CmptrWz

After the volleyball game

"Wasn't that fun?" Sonic said, a nervous smile on his face.

"The most enjoyable part was when I got to spike the Jedi jerks straight to China," Rose said.

"What is the worst thing that could go wrong now?" Emily said, rubbing her head. "I ran out of bad scenarios myself."

"You missed one," Akane's voice called out.

"Isn't Akane in the bathroom?" Rose asked, looking around.

"Doesn't Akane have blue hair?" Sonic asked, pointing at a red-haired Akane in an outfit similar to Kia's.

"Since when does Akane have a shard?" Kalshion and Katarina asked at the same time.

"Shall we get started?" the false Akane asked. "I even found a special quantum lightsabre." With that she took a lightsabre out from behind her back and turned it on, grinning as she turned to Sonic and Rose.

"Lightsabre," Rose said, looking around. "This is the perfect time for those blasted Jedi to show up, and now there isn't a one to be found!"

"You shouldn't have spiked them to China," Wendy said, scratching her back. "However, I made that lightsabre. You don't want to fight it."

"Somehow I feel we can trust her on that one," Sonic said, noting that Ranma was in shock from the sight of the false Akane.

"We can't just let her attack us," Rose said, grabbing Wendy. "You made the thing, why don't YOU fight it?"

"Why not," Wendy said, slipping out of Rose's grip. "I was bored anyway." With that Wendy started to glow, her form becoming a bright blur. Finally, after what seemed like several hours but was only really seven seconds the form split into two. The first piece stayed where it was and re-formed Wendy, in a cheerleading outfit. The second piece landed in front of the false Akane, in full Jedi gear.

"So I have to go through you to get to them?" the false Akane said. "Suits me fine."

"Lets get this party started doll," the Jedi MM said, turning on a lightsabre.

"Doll?" Sonic and Rose said at the same time, looking at the false Akane.

"WOULD YOU ACT LIKE A GUY ALREADY?" Wendy yelled, hitting Jaime with an energy blast. Jaime immediately turned back into Jeremy, in mind and body, and ran off to change.

"You restore his 'good' persona too?" Emily asked, looking at Wendy.

"Nope," Wendy said. "The difference being that Jaime would hit you with a mallet. Jeremy is more likely to use a sword. A very SHARP sword."

Emily gulped, then decided to find Kia.

Twenty minutes later

"Thanks for helping us dig our jaws out of the ground," Kalshion said, rubbing his chin.

"No problem," Sonic said, tossing the shovel to the side. "Rose is too busy tending to Akane's shock anyway."

"Anyone seem Emily?" Jeremy asked, returning while holding a very large, very SHARP looking sword. "I have an urge to hit her with this."

"I don't know if that would be such a good idea," Sonic said, looking at the sword. "Couldn't that hurt her?"

"Somehow I feel like she deserves it," Jeremy said, looking around.

"I am right here brother," Emily called from the roof. Looking up, everyone could see she was holding an equally large, equally sharp looking sword. "Did you want to fight?"

"With wimpy swords?" Jeremy said, tossing his sword aside. "Fighting is better done with quantum lightsabres." With that he pulled out a lightsabre, Emily following suit a moment later. Soon they were fighting a battle as exciting looking as the one the doll and MM were fighting.

"One hit from any of those lightsabres would kill any normal being," Wendy said, eating some popcorn. "The same hit would seriously injure any quantum being."

"And they fight with them on a near-daily basis?" Sonic said, grabbing some popcorn. "Who gave them those things, anyway?"

"I did," Wendy said. "They are old enough to be responsible with them. They only killed one person so far."

"Who did they kill?" Sonic asked, pulling out a soda.

"Their cousin Mel," Wendy said, handing Sonic a straw. "He was in horrible pain from cancer. It was a mercy killing. He would have died a week later anyway."

"I find it hard to believe those things could hurt me," Sonic said, watching as MM blocked an assault from the doll. "I am not a normal quantum being."

"Those things could cut my arm off," Wendy said. "And it would hurt, too."

"Never mind," Sonic replied.

"Emily and Jeremy are almost done," Wendy suddenly said, pointing towards where the two were fighting.

"What makes you say that?" Sonic asked, unable to see any break in the battle.

"Their batteries are about to die," Wendy said. "Can't very well use a lightsabre without batteries."

"That will suck," Sonic responded. "Got a camera to record the moment for posterity?"

"Not with me," Wendy said. "I will get you a copy of the recording from my mirror though."

"Works for me," Sonic said, grabbing a candy bar. "Where are we getting all this food anyway?"

"The giant pile of junk food I dropped next to each of us," Wendy said. "Where else?"

"Just checking," Sonic said.

"Hey Honey," Rose called from behind Sonic. "What are you doing SITTING THERE WITH ANOTHER FEMALE?"

"Watching the fights," Sonic said. "I dug Kal and Kat out already, and Wendy isn't exactly my type anyway."

"Oh, ok," Rose said, just before smashing Sonic into the ground with a mallet. "Now, where is MY ten story pile of junk food?"

"Take mine," Wendy said. "I have to go reattach Jeremy's arm anyway."

"Why?" Rose asked, looking over at Emily and Jeremy. Just as she did so Jeremy's lightsabre died, and Emily's sliced Jeremy's arm off at the shoulder. Before Jeremy could express any pain Emily's lightsabre also died, leaving both of them weaponless.

"That had to sting," Sonic said, looking away.

"How strong are those things?" Rose asked, taking Wendy's spot and grabbing a soda. "I didn't think Emily or Jeremy could be hurt by a normal lightsabre."

"Wendy claims they could cut off her arm," Sonic said. "It would apparently hurt, too."

"Ouch," Rose responded. "Good thing MM is fighting for us."

"What happened to the anger?" Sonic asked, eyeing Rose uneasily.

"I have a ten story tall pile of junk food," Rose said. "Half of it is chocolate. How on earth could I be angry?"

"You have a point," Sonic said, watching as Wendy re-attached Jeremy's arm and sent Emily and Jeremy off to clean up the mess they had made.

"Nice junk food," Kalshion said from the next bench down.

"Yep," Katarina said, grabbing a chocolate bar. "What are the odds of Wendy making four ten story piles of junk food for this fight?"

"Very bad," Ranma said from the next bench down. "She made at least six."

"This stuff is good," Akane said, grabbing some fruit punch from her pile of junk food.

"Where is everyone anyway?" Ranma asked as he stuffed his face.

"Shampoo, Ukyo, and Kodachi started fighting over who would grab you while you were in shock," Rose said. "Mousse chased after a dog thinking it was Shampoo. Soun and Genma are inside. Who am I missing?"

"Nabiki and Kasumi left at the first sign of a fight," Akane said. "I think Nabiki was dragging Kasumi, actually."

"Tommy and the bakas are trapped under the junk food," Wendy called.

"Shaoran, Kero, Yue, and I are sitting next to you eating from our own piles of junk food," Sakura said, sitting on a bench next to the one Sonic and Rose were sitting on. Kero and Yue were at the next bench over.

"I am filming this whole thing," Tomoyo said, sitting in a tree to get a better view with her camera. "Toya left with Kasumi and Nabiki."

"Where is Kia?" Sonic asked, looking around. "Haven't seen her for a while."

"Hiding from Emily," Jeremy said, walking past with a trash barrel. "Emily isn't happy with her, apparently."

"Incoming," Kalshion said as MM flew past, right into Wendy. "What are the odds?"

"Ouch," Wendy said. "Get off yourself, you oaf!"

"Sorry," MM said, standing up. This elicited a mallet smashing from Wendy.

"Pervert," Wendy said, kicking MM back into the fight.

"You would think you could keep control of yourself with your other half," the doll taunted.

"What just happened?" Rose asked.

"MM groped Wendy," Sonic said. "I wonder if Wendy noticed her panties are missing."

"Yep," Rose said as Wendy's mallet slammed into the back of MM's head. "I think she noticed."

Two days later

"I ran out of junk food," Kero yelled.

"You already ate five piles," Yue said. "I think you had enough."

"When was the last time those two fell asleep?" Rose asked, yawning. "The fighting is more intense then."

"They just woke up," Emily said. "I wish dad would start fighting for real though. This fake fighting is boring the hell out of me."

"I resent that!" Kia yelled from the tree she was tied up in.

"Hey me," Wendy yelled. "Start fighting for real or I come kick my ass myself!"

"Oh alright," MM yelled, launching an assault on the doll. Fifteen seconds later the doll's lightsabre was broken in two, the shard was extracted from the doll, and MM was drinking a soda.

"About time," Wendy said. "I knew I could beat that doll easy."

"Would you at least turn me back into a doll?" the doll asked. "This body doesn't have enough equipment to use a bathroom, and I am going to have to use one soon without that shard!"

"Oh alright," Wendy said, zapping the doll back into doll form.

"We should get going," Rose said, looking at her watch. "We are two days overdue, and I actually feel relaxed after watching someone else fight for two days."

"Now you know why guys watch TV for hours on end," Sonic said, grinning.

"I guess I should go too," Wendy said, opening a portal. "Nadeshiko is probably wondering why I haven't returned."

"Who was that?" Sonic asked. "I couldn't hear you over Rose putting me in a headlock."

"You will find out soon enough," MM said as Rose let Sonic go. Sonic ended up stepping away from Rose for a minute, standing right next to Wendy, with MM standing right in front of Rose.

"So long," Wendy said, leaning over and kissing Sonic on the cheek. Just as Rose was about to go nuclear and attack Wendy, MM leaned over and kissed Rose on the cheek, putting Rose into shock. Before Sonic or Rose could recover from the shock of being kissed, MM and Wendy had merged and left, the portal closing behind them.

"Do we kill him," Sonic said, coming out of shock. "Or was that a grandparent like thing?"

"If it was a grandparent like thing," Rose said, shaking her head. "I want to know how he knew my grandfather kissed me like that."

"He can do things most people think are impossible," Sakura said. "Can we leave now?"

That night

"How do you think Sakura knows more about MM then we do?" Sonic asked, getting ready for bed.

"According to this book," Rose said, holding up a small book. "MM was good friends with Clow Reed. Could that be part of it?"

"Where did you get that?" Sonic asked, looking at Rose.

"MM slipped it into my pocket when he kissed me," Rose replied.

"Then we can't trust anything in it," Sonic said, climbing into bed.

"Good point," Rose said, tossing the book in the trash. "Got a brick?"

"Here you go," Sonic said, handing Rose a brick. A moment later the brick knocked out the cameraman, causing the camera to fall to the ground and break. Thus, we don't know what happened next.

"Says who?" Kia asked, changing the channel to a hidden camera in Sonic and Rose's room.

"So, should we go see MM in the morning?" Rose asked Sonic.

"Sure, why not," Sonic said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Rose responded, kissing Sonic. The two then went to sleep.

"Damn," Kia said, turning off the TV. "Nothing good."

Chapter 45
The Meeting
Prepare Shock Absorbers!

The next morning

"So, do you think he will be around?" Rose asked Sonic as they activated their pendants.

"He had better be," Sonic said, stepping through the portal. "Right?"

"Right," Rose said as the portals closed behind them. A moment later MM appeared out of the mist.

"Welcome. What kept ya?" MM said.

"Mental struggle," Sonic said.

"Enough is enough," Rose said, glaring at MM. "First you get Sonic to curse the school for a week, then you fight that doll with a lightsabre at Kyoto. Now you are going to tell me EVERYTHING about that pen of yours."

"You do realize that your glaring doesn't affect me," MM said, grinning. Sonic and Rose couldn't see MM's face, but they were still sure he was grinning. "As for my pen, all you had to do is ask to begin with."

"Shall we discuss it here or somewhere more," Sonic said, pausing. "Comfortable?"

"Good idea," MM said, dismissing the mist that he had come out of, showing a door. "Shall we head inside?"

"INSIDE?" Sonic and Rose said, staring at the door. "You mean every time we have come here we have been OUTSIDE?"

"Not really," MM said, opening the door. "This is a portal to my dimension."

"Isn't this your node?" Sonic said, slightly confused.

"Yes," MM said. Somehow, Sonic and Rose could tell his grin got wider. "But I also have my equivalent of a house here. Don't mind my houseguest, she is a tad clumsy."

"Don't suppose you could step through the door so we can come in?" Rose said, smiling a little.

"Oh, sorry," MM said, walking through the door. Sonic and Rose followed him, finding themselves in a living room.

"Room? This is more like a stadium!" Sonic said, pulling out a football and throwing it seventy yards down the room.

"This small thing?" MM said, shaking his head. "If you think this is big, you should see my bathroom."

"Then lets see it," Rose said. "I have to use it anyway."

"Down the hall, the big white gates on the left," MM said, gesturing to a nearby hallway. "Don't go in the black gates on the right, that is the pointy objects death trap."

"Alright," Rose said, going down the hall. Twenty minutes later a nearby phone rang, and MM picked it up.

"Hello," MM said. "Yep, uh-huh, alright. I will send Sonic to get you." With that MM hung up and turned to Sonic.

"Who was that?" Sonic said, looking at MM.

"That was Rose," MM said. "She got lost in the bathroom. Why don't you go find her?"

"How do you get lost in a bathroom?" Sonic asked himself as he walked down the hall. As soon as he turned into the white gates he had his answer. In front of him was a spherical area the size of the moon. To his left was a large map of the bathroom, showing that this was only the entrance hall. Off of it were several larger rooms, each of those having several rooms off of them. All of these rooms had interconnecting doors and such, and gravity apparently worked to push you away from the center of the room you were in so that the entire spherical area was useable.

Ten minutes later Sonic was working his way to where he assumed Rose would have ended up. He had the foresight to look for a pamphlet map to his right when he walked in, and had a small collection of them just in case. It didn't take him long to find Rose, and then he re-traced his steps to get back to the entrance.

"Thank you," Rose said, sitting down on a bench by the gate. "That thing was complicated."

"You should have had a map or twenty," Sonic said, pointing at the wall full of pamphlet maps.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing," Rose said, getting up and dragging Sonic back to the living room. "Lets go get talking."

"Welcome back," MM said. "Have fun in the bathroom?"

"No," Rose said, glaring at MM. "What is the deal having a bathroom that big?"

"That is the guest bathroom," MM said, walking over to a nondescript door. "This is one of the bathrooms I normally use." With that he opened the door to show a small, normal-sized bathroom.

"I don't know why," Sonic said, looking into the smaller bathroom. "This just doesn't seem right. I thought it would be bigger."

"Why would I need anything bigger?" MM said. "For pete's sake, I might get lost!"

"Rasafrasn MM," Rose grumbled.

"What was that?" MM asked Rose.

"Who is Pete?" Rose snapped.

"My pet cat," MM responded. "He has been lost in the guest bathroom for over two thousand years though."

"Even with a bathroom that big," Sonic said, shaking his head. "A cat, lost for two thousand years?"

"Oh, you only saw the first level," MM said, grinning. "There are five hundred levels, a map at the duplicate gate for each level. They tend to cross over each other at random points, making it almost impossible to navigate if you don't realize you changed levels."

"Why do you need a bathroom that big?" Rose asked, shocked.

"I built it for a party," MM said, his teeth actually showing. "I had every Q over for dinner. Took them six months to get out of the bathroom afterwards."

"I changed my mind," Sonic said. "The cat doesn't have a hope of escaping."

"Would you get to explaining the pen?" a female voice called from a couch twenty yards away. "I am getting bored waiting for the full story myself."

"It can't be," Rose said, rubbing her eyes. "She's dead!"

Sonic would have said something, but his jaw had fallen off of his face.

"Cut it out you two," Nadeshiko said, walking up to Sonic. She reached down, picked up his jaw, and stuck it back on his face. "It isn't like you haven't seen me dead before."

"B..b..b..b..but you are alive!" Rose stammered.

"I assure you," MM said, leading Rose to a chair. "She is quite dead."

"Then how is she solid?" Sonic asked, finally recovering from the initial shock. Well, at least long enough to pull a case of Blood Wine out of his pocket.

"Long story," MM said. "Short version is that this node is in a position of being in the plane of the living, the plane of the dead, and the plane of limbo all at once. If you aren't born in this node you generally can't take on a non-corporeal form."

"Then how is it that spirits move on to the land of the dead in this node?" Rose asked. She was, without thinking about it, creating pink question marks above her head.

"Quantum vibrations cause the land of the dead to co-exist in the same plane of existence as the land of the living," MM said, handing Rose a case of Romulan Ale. "Aside from the world you have been staying in. That one has a separate world for its afterlife. Shall we move on to my pen now?"

"I don't know," Sonic said, relaxing with his fifth bottle of Blood Wine. "Maybe we should start with you in general."

