What if there were Multiple Universes? Each with their own different change in history. And what if you could experience two at once? *** A Simple Wish : Alter Wish written by Shaun Garin *** AMG is owned by Kosuke Fujishima *** Chapter 5 : Another day at Work I literally dragged myself out of the office that morning and I felt like I just ran the Boston Marathon seven times over. How can some of the other God’s stand this? Oh yeah, they don’t work in the IDWRO with me. (That’s Interdimentional Detective Wish Relief Office for those who missed it the first time.) I stumble into the closest bar and order a ginger ale. Now the other God’s laugh at my choice of beverage when in a bar. But when they find out how MUCH I drink of that stuff, they become a bit more understanding. I never liked Alcohol, no matter how good it looks. Besides, I’d like to be as far away as possible when Thor got blasted and decided to pick a fight. To be more specific, when he gets mad, his aim sucks. Same when he gets blasted, during practice, whenever he’s mad at something...I think I’ll stop now. I still have bruises when he impacted with that thrice darned Hammer of his. At least I’m way past basic training now. How in the world can they pick on someone two times smaller than they are is beyond me. I thought God’s were supposed to be NICE. Wait a second, well, not all of them are nice. There’s Loki, he’s a jerk, the Egyptian Gods are dickweeds as well. I don’t like their views with women. Ra especially. He came down for a visit once, and mind controlled Megumi. I kicked him back through the sky for the sheer purpose and intent of it. No one bothers her while I’m still alive. Come to think of it, the American Tribal Gods are really grating when I want a nice decent talk. They still can’t say anything that makes them sound like a seventh century resident in the middle of the thirtieth century. At least they’re better than the Egyptian duffous. I like Shiva and the guys though. I didn’t see what Herc didn’t like about Ares in the past. Oh well, must be the macho men thing they have going. Hades, now HE’S fun to hang around with. We went laser tagging, paintballing, and he’s crazy when we play anything with guns. I like him a lot more than my opinionated version of Ra and the others. Hades is the fastest talker, sort of like a car salesman, and the guys have said that he never talked like that until he and Herc snuck down to Earth to watch the Disney Hercules. Now Thor gives the best tips and techniques on fighting, at least when he’s not pummeling me with this huge behemoth of a sword. Well, I guess I shouldn’t talk about the aspect of a huge weapon. He is built like Atlas, even more so, and has shoulders at least two meters wide. I always wondered how he got through a door with his width. Tyr. He scares me sometimes. Sometimes during the wee hours of the morning in the temple, he appears out of his light socket and I awake rather rudely to a sword hanging over my head. I naturally scream, leap out of the way, and THEN get pummeled. The guy can be crazy sometimes, and don’t even get me started when he played paintball with me, Shiva, Hades and Thurdr. He is deadly, and can shoot a fly off a tree at seven hundred paces. And you wondered why he scared me. Shiva. She’s one of the kids of the group with a taste for Kahula. I don’t know when or where she picked it up, but I’ve surmised that its her quick recharge method. Urd has Sake, Skuld has Ice Cream, Bell has sleep, Thor has whiskey, and myself? I always carry around a forever chilled flask of ginger ale. I knew it would be in my life for a long time, but hey, no one said anything about becoming an immortal God and needing it for a quick recharge. Ares, he has a somewhat of a morbid sense of humor. He has a evil smile that could send demons screaming for the Lord of Chaos like babies. Great fighter, but that sword technique of his when he swipes downwards and suddenly brings it up really gets on my nerves. Wonder why I say that? It’s usually because my armor is shredded when he passes. Balder. What can I say about him? He’s bald for one, looks like a runner for a football team, has huge muscles and has been known to crush metal stools during a talent contest with one finger. I spend most of my time being chased around the stadium when we spar. Don’t even ask me why that happens. Herc. Herc, Herc, Herc. The son of Zeus himself. Man, He has a lot of names and children. Herc is like a swimmer, looks a lot like the Disney Version and the Hercules : The Legendary Journey Version all rolled into one, and always wears a casual shirt and slacks. That and he’s a hell of a lot faster than most of us. Must be from training during the Grecian wars. The rest of the Greeks besides Herc, Hades and Ares have been getting on my nerves as of late. Same with the Time Deities. Looks like they don’t like my chosen companions. Their loss. Heimdall. He doesn’t want to kick my butt so hard, so he lets up quite a bit whenever we