Author: Mike Fenton
Title: RYO-OHKI'S ALCHEMY
Notes: Misc., Narrative Poem
Summary: A poetic telling of Ryo-Ohki's transformation.

[Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC, Inc. and was created by Masaki Kajishima. This work is strictly intended to be apocryphal, and should in no way be construed otherwise. This poem is a reinterpretation of episode 10 ("I Love Tenchi").]


O hard-believing love, how strange it seems
Not to believe, and yet too credulous!

--Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis


Ryo-Ohki's Alchemy

The morning sky was bright and clear
As Sasami hurried down the pier--
Mihoshi, as always, at her side
As, there, Ryoko her fishing plied--

Strange for one who'd seldom wait,
And stranger still, with carrots as bait;
Their curious use a mystery
Till a pull on the line revealed Ryo-Ohki.

Donned in a wetsuit, holding a fish,
It seemed that she would get her wish,
But it squirmed and soon it swam away,
And nothing for this would Ryoko pay.

***

Sitting at his closet, Tenchi took stock,
Putting away some old clothes in a box
And taking some out that he left in another,
Discovered a token of his departed mother.

And now as he gazes on the kimono she wore
Her smile returns to cheer him once more:
So, now his eyes yield as his heart lifts
And with a sad sigh returns to his shifts.

Later, he returned, to welcoming cries
And a strange, but somehow pleasant, surprise.
For a moment he thought his mother he viewed
As staring all numbly while his mind construed.

So, as it seemed that harps were playing,
His mind and his heart in a war of assaying,
Ryoko stood in the kimono and smiled
In the way that most Tenchi's mind beguiled.

Twirling away as he made his way nearer,
She asked if the outfit made her seem dearer.
And Tenchi, hardly one to disagree,
Ryoko was vaulted to a state of pure glee.

In ecstasy, she spun toward the door
Till finding one sleeve on the handle tore.
And despite Tenchi's look of utter heartbreak,
She tore away the other for balance's sake.

Too late, she sees a furious storm
Of reproach and trembling in Tenchi's form--
And too late, Ryo-Ohki enters with gladness,
As Tenchi turns and on Ryoko pours madness.

And never did lightning strike as loudly
As these words of anger shouted proudly--
Bearing down both friend and foe:
One with remorse, and one with woe.

Surprised with this injury, Ryo-Ohki cries out,
And surprised, Tenchi turns to see her pout.
Her eyes all wide, and filled with tears,
His anger dissolves as his pity he steers.

He chases her now and tries to explain,
And leaves Ryoko in statue-like pain--
The grip of despair at the edge of hope--
Both like the blind, left now to grope.

***

Like one with wounds that stubbornly persist
Or feverish and away from friends insist,
Ryo-Ohki hid wherever spaces could hide,
To wait out the tempest deep inside.

The creature in anguish hid in a place
That was far from any familiar face--
Except one usually with much to do:
Washu--who was worried and asked for a clue.

So, away went Ryo-Ohki--in sorrow, she flew.
Meanwhile, the others, searched high and low--
Mihoshi thought she knew where to go:
As it was teatime, her want would prove true.

Tenchi, who knew Ryo-Ohki very well,
Knew just where she might her sadness quell,
And ran to the fields where the carrots grew--
Sure enough, there she was, looking quite blue.

Gentle and kind as a lover's kiss,
He grabbed up Ryo-Ohki and admitted remiss;
She, being proud or stubborn or both,
Made refusal of his kind, playful oath.

But Tenchi insisted, and began to explain
How he could never truly complain--
Never about her, but his words were all vain--
And her sadness she continued to feign.

To prove his will, he made a proposal
To haul all the carrots there at his disposal--
And soon he was hauling every carrot in sight,
Along with Ryo-Ohki, now giddy with delight.

Kindly, Ryo-Ohki beheld his stern features
And knowing how heavy the carrots each were,
She took hold of the bag and then she lifted
Till Tenchi did nothing more than just drifted.

And floating, he chuckled a nervous approval,
Till seeing a car made him fear reproval;
And down came Tenchi and all of his cargo
And lay admist carrots as he watched the car go.

***

Later, they found their way to the gate--
He with his pack and she with her freight;
And Ryoko, with a crudely repaired kimono,
Frowned like a puppy with nowhere to go.

And like shafts of light through a cloudy haze,
He smiled and dispelled her gloomy malaise;
So, joyfully, Ryoko exchanged their baggage,
Running ahead as if from a bad grudge.

At the house, Sasami was very relieved
And happily she Ryo-Ohki received,
Vowing to make her her favorite dish
And fulfill her fondest culinary wish.

But, turning, Ryo-Ohki seemed less eager--
Or, perhaps, the thought of food more meager--
Than the cheer that seemed Ryoko's pleasure:
A shared bit of laughter in modest leisure.

So, later that night, as Sasami lay sleeping,
One could imagine why Ryo-Ohki was weeping--
Wiping her face with her sad, furry paw:
A face that still in her heart, she saw.

