LIVE from the world of Bludgeons and Flagons! The greatest self-insertsion-improfic ever!! The Magical Crossover Gratuitous Self-Insert Chibi Otaku Wish Fulfillment!!! [THEATER]!!! "ARE YOU READY... FOR A LITTLE... OWFT?" No. Just no. Please. Ah, fine... ******************** Otaku Wish Fulfillment Theater Episode 37: Dating and Dan references... That and 1,000 Arms Written by: SaikyoKun a.k.a. "That guy in pink who taunts all the time." OWFT Started by: Scott Schimmel ******************** "The Dan Woods," said Dan aloud for the benefit of those who could not read the sign that he was standing in front of. The journey back to the forest had been a short one thanks to Scott's transport ability which was conveniently remembered before the heroes had to make another long trip across the vast RPG world. "Something just occurred to me," said Steve as the party walked in the direction that the sign pointed. Not that they needed to rely on the sign, the Dan Woods was a large forest and was plainly visible. The endless expansion of trees that stretched off in both directions into the horizon was hard to miss. "Didn't Ash tell us way back when we got our powers that we would need to place all of the seals on an alter or something in order to get back to the real world?" "Oh man," groaned Scott, "He did. Didn't he?" The rest of the party groaned as well. "Now we've gotta find the bishonen that Fury took." She thought to herself for a second and then asked, "Did anyone catch his name?" "Nope." "Sorry." "It never came up." "I forgot to ask." "..." "Don't look at me," said Damien, "I wasn't even mentioned in the last chapter." There was a loud cracking noise. "I mean I never took the time to talk to him," he corrected quickly. Dan pursed his lips, "Hmm, well, we're already here. Let's find the Authoress and save Xelloss first." By now, the heroes were close enough to the forest to make out a small gate that opened to a path that lead deep into the heart of the Dan Woods. Next to the gate stood what appeared to be a Japanese youth wearing a typical student's uniform. Except that it was pink. As the party approached, he calmly held up a hand and addressed them. "I am the Guardian of the Dan Woods," he told the party in a rather stiff manner, "I cannot let you pass without a test of strength." "Huh?" asked Scott, "There wasn't a guardian the last time we were here, what gives? Who are you?" "I am Dansuke," responded the pink-clad guardian. "Due to recent events involving the appearance of an entity known as 'The Authoress' I have been posted here to ensure that all who enter the Dan Woods can defend themselves to an adequate degree." "I think that we can demonstrate some level of competency. VICTOLY!" said Dan sarcastically. He quickly transformed and pulled out an overly huge gun. The rest of the party prepared for battle in their respective ways. "..." Illyria was the first to attack, swinging the sword of imdefenestration (received in chapter 32) in a devastating arc that could have taken off a persons arm in real life. Fortunately, in RPG worlds the laws of physics are somewhat different, and an attack that would normally split a person in half would only cause a large number to appear over his head. As it was, neither of these things happened when Dansuke moved with blinding speed and stopped Illyria's sword dead with an audible clang. Using only his forearm. "...?" Illyria raised an eyebrow. "Your strength is," Dansuke swiftly broke Illyria's sword in half with his free hand and delivered an open palm to the bishonen's chest sending him flying across the field, "insufficient." "He's a robot!" exclaimed Kate noting a dent in Dansuke's arm. "I think we can handle that," said Dan, still quite confident. Of course, with a giant laser gun the size of the one that Dan had, it was pretty easy to be confident. He pulled the trigger causing a beam of energy to erupt from the front of the gun. The beam flew at Dansuke who regarded it casually. "Autograph shield," Dansuke calmly stated, causing about twenty autographed pictures of Dan Hibiki to appear in the air in front of him. Lines of pink energy formed between the pictures and formed a force field that absorbed Dan's laser beam while the guardian stood behind it unfazed. When the blast subsided, the robot raised his hand and said, "Gado-cannon." The mecha was unable to dodge the giant fireball that was emitted from Dansuke's hand and was blown away in a fashion similar to Illyria. "Yah!" Kate yelled as she and Steve (in ninja mode) dashed at the robot from opposite directions, swords glinting in the afternoon sun. Dansuke caught each of their