Oz: Crossroad of Legends

"Whoa now dear sister my pets are way better then him," Ludwig said to Wendy. "Please those two are just mindless beasts and the orange one asked me to smell his feet I'll," Wendy said shivering. "Please they have names you know, and they are way more intelligent than that bloody beast we call dad," Ludwig said with his nose in the air. "You act like that is saying something, please that rock over there has more intelligence then dad," Wendy said. "Touché sis, Touché," Ludwig said with a bow. "Oh you whatever you call yourself, Fawful is in his place of happy and no fury as he likes to put it," Ludwig as he told Lord Crump in a dismissive matter as he went to check on his pets and Wendy went off to do her own thing.


"Sir Lord Crump what is this Fawful like sir," the grunt asked. "It's complicated but you will see for yourself," Lord Crump said as he made his way to Fawful's happy place. "Aww the wonderful mustard that shall doom all those without the fury," Fawful said. "The tomatoes that burn a red that subtle but not so subtle redness that is perfect for one with the chlortles," Fawful went on. "The lettuce upon the tomatoes of subtly that is perfect like one self," Fawful mused. "Finally the beef of beefness that represents the beef I share with that fat beefy person in red," Fawful finished. "Watch as Fawful eats upon the sand which of demise, something those without the chlortles can never comprehend," Fawful chlortles as he took a bit upon his sand which of demise.

"Sir Lord Crump are you sure about this its not like you are hypnotized still, and he doesn't seem how you would say stable," the grunt said to Lord Crump. "Aye, he may seem unstable but to see what he is truly capable of he's even smarter then our former leader Lord Gracious," Crump said. "The Lord of Crump the one who was once without the fury but was then baptized in the river of fury and became enlightened," Fawful said. "Having received the blessing of fury you should know better to interrupt me unless necessary you want to see my fury," Fawful chlortled.

"Sir my grunt here said he spotted Mario," Lord Crump told Fawful. "Mario if there is one who makes my chlortles go with the speed of a car on a road where there is no limit to the speed its him," Fawful said. "Master Fawful should we begin operation Chlortles. "Yes why Mario is unaware like a butterfly flying through a furyless meadow and I lie there like the spider spinning my web demise and having the chlortles as the butterfly of ignorance struggles and I just chlortle away," Fawful said. "We shall strike Mario on the side where he is without sight, like a Cena named John, seen we shall not be," Fawful said to Lord Crump. "Come my chlortles are looking to feast upon his mustard of doom," Fawful said flying to rally his troops. "Hmm sir what does that mean?" the grunt asked puzzled. "We head to the Fawful plane, and await everyone," Lord crummp said to his grunt.

After Fawful was able to brief everyone on the plan they boarded the plane. While in the air everything was going fine despite the amount of people that were inside the plane. Well it was going smooth until one of the engines started to smoke. "Umm sir bro, Fawful bad news one of the engines is starting to get to hot," the Monte mole operator said. "The over heat my nemesis of old," Fawful said. "Sir what should we do the Monte mole operator asked. "Ah the one without fury would be doing the freak like when a rush of panic but the one with fury shall remain calm," Fawful said. "Screw this bro we are out of here," the Monte moles said as they abadoned the plane. 

Somehwere in the realm of Austur...

Taking a few moments, with a washrag in hand, a woman began to clean off an old mirror. It had a few chips at the edges, but was otherwise in good shape, and well cared
for. Reflected on its surface, her fingers were wrinkled from spending so much time in water as she cleaned, but even under that the signs of several years of such work, and that of other things such as sewing and cooking, were visible. She was still young, and though her appearance was beginning to show signs of stress and weariness from work, it did not bother her in the least.

Around her she had made a simple, but lovely home. And as the caretaker of the home and all the things inside it, the linens, the dishes, the furnishings, even the old stone floors and the rugs upon them to provide warmth and comfort, she never found time to rest until at last all her chores were finished. It was tiresome, though it rarely struck her as being so, for such a simple life was what she knew best, and longed for.

