Yukiko Takayama's Story

"You are free to proceed forward. And I am no leader, I am just a Primarch. The Son of our Emperor, he is our true leader. Let us be brief in our exchange on the surface, I know we both are busy people. Terra's safety is my number one concern. But I shall be on the surface as well when you land." Dorn replied as his image faded out.

Well, it was time to begin speaking with another faction. Even if the Emperor was not here he had to ensure things went well.

The soldiers were gathered in formation in front of Wing City spaceport, in a procession that would take them from the spaceport, down main street, and ultimately towards Eastern Wing City where Shimizu's next destination was already being planned.

Their discipline was unwavering, their stone cold gazes affixed in front of them, their weapons shouldered carefully, their uniforms were pressed, starched, and careful detail was given to every collar, every pleat, and every pin on each and every soldier in the procession.

Behind the formation of professional, modern looking Taiyou soldiers were hundreds of Imperial Warriors, adorned in full samurai-like ceremonial armor, armed with beam katana, and their MX type 2 kinetic carbines; Sashimono flags bearing the crest of House Takayama worn upon their backs, fluttering and waving in the wind like blades of grass.

Flanking each phalanx of Taiyou soldiers, were roughly six Imperial Warriors on horseback, their armor gleamed in the sunlight, and their own Sashimono flags fluttered in the breeze.

Atop a large platform, a formation of drummers awaited their cue, Taiko drummers, and O-daiko drummers awaited the parade's grand marshall to give the command.

Front and center was a massive O-daiko drum, and seated immediately in front of it, upon his throne was Emperor Shimizu Takayama, the leader of what could be argued as the single most powerful intergalactic superpower in the known universe, the Taiyou Empire of Greater Niihama.

Kneeling before him, upon small cushions were his mother and two sisters, Empress Dowager Takayama, Princess Aeka Takayama, and Princess Yukiko Takayama.

Shimizu didn't much care for formality, but it was upon the insistence of his cabinet that they make a show of force to the Imperium of Man, to display their sheer power, their capabilities, their discipline.

The signal was given, the Taiko drummers began their steady beat, the sound of Taiyou war drums filling the city streets as the procession began to march, the Taiko, and O-daiko beat in perfect synchronicity with the marches of the Taiyou Soldiers.

The procession began to move forward, thousands of individuals in perfect lock step, while the Emperor looked on, and while young, he commanded great respect.

A precession, a parade...There were many words to describe what was going on this day. But for ease, this event was classified as a sort of parade. The Imperial Guard of this city, either on daily patrols halted as they heard the Taiko drums. Even though the Taiyou were disciplined, the Imperial Guard of course showed the same.

In tight formations, each patrol marched out of the way, las-guns shouldered but prepared to fight at any moment. Each soldier of the Imperium stood on the sides motioning for their armored vehicles to move out of the way. The Imperium of course had their own show of force, not by the Guardsman but the well engineered armor. Lemen Russ Battle tanks, with their main battle cannon, three Heavy bolters one on the sides of the tank and one in the hull along with a hull mounted las-cannon. These tanks were well armored and well armed.

Of course that was not the only grand tank roaming around, a Baneblade. The Imperiums well known heavy tank as big as a city block had to be re-directed into another section of the city. Amred with the Baneblade cannon, hull mounted demolisher cannon, side mounted lascannons and 3 heavy bolters along with extra heavy weapons. This heavy tank has 11 weapons made for pure destruction.

The Imperium of course was not even close to intimidated by the enemy. They have seen horrors that was a nightmare in reality. They allowed the parade to happen without stopping them. If they wish to make music and fun then the Imperial's would freely let them as long as they do not attempt anything hostile.

He watched from a rooftop. The parade was an interesting display, to say the least. Drums struck him somewhere in his core and made his blood start pumping.

It had been a while since he had let himself find his way into Wing City. Somewhere south of this city the trees of the Cursed Wood kept his world like a time capsule. Every now and then it did well to step back into the light of day. Every now and then it did to see what the mortals were up to.

Reisel pulled a device from his pocket, snapping images of the entire scene. Crowdsourced data was how the Forces Vankoryth, protectors of the beings of the Cursed Wood, got most of their info. He slipped the phone back, settling in to watch the show. Mortals were always doing this sort of thing. Reisel looked wistfully down. Images of war and chaos danced in his head.

Confetti, massive paper dragons, and the center of it all, a massive platform with Taiko drummers playing a hearty beat, in step to the marching soldiers, the dancing costumed people, and the swaying paper dragon that weaved and bobbed all about the formations of paraders.

