The rustle of flowing cloth, the sound of something heavy, and powerful hitting the ground, followed by a person landing. The ground in a circle turned purple and resembled broken rubble.
Vince opened his eyes. Before him was a brilliant shining lavender light. Light that shifted to the silhouette of a person wearing a dress.
Before him appeared a beautiful girl clad in dark purple armored clothes with a deep purple skirt cut in a diamond trim and translucent near the ends. Her hair a darker purple than her attire, part of it set in a ponytail and her eyes uncannily golden. She wasn't looking at him exactly but if she had been he could imagine her eyes piercing through his flesh and bone, down to his very essence.
What made him equally nervous was the enormous zanbato sword that he swore was larger than herself. It was wedged in the ground her hand resting on the tip of the handle.
"I'm sorry, sister," she chuckled, sending a shiver down his spine as the woman brandished her enormous longsword, easily forcing the newly freed Virus to take a few steps back. Her obsidian S shaped horns glinting against the light.
"This time, I'm playing the hero." with that cryptic statement she kept into the air. Her stature as she flew was graceful and almost artistic. A sign she'd done it thousands of times.
"A Flying Virus..!" he gasped, tripping over his gift bag. The box of chocolates falling out along with the almost empty two boxes of other candy.
"Fuck! I forgot that was there," he muttered. He looked up again and immediately noticed her deep purple hair, cold expression and really large sword.
Seeing the sword made him gulp. It almost took away from the fact that her skirt was partially see through.
"This may be worse than my previous problem." He breathed and hoped Samantha was getting in touch with Detective Mandarin.
'But she seems different than a Virus somehow.' he noted watching her raise the enormous sword and from it a larger shadowy purple replica appeared and destroyed the plant based Virus.
"But Why?! why is she here now?!" he blurted stupidly.
He stayed on the ground and watched as the Violet clad girl had no difficulty picking Ado's armored serpentine Viruses apart.
She seemed to scan the area as though looking for something then abruptly decided whatever it was wasn't there.
Her head lowered in disappointment briefly.
"Alright, Robin Yolanda. I helped him," she sighed. "I gain nothing else here,"
'Robin Yolanda?!' he wondered.
As a consequence for not having what she wanted she swung her sword and immediately everything to Vince's right a few feet away was reduced to a pile of rubble with an ear shattering explosion.
Following this a hole in space opened up and much to Vince's terror he fell through it, Ado jumping in after him.
His form disappeared into the void. Falling through he landed unceremoniously on a grass hill overlooking a City. He noticed that next to him was the gift bag of the two biscuits, no doubt they were crushed now. He gently picked it up wishing he hadn't done this so recklessly.
Ado glanced at the girl warily.
"oh you came with me...." she said like it was an afterthought.
Like he was an afterthought. He probably was to her.
He sat up abruptly "where the Hell am I?"
"This is the place I am brought to when I am not in your world. Or in the place I belong." the girl answered simply.
"No way I'm staying in this alternate dimension or whatever! Please! Take me back!" He fumed.
She looked at him oddly before stating, "I cannot control where or when I will go back. The odds are you will likely be attacked should you successfully return,"
Vince stopped and remembered the situation he left in.
"...fine then. if we're stuck together at least tell me your name," Vince sulked.
"... Andromeda. Andromeda Nyxdragon"
"I'm Vince Crylight."
"I'm Ado Lukas. You may not have meant to help me, but you helped my friend. For that I'm grateful," Ado interrupted politely.
"Ado! Sorry I got you involved in this," Vince responded.
She reacted immediately. "You!!"
"Me!?" Ado questioned.
She resummoned her sword. "You're the one I keep seeing - the person I have to kill-"
"Whoa! Don't he's my friend! He helped me as much as you have!" Vince yelled.
"Stop!"
As of following a command, she stopped.
"...." Vince started at Andromeda.
"...." Andromeda stared at Vince.
At that moment the tense atmosphere, the feeling of deja vu dissipated because --
A stomach growling.
It was Andromeda's.
"Here." Vince held out the bag of biscuits he had to her.
"..!?" Andromeda's expression morphed to surprise.
"I wasn't planning on sharing them, but you can have them" he remarked.
"Take it. I won't offer it again," he said holding out the bag to her while looking in the opposite direction. She grabbed the bag, reached in without hesitation and placed a piece of broken biscuit in her mouth.
'This place.... the layout reminds me of a fantasy town from a kid's book.' he thought ignoring Andromeda as she ate.
"Before you were looking for something or someone, right?" he asked.
Andromeda looked at him coldly as if wondering whether or not she should answer.
"I don't remember a lot of things about the way I am. But that person... I remember someone... A boy and I know that they are important to me," she voiced still eating. "I'm going to find them again, so I can figure out why," she decided.
"I'll help you look for whoever it is you're trying to find. If only to make them repay me for endangering my life and causing such frustration and distress to someone as powerful as you," Vince remarked casually, as if that reasoning made sense.
"Are you all going to talk or become interesting by resuming killing each other?" a girl's voice asked.
"Killing each other?! why would we do that?" Vince asked, and shuddered at the thought because it undoubtedly would be more like Andromeda killing them.
Except that 'killing' was an understatement.
The girl stepped forward from behind some trees. Her hair was blonde but the ends were dyed dark red, the intense color contrasting with her pale skin. She carried a large mallet and was leaning on it like it was a cane. Her clothes were yellow and orange with pieces of armor mixed in.
Vince hesitated, already wary of her. Ado looked at her from his place on the ground.
Her eyes were red like her hair and her expression teemed with amusement; as though she were the type to smile often.
"were you spying on us?" Ado asked.
Andromeda looked as though she could care less, contradicting Vince's surprise.
"I figured you were participants in the killing game and that I should size up my competition," she said as if that reasoning made perfect sense.
"A killing game?" Ado blurted.
"I see you aren't part of the Killing game hosted by the Byibyi Rita then," she sounded very disappointed.
However Vince grinned. "That's it! we can go into the town down there and look for clues about your mystery person and you get to kill people just like you want! win-win!"
Andromeda stared at him as if what he just said did not compute.
"What do we need to do to get in on this?" he asked the girl.
"'we'? I haven't said yes yet " Andromeda commented.
The other girl, likely also a Virus (?) tutted as if scolding a child.
"You can't just get in, you need a special invitation,"
Vince flinched "uh--invitation?"
"mmhmm" she nodded her yellow to red curls shaking with her head.
"One of these" she held up hers proudly. It was a thick almost entirely decorative card with a set of numbers, a location perhaps. It probably also had her name on it, though he wasn't given the chance to read it seeing as she waved the card around; flaunting it before them.
Vince blanched. No doubt there was a limited number of those that had gone around.
Andromeda studied the girl, she didn't see anything remotely remarkable warranting her getting a special invitation for anything.
"a special invitation, then" she said calmly.
"Alright have fun with your killing game," Vince responded obviously disappointed they would have to start from scratch and comb the town with very little information. It was going to be an exhausting search and find game they were playing.
But apparently Andromeda heard those words and acted upon the solution she came to herself. Within a few seconds she'd wielded her weapon -- flicking her wrist as she swung it.
"eh? An- Andromeda?" he blinked. Abruptly and rudely he was shoved out of the way.
The other girl also looked surprised.
"I think you're a little bit confused --" she started.
He was tackled to the ground by Ado about the same time as Andromeda sliced, cutting through the girl like she was paper. Watching the girl fall backward seemed to play out in slow motion.
An object fell out of her chest. It had a crystal like shape and was a deep purple in color.