Boutique Tales: The other side

A woman opens her eyes. Laying in a bed, her gaze is directly upon the surroundings. The room she is in is relatively small and quaint. Yet, something feels off. The energy around her feels as if it has suddenly changed without warning. But that couldn’t be possible. Nothing in the way of large-scale magical spells have occurred.

“No time to waste.” she announces and pushes the covers away. Rushing over to the mannequin holding her battle dress, a frock with a light layer of metal armor. Designed to accommodate a lady knight, it was beautiful in every sense of the word.

'What a beautiful dress…' Sapphire thought as the woman got changed. Slipping in record time, that was paired with a set of heeled boots. Reinforced with metal, they were clearly designed as a compromise between style and function. A far cry from the pistol and spear she picked up. While a musket might be best for what awaits outside, the woman decides against it. Even then, it’s probably just some bandits. Maybe some stray wyvern that wanted to peddle snow for some reason (not that it was the season to do so). Still, it was best to take a look. Just on the off chance that it was something of concern. Heck, she might even see the queen.

Wasting little time in exiting the room, the woman headed for the front of her home. Tempted as Sapphire was to try and discern much in the way of details, that went out the window in favor of this body looking ahead.

Outside, the well-maintained streets of Branaka are on full display. Not that this explains the bright white sky that hangs overhead. Intense magical energy hung in the air, bringing with it uncomfortable heat. What could have caused that?

“You see it too, don’t you?” a voice calls out, bringing with it a woman on a horse. Dressed in an orange hoop skirt, an orcish greatsword hangs on her back.

“Your highness, it is not safe to be out here.” the woman announces and the queen shakes her head. While the expected reaction here, that doesn’t make it any less dangerous. There could be all manners of threats awaiting their arrival. From lowly bandits to foreign powers seeking to claim this land, they needed to be on their guard for damn everything.

“I’m aware, but it’s clear that something has happened.” the queen answers and the woman looks away. That much was obvious. Yet, would they be prepared for what awaits them? “That and a demon of all creatures appeared in my bedroom - quite confused how it got there.”

The woman raises an eyebrow, yet carefully gets on the queen’s horse.

“A demon, your highness?” the woman inquires as the horse began to trot once more. Heading in the direction of the outskirts of Bristol, a large cloud of smoke seemed to erupt forth from that part of the country. No sign of a fire, natural, magical or otherwise. If it wasn't that, what could it be?

"Yes. She claimed to be a messenger for a place called Magia." the queen continues and the woman raises an eyebrow. While it was possible for such a place to exist, what they did to piss this kingdom off remained a mystery. Travel outside of the country was tough, owing to the fact that many still did not see the queen as their ruler and her insistence on getting to see the world. Nor was this helped by the continent to the south allowing no one in and instead requiring one to sail around. A mystery for another day. Right now, they needed to figure out what was going on here and if there were any survivors. Likely in that order.

“I’m guessing that this messenger is being held in the castle?” the woman inquires as their ride slows down.

“Yes. We’ll figure out once we have a better grasp on this situat-” the queen answers, cutting herself off in favor of doing a double take. Gone was the chunk of land that had once been Bristol. In its place sits a harbor city unlike anything the woman or the queen has ever seen. Words could not even describe the feelings coursing across their bodies. Clearly, there was a bigger fish somewhere in this big world, but where and how remained to be seen. “Huh.”

Getting off the horse, the pair took a moment to compose themselves. By no means the expected outcome here, it certainly was an answer here.

“Is there anything that I can do for you, your highness?” the woman inquires and the queen sighed. She didn’t blame her for feeling that way. No good option here. Instead, they would need to figure out a solution that would benefit both parties. If such an outcome was possible. If not, effort would be made to help them settle in this new land they found themselves in.

“Koko wa doko? (Where are we?)” a man calls out, a strange garment covering his body. A far cry from the hoop skirts and similar dresses the people of Branaka wore, that didn’t explain the  firearm in hand. Waving it around, it’s unlike any weapon that either woman has seen before. But would it be any better than that of their own? The temptation to find out was there, but the woman wasn’t keen to find out. Not that she would get a choice here. Mostly because the man decided to fire in their direction.

“Shit.” the woman mutters, only for the queen to reach out for her greatsword. Stepping forward, she cuts through the projectile with ease.

“Uh… we intend you no harm and are just as confused as you are.” the queen counters, greatsword returning to her back. Not that this stops the weapon from looking around for anyone else dumb enough to try and get the upper hand on them. At the moment, that was no one. But that could easily change if they weren’t careful here.

