Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction ❯ Trial By Tenderness ❯ Part 38 - Sidespin ( Chapter 38 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Part 38 Sidespin


BUNGO-HYOGA PROVINCIAL BORDER, KYUSHU JAPAN - AUG 1373:

We marched for four days to the appointed place on the border of Bungo and Hyuga. The battle was to take place at Furuegoe Pass, near the village of Kitaura. Lord Shimazu had responded to Lord Mori's dispatch several weeks ago with a series of poems containing thinly veiled allusory insults. He also cut off the ears of the emissary to further inspire the enmity of Lord Mori. In a fitful mood, the Lord 'invited' me to examine his responses; his own poetry had an economy of elegance, so I 'suggested' a few allusions to spruce it up. I was glad that some things were keeping me busy...Keiichi and Genji had been working hard on refitting the war chariot for hilly terrain. I was *truly* glad that I wasn't given the 'honor' of conveying Lord Mori's replies to Lord Shimazu.
Lord Mori conscripted villagers along the way, swelling our marching forces to several thousand boys and men. Our group was luckier than most, as the Lord had allowed the four of us the use of armor and swords. The armor consisted of a thick pressed leather chestplate called a yoroi. The yoroi was a front and back piece that covered the chest and back; it was strapped at the waist and around the shoulders by drawstrings. Leather singlets provided covering for the arms; for the legs, a thigh guard and a skirted hip guard called kuzasari. For swords, we had the traditional o-dachi blades common to footsoldiers of the 14th century. Finally, we were allowed the privilege of metalworked kabuto helmets that covered the top of our heads, with leather sideflaps and a neck-covering metal hoop flap.
All in all, the damned armor must have weighed at least 30kg. Since arriving two years ago in 1371, the simple diet and hard manual work had caused me to lose at least 15kg by my estimate...a sizable portion of my total body mass. My body had a gauntness to it that was disconcerting. I knew that I was almost as strong as before, but during the march I sweated like the interior of a cave. Fortunately, summer was winding down. In Oita, talk was turning to the subject of the harvest matsuri...and the upcoming battle. The mid-September air was cooling at night in its own way; providing sharp contrast to the still-blistering heat blasts of midday. The first night, when I pulled off my armor, I saw many places where my skin had been chaffed raw; replaced by bloody welts and open sores. By the third day, these sores had become infected.
Keiichi, Genji, Tomohisa and I were hunched around a small campfire, talking about the upcoming conflict. We shared a strong fear about the battle, as none of us were fighters, despite our harsh training of the previous several months. With a burst of hangman's humor, we attempted to pose fiercely and growl in our best Toshiro Mifune imitations. Several other soldiers offered us sake and joined us, teaching us a few folk songs. I wished I had a tape recorder, as these odes were probably lost to modernity. Needless to say, I didn't drink any sake; my abstinence was a source of humor to the other soldiers.
Only Genji and Keiichi knew how to start and operate the war chariot. On purpose, we had decided to restrict this knowledge to the two N.I.T. students because we didn't want anything untoward to happen. Like the theft of the chariot, or someone wrecking it by going on a sake-fueled unsupervised joyride.
Another subject that had borne fast and furious debate was the time continuum. We had deliberated numerous times on how the invention of a motorized war chariot could disrupt history if it fell into the wrong hands. There was a whole spectrum of concerns that accompanied our 'invention'. We decided that once this whole war was over, we would consign it to the flames, so as to minimize any future impact it might have. Japanese warlords were absolutely avaricious when it came to weapons...within a few short years after the harquebus was introduced to the Japanese by the Portuguese, the Japanese had in their possession over 50,000 guns...more than ten times the entire stock of guns anywhere else in the world at the time. If someone was able to replicate this warcart...it could completely alter history. Visions of a Japanese invasion of China during the early Ming Dynasty danced in my head...rather morosely in their footstomping demi-marches.
We were starved, we were scared, we were exhausted, we were lonely...this about summed up our situation. Yet, despite our efforts to cheer ourselves up, something was nagging me in the back of my head.
There was something I was forgetting about the year 1373.

* * * * * * * *

TOSHISHIMA IMPERIUM HEADQUARTERS, TOKYO, JAPAN - DEC 2050:

Megumi reached out and gripped Sayoko's hand tightly as they were escorted into a lift. The elevator had a lighted panel, which counted off the floors as they descended. Descended, because Megumi felt the changes in the pit of her stomach. Every 100 floors, she had to pop her ears as they became congested with air pressure changes. She looked at Sayoko, whose beautiful face was drawn into a pale mask of fear, sweat beads poised on her forehead. Finally, the elevator stopped, the door opened and a lighted neon corridor greeted them coldly.
Megumi's fear notched up a level as she was pushed out of the elevator by a strong metallic grip on her right arm. They walked for what seemed like a mile, passing through numerous junctures with thick vault-like doors. The robots pulled up short of a section of wall. Pulling out a handheld device that resembled a TV remote, one of the mechas punched a sequence of buttons and the wall opened up. Obviously a security lock of some kind.
Megumi gasped as she looked in what could only be a laboratory. Two whole walls were filled with video and holo displays. There were so many displays that it looked ridiculous...like a sci-fi movie that was trying to look impressive by overkilling the surroundings with too many monitors and control panels. The lights turned up a notch and Megumi saw two coldgray metal chairs in the middle of the room. It looked like some kind of white room or lab. Everything was metallic and sterile. The other wall had a long mirror, which Megumi suspected was a two-way...
"NOOOOoooooo!!!!!" Sayoko screamed.
Megumi jerked her head to see Sayoko literally explode with screams. Struggling desperately, Sayoko's silken tresses careened around her head as she lashed karate kicks out at the robots. She was gnashing her teeth with effort as she fought to free herself from the grip of the automaton.
"Sayoko! Look Out!" Megumi shouted as another robot rolled up behind her with an extended metal pole. The pole touched Sayoko square in the back; Megumi watched helplessly as her friend collapsed. Then the robot turned to her and advanced with the stun prod. Megumi's eyes grew wide as the pole touched her chest...

* * * * * * * *

"What are we going to do?" Urd asked again, her voice barely remaining calm.
"We need to have trust...in Kami-sama, in Keiichi and the others...in whatever good forces exist in the Multiverse," Belldandy answered.
"That's easy for *you* to say, sis! But what about us realists! In a few hours, that sadist Aoshima is going to come in here and started taking our *Souls* apart! Doesn't that scare you in the least bit?" Urd said frantically.
"Yes. It frightens me completely, Urd! But fear and self-pity are luxuries I can ill afford at a time like this. And you cannot afford to wallow in them, either!" Belldandy answered, looking at Urd's emerald eyes without batting a lash.
"You guys..." Skuld said quietly.
"I don't want to die!" Urd shouted. "But I would rather die than tell him what he wants to know. Anybody who would redesign a SoulGun into a weapon of torture is too twisted to be allowed to exist! He *cannot* have the secrets of Time! No way!!!"
"Urd! *No one* is exempt from the reality that they have the right to exist! Not even villainous mortals like Aoshima Toshiyuki," Belldandy chastened.
"Yeah...wait until he starts ripping chunks of your Soul out with that fucking SoulGun!" Urd replied angrily.
"You guys..." Skuld said quietly. Both Urd and Belldandy darted her a quick glance, then returned to their argument.
"Which leads me to another question. How in the *hell* did he get his hands on one of those!" Urd asked aloud.
This was almost like a thunderclap resounding in Belldandy's mind. Between the fear and the stress of their current predicament, they had overlooked the obvious question about the SoulGun's existence. Aoshima had somehow acquired a SoulGun...a weapon that a *God* couldn't get without direct permission from the Almighty.
"It may not be important where it came from, since we're going to get our asses fried in a few hours...but it might make the difference between our continuing existence and the Real Death!" Urd said as she shot a look at Skuld.
"What! Urd...you actually think *Skuld* has anything to do with the fact that Aoshima has a SoulGun? That's...preposterous and idiotic!" Belldandy shouted back.
"Yeah? Well how come Aoshima has a bunch of technology that is *way* beyond that of the mortals? It's incompatible with their scientific level! We've been over *that* one for months, and the only explanation is that there was only one being on the Earthrealm who has the engineering acumen to build stuff like he has," she shouted even louder.
"HER!" Urd shouted, pointing at Skuld.
"You guys...please don't argue anymore..." Skuld said quietly, her hands over her ears, rocking back and forth.
"Urd, stop accusing Skuld of things she never has done! You *know* that she could never get her hands on a SoulGun, let alone bring it to Earth! THINK!!!" Belldandy defended, leaning towards Urd.
Urd felt herself tearing apart on the inside. It was as if her soul was tissue paper being fed into a paper shredder. She felt so conflicted. Scared of Aoshima, angry at Belldandy, suspicious of Skuld, worried about Cevn, saddened that her existence would come to an end soon, apprehensive about the coming of every moment...
"YOU GUYS!!!" Skuld shouted suddenly at the top of her lungs.
Belldandy and Urd both turned to look at their younger sister.
"Remember all the alternative timelines I told you about when I traveled the TimeStream? *None* of them indicated that we were all going to die," she said. Shuddering at the more horrific visions she encountered, Skuld continued.
"I saw both of you...you two remained on the Earthrealm in almost every one of my visions. I saw every mortal that is close to us die," she said, her eyes tearing up. Urd felt shock at the frankness of her statement...then guilt against the fact that she had suspected Skuld of having any involvement with their present dilemma.
"Skuld," Urd said tenderly as she floated over to comfort her youngest sister. "Each one of us has our own private struggles...and yours is perhaps the worst of all," she thought as she dabbed the tears from Skuld's eyes with the edge of her robe sleeves.
"Skuld...what are you trying to tell us?" Belldandy asked gently.
"Just this...that in all of what I saw, I never saw us die together. And when I finally navigated the Timemaze so that I could see my own future...I wasn't alone. You both were with me," she finished.
"Kodama..." Urd said in a whisper.

