Disclaimer

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 6

Showdown

*****

Xellos flickered into existence in the rear area of Ay-ohki's command deck, unnoticed by the others gathered there.  He looked around the chamber admiring the elegant simplicity of the design.  Since he'd never been on a starship before he was interested in everything around him.  A red light blinking on Ay-ohki's main screen caught his attention, though he couldn't make out the words flashing under it.

Ayeka, we have a visitor, the ship beamed to his master.  The words * Intruder Detected * continued to flash on the screen.

I know dear, he's standing behind us, the princess replied.

Xellos was too involved in watching the operation of the ship to notice Tsunami's astral form materialize next to him.  The first thing he knew about it was when he felt her phantom touch on his arm.

"Ah, Xellos," the goddess said quietly.  "Come, let us greet the others."  Her immaterial hand beckoned him forward.  Hearing his footsteps, the others turned around.

"Xellos!" cried Amelia, running to the demon and throwing her arms around him. "I'm so happy to see you."  She let him go and took a step back.  Suddenly she began throwing punches at him.  "Don't… You… Ever… Do… This… To… Me… Again!" 

Naga rushed forward to restrain her sister.  "So, this is the demon who sent us to the other world.  Hmph," Naga snorted.  "He doesn't look so tough to me.  I, Naga the Serpent, am not pleased."  A green glow began to form between her hands.

"Ladies, ladies!  Not on the ship!" Washu interrupted.  "Save it for later.  And there will be a later, I promise," she said, giving Xellos the evil eye.

"Ah, Lady Washu," the demon said, bowing low.  "So we meet at last.  Lady Tokimi, Prince Tenchi.  And that must be Ayeka.  Welcome to the family princess."

"Cut the crap Xellos," Washu sneered.  "What are you doing here?"

Xellos smiled at her.  "When I saw your daughter Ryoko I knew you wouldn't be far behind My Lady.  As you can see," he nodded toward the mushroom cloud growing larger as they drew closer, "we have a situation.  I'm asking for your help."

"Tenchi's a prince?" Amelia muttered to her sister.  "I didn't know he was a prince.  I though he was just a normal boy.  He doesn't act like a prince."

"Well, you can't judge a book by its cover I always say," replied Naga.

Washu was shaking a finger at the demon.  "Tell me why I have to help you; after all, the reason I'm here is because Minagi and I owe you one."

Xellos opened his eyes and frowned. "Because if you don't, it could mean the end of this world.  And maybe others as well."

*****

Lina Inverse looked up as the giant white form hissed to a stop overhead.  What now? she thought.  Is that another monster I have to fight?   She watched as a beam of light shot down from its underside and a group of people materialized.  The monster appeared to fold in on itself and became a small white creature similar to the one the Magical Girls had.  The creature let out a "Rowr" and hopped up onto the shoulder of a medium sized woman with light blue hair.  Lina inspected the group of new arrivals with interest.  There was the woman with the animal, a tall red head, a young man, a woman with cyan hair who looked vaguely familiar, a tall woman with brown hair, a girl who looked amazingly like one of the Magical Girls, Xellos, Amelia, and…

"Oh ho ho ho ho!  So Lina, up to your old tricks again eh?  Thought you could keep away from me did you?  No one outsmarts Naga the White Serpent.  Oh ho ho ho ho!"

Lina fell to her knees.  "Tell me it's not true," she moaned.  "Tell me it's not really Naga."

"But it is.  I've found you at last, Lina Inverse.  Oh ho ho ho ho ho!" Naga laughed.

Lina covered her ears. "Make it stop, oh please make it stop."  The tall red head smacked Naga with a closed fan.  Naga went silent, rubbing the back of her head.  The little girl ran forward.

"Ryoko!" cried Sasami as she ran to the pirate and gave her a hug.

"Hey, glad to see ya princess," said Ryoko.  Ryo-ohki hopped onto Sasami's head.

"Oh, Ryo-ohki!" Sasami giggled.

"Miya!" the cabbit replied.

The group walked over to the others and looked down into the crater.  The black mass that everyone had been watching still oozed around the bottom.  Washu turned to Xellos.

"So that's it?" she asked.  "That's what you're so afraid of?  What a wimp.  I've seen oil spills that looked more evil than that."

Xellos nodded.  "Lady Washu, I can feel the evil flowing from whatever that is.  We need to destroy it.  Immediately."

