Realities Squared
By Jim Robert Bader
(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi & Others, and featuring characters and situations created by Toshio Maeda,
and my fellow fanfic writers Nicole Manders (Dreiser),
Greg Sharp and D.B. Sommers)
Chapter Eleven.
Continuum #17046289
Roll Call:
Lylac Tendo -17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo From Continuum #59343921
Ekko Daitokuji-16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko From Continuum #59343921
Tenko Masaki-17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko From Continuum #59343921
Veil Morisato-16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy From Continuum #59343921
Ranma Saotome-38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked by his doomed marriage to Akane. A Time Agent,
Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of the god Shiva, the Destroyer.
Ryoga Hibiki-38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was both happy and fruitful. Time Agent/Troubleshooter linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.
Nabiki Tendo-38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,
Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current Iinazuke to Ranma.
Toltir-Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but Ancient.
The Lord of Chaos was ancient beyond measure, an entity whose very nature was a violation of the world's order, and whose powers were far beyond the limits of time, space and flesh to which it had been imprisoned for a mortal generation. It did not even recall the very humanity that once had been the lot of its present flesh containment, nor did it care for petty moral or ethical considerations. It only knew itself and its purpose, which was to kill, and it had been in the service of the Shogun since it's summoning to the flesh nearly twenty years ago. It was content to do his bidding, and it was very good at being used as an object of terror and intimidation.
It did not know hunger or rest, it only went dormant when it was not needed, and awoke to life whenever it was summoned to kill. Though possessed of a low animal intelligence and cunning, it was primarily an engine of mass destruction forged for one purpose only, which was to spread pain, fear and agony wherever it should travel. The only time it fed was when it sensed the presence of nubile female flesh that it could ravish, for it was possessed of something like a sex drive, though it employed this appetite for purposes of carnal debauchery and slaughter, not for the bringing of new life into the world. It knew not what love was, nor pity and remorse, and it was utterly relentless in its purpose, which now was being turned to the defense of its Shogun, to the annihilation of those petty mortal fools who would dare tempt the wrath of this destructor.
When it had received the recall summons it had been busily ravaging yet another pathetic army of mortal rebels who had dared tempt the Shogun's wrath, and though the Americans had fought valiantly, they had perished just the same, hopelessly outclassed as the puny weapons in their arsenal had been no match for his power. It had been a mere game for him, nothing more, and he had felt no great urgency to rush the process, the Shogun wanting their suffering to last so that the memory of this slaughter would be in the terrified breasts of their countrymen for another generation.
But on the eve of its triumph, when yet another tasty wench had cowered in helplessness before him, the summons had come, and with an urgency that could not be denied. The Lord of Chaos had literally rushed from the scene, going sub-orbital within a minute of the summons, and yet still this had not been fast enough for the Shogun's liking, so he opened a portal and brought the Lord across to Japan within an instant, and now the Lord was poised outside the home islands, near the wreckage of what had once been old Tokyo, rushing in at hypersonic speeds to attend to the needs of his master, filled with the urgency to crush this new source of opposition, and sensing the power emanating from the Shogun's lair...a power that dared to threaten his master, for which the Lord would not forgive, let alone tolerate.
And yet something of this power almost stirred a dormant memory...a familiarity that brought with it a kind of lingering hatred. This power was of a source that Lord had known long ago, much reviled and despised of the mortal shell the Lord inhabited. The Lord did not know what this meant, but as he was never given to thoughts of introspection, he only knew that the lust to kill would be all the more strong within him as it closed the distance between him and his detested objective...
And-unknowing of this impending danger-the target of the Lord's wrath was staring at a distorted reflection of his own face and remarking, "I don't believe it."
"That makes two of us," his reflection replied in the same gruff voice, "Ain't life a kick?"
The man stood in a care-worn sleeveless Mao Suit and had Ranma's weathered features, only he also sported what looked to be a set of whiskers on his face, and his hair had a frizzy quality, not done up in the old-style pigtail that Ranma had used to sport. His arms were muscular and scarred as if from many battles, and there was something about his eyes that did not look entirely human.
The girl beside him did look somewhat more human, but her close-cropped green hair and scanty dress gave her a somewhat sleazy look as though she were a part-
time hooker. She was leaning on Ranma's shoulder with a familiar ease that the man seemed to take entirely for granted, and yet there was something about her that strongly suggested that she was more than she seemed and quite capable of holding her own in an encounter.
"Oh my," Nabiki murmured as she passed her scanner in the direction of the man and his equally astonishing companion, then read the findings and said, "His scan matches yours Ranma-kun, only his DNA pattern had been mutated in some way...I'm getting strong readings of a hybrid recombination..."
