Welcome to Ambrosia!

[Mickey Mouse]

“So…”

They were in a sitting room of sorts, deeper within Pokute Palace. Truly, the place was extravagant, and seemed to fit Princess Guu absolutely perfectly. The pink-haired princess had eyed Minnie for several moments before finally deciding to start the conversation again. The lady mouse locked eyes with her. “So?”

“So where exactly is your husband?” Guu pressed, “It’s just that your message said both—”

“My husband is,” Minnie interrupted, her voice dripping with acid, “…well, let’s just say he took a little detour. Hopefully he’ll be here in short order. In the meantime, I’m here to extend mine and my husband’s official offer of fealty to you in exchange for your sanctuary.” Guu’s expression did not change, but somehow the Queen could tell the little girl’s interest had been peaked. “If you allow us to stay, we’ll do our best to support your town.”

Guu contemplated for a moment. “Yes, okay,” she started, her monotone voice not really showing whether or not she liked that plan, “before any of that, I really do need to ask: what did you guys do?”

Minnie’s lips tightened.

“I mean,” Guu continued, “I assume it can’t be that bad. You’re Mickey and Minnie Mouse, how awful a thing could you have done?”

The Queen nodded. “Well… it’s a bit complex,” she shrugged, turning her body slightly away from the princess. “You see—”

“Princess?”

Guu and Minnie’s attention immediately turned to Sylvia, leaned against the wall by the door to the little salón. The goth girl was engrossed in her Dataverse device, and something seemed to catch her attention. “Princess, you’d better come look at this,” Sylvia said, and she eyed Minnie with just the slightest pause. The lady mouse’s heart began to beat all too quickly for her own good. Something fishy was going on.

Guu crossed to Sylvia, taking the Dataverse device and browsing it for a second. The little pink-haired girl used it like a pro; she obviously had experience with the things, something Minnie was kind of envious of. Even in just the past few hours, she had started to see the usefulness of those little things. Heck, Princess Guu had seen and responded to her message in record time, before she and Mickey’s date had even been finished. Truly a remarkable thing, to be sure. But Minnie also knew that she couldn’t know how much information lay out there on the Dataverse—what could Guu be finding out about her now?

The pink-haired princess looked back over at Minnie. “Assault of Empire soldiers?”

Minnie’s cheeks flushed red. “Um,” she stammered, not really sure what to say, “That’s the simple way of putting it, I suppose.”

“…demonstrated the ability to summon animal allies,” she read aloud. She smirked. “That’s pretty cool.” Minnie stayed silent as Guu continued to peruse whatever the Empire had posted on the Dataverse about them. “300 OM dead or captured, 550 banished.” The princess’s eyes flitted back up to Minnie. The lady mouse couldn’t read her expression, so she just started to vomit out words.

“I was being held captive,” she rambled, “They had me in this gross cell, like, literally super gross, you would not believe how much it molded in there, and to make it worse, when they kidnapped me they put me in this really awful bag…”

“Calm down, Minnie,” Guu chuckled just a bit, “I’m not going to turn you in. From what I’ve read about your husband, he acted very honorably in Dante’s Abyss, and I admire that. That game brings out the worst in everyone.”

Minnie couldn’t help but smile with pride, no matter how furious she was with Mickey at the moment. She sort of wished she had gotten to see the game till the end, since he had made it pretty clear he didn’t want to talk about it. She had only seen up until he met up with those other three primes: the redhead, the armored lady, and the wizard man. What exactly had happened after she’d been kidnapped that made him so antsy?

“And you seem like a pretty nice person,” Guu continued.

“Oh, I am,” Minnie assured her, “I’m very friendly. It’s why I always reached out to the other worlds, back home. Mickey is a great leader, but he’s no diplomat. Me, on the other hand? I’m a social butterfly.”

“Good,” Guu nodded, “That might be useful. And besides, it’ll be cool to have a former Queen around here.”

Minnie smiled, but the word stung just a little. Former.

It was the truth, though—she had no stake anywhere in this Omniverse. Were it not for Guu’s kindness, she would have absolutely nothing. She and Mickey would be wandering around the verses, nomadic and homeless. Luckily, her reputation seemed to precede her.

Minnie stood from her seat, brushing the wrinkles out of her dress. “Well,” the lady smiled, “I suppose you wouldn’t mind me getting a little more spruced up before we have too much fun? I have been hoofing it through a forest for the past hour or so.” She tried not to sound bitter that her husband had taken Simba with him. Tried.

“Of course,” Guu said, “Sylvia will show you to your room!”

* * *

The place was incredibly nice; probably too much so.

Of course, it was everything Minnie had hoped for. She supposed her life as royalty—both as the simple lady that she was and the Queen she became—had spoiled her just a bit, but she couldn’t help that she had gotten used to the finer things in life. Some things she just took for granted these days, like a comfortable, plush bed and a vanity too big for a two-and-a-half-foot tall, anthropomorphic mouse.

She sat in front of her gargantuan mirror, applying some makeup to make herself look more presentable for whatever royal—or not so royal—activities Guu had in mind. As she brushed some blush onto her cheeks, it began to hit her that this place might end up being her home, at least for the next little while.

Not just Ambrosia, either; the Omniverse.

She could tell that Mickey didn’t want to stay here. All during their rather short travels together, since he had rescued her in Coruscant, he had made offhand comments about “when they get home” or “whenever they get out of here.” Minnie didn’t have the heart to tell him about the sinking feeling she had that they might never make it back. She had started to feel that way almost immediately, as she got more and more acclimated to the place. As she explored—as she stumbled upon more and more information on the Omniverse—it began to get clearer and clearer that this wasn’t the type of place you left. You made a life here, because no one could find a way out.

The thought saddened her, but not as much as she knew it would depress her husband. She could at least see a semblance of life they could make here, since they were together. Sure, it would absolutely stink being away from Donald and Goofy and Pluto. And her best friend, Daisy! But the reality of the situation was that people just didn’t leave the Omniverse. Perhaps, Minnie Mouse thought, she and Mickey could make the best of it. They had always been able to face whatever challenge lay in their path—this would be no different, right?

Welcome to Ambrosia, indeed.

She finished applying her makeup. She smiled, admiring her work, and straightened her tiara on the top of her head before sweeping out of the room and off into Pokute Palace, prepared to find Princess Guu and see what lay next on the agenda.

[Gildarts]

So much had happened, ninjas, orcs, and heck Guu was her age and PREGNANT! Meanwhile, Molly had no way of knowing that Gildarts was facing his own quite literal demons.

Now however, her eyes had landed on the actual Minnie Mouse. The girl dinner in purple had casually strolled down the beautiful palace stairs looking for cookies and milk. What she had received was so much better. Her inner fangirl could only contain her scream before she mumbled the beginning utterance of words. "M-M-M... You're the Minnie Mouse!" Hearts formed in the pupils of her eyes as Molly nearly let out an excited shriek before asking, "May I?" And going in for a hug that seemed more like a full-powered glomp.

Minnie was taken by surprise and released a characteristic squeak sounding, "Oof!" As her polkadot dress was ruffled with the gentle hug of a child. The noble queen bent down with a smile and wrapped her paw palms warmly around the little girl with the endless grace that had made Minnie the best queen in the multiverse. The mouse queen hadn't realized that it actually proved to be what she really needed. The compassion of the hug lifted her spirits, and it was perhaps the best medicine in the world to have another person care for you.

Warm fabric brushed against Molly's cheek until she was ready to let go of the fluffy mouse. "I'm sorry, you probably get this all the time, but I think you are so pretty Minnie, and you've always inspired me to try my best!"

"PRINCESS!" Molly exclaimed as she turned to Guu who had walked in mid-hug, "Why didn't you tell me that it was the ACTUAL Minnie Mouse!" The excitement of the young girl seemed to liven the entire room and Molly pulled out her dataverse device, only to reveal the background on her phone was embarrassingly enough, a smiling picture of Minnie Mouse.

[Roger Smith]

In no time at all it seemed, Adam had went from talking with a pair of penguins apparently in the midst of setting up a gun shop, to looking around the underground gun range of said gun shop in-progress in a mixture of awe and eagerness. There may have been the faintest trace of "how did animals do something like this" lost somewhere amid the glittering in his eyes, but that was for someone with much more personal experience deciphering the expression of those with a stunted ability to display how they really felt to go about trying to sight and point out.

The sound of something Adam was all too familiar with -- namely, the incessant rattling clink and jangling of firearms being carted around and unloaded onto tables and ammunition for them being set out -- along with the sheer smell of impending bullet spray that was soon to take place...

"Just occurred to me, y'know...but we never got your name, son."

The sudden sound of Max's voice snapped Adam out of his firepower-induced dazed reverie, and brought his attention to focus soundly on the male penguin, And in a moment of supreme intelligence, displaying his endless wit and eloquence, Adam responded in the only sensible way a young gentleman of his caliber might. "Bu-huh wha?"

