She could see where others were, scattered like leaves before this newest enemy. There were only a handful of them left at this point.
Superman, of course. Then there was Captain Marvel. One of the new heroes who'd arisen in this latest generation, Dreadnaught. One of the villains who'd changed sides for this confrontation, Starlock. A few others.
The distinctive sound of Starfire's starbolts abruptly cut off.
The sky changed color, indicating they were in the end stages.
The ground shook and she saw buildings collapse in the distance, and then-
Silence.
It was as if sound had vanished, or as if the air refused to carry such things now.
A blur going past her revealed Superman, a chunk of glowing green crystal buried in his chest. Not flying under his own power obviously.
Then the light, brilliant white as it swept towards her.
Then darkness.
Do you want a friend?
Wonder Woman's eyes blinked as she felt that touch on her senses. "Who?" Those weren't words, she realized that her mind was instead interpreting something into words.
If you want a friend. If you want to live. Come.
There was more to it. Almost like she was being asked if she wanted to sign a contract.
As the world died around her, knowing that she'd failed to stop this latest crisis, Wonder Woman reached out towards where she felt the tug.
"My name is Diana, princess of Themiscrya."
"So Uzumaki succeeded in getting a hero and a princess?"
"I suppose," said Diana, indicating nearby beds. "What of them?"
"Whatever Uzumaki uses in that summons of his caused all of you to youthen to closer to his age, though for some reason the result seems to be a range rather than a specific number of years or development period."
Diana eyed the doctor, reading body language, then settled back onto her bed. "So... 'ninja' of a sorts."
"I suppose you're like one of the others and your world's ninja are the faceless assassin types?" asked the doctor, jotting a few things down on her clipboard.
"Mostly, there were legends of some heroic 'ninja' but I think most 'ninja' in my world were now of the cyberthief category," said Diana thoughtfully. "So it was sort of as if we travelled in different circles - not much interaction."
"Ah," said the doctor, going with the idea that these other worlds merely had different terms for the same thing. "You've already been interviewed by Morino?"
"That would be the heavily scarred man who complained of overwork?" asked Diana. "Yes."
"Well, I suppose you'll join that boy's fanclub?" asked the doctor. "I'll admit I'm of conflicting feelings on that."
"Uzumaki has a fanclub?" asked Diana.
"I admit I used to think of him as... something considerably worse," admitted the doctor, meeting Diana's gaze. "Since he came up with this new jutsu, I've had to re-evaluate."
"Sometimes, that IS best," agreed Diana.
"It's just that he's so proud of his achievement with a 'rescue girls' summoning jutsu," said the doctor, shaking her head once. "I just can't reconcile that with the prior image I had of him."
"Some people just need a chance to shine," said Diana. "There was one in the last fight I was in. He went by the name of 'Starlock' - nominally a villain who was known to clash with the regional government of the country we were in. Yet when that country and our world were threatened by another villain, he threw his full power and support into trying to save it."
"Interesting name," commented the doctor.
"Energy projector, claimed to have some sort of mystic connection to the stars, teleporter as well," said Diana. "As for names, well, we all tended to take colorful names. That way we didn't have to constantly be in the spotlight, we could settle into normal lives and decompress."
The doctor nodded, thinking this was exactly like ninja. This 'Starlock' person was obviously like some in the village, who generally opposed the Third's policies but would put animosity aside in order to protect the village. "You are healing rapidly, Diana-san. You should be discharged tomorrow. What are your plans then?"
"Oh, I've already decided," said Diana. "At my current age, I will..."
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(Posted Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:54)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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