Such a strange way of having fun... [OPEN]

[serac]

The grand Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. Bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun, the light shone down through the windows of intricate stained glass, creating a patchwork veil of shifting colours over the heads of those assembled within the great halls.

Their voices united in chorus, a crowd of people stood with their hands clasped together... singing songs of heavenly praise, their voices rising up along the columns and onward to the vast reaches of the evening sky. Standing together in unity, revelling in their faith in the great beyond, their voices gradually died down to a low murmur before silencing completely as the hymn ended.

BANG! ...went the gunshot.

"The minister is dead!" "Over there, it was him!" "No, I saw her pull out a gun!" "She's the one! I saw it too!" "Liar, you're working with the killer! Get him!" "Murderer! Don't blame me for your crime!"

BANG! BANG! BANG! ...another three gunshots, this time, all from different people.

Within moments, the panic kicked in. The whole congregation became a throng of screaming, confused, frightened, angry people eager to clear their names of blame by shouldering it on the next nearest person. Those who tried to remain calm and do nothing were quickly ratted out by their more hysterical peers, and any who tried to raise their voices above the growing din of yelling and fighting in the pews were also made into targets.

But honestly? It was such an improvement from that horrible singing!

Standing in the balconies above the main gathering, up high where nobody cared to look, Dimentio raised his velvet-gloved hands above his head and clapped them together in applause. His masked features set into a permanent grin as he watched the quiet evening begin to unfold into something that would be prime watching on the 9 PM news channel!

The party was just getting started. Some of the more combative individuals had figured out how to use their chairs as weapons, and in good time, the clergy themselves might figure out how to convert the communion wine into a makeshift incendiary deterrent. In the time frame between searching for a way to bring about the utter annihilation of all reality, what better way was there to get the jollies than mindless violence, spurred on by just a few brainwashed individuals he'd seeded prior to this occasion? Simple to set up, but to appreciate it required a complex refinement!

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...!"

[impact]

Monoshiri was always a brilliant man with a bright mind. The mind perfect for his quirk of creating new inventions! But... on the downside, the old coot always allowed his... unusual ideas to get the better of him, favouring them more in place of functional ability. In other words, there were his good creations and then there were the iffy creations.

Today, Monoshiri Ojisan used his creative hands to craft together a new machine with the purpose of teleportation, with improvement of fast travel in mind for Goemon and the Gang! Monoshiri also felt the need to add in an extra function that allowed him to fast travel and peek through the window to see what a cutie in his mind would appear in the future! The downside? He had not tested it yet, nor did he know if it would work or not.

As expected, the beta test... did not go well. When the machine was started up, it begun to jumble around erratically, the force sending a sharp crack to split down the shaft of the generator. Panicked, the old man flailed around and hurried went off to hit the emergency shut-down button before it could explode! Goemon and the others had panicked as well, rushing out through the doors to escape! Unbeknownst to Goemon, he had dropped petite little Impact on the floor during the heat of the panic, the little machine dazed and confused when he clattered on the floor. Luckily, they were able to make it out in time!

As for Monoshiri Ojisan, he was far too late.

The machine exploded in a blinding light, and when the brightness from the flash dimmed down to reveal the aftermath... the room was empty, with no sign of Monoshiri or Impact standing. Only chunks of shredded metal and shattered glass littered the wooden floors. The two’s whereabouts were questioned when the gang returned back inside his home, consumed with worry and mass confusion. And once Goemon realized that he was missing a close friend of his, patting his top in utter bafflement... well, things got rather interesting in the laboratory when he flipped his temper.

---

Impact’s head was spinning! Spinning and spinning... all he remembered that he had a rough awakening from his slumber and clattered across the floor. The poor little fellow was unaware of what had happened to him, unaware of the explosion that occurred within the old man’s laboratory. The explosion transported him not only to a different location... but strung him through a whole different time! Quite nothing like finding yourself in the midst of modern Paris. Here, he found himself face-down in a pile of plush foliage, surrounded by the delicate scent of flowers. Or at least that was what his senses were picking up. A soft groan and he planted his arms down upon the ground. He pushed himself up awkwardly rubbed the dirt off from his face before opening his eyes.

