I still do not own the rights to Doctor who or Torchwood. Both are the work of the BBC.
Yamada Yumi was playing yet another Judan title match. Her challenger was Sato Yuki, who had previously held the Judan title until Yumi took it from him. It was the fourth game of the five-round match. Yumi had one win and two losses. If she lost this game, Sato would get the Judan title back. If she won, they would enter the final round.
If he plays a stone at this one point, it will compromise my territory, and I will lose, thought Yumi. But it's a difficult move to see, and he might not see it.
Sato then played his stone at the exact point that Yumi had been thinking about.
Yes! thought Yumi. Now I can say goodbye to the Judan title.
After the endgame, Sato won by three and a half points. "Thank you for the game," he said.
"Thank you for the game," repeated Yumi, smiling.
"You seem happy, considering that you lost," said Sato. "I mean, I know you took it easy on me, but still..."
"How could I be happy if I kept the title?" said Yumi. "Look at what I've done to the preliminary rounds for the title just by holding it. There has been decreasing competition, because fewer people want to challenge me."
"That was an amazing game," said Sato. "Yamada-Sensei...I mean, Yamada-san, you pushed me really hard, but just barely not too hard."
Yumi and Sato left the Room of Yugen, in which there was a camera looking down on the Go board, and entered the room next door, in which there was a television connected to said camera. Sato went through the door first.
"BOO!" shouted a boy in the insei program when he saw Sato.
"I beg your pardon?" said Yumi angrily.
"I was booing Sato, not you, Yamada-Sensei, the real Judan," said the boy.
"I'm not the Judan anymore," said Yumi. "Sato-san is."
"Pfft. Sato only won because you let him win," said the boy.
"I did not just let Sato-san win," said Yumi. "I'll have you know that it took Sato-san every iota of his strength to beat me!"
"But you weren't playing with your full strengh, Yamada-Sensei," said the boy.
"That's not the point," said Yumi.
"Allow me," said Sato. "Suzuki-kun, who first taught you how to play Go?"
"I learned from my dad," answered the boy.
"And if I'm not mistaken, your father is a professional Go player?" said Sato.
"Yes," said Suzuki.
"When your father taught you Go, Suzuki-kun, did he play against you with his full strength?" asked Sato.
"Of course not," said Suzuki.
"Exactly," said Sato. "If he did, you wouldn't have learned anything. It's the same with Yamada-san. Compared to her strength, we are all children, myself included, and children don't learn anything by having the most advanced knowledge just thrown at them."
Yumi was blushing deep red by now. "Sato-san, do you really think it's wise to call Suzuki-kun a child to his face?"
"Under normal circumstances, no," said Sato. "But Suzuki-kun clearly already knows your strength compared to his."
On her way home, Yumi called a number that she had saved on her phone.
"Doh soh koh?" said the voice of a Judoon on the other end.
"This is Yamada Yumi," said Yumi. "I have now lost the Judan title."
"Language assimilated," said the Judoon. "Earth. Japanese. Yamada Yumi, you may now play Go on the interstellar network without fear of vengeance."
"You look worn out," said Yumi's mother, Masako, when Yumi came home.
"I just wish I didn't have to travel to another country to find someone who doesn't know my name," replied Yumi.
"Maybe you should do just that," suggested her mother's fiancée, Torajiro. "Although I would appreciate it if you could stay for our wedding before you leave."
"I'd love to travel to another country," said Yumi, "but I think that mom might have more problems with that than just the wedding."
"Yumi, I've been an overprotective mother for way too long," said Masako. "It's time I let you have more freedom."
"Who are you, and what have you done with my mother?" demanded Yumi.
"Look into my eyes, Yumi," said her mother. "I know you can read people's characters just by looking into their eyes. Tell me what you see."
"I was joking," said Yumi. "For a short while now I've seen you change. Your fragility looks like it is healing, and the strength that you once had seems to be returning. But this is all happening too quickly."
"I've been seeing a therapist," said her mother. "He has tremendously helped me get over the pain in my past."
"What exactly did you tell him about your pain?" asked Yumi.
