Disclaimer
Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC. I don't own any rights to them. Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.
*****
The Great Cabbit Search
Chapter 12
Here We Are Again
Part 4
*****
Ryoko opened her eyes and saw Tenchi smiling down at her. She heard the soft humming of machinery in the distance and felt the cool caress of clean linen under her back. She remembered herself calling out Tenchi's name as a flood of power overwhelmed her. She also vaguely remembered that there were several other people present in the cave at the time.
"Hello Ryoko. Remember me?" Tenchi asked.
"Yes, I…" She reached a hand up to touch the other girl's face.
Someone on the other side of her cleared their throat. Ryoko painfully turned her head in that direction, bringing into focus a pair of emerald green eyes surrounded by bright red hair. The hair was as spikey as hers and was tied back with a headband that had two large, black beads. The sight was enough to make Ryoko giggle weakly.
"Whoever you are, you look like you have a crab on your head," she managed to get out.
"Thanks. That's the look I was hoping for. As to who I am, you might say that I'm your Aunt Washu," the tall woman replied.
"What happened to me?" Ryoko asked. "Where did that power come from?"
Washu turned away to look at the readout on one of the instruments attached to the pirate. "From your 'cousin'. I had her give some of her power to you to help speed your healing. Once you're feeling a bit better I'll introduce you to everyone else, but for now you've just got Tenchi and me. And we've got some explaining to do."
Ryoko turned her gaze back to Tenchi as the girl squeezed her hand. Tenchi smiled at her.
*****
Purple haired Ayeka was pacing back and forth in the Masaki living room. She was having a really bad day. First she discovered that the old man she'd seen on an almost daily basis was her long-lost brother, Yosho. Then they had to go and wake up that monster woman Ryoko. What else was going to go wrong?
"Ayeka, you're going to wear a hole in the floor if you don't stop," said her sister.
"Yeah. You're making us dizzy going around in circles like that," said the other Sasami.
The princess threw up her hands in exasperation and stalked off upstairs to her room. Blue haired Ayeka looked at her husband. Tenchi nodded and she followed her counterpart upstairs.
"Will my sister be ok?" the Sasami with the triangular symbol asked, her eyes following the two princesses up the stairs.
"If anyone can get her calmed down, it's my sister. She's already been through all this so she knows from experience," replied the Sasami with the two dots on her forehead.
*****
"So you see Ayeka, it was Kagato, not Ryoko that caused all the damage. Inside, Ryoko is still the child that Kagato stole from Washu," blue haired Ayeka explained to her counterpart.
The other Ayeka sighed with resignation. "Washu explained all of this to me this morning. My heart knows you're telling the truth, but my mind still sees her as the being that almost destroyed my planet."
Ayeka took her counterparts hands in hers. "I felt the same at first. It took me a long time, but I finally came to see Ryoko as a very vulnerable person. She's never had any real friends or family, you and the others have to be those for her. Help her to be herself, not someone's marionette. I'm not asking you to like her or fall in love with her; just tolerate her. And try not to destroy too much in the process," she finished with a smile.
"Ok, I'll try. But I'm not going to be her buddy."
"That's fine," Ayeka said with understanding. "Now, let's go back downstairs before they send my Ryoko up to look for us."
*****
Washu poked her head out of the lab to tell them that it was time to meet the new arrival. Ayeka thought the announcement sounded like a birth. They all followed the scientist into the lab as she told them that she had finished reprogramming this Ryoko and that Kagato wouldn't be able to take control of her anymore. Washu ushered them into a room where the cyan haired beauty was sitting up in a hospital style bed chatting animatedly with the female Tenchi. She grew quiet as they entered.
"Everybody," Washu began, "Ryoko here has agreed to help us retake Jurai for the Royal Family. She feels it's was the least she can do after the events of 700 years ago."
Princess Ayeka's eyes got huge and tears began to form in them. She ran to the pirate and hugged her. "Thank you Ryoko. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Everyone else was stunned by this sudden outburst. The other Ayeka shook her head and muttered, "It didn't take as long as I thought."
*****
Ryoko concentrated and summoned her partner from her 700-year sleep. This reality's Sasami and Ayeka gasped in surprise as the cabbit-ship flashed upward from the surface of the lake. Ryoko-with-all-the-gems motioned for her partner to transform. With a cry of "Miiyyyyaaaa!" there were suddenly two Ryo-ohki's hovering over the lake.
Washu turned to her princess. "Is Ay-ohki ready?" she asked.
Ayeka looked at the small white cabbit. His big pink eyes looked back at her. "Yes, he say's he's ready." She picked her friend up and tossed him high into the air.
"Roooowwwwrrrrrrr," he cried as he transformed into his ship form for the first time.
