AUTHOR'S PROBOSCIS: Please, don't take this seriously. I only did it for a contest on talkhaus.
CHAPTER 1: DEMO THE AWESOME
Demo was skating around in Green Pipes Point, trying to master a move she called the "Zeezle Zlayer", when a ten-year-old Ben Tennyson in a hard hat rushed up to her. "What in the world are you doing, lady?" he asked. "Don't you know that only people with arms can skateboard?"
Demo thought for a moment, and then replied with, "Bengineer, I must say something very important." Before Bengineer could ask what it was, Demo shouted "TALOS'R'LAHER'YU'PTOPTHF!" and summinned a sandial, a zombee, mistr crabs, leencaruh, a hevvie, a medec, a spie, a hamstur, Marise Krismas, Hacker Raymu, Wutlee from Portol Too, Stew Bigfaec, and chuga conroi.
"HELL THEYRE DEMO," chuga sed, "IS GOD MOURNING!"
And then Talos Angel punched HamsterZerg back into sobriety.
"How did you get here?" HamsterZerg asked.
"I'm not here." answered Talos Angel.
Bengineer was caught off guard by this sudden turn of events. But then Demo beat the crap out of everyone she just summoned, kicked Bengineer into the next chapter, and left to find raocow.
CHAPTER 2: raocow IN TROUBLE
Demo went to raocow's summer home in Paris, France, but when she knocked on the door, no one answered. "raocow, you in there?" Demo asked as she opened the door.
The house was a mess, even by HamsterZerg's admittedly low standards. There were spoons stuck in the walls, sofas hanging from the ceiling, and fridges blocking the television. There was a note on one of the fridges, which Demo pulled off and read out loud.
"Dear Demo,
"I'm going to the Battle Frontier in Hoenn. I won't be back for a while, so hang tight, okay?
"Sincerely, raocow."
Demo knew this was a fake. For one thing, if raocow hd left on his own, there would be forks in the walls, not spoons.
Then there was the place the letter said raocow went to. raocow wasn't a Pokémon Trainer, so why would he go there?
Then it hit her; raocow was kidnapped!
As Demo rushed out the door, Bengineer crashed through the roof and landed on a conveniently-placed giant pillow.
CHAPTER 3: STRONG BAD CHECKS IN!
Strong Bad was about to check his e-mail when Demo rushed in and kicked him in the back of the head. "Where'd you put raocow?!" Demo asked, her mind filled with violent thoughts.
"That has to be the second dumbest question that anyone has ever asked me," Strong Bad said. "The only one to top it would be the one HamsterZerg asked about a demonic egg possessing the couch."
Demo decided that she didn't have time for any more of Strong Bad's crap, so she kicked him in the groin and went to check her e-mail on Strong Bad's computer.
There was only one new message, and it was from someone claiming to be the Supreme Bringer of Balance. Demo opened it and read it out loud.
"Demo, you shouldn't have come searching for raocow.
"Although, to be fair, I guess I should have put knives in the floor. Anyway, you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into by crossing me. If you really want to see raocow alive one last time, you should head over to the Battle Frontier in Hoenn.
"And you'll also need the seven Frontier Hexes, but I'm not telling you where they are, so HA!
"-The One Who Will Bring the World Back to the Way it Should Be"
Just then, Strong Sad entered the room. "Uh, Demo?" he said.
"Yes, what is it?" Demo said as she turned to face Strong Sad. She noticed that Strong Sad was holding a small box.
"I found this under Strong Mad's bed. It had a note attached to it, saying not to let you have whatever's inside. I think it's important."
Demo took the box from Strong Sad and opened it. Inside was a bronze hexagon engraved with three squares in a triangle formation. "What's this?" Demo asked.
"The Bronze Hex of Knowledge!" Strong Sad said. "I had no idea that one of the Frontier Hexes was in our house!"
"Thanks, Strong Sad," Demo said. She got up and ran out of the house.
Strong Bad got up with a groan. "Uuh... what did I miss?" he asked.
"I just gave Demo a Frontier Hex that was under Strong Mad's bed," said Strong Sad. "It seemed suspicious that it said for a specific person to not have what was in that box."
"Oh, come on!" Strong Bad screamed. "I need to get Strong Mad to punch your face in for that!"
"Whatever," said Strong Sad. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go organize the next Deleteheads meeting." And with that, Strong Sad left.
Strong Bad picked up a disconnected phone receiver and pressed some buttons on it. He held it up to the side of his hed as it started ringing. Whoever he was calling answered quickly. "Yes, Strong Bad?" it said.
"Look, boss, I've failed you," Strong Bad said. "I got knocked out by a kick between the legs, and then my baby brother just handed the demon that Frontier Hex you gave me."
The Boss let out a sigh. "Listen," it said, "that girl has no idea how to use that Hex. She doesn't even know the legend! Since nobody told her, you only kinda failed. Just warn the others, alright?"
"Yes, boss," Said Strong Bad. He ended the call and started dialing numbers.
CHAPTER 4: EGGMAN ROLLS IN?
Demo was in Kikkinbutte, hopelessly lost. The place was a maze of froests, deserts, volcanoes, oceans, islands, grasslands, caves, and HamsterZerg's impending insanity.
Demo was sitting in a ridiculously tall tree, looking for a way to find the remaining Frontier Hexes. She pulled out the Bronze Hex of Knowledge, and was about to contemplate what she had gotten herself into, when the Hex sent a bronze beam of light upwards and to Demo's left. That's odd, she thought. What is it pointing at?