“Sore de, anata ni wa sekinin ga arimasen ka? (So you’re not responsible for this?)” the man continues, now joined by a small group of people. Dressed much like a man, some of the women had their hair tied in a bun. Not that this explained the swords and firearms they were carrying. Pointed right at the queen and the woman, that does very little faze them. She’s already sliced one bullet out of the air, what is two at this point.

“Uh… yes. We’re just as confused as you all are.” the queen continues, bringing with it the thankful arrival of a court mage. Dressed much like the woman and the queen, his hoop skirt was done up in a pleasant shade of blue. Nonetheless, this was a welcome arrival in the face of the strange situation

“How may I be of service, your highness?” the court mage announces, only to be fired upon by these confused citizens. Thankfully, none of the bullets reach him.

“Would it be possible for you to grant us temporary comprehension of what they’re saying and in turn, what we’re saying?” the queen inquires and watches the court mage pull out a spell book. Flipping through the pages, he wastes little time in whispering a short incantation. A circle appears on the ground, shooting out in such a way that engulfed not just the townsfolk but the trio that casted it.

“Uh… can you understand what we’re saying now?” the woman asks and watches their audience nod. That was one less thing that they needed to worry about here. At the same time, that brought with it a variety of other issues that they now needed to work through.

“Yes. Could you maybe tell us where we are?” one of the townspeople inquires and the queen sighs. Composing herself, she takes a moment to ensure that her greatsword is securely on her back. Once she is certain of that, her attention returns to the townspeople.

“You’re standing in what used to be Bristol in the kingdom of Branaka. But considering the land around here is not from here, would it be wrong to assume that you’re from a land that I have not heard of?” the queen answers, the sound of whispers echoing across the crowd. Expected in this situation. Would be odd if there weren't people on edge and/or suspicious of her. They had been whisked from one part of the world to another, after all. She would be suspicious too if such a thing happened to her.

“We’re from Osaka of the Tokugawa Shogunate.” one of the townspeople announces and watches the queen nod. “Are you the leader of Branaka?”

The queen nods. Lacking anything in the way of a crown or anything that would tell you that she was the queen (minus her greatsword), it was still good to confirm it outright. Even if it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

“For now,  you may continue living here while we work to figure out a way to get you all home. Okay?” the queen announces, ignoring the looks the court mage and the woman were giving her here. Leave it to her to decide the best option here was to play nice with people she had just met. Oh well. This was probably a short mess that would eventually blow over.

.

“What do you mean that you’ve found Magia?” the woman announces, staring over the map of the world her highness has set out. While marching one’s armies to a kingdom in the hopes of getting an answer was what most people would call a sign of war. But for the queen, this was merely… ‘back-up in case negotiations went south’. Charismatic as her highness was, that didn’t change the fact that she was perhaps far too fine with solving problems with violence rather than with diplomacy.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like.” the queen answers and shifts her focus to the woman. Giving a nod for good measure, that does little to actually put the woman’s mind at ease. Not that anything can do that here. If Magia was where they believed it to be, then they had quite a journey ahead of them. “Believe me, I would much rather have our encounter be closer, but that is simply not an option.”

The woman nods, muttering something off to the wall. They’re all packed in comfortably here, the direct result of wishing to hear what the queen had to say. In the face of the loss of Bristol and the appearance of Osaka, there were so many questions left unanswered. Where had their city gone? Were the people within okay? But most of all, why? Why go through the trouble of taking their city and putting a new one in its place? Was there some kind of ulterior motive? Some grand plan? Or was this simply a case of Magia asking a mage or a demon to do something and this was just the first thing to come to mind?

‘The queen is so beautiful.’ Sapphire thought, shoving that thought away as the woman chooses to stand up. She is not the only one to do that here. A good chunk of the group in this rather large room does the same. Less because the meeting was over, but more so that they could get ready. There was much that needed to be done in a short period of time. Especially if it meant that they could get back the people they lost. Or at least, some kind of sign that they were still alive. Either outcome was preferable to finding out that they all died.

