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On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 17:24:46 -0600, Bill Martin
hotmail.com> wrote:

Here we go...

My first take on the Medium Challenge, not for judging:

**********************************************************************

"Sakura-chan, put a Shield around the apartment for a week, please."

"Okay!"

We ordered takeout to survive, and lasted the entire week without Mara
able to attack Belldandy. After they went home, I discovered the city
was under martial law because Mara had been rampaging in anger for a
few days. But at least Belldandy and Keiichi were fine, and that's all
that mattered, right?

**********************************************************************

Three paragraphs, and by a strict reading of the Challenge, it's a win,
but... it lacks a certain something. So I dodged by Excel and got the
Great Will of the Macrocosm to use one of her resets, and now present
my real take on the Medium Challenge, picking up from the omake that
gave everyone clothing to survive the chill of the local mid-winter.

**********************************************************************

Team Lovely But Dangerous - 2007
Part the Fourth (a.k.a. the Medium Challenge)
Tell Me, What Do You Want?

Sorry, did I say "the chill of the local mid-winter"? The weather
forecast made it obvious that my guests weren't going to need heavy
coats while they were visiting...

"Rob-san, are these temperatures normal?"

"No, Belldandy-sama, they're not. We should be dealing with -10 degree
highs, not +10 degree highs." I was using the Celsius scale, of
course; none of us were American. "Something's seriously wrong."

"What's wrong with warmer winter days?" asked Sakura. "It's more
comfortable outside if you don't have to wear a heavy coat."

I couldn't argue with that... but then I remembered one of Sakura's
favourite foods. "That's true, but there are some plants that need
cold weather to grow properly. If it doesn't freeze, we won't have
winter wheat to make flour for pancakes, or maple syrup to put on
pancakes."

She looked *very* worried. "We have to stop the warmer winter
temperatures!"

Chisame also looked worried, but for a different reason. "When we
arrived yesterday, Belldandy-san said something about noticing a
disturbance, and something about a demon. Could the demon be changing
the weather patterns?"

We all thought about it. "Maybe," I finally replied. "It'll be easier
to fix if this is due to demonic influence."

Belldandy's expression became steely. "I'll have to find that demon,
then..."

I raised a hand. "Please, no. Did you read the scroll that you
brought for me?"

She looked surprised. "Why, no. It was addressed to you; reading it
would have been rude."

"Please allow me to read it to you, then." I picked up and unrolled
the scroll, and cleared my throat. "'To The Summoner, I, the All
Father, am leaving these two in your care. The Yggdrasil crew is in
the process of debugging their particular dimension, and since they are
currently the major cause of the bugs, this seems the simplest
solution. We will retrieve them in approximately one week.' If you're
a major source for bugs, then you should be using your powers as little
as possible, no?"

Belldandy frowned. "Yes," she whispered.

"Then leave things to us, please. Although you could help us by
sitting still and smiling when the news photographers come by later
today to interview Yomiko-san, Sakura-san, Chisame-san, and myself
about the Carnage incident."

Sakura looked puzzled. "How will that help us find the demon?"

Chisame answered before I could. "The demon will see Belldandy-san in
the news coverage, and come looking for us. We're bait, aren't we?"

"Bait and trap both, Chisame-san..."

*****

"Rob-san, why are we luring the demon to us? We could just hole up
here for a week."

"And let the demon do whatever it wants out there, Keiichi-san? We're
the only ones in this world who have any idea what a demon can do *and*
who can do something against it."

Keiichi put his hand behind his head. Wonderful - I'd embarrased him.
(Now there was no way I could ask him whether he and Belldandy were
comfortable sharing a bed...) "When you put it that way, we don't have
much choice, do we?"

I shook my head. "Not much choice at all, no."

*****

It wasn't until Thursday that any of us were approached. We had left
Belldandy and Keiichi alone in my apartment, and Yomiko had taken
Sakura to the library to find some books that were acceptable to both
of them. (One's a teacher, the other's a student; I decided to not
waste the opportunity to continue Sakura's education.) I was at work.

That left Chisame alone to go shopping. Luckily, she had borrowed my
MP3 player/recorder, so I have the exact words of the incident:

"Hello, Hasegawa-kun. I've been looking for you ever since I saw your
photo in the newspaper."

"So I've got fans even here. How nice. Who the hell are you?"

(When I asked Chisame about her profanity later, she admitted that
she'd read some of my copies of "Oh My Goddess" and had already
recognized the demon from those.)

"What an apt choice of words, little girl. I am a Demon First Class,
named Mara. I want your help."

