A wild day out in Budapest

As Daria went on her way to scout out the area she had heard Sorcha had been spotted in, she came across a familiar face.

"Whoa, is that your mom?" a girl with long multicolored hair asked.

"Nay, Ayana. Tis merely a wandering woman," Alma Mata replied.

"But she's got a kimono, the face paint, everything," a girl with curly yellow and red hair smirked.

"You also said your mother was Japanese, so it makes sense for her to be her," a hooded girl with pink and green hair nodded.

"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. This woman does not seem to be acquainted with Alma in the slightest," a girl with short curly green hair huffed.

"Not true, I have encountered this woman before in Japan when I attempted to qualify for Japan's women's team," Alma stated.

"Huh!?"

"Looks like you were only half-right, Nodira," the hooded girl sighed.

"Can it, Minoo, and don't you go smirking either, Umida!"

Daria meanwhile stared in confusion at what was befalling her.

"My apologies. You must be confused as to why I'm here. The truth of the matter is that I am also of Uzbek descent, and after a short period of intense training, managed to get my rating above 2000 and join Uzbekistan's women's team," Alma stated.

"You're on Uzbekistan's women's team? Now that is a surprise. Then I'm assuming these are your teammates?"

Everyone nodded and introductions ensured.

"Ayana Tashkent, captain of the Tashkent chess defense corps," the woman with multicolored hair smiled.

"Umida Khodzhayeva. I'm the strongest one here," the girl with curly red and yellow hair proudly huffed.

"Nodira Sabirova. I have the best intuition out of anyone here," the green-haired girl declared.

"Like hell you do. Minoo Rasulova," the hooded girl mumbled.

"Nice to meet you. I am Maestro Himitsu of Japan. Though I guess I'm more of an open secret these days," Daria smiled.

While Daria was often a social butterfly, she did wish to get going so as best to maximize her time searching for Ina. Luckily, the Uzbek girls didn't seem like they wanted to keep her chatting.

But no sooner did Daria bid the 5 a good day, a large meteorite-like object crashed into the street, creating a giant crater. No one seemed to be hurt, but as Daria and the others cautiously peeked down to see just what exactly had landed there, something jumped out of it.

"Nyaha! I'm back on Earth, nya!" Nyoan giddily cried.

At the bottom of the crater, the smoke cleared to reveal that the object at the bottom of it was not a meteorite, but rather a Takoyaki van that looked similar to one. Out from it's wreckage climbed an octopus-like humanoid, and Jester.

"Buwaha... ha... Lousy ride, I want a refund," Jester grumbled as he began to crawl out.

"'Refund'!? I want retributions for what you did to my van!" the octopus man fumed.

"Put it on the card!" Jester snarled as he tossed something at the octopus man.

Fearing things would get dicey if she stuck around, Daria attempted to leave, but was stopped by Nyoan.

"Where do you think you're going, nya?"

"I have business, now step aside."

"Nyahaha! Nyever! In fact, why don't we play a game with some odds, nya?"

Nyoan gleefully pulled out her DESPER and attempted to activate it, but when it failed to do so, sweat began to pour down her face. "Uh... Is it busted, nya? Nyo, nyo, nyo, it can't be, nya. Did it not recharge? But I think it's got a full charge, nya."

Nyoan was unaware of the fact the WWCF had place a protective barrier encompassing Budapest's city limits preventing the activation of DESPERs until the final round of the tournament, but Daria sure as hell wasn't going to tell her that. Rather, she took the chance to walk past Nyoan.

"Oi, you can't just leave before I even get the chance to do my intro!" Jester fumed as he finally crawled out from the crater.

"Uh, that guy related to you, Alma?" Ayana asked.

"Nay. I've never seen that clown in my life," Alma scowled.

"Oi, you're totally cosplaying as a cult follower of mine!" Jester protested as he pointed his finger at Alma.

"Nay, tis merely a fashion statement."

"Claimed by me! Now without further ado, my theme song! Ninjas!"

Jester clapped, but no ninjas showed up.

"We slip into a dimension where my ninjas don't exist, or are they just slow on the uptake that I'm back!? Whatever, I do the theme song solo most of the time anyway."

Jester pulled out his phone and cranked up the volume all the way, causing all in the immediate area to hear the sound of the shamisen and rock guitars.

