Favorite Company - (Reverse SI)

[PCHeintz72]

Yes I do, and thanks for that. Mostly I asked the question for my FF.net page. No one there's reading the chapter at all. Dunno if it's the summary, or they don't seem interested in what I've written...or that I'm just worrying about nothing and should get on with the next chapter scene already...

Hmmm...

Scratched head... I actually think I only read this particular story here. For sure my current link only goes here.

I think I recall seeing this in passing on spacebattles, but I only follow some 3 stories there (not this one) and one of them is currently a locked thread (moron kept necroing it, mods locked it until author comes out with next chapter and tells them to unlock it)

Whats the link... I'll add it to my system, next update I do after you update, I'll note that link as well as the preview one and I'll give the profile link as well... Don't know if that will help you, but cannot hurt.

EDIT: never mind, not sure why I asked, since it is easy enough to dig it up on FF.NET with a simple search. Added both links to my setup...

I'd say though... I think I see why the lack of reviews though. Unless I was monitoring your FanFiction.NET Feed for updates, or here or spacebattles for the story, I'd never had known it would have existed. I do not check the unnamed crossver section on FF.NET much, and you changed the name in any case. Bet others would have hit the same roadblock.

[Ryu Gabriev]

What do you think I should switch it to? Ultimately it has elements of A:TLA, Devil Hunter Yohko, and DS9 as part of the main cast... but I'm only allowed to give 2 entries for the crossover.

[PCHeintz72]

I do not have an easy answer for you on that. I merely pointed out why it might be no one has commented.

Maybe it will help, maybe not, but here is what I placed in my latest update:

MULTI 'Favorite Company' by Ryu Gabriev - [Dld Date=11/11/2014] - [Dld Size=55kb] - [Dld Status=In Progress - Preview]

• - [MD Source=FF.NET] - [MD Rating=T] - [MD Word Cnt=10682]
• - [MD Summary= When the Q decide to bring the Bet to life all of the multiverse gets caught in the crossfire... starting with our world.]
• - [Preview URL] viewtopic.php?t=7730
• - [Direct URL] https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10820070/1/
• - [Author1 URL] https://www.fanfiction.net/u/320882/

And a note to go with it to explain the change:

Note1: 'Favorite Company' technically did not update this week, but it was only recently brought to my attention that the preview snippets had been combined and posted to FF.NET. That allows me to take advantage of the metadata to add descsription and other links. Author also changed the name slightly, which may have thrown people off.

[Ryu Gabriev]

-------
Chapter 2 - Bad Temper?
-------

Thankfully that mad driver from before never made another appearance that night, so for the most part the rest of the evening was pretty entertaining. We all had dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse in the West End, where I managed to convert the retired general to the wonders of Italian cuisine. After stuffing ourselves on the fifteen-layer lasagna, the four of us wandered about some more till we found one of the few dancing clubs scattered across the inner city.

It was kind of a given that Jadzia had enough coordination and courage to dance effectively, what with several lifetimes of experience bolstering her own abilities… but Yohko…damn. I don’t know if her devil hunting has anything to do with it, but I’ll tell you right now, that girl has dance imbedded in her soul. Iroh mostly felt like hanging out in the upstairs loft and observing all the goings on, while I stayed with the girls and tried my best to keep up with their skills. As the night dragged on, my company and I found ourselves mixing well with the crowd. Interesting highlights included Yohko using her grace and flexibility to leave several ‘pros’ in the dust as well as getting a job offer by the manager to be one of the full-time dancers. Dax somehow had managed to get on the DJ’s good side and was making the system churn out beats that had the whole place jumping! And Iroh, ugh, Iroh apparently was showing that all princes come with a high bonus to Charisma as I found him actually chatting it up with three flirty little things at the same time.

I’m still trying to figure out how he does it.

Unfortunately, all things must end and we managed to head out from the club and back to the hotel when it was still a couple hours from sunrise. I didn’t really feel like driving home so I more or less crashed next to the aged firebender for some much needed Z’s.
*******
The next morning hit me with the sudden start of my phone’s ringtone waking me from a sound snoozing. The girls started coming to as well while I fumbled about in my pockets for a moment before finding my cell. Getting a call first thing in the morning doesn’t tend to be good news, and today wasn’t any exception. My job was suddenly swamped with orders to be delivered and they needed all hands that were available to assist with the rush.

At first I had thought to deny the request since I still had an obligation to take care of my new friends. But that line of thought then reminded me of my other obligation: Getting that dress for Yohko. Now I wish I hadn’t been so insistent on getting her to follow through with her side of the deal, with the payment accepted I was now honorbound to deliver on my end. But as things stood I was starting to run low on money, however a busy day like today tended to mean large tips as well…

Oh hell, who was I kidding? The store needs my help and I’ve never been able to say no before, why start now? I let them know I’d be by as fast as I could get freshened up and ended the call.

“I take it our tour of the city in daylight will be postponed slightly?” Dax spoke while pulling herself out from under the comforter she and Yohko had been sharing.

I started pulling my boots on before turning the Trill’s way. “In a matter of speaking, Jadzia. The place where I work need extra hands right now, so they called me in. Is it too much to hope that you three could just chill here today?”

At that moment the devil hunter’s head popped up from under the sheets with a rather cross look on her face. “Not a chance in hell, Jon. I wanna see more than these four walls today.”

A sigh escaped my lips moments before a thought struck me. If you can’t do something yourself, call a stand-in! One of the guys could keep everyone busy while I went in to work for a few ho-oh wait up. Mike’s doing his government job right now, Josh doesn’t have a car and Josh G is busy in Desoto. Wonderful...

Almost right at that second my phone rang once again, startling me from my internal monologue. I quickly answered it, partly hoping that the store was calling me back to tell me to forget it, when the answer to my conundrum fall right into my lap. “He~ey Jon, haven’t heard from you in a while.”

My face lit up in a smile. “Ian…”
*********

Ian Gram had just finished his masseuse training course and was waiting for the state to mail him his license to perform said duties, which made it easy to assume that he’d have the free time required for this planned stand-in session with my interdimensional houseguests. What I didn’t count on was how… eager he’d be in accepting. Granted, hearing about people from other worlds visiting Dallas sounds interesting to say the least, but Ian’s always struck me as a more down-to-earth kinda guy than most of my other friends.

