Greetings, all!



ObComment:  I, for one, have high hopes that the FFML will survive,
in some form.  To White Wolf:  Thank you for everything that you've
done, and here's hoping that this interval will be a short one.



About this fic:  After having posted these two chapters several
months ago, I have learned a few things.  First:  I write WAY too
slowly to be able to promise exactly when a new chapter will come
out.  Second:  C&C is a great thing.  After receiving a few good
comments on this (especially from Michael Chen -- thanks again), I
took the time to rewrite a few things.  Naturally, this meant that it
took way too long for me to begin Chapter 3.  Anyway, here is the
revised first two chapters.  The first draft of the third will follow
shortly.



Future chapters will be posted on the FFML (or a reasonable facsimile
thereof), and on my webpage:



http://atendido.home.mindspring.com/fanfiction.html



Or, drop me a line at atendido@mindspring.com and I'll send out new
chapters as they're written.



C&C cheerfully accepted, in any form.  Even flames will be read,
albeit with amusement -- after all, we just got hit with an ice storm
up here...



Rob, a.k.a Raja



***



"Now, Urd!"



By now, the area around the temple was overwhelmed with light and sound.

The portal to heaven had opened, and Belldandy was helplessly being

drawn up.  Keiichi desperately plunged his arm into the column of light,

trying to reach Belldandy one last time, trying to give her the gift he

had promised so long ago.



Urd quickly returned her attention to the Ultimate Magic Circle.  Skuld

had just finished drawing the final segments, laying the groundwork for

the spell which would absorb the energy of an unfulfilled goddess

contract. The energy, once drawn out of the cherry tree in the yard

where it had been sealed, would be nullified, and Keiichi and Belldandy

could stay together forever--but she had to hurry.  Urd raised her hands

high, and began the final incantation--



A brilliant arc of white light blinded Urd and Skuld.  The sound as it

struck the ground was so loud as to be a physical force, knocking them

both off their feet.  Even as she fell, Urd realized what had happened

-- Kami-sama had seen what she and Skuld were trying to do, and put a

stop to it.  All at once, the frustration that had been building in her

since Kami-sama had ordered Belldandy to return to the heavens boiled

over, as Urd screamed out to the heavens, "FATHER!"



***



                        Obeying Destiny



                   An "Oh My Goddess!" Fanfic

                       by Robert Atendido





All "Oh My Goddess!" characters created by and property of Kosuke Fujishima.

Used with the greatest of respect and the best of intentions, but
without any thought of profit.



***



Urd was taking down the wash, grumbling to herself, when the phone rang.

She ran back into the house by the temple, momentarily tangling herself

in the clothesline in her haste.  "Hello?"



"Urd, is that you?"



Urd's face lit up as she recognized the voice of her little sister.

However, she managed to mostly keep her smile from her voice as she

replied, "Well, of course, Skuld.  Who else would be answering the phone

here?"



The voice on the other end of the line went from happy to angry in an

instant.  "Well, excuse me for calling you!  I mean, I'd think you'd be

happy to hear from me, during our --" Skuld stopped short.  Urd knew

why.



"Our punishment?" she replied, softly.  A muted sob was Skuld's only

response.  *Wish I could change gears that quickly,* Urd thought to

herself.  *If I could --*



But it was to no avail.  Urd began to replay, in her mind, the events

that led up to her current exile.  She remembered, in painful detail,

what her father had said...



***



"YOU HAVE DEFIED MY WILL."



Urd and Skuld slowly rose to their feet amid the broken earth of the

temple.  Time seemed to have stopped.  Darkness had fallen across the

land, but for the ground around the two goddesses.



"YOU HAVE TRIED TO USE A FORBIDDEN CONSTRUCT, AND RISKED THE BALANCE OF

THE ULTIMATE FORCE."



Skuld sank back to her knees, shaking.  Urd could only stand there,

frozen in shock.



"YOU MUST BE PUNISHED FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS."



Skuld covered her eyes in fear.  Urd, amazingly, stepped forward.  "But,

Father," she began, hesitantly.



Silence.



Surprised that she was allowed to speak, Urd continued.  "Our plan would

have worked!"  She paused for a moment, glancing at Skuld.  "My plan.