"I'll take care of it mom," Ryoko said, flying into the air and sending a plasma bolt singing down into the pit.

"No!" Washu called out.  "Ryoko, wait!  Damn, too late.  She always acts before she thinks."

"I'll help her Washu." Minagi joined Ryoko over the crater and both began firing plasma at the black mass."

"Like mother, like daughter.  Sorta," Washu sighed.

Lina could now see why the cyan haired newcomer looked so familiar.  Except for the cheek marks, she looked and sounded just like the other woman who had suddenly shown up a little while before.  Both were displaying an amazing amount of raw power. 

A black strand suddenly shot up from the crater and knocked Minagi to the ground.  Uh oh, Ryoko beamed to Washu.  I think we've made it mad.   The pirate formed her energy sword and took a swipe at the black rope.  Minagi recovered and energized her own sword.  She flew back into the fight.  A mass of black tentacles shot up into the air.  One tossed Ryoko away; she landed with a sickening thud.  Another grabbed Minagi by the leg and flung her toward the others.  Everyone dodged the flying pirate, but Sasami wasn't fast enough.  Pirate and princess collided and fell to the ground, out of the fight for a while.

Ryoko got slowly to her feet.  It hurt, but nothing felt broken.  She looked over at the others and saw Ayeka bending over Minagi and Sasami.  She could see the glow starting to form on the princess' forehead and she grinned painfully.  Ayeka was pissed off now as well and her demon side was beginning to come out.  The pirate staggered over to the crater and looked inside only to be knocked back as the black mass heaved itself up.

"Ryoko!" Tenchi cried, running to his fallen wife.  By the time he reached her he was in Juraian battle armor.

"I'm ok dear, just a little stunned," the pirate said, sitting up.  "Whatever that is, my power has no effect on it.  Except to make it angry that is."

"Let me try," Tenchi said.  "You go help Ayeka with Sasami.  Keep them safe." 

A black strand smashed down, knocking the young prince of his feet.  When he got up again his Lighthawk Wings had formed.  Ryoko sighed.  "That's my husband.  It takes a force of nature to get him to do anything."  Tenchi heard her and smiled.  Blackness was falling everywhere now so Ryoko drew on Tenchi's power and formed her own Wings as she flew to help the princess.

*****

Lina watched as Tenchi and Ryoko talked.  The boy was cute, and in that outfit he looked even better.  Amelia sidled up to her.

"He's an honest to goodness Prince you know?" she said to Lina.

"A prince?" Lina's eyes lit up. "From where?"

"Some place called Jurai," Amelia answered innocently.  "The girl with the white animal is a princess from there too."

"His sister!  Heh," smiled Lina.

"Um, no," said Amelia.  "Actually more like his wife.  The woman he was just talking too, well she's his wife too."

"Two wives?" Lina asked, stunned.

"Yeah, I guess it's kinda normal for royalty from there."  They dodged a piece of the blackness that hit near them.  "Maybe he'd like to try for three."  Amelia nudged Lina with her elbow.

"Uh no, I think I'll pass.  But maybe he has a brother…"

*****

Ryoko reached Ayeka and the others.  "Is she all right?" she asked her friend.

"She'll be fine, I think.  But I'm angry now."  Ayeka whirled toward the blackness, eyes beginning to glow.  Her purple energy blade formed and dissipated as she clenched and unclenched her fist.

Ryoko put her hand out to touch her sister/wife's shoulder.  Ayeka reacted violently at the contact.  The energy surge forced Ryoko away as a set of reddish Lighthawk Wings formed around the princess.  "Ayeka!" yelled the pirate, trying to break through to her friend.  "Look!  Look what you did!"

Startled, Ayeka's eyes cleared but the Wings remained.  "I did it, didn't I?"  The princess inspected her newfound ability.  A piece of blackness struck her Wings but didn't penetrate.  Ayeka reveled in her new power and her eyes began to glow again.

"No!  Ayeka!"  Ryoko forced her own Wings against Ayeka's, energy crackled loudly as they intersected.  The princess' eyes cleared again.  "Protect your sister!" Ryoko shouted.  "I'll take care of Minagi."

Nearby, Pretty Sammy, Pixy Misa and the chimera Zelgadis watched the exchange.  Misa turned to her counterpart.  "Ma Cherie, I think we're waay out of our league here," she said.

"For once Misa, I think you're right," said Sammy. 

A black tentacle moved in their direction.  Zelgadis, self-appointed guardian of Magical Girls, grabbed them both and ducked behind a rock.  He knew when he was outclassed too.

