In the skies over Tomobiki…
A brilliant flash of energy exploded several hundred metres over the Moroboshi home, allowing a slender woman in a slate-grey bodysuit bearing the white ∞ symbol of Infinity on her chest. As she felt the tug of Earth's gravity pull on her, the just-awakened Kasuga Ayumu concentrated for a fraction of a second to create a static null-gravity bubble around her to keep her in place, one that was locked on Earth's very core to ensure she didn't get flung into deep space by the planet's very own movements. With that done, she glanced around, her brown eyes widening in shock on seeing the massive number of very BIG and clearly ALIEN mushrooms growing out of every building in a five-kilometre radius from the Moroboshi home.
Of course, she could see past the magical fields currently surrounding Tomobiki now which — to the aliens now here and in higher orbit — made it appear that the Yaminokuni mushrooms were spreading at a catastrophic rate across every bit of surface land on Earth, eventually leading to the whole surface of the planet being cut off from the life-giving rays of Sol within five days. While a part of the current Infinity — the part of her that wasn't born seventeen years before as a normal girl in Wakayama — wondered why such an illusion was being projected to the stupid and arrogant sames and norms allowing a fungal plague to spread out over Earth like this, the part of her that WAS Kasuga Ayumu simply ignored it. The magical fields — which reached up to the Kármán line a hundred kilometres above ground, well past the point where any normal living being couldn't realistically survive for more than a second before freezing to death from lack of heat or literally exploding from lack of air pressure — were keeping the fungi spores from spreading beyond Tomobiki's borders.
That was fine and fair enough.
The Infinite Wave wouldn't have to do much work.
Feeling the reality-warping power flood every cell of her body, Infinity then allowed it to go forth, it creating a pulse that burst from her body to rip downward to literally tear apart the very bonds that held together the molecules and atoms of the alien fungi that were now literally choking the very light from Tomobiki…not to mention the spores that such fungi were pumping out into the atmosphere in a hyper-accelerated — thanks to the brightness of Earth's primary in comparison to the light blue Class O5I home star of Yaminokuni — attempt at self-reproduction. Once they began to shatter under such an unyielding assault — the fact that the Infinite Wave was effectively a modern-day reproduction of the energy that unleashed the Big Bang over sixteen billion years ago was one of the more well-known facts about the abilities of the God(dess) Who Walked Amongst Men — the atoms themselves were broken down to their component elements and then reconstructed into normal molecules of oxygen and nitrogen to replenish the air over this particular suburb of Tōkyō. With that done within the blink of an eye, all that remained was a heavily-damaged urban landscape; very few buildings had escaped being ripped apart from the inside by fungi sprouting from the ground underneath, much less crushed by other fungi collapsing down on them.
Well, that certainly wouldn't do.
Another Infinite Wave pulse burst from their mistress to reach out and make the shattered wood, steel, reinforced concrete and other materials used to build — and in many cases over the last year or so, RE-BUILD — the structures of Tomobiki. As those few people who were out on the streets this late in the evening watched in stunned awe, the ruined homes, office blocks and other buildings literally came together as if it was a weird reverse of their most recent near-destruction…WITHOUT the alien fungi that had nearly wrecked them in the first place bursting free to reach for the skies. And again, within the blink of the proverbial eye, all the buildings — and by extension, all the furniture and other personal belongings that were contained within or kept around said buildings, to say anything of the streets, sidewalks and light rapid transit rail lines that connected all parts of Tomobiki with each other and with the world beyond — were whole and complete, as fresh as the day they were first erected in the days, months and years before aliens came to Tomobiki.
"There we go!" Infinity then said, a hint of pride in her voice on seeing the town that Moroboshi Ataru had lived in for the first six years of his life — not to mention for the last year or so since his memories had been deliberately blanked out by persons unknown — restored to what passed for normal here.
She then blinked as a whispered non-voice in her mind turned her attention to the large Urusian yacht floating nearby…
"Oh, Maidens…it's really Infinity…!"
The whole bridge crew of the Redet Glory were staring in wide-eyed fright at the young humanoid woman in the slate-grey bodysuit with the wide sleeves and leggings — the standard uniform for the God Who Walked Amongst Men was something that would make people think of martial arts gi save for it being in a jumpsuit-like format — floating a half-kilometre away, right over the local home of their leader's would-be son-in-law. No one had tried to send a signal to the main lounge where Lum and her friends were currently staying; no one had the guts to admit to either their boss or his daughter that their latest attempt at trying to bring Moroboshi Ataru finally to heel was about to spectacularly — and potentially FATALLY! — blow up in all their collective faces.
Which made many of them ask this:
Did Mr. Groom KNOW of They Who Must Never Be Named?
The answer to THAT would make them ALL die of apoplexy…
On the ground nearby…
"Who the hell IS that, anyway?!"
"I dunno…but whoever she is, she just cleared all the mushrooms out of town!"
