Mangatripper
By Ewen "Blackbird" Cluney
Episode 6

Only hope can keep me together.
Love can mend your life but
Love can break your heart. 
 - The Police, "Message In A Bottle"

As we floated down, sounds of commotion rang through the vast 
chamber, but the noise failed to disturb the tranquility of our 
descent. Natsumi hadn't said anything for some time, but I 
finally decided to break the silence.
	"Valirion will be down there." I said. "And his henchmen."
	She nodded. "I know. Valirion, Folken, and Xanadu had to 
work together to seal me away before. If I'm destroyed the 
singularity that powers me will be released. Do you understand?"
	I nodded and shivered. "A black hole." The symbolism there 
was breathtaking, to say nothing of the danger.
	As we drew closer to the bottom, I saw several figures 
below, and realized that one of them was Folken. Our approach did 
not go unnoticed; a tall man with shoulder-length black hair, 
dressed in an ornate gray and blue outfit, complete with 
dramatically flaring cloak, looked up. His expression was 
unreadable, but his presence was regal and commanding. There 
could be no question - that was Valirion.
	I could also see Kasumi; she'd been clothed in a flimsy 
white garment, and strapped to an altar in the very center of the 
room. My heart ached seeing her like that.
	The barrage of attacks I'd been expecting to tear through 
Natsumi and I at any moment during our long descent never came. 
As Natsumi and I lightly touched the ground, I realized that 
Folken was sweating, as were Xavier and another bishounen I 
hadn't seen before - presumably the Xanadu that Natsumi had 
mentioned. While Valirion showed no outward sign of fear, his 
minions were only barely succeeding in hiding their fear - of 
Natsumi. The four of them stood there, between Kasumi and me. It 
had taken three to seal away Natsumi before. And there was the 
question of the purpose of Valirion's sacrificial ritual; if we 
failed to stop him, would he gain even greater power?
	"Holy shit! What the hell's goin' on?"
	A small figure emerged from a stairway to one side of the 
chamber, looking around in wide-eyed shock. The look on 
Valirion's face as he regarded her spoke volumes; the moment his 
eyes fell on her his expression was so... tender.
	Her cheeks colored at his mere glance, but she pressed on. 
"Val-"
	"Please, Christine," he interrupted. "It's not safe here."
	Christine looked annoyed until her eyes fell on Natsumi. 
"Rune Weapon," she breathed. "Someone let her out."
	Valirion said, "Please go. We will deal with that monster."
	"I am not a monster." countered Natsumi. "I used to be a 
tool - a lifelike killer doll - but not anymore." She spoke 
passionately, her voice wavering.
	Christine nodded numbly. "You've grown. Gained a heart. I 
figured you would."
	The look that Natsumi gave Christine was icy. "I know who - 
and _what_ - you are." she announced coldly. "Are you going to 
let him go through with this? Let him murder an innocent girl?"
	Kasumi shivered, looking at me pleasingly. My breath caught.
	This was going to be messy. Christine looked like she was in 
the throes of an internal conflict, as though what Valirion stood 
to gain from this ritual was almost worth the cost of Kasumi's 
life. In anime, when the villains were sure they were on the 
right side... things god ugly and tragic.
	Natsumi faced Valirion and spoke to me quietly. "I'll fight 
them. The rest is up to you."
	I had missed out on seeing Natsumi's full power before, but 
not this time. Her angel wings folded and disappeared. Meanwhile 
her right arm became a sword-blade once more, while the left arm 
became a gun of some kind. Smaller, bat-like wings sprouted from 
her back, and a monocle of some kind snapped into place in front 
of her right eye. Finally, a pair of metal discs emerged from her 
back and hovered at her sides.
	Valirion's minions had drawn their weapons and reluctantly 
made ready to do battle, but Valirion himself was turning his 
attention to Kasumi. Natsumi found three sword-wielding 
bishounens bearing down on her, and she moved into the fray with 
no hesitation whatsoever. Her blade-arm slashed, her cannon 
seethed with blue energy and fired, and the discs that hovered 
beside her seemed to have an uncanny ability to put themselves 
directly into the path of their strikes, sometimes seemingly 
before they could even swing. In moments Xanadu took an energy 
blast and Xavier received a jagged cut across one leg.
