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Adventures in Transdimentia
by Shala-chan
Part Six
There was a slight chink. "There you are!" Shala said, looking at her keychain. "Now let's see . . . which key . . .?"
"Don't you know which keys work?" Ryo asked impatiently.
"Two of the sets look almost exactly alike, so it's hard to tell," Shala said. "It's sooo annoying."
"Why -"
"The set for the back door is a lot like the one for the front. Blast it!" she said as one key wouldn't turn. She took one of the other keys and put it in the lock. She turned it, turned the doorknob, and stepped into the house. It was rather awkward getting everyone inside, but they managed. "Good thing I don't have my viola today," Shala commented. "That would have really complicated matters."
They went upstairs, and Shala promptly threw her things in her room, checked the answering machine, and sorted the mail. Then she led the guys to the basement.
"Time for AOHell," she said cheerfully, turning on the computer.
"Don't you have homework?" Sage asked.
"Of course I do. Screw it. I almost never start until after dinner anyway. Besides, I must teach you the ways of AOHell. Although," she said, looking at Rowen, "I may need some help later with my math, Ro-chan."
"Nani?" said Kento.
"Math."
"No, the AOHell."
"Technically it's AOL . . . but it's so tempermental, we call it AOHell. Much like Ryo," she added.
"Yes, but what does AOL stand for?" Sai asked.
"America Online. It's an internet provider. I hate it . . . but I'm addicted. Can't stop the AOL. It's probably the email address."
"What's - oh, never mind," said Sage.
Shala entered her Windows password, and they all watched as the desktop loaded. Shala double-clicked the AOL icon. It took a minute to load, a minute in which she found places for everyone. Sai was the only one in a chair besides her. The others were on the couch bed, peering over their shoulders. Shala signed on.
"That noise is horrible," Ryo said.
"It's over pretty quickly though," Shala said. It stopped.
"Much better," Kento commented.
"Welcome. You've got frickin' mail," said Dr. Evil's voice. The inbox was opened.
"Let's see now . . . junk *delete*, junk *delete*, junk *delete*, porn ad *delete*, a letter from that weird lady *delete*, the sparklist *delete, delete* . . . There we go!" Out of about ten messages, only four were left to be read. Shala scanned all of them, then looked at her buddy list. "This," she said, clicking on a screen name, "is another reason for AOL." She typed in a greeting, and pressed "send." A message came back a moment later.
"Who is that?" Sai asked.
"Penina."
"Let me talk to her!"
Shala surrendered the keyboard, and Sai slowly typed in his hello. "How do I -" Shala pressed ctrl+enter. A few minutes later they were talking to three different people.
"That's it!" Shala said, noting the way the guys couldn't keep up with all the conversations. They lacked practice. "All the AOL people are going in a chatroom NOW!" She sent out invites, and waited. The first thing she typed in was APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE ONLY. There was a collective grr from her friends.
Sorry Shala typed but we DO have guests
Hi Rowen said Laila
I'm leaving said Hanna I wanna reread that Orgy fic
Good luck being a sexy vampire Shala said
Hi Penina! said Sai
Hi Sai
"Let me type!" Rowen said. Hi Laila. They wouldn't let me have the keyboard.
Ooh, Ami's on said Ryka
Invite her! said Laila. Shala sent out the invitation, and a second later they were joined by the aforementioned girl.
WOOO! I found a great fic!
Where?
What?
Who by?
At Mink's
Ami, GUESTS Shala typed frantically
It's sooo sweet though
Anyone who wants to read it can read it later, k?
But
GUESTS!! Tell us the title later
*slaps herself* GUESTS... oh sorry...
S'okay said Ryka
What's Mink's? Penina asked.
Tell ya l8r Shala responded
It's a YST/RW yaoi fic site said Ami
AMI!!!
Yaoi? Rowen typed but that's - Shala slapped his hands away from the keyboard before the other guys could think about it and glared at him.
"Never," she said to the guys, "will I bring you to a chat room again. She grabbed the keyboard and typed in a farewell. Gonna show the guys the 'net. Ttyl?
Yeah
Totally
bye
Shala closed the chat room.
"What was that all about?" Sage asked.
"Yeah," said Ryo and Kento. Shala blushed.
"Um, nothing. Hey let's check out uh, the um, wanna see my webpage?"
"You're avoiding the subject," Sai observed mildly.
"And it's best avoided," Shala said firmly.
"I'm not sure I'd want to know anyway," said Rowen.
"Believe me," said Shala, "you don't." She entered the address for her site, and the cheerful colors (black) and even more cheerful topic (that one was cheerful; virtual petz) soon made everyone sort of forget the whole conversation. Until Kento insisted on seeing her list of favorite links. Shala opened up the menu, and it had several folders, plus some miscellaneous sites.
"Ronin Warriors," Kento said, reading one of the folder names. "You have favorite whatever those things are about us?"
"Yeah sure. I did have a huge obsession with the show for awhile, you know."
"You don't now?" Sage asked. "I'm hurt."
"Well, knowing you guys kind of dampens that," Shala pointed out. "You wanna see some stories people have written about you?"
