A certain Otherworldly Railgun:
More Questions, Still No Answers

I ran as fast as my new body could carry me, which, I found, was pretty far. I had reached the outskirts of the old docks in less than five minutes, which was saying something. Still, I didn't stop until I was near the town's limits.

Slightly winded from my run, I hunched over as I caught my breath. I kept my eyes on the trail I ran, half expecting someone to be following me. I relaxed slightly as I saw that I was in the clear.

As I felt my mind and heart settling, I returned to that event just a few minutes ago. I know I wasn't seeing things, and if I remembered right, the character I turned into can control electricity. And it looks like I now can too.

I looked at my hands and tried to recall that feeling from earlier. My eyes widened as I watched the sparks begin to dance around my hands. I snapped my fingers and watched as the electricity jumped from them.

I began to experiment and I quickly learned the ins and outs of my newfound powers. I found it weird, when I put some thought into, that the more I use the powers the more control I felt myself gain.

It was like my body was instinctively learning how to control my new powers the more I used them. I wonder if that had to do with the character I turned into?

I might have continued to play-I mean experiment with my powers if a strong and chilling wind hadn't blown my way. I shivered as I quickly hugged my body and tried to keep myself warm.

"I'm f-fr-freezing," I stumbled slightly, as I began to rub my bare arms.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I was wearing a summer uniform in the late fall. So, with that in mind, I made my way into town and headed to the local clothing department.

All I had planned on getting was a pair of pants and a jacket, but once I went over to the tween section, I quickly found myself looking for an outfit that I could only describe as cute. I think I looked for a good twenty minutes until I found a set of clothing that matched my new sense of style (and not to mention ones that fit my new body), and brought them. Now, I'm in the dressing room changing into my new clothes...or I was until I spotted something that caught my attention.

And if you think I'm looking at these on my chest, you would be dead wrong. No, the thing I was staring at was an old scar above my breasts. If you're wondering about the scar, it was from a surgery I had when I was around eight-year-old.

I don't remember much about the surgery or the accident for that matter, but something else about the scar was bothering me the more I looked at it. The scar seemed a bit bigger than when I last saw it, and a bit more jagged.

If anything, it reminded me of how the scar looked when I first got it.

I continued to study my scar, feeling just a bit crept out by its sudden growth. I suddenly gasped as something clicked in the back of my mind, and realized something; the bolt that changed me hit me right in my car!

"Hmm, could that somehow be related?" I asked curiously, tracing the scar with a finger.

I shook my head and giggled out of how silly I was being. This wasn't one of these silly anime; the fact that the bolt hit me in my car was just a random coincidence.

With that settled, I changed into my new outfit, and couldn't help but be impressed with what I saw. I had gone with a pair of thigh-high, woe sock dyed black, and a pair of lavender runners. I wore a denim skirt with indigo straps running down its sides and a purple long sleeve shirt.

The neck of the shirt was a bit on the wide side, exposing more of my new "items" than I cared for. However, the indigo letterman jacket was more than enough to solve that little problem.

After finishing changing, I carefully folded my school uniform and put it into the purple backpack I brought and left the dressing room. I was halfway to the exit when I spied an accessory rack and stopped to window-shop.

About the only thing on the rack was a complete set of what were called "buddy swaps". I heard a couple of girls talking about them; basically, the accessories were just metal things like bracelets, necklaces, and pins. The hook was that the parts were interchangeable. That would allow couples, friends, and others to swap out pieces for personal looks.

I stared at the items, feeling like they were cute and that they would look even cuter with my outfit.

I quickly decided I was being silly, shopping around like some girl looking for a new look, and was about to take my leave.

After all, I could barely shrug off how awkward I felt in this skirt. I didn't need anything else to add to that feeling.

Unfortunately, I didn't even get a single step in before the urge overtook me again, and before I knew what was going on, I was at the desk, buying an entire set of Buddy Swap. I couldn't help but sigh tiredly as I slipped on the bracelet, necklace and fix the ball cap with a pin sewn in it on my head.

I really should address this sudden obsession with cute things soon, but I had more pressing matters to take care of first.

