodwill
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Present Day

It wasn't exactly her fault that the boathouse had caught on fire.
But was anyone going to listen to her right now?
Noooooooo.
Everyone else had bigger problems.
Such as corrupt Aurors baring down upon Hogwarts.

Madison exited the boathouse covered in soot and ash from the boathouse and wearily looked around her.
People were fighting all over the grounds.
Spells were shooting back and forth while the Centaurs were running around firing arrows at random people.
Madi then blinked.
Were those spiders?
Yes, yes they were indeed spiders.
And they were very angry.
Madi took note of this and booked it from the area.

Sometime later, Madi found herself standing on a cliff above the Black Lake, looking down into it to see if any fighting was going on.
The water was cloudy, very cloudy, and the fact that there were fires everywhere and the moon wasn't bright didn't help things much.
Madi got this feeling that someone was walking up to her and she turned around, only to see an Auror racing towards her.
She wasn't going to take any chances.
One moment, she was standing there, the next, Madi flicked her wrist and a ball of red light appeared.
She them raised her hand towards the Auror, who had stopped and was now gaping at her.
"Behind you." muttered the Auror as he took a step forwards, then back.
Madi lowered her hand slightly.
"What?"
The Auror raised a finger and pointed behind her, causing Madi to turn around.
She only got a split second of something blue and somewhat transparent before everything went white.

Madison & Link
Wind Waker Universe
Beneath the Great Sea

Madison found herself staring up at a half circle of columns.
I don''t recognize those.
She slowly came to realize that she was lying on grass, on her back.
She was surrounded by various flowers and she could hear something like waterfalls close by.
This is nice.
Madi then sat up with a jolt and stared upwards.
"is that water?"
She didn't expect a voice to answer her.
"Yes."
The woman stopped breathing for a second.
Okaaayyyy....Random voice from nowhere....As if I have enough things to worry about.
Madi then realized that where she was currently was surrounded by what appeared to be a huge air bubble.
There is oxygen in water, but not this much.
"I'm not even surprised anymore..." Madi said in a deadpan tone before turning around.
And froze.
A young boy was looking at her and was standing nearby a red boat.
Madi did the most logical thing to do and started to cross the grass over to the boy.

A few seconds later, Link found himself looking up at the person that had landed on the courtyard.
""Hello." he offered in greeting and the woman nodded in response.
"Hi. So, kid, what's your name and where are we?"
Her voice sounded confused and curious at the same time.
"My name's Link and we're in Hyrule."
Link looked around him.
"Well...What used to by Hyrule, anyway."
Madi crossed her arms and looked down at Link.
"So, is this whole area protected by magic or something?"
Red answered for Link.
"Yes. It is indeed. But how did you know of this?"

Madi summoned a ball of light and began to toss it back in forth from one hand to the other.
"I'm a Witch. Also do magic. You didn't think I'd be able to tell there was magic here?"
Red blinked and then shook his prow/head.
"I apologize. But yet, you speak so...."
The boat looked to Link for help and the boy simply said: "You talk funny."
Madi desummoned the ball of light and grinned.
"Yeah? So do you. by the way, what year is this?"
"1756."
"Huh...." Madi raised her gaze to the castle before her.
"You going in there?"
Link turned to see what she was looking at and nodded.
"Yeah."

Madi then looked towards Link after summoning a magic spell.
"Well? Let's go."
She then began to walk towards the front doors of the castle and Link had to run to catch up to her.

Hyrule Castle - Ruins

Link stopped dead in his tracks as he took in the sight of the now more destroyed castle.
"The....The statue..." was all he could say before he ran down the steps and up to where the statue of the Hero of Time had once stood.
"What happened to the statue?!"
Madi walked up besides Link.
"I'd say it got blown up by some powerful magic...Which worries me...Even I can't do that."
Link turned to Madi.
"You blow up statues?"
Madi shook her head.
"Well, not all the time....Just when I'm mad."
Link turned back to look at the statue's remains before muttering "Remind me not to make you mad" before heading up the stairs towards the basement.

Hyrule Castle
Basement

Link was the first one down the stairs and as he spotted Zelda standing on the raised platform, he began to run.
"Zelda! You're okay!"
Zelda turned around and smiled at Link.
"I was wondering where you were." Her gaze then lifted to the stars, where Madi was looking down at the scene and surrounded area.
"Link, who is that?"
Madi waved an arm.
"I'm just...uh....Someone that just happened to fall out of some sort of portal. Sorry if I'm not supposed to be here..."
Zelda took this in and then nodded.
"Any friend of Link's is also a friend of mine."
She turned back to speak to Link again but he was gone.
"Link? Where did you go?"
Then Zelda happened to look up and in the exact spot where Link had been standing was a blue portal.
Madi had reached Zelda by now and she too, stared at the portal.
"Great. I guess I've gotta go after him, don't I..." She sighed and rolled her eyes at Zelda.
"I'll get him back. Just sit tight."
Before Zelda could protest, Madi dove through the portal and it closed and then disappeared.

Somewhere New
Unknown Location

Link found himself standing on an overlook of some sort. He couldn't enjoy the view, however, because it was freezing.
He considered using the Fire Rod to light up the area but then quickly decided against it when he saw the trees everywhere.
Then he heard Madison's voice behind him.
"Hey. You doing alright? You look cold."
Link turned to see Madi walking towards him, kicking up snow as she walked.
"Yes. and Yes."
To his shock, Madi reached up and took off her jacket before wrapping it around him.
"There. You can thank me later.
"...Thanks...I never got your name, by the way."
"Madison Goodwill. But you can call me Madi, if you want."
Madi then spotted something in the distance.
"Is that a tent?"
Link turned around and did indeed notice a tent not too far away.
"You think it's occupied?"
"Has to be. Come on."
The two made their way over to the tent and Madi raised her voice a bit.
"Hey. Anybody home? It's freezing out here and we'd really like it if we didn't die from cold exposure."

[Prusselanden]

Konnyverse
"Curryvurst!"

"Tamale"

"Curryvurst is tastier zhen Tamales!"

"Mija you take that back."

"But it's true!"

"Dios mio, ever since you moved to Germany your taste buds have evolved backwards."

Ignis grumbled and pouted. "But I haven't had curryvurst in a loooong time, Shifu. Bitte?"

"No, I'm steaming some leftover ones when you come back." He answered, struggling to hear her over the airport background noise.

"Alright, nevermind, my flight's in a few minutes, so-" Ignis suddenly lifted her head up as she heard surprised screams and people running away from her. "Was-"

She looked down and spotted a portal forming underneath her and before she could react, she felt herself falling through.

"NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"

Quetz's place

"Ignis!?" Quetz yelled frantically into the phone, hearing her yelling. "What's going on!? What-" He felt the ground underneath his feet give way as he two fell through a portal.

[Prusselanden]

Tavern
Ignis screeched until she felt her body slam into the ground. The breath was knocked out of her for a while, until she felt herself hit the ground and second time and stay there. Ignis slowly felt the ground underneath her and got up, wincing as he back hurt from the fall.

"Scheisse. Vhat happened..?" She staggered up and looked at her luggage next to her. "I hope nozhing broke..."

The only thing she could see by now was the Tavern, and so in she went. She could use a drink to cure her headache. Ignis opened the door and headed in, noting the warm and lively atmosphere.

She took a seat next to the Traveller and waved to get the attention of a bartender. "So...uh...you know vhat's good? I could use a good Bier."

[Menschenfleisch]

Ruins | Avarice and Tone

The shockwave died down, after what felt like a lifetime and a half. Dust ran from the roof, thick and sandy. Audrey tried to lift her head from the indentation she'd made in the wall, bones and flesh weaving themselves back together. Valerian simply put his violin up, and struck another chord. A blast of fire tore through the empty sky, the blinding white hemisphere above sending searing light between grey colonnades. She went flying, smoke trailing behind each separate chunk of meat. He stood over the wall's remains, looking at the red-stained courtyard below.

And slowly, Avarice rose from the pool of blood, skin bleached, unscarred and smooth. Perfect, newly made features; and pupils thin enough to carve stone. Two presences burnt, a serpentine creature of sound and mind, curling around Victor's body. And something shapeless and hungry, billowing from Audrea's body. Red and blue, tangled up in a world of black and white.

Victor took a slow, contemplative sigh.

"You're tough, I'll give you that. But I'm not leaving until you're gone for good. No sense in fighting anymore, Tiamat."
"Well, if it's going to be that way, you're going to be here for a very, very long time. Maybe even 'till it ends."
"Well then, so be it."

Avarice didn't bother speaking back. She leapt forward, pulverising the ground behind her. She leapt past, hand outstretched. And Valerian, quite calmly, (and yet nearly too late) stepped to the side. He flicked his bow, a wave of force tearing her arm off, sending her sprawling on the ground, thick blood splattered across the floor. She lay there for a few seconds as her arm grew back, muscles and tissue forming fresh knots. Valerian was fast, but she was faster. Even as her elbow weaved itself together, she was back on her feet, running toward him, cutting at his face; fingers embedded in his head before he could react. She tore at his face, scraping at his eyes, tearing at his skin. He flung her aside, a powerful melody escaping his lips and shoving her backwards, sprawled on the ground. He clutched at his face with one hand, the other holding fiddle and horsehair, bleeding into his palm.