train. Though he has this annoying habit of swiping my stuff before and after practice and hiding it in the various lockers. Tyr said it was because he was trying to get a better sense of humor. Right. Magni. He looks more Russian than Norse, with a trim cropped red beard that goes to the bottom of his neck, has muscles that makes me look even more pathetic when I’m standing beside Ares, Herc, Tyr and Thor, and has this red armor and furs which make him look like a human bulldozer on steroids. Aptly named as well. We call him Tank. Somehow, that really needles him. When I asked him about it he mumbled something about Aph and a Tank Incident. I never really got the whole story but he once pissed Aphrodite off so much, she animated a Tank and got him flattened under the barrel, and had to beg to get it off him. I guess even Gods and Goddesses can be sneaky and nasty when they need to be. Now, you must be wondering why I was trained to fight when I don’t have a warrior God title. It’s because of my predecessor who decreed that his successor will be trained in handling Ranganok for defense of human life and Miracle, his former partner. The guys took this seriously and yours truly was kicked about the stadium for most of the year. Office life isn’t that bad but I soon found out that being cooped up there from seven to nine, answering a huge backlog of wishes could get grating on the nerves. And I just had to be the only God in existence save for the Big Guy to have TransDimentional powers. Must be the overabundance of Materia in Ranganok that does it. I took a long drink from m Ginger ale and heaved a great sigh. Just then, Thor plopped down beside me and ordered a Honey Ale. “Kid.” he said in his usually gruff voice. But hey, he’s a great tenor. “How’s office life?” I bowed my head and groaned. “Terrible. There was...” I searched my hands for a long time before continuing. “Some of the insanity in those worlds are crazy.” “Rough day, huh?” “Yup. Okay, Universe 7859, Sailor Moon. They decide I’m a youma General and promptly blast me before I can erect a shield spell. I wake up in the Dark Kingdom, promptly blast my way out and find out that Nephrite, the one who gets the wish is already dead. Scratch that. Then, Universe 1106, Ursuei Yatsura. I thought SM and Ranma 1/2 was bad. They’re worse. I appear right during a invasion, and people of all shapes and sizes trample me. I barely escape, only to finding out that Ataru Moroboshi is the one who gets the wish through some weird methods. That leads to a lot of chaos as I finally get away.” “But you’re back, right?” Thor asked through his Honey Ale. “No, then, I warped right into a school. It’s called Sasharashi College. Terrible, Demons from the Makai everywhere, Spirit Detectives, everything. I fought so much trying to find the girl called Keiko, I missed her by ten minutes each time. Her boyfriend, Yuusuke wasn’t that happy I was tailing her and another fight ensured, and I finally got that wish to her. But not AFTER demons attacked again. Good thing there was no Yggdrasil complaint there. Seems like the Makai ones are totally different from Hell demons.” I drank deeply and got a refill. “But that’s not the last of it. Some idiot decided that a girl named Hikaru Shidou was to get a wish. I find out that I have to hop two Universes from 3400 to 3401, where I had to run through Cephiro while fighting off monsters just to find the girl. And when I caught up to her, she had already left Cephiro. So, I ran back and gave the wish. None too soon, then they’re called back to that Thrice damned ‘verse. I tell ya, life stinks. Smegging heck.” I grabbed the newly refilled cup and drained it quickly. “Rough. Now you know why I’m a Warrior God.” “Har har, rub it in why don’t ya? I’m serious, I need a partner. Or at the very least, a temporary replacement.” My stomach grumbled. “Hell, it’s supper now. I’m going home, ‘cause I hafta eat. I’m only eighteen.” Thor nodded sagely. “Go, eat and be happy young grasshopper.” “Right. Well, see ya!” I dashed out and with a glow of a lightning Materia, I disappeared and reappeared in front of the Temple, and quickly dodged away as Tamiya looked up from the bike he was building with Keiichi and Ootaki. Peeking out from behind the bushes, I noted that he had gone back to the work. At least the clouds were gathering. Good sign that they didn’t suspect anything. I straighten my clothes, this being a simple white shirt and jeans, with three pendants hanging down from around my neck, (Hey, I don’t like the earring limiters, so He gave me these pendants), and I walked up through the house, into the kitchen, greeted Bell as she made up some unidentifiable Japanese substance on the kitchen. It smells good though. “What’s cooking Bell?” I asked casually. She looks up with this one thousand megawatt smile and says, “Suyaki. But here’s a Canadian Pizza since it has some seafood you don’t eat normally.” “Ah, the cry of the undernourished God just coming home from work.” I