"FATHER!" Chiyo's voice echoed through the house, the thunder of her shout loud and sharp enough to bring the crowd of adults in the kitchen running to the living room to see what was going on. "Quit scaring everyone like that!"
Reaching the open doorway to the living room, they stopped . . .
And stared.
Stared lots.
"Ah!" the strange oval-shaped being with cat ears, stubby legs and stringy arms called out as he slowly turned to face the crowd from the kitchen, one arm looping up in greeting. "It's nice to see my daughter making such good friends."
"Ah . . .! Hah . . .!" Yukari groaned out as she took in the full measure of Chiyo's father. She had been there when Gotou Chojirou, the assistant principal, had met Mihama Chiyo and her father for the first time, just before she had been introduced to the rest of Class 1-3 that year. And she was sure to remember that Chiyo's father did not look like this! "Who are you?!"
Chiyo blushed. "This is my dad!"
"Yes," Sakaki confirmed, her face flush red in embarrassment at finding out that all her suspicions concerning Chiyo's father had just been confirmed.
Yukari and Nyamo exchanged a look, and then both moaned, "Right . . . "
"I have to confess, in all my years working for the Corps, I've never encountered someone quite like you, Mr. Mihama."
Chiyo's father -- his Terran identity was Mihama Kenji; on Yiziba, he had been called Ghost Walker -- laughed as one of his arms looped around the handle of a tea cup so he could enjoy the wonderful sencha his daughter had prepared for herself and all her many guests. "I agree, Stewart-san, that my current form might be a bit disconcerting, but when you're blessed with my powers, well . . . " He paused before continuing, "This form actually is rather plain compared to what I've sometimes had to assume whenever I've been affected by surrounding mana fields." His eyes then fell on Sakaki. "Especially when you have someone as pure hearted as Kiyomi there."
"S-s-sir . . . " the tall ailurophile stuttered.
"It's alright, Sakaki-san," Chiyo assured her. "Father actually felt that you're imagining him as this was pretty fascinating."
Kagura and Tomo were laughing their guts out. "Ya gotta admit, Sakaki! That sure is pretty original, even for a cat-lover like you!" the former exclaimed as she reached over to slap her "rival's" shoulder.
The others from Japan howled with delight, that making Sakaki's blush deepen even further. The members of the Justice League could only shake their heads, many of them finding the humour in the situation as well. "So what did bring you and your child here to Earth in the first place, Mr. Mihama?" Shayera then asked.
The cat-like being gazed on the Thanagarian, and then he smiled. He had been alive during that "great fight scene" that had erupted on Yiziba when the winged sames had tried to conquer his world, that scene later being shifted to Thanagar for the retaliation phase. He didn't need his mystical senses -- Ghost Walker, atop spending most of his life in a non-corporeal state, had the ability to tap into the universal mana flows and sense other people's feelings and emotions (and, when they were intensive enough, physically alter his form in reaction to them) -- to tell him what the poor girl was thinking. "We're not here to invade this planet, Hol-san," he then declared. "Ever since the Dawn of Power, when the Crystal of Power was first discovered and the first Conservator began to bless my people, most of my people have always lived under the belief that our ways are for ourselves only. Yes, there were those heels throughout my planet's history that got the 'invasion bug,' but there were, thank the Crystal, few and far between. And all of them were stopped by faces who understood what that sort of thinking could have spelt, for my people and others."
"So why the change?" Bruce wondered.
"A most shocking thing, in fact," Chiyo's father declared. "When the Conservator decided to bless an alien of all people with the power of Destructo."
Silence.
"Grigori Wysynski," Clark declared.
"Exactly," Mr. Mihama replied. "Despite what most beings outside Yiziba have been led to believe about us, I would like to believe that we're not so callous as to turn around and bestow a power equal in rank to the Conservator's -- especially that power -- to someone who has never experienced life on Yiziba. Had he been a native Yizibajohei -- or had he chose to stay on Yiziba after his Awakening -- it would have been no problem. But he chose instead . . . "
"To return to the world of his birth," Shayera finished for their host, and then her eyes widened. "You're here to stop him, aren't you?"
"Not exactly, child."
The Thanagarian gasped. "But . . . "
"Please don't misunderstand me," Mr. Mihama said with a wave of one of his arms. "For too long, too many people have made the wrong assumptions about our way of life. We believe, as I'm sure your friend Batman has told you, in full freedom of choice. You here on Earth have evolved ideas quite similar to ours. Democracy. Freedoms of speech, worship and belief. Social responsibility for your fellow citizens. We have those ideas as well, but due to our unique situation . . . "
"They sometimes appear much different than what people here would be used to," Diana concluded.
