Meanwhile, somewhere else, someone had a headache. It wasn't a bad headache, but it did mean that the future had changed drastically.
She stood up and hit a pool of water with a staff, then looked in it. What she saw must have amused her, because she smiled at it. She then hit the water again, and paid attention to the ripples.
Except for a small blip close to where she struck the pool, the ripples behaved normally. She took note of where the blip was, and then consulted a map of the nearby city.
Whatever the disturbance was, it had interfered with the true future, and had to be removed.
------
Himeko, Sei, and Daichi were at the abandoned old house. Himeko had brought Poomo with her. She also had the ribbon, which was now fixed.
Sei frowned. "Hime-chan, are you certain that the ribbon's magic is still... not whole?"
Himeko nodded. "Last time the ribbon was torn, I got impatient and ended up as Daichi the whole day. That's why Erika sent the watch and palette. The duplication magic is tied to the same magic that makes Pokota talk, which is also tied to the part of the spell that lets me return to normal. If I can't duplicate, it's not safe to use the ribbon."
Poomo, while this was being explained, had been trying to return to Sunny Kingdom by his own power. It didn't work, and he decided it was because he was cut off from Fine and Rein.
Himeko stood up. She tried to put on the ribbon, and then dug into her pocket and pulled out the Magic Palette. "I'm going to try it again." she announced. Daichi got up and fixed the ribbon on properly. Sei couldn't stand the thought of having lost to Daichi, so he looked out the window for the time being. He didn't look back until he heard the incantation.
"Tinka, Tinku, Tinkara, Tinkuru! Futari ni nare!"
There was a brief, soft glow, and a copy of Himeko faded into existence for the first time in about a year. Poomo, not being used to the magic of the Magic Kingdom, looked on in wonder, and then asked "So-poomo, this means that the ribbon is fixed-poomo?"
Hime-copy answered him "It most certainly does, Mister Poomo. Miss Himeko, are you sure this was a good idea?"
Everyone blinked at her. "Whaddya mean, 'was this a good idea?'" asked Himeko.
Hime-copy sighed. Part of having half of Himeko's personality also meant that she was only half as short-sighted. "We don't know where Mister Pokota is."
------
"FINE-SAMA! REIN-SAMA!"
Camelot was dashing down the halls of Sunny Castle, looking for her charges. Lulu, her apprentice (and a talking female Felinoid, which is a kind of cat-person that's more cat than person) was following closely, taking notes, and also calling for Fine and Rein... who then ran into them from behind.
After a frenzied explanation, Camelot frowned. "I thought Poomo was your attendant. Why's he off wherever only he knows?"
Fine, who was holding Pokota, shrugged and said "He is our attendant. His box is gone too. All we found was this stuffed cat."
"I am NOT a CAT! I am a LION!" shouted Fine's hand. The normally in-control Pokota lost control at being called a cat, and in this case, he even forgot that he wasn't anyplace he was familiar with. Of course, once it was said, it couldn't be unsaid. Fine, who was very afraid of ghosts, dropped him like a hot potato and started to babble incoherently. Pokota tried to run off, but Lulu caught him before he could go anywhere.
Rein took this chance to ask "So, who are you and where is Poomo?"
Pokota was about to answer, when he felt his body grow stiff and numb. Of all the times for Himeko to have taken off the ribbon...
------
"Hime-copy's got a point, Nonohara. If we don't know where Pokota is, you probably shouldn't wear the ribbon."
Poomo blinked at Daichi. "Why not-poomo? Pokota's probably with Fine-sama and Rein-sama-poomo."
Himeko sighed. "And what if he isn't? If Hibino-san has him, or if someone notices a talking moving stuffed lion, Erika would probably erase everyone's memories because of it. I don't want to forget Pokota after all this time." She picked up the Palette and opened it back up. "Sinka, Sinku, Sinkara, Sinkuru! Two become One!" Hime-copy smiled, and then faded out of existance for the time being. Himeko turned to Daichi.
"Right, before I forget, where were you this morning?"
"I was just getting back from Juuban."
"The place with all the monster attacks?" She took off the ribbon.
"The only monsters I saw were a pair of talking cats with moons on their foreheads. I left them alone, they're probably from the Magic Kingdom."
Kantarou chose this moment to appear. In the middle of the room. "Sei-sama! Himeko-sama! Daichi-sama!"
Daichi wasn't amused. "Kantarou!? Why so formal?"
Kantarou ignored this. "The King told me to tell you to leave the Ribbon on! Kamilu and Robelia think they can use the connection between Pokota and the Ribbon to find him!"
Poomo floated away from Kantarou. "Is Pokota nearby-poomo?"
Kantarou shook his head. "He's not on Earth, we know that much. Well, that's my message. See ya!"
He faded away. Himeko put the ribbon back on. Poomo looked confused. "Does this sort of thing happen often-poomo?"
Daichi laughed. "Only when Nonohara's involved."
------
Rein and Fine decided to take the stuffed lion with them to the Jewel Kingdom. Not because they were afraid that he would cause problems, but because Rein wanted to see it talk again. Not that Pokota was going to talk or move or anything like that. Even though there was no way to make the girls, that old lady, and the talking-cat-that-wasn't-Pink-chan forget what he had said and tried to do, he figured that, as long as they thought he was just a stuffed lion, he would be alright.
He had never seen Fine and Rein try to fly their Baloon. For the most part, the twins did a decent job of keeping from crashing, mainly because Poomo wasn't the one steering. Every once in a while, Rein would poke Pokota and ask him where Poomo was.
Eventually, Fine started to chat with Rein about cake and dancing and stuff like that. The two of them became so excited about some sort of party that they forgot to fly the baloon. Pokota felt the magic come back to him, but decided to stay like a doll.
"...blah blah eat lots of food blah blah..."
"...blah blah dance with Prince Bright blah blah..."
Pokota became nervous. "Umm, who's flying this thing?"
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, they started to plummet. Fine grabbed the controls and steadied the baloon, and Rein started poking Pokota again. "I know you talked just now, so talk some more!"
"..."
"Please?"
"..."
------
She looked at her map again. Although the pool said that the disturbance was close-by, the place that it had indicated was not on her map. It also didn't seem to have an effect on the future she was interested in.
This is what troubled her. It was a major disturbance that did... nothing to threaten what she had worked so hard to build. She decided to call some friends of hers, to see if they had noticed anything different.
Sooner or later, she told herself, she was going to have to intervene. Especially if this headache continued.
(Posted Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:59)
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.