I guess I should consider this lucky; it was a Sunday afternoon, so most others in my dorm were either out socializing, or doing last-minute catch-up work. That made it easy to sneak into the building and make my way to my room.

I really didn't want to explain why a pre-teen girl was in a male dorm at this hour. Still, I had a few close calls when walking to my dorm room. Thankfully, it was just a bunch of doped-up dorm mates, so I was easily able to dodge them and hide from them when needed.

Soon, I found myself inside my dorm, and I wasn't all too surprised to find it still empty. With a light sigh, I took a seat on my bed and ignored just how awkward it felt as I tried to figure out my next move.

There was no telling when Dean would get back, so I decided to try out my body's powers once more, now that I was in a familiar place. Inhaling with my nose and exhaling through my mouth, closed my eyes, and focused on my surroundings.

I was studying electronic engineering, so I knew that even a turned-off device still has a current going through it. And thanks to Dean's constant going-on, I knew that the character I turned into, can sense stuff like that.

I thought it wasn't going to work, but I was really surprised when it did, and I could sense every piece of equipment in my room. From things like the lamps to my computer, I could feel the energy going through them.

Hmm…that's weird, I felt a current that was just looping around and around. If there was a current that wasn't coming from a source, that meant it was a self-contained power source, possibly from a battery.

And it was coming from under Dean's bed if I knew the layout of my own room right.

I opened my eyes and pushed off my bed. I made the short walk to my roommate's bed, and got down on my hands and knees, making an effort to ensure my butt was covered. I lifted off the pale brown sheets and wasn't all too surprised to find a lockbox with an electric lock on it.

I found that weird, that my roommate would have something like this, and feel the need to hide whatever was inside. Now, I wouldn't say I wasn't curious about what was inside, but I would be lying.

Plus, I wanted to try something. So, I placed a hand on the lock and focused on the electricity flowing through the device. Since this lock was electric, the code was stored in a digital memory bank. So, in theory, I should be able to tick the lock into entering the code, and...bingo.

"I really don't know what I was expecting, Dean," I muttered, slightly disappointed in the contents of the lockbox. "But a datasheet is so you."

I was about to close it when I noticed the time on the datasheet was roughly the time that the earthquake happened. Also, the fact that the NexGen logo was on the paper got me curious.

So, I returned to my bed and began reading what appears to be a long history/data log.

It turns out, it was that orb that caused the earthquake all these years ago when it came into the world. Also, the damage wasn't all great, unlike what was reported; NexGen just used that as a ruse to set up their buildings so they could study the orb.

The reason for the ruse was because it seems like similar events happening around the world, meaning they could be more than one orb out there.

But, the reports said that was the only theory at this point, so I filed that piece of info into the back of my mind, and continued reading the datasheet.

What followed next was a condensed report of over forty years worth of research data. Most of it went over my head, but I did learn that the orb seemed to be able to do something that was labeled as "dimensional-phasing" whatever that meant.

Really, the science the report was talking about was so over my head, I was ready to toss the printout sheet back into the lockbox. I was in the process of doing so when something caught my attention.

"James Matthews...DAD?!"

I could feel my throat drying up as I looked at my father's name listed as the top surgeon for some sort of experiment. To make matters even more confusing was the date stamped in the corner...the date just shortly after my accident!

It was a good thing I was sitting down, I could feel my entire body shaking as I looked at the printout. I knew that dad worked for NexGen when I was young, but he told me he was part of the medical staff.

"What does this mean?" I asked myself as I turned the page...and was mad at what I saw.

There were pages missing; the time stamp on the next page was dated six years after the last page's stamp. That was around the time dad left NexGen and took a position as the head surgeon at the local hospital.

What does all of this mean, I felt like asking myself as I got ready to tear my room apart to find those missing pages.

"Who the hell are you?" I had a very familiar voice ask pointedly.

Startled, I looked towards the door and saw Dean glaring at me. I had my head titled just enough that he couldn't see my face clearly, or else, I don't think he would be looking at me the way he was. Still, I couldn't stop a strange feeling from building within me, and before I knew what happened, I let out a small noise followed by a strong bolt of electricity.

