"Come on, Banjo! We need to do something!" A small bird pestered her honey bear companion. "Do we have to?" Banjo asked, opening one of his eyes and raising his eyebrow. "Yes!" The bird sqwuaked, angrily flapping her wings.
"Alright, Kazooie. I guess we could go to the top of Spiral Mountain again." Banjo conceded, slowly getting to his feet. "Again?" Kazooie seemed opposed to the idea. "Well, you wanted to go somewhere." Banjo countered. "Somewhere new!" Kazooie corrected herself. "It's boring, day after day of being here. It puts me to sleep!"
"Evidently not." Banjo muttered. "Alright," he sighed "we'll go somewhere new."
So they were soon on their feet and off on an adventure, going on a forest path which didn't seem to lead anywhere. The dirt path through the place was wide and spacious, never covered or shaded by the trees on either side. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and there was a gentle cool breeze, making the green leaves on the trees gently rustle.
"Feels great to be out on such a fine day, eh Banjo?" Kazooie nudged Banjo, hoping to get an agreement. "I prefer sleep." Banjo yawned, before stretching his arms and getting on his way again. Kazooie wanted him to speed up, but even then she was very limited in how fast she could go. Kazooie always rested on top of Banjo's blue backpack, as she couldn't fly for very long without having to stop for a rest. She still helped Banjo, using her wings to shield him from harm, acting as a weapon for the bear and of course, carrying him over objects and gaps he couldn't jump over.
Banjo, on the other hand, was more about raw strength. He was arguably faster, tougher and stronger, he could swim and climb, and well, he was a bear.
"So where are we going, anyway?" Banjo asked, looking to his feathered companion. Kazooie shrugged. "I don't know."
"You don't?" Banjo seemed slightly worried. "Nope. I just wanted to go on a trip. I'll find our way back, don't you worry." Banjo then waved it off, confident in Kazooie to do that, but mostly wanting to avoid confrontation. "Alright, I guess we'll walk for a bit more, then we'll call it a-" "Banjo, look out!"
"Banjo!" Kazooie exclaimed, flying to her friend. "Are you okay?" She asked, watching Banjo shake off the blow. "Ugh. I'll be fine, but who was that?"
"Guess who?"
The duo looked to their assaulter, a familiar sight no doubt. With a robe over his miniscule frame and an old monitor for a face, the Lord of Games made his way over to the duo.
"Hey, it's L.O.G.!" Kazooie exclaimed, shocked at the sudden attack. "L.O.G.?" Banjo couldn't believe it. "But why? I thought we were on good terms?"
L.O.G. laughed. "How could we possibly be on good terms? I thought you knew I was the Lord of Games!"
"Well...yeah, but what has that got to do with anything?" Banjo asked. "Let's see...I'm supposed to be the Lord of Games, yes? As an industry. But pray tell me then, why am I confined to an utterly pedestrian sequel to a game everyone stopped caring about in the mid 2000's on a platform where it should never have been released?!"
"Well, first off, we pay good money for the fourth wall, and-" "SILENCE!" L.O.G. shrieked. "It's all the fault of that bitch!" He fumed. "If it weren't for her, I would at least be the ruler of Microsoft! Not a side character in a game with a bear, a bird and a witch!"
"Sounds like you've got a lot of anger issues there pal." Banjo continued, seemingly oblivious to the outburst of L.O.G.. "Banjo!" Kazooie hissed, trying to get him to stop, or at least pay attention to what was going on.
"Very well. I'll finish you off now."
Banjo grabbed Kazooie and the two got ready to attack the Lord of Games. Banjo fired an egg, but he was able to counter by bringing up a polygonal shield to block the projectiles. "You insult me with such pitiful attacks!" He scoffed, sending one of his many arms after the duo. Kazooie's reactions were on point though, as she managed to shatter the arm with one peck. It disintegrated, but the L.O.G. didn't seem at all irritated by it. He simply pressed on, charging up another attack and sending three arms after the duo. Banjo jumped back and grabbed Kazooie, shooting two of the arms, but missing a third which proved to be a costly error.
The arm grabbed his legs out from underneath him with incredible strength, despite them being so brittle and dragged him towards the L.O.G. for the finishing blow. Banjo held onto Kazooie who was barely even able to slow down Banjo on his way towards certain death. "Hold on, Banjo..." Kazooie grunted, her claws creating tracks in the ground as they were dragged along. "Ugh. Go for the arm!" Banjo instructed. "Try and break it!"
BANG!
Banjo's prayers were answered as the arm shattered and he was able to get away. "I came at the right time, didn't I?" The gunman joked. Well, gun-squirrel to be exact. He had bright orange fur and blue eyes, looking very much like a children's mascot, wearing a blue hoodie too. But the assault rifle in his hands kind of ruined that look, combined with the military helmet.
