WARNING: this story will probably go against some of/most of/all established canon it comes across. So...don't ask why or you won't get an answer.
((On a side note, am I working on any other stories I've already started? ...Maybe. Shrug.))
((Second side note: Whenever, and I mean WHENEVER I try using ! and ? at the same time, it deletes one of them. If you say "do you doubt me!" or "why! ?" or something, just know...ehh, yeah. How do I fix this? DO I fix this? Anyways...))
Weapons clashed in every direction, producing awe-inspiring sparks that crackled and flashed in the air. They leaped back and forth, to and fro, countering every counter with a counter-counter, and that with a counter-counter-counter. If anyone happened to be watching the fight, they might have been driven to tears by this awe-inspiring, fearless display. None bothered to wear masks or protective gear, proving that fencing was, in the right circumstances, risky business.
The taller character stopped mid-match. "You're pretty good," he said. "Let's take a break for a while."
The shorter, hairier character tossed his sabre carelessly backward. "Heh! Fine, we'll stop if you want to be spared. I was only getting started!" he remarked.
The two walked over to the couch waiting for them on the tennis court. "Say," the taller one said, "how did you come to fence against me again?"
"Well...it's a long story, but to make said long story short, it's because I'm about to marry a doorknob."
"Oh. But how'd you get to that?"
"Well...I'm not telling you that story!"
LET ME SEE WHAT LIFE IS LIKE | CHAPTER ONE: FIRST CHAPTER
"And then you put this hand here...put that foot here...and put your hair like that!"
He held the black electric guitar unsteadily yet perfectly. "Uh, Flonne..."
"Yay!" She clapped, blond hair and blue hairbow flailing.
His small hands began to shake. "This...this is INSIPIIIIID!" He lifted it above his head and threw it back to the ground. It exploded into a million pieces. "How exactly will being able to play this STUPID instrument grant me my rightful title of Overlord!"
"I know there's a heart somewhere in there," she sobbed, and the angel stormed off.
"Feh!" the boy scoffed, letting his blue hair antennae and long red scarf flow in the castle draft. "Flonne and her lousy ideas. This isn't getting me anywhere!"
A more scantily-clad girl leaned against a nearby pillar. "I like your style, prince," she said, "but can you really defeat all the competition for the throne?"
"Sure I can! Are you doubting me, Etna! ?"
"Of course not!" She stayed on his good side. "But we don't know who's out there, trying to ambush us. If you ask me, you should try to take them all out at once, if you're that confident."
"Fine! I'll show you a true Overlord's power!" He pulled a pen and a piece of parchment out from his back pocket, and began to scribble down something, red eyes darting back and forth along the letters. "And when they see this, they'll..."
Just then, interrupting his writing, two endearingly penguin-like Prinny creatures stormed in on their wooden peg legs! "Hey, doods!" they cried.
"What is it?" Laharl screeched.
"Emergency in the Prinny recreation room!" they wailed, wiggling their flipper arms around. "There's...something in there! Come quick!"
"Here's a good chance for me to prove myself to you," he said to Etna, dropping his things and unsheathing a sword from out of nowhere.
"I'll be right behind ya, prince!" She pulled out her own weapon: a spear.
Flonne hurried back to them with a bow and a couple of arrows, looking serious. "We'll handle it," she huffed.
"No, the thing is..." The Prinny sweatdropped. "Your weapons won't do a thing to help, doods!"
Laharl got up close to his face, looking furious. "Do you doubt me, too, Webster?"
"N-no, that's not it!" his partner Prinny Flappy interrupted. "You just have to come and see, dood! Just follow us!"
"Ignore that," Laharl insisted, even as Flonne dropped her stuff. "Charge ahead, full force!"
They ran off, in the opposite direction of the countless demons and monsters fleeing the scene. You'd think there would be a path to destruction leading to their eventual opponent, but they found none. Flappy and Webster pointed to the location, too scared to go in themselves. And now they were about to enter the small, decimated Prinny recreation room...
A white blob had crashed into the room, scattering books and tables. Below it the thing seemed to stretch down even farther, probably obviously into other castle corridors below that level. Was it just a big, dumb object?
"What the hell is this?" Etna wondered. She poked it a bit with her spear before just poking it. "It's not scary at all."
"So? Wh-what's it feel like?" Flonne asked.
"...I dunno. Just a blob, I guess. You can touch it if you'd like."
She pushed her hand in, finding it surprisingly easy to. Flonne pulled it out and watched liquid-like material drip from her fingers and regenerate on the...thing. "Wow! It's so soft and weird! I still have no idea what it could be..."
"It's just something else in my way," Laharl insisted bitterly. "Move out of the way so I can destroy it! Then we'll get started on repairing the place." Etna and Flonne followed his command, backing up. In one flashy movement, Laharl sprinted ahead with his Blade Rush attack, determined to let no dumb obstacle stand in his way.
What happened? Where is he? What is this feeling?
