Journey West 11: Black Circus

    “What…the…hell?”

    That is the thought shared by the whole party as they enter this…area outside the river side city of Shall-We. People, whole families, their children, are all walking and laughing about the dusty paths between various tents and booths. Line of people waiting to ride on a giant mechanical device with spider like arms holding little cars with safety bars, the riders spin about in the little cars even as the larger device spins them all about. Another has carts raising them in a big circle through the air; “a Ferris wheel?” is what Betty says as she sees it. There are booths with toy guns shooting metal duck shaped plates, throwing odd balls from some sport no one other than Betty, Gold Wolf, and Rhulan *although vaguely in her case* recognizes being thrown at heavy metal bottles. There is a game for throwing darts at balloons, picking up ducks in a ring of water with prizes written on the underside, even a game with a paper net to catch tiny fish to take home as pets.

    “A…carnival?” half asks Betty,

    “Yeah,” says Gold Wolf

   “Must be a big celebration like back home right Rhulan? Or like Bostonia’s docks perhaps?” asks Hollia

   “I…guess so,” says Rhulan, although back in Stratalia their games and attractions were more…medieval so to speak, even Bostonia was not quite this advanced in its games where one would throw knives here are games to throw darts, where one would watch magic golems here are puppets and toy robots, where one would buy roasted boar, here is cotton candy. Rhulan recognizes these treats, these rides, but none of it is anything that has ever been seen on Aesperia before; other than vaguely similar to what Bostonia has; but still definitely more advanced in material and mechanics than anything Bostonia could make.

   A child laughs near them as they win a stuffed bear from a game where one shoots water into a clown head to fill up a balloon.

   Betty looks at the game, something isn’t right, it should be a simple primitive device, but…with her angelic eyes she sees something impossible, a tiny wormhole, a rip in dimensions in the back of the clown’s mouth, and another into the balloon, what should be a primitive carnival game is instead needlessly using very advanced technology, she looks around…all the attractions are like that, they look primitive to the casual observer but the tech is camouflaged, its actually all ridiculously advanced, she thinks perhaps the locals are mistaking it for magic and not thinking anything of it. She watches the popped balloons in the dart game heal and re-inflate, the paper nets in the gold fish game do the same, and every so often the ducks in the prize game randomly teleport around. This all looks somehow familiar to her, the exact type of technology underneath, and then it hits her, her eyes open wide.

   Betty turns to say something to the others, but instead finds Rhulan and Hollia purchasing hot dogs, a food neither Hollia nor Lin Lin ever had before, and Cata is trying her luck at a pop gun game. Gold Wolf doesn’t seem to really care, but a look in the corner of his eye tells her he’s tempted to mess with some of the games but is trying to look cool.

   Betty’s suspicions however are put on hold as Hollia urges everyone over to something she overheard some people talking about, a tent with unusual animals never seen before.

     -High above the circus

    *Flash*

    Corinth appears and looks down upon the area, all the colorful tents, all around a large rather odd for such a festive occurrence black center tent. She senses something else…something she shouldn’t be sensing on this world.

    *flash*

    Inside the tent for the unusual animals the party sees something that even Rhulan doesn’t know anything about, it’s a large red crab with long stalk eyes, and cartoon like eyes at that. It’s walking back and forth in a cage filled with fire, and the top of the crab’s body is one fire, the carnival barker calls it a Fire Crab. In another cage are the same blue slimes the party had fought before, the carnival barker calls them Aqua Slimes, there are also other weird creatures, a fleshy blob with tentacles, a jelly fish floating in the air, a giant pink skin covered creature shaped like a dinosaur but with an eyeless head and large almost worm like mouth and long sticky tongue, the carnival barker claims its an artificial creature from whose native world they are used as transportation, one actually rides inside it. To the horrified gasps of the everyone other than the party…other than Hollia that is who also gasps, the carnival barker lets the thing eat him, swallow him down, and then climb back out of its mouth, to the claps of the patrons who see it as some trick. A few people murmur that it’s probably some kind of golem made like that just to freak them out, other murmur that these are animals from around the world, or chimeras from Croix, amongst other speculations.

