Back in Seattle, Lana was busy busking at a local coffee shop, “the Grindcore”.  The Grindcore was the sort of place that encouraged busking, offer young musicians a chance to show their stuff to patrons, and perhaps catch the eye of a passing talent agent. Of course, with so many people performing daily, it is hard to stand out amongst the crowd (even more so in Lana’s case now that she was a foot tall). As she played, vague memories of her life as a human slowly crept into her mind, memories of herself being five foot tall (not much by human standards, but still). With this new information in her mind, Lana came to one conclusion: her life was just as difficult now as it was back then. 

After she finished playing, Lana heard a familiar voice call out, “Hey Lana! Wait up!” Looking up, she saw that it was Roxanne, one of the regular buskers. Lana knew Roxanne well and to be honest, she looked the same as she always did even as an elf, with her side shaved blonde hair, pale white skin, and slender frame (the only real difference being her pointy ears and her slightly larger than average eyes). “Oh, hey Roxanne,” Lana said as she packed up her guitar. “What’s up?” “Not much. Just wanted to let you know you’re boyfriend’s here to see you,” Roxanne explained. “Boyfriend?” Lana asked in confusion. “What’re you talking about? I don’t have a boyfriend.” “Well he didn’t say he was your boyfriend exactly,” Roxanne continued as she set her guitar case down. “He said you two went on a date a few days ago, so I just connected the dots from there. Do you remember him? He’s a black guy... tall... lean but well built... dreadlocks... says he’s from Trinidad but sounds like he’s from Jamaica.” Realizing who she was talking about, Lana said in reply, “Oh right, now I know who you’re talking about. That’s Lamar, he’s a friend of a friend. We were actually supposed to go on another date, but we both got caught up in work things, so... y’know.” “Well he’s here now,” Roxanne said as she opened up her guitar case. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll get that second date after all.” Hearing this, Lana nodded in agreement, grabbed her case, and made her way off the stage. 

It did not take Lana long to find Lamar’s table, only to be surprised by Lamar’s appearance. His clothes were a little more ragged, one shoe torn open to reveal claw-like toes. His dreadlocks moved about of their own will, one lock gently brushing against a golden, stitch-like scar on his neck. He quietly drummed his long clawed fingers on the table as he stared down at the fairy with glowing red eyes. Assuming that this was what he really looked like, Lana simply looked past it and sat herself down. “Well, here we are,” Lamar said, smiling a grin that exposed his oversized canines. “How have you been mi dear?” “I’ve been doing pretty great Lamar,” Lana answered. “Except I haven’t seen you since our last date. What have you been doing this whole time?” “Eh, it’s a long story,” Lamar said with a shrug. “It goes months back, long before any of us met you or your roommates. You probably wouldn’t be interested.” “Oh come on, please tell me,” Lana said teasingly, pouting her lip a bit. “I’m just dying to know. Would you tell me if I bought you a coffee?” Thinking it over, Lamar answered, “I tink I might. Aight den, you convinced me.” With that, Lamar leaned in close to Lana and began, “It all started months ago, in a time dat we have come to know as ‘Krockman’s Darkest Hour’.” 
—————— 

Months ago in Limbo, Lamar was trying to a candy bar out of a vending machine with very little luck. “Goddamn it!” he shouted as he smacked the side of the machine. “I already paid for dat Milkyway! Now give me de fucking Milkyway!” As he was slapping the machine, Lamar heard a familiar voice call out, “Woah! Slow your roll there bud.” Looking up, he saw that it was Alucard, staring at him while a big, fat, sweaty guy waited beside him. “What exactly is going on here?” Alucard asked as he raised an eyebrow. “Oh mon, it’s dis damn vending machine,” Lamar explained, pointing at the offending vendor. “I paid for de Milkyway, but de damn ting stopped halfway trough vending. I swear to god, one of dese days, I’m just gonna chuck dis piece of shit out de window.” “I see. So the candy bar’s stuck huh?” Alucard said, taking a closer look at the machine. “You know you don’t have to slap it like that. The real trick is that you have to punch it in just the right spot, like so.” With that, Alucard punched the vending machine in the side, which only caused the Milkyway to retract further back into its slot. Staring on in disbelief, the pale lost soul said to the machine, “Well, you’re just being a little bitch today, aren’t you?” Lamar only muttered under his breath, “Piece of shit.” 

Looking over at the fat lost soul, Lamar asked, “Ay, Alucard, who’s de fat guy, and why is he so sweaty?” “Oh this is Grubber,” Alucard explained. “He’s one of the architects that applied for that new casino project Krockman has planned. He’s actually here to show off some blueprints he sketched out to Krockman. Also, I think the sweating problem is a medical condition.” “Seriously, he’s going to do a pitch to Krockman now?” Lamar asked in a concerned tone. “Don’t you tink it’s a little early for dat? I mean, Krockman is still grieving over what happened to his cousins.” “Yeah, I know. It’s a little soon,” Alucard said, shrugging his shoulders. “But honestly, this was already scheduled and we can’t put it off any longer.” Glancing over towards Grubber, Lamar sighed, saying, “Fine, I’ll see if he’s willing to talk. Just make sure fatty here is capable of being professional.” Hearing this, Grubber ran up to Lamar and ecstatically shook his hand, spraying the Trinidadian with spittle as he said, “Oh thank you sir. I promise you won’t be disappointed.” With that, the architect ran off ahead of the pair, leaving the pair of lost souls behind. Glancing over towards Alucard, Lamar asked, “Is it just me, or does Grubber...” “Seem like a sprayer? Oh yeah, totally,” Alucard answered hastily. “My talk with him felt like I was riding Splash Mountain.” Shaking his head a bit, Lamar made his way to Krockman’s room, where the bloated architect was waiting patiently. 

