Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The morning started very much like any other day at the Ruffman household. Blossom started on her daily work already, working away on her laptop in the kitchen while Ruff is getting himself a cup of non-chocolate-based coffee. He sips at it, looking over to the new television he bought, playing a rerun of a recent episode running a celebrity special for Wheel of Fortune. He had been invited to be a guest alongside some other Public Broadcast Station icons. “You know, do you think the new flat screen is tacky? I like seeing more, but I wonder if it’s taking up too much room.” Blossom gives him a thumbs up with a head nod. “That really wasn’t the answer I was hoping for.”

An awkward silence rose from this, only really broken by the soft sound of the television and the clacking of a keyboard. Ruff had taken his final sip of coffee when he could hear the doorbell ringing, him getting up to see who was there. The mail had luckily come by early this morning, a pile of different letters laying on a floor that had been slid through their mail slot. Picking them up, he organized them a bit and started to quickly scan them from just their mailing information while making his way back to the table.

“Bill, bill, subscription offer, bill, spam… You know, sometimes I wish someone would send us some fan letters every so often.” He looked up to his associate Blossom, who just stared back at him before rolling her eyes a bit and going back to her morning work. “Hey, I know it’s been a while since physical mail was such a popular option, but sometimes the old stuff is what you need to come back. I mean, if they still decide to send us all these darn royalties through paper checks, I don’t see why a fan couldn’t do the same, right Chet?”

Ruff looks over to his shoulder at the table, expecting Chet to be eating breakfast or up to one of his wacky antics, but it was completely empty. “Chet?” Blossom indicates over to Chet’s little mouse hole in the side of the FETCH 3000. Ruff lets out a bit of a sigh, placing the mail down on the table before making his way over to Chet’s room. Opening up the side, he sees the little mouse jamming out on his own set of little headphones, not even noticing Ruff as he called out to him. “Hey, Chet!”

This goes on for a good few minutes before Blossom decides to step in. Closing her laptop and grabbing her phone, she walks over to the two of them while pulling something up. She pulls up a song playlist that Chet had made and shared with Blossom before she hands Ruff the phone. “Huh, what’s this?” He starts to scroll through it for a bit while Blossom is explaining it to Ruff the best she can.

“So what, these are just fan-made projects where people make music? Heh, that sounds fun but kinda disappointing. I mean, look at how many of these there are, and not one of them even thought to use me. What’s the point if someone like me can’t even make it in?” He takes a glance back to Chet just jamming out to himself. “I mean, hey. This has to be really good if it has this one focusing so well.” Turning the volume on Blossom’s phone to a loud enough volume so he can hear it without disrupting Chet, he randomly clicks on a video that had what looked like a knight with multiple axes and a chef wielding a knife. It played quite a funky song, mixing together 2 songs he recognized and one he was rather unfamiliar with. After it finished, he turned off the phone and handed it back to Blossom.

“Hey, imagine if the internet was a lot bigger around our time, maybe we could have hosted one of these.” Ruff laughs to himself a bit as he makes his way back to the mail pile. He picks them up, looking over to Blossom and telling her “Imagine if we knew about this kind of stuff back when we were doing ‘The Ruff Ruffman Show’. Those were good times, but I question how much Hollywood would buy into an idea like this. And it isn’t like you can just put this face on everything, it devalues the brand after all.” Blossom rolls her eyes at his ego, it not being anything new but still an annoyance. Ruff looked as if he was readying up a comeback, just as he was cut off by the sound of a ringing phone. The two looked over to the FETCH 3000, seeing a red phone that had popped out was the source of the sound.

“That’s a bit strange, it’s been a while since Henry’s given us a call.” Ruff puts the mail under his arm and makes his way over to the ringing phone, picking it up. “Henry! How have you been? Huh?” Henry was talking to Ruff for a bit, Blossom not able to hear him through the phone, Chet now having come out to see what the commotion was about. “Are you sure about this Henry? Well, I appreciate the offer, but it isn’t like I…. actually…” Putting his hand over the receiver, Ruff looks over to his two friends asking Blossom. “Hey, do you think you could shoot over that playlist to Henry quickly?”

