He opened his eyes expecting death,
war, and chaos… and saw Ryoko's face. Wow…
she's real beautiful… he thought.
Her delicate features were outlined by the huge, orange disk of the
setting sun to the west. Here is
something I was sent to save. He
smiled. Until he realized his
position. Automatically his reflexes
kicked in, despite the burden that weighted his mind.
"What is going on Tenchi…" her eyes
narrowed. "and Ryoko?"
FWOOOM!!
Before he
could finish, an ear-drum shattering explosion rattled Ryo-ohki. Ayeka's view screen vibrated wildly but was
still enough for Tenchi to see Ayeka get flung violently across the room. He sat silently; he could do nothing. He looked to Sasami's screen."
"I'm sorry
princess," a masculine voice said as two arms encircled the little princess and
picked her up. The viewscreen now
revealed the command center of the Jurain ship; dozens of men and woman worked
frantically at their consoles. Tenchi
had never seen Jurains so worried. In
unison, Sasami's viewscreen, and Ayeka's, which was obstructed by smoke,
disappeared. He looked to Ryoko.
"Something destroyed some battleships at the top of the fleet," she said calmly, "The wrecks
are falling towards the earth… and taking more ships with it. We have to get out of the way, now, hold on
tight!"
Meooooow! Ryo-ohki skimmed
across the surface of the earth, trying to get out from under the fleet… but it
extended for miles! Why
was such a huge fleet here on earth? Tenchi looked to
another screen that displayed the view behind him.
It was chaotic… the once perfect
fleet formations were shattered by huge clumps of Jurain wrecks falling toward
the earth. Several battleships tried to
maneuver from under the falling ships, but in vain. Like huge, light brown meteors, many clusters of ships crashed
into the earth. He saw his house get
crushed under a hulking mass… but he knew that dad and Mihoshi, under Kiyone's
command, had safely escaped. He looked for the shrine… it stood on the mountain, and surprisingly,
was one of the places that was not
under the gigantic fleet. Grandpa was safe… for now. Boy, things were moving real fast. It was only minutes ago he was between Ryoko's legs in the soft
soil. Then another horrible thought hit
him…
Oh, GOD! Ayeka and Sasami are on those ships! He had forgotten in the disorder that Ayeka
and Sasami were not with them. "We have to go ba…"
"Shit!" Ryoko cursed
violently as Ryo-ohki maneuvered to avoid a blurred black object. It was a simple, black, wedge shaped ship,
and obviously the source of trouble. He
didn't have to look for long to find another one, dozens were charging at their
ship.
But they were avoiding them! They weren't attacking them! They all headed toward the Jurain
fleet!
Ayeka…Tenchi thought, or Sasami. That's who they're after.
A simple, light brown door
materialized in the courtyard of the shrine. Washu stepped out and walked next
to Katsuhito, who was calmly watching the entire spectacle unfolding before
them.
"She's here, isn't she?" It was the first time ever Katsuhito was
unsure of the situation.
"Yes," answered Washu. "She's here. You must leave now."
"You should leave too, Washu."
"No, Yosho. This is how it's going to happen."
Katsuhito nodded.
The scene raged on.
"AAAAAA! Kiyone, I'm scared!"
Kiyone struggled to keep the ship
under control while ignoring Mihoshi's incessant whining. Nobiyuki was safe in the cargo hold. She made sure everyone was outside of the
house before they left; she too had seen the Jurain battleship crash into their
home.
Sweat beaded on her forehead as she
weaved Yokinojo gracefully through the titanic fleet. The formation had been broke for a while now. The battleships were now engaged in full
combat with the black ships. Not much
progress was being made though; the black ships darted in an out of the fleet,
avoiding the blasts. Ultimately the
battleships were hitting each other more than they were hitting the mysterious
black ships. The least she could do was help them out.
"Where are the princesses?" the
voice asked. It had a kind, ringing
tone, but any kindness his voice indicated was immediately overshadowed by his
malicious intent.
"We believe they are on the ground
sir. Among the downed
battleships." Another voice crackled
back through the speaker.
"Send in the troops. Get them.
Now."
"Yes sir."
"Oh no." Kiyone let Yokinojo fly straight and level as she marveled at the
crimson lights falling from the sky like rain.
