The Multiverse Module had landed in a small garden bordering a small house, narrowly missing the pond on the side. Artemis looked at a half a dozen half smashed bonsai's, and groaned. Luna could have fixed them all with a wave of her paw. He, on the other hand...
Oh, well, it couldn't be helped. He fixed them all up as much as he could with some basic "fixing" spells, and put them in a row, far away from the Dounut Thing That Navigated The Multiverse With Much Difficulty. Boy, was he glad that Luna was playing "Mission Control" this time...
Thinking of Luna— Oh, yes, he had to figure out where he was, before he reported in, right. Artemis sighed. Alright, from what he could see from the dark windows, the there didn't seem to be anybody in the house at all at the moment, a lucky break for him at least—Well, it was early summer, the time for vacations for many people.
The general style of the houses was rather familiar, too—it reminded him a bit of where the Tsukino's had used to live, now that he thought about it. Alright, let's see...
Artemis jumped out into the street, wrinkling his nose. Ewww, gasoline stink—he'd forgotten how bad that was. The Crystal Cities had little in way of pollution, and he'd forgotten much about the "good old days", frankly.
OK, the address's and nameplates were in Japanese, so...
The night was dark, the wind was cool, and Artemis was rather lucky that nobody was taking a walk that moment. A cat sitting on the street and swearing would have been a bit too much, even for the Juuban area, after all.
A few minutes later, Artemis reported in.
"Hey, Artie? What's up? Are you all right?"
The picture was fuzzy but still recognizably Luna.
"Well, yes, I mean, the Dounut is wobbly but still shipworthy, or will be in a day according to the AI's, so it's OK, but—Luna, I'm, I'm in Juuban. At Usagi-chan's house. Except in isn't."
The image of Luna blinked.
"Ahhh?"
"It's the same address as Usagi-chan's old house, and I according to the calender I saw from the windows she should still be there, but she isn't..."
"Artie, Artie, it's a different Timeline! Even if there's a house at the same address, it doesn't mean Usagi-chan would be there, silly. Though it would be nice if she was, I bet."
"Oh, yeah, I know, but—Hey, Luna? Hear anything from Mina—Venus yet?"
"I'm sorry but no, Artie. Nothing has changed, here. She's still stuck powering the Crystal Tokyo phaseshift, as far as I know."
"Alright, then."
Artemis sighed.
"I'll start Calling the Potential Heros right now then. The early bird gets the worm, right?"
"Right. Good luck, then..."
Artie crawled up to the light grey Crystal, and put his paw on it.
Calling all Potential Heros that my Sovereign Neo-Queen Serenity contacted already, Calling all....
(I shall go, for the Path of the Hero awaits me, I am sure!)
(Um, I have to tell you this—it's not a computer game, and it's not like we have a failsafe reset button...)
(A true Hero does not put stock in such things as "reset buttons"! They go where they are needed. Is Her Most Beauteous Majesty already bond in sacred matrimony, by the way?)
(...Um, ahh, yes?)
(A pi—never mind. Does she have daughters and such, then?)
(Well yes, the Small Lady, but - )
(Ahem. She must be a most wonderous beauty, if she is born of such a mother—Never mind that. Where am I to meet you, and what am I to bring with me?)
(Well, just what is important to you, I suppose—we can provide most of what you or anybody needs we think...)
(Very well then, in the morrow we shall meet!)
(If you say so?)
(Hmmm. So I can choose to be a citizen in this Magical Kingdom—)
(Only if you want to, afterwards, Miss)
(And you'll fix all the maladies I might have?)
(We'll do that for all the Hero's who actually came to help us, ma'am. NSM Medicine is pretty darn good, if I say so myself—)
(And you can really return me back to my own world, right after I leave?)
(We think so, Miss, but it's not a sure thing. We can return you within a reasonable span, though, we think)
(Hmmm. But there ain't no such thing as a free lunch, right?)
(No real reset button, Miss. We can stop people from dying a lot of the time, and can even get them back afterwards if the conditions are right, but it's not a certain thing by any means.)
(Hmmmm. Let me think about this...)
(Can you give me back my wife?)
(I...don't think so. I'm sorry, sir...)
(C, c, c - c- c -Cat Cat Cat)
(Arrgghh, what, what, what?)
(Hey, Ranma, why are you in my dream? Oh, what a cute kitty...)
(Could you make him stop, Miss?)
(I donno... Maybe if I had some imaginary sashimi or something?)
(Could you do something about my curse?)
(A curse? What does it do? We're rather good at that kind of thing, too—)
(I want my airen to love me.)
(Um, forcing people to love anybody is illegal by our laws, Miss— it comes under the anti-brainwashing clauses...)
(I wish my beloved would love me back)
(Well, what have you tried to get into her good graces up to this point, sir?)
(I do wish my Ranma-sama would see that I am the only woman for him. It's so obvious! And then my brother could be happy with that idiot Tendo girl...)
(Ahh, Miss, sorry but no brainwashing allowed, please...)
(Come, Heros should get there just rewards! Land! Money! Something!)
(Errrrr....)
(I'll go if my husband does, dear kitty. I don't want to be separated from him any more, after all...)
(Ahh. Thank you, ma'am? I think)
Artemis collapsed onto the pilot seat, exhausted.
Was it just him, or were all those Potential Heros actually really all that... Strange?
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:34)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.