A/N: Hey, people. A new chapter is here.
Kitsune: Oh, great. Well, at least you made Keitaro quite the badass last chapter.
Chris: And I'm not done yet.
Motoko: You're going to make him even more out of character?
Chris: Well, not really. But keep telling yourself that. I'm not going to tell you or the readers before the story does, so do something to keep from going crazy.
Motoko: Me...going crazy...because of him? Don't delude yourself, you crazy kid.
Chris: You know that isn't an insult, right?
Motoko: Oh, so, now we're in an insult contest?
Chris: No...but that idea is way better than mine! Let's do that!
Everyone: NOOOOO!
Kitsune: YES! I'M GONNA WIN!
(Chris snaps fingers, everyone falls asleep, dreaming that they were in or watching an insult contest)
Chris: And now to finish the job. (takes out a marker) Heheheh.
-Five minutes later-
Chris: And now to fall asleep and wake them up. (snaps fingers, falls asleep, everyone else wakes up)
Motoko: Hey! Where'd the stadium go?
Kitsune: I think we were just dreaming.
Motoko: Well...that was surreal.
Kitsune: GAH! Uh...Motoko? You got a little something on your face. And it's funny, too! (laughing) Guys, look at her face!
Everyone but Keitaro and Shinobu: (looks, snickers)
Motoko: Kitsune, what did you do?
Kitsune: Nothing.
Motoko: Then why is everyone snickering at me?
Shinobu: Ummm, Motoko-sempai...
Keitaro: You have the words 'I'm a crazy kendo witch' on your forehead.
Motoko: WHAT? OH, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT BIG BRAT, I'M GOING TO SMACK HIM TO THE NEXT PREFECTURE!
Chris: (waking up) Oh, hey Motoko.
Motoko: YOU!
Chris: Me what?
Motoko: YOU DID THIS! (points to face)
Chris: What? No I didn't.
Motoko: THEN, IF YOU DIDN'T, WHO DID?
(another Chris comes into the room laughing)
Chris (new one): Me!
Motoko: (looking between both Chris's) THERE'S TWO OF THEM?!
Chris (old one): Actually...
Chris (new one): I'm the Chris from five minutes ago.
Motoko: Oh...WHAT?
Chris: I think we should start the story here before something bad happens. You know, don't want to be the harbinger of the instant Armageddon. Disclaimer: Ken Akamatsu is their creator and therefore owner. I own nothing, make no money. I do this purely to show all these ideas in my head to the world. STORY START!
Naru: Oh, my head.
|/\/\|
From last chapter:
"YOU...WILL...NOT...TOUCH THEM!" Keitaro yelled, running along the roof towards the robot without slipping. He jumped off the roof and started flying towards the robot. And it was actual flying, not him jumping off the roof towards the robot. He started glowing a clear gold and his eyes started glowing red as he flew to face the robot.
"Hold your fire, men!" cried the leader of the military squad down below.
The robot held up its palm to blast a jet of flame at the challenger. Keitaro, however, swung his arm upward and the flame stopped in front of him like a wave. The curve of flame resembled a knife. Keitaro then pushed his arm forward and the blade of flame he created pushed forward against the jet of flame the robot was spewing out. The flame sliced the robot in two. The pieces were about to crush the whole military squad below, but Keitaro grabbed them by the leg and threw them skyward really hard, causing someone to leap out of the head and open a parachute. Everyone expected to see the pieces fall down a minute later, but they were still waiting after four minutes, by which time Keitaro had already landed on the roof again, golden glow gone and eyes their normal color again.
Everyone was staring with surprised reaction on their face, of varying levels. At the top of the list was Motoko, Naru, and Kitsune, none of whom believed Keitaro could ever be brave, let alone brave enough to take on a giant robot. They didn't expect him to win, either, especially not the way he did. The rest of the residents were not nearly as surprised as those three. That isn't to say that they were not surprised or mildly surprised. No, they were still totally surprised that Keitaro could fight like that.
