Hinomoto, a land consisting of a myriad of netherworlds and the main base of operations of the Nethertime Support Force. Here, many demons live under the code of Bushido, a code that long ago came under attack by a vengeance driven demon swordsman. But thanks to the efforts of the son of the swordsman and his allies, the fallen swordsman’s ambitions were put to rest. Now having been restored to its former glory, Hinomoto will now serve as the staging grounds for a new group of heroes, who will unite the lands of Hinomoto, and other netherworlds together to stop the uprising of a new and terrifying force.

“WHAAAAT!?! What do you mean barely anyone showed up!?!” The horrified yell of a young woman echoed throughout the area. “Miss Pirilika, please calm down.” A yellow prinny with cat-like features was trying to comfort a panicked nekomata demon. They were at the top of a building overlooking a marketplace the Nethertime Support Force was using as a meeting place for new recruits. “From what I have been able to gather, our recruiters were only able to find a handful of volunteers.” The prinny explained. ”Only a handful, but why? Surely they realize this is a major MAJOR threat to netherworlds everywhere? How can only a few see this? We need all the kelp we can get.” “Help, Miss Pirilika. Need all the help we can get. On the brightside, we may not have the number you were expecting, a few is better than none.” The prinny stated. The young demon clapped her cheeks before straightening herself out. “You’re right, Pii-chan! Come on, let’s go greet the newest recruits of the force!” Pirilika smiled as she went off. “That is if they will stay…” Pii-chan mumbled before following after his young master.

Within the bustling marketplace, where stalls, stores, and restaurants could be seen frequented by the inhabitants of the Hinomoto Netherworlds, stood an empty plaza where the recruits of the Nethertime Support Force were set to gather. Only one person was there at the moment, along with several attendants keeping watch over the place. The one recruit, a demon girl with a massive bag of supplies on her back, was sitting and leaning on said bag, daydreaming to herself. “Hmm… I hope I wasn’t too early…” She mumbled to herself as she fiddled with her weapon, a custom made pistol that served as her sole method of self defense.

Strolling through the Hinomata marketplace, a young kitsune demon was on her way toward the central plaza, the agreed upon rendezvous point for the Nethertime Team. Her posture and stride were quite odd, however, as she seemed to be attempting to carry her steps with a certain...grace? Or perhaps lack thereof? She tried to give off the presence of a seductive allure, but it seemed as those she was suffering from a loss of energy.

Likely from the fact she had no money to buy food this morning.

The girl had spent the last of her savings buying the structure deck for her favorite TCG yesterday, completely forgetting about the fact that she would have no fare for the day after. Her stomach growled as she strode with face filled with bitterness and regret. Great. I can't make an epic entrance like this. It feels like Imma keel over any second now..." She said in her mind.

After walking a little ways, she finally made it to the plaza, eyeing the Nekomata who would serve as their leader. Ms. Pirilika, she thought her name was? She had a yellow prinny with cat-like characteristics following her. Then there was another demon girl who was carrying a huge backpack with her, fiddling with a firearm. Upon seeing her, Chinatsu's eye lit up with delight. Before the demon girl had time to react, she zipped right up to the gun-wielding girl's face with a pitiful and submissive expression.

"Hi! Excuse me, do you have any food in your bag? Would you be kind enough to share, pretty please?? I'll give you all of the cards in my new pack. Oh! Except the ultra rare one, I've been waiting for that one to come out all year..."

The world of Hinomoto was pretty foreign to some of the newer visitors. A certain fluffy purple orc had been exploring around the place for a sign of anything familiar. He had heard distant rumors along the grape-vine, that baseball may have been in the area. It might even become popular in this foreign land! The orc certainly had hope so, but so far it was just rumored. He had to seek it out! Then maybe, go to the actual job that was mentioned to be around here. He could probably make it in time-
He didn’t.

The purple orc with a spiked baseball helmet, and a baseball glove on their back had wandered about the marketplace. In particular, he would go shop to shop, especially antique shops, to see if he could find rare baseball cards among them for a while. Not to mention spending the time to ask (slightly intimidate), some of the locals about local baseball teams or favorite sports players. He was somewhat fishing around for new talent.

That was until a loud yell was heard through the whole marketplace.

“Damn, glad I’m not whomever isn’t catching that pitch.”
He rested a modified baseball bat over his shoulders. “Oh wait-. I need to make a full dash straight around the diamond!”