Seated atop a large float, before a massive O-daiko the size of a small house was the Emperor, Shimizu Takayama of the Taiyou Empire. His Peace tour had taken him through Wing City, putting on a show for the denizens of the city to enjoy as he moved through the city streets.

His tour had now taken him to Verinotte Hollow, where the Second Ball of Chaos was taking place. His eyes set upon Verinotte Hall as his float slowly started to make it's approach, though by now the constant drumming had become deafening, and the men behind him persevered all day with constant drumming, it could be described as a near superhuman effort.

There was a line of limousines in front of him, the various guests being dropped off for the ball of Chaos, Shimizu's parade was next in line, while people carried on, to the sound of drums, traditional flutes, and the chants of the Imperial Warriors.

"Subete teishi!" The Grand Marshal called out, and it all stopped, right in front of the grand hall.

In a booming voice, addressing the guests of the Ball, the Grand Marshall called out.

"Ten'nōheika, Shimizu Takayama, kangei shite kudasai!"

"Please welcome, His Imperial Majesty, Shimizu Takayama!"

Shimizu slowly stood up, adorned from head to toe in a formal black sokutai, an extremely complex adornment of robes, sashes, which bore the crest of the Imperial Family, and his hair was done up in the traditional Chonmage style. Such fluff, and pomp was foreign to the young Shimizu, but never the less he tried his best to wear it with dignity.

Now that the procession had come to a stop before the Hall, and the formations of Taiyou Soldiers went to parade rest, Shimizu slowly rose from his throne, alone with his two sisters, Aeka, and Yukiko. Like Shimizu they were garbed from head to toe in formal Kimono, their faces done up in stark, porcelain white makeup, red lipstick in the traditional style, and their hair styled to match their noble status.

A small set of stairs was placed near their float, and Shimizu moved to step down first, followed by his Eldest sister, and Aeka last. They kept their gazes downward, while Shimizu kept his forward, once on the ground, rose petals were tossed at their feet leading up the marble stairs.

Step by step he moved, while his sisters remained behind him.

Midgra had seen fancy places before in his travels, but never anything quite as fancy as this. Some sort of ball, regarding peace... Blah Blah. There must be so much in there to... Well, he would perhaps get to that later. One piece of silverware from this ball could probably feed him for a week! But before he could let himself get distracted, he had to get inside. He found it surprisingly easy, slipping behind a crowd of people and scooting inside. His eye looked up at the ceiling, which seemed to be miles away. Now he was inside he wandered away from his cover, dodging larger patrons. His nose picked up a heavenly smell, and Midgra couldn't help but follow it over to the table full of appetizers and finger foods. While he wanted to sprint over and start to shovel everything is sight down his face, he tried his best to hobble over there with dignity, acting like he knew some of the patrons, pointing and smiling at one, winking and doing the finger guns to another. Perfect.

He approached the table, all the food being at about eye level. Somehow, it still felt crazy that he had gotten in with so little trouble. No mind to that however. An eager smile began to curl upon his lips as his hand slowly reached for a handful of expensive looking finger sandwiches, toothpicks and all.
(Repost)

There was a stampede of flashbulbs and cameras as the press drew in to the Taiyou spectacle. All across Terra, paper dragons and drums would radiate from screens! Winne Rineswurth elbowed her way to the front lines of the media barricade.

"What a show! The Taiyou Peace Parade has arrived at Verinotte Hollow for the Ball of Chaos! Will the Imperial Majesty engage in the gravity-free dancing we've heard is inside? " Winne did her best to be heard over the roar, cameras panning from the paper dragons to the high clock tower.

"Apologies for the wait mistress Ondona. I have prepared some Black Tea with a hint of Vodka. I also have procured some miniature sandwiches for your enjoyment." Royka spoke as he handed Ondona two plates. One with the Black tea with some small little biscuits, the other plat containing the small sandwiches along with small sauces to enjoy them with.

"Thank you very much Royka. Please, enjoy yourself as well. There is no need to continue doing your duties." Ondona nodded as she took the two plates. "And that's my order to you. I'll call you if I need assistance so take a break." She added with a small smile.

Royka reeled back a bit as she gave her order and wanted to argue against it...but...He was not going to argue with her at all. "Of course mistress...Enjoy yourself as well." He gave a bow as he reluctantly left her side to stay by the food table to eat some of the delicacies laid out.

Of course with the sound of drums from outside and another man entering, Ondona looked over before returning to her tea. As she took a sip she coughed a bit, been a while since she had any alcohol but with the tea it was fine. After a small sip, she took a biscut and took a bite from it. Sweet and crunchy.

