Oriental Grove was a beautiful place with a light green sky that had Chinese, Japanese, and Korean writing floating instead of clouds. The trickles of water were now rushing waterfalls that were tinted light green as the water became large pools of steaming green tea and into the ocean. The greenry on the isle was now lush forests with colorful flowers and fruits. The bash grains of sand touched the edge of the ocean and covered the mountain along with heavy rocks making the mountain itself. Colorful folding fans flew across the sky and on the very top of the mountain, there was glowing golden temple that had smoke coming from the top of it.
Claude and his friends shrunk until they were the size of ants and they floated down towards the green tea ocean, landing on a bare floating rock big enough for the four of them. The rock they were on had a rope bridge that connect the main island, which had the temple on top of it.
"Wow. This place really reminds me of Japan." Simon said in awe as his otaku side came out. His hair was now spiky and messier, and there was a few scars on his muscular arms. He wore black pants with the hemline rolled a few inches above his ankles, with white shoes and a white belt that is similar to an obi. His feet were wrap in bandages up to his ankles and his hands and arms were also wrapped in bandages up to the elbow. He wore a sleeveless white top; in this case, it is a custom, white, muscle shirt. Another addition was a long black scarf, wrapped around his neck with the majority hanged loosely and the Loki symbol on each end.
"Yeah. But in reminds me more of Feudal China in general." Francine said. Her hair was now tied in two braids which are looped round and pinned on either side of her head, and these braids are held by dark blue ribbons. She wore a sleeveless black top with stitches going down the middle and a black scarf around her neck with the Mercury symbol on each end. She wore a pair of white shorts tied with a black belt, and white bandages on her arms below her shoulders, although some black bandages can be seen near her shoulders too. On her right leg, she had a long plain back stocking, whilst on her left, she had several black bands wound around her leg. She wore black flats with white straps over the top of her feet.
"I wonder if there are any pretty anime girls here?" Simon asked with a hopeful look on his face.
"Simon, be wary of what you say next..." Francine said with a stubborn tone as Simon looked at her with confusion.
Carmen shook her head at her arguing friends. She wore a black and purple shozoku featuring a thick grey trim and butterfly decals on the back and left breast. It consisted of a black sleeveless waistcoat, a fishnet undershirt, knee-high black boots, wrist guards, and thigh guards. She worn her outfit with grey armguards and yellow decorative cord around the hips holding two iris-kunai. Her hair was straighten again to her waist again with a black bandana wrapped aorund her head to pushed back her bangs, showing both of her eyes. "Simon, listen to Francine or she will keep her promise."
Claude smiled at his friends as he stepped on the bridge. He wore a black shozoku with grey sleeves and arm guards, a black headband that pushes back some of his hair, kunai tied to the outer thighs, and a tatty scarf around his neck with an Alpha symbol on each end of the scarf. There were leather grey belts strapped across his chest and abdomen, connected to a shoulder plate on his right shoulder, and a grey chest armour. "Come on guys." He said as they began walking over the bridge.
Francine pulled Simon up before they followed Claude across the bridge and walked on the rope bridge as huge, red koi fish that looked like they were more origami than actually being real fish. They koi fish jumped over the bridge as the teens looked in awe at it as they continued walking.
"This place is amazing." Carmen said in awe as they stepped on the mountain.
All Claude could do was nod his head as they began walking up a set of old, wooden stairs as he could see a small, Ancient Chinese vilage on top of the stairs. He tilted his head to the right to get a better view before Carmen pushed her away on the stairs.
"Oi, what was that for?" Claude asked angrily.
"Just get your tail moving." Carmen said as Claude, who was angry, with Simon and Francine following him as they reached Carmen, who was on top of the stairs already. She had her hands on her hips as she said, "Finally, you three are up here."
Claude stuck his tounge out at her as he looked around the village. It looked so much like an Ancient Chinese village, but the houses were destoryed or set on fire and there were ants made out of orgami stuck to dominos with blood coming out of wounds from a spear in their heads.
"Wow, something bad went down here." Simon said as he poked a dead Orgami Ant with a stick. "I wonder who did this?"
"Well, it can't be any of the Ruin. They would still be stalking around and they would have left a trail of tar somewhere." Claude said as he grabbed the stick from Simon's hand. "And respect the ants, Simon."
The blonde teenager rolled his eyes as they continued on the village, but all they saw were more Origami Ants dead and pinned to rocks or dominos. There were gaps in the ground with streams of green tea running through it, but Claude was more focus on what was ahead than the beauty of nature around them, even if that nature was in someone else's mind.
Francine looked around as she tapped Claude's shoulder. "Hey Claude, why do you think that Caterpillar came here? It's nice and all, but there are bloodied ants and I have a bad feeling that something is after us still."
Claude shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe he is an Asian caterpillar or something like that. What I am wondering about why did Lucy create a place like this? I never heard of a place like Oriental Grove in any of the Wonderland stories."
"Maybe Lucy is an otaku like me..!" Simon said happily as he realized he may not be alone as a Japanese lover, but Claude did not listen to him as his eyes caught something. Simon noticed this as Claude did not make a snappy insult and akse, "Claude, are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just..." Claude trailed off as he walked towards a bloodie Orgami Ant that was pinned to a rock with a spear through its stomach and its eyes ripped out. He looked at it closely as he poked with a finger. He shook the blood off his finger as he realized the Orgami Ant was recently killed.