Demo jumped upward from branch to branch. When she reached the top of the tree, she saw a ludicrously huge airship in the shape of a whale shark. Since the beam of light was pointing in the ship's direction, Demo jumped from tree to tree and onto the huge aircraft.
As soon as Demo landed on the airship, the sky grew dark and stormy. Demo saw something that looked like a man in front of her. "Dr. Eggman!" she yelled. "What are you doing here?!"
Dr. Eggman melted, and reformed into the form of Neo Metal Sonic. "You will go no further, demon," Neo Metal Sonic said.
"I know you!" said Demo. "You're that robot hedgehog with an identity crisis!"
"Enough!" Neo Metal Sonic said. He reached upward, calling down lightning and reforming parts of the ship around himself into his Metal Overlord form. "Now," said Metal Overlord, "you shall die!"
Metal Overlord shot fire from one of his hands, but Demo dodged it easily. Metal Overlord then switched to trying to trap Demo in an energy crystal, but she was too fast.
Demo jumped onto Metal Overlord's head. "What will you do now?" she asked.
Metal Overlord tried shaking Demo off his head, but the demon held on tightly. When Metal Overlord tried to hit her with his tail, she jumped off, causing the tail to crack Metal Overlord's head. "You will pay for this!" Metal Overlord shouted. The crack started to shine from within, spreading across Metal Overlord's body.
Metal Overlord exploded, leaving behind vanilla Metal Sonic. A shining light floated over to Demo, fading to reveal a silver hexagon with an engraving of two L-shaped Tetris blocks. Another bright light came over, and in a flash of bright light, Tikal the Echidna stood in front of Demo. "What's going on here?" Demo asked.
"You just defeated one of the holders of the Frontier Hexes," Tikal explained. "That one is the Silver Hex of Guts."
"Then what was with the light from the Bronze Hex pointing here?" asked Demo.
"Legend has it that each of the first six Frontier Hexes will point to the next," said Tikal. "The Frontier Hexes are the key to reaching the Battle Frontier, the place where a dangerous entity is plotting to destroy all of civilization."
"But raocow's there!" Demo said. "I need to save him!"
"Then I wish you the best of luck," said Tikal, who vanished in another bright flash.
CHAPTER 5: THE HORSELESS HEADLESS HORSEMANN HEADS INTO BATTLE!
Demo was walking down a river, holding out the Silver Hex in front of her. It was sending out a beam in the direction of what seemed to be a small town. When she reached it, however, the place turned out to be a pair of fortresses, one red, the other blue, both facing each other from across a small, covered bridge over the river. Well, thought Demo, I might as well get some rest for a little while.
A large cloud moved over the forts, darkening the sky but still leaving some of the sun visible. This was enough to simulate nighttime.
A loud roar came from the bridge, causing Demo to turn her attention to it. What she saw honestly frightened her. A circle of purple flames was at the center of the bridge, with a headless body holding a pumpkin and a large axe rising from the ground within. The body put the pumpkin where a head would have been, and the creature turned towards Demo, revealing that the pumpkin was a Jack-o'-Lantern that was glowing from within. Tightly gripping the axe with both hands the nightmarish monster chased Demo into the blue fortress, where she fled into a room that was behind a large, metal garage door.
The demon waited in the room, hoping for the monster to leave, and only left when she stopped hearing the noises it was making. Demo stepped out of the room, only to be greeted by a shrine maiden in red-and-white clothes. "Alright," Reimu said, "I saw you running around, and I've been trying to get out of here for almost a year now, so let me tell you, there's no escaping this place."
"Wait, what?!" Demo asked. It was hard to believe that she would be stopped by a metaphysical barrier around a pair of abandoned buildings.
"I don't know how to get out," Reimu said, sounding a bit defeated. "I think that creature is keeping us from escaping. I read about it in a book I saw in a room I found myself in after I... died."
"So this place has some form of Rii Spawn technology?" Demo asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about, so I'll just ignore it," Reimu said. "Anyway that thing is apparently called the 'Horseless Headless Horsemann'. I tried my most powerful spell card on it, but I don't think the damage was permanent, and it didn't seem ready to surrender. It only appears in conditions similar to nighttime, so..."
"So we have to get rid of this thing, and fast," Demo finished.
As the two started discussing their plan, they made their way to the bridge. As they were about to discuss how they would reason with their so-called "captor", the Horsemann raced across the bridge and sliced both of their heads off.
When Demo recovered from the dizziness left by respawning, she noticed that Reimu was nowhere to be seen. She also noticeda book titled "The Ultimate Guide to Dangerous Monsters".
Demo picked up the book and began to look for information on the monster that just killed her. "Hmm... Dirgtarger... Zantibar... HamsterZerg... Eldruickt..." Demo was about to give up when she found what she was looking for. "Ah! Horseless Headless Horsemann! Hmm, let's see... 'The Horseless Headless Horsemann can not be reasoned with. It will never surrender, and the only way to beat it is to kill it. Most methods of attacking, such as damage reflection, dimensional distortion, and danmaku, will harm it, but the only way to finish it off is with a Mercenary-grade weapon or a strong punch.'" Demo was shocked when she read that. So that's why it wouldn't stop chasing Reimu, she thought.
She searched for something to use as a weapon, and found a shovel. Hoping that it would do the job, her single eye started to tear up, remembering that poor shrine maidenwho never made it back after the Horseless Headless Horsemann took her life. True, Demo didn't even get to know the girl, but Reimu was stuck here for almost a year, with no way out, probably starving to death multiple times, so it only made sense to stop this madness.