Of course someone soon approached her. It appeared to be a child of sorts, of course she decided to reply to him. It would be rude to ignore anyone of course. "Oh, I heard of this party and well...um...decided to come." She spoke a little anxious. It has been a long while since she interacted with anyone other than Royka.

Boo's bright, curious eyes watched the guests in awe. This place was amazing, and everyone was so pretty. Yet, for the moment, the little girl sat on the table like a cat, which was appropriate given she was about the size of one, and continuing to help herself to the delicious food that had been provided. The miniature Neko-jin moved from one table to another as she sampled different items; some of which she had never seen before. The new dress made walking on all fours as Boo was want to do a little more awkward but she managed.

As she reached the end of one table, Boo spotted a plate of finger sandwiches. The little girl paused, however, when she saw another creature reaching for the same plate. Boo quickly hopped with a hiss. Her back arched, her ears lay back, and her tail puffed up out like a Halloween cat. "Dog!" She squeaked. After blinking a couple of times and looking again, Boo realized her mistake. With a faint blush, the little girl sat down and started smoothing out her tail. "You aren't a dog." She mumbled. "You shouldn't sneak up on Boo like that. Er.. not that Boo was scared or anything."

Looking for a distraction, the little girl nudged the sandwiches towards the fox, after taking a couple and tucking them into her bag of course. "You wanted some too, right?" She asked with a curious tilt of her head. Boo hadn't seen a fox person white like this one before. "Where did you come from?" The sounds of drums and marching made the little girl glance towards the door. It seemed like there was more fun happening outside, but she would check on that in a moment. If she remembered.

Irral nodded to the boy holding the Wand, Akio. He knew vaguely what it was. Who it belonged to however, he'd leave to time to reveal itself to the boy. If he didn't already know, anyway. Nodding again, Irral stood slowly, thinking slowly and carefully. "Indeed, it would be a shame to use it and not know what you're using.... very well; I shall leave you to your duties."

Speaking of duties, the Dragon of Corrupted Light felt something was off, somewhere far off; and so needed to take his leave. And so he did, with a great shake the air froze and the ground rumbled before with a flash of Golden Light, he was gone from the Chaos Ball. Maybe he'd be back; maybe he wouldn't. More than likely the latter.

A fiery portal appeared and from it stepped the half fire demon Selena. Her eyes and tattoos glowed like fire as she stepped out of the portal. She wore a black dress that was low cut in front and showed off her back. If they didn't notice the portal they would definitely notice the dress.

"I so hope I'm not late..." Selena said with a smirk as the portal closed behind her.

How'd he wind up invited to this shindig again? Coincidence, obviously. Some random individual on a street tossing him their invitation, insisting he go in their stead. Something about the last time they'd gone, things had turned upside down and crazy events came to pass. Regardless, Alex found himself little to do that evening. Living as a pseudo-vagabond came with perks, but also mundane, agonizingly pitiful, lulls. He found little purpose these days, having stumbled into a narrow, dead-end, corridor. His leads having ran dry, he found little aspiration, and hope, in achieving his goal; to be entirely human again.

Now, existing as a pitiful mess with no purpose to serve, he simply wandered about enjoying what little beauty in life he could appreciate naturally; not that he could often with the mess of visual sensors and scans constantly whirring about. Still, he made do with what he had. And if anything, this event would simply derail his current brooding thoughts and give him ample distraction from his self-pitied woes.

Supposedly the occasion suggested that one dress accordingly, and so with relative ease he managed to put together a riveting outfit, something he'd appreciated in days of yore whence he'd been a child. Dressed as an Assassin, he came off rather accurately. Garbed in fine whites, accentuated in wine reds, and mottled with filigree; impressive couldn't hardly describe it. His onyx locks lay draped in various manners, bangs shielding a portion of his visage whilst ember-like neon eyes peered outward; luminescent in the waning light due to his non-biological make-up.

Passing through into the interior, he scanned the building rather swiftly; eyes dotted with various informative readings and the like, before he casually found a shrug leaving him. Impressive, but dull nonetheless. The audacious nature of everyone around seemed haphazardly contained. He could easily spy the ones who 'didn't belong' in a sense, and couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He found it a true shame, though, that not a single thing here would provide him any sort of amusement. He couldn't eat. Couldn't drink.

What use in a ball to an Android? Perhaps, in time, he'd figure on something worthwhile to occupy his time. Until then, he simply made to amble about and study everyone. Few had caught his attention, but until such a time as he found himself comfortable to attempt speaking to anyone, he'd keep to himself; hood drawn up over his head for good effect.

Having made his way up the marble steps of the hall, his two sisters immediately behind him, Shimizu was greeted by the rapid-fire flashing of cameras, as media from all across Terra vied to get a good picture of him.