* * * * * * * *

BUNGO-HYOGA PROVINCIAL BORDER, KYUSHU JAPAN - AUG 1373:

Lord Shimazu's army was twice as large as Lord Mori's was. From an encampment at the top of a gently rolling hill, Lord Mori surveyed the battlefield near Furuegoe Pass. Pennants were mounted behind him, announcing to all that the Mori Clan had arrived prepared for battle...for victory! Looking off towards the west, he could see nine pennants positioned at the top of a ridge. Each one had a black mon with a white cross dividing it into four quadrants.
"Lord Shimazu," he said with disgust. Like the coward that he was, his opponent had situated himself safely beyond the reach of Lord Mori's troops. But perhaps not beyond the reach of the war chariot. A narrow strip of hillock led to the top of the ridge near Lord Shimazu's position.
"Can you attack him from there with the War Chariot?" he asked Keiichi.
Keiichi followed the line of Lord Mori's finger until he saw the spot. It would be a bit of a hillclimb, but he felt that he could do it...in a normal dunebuggy or a hillclimb bike. But in the war chariot? Keiichi looked at the others, all dressed in their armor.
"I *have* to try! I can't let any of them down. A show of fear would also weaken the morale of Lord Mori's troops. Besides, I'm the only one who can drive this thing with enough skill to ascend that hill," he thought furiously.
It was time for him to be a man!
Feeling unconfident, Keiichi wanted to say no...but said "yes". Lord Mori pounded his fist into his open palm and smiled at Keiichi.
"You prove your worth on this day and I will reward you with my own niece!" the Lord pledged. Keiichi's eyes grew wide at this.
"My Lord, honored as I am by your munificence and wisdom, my heart...belongs to another who is no longer of this world. I would rather have land and a home," he replied. Lord Mori looked at him with an expression of regret.
In his mind, Keiichi gave pause for a moment.
"What if I *never* get to see Belldandy again?" he thought, facing the unthinkable. "If I can't return to 20XX...then am I going to be single all of my life? How could I find a wife...and still love her? I don't know if I could ever have the feelings for another woman that I have for Belldandy.
"Please...please let Belldandy and I find our way back to each other!" he silently prayed. The thought of being stranded here in *this* primitive time...forever...was too disturbing to even comprehend.
"Then you will have land and a home!" Lord Mori promised, interrupting Keiichi's reverie.

* * * * * * * *

I watched with mounting fear as the battle loomed closer. Soon, the forces of Lord Shimazu were a mere few meters away.
"This..is it!" I thought as I engaged the battle. I felt a searing pain as a spear slashed into my upper arm. Without thinking, I swung my sword around and struck out as hard as I could. A second later, I withdrew it. Looking into the eyes of the man I had just cut down, I felt a horrid guilt grip me. A second later another soldier was atop him, stabbing him in the chest with a short blade.
"Oh God...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry!" I thought towards him, regret filling my eyes. I had just taken the life of another human being. I didn't know if the tears were from the pain in my arm or from the wave of nauseous shame that filled my heart.
"Look out!" someone yelled. A second later something crashed into the side of my helmet, and I was momentarily dazed. A hand gripped my shoulder and shook me roughly.
"What is the matter with you? They're trying to kill us here, and you're acting like a puppy!" a gravelly voice shouted close to my ear.
"Oh God...please forgive me," I kept thinking over and over. I noticed in a disjointed sort of way that I was stepping forward. How in all the realms of reason can I justify doing this?
"But they're men, just like us!" I shouted into the din. A man on a horse flew past me, almost knocking me on the ground. I looked over my shoulder and saw two men advancing on Tomohisa.
They didn't see me coming. I thrust my sword at the leg of one soldier, hoping that wounding him there would spare him while slowing him down. The other man spun on me, an angry look in his eyes.
"Leave the boy alone!" I yelled at him right before he tackled me. I felt something sharp slide between the flaps of my chest plate as another spark of pain filled me...this time in my chest. I wrestled with the soldier, desperately trying to get him off of me. But my strength was spilling out of me despite my best hopes.
"Now...you die!" he said in between gasps of exertion, his helmeted face a few inches from my nose.
"Not...today!" I answered, gritting my teeth. I closed my eyes and headbutted him. By some miracle, the eyeridge of my helmet hit him square in the nose, dazing him.
"Ahhhh!" he screamed. I opened my eyes and saw that I had stunned him...breaking his nose. I pushed with a last effort and he rolled off of me. Slowly getting to my feet, I staggered towards him and kicked him in the head as he lay on the ground. Someone tackled me from behind and I fell into the grass, my head barely missing a rock. I reached out towards my blade, and watched as another sword pinned my hand to the ground.
A second later I screamed with pain. The blade had gone *through* my right hand. In a split-second, I realized that I was in shock. I rolled on my side, blade still impaling my hand. I looked up and saw a samurai with his sword raised overhead, ready to deal the deathblow.
I lashed out with my foot and kicked him in the shin so hard that it brought him down to one knee. He recovered himself and drew his blade back, ready to stab me. I dodged his slashing stab with a weak roll to the side.
I was finished.
He got ready to try and skewer me again when his face went wide-eyed with surprise. A spearhead protruded from the middle of his chest. He slowly fell over to the ground.
Genji was standing behind him. For a moment, everything went still. Genji was simply holding his blade straight out, motionless. I looked in his eyes and could tell that his senses had overloaded. He had just struck down a man trying to save me.
I heard him say something to me as the battlefield whirled within my eyes...
"Shit! You look *bad*. I've got to get you out of here..."