The sadness mixed with rage to create an indescribable feeling so powerful that all nine of Demo's adrenal glands kicked into overdrive. She rushed towards the bridge, holding the shovel in one foot, running extremely quickly on the other, where the horrible crime against nature was waiting, as if sensing the anger and frustration, wanting to get an easy kill on a demon blinded by rage and tears.
It was ignoring all the bullets that were being shot into its body, which proved to be a fatal mistake, as Demo's reflexes were greater than what the undead beast was expecting. With a shovel blow to the head, the Horseless Headless Horsemann fell over backwards, evaporating into the unknown as it lay there.
When the purple smoke cleared, the cloud blocking the sun dissipated as Demo and Reimu saw each other. Demo rushed over to Reimu, wrapping a leg around the miko's waist when she reached her.
A wizard wearing a blck robe and a skull on his head appeared in a puff of green smoke, while a small, gold-colored ball of light flew towards Demo from the sky. "Well done, you two," the wizard said, "Merasmus- that would be me- congratulates you on slaying the Horseless Headless Horsemann!"
Demo and Reimu turned to Merasmus. "Why didn't I see Reimu in the room I respawned in?" Demo asked, her voice shaking with relief.
"It's a simple matter of chromatic theming, dear cyclops," Said Merasmus. "People in red spawn in the RED fort. People in blue spawn in the BLU fort. People wearing both colors switch forts every time they die."
The golden light finally reached eye level, and faded, revealing a golden hexagon with an engraving of two rectangles of different sizes, with a small piece of circle on either side.
"Ah, the Gold Hex of Tactics!" Merasmus said, pleased with having seen some progress towards an unknown individual's unknown goal bemade with his very own eyes. "One of you must have been looking to enter the Battle Frontier, right?"
"That would be me," Demo said. "I already have two others."
"Well then, miss," Merasmus said, "Be forewarned that a dangerous entity is at the Battle Frontier. The only thing I know about what it is is that it's female."
"What about me?" Reimu asked?
"Well, I never got your name, miss," Merasmus said.
"It's Reimu Hakurei," Reimu said.
Before Merasmus could say anything, Demo shouted, "So you really are Reimu! I remember seeing a famous portrait of someone looking like you! It was even called Reimu Hakurei Prepared for War!"
"Well, with all coincidence-based admiration aside," Merasmus said, "Reimu, you need to get back to your home. It might already be in a major mess."
"Oh, crap!" Reimu said.
CHAPTER 6: MACHINEDRAMON MANS THE CANNONS!
Demo was holding out the Gold Hex of Tactics, which was sending a beam of gold light in the direction of a large mountain. She did not want to encounter anything like the Horsemann after she went through such an indescribable level of emotional pain.
When she reached the mountain, she saw that there was an opening large enough for a large dinosaur to easily walk through. When Demo stepped inside, she saw that the interior of the mountain looked like a vector grid. "Hey!" said a voice from above Demo. When Demo looked up, she saw a creature that looked like a wildlife equivalent to Frankenstein's Monster. "This is no place for a matterbag like you to walk into!"
Demo panicked as the monster flew down at her. She ran further into the mountain, climbing stairs, pushing switches to open doors, and answering trivia questions about the events of the previous chapters, rushing through all of it as fast as she possibly could. There was one point when she stopped rushing, however.
Halfway up the mountain, there was a large room with white tiles cvering the ceiling, the floor, and most of the walls. However, on the wall in front of Demo, there was a name spelled out in capital letters made from dark grey tiles.
"HAMSTERZERG..." she read aloud. "...Whoever designed this room is an idiot." She then went back to running as fast as she could.
Near the peak of the mountain, the cavern had a large room with a floor that looked like it was a giant mess of paved streets and sidewalks. There was also a gigantic robot dinosaur on the opposite side of the room.
"So," said the robot dinosaur, "it seems Kimeramon failed in his duty to kill you."
"What do you want me dead for?" Demo asked.
"Well, I thought you would never ask," the robot dinosaur said. "Let me show you something."
The robot dinosaur stepped to the side, revealing a cage. In the cage was a boy wrapped in linen from the collarbone down. The robot dinosaur pounded the cage, waking the boy up. The boy jumped up in shock as he saw Demo. "Alright, Machinedramon, no need to do this!" he said. "I've been here for almost a year, having only one meal every two days, and now you want me to watch you kill some girl who just wandered in?! That's sick, even for you!"
"Well," Machinedramon said, "it seems that Tai the 'hero' is only good for torture, as usual."
"Shut up!" Tai screamed, struggling to get free of the linen.
Demo was getting over her fear as she saw Machinedramon pick on Tai. It was being replaced with something much different- determination.
Demo was determined to stop this from going on any longer.
"Alright, Machinedramon," Demo said, anger clear in her somehow-calm voice. "You have done enough to that child. I swear, I will stop the torture, and I will make sure the boy gets to a safe place where no one will put him through what you did. And I WILL. MAKE. YOU. PAY."
"Touching," Machinedramon said, "I felt a little warmth in my core. But you have no business here. After you beat Metal Overlord and the Horseless Headless Horsemann, I've prepared myself to fight you and end your little journey."
Machinedramon fired a powerful energy blast from one of the cannons on his back. It missed, but the shockwave sent Demo flying and had her faceplant on the ground.
She got up and started to run towards Machinedramon, but when she got close, Machedramon swiped at her with his left arm, and then launched a missile at her from his right arm.