She angled Yokinojo's nose down to see what happened to the lights as
they hit the ground- they materialized into soldiers.
She dropped Yokinojo into a
descending turn. There was something
wrong with these soldiers… they didn't seem… real. They were humanoid in form, but all black,
and they had no defined edges… just… like black, human shaped smoke. In unison they all looked at Yokinojo. She fired her guns, spattering energy
bullets all over the ground. They
returned fire.
This was a losing battle. The Jurai commander stared thoughtfully at
the strategic display box. In this huge
box, holographic projections of all the ships hovered in their relative
positions over the earth's landscape.
Battleships were ineffective in bringing down any of the enemy
ships. Instead, they hit each other and crashed into each
other. We shouldn't have brought so
many ships. What I thought would help
bring victory is instead causing our downfall.
And now, their troops were
coming down. Both princesses were on
the ground, and both were alive, he knew.
If only he could get them into one of the working ships! They could take off and bring them to a safe
place. And now he was losing ships,
men, and he was about to lose the princesses to the enemy ground forces.
He sighed
heavily… then made the decision.
"Send all
troops to the earth's surface.
Their orders are to find the princesses and send them to this ship.
Transport all other personnel to their
respective flagships. Afterwards,
scuttle all ships except the flagships."
"Sir?" The comms officer asked.
"Do, it
now, officer."
"Yes, sir."
"Yes, yes
go, go, go!" Kiyone cheered as she saw
thousands of bright white lights pop out of the Jurain ships. Immediately upon materializing, the Jurain
troops clashed with the enemy. She had
no time to observe the battle; she had to concentrate on helping the Jurai….
Ships! They were dissolving! She looked all around her. All ships not dropping troops were dissolving! What's happening? she thought. Quickly she added power to her boosters to
gain altitude. She new the Jurain
flagships would be near the top of the fleet.
She sighed with relief upon seeing about 4 ships still operating and
still fighting.
She angled
Yokinojo's nose straight toward the ground and the sight disheartened her. There were no longer any other Jurain
battleships. And the ground was coated
with a sea of men and women.
Fighting. And dying.
"Yeeeehaw,
Tenchi, they're running away!" Ryoko
shouted gleefully. The fighting had
brought them out of the Earth's atmosphere and into the cold void of space. After a while, the hordes of black ships
withdrew. Ryoko was doing a little
victory dance with a Ryo-ohki crystal when Tenchi jolted them both back to
reality.
"Ryoko!!!!
We have to go back now and see what's happening in Japan!"
"Oh, yeah.
Ryo-ohki!"
Meeeowww!
Quickly
Ryo-ohki spun around and stopped once Japan came into view. All three of them paused for a moment as the
island of Honshu came into focus.
Bright
lights were flashing randomly at Okayama. A battle.
"Go,
Ryo-ohki!"
Ryo-ohki
responded quickly by jetting straight to the area of delicate flashing
lights. As she descended friction built
up and the view-screen turned became obstructed by the red-hot coat that was
slowly building up around her.
When they
finally slowed down and the heat dissipated, they were confronted with quite a
view. All across the once peaceful landscape
was pure chaos: smoking Jurain
battleships surrounded by fighting Jurains and the enigmatic black
soldiers. Every single one of them was
looking for Princess Ayeka and Princess Sasami. Four Jurain battleships remained; they hovered quietly over the
landscape, spared from the bloodbath that raged below them.
"We have to
find Ayeka and Sasami, Ryoko." Tenchi said, observing the battle, trying in
vain to find any sign of them.
"Yeah. Ayeka's ship was one of the first ones hit
right?" Ryoko asked. Tenchi
nodded. They had seen how the first
explosion shook Ayeka's ship. "Well,
let's go to the pile right there." She
pointed to a huge mass of Jurain wood where the thickest part of the battle was
occurring.
"Ryoko!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, while beating down with his
sword an attacking black figure. "You
try and find Ayeka, I'll try to get Sasami!!!" He ducked, swung out his leg,
tripped another black figure, and proceeded to hack into pieces. Ryoko, meanwhile shoved a red energy dagger
into the nearest enemy and nodded.
Quickly she flew inside of the wreckage.
She flew down the corridors,
searching for any sign of either princess.
