Chapter Thirty-Five: In Medias Res

Reality had changed.

Z sensed it, even if it didn't affect him. A million little things had been altered to spiral out into billions of tiny changes. It culminated in an avalanche of alterations that rewrote history.

He opened his eyes, analyzing the new timestream for opportunities. Learning to observe time and space as it was and had been was a technique he'd learned from Tokimi.

Z had learned many things from Lady Tokimi. The way a colony of ants learned from the kid with a magnifying glass. He still remembered the day his powers had manifested.

He'd been a fighter pilot. He'd had his own life.

Hadn't he been part of a fleet? A fleet of refugees perhaps? He remembered that he'd had a family on one of the ships. He barely even remembered anymore. His life before he had come to dwell in this timeless space was all a blur — a shadow of a memory.

"Dear, keep her safe."

Hadn't those words been spoken to him? Or had he heard them somewhere else?

Z stood and looked to his empty quarters. He could change them to simulate anything he wanted. Places. People. Even personalities. If he remained willingly blind, he could even convince himself it was real.

But it wasn't real.

He saw his opportunity. He just needed to act on it.

Glancing up he saw a vast fleet of ships. Another army mustered by Tokimi's machinations, meant to test Z. Or was Z testing them?

It didn't matter.

He rose up out of his quarters and appeared like an unholy angel. Untold firepower was unleashed against him. Z smiled as five light hawk wings appeared around him.

It was pure drama. He only needed one.

With a single slash, the entire fleet was laid to waste. Every man, woman, and child was dead. Were there children on those ships? Z didn't want to know.

It was his job to kill them. Just in case someone on those ships happened to possess power like his. They were the only ones' Tokimi cared about. All the others were ants, less than ants. Mere particles that bounced around in the universe for half an instant. Then disappeared in a slight flash.

She was detached. So was Z, of course. Z had become detached from endless horrors inflicted on his fellow sentient. But Tokimi had always been detached. She'd never had to come down and live in this world like her sisters. She'd always been above it.

If she had entered this world Z's job would be that much easier.

He descended back to his quarters. In his time in this miserable place outside of existence Z had learned many things. And among them were Tokimi's limitations. The things she wouldn't do.

They were few — two in number to be precise.

Tokimi had two sisters. Both of them had taken mortal form, which meant that they wouldn't be able to use their powers unless they were woken up.

Not that Z could kill them. He'd manifested his powers at a moment of crisis. They would too.

But he could target someone important to them. Someone who Tokimi had ordered Z to leave alone. Tenchi Masaki.

Act against Tenchi and Tokimi would move to restrain him. Like an owner pulling on a dogs leash.

But this dog wasn't whipped yet.

Z wondered why it was that Tokimi was doing all this. Why seek ultimate power when you already had it? Was she just a kid with a magnifying glass, or was there something else to it?

Z didn't know why Tokimi was playing this sick game. But she wouldn't achieve her goals.

D3 appeared before Z. The old man looked down on him without expression. He looked very impressive. But he wasn't much more than a butler.

"Your thoughts betray you." he said. "Lady Tokimi know full well what you intend."

Z smiled. "I doubt she can stop me."

Z had seen a myriad of possible futures. For every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction. He would harness that reaction.

He would kill Tokimi with his own hands.

Ryoko had woken up. But she wasn't willing to get out of bed yet. It was comfy here on the rafters, and she had settled into a really nice spot.

"Ryoko could you go wake up Mihoshi?" asked Sasami below.

Ryoko groaned. "Ugh, go bother someone else."

"Well then you can wake up Washu instead." said Sasami.

Ryoko thought about that option. Pulling herself up she phased away. "Mihoshi, Mihoshi get up."

As Ryoko rushed off, Ayeka observed with surprise. "Wow, Sasami has gotten good at managing Ryo-Oki."

Washu lowered the newspaper she was reading. "What's more miraculous is that she didn't even notice I was still up." She folded the newspaper and put it down. "Where is Tenchi anyway? I haven't seen him."

"He's gone down into town to visit Nobuyuki." said Ayeka. "I suppose he wanted to get up early."

"Well that's not like him." said Washu. "Usually he sleeps in on Saturdays. Then again, usually Ryoko sleeps in with him."

"Washu, must you discuss such things?" asked Ayeka in irritation.