The orc shoved a spare hot dog is his gob and sprinted along one of the roads to the plaza where the shout came from. He held the bat out in front of him the whole way, and didn’t seem to slow down for a heartbeat. Realizing he was late, he didn’t want to slow down, or gently deal with any of the attendants there were about.

He’d use his bat to try and slap one of the attendants out of the way.
Gentle by his standards, probably rough for anyone else!
Rushing to get in front of the yellow prinny with cat like features.

“Here for the team coach! I’m Rodd”
Which came out more like: ‘ere for day ‘eam ‘oach. ‘eim ‘Odd.
Due to being muffled by a stale hot dog.

Rodd the orc would follow up with a cute courtesy & a wink, holding the bat in a diagonal pose across his body like he was performing with a show tune-cane. The wink had a twinkle in his eyes toward the prinny. It may because of the star patterns under his right eye.

The frustrated thoughts of the mechanical Zeta were privy only to herself, or those that saw the clear burning hatred in her eyes as she stared down the most infuriating thing imaginable...

"Stupid thing...find all stoplights my ass..." she grumbled, tapping away at her inter-dimensional ticket sign-in process. Captchas, the bane of mechanical beings and chatbots trying to swindle you out of your baking details everywhere, was rearing its ugly head as Zeta held up a sizeable line behind her.

"Um...Miss?"

"What!?" Zeta snapped, before the concierge at the wormhole station looked at her phone, before selecting the one stoplight she'd miss, solving the captcha instantly. "...Oh. Thanks," Zeta listlessly said, brusquely moving past as soon as the conversation was, by all social standards, "done", and pushed past the portal terminal to promptly fling herself to the realm of Hinomoto, but given that she could only afford the "Good Luck!" ticket, instead of manifesting safely somewhere on the ground, she was somewhere about...two miles above the meeting place.

But hey, that was a feature, not a bug, because now while she was plummeting well past the point of terminal velocity, she had plenty of time and cool air to make a nice cold brew! Spinning her arm-bound turbines towards the ground to gather some freezing air, humming to herself as her deadpan expression remained ever-present. At a point though, this was more like a flash brew with how she was adding pre-roasted beans inside her chest cavity to the water, managing to complete one entire cup of cold coffee before impacting so hard on the ground that a hole with her silhouette was cratered into the ground ten feet deep. Rising from it with one hand, then the other, Zeta would crawl out of the hole shaped in her image to look up at the gathered ensemble, including a sleepy looking kitsune, an orc with his cheeks stuffed, and a girl that was more bag than person in terms of her notable qualities.

"Zeta-108. I have arrived," Zeta said succinctly, sitting up, opening her chest cavity like the door of a fridge, pulling out a perfectly intact cup of iced coffee, and promptly sipping it as if it were tea. "My loyalty is contingent on this land's coffee supply. Just so you know."

"Hi! Excuse me, do you have any food in your bag? Would you be kind enough to share, pretty please?? I'll give you all of the cards in my new pack. Oh! Except the ultra rare one, I've been waiting for that one to come out all year..."

”Oh! Uhh…” The girl was surprised by the sudden appearance of the kitsune and had to take a moment to process what she had just asked of her. “I… Suppose I can… S-sorry you kinda spooked me…” She unzipped one of the various pockets that were on her massive backpack and pulled out a bag of chips. “Is this ok? Sorry… I’m still trying to organize everything in this… Are you volunteering for the support force too?” she asked curiously as she held out the bag to the fox demon.

Meanwhile, both Pirilika and Pii-chan were stunned by the sudden appearance of two other newcomers, more so by Zeta’s entrance as she had literally face planted into the earth and got up like it was nothing. “My… What a fascinating group we’ve gathered so far.” Pii-chan said before turning to Rodd. “You may want to finish eating, apologies but all I could make out is your name… Uh… Odd?” The prinny said in a polite manner. ”Loyalty to protect is good enough for me, I’m glad you could all show up.” Pirilika said with a cheery smile. While she was sad that her recruitment efforts failed to gain her a significant force, just the thought that there were people willing to help was good enough to brighten her spirits. Plus it’s not like it’s been the first time a small group overthrew a much more massive force before, so why worry too much?

”Nice to meet you all, I’m Pirilika! Founder of the Nethertime Support Force. I hope my recruiters were clear on what you were volunteering for.” she said, bowing her head in the middle of the introduction while Pii-chan waddled over to one of the attendants to grab some papers.