Dean barely had time to make a noise before my electricity hit him, square in the face. I watched as his body convulsed for a second, and he moaned painfully as he dropped to the ground.

I blinked as I came back to my senses, and winced once I saw the state my roommate was in. I quickly went over to him and checked his pulse. Good, his heart was still beating good and I could see his breathing was studied.

With that danger over, I checked to see if anyone saw the light show and closed the door when it looked like the coast was clear.

Seems, though my understanding of electricity, and the instincts of my borrowed body, I knocked Dean out for roughly ten minutes. During that time, I decided to tie Dean up, just in case something went wrong, and he tried to attack me again.

Plus, I wasn't comfortable with hitting him with another bolt in case he tried anything funny.

That happened over 20 minutes ago, and I now had spent the last time minutes grilling him, mostly about the missing data.

"Look, Matthews, I don't know what you want from me," Dean said pointedly. "The data was like that when I stole it."

I could feel a low growl threatening to escape my throat, but pushed the noise down. This has been going on for at least 10 minutes, and added fuel to the fire was that it took me five minutes to convince my roommate of who I truly am. But now, he was being so dodgy, it was starting to make me mad.

So mad, in fact, I could feel sparks starting to fly.

Deciding that a change of gears might work, I took off my cap and took a set across from Dean. I tried to put on an easy smile as I asked the next question.

"Say, Dean, why were you sneaking into the lab?"

I was hoping that seeing one of his favorite characters smiling at him would break down what walls he just put on at the moment. I thought that my tactic wasn't going to work, but then I noticed a look in my roommate's eyes. I think he was breaking, and to hammer anything home, I gave him a slightly bigger smile, which caused him to blush slightly.

It was at this time I realized what that look my roommate had been giving me, and it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. But, I didn't look away, in fear of him claiming up and not giving me anything.

"If you had read further, you would have learned that the orb phasing powers can reach to 2-dimensional spaces," Dean said, his tone was softer, but his word was still slightly pointed. "Like cartoons...or anime."

Two-dimensional space… this was starting to make sense, but there were still pieces missing. So, I urged Dean to continue.

My roommate gave me a glare but went on.

"They theorized that someone with a high emotional connection to the product could be used to create a link between the space and our world," Dean glared at me, and I finally realized what was making me so uncomfortable. "AND YET THEY SAID I WAS TOO EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE TO EVEN TRY THE EXPERIMENT! ME, THE BIGGEST RAILGUN FAN IN THIS TIME DEAD-BEAT TOWN, AND THEY LET YOU TURN INTO MISAKA?!"

I was speechless; I knew Dean was a bit of an emotional guy, but I never thought him to be unstable. Though, this entire exchange proves that I didn't know Dean as well as I thought.

Still, this didn't help me, not in the way I was hoping. But there's still one person I could talk to who might be able to shed some light about my dad's role in this strange scenario.

I stood up and went about gathering my stuff. I spotted the bookshelf where Dean keeps his manga collection and a wicked idea took root. I shot my roommate a delish grin, as I grabbed my pack and walked over to the shelf. I took out my school uniform and began to grab books by the handful.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Dean asked angrily.

"Don't worry," I replied sweetly, "I'm just borrowing them. I promise I will take good care of them."

Dean began to rant and rave about how much trouble it was to get the seventh vol of the series as I finished packing. I used my power to zip on my bag as I sling it over my shoulder and looked at Dean. He looked at me wide-eyed as I walked past him and gave him a two-finger salute. I used that gesture to grab my hat with my powers and put it on.

Dean was shocked speechless by this little display and walked to the exit. I think he snapped out of his stupor when he saw me check to see if anyone was coming.

"Hey! You can't leave me tired up here!" Dean screamed as I walked out the door. "Hey, Mitch. MITCH! MISAKA!"

I grinned to myself as I walked down the hall. I was laughing on the inside at my own joke. I actually tied the knots very loosely. All Dean needed to do was wangle a little and should be able to free himself.

I giggled a little as I wished I could see the look on my roommate's face. Still, I had a more pressing matter and I headed to the classroom of the campus's science professor, the only person who might be able to give me the answers to everything I have been learning of late.