FujiwaraPhoenix

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal City — Commercial District

Having a Pokemon crash straight into his face was by no means pleasant, but after taking a second to process the shock Richard brought one hand to his face and groaned.

"What the heck just...?"

It was an almost instinctive reaction, the pain from the impact leaving him shaken for a second; thankfully, though, it didn't feel much worse than having a stray ball lobbed at his face. Still hurt, though.

Recovery, then, took but a few seconds longer, and the call for help from the young man running towards him caused Richard to understand (or, well, assume that he understood) what exactly the issue was. A glance to the side allowed him to see the culprit of the collision—a small Fletchling that had been left slightly disoriented as if it had just run into a brick wall (which, given it's size and mass, may as well have been the case).

Without another moment of hesitation, Richard shook his head before running to grab the Tiny Robin Pokemon right as it was about to take off. It struggled in his grasp, but the young man made sure to keep his grasp tight enough to not let it worm its way out.

The question now, though, was why it was running away in the first place...

"I assume you're talking about this guy right here," he remarked towards the person who had called out to him as he showed the bird in his hands. "I feel like I shouldn't pry into matters like these, but given that I just ate a tackle to the face from this guy, I'd at least like some sort of explanation here."

@Rune_Alchemist

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Burning Town

With the barrage of magical bullets came a slight smirk upon Sanae's face. Despite the fact that the barrage of magical projectiles seemed like something that would be cause for concern, the young woman seemed rather unfazed—especially considering the apparent backup measure that she had from the dragon-woman on the ground.

The only problem, though, was maintaining her spell card while dodging. While she could choose to remain stationary, the young woman had no idea how much punishment those odd shields that were appearing in front of her could take. Given that these magic bullets were also being fired with far more lethal intent, that route seemed much more dangerous.

"...Well, I think that there's probably enough water by this point," she remarked, finally choosing to end her magical assault in lieu of weaving through the wall of incoming projectiles. Another one of those uncannily powerful arrows spiraled straight towards her head as soon as the dense waves of water began to fade, but another timely shield on part of her protector gave her the leeway here to focus on trying to keep attention away from the others as they began to mount a proper counterattack.

"Rayne! Miss dragon lady! Sorry I don't know your name yet, but thanks for the support!" she shouted towards the ground as she seemed to simply through the gaps between the enemy's magic as if they were as wide as canyons. "But I'll be fine if you don't want to focus on protecting me now; I'm actually pretty used to dodging if I'm not stuck in place like that!"

Without being restrained by her attack, the young woman pointed towards the cluster of magi in the distance and began to fire streams of ofuda and, possibly more confusingly, frog-shaped bullets towards them. The bullets were no more lethal than those she had been firing before, but given the fact that the frogs seemed to be exploding upon a newly-formed barrier cast by the mage at the head of the corps, it seemed to be quite apparent that they weren't something to be ignored.

With that shift in focus came another arrow from below. This one, however, was not aimed at Sanae as the last few had been, but straight towards Rayne's throat.

@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris

---

The disappearance of the projectiles flooding the skies, too, seemed to herald another shift in the enemy's tactics. While more than a few were still left unconscious, injured, or otherwise dead, the Raven Heralds continued to attempt to simply occupy the spirits that were mowing through their numbers despite their physical augmentations.

Or so it would seem. As the girl and her spirit seemed to have their attention focused towards the waves of enemies pressing down onto them, a masked figure seemed to phase into existence behind the girl, his footsteps silent as he seemed to close in towards her with a wickedly curved blade brandished to his side. The space between him and his target seemed to disappear in an instant as he attempted to plunge the weapon into the girl's back, fully assuming that if she was to die, then the beings at her command would follow suit.

@VitaVitaAR

---

"Wow, you're certainly one heck of a golem, huh? Poor bastard didn't stand a chance. Stand down, you idiots. Or do something useful, like go try and find that stupid kid and his sister; this one's out of your league."