When he arrived, Lamar knocked on the door, saying, “Ay Krockman. You got a guest. You up?” As if on queue, rustling could be heard inside the room as an irritated looking Krockman opened the door. “What?” Krockman asked flatly as he glared at the small group. Pushing his way to the front, Grubber said, “Mr. Krockman, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Grubber, and it is such an honor to speak with you personally. I think you’ll find my design is going to be...” “God, stop talking!” Krockman shouted, having been sprayed by a constant stream of spit coming from Grubber’s mouth. “It’s like I’m talking to sprinkler! Just say what you want to say and leave.” Growing nervous, Grubber continued, “Um, right, I’m one of the architects you hired. I’m here to show you the blueprints for the new casino you had commissioned.” Glaring at the architect, Krockman asked, “And I care about this because?” “Uh, because you commissioned the casino to be built. This was your idea, remember?” Grubber asked nervously. “Oh yes, but that was the old Krockman,” Krockman retorted coolly. “This is the new Krockman you’re talking to, and he really doesn’t care about these crappy casinos or all that other bullshit, no sir.” As Grubber stammered in shock, Krockman continued, “Look, uh, Grubber is it? You seem like a nice guy. I’ll tell you what, you want to make the casino? Go ahead. Who cares anymore? I certainly don’t. Not one bit.” With that, Krockman slowly backed up into his room and closed the door, leaving the whole group confused. 

Staring at the door, Lamar and Alucard cast worried glances toward each other as Grubber stood there in confusion. “Um, well then... uh, I better get started on that casino then,” Grubber said as he slowly backed away and ran off into the hall. “Okay, dis is getting out of hand,” Lamar said as he cracked his knuckles. “We got to put an end to dis. You want me to do mi ting or what?” Alucard only nodded solemnly in approval. Seeing, Lamar breathed deeply and exhaled before punching the door down, flooding Krockman’s room with light. “Krockman! It’s time to get up!” Lamar shouted as he marched over towards Krockman, who was curled up in his bed. “Get your polack ass out of dat bed.” Glancing over at his friends, Krockman retorted, “Can’t a man wallow in his misery in peace? Get out.” “Krockman, we know you’re upset about your cousins dying, and we know it was tragic and you have a right to grieve,” Alucard said, trying to play the good cop. “But it’s been three months. The grieving period is over. It’s time to get back to work. Seriously, we own the Universe for christ’s sakes.” “Yeah, we do own the Universe,” Krockman retorted as he sat up in his bed. “But somehow, we end up no more powerful than when we were living humans. We can’t create new life. We can’t bring back the dead. We can’t even change the world that much without the Powers That Be getting pissy about it. What the hell’s even the point then!? How can I be a god if I can’t save my own cousins!?” When they heard this, Lamar and Alucard grew silent, pensive. 

“Yeah, we know,” Alucard said, placing a hand on Krockman’s shoulder. “It sucks, but that was part of the deal we made we bought the Universe. Sitting around and moping about it doesn’t change anything.” “Ya mon, you got to get over it. You did everyting you could for Willam and Sophie. You watched over dem, you created dose weird scraps to protect dem, and you brought dem here when dey died,” Lamar added. “What you need is to go somewhere and take your mind off tings. Fortunately for us, being almighty beings that we are, we can go wherever we want, understand any language spoken to us, and shreds of life will convert to whatever the local currency is for dat place. We have no restrictions my mon. Now, what is de one place you always wanted to go that you could never go to in life?” Thinking it over, Krockman answered, “Well, I always wanted to go to Tokyo. Maybe we’ll meet up with my pen pal, Kuma.” “Oh right, I’ve heard about him,” Alucard said. “He’s the guy that helped you make those weird, enlightened scraps. This should be interesting.” 

After several hours of packing, phone calls, planning, and preparation, Krockman, Alucard, and Lamar had arrived in the Shibuya district of Tokyo via portal. “Well, here we are,” Krockman said with a wide grin. “Tokyo: the city of all that is weird and awesome... sweet.” “Right, so where do you want to go first?” Alucard asked. “Seriously, you know more about this place than either me or Lamar. Where do you want to go?” “Well, I’d like to meet up with Kuma,” Krockman answered as he rubbed his chin. “We’ve only ever spoken to each other over email. I’d like to finally meet the guy who’s been helping me with my greatest project yet: the Enlightened scraps.” “Dat seems like a good start,” Lamar said in reply. “One question dough, do you know where to even meet dis guy or what he even looks like?” Hearing this, an awkward look crossed Krockman’s face as he sheepishly answered, “Yyyyyyyeaaa... no.” This only made the other lost souls face palm in frustration. 

Looking up from his hand, Alucard saw something strange waddling up to them from across the street. It appeared to be a small tower made up of three ball-shaped monkeys, each one the size of a basketball and wearing slippers and strange accessories. The topmost monkey wore red slippers and a black blindfold with two red x’s over where the eyes would be. The middle monkey wore green slippers and a pair of black muffs over its ears, marked with two green x’s. The bottommost monkey wore blue slippers and a black surgical mask with a blue x on it. The strange monkey tower slowly waddled up to Krockman and the others, the two lower monkeys starring at them the whole time. “Is anyone else seeing what I’m seeing?” Alucard asked, confused at the sight of the strange creatures. “You mean tree ball monkeys wearing bondage gear? Yeah, I see it too mon,” Lamar answered as the monkeys finally arrived. 