Demo barely dodged the swipe, but the missile hit, and Demo was sent flying into a nearby wall. Demo then fell to the floor like a ragdoll. She was covered in cuts, some of them bleeding, but she struggled to get up nonetheless. "What?!" Machinedramon asked. "How is this possible?"
Demo turned to glare at Machinedramon. "I will not give up this fight," she said. "I will kill you if I have to, but I guarantee that the boy is going to be let free."
Then, as if some holy force from above judged Demo's mission to be a worthy cause, she glowed with a brilliant wight light that caused Tai to squint from its brightness.
"I can stand a little light show, fool," Machinedramon said. But the light took the form of WarGreymon, and bad memories came to the Dark Master's mind.
The memories instilled not panic, but rage. As Machinedramon unleashed Giga Cannon after Giga Cannon at the luminescent form, the being of light rushed towards Machinedramon at high speed, slicing the Dark Master with its Dramon Destroyers.
As Machinedramon left out one final roar of pain as he died, the light went back to its formless state and left Demo's body. Demo fell to her knees, still cut all over, and puked out a mixture of stomach acid and blood.
The light went to Tai, opened the cage, and unraveled the linen. It slowly lifted the boy downward, and Tai rushed over to Demo's side. "Hey," he said, "are you alright?"
The light rushed over to Tai and Demo, forming into a human boy with twelve angel wings and messy orange hair long the way. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I felt the need to step in."
"Who are you?" Tai asked.
"Pardon me," the boy said, "I am Mikaelmon. You may call me a literal Deus ex Machina." Mikaelmon turned to Demo and said, "I'm sorry, but I didn't know of your demonic nature. I would have found some other way to help if I had known."
"I'll be fine," Demo replied, her voice a bit shaky.
"Tai," Mikaelmon said to the human boy, "you have something that Demo came here for. I believe you put it in your pocket."
"Oh, you mean this?" Tai asked, pulling out a platinum hexagon with an engraving of a hexagonal ring reminiscent of a Hyrule Rupee.
The hexagon floated up slightly, giving off a brilliant light that stopped Demo's bleeding; however, if her moans were anything to go by, she was still a little sick.
"The Platinum Hex of Luck," Mikaelmon said. "At leased it stopped the blood loss." He leaned down and lifted Demo's face so that their eyes were level with each other. "Listen," he said, "I already know what Tikal and Merasmus told you. I need to share some information with you as well."
"I'm listening," Demo said, her willpower greater than her sickness.
"The entity at the Battle Frontier is ancient beyond belief, and doesn't follow standard logic. She is more alien than anything you have ever faced," Mikaelmon said. "I wish I could share more with you, but the entity is protecting her identity from being revealed by some sort of system that weakens every time you get another Frontier Hex."
"Wow," Demo said, "I would never have believed that I would get into this mess simply by going to raocow's vacation home."
CHAPTER 7: RIDLEY SIZES UP THE COMPETITION!
As Demo exited the mountain, her stomach felt a little better. Sharing a body with an angelic being was no good for her health, even though she was entirely in control. She pulled out the Platinum Hex of Luck, but something was wrong.
The platinum-colored beam of light was pointing at a downward angle. It went off into the distance, so there would likely be a cave entrance somewhere, but it would likely be a long trip.
When Demo had walked a distance equal to that between the northernmost and southernmost points of Berlin, Germany, she was next to a large stone formation with an opening in it. Deciding to go in, Demo ventured into the cave, which was probably where the next Frontier Hex was located, given that the beam from the Platinum Hex of Luck was pointing almost straight down.
The deeper Demo went, the more alien the wildlife seemed. There were also a few texts about how a being called CricetusZerus terrorized the land in ancient times. After forty-six sublevels of increasingly bizarre and dangerous wild creatures, Demo found herself in an empty room with an exit right in front of her.
When she exited the room, Demo saw a small, carrot-like creature with red skin sitting there, looking worried. It looked to Demo and then turned its gaze to the door on the opposite side of the room. The door was highly advanced from a technological standpoint, but the writing on it was incredibly simplistic. "'Four Hex, Then Enter,'" Demo read out loud. She pulled out the four Frontier Hexes she had acquired over her journey, and they all produced beams of light that went straight to the center of the door.
As the door opened, a heat wave rushed past Demo, who looked to the Pikmin in concern. It seemed unafffected, which was understandable due to its red color. The Pikmin got up and started carving a message in the ground. When it was done, the Pikmin motioned for Demo to look at it.
"'My name is Steven,'" Demo read.
Demo looked at the Pikmin, but Steven didn't write anything else. Convinced that she was wasting both Steven's time and her own time, Demo walked into the next room.
A roar was heard from high above, as a Space Dragon went into a divebomb towards Demo. Demo got out of the way, but the Space Dragon wasn't done just yet. It made parts of the floor crumble away over some magma.
Demo knew that only one Space Dragon would fight like this.
Ridley then breathed fire at Demo, but the demon dodged the flame and looked for something to throw at the dragon. She found a small pile of rocks near the edge of the floor, so she ran up to it and waited for Ridley to open his mouth for any reason.
Ridley roared in frustration, allowing Demo to throw rocks at the dragon's open mouth. Ridley's mouth suffered a lot of cuts, with blood coming from the roof of his mouth. Ridley breathed fire again, but this time, it came out faster and burned Demo's leg.
Demo was in serious pain. It didn't stop her from running as hast as she could, but running hurt her leg even more. Ridley flew up and divebombed again, this time landing right in front of Demo. The demon panicked, turned around, and ran it the other direction.
