With only ten minutes left before being transported to a different world, the members of the MCG didn't have much time to talk or prepare. Thus, they decided to instead wait until the countdown ended and prepare as much as they could once they received their mission. What they didn't expect was that the MCG had missed a crucial detail... mission's took place in different worlds.
As soon as the countdown ended, a strange phenomenon occurred. Nathan, Menchi, and Ichigo felt a shift in their world. When Nathan looked around him, the atmosphere felt... eerie, as if he was alone in the entire place. That was when he realized that his watch had completely stopped.
'Time stopped?!' He thought, bewildered by the idea. He had already thought the MCG was a powerful thing, since it could supposedly connect multiple universes, but this sealed the deal. He still had his doubts about the whole thing being true, and held the possibility of it being a really elaborate scam or prank in his heart, but now he had no doubts left. 'This is real... but why did time stop?'
That is when it happened. As if everything around him started twisting, Nathan felt himself being pulled forwards. He felt his feet leave the floor and everything started spinning around him. Then, it all disappeared. In front of him, a strange purplish light appeared, so bright it forced him to close his eyes. After what felt like a millisecond or an eternity, his perception of time quite skewed by the trip, he felt his feet touch the floor again.
"Um... welcome, everyone." A calm voice said. "I didn't expect you to appear in the middle of my room all of a sudden."
Only then did Nathan open his eyes. In front of him stood three people he had never seen before. One of them had orange hair, sharp eyes and a physique very similar to Nathan's, just a bit shorter. The second was about as tall as the orange-haired boy, with messy black hair a slight bit longer than Nathan's and deep black eyes, his physique seemingly average for a teenager. The third one though was a beautiful woman, probably around Nathan's own age, with turquoise hair tied in five weird knots and a very athletic physique.
"I guess we can now say we've met each other." Nathan said, trying to break any possible tension in the atmosphere. "It's a pleasure everyone, I'm Nathan."
"I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Where the hell are we?" Ichigo introduced himself and asked the most pressing question.
"Ah, that would be in my room, above LeBlanc, a cafe run by my caretaker." The guy with black eyes said. "I'm Amamiya Ren, by the way."
"Huh... your room is an absolute dumpster." The only girl in the group nonchalantly said, as if she was making more of an observation than criticizing Ren. "Pleasure guys, I'm Menchi!"
Once introduction where done, Nathan decided to check himself. The teleportation had left him feeling as if he had just got off a roller-coaster, and he wanted to make sure nothing weird happened. The only thing he did notice though, was that he was wearing a different set of clothes.
"Huh? Why... Why am I wearing this suit?" He asked, not really sure of when exactly his clothes had gotten changed.
"Now that you say that... why am I wearing the same school uniform as Ren?" Ichigo said, completely disregarding Japanese cultural norms and calling Ren by his first name.
"I'm... also wearing different clothes... what the hell is this girly dress?" Menchi asked, quite disliking her new clothes. Though they looked quite good on her, if the guys had to say.
"I'm... just as confused as you are." Ren admitted. That was when the MCG decided to get them out of their confusion and explain what exactly was going on.
[Mission: Aid "The Fool" in securing his first Palace.]
[Details: "The Fool" has just awoken to a world of distorted thoughts, known as the Metaverse, which is the manifestation of humanity's subconscious desires. Some human's, with extremely distorted views of reality, manifest "palaces" in the Metaverse, where their distortion becomes stronger until being capable of affecting reality. "The Fool" has become entangled with the palace of Kamoshida Suguru, his P.E teacher in his new school, Shujin Academy.]
[Difficulty: Low]
[Setting: In order to better take part in the mission, the MCG designated suitable roles to each member, according to their skillset and ages.
Roles:
-Nathan Holloway: Drama teacher.
-Menchi: Home Ec. teacher (cooking)
-Kurosaki Ichigo: First year student.]
"Huh... that would answer our questions." Nathan said, deadpanning at the sudden messages from the MCG. He had never expected to be given the role of a teacher, even more so considering he was quite young himself. He did think, though, that he was qualified to teach high schoolers. "It will be a pleasure to be your teacher for a while, Ren, Ichigo."
"Same, here." Menchi added. "As a Gourmet Hunter, I'm gonna work you to the bone in the kitchen."
Ichigo and Ren suddenly had a bad premonition in their hearts. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about it.
*
Nathan, Ichigo, and Menchi left LeBlanc through the window, since the place was already closed and the front door couldn't be opened without breaking it. Once they were gone, they immediately searched for the closest hostel they could find close to Shujin and, fortunately, there were a few. After asking for a taxi and arriving at the hostel, since he was not exactly lacking money thanks to his work as an actor, Nathan paid for the others' rooms. Besides, Ichigo was a high school student and Menchi was from another world, so they didn't have any money to their name they could spend here. Fortunately for them, the MCG seemed to link his bank account with this worlds banking systems, so it still worked.
The following day, they would have to go to the school and see how things developed.
*
Nathan opened his eyes to a place of pure darkness. He knew in his subconscious that it was probably a dream, but he couldn't help the feeling that it was just as real as his previous conversation with everyone. Then, out of nowhere, a shining blue butterfly appeared, posing in his nose for a second.
"How peculiar... you all shouldn't be here... but you... you feel so much like him..." A female voice sounded in his mind, as if she was bypassing sound and talking directly to his brain. "Please aid him... aid him... Nathan Holloway."
Nathan opened his eyes again, this time gasping for breath. He was still trying to process the... dream, he had just had.
"I just arrived hear not even a day ago and this world is already giving me the creeps..." He said, having calmed down a little bit from his sudden awakening. "But... why did that voice sound so... sad."
------
The gang finally met each other! Opinions? I like interacting with readers (only if it's respectfully though)