If we released that energy from that tree, and dispersed it into the

Magic Circle --"



"THAT MUCH ENERGY INTRODUCED AT ONCE INTO THE SYSTEM COULD HAVE CAUSED

SERIOUS PROBLEMS."



"We covered that in the basic program --"



"THE RISK IS UNACCEPTABLE."



"But Belldandy and Keiichi belong together!"



"WOULD YOU SACRIFICE THE UNIVERSE FOR ONE MORTAL?"



"Father?"  Skuld said.  "If I might ask..."



Silence.



"Umm...Belldandy...had a lot of friends here.  I mean, if we have to..."

Skuld trailed off, uncertainly.



Urd picked up from there.  "Yes!  Changing the memory of everyone who

has had contact with Bell, and undoing all of her actions, must

certainly take up a lot of power!"



"THIS IS TRUE.  HERE IS HOW WE WILL DEAL WITH IT."



Urd and Skuld gulped, involuntarily.



***



"Urd?  Are you still there?"



Urd came out of her reverie with a start.  "Yes, Skuld, I'm still here."

*Where else would I be,* she thought, bitterly.  She sighed.  "I'm not

cut out for this role I've been forced into," Urd complained.



"Well, I couldn't have gotten away with it!  I'm too young to be going

to Nekomi Tech!"



"Yes, Skuld, we've been over this.  You're up there, babysitting the

system and making sure that our changes don't cause conflicts, and I'm

down here, playing den mother to Keiichi and all of his friends."



"Urrrd!"



"All right, all right.  How are things going up there?  Any conflicts

with existing programming?"



"No...at least, I don't think so.  Everything seems to be fine--all of

the basic code is up and running.  There are still some minor glitches

showing up on the main systems monitor, but that's to be expected, I

guess..."



"Yes, that's true.  We did have to make quite a lot of changes in the

programming," Urd replied, in that condescending tone that Skuld knew so

well.  "But you should have had those problems fixed ages ago."



"Oh yeah?  I'd like to see YOU come up here and try to do better!" Skuld

shouted back.  Urd smirked to herself, pleased to hear that she could

still get to her sister.  She let Skuld's rant continue for a moment

before she apologized.



"Calm down, Skuld.  It's all right.  I'm sure you're doing a wonderful

job."  Urd's smile faded a bit, and she took a deep breath before

continuing.  "How's Bell?"



Skuld also hesitated before responding.  "Bell...Belldandy is still

taking this really hard.  Kami-sama has released her from active duty

for a while."



"All right."  Urd sighed again.  "It's only been a week or two...let's

give her some time."



"Urd?  Bell asked me to ask you..."



"Yes?"



"...to ask you to...take care of Keiichi.  For her, I mean."



Urd smiled sadly.  "Tell her...tell her of course I will."  *If I

can...*



Urd had barely replaced the handset when the sound of a motorcycle

announced Keiichi's arrival.  She looked up as Kei slid open the door.

"Hello, Keiichi.  You're home early."



Keiichi shuffled in, closing the door behind him.  "Hey, Urd.  You

didn't go in to school today?"



Urd grimaced to herself.  "No, my classes got called off today.  Got

some housework done here."  *Classes...housework...I can NOT do this!*

Urd said to herself.



When time had begun its flow, and the bright sunlight resumed once

again, Urd and Skuld had found...that everything had changed.  No longer

was Keiichi Morisato sharing residence with three goddesses.  Now,

Keiichi and his sister Megumi were both tenants in the house which now

belonged to Urd.



Urd, who was now posing as a graduate student in chemistry at Nekomi

Tech.



As part of their punishment, Urd and Skuld had to implement and monitor

the changes that Kami-sama deemed necessary.  One of them had to keep an

eye on the main computer system in Heaven, while the other had to stay

on Earth to make any spot corrections needed.



*I suppose I should be thankful,* thought Urd.  *After all, Kami-sama

could have taken away my license completely.*  There was a crashing

noise from Keiichi's room.  Urd looked up to the heavens, wondering if

she really deserved all this.



Urd stuck her head into Keiichi's room.  Some of her irritation was

replaced by concern, as she saw Keiichi curled up on the floor, head

cradled in his hands.  "Another migraine?"  Kei nodded, mutely.  "I'll

get you something for it.  Hold on..."



