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The Ford Prefect scene was EVIL! Oh, the punishment!

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I'm really curious to see what would happen if/when Doug finds that all the worlds he's visited are fictional in others.

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Skuld's possible crush

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Chris' friends turning out to be heavnly in nature

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The Ford Jokes... Which, in true brittish fashion didnt really hit until about half a page further down.

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Sure, I can see Bell feeling more than a bit uncomfortable about recounting what happened the night before, but everyone's reactions were priceless!!!

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Some Housekeeping notes though:

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Which really isn't, not the least because I don't want to copy Gryphon. In fact, I'm not sure what's going to happen there -- the original plan was that Skuld was going to end up regarding Doug as a big brother, but since we moved the plotline to the OMB universe, she already has one, so she doesn't need another.

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This ought to keep me for a month or so before I'll be back to biting my nails. That was the nice thing about discovering DW so late: I got to read DWII all at once.

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Let's hope Paradox at least gets around to explaining the "Hitchhiker's" references to him.

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And if Doug is never going to Discworld, why not let somebody introduce him to those books?

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The possibility of making Doug's bike sentient a la Kino's Journey exists. Snarkier, though. Or, if Paradox gets involved, continue the HGTTG vein and make it the motorcycle equivalent of Marvin.

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Doug's knowledge of engineering, electronics and whatnot is advanced of the OMB mortal realm, correct?

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I had an amusing mental image of Doug as Skuld's sensei in college. Her reaction alone would be worth it.

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Mara's getting pissed. Doug may want to stock up on disco. Or good luck charms, but I disco would work better in his case.

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Lastly... Kludge Fu. Amazing. I hope to see more inane/insane/weird attack names!

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On the other hand, there are used-CD stores in Japan...

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"'Will warp fabric of space-time for food,'"
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- I was reading this at ~7am, and actually laughed loud enough to be heard by a neighboring cube-mate...

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Chris is channelling a different BGC universe - which obviously follows from his area of control - if he can affect time, naturally he can access alternate realities... Something that the Three are trying to keep him from realizing (at this point, at least).

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>We once won a battle because one of the enemy ruptured a disk in his back lifting an Abrams tank the wrong way and ended up dropping it on
himself.
Heh, I'll take "Sucks to be you" for $400, Alex.

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Another good chapter, Bob. Very entertaining.

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What was that gnome song, though?

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Let me see.. excellent work, as always, though somehow I can't help but almost feel sorry for the savage Whammy Mara is inviting on her head over this one...

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Does AMG seriously look like a world where Hidekai Anno would cook up Evangelion? It could very be that it simply doesn't exist there, just like how Doug doesn't know the Guide. (Maybe Anno did a Gunbuster TV series instead or something.)

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I somehow feel that a fight between the two of them will be a little unfair.

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Mara will either end up running like hell or hiding behind Belldandy pleading for mercy.

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MOUSE and the other acronym?

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I wonder now that Megumi knows, she'll follow in the path of Lisa Vanette. Really give Chis headaches. A mortal girl that he dislikes is better at spellcraft than he is. ^_^

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mmm IMO one can't have to many big brothers...

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"Mundane Ordinary Power, Make-UP!"

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It may, for I can't recall whether or not Chris has let EVA exist as an anime in OMB!. If it does would Doug even bother to watch it and does any of the music trigger a power?

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The fact that (as far as Buckaroo and I could determine) I hadn't
aged a day in nearly 7 years, though, suggested that I wouldn't
need to worry (much) about racing the clock to make it back. It
suggested other things to worry about, but not that.

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Anyway, this node-thing -- it had managed to find a "somewhere
else" to go to, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out
*where*. The power squirted *up* out of it, and then just
*vanished*. It was a constant flow, too, a hell of a one, but it
all simply... went away. And that was just *so* wrong.

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Obviously, I didn't know the original names for most of the moves
and combos, so I'd long ago begun making up my own. Which was
how it came to be that I was flowing smoothly from "Rabbit Flirts
With Hunter" through "Overhand Pie Smash" to "Yappy Dog Bounces".
I was working on a transition into the more advanced "Wait For
Me, Bay-bee!" when I heard a little intake of breath behind me.
I spun and dropped into a crouch ("Cossack Dancer Stumbles"),
only to see nothing more than the tail end of a long lock of
black hair whip by the door post and vanish out of sight.

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Her eyes narrowed, and a brow marked with vicious crimson slashes
furrowed. "Yes, yes, you did," she replied peevishly. "And yes,
more than just an ordinary mortal. A magus, if I'm not mistaken.
Odd. I thought I knew who all the mages were on this mudball."
Mara rose to her feet with a loose-limbed, lazy-looking grace,
and strolled along the top of the fence to keep up with the pair.
Her steps were unconsciously certain and sure, her stride as
quick and confident as though she walked on solid ground, while
she focused her mystic senses on the mortal man below.

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Skuld and Angel both looked at me and did a synchronized pair of
eye rolls that I found quite improbable but funny nonetheless,
while Keiichi -- who was clearly just as familiar with a certain
classic movie as the two gods were -- burst out with a bark of
laughter. (Good thing that Kubrick's "2002" obviously had
existed in that universe, too, otherwise that joke would have
fallen *so* flat.) I broadened the grin and nodded at him while
I sat down at the table, taking the same seat I had been guided
to the night before.