swords in one hand and broke them in half. Steve's sword, not being a real sword in the first place, but rather an extension of his copying abilities, vanished as soon as it was broken. Kate's sword, being an actual sword, was broken in two. "Hey!" she exclaimed, "That's cheating!" "..." said Illyria throwing Kate the Greater Sword of Incineration that he received in Cidgard from King Cid (chapter 23). While he pulled out his original sword that he hadn't used since then. "Magical Pink Sparkly Happy Love Hearts," announced Scott causing cute little pink heart shaped projectiles to fly at Dansuke. The bot, looked at them coldly and spoke a single word. "Shinku Gadoken." The giant fireball effortlessly plowed through the magical projectiles and still had enough force to knock over Scott as well as Dan who was just getting up from the last attack. "Tornado punch!" Ardweden used the power of the Wind Shrine to create a small tornado that rushed the bizarre Daisuke/Dan combination. Dansuke arm extended and grabbed the weapon that Kate had just received from Illyria and pulled, throwing Kate off balance and causing her to slam into Illyria, who in turn was pushed into the tornado. "..." he said as he was blown into the sky, losing his grip on his sword at the same time. Kate had also lost her weapon when Dansuke had pulled it from her hands. "How did he do that?" asked Steve. "Do what?" asked Damien in return. "He just managed to take all of the swords that we have," he said as there was a sharp cracking sound. He added, "And break them for that matter." "Steve!" shouted Ardweden. "What?" "Now is that time where you're supposed to copy all of our powers at once and get us out of this mess!" "Oh yeah!" Steve concentrated and there was a brilliant flash of multicolored light. When it cleared Steve was sporting a black sentai suit with a skirt and tiara, on top of a black trenchcoat. In one hand he held a giant blade that looked a lot like the Masamune except that the hilt was the end of a magical girl wand. His other hand held I gigantic gun that would generally be classified as "anti-tank". A two-story battle aura flared from Steve's body and he laughed wickedly, "Time to teach that bot a thing or tw-" He stopped abruptly when Dansuke grabbed him by the lapels of his coat. "Otoko Michi," was all the robot said. Needless to say, the explosion was pretty loud. Okay, extremely loud. (@_@) "Boyzby," Dan read the name of the town aloud as the battered party passed under the archway that marked the entrance to yet another seemingly standard RPG village. They had regained consciousness next to a river and using the map, had determined that Dansuke's attack had blown them roughly five miles away. No one bothered to question how they survived. All of them knew that in RPGs people can be blown up, thrown off cliffs and fall twenty stories down and still only have a slight headache. Dan, being the leader and all, had elected that they make their way back to the Dan Woods, by following the river, stopping at one of the towns on the map to rest and get Kate and Illyria's weapons fixed. The explosion that sent them to that location conveniently also sent the pieces of their broken swords along with them. The river they had been following ran through the town and a small bridge separated the entrance to the town from the main area. "What's that?" asked Ardweden pointing to a small booth that bore a slight resemblance to an ATM. "Print Club," read Dan looking at the side of the booth, "Capture memories in photographs. 300GG." "Ooh! We can get a picture of our adventure!" exclaimed Kate, cheery as ever. "I don't really want to remember our adventure," mumbled Steve, depressed as ever. "Come on! It'll be fun!" Kate said while pushing a reluctant Steve in front of the booth. The other party members followed and stood in what could pass as a group photo pose. Kate walked up to the machine and put in the required money. A voice emanated from the machine. "Print Club!" it exclaimed as a menu popped up, "Choose a frame!" The ninja cycled through the available frames before finally deciding on one. "Is this frame okay?" the machine prompted. Kate hit confirm and ran back to the picture and struck a pose as the machine said, "Say cheese!" A flash emanated from the top of the booth and a picture slid out of a slot under the screen. "Wai!" Kate exclaimed as she examined the picture. The others looked over her shoulder and even Steve had to agree, it was a pretty good picture. As Kate pocketed the picture, Dan looked up at the sky and observed, "It's about noon, we should go find some place to eat." Concurring, the