Wow, it was bright! And... certainly busy. With wide curious eyes, he scanned about, taking in the tall buildings and curious structures that scraped the blue skies. And the closest building had an extravagant, old structure! For the old, odd machine, he found this fascinating! Next, he discovered that he was in a garden! Blinking a few times, he brushed off more dirt that clung to his chassis and wandered out of the patch of grass and flowers. His skates clicked against the concrete as he hopped down. “Ohuuu...? Pari? Furansu...?” Could only be! His system marked his location down as affirmative once he did a double check. What the hell was he doing in France? No-- forget about that. He could figure that out later.

The atmosphere was usually the next thing that the petite machine picked up... and it was not a friendly one. It wrung thick of harsh noise and panic... the source coming from within the depths of the extravagant church. There were also a clusters of panicked people that leaked from the doors of the building.

This was not good. Impact frowned as the pungent amount of panic, to where he nearly jumped right to a conclusion that Seppukumaru was responsible for the ordeal! The crazed sportsman always had a knack for upsetting the populace in whatever way he possible could! But... it did not make sense to the machine once he stood back and observed, cleverly obscured by a stone pillar. Well, it only meant one thing for him, and he would have to take the situations into his own hands and restore peace. While the human populace fascinated him, it was also terrible to see the ugly side when they mindlessly panicked.

A swift draw of his arm and Impact drew out his mighty Kiseru, the golden pipe glistening heroically within the sunlight! He had a good feeling that this new ability of his would come in handy, and all thanks to that peculiar Asgardian! The petite machine cracked the pipe against the ground, activating the force that sealed his mechanical essence within his weapon. A plume of smoke erupted and once it dissipated in the wind, there stood an odd man of a rather... large size. Odd was a healthy world that best described how he both looked and dressed-- but Impact remained naive about how much he stood out. With no time to waste, he skated off to investigate the mayhem.

Completely ignoring the odd stares, he pushed himself through the crowds and straight into the grand Cathédrale. At first, he was astonished by the structure. He was also astonished at the atmosphere. The sheer panic was growing more and more thick, with people fighting and shoving their way about. This was appalling to Impact, who felt as if his head was still spinning and spinning, clearly overwhelmed.

Then, something was drawing his attention. Something sharp, angular, purple, and yellow. Steel grey eyes flitted about, tracing the ceiling until... his gaze met with the balcony. There, he saw a Jester whom looked wonderfully consumed with his amusement, clapping his hands together, jolly with his sadistic laughter!

Him! It has to be him! The jester... Impact thought to himself. Now all he had to do was to make sense of what was happening, and restore the sense of peace. When he scanned the crowd, finding himself shelter away from the disaster, he noticed that there was an odd green sprout that perked from the top of an individual’s head. It looked like as if it wiggled around. The more he looked around, the more he spotted!

Odd. But he safely concluded that the mayhem had to do with the strange sprouts. To put in simple terms, he just needed to get it off the infected individual! That shouldn’t be too hard. With the nearest infected target within his range, a clergymen, he planted his skates upon the marble floor and dashed his way towards him-- aiming not to harm him, but to knock him off his feet with the weight of his tackle.

As Impact expected, the moment the fellow hit the ground, the sprout popped off! Now to help the rest of the infected...

[tehjoker]

Ah, Paris~ A lovely city indeed. So full of life, and culture, and people and history....and very, very French. But it just didn't have enough class -- oh no, not even close! And that was why, with dear ol' Bat-breath taking a break, the resident entertainment of Gotham had also lifted anchor and shoved off for the season.

The season being, of course, until he got bored.

And so HERE IT WAS. Paris.

Honestly could've picked a better place to end up, it was just a little too French out here for his tastes, but HEY, a stage was a stage! And this place had gone for much too long without any sort of performance; it was practically dieing of humor starvation. It was a travesty! A travesty that just HAD to be mended, and immediately. Luckily for the lovely city, the good ol' DOCTOR JOKER was in town and he had JUST what the doctor ordered, whether they knew they needed it or not!

Down the street he went, a resplendant long coat -- of course in his favorite dashing purple color! -- flowed behind him, a magnificent cane tapped the ground as he went, and he generally seemed merely eccentric -- if perhaps a touch GRANDLY so -- but otherwise unobtrusive.