	As I made my way towards the altar, my heart feeling as 
though it was trying to beat its way out of my chest, my foot 
bumped into something, and I found myself picking up Natsumi's 
energy pistol. Seeing Valirion holding an eldritch-looking dagger 
over Kasumi, I leveled the blaster at him and got ready to fire. 
I didn't think about how unheroic and anticlimactic it would've 
been for me to do that, so it was a shock when I found a crying 
Christine putting herself in the line of fire.
	I shuddered. "Why?" She looked at me and said nothing. She 
and Valirion loved each other - I could see that now. I didn't 
want to kill him, but I had to stop him from hurting Kasumi.
	When Valirion saw what was happening he froze. "Christine... 
How _dare_ you!"
	I didn't want to do what came next, but I saw no other 
alternative. I grabbed Christine, holding her in a headlock with 
one arm, and holding the gun to her temple with the other. She 
didn't seem to be physically weak; ordinarily she probably 
could've fought free, but fear and inner turmoil robbed her of 
the will to fight back.
	"I'm sorry." I whispered.
	I had gone from being ignored to being the center of 
attention. The battle had frozen in place, and all eyes were on 
me.
	"Coward!" Valirion snarled.
	"You took the girl I love first." I countered. "Let Kasumi 
go and I'll let Christine go. Unharmed."
	"And if I refuse? You don't look like a killer."
	He was calling my bluff. I could never have pulled that 
trigger, but at that moment making him think I would was the only 
card I had to play. "I _don't_ want to. I _really_ don't want to. 
But to save Kasumi I just might. _Please_ don't let it come to 
that."
	"Give up." added Christine. "It's not worth it, even if it 
means our time will be short... at least we can be together." She 
sniffled; I felt her tears dripping onto the arm that had her in 
a headlock. "I don't know if I could love a man who'd... 
who'd..."
	I realized that Kasumi's expression looked a lot like how 
Christine's face must've at that moment. The girl I had come to 
love didn't know whether to love me, hate me, or both. I don't 
know whether it was I or Christine who trembled more in the heavy 
silence that followed.
	Suddenly, Valirion gestured. I felt a sharp tug, and 
Christine floated out of my grasp, apparently pulled away by 
telekinesis.
	While Christine was in mid-flight - obviously being drawn to 
Valirion's arms - Natsumi made her move. She launched herself at 
Valirion, swinging her sword-arm with lightning speed. It was a 
testament to Valirion's skill that he was able to react in time, 
parrying the blow with his blade only half-drawn.
	That sword was, however, of no use against the cannon that 
replaced Natsumi's other arm. Arcane symbols seethed in the air 
around the barrel, and a beam of blue energy lanced into 
Valirion, sending him into the far wall. Christine cried out as 
she floated to the ground, alone, and Valirion's minions were 
quick to put themselves between Natsumi and their master, their 
loyalty apparently exceeding their fear by far.
	That was about when I decided to make a move - only to find 
that Folken was not as loyal as he seemed. He hadn't joined his 
comrades, and instead was acting on his own initiative, holding 
the ceremonial dagger that Valirion had dropped, and striding 
towards Kasumi. There was no doubt that he had turned traitor; if 
he still cared at all about his fellows he'd be helping Xavier 
and Xanadu as they fought for their lives against Natsumi's 
merciless assault.
	At that moment time seemed to flow with all the speed of 
cold molasses. Folken held the dagger over Kasumi, who was 
calling my name. As I ran towards her I think I managed to let 
the gun slip out of my hands. Each breath, each step, seemed to 
take an eternity to complete, and the blade continued to descend.
	My hands gripped Folken's hands, and he found ourselves 
fighting for control of the knife, even amid the explosions that 
rang out behind us. He was astonishingly strong, but adrenaline 
and desperation lent my arms more strength than I would've 
thought possible. The dagger wavered in the air over our heads, 
suspended between our white-knuckled hands. He began to overpower 
me, the blade dipping dangerously close to my chest. His red eyes 
looked at me with burning hatred, and the feeling was becoming 
more and more mutual by the second.
	It was about then that I decided to quit playing fair; this 
would-be murderer and traitor didn't deserve it. Bracing myself, 
I brought my knee into his crotch even harder than the first 
time. The sudden shift in equilibrium sent us to the cold stone 
floor, but when I recovered, I was able to pull the dagger from 
his unresisting hands. I gave him a swift kick to the stomach for 
good measure.
