Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC. Slayers is copyrighted to a lot of different companies and I won't list them all. I don't own any rights to either of them. Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.
*****
The Game
Chapter 2
I'll See Your Princess and Raise You Two Magical Girls
*****
Washu walked out of her lab chuckling to herself. It wasn't everyday you pulled a fast one on one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse and she certainly felt she had done just that. Too bad about Urd though. Well, she had warned her about standing too close to Mara when the portal opened. She didn't think Xellos would keep her long; about long enough to get in a few digs is all. But Urd and Mara at the same time, Xellos would certainly have his hands full; it might even work out better this way and the platinum haired goddess couldn't blame anyone but herself for her predicament.
Ayeka and Ryoko were sitting on the couch together watching soap operas when Washu stepped out of her lab. Washu smiled when she saw that Ryoko had her arm stretched across the back of the couch and was idly playing with Ayeka's hair.
Ryoko was too caught up in the show to notice, but the princess heard the closet door close. Ayeka, who had been enjoying the pirate's attention, suddenly shooed her hand away. "Miss Washu, won't you join us?" the princess asked politely, turning her head to look at the scientist. "The next episode of 'All My Planets' is about to start."
"You know Ayeka, it wouldn't be improper for you to call me 'Mom' now either. I've almost got Tenchi to that point as well," said Washu, taking a seat at the far end of the sofa.
"At least she doesn't insist on 'Little Washu' anymore," muttered Ryoko, not taking her eyes off the television. "What are you so happy about anyway?" Her hand crept slowly back toward Ayeka's hair.
Washu just smiled sweetly at her daughter, knowing that by not replying she'd increase Ryoko's curiosity level. She was dying to tell someone about what was going on, because a joke not shared isn't much of a joke at all, but she loved playing with Ryoko's mind too. She snapped her fingers and a bowl of buttered popcorn appeared. "Snacks anyone?"
*****
Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune had no idea where she was. Wherever it was it was dim and strange. The different sounds she was hearing didn't register with her at all, and all the flashing lights… It was totally beyond her comprehension. Not to say that she was scared; after all, a Champion of Justice wasn't supposed to fear evil, as Justice always prevails… And this place didn't have an evil feeling about it anyway, just strange.
The girl stepped over to a console where a button was pulsing with a bright red light. She had no idea what it did, but it seemed to say "PUSH ME" in her mind. She slowly and tentatively reached out her finger; closing her eyes and turning her head away she pushed it.
CLICK.
Nothing appeared to happen. With a relieved sigh she opened her eyes. That was a mistake. What she'd found was the light switch and what was revealed was an area that seemed to be a control room of some sort. It had a comfortable looking chair surrounded by a bank of controls and the rest of the room was filled with unfamiliar machinery. She looked around with wide eyes.
Yukinojo's robotic sensors detected the presence of someone in his control cabin. In fact, they had just activated the lighting. It might be Mihoshi, but they weren't due for patrol duty for two more days. He activated his Pilot Interface Module to see what was going on.
Amelia spun around as a whirring sound came from behind her. Something was descending from the ceiling. Something with two huge glowing eyes. She leapt to the back of the convenient chair and prepared to do battle with this demon. She raised her arm and opened her mouth to begin her Justice speech.
"Can I help you?" The pleasant voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.
It startled her. In fact it stopped her dead, she didn't even get one word out. Her arm slowly fell to her side. "What?"
"I asked if I might be of assistance. Are you a friend of Mihoshi's? Or perhaps Lady Washu or Skuld?" asked the computer, trying to reason out how this young girl got on board when his sensors showed he was still in Washu's supposedly secure subspace hanger.
Amelia, sensing that she was in no danger, hopped down from her perch. "Who are you? Where are you? Where am I?" she asked.
"I am the Galaxy Police Patrol Cruiser Yukinojo. You are currently in my shuttle's command cabin. Who are you?" replied the ship.
"I am Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune and I don't know how I got here. The name Washu sounds familiar though, I've heard it somewhere before and recently too."