Laharl is suddenly drifting in the depths of a red, expansive ocean. He might feel at peace here, if not for one thing. He assumes he cannot breathe, and promptly attempts to escape. These attempts only send him drifting farther into the sea of red, gasping for air and reaching hopelessly for an exit. In this endless ocean, can he ever leave?
Strange, this water seems breatheable. He thinks he could never get used to breathing this stuff, which fills him with the nagging sensation of drowning. The fear seems far more fearsome than it ever had been. Why?
"..." Etna spelled out a pause. The girls were left to watch this blob, in the hopes of seeing Laharl escape. Eventually. "I'm going in after him," she said, and fell in backwards with a bored expression.
Now Flonne wished she'd brought her weaponry. "I'm coming in after you!" she yelled, leaping into it.
Would Laharl be left here to ponder the meaning of life and death forever? Or would he-
Is his aimless drifting coming to an end? Oh, finally, a stop to this. And is this light ahead of him? Better than seeing so much blood red around him...
"Ah!" He took a deep breath of real air, falling out of the strange ocean. Somehow Laharl was levitating, and somehow he was looking straight at a huge, black orb. It glowed with some sort of white energy. Could it be that energy which had pulled him to this place?
Laharl drifted toward this power, holding his palm to it...but a voice held him back.
"Laharl!" Flonne cried, falling into the air-filled void. "Here, come back out with us!" Etna followed close behind, looking around.
"Not just yet," he said. "Whatever this thing is, it...interests me. I have a feeling I should touch it or something. So let me!"
"Really?" Etna's pointy ears perked. Not sure of what else to do, she followed him at the fastest slow pace she could take. "This place is interesting."
"It seems kind of fun," Flonne said, zigzagging next to Etna.
"Y-you get away from me! This orb is mine!" Laharl bickered, struggling to try and levitate faster. Somehow he figured that me must reach the orb first.
After a slow, pointless scene, all three of them touched the orb at once, becoming blinded by its light.
VOOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
This energy, given to the three of them, now pulsing through their veins. Was this ultimate power? It felt to each of them like the power of many; millions, perhaps billions. And it was handed to them so simply.
A very faint aura surrounded the huge, solid mass of unknown matter now. They must have absorbed it.
"This...is awesome!" Laharl laughed an evil laugh! "Aaaahahahahahahaaaa! I can feel it in every fiber of my being! Yes, this must be-" He looked at the other two. "Wait...didn't you steal some of the power, too?"
"Mmhm." Etna put it bluntly.
"Yep!" Flonne clenched her fists.
"You..." He looked downward. "Well, you've got it now. Beating the power out of you would be pointless, especially if I assume you two have been given equal power." As much as he felt like being brash...
"Look on the bright side, prince," Etna said, floating a bit closer. "This way we can be a more balanced team, and maybe beat people up easier."
"I wanted to rule alone."
As they were talking, Flonne spent her time poking the orb some more. Under her influence, the thing began to morph! "Hey, everyone!"
A Prinny, probably Flappy or Webster, headed up the tower stairs. Whatever was going on here, someone had to try and find out.
He peered over the edge of the castle tower, shocked. The white...thing blocked everything else in front of him from view. Obviously this was something that was very, very large. What would it do to them all!
In one sudden, jerking movement, the thing seemed to fly up and away. Webster/Flappy looked around. There it was, in the distance and to his left! It was tall enough to fade into the clouds above and the inferno below. Was that a...a torso?
"OH MY GOD, DOOD!"
She sprouted "wings" - the vector-like framework of several four-sided, insectoid wings. She flapped them once or twice, as if they would stir wind, and then she took off, high into the black and starry skies of space.
"WHAT THE F***, DOOD, WHAT THE F***!" Had he gone mad! Flappy or Webster stumbled down the stairs.
The black mass had become a control room, complete with typical piloting mechanisms and a screen displaying the vastness ahead! "Full speed ahead!" Flonne cried, putting her all into this!
"What's happening! Was this all just some sort of spaceship!" Etna yelled as she watched the screen.
"Impossible...but I could arguably use the opportunity to sharpen my newfound skills!" Laharl decided.
"APPROACHING WARP SPEE-wait, who are you?" a wimpy voice said from out of some speakers.
Etna turned a knob. "Wonder what this does."
"WAIT NO WHAT ARE YOU-" The voice was turned off.
Flonne leaned closer to the monitor. "Everything's getting blurry! This must be what that voice called...warp speed!"
He asked, "What's that?"
"It means get ready to go really really fast!"
She flew through space so fast, she literally broke the fabric of their reality. It ripped like fragile fabric through her huge white hair...like nothing. Beyond them was even more blinding light, and through there, a circular entrance to the next universe over.
"W-wow!" Flonne made a point of showing her amazement! "What could be in there!"
"Let's go ahead and find out!" Etna leaned on he shoulders, eager to watch what would happen next.
"I enter this new world...as the Overlord!"
She bounced off of a clump of ice, flew through a ring of asteroids, was forced past raging storms and made a crash landing on red soil. Her wings flickered and faded out, leaving her arm outstretched toward the planet nearby.
Flonne let go of the controls. "This might just be it! Our destination!"