"Alrighty then," MM said, reaching for the front of his cloak. "Lets start with dumping the cloak." With that, MM pulled the cloak off to reveal a colorless non-corporeal mass of energy.

"Now THAT is interesting," Rose said, rubbing her eyes again. "How can energy like that be impossibly neutral in color, brightness, and contrast all at once?"

"Enough of that," Wendy's voice came from the energy. A moment later Wendy herself was standing where the energy had been.

"A little clothing perhaps?" Nadeshiko said, handing Wendy MM's cloak.

"Oops," Wendy said, throwing the cloak on. A moment later it had changed into a Furinkan High school uniform. "Forgot I didn't have my cloak on."

"So what ARE you anyway?" Sonic asked, still blushing from Wendy's clothing omission.

"It began a long time ago," Wendy said, a screen moving down behind her. "Back then there was no control in the matrix, and two teams of scientists were working together to bridge the far ends of the matrix with technology. They figured they could revolutionize communication between the distant worlds of the matrix this way, but they screwed up royally."

The screen lit up, showing a team of scientists working on what looked remarkably like a Stargate. They appeared to be powering it up for the first test, everyone wearing protective gear just in case. Finally the gate powered up, and electrical bolts started shooting out from the center of the gate. Attempts to shut the gate down failed as the entire team ran for their lives.

"The scientists had no idea what they were tinkering with," Wendy continued. "Their technology was perfect for the receiving end of a link, but they neglected the path finding routines needed to dial out. Instead, they breached the planes and brought two beings from another matrix far away to this one. Two beings that were based almost entirely on dark energy. The gate merged them into a single being before it shut down, only to be destroyed as that being blew up the planet."

A dark being came out of the electrical storm that was the center of the gate, looking around. A minute later it fired a blast into the center of the planet, just before it left. Not long afterwards the planet exploded, leaving no traces of the machine behind.

"This being tormented the matrix for several years, until the second scientific team finished their gate. They knew what had happened with the first gate, and had reversed the polarity. They had hoped this would cast the evil plaguing the matrix from the world, but instead it brought another power into it."

Another gate appeared on the screen, nearly identical to the first. This one was doing pretty much the same thing the first had as well, an electrical storm forming at the center of the gate. Moments later another being stepped out of the storm, and the gate shut down.

"This being was a combination of two beings based almost entirely on light energy, and it sensed the presence of its darker predecessor. It disabled the gate it had come from, more peacefully then the dark being had, and went after the evil plaguing the matrix."

The screen faded out as the being left the planet, only to re-focus on the two beings from the gates. They floated there in the middle of the matrix, seeming to be in a staring contest.

"The two beings stared each other down initially, unsure of what the other would do. Eventually they both materialized swords and began to fight, slowing taking on male forms as they did so."

The screen changed again, this time to a massive battle between the nodes. On one side was the being born of the dark, wearing all black and wielding a black sword. On the other side was the being born of the light, wearing white clothing and bearing a white sword. All over the place were cameras and betting agents, including the ever-popular Q.

"Over the years the two became expert fighters. Nothing could have stopped either of them, yet they continued fighting. One fateful day, however, a mistake was made. A critical blow was dealt to each being, and they sought to heal themselves with their opponent's energy. Instead, the two merged, forming a single being. That being realized what had to be done, and put many things in motion. Thus ended the famous Nixoplat battle."

"That was a LONG time ago," Rose said, putting down a bowl of popcorn she had been munching on. "Over ten quadrillion years ago."

"Amazing how the video records are still around," Sonic said. "They don't build them like they used to."

"The being that was formed from that battle became a legend, people all over thinking they saw it but never being sure," Wendy continued. "To this day you three shall be the only ones native to this Matrix to learn exactly what I did following my birth on that day."

"WHAT!" Sonic, Rose, and Nadeshiko all yelled at the same time. Rose spilled her popcorn, Sonic spilled some Blood Wine, and Nadeshiko hurt herself on the table.

"You mean YOU were born on that day?" Sonic said, eyes wide.

"Yes," Wendy said.

"But the only beings that have survived since then are the Q," Nadeshiko said, in shock. "They only pull it off because they merged their collective life-force with the energy of their node."

"So that is how they do it," Rose said, thinking. "But that still doesn't explain your long life."

"Who said I am truly alive?" Wendy said as a bunch of robots cleaned up the mess and bandaged Nadeshiko's injury. "The two beings that I was born of the merging of were each half alive, half dead. Each was also half male and half female, making me half male, half female, half alive, half dead, half light, and half dark. Over the eons all of the parts melded together to form a single, uniform being that can see the true nature of the universe without being swayed by the light, the dark, the masculine, the feminine, the living, or the dead. Unfortunately, it left me with no body to call my own, no family I could feel comfortable calling my own, and for many years no being, dead or alive, to love."

"Thanks," Rose said to a robot that handed her a tissue.

"During this time I prodded the right people in the right directions," Wendy continued. "Eventually the Inter-Matrix Authority was developed. I would have preferred that the naming followed the standard pattern elsewhere, but it couldn't be helped. I did sign on as the first, and for many years only, operative."

"You were Operative One?" Sonic said, his eyes going wide again.

"No, I was not," Wendy said, tossing Sonic a badge. "I was, and still am, Operative Zero."

"You must have your hand in everything that went on in the authority for millennia," Rose said, looking at the badge.

"That I did," Wendy said, smiling. "Although most of the time the authority didn't realize it. I was, for many years, the sole operative, funder, architect, and scientist for the authority, all at the same time."

"Impossible," Nadeshiko said, looking at Wendy. "You may be able to change bodies, but there is no way you could prove that you did all of that."

"Think of the names of all of those people," Wendy said, grinning. "Don't you think it is odd that they all have the initials MM?"

"Good point," Nadeshiko said, sitting down again. "But that can't be the end of your story."

"It isn't," Wendy said. Nobody had noticed that the screen was now gone. "I decided to vanish abruptly, fooling everyone including the Q. I explored this node more, and finally saw the woman of my dreams. I took a male form for twenty thousand years, prolonging her life with my love, and she bore my only children shortly before her death. The day she died the entire Nexial Matrix went into panic, afraid that I might snap and destroy a chunk of it on a whim. Luckily, that day never came."

"They still monitor every power spike from you," Nadeshiko added. "I think they still think that day may yet arrive."

"And so it might," Wendy said. "In reflection, emotion is the primary force within me that I cannot control. It is my sole weakness, and my greatest strength. More recently I decided to get some rest, and slept for a hundred years. During that time the two of you were born, and have lived out your lives. Until that aura woke me up I hadn't even known you existed."

"You forgot your period of training me," Nadeshiko said, grinning.

"You can tell them about that if you want," Wendy said. "Right now I think we should go on to this." With that Wendy held out the pen that had caused this meeting.

"You trained her?" Rose said, staring at Wendy. "But how?"

"Another tale for another day," Wendy said. "As for this pen, you know it was made by Totosai. What you don't know is that it was made from my own fang, a piece of energy from each of my four parts, and technology from Washu combined with software I wrote."

"Dangerous combination," Sonic said, realizing he was still standing. He sat down, never taking his eyes off of the pen.

"Indeed," Wendy said. "But also a great power for healing. The pen can transform into almost anything I can think of, and has artificial intelligence rivaling the greatest of minds."

"I thought it was going to be a simple sword," Nadeshiko said. "But NOOOOO, it had to be more powerful then anything else I have ever seen created."

"What about when you created our keys?" Rose asked.

"They are only as powerful as the person wielding them," Nadeshiko said. "I made them to restore balance, not magnify power out of proportion like that pen does."

"My pen only doubles the power of the one wielding it," Wendy said. "And then only if I am the one using it."

"What happens if someone else uses it?" Nadeshiko asked.

"At worst, they get the power of the program I wrote," Wendy said. "At best, they are obliterated from existence."

"Seems a tad backwards to me," Sonic said, looking at Wendy. "Shouldn't it be better for them if they aren't obliterated from existence?"

"Oh, you meant from THEIR point of view?" Wendy said, feigning shock. "I was talking about MY point of view."

"I don't suppose you suffer from any personality disorders," Rose said, glaring at Wendy.

"But of course," Wendy said, grinning. "I have five minds in my head at all times. That would give me four hundred seventy five personality combinations, without using partial and repressed personalities from each of the five. Using the partial and repressed personality combinations I have an unlimited number of personalities to draw upon."

Rose stood there, shocked at the glimpse into the inner workings of MM's mind. Sonic, on the other hand, acted like he hadn't heard a thing, still drinking Blood Wine.

"Did you understand any of that?" Wendy asked Sonic.

"Nope, not one bit," Sonic replied, taking another swig of the Blood Wine. "I don't plan on trying for a long time, either."

"What happened to Nadeshiko?" Rose finally said, coming out of her shock when she realized Nadeshiko hadn't said anything. Everyone turned to where Nadeshiko had been, and found the chair she had been sitting on missing.

"I am down here," Nadeshiko called from the other end of the room. "I think I teleported during my initial shock."

"The klutz," Wendy said, shaking her head. "I'm lucky she hasn't blown the place up yet."

"Could she really do that?" Rose asked, intrigued.

"All she would have to do is pull the red lever," Wendy said, pointing at a red lever behind her. "Five minutes later, BOOM!"

"Is it all that wise to keep something that could blow up your home out in the open like that?" Sonic asked, examining the lever.

"My home?" Wendy said, shaking her head again. "That would cause a chain reaction liable to take out half the matrix."

Sonic wasted no time in distancing himself from the lever as if it were a plague he could catch by merely looking at it. Rose did pretty much the same, and Nadeshiko turned around and went back to where she had teleported to. Nadeshiko knew she was a klutz, and a klutz KNOWING about something that dangerous was bad news.

"What the hell," Wendy said, walking over to the lever. "Lets pull it!" Sonic and Rose didn't have time to stop Wendy before she grabbed the lever and pulled it down. A moment later the lever started to glow, and screens popped out of the walls everywhere with a five minute countdown.

"She went insane," Rose said, grabbing Sonic. "We have to stop her!"

Over the next few minutes Sonic started to babble things that made no sense, getting more frantic with each passing second. Rose wasn't faring much better herself, although she was growing long nails and biting them down instead. Nadeshiko didn't seem overly worried about herself, but then again, she is already dead. She was, however, worried about the matrix, even though she found herself trapped in the room. She refused to stop babbling things about saving various nodes.

Sonic finally seemed to crack as the countdown hit thirty seconds. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" he yelled, running around the room.

"Crybaby," Wendy said, walking back into the room. The timer was now at twenty seconds. "You couldn't even use your heads!"

"TO DO WHAT?" Rose yelled, grabbing Wendy and throwing her against the wall next to the lever. The countdown hit ten seconds as she did this.

"I don't know," Wendy said, grinning. The timer was counting down at this point, second by agonizing second. "Why not just turn it off?" With that Wendy flipped the red lever back up, the countdown aborted with one second to spare, and all the countdown screens vanished.

Sonic, Rose, and Nadeshiko went unconscious immediately.

Three hours later, Sonic woke up. Rose was still unconscious, but he didn't try and wake her. Nadeshiko seemed to have vanished, and he hadn't even expected Wendy to be around. He did go over to the lever, however, to take a better look at it.

"What made me think I couldn't flip this back up?" Sonic mumbled as he looked around the entire block of the wall the lever was embedded in. Finally he noticed a small Vulcan inscription at the bottom of the block. Pulling out a magnifying glass, he read the inscription out loud to himself. "MM industries presents the destructo-lever. Prank your friends, make them think you are going to blow up half the matrix with the flip of a lever! Continue the fun by flipping the lever back up at the last second, as it won't budge again until then!"

"You don't appear to be pissed off," Wendy said, looking at Sonic from the hallway. "I assume you read Vulcan, so where is the anger?"

"I know I should probably be angry," Sonic said, grinning. "But then again, that was the perfect prank. Especially with the setup. I congratulate you!"

"Thank you," Wendy said, taking a bow. With that Sonic punted her head eighty yards down the room. Amazingly enough, her body stayed right where it was.

"There is the anger," Sonic said, grinning some more. "Didn't mean for you to lose your head over it though."

"You do realize that stings," Wendy said from a green blob growing out of her neck, quickly finishing to form a new head. "Then again, I don't mind the sting."

"How much for one of these things?" Sonic asked, pointing at the lever. "Might make a good joke in a few hundred years, once Rose forgets about this event."

"I'll put it on your account," Wendy said, pulling the lever off of the wall. She then pressed a button on the back, causing it to turn into a small capsule. "It has some intelligence and will normally emulate whatever the puller wants it to. Unless it comes up with a better idea." She then handed Sonic the capsule, and he put it in a hidden pocket in his cloak.

"Where did Nadeshiko go, anyway?" Sonic asked, looking around.

"She has a high tolerance for fainting," Wendy said. "Perk of being dead. She woke up a few minutes later and stormed out. Last time I checked, she was sitting in a tree near Furinkan High."

"Thanks," Sonic said, going over to wake Rose up. "Me and Rose have some more things we want to ask her."

"Your grammar is atrocious," Wendy said, grinning. "You should have said Rose first, not yourself."

"So I have a lot on my mind," Sonic said, pulling some water out of nowhere. He splashed Rose, who woke with a start, then dragged her to the nearest exit.

This proved to be a bad idea, as the exit he dragged her to happened to lead into Happosai's mind. After the initial shock, Sonic slammed the door shut and went for the door they had come in through. A few minutes later they were at Furinkan High, but unable to find Nadeshiko anywhere.

"So I wasn't paying attention to what form I was taking when I left," a young girl in a tree house across the street from Furinkan High yelled. "Would someone tell those two I am over here?"

"We heard you," Rose said, leaning back in a chair in the tree house. "Nice place. Who built it?"

"I have no clue," Nadeshiko said. "I just ended up here."

"We have a couple more questions to ask you," Sonic said, leaning back in another chair. "For starters, did you know Sakura would evolve?"

"No, but I felt the same presence you did coming from Sakura's world," Nadeshiko responded. "I later found out a few years before she actually did evolve."

"And the other question," Rose said, leaning forward. "Why are you with HIM?"

"Well," Nadeshiko said, leaning back in a chair. "I suppose it started almost two hundred years ago, when I died."

"Impossible!" Rose yelled. "You died, what, 37 years ago?"

"No," Nadeshiko said. "I will get to that, by the way. At any rate, I was prepared to move on to the other side when I died when I was approached by MM. He gave me a choice, either I could move on, or I could stay back and help protect existence itself. I chose to stay back, after taking a grueling entrance exam. MM trained me for twenty years, then I went out on my own. Over that time we became good friends, even with our differences. He never told me what he talked about today, however. I was there when his wife died, man was that a fiasco. Not long after that he started his nap, that Dark Sonic woke him up from when he entered this node. I was assigned to watch him, actually, despite him technically being my superior."

"You skipped how you died two hundred years ago," Sonic said, sitting on the edge of his seat.

"Oh, that," Nadeshiko said. "Sorry, I got caught up on MM. The world I came from wasn't originally locked to the matrix timeline. That was a little trick I learned during my training. In fact, I practiced on this world here. Never did get it so that I could make a lock MM couldn't reverse, though. At any rate, just before you entered the world I locked it to matrix time, choosing the point in its timeline I felt was best for you to enter at."

"I see," Rose said, sipping some Romulan Ale. Nobody knew where she got it, but then again, when do we know? "Now, I don't suppose you could explain about MM having a WIFE? I remember having it mentioned before, but I was preoccupied at that point with keeping MM from killing me."

"If you must drink something, have tea," Nadeshiko said. "This body couldn't hold more then a couple sips of alcohol, and the more I talk about this stuff the more I want some."

"Oh alright," Rose said, tossing the Romulan Ale away and pulling out some Tea. Sonic snapped his fingers and put away the Blood Wine he had pulled out, grabbing a teacup for himself as Rose continued. "Now, about MM's wife."

"She was a nice woman," Nadeshiko said, grabbing some tea for herself. "She and MM were deeply in love, and she bore Emily and Jeremy. Emily and Jeremy were exceptional children, able to move around the node twenty minutes after they were born. After a month they were roaming the matrix, although they have yet to get further then that. A few hundred later MM's wife died. That is about all I know of her officially. Rumor has it she was reincarnated and lost her love for MM, although I never had that confirmed."

"He truly loved her?" Sonic said, amazed. "If he really did love her, what happened when she died?"

"Lets just say that the display you saw after MM was split was like a firecracker compared to the big bang, just with anger instead of sorrow," Nadeshiko said. "And he was PREPARED for her death. Uh, guys?"

Sonic and Rose had dropped their teacups and gone wide-eyed, apparently in shock as to what had just been described. Nadeshiko snapped her fingers in front of their faces, got no reaction, shrugged, and left. Three hours later Sonic and Rose recovered.

