Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-ohki OVA4
Episode 23: Responsibility
By Galaxy1001D
Chapter Nine: Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
The next morning Tenchi was carrying his hoe when he left the house and was surprised to see his grandfather. "Grandpa?" he asked in surprise. "Is something wrong? What are you doing here?"
"It's time for your practice session," the 'old' man replied as he tossed him a wooden practice sword. "Did you forget your training?"
"What? Oh yeah, I completely forgot about it," Tenchi laughed as he tapped the side of his head with his fist. "With all that's been happening I completely forgot."
"You can't slack off no matter what's going on in your life," Katsuhito Masaki told him as he led this grandson into the woods. "Your opponents will always choose a moment when you're not ready, when you're too busy to be alert. That's why it's so important to keep practicing as part of your routine, so you don't forget."
"Yes Grandpa," Tenchi replied.
When they got to a clearing in the woods Tenchi was surprised to see all seven of the girls waiting for him. Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami, Mihoshi, and Noike were wearing short robes bound with sashes the exposed almost half their legs. Each of them was holding wooden staves. Ryo-ohki was sitting on a stump holding baby Washu.
"Huh?" Tenchi blinked. "What are you all doing here? Grandpa what's going on?"
"Since I seem to have lost your respect Tenchi I thought I would put you up against some opponents you would respect," his grandfather replied with a clever smile. "I understand that you disrespected these ladies and I think this should be a quick and easy way to mend fences…"
"What? Grandpa, that's not true," Tenchi protested. "I still respect you. How could you even say something like that?"
"It's all right Tenchi, I understand," Katsuhito shrugged. "I'm an old man and I'm getting on and I was bound to lose your respect sooner or later…"
"That's not true, you big phony!" Tenchi snarled. "You're not getting older at all! It's just a disguise; it's just another big joke being played on us…" He stopped when he saw the gleam of victory in his grandfather's eye.
"Honestly boy, you make it too easy," the 'old' man smirked. "Get ready," he shrugged as he backed away. "I can't promise they'll attack one at a time."
"What?" Tenchi gasped. "Ah!" he cried as realization struck him. He was going to be fighting five of them at once!
"Ayeka Masaki, the first princess of Jurai," the computer replied. "She is the eldest daughter of Emperor Azusa Masaki Jurai and the second of his two wives, Misaki. Though Ayeka is not as powerful as Ryoko or even Tenchi, who is revealed to be the most powerful being in the universe, she still wields the power of the Jurai Royal Family. She can hold her own against enemies as seen during the battle with the powerful Kagato, and when she easily gets the upper hand on a well-trained Galaxy Police officer during OVA 3. She possesses superhuman strength, she can fly, and generate shields that are able stop nearly any attack and have some sort of telekinetic ability to repel enemies. Ayeka can also call upon powerful force fields that can keep even Ryo-Ohki and Kagato prisoner while also having the ability to electrocute.
Ryoko stepped forward and spun her wooden staff around before displaying a few practice swings. "The others are too nice to give you the workout you need but don't worry about me," she smirked evilly. "I don't know any other way to express myself, not even to those I care about." She took a few more practice swings. "The stronger I feel about someone, the nastier I get, whether I love 'em or hate 'em. And for once that's a good thing."
"I dunno," Mihoshi murmured skeptically. "That sounds kind of dangerous."
"Yeah, she's right," Sasami added.
"Yes, that's completely psychotic Ryoko," Ayeka scolded.
"Hey, I was just trying to be cool, alright?" Ryoko protested. "Give me a break! I'm not proud of being like I am that's just the way I was raised, okay? What about you Miss Perfect?" she sneered at Noike. "You got anything to add?"
"Meh," Noike shrugged. It was obvious she didn't really care.
"Okay, so I lash out at anyone important to me whether I love or hate 'em," Ryoko sniveled as she clutched her staff protectively. "It's not like I'm proud of it or anything! I just thought I could…"
"It's okay Ryoko," Tenchi assured her. "It's not your fault. I understand."
"You do don't you?" Ryoko smiled gratefully with a tear in her eye. "Oh Tenchi…" she sniffed as she blinked back the tears and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "I hope you've got your game on!" she smiled nastily as she took up a fighting stance. "'Cause I got a lot of issues, and I'm not going to hold back! H'yahh!" she cried as she jumped in the air and held her quarterstaff over her head like a sword.
"Yee-ahh!" Tenchi screamed as he dodged out of the way.
Ryoko landed right where he used to be, causing cracks where she hit the ground. "Yaah!" she cried as she swung her staff at him.
"Whoa!" he cried as he evaded by doing a backwards somersault with agility he didn't know he had.
"Come on, Tenchi! Get your game face on!" Ryoko sneered. "Otherwise I'll wipe the walls with ya!"
Tenchi knelt and swung low, knocking her legs out from under her with his wooden sword. This wasn't very effective against Ryoko, who merely rotated in midair until she was rightside up again.
"Doh!" Tenchi exclaimed. "Forgot she could fly!"
"Tenchi, this is too easy for you," Katsuhito scolded from a safe distance. "Ayeka, why don't we invite some of the others to join in why don't we?"