party followed Dan over the bridge that lead into the town. (@_@) Fifteen minutes later the heroes found themselves outside of a house adjoining a domed building. Their quest for food had been temporarily put aside when they spotted an individual wearing a black robe walking down the street. Thinking it was Garrett, the party followed him in secret for several minutes. Unfortunately, he had disappeared when they turned a corner. "Blacksmith," read Dan the sign on the house aloud (as it seemed to be his day for doing these things), "Maybe we can get Illyria and Kate's swords fixed here." Upon entering the shop, the heroes found rows upon rows of weapons, shields, and armor hanging on display in various locations. Their entrance into the shop, caused a bell mounted on the door to ring, and a redheaded girl dressed in pink walked up behind the counter. She wore a small gold bell around her neck that jingled as she walked and large pink bows on her shoulders bobbed as she looked over the party. "Good afternoon," she greeted them with a smile, "Can I help you with a selection today? These weapons on display only have low level spells, but we have some with high level spells in the back." "Actually," Dan told her, "we were wondering if we could get some weapons repaired." He motioned to Kate and Illyria and they quickly pulled out what remained of their weapons and placed them on the counter for the girl to see. "Hmm," she 'hmm'ed scrutinizing the broken swords carefully, "These can be fixed, but I'm afraid that the blacksmith is out at the moment." "Out?" asked Scott, "Will he be back soon?" "It's hard to say," she replied, "He saw a blond girl walk by the shop window and chased after her. He's kind of a womanizer." She considered the situation for a moment and then said, "So now, he's probably on a date with her or lying in the street unconscious from when she punched him in the face. Those seem to be the results of all of his meetings with other girls." "Sooooooo," said Steve, "I guess he won't be back for a while then." "Probably not." "In that case," said Kate, "Do you know where we can find a restaurant in town?" "The closest one is 'Amigo'. You'll find it at the end of this street," she told them. "If you find the blacksmith there, you might be able to convince him to come back and repair your swords." "What does he look like?" asked Ardweden. "You can't miss him. He'll be the only guy wearing goggles and carrying a giant hammer." "Ooooookay." (@_@) Amigo was a rather small restaurant. There were about eight tables set up and a few stools at the bar. Most of the tables were occupied with the lunch crowd and a few people sat at the bar. In the corner of the restaurant, Kate noticed a couple chatting over a meal. The girl was blond and the guy had black hair. What really caught Kate's attention though was the fact that there was a large hammer about half as tall as the average person leaning against the wall next to them. "That must be the blacksmith," Kate said to the rest of the group, "Do you think we should go talk to him?" "The guy's in the middle of a date, I don't think he'd appreciate it," Steve informed her, "I know I wouldn't." "..." said Illyria. "Good point," said Dan, "Let's go." He started wading through the tables toward the blacksmith. "Oh man, now I KNOW I've been here too long," groaned Steve while following Dan, "I actually understood what Illyria said." "What the?..." said Ard as the blond looked up having noticed the group's approach, "It can't be..." "So, we meet again," said SaikyoKun grinning at the party causing her companion to turn around to see what she was looking at. He was wearing a pair of goggles on his head and had a red cloak around his neck that was cut short and only covered the top half of his body. SaikyoKun continued, "I figured we'd meet up again sooner or later." "What are you doing here?" asked Kate, "And why are you on a date?!" "He offered to buy me lunch," the Saikyo student replied, "I suppose you would have passed up a free meal?" "Well, maybe," said Kate, considering the situation then realizing that it was a trap, "Hey! No fair asking now! It's lunchtime." "Err, so," said Dan addressing the young man, "are you the blacksmith?" "Yes I am," the goggled youth replied, extending a hand to the sentai hero, "Meis Triumph: Spirit Blacksmith. Are you looking for a special sword or something?" "Actually, we were need some swords repaired." "Hmm, that's gonna cost you depending on the extent of the damage," Meis told him, "I'm kinda in the middle of a date here though and I-" "No you're not," interrupted Saikyo, finishing her meal, "Date's