Anyway, within the hour I had motored everyone to my friend’s home in the suburbs of Oak Cliff, a tan brick two story home, just in time for him to stride purposefully to my window and motion me to roll it down. I did so, watching as he glanced about the cabin with a growing smirk on his face. “So let me get this straight, you brought with you three highly well-done cosplayers? Jon, I don’t think I’ve ever known ya to pull pranks like this, you win the lotto when we weren’t lookin’?”

I smothered a few chuckles as Jadzia spoke up. “Honestly, I think he might’ve wanted to win something given how much he’s been paying for our things so far.”

“Ian, I’m dead serious man. This is Jadzia Dax from DS9, Yohko from Devil Hunter Yohko and Iroh from Avatar.” I pointed to where each sat as I spoke, Dax in the front passenger seat next to me, Iroh behind the Trill scientist and Yohko behind me.

I swear I could hear something chink in my ear as my friend’s stance and smile turned rigid for a second, then slipped back into a more relaxed form. “Jon, if ya really expect me to believe that these three are more than fans in costume I’m gonna need to see a little proof… care to join me inside?”

We all made our way into Ian’s home and settled in his upstairs bedroom. Forest green was painted along all the walls with light brown trim near the carpet. From the door, if we assume that to be the southwest point, was a high set of hanging shelves alongside a medium-sized closet on the southern wall with a queen-sized bed along the southeast corner. Ian’s computer system took the northeast corner, while the north and west walls held more shelves for storage. A single window along the upper half of the north wall allowed the afternoon sunlight in, giving the living space a relaxed glow.

My friend quickly took a seat at his computer desk, spinning his chair till it faced everyone else. Dax found a seat on the bed as did I, Iroh and Yohko pulling up a pair of folding chairs that had been stashed in the corner to form the rest of the semicircle.

Gram smirked as if he already knew the outcome and spread out his arms wide. “Okay Jon, Impress me.”

The Starfleet officer made her move first by pulling out her tricorder and giving our host a quick scan, before turning it over to him so he could see the results. Glancing at it reminded me of the difference between a static prop on a TV show and a real… living, I suppose is the word, piece of futuristic technology. “Medical tricorders would give a more detailed analysis of biological function along with visual aids here and there, but a basic model like this one is still capable of doing a bit of everything.”

The Irishman’s eyebrow rose up slightly before taking the Federation tech trinket into his hands. “Niiice. When you make a costume, you go all out, don’t you?”

I clapped a hand to my face once I heard that. “Ian, what kind of person goes that far in making a cosplay costume?”

“A crazy person, Jon. A crazy person.”

The retired general drew attention to himself and proceeded to go into his own performance, forming three small balls of flame and casually juggling them for a few moments. I almost had to bite my tongue to smother my laughter as my friend’s eyes widened to the point of popping out of their sockets. Then just to drive the point home the aged firebender collected all three spheres together and merged them into a single large one. He then tossed it lightly into the air and swallowed the fireball whole, smirked with a waggle of his eyebrows before spouting a gout of fire straight up. As soon as it died down Iroh looked Ian dead in the eye while the rest of us applauded the performance. “I trust, young man, that you are willing to consider our position somewhat better now?”

It took a not even a moment for Ian’s brain to reboot from that a look of dawning realization, whipping around to Yohko’s direction with a look that I could only describe as a calculated leer. “Jon, does Yohko transform?”

I would’ve commented, but the devil hunter beat me to it. “I am NOT doing that in public!!”

“So you can’t,” Ian shot right back in complete deadpan, his face a mask a dull boredom as if he hadn’t just seen what Iroh had done.

“Well of course I can, I just don’t wan-” she started to say, just as my friend cut her off.

“Nah, sounds like you can’t and you’re just making excuses up,” Ian’s face retained that same look of boredom and now even looked a bit dismissing.

The young woman seemed slightly off center as she went through the very novel experience of defending the fact she was a devil hunter. “Y-yes, I can!”

The Irishman leaned back in his chair. “Nope, obviously can’t.”

“I can so!”

“Lying isn’t healthy.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Prove it.”

Yohko was absolutely livid as she suddenly stood up out of her chair. “Fine! I-”

The aged firebender suddenly clapped his hands once to break the building tension. “Miss Yohko, now would not be a good time to commit rash actions such as that. “

Her brow furrowed slightly as she tried to process what the retired general meant by that... and then she remembered what she had been about to do… right there… in front of everyone. Her entire face and neck lit up bright red while I fell onto my back on the bed howling in laughter. Ian for his part had simply crossed his arms in front of himself with his smugtastic smugly smirk on his face. Finally, with nothing else she could do in her defense the young Mano woman slumped back down in her chair mumbling about how all Americans are perverts. Though it was interesting to note that I’m apparently nicer about it than Ian was.

From there the conversation drifted to more sedate topics that still interested Ian and myself, such as some of the real hard sciences the the Federation now had at it’s disposal or Ian’s skills as a masseuse. The retired general mentioned how some firebenders could use their abilities to make make someone feel like an absolute blob of contentment - my words, not his - and soon enough the Irishman and Iroh were going back and forth about possible ways to use firebending and massage points to make the process even better for a client. Part way through the discussion, Yohko began showing interest, citing that there were times her body became rather sore from her exertions as a devil hunter.

Ian quickly offered to show her some of his abilities since some of the things he and Iroh were talking about were better understood with a subject to perform them on. I only heard Yohko start to accuse my friend of some hidden nasty motive before the lieutenant commander drew my attention away with a conversation about some of the oddest beings she’d managed to see as part of her exobiology studies.

A little time later a deep feminine moan cut through the room just as the Trill scientist was going into a detailed account of a species that actually had a type of eye that could see your current emotional state. Jadzia and I turned in that direction only to find the Mano woman laid out quivering slightly on my friend’s massage table as Ian and Iroh worked on her back and shoulders. Well, to be completely accurate, Iroh looked to be teaching Ian some sort of Chi-based massage technique while the Irishman tried his best to emulate the process. Judging by how Yohko was now acting like someone had just tagged the mythical O-spot, it seemed like he’d figured it out.

And while I tried very hard not to do it, frankly my wit was aching to churn out a joke or two. “Ian Gram: A Truly Orgasmic Experience... ”

“Damn straight.” The Irishman frowned before standing up fully from his Horse stance. “I’m still missing something though...”

