Note: Part of this chapter appeared in Magical Girls Support Group Chapter Eight.
Arisugawa's Locket
Chapter 128: BAR CRASH
Up at the bar a tall, lady ogre was talking about coffee with Alpha. "So you don't do espresso here?" Viv asked, visiting from her coffee shop 'Legends and Lattes.'
Alpha nodded, "We have looked into it, but the management feels there's a LOT of coffee shops around already."
"Not where we come from," Thandi the succubus noted. She was Viv's business partner and girlfriend. She confided, "We're the first coffee shop in the capital."
"That had to have been difficult," Alpha noted.
Thandi looked up at her lover fondly as the pretty bright red skinned girl said, "And this idiot had never hear of advertising."
"What? I was a barbarian adventurer before all this," Viv defended herself, the tall, slightly green skinned woman looking sheepish.
"Still," Thandi chuckled, then suddenly the whole bar rocked violently.
"Ack!" Alpha grabbed onto a section of the bar.
"What the heck," Mahoro yelped, the combat android manning the bar.
"It felt like it came from the meeting rooms," Alpha added worriedly.
"I'll get Juri," Mahoro said, "be right back."
The bar, disturbingly, lurched under their feet AGAIN.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The back room for Arisugawa's Locket, in addition to parties and such, was often booked for clubs and meetings. Tonight's was a gathering of multiversal Sailor Moons...
"What the HELL?!" Ranma (Sailor FIGHT Moon) yelped.
"This is a PG rated series. No swearing!" Sailor Pretty Cure Moon chided.
"NOT THE TIME FOR THAT." Lina Inverse, (Sailor EXPLOSION Moon) yelped as a glowing figure fully materialized.
The figure was shrouded in gold, but also swarming with black... liquid metal? She stood unnaturally straight, and a glowing sword and pistol were clutched in her hands.
"Is that Sailor Venus?!" Tanya (Sailor EMPIRE Moon) yelped.
"Something's VERY wrong, though!" Setsuna (Sailor Time-Moon) added as the table they were sitting at crumpled, collapsing into the singularity around Venus.
"No, REALLY?" River Song (Sailor Moon, Gallifrey) snapped back.
VORP VORP VORP VORP
"Oh hell, THEM too?!" Ranma complained as a TARDIS crashed into the room, the Police Box topped with the crystal from Sailor Pluto's staff.
"River?!" Doctor Pluto yelped.
"Not now! We've got to get her contained!" River Song barked back.
Then Sailor Venus blipped out, disappearing as suddenly as she appeared.
"What the HECK?" Ranma complained just as the door to the meeting room slammed open.
"What was THAT?" Juri Arisugawa demanded, holding a beam saber as her staff crowded in behind her.
"Sorry, got to rush," Puella Magi Pluto said as the crosstime Plutos jumped into the TARDIS again and vanished.
VORP VORP VORP VORP
"Okay this is just getting completely out of hand," Setsuna Meiou, Sailor Time-Moon, sighed.
"Explanations. Now," Juri ordered.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"I'm thinking of barring meetings of alternates of the same person," Juri noted later.
"That's a bit excessive, boss," Ryouko noted.
"As far as we can tell, having so much... Sailor Moon energy in one place nearly ruptured space-time," Washu, the mad scientist and Ryouko's mom, noted.
(Juri had called her in. Washu, after all, had created the device that allowed the bar to cross universes and pick up customers everywhere.)
"But it doesn't happen normally," May, the assistant manager, noted.
"We also don't have large numbers of avatars of the same cosmic force stuffed in a room together," Washu pointed out.
"Yet the Council or Ricks has THOUSANDS of Ricks in one place," Minagi, Ryouko's twin, noted mildly.
"Our tech works on different principles," Washu shrugged. She continued seriously, "The Portal Guns that the Ricks all use functionally rip space-time... while mine layers us over/into the other universe seemlessly."
"... is ripping holes in space-time safe?" Alpha asked.
"Not at all," Washu shrugged as she explained, "but they don't care. Eventually, it'll bite them all in the ass."
"I heard their Citadel exploded," Nabiki noted.
Ignoring that Ryouko pressed, "So you agree with Juri?"
"The safety systems on the Time Space Device SHOULD keep anything too bad from happening," Washu shrugged, "but..."
"No more meet ups like that," Juri said firmly.
"Yeah, yeah...," Ryouko sighed but nodded.
"So, what was that Sailor Venus that appeared?" Juri asked Washu, assuming she might know.
Washu looked worried, "She;s a alternate future version of her. You know how one counterpart of her is searching the multiverse for power?"
"Yes?" Juri asid warily.
"That version went too far," Washu said flatly. "She's so powerful, she's become a unstable cosmic force, pretty much."
"Shit," Ryouko blinked.
"... do we need to do something about her?" May asked worriedly.
"The other Plutos are going after her," Washu said, "hopefully they can head things off before she goes too far."
"Great," Juri sighed. "I just want to run my bar in peace," she muttered.
"There there," May patted her arm.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Sonomi Daidouji was, bluntly, rich. Not, admittedly, Amazon level rich, but generally saying if she wanted something, she could aford to buy it. Including information.
"They WHAT," Sonomi blinked.
"They were attacked by a inter-dimensional warship," Kozue Kaoru said, the blue haired young woman sitting in her office.
"Damn...," Sonopmi shook her head.
"And SOMETHING weird happened related to Sailor Moon," Kozue added. "I wasn't there, but whatever it was shook the bar like an explosion."
"Understood," Sonomi handed her a envelope.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Kozue pocketed it. The woman walked out of the office, hips swaying under her mini-skirt.
"Miss Daidouji," Shiori, her assistant, nodded to her respectfully as she returned from escorting Kozue out.
"... is Miss Kaoru single?" Sonomi mused thoughtfully.
Shiori stiffened, "If you're considering that, make sure you get her tested."
Sonomi looked startled, "She's THAT bad?"
A bit apologetically Shiori noted, "She was trouble in school, and Kozue's just gotten wilder since then."
"Thank you for the warning," Sonomi said quietly.
"You're welcome," Shiori said. "Would you like some tea?" she offered like a good 'office lady.'
"Yes, please," Sonomi smiled.
Part of Shiori wanted to suggest HERSELF if Sonomi was feeling 'needy' but couldn't bring herself to offer...
To be continued...
Characters: Viv and Thandi from the novel Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree, Ranma from Ranma 1/2, Pretrty Cure from Pretty Cure, Lina Inverse from Slayers, Tanya von Degurechaff from Saga of Tanya the Evil, River Song from Doctor Who, Sonomi from Card Captor Sakura, Shiori nd Kozue from Revolutionary Girl Utena and various versions of Sailor Pluto.
Staff: May is from Handmaid May, Ryouko, Washu and Minagi are from Tenchi Muyo, Alpha is from Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. Juri is from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Mahoro is from Mahoromantic and Nabiki is from Ranma 1/2.