The voice of a rather arrogant-sounding young man silenced those who had begun to crowd around to prepare to simply rush the odd green machine, and the crowd soon parted to reveal a blonde man wielding a a glaive that seemed to glow an unnatural purple hue. Unlike his masked and armored cohorts, this man—who seemed to exude an aura of confidence that bordered on hubris—strode forward without any urgency in his movements.

"What was his name again...? Ferdiad? Well, whatever; you two, move his corpse out of the way," he continued, waving towards a few of his subordinates as he turned towards the one who had felled him. "I don't want to trip over it."

There was a brief pause as the Raven Heralds that hadn't been directed to move seemed to stand by before the man finally spoke again.

"...That was an order I just gave. Go! Forest! Those damn scouts told you where they were, and the number of enemies here clearly doesn't match the report! Do your damned job!"

The shout from the blonde man was enough to spur his subordinates into action this time, though, but he himself simply brandished his blade towards the enemy in front of him with a smile.

"You know, I was complaining about being sent to some wretched village in the middle of nowhere to look for some child, but if a golem like you is here, this whole trip might be worth it," he said, a slight savage glint in his eyes as he spoke. "No idea who your creator is, but I sure as hell want to meet them. I'd love to have a proper training partner—no, wait, a whole team of golems that actually follow the orders I give!" he monologued before a slight laugh left his lips.

"Right. Time for some fun," he said, the grip on his weapon tightening before the purple aura upon it seemed to flare up. With a flourish, the man brandished his weapon before swinging it through the air and launching a shockwave of energy towards his newfound opponent.

@Lugubrious

---

---

??? — Town Outskirts

"...Oh."

There was a bit of disappointment in Alvin's voice that he couldn't really hold back as the three continued making their way through the forest. The boy was acutely aware of how powerless he was—especially compared to the 'heroes' that had been brought here—but even with a majority of them having rushed towards the town to help, the ones that remained here seemed to still give him a sense of confidence—that if one miracle had already happened, then maybe a second one wasn't too much to ask for.

"Well, if it's a place to hide, uh... I think there was a cave nearby, somewhere in that direction," he began to say, pointing towards the right of where they were currently headed. "It was really dark, and I always got too scared once it got too dark, but maybe that place might work?"

The sound of rustling underbrush and leaves crunched underfoot from all sides, though, immediately caused Alvin to freeze up and look around, unsure of who—or what—had caused it. The boy's eyes flicked to and fro, trying to find the source of his new anxieties, but unfortunately he found no such answers.

The fragments of humanoid silhouettes—and something distinctly less so—were barely visible past the trees in the distance... For better or worse.

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Burning Town

Though the archer that had singled her out was an obvious problem, it looked to Sanae as if a majority of the enemy soldiers who hadn't chosen to take cover or weren't being pummeled by her new allies were not dealing with her danmaku particularly well. That wasn't really anyone's fault, per se; beautiful though the fighting style of Gensokyo was, anyone not used to it would probably be overwhelmed by the sheer visual overload—and that was for one person, never mind what usually happened when it was something like dealing with a horde of fairies who decided that they wanted to play along, too.

That sort of situation was more or less what seemed to be playing out here, too. The bullets raining upon the town were doing damage to the buildings, granted, but given that the water seemed to be quenching the flames, a little bit of collateral hopefully wouldn't make the cleanup any worse after everything here was handled.

Right as she was about to graze past another arrow from the sniper still hidden somewhere in the town, though, the sudden appearance of an odd barrier blocking the projectile caused her to pause in mild surprise for the briefest of moments. While thankful that one of the people down below was looking out for her wellbeing, the sudden appearance of another projectile—this one a massive spear of ice—caused the young woman to instinctively shift her entire body out of the way of the attack.