"Holy..." Kitsune started. She never managed to get out the rest of that, however, as she was too dumbfounded to speak, even after half an hour went by and the armies had left. Every other resident was in the same boat.
Keitaro was still standing on the roof with his residents that whole half hour. He was still standing where he had stood when he defeated the robot with its own flames. He was deep in thought and giving the girls time to process the crazy sight they saw. 'Well, there's no turning back now. They've seen too much to turn back,' he thought sadly.
"What...just happened?" Naru asked rhetorically, eyes still wide.
"Are we dreaming?" Sarah asked.
"Did we really see Urashima-san stop an enormous robot?" Motoko asked, just as disbelievingly.
Finally, one of them found their ability to move again and walked towards Keitaro slowly.
It was Naru who asked the next question. "Keitaro-san? Was that you? Did you just beat a robot the size of Hinata-sou and the hill combined without touching it?" It came out slowly, as if there was some caution behind it.
No reply.
"Answer me, you idiot!" Naru said, more firmly.
"Yes," Keitaro responded with a sigh and some drama.
"Have you always been able to do that?" Naru asked, not exactly as spirited as usual.
"Yes," he answered.
"Why have you not told us this before?" Motoko asked him, now joining him at his side.
"I...didn't want...to endanger you," Keitaro responded slowly.
"Endanger us? What would endanger us? I mean, besides the missile," Su asked.
"Knowing just what I can do," Keitaro answered. "You girls are taking seeing this much better than anyone else," he added. With this, he left the roof with his head hung low.
Nobody spoke for a moment. They were too dumbfounded to start a conversation and too in thought to contribute to one.
Finally, one girl got the wits to speak. Makes sense that it was the wittiest one.
"Well...that happened," the fox said.
Keitaro arrived at his room, thinking. 'Well, now they know. Man, that guy just had to find time to bring a giant robot to the Hinata-Sou. Now the girls are in incredible danger because of him. Who was he, anyway? He seemed familiar, like from a while ago. And why was he after Narusegawa-san?' he asked himself. His stomach started rumbling. 'I guess I should get a snack, huh?' he mentally joked.
Getting up, he opened his door and went into the kitchen and got an apple. 'Well, I wonder when a good time to tell them is. After all, I can't keep them in the dark forever, especially after a show like that. They will probably ask me very soon. Maybe I'll tell them after their bath,' he agreed. Then he went to his room to take a nap after he had his apple.
Meanwhile, the girls were in the hot springs, trying to relax after seeing something like Keitaro saving their lives like that with only two moves. Catching a missile with one hand by the tip was impressive all on its own, but using the robot's fire to slice it in half was much more impressive. Plus, he was flying in the air without assistance. Not to mention, this was the guy who always got beat up by four of the girls he lives with. The weak, hapless manager just saved them from something that took out the resident samurai/bodyguard with power that's...unseemly, to say the least. Unseemly strength and inexplicable fire manipulation certainly didn't seem very appropriate on a guy who kept getting a beatdown every day. Everyone was gossiping about it.
"It just doesn't make any sense. How did he do that? Has he always been able to do that? And how is it that he could do that, but he keeps getting bashed around by us?" Naru replied after sighing.
"Since when could Urashima-san defeat something that defeated me without any training or reflexes to use?" Motoko added.
"And what did he mean that he didn't want to endanger us?" Mutsumi asked.
"I know. And why would he hide this super cool person from us?" Kitsune added to the conversation of the crazy thing their 'helpless manager' just did.
"M-Maybe he had a good reason," Shinobu said.
"Yeah, maybe he didn't want Kitsune to take advantage of it," Su suggested cheerfully.
"That does sound like a thing Kitsune would do," Sarah pointed out.
"What? I would not!" Kitsune protested.
"Yeah, you would," Naru replied.