Conker was a good friend of both Banjo and Kazooie, however, he was quite...vulgar by comparison. Conker was an alcoholic, smoked, swore like a sailor, and was incredibly violent for a squirrel. Though whenever he was around those two, he somehow was able to put it all aside.
"I'll say!" Banjo replied. The three began running again, with Banjo using Kazooie and Conker using his assault rifle to keep any arms away from them. "So who is this guy anyway?!" Conker questioned, reloading his assault rifle. "An old friend!" Kazooie answered. Conker scoffed. "Maybe you should find some new friends then!"
Kazooie gave a slight eye roll before she fired another egg at another arm. Banjo was going to get his wish anyway. They were already halfway home and they weren't slowing down anytime soon.
Until an outstretched arm caught them. Conker managed to jump over it himself, and Kazooie flew over it, but Banjo tripped, and was caught in the arm. "Banjo!" Kazooie cried out, flying off to help her friend, only to be smacked away by another arm.
As she fell to the ground, Conker took aim and fired, only to be blocked by a polygonal shield. "What?!" Conker dropped the empty gun. "Don't tell me you've never seen anyone block bullets, squirrel." The Lord of Games taunted. "Now, as for you Banjo, I think-"
Then the arm exploded into pieces after another gunshot. The Lord of Games was surprised as Banjo fell to the ground and retreated, but he retracted all his arms again, not wanting to exert himself on a small, plucky opponent. Conker had picked up his gun and reloaded, but that wasn't where
A skeleton. He was dressed like a western style cowboy, with spurs on his boots, a poncho, gloves that had those stupid things hanging off of them, a cowboy hat, and most importantly, twin revolvers that were in his hands, out of their holsters. His skull looked weird too, like one of those charro skeletons from Mexico.
"And who might you be?" The L.O.G. demanded, sticking his non-existent nose up at the gunman. "Just a minute there." He spoke, with a heavy southern accent. "What do you think you're doing, picking on those smaller than yourself? Think you can just do that for your kicks?"
The Lord of Games laughed. "I supposed so. But you make it seem unwarranted and cruel. I only deal out punishment to those deserving of it."
"So you're one of those kind..." The skeleton muttered. "Well either way, I'd like to know what their sins are before we continue."
"Isn't it obvious?" L.O.G. sneered. "They defied me not once, but twice! Imagine the nerve!" The skeleton readied his revolvers. "That don't seem like a crime to me. Now, because you ain't done nothing to 'em yet, I'll let ya off with a warning."
The other three watched, with Conker taking aim for another shot in case things got out of hand. "I'd count my blessings if I were you. Normally I shoot first, ask questions later.
"GAH!" The L.O.G. cringed before retracting all his arms and clutching his chest. "Y-you!" He spluttered, shocked and horrified he had been undone so easily.
"I'm giving you five seconds to get the hell outta here, boy!" The skeleton snapped, keeping his revolvers raised. The L.O.G. scoffed. "Hmph! Expect me soon..." He grumbled, leaving just before the skeleton started firing.
"Damn. Got away..." He sighed, slightly disappointed. Then he turned to the other three. "You folks alright?" They all nodded. "I'm fine, thanks. Good thing you showed up when you did though." Banjo laughed. "Well, that's just it, isn't it? I was meant to be here for that reason, and for that reason I was here. Works out, don't it?"
Conker shrugged. "Eh, I guess. But who was that guy?"
"I've seen him before." The skeleton replied. "Doing nothing but strutting around the place, all high and mighty. Nice to take him down a peg, so I appreciate you folks showing up to distract him."
Conker brushed it off. "Anyway, we didn't get a name." He reminded the skeleton. "A name..." He muttered. "Well, tell you the truth, I ain't sure I got a name. But I got one nickname to make up for that." Banjo and Kazooie were already getting ready to move on, when the skeleton revealed. "Call me The Gunstringer."
There was something unnatural going on in Gensokyo. That was obvious to anyone who set foot there, as it wasn't meant to be accessed freely by those from outside. Nevertheless, it was obvious something had gone horribly wrong, and now anyone could get there simply by walking.
For the youkai high above Gensokyo, this was especially concerning.
She had purple eyes and long blonde hair with many lace bows and other accessories in it, as well as a pale pink mob cap with a red lace ribbon around it, and a western style purple dress. She also carried a pink parasol around, and was seemingly standing on nothing.
Yukari Yakumo was the most powerful youkai to ever exist. No question about it, she reigned supreme. Though she didn't abuse that power, she tried to keep things to some order.