Ruff quickly turned his attention back to the phone as he heard Henry asking for a repeat of his statement. “Huh? Oh, I just needed to ask Blossom for a favor real quickly. I had her send a link your way to help explain my idea a bit more. These kinds of contests of a bunch of different popular people seem to be all the rage online. What if we did our own take but with a big-time budget to really get a general audience invested?” There was a long silence from both ends, before Ruff’s big grin turned downwards slightly, his tail wagging having stopped. “Ah, yeah that is true. I guess all the legal fees to license the music out would eat up most of the budget, even with sponsors. Hmm…”

Ruff seemed as if he was about to give up before he perked back up. “What if we just did the tournament part? I mean, if the people are popular, we could just do a regular styled contest. People do love a good reality show where the contestants try to endear themselves to the audience, and I can’t tell you a single other service that would have what we have.” Another silence went on before Ruff pumped his hands in the air for a second, returning the phone to his ear quickly after his little celebration. “Thank you so much, Henry! I promise to not let you down! Oh, sponsorships? Yeah, I can start looking into that. As for the contestants, maybe we’ll make it an open invitation. There could be tryouts for anyone interested in participating, and we’ll just vet through whoever we think might do the best for us in the long run. I’ll make sure to report back to you soon enough Henry!”

The ecstatic dog turned back to his associates to tell them the good news, however, it seems they already knew enough, Chet having started packing up much of his stuff while Blossom gave Ruff an approving nod. “We’ve got work to do! First off, we need to find someone big who’ll help us get this new show off the ground. We were used to watching over 6 people before, but now we are really upping the ante!” Ruff realized he had dropped his mail to the floor in his little burst of excitement, picking them all up, and seeing a bit of a strange-looking envelope in the pile. “Strange, I don’t remember grabbing this earlier.”

His two friends stopped what they were doing and got close to him, the envelope was purple with an official-looking red stamp on the back, it having the initials CRC on it. “Well, maybe I just overlooked it earlier. Let’s see what it says.” Opening it up, he found it was an open invitation for funding projects. They claim to be a greatly known company that helps further the future to grandness through luxury and leisure. “Oh, I like the sound of this.” Further down into the letter, it mentioned an email or phone number to reach them as if any collaboration on future projects was ever needed. “Well, I guess that solves that problem.”

Chet went back to packing up, but Blossom raised a bit of concern. The letter seemed a bit too convenient for what they were just talking about. “Eh, you’re just worrying too much. Maybe it was just so divine luck, life finally going our way once again! Just make sure to reach out to these CRC people so we can get things started, I’ll make sure to inform Henry about the good news.” Before she could even give him a second opinion on the matter, Ruff was already back on the red phone, trying to contact Henry back. She simply shrugged and took the paper, heading to her laptop to try and get in contact with these people.

Unknown to all of them, a scuttering behind one of the main potted plants happened. ‘ Too close… ’ the small doll thought to itself. It got lucky with the large orange dog dropping all of the letters, him grabbing them earlier nearly got them caught. Using its little felt hand, it wrote out a letter in midair describing how the plan had gone over well and their intel was correct. The dog had taken the bait, and they were returning back to the base. The small plush reached past its scarf and into an open seam on its neck, reaching past and into the head. They pulled out a steel knife, stabbing it into the wall next to it, and dragging it down to the ground. A second later, a glowing purple portal opened up from the split, emitting a low hum. They took a step through, leaving one hand through to grab onto the handle of the blade and pull the knife through the portal with them, it closing up as if it had never been there in the first place.

~ ~ ~

The fame life had withdrawn

All my shows had come and gone

And then, out of the blue, I saw the phone, and BAM! Our destiny is calling us!

Pitched my vision for a show

They loved it! Knew I was a pro

They got my contract back to find

To their repose, this dog had signed

Fetch!

Oh, I love that name

With Ruff Ruffman

I didn't wait to renovate

Found 16 contestants, all are great!

And now, we’re on the road to fame

I've got a game show and its name is...

Fetch!

It's very catchy!

With Ruff Ruffman

It rolls off the tongue!

I think we might need a bigger studio this time around

With Ruff Ruffman

Fetch!

Chapter Text

Boss had called me and Aiba into her office, saying she had something really important she needed to talk to the two of us about. She really has some nerve calling us on our day off though, hopefully it isn’t more men trouble.

We finally got into the office, me letting Aiba pop out of my socket so she could sit on the desk next to Boss while I got to my usual chair. 

Mizuki: Alright, so what did you want of us?

Boss: What? Why do you always assume whenever I call for you, it’s because I want something?

Mizuki: You are my boss, that’s literally what your job is. I think just getting past the silly banter and straight to the situation would be better.

Boss: Oh come on, you saying I can’t just call in my favorite detective just for some fun talking?