Her work for that day was nearly done, as the house was clean, clothes had been mended, and the supper was ready to be served and eaten. With the mirror cleaned, she walked towards the kitchen, straightening a few items or
moving misplaced ones to their proper home as she did so. She knew that as soon as her supper was finished, she would have a little time left with which she could do as she pleased.


Almost two hours later, when night had fallen, she went about her normal evening rituals. All was in order as she blew out her candle so she could sleep. She knew that the next day would bring similar tasks, and more exhaustion. It was this routine that had caused her to age so over the past years; no longer was she the young girl so full of light and vigor. She was now a woman, whose age was quickly catching up to her, even at only twenty-five years old. Many might say that she had hardly lived, and experienced the carefree joys of youth before she had thrust herself into a life of worries and responsibilities, and it was true that the choice of her current lifestyle is what had caused her to age and begin to grow dull, losing the vibrancy she once possessed.

Some had spoken to her and expressed this view of theirs' very plainly, and though their words hurt, she had her reasons for making the sacrifices that she had. To Elia, everything that she had supposedly lost, she had found in some newer, exciting way. In the morning she would set about her routines, for those her were so important to her depended on it, and it would not do to disappoint them. To see their faces, bright with the youthful light she had given up for their sakes, and to see their smiles and appreciation... What more could she ask for? A simple life, simple goals, and simple, yet extraordinary joys, these were the things she had found and cherished. She felt fulfilled, and that made everything worth it to her.

But as she drifted off into sleep that night, there was a barely perceptible change in the air; when next she awoke, she would find herself far from the world and routines she knew. For that night, while she slept, she was whisked away to a different world, and with the circumstances of her disappearance there would be no one to even notice that she was truly gone.

St. Elne -- Queendom of Yuleia -- Palace Throne Room

"In addition", continued the soldier giving a general status report of general activity outside of the realm, "reports from encampments to the North can confirm that the village of Forlon has been destroyed. As no survivors were found, the cause of the attack remains unknown. Camp Mercury to the Northeast also requests a supply shipment of medicine and weapons. Reports from the expedition to Grumstone Pass state that rumors regarding an Ice Dragon taking residence there are false."

"... I shall arrange the caravan and armed escort to supply Mercury. Tell the northern encampments to search the ruins of Forlon and investigate any damage or remains that may hint at who or what destroyed the village. The reconnaissance squadron in Grumstone are to remain there until further notice not only to investigate further, but to avoid confrontation with the Ephesus patrols between here and there. The rest are to proceed as they were."

"Yes ma'am."

The soldier bowed and left the throne room. A few seconds after he was out of sight, Queen Glinda exhaled, leaned back on her seat, and closed her eyes. She was not able to rest long, as another retained knocked on the door and poked in.

"Your highness? The ritual has begun."

Glinda nodded. "Understood. Once Cia summons them, I shall head down there greet them personally."

"Yes ma'am."

"GAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

The very wind itself screamed over the palace where the summoning was taking place.

"INTRUDERS! LEAVE! MY! HOME!"

It used to be a sunny day. Puffy marshmallow clouds floated in the air. Totally unforgivable. Whoever left them alone would find themselves paying dearly. The clouds trembled and gurgled and collapsed in on themselves with a sickening gurgle, and from each one a sphere of dark water was formed. The spheres pulsed in a two-beat rhythm, hanging in the air like disembodied hearts.

Soon the sky was clear, and no clouds remained. The sun beat down on an amassing army below, readying artillery and casting force-fields. A drum beat below, matching the rhythm of the pulsing spheres. Prum-pum. Prum-pum. Prum-pum. Prum-pum.

"READY!" someone in charge yelled.

Prum-pum. Prum-pum. Prum-pum!

"FIRE!"

