The idea for the anime convention as a whole came from my older sister, Kate avalanche, so if you like the ideas that pop up in this chapter, go look at her stuff. In fact, even if you don't like this chapter, go read her stuff. She has stories for Naruto, DN Angel, Ouran High School Host Club, Spirited Away, and CLAMP School Detectives. If you don't know what those things are, I pity you.
To everyone who reviewed, thank you. DemonicChick888 and ColorsOver, you were right. Crap. Should've known that people would guess. It doesn't make it any less fun though, does it? Well, enjoy!
Interdimensional Experimentation and Toast Chapter 4"So… So this is YaoiCon 2007." Ritsuka said faintly.
"It's…" Soubi said.
"It's…" Artemis muttered.
"IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!!" Juliet squealed and raced to get a badge stating that she was allowed into the Convention grounds.
"Why? Why did my sister have to be one of them?" Butler asked, not really expecting an answer. And he was right; Juliet was already attracting people whom she seemed to fit in with just fine.
There were people, quite literally, everywhere. About a third of them were in some kind of costume or another, if not more. There was a person dressed as Cardcaptor Sakura who was waving over a fully dressed Syaoran and stuffed Kero doll. There were at least nine different people nearby dressed as some character from Naruto; you could tell from the Headbands. Some costumes looked cute on the people, but others were simply scary.
There had been a man in a very short skirt and a school uniform skipping by. Butler had quickly covered the eyes of Artemis and Ritsuka, so at least two of the party members were not mentally scarred for life.
"Hey, you! I need one of those arrows to gouge out my eyes!" Soubi called.
"I have a machete in my left boot," suggested Butler.
"Excellent choice."
"He could've at least shaved his legs! Ugggh!"
But most of all, there were characters from shounen-ai animes. There were people from Sukisyo. There were people from Gravitation. There were people from Yami no Matsuei. There was even a Daisuke, Dark, and Satoshi group from DN Angel, which wasn't a really blatant yaoi show. And then….
"Hey Soubi?" Ritsuka said.
"Yes, Ritsuka?" Soubi said.
"Why are those people dressed like you, me, Shinonome-sensei, Yuiko-san, Yayoi, Natsuo, and Youji?"
"I… I can't tell you that. I don't know."
"Natsuo and Youji are pretty convincing. Actually, I think you and I are, too. But I could barely tell that that was Yuiko-san."
"I agree." Soubi said.
"You know them?" Artemis asked, vaguely surprised.
"Not them personally, but we know people who look almost identical to some of them." Ritsuka said.
Artemis and Butler exchanged glances this time. "You… You don't think that…"
"Hey, Ritsuka-kuuuuuun!" Juliet sang. "-And-everybody-else!" She had somehow acquired a Kyou bag from Fruits Basket, a Shippo hat from Inuyasha, Hitomi's necklace from Escaflowne, and a Fullmetal Alchemist red coat. It made for an odd picture, along with the strange boots that laced all the way up to her knee with straps and sheaths for knives or cell phones, whichever the user preferred. "Those people look a lot like you and Soubi, sweetie!" She said, surprised. "Though not nearly as cute you."
"Umm… thanks?" Ritsuka said.
"Juliet," Artemis began, "could you, by any stretch, go over and ask them who they are dressed as?"
"Of course, Arty! And the term is cosplaying." Juliet bounced over to the group, receiving a wide berth upon her arrival.
"How on earth did someone like that come from your bloodline, Butler?" Ritsuka asked.
"I ask myself that question most days of the week," Butler said.
"So…. You're from an anime called 'Loveless'?" Juliet asked.
"Of course! Loveless is so great! Ritsuka-kun is so very cute, too!" said the girl cosplaying as Ritsuka.
"I know!" said Juliet, slipping into reverie.
