Oh My Goddess!: Gate of Destiny
Disclaimer: I do not own OMG or any of its elements.
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The wind whipped his hair back, even under the Nekomi Tech MCC helmet that he wore. The engine of the motorcycle roared and the machine spat clouds of smoke and dust out from behind its furious pace. Edging the cycle to its top speed of 230 kilometres per hour, Keiichi Morisato, star racer of the NIT MCC narrowed his eyes as he clenched the handlebars and revved the engine even more.
The new machine was incredibly fast, having undergone several changes by both Skuld and Megumi, their first joint effort, which had resulted in the engine being at least twice as powerful as its original plan. The cycle had been upgraded to bear the stress caused by the extra speed as well, and as Keiichi struggled to hold the cycle on course, several people stood at the sidelines watching..
Belldandy stood foremost, her eyes clouded with worry as she saw Keiichi guiding the cycle through the course. He was good, but the speed might pose a problem. She prayed that he would have the skills needed to survive this machine.
Tamiya and Ootaki-senpai stood beside her, cheering loudly and raucously as Keiichi prepared for the final lap of the test. They didn't seem to worry about him, probably because they trusted him. Belldandy frowned slightly. Why couldn't she give Keiichi the trust he deserved from her? She should believe in his abilities, instead of worrying non-stop about the young man.
Behind her, she heard a motorcycle pull up, and saw Chihiro walking over with a grin. "Hey, you guys! I heard about the engine, and thought I'd take a look!"
The former chief of the NIT MCC smiled at Belldandy as she walked over next to her, and Ootaki and Tamiya edged away, still cheering, although with huge drops of sweat trickling down their foreheads. Keiichi was doing well. He was halfway into the last lap already, and looked set to beak the MCC record with ease.
Keiichi smiled slightly in the stifling warmth of his helmet. The finish line was well within sight. Just half a kilometre…a quarter…
Belldandy ran forwards to the edge of the racetrack, smiling and waving to her beloved as he made his way back. And then, disaster struck.
The cycle suddenly hit a rut in the road, and leapt twenty feet into the air. Everyone gasped, and Chihiro screamed. Without realizing it, Belldandy had run forwards, only to find herself restrained by Tamiya's huge hands. With a start, she realized that she couldn't show her Goddess powers around other humans.
But a little stabilization spell never hurt anyone.
Winds of divine light, gather thy might, and bring my beloved back to my sight!!
A sudden gale blew, and Keiichi was able to land safely, thanks to the gusts of wind that prevented him from toppling off. Belldandy had already escaped Tamiya's grip and ran towards Keiichi as he fell to the ground from the bike, which had the front wheel missing.
"Keiichi, look out!"
At Belldandy's timely warning, Keiichi looked up and leapt out of the way as the front half of the cycle came crashing down, bursting into flames. He took off the helmet, and seemed to calm down a little. Bell ran forwards and took him into her arms, sobbing slightly. Her Keiichi could have died.
"Come on, you two! Ootaki, Tamiya, get out there and stop the fire!"
The two, who had stood there, sighing with relief suddenly snapped into action. "Y-Yes ma'am!"
As they doused the flames with powder from extinguishers, Keiichi gently let go of Bell, and stroked a strand of long brown-blond hair back behind her ear, whispering.
"(Thank you. You've saved my life again.)"
Belldandy smiled back, and rested her head on his shoulder. "(Don't mention it. I-I don't know what I'd do without you, anyway.)"
They leaned closer, their lips beginning to touch. There were sounds of a car arriving, but they shut it out. Everything seemed insignificant to being with each other. Tamiya was yelling something to Ootaki, and the birds were chirping.
None of that mattered. Just the two of them. It was perfect, and blissful as Keiichi and Bell moved their lips closer to each other, and-
"WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keiichi, you pervert!!!! What are you doing to my sister!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????"
Startled, Keiichi backed off, and slipped, and fell down hard on his rear. He looked up, slightly dazed, to see the owner of that ear-splitting voice being angrily set upon by a vengeful Urd. "Hey, Skuld! They were just about to do it!"
"Gaahh! But he's a-"
Belldandy smiled apologetically and helped Keiichi up. "Goodness, I am very sorry about my sisters, Keiichi-san! I did not know that they were here!"
Keiichi smiled back, blushing furiously. "It's alright, Bell. Um, I'll just go and see what I can do with the bike-oh no."
Skuld and Megumi had reached there first, and now were fingering broken pieces of the machine while shooting devilish looks at Keiichi. The boy edged backwards, slightly more, as the two girls edged forwards, and he broke into an all-out run across the course, Megumi and Skuld in hot pursuit.
"Big brother! K-1, what did you do to the bike!? COME BACK HERE, K-1!!!"
"KEIICHI! First my sister, now this! SKULD BOMB AWAY!!!!"
Megumi, not to be outdone, took out her Rocket Hypervelocity Skates™ and strapped them on, much to Skuld's chagrin. "I'll deal with you after we catch Keiichi, Megumi!"