Before he could turn around, he heard a buzzing noise as his friends ran behind him. Claude saw that there was a tall, skinny Wasp with a white Oni mask that had bushy white hair, a yellow Chinese robe, and a katana sword.
"What is that?" Claude said as he reached for his Cheshire Sword, only to find a new sword. It was a 26-inch sword that had a curved, slender, and singled-edged 14-inch blade made out of imperial gold with a squared guard and the handle was wrapped in long, black leather to accommodate two hands.
"A new weapon?" Carmen asked in curiousity as she puleld out her weapons. Now, she had ten black kunais with the blades covered in flames and small, ring holes at the end of the handles. The handles had purple irises wrapped around them, but the flowers did not catch on fire with the flames covering the kunais.
Claude got over his shock as he ran after the Samurai Wasp, but the Japanese monster jumped into the air with its wings and tried to stab Claude, but the brunette moved away. "Guys, I need some help here!" Claude said as he blocked another attack with his sword.
"Got it!" Carmen said as she ran towards the Wasp and began throwing her kunais, which came back to her as they attack the Samurai Wasp. She did one flip and kicked the monster in the chin, throwing it back a few inches.
Francine pulled out her weapon to see it was now a small, black knife attached to one end of a long, metal cord with a bracelet around her wrist, which was hidden under her bandages on her right hand. "Claude, Carmen! Get down!" Her two friends did what they were told as she threw the knife and caught the Samurai Wasp in the chest. Then, with some superhuman strength she gather, she pulled the chain and slammed the Wasp into the mountain as its mask fell off and she got her knife back.
But the Samurai Wasp did not give up as it came full-force towards Francine. But he was caught off guard when Simon attacked him with his new weapon. He had a long metal chain with each end of the chain tipped with a black handle that has a small double-edged and double-pointed scythe blade attached.
Simon was able to block and attack the Samurai Wasp as he lodged a sycthe into its chest and pulled it out with ease. The Wasp fell to the ground, dead, as Simon swung the scythe around and said, "And my older sister made fun of me for not killing a wasp."
Claude rolled his eyes as he heard a small noise, so him and his friends got their weapons back out. But, instead of another Samurai Wasp, it was a clutter of Origami Ants. They were small, paper-made ants with dotted eyes and 3D-shaped hexagon heads. They wore Chiense robes ranging from yellow, orange, and red. There were blue Origami Ants that looked like old Chinese men and the pink Origami Ants that looked like old Chinese women.
Claude raised an eyebrow as the Origami Ants bowed down to them. "It is the warriors that the red-haired vixen has told us about. The brave, the rash, the foolish, and the wise warriors that will save us all!" The first Origami Ant said happily.
"Um, thanks?" Claude said in an unsure tone. "Who is this red-haired vixen?"
"It is our savior! It is the brave, beautiful, insane, and elegant woman known as Lucy! She was just here minutes before you came!" The first Origami Ant said.
"WHAT?!" All four teens said at the same time.
"Yes! Like you, she saved us from a Daimyo Wasp and many of the Samurai Wasps, but that one got away. She ran off to see Caterpiller, who will save us all when he awakens!" The second Origami Ant said.
"The savage, dishonorable Wasps have come and capture the us, kill the kidnapped ones, and let their youth eat the corpses. It is horrible!" The third Origami Any said sadly.
The Ants bowed down to the teens as Claude walked up to them. He tapped one of their shoulders and the Ant looked at him with those sad dotted eyes. "We need to know how to get to Lucy the fastest way possible."
The Origami Ant pointed to a path and said, "Go this way and you shall find her. But be careful as-"
The Ant never finished as the four teens began running up the path while the Origami Ants went back into hiding. Claude led the way as they realized that the path was on a winding hill and there was a closed door on the top of the hill.
Simon got down on his knees and yelled, "WE CAME ALL OF THIS WAY AND WE HAVE TO WLAK UP THIS STUPID HILL!" Carmen rolled her eyes at Simon's over-dramatic screaming. But Francine looked upset that they had such a long way to go and Claude felt like punching something as he realized that they maybe six steps behind Lucy still.
Claude sighed, but he was cut off as a high-pitched yell was heard from the top of the hill. All four teens looked up to see a small figure punching a large, frog-shaped creature on top of the hill. Claude squinted his eyes to see that the frog-shaped cretaure was a green frog, but it had a stand on its back with a gong.
Claude and Carmen pulled Simon up as the teens ran up the hill, but Claude's eyes never left the small figure slamming a rock on the frog's head. A small smile came on his lips as they ran faster and dodged a rock that was thrown by the figure, but Claude just laughed as they finally reach the top.
There, slamming a rock into the frog's side, was the one and only Lucinda Penelope Snow. And boy, has she change in Claude's opinion. In fact, she has change a lot as Claude's eyes looked up and down at her, trying his best not to look perverted.
Her body was perfect with size C boobs, a small waist, slender shoulders, a tiny stomach that gentled roll into her hips, and her neck was long but a little thin. Her legs were long and slender, but they were a little thin, and they had petite feet that moved gracefully on the ground. She had long and slender arms that were graceful, and they had dainty hands with manicured nails that were currently beating a frog. She had the features of a queen; high cheekbones, a straight yet small nose, and a strong yet feminine jawline with a small chin. Her face was slim and mature-looking with no imperfections in sight, and her eyelids were a pale pink color, her thin lips were a rose pink color, and she had natural pink cheeks. Her skin was pale, but her flaming orange, slightly wavy hair with M-shaped bangs that passed her chest was a stark contrast to her skin. She had huge, dark blue eyes rimmed with long lashes and full yet arched eyebrows.
