Episode 13:
Botan: Past, Present, Future?
Part 1

This is to make up for the dry spell I suffered from recently, and due to the fact that I'm having to stay inside. It's no coincidence that where I do most of my writing is directly beneath a cold air vent.

Now here's the part where you start to hate me. I did a lot of thinking, and, I rearranged a few things again. This is a continuation, but not in the way you think. This is going on at the same time the Platoon's headed to "rescue" Haruki-I'm really hoping you all don't hate me for doing something like this, but I think you'll like this episode, too. It's kind of a mid-quel, lol. And I *promise* Episode 14 will have the Platoon back in it. And you shouldn't have to wait too long, given that this is supposed to be a heatwave going through ^_^''

Please enjoy!

Love,
J. "I sort of feel like a heel" Lucy-Daisuke

"Good… Good… Oh, comma error!"

"Bloody hell," Oliver laid his head on the desk and moaned. Fujuju looked up from the printed out paper, and set aside the reading glasses he'd been using, as well as the yellow marker he held in one hand. "It's summer, why are we even doing this!? I should be sleeping in, visiting the arcade with my mates—Anything but using my brain!"

"How's that different than the school year again?" Maggie wondered aloud, and Oliver shot his sister a glare.

"Well, you almost had it!" Fujuju reassured the boy, and set aside his essay. "You did take a risk in that topic… I won't say I particularly enjoyed learning of the different ways in which to kill a garden slug, but you were creative."

"More like sociopathic," Maggie muttered, and Oliver gave her a glare. Their tutor stood up from his seat and gave a nervous grin, sensing tension between the twins.

"I think my muffins are done!" he declared cheerfully as he headed over to his kitchen area.

"Nag…" Oliver muttered from across the table.

"Deviant," Maggie shot back quickly. There came a clanging from the kitchen; a deliberate one just to get the siblings' attention and stop the brewing argument.

"Now, I say that we finish with these, and then, given my promise to you two, you'll choose a destination for our summer learning expedition."

"No one should like learning so much—It's not natural!" Oliver exclaimed.

"You already know where we want to go, you needn't ask us," Maggie said with a sigh, then gave a smile. "It's the only place we can agree on!"

"I just wanna see if I can talk to that one girl again! …Think her name was "Sandi" or something like that… I think we really had something going!"

"Like the beginnings of a restraining order," Maggie snorted.

"I really hope we don't become an annoyance, going over so much…" Fujuju said allowed, a bit of worry in his voice. "Ah, I know. I'll make them something as a peace offering! Oliver, would you help Maggie with my trunk? It's in my bedroom"

"Not the trunk," Oliver grumbled, but soon found himself pulled up from his chair by the ear, and being led to Fujuju's bedroom.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you," she sighed, letting go of her hold on his ear and then walking into the cluttered room. Even the bed was covered in books, and beneath the mound of books, a neglected and dusty comforter.

"Boy, you think he'd be smart enough to throw away that old clunker," Oliver grumbled in the direction of the ancient computer, and Maggie giggled.

"He doesn't like to throw away anything, I don't think," she giggled and leaned in a bit, reading over the screen. While she did this, Oliver opened the closet door, only to have a mass of boxes, books, and science equipment fall out onto him.

"Ugh! This is why he needs a maid! Or a wife! Something!" Oliver grumbled as he rose from the clutter. "You gonna help with this, Mags? Mags?"

"Do they look familiar to you?"

"Eh? Who?" Oliver glanced over his sister's shoulder to the screen, and tilted his head to one side. It was a photo of a young girl; she was turned away, her face hidden to the camera, and standing beside her was a taller man, with wavy hair popping out beneath a fedora-style hat and a while smile on his face; the two looked to be in some sort of park in the old black and white photo.

"…Professor Grant and student," Maggie read the caption beneath it aloud, and Oliver gave an impressed grunt.

"Student? I didn't think girls were allowed to even read back then!"

"…Well you're lucky we are now, or else you would have flunked out of close to everything, wouldn't you have?" Maggie replied, trying her best to control the anger that had built up from this statement. "…His eyes are so familiar!"

"There's only so many kinds of eyes out there. Now come on, this trunk's a team lift!"

"It's a pain to fly with, but it smells fantastic!" Maggie giggled as she soared through the clouds on her broom, the trunk secured tightly on one end. "What's in here, anyway? Cakes?"

"And seven-dozen cookies. And I believe a few pies. Hrm, that's unusual… No one answering…" Fujuju muttered, and looked down at his large, black cell phone. Oliver was aghast at the sight of the old technology, and laughed.