Urd went into her room and began going through her medicines, trying to

find something that she hadn't tried yet.  No remedy Urd had tried so

far had even made a dent in Keiichi's headaches, and she couldn't use

her powers as indiscriminately as she once had.



So intent was Urd on finding a new remedy, that she totally missed the

aura of power that had begun to grow from a tree beside the yard...



***



Skuld was in a floating monitor chair in one of the control rooms of the

great world computer, Yggdrasil.  She was not happy.  At that particular

moment, Skuld had set the screens hovering around her to display status

reports on the many parts of the system that she and her sister, Urd,

had been required to modify, as per Kami-sama's commands.  Strangely,

many of the displays were showing problems; system slowdowns, error

messages, broken subroutines, system force imbalances, the occasional

unexplainable glitch.  Skuld frowned, puzzled.  Yes, they had had to do

a lot of reprogramming on the fly, and they didn't have time to

troubleshoot everything right away, but Skuld had been working almost

nonstop since their new subroutines had kicked in.  By all rights, she

should have reduced the number of problems to zero.  But it seemed that

for every system glitch solved, several more appeared.



The chair swung around as Skuld adjusted a control.  One of the screens

switched over to a view of the Earth, floating in space.  Several spots

were faintly glowing a dull red, to show areas being affected by the

system stress.  *Nothing too serious,* thought Skuld.  Still...  She

sighed, and switched back to the main display.  She cleared the screen

and brought up the command line.  Skuld eyed the blinking cursor with

wariness.  "Okay, this is it," she said under her breath.  "It's either

you or me this time!!!"



For a timeless interval, Skuld focused on the display in front of her to

the exclusion of all else.  Her hands flew across the controls, entering

line after line of new code.  Finally, with a flourish, she typed the

last line of her new program and saved it.  Skuld spared herself a

moment to marvel at the glistening perfection of her new program.

"Yes!" she shouted to no one in particular.  "This program will once and

for all fix all of the problems with the system forever!  I am such a

genius!"  Skuld clasped her hands in sheer techno bliss.



Almost reverently, Skuld tapped in the run command and hit execute.  She

quickly moved back to the worldview screen, to see the results of her

handiwork.



Skuld watched with mounting glee as one by one, the dull red spots began

to fade away.  "Yess!  It worked!"  She jumped up onto her seat and did

a little victory dance, causing her chair to dip and sway in mid air.

This went on for a few moments, until Skuld noticed that something was

moving on the screen.  Immediately, she sat back down and moved her

chair up close to the display.



*That's not supposed to happen!* thought Skuld.  Although the red areas

were shrinking, they were also moving, slowly drifting across the globe.

Where are they going?  As Skuld continued to watch, the crimson spots

began to converge, once again brightening.  Somehow, Skuld wasn't too

surprised to see that the red areas looked to be settling in and around

Japan.  "No, no, no, NO!" she shouted, banging her fists onto the

screen.



***



What a beautiful day, thought Sayoko Mishima as she came out of her last

class.  She calmly walked past the usual bunch of guys trying (and

failing) to act nonchalant.  *Losers,* Sayoko smirked to herself.  She

immediately dismissed them from her mind.



By some stroke of chance, Sayoko found herself walking past the

headquarters of the Nekomi Motor Club.  She recalled that Keiichi hadn't

shown up for his last class, and decided to just pop in for a moment to

see if he was there.  *Just making sure that he's not sick or

something...*



Sayoko looked through the door and saw something she had never expected

to ever see in her life:  Tamiya and Otaki, the leaders of the Motor

Club, actually working on a motor.  After she picked herself up from the

ground, Sayoko knocked loudly to get their attention.



"Yeah, whudda ya want?" the big one -- Tamiya -- asked.



Suppressing a shudder, Sayoko replied, "Uh, just wondering if Keiichi

was here.  He wasn't in his last class."



"Nah, he ain't here.  I think he got sick or somethin'," said Tamiya,

getting up and wiping his hands on his pants.  "Probably went home."



"Oh.  Thank you," Sayoko nodded politely, if a bit too quickly, and

stepped back through the door --



-- just in time to avoid being hit with engine parts, as the motor that

Tamiya and Otaki were working on flew apart.



"Whoa, dude!" exclaimed Otaki.  "What happened?"  He stood up from where

he had fallen.  Sayoko was amazed to see that Otaki was unhurt, without

even a scorch mark on him.  She then realized that there wasn't any

burns, or even any smoke.