Aiba: But you said that you had something very important for the two of us. You wouldn’t say that if it was simply for your usual boy trouble.

Boss: Not you too…

Mizuki: Come on, just get on with it by this point.

Boss: Alright, alright. You two seemingly have no sense of fun, so I’ll get into it. Over the past few months, there has seemingly been a rise in crimes within our district, in both individual and organized offenders.

Aiba: Yes, I have noted the recent increase in cases we’ve taken within the past 4 months.

Mizuki: It’s why I’m really annoyed you even called us here today. We really deserved some relaxation.

Boss: Well yes, but it isn’t just you two. Ryuki and Date have also had a heavy increase in their own cases, as well as the other departments outside of ABIS. There was a belief that there was a common throughline between them all, but there was no real way to tie them all together. That was until Ryuki was able to find some leads.

Mizuki: And what was this connection between them all?

Boss: Well, it started off small, but a common robot or blueprints for a robot were being found between many of the criminals. Not many of them had finished theirs, but a few actually had. The robots were destroyed in every raid as they posed a danger to the officers on the scene, but this was becoming enough of a point that Ryuki was finally able to psync into a prime suspect to get some more information.

Boss sent a photo to Aiba, displaying a strange yet familiar face to our vision. It was of a humanoid face, that was gray with what seemed to be tear stains down the cheeks from the eyes and with a turquoise hair and hair of a similar yet differently tinted color.

Aiba: I do recall seeing a few people like this in a couple of our recent missions, but I did not take note of them as per Mizuki’s request. In her words, they were ‘Just more background extras who look the same.’

Mizuki: Hey! You didn’t need to mention any of that!

Aiba: Boss could have easily looked through my memory bank to have learned this information herself, I see no reason to try and hide it from her.

Boss: Enough, that's more than enough bickering from the two of you. Back on focus.

Aiba: Surely, there are more important topics at hand.

Mizuki: Of course, you would say that when you started the argument.

Aiba: Hehehe…

Boss: Anyways, there was no way to prove these were all connected or coincidence as they were all using different methods and materials to make their “Robotic Assistants'', as we found out they were called. To get more information, Ryuki was able to psync into the previously mentioned suspect, looking for any details he could find. While not a lot of exact information was found, he did fine enough to note that they were sold to all of these people.

Pulling a business card out from her pocket, she leans over and hands it to me. On the front are three big letters, CRC, with the smaller text underneath saying ‘Crossing Robotics Company’.

Boss: We’ve done our best to look into the exact details of who this company is, but according to everything we can find, they simply don’t exist.

Aiba: That is highly unusual. You’d imagine they’d at least have a founder to be named by.

I make sure to pass the card over to Aiba, her taking a chance to overlook every single possible piece of info she could get from it.

Boss: You’d imagine, but it seems that even the people who bought from them don’t even really know much about them. The follow-up interrogation is where we got the card from, but the grunt said they didn’t know much about the exacts. Just that their boss had to “Meet up with the Delivery Person” in the dead of the night, and he came back with a box and blueprints.

Mizuki: Well, we have this card now. Let’s just set up a meeting and grab the “Delivery Person”.

Aiba: That wouldn’t be so simple Mizuki. We might have reasonable suspicion of them, but not enough to make a formal arrest. Rushing before we have everything we need might spook them into action.

Boss: And we know they will take action.

Mizuki: What? How would you know that?

Boss: Well let me ask you this. If Ryuki was the one originally on the case, why wouldn’t I be asking him to finish it up?

Aiba: Has something happened to Ryuki?

Boss: Thankfully no, but something almost had. Seems his name leaked out after learning about the company, and there have already been three attempts on his life so far.

Mizuki: Jesus, is he okay!?

Boss: At the moment, yes. Thankfully for Tama, she was able to keep him safe in those situations, but he’s not doing the best at the moment. We’ve sent him into witness protection at the moment, and luckily it seems no one else knows about the rest of us knowing, and for the safety of other officers this case has been classified.

Mizuki: Ah, so you decided to bring in the big guns so we can finally put an end to this.

Boss: I’d rather have not got you involved, but drastic times call for even more drastic measures. So I’m asking the two of you to take over the case.

Aiba: But wait, you said we have no information of who this company even really is. And just asking around might cause us issues this time if the response to Ryuki knowing of them was so dire. Where are we supposed to start?

Boss: Well, I never said that. I simply pointed out that they don’t exist, not that we didn’t have any follow-up leads.