This isn't good, Demo thought to herself. I need to find something else to throw at him! She noticed another small pile of rocks. When Ridley roared again, Demo threw those rocks into his mouth. Now Ridley's mouth was bleeding a lot. Demo was sure he wouldn't breath fire again.
She was wrong. She was very wrong. Ridley breathed fire again, and it came out even faster than last time, burning Demo's other leg. Now it hurt just to stand, but Demo wouldn't give up.
Steven ran up to Ridley and punched him in the foot. Demo saw this and remembered that she left the door open. She decided to help.
As if sensing Demo's desire to help out, Steven gave her a look that basically told her to stand back. Steven jumped up, grabbing onto Ridley's wing. Ridley tried to shake him off, but the Pikmin's grip was too strong. Steven jumped onto Ridley's back and kicked the dragon in the shoulder. The blow connected, causing Ridley to screech in pain. Steven jumped up to land on Ridley's head, but Ridley caught the Pikmin in his mouth.
Demo got flashbacks to her fight with the Horseless Headless Horsemann, but she realized that this time, her new acquaintance really would be lost forever.
"NOOOO!" Demo screamed in agony as she jumped at the dragon's head and kicked him in the jaw.
The kick was powerful enough to make Ridley let go of Steven, and the dragon fell to the ground and exploded. Steven landed outside of the blast radius, so he would have been fine if he was still alive. Demo limped over to the Pikmin, crying at the thought of never getting to thank the Pikmin who saved her life.
Steven's body glowed with a bright light, and was replaced with a boy with red clothes, red hair, and a green feather standing on top of his head. "Demo?" he asked. "Are you okay?"
Demo looked up at the boy, unsure of what to think. "I lost someone who saved my life, and I never got to give him my thanks," she explaied, "and it's all because of that stupid dragon!"
The boy looked surprised. "You lost a hero to Ridley before he tried to eat me?" he asked.
Something connected in Demo's mind. "You're... Steven?" she asked. The boy nodded. Demo jumped up and embraced Steven with one of her legs."Thank you, Steven!" she cried in relief. "I thought you were dead! Thank you for saving my life and living to see my gratitude!"
Steven was taken aback by this. "Wait, you were upset because you thought I died and because you thought you would never get to thank me?" he asked. Demo nodded. "Oh boy..." Steven said.
"What is it?" Demo asked.
"You barely knew me, and yet you were upset over losing me simply because I saved your life. Just because I saved you doesn't mean you need to have a special place in your heart for me," Steven said. "That doesn't apply to everyone, but it applies to me." Steven then picked up Demo in his arms and took her over to a door opposite from the one Demo entered the room from. He used his foot to open the door and took Demo into the next room. Inside was a bright blue light that rushed over to Demo and healed her legs. The light faded and revealed a blue hexagon with an engraving of four small rectangles aranged so that there was a square in the middle of them.
"What is this?" Demo asked.
"The Diamond Hex of Spirits," Steven said. "The fifth frontier hex you've seen, right?" Demo nodded. "Then you only have two Frontier Hexes left to find. I must warn you, however, that the ancient entity at the Battle Frontier has kidnapped raocow for a reason. She's using him to power some sort of device. What it does, I don't know."
"Thanks for telling me," Demo said before drifting into a somehow-peaceful slumber.
"You deserve a rest," Steven said, not expecting an answer. He carried her to the entrance of the cave.
CHAPTER 8: GODDAMMIT YUKARI!
Demo woke up, letting out a yawn. She noticed that Steven was still holding her. "Hi, Steven," she said. "I had a dream where raocow and I were flying through a fantasy land and meeting all kinds of creatures from mythology."
"That's nice," Steven said, thankful that Demo didn't have any nightmares.
But he was wrong. Demo had a nightmare where Ridley actually killed Steven, and then went on to perform unspeakable acts that resulted in the destruction of the entire universe. It was too horrific to fully describe, but the dream Demo said she had was enough to make her forget about it.
Steven set Demo down, and the demon got up. Her legs hurt, but only a little, so she was able to get over it. Demo pulled out the Diamond Hex of Spirits, and the blue beam of light it sent out pointed towards a forest in the middle of a desert. "What is a forest doing in the middle of a desert?" Demo asked.
"The HamsterZergian Desert is only a desert because of its nutrient-poor soil," Steven said. "It was named after someone with an enormous appetite, since the forest in the middle is what made the surrounding area into a desert in the first place. But why a Frontier Hex would be placed in a forest in the middle of that is beyond me."
"It doesn't matter," Demo said, "I'm going." And with that, Demo made her way to the forest.
In the desert, Demo found it hard to keep going with all the heat the sand had absorbed. Still, she ignored the burning pain and marched on. It was still nothing compared to the Horsemann, Machinedramon, or Ridley.
When she reached the forest, Demo saw a purple hole in the fabric of reality. She pulled out the Diamond Hex of Spirits, which sent a beam of blue light into the hole.
"So you made it," said a voice from within the hole. "You realize that I'm not going out there, right? So make it quick and get in here."
Demo saw no other option, so she got a running start and jumped into the hole. On the other side was a blonde woman with mostly-purple clothes. "I remember you!" Demo said. "You're the one who tried to kill me with a train!"
"Yes, Demo, that was me," the blonde woman said. "Name's Yukari Yakumo. While I must thank you for helping Reimu return safely, I need to finish the job that Ridley failed to get done." She then took to the air and motioned for Demo to follow her.