This meant the creation of barriers. Barriers that kept Gensokyo from the outside world, for instance, however, that had obviously been shattered. What was worse, there was another gap that was going to be breached. One that, when breached, would have far more devastating consequences than could be imagined.
She needed assistance, and that meant going to the Hakurei Shrine. Some things had been happening at the Scarlet Devil Mansion too, in fact, Gensokyo had been thrown into disarray, and it didn't seem to be getting any better.
"My, my. Feeling the pressure?" The voice from behind taunted. Yukari turned to see the Shadowman, floating out to meet her while surrounded by the orange glow. "I wouldn't have pegged you to be the first to cave in."
"I will not give you such satisfaction." Yukari responded, calm as ever. The Shadowman chuckled. "They all said that once. But were they correct? I'm not sure, they didn't live to find out."
"Pray tell me though, why must you open another barrier?" Yukari pressed, looking for answers. The Shadowman was more than happy to explain, though nothing fazed Yukari.
"I understand you know about this. Barriers separate plains of existence. Once a barrier falls, you can have two completely different worlds colliding, or have two of the same species under different circumstances interact. Either way, I need this power."
Yukari scoffed. "To merge more dimensions for you to conquer?" She quizzed. The Shadowman shook his head. "If I am to survive and win this war, which I believe I will be, I feel it would be highly beneficial to have my army at my side. Flesh eating corpses are fine, but they come apart a little too easily. With my proper army by my side, I would be unstoppable. But such are things that my army lies elsewhere, in another dimension. I'll soon have it though. You being the person who should want to keep these barriers in place, I find it very concerning."
Yukari shook her head. "I understand. But you must realize the futility of your actions. I am no pushover."
"I never believed any such rumour for even a second." The Shadowman countered. "But if you believe I have made so much progress by going up against easy opponents and using underhanded tactics, then-" "I'd be correct." Yukari finished the sentence. The Shadowman couldn't really argue with that, so he just shrugged before continuing. "I will give you hell. You may mark my words, Ms. Yakumo."
With that, he was gone. Keeping her calm was something Yukari specialized in though, and now wasn't any different. All she had to do was go to the Hakurei shrine, in the hope that it was still there.
Reimu was, in fact, at the Hakurei shrine. Going about her duties as Shrine Maiden, Yukari felt the need to give advice to Reimu, saying how she could have been doing this better, or a little more enthusiasm there would have-no. It wasn't important right now.
She floated down to ground level, still floating, and waited for Reimu to notice her. But she didn't. Reimu would move all around the shrine, go inside and then come back out, but she never noticed Yukari. With a sigh of annoyance, the youkai clapped her hands, startling Reimu.
"Huh?!-wha?!-oh..." Reimu breathed a sigh of relief seeing Yukari, thankful it wasn't someone who had come to attack her. At least, she didn't have a reason to.
"Yukari Yakumo. What brings you here?" Reimu asked. "You should know what brings me here, Reimu." Yukari answered, remaining cool as ever. "The barriers around Gensokyo, well, they are no more."
"I figured as much. But why?" Yukari rubbed the back of her head. "A very long story, Reimu. It involves a being known as the Shadowman, then there's the other barriers that need protecting, to put it concisely, you will be needed to repair the barrier around Gensokyo until I can figure out what's going on."
Reimu didn't seem put down about it, though she showed concern for Yukari. "Are you sure about this?"
"I understand you may consider it to be quite the workload, but-" "Oh no, not what I was talking about." Reimu corrected her. "There's quite a few people here who could help out." Yukari looked at her funny, before putting two and two together. "Are they from other dimensions?" Reimu paused and thought about it. "I guess you could say that. I mean, I don't know how else I'd describe it."
"Any of them I can speak to?" Yukari asked.
"That would be me." Yukari turned to see Green Heart in all her glory, standing at her height too, off the ground. "Who, might I ask, is this?" Yukari inquired, knowing that she was from another dimension. "This is Green Heart." Reimu explained. "A long story, but she's helping us fight back against all those invaders." Yukari nodded, never taking her eyes off Green Heart who returned the stare.
"So you're Green Heart, yes?" Green Heart nodded. "Goddess of Leanbox. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Yukari stopped. A Goddess? Well, things had gotten interesting. Maybe someone powerful enough to repair barriers? No. Yukuri was getting ahead of herself. But still, she knew so little about these other dimensions that trying to comprehend anything just lead to more confusion. For all she knew, Green Heart, or anyone else that had since entered their world could have been responsible for the whole thing, and the Shadowman merely being a pawn.
She would just have to wait and see.