Nonetheless, the woman heads down a beautiful hall. The walls are done up in white, while the floor looks to be bare wood. Made the tapping of the woman’s heels all the more noticeable. Was music to Sapphire’s ears. There was a certain rhythm to it that he hadn’t got to hear in some time. Like a song that you haven’t heard in a while, but you can remember all the words and sing along. Though in this case, there were no words to be sung. No, this is more sounds than anything significant. Especially as the woman reaches the barracks. Stepping through, what could only be described as the future shell of nekoroids stare back. Perhaps one or two of the suits had managed to survive to the present day. But that thought wasn’t worth thinking about here. No, the woman needed to grab her stuff. More specifically, her spear and gun. Kind of important if you were planning to march across the lands of the kingdom. Though, they were bound to spend part of that time just helping out. Riding was hard work, even with the roads as good as they were. That, and the queen was bound to hand out food and other goods to help with the economic side of things. While they were able to trade, that didn’t change the fact that an entire town had been switched with a different one from another part of the world. That very much made things both easier and difficult. Easier in the sense that brought with it new goods that could be used for trade. Harder in the sense that there was now a language and cultural barrier when it came to importing and exporting goods. But the people of Branaka would make it worse.

“Do you think we’ll actually see combat?” one of her companions - an orc woman asks out loud, but the woman pays her no mind. She was honestly fine either way.. Some of the knights in service were of the mind that they needed a good battle. Or at least, something resembling a proper fight in order to blow off steam and break out of what probably felt like a relatively peaceful time. Whether or not it actually was something for the history books to decide. Not them.

“Honestly, I would be pissed if this whole thing turned out to be some kind of elaborate trap to cause an entirely different war.” a different companion counters - some kind of elf. At least, the woman thought they were an elf. They had gotten a bunch of unique recruits as of late, so it was hard to keep track. Even if she could keep track, that would mean reading through the registry. A book the size of a carriage wheel and rapidly coming upon a second edition.

“I honestly doubt it.” the woman answers, feeling her fellow knights focus on her. While they weren’t ones to really get in disagreement, something about this excursion felt different. Could this be a trap? Absolutely. At the same time, someone capable of ripping entire towns out was more than capable of raining death and destruction on everyone. Which made it extremely important to remain on their guard. “If you’re going to go through all the trouble of warping towns, you’re bound to be more than capable of destroying places… right?”

Silence fell over the barracks. While that was certainly one possibility, it couldn’t come to pass… right?

.

Time marched onwards, literally in this case. While ‘marching’ was probably not the right word in this context. Yes, they were a large army nearing Magia’s castle. In the distance, one could just make out the sound of an entirely different set of forces. Likely that of the people who had been ‘given’ Bristol. If not them, who else could it be? The forces of Magia? Entirely possible.

“How are you holding up, knight?” the queen counters and the woman sighs. Where to begin with a loaded question like that? While she hadn’t planned to be the one in charge of morale, that was just how it worked out. There were no doubt better people for the job, but the strategy was pretty much brain dead. Just approach Magia and figure out what the heck is going on here. Absolutely simple. Even an idiot could ach-

Shoving those thoughts away, the first sight of Magia’s forces came into view. Watching the queen raise her hand up, out came her spear. While she does that, some of her fellow forces pull out their firearms. Firing in the general direction of the forces, so much for diplomacy. Oh well. Couldn’t be helped, the queen already on her way to deliver a proper ass-whooping on what looks to be a minotaur. The same minotaur from an earlier flashback. Clutching her battleaxe, the brazier is not visible from this angle. Yet it's here all the same.

"I know not what you desire by way of destroying Magia, but you'll have to get through me!" the minotaur screeches and charges at her opponent. For some reason, the woman switched to her musket. Getting it loaded quite quickly, she takes a moment to line up the shot. She only has one chance to do this. If the ball misses, then there is likely nothing in the way of a second chance. Gritting her teeth, the woman fires. Watching the ball shoot out from her musket, it slams right into the battleaxe. Knocking the weapon into the door, that only serves to piss her opponent that much more. Not that they get the chance to really respond.

A beam of bright light erupts forth from the castle, blinding all present on this battlefield, the woman tried her hardest to make out what was going on. But that had been her mistake. The minotaur had gotten the brilliant idea to use her fire magic during this blinding light and against all odds, she actually managed to hit her. Normally not enough to take a knight of her caliber out, such an injury would need proper medical attention on account of the molten metal touching her stomach. All the more reason to retaliate with a musket shot. Watching the minotaur stumble back into the light, the woman takes a moment to compose herself. While the pain was not fun, they still needed to be on their guard here. There was no telling what could happen in conjunction with all this li-

In retrospect, the woman and everyone else should’ve seen this coming. It was so obvious and yet, it never crossed her mind. Definitely not her highness or the rest of the troops. Knocking them to the ground, they could only frustratingly watch as their target got away. The light fades away and reveals… ruins. In the distance, the other army could be just made out. Closing in on them, looks to be a mix of samurai and their equivalents. Yet, that doesn’t explain the women dressed in kimonos and carrying strange rods. Yet one in particular sticks out. Dressed in a pink kimono, a steel plate serves as armor. A katana hangs on one side, while a chi-zutsu rifle hangs to her back.