"Fair enough! Full power to Hypervelocity Thrust Shafts™!"
Megumi rocketed forwards at speeds that were about faster than the average highway speed limit, and Keiichi screamed rather girlishly before Megumi tripped over something and sprawled all over him.
"Megumi…go on a diet, will you?"
Skuld was too preoccupied with looking at whatever that had tripped up Megumi to bother about the duo arguing madly in the distance.
"Hey, that's a screw!"
She looked up, and her eyes followed a trail of broken and fallen motorcycle parts as it wound around the course.
"Someone sabotaged the engine!!!"
Her cry sent the entire gang over to her spot, and Chihiro appraised the trail of parts with her expert eye. "Someone cut the brakes, and released the screws as well! The vibrations caused by Keiichi's cycle further weakened the structure, and thus caused the parts to drop. Every time he braked, the cables were linked up to somewhere else, probably the valves, and thus caused even more vibrations. It's a wonder the thing didn't fall apart halfway through the course."
The unresolved question was evident.
Who could have the motives and capability to do it?
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Keiichi shook his head as he looked up from the garage. "The doors were secured, and the alarm system had been linked up to the cycle itself! No way anyone could have got through the front door (outfitted with two locks, a bolt and an alarm), and the windows are all locked from the inside with three locks."
Skuld crossed her arms. "I don't trust these mor-er, lousy locks!"
Ootaki was probing around, checking his locks. "I don't get it. None of these locks were even OPENED. How-?"
Belldandy glanced once at Urd, who nodded. There is a certain sort of demonic resonance here…Mara?
No, she's too powerful. This field is way too weak for a First-Class like her. I'm guessing Second Class or Third Class, and we're definitely looking at Limited.
Chihiro looked at her watch rather apologetically. "Er, guys, I'll have to run now. Sorry about the bike, but I will see you all later!"
"Okay, take care, Chihiro." Keiichi resumed staring at the door. How could this have happened? His prize bike, set to replace the existing one that he had was shattered, leaving behind broken pieces of the engine and a burnt out shell.
Belldandy wrapped her hand around his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. "Oh well, we'll just build another one, right Keiichi?"
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Back at the temple, Skuld sat in front of her workbench, fiddling madly with some sort of device. "Argh, why won't this thing work? I can't let Megumi beat me at the Science and Tech Fair later…let me see…an extension! Yes, this would work…and rockets here…"
"Hey, Skuld, whatcha working on?"
Skuld spun around, grinning and blushing furiously. "Oh, Sentaro! I didn't hear you come in!"
Sentaro seated himself beside her and looked at the…thing on her table. "That looks complex."
Skuld hurriedly shoved it away, grinning and laughing rather sheepishly. "Oh, yeah! Why did you come here?"
"Well, I thought I'd drop in to see how you're doing…yeah, and well…erm…" He rubbed the back of his head. "I just wanted to see you, I guess…"
Skuld looked away to hide her blushing face, which was the approximate colour of Belldandy's Tomato Stew. "That's nice of you, Sentaro! 'm really glad that you-"
Sentaro suddenly pulled her closer to him, and he looked into her ebony eyes and spoke softly, just loud enough for both of them.
"I-I just wanted to say that I-I love you, Skuld."
And then, he pulled her into a kiss, which she returned. Skuld nearly screamed with joy. Her wishes had come true at last!
The Angel's Egg on Skuld's pendant started to glow, and she jumped up in surprise, breaking free from Sentaro's embrace. Sentaro followed her with his eyes, and his mouth slowly dropped open as Noble Scarlet emerged from her egg. Skuld gasped with joy. Her angel was now fully grown, and was as tall as any one of her sisters' angels. Scarlet slowly spread her wings, and smiled at Skuld.
"Oh…ugh."
Skuld turned to see Sentaro fainted by the floor, his eyes still staring at something in the distance. She then realized that this meant that Sentaro had found about her little secret…
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Keiichi and Belldandy were watching TV with Urd, who had tuned it to a romance movie and now sat on a cushion bawling away as the main character gave his life for his girlfriend.
"WAAH! Why does Ken have to die? Why can't he just live happily with…"
Keiichi sighed. "Look Urd. It's just a movie. It's not real. Why are you-"
Keiichi sizzled slightly as he was struck by an Urd Bolt. (Shut up, Keiichi! I'm watching a show!). Giving up, he resigned himself to watching the incredibly (in his opinion) soppy show. Belldandy was smiling as always, sipping from her cup of tea.
Well, some things would never change, he guessed, reaching for his own cup of tea.
"ONEE-SAMA!!! HELP!!!"
Keiichi dropped his cup, which spilled hot tea all over his pants, and then proceeded to leap out of his chair into the ceiling, where he hit his head, and came back to earth with a resounding thump. Belldandy gasped, and after making sure that Keiichi was okay, headed off to see what Skuld wanted. Urd turned her attention away from the movie she was watching to grin at Keiichi.
"That has to hurt."
"Shut up."
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