Tsuki no Tragedy - Chapter 1
By: Ryoko-chan
Disclaimer: The Tenchi Muyo! series and characters belong to Pioneer Entertainment, AIC, TV Tokyo, and a bunch of other people who never get mentioned in disclaimers. I don't own them or claim to.
Author's Note: This is the sequel to my other really long series of fanfics. They didn't have an overall title. But, I decided to continue them. This series won't be as long or as heavy, I hope. If you hadn't read my other fanfics, you should know that Kiyone and Mihoshi are not going to be in these simply because of situations in my other series.
~ Chapter 1 ~
Ryoko and Tenchi had been gone from Okayama for about six months. Neither of them had any contact with the others and life in space hasn't been quite as exciting as Tenchi had expected. In fact, things hadn't exactly been the way Ryoko remembered either.
Life had been boring. Both were ready to go back to Earth, at least there something happened occasionally.
"I don't understand it, Tenchi. My life wasn't this boring before...really, there was some fun every so often."
"Well, there certainly isn't now, Ryoko." Tenchi says, sitting on the floor next to Ryoko's chair on Ryo-Ohki.
"Maybe its because I've stuck so close to Earth. We could go visit other places. No offense, Tenchi dear, but your solar system isn't the most exciting place in the universe."
"Why don't we contact Aeka and the others? Just to check in on them." Tenchi suggested, laying back now.
"Oh, fine. I was only trying to offer some suggestions." She said, flipping on the communication screen.
The two sat there listening to the sound of a phone ringing for quite sometime.
"Hmm, maybe nobody's home..." Ryoko said, glancing over at Tenchi.
"Washu leaving her lab? How often does she do that?"
"It has been six months Tenchi. Maybe she's gotten a life since then."
"Can't you contact her telepathically?" Tenchi asked.
Ryoko sighed.
"I guess I can try."
And try she did, but with no avail.
"I'm not getting any answer at all, Tenchi. Washu would have answered. Maybe we're just too far away."
"Let's go back, then."
"Are you sure, Tenchi?" Ryoko asked him, already steering Ryo-Ohki toward Earth.
"Yes," Tenchi said.
*****Elsewhere*****
Jiro Shino was one of the most unknown people in the universe. When he showed himself at the Masaki household two months previous to the situation we saw earlier, nobody had any clue who this man was. Not even Little Washu who is Jiro's old rival!
Well, either way, Jiro was now holding the entire Masaki clan in a small holding cell somewhere in the far reaches of space. In a completely empty environment Washu couldn't contact Ryoko or Ryo-Ohki and Aeka's guardians Azaka and Kamidake were completely powerless. Even little Sasami's assimilated alter ego Tsunami couldn't help them out of this mess.
Jiro, a disgruntled Jurain, had been banished from the planet some seventeen thousand years ago. After leaving Jurai, he headed to the Science Academy where he met Washu and rather quickly became her rival, like so many others. Well, you'll see, Jiro enjoys talking about himself so he does so rather often.
"How long have we been here now?" Nobuyuki, Tenchi's father asked. The same thing has happened since Jiro trapped them here.
"Two months, one week, and three days." Washu said, sighing.
"Will Tenchi ever show up, Miss Washu? Him and Ryoko could be in space forever before they realize we're not at home." Sasami said, sitting next to her older sister.
"Ryoko and Tenchi will show up soon, I'm sure of it." Washu said.
"How will they find this place, Washu?" Aeka asked.
"They will know where to come." The tiny scientist answered with the utmost confidence in her daughter and Tenchi.
"I hope you're right, Washu." Nobuyuki whined. He's well known for that, you know.
"Have faith, Nobuyuki." Katsuhito, Tenchi's grandfather said calmly. Never betraying his cool exterior. "Ryoko and Tenchi will find their way here. If anyone can get us out of here, it is those two working as a team."
Nobuyuki nodded.
Washu only watched the others. She had a feeling there was more to this situation than what met the eye. She would be right, of course. But there was no way to know for certain. There was no way to escape this prison created by an ordinary human. A Jurain, used to advanced technology, of course, but still only a human. Not to mention a human who didn't have half of the intelligence of Washu herself. If that's the case, then why couldn't she get them out of this place? Why couldn't Tsunami?
As all this was going on, Jiro watched happily from his little room in pseudo-space somewhere. He was having too much fun with this. Stumping the greatest genius in the universe was a small perk compared to what he was to have later. His ultimate goal finally realized, but it all depended on that boy called Tenchi.