With that, Ian strode quickly from the room just as Yohko weakly lifted a hand in his direction. “...wait...don’t go…please...”

Ian, to his credit, simply stopped midway out the door and gave the devil hunter a wink before moving on.

Jadzia raised an eyebrow at the entire exchange and turned back my way. “Jon, do you think it’s too late to ask your friend to give me what she’s having?”

I smirked. “Given that he’s heading for the Can, it may take a while.”

Iroh quickly checked to make sure Yohko wouldn’t fall off the table in her current condition before joining the conversation. “Still, for a man with no obvious training in manipulating his energies, Mr. Gram is a rather quick study. It only took him 30 minutes to get a reaction out of Miss Yohko.”

I suddenly blanched when I heard the aged firebender speak. “Thirty Minutes?! How long have we been here?!”

“...about an hour or so… what’s it matter?” The Japanese woman gave a contented sigh before sensually rising into a sitting position. “This definitely makes this a vacation to remember. No Demons, no interruptions when I go out at night, no pesky family meddling in my business-” Yohko suddenly gave off a girlish giggle before continuing. ”And best of all: No Demons!”

Suddenly the lights above flickered for an instant as Dax’s tricorder began emitting odd sounds from it’s place at her belt. With practiced ease, she flipped out the device and began looking over the data being displayed. “Guys, my tricorder’s picking up some kind of subspace resonance close by.” She stared at the device a few seconds more before continuing. ”It’s gone. Whatever that was-”

The Trill was prevented from continuing by Ian loudly clamoring back into his room with a manic grin on his face. “Yohko, get back the way you were, I know what to do.”

When she started to ask about what he might do, the Irishman quickly moved up to her, spun her around and pushed her back down onto the table on her stomach. The rest of us, me especially, were rather surprised at this sudden forcefulness on our host’s part. Yohko would’ve been far more vocal about it than we were except for the fact that when Ian began massaging her upper back again, her face quickly gained a shocked, then happily flushed look before she settled down with a quiet sigh.

“...oOhhh, not even sex feels this good!” She cooed as Ian’s talented hands moved about her back.

Despite myself, a smile formed on my face at the sight of everyone getting along well. I stood and started to make for the door. With Ian keeping everyone occupied, I could zip off to work and not be to-

Suddenly a loud crash and a scream from behind made me jerk back around, only to see the image of Iroh in a guard stance in front of Yohko, the Devil Hunter looking confusedly forward with growing shock. Jadzia had her phaser out and pointed forward at my friend, who just glared at all of us… with a pair of glowing crimson eyes.

Ian smirked cruelly and turned his gaze at the retired general. “Didn’t expect you to notice, old man.”

My blood ran cold hearing that, not at what was said, but how it was said. It was like a thousand cracking, scratching voices that somehow harmonized enough to be understood.

“I thought it strange that you had seemed to gain such a sudden understanding of chi and it’s use, so I thought it wise to observe you in case you were not simply bluffing.” Iroh’s stance shifted while his eyes stayed firmly locked onto the Irishman’s form. “I am afraid must ask you to depart this young man, spirit, and not trouble us again.”

“Not a chance. We are but the first… and far from the last. Be afraid, Devil Hunter, for you are too late this time!” Dax suddenly took a shot at the possessed Irishman only to have him lean away from the red beam of laser light. In the next instant, he leapt at me and used me to springboard himself through the bedroom window while Dax took a couple more potshots. The impact flung me into the wall opposite the window, stunning me for a moment or two. When I finally shook it off, Ian was gone.
*******
Chapter 2 - 30% Complete!

[Ryu Gabriev]

All I could was stare out the shattered window at my friend’s retreating form. This honestly can’t be happening… Demons aren’t supposed to exist anymore, or at least not be able to do supernatural crap on this scale! What could’ve-

My eyes suddenly widened as a thought came to me. Slowly, I turned my sight away from the window and focused on the young Mano woman. ‘It knew her...’

My little epiphany helped set the rest of my brain on autopilot as I patted down my pockets making sure my keys and everything were accounted for. I then turned towards the door. “Yohko, I need you to transform now.”

The Devil Hunter balked and began to protest before I cut her off. “Use the bathroom if you need some privacy, but the only way I’m getting my friend back from being a demon’s timeshare is with a devil hunter.”

Yohko looked at me strangely for a few moments. “O-okay, Jon.”

As she ducked into the lavatory to change, I turned toward Iroh and Jadzia who were both looking at me oddly. “Dax, can a tricorder track someone in motion? Even going at the speeds Ian was?”

The Trill scientist blinked twice before snapping out of whatever had been distracting her. “Normally, no. But I should have his scan data from before still in memory. I should be able to use that to get a fix on his position.”

I nodded my acknowledgement and Dax grabbed her tech toy and began fiddling with it as I focused on the aged firebender. “Iroh, are there any submission holds in firebending? Ways to subdue an opponent without hurting him?”

The retired general closed his eyes in thought for a moment. “If there ever were, such knowledge has been lost to the ravages of time. Fire is not the gentlest of elements, after all.”

I twitched in response. “...okay then… Dax, I need to borrow that peashooter of yours, you mind?”

She hmm’ed a reply before lightly tossing her phaser at me, which I almost managed to not catch before getting a grip on it. Then as I looked at the little remote o’ doom in my hand, it felt like the rest of my head finally decided to come back online. My face turned downwards in a deep frown. ‘What am I doing? Who am I to give commands to these people?’

Suddenly, I felt a warm, rough hand clap itself onto my forearm. “You have already crafted an excellent plan, my friend. Now all you need do is execute it.”

My eyes followed the sound and locked on the retired general. “Do not look so distraught, or that feeling will spread to those you lead.”

I felt my shoulders hunch close to each other. “But what makes me qualified to be a leader? I’m no officer… Lord, I’m not even a soldier! Just an average guy who knows way too much about trivial crap like anime and games.”

The aged firebender nodded with eyes closed before crossing his arms in front of himself. “Yes, this is true. You are no soldier.” His left eye opened to look at me for an instant, then it’s twin joined it as his face lit up in a smile. “However, I have watched you for the past few days, as you interacted with us and allowed us to see your world. I have seen a young man of kind heart, who has given of himself simply because it is what his honor and conscience insist upon. Who when faced with a threat to one he calls a friend has then reached into himself to find the will to do what needs to be done. And while it is true that you are not trained for this sort of situation, frankly I have known many who were that fared far worse when battle came.”