Tamiya and Otaki were looking at the scattered parts, confused.  Sayoko

returned their puzzled glances, shrugged, turned, and left.  As she

walked off, Sayoko failed to notice the small white furry object that

hopped away behind her.



***



Megumi Morisato walked up the steps and through the gate leading to the

house.  Her mind was a bit preoccupied with concern for her brother.  *I

hope he's feeling better,* she thought.  *He's been so depressed lately.

I wonder why?*  Megumi sighed as she stopped in the courtyard to adjust

her back pack.  Just as she was about to continue into the house, she

came to a halt.  Something didn't feel quite right...  Megumi looked

around, trying to figure out the source of her unease.  As her eyes fell

upon the dead tree beside the courtyard, she had a brief glimpse of

something fuzzy flying at her before the world went white...



The next thing Megumi knew, someone was shaking her by the shoulders.

She groggily sat up.  "Whuh...what hit me?" Megumi mumbled to herself.



"Hey, are you all right?"  Megumi's eyes finally focused enough to see

that it was Sayoko talking to her.  "You just fell over here on the

front step."



"I'm okay, I think," Megumi replied, getting up.  She felt a bit dizzy,

but only for a moment.  "I must've tripped or something.  What brings

you out here, Sayoko?"



"Oh!  Uh...Keiichi missed some important info in our last class, so I

thought I'd, umm...loan him my notes."



Megumi thought it prudent not to mention that Sayoko didn't seem to be

carrying anything with her.  "He missed his last class today, huh?

Well, let's go in and see what's up."



Urd was listlessly pushing dishes around a sink full of water when she

heard the door slide open again.  Before she could say anything, she

heard Megumi call out, "Hey, anybody home?"  A groan was the response

from Keiichi's room.



"Oops," said Megumi in a quieter voice.  Urd stepped into the hallway, a

cup still in her hands.  "Another migraine?"  Urd nodded.



"Maybe I should check--er, give Kei my notes later," whispered Sayoko.

"I'll see you later."



As Sayoko left, Megumi carefully put down her bookbag, trying not to

make any noise.  "Well, I hope this headache doesn't last too long.  He

missed two days of class with that one last week."



"Well," replied Urd, "I've given him some new medication.  We'll see

what happens."  She turned to go back to the sink.



"Right," said Megumi, absently.  She opened her bag and began taking out

some books.  "By the way, where's Bell?"



The cup hit the floor with a crash.



***



Skuld frantically tried as many programming tricks and shortcuts as she

could remember, but nothing seemed to work.  She would look up after

each attempt, only to see the same image on the map screen above

her--Japan was still highlighted in flashing red, indicating trouble.

Skuld placed her head in her hands, tired and frustrated.  *Why should I

have to do this,* she thought, angrily.  *This is all Urd's fault

anyway.*



All around her, various indicators and alarms began calling for

attention.  Skuld looked up to see the crimson marks begin to grow

brighter.  *Uh oh...*  Frowning, Skuld let her hands hover over the

controls for a moment while she decided upon a course of action.

Finally, reluctantly, she reached down and activated her telephone.



"C'mon, c'mon, pick up..."  After a second or two, Skuld heard Urd pick

up the other end of the line.  "Urd...I think we've got some problems."



***



"No kidding," Urd replied, gripping the phone with her free hand.  She

had a protesting Megumi in a headlock with her other arm, hand clamped

firmly around her mouth.  "Look, Skuld, I've got something I have to

deal with immediately.  I'll call you right back."



"But, Urd--!"  Before Skuld could say another word, Urd dropped the

handset back onto the phone and hustled Megumi outside.  She didn't let

go of her until they had reached the steps of the temple.



"Urd, what are you doing?!" said Megumi, more confused than angry.



"I didn't want Keiichi to hear you," Urd replied, sitting down upon the

steps.



"What?"  Megumi planted her fists on her hips.  "Why shouldn't he hear

me?  I mean after all, Bell IS his girlfriend, y'know!"  Urd was making

urgent shushing motions, but Megumi went on regardless.  "In fact, where

is she, anyways?  I mean, you'd think that Bell would be over here

helping Kei--"  She stopped, puzzled.  "Oh, wait, I remember now.  Bell

had to go home, or something..."  Megumi raised a hand to her forehead,

trying to think.  "No, that's not right...Kei and I moved in with you to

save on dorm fees, right?  But...but Bell lived here, though...I, uh..."