    “So tell me,” says Corinth surprising the party as they exit the tent, “are these creatures native to this world?”

    Rhulan smiles, “You know they’re not.”

    “They’re not?” asks Hollia.


    Before anyone can answer further a loud voice booms across the grounds.

   “Come one, come all, the main event for today is about to begin in the central tent, yes, the big black tent at the heart of our circus ladies, gentlemen, and children. Come one, come all, for the greatest show you’ll ever see!”

    “Awfully presumptuous statement wouldn’t you agree?” asks Corinth

   Rhulan smiles, “Oh I don’t know, I’m still trying to decide if you’re behind this.”

   “Not at all,” says Corinth faking being taken back, “In fact I am as curious as you are about what is really going on here.”

    “If my eyes were closed,” thinks Gold Wolf, “I’d swear she was talking to herself.”

    “Well,” says Hollia, “the best way to find out is to go that big tent right?”

   Rhulan smiles, “Of course. They promise a show, lets see this show then.”

   Betty feels uneasy as they walk towards the black tent, somehow its familiar but she still can’t remember how specifically, the tech is similar to something else she knows very well, but this place is…off. She looks over at Gold Wolf whose expression betrays that he too is thinking something similar.

    ******

    The interior is just as one may have imagined, stands full of people, clearly the one nearby town is not the only place people had traveled from to come here. With out a doubt flyers must have been up in every town with in a day’s journey by horse from here. The ground is made of three rings, the ones on the outskirts have clowns in them, small gags, and feats of athletic display to entertain the people before everyone is gathered in the large tent.

   The party, along with Corinth, take seats at the front, near the center ring, somehow Corinth managed to grab them all tickets for this spot, no one is asking how or complaining.

    Cata looks around, “I can’t believe no one is giving me a second glance,” she whispers dumb founded.

    “They wouldn’t” says Gold Wolf, “but it takes some getting used to, trust me. Back home my hair and ears put everyone on edge, but this area we’re in right here thanks to prizing one’s personal power above things like magic has become famous…*he nods his head a little*…and infamous for having all sorts of creatures wandering about doing bounty hunting jobs you wouldn’t expect, Draconians, there’s talk of a Bunny Girl with guns…*he pauses pondering that one for a moment as though the thought slightly troubles him but he can’t remember why*…and *he smiles at this one*, I have heard rumors that there is a man wandering about who wears a body concealing robe and uses a voice modulator that makes him sound mechanical, who is in actuality a Devil.”

   He shakes his head, “can’t imagine one of those mountain dwelling psychos actually doing that though, just a rumor.”

   Rhulan sits next to him, with Hollia and Lin Lin next to her, surprising him (mostly because they are holding big bundles of pink cotton candy). Rhulan holding a cone of pink and fluffy cotton candy, now Gold Wolf thinks he has seen it all.

    “Its true,” says Rhulan.

   “Huh?” says Gold Wolf.

   “The Devil in the robes with the voice modulator.”

   “No offense,” says Gold Wolf, “but how would you know?”

   “Because,” says Rhulan with a smirk as she sucks down half the cotton candy in a strange slurp as though the inside of her mouth defied the very laws of physics as well, “he was at the same inn you were back in Sae-Rin.”

    “What?” says Gold Wolf.

   “Yeah,” continues Rhulan, “In fact he was in the bar at the same time you were, think back. At the back of the bar there was a man in body concealing robes. I could sense that he was in fact a Devil.”

    *they continue to chatter on the subject*

    *pst* whispers Betty to Hollia, “you don’t like demons right?”

   “yeah,” whispers Hollia wandering why she’d ask now.

   “Well,” says Hollia, “you don’t seem to be all that surprised or concerned about a devil being on this planet.”

    “Huh?” says Hollia a bit loud and laughing a little, “oh, sorry Miss Betty,” says Hollia as she composes herself, “Devils are just called that because they have clawed hands and feet, have these horn like stiff hair…or bat wing shaded things on their heads, and big bat like wings from their backs, and stuff like that…they’re just like Were-cats and Bunny-Girls, just people…you know…humanoids, just not Aesperians like us…er…Rhulan and I… and most everyone else…except you and Miss Cata, and…uh, you know what I mean.”