*****Back on Ryo-Ohki*****
"How much longer until we get to Earth, Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, constantly looking over her shoulder.
"Not long now, Tenchi. We'll get there soon, I promise. Just stop that. Its annoying." Ryoko said, moving away from Tenchi's worried paces.
"Sorry." He said as he continued.
"I know you're worried Tenchi. We'll figure out what's going on. Ryo-Ohki! Hurry up." She said, impatiently. She was just as eager to find out what had happened to the others.
"Miaaao." Was Ryo-Ohki's response as she increased her speed to Earth. She too was worried, what had happened to Sasami?
After about an hour, they arrived at earth and at the Masaki shrine which had now been unkept for two months. The house itself showed signs of disarray.
Ryoko and Tenchi exited Ryo-Ohki and the spaceship sooner returned to her cabbit form as she jumped onto Ryoko's shoulder.
"What's happened here?" Tenchi wondered aloud as they walked slowly toward the house.
"I don't know. Whatever has happened, it doesn't look like anyone is here anymore, Tenchi."
They slowly walked into the house. Everything was in the exact place it would have been if everyone was only asleep in their rooms. Nothing was different. The interior showed no sign of anything suspicious or mistreatment. It wasn't even dusty.
"I'll check upstairs." Tenchi said, already running up the steps to check his room as well as Aeka's and his father's.
Ryoko went into Washu's laboratory which was still intact and even unlocked, which was strange when Washu wasn't around.
"Washu? Are you in here?" Ryoko asked loudly, hoping to find some sign of life in the huge laboratory.
"Miao?" Ryo-Ohki called as well.
Ryoko sighed. This was creepy. She had never seen Washu's lab so empty.
"Ryoko? Did you find anything in here?" Tenchi asked, walking to the lab.
"No. There's nothing here at all. Its as if they were just lifted from the house, even Washu. Whatever happened, it effected this dimension. But I can't imagine we weren't left any clues." Ryoko said, sitting down at Washu's computer, calling up her holo-top.
"You know how to work this stuff?" Tenchi asked, amazed.
"To a small extent. Enough to get the information we need, I'm sure." She said as she started to type as quickly as Tenchi had ever seen Washu type.
After a while, Tenchi sat down next to Ryoko and studied the computer screen in front of them.
"What's this?" He asked, pointing to the screen.
"I'm not sure. I believe this is Washu's readings of power levels around the house and the Shrine." Ryoko said, pointing to spikes in the graph.
"So this spike here shows that there was a large energy reaction near the Shrine." Tenchi said.
"Yeah, it looks that way. These have been simplified...I think that Washu knew we'd show up and she left these here for us to find. This is some clue to what happened to them, but I don't see anything that would tell us where they are." Ryoko said, sitting back from the computer.
"Well, I guess that its enough that we have this information for now..."
"Wait a minute...I've heard Washu talk about tracing a person's life form data back in time to locate them through time."
"If we could find Aeka, Sasami, or Washu's data in the system, we could find them? Do you know how to do that Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, looking over at her.
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure I could." Ryoko said, typing information into Washu's computer again.
After a long, confusing bout with Washu's fail safes and charts in ancient alien languages, Ryoko finally got to the information she needed.
"Look here, Tenchi." She said, pointing to the graph. "This is Aeka and Sasami's energy. The house has been completely devoid of their energy for over two months. That's how long they've been gone."
"Does it say where they went to?"
"I don't know. The energy traces are no longer on Earth."
"So they went back into space?"
"No, there is still Jurai energy on the planet. Funaho and Ryu-oh are still here. Everyone else is gone." Ryoko said, continuing to watch the graph as it scrolled through the time period of their disappearance to the present.
"Look at that, Ryoko. What's that?" Tenchi said, noticing a glitch on the graph.
"I don't know." Ryoko said, going back to it. "I think it might be the answer we've been looking for though."
"So you can tell where they're at?" Tenchi asked.
"Yeah, I think I can. Look at this, Tenchi...the life form data traces into another dimension."
"Another dimension? How can you tell?"
"Because you just can tell. Washu has this color coded, each color signifies another dimension. The red is subspace, or pseudo-space. The energy data transfers from blue, which is the dimension that the house is in, into red."
"So they're in subspace?"
"Yes, I think so."
"So how do we find them?"
"We follow the energy traces and hope it leads us to them. That's all we can do." Ryoko said.
"I'm impressed, Ryoko." Tenchi said, standing up.
"Yeah, right. Its not like Washu didn't oversimplify things here."
"So how do we get into subspace?"