"That's the technical side of it," the newcomer replied, "I'm Saotome Ranma, and I guess the same goes for you. You're obviously not from around here, which is why me and the Misses thought we'd have this little chat, seeing as you've obviously come to cause the Shogun some trouble."
"Yeah?" Ranma tightened his fists, "What of it?"
The other Ranma just smiled and said, "Trouble's my middle name, and I want in on your action. Seeing as I'm the local boy on this scene I thought maybe you could use a few pointers."
"That might indeed be true," said Ekko as she studied the one man, then the other, "Incredible...two parallel versions of the same template, only one's internal reconstruction differs greatly from the course of the other."
"Mind running that one by us in Japanese?" Lylac said, also glancing at both men, "Two Father Ranma's for the price of one?"
"Egad," Ryoga murmured, "Ranma in stereo! If this had happened twenty years ago I think I would have gone mad."
"That makes two of us, Ryo-kun," Nabiki murmured.
The man they saw before them smiled in their direction and said, "How's it going, Nabiki? You and Ryoga an item here? I think I'm also gonna need a scorecard. Oh, by the way, the lovely lady you see beside me is my wife, Megumi. Say hello to the newbies, Megumi-chan."
The girl with the close-cropped light-green hair struck a cutesy pose and waved at the new arrivals, winking at the other Ranma and causing Nabiki to unconsciously tighten her grip on her portable scanner. In a pleasantly toned voice she said, "Nice to see you people alive again. Never thought we'd meet any more of the old heroes after the last batch bought it in this very room."
"Your...wife?" Ranma asked, taking in the girl before sensing the tension radiating from Nabiki, "Ah...mind running that one by me again?"
"No time for a history lesson, Bub," Ranma replied, "You want to make things unpleasant for the Shogun? Then I'm with you. After seeing the way you handled yourself with Vegita and his goons, I think you might just be what the doctor ordered."
"The Shogun is nearing the completion of plans he set in motion twenty years ago," Megumi added, "And so far we've been helpless to prevent him from what he started on the day of the Ascension. If we're going to do something about it, we're going to have to act now, which means if you intend to reconstruct this device, then we're game to contribute our part in whatever it takes to get the job done."
"But how do we know that we can trust you?" asked Tenko, "This sudden appearance at the eleventh hour is somewhat suspiciously convenient."
"Convenient," the other Ranma sniffed, "Nothing convenient about it. Let's just way we owe it to the world to do our fair share and make things right again. This whole mess is as much our fault as it is Gosunkugi's, and now it's time to make up for that failure."
"Your fault?" Ranma asked, "What did you guys do to help Gosunkugi?"
"It wasn't helping him...not exactly," Megumi leaned back and flexed her chest with her hands cupped behind her head as she seemed to stare off at nothing, "Let's just say...the timing wasn't very convenient. We were on our honeymoon when the Ascension happened..."
"She means we were in the Beast World," Ranma replied, "Not here where we could have made a difference."
"The Beast World?" Veil spoke up at last, "That's it! Now I recognize you! You are the Princess Megumi of the Beast Tribes, younger sister to Prince Amano Jyaku..."
"The Beast World?" Lylac looked puzzled.
"Indeed," Ekko mused in a thoughtful voice, "I have heard the legends, of course...a Demon world parallel to our own, inhabited by strange and mystical creatures known as the Beasts, some of whom look human but are anything but."
"So I have heard as well," Tenko remarked, "The Beasts differ from other types of demons, such as Kroshar, Oni and Shikima. They live long lives and are often beings of great power and mischief, but not evil...or so say the legends.""
"The Beast Tribes are of neutral alignment," Veil remarked, "Neither all good nor truly evil, and there is a neutrality pact between them and my people. A Beast Lord such as Prince Amano contains within him vast potential almost worthy of a lesser god..."
"Did contain," Megumi abruptly sobered, then looked down at the floor and said, "My Oneechan...died fighting against the Lord of Chaos after the Ascension claimed the life of a mortal woman whom he had fallen in love with...Tendo Natsume..."
"Natsume?" Nabiki said, "Your brother was in love with my cousin Natsume?"
"Sure did," the Beast Ranma replied, "Loved her ever bit as much as I love his sister, enough that he gave everything he had trying to bring down the Shogun, but of course we got there too late to help him."
"And what of your modifications?" Ekko asked, "You no longer seem entirely...human."
"My doing," Megumi replied as she put her arms around Ranma and her feet hovered off of the floor, allowing her to partially drape her body around him, "When I stole my husband into the Beast world I gave him a portion of my life force and helped him to become a Beast himself so that he could better survive in my world. I've been training him in the hopes that one day he might equal my brother in power..."
