The final revision is here!  (And will be, hopefully, around lunch or 
this evening, followed by the rough of part 2)

Note to Brett Handy - Apologies for the reference to Oh My God! in the 
disclaimer, but I couldn't resist. :)  While I was saving the final 
revision, the idea for the disclaimer change came to me and I just HAD to 
do it.  If you object, I'll change it back. :)

--

Sibling Rivalry

by Jeremy Blackman <ranma@eskimo.com>

COPYRIGHT
All of the characters, with a few exceptions such as Loki and Kelli, are 
the creations of Kosuke Fujishima, and if I ever attempted to claim 
otherwise, hordes of rampaging fans would storm my apartment, take me 
prisoner, and sacrifice me to Urd.  As I am a programmer, and therefore a 
follower of Skuld (or perhaps Loki), this would be A Very Bad Thing to 
happen, and so I will give credit where credit is due. :)

MORE CREDITS
Much of the inspiration for this story comes from brainstorming with 
Stefan Gagne.  Of course, credit is also due to Skuld and Loki 
themselves, who can be found on BakaMUCK.  If you're very nice, and 
they're not busy saving the MUCK or arguing, they might even autograph 
the fanfic for you. :)

DISCLAIMER
The author makes no claims that this fanfic will not cause you to go 
insane, cause Urd to come out of your monitor, summon Marller to make 
your life hell, cause your hair to fall out, cause your computer to 
spontaneously begin running Linux, or turn you into an animated 
character.  BUT it has been heavily beta-tested by a crack corps of 
fanfic readers, and only three of them experienced strange things. Only 
one had Urd manifest in their home, and she had the wrong address 
anyway (she was looking for a "Brett Handy"), so it should be safe.

-------------
Part 1
FAMILY REUNION
-------------

December 8

  Today the first snow of the season fell!  Of course Urd-oneesan tried 
  to help Keiichi clear the snow out of the yard, refusing to use my 
  Snow-Sweeper 2000.  After we dug Keiichi out of the snow and Oneesama 
  thawed him out, we decided to all go out and see the Christmas 
  decorations around town.  Everything went fine until Urd-oneesan decided 
  the decorations were too boring.
  By the time Oneesama managed to calm down the walking Christmas tree,   
  it was getting kind of late, so we decided to head home for dinner.  But 
  I'd seen some really cool stuff I wanted from Radar Shanty, and I have 
  some ideas for my Christmas list.  The new model processor boards might 
  work well for some new projects I have in mind, and the new high-powered...

***

Skuld stopped writing in her diary and winced as a loud crash came from 
the kitchen.  Apparently Urd was trying to help with the cooking again.  
A moment later Keiichi came tearing down the hall, yelling for 
Belldandy.  In close pursuit was something that Skuld could not quite 
identify, but which looked like parts of it might at one time in the past 
have been a selection of sushi, a bowl of udon, and a large amount of 
rice.  It moved faster than food should be allowed to.  Actually, thought 
Skuld, food wasn't supposed to move at all, but normal rules didn't apply 
when Urd tried to cook.  She sighed and closed her diary to go see what 
else was going on.

When she arrived in the living room, Keiichi was cornered against a 
wall.  The dinner was sniffing curiously at his foot.  A small stream of 
miso-soup drool came from what might have passed for a mouth on something 
not food-based.  Belldandy was near Keiichi, mumbling an incantation and 
making mystic passes.  A moment later she threw a small glowing sphere at 
the dinner, which tried vainly to escape to the yard.  As the sphere hit 
it, the dinner yelped pitiably, and then slowly melted to the floor in a 
shapeless mass of noodles, sushi and rice which slowly leaked green tea.

"Yuck," commented Skuld.  "I hope we're not still going to eat that."

"Keiichi-san, you aren't hurt, are you?" asked Belldandy worriedly.

"Considering dinner just tried to eat ME, I'm doing remarkably well," 
responded Keiichi.  "What was Urd trying to do?"