"Miao, miao, miao!" They heard Ryo-Ohki from the other side of the laboratory.
"What is it, Ryo-Ohki?" Tenchi asked, walking up behind her.
"This must be the portal into subspace."
"But if we walk into subspace, how will we know where to go to find them?" Tenchi asked.
"Ryo-Ohki is capable of tracing specific energy patterns. If I give her the information, she should be able to track Aeka and Sasami and your grandfather."
"Let's do that then." Tenchi said as Ryo-Ohki jumped onto Ryoko's shoulder again and they walked back to Washu's computer.
"All right." Ryoko said once the information had been transferred into Ryo-Ohki's memory. "That should be good. Can you follow the energy patterns so far, Ryo-Ohki?"
"Miao." The small cabbit said, leading her back to the portal further into subspace.
"Let's go then, Ryoko." Tenchi said.
"All right." Ryoko said, stepping into the subspace portal.
Tenchi followed.
*****Elsewhere, in Subspace*****
"They're coming." Washu said suddenly, causing everyone else to look up in her direction.
"How do you know, Washu?" Aeka asked.
"The barrier that was blocking my telepathic bond with Ryoko has collapsed. That means she's entered into subspace."
"So you can communicate with her?" Sasami asked.
"No, not yet. I can only tell that she is in pseudo-space."
"But isn't your laboratory in subspace as well, Washu?" Katsuhito asked.
"Yes, but there are barriers in the laboratory that keeps it rooted in our dimension so as long as anyone is in my lab they are essentially still on earth."
"So Ryoko is actually in subspace now? No longer in your lab?" Sasami asked.
"Yes."
"What about Tenchi? Can you tell if he is with her?" Aeka asked.
"If Ryoko is coming, I'm certain that Tenchi is with her." Washu said, satisfied that the information she had time to leave was understood by the two of them.
*****Jiro's Subspace Room*****
This was too perfect. The boy Tenchi was coming right to him. He wasn't going to have to do much as far as capturing the boy and the pirate Ryoko. Tenchi was easier to track in subspace and Jiro knew that Ryoko would be with him. The Jurai energy Tenchi emitted would lead Jiro straight to the two of them and the completion of his life-long project. He would finally have Washu's greatest achievement within his grasps and there wouldn't be anyone to stop him.
===============
**End Chapter 1**
By: Ryoko-chan
Disclaimer: The Tenchi Muyo! series and characters belong to Pioneer Entertainment, AIC, TV Tokyo, and a bunch of other people who never get mentioned in disclaimers. I don't own them or claim to.
Author's Note: This is the sequel to my other really long series of fanfics. They didn't have an overall title. But, I decided to continue them. This series won't be as long or as heavy, I hope. If you hadn't read my other fanfics, you should know that Kiyone and Mihoshi are not going to be in these simply because of situations in my other series.
~ Chapter 1 ~
Ryoko and Tenchi had been gone from Okayama for about six months. Neither of them had any contact with the others and life in space hasn't been quite as exciting as Tenchi had expected. In fact, things hadn't exactly been the way Ryoko remembered either.
Life had been boring. Both were ready to go back to Earth, at least there something happened occasionally.
"I don't understand it, Tenchi. My life wasn't this boring before...really, there was some fun every so often."
"Well, there certainly isn't now, Ryoko." Tenchi says, sitting on the floor next to Ryoko's chair on Ryo-Ohki.
"Maybe its because I've stuck so close to Earth. We could go visit other places. No offense, Tenchi dear, but your solar system isn't the most exciting place in the universe."
"Why don't we contact Aeka and the others? Just to check in on them." Tenchi suggested, laying back now.
"Oh, fine. I was only trying to offer some suggestions." She said, flipping on the communication screen.
The two sat there listening to the sound of a phone ringing for quite sometime.
"Hmm, maybe nobody's home..." Ryoko said, glancing over at Tenchi.
"Washu leaving her lab? How often does she do that?"
"It has been six months Tenchi. Maybe she's gotten a life since then."
"Can't you contact her telepathically?" Tenchi asked.
Ryoko sighed.
"I guess I can try."
And try she did, but with no avail.
"I'm not getting any answer at all, Tenchi. Washu would have answered. Maybe we're just too far away."
"Let's go back, then."
"Are you sure, Tenchi?" Ryoko asked him, already steering Ryo-Ohki toward Earth.
"Yes," Tenchi said.
*****Elsewhere*****
Jiro Shino was one of the most unknown people in the universe. When he showed himself at the Masaki household two months previous to the situation we saw earlier, nobody had any clue who this man was. Not even Little Washu who is Jiro's old rival!