She smiled, Why can't I
find that bratty little bitch when I want
to find her! She turned a corner,
raising her dagger high, expecting to find another enemy but instead finding a
wounded Jurain soldier. His reflexes
kicked in rather slow, and he weakly raised his stick and closed his eyes. Ryoko knelt down in front of him. "Is Ayeka in this ship?" she asked.
"I must find her."
"She was in
one of the ships we crashed into…she…" he cringed in pain, "she shouldn't be
far. Go… find her! She is of great importance!" He waved her away. She resumed flying down the hallways.
She is
of great importance? she thought, What does he mean by that? Of course she's of great importance, she's
the daughter of the Emperor!
The
corridor ended abruptly, broken in half and blocked by the hull of another
downed ship. Easily she blasted the
wall down. It opened into the cargo
hold of another battleship.
She was
greeted with yet another unusual scene that both gave her hope and discouraged
her. Kamidake hovered in the air,
dodging blasts from a group of enemy soldiers while returning them without much
accuracy. Azaka lay at the edge of the cargo hold, a deep fissure running
diagonally down his side. She phased
out then back in right behind the enemy soldiers and cleanly, with one swipe,
chopped off all their "heads." Like all
the others she had killed today, they did not slump over and "die," they just dissipated into the air… like
smoke. Kamidake still maneuvered in the
air and fired bolts at the where the enemies were. She flew up to him.
"Kamidake,
where is Ayeka? Tell me now!"
Mindlessly,
Kamidake continued to hover about, firing bolts, while saying, "Must protect
the Emperor! Must protect the Emperor!"
"Ah, what a
bucket of bolts, you aren't making any sense!
The Emperor is not here!"
she yelled, exasperated. She
kicked him; he flew across the hold, clanged against the wall, and fell to the
ground, all the while chanting "Must protect the Emperor!"
She looked
over at Azaka. She knew she wouldn't get much out of him and that condition but
she figured it wouldn't hurt to try.
"Azaka, where
is Ayeka?!"
"He-he-he-hello,
Ryoko. I-I d-d fzzzzz. Yo-
ect- Emp…fzzz." He turned
slightly.
Ryoko
looked the where Azaka indicated. On
the ground, folded nicely and still in good condition were Ayeka's clothes.
Damnit! She's out there fighting!
"Yaaaaaa!"
Tenchi shouted at the top of his lungs as he came down upon an enemy
soldier swinging his sword violently.
Upon landing and destroying the threat, he shifted his foot, pivoted,
turned around, and quickly executing two, wide, sweeping swings, taking down
another two enemies.
He was in
the forest now, heading for the nearest wreck that was imbedded in the side of
a mountain. Just like one of
Grandpa's training sessions, Tenchi thought as he kicked an enemy into tree
and pinned him there with his sword, only multiplied a couple thousand times
over. He turned, thrusting his
sword out, only to stop himself from almost decapitating a fellow Jurai
soldier. Realizing no enemies were
around, he took the opportunity the bolt for the wreckage as fast as possible.
He saw a
clearing up ahead but he had to much momentum and couldn't stop himself from
tumbling right into the middle of the small grassy field. Just as he expected, several black figures
jumped out of the woods, hissing while forming a circle around him.
Adrenaline
pumped through his veins and time slowed down to a snails place. While pacing his breathing he counted the
number of his foes. One… two… three…
four… five… six. Six of them. Forming a hexagon around him.
He lunged
directly at the enemy his body was pointing at. He executed a quick hop, flung his heel at his enemy's "chin",
while raising his sword high above his head.
Unable to react in time the black figure took the kick the best it
could, tumbling backwards. As it attempted to prop itself up, Tenchi slashed at
its "throat". It disappeared.
Five.
The element
of surprise was gone. The two nearest
him were already charging. One made an
extension of its "body" and swung it above its head while the other shot little
bolts at Tenchi with its hand. The one
with the "sword" leapt into the air preparing to swing downward at Tenchi's
head; the other stopped about a meter away and continued firing. The three on the other side of the clearing
were just beginning their advance. Since
the time Tenchi fell into the clearing, three seconds had passed. Pushing off the ground, Tenchi leapt under
the leaping figure and slashed at the "chest" of the firing one.