I actually started to perk up after that, just in time for Dax to make a happy sound while still staring at her tricorder and Yohko exited the bathroom in her Devil Hunter’s garb. “I’ve got a fix on him, heading north-by-northwest. He’s almost out of range though, but thankfully it’s in a more or less straight line.”

I nodded and headed out the door motioning the others to follow, speaking as I walked. “Okay then, Iroh’s probably got the gist of it already, but Dax; your job will be to call out his position as we go after him. I’ll need you to ride in the seat behind me so I can hear any changes fast enough to do something about it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to drive faster than this demon can run.”

We piled out the front door and I locked up behind me, no one else was home so I was sure they had house keys. Afterwards, I underhand tossed the phaser to the Fire Nation prince who caught it almost absent-mindedly. “Iroh, I’ll need you to ride up front with me and try to nail Ian with that little beauty once you have a clear shot.”

The four of us then got into my car and buckled up except for Yohko, who I stopped from doing so. “Yohko, I need you to be able to get out of the car quickly once Iroh’s shot down Ian. I’m not sure how long a stun blast’ll disorient him like he is now, so once you have the opportunity you need to get to him fast and exorcise the bastard pronto with one of those Ofuda charms your family uses.”

The japanese woman frowned slightly. “Jon, um, I wasn’t carrying any charms with me when I got pulled here.”

I felt the air about me go cold hearing that. Without Yohko, I didn’t know any other way to help Ian aside from killing him to stop the demon… ‘oh god this can’t be happening nononono!’ I suddenly twisted myself to face forward in the seat and held my head in my hands seconds before I started losing my composure. Childish, I know, but all I could think of was how my friend was gonna be hurt and how I could do nothing for him before my fists slammed into the driver’s side door, the steering wheel, and eventually my head several times. Thankfully, the aged firebender stopped me from doing any actual damage to myself as he got a grip on both my hands. “Jonathan, please! Now is not the time to lose yourself to despair like this! All problems have a solution-”

I cut him off vehemently. “Which is why I’m fucking losing it right now, man! Goddamn demons are on my world thanks to that damn ring of Yohko’s and now my friend is about to die once that thing gets tired of using him or when some cop gets a lucky shot off!!”

It kinda went without saying that the Mano woman was shocked silent to hear this, but Dax was rather curious as to how I came up with such a conclusion. “Remember last night? The radio mentioned weird things happening around town on the same night you guys showed up. On the way to the club, I get hit with a burst of… of something that almost got me to run that crazy-ass driver off the highway. And just now, back in Ian’s room: that thing knew about Yohko. Knew she was a Devil Hunter and had tried to eliminate her as a threat before any of us could do anything to stop it. Would’ve worked except that the Grizzled Old Master here”, I jerked my thumb at Iroh,”noticed him before anything could happen.”

“But why would her transformation ring draw monsters here?” The lieutenant commander turned her gaze to Yohko, who had turned rather pale from what she was hearing.

My gaze turned the devil hunter’s way as well before I let off a large sigh. Welp, this is really going to improve the group dynamic… “During her early career as a Devil Hunter, Yohko found herself facing off against a rather long time adversary to her family, Tokima, a demon that was the one responsible for bridging the gap between the realm where the Demons hail from, and Yohko’s world. He’s got control over the metaphysical concepts of time and space, allowing him to pull off some unbelievable crap at times… or rather, he used to-”

Iroh cut me off at that particular moment. “While this tale is certainly intriguing, perhaps it would be better for us to be in motion while the story is told?”

I turned to where the retired general sat. “But what can we do? The best plan I came up with is shot down before it even begins. How are we gonna get the demon outta Ian without killing him?”

Iroh smirked back at me. “I do not know, but any new plan we would bring into being must involve us subduing that young man. Better for us to complete what we can do, instead of worrying on what we cannot do.”

I grew rather quiet at that statement, before facing forward in my seat. Almost mechanically, I went through the motions of starting up the car, including fiddling with my tablet that I had jacked into the vehicle’s sound system. I hit the randomizer and the sound of thundering drums and proud assembly of horns hit my ears. Violins joined in as a smirk started to appear on my face, and finally the snare drum sounded off in time to me jerking the transmission stick into Drive and planting the accelerator firmly into the floor.

We rocketed forward as the music picked up tempo and my friends scrambled to ensure their seat belts were in place. Dax shouted out a question as to what had gotten into me, and I could only reply thus...

“God just reminded me to ‘Kick Reason to the Curb, and Do the Impossible.’ So that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!”

Seconds later, the Tricorder picked up Ian’s position and the chase was on.
*****
Chapter 2 - 47% Complete.
And for those wondering what my tablet was playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p5OyLFQLCc

[PCHeintz72]

"God just reminded me to `Kick Reason to the Curb, and Do the Impossible.' So that's exactly what I'm gonna do!"

Hmmm... is he paraphrasing Kirk?

[Ryu Gabriev]

PCHeintz72 - ...Did you really just associate one of the most awesome catch phrases in Anime History with Captain Kirk from Star Trek??? That's Kamina, of Gurren Lagann fame!
**Rant Mode Off**
...anyway, my friend Ian (yes the same one as in the story) had a complaint about the last scene I did and requested I try to redo it. Took a bit of doing, but I came up with something that I actually like better than the first try. However, I aim to please, so whichever one you like better let me know about and I'll keep that one. Also, I was inspired in the last few days to a better introduction scene in the first Chp. that sounds far less forced in my opinion, so I'm adding that part here as well to see if you all approve.

Redone Demon Scene, Chapter Two:
The Devil Hunter balked and began to protest before I cut her off. “Use the bathroom if you need some privacy, but the only way I’m getting my friend back from being a demon’s timeshare is with a devil hunter.”

Yohko looked at me strangely for a few moments. “O-okay, Jon.”

As she ducked into the lavatory to change, I turned toward Iroh and Jadzia who were both looking at me. “Dax, you’re the most experienced person here, bar none. What do we do?”

The Trill scientist blinked twice before pulling out her tricorder. “Well, I’m afraid none of my hosts ever had experience dealing with a possessed human before. I’ve still got Ian’s scan data from before… I might be able to use it to get a fix on him, but honestly my expertise ends there. Iroh’s a general though, and he seems aware of this type of supernatural phenomenon, I say we should follow his lead.”

