"Is the area evacuated?" Brandon asked one of the soldiers blocking a road.
"Yes sir!" He saluted. "The civilians have been evacuated and the streets have been blocked off."
"Good." Brandon nodded. He glanced at the rest of us, before gesturing for us to come forwards. "Follow me."
We walked past the blockades, the soldiers letting us by. We walked through the streets, before finally the rift revealed itself to us. It was a rift much larger than normal, but it didn't compare to the size of the rift created when Lupercio tried to cross into this world.
Standing somewhat near the rift was a single man with glasses and a long lab coat. He held a tablet, typing on it before glancing upwards and seeing the S Ranks.
"Hello." He nodded.
"Tsukaya, it's been a while." Brandon replied. "Everybody, this is Yoku Tsukaya. He'll be our man on the outside, letting us know of any changes from out here."
"My job is to record the data you guys send me and to make sure that nothing strange happens on my end. There have been times when open rifts have fluctuated in power, either increasing or decreasing ranks." Yoku explained.
He pulled out a couple of earpieces from his pocket, tossing one to each of us. "These are specially made experimental contact devices. They'll let you talk to each other while separated, and if the theory works, then even with me, across worlds." He stated. "This will be the first test."
"Alright." Brandon nodded, placing an earpiece in.
"Isn't it weird to have a first test on such a dangerous mission?" My Mom asked, her voice distorted by the mask she wore to conceal her identity.
"Yes, but we didn't have time to test these beforehand." Yoku stated. "If they don't work as intended, that's fine. Just prioritize your own safety instead of fighting or exploring. If you need to retreat, then do it."
"Got it." Goku nodded, a grin growing on his face. "But I don't think we'll need to retreat."
"Don't be cocky." Principal elbowed him.
"I'm just being optimistic!" Goku retorted.
He was given an eye-roll in response.
"Has the supplies I requested been delivered?" Brandon asked.
"Should be any moment now." Yoku stated.
As per on cue, a man came running with multiple backpacks. We each were giving one, each one containing different survival necessities like tents, rations, water, and more.
"Alright. We should be ready." Brandon stated. We all turned towards the Open Rift, taking a deep breath before stepping forwards.
And then I felt a hand in my shoulder. Glancing backwards, I saw Yoku staring at me.
"What do you think you're doing...?" He asked me. "This is for the S Ranks."
"He's allowed to join us." Brandon stated.
"What?" Yoku looked at him incredulously.
"I know what I'm doing." Brandon sighed.
Usually I wouldn't be allowed in an operation this big, but due to the seals, when releasing them, I have power that can easily rival an S Rank. I can unseal them without destroying my soul at the moment, right?
"Yes, you can." Loki stated. "But not for long."
"Or else..." Medea started to warn.
I know, I'll tear my soul in half, I've been through this before. Thanks for worrying, anyways.
And I just remembered.
"Wait a minute, I just thought of something." I stated, making everybody stare at me.
I summoned Loki as a sword, before swinging through the air and creating a rift of my own. Everybody stared at me, their jaws dropping, as Hel popped out, the rift closing behind her.
"Father?" She asked. "What's up?"
"Dangerous rift." I nodded towards it. "I'll be going with Japan's S Ranks. You and Fenrir keep watch over the girls for me, please."
"Not a problem." Hel replied. "But I demand you help me with my workload afterwards."
"Got it." I nodded. "Here, I'll help you."
I swung my sword once more, creating another rift. This one should lead towards Aegis Mansion.
"Thanks, Father." Hel grinned. "Better not die, or else I'll put in you in the lowest levels of Nilfhiem, stuck with the girls as punishment."
She went through the rift, the rift closing behind her.
"...what the hell?" Yoku asked in sheer confusion.
"Yeah, he'll be fine." Goku laughed. "Since when did'ya learn that, kid?"
"Long story." I shrugged. "We should probably start."
"Right." Brandon nodded. "Then we'll be going."
And this time, without interruption, we walked through the rift. It felt like walking through a doorway, but in one moment we were in our world and in the next a completely different one.
The first thing I noticed was just how cold it was. I summoned Loki once more, morphing him into a scarf which wrapped around my neck.
The second thing I noticed was how I could barely see anything. Snow flew by at quick speeds, greatly obscuring our field of view. All we could see was the rift behind us.
