A sunny morning in Japan, cherry blossoms floating on the breeze wherever the pink trees stood. It was early spring and the weather seemed to want to reflect this fact. Animals woke up from hibernation and people already started going outside at this first glimpse of the sun. Of course, the peace of a beautiful morning like this was not long to last.

Throughout Japan, four simultaneous flashes caused a stir as they erupted into the world with an explosive sound similar to fireworks. At the site of each flash now stood three people that hadn't been there before. Each of them stood. The "crash sites" were located in the Hokkaido, Miyagi, Kyoto and Nagasaki prefectures.

---

@Medjedovic@TheFake
Node and Rook found themselves in a large, snow-filled field, accompanied by a clownesque figure. The pack of snow was soft, roughly knee-height and of course, frigid. The oddity of the group was plain to see, if not by Rook with his knightly getup, then by Node and her sci-fi armor or the floating jester in front of them.

Regardless of how odd they looked, they weren't any wiser for being here. Both Node and Rook had been going about their own business until this joker had appeared in front of them, after which they suddenly ended up here, with him right in front of them. And if that wasn't enough to suspect he was responsible for this, he appeared to be a bit too comfortable for someone who'd just been dragged to another location in a heartbeat...

---

@The One@Ryougu
Meanwhile, another odd group appeared on top of a large rock structure sticking out of the water, a beach was visable in the distance. Recognizable by the color of the sand, rather than the people on it; it was deserted, likely becasue it was still so early in the morning. Beside her, stood Michiina, her gun already pointing at the jester. She looked around for a while, clearly disoriented, before lowering the shotgun. It was clear Michiina didn't know what had happened here, but judging by the smug grin on the clown's face as he floated there in front of the two girls, the same was not true for him...

---

@KoL@Hammerman
At the same time, in the afterblaze of the flash in Kyoto, a third group appeared, though this group appeared more normal than the ones in Hokkaido and Miyagi--save for yet another clown-like figure. they found themself into a large, lush field, one they shared with a herd of sheep.

Minato found a young girl by his side, not older than 15 years, at most. This girl, Clara, also saw him, of course. But more important than the average looking boy and the young girl, was the jester hovering beside them. Other than the floating, which already made him stand out as an oddity, the way he hovered in the air upside-down, was not exactly a sign of normalcy. It was pretty clear he'd be the go-to point if it came to questions about what had just happened...

---

@Letter Bee@DragonKingUK
The fourth flash had happened in a less rural area; Nagasaki harbor. The fourth group once more appeared as a group of three, one of which was the same jester as was accompanying the others. The other two beneath him looked mostly normal as they were dropped in the water. The water was cold and deep, but they had at least been dropped next to the quay, so they could alway latch onto that if they couldn't swim.

The cold water of the harbor in the morning would be hard to appreciate, especially considering Rika was still wearing clothes. Kira, on the other hand, was more appropriately dressed for the occasion--he appeared to have been buck-naked before falling into the water. This way, the sight of his nude form would at least be spared from the world, one could only wonder what happened to his clothes. Luckily, the jester seemed prepared for this, as he threw a set of swimming trunks over Kira's head, perhaps a bit too prepared...

---

"Welcome!"

The jester's voice resounded in each of the four prefectures. "Pardon me for the rude summons, but I'd like to welcome you all to Japan! This is not the Japan some of you may remember, this Japan is the land of your Gods; the ones who created you and have dictated your lifes!" The jester paused a moment to let his words dawn upon the groups. "To that, I say; No more! You have been freed from the shackles that once bound you! Now, some might be more pleased with this than others, but ask yourself, does it matter? Sure, you could've been a monarch, or even a captive, but you're now in the world of the creators, gods!"

With a sly smile, the jester took a moment to take in everyone's reactions, but even now he wasn't finished. "Your 'gods' are out there. If you find them, you can change your world; remove from it any rot you desire. The gods are unlikely to welcome you in this world, however. They think you don't belong here, and will not hestitate to use force once they realize your identities! So do be careful on your way, it'd be a shame if any of you wouldn't make it to their creator. You might not believe me, yet. But once you see the truth of this world, you'll realize the cruelty of the gods!"