"Damn, Lucy is pretty hot..." Simon said in shock before Francine slapped him upside the head. Lucy turned around and Claude got a full-view of her outfit.
She wore a white, Japanese dress with red logo on back, a side-less skirt that had sakura petals designs and red trimming on the edges. She also wore matching white arm-guards and shin-guards, gold wristbands, white pull-on sleeves, white stockings that went to the middle of her thighs, red choker necklace that had a silver Omega amulet, a thin pink belt, white boots with red trimming, and two knives on the tied to back of her belt. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail by a long, thin light pink ribbon that tapered down to her waist. The dress showed off her breasts and thighs, but they were still cover up enough so nothing inappropriate was showing.
Claude's mouth dropped as the beautiful girl walked up to him, with the rock still in her hands, and slammed the rock right into his chest. Claude flew backwards and landed on the ground as Francine and Carmen gasped while Simon stared in shock on the ground.
Claude groaned as he got up and glared at the girl. He pushed the rock off his chest and yelled, "What the hell was that for?"
Lucy crossed her arms and threw her head back as she gave a cruel laugh. She looked at Claude dead in the eyes as he got up and said, "What was that for? What was that for?! You are a bloody moron if you don't understand what hellish torture I have been through!"
For a moment, Claude was spellbound by Lucy's voice; it was an elegant and refine English accent, the total opposite of how she was acting. But unlike her sister's voice, which rang clearly in Claude's head at this point, Lucy's voice was rough and dark to match her personality. But he was snapped out quickly as Lucy got closer to his face.
"What are you doing?" Claude asked angrily.
"What am I doing? Six years in that hellhole, and you have the nerve to ask me what am I doing?! What are you doing now just visiting me and invading my mind? Who are you to ask me what I am doing when you completely fucked up your friendship with me?!" Lucy yelled as loud as she could, almost breaking Claude's ears.
But Claude fought back. "Oh, so I'm to blame for everything? To start off, I couldn't have visit you in six years because I couldn't find what fucking asylum you were in, I had to finish school for my parents to let me go, and I had to make arrangments to come and visit you! So, before you go and start blaming me for your problems, actually let me explain myself!"
Lucy gave another cruel laugh as Claude's blood boiled. He didn't know why, but this girl was driving him insane with anger. As she turned around, he grabbed her wrists and turned her back around. "What is your problem? Why are you acting like this?"
Lucy gave a snicker as she looked Claude dead in the eyes. "Why am I acting like this? I have lived in a hellish asylum for the last six years with only one person protecting me. While she was not around, I had to protect myself by fighting and sometimes forcing myself into madness! I had to learn how to fend for myself and I never got one letter, one phone call, or even a visit from my so-called friends and living family members."
"Oh, so you act like a conceited bitch to protect youself?" Claude asked.
Lucy's mouth dropped open, but before she could say anything, Carmen grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. Lucy looked up and down at Carmen as the dark-skinned girl pointed to Francine and Simon, who were currently picking up a rock that was twice the size of the one Lucy threw at Claude's chest.
Lucy looked at Carmen with a bored expression. "What?"
Carmen let go of Lucy's arm and placed her hands on her hips as she frowned at the redhead beauty. "We just wanted to know if throwing a rock at the frog's gong to wake it up. You obviously seem to have had trouble before we came."
Lucy flipped a strand of hair out of her face and said, "Yes, it will. Once the frog wakes up, he will use his tongue to open the door. I couldn't hit the gong because I'm one person, so Simon and Francine will be able to hit the gong."
Carmen nodded her head as Claude huffed and stood next to the dark-skinned girl as she served to be a barrier between him and Lucy, whom he was angry at for chewing him out. But Carmen left her position as the barrier and began instructing them on how to climb the frog while carrying the rock still. Claude frowned as Lucy glared at him, so he turned his head and avoid her glare.
Lucy chuckled and said, "Do not be such a moody priss. The last thing I need is a prat like you in my arse for the rest of this trip. Good thing this will be the last stop for the four of you."
Claude looked up and stared at the redhead girl. "What do you mean this is our last stop?"
Lucy smirked as she placed her hands on her hips and said, "You honestly believe I brought you hear to help me? I can handle myself without four, nosy teenagers in my mind." But the tone of her voice made it obivous that she was lying.
Claude rolled his eyes as he watched his friend climb up the frog, which was bigger than any house he could think of. Francine and Simon were in an arguement over something as they reached the top, but Carmen kept them on track as she instructed them to throw the rock at the gong this point. "Okay, be careful and let's do this right the first time!" Carmen yelled.
Francine and Simon nodded their heads as they threw the rock, and miraculously, the rock slammed against the gong with a BANG and the frog groaned loudly. Francine and Simon slidded down the side of the frog as the creature woke up and yawned as its long tongue shot out from its mouth and slammed into the doors, which broke open before the frog went back to sleep.
