---

...Wow, that laughter really did sting more than a blunt rejection. Most of the time ladies had just commented bluntly on it and left him alone, but this was mockery a whole nother' level. Of course, it seemed his attempt at battle banter had...at least failed successfully though? Failed successfully. One could even say "successfully failed". So if Zelda asked him about this moment in particular, that's what he'd say about it.

"What can i say...i was asleep for 100 years in a resurrection chamber...it was a lot of time," the Hero of Hyrule muttered under his breath to himself for a second, sheathing the Master Sword once more with small flourish of the blade, then sighing before he looked again to his new acquaintance more pleasantly and offered a hand, "My name's Link, by the way."

Maybe he could get off to a better start. That 100 years and the amnesia had, if memory recalled, done him some good in being around people at least. Not that the stoic look didn't stick...that had been ingrained for quite a long time before he'd even been put in the Shrine of Resurrection.

@Crusader Lord

---

"Servant Saber, High School girl Suzuka here to polish her love!~★" Suzuka responded with her usual toothy grin, ignoring the hand Link thrust towards her. Instead, Daitsuuren and Shoutouren vanished as she cozied up next to Link. "Okaaaay!~ We're exploring this place, right?" Suzuka asked casually. She herself was summoned without a master it seemed, with enough magical energy to manifest from...well, wherever. "Jeez, this place looks like a ghost town. Nowhere to do your nails or even get your hair done! No shopping malls or anything, its all run down."

Suzuka began walking, detaching herself from Links side.

"Sure, then let us—Woah! Is that true?" As Nanoha began to fly away after agreeing to scout the area with Youmu, the silver-haired girl said something totally unbelievable. Well, not totally, totally unbelievable but certainly it was something Nanoha have never heard about before.

"So... you're saying that this cloud-like thing is... part of you?" Nanoha asked. Maybe it was like how Reinforce was a part of the Tome of the Night Sky? Or maybe, like how familiars are linked to their creators? That was very curious. Nanoha felt inclined to ask if she could touch it or something like this, but... wouldn't that be rude, if Youmu's story was true?

However, any thoughts of analyzing her partner's ghostly half were set aside as soon as Raising Heart located more life signs nearby. They had magical signatures as well but—just as she expected—Nanoha couldn't recognize their patterns. "I think there's someone else over there. We should go take a look, I don't think they are locals but, it's possible they know what happening here," she pointed the way to Youmu before flying towards a certain foxy schoolgirl and a green elf.

"It's a part of me, just like my arms and legs," explained Youmu. Indeed, her phantom half was like another limb to her. Of course, the silvery-haired girl knew that didn't really explain the matter in its entirety. It was a lot more complicated then that, and admittedly she didn't actually know the full explanation herself, either. But she knew some measure of the nature of her existence as a half-phantom, and that was as much as she was able to explain.

"Someone else?"

Nanoha was already off, and Youmu swiftly followed behind her, immediately keeping pace with... Ah, really, associating with youkai had made it impossible to tell if Nanoha was actually as young as she looked or not! Not that Youmu herself could talk about those matters, but still...

Speaking of youkai, it immediately seemed as if they weren't entirely absent from this strange place. The girl accompanying the boy in green seemed to have a set of fox's ears and a matching tail, making it obvious she wasn't human. Had someone else from Gensokyo arrived here? The petite girl couldn't be certain.

Still, she landed close to the pair, approaching and looking up towards the fox, then to the boy.

"My name is Konpaku Youmu," she introduced herself, bowing swiftly, "Did the both of you come here through some kind of strange door, too?"

@KoL@Rune_Alchemist@Crusader Lord

Now that she was talking with them, Hibiki wasn't sure quite where to look on one of the girls. Her outfit covered so little, the skirt was made of books... it wasn't the most embarrassing thing that she had ever seen someone wearing, but unlike with Finé, this one wasn't attacking her. It made it quite hard to look in her direction without feeling like she was staring at something inappropriate...

Instead, her eyes focused on the weird, top-hat wearing... thing. What was that? It was like nothing else that she had ever seen, even the Nephilim at the smallest she remembered it had been considerably more... threatening and mechanical. It also hadn't had the ability to talk. With something like that on hand, the man wearing an eyepatch and his companion was much less interesting.

Not to say that the Magilou girl didn't raise some interesting thoughts, by naming a bunch of places that Hibiki had never even heard of. She might not have been the best at book learning, but she had been to South America and the middle east, and basic knowledge of geography had been beaten into her head.. For instance, if it was winter in Japan, then it would be summer in the southern hemisphere.