"Small chance of that," Ranma glanced down, "He was an okay guy, Amano, and in a way it's my fault that he died, so I gotta make everything right by him and look after his people. But we also got a score to settle with the Shogun, so if you guys are serious about helping us to save this world from the Hell it's turned into..."
"We are," Ryoga replied, "How do you mean...help us?"
Ranma exchanged a look with Megumi and both nodded, then she levitated over his head as another figure appeared in the space behind them, literally walking through the walls as she presented herself to full view, a young girl roughly the same age as Lylac and her companions, wearing a red cheongsam outfit while sporting greenish hair that was done up in the warrior braid that made her look astonishingly a lot like the female version of Ranma.
"Our daughter," Ranma said soberly, "Her name's Lamyra."
"Our pride and joy," Megumi said in tones of great sadness, "We give her to you as an offering to right a great injustice."
"You...give her?" Ranma stared at the green-haired pig-tailed girl, who looked back at him with mild curiosity in her expression.
"You're a volunteer?" Ryoga replied.
"I've come to help," Lamyra replied without hesitation, turning her gaze towards the other young girls before adding, "Any way I can, no matter what it takes. Well, well...and who are you, handsome?"
"Ah...?" Lylac was surprised to discover the question had been addressed to her, and without meaning to she blushed, feeling a sense of thrill run up and down her body.
"It seems that you have won another conquest," Ekko mused, studying her friend's reaction.
"I don't quite follow what you mean..." Nabiki started to say, when she saw the Beast Ranma and his wife react, turning their heads off to the side with alarm plain in their expressions.
"He's coming!" Megumi said.
"Even sooner than I thought," Beast Ranma arched his voice, "Everybody, get ready!"
"Why?" Ryoga asked, "What's...?" and then he felt it, too, as did everyone else with a shred of sensitivity in the chamber.
"What the hell is that?" Ranma gasped, "I feel like my guts are crawling!"
"It's the Lord of Chaos," Beast Ranma replied, "He's here!"
"Here?" Nabiki asked, "What...?"
A massive explosion resonated far over their heads, and huge chunks of earth and concrete began to rain down like an avalanche. One section that was as large as a house fell on Ekko, who caught the chunk easily in her hands, while those that fell near Tenko encountered an invisible barrier, while Beast Ranma extended a fist and blasted a section of falling debris into harmless gravel.
Lylac discovered that the green haired Lamyra, who was partially shielding her with her body, had knocked her to the floor. She also noticed where the girl's hands were placed and asked, "Do you mind?"
"Not at all," Lamyra smiled, keeping her hands right where they were and leering in such a way that Lylac had a renewed sense of nervousness that had nothing to do with the emergency above them.
"I'd say you have definitely won a convert," Ekko remarked as she casually tossed aide the ten ton chunk of rubble that she had been holding.
"Trust Lylac to find one in a crowd," Tenko remarked, already shifted into her battle armor with glowing sword at the ready.
"Look!" Veil indicated the open space that now yawned above them.
The cloud of debris finally scattered and they saw it...nine feet tall and burgeoning with muscles and a single horn that projected from its forehead, its body partially armored and bearing very little resemblance to anything remotely human.
"What the hell...?" Ranma gasped.
"The Lord of Chaos!" Megumi cried, "It's found us!"
"We're in for it now," Beast Ranma said, "Just for the record, it's been nice knowing you people."
Nabiki stared at her portable scanner and gasped, "Readings completely of the scale! Whatever that thing is..."
"It's toast," Ranma growled, "Everybody keep back, this sucker is mine!"
The creature roared defiantly and vaulted down to the chamber floor, which shook under the impact of his landing.
"Careful," Beast Ranma warned, "He's a lot tougher than he looks."
"You think?" Ryoga replied, not liking the feelings he got just being in the presence of the creature.
"Don't hold anything back," Megumi warned, "That thing has wasted entire armies for fun."
"No fooling," Ranma cracked his knuckles, moving to confront the burgeoning creature, "Welcome to the club, ass-"
The creature swung an arm the size of a tree and backhanded Ranma into a wall as though brushing aside a mere annoyance.
Beast Ranma winced slightly, then murmured to Megumi, "Do I usually sound like that when I'm over my head in a fight?"
"Invariably," Megumi and Nabiki remarked at the same time, then briefly exchanged looks before Megumi smirked and Nabiki fairly bridled.
"That's what I thought," Beast Ranma murmured softly, "No wonder Pop always called me reckless...it's amazing that I survived High School..."
Limbo Ream, Sub-Continuum.
Roll Call:
Ranko Saotome-16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane From Continuum #29715382 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.