Megumi had sat down next to Urd, head in her hands, now really

confused.  "I, uh...Urd...what's going on?  What's wrong with me?"



Urd sighed inwardly.  She could just erase Megumi's memory again.

That's what she should do.  Had it been a few weeks ago, Urd would have

done so without a second thought.  But, for some reason, it just didn't

seem fair to just delete the confusion and go on as if nothing happened.

And...Urd had to admit to herself, she really felt the need to share

her burden with someone else, even if she then had to make her forget

about it right away.



On the other hand, that would make that much more for Megumi to forget

afterwards.  No, better to take care of it now, when Megumi's confusion

was still fresh in her mind...and an easier target.  Urd grinned

ruefully to herself.  *With all this practice I've been getting on my

accuracy, I should be a goddess first class in no time,* she thought.

Urd turned a bit away from Megumi -- who was too lost in her own

confusion to notice -- and began to gather the energy she needed into a

glowing sphere in her hands.



***



"Well, of all the nerve...!" shouted Skuld, slamming the "disconnect"

button with excess force.  "Where does she get off, hanging up on me

like that!  I ought'a just let her deal with it on her own --"



Skuld took a deep breath, leaning her head against the screen.  "It's

not fair," she whispered to herself.  "You're down there, I'm up here,

we're both trying to do these huge jobs by ourselves...."



The screen image shifted beneath her head.  "Huh?"  As Skuld looked up,

a spark traced a glowing path across the screen.  "What was that?"

Manipulating controls, she rewound and watched again.  Before her eyes,

a bright spot suddenly appeared in the center of the red area.  After a

moment, it changed into a streak, launching its way eastward.  Skuld

rewound again and froze the display.  The short-lived streak was now a

glowing line, stretching from the red area across the ocean.  She could

barely make out the object causing the glowing trail.  Frowning, Skuld

magnified the image, until she could see it more clearly.  It was small

and roundish, with what appeared to be several arms or legs protruding

from it --



Skuld's eyes widened.  "Oh no!  It couldn't be!!"



***



Megumi looked up suddenly.  "What's that?"



Urd followed Megumi's gaze and saw what looked like a rabbit crossing

the courtyard...but rabbits don't normally have six legs.  Even as Urd's

mouth dropped open in surprise, she launched the energy she had gathered

at the creature.  Megumi gasped as the ball of power soundlessly

detonated, causing the creature to disappear.  In it's place was a

meter-wide hole scorched into the ground.



"What was that?" Megumi said again, eyes wide with surprise.



"It was a bug, a system bug...it's a long story."  Urd stood, and began

to rush back to the house.



"No, I mean, what did you just do?  Hey, Urd...wait up!"  Megumi

scrambled to her feet, chasing after Urd.  She burst into the house to

find Urd dialing what appeared to be way too many numbers on the phone.



"Skuld, we've got bugs down here!" Urd shouted into the phone.  Megumi

heard a pained groan from Keiichi's room.



"Way ahead of you, sis," answered Skuld, hurriedly.  Urd could hear much

activity in the background.



"So what are we doing about it?"



"I'm trying to isolate the bug port on the surface world, but I can't

seem to pin it down -- I think I'm going to have to get Bell to help --

you're gonna have to keep a lid on things down there."



"What!  How am I supposed to do that by myself?"



"I DON'T KNOW!  I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN!"



Skuld's voice rode the edge of barely controlled hysteria.  Urd heard

this and took a deep breath.  *If I push too hard, she'll be no use for

anything.*  "Skuld...Skuld, I'm sorry.  I know you're doing your best."

She rubbed her head with her free hand.  "Give me the details."



"Umm...okay.  It looks like the bugs are appearing in the Tokyo

area...and from there after a little while they can launch anywhere in

the world.  There aren't many of them, but I think that the rate that

they are popping up is increasing."



Urd waited a moment.  "That's IT?"



"Well, what do you expect?  This all only just started a few minutes

ago..."



Urd mentally reined in her irritation.  "Okay.  Okay, how are they

getting the energy to appear here?  A bug exhaust port doesn't just

appear out of nowhere, you know."