After completing his spiel, the jester took a step back and bowed. He didn't leave, himself, but his body language seemed to suggest "Scram". It seemed unlikely at this point he'd answer more questions or give directions, effectively leaving most of the pairs stranded.

That's odd. I was sure I had slept on my bed last night. But now, I woke up here, in this unfamiliar place.

So Clara thought as she looked around her new surroundings. A large, lush green fields, with sheep all around them, it definitely gave the image of a countryside farm. Hmm, but the cows looked like the ones from her old world. The cows in the elven world didn't look like them at all, what with them having three horns and an extra eye on their head and wings on their backs. Also colored differently. And had a different name too. And they willingly gave their milk without the farmer having to milk them.

Ah, the convenience of magic.

However, what was more important to her right now was the two figures near her. First was this... boy or girl, she couldn't tell... person, wearing odd-looking clothes unfamiliar to her, and there was this jester who was hovering upside down in front of them. Perhaps it would be impressive for non-magic users but not so much for her. She could do it just fine as well.

She then stood there listening to what the clown had to say. Suffice to say, she did not understand any of it. And judging by his body language, she didn't think the clown would be willing to elaborate further.

So then her gaze returned to the other person beside her.

"Well, what do you think? Do you understand what that clown just said?"

@Kol

They had arrested him as he was making a rendezvous with the rebel groups he was preparing for the uprising, but that wasn't enough to prevent his subordinates from wrenching Japan free from the grasp of OPHFST. This had forced his captors to transfer him out of the country, to the artificial isle of Eden, OPHFST's HQ and the site of its horrific prison facilities. There, they had stripped him 'for interrogation', before sending him to the presence of the leader of the organization, Alistair Betelgeuse.

If not for the fact that his sleep had been dreamless, Kira would have taken that opportunity to kill the enemy leader right then and there.
But alas, he was weaponless, weaponless and exposed as Alistair narrated his plans for using Empowered abilities to dissolve humanity's souls and bodies into one being, one mass. Once he'd heard enough, Kira would have opted for torture and death rather than give Alistair whatever he wanted...then, he vanished.

Present Day

"Gods?" Kira Tachibana said as he put on the swimming trunks given him. He would then gaze at the jester, then the 14-year old who seemed to be in the same situation as he was, before saying, "We've been mysteriously transported from 2027 Japan into an area where the tech used is more primitive - I mean, fossil-fuel jetskis? That and the fact that in my Japan, OPHFST has been restricting vacation privileges for common workers and even the diminishing middle class, meaning that a throng such as this is literally anachronistic." He would then look at Rika, saying:

"Hey, kid, are you an Empowered?" Or, if Court Jester was right and we're in a Multiversal adventure, an Empowered analogue. "Don't worry," Kira gave a smile as he stepped a few feet away to give the kid some space, "I won't bite."

@DragonKingUK@Ryougu

Ming

Ming was currently in the heat of the battle. She was on the front lines fighting off the Neko Warriors and trying to cut her way through to the Prince. There was a Solar Eclipse high in the sky created by one of the other samurai fighting. Ming was trained in the way of the samurai, the sword and shield. She knew every Samurai Art, she had mastered them all, most of them involved wielding a sword while others could say the Samurai Arts were simular to battle magic. Ming had just got to Prince Kuro and was about to kill him.

"Die!"

She swung her sword at him, for the first time in a long time, he was defenceless and the war was about to end! When suddenly, she disappeared. Gone. Vanished into thin air. In an instant Ming reappered, now standing on a rock surrounded by water and she continued to strike down. Her brain hadn't quite processed what had happened. She was still in the heat of the battle, just about to kill the prince, when suddenly, she was elsewhere, and her sword hit nothing but ground. She looked around, all the Inumi, all the Nekos, they were gone. The war around her had vanished and she was confused. Instead with her were two other strangers. How did she get here and what was happening. She looked in front of her to see a strange jester in front of her. When the Jester explained himself she clenched her fist tightly, she was so mad, she couldn't believe what had just happened.

"You mean you summoned me here when I was about to end the fucking war of my world! How fucking dare you, you son of a bitch! I never asked to be summoned by some sad little clown! I demand you take me back!"