Watazashi Saotome -16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi From Continuum #29457180 Yuan-Yen Tendo-16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki From Continuum #29457180 Tinkerbell Tendo -17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi From Continuum #68743219 Rinse Saotome -17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo From Continuum #472193567 Tachi Kuno -17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki From Continuum #472193567 Ryeka Masaki-16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka From Continuum #472193567 Atari Morobishi-16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum From Continuum #472193567 Silver Saotome-17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,
From Continuum #48972185 Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.
Akira Tendo -20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi From Continuum #48972185 Kinko Kuonji-14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane From Continuum #32145896 Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.
Kama Sutra Saotome-18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Shikima Tsuyori Saotome-18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma Native to Continuum #57821964 Part Kitsune-Fox
"Okay...what the heck just happened?" complained an angry Kinko as she folded her wings and looked around herself in annoyance.
The assembled group of naked teenagers stared around themselves, each surprised at coming off a massive orgiastic orgasm that had swept them literally up and transported them into a realm that looked and felt a weird mix of gray borderline and featureless desert. No sun beat down on their heads, but the contour of the landscape gave one the impression of a beachhead, and there was even a gray haze off to one side that might have been an ocean or large body of water. There was utterly no wind, adding to the eerie feeling of the alien landscape, giving no clue at all as to where they were or how they had gotten there in the first place.
Of course as they sorted through this, the respective Baker's Dozen of teenagers also took stock of where they were and under what conditions they found themselves upon arrival.
Rinse had landed on her back, feeling overwhelmed by the massive jolt of electric discharge that had punctuated her last big orgasm. Atari was still buried in her with her strap-on-dildo, and Ryeka was still buried in Atari's ass with her own strap-on. Both girls lay on top of her, though this turned out to be less curious than what Rinse's hand encountered when she reached to one side with the intent of steadying her posture.
It was warm, soft, spongy and quite firm, about the size of a large grapefruit and twice as ripe for the plucking!
Tachi glanced down at the hand that was gripping her by one breast, then turned her head to the side as she followed the arm up its length until she was able to make eye-contact with a very much surprised Rinse.
"Ah..." Tachi started to say, unable to think of anything intelligent under the circumstances.
"Gah...!" Rinse let go of the breast as if it had burned her, "Tachi-I-uh..."
"Darling," Atari purred, "Just what are you doing?"
"That's what I want to know," Ryeka glowered dangerously.
Both Rinse and Tachi looked up at the two less-than-pleased alien girls, then in chorus said, "Uh-oh..."
It had taken Watazashi and Tinkerbell a few moments longer than the others to have a similar reaction, mainly because they were locked into a very pleasurable activity that was giving great satisfaction to them both, so neither wanted to halt in the act of Tink bobbing up and down on her end of the double-dong dildo worn by Watazashi until they both heard Yuan-Yen gasp, "I hope you two are enjoying yourselves," after having flopped down face-first into the sandy beachfront.
"What gives?" asked Silver, who not only found herself standing with her hands around Tsuyori, cupping each of her large breasts (while Akira had to hold onto the girl in order to steady himself with his manhood still deep within her) but also discovered that she had changed genders somehow and was now back in her female form.
"You're asking me?" Ranko looked down at her own female body, then dusted off her hands and got to her feet before glancing around, "Where the heck are we this time?"
"I believe that should be my line," observed Kama Sutra, who seemed far less affected by standing naked in a strange environment than she was at obviously being frustrated in her desire to continue the orgy, "Your pendant brought us here? Curious choice of location."
"You're telling me that?" Ranko held up the pendant and glared at the thing, "What's the big idea any way? Couldn't you at least have waited long enough for us to grab some of our things?"
"[Not essential,]" the pendant replied, "[Subjects require only themselves to fulfill assignment. This Unit matched radial energy frequencies among subjects and selected to transport them to pre-designated holding location, pending final transfer.]"
"Final Transfer?" Ranko repeated, "Why don't I like the sound of that...?"
Heads turned as Kinko approached Ranko, saying, "That thing talks to you? Pretty neat..."
"Who the heck are you?" Silver asked, hands still clutching Tsuyori's firm bosoms.
"I'm Kinko," she replied, lowered her eyes demurely before adding, "This is my Cursed form, the one I get when I'm splashed with cold water."
"You turn into an Angel when you get wet?" Yuan-Yen asked.
"Fascinating," Kama Sutra remarked, "I didn't even know that there was a spring of the drowned Angel."
"It wasn't like that," Kinko said demurely, "I inherited this curse because of a weird thing that my parents did when they conceived me...well, that's not important anyway."
"Says who?" Silver asked, hands still in place on Tsuyori.
Tsuyori turned an amused smirk over her shoulder as Akira finally withdrew his cock from her body, "You can let go now. I don't need to be supported any more...unless you'd like to continue where we left off?"
"Huh?" Silver seemed to only just them become aware of what she was doing and hastily let go of Tsuyori, stepping back from the brown haired girl and adopting a look of patently false innocence.