Boss clicked a button on the phone on her desk, ringing to a different part of the building.

Boss: Hey Kobashi, send in our witness.

Inspector: Not you too… My name is Kagami!

Boss: Yeah yeah, just bring her in.

Inspector: Yes ma’am…

Boss clicked off her phone, with the three of us sitting here for not even a minute before the sound of the door opening could be heard.

???: Thank you for guiding me here Kagami!

Inspector: *happy crying* YES, SOMEONE FINALLY GETS IT RIGHT!

The sound of happy running could be heard going down the hall as my best friend Iris Sagan walked in, before running over to me to give me a big hug.

Iris: Mizuki! I didn’t know you’d be here!

Mizuki: I mean, I do work here. Hey Boss, why is Iris here?

Boss: She’s our informant, our best lead into the case.

Mizuki: Huh?

Aiba: I’m not so sure, how can an internet idol help us with finding a robotics company?

Boss: Ah, well it seems she had heard about the name a lot during one of her recent streams.

Mizuki: Actually? They better not be going after you.

Iris: Aw~ Thank you for your concern! But you don’t need to worry about me Mizuki, I’m staying safe.

Mizuki: Yeah, but as both your boss and close friend, it’s my job to worry about you. I wouldn’t want anyone to hurt you.

Aiba: I truly doubt it would even come to such actions. Despite her delusions in the past, I really doubt anyone is out to get her in any form.

With me and Boss looking back at Aiba again, it seems that Iris realized she had forgotten something, putting in an earpiece to hear Aiba’s point of the conversation.

Iris: Whoops, my mistake. I sometimes forget you guys talk with Aiba, but I should be able to keep up.

Boss: Anyways, going back on track, Date had apparently overheard Iris mentioning CRC the other day due to her streams, and we had her safely brought here so we could question her about it. If you would go on ahead, we are at your word.

Iris: Oh, so that’s why you called me here. I thought I was in trouble for something. Yeah, it was really weird. Some of my fans were talking about this weird contest thing that some of them swore they saw ads for, but others were saying they were making it up. Here’s a clip from the stream of the situation.

Iris pulled her phone out and sent a clip from ViewQube of her most recent stream, the moment of her chat going wild apparently gaining some virality of the bizarreness of the situation. It was sent straight to Aiba, so I could see the video straight away.

Iris: “I’m so glad we just beat that gym in Kusemon everyone! We did so well! Now then, we still have some time before I have to head off the stream, so we can do a little Q&A! But remember, I can’t go spilling any secrets. Or maybe I can, heh~! Okay now, let’s see… Fandom Ensemble… what’s that? I can’t say I’ve heard anything about it, but maybe it could be cool. Let’s see what we can find!”

The video continues, with the side chat starting to scroll faster while Iris looks away, seeming to search away for this ‘Fandom Ensemble’ thing. Seems the name is longer, but we’d need to pause later to get a full name.

Iris: “Sorry guys, I can’t seem to find anything like that. Are you guys just trying to troll me again? Mods, make sure to ban all of the trolls! Hey, why are you guys fighting like that? No need to be so upset at each other, it’s simply a joke.”

The clip ends not too long after that, it seems Iris simply shut the stream off after a point where it seemed neither side would let down.

Iris: It was so strange, it was as if what they were talking about was real, but not real here.

Boss: What do you mean?

Aiba: Oh no…

Iris: Parallel Worlds are real!

Boss: What?

Iris: Parallel Worlds are the only answer! With so many people certain that it exists, that must mean they were sucked into our world when it did exist in theirs but not in ours! Maybe that evil company you guys are trying to fight was also pulled here, and that’s why you can’t find anything on them!

Mizuki: Iris, I know you love your occult stuff, but I’m not so sure if that’s the answer here.

Iris: But I’m telling the truth, why else would people lie about something so adamantly? It’s because they aren’t, they are telling the truth because they are from a parallel world! It’s like the Mandela Effect!

Aiba: While the situation is certainly strange, what does this even have to do with the case? Those viewers were simply talking about some strange F.E.T.CH contest, as they were putting it. I fail to see how that is at all relevant to our investigation.

Boss: That’s what I thought so too, but she had asked Date about his thoughts on the situation. He decided to look it over, and after a bit of watching that chat, a certain abbreviation popped up a few times. 

Mizuki: CRC, I’m guessing? What would they have to do with an online contest?

