It all began on a quiet Summer day, as usual. The residents of the Masaki household were all up and awake. Sasami was cooking lunch in the kitchen, Nobuyuki was at work, Katsuhito was meditating, Washu was restructuring the eigth dimension in her lab, Tenchi was out harvesting carrots with Ryo-ohki, Mihoshi was... well, being Mihoshi, and Ryoko and Ayeka were engaged in a struggle for dominance in the living room.
After one of their daily arguments, Ayeka challenged Ryoko to a staring contest. Not just a regular staring contest, mind you, but a Juraian Staring Contest of Doom. Ryoko accepted, without realizing that the last known Juraian Staring Contest of Doom had killed all of its participants and spectators, effectively outlawing the game. Ayeka explained the rules (no blinking obviously, no movement, no talking, and no outside assistance). The demon accepted, and the contest was on its way.
For about an hour, they just stood there. Not a move was made, and it looked the match would keep on going. Suddenly, Ryoko's left eye began to twitch. Few non-Juraians could go for that long without blinking. Thoughts of victory surged through Ayeka's brain, until she realized what Ryoko was about to attempt.
Allow me to explain one of the most common, yet powerful tricks in the art of staring. It is the near-blink. The near-blink is when one of the participants closes their eye just enough so that it's refreshed, but not enough so that it shuts completely. It can only be utilized in battles where the no movement or speech rule is imposed, since the near-blink requires complete concentration.
That was just what Ryoko was doing. The left eye nearly closed, and reopened as fresh as when the contest had begun. The same event occured with the right eye, and those previous thoughts of triumph disappeared from the princess's mind.
By this time, a large crowd had gathered around the two opponents, who didn't seem to notice a thing. Tenchi still hadn't come home, though.
The match dragged on with no end in sight. Ryoko pulled off a series of near-blinks, mostly to anger Ayeka. The near-blinks also functioned as morse code. I'd repeat what they say, but this is a G-rated fic.
Strangely, the living room began to mutate and swirl until it became black, empty space. Washu had accidentally restructured part of the dimension. Giant gold eyeballs appeared behind Ryoko, while giant red eyeballs appeared behind Ayeka. The rest of the Masaki household simply floated past.
Both groups of eyes began to charge up energy, and then released the blasts. The beams cancelled each other out, and would've killed the audience had Katsuhito not summoned a light shield.
In the normal part of the dimension, Tenchi and Ryo-ohki were walking through the door of Tenchi's house. Instead of the familiar living room that was usually there, they found themselves in a strange dark space, surrounded by thousands of giant eyes. Ayeka and Ryoko kept their fixed stares, but the eyes all focused on a very frightened and confused Tenchi. The gold eyes were shepherding him to Ryoko's side, but the red eyes bumped them out of the way and pushed Tenchi to Ayeka's side.
The eyes hadn't noticed, however, a giant hand that scattered them and grabbed Tenchi. Ryoko had manipulated the dimension's matter to make herself grow hundreds of time her regular size. Ayeka did the same, and the two opponents both tried to pull Tenchi towards them.
Suddenly, everything returned to normal. Washu stepped out of her lab and smacked Ayeka and Ryoko upside the head with a fan. "You two are so impossible!" she ranted, "If I hadn't used my incredible intelligence to fix this dimension, you would've ripped the fabric of time and space apart!"
Ryoko and Ayeka both looked at each other, sighed, and went to their repective rooms to sleep.
After one of their daily arguments, Ayeka challenged Ryoko to a staring contest. Not just a regular staring contest, mind you, but a Juraian Staring Contest of Doom. Ryoko accepted, without realizing that the last known Juraian Staring Contest of Doom had killed all of its participants and spectators, effectively outlawing the game. Ayeka explained the rules (no blinking obviously, no movement, no talking, and no outside assistance). The demon accepted, and the contest was on its way.
For about an hour, they just stood there. Not a move was made, and it looked the match would keep on going. Suddenly, Ryoko's left eye began to twitch. Few non-Juraians could go for that long without blinking. Thoughts of victory surged through Ayeka's brain, until she realized what Ryoko was about to attempt.
Allow me to explain one of the most common, yet powerful tricks in the art of staring. It is the near-blink. The near-blink is when one of the participants closes their eye just enough so that it's refreshed, but not enough so that it shuts completely. It can only be utilized in battles where the no movement or speech rule is imposed, since the near-blink requires complete concentration.
That was just what Ryoko was doing. The left eye nearly closed, and reopened as fresh as when the contest had begun. The same event occured with the right eye, and those previous thoughts of triumph disappeared from the princess's mind.
By this time, a large crowd had gathered around the two opponents, who didn't seem to notice a thing. Tenchi still hadn't come home, though.
The match dragged on with no end in sight. Ryoko pulled off a series of near-blinks, mostly to anger Ayeka. The near-blinks also functioned as morse code. I'd repeat what they say, but this is a G-rated fic.
Strangely, the living room began to mutate and swirl until it became black, empty space. Washu had accidentally restructured part of the dimension. Giant gold eyeballs appeared behind Ryoko, while giant red eyeballs appeared behind Ayeka. The rest of the Masaki household simply floated past.
Both groups of eyes began to charge up energy, and then released the blasts. The beams cancelled each other out, and would've killed the audience had Katsuhito not summoned a light shield.
In the normal part of the dimension, Tenchi and Ryo-ohki were walking through the door of Tenchi's house. Instead of the familiar living room that was usually there, they found themselves in a strange dark space, surrounded by thousands of giant eyes. Ayeka and Ryoko kept their fixed stares, but the eyes all focused on a very frightened and confused Tenchi. The gold eyes were shepherding him to Ryoko's side, but the red eyes bumped them out of the way and pushed Tenchi to Ayeka's side.
The eyes hadn't noticed, however, a giant hand that scattered them and grabbed Tenchi. Ryoko had manipulated the dimension's matter to make herself grow hundreds of time her regular size. Ayeka did the same, and the two opponents both tried to pull Tenchi towards them.
Suddenly, everything returned to normal. Washu stepped out of her lab and smacked Ayeka and Ryoko upside the head with a fan. "You two are so impossible!" she ranted, "If I hadn't used my incredible intelligence to fix this dimension, you would've ripped the fabric of time and space apart!"
Ryoko and Ayeka both looked at each other, sighed, and went to their repective rooms to sleep.