The mute and deaf monkeys stared up at Krockman in both wonder and reverence, making the lost soul feel a bit uncomfortable. Finally, the deaf monkey squeaked up at the blind monkey, who after being momentarily startled, pulled out a note from behind him and presented it to Krockman. Taking the note and reading it, Krockman understood. “Oh, now I know who you are,” Krockman said. “You’re the Zarus, aren’t you?” The three monkeys nodded cheerfully in unison, much to the confusion of Alucard and Lamar. “The Zarus? What are they, some kind of lost soul?” Alucard asked. “No, no, they’re actually scraps,” Krockman explained. “Kuma created them from a paperweight depicting the Three Wise Monkeys. They’re his personal servants, and according to this letter, they’re going to take us to Kuma himself.” Hearing this, Lamar clasped his hands, grinning as he said, “Tank god for dat. Finally, someting’s going right for a change.” With that, the group made their way down the street, the Zarus leading the way. 

As they walked down the street, Krockman and the others noticed something odd about their surroundings. The buildings began to grow taller, bending at odd angles the higher they go up. The streets became narrower, taking sharper turns as they progressed (given the city an almost labyrinthine feel to it). Even the people they saw changed, slowly being replaced with lost souls dressed all in white with small, triangular pieces of cloth tied to their foreheads. It was obvious to Krockman and the others that they had just entered the eastern part of Limbo, where existence was based on Buddhism and Shintoism. They had heard many rumors about this place, chief among them being that it was ruled by the terrifying Lord Enma, a celestial being who descended into Limbo in order to serve as the judge of the dead. Deep down, Krockman and the others quietly hoped and prayed they would not run into him. 

After what felt like hours, the little group finally arrived at what appeared to be a cafe of some sort. When they arrived at the front of the cafe, a lost soul stepped out to greet them. He wasn’t like the other lost souls they had seen so far, dressed in a red and black shirt and jacket, with chrysanthemums and red spider lilies tucked into his headband. He was a heavyset fellow, wearing a pair of glasses and sporting what appeared to be a kanabo and a spaceage gun strapped to his belt. The Zarus waddled up the lost soul and stood beside him, the deaf and mute monkeys looking up at him expectantly. Glancing over at Krockman and the others then back at the Zarus, the lost soul smiled as he patted the blind monkey on the head, saying, “Good job my little friends. You did well.” Looking at the other lost soul, Krockman asked, “Uh, hi there. We’re, uh, we’re from out of town, and we were lead here by your scraps there. We’re looking for a guy named ‘Riku Akumatora’, he goes by ‘Kuma’ for short. That wouldn’t be you, would it?” “Indeed it is my friend,” the eastern lost soul answered with a nod and a grin. “And who do I have the pleasure of meeting today?” Krockman smiled at this, saying, “My name is Cooper Krockman. I’m the one who’s been writing to you this whole time; swapping scraps and secrets between us.” Hearing this, a look of surprise crossed Kuma’s face, followed by a wide grin as he excitedly cheered, “Wani-San! It’s so good to finally meet you!” 

Looking at the pair, Alucard asked, “I’m sorry, ‘Wani-San?” “It’s a nickname we came up with a while back,” Krockman explained. “It’s a long story. Anyway, how’s everything going with you Kuma? How’s that girlfriend of yours?” “Oh Mitsuki? She’s doing fine,” Kuma answered with a grin. “Now how’s everything going with you? I haven’t heard from you in a while. Is everything alright back in the West?” “Um, no, not really,” Krockman answered awkwardly. “I’ve recently had a family crisis. It’s my cousins, they... died. Apparently, the Powers That be sent an angel of death to smite them just to spite me. I tore the bastard’s wings off, but what does that solve?” Looking surprised and concerned, Kuma said, “Oh my god, I’m sorry to hear that. That must be hard to deal with.” “Yeah, that’s kind of the reason we’re here,” Krockman continued. “We came here to get away from it all, take in the sights, forget our troubles, those sorts of things.” Nodding to this, Kuma placed his hand on Krockman’s shoulder, looked him in the eye and said, “My friend, if you wish to forget your troubles, you’ve come to the right man. As far as I know, there’s only one way to fix this: a good old fashioned scrap raising.” “Oh my god, yes! That’s exactly what we need!” Krockman shouted excitedly. “Come on guys! we’ve got work to do!” With that, Kuma and Krockman ran off into the streets, leaving Alucard and Lamar confused about what just happened. 

When Alucard and Lamar finally caught up with the demented pair, they found Krockman and Kuma in a park, chortling and laughing cheerfully. “Okay, can someone please explain to me what de hell a scrap raising is?” “Isn’t it obvious?” Krockman said coolly in reply. “It’s where we make new scraps, that’s what it is. First thing’s first, we need some items to turn into scraps. Kuma, will you do the honors?” “Gladly,” Kuma said, a wide grin spreading across his face as he held out his arm, causing a gong to manifest, dangling from his forearm. It was then, with feverish delight, that the eastern lost soul struck the gong, causing a low reverberation to spread through the city. As soon as the gong grew silent, Alucard and Lamar noticed something burrowing its way towards them. When the thing arrived, it burst out from the ground, revealing itself to be Kama, the weasel-like, enlightened sickle scrap. “You gonged boss?” Kama asked, twitching his whiskers in anticipation. “Indeed I did my little friend,” Kuma said in reply. “We’re going to make some new scraps. Go with the Zarus and bring us anything you can find.” Hearing this, Kama bowed deeply, saying, “As you wish boss. I’ll get right on it.” With that, Kama burst free from his tunnel and went off into the city, the Zarus following after him. 