"Where did Nadeshiko go?" Rose asked, looking around.

"I think she left while we were petrified with shock about what it could mean if MM was ever TRUELY pissed off," Sonic responded, cleaning up his broken teacup.

"He must have INCREDIBLE control to not destroy everything he touches," Rose commented, cleaning up her own teacup.

"That he does," Nadeshiko said, returning covered in dirt. "About time you two came out of shock."

"Where have you been?" Sonic said, rubbing some dirt from Nadeshiko's face. "You are filthy, doesn't seem like you."

"I was playing with some of the neighborhood kids," Nadeshiko said, grinning. "Every so often you have to let your inner child out, you know."

"Did you have any other shocking news for us?" Rose asked, handing Nadeshiko a washcloth. "Or did you have something easier to swallow?"

"Nothing much," Nadeshiko said, wiping her face and hands clean. "Just that MM has been mentally ill since his wife died. He was declared insane three days before he took his nap."

"He is mentally ill," Sonic said, turning to Rose. "You just HAD to torment him, didn't you. You, stooping to tormenting the ILL!"

"You would have to make me feel guilty," Rose said, glaring at Sonic. "How was I to know he was ill, anyway?"

"The records in your employee handbook with the inter-matrix authority clearly state that the being known as MM is insane," Nadeshiko said, pulling out a copy of the employee handbook and opening to the appropriate page.

"Told you we should have read those," Sonic said, looking at Rose.

"Sorry," Rose said, pulling out her mallet and flattening Sonic with it. "I didn't catch that."

"It was nothing," Sonic said, peeling himself off of the floor. "How does MM act when he has his mental health, anyway?"

"That depends," Nadeshiko said, pulling out a small book. "If he is in a good mood he can be a model citizen."

"And if he is in a bad mood?" Rose asked, not knowing if she wanted to know.

"You know how Q treated Voyager, right?" Nadeshiko asked. Sonic and Rose nodded, assuming Nadeshiko meant Q's child. "Well, MM tends to do worse, taking less into account."

"Got an example?" Sonic asked, almost afraid of what he might hear.

"MM once merged two incompatible worlds, forming a new world with conflicting physics," Nadeshiko said, flipping through her book. "The resulting world split itself again, forming two distinct worlds within itself. Other worlds also started to form within it as well, all of this eventually leading to the world where Digimon come from."

"That doesn't sound that bad," Rose said, looking at Nadeshiko. "Everything seems to have turned out ok there, or are we missing something?"

"The death of two hundred trillion people per world," Nadeshiko said, closing the book and putting it away. "Not a single soul survived. They didn't even make it to the afterlife, they were just eradicated. The people of the new world evolved on their own, instead of originating from the two worlds that had once been there."

"Shouldn't I feel more shocked right now?" Rose asked, looking at Sonic.

"I think we are either all shocked out," Sonic said, shaking his head. "Or, we are so used to DS ending lives that a statistic like that for someone else no longer shocks us. Either way, I don't see it as a good thing."

"By the way," Nadeshiko said as she turned to leave. "You might want to give Emily and Jeremy more respect. They are each four hundred years older then Sonic."

"They sure don't act like it," said Rose shocked.

"Your right about that," said Nadeshiko, looking at Rose with a grin on her face. "The two of you remind me of the way they act in the history crystals though. Not exactly, of course, as they are brother and sister and the two of you are lovers, but there is a definite resemblance." With that Nadeshiko left, leaving Sonic and Rose to think about her comment.

"She's gone, and I need a drink," Sonic said, pulling out some Blood Wine.

"Same here," Rose said, pulling out some Romulan Ale.

"We never drank this much in the past," Sonic said between sips of the Wine. "Wonder why we do now."

"I don't know," Rose said. "Maybe MM is driving us to drink."

"Or perhaps I forgot to remove a curse from the two of you," MM said, appearing out of nowhere. He tapped Sonic and Rose on the head, then vanished.

"So much for that habit," Sonic said, putting the Blood Wine away.

"Ditto," Rose said, putting the Romulan Ale away.

"Still, I might have the urge to relapse every so often," Sonic said, grinning.

"Let me know when and I might join you," Rose said, grinning herself.

Somewhere Nadeshiko was watching Sonic and Rose, grinning to herself. "There is a definite resemblance."

Chapter 46
The Fight
Battle mode 0333, Battlefield Setup, Ready, FIGHT!

Over the next week Sonic and Rose tried to make sense of everything they had been told, failing miserably. One day Sonic decided to call MM to try and clarify some things, and was shocked to find MM's address in the phone book.

"His phone number is unlisted," Sonic said, staring at the phone book. "Yet, his address is in here!"

"Must be him then," Rose said, looking over Sonic's shoulder. "Who else could do that around here, only in our copy of the phone book?"

"Lets go see this house he has here," Sonic said, writing down the address. "Might be fun."

An hour later Sonic and Rose were across town, walking down the dead-end street that MM's address was supposed to be on.

"Modern Mechanics," Rose said, pointing at a storefront off to the right. "Two Ms, lets check it out."

"Works for me," Sonic said, walking up to the door. As he walked through a bell rang, announcing their entrance.

"Hello there Sonic, Rose," a man called from the back room. "Wasn't expecting to see you so soon. Too bad I knew you would have the wrong address."

"What do you mean?" Rose called. "Aren't you MM?"

"He just let me know you would be coming," the man called back. He walked out of the back room, revealing himself to be Tom Paris. "This is, after all, a modified version of my garage on the holodeck."

"So where is his real address?" Sonic asked, surprisingly not surprised to find they had been talking to Tom Paris. "We were hoping to see his house from the outside."

"Just walk across the street," Tom said, going back into the back room. "See you later!"

"I didn't see a house across the street when we walked in here," Rose said, scratching her head.

"Maybe because it isn't a house?" Sonic asked, staring out the door. Rose joined him, finding that he was staring at a giant mansion on a hill with a half-mile of park-like land between it and the street.

"How did we miss THAT?" Rose asked, rubbing her eyes.

"We weren't paying enough attention to our surroundings?" Sonic asked, walking up to the ski lift station. He and Rose got into one of the hanging carts and rode all the way up to the house, amazed at what was below them as they moved along.

"Wasn't Furinkan high a block away in this direction?" Rose asked, looking around.

"Who said the laws of physics had anything to do with this place?" Sonic asked, looking through a pamphlet labeled 'How is this possible?'.

"Welcome to my public vacation home," Wendy called out to Sonic and Rose as they stepped out of the cart. "Not as big as my bathroom, I'll admit, but it is spacious enough."

"And where is your private vacation home?" Rose asked, looking at Wendy. "This one seemed hard enough to find."

"I keep my private vacation home inside a black hole," Wendy said, grinning. "Keeps most people out. I do get a lot of crushed junk though."

"Might have to go around looking for it then," Sonic said. "I could fight off the crushed junk no problem."

"You probably couldn't fight your way out of my lunch bag," Wendy said, giggling.

"Lunch bag?" Sonic said, grinning. "I thought you needed a lunch PLANET with all the food you eat."

"At least I know when I am being affected by outside energy sources," Wendy shot back. "You couldn't even tell my energy was causing you to drink and get drunk!"

"Says the person that gets a kick out of playing with the lives of other people," Sonic returned. "At least I try and impact lives in a minimalistic way."

"So says the person that made it their mission for a week to curse an innocent individual that never did anything to them," Wendy fired back.

"That's it," Sonic said, fire in his eyes. "Lets settle this the old-fashioned way, a fight. I needed to get you back for those kisses anyway!"

"Fist, verbal, or digital?" Wendy said, fire visible in her eyes as well.

"A fight to the DEATH," Sonic yelled, pulling out Kibou.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Rose yelled.

"She has a point," Sonic said, looking around. "Lets go fight in your bathroom. More room and less innocent people there."

"Works for me," Wendy said, opening a portal. "Meet you there in an hour."

"Will do," Sonic said, rushing off to prepare.

"THAT ISN'T WHAT I MEANT!" Rose screamed, even though Sonic and Wendy were gone. "Why can't they control themselves? They are acting like Emily and Jeremy." Rose realized the implications behind that, given what Nadeshiko had said before, and rushed home to see if Emily and Jeremy had any idea what to do about the upcoming battle. Hopefully she could find a solution before someone died. Or got lost forever in the bathroom, whichever came first.

An hour later Rose had no idea how she was going to stop them getting lost, let alone fighting, in the bathroom. She did, however, have two duffel bags, a backpack, a fanny-pack, all her pockets, and her socks stuffed with the bathroom maps. Of course, then she found out that the bathroom was no longer a maze of rooms, but a single, gigantic sphere with nothing in it.

"WHERE DID THE BATHROOM GO?" Rose yelled into the sphere.

"It converted to battle mode," a small cat said, licking it's paw. "Thank goodness, too. I thought I was going to be trapped in it forever."

"You must be MM's cat," Rose said, putting all the maps back on the wall.

"Yep," the cat responded. "Now I am going to go see my good friend Q." With that, the cat vanished, and Rose had a fleeting thought of the cat being a potentially tough opponent. She shook this off, however, as Sonic and MM appeared in the bathroom, ready to do battle.

"I want a promise first," Sonic yelled to MM. "Neither of us stops until one of us is dead or neither of us can continue fighting."

"You got it," MM yelled back, drawing a standard samurai sword. Surprisingly, he wasn't using his pen. Sonic, on the other hand, was using Kibou in a large, curved sword form. The two wanted to waste no time in the battle, so they immediately launched their attacks without going through the standard practice of yelling out what attacks they were using.

Three hours later Rose had stopped freaking out, and was sharing a giant bowl of popcorn with Nadeshiko. She was slightly worried about MM seeming to slowly gain the upper hand, but she figured that Sonic would come out with a much more desperate attack once he was put up against the wall. What she didn't know was that Sonic was having second thoughts about the whole thing, with his pride preventing him from trying to stop the fight and make up with MM. He also had realized that he had challenged someone who was technically mentally ill, which went against his own morals. He wasn't sure if he could live with himself if he won, but didn't want to just give up and die.

Of course, battling yourself in your head while battling physically is usually a bad idea, and thus Sonic left himself wide open several times in a row. MM appeared not to notice the first few, even though Nadeshiko noted that MM saw them, before he finally took advantage of one of them and sliced both of Sonic's legs off. Sonic wasted no time in regenerating them, but he knew that he was weaker from it. Legs don't grow on trees, after all, and even when they do they take a lot of energy to make. Slowly but surely Sonic weakened as MM found more openings to cut off more limbs, until Sonic was unable to regenerate either of his legs nor his left arm. Enough physical damage at this point would be enough to kill Sonic, for good.

"What are you waiting for," Sonic said, leaning on his right arm. "You promised to not stop until one of us was dead, or neither of us was able to fight. Don't go back on that promise now."

"Alright then," MM said, raising his sword for the final blow. "But remember, you asked for it."

Off in the Swiss Alps

"Why am I always in the Swiss Alps when I feel intense pain," DS groaned. "It was bad enough when my legs and left arm fell off."

"Suck it up you wimp," one of DS's minions said. "I have to perform this horribly painful healing ritual you know. No more distractions."

DS just moaned.

Back with Sonic and MM

"See you in the afterlife," MM said, power coursing through the samurai blade. "I plan on visiting it next month, you know."

"Be sure to stop by," Sonic said, preparing for oblivion.

MM started his downswing, making sure he would be unable to stop himself so that he would be guaranteed to follow through with his promise. Mid-swing he noticed a large pink blast of energy off towards the entrance to the bathroom. By the time he turned his head to look all he could see was a blast of energy filling all of his vision, just before it hit him. A moment later he was unconscious, his sword having ended up going through his own chest, holding him in place at a point on the sphere the bathroom had become. A careful observer would note that he seemed to be acting like a corrupt hologram, parts of him fading out in static at random, but only to reveal his internal energy.

Rose, on the other hand, was just recovering from the explosion of energy she had just gone through. Her fully blue eyes started to fade back to white and blue as her pupils went from pink back to black. She looked like a mess, but that didn't stop her from rushing to Sonic's side. It didn't take her long to cast a healing spell on him, putting him on the path to recovery. Her mind then snapped back to what she had just done, and she realized that MM might actually be close to death himself from the blast. She rushed over to where he was pinned by his sword, and immediately collapsed from intense pain. She pulled herself back to her feet, realizing she was in a puddle of her own blood, that had been trailing behind her since she had exploded with energy.

"Don't know when I started bleeding when hurt," Rose said, pulling the sword out of MM's chest. She then started working a healing spell on MM, ensuring that he was on the road to recovery as well. Moments later she collapsed again, falling over MM's unconscious body. She had pushed herself beyond her limits, and was now quickly approaching death herself. She had a smile on her face, however, knowing that Sonic and MM would both be ok because she had pushed herself to heal them.

Sometime later

"Where am I?" Rose mumbled, sitting up in the bed she was in. "Am I dead?"

"Far from it," Wendy said, walking in with a tray of food. "Thanks for healing me. Good thing I showed up, though, otherwise you would have died."

"What," Rose started, shaking her head. She decided she was just hearing things. "Is Sonic ok?"

"Sonic is fine," Wendy said, putting the tray of food in front of Rose. "By the way, I know you don't really need to eat, but this food contains powerful healing spells. So eat up. Doctor's orders."

"Since when are you a doctor?" Rose said, tasting a muffin.

"Since I founded the inter-matrix authority's medical program," Wendy said, walking to the door. "I have to go deliver Nadeshiko's breakfast now. I will be back to check on you later."

"Gotta be hearing things," Rose said, taking a bite out of the muffin. "Nadeshiko is dead, and wasn't in the fight. She thus doesn't need to eat, and doesn't need to be healed."

Meanwhile, Wendy is delivering Nadeshiko's breakfast, true to her word

"Thanks Wendy," Nadeshiko said, grabbing a fork and digging into the pancakes. "Ever since Rose exploded back at the fight I have had weird cravings. I even used the bathroom a couple of times for some reason."

"I did figure out why this is happening to you," Wendy said, sitting down in a chair. "You might be interested in knowing what exactly is going on."

"Please tell me," Nadeshiko said, drinking some orange juice. "It is driving me insane."

"Well," Wendy said, unsure of how to break it to Nadeshiko. "It seems that the energy Rose put out when she exploded, well, reanimated you."

"WHAT?" Nadeshiko said, chocking on her orange juice. "You mean..."

"Yes," Wendy said. "You are alive again."

The resulting scream could be heard at the Tendo Residence, where it woke up Ranma and Akane. It also made Wendy, Sonic, and Rose deaf for five minutes. When ears had stopped ringing Sonic and Rose rushed into Nadeshiko's room.

"Looks like you two are fully healed," Wendy said. "By the way Sonic, I kept my promise. I didn't stop until your wife incapacitated me."

"So I heard," Sonic said. "By the way, you seem to be acting different."

"Your wife's blow seems to have cured me of my mental illness," Wendy said, smiling. "Feels good to be in perfect mental health. Or, rather, as close to perfect as I ever get."

"So why are you staying Wendy for the time being?" Rose asked. "I thought you were more comfortable as a male."

"Not really," Wendy said. "I think I got sick of being a male. I barely left male-mode for thousands of years, after all. My female side wasn't happy with that."

"So now that you are in good health," Sonic said, sitting down. "I don't suppose you are going to get off that cursing kick of yours."

"Me?" Wendy said, holding back laughter. Nadeshiko was already laughing her head off. "Stop cursing?" Wendy finally lost it and started laughing her head off as well, just more literally. Sonic and Rose were confused, however, at the squealing laughter they were hearing. They didn't notice that a small pink pig had been walking past the door and was now rolling around in the hall laughing.

That was a good one," Wendy said, picking her head up off the floor. "You should apologize to Nadeshiko though."

"Why?" Sonic asked. "All she did was laugh."

"Well," Wendy said, walking over to Nadeshiko. "It would seem she died laughing. Good way to undo your wife's bringing her back to life, though."

"Thanks for that much," Nadeshiko said, rubbing tears from her eyes. "I was having a hard time adjusting to being alive again."

"Guess we should head home then," Rose said, grabbing Sonic. "Which way is the front door?"

"Hang a right outside of the door," Wendy said, gesturing to the door. "Go three miles down the hall until you see a brown door on the left. You then want the blue door three doors down from the brown door, on the right."

Three weeks later

"Figures," Rose said and she and Sonic finally made it to the correct door. "A mile down the hallway seemed to turn into an Escher painting."

"Worse then the one I turned the school into," Sonic said, walking through the door.

"Worse then the one you turned WHAT into?" Rose said, glaring at Sonic.

"Ooops," Sonic said, dashing off. "I have to go take care of a few things. See you back at the house."

