RE: [IC][WIP][Arc 1] How I Managed to Quit Worrying and Love The Grief Seed
04-30-2019, 02:04 AM
04-30-2019, 02:04 AM
Okay, moving right along into the next volume...
How I Learned to Quit Worrying, and Love The Grief Seed
Volume 2
Murphy Strikes Back
Prologue
He held The Book closely to his chest as he prowled around, suspicious of even the slightest movement.
The Book was important, he knew it. It was the fabled Grimoire, the ultimate book, the one that could open up heaven and hell and bend it all to his whims. And it had chosen him.
For now, he had to keep it safe until he learned all its secrets. He would let no one even see it. He had to…
Where was he?
He was not in any part of the city he knew. In fact, it looked like some kind of nightmarish version of a frilly little girl’s room.
“You’re not mommy,” said a ghastly voice. “Only Mommy is allowed here.”
There was suddenly a hackles-raising chittering sound coming from all around him, like little girls giggling on a record being played too fast.
It was the last sound he ever heard as the familiars descended upon him, and devoured him, body and soul.
“What is this?” asked the voice as one of the familiars, a horrible looking china doll with glass eyes that rattled and jittered in their sockets, offered up The Book.
Within the Book of Darkness, Reinforce Eins cried out in despair.
And the Ultimate Defense Program smiled and thought to itself, Oh yes.
##
Yagami Hayate woke with a start, bolting upright in her bed.
This was not her room.
Panic began to pool in her guts - she couldn’t feel the Tome of Night Sky. It was not on the bed stand next to her. She then cast her mind about, trying to find her Wolkenritter.
“Signum!? Vita!? Shamal!? Zafira!? WHERE ARE YOU!?”
But there was nothing there but empty silence.
“Hayate! Oh thank heavens it’s really you!”
Her attention was suddenly drawn to the door, where Aria and Lotte, in their human forms, were standing.
“I’ll go get Master,” said Aria. “You stay here with Hayate.”
“Right!” replied the shorter-haired twin.
“Lotte!?” cried out Hayate in alarm and despair. “What’s happened? I can’t find them!”
“It’s going to be okay, Hayate,” said Lotte, trying to comfort the girl. “Admiral Graham is here with us.”
“But where is here!?”
“You’re still on what seems to be Unadministered World 97, but on a different continent.”
“WHERE!?”
“I think it’s called Austin - it’s a city in the United States - in the State called Texas.”
“Texas?” said Hayate weakly. “We’re on the other side of the Earth?”
“Hayate!” came Gil Graham’s voice from the door.
“Mr. Graham?” said Hayate plaintively. “What’s happening?”
“I’m sorry, Hayate,” said the old Englishman as he came to Hayate’s bedside and knelt down beside her. “We’re not sure yet. But we’re trying to find out. So far I seem to have lost contact with all of TSAB.”
“Master,” said Lotte with some urgency. “She says she can’t find them or The Book.”
Gill Graham went pale. “Oh dear God have mercy on us all.”
Chapter 1
Nanoha Takamachi stood before her opponent, sizing him up carefully. She had to do this right. Not too much, and not too little.
“Deviiiiiiinnnnnnne,” she called out, feeding the variables into Raising Heart as it generated the needed spell circles to contain the energies it was drawing off of her. “BUSTEEEEERRRRRRRR!!!”
Her opponent, clad in dark, generic-looking armor, braced himself against the attack.
But then, for no apparent reason at all, the energy beam began to decohere, losing a good deal of it’s potency. However, it was still strong enough to send her opponent sprawling.
“BENJAMIN!” yelped Nanoha in alarm as she immediately terminated the attack.
He rolled and, to her surprise, righted himself, on one knee with the leg behind him for stability, the other bent at ninety-degrees at the knee with the foot in front of him and flat on the ground, his opposite arm down with his palm flat against the ground, and his right arm up, still deflecting the beam as it trailed off.
“I’m alright, Girls” called out Benjamin as he got up. “The armor did its job.”
Nonetheless, Nanoha, along with Fate and Alicia - who had been standing a safe distance away - all ran up to Ben to see if he really was alright. But as Ben took off his helmet and revealed his smiling face, they were able to set their fears to rest.