* * * * * * * *

Keiichi gritted his teeth as the war chariot took off towards Lord Shimazu's encampments. They couldn't touch him while he drove around the main arena of battle. But here, there were *too many* archers. He was totally exposed...the only one of Lord Mori's troops approaching Lord Shimazu's position. As he drove up the hill, he noticed the rain of arrows, some of which lodged in the roof of the wooden chariot. Lord Shimazu repositioned all of his available archers to flank his position. Keiichi had driven full bore at them, but one of them had gotten lucky and shot an arrow through the 'windshield'.
The pain was intense.
Fighting back an encroaching visual haze, Keiichi drove onward. In the distance, he could see Lord Shimazu and his generals seated on little wooden chairs. Their faces were poignant with shock as he advanced on them in the war chariot, breaking through the line of archers. At such close quarters, the archers were useless. Besides, they had already done their damage as far as Keiichi was concerned. Every time he had the wrest the wheel to turn the war chariot, a hot flame of agony shot through his wounded shoulder. The embedded arrow seemed to tear at him from the inside with each motion of his arms.
"I can't kill him. I just need to chase him off while looking like I'm trying to run him over," Keiichi thought. He was in a precipitous situation; he had to protect himself in the face of men trying to kill him for attacking their Lord. He knew that if he wavered, it would be seen as a betrayal to Lord Mori...in which case all four travelers from the 21st century would be executed. Suddenly something occurred to him as he chased Lord Shimazu away from his perch.
"If I chase him *away* from the battle, it'll serve to protect him as well as give cause for his troops to retreat!" Keiichi wanted to close his eyes at the sight as he mowed down the last line of defenders and drove straight at Lord Shimazu. Impressively, Lord Shimazu mounted a horse while running and started downhill. Keiichi chased him.
Until Lord Shimazu managed to accidentally stumble onto a narrow downhill passage, too steep and enclosed for Keiichi to pursue.

* * * * * * * *

"Keiichi!" Belldandy gasped.
"Bell...what's wrong?" Urd and Skuld asked with concern.
"Keiichi...he's hurt! I can feel it!" she said weakly. Belldandy *knew* that her soulmate was closely linked to her...and that special corridor in her heart that served as an unseen thread between she and he...had just been plucked.
"Wherever he is, he's been hurt!" she said, feeling at once calm and yet distraught. She had finally sensed his presence...and knew that he was alive.
And yet...

* * * * * * * *

"Gotta make it back!" Keiichi said to himself. He could feel the slick spread of blood covering his chest underneath his armor as he struggled to drive the war chariot through the treacherous hilly terrain. Trees and rock outcroppings surrounded him as he wove his way downhill.
It was difficult having to steer with one hand. The steering column of the war chariot was ten times as difficult to turn as a regular steering column. There was no hydraulic power steering here...at times Keiichi felt that it was only through brute force that he could get the war chariot to turn.
Suddenly in his mind, he saw an image clarify. It was a photo of Belldandy that he had snapped a while back during a trip to a summer beach resort. She was dressed in an antique chapeau-bras sunhat, with a tasseled cloth umbrella resting on her shoulder. In her blue full sleeved sundress, she looked just like a turn-of-the-19th-century Frenchwoman. She wore a serene mystical smile on her face, her head partly turned towards the camera, her auburn locks silhouetted against the colorful pattern of the umbrella. The sky was cloudless that day...
He felt calm...and loved. From some unseen depth, Keiichi coursed with a warm glow of strength.
"I'm gonna make it!" he gasped. His confidence restored, he could see the windblown pennants of the Mori Clan's encampment in the distance. To his left was the ocean.
Something...was...in...the...ocean.
He squinted his eyes to make out what he was seeing.
The ocean was dotted with ships. Lots of them.

* * * * * * * *

TOSHISHIMA IMPERIUM HEADQUARTERS, TOKYO, JAPAN - DEC 2050:

Sayoko woke up in a bed. No...it wasn't a bed, she realized as she became more alert. It was like a nightmarish dentist's chair. She tried to move her arms and legs, but they were tightly restrained with some kind of metal clamps that seemed to conform to her wrists and ankles. Above her head was an appendage. It seemed like a metal arm...resembling an uprooted tree. Tracing the length of it, the solid pylon was like a tree trunk, ending in a complex pattern of roots. As her mind cleared even more, she looked at the mass of intricate 'roots' hovering a few feet above her.
"Huuunnnh!" she gasped. She was too shocked to scream, rendered speechless by the chilling array of robotic arms poised with blades, hooks, knives, drills, saws, lasers, heated metal...
""Ah...how are my two lovely patients this evening?" a voice interrupted her gathering horror. She turned her head to see a man dressed in a long red robe with a red surgical mask and headwrap walking towards her. Her fear became overbearing when she realized that he was dressed in *blood red*.
Now she could scream.
"Ahhh, we don't want you getting so upset," the surgeon said in a calming voice. Sayoko felt sickened by his demeanor...he was acting like this was a routine.
"First, we are going to perform a laser biopsy. We will use the laser to extract several samples from various parts of your brain. With this machine, we can obtain twenty samples in a one-second span of time. You may experience some memory disruption...and yes, unfortunately, we will not be able to anesthetize you because we need to monitor your reactions to pain..." he explained in an indifferent voice.
Sayoko screamed again, even louder. The doctor pressed a few lights on a panel and her head became rooted to the spot. Sayoko strained to move her head but found that she couldn't.
"Rather convenient, these restraining fields. Can't move, can you? We need to keep your head absolutely still so we can take exactly what we want to," he explained with mock politeness. Sayoko watched in horror as the surgeon grasped a metallic arm with two curved objects on the end that looked like claws. He guided them towards her nose, slowly inserting one 'claw' inside of each nostril. She tried to scream again, but found that she couldn't open her mouth.
"We will first use the lasers through the nasal passages to obtain midbrain samples," the surgeon droned on, as if offering a lecture to medical students. His academic manner made Sayoko realize with horror that this atrocity was being *recorded*.
"Magnetic positioning devices, nurse," he commanded. The nurse produced two semicircular metallic rings, which the doctor laid on each side of her head.
Sayoko screamed with her mouth closed. The dream of life...was over. From Queen of N.I.T. to...
"Attenuator," the doctor said. The nurse pulled something off of the tray and with a deft move, held it up to the surgeon's neck.
"Wha..." the surgeon said with surprise as he fell to the ground an eyeblink after she touched him with the instrument. She pressed several lights on a panel in quick succession and Sayoko felt the restraints open up.
"Quickly! I didn't think they would start with you!" the nurse said. Sayoko sat up so fast that she almost banged her head on the mass of surgical robotic arms extending over her examination chair. She looked and saw two robots moving towards them quickly.
"Halt!" they both said in metallic-voiced unison. These robots were different from the ones that brought her and Megumi to this place. They were bristling with mechanical appendages ending in what looked like gun and laser barrels.
While Sayoko looked for cover, the nurse calmly pulled out a handheld device and pointed it at both robots. A flashing pulse filled the room with bright intensity...and both robots stopped dead in their tracks, their lights flickering randomly as smoke wafted halos around them.
"Over here! We don't have much time," she said, motioning to Sayoko as she quickly strode over to an examination bed/chair where Megumi was restrained. The nurse pressed a few lights and Megumi was free.
This was happening all too quickly for Sayoko to follow. In less than a minute, she had been freed. The nurse went to the door and withdrew a small cylinder about three inches long. Pressing another sequence of lights, a door opened into the wall. She tossed the object in the doorway.
*Whump*
Sayoko heard a muffled explosion, and then watched as six men dressed in some kind of bodyarmor fell to the ground in front of the wall door. The woman grabbed a large cloth bag stashed in the corner of the room.
"This way!" the mysterious woman commanded. Sayoko looked at Megumi only briefly as they stepped over the fallen men...obviously guards. The nurse broke into a dash and Sayoko followed. A moment later, they reached the end of the corridor. The nurse pulled a small globe out of her shoulderbag. Scrutinizing it for a moment, she turned a dial on it.
"Ten seconds should be enough. Get down!" she shouted. She wound up her arm and hurled the baseball-sized metal globe at the end of the hallway, some fifty meters away. Then she pushed Sayoko and Megumi to the floor. Sayoko sensibly covered her ears. All three women hugged the floor as an explosion ripped open the end of the hall. Sayoko gasped as an assault of sound and light blasted through the gaping hole. Sprinklers and exhaust fans responded immediately to the explosion. A siren echoed through the corridor as red flashing lights strobed in the floor. Sayoko looked out the hole in the wall...
It was the city.
Their rescuer unslung her large bag and pulled three large bundles out of it.
"Here. Put these on. No time to explain," she said calmly. Sayoko was wide-eyed again as she recognized the pack that the woman had handed her. Noticing that Megumi was struggling, the 'nurse' assisted her.
"I'll help you. Don't worry, everything is going as planned," the woman said. She put a backpack on Megumi, while Sayoko firmly clamped herself in.
"You've trusted me this far, now you have to trust me even more," she said as she put bracelets on each girl's wrist.
"This is to prevent the biotracers from identifying that we've left the building. It will cast ghosting readings so that the guards will think you two are still on the loose inside. It will also prevent the biotracer mechas outside the headquarters from identifying you during our descent."
"O..our descent?" Sayoko heard Megumi ask warily, her first words since the mysterious woman in the nurse's garb had freed them.
"Yes. Come," she gestured, standing at the end of the hallway overlooking the city.
Sayoko's eyes grew wide as she walked to the edge of the blasted opening in the corridor. She looked down...and felt a wave of vertigo as she saw the face of the building careening downward until it disappeared.
"We're still about 2.25 kilometers above the ground. We can't use antigravs without being detected, so I brought good ol' parachutes. You pull on this handle," she motioned with her hand, "ten seconds after we jump! Isn't this exciting?"
"I..I can't do this," Sayoko thought weakly. Suddenly the woman wedged herself between her and Megumi, grabbing each coed by the waist...and shoved forward.
"AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Sayoko heard herself scream as her body hit the chill air. The lights of windows blurred past...huge buildings were everywhere, almost enclosing her. Suddenly weightless, she remembered her skydiving lessons and calmed down. Sayoko was surprised that Megumi wasn't screaming her lungs dry in fear.
Ten seconds later, she pulled her chute...and sighed with relief as the parachute unfolded above her. She looked over at Megumi, who was white-faced with fear as her parachute opened, pulling itself taunt. Somehow, a filament had linked all three parachutes.
The three floated softly downwards amidst a canyon of skyscrapers.