The pair of looks that greeted his sublimely-worded response might have been hilarious to the point of side-splitting laughter had it not been at Adam's expense. And for the single longest moment of Adam's entire life -- that he could remember, at least -- there was stark silence in the entire room. The noise drifting in from outside seemed unbearably loud in contrast.

Somewhere a box fell and the resulting thunk might as well have been a gunshot for the shattering effect it had on the uncomfortable silence in the room. "Er...your name. Never got it," Max offered up again, trying to shuffle off the awkwardness of the situation as best he could.

Had this very situation been taking place in some ridiculous animated cartoon, this would have been the approximate point at which a grossly disproportionate amount of embarrassed sweat would have beaded on Adam's face and superimposed over his hair, as he averted his gaze, letting out a "Oh, right...yeah, my name...." He shrugged and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that...get so easily distracted sometimes..." In an ever-present habit, he adjusted his glasses, pushing them back up into place before giving any sort of definite answer. "The name's Adam Gaite. .....nice to make your acquaintance, I guess is how the saying goes?"

"Adam Gaite, is it?" Delilah looked thoughtful for a moment. "Now that's a nice-sounding name."

"I get the feeling someone back in the noble Gaite line decided they'd have fun making up a family name. Because it definitely was not a real name that means anything." Adam shook his head in minor irritation. "And someone definitely had a sense of humor, what with naming me 'Adam'..." As he spoke, he plucked at the obnoxiously bright red cog on the chest of his jacket.

The look of confusion he got as he looked back up prompted Adam to scratch the side of his head. "It's....Adam can mean 'to be red'...or 'to make'...depending on which root language you go with...." He looked back down at his clothes. "And y'know...Time is red...and I make my own time....in the most literal sense possible." He sighed, holding up his hands in something between an apologetic gesture and an admission of defeat. "I....like to research things sometimes..."

"Well, that actually is a pretty interesting bit of coincidence, there, if that's all true. Kind of remarkable, to be honest," Max said, turning back to getting things ready for the imminent firestorm to come.

For his part, Adam excused himself momentarily, and produced his laptop, balancing it carefully on one hand while he checked on something. The previous realization of him haring about Ambrosia on the Dataverse had prompted the idea to take a second look at something. Of course, when he did take that look at something, he was completely derailed and sidetracked by something else entirely. And that something else entirely may have just been something that brought him to a complete halt, literally and figuratively.

And then he just slowly lowered his gaze to stare intently at the screen of his laptop, the glare reflecting on his glasses hiding his eyes and most of his expression quite thoroughly. "I.... What...." He was at a loss for words, and his mouth opened and closed several more times, as if he was trying to find something to say -- or doing a very poor imitation of a fish out of water, if that was the way you looked at things -- before he just hurriedly typed out something or other, and shut the laptop again, stowing it back in its proper place.

He wasn't used to welcomes of the degree he'd just read, having never spoken to more than a handful of people in his life for the most part, and it left him more than a little shaken up.

Trying to shake the feeling off, he lifted up an inch or so off the ground and hovered over to check in on his penguin hosts, just now finishing getting things set up and loaded. "Sorry for not helping get things set up and all, I had a, uh..." He looked away, his expression twisting into something difficult to read. "....a thing to check on."

[Guu]

“Because your reaction was destined to be priceless.” The princess responded, but was quickly disappointed to find that Molly was too busy fangirling to react to Guu’s trolling. Minnie, eventually gave her an appreciative pat on the head, which was a little awkward considering the little girl had a good two feet on her.

“Always nice to meet an appreciative subject!” Minnie said, smiling.

“This is Molly. She lives here at the palace. She’s pretty much the adopted daughter of one of our prized members.” Guu explained. Minnie gave her a respectful curtsy.

“Nice to meet you Molly.” She said politely. The little girl attempted to return the courtesy, but was a little distracted by Guu’s bluntness in the introduction.

Before much awkwardness could proceed, Sylvia pops into the room, finally back into her normal gothic attire that kind of threw Minnie for a loop.

“Everything’s in order, Guu!” She said, uncharacteristically gleeful now that she was out of stuffy formal wear.

“Good.” The princess responded. She turned to Minnie. “Glad you went more casual in your attire.”

Suddenly, in a flash of light, her princess attire turned into her standard pink skirt and yellow scarf. Why she usually wouldn’t care, it was nice to feel the bottom of her bare feet against the carpet again. She shifted some toes just to make some fists with them.

“The locals like royalty that can cut loose a bit.” She said, her toes molding back into her blob feet. She does a few stretches, bending her arms in ways that shouldn’t be humanly possible, which was a little weird for the onlookers in this situation. “Anyways, time to go on a tour. Both Minnie and Molly.”

Guu lead them outfront where an immaculate carriage awaits them with two chocobos at the reigns. Minnie’s eyes widen with recognition.

“Chocobos? You have Chocobos here?” She said, surprised.

“Ah, you’ve heard of them? We have a ranch that breeds them.”

“Well,” the queen continued, reaching out to touch one of the birds, which pays her no mind. “I’ve encountered one or two on my travels.”

Guu, Minnie, Molly, and Sylvia climb into the carriage and they take off for town.


As they rode by, the citizens would bow and curtsy, once for Guu and another for Minnie. Turns out word had traveled far of the Queen’s presence. The Princess wastes no time pointing out some of the businesses. The group passed by the Sty and Fry, the gun shop that was still unloading (the princess noted the presence of Adam with her senses, but decided to hold off on that for now,) a market place where unusual plants of many kinds were on display and being sold. Eventually, she stopped the cart and drew the groups attention to one of the strange green colored fruits.

“This is Dame fruit. It’s our top-grossing product. It’s so bland to the taste, it makes anything you eat after taste five or ten times better.”

Suddenly, a strange man in a long overcoat with belts and pouches in unusual places confronted the cart. He was wearing a red top hat that was also covered in belts and pouches. He lifted up his sword, aiming it at Minnie mouse.

“Saw your tweets, Queen. I’m here for the bounty.” He said menacingly.

Minnie withdrew in terror. She had been found already!

“Come quietly or I will have to take you by-”

A hand grabbing onto his face suddenly interrupted him. Guu had taken her adult form and moved in to look at him directly. She lifted him up with that one hand and she tossed him up into the air. With one lightning fast punch, he was launched into the horizon, disappearing from sight.

Guu shifted back into her child form and turned back to the group.

“Shall we continue with the tour?”


-----


Max held the rifle in his wings, aiming carefully at a target dummy. He fired the gun, which sent the dummy up into the air and slammed hard against the ground.

“Suplex bullets.” He said placing the gun back on the rack. “The bullet, upon contact with the victim lifts ‘em up into the air in a loop de loop. Good for knocking enemies prone.”

Adam couldn’t believe what he just frikkin’ saw, but the penguin was hardly finished.

“Always working on the next big thing. Been working on a gun that headshots every time. Not going to fire that one off though, still working out the kinks with that one. Gets a little confused when more than one head is around.” He said. He brought a wing up to his beak and whispered out the next few words. “The misses doesn’t quite like that one.”

“But anyways, compatible for our standard magic round rifles and gats, you have all the basic elements. We’ve got hurricane force wind rounds, either one really strong gust for the rifle or thousands of little small gusts for the gats. We’ve got high pressure water rounds, ice rounds, lightning rounds, fire rounds… Though, that last one I doubt will be legal in Ambrosia for long so enjoy it while it lasts. Ooh, one of my personal favorites.”

He picked up one of the gatling guns and loads up a long line of color coded rounds. He lifts up, aims at the end of the hallway, and fires.

Fireworks suddenly fill the other end of the room, exploding continuously with every shot. After a few seconds of a light show, he eases up on the trigger. He turns to Adam and grins, or at least as much as you can grin with a beak.

“Fireless Fireworks. You could set this off indoors and nothing would burn.” He said, changing out the rounds. “Originally made it for weddings, but we’ve lost more friends because of it after actually using it in practice. However, I find it great for temporarily blinding enemies. Saved me in a pinch a few times.”

He moves over to one of the strange machines and yanks a cord. The motors inside whir to life.

“We have healing bullets, but that only works if you have a healing power to draw off of. We have a generator for that if you want to try it. But I have something that might be more up your alley.”

He called out his wife who stood at the other end of the range. Max pulls the trigger, the gats spinning to life. But as soon as the bullets started coming out, time suddenly slows to a craw. Alex was reminded of something out of the Matrix as the female penguin slowly motioned out of the way of each shot. He released the trigger and the last bullet slowly finishes it course before time moves normal again.

