The time machine started making the oddest sound, sort of a beep that sounded more like 'vworp' and thrummed all the way down to her bones. The whole world shook around it, and it was everything she could do to keep her balance.
Well, that at least was somewhat fixable. She stepped out of the high heels and willed her cape away; a pair of white-feathered wings appeared in its stead. That was good. It certainly presented options. If she felt so inclined, she could join the fight in the skies above them.
It looked like Trunks-kun and their army had the fight well in hand, though, at least the aerial portion of it. There was a suspicious lack of Carrions here. She would have thought that the noise and chaos of the fight would have brought them out in droves. All these people with all their assorted powers and abilities fighting against the Reapers surely should have been like a siren's call for them.
And she shouldn't have even thought that, she considered sourly, staring into the distance south beyond the time machine, because here they were. She hadn't realized that there were so many of them, that they might as well have been legion. There were enough of them to make her want to just sit down and weep.
There was no time for that now, though. "Ban-san, Ginji-chan, Duo-kun," she commented. Once she had their attention, she nodded towards the approaching creatures. "We're about to have guests."
She could have predicted the litany of obscenities both Ban-san and Duo-kun were spewing at a prodigious rate, even as they settled in to prepare a fight again them. There was so many, though. There was no way the three of them would be able to handle the mass.
Apparently Duo-kun had realized that too. "Trunks! We could use some of your fighters right about now!" he called out.
The "shit" she heard from Trunks-kun might have been shocking at any other time, especially since she was pretty sure that this was the first time she had heard him swear. Under the circumstances, though, it was entirely appropriate and utterly expected. She would probably be saying some of the same things, if Ban-san and Duo-kun weren't doing it so well for her. "Carrions coming from the south! We need fighters on the time machine now. If you can't fly or use magic..."
He didn't have to elaborate further. Maybe just under half of their group broke off their attacks, circling around to position themselves between the time machine and the approaching Carrions. It would have to be enough.
Right about now would be the perfect time for the time machine to decide to transport them to where they were supposed to be going, to Duo-kun's and Heero-kun's world. It felt like they were in the middle of making the trip there, and it was making her feel a little ill. Or maybe it was the Carrions or the Reapers. Either way, they needed to step things up a bit sooner rather than later.
Whatever the machine was doing, the ground rumblings were getting stronger and 'vworp' sounds were getting a lot louder. It was either about to blow up or it was going to transmit them any second.
And as if she had asked for it, the scenery around them started to fade. The ruins of the buildings just sort of faded into indistinctness, like an image on a chalkboard being wiped away. Beyond them, she could see new buildings forming. The sky got dimmer, slowly replacing itself with what looked like a mechanical mosaic.
But more than that, she could see the faint image of a Shinto temple, the Imperial palace, a round yellow building with 'CAPSULE CORPORATION' written across it, her own house, and a hundred other buildings.
They were splitting. Either the time machine was more damaged than any of them had expected or maybe there was something Heero-kun had missed in the code or maybe this was the Reapers' doing; she suspected it was the final option there. But if they ended up splitting, then there was no telling where everyone might end up... and that included the Carrions and the Reapers.
None of these worlds, her own included, were ready to deal with the Carrions or the Reapers. That much she knew for certain. On so many of them, she could feel the devastation that they were already suffering; these creatures would destroy them down to the last person.
This was technically going to be a violation of the promise she had made to her boys, but there really wasn't any choice. Something, likely the Reapers, was dragging the transmission off course. If it went on, they were going to be in a lot of trouble, so she was going to have to do something about it, a violation of her promise or not.
She raised her staff in the air and concentrated on the first place she had seen, the one with the mechanical mosaic of a sky, Duo-kun's and Heero-kun's world. The globe on the end of her staff abruptly lit up, nearly blinding in its brilliance.
No matter, though.
05 November 2012
It feels really weird to be getting and getting ready to go to work right now. This might be why I don't take vacations...
See you in the next chapter!
Apollymi