"What?" asked Washu. "It's a natural biological function."

"It isn't appropriate table manners." said Ayeka.

Washu leaned back in her seat. "Fine."

Ayeka remembered something. "Also, it's Monday."

"Really?" asked Washu. "But the last time I came out of the lab it was Friday."

"That's because you spent two days straight working on that new invention you were making." said Ayeka. What was so important? Washu usually came out for meals, at least.

"Which invention?" asked Washu.

Didn't she remember? "You wouldn't tell us. It was to... uh... I can't remember what it was for, actually. Something to do with Zero."

"Not Zero." said Washu. "It was-" She trailed off. "Huh. Actually, I can't remember why I was working on it. I'd better check my logs."

Mihoshi was having a wonderful dream. She and a blue-haired partner were chasing down a wicked space pirate. They tracked her down and put her in cuffs. Then she served her sentence, and they all became-

Something shoved her with a foot, and she looked up from her desk. Ryoko was peering down at her.

"Mihoshi get up." said Ryoko. "Everyone is waiting for you."

"Oh hey Ryoko. I'll be right down." said Mihoshi. "Just let me finish sending this one letter, and I'll be with you."

'Fine." said Ryoko. "Just hurry up. I want to eat." Then she phased out of the room.

Mihoshi pulled up the letter she'd worked at all night. Putting it into the receive, she sent it and smiled. Her hard work had paid off. "There we go." She leaned forward. "Now for a well-deserved nap-"

Ryoko appeared and grabbed her by the collar. "Hurry up and come on!"

And she dragged Mihoshi out.

Z made his appearance.

It was a messy bedroom. More fitting a child than an adult. But that played perfectly into his hands. It was remarkable how easy it was to destroy a world. Set in motion one tiny trickle of events and billions paid the price.

He rewound time and changed the contents of the letter a bit. Then he sent it again.

"And done. That ought to start the ball rolling." said Z. "The stage is set. Now the actors will play their parts in deicide."

Tenchi Masaki was going to school.

It was something he hadn't done in a while. He'd missed half a year when he disappeared during that Haruna fiasco. Then he'd gotten out during summer vacation.

He'd practiced as best he could, but he was feeling a bit nervous.

Then he saw one of his... schoolmates. Friends was a bit of a strong word here.

"Hey Tenchi." said one of them.

"Oh hello." said Tenchi. What were their names again?

"It's been a while hasn't it?" asked another.

"Yes. It has." said Tenchi. "Sorry I disappeared for six months."

"Where did you go anyway?" asked one.

"It's all kind of fuzzy, to be honest." admitted Tenchi. "I think I was drugged by my kidnappers-"

"Quit stalling!" said the other. "We know what you've been up to!"

What was this about? "You do?" asked Tenchi. "Really?"

"We've heard you've got half a dozen foreign chicks with all kinds of hair colors living up in your house!" said another. "What's the deal? Why didn't you tell us?"

Then Tenchi noticed one taking notes. "What's the pad for?"

"I'm writing something for the school paper." he said with a smirk.

So he wanted a story. Tenchi would give them one. "...All right. You got me. I'm actually a Prince of a super advanced Space Empire called Jurai. My Grandfather crashlanded on Earth during the feudal era. He took a wife and eventually had my mom. She married my dad.

"The alien chicks are from my extended family and their political allies. Except for Ryoko who is a space pirate. And also Washu, who is Ryoko's long lost mother. They came to this world, and all fell in love with me through an elaborate series of whacky hijinks. This culminated in a final battle with Ryoko's evil master, Kagato.

"After that, the Emperor of Jurai came to visit. After some more hijinks, agreed to let his daughters stay on earth. Give or take a shapeshifting robot falling in love with me that pretty much brings you up to speed."

They looked at him in irritation. "...You know if you didn't want to tell us the truth, you could say so."

"True." said Tenchi. "But I don't like either of you very much."

They flinched. "That's a bit harsh."

"Harsh?" asked Tenchi. "I just got back from being held captive against my will for six months straight. And the first thing you guys do when I get back is interrogating me about my love life?

"As if it's any of your goddamn business.

"If we existed in an anime you two would be at best extras. More likely, however, would be that you would be one of those unfunny pervert characters. The kind who everyone with a working brain cell despises but keep getting written into the story anyway.