"Fascinating," Watazashi remarked as she reluctantly climbed out from under a chagrined Tinkerbell, "I've heard of curses that could be inherited under unusual circumstances, but never saw one such as yours until now. Of course, if they had been inherited I wouldn't need to use false props in order to please my Yuan-chan."
She unstrapped her harness and handed it to Yuan-Yen, who made it disappear as if by magic.
"What the...?" Rinse blinked her eyes as she finally managed to extricate herself from her two lovers, "How did you do that?"
"Trade secret," Yuan-Yen replied, "When your Dad's a professional stage illusionist you learn all kinds of nifty things about hiding and concealing objects. It's all part of my Hidden Weapons martial arts training. By the way, I'll take those other two harnesses if you girls are done with them."
"Oh, I dunno," Ryeka mused, glancing down at the springy thing projecting from between her legs, "I'm sorta getting attached to mine."
"Low-bred hussy," Atari sniffed, though with noticeably less heat in her tone than on previous occasions, unstrapping her own harness and handing it to Yuan-
Yen, "I would like this back later."
"I'll give you girls claim checks," Yuan-Yen promised.
"Mind if I look at that for myself?" Kinko asked as she approached Ranko.
"Ah..." Ranko hesitated, "If it's all the same, I'd rather keep it on me. You see...I kinda won't exist if the thing gets removed from my body..."
"I won't remove it," Kinko assured her, fingering the pendant and studying it critically, "Odd...doesn't feel exactly the same as a magic item...if anything I almost think it's some kind of receiving device, like a radio crystal."
"Are you saying that it's actually a two-way receiver?" Tsuyori asked as she leaned forward.
"More like a portable unit that's linked to a larger device of some sort," Kinko replied, "I'd have to take it apart and examine it to know for sure, but my guess is this thing works like a mini-computer with a remote-site capacity that keeps it in touch with a central mainframe."
"How do you know this?" asked Kama Sutra.
"It's one of the weird things about my cursed form," Kinko remarked, "I can see energy patterns if I look at something closely. It helps when I don't have my tool kid handy...and I'm pretty good at tinkering with electronic gizmos and stuff. Learned quite a lot from my Aunt Skuld, which is why this thing is reminding me an awful lot of one of her devices."
"Let me get this straight," Silver observed, "You mean that pendant doohickey is some kind of high-tech device that's been screwing around with our lives?"
"Not exactly," Kinko replied, turning the pendant over in her hand, "I'm picking up a pretty strong signal, but it's not really electrical, it's more like a kind of Spiritual energy, Akashik or Hi-Band 4-Wave polydimensional sub-latine..."
"Uh...in Japanese please?" Rinse asked with a slightly pained expression.
"I think I understand," Watazashi mused, "You are saying that the technology inherent in the pendant is of a form that closely resembles Magic, but is geared towards a somewhat different aim. The on-line implications suggest that the pendant is only a mobile unit that connects Ranko here with a far greater device that is, in actuality, controlling our actions."
"Makes sense to me," Yuan-Yen replied, "I've been wondering how a thing that tiny could be manipulating the vast sums of energy that would be required to effect so many dimensional transfers, and over an almost limitless range."
"Surely it must have some limits though," Atari reasoned.
"Maybe we just haven't found them yet," Ryeka mused, "It needs footsolders to do its dirty work, that means it's limited in mobility, and it needs Ranko here to give it a focus."
"So in other words it conned her into taking it up as its personal road agent, huh?" Silver noted, "But what's it need the rest of us for?"
"That's what I'd like to know," remarked Akira, who was facing off in a different direction.
"Huh?" Silver glanced at him, "What's bugging you, Akira-chan? You see something interesting that way?"
"Ah..." Tinkerbell's musical voice gave her sheepish expression an almost comical context, "I think maybe he's worried about being the only guy here...and the rest of us aren't exactly dressed for the weather."
"What weather?" Ranko glanced around, then took the pendant back in her hand and said, "What kind of place did you bring us to this time?"
"[Subjects are needed for transfer,]" the object replied unhelpfully, "[Unit has located subjects at staging ground, awaiting temporal point of final transfer.]"
"I heard it this time!" Kinko exclaimed, "It almost sounds like a synthesized voice...can't tell its gender, but it's definitely computerized!"
"You mean a computer is doing all of this?" Tachi asked, keeping her hands over her bosoms.
"A very powerful computer if I judge rightly," Kama Sutra mused, "One capable of spanning a vast quantity of time and space with almost childlike simplicity."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Oneechan?" Tsuyori asked.
The elder Miroku sister nodded, "Only one computer in existence has the sort of capacity that we are outlining here...Yggdrasil."
