Rising Shards

The ULTIMATE CROSSOVER EVENT continues! To properly leverage IP and increase lagging merchandise numbers, RS Incorporated is rapidly putting together a crossover of epic proportions! 451 web novel series will meet in this grand 75 chapter event, but if you're reading this surely you know that already, having followed along with the previous 23 chapters! So let's pick up where we last left off, yes?

Part 25:

Derby peeked out her window for the fifth time to be sure, her stomach dropping again as she realized she wasn't dreaming. Another strange thing had struck her poor front lawn.

"What are you staring at, Derby of Hope?" Brie asked.

"There's like a big spaceship on the lawn, and four gigantic guys and also a gigantic lady?" Derby said. "Do you know them?"

Brie pulled the curtains aside, making Derby yelp and hide.

"Who are these strange characters?" Brie asked.

"Huh? I thought you'd know who they are!" Derby said. The dark lord was already leaving the room. "Wait, are you going to talk to them? Brie? Brie!"

Derby followed nervously behind as Brie strode out onto the lawn.

"May I ask what you're doing at the humble Of Hope abode? If you have any nefarious machinations, I won't hesitate to destroy you," Brie said.

The leader of the large soldier guys chuckled. "That's the kind of fire we need right now with this interdimensional alien sheep war." He saluted. "I'm Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain, and in front of my pride and joy, my ship, the Unlimited Shark DX3 are my other pride and joys, my Void Ranger squad mates, Sgt. Dr. “Energy Drink” Jomes, Rifle Funnyman, Sniper “Goggles” Techboy, and Adalaide. She's the girl."

Brie didn't seem too impressed by any of this. "Did you want something?"

"The truth of the matter is..." Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain scratched his head. "We need powerful warriors, and I'm told many powerful warriors are in this area. Do you know any? Like, do you have a brother or something who's really strong?"

"I don't have a brother," Brie said. "If you're trying to sell us something, can you please leave?"

"A father maybe, or an uncle?" Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain said. "Any capable warrior can help, the Void Rangers Initiative is recruiting even beyond we muscular and capable rangers."

"Brie's really strong," Derby said.

"Are you now?" Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain said.

Brie looked pleased at the compliment from Derby, but annoyed at the void ranger's skepticism about her strength.

"I could toss a large boulder into that beloved ship of yours," Brie said. "Would that showcase my strength?"

Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain frowned at any kind of threat toward his ship. Without saying much else, he and the void rangers returned to his ship and flew away.

"You must be firm with solicitors, Derby of Hope," Brie said.

"I guess so," Derby said.

"Hey, was that...the void rangers?" Aunt Emme approached eating from a bowl of cereal. "Love those guys. Wait, aren't they just a show though? Were those just really good cosplayers?"

"Who knows?" Brie said. "They were annoying, I know that much."

"Well, not just a show, they have a whole book series too," Emme said.

Derby wasn't sure if she just missed out on something important or not.

"Well, with that taken care of, let's go back inside." Brie said.

Derby followed Brie back into the house, soon forgetting about this strange occurrence as many more soon followed that took precedence.

To be continued...

Part 26

"All I'm saying is, if they're gonna get new software for timecards, they need to make sure it actually works first," Evy said.

"Freaking for real," Stella said.

"Exactly!" Pippi said. "And when I bring up potential issues, do they listen to me, an IT person? Of course not, what would I know about this, stupid high ranking people think they know everything..."

Evy, Stella, Pippi, and Alix had met up for coffee at one of the local cafes and had mostly been talking about work. Alix noticed a strange patron ordering coffee, a gremlin-like girl with high tech sunglasses that seemed even more advanced than her own.

"Hey...isn't that one of ours?" Alix said.

"Hm?" Evy said. "Oh...huh..."

The gremlin girl posed as she reached their table. They'd all had at least one run in with the gambling obsessed Chumbler at school. "I am not the Chumbler you think I am."

"Hoo boy," Pippi said, sensing this would be a whole thing.

"I'm Super Chumbler NEO! Formerly a foe, but I turned good via a time paradox, ironic after I only came to be after a time paradox of my own," Super Chumbler NEO said. "Zorta, Orca, and Korbley are all recruiting elsewhere for the Void Rangers Initiative."

"Sure, OK..." Evy said.

"That's cool, Super Chumbler!" Stella said, much quicker to adjust to librarian talking to student mode even outside of work. "Do you need any help with your void rangers?"

"Yes, in fact," Super Chumbler NEO said. "Do you all know any powerful warriors? We need all the help we can get for the interdimensional war between the alien sheep and the alien goats. Not to be confused with the wildcard third party in this conflict, the alien ghosts."

"Uh huh..." Pippi said. "Maybe...try at school?"

"What school?" Super Chumbler NEO said. "Give me an address."

"Don't you remember your own school?" Evy asked.

"Maybe I go to a different school in this timeline, you don't know!" Super Chumbler NEO said. " Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain is gonna be pissed if I can't find anyone..."

"Well. Good luck, I guess," Evy said as Super Chumbler NEO left.

"That was...odd, even for Chumbler," Stella said, getting her phone out. "Better warn Zeta, I feel like that's gonna be something she'll have to deal with."

"Isn't Chalk McStormRain a void ranger guy?" Evy asked, shuddering at the thought of that franchise. "That freaking show haunts me, I swear..."

"Maybe she was just...in some elaborate daydream scenario?" Pippi said. "Can't knock her having a big imagination."

"Yeah, definitely," Stella said.

"You know who could really use some of that imagination, the people picking our timesheet software, am I right?" Alix said.

"Preach!" Pippi said.

