[AMS] [UY] "Chaos and Death" (2/?)
Chapter Two: "Mirror Trick"
By Henry J. Cobb
$Id: chaos_death2.txt,v 1.3 1997/08/30 04:22:33 hcobb Exp $
The Ah! Megami-sama! characters and situations are the creation of Kosuke
Fujishima.
The Urusei Yatsura characters and situations are the creation of Rumiko
Takahashi.
No infringement of their copyrights is intended.
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Relieved that several miles had been put between them and the Moroboshi
residence without anything happening, Skuld turned to Keiichi. "How is
Belldandy doing?"
Keiichi didn't look away from the road as he drove. "She and our daughter
are fine. She just needs some rest."
"Oneesama!" Skuld dove into Belldandy's hospital room. "It happened to
me!"
"What?" Belldandy looked up from the infant she held.
"Some guy asked me to stay with him forever!"
"Oh... Congratulations."
"It's nothing like that. He's a monster! A monster!"
"Did he attack you?" A great anger seemed to rise to Belldandy's face, as
Keiichi entered the room with a bag.
"No, he used the wish on me."
"What makes him a monster?"
"His file says he's the most lecherous person on the planet and anybody who
would wish to imprison a goddess like that has got to have a very low
character."
Keiichi seemed to stiffen. "Here's your things Belldandy. I'll leave now."
"No, wait." Skuld grabbed Keiichi's hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to
imply..."
"I am sorry that the favor I asked of you has caused you so much trouble
Skuld. Please forgive me."
"Don't worry Oneesama, I'm sure that Kamisama will relent and straighten
this all out. But, could you talk to him?"
"Yes, of course I will. Can it wait a few days?"
"I guess so. Nothing seems to be happening."
"What do you think of your niece?" Belldandy held the child up.
"Hello Randako." Skuld gently held the sleeping infant. "You're so
beautiful."
"A real goddess, isn't she?" Keiichi asked.
"I'm afraid so Keiichi." Belldandy looked up from her daughter. "It will
be a bit of a bother raising a divine child, even though her full powers
will not manifest for many years."
"No child of yours could ever be a bother to me." Keiichi held Belldandy's
hands.
"Here." Skuld handed Randako back to Belldandy. "We'd best leave you two
to rest."
Skuld sat and held the infant in front of the big mirror in the temple, as
she had for the past three hours.
Keiichi paced back and forth.
Finally ripples spread across the mirrors surface, Belldandy slipped
through and swooned into Keiichi's arms. "Sorry Keiichi, I forgot how much
that trip takes out of me."
"Please rest Belldandy." He implored.
"In a little bit, could you please take Randako and wait in our room?"
"Belldandy, can I get you some tea?"
"Yes Skuld, that would be nice."
Skuld waited until Belldandy took her first sip. "Did he cancel the wish?"
"No."
"Did you review Ataru's record?"
"We did. Ataru seems to be a very troubled boy."
"How could Kamisama see the facts and not cancel?"
"Skuld, should doctors only treat healthy people?"
"No, of course not!"
"Skuld, as goddesses it is our duty to help people. I am sorry that your
first case is such a difficult one."
"Difficult? It's impossible! No goddess could help this letch! Surely
some cases must call for triage!"
"If people are abandoned, even by heaven, where can they turn?"
"That's the advantage of triage. You tell them: ``Help is on the way,
please keep up hope'' and then you leave them to DIE!"
"Skuld..."
"Oneesama!" Skuld threw herself into Belldandy's arms and sobbed, then she
looked up. "Oneesama, why does father hate me so?"
"Skuld, Skuld," Belldandy held her sister. "He doesn't hate you. Kamisama
just expects a lot from you."
"Oneesama, it's too much."
"Next time I talk to him, I'll ask him to talk to you directly. Will that
help?"
"Yes. Thanks."
"If you'll excuse me Skuld. I need to rest now."
"Sure, no problem."
Relieved, Skuld went to read her Manga. She had just selected one when
her pocket computer started beeping.
"What is it now?" She popped open the computer. "The fabric of the
universe is unraveling? Let's see Tokyo, Tomobiki and the address is...
Damn him! What has he done now? Well, nothing to do but look into it."
Skuld dove into a vortex in her glass of water, but she felt herself
pulled forwards and she tumbled through a mirror and into a wiggling pile
of minor spirits. She was smothered under the mass as more of them
poured on top of her.
Skuld fought back her panic and pulled a bomb out of hyperspace. Her hand
surfaced over the undulating pile of spirits and she tossed the bomb a few
feet away.
Skuld was a little shaken by the explosion, but it cleared a small area
free of the devils. She tossed a bugtrap into the clearing and it started
to work, sucking the spirits to their doom, but not as quickly as they
were pouring into the room.
"Damn, it'll be clogged up soon!" Skuld looked around. The spirits were
pouring in through eight mirrors arranged around the room.