* * * * * * * *

"Ah...it's time for truth or dare. If you dare deny me the truth, then..heh heh..I'll dare to destroy your souls!" Aoshima's voice filled the room imprisoning the three Goddesses. All three Goddesses stared in the direction of the wallwindow resentfully in response to his childishly irritating choice of words.
"By the way, I have someone who's dying to meet you!" he said cheerfully. The wallwindow began to open up. Aoshima was laughing...laughing like a psychopath.
Belldandy was already tense with fear the second she heard Aoshima's voice. But then...she saw *him*.
The impossible him.
She held her hands clasped over her breast in rigid shock, her sense of panic so vivid that her senses wanted to escape her. All the trials they had faced in this disgusting incarceration paled against the sight of the…bastard! Belldandy shuddered as she realized with an emotional careen that their predicament just got worse. Completely and totally worse. There were only two beings in the control room, but each represented the worst of their kind. Belldandy tried to control her breathing; she was so distraught that she was hyperventilating.
"I should of known it would have been you, Tyyr," Urd said flatly. "Too cowardly to do it yourself...so now you're having mortals do your dirty work for you!"
"Shut up, Bitch Goddess! You're all going to die soon!" Tyyr shouted, his eyes flashing with anger. In Belldandy's eyes, he looked the same as before. No...much uglier. The ugliness of a hate engendered over bitterness held for a long time. Gods were incapable of becoming insane; they had evolved beyond madness. Making mistakes, becoming selfish to the point where they were dangerous, becoming confused...all of these were possibilities to a God or Goddess. But to her, Tyyr's churlish resentment seemed to overlap into an impossible condition of insanity.
Urd ignored him. She knew that Belldandy would be scared out of her wits. Probably Skuld too. A quick glance at both confirmed her suspicions. Seeing her two younger sisters frightened so by Tyyr and Aoshima...roused Urd's anger to a malicious pitch.
"If Aoshima and Tyyr are going to kill all three of us anyway, I'm gonna to stick the truth through their eyeballs before they get a chance," she decided. Hands on her hips, she floated right up to the wallwindow, and then pointed accusingly at the two. Her younger sisters might hold their thoughts, but she was going to take a stand and make a last gesture of defiance.
"Aoshima...what a pity. You are *so* wretched. You always were too unimaginative to get a life. So you stole a life. We *know* what happened. Somehow, you stumbled on all of Skuld's technology. Yggdrasilian technology. Then you figured out how to make it all work and you used it to dominate others. To create your own little global empire. An empire based on someone else's work, someone else's technology. There's a word that describes someone like you. You're nothing more than a lamer rip-off artist!" Urd said in an icepick harsh voice.
"Shut up! Urd, I'm warning you..."
"Ignore her...she's trying to goad you," Tyyr bellowed. Urd choked down her fear at the sound of his creepy basso voice and continued.
"You never could beat Keiichi in a race. *Neither* of you could! ! But you never gave up. You cheated, you conned, you connived, you hired henchmen...and when none of those worked, you resorted to threats and attacks. Guess what? You always failed! Tyyr, you couldn't even get Belldandy! You had her, signed sealed and delivered; my Parents were ready to give her away to you. And you blew it! You wanna know why? Because you never stood a chance in the first place. My sister loves Keiichi with all her heart...because compared to Keiichi, you are nothing more than rank coward! Both of you are rotten-to-the-core dirty scoundrel rats! And that's insulting to the all the rats on this planet," Urd noted, hoping that the Ninjettes were hearing every word of this. The former temple rats-turned shinobi may be cued into action if they were out there somewhere. She noticed with satisfaction that Aoshima was almost shaking with ire...and Tyyr wasn't too far behind him. No wonder, both of them had thin egos; name calling was like a dagger thrust into their pomposity.
"Urd..." Aoshima warned, leveling the SoulGun at her. Belldandy and Skuld reacted with alarm.
"*Urd*, don't provoke him anymore, for Almighty's sake!" Belldandy pleaded. Urd ignored her and continued to dish out invective.
"And you, *Private* Tyyr!" Urd flinched as the WarGod seethed at the blatant insult. Scared as she was, she realized that...if this was her time to experience the Real Death...that she would do so without any regrets.
"You couldn't have Belldandy either, so you teamed up with Aoshima. With a mortal. Makes sense...one good cowardly moron deserves another! You both are so unappealing, it's no wonder that fate has cast you as a duo! The only real difficulty is in deciding which of you is more contemptible..." she said, sticking her tongue out at the two. Tyyr reacted by trying to wrest the SoulGun from Aoshima.
"I'll kill you!!!" Tyyr screamed.
"Tyyr! Stop it! This SoulGun is genecoded to my DNA only! You can't use it!" Aoshima half-shouted, half-commanded.
"Well, I'll just change my manifestation to match your DNA..." Tyyr threatened. Aoshima responded by pointing the SoulGun at Tyyr.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I invited you here so that you could interpret what the three Norns are going to tell us. Once we are finished, then you can kill what's left of their souls or do whatever you want to each of them!" he said threateningly.
Tyyr advanced on Aoshima, and then seemed to have thought better of it and backed away, looking at Aoshima with barely concealed hatred.
"Well...get on with it! And leave enough of each Norn for me to have my way with...I *want* all three of 'em!" Tyyr growled savagely.
Aoshima pointed the SoulGun back at Urd.
"You're the worst of the three...so you're the first. Tell me what Time is..."
**BLAASTTMMMM!!!**
The wall exploded behind the three Goddesses. At the same time, a series of explosive flashes of light blasted in the control room. Urd watched as a pair of gray and black blurs in the control room threw at least fifty shuriken at Tyyr, who looked around in confusion as the power went out in the room. The WarGod bellowed as the metal stars buried themselves in his flesh. A split-second later, a net fell from the ceiling over he and Aoshima, while spanwire lassos began to enclose the two.
"What the fuck?" the three Goddesses heard Aoshima scream in dismay as he struggled. Two explosions in the control room followed as green smoke started billowing up.
Aoshima reacted by firing the SoulGun randomly, as if to blast a way out of the confining net.
"Mistress!!!!" Urd heard a scream from behind her. As if in slow motion, she saw the SoulGun point right at her. A red glow burst from the end of it...

