(Here's the first part of my Omake Challenge story, for entertainment purposes only. I already know where I'm going with the rest of the story, but I don't have time to write it this afternoon...)
Oh, dear. The message from Bill wasn't at all good... but it could have been worse. Bill had summoned up a Mirror of Opposition. Like most such magic items, this one created duplicates of its victims with their major personality traits reversed while leaving their skills intact. Unlike most Mirrors of Opposition, this one didn't invert personalities on a coarse good/evil and communal/individualistic scale; this Mirror was more precise, swapping out identifable personality traits. (When it was used on Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent, it created an alturistic Lina and a demure Naga.) I had a decent chance to solve this one.
But I couldn't possibly take care of mirror-Ghandi on my own. (Quoting the "Ghandi II" sketch from Weird Al Yankovic's movie UHF, "No More Mister Passive-Resistance!" That's how mirror-Ghandi would think all the time.) I needed a team.
The problem was, I couldn't draw upon my usual team. Chisame needed to hear what she was hearing from Negi's father's friend right now. Yomiko still hadn't rebuilt her life after what Joker had done to it; I'd called her away from that too many times already. And Sakura was still a pre-teen; it was time to give her a break. I couldn't in good conscience call upon Team Lovely But Dangerous yet again... but I could call upon Team Dangerous But Lovely.
First, an information specialist. At least two of Chisame's classmates would be able to fill this slot, and I've always wanted to meet one of them. A moment later, the summoning device had called Nodoka Miyazaki to serve as the core of the team. "Tell me your name!" she demanded while pointing at me.
"I call myself Rob Kelk, Ms. Miyazaki," I replied. "And that magic item you recently picked up will have told you my full name." Sure enough, a book with my name on it was floating in front of her. I'm counting on you to use that ability to help solve this mess, I thought, knowing that my thoughts about Bill's problem would appear in her book.
Next, a combat specialist. I briefly considered Yomiko's friend Drake Anderson, but decided against him. While he was willing and able to use lethal force, making him Dangerous, there was no way he could be described as Lovely. Besides, the psychological-warfare factor would be greater with the person I had in mind.
"Oh, that's not nice," Nodoka commented.
"What? Oh, right; you're still reading my surface thoughts. Do you think she can't do the job?"
"I don't know. I've never seen that anime, and she wasn't in the manga. I don't know what she's like."
"Well, now you get to meet her." I smiled as I activated the summoning device again. "We met once a while back, when I was transported to her world in place of the person I transported to this one. Hello, Miss Li."
"Shaoran's sisters are 'Miss Li.' Just call me Meilin," she replied. "It's good to see you again, Mr. Kelk. So this is your world..."
"That it is. Ms. Miyazaki knows why I've brought you here; would you speak with her while I call the third member of the team?"
Finally, somebody who was willing to do whatever needed to be done. I activated the summoning device one last time, and a gorgeous, buxom raven-haired woman appeared in front of me. "Hiiiii," she drawled sexily as she closed the book she was reading.
"Hello, Ms. Makuhari."
"Oh, call me Nancy. So, where are the mirror-clones?"
Huh? "How did you know?"
She held up the book she'd brought along so we could see the title: Tales of the New Years' Otaku, 2008 Edition, edited by Bill Martin. She smiled. "I picked this up from the British Library. Mister Gentleman had the entire series. You really do like Yomiko-san, don't you, Rob-san?"
Oh, wonderful. The Pratt/deCamp/Heinlein theory of transfictionality has finally reared its ugly head... and it's bitten me on the ass in the process. Assuming the book Nancy held was accurate. Time to change the subject. "Can we get down to business, please?"
"Sure!" Nancy smiled. "According to the book, this is what we're going to do..."
(To Be Continued, of course...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Oh, dear. The message from Bill wasn't at all good... but it could have been worse. Bill had summoned up a Mirror of Opposition. Like most such magic items, this one created duplicates of its victims with their major personality traits reversed while leaving their skills intact. Unlike most Mirrors of Opposition, this one didn't invert personalities on a coarse good/evil and communal/individualistic scale; this Mirror was more precise, swapping out identifable personality traits. (When it was used on Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent, it created an alturistic Lina and a demure Naga.) I had a decent chance to solve this one.
But I couldn't possibly take care of mirror-Ghandi on my own. (Quoting the "Ghandi II" sketch from Weird Al Yankovic's movie UHF, "No More Mister Passive-Resistance!" That's how mirror-Ghandi would think all the time.) I needed a team.
The problem was, I couldn't draw upon my usual team. Chisame needed to hear what she was hearing from Negi's father's friend right now. Yomiko still hadn't rebuilt her life after what Joker had done to it; I'd called her away from that too many times already. And Sakura was still a pre-teen; it was time to give her a break. I couldn't in good conscience call upon Team Lovely But Dangerous yet again... but I could call upon Team Dangerous But Lovely.
First, an information specialist. At least two of Chisame's classmates would be able to fill this slot, and I've always wanted to meet one of them. A moment later, the summoning device had called Nodoka Miyazaki to serve as the core of the team. "Tell me your name!" she demanded while pointing at me.
"I call myself Rob Kelk, Ms. Miyazaki," I replied. "And that magic item you recently picked up will have told you my full name." Sure enough, a book with my name on it was floating in front of her. I'm counting on you to use that ability to help solve this mess, I thought, knowing that my thoughts about Bill's problem would appear in her book.
Next, a combat specialist. I briefly considered Yomiko's friend Drake Anderson, but decided against him. While he was willing and able to use lethal force, making him Dangerous, there was no way he could be described as Lovely. Besides, the psychological-warfare factor would be greater with the person I had in mind.
"Oh, that's not nice," Nodoka commented.
"What? Oh, right; you're still reading my surface thoughts. Do you think she can't do the job?"
"I don't know. I've never seen that anime, and she wasn't in the manga. I don't know what she's like."
"Well, now you get to meet her." I smiled as I activated the summoning device again. "We met once a while back, when I was transported to her world in place of the person I transported to this one. Hello, Miss Li."
"Shaoran's sisters are 'Miss Li.' Just call me Meilin," she replied. "It's good to see you again, Mr. Kelk. So this is your world..."
"That it is. Ms. Miyazaki knows why I've brought you here; would you speak with her while I call the third member of the team?"
Finally, somebody who was willing to do whatever needed to be done. I activated the summoning device one last time, and a gorgeous, buxom raven-haired woman appeared in front of me. "Hiiiii," she drawled sexily as she closed the book she was reading.
"Hello, Ms. Makuhari."
"Oh, call me Nancy. So, where are the mirror-clones?"
Huh? "How did you know?"
She held up the book she'd brought along so we could see the title: Tales of the New Years' Otaku, 2008 Edition, edited by Bill Martin. She smiled. "I picked this up from the British Library. Mister Gentleman had the entire series. You really do like Yomiko-san, don't you, Rob-san?"
Oh, wonderful. The Pratt/deCamp/Heinlein theory of transfictionality has finally reared its ugly head... and it's bitten me on the ass in the process. Assuming the book Nancy held was accurate. Time to change the subject. "Can we get down to business, please?"
"Sure!" Nancy smiled. "According to the book, this is what we're going to do..."
(To Be Continued, of course...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012