Obeying Destiny an Oh My Goddess Fanfic by Rob Atendido ("Raja") Aa! Megamisama! is the creation of Fujishima Kousuke, published in "Monthly Afternoon" by Kodansha. Oh My Goddess! is published in English by Studio Proteus and Dark Horse. Previous chapters of this fic may be found at **** CHAPTER 6 **** .... ...... ....Skuld? Urd? Keiichi-san? Is there anybody there? I feel... I feel...so weak.... ...where am I? Why can't I see anything? Keiichi-san.... **** Keiichi, Megumi, and Urd quickly jumped into the waiting sportscar. As Keiichi buckled his seat belt, he said, "One of you is going to have to squeeze into the back --" "Why?" said Urd, from between Keiichi and Megumi. Keiichi turned to face her. "Well, GAHH!" When he turned, Keiichi saw that a miniature version of Urd, about the size of a UFO catcher doll, was floating between him and his sister. Mini-Urd looked from Keiichi to Megumi. "What?" "Y'know," said Megumi in a somewhat startled voice, "if you had done something like this way back at the beginning of this mess, you'd have had an easier time convincing me...." Urd grinned. "I'll keep that in mind for next time --" "I hate to interrupt, but could we go now?" a new, yet remarkably familiar voice interjected. The voice came from the cramped backseat area. Keiichi and Megumi looked around, and down, finally spotting a second mini-Urd, calmly working the controls on her scanner. As this new Urd felt the weight of their gazes upon her, she stopped, looked up, and said, "What?" Keiichi looked at Megumi, a bit wild-eyed. Megumi looked at Keiichi and shrugged. "Well?" said Urd. One of the Urds, anyway. After another moment of shock had elapsed, Keiichi faced front, threw the car into gear, and put his foot down. **** Skuld was once again sitting at one of Yggdrasil's monitor consoles, doing her best to keep up with the ever-increasing numbers of system bugs popping up on Earth. This time, instead of being on her own, she was a part of a team of many minor gods and goddesses, each at a console doing his or her best to keep ahead of the disturbances that the bugs were creating. The problem was, because they were so hard pressed to keep up with the various problems caused by the bugs, they had little time to spare for actually eliminating them. And, of course, since the bug portal was still open, their numbers kept on increasing. Even though a large number of them had apparently disappeared at the same time as Urd, Megumi, and Keiichi, there was still more than enough out there to overwhelm them. The display that Skuld was currently looking at showed the San Francisco bay area, where some of the first problems had occurred. Apparently, that particular bug had gotten more ambitious; it had moved over to the Bay Bridge, and had put a rather neat vertical loop in it. Skuld paused a moment to observe that the bug had managed to do it without really damaging the bridge -- the lower deck was stretched out a bit, though. She saw that several cars that had been on the bridge at the time were stopped all along the loop, with their drivers standing on the roadway looking around in confusion. *Looks like a local gravity anomaly, too,* she thought to herself. *A neat trick.* Skuld quickly finished adjusting the strings of reality so that this event had never happened. "I wonder what else can go wrong today," she said out loud as she leaned back in her chair and stretched for a moment. Several voices responded with variations on "Don't ask." Skuld looked around, seeing, among other things, that the Eiffel Tower, the Washington Monument, Kyoto Tower, and Tokyo Tower had all exchanged positions, several bugs were filling in the Grand Canyon, another was sawing Florida away from the mainland U.S., and a typhoon was raging over the Sahara Desert. Skuld sighed, and prepared to access whatever was next in the queue. Before she could do that, a message appeared on her screen. "Skuld -- report to the medical center at once." The message bore the seal of Kami-sama. Skuld jumped out of her chair. "I'll be right back," she said, hurriedly, even as she dove into a nearby fountain. The others in the room stared after her, bemusedly. One of them, looking at Skuld's screen, said, "You think Belldandy's woken up?" Another responded, "We can only hope." **** "Any contact, Peorth?" asked Kami-sama. Before him was a display