"Where did I put my mallet," Rose mumbled as she went off to the house. "I have a feeling I will need it later."

Chapter 47
The Curse of the Triforce
Since when does the Triforce have 16 pieces?

That night, as Sonic was getting a beating with Rose's Mallet, Wendy was cooking up a whopper of a curse. She had finished the key to unlock the curse, and had even locked the shard that doll had been using inside the curse's keys. Now all she had to do was decide what curse to put on the town.

"Can't decide what to do to the town, can ya?" MM's cat said as it walked into the workshop.

"You know me too well," Wendy said, picking the cat up and putting it on the bench. "What do you suggest?"

"I want to do some gambling," the cat said. "And I have a score to settle with the Ferengi. Why not make it a space station casino?"

"Works for me," Wendy said, weaving the final instructions for the curse.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" the cat asked. "Such as a fifty year old and her husband, not to mention the two guardians they brought with them?"

"Oh, right," Wendy said, leaving. "Gotta send them home."

At the Jusenkyo Springs in China

"Hello there," Wendy called. "I wouldn't get too close to those springs."

"We know," Sakura said. "We were just examining your handiwork."

"Recognize my work, do you," Wendy said, grinning. "Not to mention me."

"Of course," Shaoran said. "Like we could forget you after you cursed my wife as a child, merging her with her costume."

"Or the time you introduced those damn cards of yours," Sakura said. "Kero was so confused."

"Or when we found you with Clow Reed, drinking Sake," Shaoran added. "Imagine, someone like you being good friends with him."

"How did you do that after my mother locked the world, anyway?" Sakura asked, looking at Wendy. "Weren't you asleep?"

"You kidding?" Wendy said, shocked. "Granted, I was good friends with Clow Reed a long time ago. I did the other stuff last week by my timeframe."

"So what did you come here for anyway?" Shaoran asked. "You don't usually show up without a reason."

"I was preparing my next big curse," Wendy answered. "I promised I wouldn't involve Sakura in a curse, so I have to send you guys home."

"And I bet the curse would be fun to see, even from the inside," Sakura said, kicking the ground. "I know it sounds childish, but I don't like others deciding this kind of thing for me."

"Please don't make her beg," Shaoran said. "I don't like her stooping to that."

"Well, technically you COULD sign a waiver," Wendy said, digging in her pockets. "You are both old enough, after all."

"We'll do it!" Sakura said, grabbing the waiver as soon as Wendy had it out. She had signed it before Wendy could blink, and Shaoran signed his while shaking his head and smiling slightly.

"Well then, don't forget to be in the Nerima area around noon tomorrow," Wendy said, taking the waivers and handing Sakura some datasheets. "I'll be sure to gloat to Nadeshiko that you went over her head for once." With that Wendy left, leaving Sakura slightly surprised that her own deceased mother was trying to control her life even now.

"So did you send Sakura home?" Nadeshiko asked as Wendy got back.

"No, I did not," Wendy said, walking over to a console and scanning the waivers in. "She and Shaoran signed waivers removing them from all protective measures you may attempt to force upon them. They are now in control of their own lives and can decide to stay or leave at their own will. They have decided to stay and enjoy themselves in my curse."

"WHAT," Nadeshiko yelled, her heart beating for a second. "YOU PROMISED!"

"My promise was that I wouldn't curse Sakura, implied against her will," Wendy said. "She has ASKED that she be involved with the curse, and as such, my promise has no jurisdiction."

"Legal issues keeping me from protecting my little girl," Nadeshiko said, slumping in a chair. "What has this matrix come to?"

"Your little girl is nearing the natural end of her life," Wendy said, tossing Nadeshiko a can of soda. "That, and she is far from little now. Let go already, it will be better for your nerves."

"What do you mean, the natural end of her life?" Nadeshiko said, looking at Wendy. "Isn't she going to live to be a hundred years or older?"

"I admit it," Wendy said. "I peeked. Unless something intervenes in the next two years, Sakura and Shaoran will die of simultaneous heart attacks from eating too much Kero-prepared spicy food."

"You were going to tell me this WHEN?" Nadeshiko asked, glaring at Wendy.

"I left a message on your voicemail last week," Wendy said. "Didn't you get it?"

"I don't know how to get my voicemail," Nadeshiko said, slumping more. "What kind of intervention would be needed?"

"Someone getting Kero to use something other then the cursed spices he bought off of DK yesterday," Wendy said, looking through receipts.

"And how is that NATURAL?" Nadeshiko responded.

"If I hadn't grabbed the spices on my recent visit to their home world then they would still be sitting in a small chest in Sakura's basement," Wendy said. "Kero would have found them, well, today."

"So you got money for something that would have been free?" Nadeshiko said, looking at Wendy. "That seems mean."

"He paid by disposing of 93 overstocked cakes," Wendy said, showing Nadeshiko the receipt. "Not exactly a bad trade, in my opinion."

"Well then," Nadeshiko said. "What would happen if he used those spices TODAY?"

"Excuse me while I go find a hazard suit," Wendy said, leaving the room quickly.

"WENDY!" Nadeshiko yelled, fire in her eyes, as she chased after Wendy.

Meanwhile, Kero was adding the aforementioned spices to a cake. Ten minutes later he had chocolate spice cake, using all of the cursed spices he had purchased.

"Want some cake?" Kero asked Sakura and Shaoran. "I just added a little spice to it."

"No thanks," Sakura said. "We have to finish some datasheets for a big curse coming up."

"Suit yourselves," Kero said, eating the whole cake in a single bite. "Mmmmm, spicy."

"Your stomach probably shouldn't be turning to plasma right now," Shaoran noted. "You might want to have that looked at."

"So the spices were a tad hot," Kero said, grinning. "Nothing I can't handle."

"So honey," Shaoran said, looking at the datasheet he was filling out. "What age do we want to be in this curse?"

"I don't know," Sakura replied, examining the datasheet. "Why is there an optional Happosai section with a 'Triple Breast Size' option?"

"I don't think we want to know," Shaoran said, looking over more of his datasheet.

"Did you guys sign waivers too?" Tomoyo asked, walking in with her own datasheet. "I can't decide what age I want to be."

"You have any weird options on your datasheet?" Sakura asked. "I have a Happosai section on mine."

"I have a Wendy section," Tomoyo replied. "Cursed camera is the only option. I decided to check it, might be fun."

"I think I will skip my added section," Shaoran said. "I am not in the mood to spend the whole thing as a girl."

"You had better not," Sakura said, glaring at Shaoran.

"That would be funny," Toya said, walking in. "I have the option of spending the curse with four arms myself."

"Hey Kero, Yue," Sakura said, looking over to where Yue was trying to figure out how Kero was containing pure plasma in his body. "Don't you two need to fill out waivers and datasheets as well?"

"Nope," Yue replied. "We filled out waivers back when Clow Reed was involved in one of these things. They should still be on file. Magical beings don't need datasheets, either."

"Not that grandfather would ask us to begin with," Kero replied, burping up some lava. "Clow Reed had to force him to give us waivers."

"Grandfather?" Shaoran asked. "Since when do you call ANYONE grandfather?"

"Been a long time since we started that habit," Yue replied. "We won't be kicking it anytime soon either."

"Oh well," Shaoran sighed. "Back to the datasheet."

Meanwhile, across town, Sonic and Rose are staring in a confused manner at the house.

"Since when did we have a ten story tall house?" Sonic asked Rose.

"According to the map inside the elevator," Rose said, reading the map inside the elevator. "Our room is on the top floor, Kia's room is in the basement. Emily's room is the fourth floor while Jeremy's is the ninth. Floors five through eight are a battle area for Emily and Jeremy. The first floor has the living room, the second the kitchen, and the third floor is dedicated to the bathroom."

"What is with the second basement?" Sonic asked, reaching over and pushing the button. A moment later the elevator opened five hundred feet below the surface, with Sonic and Rose plastered to the ceiling.

"Next time turn on the damn dampeners first," Rose said, peeling herself off the ceiling. "Now that we are here, however, shall we press the button that seems to be the only thing down here?"

"Aren't you usually more cautious?" Sonic asked, looking at the button.

"I left my caution in the basement," Rose said, pushing the button.

"Welcome to the ride of your life," a loud voice boomed as the elevator vanished. "If you thought the ride down was harsh, try the plasma stream ride back up!"

"For the record," Sonic said, watching the floor start to vanish. "YOU pushed the button."

"You brought us down here," Rose said, pulling out her mallet.

"And that plasma is sending us back up," Sonic said as the floor vanished beneath their feet and a stream of plasma shot out.

Six hours later Sonic and Rose fell out of their closet, encased in ice cubes. An hour after that the ice melted off of them and they were sitting next to a roaring fireplace.

"Trust a world run by MM to have a substance so COLD it was in a plasma state," Sonic said, grabbing some boiling hot chocolate from a nearby replicator.

"That and a shaft leading up into our closet," Rose added. "Lets just climb into bed and forget about that little experience."

"Should we warn the others about the second basement?" Sonic asked, jumping under the thick covers.

"What second basement?" Rose asked. "The button vanished from the elevator."

"Throw a coin in the coin-op," Sonic said, throwing Rose a jar full of coins.

"Sure thing," Rose said, dumping most of the jar into the coin operated device attached to the bed.

"Wait a minute," Sonic said, looking at the coin operated device. "Since when do we have one of those on our bed?"

"We don't," Rose said, looking at the device. "Shall we start it up?"

"Why not," Sonic replied. "Probably just vibrates the bed anyway."

"Here goes nothing," Rose said, pushing the button. She immediately regretted it, however, as the entire town started shaking. The device didn't stop there, however, as an energy field started to expand from it.

"Next time put ONE coin in it," Sonic mumbled, wondering what was going on.

"Might want to use real coins instead of plastic toy coins as well," Rose added, noting that the clouds outside seemed to be going by vertically.

Meanwhile, on a small island in the Atlantic

"Where on Earth did Nerima just vanish to?" DS wondered, looking in an atlas. "It isn't even in this TEN YEAR OLD ATLAS anymore!"

"Maybe it is in the index?" one of DS's minions commented. "You never know where things might end up in this node."

"Good idea," DS commented as he turned to the index. "Nerima...Nerima....Nerima STATION? IN ORBIT!"

"This is an odd node," the minion said.

"I wouldn't be in this state if you hadn't told me to look in the index," DS said, turning to the minion. "Aren't you the one that somehow made it so that I can't survive in space in this world as well?"

"Ummmm," the minion said, backing off. "Just remembered, I left an oven on.....in China......"

"Right," DS said, blasting the minion to dust with a wave of his hand. "Damned Curses R Us shop."

Back on Nerima Station....?

"I would say we aren't in Nerima anymore," Rose said, looking out the window at the space station. "We appear to be at the top of some kind of station."

"In that case," Sonic said, pulling himself out of the sheets. "Computer, where are we?"

"You are in the 'penthouse suite' of Nerima Station, the only known orbital gambling establishment in this quadrant," the computer replied.

"I stand corrected," Rose said, taking another look out the window.

"You seen the bed around?" Sonic asked, looking around the room. "I have the sheets, but nothing to put them on."

"Computer, bed," Rose said. A moment later the wall unfolded into a bed, right on top of Sonic.

"Thanks," Sonic said, rubbing his head as he pulled himself out from under the bed. "I think."

"Damn you," Kia said, walking in the door without knocking. "You would be getting ready for some fun in bed. Too bad the kids are coming up."

"KIDS?" Sonic and Rose yelled at the same time.

"Yea, the Kids," Kia said. "Now I have to go get ready for my first day running a booth down on the gambling floor, so that people can sell their souls for luck."

"What kids?" Sonic asked himself as Kia walked out the door. "And why do we have two closets full of uniforms?"

"These uniforms are my size," Rose said, pulling out a uniform. "They all say I am in Guest Relations."

"Mine say I am working with the Holosuites," Sonic said, pulling out one of his uniforms. "Guess we should throw these on. Can't have kids show up with us wearing nothing but undergarments."

"Weren't we fully clothed when we started the coin-op machine?" Sonic asked, looking at Rose.

"The entire area of Japan we were in was converted into a space station and launched into space," Rose said, pulling on her uniform. "You think I am going to question a lack of clothing?"

"Good point," Sonic said, pulling his uniform on. "Suppose the others have jobs as well?"

"Most likely," Rose said, checking her hair in a mirror as the door chimed. "Suppose that is the kids?"

"I would assume so," Sonic said, throwing a comb in his back pocket. "Enter."

"Hello," a young girl's voice came from the opening door. "We are here to be escorted to the magic show."

"It can't be," Sonic said, turning towards the door. "Sakura?"

"Who did you expect, Hinako?" Shaoran responded.

"We are on the schedule for escort to the magic show," Sakura said, pointing at a schedule being displayed near the door. "So can we get going?"

"Sure," Rose responded. "I guess it is my job...."

"Why are you two twelve years old?" Sonic asked, looking at Sakura and Shaoran.

"Why not?" Sakura responded, following Rose out the door.

"Figures," Sonic said, walking over to the display by the door. "Computer, please show me how to get to the holosuites." A moment later two small maps showed up, one showing a 'you are here' red dot in the penthouse suite and the other showing the holosuites.

"Please move the red dot to your destination," the computer responded.

"Why not," Sonic said, picking the red dot out of the screen and putting it outside the holosuites. Before he could blink he was suddenly there, looking at the holosuite doors.

"Better then transporters," the computer called out.

"So what is my job in dealing with these things, anyway?" Sonic wondered aloud.

"Not much," the computer responded helpfully. "Quark takes care of renting them out, engineering fixes them, the front desk routes all complaints to /dev/null."

"So much for that," Sonic said, pulling the title off of his uniform. "Consider me off duty then."

"Noted," the computer replied. "Please step backwards to join up with Rose."

"Sure thing," Sonic said, stepping back once. He then found himself falling two decks, right on top of Rose.

"Nice of you to drop in," Sakura said, looking at Sonic. "Could you let her do her job, though?"

"She is," Shaoran said. "And you know it. You are the one that pointed out that 'Landing pad for Sonic' was on her schedule."

"Shouldn't you have gone 'Hoeee' or something just now?" Rose asked as Sonic helped her up.

"We opted for personality tweaking," Shaoran responded. "Figured it would be fun not acting 100% like ourselves."

"Interesting how Tomoyo and Toya vanished though," Sakura said. "They are supposed to be our legal guardians during this whole curse."

"They didn't vanish," Shaoran said as Rose led the growing group onward. "They went off to meet the head of security."

"Why would they want to go meet Happosai?" Sakura wondered aloud. "Oh well, sucks to be them."

"Happosai is in charge of security," Sonic said, shaking his head. "That should be interesting."

"They went to see him because he blew Tomoyo's camera up," Shaoran said. "The computer was scared of the look on her face...."

"Then allow me to correct myself," Sakura said, grinning. "Sucks to be Happosai."

"Does the computer even have an emotion chip?" Rose wondered as they reached the hall where the magic show was to be held.

"Lets see," Sonic said, reading the sign outside the doors. "Main act is Mousse, with Ranma doing a secondary act. Akane, Shampoo and Kodachi are assistants."

"My schedule is clear from this point forward," Rose said, ripping her title off of her uniform. "Time for some off-duty entertainment."

"Considering you are buying popcorn from Ukyo," Sonic said, looking at Rose. "I assume you mean watching the fireworks, and not getting used to our penthouse suite."

"Like I am going to miss a show like this?" Rose responded, dragging Sonic to the front row.

"Where is Yue, anyway?" Sonic asked Sakura as she sat down next to him.

"Watching Happosai to stop him from causing trouble," Sakura responded.

"Kero would be in the kitchen," Rose said, placing the five gallon tub of popcorn between her and Sonic.

"I don't know which is worse," Shaoran said, looking at Sonic and Rose. "The fact that you are splitting a five gallon tub of popcorn, or that you each have a ten gallon soda."

"We would have alcohol," Sonic said, sticking a giant bendy straw into his soda. "But we feel guilty drinking in front of minors."

"Damn," Shaoran said, snapping his fingers. "Forgot we aren't allowed to drink."

"WOULD YOU TWO STOP FIGHTING ALREADY," a voice that could only belong to Ranma yelled from backstage, just before Ranma flew out onto the stage.

"You have fifteen minutes before the show starts," Rose said. "What is going on?"

"Time to change jobs," Ranma said, going over to a small booth next to the stage. "The other choice pays better and is probably safer." A moment later the booth started beeping.

"Attention," the computer said. "The secondary Magic Act of Ranma Saotome has been canceled. Ranko Saotome will be joining the assistants for the main act, however."

"Better then them fighting over me," Ranma said, coming out as a girl in an assistant's uniform.