"You're not funny. You're not a role model. It isn't entertaining to watch you in any way, shape or form. And you don't have any narrative purpose. Kindly go offscreen before I write you out of the show."

They blinked. "...Are you threatening us?"

There was a ringing noise. "Oh look at that. The bell has rung." said Tenchi. "I guess your all too short amount of screentime in my anime has come to an end, and you will now cease to exist." He walked past them, feeling in a fouler mood than ever.

God, he hated school. Why couldn't Ryoko have had her rampage here?

Hours later Tenchi reached the apartment. He knocked and waited there a moment.

"Coming." said a voice he didn't recognize.

The door opened to reveal a buxom blue-haired woman with red glasses. Tenchi didn't recognize her for a moment. Then he did. This was Rea. She'd taken the place of his mother when she died.

Right?

He felt odd.

"Oh hello, Tenchi." said Rea. "How are you?"

"Good Rea I-" He paused. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

She blinked in surprise. "What do you mean? I've been living with your father since you were a child."

"Well yes, obviously I just..." he trailed off. "You ever get the feeling that something isn't right? Like things aren't where they are supposed to be."

"Sometimes. It's a natural feeling." said Rea. "Why? Do you?"

"Well when I woke up I thought for sure that Dad would be at the house." said Tenchi. "But it's grandpa's house, not Dad's. And then I was looking at some old pictures of mom, and I thought she looked different. My memories matched up fine, but it was a feeling."

At that moment Dad came out into the hall. "Oh, Tenchi. Come on in. One minute I'll be right there. I just have to finish these designs."

Tenchi came in, and Rea made him some coffee. She placed it down on the table. "I remember you prefer coffee to tea, right?"

"You got it." said Tenchi. He felt as though he'd never been here before.

Rea looked at him with a faint smile. "You've grown so much, Tenchi. I swear you're taller than me, let me see." She walked very close and set the empty tray on his head as a makeshift measuring device. "Yup, you're definitely taller."

At that moment Nobuyuki arrive. "Alright, Tenchi. I've finished up. Ready to go?"

"Yes dad, thanks." said Tenchi.

"Oh, I packed you both a lunch." said Rea.

"Thank you." said Tenchi.

As Dad drove Tenchi back to the mountain, Tenchi reflected it had been a long time since he'd done this. And in a year he'd never do this again.

He'd lost six months. Which meant he'd be working overtime this year. His eyes turned to the boxed meal.

"You know, Tenchi, Rea learned to cook mostly from your mother." said Dad. "She has her own style, of course, but the recipes are the same."

Tenchi looked up. "...Does that actually matter?"

"No, I just..." Dad paused. "...well I thought it might to you."

"Dad, Mom, has been dead for years." said Tenchi. "I've killed intergalactic space criminals in sword fights. I'm living on a mountaintop with a harem of alien space babes. I am literally the manliest individual in the universe.

"Getting a home cooked meal from Mom really isn't that big a deal to me."

"Yeah, I guess you are my son after all." said Dad with a smile. "You take after your old man after all."

"Well, I'm not an architect yet." said Tenchi.

"Still, just because your mother is gone doesn't mean you have to act like it doesn't matter." said Dad. "It wouldn't be right to pretend as though they never existed.

"Even I get weepy sometimes. So you can afford to be a bit wimpy now and then."

"I know." said Tenchi. "But I'm seventeen, soon to turn eighteen. I can't spend all my time thinking about where I came from. I need to plan where I'm going."

"And where are you thinking about going?" asked Dad.

"Well I'm not becoming Jurai Emperor, I'll tell you that." said Tenchi. "Not unless grandpa does it first. If I went and took that job, I'd just be living something that was preplanned for me.

"I want to be my own man."

"Any ideas for employment?" asked Dad.

"Well, I'm thinking about looking for work in Tokyo." said Tenchi. "I'm sure I could find something."

"Your grandpa and I have some friends there." said Dad. "What say I look it up and see what I can find."

"Why not." said Tenchi. "Thanks." He looked out the window.

"Is something wrong?" asked Dad.

Yes. Everything seemed wrong. And yet nothing was that he could pick out. "Dad, when did Rea become your girlfriend?" asked Tenchi.

"About a year after your mother died, I think." said Dad. "Wait, I think. That's weird. Why would I say that. I remember it all."