"You're a scientist, right? So why do you use so much old junk when you could build better in your sleep?" Oliver asked in a laugh.

"I don't see the point in getting rid of something that does everything I need it do and isn't broken," Fujuju muttered, then motioned for them to drop down some. All three were nearly knocked off as a blur streaked past them; it was a purple ball that quickly disappeared into the clouds below.

"Is everyone all right?!" Fujuju asked quickly as Maggie and Oliver attempted their best to climb back up onto their respective rides.

"Yes, but… What was that?" asked Maggie.

"I say we find out!" Oliver exclaimed, and zoomed down in the direction of the flying object, Fujuju his captive passenger. Maggie gave a yell of surprise, and quickly followed down after her brother and tutor.

"Are you mad?!" she exclaimed. "Ollie! Get back here!"

"It entered the atmosphere, yet there wasn't any sort of flame…" Fujuju muttered, going over these facts aloud, knowing that they didn't quite make sense….

"Lucky for you, huh?" Oliver chuckled. His smile turned to a look of confusion as he saw exactly where it had landed; in the backyard of the Hinata household.

"…He's not going to be happy with this…" Maggie poked at the rubble that had once been Giroro's tent, while Oliver and Fujuju, also now on the land, went to look for someone, anything.

"Locked up, tight as can be," Oliver muttered as he tugged on the glass door. "Where are they? There's always at least someone home!"

"Perhaps they went on their own trip… I knew it was in poor judgment to come without a word to them…" Fujuju sighed and gave a shake of his head, then looked to his right, and noticed a liquid trail leading to the side of the house. He bent down, touching the warm liquid with his fingers, then broke off in a dash to follow its origin.

"What's he in a hurry over?" asked Oliver.

"Eh?" Maggie bent down and looked at the liquid, and gave a gasp. "It… It's blood!"

"Gross!" Oliver jumped back and nearly gagged at the trail. "Don't touch it, Mags, you don't know where it's been!"

"Well, inside someone, obviously. Come on, you dolt," Maggie sighed, and hurried to the side of the house Fujuju had gone to.

She stopped short at the towering figure, crumpled like a rag doll against the side. Fujuju was in the midst of checking the pulse of the fainted woman, and Maggie bent down in front of her, and lifted up her chin to get a better look at her face. She started to remove the mask, but a hand came up quickly, and gripped onto the young girl's wrist. This was the same hand Fujuju had been taking her pulse with, and the scientist went flying.

"Hey, you, hands off of my sister!" Oliver snapped as he finally turned the corner. The woman started to rise, but again fell down, and clutched onto her side.

"You're hurt," Maggie said quietly, kneeling down in front of her. "…We won't harm you. Are you friends with the people in this house, too?"

"…It's the closest place I could come to," the woman answered, finally speaking, and Maggie turned to Fujuju and Oliver.

"We need someplace to take her, to get—OLLIE!" Maggie yelled out, but it was too late… There was a crash, and Oliver looked up from the busted glass door to his sister, the brick from Giroro's firepit now on the ground of the living room.

"What? It was urgent! Anyway, he can fix it!" Oliver snapped.

"And me without my shoes…" Fujuju sighed as he looked at the shards of glass. He gave a squeak of surprise as Oliver lifted him up, and in his other arm he and Maggie helped the woman walk into the home.

"What an ego!" Oliver muttered as they came upon Kururu's lab, and they passed this, and walked a little further down into the infirmary.

Maggie and Oliver set Botan down on the bed, and the Time Bender flinched a little as she laid down.

"Doesn't look too bad…" Maggie muttered as she examined it. She then glanced up from the cot, and saw what Botan was looking at; Oliver and Fujuju, standing off in the distance. Maggie gave a huff, and slid a divider in front of her and the alien.

"Find her something to wear instead of standing there!"

"Y-Yes, Ma'am!" both yelped, and scrambled to do so, bumping into one another as they did so.

"They mean well, really. They're just not good around women," Maggie sighed. "Who are you, anyway?"

Botan only looked quietly off to the side, and Maggie gave a nod of understanding, "Right. You don't know me, either. That's fine, then. I'm Maggie Martin, the other two were my brother Oliver Martin, and our tutor."

"A Keronian."

"Eh? Yeah, that's right," Maggie stood and nodded. "Woah! Calm down, you can't go doing that! You're injured, you have to rest!" Maggie yelped as Botan suddenly started to bolt up, and Maggie held on gently to her hand.