"That's what I'm thinking too," Kinko nodded.
"Yggdrasil?" Tachi replied, "The Tree of Life in Old Norse Mythology?"
"More like the Super Computer of the Heavens," Kinko explained, "Aunt Skuld told me all about it, seeing as she's one of the Software debuggers who actually works on one of the mainframes. It's kinda like a planet-sized version of an IBM central relay processing station, capable of balancing innumerable equations that help stabilize reality over the whole Earth Sector."
"Oh come on now," Silver exclaimed, "You expect us to believe that there's some whopping-big Computer that's controlling everything? I thought the Gods did that just their powers or something..."
"Not quite," Kama Sutra explained, "In ancient times the Gods found it difficult to maintain the world in a stable, coherent form, so they created the Super Computer to bring order and stability to the creation. I understand before it went online that things were a bit chaotic with reality being a lot more subjective than it is today."
"They say without Yggdrasil the Gods would never have been able to make a world in which the normal rules of science could be trusted to operate reliably," Tsuyori pointed out, "Life as we know it would have been impossible..."
"And all was formlessness and chaos until the face of the Gods moved upon the waters," Akira said with a somewhat distant expression.
"Say what?" Ryeka asked.
"Uh...nothing," he blushed and kept his face averted from the naked women gathered around Ranko, "Just something my mother once said to me when I was little..."
"A computer that controls everything," Tachi mused, "It almost makes sense when you think about it, and for some odd reason I'm reminded very much of Belldandy."
"Like she would have anything to contribute here," Rinse asked, thinking of their mutual cousin, only to notice the odd way Tachi was crossing her legs and keeping her hands over her breasts, "Are you feeling cold, Tachi-chan?"
"Ah...no...not really," Tachi kept her eyes averted from Rinse's direction.
"Are you sure?" Rinse put a hand to her cousin's forehead, "You look kind of ruddy..."
"I'm sure it's nothing, Rinse-chan," Ryeka smoothly interposed herself between Tachi and Rinse, "You know how modest she gets. Tachi'd probably feel better if she had her mother's camera and could take pictures to sell for a profit. What do you think people might pay to see me in the raw?"
She struck a fetching pose and Rinse gulped, unable to help looking the blue haired girl over until Atari thrust her own rather spectacularly endowed anatomy in her face.
"Darling," she growled the word, "How dare you notice this low-bred trash while I'm standing here feeling alone and neglected."
"Why you...!" Ryeka started to bristle when she caught a look from Tsuyori, and suddenly she smiled as a wicked impulse came over her. Putting her arms around Atari's waist she leaned in so that her pelvis could brush against the other girl's rear as she leaned her chin on Atari's shoulder and cooed, "Why quibble about who's better built when you could have the both of us for a bargain?"
Atari's expression was comical to say the least, as was Rinse's face as her mouth fell open. On any other occasion Tachi would have been quick to take advantage of the situation with a barbed commentary to tease the trio about their odd relationship, but now she turned a green-eyed stare at both Alien girls that went totally unnoticed by the object of their mutual desires.
"Explain to us how this World-Tree Computer works," Watazashi mused as the rest of the group chose to return to the main topic of conversation, "How long has it been online?"
"Difficult to say," Kama Sutra replied, "Ten thousand years, possibly more. I only know that it is the reason that things work out the way they do on our world rather than happen in a far more random and unpredictable manner."
"We only know about it because we're friends of the Morisato clan," Tsuyori replied, giving Kinko a look as she added, "But from the sound of things you seem to have even more intimate knowledge."
"What I know about Gods would take a month to explain," Kinko replied, "But for the sake of it, let's just say that the Megumi I know personally are like regular people. Sure they've got vast amounts of raw power and they're connected to all these Universal Archetypal powers, but being Anthropomorphic representatives, they tend to behave a lot like us mortals. Trying to control things directly proved too tough for the Titans who came before them, so the Gods worked out these devices to make things easier for them to manage. Like Odin the Wanderer...he worked out some of the basic programming language and fixed it to this mobile control rod that looks like a spear...the Spear of Destiny, as a matter of fact..."
"I thought that was a Christian symbol," Yuan-Yen noted.
"Naw," Kinko said dismissively, "That's just them trying to identify their own cultic nonsense with the artifacts of power that the real Gods use. It's like with the Chalice of Souls that they confuse with their 'Holy Grail,' when any halfway competent history student knows the Eucharist was based on a rite of Mithraism and had nothing to do with the Jewish Passover..."
"Back to the point, please," Watazashi gently urged.