over. You're not my type. Get away from me before I shove an autographed picture of Dan Hibiki where the sun don't shine." "Well, in that case," said Meis, a little dejectedly, "Let's go back to the smithy and I'll give you an estimate." "Just a moment," Saikyo said addressing the heroes, "If you guys could stay a little while, I have some things to give you." "I'll meet you back at the smithy then," Meis told the heroes and proceeded to walk out of the restaurant, making passes at three girls on the way out. His attempts were rather unsuccessful though and he ended up with a red hand print on both cheeks and a bloody nose by the time he exited the restaurant. "Sit down," SaikyoKun motioned to the chairs. Dan sat in the chair Meis had been sitting in while Kate and Ardweden sat in the chairs to the left and right of the overly-repetitive comic relief. The rest of the group remained standing. "Alright Sai," said Ardweden irately, "What do you want now?" "Hey, that's not very nice," said Saikyo looking hurt, "I'm just trying to help you. That's why I was even summoned here in the first place. What's the problem?" "The problem is that whenever you show up, you always bring some kind of trouble with you," the marital artist started counting off on her fingers, "We got attacked by Pyrite Weapon in the Densetsu Valley, you and the rest of the NPCs beat us up in the fighting tournament, and your pals Devast8or and Nayrb ended up causing us FAR too much trouble on those sidequests." "Well... I guess that's a good reason. But you always got something out of it, right?" "Look Sai," interrupted Dan, "Unless you're giving away autographed pictures of Dan Hibiki, I'm not sure I really want to hear whatever you're going to say." "Actually, I happen to have a few right here," she reached into her gi and was about to hand one to Dan, when he immediately reached across the table, snatched it, and put it in his pocket. "Continue," he said casually. "Well, like I said, I've come across some items in my travels, and I thought you guys could use them." "Okay, that sounds pretty good," said Kate, "Where are they?" "They're hidden in a safe place," Saikyo leaned back in her chair-- and promptly fell over backwards. Getting back up, blushing, she continued, "Standard RPG rules demand that there be a test." "Test?" "You didn't think I was going to just *give* you the items, did you?" "Kinda," said Kate, "After all, you did last time." "Yeah, but last time you guys stole the Autograph of [JUSTICE]," Saikyo told them, eyes narrowing, "To prove that you are worthy of these items, I have to test you." "Fine," said Ard, growing impatient, "What is the test?" "Tests, actually," responded Saikyo emphasizing the plural aspect of the word. "WHAT?" The heroes started to get up out of their chairs, completely exasperated by the pink one's presence. "Oh come on!" she pleaded, "At least hear me out." The party hesitated and reluctantly resumed their seats. "There are three tests: a test of power, a test of intelligence and a test of luck. Should you pass all of these tests, the items are yours." "Let's get started then," said Kate, "What is the first test?" "The first test is the Test of Power," SaikyoKun told her, "You must defeat me in combat three times." "Uh," said Kate, sweatdropping, "We already did that. More than three times if I recall correctly." "Really?" "Yeah, once in the Densetsu Valley when you wouldn't give us the seal, again in Cidgard when we had to take the pass to see the king, another time when you were with Devast8or, and most recently at Sable Tower." "Oh..." said Saikyo, contemplating what the ninja had said, "Then on to the Test of Intelligence!" "Wow, that was pretty easy," Steve whispered to Scott. "Maybe the next one will be harder, that seems to be the way series of challenges work in RPGs." "In the next test, one of you must win three games of Quadruple Bypass against me!" "What's with the tests coming in threes?" asked Dan. "All tests have to come in threes," Saikyo insisted, "Three is the magic number!" "...whatever," said Illyria, "It doesn't matter anyway." "What?" "Illyria's right," said Ardweden, "Kate already beat you about fifty times when we first met. Not to mention the fact that you play with almost all Dan Hibiki cards." "What's wrong with that?" "Those are the weakest cards in the game next to Steve's card, that's what's wrong," said Kate eliciting a discontent mumble from the sidekick, "And even if I didn't beat you before, with you using those cards, I could beat you fifty more times." "Erg," a sweatdrop appeared on SaikyoKun's head. "Fine, the last test is the Test