"A demon? I'd laugh in your face if I hadn't seen some of the things
that I have seen over the last month. And everybody wants my help this
week. What do you want, and what do I get in return?"

"What I want is a trifle - just take a small... gift... to your friend
Belldandy. As for what you get... well, I've read some of the stories
that you're in. I can remove all of those annoying magical influences
from your life, 'Chiu-chan'."

The recording was quiet for a moment. "That's... certainly tempting,
Mara-san. How do you propose to get rid of the magic in my life?"

"I have some powers that I will use to isolate you from magical
influences - if you agree to do me that favour."

"Magical powers, right?"

"Yes. What of it?"

"So you intend to add magic to my life to get rid of the magic in my
life. What's your encore - pouring water on me until I'm dry? I'm not
an idiot; I know that what you're offering won't work. Go away, Mara."

"Fine! But don't expect any mercy from me the next time we meet,
ungrateful human!"

That's where the recording ends.

*****

We sat in silence after Chisame played the recording for us after
dinner that evening.

Keiichi was the first to speak. "Mara. Well, at least now we know who
the demon is."

Chisame cleared her throat. "I have to admit, she almost got to me.
But the way she was going to pay me was so... so irrational that I just
couldn't accept it!"

"But she didn't get to you, right?" I smiled at her. "You're stronger
than you think you are, Chisame-san. Springfield-sensei is lucky to
have you as an ally... and so are we."

"And from what she said," commented Yomiko without looking up from
reading my copy of Borges' "Book of Imaginary Beings" (236 pages),
"she won't be making the offer again."

"Assuming we can trust a demon," I added.

"Oh, Mara is very trustworthy," Belldandy offered. "She's just... not
very nice."

"So, unless Mara comes on the warpath, Chisame-san doesn't have to
worry. But the rest of us do."

*****

I can only guess at what happened Friday. Chisame and Sakura were
shopping together, and Belldandy and Keiichi were alone at home. Once
again, I was at work. It was Yomiko's turn to be bait - upon
reflection, that was our mistake.

I know that Yomiko went to the bookstore that afternoon. I know she
returned two hours later, just after the rest of us returned home, with
a double-handful of books. That should have been a warning sign; she
didn't come back from the bookstore with a crate-full of books, just a
double-handful of them. But we didn't notice that until it was all
over.

"Oh, my! What a lot of books!" Belldandy moved to help Yomiko with
her purchases. "May I help you with those, Yomiko-san?"

"Yes. Thank you." We also didn't notice that Yomiko's speech was
stilted, or that she wasn't reading.

"Can I help, too?" asked Sakura. "There's more books here than even
two people can carry easily... Don't touch that book!" She shouted
that last at Belldandy, who was about to take a pink-covered hardcover
from Yomiko's pile.

"What's wrong?" I demanded.

"That book... it's magical. And evil, like the magical book that
almost killed my friends and brother in Hong Kong."

I looked at the book, and started laughing. "Oh, that's *too* silly!
There's no such book as the 'Nekomimicon', and even if there was, Chiho
Saito is a voice actress, not a writer." I stopped laughing. "Get out
of the book, Mara."

"I'm not in the book," replied Yomiko - no, Mara - as the pages from
the other books came loose and started swirling around her.

"Oh, shit." I didn't care that Sakura could hear me, not just then.
"Grab her! And don't touch that book!"

But the papers were a near-impenetrable barrier between us and
Yomiko/Mara. "I've done my homework, Mr. Kelk. You're no exorcist.
What are you going to do, kill this woman to drive me out of her?"

"No, Mara," replied Belldandy. "I'll free her from you." She raised
her hands and brought them together to form a spell sphere... and a Bug
popped out of the space between her hands. Suddenly the walls in my
apartment were paisley. Keiichi hit the Bug with my heaviest hammer,
the Bug disappeared, and the walls went back to normal.

"Belldandy-sama, please stay out of this. Your powers are a bit
unreliable right now, remember?"

"I'm sorry."

"I understand why you did what you did, and I appreciate it. But right
now, we're protecting you, not the other way around. This isn't like
Hiro-san; it isn't a life-and-death situation. Please, stay out of
this, okay?"

"All right." She and Keiichi backed away from the rest of us, edging
into the hallway.

While Yomiko/Mara's attention was distracted by Belldandy, Sakura had
activated her Star Staff. She hurried to get out of the front room,
taking Chisame with her.

"Hey! I need some help here! Don't run off!"

"And why would you need help against me, Rob-san?" asked Yomiko/Mara,
in Yomiko's voice. "You as much as admitted the day I arrived that you
like me..." The shield of papers fell away and she reached to caress
my cheek.