OH HOW WRONG THEY WERE!

The sound of gunshots drew his attention, and for a barely noticable instand a frown flitted across his face. Was someone stealing his show?! Unacceptable!

Like any good, sensible, well-dressed and upstanding citizen, he dashed off toward the source of the noise. Unlike most normal citizens, however, he was sporting a massive grin so wide it threatened to bisect his head if it got any wider. The panic and general sense of terror just drew him right in like a moth to a flame.

He barged right through the crowds of people, paying no heed to anyone in his way -- one person actually got their neck broken by a whack from his cane, and promptly electrocuted the rest of the way to death when he was too slow to get out of the Mirthful Menace's path. He stalked through the doors, and his eyes lit up.

He bounded forward, pulling his coat off as he went and tucking it under one arm. He leapt up, and literally pranced on the heads of everyone in the room, leaping across the room with an impossible grace. With a particularly high leap, he sailed through the air like a master acrobat!

CRASH

.....and landed like a bull slipping on a banana in a shop for unfortunately placed church items.

But almost immediately he was back up, springing up to stand on the podium at the head of the cathedral.

"HELLO, folks! JOKER HERE!" He waved with the hand holding his coat, waving it about like a flag. "So sorry I'm late to the party -- but to make it up, I brought presents!" He held up his coat for all to see, and several flashing lights were suddenly visible within the countless pockets sewn into its inner side. "What's that, y'say? 'Oh, JOKER! You shouldn't have!" He drew back his arm, seemingly ready to fling the article of clothing into the crowd. "I know, but I'm such a nice guy!"

And he hurled the coat out over the people, and immediately the cloth was shredded in a series of blasts, and a cloud of thick green smoke blasted out all across the room. Joker spun his cane in one hand, laughing like a maniac. "And now the fun can REALLY begin! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

[serac]

Clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap-

Wait, what unexpectedness was this!? One of his floro sprouts had been knocked loose, and his control over one mind-warped innocent removed in one fell swoop of an unfashionably-dressed man with the most magnificent hat Dimentio had ever... oh no, that was his HAIR. In which case, what a sad tragedy! Truly the offspring of very ugly parents, this one! And a do-gooder too!

~He would not be welcome at the party~

Simultaneously, moving in sync like ballet dancers, every individual in possession of a crude projectile weapon turned and aimed at the man with the impossible mound of fuzz sprouting from his head. Lifting and taking aim with remarkable grace under pressure, every one of them was poised to pull the trigger, and thus, evict this hapless victim of fashion from the celebrations!

...

And then, another surprise guest! My, so many uninvited interlopers today...

But this one was different. Pasty pale skin, an absolutely killer sense of dress, and the most healthy smile plastered on his face that Dimentio had ever seen outside of looking into a mirror!

He'd even brought his own tricks! Suddenly the whole hall was in an uproar, with nothing but the sound of manic, crazed laughter ringing through the same boring halls that had once carried hymns and chorus skywards. The sheer lunacy was music~ Truly, this man was an ARTIST!

"Outstanding! Yes, truly a fine entrance!" The jester exclaimed from his high perch, his voice drifting down to the rows below like a feather, wafting in the warm thermals of agonized giggles and gut-wrenching guffaws! "You, my sharply-dressed fellow, deserve a more suitable stage!"

SNIP, SNAP, SNAPPITY SNAP... went Dimentio's fingers! Arranging reality as according to his whims, the fabric of dimensions shifted... and quite promptly, there was a spotlight where one had not been before! A minor tweak to the laws of physics - could this Joker fellow fly, he wondered? Well he could now! Some speakers, in order to provide fitting music as well! With all of that, this dusty old church was starting to liven up at last!

Oh, but there was still the matter of that nasty man with the mushroom haircut. Dimentio hadn't forgotten about him, no he hadn't. He was the only one who didn't seem to be laughing at all... clearly he couldn't appreciate how funny all of this madness was. He'd removed one of his sprouts already, which meant that left unchecked, he might spoil the fun before it reached the climax.

Not a problem! An adjustment to the spotlight... aaaaaand THERE! Now it was focused on the man with the awful aesthetic, for everyone to see, and be repulsed by!