"Hold on, let me see..."  Urd heard more computer activity in the

background.  "They seem to be tapping into the system force, somehow.

There's a leak in the system...."



"Okay, Skuld.  I'll nail the bugs that are already here, and you tie up

the power drain, right?"



"Yeah.  But Urd, one of them might have already left the area!"



***



Late evening, San Francisco.  Although rush hour was supposedly over,

traffic in the Bay Area was still slowed to a crawl.  The holdup seemed

to be around the bay area, as cars on the bridges crossing the bay

screeched to a halt. What apparently had been a tremendous underwater

explosion had caused waves that rattled the deck of the Golden Gate

Bridge.  At that same moment, the lights illuminating both the Golden

Gate and the Bay Bridge went out, some of them explosively.



Beneath the water, a bug crouched close to the bottom, slowly regaining

its strength, wondering what mischief to do next.  It _liked_ this game!



***



"Right.  Let me know if that one causes too many problems."



"Okay..."  Skuld's voice sounded tired and scared.  Urd sensed that she

was on the verge of shutting down.



"Come on, Skuld.  You and me against the forces of Chaos, right?  No

problem.  At least," Urd said in her best arrogant voice, "I'll hold up

my end.  I'd better make some plans just in case I can't count on you,

right?"



"What?!"  Urd smiled as she heard Skuld's voice perk up with anger and

injured pride.  "I bet I'll have this cleaned up before you make it out

of the house!"



"I hope you do, little sister.  I hope you do."  Urd decided to relent.

"Look.  Let the automatic systems try to track the exhaust port for a

while.  Get yourself some rest."



"But Urd, it looks like there's at least four or five bugs down there.

How are you going to catch them by yourself?"



"Who said I was going to do it by myself?



"It's not like I can go down there!  Do you want me to get Bell to help

you?"



"No, you need her more up there with you."  Urd looked up at the door,

where a still-confused Megumi was standing.  "I'm going to draft a

deputy."



"WHAT?!  You CAN'T!  Urd--"



Urd slammed her fist down.  "Do you have a better idea?"  Now Urd felt

herself skating close to the breaking point.  She paused for a moment to

calm down.  "We can discuss it with Father later," she continued.  "In

fact, why don't you mention it to him right now?  You can see him on

your way to your chambers."



"Thanks a lot," muttered Skuld under her breath.



"What was that?"



"I said..."  Skuld sighed.  "Good luck, Urd.  I think you're gonna need

it."



"Thanks, Skuld."  Urd heard a click as Skuld disconnected.  "Good luck

to you too."



As Urd put the phone down, the sound of a door sliding open made her

look up.  Keiichi stood there, cold pack against his head.  "Keiichi!

How are you feeling?"



"I'm feeling...better, thanks.  What's all the shouting about?"



Urd privately decided that Kei didn't look much better.  "Uhh...I need

to go shopping in town for a bit.  Is it okay if Megumi and I borrow

your motorcycle for a while?"



Keiichi looked from Urd to Megumi.  "Well, sure, I guess."  He fumbled

in his pockets, then handed his keys to Urd.



"Thanks!"  Urd ran into her room, ran out again with a backpack, and

grabbed Megumi's arm.  "See you later!"  She hustled Megumi out into the

courtyard.



The haze in Megumi's mind had finally begun to clear a bit, and she

found her voice again.  "Urd, hold it," she said, shaking her off.

"Tell me what's going on!"



Urd handed Megumi her helmet.  "Here.  It's a long story.  You're

driving.  I'll try to explain on the way."



"Where are we going?"  Megumi asked, as Urd climbed into the sidecar.



"I'm not sure yet," she replied, taking several objects from her pack.

"Just drive.  Oh, and you might need this."



Megumi looked at the object Urd handed her with some interest.  *A

hammer?*  She shrugged to herself as she got onto the bike.  *This

explanation had better be good...*  Aloud, she said, "Are you ready?"

Megumi looked over her shoulder to see Urd frowning at something on a

device she was holding.  "Hey, when did you start wearing glasses?"



Urd looked up, adjusting the scanners that Skuld had built into the

frames of her glasses.  "They're just for...technical work."  The

display in the left lens flashed, causing Urd to look back across the

courtyard...where a certain tree was highlighted with an unhealthy glow.