     Rhulan smiles as she finishes off her cotton candy, “Hollia, you may want to eat some of that before Lin Lin gobbles it all down.”

   Lin Lin has been slurping up Hollia’s cotton candy while she was distracted, now she begins a semi-competition with her familiar for the remainder.

   Rhulan sits back and smiles, “It is amazing how far the humanoids have come thanks to the positive influence of us Aesperians. Imagine they could have spent who knows how much longer wandering around eating each other and licking their own butts.”

    Cata semi-glares at this comment.

   Any further dialogue is cut-off as the lights dim, and only the center ring is illuminated. Three men stand at the center, from a distance one could mistake their faces for a matching set, but up close despite having the same shoulder length straight brown hair, and mustache/goatee combo, their faces are not the same. Their costumes of course set them apart the most. The man in the center is dressed in what on other worlds would be known as a traditional ring master’s costume, with the white pants, red jacket with its brass buttons, and his black top hat.

    The man to his right however is wearing a most unusual hat, a tan colored tall hat, something known to be worn by priests in Nipponia, except that theirs are black. His white robes have a gold trim to them, and he wears a gold vest over them, which looks to be in very bad taste. Over his shoulders he has a green silk scarf with Kanji writing on it; and yet over this too he has a cape; which is its self the same color as his hat, except that this cape has a gold trim similar to his robes. He even has white gloves like the man in the center.

   The man to the Ring Master’s left is dressed in a black magician’s suit with a violet trim with meaningless runes in the trim. He is wearing a green cape with a violet trim with the same meaningless runes in it. In all this man looks completely out of place, and mismatched.

    “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and everything in-between and beyond,” announces the Ring Master through unseen speakers, “I am the Ring Master, and I am welcome you all to the Black Circus.”

    *Betty narrows her eyes*

    The Ring Master continues, “I am the Ring Master, to my right is our esteemed comrade Catalyst, this man has the power of transmutation. Give them an example my friend!”

    Catalyst steps forward as a clown off in the dark kicks a large colorful plastic ball towards him. Catalyst’s hands glow green, a glow which he then throws off his hands at the ball. Upon impact the ball turns to glass and then shatters under its own weight. The audience claps as a clown comes forward and cleans up the mess quickly. Catalyst takes a
bow and steps back.

    “and now,” announces the Ring Master, “the man to my left is known as The Grand Summoner, for those of you who visited our zoo you have seen the strange supernatural creatures he summoned for the exhibit.”

    *Corinth narrows her eyes and smiles clutching her staff tightly as though anxious for something*

    The Ring Master continues, “Now my friend show them something truly bizarre, something beyond the realm of nature or man’s ingenuity.”

    Grand Summoner steps forward, he holds out his hands as a large green sigil appears on the ground, from it appears about a dozen abominations, small creatures whose bodies are just a giant eye ball with a red iris and little bat wings coming out of the side.”

   “By the goddess,” says a man behind the party, “to think magic really can summon such horrors.”

   Corinth turns to this man, “Oh please, those are low level cannon fodder.”

   *Flash* the man is practically blinded by her teleporting, and sits back blinking rapidly to recover.

   *Flash* Corinth appears in the center ring, and with out provocation or warning she taps her staff against the ground creating a massive golden bright sigil.

    “Now come forth,” says Corinth, “In the name of the Light and the Shadow I summon you, Living Darts!”

    From above the sigil, which vanishes quickly, numerous small things appear. One might best describe them as resembling paper airplanes made of feathers with six tiny red specks for eyes *not that anyone standing more than three feet from one could see this feature*.

   Corinth aims her staff at the Flying Eyes, the Living Darts dash as fast as the winds, shredding each one via a “bull’s eye” the Flying Eyes vanish in bursts of blue flames.

    Rhulan leans forward, “I thought as much.”

   The three men turn surprised.

   “I see,” says the Ring Master, “although you are an unexpected interloper, you were sitting with them. It seems we are found out my friends.”

   A spot light shines on the seated party.

   “My friends!” announces the Ring Master, “We have special guests with us tonight!”

    He then says in a menacing tone, “In fact this whole circus was set up just for them.”