"Um... I'm from Japan," she said, not wanting to say 'and I don't think any of those places you've named exist'.

With all the names of locations that they didn't recognize being tossed around, Zeke and Pandoria simply glanced at each other and back at the other two girls, with the former simply crossing his arms and nodding his head as if any of what had just been said made any sense. It wasn't as if he had heard of 'Japan' either, though, but given that in all the years of traveling through Alrest none of these names had come up, there was only one somewhat logical conclusion that he could draw.

"Hmph. Quite frankly, I've never heard of any of those places existing," Zeke said, a somewhat thoughtful gaze on his face as he stared at Magilous. "That being said, it's not like I've ever heard of a 'Japan', either, though. You think it'd be too far-fetched to assume some weird 'parallel universe' thing is at work?"

Even if the Architect was dead, the thing that he said he had experimented on wasn't necessarily gone, and given all of the problems that thing had caused, it wasn't too farfetched to think it was the cause of this problem. It could just as easily have been the fault of something else entirely, but that wasn't exactly something he wanted to worry about.

"In any case, since you've had the pleasure of introducing yourself, I guess it's my turn, right? I am the mighty Zeke! Von! Genbu! Bringer of Chaos! One of the greatest Drivers in Alrest! And this..." he declared, emphasizing each word as he spoke before leading into a flourish towards the glasses-wearing girl at his side, "Is my Blade, Pandoria!"

The was a brief pause as the two posed, but after a few seconds Zeke simply relaxed and smirked.

"But if neither of you know what Alrest is like I'm guessing, then I can't exactly sound that cool, huh? Dang. Pandoria, you think I should maybe come up with a new introduction? Can't exactly show off like this if they don't understand how big a deal I am..."

"You know, you can probably work that out over lunch or something. Knowing you, you'll have something by this weekend."

"Harsh, but I getcha," he responded, glancing back at the group before something odd caught his eye. Despite the rest of the city being completely barren, there did seem to be a few things left standing; in their general vicinity, no more than a few feet away, though, there did seem to be a stand of some sort that had survived the test of time. No, more than that, it seemed to be actively changing, which immediately drew the man with the eyepatch over to check it out.

For what it was worth, the apparent map did seem to have a top-down view of the city in its destroyed state, odd as it was, but also small images of each of their faces huddled around near an arrow pointing at their location. Despite not having worked with anything more than analog materials outside of the World Tree, the diagram made a surprising amount of sense to him.

"A fancy map, eh? Wonder what that's all about..." he said, poking at the thing before turning back towards the others present. "Anyone know how to work this thing?"

@RolePlayerRoxas@Raineh Daze

So, they really were from completely different places, huh? As expected, 'Japan' was completely unknown to Magilou (though why it brought Rokurou, of all people, to mind was a mystery), and even to Mr. Eyepatch. How delightfully curious. Still, she didn't show any signs of surprise, simply giving a mysterious smile as she mulled this information over. It was then that the duo formally introduced themselves in a rather over-the-top manner.

"...Mm. Ten points," was Magilou's only response, giving a half-hearted shrug, watching the 'Blade' Pandoria as they continued their little skit. She didn't feel like a Malakhim of any sort... though she wondered if her title indicated a similar partnership between herself and the still-shaking Bienfu.

At that moment, Zeke's interest was caught by something, and Magilou followed after him to see what was up. When she laid eyes on the strange display, evens he was momentarily at a loss for words. Yeah, it was... most definitely a map, but what was with the faces? What kind of Arte could create a map like this? The witch circled the stand, investigating from all angles as she tried to figure out how this thing could be created.

"...Alas, even my encyclopedic knowledge fails me," Magilou lamented after a few moments, shoulders slumping, "to stump even a stunning savant such as I... this is truly a shocking situation...!"

@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze

Alternate worlds...? Was something like that really possible...? Well, maybe she shouldn't be thinking about what was or wasn't possible, her life had more or less been strung together by one series of impossible events after another, each time something or someone new introducing something that she would never have thought possible before... but that had been around long before Hibiki herself had. It would be best not to think too hard about it, parallel worlds sounded more like something for the commander or Elfnein.

She politely applauded Zeke's introduction, though the idea of the girl beside him being a Blade... was that really a good thing to call a person? Tsubasa called herself a blade a lot, but that didn't always seem to go well... wasn't it a bit mean?

"Um... I'm Tachibana Hibiki, 17 years old! My hobby is helping people, and I like food and more food!" she answered, not wanting to give such an enthusiastic introduction a completely normal one... but on the other hand not having anything particularly dramatic prepared. Though it was probably good that her introduction wasn't too long, as the others were soon paying more attention to a map... the graphics were fancier than the ones on the bridge, but the idea was the same, and the controls for it, poking around, didn't seem to be too complicated...

