Mist Lake ( Touhou Double Dealing Character)
The land was ravaged once more but it seems that nature was at full force, the Village was abandoned and devastated from the Shockerloo assault when the barrier fell, and even now, he made his way to the Mansion.
Fairies still lurked heavily in these lands but they seemed bored with no humans around, Yukari told him to bring them back, so she had a miniature gap come with him and start sucking in the fairy, even seeing Daiyousei and Cirno being sucked into one. " Helper Fairy has been found since i was injured, Well, time to get Meiling." Ziden would then stop cold for a moment before looking back. " You two can come out, I know you two followed me."
Ziden could see both Mash and Olga Marie soon came out from hiding and soon stares at the man.
" How long have you known we were there?" Mash asked while running up to him, seems she was in her combat wear and carried her shield in tow.
" Since i left Ginza, you two are not subtle in hiding." Ziden said while continuing his walk as Olga followed them.
" Hmph, we would not need to if you were to take us with you, honestly, are all you commoner mages like this?" Olga asked while Ziden shrugs.
" Would not know honestly, here we don't judge a mage by their blood but by their skill, and even then, i'm not a mage,. I'm a swordsman." Ziden said while gently pushing through the brush and seeing the ruined remains of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and of course, its Gate guardian, wrapped in blankets, seemingly dozing off.
" Right, as there is a difference apparently, whatever, by aiding us, you are a member of Chaldea, so you will have to listen to my orders." Olga declared while Ziden looks at her.
" Take that up with my boss, I'm only helping you guys because I see fit to. Your world is low on my concerns right now, saving this one from its fate is on my mind." Ziden said before picking up a rock and launching it at Meiling. " Think fast!"
And Meiling did, quick to catch the rock, crush it, and quickly leap out to the attack with her foot outstretched, Ziden however, did not expect her to even catch the rock, even less so attack, so now he stood there with a foot in his face and him falling right over.
" Eh? Oh crudbaskets! Ziden! Thank God!" And Meiling was yanking him up to his feet as he was staggering back and forth. " Finally, I thought everyone forgot about me, so i was protecting the mansion until they got back!"
" And you never once..remembered she said to follow her to the Outside world?" Ziden asked while rubbing his bleeding nose before Mash was seen using a cloth to clean it.
" Oh, she said that, uh, oh I guess I sorta forgot." Ziden conks her right on the head, causing her to hold her head. " Owww, not called for!"
" Honestly, are you two done yet? We should get back to the base, we should be discovering what incinerated my world." Olga stated while the sound of laughter came from above them.
" You need not worry about that, as none of you pretty ladies are going home." Meiling knew that voice, but Ziden was quick to yank her out of the way for her to dodge a claw attack, Ziden's arm sliced by those claws.
Vega, seems he came back for Meiling's life. " ITs you! That man that attacked me in that town!" Meiling was quick to draw a stance before Ziden stopped her and stepped forward.
" Sorry, ain't no one else dying on these lands today, aside from you bub." Ziden cracked his knuckles and pulled out his Driver, only to see Vega swinging his claw and unleashing black blade beams and knocking it out of his hand. " What the!?"
" A gift from Lord Bison, the power of Darkness, I will not be allowing you to transform at all." Vega said as those ninjas from before appeared.
" Those outfits, I know them! Foot Clan!" Ziden knew these beings from rumors in New York City of ninjas running amongst the city and causing chaos in the underworld, he even fought against some in the past, along with some of their higher officers.
" Indeed, sharp eye, too bad i shall be tearing them from their sockets." He licks along his claw, the blood soon touching his tongue and vanishing before leaping high into the air and coming right down onto him, Ziden ready to battle.
Meanwhile...