   He waves to them to come down, “So come on down, Betty the Baroness, and her cohorts.”

   The party leaps down, well they mostly fly down, to stand at the other end of the center ring, next to where Corinth is; who with a wave of her staff makes the Living Darts vanish by rippling away as though they were only heat waves.

   “Valued audience members!” announces the Ring Master, “Do not be alarmed by the barrier I am about to construct.”

   He taps the ground with a black cane that has just appeared, a red dome forms over them all, looking very much like the Aegis Shield Rhulan and Hollia erect as a combo move.

   “This barrier,” he announces, “will protect you all from the battle, and as a bonus it will allow you to see and hear what happens with in it.”

   He points his cane at the party, “While we enjoy entertaining people, we are also crime fighters! These people are heinous criminals wanted across time and space.”

     He points at Betty, “This woman is their leader, Betty the Baroness, a vile pirate who is a traitor to the Royal Angels and has pirated across many worlds, beside her is Cata, a vile cat creature and her second in command in her pirate activities.”

   He smiles smugly and twirls his cane before pointing at Gold Wolf and each in turn, “Here we have a mad demon named Gold Wolf, along with Hollia a dangerous witch with her dragon familiar. The one in the middle however is their client, perhaps even their benefactor in their evil endeavors, the evil empress Rhulan!”

   Much to his surprise the audience starts clapping and cheering, Rhulan smiles, Betty however doesn’t look amused.

   “Now then,” says the Ring Master, “you are advised to stand down and surrender or else face our full power.”

    “Nothing but a bunch of clowns.” says Gold Wolf, “I could vaporize them in one shot.”



    “Don’t be so hasty,” says Rhulan, “Something tells me they aren’t bad…just gullible.” She looks over at Betty who is watching the man in the middle intently.

    Rhulan looks at him, “hmmm.”

   “Now then,” says the Ring Master, “If you wont surrender then I will have to show you the folly of your ways.”

   He takes his hat off and yells, “Hat Trick!” a massive flock of doves shoot out from it and circle above the party.”

   “If they crap on us then I’ll vaporize them.” growls Cata.

   The man named Catalyst sends a green circular shock wave into the flock turning them all to stone.

   As the fall Hollia yells out, “Saint’s Barrier!” she had secretly been chanting the spell in her head in case the birds pooped or swooped down. She watches in horror as they smash to pieces against her barrier.

   “By the goddess,” says Hollia, “how cruel to summon birds only to…”

   *POW!*

    Everyone looks to Rhulan as just now, despite still being where they started her fist has just smashed into the Ring Master’s face. The Ring Master, before any of them could have noticed must have dashed at them while they were distracted by the stone birds and was able to move right through Hollia’s barrier; and yet despite this Rhulan with a simple move of her arm struck him square on the nose.

   Ring Master dashes back to between the other two in complete surprise.

   “How dare you!” yells out Grand Summoner who calls forth six skeletons armed with swords.

   With movements so fast she might as well have been teleporting by this man’s eyes Cata with her bare claws races between each skeleton slicing it apart, each vanishing in blue flames. Just before she reaches Grand Summoner though Ring Master appears before her, surprising her and with thrust of his hand blasts her with a large white fire ball; which carries her backwards. Much to his surprise however before it can slam her into the barrier she stops and swipes the blast apart with her claw.

   “You’re quick,” says Cata, “but no where near strong enough to pose a real challenge to a Kuhrai warrior.”


   She draws her swords, and noticing the Ring Master’s puzzled expression says, “I don’t know what damned fool fed you all garbage, but you little Dimension Police grunts are up against the combined powers of a Kuhrai, A Kuhrai-kin with a dragon, two elves, and
a Super Aesperian who once ruled this entire world!”

   The audience starts clapping and cheering again, this time it really confuses Ring Master.

    Rhulan summons her sword, The Runic Blade while thinking, “this weapon may slow my speed significantly, but it should also get the message across.”

   The Ring Master looks at her weapon in total shock, with a wave of his hand he makes Catalyst and Grand Summoner vanish in puffs of smoke, they both re-appear outside the barrier in the audience. This amuses the audience members near where they appeared who chatter about, “what a good show.” which of course causes these two to exchange glances of “what the hell is going on here?”