of Luck. You have to beat me three consecutive times at Bones-Oosha-Spear." "Consecutive?" asked Steve. "Of course, otherwise it would be to easy. Do you guys remember how to play?" Everyone but Kate looked at Saikyo blankly. Kate spoke up, "It's like rock-paper-scissors. Bones beats Spear, Spear beats Oosha, and Oosha beats Bones." "You are correct," confirmed Saikyo putting a fist on to the table in preparation for the game, Kate did the same, "Ready? One... Two..." "Spear, spear, spear," Kate said quickly. "Thr- huh?" Saikyo stopped suddenly with an expression of surprise. Which quickly turned to shock, "How did you?..." And then to realization, "Oh." And finally, resignation, "Shoot." "So where are these items?" asked Steve, growing impatient. "Under Ard's seat," came the reply as Saikyo quickly reached under the seat and pulled out a moderately sized bag. "I thought you said that you hid it?" questioned Dan. "I did. Would you have looked there?" "I... well, no," admitted Dan as the first item was removed from the bag. It was a scroll similar to those that Kate used to cast ninja magic. "Behold! The Draw Scroll!" "Draw Scroll?" "It will allow you to draw magic from your enemies," Saikyo paused, "Although, without any junction scrolls, you won't be able to increase your stats with them." "Ooooooooh," ooh'ed Kate in awe. She grabbed the scroll and quickly read it over. Then she lifted her hand open palmed and shouted, "Draw!" Glowing spheres of energy leapt from SaikyoKun's body causing her to fall backwards off of the chair for the second time in the chapter. The spheres made a few complicated turns in the air before being absorbed into Kate's open hand. A text box appeared in the air above the heroes. "Kate has stocked 7 Ooshagas" it read. "Ooshaga?" questioned Scott. "It's the most powerful of the Oosha spells," Saikyo clarified, "Oosha is the weakest, followed by Ooshara, and finally Ooshaga." "Err... yeah," said Scott trying not to sweatdrop. "Next we have a disk for Dan," unlike the other disks that Dan had previously been using, the disk that Saikyo pulled out of the bag was twice as thick. "What's wrong with it?" asked Dan. "Nothing's wrong with it, it's a Zip Disk. It can store more moves than those old disks that you were using." Saikyo pulled out a zip drive and gave Dan a USB cord which he plugged into his belt while the other end was plugged into the drive. The disk was inserted and the drive clicked a few times and a text box appeared over Dan that read, "Dan has learned: Otoko Michi, Chohatsu Shinwa, Hyper Boot to the Head, Autograph Storm, and Chohatsu Beam." "Alright!" exclaimed Dan, as the box vanished. "Next we have some Quadruple Bypass cards, hot off the presses," SaikyoKun announced pulling out a handful of cards which included, Dansuke and an updated version of Steve. Kate took them gleefully and added them to her deck. "And finally, a map," a map was produced from the bag accordingly and spread across the table. "We already have a map," said Ard. "I imagine that you would," said Saikyo not missing a beat, "but mine has the locations of the elemental shrines and some other little goodies on it." "Look!" exclaimed Kate, pointing to the map, "The Earth Shrine is right inside the gate that Dansuke was guarding!" Dan folded up the map and placed it in the inventory, "Is that it?" "Oh yeah! One more thing." "What?" "Don't order the fish here, it's not very good," and with that, SaikyoKun got up and strolled out the door, humming Dan Hibiki's theme song the entire way. (@_@) "Okay, we're back," said Dan as the party entered the weapons shop. Meis and the red haired girl from earlier were organizing a display of weapons when the blacksmith noticed the party. He quickly ran up to the counter while the girl smiled at the heroes and continued to fix the display. "Here they are," said Dan as Illyria and Kate placed the broken swords on the counter for inspection. "Can you fix them?" Meis examined the swords with a careful eye, making all sorts of 'hmm' and 'ahh' sounds as he looked them over. He had just finished examining the last sword when the girl walked up to the counter to tell him that the display was finished. "Okay, I can fix them, that's not going to be a problem," he told Dan. "Really? That's great! How much?" "A date with each of these fine ladies here," Meis made a gesture to Kate, Ard and Scott. "WHAT?!" said girls cried in unison. "Meis!" the redhead promptly slapped him across the face, "How could you ask that?" "I'd like to know that too," said Kate, a bit flustered. "I need their elemental spirits," said Meis. "You want their souls?" asked