The Thing of Whatever Saga ~ Chapter 0: Beginning

"Ohmicreampuff. I was just gonna say that!" Cookie chirped in reply to Mechanica. "I could so picture dwarves or elves or something eating here!"

"Uh, sorry, but you can't sit here," the man awkwardly told the four, subtly waving his hands in a "no" motion front of him. "I'm waiting for someone. I was told that some other heroes were coming." Clearly, he hadn't made the connection that these were the heroes that he had been told about. The fact that he had been too preoccupied with scarfing down chicken wings to even notice the owner leading them to his table before didn't help, either.

Mechanica was about to continue in response to Cookie, but before she could, she heard the stranger's words and turned to him with a rather shocked look. "Huh?? ... Wait, waiiit a sec!" she squeaked. "But WE'RE the other heroes...! Someone led us to this table and everything!"

"Yeah, it's true!" Cookie chimed in with Mechanica. "The villagers cheered for us, too!"

The man's eyes widened, and he momentarily froze in disbelief. His brows furrowed in confusion, his jaw hung loose, and one of his eyelids started twitching slightly. He just couldn't believe his ears. "... You are?!" he finally responded in utter bafflement. "But... how?!" Momentarily, he turned to Robin. "You, I can understand. You've at least got a proper weapon," he noted in reference to the sword at Robin's side, then shifted his attention to everyone else. "But the rest of you are just children!" he continued, motioning to the three individuals in question. Although he was shouting, his mannerisms made it clear that it was out of concern, and not hostility.

Suddenly, another troubling thought came to the man's mind, and his expression then softened into one of deep, genuine compassion. "Wait... Are things really so dire here that children like you are forced to fight?" he questioned more softly. "You don't even have any proper equipment..." Saddened and angered by the thought of children having no choice but to fend off the attacking fiends, he sighed heavily. "It's a downright miracle that none of you were hurt," he commented in a low and rather husky voice.

Lucas kept his gaze steadily focused on the man as he spoke; from his mannerisms, along with the tone of his voice--which started out intense but eventually softened, while showing concern the entire time--the boy could easily see how deeply, honestly upset the great hero became at the idea of the three (seemingly) almost defenseless children being forced to fight. "... I've been in... a lot of battles before this one, too," he started rather softly in an effort to reassure him. "I-I really wish I hadn't needed to, but..." he stopped--briefly glancing down at the table--before the trace of grief in his voice could become any more apparent.

Mechanica looked over at Lucas--admittedly quite surprised, herself--to hear that the soft-spoken boy apparently had so much experience fighting. Judging by the way he spoke, it didn't sound like these battles had just been for the sake of lighthearted sport, either. However, returning her attention to the situation at hand, she turned her head to look in the stranger's direction once more. "Welp... I'd be lying if I said I came here prepared for a fight," she began rather awkwardly, then looked him in the eye with an expression as confident as she could manage right now, similarly trying to reassure him. "Try not to worry about me, though, 'kay? I also kinda have battle experience, in a way!" she added. "For now I've got speed 'n' stuff, but I'm gonna find more ways...! I'm sure I can build somethin' eventually, if I can just get enough supplies together..." At this, she gained a thoughtful expression.

Managing to shake himself back to the present, it just then occurred to Lucas that he hadn't brought up another important detail. "... Oh yeah," he started rather quietly once Mechanica had trailed off, looking back up at the mighty man across the table. "I actually don't just use this stick, either..." with a pause, he motioned to the stick at his side. "Most of my abilities are psychic; I can do a bit of fighting with them, too, but I think healing's more my specialty..."

The man appeared rather surprised by the children's apparent inner strength. What Lucas proceeded to tell him surprised him even further. "Psychic...?" he echoed back somewhat quietly. "You mean... you have special powers?" he questioned, meeting Lucas' gaze with a look of amazed curiosity in his eyes.

Lucas gave a humble little nod in response to the man's question. "It's something I only discovered pretty recently... I've learned how to use a few techniques since then, though," he explained further, returning the man's gaze once again.