“Okay, let’s call it there for now,” came Washu’s voice as she approached from the other side of the field. “As much as I’d like to run more tests, anymore than that might compromise the armor.”
“No complaints here,” said Ben as he hugged each of the three girls in turn, leaving small, subtle kisses on each other’s cheeks. “So, what’s the news?”
“Very interesting,” said Washu. “According the to telemetry from the armor’s sensors and from Raising Heart, your anti-magic field is fully effective at dispersing spells up to C-Rank. You can also massively degrade B-Rank spells, but only somewhat degrade A-Rank spells. Judging by this curve, I would say that Double-A-Ranked spells will be negligibly affected by your AM-Field.
“And just for the record, Rin was kind enough to provide me with sample of the protective portion of the spell on Alicia’s phylactery. Thanks to that, Ben and I have been able to peg the protective measures on Alicia’s phylactery at Triple-S-Rank - I don’t think we’ll need to worry much about her, but it’s best not to be careless.”
As Washu said that, Alicia climbed up onto Ben’s back, wrapping herself around him and closing her eyes as she buried her face in his hair.
Moth to a flame indeed, he thought in mild amusement. It was as if Alicia could simply not get enough close contact with Benjamin. What was more, Ben could, with some effort, pick up on her emotional state, if not her thoughts. At that moment, he could sense a low buzz of contentment from the girl.
Fortunately, Nanoha and Fate thought nothing of it. They knew that Alicia saw Ben as nothing more than a beloved older brother. It was not unlike the relationship a young child has with a much, much older sibling who they idolize and aspire to.
The amount of physical contact simply reinforced the familial bond that was growing between them. They both knew that in the future, they’d always be able to count on each other for support because they were family in all but name and blood.
Ben idly wondered what his mother was going to think of this. He knew she’d like the girls... but the thing with Nanoha and Fate would have had her glaring daggers at her son - his mother thought of bigamy in very unfavorable terms. Ironically, the age difference would only a mild concern by comparison. So long as they continued to behave chastely, she’d have no issue with that.
“Got it,” said Ben as he got up, carrying Alicia with him, who clung to him like a limpet much to Fate’s and Nanoha’s amusement. Ben, however, paused at this. “Little Sis? Alicia? Sweetie? Gotta get out of this armor.”
“Nope,” came the little girl’s glib reply.
“… Can I get an assist here?” asked Ben of Nanoha and Fate.
“Nope,” said Alicia. “Bath time.”
“But Alicia,” said Nanoha in surprise. “It’s barely even noon!”
“Big Brother is starting to get smelly,” said Alicia from her perch up on Ben’s shoulders. She then sniffed Ben once more to make sure. “Not really smelly. Just a bit.” She then fixed Nanoha with a mischievous grin. “And you look sweaty, Nanoha-onee. I bet you have girl-stink!”
Nanoha spluttered incoherently while Fate slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Ben’s eyebrows shot clear to the top of his forehead in a classic ‘Did that shit really just happen!?’ look.
Washu raised an eyebrow. “That’s an awfully astute observation for someone your age, Alicia. How did you know about that?”
“I was taught that I always need to be careful about smelling bad,” she said, being careful not to mention Precia - she knew only too painfully how reminding Fate of their mother had a tendency to rub salt over the raw emotional scars. “Especially when I get to Big Sister Fate’s age - I was taught that will be when my body will start growing up to be a woman - and that’s when I’ll start to get girl-stink.” Alicia then grinned wickedly. “I know Big Sister Nanoha has gotta have Girl Stink because her breasts just started growing.”
Fate exploded into uncontrollable laughter.
“Aliciaaaaaaaaa!” cried out Nanoha with a put-upon expression. “So mean!”
“… Is this really happening?” said Ben lamely.
Washu regarded the mischievous girl on Ben’s shoulders coolly. “Alicia, you and I are gonna have a discussion later on so I can figure out exactly how much you know.”
##
Eventually, Alicia had been pried off of Ben so he could divest himself of his armor, and he spent some time cooling down by pacing through the aquatic specimen zone, wandering around with his hands linked and resting on his head so he could radiate away heat in the relatively cool space.