The aged firebender crossed his arms in front of him with a solemn look on his face. “Retired general, Commander Dax. And to be completely honest, my days of ordering men to their victory or death is something I would rather keep in the past. Furthermore, while I have experience in dealing with spirits and with troops, the terrain is something completely unfamiliar to me as is our adversary. It would be best to follow the lead of someone who knew not only the area, but also the abilities of those he commanded.”

I felt an honest-to-GOD chill go down my back as the Trill and Fire Nation prince looked at me at that moment. I quickly grasped what they were on about and tried to object as calmly and rationally as I could. “ME?! Ohhhh N-n-n-n-NO, man! I’m no officer… Lord, I’m not even a soldier! Just an average guy who knows way too much about trivial crap like anime and games! How the bleeping crap is that going to help get Ian back unharmed?!”

The retired general locked eyes with my own, before sighing aloud. “Yes, that is most likely true. I suppose then you could assist Dax or myself with any knowledge that might help our strategizing?”

I nodded in agreement, and soon the two of them came up with a plan of attack, Iroh handling the spiritual side of things while Dax applied her tech savvy to the problem. Within moments a plan was hatched, Jadzia and Iroh would keep my infested friend still using suppressive fire in the form of phaser blasts and flame attacks while Yohko came in from another vector and dealt with the monster. The devil hunter had come out of the bathroom changed into her work clothes, and had joined in on the conversation at that point. She mentioned that most Demons and Devils would escape the host body when confronted and revert to their true form making it a matter of simply slaying it.

Of course, it didn’t escape my notice that I wasn’t really in any part of this plan of theirs outside of driving my car to chase after Ian if he decided to run for it. “So what am I supposed to do during this whole thing? Just stay in the car and keep my head down?!”

Dax frowned as she replied. “Effectively, yes. Let’s be honest, Jon, you can’t really bring anything of use against this thing. You know what my training as a Starfleet officer insists upon when it comes to people like you: Get Them Out of Harm’s Way.”

I’ll admit it, hearing that stung hard. I mean, yea, on a purely intellectual level it made perfect sense to keep me out of the action. I brought nothing to the table, not even a gun or rudimentary fighting skills, and I’d be hesitant to use them against a friend if I did have anything. But look at it from the other perspective, in a way this sort of situation was like something I’d dreamed about as a little kid for years… having a great adventure alongside incredible people… and then it happens… And those same incredible people look at you and treat you like the nameless mook you actually are when all hell breaks loose.

Yea… this's really shaping up to be a good day, isn't it?

I was so lost in my thoughts it took Dax calling my name a few times and Yohko shaking my shoulder to snap me out of it. “Jon, are you gonna be okay?”

I sighed before turning to the door. “Let’s just get this over with, Dax.”
***********
Redone Introduction scene, Chapter 1:

“Devil Hunter… Yohko Mano…” I said softly, though it was still apparently loud enough for the young lady to notice as her eyes widened in surprise.

“Th-that’s my name! Wh-where- how- what’s going on here?!” I waved my hands in her direction to get her to calm down, though honestly I wouldn’t mind having a few of those questions answered myself.

“Good questions. Maybe if we put our heads together, we can find some answers?” I turned in the new voice’s direction and took in the appearance of my second passenger. Long dark brown hair held in a low ponytail, bright blue eyes, and two rows of dark spots on her pale skin that wound their way down her head and neck till they disappeared behind a light blue blouse collar. Over that was a black jumpsuit that was dark grey at the neck and shoulders, and a small pin shaped like an upturned silver arrow over two gold horizontal bars on the left side of her heart.

Oh Lord, I’ve crashed my car haven’t I? ...Makes sense, two hot babes from both anime and sci-fi showing up in my car outta the blue like this, I must be dead and heaven threw me this nice surprise for dying a virgin.

Yea, you heard right, I’ve never known a woman in the biblical sense. Mostly because of said Biblical. Jesus for the Win, man!

I shook myself out of the 4th wall cracking recriminations and smiled at my second passenger. “Once my head stops spinning, Dax, I’ll explain what I can. But I’m afraid that without any Federation tech hoodoo to help me, any explanations I have won’t be that revealing. I guess to start with, you’re on Earth and-.”

Jadzia’s eyes filled with shock as well before she began speaking again, cutting me off. “Earth?! Where am I? What year is this?”

“Where you are is Dallas, Texas, when is December 9th, 2013.”

The Trill relaxed somewhat after that news. “Thank goodness, that should mean anything I do won’t really have an effect on the timeline. Now I just have to figure out how I got here, that might help me figure out a way back t-” She suddenly became white as a ghost as something came to her. “The temple!! Dukat’s still there, and Benjamin doesn’t know!”

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Temple? Wha-ohhhh scrap.”

The lieutenant commander looked at me with a rather worried gaze before gesturing me to continue speaking. “Commander, if you just came from the Temple - as in the Bajoran Temple on DS9 - and Dukat’s there also, who or whatever brought you here just saved your life. He'd've killed you with the energy of that pah-wraith inside him, then done something to the Orb that would force the wormhole shut for a time.” As I spoke, a part of me felt it best to help lessen the blow I was giving her. “But there is good news. Dax does get successfully passed to another host, and Sisko does manage to re-open the wormhole soon after. Not the best solution, but at least there is one.”

A tear ran down her cheek before she met my eyes again with her own. “Given the options, I suppose that’s all I can hope for, really. Was Worf able to live with… without me?”

I crossed my arms in front of me and thought back along my memories of watching Deep Space Nine. After another moment I spoke up again. “He managed to, eventually. ‘Course he had to make sure you got into Stovokor first by blowing up a Dominion orbital shipyard with a single Klingon cruiser.” I started chuckling. “His ship forced the nearby sun to eject a coronal mass emission right at the yard, vaporizing it instantly. Awesome fireworks, really.”

As the Starfleet officer started to smile at the thought of her husband doing something that crazy just for her, Yohko just glanced back and forth between the two of us, utterly perplexed. “Ok, what in the hell are you two talking about? Temples? Dukat? Woof?!”