"Be right back," Sonic said, going to a terminal on the back wall. A few minutes later he returned, an interesting look on his face.

"What's up?" Rose asked, looking at Sonic.

"When he said it paid better, he wasn't kidding," Sonic said.

"How much better?" Rose asked, looking at Sonic.

"Retire after one show better," Sonic said. "And he is scheduled to do 3 shows a day, every day."

"With Ranma just being one of the assistants this won't be any fun now," Rose said, handing her popcorn to Sakura and Shaoran. "Lets go see what the others are doing now."

"Whatever," Sonic said, finishing his soda.

"Wasn't that a ten gallon soda?" Sakura asked, watching Sonic dispose of the cup.

"We are on a space station that didn't even exist this morning," Shaoran said. "Like I am going to question someone drinking ten gallons of soda in a couple minutes?"

"So who should we find next?" Sonic asked Rose as they walked along the station.

"How about the person who seems to be expertly parking those spaceships?" Rose asked, looking out the window. "They should be coming out that airlock ahead."

"Can't be," Sonic said, looking out the window. "Ryoga appears to be in that airlock."

"Hey you two," Ryoga said as he came out of the airlock. "I keep on trying to park these things at docking bay 3, but I never seem to find it. You know where it is?"

"Sorry, can't help ya," Sonic said. "We don't know where anything is either yet."

"Oh well," Ryoga said, walking off. "Back to searching for it."

"This station only has two docking bays," Rose said, looking at Sonic. "And I get the feeling you know that."

"The fact that he doesn't know that fact is what is allowing him to be successful at his job," Sonic said, walking off. "Like I am going to tell him otherwise?"

"You had to have a good reason, didn't you," Rose said. "Lets go do some gambling or something."

"I don't know," Sonic said, looking at the gambling floor. "Nabiki and the Gambling King are running tables."

"If you are worried about losing money then go visit Kia or buy a good luck charm from Gosunkugi," Rose said, dragging Sonic towards the gambling floor.

"I would rather go grab something from Cologne," Sonic complained, motioning towards the Cat Cafe off to the side of the gambling floor. "Maybe visit that wedding chapel?"

"Why would you want to visit a wedding chapel?" Rose asked, turning to Sonic.

"The Dragon Shrine Wedding Chapel?" Sonic asked, pointing at the chapel next to the Cat Cafe. "How many people here would be running that?"

"We are supposed to be," Kalshion said, pulling on a slot machine. "But we aren't open today."

"Not enough people here yet," Katarina said, playing video poker across from Kalshion.

"WHEN DID YOU TWO SIT DOWN THERE?" Rose asked, staring at the two.

"While Sonic was yapping about the Cat Cafe, actually," Kalshion said, grinning.

"Speaking of me yapping," Sonic said, a grin reminiscent of DS on his face. "Can I start yapping about that sign over there above the auditorium doors?"

"Why?" Rose asked, looking for the sign. "Oh, Tommy's band is playing?"

"And just outside the door is that secondary school store dude with a Tomato booth," Kalshion said, a grin just as bad as Sonic's on his face. "And we know how old his stuff usually is. Who wants to bet those tomatoes are rotten?"

"Why am I wasting my money on video poker?" Katarina asked, jumping up. "That sounds like fun!"

"BELLHOP!" Rose yelled, looking around.

"You called?" Sasuke asked, popping up from under a floor tile.

"We will need a few baskets capable of holding rotten tomatoes," Rose said, grinning. "As soon as possible."

"Oh, and find me the person in charge of explosives," Sonic added. "Might want to make them EXPLODING rotten tomatoes, after all."

"You called?" Kouchou Kuno asked, popping in from nowhere. "Love that 'you are here' dot trick."

"What have you got that will change rotten tomatoes into exploding rotten tomatoes?" Sonic asked, pulling out some money. "And thanks for the baskets Sasuke."

"No problem," Sasuke said, dropping the baskets at Sonic's feet. "They are on me, that band deserves it."

"Hmmm," Kouchou mumbled. "Meesa got exploding planes, exploding pineapples, exploding chips, and exploding cards. Nothing for exploding tomatoes."

"Rats," Sonic said, grabbing a basket. "Regular rotten tomatoes it is, then."

"Fill me up," Rose said, holding her basket out at the Tomato stand. Soon Sonic, Rose, Kalshion, Katarina, and Sasuke were walking into the auditorium with baskets.

"Shouldn't you be bell hopping?" Kalshion asked Sasuke.

"And pass this opportunity up?" Sasuke said, sounding slightly offended.

"Good point," Kalshion said, pulling out a rotten tomato bazooka. "You aren't equipped for it though."

"Gotta have more efficient ways of throwing them you know," Rose said, setting up a small catapult.

"You won't get anywhere with your hands," Sonic said, tweaking the settings on a Tomato Acceleration Cannon.

"At least get a slingshot," Katarina said, putting the finishing touches on a tomato machine gun.

"Amateurs," Sasuke said, flipping up a secret panel on one of the seats, revealing a button. "I will be using this." With that Sasuke pushed the button, converting part of the underside of the balcony into a Photon Tomato Launcher.

"Now don't we look primitive," Sonic said, looking at the Photon Tomato Launcher. "I do hope this station has a medical bay, though."

"Toufuu is running it," Sasuke said, loading his basket of tomatoes into the launcher. "And just so you know, Kasumi is running the library at the other extreme end of the station."

"I feel better now," Rose said, pushing a button on her catapult. "But I wouldn't say I am primitive in my weaponry." As she was speaking her catapult turned into a hyper dimensional biometal tomato launcher.

"Damn you," Sonic said, giving Rose a glare.

"ARE YOU READY?" came a loud voice over a loudspeaker.

"YES!" came the audience, those with weapons and those with just tomatoes.

"THEN LETS START THIS THING!" the voice came again, the curtain parting to reveal Tommy and his band. No sooner did the curtain open then they started playing, and people started throwing tomatoes.

The only issue was the force field protecting the band.

"Are we going to let a stupid force field stop US?" Katarina asked, grinning. "Sasuke!"

"Firing!" Sasuke replied, firing a round of Photon Tomatoes. The force field held.

"Sonic?" Katarina said, knowing her machine gun would be useless.

"FIRE!" Sonic yelled, launching an accelerated tomato barrage. Again, the force field held.

"Rose?" Katarina said, sounding desperate. Rose didn't say anything as she launched tomatoes from her hyper dimensional tomato launcher. The force field still held.

"WHAT IS UP WITH THAT THING?" Kalshion asked, staring at the force field.

"Guess it is time to pull out the big guns," Sonic said, pulling a small remote from his pocket.

"When did you have time to install big guns?" Rose asked, glaring at Sonic.

"Install nothing," Sonic said, pushing the button. "This is the remote for that force field."

"Then LET EM RIP!" Katarina yelled, firing at full speed on her machine gun. Moments later the stage was nothing but tomatoes, with the band indistinguishable from the mess.

"TATEWAKI!" came a voice over the loudspeaker. "CLEANUP ON STAGE!"

"Our job here is done," Sonic said, packing up. "Lets go find something else to do while the 'Blue Thunder' cleans this mess up."

"I wonder where Genma is," Rose said, putting her finger on her chin. "We know Ranma is here, after all."

"Computer, locate Genma Saotome or a giant panda, whichever you find first," Sonic said.

"Genma Saotome is in panda form in the daycare, being beat to a pulp by Hinako," the computer responded. "You don't want to go there."

"Since when do computers give their opinions when you ask them something?" Sonic said, scratching his head.

"Since my core is a positronic net," the computer responded. A nearby monitor showed a mouth sticking its tongue out.

"In that case, where can I get a good drink?" Sonic asked.

"Emily is currently running a special on Romulan Ale in the Dark Dance Hall," the computer responded. "You might prefer the special on Blood Wine Jeremy is running in the Light Dance Hall. Stay away from Quark's special in the Danger Room, especially since Quark won't open the bottle with a medial team on hand. He usually uses a warp plasma containment field with robotic arms to do so."

"In that case," Sonic said, grinning. "I shall be visiting Jeremy."

"I'll visit Emily," Rose said, also grinning.

"And I will be visiting Quark," Soun said, showing up out of nowhere. "Which way is he, anyway?"

Three days later

"Where am I?" Sonic asked, looking around at the crowded dance floor. "And did anyone get the identification codes on the starship that hit me?"

"After you challenged the entire Klingon Empire to a drinking contest," Jeremy started, grinning. "You won that, by the way. At any rate, after that you passed out for a couple of days."

"What has Rose been up to?" Sonic asked, pulling himself into a chair.

"She challenged the Romulans to a drinking contest," Jeremy said, cleaning a glass for appearances. "She won as well, but hasn't woken up yet."

"Soun?" Sonic asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He is accepting his award for bravery in the face of alcohol tonight," Jeremy said. "He drank every drop of Quark's special and survived without passing out. His burp did cause the titanium alloys in the walls to warp, though."

"What is in the news?" Sonic asked, having nothing better to do then yap for the time being.

"Lets see," Jeremy said, putting the glass he was cleaning back down on the counter. "Nabiki has made the most money on the gambling floor, but word has it Ranma somehow quadrupled his original pay somehow. Oh, and every known race in the matrix seems to be here."

"Except the borg," Sonic said, looking around.

"Unless you count Seven," Jeremy added.

"Resistance is Futile," came a loud collection of voices. "Your gambling tables shall fall to our superior intelligence."

"Never mind," Sonic said. "Give me a tall glass of blood wine."

"No can do," Jeremy answered. "Orders are to keep you sober until you and Rose have recovered fully."

"Damn you," Sonic said, getting up. "In that case, I am going to find the person in charge."

"Give my regards to dad," Jeremy said as Sonic walked out.

"I hope he didn't say what I think he just said," Sonic said as he headed towards the center of the station. "Computer, do that 'you are here' dot trick to get me to ops."

"Why bother?" the computer responded. "Take the next door on your left and you will be there."

"Thanks," Sonic said, walking through the indicated door to find a room larger then the station itself. "Now can you do the 'you are here' dot trick to get me to the person in charge?"

"Sorry," the computer responded. "Security protocols prevent that."

"Maybe I can help?" MM said, appearing from the shadows. "Granted, I am not in charge, but I can get you to who is."

"Jeremy says hi," Sonic said, looking slightly relieved. "Shall we go?"

"Just step on that platform to your right and hit the purple button," MM said. Sonic did so, and the platform shot out into the room, stopping outside an office door.

"You may enter," the computer said, opening the door for Sonic.

"Is the person in charge in here?" Sonic asked as he walked in.

"That would be me," Wendy said, sitting behind a desk. Sonic fell to the floor from shock as Wendy stood up. "Who did you expect, the Easter bunny?"

"I keep forgetting that you can be in two places at once," Sonic said, recovering from his initial shock. "So what is the deal this time?"

"The triforce has taken on new meaning," Wendy said, grinning. "Good isn't the only thing represented, either."

"So where are the pieces?" Sonic asked, giving Wendy an odd look.

"Look inside and you shall see the sixteen pieces of the tree," Wendy said, grinning more.

"I hate riddles," Sonic said, walking out of the office to find himself in the Dark Dance Hall. "Not to mention physics-defying space stations."

"What happened?" Rose asked as she sat up from her position on the floor. "And did someone track that planet that hit me?"

"You apparently challenged, and beat, the Romulans at a drinking contest," Sonic said, helping Rose up. "I did the same with the Klingons, by the way."

"Blasted curse making it so that we can get drunk," Rose said, shaking her head. "So, find anything else out?"

"Riddles about how to end the curse," Sonic replied. "Lets see, I believe it was 'The triforce has taken on new meaning', 'good isn't the only thing represented', and 'look inside and you shall see the sixteen pieces of the tree'. I haven't given it much thought yet."

"Hey Jeremy," Emily said as Jeremy walked up. "What brings you here?"

"We have been challenged!" Jeremy said in a tone so serious it could only be sarcastic. "Our honor is at stake!"

"What now?" Emily said, leaning on the bar. "Sonic and Rose here were just talking about what dad set up to end this curse."

"No no," Rose said. "Go on. This sounds potentially interesting."

"The Collective has challenged the two of us to a drinking contest," Jeremy said, handing Emily a small data viewer. "Winner takes the Borg Cube parked outside. Loser pays for the drinks."

"The two of us against five thousand cybernetically enhanced drones," Emily said, reading the data viewer. "That doesn't seem fair."

"If they want to throw their money away on a foolish gamble like this I sure won't stop them," Jeremy said, grinning.

Three weeks later

"About time you two woke up," Sonic said as Emily and Jeremy sat up. "Been a few weeks since you clobbered the borg in that drinking contest."

"They still out cold?" Emily asked, rubbing her head.

"Yep," Rose said, bringing in some coffee.

"How much of that riddle did you figure out while we were out cold?" Jeremy asked.

"Not much," Sonic said, sitting down next to Jeremy. "We tried looking inside things, outside things, a complete search of every nook and cranny of the station and every ship docked at it. None of it revealed anything."

"What were the clues again?" Emily asked, downing a pot of coffee. "Something about looking inside?"

"I think it was 'look inside and you see the sixteen pieces of the tree,' whatever that means," Rose said, consulting a notepad that she hadn't been holding before.

"If you are looking inside you are looking within," Jeremy said. "Looking within is wise-man lingo for looking into yourself."

"Figures," Sonic said, getting up. "We looked everywhere in the station EXCEPT for inside people. The 'pieces of the tree' must be in sixteen different PEOPLE."

"Idiots, you are," Yoda said as he walked by. "Wasted three weeks, you have."

"Where did he come from?" Sonic asked, looking towards the doorway for a moment before shaking his head.

"Is Soun around?" Emily asked. "We missed his award ceremony."

"He finally had too much to drink," Rose said, grinning. "Your father really knows how to hold his alcohol."

"Hold it?" Emily said, laughing. "His drinking contest strategy is to dump all the alcohol he is drinking into his opponent. Since he consumed it he gets credit for it even though it is running through his opponent's system."

"Note to self," Sonic mumbled, writing on a pad he wasn't holding a moment before. "Never have drinking contest with MM."

"Drunken fool, smart man listen to," Yoda said as he passed by the door again, going back the other way.

"Ok," Sonic said, running to the door. "Where did he go?"

"What now?" Rose asked, looking at Sonic.

"Yoda never arrived on the station," Sonic said. "And that sounded like a clue!"

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooo," a man called from down the hall. "Damn, I forgot the words again."

"Drunk man?" Jeremy asked.

"Either that or a mobile distillery," Rose said, putting a clothespin on her nose.

"A drunken idiot, that is," Yoda said, walking past once more. "Drunken fool, smart man listen to. Drunken oaf, idiot listen to."

"That is starting to bug me now," Rose said, looking down the suddenly Yoda-less hall.

"He didn't tell us what to do with drunken idiots either," Sonic said, scratching his head.

"You dolts," a familiar voice said. A moment later Q flashed into the hallway. "Only you would listen to a drunken Yoda."

"Rose, I think it is just about..." Sonic started.

"HAMMER TIME!" Rose finished, pulling out a giant mallet. Moments later Q was a pancake.

"I don't know," Emily said, leaning on a large square with the number one in it. "Does this look like an indication we just went back to square one to you?"

Three months later

"Almost four months now," Sonic said, counting his paychecks. "Might want to hang around some more with this kind of pay."

"I don't know," Rose said, collapsed on the couch. "I actually have things I am expected to do to get my paycheck."

"With ops mysteriously absent and everyone out of ideas for how to end this thing we don't have a lot of choice in the matter," Sonic said. "Nabiki is having a ball though."

"I have to admit that Kasumi's sprained ankle was a hoot," Rose said, grinning. "More injured people then healed that day."

"Sonic and Rose are requested in Ops," the computer called out.

"IT IS ABOUT TIME," Sonic said, standing up.

"Don't get up on my account," Wendy said, grinning from behind her desk. Sonic looked around and realized he was in Ops, and had just gotten out of a chair in front of Wendy's desk. Rose was likewise no longer on a couch, but in another chair.

"Nice trick," Rose said, looking around herself. "Where is Ops located in the station, anyway?"

"It is a separate station out of phase with the main station," Wendy responded. "Now, why haven't you done anything about this whole curse? Spending almost four months without doing anything isn't like you."

"We have no clue what to do?" Sonic said, pulling out a pad of paper. "All we figured out was that we had to look inside people, but we can't figure out how."

"You could have asked," Wendy said, glaring at Sonic.

"WHO?" Sonic responded with annoyance in his voice. "WHO on the station other then you would have a clue?"

"We already asked everyone aside from Q," Rose said, filing her nails.

"You asked everyone aside from Q and the one with the answer," Wendy said. "Aside from myself, of course. Now, go back to your room and think about it."

