Meanwhile With the Other Champions II

Emma Yung had been having a crazy past few months. Sure, she'd thought she might be in for something extreme when she'd been snatched in the middle of the night from her apartment in San Francisco and found herself face-to-face with Caishen, the God of Wealth. That she'd not really bothered with the sort of religious traditions her parents had brought over with them from Macau when they emigrated ahead of the Handover had actually hurt her here. Apparently, the Gods of the Old Country were real and she'd been left holding the bag of having turned atheist on them.

Mind you, Caishen hadn't seemed to mind, not only giving her these sweet new powers but also literally showering her with extra power in the form of glowing golden coins that'd dissolved into her body when they'd touched her. Then the other shoe had dropped, though, and Emma had been told she wasn't going back home to San Francisco. Rather, she was going back home to a San Francisco, but it wasn't going to be her San Francisco. Instead, it was going to be a different San Francisco, more accommodating of her new powers.

At first, Emma had thought that she was actually in a normal version of San Francisco. She spent the first month or so flitting between her new businesses, her Nightclub on Market Street, and her mystic supply store in Chinatown, while also getting a handle on her new powers. Mostly, she'd been figuring out the various techniques, styles, and abilities in the Book of the Iron Fist, though she'd also started on Tao Magic, Alchemy, and Cantrips. It wasn't until three months in that she realized that anything even slightly off was going on in her new reality.

She'd been in her office at Lux when she'd watched one of her regulars, a Twenty-Something Blonde named Zoey be suddenly charmed by a tan, twenty-something, Man in a pearl gray dress shirt and black slacks. That wouldn't normally be an issue, except that Emma knew that Zoey was not only a Lesbian but in a committed relationship with her partner of two years and regular musical act at Lux, Andrea. That Zoey would not only be willing to leave with this strange man but do so while clinging to him like a lovestruck puppy was very odd.

Emma had followed them out to the alley behind Lux just before they were about to get into a car and interrupted things. The Man, frowning, spun on Emma with a snarl, eyes flashing silver and radiating cold as he attempted to intimidate Emma into leaving him be. That was when it clicked for Emma where she was and what she was facing. In her teens, Emma had picked up a few Urban Fantasy Novels after being recommended them by a friend. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. What she was seeing now was right out of the pages of one of those novels. A White Court Vampire, feeding on emotions, able to influence humans psychically to various ends.

Well, Emma summoned her Chi and Magic to start the fight. She had only a basic understanding of how it all worked, but she knew enough to take down some no-name White Court Vampire who didn't even have a weapon on him. Mind you, from the way the punch she ducked turned the concrete wall of the alleyway to powder, leaving a beachball-sized divot in the exterior wall of the Lebanese Restaurant next to Lux, Emma was pretty sure that he didn't need a weapon to be deadly. Fortunately, she was able to fight on an equal level using just her Chi. However, she did;t only have her Chi to work with. Emma blasted the White Court Vampire back using a gust of gale-force wind summoned with a single-handed gesture and incantation of Tao Magic.

The White Court Vampire clearly hadn't expected that, because he'd been blasted back away from Emma, his guard completely down as he slammed into the Lebanese Resturaunt's Dumpster, bending the steel of the dumpster around him and spattering himself with a bunch of rotten hummus and other foul-smelling detritus. That seemed to have broken the spell he'd put on Zoey, who scrambled back into Lux away from the scene of the fight. The White Court Vampire extricated himself from the dumpster, cold coming off him in waves even as his skin turned white like ivory and his eyes turned into pools of molten silver. He was clearly drawing deeply on his demon. If Emma remembered the books correctly, if he stayed this way for too long, he'd start to weaken. She just had to survive until then.

The White Court Vampire let out a shout of anger, dashing toward Emma with his hands curled into claws like he was trying to tear her throat out. Emma dodged the first swipe, which dug five furrows into the concrete of the Lebanese Restaurant's wall as he clawed through the structural concrete. His second swipe, Emma blocked using the Frozen Lotus Palm Block technique, parrying it out to the side in a Chi-powered move that left the White Court Vampire open for a counterattack. Emma Slammed her palm into the White Court Vampire's Torso using the Open Chi Redirection Palm, scattering the internal reserves of energy the White Court Vampire was using to empower himself, stunning his demon and leaving him paralyzed on the pavement. Finishing him off by conjuring a needle of white-hot flame that sunk into his chest before exploding with the force of a grenade into flames hot enough to melt iron.

