It never ends.
Mystery Fusion # 26
Disclaimer: Check the author's notes.
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A single, slight miscalculation somewhere in a plane of reality
slightly above our own, and somewhat more confused than any human
could comprehend had taken place.
***
"Boy!"
He jerked his head up at the sound of the voice, glancing around
warily. "Grandfather?" he asked, wondering when he had dozed off. "I
had the strangest dream," he mused quietly.
His grandfather smirked, shaking his head. "Heh, well, be that as it
may, we're going to leave to go to Nerima soon."
"Right," he mumbled, frowning. "How long has it been since we've had
a family reunion?"
His grandfather's face became somber, and he ruefully admitted, "Not
since your mother was alive, I'm afraid. I shouldn't have let her
death distance me from her sister."
"Uh.... Yeah, anyway, let's get ready to go."
***
But the paths and connections and rules and whatnot in this plane
above ours is so convoluted that when _this_ mistake was made, there
was a question if it was a mistake at all, if rather, if it was a
mistake to NOT let it happen.
***
"Hey! Where do you think you're going!"
He flinched, pausing at the doorstep and turning slowly to regard his
parents. "I was going to go over to Hirosuke's to study," he
mumbled. "Why, do we have some kind of plan for the day?"
"Your cousins are coming up from Okayama! How could you forget that?"
"Oh. Um, right. Well, then I guess I'll clean up the guest bedroom."
"That's my son!" his mother said, smiling at him proudly. "Such a
_good_ boy!"
He scratched the back of his head nervously, and managed a weak
laugh. "Uh, sure, Mom."
***
Take the first of these crossed paths, then. One deals with empires
from outer space and the madness that follows.
***
"Uh, Dad? Can you pull over soon? I gotta go!"
Glancing back at his son, the man nodded. "Okay, okay, we need some
more fuel anyway. How about you, Dad?"
The more elder figure in the front seat nodded slowly. "That would be
good, yes. We should probably have something to eat soon, too."
Turning to regard the boy, he asked, "What's in the picnic basket?"
Shaking his head, the boy pulled the basket from behind his seat in
the car, and opened it up to look inside. "Aw, man, Dad, I made some
sandwiches last night, but you packed more of your shoujo manga in
here!" He blinked, pulling one out and flipping through it. "And
some ecchi ones, too."
His grandfather sighed, shaking his head. "For shame, Nobuyuki!"
***
And the problem? This one deals with exactly the same thing. No
wonder they got mixed up.
***
"Cousin!" the boy cried out, waving from the doorway as three men
piled out of the van. "I haven't seen you in _ages_!"
The other boy laughed, running to greet his cousin, "It's been a
while, Tenchi."
"Ha! Long time no see, Ataru. How have you been?"
***
Then too the boy will be chased by a mysterious woman from space who
might be called a demon, and.... Well, it's best on days like that
to just be glad you're not in charge of the mess.
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Author's Notes:
Urusei Yatsura is the property or Rumiko Takahashi.
Tenchi Muyo! is the property of Pioneer.
Odd how similar and Tenchi could really be, though when you consider
it, the mistake could indeed be that they _weren't_ switched at
birth, and yet so little changes....