	When I cut Kasumi free of the ropes that pinned her hands 
and feet into place on the altar, she put her arms around me and 
cried. I held her close to me for a moment, before I remembered 
where we were; we weren't in the clear yet.
	Natsumi's sword-arm hummed, glowing an angry blue along its 
edge, as it slashed forward and left Xavier holding only a hilt 
as the severed blade of his sword fell to the floor. Before it 
landed, though, Natsumi continued forward, extended a wickedly 
serrated blade from her elbow, and cut a ragged gash across 
Xavier's side. The blade hit the floor with a clatter of metal.
	"Stop!" pleaded Christine, placing herself in front of 
Valirion. "We'll let her go! Just stop! _Please_!"
	Natsumi shook her head as she stepped forward, sinking her 
sword-arm deep into Xanadu's chest and flipped him over. He hit 
the ground with a sickening thump and didn't move. "I am a 
dimensional police officer. Valirion is a verified Class B 
criminal."
	"So?" Desperation crept into Christine's voice as tears made 
her choke on the words. "What the fuck does that mean?! You can 
just take him in without a trial or anything?!"
	Kasumi gripped my hand as she got to her feet. "Natsumi," 
she whispered. "Don't..."
	When Natsumi glanced back, I realized that she too was 
shedding tears. "He's a _verified_ Class B criminal; his guilt 
has already been conclusively proven. You haven't read the 
_reports_! You haven't seen how he destroyed two _entire_ 
populated Zones! How he enslaved the inhabitants of the Centurion 
Segundus Zone!"
	"Then what does that make _you_?!" Christine retorted 
bitterly.
	"I was a tool back then. It would've been like arresting his 
sword for killing people."
	Kasumi called her power. What happened next was something 
that, in all three Excelion series, all 46 manga volumes, and 
both movies, had happened once and only once. Kasumi attained her 
Primal transformation. Her usual magical sword became something 
more like a cross between the Masamune from Final Fantasy VII and 
Hikaru's ornate magical sword from Magic Knight Rayearth. It 
moved with an unparalleled elegance in her hand, and trailed blue 
mists as it moved. She wore elegant, supple armor made of 
gleaming blue ice, and a white cloak flared out behind her. I 
took a step back; I knew that the power of this form was awesome 
and terrible.
	"Natsumi," Kasumi said coldly. "Stand down."
	"Hate me if you must," replied Natsumi, "But I must do my 
duty. Now more than ever. "
	"I was wrong," sobbed Christine. "You're still a monster."
	Natsumi shrugged. "There's nothing more to say."
	Kasumi nodded and readied her sword. It pulsed with icy 
power, and she charged. Natsumi seemed to stay still, but I saw a 
faint flicker and realized, too late, what it was.
	Image attack. Natsumi had moved so fast she'd left behind an 
after-image. Her blade-arm impaled Valirion with enough force to 
shake the entire chamber. Valirion gasped, spilling blood from 
his mouth, as Natsumi yanked her arm free.
	The world seemed to hold its breath as Natsumi's bloody 
sword-arm became flesh again. Christine rushed to Valirion's 
side, and he held her gently.
	"I'm sorry." he said, his voice just above a whisper. "You 
made me what I am, and I failed you."
	"No..." she sobbed. "Don't go. Please..."
	He smiled, and pointed at her heart. "That is where I came 
from, and it is where I shall return."
	I didn't even try to understand. The story we'd become a 
part of had brought us victory, but made us feel like crap for 
doing it. When Valirion was silent - painfully and irrevocably so 
- Natsumi cleared her throat. "I..." The words caught in her 
throat and she tried again. "I hate to be the bearer of more bad 
news, but I must."
	At that point I was about ready to go find Natsumi's gun and 
shoot her with it. Kasumi frowned, and Christine regarded Natsumi 
with grief and feat, tinged with rage.
	No one said a word.
	Natsumi sighed. "Her." She said flatly, pointing to 
Christine.
	"What?" muttered Christine. "Are you going to kill me too?"
	Natsumi took a need breath. "If I have to. That or you go 
back home."
	My hands clenched into fists. That girl had been through too 
much already. "Why the hell is that?!" I demanded. "I'm a 
mangatripper too!"