Steve. "No! I need them to give the sword life!" "Is that some kind of sexual allusion?" "NO!" "Look, I think you'd better explain yourself," Dan told the blacksmith, "These girls can get pretty mean." *WHAP* "See what I mean?" said Dan rubbing his head. "Your swords are weak," Meis began, holding up part of Illyria's sword, "That's why they break. I'm surprised they've even lasted as long as they have." He tossed the sword piece to the redhead who caught it and then gasped in surprise. "Hear the gasp?" he asked, "She noticed what I noticed when I first picked up that sword. Its elemental spirit is very weak!" "What's that?" "It's like what it sounds like. It's a spirit that resides inside of a weapon. They have different attributes which can be changed an enhanced. Special attacks and magic spells can be attached to a weapon through the elemental spirit. I'm a spirit blacksmith. I can work with these spirits to achieve the desired results. But," he paused, "I need a girl to do it!" "So, why not use your girlfriend here?" asked Steve, motioning to the girl holding the sword piece. "I could do that, but it would be much more effective if your girls would assist me in helping the spirit. They're more familiar with the weapons and it would be easier to do." "Then why the dating?" "Because, if I'M not at least somewhat intimate with the girl that I'm forging with, it's not going to be as effective." "Oh really?" asked Ardweden incredulously. "Look, I don't make these rules. That's just the way it has to be. Do you want your weapons fixed or not?" "Ergh," Kate groaned, "Alright." "Fine," said a reluctant Ardweden. "Even me?" said Scott, "Isn't two enough?" "Yeah," admitted Meis, "But come on, at least get to know me. You might be able to bring out a spell or attack that the other's couldn't" "I just know I'm going to regret this," groaned Scott, "but I'm in." (@_@) After Meis had left on his date with Scott, Kate addressed the girl who was tending the counter. "Are you really okay with him doing that? From what I've seen, you seem to like him." "Yeah," she admitted, "but that's just the way Meis is. It's been worse. At least you'll be leaving once you get your swords fixed." "Don't you ever think about seeing other guys?" "As a matter of fact," she said, "That's a good idea." She turned to address Dan, who was looking at a display of axes, "How about you? Would you like to take me to lunch?" "Huh?" exclaimed Dan, taken by surprise. "Well, I haven't eaten lunch yet, and I figure Meis will be buying lunch for you girls" he addressed Kate and Ardweden. "Oh good!" said the girl smiling, and turning to Steve, "Would you like to come too?" "What?" asked Steve, "A date is just a guy and a girl." "Exactly!" she said, "I have a friend in town, Kyoka, you can go with her!" "Err... sure. Why not?" "Come on then," giggled the girl pulling them out the door, "By the way, my name is Sodina. Sodina Dawnfried." "Wait," said Dan, stopping her, "Won't Meis be at the restaurant?" "There's more than one restaurant in town," Sodina told him, "We'll just go to the other one." (@_@) Scott's date. "So," Scott asked, trying to make conversation, and to avoid Meis' starry gaze, "What do you do on your free time?" "I breathe." "Huh?" Scott was startled by the reply. And then something dawned on her. She was on a date. With a guy. "ARGH!" she screamed jumping up from her chair and running out of the restaurant, "It's getting worse!" "Well," grumbled Meis, "That was the shortest date ever. I hope the other ones last a little longer." (@_@) Kate's date. "What kind of girls are you attracted to?" Kate asked Meis. For some reason, everything that she said during the date seemed choreographed. Like it was written beforehand by some director of a movie. She pushed the thought from her mind as Meis responded. "I'd like to be with a kind person." "Is that so?..." replied Kate. Then, "I don't think I've ever experienced true love before. What's your idea of true love?" "Come here and let me show you." Kate blanched, "If that's your idea of pure love, then I don't want to know." The guy was definitely a womanizer, but did he think so? Kate asked another question, "Do you think you're good looking?" "Of course. I am right?" Yup, he did. Kate let out a small sigh, this was going to be a long date. (@_@) And now, a brief intermission. "Hmm," said Damole pondering a recent piece of information he had just acquired. "The Destined Heroes are in Boyzby. I think I'll give them a call." He headed over to a phone booth while searching his pockets for some change. "Oh pooh," he said as picked up the receiver, "Not enough money. I guess