Mugman was exhausted. Shovel Knight had already weakened him considerably, and had taken very little damage on his own in the process. It demoralized him, but knowing his brother needed help, Mugman perservered.
As Shovel Knight lunged in for the finishing blow, he was shot out of the air by a small energy shot. Mugman wheeled around to see Cuphead up on his feet, as well as the Indiana Jones lookalike.
"Whew! What a nice break. Thanks for keeping me safe, brother!" With that, Cuphead jumped back into the fray, fighting Shovel Knight by staying just out of his reach and firing energy shots at him. The knight was agile though, and he was able to use his shovel as a pogo stick to jump over any incoming shots.
But the knight was up against two other enemies too, in Mugman and the explorer, who took out a shotgun and aimed it him, waiting to get a good shot in. Shovel Knight would have probably been knocked out, until what happened then and there.
They were all cut off by the sound of a shotgun firing repeatedly. They turned to see the culprit being stopped by someone behind him. Behind them, they had an entire team at their disposal. Wonder what they wanted?
"That'll do, Doomguy." Chief placed his hand on the rogue soldier's shoulder, getting him to stop. "My pleasure." He grunted. With that, he jumped down to the level where the treasure was, followed by the rest of his team.
"Master Chief." He started to explain himself. "Glad to meet you." He went over to the brothers and shook both their hands, as well as the hands of Shovel Knight and the explorer.
"Cuphead, Mugman, Shovel Knight and Spelunker, yeah?"
The four were stunned. They looked around at each other, wondering which one of them had told him what their names were. But none of them knew.
"How come you know our names?" Spelunker asked, baffled by Chief's calm attitude.
That was when Cortana appeared before the four. "Basically, we need all of you." She started.
A brief explanation later, and the four now knew what the Microsoft Elite was, and really didn't take much tiding over, much to Cortana's relief.
"Behind all this stuff, there should be a door." Chief explained, walking up to the mound of riches. "Now we need to get this out of the way. Hey, Mercer, think you could get rid of-"
Chief was already beaten to the punch by an overenthusiastic Shovel Knight, jumping in without much thought and clearing the way, keeping as much of the riches as possible for himself. Cuphead and Mugman managed to steal some too, and before long, they had cleared the pile, leaving a large stone door in its place. After trying it once, Chief realized it wasn't opening and turned to the Elite. He had a plan, but it was pretty crazy...and dangerous.
But hey, what the hell?
"Okay, go crazy." Chief instructed Doomguy, who was all too happy to take out the BFG-9000 and obliterate the door within seconds.
"Don't you think that was a tad excessive?" Shepard asked Chief as the group walked through the opening. "Maybe." Chief conceded. "But hey, it worked."
Walking inside the chamber which had been opened, the group noticed that it was warmer than the rest of the caves. Maybe someone was already here? Who knew? There was a stone sculpture of a man wearing a hood with a sword driven into a stone in front of him, and people all around him, kneeling at his feet. It was like something you would see in a Cathedral, very well done, and well preserved. This place was littered with riches too, and only then did the Elite realize that they were offerings to the Jack.
"This is the Jack of Blades?" Jack Cooper asked, under the impression that he would still be alive. "Yes. Sorry he's a little more...made out of stone, than you were expecting. I'll fix him." Cortana walked forward to the stone sculpture, with her usually blue hand glowing green as she touched it.
The wave of green shot through the tomb, causing it to rumble as the stone around the statue cracked. "Get ready!" Cortana warned. "He's not gonna be happy!"
The arms came free first, with the figure slowly flexing every finger. Then his legs, while his feet remained encased.
His torso slowly became more and more uncovered, revealing the clothes underneath which he wore to be in remarkable condition.
Finally, his face was freed, leaving him to bust his feet and sword out of their moulds by himself. He then stepped off the shrine and began to walk slowly, evidently having not done so for quite some time, but he soon got the hang of it. He tightened his grip on his sword when he saw so many in the chamber with him, though not out of fear, but out of annoyance.
The red hood and large sword were his staples, showing who he was, and the respect he commanded.
His first words were proof of that.
"Who dares to wake the Jack of Blades?"
Author's Note
The biggest challenge I faced when writing this chapter was giving L.O.G. abilities that suited his character, and then I remembered Arceus' pokedex entry for some reason and went 'fuck it, that'll do' and there you have it.
Also, Yukari. I said earlier that I was going to have Touhou as one of the main series I focused on for this fic, and this is me fulfilling that promise, hoping to broaden the appeal a little and get some plot devices to write about (seriously though, thanks ZUN. The plots just write themselves.). I also enjoy seeing characters from different series interact, and I went with Yukari on power alone to introduce here, because I believe this is who the Shadowman would set his sights on.