"Yomiko-san..." I took her hand in my own. "I'm not about to take
advantage of a woman who isn't in full control of her faculties. As
long as Mara's in you, I won't... I can't think of you that way."

Her eyes glowed red. "You had ... your chance, human. Now ... now
give me Belldandy or ... or suffer the consequences!"

"Why are you having trouble speaking, Mara? Is Yomiko-san fighting
against you?"

"NO! No, she isn't!" But she had started reading the closest book to
hand - Schroeck and Schroeck's "GURPS Robin Hood" (128 pages).

"I think she is," replied Chisame from the hallway. "Wouldn't you
rather have a willing host, Mara? You did promise to show me no mercy
the next time we met. What's worse than losing control of my own
body?"

Yomiko/Mara snarled. "If you're so ready to become my host body, then
so be it!" There was a glow around Yomiko, which moved to Chisame.

I caught Yomiko in my arms as she fainted. Then I looked at Chisame,
who was glowing red. "Oh, no. No... Why, Chisame-san?"

"To get her out of Yomiko-san," replied Chisame as she stepped out of
the bedroom and stood beside... Chisame?

"What?"

"How?" I don't know which of us was more puzzled, me or Mara. Then
Sakura stepped out of the same bedroom. "Of course! She's the Mirror
Card!"

"No, I wouldn't do anything like that to Mirror-san, even if she was
here." The Chisame that Mara had possessed disappeared, leaving Mara
behind in a visible spirit form, and the Twin Card appeared in Sakura's
hand.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

"Really lousy Anakin impression there, Mara," I snickered. "I think
Belldandy-sama and Keiichi-san left while you were trying to seduce me
with Yomiko-san's body; you've got no reason to stay here. What do you
want to do - chase after them, or waste time here?"

"I won't forget this!" she cried as she disappeared.

I took a deep breath, exhaled, then turned to Sakura. "Is she gone?"

Sakura looked around. "I think so."

"What do we do with the 'Nekomimicon'?" asked Chisame.

I looked at Sakura, who looked at it and shuddered. "We'll have to
destroy it without touching it. Sakura-chan would you be kind enough
to use the Move Card to get it out of here?"

"All right," she replied as she pulled that card from her deck. "Then
I'll let Firey have its way with the book." It was a good thing that
Yomiko was still unconscious; she wouldn't have let Sakura burn the
book, no matter what.

"We didn't really leave, you know," said Belldandy from the other
bedroom.

"Oh, you didn't?" I smiled innocently. "It's a good thing I didn't
know that before Mara left, then. She'll be on a wild goose chase for
a day or two; by then, if we're lucky, you'll be ready to head home."

Ah, yes... When we destroyed the "Nekomimicon", we discovered that
Mara had wedged the Demons CD inside of it. That explained the evil
aura that Sakura had detected, and saved us a bit of searching... but
it also meant that Mara would be back for the disc. I'd have to ask
Sakura to keep a Shield around the entire apartment for the rest of the
week. As for the book itself, the surviving pages were blank; Mara had
stolen a trick from us, the sneaky demon...

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Omake
What Might Have Been...

The day before everyone left, Yomiko asked to speak with me, alone.
Keiichi and Sakura were using the Create Card to create a gadget that
made luggage for eveyone (with their new clothes and all, everyone
needed bags), and Belldandy was sharing some high-speed computer
debugging tips with Chisame (which I'd asked of Belldandy; Chisame
would need the advice literally as soon as she got home). We stepped
into the hallway.

"Is something wrong, Yomiko-san?"

"Nothing's wrong," she replied as she put down my copy of Spainhour and
Eckstein's "Webmaster in a Nutshell" (523 pages, and she certainly had
eclectic tastes; but then, so did I). "I just..."

"Just...?"

She sighed. "I remember what happened when Mara was controlling my
body. It's been a while sinde the last time I... well, you know... and
you're a nice enough man that I wouldn't have minded, much, but I'm
happy that you didn't take advantage of me. Thank you."

I cleared my throat and looked at the floor. "Well... Yomiko-san..."

"Yes?"

I could feel the blush on my face. "I... Well, I *was* sorely
tempted. You *are* a very attractive woman, after all."

"Rob-san, I remember you telling me that we live in two different
worlds, so nothing can possibly happen between us. Please don't say
anything else, all right?" And she picked up the book and went back to
her own private world, leaving me alone beside her.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Part the Fifth
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

The gadget chirped as a golden glow appeared around it, then it went
silent as the glow solidified into a note. I looked at it, read the
first sentence, then passed it to Belldandy. "It's for you."