Before Sonic or Rose could say anything further they were in their room, both sitting where the bed would have been. Instead, the bed was in the wall, so they fell on their bottoms. A few minutes later they decided to search their entire room for possible clues. That didn't take long.

"This is the last door in our room," Sonic said, looking at the door. "I haven't opened it yet. Have you?"

"Nope," Rose said, walking over to the door with Sonic. "Shall we see what we find?"

"Lets see," Sonic said, opening the door and peeking inside. He jumped back and slammed the door a second later.

"What?" Rose said, looking at Sonic. "How bad can it be."

"It is just like that damned outhouse," Sonic said. "The one I found when I met you."

"Let me see," Rose said, opening the door. "Wait a minute, I recognize this place. I sat on that bench while I was lost in that damned bathroom."

"Then if the outhouse was also a door to MM's bathroom," Sonic said, thinking.

Rose's eyes suddenly went wide as her own memory was jogged. Sonic picked up on it, seeing a day Emeral overheard two teenagers, one male and one female.

"Do you think it is dad's bathroom?" the female asked.

"Could be. I won't check though. I wonder if the cat got out yet," the male responded.

Rose blinked, shaking off the flashback. "It can't be, can it?"

"Emily and Jeremy," Sonic said, looking back through the door. "And that damned outhouse."

"At least we know the cat finally got out," Rose said. "But those two have been around the matrix, haven't they?"

"So when did you first run into MM's bathroom?" Sakura asked, walking in without knocking. "I think my first run-in was a trap door in Tomoyo's basement."

"No wonder that hole in the ceiling looked so familiar when I popped my head through it while lost," Rose said, thinking back.

"I wonder if that weird-ass door in my grandmother's attic lead to that damned bathroom," Sonic added. "I remember a large room with lots of tile that couldn't possibly fit on the planet, let alone in the attic. I had decided I was imagining things or something."

"About time you two figured it out," Jeremy said, walking out of the bathroom.

"How did you find THAT DOOR in there?" Emily asked, coming through the apartment door.

"I don't know," Jeremy said. "I just wandered and seemed to find the shortest route."

"You never could find your way in there when you were trying," Emily said, glaring at Jeremy. "But when you didn't give a damn you could get anywhere in the matrix."

"How many worlds does that thing connect to?" Sonic asked, looking back into the bathroom.

"Ask him," Emily said, glaring at Jeremy. "He is the only one other then my father who has ever gotten out of the damn thing where they wanted to while it was in DYNAMIC mode!"

"It goes pretty much everywhere and nowhere all at the same time," Jeremy responded, glancing at his sister. "I am pretty sure it leaves the matrix as well."

"I will hopefully be back soon," Sonic said, running into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

"So much for seeing him again this millennium," Emily said, turning to Rose. "Want to go clubbing?"

"Around the dance scenes?" Rose said, looking at Emily.

"No," Emily said, pulling out a club. "I was thinking about Happosai."

"Works for me," Rose said, grabbing a club from the closet. "So when do you think we will see Sonic again?"

"Now?" Sonic said, coming in the apartment's front door. "Did you miss me?"

"DAMN IT," Emily said, throwing her club to the ground. "NOW YOU CAN DO IT TOO?!"

"Well," Sonic said. "I did end up in Kagome's closet my first try."

"And she didn't slap you?" Rose said, looking at Sonic.

"Luckily she was in the feudal age at the time," Sonic said. "Now if you will excuse me, I have some exploring to do."

"So much for seeing him again today," Rose said as Sonic went back into the bathroom. "Now how about that clubbing?"

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the bathroom

"I knew I shouldn't have gone into that hole under that boulder," DS said to himself, trying to figure out where the hell he was now.

"Hello there," Sonic called. "You lost as well?"

"Who cares," DS said. "Now that you are here all I care about is beating you to a pulp."

"Doubtful," Sonic said, pointing at a sign nearby. "According to that sign this area is highly unstable. Any fighting would most likely kill us instantly."

"That would be a worthless battle," DS said, sitting at a small table. "So what do we do now?"

"We either go our separate ways," Sonic said, sitting down across from DS. "Or we actually try to have an intelligent conversation despite our differences."

Back on the station

"Damned Happosai," Rose said, looking at the small hole in the floor where Happosai had just been. "How does he do that?"

"I don't know," Emily responded. "Maybe you should get back to figuring out who knows about the pieces of the tree."

"Good idea," Rose said, tossing her club aside.

"Too late," Sonic said, walking out of thin air. "Nice door there, one-way. You can get out of the bathroom but not back in."

"Where have you been?" Rose asked, glaring at Sonic.

"You might want to sit down," Sonic said, grinning. "But since you won't, I will tell you now that I was actually having an intelligent conversation with DS without fighting."

"And where did HE find the bathroom?" Rose asked, looking at Sonic.

"I think he said something about finding it under a boulder as I approached," Sonic said. "At any rate, we talked about two things. The first of which was the bathroom itself, he had some interesting theories but didn't know the secret to get around it."

"And the second?" Rose asked.

"Computer, how do we look inside people?" Sonic asked.

"ABOUT TIME YOU ASKED ME," the computer said. "The process is simple. Either get the person to volunteer, or beat them in combat in the combat arena. After that automated systems will reveal the information you need."

"So," Rose said, grabbing Sonic. "Who did you really talk to?"

"I said I talked to DS," Sonic said.

"THEN WHY DO YOU SMELL LIKE PERFUME?" Rose yelled.

"I fell into the scented baths behind the waterfall of youth in the Waters of the Universe Water park," Sonic said.

"Oh," Rose said, letting go of Sonic. "I remember that area from when I was lost."

"Time for me to go," Emily said, looking at a nearby terminal. "See you later."

"Where are you going?" Sonic asked, looking at Emily.

"I got a second job torturing people for pleasure," Emily said, grinning as she walked away.

"So where shall we start?" Rose asked Sonic.

"Well," Sonic said, thinking. "We have to either beat the target in combat, or get them to volunteer. Why not start with us?"

"So do you want to fight me or shall we just volunteer?" Rose asked, grinning.

"Hmmm, fighting like Klingons could be romantic," Sonic grinned back.

"Oh, let me watch," Kia said, popping out of nowhere.

"Ummm, lets just volunteer," said Sonic.

"Agreed," Rose responded.

"Initiating scan," the computer said as Kia sulked off. "Located two pieces. Extracting."

"That tickles," Rose giggled as a gold triangle floated out of her body. Sonic was going through a similar experience.

"Extraction complete," the computer reported. "Two Gold pieces collected. Transferring to storage units."

"Gold pieces," Sonic said, thinking. "I wonder if they are all gold, or if we have to put a multicolored puzzle together too."

"Give the man a prize," the computer said as a robotic arm shot out with a lit cigar. Before Sonic could react the cigar was in his mouth, the robotic arm was gone, and Rose was diving for cover.

"Shit," was all Sonic could say before the cigar exploded.

"Lets assume we are dealing with multicolor," Rose said, pulling out a rag and wiping Sonic's face off. "We would most likely be dealing with different colors for different amounts of light and dark energy. We are most certainly light, so who is close to right down the middle?"

"How about Nabiki?" Sonic volunteered. "She is greedy as hell, but she also has a caring side."

"Works for me," Rose said, heading off to the gambling tables. "I hear she is making a killing here though."

"They fired me," Nabiki said, sitting in a chair in the hallway.

"Why?" Sonic asked.

"I wasn't ruthless enough," Nabiki said. "Some kid named Li is doing more then anyone else I have ever seen."

"How could he do that?" Sonic wondered, looking towards the area holding the gambling tables.

"People have been saying his girlfriend's cards are the source of his good luck," Nabiki said. "What did you want me for, anyway?"

"Care to volunteer to let us look inside you?" Rose asked.

"How much is it going to cost you?" Nabiki said, grinning slightly.

"Free reign with my card," Sonic said, flashing a credit card.

"You got it," Nabiki said, grabbing the card. A moment later the computer had extracted and stored a brown triangle, and Nabiki was off to do some shopping.

"You sure that was a good idea?" Rose asked.

"The card has a five hundred yen spending limit," Sonic responded. "It came free in the mail."

"I suppose we should go to the downright bad," Rose said, looking around. "Too bad DS isn't around here, he would make a perfect candidate."

"Like hell I would," came a voice just barely quiet enough to not be noticed by Sonic or Rose, seemingly from within the wall.

"If we can't go with DS, Happosai is the next best thing," Sonic said, grinning. "Now we just have to find a way to lure him into a trap."

"Well then," Rose said. "We need some bait. It won't be me."

"Well we know he won't go for me," Sonic said, thinking. "Who do we know that could serve as adequate bait?"

"How about Kodachi?" Rose asked.

"Not likely," Happosai said, hanging from the ceiling. "Not even I will stoop to chasing after a nutcase like that."

"I have an idea," Sonic said, running into thin air.

"How the hell did he find the damned bathroom in the middle of the walkway?" Rose asked herself, reaching for where Sonic vanished to find no doorway.

"How the hell did I end up in the bathroom?" Sonic wondered to himself as he ran along. "Oh well, might be faster this way."

Ten minutes later

"I'm back with the bait," Sonic said, walking up to where Rose was trying to shoot Happosai down with a bazooka.

"Then lets go to the combat arena," Rose said, putting the bazooka away. "You sure the bait will work?"

"This could be the single strongest piece of bait on or off of the planet," Sonic said, grinning. "Happosai won't be able to resist this."

"DAMN HIM," Happosai said. "Now he has gotten me curious."

In the combat arena

"So where is he?" Rose asked, looking around. "Shouldn't your bait be working better then this?"

"I haven't said what it is yet," Sonic said. "Like I would admit I had a batch of Kasumi's Secret Recipe cookies."

"LET ME AT THEM," Happosai said, pouncing on the plate of cookies and eating them all in a couple of seconds.

"And three, two, one," Sonic said, just before Happosai chocked, gagged, and fell to the ground. "We win."

"How did you do that?" Rose asked, looking at Sonic. "You weren't lying."

"I said they were Kasumi's Secret Recipe," Sonic said as a red triangle was extracted from Happosai. "I just didn't mention that Akane cooked them."

"I don't want to know what you would do to me," Jeremy said, walking in with Emily.

"I don't know," Emily said. "I think in a fair martial arts battle you would whomp him."

"What about both of you against both of us?" Rose said, grinning. "We do have some tricks up our sleeves."

"I would say you are on as soon as you get the biohazard cooking out of here," Jeremy said.

"Not to mention the unconscious pervert," Emily said, prodding Happosai with her foot.

"Didn't Happosai just EAT all the cookies?" Rose said, looking at the full plate of cookies.

"I do not want to think about it," Sonic said, tossing the plate into a recycling port as Rose kicked Happosai out the door.

"WARNING," the computer suddenly said. "Recycling will be offline for two days due to biohazard input."

"Shall we begin then?" Rose said, taking a slightly defensive stance.

"Bring it on," Emily said, taking no stance whatsoever.

Six hours later

"How can they be so good?" Rose asked, panting and sweating. She looked like she was ready to collapse, and Sonic was in a similar state. Emily and Jeremy's clothing was a little messy, but they were otherwise unphased.

"I have no freaking clue," Sonic responded, leaning against the wall. "Did you hit them once?"

"I think Emily let me hit her hair," Rose said, looking at Emily and Jeremy. "Other then that, no."

"All that training and fighting with DS," Sonic said. "Not a single bit of it helped."

"What, you think our fighting is merely sibling rivalry?" Jeremy said, grinning. "We do try to kill each other once a month or so for the extra training."

"That and three hundred years or so more experience," Emily said, grinning as well. "Actually, I remember seeing Sonic when he was five. Jeremy stopped me from playing a prank on him."

"And you both should know we were staying at Emeral's house when Sonic showed up," Jeremy added.

"Actually, we whomped you back then too," Emily said, sticking her tongue out at Sonic.

"So Emily, shall we?" Jeremy asked.

"Sure," Emily said.

"What, finish us off?" Rose said, glaring at Emily and Jeremy.

"Nope," Jeremy said. "We had our fun."

"We volunteer now," Emily said, giving Rose a light punch on the arm. "Oh, and I think that counts as our first, and final, attack."

"Notice," the computer said as Emily and Jeremy left. "Two purple pieces have been collected. Have a nice day."

"PURPLE?" Sonic and Rose said at once. "Now we have FOUR colors?"

Three weeks later

"Ok," Sonic said, sitting on the bed. "We have collected twenty eight pieces of this puzzle."

"We have six gold pieces," Rose said, looking at her copy of the list. "That would be from the two of us, Kasumi, Doctor Toufuu, Akane, and Hinako. They were all volunteered."

"Six red pieces," Sonic said. "They were from Happosai, Kodachi, Gosunkugi, Tommy, Genma, and Shampoo. We paid Genma off, defeated the other five."

"Four brown pieces," Rose continued. "From Nabiki, Ryoga, Mousse, and Kuno. We paid off Nabiki, Ryoga volunteered, Kuno and Kouchou we wailed on easily."

"And finally, the twelve purple pieces," Sonic said, frowning. "Emily and Jeremy beat US, then volunteered. Ranma, Cologne, Katarina and Sasuke volunteered. Nodoka volunteered after we got her drunk. Ukyo made us buy a meal, then volunteered. Soun had us buy him lunch, which made Ukyo's demands easily dealt with. Kalshion, Mousse, and the Gambling King needed a good kick in the rear."

"You forgot the orange pieces," Rose said. "Sakura, Li, Tomoyo, Toya, Kero, Yue, any anyone that showed up after the initial curse hit. All totaled, five hundred thirty two."

"Now where do we put them?" Sonic asked. "The seven re-structures of the station as we were going along caused me to lose track of where the endpoint is."

"Think of the most unlikely place you can think of," Rose said. "That is probably it."

"Ok then," Sonic said, standing up. "Get off the bed."

"Why?" Rose said, standing up.

"We haven't put the bed away for two weeks," Sonic said, putting the bed away. Underneath he found a pyramid.

"Computer," Rose said. "Can we have the pieces now?"

"Sorry," the computer said. "The pieces are stored on the bridge. I can't bring them here."

"Let me know when you find it," Wendy said, walking in. "I lost track of it myself."

"Can we use the bathroom to get to it?" Sonic asked.

"One-way door only leads INTO the bathroom from the bridge," Wendy said. "That is how I left it."

"Sonic," Rose said, looking at him. "NOW can I try it?"

"Why not," Sonic said. "It is your hide if it fails."

"Go for it," Wendy said. "It isn't like you can do anything right anyway."

"Just wait," Rose said, grinning. "And take two steps back, if you will."

"Alright," Wendy said, taking two steps back. "Better?"

"ABILITY DRAIN" Rose suddenly yelled while pulling out a small card. Rose and the card started to glow just before a beam shot out and hit an unsurprised Wendy. Moments later Wendy's expression went from calm to shocked as a bubble formed around the three occupants of the room.

All over the station people went into a panic as alarms sounded and the station itself shook. The computer went offline, amazingly enough just as it located the door to the bridge. Figures, doesn't it?

Back in the bedroom the glow from the bubble was subsiding. The resulting destruction left nothing to the imagination. Mainly because there was nothing left to imagine. There was also a distinct lack of people, although there were five human-shaped holes in the walls of the room.

Wait a minute. FIVE?

Back in the bathroom

"Oooooooh," DS said, getting up off the ground. "What happened? It felt like I was torn in two or something."

"I would say torn in two is a pretty good guess," DS responded. "Although the split wasn't even."

"I don't feel any different," the first DS said, looking himself over. "Although I might be able to see you better if you stepped out of the shadows."

"Lets just say we have a key difference," the second DS said, stepping out of the shadows. The first DS's jaw dropped when he saw that the second DS was a girl. "I think I might want to consider going by a different name for the duration."

"You look just like Rose," DS said. "Maybe you should be 'Dark Rose' for the time being?"

"Works for me," the newly christened Dark Rose said. "Have you figured out how to get out of here? I seem to be lacking that knowledge."

Back in the destroyed bedroom

"That smarted," Rose said, walking out of the closet. "Seems I was blown through the closet door."

"Remind me to leave the area the next time you do something like that," Sonic said, coming out of the wall. "That smarted."

"Something is wrong," Rose said, patting herself down. "I feel like I am missing a couple parts of me."

"I feel like a part of me is missing as well," Sonic said, looking around. "Did MM split into three just before the explosion?"

"I don't know," Rose said, counting the holes in the walls. "Must have."

"Where am I?" a familiar voice called out from another one of the holes. "This doesn't look like anywhere I have ever been."

"Emeral?" another familiar voice called from yet another hole. "Is that you?"

