"Our story begins in a small village on the western edge of Tokyo, Japan, circa 1916" narrates a slightly high-pitched, yet rough voice. "We have traveled back in time approximately 93 years, to a time and place where modern technology is practically, if not entirely, nonexistent. This small, rural village is where we will strike."
In a small mountainside house, roughly walking distance from the nearest town, resides four people; a young man with short, burgundy hair, a slightly older male with black hair, fading to a dark blue at the tips, an even older male with yellow hair that turns saffron at the ends, and an older girl with waist-length pitch-black hair. It was early in the morning, and the first to wake was the middle of the three boys.
The boy yawned, then sat up, observing the room. "Man, am I up early. Everyone else is still asleep!" After stretching, he jumps to his feet and heads out to the kitchen. After getting out a bag of rice, he prepares some hot water to make a bowl of steamed rice.
"Hey Inosuke, you're up early." said the boy with the short, burgundy hair, emerging from the four's bedroom shortly after the first boy woke up.
"Yeah, so what?" Inosuke replied. "It's not like I'm hurting anyone by being up so soon. Besides, aren't Nezuko and Zenitsu still sleeping? I thought the noise from my cooking would've woken him up before your sense of smell woke you, but here we are."
"Yeah, that's a fair point," the boy, Tanjiro, answered. "I'm also just always on edge lately. I know we defeated Muzan and the demons, and the world's finally able to rest, but there's still a lingering dread I have. Something at the back of my mind tells me we're not done yet, despite how absurd that sounds."
"That doesn't sound that absurd," the boy with the yellow hair, Zenitsu, responded. " I mean personally, I've always got a fear overcoming me, but that's probably irrelevant. What is absurd, however, is Inosuke out here making steamed rice for breakfast at the break of dawn."
"So what? I was up early, and I was hungry. You gonna stop me?" Inosuke retorted, glaring at Zenitsu.
"N-n-no!" said Zenitsu, stuttering. "I was just w-wondering why, that's all."
"Hmph. Better be." Inosuke grunted as he turned to finish making his bowl of rice.
Somebody could be heard yawning from the corner of the room. "I Don't think that's unreasonable, Zenitsu," the girl, Nezuko, stated. "I've also been having a sort of odd feeling lately. You and Tanjiro aren't the only ones."
"Really? So I'm not just going insane?" Zenitsu asked.
"No. At least, I don't think so."
A large crash is suddenly heard outside. The quartet swiftly head out to investigate. The source of the crash is found to be a large, oddly symmetrical metallic object that appears to be some futuristic form of vehicle. It had large metal pipe-like structures on either side, emitting smoke, two large contraptions of rotating blades protruding upwards from either side, near the rear, and a large pan-like sculpture on the top. "W-w-what is this thing!?" It's HUGE!" Zenitsu wailed.
"Calm down, ya big baby," responded Inosuke. "Whatever it is, it's going down though, because I'm comin' through!" Inosuke stopped mid-ram, as he noticed the door of the thing slowly open. He jumped back to the group, staring in awe and confusion at what he was seeing. "What the hell is this thing?"
Gradually, something began to slip out of the opening door; a large, green creature with a spherical head, about a meter in diameter, and a circular mouth attached to it of the same width and height. It had two pitch black eyes with cyan irises, positioned on its head, an equal distance from the 'snout'. There was a decently sized leaf on the back of its head, and its body was composed of a thick, durable-looking stem. In place of feet, it had four giant leaves, not much smaller than its head, and a sort of root system. How this plant-like organism was able to survive out of soil was a complete mystery to the four. After a long silence, the creature spoke, despite seemingly having a lack of teeth and a tongue. "The zombies... are... coming…"
"So Dave said we were headed to some place called 'Japan' next, right?" The green plant-like thing asked. "Is this place similar to China at all? 'Cuz if so, this mission is gonna be a doozy. At least then I'd know a bit of what to expect..."
"Yes, Peashooter. I've answered you at least a dozen times about all of those things.. Be patient, all right? We'll be there soon." Responded a big flower with a brown center, gold petals, and large leaves, similar to Peashooter. The flower's face was made up of two narrow, vertical eyes and a mouth that was always smiling, with occasional exceptions. "Cactus, what's the engine status?" the flower asked.
"All clear, Sunflower. We should be landing soon," replied Cactus. "By the way, did Dave ever say why we weren't bringing anyone else along? I mean, the RV clearly has enough room for everyone."
"I don't know, Cactus," Sunflower responded. "I mean yeah, we have the room, but Dave's orders are Dave's orders. There's no changing that.
"Yeah. She's got a point, Cactus," said a deep, grumbly voice. The voice was coming from that of a large, round, and purple plant-like creature with large leaves for feet, similar to the rest (except Cactus, who had short, prickly, nubs for legs). Its head was large and round, though bigger than Peashooter's. It had a large mouth that took up almost its entire face, complete with thick, green lips and sharp, pointed teeth. There were smaller leaves emerging from its head, where the stem met it. Its stem was similar to Peashooter's, but was purple and covered in thorns, not dissimilar to a rose. Somehow, the creature managed to move around perfectly, despite lacking eyes.
"Oh, there you are, Chomper," Sunflower said. " I'd been wondering where you were. Good to know that the group is all together still. That space-time warp we went through earlier had me thinking we lost you."
"I'll be honest with ya' Sunflower, I didn't feel that warp at all." replied Chomper.
Suddenly, the entire RV was rocked by a large explosion, and the four were heavily shaken by the impact. "Uh, Sunflower? You might wanna take a look at this..." Cactus stated, pointing towards the footage collected from the rear camera before its ultimate destruction.
Viewing the footage, Sunflower was, at first, baffled by what she was seeing. It was all happening so fast. Rewinding and slowing down the footage, she could see what had happened all too clearly, and her heart sank. It couldn't, no, it shouldn't be, but her worst fear during their trip through time had come to fruition. The thing that struck the RV wasn't just any ordinary explosive. No, it was unmistakable, from the green, pointed rocket with red fins, to the eerie smiling face plastered on the front; they were hit by a ZPG, which could only mean one thing. They had been followed.