"Oh!" She read the note, then smiled. "It's almost time to go home!"

Sakura smiled. Yomiko looked up from my copy of Spoor's "Digital
Knight" (378 pages) and frowned. "I'm not finished reading this
yet..."

"Keep it. I correspond with the author on occasion; I can get another
copy."

She grinned and hugged me with her free arm (causing me to blush),
never taking her eyes off the book (causing me to sigh). "Thank you!"
Then she stepped back and frowned. "Do you really know the author well
enough to correspond with him, or are you just saying that to make me
feel better about taking the book with me?"

"I know three authors that well. Maybe I'll have some autographed
books waiting for you next time." Yomiko looked happy at that thought.

Chisame... Chisame looked wistful. "Can... Can I stay?"

To quote a certain fictional time-traveler, 'Oh, boy'. "Chisame-san...
You're a pretty girl who's young enough to be my daughter. What would
people think?"

"I don't care. Mara reminded me that I'm not really comfortable with
all the magic that's been dumped into my life lately. If I stay here,
I can leave that behind me."

Belldandy looked worried. "You'd also be leaving your family and
friends behind you. Are you all right with that?"

Chisame sighed. "I think it's a fair trade."

Bull. I looked her straight in the eye, and, for her sake, played the
only card I had left. "You've seen some of the manga chapters after
the point where I pulled you out of your home reality. You know that
Springfield-sensei *needs* your help in order to get through his
current crisis. Are you really going to turn your back on your
responsibility, Hasegawa-san?"

"Damn you..." She started crying. "Can I at least come back for a
visit?"

My heart melted at her tears. "Sure, if you can figure out how, and I
know from last year that at least one person's figured out how. Hang
on a moment." I unlocked and opened my file cabinet, and pulled out
copies of Kaolla's notes from last year's Challenge. "This should give
you a head start." I handed copies to Yomiko, Sakura, and Keiichi, as
well as Chisame. "Don't let your respective governments get their
hands on these, okay?"

"Of course not," replied Yomiko with a shudder.

They were all packed and ready to go in a quarter-hour... just in time
for Mara to burst in. "They never left you!"

The sparkle formed around everyone but Mara and me. "Hey, I was
mistaken. It happens. They're leaving now; you going home with them,
or hanging out with me?"

"Dont flatter yourself, mortal," she replied as she grabbed Belldandy's
hand. The sparkle expanded to include Mara with the others.

And then they were gone.

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Epilogue

"I'm home."

"Where the hell have you been, Yomiko?"

"I'm sorry, Nenene-sensei. It was a mission, and I couldn't tell you
before I left."

"You don't go on missions any more! Tell me the truth."

As Yomiko did so, Nenene realized she was hearing the plot of a new
novel. A hackneyed novel, to be sure, but she could fix that.

*****

"I'm back."

"You left?"

"Oh. Never mind that now; we still have work to do. When Negi-sensei
wakes up, tell him '4000 meters straight up, and don't get shot'."
Then Chisame dived into cyberspace - for the first time, as far as her
companions knew.

*****

"I'm home!"

"Welcome home, Sakura."

"I'm glad to be back, Eriol-kun. Tomoyo, I learned about a wonderful
thing this trip, and I think I can make them. It's called a 'pactio
card'..."

*****

'Nobody to see me come back. Good, I won't get chewed out for failing
my mission.'

"But We *are* here, and We *will* chew you out," came a voice from
behind Mara, answering her unspoken thought.

"Oh, no. H-h-Hild-sama, I... I can explain..."

*****

"We're home!"

"Welcome back! Did you two have fun on your vacation?"

Belldandy and Keiichi blushed at Urd's question. Skuld's reaction on
noticing that was "Ewwwww..."

*****

"Hi, Rob!"

"Aaaah! Oh... Hi, Kaolla-san. How are Shinobu-san and the others?"

"They're doing well. How're you?"

"Well enough, all things considered. You're five minutes too late for
the fun this year."

"Drat. What'r'you doing today, then?"

"Going shopping for a new mattress for my double bed," I replied with a
grin. "The one I've got is shot..."

**********************************************************************

And that's that.

(Yes, the temperatures in Ottawa *have* been that high this week.
Given a choice between climate change and demonic influence, I'd rather
blame demonic influence...)

- --
Rob Kelk <http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/> e-mail: s/deadspam/gmail/
"I'm *not* a kid! Nyyyeaaah!" - Skuld (in "Oh My Goddess!" OAV #3)
"When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear
of childishness and the desire to be very grown-up." - C.S. Lewis

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