Honestly, Ming didn't care about the other person, not right now at least. All she was focused on was the damn jester in front of her who had brought her to this world and all for some fucking creator that she didn't fucking care about! Her ears were perked and alert while her tail was upright. Her hairs were standing on end, she wasn't mad, no she was fucking furious!

Rika was suddenly teleported to another location, and with him being a child still as well as being small in high water, he wasn't able to swim properly. He was able to swim in less deep water but not when it was like this. He quickly and silently used his dark abilities to form a simple plate underneath his feet and pushed him back above water level. It was a simple matter of darkness creation. Once that was taken care off he looked to the jester and listened to him. From what he said, they were brought to not another world, but another dimension and in Japan speciically where their god and creator resided. He gave a look around and then looked back to the jester. It was then that someone else, the one who was brought with him spoke to him directly. At his question he rose his right hand and in it formed a dark sphere. He then held out his other held and another sphere appeared, this one made of light itself. He then looked to an empty space and there, the scenery changed. What stood before them now was a hospetal room. There, a doctor walked with a baby boy, handing the child to the mother.

"It's a beautiful baby boy. What are you going to call him?"

The mother held the baby in her arms and gave a joyful smile at the baby before speaking.

"Rika, his name will be Rika."

With that, the scene ended and disappeared, returning to the water. He looked to the man again, staying completely silent as ever. Well he had to be really, he couldn't physically talk even if he wanted to.

@Letter Bee

Steel rasped against steel as he drew his blade halfway, taking a step to distance himself from the other two. The casual, relaxed posture made the gesture more of a statement, rather than a threat. He was armed and it was there to be used. Air thick with condensation found it's way out from around the mask with every breath.

At the conclusion of the clowns words the sword came the rest of the way out of the sheath with a flash of movement and the hiss of parted air. Just maybe there might have been another noise, something like laughter that hung in the air.

"Gods and cruelty sound like more of the same ideals that I've seen fought over time and time again."

He pointed the tip of the weapon off to one side and rolled his shoulders to let the cloak hang more naturally. Rook wasn't sure who he had been fighting for under the blue colouring but now it fades to an unaligned grey.

"Now give me something to fight for that I might actually be interested in."

Now he took the moment to notice the, so far, silent member of the trio. They were obviously female and equipped with some sort of armour that he saw no practical use in. Rook also didn't see anything that he might recognize as a weapon.

Strange, but so was this whole situation. Most alarming was the apparent hole in his memory. It wasn't the first, but usually it was accompanied by a splitting headache, the memory of some drinks beforehand, and waking up in bed with someone.

@Ryougu@Medjedovic

---

---

She stood at the top of a skyscraper overlooking the ruined skyline of Hong Kong. The street, normally so crowded with people, were now deserted. Most of the citizens fled the city before the battle came, but some have remained, either making peace with dying or simply unable to escape in time. Regardless which, they were now probably holed up in their homes waiting for Nodes to come. They probably thought that they were all going to be killed, but Node knew that the Collective had no such intention.

Suddenly, a figure dressed up as a clown appeared before her and then the entire world twisted. Reality began to break like and Node’s vision became grainy, as if she was watching a TV emission with a bad signal. She felt herself getting pulled somewhere. There was a flash and the scene of post-battle Hong Kong disappeared. Instead, she was standing in a field of snow.

Node immediately took notice of the two who were on that field with her. She made no excessive movements and just prepared her cannon, ready to blow the head off of first person to appear threatening. It didn’t seem to her that any of them could actually pose a danger to her. One looked like a clown that appeared before her earlier and the other was wearing medieval armour and weapons. Node wasn’t sure, but it seemed to her she found herself amidst some really strange people.

The clown began talking. What he said seemed ridiculous to Node. A different Japan? A world of gods? Gods don’t exist – she knew this to be a fact. The Collective has been to thousand of worlds and it had yet to see any evidence of the existence which could be classified as a “god”. Usually it was just empty myths, and only in some cases it was an extremely advanced civilization manipulating a primitive one. Yet this ridiculous person claims that her world was created by a god and asks her to go and find it? Don’t talk nonsense.