"Okay then," Kinko replied, "Anyway, the Kami and Megumi use these powerful devices to do stuff that saves on the wear and tear of them having to use their own internal powers. That pendant thing could be based on one such artifact, though it's kinda hard to see how it could slip past the normal safety protocols. Basically the Gods don't much like mortals having the power to travel between times and dimensions...it screws up the alignment matrices that govern a particular timeline and makes things difficult to predict. It's like that old saw about casting stones into the water and watching the ripples fan out...past and future get really confused in the mix, which is why you need Yggdrasil to straighten things out and make sure integrity is preserved, otherwise the whole shebang could dissolve into Chaos."
"Only here we have a clear example of Yggdrasil acting to create its own disturbances and imbalance," Kama Sutra mused, "I find that...most curious indeed."
"I call it a bloody inconvenient," Yuan-Yen noted, "And a potential disaster in the making."
"Which suggests that an even greater disaster is the thing that we are here to prevent," Tsuyori stroked her chin and looked thoughtful, then glanced at Tachi, "What was it you said before about the pendant deliberately selecting candidates who are young, good looking and healthy?"
"Ah..." Tachi only half-glanced Tsuyori's way, "It's just a tentative theory I had...about what we have in common that might be needed by the pendant..."
"Hey," Silver frowned, "That may explain what the rest of us are doing here, but what about Akira? Why'd it snatch him?"
"Ah..." it was Ranko's turn to look evasive, "Maybe because...I asked the pendant to bring him with us."
"You what?" Akira momentarily forgot to avert his eyes as he turned to glance at the redhead, only doing so gave him more than an eye-full of Silver and the others, so he looked away with his face once more flushing crimson.
"Well...I...sorta thought maybe it'd be fun to have a guy in the mixture," Ranko shuffled a bare foot on the ground, "And because...I thought maybe Silver wanted you with us."
"Oh..." Silver replied, then thought of the way Tsuyori had been all but climbing over her half-brother and frowned, "Thanks a lot."
"So," Kama Sutra turned back to a nervous Tachi, "We are left to fall back on your original hypothesis, that the pendant wants young, strong and sexually attractive candidates in order to achieve some objective, for which my sister and I have been drafted."
"Not that we mind all that much," Tsuyori added, "This sounds like the sort of thing that we Miroku were trained to handle, while the rest of you guys obviously needed a little coaching."
"We're not that green," Silver snorted.
"Speak for yourself," Rinse replied with a nervous glance at her trio of girlfriends.
"Ah...one question," Tinkerbell spoke up, "Why'd it grab us up in the middle of our having orgasms?"
Ranko blinked, glanced down at the pendant and replied, "It said something about matching resonances...or something like that..."
"Sexual harmonics?" Kama Sutra exchanged looks with Tsuyori.
"Perhaps a single wave band energy transference," Tsuyori replied, "Generated by the resonance of our bodies working in concert."
"Mind running that one by me again?" Ranko asked nervously, "That doesn't mean what I think it does...?"
"I'm afraid it may well at that," Watazashi replied, "The logic is rather inescapable."
"Maybe to you," Rinse replied, "I wouldn't mind getting a good head start first myself..."
"Cheer up, Rinse-chan," Ryeka patted her on one shoulder, "You'll have us beside you."
"Where you go I will always follow, Darling," Atari seconded as she slipped an arm around Rinse's waist from the other side.
"Er..." Rinse said nervously, "Tachi?"
"Ah...sure," Tachi reluctantly agreed, "One for all and all that..."
"But why us?" Tinkerbell asked.
"Ain't it obvious enough?" Silver thrust her ample chest outward with hands on her hips, "Because we're Top-of-The-Line quality Buff Bods, ain't no one like us and the rest are second-best and accept no substitutes!"
"You sound almost eager to participate in this," Kama Sutra noted.
"Ah...well," Silver shrugged, "I signed on to do my part to save the Universe and all of that, and there's no sense backing out now that we've come this far, right?"
"Against my better judgement, I'm forced to agree with Silver," Akira noted, "If there's a threat to all reality, then if falls to us to do our part to preserve all we know and love in our branch of the cosmos."
"Right," Silver nodded, then blinked her eyes and said, "Hey, what do you mean against your better judgement...?"
"Okay," Ranko said, "So whatever we gotta do has something to do with sex, right? Only...I'm not too sure if I follow that part.
"It's quite simple, really," Kama Sutra replied, "Sex is one of the most driving, dynamic forces in the Cosmos...the bi-polarity of the Yin and the Yang that exists within all of us, like positive and negative forces reaching out to achieve a balance."
"When we make love the forces of the universe flow through our bodies and we achieve one with the powers of creation and destruction," Tsuyori added, "The 'little-death' we experience at the point of ultimate bliss is, in fact, the recreation of the soul and the point where new life can begin. As each waking moment of our lives contains beginnings and endings, so too does the act of sexual intercourse contain within it the very forces that can reshape the cosmos. Magnified a thousandfold, such forces could very well remake the planet into a new and wonderful likeness."