* * * * * * * *

RESCUE MISSION #477 - DEC 2050:

Kodama watched Hikari and Senrigan do their work in the control room. They had executed so beautifully. At the same time she blew a hole in the wall behind the Goddesses, the other two Ninjettes had blasted open the control room with concussive charges. Hikari had shorted out the power while Senrigan pelted the big WarGod with shuriken, momentarily confusing him. With her last shuriken star, Senrigan struck the overhead panel, causing it to open and drop the steelfiber net on the two. While the net was descending, Hikari threw the boomerkai with the crystalline spanwire, which encircled the two forty times within a half-second while Senrigan lit off two smoke bombs. In blind panic, Aoshima fired the weapon at random angles; the twit was somehow thinking that the weapon would blast him free.
Yet, Kodama felt a sickening plague of guilt as she realized that her efforts to neutralize it had failed. She realized that it was some kind of magical weapon. Then she practiced Zen Enveloping and slowed down time, so she could disarm him by removing the gun from his grip. Actually, she had speeded herself up so that each second seemed like a minute.
As she made ready to lash out a disarming kick...to her horror, she realized that Aoshima had somehow gained a random bead on Mistress Urd.
The SoulGun glowed red.
Kodama thought it was funny that her name was the same as the renowned commercial Shinkansen train A-200 model of forty years ago...she was faster than Hikari.
"Faster than a speeding..." she thought with a smile as she leapt...
"Kodama!!!" Urd screamed. The little Ninjette tumbled lifeless at her feet...taking the SoulGun shot that was intended for her.
"H..how?" Urd thought incredulously as she picked up the limp form, now soulless. A red bolt from the SoulGun flashed past her.
"We gotta get out of here!" Skuld shouted, gamely stifling her sadness and rage. The wallwindow crashed as Hikari and Senrigan leapt through it at unimaginable speed, slingshoted by ropes suspended from the ceiling of the lab. They had jumped so fast that they crashed into the wall on the other side of the cell. Bouncing off it, they rolled to their feet, and then they both motioned for the Goddesses to follow them through the round hole in the wall that Kodama had created.
"Mistresses! You must go this way! Quickly!" they shouted. Belldandy, Urd and Skuld all floated through the blastway in the wall while the two Ninjettes guarded them from the rear.
"We shut down the barrier controls in the other room. You should have your powers back, Mistress! The shield is gone!" Hikari said joyfully.
"Your idea worked, Kodama! Now we can go home!" Senrigan shouted.
"Kodama?" she repeated in a questioning voice. She looked at Urd.
"M..mistress?"
Urd held out both hands. Cradled inside was the lifeless body of Kodama, a smile on her face. During the consternation, no one had noticed that Kodama had been struck down.
"She..snff..she saved my life. She took the..fshff..shot that was meant for me," Urd said in a voice wracked with utter despair.
"Nooooo! It can't go this way! NO!!! It's not true! It didn't happen!" Skuld screamed maniacally, collapsing to her knees with tears in her angry eyes.
"Only Kodama could outrun the blast of that mystical weapon," Hikari said sadly as she put a tiny arm around Senrigan's shoulder. The mini-tomboyish Ninjette held a hand tentatively to her face, then withdrew it, stifling the tears that wanted to come.
"Kodama would have wanted it this way. We cannot mourn life...for it passes like the brief flowering of a delicate cherry blossom. For a shinobi, there is no greater honor than to lay down her life defending her Mistress," Senrigan said.
Belldandy looked at her shaking hands, lost for sense in the midst of her wordless disbelief.
"GODDAMMIT! Forty years they looked for us...and now this!" she screamed, so loud that the walls shook. Reaching a decision, she reached behind her ear and pulled slightly, feeling a "snap!" between her fingers. With a reflex of will, she gathered her powers and channeled them. A bright blue glow filled the air about her cupped hands.
Skuld and Urd looked at Kodama's body, and then at Belldandy. A silent thought passed between the two as they realized that Belldandy had broken her Seal. Belldandy's face quickly shed her benign expression. Her eyes, traced with tears, became crystal clear with purpose...their color changing from the azure of a gentle sky to the blistering cyanine of hard ice. Their sister glared at Aoshima and Tyyr with a face knitted with absolute rage.
"Sister...do it! We're with you!" Urd encouraged, knowing that Belldandy was fighting with herself, fighting to let go of her doubts and fears and worries...and just do what's right.
"C'mon! Avenge Kodama for all of us!" Skuld added, as the blue energy Belldandy was cupping in her hands transformed into a bright near-solid glow of power. She raised her hands high above her head, almost massaging the sphere of divine energy.
"Lord, she is totally...*pissed*!!" Urd thought as she saw the rare display of rage in her sister's eyes, a deep anger that dwarfed the worst of her sis's 'jealousy storms'
"*This*...is for Kodama!" Belldandy shouted. A bolt of bluewhite energy leapt out of the bright sphere in Bell's hands and slashed through the air, blasting Aoshima and Tyyr. Aoshima was instantly incinerated before he could even scream. As the smoke cleared, Urd heard Tyyr bellow as he grabbed for the now-ownerless SoulGun, intending to take aim at Belldandy.
As fast as she could, Skuld grabbed Hikari and Senrigan in a flashblur of white and held the two Ninjettes tight to her chest, turning away to shield them with her body. Knowing what was going to happen, knowing the Future without even looking.
Urd's heart sunk into a pool of dread as Tyyr gained the SoulGun...even as she felt an immense surge in energy, a power spike of several orders of magnitude. She realized that her sister was channeling *all* of her unsealed powers into the sphere above her head. She wasn't even trying to subdue Tyyr...
"And this...is for *me*!"
Skuld flinched as Belldandy hurled the glowing sphere of Goddess power at Tyyr. A nova-bright blinding flashed obliterated everything.
When Urd pulled her arm away from her eyes, she could see open air. She looked around and saw a huge city all around her...all underneath her. Belldandy had *blown the top off of the building they had been confined in*! Her first inclination was to yell "Way to go, Bell!" Then she saw the torn expression of troubled joy on her sister's face.
It was gone...along with Tyyr and Aoshima and all of their captors. The five of them floated in midair over the city. A bittersweet sense of freedom gripped Urd. She looked down and realized that they must be kilometers up above the ground.
"Let's go somewhere. Anywhere. Away from this place," Belldandy said grimly.

* * * * * * * *

OITA, BUNGO PROVINCE, KYUSHU JAPAN - SEPT 1373:

I woke up in a room illuminated by the midday sun. The last thing I remember was being in the middle of a fierce battle...witness to Genji killing a man to protect my life.
"You're awake. I'll go get the others," a soft feminine voice said. I looked up to see a young woman dressed in a white robe. I recognized her as one of Lord Mori's nieces.
"Why was I getting such special treatment?" I wondered as a moment later, Genji and Tomohisa entered the room. Tomohisa was limping, I noticed. They sat down next to my futon on two cushions.
"W..what happened?" I asked weakly.
"Well, Lord Mori won the war. Keiichi chased Lord Shimazu away...but he took an arrow to the shoulder. He's going to be fine, but he'll need to rest for now. Tomohisa here was speared in the leg. He's going to have a limp for a while, but his leg is already healing good."
"Not the same leg you injured during knife throwing?" I asked. Tomohisa nodded his head in assent. But my attempt at teasing him didn't shift his somber mood a widge.
I felt that something was wrong. I was pretty weak, but I could sense something was amiss with my body. I looked at Genji and Tomohisa and noticed a solemn look in their eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Cevn...you lost your hand. You're lucky to be alive. When I pulled you out, you had been stabbed in the ribs and your arm was sliced open to the bone. You nearly died. We had to force-feed you sake to keep you down so the pain wouldn't strike at you. You've been here for almost two weeks. I'm sorry."
I looked at my right hand. Where it should have been. Instead, I saw a stump with a tightly wrapped bandage.
"Oh...fuck!!! Fuck no! NOOOOooooo!!"