I couldn’t stop myself. Within seconds my head was thumping the steering wheel as I howled in laughter over the teenager’s misinterpretation over the prior discussion. Dax was giggling herself over the whole thing, probably because she would know just how much that would’ve irritated the gruff, sober Klingon. “It… hehe… It’s Worf, Miss Mano, not Woof. And this is Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax, Science Officer for the Federation-run space station Deep Space Nine. The station itself is located at the mouth of a kind of tunnel in space called a wormhole, which allows anyone from this part of our galaxy to another that’s several thousand light-years away. There’s more to it than that, but suffice it to say that she comes from a possible future of ours. I’ll save the whole explanation for later.”

Dax nodded before looking to her left, which of course made me look where she was looking. Once I had managed to angle my vision that way, I took in the look of the last new arrival to my world. It was a man this time, an elderly one from the color of his gray hair and goatee as well as the lack of hair atop his head. He had thick, gray sideburns and a section of his remaining hair was locked into a simple topknot. A set of brown shoulderpads and matching breastplate covered his upper torso, while a simple gray robe took care of the rest. He had a gentle smile on his face, making me feel more at ease over the whole thing. Real Adventure is almost as good as Sexy Adventure, after all.

Off hand, I couldn’t really place him, but he was familiar to me. “So how come you haven’t introduced yourself, sir? As it stands, the girls and I are doing all the talking.”

It was at that point that the elderly man’s expression turned neutral and he looked at me. I emphasize it like that since he did much more than just point his eyes in my direction as I did earlier, it honestly felt like he was peering deeper in a way that’s hard to describe. But soon enough, a smile came back to his face, and he finally started speaking. “I am Iroh, retired General of the Fire Nation. I apologize for my cautious actions, but I have found that it is best to stay quiet when you are in unfamiliar surroundings. Often it will help you avoid attracting the wrong sort of attention.”

I thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “Makes sense. Anyway, I’m Jonathan Vehan, and either I’m dead and about to enjoy the everafter alongside some of my favorite characters of all time, or the three of you have been transported into my car from across time and space.”

The Science Officer smiled at my intro. “Then Jonathan, I hope you wouldn’t mind telling us how you know who we are, especially if we’re simply dreams to you.” Her expression suddenly turned serious. “Not that I’m upset, but frankly you shouldn’t be capable of knowing about what’s to come in your future.“

Both Iroh and Yohko nodded their agreement to that idea, and I sighed in resignation. “I… could show you, if you like, but I think I’ll show Miss Mano’s proof with her alone. She hates how she transforms enough as it is.”

The Japanese girl squeaked as her face suddenly turned crimson. “...nooooo… Please don’t tell me you know about that?!”

I shrugged my shoulders and nodded once, which was all the cue she needed to bury her face in her hands and start cursing her ancient ancestors who apparently were exhibitionists. While she kept wishing to disappear through the floor, I shifted in my seat till I faced forwards again and buckled my seat belt. “I suggest you kids buckle up, I’d rather not have an accident after doing so much to avoid one earlier.”

All of them managed to do so, though the aged firebender had trouble figuring out the mechanism of the seat belt at first. Thankfully though, there were no more surprises the rest of the way home.
*****
So, what do you guys think of em??

[PCHeintz72]

PCHeintz72 - ...Did you really just associate one of the most awesome catch phrases in Anime History with Captain Kirk from Star Trek??? That's Kamina, of Gurren Lagann fame!

Tried watching Gurren Lagann, was a waste of my time, dreadful series.

[Ryu Gabriev]

Gurren Lagann?

Waste... of time??

...

......

.......

HERESY!

[Ryu Gabriev]

Things begin to heat up.
******
We soon picked up Ian’s trail and managed to catch up to him deep inside a forested park a couple of miles from the Irishman’s house. We all piled out of my car and began following my friend’s trail of destruction to the source. The ground and various clumps of trees nearby had visible chunks torn out as my infested friend toyed with the runners that couldn’t get away fast enough. I knew that since we found… the remains… of said runners along the way.

I felt horribly sick to my stomach after seeing one with his whole chest split open and entrails running down the front, but I was just able to hold it in. Then we came to the next one that looked even worse which was apparently more than my stomach could take. I just made it to some nearby bushes before losing the remains of my late breakfast that day. The aged firebender quickly moved to my aid as I dry heaved a few more times. “Jon, perhaps it is best if you do not accompany us any further. This monster is drawing pleasure from destruction, and I doubt such mutilations are the worst he can do.”

Through the pain of my disturbed stomach, the images running through my head, Iroh’s words lodged themselves into my brain… and proceeded to Piss. Me. OFF. “I. Am Not. Gonna bow down to something that two girls can handle easily.”

With that, I quickly stood up and started moving forward down the trail of gore. When I next turned back the three of them were all looking at me with odd smiles on their faces again. "What?"

"I was just thinking that you can sound really cool sometimes, Jon." Yohko walked past me with a sashay in her step after that, followed by Dax who just gave a wink in my direction as she passed.

"Iroh, what did I say just now?" I uttered in confusion.

"My young friend, mysteries such as that must be solved on your own. Revealing it for you will diminish the wisdom you would otherwise obtain." The retired general then walked on ahead of me, while I followed a second after begging him to give me a hint at least.

We soon reached our quarry as the forested path we were walking down led to a wide open field with a few scattered trees and a large playground. From the look of things the police had finally responded to all the commotion with several cars and armed officers surrounding my possessed friend, who in turn had been casually swatting at them with various energy attacks forcing the cops to keep their distance. Simple gestures, waving hands and thrusting palms that brought forth blasts of force, purple lightning, and dark flames upon the helpless Dallas defenders, but what had me start to question the validity of this plan of ours was a simple fact.

The demon was still using Ian’s body while attacking.

Frankly, the fact the demon had been doing all that without shifting forms should’ve been my first clue as to what was about to happen. We all split up for our individual tasks, in my case, hiding behind a single large tree to observe the fight without getting in the way. Dax and Iroh came at their opponent from the front as Yohko summoned her soul sword and dashed to the side, flanking him. The Trill Scientist fired off stun blasts that kept Ian on the defensive as the retired general used his firebending to keep their opponent corralled between the phaser and the flames.

But as Yohko announced herself as her grandmother had taught her to over a decade ago, things quickly turned ugly. "I hold no enmity for those coerced into evil! But to those vile beings who toy with the hearts a- hguk!!"