"Skuld!" Ataru wadded towards her.
"We have to stop this. The situation is running out of control. Keep an
eye on my bugtrap and tell me if anything happens to it."
"Uh, OK."
Skuld pushed forwards to the nearest mirror and started to draw on it with
a piece of charcoal, but the devils continued to pour through,
obliterating her runes and forcing her back.
"Why didn't it work! Oh, Oneesama, if only you were here!"
Skuld thought about what Belldandy had said. "Skuld, mirror magic is
recursive, but it reverses itself at every step. This gives a
kaleidoscope of symmetries."
"That's it, I need to write an anagram!" Skuld closed her eyes and
concentrated on the form of the spell.
"What?" Suddenly she was yanked from her feet. A tentacle was dragging
her towards one of the mirrors.
"Let her go you!" Ataru bit at the tentacle. It released her and
withdrew back into the mirror with a "Yipe!"
Skuld got to her feet and drew the runes on the mirror. It blanked out to
an even white glow with just the runes visible on its surface.
The other devils seemed to sense the danger and turned to attack Skuld.
She pounded away with her hammer, but a few got past her guard and started
scratching and biting her.
"Oh no you don't!" Ataru pulled them away and was quickly buried under an
angry pile.
"Ataru!" Shinobu charged into the room, swatting half a dozen devils at
each shot with a coffee table.
With Ataru and Shinobu guarding her flanks, Skuld sealed off each of the
mirrors in turn. Then she stood in the middle of the room and finished
the incantation. The mirrors flashed brighter than the sun then cleared
to just show reflections of the room.
"Wow!" Shinobu put down her coffee table and sat down on the floor.
"Another one!" A short bald old man in Buddhist robes ran at Skuld with a
stick.
"What?" Skuld malleted him into a wall. "Now who setup all these mirrors?"
"He did." Ataru pointed at the old man, who seemed to be recovering.
"Alright, tell me what happened, from the beginning."
"Hisa-Me!" The old man charged Skuld again.
Ataru grabbed him by the collar. "Give it up Cherry!"
"You're all doomed!" Cherry ranted. "The girl is Death. Death I tell you!"
"Then go craw under a rock and save yourself, you demented monk!" Ataru
dropkicked Cherry out the front door.
"It is fate." Were Cherry's last words as he sailed out of sight.
Ataru slammed and locked the door.
"What is all that commotion?" A middle aged woman in dress and apron
walked out of the kitchen.
"Just Cherry mom." Ataru replied. "He was just leaving."
"That's a relief. Did he take care of that devil?"
"No, she did."
"I'm Skuld ma'am."
"What a proper young lady. You must stay for tea."
Ataru explained how a lump on the head had escalated into an infinite
number of devils.
Skuld jumped up as he finished. "Damn you! You almost destroyed the
planet."
"Well, Cherry seemed to know what he was doing." Ataru shrugged.
"Next time something bad happens, don't try to reproduce it on a larger
scale. Just call me!"
Ataru pulled out a small black book and pen. "I don't have your number.
I only called you by accident last time."
"Uh..." Skuld looked at the well worn notebook. "It's this foul nature
of yours that's at the root of this mess. If I leave you to your own
devices you will destroy everything, won't you? You do need help. Very
well, I will supervise you. I'll stay here."
"You'll what?" Shinobu looked at Skuld.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have a spare room." Ataru's mom explained.
"This small hovel is all my worthless husband's pitiful salary can
afford."
"I can cover my room and board. How's a thousand dollars a month?" Skuld
placed a stack of bills on the table.
"You can have Ataru's room." Mrs Moroboshi counted the money.
"Mother!"
"No thanks, his stench will probably never come out."
"What!"
"You're just doing this to get closer to Ataru, aren't you?" Shinobu
accused Skuld.
"We've been over this before. My only interest in this loser is keeping
him from messing things up. If you really want him feel free, but you
could do much better."
"Yes Shinobu, a nice girl like you is wasted on my worthless son."
"Mother!"
"There, almost livable." Skuld looked over the Moroboshi's storage room.
Their things had been moved over to the side and a few things of hers had
been brought over. Her teleport power now seemed to be working properly.
Maybe the ultimate force sensed her intent to abide by the wish for the
moment.
"Say, how did a girl like you get so much money?" Ataru was sweating from
moving things around.
Skuld glanced briefly into his mind. As usual his thoughts were very
clear and focused. "Not like that you baka! I sold some patents recently
for my niece's college fund and got quite a bit more than I had expected."
"How did you know to bribe my mom?"
"She's greedy. It's in her file."
"Isn't that one of the deadly sins?"
"If the police arrested every jaywalker, who'd stop the bank robbers?
But, you're pretty close to public enemy number one."
Henry J. Cobb hcobb@slip.net http://www.io.com/~hcobb
Next time: Sakura.