For the first time in her life, Hibiki was being more technically adept than the people around her... even if this was only by finding how to zoom the map out to get a better idea where they might want to be going.

---

What was a servant? Some kind of magical being with fighting skills? That could be interesting to hear about. Yet more than that, what did "getting nails done" and "shopping mall" even mean??? This girl was making no sense with some of this, and he wasn't even going to ask what a "high school" was for that matter. What he did understand best, however, was that the place did indeed seem to be a ghost town. And as much as he had failed the banter game, well, this girl was skilled and rather easy on the eyes at least.

"O-O-Of course."

...and maybe her chest had felt nice against his body when she'd cozied up next to him for a moment.

But he wasn't going to be swayed and distracted by that in the end. He'd faced alluring foes before...or at least Yiga disguised as ones. Those had been a danger of their own, and it wasn't like he hadn't been somewhat distrustful of certain traveling merchants as a result as well.

"If we get on some high ground, that would be a good point to survey the area-"

Wait...what were those two things flying out there in the air towards them? Was it more enemies, or people like this girl?

Based on the lack of bluntly attacking himself and Suzuka (an odd name) here, at least, Link didn't instantly draw his blade and shield again. Yet when the two closed in, and one began to speak, the Hylian hero of the wild felt a mild relief come into his chest. Finally.

"Yes, actually, i got here through a sort of strange door as well. Do either of you know what this place is?" Link said, as he tried to both address the two new arrivals and answer their question as well.

Ripples seemed to flow out from the spots on the map that Hibiki's fingers pressed against. In the act of zooming out, it seemed that the girl had activated something else, tapping one of the buildings in their immediate vicinity. Another window, indicating which building it was representing with a thin blue line, expanded with a hum.

In it, the words 'Will this night of the hunt ever end?' appeared, displaying themselves in English, kanji, and several other forms of writing in quick succession.

Rapidly following that were a series of various images. Hibiki, at least, would likely be able to compare them to the ad for some sort of movie or TV series. A figure in dark clothing wielding some sort of strange saw weapon, cutting through a sort of wolf-creature. A band of distorted men in old-fashioned clothing with lanky, hairy limbs wandering the streets of what appeared to be some sort of Victorian city, the cobblestones slick with rain.

A man with an axe, cutting through hordes of the deformed, hairy mob-goers, his eyes covered with bandages as he raised some sort of shotgun and fired, the aftermath hidden by a sudden cut...

To a little blonde girl, huddled alone in a dark room. She was in a fancy, frilly dress, and a small ponytail in a large ribbon could be seen on the back of her head.

There was something moving around outside of her window, but it seemed to disappear after a moment. She hugged her knees to herself harder.

Then, in the same multi-language fashion as it had before, the window gave a prompt.

'Can you save her?'

Now, an arrow pointed directly at the building in question, highlighted in red.

@Raineh Daze@RolePlayerRoxas@PKMNB0Y

"Sadly we don't. I have a few hypotheses but I need more information to confirm them," Nanoha said as she landed beside Youmu before bowing politely to the other odd duo as well. "We are also visitors from different worlds. I'm Takamachi Nanoha, a mage from Earth and representative of the Time and Space Administration Bureau, Tokyo Branch. I came here to investigate a spatial anomaly together with my friend Raising Heart," she introduced herself before gesturing to the crimson gem floating by her side.

"I've heard about worlds like this one before. But these don't look like remnants of any civilization I know of. And it looks like it has been in this state for a a really long time," Nanoha said as she looked around. "Since none of us has any solid idea about the true regarding this place, what do you say about we sticking together for the time being?" she asked.

"Searching the whole city house by house on foot will probably take too long, though. It that's the case, can you please do a W.A.S. and try to find anything unusual, Raising Heart?" Nanoha asked her device, which chimed as usual before sending out a number of balls of pink light floating around the city, searching every nook and cranny for anything noteworthy.

The smirk on Zeke's face as Hibiki applauded his and Pandoria's introduction was soon replaced with a distinctly less amused frown as he watched the girl fiddle with the map. The video that played soon after did not serve to lighten his mood either, and before long the Driver had taken a step back to assess the situation. It wasn't like he was able to stand by after seeing something like that, either, but...

