Of course, the mansion across the aforementioned lake was inhabited. Mostly by fairies, it was true, but there was no lack of variety in its other inhabitants: two vampire sisters, a time-stopping maid, an asthmatic magician, a devil of some description† , and an a peerless martial artist that may or may not have been a dragon. If there was one thing the Scarlet Devil Mansion wasn't lacking for, it was variety of inhabitants.
On this deplorably sunny day, the maid—Izayoi Sakuya—was waiting calmly by the door for her mistress, complete with two umbrellas. Remilia had announced, after waking hours earlier than was normal for the Scarlet Devil, her intention to go for a walk today... with Flandre in tow. This was the first time since coming to Gensokyo that the elder sister had decided it safe enough to let her somewhat deranged sibling out of the house. After all, Flandre had been extraordinarily well behaved recently.
"Remi, why are we up so early?" Flandre whined, coming into view and rubbing at her eyes blearily. Clutched in one arm was what certainly qualified as the world's most heavily reinforced teddy bear and her wings were creating a colourful halo on the floor behind her. Despite her complaints, she was still obediently following her big sister and had apparently gotten dressed on command—though not put down her toy.
Remilia ceased walking for a second, causing the blonde to backpedal frantically in mid-air to once more be hovering beside the saner vampire, before smiling at Flandre and saying, "It's a surprise!"
"...Ugh... what...?"
The blonde boy slowly climbed to his feet, rubbing his head in confusion. What just happened? It was like he'd fallen down a fall and came a long distance.
With a quick glance at his unfamiliar surroundings, it was confirmed that that was probably what had happened, more or less. This world was completely unfamiliar.
Another figure lay close by. A blue skinned guy... eh, not that too far out. Roxas had seen some weird things before. Although he wasn't sure how the blue guy fit into this world. Was he an outsider too?
Regardless, the Nobody was on guard as he slowly approached. Ready to summon his weapons at any time, he cautiously said, "Hey, you okay there?"
"Oh, where has the Rift taken me this time?" A masked man in red wondered aloud, glancing around the forest. He wasn't the most magician-ey guy around, but when your old master was a near omni-powerful warlock thing/tree, you tended to be notice of there was a sense of magic in the air.
"Well, doesn't look like I'm back home, at any rate..." Gilgamesh grumbled in disappointment. How was he ever going to get that rematch with Bartz at this rate?
Gilgamesh noticed a young girl nearby, and gave her a curious look. "Huh? What's a young girl like that doing by herself? There could be goblins around! Or wolves! Or even stronger monsters!"
Gilgamesh walked over to the red-headed girl, wondering just what to do. He tended not to be a saviour, except for that one time, which Gilgamesh liked to think was one of his most bad ass moments ever. And if he didn't need to blow himself up, then maybe that hero thing was worth checking out. Might lead to super-legendary weapons as well!
Oh, right. Girl on her lonesome. "Hey, little one! Whaddaya doin' out here by yourself?" Gilgamesh demanded to know.
At her isolated home in the beautiful Garden of the Sun, Yuuka Kazami drained the rest of her tea, a faint smile on her lips. Today was going to be... interesting she decided. Why? Who knew? But Yuuka had a sense that something interesting was going down, and her senses rarely, if ever, lied.
Yuuka placed her tea cup down on the table for Elly to collect. The green-haired woman grabbed her pink umbrella and walked outside, her smile still present.
"I hope I have fun today. Today would be such a waste otherwise."
God dammit, Harley.
He could still remember it. A winged silhouette of radiation green and piss yellow and TV static. Gunshots. Fucking Hell, Harley, you didn't see that coming? He could still feel the bullets ripping through his chest, the dual sensations of warm blood and cold snow as he lay there, the light of the Forge casting a red glow on her face. He'd noticed how beautiful she looked in the light.
Though that might've been the blood loss talking.
And now he stood. Or kneeled, would be the better word. Deep, slow breaths. He could still feel the fire in his chest, though his shirt held no stains. The blue glow of his iShades. No signal. Shit. Dave Strider, Knight of Time rose to his feet and looked around. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. He summoned the Scarlet Ribbitar* and gazed across the lake. A single word escaped his lips.
"Welp."
"You have more than enough potential. So tell me what is the one wish that would make your soul gem shine." -Mitt Romney, probablyCybertron.
He still dreamed of it sometimes, the crown jewel of the galaxy, one of towering mechanical cities and magnificent canyons of steel, where his kind worked and lived in peace. He had rallied to protect them once, long ago, from invaders beyond the sky, but the war had come. He had fought to protect his planet, and to serve his master, but it had all come for nought. Twice now, he had been defeated. And, every day, as he wandered the savannah, little more than a shadow of what he once was, he played the scene out over and over in his mind...