“Time function. Just makes a bubble of time and slows everything down. You may or may not have noticed that you yourself were slowed down as well. It’s good for being more accurate with the gats, but your opponent might be skilled enough to dodge ‘em. They’re mostly for show I guess. I also include light bullets in case you just want to have fun with friends. That’s what I used here. Not that eager to kill my wife yet. Haha.”

He places it back into it’s holder and turns to Adam.

“So which ones would you like to try out?”

[Mickey Mouse]

“…um.”

Minnie’s jaw had sufficiently dropped thanks to Guu’s display in the middle of the street. For a second, she simply floundered in wonder at the little girl—er, for a moment there, not so little—and her astonishing power, before suddenly it hit her.

“Oh. My. Gosh,” she exclaimed, leaping out of the carriage and rushing over to Guu. “Now I remember you from the Abyss! You’re… you’re so strong!”

She reached out to touch the princess, placing a gloved hand on her arm before thinking better of it and jerking away. Sure, she was a Queen in her own world, but here, she had to remember that she was nothing more than a simple citizen… worse, even, she was a refugee here in Ambrosia. Certainly Princess Guu wouldn’t want everyone just putting their hands all over her. That would be unladylike. “I… I’m sorry, Princess,” Minnie bowed her head, trying her best to curb her own regality in favor of Guu’s, “I meant no offense—”

“No offense at all,” Guu shrugged, “I’m not your normal ruler, Minnie.” The pink-haired princess reached out and touched the lady mouse on the shoulder. “Like I said, the locals like a ruler that can cut loose.” The Queen couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Thank you, Princess,” she replied meekly.

“Now, let’s get on with the tour!” Guu repeated, clapping her hands together and hurrying back into the carriage. Minnie followed quickly, sliding into a seat next to Molly, who still stared up at her in wonder.

“I… I’m glad you’re okay, Minnie,” the little girl said, reaching out and touching the lady mouse’s hand. Minnie’s first instinct was to recoil, but she thought better of it; sure, back in her homeland, she had been taught to avoid touching the common folk. In fact, she had been mostly completely devoid of interaction with anyone below her status until Mickey, Donald, and Goofy had come along to be her protectors. Her only friend had been Daisy, her loyal lady-in-waiting. But Mickey had always taught her that those ways were the wrong ways, no matter how much they had become ingrained into her being.

She sighed, thinking back on her husband. He had always been such a kind king, so good at reaching out to the commoners—she had always been in charge of relations between worlds, yes, but that was because she knew how to carry herself like a ruler. If she’d let Mickey do it, he would just end up having a bunch of fun and nothing would get done. But now… now, she had been freed of her queenly obligations, placed into the care of Guu and her guard.

For once in her life, she felt absolutely and utterly normal.

“Thank you, Molly,” she smiled, grasping the girl’s hand tightly. Minnie did not want to admit it, but she thought she might be starting to… like this place. Just a little bit.

“Oh, good,” Guu piped up, looking out the window, “Here’s the town square. Sylvia, go get everyone’s attention.” The teenager nodded and slipped out of the side of the carriage. Guu looked over at Minnie and Molly, who wondered what was going to happen next. After a beat of silence, the pink-haired princess hopped up onto the window of the carriage and stretched her arms up to the top. She pulled herself up onto the roof, disappearing from sight.

For a few seconds, Minnie and Molly sat in silence. Then, Guu’s head popped into the window.

“Aren’t you coming?” she asked, and the pair looked at each other before reaching out and grabbing on to one of the stretchy girl’s hands, which had just extended back into the carriage. Guu pulled the pair of girls up onto the roof of the carriage.

Down below, Sylvia had begun to gather a good chunk of the town around where they stood. The sheer amount of species that formed the crowd astounded Minnie; she supposed the Disney Realms, too, were comprised of many different types of creature, but the Queen had to admit she had never seen them all gathered in one place. Guu was certainly a special type of princess, to be able to draw all of these different peoples to her and have them live peacefully alongside one another. That type of thing, she had inferred, occurred infrequently in the Omniverse; just from her short time in Camelot, it seemed like most people had their preferences and if you did not fit within their idea of what a perfect creature was, then you would have a difficult time making your way.

Minnie and Molly flanked Guu, Minnie on her right and Molly on her left, as the princess prepared to speak to the crowd.

“Hey everyone,” Guu said, projecting her voice over the gathered group, “I just wanted to officially introduce you to our two newest guests, Molly, who you’ve met—” she gestured to the small girl “—and Queen Minnie Mouse of the… what’d you say it was?”

“Uh, the Disney Realms.”

“…Queen Minnie Mouse of the Disney Realms!” she gestured to the lady mouse, and then waited for the inevitable applause. It came tepidly, and then rose in enthusiasm. Guu nodded her approval before continuing. “Now, I’m sure you’ll all give Minnie a warm Ambrosia welcome. Allow me to do so first, though. Minnie,” she started, turning toward the Queen, “I know you were a queen in your home world, so it’s only natural you have some sort of royal standing here in Ambrosia. I can’t offer much, but I would like to ask you to be one of my advisors, as well as if you would be willing to accept the title of Lady of Ambrosia.”

Minnie’s cheeks flushed red. “…of course, Princess,” she nodded, trying to look as regal as she could manage in light of these new events.

Guu reached over and took Minnie’s hand in her own tiny one. “Ladies and gentlemen of Ambrosia, give a warm welcome to Lady Minnie Mouse!” The tiny girl lifted the mouse’s hand up into the air and the crowd erupted into cheers.

* * *

“So cool that you’re a Lady of Ambrosia now, Minnie!” Molly commented after the carriage had started on its way again.

“Yes,” Minnie nodded, reaching up and sliding her tiara off her head, “It’s very nice.”

The town of Ambrosia passed by the windows as they drove, Guu or Sylvia occasionally launching into a little explanation of the importance of a section of town. Minnie paid close attention, wanting to become familiar with her new home, but her thoughts drifted nonetheless. The more that happened in this city, the more the lady mouse felt that perhaps this stay would not be quite as temporary as she thought. Heck, she had just been given a title after being here for all of an hour and drawing a crazy murderous bounty hunter into town.

But Guu’s hospitality was unlike anything Minnie had ever witnessed. Truly, the girl already cared about her well-being, and the well-being of the rest of her citizens, to boot. Minnie had always been comfortable in her queenliness, but in just a short period of time she had already found so much to admire in the pink-haired princess. Certainly, balls and pretty dresses were important, but had she lost sight of the true joys of being a ruler in the midst of all the pomp?

Mickey had never lost sight of it. He had always cared about the people, even if it meant that sometimes Minnie felt like he might not care about her. Oh, shut up, she told herself. She knew that wasn’t true—of course he cared about her. He cared about her more than he cared about anything else. He was in love with her, and she certainly was head over heels in love with him. He just felt a responsibility to the world; like he needed to leave it in a better place than he had found it. That wasn’t to say that Minnie did not feel the same way… she merely had a different way of showing it. Less direct, perhaps.

But now… a second chance. The lady mouse had always had an inkling that perhaps getting pulled into the Omniverse had been something of a random happening, but recently, she had started to consider the idea that fate had brought them here. Something bigger than themselves wanted them to be here, to reunite, and to make a new life.

Maybe now, she could make up for all the missteps she’d made as queen. Maybe that was what Ambrosia could offer her. A home… and a shot at redemption.

The former queen stood up, losing her balance just a little as the carriage continued to rock along the Ambrosian roads. “Minnie!” Sylvia exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing the lady mouse by the arm, “you need to sit down while the carriage is moving.”

“Just a sec,” Minnie waved Sylvia off, leaning out the window. She looked at her tiara, letting the sun hit it just right so that it gleamed in the light of day. And then she looked out into the town, and she tossed the crown away. It landed off in a patch of dirt not too far away, but within seconds, the carriage had gone too far for her to see it anymore. Not even the sunlight’s gleam could distinguish it from the grass and the soil surrounding it. “There,” she said almost to herself, smiling.

“Oh, we’re here,” Guu noted as the carriage began to come to a stop.

“…where?” Sylvia asked. Guu ignored her, sliding past Minnie and exiting the carriage. The other three females followed her.

Standing before the princess and her pack of girls was a large, empty plot of grass, beautifully green just like everything else in this mystifying forest. Minnie reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out her matching bow, placing it atop her head as she observed the empty acre of land. “So…” she started, looking over at Guu, “what is it?”

“This, Lady Minnie,” the pink-haired princess replied, “is where you’ll be staying. If you’d like.”

Minnie’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“You can summon a house here, if you want,” Guu explained, “I think it only natural, now that you’re a Lady of Ambrosia, that you be given some land to do with what you will. Set yourself up something nice for you to settle down in… that is, if you’re planning on staying. I know you’re on the run, so I can understand if you feel the need to leave quickly. If that’s the case, you can continue sleeping in the room I’ve given you at the palace, but I thought I’d offer.”