"I told him that before you were born, I saw your possible death eighteen years into the future."
Yumi stared at her mother, at a loss for words.
"Don't worry. My therapist works for an alien research organization. He knows about this kind of stuff."
"But don't people like that keep their identities secret?" asked Yumi. "How did you find him?"
"I didn't," said her mother. "He found me. He called me and offered to give me therapy."
"How did he know about your condition?" asked Yumi.
"He said that someone had hacked his databases and found him. He didn't say exactly who – just someone who owed us a dept and knew that I needed help."
Later that night, Yumi went over to the nostalgic sight of the destroyed warehouse where she had met the Daleks, and later on, a Sontaran. This time she came to meet with Dalek Ces, an unusual Dalek whom Yumi had helped to find peace.
"It was you, wasn't it?" said Yumi. "You set mom up with a psychiatrist who was also a top-secret alien research agent."
"Yes, that was me." said Dalek Ces.
"I don't know how to thank you enough," said Yumi.
"You shouldn't thank me at all," said Ces. "It's my fault that your mother's soul was torn apart in the first place."
"Don't beat yourself up about that," said Yumi.
"I'm not beating myself up," said Ces. "I'm amending my wrongdoing. I'm trying to undo the damage I did so that it looks like it didn't happen."
Yumi made sure to attend her mother's second wedding. From her point of view, it had been less than two years since she had attended her mother's first wedding before she was even born. From her mother's point of view, it had been about nineteen years.
"Did you tell mom who you really are?" Yumi asked her new stepfather, Torajiro, during the wedding's reception.
"Yes, I told her that I was Hon'inbo Shusaku in a past life," said Torajiro. "Although I can honestly say, I have never heard of Fujiwara no Sai until I started reading your Hikaru no Go manga volumes."
"Did you like the series?" asked Yumi.
"Yes, it's very intriguing," said Torajiro. "It's quite an honor for my name to be mentioned in a popular work of fiction."
One month later, in Cardiff, England...
"I'm sorry, Jack," said Gwen Cooper. "I failed."
"It's not your fault," said Captain Jack Harkness, the leader of Torchwood. "The guy we were chasing is literally invisible. We need to find better technology to track him down."
"But I tried to chase him through an airport!" said Gwen. "He must be in another country by now!"
"Don't worry," said Jack. "The alien technology that we currently possess can get a vague lock on his location. Once the airplane that he's on lands, we'll know where he's headed."
"So what kind of technology do we need?" asked Gwen.
"Something like the scanners that I used to find him the first time, only portable. We need to find out more about his power."
"We know he's invisible," said Gwen. "How does he do it? Is it like the entrance to our headquarters?"
"No, it's nothing like that," said Jack. "Our entrance is hidden by a perception filter. It's perfectly visible, but there's a psychic field around it that stops people from noticing it. This guy is different. It's like he only half exists, or is drifting between this dimension and another one. He doesn't reflect light, and any body heat that he gives off goes to another dimension."
"But he can touch things in this world," said Gwen.
"Yes, he can make physical contact," said Jack. "Basically, he can do anything that a normal human can, but he can also warp reality for one purpose: don't get noticed."
"Wait – is he human or alien?" asked Gwen.
"I think he's a human who's being possessed by an alien symbiote," said Jack. "Our goal is to find them, separate the symbiote from its host, and then capture the symbiote."
Meanwhile, at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, none of the customs guards noticed a boy in his late teens sneaking past them. He had no trouble sneaking past them, considering that he was completely invisible.
We're close, said a voice in his head. Soon you can say goodbye to me.
What, you're just going to drop me off and leave me here in another country? thought the boy.
I thought you wanted to get rid of me, said the voice.
I do, but I need somewhere to live, thought the boy.If you leave me now, I won't be able to sneak onto a plane back to England without invisibility.
What difference does it make? said the voice. You weren't wanted there anyway. Nobody ever noticed you, even when you were physically visible.
Just then something caught the boy's eye. It was a Japanese girl about his age. But it wasn't just any Japanese girl.
That's Yamada Yumi! he thought. The world's strongest Go player!