Boss: Seems according to some of the comments, that they are hosting or funding it in some form, though it is unsure as the story seems to change from person to person.

Aiba: Yes, after a thorough analysis of the whole video, both this F.E.T.CH and CRC appeared many times in messages together. What the exact reason for all of this is, I am unsure, but it seems to be our best bet.

Mizuki: Alright, so we just need to find a way into this contest. How do we do that?

Iris: Well, it’s more of a tournament according to the name, but not very different.

Mizuki: Either way, how would we go about entering?

Iris: Oh, that’s simple! Not too long after the situation on stream, I got a really weird email about joining! I didn’t click on it though, it seemed really sus, like an imposter sent it!

Aiba: Seems you are finally listening to Mizuki’s advice after the last time you clicked on one of those links.

Iris: I said I was sorry, They said they were looking for someone who could really top the charts.

Boss: Moving past that, this might be our best bet as to going in. As the boss of a talent agency, Iris could enter with you being by her side. While ‘Tesa’ over here wows the crowd, you can act as her stand-by manager and do the snooping needed.

Mizuki: Sounds simple enough, what do you say, Iris? This could be a big jumpstart back you’d need to get back to some of your older numbers. You in?

Iris: Wait, really? I’d love to! But…

Boss: But…?

Iris: Well, I’m not even really sure what kind of tournament or contest this even is. If it was music or dancing-based, I’d totally be on board, but… I’m not sure if I’d be the best fit for the situation. I wouldn’t want to lose really early and make us have to leave before anything could get done.

Mizuki: Well, if we don’t have a star, we don’t have a plan. What now?

Aiba: This option isn’t completely out of the question just yet.

Mizuki: Whatcha mean?

Boss: Well, Plan B is just you going yourself. While you are a member of ABIS, you are more widely known as the Owner of Lemniscape. If you were to go to this tournament, you could easily get by any suspicion to do your investigation in between any filming.

Mizuki: Nope, no way! I am not going to do that.

Aiba: Why not?

Mizuki: I still get camera-shy. And if this event is recorded, I don’t want to make myself look ridiculous! Get Date to do it, just tell him there’ll be hot girls there.

Boss: That’s the reason why we can’t use him. While I’d rather send him on a potentially dangerous mission than you, I doubt he’d be able to keep himself behaved for long enough to actually get any work done.

Mizuki: You aren’t exactly wrong… But what about…

Aiba: No, Ryuki can’t go due to his Witness Protection. We can’t put him at more risk.

Boss: And before you even mention them, don’t forget this is an open line, and we aren’t going to give away such a trump card’s existence to just anyone.

She indicates my attention over to Iris, who is trying to give us puppy eyes.

Iris: Oh come on, please? I promise I won’t tell anyone, ever! I want to know this secret!

Aiba: I’m sorry Mizuki, but it seems it will just have to be you.

Mizuki: Come on Boss, think about it though. Why don’t you go, you are still in your prime after all. Think about all the hot guys you might meet during and afterwards.

Boss: I’m flattered by your words, but that’s a negative. I have to make sure this place keeps running, and I doubt any of you would behave a day here without me. And besides, people always love a more youthful girl.

Boss was always good at hiding her emotions, but I could feel some of her internal pain as she said that last part.

Iris: Come on Mizuki, you are the coolest person I know! I know that whatever they throw at you, you’ll be able to take it head-on! I’ve never met anyone as strong and as smart as you! Nothing is able to stop you, and with Aiba and your great looks, I know no one can ever match up to you! I know you’ll be able to get that victory royale!

Iris’s words felt very sincere. I know she’s my friend, but it really does surprise me with how good her pep talks can be at times.

Boss: Yeah, I’d imagine you’d be a great sell to the hosts or whoever this contest has for their judging team.

Mizuki: I’m still not super into this idea, but it doesn’t sound like I have much of a choice in this, do I?

Aiba: Seems not if we do want to solve the case, but I’ll be there with you the whole time, so no need to worry too much. You seem able to always take out the strangest of situations and criminals, so no need to be too nervous.

Mizuki: That’s still not where a lot of my issues are laid in this situation, but I’ll do it if it really is needed. Just make sure to pass that email to me then Iris. I’m hoping to get a good promotion for this Boss.

Boss: Yeah-yeah, we’ll talk about those exact details later. I’d recommend you should start packing. I'll have Pewter see what he can do about increasing your odds of joining in, we can’t investigate if you aren’t even there.

Iris: And I’m going to rush home so I can get you that email link. Bye bye!

