SHONEN ALLIANCE
THE UNTOLD STORIES
ADVENTURE 5
THE TRICKSTER
Part 1
By Mastergamer14
(Vine's Note: I've decided on the opening and closing theme on this one so I can get it posted. They'll be subject to change once I hear back from Mastergamer14)
Opening Theme: Dragon Soul (Dragon Ball Z Kai)
It was a quiet day in the full moon castle; everything has been peaceful with no activity from Corruption or the Fallen One, so the alliance has had some time to spend for themselves. One in particular was in the training room practicing with his sword and blast alchemy.
Vine grinned as the training dummy, which looked incredibly like a certain blond shorty (I'M NOT SHORT!), was reduced to ashes from his raging blast attack. After a few hours of training, Vine decided to take a break.
Grumble
"Boy, I guess I'm hungry. I think I'll go get some grub, maybe pick on Fullmetal if I run into him." Vine stated as he left the training room to fill his grumbling stomach.
As he was making his way towards the kitchen he started to notice something strange; he didn't hear Jaden challenge anyone to a duel, he didn't hear Naruto, Luffy, and Natsu causing trouble only to be beat by Erza, Moka, and Claire, didn't hear Grimmjow challenge Ichigo to a fight, or hear Ed yelling at Ali for calling him small. Usually at this time the castle would be filled with noise and, sometimes, fighting.
"I guess everyone decided to have a quiet day today." he thought as he reached the kitchen.
A few minutes later, Vine was walking down the hallways, munching on a sandwich. As he was heading in the direction back to the training room, his ear were then assaulted by a loud scream.
"AAAAHHHHH!"
"What the hell?! That sounded like Imca!" dropping his sandwich, Vine ran down the hall to where he heard Imca's scream.
He arrived at a single door that he never noticed before; it was the only door that was in the direction of the scream. He gripped the handle as he slowly opened the door.
"If Corruption or the Fallen One is behind this then they'll be in for a rude awakening!" he declared as he opened the door and went through it.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Vine knew that nothing was right; first, he was in an open field when he was completely sure he was still in the castle, second, the door behind him disappeared and was replaced with more of the open field, and third…
"What the hell?!" Vine shouted as he looked at himself and found that he was clad head-to-toe in knight's armor. Lifting up the visor of the helmet that was now on his head, Vine then laid eyes on a tall, stone tower that wasn't there before. Vine only became confused, more so than usual, as he stared at it.
"Okay, something is definitely going on here and I don't think it's one of Valeria's experiments." Vine wondered what was going on when a voice called out.
"Halt, nave!"
Looking in front of him, Vine was surprised to see a knight, completely clad in black armor, standing before him. Vine got a 'you've gotta be kidding me' look on his face. The black knight ('Man, even thinking about it is cliché.' Vine thought) then spoke again.
"If thou wishes to free the fair maiden from her imprisonment in the tower, then thou hast to defeat me in a joust." the black knight declared.
'Fair maiden? He can't be talking about Imca, but I guess there's one way to find out.' Vine thought as he returned his attention to the black knight. Incredibly, the black knight was now on a black horse with a shield and lance in his hands.
"H-hey, where did you get those?!" Vine asked. He looked down and was surprised again, "Where the hell did I get this?!" Vine now found himself riding a white horse with a lance and shield in his hands. He didn't have time to figure out what was going on as he saw the black knight's horse suddenly charge at him. He was almost thrown off balance when his own horse took off as well.
The black knight readied his shield as he pointed his lance at the approaching Vine, with the intention of impaling the alchemist on the weapon. Vine was having trouble trying to keep his balance on the moving horse and could barely get his shield up to try and block the approaching lance.
'Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! In light of not knowing what the hell is going on, I choose to blame Fullmetal for this!' he frantically thought as the black knight was only feet away from turning him into raging blast on a stick.
Just as the two knights met, Vine's horse lurched forward, causing Vine's shield to deflect the black knight's lance and Vine's own lance to find a new home in the black knight's chest cavity. Vine and the black knight where thrown off their horses and hit the ground. Vine got up, painfully, stood up and stared at the black knight, or at least where the knight should've landed.
"This just gets weirder and weirder," Vine grumbled as he saw that the black knight was nowhere to be found. Shaking his head, Vine turned to the tower.
"If Imaca is in there, then I'll just have to reach the top." and with that, Vine took one step towards the Tower.
Splash
And fell right into a moat that definitely wasn't there before. Getting back up to the surface, Vine took a big gulp of air as he floated in the water.
"(cough) F-first a black knight and now a moat, (cough) what next alligators in the moat!" he gasped. As soon as those words left his mouth he heard growling behind him. Turning around, Vine was shocked to find…
"Oh come on! Crocodiles?! Well at least I wasn't right about the alligators." Like a cliché cartoon, Vine jumped out of the water and played hopscotch on the crocs' heads while avoiding the reptiles' jaws of death. A few seconds later Vine reached the wooden door of the tower and, faster than light, opened it, ran through it, and closed it just as the crocs pounced, causing them to hit the door head first. Vine let out a sigh of relief before reaching behind him.
Yank
"Ow!" Vine hissed as he removed the croc tooth that was imbedded, deeply I might add, in his rear.