* * * * * * * *

SHIN-KYO, JAPAN - DEC 2050:

Megumi landed on the concrete much more softly than she expected, followed by Sayoko and their mysterious rescuer. Her life had flashed before her during the descent. Strangely, once she was on the ground, a giddy mood overtook her.
"You weigh more than me," Sayoko teased. Megumi smiled at the joke.
"You must have slept during the lecture on Galileo," she teased back.
"Oh...I thought that was Newton," Sayoko replied.
"C'mon you two. Quit goofing around about the old days at N.I.T.," the woman chided. Megumi and Sayoko looked at each other with curious expressions at this remark.
**N.I.T?**
The 'nurse' removed her nurse's outfit; underneath she was garbed in a Buddhist nun's habit. Megumi could see that she was short in stature, with the bald tonsured head that was typical of a nun. Her back was to Megumi, so she couldn't see her face as she pulled the hood up tight over her shaved pate.
"Ready for a bit of a surprise?" she said gaily. She turned around to face Megumi and Sayoko.
The sound of a million motors passed through the air...
"*S..Sora?*" they both gasped.
"Well, don't just gawk...unstrap your parachutes, you two goofs!" she said lightly.
Megumi unstrapped her parachute rigging, as she regarded the woman in front of her. Amazingly enough, it was Sora. Her erstwhile prediction about Sora had come true. It had been forty years, but Sora looked like an ageless woman in her late 30s. Sora had indeed remained much younger than her age as far as appearance. She no longer wore her trademark round glasses. Megumi could see a sort of lucent illumination in Sora's eyes...contrasting with her diminutive stature. She seemed like she had transcended the worries of the world...and was at peace. She seemed so light...so *awake*. So wise.
"This way to the temple," Sora said with a benign smile. Megumi looked at Sayoko, who was equally amazed at the identity of their rescuer. It didn't make sense, but then it did. The woman *had* said "isn't this exciting?" right before they plunged off the umpteenth floor of the massive building they had been confined.
This was one of Sora's trademark cliches...seeing a dangerous situation as 'exciting'. Like the uphill bike climb Sora and her brother signed up for a couple of years ago.
"Actually, forty years and a 'couple of years ago'," Megumi reminded herself. But she couldn't get her feet to move. The shock of seeing her best friend in *this* world, *this* time...had rooted her to the ground. Sora had to come over and almost drag her towards some kind of walkstairs that led to street level.
"Some things never change," Megumi observed about Sora's quirks as the three climbed up the stairs and stepped on a moving sidewalk and rode it for about half an hour.
Change was all around her, however. The street was filled with a dizzying display of retailers and pedestrians. Tokyo had become even more cosmopolitan than she remembered; half the people she saw were non-Japanese. It became apparent to Megumi that all the ground level street lanes had been converted to sliding walkways. She darted her eyes left and right as people stepped off of the walkways at intersections, then walked along the sidewalk. On each side of the walkways was a wide sidewalk, with benches, fountains, trees and statues. The whole effect reminded her of a gallery in a shopping mall. She looked up and saw that an arching glass shield covered the street. It had to be at least late November, but the street itself felt warm. Then she realized that all the streets were enclosed by the same arched glass shield, in order to maintain some kind of climate control.
Her eyes bounced all over the place as if on their own accord. She was amazed at the people they passed. A group of young women on the moving sidewalk on the other half of the street passed them, going in the opposite direction. Megumi was startled to see that they were wearing see-through fishnet blouses, thong bikinis and knee-high leather boots. Megumi could tell by their bearing that they *weren't* hookers; despite their revealing attire, they looked innocent rather than wanton. They passed several young men with bald blue-colored heads, chatting in front of a cafe. Megumi tried not to stare, but these guys had painted their faces *blue*. They reminded her of an old TV commercial. A few blocks down, a group of junior high school girls emerged from a store, and then touched bracelets on their wrists. A moment later, their heads were replaced by holograms of cute animal heads. Several foxes, rabbits and kittens wearing winter school uniforms giggled as they walked down the street. Salarymen walked past them on the moving walkway, their silver and gold suits reflecting the streetlights as they carried their briefcases. OLs walked by in pairs and trios, wearing dresses with flashing lights sewn into the fabric. A group of men wearing neon headbands dribbled a basketball down the sidewalk.
"So this is the Japan of 2050," Megumi said to herself, her senses hyperstimulated by all the noise and colorful people. She had to admit that this was ten times more interesting than mallratting...even Sayoko was glancing about with rapt attention. Sora seemed to be almost meditative, her eyes semi-closed.
Soon, they arrived at a large dome. Surrounded on all sides by towering buildings, it looked out of place with its low profile. Yet, the low domed area was huge, encompassing and area at least as large as the N.I.T. campus.
"A relic...or an arena?" Megumi wondered...until she saw the tall wooden torii standing in front of the wall. Sora pressed a series of buttons in her handheld and a circular portal appeared in the way.
Megumi looked inside the portal...and saw two more portals further in. Framed in the third portal was a complex of large temple buildings surrounded by moonlit verdant woods.
"Waaah!!! Cool!!" she heard Sayoko exclaim.
"Pretty neat, huh," Sora said with a smile as they passed the third portal. Megumi stopped and wordlessly turned in a circle, taking in the sight. It was as if they had stepped out of the city and onto a mountaintop temple. This temple was many times larger than the temple compound she called home. Everywhere she looked, there was beauty.
"I designed it myself. A holographic dome encloses the temple complex, creating the skies and the vistas you see. The temple grounds themselves are real, however. The wall is concealed by several groves of trees. There are gardens, pathways and pools. Illusory reality...just like this life we share. Heaven...in the midst of Hell," Sora explained in a rich voice filled with spiritual conviction. Megumi almost wanted to giggle in reaction to her tone of voice.
An incense-scented breeze wafted through the air as Sora escorted she and Sayoko towards a central complex of buildings. Looking at the surroundings, she felt becalmed. The temple seemed like it was poised on top of an impossibly tall mountain, overlooking plains and valleys. A trio of nuns walked unhurriedly up to them.
"Mt. Hiei," Megumi thought, amazed at the spectacle of the artificial scenery. It was so out of place compared to the urban light vessel which constituted the street scene on the way to the temple. Even that looked beautiful in its own way. But this...
"Abbess, you've arrived with our guests. Did everything go as planned?"
"Without a flaw, Daughter Sayoko," Sora replied then smiled at Sayoko. "My senior secretary, Miyakawa Sayoko," she introduced.
"We have a Megumi here as well. She's one of the novices," the nun said, then gracefully bowed to them. Another nun strolled up, dressed in an elaborate set of robes like Sora's.
"Ch..Ch..Chihiro?" Sayoko asked tentatively. Megumi immediately recognized her.
Fujimi Chihiro, Keiichi's sometimes rival race competitor and later, mentor. Keiichi's boss at Whirlwind, founder of the N.I.T. Motor Club. Back in the 'real' time she and Sayoko had been yanked out of, Chihiro was spending a year in America, studying at a graduate technical college in Los Angeles. Megumi had phoned her a few times to see how things were going in America for her, as well as to keep her updated on the club's activities. But this woman, with Chihiro's face, was not at all like the hot-blooded senior she knew from N.I.T during her freshman year. The pert young woman had grown into a railthin elderly woman with a delightful, yet gentle sparkle in her eyes.
"Yes, Sayoko...I remember you, as well as you, Megumi. I'm the shika, or head nun of our temple. Sora is the roshi, or head instructer. But to all the nuns here, we're both merely abbesses, coequal in service to the women here who are aiming to strike the Bell of the Dharma. And you both...you're looking good for women in their 60's. Kinda like a class reunion, this," she said in a soft voice.
"Welcome to Butsudankyoji Temple!" Sora and Chihiro formally greeted them.
Megumi watched as Chihiro and Sora spent the next few minutes dealing with the affairs of the nunnery, busily signing papers and giving directions for accommodations.
"Abbesses? Those two?" Megumi said incredulously to Sayoko.