"Huh? But I thought you didn't know what-"
"Oh, ignore me. Y'know what? I'll be right back." Juliet raced over to Artemis and the others. "Ritsuka-kun, that girl says she's cosplaying as you. And she said that you're a character from a series called 'Loveless'." Ritsuka, Soubi, and Artemis all went pale, though it was a little hard to tell with Artemis.
"So, Ritsuka, you're an icon of insane women everywhere. What will they do when they find out that the real one exists, I wonder?" Artemis said.
"Oh, Lord. The first thing they'd ask is how I lost the ears." Ritsuka moaned, covering the spots on his head where his ears had been at one point. "Are we going to have to put a mask on me or something?"
"That may not be a bad idea." Butler said. "You too, Soubi. If you two are really from the same place and dimension or whatever, then you'll probably be recognizable, too. That other man with that girl Juliet was talking to was dressed quite similarly to you. Juliet, did you ask the man who he was supposed to be?"
"Who cares? The guy has really bad taste if he wanted to look like this idiot." Juliet said, putting on a pouty face.
"Umm, Juliet-san?" Ritsuka began.
"Yes, my adorable little sweetie?"
"Can you go with them? That group that's dressed like us? I'm sure you could have a lot of fun here, and you can probably make friends that'll, y'know, still be around after all of this is over. Ones that live in the same dimension as you."
"Oh, anything for you, dear. And besides, I've got a feeling that that girl who was dressed like you could be really cool!" Juliet danced off, leaving a trail of imaginary hearts behind her.
"A-amazing." Butler said. "You got rid of her for the time being and found a reliable source of information for her to report on later. That was genius." Artemis tossed Butler a dirty look, one that went relatively unnoticed.
"So, do we need to find Holly-san somewhere?" Ritsuka asked.
Artemis checked his watch. "Yes. We should be leaving about now."
Butler and Soubi walked behind their old charges and their newer, stranger ones. It was stranger than most of the things either had seen. Sure, that might be only because they was used to those particular events by now, but this was way out of the men's comfort zones.
It hit Butler like a perfectly aimed snowball, the kind that is slightly slushy so that it trickles down into one's underwear. The streak of light. There had been a blue streak of light that had shot away from Fowl Manor when Ritsuka and Soubi had first arrived. Did that mean that their two guests weren't the only ones that had come from the other world? Just like with the snowball, coldness rolled down Butler's spine.
"Butler? What is wrong?" Artemis said, stopping to turn around and face his old friend.
"Did you see a streak of light like a shooting star or something fly out of that spell you used when Ritsuka and Soubi first came here?"
Artemis remembered instantly. "Oddly enough, yes. It seemed to have slipped my mind for quite a while, but yes. Do you think that it means trouble for us?"
"When does something unplanned for bode well?" Butler said.
"Good point. Ritsuka, Soubi, are there other people like you with true names and magical abilities that might have a grudge against you? If so, how would one identify them?" Artemis said.
The two looked at each other, aghast. "There… there are so very many…" muttered Ritsuka weakly. "Breathless, Sleepless, both Zero pairs, and who knows who else…"
"They can be identified by some sort of mark on their bodies with their names. That may not always work, though. It may be best to look for people with ears and tails like Ritsuka had, though they could have gotten rid of theirs as well. We can probably tell you which ones they are if we happen to meet them, but…" Soubi started.
"- But with so many people in costumes, it might be hard to tell. Really, to think that our lives are some sort of pathetic soap opera here..." Ritsuka muttered bitterly.
"In warrior terms, I believe that means that you should pack much bigger guns, Butler." Artemis said.
"Girlie, you really wanna do this? You gonna git yo' ass shanked in there?" The man asked.
"Does my money tell lies?" she asked, backed by her new friend, the girl who was cosplaying as Ritsuka, whose name turned out to be Caoimhe.
"No, mum, it don't. Well, damn. You got my prayers, child." He said, taking her money and admitting her.