Then it struck her. A sudden realization made her momentarily break her emotionless appearance as her eyes widened in surprise. It is so silent. There were no whispers coming from other Nodes, no presence of the Collective weighing in the back of her mind. Node was alone, for the first time in months, and she felt lonely and exposed. She fought back the urge to run away from this place and find a safe place to hide. It makes no sense! As long as I am on Earth I should be able to sense other Nodes. Where are they?

She was return to reality by the voice of the third person present. The knight seemed equally unimpressed by the clown’s speech as she was, but unlike her he appeared eager to fight as long as the reason was convincing enough. Node herself wanted to ask the clown some questions, but it seemed to her that it wouldn’t be easy to get him to answer. His whole body language gave off the feeling that he now just wanted them to go away. Such attitude irked Node and she felt the urge to send a short barrage from her cannon into the clown’s head.

Instead of doing that, however, Node turned to the knight.

“I think I already know the answer but I have to confirm: you are not with him?”

Minato didn't have the least idea about what had happened. One moment he was readying himself to fulfill his promise with Makoto and, on the next one, he was here, before this clown who looked like he had just been expelled from a third rate circus. Not to say anything of the weird girl beside him, who didn't look human at all.

Had he been attacked by the Overworlders and taken to another part of Japan against his will? He didn't feel the same aura from these two, so it was unlikely. Anyway, why think too much when he could get the answers he needed, in the best way he knew?

"I don't have any idea of what that thing said. But I'm going find it out even if I have to-" Minato replied to the girl before taking a hand to his throat. "What the hell? Why does my voice sound like... this?" In fact, Minato couldn't even remember the sound of his own voice (given that the original game he came from wasn't voiced at all, there's no way he could), he just felt an incredible sense of weirdness by hearing it for the first time.

"Hey you, Circus Freak, quite this nonsense and tell what did you do to me... us? By the way, where are we this doesn't look like Tokyo at all," Minato said, looking the clown in the eyes, before pointing a his direction.

@Medjedovic@TheFake
Frowning as both members of the pair had their weapons at the ready, even if they weren't pointing at anyone yet, the clown gave them a look of disapproval and tsk'ed at them. Sweethearts, it might be a commonality back where you're from, but it's rather rude to draw your weapon as a greeting in this day and age. May I suggest you lower your weapons so we can converse like normal, civilized people?"

Moving their attention away from Node so the poor girl might perhaps regain some composure, the joker addressed the knight. "Simple knave, has it ever occured to you that violence might not always be the answer? No, perhaps not. If you wish to last in this country, I suggest you change your attitude, lest you end up filled with more holes than swiss cheese." The clown paused a moment before sighing. "Though, if you really need a goal so desperately, why don't you aim to meet your 'god' without adding to your kill-count?"

---

@The One
Scoffing at the doggie samurai, the jester scoffed. "Daft little girl, did you not just hear what I said? Your war is trivial in this world. If you find your 'god', then you can have them end that puny war in mere moments. You wouldn't even need to kill your nemesis, instead you could have them be anything ranging o your personal slave. Of course, if you are truly so eager for blood, you could have him killed, regardless. In the grand scheme of things, his life is irrelevant, as you'll come to find."

As he said this, he held a single hand on the back of her blade, and locked eyes with her. Her eyes were sparkling with life, his own glowed up like pink stars. "I doubt your partner will be so hardheaded on this matter. She had her own battle. Unlike a certain lucky someone standing in front of me, however, she wasn't doing quite so well. Just a matter of perspective, but you might find war isn't the only source of pain."

A moment of silence overtook the clown, and he sighed to himself as if he was disappointed in something. The jester realeased the sword and floated backwards, directly above the water. "War might still find you, even if you cannot find it now. I hope that when the time comes you'll have decided what it is you plan to do."

---

@KoL@Hammerman
As Clara deemed their partner a better choice for conversation, Minato decided the opposite and questioned the clown, mixing in some less than polite language. As Minato proceeded to ask his question, the jester's face--no, their mask, shifted into a confident smirk, one eyebrow raised as if unaware what Minato meant to ask. "What possibly could you mean, young Minato? Haven't I delivered you here in pristine condition?" The clown's voice was dripping with clearly-false innocence, as they gestured at Minato's side. "You even still possess all of your limbs, so I haven't done anything to you, yet."