And so, Evy, Stella, Pippi, and Alix went about their day, not getting involved with this particular interdimensional struggle.

To be continued...

Part 27

Zeta, Oka, Kalei, Lillia, and Marmalade watched as the boy kept walking in circles, muttering to himself. The guy had a long trench coat on and kept talking about swords, but he didn't seem to have any.

"Why's he even in our dorm?" Oka asked. "Hey! This is the girls' dorm!"

Calling over to him didn't seem to work as he kept wandering.

"Is it even really the girls' dorm now though with Falling Shards leaving?" Kalei asked.

"It's just like. A dorm now," Marmalade said.

"Should we go get a teacher to make him leave?" Zeta suggested.

"Maybe let's handle this on our own first," Lillia said.

She marched forward, not at all concerned about the strange boy. Zeta and the others followed close behind her.

"Are you allowed to be on these premises?" Lillia asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"What? Sure. I mean, probably. I go where I want to, OK?" The boy said. "Ah, there you are."

"Us?" Zeta asked before someone shoved past her. "Hey!"

It was...Chumbler? But with...fancy sunglasses. "Greetings, Anders, I see you're recruiting at this school as well."

"Anders?" Oka said.

"That'd be me," The boy said. "Anders X., vampire hunter."

"Oh, OK." Zeta said.

"Hey, S.C.," Anders said. "Any luck on your end?"

"Nothing so far, but I heard a lead about this school having some powerful folks," Chumbler (?) said.

"Heh, if you want powerful folks, you came to the right place," Marmalade said, grinning at Kalei.

"What exactly are you looking for and why?" Lillia asked.

Anders adjusted his sunglasses. "Classified intel, but basically there's an interdimensional war between alien goats and alien sheep. Pulled me away from my vampire harem, so I have to protect them."

"Vampire harem...?" Zeta squinted.

"Yeah, my vampire girls that all date me," Anders said. "Because I'm so epic and badass, you know?"

"I think this is another Kris Krag," Oka said.

"If you need help fighting some sheep or whatever, Kalei's the strongest one here," Marmalade said.

"Hey, come on with that," Kalei laughed, uncharacteristically bashful at the compliment.

"Sorry, but none of you are coming with,"

The deep voice belonged to a muscular man in some kind of battle armor, flanked by a woman dressed similarly.

"Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain at your service," He said, saluting. "And this is my girl subordinate, Adalaide."

"Wait, are the void rangers real?" Zeta asked.

"Or is this someone pretending to be them?" Marmalade asked.

"Why would anyone pretend to be those dorks?" Oka asked.

"Could be another imp situation," Lillia said. "It'd explain everyth—well, no it wouldn't, but it'd be some kind of an explanation."

"We're here recruiting," Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain said. "But East Valataran was a bust, so we flew over here. Any luck with that dragon lead, Anders?"

"Would I be here if I did have any luck with that?" Anders said.

"Drat. We could've used someone from there, surely," Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain said.

"Why can't we come with?" Zeta asked. "I mean, not that we want to, but still."

"We'd never bring you along," Anders chuckled deeply.

"Why not?" Oka asked.

"Because we don't bring scaredy cat little girls along to big missions," Adalaide said.

"What the...?" Zeta muttered.

"Easy, Adalaide, Anders." Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain said. "It's for your own protection. Now do any of you girls know where a powerful man may be on this campus?"

"Pfft, no?" Kalei said.

"Maybe you should go ask Berin," Oka said. "I know he said powerful, but still."

"Wow, immediate burn on your own dad," Kalei said. "I was gonna say something like that if you didn't, though."

"Tell me of this 'Berin.'" Lt. Colonel Chalk “Turbo” McStormRain said.

Oka told the void ranger where to find the faculty offices, which got him, Anders, and Chumbler to leave.

"Well, I'm sure we'll be hearing about that again sometime," Zeta said.

"No we won't," Kalei said.

"I know, I was being sarcastic," Zeta said. "That falls firmly in the 'weird event we'll never think of again' category."

"I'm just glad we avoided falling into another imp scenario," Lillia said.

"So the void rangers are pretty sexist, huh?" Marmalade said.

"I could've told you that after watching the show," Oka said. "But of course the void whatevers of them are too. Assuming that was all void junk."

"But they let Chumbler go along?" Zeta said.

"Guess she didn't count as a scaredy cat girl," Kalei said.

"Oh, that's because she's more battle tested," Chumbler said.

Everyone in the group blinked, then noticed Chumbler stood beside them.

"Didn't you just go with them?" Zeta said.

"No," Chumbler said.

"Wait, who the hell was that then?" Kalei asked.

"Super Chumbler," Chumbler said. "Me from an alternate dimension. Though I think she goes by Super Chumbler NEO now that she's turned a new leaf."

"Huh..." Zeta said. "Does that mean there are alternate versions of us out there?"

"I doubt it," Chumbler said.

"Dang," Zeta said.

"It's more trouble than it's worth, really," Chumbler said. "And Z.O.K. has to deal with three alternates instead of just one like me."

"I have a headache," Kalei said, refusing to process any of this lest it keep her up at night trying to keep track of it all. "Can we do something else now?"

"Please," Lillia said.

"I have twelve tickets to an ice skating game if anyone's interested," Chumbler said. "Won them in a gamble."

The group looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sure, why not?" Zeta said.

To be continued...

...not really. April Fools!

(Though this incomprehensible crossover may be over, look forward to more adventures of Derby and Brie from Part 25 when SETTLING DOWN WITH THE DARK LORD arrives soon on Scribble Hub!)

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