Four dwarves, Doctor Who, and Anime Girl stood over Richard Feynman’s desk, Feynman himself indisposed of his internal organs.

Anime Girl thought of the Feynman she learned from in the 2D realm. Though his corpse lay before her, she didn’t consider the death of his body ‘death’. Rather, it was a sign of his ascension to a higher realm.

But this understanding is not shared among the concerned parties gathered here. The Doctor traced his device along Feynman’s body, muttering various alien forces and doing high speed forensics while one of the dwarves cried in a corner.

The other dwarves consoled him. “We’ll find another way back. We always do.” One of the dwarves said cryptically.

From the shadows over them a dwarf caught a glimpse of a figure. He readied his flamethrower, but not before the figure fell upon Anime Girl with a dagger stabbing.

The dwarf pulled the trigger on his flamethrower. Darkness in the room turned red as heat engulfed the figure, forcing it to defenestrate itself out from a nearby window.

Anime Girl recognized the attacker. Yarko. But she’s an ally. Why would she be here, here with Feynman’s corpse? How could she be here?

The dwarves ran to the window, raining bullets down on the flaming Yarko. One dwarf grinned as he scored a headshot, only to sigh as the target kept up its pace.

“Easy to shoot when it’s on fire in the dark.”

“Redder than a dreadnought bum.”

Anime Girl peeked out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of Yarko. She had fled.

Anime Girl paced across the room, searching for any clues. The Doctor bothered her asking if she was alright, but seeing her so unaffected left her alone.

The Doctor pulled off to corner, surveying her. His device at the ready, he stared at it meaningfully as it relay information to him. “She’s not much different than the attacker herself. Same signature. Mana creation, abnormally high level. But, she looks enough like a girl that if I don’t treat her like one, I’m the one at a loss.”

Anime Girl found nothing. Her thoughts were in tangles. Feynman’s death had no explanation. But, that in itself for Anime Girl, became the explanation.

Because Yarko herself supposed to be unexplainable. A scarf clothing summon, she is the manifestation of chaos. Her doing something orderly wouldn’t make sense. “She killed Feynman to find me.”

Overhearing her whisper, the Doctor scowled at the girl, . “Do you know who could she be?”

Anime Girl gave a service smile and a stock reply. Yarko would remain a mystery for the Doctor.

The Doctor’s suspicions mounted, but only one lead existed.

“My only choice to find the space-time rift is to follow this girl.”

“Are you trying to have a serious plot setup over there?” A dwarf said in their general direction. One of the dwarves mounted the windowsill, then, plopped over.

Anime Girl’s smile tightened as she saw all four of the dwarves jump from the window one by one. She ran to check on them, only to see the stocky space dwarves covering ground.

“They’re… fast.”

The Doctor poked his head to get a glimpse. “Short, fat, and fast. I like ‘em.”

Anime Girl and The Doctor took a much more leisurely stroll around the campus. The Doctor held up his device, checking to see how far the dwarves and Yarko were using echolocation from his device.

Anime Girl looked at the pleasantly noisy device. “What are you doing?”

The Doctor slid his device into his pants, admiring the trees in the courtyard they entered. “Nothing much.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Anime Girl sat on a bench with the Doctor. He had the maximum distance between their bodies. He didn’t trust her? Or was he distancing himself to make her feel safe as a younger girl around an older man? Either way, she wasn’t in a rush to push him for answers.

The Doctor, however, was. “So. Could you go over what you said about this… Wizard, again?”

Anime Girl gave the Doctor a pleasant recap. They didn’t see the dwarf corpses fly in front of them until the very last moment.

The Doctor sprang with his device at the ready, while Anime Girl covered her mouth. Yarko stood under lamplight covered in blood splatters with singed hair, dagger at the ready, she charged the Doctor.

And the Doctor ran. Anime Girl watched him run, her eyebrow rising as if he did something strange. He even yelled, “Hurry, run!” while doing double takes at Anime Girl.

Yarko watched the Doctor leave the courtyard, her dagger still raised, she closed in on Anime Girl.

The stab hit her stomach. Piercing through, Anime Girl sighed as Yarko’s head slammed into her breasts. The two fell from the bench to the ground, Yarko mounted Anime Girl retracting her dagger from her stomach, splattering red across trees and causing Anime Girl to frown.