Well, he had a good night sleep, well, as good as it could be, Shotaro simply woke up at his desk, that hat over his eyes as he slowly looks down at the typewriter before him. "...Used to be able to sleep good before the truth was shown." Shotaro said before getting up and walking over to the door of his office before looking to the right and seeing that the corpses of his friends were gone, causing him to panic and run out of the office, only to run right into Yukari. " Oi! Did you see uhm, some bodies that were in that office hallway?"
Yukari thinks for a moment before pointing down to the medical room. " They were brought into there by Eirin and that pirate doctor, Law i believe his name was."
Shotaro instantly took off, he assumed they were gonna be prepped to be buried and burst into the medical wing, only to see something that brought something to his heart he thought he would not feel again, joy.
The green line, beeping across the screen, squiggly lines showing heartbeats on the screen as Eirin was seen handing a syringe out to thin air. " Reisen, can you put this away to be clean-" Eirin ends up dropping it in thin air as LAw was quick to catch it.
He spoke no words as he could see that her eyes showed great loss before she inhaled slowly to calm down.
" Thank you :Aw, its...a force of habit." Eirin said before looking to the doorway. " Oh, you were the one who was sleeping in that office there with these guys."
" T-they're alive...but how, i felt no pulse." Shotaro said while looking at her and then Law.
" They were alive the whole time, the Doc here thought to make sure they were really dead, ya. And she discovered they were-"
" In a deep state of suspended animation caused by a venom unlike anything I have seen on the moon or in Gensokyo. It literally slowed their organs' rate of operation down to a literal crawl and to the point their bodies began to rot." Eirin explained while holding up a bestiary.
" According to that book, it seems a demon known as an Alraune was behind it all." And a small Teddy bear like creature soon leapt up onto the bed of Terui and looked rather proud.
" GAH, ITS A TEDDY BEAR." OF course Shotaro reacts this way
"I'M NOT A TEDDY BEAR, I AM A REINDEER!"
" Please refrain from screaming when the patients are resting, the venom worked akin to a highly powerful nerve toxin, it seems it can kill but is not meant to. The antivenom was given and it seems the entire affects of the venom is being reversed, in a few hours, their skin and organs will be back in full force, an hour before that, they can regain consciousness and talk. It will be an entire day before they can move about freely."
Shotaro listened to Eirin's explanation and gave out a sigh, the male was happy. "Thank Goodness, my friends...aren't gone."
" Yeah, you're lucky Shotaro, I had no clue that demons actually existed in this world, to think one got to your friends, well. Be glad whatever you did to get them away worked." Chopper nodded while Shotaro nods before feeling a large shaking coming from the ground.
" Hmm? A quake? No, its more like something hit the ground hard." Eirin pointed out as she looks at the monitor in the room, showing the world outside and saw a large barrier hole in the upper sky.
" Something got through that barrier?" Law asked. " I thought that thing was insanely powerful?"
" It is, that means whatever came through is just as powerful." Yukari said as she walked into the room. " We may have guests soon." Yukari's words lingered as not even 2 seconds later, two figures appeared in the room. Eirin instantly recognized them.
" You two are-!"
Meanwhile...
The sound of a blade striking a claw was heard ringing out in the courtyard of the Scarlet Devil Mansion as Ziden and Vega were forced away from each other by the impact.
" Tch, alot stronger than I reckoned, even weakened you are a prey worth hunting, bringing your head to Bison will be a glorious prize." Vega shakes blood off of his claw and onto the remains of the flowers in the garden.
" Yeah, and me kicking your ass up and down this place is gonna be glorious too." Ziden said while looking at the cut along his leg now, watching it heal shut. ' In a week or 2, i will be back at full strength, at this point, avoiding death is no longer needed, no need to be defensive, go full offense!"
Vega Stage ( Super Smash Bros Ultimate)
Ziden was quick to throw a kick the instant he saw Vega flying right to him, the impact sending him crashing right towards the wall, only to flip off of it and leap right over up and slashing right across his back. " Foolish boy, you should know I will not fall easy to your attacks."