And do a bit of gawking.
Ben did indeed marvel at some of the strange creatures being kept in that place, but the one thing that stopped him cold was quite possibly the most dangerous creatures that Washu had on display.
Massers.
Ben slowly approached the tank with the odd little blobs. For being so simple, they were strangely cute with their expressive, beady little eyes.
They scattered once they noticed him coming. He frowned at that. It was disappointing, but understandable. Just as Ben was about to move on, though, he noticed that one of the strange little creatures hadn’t fled, and was eying him with a great deal of curiosity.
“Well hey there little fellah!” said Ben with a smile. “Why aren’t you with the rest of your friends?”
The Masser blinked its eyes at Ben as though to say, “No idea.” And then, to Ben’s surprise, the little yellow blob pressed up against the glass, and then began to phase through it.
Ben stayed calm, but all the same…
“Washu-chan?”
A holo screen popped up next to Ben with Washu on it. “Yes, what’s wro-GHHK!”
“Yes, my thoughts exactly,” said Ben as the Masser orbited Ben, examining him closely in a manner unnervingly like a bee.
“Stay calm, Benjamin,” said Washu. “I’ll be there in a moment.”
“Cool as a cucumber,” said Ben. “I think he’s just curious.”
A portal in the floor opened and Washu rose up out of it as though being elevated by a lift.
“Looks like you’re right,” said Washu as she approached calmly. “I don’t see any signs of agitation. Can you stay calm a little longer?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this little guy doesn’t mean me any harm.” And just as those words left Ben’s mouth, the Masser suddenly began to nuzzle Ben in the side of his face. “Wha!? Hah-hey there!” he cried out, not quite able to keep all the laughter out of his voice.
“Well whaddya know? It’s bonding to you!”
“Is this a bad thing?” Ben asked as he gently nudged it with a finger and getting a happy purr-like sound in return.
“The last time I saw behavior like this, it was with Ryo-ohki. But they simply copied her desire to help Tenchi.” Washu then snapped her fingers. “I got it! It thinks you need company!”
Ben blinked at that. “Wait. You mean this little guy thinks I’m lonely and doesn’t want me to be alone?”
Washu nodded. “Massers are very social creatures. If they find that one is alone, others will join it or they will welcome it into their own collective.”
“Huh. Talk about being adopted by your own pet. So what now?”
“Now I keep an eye on how this develops. For the time being, try to keep thinking happy thoughts. It’s going to be following your lead based on your emotional state.”
“Okay… so how do I care for this little guy?”
“Massers are semi-aquatic - they can spend extended periods of time out of the water. But it will help if you set up a fresh-water aquarium for it to rest in. Preferably with some nice plants and an air stone to make sure the water keeps enough oxygen at night.”
“Good thing I was thinking about setting up a fish tank or two. Tank mates?”
“Only if you want to feed it. They actually prey on smaller aquatic lifeforms. So if you plan on having other tanks with fish, make sure this one is well fed. I can supply you with a suitable feed for it.”
“Thanks,” said Ben. “You sure this is going to be safe, though? I know these guys can spit antimatter.”
“Unless someone is trying to intimidate you, it should be fine. I don’t see anything like that happening here at the complex.”
“But outside…” said Ben.
Washu nodded in agreement. “Yes. I’ll set something up to keep it from following you.”
Ben raised an eyebrow. “Not that I’m not grateful, but you seem to be going to a lot of trouble for this little fellow.”
Washu shrugged. “It’s not often I get to observe this kind of behavior. Massers are typically very skittish creatures.”
“Got it,” said Ben. “Well, I guess I better get started on your new home, little guy.”
“I’ll round up some plants for you,” said Washu. “That’ll save you a trip to the pet shop. I take it you already have everything else?”
“Yeah - got a twenty-gallon tank, along with water filter, gravel, some air stones and air pumps, and water conditioner.”
“Good. You go ahead and get started on that. I’ll be up in your apartment in a few minutes.”
##
For the moment, Ben went to check the mail and smiled as he pulled out a thick sheath of letters - some from the Northside Independent School District, and some from a private school called The Keystone School.