Suddenly before anyone else could answer… a roar of a motorcycle reverberated through the air as a dust cloud was picked up and headed towards them at high speeds. A cloaked man on a motorcycle rode down the street at high speeds. As the man came to a stop, the sudden stop caused the gale picked up and blew towards the rest of the Defense force as if the rider and the cycle was the herald of the wind.

The man slowly dismounted the Motorcycle. Before taking heavy steps like an old cowboy movie, as an air of intimidation exuded from the figure. From under the cloak eyes seemed to have glared at the group. This was what people would think when they heard Netherworld Warrior. A mysterious and dangerous warrior, everyone else in the market was silenced by this man’s sudden appearance causing his footsteps to sound like approaching thunder.

The rider stood in front of the group. Before slowly pulling out the poster for the Netherworld defense force, making it clear what this person was here for. A powerful warrior can come to join in on the defense, to fight against the empire. Whispers start to speculate on who this figure was, an Overlord? A Majin? Maybe even a Tyrant? The sheer aura that was coming off of the man was one that warranted such speculation. The demons in the market seem to hold their breath as the mysterious rider puts his hand on his cloak to reveal themselves, taking it off and tossing it aside and revealing…

“Hello, the name’s Kai, convenience store worker. It is nice to meet ya.”

"They were clear about room and board, and that will suit me just fine," Zeta said, finishing her cup with a satisfied look of peace on her face before she shoved the dirtied cup back into her stomach cavity, climbing out once the shutter door closed. "Thinking about it, if the coffee here is terrible, I could always just plant my own."

Then, a cool dude on a cool bike with a wicked aura arrived, the air becoming so tense that one could cut it with a knife. Stiffening her joints, Zeta would subconsciously move to threat assessment mode, left hand slipping inside of her sleeve to be replaced with the rim of a turbine, a chunk of ice starting to condense as her eyes lost a bit of luster. A threat so soon, she thought, before the warrior removed his hood and...

It was a human? Some guy? A convenience store worker!?

"Ah," Zeta said, before raising her hand in the air and firing a sizeable chunk of ice straight up into the air above her, following it with her eyes. "...Mm. Mhm. Mm...nobody should stand here for the next, say, two minutes or so, just in case it doesn't melt all the way down," Zeta warned, crouching down and marking an X about half a foot away from where she'd fired the ice chunk. With that gag out of the way, she'd appraise the suddenly-less-impressive-convenience-store-worker as well as the few others gathered. "Backpack...Fluffy Beggar...Porc...customer service worker..." she quietly listed on one hand, a digit going up for each, then a fifth for herself. "Mm. Five of us. We're all going to die."

After that dreadfully pessimistic statement, Zeta would impatiently bounce on the heels of her feet, feeling her fuel source give her the usual rush that made it just a smidge hard to stand still.

‘Odd the orc would briefly turn around to see some more of the chaos going on behind in. In particular at the android that had crashed down from the skies above. It seemed the android, or rather Zeta-108 had a rough ride here! Having not fully seen the entrance, but rather the aftermath. The orc would look up curiously, to see if there was some form of airship, plane, or large winged creature that ended up dropping the robot right on down to the ground below!
Seemed they caused quite a crater on the way down in the process.
It was, impressive that they could do all that, and seemingly make or store coffee.
Wonder what else she could do, or endure.

Pii-chan was drew them back in though, with a reminder to finish eating.
Which, ‘Odd, would roll his eyes but immediately finish the snack. Seemingly gulping the rest of hot dog down whole, and letting out a sigh afterward. Had to be careful not to choke when doing that in one go.

“Heh, apologies about that. And that’s… close. The name is Rodd. But, making it ‘Odd Rodd, could be a fun batter name.”
He giggled, before turning around to face the rest.

“Yeah, sure, Loyalty to protect in this case.”
Rodd had nodded along dismissively at Pirilika’s notion. He wouldn’t disagree with that, for this very moment. But, it wasn’t quite his main motive for being here at the moment. Speaking of which-

“Hey Zeta-108! Can you catch, or take a bomb as good as you took that fall? Could be a shirt in it for ya, even got your own team number already! And…. Probably a glove. People like to overrun first base, if you don’t knocked out by it, seems like a good deal.”
Rodd called out to them.



Rodd winked & whispered toward Pii-chan..