*****

The black mass formed itself into a vaguely humanoid form.  Where its head would be two glowing purple spots served as eyes.

"Power!" it rumbled.  "I feel the power gathered here.  Give it to me!"  The purple 'eyes' roamed over the group and settled on Xellos.  "Give me the power!"

Xellos floated up until he was level with the glow.  "What are you?  Where are you from?" he asked the creature.

There was another rumble from deep within the being.  "I am from everywhere and nowhere.  There was a disruption in the barriers between the realities and my parts were drawn to this place, the source of the power.  Give me the power."

"Why are you here?" the demon asked.

"Because you opened the gate."  It was becoming easier for the monster to speak.  "I came because the path was open."

Washu shook her head in disbelief.  "That idiot.  By using his power to transport the others, he opened the way for this thing to come here."

"And I suppose you had nothing to do with it?" snorted Ryoko.

"My machines are point-to-point.  They don't leave a gap in the barriers," the scientist explained.

"What are you?" asked Xellos again, louder, becoming annoyed with the thing. 

It raised what passed for a hand and idly batted the demon away as if he were a bothersome insect.  The being laughed, " We have all met before.  I have had many names and forms over the millenniums and across the realities, but never before have I been able to assemble more than a small fraction of myself in a single place."  The being focused its attention on Tenchi.  "To you, prince, parts of me have been known as Kain, Kagato and Yahuza."  Switching to Lina it said, "And to you sorceress I have been Joyrock, Phibrizo and Darkstar among others.  I have been something to all of you, living in your nightmares and coloring your thoughts.  And now fate has brought us together one more time."

Lina shuddered at the memories the names brought.  She looked up at what served as the head of the beast.  "You aren't the Lord of Nightmares, I've met her and she's nothing like you."

"Yes, this is true.  She is one of the Old Ones and a part of her lives in you, I can sense this.  But even she is not powerful enough to banish me, it would take several of the Old Ones to do so and I sense none of them here."

"But we can still hurt you," shouted the red headed sorceress. " Maybe we can convince you to leave on your own."

The being threw back it's head and laughed.  "Ah, a challenge then.  So be it.  But I won't kill you; I enjoy your pain too much.  It's been too long since I've had this powerful of a form and I want to play with it for a while.  This reality is full of power to use and beings to play with."

"Yeah, yeah.  Whatever.  Look, I'm hungry and we don't have all day."  Lina looked over at Tenchi, "Well Prince of Jurai, are you ready?"  Tenchi nodded and formed the Lighthawk Sword.

Washu looked at Tokimi and Tsunami.  Tokimi nodded back to her but Tsunami didn't respond.  The red headed scientist sighed and put a hand on Tenchi's shoulder.  "Wait a sec Tenchi."  She pulled the three gems from her pocket as Tokimi removed her gem from her robes.  Tsunami just looked on, a frown upon her face.

After another glance at her sister Tokimi, Washu closed her eyes and concentrated.  The gems faded out and a symbol, three glowing spots in a triangular formation, appeared on Washu's forehead.  An aura of some sort seemed to encompass her. 

The creature reared back.  "It seems I was mistaken, there is one of the Old Ones among you."

"You are mistaken, thing.  There are two of us."  Heads snapped around as Tokimi too was transformed.  "Sister," she said, looking at Tsunami.  "Only you are left.  Help us."

Tsunami looked at the ground.  "I…  I can't.  My power is still sealed on Jurai.  To unseal it would mean totally assimilating with Sasami and she's not ready yet.  It must be at a time of her choosing, not mine."

"Then we may fail," said Tokimi quietly.

"No," Tsunami's head came up.  "There is another here who also has the power of the Old Ones within them."

Heads shifted to look at Lina.  "Who, me?" she squeaked.

"No, not Lina Inverse, although she does have a small bit of the power.  I speak of the goddess Urd," explained Tsunami.

Urd shook her head, "Not me.  My father isn't…"

"Not your father, your mother," said the Juraian goddess.

"My mother was a demoness."

"True," agreed Tsunami, "but she was also one of the Old Ones.  She is sister to the Lord of Nightmares and her power is in you.  Reach down and unlock it."

Urd searched and she found the truth in Tsunami's words.  Her goddess symbol began to glow and split into three parts.  Mara knelt down and hid her face.  "She's turning into the Lord of Darkness again."  The demoness felt a hand on her shoulder.  She raised her head to look into the stern expression on her friend's face.  "You're not going to ask me to get you a big screen TV again are you?"