Ziden slowly got back up to his feet before seeing Vega leaping right down to him, leaping right to the side and running over to the fountain of Remilia before picking it up as he sees Vega coming right at him. " Oh yeah? Then stand after this."
A loud crack came from the broken statue and soon saw Vega crashing hard through the stone wall and seeing his leg sticking out of the bricks, he could see even torn clothing and bone before seeing darkness seeping out of the bricks as he got up, the broken bones he had were now healing back to normal as he cracks his back.
" As I was saying, you shall not be beating me that easy." Vega softly glides his blade along his finger before screaming and leaping high into the air and shooting down like a meteor, forcing Ziden to catch his blade hand between his and looking at the blades inches from his face.
Romani and the Chaldea crew watched this battle, with baited breath as Kadoc watched this. " Dammit...I should be down there aiding and helping out."
" There is nothing we can do, that strange woman attacked this place and prevented you guys from getting in the Rayshifting coffins. If you had, then you would be like the other masters right now."
KAdoc watched as Ziden was holding up Vega before letting him fall past him, grabbing him and then suplexing him right into the earth,crushing him right into the fountain and causing water to leak out onto the ground, softening the earth and making it muddy.
" Darkness, it heals his wounds, I see this is gonna be an annoying fight." Ziden said while leaping back from him as he quickly gets right back up and leaps high into the air, Ziden watching Vega actually bouncing along the air. " what!?"
" If you thought the gift I was given only heals me, you are solely mistaken." Vega came down like lightning, Ziden leaping to the side to avoid the explosive impact of his dive and soon pulled out his Driver, only for a darkness imbued claw to swipe the driver out of his hand and forcing Ziden to use haki to block the blade with his arm, watching it still cut his arm but not as badly, the male quick to strike Vega's neck with a powerful kick, staggering him.
" Yeah, its also amping you up to an annoying degree!" Ziden looked outside the gates and saw Mash fighting off the ninjas with her shield and soon seeing Olga using magic to blast holes through the ninjas, seeing mechanical parts coming out from the holes as Meiling kicked one clean in half.
" Indeed, but lord Bison will enjoy having your head!" Ziden was quick to duck down under a claw swipe and Ziden soon sweep kicks him down onto the ground and leapt into the air and slammed both of his feet nto the chest of Vega, causing him to spit up blood under his mask and soon leapt over to where his Driver was and grabbed it, holding up the Salamander coin and slamming it into its slot.
" Henshin!" Ziden said while nothing happened but his Elemental Driver sparking violently as he quickly removes it. " The hell!?"
" It seems your little toy is malfunctioning, do not worry, I shall let you meet its fate in death." Ziden could barely react in time to the slash across his face, causing him to stagger back and soon grab Vega and launching him right into the manor through a window and soon leaps in right after him.
" Sorry, but if i can't rely on my powers as a Rider, the little power I have right now will have to do." Ziden said while removing his jacket and throwing it off as they stand in the lobby of the manor, seeing that spinning red magic circle spinning hard once more.
Vega could be seen removing his claw and replacing it with a blue claw, covered in mystic symbols and runes as he quickly dashes past Ziden and cuts right along his leg, causing it to steam and bubble. " Your Weakness of water and ice, today, you shall die without mercy!" Vega declared as Ziden got to his feet as he cracked his knuckles and took a stance, seeing Vega flying at him. " The Baptism of Darkness my lord has given me, I shall end you and then those allies of yours!"
He instinctively guards and closes his eyes, only to hear a loud clang, and seeing Vega flying backwards onto the ground, his eyes gazing onto the keyblade in his hand before taking a fighting stance with it. " If you are baptized by darkness, then this Keyblade of Light shall sever that darkness!"
The Encounter ( Kingdom Hearts 2)
Ziden was quick on the draw, swinging his blade down and cracking Vega right over the head when he came in for an attack, cracking the mask as Romani and the others watched.