Bolts unloaded into the skies as the spheres burst open into grotesque bulbous plant-like creatures. The Poppipods, as they are called, wasted no time in plummeting to the ground. Fortunately, some shots hit dead on, the magic in the artillery shell disintegrating them completely. Unfortunately, some shots missed, and Poppipods managed to reach the ground where they promptly began to melt people with their secretions.

The worst case was when a shot barely hit. Poppipods don't take damage. They'd rather explode. Normally this just splashes the people-melting acids everywhere, but this was a much more severe case. These ones outright combusted, leaving giant fireballs hanging in the sky. And from these fireballs a whirring noise was heard, the whirring of the most horrible machinery. From the flames burst the metal eyeballs infamously known as Winkies.

From the sky the Winkies unfurled their arms, exposing swords, shields, maces, machine guns, and all assortment of weaponry. Those that had a projectile weapon fired on the valiant crowd below, but this was suppression fire. Those with shields guarded the most important ones: those that carried turbine parts. At least twenty of them came together, some of them shattering for others to use their remains to build circular turbines known colloquially as a Summoning Gates. Before they even touched the ground, the turbines were active, and gale force winds whipped through the gateways.

Flying Monkeys spawned from the wind in each gate, at least two per second. In under a minute they had an army numbering in the hundreds. They couldn't be killed as fast as they spawned, despite mages raining hell down upon them. The Monkeys took up arms from the Winkies, equipping themselves with helmets, spears, guns, and shields. Some Winkies stayed active as drones, while those that had exhausted their armory allowed themselves to be used as basketball-sized grenades. Clearing the response team though sheer overwhelming numbers, the Flying Monkeys charged through the air towards the palace, carrying a few well protected Poppipods. These Poppipods were crucial for the final act, where the Monkeys flung the plants into the Palace walls, dousing it with their alchemic contents.

The Palace obviously would not be made out of stone as that would be suicidal. But that's nothing a transmutation potion couldn't remedy. The wall shook and seemed to breathe as it petrified moments before turning into something else entirely. There was no need to put a hole in the wall for entry, as the wall itself manifested itself into a giant Kalidah.

"GOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH"

Its roar echoed fear into the everything around it. Bullets, lasers, and spells bounced harmlessly off its thick hide as it stampeded forward in pure rage. Floors shook, walls crumbled, and windows shattered as it ran. Monkeys flew along side it, attaching re-purposed Winkies to it to form armor and mounted turrets. The hulking beast, the Flying Monkey army, the Winky drones and bulbous Poppipods ran amok. Despite their master's orders, at this point they only followed their prime directive: Level anything that isn't flat and cleanse their home of impurities.

The Monkeys atop the Kalidah's back had finished preparing the canon. They aimed, fired, and proceeded to...sanitize. With explosions.

Glinda was about to leave the throne room to attend other important matters when she heard the door to the room opening, with no one knocking prior. She looked over to see her daughter entering.

"Mother are you sure about this? I still think this is a problem that the people of Oz can handle. Placing all our hopes and prayers on a whim, it doesn't sit well with me. How do we know these so called hero's would even be willing to help, I for one wouldn't be all too happy if I was yanked from my world all of a sudden.
"Please, mother reconsider this action we shouldn't risk the future of our kingdom of the world on a chance. Please stop the ritual before something bad happens."

"I understand your concerns, my sweet", replied Glinda, "but this ritual is the best hope for this realm. Day after day, it has become a struggle to even continue protecting the citizens within our rule, much less counterattack against those that threaten our existence. To secure our future, we must--"

Tremors ran through the palace. One of the captains of the guard came into the room.

"Your majesty! We're under attack!"

Glinda gasped. "By whom?"

"It appears to be an attack by The Witch! A frontal assault, and her forces have created a Kalidah!"

Glinda raised her staff and chanted a small incantation. A small area of floor in the corner vanished, revealing a hidden staircase underground. She turned to the soldiers acting as her personal guard.

"Take Lana and hide in the safehouse!" she ordered.

