Spice was currently in his quarters of the Hephaestus, going over some of the info he'd gotten about the people he was planning to call in for the reading he and Phoenix had talked about, when he notices a pop-up from ELFI.
Captain, coordinates for the requested members of the Hoshidan, Nohrian, and Vallan royal families have been successfully calculated.
Minimizing the window with his notes, Spice sets his fingers on the keyboard and types up a response.
Excellent, warm up the Warp Bridge and prepare for mass warp-in. I'll continue going over my notes for now. I'm also shooting you the coordinates for the room that the reading will take place in. Have the royals sent there once they're aboard.
Spice included the room coordinates for where in the Hephaestus he wanted the individuals from the Fates realm to be taken to. It was a few minutes before ELFI responded.
Captain, these room coordinates are for the Officer's Lounge. Are you sure about this?
I am.
Very well, I shall inform you when the warp-in is 10 seconds from completion.
Thank you, ELFI.
With the conversation done, Spice minimizes the pop-up and returns to his research notes. "Now where was I… Ah, yes, the Hoshidan royal family."
"Mmm…" the voice of a young woman groans as she rouses from unconsciousness. Her eyes snapped open, however, when she found herself in the middle of a room she did not recognize as being in the Northern Fortress back in her "homeland" of Nohr. The woman in question had flowing, almost pale blonde hair, red eyes, and pointed, almost elf-like, ears. Her attire consisted of form-fitting, dress-like silver and black armor with beige that almost looked like it was layered like a dragon's scales overtop a black blouse with baggy sleeves and long, black gloves, and lacy, black leggings that left her bare feet exposed. Her name was Corrin, the (currently) amnesiac princess of Hoshido whom had been raised by the Nohrian royal family after she was kidnapped by Nohr's king, Garon. To her left on the same couch as her was another young woman, passed out, obviously, with long, ocean blue hair. This woman was Azura, the estranged princess of Nohr whom had been kidnapped by Hoshido, and had been living peacefully and freely there, even if she was technically considered a Prisoner of War. Looking to her right, she saw a pair of couches that held her siblings by adoption (though she doesn't know this quite yet), Xander, Leo, Camilla, and Elise. All members of the Nohrian royal family. To her left, past Azura, she saw another set of couches that held her siblings by birth (sort of), Ryoma, Takumi, Hinoka, and Sakura; members of the Hoshidan royal family.
"W-where am I?!" Corrin cries out in confusion and a bit of fear. Why was her family here? Why were the Hoshidan royals here?! Her cry also had the unintentional effect of waking up everyone else in the room. Everyone immediately began looking about, then noticed one another.
"Hoshidans!" Xander shouts as he jumps up from the couch he and Leo were on and reaching for his sword, Siegfried.
"Nohrians!" Ryoma shouts as he mirrors Xander's actions and reaches for his katana, Raijinto.
Only for both of them to not feel the hilt of their respective swords, bringing confusion to the crown princes of Nohr and Hoshido, as well as all of the other royals as they feel around their persons for their weapons and come up with nothing. Well, save for Corrin, who never had a weapon to begin with.
"What is going on here?" Xander wonders as he looks around the room more closely. "Have we all been captured?"
"It would appear so," Ryoma muses, having overheard Xander. "This looks like no prison cell, however, so where are we? And why are we here?"
The attention of all of the royals is drawn to a nearby door as it opens. "I believe I can answer that," a voice none of the royals recognize speaks up as Spice walks into the room with Orange Haro close behind, using a Tenor to carry breakfast for the royals.
"And you are?" Camilla asks coldly as she quickly makes her way to Corrin and pulls her into a protective embrace, that also ends up trapping the princess' head in between her adoptive elder sister's cleavage.
"I have a few names I've gone by, but you may simply refer to me as Spice," Spice says in introduction as Haro sets down the table with breakfast for the royals. "Also, you may want to release your sister from your cleavage, Princess Camilla, before she ends up suffocating. Plus, you won't be able to have breakfast while you're trapping Corrin like that."
"And for what reason do you have to kidnap the royals of Hoshido and Nohr, our sworn enemy, and bring us wherever we are now?" Takumi asks, no small amount of irritation and scorn in his tone.
"First off, cut the sass, Prince Takumi, before I give you a taste of my Power Gauntlets," Spice threatens, cracking his knuckles while his gauntlets spark menacingly, causing the Hoshidan prince to gulp nervously. "As for where I've brought you all, this is my ship, the Hephaestus, and before anyone says anything, yes, this is a ship unlike any other that any of you have ever seen before, or ever will see after we're done here."
All of the royals gathered soon nod and begin getting up from their seats and begin gathering around the table Haro brought in (Orange had left already to go find Red) to grab some breakfast. Leo, however, decided to ask a rather important question that was on the mind of all of the royals. "Would I be correct in guessing that you brought us all here for a reason?" the Nohrian prince inquires, getting a nod from Spice. "May I ask what that reason is?"