    Ring Master taps the ground five times with his staff, each time a double of him appears. They spread out, semi surrounding the party.

   Rhulan smiles, “take your pick, remember they are only doubles, mere solid illusions, just like the doves…”

 *Hollia shows relief*

   “So don’t bother holding back, the main one is targeting me it seems.”

    Ring Master dashes forward, his cane becoming a sword, and locks blades with Rhulan, “you may be strong,” he says, “but my doubles can handle the others, we will arrest your boss and bring you all in too.”

   “Idiot,” says Rhulan with a smile as they hear, “Light of Destruction”

   *kaboom!*

   One of the doubles flies past them in the air, thrown by an explosion caused by an explosive light beam from Corinth’s staff, the double vanishes, turning into a scrap of paper shaped like a man.

    “Oh I get it,” says Hollia, “they’re Shikigami, shape shifting paper golems that he sent out from his staff, went under the stand and appear in his likeness.”

   “Lord of the frozen depths
     Keeper of the world below the cold
     Master of white
     Master of blue
     Lend me thine spears to pierce the soul of my enemies
     Ice Shards!


 Hollia swings her staff sending out a volley of Ice Shards the size of spears and six times as thick. The copies are no where near as fast as the original, one is impaled. It however only slowly starts to turn back to paper, feeling no pain from being impaled through the gut, which apparently while not an outright fatal attack would have disabled and then killed a normal person, but having no organs an attack that maims but doesn’t destroy most of the body doesn’t prevent the copy from aiming its hand forward, and with a twisted smile its hand starts to glow.

   *fwoosh!*

   However before it can attack a Fire Salamandra attack from Lin Lin finishes it off.

  *kaboom*

   A gold energy beam from Gold Wolf finishes off another.

   *zaaap & boom!*

   A combo electric blast and fire blast from Betty’s twin guns vaporizes another, her weapons’ strength surprises Ring Master as he had heard she had customized them to be much weaker, and those paper doll copies could have handled the weaker versions. He smiles at Rhulan and…he is confused, he is trying to vanish backwards but…he finds himself stuck in place.

   Beneath the ground however, more copies appear regardless. He says, “I don’t know how you stuck me here, but I have thousands of those under the ground here, each will adapt from the destruction of the last, getting stronger each time, you have no choice but too…”

   “Good,” whispers Rhulan to Ring Master, her eyes shining, “and while they’re distracted by your toys I’ll put an end to this, let’s see I could slice you in half, drain all your life force out, or perhaps just extend my telekinetic hold’s strength and crush you where you stand you sick expositionist  freak.”

   The utter malice in her voice tells him she is serious, but just as she starts to say, “slee..”

    “Enough!” screams out Betty, her white wings emerging from her back, causing the
audience to go “oooh”



    “These people,” says Betty, “you are clearly the Black Circus, you are a vigilante hero group that broke off from the Dimension Police! While you may have reason, albeit below your usual fare of dealing with interdimensional criminals, with me…and perhaps Rhulan, I can’t say for certain.”

   Rhulan sighs, “did she just slip a joke in that?”

   “You have no business on this world, you are ordered to stand down, after all Ring Master you are clearly paralyzed despite your Space Time distortion abilities, caught by Miss Rhulan’s trap, not to mention this!”

   She emits a golden light that causes all the copies to turn back to paper, and also frees Ring Master from the hold Rhulan has on him.

   He leaps back, and starts to get his breath, a bit more shaken than he’d like.

   “Mercy?” says Ring Master, “this psycho was going to put me to sleep and then kill me away from the prying eyes of the crowd…expositionist…”

    He glares at her and snaps his fingers. A dozen others appear in the dome, people in clown costumes, a guy in black leather a trench coat and a weapon disguised as a shot gun, amongst a myriad of tough guy and gal weirdoes; as well of course Catalyst and Grand Summoner who rejoin them.

    “The battle has only begun!” says the Ring Master with a yell, as he points at Betty who collapses, her wings shrinking down but not vanishing; her holy light gone. Rhulan notices too that her sword seems to have lost its power, and yet to Ring Master’s surprise she opens a portal to recall it.