“You got anymore of those or-“
His eyes just then darted toward the snacks that the kitsune was getting. Which would tempt him just enough to wander over toward the kitsune and the girl with a large backpack. Maybe he could or should introduce himself a bit.

That was when a sound of a motorcycle came ringing toward the group. Which didn’t seem too concerning as much as getting snacks. As he’d try rummaging through the side of the demon girl’s bag looking for a snack during the loud commotion. Hoping the sudden motorcycle would keep her just a tiny bit distracted as he’d try snatching up a bag of chips, and maybe ask about more snack related stuff later. That was until the gust of wind caused Rodd to flinch, and stopped his attempt all together though his hand was clearly outreached to try.

“Oh sweet! There’s two people who have snacks, or can get snacks with us!”
Rodd was excited, and impressed to have a convenience store worker with them.
He hoped it was a 8/12 worker, or maybe a Kingly Ranch worker. Both of them made those rotating greasy hot dogs, and sometimes completely drenched nachos! Both were extremely good.
Maybe, Kai had some discounts… or coupons too.
He was pretty used to bikers from baseball gangs, or gangs that wanted baseball bats. Staring at bombs being throwing at your face also lowered Rodd’s sense of fear over centuries. Sometimes caught doing, plenty of dumb stuff. Especially if there was a certain 'type' involved in asking him to do it.

“Got it, got it… don’t stand there.”
Rodd nodded at Zeta about spot marked with a 'X'. He assumed standing there probably meant freezing solid, or being knocked out by hail.

“Think she’s talking about you with the fluffy pork thing.”
He looked to the kitsune and shrugged. Forming a sly and playful grin, not being serious on the matter.

“Dunno about the dying, kinda like this ese! He’s dressed to impress, ya know?”
He pointed his bat toward Kai, the convenience store worker. “With him, and the travel pack, we’re probably live from not starving to death.”

“…Sounds like this might be all we’re going to get team. And, honestly, don’t know half of ya. So let’s sound off! Your name, or cool team name for ya and a fun fact about ya, before a brief team huddle!”
Rodd grinned and would gesture to everyone that showed up so far with his baseball bat.
In no particular order, kinda.. whomever he felt like. The bat would point to everyone eventually. He may accidentally point to a few random pedestrians passing through too, or anyone who stopped dead in front of the group for too long.

@Shiyonichi

The kitsune's eyes bulged to the point where it seemed they would burst out of her head, having seen the chips the backpack girl offered to her. "Ah! A thousand thank yous, kind stranger. Your generosity will not be forgotten, and you will be blessed with prosperity from the Retsumaru Shrine!" It was to anyone's guess what in the bloody hell she was talking about, but at least now her hunger was being quelled. Chinatsu wasted no time in devouring the contents of the bag, with little crumbs flying every which way.

Her feeding session was cut short, however, as the last member of the force suddenly road up on a motorcycle. They road with such speed that it kicked up a sizeable dust squall, blowing the bag out of Chinatsu's hands along with the rest of the chips. Looking at the flailing bag with horror, she made a shrill yelp as the rest of her breakfast was scattered on the ground. She then quickly turned to Kai, the apparent convenience store worker.

"Black-hearted dastard!" She exclaimed. "You dare to ruin the snack of an innocent maiden in peril? Have you no shame, scoundrel?! Prepare to be destroyed!" Her tails swayed and thrashed violently as she went on her tirade. She then pulled out a pair of ornate fans, which glowed with a deep azure aura.

"Blackheart Kai, taste the wrath of Chinatsu, Maiden of the Blue Flame!" She said, making a unnecessarily flash pose with blue flames gathering around her.

"Of course, I MIGHT be willing to forgive the transgression if you give me a stack of VIP coupons or store credit for wherever station you work at..."

Pirilika’s awe at the sudden appearance motorcyclist was significantly lessened upon hearing the man was a convenience store worker. What? With that kind of entrance, anybody would’ve taken him for an action hero. Unfortunately, her attention was taken away by the kitsune becoming extremely aggressive toward Kai due to his entrance blowing away the fox girl’s chips. Not wanting a fight to breakout before everyone had made proper introductions, Pirilika took off her backpack and unzipped it. “Wait! Please don’t fight! If you’re hungry, you can have some of my homemade fluffcakes. I haven’t met anyone that didn’t like them.” Within the bag was a foiled wrapped bundle of the so called fluffcakes, a sweet aroma wafted from the foil. “Be at peace, and you can have as much as you want as a member of the Nethertime Support Force.” She said with a friendly smile.