Four.
Spinning
on his foot, he continued his slash to make a complete circle that ended in the
back of the other figure that just landed right behind him.
Three.
He
turned back around to find only two figures running at him. Where was that
other one? Quickly he glanced into the
foliage above him but saw nothing. He
looked back at the two advancing enemies and refocused on the matter at
hand. Both of them extended their hazy
right "hands" into "swords." Tenchi
decided to take the defensive this time.
They leapt and landed right of front of him in unison; one had its sword
above his head and was coming downward, the other had its sword to its left,
coming in for a horizontal swing. Bad move, Tenchi thought to
himself. He blocked the vertical swing
with his sword. Then he quickly shifted
his feet apart, lowering himself and avoiding the horizontal swing by a couple
inches. It continued on and chopped in
half the figure next to it, still recoiling from the block.
Two.
More
adrenaline pumped into him. His Jurain
ancestry came out and his sword began to glow blue, brimming with energy. He slashed at the figure. It blocked but fell over by the power of the
blow. Relentlessly Tenchi came downward
at the prostrate figure. It kept on
blocking from the ground; Tenchi kept on swinging downward. The clangs grew in intensity. Finally, with a battle cry of primal rage,
Tenchi came downward, chopping the figure's "sword" in half and continuing
downward to cleanly cut the figure from the top of the head to the middle of
its torso. It dissipated, carried away
by the wind.
One.
He was
about to search the woods to find the final figure but he heard a rustle behind
him. Quickly he brought his sword into
the air, began a spin, and with unstoppable force he started his downward slash
while facing his enemy.
Time stopped as in a millisecond his glands turned his blood
into pure adrenaline…
It was Ayeka.
The picture was frozen right in front of his eyes. Ayeka, in her battle armor, body facing him
but her head turned to the right. She
was in a combat stance; her right arm was extended and glowing. Further along to her right was a dissipating
figure taking a full blast of Ayeka's power.
The final enemy. The enemy he
was supposed to be slashing at right now. Ayeka had saved him. The
enemy was in an unexpected place and would have had an opportunity to strike
out at him with ease. In the place where Tenchi expected the enemy would be
stood Ayeka instead.
Oh, please, God, NO! Washu, please, no!
He was slowly going back into real time. His sword was already half way down in its
descent, glowing a blinding white blue color and flowing with pure energy.
No, Washu! NO!
Time started to go by faster. Ayeka began to turn toward Tenchi, a victorious grin on her
face. The sword was still out of her
field of vision.
Damn you Washu! No! Please, no!
Her eyes met his and glowed brilliantly. The sword was now just inches from her
abdomen, unstoppable.
Nooooooooooooooooo!
Her face was now directly facing his. Senses sharpened by the intense adrenaline
rush, Tenchi realized, for the first time ever, how beautous Ayeka was, and how
much he loved her.
She is so beautiful Washu, how can you do this to
me.
With a sickening crack, the sword penetrated Ayeka's battle
armor. It continued to slide into her
body, blood flowing from the newly made fissures. It reached just a little to the right of the center of her body;
there Tenchi stopped the sword and quickly pulled it out. Immediately the sword dimmed to its
original, wooden, brown color.
Ayeka
looked down at her belly, then back at Tenchi.
"Tenchi…"
she gasped. She smiled.
Then,
slowly, she fell to her knees. Tenchi,
shocked by his own actions, took a couple steps backwards.
Gracefully,
and for what seemed an eternity, Ayeka fell to the ground… and died.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
it was a short cry of pure fury; fury directed at the black figures, fury
directed at Washu, and fury directed at himself.
In a
blinding flash the three Light Hawk Wings burst froth from his body and
encircled Ayeka's. Gently, with the
Wings, Tenchi brought Ayeka in standing position in front of him.
Tenchi's
face crinkled in concentration. The
Wings grew intensely bright, pumping life energy into Ayeka's limp body, but it
was futile. He clenched his fists,
again he strained, again the Light Hawk Wings grew to blinding intensity, and
again it failed to revitalize her.
Again he tried, and again he failed.
He placed
Ayeka's body back on the ground, face up, and gently placed her arms across her
chest. The Wings disappeared in a
flash. Tenchi collapsed next to Ayeka's body, exhausted. He managed to pull himself up in the
kneeling position. He put his hand on
Ayeka's cheek and through tightly shut eyes, he cried.