"Look alive, Lord Tenchi!" Ayeka declared as she brandished her quarterstaff. "Here comes the wrath of the planet Jurai!"
"And here comes the wrath of the Galaxy Police!" Mihoshi added. "Although I think that wrath is kind of a strong word for what I'm feeling. It's more of the disappointment of the Galaxy Police…"
"Mihoshi!" Ayeka snapped. "Get your game face on!"
"Right!" Mihoshi nodded with a determined frown. "My game face! Got it!"
"Charge!" Ayeka cried as she surged forward. She screamed out her fury as Tenchi jumped and dodged to avoid Ryoko's blows as the space pirate jumped and teleported after him.
Ryoko jumped in front of Ayeka and swung, causing the back of her quarterstaff to hit the first princess of Jurai and knock her off her feet.
"Hey!" Ayeka cried as Mihoshi jumped over her and Sasami stopped to see if she was hurt. "Watch where you're swinging that Ryoko!"
In the meantime Mihoshi joined in the attack on Tenchi, emitting a series of girly high-pitched squeaks and shrieks with every swing of her quarterstaff. She didn't hit Tenchi, but she did hit Ryoko with one of her blows. "Oops! I'm sorry Ryoko!" the bronze skinned blonde gasped.
"Watch where you're swinging that thing Mihoshi!" Ryoko growled as she picked herself up and teleported. When she appeared directly in front of Tenchi the boy jumped up, spun in the air and landed with his feet on top of her head before jumping up into a tree.
"That was bad move!" Ayeka chirped as her wooden tiara began to glow.
"What the? Help!" Tenchi cried as the tree started moving underneath him. He jumped and spun through the air, narrowly missing the clutches of the branches that were trying to encircle him…
…only to land directly in front of Sasami. "Ha!" the child cried as she used her quarterstaff to trip Tenchi's legs out from under him. "Take that!" she cried as Tenchi rolled out of the way of her blows.
"That's it, Sasami!" Mihoshi cried. "Herd him this way!"
"Yah!" Sasami grunted as she swung on Tenchi.
"Take that!" Mihoshi cried as she swung her quarterstaff as hard as she could… and knocked Sasami into the sky.
"I got her!" Ryoko cried as she teleported into the sky. "Got you!" she gasped as she materialized under the spinning Sasami and caught her. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Ooh," Sasami burbled as her eyes tried to focus.
"Hey, what's that?" Ryoko asked as she squinted into the distance and saw a plume of smoke heading their way. "It's a spaceship! Hey guys, it's a space ship!"
"Meow?" Ryo-ohki asked as she held onto baby Washu.
"Uh?" Ayeka stopped fighting with Tenchi in order to look up.
"Looks like we got another visitor," Katsuhito murmured.
High in the sky above them a long metallic craft appeared, soaring over the group like a dirigible. The shape of the spacecraft was vaguely triangular, with fins in the back holding nacelles to make the narrow craft seem wider. On the bridge of this vessel as slender athletic woman surveyed the image of the group that was projected on the main viewscreen.
"So these are them," the woman said, "the most dangerous group of individuals in the galaxy. They defeated, Kagato, Doctor Clay, and the Galaxy Police. Review the information we have on them."
"Acknowledged," the computer's disembodied voice replied. The viewscreen created a closeup of the an lithe athletic woman with cyan white hair. "Ryoko Hakubi, decimator of 28 planets and 69 colonies. Although her criminal files have been erased due to statute of limitations, the devastation she has caused is a matter of historical record. Although considered one of the most powerful and dangerous entities in the universe, evidence would suggest that her powers are on the wane."
"Good," the woman smiled grimly. "Next."
"Ayeka Masaki Jurai is the Princess of the Imperial Family of planet Jurai. She is the eldest daughter of Emperor Azusa Masaki Jurai and the second of his two wives, Misaki," the computer replied while closing up on a teenage girl with purple hair and ruby red eyes. "She ran away from home after Ryoko attacked Jurai over seven hundred years ago and has recently been found here. As a member of the royal family she possesses superhuman strength, she can fly, and generate shields that are able stop nearly any attack and have some sort of telekinetic ability to repel enemies."
"It still doesn't explain what she's doing here," the woman grumbled as she changed clothing.
"That information has been classified at the highest level of Jurian Intelligence," the computer informed her. "What little we do know is that she took her sister Sasami with her," it continued as the viewscreen now displayed a skyblue haired child who could have been ten. "Whether she took her with her, or the child stowed away has not been reported. We do know that when they left they took Tsunami with them, the most powerful of the royal trees. Neither Tsunami nor Ayeka's spaceship, Ryu-Oh have been recovered, but it is believed the Jurian Intelligence and the royal family know what happened to them."
"That figures," the woman said. "Review what we know of the rest of them while I check my weapons," she added as she opened a sliding door to reveal an assortment of weapons ranging from handheld pistols to large energy guns mounted on tripods.
"Noike Kamiki Jurai, formerly Noike Sakazua, is the the adopted daughter of Seto Kamiki Jurai," the computer continued as the viewscreen displayed the image of a woman whose green hair was in a pageboy haircut.
