I don't own Tenchi Muyo.
For Reasons that Escape Me
By The Great El Dober
Chapter Two
"What was that?" cried a stunned Tenchi.
He had just picked up his tools to resume his work when he had heard some kind of loud explosion. It sounded close by and worse still it came from the direction of his home. Of course, in his home an explosion could mean almost anything but with Ryoko sitting only feet away from him, the possibilities were considerably reduced.
Ryoko remained seated but poised her head in the direction of the house, putting her advanced senses and fighting experience to use. From the sound she could tell this was more than your average dispute. For them to hear the blast so clearly from the fields someone would have had to put real venom behind it.
This began to worry her. She had ignored them by closing down her link, she had ignored them and now something was wrong. It felt as if she had been given an important responsibility and failed. Quickly she flung the link to her mother back open, praying for good news.
Mom, what happened? She asked, Is anyone hurt?
No answer.
Ryoko began to panic. She could handle danger, even life or death situations, but her recent problems had left her emotionally weakened and this was a blow right to the core of her weakness.
"Quick, something's wrong!" she exclaimed while jumping to her feet. She grabbed Tenchi's wrist and teleported them to the source of the disturbance. Tenchi felt the surrounding scenery yanked away from him and quickly replaced by the sight of his home. It was worse than either of them had imagined.
The whole place was just one wrecked mess. Broken wood, shattered glass and various debris were strewn around the front of the house leaving holes and tears where they had originally come from. There had obviously been quite a struggle but between who?
With this question in mind the two of them sprinted into the house, fearing that they were already too late. At first it didn't seem so bad. Tenchi thought it would take a lot of work to fix the house but as he walked into the living room he felt assured that it wasn't half as bad as he first feared.
Then he saw Ayeka. She lay injured on the floor with Sasami crying over her unconscious body. A strange mix of terror and compassion coursed through him as he rushed past Ryoko and eased Ayeka into a sitting position, supporting her head and back with his hands. Normally Ryoko would have taken notice and became jealous but she had something else on her mind as she scanned the room.
Mihoshi lay trapped under an overturned table, frantically crying her eyes out and bawling for help. More surprisingly, Azaka actually seemed incapacitated, lying defeated on it's side as it's counterpart Kamidake stood a protective guard over the fallen princess, albeit a little late. Nobuyuki had already left for work and Katsuhito had left for the shrine, which meant everyone was accounted for except . . .
"Where's mom?" Ryoko asked in a barley-controlled voice. She was trying to stay calm but she couldn't completely hide the shades of fear and uncertainty that tinged her voice.
"It was terrible Tenchi," Sasami choked out between tears, "We tried to stop it but we couldn't."
"Where's mom?" Ryoko repeated in a louder tone as her impatience and anxiety grew. This time she made no attempt to hide her concern and apprehension. Her naked emotions now were exposed for all to see and her voice sounded unsettlingly desperate and riddled with panic.
Sasami's face had already been full of fear, shock and sadness, but as she heard Ryoko's question the sadness seemed to deepen until it was all that was left. It was a thick, profound sadness that threatened the promise of bad news to come.
"It took her," Sasami began, "I'm sorry Ryoko. We tried our best, we really did but that robot was too strong and it took her."
That was the moment that Ryoko felt overwhelmed. She had hope before, a precious notion that things may not be as bad as they looked. That had been her dam to repress the full extent of her fears but as she heard confirmation of the truth that dam burst, flooding her soul with overpowering volumes of fear. Now her mind knew nothing but panic.
Mom? Ryoko frantically called out through the link, Mom! Mom! Where are you are? Please come back Mommy I need you!
No answer.
Ryoko collapsed to her knees in a helpless sorrow. Her mother wouldn't respond. What did that mean? She didn't know. If she had been able to locate her mother she could do something but now she was completely helpless to do anything. She was useless. Despite being thousands of years old she knew nothing that could help her cope with this.
She couldn't cope with it.
Her thoughts were racing.
Her mind was whirling.
She began to get dizzy.
The room was spinning.
She began to lose focus.
She was . . .
Tenchi and Sasami watched as Ryoko fainted and collapsed on the floor. From her knelling position on the floor, she grasped her head in pain and fell clumsily onto the floor in front of her.
Innocent as it all was it seemed a bit too theatrical for Tenchi's liking.
"Get up Ryoko!" he shouted moodily, "This is no time to. . . ."
He stopped in mid-sentence, sensing that something might actually be wrong with his friend.
"Ryoko?" he asked in a much quieter and concerned tone. Guilt began to wash away his anger as he realised that he had once again jumped to conclusions and accused one of his closest friends and to make matters worse she there might be something very wrong with her. He began to lower Ayeka down so he could follow Sasami who was already at Ryoko's side.
"She is alright Lord Tenchi," Kamidake assured, "She is unconscious but otherwise unharmed."
It was at that moment that Tenchi's grandfather, who had also heard the commotion, finally arrived from Masaki shrine. He observed the scene with a curious eye.