What followed, of course, was a sight she was a bit more familiar with—a torrent of magical projectiles of all shapes and sizes, barreling straight towards her. In the distance, Sanae could make out a group of soldiers, all led by a purple-haired woman who seemed to be directing their focus towards her. There was a brief moment where their eyes met, of course, but soon enough the leader of that team of mages turned her attention towards the dragonlike woman standing firm in front of where Sanae was. A few of the other mages had since broken off to try and deal with the smaller combatant who had been causing more chaos on the ground, but for the most part their attention was steadfastly placed towards the ones suppressing the rest of the enemy's movements from the skies and her apparent protector.

While no small number of the soldiers present were busy trying to deal with the onslaught of bullets from the skies, there were more than enough simply muscling through the attacks or were simply focusing their efforts elsewhere. The fact that only a few combatants were enough to match their forces didn't seem to faze them, but it did seem to give cause for the weaker ones to retreat for the moment. In their place, though, other Raven Heralds—ones equipped with armor that seemed to give off a faint luminescence even in the afternoon sun—began to push forward. Though some began to move to provide their own defensive cover for the arriving magi, others began to pursue those on the ground who had chosen to take up arms—least of all the massive mechanical golem towards whom they deigned the most threatening. Towards him rode an armored man upon a horse, a massive hammer at the ready to smash through whatever armor stood in his way.

The smaller girl commanding spirits, on the other hand, seemed to be someone that the soldiers were playing a more defensive role in attempting to deal with. Some of the nearby magicians seemed to cast a spell upon those approaching her, leaving them with what felt like an intense pressure radiating out towards from their bodies. Intimidation alone would not be enough to push her back, of course, and it seemed that all of the soldiers present were aware of that fact.

A swing that the nearest made as a flourish, however, would leave a scar in the ground nearby, making clear what it was that had transpired here.

@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Lugubrious@VitaVitaAR

---

Though certainly rattled at Sanae's statement, the boy seemed to have enough sense about him to respond to Anne's questions as the others wasted no time in rushing headlong towards his hometown.

"...My name is Alvin, miss," he said as he followed the injured woman out of the church. "The church here... I don't know, honestly. I've been out in the woods to gather firewood in the winter before, but I've never seen this church here before. Or, well, I don't think I have?"

The young man's face seemed to scrunch up for a moment as he tried to remember before simply shaking his head.

"Can't remember a thing. I remember that the clearing was here, but I don't think I ever saw it have a church or anything. Sorry."

There was another pause before he continued on, though.

"As for the Raven Heralds... They're a part of some army from the center of the continent, I think. I remembered some merchants mentioning them before when they passed through, and I was a bit curious when I heard, too. Apparently they're famous in other countries because they're super strong, but, everyone that got brought here seemed to be able to beat them easily."

Alvin paused again for a few seconds before looking back towards Anne.

"You're super strong too, right? You're all beat up, but you're calm and carrying my sister like it's nothing..."

@Drifting Pollen@EchoWolff

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal City — Commercial District

With apparent companions for the near future, Richard raised his arm slightly to signal his leave as he left the lab proper. The walk towards the Commercial District was nothing particularly noteworthy, but once they had arrived...

Well, it would have been hard for Richard to not feel a little nostalgic for Castelia City. The ever-charged atmosphere was nowhere near as strong as it was back in his hometown, but there was a little something to be felt from this regardless. If he had more money, maybe even a bit of window shopping and wandering about would've been in order.

Maybe on the return trip, then. He'd have to come back here eventually, given how he was nowhere near suicidal enough to take on the Gym here yet.

The bird Pokemon scuffling overhead did briefly catch Richard's attention, though given what his starter was, maybe taking on a Flying-type would have to wait a little bit. It was worth considering for the future, but given the likelihood of something going haywire, that didn't seem particularly enticing as training.

Eventually, though, the young man would find exactly what it was that he was seeking: a storage company to employ the services of.

"Place looks as promising as any," he remarked, glancing the building over briefly before glancing at the other two, then to where their attention seemed to be focused towards. "If you two want to head over, I'll catch up with you after I'm done here. Hopefully it won't take too long."