Yukinojo searched his databanks for any reference to a Princess Amelia. Although he found several, none were currently in power, or even alive for that matter. "I need more information. What is the last thing you remember before you appeared here?"
"Well, I remember walking through the forest with my friends when we came across a demon. Then I had to climb a tree to rescue a goddess and then I was here."
"Did this goddess have a name?"
"Urd. I think her name was Urd. And the demon's name was Mara. If that helps any."
"Ah. That explains quite a bit then. I shall contact Lady Washu for further instructions. Please have a seat but don't touch anything else. An accidental weapons discharge would be very difficult to explain. Believe me, I've had to do it before…" Yukinojo began humming to himself as he activated his communications circuits. In Washu's lab a buzzer began to sound.
*****
"And you two can just stay that way until Tenchi gets home," a disheveled Big Washu told her daughter and daughter-in-law. "Next time you start something like that, take it outside or to your room where it belongs. You made me miss the best part of the show."
Ryoko and Ayeka were gagged and duct-taped together. Every time Ayeka had slapped Ryoko's hand away it had crept back. Eventually the whole scene had devolved into a slapping and shouting match that if it had happened at any other time would have been funny. But because it happened in the middle of her soap, Washu was just plain annoyed. The couple glared at the scientist who switched back to her child form and turned her attention back to the television. Washu smiled inwardly At least they aren't blowing up the house anymore.
When the show finally ended Washu clicked off the television and headed back to her lab, leaving the bound and struggling pair on the couch giving each other plaintive looks. The two cabbits hopped in from outside and jumped up on the table. If they could've laughed at their master's predicament they would have.
Ryo-ohki, go get Sasami, beamed Ryoko.
Uh, uh, came the reply. I am not getting involved in this.
Ay-ohki? asked Ayeka mentally.
The male cabbit shook his head. What she said, he nodded towards his mate. They bounded down off the table together and went into the kitchen looking for a snack.
We did get a bit carried away, didn't we Princess? Ryoko sent to Ayeka through the link.
Ayeka just nodded her head.
*****
The first thing Washu noticed when she reentered her lab was the signal from Mihoshi's ship. Quickly crossing to the communications panel she keyed a channel open. "Yes Yukinojo, what is it?"
There was a hiss of static for a few seconds, then the ship responded, "It's a single officer Galaxy Police Patrol Cruiser, but that's not important right now. Lady Washu, I seem to have an unannounced visitor."
"I'm really gonna have to take a look at your programming, aren't I? Give me a visual please."
The ship activated its internal monitoring system and a view of the control cabin appeared on Washu's monitor. The scientist saw a young, black haired girl sitting in Mihoshi's command chair. She was looking around with wide eyes, but didn't seem to be afraid of where she was. "She says that she knows Lady Urd but doesn't seem to know anyone else and she doesn't exist in my databanks," Yukinojo stated.
Washu pondered for a moment, examining the image on the screen. "Not in your databanks huh? Well mine are a bit more extensive. Did she mention her name?"
"Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune," the ship responded.
"Just a sec…" Washu keyed in the search. "Nope, lot's of Princess Amelia's, but none that match her description."
"The same as my data indicated," huffed Yukinojo.
"Ok, open a circuit and let me talk to her," the scientist commanded. She muttered something about uppity computers.
"Channel open Lady Washu."
Washu banged on the console. "Yukinojo, can the 'Lady' part, ok? Ahem. Princess Amelia, my name is Washu and Yukinojo tells me that you know Urd. Is this true?"
A screen popped open in front of Amelia, startling her. Her eyes focused on an image of a red headed girl who appeared to be several years younger than she was. "Um, not really. I just met her the one time. Xellos wouldn't get her out of the tree so I had to."
"Xellos? Just a minute, I'm coming to you so don't be afraid." Washu snapped her fingers and teleported herself onto Yukinojo's command deck. "Xellos you say? I think I understand now. Why don't you come with me and we'll find a place that's more comfortable to talk in."
Amelia wasn't sure about this person. Her magic allowed her to sense an awesome power contained within the small body, but once again there was nothing evil there. She stood up. "If you say so Lady Washu," she said hesitantly.