"The things I do for people I can barely stand. They so owe me for this." Vine declared as he threw away the tooth and walked towards the only door in front of him. Entering the next room, which happened to be a large hallway, Vine came across the room's sole occupant.
Solve this equation: Big + Scary + Scaly + Wings + Sharp Teeth + Razor Claws + Expression of one who just woke up + Human bones lying on the floor + Untimely entrance by the hero= Vine you are so screwed.
"AW, COME ON! A DRAGON, REALLY?! WHERE THE HELL IS NATSU WHEN YOU NEED HIM?!" was all Vine could say as the hungry and awake dragon lunged at the alchemist with every intent on eating said alchemist, digesting him, and leaving him as a stinky mess in the middle of the forest.
Top of the Tower, One Hour Later
The door to the last room at the top of the tower opened to reveal Vine; the darcsen was covered in soot, parts of his armor were either missing or melted to his flesh, and his expression shouted 'I'm tired and pissed and the next person to mess with me is getting a blast up the place where the sun don't shine'. Vine breathed deeply with irritation as he surveyed the room he was in. There was only one occupant and this one wouldn't try to kill him, at least for the moment.
Lying on a bed and in a dress, surprisingly, was Imca. She looked to be asleep and her hands folded over her stomach. Vine was reminded of the fairy tales he heard as a kid, and he knew what this situation was.
"To any and all deities in this and other worlds out there, please don't make me kiss Imca." Vine pleaded to any god in existence to give him a sign to get out of waking Imca with a kiss (Mastergamer: Sorry, Vine. This is my story and you have to do what I say. Vine: Screw You!).
Seeing no other choice, Vine walked over to the bed that held his fellow darcsen and looked at her peaceful expression while she slept. With a sigh of defeat, Vine man upped and bent down to awaken the fair maiden ('Yeah, right!' thought Vine) with a kiss.
The moment their lips touched, Imca eyes opened and witnessed Vine kissing her. The only thing she could do at the moment was…
"PERVERT!"
SLAP!
BAM!
Vine now found himself on the floor, his face hurting from being slapped and his skull possibly fractured from being punched, with a fuming Imca sitting on the bed, a angry glare and giant blush on her face.
"My opinion on you wasn't high to begin with and you decided to pull off a stunt like that!" Imca yelled as she ripped off the dress she was wearing, revealing her usual clothing underneath.
"Well excuse me for trying to save you from being a prisoner in this cliché situation," Vine yelled as he stood up and dusted himself off, "Anyway, how'd you get up here anyway?"
"The last thing I remember was talking to Alicia and Selvaria, after that I wake up only to find us swapping air, by the way, you need to brush your teeth."
"Whoever kidnapped you probably did the same to the others because the castle was completely empty before I came here." Vine explained as he adopted a thoughtful look on his face, "Everyone disappearing, me ending up in a completely different place, the things I went through to get here; the one who has done this must be powerful and has a lame sense of humor. I wonder who's behind all this."
"That would be me."
Vine and Imca turned their heads to the source of the voice. They saw what appeared to be a regular man; brown hair, jacket, shirt, jeans, and a smile on his face that said 'I'm better than you and enjoy seeing people running around like idiots'. This man seemed to be unaffected by the glares the two darcsens were sending him. Vine then spoke to the man.
"So you're the who's doing this."
"Bingo!"
"Why, what have we done to you?" Imca asked while glaring at the man.
"Truthfully, absolutely nothing," answered the man, his amused expression never leaving his face, "Long story short, I'm taking a vacation from my world, which is in the middle of the apocalypse I might add, decided to travel a bit, came across you guys, and then I thought 'These guys are heroes trying to save their worlds… I should mess with them and get a laugh out of it' and, bing-bang-boom, you guys are running around like headless chickens."
"Wait, so you're doing all this just for fun?!" Vine yelled.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Mister, you have one twisted sense of humor, come closer so I can twist the rest of your body to match!" Vine growled as he cracked his knuckles.
"Ooh, a tough guy who cracks jokes, you remind of me of this douche I know back on my world; you're lucky I didn't decide to replay a day in your life that ends with your death a hundred times." the man laughed, further angering Vine and Imca, "Look, your friends aren't in any life-threatening danger, yet, but you can still rescue them."
"How" asked Imca.
"Playing the game of course. Vine here won the game of knights and castles and rescued you, know you two have to do the same with the rest of your friends. Each game is gonna be more challenging than the last. If you lose, then you'll be down a few friends and find your sanity non-existent. But if you win, then you and your friends are back fighting the forces of evil like the loving, dysfunctional family that you are. And I'll sweeten the pot, if you win then I'll give you guys an edge over Corruption and the Fallen One, how does that sound?"
Vine and Imca just looked at the man as if he grew three more heads. Vine then spoke to the man with his voice full of anger and annoyance, "You want us to play a game that gambles with our friends lives and if we lose then they die, but if we win, then you'll help us? Is this some kind of a joke to you, some kind of trick?!"
"Of course this is all a joke to me. Usually I'm an okay guy, but I can't resist playing tricks on people, after all… I am a Trickster." (cookies to the people who know this guy)
With what he needed say said, the Trickster snapped his fingers and he was gone without a trace. Vine and Imca looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces.
"We're in over our heads, aren't we?" asked Imca.
"More than usual." Vine responded.
The Trickster's game has just begun.
To Be Continued…
Closing Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)
