Resigned to the fact that she would be ordering out tonight, she picked up her cell phone and dialed the local Pizza Shed.
"Hello, I would like a--"
"You have reached the Goddess assistance help line," a voice on the other end interrupted. "We will be sending an agent to take care of you momentarily."
Puzzled, Megumi turned off her phone and stared at it. She had been certain that she had dialed the right number...
Megumi's train of thought was interrupted as a sudden rumbling came from...her tea mug? An instant later, the tea exploded from the mug in all directions.
"What the--?" Megumi coughed as she wiped the hot tea from her face.
"Goddess of the future, Second Class, Limited, Skuld is here!" came a voice. It was only then that Megumi noticed that a girl of about fourteen years of age, with long black hair and dressed in the most garish of robes, was standing on her coffee table.
"G-goddess?" Megumi stammered. How had that girl gotten in anyway? The door and windows were all locked, and she was sure she had been alone a moment ago...
"You got it! And (no thanks to my no-good sister Urd), I am here to grant you a wish!"
Megumi stared.
"A wish? All right, who put you up to this? No wait, let me guess. It was my brother, right?"
"Well, actually it was my sister, but--HEY! You're not taking me seriously here!" Skuld shouted indignantly.
"Well, you have to admit, being visited by a Goddess is not what I expected when I called out for pizza."
"Hey, don't look at me," Skuld said. "I'm not the one who decides who merits Divine Intervention and who doesn't. That all gets decided upstairs."
Megumi nodded. It seemed that bureaucracy was the same everywhere, even in the heavens.
"Anyway, the Powers That Be have decided that you are to be granted a wish and--hey is that a Yamazaki V-4 two liter engine?" Skuld's eyes were suddenly drawn to the corner of the room, where said engine was sitting on a bed of newspapers in a state of partial disassembly.
"Um, yeah, it is." Megumi scratched her head in embarassment. "Thanks to my brother I'm in the Nekomi Tech motor club."
"That is so cool!" Skuld pounced on the engine and began to inspect it from every angle, showing an enthusiasm shared only by true machine lovers.
"Oooh, this is great! But you know, you've got the carbuerator set kinda low. If you tweaked the fuel-air intermix right, you could get some more power out of this..." Skuld began rambling on about the various things that could be done to improve the engine.
Oddly enough, Megumi found herself being drawn in by Skuld's chatter. This girl really knew her stuff! They spent the next hour or so debating the possible modifications that could be made to the engine.
Megumi smiled as she finally put down her screwdriver. Despite being a kid, Skuld was pretty cool. She was cute, intelligent, cheerful, and energetic, all things that Megumi wished she could be more of. In fact...
"You know, Skuld, I wish that I could be more like you."
No sooner had Megumi spoken, then Skuld suddenly stood up stiffly. The young Goddess began to glow brightly. A wind arose, scattering newspapers and other loose items everywhere in the room. Lightning crackled. Just as it seemed that the windows would shatter in the growing indoor storm, it suddenly subsided, and Skuld slumped to your knees.
"Welcome to the club," Skuld smiled weakly.
"Um...what club?" Megumi asked.
"Your wish to be more like me was approved. Megumi, you are now the Junior Patron Goddess of Mechanics, Tinkerers, and Blacksmiths, Third Class, Limited."
"Wha--?" Megumi gaped.
Skuld stood up and turned Megumi so that she was facing the full-length mirror on the wall. Looking at her reflection, Megumi saw that she now had markings on her cheekbones and forehead similar to Skuld's, only the one on her forehead was square-shaped instead of ring-shaped.
"Mom is so going to kill me," Megumi deadpanned.
Note: Megumi's transport medium is pipes--any kind--plastic or metal, and they don't have to be attatched to anything, either. Basically, Megumi can teleport between any two places where there are pipes of any kind. Megumi's secondary power source is chocolate--expect her to eat chocolate just as heavily as Skuld eats ice cream.
See other episodes by Ijuin-kun
(Posted Fri, 10 Jan 2003 15:55)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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