"My staff, it's out there. They can't find it," Botan's voice was even, but still filled with urgency.

"Staff?"

"Maggie, we've got clothes!" Oliver called. "And don't worry, we just stuck to your suitcase!"

He held up one of her bras to show this. Both gave looks of surprise at the glare Maggie shot at them when she pulled back the divider, and she quickly took the folded clothing from both of them, "Now go find her staff! She says she's got it outside still, and it'll make you both useful!"

"….Such a nag…" Oliver grumbled as he stomped away. While they did this, Fujuju caught a glimpse of the woman—Their eyes met for a moment, and the scientist looked away quickly, and followed Oliver out to the back yard.

"…She's kinda a weird looking one, huh?" Oliver said as they began to scour the yard.

"You might be as equally odd-looking to her, remember," Fujuju countered, and lifted up the sharp piece of golden metal. "This… This is…" he blinked, and nearly dropped the metal object.

"What, is it hot?" Oliver asked, and Fujuju shook his head, and backed away from it.

"No, but… I have an idea of what we're dealing with now," he answered numbly.

"My, that's, well… It works!" Maggie tried her best to remain positive, and Botan looked up at her dully; the clothes were obviously too short on the towering Time Bender. The long blue shirt was only ¾ sleeves on her, and the knee length denim skirt was significantly shorter. "…We'll get you something nicer, I promise. At least your wound wasn't so bad, it cleaned up rather nicely!"

"I'll be gone as soon as I get my staff," Botan answered shortly to the girl, still looking through the eared mask.

"That might be a while," Botan's eyes went wide at the sound of a clattering of metal, and Oliver stood in front of them, a cardboard box in hand. "It was supposed to break apart, right?"
"What?!" her composure faltered for a moment, and she peered in the box.

"We think this is all of it… I dunno, it looks about right though, right?"

"I may be able to piece it back together for you," Fujuju piped up, and she looked down at the Keronian. "It will take a while, but we can do it either here or at my home base."

"Your place or hers, neh?" Oliver chuckled and winked at his tutor. Maggie again grabbed her brother by the ear. "Ow! How'd you get over here so quick, anyway?!"

"Whatever is fastest for you, Keronian," Botan replied. "Time is relative, just finish your work."

Fujuju twitched a smile; her blunt tone was off-putting to him, it was obvious, "W-well, it could take a few days…"

"Those are an irrelevant measurement of time," Botan answered quickly, and Fujuju gave a sigh.

"I'll see what resources they have around here, in the meantime," Fujuju sighed and walked away, only to feel a tapping on his shoulder moments later. He turned to face Maggie, and she gave a nervous grin.

"I forgot my emergency card at home," she whispered. "And, well, if it's going to be a few days…"

"I understand," Fujuju nodded, and pulled out an old worn wallet, and Oliver watched as he passed the girl a card.

"Who gave you credit?!" Oliver wondered in awe. "And why didn't I know about it?!"

"I should have pushed harder for vacationing in the Galapagos, I'm beginning to feel," Fujuju said lightly to himself, and walked toward the workshop area.

"Come on, we'll go out while they're working," Maggie smiled. "Are you well enough to walk? We'll have to get you some things."

"Why are you all doing this? It doesn't seem… Logical to do all of this for a stranger," Botan sat back on the bed, and Maggie giggled a little bit.

"If you're friends with them, we're friends with you. I guess that's just how it works," Maggie answered. "Are you feeling better? It seemed like a painful cut… How'd you get it, anyway?"

Botan fell silent at this, and Maggie's smile fell, "I understand… Oh! While we're out, you might want to…" she motioned removing a mask, and Botan watched her for a moment, and tilted her head down, removing the mask, and looking back up at Maggie. The girl flushed in awe and gave a small gasp.

"Is there something on my face?"

"No, it's just… You're really pretty! Like how my mother was!" an awkward silence followed this, and Maggie walked toward the exit. "Come on, we'll let them be!"

Botan wordlessly followed Maggie, while Oliver and Fujuju went to work unloading the pieces of the staff onto a large table.

"So what's she so freaked out about? I mean, it's just a walking stick, right?" Oliver asked, and Fujuju looked down gravely, adjusting the pieces to show how they might fit.

The scientist gave a shake of the head, "That woman in there is a very, very special type of alien. I'm surprised to see one alive. So many of them were hunted down for their power-warping abilities, it's amazing any survived! I'm embarrassed to admit that the reason I stand before you after millions of years is in part due to stolen technology of theirs."