Right away, Ben fired off a group text to all the tenants and within minutes everyone had gathered around a table in the courtyard.
Tenchi made it there first, and then blanched at the sight of the Masser sitting on his shoulder.
“BEN!” yelped Tenchi in alarm.
“I know!” said Ben, trying to placate him.
“Oh wow!” came Sasami’s voice. “Is that a Masser?”
“What’s a Masser?” said Kaname as she approached. “That blobby little thing?”
“It’s Ryouko’s Honorable Father!” piped up Mihoshi.
“Oh please don’t start that!” cried out Ryouko in a rare instance of mortification.
“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Teletha.
“I”ll explain later,” said Noike. “Privately.”
“Thanks,” said Ryouko.
“Is it dangerous?” asked Sousuke.
“You could say that,” said Aeka with a sickly smile. “It can destroy this entire city if it wanted to.”
There was a moment of stunned silence as the non-Jyuraian displacees took that in.
“Say what?” said Melissa Mao.
“Everyone just stay calm,” said Ben as he rubbed the little Masser with his finger, making it purr again. “As long as we all stay cool, it’ll be fine.”
“But how the hell can something that small destroy this whole city?” said Kurtz Weber incredulously.
Ben shrugged. “As weird as it sounds, these little guys can create antimatter and spit matter-antimatter bombs. They’ve been known to take out warships that way because they tend to move in flocks.”
“So why is this one with you?” asked Nanoha.
Ben shrugged. “This is gonna sound hilarious, but it thought I needed a friend.”
That broke the tension as everyone began to splutter, giggle, and laugh at how ridiculous that sounded, and was yet all too true.
“God, Ben!” cried out Kaname mirthfully. “That is just LIKE you! Only you can wind up having a living weapon of mass destruction as a pet, you weirdo!”
Teletha leaned over to Kaname and stage-whispered, “I thought Sousuke was the weirdo~.”
“Shut up, Tessa,” replied Kaname without any ire.
“Alright, alright,” said Ben, getting everyone’s attention back on him. “Now that everyone’s here… We just got everyone’s test results back. Tenchi!”
“Here,” said the boy, accepting the offered envelope.
“Aeka?”
“Here, thank you,” said the princess.
“Kaname?”
“Thanks!”
“Teletha?”
“Right here.”
“Sousuke?”
“Present!”
Everyone waited while the five went over their test transcripts.
“I passed!” cried out Tenchi jubilantly.
“As did I!” added Aeka.
“It was a no-brainer,” said Kaname with a blithe smile.
“Aced it,” said Teletha.
“It seems my efforts were more than sufficient.”
There was a round of applause and everyone exchanged congratulations.
“Alright then,” said Ben with a smile. “Now that you guys have your GEDs, we can see about getting all of you enrolled into colleges if you want. Now, there’s a lot of great schools here in San Antonio, so I prepared some information packets on each school detailing the campus lifestyle and culture as well as degree programs that are being offered. Those who are interested can just poke their head into my office later on and I’ll provide you a copy.
“That said, let’s move on now to the younger ones. Nanoha?”
“Here!”
“Fate?”
“Here please.”
“Alicia?”
“Here I am!”
“Sasami?”
“Haaaiiii!”
“Alisa?”
“Right here!”
“Suzuka?”
“Here, thank you.”
“Francesca?”
“Thank you very much, Mister Rhodes.”
“Alright girls, with the exception of Sasami, I’ve been designated as your caretaker by your parents or guardians, which means that its up to me to make sure your enrollment forms get filed on time. Take some time to look at your placement results - I’m sure some of you have qualified to be in a grade higher than what you attended in your own schools. In about an hour, I want you all to come up to the Manager’s Office so I can get you squared away. Remember: here in the USA, you have the freedom to pursue whatever courses you want after your core academic requirements have been satisfied - you have lots of leeway here. The reason for this is that in the earlier eras, high school was not compulsory and was considered to be prestigious higher learning in preparation for university, and there are a lot of hold-overs from that time. Take some time to dwell on your options, then come and find me.
“Everyone good?” asked Ben and there was a round of agreements. “Okay then. One hour, girls. I’ll see you then.”