"Meet your fellow performer, dear Joker! One who would bring this jubilant occasion extraordinaire to a premature end. Ah ha ha! Why isn't he laughing, hmm?"

It really was insulting, really! How could he stand by in the face of such a triumph of creative expression - a madness so exquisite it combined comedy with tragedy, a killing joke! If he would choose to stay silent, then silent he would have to stay, forever! And if he thought that he was going to interrupt this... this absolutely AMAZING performance, then he, the one with an afro so obtuse, would simply have to GO! Ah ha ha ha ha ha... HA HA HA HA HA HA!

[impact]

Impact had his hands kept busy, with the goal to take down the infected individuals with the strange sprouts on their heads. And hopefully he would finally restore a sense of peace and clean up this awful mess! Utilizing the mighty weight of his tackle, Impact managed to take down another human that trudged within his range, a woman this time, and watched expectantly as the sprout popped off when she hit the floor.

And then something aberrant happened. It took the machine-gone-man a good healthy moment to realize what was happening when the infected begun to dance in a strange formation, observing with a thick brow raised. When the guns were drawn out and gracefully aimed, their fingers trembling in anticipation against the trigger, Impact took a defensive stance and planted his skates firm upon the marble floor, Kiseru brought before him... readily waiting to dodge.

... But then, nothing happened. Instead, his attention was piqued when an unexpected commotion exploded at the podium, listening as some eccentric weirdo was introducing himself in this awful, ear-splitting voice. Before allowing himself to get distracted, Impact saw an opportune moment to react in his favour. A sharp crack of his arm and he whipped his pipe, the bowl separating itself to reveal a chain. A careful aim expertly strung the chain around a bloke’s leg, and a powerful tug was what all he needed to trip him over, and drag beneath the rest of the individual’s legs-- thus toppling over what he believed to be the rest of them! “Ha~a! Sore wa sore no owaridearu hitsuyo ga arimasu!” A few tugs here and there and the chain separated, and retracted back into the pipe, Impact grinning in his triumph!

Unfortunately, this was not the end of his job.

He managed to catch the sight of the clown tossing his jacket into the air... only to watch it explode into shreds, and obscure the crowd with this nauseous, green plume of gas! An eruption of gut-retching, sickening laughter exploded from the unfortunate individuals whom were caught in the blast. Impact himself was unfortunate enough to be clouded by the nauseating gas, the poor fellow choked up with an awful coughing fit that rattled his throat. Damn, the gas reeked! And it irritated his eyes!

But... he was not laughing? Mighty peculiar.

“Oooh-- uuaugh--! Damn! That--” He choked and gagged into his arm. Impact absolutely could not any longer, so he retreated from the cluster of epitomized maniacal laughter and found himself some clean air at a higher ground. Finally! He could breathe! “Ugh! That is-- beyond awful!” He exclaimed, rubbing tirelessly at his eyes.

What an awful mess. Once his vision deemed clear enough to see, he peered from across the room, spotting the crazed bloke whom stood at the podium, occupied with his own sense of laughter. Another opportunity to strike! Just as he readied himself to give his pipe another crack, strange things rippled about within the fabric of the dimension-- something that Impact was surprised to see from the Jester. He was not expecting him to be this much of a challenge-- but one should never, ever judge a book by its cover, especially if that book had the perpetual grin of a jester.

The stage itself shifted into something... he described as twisted and sinister. Next, with a snap of a finger, a bright spotlight lit up the stage, creating the essential focus upon the abhorrent clown with the face-splitting grin. Speakers dropped down, blaring a... rather nauseating tune that accompanied the mass madness. Impact visibly cringed. “Sheesh!”

Oh! The spotlight was then slowly shifted on his chunky, comical likeness, only to earn more than a share of healthy stares and gaped expressions. That, he simply ignored, and opt to focus his own unimpressed stare upon both, the Jester and the Clown. He drew up his golden Kiseru and took on a stance. “Ouuuu! I am fortunate I have stumbled upon this chaotic mess. I aim to serve justice and peace! As for why I am not laughing, I should point out that there absolutely nothing here for me to laugh about." A pause. "I was also not expecting this to... get this mad here.” He struggled to place a proper description on how exactly he felt.