The devil hunter was suddenly wrenched upward into the air by an invisible hand of force as the Irishman’s attention focused upon her. "Nice try, babe... but that ol' catch phrase of yours isn't gonna make me drop this handy new suit of mine." Just then, a thought struck my possessed pal, making him grin in a way that seemed far too wide to be normal. "Speaking of suits..."

Both the Trill scientist and aged firebender halted their attacks now that Yohko was dangling in midair by her throat, allowing the demon his next move. Raising one hand with the index and ring fingers pointing towards the young Mano woman, the infested Irishman slashed his hand straight down. At the same time, Yohko’s dress split cleanly down the middle and the severed halves of the front hung limply off of her shoulders, leaving her chest and torso exposed for all to see.

"Why is it everytime I fight a monster, it tries to strip my clothes off?!" The devil hunter managed to say as she tried using her free hand to loosen what held her aloft.

"Fanservice, honey. That and it's rather easy to get you to keep those nasty powers of yours under wraps if you're distracted by the need to protect your modesty. " With that, Ian slashed at her again with his hand, this time from side-to-side, jerking her sword out of her grip and flinging it away from her. I quickly ducked behind my hiding place just in time for the blade to imbed itself in the trunk and the tip appear a few inches from my nose.

My eyes crossed slightly seeing that. "Hoookay... that was close..."

I looked back to the fight scene noticing Iroh trying to attack the possessed Irishman only to impact a barrier of energy that had formed around Ian’s body. Dax ratcheted up the power to her phaser and fired off several blasts, only to have them deflect off the shield uselessly. This… is wrong. This... I’m supposed to just sit here and watch this farce go on?!

Maybe it was the fact I'd felt useless up to that point in the fight, or the fact a friend of mine was in peril right in front of my eyes, or it was simply that odd suicidal urge humans get when a bigger threat than they are shows up making us pileup on it, but as my gaze focused on the edge of Yohko’s Soul Sword I stopped thinking and started doing.

I quickly grasped the blade and started pulling, hoping to loosen it enough so that I could shimmy it out of the tree trunk, only to have the weapon give off a slight glow and slide out of the wood as if it had been inside a sheath the whole time.

Not really caring for the ease of my sudden armament, I ran forward as fast as I could and took a downward swing at the possessed Irishman. The sword impacted hard against the energetic construct, sending numbing shocks up my arms. The twisted cackle of the demon filled my ears before cutting off suddenly. The sword had started glowing a little bit brighter as cracks began to show on the barrier where it had been touching the blade.

With a screeching hiss the hand that had been holding Yohko up let go of her and focused on me, blasting me clear and away from it’s owner. The irishman then leapt up from his standing position and arced high over everyone’s heads before landing somewhere behind the denser treeline and out of sight. For my part I’d been thrown back a fair distance only to make a sliding impact on the relatively soft ground. Amazingly I’d managed to keep a firm grip on Yohko’s soul sword the entire time and after I had shook off all the grass and such I walked back to where everyone else was… being slightly grilled by the cops that seen the whole thing.

Oh. Joy.

The lieutenant commander drew the police men's attention away from Iroh, Yohko and myself and began trying to cement our standing as the 'good guys' instead of fellow threats to the public good. Or she was trying to make like this was a movie scene being filmed, I wasn't really paying attention to that. Instead, I zeroed in on where the devil hunter had fallen during the fighting. She'd managed to shake off her sudden descent and was sitting upright on the grass while holding the halves of her sliced uniform closed to preserve as much of her dignity as possible.

"You gonna be okay, girl?" I smirked her way as she looked back up at me with a small smile creeping up her face.

“I’ll be okay, Jon. Not the first time I’ve been left like this at the end of a fight.” She gave off a sigh before continuing. ”I just wish it didn’t take a couple of hours for my dress to reform. Plus, I'll have to change back first!”

I blinked twice in surprise. "I thought that uniform of yours was part an’ parcel with the Yoma Ring?”

Yohko’s braids swayed to and fro as she shook her head in the negative. “I use the ring to transform, yea, but it's my own powers that allow the dress exist in the first place."

'That's an odd bit of trivia...' I moved to hand the Soul Sword back to its proper owner, and the moment the weapon left my hands I suddenly fell forward as my vision blacked out.
******

[Ryu Gabriev]

"...anyone get the number of that demon...?" I squeaked out as I woke up from whatever took me out. I sat up expecting to see EMTs everywhere, but the whole place was empty save for the gouges in the grass to mark what had taken place earlier.

The retired general was at my side suddenly, poking various sections of my body at random. "How do you feel, Jonathan? Any lightheadedness, perhaps?"

I thought about it for a second. "Not really, man. I'm kinda wondering what K.O.'d me in the first place."

Iroh chuckled lightly as his right hand fell upon my shoulder. "I have never seen one’s chi flare up so suddenly, so I can only guess to it’s side effects."

I did what now? "Now hold up, Iroh. At what point could I have done anything like that? All I did was swing Yohko’s sword at the demon, how would that 'flare up my chi'?"

The aged firebender shrugged. “I am unsure why that would have such an effect, all I know is that it has happened. Your energies have stirred and are slowly waxing. You should make sure to rest often and eat more than usual until your chi stabilizes.”

My eyes rolled in my head at the ‘medical advice’. “Thanks doc, I’ll get right on the feast preparations once we-” I suddenly jerked upwards into a standing position. “IAN! Where is he?!”

Dax’s voice turned my head to the left of me where she was fiddling with her tricorder. “He moved about a klik southwest and then stopped, as for the police they moved on when more reports came on their radio systems about other sorts of disturbances like this one.”

You’d think with a devil hunter on his tail he’d try to get as far away as he could. Reminded of our fourth party member, I started looking around the clearing for the young Mano woman. “So where’s Yohko at?”

The lieutenant commander gave a little smirk as she continued pressing buttons. “She’s back at the car waiting for us. I think she’s a little flustered after what happened.”

“Um… what exactly happened, Dax?”

Her smirk became a full blown snicker before she turned to face me.“When you passed out before you ended collapsing on top of Yohko, pushing you both down onto the ground. Your head ended up buried in her chest r-right after.”

Dax and Iroh both started laughing at that image as my mind filled in the blanks, actually making me blush and grimace at the same time. “Figures. First time I come in contact with tits that don’t belong to my mother and I’m unconscious for the whole thing.”

“I-it got even better when you mumbled how comfortable it was while laying there!”

