"Ryoko!! I can't breathe!!" Tenchi's face turned a dark shade of blue when she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck to piss Ayeka off.
"Get off of him you brute!!" the purple-haired space princess narrowed her eyes at Ryoko before she tried to slap the space pirate off her man.
Washu sighed pathetically, "Another day in the Masaki household..." Shaking her head, she went back to typing on her keyboard entering numbers no one could possibly fathom.
"Hey-hey-hey!! Watch it! OW-" Tenchi was caught in the middle of the slapping fit between the two alien girls. After the sixth accidental slap across his face, Tenchi exploded at the top of his lungs for Ryoko and Ayeka to stop fighting. "STOP IT!!!"
Still clinging to Tenchi's neck, they cyan-haired space pirate pulled the top half of his body back towards her – away from Ayeka. "Here Tenchi, come away with me...away from this bitchy, big-nosed princess..." she stuck her tongue out at Ayeka.
"Why you little-" Ayeka snatched the front of Tenchi's shirt and tugged him towards her instead. Within seconds, another tug-of-war ensued for the boy's attention and affection.
"Be careful you three- every time you fight in here...something goes wrong..." Washu muttered over the girls' arguing and Tenchi's cry for help. You three are a recipe for disaster I swear, the crazy scientist thought silently to herself.
Tenchi wasn't the most graceful of human beings in the first place and this back and forth motion was making him dizzy. With one final tug, Ryoko pulled him backwards into her arms but managed to accidentally get decked in the face by the back of Tenchi's head.
Both slightly stunned by the collision, Ryoko and Tenchi fell backwards into the table full of Washu's experiments that were considered "unsuccessful." There was a sudden flash of bright light and small explosion when the back of Ryoko's hand touched a small black cube.
- - - - - - - - -
"Look at that… It almost looks like a falling star," Abel Nightroad pointed up as a small fiery object shot across the night sky. His blue eyes followed the ball of fire until it appeared to have crashed into a building off in the distance. "Isn't that where the catacombs are Father Tres?" he glanced over to a younger, red-haired man dressed in similar black robes.
"Affirmative. Should we alert the AX of this disturbance?" Tres' voice seemed to have no emotion.
The silver-haired priest nodded, "Yes…we probably should go check it out. Someone might have been hurt."
"Sister Kate," Father Tres said in his emotionless tone of voice, "I am detecting a disturbance by the rubble near the catacombs. Permission to check it out." He stood perfectly still as he awaited his orders, "Affirmative," he responded when she relayed him orders from the AX headquarters. "We are to move with caution," Tres stated to his AX companion.
"Alright, let's go then…" Abel pushed his glasses closer to his face before he bolted after Tres in the darkness.
Moving with inhuman speed, Tres maneuvered his way through the rubble of the destroyed building to a thick wall of grey smoke that was being emitted from the center. He revealed the gun holsters on the sides of his chest as he quickly drew his weapons to destroy whatever threat there was.
"This is strange…" Abel whispered as he moved around the rubble precariously.
Tres instantly lifted his guns when he heard movement coming from within the smoke. "State your reason for trespassing at the Vatican," his eyes focused in on a black figure standing in the middle of the smoke.
Coughing, a young girl with cyan-colored hair ventured out of the smoke. Her clothes were torn in several places and she had black smudges all over her skin. "Remind me to never go back into Washu's lab ever again Ten-" her yellow eyes opened wide when she realized that someone she had never seen before was talking to her. "Oh fuck me…" Ryoko's jaw dropped when it hit her that she wasn't in Washu's lab anymore. Not this again…
As Tres flashed a light directly into Ryoko's face to get a better look at her, Abel noticed that she had slightly sharp fangs as her yellow eyes stared blankly at the two oddly-dressed men. Father Tres spotted this also, "Vampire," he stated before he began shooting at Ryoko with both of his guns.
"Hey! What the fuck?!" Dodging the silver bullets by transporting back and forth, Ryoko finally retreated back into the grey smoke and away from the bright light. What the fuck is going on here?! Where am I?! What the hell did he just call me? She was somewhat relieved to have the grey smoke around her as some sort of cover. It would soon settle though, she would have to move quickly.