As the lost souls waited for the scraps to return, Alucard glanced over at Kuma. “Is something wrong my friend?” Kuma asked, noticing Alucard’s glance. “Oh no, I was just curious,” Alucard answered quizzically. “You seem to have a lot of influence in the East. How exactly did you come to own the eastern half of the universe?” “Ah, now there lies quite the tale,” Kuma said as he rubbed his chin. “Back when I was alive, I was but a humble otaku, a collector of all things anime. Unfortunately, I was crushed to death by my very own collection during a freak earthquake. When I was brought before Lord Enma for judgement, I was able to negotiate my way into being sent to Limbo where I can live in peace as one of his councilors.” “Hold on a second,” Lamar interjected in disbelief. “You’re telling us dat you managed to convince Lord Enma to not only spare you, but also to make you his councilor? Lord freaking Enma: scariest son of a bitch dis side of de afterlife? How de hell did you manage dat?” Kuma only smiled smugly at this, saying, “I’m nothing if not a convincing litigator.” 

As they the group talked, Krockman saw Kama and the Zarus running towards them. “Oh hey, the scraps are back,” he said as he braced himself. “Let’s see what they found.” As the lost souls approached the scraps, Krockman noticed that Kama had a large sack strapped to his back. “Oh hoho, looks like it’s gonna be a big haul,” he thought to himself. When the two groups met up, Kama set the sack down on the ground as the Zarus busily opened it up. Inside the sack was a shinai (a wooden sword commonly used for kendo), a daruma doll with one eye filled in, a biwa (a Japanese lute), a rag doll in a yellow dress, and most disturbing of all, an urn. “Is that an urn?” Alucard asked, growing worried. “Where did you guys find an urn?” Hearing this, Kama nervous as he said, “Uh, we just... found it.” Looking down at the urn, Alucard grew worried as a grim thought crossed his mind. Slowly reaching down towards the vessel, he slowly removed the lid, causing a cloud of ashes to fly out. The ashes swirled about for a few minutes before settling into the shape of a young man dressed in white, a lost soul. Looking around, the new lost soul seemed confused as he asked, “W-where am I? What is this place? Where’s Ami?” Staring in shock at the young man, Krockman glanced over towards Kuma and whispered, “Oh my god. How long ago was this guy cremated?” “I’m not sure, but it must’ve been recent if his soul was still inside that urn,” Kuma answered worriedly. “Usually the soul leaves when the ashes have been spread.” Turning towards Kama and the Zarus, Kuma asked in a serious tone, “Where exactly did you get this stuff?” Looking nervously down the street, Kama pointed towards the distance and said, “From her house.” 

Looking down the street, Kuma was shocked to see two young women running towards them, both of them mortal. “What the hell?” he said as he stared on. “How did two mortal women get into Limbo? Did they follow you in here Kama?” Hearing this, Kama only grew more nervous, his spark-like eyes darting around as he simply said, “Nnnoooo.” “Well take care of it then,” Krockman retorted. “God forbid anything should interfere with the ‘natural order of things’.” Glancing up towards the lost souls then glancing over towards a billboard advertising a sushi restaurant (complete with a cute sushi girl mascot), Kama smiled a wicked grin as his claws grew out and merged into a pair of sickles. The sickles glowed with a bright light before the sickle scrap slashed at the air, sending an x-shaped blast of energy flying towards the billboard, slicing through its beams and sending it crashing down onto one of the girls. “Oh my god! Maki!” the surviving girl shouted in horror as she ran towards the ruined billboard and sifted through the rubble to find her. “Oh god, not again!” Krockman shouted in absolute horror. “Kama, what the fuck?! What did you just do?!” “I-I was just d-doing what you told me to,” Kama answered nervously. “All I told you to do was to take care of it!” Krockman retorted. “I meant it like how a bouncer takes care of a drunk partygoer, not like how hitman takes care of a guy who didn’t payback his debt!” “Oh god, this is horrible!” Kuma shouted in panic. “That woman still had five decades worth of life left before she was supposed to die. How do we fix this?” “Alright, alright, I have an idea,” Krockman said hastily as he quickly pulled out a whistle. “Bear in mind, it’s not going to fix everything. She won’t be human anymore, but at this point, it’s the best we can do.” With that, Krockman blew the whistle, causing broken souls to descend from the sky. 

As the broken souls came down, the soul of the crushed young woman (which had shattered upon transitioning to the afterlife) rose up in pieces and entered the rubble of the billboard. From the rubble, the sushi girl mascot from before came out, brought to life by the shards of the woman’s soul. Her hair and skin was white as rice, causing her orange eyes to pop. She wore a seaweed green dress with several white ruffles billowing from underneath. On her legs were a pair of stockings designed to resemble shrimp and a pair of seaweed colored pumps, while in her bobcut hair was a hair clip styled to look like a piece of salmon. The young woman and the new scrap stared at each other in shock as they assessed what just happened. “Maki? Is that you?” the young woman asked cautiously. The new scrap, Maki, tried to speak, but all that came out was the sound of waves rolling and the pyaw of a seagull, causing her to immediately cover her mouth with a pair of large, elegantly gloved hands. As the young looked on in shock, she heard a voice say, “She can’t talk just yet. It’ll be a little while before her soul shards settle in, but once that happens, she’ll regain her memories and her ability to speak.” Turning around, the young woman saw that it was a group of strangers: a stout otaku, a trio of foreigners (two of whom were staring on in shock, mouths agape), a trio of ball shaped monkeys, a strange creature that resembled a kamaitachi, and a ghostly figure resembling her deceased boyfriend. 