The fight between Optimus and Megatron shook the ruins, the clang of metal upon metal, steel on steel, between two sworn enemies, drowning out the mechanical screams of the wounded and dying. He had come to the aid of his master, now, and as he fought he felt the horrifying snap of his sword splintering off his body, and then- and then, like Primus's own fist hurtling towards him, he felt half of his face slough off from the blast of his own fusion cannon. He was in a universe of agony, his mind reeling from the white-hot pain that surged through every fibre of his being, and even as he went hurtling through a wall he barely noticed this, as molten metal and half-melted electronics oozed from what remained of his head.
"Ss...ss...tarsream!" he gurgled in pain, trying desperately to stay in the fight. It was, of course, doomed, as he watched Optimus murder his master, the Fallen, in front of his eyes...
But that was in the past now. He was, of course, on the road to recovery, but still significantly weakened- not only had he been forced to jettison the majority of his weapons and agumentative technologies as Decepticon micro-surgeons worked to restore his ravaged body, but his face was still a mangled mess. He had been forced to abandon his mighty tank form in favor of a decrepit Earth truck as to blend in while he healed. His followers had, for the most part, abandoned him, leaving him with only his most loyal to command from a makeshift base.
But he was Megatron. He would survive. He would grow stronger with every passing day. And someday, someday soon, he would return to lead, and bring bloody vengeance upon Optimus Prime and all that he stood for...
...but today was different. Gone was the flat, monotonous semidesert where he had made camp the previous night. Instead, he was standing in a lush green landscape of rolling hills and misty mountains. The camp was still there, little more than a crude assemblage of tarps and wrecked automobiles, shelter from the fierce midday sun. Megatron tightened the tarp that concealed his damaged face and surveyed the landscape, his rage growing imperceptably.
Where was he? Was this Autobot trickery? No matter, whatever had brought him here would soon taste his wrath. Growling gutterally as he bared his fangs, he looked around. All who made their homes here should beware.
" All hail... "
" MEGATRON... "
edited 26th Sep '11 11:44:33 AM by Locoman
The tall man in the red coat crossed his arms and gazed across the lake towards the mansion. "Somehow this is the Major's fault." He muttered. Shaking his head he continued to stare. Crossing water without a plane or boat was one of the few difficulties of a vampire that actually annoyed him anymore. Sighing, he turned back to the two people here.
"So, I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere with you two... At least you appear to be armed." Adjusting his glasses, the vampire tilted his head to the side. "I am called Alucard."
Freakazoid almost immediately popped up in front of Roxas.
"Hi, I'm Freakzoid." The superhero grabbed and shook Roxas' hand violently for a moment. "Say, do know where we are? Because this is kind of like that time where my cat and I helped Thomas Edison defeat the president who had been brainwashed over by aliens. And then I woke up and it was all a dream but still! Hey maybe there are other people here that don't know this place." Freakazoid began to hop up and down repeatedly. "Let's go make new friends!"
The man of the moon tribe held aloft his energy blade for light in the dark depths of the Underground. Faintly he heard what sounded like a celebration.
"When I foresaw new thrills and adventure... this was not what I believed it was. If only the Ark of Yamato had fallen into this world with me."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?Roxas was taken aback by this guy Freakazoid's sudden introduction. He stared dumbly as his hand was shaken violently and the blue guy rambled on about something that made no sense to him.
"...Uh, right. Guess you're not from this world either..." Roxas muttered, wringing his hand.
Roxas gave Freakazoid a curious glance, wondering where he got the idea that there were others in the same boat as them. Well, maybe it would be stranger to think that only they two were taken from their own worlds...
"Wouldn't you rather figure out why we're here?" Roxas asked. "Or why we're here? This isn't exactly normal, you know."
"Normal? Normal is for chumps!" Freakazoid paused. "But you have a point there. Why ARE we here?" Freakzoid adopted a thinking position for a moment, elbow on knee, hand on chin, and then he stood straight, raised a finger, and took a deep breath... "I got nothin'."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?The commotion from outside wasn't entirely unexpected. Certain yokai dropping by the human village could cause it, even if they meant no harm. It wasn't even as if the residents of the village knew that most yokai didn't eat people anymore, it was just naturally kind of startling.
Marisa, on the other hand, saw it as an opportunity to a)Get into a fun danmaku duel, b)Steal something that they had. Or both.
Either one sounded pretty awesome at the moment, really.