She briefly turned to her daughter and held her by the shoulder. "Go underground and stay there until the attack subsides."

As the royal guards saluted and began leading Lana away, Glinda turned back toward the captain. "I want you to take whatever men you can get and defend the room where Cia is. The ritual must not be interrupted!"

The captain saluted, and Glinda opened up a rift. She stepped through and found herself next to a small amethyst statue elsewhere the palace. She saw the rampaging Kalidah storming down a hallway. A trio of mages, among other soldiers, were attempting to stop the creature with long-ranged attacks to no avail.

"Mages!" Glinda ordered. "Vulcan formation!"

The mages gave their ready. Glinda opened a portal slightly to the left of the Kalidah's path, as one mage fired an incantation blast to another portal Glinda opened in front of him.  The magic appeared out of Glinda's other portal and hit the ground, manifesting a small, red rune. Glinda quickly opened another pair of portals; one parallel to the rune on the other side of the hallway, and one in front of another mage. After another rune was set, Glinda performed the same action another time, this time setting a rune some ways behind the beast. Two magical lines shot out from each rune and connected with the other two. Once connected, a wall of light shot up, encasing the beast in a triangular barrier.

"Fire!"

A giant eruption of scorching fire manifested inside the barrier, with the intention of incinerating the Kalidah and it's mounts.

Erebus, within the Iron Palace...

He understood his situation perfectly. Or, as much as his limited knowledge of dimensions and alternate realities would allow him to. Within that single split second, the former Dragon Emperor surmised he had been summoned to a different world, he guessed the power it would take to do so and measured it against his own, realized his powers had been weakened by the crossing, measured the skill and experience of the two men in front of him, guessed their personalities and motives, figured out the structural capabilities of the palace around him, determined the current weak link, and plotted a possible course of action. His daughter, however, was still dazed.

Ethan turned to the man on the throne, and spoke. His voice was deadly calm, and quite terrifying. "For what purpose have you summoned me, mortal?"

The man on the throne bolted to his feet, and gave a frantic laugh of delight. "It actually worked!!! Tell me, O Lord of Time and Space, what world do you hail from? What is it like? How advanced is your world's technology? What of your culture?"

The other man- clearly the Sorcerer responsible for this untimely summoning- chuckles. "You'll have to forgive my good Emperor. He can be rather... Excitable. Permit me to answer your question. Our world is at war. It has been for a long time now, but recently, things have taken a dire turn. Now, our world and society are on the brink of total collapse. I know you must be terribly angry, but please try to understand. We have little options. We need your help to save our way of life. As soon as this war is over, I will give you the key to returning home myself. I swear by my own name, Galbador Cell, to uphold my word."

Just as I thought... Still, this is troublesome. He's clearly hiding something, but he's telling just enough truth not to set off any alarms. He's no Jeckel, but he's more deceptive than I initially guessed. He doesn't seem that powerful... But I can't get an accurate reading, which is worrying.

Ethan's eyes wander to the stranger who had been summoned with him. Hmm... A young woman, mid twenties at most. She bears great potential... But she hasn't been able to harness it yet. She's lived a fairly hard life, and she's seen battle before... But she's also quite vulnerable, and she doesn't possess the power he or Eon does. And with the present company... It would be better to play it safe.

"I assume, since you were expecting us, you have guest rooms prepared? The young lady here needs rest."

The Emperor and Sorcerer appear surprised by his request, but both nod, almost in unison. That one action tells him something else about them: they're very alike.

"Why, of course," the Emperor says casually, even cheerfully. The Emperor snaps his fingers, and a guard waltzes into the throne room. Ethan quickly measures up the guard, and decides he isn't a threat, but even so... Better safe than sorry. Ethan motions to his daughter. They probably don't know she's his daughter yet... He should keep that information under close watch.

"You there, woman. Go with her. I don't trust these people."