“Do you think you can continue walking or would you rather me get you a healer?” the queen inquires and watches the woman spit on the ground. Forcing her gaze back to her commander, a sigh escapes her lips.

“A healer, if possible.” she mutters and the queen nods back. Catching the attention of one, they head over. What follows is a simple treatment. Just a touch of healing. While the metal was there, it was good enough to keep going until they could get to an actual place devoted to healing.

“Much better.” the woman mutters and shifts her attention to the opposing army. From the looks of it, the leader was heading their way. Done up in what one could only assume to be the equivalent of a heavy armored dress, a massive katana hangs at his side. For what was supposed to be a peaceful time, the blade looks well-worn and more than ready for battle.

Oddly, the pink woman was following right behind them. “Your highness, do you need me to follow along as well?”

The queen lets out a sigh. While the extra back-up was nice, she could always use the other function of her greatsword to accomplish that.

“That’s up to you.” the queen whispers and heads for this other commander. She does not know what will come of this meeting. Nor the ripples that will occur. Yet, she walks forward. The woman follows right behind, spear on her back. Locking eyes with that of the strange pink woman, there’s a sense of animosity with her. Not at all helped by the large, shadowy figure whose gaze was split between them and the woman here. What was their deal here? Some kind of archnemesis? Most likely. Makes it all the more impressive that they’ve made the journey in the hopes of answers. Perhaps they too had a story to tell. But that doesn’t matter here. No, meeting the shogun and trading information was the only thing that matters at the moment.

“I trust that you’re the shogun?” the queen inquires as she comes to a stop. Not at all caring that her dress is being dirtied here, her gaze meets the leader of the army.

“Yes. Would it be wrong of me to assume that you’re the queen of Branaka?” the shogun answers and the queen nods. As for the woman, she comes to a stop right beside the woman. Splitting her focus between that of the kimono lady and that of the shogun. Should negotiations go south for one reason or another, it paid to be on their guard. Especially with people you had no clue of their motives to begin with.

“Correct.” the queen answers and waits a moment for any further comments. Oddly getting none, she raised an eyebrow. “The people that were whisked to my country are safe. Can I assume the same can be said about mine?”

The shogun nods, their gaze turning to that of the queen’s greatsword. Watching the weapon shift to the left, it almost looks as if the greatsword wanted to get a better look at them.

“That’s it? You just want to know that your people are safe?” the shogun remarks, their companion choosing to step forward. But a look is all it takes to prevent her from attempting to start a fight with that which she considers ‘evil’.

“Yes.” the queen answers, only to find herself facing down the barrel of the shogun assistant’s chu-zitsu. Meeting the woman’s gaze, there is no fear here. “Now, what’s the deal with you?”

The samurai rolls her eyes.

“You. Such an evil being must be purged.” the samurai announces and fires. Up close, there was no way that her opponent could actually survive this. Yet, here her opponent still stood. Cleaving through the round with ease, a look of confusion hangs over the queen’s face.

“What the fuck, Pink?! Are you trying to start something?” a voice announces and ‘Pink’ ignores it. Instead, her focus remains on her opponent. Not at all happy to be shot here, she was willing to look past it here. As long as it didn’t become a running gag of sorts.

“What if I am? That hasn’t stopped you in the past.” Pink mutters, a look from the shogun cutting her off here. Even then, it’s clear she is not happy about this. Why and for what reason, was a mystery for all part-

As it would turn out, the answer was relatively simple. A large armored knight appears from the earth, more than ready to take everything on. Or at least, die trying. Even if she would not allow such a fate to occur to her ‘wife’.

“Shit.” the queen mutters, pointing her greatsword in the direction of her opponent. Not that it matters, this strange titan going for our nameless woman here. Smashing her into the ground, that brought with it the full brunt of both armies. Not that Sapphire would get to see the outcome. No, the weight of the crown had become too much. Bringing his hands to the headwear, he managed to dislodge it. Watching the color fade away, both armies faded away. Eyes forced shut, the teenage princess welcomed it in.

.

“Ugh…” Sapphire muttered, feeling a headache come on as his eyes opened up. Leave it to him to do something stupid and have no clue what it was at the moment.

“Welco-” Cia started, only to float back a tiny bit. Looking in his direction, Sapphire couldn’t quite see what exactly had changed yet. Perhaps it was something subtle. All the more reason to check himself out.

Staring down at his body, Sapphire watched helplessly as he sprouted upwards. Growing up around Emma’s chest, his hands gave way to claws. Rather short and in a way, feminine, that didn’t make it any less scary in regards to what was going on with him.