As Simon reached the ground, his mouth dropped and he yelled "All that so the frog can go back to sleep?!" But nobody paid him any attention as Lucy walked through the doors with the other three teens following her. Simon scrambled to catch up, but he ended up slamming to Carmen's back.
"Ow! Simon, what was the for?!" Carmen yelled as she looked to see Simon with a bruised nose.
"I wouldn't have slammed into your back if you weren't standing there." Simon snapped back. "Why are you standing around anyways?"
Carmen pointed towards Claude and Lucy, both who were at a wooden door with flames behind and the name SNOW written on the. Simon craned his neck to see that both teens at the Memory Door were arguing, but not because they both wanted to go in there.
"The hell?! You have been looking into my memories?!" Lucy yelled on the top of her lungs.
Claude gave the girl a hard look, but he was a little unsettled by the hard, blazing look in her eyes. But he didn't back down as he said, "That's not my fault! I just wanted to know what was behind the door and I ended up seeing your memories. Ever since then, I noticed that the doors will open to either you or me."
Lucy rolled her eyes as she grabbed the doorknob. "Whatever." She murmured as she opened the door, but Claude followed her anyways.
[MEMORY DOOR]
Claude opened his eyes to not only see that Lucy wasn't besides him, but he was outside the house. He looked to see a tall, lanky figure creeping towards the house and opening the front door. Claude moved closer to see the mysterious person turning on a light as he grabbed a key shaped as the symbol of Venus from the key shelf from the wall.
In the next instant, he was inside and near a door that said "Phoebe".He looked to see Lucy next to him now, but the hard look in her eyes were gone and was replaced with a scared, confused look.
"Phoebe hated locked rooms. Her room was the furthest from the fire. Smoke could have not killed her. She never locked her door. And besides, she knew another way out- through the window!" Lucy whispered as she watched the mysterious figure walk up to her sister's door.
Claude blinked and could have sworn he saw a scared Phoebe in his mind, but he ended seeing the mysterious figure walking out of the room a minute later. "Someone must have incapacited or killed Phoebe, locked her door, then took the lamp downstairs and started the fire to cover up their crime!"
In another instant, the two teens were back outside as Claude saw the mysterious figure holding a lamp, but the figure threw the lamp on the ground as it broke and began to burn. "Their plan..." Lucy whimpered, "was to kill us all!"
[MEMORY DOOR]
Instead of walking out of the Memory Door as usual, Claude was thrown out as he fell to the ground and saw Lucy sitting on her knees. Claude got up and looked at her as his friends came over to see that she was just staring at the ground.
"Lucy..." Claude said carefully as he began to reach out for her shoulder.
But she slapped his hand away as she got up and screamed, "Just leave me alone!" Before anyone could say anything, Lucy touched her Omega amulet and she disappeared. They were in shock as she ran away, leaving only footprints.
But isntead of chasing her, Simon cocked an eyebrow and asked, "I thought we could not leave the spot we were in..."
Cheshire Cat appeared with his smile and said, "I lied about that. But the most important thing is to follow her."
For once, before the Cat could disappear, the teens ran after the invisible girl. Claude led the way as he turned the corner, expecting to have a long chase ahead of them as he began thinking of a thousand ways to cuss out the redhead when he found her.
They continued running as Claude saw a huge, red and gold temple that resembled a temple from the Imperial Era of China. The doors were wide open due to something breaking into the temple, and Claude could see Origami Ants roaming around inside the temple. A golden brazier that was size of a bathtub and filled with a bright fire stood in the middle of the temple as the Ants bwoed to the brazier and prayed.
Claude and his friends ran faster as they skidded inside the temple, but the Origami Ants ignored the teens as they went behind the fire and began chattering away in a loud tone. Claude looked confuse as he heard someone yell, "Let me go, you pervy old Ant!"
The brunette rolled his eyes as he went behind the braizer to see Lucy tied to by the Ants as she glared at an older-looking Origami Ant, who wore a Chinese conical hat that was white with black designs. Claude's friends came around the braizer as they both looked shock and confuse, but small smiles played on their lips as Claude let out a chuckle.
Lucy whipped her head to glare as Claude as the Elder Origami Ant looked at the Irish boy. He then looked back to Lucy and said, "Well, it seems like your friends are here to take the challenges."
"What challenges?" The four teens said in shock.
~0~
Elder Ant led the teens into a small room as Lucy was still tied up with ropes. But as soon as they got into the room, the other Origami Ants undid the ropes around Lucy and they left the room quickly as they closed the slid-in paper door.
Elder Ant sat down as he grabbed a cup of green tea. "Sit down."
The teens looked unsure as they sat down anyways, but Lucy leaned back on the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. Elder Ant looked at her strangely as she said, "I'm not sitting down until I know why we are here. We are on the shortcut path to the Caterpillar, and you decide to take us hostage?"
Elder Ant waved his thin hand in the air. "True, I should have not taken you off this shortcut. But since you are here, might as well do the Scrolls."
The five teens looked unsure as Elder Ant put down his cup and opened a drawer of a desk. He rummaged through the drawer, but soon pulled out three scrolls that were tightly wrapped up. He sat back down as he undid the red ties on the scrolls and the scrolls rolled out like a new carpet as they lay perfectly still on the floor.
"These are the Oriental Scrolls. As you can see, there are three that will be useful on your adventure to find the Caterpillar." Elder Ant said calmly.
Carmen touched one of the scrolls and said, "So, what do we have to do?"