With that, the young man gestured briefly towards the two girls who had chosen to tag along with him before breaking away and entering the building. The usual marketing pitch didn't really faze him—not when he had heard the same thing so many times before for other service-providing companies back in Unova—but the fee seemed reasonable enough for twelve months of access from anywhere in the region.

"Mmm... I think I'll stick with the basic plan for now," he said, filling out the last of the paperwork he had been given before handing off his luggage, "but I'll probably register for premium sometime in the future. I can transfer things over from here even if I've bought in elsewhere, right?"

There were a few other minor questions that he had, but at the very least the problem of his extra bags had been handled. Hopefully the others hadn't simply abandoned him or gone elsewhere in the brief time he had spent in here; spending the next few weeks flying solo didn't feel all too enticing, even if he'd have some Pokemon as company.

@VitaVitaAR@Thayr

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Ruined Church

As the conversation between the others continued on, Sanae chose to listen in silence—for now, at least. The young boy's grim expression had caught her attention, of course, but the reason behind it seemed to slip past her unnoticed.

Or, well, it had until the fact that the boy and his sister had to have been fleeing from somewhere was brought up; that made the call to push forward and give chase make more sense. It wasn't like this was the first time she had to go find answers herself—a small solace, given how there were a few notably deceased human corpses in front of the church and likely more to come soon thereafter. Youkai extermination was one thing (and she really only just battered them into submission anyways); being lethal in any capacity was another entirely.

But the matter of having to fight to kill in this world was just one of many problems, and given that there were a few others who were still on the fence about everything going on, maybe that issue was just something she'd have to try and come to terms with eventually. This felt like a war zone already, and she had read and seen enough about what war truly cost that it didn't sit well with her at all.

"...Honestly, I think everyone here would be hard-pressed to find anyone with any answers to any questions at this point—not without contacting that goddess that apparently brought us here, like Rayne suggested. I was the first to arrive, and everyone else seemed to pop in here afterwards. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine as to how we got here," she said, shaking her head. "But I think that the others are right about trying to save the village, at least; I don't know how long we might be stuck here, but if it's going to be for a while, I'd rather have a proper roof over my head and food to eat as I figure things out."

After she had spoken her piece, though, the young man finally seemed to gather himself—at least for a moment—before responding to their request.

"Erm... That goddess—Lavielle, she said her name was—spoke with Millie's voice. I think she was possessing her or something, but after she spoke some sort of spell, all those beams of light appeared, and then you all arrived here. But after that, Millie passed out, so..." he spoke, faltering a few times as he seemed to subconsciously glance at the deceased outside every so often.

"Mmm... A deity with that much faith has to be powerful, but if you only knew her name from that much..." Sanae mused to herself before being told to hold any questions until after the bigger problem at hand was resolved.

Probably the smarter course of action, if anything.

"I... Am I the only one that can fly?" she asked, rising into the air as the group seemed to prepare to head into the forest. "If anyone else can, it'd probably be a good idea to come with me through the skies; that should be faster than walking if we're pressed for time. If not, I should be able to scout..."

Sanae's voice trailed off as the very blatant plume of black smoke rising from the distance caught her attention. Not able to see clearly from just over the treetops, though, the green-haired girl quickly shot further up into the sky to get a better view of the terrain below.

Needless to say, a town on fire past the forest turned the situation from "bad" to "worse" in an instant.

Rocketing back down to the others who were preparing to move, Sanae (whose eyes were wide in panic) pointed with her gohei towards the direction from which she had seen the smoke and shook her head.

"I don't know if it's the right town—probably is, might not be—but there's a giant cloud of smoke rising into the sky from the one in that direction. I'm going to go on ahead!" she exclaimed before speeding off, leaving the others behind to try and give chase at their own pace.

---

??? — Burning Town

Sanae's flight towards the town had been met with no resistance at all—the soldiers who were retreating seemed to be more focused on returning to their main force than on stalling their chase, but the wind priestess them next to no mind as she approached the growing pillar of black smoke. As she drew nearer, the screams and cries of those within the town's walls quickly met her ears.