It's not just Go, said the voice in his head. I sense tremendous power flowing through her. I want that power!
Is that why you came all the way to America? asked the boy. How did you know she would be here and not in Japan?
I didn't, answered the voice. I was looking for someone else, but this girl is so much better!
What are you going to do to her? asked the boy nervously.
Oh, are you actually concerned for her? said the voice.
Yumi was on her way to pick up her baggage, but she could feel something nearby that was out of place. She looked around. Everything looked normal, but there was a lie in the appearance of her environment.
Yumi looked in a certain direction, thinking that the disturbance in reality seemed to be coming from that direction. She still couldn't see anything out of place, but she knew there was supposed to be something right in front of her.
Suddenly, a boy about her age appeared to materialize out of thin air. Yumi had a second to see his face before he grabbed her by the wrist.
Immediately she could feel something trying to come through her from within the boy. She could feel it prying into her mind, but she resisted with all her strength.
I will have...your power! said a voice in her head.
If you could take it that easily, thought Yumi, it wouldn't be my power, would it?
Give it to me! said the voice.
Get out of my head! thought Yumi.
After a bit of intense mental struggling, Yumi was able to shove the psychic invader out of her mind. The boy let go of her, and in another second, he disappeared.
"Are you all right?" asked a security guard in the airport.
"Yes, I'm okay," said Yumi.
"Do you know the guy who was assaulting you?" asked the guard.
"I've never seen him before," said Yumi.
"Don't worry," said the security guard. "We'll find him and bring him to justice."
"Good luck with that," said Yumi.
"We have security cameras all over the airport," said the guard. "We can track his every movement from the point where he assaulted you." He picked up his radio and spoke into it. "Control, have you traced the suspect's whereabouts yet?"
"Actually," said a voice from the radio, "as soon as he stopped assaulting the victim, he seems to have vanished into thin air."
"Have you tried rewinding the recording?" asked the guard.
"Yes I have," said the security control operator. "All I see is him literally vanishing. First he's there, then he's gone."
"That's impossible!" said the guard.
"Is it really?" asked Yumi. "A few years ago, the entire planet Earth disappeared from the solar system. You do remember that, don't you?"
"Of course I remember," said the guard. "I meant that it's not humanly possible. He must be an alien with the power to teleport."
"Actually, I think he's just invisible," said Yumi. "When I couldn't see him, I could still pick up some subtle signs that he was there."
"We will look into it," said the guard.
"Are you familiar with handling aliens?" asked Yumi.
"No, but we have contacts who are," said the guard. "That's all I can tell you."
As soon as Yumi was free from the aftermath of the incident with the invisible boy, she claimed her baggage, then boarded a bus toward a hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel receptionist had some bad news.
"I'm sorry, but we just filled our last vacancy,"said the receptionist.
Meanwhile, at the elevator, the doors opened and a man stepped out into the lobby. He stared at Yumi when he saw her.
"I can't believe they're letting J %s into this hotel!" said the man.
"I beg your pardon?" said Yumi. "What did I ever do to you?"
"Are you kidding me?" said the man. "Do the words 'Pearl Harbor' ring any bells?"
"Pearl Harbor was bombed by kamikaze airplanes long before I was born," said Yumi. "Therefore it has nothing to do with me."
"It does too!" said the man. "You're a J %. The kamikaze pilots were J %s."
"That proves nothing," said Yumi. "But by your own logic, the United States is guilty of dropping a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan."
"You deserved it," said the man.
"That's harsh," said Yumi, "but at least you got your revenge, so can't you let it rest?"
"It wasn't enough revenge," said the man.
"It was a nuclear explosion in a civilian city!" said Yumi. "Compare that to kamikaze airplanes crashing into a military base. It's obvious which one's more destructive."
"All right, break it up," said a hotel security staff.
The racist man looked at the guard's turban. "Are you a Muslim?" he said.
"Yes, I am," said the guard. "What about it?"
"What the f*&k are you doing here?" said the racist man.
"I'm kicking you out of the hotel," said the guard. "Does that answer your question?"
"You can't kick me out!" said the racist man.
