Dr. Strange smiled to himself happily, dressed to the nines
and returning home from a night out. The sanctum was peaceful from the
outside, the old mansion rising up like some ancient fortress,
protecting the world from dark magics. 'But appearances can be
deceiving,' he thought.
He frowned as he opened the front door, feeling a odd mystical
vibe from within. With a gesture Dr. Strange transformed his suit to
his typical mystic's garb and strode down the long hallway. He
cautiously opened up the door to the main parlor, blinking in honest
surprise upon seeing the small, white rabbit like creature scurry by
his foot on eight little insect like legs. "What in the world?" he
said in surprise.
Kitty was wielding a large mallet, hammering down on any of
the pale creatures nearby her. Illyanna wielded a similar device on
the other side of the room, while a dark haired younger girl was
clobbering them in the middle. There seemed to be only a few of the
creatures left, but the room itself was a complete shambles, the tea
service spilled across the floor.
Both of his apprentices saw him enter the room, Kitty gasped
to him, "Wait a minute!" even as the brown haired girl took out
another bunny- thing.
Dr. Strange raised his hands and chanted the beginnings of a
powerful containment spell, "Let the Crimson bands of Cytorak..."
"Don't!" Illyanna cried out, even as he finished the spell.
SH-POOF!
Suddenly, the room was filled with white little bunny things!
"I told you not to," Illyanna growled out angrily, the blonde
clobbering another bunny with a certain amount of excessive force.
The dark haired girl groaned loudly, "They feed off of any
supernatural power! A spell simply allows the bugs to replicate
themselves faster."
"Toss him a mallet," Kitty swung, splating a bug against the
wall. "Brute force works, even if spells don't," she added.
"Right," the girl threw Strange a mallet, even as she went
back to clobbering.
Dr. Strange hefted the mallet, testing the weight in his hand.
He shrugged off his long cloak of levitation, took a few practice
swings, then he joined them in bug squishing.
Thankfully the four bug wackers were able to get a handle on
the problem pretty quickly, and not too long afterwards they were
sharing a cup of tea together. Kitty poured it gracefully, taking a
bit of extra time with Illyanna's, but she did so with a certain
amount of style.
"My name is Skuld," the dark haired girl said to them
apologetically, "and I'm really sorry about all of this." The little
girl wore odd robes, with triangular markings on her face. There was a
feeling of power around her, as well as a strange sense of age.
"Skuld," Strange murmured, then his eyes widened. 'One of the
three Norns? But what is she doing here?' he wondered.
"It really surprised me," Kitty gently smiled at Skuld as she
said, "when you erupted from my full cup of tea."
"I didn't mean to," Skuld looked down and blushed slightly,
"you see, I was looking for my big sisters, Urd and Belldandy. I
thought that I sensed their powers, but it seems it was you two that I
had detected."
Dr. Strange had a very odd look on his face as he said to her
softly, "You mistook the power level of my two apprentices for your
goddess sisters?"
"I guess so," Skuld nodded glumly.
"I'm sorry I threatened you," Illyanna said to Skuld softly.
When the little girl's appearance had shocked Kitty that way, she just
went on auto- pilot. The Soulsword manifested in her hands, she pushed
Kitty behind her, and got ready for a fight.
That's when the first bug-bunny had appeared.
Without really thinking about it, Illyanna had stepped forward
and cut down on the fuzz-ball with her flaming sword.
SH-POOF!
And suddenly the three girls had been knee deep in the furry
bugs. A single attempt at a spell by Kitty showed them that magic was
a very bad idea, and Skuld had passed out the hammers. They were
finally getting things under control when Dr. Strange had come back...
"What were those things, anyway?" Kitty asked. She was trying
very hard not to think about the warm feeling that she had
experienced, when Illyanna had stepped forward to defend her. She
looked up to see Illyanna smiling at her, and blushed.
"Bugs in the World Tree control system," Skuld said grimly,
"they'll keep appearing as long as I or my sisters remain on this
world." After a deep breath she added, "It's why I have to find them
as soon a possible!"
Illyanna nodded thoughtfully and held up a hand, "Half a
second." She summoned a stepping disk and simply disappeared, only to
reappear a few moments later.
"Where did you," Skuld blinked, a bit surprised herself.
"I checked my scrying pool," Illyanna smiled cheerfully, "both
of your sisters are in Japan, near Tokyo, living in an abandoned
Shinto shrine." She didn't add that they were both staying with a
young man, as Illyanna suspected she would not be too happy to hear
about that.
"Thank you very much," Skuld beamed. She sat her cup down on
the table, then backed up a few steps. She gave them a sunny smile,
"It was nice to meet you!"
Skuld took a running start and then leapt into the teacup,
disappearing in a burst of light!
"Wow," Kitty murmured softly. She looked over at Dr. Strange,
"Why..."
"According to the literature," Dr. Strange murmured, "the
three goddesses can transport themselves through different things.
Skuld via water, Belldandy through mirrors, and Urd through
electricity, or more recently through electrical devices."
Illyanna noticed that the good doctor looked just a little bit
distracted as he talked, as if the older man were considering a much
greater problem than Skuld's little visit. "Is something wrong?"
Illyanna asked him softly.
Dr. Strange forced a smile, "Nothing terribly important." He
rose to his feet, looking around at the mess. Rather apologetically he
asked, "Would you two mind..."
Illyanna was about to say something cross, but Kitty put a
gentle hand on her arm. "Sure sir, no problem," Kitty told him
cheerfully. Once the Doctor had left she said to Illyanna softly,
"Remember, we're apprentices, so it goes with the territory."
Illyanna pushed her long blonde hair back and sighed, "I guess
you're right."
Kitty chuckled, "I'm always right." They swept away for a few
minutes, until she asked Illyanna, "Dr. Strange says we can have a day
off soon." A bit of a blush appeared on her cheeks, "Would you like to
go out with me?"
Illyanna smiled at Kitty happily, "I'd love to." They worked
on, and Illyanna laughed to herself softly. Kitty looked at her
curiously, and she said to the brown haired girl, "If you hadn't asked
me out soon, I'd have asked you myself."
They both shared a quiet laugh at that.
Authors Note: the characters of Skuld, Urd and Belldandy are from the
manga and anime series Oh My Goddess. The bugs also appeared early on
in the series, and were defeated by a rousing game of... Twister. No,
I am not kidding.
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