"No 'Boom!' today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a 'Boom!' tomorrow."
How I Learned to Quit Worrying, and Love The Grief Seed
Volume 2
Murphy Strikes Back
Prologue
He held The Book closely to his chest as he prowled around, suspicious of even the slightest movement.
The Book was important, he knew it. It was the fabled Grimoire, the ultimate book, the one that could open up heaven and hell and bend it all to his whims. And it had chosen him.
For now, he had to keep it safe until he learned all its secrets. He would let no one even see it. He had to…
Where was he?
He was not in any part of the city he knew. In fact, it looked like some kind of nightmarish version of a frilly little girl’s room.
“You’re not mommy,” said a ghastly voice. “Only Mommy is allowed here.”
There was suddenly a hackles-raising chittering sound coming from all around him, like little girls giggling on a record being played too fast.
It was the last sound he ever heard as the familiars descended upon him, and devoured him, body and soul.
“What is this?” asked the voice as one of the familiars, a horrible looking china doll with glass eyes that rattled and jittered in their sockets, offered up The Book.
Within the Book of Darkness, Reinforce Eins cried out in despair.
And the Ultimate Defense Program smiled and thought to itself, Oh yes.
##
Yagami Hayate woke with a start, bolting upright in her bed.
This was not her room.
Panic began to pool in her guts - she couldn’t feel the Tome of Night Sky. It was not on the bed stand next to her. She then cast her mind about, trying to find her Wolkenritter.
“Signum!? Vita!? Shamal!? Zafira!? WHERE ARE YOU!?”
But there was nothing there but empty silence.
“Hayate! Oh thank heavens it’s really you!”
Her attention was suddenly drawn to the door, where Aria and Lotte, in their human forms, were standing.
“I’ll go get Master,” said Aria. “You stay here with Hayate.”
“Right!” replied the shorter-haired twin.
“Lotte!?” cried out Hayate in alarm and despair. “What’s happened? I can’t find them!”
“It’s going to be okay, Hayate,” said Lotte, trying to comfort the girl. “Admiral Graham is here with us.”
“But where is here!?”
“You’re still on what seems to be Unadministered World 97, but on a different continent.”
“WHERE!?”
“I think it’s called Austin - it’s a city in the United States - in the State called Texas.”
“Texas?” said Hayate weakly. “We’re on the other side of the Earth?”
“Hayate!” came Gil Graham’s voice from the door.
“Mr. Graham?” said Hayate plaintively. “What’s happening?”
“I’m sorry, Hayate,” said the old Englishman as he came to Hayate’s bedside and knelt down beside her. “We’re not sure yet. But we’re trying to find out. So far I seem to have lost contact with all of TSAB.”
“Master,” said Lotte with some urgency. “She says she can’t find them or The Book.”
Gill Graham went pale. “Oh dear God have mercy on us all.”
Chapter 1
Nanoha Takamachi stood before her opponent, sizing him up carefully. She had to do this right. Not too much, and not too little.
“Deviiiiiiinnnnnnne,” she called out, feeding the variables into Raising Heart as it generated the needed spell circles to contain the energies it was drawing off of her. “BUSTEEEEERRRRRRRR!!!”
Her opponent, clad in dark, generic-looking armor, braced himself against the attack.
But then, for no apparent reason at all, the energy beam began to decohere, losing a good deal of it’s potency. However, it was still strong enough to send her opponent sprawling.
“BENJAMIN!” yelped Nanoha in alarm as she immediately terminated the attack.
He rolled and, to her surprise, righted himself, on one knee with the leg behind him for stability, the other bent at ninety-degrees at the knee with the foot in front of him and flat on the ground, his opposite arm down with his palm flat against the ground, and his right arm up, still deflecting the beam as it trailed off.
“I’m alright, Girls” called out Benjamin as he got up. “The armor did its job.”
Nonetheless, Nanoha, along with Fate and Alicia - who had been standing a safe distance away - all ran up to Ben to see if he really was alright. But as Ben took off his helmet and revealed his smiling face, they were able to set their fears to rest.