She snatched up her broom, for a witch always needed to have her broom, and put her hat on at what she thought was the best angle possible. Marisa decided she looked completely awesome and that she was fully ready to leave her home and enter the main portion of the human village.
She whipped open her door, and, grinning, headed out towards the center of the human village. She passed some people who were peering out of their homes in confusion, and soon paused when she saw just who what was causing all this commotion.
"Eh...?"
It wasn't the blond boy, or the girl with the katana. It was the blue-skinned guy in spandex. That, that was odd.
Kisume was scared. This was really quite a common state of emotion for her, and for once it was quite justified. Something had made a lot of commotion off in front of her, and she'd seen two figures she didn't at all recognize up ahead. Last time a figure had suddenly appeared and startled her, it led to a danmaku duel. There were two figures now, and Kisume's immediate response was to cover her head and duck down into her bucket. It was a large bucket, large enough to completely conceal a young girl and filled with a little bit of water. The water was just enough to come up to Kisume's knees when she was huddled up and hiding like this.
At the moment, she had her hands covering her head and she was very unsubtly whimpering to herself. Even without this, it would be quite easy to notice the large bucket lying out in the open underground.
Wriggle stretched. Today was going to be great! The sun was shinging, it was nice and warm out, there was definitely plenty of bugs to collect out. The young firefly yokai lept into the air and took off, zooming through the trees in mid-air. After all, flight was much faster then walking, she could collect more insects that way.
Or at least, that was what she'd set out to do.
There was some commotion to the left of her. Perplexed, and being a curious young girl, Wriggle honed in on the sounds.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up.""Um... Hmmm, uh..."
The tunnels of Twist Mountain just went on forever, didn't they? Already, she'd spent far too long wandering the seemingly endless caverns and corridors that honeycombed the only route between Mistralton and Icirrus she could take on foot. What she would give for a shortcut... She needed to get to Icirrus quickly. She needed to get her next badge. Oh, and there was the small problem of that terrorist organization she kept crossing paths with mentioning they wanted something from there, which probably needed to be stopped by someone (and since no-one else was stepping up to the plate, why not her?).
Hilda quickly scanned her map, but couldn't figure out where she was at all. None of the cave's landmarks seemed to be visible, and... Maybe she was just imagining things, but the cave looked completely different than it did a moment ago. Might have something to do with that weird swooshy thing that hit her. But that would be silly. Obviously that was some kind of confuse ray, and she only thought she was lost because of it. Yes, that made sense.
"...Hmmm? I here something... A party?" She reached a hand into her bag and pulled out a Pokéball. Parties meant people, after all, and people meant Pokémon battles to be had.
It was at this moment she realised that she wasn't alone anymore. Nearby her was a man dressed in... It looked like one of those traditional Johtoan outfits, but she wasn't sure. Of course, meeting someone in the middle of a cave only meant one thing...
"Hey!" She yelled, hoping to get the man's attention. "Let's battle!"
In the shadows near Dave and Alucard, Dio lurked. How embarrassing, having to hide in the shade like this. Were it not for his weakness to the sun, he would truly be all powerful, and no-one would get in the way of his destiny as the true master of the world. Not even Joestar and his pathetic progeny.
He had been waiting for them, from his seat of power in Cairo. Waiting for the last of the Joestar line to approach him, waiting as he regained his strength from his defeat at the hands of their ancestor Jonathon (his hands now, he thought, something that still brought him a note of satisfaction), waiting to exact his vengeance on the Joestar bloodline and eliminate the only threat to his designs on humanity (not that they were much of a threat, but Dio was never one to take risks).
But now, now some unknown force had dragged him away from this, dragged him away from his chance at revenge. Whoever, whatever dared to think they could summon the great Dio Brando on a whim would soon learn the folly of their way.
Neither of the two nearby looked like they were the culprit, but he knew you could never be too cautious. The child wasn't of much interest to him. Children were beneath the great Dio, after all. The scarlet-clad man, on the other hand...
Something seemed strangely familiar about him, as though the two of them shared a common bond. Were it not for the immense aura of power he could sense in him, and the presense of that accursed sun, the great Dio would not think twice about gutting him on the spot. But no, in this situation, it was better to ere on the side of caution...
"Where is this place?" he inquired, his regal tones not betraying the dislike he already harboured of this situation in the slightest. "I, Dio, demand to know! And furthermore, who is behind this trickery? The great Dio's wrath shall be incurred if answers are not forthcoming."