"This should be interesting," Laharl said.
"Ooh!" Etna looked over at the screen again. "...But the screen says we're still in space, so we'll obviously have to get out again. And who knows how long THAT'LL take..."
"Easy...easy..."
KRASH BOOM BAM
"Oh, this is perfect!"
"Are you sure it's perfect, Flonne?" Etna said, looking at the monitor. "We're sinking into some kind of ocean, it looks like."
"Who cares? I've gotta test my strength on something!" Laharl flew out of the control room, heading out of the weird ship.
"W-wait for me!" Flonne chased after him.
"Eh," Etna shrugged, deciding there was nothing better to do in here, and followed.
The three of them dashed straight through her huge and gooey back, making a safe landing on some beach. Compared to the first time they tried that, it was no time at all!
"Wowie wow wow!" was Flonne's reaction! "I wonder what else I can do!" She started running around in circles at a blindingly-fast speed! "This is awesome!"
Laharl chuckled. "You think a superpower can beat whatever I can do? Heh! Try this! Super Something Attack!" Several comet-shaped shards of ice appeared in the skies above him. "Die!" With a movement of his arms, the ice crashed down on a large cluster of typical palm trees, obliterating them. "Ha! You two can't beat THAT, I bet!"
Etna stood in front of a rather large pile of ashes. "I burned some when you weren't looking."
"Hmph! Seeing is believing. It doesn't count!"
Flonne's angel wings had grown huge! "Look what I can do!"
"That's nice...but not nice enough!" He turned around to talk to himself. "It's just proof that I've got the power in this trio! And when I get back, I'll show them who's the Overlord!" The others heard him easily.
"Oh, really, now?" Etna challenged. "Well, good to have reinforcements, right?"
"Right," he admitted. "A king can't be without his trusty vassals and servants!"
"So I was thinking, prince, maybe we should all three explore some and work on our powers. They're probably amazing, but we don't have a handle on them yet. Plus, maybe we could find some great souvenirs! Then we'll come back to the...ship, after having such a good time doing all of that!"
"That sounds great!" Flonne decided.
Maybe getting away from Flonne and Etna would give Laharl a chance to forget that this great power was given to the three of them, and not just him 'cause he was kind of self-centered. "That's a great idea, Etna!" he exclaimed. "We'll all go our separate ways until then! Uh...until when?"
"Until whenever?" Flonne guessed.
"Yeah, that," Etna agreed. "Let's treat this like a vacation and forget all about the chaos that must be happening back home! Seeya!" She ran off.
"Bye~!" Flonne flew away.
Well...he'd forgotten all about that in the commotion, but at least his newfound powers can surely whip the competition into shape! "Good riddance," he mumbled when the coast was clear. "While you're gone, I'll...I'll just...go on without you guys!" He wandered off, in search of mindless destruction.
"And now it's time for a special episode of Oprah," Oprah's voice said as the screen featured her name. The audience clapped as the woman herself appeared, sitting on a chair next to some other guy.
As the applause settled down, she said, "I know the question on everybody's minds today, and that question is, what could that thing that landed on the coast of Chile possibly be? Scientists are still running their tests, but the real mystery is in its appearance. Nobody knows why, but it seems to be in the shape of a young anime-style girl. While you might think that's the end of that mystery, there's yet another factorto consider: that stylized anime girl is also one of the characters in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, named Rei. Luckily the creator of said anime learned perfect English just in time to see us. Please welcome series creator Hideaki Anno."
"Thank you," the man sitting in a chair next to her said as the audience applauded.
"First of all, have you been sending telepathic messages to any aliens out there that could have created this thing?" Oprah asked. "I know that would be ridiculous in any other situation to ask, but really, it's not that far out there anymore."
"No. I keep telling you, I had NO part in this. All I can say is that maybe my anime was so popular that even the aliens in outer space are watching it. Or maybe they're reading it, since there's a graphic novel, too."
"...I was hoping it'd go somewhere from there, but I don't have any more questions for you. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine. I've got another fifty or so interviews afte this, anyways." Oprah laughed. "I'm serious."
"Oh, really? So sorry you'll have to repeat the same answer over and over again!"
"I know, right? Well, thanks for at least bringing me onto the show."
"Nice to have you here!" she said, waving back at him when he got up and left. The crowd cheered and clapped. "Now we'll, uh, cut to commercial break to give me a chance to work out what else we're gonna be doing this episode. But don't run out of the studio yet, 'cause you're gonna get free stuff!" Some lady came out from offstage, wheeling over a shopping cart filled with giant naked Rei dolls. "There's more in the back, people!"
"WOO!" the crowd screamed!
"So stick around."
Now, this was some real news! That day, a work of real-life science fiction occurred. It couldn't have been a hoax, for a man would never waste his time forging something like this. Maybe Hideaki Anno had some sort of special psychic powers, contacting the aliens but he continuously denied that. Did it have a purpose? Nobody was allowed to touch it until the scientists finished their examination of the thing.
As this strange thing astounded the planet, something stranger yet was just on the horizon.
- Chapter End -