"You... Bitch!"

She came for him again, and he played a tune; invisible thorns of force shredding her as she went, flaying her skin. He struck the strings with fervour, an invisible hand clutching Audrey, and flinging her to the side. She simply landed on the walls, and jumped toward him; tackling him, and beating his face in with barely-healed hands. Her assault was relentless, furious. Their long and sordid history, avenged in blood and pulsing fists.

He closed his eyes. He grabbed her on either side of the head. He screamed. He screamed long and violently, waves of force tearing Avarice's body apart, her fingers and face disappearing in a frenzied hail of loose bones and giblets. The ruins shook, and the buildings began to fall. She landed in a heap, and he took to his feet, flinging aside his instrument, and leaping into the air, one finger along the back of his bow, a dull whine filling the air as he plunged toward Audrey's prone form. To finish it. To strike the final blow.

And then, everything fell away.

The Hailstorm | Avarice | The Masked Man

A pile of blood, splintered bones and blended meat landed in the snow, trickling into the white ice below. The largest mass, a vaguely humanoid shape, began to weave itself together. Lines of skin grew out, and bones extended to their fullest length. A human lay there in the snow, a jacket and scarf wrapped around them. The upside of being only partially human was that clothing was considered part of one's body. The downsides were... Numerous.

Snow and cold spun around her, stinging her eyes, getting beneath her skin. A nightmare of ice and wind. She'd have to find something warm. Oh, a fire sounded lovely right about now. But instead, she lay there, face down in the white: stewing in excruciating pain and fatigue.

"Oh... Dear fuck. Is this what Hell is like?"

Audrey Famei, covered in her own blood and squick, stood up in the snow (though not without some complaint from her joints). She looked ahead, through the blizzard. The silhouette of a tent. Of figures. She stumbled toward them. Maybe they'd have something to eat. If not, well... Men made fine meals, too. Surely, nobody would miss these hikers, right?

"Hey, anyone there? I uhh... I'm a bit messed up. Don't freak out, 'kay? Well I mean, freak out if you want, if that's what you really wanna do. You guys have a fire? Because I am freezing out here."

The Tavern | Tone | A Grand Adventure

He fell through the roof. Well, slightly below the roof. His bloody figure hit the floor with a particularly meaty slap. He stood up, a hand to his head, another to his chest. The room went calm, filled with trust and satisfaction. His presence tended to do that to people, even when he was particularly beat up. He shut his eyes tightly, a trickle of blood (to put it lightly) running down his face.

"Calm down! Calm down, everybody, this'll just be a moment..."

Valerian took his violin and played a soft, warm melody. His wounds sealed, his face went from looking like an incomplete jigsaw to a... face. And then, he opened his eyes, irritably wiping blood from his clothing. Another swift, French folk-song evaporated the crimson stains from his body. He looked around. A tavern, warm and welcoming. Someone sitting at the bar, a drink in one hand. A woman, sitting beside them. He decided now wasn't the time for specificities. When he asked his question, he asked anybody who dared to listen.

"So, then. Hey there. My name's Valerian, but you can call me Victor. Mind telling me where we are?"

[Naval Monte]

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field

Droplets from the rain that fell from the gray cloud covered skies slide across the car windshields as the wipers brush the water away to make the glass visible. As the white supermini drive on the old roads slick by the rain It's driver kept her sights on the water tower slowly getting clearer on her sight. Once the driver of the vehicle saw the now muddy dirt road leading her to the path to the water tower and the pumping station it is next too.

As the vehicle drove on the bumping and messy road it would eventually reach the site of the old pumping facility and its adjacent water tower, yet what interest the driver more was the parked police cars. Once the car found a spot not taken and parked the door opened to reveal a pale skin, raven hair, woman a monochromatic attire with a few bits of maroon to add some variety of color to her clothing. The woman was have brought her umbrella with her as she used it to shield herself from the rain as she walked away from her car and don't be back of the facility, where she found the real reason why she was out on Potter's Field.

Surrounding one of the trees at the back of the pumping station was a police barricade to keep any authorised individuals from getting close to the tree as the investigators focus on what was on the tree itself, that being a body. As Elizabeth got close to the cops she can see that most were ready to make her turn away from the site until an older fellow got between them and her. "You're Ashwood I presume?" The old detective asked, making the woman give him a smirk. "You presume correctly officer Jones. Elizabeth Ashwood at your services." She said, extending her hand for a shake to which the officer did. Once they broke away he lead her to the crime scene.

As Elizabeth got near the body she can see that it was a woman, naked save for a red cloth wrapped around her lower waist that reach down to the ground. Her pale skin was covered in numerous lacerations, her brown hair now slick and darken by the rain as it came out the cow skull that was worn over her head like a macabre mask. Her arms were above her head, tied tightly by a rope. "A tad bit dramatic if I say so." Elizabeth told the old detective, taking off her old gloves for ones that cover her fingers. As she began to examine the body detective Jones began to speak.

"Her name is Abigail Williams, she was a student in Cardiff before moving to Branhwrn to attend Cerridwyn University. She was reported missing a week ago by her friends after she failed to return back to apartment that she lived in." Without taking her eyes away from the lacerations on the young woman's body Elizabeth asked. "So she isn't living in the dorms?" The detective replied back. "She use too but for reasons unknown decided to move to an apartment close to the university." When Elizabeth asked what Abigail and her friends were doing before she left them to return back the detective said. "Just typical stuff people in her age do. Hanging out with friends and having fun take their mind away from tests for a while. I will send you a copy of what we got from the interviews from her friends and the university staff."

Elizabeth said nothing as she noticed something on the bodies shoulder, letting her body gently off the tree she found that someone branded a mark on her flash. The mark was a circle with four smaller ones inside, each having different symbols in their centers. The larger circle had strange writings on it and in the center a cross with more sigils and writings on it with an eye at the center of the cross. Seeing the image the female detective eyes harden at the symbol. Letting go of the body she turn to face Jones. "Who do you think is responsible for these kidnappings and killings Jones?" The detective asked as she moved away from the body as two police officers approach the body to try and untie the ropes to release Abigail.

"Officially our story is that this a lone serial killer that is on the loose." Jones told her as he began to walk away from the body and stopping close to a large rock , Elizabeth flowing suit as she removed the gloves and placing the disposable gloves on the rock. "But in truth we both know this isn't some just looney with a knife kidnapping folks off the street to hack them apart. The symbols on all of the bodies point to a cult being the culprit." The old detective sagged slightly as he let out a sigh. "You're correct Ms.Ashwood. We know that a dangerous cult is on the loose but right now we don't want to cause a panic in the town. The fact we had to admit that a serial killer is on the loose has most folks on edge." The detective told her. "Besides we rather not reopen old wounds if we tell people that the murders are all done for some strange death ritual by deranged cultists. No one wants to be reminded of what about back on 1979." Man said, his tone becoming somber. Memories of what occured on that year began to emerge to his mind, slipping through the mental barriers made to suppress them from his mind.

As he began to rub his forehead, forcing away the memories Elizabeth took out a cigarette and held it on her lips, using the same hand to grab her zippo lighter and lighting the cigarette. "In that regard I can see why you are covering the truth but I have to wonder how long you can keep this charade until someone blows the whistle?" The witch took a drag on her cigarette and blew out smoke. The detective turn to look at her. "Hopefully with your help we can catch these freaks before that can happen. Some of us old vets heard the rumors about you. About the unusual cases you deal with, ones that fit with the one we are dealing with right now. Most of the time we wouldn't even consider the notion of calling an outsider for help as we prefer to deal with our own issues alone but since you were born and raised in here you aren't much of an outsider." Elizabeth chuckled. "Nice to see some people remember that I came from here." The woman said just before she took another drag on her cigarette. "I was worried I was going to get nothing but suspicious glances from almost everyone in this bloody town." The woman complained.

"I'm sorry to hear that Ms.Ashwood." Jones apologized after hearing what the woman said about some of the town folks. "but you know how the older residents tend to be to both outsiders and to members who leave the town." He explained as Elizabeth blew out smoke, looking up at the sky as the rain continue to fall. "Oh I'm aware of that nasty trait from the old timers, doesn't stop it from being annoying." The woman bitterly stated. As the two heard the officers shouted that they were close to untying the rope and to get help on placing the body down, Jones began to head back to the group and Elizabeth turn to follow and just as she took a few steps she stopped. Her senses, her metaphysical senses, were alerting her to something unnatural nearby.

As the woman began to look around she didn't see anything unusual... well unusual for her at least. She saw clouds of energies, with a large variety of color, coming off the police officers and a pale, transparent, cloud surrounding the body of Abigail, the diminishing remains of her aura still clinging to her body. She turn to look at the field and soon her eyes saw what appeared to be a fate open before her. The other officers stopped in their work to see the rift. Eventually both parties would see something emerging from the rift...

[Petrokovia]

Rise of the Masked Man

Mt. Silver Hiking Path

Gold, Ty, and Muffet had sat in their tent for some time, having become invested in their game. It wasn't long, however, before there was another loud bang outside the tent, and what sounded like a faint call for help.