showing an image of the game center, with Peorth talking on a green payphone that had miraculously remained functional through the whole mess. "It seems that when Urd tried to transport Keiichi and Megumi through the screen of one of these arcade games," replied Peorth, "they somehow became trapped within a version of the game's programs." "Are you saying they are inside the machines?" Peorth shook her head. "I don't think so. It's more like they've gotten into some sort of pocket universe that replicates the game." "Can you assist them from where you are now?" In the background, the demon Mara shouted, "Hey, I see them! They made it into the Ridge Racer machine!" Sayoko frowned. "Why couldn't you have told me that BEFORE I wasted 400 yen on this stupid Gundam game?" Peorth gave a strained smile. "Ahh...we're working on it." "Understood. Do your best," replied Kami-sama, ending the conversation. The screen folded itself up and disappeared, allowing him to see the medical readouts showing Belldandy's condition. Kami-sama was standing at Belldandy's bedside, looking down at her sadly. He picked up a pitcher from the nightstand, filled a glass with water, and carefully placed the glass on the floor. No sooner had he done this when Skuld burst forth from the glass in a shower of light. "How goes the debugging, child?" Kami-sama asked, as he returned the glass to the nightstand. "We'redoingourbestbutwe'restartingtolosegroundit'dhelpifyoucould sparesomemorepeopleHasBelldandywokenupyet?" In a calm voice, Kami-sama replied, "I'll see if I can find some more help for you, but those who aren't debugging are working towards eliminating the bug portal itself. As for Belldandy, see for yourself." Skuld took a step forward and gasped. Before, Belldandy had looked like she was peacefully sleeping. Now, however, the placid expression on Belldandy's face had been replaced by a stressed look, as if she were having a bad dream. Or, if she were fighting something. "What's happening?" asked Skuld in a hushed voice. Kami-sama was looking at the holographic screens above Belldandy's bed as he replied. "Belldandy still doesn't have the energy to fully wake, but at some level, she has become aware of the drain." He pointed to an indicator that had begun to fluctuate. "She is trying to fight it." Skuld saw that the dial that Kami-sama was pointing to was fluttering in an inverse relationship with another dial that was measuring how much of her power was being drained away. "Don't let it win, Belldandy! Fight!" she shouted. Kami-sama smiled. He saw that this somewhat good news would serve to keep Skuld going strong, even though her task was tedious and difficult. "I shall let you know if her condition improves," he said to Skuld. "Thank you, Father!" Skuld quickly jumped up and back into the glass of water, teleporting back to the monitor room. Kami-sama also left the medical center, headed for his own monitor room, to continue researching what might have caused this whole mess in the first place. The first thing he did once he got there was to pull the contract files on Keiichi Morisato and Belldandy. ***** Urd had a dilemma on her hands. She had told Keiichi that she would do some explaining, and in fact, she felt that he deserved some. The problem was, the more he understood about the bug problem and its causes, the worse the problem would get. *How much can I get away with telling him?* she thought. *I could lie...nah, easier to tell...part of the truth.* "Let's start with the basics, okay?" said the Urd that happened to be floating between Keiichi and Megumi. "I'm a goddess." "A goddess?" said Keiichi, somewhat skeptically. "Hey, that can't be the strangest thing you've seen or heard today, right?" said Megumi. Keiichi reluctantly nodded in reply. "So you're a goddess. Does that mean you're responsible for all the crazy stuff that's been happening?" "No! What gave you that idea?" shouted Urd in reply. "Well, it's the closest anyone has come to giving me any sort of explanation..." "Why don't you just pipe down and let me _finish_ the explanation, then?" "Sorry." "Mind your tempers, both of you," added Megumi. From the back came a voice in agreement. "What she said." Urd sighed. "Okay. I'm a goddess. As a goddess, one of my jobs is to make sure that the programs governing reality run smoothly. Before Keiichi could react to