"That sounds cool, I guess," said Ryo.
Shala opened up one of her favorite fanfic sites, then selected one of her favorite fics for the guys to read. The guys immediately began pointing out things that they thought were stupid, that they wouldn't do, they weren't true, spelling errors (Rowen especially), etc. Shala finally got so exasperated that she closed the window.
"Hey," said Sage, "we were reading that."
"And critiquing it loudly," Shala retorted. "I swear, one more comment and I would've made you read one of the stories at Mink's . . ."
"Why not?" Kento asked.
"Besides which," Shala continued, "you haven't seen that fic first-hand. I have." They looked at her. "All stories are different dimensions," she said, "and believe me, some of them are not pretty. At least the only ones that I actually go into are mine. The others . . . the others are like observing a dream, y'know?"
"Why not?" Kento repeated.
"Why not what?" Shala asked.
"Go to Mink's or whatever it is."
"NO WAY, NO HOW," Shala said, "AND THAT'S FINAL."
"You didn't have to yell," said Ryo.
"Oh yes I did," Shala said, "simply because the contents of Mink's site are not for your observation. We'll . . . leave it at that."
"Yaoi," Rowen muttered.
"You got a problem with that?" Shala asked sharply.
"No . . ." said Rowen.
"Good. Now let's see . . . another half hour and Toonami starts. So where do you wanna go? What to you want to see about?"
"Mink's," Kento said promptly.
"Can we visit my campaign again?" Ryo asked hopefully.
"Pictures?" Sage said.
"We can do pictures," Shala said. "Of what, though?"
"Anything of us?" Sai asked curiously.
"Glad you asked. Shala went to an image gallery, and selected a pic of Sai looking very girly.
"I do not look like that," he said indignantly.
"You tried a mirror, bro?" Kento said helpfully. Shala opened a picture of Kento. They all laughed. It was a baby picture. And baby Kento was pursuing his favorite pastime. Eating. Kento immediately said he was hungry, much to the amusement of the others. Shala went upstairs and microwaved some pockets. Spinach and feta. Yum.
When she got downstairs, a scene of horror greeted her eyes. Rowen, ever sharp, had figured out how to use her links list. And they'd found the link to Mink's.
"Ahem," said Shala. They all jumped.
"I knew there was something weird about Ami saying YST/RW!" Rowen exclaimed. They'd looked at the picture on the main page, and had learned enough.
"I only read the sappy ones!" Shala protested. "I'm a sap! And I never go into them. EVER."
"Yeah, you're a sap," Sage said. "A sap with a sick mind."
"Oh, fine. That's it." Shala grabbed both Sage and Rowen, and pushed them into one of her favorite fics to read. When she took them out, they looked angry. Both were blushing.
"I wouldn't do that," Sage said loftily.
"I'm hurt," Rowen said, sounding hurt.
"Yeah, but it felt right at that moment, didn't it?" Shala said softly.
"I don't know what -"
"Yeah," said Rowen. "Sorry buddy, but it did."
"That," Shala said, "is because in that dimension, it was right." A guilty look crossed her face. "You became you, didn't you?" At their angry nods, she shifted uneasily. "I forgot about that part. Sorry . . ."
"What happened?" Kento asked.
"Don't want to talk about it," said Sage.
"We won't," said Shala. "Besides which, one of the best ways to show Kento would embarrass the hall outta Sai, and I won't do that."
"Thank you," Sai said. " I think."
"Can we go now?" asked Ryo. They looked at him. "Not home, just out of this website."
"Sure!" Shala said, "happy to do so. And by the way Sage, I'm not a sap with a sick mind. I'm a sappy romantic with a sick mind whose friends are much like her. So there." She stuck out her tongue at the blonde.
"Anywhere to go online?" Rowen asked.
"How 'bout um . . . we could go to Cole's site. It's got the story of Chuckles the Duck!"
"NO WAY!" said Ryo.
"Please no . . ." Kento said, whining.
"Fine . . . look. There's like eight minutes to Toonami. If we sign off now, we can wait until the end of Johnny Quest and then Toonami. How's that sound?"
"Good," said Sai.
"I'm for it," said Rowen.
"If you don't mind, I'm going to meditate," Sage said.
"TURN ON THE TV!!" Kento shouted.
"May as well . . ." said Ryo. Shala closed AOL, turned off the computer, and flopped onto the couch, along with four out of the five Ronins. Sage was on the floor meditating. He looked a bit uncomfortable. Shala attributed it to the fact that the basement was freezing and he was sitting on an uncarpeted floor . . . She grabbed the remote from Kento, and put on Cartoon Network.
"This is kinda cheesy," Ryo said.
"You haven't seen Sailor Moon yet," Shala said, giggling. "I watch it for sheer amusement." Pretty soon, the usual introduction to Toonami sequence began. Shala made everyone shove over so Sage could get on the couch too.
"This one's goin' out to all the ladies," said the TV.
"I sure as hell ain't no lady," Shala snorted.
"Duh," said Sai teasingly.