"Simple. Lucy and someone who was not chosen wil stay here with me. Three of you will go in the scrolls and gained a that you will need." Elder Ant said as he looked at Lucy. "And, Lucy despite understaning many things, will still be hidden from the truth. She must find the truth herself." The last sentence gained an eye roll from Simon.
Lucy sighed as she looked at the Scrolls with a careful eye. She saw that each one had the name written in Japanese, but she could understand what they said; Destiny, Happy Times, and Dark Skies. She kneel down and tapped one Scroll as she bit her lower lip and thought about who can go into where.
For a moment, everyone was quiet as they watched Lucy. Her navy orbs inspected each Scroll before her delicate hands went to the back of her belt and held on her knives. Then, she pulled out her blades and stabbed the floor on each side of Claude, who was sitting next to Lucy.
Claude jumped a little as he saw the knives coming towards him, but he relaxed and looked at the knives after they were set on each side of him. The knives looked like two, common household kitchen knives. They both had a long silver blade on a short, wooden handle that had decorative red tassels on the end. Its sharp edge curved outward with blood all away along the blade, and both the blade and handle were engraved with floral patterns.
Claude tapped one knife and asked, "These are your weapons?"
"Yes, but they usually don't have the tassels. And they are called the Vorpal Blades." Lucy said in a calm tone as she looked at Claude. "The reason I put them around you is because you need to stay here."
"Wait? Why me?" Claude asked in shock.
"Because you have seen most of my mind already, so let the others have a turn. Francine can go into Happy Times, Carmen can go into Dark Skies, and Simon can go into Destiny." Lucy explained.
Claude's mouth was hanging as Simon looked over and saw his friend's despair. So, the blonde smirked and said, "Lucy, I will stay here with you. Claude can take my place in the Destiny Scroll. I'm wory that you'll kill Claude before we get back."
Lucy glared at the blonde, but shrugged her shoulders to let him know that she is agreeing with him. Claude let out a sigh as Lucy took her Vorpal Blades back and stuck them on the back of her belt again. Elder Ant nodded his head as he gestured for the three chosen teens to get up, which they did.
Elder Ant tapped the Scrolls with his cane and said, "Just step on the Scrolls and you shall enter. Once you are in, collect a piece of the Caterpillar's Stone to get to him. Get back here and I will assemble the Stone so you can find our savior."
The three teens nodded their heads as they took a step foward. Their feet touched their respective Scroll before they let out a collective breath and they all jumped with their other foot into the Scroll, shrinking until they were inside the Scrolls. Lucy sat down next to Simon as Elder Ant watched their friends go inside the Scrolls, then he looked at them.
"So, are you two dating?"
For that question, one of Lucy's Vorpal Blades "accidently slipped" from her hand and pinned to the wall, only inches from the Elder Ant. "Does that answer your question?" Lucy asked as Elder Ant nodded his head in fear.
~0~
[SCROLL OF HAPPY TIMES]
Francine entered a world filled with a clear blue sky without a sun and she was in a field full of pink roses and lush, green grass. The winds were gentle and depsite being in her ninja gear still, she felt at peace she brushed a stray piece of hair from her face. Even without a sun in sight, everything seem so bright and white doves were flying above her.
"Where am I?" Francine asked to herself, knowing that the infinite field did not have a single civilization in sight or anyone in the field besides her.
For a second, everything was quiet still before a small voice said, "You're in the Scroll of Happy Times. When things were better and happier than they are now."
Francine squealed as she jumped up and fell butt-first on the ground. She shot right back up and rubbed her sore butt, saying "Ow, who did that?"
"I did!" A girlish, happy-go-lucky voice said. Francine looked to see a pale-skinned girl with big, dark blue eyes. She had short, flaming red hair that were tied into a pair of small odangos with two dark red ribbons. She wore a light green sundress with lace trimming and a pair of black Mary Janes with white stockings under the shoes. "Hi, my name is Lucy. Who are you?"
Francine rasied her eyebrows at the little girl as she got up. "Um, my name is Francine."
"That's a pretty name. But can I ask you why you are here? Nobody is supposed to now about my secret hiding spot." Younger Lucy said in a cute tone.
Francine smiled as she kneel down to Younger Lucy's level since she was actually taller than someone. "Well, I came here to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"What is the purpose of this scroll?"
When that question was ask, everything became quiet as Younger Lucy's face fell into a frown. She gave Francine a hard, blazing look and stuck out her tongue. Francine was shock as Younger Lucy yelled, "You're a big meanie like everyone else! Leave me alone!"
For a moment, Francine stood there before chasing after Younger Lucy. The little redhead had great speed for her age, so Francine had to sprint to catch up. The two girls ran as fast as they could in the field, which seem endless to Francine but Younger Lucy seem to know where she was going. But what got Francine is that she could hear laughter coming from Younger Lucy as they ran, which confused the older girl as she thought about Younger Lucy being mad at her a moment ago.
Francine kept running and kept her breathing steady as she kept her eyes locked on Younger Lucy's tiny figure. But then, after a few more minutes of running, Francine could see something else far away.
The older girl kept running until she saw Younger Lucy sit down at a huge oak tree, which had glossy green leaves and juicy red apples growing. Younger Lucy sat down as she watched Francine coming running at her and skidding to a stop in front of her. Francine placed her hand son her knees and tried to breath.