The three approached the tent door, opening it and peering outside. Instantly, a gust of cold air entered the tent, making Gold shiver, and Ty's fur stand on end. Even through Gold's rather thick hoodie, and Ty's fur, the wind seemed to bite.

"Jesus, it wasn't this cold when it started storming, was it?" Gold asked, stunned.

The hail had also began subsiding. Instead of large balls of ice, the precipitation had become freezing rain, coming down lightly. Gold and Ty exited the tent, and saw what appeared to be a small cat and an unconscious woman.

Gold, reacting instinctively, ran out to help, only to forget that the ground was covered in hail. He slipped, falling backwards with a grunt. Ty couldn't help but laugh at the sight.
"Heh, you okay, bro?" he asked, in between laughter.
"Yeah, yeah, c'mon." Gold said, dismissively.

The two made their way to the new arrivals, only for Ty to notice Link and Madison in the distance. Before he could speak up about them, his ears twitched around, as he heard Avarice calling.

Ty's head felt almost like it was spinning.
"Jesus, it's like we're being invaded. How did all of these guys end up on Mt. Silver?" he asked, surprised. "I didn't want to come out and ask when it was just Muffet, 'cause I thought it'd be rude to start giving the third degree, but damn."

Gold thought for a moment.
"Well... A lot of them seem to have come from, like, some kind of portal or something..."

Suddenly, something in Gold's mind clicked, and he snapped his head to look at Ty.
"Yo! What if they're Ultra Beasts?"

Ty gave Gold a deadpan stare.
"...Really?"

"Well, yeah." Gold said, matter-of-factly. "The fuck else would Muffet be?"

Ty tilted his head, conceding.
"Eh, you got me there."

The two arrived at where Percy was. Gold quickly knelt down, looked Moira over, and felt for a pulse.
"Well, she doesn't seem to have broken anything, from what I can tell." he muttered, looking to the small cat.

"Uh, hey. We've got medicine and stuff in our tent. If you want, we can give you guys shelter." Gold offered.

He turned to Ty.
"Hey, if you carry her to the tent, I can flag down those other guys... They seem to be fine to walk, so I should be able to call them over on my own."
"Sure thing." Ty said, picking up Moira with rather little effort.

While Gold waved his arms in the air and signaled the others to come to the tent, Ty carried the unconscious woman into the tent, laying her on the padded floor. Muffet glanced at her, an inquisitive expression forming on her face.

"Ahuhu... Who's this? She doesn't look well..."

Ty mostly ignored Muffet, walking over to a seemingly (mostly) empty grey backpack near one of the sleeping bags. He rummaged through it, before pulling out a small, rectangular, green and gray medicine spay bottle. He walked back over to Moira, spraying the contents on her.

"A full restore should do the trick. Hopefully, it should wake her up." he said with a slight grin, with the full expectation of being correct.

Once Gold had flagged down Link, Madison, and Avarice, he held open the tent door for them.

I can't imagine being stuck out here without a tent... he thought. We probably just saved these guys' lives...

Before Gold entered the tent, he looked up towards where the mountain peak was. Something in his gut didn't sit right; He stared at the cold, dead silhouette of the peak. By this point, the freezing rain had picked up, coming down more quickly than the hail had. In the several years of travelling the world on his journeys, he could tell this was no normal storm. Something was bound to pass overhead. A kind of chill ran down his spine, that couldn't be attributed to the cold weather.

Hope I didn't think too soon...

---

Mt. Silver Motor Path

Several men in Neo-Rocket uniforms drove up the rocky vehicle paths along the side of Mt. Silver; They crewed two black SUVs and a large weather van, with what appeared to be a large radar dish on the top of the roof. Inside the weather van, several grunts were monitoring computer screens, supervised by another Team Rocket member, wearing a long coat, a small silver R emblazoned on the left side of his chest.

"Alpha is heading West, slight Northern adjustments by two-point-five degrees from true West, flying at 215 kilometers per hour. Course is steady."
"Good." the trench coat-clad man said, with a pleased yet sinister voice. "The boss will be happy not to have to wait long before interception."

On the radar screen, there were various splotches of color, ranging mainly between purple, dark blue, and white, forming a jagged circle around a small, moving black dot in its center, simply labelled "Alpha: Articuno"

---

Drawn Through the Multiverse
Introduction, Part 2

It was a calm, cool day in the Pacific, as Kongou sailed. She has just gotten her ship rebuilt, and something interesting was about to happen at Gunzou's old school. Kongou felt the sea breeze against her, as she stood on top of the large superstructure on her ship; She gave a thousand-yard stare out to the horizon, as she was lost in thought.

A lot had happened that confused the Fog ship. Slowly, it seemed that something else confusing was approaching; Kongou's sensors detected a slow build up of gravity in a patch of sea not too far away. This buildup sped up exponentially, and soon she could detect various anomalies in the spacetime around the place.

Kongou turned her vessel towards the anomaly, and sped towards it, curious as to what was happening. There was a loud crack and a bright flash of light, and the anomaly was gone. However, Kongou continued to the area, only to find a rather distressed man floating in the water.

How did a human make it all this way to sea? There's no way he swam here... Kongou thought, perplexed, but also somewhat amused. She decided to bring the man aboard; She just had to know what this man was doing so far from land.

Kongou jumped down to her main deck, and stood, watching the man regain his composure. Something about the sight seemed pathetic. Then again, Kongou had no way of knowing what this man was doing prior to being warped away from his world. The man approached her, smiling, and obviously happy to have been saved.

The woman looked at this strange man, and a part of her seemed relieved that he was okay, if for no other reason than her being able to question him. He was speaking in English, so Kongou quickly downloaded some software to allow her to communicate in his chosen language.

"Who are you?" Kongou asked, starting her interrogation.

Something about being asked his identity raised the man's vitals, though Kongou could not think of a reason why. Perhaps he was simply exhausted from his journey?

The man blinked, hesitating, then cleared his throat.
"I'm Commander Daniel Petit, of IMPDO. Though, a lot of people just call me Tadayoshi as a nickname."

Kongou's confusion was clear on her face, as she softly repeated, "Im-pee-doh?"

Tadayoshi also was confused, that the woman didn't seem to know what IMPDO was.
"It stands for International Military and Police Defense Organization." he explained plainly.

Kongou searched through her database, as well as the human internet. She couldn't find any information on this "IMPDO" that this man-Tadayoshi-was talking about.

She thought for a moment. Maybe he had something to do with the strange spacial distortion? It seemed reminiscent of the anomalous behavior of space when Kongou used her flagship equipment to teleport the Union cores of her fleet to her, not too long ago.

"Could it be...?" she muttered, thinking aloud.

Kongou tried to search for the man's real name, and again turned up nothing. There were others with his name, but none of their pictures looked even remotely like him.

"That spacial distortion... Did you have something to do with that?" Kongou asked, pressing the man for answers.
"The... What? I have no idea. I didn't do anything to make that happen. All I know is, I was in my office chair, then out of nowhere some bright light flashed, and I wound up in the middle of the ocean... I..." Tadayoshi said, still clueless as to where he was.

Kongou was reasonably certain of her conclusion, but wanted to make sure. After all, the man didn't show any of the body language or cues that one would expect if he were lying, and this would be rather elaborate for a lie.
"Do you know what the Fleet of Fog is?"

"Uh... Fleet of... Fog?" Tadayoshi asked. "Uh, no... No idea."

Kongou smiled softly, straightening her posture a bit, and placing a hand on her hip. She was sure of her conclusion.
"That settles it! You are an alien!"

"Excuse me?" Tadayoshi asked, more confused than ever.
"IMPDO does not exist here. You have never heard of the Fleet of Fog. That spacial anomaly was most likely a type of spacial rift, and it brought you to our world from yours."

Tadayoshi thought for a moment. A part of him couldn't believe what this woman was saying, but he honestly had absolutely no information, and no better answer.

"So... Where exactly am I?" he asked.
"You are on a planet named Earth, in the Pacific Ocean, near the shore of Japan." Kongou explained, clearly expecting the man not to know what she was talking about. To her surprise, he seemed to recognize all of this.
"Wait, I'm near Japan?" Tadayoshi asked. Finally, he heard something that sounded familiar.

"So, you know the nations of this planet?" Kongou asked.
"Yeah, I've got an apartment in Japan... Er, the Japan that I'm from... I was raised in Pennsylvania, though."
"This would mean that you are from a different universe, then...?" Kongou asked rhetorically. "I thought the 'multiverse' was simply an idea that some humans posited... Give me a moment."

Kongou turned her back to the man.
[Choukai] Kongou reached out, in the Joint Tactical Network. [I have found another interesting man.]
[Oh, really? Don't make me jealous~] Choukai teased.
[Did you sense that rift?] Kongou stated, trying to ignore Choukai's teasing.
[Oh, yeah!] Choukai responded, excitedly. [So, did the human have something to do with it?]
[No. Well, he seems not to know anything about it, though from the readings I'm picking up, he is clearly connected to the event in some way.] Kongou clarified. [He is from a different universe, and the rift apparently bridged our universes together for a short time, bringing him here. I believe he was caught in its pull and taken here by accident.]
[Ooo. That sounds interesting.]
[Yes. I want to see what Yamato thinks of this.]