The otaku had a solemn look on his face, saying, “I’m sorry about what happened to your friend. We didn’t mean for things to get out of hand. I was only trying to help my foreign friend here relax and forget his frustrations. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kuma, and I come in peace.” Staring at Kuma in confusion, the woman noticed the ghostly figure of her boyfriend, asking, “Yoshi? Is that you?” The ghostly young man, Yoshi, upon seeing the woman, stepped up to the front of the group, saying, “Oh my god, Ami? You’re here too? What the hell’s going on here?” The woman, Ami, shook her head, saying, “I don’t know? All I know is that Maki and I were chasing after that sickle weasel after he stole our stuff, including your urn. Now that little monster and his weird bosses here crushed Maki underneath a billboard and turned her into this little sushi girl.” As Kuma and Krockman watched the conversation unfold, Kuma whispered, “Hey Wani-san, do you feel like these two have completely left us out of the conversation?” “Never mind that,” Krockman said in reply. “Looks like we’ve got company.” 

Sure enough, all the things they had stolen had been filled with broken souls, transforming them into scraps. The shinai became a strange little figure dressed in kendo gear, hoisting a shinai over his shoulder as two glowing yellow eyes peered from his face mask. The daruma doll became a fat little munchkin dressed in a red leotard with yellow stripes on the chest, with one eye noticeable missing a pupil. The biwa became some strange lute goblin, his eyes tightly shut as he groped around aimlessly. Finally, the rag doll simply came to life, staggering around a bit before spying Ami. When she saw her, the rag doll cheered excitedly as she ran over to woman, hugging her leg as she uttered a rambling string of gibberish (though, if one listened carefully enough, one could pick out the word “okaa-san” from the stream). Clearly frightened by this, Ami pushed the doll scrap away, causing the poor thing to cry. Seeing this, Kuma stepped in, saying to Ami, “Hey now, that’s no way to treat something as friendly as that little scrap. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” 

When she heard this, Ami simply glared at the lost soul in shock and frustration. “Are you kidding me?” she asked in a huff. “First you send your weird pet weasel thing to steal not only my stuff, but also the urn containing my boyfriend’s ashes. Next, you have the weasel cut down that billboard and let it crush my friend, Maki, to death. Then you turned my and Maki into these... monsters (no offense Maki), and now you have the gall to tell me I should be ashamed of myself?” “I was simply trying to help you,” Kuma said in reply, his tone growing less friendly. “I’ll admit, your friend here isn’t the same as she started out when you both crossed over into the afterlife, but at the very least, she’s still alive.” Hearing this, a worried look crossed Ami’s face. “The afterlife?” she asked nervously. “D-did we die? Is this hell? Are we in hell right now?!” “No, this isn’t hell, but it’s not heaven either. Also, you’re not dead yet,” Kuma said as he face palmed. “Honestly, at this point, I’ve said more than I should have. You should probably go back to where you came from.” Growing angry, Ami retorted, “Oh no, I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going...” Before Ami could finish, the otaku’s face took a more demonic look as he snarled, “Just go!!!” Terrified out of her wits, Ami ran off screaming back to the mortal realm. 

As Kuma calmed down, he noticed that Yoshi coming up to his side. “Um, Kuma, right?” he asked cautiously. “You shouldn’t be too hard on Ami. She was pretty broken up when I died, and she did just see her friend get crushed to death and get turned into... what do you call these things, scraps?” Shrugging his shoulders, Kuma said in reply, “I suppose that’s a fair point.” “Uh, Kuma? Would it be alright if I went to comfort her?” Yoshi asked nervously. “Normally, such things wouldn’t be allowed,” Kuma said sternly. “However, I’m willing to make an exception, on one condition: you must become a member of my entourage. After that, you may visit Ami all you like.” “Really, that’s awesome! Thank you Kuma!” Yoshi said excitedly before racing off after. As he watched the new lost soul run off, Kuma turned towards Maki and the other new scraps and said, “Why don’t you go after them. I’m sure Ami will need someone to watch over her for a while. I have big plans for her, along with the rest of the city for that matter.” Nodding to this, Maki and the new scraps followed after Ami, all except for the rag doll scrap, who was still crying. Seeing the poor creature, Kuma look down at her with a sympathetic look and gently placed a hand on her shoulder in condolence.  

Turning back to his guests, Kuma said in an apologetic tone, “I’m sorry you had to see that. This is the first time a mortal has ever stepped over into Limbo. Certain actions had to be taken.” Krockman only held up his hands, saying, “Hey, no worries pal. You did what you had to do. We’re cool with it, right guys?” Lamar and Alucard only stared on in shock, only for Lamar to break the silence by shouting, “What de fuck did we just see?!” “Right then,” Krockman said nonchalantly. “Anyway Kuma, what were you going on about having big plans for this city?” Hearing this, Kuma smiled a wicked grin as he answered, “Ah yes, my big plan. It’s going to change the very nature of this city forever. Would you like to hear about?” “Oh good god, nothing would bring me more joy than that.” Smiling wider when he heard this, Kuma placed his arm over Krockman’s shoulder as he said, “Well, for starters, it’s a little something I like to call ‘Project Fantasy Tokyo’.” 
————— 

“Wait a minute,” Lana interrupted skeptically. “You’re telling me that Krockman got the idea for his ‘Project Fantasy Seattle’ thing from this Kuma guy?” “Really? Dat’s de part you’re focusing on?” Lamar asked incredulously. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to focus on the flow of this story,” Lana explained. “I’m not entirely sure what any of this has to do with why I haven’t seen you in a while.” “I was getting to dat,” Lamar said in reply. “After deir little powwow, Krockman and Kuma kept in touch, updating each other about deir respective projects. One day, after our date, I noticed someting going on at de edge of town. It was a construction crew building a new torii gate. I don’t know where it goes, but when I asked Krockman about it, he asked me to do someting for him.” Growing worried, Lana asked, “And what would that be?” “I need to send dat guy back to New York,” Lamar explained, pointing a finger towards a middle aged man standing in line for coffee. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” With that, Lamar vanished into thin air, leaving Lana confused about what’s going on. 