that, Megumi intervened. "It's a metaphor, just go with it." Urd continued, "Recently, we've had an outbreak of system errors --" "So THAT'S what you mean when you talk about bugs!" shouted Keiichi in sudden comprehension. "Waitaminit...your computer system bugs show up as six-legged bunny things? What kind of computer system are you running?" "I just told you. It's reality." "....." Megumi grinned. "That's kind of how I reacted." The other Urd's voice drifted up from the back again. "Less talk, more speed, please." Keiichi asked, "So this video game VR stuff...is caused by these bugs?" Urd shook her head. "No, I don't know-whoa!" she shouted, as Keiichi power-slid the car around a hairpin turn, causing her to bounce off of one of the windows. "A little warning, please?" "Nice move, Kei-chan," commented Megumi. "I'm glad someone appreciated it." Urd wasn't sure who to shoot the dirty look at, so she gave it up and kept explaining. "...so, you've been caught up in this wave of chaos sweeping the globe." "Okay." Keiichi pondered for a moment. "Then why does this wave seem to be following us around?" Urd hesitated. "Ahh...what?" "Hang on," said Keiichi, as their car took to the air briefly. After it had hit the ground, he rephrased his question. "Why me?" Urd remained silent for a moment, so Megumi replied, "We can't tell you that just yet." As they had just reached a fairly long straightaway, Keiichi turned to reply directly. "That makes no sense. Why not?" Megumi noticed an odd strained quality in Keiichi's voice. She looked at Urd, questioningly. "There's a certain force that doesn't want you to know," Urd replied to Keiichi. "Whenever it seems that you are going to find out too much, it acts." "What are you talking about?" demanded Keiichi. "Okay, I'll demonstrate," said Urd. She hovered close to Keiichi's ear. "You see," she whispered, "it's about your girlfriend --" Keiichi immediately grimaced in pain. He took his hands from the wheel and pressed them to his temples. For a moment, his perceptions of the world faded into blackness. *...keiichi...* From out of the darkness, with a faint voice, something called to him. *...please....* Blindly, he groped forward, trying his best to escape the multitude of strings and threads of chaos trying to hold him back. "Who's there!" he shouted into the void. "I'm trying...." But before he could say more, he was pulled back to where he had started. As Keiichi opened his eyes, he could hear his sister yelling something. The straight section of track was coming to an end. Megumi, shouting in alarm, had reached over and grabbed the steering wheel. Unfortunately, she overcompensated a tad, throwing the car into an uncontrolled spin. With a bone-jarring thump, the car came to rest against a steel barrier beside the road. "What the hell did you do that for?" shouted Megumi. "We could've been killed!" Mini-Urd shrugged. "It was the quickest way to demonstrate," she replied, gesturing to Keiichi, who was trying to shake off the sudden headache. "Besides, we're in a video game. That didn't even dent the car." "That still was a pretty dumb move!" Megumi said, in a somewhat quieter voice. Unnoticed by both of them, Keiichi still held his head in his hands. *What...who was that?* was the first thought that crossed his mind. Then, a determined expression found its way to his face, as he decided, *I've got to reach her...* The second Mini-Urd popped up from the back. "You're more right than you know, Megumi!" she exclaimed. The scanner in her hands was giving out all sorts of warning signals. Urd, Megumi, and Urd paid it no heed, however; they were too busy staring out the back windshield at the odd collection of vehicles that had appeared behind them. They included a backhoe, a dune buggy, what appeared to be a Sherman tank, a horse-drawn carriage, the starship Enterprise (movie version) and a Zaku from the Gundam game. The only thing they all had in common was a small fuzzy white object in the driver's seat. As one, the two (three?) ladies turned to Keiichi and yelled, "DRIVE!" Needing no encouragement, Keiichi floored it. The car, no worse the wear for it's close encounter with the barrier, pulled away like the proverbial bat out of hell. "Must go faster, must go faster," Megumi was muttering over and over. "I'm doing the best I can," muttered Keiichi in reply. Megumi