"Yes, I can," said the guard. "I'm a security guard. I can do that. Now, you should probably count your blessings while you've only been kicked out."
The racist man didn't answer, but instead tried to punch the guard, who blocked the attack.
"So much for counting your blessings," said the guard. "You just lost the blessing of not being arrested."
"So, do you know of any other hotels that have vacancies?" Yumi asked the receptionist.
"Actually, this one just opened up a vacancy," answered the receptionist.
Over the next two days, Yumi tried to relax and enjoy her vacation, but she couldn't get the invisible boy out of her head. She couldn't help feeling that she should be doing something about it. She wasn't particularly worried about the racist guy she met at the hotel. He was pretty predictable, not to mention that he was already in prison. At least he was easier to handle than an invisible rogue who could strike again without warning.
The police are working on it, she told herself. They have contacts that can deal with aliens. They'll be fine without me.
As she was walking down the street, Yumi noticed some signs posted on the walls of buildings and on telephone poles. They had the caption "WANTED" and a photograph of the boy who had attacked her. This photograph was obviously taken at the airport during the brief time that the boy was visible.
This is their strategy? thought Yumi skeptically. He's invisible! Although, this is probably actually insurance rather than their main plan. Who knows? Maybe he'll turn visible again and someone can report his whereabouts.
Just then, Yumi saw the same boy standing across the street, perfectly visible. Yumi crossed the street to meet him.
"You do realize that you have wanted posters with your face on them all over the place," said Yumi, "and you're just standing around in public?"
"Yeah, pretty much," said the boy, who had a British accent. "The funny thing is, I've been standing here for an hour, and I've seen three police cars drive by, but nobody's taken any notice of me. One of the policemen stopped just over there..." he pointed to a fire hydrant nearby, "...and gave a car a parking ticket. I tried to shout after him, but he just got into his car and drove off."
"So basically, you're trying to turn yourself in," said Yumi.
"It's a fair cop," said the boy.
"What does that mean?" asked Yumi.
"It's a British slang," said the boy. "It means it's a fair accusation."
"I'm sorry, what's your name?" said Yumi.
"John Smith," said the boy.
"I'm Yamada Yumi," said Yumi. "Or Yumi Yamada if you want it in western order."
"Yes, I know who you are," said John.
"Great," said Yumi. "I'm turning into Harriet Jones*."
"Halt!" said a voice. "Hands up!"
Yumi and John raised their hands and turned to see Gwen Cooper and Captain Jack Harkness pointing their guns at John.
"No, not you," said Jack, looking at Yumi. "You can put your hands down."
"You don't need to point guns at me," said John. "I surrender. I will cooperate with you and answer any of your questions."
"What's your name?" asked Gwen.
"John Smith," said John.
"Nice try," said Jack. "You said you would answer any of our questions. Now what is your name?"
"That is my name," said John. "I know, it's generic, and I never really liked it, but that's what I was landed with."
"He's telling the truth," said Gwen. "I scanned him and traced his image to a photo ID from an on-line database. He lives in an orphanage in Cardiff, and his name is indeed John Smith."
"When you scanned him, did you check to see if the symbiote was still there?" asked Jack.
"Yes I did," answered Gwen. "It's gone."
"It left me yesterday," said John. "While I was invisible, and being controlled by the symbiote, I sneaked into a concert starring Britney Spears. While she was backstage, I grabbed her. Next thing I knew, I was visible again. Britney seemed too dazed to notice me, though."
"So now Britney Spears is invisible," said Jack.
"I don't think so," said John. "Look up there." He pointed to a large television screen on the outside wall of a tall building. Britney Spears was on the air, singing.
Jack scanned the screen with a high-tech alien scanner. "It's definitely playing live," he said.
"Can you find out where it's playing from?" asked Yumi.
"Why?" asked Jack.
"So that we can go to where she is," said Yumi.
"Why bother?" asked John. "We can hear her music from right here."
"That's not what I meant," said Yumi. "We should be trying to catch the symbiote."
"She's right," said Gwen.
"Can't we wait until this song's over?" asked John.
"If we do, the symbiote could be harder to track," said Yumi.