In the line, Fred Calhoun was waiting patiently for the line to move. As a sergeant of the NYPD, he was taking some well deserved time off, vacationing with his wife in Seattle. However, ever since he got off the airplane, he’s noticed some bizarre things. Alongside the human population, there were several fantasy creatures: elves, dwarves, trolls, goblins, the usual sort of creatures (plus some weird, purple cat/lizard people things). The strangest thing was the fact that Fred was the only one who seemed to notice. Even his wife seemed unfazed by this, brushing it off as the most normal thing ever. Even now, in this coffeehouse, he was surrounded by elves and fairies going about their business. Finally arriving at the counter, Fred was momentarily stunned when he saw the barista, a cute elf girl. “Welcome to the Grindhouse. How may I help you today?” the barista asked, only to notice Fred’s stunned look. “Um, sir? Are you alright?” “Oh, um, sorry,” Fred apologized. “Do you guys serve black coffee? None of those fancy blended drinks, just plain black coffee.” “Of course sir,” the barista said in a cheerful tone. “Can I get a name for your order?” “It’s Fred,” Fred answered. Righting the name down on a cup, the barista said in reply, “Alright then, I’ll call you up when your order’s ready. That’ll be $4.99 please.” Grumbling at this, Fred paid for his drink and went off to sit at a table, only to be confronted by what could only be described as a monster. 

It was a horrible looking thing, easily twice as tall as Fred. It looked like a werewolf, but it’s features were more tarantula-like, its torso resembling the cephelothorax of a tarantula. Its limbs resembled clusters of three tarantula legs fused into a facsimile of veterbrate arms and legs, each toe tipped with a spider fang-like claw. The worst, though, was the head, which resembled a pair of spider fangs fused into the general shape of a wolf’s skull. A cluster of segmented insect legs sprouted from the top of its head like a bundle of macabre dreadlocks as two wolf ears were pinned back in an aggressive manner. The creature stared down at Fred with a pair of glowing red eyes before leaning in and whispering into his ear in a rasping deep voice, “Run.” Terrified out of his mind, Fred ran as fast as he could out of the coffee shop, screaming in terror, not even bothering to get his drink. Satisfied with his work, Lamar turned back to his human form, went over to a stunned Lana and asked, “So how about dat coffee?” 
————— 

Back in Limbo, in Roquella’s country home, Emily was groggily rising from her bed, exhausted from her sleepless night. After having that one bizarre dream and having it revealed by Master Baku, Emily stayed awake the whole night, frightened by what she saw. “God, what a weird dream,” she thought to herself as she got out of bed. “Why would I even have a dream like that in the first place?” As Emily pondered this, she heard Roquella’s voice call from downstairs, “Emily! Breakfast is ready!” Hearing this, Emily sighed as she got dressed and went downstairs. 

On the way down, Emily saw Jojo carrying an exhausted Teddi over his shoulder, with Wrappa, Plumella, And Mac following after him. “Good morning Emily,” Jojo said, noticing the young drok. “I hope you had a good night’s rest.” “Oh, morning Jojo,” Emily said. “No, I didn’t really get much sleep last night. I had some pretty weird dreams and...” As she was talking, Emily noticed Teddi and asked, “Is Teddi alright? She looks a little rough.” “Yes, the poor thing had some bad dreams too,” Jojo explained. “She couldn’t get a wink of sleep last night. Hopefully she’ll perk up a bit later on. Well, come along then. Breakfast is waiting for us downstairs. We shouldn’t miss it.” With that, Emily joined the little group and made her way downstairs. 

As they were walking, Emily noticed Mac looking up at her. “Is something wrong?” she asked curiously. “You’re kind of just staring at me.” “I’m just curious,” Mac answered, eying the woman curiously. “You used to be a human, right?” Emily simply nodded yes. “Okay then, well answer me this,” Mac continued. “Why does Teddi think you’re her mom?” Thinking it over a bit, Emily answered, “Well, she used to be my teddy bear back when I was a kid, so when she became a scrap, she saw me as her mom.” Scratching his chin a bit, Mac’s eyes lit up as he said, “Oh! So it’s a matter of imprinting. She only thinks you’re her mom because that’s all she remembers you as. What a pity. What a sad, hopeless, unrelenting pity.” Glowering down at the laptop scrap, Emily asked, “Why do you do that? Why do you act like such a little snot to everyone around you?” “It’s beneficial that I do so,” Mac answered nonchalantly. “It keeps the egos of everyone else in line. Besides, you’ve only known me for like, what, a day? Who are you to judge.”  Looking at the scrap for a moment, Emily’s expression seemed to soften a bit as a thought occurred to her. At that moment, much to Mac’s confusion, she bent over and hugged him, gently patting his head as she said, “I understand. It must be hard having someone like Krockman as a dad. I’d probably be angsty too if he were my dad.” With that, Emily got back up and went downstairs, leaving Mac to stand there in confused, stunned silence. 