looked over at him, and was somewhat puzzled by his suddenly fierce expression. Megumi dismissed that as she abruptly thought of something else. "Hey Urd," she said in a semblance of a conversational tone of voice. "This is a racing game, you know." "Yeah, so?" "Well, this particular game only has tracks that are loops, right?" Urd suddenly realized what Megumi was getting at. "Uh-oh." Suddenly, another car appeared in front of them on the track. With a surprised shout, Keiichi barely managed to miss it. "What the heck was that? How did they get in front of us already?" Megumi looked back. "It doesn't look like there's a bug in that one, Kei-chan," she observed. The Urd with the scanner looked up and nodded in agreement. Megumi took another look at the black sports car, similar in design to the red sports car they were in. "It looks like it's also from the Ridge Racer game." As Megumi and Urd watched, the bug-driven vehicles began to catch up to the new entry. Then, without warning, the black car spun out, causing several of the bug vehicles to crash into it, allowing Keiichi to gain some distance. *** "Nice move, Sayoko!" said Peorth, hovering over her shoulder at the Ridge Racer Evolution machine. Sayoko didn't have time for compliments. "Quick! Give me more 100 yen coins!" she shouted, holding out her hand. "No way!" responded Mara, trying to push Sayoko out of the driver's seat. "It's my turn!" Peorth could only shake her head. *** "Well, whatever that was, it bought us some time," said Urd. "However, it didn't do anything about our other problem. Megumi nodded. "Hey, Kei-chan, maybe you shouldn't drive quite so fast..." Without warning, Keiichi spun the wheel to the left, sending the car smashing through some wooden construction barriers onto a new road. "Hey, how did you do that?" asked Megumi. "In the game, you'd just bounce off of those just like everything else!" Urd was equally surprised. "Where do you think you're going?" Keiichi replied, in a somewhat manic voice, "I know where we're going!" Megumi and Urd, finally noticing the change that had come over Keiichi's demeanor, looked at each other warily. "Aa, Kei-chan," said Megumi, "How do you know where we're going?" "I...I just do!" he shouted. In a quieter voice, he continued, "Can't you feel it?" Urd raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Feel...what?" "It's...she's calling to me...I've got to..." Megumi and Urd turned towards the Urd in the back seat. She looked up from her scanner and said, "Whatever it is, it's not a bug, unless they can shield themselves from this." "Is that good?" Megumi asked. "No way of knowing yet," replied Urd, looking back at her scanner. "However, it looks like we've confused our pursuers." The mass of bug-driven vehicles were indeed milling about with no apparent direction. However, that didn't last too long. Keiichi saw this and kept his foot on the gas pedal. He made another turn, and with a bump the car left the road. Now that they were going cross-country, Megumi couldn't help but notice that the landscape around them was getting less and less detailed. She pointed this out to Urd, who said, "Well, since players aren't supposed to get out here, I guess the programmers didn't bother rendering the terrain in full." "What happens when we get to the point where they didn't bother rendering it at all?" Keiichi said, "We'll find out in a few seconds." Megumi looked forward and saw that the ground ahead disappeared into what looked like a thick fogbank. "Hey, are you sure that's safe?" "Nope!" said Keiichi, even as he drove the car straight into the haze. The world around them shattered into darkness... **** Skuld looked around in surprise, as all of the consoles in the monitor room began to flicker and flash. "What's going on?" "Something's interfering with Yggdrasil's connection to Midgard!" called out one of the other operators. "Look!" She enlarged her display so that everyone could see. The display showed an area of Bifrost, the bridge program connecting Yggdrasil to Earth. Normally, a scan of Bifrost would shown a ribbon of colors, undisturbed. Now, however, there was a distorted patch pulsating near the lower end of the bridge. The operator adjusted one of the sensors, and the distorted patch was highlighted. "What is it?" asked Skuld. "Do we have bugs coming up the bridge now?" The