Minnie contemplated for a second. It was so nice of Guu to just offer her land like that—like it was nothing. But what did that mean? Setting up a home here would mean admitting that her stay in the Omniverse was more than just temporary. It would mean admitting that just perhaps, her and Mickey’s hopes of finding a way out were just that: hopes.

Mickey wouldn’t like it. And even if she did settle down here, he probably would still go off and try to find out how to get them back home. But the lady mouse had decided.

“It’s beautiful, Guu,” she smiled, turning toward the princess, “I’ll absolutely take it.”

“Yay!” Molly exploded, rushing Minnie and attack-hugging her once again. “You should build the Clubhouse! It always looked so cool!” The Queen looked over at the little girl, wondering how the heck she even knew what Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse was. But… it wasn’t a bad idea.

“Sounds like a plan,” she smiled, holding up her hands and preparing to start summoning her and her husband’s old second home. The Castle had always been where they spent the majority of the time, but the Clubhouse had been fun for a vacation or when they needed to otherwise get away. “Guu,” she glanced over at the princess, “Maybe you can help me out a bit? This is gonna take a lot.”

The pink-haired princess nodded. Sylvia and Molly watched as the two royal women began to summon Minnie Mouse’s new home. With their combined effort, hopefully it wouldn’t take too awful long. About a half hour later, the Clubhouse stood as the newest building on Ambrosia’s already peculiar looking skyline.

Minnie Mouse could only smile. Maybe this could be home.

[Guu]

Molly’s eyes glimmered with excitement as she saw the clubhouse in its full glory.

“Oh my gosh it’s the clubhouse! It’s the actual clubhouse!” She said, now bouncing up and down with joy. Without asking, she darted inside, freaking out at every little thing. Minnie, a both happy but surprised at Molly’s forwardness, chose to smile at the little girl’s enthusiasm. However, her cute little moment was quickly interrupted. Guu was standing next to her, and arm stretched in front of her.

“You phone please.” The Pink princess said.

Without question, the mouse handed over her phone and Guu started tapping away at it in a lightning fast speeds. She was just about afraid her phone would break when the pink anomaly handed it back.

“There you go, you have an e-mail account with Ambrosia.com.” She said casually. “If you send an e-mail to another person with the same domain, the e-mail is a bit more secure from hacking. I’ll e-mail you the password.”

Minnie’s new password!

“Wow! Thanks Princess!”

“Feel free to just call me Guu.”

“Oh wow, us, alright, Guu!”

Suddenly, the princess called out to the house.

“Molly, it’s time to go!” She yelled in her bored tone. The little one poked her head out from the door.

“But… But… It’s the clubhouse!”

“You can visit any day Minnie allows. But for now, she needs to get settled in. Not to mention, it’s getting late and you haven’t had dinner yet.”

“Okay…” Molly said, sighing in defeat.

“Say Goodbye the Lady Minnie.”

The little one instead, moved in for another hug.

“Goodbye, lady Minnie!” She said joyful before climbing back onto the carriage with Guu. The two ride off together.

“I’ve got to get going myself.” Said Sylvia, who did not join in on the carriage. “Work to do. If you need any help with anything, your nearest neighbors are quite nice. Otherwise, you have our numbers.”

“Thank you, lady Sylvia.” Responded the mouse, the two bow politely before she left for her thing.


-----


A bit later, Guu and Molly were eating at the Sty and Fry; or more like it was just Molly. The little one was being very stringent about eating some of it, but she eventually got to it. She was rewarded with a plate full of mochi ice cream, which Guu explained was special ordered.

As Molly gobbled up the ice cream, the phone in Guu’s stomach started to ring. She pulled it out to find it’s from Sylvia.

“Hey Sylv. Careful how you call, you’ll wake the baby.”

“The baby is still an egg, she’s fine. Anyways, I’ve got good news! I’ve just gotten word from a messenger. The Orc Cheiftan Azuk want to discuss an alliance!”

The princess almost sort of couldn’t believe her ears at the tremendous good news that had pierced her eardrums. Only almost as it’s hard to be surprised anymore living in this town… not to mention her upbringing.

“When can this happen?” The pink one asked.

“Tomorrow afternoon. Probably 3-ish.”

“Why so soon?”

“Dunno, but the messenger said it had to be that time.”

“Well, send a message along that we’ll meet him. If he doesn’t mind having guards around.”

“Yes ma’am.”

She hung up and then started to type out a message for Minnie.

E-mail to Minnie!

But just as that e-mail got sent off, a cat person of sorts runs up to the princess.

“Guu, there's a large animal wandering onto the city and it's frightening people."

“Has the the creature attacked anyone yet?”

“No, not yet. But you probably should look into it just in case, your highness!”

Guu sighed. It’s been a busy day already. She turned to molly with an intense look on her face... well more than usual.

"Molly, warp back to the palace. Got a thing to take care of."

She stuffs one of the mochi in her mouth and pulled out her phone. With a few solid clicks, she puts it back and give her a thumbs up.

With that, Guu darted off with the cat man.

10 minutes from now, Molly teleports back to the mansion, not that Guu ever sees that.


-----


As soon as the newcomer was with range of her senses, she passed an order to the cat man.

“I can handle it from here. I have something I need you to do.”

“What is it ma’am?”

“Go to the Gun shop, find Adam Gaite, lead him to one of the vacant houses for him to stay at and make sure he gets there safe. Tell him I’m sorry for not meeting him tonight and that I will welcome him tomorrow.”

“Yes ma’am!”

And with that, the two parted. Guu ran off to collect some back-up.

[Gildarts]

Molly was wrapped up in the excitement as time flashed by. She had stood by Minnie nearly the entire time, which offered the Queen some complete support from the mouse's number one fan!

Minnie was now a lady of Ambrosia, which seemed to make the mouse even more wondrous in Molly's freshly beaming eyes. Minnie looked even better with a glittering balanced tiara between her ears and now, the child's dream had come true, when Minnie had agreed to make her visit to Ambrosia, a permanent one.

Suddenly, appearing before the young girl's eyes was Minnie's new home. Bright vibrant color bounced from the walls as the scent of fresh grass and a clean breeze washed over her.

Big ears sprouted from the top of the domed building, donned in red and scattered with a few blue windows. After some brief exploring, Molly left her 'mark' on the fridge, leaving a little note to the mouse who might, upon a stray glance, notice the note, signed by "Molly, your number one fan!"

A little time had passed and by the short hand of the clock, Molly had been reminded of the growling ache of her empty stomach. Guu nodded with a half-mothering, half-understanding glance to the girl before reminding her that even fangirls needed to eat. A gigantic embrace left the little girl with a great big smile that lasted for the entire carriage-ride as she arrived to the diner with Princess Guu.

FREE ICE-CREAM!!!!

Was on her mind as she gobbled down the sweet soupy blend of chocolate and strawberry cream. As a phone rang from Guu's stomach, Molly still wondered how the whole "void in the princess's stomach" worked, but thought it would be rude to ask. To her surprise, the phone worked, and seemed to be free of any other food Guu may have eaten that day. Perhaps it's extra storage? Molly decided before realizing that Guu was a busy princess!

Before the girl knew it, she had settled in for the night in the Pokute Palace and wrapped herself in a fuzzy purple bathrobe, happy to be home again.

[The Dreamer]

Continued from "The Hunt for Home"

What the hell is with this trail. This isn't even funny anymore.

Emerald had stopped to catch her breath for the third time. The trail was much longer than she had expected it to be, so she had to stop after running at full speed for a while. As she came to a halt, she stepped over to the side of the trail, panting like the dog she had become. Maybe the shape of a dog wasn't the smartest idea. Dog's can naturally sweat, so that added a lot of heat to her body that need to be expelled, and with that came more exhaustion. She sat down to collect herself and calm her breathing. There was more to go, and she was not planning on stopping any time today.

She looked at the sky above, noticing the sun starting to lower and the sky turning reddish.

I'm sure a shit not staying the night laying in the forest. She looked around at the lush greenery to the sides of the trail. Beauty often meant danger when it came to nature, and she certainly saw a lot of it; beauty that is. Yeah, that's a definite no on camping out.

After a few minutes, she began to run again, full speed ahead. As she moved, she began to see an end to the trail. Well it's about damn time. She picked up the pace ever so slightly as relief washed over her and her exhaustion.

Reaching the end of the trail, she came upon the edges of what looked to be farms filled with crops, as well as a few pens of yellow bird-like creatures. Nothing like what she'd seen before on Earth, but with all the shit she'd seen so far, she had little energy left to be shocked.

She continued down the path between the crop fields, padding along on her large greyhound paws, taking in her surroundings more... And all the creatures that seemed to drop what they were doing at the sight of her and run to their homes. What the hell is their problem? She huffed and moved along.

Although not all the animal-people seemed as scared as the rest, looking more angry in addition to fearful. Three even stepped up to block her way as she walked, pitchforks in hand... or hoof rather, as they seemed to be at least part pig.