* * * * * * * *

Belldandy didn't know what to do next. They were stranded above a towering skyscraper in the middle of what seemed to be Tokyo. She had almost exhausted all of her energy blasting Aoshima and Tyyr from existence. As her anger subsided, she became aware that she was in deep trouble. Killing another God was one of the most heinous crimes a divine could commit. Kodama's death had pushed her into unknown emotional territory, both dangerous and beautiful. When she discharged her energy at Tyyr, she had intended it towards lethality. But somehow, when she blasted Tyyr, the SoulGun had ignited, taking him with it. Besides her sisters, she couldn't sense any divine presence in the vicinity. She had expected an instant reprisal from Kami-sama, but instead...nothing.
"They...killed Kodama," she thought sadly. Kodama, who had searched for forty years to find her...only to die as her search bore fruition. Somehow, Kodama had outraced the bolt of the SoulGun and leapt in its wake, sacrificing herself to save Urd. With her remaining power, Belldandy formed a bubble around the group and floated down the front of the ruins of the towering glass monstrosity that was Aoshima's headquarters.
As they descended, they discussed what to do. With Hikari and Senrigan safe with them, they were now outcasts. No place to go, no one they knew, nowhere to live. And because of what happened with Aoshima and Tyyr, they probably couldn't return to Yggdrasil. If Yggdrasil even existed.
She learned that the three Ninjettes had taken to living on the streets. At times, Aoshima's men had pursued them, trying to capture them. But the shinobi proved far too skilled for his hired thugs; always eluding their pursuers.
As they reached the street, Belldandy looked at Skuld. The youngest Goddess's solemn bearing was somewhat offset by animation as the nightscene of the street surrounded them in a technicolor hug. Indeed, the nightlife bustle of the street had somewhat kept their moods from wandering into deep mourning. The street was congested with people...a mixture of all types of humanity. Conservative salarymen rubbed shoulders with green-haired men in leather jackets. A trio of women wearing pink face visors walked by. Several men dressed in Kabuki outfits were eating soba noodles. Shops lined the sidewalk...and there were no cars in the street. Two stories above their head was a glass enclosure that they had floated through, and above that was a 'street' of hovercars.
After a brief discussion, they decided to go back to the temple and bury Kodama there.

* * * * * * * *

OITA, BUNGO PROVINCE, KYUSHU JAPAN - JULY 1374:

The battles had gone on for almost a year. What initially appeared to be a conflict whose victor would win by a single decisive confrontation...instead had degraded into entrenched guerilla warfare. The reason was that the Muromachi bakufu of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu had dispatched its ablest general, Imagawa Ryo-shun, to try and quell the ever-growing popularity of the Southern Court of Chokei. Imagawa was a deputy shogun, and arrived with a huge number of troops from Honshu and a great degree of latitude in executing his affairs. This was intimidating to both Lord Mori and Lord Shimazu. An open confrontation would result in reprisal from a veteran force generaled by a tactical genius. Not to mention the financial backing of Kyoto and the sanction of both Emperor and Shogun. So stealthy attacks ruled the day...casting great tension all about.
We had grudgingly gotten used to living in this time period. We resigned ourselves to the fact that our best bet would be to remain under Lord Mori as retainers. It beat working in the manure pits, hands down. Besides, we were slowly rising in the ranks of Lord Mori's army. Genji and Keiichi had the prestige of being the designer-operators of the "War Chariot"...and Tomohisa and I were respected because of our 'purple hearts' gained in battle.
I still secretly hoped that one of the Goddesses would suddenly appear in the meeting room where we took our meals and transport us back home from this nightmare. Keiichi was desolate without Belldandy, but this was underlied by an optimism that *someday* he would be reunited with her. However, he was prone to melancholic moods from time to time.
We all were.
Keiichi, Genji and Tomohisa all let their hair grow long to match the hairstyles of the period. Each of the two men wore a topknot folded forward, while Tomohisa left his topknot facing backwards in the style of a young man. Despite the lack of modern conveniences, we were still doing very well. Keiichi had been given a small household near the daimyo's own estate as a reward for his actions in the Battle of Furuegoe Pass. We had a staff of four house servants to see to our needs. Tomohisa was being tutored by me, while Genji was working on a defense system for Lord Mori's planned castle in Oita.
I had been excused from further military duties because of the loss of my hand. At first, I felt angry that I had lost the limb fighting on behalf of someone else. Then I felt angry because I would not be able to avenge my injury. Finally, I was simply frustrated because I couldn't be where the action was.
Before I met Urd and was transported to Japan, it always seemed that I was fighting someone else's battles. Most of these battles were under another's employ, from which I was getting a pittance to solve their problems. The other battles were in the academic arena. But now, much of what I knew and learned was rendered useless. At least, Lord Mori had taken care of me, despite the fact that I was lamed in battle. I was regularly included in all strategy meetings, and my translation and literary skills were in constant demand. At times, I was tempted to teach them the 'future'...because the 'present' was so boring. But I held my tongue and pen against my whims.
We all had to be very careful not to disclose our knowledge of the future. Thus, Keiichi and Genji were *improving* existing technology, rather than *introducing* new technology. From an engineering standpoint, it was frustrating to both men to know what to do, but yet be constrained to act.
As retainers to Lord Mori, we were invited to attend fetes and diversions at the Lord's compound from time to time. We were exposed to a variety of live performances, ranging from proto-Kyogen to Korean sleeve dancers, from poetry contests to fan-and-sword dances. As luck would have it, Keiichi's charming nature didn't escape the notice of Lord Mori's teenage daughter; she would regularly send romantically inclined missives to our house, making her intentions on the matter quite clear.
This only brought up another issue...after all, we *were* men. Masculinity had taken on a whole new meaning for me, as well as the others. I was starting to lose my fear of women. I found myself tutoring a number of young women of the court, whose affections towards me ran the gamut from silly to seductive. I missed Urd desperately, and cursed myself for even attending to these women with anything less than a professional interest. However, my gaijin status served me well in the sense that my female students seemed reserved towards pursing a physical relationship with me. So our 'romances' consisted of poetic exchanges only. Even with this limited intercourse of affections, I was plagued with guilt.
As for my companions, they were dealing with the "single man in the 14th Century Syndrome" in their own ways. Being the youngest, Tomohisa was acting the dandy with a bevy of admiring girls. Lord Mori's very open sponsorship of him did wonders to impress the fairer sex. There was even talk that Lord Mori would formally 'adopt' Tomohisa into his household...a rumor that sent the women swarming to our house. Genji rarely did more than flirt, but he flirted *a lot*. Keiichi did too, especially with the Lord's daughters...but I could tell that he wasn't invested in seeking another relationship. My best guess was that he was flirting for form's sake, so as to not appear "unmanly". None of us were interested in a relationship, including Tomohisa...who was generally following the samurai pattern of "impermanence in all things" when it came to his many affairs with the women of Oita. Good thing there isn't AIDS in the 14th century.
And for his sake, it was an exceedingly good thing Skuld wasn't in the 14th century!
We also were able to visit the famed Beppu hot springs several times. Rustic ryokan dotted the springs. I had read that the onsen had become popular during the Edo Period; but here in Kyushu, there already existed an economy built around the onsen. The ryokan were charming, built with sturdy wood from the cedars that grew abundantly here in Bungo.
A couple of times, a band of ninja stole into the daimyo's compound in an attempt to kidnap his daughter or his toddler grandson. Each time, a few of their number were killed while the others fled. But the last time, the ninja had succeeded in stealing his daughter away. Lord Mori was mortified and vowed to go to war to recapture his daughter.
Keiichi was very upset as well, as he admired the Lord's daughter for her calm dignity. In his role as counselor, Keiichi advised that Genji and I go to Miyasaki to offer terms and ransom for her release. With the loss of my hand, I insisted to the others that I stop playing the mute; being crippled with the loss of my writing hand and not being able to talk was more than I could stand. So, I was 'miraculously' given the use of my voice when I lost my hand; the Kami had generously decided to reward my service to the Lord by taking my hand but also by restoring my voice in exchange. Superstition and religiosity were even stronger here than in the 21st century, and the fabular explanation was accepted without contest.