	"She," Natsumi replied coldly, "is not a Mangatripper. She's 
a Creator."
	Silence.
	"A person from the material multiverse with exceptional 
creativity." She paused, trying to gather the words she needed, 
though they seemed to be trying to elude her. "People like 
that... when they come here their ideas become real. She made 
Valirion and this place and all of his minions and..."
	Christine's jaw dropped. "I... me? B-but..." She let out a 
long breath. "He knew all along."
	"How." I interrupted. "How can she get back?"
	"She can't do it herself; Creators don't have a strong 
enough tie to the material multiverse. But a Mangatripper can."
	Kasumi gripped my hand tightly. We all knew what she was 
saying.
	"Me?" I struggled to stand firm against a sickening feeling 
of vertigo that had nothing to do with falling. "How?"
	"After a story like this one, you'll have collected enough 
narrative energy that you can go back by sheer force of will," 
she explained uneasily. "But."
	This wasn't going to be good. "But?"
	Natsumi lowered her head, unable to look me in the eye 
anymore. "I know you're thinking of taking someone along. It 
won't work."
	Kasumi turned to me, the mystic raiment of her primal 
transformation dissolving. "Gabriel..."
	"The Dimensional Police can't send her back?" I asked 
hopefully.
	Natsumi shook her head. "No. There are very few other ways, 
and none are reliable. Even if I were to let her go, she made a 
Class B criminal; the rest of the D-police will be coming for 
her."
	Kasumi's expression was pained. "Gabriel, whatever 
happens... I... I..."
	"I know." I said softly. "I know."
	"I love you." she whispered.
	"I love you too." I replied. It felt so good to be able to 
say it. I _really_ wish it hadn't had to be under such 
circumstances. We'd won and yet we'd lost very badly. Natsumi's 
expression showed that she hated this situation every bit as much 
as we did, but she also wasn't about to turn her back on her 
duty.
	"Lave me." Christine muttered bitterly. "I don't care 
anymore."
	Part of me wanted to do just that. But Christine was so much 
like myself. I couldn't stand by and let her be killed; I could 
tell myself that it'd be different than doing it myself, but I'd 
never believe it for the rest of my life, even if Kasumi was 
there beside me.
	I knelt down and opened my backpack. I gave the remaining 
art book - the OAV one - and the UFO catcher doll to Kasumi. 
"Keep these to remember me by." I said firmly. "Someday you'll be 
able to give them back to me."
	Kasumi nodded numbly. It was one of those stupid anime 
things; "I'll let you take this scarf to remember me by while you 
go fight so that way you have to come back no matter what." 
Stupid, but it made me feel a little bit better.
	Christine regarded me with shock. "Why?" she breathed.
	Somehow I managed to keep myself from crying. "Do you really 
think I could live with myself?"
	Christine shook her head. "It's not like I have anything to 
live for."
	"You're alive." I retorted. "As long as you're still alive 
there's still hope."
	Christine sighed. "You sound just like Sanosuke."
	I shrugged. "And you sound just like Megumi. Never mind; 
we'd better go before I say anything else corny."
	When I turned to face Kasumi, her expression was melancholy 
rather than anguished. "I don't have anything to give you." she 
said quietly.
	I put her hand over my heart. "You've already given me more 
than you can imagine."
	Kasumi and I held each other for a too-short eternity, and 
finally kissed. She let go reluctantly. "Goodbye," she whispered. 
"I won't forget you."
	"Goodbye." I replied. "Until next time."
	I turned to Christine, and took hold of her hands; I wasn't 
sure how to do this, but it seemed to be the right thing to do.
	"If you ever meet James Butler from Michigan..." Natsumi 
said reluctantly. "Tell him I miss him."
	I nodded. "I will." I didn't like Natsumi much at that 
point, but I didn't want to be mean to her either. Without her 
Kasumi really would be gone.
	Christine looked away from me, lowering her head so her 
tears weren't so obvious.
	I tried to fill my mind with thoughts of home. I remembered 
the feel of my apartment with it's faulty fluorescent lighting. 
The plastic and popcorn smell of work. The fur on Alice's cat. 
The sound of my friend's voices.