Demo jumped up and was surprised to see that she was floating in midair. Yukari satrted shooting at her, and Demo knew that these were going to be lethal danmaku bullets. The demon flew to the left, trying to think of something she could do against the youkai of boundaries.
She got the idea to use the Frontier Hexes as spell cards. She drew out the Bronze Hex of Knowledge and shouted "Frontier Hex: Bronze Knowledge!"
Yukari was caught off guard when the Frontier Hex started shooting off danmaku bullets that behaved like they were being fired from a minigun. She tried to dodge, but no matter which direction she went, there were bullets hitting her, sending pain throughout her body. Then there came four fast laser blasts. Yukari dodged the first three, but the fourth hit her right in the face. Yukari's face was in unbearable pain, but it wasn't over. A baseball-sized, spherical bullet hit her straight in the side of her head, making her dizzy.
Demo took the dizziness as a chance to prepare her next attack, but halfway through, Yukari regained her senses and started shooting again. Demo found it hard to dodge bullets and prepare another attack, but after a few minutes, she finally got the Silver Hex of Guts ready. "Frontier Hex: Silver Guts!" she called out.
A beam of magical light was sent in Yukari's direction, and she barely dodged it. Next was a shower of danmaku bullets from above, which caught Yukari off guard. The attack ended with leaf-shaped bullets that sped off in Yukari's direction. Yukari tried to avoid them, but the bullets followed her at an incredibly fast pace. When she realized this, Yukari let them hit her. She tried to block them, but they still left her bleeding where they hit.
Yukari summoned a hole in the fabric of space behind her, then summoned another one to Demo's right. Demo saw Yukari fire backwards, and felt a sharp pain in her side as a bullet hit her. She drew out the Gold Hex of Tactics as fast as she could and shouted, "Frontier Hex: Gold Tactics!"
Yukari watched as a giant, magical energy sphere slowly made its way in her direction. She shot danmaku at it to destroy it, but it simply split in two, then four, then eight, and finally sixteen. Yukariy tried to get away, but the sixteen bullets cornered her.
After being caught in an explosion, Yukari decided to go back to just shooting forward. However, her bullets traveled in crazy spirals this time. Demo got hit by two of the bullets at once, nearly causing her to lose her grip on the Platinum Hex of Luck. Her legs were bleeding where the bullets hit, and Demo knew that Yukari was truly determined to get rid of the cyclopic demon. Demo raised the PLatinum Hex of Luck up high and shouted, "Frontier Hex: Platinum Luck!"
Yukari could not believe what happened next. Three tunnels of magic energy appeared in front of her, heading in her direction. Yukari decided to go left. In the middle of the tunnel, she heard two explosions go off at once. Three more tunnels appeared. Yukari took the one to her right, and heard two more explosions, neither one hitting her. A third set of tunnels appeared, and Yukari took the middle one. When the explosions came, neither one hit her. Alright, Yukari thought, this is predictable. When the fourth set of tunnels appeared, Yukari took the one on the left, but was caught in an explosion when she reached the middle. Yukari realized what was going on, but decided to follow her original plan anyway. She took the tunnel to the right, but got caught in another explosion. In the sixth set of tunnels, she took the middle one, only to be caught in another explosion. The seventh set of tunnels had Yukari wise up, so she took the middle tunnel again, and wasn't caught in the explosions.
Demo reappeared in front of Yukari and was ready to finish the job. However, Yukari was getting desperate, so she summoned danmaku bullets like crazy. The things were coming in from all sorts of directions, but the first one to get Demo was an incredibly fast one that hit her spine. She started to fall, and had a waking nightmare where the Horsemann, Machinedramon, and Ridley were edging up to her. Her nightmare self was trying to escape, but Yukari held her tightly, not letting her move much.
Demo felt something catch her, snapping her out of the nightmare. "Are you alright?" asked a familiar voice.
"Reimu?" Demo asked.
"Yeah, that's me!" Reimu said. "I can't believe Yukari'd try to kill someone with danmaku. I set up those rules so that disputes would not end in death!" She then motioned to someone on the ground to come up. "And look who I met!"
The person on the ground flew up to meet Demo and Reimu. "Hey!" he greeted.
"Tai?!" Demo asked.
"Yeah, that's me!" Tai said. "Reimu here told me your name was Demo." Tai then looked serious. "But now someone's breaking a friend's rules just to kill someone who saved two lives? Unbelieveable!"
"Actually," said Demo, "I saved a third life, too."
"Wow, Demo!" Tai said before quickly switching back to serious mode. "But that Yukari thing has to be stopped! We'll help!" And with that, the two sped off to Yukari.
"Hey, Yukari!" Reimu yelled. "Try picking on someone your own size!" Reimu shot Yukari with a bunch of small lasers. Yukari turned her attention to Reimu.
"Hey, Yukari! Did you learn honor at boat-sinking school?" Tai teased. He launched his own lasers at Yukari, who was as surprised as anyone that an outsider had taken to danmaku battles so quickly.
As Reimu and Tai took turns distracting Yukari, Demo slowly rose to Yukari's level and held the Diamond Hex of Spirits and recited, "Frontier Hex: Diamond Spirits!"
As Yukari heard Demo say those words, a cat appeared in between Demo and Yukari. The cat repeated the last barrage of bullets that Yukari used, only this time, Yukari herself was the target. Yukari panicked and kept flying right into bullets, and eventually fell to the ground, screaming in a mix of fear and pain.