   “Betty the Baroness is right!” he yells, “I have the power to warp space time, in other words dimensional distortion, manipulation, and formation!”

   He points at Rhulan, “Not sure how you called away your weapon, but I have enhanced the barrier, no more summoned monsters from the blond, no more holy power can be called down by Betty the Baroness, and no more mercy. I was just going to arrest you all, but now…but now…”

   He glares at Rhulan, “No one puts me at their mercy! No one threatens to cut me in half or suck out my soul, only to turn around and make it a joke by starting a sleeping spell…you psycho! And no one…I repeat no one calls the Ring Master an exposionist!”

    “Swarm of Scalpels!”

   A black portal has appeared, similar to the one Rhulan uses for her sword, except this is in the air and large, and from it thousands of scalpels have flown out like rain between the two groups. A man floats down from the portal, a tall Japanese man with short brown hair, clean shaven face, wearing a lab coat and doctor’s cloths. He moves his hand to his face to adjust his large circle frame reading glasses.

   He floats down; looks back at Betty with a concerned expression and then back at the Ring Master, “I Baron Bon Lon by the jurisdiction of the Dimension Police place the Black Circus under arrest, specifically you Ring Master, for conspiring with a known class-S criminal against the royalty of two worlds, and the Kuhrai military.”

   “What the hell are you talking about?” demands Ring Master, “we are here on behalf of a client from this planet who told us about these criminals and where to go to cut them off and trap them…that’s all.”

   “An anonymous client?” says Baron Bon Lon, “contacting a group stationed between dimensions, from THIS planet? You are aware you are in Other World correct? And that even a basic look around would tell you that no one we know about could have contacted you from this planet...”

   He looks at Rhulan, “except maybe this person, from our scans, which by the way we have a squad of ships just outside this circus surrounding it in case you get any crazy ideas, is the only one showing the technological signs on interdimensional communications…well aside from three or four points waaaaay to the west of here, and of course Betty…”

   He looks at Ring Master, “your anonymous informant was The Thing Named Jim, of course you’ll have time to explain how you didn’t know any of this back at headquarters.”

    A dozen or so uniformed men, like fancy sci-fi cops, teleport around as the barrier vanishes. All the weirdoes go with out a fight, the Ring Master stands still, clearly angry and confused as Baron Bon Lon approaches him and whispers, “Even with a plea of ignorance you’re still getting the involvement of a developing culture slapped on you.”

    “Developing culture.” says Rhulan almost hissing.

   “Miss Rhulan?” asks Hollia as Rhulan flies high into the air and announces, “Ladies and Gentlemen, and children of all ages, we thank you for coming to our show, the showdown between the misguided hero groups, a classic example of how two groups of heroes can easily mistake each other for enemies and try to fight with out seriously harming the other. We hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to continue the rest of the circus until we close down for the night.”

   At this the audience starts to file out, some liked it, some felt it was a bit contrived and some parts a little out there and confusing.

   Rhulan walks up to both men, “Black Circus man, the circus was fun.”

   She genuinely smiles, “The last part could have been better, you really should learn to calm down a bit, you almost lost the audience with that outburst, when you’re facing the evil empress of the world you should expect dirty tricks and vicious threats, not to mention a few insults. Which in case you didn’t know, because clearly you didn’t, the audience figured the whole thing was fake right when you referred to me as the evil empress Rhulan. In case you didn’t know, around here, you basically called me a character from a legend from a thousand years ago who may or may not have existed.”

   She shrugs, “that’s what happens after a thousand years you know, history becomes legend, legend becomes myth, etcetera etcetera.”

    “So,” says Ring Master, “I pretty much might as well have told the audience I was…fighting The Evil Prince John from Robin Hood.”

    “Yes,” says Rhulan.

   “Wait,” thinks Baron Bon Lon, “she got that reference? Who the hell is this woman?”

    “Any who,” says Corinth butting in, “If the fights over, I’ll be leaving.”

   “You could have done that at anytime,” says Rhulan.

   “Yeah,” says Corinth, “and you could have dismantled that barrier and crushed all these guys with one shot.”

    *flash*