* * * * * * * *

So there we were, walking south towards Miyasaki. At the border gate, Shimazu's soldiers had harassed us because of my gaijin status and Genji's youth. We produced the handwritten pass/letter from Lord Mori, and they eventually agreed to let us pass, after dispensing an inordinate amount of verbal abuse.
14th Century yakuza.
The terrain smoothed out as we took the pathway near the ocean. We could catch occasional glimpses of Mt. Aso to the west as we traveled on. When we entered the village of Nobeoka, we picked up an armed escort of ten men. They were much more polite than the border guards were, but it was obvious that they were more concerned with protecting the ransom that we carried than anything else. Of course, we had to bribe them along the way, as they tended to want to stop at every good inn on the way for a meal or lodging.
We eventually reached Miyasaki and Lord Shimazu's castle. Unlike Lord Mori, his clan had been established in Hyuga for two centuries; the large castle and other fortifications evidenced his solid control of the province.
Following a night's rest in the guestroom, we were summened into the presence of Lord Shimazu. One of the things we were counting on was that the Lord would recognize his counterpart in Genji. Indeed, one glance at Genji was enough to startle Lord Shimazu. After his shock at seeing his mirror image in Genji, we got down to the business of negotiation. We had brought a trunk laden with gold and art scrolls, which was more than enough recompense for the release of Lord Mori's daughter.
Then I remembered what was so significant about 1372-4. These were the years that Shiguro and Shibuya invaded Shimazu's province, aided by the forces of the deputy Shogun Imagawa. The mass of ships we saw during the Battle of Furuegoe Pass was a precurser to events that would shape the next twenty years. With this insight in mind, I discussed an alteration to our plans with Genji. Instead of suing for peace, we would request an alliance between Mori and Shimazu. This was flatly denied by the Lord despite our remonstrations and appeals to reason. I knew that the initial battles on behalf of the Shogun would begin this year...and only get worse.
On the third day, Genji and I were able to convince Lord Shimazu of the precipitous situation he was in. We went out on a limb to suggest that Lord Mori was willing to ally himself with him, for the mutual benefit of both Clans. Delicately dancing around revealing future events, I was able to weave a narrative of 'what could be' while resorting to my knowledge of history. Along with Genji's impassioned speeches to the retainers, we were able to leave the next day with an agreement in principle to investigate further this idea of an alliance.
With Lord Mori's daughter safely in our custody, we returned to Oita. In 15 years, the Southern Court would be defeated, and both the Mori and Shimazu would suffer heavily during the fighting. Lord Mori's daughter recognized the validity of our concerns and vowed to discuss it with her father.
After three days on the road, we were chased down by a dispatch runner from Lord Shimazu. Apparently, the Shiguro-Imagawa forces had attempted to capture one of his frontier castles. Because of this, the Lord had been giving second thoughts to the notion of an alliance, possibily even favoring our diplomatic suggestion. We returned to Miyasaki.
Genji spoke eloquently for the need for a truce between the two daimyo. Beyond a truce, they would need to combine their strengths to survive the times ahead. He estimated that the Southern Court wouldn't last more than 15 years, and that both Mori and Shimazu would be attacked repeatedly if they allied themselves with Chokei.
Lord Shimazu entertained us for several more days, and then dismissed us with a sealed letter that we were to convey to Lord Mori.
We reached Lord Mori's compound five days later. Runners had been dispatched ahead of time to inform him that his daughter had been ransomed.
Now we had to convince him to cease hostilities and join forces with Shimazu for his own survival.

* * * * * * * *

BUTSUDANKYOJI ZEN TEMPLE - 2050:

Megumi and Sayoko were given fresh clothes and taken to a pleasantly appointed room. Compared to the sterility of their previous lodging, the guestroom's traditional appearance shone with liveliness. The smell of incense was everywhere, probably soaked into the wood after the burning of millions of josh sticks. A bronze incense burner in the front of the room had several sticks burning as they entered their guest quarters. A tastefully painted miniature folding screen was set on a small wooden table. In one corner of the room sat a cloisonne brazier, present more for its aesthetics than for keeping the room's occupants warm. Yet when Megumi checked, it was filled with scented charcoal. Two soft futons were laid out in the center of the room. Megumi sat down on hers and immediately sank into its plushness.
"Ahhh, this is so soft!" she commented, then lay down. Sayoko responded by patting the futon she was seated upon, and then laid down on her side, facing Megumi.
"This just keeps getting weirder. First cousin Toshiyuki...and now Sora and Chihiro! How did she know that he was keeping us in the first place? There must be a hundred million people in this city...and she knew right where to look!" Sayoko wondered out loud.
"She knew a lot more than that. She was totally prepared. She had the codes to our room, timed explosives, some kind of dampeners for something she called biotracers," Megumi replied.
"Yeah, I wonder what *those* are? I wonder if they planted something in us, kinda like those ID chips that people put in their pets?" Megumi shuddered at the implication of Sayoko's thought.
"Gods, I am *so* tired! It's so ironic! After being cooped up in that hellish hospital ward for what seemed like forever...now that I have my first taste of actual freedom, my body wants to go to sleep!" she added, feeling suddenly exhausted. She looked at Sayoko, who was laying on her back on her futon, breathing shallowly.
"We'll find out more tomorrow," Sayoko said with a sleepy-husked voice.

* * * * * * * *

MAKUHARI, CHIBA, JAPAN - DEC 2050:

The Ninjettes guided them to the temple. After several hours of negotiating streets and walkways, Belldandy, Urd and Skuld stood in front of the dark temple grounds. In contrast to the lights of the highrises all around them, the temple looked funereal...like an abandoned city of the dead. Nothing was alive here, except for wild patches of tall grass and weeds. Skuld felt herself gripping both of her sister's arms tightly, the desolate leer of the place suggesting ghostly inhabitants.
Looking through the shattered front torii gate, all that remained of the many trees in the compound were rotting, burnt husks. Where the front gate had gaily marked the entrance to the temple, now there were thickly coiled barbwires to fence people out. Belldandy felt Skuld's apprehension; she too expected nightshade apparitions to haunt the grounds...it looked so dead. All around the temple were towering apartment blocks, whose lights cast an eerie faded glow upon the charred temple buildings.
Urd felt Skuld's grip on her arm tightening; she could sense the fear and despair in her younger sibling. The main temple building in the compound was reduced to rubble, with a few fireblack beams stubbornly resisting gravity. Piles of wood and rock marked where the garage and other buildings were. It was as if something had carved a hole in life and filled the vacuum with these empty grounds. Everything here was so *dark*...so lifedrained. Weatherworn through four decades of neglect.
"The mind gets smaller with the dreaming..." Belldandy thought. She wanted to recoil from the reality that was assaulting her eyes. Their temple...their *home*...was gone.
Obliterated.
"So why didn't they build anything here?" Skuld asked, breaking the profound silence shared between the sisters.
"Good question, Skuld. This doesn't make sense at all. It's as if someone wanted to *preserve* these...ruins," Urd replied, struggling as she referred to the compound as ruins. There really wasn't enough of the temple grounds to merit the term "ruins". The grounds were parched; one could look and never realize that anything existed before.
"We used to live here...Keiichi used to live here," Belldandy said sadly as she kicked a pebble-sized rock. Everything was gone now. She had wanted to find some mementos of Keiichi or the others, clues that could lead her to their whereabouts. But there was nothing. She knew that instinctively that sifting through the debris would be futile.
The three Goddesses and two Ninjettes stood in the middle of the devastated temple, the wind silently wrapping them in its uncaring embrace.
"This way!" Hikari said, motioning towards them with a wave of the arm. They walked out the front gate and turned left. Hikari lit a small torch and hopped up on Skuld's shoulder.
A metal sign was posted on the crumbling wall, weathered with age. It read: "Property of Toshishima Corporation." Belldandy simply shook her head. One more nightmare piled upon the rest.
"Mistress...can you make it like it once was?" Senrigan asked innocently. Belldandy turned to look at the little Ninjette, heartstuck.
"What would be the point?" Belldandy pondered. "My dear Keiichi isn't here...so it would just be a lifeless replica of the home we once had. It doesn't *fit* into the spirit of this age. Without Keiichi..."
It saddened her greatly to see how the once-beautiful temple complex had come to complete ruination. It was a fired skeleton of its former self. This...atrocity...had fired her attention long enough.
She looked at the little tomboyish Ninjette with eyes of compassion.
"Once a season of life has passed, one cannot return to it. To do so would be a refusal of destiny and a betrayal of the memories. Besides, dear Senrigan, my powers are almost exhausted from our escape," she explained.
"Mistress, we have a tent that we have been living in. You're more than welcome to share it with us," Hikari suggested.
"That...that would be good. I would like to sleep here one last time, then offer our respects to Kodama in the morning," Belldandy responded on behalf of the three sisters.

* * * * * * * *