TOKYO
Chapter 2
The World of Worlds
Vash simply gawked. Zelgadis filed this away for future reference. "To the question that must be on your mind now," he said with a faint smile, "I'm a chimera: one-third golem, one-third demon, and one-third human. I'm like this because of ... well, a sorceror in my homeworld called Rezzo the Red Priest."
"Uh ... homeworld?" said Vash.
Zelgadis clapped his hands, and the candles went out, while several oil lamps dotted around the room flared to life, illuminating it better. "I realize that your world simply had the wrong ... science, I suppose you could call it, for this sort of thing," he said, "but the fact of it is ... this city, called Tokyo, is in a different world from your own."
"You mean like a different planet?" asked Vash, scratching his head in confusion.
"No," said Zelgadis. "I suppose it's better to think of them as different universes ... even though by strict definition there's only one 'universe.' In technical terms, it occupies a different set of spatial dimensions from your own."
"Oh, different dimensions," said Vash. "Right, I gotcha. So, uh, how did I get here?"
"It's hard to explain," said Zelgadis carefully. "There's ... so many 'versions' in different alternate dimensions of this city, Tokyo. Some scholars have theorized that there are more versions of this city than any other -- including supposedly more major cities such as Chicago and London." He shrugged. "In this Tokyo, there has been ... dimensional instabilities, which led to quite a few people arriving here from other dimensions -- and other landmarks, as well." He hoped that Vash's knowing about multiple dimensions allowed him to use phrases like "dimensional instability" in cold blood.
Vash stared. "How many people?" he asked.
"Over fifteen million," said Zelgadis. "And no twelve people are from the same dimension."
"Whoa ..." said Vash. He suddenly turned to look straight at Zelgadis, frowning, a focused look in his eyes that hadn't been in there before. "How many from mine?" he asked sharply.
Zelgadis frowned. "To my knowledge," he said, "precisely one. And that's you."
Vash seemed to deflate. "Whew! What kind of stuff goes on here?"
Seifer shook his head, an I-can't-believe-this-guy look on his face. Zelgadis could understand what was going through his mind; it was, for some reason, much more comforting to think of Vash as an idiot than as someone who was too intelligent to be reasoned with easily. "Well, let me see," said Zelgadis. He went over and picked up a newspaper. "Ah, here we go ..." he said, scanning the headlines. "'Young girl spirited away to otherworld bathhouse' ... hmm ... 'Half-demon defeats full demon, claims he was only in it to find a shard of the Shikon jewel' ... 'Tokyo Bay Bridge destroyed in battle with giant mechaniloid' ... 'Lost prince of Jurai found, now has several suitors' ..."
Vash looked over his shoulder. "He looks pretty dorky," he said.
Zelgadis put down the newspaper. "Yes ... And since our arrival here, we've learned to expand our previous abilities. For example, Ranma's taken up the art of stealth, Seifer has gained more skill with his gunblade, as well as controlling his temper better, and I've been trying to learn as many forms of magic as possible."
Vash nodded, apparently letting the term 'gunblade' slide. "So, uh, who are you guys, specifically?" he asked.
"We've been bickering about the name for a while, but Seifer discovered a good name for us," said Zelgadis, "when reading a comic book. We are the League of Extroardinary Gentlemen, Tokyo Division." He smirked slightly. "And, in this world at least, the only division. We're a group of men who are dedicated to protect the city from any threat."
"Men? What about Ranma?" asked Vash. "She was pretty cute ..."
"Well, there are a few women," said Zelgadis.
"Vash," said Ranma, coming up the stairs behind him, "I think there's something about me you should know."
Vash turned. "Yeah?"
She was wearing a dark blue gym outfit, but had on a tank top that appeared to have been designed for men, so Vash had a better view of certain ... attributes. She was also carrying a bucket of water that was steaming slightly. Zelgadis had to hide a grin, and Seifer didn't bother to, while Vash completely failed to suppress a high-pitched nervous giggle. Ranma sighed, and promptly dumped the bucket over her head.
Zelgadis had seen this before, so all his attention was focused on Vash, as his expression went from surprise, to confusion as he watched Ranma become a few inches taller ... with black hair ... her figure changing ...
And then Vash, his face a carefully designed expression of shock, reached out and poked Ranma's chest.
Ranma folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah, I get this a lot."
Vash explained his surprise: "You're ... a guy!"
"Oh, really!" said Seifer. "Never woulda guessed he wasn't still a cute little girl!"
"Watch it," said Ranma good-naturedly.
Vash was still a bit behind on things. "But ... but ... she was a girl ... and now she's a guy ... but then she was a ..."
"Ranma Saotome," said Zelgadis, "has a curse which causes him to transform into an attractive young woman when splashed with cold water. Hot water temporarily reverses the process."