"Wow, you're really fun to play with!" Younger Lucy said as she smiled at Francine.
"Thanks..." The older girl said between breathes.
Younger Lucy got up and faced the tree as she placed her tiny hand inside a huge hole. Francine watched her for a moment before the young girl pulled something made out of gold out of the tree.
Francine kneel back down as Younger Lucy handed her a broken piece of gold that looked like it once belong to a cricle. Francine smiled at the piece, but before she could say goobye or thank you, Younger Lucy was gone and so was the world around them.
[SCROLL OF DARK SKIES]
A flash of bright light blinded Carmen as she closed her lilac orbs for a moment. But the flash quickly went away as Carmen opened her eyes to see that she was not only in her ninja gear still, but she was in a dark room with a single light bulb over her head. She could see that the floor was made out of white tiles, but everything else was in the dark.
Carmen whipped her head from side to side as she tried to find anything to tell her where she was at. But nothing was in sight expect for her under the light bulb."Hello?" The dark-skinned girl called to the empty room, hoping for someone to at least hear her from far away and turn on the lights.
But instead of having someone turning on the lights, she heard a creepy laughter from behind her. The curly-haired girl turned around as she pulled out her kunais, ready to fight in case this was a monster.
Carmen inched closer to the laughter as another light came on, barely shining down on a deformed figure laying on the ground. Carmen raised an eyebrow as she inched closer to the figure as it began laughing again, but Carmen knew it was at least a girl who was laughing. The dark-skinned girl bit her lower lip as she called, "Hey, you! Where are we?"
But the figure broke out into a fit of laughter as Carmen felt chills go down her spine. She gently put up the kunais because she realize that the figure wasn't going to hurt her. Carmen held out a hand as she said in a kinder tone, "Hey, where are we? Do you know?"
The laughing girl got up and Carmen saw that the girl had long, tangled hair that was in a dull orange color. The girl lifted her face, which was covered in some dirt, as a cruel smile cracked on her face. The girl rocked back and forth as Carmen got closer, but the curly-haired girl was afraid to come closer to the laughing girl.
For a moment, Carmen slowly walked up until the girl shot her head up and Carmen almost fell on her own two feet. The laughing girl was staring down Carmen with large, wild-looking dark blue eyes. "L-L...Lucy?" Carmen whispered as she saw that her friend was barefooted and in a straightjacket.
Insane Lucy laughed as she looked at the curly-haired hair. "We're all mad here, we're all mad here, we're all mad here!"
Carmen shuddered as she felt a soft creature brushing up against her leg. She looked down to se ethe Cheshire Cat, but the first thing that came out of her mouth instead of asking where she was at was, "How did you get in here?"
"That's is not the most important thing at hand. Right now, you must find the piece." Cheshire Cat said with his creepy grin.
"What piece? And where am I at?" Carmen asked.
"You're in the Scroll of Dark Skies. This reflects the worst of Lucy's life, which is the present. Just find the piece." Then the Cat disappeared as Insane Lucy laughed louder this time.
"They will never find me! They think they now me, but they will never find me!" Insane Lucy yelled as she fell on the floor laughing.
Carmen cocked an eyebrow as she walked towards the laughing girl, who was now glaring at Carmen. The dark-skinned girl kneel down to Insane Lucy's level and said, "Okay, where is the-" Before she could finish, she saw something golden and glittering in Lucy's straightjacket. "Catperpillar's piece..."
Before the laughing girl could blink, Carmen whipped a hand into the straightjacket and pulled out the broken piece. That must have upset Insane Lucy because she stopped laughing and craned her neck as she glared at Carmen. "YOU BITCH!" The once-laughing girl yelled as she tried to bit Carmen's hand off.
The curly-haired girl moved away as she got back under the single light bulb and everything, including Insane Lucy as she tried to crawl towards Carmen, disappeared.
[SCROLL OF DESTINY]
Claude opened his eyes to relaize that he was laying face-first in a pile of leaves. He shot his head up and spit some leaves out as he saw that he was in a forest that was in the middle of autumn. He got up as he brushed off the dirt form his ninja gear, which he had no idea why he was still wearing.
"Jesus, I look like an idoit wearing this..." Claude thought bitterly. He wasn't a fan of ninjas and all of that, but he dealt with it because Simon was his best friend and Simon was obsessed with Japan with a fiery passion.
Claude looked around to see that he was on a hidden path; not really used by the amount of leaves piled up, but Claude could tell that a few people have walked here a few times. He kicked a pile of leaves as he wondered what this has to do anything with destiny when he heard a small sound from behind him.
"Mister, why are you just standing there?" Claude gulped at the sound of a little girl's voice as he turned around to see a five-year-old girl playing with a stuffed red horse. But that wasn't what caught him off-guard.
The girl had shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair that was wavy with M-shaped bangs. Her eyes were shaped wide but a little almond-shaped, and they were a green color with flecks of blue and gold around the irises. Around her eyes were long, delicate eyelashes with naturally arched yet bushy eyebrows, which were the same reddish-brown color as her hair. Her skin was fair and it was flawless for a child. She was tall for her age with a petite body, and she had natural pink cheeks and she has rose pink lips with her lower one being slightly fuller than her upper one. She had long legs with petite feet and long arms with dainty hands that had manicured nails. She has perfect facial features with high cheekbones, a straight yet small nose, and a strong yet feminine jawline with a small chin. Her smile, which covered her perfect shiny and square teeth, was a cute dimpled one.