Kongou ended the communication with Choukai, and began speaking with Yamato over the JTN.
[Hello Kongou! *smile smile*]
[Yamato. I assume you have detected the-]
[The spacial anomaly? Yes, I have. Did you find something there? *smile smile*]
[Yes, I found a human swimming in the ocean. From what I've been able to gather, he is from a different universe similar to our own, and was brought over by the rift that caused the anomaly.]
[Oh! So, this would confirm the existence of the multiverse! *smile smile*]
[It would seem so.]
[Well, isn't that interesting! You should ask that man more questions. I'd like to know more about the existence of other universes. *smile smile*]
[I will be sure to do so.]
[Great! You can continue your course to Japan's mainland while you question him. *smile smile*]
[You know about that?] asked Kongou, surprised.
[Well, of course! *smile smile*]

Kongou ended the conversation, turning back to Tadayoshi.
"So, what do you do at IMPDO?"

Tadayoshi's mind snapped back into focus, as he realized that the woman was talking to him again.
"Oh, uh... IMPDO is an organization established to defend the people of my world from various threats. Our main focus is stopping superhuman criminal activity; That's part of what I do, along with my squad. We're tasked with finding and stopping Agent A, a person who used to lead our squad, but was wrapped up in the illegal organization that we were originally supposed to be stopping."

Kongou leaned in slightly, intrigued.
"Superhuman criminal activity?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm what's known in my world as an 'amplificata', a genetically-enhanced superhuman. But that goes both ways, so some people become amplificatae in order to break the law more easily. So, IMPDO was created to stop that, mainly." Tadayoshi explained, taking slight pride in his role.

"Oh, that's interesting." Kongou stated. It certainly wasn't every day that one would meet a superhuman.

Kongou paused for a moment, before creating two chairs out of nanomaterials from her deck, for her and Tadayoshi to sit in.

Tadayoshi watched as Kongou molded chairs out of a strange silver sand directly from her deck. Speechless, he sat in one of the chairs.
"Uh... So, um, I guess it'd only be fair for you to tell me about yourself, right? "

"Yes, I suppose so." Kongou nodded.
"So, what's your name?" the man asked.

"I am Kongou." Kongou responded simply.
"Is... that your first name, or your last name?"
"It is my full name."

Tadayoshi thought for a moment. It was certainly strange for a person only to have one name, but he decided not to press the issue.
"So, are you the captain of this ship?"
"No. I am this ship."

This confused Tadayoshi more than anything.
"You are the ship? Are you magic, or...?" Tadayoshi trailed off, not knowing how to finish his question.

"I am a ship of the Fleet of Fog. I suppose you would classify us as 'Artificial Intelligence', controlling ships."
"Oh..." Something in Tadayoshi's mind clicked, and Kongou being a ship, and only having one name, made more sense. As well, at least he now knew what this 'Fleet of Fog' was.

"So, how did you make these chairs out of your deck? What was that silver stuff?" Tadayoshi asked. The pacing of his words was noticeably faster, as he was now intrigued by the woman in front of him.

"The silver sand is nanomaterials, that the Fog can use to create anything on the atomic level. We can control our nanomaterials to make anything, including the human body you see before you now."

"Oh. That's pretty cool." Tadayoshi said, smiling.

Kongou smiled back, leaning into her chair a little and crossing one of her legs over the other.
"Yes, they are called 'mental models', and were developed by the Fog as a response to our lack of understanding of tactics. By putting these limitations on ourselves, we can now understand to passage of time and the development of tactics and strategy as humans do."

"Understanding of tactics?" Tadayoshi asked. "Are you in a war right now?"

Kongou's smile faded, as she looked at the human in front of her.
"Yes, I suppose you could say that... The Fog is currently blockading humanity. We are to cut off their supply routes and keep them from entering the sea or skies."

Tadayoshi's expression turned slightly sour.
"Why's that?"

"Hmm?" Kongou asked, wanting clarification.
"Why are you blockading humanity?"
"Because that is what the Admiralty Code dictates."
"And what's the Admiralty Code?"
"It is a set of rules for how the Fleet of Fog should function."
"Who created these rules? What's the logic behind them? What purpose does the blockade serve? What are your goals?" Tadayoshi got noticeably frustrated as he asked these questions.

Kongou found herself somewhat overwhelmed by the man's rapid-fire questioning, straightening up in her chair.
"I... I don't know the answer to any of those questions. There is no information on those subjects..."

Tadayoshi looked at Kongou with a mix of confusion, frustration, and bewilderment.
"Wait... So, you've been blindly following rules set by a person you don't know, for reasons you haven't been told... Even though these actions effect and harm the lives of billions of people?"

"I... haven't given it much thought..." Kongou admitted. "For much of our existence, the Fog has been following the Admiralty Code, because it's all we knew."

Tadayoshi thought for a moment, then sank into his chair a bit.
"I take it that's changed?"

Kongou sighed, taking in a deep breath.
"Yes, it seems that the Fog are changing. Prior to developing mental models, we did not feel emotion, and it never even occurred to us that not following the Admiralty Code was something a Fog ship could even do. Now we're developing emotions, due to our mental models... Our purpose is supposed to be to serve as weapons, but..."

Kongou seemed to be lost in thought. Tadayoshi fidgeted in his chair for a second, before speaking.
"Hey, uh, sorry for putting you on the spot. That was rude of me."

Tadayoshi thought for a moment. He tried to think about what it would be like from Kongou's perspective, and could understand the Fog's actions a bit better. He already regretted jumping to conclusions; However, on the other hand, he still wanted to know why the Fog needed to blockade the people living on this version of Earth.
It's best not to pick a side to a war I don't know about. Maybe when I can get more information about it...

Kongou looked at Tadayoshi.
"It's..."

Kongou stood up, turning to look over her bow. Japan was within sight.
"We've arrived at Japan."

"Oh." Tadayoshi thought for a moment. A thought popped into his head, that worried him. "Oh, are you just going to drop me off here, or...?"
"Hmm?" Kongou turned to face the man, amused. "No, Yamato wants me to get as much information from you as possible. She's quite curious about the multiverse now... I'm here for a different reason."

Tadayoshi felt somewhat relieved. He certainly didn't want to be left in a strange version of Japan that he hadn't been in, where he officially didn't exist. Aside from that, a part of him wanted to continue staying with Kongou; Already, she seemed very interesting to him, and he felt compelled to know more about her.

[Kongou~] Maya came over the JTN. [Have you come here for me, Kongou?]
[I came here because I heard there was a fest̴̙͗̽i̶̲̺̍͆v̸̭͔̅ạ̵̈́l̴̨̪̈̕ ̶̞̖͋b̵̖͓͊e̶̜̔̂ĭ̸̙̻n̴̪͍͒g̷̮̐̊ ̸̘̩̽ḫ̵͛è̵͓̜̉l̸̬͇̓̇d̴̺̝̔̊ ̵͈̀ą̴͆͝t̴͙͆̀ ̶̙̯͒̔Ġ̸̫͠u̶̼͒͋n̶̤͆z̷̩̓̇ọ̴͕̜̯̖̘̊u̴̝̮̱̒̈̾̊ͅ'̴̖̹̠͚̪͙̓́͂͐͘͠ͅș̴̢͎͓̰̣̰̓̒͋͑ ̶̜̳̐̂͜A̴̗̮͎̺̝͑̽l̴͙͔͙̮̘̓́͐͒͗͝ͅm̴͖̀͆̀a̸̧̳̫̼̫͒͂͛͐̃̈́͝ ̷̧̦̠̝̱͆̀̕M̶̹̪͕̈́̈̍̓̆͒̓á̷̛̋͐͜t̶͚͌̆͗̿ḙ̴̦̺̭̪̱̄ṙ̷͍͂̾͐̇́̈,̵̤̯͉͔̩͌̈́͊̑̃͛̃ ̸͔̺̈́a̵̛̭̠͑̌̽̊̕͜͝ͅn̷̦̮̹̲̩̥͛̅̔͜d̴͙̦̭̈́́̾͂̾͝͝]

There was another loud crack, and a flash of light. Above the area was a very large portal, which stayed open. It glowed an eerie bluish-green, and electricity seemed to arc around the event horizon of the portal. The center was black; The kind of darkness that stares back if you looked too long into the void.

The appearance of the rift generated a large, powerful windstorm, and for a brief moment, the skies seemed to turn gray.

Kongou, Tadayoshi, and Maya all looked up at the rift that had formed. Immediately, Kongou contacted Yamato on the JTN.