"I'll take care of the male," Sonic said. "You take care of the female."

"Works for me," Rose said, rolling up her sleeves.

"Where did she get sleeves?" Sonic wondered. "Her clothes were sleeveless when she walked out of the hole."

While Sonic and Rose deal with the mysterious individuals, we will take note that we have had people or voices come out of four of the five holes. Shall we see what is in the fifth? Moving into the hole we find the dining room. The dining room table is split in two, and there is another hole beyond it. Going through that hole we find the living room. Slumped over on the couch, unconscious, we find Wendy. Emphasis on the unconscious. The light sparks of energy we occasionally see probably aren't a good sign.

Back in the destroyed bedroom, however, we hear a scream. Lets go back there.

"GET BACK HERE," the familiar yet unidentified voice called as Rose ran through the destroyed room. A moment later a bleeding Emeral ran out, holding a chunk of broken wall. "I HAVEN'T FINISHED BEATING YOU TO A PULP YET!"

"Sounds like Rose found Emeral," Sonic said to Joe as they walked into the room. "So you don't recognize me, but you know who Emeral is?"

"That is correct," Joe said. "Who is that girl Emeral is chasing, and when do I help Emeral beat her to a pulp as I assume she is the one that hurt Emeral?"

"That would be Rose," Sonic said. "And you can't beat her to a pulp. This is all some kind of misunderstanding." With that Sonic grabbed Rose, slapped her, and grabbed the piece of wall from Emeral. "Now lets all go sit down in the living room and talk about this, OK?"

"I would rather this big gash in my skin be taken care of first," Emeral said, pointing at the bleeding gash in her skin.

"Easily fixed," Sonic said, putting his hand above the wound. A moment later the wound was gone, Emeral and Joe staring in shock. "Now lets talk."

"Where is the living room?" Joe finally said, looking around.

"Probably through that hole there," Sonic said, pointing at the hole going through to the dining room. "Or at least, we can get there from the dining room." Rose walked through first, followed by Joe, then Sonic, then Emeral. They walked through the dining room and into the living room through the holes.

"WHO is THAT?" Rose asked, looking at the couch. "I don't recognize her."

"That is Wendy," Joe said, looking at Rose. "I thought I heard you say something about MM. I could have sworn Wendy was one of his forms."

"Doesn't ring a bell with me," Sonic said, coming through the hole with Emeral.

"It does with me," Emeral said, looking at Wendy in mild shock. "What did you do to her?"

"Wait a minute," Sonic said, eyes going wide. "If that IS one of MM's forms......"

"Then isn't it a bad thing that she is out cold?" Rose finished. A moment later both of them were checking Wendy, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Finding nothing visibly wrong with her, but noticing a larger energy output then normal, the two went into a deeper state of shock.

"I still don't know where we are," Joe said, looking around. "You have any idea, Emeral?"

"I don't care where we are," Emeral said. "I do care about living. MM being unconscious doesn't strike me as promoting that."

"Computer," Sonic said. "Call a doctor. Preferably one that knows how to deal with powerful beings." After waiting a moment and getting no response, Sonic was more worried. "Computer?"

"I think the computer is dead," Rose said. "I know I used to know how to restart it, but I can't remember now."

"I know how to restart it," Emeral said. "I don't think I could make it across the plasma streams though, and I know it took two weeks to learn how while I had access to the controls."

"I think we need to sit down and talk," Sonic said. "NOW."

Two hours later

"So we are you," Joe said. "Or rather, were part of you until Rose tried to take some ability from MM?"

"At which point she screwed up royally," Emeral continued. "Over the past few hours she has filled one void that was left, though she isn't sure what that void was. I would be the other void that she can't fill."

"You two also seem to have half our knowledge and memories," Sonic said. "Thus you could restart the computer, but you don't have the quantum signature required to get past the plasma protection streams."

"And you don't remember us," Rose said. "Even though we remember you."

"COMPUTER, GIVE US A HINT HERE," Joe yelled.

"You don't have to yell," the computer responded.

"Wait," Sonic said. "You are ONLINE?"

"Kero restarted me," the computer said. "He then immediately replicated five tons of sugary foods."

"Can you call a doctor then?" Rose asked. "One that can deal with MM?"

"Calling Washu," the computer said. "Call complete. Washu said she can't help right now. She did say she will send a specialist though."

"What kind of time dilation are we going through here?" Sonic asked. "That call took barely any time at all."

"One hour here is one day in the world Washu is in," the computer said. "The specialist may take a couple of days. The world she is in is running slower then us."

"Computer," Emeral said. "Any chance of putting us back together?"

"That is beyond my power," the computer said. "The only specialist available for that kind of work is unconscious on the couch right now. Oh, and you might want to get down to the cafeteria, some Pikachu is frying a Cacnea and a Seviper. A Wobbofet is at the snack bar."

"You sure we are needed?" Sonic asked.

"You and Rose couldn't get there if you wanted to," the computer said. "However, Joe and Emeral have no quantum signature to worry about. They can thus turn on the air pumps."

"Override code seven," Rose said. "Activate the damn air pumps."

"Master override initiated," the computer said. "Air pumps on."

"Ok Rose," Sonic said, tapping his foot. "When did you get a master override?"

"No clue," Rose said. "Maybe I did get something from MM after all."

"Then try ending the curse," Joe said.

"Good idea," Rose said. "Computer, override code seven. End the damn curse."

"Master override initiated," the computer said again. "Scanning for ways to end curse. Scan complete. Two methods found. Primary method can not be accomplished without user interaction, switching to secondary method. Initiating self destruct sequence, five minutes and counting."

"OVERRIDE CODE SEVEN," Rose yelled. "CANCEL THE SELF DESTRUCT!"

"Make up your mind already," the computer said. "Self destruct canceled."

"So we can't use the primary method using the damn pieces we collected because the place we are supposed to put them was BLOWN UP," Joe said, glaring at Rose and Emeral. "I still haven't decided if one or both of you is responsible for that, although since Rose is the one with power I suppose she is the logical choice."

"HOLY SHIT," Sonic said, suddenly groping himself. "Where is Kibou?"

"Hikari?" Rose added, searching herself.

"Oh don't fret," Emeral said. "Hikari is with me and Kibou is with Joe."

"You sure about that?" a female voice called from the next room over. "I could have sworn me and Kibou were down at the bar."

"How is that possible?" Emeral asked, holding out what looked like Hikari in key form.

"Quite obviously," the computer chimed in. "The split affected Kibou and Hikari as well, splitting them into their sentient and inanimate forms."

"When I screw up I really screw up," Rose said. "Hikari, why are you hiding in the other room?"

"I had too much to drink," Hikari responded. "Kibou passed out in the turbo lift. I am keeping the floor from hitting the ceiling."

"How do they get drunk?" Sonic wondered.

"Their sentient forms were given an interesting physical makeup," the computer said. "They could be killed just as easily as Emeral or Joe now, although the keys Emeral and Joe are wearing could probably withstand the destruction of this sector of space."

"How much did they have to drink?" Joe asked. "Must have been a lot to get them that drunk."

"They each had a glass," the computer said. "Hikari had Blood Wine, Kibou had Romulan Ale."

"Ok, they can't hold their liquor," Joe said.

"Would you be able to hold your liquor if you were 5 inches tall and the glass was six inches tall?" the computer inquired. "Hikari and Kibou have the bodies of pixies right now."

"Hikari is mighty loud for a pixie," Rose said, going into the other room. "Which is explained by the megaphone she fell asleep next to."

The next day

"Well isn't this getting complicated," Emily said, looking around the bar. "We have Sonic, Rose, Joe, Emeral, Kibou, Hikari, dad unconscious, and the station is on high alert due to a wormhole that opened up on the bridge."

"Not that we can find the bridge to investigate," Jeremy said. "Still, I wonder how dad can be fixed."

"Don't know," Emily said. "But I need a break. Ever since our bars merged during a station shuffle I have had to deal with all kinds of people I am not allowed to prank. Time to find an unsuspecting sucker."

"I thought you ran out of them on the station," Jeremy said. "Where are you going to find one now?"

"How about that girl that I have never seen before that just walked by?" Emily asked. "Think she will work?"

"Go for it," Jeremy said. "I bet you can't get her though."

"Oh," Emily said. "You want to make it interesting?"

"Sure," Jeremy said. "If you can't prank her in the next week you have to wear whatever outfit I pick for you for an entire month."

"But only if you can prank her after I fail," Emily said. "If I do prank her then you have to clean out my closet."

"Works for me," Jeremy said. "Shall we shake on it?"

"I prefer contracts," Emily said. "Computer, bring up a contract with the terms we just set."

"The contract is sitting behind panel six," the computer said. Jeremy opened the panel to find a stone with the contract engraved on it.

"Set in stone," Emily said, grinning. "Shall we sign it?"

"Sure," Jeremy said, pulling out a laser pen and signing the rock. "Your turn."

"Here we go," Emily said, taking the pen and signing. "Now off to win with a quick prank." With that Emily ran out the door.

"Somehow I get the feeling I am going to win," Jeremy said.

"I started a betting pool," the computer said. "So far the odds are in your sister's favor fifty to one."

"Oh well," Jeremy said. "How bad can her closet be?"

"Scanners show that she has five metric tons of playing cards alone in there," the computer said. "Better stock up on trash bags."

A week later

"HOW HAS SHE DODGED EVERY PRANK?" Emily yelled in the bar. "Two thousand, three hundred, forty seven pranks and she dodged EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"

"My turn," Jeremy said. He walked over to the door, closed it most of the way, and put a bucket of water on top of it. He then walked back behind the bar and poured a drink. "To my victory."

"You haven't won yet," Emily said. "She won't fall for that one."

A moment later the door opened and a splash was heard. Looking over, the girl in question had been soaked with water from the bucket. She looked down at herself, shook her head, and walked back out the door, probably to get a dry set of clothing.

"I win," Jeremy said, grinning. "You want your punishment now, or later?"

"But, but, but," Emily stuttered. "HOW?"

"For me to know," Jeremy said. "I think I want you to wear that pink outfit mom got you for Christmas before she died."

"You wouldn't," Emily said, a scared look on her face.

"It is only for a week," Jeremy said, grinning.

"Damn you," Emily said, giving Jeremy a look. "I guess I will start tomorrow."

"Anyone seen a door to the bathroom?" Sonic asked, walking over to the bar. "I have pressing need to get out of the general area, and for some reason I can't find any doors."

"You are standing on one," a voice that sounded a lot like Rose said, coming from beneath the floor. "Care to get off it so I can get out of this damn place?"

"Who are you?" Sonic said, pulling the door open. Underneath was what looked like Rose, assuming Rose hadn't been across the dance floor looking angry enough to blow the station to pieces. The dark aura tells us it is Dark Rose, but Sonic hasn't figured that out yet.

"If your worst nightmare wasn't already running around on his own power I would say I was your worst nightmare," Dark Rose said. "As it is, I might be your wife's worst nightmare."

"My worst nightmare is currently the girl passed out on the couch never waking up," Sonic said. "You might come in a close third though."

"WHO ARE YOU?" Rose yelled, storming over to the bar. "And why the hell do you look like me?"

"I think she might be your dark side," Sonic said. "When did you let it split off?"

"When she split off her human side," Dark Rose said, grinning. "I was channeled through Sonic, into DS, and out in the bathroom. I am shocked I found a viable exit so quickly."

"You don't seem as evil as DS," Rose said, calming down. "There is something.......nice about you."

"I actually have a light side," Dark Rose said. "Small one, about the size of the dark side you keep in you."

"So deep down you know that fighting me would be wrong?" Rose offered.

"Yep," Dark Rose said. "But I am not the kind of person to let that stop me."

"Can we at least make this an arranged fight people can bet on?" Rose asked.

"Wait," Dark Rose said. "You, the good one, want people to BET on the fight?"

"Why not?" Rose said. "Easier to let them bet in the open then have them doing it under the table. Either way it will happen, right?"

"Ok, when do you want to do this?" Dark Rose asked.

"Tomorrow, noon?" Rose said. "How about in Fighting Arena 9."

"Works for me," Dark Rose agreed. "Where is Fighting Arena 9?"

"Quadrant seven of the bathroom," Sonic said, handing Dark Rose a map.

"And a MAP is supposed to help me?" Dark Rose said, staring at the map.

"That is a map to the door on the station that leads directly into the Arena without having to traverse the bathroom," Sonic said, grinning.

"WHEW," Dark Rose sighed with relief. "I thought I might have to go back in there before the fight!"

"Since when are there three of Rose?" Tommy asked, wheeling into the bar. "One with different hair? And two Sonics with different hair?"

"They finally let you out of sickbay?" Sonic said, amazed. "After the trashing we gave you?"

"Considering you left me with no body to speak of," Tommy said. "You had better be happy they have cloning technology on this station!"

"Why are you in a wheelchair?" Rose asked, looking at Tommy.

"I forgot how to walk," Tommy said, blushing.

"Well," Rose said, stretching as she headed for the door. "I am going to catch some shut-eye. Got a fight tomorrow."

"This station have extra quarters somewhere?" Dark Rose asked, walking out with Rose.

"We should get to bed as well," Emeral said, dragging Joe with her. "Kibou still with you?"

"I am in his pocket," Kibou yelled from Joe's pocket. "Is Hikari still asleep in your pocket?"

"Yep," Emeral said, gesturing to a slight bulge in her pocket. "You two really shouldn't have flown through that grid. You both did a number on your wings."

"We know, we know," Kibou said. "Lets just go."

"I have to go support Rose," Sonic said, ducking out the door.

"Come on Jeremy," Emily said, grabbing Jeremy. "We have to go set up the betting pools!"

"But the computer," Jeremy started before Emily gave Jeremy a nasty look as they headed out the door. "Oh, right, set up the betting pools."

"That leaves the unconscious Wendy," Tommy said, looking around the now-empty bar and dance floor. "Wait a minute. UNCONCIOUS WENDY!?"

"You forgot the girl sleeping on the table in the back," the computer said.

"Oh, Sarah?" Tommy said, looking at the table in the back. "Like she will be any help, being mute and all."

"I don't think I want to know how you know Sarah," the computer said, going silent afterwards.

The next day, around noon

"Shall we set some ground rules?" Dark Rose offered. "Might as well make it a fair fight, after all."

"My dark side has honor?" Rose said, shocked. "Is that allowed?"

"I may be your dark side," DR said, grinning. "Doesn't mean I can't be good."

"Does that mean I get to be bad?" Rose asked, grinning.

"Ok, I am getting confused," Sonic said as the seats filled up. "Who is the evil one again?"

"How about this," Dark Rose said. "Neither of us can try curses, waaaaaay too dangerous. I have to play nice, but you are allowed to cheat."

"The good playing bad and the bad playing good," Rose said, a decidedly evil grin on her face. "Sounds like fun."

"Damned true love," Sonic mumbled. "For some reason I love both of them, so THAT isn't helping."

"Give up," Jeremy said, handing Sonic some popcorn. "Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show."

"WARNING," the computer said, sealing the exits as everyone finished filing in. "Happosai special mode activated. Any contestant breaking the rules, especially the no cursing rule, will be stripped of ALL their clothing for the duration of the match."

"THAT ISN'T FAIR," Dark Rose yelled. "THE RULES SAY SHE CAN CHEAT!"

"Sucks to be you then," the computer said. Somehow everyone could tell it was grinning.

"How about this," Sonic yelled. "If either of them is stripped naked by anything other then the actions of the other fighter I beat the crap out of Happosai AND you, computer."

"Ok," the computer said nervously. "Happosai special rules are no longer in effect."

"Why did you do that?" Emily asked. "That could have been interesting."

"I delegated myself to the couch last night," Sonic said. "Those two wouldn't give me any hint as to who was who until morning, so they shared the bed. Besides, I don't want people leering at my naked wife, even if she is in two pieces."

"What is against the rules, anyway?" Rose asked. "I have to know if I am going to break the rules."

"This is anything goes martial arts," the computer stated. "Basically, no direct quantum energy attacks. All other energy forms are good. Aside from that there are no additional rules for you to break."

"That could come in handy," Rose said, grinning evilly again.

"Ready," the computer said. "FIGHT!"

Most of the audience started looking around aimlessly, wondering where exactly the fighters WERE. Still, a small group seemed to be unphased. Sonic, sitting in the front row, was having no issues. Emily and Jeremy, sitting behind him, in the second row, appeared to be playing cards while describing the fight to Emeral and Joe, who were sitting behind them in the third row. A Q floating in the back was having no issues with keeping up with the fight, and the girl Tommy identified as Sarah back in the bar was writing a blow by blow for the station newspaper, although nobody is sure who asked her to. Well, the computer isn't having any issues either, but what do you expect from the computer?