"The secret agent of Seto Kamiki Jurai, you mean," the woman corrected.
"Before being adopted into the royal family she was once a member of the Galaxy Police," the computer continued. "Since being adopted, Lady Seto trained her personally. Her true abilities are unknown."
"I'm familiar with Noike," the woman continued with hatred in her eyes. "Keep going."
"Mihoshi Kuramitsu," the computer continued as it displayed the image of a tall bronze skinned blonde with baby blue eyes. "She is not only an officer in the Galaxy Police but is also a member of the prestigious Kuramitsu family whose power in the Galactic Union is second only to the Royal Family of planet Jurai. She encountered this group during the Kagato incident and elected to stay. This prompted the Choubimaru incident when her family tried to retrieve her by eliminating the members of the Jurai royal family in the area causing the Choubimaru scandal."
"What do you expect from a walking disaster area?" the woman sneered. "Honestly I don't know which of them I want to kill more," she added as her body glowed with an unnatural power. "Mihoshi or Noike. I'll kill them both if they get in my way!"
"Noted," the computer acknowledged. "Ryo-oki," a picture of a furry toddler with catlike features and lop rabbit ears holding a baby wearing a tiny white helmet came into view, "a unique artificial lifeform created by Washu to serve as Ryoko's spaceship and companion. The creature participated in all of Ryoko's known crimes, including the attack on planet Jurai. Ryo-ohki recently exhibited the ability to change into a small furry animal. The change into an anthropomorphic form is new."
"With Washu's creations, you never know," the woman huffed. "Who are the men?"
A bespectacled old man with iron grey hair tied back in a ponytail dominated the screen. "DNA scans identify this individual as Prince Yosho Masaki Jurai. His true appearance is hidden behind an illusion of an older man," the computer said as it pierced Yosho's disguise to reveal a young man of about thirty wearing the same white Shinto robe as the old one.
"The boy is a member of the Jurai royal family," the computer continued the image of a raven haired teenage boy appeared the viewscreen. "DNA scans would indicate that he is a direct relation of Yosho's perhaps a son or grandson."
"Any sign of the target?" the woman asked.
"Washu the greatest scientific genius in the universe," the computer replied as a picture of a twelve year old redheaded girl with mischievous elven features filled the screen. The image of Washu was wearing academic robes that were in style at the Jurai Imperial Academy a thousand years ago and the word 'FILE' was visible in large capital letters at the bottom of the image. "The only being whose DNA fits her profile is the infant being held by Ryo-ohki," the computer continued as the image of Washu vanished to be replaced by the image of the baby wearing the white helmet that was being held by a toddler sized Ryo-ohki, "but the brainwave activity is far too low to be Washu. It is possible that she has cloned herself."
"Washu has to be taken down for what she's unleashed on the universe," the woman said. "Send me down," she ordered. "When I take down her companions we'll see if that brings her out of hiding."
"As you wish," the computer replied.
The view on the screen was again that of the whole group. The girls were looking up and talking amongst themselves while pointing at the spaceship. The boy was waving his arms at the ship and shouting.
"Get out of here!" the boy bellowed. "Go on, beat it! We don't need any more girls living here!"
"Tenchi, shouting isn't going to help," Noike told him.
"I know, he sighed. "It's just that…"
His words were interrupted as an explosion sent them all ducking to the ground. When they looked up to see what happened, an slender figure wearing a silver and gunmetal suit of powered armor was stepping out of a shallow crater and addressing them. "All right, I'm only going to say this once!" she shouted as crackling waves of energy flowed over the metal powersuit. "Where is Washu? Dead or alive she's coming with me!"
That was when Ryoko said the last thing she ever expected to say about someone taking Washu away: "Over my dead body!"
"Doable," the woman in the powered armor retorted as the armor's weaponry powered up. "I've got to warn you, this is your last chance!"
"No," Ryoko growled. "It's yours!"
Outside, a baby Washu plays with a rabbit/kitten Ryo-ohki. Japanese names appear and vanish obscuring your vision of the delightful duo as a woman's singing voice is heard:
April roses, tiny sparrows,
Cornets bright and new
All belong together
With the myst'ry that is you
When I see your little face
I hear a song from long ago
I think you know
The many secrets I've forgotten
Generations through the ages
Joined as one somehow
Leading to the miracle
That I am holding now
From the sky and from the sea
Upon a breeze you came to me
You seem to see
A greater universe than I do
Sleep my baby, sleep my baby
Dream of somewhere far away
Do you remember still
How I hope you always will
Keep the mem'ry of the day
The world was born
When you wake up I'll be waiting
Eager for your smile
You've had quite a journey, Darling
You should rest a while
When you cry we still rejoice
To hear your voice - oh yes, it's true
My sweet Washu
Please understand how much we love you
Sleep my baby, sleep my baby
Later on perhaps you'll tell
The wondrous things you've seen
More miraculous than dreams
Tell me all about the day
The world was born
(Instrumental)
Sleep my baby, sleep my baby
Dream of somewhere far away
Do you remember still
How I hope you always will
Keep the mem'ry of the day
The world was born