[Yamato!]
[Yes, Kongou? *smile smile*]
[There is another rift here, and it is staying open.]
[Ooo! This seems like a prime opportunity! *smile smile*]
[What are you saying?]
[You should go through the rift! *smile smile*]
[Would that really be okay?]
[You should go! This is a highly interesting development, and I think this has a high likelihood of having a greater impact on both the Fog and humanity later. *smile smile*]
[...]
[The best I could describe this might be what humans call... Fate? Oh, look at me rambling! Go now, before it closes again. I look forward to the reports of your findings on the Joint Tactical Network... Oh, and take Maya with you, for company! *smile smile*]

Tadayoshi stared up at the portal. He knew it very well could be a way home, but that would be an insane gamble. However, the expression on Konogu's face seemed to say otherwise.

"Wait... You're actually thinking of going in there?" Tadayoshi asked. "I mean... I should probably get back home soon, but... For all we know, that could lead to the vacuum of space, or like, the inside of a star or something... I kinda won the multiversal lottery just by winding up on a planet with air I can breathe."

Kongou turned to Tadayoshi.
"Follow me. If I make the inside of the ship airtight, we won't have to worry about space." she said, walking towards a a door leading to the inside of the ship.
"Uh..." Tadayoshi hesitated. "Sure."

The man followed behind, still thinking about how utterly insane going through the portal was. After all, he couldn't really argue with a sentient battleship, now could he?

...The fact that Tadayoshi was currently about to fly into an unknown void on board a living warship made him smile, amusing him to no end.
And here I thought today was going to be a normal boring day...

[Maya!] Kongou called.
[Hi~]
[Prepare to fly through the rift. We will be going on an exploration mission.]
[Yaaay!] Maya shouted happily. However, her demeanor soon shifted. [Aw, but what about my friend Makie? I don't want to say goodbye, but wouldn't it be dangerous for her?]

Kongou thought for a moment, and after some consultation with Yamato, responded.
[Yamato says to leave her at the dock. She'll be fine with Haruna and Kirishima for now. It would be better than putting her through the rift, if we do end up being taken somewhere hostile.]
[Aww, okay. Maybe I can come back and tell her about this soon!] Maya responded, in a chipper tone.

By this point, Kongou had led Tadayoshi to the bridge, and it was made very clear to him that the entire ship was empty.
"Hey, Kongou?" he asked.

Kongou turned to face Tadayoshi, expectantly.
"Yes?"
"Uh, is the inside of your ship usually this empty?" Tadayoshi asked, with a hint of nervousness. He thought that this was a dumb question, but didn't know any other way of making note of the emptiness of the bridge without sounding callous; He didn't want to sound rude, but he was legitimately taken by surprise at the lack of accommodation in the bridge.

Kongou thought for a moment, looking around the bridge. It wasn't until now that Kongou realized how depressing the scenery was inside her bridge, as she had always preferred to sit atop her superstructure, next to the observation equipment.

Kongou used some of her nanomaterials to make lights to light up the bridge. In addition, she made a couple chairs, and a table with a small tea set. As she sat in one of the chairs, she poured some tea into two cups, handing one to Tadayoshi. She glanced out of the corner of her vision, hoping that he would accept it.

"...Oh." the man exclaimed, happily taking the cup and sitting. "Thanks, Kongou."
"You're welcome."

Kongou smiled, a part of her elated at having met this strange man from another world. More than anything, though, she felt a kind of nervous excitement for what lay on the other side of the portal above them.

When Makie had gathered her things and departed, not without some protest, Maya reported that she was ready to leave. Kongou and Maya's ships both aimed thrusters downward towards the water, and a great amount of fire and heat erupted from them. Using an enormous amount of energy, the two giant warships slowly rose through the air, and into the portal.

Inside the bridge, both Kongou and Tadayoshi gripped their cups a little tighter in anticipation, but tried to remain calm as they went towards the void. Maya, in contrast, sped towards the void as quickly as possible, dancing and singing in excitement.

[The Dark Brotherhood of Deros]

Mt. Silver
Percy let out an irritated growl of annoyance as the hail changed to a very cold rain, as he was now being drenched. Granted, his Mizutsune gear was good at keeping water out, but Moira's light Nargacuga gear wasn't good at holding back the elements at all. If only she had decided to go with her own Mizutsune armor set instead, but Moira had said previously that she preferred the mobility that the Nargacuga set offered. Suddenly, two figures approached the both of them, the first being a young human man in a rather strange outfit, and the other being some sort of strange creature Percy had never seen before.

The human quickly examined Moira, making Percy a bit nervous at first, but after a moment he decided that the duo wasn't threatening. Percy was glad to hear that Moira seemed to be okay aside from being unconscious, and Percy quickly nodded in response to the human's offer. "Yes, please! Thank you both so much, nya!" He exclaimed. It was then that the other creature picked up Moira with seemingly no effort, on top of it also speaking. Percy wasn't really surprised by this though, as he himself was a talking cat. Percy hurried after the creature, and once he entered the tent he noticed that a third creature was also inside.

It looked to be some sort of humanoid spider creature, and Percy couldn't help but think of the Nerscylla and it's arachnid-like appearance when he looked at her. Once she too spoke, Percy was slightly more surprised. Maybe she's like a Wyverian, only she's like a spider and not a wyvern? This is a strange place. The Felyne thought as he watched the smaller creature spray something onto his partner's wounds.

Moira began to slowly stir after the Full Restore was applied to her, and her green eyes slowly slid open. She let out a soft moan, and blinked rapidly as she tried to clear her head. "What on Earth hit me?" She muttered, glancing down at her now soaking wet form. It was then that she noticed the two strangers looking down at her, and she quickly sat up and backed off defensively. "What the?! What's going on here? Who are-" She was interrupted by Percy quickly running up to her and grabbing her by her shoulders. "Hey hey, Moira it's alright! They helped heal you, nya!" He told her, which confused her at first, but his words eventually resonated with her.

"O-oh... Okay... What happened to us? Last I remember I got smacked pretty hard by that Glavenus, and then... nothing." She said. All Percy could do was shrug. "I don't knyow. One minute we were fighting that Meownster, and then the next some weird vortex sucked us both up." He said, making Moira grimace. Darn it! That means the Glavenus probably got away! She thought to herself, hating that her prey escaped to continue it's harassment. Granted they wounded it pretty badly, so maybe it would decide that where it had picked to live wasn't worth the trouble and leave.

Regardless, Moira decided that figuring out just what had happened was more important, and so she turned to look at the two strange creatures that had apparently helped her. "Um... Thank you. Can you speak to me? What happened, and who are you?" She inquired. A shiver ran down her spine, and she remembered that she was currently soaking wet, and it was much too cold for her taste, making her wish she had packed some Hot Drinks. "And also, do you have a towel or something?"

[Skylus]

Madison

The first thing Madi did when she entered the tent was getting Link situated by the fire so the poor kid didn't freeze to death.
Secondly, Madi walked up to whom she thought was the tent's owner.
"You. I have two questions for you. What's your name, and what-"
The girl stopped talking when she noticed something huge standing nearby.
"Is that....a badger? But....Why...."
Madi was somehow able to walk around in a circle around the huge beast and she could swear his eyes were following her.
"Why is he so huge?"

Link

The tent was somewhat crowded now, with....However many people were inside of it.
The one that Link was the most interested in at the current moment was a creature that he could only describe as a "spider lady".
"Uh...Hello..."the boy started, hoping to have some conversation with this strange creature.
He offered a hand to shake.
"My name's Link. What's yours?"
He then added a bit quickly, "I'm sorry if this offends you, but do you mind if I call you spider lady until you tell me your name?"
Link then gave the spider lady a small smile - he hoped that she realized that he was trying to be nice to her, given the circumstance he currently found himself in.

[Prusselanden]

Konnyverse
"After him!" Konny leapt over a log and tripped epically, as Miranda sprinted forward with ninja-like grace while Jona gestured at a nearby deer to pick the fallen Konny up. The Ghoul had fled into the forest, the three kids running after it.

"Konny, watch where you run." Miranda took out her two daggers and leapt in front of the ghoul. She charged at it, striking but barely missing it.

"I got it, I got it." She arrived on scene and raised her hand, summoning a few zombies to attack. "Where to aim?"

"Five inches to my right!" Miranda swung at it again as one of Konny's zombies aimed a punch at it. It dodged again but recoiled from the punch. Jona fired up a light orb to launch. "Where is it now?"

"There." Miranda pointed to it, as Jona launched the orb which collided with the Ghoul and sent it flying into a tree. Miranda fused her knives into a sword. "Thanks. I'm going in for the kill."

She charged at the beast, but suddenly a portal opened in front of her and she fell through.

"Mira!" Konny ran after her and jumped in, with Jona hesitantly following.

[Cybraxia]

Truth

---

"Thank you, and goodbye... my friends"

Well, wasn't that a heartfelt send off?

Greed's eyes snapped open, and all he saw was white. "Wh-where am I? Is this-?"

Heaven? Or were you thinking you'd be in hell?

Greed whirled around, and saw himself, grinning. No, not himself... his old body... "Who... who are you?"

Don't recognize me? Oh, its because I look like this, isn't it? The doppelganger chuckled. I've gone by many names. But for now, you can call me Truth.

Everytime the doppelganger spoke, it hurt. Not an intense pain, but an irritation. A dull throb in the chest. "How am I here? I should be-"

Dead? You are. Welcome to my domain. By your nature, you should have ceased to be. But in the end, you gained a soul. You overcame your nature and laid down your life for the one thing you always wanted. Your friends. They're fine, by the way.