He did as any good Taiyou Emperor would do, he offered a smile, and a bow, shaking hands as he moved towards the doors of the hall, bowing some more, and shaking some more hands before two of his bodyguards moved with him, checking their radios, and ensuring that everything was moving smoothly.

Once inside the hall, he took in the sights all around him. Everyone was dancing, having a good time; something that, if Shimizu was in some different clothes, would gladly partake in. But for now, he was relegated to appearances, unable to sample the local finger food for fear it could be poisoned, and keeping a watchful eye on his sisters, who stayed behind him.

He stood out, in his traditional attire, but of course he was supposed to, as the Emperor.

He simply smiled and shook hands with all who approached him.

Akio watched as a dragon, who was older then time itself, came and spoke to him, before vanishing again. The entire time, his expression never changed once, indicating he had completely and totally remained composed during that entire conversation with an entity that was, for once, older then him. Clearly, it was his centuries of living that gave him this wisdom.

Well...that was....freaking awesome!!! I am like, a legendary knight in a fantasy story or something! I am literally the hero now!

Or, it was just another case of "Akio takes it as praise and gets elated", and "Akio putting on an act". It should be noted the news crews were already commending him for what he did right there, apparently they were fully aware of that man's identity and were impressed Akio was able to keep his composure...on the outside, anyways.

"Master Akio! A large scale force is approaching the Ball! Permission to use full scale weapons on the Gigas Machina?!"

That was broken by a notification from Ruby using their special MagiComms, who was currently operating his Gigas Machina while it was in stealth mode.

"Hold it! Ruby, by chance, is it the parade you are talking about?"

"That...that large thing is a parade, and not an invading army?!"

"Yes, so stand down".

"But, if they are, and Master Akio got hurt...it would be sad, and we...we would have to nurse him back to health...understood, standing down!"

Akio really did not feel like commenting on that ulterior motive, so instead he moved to prepare for someone who was a big, important guest it would seem. Afterwards, the Emperor of the Taiyou arrived. Akio had spent the time between detection and arrival to learn everything he needed, make special preparations, and hope for the best.

And in his mind....

Daemala! You better get here right now and help me deal with this! This is totally something you should be doing!!

"Welcome to the Ball of Chaos. I am one of the hosts, Akio Revela. I do hope you enjoy being here".

He had practiced this line also for the past few minutes by repeating it to every single guest that had entered before Shimizu, until it was refined enough to be what he needed. One of the goals of the ball was to neither risk antagonizing people by talking down to them, or being submissive to people by talking up to them. So, Akio had done neither, using a voice so refined, so neutral, so respectful yet clearly not submissive or under in any way, one would think that if he wasn't a vampire, he wouldn't be a child but an older diplomat.

Meanwhile, because he kept his composure completely (on the outside), he was gaining points from the press like crazy. After tonight, there would be an Akio fan club, and many, many, many fanfics most of which he would turn red over and demand to be deleted, but that was a story for another time.

At the same time this was going down, CR was innocently smiling and conversing with the werewolves. He did not even know this, but it was possible for the Werewolves to easily sense from instincts that he was not some mere child, and in fact a dangerous entity.

"Oh good!" CR exclaimed, as he finally saw it on the food table near the werewolves. "They do have ice cream!"

Crimson Reaper (CR) immediately rushed towards the ice cream, with the intention of devouring it all. Yet somehow, he still managed to maintain a conversation.

"So, why are you here? I am here to represent my father, who cant make it since his mere presence in this world without enough energy spent and time prepared would result in everyone nearby going mad. Same with my mother. Also, this seemed like fun! They even hired me a chaperone...he is really good at keeping an eye on me from a distance, gotta say..."

Actually, Ivera's observation skills were so good, only experts or extremely lucky people could detect he had been observing CR this whole time. Meanwhile, Ivera was conversing with the woman.

"Man, I am here because I was hired to keep an eye on that kid. There was supposed to be something else, but if I am being honest, I think that was just used as a pretext to have me be his chaperone. Since, those two really are doting parents in turns out....anyways, what do you do for a living?"

Although he had no intention to hide it, Ivera did not go out and state he was a private investigator. The reason was that sometimes, people got weird around him when they found out, like they were worried he would investigate them...

...well, the only one he did bother looking into was a man who he realized was beating his wife and children, and got the evidence to send him to jail, but he decided to not bring that up as casual conversation.

"I gotta say, that light show earlier, they are really going all out for this party".

Notably, the way he spoke made him seem far smarter, wiser, and older for his age when he spoke like how he was at that moment.