If the corpses in front of the church were sickening, then what she would likely see within would be even worse.

But given that she seemed to be the first on the scene to be able to help, the only thing she could really think of trying to do now—especially with a few of the enemy soldiers taking swift notice of her presence—was to try and pull their attention away.

"This might cause a lot more problems in the end, but it has to be better than nothing...!" Sanae told herself as she pulled a spell card out and holding it out in front of her.

"Sea Opening — 「Moses' Miracle」!"

The image on the card flashed briefly before a massive sigil appeared behind the young girl, marking her position in the skies for everyone, ally or enemy, to see. In that moment, though, what seemed to be a torrent of bullet-shaped water seemed to come pouring out from behind her through the skies. Though the wave-shaped lane in which she remained remained bereft of any water, Sanae herself had begun to fire streams of knife-shaped bullets towards whatever soldiers seemed to be preparing to shoot at her or were otherwise occupied with trying to kill whatever civilians they could approach.

It was at this point, though, that an arrow that seemed far more powerful and more dangerous than what had been fired at the church earlier whizzed narrowly past her head. The young woman had managed to dodge, if only out of sheer instinct, but it was quite clear that there were far more dangerous enemies here.

Though she would have preferred trying to find the archer firing at her (especially after another arrow grazed past her arm), the young woman's goal right now was to pull as much attention to herself as possible while stalling for the others to arrive. Given what she had seen what half of them were able to accomplish, gory as the results were, there was no doubt that they would be able to at least save some of those who could still be saved.

@VitaVitaAR@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal City — Camphor's Lab

Once the Snivy in front of him chose to both accept and return his gesture of goodwill, the young man couldn't help but smile. if anything, the fact that the Pokemon in front of him was notably less arrogant than he might have expected was striking on its own, now that he had seen it in person.

How that would pan out remained to be seen, of course, but for the moment that basic level of trust was good enough for him. Hopefully it would grow in a positive way in the days to come, at least.

Splitting the berry he was given in half and returning the bitten portion to the Snivy, Richard pulled out the Pokeball he had been given with his free hand and held the button out towards the Pokemon in front of him. The Snivy, half-eaten and half-split berry in hand, seemed to hesitate for a moment before placing one arm out to push the button. One red flash of light later, and the grass snake Pokemon had disappeared within.

"That went a lot better than I had expected it to," the young man finally said, the tension in his body finally releasing as he let out a sigh of relief. "All right, then... I suppose a nickname is in order, huh? Guess I'll figure that out once we're done with all the formalities and hit the field."

After stashing his new partner's ball away, Richard promptly returned to where Camphor and the others were waiting and, without any further (apparent) interruptions, promptly received the Pokedex and other goods from the professor. The young man responded with a curt 'thank you' after everything was in hand and, after shunting everything relevant into his backpack, glanced at the actual machine he had been handed. While the question as to why they were being given dedicated hardware for data collection did cross his mind briefly, reiterating the question promptly nipped it in the bud. The quip about Snivies in general wasn't anything too outlandish to him—they were somewhat well known in Unova as well, after all—but what caught his attention was the fact that it had an egg move.

Something to reference later as well, then.

Once he had retrieved his luggage from where he had left it, Richard quietly followed behind Frieda as she led the group back to reception before he realized that the excitement had left him more than eager to simply strike out.

But first, of course, came the matter of handling his bags. As nice as it might be to bring all of his clothes everywhere, Richard had no proper desire (or the physical prowess) to be able to drag more than his backpack around for the next who-knew-how-long.

The prompt gushing of the white-haired girl next to him about her new partner, though, had given Richard a mild shock. He had expected people to be enthusiastic about being able to head out into the world, but she seemed more excited to actually have her partner in the first place.

Maybe excessively so, though.