The words were ominous, but the jester's tone did not betray any hint of threat, if anything, the jester would've seemed amicable if it weren't for their crude wordsmithing. With a sideways glance, the joker-like figure looked at Clara. "What's not to understand, love? You're not in kansas anymore. So to answer your partner's question, welcome to Kyoto, Japan's beautiful rural countryside!"

Now that the clown was done speaking again, he seemed as if he remembered something. Giving two quick nods to no one in particular, the clown concluded, "With all that said and done, I bid you luck in finding your 'gods', and treat the cattle with some respect on your way out. Ta-ta!" After telling the duo he'd so haphazardly thrown together goodbye, the joker started to slowly float away from them, seemingly without a care in the world as he made loops and twisted in midair as he moved away.

---

@Letter Bee@DragonKingUK
Sitting casually on the quay, the jester observed the interaction between the Nagasaki team. This was perhaps one of the more promising teams, seeing they could interact without immediate hostility. With a smile, the jester spoke, "Alright, dream prince, baby boy, free swimming's over, you might want to get out of the water before you catch a cold." The jester extended a hand to each of them, quietly offering to help them out of the water.

Once they were both out of the water, the jester continued, "Here's the deal. It's morning and you're currently drenched, I'd have you look for your 'gods' like this, but... I'd like to believe I'm a benevolent presence. If you'll follow me?"

The "throng" Kira spoke of wasn't more than a small group of people performing labor like lugging barrels and crates. By now, the group was starting to receive some odd glances and suspicious looks. As one might have guessed, it did not appear normal to take a dip in the harbor, even less so with clothes on. Naturally, the jester's clownesque getup was also made to attract attention, and on this particular occasion it definitely seemed to do its job at that.

Kira nodded at Rika and said, "So, you are an Empowered, or an Empowered analogue."

Then, looking at the Jester, he would take the mysterious figure's hand, saying as he allowed himself to be 'walked' by the strangely-attired person, "Bellerigence will get me nowhere, and you give us measured amounts of information, enough to keep us interested. Very well, I am following you for now."

He hoped Rika would take the Jester's hand as well, as he looked at the technologically primitive surroundings.

"Nagasaki Harbor?" he was staring at the lettering as he walked. "I went there once in my world; it looked different from this place as it is now." And by that, Nagasaki Harbor in his world still saw a lot of traffic, but port surveillance consisted of more than just cameras and security was tighter. And, of course, there were floating transports. Then, a thought occured to him.

"Jester," the name came smoothly to him, "What year is it in this world, the world of the 'Gods'?"

@Ryougu@DragonKingUK

Clara heard the response of the person beside her. So they didn't know anything either. And it seemed there was something wrong with his voice? She thought their voice sounded perfectly normal, so she didn't understand what was the problem.

They then asked the clown on what he had done to him and where they were right now in a not-so-polite way. The clown seemed amused by his words however, answering his question with a mocking tone, with a little threat added as the cherry on the top.

And then, the clown said they were in Kyoto, Japan's beautiful rural countryside.

Japan? She knew about that country in the Far East. So she had been transported there, in a place called Kyoto? Well, that gave her relief. At least this was her old world, not some other world she had no familiarity with whatsoever.

And then, the clown bid them farewell, wishing them luck on finding their "gods", whoever they were, as he floated away from them, doing loops and twister in mid-air seemingly without a care in the world.

She couldn't just let him leave like that. She still had questions to ask. So she followed him up to the air, hovering using her own magic. Thankfully, the clown was going pretty slow so she could catch up to him, blocking his flight trajectory.

"Apologies, Sir Clown, but I still have more questions for you," she said, her face looking quite serious. "I want to ask, you were the one that stole my away from my kingdom, didn't you? If so, for what purpose? You tell me to look for the gods, the creators as you referred them to, and that by bringing me here, you have released me from their grasp. Well, I have no idea what you are talking about as I did everything up until this point by my own free will."

He turned to the cyborg and acknowledged her with a slight inclination of his head.

"I am not and it does not appear that that will change."

