"Miss Madelyne was happy to help me come here," Gambit said as he nodded politely to Nightmist, who smiled in return. "I knew you'd be wanting to finish your lessons with the Lady Negako, chérie, so I called out to her to get me over here. Good thing, too."
Rogue tensed. "Why?"
A sigh…
"What the freakin' hell is THAT?!" Carcajou then demanded.
People jolted, and then they turned…
"Hey!" Infinity gasped. "It's a STARSHIP!"
"This place be havin' some visitors," Gambit stated. "Which kinda don't make sense to me! I thought aliens always hated the idea of visitin' this place!"
"Oh, GOOD!" the Weaponeer then snarled. "I'm in the mood for a good fight-scene!"
"YAY!" Warwind cheered. "FIGHT-SCENE!"
"What makes you think they're here to do THAT?!"
Eyes locked on Miyake Shinobu. "Mademoiselle Miyake, it's real simple," Gambit explained. "People look upon this place as the Devil's Den! You don't wanna ever VISIT this place if you know what's good for you! So why would…?!"
"Wait!"
People gazed on Tempest. "You recognise that ship?" Terra asked.
"That's an Ellsian ship! Rose Emperor-class patrol monitor!"
People blinked. "You mean that other jeune fille that be wantin' ta marry Ataru?" Gambit then asked as he focused on the approaching vessel, which was shaped like a blooming rose flower complete with sepals and a rose hip fruit.
"That's her, Rémy-san," the transformed Lum stated. "But any claim Elle might have with Darling was refuted when we rescued him from Baran City, the capital of the planet. We accidentally went back in time when we learned that Darling didn't do the thing that would have made him engaged to Elle under her people's laws."
"A shadow-tag game," the Weaponeer added. "You gotta step into the shadow of the girl you want to be married to. Back then, Moroboshi got so tired of chasing her, he just said that he did tag her shadow." A smirk. "He was kinda relieved at that!"
"Hai, I bet he was that," Shinobu noted as she exchanged a knowing look with her former rival for Ataru's hand. "I remember that 'refrigerator of love' of hers."
"What is that?" Rogue asked.
"A cryogenetic chamber that holds a HUNDRED THOUSAND men — her 'cute boys' — in deep freeze, Anne-san," Shinobu answered. "She did it to preserve their 'love' for her."
The non-Tomobiki residents all blinked. "She's loony, you mean!" Rampage said.
"Nah, Jess, she's not."
Eyes locked on Infinity. "Why you be sayin' that?" Gambit asked.
The transformed Ayumu giggled. "She's the Third, Rémy-kun!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
"She's GIFTED?!" Tempest, the Weaponeer and Carcajou demanded.
Infinity giggled. "Yeah! Probably when that shadow-tag game happened, an empathic bond between Ataru-kun and Amora-chan — that's Elle's real name, by the way! — formed up. If he later got her a Gift, he probably got Negako-chan to do what she did to Lum-chan here."
"That's right…"
"What's right?" the Dominatrix then demanded as people gazed on Tempest.
"One of the qualifications to be the Rose Queen is a high empathic potential, Molly-san," Tempest explained. "If Elle was empathic, she might have formed a deeper bond with Darling than what formed between him and me. So when Darling's memories were blanked out, it might have affected Elle just like it did people like you."
"That means something must've happened to make Ataru bring the girl here to get a Gift," Rogue stated. "Just like what happened to you, sugar!"
"Hey, guys!"
People looked up. "RANMA-SAN!" Fencer gasped. "AKANE-SAN! SHĀN-SAN!"
"Are we in time?!" the transformed Tendō Akane — a FISS-type Yizibajohei who came to make use of one of the Weaponeer's special weapons as the Hammer of Passion, Cremisi — then asked as she landed on the ground nearby. With her was her would-be fiancé, Saotome Ranma, who was now the most powerful of all the FISS-types on Yiziba, the One Who Will Not Be Tamed, Mustang. Now being carried by her "Àirén" was one of Akane's now-former rivals for Ranma's hand in marriage, Nǚ Shānpú…or Virago, the Mighty Maiden of the Mountains, a skilled fighter who was second only to Caltrop in lethality.