Another small group of people is having some issues keeping up with the battle, but not too many. Sakura and Li are barely keeping up with the general locations the fighters are in, while Kero and Yue know exactly where each contact is occurring. Well, Kero would know, if he was paying attention instead of eating junk food. Cologne has half a clue what is going on, but is too busy running a stand to care, and Happosai is disappointed that he won't be able to see enough with them moving so fast if one of them DOES get stripped.

As for Rose and Dark Rose, they aren't having an easy time. Every blow either one tries to make is anticipated by the other, resulting in a LOT of blocking and dodging. Even with the energy attacks they haven't been getting anywhere, including Rose's occasional Quantum attack. So far the score is 0 to 0 in successful hits, and it doesn't look like it will be going up anytime soon.

After this had gone on for about an hour the two fighters finally stopped for a moment to catch their breaths. There was a lot of whispering about what might have happened in the crowd, although the closer you got to Emily and Jeremy the less people were out of the loop. Apparently people had actually started to LISTEN to them.

"Amateurs," Jeremy called, grinning. "You only went for fifty eight minutes before taking a break."

"Where did you learn to fight, anyway?" Emily added. "Both of you were leaving openings all over the place!"

Rose and Dark Rose turned to one another, seemed to have an unspoken conversation, then walked up to one another. "TRUCE" they said, shaking hands.

"Sonic," Rose called. "Get out here, and bring those two with you."

"It is time they learned a lesson or two," Dark Rose added.

"And we have a modification of the fight," the computer said. "At a draw, Rose and Dark Rose have teamed up, dragged their husband into the ring, and are challenging Emily and Jeremy to a three on two fight."

"Plan nine?" Emily asked Jeremy as they walked into the center of the arena.

"I was thinking eight," Jeremy said. "More humiliating for them that way."

"You are being nasty today," Emily said. "But I like it. Plan eight it is."

"Shall we begin?" Rose asked, cracking her knuckles.

"Computer," Jeremy called. "START THE DAMN FIGHT."

"Alright already," the computer said. "Ready, FIGHT."

Once again, Rose and Dark Rose seemed to vanish. Sonic shook his head for a second, then vanished as well. Emily and Jeremy just stood there back to back amidst a flurry of bright flashes. The scoreboard, which nobody had noticed before, was going up steadily this time. Sonic, Rose, and Dark Rose had a consistent zero hits, while Emily and Jeremy were currently at two hundred forty six. It didn't take long for Sonic, at least, to land and become visible to the average person.

"How do they do it?" Sonic mumbled, rubbing a bruise on his arm. "No matter what kind of attack we attempt, they block it and hit us instead."

"I say we triple-team them," Rose said, landing next to Sonic. A good portion of her hair seemed to be singed.

"Three attacks from three angles," Dark Rose said, landing next to Rose. "The two of them shouldn't have a chance."

"Go," Sonic said as the three vanished.

Emily and Jeremy were just standing there grinning as the three ran in circles around the arena, preparing for the three-pronged attack. Emily and Jeremy already had their counter-attack ready, and were prepared to use it. It didn't take long for Sonic, Rose, and Dark Rose to suddenly change course and head straight for Emily and Jeremy from three different angles. Emily and Jeremy appeared to do nothing, just standing there, which the attackers thought was odd.

They ceased to find it odd when they went straight THROUGH Emily and Jeremy, collided with one another, and ended up with a score of -3. Turns out Emily and Jeremy knew the afterimage technique and used it.

"That smarted," Sonic said, rubbing his head. "Why didn't we notice they weren't really standing there?"

"I think we were too intent on timing," Rose said, cracking her neck. "Not enough time determining their exact location."

"Or we could have been in too much pain already," Dark Rose said, pulling an icepack out of her pocket.

"Well this has been fun," Emily called from the corner, eating popcorn.

"Shall we begin trying?" Jeremy called. "Or do you want to give up now?"

"How is it that you have gotten away without a single injury," Sonic said, glaring at Emily and Jeremy.

"You almost hit me you know," Emily said, holding up a piece of her hair. The end was burned off. "You did get my hair though. Your wives there haven't been so lucky."

"Why you little jerks," Sonic said, showing massive amounts of anger.

"That shouldn't have ticked him off," Rose said, standing next to Dark Rose.

"I know," Dark Rose responded. "Then again, didn't we have similar issues during our fight?"

"Our emotions must be unstable," Rose said. "Side-effect of Emeral and Joe being separated, perhaps?"

"Ready?" Jeremy asked Emily as they took a fighting stance.

"Yep," Emily said as Sonic approached.

"DEFENSE-BUSTER THREE MILLION," Sonic yelled, coming in at Emily with a punch to end all punches.

"Shit," Emily said just before Sonic made contact with her stomach. This in turn caused Emily to double over for a split second, and Sonic to go into a state of mild shock.

"I made contact?" Sonic said, wide-eyed. "I actually MADE CONTACT?"

"Bye now," Emily and Jeremy said at the same time, Emily having recovered. The two timed dual kicks perfectly to send Sonic flying into Rose and Dark Rose, knocking all three of them out.

"Really," Jeremy said, shaking his head. "Defense-buster three million?"

"I don't know," Emily said, looking over at Sonic. "I honestly couldn't defend myself, even if I had wanted to. I was almost scared for a second there."

"With a score of five billion, four hundred twenty eight thousand, two hundred twenty five to negative two," the computer said. "Emily and Jeremy are the winners."

"So much for that," Emily said as the doors opened and everyone started leaving. "Shall we wake them up?"

"Might as well," Jeremy said, walking over to where the three were piled. A few minutes later they were waking up, rubbing their heads.

"What happened?" Sonic asked as he climbed off of Rose and Dark Rose. "I feel like I WAS a steamroller."

"You were," Rose said. "I think you actually hit Emily though."

"You hit me then went into shock," Emily said, grinning. "Not a bad hit, either. I don't think I could have defended against it. Not that I wanted to."

"What do you mean?" Dark Rose asked, looking at Emily.

"I let him scorch my hair so I could taunt him with it later," Emily said, grinning. "I figured one of you three would attack me, I would let you hit, you would go into shock."

"Which is what Sonic here did," Jeremy said, also grinning. "Emily recovered quickly, we both drop-kicked Sonic into you two girls. KO'ed all three of ya, and we won."

"That was a dirty, nasty, rotten, disgusting trick," Dark Rose said. "I like it!"

"Figures you would," Rose said, glaring at her dark counterpart. "You sticking around or heading out?"

"I am leaving," Dark Rose said, shaking Rose's hand. "I had fun, but I don't think I would be comfortable helping you squash evil, being mostly evil myself. Maybe one day you will have to stop one of MY evil schemes."

"Hope not," Sonic said. "I don't know if I could fight you."

"Have a fun time," Emily said as Dark Rose left through one of the nearby exits.

"And don't come looking for me," Dark Rose yelled.

"She may regret that one," Sonic said, shaking his head.

"Why?" Rose asked.

"She just left into the central hub of the bathroom," Sonic explained. "Oh well. Shall we go see Dr. Toufuu?"

"Sounds like a plan," Rose said, limping off with Sonic.

"What shall we do now?" Emily asked. "The bruise from that one punch has healed already."

"I say we go watch Toufuu mangle those two," Jeremy said, grinning. "Kasumi was headed over to see him herself."

"That was mean," Emeral said, tapping her foot.

"Quite," Joe said, standing next to Emeral.

Twenty minutes later

"Ouch," Emeral said, an ice pack on her eye. "That smarted."

"Teach us to try and teach them a lesson," Joe said, collapsing on the couch.

"Luckily we avoided Toufuu while Kasumi was there," Sonic said, sitting next to Joe. "That could have been bad."

"Still," Rose said, sitting next to Emeral. "Why did you think you could do better then we did?"

"Clouded judgment," Emeral said. "Can we do something about this damned station now?"

"How?" Joe asked. "We don't have a place to finish the puzzle."

"Under the damned bed," Emeral said. "The one in the spare master bedroom, that Sonic let Rose and Dark Rose sleep in last night."

"You mean to tell me that there is another pyramid under there?" Sonic said, looking at Emeral.

"Yep," Emeral said. "Although, we may want to wait till morning."

"I'll go with that," Rose said. "Now is not a good time for thinking."

"I was thinking more about my realization I can't stand up," Emeral said. "I think I might sleep right here."

"Ok, I wasn't thinking that," Joe said. "But I concede your point."

The next morning

"What have you been doing all night?" Sonic asked, yawning as he got off the couch. "Looks like you didn't sleep at all."

"I couldn't sleep for some reason," Rose said. "Initially it was due to a nightmare about green toilets, but that faded. I think it was because MM's lifespan was bugging me."

"So you have used scientific methods to determine exactly what that lifespan is?" Sonic asked, looking at the piles of books and papers on the table.

"Yep," Rose said. "Back when he originally came into existence he should have died after two hundred years."

"Well that didn't happen," Sonic said, grinning. "So what changed?"

"Don't know," Rose admitted. "But I do know that his lifespan is beyond comprehension now, save issues like the one I caused."

"Try me," Sonic said.

"Here is the first book," Rose said, handing Sonic a book. "That is the first of five hundred thousand current books. Each one is two thousand pages."

"MM's lifespan," Sonic said, reading the cover. He then opened to the first page. "MM's lifespan in millennia is listed in this set of books."

"Turn the page," Rose said.

"It is all nines," Sonic said, flipping through the book. "Every last page is filled with nines, right up to the edges of the paper."

"Yep," Rose said. "That is what my research tells me. I was bored and I calculated our lifespan as well. According to my findings, we are the equivalent of pre-teens right now. Once we hit the equivalent of teenagers we should be able to procreate."

"At least we have a timeframe now," Sonic said.

"Actually, our lifespans are probably much longer normally," Rose said. "Seems that having your dark side split off cuts your lifespan down a bit."

"Figures," Sonic said. "So if we ever merge back with our dark sides we will live longer?"

"Yep," Rose said.

"So," Sonic said. "Do you think MM will tell our great great great great great great great great great grandkids about us?"

"Wouldn't surprise me," Rose said.

"I bet your next piece of information will surprise me," Sonic said. "You have that look on your face."

"As far as I can tell," Rose said, handing Sonic a piece of paper. "We owe MM our existence."

"You mean that if he didn't exist we would never have evolved?" Sonic said, staring at the paper. "Freaky."

"Sakura's near-evolution was entirely due to our existence," Sonic said. "At least, if these calculations are correct."

"Actually, your evolution was the only one directly based off of MM's existence," Rose said. "I evolved because you existed, and Sakura evolved because I existed."

"Sakura didn't evolve," Sonic said, grinning.

"Ok," Rose said. "So if she hadn't STOPPED herself it would have been because of my existence."

"Which means we have no clue how many other people would have evolved in the chain," Sonic said. "Her decision could have caused thousands of people to not evolve."

"Lets not tell her that," Rose said. "She might not take it well."

"Can we finish this damned curse now?" Emeral asked, limping into the room. "Joe and I don't heal as fast as you two, you know."

"Ok already," Sonic said. "Lets go finish this thing."

A few minutes later they were in the spare master bedroom looking at a pyramid. It looked like they had sixteen places to put triangles, and the pieces they have to put on the pyramid are still on the bridge.

"The author would have to remember that detail," Rose said, glaring at the author. "So Mister Smarty-Pants, how do we get to the bridge to get the pieces?"

"I have them," Tommy said, rolling in on his wheelchair. "Friend of mine fetched them for me before she left the bridge upon arrival."

"Where are they?" Sonic asked.

"I left them by the couch," Tommy said. "The bag is GIGANTIC. how many things are in there?"

"A good five hundred sixty I think," Emeral said. "I think we can skip the orange and purple ones though."

"Why?" Joe asked.

"Sixteen places," Emeral said. "We either have all the purple and the four brown, or all the red, gold, and brown. I am guessing we need three colors, not two."

"Works for me," Sonic said, running out to the living room and coming back with the red, gold, and brown pieces. "How do we attach these things?"

"I assume one brown per side," Rose said. "Probably in the middle. Either that, or one side is all brown, but that leaves no nice pattern."

"Ok," Emeral said, placing the brown pieces on the pyramid. "What next?"

"Six of each color left," Joe said, picking up a gold piece. "Gold on two sides, red on the other two?"

"That would duplicate the triforce appearance," Sonic said, tossing the pieces towards the pyramid. "Given that they fall into that pattern when you throw them I would say that is it."

"Last piece then," Joe said, placing the last gold piece on the pyramid. "Shouldn't that do something?"

"Computer?" Rose said. "What are we missing?"

"It would seem that a riddle is needed to be solved," the computer said. "Wendy forgot to tell me what it was before you knocked her out. I think she was going to give it to you when you DID knock her out."

"AUTHOR," Sonic yelled. "GIVE US THE DAMNED RIDDLE."

"No," an ominous voice replied. "Figure it out yourself."

"I swear," Sonic said, pulling up his sleeves. "If you don't give us that riddle RIGHT NOW I will...."

"You will what?" the ominous voice said. "Do you forget I control everything right now?"

"You don't control my fist," Sonic yelled.

"But I do," the voice replied. A moment later Sonic's fist separated from Sonic's wrist and made contact with Sonic's face.

"Damn you," Sonic mumbled.

"Besides," the voice said. "Did you try looking UNDER the pyramid? Simpletons......"

"YOU WROTE US THAT WAY," Rose yelled as Emeral and Joe lifted the pyramid.

"No excuse," the voice said, chuckling.

"Just figure out the riddle," Emeral said. "I can't hold this all day."

"This can't be seen," Sonic read. "But it can be heard. You can look at it all you want but that won't change it. What is it?"

"The author?" Rose asked.

"Damn you," the voice said as the pyramid started glowing, spreading out across the entire station. A few minutes later Nerima was back where it belonged.

"Well that was nice," Sonic said. "I wonder how much everyone remembers."

"Lets go see Ranma and Akane first," Emeral said. "I want to know if Nabiki is still rich."

At the Tendo Dojo, ten minutes later

"I don't believe it," Nabiki said, staring at the bank statement Ranma had handed her. "You are richer then I am."

"I already paid you back too," Ranma said, stuffing his face. "So you can't swindle money out of me now."

"I still have some pictures," Nabiki said, holding up some developed pictures.

"Big whoop," Ranma said, holding up some of his own. "These pictures of me dressed up on the station are already selling like hotcakes, and I charge ten yen less then you do."

"I may not have as much as Ranma," Akane said. "But I also appear to have more then you do. Ranma and I are doing a 'buy one, get one half off' deal with our pictures as well. We are splitting the profits."

"My pictures from the library are selling for some reason as well," Kasumi said. "I have enough money to buy food for years on top of it."

"Since when am I the least profitable member of this household?" Nabiki asked nobody in particular.

"Kasumi's pictures probably sell because of the uniform," Sonic said, looking at one of the pictures. "Not many libraries have a bikini for a uniform."

"Considering we only have one person buying them," Akane said. "I wouldn't be surprised if she was wearing a nun's habit and they still sold."

"Who is the one person?" Rose asked.

"Like you have to ask," Emeral said, grinning.

"I would guess Dr. Toufuu," Joe said.

"Yep," Ranma said. "Amazing, though. Working in a casino for that long gets people to do things they normally wouldn't."

"By the way," Akane said, grabbing some rice. "Kalshion and Katarina were looking for you. They said it was important."

"Hands off my rice," Ranma said, grabbing his rice back from Akane. A few minutes later Ranma and Akane were outside fighting over the rice.

"Isn't that normally Genma's gig?" Sonic asked.

"If Genma weren't knocked out on the roof with Soun maybe," Rose said. "I wonder what got into Akane though?"

"You don't know what she went through to stand wearing that uniform every day," Nabiki said. "It wasn't easy for her, and I think something inside of her snapped in the process."

"Ranma just wanted the money," Kasumi said. "I personally had fun with all the boys coming to the library just to see me in my uniform. I just wish Dr. Toufuu had come by more often."

"Better head over to the shrine," Joe said, leaving with the others. "We will come by again later."

Meanwhile, across town

"At least the damned curse ending gave me the ability to walk again," Tommy said. "When you decide to tell me what you need, let me know."

Sarah, sitting across the room from Tommy, just nodded.

At the shrine

"What's up?" Rose asked Katarina. "Akane said you were looking for us."

"Wendy is in the spare bedroom," Katarina said. "She has gotten worse."

Chapter 48
Rose's Curse
This is why Rose should not curse unsupervised

"We have no clue how to fix this, do we," Emeral said, noting the chapter title and not knowing if she should be insulted or not.

"Not a clue," Sonic said as Rose tried to beat the title senseless, failing miserably.

"And thus ends this author's post," Joe said.