" What is that weapon? The magi-craft values on that thing is unreal! Its like a Relic from the Age of the Gods!" Romani said as Kadoc watched this, amazed with the weapon.
Vega was stunned by this, staggering back as he sees that the pain he feels from the impact did not fade at all. " You dare, to harm my face!?"
" I see, the darkness is so strong, only my keyblade can overcome it?" ziden asked himself while quickly spinning the keyblade and soon striking Vega in the chest with a powerful stab, following up with a quick leap into the air and slamming it down onto his shoulder, causing him to fall to his knee, which Ziden finished with a powerful horizontal strike that sent him crashing into a bust of Remilia, shattering it.
" You!" Vega was quick to get up and hold his claw up over his face, now exposed to the air entirely after his mask shattered and fragments of it buried into his face. Darkness burst right off from him Ziden watches him vanish entirely and appear behind him, a large gash appearing over Ziden's body followed by a spray of blood before another one formed over his back as Vega was in front of him now. " SIYUH!" And he was now leaping into the air and raining down onto Ziden at speeds faster than he could track, his body being sliced up by that claw as he struggled to stand.
" Foolish hero! This is where you die!" Vega lands on the ground in front of him as a figure in the shadows was seen watching this.
" This singularity is crazier than I expected. so that is the one who will save it, then do not mind if I give a hand." A simple hand movement of the blue cloaked man as he created runes in the air, soon igniting and firing out like arrows and slamming into the back of Vega, igniting him and causing him to scream.
" GAH!? WHO DID THIS!?" Burning alive and now Ziden was holding his keyblade up and casting Cure on himself, healing his wounds a tiny bit before quickly running up and uppercutting Vega into the air, literally blasting the fire off of him and onto the ground.
" Don't take your eyes off of the prize Vega!" Ziden leapt high into the air right after her, and his keyblade shines as he strikes Vega across the chest, and then a powerful vertical strike and his blade soon spinning in his hand and soon does a powerful downwards strike, causing blue flames to ring out on impact, meteor smashing Vega into the floor before pointing his keyblade down at him. "Gravity Crush!" And a large purple and black sphere slams right into the chest of Vega, causing him to be smashed into the Earth by the force.
Ziden felt a powerful surge of energy racing through him before energy erupted out and coated him pink Aura and 4 butterflies form around him, the male now landing on the ground as he felt a familiar presence. " Aww, do I have to wake up?"
" So that is where you have been, oh well;, I'll ask about that later. For now, lets finish this guy." Ziden said, looking to the forming Yuyuko coming out of him and soon watching her sleeve move and turning the butterflies into Keyblade, wireframe copies of his own main keyblade. "Alright, this is awesome."
" Have fun, I'm gonna finish napping. From what this voice in my head is telling me, this is a Style change, a power up for your keyblade, go wild nephew!"" Yuyuko said before going back into his body as Ziden vanished from sight before Vega and swings his keyblade downwards, causing a gash of light across his chest as the other keyblade flew in and smacked him hard all at once, knocking him into the air once more and causing him to smash through the wall. Ziden wasted no time in leaping after him into the air, his actions causing him to fade in and out of sight, his keyblade and the copies unleashing a beautiful combo in the air, ending with him raising the blade high into the air and the blades soon forming around him and spinning wild, catching Vega in the attack as he was spun around and around, bleeding darkness as Ghosts rain down out of his blade and buffeted Vega down towards the gates of the Manor as Ziden landed.
" Holy hell, these Style changes are awesome! Lets finish this!" Ziden was quick to point his keyblade at the downed Vega as Mash and the others ran into the gate and got behind Ziden as he points the Keyblade at him, cherry petals spinning around him and the keyblade before massive pink lasers flew out and slammed into Vega, watching him fly across the Lake screaming.
" GAAAAAH LORD BISON!" His body was buffeted by the magicks of the keyblade and soon found himself smashing into the ground on the outskirts of the Devil's path and exploding into light and cherry petals, Ziden panting from the heavy release of magic and the stress of the battle had on his body. Almost falling if not for Meiling catching him and slowly reaching under her hat to put out oil.
