[LNH] Tales of the LNH #370: Goodbye!? Has Panta's Tale Ended?
Hubert Bartels
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#370: Goodbye?! Has Panta's tale ended?
[ In Tales #361-367, Panta is attacked by cyborgs and clones from
'The Collector', a master of the retcon because he has collected a
powerful magical artifact. Caught up with her is Snowbuni, a rabbit
girl from a technologically advanced race called the Sylvalagi. Panta
faces the Collector and his magical powers at his secret base while
Snowbuni struggles to free herself from a wrecked plane.
Author's note: Snowbuni and the Sylvalagi appear in this story through the
kind permission of Jeff Wood, who has been writing and drawing Snowbuni
since 1983. Snowbuni is copyrighted to Jeff Wood and may not be used
in other stories without permission from Jeff Wood. ]
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"Come on..." Snowbuni urged the makeshift tool as she worked it into the
gap between the cockpit canopy and the cockpit itself. Two attempts had failed
so far, leaving her still trapped under the remains of the small jet fighter.
As far as she was concerned, things couldn't get much worse. The plane had
crashed in the middle of an Arctic wasteland, Snowbuni was starving, and Panta
was missing. A red magical sphere had trapped the leopard girl and carried her
to the "Collector's" secret base just over the ridge from the crash site. Worst
of all - she was missing the battle between Panta and the Collector. So close
and yet so far!
Snowbuni was sure that the leopard girl would be overmatched by the Collector's
occult powers; she would need Snowbuni's help.
Even from her narrow viewpoint, Snowbuni could see the vast sphere of energy
boiling like a radioactive cloud where the glass dome had once covered the
secret base. Tangles of black and white lightning skittered across the surface
like electric tentacles. Detonations of raw power shook the ground.
"Come on... Yes!" Snowbuni shouted as the canopy's frame buckled. She dropped
the remains of her seat support and squeezed herself into the gap. Her top
popped and tore as she pushed herself through. The metal frame caught her
tail and ripped out a chunk of tail hair, but she was free.
She paused only to tie up her tattered top before heading across the Arctic
snow towards the Collector's secret base. Panta had magically transformed into
Sailor Panta to destroy the evil Ultimate Ninja - but that had left her
vulnerable to the Collector's magic.
Snowbuni was climbing down a short crevasse when the world exploded into white
and black - a white too intense to look at - and a black like a starless night.
Instinctively, the rabbit girl threw her hands over her ears, pulled them down
to cover her eyes and dropped into a protective fetal position.
When the shock wave arrived, Snowbuni felt as if she'd been crushed into a
white blanket and hurled into the air. Snow filled her lungs making her
reflexively cough. As the snow settled, she thrashed to clear room for her
arms and legs. When the groaning earth was quiet, she began digging herself
out of the snow.
First one bunny ear popped free of the snow, then the other. As her head
cleared the ground, Snowbuni took a look around. "What in..."
The burning remains of the LNH flight thingee, the crashed Shinden-Kai, the
very ridge that it had laid against, all were gone, swept away by the shock
wave. The Collector's secret base was destroyed, leaving only rubble and
high-tech wreckage.
She shook her head, ears flopping, and looked again for Panta.
"Panta!" Snowbuni shouted as she ran down the slope to the remains of the
secret base. "Panta? Where are you?"
Glass and metal bits crunched underfoot as she ran, shouting Panta's name. But
there was no sign of the leopard girl - only charred ruins in an empty Arctic
wasteland.
"Panta!? Where are you!?"
"You must forget her," a voice interrupted. "You will forget her." A long,
dark staff stopped Snowbuni's path.
"Huh?"
"Once, I would have offered mysteries and contradictions. But today, I can
only provide some answers to questions, for I must remain a stranger," the
Dvandom Stranger replied. He lifted the Editorial Staff away from Snowbuni.
"You look hungry. Wanna fruit bar?"
Snowbuni wrinkled her nose at the beraggled fruit bars, as she cocked her head
from side to side. Then, with a graceful swoop, she snatched them from
the Stranger's outstretched hand. "Where's Panta?" Snowbuni asked as she
carefully opened the first of the foil-wrapped snacks. "What happened to
the Collector?" She crumpled the empty foil wrapper and tucked it into a
pocket.
The Dvandom Stranger studied the ruined base before turning back to Snowbuni.
"The Collector won. Sailor Panta had to draw on all of the energy of the
Overcute Gem to push back the Collector's retcon powers. When the Overcute
Gem was drained of power, it exploded, annihilating itself and the Ring of
Retconn. At that moment, Panta disappeared and the Collector became what
he wished to be - a 'R.A.C.C.estial'."
"That's awful," Snowbuni said, flattening her ears. The fruit bar in her
hands - the third she had opened - was suddenly forgotten.
The Dvandom Stranger nodded. "Yeah, for the Collector."
Snowbuni raised one ear, dropped it and then raised the other ear.
"What? Why? Isn't that..."
"Think about it. His dream, his ambition, his goal was to be like a god. So
by the use of his retcon powers, the power to change the past on any character,
he's always been like a god. The person that was Calvin Lector never existed.
Calvin's memories, thoughts, plots and plans - all the things that made Calvin
the person he was - as despicable as he was - never existed.
The Dvandom Stranger paused. "You might say that the Collector won all the
world... but lost his soul..."