"There,
there, one of them may be in there!"
Mihoshi shouted as she pointed to another wreck that they had not
searched. She was abnormally…calm.
Kiyone flew Yokinojo above the wreckage.
"Ok," Mihoshi continued, "lower
me down on the hook again and I'll search this one." Before Kiyone could react she dashed to the cargo bay. Kiyone was puzzled. Mihoshi was calm, collected, and doing
things right. But she wasn't going to
think about it any more than she needed to,
this was a good thing. Ok,
I'm on, lower me! she heard over the intercom. She also heard the huge battle raging in the background.
Mihoshi
dangled perilously over the wreckage.
Jurains and dark figures were still fighting all over the
landscape. Every now and then one of
the enemies would try to shoot her but she shot back with extreme
accuracy. "Keep on lowering me!" she
shouted into the intercom. "I'm only
halfway there!"
She gazed
through her goggles down into the wreckage.
Suddenly, a blinding white light appeared and grew out of the
rubble. She quickly tapped her cube on
her waste and adjusted the shade setting on her goggles. Then she saw it. Eight Light Hawk Wings, forming an oval around Princess
Sasami. As the Wings lifted Sasami out
of the wreck, all the black figures on the battlefield let out a howl in
unison. It was a signal; every single
black figure began shooting at Sasami, Mihoshi, and Yokinojo. The bolts bounced harmlessly off Sasami's
protective covering. Two more Wings
appeared and began gliding across the surface of Yokinojo, protecting it and
Mihoshi. Once Sasami reached Mihoshi,
the oval opened up and gently placed Sasami, asleep and in the fetal position,
into Mihoshi's outstretched arms.
"Go!" She shouted into the
intercom as black projectiles zoomed all around her. "Pull us up and head to the flagship!" Kiyone took no time in
following her partner's commands.
Washu stood
in the courtyard of the shrine, alone.
She pointed to the two withdrawing Jurai battleships and said, to
apparently no one, "You've lost. Princess Sasami has escaped."
A figure
materialized in front of Washu, obstructing her view of the battlefield. It was an old man of large stature. He had two beady, oblong eyes that slanted
elegantly toward the bridge of his nose.
Another oval lay in the middle of his forehead. He had long, gray hair that hung to his
shoulders. He snickered.
"No, Lady
Washu, I'm afraid we've won," his voice flowed, sweet and smooth. "Your Tenchi
took care of one objective for us." He
laughed loudly. "And our number one
objective… was you."
"Shut up
and take me now."
He closed
his eyes for a moment. "Lady Tokimi
will see you now."
END PART ONE
Washu, whose whereabouts are unknown, reflects on her
failure, and how the responsibility is now Tenchi's….
Komm,
süsser Tod
(Track 11 in The End of Evangelion Soundtrack)
I know, I know I've let you down
I've been a fool to myself
I thought that I could
Live for no one else
But now through all the hurt and pain
It's time for me to respect
The ones you love mean more than anything
So with sadness in my heart
Feel the best thing I could do
Is end it all and leave forever
What's done is done it feels so bad
What once was happy now is sad
I'll never love again
My world is ending
(Chorus)
I wish that I could turn back time
Cause now the guilt is all mine
Can't live without the trust from those you love
I know we can't forget the past
You can't forget love and pride
Because of that it's killing me inside
It all returns to nothing...It all comes
Tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down
It all returns to nothing...I just keep
Letting me down, letting me down, letting me down
In my heart of hearts
I know that I could never love again
I've lost everything...everything
Everything that matters to me matters in this world
(Repeat Chorus)
It all returns to nothing...It all comes
Tumbling down, tumbling down, tumbling down
It all returns to nothing... I just keep
Letting me down, letting me down, letting me down
(Repeat till end)
Here's a page where you can download Komm, süsser Tod. I'm sure he won't mind cause I'm sorta
advertising. If you're the owner, and
you just happen to be reading my fic, and you want the link off, give me a
holler. OvermindVI1@cs.com
Yeah,
it's a Neon Genesis Evangelion song but its lyrics seem so perfect for Washu's
predicament.