Downstairs in the dining room, Emily and the others were met with an impressive sight. All over the table was food as far as the eye could see, ranging from sausages and boiled eggs to fancier fare such as eggs benedict and prime rib. Sitting at the table alongside Roquella and Bathory were Krockman’s cousins, Poe, Calibur, Milbert, Jimmy, and the Enlightened scraps. “What in the world?” Emily asked, surprised by the huge party. “Where did you guys come from?” “Isn’t it wonderful?” Roquella said with a grin. “They all just came in from the wasteland. They said they were looking for Teddi.” “Oh, well she’s right here,” Emily said nervously pointing towards a tired Teddi. “Just be careful with her, alright. She didn’t get much sleep last night.” “Don’t worry Miss Emily,” Willam said as he took Teddi from Jojo’s arms. “We’ll make sure she’s alright.” Looking over towards Roquella, Emily whispered, “Hey Roquella, can I talk to you about something in private?” “Oh sure, sure,” Roquella said in reply as she got up. “Follow me. We can talk in the kitchen.” With that, the two young ladies went to the kitchen, leaving everyone else on their own. 

Sitting the teddy bear scrap down at the table, Willam gently prodded her with his finger, saying, “Oy, Teddi, wake up. Breakfast’s here.” Waking up a bit more, Teddi looked around, seeing Willam, Sophie, Poe, and the enlightened scrap, Ningyo, sitting by her. “W-what? Where am I?” Teddi asked as she looked around. “Where’s Mama?” “Your mum had to go talk to Roquella about something,” Willam explained. “She might be a while. In the meantime, have yourself some breakfast. Plenty here to eat.” “Yeah! Eat your feelings away Teddi!” Poe shouted. “Let the hens talk things out.” Nodding to this, Sophie added, “It shouldn’t be too long though. She’ll be back in a few.” Hearing this, Teddi perked up a bit, grabbing a plate and placing a waffle on it. As she grabbed the maple syrup, Teddi felt a nudge in her arm. Looking up, she saw Ningyo looking  at her. “Is something wrong?” Teddi asked curiously. “I was just wondering,” Ningyo said. “That Emily woman, is she really your mom?” “Oh yeah, she took care of me back when I was a regular teddy bear, and she took me in with open arms when I became a scrap,” Teddi answered cheerfully. “Oh, that’s nice,” Ningyo said glumly, her usual smile falling. “My mom use to take care of me all the time when I was a regular rag doll, but when I became a scrap, she pushed me away and rejected me. I haven’t seen her since.” Feeling sorry for the poor scrap, Teddi gently stroked her orange yarn pigtail, softly saying, “There there.” 

At the other end of the table, Mac, Wrappa, and Plumella were taking in the sight of the banquet. As they were looking, Mac heard a familiarly grating voice call out, “Brother! You’re here!” Groaning a bit, Mac looked up, meeting eye to eye with Calibur. “Oh, Calibur... it’s you... yay,” Mac said in an annoyed tone. “What’re you doing here?” “We’re here to pick up Teddi,” Calibur answered, his voice aggravating the laptop scrap’s migraine. “We need her help finding an important artifact that the Enlightened Scraps were guarding. It’s all important, top secret stuff we’re dealing with.” Glowering at the toy sword scrap, Mac said sarcastically in reply, “I’m sure it is.” Suddenly, Plumella rushed in, jumping onto Calibur and hugging him, saying, “Calibur! You came!” Looking surprised, Mac asked, “Wait, you two know each other?” “Of course we do,” Plumella answered, adjusting her mask a bit. “He saved me from Bathory’s anger one time. It was such a wonderful day.” Looking sheepish, Calibur only answered, “Well it was the right thing to do. Anyone would’ve done the same.” “But you did it, and I’m forever grateful for it,” Plumella said in reply as she nuzzled the red headed scrap. As Mac watched on, he could not help but feel a strange, mysterious new feeling: jealousy. Glaring at the bizarre couple, Mac turned to Wrappa and said, “Come on Limpy, let’s go.” “But, I wanted to hang out with...” Wrappa began, only for Mac to grab him by the face and drag him over to the other side of the table. 

At the other side of table, Mac and Wrappa met up with Teddi and Ningyo, who were intently glaring at something. “Hi Teddi! You enjoying breakfast?” Wrappa asked excitedly, clearly infatuated. “Oh, yeah, sure,” Teddi said, barely noticing the scarf scrap. Noticing Teddi’s distant nature, Mac asked, “What’s with you? What’re staring at?” Teddi simply pointed a paw across the table, where Jojo was sitting and Bathory stood. “Please Bathory,” Jojo pleaded. “I need to know where Misfit is. I have something important to tell him. It affects you as well.” “I highly doubt that,” Bathory scoffed. Looking worried, Jojo continued, “No, no, you don’t understand. This is something very important.” “You don’t seem to understand,” Bathory retorted indignantly. “The only reason you’re even eating here is because Roquella allowed you in. Just because she approves of you doesn’t mean I have to be nice to you. Now stop bothering me and leave me alone.” With that, Bathory left walked away, leaving the poor pinhead alone. 

As Bathory walked away, Mac understood what Teddi was angry about. “You don’t care much for Bathory, do you?” he asked. “You could say that,” Teddi answered, tightly clenching a fork in her paw. “Jojo doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. He’s the nicest person I’ve ever met.” Eyeing the pinhead thoughtfully, Mac asked, “Hey Teddi, does Jojo know how to read?” “Of course he does,” Teddi asked, somewhat offended. “Why would you ask something like that?” Without saying anything, Mac put his hands together and opened them up, producing a set of index cards. “Give these to him and tell him to read it to Bathory,” Mac explained as he handed the index cards to Teddi. “This should get her goat.” Reading over the cards, Teddi asked, “Do you really think this will work?” “Trust me,” Mac said confidently in reply. “Bathory’s not exactly deep. These cards will destroy her.” Thanking the laptop scrap, Teddi crawled under the table over to Jojo. 