"You're sure fired up about this, huh?" he interjected, a slight smile on his face. "Can't say I don't understand, though. I assume that your gushing means that your partner's a Tyrunt, then? Might be a good idea to get some empirical evidence if you're so gung-ho about your new friend. Wouldn't recommend trying to actually tear through someone's car, though. No way the professor's going to bail you out for something like that."

After making that little joke, though, Richard glanced back at where his Snivy's Pokeball was attached before glancing back towards the rest of the group.

"That being said, though, I think I'll hold off on diving into the field for a bit," he remarked, considering the matters at hand for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders. "Need to shove what I have here into storage and pick up some supplies before heading out. If anyone else wants to tag along, though, I wouldn't mind the company."

@Thayr@VitaVitaAR

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Ruined Church

It became readily apparent to Sanae after only a few seconds that the soldiers on the ground were almost wholly incapable of dealing with the bullets that she was raining down from above. Given that their attacks against the barrier earlier had been with arrows and steel, though, the young woman thought for a second that such a result should have been a given.

Not like she had any reason to complain about that, though; if these people were aiming to kill or capture the two children still hiding in the church, then they deserved any sort of pain they'd receive from eating her projectiles head-on.

With her aim still trained upon those still attempting to approach the rear door, the young woman turned her head to see what was going on at the front of the church. It didn't take much more than a glance, though, for her to witness the rather brutal nature of how the others were fighting. It was one thing to read about killing in the news or manga and another entirely to see people die—much less by decapitation from a single hit to the head, or by being bisected from shoulder to hip, or...

There was a brief lapse in focus as her vision blurred for a moment, but given the situation at hand the wind priestess knew full well that such a thing could lead to an opening that might lead to something even worse.

"...I guess I shouldn't take spell card rules for granted..." she mumbled to herself before placing her attention back towards the oncoming soldiers. At this point, though, it seemed quite apparent that none of the enemy soldiers had even a sliver of a chance to break through their defensive line—and given the fact that there were still people inside, it was almost guaranteed that even should one or two of the soldiers slip through that they would meet just as bloody an end.

That, of course, made the apparent call to retreat from the area a given. The soldiers that Sanae had been keeping away swiftly broke formation, and those that hadn't been executed or otherwise left incapacitated began to disperse back into the forest—likely back with the other members of their military force, if what the boy had said earlier held true.

With the present threat dealt with (for the moment, at least), Sanae took a deep breath and slowly floated back down into the church, her body none the worse for wear.

"It looks like the enemy's retreating," she remarked to those who stood guard inside as she landed on the floor. "...I'm no tactician, but I guess they cut their losses after seeing what happened outside. Not sure whether that's a good thing or not."

All the while, of course, the boy and his sister had remained protected by those who had placed their safety first. There was a sparkle in the former's eyes, of course—and the fact that there were such gallant figures so willing to protect the two of them while the others drove back the ones who had so simply threatened their home only served to inspire further hope in him.

"Thank you very much," the young man said, unsteadily rising to his feet before bowing towards those present. "But... You said they were retreating?"

His pale face seemed to grow even paler as he realized the implications of what had just been said.

"..."

The dread apparent on his face now that he had realized what his escape had come at the cost of—and of what more it could take from him—only now seemed to dawn upon him. Though the two of them were safe now in the company of heroes, the same could not be said of the people who would be sacrificed in his place.

@VitaVitaAR@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Crimson Flame@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

Pokemon: Dream

Richard Evans

Byjerlfal City — Camphor's Lab

The oddly sterile nature of the lab seemed to bleed into the habitat today—or, at the very least, it seemed that way to Richard. It was fairly obvious that the experience was meant to be a manufactured one, presented in a safe environment so that he (and the others who were here today to pick up their partners) wouldn't find themselves getting injured or accidentally messing with whatever experiments they ran down here.

That was fine, though; if anything, it'd at least give him breathing room and less of a chance of getting blindsided by something he wasn't seeking.