"Hm? Battle?" Waka turned around to find a strangely dressed girl holding a red-white ball. "Ah, Bonjour! I am Waka, god's gift to man!" He paused a moment, sizing her up. "You do not look like one who can wield a sword. Are you a sorcerer from a distant land, perhaps?" Despite her being seemingly harmless, Waka kept Pillow Talk drawn just in case.
Alucard turned towards Dio, grinning.
"Ohoho, what's this? Are you challenging me, fledgling?" Alucard slowly reached for his gun, clasping his hand around it, finger on the trigger. "I should teach you a lesson..."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?"...Neither have I." Roxas sighed in reply. This guy might just be a handful, but if they were both strangers to this world, why not stick together?
With a quick glance at his surroundings, Roxas noticed a woman with two swords. Were it not for that blue guy being so blatantly out of place, he would have noticed her by now. He had a feeling she wasn't a native either.
"Hey there!" Roxas called to her. He advanced, somewhat cautiously again due to her weapons. "You in the same situation as us?"
Roxas was growing more and more aware of the people around them, staring. Perhaps they (or Freakazoid, most likely) had made quite an entrance. Better to be careful.
Dave turned to face Dio, sword still held in a white-knuckled grip. Motherfucker looked like the 80's had spat him out like a junkie tasting old milk at three in the morning. White lumps and poofy pants everywhere. He held up his hands, real smooth. "You got me, bro."
"You have more than enough potential. So tell me what is the one wish that would make your soul gem shine." -Mitt Romney, probablyThe door to the Scarlet Devil Mansion finally opened, admitting a trio of strangely powerful girls. Two had white—or superficially white—hair and the blonde was still carrying her teddy bear. Fortunately, this kept Flandre's other hand occupied with holding her umbrella up; Remilia had been very insistent that she avoid stepping into the sunlight. Unlike a certain other vampire, the Scarlet Sisters were capable of planning to go outside during the daytime... though Remilia's initial plan had been the rather destructive 'blanket the sky in bloody mist'.
"Remi, it's too bright." Flandre said, turning and staring back into the comforting dimness of the mansion's interior—only to see Sakuya shut the shiny, white door. The younger sister promptly turned around and resumed gazing at the floor.
"Don't worry, imouto-sama, your eyes will get used to it." The maid explained soothingly, following the vampires as Remilia lead Flandre around the edge of the lake. Sure enough, the blonde's eyes adjusted and she started stopping every few seconds to stare at things she hadn't seen for at least a decade with reverential fascination. No-one noticed the group across the lake... yet.
Kisume was even more terrified now. Swords? Fighting? They were talking about fighting each other? She didn't want to be around for this!
In her fear, she rocked back just a bit too far... and she yelped in fear as the bucket toppled over and she fell partway out, landing on her back. The water rapidly spilled out, and Kisume froze in fear.
Marisa stared at the collection of people for several moments, before stepping forward to introduce herself. And see what they had to steal. Mostly see what they had to steal, really.
"Heyyy, you, new people," she said, waving her hand to get their attention. "Kirisame Marisa, who the heck are all you?"
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up.""I'm, uh... Hilda. From Nuvema Town," she replied to the strange, strange man. "And I meant a Pokémon battle, of course!"
She clicked the button on her Pokéball, and in a flash of light appeared her Dewott, clutching at his scalchops and ready for battle.
"It's a rule, after all. Whenever two trainers meet each other, they battle!" She thought for a moment. "...I mean, you are a trainer, right? I mean, why else would you be in the middle of Twist Mountain other than to train Pokémon?"
"Heh. I doubt there is any lesson you could teach to the great Dio," sneered one vampire to the other, "I, Dio, stand above all, and do not take kindly to being transported against my will, the will of the great Dio!"
He took note of the child's disrespectful response. They may look worlds apart, but something about him reminded the great Dio of the latest Joestar whelp. Maybe he should keep an eye out on that boy after all...
Megatron settled into his throne, growling futilely to himself. The throne was a ramshackle affair, a status symbol he had constructed not long ago. Constructed of bits and pieces of automobiles, melted steel girders, and even parts of his dead soldiers, it was a poor imitation of the illustrious seat of power he had once held long ago. But it would have to do.
"Master, master," burbled a familiar voice in Cybertronian, as the squat green shape of the Decepticon he had nicknamed Igor waddled into view, clutching his diminuitive wooden tree limb that he used as a cane. "Master, where are we?"
" A new land, Igor, " said Megatron idly, tossing the malformed creature a pebble which was promptly set upon and swallowed up. " A land ripe for conquest... "
edited 26th Sep '11 12:55:19 PM by Locoman
Within the city of the underground, the streets were crowded with many different types of youkai, but mostly it was the oni making the loud sounds with their jubilant, drunken cheers. Today like any other day was a time for celebration. The word of a recent oni birthing had spread far and wide and gave those horned drunkards yet another reason to celebrate. But what was especially special about this occasion was that the mistress of Chireiden had decided to join them in their festivities.