With that, Iris rushed out the door after another hug, with Boss turning to her phone to ring Pewter. He is a genius, but I’m not exactly sure what he’d be able to do to help. Walking over to the table, I let Aiba jump into my hand so I could bring her to my face, letting her get back into my eye socket.

Aiba: Mizuki, I can sense you are still rather nervous about all this.

Mizuki: I mean, of course I’d be. Taking down chumps is easy, but having to perform on a stage to do who knows what? That doesn’t sound like my kind of night. And what if they don’t see my natural charm?

Aiba: What charm?

Mizuki: Can it!

Aiba: No need to worry though. Even if this is a bit of a trip, I’d imagine we have a few people watching our backs just in case. And that’s only an if. You can hold a lot on just your own.

Mizuki: I know, but this whole situation is still really strange. A lot of things don’t add up, and I doubt they will for a while.

Aiba: And that’s why we are the perfect duo for this. With your brawns and agility, and my hyper-intellect and unbeatable calculations, nothing can stop up.

Mizuki: Fine, but just this better be worth my time. I’m hoping that both ABIS and Lemniscate will run fine enough in my absence.

Aiba: Just make sure to set up things beforehand to have your work done by others. It isn’t like you are new to said concept.

Mizuki: You really do just like to push my buttons, don’t you?

Aiba: Hehehe…

Chapter Text

Entry Log: I found a recorder! ♡

Date:          I don’t know…

I’m glad to have finally found myself something to keep my thoughts recorded on. I’ve lost track of time, it’s hard to know how many days I’ve even been here when there is no sunlight. I’m not certain where I even am anymore, but I don’t like the looks. Everywhere I look, I just see bits and pieces of life, just random objects line the floor, walls, and ceiling. I’m reminded of Tartarus with how these seem completely infinite. I’ve been walking in this direction for however long I’ve  been here. I plan to just keep going this way, hoping to eventually run into something. I’m also going to need to find something to eat soon. The small pools of water from streams in the walls are able to keep me from dying from thirst, but without food, I’m unsure how long I have left…

~ ~ ~

Entry Log: My Survival

Date: sometime later

Travelling is getting exhausting, but I did eventually find some food. I just hope they are in date, but the time felt… off. These bars, I’ve never heard of the brand before, and the year was beyond in the future… at least I think they are. They tasted off, to say the least, but still have been getting me by as I continue to travel. They aren’t my favourite, but they work well enough. Heh, protein seems to be what’s saving me this time, just like it did for him… I hope everyone is doing okay… 

Oh, in lighter news I did find a lacrosse stick! I shouldn’t let my fighting abilities to falter, though finding anything to actually practice on might be a bit hard to find. Not to say I don’t want to pull things out, but the shaking after getting the stick loose was a bit concerning, to put it lightly. However, that won’t stop me from moving. I’ll never find my way out of… whatever this place is, if I were to just stop now. I mean, my friends are awaiting me, somewhere… hopefully… Yeah! They are probably making a big feast awaiting my arrival! It has been like… a few years or so since the “Great Seal” thing, but they know that was just a temporary thing until Humanity wanted to live. So I got to keep moving, for them. I should probably shut this off for now, I’m not sure how much recording space it has, but I’ll make sure to update next time something big happens.

~ ~ ~

Entry Log: Something is with me!!!

Date: doesn’t matter

huff, huff, huff  Just… huff, huff  I need a second… I may have started this recording a bit too early… cough cough I need to get my words out. sigh Okay, so it seems there is something else down here with me. It… I’m not sure what it was. It reminded me of a Shadow, but I know that can’t be it. Luckily I still have my Evoker with me, but I’m unable to call any Personas, so this isn’t Tartarus or the Cinema. Wait… Cinema? What am I… ack, my head… N-nevermind that, but, wherever I am, this isn’t a place where Personas, let alone Shadows, can exist. So, whatever that thing is, I’m not sure what it is. But, I’m not ready… I know my friends are waiting for me, but I don’t know if I’ll be strong enough to take it.. Is this my punishment? Did I fail everyone…? sniffle Is this what’s left of the world…? No… No, that can’t be true. My friends are waiting for me, they have to be! I… I just have to regain my strength first, and then I can take it on! I can’t let, whatever that thing is, stop me on my path. 

~ ~ ~

Entry Log: I’m going to confront it

Date: Go Time!

