Dreams Come True

The Oni Of Kamurocho

We were all cruising through the portal with no hitches. Ralph was soaring like he was skydiving, Vanellope hanging on to his back. Jenny, despite having her damaged pigtail, had her wings revealed to keep her stabilised. Steve was wearing his Elytra and gliding gracefully. Finally, I was holding on to Gladius' handle, the sword gliding through the stained glass portal.

"When do we reach the end of this?" Steve called.

"Don't know", I called back, "It kinda just happens whenever-" I was immediately silenced when all six of us all smacked into a sudden wall. We all groaned and slid off the wall, crashing into a dumpster below. Slowly, we all rose from the bin. "Whenever...it wants." I finished.

"That hurt", Ralph huffed, holding his head. He turned around and looked up, cringing at the indent he made. "Makes me wish I snagged Felix's hammer..." He mumbled. Vanellope, meanwhile, hopped out of the dumpster and dusted herself off and looked around.

"Hey guys", Vanellope spoke up with an apprehensive tone, "Is it just me, or is this place...a bit realistic?" The rest of us all looked around from the dumpster, and it seemed Vanellope was right. Everything looked just like it was from my world. It was actually kind of scary how accurate it was.

"Caleb", Jenny said as she looked around in awe, "Did we somehow get you back home?"

I stepped out of the dumpster and dusted myself off. I looked at a group of posters that were stuck to a nearby wall and walked up to them. Upon getting a closer look, I quickly noticed everything on the posters were in Japanese. I looked at Jenny and shook my head.

"Well, wherever we are", Steve said, having stepped out of the dumpster. "We should find somewhere to crash and plan something out."

"Why can't we just hide out here?" Vanellope asked, putting her hands on her hips and scowling. Ralph simply jabbed a thumb at the dumpster, and Vanellope's scowl fell. "Right...let's go, my loyal servants!" We all rolled our eyes and smiled at the president's little jab, and followed her out of the alleyway. The street we reached was a sight to behold. There were hundreds of flashing neon signs, all with Japanese Kanji written on them. People in varying outfits, from business suits to casual, walked by, not paying any mind to us.

"We're somewhere in Japan..." Jenny said as she squinted her eyes, looking down both ends of the street. "In that case, I'll be a translator for you guys."

"That would be greatly appreciated, Jenny", Gladius said, bowing. He then turned to me. "Do you know what world we're in, Caleb?"

I slowly shook my head. "I...don't." This made the others look at me in silence. "None of this looks familiar. For once, I can't really guide us." This didn't reassure the others, but Jenny thought of something. She walked up to a pair of women who were chatting. They acknowledged her existence, but seemed to not notice she was a robot.

"ねえ、私と私の友達 (Hey, me and my friends)", she gestured to the rest of us, "タクシーの運転手によってここに捨てられました。私たちがどこにいるのか教えていただけますか？(were dumped here by a taxi driver. Can you tell us where we are?)"

One of the women nodded. "あなたはカムロチョにいます、恋人 (You're in Kamurocho, sweetheart)"

Jenny bowed in thanks and returned to us. "So, we're in Kamurocho apparently. That...somewhat helps."

I gave a flat look, not too sure how well that helps us. But it was something. "So what's the plan?" I asked. The others all shrugged, and it felt like we were stuck. We had no idea where we were, what to do, and who to ask for help. I let out a sigh, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a group of three men approaching us. They were wearing brightly coloured suits, had styled hair, and walked with authority. Immediately, I put the pieces together. Yakuza.