Ayeka admired her friend's new form. He was slightly larger than Ryo-ohki and his pure white spikes stuck straight out from his sides, making him resemble a four-pointed star. His dome was a deep emerald green, just a bit darker than Washu's eyes. She thrilled at the awesome power he represented. Her demon markings flashed briefly, unnoticed by everyone.
Washu looked at the small fleet, now joined by Kiyone piloting Yagami. "Ok, here's how we're gonna do this. The two Ayeka's will travel in Ay-ohki, one Tenchi and one Ryoko in each Ryo-ohki and the rest of use will be in Yagami. Does that meet with everyone's approval?" When there was no dissent she said, "Everyone, you have one hour to collect everything you think you'll need. Let's get busy."
Ayeka turned to her brother, "Are you sure you won't come with us? The people loved you you know. They would rally to you if you called."
Katsuhito shook his head. "My days in Juraian politics are long past. You, your sister and Tenchi are the future. The people will come to you as well, wait and see." He turned to his granddaughter. Reaching into his robes he withdrew the Tenchi-ken. "Here, this is yours now. Use it as I have trained you to; if needed, ask your counterpart for advice. And when the time comes, give Ryoko back her jewels."
Tenchi bowed deeply and took the Master Key. "Yes grandfather. I will do as you ask." She turned and ran to her Ryoko. Katsuhito bowed to the space pirate who returned the gesture with a grin. Such unions are not unheard of among the ancient Families, he thought with a sigh. But I really wanted some great-grandchildren to spoil. He felt a slender arm go around his shoulders.
"Don't worry about it," Washu said. "Even my Tenchi and Ryoko'll need help conceiving. A little gene-splice here, another there… Modern genetics are wonderful. The only problem will be who gets to be the mommy."
*****
Ayeka settled into Ay-ohki's command chair for the first time. It felt like she had always been there. It was like coming home. Now I know exactly how Ryoko feels. she thought.
Ayeka? Are you both ready? Ryo-ohki says it's time to go. came Ay-ohki's thoughts in her head. The princess smiled with joy. Yes indeed. This must be exactly how Ryoko feels. Yes, dear. Let's go!
With a single cry all three cabbits took off for space, followed closely by the GP patrol ship Yagami.
*****
Meanwhile on Planet Jurai, the one man responsible for inciting the nobles to overthrow the Royal Family turned to one of his lackeys.
"Ready the Soja and assemble the fleet. We're about to have company."
*****
Author's Notes
First, as promised my apology to Vsdefender for unintentionally including some of his ideas in one of my fics:
An Apology (12/22/2001, 1:45AM)
I find myself with something of a problem. It's 1:45 in the morning and I can't sleep. Why you say? Because earlier tonight I was bored and was rereading some of my favorite fics I've got saved on my hard drive. One of those just happens to be "Galaxy Police Fraulein Mihoshi" by Vsdefender. What's that got to do with anything you may ask. What's BobR rambling about now? The fact is I owe Vsdefender an apology and credit. It seems that I may have unintentionally used some of his ideas in my fic "Partners Reunited". What parts you ask? I'll list a few:
Mihoshi being hit at point-blank range with a neural stunner.
Using that as a plot device to bring Kiyone into the OAV continuity.
Kiyone having a conversation with Mihoshi's grandfather.
Need I go on? No, I thought not.
This wouldn't bother me so much if his fic had been posted long before mine; I could shrug it off as a coincidence. After all, the idea of a Neural Stunner goes way back in the history of Sci-fi. But his fic was posted just eleven days before mine. And I remember reading it before I even started writing mine. Somewhere my subconscious must have stored his information because when I was rereading his fic earlier tonight I got so upset with the idea that I might have used someone else's material that I had to turn the computer off. Then I tossed and turned until I decided to write this apology.
So Vsdefender, I apologize for using your ideas without your consent.
Now maybe I can get to sleep.
My conscience wouldn't let me sleep until I got that out of my system. I didn't realize how close our fics were until I reread his, so I feel I need to apologize and give him credit for the original ideas. (By the way, I edited this apology from the original for clarity. It was almost 2:00AM when I wrote and posted the first draft. My mind was fuzzy and I was very upset with myself.)
Review Responses
Priest – There's really not much of a story behind the Ryoko songfic. I woke up in the morning with the music for Rudolph running through my head. My first inspiration was "Ryo-ohki the Red-Gemmed Cabbit", but I couldn't fine enough rhyming words. I changed it to "Ryoko the Red-Gemmed Pirate" and it all kinda fell together. I would have put the first part of the song in too, but I could only think of three other pirates off the top of my head:
You know Blackbeard and Morgan and Lafitte and…
But do you recall;
The most famous pirate of all?
See, I'm missing about five pirates in there somewhere.
DennisuD – Does this answer your questions, or does it just raise more?
BobR
12/22/2001
