Yep, you guessed it, another tale of vast strangeness featuring our favourite girls. Don't worry Kaorin! You're in it too!

Kaorin: DAMMIT!

Hope this is a good start.

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This story is but a warning. There are things which lie within the grasp of humanity, yet the secrets they harbour still await a mind great enough to unravel them. Not even the great alchemists and mathematicians of ancient times would have thought a girl of twelve would discover that the barrier between realms is but a fragile one.

There is power in numbers. A vast power that Chiyo-chan had long respected. She had always found mathematics to be entrancing and filled with it's own volitile energy.

"To take symbols, numbers, and create anything from them.", she always told herself.

For the world runs on numbers. Time, material things, even you and I are assigned an age based on numbers. The world is one immense mathematical puzzle waiting to be solved. Chiyo-chan had taken on that mission to read all the literature she could find on quantum mechanics and alternative mathematical formulas. She read modern accounts first, staying up late playing with algorithms and theorems. They each explained pieces of the puzzle but not the whole.

Not to be put down, she delved further into more ancient literature where she found the universe explained in terms more mystical than their more contemporary counterparts. A book written in the Middle Ages defined that the universe we see is not stangnant and singular, but instead composed of various interlocking dimensions with their own forms of population and organization.

The secrets could be revealed through mathematical numbers and symbols that were forgotten with the advent of religious persecution of the books and were later not taken seriously by modern society.

With great anticipation and curiosity, Chiyo began to write the formula that was said to breach the barrier between dimensions on a piece of paper. A few symbols in, she stopped, feeling a wave of nausea pass through her. Shaking it off as nerves, she continued writing. Upon completing the final portion of the formula she jumped back from her desk, for it felt as if an electrical current had passed through her. In her flight, she had dropped her pencil upon the paper and she watched in horror as it slowly disappeared into thin air.

She shook her head, disbelieving.

"I can't let anyone get a hold of this.", she proposed, placing her hand on the paper.

She held back a scream as she noticed her fingertips fading. Quickly, she pulled her hand back and sighed in relief as her fingers were whole once more. Steeling herself, she tried to move the paper with another penicl only to have this one fade as well. Her fingers were almost caught up in teh disappearing act as well.

It seemed as if she had called forth a force she could not control and she knew she would have to pay for her error. Slumping to the ground, she began to weep. And in weeping, she fell into sleep.

"Chiyo! Chiyo, are you awake?", called a voice.

Chiyo awoke with a start to see her father standing in the doorway with a smile.

"Oh, good morning, Daddy!", Chiyo said, hopping to her feet.

"You must have fallen asleep while studying.", her father said, indicating the books and papers around the room.

"Yes, I guess I did.", Chiyo said nervously.

"I woke you because your friends that you invited over are here.", he said.

Chiyo stood in shock. She had totally forgotten that she had invited her friends over for a weekend sleepover.

"Can you please send them up here, Daddy?", she asked sweetly.

"Of course.", he replied, leaving.

Chiyo proceeded to rush about the room, putting all her books on alternative mathematics in a safe, out-of-sight spot. Yet there was one thing she could not dispose of. She sighed, looking at the paper. She would just have to take her chances.

"Hey Chiyo-chan! How YOU doooooin'?", Tomo screamed as she entered.

"Hello everyone!", Chiyo happily chirped as she looked at her friends.

Tomo had traipsed into the room first, followed by Yomi who kept her from wrecking the place. Osaka and Kagura came in next, conversing about the nuances of alien brain cells. Sakaki entered next, happily petting a panting Mr. Tadakichi. Last but certainly not least came a heavily blushing Kaorin who took up standing next to Sakaki as often as humanly possible.

"Man, I'm always amazed at how organized your room is, Chiyo-chan.", Yomi commented.

"Organized? Look at her desk! That looks pretty messy to me!", Tomo said, waltzing over and carelessly flipping through the papers that lie upon the desk.

"Put that stuff down, Tomo. It's not yours.", Yomi said to her friend.

"What the hell is this? Is this our math homework?", Tomo said as she held forth the ancient text Chiyo had written.

Chiyo made a grab for the paper, but Tomo found this funny and hopped to the center of the room holding the paper just out of reach.

"Tomo! Please, drop that paper!", Chiyo screamed, tears filling her large eyes.

"Oh, and why would that be? So I can't copy it?", Tomo chided.

"No! Tomo, please...", Chiyo screamed before being interrupted by an even louder yell.

"What the hell!? TOMO!", Yomi cried.

Confused, Tomo looked at her raised hand. Her forearm had totally disappeared up to the elbow and it wasn't stopping there. Terrified, Tomo ran aimlessly about the room as the others tried to stop her.
Sakaki eventually captured the paniced girl in a bearhug, yet even Sakaki could not stop the both of them from quickly dissipating. The others watched in terror as the only thing left behind was a wavy distortion that resembled heat rising off an asphalt road.

Chiyo weeped tears of absolute grief, knowing that she was the cause of this.

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Without so much as a twinge of feeling, TOmo seemed to reform in a vast lake of sand. Golden dunes stretched before her, yet in the distance she could see the forms of towers silhouetted against the blue sky.

"Hm...cool.", was all she could say.

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Sakaki also watched the world transform itself from Chiyo's room to a grassy plain. Trees dotted the healthy meadow while great pyramidal structures rose what seemed like a few kilometers from her position. Her insides roiled with anxious worry but her composure was solid on the outside. Realizing that there seemed to be no immediately visable route back she decided to move, albeit with extreme caution, towards the structures.

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"What...do we do?", Kaorin asked, practically hyperventilating.

"Can't we just go in after them?", Kagura asked.

Chiyo sadly shook her head.

"I...don't know where we might end up. The formula unlocks a dimension based on each individual. We all might end up somewhere totally different if we did go after them.", Chiyo explained.

"Where did you learn this stuff, Chiyo-chan? That might find us an answer.", Yomi said, sweating in worry even as her voice carried an air of composure.

Chiyo nodded and retrieved her books.