Demo, Reimu, and Tai flew down to where Yukari landed. Yukari struggled to get up, but she finally got steady enough toget off her hands. "You... win." Yukari said, catching her breath between words. "Ran... give... Demo... the... Frontier... Hex."
A blonde woman with a strange hat and nine fox tails descended from the sky. "Yes, Mistress," she said.
As Ran was about to hand Demo the Frontier Hex, something sped by and snatched it from Ran's hands.
"Haha, YES!" Marisa said triumphantly. "I finally got to have what Yukari was keeping to herself!" Marisa tried to get away, but a strange vortex appeared. Marisa didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to be counting on it.
"Oh, no, we're doomed!" Yukari said, having finally caught her breath.
"What do you mean by that?" Reimu asked.
"I wasn't all too willing to use lethal danmaku," Yukari said, "but a girl with immense power forced me into doing it. I was scared of her. She threatended to destroy Gensokyo immediately if I didn't work for her!" Yukari broke down sobbing.
"I'll go after her," Demo said. "In the meantime, Reimu, Tai, keep an eye on Yukari."
And with that, Demo flew into the vortex.
chapter nine- marisa steals the show!
As Demo landed on the other side of the vortex, her senses were immediately struck by the scenery. It was a glitch-like patchwork of parts of Green Pipes Point, Paris, the places where Demo got the previous Frontier Hexes, and Gensokyo. Demo pulled out the Diamond Hex of Spirits, which sent a beam of blue light straight ahead.
Demo was confused. How could a place like this exist? She thought. I wonder if I will run into any glitch monsters.
On her way past a mesh of Hollywood Walk of Fame stars and bits of the Eiffel Tower, Demo came across a familiar boy in red. "Steven?!" she asked.
Steven turned around and saw who it was. "Demo! I was worried about you!" He said, relief obvious in his voice. "I should have knownyou would be okay!" Steven went over and hugged Demo, and said, "I've had time to think, and I wanted to apppoligize."
"For what?" Demo asked.
"For scolding you for being concerned about me. It's your right to be concerned about a strnger who just saved your life," Steven answered. "Still, we never got to know each other."
After the two got to properly know each other, Demo said, "Well, I must be going now."
"Where are you going?" Steven asked. "This place has nothing to let travellers know where they are. It is the Enoz GrezRetsmah, after all."
"I've been following the beam from the Diamond Hex of Spirits," Demo said. "Why don't you come with me? It'll be safer to travel in a group."
"Well, I've got nowhere else to go, and you are someone who opened her heart to me, so why not?" Steven said, obviously excited to help Demo once again.
"Why do you want to help me so much, anyway?" Demo asked Steven.
"Oh, it's just a psychological condition where I have the urge to feel useful," Steven said.
After the two traveled a distance equal to the distance between the westernmost and southernmost points of Kyoto, Japan, the two came to a dead end with a pile of books. "Geez," said Steven, "even this place is getting predictable."
Just then, the sky started fading to a single shade of green, as Marisa's voice was heard saying, "Haha, looks like you've found me! I'll just have to kick you out!"
"Found you?" asked Demo. "We can't even see you!"
Marisa flew up from within the large pile of books, scattering the tomes everywhere. "Well then," she asked "now can you see me?"
"Yes," said Demo, "and you look... off."
"Well," said Marisa, "no need to brag, but this place and the thing I snagged from Ran have boosted my power by a lot. Check out these dragonfly wings! And this scorpion tail! And these caracara legs! And these spider arms!" Marisa's stomach growled. "In fact, I'm quite hungry. Why don't you guys go find me a fire to roast you over?"
Steven just facepalmed, while Demo asked, "Are you crazy?!"
"No, just hungry," Marisa said, folding her six long, spindly arms. "So, are you ready to go find that fire?"
Steven then got an idea. "Demo," he whispered, "throw me at her. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
Demo nodded, grabbed Steven by the shoulder, and threw him at Marisa's head with incredible speed. "Aw, crap!" Marisa said as she tried to get out of the way. However, Steven was going too fast, and he hit Marisa's head and pinned her to the ground.
"We are not food," Steven said.
Marisa grabbed Steven with all six of her arms, and rolled to the side so that she was the one pinning Steven down. "You don't know what survival entails, do you, kid?" she asked.
Demo took this as a cue to start running. Once she felt she was close enough, she leapt into the air, landing on Marisa's head and bouncing off. "That better teach you a lesson," Demo said. Marisawas dizzy from the impact, and fell on top of Steven.
Steven struggled out from under Marisa's unconscious body, then started picking her pockets. "Found it!" he said, pulling out the Frontier Hex.
Demo went over to see the Frontier hex. it was a light blue color, and it had an engraving of four triangles forming a square. As soon as Steven gave it to Demo, the two travellers and Marisa were transported back to where Yukari was.
Ran noticed the Frontier Hex. "Oh! You got the Master Hex of Bravery from Marisa!" she said.
Reimu turned and looked down at Marisa. "What happened to Marisa?" she asked.
"She misused the combined power of the Frontier Hex and an eldritch location," Steven explained.
"Who's this guy?" Tai asked Demo.
"He's Steven, the third person whose life I saved," Demo said.
"Well, it's been fun and all," Steven said, "but I have places to go, and I think the other guy here has to get home."
"Oh, shoot!" Tai yelped. "Ive been trapped in that cage so long, I forgot about my family!"
"Demo, before you go, there is something I need to share with you," Ran said.
"What is it?" asked Demo.
"An ancient entity is at the battle frontier, and she's using raocow to feed a living organism that has the power to destroy entire civilizations in mere hours. Her identity's almost revealed, but Yukari might know who she is."