Snowbuni looked confused, one ear hanging forward over her face, the other
ear back. "And Panta? Where's Panta?"
"Panta doesn't exist in this continuity." the Dvandom Stranger said
flatly. "You will forget about her when the new reality snaps back and
asserts itself."
Snobuni grabbed the Dvandom Stranger's trenchcoat. "Reality snaps back? Stop
trying to confuse me and tell me what happened to Panta!"
The Dvandom Stranger shook himself free from Snowbuni's pleading grasp, stepped
back, and took a Palm Pilot from his coat. He tapped on it for a moment before
looking up. "There's no point in even explaining this all to you - you won't
even remember this conversation in a moment. It will never have taken place."
"How can I not remember this conversation?" Snowbuni snorted.
The Dvandom Stranger sighed. "Since Panta doesn't exist in this continuity,
you've never had to fly to Net.ropolis to investigate her appearance on world-
wide television. [This happened in Tales of the LNH #362 - HGB]. Thus, you have
no reason to be near the North Pole, talking to me. All this will soon vanish
into the realm of 'could-have' and 'maybe'.
He sighed again. "Sorry, there's nothing I can do about it." he said and
tucked the Palm Pilot back into his pocket.
"But...!" Snowbuni demanded.
"Sorry," the Dvandom Stranger repeated. "It's out of my hands." He stepped
back from the furious rabbit girl and raised the Editorial Staff. "Good-bye."
"Good-bye?" Snowbuni sputtered. "Just a minute. I've got a lot more to say-"
"Say?" Random said. "What more do you mean?"
Snowbuni blinked. She was standing in a hallway in the secret Sylvalagi base
underneath the Antarctic ice; she recognized the hallway in front of Boris's
office. With all of his four hands folded across his chest, Random lounged
against the frosted duralloy struts lining the corridor.
In place of her tattered top and ripped jeans, she wore her uniform and a
warm jacket. The scratches on her hands were gone; she carried a folder
containing a report.
"You'd better go in," Random was saying. "Boris is waiting for your final
report on those rogue Sylvalagi." He cocked his head inquisitively. " What
did you find out anyway?"
Snowbuni looked down on her folders. She vaguely remembered a fast chase
through the tunnels of Las Vegas, a hidden base under the Roman Forum, and
charging into a Tokyo traffic jam after a suspect. But she also remembered
Net.ropolis on a hot summer night, cyborgs, clones, and a tiny jet-fighter
on the ice of the Arctic north.
"Well?" Random said. "What'd you find?"
Stalling for time, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her
jacket. Inside, her fingers found a wad of crumpled foil wrapped around a
round object. Snowbuni pulled the wad out to discover her empty Fruit Bar
wrappers - and a catbell. The catbell was stained - the ugly purple
discolorations a mute testimony to the energy it had absorbed.
"What's that? Does it have something to do with your report?"
She twisted the catbell open as she'd seen Panta do. Inside was a folded piece
of paper.
"Once we'd communicated through e-mail and chat-rooms," the note
began. "But for now, I must send messages through hidden ways. For I must
remain, as always, a Stranger. Panta is alive and well - in different
continuities, I've been able to learn. She's been 'Tenchi-fied', acquiring
multiple continuities, one of which may exist in your world. If you find
her - and show this catbell, she may remember all that's happened." It was
signed, "Good luck - from a Stranger."
Silently, Snowbuni folded the piece of paper and returned it to the catbell.
"Thank you, kind Stranger," she whispered. "Where ever you are..."
Random was looking concerned. "Are you all right?" he asked. "What IS that,
anyway? A catbell? What happened to it - did it get deep-fried?" Random reached
for the report and catbell with both right arms.
Feeling much better, Snowbuni twirled away from his grasp. "Why don't you wait
until the final edition is printed," Snowbuni teased. She pushed the door to
Boris's office open and left Random standing outside.
[ Goodbye, for now]
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This will be the final Panta story for awhile. My work and interests have left
little time for writing so I'm closing this chapter of Panta for now.
I'd like to thank those whose comments and advice have been helpful, first
Doug Wojtowicz (Lost Cause Boy), Stephane Savoie (Kid Anarky), and Mike
Escutia (Pliable Lad), the original members of the Net.Patrol. While it
lasted, it was fun, guys.
Jeff Wood (Snowbuni), thank you for letting me borrow your character, for
re-reading my material and editing it so that I could present Snowbuni
properly.
Ray 'wReam' Bingham (Ultimate Ninja) for his character, a great story in
which Panta got to kill his character's evil twin - sort of - thank you.
Dave Van Domelen (The Dvandom Stranger) for letting me shamelessly borrow his
character and making him into a meddler like Dr. Who. "...for now, I must
ever remain... a Stranger." Thank you.
Jaelle Ihimaera (Mouse and Writer's Block Woman) for her kind comments and
suggestions. (And good stories!)
Jeff McCoskey (writer of the Golden Men, probably the best of the alternative
worlds of the LNH that I've ever seen.), thanks.
And to all my readers, thank you as well. Without you, there's nothing.
Hubert Bartels
----
Hubert Bartels h...@catalina.opt-sci.arizona.edu (520)-621-2032
Optical Sciences Center
University of Arizona Life would be so much easier if we could just
Tucson, AZ, USA 85721 look at the source code...