Washu rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. "Please don't call me that."
"But Yukinojo and Xellos…" the princess started to explain.
"I've already talked to Yukinojo about it," Washu glared at the computer's PIM. "And I'm happy that Xellos has some respect for his betters, but call me 'Little Washu' or just 'Washu' all right? Whatever else I am, I'm certainly no lady. Just ask any of my family." Washu chuckled as she held out her hand to the princess and teleported them back to the lab. "Let's go into the house. You look hungry, I'll have Sasami make us something to eat."
Amelia nodded. "We were just about to stop for lunch when I wound up here. Xellos was going to treat."
"Huh. There may be hope for him yet." Washu opened the portal and led the princess through. Sasami was just finishing unwrapping Ryoko and Ayeka while the cabbits watched, contentedly munching on carrots. Ryoko turned at the sound of the closet door.
"Washu! I…" She saw Amelia peering over Washu's shoulder. "Who are you?"
Washu made the introductions, "Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami, this is Princess Amelia. She's visiting from, um, somewhere else shall we say. Amelia, this is my daughter Ryoko, daughter-in-law Princess Ayeka of Jurai and her sister, Princess Sasami. Wow, that's a lot of princesses to keep track of, isn't it? Why don't we just drop the princess part, it could get a little awkward what with protocol and all."
*****
"So you and this Xellos guy are into it with each other huh? Why?" asked Ryoko, taking another sip of her tea.
They were all seated in the Masaki living room listening to Amelia explain how she'd arrived. Washu had pointedly taken a seat between her daughter and Ayeka on the couch while Sasami and Amelia were seated on the floor. The two cabbits watched the proceedings with interest.
"Do you remember Minagi?" Washu asked.
Ryoko, Ayeka and Sasami nodded, Amelia just had a blank look on her face.
Washu continued, "Xellos was the one that sent her to us. That's when this all started. He loves his little tricks."
Ayeka poured herself another cup of tea. "And you just can't stand it when someone puts one over on you, so you had to get back at him. But why Urd?"
Washu held out her cup so that Ayeka could refill it also. "Thank you. Urd wasn't supposed to go, just Mara. But she obviously couldn't follow my instructions so she got caught too." She picked up one of the teacakes that Sasami had brought out and took a bite.
Amelia looked around at everyone then snatched a cake herself. She wasn't quite comfortable around these strangers yet, but they obviously didn't mean her any harm. And their little animals were cute too. She patted Ryo-ohki on the head while listening to the discussion.
"Well what are we going to do?" Ayeka asked. "We can't just leave them there and Amelia probably wants to go home too."
"Oh, he won't hurt them, just like he knows I won't hurt anyone he sends here," Washu said between bites of cake. She finished and brushed the crumbs off her shirt.
Ayeka gave her a wide-eyed look. "But Miss Washu, aren't you more powerful than he is? I mean you're a goddess and all…"
Goddess? Amelia thought. That little girl's a goddess? Well, I guess it's possible; Hellmaster appeared as a young boy after all. But that would make Ryoko…
The ex-pirate caught the look of realization on the girl's face and smiled at her.
Washu was glaring at Ayeka. "What have I told you about calling me 'Miss'? And yes, I most certainly am more powerful, if I unlock the gems again. But I won't need to do that, it's all a big game to him you see. Once he determines that one of us has won, it'll all go back to normal. So we just play it out."
"And hope you don't lose," commented Ryoko, licking powdered sugar off her fingers.
Washu grabbed another cake. "It doesn't matter. The only thing I can't do now is fold. That would appear as a weakness to him and he'd try to take advantage of it. Then someone would get hurt, most likely him and a few innocents." She stared out the window at the lake for a moment, then shoved the remainder of the cake into her mouth. "What he can't seem to grasp is that the people he's sending to me don't bother me at all. In fact I've rather enjoyed the ones he's sent so far, Minagi and Amelia here."
"Then what are we going to do?" the ex-pirate asked.