Rook turned back to the Clown, having had one of his questions answered. The girl was indeed armed in some way, though he still had no idea what it might be. At the moment, however, he had no desire to follow up on anything that the clown said.

"I have met gods and those that pretend to the title and I remain unimpressed.. All that I desired is to work and live. If that could be done more easily without conflict in this world then that is the path that I will take."

The knight sheathed the blade and the laughter that brushed at the edges of awareness fell silent. He turned and began to walk away from the group across the snow covered landscape.

---

---

After one more time he repeated the urging for them to find their “gods” Node realized that there was nothing more of interest she could hear from the clown. She watched the knight leave, all the while thinking about what the clown said. This is Japan, but not the one we know… If what he said was true, and this was a different world from her own – and the absolute lack of connection to any other Node or even the Collective spoke strongly in favour of that claim – then that knight, and possibly her as well, would look considerably out of place.

Node decomposed and stored her battle suit back into her memory, leaving her only wearing normal clothes which felt a little light in this snowy weather, and proceeded to chase after the knight. He didn’t go too far and she caught up to him quickly.

“We seem to be in the same situation,” she spoke in her standard monotone voice. “I think it would be in our best interest if we cooperated for now.”

Node was surprised with how cold she felt without her battle suit. Without its life support systems, she was just a regular girl and the chill crept into her body, making her wrap her arms around herself. I should find some warm clothes. Warm room would also be nice.

@TheFake@Medjedovic
As Node and Rook started heading off, the clown smiled amusedly. Humans are all the same at the core, after all. I guess that's alright for now, though. Before letting them head off too far, the jester floated over. "I should probably mention something. The nearest town is a little ways north of here, though you'll probably want to head west if you're going to search your 'gods'. And finally; I am not the enemy. I hope you'll realize by the time we meet up again. Until then, goodbye darlings." The clown said, pointing in the appropriate directions as he mentioned them. Once he had given them his parting message, he put his hand on his chin, as if pondering, before bursting into confetti and disappearing completely. After that, it went silent, save for the soft sound of the confetti crackling out of existence as it hit the knee-height pack of snow.


@KoL@Hammerman
As Clara blocked the jester's passage after he'd traveled a mere 5 metres, he sighed, put his hand on her shoulder and teleported them so that there was at least 1 metre between everyone gathered in the field. He rubbed the bottom of his mask, before it turned its expression turned weary and the clown sighed again. "While I appreciate the formality, since it's in good manners and whatnot, I'm a jester, not a mere clown." The jester's mask's features once more shifted, briefly looking bored before smiling wide.

"Anyway! You ask the right questions, sugar. Don't forget your buddy here, though. I brought you here as a pair so you could look after each other; so I won't be necessary to babysit you. Now as for the reason I brought you here... That's the million-yen question, isn't it? I brought you here because this society is rotten. I'd appreciate your help in 'fixing' it. Almost all of you have fought injustice at some point, but that was, unlike what one would be prone to believe, not exactly be by free will. I told you before you need not believe me, but try to keep an open mind."

With a shiver and a sorrowful glance, the joker once more sighed. "It seems I'm running out of time. There is a village just northeast of here" The jester pointed northeast. "There's a library there. See if you can get a computer and look yourselves up." The joker's body stiffened before bursting into confetti with one final sentence, "Try not to kill anyone~!"

His body language betrayed no notice of the clowns words aside from a slight change in direction towards the north. Instead he glanced at his traveling companion and noted her change in appearance. Rook decided that her armour was some sort of magical construct and that the girl was some sort of spellcaster.

He also noticed that her clothing was entirely inappropriate to the weather. Rook unfastened his cloak from around his neck. In deference to the colour scheme of her armour, he shook it to reveal a red and black lining where it was once the grey of the outside. The knight held it out and asked a question.

"I think that we will have to rely on each other for the time being at least. People call me Tyrant. Do you have a name?"

The armour under the cloak was hard edged and covered with the patina of age except where marred more recent strikes. The mask that covered his face and distorted his voice was held on by leather straps that were half covered by his black hair. He hunched his shoulders with the cold and ducked his head to keep the bare metal away from any exposed skin.