Greed eyed Truth warily. "Well, that's nice to hear... So, what now?"

To be honest, I'm not sure. I knew this was coming, and still I'm unsure what to do with you. But I think I have an idea. Truth's grin widened. Greed frowned. Did he ever look that smug? There are dangers out there, dangers that could intrude on the world you helped save. And so, I'm going to give you a second lease on life. You will be restored with all your memories, abilities, and new body.

"What's the catch?" Greed asked.

The catch is you live. Truth replied. A gate opened behind Greed, and sucked him in.

And now, for you... Truth spoke, as he turned to the motionless form of King Bradley.

---

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field

A bolt of red lightning struck the water tower, reconstructing Greed atop it. Stunned, he staggered forward a few steps, taking in the new location, before falling backwards to not fall off. "Gah... where the hell am I?" He shook his head, trying to clear his senses of the vertigo from the reconstruction. "Hurts like a bitch. And of course its raining." He got to his feet, and looked around, before spotting the police officers and Elizabeth, and then most obviously, the rift. "Uniforms and a murder... I'd rather not get involved with them. For all I know, they'll think I did it." He crouched down, hoping he wouldn't be seen. "But what the hell is that thing? Some sort of gate?"

[Apto]

The Secrets of the Raven
Sayaka Miki
Mitakihara City

Sayaka was no stranger to weird rifts in reality. In fact, she poked and prodded inside one everyday. Are they still weird if I'm familiar with them? Was the idle thought of the teen as she entered a fever-dream, white cape fluttering as she ran, heedless of the crayola inspired walls of the corridor. They closed in on her like a bad movie prop, complete with the laughter of disembodied children.

She ran faster in response and when the world suddenly tilted vertically, she jumped and came face to face with the heart of this mess. Inches away from her face was a man sized chalkboard drawing of a paper-plane with a dopey looking cat acting as "pilot", constantly pulling levers and pressing buttons without rhyme or reason. With a panicked "Mrew!", the plane zoomed away from the Magical Girl, a cloud of chalk dust stinging her eyes and irritating her nose.

She coughed and hacked as her feet found ground again, the world having reset into a corridor instead of a chimney. Familiars weren't dangerous all by themselves, but they certainly were annoyingly insistent on not dying. At this rate, she wouldn't get home before nightfall! Unless...

Sayaka didn't so much as run as she did fly. With magic boosting her every leap, she soon caught sight of her fleeing quarry within a few steps.

"Gotcha!" With an excited yell and a grin of relief from the Magical Girl, the Familiar found itself skewered by a cutlass. Magical Girl or not, Sayaka's momentum carried her forwards as the Barrier slowly dissolved around her, a strange conglomeration of nauseating light suddenly filling her vision. Wait is that-

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field

As the woman began to look around she didn't see anything unusual... well unusual for her at least. She saw clouds of energies, with a large variety of color, coming off the police officers and a pale, transparent, cloud surrounding the body of Abigail, the diminishing remains of her aura still clinging to her body. She turn to look at the field and soon her eyes saw what appeared to be a fate open before her. The other officers stopped in their work to see the rift. Eventually both parties would see something emerging from the rift...

In an ideal world, Sayaka wouldn't have tripped, almost fall on her own sword, and roll on the ground until her mouth tasted of dirt. Sadly, this was not an ideal world and she most certainly did. "Ooow." Was the first word the Magical Girl uttered, groaning less because of the pain, and more out of embarrassment. Already, she could feel the damp air and raindrops messing with her already dirty outfit. There was something else there too, something copper-y and rotten. A dead rat maybe?

Just her luck. Instead of raising her head and investigating, the girl decided she'd rather wallow in despair for the moment, her face on the ground, as she curses whatever deity decided this would make for a funny joke.

[Naval Monte]

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field

Elizabeth was no stranger to rifts to the fabric of reality, in fact she creates a few herself from time to time. She doesn't even get phased too much now when strange entities go through those rifts and appear in her reality, she either is protected by her magic when she summons and bind those entities or she soon banished them to whatever hideous reality they call him. But seeing a little girl with blue hair wearing some princess warrior clothing like she was a cartoon character aim for little girls was new for her.

For the cops with Elizabeth the rift was a new experience for them, most of them gawking at the sight and their minds trying to comprehend the existence of the rift and the fact that a preteen wearing a strange outfit came through it. The police to stun on seeing the obvious violation on what they believed to be possible said or did nothing as Sayaka rolled on the ground and tasted the wet dirt of the ground. Now lying down on the ground it was Elizabeth who began to approach the girl cautiously, weary that the girl before her may not actually be a human being but something else masquerading as a preteen girl wearing a now ruined cosplay costume. The strong, arcane, aura surrounding the girl only added to her weariness.

When she was close Elizabeth crotch down, poking Sayaka on her head gently. "All right kid? You took a nasty trip there. Can you get up?" She asked. When Elizabeth vet's conformation that Sayaka can get up she extended her hand. Whether or not Sayaka accepts the help on getting help the witch would soon lift herself up and put her hands in her coat pockets. "Yeah rifts are a bitch aren't they? A shame there isn't a way to get a warning when they appear, it would make them less annoying but at least we won't have to worry about being spirited away to other continent or some other reality."

Elizabeth can hear Jones yelling the others to get back on freeing the dead body. As the cops began to untie the ropes and gently place the body of the deceased student on the ground the witch still kept her attention on the strange girl, the cops seemingly deciding to let the investigative occultist to speak to the girl as they remove the cow skull, revealing the badly scarred face of the student. Many if them made disgusted comments at the grim sight, some question on the strange symbols carved on the girl's forehead. Yet Jones told them they will deal with it later and to place the corpse in a body bag now.

"So what's your name kid and what convention where you attending?" The witch asked in a teasing tone. Elizabeth made sure that she was blocking the view of the body so Sayaka won't see it end freak out. Elizabeth soon felt something strange and everyone soon saw a flash of red lightening, the coloration of the lightning was an oddity on it's own but the fact that there was no reports of lightning from the weather forecast only made the crimson lightning bolt even more unusual. The witch and group of cops looked at the water tower and most thought that the water tower would be damaged but miraculously it was still intact.

As the cops soon return back to their job Elizabeth kept her gaze at the water tower for much longer, sensing that something odd was going on around the water tower. But soon she turn her attention back to Sayaka. "Where was I before mother nature interrupted me? Oh right introductions. My name is Elizabeth Ashwood and because you are obviously going to somewhere you are you are in the United Kingdom. More precise you are in Wales and are on the town of Branhwrn."

[Apto]

The Secrets of the Raven
Sayaka Miki

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field

As the cops soon return back to their job Elizabeth kept her gaze at the water tower for much longer, sensing that something odd was going on around the water tower. But soon she turn her attention back to Sayaka. "Where was I before mother nature interpreted me? Oh right introductions. My name is Elizabeth Ashwood and because you are obviously going to somewhere you are you are in the United Kingdom. More precise you are in Wales and are on the town of Branhwrn."

Sayaka risked a peek as her ears picked up on the sound of shoes against the muddy ground. The lady approaching her certainly wasn't Japanese, that was one fact she was sure of. Still, Japanese or not, it would be rude to refuse an offered hand and she had her fill of staring into the mud anyways. She'd curse her luck standing up instead.

Doing her best to give the lady a smile, Sayaka took the offered hand with her own previously pristine gloved ones as she stood up, a shiver going up her spine as the smell of rotten meat and damp mud launched a full blown invasion of her nostrils. Yuck. A rapid stream of Japanese words left Sayaka's mouth at the lady's question, basically asking her if she meant 'Witch Barrier' when she said 'Rifts' before she stopped mid-sentence, mouth forming into a O as the realization hit her.

"S-Sayaka Miki," she shivered, wrapping her now transparent cape around her body as she slowly digested the fact that a routine hunt had gone so badly that she somehow ended up on the opposite side of the globe. "That's my name." For a middle-schooler who never met a native English speaker before, Sayaka's English was flawless with nary a hint of an accent. The perks of being a student in Mitakihara City and its ridiculous standards were already paying off it seemed. "You wouldn't happen to know where the nearest airport to Japan is, would you Miss?" Sayaka gave Elizabeth a sheepish grin, one hand rubbing her neck and eyes purposely avoiding Elizabeth's own.

[Mundeo]

---

The Grand Adventure

---

Traverse Town Tavern

Just as he had expected, it didn't take all too long for the guests to begin to arrive. Within the minute, one dropped in out of the blue. The Wanderer greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hello there" He said to Ignis, not at all aknowledging the fact that the person sitting next to him had just fallen from the ceiling. "The baked brussel sprouts here are surprisingly delicious, and a personal favorite of mine, but I suppose a beer would do the trick as well"

Another guest then arrived, but in much worse shape than the previous two. To everyone's surprise, however, the man who was completely bruised and bloody was the calmest one there. With a duology of tunes from his violin, his wounds were healed and his stains removed.

"That was rather impressive. Come! Take a seat" The Wanderer motioned to Victor to come to his table.