The White Court Vampire literally died in a fire just in time for a Man in a chauffeur's cap to exit the Car that the Vampire had been trying to drag Zoey toward, firing several shots at Emma with a silenced pistol that forced her to summon a barrier with a two-handed gesture and incantation of Tao Magic. A flashing blue barrier snapped into place and the chauffeur emptied his magazine into the Barrier without any real effect, the Tao Magic blocking the bullets easily. As his Pistol clicked empty, Emma leaped over the summoned barrier and slammed a Flying Dragon Kick into the Cheuffeur's temple, sending the man to the ground, unconscious. Emma frisked the Chauffeur, coming up with a backup knife in an ankle holster which she used to cut the man's throat.

A final explosion of mystical flames incinerated the body to ashes. No sense in leaving any evidence for the White Court to find. She drove the car to a junkyard under a magical disguise, where she was paid eight hundred dollars for the parts and scrap metal in the car. Then Emma took public transit back to her Apartment under another mystical disguise. She thought she had covered her tracks easily enough. That was why she was so surprised when not two weeks later, she found a Warden of the White Court perusing her shop in Chinatown.

"Can I help you?" She questioned.

"This is some decent work. Authentically magical, even. Most people with shops like this tend to get put down as charlatans milking the trope of the Strange Chinatown Curio Shop." Mused the Warden, a lanky Man with a shaved head and brown goatee in a tan trenchcoat who was studying a row of potions.

"Most of my customers are tourists looking to buy something interesting for kicks. The shop isn't the biggest moneymaker. I think you're the first person to beeline for anything actually magical in here." Responded Emma.

"I wonder if you could recommend anything for someone going into battle against the Red Court?" Queried the Warden.

"Alchemists Fire. Lots of it." Deadpanned Emma.

"Funny, but not inaccurate." Smirked the Warden.

He turned to face Emma fully then, and that was when Emma got her first look at the man's sword from within the trenchcoat. It was a rather no-frills affair, a standard medieval knightly arming sword, though Emma could sense the power bound into it to make the blade supernaturally sharp and capable of cutting through enchantments. The Warden seemed to grin as he noticed Emma recognized the blade.

"So you know what I am then?" He asked.

"I do. I don't know why you're here, though." Shrugged Emma.

"This is a more or less routine inspection. The Council had gotten reports that there was a shop advertising itself as having magical goods for sale. Normally, a Warden would have been sent to ascertain whether that was true or not within two weeks of the report, but with the current War with the Red Court, things like this have been put on the back burner." Shrugged the Warden.

"Has that happened often?" Questioned Emma.

"Shops selling magical goods? Enough times that we've needed a protocol for checking into things. It's rare enough that one of these actually pans out, though. I think the last time was sometime in the sixties in Hollywood." Nodded the Warden.

"So what's the procedure here?" Queried Emma.

"Well, technically, you aren't breaking any rules by advertising your magical goods. No Laws of Man or Magic forbid that. It is frowned upon, though, and generally speaking, we try to encourage anyone with genuine magical items for sale to work alongside the council and sell to us preferentially. We need all the supply we can get, now more than ever." Mused the Warden.

"Because of the Red Court?" Asked Emma.

"Exactly. Things haven't gotten too dire just yet, but it's only a matter of time." Insisted the Warden.

"Well, I'm not opposed to helping the Council out. However, I have to ask just who would be my point of contact. It isn't as if you guys are in the phonebook, after all." Pointed out Emma.

"That would be me. I'm an assistant to Commander Carlos Ramirez, the Regional Warden Commander for the West Coast. Usually, I handle things in the Pacific Northwest more or less independently, but with the War on, things are a bit more fluid in terms of Assistants to the Regional Commander and our various areas of authority." Informed the Warden.

"And you would be?" Pressed Emma.

"Ah, of course. I am Warden Pierce Steele, pleased to meet you." Nodded the Warden.

"Emma Yung. Nice to meet you." Nodded Emma.

