Shinji yawned. Then he blinked sleepily. "Huh? It's morning already? Why didn't Misato wake me...?"
When he realized that he wasn't in his room, he first thought that he was still dreaming. The landscape around him looked very strange, and exceptionally different from Tokyo-2. Green meadows, yellow brick roads, curiously shaped hills and mountaintops in the distance... he had never seen anything like it before.
He tried rubbing his eyes, but then realized that his arms must have somehow shrunk. He blinked again when he looked at them... they were pink, round and stubby.
As was the rest of his body.
"Okay..." he murmured. "This is definitely weirder than any dream I previously had..."
"What are you waiting for, Kirby?" a deep voice close to him grumbled. "Take that sword and defend yourself!"
Shinji was very surprised to notice that he wasn't all alone as he had thought: A small creature, with a round body just as his own, was standing a few feet from his current position, but while his new body was only cute and cuddly, this person seemed like a more serious guy. His face/body was covered by a intimidating, grey mask, with only a slit behind which he could see his glowing eyes. He was wearing a dark blue cape that was billowing in the wind, and in his right hand, he was grasping a wicked-looking sword.
The masked creature pointed its sword at another, simpler looking blade that was stuck in the grass in front of him. "What are you waiting for?" he hissed. "I can't train you for your fight against the Dark Matter if you don't pick up your sword. What are you, a coward?"
Shinji shook his head... body... whatever. "This isn't happening..." he mumbled. "I'm going to close my eyes now, and when I wake up, I'm back in Misato's apartment, just in time to hear another one of Asuka's rants..."
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" the caped creature yelled and leapt at him. Shinji cried out in shock when the scary sword got planted at the spot where he had been sitting just seconds ago. "I'm sick of this, Kirby!" his opponent grumbled. "Either you take that sword and show me what you're made of, or I'll take on Dark Matter by myself!"
"But... but I'm not..." Shinji muttered. He stumbled backwards, never noticed that they were standing at the top of a high cliff, tripped over a rock... and fell down into the depths.
"WHAAAAAAAAHHH!" he yelled while he was plunging down the deep chasm. "HEEEEELLLPP!"
That made Meta Knight hesitate. He lowered his sword in confusion, then he rubbed his ears. "I must be getting old..." he mumbled. "Or did I really hear Kirby talk just now?"
"HEEEELLLLPPP!" shouted Shinji as he saw the quickly approaching bottom of the deep canyon.
"Dang, he's getting himself killed when he keeps up like this..." Meta Knight grumbled. "What's wrong with him today? Oh well, I better go save the kid..."
With a single gesture of his short arms, his cape transformed into a pair of dark bat wings, which he used to fly after the rapidly dropping puffball that was Shinji.
"What are you doing, Kirby?" he shouted as he flew next to him. "Suck in some air and float, or do you want to die that badly?"
"Excuse me?" Shinji screamed. "Are you crazy? I'm not some balloon! Sucking in air won't help in such a situation! HELP ME!"
"Dammit, that kid's really irritating today..." Meta Knight grumbled. "Aw heck..." He quickly flapped his wings, caught Shinji's body just before he hit the ground and held him safely.
Shinji blinked. "I'm dead, right?"
"No..." Meta Knight sighed as he carefully dropped him to the ground. "But you better have a good explanation how you could just have forgotten to fly... and since when can you talk?"
Shinji took a few deep breaths and waited until his heart stopped pounding, then he took a closer look at the masked stranger. "Excuse me, have we met before?"
Meta Knight facefaulted.
"Princess?"
Asuka groaned and turned around on her bed. "Mmmmmh... just a few more seconds, Misato..."
"Princess, you have to get up!"
Asuka winced when someone pulled the blanket off her body. "Noooooo... gimme that! That's mine!" And she pulled the blanket back up to her chin.
A sigh was heard. "Princess, I'm sorry, but you have to get ready. Don't you remember? The prince of the Zoras is arriving today."
The redhead snarled in annoyance. "What the heck are you...?"
She sat up in bed, ready to give whoever was bothering her a piece of her mind, when she noticed that the bed she was sitting in wasn't really her bed. Same thing for the silky nightgown she was wearing.
She blinked at the maid who was standing in front of her. "You're not Misato..."
The maid was taken aback. "Um... no, princess... it's me, Dina! Are you feeling all right?"
"Princess?" Asuka murmured and looked around. There was nobody in the luxurious bedroom than her, the maid and the oversized canopy bed she was lying in. Nope, no princess anywhere.
Wait a minute...
"Where... where am I?" Asuka shouted as she jumped out of the bed. "Where's Misato? Where's Shinji?" She ran to the window.
"Princess!" Dina gasped.
Asuka looked outside. And saw the medieval town down below her. She saw the spires and other towers of the castle she was in. And in the far distance, she could see the shores of a huge lake that was glittering in the morning sun.
"I don't think I'm in Tokyo-2 anymore..." Asuka murmured.
Dina walked up next to her and calmly put her hand on Asuka'S arm. "Princess Zelda, I really think you shouldn't let anyone see you in your nightgown..."
Asuka stared at her. "WHAT did you call me?"
Rei looked into the mirror inside the tiny bathroom. A highly technological bathroom, indeed. Everything in here seemed to be automated... but that wasn't what her attention was fixed on.
Instead, she was focussed entirely on the fact that she was now an antropomorphic, blue-furred vixen... a fox-girl, so to speak.
She also looked at the blue spacesuit she was wearing, which was so unlike the plugsuit she used to pilot her Eva.
Someone knocked at the door of the bathroom. "Krystal, are you all right? You really gave me a surprise back there, storming out of our mission briefing like that. Can we talk?"
Fox McCloud, leader of the Starfox Team, stepped back in surprise when the door in front of him opened, and Krystal, his team mate and almost-girlfriend looked at him with an unusual, cold expression.
"Is this a kidnapping?" she simply asked.
Fox was taken aback by that question. "Umm... no..."
Rei waited a moment before asking her next question. "Is this a dream, then?"
"Krystal... you're giving me the creeps here. Seriously..."
"Krystal...?"
"Yeah, Krystal! Your name, remember?"
Rei stared down at her blue-furred hand. "I... see..." She looked back up at Fox's face. "And what is my... mission?"
"Uh... you didn't listen to the General, did you? We have to investigate the distress signal coming from Katina, you know? The one he talked about."
Rei nodded. As long as she was trapped inside this weird hallucination, she could still act accordingly. After all, she was trained to listen to orders. "Understood. What was your rank, again?"
THAT question surprised Fox more than any other. "B-but Krystal... it's me, Fox! Fox McCloud, your friend and commander! Don't you remember?" He looked very worried. "Or did you hit your head or something?"
"I am fine, Commander McCloud," Rei simply stated as she turned to go. "We should go. Please inform me about all the needed information on this mission on the way..."
"Um... fine," he murmured. "Krystal... that's the way to the quarters. The hangar's THIS way."
Rei turned around and followed her new commander. "Understood. Lead the way."
"Okay... just... just follow me." While the blue-furred vixen followed him with an emotionless expression, Fox inconspiciously activated his communicator. "Peppy," he whispered. "Please prepare a bed at sick bay... I think Krystal's not feeling too good..."
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(Posted Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:00)
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