“Did you kill Feynman?” She asked from below the murderer’s mount. Yarko avoided Anime Girl’s gaze, folded her arms, bloody [Yumicite] dagger entirely red with dwarven blood.

“Maybe.” Yarko said. “Who’s asking?”

“I already remembered everything. That Doctor jogged my memory. How’d you find me?”

“Awh, fun ruiner.” Yarko deflated. The dagger falling from her grasp, she rose off Anime Girl and made her way to the bench, sadness dominating her.

Anime Girl checked her stomach, brushing off the wound a little considering if she needed a bandage or not. She joined Yarko on the bench, looking for the Doctor.

“He sure ran.”

“He sure did.”

“Looked scared.”

“Yeah.”

“That was weird.”

Anime Girl and Yarko’s brief exchange led to rising curiosity on Anime Girl’s part. “Who is he?” “Dunno,” Yarko shrugged.

Anime Girl’s eyes traced the dwarves. They too, she thought, must have ascended. Though they were only mercenary space dwarves she hired to protect her, she had a fondness for their manly nature. And seeing their, to her eyes, pixelated corpses gave her a measure of concern.

“Did you have to…?”

“Did I ever.” Yarko replied with cheer.

“No, I, I don’t think you really needed to kill the dwarves.”

“Okay. Then, I wanted to kill the dwarves.”

“And what about stabbing me?” Anime Girl ran her hand across the red on her stomach, wound absent. “Cruel. Cruel… and even worse, ugly.”

Yarko turned her head to Anime Girl. “It was fun.”

Anime Girl met Yarko’s eyes. “Not for me. That was… I didn’t like it. So, it’s wrong.”

Yarko raised her arms in dispute. “Just because you don’t like it, it’s wrong?”

“You did murder Feynman and the dwarves, and stabbed me. Aren’t we friends?”

“That’s not the point.”

“Actually, I think that is exactly the point.”

Yarko sighed. “Whatever.” She rose. “Ready to go back?

Anime Girl rose too. Displeasure on her face, she thought of striking Yarko with her shotgun. No shotgun came forth.

Confusion assailed her for a moment before her mind reached a quick and deft solution. If she had her former abilities, Yarko would have a bullet or two of justice. But, weak as she is now, she needed Yarko. Anime Girl leaned on the power of her smile and played innocent.

“You can take me there? To [Yume Nasai]?”

“Sure, how do you think I got here?”

“I have zero idea.”

“Well. It happens like that. I can meddle wherever uncertainty lies, so, that applies to time, space, and dimensions too.”

A cold Autumn wind blew between them. Anime Girl’s power might return if she went back. But she’d have to go with Yarko. The ugliness of her decision digusted her, though logically she had already settled her mind.

“There’s somewhere I want to go first. I have a good idea.” Anime Girl said. She gave Yarko an order to sniff out the reTARDIS.

Following Yarko, Anime Girl planned against Yarko. Those ablities sounded strong. ‘The mainfestation of chaos’, is that what Stehy said to Wizard about her? How can that be right?

Anime Girl twirled her hair with a finger, a plan forming. If Yarko was chaos itself, there would be no controlling her. However, Yarko is a clothing summon created by Wizard. The distinction is huge.

Anime Girl resolved her plan to change Yarko. Yarko stopped at a spot in front of her, banging on empty air. A blue shimmer appeared in the air, the blue box revealing itself. A door opened, and Anime Girl slipped inside, blocking Yarko from entering.

“Before we go, there’s still some loose ends here.”

Yarko nodded. With an order from Anime Girl, Yarko was off after the Doctor.

She helped herself inside the reTARDIS.

Tracing her hand across the center console, an indescribable mess of incomprehensible valves, widgets, gaskets, and monitors.

Anime Girl busied herself searching through the books. The dwarves and the Doctor were gone, and with only Yarko there, she felt a chill.

Working in silence, she poured her attention over books she barely grasped and the center console. There must be a way to fly this. She didn’t know if she could get back her and steal this thing without Yarko’s help.

Yarko may be able to help her steal it, she realized. She seemed loyal enough to go along with it. Or would she catch wind? Anime Girl’s instincts told her that Yarko would comply. She’d wait here, for the Doctor to be eliminated.

However, her plans proved too ambitious. The Doctor stood in the door of the reTARDIS, device in hand, scowl on his face.

A bloody dagger held in his other hand.