She made sure to pour it into his open wounds, causing confused stares from Olga and Mash before they watch her light a fire and cause the oil to ignite as he felt his body absorbing the fire and healing him slightly./ " Thanks...didn't help much but, we can make it to the base, lets get Vega, interrogate him." Ziden said while gently leaving Meiling's grasp and walking to where he was blasted to, the group now looking down at the crater he made.
" Heh...how unruly...my beauty, destroyed by subhuman raised by monsters." Vega said while looking at his shattered claw and his burnt body, one can;'t even recognize him after that fire attack out of nowhere, Ziden wondered who it was but bigger fish were on his mind.
" Vega, where the hell is Bison and how the hell did he do this to the world." Ziden asked while watching Vega slowly getting up to his feet.
" How? He gained a power that an old man from Fuyuki gave him before this world was changed to ours!" Vega proudly laughed before pointing his hand at them. " With its power, we created a world that will be flooded with darkness to appease Overlord Oscura and his heir! With the godly power of the Holy Gr- Geck!" And he spat up a heavy wad of darkness as his body was fading away. " What!?"
" Ziden! With all that Darkness stuff, its highly possible he was made some kind of Heartless!" Ziden looked at the screen on his jacket and saw Eirin gazing at him. " Your keyblade is made to fight the darkness, so when he was defeated by it, his body could not hold up anymore!"
VEga was watching his body melt away and fade, his arm turning pitch blade and falling off, watching his body rot and fall apart. " No! Stop this! Lord Bison! Help me!" His screams soon turned into silence as his body fell into goopy black chunks and began to fade away into the dirt while Ziden looked away.
"What the hell is going on!? What are Heartless, what is the Keyblade!? I need answers now!" Olga said while Ziden gently looks back at her.
" I'll tell you once we get back to the Base. But first, I need to head back to the Manor, i need to check something." Ziden said while getting ready to walk to the path of the shrine.
" ZIDEN! DO NOT GO THERE!" Yukari's voice scared him as he chuckled.
" Relax, even Bison couldn't have gotten there. I'll be in and out after I check something and grab mom." Ziden said while continuing his walk. " You guys come with, and keep out of sight, Vega could have come with others."
The walk to the shrine was silent as he soon looks at the torii and lets out a soft smile, even in this hell, it would be nice to see his mom again, the male making sure to walk through Torii as the others reamined behind, hiding out under the trees. Minutes passed as Meiling was growing antsy before they see Ziden coming back through the torii.
" Ziden you're back, how was-" Her words were caught in her throat as she saw the look on Ziden's face, his face lost all joy, all hope was gone from his face.
" I-I tried to stop you, I did not want you to see, what Bison did to your home...your family." Yukari's voice came through the screen as he tops his foot and opens the manhole.
" Lets go..." Ziden said while leaping in as Mash and Meiling look to each other, the duo leaping into the manhole as Olga looked to the Torii.
" What...did he see on the other side?" Olga decided to peek through it and saw the manor in the distance, heavily destroyed beyond repair, even from here, the stench of death was heavy. She looked down at saw in a mess of bodies, a woman in a bloodied Shrine maiden outfit amgonst a massive pile of bodies she left in her dying throes, Ziden's mother held her last stand but it was not enough to save her kids.
Once they reached the hide out, Ziden simply sat down at a table in the meeting room and remained silent and simply held his face as Yukari and Yuyuko sat next to him.
" I-I didn't want you to see, during Bison's conquest, he made sure /every/ threat was gone, including your mother and sisters...I tried to stop them, tried to aid her but, that man, he became something far worse than when we faced him in Skyloft."
" I know, you did your best...its not a big deal, we kill Bison and we end this nightmare, tear him limb from damned limb." Ziden said while looking down at his hands.