It was a rather dark, grungy place to be anywhere near an anime convention, let alone right across the street. But most fun things seemed to be happening on the same day, and Juliet certainly couldn't resist a championship arm-wrestling competition. After all, she would even get to show off in front of Caoimhe. The men there were all so big with muscles (or just fat) that they sat in the booths, not the chairs, for fear of breaking them. Caoimhe shrunk back, but their formidable aura didn't seem to quite penetrate Juliet's wall of confidence.
"Umm… Juliet? Are you really sure you can win? Can't we just go back?"
"NEVER!!!! There's no way that I'll ever lose to these weaklings, Caoimhe!"
The men there reacted, as a smarter person would've figured out beforehand. "Yo, kid, you better not be talking about us over there!" one said.
"And if I am? You want a little preview of what the rest of you guys will get done to you if you go up against me in the competition?" Juliet said, rolling up her right sleeve. The man copied her. Sitting down in a booth that had been abandoned by the former occupants, they clamped their hands over each other's.
A second man acted as the referee. "One, two, three, BEGIN!!"
The crowd watched in awe as biceps flexed beyond what was considered normal for human potential. Caoimhe stared at her new (scary) friend as though she had never seen anything quite like her, and indeed hadn't.
"This git isn't winning, y'know," Juliet conversationally, as if the effort she was exerting at the time was nothing at all to her.
"You…. You're not… not even try-ing…" the other man grunted out, pushing against her hand as hard as he could but getting no leeway.
"Nope!" she sang. "You want me to?" The man paled considerably.
Juliet turned her body completely towards him and tensed her elbow with an evil smirk on her face. Almost instantaneously, the man's hand slammed backwards on the cold wood with an ominous-sounding snapping sound.
The man whimpered like a little girl, but it was drowned out by the incredible cheers that Juliet was now receiving form her enthralled crowds.
"Are you really competing today?"
"We've got no chance if you ARE, hon!"
"You doing anything t'night, sweetheart?"
"GOOO, JULIET!!!" Caoimhe was almost crying herself hoarse at her new friend's victory.
"Thanks, Caoimhe. Thanks, everybody-else-I-don't-know. But you know, I totally have an appointment way later tonight, so I'm not coming to the competition. So-rry!" she chanted. There were many sighs of relief mixed with moans of sadness in the crowd.
As they were walking out of the building, the man at the front tried to offer Juliet her money back, which she kindly refused.
"But Juliet, that was incredible!"
"Y'think?" Juliet said.
"I do!" Caoimhe paused for a moment with a thoughtful look on her face. "I just had a thought. Can you use stuff like boxing or martial arts, etc.?"
"Can I EVER!" Juliet was getting ready to fully glomp her new friend for these holy words issuing from her mouth.
Caoimhe grinned evilly. "Then have I got something you'll like."
"So… So you're Holly-san." Ritsuka said.
"I am. And are you really some weirdo from another world?"
"No more a weirdo than you are."
"Holly, this is Aoyagi Ritsuka-kun and Agatsuma Soubi-san. Do you think we may need to explain the situation to her a bit?" Artemis said.
"Not much of problem, really," Holly hoisted the belt attached to whatever weapons she carried around these days on her hip. "I'm used to acting without information. All I need to know is where these people came from and what you used to get 'em here. Heck, with Foaly around, we probably don't need those, either."
"I imagine not, considering the spell I used was taken from a book that I stole from Foaly himself." Artemis said. Holly stared at him.
"While that does make things easier, Foaly is gonna kill you."
"Probably. Now, if the pleasantries are over, I believe we need to discuss flight plans?"
"Yeah, there's where we hit the kind of crap your karma sends our way. This particular chute had a cave-in about a year and two moths ago, while you and I were still AWOL with the demon crap."
"But how did you get here, then?" asked Butler, his eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.