@Medjedovic

Clara sighed. It seemed it was a folly to expect the clown jester to answer her questions honestly. At least he gave her some directions before leaving, she thought.

She returned back to where her partner was, landing smoothly with her dainty two legs. "Well, it seemed we're now in the same boat. The jester told us to head to a village northeast of here to gain more information. There should be a library there. And a computer, whatever that might be." Being from the 19th century, she was certainly unfamiliar with the more modern side of technology.

"Ah, I suppose I haven't introduced myself. My name is Clara Witherfield. Pleased to meet you." She then gave him a polite little bow. "I trust it's in our best interest to join forces for the time being. So if you're willing... hmm, can you fly? If not, I could carry you along. Ah, do not worry. I might look little but my strength is quite considerable, thanks to my magic. Umm... you are a magic user, are you not?" She had a feeling that the jester wouldn't have kidnapped ordinary people.
@KoL

"Ichihara Minato," Minato said, introducing himself. "I guess that you're right. Whatever is it that freak did, it seems to have messed with us somehow. After all, I'm certain that you don't look even remotely like the people from the Japan I know," he added, looking around to find nothing but his bike resting against a nearby wooden fence.

"Damn that clown, he doesn't even know how to park. If I find any scratches on my paint, I'll make he polish it with his face," Minato though as he waited for Clara to finish her introduction.

The mention of flight made Minato chuckle lightly. "I guess that your clothes will cause enough of an impression around here. If we get in the city flying, you can count that the JSDF will be on our throats in no time," he said, before gesturing toward his bike with his thumb. "How about we do it like normal people, uh? Hop in," Minato said after picking up his bike and testing if everything was as it should be by revving the engine a couple time. He couldn't help but burst out in laughter when some sheep that were grazing nearby ran away, startled by the satisfyingly loud sound of a race engine.

"By the way, if you tell me that you can fly faster than this one can run, we'll give it a try next time, right?"

"Well, I am British after all. Of course I wouldn't look like a Japanese," Clara responded when Minato said she didn't resemble anyone from the Japan he knew. From what tales she had heard about them, they had yellow skin and slanted eyes, being an Oriental.

"Hmm? Perhaps you're right." Clara replied when Minato said her outfit would attract attention. "I'm wearing an apron dress after all. Such a Western clothing would be quite uncommon in this Eastern lands. I wouldn't really be that bothered by the attention though. And I think your outfit would attract attention as well. I don't think the Japanese people wear something like that either."

"And what is the JSDF? An acronym?"

"Well, if you want to do it normally, then we could--" Her sentence was cut off when she heard the loud sound of Minato's bike. Her eyes widened. She had no idea what sort of machine he was sitting on top on.

"Umm, what is that, if I might ask?" she asked him. "It's the first time I've laid my eyes on such a machine."
@KoL

---

---

Seeing the knight without the cover of his cloak, Node thought he looked quite scary. Still, she extended her hand and took the offered cloak from the knight. Quickly covering herself with it she made a small bow.

“Thank you,” Node said in her usual voice. Upon hearing his introduction, which only added to the scary impression, she replied. “I am a Node.”

As they continued to walk – changing their direction according to the instructions received from the clown – Node observed the surrounding lands. Indeed, this does look like Japan. That suspicious character said it is another Japan than the one I know, but I wonder what the difference is? Maybe there’s no war in this one…

Her eyes once again found their way to the knight and his frightening appearance.

“Mr. Tyrant, if this really is Japan, your mask and armour will attract a lot of attention. We may even find ourselves under pursuit of law enforcement once we reach an inhabited area.”

@TheFake

Rook nodded solemnly at the name and continued walking. This was at least approaching a familiar situation. Without following some adventurer or army his life would have been very stagnant.

"You sound like you may be familiar with the area."

He took a small pouch from his belt and hefted it in his hand. Obviously he must have been on the way to a job but at least it held a handful of coins.

"Maybe it would be best to work on blending in first. I think that I may be at your mercy in this."

It was true that blending in had not bee one of his priorities. When your name was known it was worth the effort to be recognizable as well. One the reverse side of things, underneath the armour there was nobody that would be able to pick him out of a crowd.