"She told me who she was," Yukari said, "but I don't want to think back to that point at all."
"Well, thanks for telling me," said Demo. "I'm off."
CHAPTER 10: GALACTA KNIGHT FIGHTS TO THE FINISH!
After another trek through the desert, Demo held out the Master Hex of Bravery, which sent out a light blue beam of light, but the light stopped in midair. That's strange, thought Demo. I could have sworn it would show me the way to the next Frontier Hex, but it might be a bit broken after the short fight with Marisa.
Then, the beam of light drew a straight line, as if the light was graphite, and the air was a piece of paper. It drew four more straight lines, forming the shape of a five-pointed star. The image glowed, and when the glowing stopped, there was a star-shaped portal to another world. "Well, I might as well go in," Demo said.
On the other side of the portal, there was a world covered in rocky spires. On one of them, there was a small creature with large bird wings protruding from its back and fancy metal shoes on its feet. "So," it said, its voice menacing, "you are the one trying to stop my boss?"
"Who's your boss?" Demo asked. "I'm only trying to save raocow."
"My boss is the one who holds raocow hostage," the creature said. "You already defeated most of her minions, but now you have to fight..." the creature turned around quickly, revealing a horned mask with a plus-shaped opening. "ME! The strongest warrior in the galaxy!" The warrior summoned a purple lance and a white shield with a purple, plus-shaped protrusion on it. "The name is Galacta Knight. I will be the last thing you ever see!"
With that, Galacta Knight charged at Demo, who jumped and narrowly avoided being impaled on his lance. Galacta Knight turned around and started flying up into the air. Demo tried to run away, but Galacta Knight caught up to her by diving at her face-first.
This flying tackle sent Demo sprawling on the ground, but the demon was fast enough to roll out of the way before Galacta Knight could stab her through the head. As Demo got up, Galacta Knight jabbed his lance into her chest a lot of times in quick succession, but the demon was still standing, even if she was just barely standing. "Son of a HamsterZerg!" Galacta Knight cursed.
Demo launched a kick at Glacta Knight's face, but the warrior blocked it with his shield, which then shot out a crescent beam. It hit Demo right in the stomach, leaving her barely alive.
"Any last words, weakling?" Galacta Knight asked.
"Mayonnaise, mayonnaise, mayonnaise," said Demo.
"Did somebody call for a Deus ex Machina?" a familiar voice called out.
"Mikaelmon?" Demo asked.
"Yes, that would be me," the owner of the voice said. "The giant butterfly monster is on vacation at Los Angelas, so I have to fill in for him."
"I hope you will be a better fighter than that cyclopse," Galacta Knight said.
"I'm not here to fight," Mikaelmon said. "In fact," he continued, pulling out a piece of celery with purple smoke rising from within, "I'm here to give Demo something to help even turn the tide of battle."
Mikaelmon put the celery in Demo's mouth. Demo chewed it up, swallowing it when it was done. She then began to turn completely black in color, save for the stripe on her dress, which became jagged, and her now-red eye, which split in two. Her legs each grew a red foot, and a pair of long arms ending in red hands grew from her back. Her mouth grew extremely wide as sharp white teeth formed inside it. "What did you do?!" Galacta Knight asked Mikaelmon.
"I gave her a Demon Stalk," said Mikaelmon. "Giving her my own power would have been a bad idea, since she's a demon. I had to learn that the hard way."
"Doesn't matter," Galacta Knight said. "I'll kill her anyway!" He charged at Demo, who leaped over him. She returned the gesture, but Galacta Knight dodged to the side. Galacta Knight stabbed Demo faster than she could react, but when he stopped, Demo just pulled herself back together from the black mist that was released by the attack.
"You shall perish, warrior," Demo said, her voice distorted. She rushed straight through Galacta Knight's body, causing him to glow in a white light.
"The nature deity at the Battle Frontier will be the end of you!" Galacta Knight said before he exploded.
Demo returned to normal after the explosion, wondering what Galacta Knight meant by "nature deity". She looked for Mikaelmon, but couldn't find him anywhere.
"What are you looking for?" asked a voice from above. Demo looked up and saw a creature with six hands, no arms, and a pair of horns on its head.
"I'm looking for answers," Demo explained.
"You must be Demo!" the creature said. "My name's Taranza. Don't ask me how I heard of you. It's a long story." Taranza stayed silent as he reached into his jacket for something. "I nabbed the Grandmaster Hex of Ability from that Galacta Knight guy before you got here," he said as he found what he was looking for. He handed something to Demo.
Demo took a look at it. It was a bright yellow hexagon engraved with a teardrop shape.
To think, she braved skate ranch, vacation home, computer room, airship, fortress, mountain, cave, desert, forest, fantasy realm, minus world, and rocky wasteland to get this far.
But something else was on Demo's mind. "Galacta Knight mentioned there being a nature deity at the Battle Frontier," Demo said. "Do you know anything about this?"
"Yes, I do," Taranza said, "and I'm afraid time is short. Viridi is about to unleash untold devastation by feeding raocow's life force to a thing called a Reset Nuke, and the only way to get past the barrier she has up is to gather all seven Frontier Hexes."
"I have all seven of them, so I'm good to go!"Demo said, eager to see raocow again.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Taranza said. "I'll call Magolor over and see if he can give you a ride to Hoenn!"
"Thank you," said Demo.
The final battle was at hand.
The fate of the world hung in the balance.
The end of a journey was drawing near.
And Demo was ready.