"What, so, this thing makes you time travel!?"

"There's a lot of adherent power already in here… This just sort of acts as a compass for her powers. Although it would be possible for one who didn't possess her abilities to at least get a few of them with the help of this device. Without it, her powers are unstable. They're too much for any living being to harness without the use of some help. That's what helped to make them such easy targets in my time."

"Man, she's probably had it rough, then! No wonder she just glares at us!"

"Yes, well… Let's keep that in mind while we finish this up for her."

"So no family at all?"

"No," was Botan's one-word reply. The two girls already had their hands full of bags, and Maggie gasped and rushed over to another window. Botan, curious, wandered over to it, looking the models up and down.

"It doesn't look practical," was Botan's reply. Maggie looked at her and laughed a little.

"I guess not, but it's still pretty!" Maggie answered, and looked the tall woman over. "It'd probably look nice on you!"

"That's unlikely," Botan replied flatly, and Maggie laughed and pulled her along into the shop.

"My sister Frannie and I would do this is a lot with Mum over the weekends when I was younger," Maggie explained as she began to search through the racks. "Ollie and Dad would usually have one of Ollie's games. He used to play football before everything."

"What happened?" Botan asked, and Maggie fell silent.

"There was a bad car wreck… They didn't make it, so Frannie started taking care of us," Maggie replied quietly. She then looked up and gave a small smile, "We're still here. And I know they'd want us to go on without them, even if it's hard… Hey, I think I found your size here! It's a nice color, too!"

Maggie was in the process of handing off the dress to Botan when from outside there came a loud crash. It blew out the store windows, and both fell to the ground.

"Time Bender!" the hissing bark came from outside, and through the rubble and dusk came a stocky, muscular alien—Neither knew to identify it as a Viper, but both knew it wasn't in front of them in peace. "Making us follow you to this crappy planet… You better be as powerful as everyone has claimed! This better be worth my time!"

"Hold on tight," Botan said quickly to Maggie as she put an arm around the girl, and just as a net shot out to capture them, they vanished.

"WHAT?!" he seethed, and clenched his teeth. It was bad enough people had begun to circle, taking pictures and thinking it was some sort of stage show, now he'd lost the object of his hunt. The Viper turned around, kicked off some of the debris from his ship, and boarded it once more, zooming away and leaving a stunned crowed.

"Oh… My head!" Maggie moaned, and clenched on to the back of her skull. "It's killing me! Eh?! What happened?!"

She looked around, and noticed the surroundings were completely unlike anything she'd been familiar with on Earth. It looked like a large Greek temple, but outside, as far as she could see, was nothing but purple and black space, with small stars dotting the sky.

There was a fountain of running water, and Maggie caught her reflection for a moment out of the corner of her eye. She then gave a yelp as she did a double-take, and saw she had changed. She looked about ten years older in her reflection, and she looked down at her hands, then examined the rest of herself as best she could.

"That's something that tends to happen without my staff. A slight anomaly, but easily fixed once we're back in our own timeline," the voice was childlike now, and Maggie's head snapped over to it; Botan's too-short clothing was now comically small on the body of the pale child. Adding to this was the fact that the child still wore Botan's dull expression.

"W-Well, can you get us back to normal!? I don't want to be this old yet, I haven't even gone to my first school dance!" Maggie cried out.

"I can try, but I don't know how old we'll be, or what time we will be in."

"W-Where are we exactly, anyway?"

Botan looked over her shoulder, and examined the structure for a moment, "A part of my past. This is my old home."

"That should do it!" Fujuju wiped his forehead and smiled. "It's been years since I've been able to use a welding machine! It's quite a liberating feeling!"

"Yeah, but all of the tools are pink and purple…" Oliver grumbled, and set down the hammer he'd been using. "Maybe we could add something cool to it! Like wings or flames or something! …Or we could just give it back to her."

"There's a good man," Fujuju nodded. "Just needs a good polish, and it should be as good as new!"

"I've got it," Oliver held it up, and Fujuju instantly went into panic mode.

"N-N-Now watch how you handle that, Oliver! You don't know how to work that!" Fujuju reminded him.

"Oh, it's probably nothing big! Don't worry, I'll be careful!" he hit the floor with the one end of the staff, and there was a flash of light… And then he was gone.

"Oliver? Oliver?! Oliver, where did you go?!" Fujuju called out, and began to search through the lab for the boy.