operator, who's name was Ere, frowned. "Yes, but they aren't causing the main disturbance," she said, puzzled. Skuld called up the display on her own monitor and zoomed in. Sure enough, the detailed scan showed a large number of bugs swarming onto the bridge. But, they seemed to be following something. What was even more unusual was the fact that, in their wake, several constructs had taken form. The first seemed to be some sort of wooden building; the second was a cylindrical space station of some sort. The third, where the bugs seemed to be concentrated, looked to be a chunk of some nameless city, with a lot of looping roadways. At that moment there was a burst of light, and something emerged from the city construct going at high speed. It was quickly followed by several bugs. Before they could catch it, however, the area of the bridge in front of them bulged, distorted, and formed another cityscape, this one dark and futuristic. The vehicle, whatever it was, was immediately absorbed into this new construct. Skuld suddenly had a hunch about where her oldest sister had gone. Ere blinked. "What was that?" Skuld was equally puzzled. "There's some sort of logo.... 'F-Zero AX?' What's that?" "I've alerted Kami-sama," said one of the other operators. "Is there anything we can do about this?" "Not much," replied Skuld. "Just...do our best to work around the interference, I guess." There was several unenthusiastic grumbles in reply. "I'll give Heimdall a heads-up," Skuld finished, as she and the other gods and goddesses in the room got back to work. **** Mara had finally evicted Sayoko from the driver's seat, only to find that Urd, Keiichi, and Megumi had broken out of the Ridge Racer world. Mara jumped up, but before she could react, Sayoko and Peorth had already claimed the two F-Zero machines. *I could make life easier for them, maybe set the machines to free play,* she thought to herself. *Nah.* Just then, a phone started ringing. Mara, surprised that there was a working phone to be had in the wrecked game center, was still hard pressed to find the thing. It turned out to be the green payphone near the entrance, the same one that Peorth had used earlier. Still annoyed, Mara grabbed the handset and shouted, "What do YOU want!" The voice she heard on the other end surprised Mara so much that she dropped the attitude completely. After a few moments of listening, she placed the handset beside the phone and made her way back to the F-Zero machines. "Hey, Peorth!" Peorth looked around in annoyance. "Don't worry, you'll get a turn soon enough --" Mara cut her off with an unusually polite, "Phone call for you. It's your boss." Startled, Peorth quickly unstrapped herself from the F-Zero chair and flew over to the phone. Without missing a beat, Mara jumped into the driver's seat and promptly ran Sayoko's racer off of the track. "Hey, whose side are you on?" yelled Sayoko. Peorth picked up the handset and said, "I am here, All-Father." "Peorth, I want you to go back to the temple," said Kami-sama. "Seek evidence of the energy signature of a prior contract between Belldandy and Keiichi Morisato." "Yes, my lord," said Peorth automatically. Yet, she was a bit confused. "Kami-sama, I thought the contract between Belldandy and Keiichi was broken..." "So it was," replied the Lord, "but there was in fact a contract between the two of them long before." "What?" "When Belldandy's current incarnation was a child, she would often play at that temple. She first met Keiichi there at that time." "Astonishing! The virtuous, pristine Belldandy, breaking the rules in her misspent youth?" Peorth was almost gloating at this nugget of information. "We don't have time for this," said Kami-sama in a reproachful tone. "Sorry," Peorth said contritely, even as she filed away the information for future use. "I presume that that contract was cancelled as well?" "We thought we had done so. The possibility exists that we may have left a loose end or two that may be part of the cause of this mess. That's what you will be checking for." "Understood." Peorth looked over to where Mara and Sayoko were playing the F-Zero game. "And our efforts here?" "I would not advise you to leave your mortal friend in the abode of a demon." "But the bugs --" "It appears that your friends and their pursuers are on Bifrost." "Ah," said Peorth. "Heimdall?" "On