Magical Atoner, Lyrical Alicia
Chapter 26
There was a holiday for nearly everyone the day after the wedding, but the kids were all back in school the next week. Of course, all the students had seen the wedding, and were excited over the drama, the romance and so on...
"I saw you on the news at the wedding!" a classmate squealed.
Alicia winced.
"Erika-sama was there too. And Subaru," a third kid noted.
"How was it?" the first asked eagerly.
"Crowded and noisy," Alicia admitted, disappointing several of them.
"You know, I've never seen Subaru in clothes like that," one girl noted thoughtfully, "she's... kind of cute actually."
Alicia felt an odd moment of irritation, and a more self aware girl might have seen it as jealousy. Alas, Alicia was not QUITE that self aware.
"Class settle down please," the teacher called, a young man this week.
"Isn't he young to be a teacher?" Alicia whispered to a classmate.
"Oh, he's from Mundus Magi. He just stopped aging at fourteen.. he's ACTUALLY fifty," the other student said.
Alicia blinked, "Ah. A Springfield?"
"Yup."
Ignoring that digression the teacher looked up, "Ah, Miss Testarossa. The Principal said she wanted to see you."
Alicia got up, "Excuse me."
"You too, Miss Yagami," he told Subaru.
Both young women headed off as Alicia sigherd. "I REALLY hope this isn't trouble," she said with a sigh.
"Here's hoping," Subaru agreed as they reached the office
Miki Kaoru, fromm the palace, looked up from a view screen and smiled weakly. "We need you up at the palace," he said.
"Right," Alicia nodded, "we'll teleport there."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Subaru Yagami was still a bit nervous about visiting the palace, even though they were friends with Erika Tenoh and Princess Usagi. Unlike Alicia, who seemed much more matter of fact about it all.
'I wonder if it's because of the time travel,' Subaru mused, 'or because of the dimension travel?' She sighed, deciding it didn't matter.
The two were led into the throne room, and Subaru noted it was just the king and Queen, along with Lady Venus there.
'I wonder what that means?' Subaru wondered.
"Thank you for coming," King Endymion smiled wryly.
"Sirs," Alisa bowed awkwardly, while Subaru curtsied, as was proper.
"Please relax, this is a informal meeting," Queen Serenity added.
'No, not relaxing any time soon,' Subaru sighed.
Lady Venus sighed, "We have a potentially serious problem."
"The Princess and Hotaru?" Alicia said, nodding.
"We lost contact with the security team monitoring them," Endymion noted.
'I KNEW it,' Subaru mentally sighed. Both she and Alicia had been concerned, when they heard the two were honeymooning in New Londonium.
"Will you help?" Serenity asked gently.
"Of course!" Subaru blurted.
"Hmm," Alicia nodded. She mused aloud, "We can go immediately, once we let school know we'll be gone..."
"I'd like to send two others along," Venus added.
"We can transport them with us," Subaru agreed, "but will they need equipment and such?"
"We might need a ship if there's enough stuff," Alicia admitted.
Subaru had never really ASKED Raising Heart how much they could transport across dimensions. She knew for certain they could do themselves and probably one other, each. Other than that, was the question.
"Yo," Erica Tenoh nodded, followed by Ran Mizuno.
Venus noted, "Both are undetectable when they are untransformed, and are superhumanly strong and durable in Senshi mode."
"Unlike us," Subaru conceded, though both her and Alicia were getting better at strengthening themselves via magic.
"We brought disguise pens," Erica added, "and you can use your devices to change your looks."
"So, when we leaving?' Ran asked briskly, dressed in a simple jumpsuit and her hair dyed brown this week.
Alicia said briskly, "We can go immediately."
"So, we find out what happened to the security team and make sure Usagi and Hotaru are all right?" Subaru clarified.
"Exactly," Venus agreed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"URK," Erica looked green as they finished the dimension jump.
"I didn't know d-jumping bothered you," Subaru said, patting her arm.
Erica smiled weakly, "It's the multiple jumps I think."
Ran Mizuno nodded sympathetically.
The two mages couldn't jump DIRECTLY to New Londinium, it was too far away. Though how distance worked in alternate dimensions was hard to wrap your head around. It look more and more power the farther you jumped, so it was easier to do short trips and take it in stages.
"All right, one more jump," Alicia said firmly.
Ran Mizuno wasn't sure what to make of Alicia Testarossa. She was more Erica's friend, though she knew her from Alicia sparring with the Hardsuit Corps. She seemed VERY intense, and a bit unearthly too.
They appeared in a burst of light at the Crystal Tokyo Embassy on 'New Londinium.' Well, TECHNICALLY, it was a embassy, in actual fact it was the offices of a local business man with ties to the realm. He was also a useful contact, there...
"Welcome to New Londinium," the older man smiled, one hand behind his desk as he got up.
"SHIELD!" Alicia yelled as she tossed up a barrier just as he pulled a blaster from behind the desk and fired.
"BIND!" Subaru cast, securing him in glowing pink energy.
"The HECK is going on?" Ran blurted, stunned.
"LET ME GO!" the man yelled.
Erica had transformed into 'Tuxedo' mode reflexedly, and was holding her cane defensively. "That's not our contact," she noted.
Alicia asked him, "Who are you, then?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he answered, still struggling.
Ran advanced on him, studying him thoughtfully. "Don't know him, either," she said, "but I think he's got a disguise in place."
"I can disperse it," Raising Heart said flatly.
"Do it," Subaru ordered, and the average, older looking man was replaced by... a plant-like monster that looked sort of human.
"Rawwr!" it howled, fighting to get free, then stiffened.
"What..." Alicia started, then the creature just melted, collapsing into a puddle of sizzling goo.
"Well, THAT'S a thing," Erica blinked.
Ran looked at the others as she said, "That's sort of like the monsters Mom and the others fought in the old days."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Erica was getting the feeling that this was not just a typical 'Someone forgot to check in' emergency. She took a breath, "Search the office, first."
The found the actual owner off the office tied up in a closet, thankfully alive. "Oh thank goodness," he gasped.
"Doctor Westlake, I believe?" Erica asked, having seen photos of the man.
"Yes," the slim, older man dusted himself off, "you're the team from Crystal Tokyo?"
"Yes," Erica introduced them then asked, "What happened?"
"A local made an appointment, used the name 'Baldur', said they wanted to emigrate to Earth. They jumped me, then tossed me in the closet," Westlake admitted.
"So whomever knew we were coming," Ran noted.
"Not hard to," Alicia pointed out, "they Had to expect we'd send someone."
"The question being, who," Erica sighed.
To be continued...
Notes: 'A Springfield' is a reference to Negima. I'm still banging around how canon I want Negima to be...