I’ll never be ready for this thing in my way. It’s been moving a lot back and forth in the area, as if it’s looking for something, so I haven’t been able to stay in a single place for long, but I think it’s been enough time for me to take it on. I’m really glad I found this stick, though I am kinda regretting not grabbing the puffy jacket near it, it’s been getting colder here, and some warmth would be nice… No time to focus on mistakes though! I will get past it and I will see my friends again! This may be my final recording, because I won’t need them anymore after I’m out of here! Time for an all out attack!

~ ~ ~

“Hey! Stop right there!” Kotone completely revealed herself to the strange being she saw before, their skin glowing a dark blue colour. Their body was that of a human’s, but with features like a raptor’s in many places. The stranger turned to her confused, almost surprised by her presence. 

“Wait, wha-?” Before the strange figure could even react, they were knocked down to the floor by Kotone, the lacrosse stick being pressed against their chest to keep them down. Kotone looks sternly at the figure before they can respond to her. “Hey, the matter with you? What did I do to ya?”

“Oh, so you’re one of the talking ones. Save your words, I need you to tell me what I want to know and nothing else.” Taking a step forward, she holds her foot down against the abdomen of the being, some slight give in the skin as it started to give under the pressure being applied.

The stranger’s face contorts a bit in confusion, before some more pain as Kotone pressed down a bit harder. “Alright, alright. Just ease up a bit. I came down here to get you anyways, so just.. Urk!” The lacrosse stick’s end was pressed into the neck area of the stranger, Kotone reacting on impulse from what was said.

“Who sent you to get me?! Where am I? Where are my friends?! And what are you…?” Her multitude of questions were yelled out at the trapped opponent, with them grabbing her foot and attempting to push it upwards off of themself. The fear on their face made Kotone relent, stopping herself at seeing whoever she had knocked down, was just as scared as her. “Sorry about that, just… this situation is not something I’m used to dealing with.”

The stranger gets up to their feet, coughing as Kotone helps them up. “So, are you a shadow?” The person looks at her in confusion, asking “What’s a shadow?” A bit of worry washes over Kotone internally before she plasters a dorky smile on her face. “Whoops, that’s a mistake on my part then. So, where are we then, and what are you?”

“Me?” The stranger finally is standing back up properly. “Well, I’m a human like you, at least what I’m assuming you are. I just needed a safer form to explore, here , so I put this together. However, you’ve shown me that I have a lot of kinks to work out.” She moves to the wall of the area, pulling at a shogi board lodged in it to inspect it a bit. “This is the system of caves under where I live. We have a home base for exploring down here not too far from here.”

“We?” The question confused Kotone a lot, as the idea that there are more people around in this underground cave system, as she now understands it, was rather strange. Though, the fact she spent a while as a lock on a door after saving the world alongside a robot and dog meant she couldn’t question things too much. “Do you think you could take me along?”

“Yeah, that’s actually why I’m down here. We got a life signal down here, something that hadn’t happened, and I lost the draw and was sent to go looking for whatever or whoever was down here.” She was stick picking at the shogi board, almost as if there was something about it bothering her. “So, I’d like to go home and finally rest for a bit. I never enjoy being down here for long, let alone by myself.”

Kotone looked down for a moment upon hearing that, almost responding with a “I know how you feel” before catching herself from letting that slip out. “Yeah, being alone can be rather boring,” being what she actually said to the figure. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, silly me. I’m Kotone Shiomi, and I hope my earlier reaction to you doesn’t leave a bad impression of me.”

Finally, the other girl pulls the board out of the wall, shifting it slightly to fill in the hole that was once there. Opening it up, she finds nothing besides a weird flowered mask and blue card inside. “Odd…” Looking up to Kotone, she hands her the card before introducing herself. “Name’s Inari Nagai. I have no use for this, but I think this board might work nicely for something I need.”

Kotone took the card, the blue backing of it looking something all too familiar to her past. It was dull, with the image of The Fool on the front, as if whoever it belonged to never activated it. A journey never started. Kotone got lost in thought about this before Inari snapped her back. “Oh, I should note, if you’re going to be where I live I should warn you. The group I’m working with is helping fund this tournament thing. I'm not fully sure on all the details of it, but our isle is the location where everyone is showing up. Not sure if that’s up your lane or anything, but if ya wanna pitch in or even join, I doubt my boss would mind.”

The two started walking, Kotone following behind her new friend(?) as they make their way down the cavern’s path. “I’ll… have to think about it. I know I have to get back to my friends soon, but maybe your group can help me. I won’t act like I know much about ‘tournaments’ or anything like that, but it could be some fun.”