"Add a little spice to dinner.  I mean, you don't want the same boring 
old sushi and miso, do you now, Keiichi?" asked Urd, emerging from the 
kitchen.  She was clad in unusual clothes for cooking.  Though she did 
wear an apron which said 'Kiss me: I may not be a cook, but I'm a 
goddess' the rest of her outfit consisted of a red swimsuit-type outfit 
with white trim, white pantyhose, and a very low-cut bodice.  In other 
words, fairly modest for Urd.

Keiichi glared at Urd.  "Boring old sushi and miso doesn't try to EAT 
me.  I'll take it.  Besides," he commented, turning to look at Belldandy, 
"Belldandy makes the best sushi I've ever had."  Urd rolled her eyes as 
Keiichi and Belldandy smiled at each other.

"Fine," said Urd.  "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone, let Belldandy 
cook on her own, and I'll just go find something to do where I'm 
appreciated."  She walked off, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible.

"Oh dear," said Belldandy.  "I suppose we'd better clean up this mess and 
then I'd better make something else for dinner."

"Let me do it, Oneesama!" said Skuld.  "I have just the machine!"  From 
some pocket dimension that she used as a place to keep items between uses, 
she removed a strange white and red device, consisting of many tubes, 
lights, and switches.  "Skuld's Own Housecleaning Machine!" she announced 
proudly.  Belldandy smiled and nodded, while Keiichi eyed the device with 
some suspicion.  Skuld reached down to a large red switch, and 
pronounced, "Switch...ON!"  As she flipped the switch, the device hummed 
to life.

A small sensor array popped out of the device, and began to sniff around 
the floor.  Encountering the remains of what had, for a very short while, 
been a unique dinner-lifeform, it opened a large panel.  It began to 
scoop and vacuum the stuff off the floor.  *Wow,* thought Keiichi.  *It 
seems to work perfectly!*  The Housecleaning Machine began to scrub the 
tatami mats clean.  Keiichi grinned.  "Thanks, Skuld!"  Belldandy smiled 
again and left for the kitchen.

Skuld grinned and turned back to her machine.  Having finished with the 
mess it had found, it began to search around for more to clean up.  It 
found the miso slobber and some noodle residue on Keiichi's foot, and 
proceeded to try to vacuum that up as well.

"Help!  It's trying to eat me, too!" Keiichi yelled, as the machine 
pulled him around the room by one foot.

"Aaah," yelled Skuld, "It's not supposed to do that!!"  She chased 
Keiichi and the machine around the room.  "Come back!  Come back!!  I 
need to rebuild you!"

Belldandy returned from the kitchen.  "Since it's running so late, is 
instant ramen all r...oh, dear!  Keiichi-san!"  She ran over to try to 
pull Keiichi away from the machine.  While it was distracted with trying 
to retain it's prize, Skuld ran over.  

"Switch...OFF!" she announced, as she slammed down on the large red 
switch.  She looked at Keiichi who had gone flying across the room when 
his foot was released.  "It wasn't supposed to do that!  Gomen, 
Keiichi-san..."  She bowed her head.  "Maybe it's not ready to come out 
of beta yet..."

Keiichi smiled weakly.  "I think I'll go work on my bike until dinner's 
ready," he said, backing towards the door.  He headed off in the 
direction of the garage.

"Oneesama, I didn't mean for that to happen, I'm very sorry!" said 
Skuld.  

Belldandy smiled.  "Imouto, why don't you help me with dinner?" she 
asked.  Skuld nodded happily in response.  They headed in the direction 
of the kitchen, only to be stopped by a bone-jarring dull explosion, and 
Keiichi's anguished cry.

"Keiichi-san!" yelled Belldandy, sprinting towards the garage.  Skuld 
followed as close behind as her shorter legs allowed.  The scene that 
greeted them upon their arrival to the garage was not a pretty one.  A 
grease-covered Urd stood silently in one corner, while a horrified 
Keiichi was bending over the mangled remains of what might have once been 
his bike.  Grease was scattered everywhere, and smaller bits of the 
motorbike were embedded in the surrounding floor.

"Wow," Skuld pronounced, somewhat at a loss for words.

Urd hung her head.  "I just wanted to help.  I thought I'd fix up his 
bike by using a spell so it wouldn't need gas anymore...everything I've 
done today went wrong."

