Even in Tokyo, there are places that are occasionally deserted. Such as a small alleyway, between a bakery and a produce store. People would come and go... but for the moment, no one was there.
Which was probably a good thing, as what looked like a field of stars suddenly burst into existence in the alley. It lasted but a moment, and then faded away... leaving behind five beings. For appeared to be human, but the last was... not.
"Here you go, home sweet home, just like I promised!" The non-human said cheerfully, in a voice well used to self-glorifying. He was humanoid, and could be disguised as a human, if need be. It wasn't his pale skin or bright red hair that truly set him apart. However, possessing four arms clearly demonstrated that Homo Sapien was not his species.
The other four looked at the speaker, visibly distrusting his words. The Four-armed man sweated for a moment under their eyes, before reminding himself that he was bigger and stronger than all of them.
Then he also remembered that, despite that, any one of them could kick his @$$ in more ways than he had fingers. Working together... there wouldn't be enough of him left for a thimble. "Oh, come on! I'm sure this time!"
Finally, one of them gave a reply... in the form of a snort. She had short black hair, wore a pair of sunglasses, and was dressed in tight, red clothes, over which she wore an orange trench coat. "Need I remind you what happened the last two times we trusted you, Gil? The only reason we went along with you this time, is because Gogo vouched for this one, as well. We're trusting Gogo... not you."
The man seemed to deflate at those words. "Aww... come on, Red... I said I was sorry..."
Another traveler, this one wearing a loose white shirt and pants, and carrying a short staff with a fist-sized crystal on its top, shook her head. "We know you're sorry, Gilgamesh," she said, pushing her wavy, auburn hair out of her face, "and we do forgive you. Just don't expect us to ever trust you with a critical task again."
"Actually," piped up the only other male, "as we've been here for over thirty seconds, and no one's attacked us yet, I'd say he's getting better." The speaker was strangely the shortest one there, and wore a large blue robe over what looked like a black body suit. A rapier rested at his right hip. He also had short brown hair, and wore glasses so thick that his eyes were completely obscured.
The final girl shook her head at the others' antics. "Look, can we maybe check and see if this is home? I'd like to know if this is just another wild goose chase." She wore very rugged clothes, all in shades of gray or tan. Her brown hair was shoulder length, and a pair of aviator's goggles rested atop her head.
Giggling a bit, the girl in white held out her staff. "Settle down, Keiko... this will only take a moment." Concentrating on her staff, the crystal began glowing, and shifting colors. Faster and faster, it cycled through the colors of the rainbow, before stopping, glowing a brilliant white.
The girl choked a moment at the sight. Tears started welling up in her eyes. She tried to say something, but couldn't.
The boy placed a worried hand on her shoulder. "Naru?"
Naru whirled and began weeping onto his shoulder, finally saying the words they all wanted to hear: "We're home. Oh, Umino... we're home at last!"
Keiko caught her breath, a look of cautious hope dawning in her eyes... but she couldn't let herself go. Not yet. "A...anyway to check what the date is? I mean... we know how time runs differently and all..."
That caught the embracing couple short. "Um... well, I guess we could work out a spell for that..." Umino said after a moment.
The girl in red chuckled a moment. "Don't bother. You two tend to forget the practicalities of life. Just... wait here a moment." With that, she walked out of the alley.
Moments later, she walked back to her companions... carrying a newspaper. "If this is today's paper... than it's three weeks to the day since we got caught in that cross-rip."
Hearing that, Keiko fell to her knees in relief. The other girl smiled down at her. "That's right, only three weeks have passed. Which means, unless he's done something increadibly stupid, your guy's still around for you." She smirked, and pulled down her sunglasses, revealing brown eyes flecked with red. "So what are you still doing here?"
Keiko giggled at that. "Yusuke doing something stupid is almost a given... but he's too tough and stubborn to get himself killed because of it." She got up and dusted off the legs of her pants, before looking at the other apologetically. "I... I need to get going. I need to see him..."
Naru waved her off. "Then go! We can get in touch with you whenever we need to. Get going!"
Keiko nodded, and with a smile and a wave, ran off.
Umino snapped his fingers. "Shucks, I thought she'd fly, considering how giddy she is."
Naru rolled her eyes. "Even after all this time, she tends to forget she has powers now."
Umino grinned back at her. "Funny... you never had that problem."
Naru punched his shoulder, playfully. "Hey, after all the times I get attacked by whatever monster decides to show up, I'm not about to forget that I can now fight back!"
"Red" chuckled again at that. "Heh... nothing like blasting the monsters with their own attacks, right? Really, you should be the one wearing blue, you know."
Naru just stuck out her tongue at the other girl. Then she sighed. "We need to get going, ourselves. I'm sure our parents are worried sick."
"Red" tilted her head a bit. "You have a story to tell them?"
Umino shrugged. "We'll just say that we remembered seeing a monster, then blackness, and then waking up here in strange clothes. Around Juban, that's far from being unheard of."
With that, and a final wave, the two lovers also went their own way.
Gilgamesh looked at the only one remaining. "Do you guys always split up this fast?"
She shrugged. "We spend so much time together, we tend to split up fast whenever we ended up staying someplace for an extended period of time. In a couple days, we'll all get back together." Then she grinned. "The hard part will be to let it sink in that we don't have to leave, this time."
Gilgamesh frowned at that, and then said in an uncharacteristic, serious tone, "You never told them, did you?"
The girl blinked. "What, the true nature of my powers? They're all smart, I'm sure they each figured it out."
"No. That you don't intend to stay here."
The girl was quite for several moments, before she replied. "No. I never did. I don't think they ever realized how much different I am from them. They know time travels at different rates between realities... but I don't think they ever figured out how much time I spent on the world I ended up in, before I was able to leave and start gathering them up. I... didn't think it was important." Then she grinned again. "Besides, I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon. There are things I intend to take care of before I even think about leaving."
Gilgamesh blinked. "Oh? What are those?"
"Strife. And the Laughing Man."
"You really think those two will follow you guys here?"
The girl shrugged. "Yes. Strife said my powers would be his, one way or another. 'Mr. Giggles' swore to destroy us, and everything we ever held dear. They are both able to move between realities on their own. It would be foolish not to expect them to show up sooner or later."
"Those the only two?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Most our other enemies ended up coming down with a bad case of death. Of those that didn't... Well, Ingiz, Bison, and Erode have no way to move through realities. Neither do Quincy or Slade, but those two are too smart to even bother us for something as petty as 'revenge.' Heck, the only other reality-spanning enemy we had was Dragomon, and we never managed to rate more than a nuisance to him." She paused for a moment. "Gilgamesh... I know you travel all over... if you find out anything about them... we'd all appreciate the heads up."
Gilgamesh nodded. Turning away, he raised one of his hands to cast a spell, then stopped. "You know... when you do decide to leave... well, the X-Zone isn't pretty, but it's a good place for those of us who just don't fit in anywhere. Gogo would appreciate another intelligent regular." He paused. "So would I."
The girl nodded. "When I'm ready to leave... I might just take you up on that offer." She patted him on his shoulder. "Goodbye, Gilgamesh."
He nodded. "Goodbye, Akane." And with a wave of his hand, the void of stars returned and swallowed him up.
Akane sighed, looking at where he had been, before turning away. She had a lot to do, and needed to get going.
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(Posted Mon, 04 Oct 2004 09:06)
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