Eon seems confused for a brief moment, but she quickly catches on and scoops the young woman up into her arms. That's my girl...

"Fine. But I don't like being ordered around, old man."

Ethan resists the urge to smile. Old man, huh? We'll see about that.

He turns back to the obviously unhinged Emperor, while Eon begins to walk away. "Now then... Tell me something, Emperor. Can your palace contain a dragon? A god? How do you propose to keep me here, when I can destroy entire worlds on a whim? When I can travel between dimensions at will? I would hear your answer."

It was a bluff, of course. At full power, he could follow up on those threats, but in his weakened state... It was unlikely at best. Still, the Emperor did appear to hesitate for a moment, which is what Ethan was looking for. The Sorcerer, however, appeared unfazed and that only confirmed Ethan's suspicions about him. The Sorcerer opens his mouth to reply, but before he can, there is a commotion on the opposite end of the hall. Ethan turns, surprised.

Whether her tactics regarding the Kildah were successful or not, she could not say. Instead, she had to use a hand to shield her eyes from a brilliant light that began shining. The light subsided somewhat, and a sudden silence filled the air. There were no traces of any of The Witch's soldiers present. As the soldiers looked around in confusion, Glinda had a glimpse of a great serpent vanishing into the sky, leaving a beautiful Aurora Borealis in it's wake.

The Eternal Serpent...

Putting together what happened, Glinda turned sharply and began giving orders to the soldiers around her.

"Those with healing abilities, tend to the wounded. Anyone else who can still fight: move to the Ritual Hall! Move!"

The soldiers still able to carry a weapon or wield magic charged toward the Ritual Hall, with Glinda following close behind.

---

One flash of light later, Irving's fist ended up hitting empty air when he expected the crack and impact of his target's skull. A brief look at the wall in front of him was all that it took for him to know he was suddenly somewhere else. He stood up a bit straighter and found that he was now in a room with a woman slumped over on the floor and three other strangers. The slumped-over woman began to struggle to her feet and chant something. One incantation aimed at something at the door just slightly out of Irving's sight later, and the thing outside was presumably vaporized in a flash of light and the woman collapsed to the floor. Irving stood there briefly, waiting to see if something else would occur.

"...What the hell just happened?" He asked no one in particular.

A second later, and a group of armored individuals with weapons (including one dual-wielding swords and another with an axe) stormed into the room.

"Chancellor Cia!"

The apparent leader of the group ran over to the unconscious woman and began checking her condition. One of the other soldiers, apparently also of notable rank, turned to the people who were already in the room. Irving noted that they had their weapons at the ready.

"You lot! Are you the ones Cia summoned?!"

...I dunno, yes?

---

As he was walking down the hallway, Joshua blinked. Suddenly, he was no longer indoors. He paused briefly before dropping the documents he was carrying, pulling knives out of his sleeves, and moving to a defensive position in anticipation for some kind of attack of sorts.

Nothing.

He gradually became more at-ease as nothing seemed to attack. Observing his surroundings, he seemed to be in a rocky grassland of sorts. Still not completely off guard, he quietly approached the nearby boulders and looked behind them to make sure there was no one lying in wait. After making absolute sure that he was alone, he finally stood back upright.

...Where the hell am I, and why do I feel this is somehow Nelson's fault?

Putting his knives away, he reached for his belt to call out his Pokemon. He felt something that was most definitely not a Pokeball and looked down to see that he was carrying a gun and Protect Generator; two things he did not have with him prior to appearing here. Sure enough, he checked and he even had his smoke bombs in their usual compartments and his mask in his inner coat pocket.

Curiouser and curiouser...

He sent out all five of his Pokemon. He noticed his Cosmic Drive had to be turned on again, despite not turning it off prior to all this.

"Dammit Josh, can't you go turn in some documents without getting into trouble?!" exclaimed Grinn.

"If this is my fault, I assure you it was completely an accident", said Joshua.

"Maybe Mewtwo got high and teleported us to who-knows-where", commented Zoroark.