Well, either way, Jiro was now holding the entire Masaki clan in a small holding cell somewhere in the far reaches of space. In a completely empty environment Washu couldn't contact Ryoko or Ryo-Ohki and Aeka's guardians Azaka and Kamidake were completely powerless. Even little Sasami's assimilated alter ego Tsunami couldn't help them out of this mess.
Jiro, a disgruntled Jurain, had been banished from the planet some seventeen thousand years ago. After leaving Jurai, he headed to the Science Academy where he met Washu and rather quickly became her rival, like so many others. Well, you'll see, Jiro enjoys talking about himself so he does so rather often.
"How long have we been here now?" Nobuyuki, Tenchi's father asked. The same thing has happened since Jiro trapped them here.
"Two months, one week, and three days." Washu said, sighing.
"Will Tenchi ever show up, Miss Washu? Him and Ryoko could be in space forever before they realize we're not at home." Sasami said, sitting next to her older sister.
"Ryoko and Tenchi will show up soon, I'm sure of it." Washu said.
"How will they find this place, Washu?" Aeka asked.
"They will know where to come." The tiny scientist answered with the utmost confidence in her daughter and Tenchi.
"I hope you're right, Washu." Nobuyuki whined. He's well known for that, you know.
"Have faith, Nobuyuki." Katsuhito, Tenchi's grandfather said calmly. Never betraying his cool exterior. "Ryoko and Tenchi will find their way here. If anyone can get us out of here, it is those two working as a team."
Nobuyuki nodded.
Washu only watched the others. She had a feeling there was more to this situation than what met the eye. She would be right, of course. But there was no way to know for certain. There was no way to escape this prison created by an ordinary human. A Jurain, used to advanced technology, of course, but still only a human. Not to mention a human who didn't have half of the intelligence of Washu herself. If that's the case, then why couldn't she get them out of this place? Why couldn't Tsunami?
As all this was going on, Jiro watched happily from his little room in pseudo-space somewhere. He was having too much fun with this. Stumping the greatest genius in the universe was a small perk compared to what he was to have later. His ultimate goal finally realized, but it all depended on that boy called Tenchi.
*****Back on Ryo-Ohki*****
"How much longer until we get to Earth, Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, constantly looking over her shoulder.
"Not long now, Tenchi. We'll get there soon, I promise. Just stop that. Its annoying." Ryoko said, moving away from Tenchi's worried paces.
"Sorry." He said as he continued.
"I know you're worried Tenchi. We'll figure out what's going on. Ryo-Ohki! Hurry up." She said, impatiently. She was just as eager to find out what had happened to the others.
"Miaaao." Was Ryo-Ohki's response as she increased her speed to Earth. She too was worried, what had happened to Sasami?
After about an hour, they arrived at earth and at the Masaki shrine which had now been unkept for two months. The house itself showed signs of disarray.
Ryoko and Tenchi exited Ryo-Ohki and the spaceship sooner returned to her cabbit form as she jumped onto Ryoko's shoulder.
"What's happened here?" Tenchi wondered aloud as they walked slowly toward the house.
"I don't know. Whatever has happened, it doesn't look like anyone is here anymore, Tenchi."
They slowly walked into the house. Everything was in the exact place it would have been if everyone was only asleep in their rooms. Nothing was different. The interior showed no sign of anything suspicious or mistreatment. It wasn't even dusty.
"I'll check upstairs." Tenchi said, already running up the steps to check his room as well as Aeka's and his father's.
Ryoko went into Washu's laboratory which was still intact and even unlocked, which was strange when Washu wasn't around.
"Washu? Are you in here?" Ryoko asked loudly, hoping to find some sign of life in the huge laboratory.
"Miao?" Ryo-Ohki called as well.
Ryoko sighed. This was creepy. She had never seen Washu's lab so empty.
"Ryoko? Did you find anything in here?" Tenchi asked, walking to the lab.
"No. There's nothing here at all. Its as if they were just lifted from the house, even Washu. Whatever happened, it effected this dimension. But I can't imagine we weren't left any clues." Ryoko said, sitting down at Washu's computer, calling up her holo-top.
"You know how to work this stuff?" Tenchi asked, amazed.
"To a small extent. Enough to get the information we need, I'm sure." She said as she started to type as quickly as Tenchi had ever seen Washu type.
After a while, Tenchi sat down next to Ryoko and studied the computer screen in front of them.
"What's this?" He asked, pointing to the screen.
