Return to the past
"Hey Satoshi, where were you last week?" asked Risa.
"I went with Kari-nee to a convention. It was pretty fun."
"What kind of convention?" asked Daisuke.
"A gaming convention," answered Satoshi without looking up.
"Wait a sec…YOU play video games Hikari?!" said Takeshi in disbelief.
"Actually she dragged me to the convention. I just passed the time until it was over," said Satoshi annoyed.
"So where was it?"
"Tokyo of course. Where else would they hold a Mech Assault tournament?!" griped Satoshi.
"What's Mech Assault?"
"Ask Kari."
Satoshi returned to the house in a bored mood. He was greeted with the sight of Kari at her desk typing like crazy. When he approached, she saved and gave him her full attention.
"Whatcha doing sis?"
"Fanfic-ing. I was working on something Krad seemed to like when you came home. How was school?"
"Takeshi wouldn't get off my ass about the fact that you and Krad went to a gamer's convention last week."
"At least it kept Krad-kun from wanting to take over for a long time," Kari pointed out.
"True. So what kind of Fan fiction were you working on?"
"It's something to keep a sequel moving along without confusing my fans. One of the fanfics I made and posted has nearly 40,000 hits on it!"
"Woah…what's the title?"
"The Kyuubi brothers. It's a crossover…which ironically enough is what I usually make anyway," said Kari proudly.
"You must be popular then."
"You kidding? I was shocked when it got its first hit in less than ten minutes after I posted it! It has over 160 alerts and nearly 70 on the favorites count! It's my most popular fic to date!" said Kari happily.
"You must be a pretty good writer then," said Satoshi.
"That's what happens when you have nothing to do all day and happen to dream in anime!" laughed Kari.
"You can't dream in anime," retorted Satoshi.
Actually, she's not kidding. She really DOES dream in anime.
"What?! How is THAT possible?"
"Easy…I mostly watch anime, and since I normally have a hard time falling asleep at night, I tend to just lay down and daydream until I finally fall asleep. I can turn my nightmares into dreams simply by adding my favorite anime characters in it!"
"You keep surprising me every day, sis."
"I do my best!" laughed Kari.
"So how are we going to reverse time and rewrite the past?" asked Satoshi, changing the subject.
"Simple…we'll use the Toki no Buushin. It can return us to the past to remake the future, doesn't it?"
"I don't know. The Toki no Buushin was sealed and has been for a while. How are we…?" asked Satoshi.
"That…I haven't figured out. But give me enough time and I'll come up with something."
It took her a while, but eventually she figured it out. Even if the Toki no Buushin was sealed, they could still rewrite the past if it had an alternate power to work with. If Kari could find another powerful magic for the Second Hand of Time to use, then they could change the past! But where would they find a strong enough source of magic?
"Hey sis, how is the research going?" asked Satoshi.
"I found a way for us to change our past, but there's a catch," said Kari.
"What?"
"We'd need to find a powerful enough source of magic to use in place of the Toki no Buushin power. The thing is, I don't know what we could use…"
"I do. Though it will require the help of a certain nuisance known as Dork."
"The only question now is, are you and Krad willing to cooperate with Dark and Daisuke long enough to finish this?" said Kari.
I'll cooperate on one condition.
What?
When you two meet again I get to go to the gamer's convention all over again and win that tournament.
Sounds reasonable enough to me. What about you Sato-kun?
Fine…
YAY!!!!!
I think we should take the entrance through the house rather than the fountain, don't you?
Definitely.
"Daisuke, you got a minute?" asked Satoshi the next day.
"What is it, Hikari-kun?" asked Daisuke.
"Kari-nee and I need the help of you and your more obnoxious half."
"By that you mean you need Dark's help."
"Yup."
"What do you need help with?"
"Reversing this hell that we've unwittingly made."
"WHAT!"
"Kari's found a way to reverse the past, but we need the help of you and Dark to pull it off."
"Why do you need our help? Krad and Kari should have more than enough magic to pull that off," said Dark.
"Normally I would agree…but there's something else he hasn't told you. Kari came up with the idea of allowing me to remember the events that lead up to this nightmare, to prevent history from repeating itself."