Once she arrived, Teddi gently tugged at Jojo’s bathrobe, alerting the pinhead to her presence. “Teddi? What are you doing down there?” Jojo asked, confused by the scrap’s presence. “I wanted to help you,” Teddi answered as she held up the index cards. “Here, read these to Bathory. They should get her attention.” “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Jojo said politely. “She’s just in one of her moods, that’s all.” “Oh trust me, this’ll get her attention, mood or no mood,” Teddi said in reply with a smile. Taking the cards, Jojo read them over before looking over at Bathory and saying, “Excuse me, Bathory?” Looking back over towards the pinhead, Bathory asked in an annoyed tone, “What do you want now you ugly, little man?” Looking down at the cards, Jojo read out, “I maybe ugly, but you are old.” Hearing this, Bathory scowled as she asked, “What did you just say, you pointy headed freak?” Looking back down at the cards, Jojo continued, “I said you are very old.” Clenching her wrinkled old fist, Bathory retorted, “You know what’s uglier than you? Two of you!” As she said this, she pulled out a hand mirror from coat pocket, holding it up for Jojo to see his reflection. Unfazed by this, Jojo simply read the card and said, “Are you old? Yes.” When she heard this, Teddi could not help but laugh at this, only for her laughter to be cut short when the table cloth was pulled away, revealing a pissed off Bathory glaring at her. 

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Emily and Roquella were busy pouring themselves some mimosas. “So what did you want to talk about Emily?” Roquella asked as she took a sip of her drink. “Well, it’s about that dream I had last night,” Emily explained nervously. “You remember, the one Baku ate and ended up being broadcasted by that pillow scrap.” “Oh right,” Roquella said, remembering what happened last night. “What was that dream about anyway?” “Honestly, it was really weird,” Emily explained, her ears dropping down a bit. “At first, when it was just inside my head, I was floating through a hospital and I saw this man in the distance. When my dream was being broadcasted, I heard a woman thanking Krockman for helping her get pregnant, and I think the woman might have been my mom. Do you think it means anything?” When she heard this, Roquella thought long and hard about it, gently tapping the counter with her fingers quizzically. Finally, after much deliberation, she answered, “Well I can’t say anything for certain, but here in Limbo, dreams tend to be  either prophetic or they’re trying to dredge up long forgotten memories. It’s hard to say what your dream meant for certain, but if I were you, I wouldn’t make light of it.” Nodding to this, Emily continued, “Alright then, there’s something else I’d like to ask you. Before he sent me here, Tom mentioned that Krockman had a list with my name on it (along with Chad’s and my roommates’). Do you know anything about it?” “I do,” Roquella answered, solemn look crossing her face. “But take it from me, some things are better left unknown.”  

As Emily contemplated this, a loud commotion erupted from the dining room. “What was that?” Emily asked worriedly. “I don’t know,” Roquella answered, her voice filled with concern. “Come on, let’s check it out.” Entering the dining room, the two women were confronted by the sight of chaos. The table was overturned, with all the food splattered on the floor. Running through the room, Teddi was being chased by an infuriated Bathory. “Get back here you little shit!” Bathory roared, crashing into a shelf as she leaped after the scrap. Watching the scene unfold and having seen enough, Roquella shouted, “Enough!!!” Hearing that, the crone and the scrap stopped in the tracks, staring at the enraged lost soul. “What the hell is going on here?” Roquella asked, clearly pissed. “Where is everyone else?!” “T-they left when the chase started,” Bathory stammered nervously. Suddenly, Teddi interjected, “She was chasing me because I was helping Jojo stand up for himself.” “Is this true?” Emily asked, picking up the teddy bear scrap defensively. “You were trying to hurt my poor baby because of that? What the hell is wrong with you?” “You don’t understand. They insulted me to my very core,” Bathory rashly explained. “She... she... they... they called me old.” Adjusting her glasses, Roquella calmly retorted, “Bathory, you are old.” Stunned by this, Bathory was completely caught off guard when Emily got in her face and shouted, “If you ever try to hurt Teddi again, I’ll break your fucking neck!” 

As Emily was fuming, Roquella got a call on her cellphone. Taking her phone from her pocket, she answered, “Hello... hey Krockman!... Oh not much, just having brunch at my country house... what’s that?... really?... that’s great! I’ll be right over.” Hanging up her phone, Roquella turned to the little group and said, “That was Krockman. He says he’s found someone who can make our wedding cake. I have to go check them out. In the meantime, Bathory, clean this mess up. Emily, Teddi, I’m sorry about everything that’s happened to you both. Have a wonderful day.” With that, Roquella vanished, disappearing into the mortal world. Looking down at Teddi, Emily set her down and said, “Teddi, why don’t you run along. I have to have a word with Bathory about a few things before we go.” “Okay Mama,” Teddi said before cheerfully skipping out of the room. Watching the scrap leave, Emily was about to lay down the law with Bathory, when something hard hit her in the head. Collapsing to the floor, Emily looked up and saw Lolita holding a rolling pin and looking somewhat vampiric. Bathory strolled into the droks view, her neck exposed to reveal that the skin had been worn away, revealing golden neck bones. “Try breaking this why don’t you,” the old crone retorted smugly. “Nobody talks to me that way, especially the likes of you. And when we’re done with you, you won’t forget it any time soon.” With that, Bathory and Lolita dragged Emily off deeper into the house, all the while, Teddi had watched the whole thing; her eyes filled with hate.