" Ziden..."
" There's no time to grieve. Not in these times." ziden said while letting out a sigh and looking at them both. " For Mom's sake, we have to win, now more than ever."
" You know, you can cry ya know, the tough guy act is not fooling anyone." Ziden looked up to see a Ghostly puff forming on a table, the familiar red dress and exposed armpits caused him to choke up for a moment.
" This is what i was doing while not talking to you, I was gathering bits and pieces of Reimu's soul and reforming it, she might not be able to aid us in combat, but just having her around is-"
" Motivational, I know Yuyuko. Its just...upsetting...we save our home and then they come and destroy it..." Reimu looked down, even when able to see her friends again, Marisa and Sanae standing at the doorway before leaping in to tackle her and hold her tight.
" REimu! You're back!" Marisa held her tight, even with her eye gone, she held Reimu tight as she got headpats in return.
" Not back, just a ghost to make sure you guys don't get too depressed. But...I'm the one feeling depressed now." Reimu said while MArisa let her go before Marisa shaped up.
" Reimu, you have to let me know, I was right in not letting outsiders get involved in our affairs right?1 I wanted only us to take care of Bison." Reimu shakes her head.
" Where in the hell did you get that stupid idea!? We need all the help we can get, I know you mean well and don't want others hurt like us. But from what I heard from Yuyuko and Yukari, you need to stop and calm down." Reimu said as Marisa softly gripped her arm.
" I brought Ziden here this time because we need not his power, but his leadership." Tsukasa was seen walking into the room, wearing shades and taking pics of the crew in the room.
" Ah, right, Sanae, my Driver, it was acting wonky after Vega hit it." Ziden throws the item at Sanae who quickly catches it and soon drops it on the table when it burned her.
" ACK! Why did you make it super hot!?" Sanae asked while looking at the device began to glow and explode out into elements of fire, wind, water and earth as everyone ran to look at the device as it took a new form.
What was once a rectangular and basic looking driver, now transformed into a horizontal Diamond with each point having an elemental symbol shape to it. The top was a fire symbol, the right side was a symbol of a green twister, the left side was a mountain shape, brown of color and the bottom was a water droplet, blue. Each point was an element and the driver itself took a Golden and Silver coloring outside of the colored points.
" It...transformed." Ziden said while holding it up and taking it back. " Just what is this thing?" Ziden asked while the room remained silent as the Radio device soon came on.
' Its just a bit more honey, that safe haven is up ahead, that place where nice dual toned haired woman converted the Shibuya 109 into a Temple for those too afraid to be at home to be safe.'
" Sounds like something Byakuren would do." Reimu said while puffing out a strand of her hair.
" I'll head there tomorrow, its getting late now." Ziden said while heading to the door.
" Ziden, remember, its not wise to bottle things up, just cry it out." Reimu said as Ziden simply nods, making a slow walk back to the room he was staying in, seeing Meiling being hugged silly by Remilia, Patchouli and Sakuya.
Once he entered his room and closed the door, all he could do was let out a loud cry in his mostly sound proofed room, a cry of agony and pain of being unable to protect his family when they needed him most. The last remaining Icrim in this cursed world was him and he would turn this grief into rage to unleash on Bison.
Trivia:
1. Ziden holding in his grief to look strong before the people he has to lead is a classic leadership thing, but it always hurts to hold it in too long.
2. Reimu was 'revived' only to boost morale for the others, she is unable to fight due to being dead and bodyless.
3. Baptism by Darkness is a term that will be explained later on but will have precedence anytime the Scions of Oscura are involved.
Deaths:
Roxanne Icrim
3 unnamed Sisters of Ziden.
Vega
author's note: Well, no excuses, Final Fantasy 12 came out for the switch and i got addicted and played it raw, but no worries, this story is going strong and hard. Next chapter is getting a warning for being dark and messy. Make sure to leave a Review to let me know how you feel!