"We just spotted that thing came in," Wolverine reported. "But Ayumu here says that the other girl that wanted to marry Ataru's the third one he got Gifted after Lum and Ayumu." He thumbed Tempest and Infinity in emphasis. "Any idea who she is?"
The new arrivals shook her head. "Not a one," Mustang said as he reached over to gently squeeze Wolverine's hand before shaking Gambit's as he accepted Rogue's hug; with his powers, he could resist her power-absorbing abilities. "But then again, that's kinda understandable. Ataru always DID lose track of some of the people he met early on." He held out an arm for Wildflower to walk over so she could lean in her beloved brother's side and hug him. "Since Ayumu-chan here sorta stuck with him all the way through until those jerks nailed us all when Oyaji and I went to Jusenkyō to get Kanami her own body, it's no wonder that Ataru might have forgot some people."
"Wait…"
People gazed on Courtesan. "Do you sense who she is, good sister?" Virago asked, now speaking in perfectly literate Japanese.
A whistle. "Damn! That's Dreamweaver up there!" the transformed Konno Mitsune said.
"Who is she?" Wolverine asked.
"One of the most powerful pure-psis on Yiziba, Logan-kun," Courtesan stated. "She's got a mix: telepathy, clairvoyance, both precognition and post-cognition…" A sigh. "But her one weakness is that her powers work best when she's either asleep or affecting someone that is asleep." As the non-Yizibajohei all blinked, she shrugged. "It's weird, but the Crystal can be pretty weird when it gives you a Gift."
"Is she awake right now?" the Archaeologist asked.
Courtesan turned to focus her mind on the hovering patrol monitor, which was as large as the cruiser owned by Lum's father now in low orbit over Tomobiki. "She's asleep right now, Naru-chan," she stated. "If everything that happened to us ALSO happened to Amora-chan like Lum-chan just theorised, then when we all woke up…"
"It back-lashed on her," Carcajou stated.
"We're gonna have to get aboard and try to snap her out of it," Gambit stated. "But if that thing's got a full crew of normals on it…" He smirked.
"I'll need my key, Ayumu!" the Weaponeer then said.
Infinity snapped her fingers as a golden skeleton key appeared in the transformed Benten's hand. "There you go, Benten-chan. But PLEASE…!" She then turned to clap her hands together as she bowed to the other woman. "NOT the World-Breaker!"
The Weaponeer moaned. "You NEVER let me have any fun!"
A bow of the head. "PLEASE…?!"
Another moan. "Okay! No World-Breaker!"
Infinity grinned. "What's this 'world-breaker?!'" Gambit asked.
"A flying hypermatter gun on a ship the size of a small city, Rémy-san," Fencer explained. "Just as powerful as the superlaser on the Death Star in Star Wars."
The native of New Orleans gaped. "Remind me NEVER to get you mad at me!" he then said as he gave the transformed Benten a respectful look.
"Smart man," the Weaponeer stated. "C'mon, Pep! You, too, Shinobu!"
Tapping the key with her thumb, she created a warp-gate and leapt through. "Wait for me, Benten-san!" Shinobu called out as she and Pepper raced after her.
After said gate closed, Wolverine looked up. "Let's go up there."
Minutes later…
"Mon Dieu…this place is as quiet as a crypt!"
"Yeah," Wolverine said as he, Carcajou and Virago led the small boarding party down one of the main corridors of the ship they had just boarded. "You smell the meson, Ryō?"
"Lots of it," Carcajou said. "This must be that girl's flagship." She then stopped as her nose twitched. "Elevator," she then said as she pointed.
Everyone looked, and then headed over. Just as they got close to the closed doors of what appeared to be a turbolift, motion sensors detected them and opened the doors to reveal a rather large circular car which could take them all. "This be like the Starship Enterprise," Gambit mused as they all squeezed in, and then Tempest turned to scan the controls before tapping a button. "No voice controls, though."