Washu chuckled as she though of something. "I have an idea, but I'm going to need your help Ryoko. You're the only one of us that she might fully trust."
"Who's she? Who trusts me?" Ryoko wondered out loud.
"I do, but that's irrelevant right now," snickered Ayeka.
The pirate turned to her friend, "Gee, thanks." She reached across Washu's head to poke at her co-wife.
"Why don't we all go back to the lab? This should be good," suggested the red headed scientist, jabbing Ryoko with her elbow and giving her a "Stop That Right Now Or Else" look. A roll of duct-tape had magically appeared in her hand.
*****
Kawai Sasami and Amano Misao were walking to school like they did every school day. They were the best of friends and shared practically everything. Including a big secret. Today was no different from any other day; Sasami's dad had dropped them off at the corner nearest the school and went on to work and the two walked up the path talking about something they had both watched on television the night before.
"Psst. Sasami. Hey, Sasami, over here!" a vaguely familiar voice came out of a shadowed alleyway.
Sasami glanced in that direction and saw a familiar spiky haired figure. She grabbed Misao's hand and headed over.
"Oryo!" Sasami exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Did Tsunami send you?"
Ryo-ohki poked his head out of Sasami's backpack. "Sasami, that's not Oryo! Be careful," he whispered in her ear.
Similarly, Rumiya stuck his face out of Misao's pack, "Yeah, and whoever it is isn't from my sister either."
Both girls stopped in their tracks and looked at each other. "Who are you?" Sasami asked the figure.
The woman floated out into the sunlight. She looked just like Oryo except for the clothes. She had on a blue and yellow dress that appeared to have a tail. It flicked back and forth slowly and if she'd been a cat it would have indicated contentment with the world. She bowed politely to the two girls. "My name is Masaki Ryoko and I've come to ask you a favor."
Sasami and Misao listened closely as this strange but oddly familiar person explained what she wanted. When she was done Sasami asked Ryo-ohki for his opinion.
"Well, I'm not so sure it's a good idea myself. Let me ask Queen Tsunami though." The cabbit closed his eyes and concentrated for a second. He smiled and opened his eyes. "She thinks it's a great idea. She's heard about this Xellos person and wants in on this too."
Misao spoke up from where she'd been quietly listening. "If Sasami goes, so do I."
"Misao!" from both Sasami and Rumiya.
Misao smiled at her friend and bopped the bird lightly on the head. "No, it makes sense. Sammy and Misa are a team now. If she goes, I go."
Rumiya sighed in resignation. "I suppose so. That means I have to go too of course. If it's not my sister getting me in trouble, it's Misa." He sighed again.
Ryoko grinned and pulled out some sort of communications device. "I've always want to do this," she told the two girls as she flipped it open. "Ryoko to Washu. Three to beam up."
"Three, wadda ya mean three?" came a tinny reply from the device.
"Listen Mom, do you wanna do this or not? Just open the damn hole," Ryoko growled into the device, showing her fangs. She muttered something about goddesses and what they could do with their duct-tape then smiled sweetly at the girls.
A shimmering black hole opened up between Ryoko and the two girls. "If you would follow me please, ladies?" Ryoko stepped over the hole and disappeared. Sasami and Misao looked at each other and shrugged. Holding hands, they both stepped forward into the unknown.
*****
To be continued
*****
Author's Notes
Well, this was originally going to be another long, epic-style story but obviously it isn't going over well. However I made a promise to everyone a while ago to finish everything I started, so I will finish it out but it may not be as long as I originally planned.
The Pretty Sammy here is the one from Magical Project S (Pretty Sammy TV) not the OAVs, thus Tenchi is not her brother and Ryoko and Ayeka don't exist as themselves. Pixy Misa's background is the same in both series. And for those of you that are unaware, Ryo-ohki is a boy in both Pretty Sammy series.
Review Responses
Alighthawk – Actually I see it more as a game of poker, the betting could go on for a long time before someone calls. But I like the chess simile better, if I'd have thought of it before I started I probably would've used it.
BobR
1/15/2002