"YO YOI! I am the greatest criminal from the depths of Edo. The great daimyo of organized crime. Everyone fears my name! For every atrocity, I have attained! Murder! Kidnapping! Drug Smuggling! None can match my Might! Theft! Assault! War Crimes! All now fear my wrath! With my evil ninjitsu I will conquer all that’s good. They say Jesters are the fools, WELL WHO'S LAUGHING NOW DUMBASS! Lalalalalala! Jester-sama is the evil, dastardly, wicked, inhumane, dark ninjutsu daimyo! Oh oh oh oh! Yooooooo!”

Daria stopped and let out a heavy sigh as she turned back around to head back towards Jester. While saving Ina was a priority, Jester was on the WWCF's most wanted list due to him creating the bootleg DESPER, known as the JESPER, and more importantly for his cheating. There was no way Daria could just walk away now after knowing this was in fact Jester.

"Hah! You returned, culty number 2! Come to think of it, you're hot. Know any nearby love hotels we can have sex at?" Jester swooned.

Daria began gripping her fan angrily, but maintained her composure. "Actually, I do know a good place. Wanna warp over there with me?"

"PSYCH! You're trying to honey trap me! Only I do the trapping round here! But the sex is still on, now let's go to my own secret love hotel!" Jester cackled as he unsheathe his JESPER.

Daria went on guard, however, the JESPER failed to activate.

"Huh? Why isn't it activating? Did it break when that octo-bastard rammed me!? I'll deep fry that tako into a taco!" Jester fumed as he threw his JESPER at the ground.

KABOOM!

Jester blinked in confusion as he found himself covered in soot and flying through the air. "Huh? Why'd it explode? NO FAIR! I JUST GOT BACK TO EARTH! FUCK YOU OCTO-BASTARD!" he shouted as he flew off into the distance.

"Ugh, guess pursuing him is a bust," Daria sighed as she began to head off again.

However, her path was blocked for a third time, this time by the octo man.

"And can I help you?"

"You the clown's wife? I want the bill from you then!" the octo man fumed as he shoved a holographic screen in Daria's face.

Daria shot him an annoyed glare. "I'm not that bastards wife or relative, and I'm not paying that fee. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"He called you his culty along with that girl over there! I ain't getting fooled, I'm a smart business guy!"

Daria let out another heavy sigh and summoned a chessboard with her WWCF card. "Then we settle the matter in chess. Win and I'll pay your fees, but lose and neither I nor Alma Mata will be paying you anything."

"Chess? The hell is that?"

Daria clutched her face in frustration. This was going to be a long day, or so she thought.

"And what is the matter of this disagreement?" Raymond asked as he approached with Miga.

Upon seeing Miga, relief overcame Daria's face. Now she could kill two birds with one stone. "Mr. President, before I explain this, could I first inform Miga of a certain matter?"

Upon getting the approval, Daria whispered the info she had been given, to which Miga nodded and vanished in a flash.

"Apologies Mr. um..."

"Kato Kita!" the octo man stated.

"Apologies Mr. Kita. You seem to be unfamiliar with the game of chess, so allow us to teach you the game," Daria smiled.

As the tutoring lesson began, Nyoan took her chance to sneak off. And upon reaching a safe location, pulled out her phone to confirm her berrings. "Nya!? I'm in Budapest, nya!? Kuon-sama... Kuon-sama is here, nya. I should try to find her, nya."

...

Kato frowned as he stared at the board. "I lost. Ugh, now how will I get my business back on it's feet?"

"Are you a Takoyaki salesman?" Daria asked.

"Yeah, you heard of me?"

"No, but I think we could work out an agreement with you. How damaged are your ingredients?"

"Not much. But the van is totaled and stuck at the bottom of the crater."

"Then it's all trivial. It turns out we're hosting a tournament here in Budapest, and with the large amount of teams present, food can often be a tedious task to obtain. Would you consider entering a contract to provide food for them?" Raymond asked.

Kato's eyes lit up. "Deal!"

...

Daria returned to Mimoko to be greeted with a smiling Carla.

"Wow, you really are the best. Thanks a bunch!" Carla smiled as she began to head off.

"No problem. Good luck with your match!" Mimoko smiled back.

"So it went well?" Daria asked.

"Yup. Hopefully she'll be able to improve her game."

"She's from San Marino, right? They don't currently have their sole DSPCM spot filled yet. Perhaps if she's up to it, she could fill it."

"I'd wait to see how she feels after these next few rounds before springing the question on her."

"I understand. Now ready to continue our day out?"

"Did you take care of what you went off to do?"

"Not exactly, in fact I was taken on a wild detour. But it all worked out."