"I'm not sure. I believe this is Washu's readings of power levels around the house and the Shrine." Ryoko said, pointing to spikes in the graph.
"So this spike here shows that there was a large energy reaction near the Shrine." Tenchi said.
"Yeah, it looks that way. These have been simplified...I think that Washu knew we'd show up and she left these here for us to find. This is some clue to what happened to them, but I don't see anything that would tell us where they are." Ryoko said, sitting back from the computer.
"Well, I guess that its enough that we have this information for now..."
"Wait a minute...I've heard Washu talk about tracing a person's life form data back in time to locate them through time."
"If we could find Aeka, Sasami, or Washu's data in the system, we could find them? Do you know how to do that Ryoko?" Tenchi asked, looking over at her.
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure I could." Ryoko said, typing information into Washu's computer again.
After a long, confusing bout with Washu's fail safes and charts in ancient alien languages, Ryoko finally got to the information she needed.
"Look here, Tenchi." She said, pointing to the graph. "This is Aeka and Sasami's energy. The house has been completely devoid of their energy for over two months. That's how long they've been gone."
"Does it say where they went to?"
"I don't know. The energy traces are no longer on Earth."
"So they went back into space?"
"No, there is still Jurai energy on the planet. Funaho and Ryu-oh are still here. Everyone else is gone." Ryoko said, continuing to watch the graph as it scrolled through the time period of their disappearance to the present.
"Look at that, Ryoko. What's that?" Tenchi said, noticing a glitch on the graph.
"I don't know." Ryoko said, going back to it. "I think it might be the answer we've been looking for though."
"So you can tell where they're at?" Tenchi asked.
"Yeah, I think I can. Look at this, Tenchi...the life form data traces into another dimension."
"Another dimension? How can you tell?"
"Because you just can tell. Washu has this color coded, each color signifies another dimension. The red is subspace, or pseudo-space. The energy data transfers from blue, which is the dimension that the house is in, into red."
"So they're in subspace?"
"Yes, I think so."
"So how do we find them?"
"We follow the energy traces and hope it leads us to them. That's all we can do." Ryoko said.
"I'm impressed, Ryoko." Tenchi said, standing up.
"Yeah, right. Its not like Washu didn't oversimplify things here."
"So how do we get into subspace?"
"Miao, miao, miao!" They heard Ryo-Ohki from the other side of the laboratory.
"What is it, Ryo-Ohki?" Tenchi asked, walking up behind her.
"This must be the portal into subspace."
"But if we walk into subspace, how will we know where to go to find them?" Tenchi asked.
"Ryo-Ohki is capable of tracing specific energy patterns. If I give her the information, she should be able to track Aeka and Sasami and your grandfather."
"Let's do that then." Tenchi said as Ryo-Ohki jumped onto Ryoko's shoulder again and they walked back to Washu's computer.
"All right." Ryoko said once the information had been transferred into Ryo-Ohki's memory. "That should be good. Can you follow the energy patterns so far, Ryo-Ohki?"
"Miao." The small cabbit said, leading her back to the portal further into subspace.
"Let's go then, Ryoko." Tenchi said.
"All right." Ryoko said, stepping into the subspace portal.
Tenchi followed.
*****Elsewhere, in Subspace*****
"They're coming." Washu said suddenly, causing everyone else to look up in her direction.
"How do you know, Washu?" Aeka asked.
"The barrier that was blocking my telepathic bond with Ryoko has collapsed. That means she's entered into subspace."
"So you can communicate with her?" Sasami asked.
"No, not yet. I can only tell that she is in pseudo-space."
"But isn't your laboratory in subspace as well, Washu?" Katsuhito asked.
"Yes, but there are barriers in the laboratory that keeps it rooted in our dimension so as long as anyone is in my lab they are essentially still on earth."
"So Ryoko is actually in subspace now? No longer in your lab?" Sasami asked.
"Yes."
"What about Tenchi? Can you tell if he is with her?" Aeka asked.
"If Ryoko is coming, I'm certain that Tenchi is with her." Washu said, satisfied that the information she had time to leave was understood by the two of them.
*****Jiro's Subspace Room*****
This was too perfect. The boy Tenchi was coming right to him. He wasn't going to have to do much as far as capturing the boy and the pirate Ryoko. Tenchi was easier to track in subspace and Jiro knew that Ryoko would be with him. The Jurai energy Tenchi emitted would lead Jiro straight to the two of them and the completion of his life-long project. He would finally have Washu's greatest achievement within his grasps and there wouldn't be anyone to stop him.
===============
**End Chapter 1**