"So do I." said Tenchi. "But it doesn't feel right.

"It's like in a poorly written TV show, Dad. The writer can't be bothered to come up with an organic way to introduce a new character. So instead they introduce them as someone who has always been there offscreen.

"It doesn't matter how much people say the new character is their oldest friend. The audience has no emotional investment."

"That's a bit cold, Tenchi, don't you think?" asked Dad.

"Look, I love Rea to death." said Tenchi. "I'm just feeling really out of sorts here."

A hand went to his shoulder. "Take my advice, Tenchi. Count your blessing and relax. You don't have to make big decisions. Not yet."

Tenchi smiled. "Fair enough."

Dad dropped him off and Tenchi climbed the rest of the way back up the mountain. Getting back into the house he was greeted by Ayeka. She smiled.

"Oh, you're back Lord Tenchi." she said.

"Hey Ayeka." said Tenchi. "How are things here?"

"Very well." said Ayeka. "I must say, Ryoko has been far more pleasant company since she merged with Zero."

A chill went down Tenchi's spine. He didn't know why. "What?"

"I mean, she seems more considerate." said Ayeka. "Just the other day Ryo-Oki got lost and Ryoko tracked her down and played with her."

"No, about Zero." said Tenchi.

"Um, don't you recall?" asked Ayeka. "Washu had Ryoko and Zero merge to restore Ryoko to her old self."

Zero was dead. Tenchi almost fell against the walls. "That..."

"Lord Tenchi?" asked Ayeka.

"Is Zero dead?" asked Tenchi.

'I... I suppose one could look at it that way." said Ayeka. "But I think of it more as what happened with Sasami and Tsunami. Zero was assimilated into Ryoko. They are both alive."

"No, no she isn't." said Tenchi. "She no longer exists as an independent being. I've got to talk with Washu."

He made his way quickly to the lab and found Washu working busily. She looked up in surprise. "Oh hello, Tenchi. You look stressed out."

"Washu, my emotions are completely screwed up." said Tenchi. "I feel like people I've known all my life shouldn't exist. And when I remembered that Zero merged with Ryoko, I felt like one of my friends just died suddenly."

"Mmmhmm." said Washu.

"I think... is it possible that something happened like with the dimension tuner happened?" asked Tenchi.

Washu turned around and switched off her console. "Very. I've checked my lab notes. They are temporally shielded. They keep referring to someone called Kiyone Makibi, a Galaxy Police Officer. Apparently, in the timeline I wrote these notes she was impersonated by Zero. She refused to merge with she was or possibly sealed away. I'm not sure.

"Either way, I was building this project to bring her back. She must have been very important to us.

"I checked the Galaxy Police, and she isn't there. It's as though she never existed. Maybe she didn't."

"So someone rewrote history." said Tenchi.

"No." said Washu. "That would be better than this. When you rewrite history, all you have to do is change one thing and everything spirals out. If we wanted to snap things back to the way they were we could just set things right.

"This though, this is a veritable web of changes. It'll take a lot of work for me to figure out how to reverse this. And even if I find a way, I'm not sure I should."

"What do you mean?" asked Tenchi. "Someone has written people out of existence." He'd lost friends. Friends he'd never even known he had. He felt like smashing something.

"Or Kiyone Makibi may have simply never joined the Galaxy Police Force." noted Washu. "Maybe she is living happily far away from here. We don't know. What I do know is that a great many people exist now who wouldn't exist if not for these changes."

"And what about the people who don't exist?" asked Tenchi.

Washu shrugged. "They don't exist. Is it ethical to delete many sentient creatures from existence to restore some who don't exist?"

Tenchi breathed out. "...All right, fine. We'll save the philosophy class for later. Why would someone do this?"

"I don't know." admitted Washu. "But whoever they are they'd have to have immense power. That narrows things down a lot. Whoever it is, they might be a member of the Jurai Royal Family, Tenchi."

"Are you sure?" asked Tenchi.

"It's not certain." admitted Washu. "But there aren't many powers in the universe on this level. And there are even fewer that would know about this household. So a member of the Jurai Royal Family is the logical culprit."

"Maybe it was someone with a grudge against Kiyone." mused Tenchi.

"It's possible." admitted Washu. "We don't have enough information at this point to decide."

"So what do we do?" asked Tenchi.