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"A man can never have too many pancakes," he insisted. "

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"And the Boss just *happens* to make universes that look
identical to works of fiction? Come on, he wouldn't... okay, he
would," Chris admitted, recalling that this was the same being
who owned up to using dice to make key decisions.

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Chris gave her an innocent look. "You three *were* going to give
me a place to live up there, weren't you?" He laughed at Urd's
expression, then grimaced. "I'll put these away, don't worry
about it. If you're serious about keeping this from our little
guest, we need to get Skuld to put a filter on our network
connection and *watch* him. Lackey's a bloody popular Western
author, and 'Kodomo no Omocha' has a big fan base. Luckily
'Bubblegum Crisis' and 'Buckaroo' are lower profile, but you'll
still want to make sure he doesn't catch on."

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"No, that wasn't it... well, not *that* exactly." Skuld stopped
in the middle of the sidewalk again and turned a look of
confusion on him. She shook her head. "It's just... I don't
get it. How can someone who's that big a jerk do something
that... that... beautiful?"

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Chris shook his head and drove the memory back, but his eyes
still rested on the katana with its black-and-gold saya.
Wrought-gold bosses punctuated the plain black lacquer with a
repetition of the angular, back-to-back double "B" symbol that
he'd seen in connection with the movie. He could imagine a
reproduction house offering a katana as a tie-in to the film, but
not one of this quality -- this was no $200 show-sword. His
training with Wayland came to the fore; even without touching it,
he could tell simply from the craftsmanship of the saya, hilt and
tsubo that this was a master-made blade, worth thousands -- maybe
tens of thousands -- of dollars.

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Score one for Urd and freakin' absurdity,* he reluctantly
admitted to himself. *No master smith would make a movie
"souvenir" sword.* Chris allowed himself a moment to wonder if
Sangnoir knew how to use the weapon. *I wonder what it'd be like
to spar with someone who *couldn't* beat the crap out of me with
his eyes closed.*

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Behind me, Chris suddenly spoke up. "It hitchhiked?" There was
a hint of a smile in his voice I didn't understand.

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"Other than it's an ugly offense against the aesthetics of any
right-thinking engineer?" the girl replied absently. "No." She
chewed on her lip for a few moments. "Yes," she finally said
with a sigh. "It's a jury-rigged mess that takes way too much
power to do way too little. There are so many easier ways to
make a grav drive this small that use much less power and have so
many other features." Skuld looked up at Megumi and grimaced.
"If I *don't* improve it, it's going to gnaw at me for*ever*."

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Keiichi and Chris looked at each other and shared a grin. Then
Chris cleared his throat and loudly asked, "Is this a private
game, or can anybody play?"

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As the little goddess bleated her offense at the indignity of
this unwarranted liberty and Megumi continued to giggle, Chris
smiled and shook his head. *Not so twitchy now, is he? I can't
believe this nutbar is the same guy who seemed so dangerous
yesterday. What happened?*

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The short man shook his head with a wry smile. "Sorry, no. I'd
rather the stuff I drive stay on the ground."

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That got my interest, and I was about to ask her what was up,
when I heard a bang followed by a deep, gravelly voice bellowing,
"MO-RI-SA-TO!"

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My first look at the sempais did nothing to reassure me. Based
on what little I'd heard, I *had* been expecting a couple of
grease monkeys in dirty coveralls. Instead, I found a pair of
thuggish goons. One was punked out in black leather and
sunglasses, topped off with an improbably and enthusiastically
vertical bleach-blond hairdo that defied both description and
gravity

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Some well-trained clump of neurons somewhere in the back of my
head, loosely leashed due to my confusion and distraction,
interpreted "big guy rushing at me" as an attack, and took
control. The bright white light of the late afternoon
immediately slid into the blue end of the spectrum as I combat-
hyped. I'd neatly dodged his grab and my hand was already
snaking out in a retaliatory palm-strike before my mind could
reassert control over my body. I couldn't abort the strike, not
without hurting one or the other of us; the best I could was pull
the blow as much as I could -- which probably saved his life.

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*Note to self: Do not allow this man to advise me on my love
life. Come to think of it, do not allow him *near* my love
life.*

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In this case, though, watching Tamiya's impromptu demonstration
of ballistic motion was something Chris wouldn't have missed for
the world. Maybe now the musclebound idiot would learn a bit of
restraint.
Not likely, but maybe.

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"I always told ya you'd
pull that shit on the wrong person someday, Tamiya, and you'd get
yer ass kicked." He reached out a hand, which Tamiya took and
used to haul himself to his feet.

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A feral growl escaped her throat. Sangnoir wasn't going to get
away from her *that* easily. Powerful, so powerful he could
blank his Yggdrasil entry. She had to get him for Hell. She
would see him broken and fallen to the Dark. It was a personal
challenge now, and Mara would *not* fail, Stormsdaughter or
no.

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"And the Boss just *happens* to make universes that lookidentical to works of fiction? Come on, he wouldn't... okay, he would," Chris admitted, recalling that this was the same being who owned up to using dice to make key decisions.

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"And the Boss just *happens* to make universes that lookidentical to works of fiction? Come on, he wouldn't... okay, he would," Chris admitted, recalling that this was the same being who owned up to using dice to make key decisions.

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If it's a form of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction ), then you don't have to link each demon and divinity.

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Paradox is a possessive jealous older brother.

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"Mundane Ordinary Power, Make-UP!"

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