his way." **** "KYAAAAAA!" screamed Megumi, as Keiichi did a dance on the brake and accelerator pedals, slaloming their F-Zero racer around two successive 90 degree turns, and into a straightaway that was on the outside of a large pipe. Keiichi, not having time to look, called over his shoulder, "How are we doing?" Urd, who had reverted into one mini-goddess, shouted out, "You know something, don't you!" Together, the howl of the engines, the rush of air slipstreaming past the cockpit, and the shouting voices made Keiichi's head throb with pain. "What are you talking about?!" "They're right behind us!" Keiichi spared a glance at the rear view monitor. There were two other rocket-propelled vehicles behind them, running an un-coordinated interference pattern, trying to hinder their pursuers. Behind them, a wave of bugs followed, most now not bothering to use vehicles. As they went, the track was disintegrating beneath their feet. Keiichi renewed his firm grip on the controls, and pushed the accelerator as far forward as it would go. Megumi, her eyes glued to the view in front of the racer, shouted "Watch out!" Somehow, four or five of the bugs had managed to get in front of them, and they were now standing in an inverted "U" formation, ready to greet Keiichi with open arms. With a quick twitch, Keiichi swerved their racer under the pipe they were on, narrowly avoiding the trap. However, once they were spiraling around the track, it was a little difficult getting the racer running straight and level once more. As soon as he had done this, Keiichi turned to thank his sister for not screaming in his ear again. Seeing the slightly green tinge in Megumi's complexion, Keiichi wisely decided to remain silent. Without warning, the entire track shuddered and jerked down and to the left. Startled, Keiichi wrestled with the controls for a moment. "What was that?" Urd was checking her scanner again. "They're getting more powerful, and it's affecting the track. Your memories are getting stronger, aren't they?" Keiichi had no idea what that meant. He looked at the rear view monitor again, in time to see the two other racers engulfed by the wave of chaos. **** Peorth, Sayoko, and Mara looked on as the images on the screens of the F-Zero machines dissolved into static. After a moment, Peorth tapped Sayoko on the shoulder. "Come on, we're leaving." Sayoko clambered out of the seat. "What? What about Keiichi and the others?" "There's nothing more we can do here. Besides, Kami-sama has passed on a new lead or two." And with that, Peorth took Sayoko and jumped through the lens of the security camera again. Mara was a bit slower to react. "Hey!" she shouted, "Come back here and clean up this mess you made!" Silence. "Drat." **** The rumbling and shaking of the track was now continuous. Keiichi shouted above the din, "Hang on, we're getting out of here!" Urd shouted back, "Where are we going?" "Forward!" Megumi said, "That's not funny!" "We're going up!" "That makes no sense!" responded Urd. Nevertheless, Keiichi hit his boosters at the top of a slope, and the racer leapt off the track, into darkness. This time, it didn't last very long. Whereas before it was a relatively smooth transition from one game world to the next, now Keiichi, Megumi, and Urd felt themselves come to a jerky halt. They caught a glimpse of a gigantic, armored, bearded figure, wielding a battleaxe and glowing with divine energy. As the axe swung down towards them, Keiichi and Megumi couldn't help but duck and cry out -- -- when, in a heartbeat, the world settled down. The mortals opened their eyes to find themselves on a bridge that looked as if it was paved with rainbows. An impossibly starry sky surrounded them, above and below. Blinking, they looked around for the titanic warrior, only to see a man wearing a tee-shirt and jeans, with his double-bladed hatchet on the ground in front of him. The man had apparently cut the top layer of pavement across the width of the bridge, and then pulled up a meter or two. The severed edge narrowed until it fit within his palm. He took this strip, which now looked like nothing more than a ribbon cable, and snapped the end into something which appeared very much like a hard drive, which he held in his other hand. "That ought to hold them for a little while," said the man in an amused voice. Urd had caught her