	The next thing I knew, I was waking up on the bed of the 
hotel room at AnimeExpo. When Adam and Alice came back into the 
room to drop off the spoils of the latest trip to the dealers' 
room, it turned out that the convention was nearly over. When 
they demanded to know where I'd been, told me how worried they'd 
been, I apologized, but couldn't give an answer as to why.
	The trip back home was uncomfortably quiet. My friends were 
assuming that the incident with Jack was the cause of my 
disappearance and the thing that troubled me, when in fact it 
seemed like ancient history. I lost count of how many times I 
said "I'll be fine."
	Fortunately, John put on some CDs and made use of his 
phenomenal talent for speaking a lot and saying very little to 
keep out minds elsewhere.
	When I got home nine hours later, I turned on my computer 
and started typing, before I could forget any of the details. 
Now... it's all over. I don't have anything tangible to show for 
it - only memories and heartache. I'm going to find a way to see 
her again. I have to believe that.

	Gabriel saved the file and sighed. He wasn't sure what he'd 
do with it, since no one would believe him. He also wondered what 
had become of Christine Wong; when he'd awakened back in the 
"real world," there'd been no sign of her.
	He was startled by a knock on the door; his friends were all 
working today, so he wasn't expecting anyone. He rose, shutting 
off the monitor, and went to the door.
	"Hi." Christine stood there. Her smile wasn't cheerful, but 
she wasn't outright crying like the last time he'd seen her.
	"How..." he sputtered. "How did you find me?"
	"You told me you had an apartment in Cupertino off of Wolfe 
Road." she replied. "And not many other people would have an 
Excelion wall scroll in the window." He'd forgotten that he'd 
told her that.
	"But why?" The eloquence he'd displayed back in the Aniverse 
seemed very distant at that moment.
	She shrugged. "I dunno." He knew where he'd heard that 
before. "For one I wanted to be sure I wasn't crazy. For 
another..."
	He blinked as she trailed off. "For another?"
	"For another... I don't want to be alone right now."
	Silence fell over them for a moment. Thinking of how he'd 
felt over the past couple days, Gabriel realized that he didn't 
want to be alone either. He smiled. "How much Excelion have you 
seen?"
	"Only a couple of episodes..."
	He took her hand and started leading her into the apartment. 
"Time to fix that."


Afterword
	Wow. It's been a long time since a story I was writing 
gripped me in that "can't sleep well while it's not finished" 
kind of way. The original idea was to start doing stories of a 
particular length - in this case, a 6-part "OAV." The 
"Mangatripper" idea itself isn't new; it's something I came up 
with ages ago, influenced by movies like Cool World and Who 
Framed Roger Rabbit.
	What if, somehow, there was a place where anime was real? 
Combining that concept with the influences of the AD&D Planescape 
campaign setting and some particularly bizarre fanfics resulted 
(through a few iterations) in the Aniverse that Gabriel visited, 
home to every possible anime, and furthermore places and beings 
made of the elements of anime distilled. Hopefully the Aniverse 
BESM netbook will be ready relaitvely soon. ^_^;
	The Mangatripper story itself represents an experiment of 
sorts. So far it's the only story I've written in the first 
person, and the ending is, I think, more memorable and open-ended 
than most of the others I've done, containing both sadness and 
hope.
	While Gabriel and I share a lot in common, we are not the 
same person; his personality encompasses elements of myself and 
several of my friends, but ultimately he's an "Every Man" in a 
sort of otaku morality play, about... well, that's for the reader 
to contemplate. Excelion is likewise a work of fiction; any 
number of other anime heroines could've probably stood in for 
Kasumi (Fuu from Magic Knight Rayearth comes to mind), but I 
didn't want to feel obligated to stay true to someone else's 
character, especially when it came to her falling in love with 
the protagonist.
	As usual, I have no idea what my next story is going to be 
like; I have a couple new ideas percolating but not ready to 
really begin writing. Until next time. ^_^

------------------------------------------------------------------
Ewen "Blackbird" Cluney                     blackbird@blackbird.nu
Blackbird's Domain                        http://www.blackbird.nu/
The Official Thrash Home Page          http://thrash.blackbird.nu/
Knight Kevlar of the Immortal Frog        Silver Knight of Mihoshi
              "Be nice to me; I might just develop 
             psychokinetic powers and destroy Tokyo!"
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