"We keep our eyes open. And we talk to no one about this." said Washu. "If they find out we're on to them they may change history again, just in case.

"Also, look for the counteractor."

"Are you sure there is one?" asked Tenchi.

"Taking unethical actions with reality warping is a surefire way to create a counteractor." said Washu. "Whoever this person is they have drastically changed the fate of numerous people. In the process, they have certainly made it so many people don't exist.

"There is a counteractor. The only question is who.

"Now why don't you go outside and relax. I'll get to work on my end and try to track down how they did this."

"Right." said Tenchi. "How do I know if something has changed."

"Your emotional state hasn't synched to the timeline." said Washu. "What you feel is connected your soul, which is timeless. So if you feel like you've only just met someone you've known all your life, then you'll know they don't belong."

Tenchi took a deep breath. "Okay."

He made his way to the living room where Ryoko promptly glomped him. "Oh hey Tenchi. Where have you been?"

"Sorry, Washu and I had to talk about something important." said Tenchi.

"Mind if I join in next time, handsome?" asked Ryoko.

"She's your mother." said Tenchi.

"Eh, I'm not too picky." said Ryoko.

"Gutterbrain." said Ayeka.

This was awkward.

At that moment there was a knock. Tenchi sighed. "Ryoko, could you get the door?"

"Sure." said Ryoko, before phasing out.

Then she came back. "Tenchi... there is someone... you... you can't go out there..."

"What's the matter?" asked Tenchi. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'll go check." said Ayeka.

Ayeka promptly returned, looking very awkward. "Um, Tenchi. There is someone here to see you."

"Who?" asked Tenchi.

"They asked me not to say." said Ayeka.

"Well tell me anyway." said Tenchi.

"Erm, I'm not really sure-"

"Nevermind." said Tenchi. "Sorry, I'm a bit on edge."

He walked into the main hall. "Hello, I'm Tenchi Masaki, nice to meet-" He froze in place as he saw who it was.

This couldn't be possible.

"Mom?"

Author's Note:

Sorry, this chapter was delayed. I realized too late that adapting the Third OVA meant having to watch the Third OVA. Really set myself up there.

The first episode was a truly miserable experience which will appeal to no one. New viewers will be turned off by the humorless, slow-paced storyline that goes nowhere. Returning viewers will be alienated by a slew of new characters introduced out of the blue while their old favorites are sidelined. Meanwhile, viewers with a casual understanding of the series but no great emotional investment will be merely bored out of their skulls.

Also, the climax is possibly the worst climax I have seen in the series yet. In fact, it's one of the worst I've ever seen period.

Spoiler alert. Ryo-Oki gets lost in the woods.

Ryo-Oki. You know, that huge battleship. She gets lost in the woods.

Why didn't she just use her radar to find her way back? Radar that is mentioned IN THE EPISODE! No reason. She's just lost. Even though she could just go into ship mode and fly to the house in half a second.

Even ignoring the plotholes, though, the climax simply doesn't work. It comes right the hell out of nowhere. It doesn't tie into any of the ongoing story threads which have been built up throughout the episode. It doesn't even take up a significant portion of the runtime. It just pops in during the last ten minutes and is resolved anticlimactically.

And don't even get me started on Tenchi.

Tenchi, who previously has been merely a nonentity in his own show, has now graduated into a whiney effeminate weakling, to use the immortal words of Arcturus Mengsk. This is the guy who killed Kagato, by the way. He has no business being such a pushover at this stage. He spends most of the episode whining about his mommy, who has been dead for years. Admittedly he's never been the main draw of the series, but none of the girls are any fun to watch either. I didn't crack a smile in the entire episode.

So, the question is, do I have anything nice to say about OVA 3?

Well, Rea was decent as far as characters went. She had a firm personality. And I could believe that she could have been just offscreen all this time. She doesn't totally dominate the spotlight either, so she's not obtrusive. I could see myself liking her character in other circumstances.

There is some decent foreshadowing between Nobuyuki and Yosho. That could have led to a really interesting story later. But as anyone who has seen the Third OVA can tell you, this just leads to an unfunny gag that goes nowhere.

Now if I were writing the Third OVA, I would have removed most of the episode and instead advanced the plot. I would have done something to set up an antagonist. Maybe reveal the Tenchi's mother was murdered by an evil villain. More on that later.