"It is certain," Motoko added.
"I think everyone agrees with Sarah-chan here," Mutsumi pointed out.
"Yeah," Su replied.
"Is that what everyone thinks of me?" Kitsune asked indignantly.
"Pretty much, yeah," everyone replied at the same time.
"Wow. That's just...wow," Kitsune replied, obviously unsure of what to say.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did we just render you speechless?" Naru teased, earning a laugh from every other girl in the bath.
"But seriously, though, should we ask him how he did that?" Sarah asked the other girls after the laughter died down.
"Yeah. How about after we get out of the hot springs?" Kitsune suggested.
"Okay," everyone agreed. Then, for another half hour, they were enjoying a relaxing soak to take their mind off of the crazy show they just saw, though the warm waters did little to soothe their minds after they were almost just taken out by a missile.
As they got out of the bath, Kitsune heard a rustling by the fence. She went over to the fence and was practically scared out of her skin when a wolf (A/N: an actual wolf, not a peeping wolf) jump through the fence and right at her. The wolf had a big black stripe on its back and a scar above its right eye. Kitsune threw her arms up in instinctive defense and screamed really loud, making the other residents turn around and see a horrible sight.
Kitsune was almost devoured by a wolf.
Almost.
But, surprisingly, the wolf started whimpering and ran off. Eventually, Kitsune finally had the nerve to open her eyes and see why she wasn't injured yet. She saw a wall of some purple energy right in front of her.
"Wha...?" she yelped in surprise.
"How did you do that?" Naru asked.
"I...don't know," Kitsune replied slowly, her eyes wide open now.
"Well, whatever you did, it scared the wolf away," Sarah replied.
"Yeah. I never knew you could do that!" Motoko replied.
"Neither did I," Kitsune responded.
"This is really weird," Mutsumi replied, still as ditzy as ever.
"I thought that wolves weren't even in Japan. I have to research that and see why that one wolf was here," Su wondered dismissively.
The girls hurried into the changing room and got changed as fast as possible, wanting to make sure that something like that could not happen again.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Keitaro was sitting there on the couch, watching some TV after his nap when the girls came into the room. He turned to greet them. "Oh, hey everyone. I needed to talk to you," he said, turning off the TV.
"Right, but first we needed to ask you a question," Kitsune replied.
"Okay, what is it?" Keitaro asked.
"How did you stop that giant robot?" Kitsune asked.
"Well, you see, I can't tell you everything right now, but I can tell you that Motoko-chan should be familiar with part of it. After all, I did imitate the Air Splitting Sword with that fire," Keitaro explained.
"WHAT?! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!" Motoko yelled.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. It's too dangerous to know the secret," Keitaro replied.
"Well, what are the consequences of telling us this secret, Urashima-san?" Motoko asked.
"Luring beings that make today's robot look like someone a rock could take on and defeat to Hinata-sou, that's what, Motoko-chan. I don't want you girls to suffer through that. I've already said too much," Keitaro replied. This caused all the other girls to yell "What?!".
"But you've barely said anything yet!" Su and Sarah whined.
"I know, I know. But, if I told you the truth, all of you would be in mortal danger. Your lives as you know them would be over and replaced with misery, just like my grandfather..." he answered. Nobody said anything for what felt like the longest time and what was actually a minute.
Finally, Kitsune gathered up enough nerve to speak. "Okay, I am seriously creeped out right now. First, the wolf attack, now this!" she exclaimed.
"Wait, what wolf attack?" Keitaro asked cautiously.
"Well, when we were getting out of the baths, a wolf came jumping through the fence right at me, but then some kind of wall made of some purple...energy popped up right in front of me. It scared the wolf away," Kitsune exclaimed.
"WHAT?! Oh, no. This is bad. This is really bad!" Keitaro panicked.
"What's bad? The fact that I somehow avoided an injury by a wolf?" Kitsune teased in mock grumpiness.