"I have been expecting you all. Well, more, actually, if more do arrive. You just can't be certain. Oh, yes, you are probably wondering where you are. You are in a place known as Traverse Town. It's a very unique place; it is formed by the remnants of worlds that have been lost to darkness, and is ever changing. Now it serves as a haven for those who wish to escape the darkness, but that's irrelevant"

---

The Multiverse’s Deadliest Game

---

? ? ?

“Adam, where are we?”

“I would tell you if I knew. None of the ship’s scans are coming in right”

The gunship floated aimlessly through this unknown cosmos. Any attempt to scan the area to get a reading on where they were in the galaxy turned up unresponsive.

Then, another voice appeared on the communications.

“Greetings, Samus Aran”

The bounty huntress checked the communications systems. Somethhing was coming through, but there absolutely no way to identify it or trace it. What exactly was going on here?

"There is no need to be concerned. In fact, we know well your reputation as a bounty hunter, and wish to hire your services"

...

"Keep talking"

"In case you are not aware, which we are certain you are, you are currently in another universe. One of many, many realities that together collectively form the greater Multiverse. It is our duty to protect the Multiverse from harm, which is why we have contacted you for your services. You see, creatures and other beings are being sent to universes where they do not belong, and can pose a great threat to that universe's inhabitants. We would like you to eliminate these creatures for us"

"The Multiverse?" This sudden revalation was all a surprise to her, and all very strange. She thought that being known throughout the galaxy was a big deal, but to be known by beings from another world? And they wanted her to take down creatures that have appeared in places where they do not belong. There was a lot that Samus still wanted to know about these potential clients, like just who exactly they are, but the fact that she still had to get away from the Galactic Federation, and the sheer fact that someone wanted to hire her far outweighed her curiosity.

"What's in it for me?"

"We have much to offer you, Samus Aran, more than simple monetary value. We have technology, information, power. You will be paid properly for each entity you neutralize"

"Then you've come to the right person. I accept"

"Are you sure about this, lady?"

"They're our only way of getting back to our universe, Adam. And hey, these contracts might be pretty exciting, too" Samus then referred to her new clients. "What's my first target?"

An image appeared on her visor, showing a monstrous, reptilian creature. The size and appearance reminded her of Kraid, a general of he Space Pirates that she defeated long ago. Above the image the name of the first entity was displayed: GODZILLA. Next to it, information appeared about the characteristics of the monster, including size, origin, and abilities.

"Here is your first target. Whenever you are ready, we will send you to where it is located. Oh, and one more thing. You are not the only individual to be accidentally sent to another universe. Expect to encounter many throughout your missions. Feel free to let them join you, if you ever feel you need the assistance"

"I don't need assistance. I'm ready"

"If you say so. Good luck"

---

Inkopolis - A Whole Other Universe

The next moment, the gunship was somewhere else - another universe. This time it was quite clear they were somewhere completely new. They were on some Earth-like planet, with a blue sky above and a blue sea below. In the distance the skyline of a massive metropolis stretched out before her. This is where her first mission begins.

[Naval Monte]

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field

Elizabeth was relieved to hear that the girl can speak English because it would make things easier for her. "Sorry Sayaka but you are many miles away from any airports." Elizabeth turn to face the officers just as they zipped up the body bag. "I need someone to take this girl to their car so she won't be out here on the rain." She shouted. Jones ordered one of the officers to do as Elizabeth order and they left to do as such as the other cops began to take the dead body away from the crime scene.

Elizabeth turn her attention back at Sayaka and moved just close enough that she can protect the magical girl from the rain with her umbrella. "Me and the fuzz here will ask any questions you have and most likely they are going to be asking you a twenty million questions as well. But right now let's get you out if the rain before you get sick on us." She told the bluenette, leading her go the police cars.

As Elizabeth took Sayaka to the police car Elizabeth looked up at the water tower. The witch stared at it for a while before returning her sight back to the ground and leaving Sayaka to the officer who was picked to drive her to the police station with them, the officer opening the back door which let the heat escape from the car. As Elizabeth walked to her car detective Jones approached her band began to walk by her side. "What are we going to do with the kid?" Elizabeth noted that he didn't ask about the rift, but considering his age he most likely worked in the town long enough to have experienced enough of the oddities to not be as phased by the unusual than his much younger co-workers.

"Right now we take her with us, giver her some fresh clothing and something hot to eat so she won't get sick on us. As for where she is going to stay I'm not to sure but we need to give her some place to stay for a while until we get in contact with Parliament about a missing girl from Japan appearing in our town." Jones was silent as he thought about the plan. "It's probably best we don't mention the rift so they won't think we are crazy. I think we should put her on foster care until we can send her back to Japan." Elizabeth frown when she heard foster care, memories of being sent to different families only for them to abandoned her and sent off to another family who would repeat their actions replayed in her mind.

"I think it's best if she stays with me." Elizabeth told the detective. "You called me to help you investigate strange stuff happening in your town and our blueberry warrior princess falls into the strange category. I'll keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't cause any trouble." Elizabeth told Jones, reaching inside her pockets to take out her car keys. The old detective had his reservations of the plan, that Elizabeth can see from both his expression and aura, but the detective couldn't help but admit that strange was Elizabeth's expertise.

"I will allow you to take care of the kid but I will be sending in people to check up on her from time to time." The witch agreed to the deal and as she inserted the keys into the car door Jones said. "Don't tell the girl what happened here and the cult. She's most likely worried about how she got all the way from her home state to here, no need to make her scare about a cult." Elizabeth open the door and got in, igniting the ignition of her car. Lowering down her window she look up at the officer. "I'll try my best to hide the truth detective but I won't make any ventures that she won't find out the truth eventually while she stays with me." She told him before driving off. Soon the other police cars began to leave save for a few to keep anyone from entering the crime scene.

---

The driver to the borderlands between the rural parts of Branhwrn and the suburban districts wasn't a long ride. As the convoy of cars drive through the country Sayaka would see from the police window vast open fields with trees sometimes dotting across the landscape. Occasionally she would find farms and homesteads alone in the open field. As the cars kept driving Sayaka would soon see other changes in the landscape as she can make out streams, ponds, and canals on some areas and even buildings huddle together to farm small communities, these were becoming more common as they drove closer to the borderlands.

Soon the convoy would reach what would appear to be a larger community with a canal just behind the buildings with rail tracks in the road turning to go into the small community. The buildings were a build of different historical styles with modern ones. Buildings made with the architectural styles of the Georgian, Victorian, and Edwardian periods stand with more contemporary styles. As they enter what felt like a small rural town Sayaka would see that most of the houses and stores reach at most to two storey with some reaching to three.

The cars save for Elizabeth's all began to go to the parking lot built next to a two storey Edwardian building built mostly of wood with white plant with dark blue painted on the corners of the windows, the base and overhanging roof of the building and on the door frame. As the cops began to park and leave their cars they all enter the building, Using their umbrellas to shield themselves from the rain.

Once inside the building Sayaka would find that while the exterior looked old the interior was different as it look like a typical police station. The receptionist at the desk looked at the bluenette with an odd look before Jones told the woman that they need a towel for the girl. As the detective look down he asked if she prefer tea or coffee. The other cops left to take the body down to the connor to discover any clues that might still be intact on the body.

Elizabeth walked to a chair and sat down, lean her back against it as she took out a cigarette and was about to light it until she heard Jones making a fake cough to get her attention. Looking at the detective he pointed at a no smoking sign on the wall, the sign was at the wall behind the receptionist desk. The annoyed witch muttered a few words as she put the cigarette away.

[Prusselanden]

Tavern

"I'll have an order of zhose, danke schon." Ignis smiled at the bartender. She leaned in as the man started to speak to her and the other traveller.

"Wait wait wait, what is zhis darkness zhat is consuming universes? Should ve be concerned about zhat?" She cut him off as he explained where they were. "So, uh, I know I vas kind of...summoned here. But vhat for?"

[Menschenfleisch]

Hailstorm | Avarice

Well, that was kind of them. Avarice gave Gold a warm smile, but she held up her hands, and stepped back. She gave the back of her palm a quick and discrete lick, cleaning it of blood. Biting the whole limb off probably wouldn't give the right message. It had occurred to her that maybe having a blood stained thing standing in the tent wouldn't be... The best impression she could give.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'd just get your tent all messed up."

A gust of wind plucked at her face, sending goosebumps up and down her spine. The frigid ice in the air, like needles in her eyes. She couldn't die from the cold. Hell, she'd been in the centre of stars and been fine before. Then again, who was she to stand out here, and miss out on the conversation?

"You know what, on second thoughts, I might step inside. Just for a moment."

Audrey stepped past the tent's canvas flap, trying her best not to touch anything. The inside was pleasantly warm, as she was glad to learn. Unfortunately the crowding problem only grew worse. Still though, she tried to make herself scarce; standing in one corner and watching as the woman on the floor came to. This universe held some strange healing sciences. Perhaps even magic? She turned to Gold.

"Say, you seem like the... Pseudo-leader of this team. I'd really like to get back to where I was. I was kind of in the middle of a, uhh... Thing."

She gestured at the blood covering her body.