She stopped and looked each in the eye, What the fuck do you think you're doing? She barred her teeth, waiting to see what these nitwits might try. She wasn't even close to full strength after the long day she'd had, but versus three little piggies with some pitchforks, she could blow them away.

She shifted to a canine form with a bit more muscle, and a little more fur.

[Roger Smith]

For once since arriving in this bizarre little village, Adam wasn't left entirely speechless with confusion and weirdness that was a little much even for him. Not to say he wasn't left speechless, mind you. It's just now it was with a combination platter of awe, wonder, and outright amazement. He had thought he'd made some nifty little inventions back in his game session, but what he had just seen put most of his own weapons to shame, even improvised as they had been at the time. He'd never really had the resources to make anything beyond the necessities, due mostly in part to his own constant desire to not waste time gathering said resources, but even if he had....well, he wouldn't have been able to come up with half of what he had just seen.

"Man...that's a hell of a selection you got there," the red-clad former god of time finally managed to say, snapping out of his awed daze. "You come up with all of the ideas for those and make 'em all yourself?"

Max merely flashes a knowing smirk, which was hard to pick up on because of the whole beak thing. "Now, that'd be telling, don't you think? Gotta keep some secrets about the manufacturing, now."

"Yeah...guess so." A smarter and possibly more aware person than Adam might have realized it would be easy enough to pick apart the mentioned manufacturing secrets just by studying the physical designs of the items. And that possibly it was a slightly more polite way of telling him to mind his own business. "But, yeah, about trying out some of these..."

It's tough to resist the intense urge to dismantle -- probably very messily -- both the firearms and their respective ammunition just to see what makes them tick, in the most literal sense. As much as he adores wasting time tinkering with anything that offers the potential for excessive noise, flash, death and/or collateral damage, he has the distinct feeling it would just be...rude to go about taking apart the obviously well-made and advanced implements of long-range death-dealing. Or at least distraction-dealing. Snipe-distracting? Distract-sniping? ....he'd need to make up a word for that later.

He was also reminded that he needed to look into getting his sylladex up and running again....maybe all the fancy gadgets and gizmos from his SBURB session, too...once he got a place to keep them stowed. They could help him come up with all kinds of shiny new things that would probably get him in more trouble than anything else. He didn't want a repeat of his rogue spider-walker incident....he had the distinct feeling Rhys was still a little steamed at him about that one.

It seems like it's only a few minutes of excited activity on Adam's part, but for once in his complicated young life, he loses track of how much actual time passed, and is soon cradling one arm in the other, the resting appendage feeling like it was one massive bruise after he'd tried to fire a gatling gun one-handed. The fact he'd even been able to lift it at all with one hand was remarkable enough, but now he just felt silly. The fact Max and Delilah weren't laughing at his predicament only served to prove they were either much better people than Adam was, or they were just waiting to laugh about it later.

But soon enough, the red-clad youth was having a much more intricate discussion with the pair of penguins after taking a hand at most of the weapons on display. "...gotta say, that's a really interesting way of working out that whole time slowing concept. Normally something like that'd take a whole lot more power, but working it out to those specifications....yeah, that's kind of genius. Without an external source of temporal interference or something, it'd normally be pretty weak...I'm impressed."

"Can't say it was easy to get worked out and operational, but the end result was worth it, I guess," Max says simply, his light shrug failing to completely hide the pride etched across his beak.

Further conversation is interrupted by a new arrival. "Excuse me?" The voice drifted down clearly enough, grabbing the attention of all three occupants of the underground room. "I'm looking for...Adam Gaite?"

Adam hesitated for only a moment, head tilting slowly to one side as a thousand and one different things went through his head. The fact that someone was looking for him by name was a little unsettling, but given the relative strangeness he'd seen so far it was...easy enough to come up with some kind of reason. "Yeah. That'd be me." He floated forward toward the cat man as he spoke up, flexing his sore arm to try and alleviate the steadily-increasing stiffness. "Whatcha need?"

"Ah, yes, hello!" The cat man nodded his head at Adam. "Princess Guu wished to let you know that she apologizes for not being able to meet you in person tonight, but she will do so tomorrow, and asked that in the meantime I lead you to a vacant home you are welcome to stay in."

Adam merely tilted his head back in surprise, a sharp glare conveniently catching on his glasses hiding the dumbfounded, wide-eyed stare that split his face. The name Guu rung a bell, and given his current surroundings it wasn't hard to hazard a guess as to where from: the Dataverse, yet again. That she was apparently a princess was something that he felt should have been much more surprising than it was, but surprise and disbelief were rapidly losing their punch on him. More bizarre, though, was that Guu had been able to discern his location to send a messenger to meet him.

"....is everything...alright?" The cat man spoke up again, looking absolutely baffled by Adam's reaction.

"Oh, uh...yeah. Everything's fine. That's just about the third shocking chunk of information I've had hit me in the face in the past couple hours. Kinda reeling from everything."

"Well...alright then."

Adam turned back to the pair of penguins, lifting his sore arm in a brief wave, wincing at the discomfort it caused. "Well, I'll be seein' you guys around at some point. I'll definitely be back by when you get this place open for business." Turning back to the cat man, Adam merely gestured back toward the outside with a nod of his head. "Lead the way."

[Guu]

“Stand down.”

The pigs turned to see the origin of the voice was Princess Guu herself. They immediately turned away and knelt before her. She stepped forwards, never breaking eye contact with the beast.

She had a sneaking suspicion about the new guest to town. She stepped ever closer. Suddenly, with a flash of light, she transforms into the very same wolf creature, except a lot more pink and a bit smaller. Emerald looked on at the new form before her with curiosity. Guu pressed her nose against her’s and Emmy sniffed her.

After a few minutes of that, the princess stepped back and shifted to her human form, never breaking eye contact.

“Do you have a human form?”

[The Dreamer]

Emerald felt a bit of joy as she saw the three little pig people tremble. Such easy prey. She snuffed through her snout, and the pig people stepped back slightly. She grinned, baring her teeth a little more. I doubt they even know how to use those things on anything that could even fight back.

As Emerald was going to step forward, further towards the piggies to scare them off, a small child quickly moved in behind them. For one so small, her voice boomed as she demanded the pig people to stand down. They moved quickly to kneel before her, as if she was someone of leadership. What is this, Queen Piggy?

Emerald braced herself for conflict, for with such command over others, this child must have some power.

Instead, Emerald felt surprise as the child mimicked her form with a flash of pink light, matching each detail as if it was second nature for her. Interesting. The child in wolf form stepped very close Emerald, resulting in a touch of snouts. Emerald huffed as the gesture, stepping back as the shapeshifting child returned to a her humanoid form.

[float=right]"Do you have a human form?[/float]


"Of course I have a human form." Emerald responded from her canine mouth with a tinge of exasperation. Her body turning into green light, then reforming into her human form, Emerald continued. "Although, regardless of what form you may possess, you should watch how you act towards another creature." Emerald was confounded that one who could so easily take the form of a canine would not know how to properly portray themself as one. "I mean, any other canine would have most likely take what you just did as an invitation to rip your face off." She looked over the child again, noting her power more completely in her human form. "Or at least try to. You do seem like someone who could fend off such an attack though."

Emerald looked over the body of the child a number of times during the pause between herself and the child, but she could not find any indication of what she was looking for.

"So what exactly are you? Cause you certainly aren't a Gem. I don't see anything that resembles a gemstone on you body."

Oh and she almost forgot.

"And seeing as you aren't a Gem, that would mean you have a name. What is it?"

[Guu]

This whole gem stuff was giving her a sense of deje vu, probably because it reminded her with that whole mess with the doors, how everything referred to her as "Cubic Zirconia" and there was shapeshifting monkies. She wondered if this woman had anything to do with that. Either way, might be useful to have around for that virtue alone.

"My name is a Guu. Or Princess Guu what they call me around here." She said plainly. "Do you have a name, or does your kind not have names?"

[The Dreamer]

Princess Guu huh? So she is royalty then. While not a common thing on Earth anymore, there was a time where most people allowed themselves to be ruled by a family they considered royalty. although they often seemed to think they were a cut above the rest. Emerald hoped this was not the case with this one, otherwise they would not mesh well together. In nature, no one was inherently above another. Each played their roles and that was what allowed things to move forward.

"My name is Emerald." She smiled, showing her gem to the stranger. "As per the fact that my gem is an emerald. that is how all Gems are named." Choosing her words, Emerald did not wish to reveal too much information in case this conversation became something a little more hostile. Knowledge is power after all.

The child, Guu, responded with unexpected politeness, but was also very hurried in her words. "It is nice to meet you Emerald. I'm sorry that I can't give you the full tour right now, but my friends will escort you to place where you can wait for when I can. She turned to two very large creatures that had appeared behind her during their conversation and gestured to them. With that gesture as a command of sort, they moved towards Emerald and proceeded to push her slightly from behind, walking her towards the town.