"Not that advanced just yet, Rémy-san," Tempest explained as the car went up.
A minute later, it then stopped, the door opening to reveal a very spacious command bridge. Stepping onto it, people then stopped as Wolverine and Carcajou deployed their claws and Cremisi drew her war hammer — it was something with a handle as long as she with a head as big as her own; it had roughly the same physical durability as Thor's own Mjölnir — and scanned the room for potential threats. A moment later, she relaxed. "They're all asleep. No doubt in Dreamweaver's dreamland."
"Everything seems to be on automatic controls," Tempest mused.
"There she is," Marvel Girl said, pointing.
Rampage and Warwind headed over first to stare intently at the woman now dozing on the throne-like command chair in the middle of the bridge. "Man!" the latter then breathed out as the others came over to join them. "How the heck did Ataru-kun do it?!"
"Do what?" the California native then asked.
"Pick out girls he knew were gonna be knock-outs when they grew up!" the transformed Takino Tomo then asked. "Look at her! Perfect bod, perfect face…!"
"Yeah! She's an American, alright," Infinity mused as she stepped up between them to look herself at the peacefully-sleeping sixty-fourth Rose Queen of Elle. "Just like you are, Jess," she then said as she gazed on the transformed Jessica Wakefield before her dark eyes sparkled with a hint of mischievousness. "You're still Japanese, Tomo-chan."
"HEY!" Warwind snapped.
"Are we missing a joke?" Carcajou then hissed to the Weaver.
The latter shrugged. "With Takino, it's hard to tell."
Warwind snarled. "Suzumiya…!"
"Eh…who's there…?"
People looked over. "Elle?!" Tempest asked.
A pair of beautiful green eyes fluttered open as the woman born Amora de Rosenbach and now living as the Dreamweaver seemed to shudder as a yawn escaped her, and then she blinked as her eyes then focused on the face of the Oni girl — albeit without horns on her head — that she still viewed as a rival for the man she still deeply loved…and yet now…
"Tempest…?" the transformed Elle/Amora breathed out on recognising the uniform draping the transformed Lum's body as she blinked several times while more memories — memories that had been buried deep within the most hidden places in her own soul — surged back forth. "Honey came for you, too…?"
"Tcha," the transformed Lum said, nodding. "Darling saved me when Ganzo dai-Louc slapped a power-dampener on me and took my powers away. What happened to you?"
A sigh. "I was being mind-raped by an agent of Prince Sheko of Kyotos…"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
Dreamweaver cried out on hearing that roaring voice…and then she blinked in confusion on seeing the man in the gold-and-black form-fitting bodysuit with the hood possessing a wing-like mask over his eyes. "Who…?"
"Calm down, Logan!" Gambit then said as his eyes darted over the other people on the bridge. "If she loses her concentration, all the ladies here'll wake up…"
"Do not concern yourself, Rémy. I dealt with them."
People blinked. "Chikage," Terra muttered under her breath.
An amused chuckle echoed from a dark patch of shadows off to one side, that soon transforming into the Monarch of the Shadow Realm herself. "Hello, everyone," the Lady Shadow then said before sipping the cup of tea she had in her hand. She then turned to gaze in amusement at both Tempest and Dreamweaver, who were gaping in shock at her. "Well, well, well. One must indeed compliment Ani-kun's taste in women."
"I ALWAYS admired that!" Gambit then said with a smirk.
The others all chuckled as all the girls present blushed…
A half-hour later…
"You SURE you wanted to do that, kid?"
Amora took a deep breath. "I have no choice, Logan-san. Now that my memories of what Honey did for me when I was targeted by Sheko's agent — to say anything of my powers — have come back, it wouldn't take anyone on my homeworld long to realise what I had become. And while I DO feel I'm abandoning my responsibilities as the Rose Queen, I won't provoke something that will hurt people that don't deserve to be hurt."