"And fixed up all the houses, too!"
On hearing that, people in the crowd that was now gathering about a block away from the front gate of the Moroboshi home exchanged looks, and then broke out into spontaneous cheers. Amongst them were several classmates and friends of the two people who had — thanks pretty much to the fractious nature of their relationship — allowed this whole mess to get out of control like it did. "Who IS that?!" Mendō Shūtarō demanded before he gazed on his companions. "Has anyone ever seen someone like this person before?!"
"I don't recognise her," Miyake Shinobu stated, shaking her head.
"She is a kami!" Sakurambō Sakura declared. "A real kami…!"
"She is above ANY kami you may believe in, Sakura-san."
Everyone turned to stare at the blond man in the rabbit suit with the apron over his front standing nearby. "Inaba-kun…" Shinobu whispered.
"She is the current incarnation of a being that straddles the line between the mortal and the Divine, Shinobu-san," the young worker from the Fate Production Bureau stated as he stared with eyes full of awe and respect at the being now floating over Tomobiki. "In all her incarnations since her first life two thousand years ago, she lived life on the very cusp of Omnipotence, but never fully embraced the other Universal Powers of Omniscience, Omnipresence or Omnibenevolence entities like her become when they finally shed physical form and reach the final cusp of Evolution. Worlds and timelines can be created — and be destroyed! — with by a thought to someone like her. To win her friendship would win one an ally of power that not even the mightiest of space fleets throughout the Universe could equal." He then gazed towards Mendō, a knowing look crossing his face. "But if you ever arouse her anger for any reason, she will totally destroy everything you value in the blink of an eye. And I fear this one may actually be an ally — if not something closer — to the man Lum-san wishes to claim as her husband."
Everyone gaped. A being who could warp REALITY with her very THOUGHTS…and she was a friend of MOROBOSHI ATARU? "Wh-wh-what does that mean…?" Mendō demanded.
Inaba gazed up at the Urusian starship overhead. "Right now, the people on that ship are no doubt soiling their undergarments at the very prospect of facing the mightiest of 'They Who Must Never Be Named' — that is what the Lady Infinity's race is often called by other races close to this world — for the right to interact with the people of Earth," he stated. "Two-and-a-half centuries ago, the Urusians tried to conquer Yiziba — that is the Lady Infinity's home world — in the same manner that they employed on Earth last year. Because native Yizibajohei are metahumans to one degree or another, the tag race run then lasted mere MINUTES before the Oni 'champion' was tagged and defeated. And when the commander of that invasion force declared that the Yizibajohei 'cheated'…the results left Uru devastated for DECADES and eventually led to the revolution that toppled their monarchy. And killed MILLIONS!"
He sighed as the people around him began to shudder in horror at what he had just told them. "Before you think of trying to manipulate the Lady Infinity into rejecting her friendship and love for Moroboshi Ataru, stop for a moment and ask yourselves this one simple question," he then stated. "Are you so bent on doing anything and everything possible to keep your lives frozen as is…that the man who, thanks to cruel Fate, was FORCED to become the cornerstone needed to allow that worldview to remain in place…would come to HATE you all to the very point where he would gladly demand your DEATHS to live forever free? To say anything of the death of the one you all, in your own way, care for so dearly?" He turned away, pausing to gaze once more at them. "To say anything of her RACE? Are you all willing to become accessories to GENOCIDE?" A nod. "Then, by all means, keep it up. And you will all eventually weep over Lum-san's grave.
"If your relatives don't eventually weep over YOURS."
With that, he walked away, his body fading from view. "INABA-KUN!" Shinobu cried out as she lunged after him…only to stop on seeing him vanish from sight.
The others watching this could only blink…
In the skies overhead, Infinity shook her head. "He shouldn't've left his own dimension in the first place," she whispered to herself, her eyes tearing in sympathy as she felt the waves of emotion — pain and fear being the primary ones — emitting from those who had, for good and ill, interacted so closely with Moroboshi Ataru in the last year because of his "marriage" to one Redet Lum of Uru. "Knowing so much…"
«I am sure his superiors in the Fate Production Bureau have finally made him comprehend what his continued interaction with 'mortals' could ultimately unleash,» a familiar man's voice echoed deep in her mind from somewhere else on Earth.
She nodded. "Yeah, Sensei…but it sure is 'bleh' for them."
«They cannot understand such things, my dear,» the Doctor replied. «Their interaction with Ataru and Lum was so intense and so personal, thoughts of what happened beyond their small corner of Existence never entered their minds. And while the authorities…» — Infinity was quick to sense the touch of derision in the older man's voice on his saying that word — «…were quick to protect them from the potentially more catastrophic results of their actions from the outside world, there are those who are growing tired of making such allowances to these people and wish it stopped. And with Ataru woken to his true past and facing a future once more under his control…»
A tired sigh escaped her. "Yeah…" she breathed out as…
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(Posted Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:28)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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