"No, you still living is good. The bad thing is that you have this shield power. It's the first sign of a certain energy that will spiral out of control if I don't teach you how to control it," Keitaro explained seriously.
"Wait, define 'out of control'" Kitsune commanded.
"'Out of control' meaning 'you start to uncontrollably destroy random things that you walk by, including any humans, buildings, or anything unlucky enough to be on the same planet as you'!" Keitaro groused.
"WHAT?!" everyone yelled.
"Which means that I have to train you to control your energy or it's 'Bye, bye, Earth' for every species on the planet. None of you are to watch her training. It's bad enough that she even has these powers, and I don't need anybody learning what isn't meant for normal people," Keitaro commanded in a serious tone.
"Excuse me, but who are you to command us to do anything? In fact, isn't it usually the other way around?" Naru asked indignantly.
"Your only hope of survival and the only expert on this matter presently accessible to us," Keitaro answered firmly, eyes glowing slightly red.
"Huh?" Motoko said.
"Kitsune-chan, I know you want to go right to sleep after this, but I need to start your teaching right now, or else your energy level will rise overnight to the point where a beginner cannot contain it and an expert would have trouble. Can you come with me right now to my room?" Keitaro asked urgently.
"Okay," was all she said.
"Great. And, remember, girls, no eavesdropping! If you eavesdrop, you will be in even more danger than you are now," he warned, offering Kitsune his hand. She took it and followed the leader to her own room.
"Should we...?" Naru asked.
"I am not so sure. I didn't think we should listen to Urashima-san and eavesdrop on him until I heard his voice. It was...different...somehow. He seemed extremely concerned and serious. As much as I am loathe to admit it, I think we should listen to him for once," Motoko responded.
"Wow, Motoko-san. You sure know how to read people," Su joked, causing the others to giggle at her expense.
...
"Alright, Kitsune-chan. Are you ready for this?" Keitaro asked her.
"Yeah, yeah, Kei-kun, let's just get this over with. It's making you all serious," she replied.
"That's because it is serious! You don't understand, Kitsune-chan! If you don't learn to control this, it is the end of the world! Your life has already changed a lot as it is. You have to take this seriously or you will endanger an entire planet filled with living creatures! You have to take this seriously!" Keitaro ranted.
"Alright, already. Just start already. What's the worst that could happen, anyway?" Kitsune asked dismissively.
"The end of the world, that's what! How about I just show you the worst that could happen?" Keitaro asked, raising his voice a little.
"Okay, already. If that's what it would take, then fine," Kitsune said, also raising her voice.
"Okay, then come here," he said, gesturing for her to come to him. She did just that and he put his hand on her head and faced her head to her left and his to the right. "Look," he said, putting his free hand out in front of him in that direction. An image shot out of his hand like a projector of a barren, deserted, destroyed world. There were remains of many different unidentifiable creatures strewn all about the landscape, all of which were contorted into strange positions that suggested that they were blasted away from something and kept that way. The place that used to be Tokyo was now just an area filled with ruins of buildings and stumps of where there used to be skyscrapers. The image showed the hill where Hinata-sou used to be, now a lump in the earth with a hole in it like a mantlepiece. And the worst part of this was that there was no sign of civilization anywhere. No moving veichles, no workers, no movement anywhere. Not even a tumbleweed.
"Whoa. This is more serious than I expected. Alright, I'll do it. Just teach me to not let this happen," Kitsune submitted fearfully. The image went away, faded into the scenery of the room. Her eyes were still wide open.
"Alright, Kitsune-chan. First off, you have a type of energy inside you called psi energy. Psi energy is short for psychic energy. It's the energy of the mind. It's what makes people inventive and what gives people empathy. Why do you think you're always so naturally clever, quick-witted, and manipulative? You would say that it just comes to you, right?" Keitaro started.
"Right," Kitsune replied.