The sounds of a Pokemon nearby did catch his ear, though, and that alone was enough to pull him in that general direction. Slowly, quietly, the young man proceeded forward, only to find that whatever was making that noise had quickly moved to flee from him.

"Not quiet enough, huh...?" he mused to himself, remembering the note on the summary of the Snivy's profile that said it was a bit jumpy. But regardless of that fact, this was who he had picked, and that did mean that he had to start building that relationship between them somehow.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you," Richard said, his tone soft as he picked up the discarded berry and held it out towards where he could see the Snivy was hiding behind. "No need to be afraid, all right?"

Hopefully that was the right approach to take here...

@Rune_Alchemist

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

??? — Ruined Church

Once her barrier had been established and its defensive strength was confirmed (no thanks due to the next incoming volley of arrows bouncing off of it), Sanae took a moment to look around towards the other people who had been dragged to wherever this was. The general confusion among the group was quite palpable—understandably so, given that she was feeling much the same. One even went so far as to call them all ghosts, which... Was he some sort of American exorcist or something? The way he spoke made it seem like it, and the assertion that they were all not-quite-dead was something the young girl decided was better to internalize as "what he was used to handling" than "they were all actually in some sort of Hell" right now.

...Though, if they really were dead, maybe she could find someone who knew the Yama? That seemed like an easy enough way to get in contact with someone who might at least let her talk to someone back in Gensokyo.

Regardless of the actual situation, though, the brief thanks and introduction from the oddly small girl gave Sanae enough reason to respond in kind. Without any active threat in front of them, she could at least do that much.

"Ah... My name is Kochiya Sanae... Er... Maybe the Western order makes more sense here? Kochiya is my family name, Sanae given. I'm a wind priestess at the Moriya Shrine; functionally, though, I work as a shrine maiden. I'll be in your care," she stated towards the group before giving a bow in turn. "As for where this is... Your guess would be as good as mine. And I am most certainly not a ghost. Probably. Hopefully."

It was then, though, that the mecha dropped in, and Sanae's eyes lit up like stars in the night sky. Though it was most certainly not the time to ask questions about him, the young woman made a mental note to herself to pry into those details later. Preferably when they weren't being peppered by projectiles or at risk in general, if possible.

By this point, though, the young man kneeling on the ground—who looked to have barely entered his teenage years—who had been protecting his sister finally seemed to snap back to reality. Seeing all of these people (and one odd... Golem?) brought here all of a sudden and moving to protect him brought him to the verge of tears.

"Y-yes!" he almost shouted as his sister's pained expression began to relax a bit when one of the smaller girls walked over to heal her. "The Raven Heralds—they came to my town. Said they were looking for my sister—looking for Millie. Our dad told us to run, and after that..."

The young man trailed off for a second before shaking his head and looking towards the group with a small glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Please, I don't know what magic brought you here, but if that goddess said that you were heroes or something, then maybe you can save us—save my home!"

Having been listening intently to the boy's impassioned cry for help, Sanae glanced outside for a brief moment to see that there were indeed soldiers of some sort bearing down on the church. That explained the arrows, at the very least.

"Well, this certainly looks like an incident to me, and if people are getting injured or dying, then it wouldn't be right to just stand by and watch," she responded before one of the others who had arrived called for her to take the barrier down as she walked towards the door. It was fairly clear that she intended to fight, and assuming the competency of those who were brought here was on par with or better than hers...

Hopefully that trust would be rewarded.

"I'll drop the barrier after the next volley hits, then. Please be ready to move to a safer part of the church if you don't plan on heading out to fight," Sanae stated, nodding towards the pair of siblings and the draconic-loooking woman as she rose into the air. "Oh, good, I can still fly here. But, right then; we can figure things out afterwards, I hope."

As promised, when the next set of arrows bounced off of the magical barrier, Sanae swiftly dispelled it in turn—only to see that the woman who had asked her to bring it down had used the door as a projectile weapon. It seemed to have hit a few of the soldiers head on and sent them careening (with the door, of course) into the woods.