I can call collect." Damole reached up to press the "0" key. Suddenly, the side of the building next to the pay phone exploded outward and from the rubble stepped a large man with an uncountable number of gold chains. "Drop dat phone, mole foo'!" Mr. E commanded. Damole dropped the receiver as the Mr. E. stepped up to him and asked, "Don't you know about 1-800-CALL-OWFT? You can save those foo's a buck or two!" "Of course," said Damole slapping his head with his hand, "Why didn't I remember that?" "It's free for you an' cheap for dem," said Mr. E. "And it's so easy," Damole continued, "Just dial 1-800-CALL-OWFT for collect calls!" Save your friends a buck or two! Use 1-800-CALL-OWFT for collect calls! Uh, that's one too many numbers. What? (@_@) Dan's date. Dan was having a problem similar to Kate's on his date. No matter what question Sodina asked him, he was only able to think up two answers at most. He was constantly having to pick between them, and sometimes, neither one seemed to be a very good choice. "I like to grow flowers," said Sodina simply. Dan wracked his brain for a suitable response, but the only thing he could some up with was, "Are they edible?" Sodina looked at him in bewilderment, "You can't eat them. Are you okay?" Dan groaned mentally. 'No I'm not' he said mentally, 'You keep asking these bizarre questions that I can't think up any decent answer to. He nodded "Of course I am." "My ears are burning, someone must be talking about me." Again, Dan was at a loss for words. "That can't be right..." he started. "How can you stay that? You make it sounds like I'm not attractive at all." 'Oh man, that was a bad response,' thought Dan, 'Although, I don't think there's anything else she could say that would be harder to answer than that." "Would you be comfortable passing gas in front of me?" Sodina asked, her voice all sugar and honey. Dan sweatdropped and looked across the room to where Steve was, 'I wonder if he's having any better luck than I am.' (@_@) Steve's date. Steve, as it was, was not having any more luck than Dan. He too was suffering from the two response problem that Dan was having. Also, to make matters worse, the girl in front of him seemed a little young for him. She was pretty though. Kyoka had short hair and wore a yellow kimono that matched the earrings that she wore. She smiled at the sidekick as she asked the next question. "What would you like to do?" "Uh..." Steve hesitated, trying to decide between the choices in his head, "Let's do grown up stuff!" "No gambling Steve," she frowned. 'Where had that come from?' wondered Steve. But he didn't get much time to think about it before Kyoka spoke again. "Do you think I'm na�ve?" "Hey, how'd you figure that out?" replied Steve. He regretted it instantly. Kyoka frowned again, "What do you mean by that? How despicable!" 'Geez, this is not going my way,' thought Steve ruefully. "Do you know the county of Wano?" asked the girl. "Where's that?" asked Steve, genuinely confused. Once again, Kyoka frowned, "You don't remember? Master Kanouha told you so much about it. Wano, my home..." 'Okay,' Steve decided, noting that he had no idea who "Master Kanouha" was, 'There is something seriously wrong with this RPG world.' "People often tell me that I'm good-natured," Kyoka smiled at him again. "I'm not sure about your looks, though." Steve hit himself mentally as Kyoka frowned again, "What do you mean by that?" (@_@) Ardweden's date. "I think today will be a great day," she told Meis. It wasn't a question, but Meis responded anyway. "Do you really think so?" Ardweden was confused by Meis' egnimatic response, but asked him another question since Meis didn't seem to say anything outside of answering her questions. "You know how to treat a lady very well." "Of course! I have lots of experience," replied Meis immediately. Ardweden sputtered, "I can't believe you said that!" "Well, it's true!" he countered lamely. 'No wonder he gets slapped all the time,' she thought to herself. (@_@) "Here are your swords back," said Meis handing the repaired swords back to their owners. "You'll find that they've got some new spells attached to them. So you'll be able to use them as long as you've got them in your hand. They might even have some new special attacks too, but you'll have to find that out for yourselves. "Thanks," said Kate accepting her sword back. She noted that it was now glowing slightly, as if it was more vibrant, "Ooh, shiny." "The elemental spirits are now much stronger and your swords shouldn't break anymore," Meis then added, "Ever." "Really?" asked Kate in disbelief. "Yup," said Meis confidently, "I've got