"Right. Anyway, there are two kinds of psi energy. There's the kind that gives people an exceptional grip on empathy and the emotions of those around them and there's the kind that gives people amazing creativity and nimbleness of mind. Guess what? You have the second kind. There are perks to both kinds, but each has its own exclusive perks as well as the ones that both of them get. Your kind of psi energy, called mind energy, allows you to read a person's mind, for example, but both of them get telekinesis. You have had signs of psi energy for a while, it would seem. I don't think anyone has managed to out-tease you yet, if ever. That's because you don't want anyone to manage to put one over your head, right?" Keitaro continued.
"Yeah, but how would you know that?" Kitsune asked.
"Because I have psi energy, too. And, unlike you right now, I know how to control it so it doesn't hurt anyone," he answered.
"So you mean to tell me that the weird purple energy stuff that that wall was made out of-the wall that probably saved my life-was made out of some energy that comes from people's heads? And that I have to learn to control it or it can kill people with death falls and destroy all of civilization as we know it? Prove it," Kitsune demanded.
Keitaro searched around the room for an object to demonstrate on. He found a sheet of paper on his desk. He picked it up and showed it to Kitsune for emphasis.
"See this sheet of paper? Watch it closely," he instructed. She watched as he put the paper on the floor next to her current seated person. She saw him put his hand out as if to shake someone's hand. She witnessed in awe as the sheet of paper lifted off the ground slowly with a slight purple sparkle around it. She gasped as it lifted off the ground.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed.
"That's proof that psi energy exists..." Keitaro started. He then bent his hand very fast. A purple wave appeared above the paper and pushed it down to the ground extremely fast, causing Kitsune to gasp at the sudden fast movement.
"...that's proof that psi energy can send living things on death trips..." Keitaro continued. He then pointed one finger from the hand he used first at the paper. A purple fire suddenly bursted out in the center of the paper spread outward on the paper, leaving a purple-glow-edged hole in the paper until the entire paper was consumed by the purple flame.
"...and that's proof that psi could end civilization as we know it," Keitaro finished.
"...Wow. What just happened?" Kitsune asked, freaked out.
"Well, I just used psi energy to lift, slam, and burn a sheet of paper. Got any doubts now?" he asked jokingly.
"Okay, I get it. This cool 'psi energy' stuff is real and I have some extra. But why do I have it? And why do you have it?" she asked.
"Well, the Hinata-sou may have had some part in it. It has special qualities that strengthen friendships, as well as energy. You know Motoko-chan's ki attacks? The ones she hits me with every day? Those were partially strengthened by her friendships with all of you girls because it is one of the energies that are boosted by the Hinata-sou. So is psi energy and other energies in this world. However, you were only able to create a psi shield after you saw me using these energies to save you girls from a robot and a missile. I think you were thinking about me," he concluded. This put a blush on her face and a protest about how she wasn't thinking about him. He started chuckling. "No, I mean that you were thinking about how I did what I did, not what you're thinking of just now. And, for your information, I discovered my pSI energy after I met my sister. Energies are discovered after great moments in life, like graduating from high school or getting a driver's license or seeing your 'weak' manager defeat a robot that is much larger than your house or any of those other rare events that bring you great joy. Of course, another rare event is being in a group of friends like we have here at the Hinata-sou. But, anyway, do you believe me now?" he continued.
"Well, yeah! My life would be a lot easier if I could do that thing you did with the paper on sake! Can I learn?" Kitsune replied with a question.
"Sure, Kitsune-chan," Keitaro agreed.
"Sweet! Thanks, Kei-kun!" she asked, smiling.