***

The next day, Tenchi had not a hunch
What lay in store as he took his lunch--
That Sasami happily gave him to eat--
And Ryo-Ohki offered to relieve his feet.

Tenchi explained that one flight was enough
As politely he made his light rebuff,
Leaving Ryo-Ohki saddened once more
To face her own heart's heavy chore.

This time, willing to share with Washu,
But she was busy with studies anew--
So, once again Ryo-Ohki sat at a tank
And her sad expression turned very blank.

Then in alarm, she looked in the water,
At what appeared to have just now sought her:
Little bland creatures with funny little eyes
And nothing that could impart a disguise.

Washu took notice and let her know
That once from them Ryo-Ohki did grow--
Creatures called "mass," the original element--
So, no wonder, her need for enlightenment.

Then Ayeka appeared and told the two
That teatime presently was due,
And Washu, surprised, promptly withdrew
Leaving Ryo-Ohki with her sad ado.

And as the three took the exit away,
The little bland creatures on display
Began to slowly come together
Like little pools in stormy weather.

***

Sitting around at the table they gazed
And almost seemed as if they were dazed
To eat rice crackers and eagerly grimace,
And wonder if the two on TV would kiss.

Meanwhile, a siren in the lab spring-bound
And began to emit a loud warning sound
As the mass creature was now fully formed--
Whose shape to a humanoid female conformed.

Washu, alerted, turned to go see
But now the drama soared loftily
And once more, the two were nearing their aim--
Then a news break promptly doused their flame.

They all returned to various chores
As Mihoshi, hearing the news, abhors,
And Tenchi stopped to begin his repast
While the creature roved the wooded vast.

Almost at once Washu returned winded,
And every other task now rescinded--
A matter of urgency needed their wit,
One that would all of their resources fit.

***

Back in the lab, they looked in the tank,
As Washu explained how they had it to thank
For once holding they that caused this bother--
And considered it simply Ryoko's father.

To explain exactly what masses were
The six of them to a view refer
While four seated properly at each desk--
Debated how much is Ryoko grotesque.

They discussed its power and tendancies,
Its history and extravagancies,
As Ryoko playfully vexed grace
And Ayeka returned it in her face.

The creature located Tenchi at work
As Sasami insisted they presently lurk
And capture it before it assailed--
By finding the factor from which it trailed.

And deducing Ryo-Ohki to be the solution
Washu had a machine that in fine resolution
Would show what memories she had in store
And allow them to promptly begin to explore.

Deploring this suggestion, Sasami objected
And would have the notion of it rejected,
But Ryo-Ohki chose to let herself show
So they could finally its whereabouts know.

Amongst all the carrots in Ryo-Ohki's mind
Little figures of themselves they'd find
And a closer look at more recent things
Found Ryo-Ohki and Tenchi working in strings.

So, when they saw the pattern of her thoughts
The girls were reduced to tearful onslaughts
But, hugging her, now Washu perceived
An insight that Ayeka fully received--

If the will to help Tenchi is the masses will
Then they'd best find him lest him it kill;
For as Washu then added, if it should sense
His power, it would act in deadly defense.

Ryoko, no longer content to sit by
Went off in haste, not waiting to fly--
And off the shield she had a great fall--
Made a hole in the floor six feet tall.

***

When first he saw the creature approach,
Tenchi was shocked and fled in reproach
Of his own weary senses, and may have doubted
As he saw it start working like one devouted.

So, again from the bushes he returned
To greet the creature--but it, he learned
Was not a thing to be trusted at all,
As he heard the warning in Ayeka's call.

Sasami and Washu added dire predictions--
The danger he faced secured his convictions,
Till Mihoshi pleaded for Ryoko's sake
That "honorable father" not her heart break.

And as Sasami gently refuted her,
Mihoshi doubtfully then reputed her--
And Washu warned Ryo-Ohki not to move either,
But to await the "decoy" soon to be there.

Meanwhile, cursing, Ryoko crawled
From the door of the lab, briefly stalled,
As Tenchi, now losing his balance, fell;
The creature prepared a grim farewell.

Just then, Ryoko showed, as foresaid
And the creature blasted her instead--
Ryo-Ohki latching on to the creature's head
And flailed the creature with furious dread.

But the creature prepared another attack
To remove Ryo-Ohki from its back;
So, Washu commanded her to merge at once
And so, put an end to their fears and hunts.

So, now Ryo-Ohki falls with her prey--
And assimilated, now she can actually say
The word "carrot," but needs a hand,
Or falls over if she tries to stand.

Here, hearts lift in merry cheer,
And there, some laughter hear--
But all weary Ryoko can say,
As she sways is, "What a day!"

***

Later, as Sasami was helping Ryo-Ohki,
And Tenchi filled another pack fully,
Ryo-Ohki helped him lift it again,
And, for her pains, took a backward spin.

THE END