"But only if the act is performed with selfless love and devotion to your partner," Kama Sutra cautioned, "Selfish love, like any thoughtless act, can have negative consequences in direct proportion to the volatility of the act itself. It's like the difference between Carnal love that has no element of sharing and love of the spirit and the body that defines our relationship with both ourselves, our partners and the creative center of existence."
"I believe the element that the pendant was looking for is a kind of Ecstasy and Bliss that is the goal of all sexual congress," Tsuyori noted, "When we each came in close proximity of that Unifying principle we achieved a kind of oneness and selflessness that linked us all together, and that may be the means by which we can generate the power to do whatever it is that that Yggdrasil has intended."
"Neat!" Kinko grinned, "Never thought of it that way before. Only..."
"Yes?" Kama Sutra asked the winged blonde girl.
"Well..." Kinko squirmed somewhat, "Does it matter what kind of sex we were having when we all went through the loop? I was with a bunch of girls and only one guy when I got snatched in mid-climax, and from the way you're describing this Yin and Yang stuff, doesn't it follow that you're talking a guy and a girl doing it together?"
"Not at all," Tsuyori replied, "We all contain male and female aspects within ourselves."
"Just because we have two X chromosomes and no Y doesn't mean we lack all trace of masculine qualities," Kama Sutra noted, "The circuit can still be formed between any two people who share a strong basic attraction for one another, regardless of gender."
"A-hah," Yuan-Yen eyed Watazashi skeptically, "Is that why you were bouncing Peter Pan here while I was getting reamed by the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum of the Black Rose set?"
"Are you saying that two of me wasn't enough of a turn on?" Watazashi playfully countered.
"Ah..." Tinkerbell thought about the implications, eyeing Watazashi with a slightly pained expression.
"Hey, y'know," Silver suddenly spoke up, "It just occurred to me that the pendant thingie switched me and Red here from our Cursed forms to our natural bodies. Does that mean it has the power to undo curses?"
"More like shift the equations to achieve a favorable outcome," Tsuyori smiled, "Like flipping a switch between polarities, I imagine."
"Are you sure you think of your male aspect as a curse?" Akira asked Silver.
"Well..." she reluctantly mused, "Not really. Since I've had mine all of my life it really doesn't feel like such a curse to me, but my folks always call it that, so I just go with the flow and try to make the best of things. Ain't a problem for me that I'm such a great switch hitter."
"And Modest to a fault," Tachi noted in a shadow of her usual sarcasm.
"What've I got to be modest about?" Silver countered, "I know what I got and I like it!"
Tachi glanced at Rinse and asked, "Are you sure you guys are related?"
"Well..." Rinse replied lopsidedly, taking note that either arm was presently being claimed by a girlfriend.
"So...we're here to be screwed," Ranko sighed, "Literally and physically, only what's the big hold up? Why are we stuck in this place like it was an interdimensional bus stop or..."
"I think that may be what it is," Tachi said as she glanced around at the terrain, "Haven't any of you noticed the topography? Doesn't it look somehow familiar?"
"Hmm..." Tsuyori glanced around, "Now that you mention it..."
"I thought I was just imagining things," Tinkerbell said in her tinkling, musical voice, "But you're right. It's pretty barren, but I'd know those hills anywhere, and if I'm right, then the place where we're standing could be Furinkan High School."
"You're kidding," Yuan-Yen looked around, "Then what's with the waterline, and why does it look so barren?"
"Perhaps it is Furinkan in the far future, or even the past," Kama Sutra suggested, "Or perhaps we're merely seeing a template created as a Virtual World by the Super Computer for the purpose of giving us a place to stand before Yggdrasil takes us to the place where we are headed."
"Yeah?" Silver asked, "Then what's the hold up? If it can go anywhere in time and space..."
Of a sudden a swirling of the gray mass opened up above their heads, and the party collectively sense the maw reaching down with full intents of swallowing them whole as some new destination awaited their arrival.
"Don't look now," Ranko called out to the others, "But I think we're...!"
And then they were gone from this place as the quest continued, shifting onto a whole new arena...
Continued.
Comments/Criticism/Waiting for Godai: shadowmane
(Albert Albee eat your heart out) They're on their way at last, but what will be waiting for them when our gang finally does reach their fateful destination, and what of Ranma and the others facing off against the Lord of Chaos? Will the Shogun and his Master win, and will reality collapse in on itself, leaving nothing in its wake? (Gee, I sure hope not before payday!) Things shift into high gear next time as worlds collide and fortunes are decided, so would you all kindly prepare yourselves for the impending twelfth chapter...and by all means be there, you won't want to miss it!
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