Unlike most youkai, the oni greatly respected and liked the satori. Possibly because Oni were honest by nature and thus had nothing to hide.
Satori, herself, enjoyed the company of the oni. Though she could have done without the sake. Her third eye looked around her, glancing at each oni present. She caught a few glimpses into their thoughts.
It's good to see Komeiji-sama get out that stuffy old mansion of hers.
Komeiji-sama always looks so tense, she should relax more like us oni.
Hey! Where did all my alcohol go?! ....oh right, I drank it.
Okay that last one was irrelevant, but she supposed the other two were right. She should get out of her mansion more and she should relax. But that was easier said than done.
Miyuki stood, dusting herself off as she did so. One minute she was training in her families dojo and the next she finds herself in the middle of this village. Not that she wasn't accostumed to strange occurrences like this. She figured it must be the work of their terrorist who killed her uncle. The blue guy did throw her off a bit, but it was no stranger than the fact her brother was dating a vampire.
When the blonde boy had approached her, she had been equally as cautious. He could very well work for the organization her and Kyou-chan were working to protect Fiasse from. "I guess we are...?" She replied with uncertainty.
Then yet another person appeared, this one just as oddly dressed with a witch's hat atop her head. Well, she did introduce herself and it would be rude for the bespectacled swordswoman not to do the same, "Uhm... I'm Takamachi Miyuki. Can you tell me where I am Kirisame-san?"
Roxas glanced at the girl dressed like a witch. For the briefest moment, recognition registered in his mind, before leaving him with absolutely no idea who she was. That was weird. Must have something to do with him...
"Hey. I'm Roxas." The boy introduced himself to everyone, having not done so before. "Kinda like to know why I'm here too."
Marisa shrugged. "I dunno why you're here if you don't. Anyway, this is the human village."
She looked Roxas and Miyuki over very, very carefully and as quickly as possible to avoid notice. Naturally, she was trying to see if there was something she could steal. She took a great deal of pride in her expert thieving.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up.""No idea, little child!" Gilgamesh told the girl, apparently completely missing her first sentence. "But fear not! For I, the all mighty Gilgamesh, will see to it that you safely meet with your parent or guardian!"
Ha, I am capable of being nice! Gilgamesh thought triumphantly. Turning his back to Vita, the masked warrior put a hand to his brow and peered through the trees. "Now, the nearest town must be..."
Gilgamesh looked left to right, wondering where a town could be located.
"...The human village?" Roxas repeated, confused. "Don't tell me you've got a village for Heartless too?" He joked.
edited 26th Sep '11 1:46:27 PM by TroperRoxas
"Yeah, human village," Marisa replied, flashing her most winning grin, mostly because she could. Then the mention of... heartless? Okay, what was that? As far as Marisa knew, all yokai needed a heart of some sort to live. "Wait... what the hell is a Heartless?"
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."

Signup here.
Discussion here
It was midafternoon when the calm serenity of Gensokyo was interrupted. All across this youkai paradise, gaps were opening up and disposting various people of different shapes and species. The most noticeable being a giant robot near Youkai mountain, causing the kappa to flee into the river waters and the tengu to go on high alert. Of course, the mountains weren't the only place affected.
Near Misty Lake, two controllers of time and a red coated vampire appeared from out of their own gaps. They were just at the shore and if they looked, they would notice a large mansion on the far side of the lake.
Meanwhile, three gaps opening in the human village, dumping out a young blonde boy by the name of Roxas and the hero known as Freakazoid. The third person was a young woman with long brown hair tied into a single braid, on her back were two blades that didn't fit very well with her sun dress. All around them humans were fleeing into their homes in panic and confusion.
Gilgamesh and Vita would find themselves in a heavily forested area. But this was far from a normal forest. You could feel magic, lots of magic radiating off the trees, the underbrush, everything. It was truely a Forest of Magic.
Kirby and John, however, would find themselves in a less lively place. They appeared in a cemetary, dark and eery with various ghouls and spirits wondering around. Any normal person would be completely terrified, but then again maybe these two weren't normal people.
Finally, in the cave-like depths of the Underground, two more gaps opened up. Out came a young pokemon trainer and a french alien from the moon. They weren't quite at the city yet, but if you listened closely, you could faintly hear the partying of the local oni.
edited 26th Sep '11 11:20:12 AM by FlameHaze17