"Simple," Holly said. "Foaly's got more than new subs. He's got a new instant-transporter thing that I'm sure you would appreciate, Artemis. The only problem with it is, it takes about four hours to prep the stupid thing. He won't let me use the better version he has up; he says it's 'still in the prototype stage' and he'll 'only let in the people he has a particular grudge against'. I'm thinking that's bad, so I just went with the slow one."
"That's interesting. How did he do it?" Ritsuka said. "Most transporters disassemble your atoms, don't they? Would that method still work with much larger people, like Butler-san or Soubi? And, can people go in more than one at a time-"
"Ritsuka." Warned Soubi. Ritsuka blushed and shut up.
"No, no, he has a point. Can more than one person be transported at once?" Artemis said.
"I think so. But I think Foaly said the max is two at a time." Holly looked Butler up and down. It was a long way to look. "I think Butler over here counts as two all by himself. So might Mr. Telephone Pole, even if he is thin as a twig and dressed like a geriatric hippie."
Soubi looked down at his waist through his glasses.
"So the point is, we won't be able to leave for a little less than four hours?"
"Six. The thing has to cool off first for two hours."
Everyone looked at each other with slightly worried looks on their faces.
"Butler?"
"Hmm?"
"Where did your sister, Juliet-san, go off to?"
"No idea." Butler said. He scanned the immeasurable crowds for any sign of his little sister. It wasn't that he didn't think that she couldn't take care of herself; that was not it at all. It was simply that she took care of herself too well. Broken bones, punctured internal organs, beaten people, crowds screaming and either trying to run away from the carnage as fast as they could or trying to get pictures to go on the internet or news channels. Butler was getting too old to relive some of the stunts that Juliet had pulled before. And now, she was missing. Ominous.
The crowds were at least twice as thick as they had been before when they had all first arrived, so it was much harder to pick out one person. However, Soubi had better eyes than Butler, not to mention he was considerably taller than either of the younger charges.
"Is that her, there?"
"Where?!"
"Over there, waving like an idiot in a very… short…"
"Oh, Lord."
Juliet parted crowds like a professional, which, in some countries, she was, dragging her friend and all of her friends behind.
"Hi, big brother!" she said rather loudly as soon as she got close. "AND RITSUKA-KUUUUUUN!!!!"
"Hello, Juliet-san." Ritsuka sighed.
"Hey, guys, my friend Caoimhe said that I absolutely have to do this one thing, so can we wait to send Ritsuka-kun home just a little bit? A few hours? Pleeeeeeeease?" Juliet was dressed in much stranger apparel than before. Somehow or another, she had gotten a hold of a rather long-ish jacket that went a few inches down her thighs. The odd part was, she wore no pants under it. Her legs were fully shown off and every male within a 25-foot radius was looking her way and either grinning appreciatively or blushing and quickly looking away. A few women participated as well. She was wearing her long hair down and had a small stuffed dog poking its nose out of her shirt. Butler looked about ready to explode with a brotherly, affectionate killing spree.
"Well….. alright, considering that our trip got postponed by about six hours anyway. So… what exactly is this thing that's so great? And why are you dressed like that?" Ritsuka said, cutting Butler off before had a chance to say anything.
"I'm so happy you asked me that, Ritsuka-kun!!! My friend Caoimhe over here convinced me to do it!" Juliet looked ready to burst with happiness while the Ritsuka-cosplayer blushed and grinned shyly.
"I'm going to participate in a cosplay competition!"
(A/N) Hey, guys! Chapter four is done and over with at somewhat of a cliffie! I'm rather happy with this chapter because it just all seemed to connect really easily, like at the beginning of the fic. The next chapter will be good, I promise you! Once again, much credit goes to my older sister kateavavalanche.
Just so you know, I didn't just make the name, 'Caoimhe' up. I looked it up. It comes from the Gaelic caomh meaning 'beautiful'. I liked it a lot, so I used it.
Review or die!! I'll give you pudding and not a bullet to the head! (Don't worry, they're a non-lethal rubber kind of bullets!)