"I don't know", said Rotom. "If the leaders did this, it's more like Benga's doing."

Joshua thought a bit. "Ditto, can you Transform into Yancy's Golurk and... I don't know; scan the database for our location or something?"

"I have not yet mastered that form in particular, but I shall try."

Ditto trailed away a bit to give himself some space as he transformed into the ancient robot. He looked around for some time."

"...I cannot find any data of it. Though I confess I'm uncertain whether this is due to my inexperience with doing such an act, or if this location truly is unknown."

"Makes you wish we had the real deal here, eh?" said Zoroark.

Manaphy looked at Joshua and noticed something at the corner of her eye. She hovered behind him. "Daddy! There's something glowing in your back pocket!"

Joshua brought his hand to where Manaphy was pointing and felt something there. He pulled it out and began examining. Manaphy and Rotom hovered behind his shoulder for a better look.

There are... cards?

"Look!" said Rotom. "It's mama!"

Joshua looked over at the first card in his "deck". Just as Rotom said, an image of Yancy looking forward was printed on the card, with her Pokemon taking up separate icons beneath her image. He looked through the rest of the deck.

"Yancy, Curtis, Rosa, Cobalion, Keldeo, Riley, and... Three other people I don't recognize.... But..."

"I'm countin' 9 cards. What about those others in yer hand?" inquired Grinn.

"Blank", said Joshua, showing one of them to Grinn. "They're not glowing like the others, either."

"But what are they for?" asked Manaphy.

"Good question", said Joshua.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think I got send to a world where card games are a major thing... But none of these have stats, for one.

"...Well, one thing's for sure", said Zoroark, "we still gotta find out where we are."

"Quite right", said Ditto, having reverted back to normal. "Might I suggest we search for the nearest batch of civilization and inquire further there?"

"Best option we got", said Joshua. He looked back at his deck, pausing ever-so-slightly to admire Yancy's card, and put it away. He held out his mask towards Rotom. "Who knows whether we might get attacked. All of you do your thing."

All of them nodded. Rotom entered the mask, which Joshua began to wear. Grinn slipped into Joshua shadow. Ditto wrapped itself around his wrist. Zoroark used the power of illusion to make himself and Manaphy invisible to any other onlooker as they walked (or hovered in Manaphy's case) alongside him.

Checking one last time to see his handgun was loaded, John Doe looked around.

"Let's go... that way."

"Sorry about that, but I know you would have just tried to stop me," Lana said as she left the passageway. "I can't just sit in safety sitting and hoping for the best while everybody I care about risks there lives," Lana said as she turned towards the city. Despite the chaotic nature there were still citizens out and about whether they were gossiping about what's going on or just heading inside. "How can they be so calm, at a time like this?" Lana thought as a quake sent nearly everybody into a momentary state of panic. "These people wouldn't be much help but its not like hero's will just fall from the....," Lana was about to say sky when a blinding light caught everybodies attention. Lana out of cuoristy went to see what was going on. When the light began to fade everyone ran away in fear because of what the light shown. 

Lana ducked behind a nearby building and saw something strange. The figures were a young lady barely older then Lana with a dog right beside her, another young lady with pink hair and pointy ears, and a strange dragon like creature with a younger dragon like creature, and two turtle like creatures next to them. "Can these be the hero's that mom was trying to summon?" Lana asked herself. "Maybe I will wait and see," Lana said as the figures began to stir awake except the big dragon like creature who was still sound asleep.

        "Where are we?" Baron asked looking around confused at the scene that was going on in front of him. "See I told you that cave was an obvious trap, but no do you ever listen," Sam said when he noticed Baron wasn't around. "Wow usually this stuff happens after Bowser invades," Starlow commented. Mario asked Starlow if she knew where they were and what happened. "Sorry Mario, I can't help you maybe try asking......wait where did everybody go?" Starlow asked while looking for everybody else.