The banquet had been going on for hours and hours and hours. And hours. Food was brought in, platers of meats, fruits ranging from apples of many different hues to plums ripe and juicy, to grapes plump and sweet, to a delicious carrot, potato and onion soup, with crispy bread covered in creamy butter to dip in it. However, the guests, bar Kenzie, had become very bored. Zoe was trying to quiz one of the fairies on their way of life and system of governance. Apparently they used magical rune stones for practically everything. Jason was munching on a slice of bread with a bored-looking expression on his face. Kenzie was fiddling with some pieces of glass and metal, provided by the pixies, who seemed extremely glad to have some guests and said so many, many times. It was kinda adorable at first but they didn't seem to understand the meaning of the word "grating"
Oh, crap.
Zoe had been busy showing one of the fairies a diagram she had of a solar panel, having explained to the fairies that she always carried blueprints of modern machines on her on the off chance that she'd be magically transported to either medieval times or to Westeros, but had seemingly grown bored with explaining how the fairies would be able to improve their way of life, and had turned her attention towards him.
-« Sooo, you know what's interesting ? Kenzie and I come from different Earths with different histories. Like in Rising of the Shield Hero, except none of us are (probably) pro-slavery, pedophiles, or glory hounds. I wanted to know if you were also from an Alt-universe. So one question : does your earth have superheroes and magical girls and practitioners and Others and Stand Users and vampires and Endbringers, or is it seemingly perfectly ordinary like mine ? »
He swallowed his mouthful of bread.
-« Well, I don't know what quite a few of those things are, but my Earth definitely has superheroes. No magical girls as far as I'm aware, though. »
He described the formation of the Justice League and some of their fights against alien invaders, supervillains and muggers, leaving out everything about the Team and the Light, especially his personal involvement in both. He also talked a bit about the Justice Society and some of the reverse-engineered supervillain tech . In return, Kenzie described her world, all the while still building some kind of spyglass.
Her world sounds absolutely insane.was Jason's reaction.
A world, where invincible monsters attacked cities every two months, where people could have invisible projections possessing mind-breaking abilities, where superpowers were acquired through life-changing events and so, so much more.
A particularly interesting tibbit would be the nature of Kenzie's « parahuman » power. Back on what he was starting to think of as « his » world, freeze guns and robots with superpowers and sentience, like Red Tornado, could be made by any brilliant inventor, and the tech could be reverse-engineered, although only with great difficulty.
On Kenzie's Earth, however, such tech could only be made by those who had « triggered » with the power to do so, and then it couldn't be mass-produced or reverse-engineered, although Kenzie mentioned a think-tank set up by someone called Dragon which had managed to do just that. Kenzie was one such « Tinker ».
There also had only really been superheroes since 1982, with their arrival of Scion, who was kinda like their Superman equivalent, but golden and mute and probably without a civilian life. Kenzie had said something about a Nazi cyborg and a Victorian vampire, though.
-« So, your Earth sounds as awesome as Kenzie's. A bit less deadly though. Mine is kinda boring. Until not that long ago, the only magic that seemed to exist was only in stories. Then a bunnycat offered to give me magical powers and introduced me to a whole hidden world of magic. »
-« Sounds like a scam. »
-« Yeah. It, it was.
So, your world seems to have pretty advanced tech. I'd heard that fully-immersive VR wasn't going to be possible until 2020 at least, let alone easily affordable. »
-« What are you talking about ? It is 2020. »
-« Uh, no, it's 2016. Unless, no, that's not possible… »
-« What's not possible ? »
-« That your Earth has a faster calendar than mine and Kenzie's. Yours does have 365 days of 24-hours with leap years, doesn't it. »
-« Yes »
-« Then I don't know how that's possible, it breaks everything I know about the multiverse. »
-« Hey, don't let that bother you »
And indeed, it didn't seem to bother Zoë much, as she was back to wolfing down food in a short amount of time, bowls of soup and plates of fruit vanishing at light-speed.
They helped wash up the dishes, gave thanks, with Kenzie presenting to them the gift of a X-ray spyglass in gratitude, and then left for the next car.
Jason guessed that he was staying for the duo for now. They weren't that bad and he didn't have anywhere else to go to anyway.
Zoë opened the door to the next car.
« Welcome, welcome to the Tournament Car ! » said a purple octopus-thing wearing a gi.
The three stared at the sight for a few seconds, until Zoë suddenly said « You look like a mauve Koro-sensei »
Who the heck is Koro-sensei.
-"Welcome new competitors !"
- "Wait, what are we competitors in ? Why are we competing in something in the first place ?"
- "To exit the Tournament Car, you must win three tournaments apiece. It's easier if you work as a team, but then you'll have to win nine matches in total. Now let me show you to the preparation room ! »
The purple squid thing led the way, through stacks of books, cooking workshops, tables covered in games and cards and bolts of cloth, racetracks, and of course dozens of various arenas, and towards a building marked Preparation building #6.
Once they were inside, the squid, who still hadn't introduced himself, told them they had one hour to prepare themselves. Jason spent half of the time trying to find a biker jacket, finally settled on a leather longcoat, then spent the next half hour collecting various items and weapons. Zoe read a book, and Kenzie Tinkered away.
And then the nameless purple squid came to fetch them for their first tournament.