Vash stammered, "But I almost hit on her!"
"Well, at least you can get it into your head that we're the same person," said Ranma. "In my world ..."
"Yes, Ranma, we know about the whole love dodecahedron between you, every single female you came into contact with, and every single male Akane and sometimes you came into contact with, including Kuno."
Ranma rounded on him. "Hey, it wasn't like --"
They were interupted by a light tapping at the window. Without a word, Zelgadis stood up and opened it. "That would be Soma," he said.
A blue-white bat flew into the room, flitted over one of the tables, and then transformed, suddenly, into a slightly pale young man with blonde hair, dressed in a white trenchcoat, a black shirt, and blue jeans.
"Augh! A vampire!" screamed Vash.
"Sort of," said the newcomer. "I'm Soma Cruz. And you are?"
Vash grinned. "I am known as Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz," he said, "Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser the Third! Don't hesitate to call!"
There was a pause. Everyone was waiting to see what Soma would do next. And then, a bit too casually, he said, "And how many people do call you?"
"Uh, not many," said Vash, scratching his head. "Mostly they just try to kill me."
"I can't imagine why," said Soma.
"Unless I save the town somehow," said Vash. "Then they call out, 'Hey, it's Vash the Stampede!'"
Soma nodded. "Oh, right, you're the one with the sixty-billion-dollar price on your head."
"Sixty-billion double-dollar," corrected Vash.
"Right. And I'm the heir to Dracula's power," said Soma matter-of-factly. He turned to Zelgadis. "I did -- What's up with him!?"
"Culture shock, probably," said Ranma, helping Vash to his feet. "He's probably heard of your, um, predecessor."
Soma rolled his eyes. "Well, anyway, I did what you suggested, Zel. Remember? When I was ticked off at Seifer?"
"Hey, you're the one who started it," said Seifer.
"Yes, I sarcastically suggested that you go and see if you could sense any presences that were darker than yourself," said Zelgadis smoothly. "I spoke with the assurance of one whose neck is a layer of solid rock with blood that is probably inedible underneath it. And?"
"I did," said Soma.
Zelgadis frowned. Things were moving faster than he'd anticipated. "Why? Where was it?"
"Huh? What're you talking about?" said Vash, looking around.
"One of those threats he mentioned," said Seifer.
"I'm not sure," said Soma. "I think it was near the Tokyo Bay Bridge."
"Didn't that get destroyed?" asked Vash.
"It's always mysteriously repaired when no one's looking," said Zelgadis. "I'd better check the Mandala -- which is a magical artifact I devised for detecting dimensional disturbances ..."
The back room of the Ars Magica shop had even more magical apparatus than the upstairs room. There were numerious potions and powders, with labels in an incomprehensible script, and the focus seemed to be less on alchemy and "traditional" magic than on simply getting the right effect without mucking about with all that "lizards' eyes and catfeathers" nonsense.
On one table there was a pan that seemed to be connected to a bizzare machine with an LCD display and an array of buttons. The pan itself was filled with multicolored sands that were constantly swirling around with a whispering noise in a mezmerizing fashion. The group stared at it.
"So, uh, what's this?" asked Vash.
"The Mandala," said Zelgadis, adjusting the controls. "I had to adjust it phenomenally to get any kind of comprehensible reading, since this city is practically made of dimensional instabilities. This is what most dimensions look like." He pushed a button on the device, and the colors were all replaced by a uniform drab tan, with a faint hint of green in one corner.
"So, not very ... active, huh?" said Vash.
"No," agreed Zelgadis. "Now this ..." He pushed another button. There was a cacophany of sifting sands, the mandala randomly shifting colors, almost too fast to make out the distinctions. "... is what it looked like before I adjusted it."
"What does it look like now?" asked Vash.
Zelgadis pushed another button, and it reverted to the previous swirling colors, with a noticeable green spot in one corner. "Okay ... this is the area around the Tokyo Bay Bridge. That green spot, with the rotation of mauve at the edges, means that something is about to arrive there. Hmm, that's odd ... you said you already sensed it?"
"Yeah," said Soma. "It might have been some sort of premonition, though ..."
Zelgadis nodded. "All right ... go and see if you can find Zero and Dita. They're mechanical, so they shouldn't be as affected if it has an aura of darkness ... Seifer, you and I will go as well. Ranma, Vash, I'll bring the tracking crystal so that you can watch me in the Orb."
"What's the Orb?" asked Vash.
"It's kinda like a crystal ball that can only focus on one thing," said Ranma. "Plus it's clearer than most crystal b--"
"If any of the others arrive, tell them where we are," said Zelgadis. "I just hope that it isn't more than we can handle ..."