"Very well then. I expect to see you again soon." While she was quite well versed in the advantages of patience, as she often was the predator in various situations, she did not know the lay of the land she was being 'escorted' through and that made her uneasy. She wasn't going to argue with Guu though. Emerald didn't think she would win.

So she played along her two 'escorts' walked her towards a large pink building and in to the forest like area at it's rear.

Okay so maybe this wait won't be so bad. She darted into the forested backyard of the palace with eagerness.

[Guu]

With that, Guu went home to get settled in for the night. Slowly, lights all over Ambrosia were going out as each person hit the hay for the night, with only a handful pulling an all night gaming session.

Adam was silently brought lead by the cat man. The floating red human slowly began to get paranoid that maybe following this stranger was a bad idea. However, before that thought could cross his mind any further, the cat man stopped.

"Welcome to your house!" He said, spreading his arm out to a the building in front of him.

It was a two story victorian house with the top floor being two bedroom and a bathroom space and bottom being the standard kitchen/living room set.

The cat man hands him a brochure.

"That brochure covers the basics, and it links to site with our full history and values. Give it a look over when you can." He bows politely to Adam. "Welcome to Ambrosia! Have a good night!"

He runs off, leaving Adam alone with his new house.

-----


The city was peaceful under the night sky. Everyone was in their homes, the streets were empty and barren... Well, besides one person sneaking around in the dark...

[Yu Kanda]

Kanda has been walking through the dark forest for a long while now, following the directions Matilda Waltz gave him. It shouldn't take him much longer, if what Matilda said was true. The darkness made it difficult for him to orientate through the dense forest. There must have been an easier route, but this was the direction the small creature pointed him to, so best thing is to follow it through. With his hands he cleared a path in front of him making sure the leaves and branches didn't slam his face. A large leave is about to get moved by hi, but before Kanda did so he heard a noise on the other side, instantly changing his way of moving. Slowly he moved the leave enough for him to create an opening he could observe through.

Ahead of him was a small campfire providing light for the two silhouettes who sat near the flickering fire. He could not really tell who or what they were, so he decided to take a closer look. Could it be he just walked a large circle and made his way back to Mr. Layton and Ruby ? Slowly he closed the opening between himself and the strangers, lowering the leave back to its original position and covering the opening. Without making a sound Kanda worked his way around the camp, moving from bush to tree, tree to rock, making sure they wouldn't notice his presence.

He managed to silently and unnoticed by the two campers, hide behind a bush beside the camp. Closing his eyes and focused on his hearing he attempted to listen, yet the noises he was hearing didn't sound as a cheerful young girl nor did it resemble Mr. Layton's voice. Some grunting could be heard combined with the sound of food getting devoured in an uncivilized way. Slowly he moved his head towards the side of the bush and saw two green skinned creatures, large, muscular and anything but a friendly face could be seen off the two brute looking creatures.

'If this is a taste of what Ambrosia is like..' The negative thoughts were filling Kanda's mind as he went to hide behind the bush again. Waiting for the right moment to sneak off once again. Sharpening his senses he waited, counted. Just when the closest brute reached for another piece of meat, he had his shoulder turned towards their observer, Kanda quickly moved towards the large tree and moved behind it. If only it went this smoothly. When he moved behind the tree he bumped into something and took a step back. The exorcist looked up, above him another green unfriendly face looked down at him, and he did not look happy. The green muscled creature dropped the logs of wood it was carrying with a displeasing grunt and reached for the axe on the side of his leather belt.

'Great, just my luck' was the only thought Kanda got a chance to create before he had to take action. With a swift movement he placed both of his hands on top of the much larger axe grabbing hand, pushed it down in order to create some momentum in order to flip over his path blocking obstacle. Without much trouble he moved over the orc and landed on both his feet behind the savage creature, which turned the second Kanda landed, swinging his axe towards the blue haired spy. He was in luck the swing was so very slow, plenty of time for him to dash off, so he did. Using his speed and agility he continued to rush through the forest. An angry growl could be heard in the distance. The faint light provided by the moon and stars did not really help much to navigate within the dense forest, yet he wasn't planning on waiting until he got caught. Rolling underneath a low hanging branches , jumping over a bush Kanda thought he had lost his pursuer. He took a moment to catch his breath as he looked behind him. Even though he didn't see anything suspicious he could still hear their grunts in the distance.

'This place just keeps getting better and better' turning around and passing the next tree he stopped. He was at the edge of the forest, ahead of him he saw large fields, probably where they farm and work the lands. Behind the fields he saw it...The city if Ambrosia. It must be Ambrosia, he couldn't imagine another city this scale could be this close. To his right he saw a road leading up towards the city, but obviously he wouldn't walk up to the front door and knock. He looked towards the sky and waited for a large cloud to start covering the moon and blocking its faint light. A shadow started to grow with it over the fields, perfect for the infiltrator to start moving. Staying within the shadows he dashed over the fields, staying between tall grass and the wheat's. Seeking cover any way he can in order to close in on the town.

Finally he reached the town's border yet he stayed hidden in the grass. He quietly observed. 'No guards? Strange'. He leaped from his hiding place onto one of the rooftops. While he was in the air he got a strange sensation within his stomach. 'Someone's here !' the second Kanda landed he stayed low and looked around him. He was sure he was being watched. The strange feeling wasn't there for long nor could he see anyone or anything around him. Perhaps it's this place, playing tricks on his mind. He slowly got up and jumped over to the next roof. Careful, like a shadow, he moved from rooftop to rooftop, using the darkness as his ally and moving in closer to the large building that the town was build around. Surely that's the place for him to find answers.

It did not take him long before reaching the last rooftop from the town. unfortunately for the infiltrator he did not reach the wall off the palace, there was still a large jungle between him and the palace. 'Are you joking ? what kind of city is this'. He was about to jump into the jungle when he saw something moving. Kanda quickly ducked for cover, slowly peeking his head out to see who or what was moving down there. He rubbed his already tired eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Below him there was a creature he couldn't even properly describe. Kanda's eyes which usually stay sharp and focused now screamed "are-you-freaking-kidding-me". Not even akuma have looked this strange. It was a light blue skinned creature with no arms, short legs, and enormous ears. It was basically a walking head. It looked harmless, but a walking head nonetheless. What kind of bizarre world did he get dragged into ? ' Best not to startle the poor creature and let it pass' It wasn't very fast and it was just going on its way.

Once it was gone Kanda got up and headed down towards the jungle. The second he placed his left foot on the grass he felt it again, that pit feeling in his stomach as if someone was right behind him watching him. He drew his sword and quickly turned around, only to face the wall of the building he just jumped down from. Something wasn't right, none of this is right. It made Kanda feel uneasy to say the least. He returned the sword in its scabbard and moved into the jungle. The noises around him made him uncomfortable and slowed him down. No longer did he have steady pace but moved from tree to tree, observing everything around him. He was slowly closing in to the large building in the centre. A bush started to move on his left, he pressed himself against a tree and peeked around the corner. The same kind of creature he saw earlier came out from the bushes but this one was allot taller, it was huge!. ' This is getting ridiculous, they grow this big ?!' he kept his body pressed against the tree and countered the creature's movement by moving around the tree in the opposite direction. The confused exorcist took one last look as the large eared creature went on its way.

It didn't take Kanda much longer to finally reach the wall surrounding the large building. A quick scan revealed an open window and still no patrols. He saw his chance and he took it. Jumping on top of the wall and leaping toward the building Kanda gracefully made his way up to the open window. He moved the pink curtains aside as he looked inside. It was a bedroom, a large bed which seemed to be empty, a mirror, a beauty table and closets filled the room. It all looked so harmless and innocent but he just couldn't shake this strange feeling off of him. He slowly made his way to the door, his hand reaching for the handle, and then it hit him. The intimidating feeling behind him was back, this time it was allot more intense, as if two bright pink eyes were lurking in the darkness behind him.

'AHUM' a throat was cleared behind the infiltrator. Slowly he turned his head towards the source of the sound. There she was, a pink haired girl with her hands in her side glaring at the black coat wearing exorcist.

[Roger Smith]

A strange sense of unease had slowly settled over Adam as the realization slowly -- very slowly, given his scatterbrained mindset after the barrage of information and strange revelations of the day -- dawned on him that he was effectively following a complete stranger. He wasn't really concerned, even with his less than optimal condition, but it was moderately worrying that he was of such a mindset.

Of course that train of thought crashed somewhere in a muddy ditch when the cat man indicated a building they had stopped in front of. Tilting his head back, Adam looked up at it, looking distinctly impressed with the whole thing. It reminded him of his old home, back on Earth. Before the game.