"Mind telling me what's going on Tenchi?" he finally asked.
"That depends," Tenchi replied, "Promise to stay conscious?"
Elsewhere
Ryoko opened her eyes and saw . . . . nothing.
There was nothing surrounding her. A great blank expanse for as far as her eyes could see. She faced with a completely alien and unfamiliar surrounding. She began to panic again.
Mom? Where are you? Are you here? Please Mommy, you have to . . .
"Calm down, Ryoko," a voice behind her soothed.
Ryoko whisked around to face the voice that had answered her. If the voice had startled her, then the sight shocked her to the base of her soul. There, standing in front of her was . . . . her.
"Washu isn't here," the apparition continued, "This place is in your mind, the forgotten recesses of your mind, repressed parts that are locked away forever."
Had circumstances been otherwise Ryoko would have found that statement hilarious. It was the most ridiculous, absurd claim she had ever heard, but she was in no mood to indulge in humour.
"Look whoever the hell you are," she began, "I don't have time for this. I have got people who need my help and . . ."
"That," the apparition interrupted, "is exactly why you are here."
Ryoko's expression changed. It went from somewhat irritated by this absurd waste of her important time to an interested look, allured by the prospect of a solution. "What do you mean?" she asked beginning to calm down.
"Washu needs your help," came the reply, "and you aren't capable to deal with it alone, so I am lending my services to assist you."
Ryoko's expression then changed again from interested to offended.
"What the hell are you saying?" she barked back, "Are you saying I can't cope on my own?"
The ghostly apparition let a small smile spread across its face. Not a sneering, cocky smile that claimed to know better. It wasn't a malicious smile either. It was a warm, knowing smile that was calm and friendly in a strange way but also showed that it was clearly not convinced.
"Don't lie to me," it warned gently, "I know that you couldn't cope with the pressure five minutes ago and you can't cope with it now. I know you Ryoko, I am a part of you after all."
"A part of me?" Ryoko asked, completely bewildered but trying to make her question seem sarcastic and unbelieving to cover her confusion.
"Yes," the apparition replied seriously, "We fused together on the 6th of June but I have since became forgotten and repressed in your mind."
"Oh really?" Ryoko asked, with genuine sarcasm this time, "If I had 'fused' with you then I think I would remem. . ."
It was at that point Ryoko stopped, realising something in the apparition's reply that was . . .well it was. . .
"That's impossible," Ryoko finally declared, "The 6th of June, that's tomorrow!"
"That's right," the apparition calmly confirmed, "I am from your future Ryoko. My name is Zero."
Ryoko just stared at the sight in front of her as a person would stare at a raving lunatic, which in Ryoko's mind was exactly what this 'Zero' thing was. She would have burst into hysterics if this didn't have such frightening implications on her.
I must have lost it, she thought, this can't be real. I'm hallucinating. I've gone mad!
"So you think you've gone mad," the apparition spoke, reading Ryoko's thoughts, "Is it mad to want to help your mother not to mention yourself?"
"What do you mean?" came the wary but intrigued reply.
"Like I said before, I am from your future," the Zero explained, "Look around you. This blank expanse is the forgotten future, a future that held all your answers. Who captured Washu and why. The reasons you acted so strange on the Souja. The reasons you love Washu. Your answers are all here Ryoko, and I can give them to you."
There was a silence as Ryoko considered this. She definitely stood to gain a lot more from this than she could possibly lose. If this wasn't true then she had already lost her sanity but if it was true then it could mean the end of her problems. All of them.
"You can really do all those things?" Ryoko asked, not in a sarcastic or doubting tone but in a hopeful tone, looking for confirmation.
"Yes," Zero replied, "If you accept my help, I can."
Ryoko paused to consider this. She hadn't been convinced, not at all. She still thought this was crazy and feared she had lost her grip on sanity but where she had not been convinced she had been enticed. With all her other hopes shattered she had found a new one to cling onto. The promise of her mother's safe return and the answers to the questions that plagued her. It was the lifeline she needed to deal with her situation.
Her feelings for Washu had been a huge emotional strain on her, a strain that was pushing her to the edge and now that something had happened she had buckled. She hadn't known what to do at all and from her point of view she had already lost. Lost her mother. All she could do was pray for fate to have mercy on her and it had. Crazy mercy, but mercy none the less and she wasn't going to pass up this chance to possibly set things right.
"Okay then," she finally replied, "Tell me what to do."
End of Chapter Two
Chapter three - Seems Ryoko has been offered some much-needed assistance and has been tempted into accepting it but will the others be so easily convinced? Will they let their friend act on the guidance of a voice in her head? How serious are Ayeka's injuries?
Note - This will probably be the hardest chapter I will have to write so it's probably the make or break point of the story. I'm afraid this chapter may be too surreal for most people's liking but it has be this way to set up the stronger chapters still to come, so if this wasn't up to much please bear with it but as I said before I won't continue if no one shows interest.