"What a weird video. Well, it's not like I'm going to just stand by after seeing a kid crying like that, though; seen more than my fair share of people down on their luck to let that be," he remarked, crossing his arms as he stared at the route that the map was pointing them towards. "I don't know about you two, though, but I think I'm going to go check that place out... Creepy as it was."

As if responding to his voice, the map seemed to pulse for a moment, causing the ground to light up as if guiding the way.

"You know, I'll take this over getting lost any day. C'mon, Pandoria; we've got a job to do."

"Right behind you!" replied the Blade, bowing towards the other two girls before moving to catch up with her Driver.

@Raineh Daze@RolePlayerRoxas

---

---

There was a moment of silence as Nanoha's own scan proceeded, with most of the city being in various states of disrepair or disuse. For the most part, there were no other signs of life in the immediate vicinity, but before anything beyond a few dozen blocks in any direction could register, each of the orbs that had been sent out seemed to seize up and stop, even if only for a moment.

Then, without any warning, a screen seemed to project itself from the young girl's device, and a video began to play in front of those present. This was followed, of course, by a single message, flashing across the screen in distinctly written English.

"In time, you will know the tragic extent of my failings..."

Once the sequence had concluded, the functionality of everything that had been paralyzed until then was returned, with only one notable change: on the map that had been created from the scan, a single point, laden with subtle (yet intense) indications of energy made itself prominently clear. Above it, though, was a small descriptor of the location, vague as it was: "The Hamlet".

@VitaVitaAR@KoL@Rune_Alchemist@Crusader Lord

Zeke's words were lost on deaf ears--although it had the format of an advert, at the same time it was just too real... and if someone like that was in trouble, or even seemed like they might be in trouble, then the wielder wasn't going to hesitate one bit in jumping in to help. Hibiki had already seen far too many people get killed by various monsters unable to help for one lifetime.

It was only to be expected that she had already started running off at full speed, hand clutched by her throat just in case... she might need to fight once she got there, but until then, transforming wasn't going to close the gap any faster whilst following this trail.

It was nice to still be getting directions, though.

@Crusader Lord@KoL@VitaVitaAR

---

Low and behold, two more people found them not soon after she set off. Before she had a chance to reply herself, Link beat her to the punch. One of them...was an Oni? Some sorta spirit, she was almost certain. She introduced herself as Konpaku Youmu, and asked if they came here through some sorta door? Link mentioned something similar. The other introduced her as Takamachi Nanoha, and...really talked way too much. A mage?

"You're a mage? Seriously?!..." Taking a look over this girl...she really didn't seem like one, though. She was dressed rather flashily, and the design seemed pretty familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Eh, oh well. "Eeeh, you really don't look like a mage ya know. More like a...cosplay! Ahaha, yep, that's it!" Tsk, this was quickly getting pretty complicated, but before she had a chance to really say much else, something odd happened. Suzuka watched the video play, a bit confused. Some sorta magecraft? Seemed like it, and it seemed like Nanoha did have some sorta magical ability, but that was definitely not magical ability she had seen before, even in the Throne.

"...Ahh, well, I dunno anything about this place either." Suzuka replied slowly. "But if Linky wants to team up with you guys, then I guess I will too." Grinning again, Suzuka introduced herself to the other two. "Ah, right! Servant Suzuka, Saber class!~★"

Youmu paused for a few moments, listening to the responses from the foxgirl and the boy in green. The diminutive silver-haired half-phantom considered their words for a few moments, her phantom half drifting behind her from shoulder to shoulder as she thought. They'd all been brought here by some kind of strange doors... was this an incident affecting both the outside world and Gensokyo at the same time? That sounded like it would be pretty dangerous, given how many it would potentially endanger. Less so for those within Gensokyo and more for those outside of it, though. There were a lot of totally ordinary people outside, and this certainly wasn't a totally ordinary place.

But before she could speak, Nanoha dispatched some sort of magical search system. It didn't take very long until some sort of indicator was displayed... with a... video?

Youmu was silent as it played out.

"... With no other leads," she began, after its conclusion, "I think that's our only option. I don't even know how to describe whatever it is we were just shown, but it must have been shown to us for a reason. If it's a threat to Yuyuko-sama, I can't ignore it, and that's what this looks like!"

With that, she turned to immediately head in the direction of the strange 'Hamlet'.

@KoL@Rune_Alchemist@Crusader Lord

The witch watched in silent awe as Hibiki somehow managed to activate the strange map, and... a series of moving images displayed. Was this a lingering memory? No, this wasn't the Earthpulse, or anything of the sort, was it? And this didn't feel like they were watching someone's memories... Magilou wasn't sure how exactly to describe what they were watching. But it felt... targeted. As if these images were compiled purely to motivate the viewer into a specific course of action.