And that was how Emma wound up working alongside the White Council. She had no idea just how interesting a time that would be, though. Thanks to Warden Steele, she had some indication of just where in the timeline she was, sometime between the events of Grave Peril and Summer Knight. She didn't know when exactly that was, though. She would know when she was two months later for sure, though, after a meeting with a suddenly one-eyed Warden Steele. He'd gone to Archangel to handle the aftermath of the destruction of Simon Pietrovich's Tower and come back missing an eye and put on administrative duty for a month. When they met that time, he informed Emma that she was being drafted. It seemed like Emma was in for interesting times, as her Mother would say.

Emma frowned, realizing that she would need to kick her training into high gear just to compete. Fortunately, she had ways to do just that. Between the Lost Library of Cagliostro, the Ultra-Divine Water, the Fruit of Sorcerous Heritage, the School Pills of Oz, and the various other tomes she had access to, Emma wasn't exactly hurting for ways to improve her abilities. She just had to hope she could do it in the time allotted. The White Council had only given her Four Months in total to get her capabilities up to speed, after all.

She would just have to be ready by then. . .

XXXX

Tanaka Yumi had been the daughter of the head of a Serakin Loan Shark Office in Sapporo previously. Her father had been affiliated with the Inagawa-Kai Yakuza Group and wanted to make sure she knew how to defend herself. Yumi had been given Kenjutsu, Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and Karate lessons since she was eight and had achieved her first dan in all of those by the time she started high school. Of course, she had also gotten an education in the less-than-legitimate aspects of things as well, learning how to lie well, pick locks, hotwire cars, and so on.

By the time she graduated High School, she was already working for her Father in collections for his Loan Shark Business. Now, eight years later, she was managing a Serakin Office of her own under the umbrella of her Father's Company. Already she had made a name for herself in the criminal underworld of Sapporo, and the Imagawa-Kai had just asked for her allegiance outside of the Aegis of her Father's Company, a big step that would mean Yakuza Affiliation in her own right, with all the backing, clout, and resources that come with it.

It was why she'd been so shocked to wake up one morning to find herself face-to-face with a God, and not smiling Daikokujin, but Kubera, an older, more martial aspect of the God of Trade from back when he was a Buddhist God kicking around India. For a moment, Yumi thought she was about to be done for, only for Kubera to shock her yet again. He offered her a drink and she took it, only to feel her body be suffused with energy as she did so. Kubera then granted her more powers and told her he was sending her out into the Wider Omniverse to compete in some game between Gods. Where she was going, Yumi was told that she would find fiction becoming reality.

Unfortunately, Yumi had never been much of one for movies or books. Her life was already interesting enough without having to fill that void with fictional stuff. Fortunately, that was where her powers kicked in. Not only had Kubera been kind enough to give her a shitload of knowledge about how everything in the base that she'd been given worked, plus a shitload of knowledge about how her powers worked, but he'd also been kind enough to cram every possible language into her head, along with a sort of local information dump power that would tell Yumi things about exactly what she was dealing with in terms of the universe she was in.

It turned out, that this was one of the worlds where some of her abilities came from. Notably, Alkahestry and the Odd Form of Alchemy that was strangely scientific. She had been inserted into a town called Dublith in the Southern Province of a Nation called Amestris, which was the Country where most of the action in the series took place. Of course, none of that interested Yumi quite so much as the state of the local Underworld did. After all, she cared about power and wealth more than she did Kubera's little contest. What she found was that there were two main factions and a few smaller ones in Dublith.

The First, and most interesting, were the Chimera of the Devil's Nest. Led by the mysterious Crime Lord known only as Greed. These Chimera were a series of five, human-animal hybrids that had been created using strange alchemy. Because of their abilities from being alchemical hybrids, the Chimera of the Devil's Nest held an outsized influence in the Dublith Underworld compared to their numbers, with a number of minor factions paying tribute to them and their Boss, Greed because of that.

Opposed to them was the Aerugonian Mafia, a faction full of Aerugonian Military Deserters and Bandits that fled from the raging conflagration that was the ongoing Aerugo Border War. They were equipped with military-grade small arms and had military-grade training, led by a former Captain of the Aerugonian Army named Marco Rosso, the Red Marco. Notably, Marco Rosso had been an Aerugonian Alchemist, one of the relatively few in the Aerugonian Army, as Alchemy was only taught to officers of Captain Rank or above. Unlike the Chimera of the Devil's Nest, however, the Aerugonian Mafia did not accept fealty from anyone who didn't share their background.