breath. "Heimdall! It's been a while. Interesting look you've chosen there." "Hey, Urd," replied Heimdall. "I see you've been keeping up with current styles yourself, you old crone --" "Hey, watch it!" Heimdall grinned. Then, he noted the puzzled looks from the mortals. "Oh, where are my manners...I'm Heimdall. I'm the guardian of the bridge." Megumi recovered first. "Nice to meet you," she said, automatically. "Ahh...bridge?" Heimdall waved his hands around, indicating the rainbow span upon which they stood. It extended as far as the eye could see. "This bridge. Bifrost. It's the main interface between Yggdrasil and Midgard," said Heimdall with pride. "Although," he added, "we haven't had any upgrades major enough to need this big a pipe in quite a while." As he spoke, uncountable multitudes of bright motes of light began making their way up the ribbon cable into the drive. It began to hum, noisily. Heimdall looked at it askance. Keiichi was looking around, a bit wildly. "You were that big fighting guy?" "Yep, that was me," replied Heimdall. "That particular avatar is more suited for fighting and stuff." The humming of the drive got a little louder. "Hey, normally I'd love to talk -- haven't had mortal visitors climbing the bridge in eons -- but you've got to go." He gestured towards the upper end of the bridge. "I think they're expecting you. I'll buy you as much time as I can." The three travelers found themselves astride horses. While Keiichi and Megumi wondered how the heck that happened, Urd raised a hand in farewell. "Hey, if we all live through this, why don't you drop me a line sometime? I'll let you take me out to dinner..." Heimdall laughed. "Hey, I was always told it was a bad idea to date older women!" Urd sighed, theatrically. "No respect..." With that, she grinned, waved again, and rode off, up the bridge, with Keiichi and Megumi following. As the horses gained speed, Megumi asked Keiichi, "Hey, when did you learn how to ride?" "I was about to ask you the same question!" "Don't worry too much," called out Urd. "The horses know where they're going." Soon the horses were achieving speeds that man-made vehicles could never possibly attain. Megumi was glad that she didn't have to try to control her steed. She looked over at her brother, and noticed that he looked distressed. "What's up, Keiichi?" Keiichi shook his head, as if to clear it. "Now that we aren't in those games anymore, I can feel..." "What?" "Something is calling me...It's like it's pulling at my mind...I've got to go to...to...but I don't know what it is!" Her own memories having been restored only recently, Megumi nodded in sympathy. "All I can say, big brother, is that if we can get you to...that place, I think it'd be good." Keiichi turned haunted eyes towards his sister. "But...can we do it? It feels like there's so much trying to push me away at the same time!" Megumi couldn't find the words to say. Lamely, she replied, "We'll do everything we can." "Think about it this way," said Urd from up ahead. "It would have been a lot easier for Kami-sama to have just let you die." "What?" Keiichi couldn't figure that one out. Urd mentally smacked herself. "I'll see if I can explain that one later, okay?" **** Sayoko found herself in one of the ruined rooms at the temple house, where this had all started. "Hey, what are we doing back here?" Peorth had moved out into the grounds, and was intently examining an amazingly undamaged cherry tree just off of the courtyard. The traces were faint and hard to read even before the bugs had arrived. However, Peorth could sense enough to begin to understand some of the complexities of this case. "Very interesting." **** Heimdall, back in his warrior avatar, knelt down and rested his chin on the handle of his axe. He kept his eyes on the box into which the bugs had been siphoned. It was starting to make ominous click-of-death noises.... **** END CHAPTER 6 F-Zero AX is made by Sega, under license from Nintendo. Obscure Warner Brothers reference probably property of Warner Brothers, of course. Well, after struggling with writer's block for around a year and a half, I finally got this next bit done. About two chapters ago, I realized that the ending I had originally envisioned for this thing was unworkable. I've finally figured it out, I think. 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