"Stop! Wait Tres!!" Abel grabbed Tres' left arm and jerked him away from following her into the smoke. "We don't know that for sure!"
Tres gave his partner a blank look, "Orders are to kill any vampires on sight while at the Vatican…"
Fuck! They are going to kill me? Fuck this… Ryoko produced her energy sword in her right hand, I'll kill you first then. Teleporting out of the smoke, the space pirate rammed both of the surprised men at full speed – knocking Abel over and forcing Tres to drop one of his weapons. Now I'll just separate you two!
Ryoko went after Abel sensing he was the weaker of the two, swiping her energy sword while he narrowly dodged her attacks by tripping backwards through the rubble. She pushed him towards the smoke until he finally climbed to his feet and bolted into it for cover.
"Can't we talk about this first?!" Abel shrieked like a little girl as he ducked down from another one of her attacks. "I'm sure as a vampire-" the priest jumped back as she took another swipe at him with her sword, "- you would have a good reason to be at the Vatican in the middle of the night-"
"Father Nightroad…damage report…" Tres called from the other side of the smoke. He couldn't lock onto the attacker without hitting Abel in the process.
"Vampire…? How dare you call me a vampire!" Ryoko grabbed the fragile-looking priest by the shirt collar and brought him close to her snarling face. "Look here Nighty-"
"Um," Abel squeaked in a small voice, "It's Abel Nightroad actually…"
"Shut-up you little worm!! I didn't give you permission to interrupt me!" she stared him down with her yellow eyes. "I don't know where the hell I am…I've lost my Tenchi-"
"Tenchi? Is that some sort of drink…?"
Ryoko pulled him to her eye level, "And I especially don't need you or your son to get in my way!!"
"Son?" Abel could barely follow the conversation. "Oh - you mean Father Tres… He's a priest, not my son…" he laughed lightly at the thought of being mistaken for Gunslinger's father.
"A priest…?" Ryoko glanced curiously at him for a split second. "Argh, enough games!! Where did you take Tenchi?!"
Beads of sweat began running down Abel's pale face, "Is this Tenchi a vampire also?"
"I AM NOT A VAMPIRE!!" Ryoko's eyes suddenly changed from a soft yellow hue to blood red. "I AM A NOTORIOUS SPACE PIRATE!" She was growing tired of this confusion, "If you call me a vampire again – I'll fucking kill you. So you better start answering my questions…OR ELSE!!"
Space pirate? Abel nodded quickly, "Of course, of course…I'll tell you whatever you want to know!" He would have to dwell on that term later if he wanted to survive this.
"First," Ryoko cleared her throat and moved her energy sword away from the priest's chest, "What's a vampire…?"
"WHAT?!" Abel looked at her dumbfounded, "You're threatening to kill me over a word you don't even understand!!" he flailed his arms about in frustration. "You have got to be kidding me!" The silver-haired priest froze when he heard a shot fired from a few feet away.
Ryoko felt something stinging her shoulder at first, and then she could feel her blood dripping down her arm. While the two were arguing back and forth, the smoke had finally cleared. She released Abel from her grip to examine her bleeding shoulder, "This is a new feeling…" Her ears twitched when she heard a clicking sound, Time to go. Before Tres could get a second shot on Ryoko, she faded away into the darkness.
"Father Nightroad, I repeat. Damage report," Tres extended a steady open hand to his clumsy partner.
"I'm just fine," he accepted Tres' helping hand and got back to his feet. Brushing the dust from his shoulders, Abel glanced around at the scene now he could see it a little bit clearer.
"Father Tres, what was the disturbance?" Sister Kate's voice echoed in Gunslinger's right ear.
"Found rubble by the catacombs. A vampire was the cause to this disturbance," he glanced at the crumbling structures slowly being revealed with the fading smoke, "The target got away before it could be apprehended."
"Target?" Sister Kate repeated. "Was it a vampire Father Tres?"
I don't think that was a vampire though… Abel folded his arms across his chest as he thought more about it. Did she really come from space? Is she a…no…she can't be… The priest looked up at the night sky to see the sparkling stars, There were only three of us I thought.
"Undetermined at this time..." Father Tres finally responded after observing the befuddled expression on Abel's face.