"You most certainly can, Prince Leo," Spice says with a smirk while retrieving a book of some kind from a magnetic clamp on his belt. "I have brought you all here because there is a rather special tale that I, and the creator of this tale, wish for you all to read. I can assure you that this is no ordinary book, for it will show you all events that could very well happen in the future that all of you share." As Spice explains this, he holds up the book, allowing all of the gathered royals to see it. He then hands the book to Leo. "Now, then, since you were kind enough to inquire about why you're here, and seeing as you have yet to collect some food for yourself, Prince Leo, would you do the honors of reading the title of this book aloud for everyone?"
Leo nods and takes the book before flipping it around so he can read the title. "The Gamer of Fate…?" he reads, though he trails off, making it seem a bit more like a question. "What kind of tale is this?"
"A rather unique one from what I've seen so far," Spice explains as Leo gives the book back to him so that he can eat breakfast. "I admit to not knowing too much about your world, but from what I've seen, this book covers the story of a once ordinary human who finds himself flung into your world with a unique ability and the chance to make a difference in many ways. Once you've all finished eating, however, I advise that you all bathe. Orange and Red will be the ones to escort you all to where you'll be washing up."
"How exactly are colors going to guide us to our bathing areas?" Ryoma asks for everyone, who were all too busy eating to ask.
"You remember the orange ball connected to the four-legged device that entered the room with me and left your breakfast here?" Spice asks, getting a round of nods from everyone. "That ball was Haro, one of several I have running around the ship, anyway. Orange and the other Haros are essentially my shipwrights, and are helping me with constructing the Hephaestus. That device he was docked with was a work-loader of my own personal design, called a Tenor. Alongside the Karol, a Haro-compatible device that I used as the basis for the Tenor's design, they and the Haros make up the majority of my maintenance crew. Well, just about the entirety of my crew period, at the moment, still need to acquire Reploid specs so I can start getting this ship crewed properly."
Not quite understanding what he was talking about, other than these "Haros" being the ones responsible for building the ship, the royals simply opt to eat their breakfast in silence after that. After a few minutes, everyone has finished eating, and Orange Haro returns (without a Tenor) with a red Haro in tow.
"Alright, gentlemen, and Takumi," Spice begins, getting an indignant "Hey!" from the Hoshidan prince in question, "follow Orange Haro; he'll take you to the showers so you can wash up. Ladies, follow Red Haro; she'll be taking you to the Angel Baths so you all can wash up."
"The Angel Baths?" Hinoka asks, curious.
"Artificial hot spring," Spice explains for the princesses with a smile. "I think you all will like them."
With that, the royals were all lead out before following their Haro guides to where they can all freshen up. Once the door closed, Spice got on his comms line. "ELFI, contact the nearest Haro, I'm gonna need help setting up."
~1 hour later~
The royal families of Nohr, Hoshido, and Valla soon return back to the room they woke up in, now clean and dressed. The princesses, true to Spice's word, did enjoy the Angel Baths, even if they did wonder why Spice needed an artificial hot spring in what was supposed to be a "factory ship", though Corrin was thoroughly confused and embarrassed when she found herself the subject, and caught in the middle, of a tug-of-war match between Camilla and Hinoka, both of whom wanted to dote on her. As they enter the door, they see Spice setting up...something (it's a TV)...with the aid of a black Haro docked to another of those "Tenor" devices.
"What is that?" Elise asks in fascination at what Spice is setting up.
"It's a little something for visual aid," Spice explains, not looking away from his work as he finishes connecting the wires. "And… done. Thank you, Black, you can go now."
"Roger! Roger!" Black Haro replies before releasing the television and rolls out of the room to continue what he was doing previously.
"Alright, now that you've all freshened up, we can begin," Spice says as he turns on the television and opens the book. "I'll go ahead and read the first chapter for you all. From there, the order of the reading shall go Corrin, Azura, Ryoma, Xander, Camilla, Hinoka, Elise, Sakura, Leo, and finally Takumi before looping back to Corrin. Any questions?"
Leo raised his hand, making Spice nod to him. "If it's not too rude to ask, where are our weapons?"
"They'll be returned to you after I finish the first chapter of the book," Spice replies. "I just wanted to make sure they wouldn't explode or something from being taken out of their home dimension. Also for data collection purposes, see if I might be able mirror some of the enchantments put on the four sacred weapons in particular with the Runeplates I use for my Magitek tools and weaponry. Also, before you ask, Camilla and Hinoka, your mounts will be waiting for you back in your respective countries when you return. Anything else?"
Spice gave them another minute after asking that to raise any further questions. When he received none at the end of the 60th second, he nodded and took a seat himself. "Then we can begin the reading."
ELFI: Time to commence the reading of The Gamer of Fate. Spiceracksargent001 wishes to thank you in advance for your continued patience and support of his work, and that the housecleaning of his works will be commencing once the Captain has finished compiling all of his previous that he will be revising. The intro for the Gamer of Fate should be ready later on this week.