Skuld sighed.  "You baka!  You should leave all machines to me!" She 
looked again at the twisted wreck that was once Keiichi's beloved bike 
and sidecar.  "Of course, this is a bit much even for me to fix..."  Urd 
hung her head even lower.

Belldandy stood next to Keiichi trying to comfort him.  "Keiichi-san, I'm 
sure we'll find a way to put your bike back together.  I wish we'd gotten 
here in time to stop it..."

*Gotten here in time to stop it?  That's it!* thought Skuld.  *But, 
no...that time machine is...*  She shook her head.  

Belldandy noticed the motion.  "What is it, imouto?  Do you have an idea?"

Skuld sighed.  "Well, sort of, but it's not a machine I want to use."  
Belldandy gave her a questioning look.  "It's a time machine, and it 
works perfectly, but if I use it...well, I lose a bet."

"A bet?" asked Urd.  Skuld nodded.  "What kind of bet?"

"Loki and I had a bet over who would use one of the other's inventions 
first.  And...the time machine is Loki's device."

Urd grinned.  "Well, no problem then!  I mean, I'm sure he'll accept the 
reasons for using it.  If he doesn't, you know he can't stand up to his 
older sister!"

Keiichi looked blankly at the three goddesses.  "Older sister?  Who is 
Loki, anyway?"

Skuld sighed.  "My twin brother.  He's still back up in Heaven, he works 
in the tech support department."

Belldandy elaborated, "Ever since they were really young, Skuld and Loki 
have tried to be better than the other at building devices and designing 
things.  Very silly really, but no one ever managed to talk sense into 
them."  She turned to Skuld.  "I'm sure Loki will understand.  I'll 
explain to him if I have to.  Go get the device."

Skuld nodded, and reached into the inventory pocket dimension.  She 
pulled out a large wooden mallet, and glanced at it curiously.  *That's  
not MY hammer...*  She shrugged and returned the hammer to the pocket 
dimension, and rummaged around a bit more.  After retrieving a gymnastics 
ribbon and a large quantity of both red and black roses, she finally got 
a strange little box, consisting of a bunch of little blinking lights and 
switches...looking very similar to a Skuld-device, but instead of 
consisting of white and red components, it consisted of white and blue 
components.  Skuld placed the box on the floor, and turned a knob.  "I'll 
set it for 10 minutes ago..." She pushed a large blue button.  "Switch...ON!"

A strange blue electrical fire emerged from the box and formed a 
doorway.  Skuld stepped through.  On the other side of the doorway, those 
still in the garage could see Skuld talking to an Urd who had just walked 
into the garage on the other side of the doorway.  Though they could not 
hear what she was saying, but she seemed vehement and made lots of hand 
motions, pointing at the doorway as well.  Finally, Urd nodded, and Skuld 
walked back through the doorway, then reached down to switch off the machine.

"But...nothing happened!" exclaimed Keiichi.  Skuld pointed behind him.  
Keiichi turned to look...where a twisted pile of metal had been only 
moments before stood his beloved motorbike.  "A-arigato!" he stammered.  
Skuld nodded and picked up the machine.

Belldandy smiled.  "See, that wasn't so bad.  I'll go finish dinner now.  
Keiichi, Urd, could you set the table?"  Keiichi and Urd nodded, and all 
three left the garage.

Skuld remained standing there, looking at the device she was holding.  
Suddenly she heard some footsteps behind her.  She whirled around.

The young boy standing there looked similar to Skuld, down to the 
markings on forehead and cheeks, but his black hair was cut short.  In 
addition, his outfit was a bit unusual for a deity.  Instead of the more 
avant-guard stylish clothes, he was wearing a pair of denim jeans, a 
white T-shirt and a leather bomber jacket with a fuzzy collar.  He leaned 
casually against the garage wall, then smiled, his blue eyes sparkling 
mischiveously..  "Heya, sis.  Guess what?  You lose!"

Skuld sighed.  "Hi, Loki."  *Now I'm in trouble,* she thought.

--------
END PART 1
--------