That generally wasn't hard to do, however, since the War between Amestris and Aerugo had been going on for years now, with neither side ever gaining a truly decisive victory. it had become something of an embarrassment for the Southern Area Headquarters of the Amestrian Military. This was especially true because of how few Alchemists the Aerugonian Military had compared to the Amestrian Military. In fact, the Aerugonian Military was overwhelmingly normal soldiers, unlike Amestris, which had ten percent of its military ranks filled out by State Alchemists.

Unlike the Military of Amestris, Aerugo had no system of examinations where one could prove oneself a competent alchemist and then immediately be promoted to a higher officer rank, either. You had to climb the ranks the hard way first before being taught Alchemy in the Aerugonian Army. It made their relatively few Alchemists compared to the Amestrian Military more dangerous, as they tended to be more tactical with their Alchemy because of the background. And that had been part of the reason for the constant see-sawing of the front. It had been a consistent bloodbath on both sides for years now as the cycle of attack and counter-attack repeated into infinity. Suffice it to say, the Aerugonian Mafia had plenty of deserters to pick recruits from.

Regardless, aside from those two big factions, there were a few smaller independent factions in the Dublith Underground. The Drachma Bratva was fiercely independent of any Amestrian Gang, staking out a territory by the Stockyards for their own. Then there was the Xing Lan Triad, who ran Opium Smuggling efforts into Amestris from opium fields in hidden Oases in the Eastern Desert. Their presence was small but consistent. Then there were the few local Amestrian Gangs that remained independent of any of the other players, the Daybreak Gang, the Lake Angels, and the Iron Horse Bandits. The First was largely known for robberies and ran a number of fences in town, the Lake Angels were known to rob ships coming up and down the rivers to and from Kauroy Lake, and the Iron Horse Bandits were known for Train Robberies.

It was these last three that Yumi began to cut her teeth on, robbing from various loot stashes, fences, and safehouses possessed by the Daybreak Gang, Lake Angels, and Iron Horse Bandits, taking the choicest bits of loot back to her Cosmic Warehouse for breaking down into materials to craft with. What she didn't use for crafting, she would fence, though never to the fences operated by any of the gangs she stole from, for money. As she did this, she honed her abilities, not simply with thievery, Amestrian Alchemy, and Alkahestry, but also with Chi Channelling, Magic Item Creation, and Potion Creation. For three months this was the state of affairs, with Yumi consistently managing to break into and steal from, these three gangs.

It wasn't until the fourth month dawned that any of the leaders of these three gangs began to put their heads together and figure out that they were all being ripped off by the same person, and that they may want to ask around various fences that didn't belong to them for a description of whoever it was that kept bringing in their stolen loot to fence for cash. By that point, however, Yumi was well-versed enough with her powers that she was pretty sure that she could even take out the Mysterious Greed. Not only that, but she had crafted herself a number of pieces of equipment by now, including an Asauchi Blade using the Forge in her Cosmic Warehouse. In fact, by the time she was confronted by the three gangs, she had already learned her Asauchi's Name.

They had sent seventy-five thugs to beat her into the ground one evening, twenty-five from each gang, led by the three leaders of the Gangs. All were equipped with blades or pistols, and the leaders of each gang, Erick Haas, Hedrick Klinger, and Solf Marne, had Amestrian Military-Issued Semi-Automatic Rifles. It was at least a platoon and a half's worth of firepower, not counting the blade users. It wouldn't be even close to enough.

"So you're the Xing Bitch who's been ripping us off?" Questioned Solf Marne.

"She doesn't look like much, does she?" Queried Hedrick Klinger.

"Careful Hedrick, looks can be deceiving when it comes to Xing." Warned Erick Haas.

"You ought to know, Haas." Scoffed Solf Marne.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Edrick Haas.

"Fellas, cut the crap. We're here to kill this bitch, not squabble amongst ourselves. Save that shit for when we don't have a common enemy." Reminded Hedrick Klinger.

"You don't have nearly enough firepower here to stop me." Scoffed Yumi.

"What was that? You think you've got the upper hand here?" Demanded Solf Marne.

"This bitch is delusional." Huffed Hedrick Klinger.

"Let's just waste her and get it over with." Insisted Erick Haas.

But Yumi was already drawing her Zanpakuto and calling on her Chi. As she did so, she held her blade out in front of her and began to incant the phrase to awaken its Shikai State, even as she Gathered Mana to her grip to reinforce the Zanpakuto.