"Guess that's not possible though, considering the company. Hope I'm not prying too much, but you don't seem the type to be in the middle of icy nowhere. Mind telling me why you're here? Maybe why I'm here?"

Tavern | Tone

Valerian sat down at the bar, on the unoccupied seat near The Wanderer. A stiff drink would probably help any other person clear their nerves, but at this point, he was just trying to make a good impression. For some reason, he couldn't get drunk. It probably had something to do with his consciousness being twice-removed from his body, or something stupid like that. God, he missed frat parties.

"So, hey there. Didn't catch your name, although I guess you already know mine. And hey, thanks for saying so about my music. Most people find it obnoxious how loud I have to be. If drinks are on you, then I guess I'll have a beer. Can't go wrong with some malt."
"And you there, lady! Sorry for my asking, but what's your name? I'm assuming you got here the same way as I did, falling through a portal or something."

He relayed his order to the bartender. The bar was surprisingly quiet, considering its haphazard construction. Made out of the remnants of other worlds? Maybe a bit of Echo was somewhere in here. It'd explain the buzzing in his chest.

"So... Lost to darkness, huh? Don't want to be an echo chamber here, but yeah. What's The Darkness? And how could it possibly be irrelevant, when we're standing ankles deep in dead worlds? I assume you were expecting us because you wanted to show us something."

[Apto]

Secrets of the Raven
Sayaka Miki

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field

Elizabeth walked to a chair and sat down, lean her back against it as she took out a cigarette and was about to light it until she heard Jones making a fake cough to get her attention. Looking at the detective he pointed at a no smoking sign on the wall, the sign was at the wall behind the receptionist desk. The annoyed witch muttered a few words as she put the cigarette away.

Of course she would be stuck in the English Countryside! Why couldn't that stupid portal sent her to London instead or somewhere near the Japanese Embassy? At least Elizabeth was nice enough to offer her shelter from the rain. Granted, she was already drenched at this point but it was the thought that counts. Sighing to herself and with one palm to her face, Sayaka did as she was told, grumpily murmuring something under her breath in her native tongue. Before she got in the police car however, she took one last look at Elizabeth and waved her hand, "Thanks for the help lady!"

It was mighty rude of Sayaka to slump in the backseat considering how her outfit was both wet and dirty, but at the moment, she couldn't really find it in herself to care. At least her escort was nice enough to keep things quiet as she idly watched the scenery pass by, the constant drip drop of the rain and the odd static from the radio being the only source of noise in the car besides the hum of the engine. It was almost musical, and if she felt up to it, Sayaka was sure she could make sheet music for the performance, a perfect accompaniment for the dreary but incredibly European scenery before her.

---

"Tea, please." Sayaka's voice had a resigned quality to it as she replied to the cop's question. The normally upbeat girl, now out of the rain and finally with a roof above her head received the towel with very little pomp before she secluded herself in one of the cubicles in the ladies restroom so that she could clean herself in peace. Ugh, she was confident this was the absolute worst she ever smelled. The smell of the damp air, mud, and whatever rodent died when she first came to England clung to her like a unwanted pimple in prom. If there was a silver-lining to all of this, it was that none of her friends were present to see her.

On the bright side, this'll make for a pretty cool story when I get back home.

---

When Sayaka was done cleaning herself up, she half-expected to be escorted to a interrogation room with a single swaying light bulb above her head as cops did the 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' routine she saw in the movies. She didn't think she'd be brought to the Police Chief's posh office, with equally posh tea-cups and other porceleinware for her to use.

Mr. Jones was nice, he didn't ask her anything too private, and it didn't look like he was suspicious of her, just concerned in the same way a dad would be over a lost toddler. Not that Sayaka enjoyed being treated like a kid of course, she was a big, tough Magical Girl! Though, considering how horrid the day had been so far, she'd let this one slide...

---

This wasn't Jones' first rodeo with the surreal, and in the privacy of his office, he could almost believe that the girl in front of him wasn't involved in anything of the sort. The blue hair could be explained away as hair dye, the weird costume being that newfangled cosplay some kids liked to jabber about, but then he'd remember he explicitly saw this same child tumble out of a magic portal of gobbledygook. More than that was the fact that he had searched for the address she gave him and came out with nothing. Now he wasn't exactly up-to-date with tech, but even he knew how to use Google Maps on his computer.

He left the girl alone in his office for a while, the sound of faint, cheerful humming behind him as he went to approach Elizabeth outside the room. He handed the Occultist a notepad detailing all the information he got from Sayaka. Everything from her full name to her parents' occupation and phone numbers were in there. What was of interest however, was the Address and the last events she could remember before she ended up here. Both were encircled in black ink. The former had the words 'Doesn't Exist' next to them, and the latter was simply filled with the words 'Question deflected, unwilling to divulge information'. "Think it's time we get you two together then?"

[Cybraxia]

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn

---

Greed watched the cops leave the crime scene, save those that stayed to maintain it. Hmm, probably headed to civilization. I'll tail em and see where the hell I am.

The good thing about the situation is that his body seemed to be an exact duplicate of Ying's, something of a boon when trying to follow automobiles at a good pace. Countryside seems familiar, but nothing stands out. The rain made for good cover, and eventually he stopped to watch them park at the police station. Hmm... There'd be no reason for them to be looking for me. Hope they speak English.

He jogged to the front of the station, slowing down once he got under the overhang. Lightly shaking the water off himself, he opened the door and poked his head inside. Noting nothing peculiar, he entered and walked to the front desk. "Ah, hello? I hope I'm not bothering you, but I'm a bit lost. I'm not from around here, and could use some directions."

[Naval Monte]

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field


Elizabeth had her arms behind her head with one leg over the other, a tooth pick between her lips. On the small table was a mug with the remains of coffee inside it. The mage was left alone to think in her mind on which cult she was aware of could be responsible and what the symbol on Abigail's shoulder can mean.

When detective Jones left his office and walked go the witch she straighten herself and got up , taking out the tooth pick from her lips and placing it in the mug. When he handed her the notepad on what he gathered about Sayaka the witch looked into everything, becoming suspicious about the parts where they didn't find an address to where she lived and her being evasive on what she did before being taken by the rift. The witch let a small smirk form, amused on the girl's attention being mysterious.

When the detective asked if it was fine for the two to meet up. "Yes. I think I can get our blueberry princess to open up. I'll send you what I find out about her and you send me files on what you find on our latest victim and the others." Jones agreed with the deal as he walked back to his office. "Alright kid you can go now. Ms.Ashwood decided to be generous on letting you stay with her until we contact someone to send you back home." He told her, leading Sayaka back to Elizabeth who has the papers that was on the notepad about Sayaka hidden in her trench coat.

"Had fun asking questions to the nice detective kid? Since we're done here let's go." She said, waving at the detective before turning around and walking away from the detective, placing her hands in her coat pockets. As the two reach the front desk the witch saw the Asian looking fellow who screamed tourist to her, but that wasn't the only feeling she was getting from him.

She saw a sanguine aura surging out from his being, she could have sworn to almost taste a giant trace of iron at the back of her throat the longer she looked at the aura. But her sense also felt a sense of heaviness coming from him, as though something massive was somehow contained in his body. Elizabeth knew this man was not human but what was he she wasn't sure yet. Just as the woman was going to speak Elizabeth spoke out. "I'll be happy to act as your tour guide mate. I use to live in this town and while a few things have changed enough of it has stayed the same that I can lead go into where ever you want to go." She told him, giving him a wide smile.

Elizabeth moved close to Greed and patted him on the shoulder. "Let's leave the lady alone to her work." She told him as she lead the two anomalous humanoids to the front door. Once the trio stepped out go the building and back out to the rain Elizabeth was glad for the overhanging edges of the roofs extending just far enough to cover them from the rain. Elizabeth open her umbrella. "So stranger where do you come from?" Elizabeth asked Greed, leading the two away from the police station and crossing the street. "I'm gonna guess either Japanese like our warrior princess here but my gut is telling me your Chinese." Elizabeth began to lead the two to the alley between two stores. In the alley they found it empty save for the dumpster and a rusty metal ladder attached to the wall of the left building. "Tell me stranger what do you know about souls?" She asked Greed, turning her slightly to look behind go see his reaction to her question.

[Cybraxia]

United Kingdom, Wales
Branhwrn, Potter's Field

---

"Oh? Well, that's mighty kind of you Miss." Greed smiled, and walked with her. China? I'm going to assume that's like Xing.

He hunched slightly over the umbrella. "You'd be right. Didn't spend much time there though. Would rather travel the world. Take in the sights. I had styled myself as a man of taste and culture, but as of late I'd grown to appreciate the simpler things, like nature. Thought coming here would be nice, but as it turns out, I'm not great at navigating these parts, even if the countryside looks beautiful." A white lie, but Greed knew he could lie like a rug.

As they entered the alley, Greed eyed the alley warily. What's she doing? And finally, at her question, Greed's eye's widened in confusion. Did she know something already? No... no it had to be about the girl. "S-souls? Why, whatever do you mean? I mean, I'm not particularly spiritual, or knowledgeable about them. Any reason for bringing them up?"