a friend who used to break swords all the time, but not anymore. The spirit in his current sword is strong enough to withstand his power. I doubt you're even half as strong as he is, so you shouldn't have any problems." "You really know how to complement a lady," said Kate sarcastically. (@_@) "Hey! Watch it!" Steve exclaimed angrily as a person in a black cloak bumped into him as the party was leaving the city. "Must go to Reunion," the person mumbled, stumbling away from the sidekick. "I guess it wasn't Garrett" said Dan, noting that the person in question was too short to be the thief. "I wonder what he meant by 'reunion'? asked Scott. "Never mind that," said Scott, "Let's just try and get past Dansuke again." (@_@) "Welcome to another meeting of Avatars Anonymous!" said Nayrb Clyfartha as he stood at a podium in front of a large crowd of collected individuals. "I'm glad to see some new faces here as well as some returning people. Would one of the new members like to introduce themselves?" A hand raised in the crowd. "You there! Come up and introduce yourself." A black cloaked individual ambled up to the podium and took the microphone in his hand. "Uh," he began, "I'm Devast8or, uh, and I'm an avatar." "HI DEVAST8OR!" chorused the crowd. "Hey!" yelled someone after everyone else had become silent. "It's you!" "What you say?!" shot back Devast8or. "Your'e the one that's responssible for caosing that two month lackk of signups on the queuee," the person stood up to reveal RDMgryphon. Demota and Triskele sat next to him quietly. "Your chappters are way too long! It's a CHIBI man!" "You want a fight?" asked Devast8or unsheathing his sword an advancing down from the podium. "Oh man," groaned Demota, "I knew I shouldn't have come here." "Hey," said Triskele suddenly realizing something, "Where's SaikyoKun? Wasn't he with us when we started out to this meeting?" (@_@) "You return," said Dansuke plainly as the heroes approached him for the second time that day. "Would you like to test your skills against me again?" "Nah," said Dan casually picking up a stick of the ground, "I don't think that'll be necessary. He quickly poked the bot in the arm with the stick. Then Dansuke collapsed to the ground. "What?" questioned Ardweden, "How'd you do that?" "He did the Otoko Michi the last time we fought him, remember?" "Oh yeah... That's right, the Otoko Michi leaves Dan with only a speck of life left," Ardweden recalled. "That's right!" said Dan enthusiastically, "I'll make a Dan Fan out of you yet!" "Don't bet on it," said Ard looking around, "Now where did the map say that the Earth Shine was?" "The inside the gate as I recall," said Kate. "Onwards!" she said powerposing, "The Authoress and the Earth Shrine await." The ninja then started through the gate while the rest of the party wondered where she got her enthusiasm from. (@_@) Author's Notes: It's been fun. OWFT was the first impro I've ever decided to write for, and at the moment it's the only one that I HAVE written for. Even with the extension, I was still pretty rushed to finish the chapter due to Christmas celebrations and all. I didn't get any pre-readers this time, but if there are too many grammatical and spelling errors, I'll see if I can submit some corrections. Thanks to the makers of Thousand Arms for the inspiration for the majority of the chapter. Thanks to Dev, for the Avatars Anonymous meeting idea. Thanks to ColdFury for letting me use Dansuke. Thanks to Dev, Nayrb, Demota, RDMgryphon and Triskele for letting me use them. And of course, thanks to Scott Schimmel for starting this chibi. --SaikyoKun http://saikyo.gamespage.com "Do you like to, yahoo?" -- Dan Hibiki: Capcom vs SNK 2 (@_@) "Okay," said Meis pounding out the last dent in the sword he was working on, "That should be it." He looked up at Saikyo who was kneeled before of the forge as that is what was required for a spirit blacksmith to cultivate an elemental spirit. Meis smiled, he was lucky to convince that girl to return to help him with his forging. He knew that she had a unique spirit and he had wanted to see what kind of sword she would turn out. Meis Triumph carefully dipped the red hot sword into the trough of water to cool it off and then removed his goggles. SaikyoKun had meanwhile stood up and come to look at the sword as Meis reached into the water and pulled out the sword. "It looks pretty good," he noted, examining the sword in the light. Then the sword turned pink. "What the-" Meis started. Then it bent at a ninety degree angle. Then it started shaking. Then it taunted. "Oosha!" said the sword. "Oops!" said SaikyoKun, blushing. Meis sweatdropped.