said, settling down into a chair, feeling a muscle tense as soon as I hit the hard surface. One of the only chairs in the Temple, I occupy half of the couch, one chair, and the rest of the couch whenever I have a rough day at the office, or the guys decide to run me around the Temple, or wherever I happen to be at the moment. I eagerly dig into the Pizza after snagging a shaker full of cayenne pepper and douse the pizza with it. I like cayenne, so don’t even ask. That followed dried peppers and finally, a bit of parmesan. Note, if you ever go to Japan, never order the special. I learned out the hard way that they have sushi and such on the pizza. Gack. String me up with wire. During my meal, Urd shuffles into the room with a bundle of letters. She drops one onto my lap and I tear it open. It’s from my parents. Dear Shaun, we’ve decided that since you spend a lot of time in Japan, we have sent a letter to Nekomi Institute of Technology. You start next semester. Enclosed is a gold Mastercard and Visa. Keep well, we’ll see you in two years. Love mom and dad. Fun. I knew what brought this one on. “Bell, the Ultimate Force is back in full swing, right? It just transferred me here to Nekomi Tech.” “Oh my. It must be that Miracle is stationed here. And you have to protect her.” I blinked. “Speaking of Miracle, where is she Anyways?” Skuld walked into the door. “Miracle is still at the office. You two have very different schedules so its near impossible to see her every day.” She sat down and grabbed a slice of pizza and took a large bite. Her large eyes then grew even wider as she started hopping around, fanning her mouth. She looked around frantically, and spied a bottle of water. She lunged for it, her mouth burning and downed the liquid in a few gulps. Boy do I feel sheepish. “Sorry Skuld. I should have warned you about the food.” The little Techogoddess nodded weakly and fainted on the floor. Just another day here in the Morisato residence. *** “Well, it could be worse. Something could spontaneously combust at the moment.” Maller winced as the huge machine in front of her exploded. She came out of the explosion, coughing wildly. To her side, a small demon in a lab coat sighed in aggravation. “That’s the fifth one this week. I can’t believe this.” Maller nodded and her eyes narrowed. “This is bad. If Fortune has been revived, he could wipe us all out.” “I don’t think so. What about the Doublet System? Hundreds of Gods will fall with the Demons.” The demon wiped his spectacles on his glasses and peered intently at the sexy female demon. “If he regains his full power, then we cannot save ourselves if he unleashes ULTIMA.” “ULTIMA is forbidden. Nearly every Demon, God, or magic user knows about ULTIMA. ULTIMA shattered Shabernigdo a long time ago, and sent him to Universe 2907. He has been revived twice in the pitiful humans past before.” Maller shivered. “If ULTIMA is reawakened, then whoever gains its power becomes a Elder God. A Titan if you will. Then, we can establish Mortal Kombat in this world.” “But if ULTIMA is unleashed over this Universe, something much more will happen. The Lord of Nightmares, Zellas- Mettelium or Ruby-Eye could be drawn back here!” The scientist Demon shuddered, his flesh crawling. “Even HE doesn’t want it.” “The Lord of Chaos is powerful. And if ULTIMA is revived, then possibly, this whole world is doomed. That also includes Gods and Demons alike.” “But if it IS revived, then how will you gain its power? ULTIMA cannot be received by any normal person, God or Demon. It has its own fate and destiny. Remember the War of the Magi in Universe 7808 on the World Of Balance. It devastated the Local Gods and Demons there, leaving behind Espers, the fragments of their souls, each easily manipulated and changed to either Good or Evil. ULTIMA was manifested in a powerful magical spell. I do not think that killing Fortune will bring about the protection of this world from ULTIMA.” “Fortune had destroyed my world nearly a thousand years ago. I will not give up this chance to gain revenge. Repair the sensors. If Fortune summons ULTIMA, then so be it, and we will move to 002.” The Demon bowed and returned to his work. Maller walked out and slowly sunk to the black ground of the caverns, wrapping her arms around her body. ULTIMA. The very name of the Astral Being sent shivers up her body. It was rumored that ULTIMA, either being male or female was a being of immense power. Something left over from the ANCIENT WARS. ULTIMA was finally used to separate Shabernidgo and banish the other more powerful Monsters to the Slayers Universe. Everything originated from this particular universe. Universe 001. And she wasn’t about to let some newly made God accidentally destroy the universe with his own terrible power. *** And on a sword hidden in hyperspace, a gemstone, twice the size of the Materia crystals glowed with an inner light and a airy laugh came from the stone itself. “Freedom.” It whispered as the light died down. End Chapter 5