Bolts of dark purple energy sparked between several large devices, while arcs of green crawled up some of the devices, and arcs of red crawled down others.
Washu raced between several different consoles, working furiously. As she did so, she rattled off a stream of swears in over a dozen languages, none of which were spoken on Earth, and most of which hadn't been spoken in thousands of years.
Ranma groaned at his pounding headache as he awoke. He put his hand to his forehead and rubbed - then opened his eyes in shock at the fact that he could do that.
His hopes that the fact that he wasn't restrained meant he was home were dashed as he saw the familiar machinery of Washu's lab.
"Ah, you're awake."
Ranma turned and saw Washu walking over to him. "Washu-chan? I guess it didn't work?"
"Oh, no, it worked perfectly! ...Okay, not quite perfectly, but it did do the job of sending you home."
"Huh?" Ranma looked around, as if expecting the lab to suddenly morph into the Tendo home.
"Well, it sent a part of you home. It seems Mihoshi wasn't entirely responsible for my previous failure - whatever factor caused you to be split in two when she activated the device was actually worse this time, despite the containment field I had designed..." [Author's Note: What, you hadn't guessed Mihoshi was involved in the first foul-up?]
"You mean... I was split again?" Ranma guessed.
"Correct! And not just in two this time. I tracked at least five other parts of you leaving this dimension, though there may have been more. Three of them headed towards the dimensional coordinates I calculated as being your home, though at different temporal vectors. I have yet to determine where the other pieces I tracked wound up, or began to search for ones I might have missed."
"..."
"Three parts of you made it home, but at different points in time. There are at least two more of you that didn't make it home, but I haven't figured out yet where they went or if they are the only other pieces of you."
"Oh."
"I'm going to attempt to pinpoint the locations of the various versions of you I tracked, and contact them to let them know what happened. While I do that, you should go se if Sasami has any food she can spare; as I expected you desperately need to replenish your mass."
"Okay." Ranma got up off the examining table; he promptly found himself floating. "Wha-?"
Washu smirked. "Thanks to the Masu I bonded you with so you could survive the dimensional journey, you have many new abilities - amongst which is the ability to fly! I am such a genius!"
Ranma wasn't a fan of free power-ups, but he supposed it had been necessary. "So... how do I control it?"
After a long explanation from Washu that Ranma didn't understand a word of, and a bit of experimentation on his part, Ranma figured out how to direct himself in the air - and how to land. Now in control of himself, he headed out of the lab to get some food.
As he headed through the lab towards the door to the Masaki home, Ranma thought about his other selves. It was weird to think that there was now more than one of him. Unfortunately, if three of him had made it home, they didn't really need another of him there. (Plus, if Washu tried to send him again, he'd probably just get split again, and there'd still be one of him stuck in Washu's dimension.) It looked like he would have to get used to this world.
Getting used to a new location wouldn't be to big of a problem - he had done it countless times before. However, he would miss his friends and family, not to mention his fiancees...
See other episodes by Chronos the Cat
(Posted Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:25)
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