“Okay, let’s call it there for now,” came Washu’s voice as she approached from the other side of the field. “As much as I’d like to run more tests, anymore than that might compromise the armor.”
“No complaints here,” said Ben as he hugged each of the three girls in turn, leaving small, subtle kisses on each other’s cheeks. “So, what’s the news?”
“Very interesting,” said Washu. “According the to telemetry from the armor’s sensors and from Raising Heart, your anti-magic field is fully effective at dispersing spells up to C-Rank. You can also massively degrade B-Rank spells, but only somewhat degrade A-Rank spells. Judging by this curve, I would say that Double-A-Ranked spells will be negligibly affected by your AM-Field.
“And just for the record, Rin was kind enough to provide me with sample of the protective portion of the spell on Alicia’s phylactery. Thanks to that, Ben and I have been able to peg the protective measures on Alicia’s phylactery at Triple-S-Rank - I don’t think we’ll need to worry much about her, but it’s best not to be careless.”
As Washu said that, Alicia climbed up onto Ben’s back, wrapping herself around him and closing her eyes as she buried her face in his hair.
Moth to a flame indeed, he thought in mild amusement. It was as if Alicia could simply not get enough close contact with Benjamin. What was more, Ben could, with some effort, pick up on her emotional state, if not her thoughts. At that moment, he could sense a low buzz of contentment from the girl.
Fortunately, Nanoha and Fate thought nothing of it. They knew that Alicia saw Ben as nothing more than a beloved older brother. It was not unlike the relationship a young child has with a much, much older sibling who they idolize and aspire to.
The amount of physical contact simply reinforced the familial bond that was growing between them. They both knew that in the future, they’d always be able to count on each other for support because they were family in all but name and blood.
Ben idly wondered what his mother was going to think of this. He knew she’d like the girls... but the thing with Nanoha and Fate would have had her glaring daggers at her son - his mother thought of bigamy in very unfavorable terms. Ironically, the age difference would only a mild concern by comparison. So long as they continued to behave chastely, she’d have no issue with that.
“Got it,” said Ben as he got up, carrying Alicia with him, who clung to him like a limpet much to Fate’s and Nanoha’s amusement. Ben, however, paused at this. “Little Sis? Alicia? Sweetie? Gotta get out of this armor.”
“Nope,” came the little girl’s glib reply.
“… Can I get an assist here?” asked Ben of Nanoha and Fate.
“Nope,” said Alicia. “Bath time.”
“But Alicia,” said Nanoha in surprise. “It’s barely even noon!”
“Big Brother is starting to get smelly,” said Alicia from her perch up on Ben’s shoulders. She then sniffed Ben once more to make sure. “Not really smelly. Just a bit.” She then fixed Nanoha with a mischievous grin. “And you look sweaty, Nanoha-onee. I bet you have girl-stink!”
Nanoha spluttered incoherently while Fate slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Ben’s eyebrows shot clear to the top of his forehead in a classic ‘Did that shit really just happen!?’ look.
Washu raised an eyebrow. “That’s an awfully astute observation for someone your age, Alicia. How did you know about that?”
“I was taught that I always need to be careful about smelling bad,” she said, being careful not to mention Precia - she knew only too painfully how reminding Fate of their mother had a tendency to rub salt over the raw emotional scars. “Especially when I get to Big Sister Fate’s age - I was taught that will be when my body will start growing up to be a woman - and that’s when I’ll start to get girl-stink.” Alicia then grinned wickedly. “I know Big Sister Nanoha has gotta have Girl Stink because her breasts just started growing.”
Fate exploded into uncontrollable laughter.
“Aliciaaaaaaaaa!” cried out Nanoha with a put-upon expression. “So mean!”
“… Is this really happening?” said Ben lamely.
Washu regarded the mischievous girl on Ben’s shoulders coolly. “Alicia, you and I are gonna have a discussion later on so I can figure out exactly how much you know.”
##
Eventually, Alicia had been pried off of Ben so he could divest himself of his armor, and he spent some time cooling down by pacing through the aquatic specimen zone, wandering around with his hands linked and resting on his head so he could radiate away heat in the relatively cool space.
And do a bit of gawking.
