|
|
Adventures in Transdimentia
by Shala-chan
Part Four
They were still watching when the boys came back, sweaty, dusty, and in sub-armor. Nobody really noticed. Until Kento saw what was on TV.
"Hey! That's me!" he said, pointing.
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Shala said sarcastically.
The screen cut to a shot of all five Ronins in sub-armor in the middle of a street. They gasped. Then Penina got up and turned the tape off.
"It's a little rude," she said, and sat back down.
"It's a little weird," Sai said, sitting heavily.
"Can we talk about it now?" Kento complained.
"I'd rather not," said Rowen. "I'm in the middle of a good book, and I do want to read it."
"He really is," Shala said weakly.
"Now." Said Ryo and Sage. Shala sighed, and by way of explanation, grabbed a surprised Ryo and pushed his head through the dimensional plane. Then she pulled it back.
"I knew you could do that," he said, too calmly, "but what about us on TV?"
"Tape," Cole corrected. "That was a taped episode."
"Episode?" Sage said dangerously.
"Erm, yeah." Shala squirmed. "Here."
She took something from home and gave it to Ryo, then fell silent. It was an action figure.
"That's a toy," he said flatly. "Of me."
"No, it isn't," Shala corrected him.
"That's what it looks like to me," Sage said.
"It's an action figure," Shala said, "complete with attachable armor and weapons. I don't usually keep the armor on 'cause some of the pieces are liable to fall off. Plus they're pointy."
"You know," Sai said, "they got the hair and eyebrows right. It looks just like Ryo. But the head is too small."
"That's what I told her," said Jing, "but she'd already noticed."
"You wanna see the armor?" Shala asked. "The helmet doesn't open up, but really, it is plastic."
Ryo nodded hesitantly, and Shala grabbed the package the figure had come in, which was where she kept the armor.
"It looks like my armor, in pieces."
"With holes in it," added Kento.
Shala opened up the package and started snapping the armor on the figure. The helmet and foot protectors kept falling off. She growled.
Sai, meanwhile, had turned the package over. His mouth dropped in astonishment, and Kento snapped it shut for him. Then he saw the back of the package. Kento did the only thing he could think of. He fainted.
"What's up with Kento?" Rowen asked. Sai mutely shoved the package at him and pointed. "I suspected as much," Rowen said. "I need sugar. And perhaps an explanation?"
"That's easy," said Laila.
"I'm not sure it is," Penina said thoughtfully. "Shala, you want to try?"
"Not really," she said uncomfortably, "but I suppose I'll have to." She slapped Kento back to consciousness, then turned to face everyone. "Well, I told you, Ryo, and you, Rowen, that I got people and things here through a trans-dimensional portal, right?" The two in question nodded. "The simplest explanation, I suppose, is that somehow, for some odd reason, I can go to and from different dimensions, and take stuff with me. Or put it back. You guys are just a TV show back home," she continued awkwardly, "and TV shows are just other dimensions, even if they have actors playing the parts. Or in your case, animators and voice actors."
"How many dimensions are there?" Rowen asked curiously.
"As far as I know," Shala took a deep breath, "an infinite number."
"Infinite as in never ending?" Sage said.
"Um, yeah?"
"That bites," Kento said.
"Not really," said Penina. "Sometimes she takes us interesting places. I mean really interesting."
"Us?" Cole said. "This is the first time I've gone anywhere."
"I take people according to where I'm going and what kind of person is needed," Shala explained. "For example, when I went to the Ranmaverse, I brought our slightly obsessed friend along, and she had a blast."
"Oh," said Kento, "whatever. I'm going to take a shower." He got up and left.
"I think we'd all better," Sai said, looking at himself. "And Sage, you're going last."
"Why?" Sage cried. "Just because-"
"You spend three hours on your hair," said Ryo.
"Oh yeah. Okay. But is that really such a crime?"
"Yes."
"Ryo Sanada," Sage said dramatically, "I hate you."
"I hate you too, Sage." He stuck out his tongue and ran up the stairs. Sage followed.
"Such mature behavior for people who saved the world," Shala commented.
"Yep," Penina said.
"Boys will be boys?" Cole suggested.
"You wish, cow-boy," Laila said.
"Hey!"
"We didn't save the world," Jing pointed out. "We aren't expected to be mature. Especially Laila."
"Are you saying I'm immature?"
"Maybe."
"Glad you noticed."
"Anyone would notice," Penina said.
"I hurt," Rowen said, changing topics. "That was fierce."
"So go lie down and take an ibuprofen while you wait for the shower," Shala suggested. Rowen and Sai trooped up the steps.
"I think we should leave," Shala said. She turned to Mia. "Will you tell the guys we'll come back soon? There's somewhere I'd like them to see."
"Sure," Mia said. "May Yuli and I go along?"
"Not a good idea," Shala said flatly. "White Blaze either. It's just not at all safe, and someone would probably kill you."
"Oh . . . okay, I've got work to do anyway."
Shala took her friends, and placed them back where they belonged, one by one. Finally, she called to Max.
"We need to go, sweetie," she said, and picked him up. Then she pulled herself back through to her dimension.
Mia and Yuli just stared. They weren't used to her popping off in front of them.
Shala had gone home for one purpose. Wait, no, two. Hang on. Four. Yes, four is right. She had homework, a large idea to mull over, a desire to check her email . . . and she had to practice her viola.
She checked her mail quickly, signed off, and started her math homework. She hated her math homework. In all other respects, she didn't mind math, but homework (and tests) were the bane of her existence.
As Shala tried to figure out whether going at a rate of 90 mph for three hours was faster than going one hundred miles at 45 mph, and how to represent that on a graph, she considered how she could get the Ronin Warriors to school with all the necessary authorization. She knew it was a slightly long process, from the time her sister's friend had visited from Texas or wherever he came from, and had to go to school with her. She didn't think it would take too long . . .
"Hey Mom," Shala called.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"Can I bring some people to school sometime this week? Maybe Thursday? I just need a note from you to get permission and all the forms from school."
"Sure sweetie. I'll leave it at your place."
"Thanks, Mom!" That settles that, Shala thought
The nest day at school, Shala immediately brought her note into the office. One of the secretaries handed her all the appropriate forms, to be signed by parents and teachers.
Shala ran up the steps to her locker, not wanting to be late for home room, and started filling out what little she could on the forms as soon as she got there. Some of the things to fill out were confusing, so she simply put in the information she knew. Name, age, etc. While putting in date of birth, Shala remembered the guys' true ages, compared to when they were born. She messed around with the year of birth for all five, so that the age fit the year. When the bell rang for first period, Shala asked her teacher to sign what was needed. All through the day, she got her forms slowly signed.
When Shala got home, her mother helped her fill in everything else, and signed the rest of the forms. Shala had a great sense of accomplishment. She'd even worked it out so that the boys would be coming on a day when she had Phys Ed, so they wouldn't be bored during orchestra! (She knew all too well what havoc boredom in orchestra could cause.)
A purpose in life, Shala felt, was not a bad thing after all.
She merrily handed in her papers at the office, promising to come back at the end of the day, and skipped off to home room. When the bell rang at the end of the day, she grabbed her stuff, ran to the office, took her authorization papers, and sprinted for the bus. Her friends were worried. Her only cryptic comments all day whenever she'd been asked why she was so gosh darn happy was, "They're coming." Only Laila and Jing knew what she was talking about. Cole went to another school and Penina wasn't in any of her classes. In her excitement, Shala accidentally neglected to tell her boyfriend.
That night, as she sat doing her homework, Shala wrote a note to her parents, decided she could finish the rest of her work when she got back, and vanished.