.....kind of.....not really. It was a house though. That was good enough.

He looked back down to earth, taking the brochure as it was offered. The brief description earns only a brief look from the cat man....to the brochure...and back again. "Oh. Well...cool. That'll probably come in handy. Thanks." As the feline man bows and heads off, the Heir of time can only stare off into space blankly, looking more confused now than ever before.

But then he just sort of shrugged, and inside he went.

[Guu]

Suddenly, Guu’s left arm wrapped around Yu Kanda, binding him tightly to the point that he couldn’t move his arms. With a tight tug, he found himself flat on his ass. The man reeled in shock to suddenly be bound with someone’s arm as the rope, but he quickly regained his composure.

She drags him down the hall and into a room full of TV screens. She glanced at him before turning on one of the sets. She put on some random cop show and forced him to watch.

Just as the episode they were watching finished an intense interrogation scene, Guu suddenly positioned herself in front of the exorcist. She points a fingerless arm towards the screen.

“Pretend that just happened to you.” She said. Then she turns to look him directly in the eyes. “Now tell me your secrets.”

“I… uh... Okay.” He said. He probably would have told her anyways; not like he had anything to lose for being truthful. “My name is Yu Kanda. I was curious about your kingdom, so I thought I would check it out for myself.”

“By breaking and entering…” She said, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

“Well, yes actually.”

Suddenly, she dragged him out of the room and further down the hall. She snags a long wooden board along the way and heads into the kitchen. Placing the toaster on the corner of an island, she balances the board on the cooking device. Then she fills up a cup with water from the sink (splitting her right in two when needed) and carefully places it on one end of the board.

“What are you-”

But Guu placed an arm against his mouth and shushed him before he could finish the sentence. Then she stepped back and plummeted an arm down into the vacant end of the board, rocketing the cup of water into the air and directly impacting on Yu’s face. As he shook off a lot of the water, the pink princess moved to stare him in the eyes again.

“Talk.” She said, intensely.

“There’s not much to it. That god summoned me to this realm not too long ago. I don’t fully understand everything here.”

Suddenly, She pulled him onto his feet, forcing him to suddenly regain his balance. The princess stretched her arm over to the counter and grabs a banana cream pie. With a long swinging arm, she splats it into his rear end, covering his butt with whipped cream and filling.

“Talk!” She yelled.

Yu couldn’t hold it back. The pure humiliation of the events so far have finally taken its toll on his facial expression. The pokute desperately move in to try to wipe up the little clumps of cream that land on the kitchen tile.

“I’m sorry.” He said, defeated, his honor tarnished.

Guu sighed; she had enough. The look on his face killed the fun of it.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

She dragged him down the hall, leaving a trail of cream on the carpet, adding a bit more panic to the pokutes' disposition.


-----


Molly was in her nightshirt, sitting along side Guu and Yu Kanda. They were watching Mickey Mouse cartoons. Yu was in a new pair of pants, his usual pair probably in the wash. He wasn’t quite sure why he wasn’t bound anymore or why he was suddenly watching cartoons with his captor and her… daughter? Sister? However he was glad the situation was disarmed and the friendly atmosphere cut his shame down a little bit. Only a little. Molly laughed hysterically while gorging herself with popcorn.

“The building ducked out of the way!” Molly exclaimed, snorting under her jubilation.

Suddenly, Sylvia bursts into the room, probably woken by the noises.

“Molly! What are you still doing up?” She yelled.

“Well…” Molly thought hard for an excuse. “I saw Guu was up so I thought-”

“Guu doesn’t need sleep, you do! Get to bed, now!”

Molly sighed heavily and made her way towards her bedroom. Sylvia finally took notice of the man sitting next to Guu.

“Princess, who is that guy?” The gothic second command asked.

“She’s the Princess?” Yu asked in bafflement.

“Oh, found him breaking and entering.” She said casually, moving in to turn the TV off. Sylvia was less calm.

“And you’re just watching cartoons with him?” She asked, exasperated.

“Oh, I was a little rough on the interrogation, so I cut him some slack.”

“Some slack? He could be a threat!”

“Nah, I determined he’s not. Just some lost dude, didn’t know any better.”

“At least take him to the dungeon or something.”

“But I don’t wanna.” The princess said, she stretches her arm over to pet his hair.

“He’s just gonna get off scott free?” Sylvia said, now furious.

“Not the way interrogated him. fufufu”

She gives Guu a glare of a thousand fires.

“Geeze relax, he’s getting community service.”

“Good. See to it that he does.” She said, heading back for bed, satisfied.

The princess sighed and turned to Yu.

“I was going to get to that eventually. Sylvia takes my trolling so seriously.” She said, shrugging. She grabs Yu by the hand and tugs him to his feet. “Come on, let’s find out what you’ll be doing.”


-----


Guu had brought him down to some sort of records rooms full of cabinets and junk. She put on a pair of reading glasses that clearly had no lenses in them as she pulls out a file and sits down at the desk.

“Alright, we got janitorial, farm hand, toilet cleaner…”

“Actually, your highness,” Yu began humbly, “After my failure at subterfuge earlier, I want a chance to redeem myself. Could you give me an information gathering mission?”

Guu thought for a minute.

“Not sure what you could do right now.”

“I saw some orcs camped outside of town. I could look into them further.”

“That’s not too shocking. We have a diplomacy thing tomorrow with one Orc Chieftain, and the tribes not under his control won’t be too happy with that.” She responded, trying not to say more than what was common knowledge. “Probably scouts to look into things.”

“Well, let me look into the orcs, see what they are planning.”

“I dunno, not convinced of your stealth ability…”

“Please, Princess,” Yu said, almost begging, “Give me this chance.”

The two share a stern look. After a few lingering seconds pass, she concedes.

“Fine.” She reaches over to the shelves and pulls something off of it. She suddenly cuffs something to his wrist. It’s a little device with a screen attached to a light chain. It’s currently hooked to his cuff, but it looks like it could be pull off and put back on to his convenience. “That’s a communication device so I can keep track of you. Just tap my image and it’ll call me or one of my associates.”

“Woah, this is an odd machine.” He said, toying with it for a bit.

“Do this mission for us and that’ll count towards your Community Service. I’ll even brief you about the Omniverse a bit, but save it for your return. Got to keep a carrot on a string.” She said with a chuckle.

“Thank you Princess, you won’t regret this!” He said.

He immediately gets a move on, leaving the princess alone. Guu, waits until he disappears from his senses before leaving the room herself.

Despite not needing sleep, it does feel nice, so she decides it was time to get more of it. She headed for Molly’s room, she figured she could sleep in her room the rest of the night, assuming they don’t get stuck in the endless loop of watching cartoons on Youtube.

[Gamzee Makara]

Gamzee and his new secondary, Karkat, have been walking for a while.

Like. A long while. An hour and a half or so, give or take.

Karkat is still reeling from the implications of his presence here. Oh man, everything must be going to shit on the meteor without him. His mind cannot even fathom the amount of chaos going down. Mass anarchy, mass shitty interspecies shipping, mass fruity rumpus parties. It has yet to hit the troll about the finality of this place. Thinking about the Omniverse and how it works only succeeds in making his head hurt. He supposes that that’s probably how Gamzee is so laid-back about the ramifications of all of this; he just doesn’t think about it. That’s probably why the clown is so laid-back about everything. He doesn’t think.

The tall, easy-going juggalo, to his credit, is contemplating absolutely jack-shit. He’s just doing his own thang, every now and then taking the time to talk to his buddy about some cool shit he’s sees in the thicket: a colourful plant, a tiny little critter, or just any old oddity. Miracles abound. Everything is clearer in the moonlight man.

It is such that, after an hour and a half of walking and one sided conversation, the duo walk through a bit of jungle that looks more...Orderly. The previously dense vegetation and overgrowth that blanketed the landscape was gone, and in its place were organized lines of different trees, most of which bore fruit. Fruit that the trolls had never seen before, certainly not on their home planet of Alternia. Their stomachs gurgled in unison. Neither of them had had anything to eat since they arrived in the Omniverse, and the sudden presence of this bounty was pretty tempting. But-

Oh God they’re already eating.

“Hey buddy, check this one out.”

“That thing looks suspiciously like a human phallus and I refuse to even consider putting it anywhere near my mouth.”

“Aw c’mon bro, it can’t be all that motherfucking bad.”

*chomp*

The fool troll takes a huge bite out of an unspoiled banana he found on the ground, peel and all. He chews it a little, seeming to savor it, and swallows.

“See? Shit’s not too damn bad. I mean, it ain’t faygo or nothin’, but it’s food!”

Karkat gives him a skeptical look, and then examines some of the trees. He finds a red, shiny apple on a low-hanging branch, and plucks it from the stem. He raises an eyebrow, and then holds the apple to his nose, sniffing it. Tentatively, the secondary takes a large chunk out of the apple.