"Alright, now, to get rid of all the excess psi energy, you need to launch it upward to the sky. It will just dissipate in space because space has no energy at all. If you don't do this, you will build up too much energy and you will destroy things without trying and eventually explode with the excess energy. You were lucky that it was a wall that your excess psi energy formed and not something more dangerous. Now, to blast the energy into space, you need to tap into it first, which requires a partner the first time. I'll just do it for you since you need it done fast," Keitaro explained. He pointed four of his fingers at her. She felt as if she could feel the whole inside of her body. Every vein, every bone, everything. It was as if her senses became hyper-tuned to the point where she could sense her own blood coursing through her veins. She could also hear so many things, like the train headed out of Hinata for Kyoto. Of course, she could hear everything in her body at once as well, which made her wince.
"Alright, now just try to focus on what you want to sense, rather than everything. For now, focus on the sound of my voice," he instructed. She did just that and her head stopped getting the overload from her senses. What replaced that painful feeling was a sensation that she could only describe as a sense of extra energy in her mind. She could think much more clearly and even sense the presence of others in the city. Surprisingly, the other residents of Hinata-sou were in the living room, talking to each other rather than eavesdropping like Keitaro and Kitsune expected. She could sense all the people at the train station, walking on the street, even the ones in their apartments doing their paperwork.
"Whoa. It's like I can sense everything in the city!" Kitsune said with all the same wonderment of one of the kids in a candy store she could sense. Which is to say a lot.
"And now you need to point one finger up to the sky and imagine the energy shooting up and out of your finger until you can't sense any farther than the Hinata-sou. This is how you get rid of excess psi energy. If you don't do this, you will eventually explode and obliterate the world around you, including you," Keitaro explained.
Kitsune did just that. She saw a stream of the purple energy we call psi up and into the great black sky.
"Wow, Kei-kun! That was actually a great feeling, being able to sense all of the people around me. Now, how do you do the 'telekinesis' you were demonstrating earlier?" she asked.
"Well, I suppose I could teach you that tonight before we have to go to sleep. All you have to do is reach out with your psi energy and hook it onto something, like this book. Why don't you give it a try?" he said, gesturing for her to do it. She did as she was instructed and, just like he said it would, she lifted the book with her psi energy, a faint purple tendril reaching out to pick up the book.
"Sweet! I'm doing it!" Kitsune cheered, still lifting the book.
"Good job Kitsune-chan. Now make sure you don't-" Keitaro started, but Kitsune was already making a mad dash for the living room.
"-show the girls what I showed you!" he yelled after her. He sighed. 'This is going to be tough to explain,' he complained to himself. 'Well, at least she can't tell them about the other energies,' he thought optimistically, holding up his hand and showing a gray orb of some other type of energy with four other orbs of various energies and colors, one of them psi energy, around it, all linked to the gray one by a gray string. This only appeared for a second, though, and disappeared afterwards.
...
Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts from Tokyo, a certain scar-eyed wolf was barking at the entrance. After five straight minutes of barking, a man finally opened the door. He wore a fancy white suit with a bow tie.
Inside the warehouse, the man turned to the wolf and noticed that it did not come back with the remains of one of the residents of the HInata-sou, but rather it came back with a whine and sad puppy eyes. The man tossed the wolf a piece of meat too meager to be considered a meal. "Urashima-san, you are tougher than I thought. Defeating me like that and scaring my wolf. Well, I guess I should give a little more effort. I can do some unspeakable things to you. Things that put this cruddy wolf to shame." The man was surprisingly calm about this whole loss. He then kicked the wolf, knocking it unconscious. "Get ready, Urashima-san. I'm coming for you."
|\/\/|
And that's chapter two, everyone.
Kitsune: Aw, man, really? That is so cliche! Having some mysterious guy talk about his hatred of the main character? Dude, get some new material!
Chris: Hey, cliche is kinda my thing. I'm eight and I know most of the words to the song 'Sweet Home Alabama' and I like a bunch of other seventies' songs.
Motoko: I just hope you make this a good story. All we know it that Kitsune has powers now.
Chris: Well, I have a grand scheme of this story, so you are left in my hands.
Sarah: In what world is that a good thing?
Chris: My world. Bye readers.