"She looks so much like me and... No, I am not going to think like that if that is how she treats me." Claude shook the thought out of his head as he looked at the little girl's black tenchcoat, white sweater, blue jeans, and black boots.
The little girl looked at Claude for another moment before saying, "So, who are you? My name is Emma."
Claude nodded his head and said, "My name is Claude. Um, can I ask you why you are alone in the woods?"
Emma tilted her head to the side and said, "My parents are nearby. They are just walking my little siblings around before we go home. I decided to find some wolves, but Daddy told me that there many not be wolves in these woods."
Claude smiled at Emma as he kneel down to her level. "No, I don't think they live in the woods here. Now, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Have you seen something weird? Like a golden piece of a circle?" Claude asked.
Emma's eyes lit up, where the blue in her eyes began to show more. "Yes!" She rummaged around in her jacket as she held her stuffed horse between her legs. She kept looking in her jacket until she pulled out a broken piece of a golden circle.
Claude's eyes lit up as he took the piece and smiled at Emma. She put her stuffed horse back in her arms and said, "Is that what you are talking about?"
"Yes, it is." Claude said. The little girl smiled before everything faded, but she got to say to Claude "Bye-bye, Claude! hope to see you again!"
Claude smiled as everything faded into black. "I think we'll meet again." Claude thought to himself as he let a chuckle out.
~0~
Elder Ant, Simon, and Lucy were sitting in the same exact spots they were in as Elder Ant sipped some tea. Lucy looked directly at the Scrolls as she bounced her foot up and down, which annoyed Simon to no end.
Finally, the blonde looked at the redhead as he said, "Can you stop bouncing your-" Before he could finish, the Scrolls began to glow as three teenagers were shot out of them and on to Simon, who was easily thrown to the ground by surprise. "Ow... Never mind, Lucy."
The redhead smirked as Francine, Carmen, and Claude rolled off of Simon as the blonde groaned in pain. Francine pulled him up as he rubbed his bruised face, and the Elder Ant looked at the three returning teens as he sipped tea calmly.
"So, where are the pieces?"
The three teens snapped their head towards the Elder Ant as they rummaged around their pockets. After a mintue or so, they finally pulled out their pieces and handed them to the Elder Ant. The origami-made ant looked at the pieces before getting out his cane and slapping under the three hands as the teens let the pieces fall into the air.
The pices flew into the air before Elder Ant used his cane to catch them in the cane's small, G-shaped crook. He brought them close to him as he sat his cane down and sat the pieces in front of him as he cracked his paper knuckles, then he began assembling the Caterpillar's Stone together.
The teens watched with some curiousity, but they were more focus on Lucy with her arms crossed and her eyes were watching the Elder Ant with the most attention. The Elder Ant moved his paper hands with great speed, even at his semmingly old age, as he assembled the Caterpillar's Stone together.
When he was done, he held the Stone up for the teens to look at. It was a medium-sized, dark golden circluar plate with a design of a large caterpillar with a segmented body and six arms on his upper body. The lower part of his body formed a tail. He had a long face similar to that of a human, with long, thin lips, a small nose and narrow eyes. He wore no clothing, but he had a fez on top of his head. He was smoking a hookah as he glared straight at whoever was looking at the Stone.
Elder Ant bowed his head as he got up and turned around to face the wall behind him. The teens raised their eyebrows in confusion as the Elder Ant tapped the wall with his cane, casuing the wall to rise a little to show a small circluar hole. He held up the Stone as he placed it in the hole and tapped the Stone as it shunk in deeper into the wall.
For a moment, nothing happened. But, in a snap second, the ground shook as the wall raised up and the teens saw outside with gigantic, colorful folding fans being held in mid-air by long, thin sticks in the middle of the framework. The fans slowly spinned around as they made a path upwards towards the top of the mountain.
Out of the four, confuse-looking teens that had their mouths opened, Lucy was not confuse or shock as she got up and sprinted towards the open wall. She jumped form the edge of the room on to one of the folding fans, landing perfectly as she glared at the other teens.
"Come on, you prats! I am not waiting here all day for you to get your worthless bums up!" Lucy yelled as she pulled out her Vorpal Blades.
The other four teens were shook out of their shock as they ran towards the edge of the missing wall and jumped on to the first of the folding fans as Lucy jumped on to the next one. They pulled out their weapons because as Lucy landed, Samurai Wasps and Drifitng Ruin appeared.
"Shit!" Lucy yelled as she jumped into the air and did a flip over a Samurai Wasp, stabbing it in the neck as she cut of its head with the other Vorpal Blade. She landed on the ground as she blocked another Wasps's attacked with her leg before stabbing it in the stomach. "Are you going to fight or what?" Lucy yelled at the other teens.
They nodded their heads as they jumped on to the next folding fans; while Lucy was already on the fifth fan, Simon and Claude jumped to the fourth fan while Carmen and Francine landed on the third fan.
Simon and Claude stood back-to-back as the Drifting Ruin came closer to them. Simon smirked at Claude as he said, "You'll jump and bring them down?"
"That actually sounds like a good plan." Claude smirked back.