*CHOMP*


He chews with more enthusiasm than he wanted to, but damn it has been so long since he had anything this savory and juicy to eat. Karkat blinks, and then looks down. Oh.

“Where’d the damn fruity thing go?”

Karkat looks up at his friend, who is staring at him with wide eyes and mouth agape.

“You ate that motherfucker up, yo! Haha do that wicked shit again!”

“Oh bullshit give me the apple back.”

The high-blood shrugs and points to another apple, closer to the ground than his fruity brethren.

“Hey man that was all you. Getcha another Kar-Bro!”

So the two make their way through the orchard, picking and chomping as they go, until the trees came to an end. Once the trees came to an end, the buildings began. And boy, were there buildings. Tall ones, squat ones. And a pink one. A very big, very odd, pink manse, that the two could see all the way from the outskirts.

"Gamzee, you didn't tell me we were going to a town."

"Uh...We were going to a town?"

"Well what would you call this collection of motley buildings and establishments?”

“Man I dunno. Could be a village. Don’t think it’s big enough to be called a city or anything though.”

“I don’t understand how you function. Your brain, it’s just not even there. It can’t be. If it was, you wouldn’t be saying the things you say. They literally require the absence of a brain.”

The laid-back troll shrugs and yawns, stretching his arms out high.

“Hey man, I just reply to them questions you be all throwing at me and junk. Damn I’m about tired though. Creating miracles from the miracles inside of you can take it out of you lemme tell you man.”

“Very little of that made sense, but at this point that’s all I can expect from you and this fucked up universe. But you have a point, it’s late and I’m exhausted. As long as this town isn’t full of things that’ll kill us, I say we stay here the night, and maybe see if anyone here can help us in the morning.”

“Sounds like a plan only my best bro could come up with.”

[Gamzee Makara]

Eventually, the dirt path gave way to cobblestone. The buildings were so hodgepodge, as if each one was of a different era or universe. Some fit together, as if they were of similar origin. Others, not so much.

Gamzee walks up to a random house, of a pale red paint design, and goes to knock as loudly as he can in the middle of the night. The stubby horned troll is a little late on the draw, and only barely manages to pull his tall friends arm away from the oaken door.

“What the fuck are you doing dumbass?!” Karkat hisses as quiet as he can. “It’s probably maybe like fucking one in the morning. Do you want to get kicked out of town?”

Before that rhetorical question could process in the violet-blood’s exhausted mind, his friend continues.

“Listen, lets go see if we can find somewhere legal to stay. Like a hotel, or an inn. Or a bench if it comes to that.”

And without another word, he grabs the high-blood’s arm and drags him down the street.

Eventually, they come across a building that is still surprisingly well lit, lanterns outside and all. A wooden sign swings from the second story. It’s too dark to read it, but they both assume it is the name of the establishment. Cautiously opening the wooden door, the young Vantas pokes his head through the door.

He’s a bit surprised with what he finds. A very homey tavern-type establishment. There are several strange creatures (one or two of them human) sitting around a round table. Other tables are scattered about in the cozy room, but this is the only one currently occupied. Gamzee’s head appears in the crack of the doorway above Karkat’s, showing the difference in height between the two. The duo of trolls tentatively step into the room, the taller of the two shutting the door behind them. The group at the table barely acknowledge their presence, and the Barkeep just nods in their direction before saying a few simple words.

“Welcome. Here to rent, or to drink and eat?”

He was addressing the both of them, but the low-blooded troll honestly was a bit at a loss for words. He had no money, no bearings, no knowledge of the town. He didn’t even know what the name of this establishment was.

It was Gamzee that spoke up. “We’d like a room my man. Something simple, just enough for me and my friend to stay the night.”

And that was that. The rest went by in a blur. Karkat witnessed a strange form of transaction that he didn’t fully understand. Gamzee wouldn’t give him any other answers than “Naw brother it’s just the miracles inside ya” and he felt it a faux pas to ask the barkeep what constituted as currency in this world. The barkeep, who still hadn’t given his name, showed the trolls up to their room. It was small. And wooden. Lots of wood. The floor was wooden, the bedframe was wooden, there was a wooden chair in the corner, and the bedside table was wooden. The mattress might’ve been wooden except for the fact that oh my god its actually kinda comfy. Gamzee flopped face first onto the bed, his long legs still hanging off and touching the floor. Karkat give him an incredulous look.

“Gamzee?”

Silence.

Karkat lightly kicks his fellow troll in the shin.

The clown begins to lightly snore. He fell asleep half-way off the friggen bed. The secondary troll sighs, and looks around the room. Not really much to it. There’s a nice sized window on the wall opposite the bed. Tilting his head, he walks up to it, and experimentally pushes on the glass. It opens. With a heave, the cherry-blooded troll vaults onto the shingled roof of the inn. He looks up, and begins to think. He thinks so hard, his head starts hurting again and damn he just wants to go back to his friends, and bring his dumb juggalo with him. But oh no, there’s no use crying about it now. The two trolls were going to survive the trials of this Universe and they WILL get back to their friends. He and Gamzee, together, are gonna be okay. He knows it. No room for doubt with this hard, crabby exterior. Karkat looks up into the sky, the thousands and thousands of stars illuminating the void to appear a brilliant midnight blue. Cue shooting star. Bam. There it is.

It’s gonna be rough, but he’s got Gamzee. And Gamzee has him.

[Guu]

Guu woke up the next morning. She slowly blinked awake and sat up to stretch and yawn. Whether or not if she really needed to stretch and yawn or if she was just playing off human stereotypes is a mystery that may never be solved. She looked over to Molly who was still sound asleep next to her, breathing lightly against her pillow.

She focused inwards towards her stomach. Naturae was growing nicely inside her shell, faster than she had guessed.

“No hurry.” She said, patting her belly. “Take all the time you need.”

She climbs out of bed and heads out through the mansion. Sylvia was already up and about; she was quick to give the princess a morning report.

“It appears the orc chieftain is keeping good on his word.” Said the Second in Command. “His travelling group has been spotted north from here. Aside from some guards, he doesn’t seem to be mobilizing at all.”

“Make sure someone is there to greet them when they arrive.” Stated the princess.

“One more thing though. We’ve got reports of thieves stealing from our orchards.”

Guu moaned audibly. She figured something like this would happen eventually.

“Ask some of the soldiers. Maybe we can get a more thorough night watch going.”

“Alright. So what’s on your agenda before the orcs get here?”

“Oh, I should really look into the Adam guy. Already said I’d greet ‘em.”

“Sounds like a plan. See ya Princess!”

With that, the two parted, making their way to whatever errand they needed to run.


-----

Adam was running a comb, tearing out the horrid knots that had cursed his jet-black hair. His glasses were on the table, cleaned to perfection by anyone’s standards but to Adam they were only passable. Every-now-and-then, he’d take breaks to munch on the muffins that his gracious monkey neighbors had provided him earlier. Not too shockingly, it was Banana nut.

Eventually, the doorbell echoed through the house. It took the pale-faced kid for a start, as he had never heard it before. Dropping everything, he headed for his front entrance.

Much to his shock, standing on his doorstep was the Queen of England herself, all dressed up in a regal dress, looking as snooty as ever.

“Greetings my fair citizen. I am Princess Guu.”

Adam looked blankly at her.

“You look nothing like your photos.” He said bluntly.

“Oh right, you’re on the dataverse.”

Suddenly, in a flash of light, the old royal figure suddenly changes into a little girl with short pink hair, dull black eyes, a pink dress, all wrapped with a yellow scarf.

“I’m Guu.” She said, her voice as dull as her expression. “Can I come in?”

“Oh, sure!” Adam said. He wasn’t eager to let her in so easily, but he didn’t want to offend royalty.

She walked in passed him and immediately plopped down on his couch. She turned on the TV and put on some random cartoon that was playing at that moment and began to watch.

Gaite approached cautiously.

“Ummm… So nice kingdom you got.”

“Yep.” She said bluntly.

Adam sat down next to the princess on the couch. Not sure what he was supposed to be doing, he just went on watching cartoons with her.

An awkward hour passes. The only cartoon showing was reruns of Crying Breakfast Friends. He wasn’t sure how many episodes of crying food and utensils he could take. Just as he was about to ask her what was going on, she suddenly jumped off the couch.

Her eyes were now a scarlet red, deeply expressive. She had a large smile on her face. It was both welcoming and somewhat creepy.

“Welcome to Ambrosia, Adam Gaite!” She said in a sweet voice, her arms out as if she were making a stage production out of her greeting.

“Oh well uh…” He took this moment to reach for the remote and mercifully shut off the TV. “Thank you! It’s nice of you to come visit me like this.”

“Please, tell me a bit about yourself!” She requested with a gentle smile. She sat back down next to him and intently watched him for his response.