As data began to scroll across Urd's vision, she murmured, "Oh, that's

not good."



Puzzled, Megumi followed Urd's gaze.  "What's up?  I don't--"  Megumi

stopped for a moment, and shuddered, as if a chill had come over her.



"Megumi?  What is it?"



"I...I don't know....  Something...."  She could feel the confusion

rising again in her mind.  "Something from...over there...that

tree...something came from there, and hit me...."



Urd placed her hand on Megumi's shoulder and concentrated.  Megumi's

shivering eased off.  "Don't worry.  Whatever was there seems to be gone

now."  Urd looked back at the tree, and at the information her

instruments told her.  It seemed that, although a bug exhaust port had

formed by the tree, it had...moved?  *This is NOT good,* she repeated to

herself.  To Megumi, she said, "Let's go."



Keiichi heard them go, the motorcycle roaring away.  The sound made his

head throb, but it seemed that his headache was receding.  *Well, I

can't let a headache put me behind in class, can I?* Keiichi thought to

himself.  He returned to his room, and sat down at his desk.  As he got

out his books for the class that he missed, Keiichi happened to glance

at a picture sitting in it's frame on a shelf.



*That's funny...what an odd picture,* he observed.  The photo was of

Keiichi, but for some reason he was on the left side of the shot.  The

space to his right was empty.  Keiichi paused, looking at the photo some

more.  *There should be someone...there....*  In his mind's eye, a face

began to appear, the face that was missing from the photo.  It was a

friendly face, with a gentle smile and eyes that were full of--



*OWWW!!*



The stab of pain came suddenly, the shock of it driving Keiichi into

unconsciousness.



***



"Umm...Father?  We seem to have a problem....  Another bug exhaust port

seems to have formed.  We can't locate it precisely, and I can't seem to

pin down what's powering it...."



Kami-sama spoke before Skuld could continue.  "Yes.  I have been

monitoring the situation for some time now."  Skuld noticed images from

her work floating around the Heavenly Throne.



"Oh.  Right.  Um.  Well...."  Skuld placed a hand behind her head,

nervously.



Her father held up his hand, interrupting her half-formed statement.

"Although I do not entirely approve of everything you and Urd have

done," he began, "I understand why you have chosen this particular

course of action.  I will have others of the heavenly host exploring

different options for dealing with the new exhaust port, but for now,

you may continue your efforts."



"Ah....  Thank you, Father!"



"But remember:  I WILL be watching."



***



Skuld was walking down a vast hallway, absentmindedly scooping fudge

ripple ice cream from a quart container carried under one arm.

*Continue our efforts, huh?  Great.  But what should our next step be?*

She stopped for a moment to ponder.  *Maybe I can just let some of the

others try to come up with a solution.*  This seemed like a good course

of action, but for her father's last words....  Skuld paused and

shuddered at the memory.  She shoveled another spoonful of ice cream

into her mouth to boost her energy a bit more, and kept going.  *I know!

I could ask Belldandy for advice!*



Skuld rounded a corner and approached the doors to Belldandy's chambers.

Her sister had been in seclusion ever since the recall notice had taken

effect, and Skuld hesitated to disturb her now, but...she needed her

help.



Putting the spoon back into the ice cream and closing the container,

Skuld gingerly knocked on her sister's door.  "Um...Belldandy?"



There was no response.  Skuld knocked a little harder.  "Sister?"



Still nothing.  Skuld came to a decision, and gently opened the door.

She cautiously stuck her head in and looked around, her eyes slowly

adjusting to the dim lighting.  Bell sat in an overstuffed chair by the

fireplace, knitting needles in one hand, the beginnings of a scarf in

the other.  *Oh, she's asleep!* Skuld noticed.  *She's probably

exhausted.  It'd be a shame to wake her....*  Skuld sighed.  "Bell?" she

said gently, so as not to startle her.



Belldandy slept on.  Skuld tapped her on the shoulder.  "Belldandy, it's

Skuld.  Wake up, please, big sister, I need your help..."  Bell didn't

respond.  Frowning a little, Skuld tried again.  "Belldandy...BELLDANDY!

Please, wake up!"



By now, Skuld had begun to shout, but Bell didn't even twitch.  She just

sat there, deeply asleep.