As the Drifitng Ruin came closer, Claude jumped and landed on Simon's shoulders as he used them to get higher. He was in the air long enough to throw his sword before landing back on the fan. But the sword acted as a boomerang and began knocking down the Drifting Ruin before coming back to Claude's hands.
As the Drifitng Ruin fell, Simon attacked with his chain scythe by throwing the scythes at the Drifting Ruin. The scythes attached to the Drifting Ruin and stuck them together before Simon took the scythes and slammed them to the ground, destorying the baby doll faces of the Drifting Ruin.
As the Ruin was destoryed as the boys continued on, Carmen and Francine were against the Samurai Wasps Archers, who looked the same as the Samurai Wasps but they wore red robes and held wooden bow with arrows.
Carmen leaned into Francine as the two enemies stood still. "Ideas?"
Francine but her lower lip, but a smile replaced it quickly. She grabbed her knife and threw it at one Archer, grabbing it by the chest as she pulled it down by the chain and let it break through the folding fan as the girls jumped onto the next fan.
The Archers began shooting at the girls, who were jumping from fan to fan to catch up to their friends. Carmen brought out her kunais and began throwing them as the fire covering the blade destoryed the Archers in one hit. Francine was a little less frequent with the attacks, but she was able to destory the perivous fans by throwing the Archers down through them.
The girls finally caught up to their friends as Francine killed the last Archer and destoryed the last folding fan. When the small girl was finish with her fighting, she looked up to see that the world around them had change.
They were on top of the mountain, but the sky was blood red and it seem like a long way down to Francine since she was on the edge. There, sitting in the middle, was a green and golden templer with three layers to make it look like a hookah itself. There were two, black pots on each side of the stone stairway, and from the open enterance, the teens could see a golden simulacrum of the Caterpillar that had real smoke coming from its hookah.
Lucy was the first to go as the rest followed behind her, entering the temple and stopping in front of the simulacrum as she palced her hands on her hips. "I have come all this way to find a simulacrum?"
"If I had the time, I would detail how often you pefer dealing with illusions rather than the real thing. Problems you refuse to deal with don't exist! You deny reality." The Caterpillar's voice said, but it sounded hollow it was from the simulacrum itself.
"That's not right. I know what is real." Lucy snapped back.
"No! And you allow others to tell what isn't real...Now, come inside." Before anyone could say a thing, the floor shook before it broke.
The five teenagers fell through the floor as they gracefully fell to the dirt ground under the temple. They were now in an underground area with a smooth, upward ramp that led to a huge cocoon that incased a green caterpillar with a red fez on his head inside and that had strings attacked to every inch of the walls it was around.
Lucy looked at the cocoon as she began on the ramp, but she looked back at the others and said, "Do not follow me. I need to do this on my own." Instead of arguing, the other four teens nodded their heads as they watched the redhead walk up the ramp.
"Caterpillar, my memories are shattered. From what I heard and seen, there is a wicked train that is ruined nearly all I can recall. And Wonderland will perish completely as I lose my mind. So much has changed. I can't help Wonderland if I can't help myself." Lucy said, her tone becoming slightly scared towards the end.
"Much has changed. But you have it backwards. Save Wonderland and you may save yourself. The Carpenter was on to something when he met your friends. But he was hiding from the real. Your goal is to accept it." Caterpillar explained as the underground cavern began to shake with dirt coming down.
"Then where should I go, what should I do?" Lucy asked in confusion.
"The Queens must be served, Lucy. The Queens, in all of their guises, must always be served. But you must accept the Queen of Hearts as the true queen." Caterpillar said. "The other lands have been destroyed, with their heirs gone and their Queens hidden. Find them and you will be able to speak to the Queen of Hearts."
As Lucy finally got to the edge of the ramp to see the Caterpillar, the creature opened up his yellow eyes as the cavern began to rummble. Lucy's friend held their arms over their heads as they began going up the ramp to get Lucy away, in case the cocoon fell on her.
But Lucy looked at the Caterpillar sand said, "How can the Queen of Hearts stem this growing corruption or assist my search? What does she know that I don't that involves finding the other Queens?"
"She is someone you one knew and loved. Time changes us all." Caterpillar said.
"Not all change is good!" Lucy said over the sound of falling rocks.
"Remember that when you find the Queens and talk to the Queen of Hearts." Caterpillar said before he broke out of his cocoon with red, white, and black wings that size of airplanes. The teens stared in shock before the Caterpillar flew off and a blinding light covered the underground cavern.
~0~
Claude groaned as he woke up on a dirt-covered wooden floor. He was back in his normal clothes and in the real world, but he noticed that was in a small room with iron bars replacing where a door should be. A small window let a small amount of light in as Claude forced his eyes open to see something.
It was a small butterfly with a green body and red, white, and black wings. Claude groaned as he got up and held his side, which still hurted. He looked at the butterfly from another moment as he heard the words, "Time changes us all... Time changes us all..."
Those words replayed in his head as he saw cops coming towards his cell and stood on either side of the cell. "Oi, you there. That's enough of all that." One cop said to Claude.
"Enough of what?" Claude said in a slightly dangerous tone.
The cop backed off as his partner laughed a little. But Claude wasn't too worry about how in got into a goal or what he had done to get into a goal at the moment. He laid back down on the dirt floor which seem very comfortable to him at the moment.
"I'll find everyone when I get back up." Claude murmured to himself as he went back to sleep, getting the first peaceful sleep he had since coming to London.