So some strange soldiers/adventurers/whoever were fighting daemons, perhaps to try and save the distressed little girl?

"...That was weird..." Bienfu commented with a troubled frown, "what're we gonna do, Magilou? Should we mayb- they're already gone?!"

Indeed, the other three had already decided to go help this girl. Hibiki especially seemed eager to help. Magilou didn't consider herself to be so righteous as to immediately launch herself into danger to help this stranger, especially in such inexplicable circumstances. In fact, what was to prevent her from returning to that door and continuing her own wandering back in Desolation?

And yet, Magilou was following the rest of her new group, hands behind her head as she strolled casually along. Really, she couldn't say it was for the sake of that girl especially. For all she knew, that girl was long dead, turned into a daemon, or this was all a needlessly elaborate trap to begin with.

But it would make a hell of a tale to tell, on the off-chance she saw all of them again.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y

The location that the three girls, the man, and the small mascot-type creature arrived at was another building, much like those they had emerged from, that had somehow linked to their homelands. There was a simple door, but more notably displayed on the rather rundown structure was a perfect and untouched sign. It displayed an animated version of the streets they had seen before, on the map, a figure in a long coat with a hat facing away from them, towards a hulking, beastly wolf-like creature. In one hand, the figure gripped what looked like a cleaver with teeth like a saw on one side. In the other, an old-fashioned pistol.

Given what they had seen so far, it was a clear indication that this building was somehow linked to the location that had been displayed in the video.

Which meant that the door had to lead to their destination.

They needed only to pass through it.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@RolePlayerRoxas

The somewhat steady pace that the Driver had intended to set was promptly broken with the sudden sprint Hibiki had broken into, and it had by all means caught both Zeke and his Blade off guard. It took a few moments for him to realize how gung-ho she had been despite how sketchy everything felt, but with a cursory glance backwards to check if Magilou was following as well (she was), Zeke immediately bolted after the young girl who had left the three of them in the dust.

"Oi, oi, hold on a sec!" he shouted, having finally managed to catch up with her after a brief sprint and trying to pull on her shoulder in an attempt to slow her down (to little avail). "I get that you really wanting to save that girl, but if you charge in alone, who's to say you won't end up in an equally bad spot? That Magilou girl is tagging along too, by the looks of things, so at the very least try and not leave us without saying a word, would you?"

Of course, by this point, Zeke had essentially been dragged all the way to the point of interest, and the ominous atmosphere that this building, miraculously intact as it was, did nothing to hide the multitude of issues. Something so blatantly ominous was never a good sign, after all.

On the upside, Hibiki had stopped, likely due to the existence of a door in her way. That, at least, was a relief.

"Look, uh... Hibiki, was it? I'm not going to judge, since I know a kid who has the same gung-ho attitude that you do, but we can't exactly help if you go diving off into the middle of nowhere on your own, you know? At the very least, let's all cooperate to help that kid out, yeah?" he said, taking his hand off of Hibiki's shoulder and glancing at the door. "But, man... I'm not sure I like the look of this place already. Given the building Pandoria and I popped out of, if that creepy image up there is any indication, we should probably be ready for a fight the second we pass through."

@Raineh Daze@RolePlayerRoxas

Ah... that was true, by rushing in on her own, there was a chance of ending up in a situation that she couldn't just punch her way out of. But if she didn't hurry, then they might not make it in time, and it really didn't matter if she got a little beat up in the process of rescuing someone. Besides, as scary as this place looked, it was all a very normal type of scary; like large wild animals rather than something like the Noise.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!"

---

Mysterious vague message of some kind, belying the existence of a potentially in-depth maddening evil threat to some other world? Check.

Group of strange individuals brought together by some means of probably fate? Check.

Strange message that popped up out of nowhere via some sort of advanced device? Check.

Seemed it was time for Round Two of his adventures to begin, something like his past and something like after he'd woken up from the Shrine. A certain mix of nostalgia and deja-vu drifted into his body as the sensation of going on another adventure like this out of the blue. At the same time, however, he couldn't ignore a place in need. Not if such threats were able to potentially spread back to his homeland. Hyrule, and Zelda, didn't need to face another maddening evil...not while he still drew breath. Something had to be done about this "Hamlet" and its issues, then.

"Well...seems that place is in need of help. I can't ignore that, especially if the threats there could spread," the Champion's Tunic-donned hero said with a tone of acceptance and slight exasperation, drawing out his shield and sword in preparation, before starting to sprint after Youmu in the direction of the door to The Hamlet.