"Drown them in darkness, Kagetsuki!" Called out Yumi.

Then, there was a burst of Reiatsu as her Zanpakuto, Kagetsuki changed shape from the standard Katana shape to a Ninjato of blackened metal. As she raised Kagetsuki into a guard stance, the various thugs took aim at her, expecting to be able to put her down. As they fired, however, Yumi stepped into the shadows cast by the fading light of sunset and disappeared. The bullets hit nothing as Yumi reappeared out of Solf Marne's Shadow, cutting out in a blow that bisected him diagonally from hip to cheek. As he toppled to the ground in two directions, the top half falling left, the bottom falling right, Yumi leaped up into the air in a Chi-Powered Leap, evading wild gunfire that scythed down a dozen of the Thugs' own men in a hail of friendly fire before reaching for a vial of alchemist's fire from a bandolier strapped across her chest, flinging the potion down and causing another conflagration that burned up another quartet of enemies.

As various thugs took aim at her, however, she slammed her gauntlets together, activating the transmutation circles scribed on her armor. A plume of flame burst forth from her back and shoulders, sending her rocketing forward as if she had become jet-powered, lashing out with a downward strike of Kagetsuki that split open Erick Haas' skull. Immediately, Yumi dashed away, disappearing into a patch of shadow to dodge more gunfire, scything down another dozen enemies. She reappeared from behind Hedrick Klinger, leaping out of his shadow with a thrust of Kagetsuki that skewered his heart. She kicked his corpse off her Zanpakuto sending it hurtling toward a Thug aiming what looked like a Luger at her. The corpse struck that Thug with enough force to snap his neck, thanks to Yumi's Chi-powered kick.

This continued for a few more moments, with Yumi using Kagetsuki's Shikai Power to effect line-of-sight teleportation between shadows, her own Amestrian Alchemy to enhance her movements with jet flames, and her Chi Channeling Powers to consistently dodge gunfire, hitting and running against the assembled Thugs, striking out with a bit of Alchemical Flame here, or a strike from Kagetsuki there. The Thugs never really stood much of a chance. After ten minutes of trying to fight, what Thugs remained fled the battlefield, their Gangs' Leaders were dead and their forces were in tatters.

In the weeks to come, the Aerugonian Mafia and some of the Gangs who owed fealty to the Chimera of the Devil's Nest began picking at the remnants of the Daybreak Gang, Lake Angels, and Iron Horse Bandits, as did the Xing Lan Triad and Drachma Bratva, though to a lesser extent. The other gangs seized control of territory while the Daybreak Gang, Lake Angels, and Iron Horse Bandits were paralyzed by the loss of their leaders, effectively dissolving in a feeding frenzy.

Yumi proceeded to use the winnowing of these gangs to steal whatever wasn't nailed down in locations the other, still healthy gangs hadn't gotten to yet. By the time the last of the Daybreak Gang, Lake Angels, and Iron Horse Bandits had fallen a month later, Yumi had made out like a Bandit herself. She was entirely too pleased with herself, which was probably why she decided to try ripping off the Devil's Nest some five months after arriving in Amestris.

She hadn't known it then, but that little adventure would spiral into a confrontation with the Amestrian Fuhrer, King Bradley, as Yumi got caught up in what she had to assume was part of the plot of the series this world was based on. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see Emma Yung, Champion of Caishen, and Tanaka Yumi, Champion of Kubera, as they get involved in hijinx in their designated universes. Notably, Emma went to Dresden Files Earth, and Yumi went to Fullmetal Alchemist's World. For Emma, she arrives between the events of Grave Peril and Summer Knight, while Yumi arrives in Dublith five months before Greed decides to kidnap Al and Fuhrer Bradley decides to take out Greed.

You'll also note that both got an extra helping of points from their respective patrons. Kubera and Caishen are gods of Wealth, Trade, and Abundance. Those kinds of Gods tend to invest a lot more into their Champions than any others. In this case, that manifests as a whopping two-thousand-five-hundred points debt-free. Both need it, since their particular documents, the Celestial Reliquary and the Divine Hoard, both tend to be pretty point-intensive.

At any rate, the next chapter will be an Interlude with Keisha Rangi, Champion of Whiro, and Aleksander Yurinov, Champion of Flidais. Then we'll be back with Big E once again. I'll also have character sheets for everyone updated after the next chapter as well.

Stay tuned. . .