"Oh!" Cookie piped up, wanting to join in assuring the man that they would be alright. "I don't have powers or anything like Lucas, but I wasn't doing so bad in that battle earlier, either!" she told him, looking up at him with a brave and enthusiastic expression. "I was bopping all kinds of monsters!"

Robin nodded in acknowledgement to everyone. "These children have remarkable resolve," he added reassuringly. "That's not a quality to be underestimated, you know."

"I see, and I understand," the man replied to Robin, nodding in agreement. "Still, I think they could use another helping hand. Someone else to look out for them when things get dangerous," he continued in a somewhat serious tone. "They have you, but you're just one man. You can't be in two places at once." Briefly, he glanced around at everyone present. "That's why I'd think it might be a good idea if you all came with me," he told everybody. "I'm just not sure if I want to drag you into a quest that isn't your own..."

"But," Mechanica began in protest, turning her head up so that she was able to look the man in the eye, "the rest of us are still goin' on this quest either way--we don't really have a choice!" she pointed out with a tone of certainty.

"It's true... Me and the others, we all woke up here the same way: lost, without any idea where we are whatsoever," Lucas chimed in more softly. "All we can really do now is keep looking for answers..."

"Yep," Mechanica added, looking rather serious before her eyes lit up a moment later. "Sooo... If you do wanna team up, I'm so not complainin'!" she told the man, looking forward to such a possibility. "Trust me, we won't just be burdens to ya!" she added with a look of determination, trying once more to reassure him.

Once again, the man appeared astonished. "Wait, you just happened to wake up here, too?" he questioned, the surprise manifesting in his voice in a way so expressive that it was almost comical-sounding.

Robin nodded. "It's true. When you think about it... we've all been on the exact same quest all along." As he considered this, his expression became very thoughtful. It really was a fascinating notion.

"... Huh! I guess there's really no other option, then, is there?" the man remarked, gaining a friendly, determined smile. "Alright. Let's get to the bottom of this together."

"YES!" Cookie cheered. "Oh, guess it's introduction time, then!" She then proceeded to introduce each and every one of her friends, pointing at them as she spoke their names. "There's Lucas, Robin, Mechanica, annnd"--she pointed to herself with a silly grin--"Me! Cookie! Cookie Honeybun!" She gladly offered her hand to their new friend for a handshake.

Chuckling warmly, the man heartily returned Cookie's handshake. He was careful not to put too much strength into it, however. "Richter Belmont, vampire hunter," he responded with his own introduction.

Mechanica's jaw dropped a bit, and then proceeded to hang there for a moment before she spoke. "You hunt vampires...?!" she remarked, sounding surprised. As--from what she knew, anyway--vampires were nothing more than a fictional monster in her world, this revelation came as quite shocking to her. On the other hand, though, this world was nothing like her own, either. "... Aha, anywayyy," Brushing it aside with a vaguely awkward giggle, she gave a perky bob of her head. "Nice to meetcha!"

Though he'd seen a lot of unusual creatures, vampires were not something Lucas recalled having experience with, either--he'd have to ask Richter more on the subject sometime, if the hunter wanted to discuss it. For now, the boy just turned back to him and gave a welcoming smile, accompanied by a wave.

"It's nice to meet all of you, too," Richter replied in response to Mechanica. "But yeah, that's my main purpose in life," he continued in response to her initial remark. "We Belmonts have a reputation for being the strongest hunters around. It's our duty to protect mankind from evil. Most importantly, from Dracula himself... And I'm no exception," he explained with perfectly justified pride.

Mechanica's eyes sparkled with awe as she listened to Richter's explanation. From the mere moments she had witnessed of the hunter in battle, she could already tell he was very powerful--however, hearing this, she now assumed that she'd only just seen the beginning of his might. "Whoa..." was pretty much all she could say at first. "Dracula? Like--..." she trailed off briefly, followed simply by a repeated utterance of: "Dracula?!" Her mouth hung open once more with a look of amazement before continuing. "... Whoa. You've gotta be BEYOND superstrong!!"