"So what did you get Chikage to do to your ship's crew?" Anne Marie asked. Everyone had shifted themselves over to the fog-protected country cabin that the travellers from Earth had landed near, the Yizibajohei having "dressed down" once more into their nightshirts so they could relax and get some sleep since for many of them, it was late in the evening and they needed the rest. "They'll notice you're gone…"
"I had Honey's sister make them believe that they were taking me on a frontier tour and that something happened which resulted in my disappearance without a trace, Anna-san," Amora stated before she sipped her tea. "Of course, to make it believable, one of the escape pods will be jettisoned before they wake up and realise that I am gone, thus making them believe that something drove me to kill myself. Since the ship's on-board computers will crash at that time to wipe out the internal security logs…"
"You get away scot-free," Logan finished; he and Rémy were in their normal fighting uniforms though the former's mask and hood and the latter's head-glove had been slipped off. "It'll be quite a change from being the boss of your own planet."
"True," the soon-to-be "late" Rose Queen of Elle stated. "But in the long term, it will be for the better. The madness that settled in over me when Honey's mind was blanked out resulted in a lot of people being hurt for no reason. My so-called 'cute boys' being the primary victims. I'm sure that whoever succeeds me to Adam's Throne will free them soon enough and let them live their lives at last." A sigh. "It is for the best, Logan-san. Unlike other planets, the rules governing the election of a Rose Queen demand people such as myself to be selected very young so we can be prepared in the best way possible to rule the Kingdom." A sigh. "I always hated that. And now that I can fully remember what happened to me, I understand why."
"'No masters, no slaves.'"
People turned as Chikage came out to join them. Unlike others, the Monarch of the Shadow Realm normally wore a nun's habit-like robe as her sleepwear, all in solid black of course. "Yeah, that's one of the good things people here came to realise about what living life was all about," Logan stated. "Pity they didn't learn other things."
"How many are still alive now?" Amora asked.
"About ten thousand outside all the ones Ataru-kun and Wyszynski-hakase — not to mention all the others — have found to date," Ayumu noted; she was seated nearby on the fence surrounding the outside patio of the cabin that served as Ataru's private get-away location from Habitation One. Most of the others were inside the living room inside enjoying a warm fireplace and some cocoa that Madelyne Pryor had made once she got into the kitchen. "It's not much, but it's a start."
"Why'd it get down so low?" Rémy asked.
"More boys than girls were being born," Anna Marie — who had her uniform changed into a nightshirt in her normal colours of lime green and gold by Ayumu — answered. "The boys on the planet — after they got their Gifts — eventually got so damned addicted to fighting each other that they forgot to get girlfriends and have kids. For five hundred years, the population was dropping like a stone…and only Benten's past-self woke up to it."
"But she didn't succeed in trying to turn it around," Rachel — who was standing next to Ayumu, leaning against the fence rail — added. Her uniform had also been altered by her would-be lover, though doing so had made the time-traveller blush right to her toes as she sensed the Kansai native give her naked body a VERY close examination. "It needed Destructo to come along to turn it around…and even still…"
"They'll make it," Rémy stated. "So where is Ataru, anyway?"
Ayumu nodded off to a mountain in the near-distance. "There's a large outcropping of rock about three kilometres away. He normally went there to practice his meditation when he was staying here to relax after all his trips. He's okay."
"Any potential wildlife problems?" Amora wondered. "I'm not familiar with this part of the planet. My past-selves were all city folk."
"Not even the bone-lizards will harm Ani-kun," Chikage stated. "After Ani-kun and Ane-kun started living here full-time, all the wildlife learned there was something much worse on the planet than all the crazy humans with all their weird powers."
Logan cackled. "Negako. Yeah, she can be pretty persuasive when she has to!"
"Hey, guys!"
People looked over at Tara, who had opened the door onto the patio to lean out. "What is it, Tara-san?" Amora asked.
"Shirayuki's here with some bentō boxes for all of us," the geo-kinetic stated.
"Alright!" Ayumu whooped. "I love Shirayuki-chan's bentō!"
The others laughed as we…
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