"You picked up a useful word!" Shala exclaimed jokingly. "Ooh, what's the episode title? I missed it. Oh well."
They sat back for twenty-five minutes of Sailor Moon and the other scouts running like terrified little girls all over the place and finally getting their butts saved by Tuxedo Mask and a magic tiara.
"That was very cheesy," said Ryo.
"But they had nice outfits," Sage said. "They're stupid but tight." He smiled a bit.
"Yeah, dude," said Kento.
"Personally," said Shala, "I'm rooting for the Negaverse. They're more interesting." They looked at her. "Just kidding. They're basically just as stupid."
The TV said Reboot was next. Shala said they didn't have to watch it, but if they didn't watch from five to six, she'd kill them all. They elected to keep watching.
"What an interesting program," said Sai.
"Real violence is up next," Shala announced. "Dragonball Z. Nice and explosive."
"That's cool," said Kento. "Making stuff rubble is fun."
Shala was cheerful all through DBZ, except for the occasional face when something bad happened.
"This animation isn't too great," Rowen observed.
"You could do better?"
"Sai might be able to."
"True."
"What's next?" Sage asked.
"Ronin Warriors," Shala said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, what?" they all asked.
"I wasn't addressing you," said Shala, "I was telling you what's on next." A few minutes later . . .
"There is a legend," Mia's voice began, "that when the earth is covered by a wicked, dark shadow, the Ronin Warriors will come to save us." The rest of the opening sequence commenced.
The guys spent the entire show staring at the television set with their mouths open. Shala just stared intently at the TV, concentrating on the program. Unlike the boys, she was used to seeing them on the television.
When the show was over, a stunned silence descended over the room.
"I remember that," Sai whispered.
"Well that was weird as hell," Ryo said flatly.
"Anyone wanna watch Batman?" Shala asked helpfully. "It's on next. And I could use some help with my math, Rowen." The blue-haired boy nodded absently. Shala ran upstairs to get her math. She came back down and flopped next to Rowen. "Now what I really don't get," she said, "is this problem here. Number five?"
"Oh," said Rowen, shaking himself, "you just have to . . ." They continued working on Shala's homework. The others watched Batman.
"You know," Shala said, looking up, "as soon as we finish this, there's no reason you can't go home."
"I want to know more stuff about this dimension!" Kento said.
"I could tutor you guys for awhile so you won't be as confused next time you come," Shala offered. "'Cause I have a lot of homework, and I doubt we have enough to feed Kento with. I don't want you to be bored or anything."
"School made it too late," said Sage.
"I see your point," said Ryo. "Besides, we've got stuff to do at home anyway."
"We do?" asked Rowen.
"I can think of a few things," Sai said thoughtfully.
"Okay, well, once we finish this problem, you can go pack up," Shala said. A few minutes later . . . "I get it!" Shala exclaimed. "178 miles per hour, assuming the track is straight, anyway." She jumped up, did a little jig, and shoved the Ronins off the couch-bed. Then she stripped off the sheets and folded it back into a couch again. "Time to pack!" Shala exclaimed. "We're going home!" said Kento excitedly. His and Sai's things were right there, so Shala, Ryo, Rowen, and Sage went upstairs. They dropped Ryo off in the living room, then went into Shala's sister's room to get Rowen and Sage's stuff. Shala went into the kitchen and threw together some food for the trip back.
They all congregated in the basement. Kento said he was hungry. Shala rummaged in the bag a second and shoved a cracker in his mouth.
"What's in there?" Ryo asked.
"Just some food. A few crackers, some chips, and that's about it."
"You didn't have to do that," Sai said.
"Yes, I did," Shala insisted, "it's a part of me. Even if we're just going to take a three-second trans-dimensional trip. I think I get it from my grandmother. . ."
"Everyone have everything?" Ryo asked.
"Yes, I think so," said Rowen.
"Then let's go. Shala?" Shala concentrated, and pulled them all through to the Ronin's home dimension. They "landed" in the middle of the room they had left from.
"We're back!" Sai called. White Blaze bounded into the room and tackled Ryo, licking his face happily.
"Some tiger," he muttered.
"You're home! Yay!" Yuli shouted, running in. He bowled into the group and everyone fell flat on their butts. Mia stood in the doorway and smiled.
The second Kento got free, he took the food bag from Shala and ate it all.
"I'm still hungry," he said plaintively.
"I'm afraid we don't have anything in the house," Mia said apologetically. "We didn't have the chance to go grocery shopping."
"I'm too tired to cook anyway," said Sai.
"I'm hungry," Kento repeated. Shala looked around. They all looked hungry. It was, after all, past dinnertime. She made one last pull.
A grill appeared, followed by a girl with long dark hair and a spatula in her hand. There was another large one on her back. She looked up.
"Where's Ranchan?" she asked, confused.
"They're hungry, Ucchan," Shala said, indicating the others in the room. "Would you do me a favor and do something about it?" She turned to the guys. "There you go, Kento. See you tomorrow," Shala concluded wearily, disappearing into thin air.
"Who's up for okonomiyaki?" Ukyo asked.