"But which is more important?" asked John. "Catching the symbiote, or listening to Britney's music? Don't you like her songs?"
Yumi didn't say anything, not wanting to be rude, but her face gave the answer away.
"How could you not like her?" asked John.
Just then, something caught Yumi's eye. She and the others were standing right outside a music store. On display by the window were a bunch of CDs – and all of the CDs were albums by Britney Spears.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in New York City, Britney Spears had just finished singing her last song before the intermission. A long line of people were waiting to ask her for autographs.
Soon she had signed ten autographs. The next person in line was an elderly man. She took the piece of paper he had with him, then wrote on it, "To Al Kahn." She then signed her name in cursive.
"How do you know my name?" asked Kahn.
"I've known who you were for a long time," said Britney, who had a sinister look in her eyes. "You're just the man I've been waiting for."
Britney Spears grabbed Al Kahn by the wrist, allowing the symbiote to flow out of her and into him. Kahn stood there, dazed for a few seconds. When he came to his senses, he walked away.
"The CDs are back to normal," commented Yumi. "They now feature a variety of artists."
"The symbiote must have left Britney Spears," said John. "I suddenly don't like her music anymore. I can't believe I said those things about how great her songs were. They're terrible!"
"This doesn't make any sense," said Jack. "First it possesses John Smith and makes him invisible. Then it possesses Britney Spears and makes her the most popular woman on the planet."
"It makes perfect sense," said John. "Before the symbiote possessed me, I already felt like I was invisible. People could physically see me, but they always ignored me. I never had any friends and I never participated in any school clubs. I tried to start up a Go club, but nobody ever joined.
"As for Britney Spears, she has already gained a surprising amount of popularity, despite the bad quality of her music, in my opinion."
"So you're saying that the symbiote doesn't just make anyone invisible," said Yumi. "It warps reality based on its host's persona."
"Exactly," said John. "Back at the airport, it said it was looking for someone in particular."
"You mean me?" asked Yumi.
"No," said John. "It sensed power in you and got tempted by the lucky encounter. But it told me it was looking for someone else," said John. "I just don't know who."
The next day, at 4Kids TV Headquarters...
Voice actor Dan Green was sitting at his desk, watching Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, a fan-made parody by LittleKuriboh.
"Yugi!" said LittleKuriboh's voice playing the part of Yugi's alter-ego. "You can't be dead! If you were dead then 4Kids would have censored it!"
Dan Green laughed out loud.
"You do realize that that show is making fun of us," said another 4Kids employee.
"Hey, I can work for 4Kids and still enjoy insulting parodies," said Green. "I'm just a voice actor. I get paid to say lines that are unpopular with hardcore anime fans."
"Just don't let our boss catch you watching that," said the other employee, just as the door opened. "Oh, speak of the devil."
Al Kahn walked through the door into the room. Dan Green quickly closed his Internet browser window.
"Mr. Kahn, sir," he said. "I was just, um, trying to figure out what to say against that lawsuit. You know how TV Tokyo is trying to sue us and take away our rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds?"
"Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds doesn't matter anymore," said Kahn. "I've got my eyes on a whole new show to dub and censor."
"What's that?" asked Green.
"Reality," said Kahn, grinning evilly with a sinister look in his eyes.
To be continued...
* Harriet Jones: Seriously, you don't know who she is? I thought everyone in the universe knew who she was. She's the late former prime minister of Britain in the Doctor Who world. Whenever she introduces herself, the response is always, "Yes, I know who you are." This applies to aliens as well. For example, in the Christmas special in season two, after the Doctor regenerated, the Sycorax invaded Earth and kidnapped Harriet Jones and her government, including someone who held a computer that could translate Sycoraxic.
Harriet Jones: Harriet Jones, prime minister.
Sycorax: (Sycoraxic gibberish)
Translator: Yes, we know who you are.
And then there's the Dalek invasion in "The Stolen Earth," when the Daleks hunted Harriet Jones down to exterminate her.
Harriet Jones: Harriet Jones, former prime minister.
Daleks: YES, WE – KNOW – WHO – YOU – ARE!