She couldn't help but whistle at the level of strength she would expect from an oni being put on display here.

"...Oh! Right! Gotta help cover!" she said before flying through the hole in the rooftop and glancing around the area. There seemed to be... A fair number of soldiers collapsing in on the church ruins, and the topography of the land was incredibly unfamiliar, but at the very least the area was open enough to let her do her thing.

Rather than use a spell card here, though, it seemed prudent enough to simply fire a hail of danmaku bullets down at the soldiers who were bearing down on the back entrance. Even if they wouldn't actually leave any lasting harm, covering fire seemed like a better choice than flooding the skies with projectiles... No matter how pretty the patterns were.

@VitaVitaAR@DracoLunaris@EchoWolff@Crimson Flame@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Gensokyo — Moriya Shrine

"Thank you for visiting today!"

Waving farewell to a pair of kappa who were leaving the shrine, Sanae took a deep breath before glancing behind herself. The shrine had been busier than usual today, no thanks in part to the recurring presence of a new god who had made herself known quite recently. The young woman didn't particularly mind the recent uptick in activity, regardless of how tired it left her by the time she threw herself into her futon; things would settle down eventually, as they always had, until a new incident rolled around. That was, as far as she could tell, the way things went in Gensokyo.

Once the last of the guests had made their way past the torii and down the stairs, though, Sanae glanced at the stone pathway behind her with mild annoyance. As fun as the events in Gensokyo could be, the real problem was the cleanup afterwards...

And, as always, it fell to her to handle that.

Letting out a slight sigh as her shoulders sagged, the young woman began to walk back towards the shrine before a sudden surge of magical energy beneath her feet caused her to stop dead in her tracks. Sanae's first instinct, of course, was to try and dodge away from it; that attempt was quickly stifled, though, as what seemed to be a barrier of sorts kept her in place above what was very clearly a magic sigil of some sort beneath her feet.

That surge of magical energy, though, seemed to attract someone else to where she was stuck—one of the goddesses that resided in the shrine alongside her.

"Sanae!" shouted the small blonde-haired girl bounding over from inside the shrine. "What's going on out he——?!"

"Suwako-sama! There's some sort of barrier locking me in this... Whatever it is!" Sanae responded as she attempted to break through the barrier with a few magical bullets. "It doesn't seem to be———"

But before she could finish her piece, a blinding white light seemed to engulf her. When it had dissipated, there was no trace of the green-haired girl to be seen, nor of the spell that had spirited her away to who knew where.

---

??? — Ruined Church

When the light had finally died down, Sanae found herself in a vastly different place than the shrine she had been at mere seconds prior. Rather than the familiar stone pathway and Shinto shrine she lived at, this place seemed to be something more akin to a Western church. The statue of an unfamiliar goddess coupled with the distinctly different apparent time of day (given the light filtering in from the broken roof above) made clear that she was most certainly not in Gensokyo any more.

After the brief moment of recognition that something particularly strange was afoot, the young woman quickly switched gears as she raised her gohei before glancing around the area. Her eyes quickly fell towards a young man and a small girl, neither of whom looked to be in particularly good shape. Coupled with a fresh volley of arrows shattering the windows and falling in from the hole in the ceiling, though, and it became rather clear to Sanae that she need to act fast before whoever (or whatever) was bearing down upon these two took their lives. She could ask questions later, and the still-glowing pillars of light around her that looked rather similar to the one that had pulled her here meant that there was a non-zero possibility that others were yet to come.

Waving her gohei to her side, Sanae quickly summoned a cluster of ofuda at its tip, which then quickly flew through the shattered windows and erected a barrier above and around the church. At the very least, this would afford her some time to figure out what to do next and how to help treat the injured before dealing with whatever was outside.

Hopefully the other people that she assumed were being dragged into this situation like she was would be of a similar mind... Or that she wouldn't be alone here, at the very least.