"Exactly."
"So you're here more or less as observers," Negi Springfield mused.
"My daughter, my wife and I are. As I'm sure your charge is as well, young man," Mr. Mihama mused as he stared knowingly at Asakura Kazumi, the woman known as Windtalker nodding in return. "As for young Ranma and Shinobu . . . "
"I got sent here as a baby, like Clark did from Krypton," Ranma spoke up. "My real mom was dying of something bad and she didn't want to risk my being raised by someone else on Yiziba. She sent an information packet to my adopted parents so they could understand where I came from and what I was supposed to be like."
"Your training trip was the result of that," Bruce said.
"Yep. What about you, Shinobu?"
"My real parents wanted to leave Yiziba and explore the galaxy, try to expand knowledge about all the other races so we could try to break down some barriers between us and promote some understanding," Shinobu said. "Pirates ambushed their ship just outside this solar system. I was put into a lifepod and rocketed here to Earth, where my adopted parents found me while they were on their honeymoon. It was fortunate for me that the Doctor came along later to explain where I came from and how I was able to tap into such huge levels of strength in the first place."
"So we have something of a time frame concerning when Wysynski became Destructo," Bruce concluded. "At least twenty years."
"As you see time," Mr. Mihama replied.
"So if there are other Yizibajohei here on Earth, they'll probably be young people. Peers of Chiyosuke, Ranma-kun, Shinobu-chan and Kazumi-chan," Yomi then said. "We better start reaching out and getting in contact with them."
"I would express some caution before doing that."
Eyes locked on the cat-like being seated at the head of the table. "What do you mean, sir?" Tokiha Mai then asked.
"Remember, child, my people believe in full freedom of action when it comes to living their lives," Mr. Mihama declared. "If they sense that you're trying to coerce them into doing something they may not like, their reaction -- as Hol-san can easily attest to -- can become very violent. Keep that in mind."
The Watchtower, later . . .
"Home-baked cookies, son?"
"You know how much J'onn likes them," Captain Marvel noted as he slipped in the box of freshly-baked sweets (from Chiyo, of course) into the refrigerator near the cafeteria. "When he comes back, he'll be pretty happy."
Green Lantern laughed as he waved the World's Mightiest Mortal with him back to the main meeting hall. There, the others -- including J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter -- were waiting for them. The green-skinned last son of Mars had been briefed by Batman concerning the Yizibajohei problem. "You mean to say that your people actually had friendly relations with them?" Hawkgirl wondered.
"As my people were telepaths, we were able to better bring ourselves to understand how the Yizibajohei live their lives," the Manhunter replied. "Yes, they were quite excessively violent for our tastes, but whenever one of their more malcontent elements moved to cause trouble elsewhere, someone came to stop it. There are responsible people living on that planet, Shayera. You must trust in their basic nature to better be able to deal with them." A pause. "And with Destructo."
"How do you see our dealing with him?" Lantern asked.
"Essentially, Destructo is neutral," the Martian replied. "Totally neutral. Yes, he would do things we would find quite repulsive. But he would do things that Orion's father would find also quite threatening, such as seek out to destroy the Anti-Life Equation and ensure Darkseid could never use it to conquer the Universe. After all, in Destructo's eyes, the sort of tyranny Darkseid wishes to unleash . . . "
"Is something that cannot allow the forces of Chaos and Anarchy to flow free," Orion finished.
"Indeed."
"So we take a wait and see posture with this guy, right?" Superman wondered.
"It may be the best choice," Wonder Woman said.
"I'm not comfortable doing that sort of thing," Batman warned.
"You're always not comfortable about things like that, Bruce," the Man of Steel noted.
"You know me too well, Clark," the Dark Knight Detective replied as he moved to leave. "I'm going back to Gotham. There's something I need to pursue."
"Be careful," Hawkgirl warned.
"I'll be fine."
After Batman had left, Marvel then turned to Superman. "Clark, are you busy right about now? The Wizard would want to speak to you at the Rock of Eternity."
Superman stared at his friend, and then he nodded. It had to be about Tokiha Mai and the potential offer Shazam wanted to give the young girl. "Alright."
So now we . . .
(Posted Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:48)
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