Ben did indeed marvel at some of the strange creatures being kept in that place, but the one thing that stopped him cold was quite possibly the most dangerous creatures that Washu had on display.
Massers.
Ben slowly approached the tank with the odd little blobs. For being so simple, they were strangely cute with their expressive, beady little eyes.
They scattered once they noticed him coming. He frowned at that. It was disappointing, but understandable. Just as Ben was about to move on, though, he noticed that one of the strange little creatures hadn’t fled, and was eying him with a great deal of curiosity.
“Well hey there little fellah!” said Ben with a smile. “Why aren’t you with the rest of your friends?”
The Masser blinked its eyes at Ben as though to say, “No idea.” And then, to Ben’s surprise, the little yellow blob pressed up against the glass, and then began to phase through it.
Ben stayed calm, but all the same…
“Washu-chan?”
A holo screen popped up next to Ben with Washu on it. “Yes, what’s wro-GHHK!”
“Yes, my thoughts exactly,” said Ben as the Masser orbited Ben, examining him closely in a manner unnervingly like a bee.
“Stay calm, Benjamin,” said Washu. “I’ll be there in a moment.”
“Cool as a cucumber,” said Ben. “I think he’s just curious.”
A portal in the floor opened and Washu rose up out of it as though being elevated by a lift.
“Looks like you’re right,” said Washu as she approached calmly. “I don’t see any signs of agitation. Can you stay calm a little longer?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this little guy doesn’t mean me any harm.” And just as those words left Ben’s mouth, the Masser suddenly began to nuzzle Ben in the side of his face. “Wha!? Hah-hey there!” he cried out, not quite able to keep all the laughter out of his voice.
“Well whaddya know? It’s bonding to you!”
“Is this a bad thing?” Ben asked as he gently nudged it with a finger and getting a happy purr-like sound in return.
“The last time I saw behavior like this, it was with Ryo-ohki. But they simply copied her desire to help Tenchi.” Washu then snapped her fingers. “I got it! It thinks you need company!”
Ben blinked at that. “Wait. You mean this little guy thinks I’m lonely and doesn’t want me to be alone?”
Washu nodded. “Massers are very social creatures. If they find that one is alone, others will join it or they will welcome it into their own collective.”
“Huh. Talk about being adopted by your own pet. So what now?”
“Now I keep an eye on how this develops. For the time being, try to keep thinking happy thoughts. It’s going to be following your lead based on your emotional state.”
“Okay… so how do I care for this little guy?”
“Massers are semi-aquatic - they can spend extended periods of time out of the water. But it will help if you set up a fresh-water aquarium for it to rest in. Preferably with some nice plants and an air stone to make sure the water keeps enough oxygen at night.”
“Good thing I was thinking about setting up a fish tank or two. Tank mates?”
“Only if you want to feed it. They actually prey on smaller aquatic lifeforms. So if you plan on having other tanks with fish, make sure this one is well fed. I can supply you with a suitable feed for it.”
“Thanks,” said Ben. “You sure this is going to be safe, though? I know these guys can spit antimatter.”
“Unless someone is trying to intimidate you, it should be fine. I don’t see anything like that happening here at the complex.”
“But outside…” said Ben.
Washu nodded in agreement. “Yes. I’ll set something up to keep it from following you.”
Ben raised an eyebrow. “Not that I’m not grateful, but you seem to be going to a lot of trouble for this little fellow.”
Washu shrugged. “It’s not often I get to observe this kind of behavior. Massers are typically very skittish creatures.”
“Got it,” said Ben. “Well, I guess I better get started on your new home, little guy.”
“I’ll round up some plants for you,” said Washu. “That’ll save you a trip to the pet shop. I take it you already have everything else?”
“Yeah - got a twenty-gallon tank, along with water filter, gravel, some air stones and air pumps, and water conditioner.”
“Good. You go ahead and get started on that. I’ll be up in your apartment in a few minutes.”
##
For the moment, Ben went to check the mail and smiled as he pulled out a thick sheath of letters - some from the Northside Independent School District, and some from a private school called The Keystone School.
Right away, Ben fired off a group text to all the tenants and within minutes everyone had gathered around a table in the courtyard.