“Consider it a deal. You help us out, and we’ll help you out. We were trying to find other candidates anyways, and you’d be saving me a lot of trouble. Let’s shake on it to make it official.” As the two shook hands, a familiar voice spoke in Kotone’s head and she could feel the card, now put away in her pocket, start to glow.

Thou art I… And I am thou…

From the sea of thy soul, I cometh

I am Orpheus, Master of Strings

A vow, reignited from the flames of despair

A future untold, a fate undetermined

Thy power returns to protect thou

Fool Arcana Established - CRC Engineer Level 1

“Hey, you in there? You’re still holding my hand, and it’s starting to get weird.” Kotone snapped back before pulling her hand back, not expecting for her power to reawaken after so long, though it isn’t all that strange for how it’s happened before. “Ah, sorry. I get lost in thought sometimes. Let’s just continue on.”

“Right… Well, we just got to continue on. Come on.” And they were back on their trip, a little more quiet as Kotone had a lot to figure out about her situation and what’s to come.  No matter what though, she knows here friends are out there, somewhere… She just had to hold out, with a smile on her face until they were to meet again.

Chapter Text

Life is something many take for granted. Something many will not appreciate until they are about to lose it. And it’s my job to make sure to take it when it does end. I’ve seen the whole gamut of circumstances. From a false king being eaten alive, to a conqueror being crushed by their own grand weapon, and even a city's population of first sons. I wasn’t a personal fan of that last one, but when the one above has a request, it must be done. So is the whims of life and death.

Oftentimes, many will fight for their lives and beg for a second chance. So many wish to fight me off. Tsk, siempre que surge el intento, es una tontería. Many have tried, most have failed. I still keep my eye on that certain cat, waiting for the day we do meet again, but there are always bigger catches that attempt similar escapes while alive.

One of those catches seems to keep running, but their situation, I find it so interesting. Being good at what I do is an understatement, I know nearly everything about everyone, else I wouldn’t be able to be where I need to for my reapings. But these ones, corre, corre, porque la persecución siempre es mejor. No knowledge, as if they don’t even belong to this reality. 

I always question how they escape from me, but it seems their activity has increased, especially whenever I’m around. Going off my better judgment, I’d be surprised if they weren’t just trying to get my attention. Especially this specific one, the one right in front of me…

~ ~ ~

Death’s whistle could be heard by the lady he’d been hunting down, his presence made open to her. “So, away from your friends finally? What brings you out here unless you have a death wish?” She was unable to determine from where he was to attack from, her sword at the ready.

“What, not even going to entertain me with a response?” She stayed silent, having closed her eyes as he continued to taunt. The ignoring seemed to get to Death, him having chosen to strike, but her sword caught his sickles as they were to come down on her. “It’s easier to focus when not making noise myself.”

She'd put some distance between the two of them, having held her guard as they circle around a bit, both letting the other have an opening to strike first. After a bit of this, the lady in the business suit turned heel, making a run for it. Death chuckled a slight bit, saying to himself, “Oh, the chase is always the best part!” before making haste after her.

The lady started dashing forward through the forest, dodging between trees and flora to slow down the pursuing wolf. However, not much would slow him down as he slashes his way through the plants in his way. His speed was also incredible, him quickly catching up with her at many points while trying to get quick slashes on his target. Every time he’d catch up, she’d have to use a more dirty tactic to regain distance.

This chase went on for a while like this, eventually a small wooden shack in the side of a cliff appeared, the running lady eventually making her way in and quickly barricading the door in. “I’ve enjoyed our little fun here, but let’s get this done quickly.” Without much else in his way, Death slashes the door and furniture in the way while whistling, slowly walking in. When he gets in though, he finds the place completely empty, for the most part.

On a nearby desk, he notices a note with a dagger sticking out that is addressed to him. Also looking at the far side wall, he sees a stab puncture in the wall, but no other signs of where his pursuing victim has gone. “Muy inteligente. Ya veo a qué juego estás jugando…”

~ ~ ~

Life is something many take for granted. These little “quests” many of them go on where their lives can be lost in a flash? Heh heh, pitiful. All that just to leave me a note? To think one would want death that easily.

But, one does not seek death without a plan, lest they be a fool. They got away this time, and this little “invitation” is without a doubt an obvious trap. However… I can play along for now. It’s quite clear the only way forward will be through the front door, so why pass up such a generous offer?