“Oh my.” Emma announced and walked over to her son. Lifting Sapphire up, care is taken to wrap her arms around his body. Squeezing in for a hug, Sapphire accepted the gesture. Especially as a tail sprouted from his back. Moving about in the wind, sparkling blue scales shine in the light. Even more so as dragon scales spread across his body. Rapidly consuming what was left of his skin, it was clear that he had passed over the point of no return.

“Just how long was I out?” Sapphire inquired as Emma set him back down. Craning his neck upwards to meet his father’s gaze, a sigh escaped the dragoness’s lips.

“A month, dear.” Emma answered and Sapphire froze. There was no way that he had actually been out for a month… right? That made no sense. He had seen what felt like three or four scenes from the perspective of a woman who had been close to the queen of Branaka. Likely the same queen who ruled Branaka.

“Wait, really?” Sapphire answered, Cia floating up to meet his gaze. Nodding in agreement with Emma, the fairy stylist took a seat on his boyfriend’s shoulder. The size difference was on full display here and yet, Sapphire couldn’t help but feel something was missing. Like he was almost nearing the end of his transformation but some part was still waiting for its chance. But what exactly?

“My face.” the teenage princess thought and let out a sigh. Patting Cia on the head, that got him a neck hug. By no means the worst thing in the world, that didn’t change the fact that it didn’t feel like he deserved such a gesture. Yes, he had a clear idea of what had gone down. At the same time, that brought him no closer to understanding what was going on. Did he need to find some kind of missing piece here? Or was there something else in play that he was just missing? The teenage princess couldn’t say for certain.

“Is there something that I can do for you, Sapphire?” Cia inquired and Sapphire shook his head. Taking a seat in the dirt, the teenage princess took a moment to compose his thoughts. That ‘Pink’ character was absolute trouble. Yet, she seemed to have an inkling that something wasn’t right. Like she was some kind of magical girl. Not that it changed the fact that she tried to kill the queen. Or that she seemed to like killing people a touch too much for a magical girl.

“Not at the moment.” Sapphire answered and scanned the area. There had to be someone else that could give him a full picture. Not at all tainted by whatever bias, but perhaps a clearer view of the situation. “Though, do you think we can get my claws on the prince’s body?”

Silence fell over the camp. Not at all helped by the fact that the prince’s protector was not at all happy that they were thinking of trying to get more information out of him. Already heading their way, that was more than enough of a reason to find someplace to hide temporarily. At least long enough that she got bored and decided that they had better things to do. Like getting cuddles from their totally amazing spouse.

“It’s possible, but quite risky. What exactly do you have in mi-” Cia remarked, only to watch Emma get grabbed by the titan. Sapphire did his best to close the distance, but it wasn’t enough.

Disappearing right as the pair got to their location, it brought with it more questions than answers. Why was now the perfect time to grab his father? Did the demon have something in mind, or was it simply moving pieces around? Heck, was this intentional. Did Emma know that this was coming and chose not to tell her son and his friend. Sapphire honestly couldn’t say for certain. A part of him didn’t want to know. Yet, the teenage princess knew that was going to need to find out. How exactly was the question now.

“Sapphire, are you going to be okay?” Cia inquired and Sapphire reluctantly nodded. By no means the way that he had seen this day going, he was just going to need to roll with the punches.

“I guess?” Sapphire answered and sighed. Taking a moment to check that the crown was still in his hands (it was), his attention shifted in the direction of the ruins. Perhaps that was where they would find the prince. If not there, then maybe somewhere nearby. “I’m not particularly certain what to make of what just happened. I’m now mostly a dragon, Emma just got kidnapped and I’m not certain what I just saw is actually the truth. The only silver lining is that my attire is still tog-”

Right as Sapphire was about to finish that sentence, the sound of his dress ripping echoed across the forest. Because of course it did. Letting out a sigh, it took everything in the teenage princess’s power to not flip out. Instead, he carefully waddled his way over to the ruins. Taking a moment to catch his breath when he got there, the couple was thankfully graced with the body of the prince. Still his strange preserved state, it was almost… comforting. Taking a seat beside him, Sapphire took a moment to calm himself.

“Cia, could you keep an eye on my body until I get back?” the teenage princess inquired and got a nod.  Cia got off of his boyfriend’s shoulder and watched Sapphire put the crown on his head. Hopefully, he would find the answers he was looking for.

“Best of luck, my princess.” he whispered, feeling a tingling sensation across his body. Ignoring it for now, his gaze hung on his boyfriend’s body…