Goku lit a fire in his hands, lightly warming us up. Following his lead, I lit two green fires in my hands and immediately I felt warmer.
"...Hello? He-llo???? Can y-hear me?" A staticky voice resonated in our earpieces.
"Kind of." Brandon held his earpiece. "Can you hear us?"
"Thank goodness!" The reply came almost instantaneous, his voice strangely fast. "You're okay. It's been five minutes and I didn't hear anything."
"Five minutes...?" President muttered.
"What do you mean?" Brandon asked, his eyes narrowing fiercely.
"What do I mean?" Yoku gasped. "Why do you keep responded every five minutes? And so slowly too?"
"Oh shit." Goku gasped.
What's going on?
"Time dilation." Emi gravely stated. "And by quite a large margin."
"What?" I asked, confused.
"What?" Loki and Medea simultaneously wondered.
"Sometimes, the worlds we cross into, their time flows at a different rate than ours." Goku explained. "Which causes discrepancies like this."
"If every second here is five minutes there..." Principal muttered, quickly calculating. "Then every hour here is 12.5 days over there."
Oh shit.
"Oh shit indeed, Goku, oh shit indeed." Loki gasped.
"The girls are going to have your head." Medea sighed.
At this point, they might just put me on house arrest. Or at least their version of it, which likely involves tying me up on a bed.
"The rift will likely close by then." Brandon stated. "So we have to guard it for an hour. If it takes longer, we'll camp on our side. I'm not risking it."
He pressed the earpiece. "Time dilation. Each hour here is about 12.5 days over there. We'll keep you frequently updated."
"I feel so much better. You about gave me a heart attack. I've been waiting for a little while now." Yoku replied. "I'll let the others know."
We looked around once more. Still, the large snowstorm was obscuring everything that wasn't within five feet of us. The rift glowed a bright blue, but I still wasn't sure if it could be seen through the snow.
"We are not moving." Brandon stated. "We will camp here, and pray that nothing approaches us before the rift closes."
"Yoku will let us know when the rift's power starts to waver, right?" Emi asked for confirmation.
"Yes." Brandon nodded. "Since it hopefully won't be more than an hour on our side, we won't need to set up tents or anything. Hopefully we can get a fire going though."
"I'm not sure." Goku stated, looking at his own flame. "I think unless Ken or I keep creating it, the snow is going to keep blowing it out."
Brandon opened his mouth to speak before a large shrill shattered through the sky, and all of the sudden the snowstorm seemed to breeze away, revealing our surroundings.
We were on an island, one not too large. The ocean surrounded us on all sides, and other islands stood in the distance with a strange reflection under them.
"That's not the ocean..." My Mom suddenly gasped.
She suddenly trudged forwards through the left behind snow, us quickly following her. She reached the edge of the island, which was not touched my water but rather air. Glancing downwards, the island was stood high in the sky, an ocean leagues below us. That wasn't a reflection. These islands were supported with large, stone pillars.
In the distance a pure white tornado, filled to the brim with snow, ravaged the sky and spun with a threatening aura towards the next island on it's warpath.
"What is this place...?" Emi looked around in amazement.
"I've never seen something like this before..." Mom gazed in wonder.
"Guys..." Goku suddenly stated, pointing out another direction. "I think we have a problem."
We looked out, only to see another tornado approaching from the distance, one which looked much more similar to one in our own world, but with flashing yellow streaks, and it was quickly approaching. And what once looked like a normal tornado soon proved to be something much larger than what our world would ever had.
It stretched from all the way up in the sky to all the way down to the ocean who knows how far away. It was easily large enough to engulf at least four of these islands with its width.
And from the top of the tornado, across the darkened sky streaked a bright yellow, before it stopped and flew mid-air for us to see what it was.
A large, giant, Chinese-like yellow dragon with a long, snake like body that at least rivaled the size of the dragon which Erica fought. It flew above us, staring at us with darkened eyes. The one thing which made it different than a Chinese dragon was that it also had three different pairs of humongous wings.
"I've never seen that one before..." Principal whispered.
It's shriek shattered the sky as a lightning storm rained from above, assaulting the ocean far below with violent strikes. And then the dragon flew towards us, the tornado following right behind.
"Take cover!" Brandon screamed.