“…Sounds like this might be all we’re going to get team. And, honestly, don’t know half of ya. So let’s sound off! Your name, or cool team name for ya and a fun fact about ya, before a brief team huddle!”

Whether Chinatsu accepted the fluffcakes or not, the backpack girl was suddenly pointed at by Rodd’s baseball bat. Being put on the spot, she muttered to herself nervously before standing up, hefting the massive backpack with little effort. “Well uh… My name is Marianne. But you can just call me Mari. I recently started working for the Rosen Queen Co. so I’ll help with getting fresh items and equipment… Just uh… Don’t expect too much… I’m uh… Still at the bottom of the merchant ladder.” She said nervously before bowing her head.”It’s a pleasure to meet you all…”

Turning over to Pirilika, Chinatsu's violent demeanor had instantly dropped when she revealed she had more food to spare. This time, they were some appetizing fluffcakes, homemade no less! With an excited squeal, the flames around Chinatsu disappeared and she was suddenly right in front of her with momentary mastery that you'd see in an action anime. With starry eyes, she hurriedly snatched the confectionaries out from the girl's hands and began scarfing them down like a wood chipper. Little crumbs when seeing flying every which way.

With a satisfied belch, Chinatsu was in a state of lazy contentment, complete with a cute squint. She began to rouse again once they started mentioning Defense Force talk again. Oh yeah, that's right, they were now members of that thing...

"Ahem, firstly, you have my undying gratitude for feeding me this morning, Ms. Pirilika!" Chinatsu said. "And rest assured, with your addition of me on the Nethertime Defense Force, the Netherworld's well being is all but guaranteed!" She drew her fans again, and conjured more azure foxfire around her.

"For I am Chinatsu, The Beautiful Kitsune of the Blue Flame! All will bow in awe at my power!"

Chinatsu, of course, seemed to be completely oblivious to how embarrassing her little monologue actually was...

Whether Chinatsu accepted the fluffcakes or not, the backpack girl was suddenly pointed at by Rodd’s baseball bat. Being put on the spot, she muttered to herself nervously before standing up, hefting the massive backpack with little effort. “Well uh… My name is Marianne. But you can just call me Mari. I recently started working for the Rosen Queen Co. so I’ll help with getting fresh items and equipment… Just uh… Don’t expect too much… I’m uh… Still at the bottom of the merchant ladder.” She said nervously before bowing her head.”It’s a pleasure to meet you all…”

"Great Mari of Queens! Starting at the bottom but surely soon to be the most powerful thorned Rose of the company. Now that's a good brand idea to send off to merchandising, or for your player image. Seems you got a lot of strength there too. I'm more of a control batter myself, but with a build and handling heft like that, could probably be a power batter, and a good first baseman. Just got to keep yourself from being tackled over, and if you can handle that bag, could probably handle being tackled."
Rodd grinned and would let out a nod back, giving a tip of his hat. He didn't particularly like the bowing custom himself, but he understood it enough to give a polite gesture back too it. He more enjoyed throwing a pitch together.

"Definitely would love some new gloves and other equipment later on. Tend to burn through those every few months. Explosion and all that."

"Ahem, firstly, you have my undying gratitude for feeding me this morning, Ms. Pirilika!" Chinatsu said. "And rest assured, with your addition of me on the Nethertime Defense Force, the Netherworld's well being is all but guaranteed!" She drew her fans again, and conjured more azure foxfire around her.

"For I am Chinatsu, The Beautiful Kitsune of the Blue Flame! All will bow in awe at my power!"

Chinatsu, of course, seemed to be completely oblivious to how embarrassing her little monologue actually was...

"Definitely a flashy showy type, and loving the confidence and conjuration there. Don't think you can hit, but if you like being in front of the show.... guess being a pitcher would fit pretty well. How well can you throw those things? Or a ball for that matter, or a ball and fireballs at once? Hah! That'd really draw some interest."
"No real nickname there though, but got the working title."
Rodd would bob his head along with an agreeable but quizzical look toward Chinatsu.

"Now that we got a bit of a crowd here and all that, some of which I'll be glad to hear about~."
"Anybody get a memo on our first match to take down... or er.... defend home plates, in all this? Don't think I've seen into the playbook on that."
He would look around, especially toward Pii-chan.
Rodd would notice a random baseball card floating in the wind, and would take off after it!
Leaving the rest of the group as they were.