"Is that all? I still don't see why you need our help."
"The piece we need to use has already been sealed, and we need to pull this off without removing the seal in the process," explained Satoshi.
"Ah…that makes more sense. The combined power of the Phantom Thief clan and the remaining Hikari clan is more powerful than either working alone. And the fact that the piece is already sealed makes it harder to keep it sealed and still use its ability. But what do we get out of this?"
"Krad will have something to keep his mind off of destroying you. He still wants to go to that Gamer's convention and win like he did this time. Plus, there's something that Kari told me that should catch your attention," said Satoshi.
"What?"
"The thing we'll use to ensure that we meet each other again will be a sort of play. Krad already has an idea of what it'll be about and refuses to give me any hints. He did say that it will definitely catch your interest, seeing as how you and Daisuke are going to be in it. That, and that the Harada twins will be in it as well," said Satoshi.
"Oh? And what part will Risa and Riku play?" asked Dark, now interested.
"You'll love this…" said Krad as he told Dark what they would play. The Phantom Thief listened and when he heard what Kari had in mind, he burst out laughing.
"You've got my interest! That play will definitely be worth reading when this is over!" said Dark, laughing.
"All right, so do we have a deal, Dark and Daisuke?" asked Kari.
"Yup…Dark said he's behind you all the way with this," said Daisuke.
"Good…now for the part I didn't mention to Satoshi earlier…" said Kari.
"So let me get this straight. We're going back to when we first met, only this time it'll be in the library?" repeated Satoshi, surprised.
"Yup. It's the perfect place to read a screen play made by yours truly. Besides, the only other person who's even read a part of it is Krad!"
"I hope this works," said Daisuke nervously.
"If it doesn't, then we won't get a second shot. I hope you two know what you're doing…" said Dark.
"I do. Though the next time around I'll actually be able to use magic before I come to Japan," said Kari.
"I've been meaning to ask, but is Kari your real name?"
"No…I just preferred that to Anne Nichols. Would you have preferred I go by my usual alias of Sakura Elric?" countered Kari.
"Where'd you come up with a name like that?!"
"I've always liked the name Sakura, ever since I watched the series 'Cardcaptors'. And when I first watched Full Metal Alchemist, I decided that combining the main character's names would be a great alias."
"If you thought the name is weird Dark, you should see her username online," chuckled Satoshi.
"What's her 'username'? What is a username anyway?!"
"It's sakurademonalchemist. Don't look at me like that!" scolded Kari.
"And a username is sort of like an alias you use on the internet," answered Satoshi.
"Why's it so long?" asked Daisuke.
"Well, the first time I used it I thought I'd never be able to remember how it was spelled. But then I started using it a LOT and now I can spell it without looking it up once. Hell, I usually use that one as a username on sites if it lets me get away with it," shrugged Kari.
"I've also been wondering where you and Krad went to for an entire week," said Dark.
"Gamer's convention."
"WHAT!"
"Not only did we go to a Gamer Convention, but Krad also won the top prize in the tournament! He was one happy psychotic alter ego when we got back!" laughed Satoshi.
"What tournament?"
"It was a Mech Assault tournament and I pretty much blew away the competition. I got a trophy and the new Mech Assault 2 before it was even released!"
"Why did you go there?"
"Krad gets bored when we're not around and he played games on my console. As a result, he became a hard-core gaming addict like my brother-in-law and oldest nephew."
"You have a brother-in-law?"
"My older sister got married, idiot," said Kari annoyed.
"Let's get the ceremony over…" interrupted Satoshi.
Toki no Buushin, hear our cry! Return us to the beginning so we may correct this disaster! Allow only the blond Koko-Yoko to remember the past and to help prevent this time from repeating itself!
The Toki no Buushin, or 'Second Hand of Time', heard their plea and allowed the past to be rewritten. Though it had been sealed, the power from all five of the figures: Satoshi, Kari, Krad, Daisuke and Dark, allowed her to reverse the past and the future to be rewritten. Now only fate would decide how things would occur this time around…