Tenchi made it there first, and then blanched at the sight of the Masser sitting on his shoulder.
“BEN!” yelped Tenchi in alarm.
“I know!” said Ben, trying to placate him.
“Oh wow!” came Sasami’s voice. “Is that a Masser?”
“What’s a Masser?” said Kaname as she approached. “That blobby little thing?”
“It’s Ryouko’s Honorable Father!” piped up Mihoshi.
“Oh please don’t start that!” cried out Ryouko in a rare instance of mortification.
“What is that supposed to mean?” asked Teletha.
“I”ll explain later,” said Noike. “Privately.”
“Thanks,” said Ryouko.
“Is it dangerous?” asked Sousuke.
“You could say that,” said Aeka with a sickly smile. “It can destroy this entire city if it wanted to.”
There was a moment of stunned silence as the non-Jyuraian displacees took that in.
“Say what?” said Melissa Mao.
“Everyone just stay calm,” said Ben as he rubbed the little Masser with his finger, making it purr again. “As long as we all stay cool, it’ll be fine.”
“But how the hell can something that small destroy this whole city?” said Kurtz Weber incredulously.
Ben shrugged. “As weird as it sounds, these little guys can create antimatter and spit matter-antimatter bombs. They’ve been known to take out warships that way because they tend to move in flocks.”
“So why is this one with you?” asked Nanoha.
Ben shrugged. “This is gonna sound hilarious, but it thought I needed a friend.”
That broke the tension as everyone began to splutter, giggle, and laugh at how ridiculous that sounded, and was yet all too true.
“God, Ben!” cried out Kaname mirthfully. “That is just LIKE you! Only you can wind up having a living weapon of mass destruction as a pet, you weirdo!”
Teletha leaned over to Kaname and stage-whispered, “I thought Sousuke was the weirdo~.”
“Shut up, Tessa,” replied Kaname without any ire.
“Alright, alright,” said Ben, getting everyone’s attention back on him. “Now that everyone’s here… We just got everyone’s test results back. Tenchi!”
“Here,” said the boy, accepting the offered envelope.
“Aeka?”
“Here, thank you,” said the princess.
“Kaname?”
“Thanks!”
“Teletha?”
“Right here.”
“Sousuke?”
“Present!”
Everyone waited while the five went over their test transcripts.
“I passed!” cried out Tenchi jubilantly.
“As did I!” added Aeka.
“It was a no-brainer,” said Kaname with a blithe smile.
“Aced it,” said Teletha.
“It seems my efforts were more than sufficient.”
There was a round of applause and everyone exchanged congratulations.
“Alright then,” said Ben with a smile. “Now that you guys have your GEDs, we can see about getting all of you enrolled into colleges if you want. Now, there’s a lot of great schools here in San Antonio, so I prepared some information packets on each school detailing the campus lifestyle and culture as well as degree programs that are being offered. Those who are interested can just poke their head into my office later on and I’ll provide you a copy.
“That said, let’s move on now to the younger ones. Nanoha?”
“Here!”
“Fate?”
“Here please.”
“Alicia?”
“Here I am!”
“Sasami?”
“Haaaiiii!”
“Alisa?”
“Right here!”
“Suzuka?”
“Here, thank you.”
“Francesca?”
“Thank you very much, Mister Rhodes.”
“Alright girls, with the exception of Sasami, I’ve been designated as your caretaker by your parents or guardians, which means that its up to me to make sure your enrollment forms get filed on time. Take some time to look at your placement results - I’m sure some of you have qualified to be in a grade higher than what you attended in your own schools. In about an hour, I want you all to come up to the Manager’s Office so I can get you squared away. Remember: here in the USA, you have the freedom to pursue whatever courses you want after your core academic requirements have been satisfied - you have lots of leeway here. The reason for this is that in the earlier eras, high school was not compulsory and was considered to be prestigious higher learning in preparation for university, and there are a lot of hold-overs from that time. Take some time to dwell on your options, then come and find me.
“Everyone good?” asked Ben and there was a round of agreements. “Okay then. One hour, girls. I’ll see you then.”
"No 'Boom!' today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a 'Boom!' tomorrow."