*Geez!* thought Skuld.  Belldandy seemed to be really out of it.  She

was so deep in sleep that it seemed nothing could rouse her.

*Hmmm...Bell only sleeps this hard when she has to recharge her energy,*

mused Skuld, as she looked at her sleeping sister.  Just as Skuld used

ice cream for emergency recharges, Belldandy had to sleep to regain her

strength.  *Like when she's totally drained herself... power... drain...

Power?  For the -- oh, no.  No.  Nononononono....*  Skuld backed up to

the door, then turned and ran out of the room, calling, "FATHERRRRR!!!"



***



Sayoko Mishima believed herself to be a very down-to-earth person.  She

didn't usually go for a belief in luck or destiny or mystic powers or

things like that.  So, she didn't really have an explanation for some of

the odder things that seemed to be happening while she was around today.

It all started earlier, at the motor club, when the engine Tamiya and

Otaki was working on flew apart.  Next, she saw Megumi just fall over at

the entryway to the house she and her brother shared.  At that

particular moment, Sayoko had noticed the campus clock had begun to spin

backwards.  As she walked past, the clock had frozen completely, just

before the mechanism popped out and fell to the ground with a crash.

Sayoko backed away from the wreck of the clock and leaned against a

metal sculpture nearby.  *Good thing I wasn't under that -- hey!*

Behind her, the sculpture had suddenly collapsed under her weight, the

steel framework bending as if it had turned to jello.  *What the heck?!*



Suddenly, Sayoko saw what looked like a small animal hopping around the

base of the sculpture, trapped by the bent metal.  "Ohh, how cute!  Are

you a bunny rabbit?" Sayoko said in reassuring tones.  "Don't worry,

we'll have you out of there in a jiffy."



As she reached down to pick up the creature, she heard a shout.

"Sayoko!  Look out!"  Sayoko fell back in surprise, as something flew

past her ear and hit the "rabbit" square on the head.  She was outraged.

"Hey, what do you think you're --"  Before Sayoko could finish the

thought, the creature burst into white light, which bubbled and swirled

out of sight.  *Funny, I don't think I've been drinking today...*



"Nice shot, if I do say so myself," said Megumi, picking up her hammer

from where it had fallen.



"I could have taken care of it, if you hadn't gotten in the way,"

replied Urd.



Megumi remembered the scorched ground in the temple courtyard.  "Yeah,

but you probably would've taken care of Sayoko, too!"  Urd "hmphed" in

annoyance.  Megumi turned to Sayoko, only to see her in a faint, laying

on the ground.  Shrugging to herself, Megumi moved Sayoko into a more

dignified position against a nearby tree.



Urd had put on her glasses again, and was scanning the quad.  "So, do

you believe me now?" she said.



Megumi looked up.  "I don't know, Urd.  You've got to admit, that story

you told me was pretty bizarre."  Urd rolled her eyes.  Megumi went on,

"So you say that you're a _goddess?_  And that reality is a computer

program?"



"No, I just wanted you to _think_ of reality that way.  It's a

metaphor!"



"A metaphor for what?"



"Look.  I'm a goddess, and my job is to troubleshoot any glitches that

crop up in reality."



"Oh, and these glitches manifest themselves as six-legged rabbits?"



"Hey, it was the most harmless thing we could think of!"



"Harmless?" asked Megumi, looking at the wreckage of the clock and

sculpture.



Urd smirked.  "Okay, mostly harmless."  The scanner in her hand pinged,

then pinged again.  Urd frowned a little.



"Urd?  What's up?"  Megumi got to her feet and tried to see what Urd was

seeing.



Switching off the scanner, Urd grabbed Megumi by the arm and headed

towards the nearest building.  "We've got to go.  It looks like a few of

the bugs have teamed up downtown..."



"Hey, Urd," Megumi protested.  "We parked over _this_ way!"



"Not fast enough."  Inside the building, Urd found a classroom that was

currently vacant.  She switched on the television monitor hanging in one

corner.



"Urd, what are you do-- EEEE!!!"  Megumi's words dissolved into a

wordless shout, as Urd grabbed her arm and leapt into the screen.

Megumi was helplessly drawn after.



***



Raja can be reached at:

atendido@mindspring.com

http://atendido.home.mindspring.com