Selena made her way into the ball a small flame dancing on her fingertips as she walked. Lots of people from lots of places. The Emperor caught her eye and she watched him. She knew very little about his Empire and cared even less. She just moved though the crowd as she headed towards the food portal travel took a bit out of you after all.

Midgra bristled as his back stiffened.
"No where! Nothing!" He dropped a few sandwiches back on the plate as his hands retracted. He looked warily at the girl before relaxing. She couldn't kick him out. As she offered, Midgra cracked a bit of a smile and and began to grab the food. He heard her ask where he came from.

"Ah, we are all from somewhere." He stated, taking two of the sandwiches and shoving them in his mouth.
"The bigger question..."
He said, chewing as he talked.

"Is where are you going? And what will you do when you get there?"

He swallowed and hungrily devoured another sandwich.

"I'm going nowhere, until someone makes me stop eating this food. I usually don't get to eat this until its a couple days old!"

He said with a laugh and grabbed another yet another, beginning to scope out the tables of meat as he chewed.

Vance finally came out of the shadows to enjoy himself as Boo had. It had been so long since he had felt any kind of joy that was his own and not the emotions of someone else, that he had almost forgot what it felt like. He figured if no one had tried to kill him or capture him yet, he was probably good for the rest of the evening. He sat down at the table where he had the ice sculpture dancing and decided to do something a little more showy. He made it start to snow above his table while the figure kept dancing. While the figure kept dancing he got up and went to the beverage area. There were a wide variety of brews and ales, fine wines, mead, and a number of drinks he couldn't identify. He found a bottle of a purple liquid that smelled like a berry that used to grow on his planet. It had sweetness and it burned slightly as he swallowed. He took the glass he had poured and went back to the table and ate more of his food as he watched the ice lady dance. "This isn't all that bad I guess. No one is trying to kill me at least." He muttered to himself.

A bulk of red shifted out from a back room door and onto the party floor. An android with no eyes adjusted the tiny pyramid-shaped cufflinks on his sleeves before he stepped out with an air of machine-like purpose. The android wore a stunning red suit jacket with matching pants, with a darker red dress shirt underneath. He did not bring his outer armour, but he did replace his armoured boots with a set of matching dress shoes, pointed at the toe, and polished to a mirror shine.

His attire was there for one reason: Jakob was one of the players, a musician, part of tonight’s entertainment. Until the time he would be up on stage as part of a band, he was simply another guest at this eclectic gala. While his snazzy look had a tendency to catch eyes, his synthetic hair was short, military-style, and impossible to comb.

The android bowed his head politely with a friendly smile on his synthetic face, as he plucked a shot glass from a serving tray being carried by a beaming, beautiful waitress. “Thank you kindly,” The android’s synthesizer emitted a calming harsh voice, like fine sand.

Boo giggled as she watched the fox eat. She had attacked the sweets in a similar fashion when she first arrived. When the fuzzy creature countered her question by dodging and adding his own, she tilted her head thoughtfully. "That's usually how Boo eats too!" Well, at least when she wasn't trying to pilfer fresh food outright or able to find cat people. Ha, cat lovers would almost always feed a 'stray kitten'.

"Boo came with Vance-kun! We are gonna go on adventures and stuff. He's over..." It took a moment, but the little girl spotted her new friend with his dancing sculpture and pointed. "There he is! Wanna come with us?
You can't be the first mate though. Boo is the first mate. And the general." She added proudly before hopping to her feet, careful not to knock the food over, and whistling loudly. "VANCE-KUN!" She yelled at as she hopped up and down; waving wildly. "Over here! Come meet the cute fox!"

The little girl wasn't exactly subtle. At least, not usually. She could be quiet and focused when she was on the hunt... if only for a little while. As she waited for Vance to join them, Boo turned her curious gaze to the Emperor and his sisters. "Teehee, what'cha think of all the fancy people?" She asked. perhaps the miniature neko-kin had momentarily forgotten that she herself was in a nice dress for a change. It wasn't that Boo disliked pretty dresses, it was just that a street child seldom got to wear one and, even when they did, a hard life outdoors would render nice clothes torn and ragged rather quickly.

Vance heard the sound of Boo calling to him. With the loss of his concentration the snow and the ice sculpture evaporated. "Why, hello there. You're a cute little fox aren't you?" Vance was starting to loosen up as he drank his purple booze. He smiled down at Boo and looked around the room in response to her question. "I'm not really used to fancy stuff like this. The people seem nice and all, but they're all caught up in their own stuff. I was hoping for us to meet some new people, maybe even make a friend. But it seems like you're the only friend I'm gonna be making today. I'm just not good at mingling. But that's okay, I'm glad I met you. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun adventures." He smiled down at her.