Ueno Academy, the headquarters of Transient biology research. Their guild: the Ueno Beast Tamers. They know more about Transients than World Representatives do, if you frame the question in a certain way. What they want is control over their powers, something they couldn't get in their home worlds. Almost all of them went out of control back home, but here in Tokyo, the guild setup pairs members into new temporary roles of Beast and Tamer to control themselves to an extent. The Beast Tamers also have Yuma. That's not his birth name, it's something the Ueno researchers gave him and they derived it from the term Unidentified Mysterious Animal. He's the guildmaster and he thinks he was supposed to be born a Therian instead of a human.
Ginza
Barong: Okay, time to get to our next stop Newbie!
Amduscias: W-wait, Senpai! I'm not ready for this...!
Barong: Pffft, the stage of life isn't gonna wait forever. People get stuck on some stage with some given role all the time, and we just play those parts. Oops, looks like we're late. The party's already started.
Amduscias: ...hey, isn't that--?
Somewhere slightly away
Yuma: I'mma werewolf! Awrooo! (fights Boogeyman and Nyarlathotep)
Boogeyman: Wow you flipped out so hard it's hard to believe you're human. You're Yuma, the Ueno guildmaster right?
Yuma: !!
Boogeyman: You try so hard to save your friends and prove your identity as a friend too. Your desperation is the flip side of fear. Come see our story. Nyarlathotep.
Nyaralathotep: It's psycho dubstep time!
The Entertainers put on a weird show!
Entertainers projector flashback replay!
Hastur: Yuma! This is no place for a human!
Ueno Academy research lab biohazrd sample storage. It's cold, but not that cold for people with fur.
Yuma: I-I want to help too...
Hastur: You are a puny human and should not be here! Get out!
Pazuzu: Aww, you're so worried about him my sweet sweet lizard.
Hastur: Cease your random prattle! I would NEVER worry ab--
Yuma: :(
Hastur: W-wait, don't cry!
Pazuzu: Is the cold making you want to hibernate? Want me to warm you up?
Hastur: I am no reptile! This chill is nothing to me!
Yuma: I...could have fur too if I used my artifact...
Pazuzu: ...sorry, but you can't. It's too dangerous if you lose control.
Yuma doesn't have a Tamer counterpart. Well more accurately, not even the Beast Tamers have figured out Yuma's artifact yet.
Pazuzu: Now be a good boy and--(Yuma goes)--wait, Yuma? Yuma!
Present
Yuma: NOOOO!
But the projector video continues...
Every test Yuma has taken confirmed his status as human, but he is still dead certain he is not. It keeps hurting him. He must be crazy somehow, right?
Yuma: urgh
Yuma's self identity stays unstable. He loved the Ueno guildies, but only his sense of isolation grew stronger as he remained unclear on what he could do.
Yuma: GRRR
"Who am I?" Nobody was around to empathize with how he felt, so eventually he made himself a cage to contain himself for lack of any better ideas. The chances to leave it decreased over time, as did the chances to declare himself a beast.
Yuma: Sad grunting sounds! (reverts to human form)
Amduscias: He turned human? Wait, I recognize him!
Flashback!
Amduscias: W-welcome to my live show, everyone! I'm Amduscias! I-it might be funny that I want to be an idol, but I still wanna do it! T-thanks for coming! Showtime!
Present
Boogeyman and Amduscias advance on Yuma!
Amduscias: W-wai--
???: Hahaha! There you are, puny human!
???: I know you want "puny humans" to be your catchphrase, my sweet sweet lizard, but he's just gonna hate you for that.
???: W-what? But why!?
Amduscias: WHAT
Hastur: Ueno Foreigner of Biohazards, Hastur!
Pazuzu: Ueno Caster, Pazuzu. So, been having fun with our leader?
Hastur: (looks at Yuma) ...how DARE you make him cry!? You shall all lament in my binds!
Pazuzu: Go get them, Hastur. Yuma, get behind me okay?
BATTLE START (more happens after)
Hastur: The King in Yellow!
Not Bees attack!
Pazuzu: Protection Sign!
FLASH
Hastur: ...hmm? Nyarlathotep!?
Pazuzu: Friend? He seems bloodthirsty.
Hastur: My nemesis that I want to tear apart. He's always putting on personas and I hate that. Are those yellow clothes a taunt!?
Pazuzu: Personas, eh? Hmm... (thinks back to meeting Tianzun)
Pazuzu: ...wait, isn't there also a Nyarlathotep with the Missionaries?
Hastur: Same person, different roles so each lives separately. He's called the God of a Thousand Forms and he's always changing them around.
Pazuzu: Ohh, is that how it is for the Entertainers? I think I understand them a little more now. Whoops! (dodges Boogeyman)
Pazuzu: As I was saying, you guys are taking the same approach we do to research. Matching roles and powers, then hacking and using the system. Is that what that mask is?
Boogeyman: ...
Pazuzu: It's the same trick you guys used to destabilize our guildmaster's transformation!
Hastur: What. Explain in plain Japanglish!
Pazuzu: And that's how you guys pull your identities...or is it alibi? That's what you've guys said this whole time, right?
Boogeyman and Nyarlathotep: ...
Pazuzu: Haha, I got you guys there, didn't I? ...oh whoops we're surrounded.
It's a wall of livestreamers!
Pazuzu: Welp, we'd be stuck if we didn't have help. So it's a good thing we've arranged for some! Hastur, put up some blinding winds!
Hastur does so! Gurangatch digs in from below!
Amduscias: They disappeared!
Later
Yuma: Ugh...huh? Where am I?
Pazuzu: You okay? We managed to get away.
Yuma: ...oh no. Leib and others still imprisoned! I go help!
Pazuzu: ...thanks Yuma, it's nice to see how much you care. But calm down, we need you do to some guildmaster work.
Yuma: ?
Barguest and Gurangatch are here.
Pazuzu: They're from the Wanderers and they helped us. Now it's our turn to help them. Ready to hear them out?
End of Episode
No comments:
Post a Comment