That brought forth a whole new round of laughter from the pair so I, in turn, hightailed it back to the car. It was still in the side lot I had parked it in earlier, the devil hunter quietly sitting in the front passenger seat with the door hanging open. I started to move towards the car but stalled to a halt. What would I say, exactly? Sorry for doing a faceplant into your boobs and noting the softness while asleep?

...Ah, fuck it. Just apologize man, it’s not like you had a chance with her beyond being friends anyway.

I moved up to the passenger side of the car and got Yohko’s attention only to again freeze up for an instant when she locked eyes with mine. I shook it off quickly before bowing my head in the Japanese style as best I could while saying how sorry I was for embarrassing her earlier. I know, it’s odd to do that sort of thing but I honestly thought it might help in some way.

"Why are you apologizing, Jon?" I lifted my head while keeping my bent over position allowing me to see the young Mano woman looking at me with a rather confused expression. “I mean, it’s very nice you actually bowed like back home instead of however you do it here but it’s not like you planned to fall unconscious into my chest, right?”

My cheeks heated up slightly in response and I just managed to stutter out an agreement. “Um, but that said, Yohko, why exactly are you being so understanding about all this? I always thought girls would react… erm, what’s a good word for this?”

The Japanese woman’s eyes became half-lidded as a smirk grew on her face. “Aggressively?”

“That’s actually one of the words I was trying to avoid." I grimaced slightly. "Besides, you did react as expected before back in the hotel room."

Now it was the Devil Hunter's turn to frown. "That was different, Jon."

And I, in turn, now sported a smirk. “Uh huh. Same situation, same body location, different reaction. Try again.”

Yohko huffed and turned her head away from me, her body slowly tensing up. “It-it’s just different, Jon.”

“I’m sure it is in Yohko’s World, but if you want it to make sense in Jon’s World you’re gonna have to give me more than ‘It’s different.’” My smirk faded as Yohko seemed to shrink in on herself mumbling something quietly. “C’mon girl, what’s up? What’s got you speaking on eggshells around me?”

“...the fact that there isn’t any way to save Ian apart from killing him...”

I blinked once, twice, and twice more before I spoke up again. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that? Because it sounded very much like you said you were considering killing. My. Friend.”

I dunno if it was her guilt over the situation or how my face looked at that moment, but either way the Devil Hunter turned to face me for an instant before shivering slightly and jerking her gaze the other way.

“Jon, you saw how trying to restrain him almost got us killed. If you were in his position, wouldn’t you want to make sure that you were stopped, even if that meant having to die?” I turned back around to see that Dax and Iroh had finally caught up to us. As the Trill met my eyes with her own she stood her ground and continued speaking. “Iroh doesn’t know how to get this… whatever this is out of your friend. Nothing in Starfleet Sciences or Federation protocols involving telepaths that my previous hosts or myself have seen comes close to what I just witnessed back there. And while Yohko mentioned a talisman of hers that might do the job-”

My head perked up at that, a smile slowly growing on my face.

“-that spell requires materials that would take far too long for her to get without accepting the fact that the next time Ian goes on the move he might hit something far more populated than a public park.”

My head dropped as the frowning snarl slapped itself back onto my face quick as could be. ...She’s right. They’re right. Even if Yohko started drawing the ofuda right now there just wouldn’t be… enough… time? Hang on a sec-

My eyes locked with Dax’s in an instant. “Dax, how long does someone remain under the effects of a maximum stun blast?”

The Trill Scientist looked slightly stunned at my suggestion before continuing. “An average adult humanoid would be under for about 4-6 hours at that setting, provided a non-critical area was hit like the brain. But some humanoids are capable of shaking off the effects much sooner, those can be up in about an hour or less. ”

The aged firebender stepped into the conversation at that moment. “Miss Yohko, might it be possible for you to create one of your talismans within that time if the conditions were ideal?”

A small smile started to blossom upon the Mano woman’s face as she thought about it. “...maybe. The biggest problem is in making sure the characters are drawn precisely, but if I’m in an area without any kinds of distractions, I think I can do it.”

The lieutenant commander’s voice cut into the conversation as she unholstered her phaser. “Jon, my phaser didn’t work on him using the stun setting before. Even at maximum, I think it’s too dangerous to try this idea of yours.”

A part of me smirked at that. “Dax, I think we have to try. Besides, I think it’s more accurate to say your phaser didn’t work on his shield, instead of him.” There was more… C’mon Jon if you don’t convince ‘em of this you’re gonna have to go along with killing your friend and it’ll be your fault! “I think that… the demon inside of Ian has given him powers like that of a psyker, so first we need to-”

“What exactly is a ‘psyker’, Jonathan?” Iroh spoke up suddenly, interrupting me.

“It’s a use-all term for beings that can develop multiple types of mental abilities like telekinesis or telepathy, some stories and games use it. Anyway, I think what we can do is-”

Now Dax got in on derailing my train of thought. “Now wait just a minute! Are you trying to tell us you came up with this plan of yours from these games you like to play?!”

I snapped back at her with a fair amount of the stress I’d been building up at that point. “YES Dax, I’ve come up with a very hairbrained scheme to save Ian that I came up with using my game trivia and observational knowledge from the last fight that may in reality have a snowball’s chance in hell of actually working. Now can I please tell you guys my idea so we can get on with it or shoot it down?!”

No one gave a reply to that, but the retired general was suddenly next to me and giving that same super glare that he’d hit me with when we first met. I flinched back slightly, but then started returning his glare with my own. Moments started to pass, and just when I thought he was gonna turn me down, he suddenly stepped away from me with the serious look still on his face. “I… will help you with this plan, my young friend. But I think that we should also prepare for the worst case scenario, in case this idea of yours fails to succeed.”

I thought about it for a second, then nodded my agreement. Dax and Yohko were soon on board as well, and I detailed my first crazy plan to they who would become my team.

[Cheb]

This forum sorely lacks a Like button, like the one on spacebattles, for people like me who have nothing useful to say
Like+.

[Ryu Gabriev]

Let ME be the judge on what are useful comments and what aren't. Like you said, this place would do well with a like button, but at the same time I like seeing comments from other posters about my work. Never know when a random phrase will trigger a flood of new inspiration for me.

[ckosacranoid]

An amusing story so far.

[Ryu Gabriev]

An amusing story so far.

Thanks man.