The transformed goddess laughed and it was a terrible and beautiful sound.  "No Mara.  Not until we get home anyway; besides, I don't think you could find one around here.  But I'm still Urd.  The same Urd that sings karaoke with you sometimes."  The goddess stepped away from the demoness and over to where Washu and Tokimi were standing.  She looked up at the black mass, "Heh, funny that you mentioned fate earlier.  I'm a Norn, elder sister of Verdandi and Skuld.  We three sisters control fate.  Look, now there're three of us.  Still want to try your luck?"

The being screamed and dove for the goddesses.  As it passed, Tenchi swiped at it with his sword, cutting off a large piece.  The piece fell to the ground then immediately flowed back into the whole.  Lina launched a fireball, which had absolutely no effect.  Neither did Amelia's flare arrows or Naga's freeze arrows.  Zelgadis continued to shield the two small girls with his body while Gourry hacked at the blackness with his sword.  Just like with Tenchi, the pieces he managed to cut off flowed back into the creature.  Ryoko and Ayeka used their Lighthawk Wings to shield the unconscious Sasami and Minagi and the two cabbits to the best of their ability.  Mara and Xellos stood next to the three goddesses to give them whatever support they could.

The blackness hit and engulfed the small group.  "Washu!" cried Tenchi as he hacked at the dark mass with little effect.  A purplish glow began to expand upward and outward from the center of the beast.  Overhead many small black areas began to appear in the air.

"Those look kinda familiar," muttered Ryoko.

"Indeed," replied Ayeka.  "They look like Washu's portals…"

The blackness suddenly broke apart into many pieces and before it could recombine the pieces were sucked into the dark spots.  A single small fragment escaped and fled over the horizon.  The three goddesses and two demons were left visible, covered by a brightly glowing purple dome.  The glow faded and all five of them fell to the ground exhausted.  The light from Washu and Tokimi faded and their gems reappeared floating before them; the symbol on Urd's forehead resumed its normal inverted triangular shape.

"Whew," the dusky goddess muttered.  "I don't ever want to have to do that again."  Her head fell back and hit the ground.  She was out cold.

*****

Princess Sasami and Tenchi were helping Gourry make S'mores over the fire while the other Sasami and Misao munched on the ones that had already been prepared and fed pieces of them to the three cabbits and Rumiya.  Urd lay with her head in Mara's lap, much to the joy of the demoness.

"Don't get any odd ideas," the goddess had growled to the demon before laying her head down.  "This is just because there aren't any pillows and I have a terrible headache."

Tokimi sat looking into the flames, contemplating how nice it was to be at peace with the rest of her 'family'.  Every so often she'd toss a twig into the blaze and sigh with contentment.  Tsunami's astral form sat silently next to her.  Naga and Amelia sat a little apart from the others, quietly talking about the future.  Amelia was going to head back to Saillune for a while then rejoin the others later, Zelgadis had elected to go with her.  She'd asked Naga to come with her as well, to see her father again, but the older sorceress politely declined.  Naga'd decided to tag along with Lina and the rest for a while and see what developed.

"There he goes!"  Lina's voice was heard coming out of the forest.

"Over that way," Ayeka yelled.

"Gotcha!" came Ryoko's voice.  "Hold him Minagi.  Washu!  Over here!"

"Oops.  Sit on him Zelgadis, don't let him get away again," said Ryoko's voice again but with a slightly different inflection.

A few moments later they all trooped out of the woods.  Minagi was dragging a tightly wrapped up Xellos by a rope tied around his feet.  Amelia's eyes fell on the bound and gagged Mazoku.

"What is that stuff Washu?  It looks nasty," she asked, eyes growing large as it became obvious that the struggling demon couldn't free himself.

Washu threw back her head and laughed.  "Duct tape.  A thousand and one uses.  It's the only stuff I've ever found that'll hold a god or demon.  Whenever you're ready, one of you'll have to unwrap him."  She knelt down and patted Xellos on the cheek.  He could only glare at her.

Ryoko chuckled.  "And it's not exactly comfortable when it comes off either.  I know."  She looked at her mother who smiled back.

"It leaves a sticky mess all over you too," added Ayeka with a shiver.  "It's very hard to clean it up."

Washu looked Xellos in the eye and smiled wickedly.  "I'm leaving several rolls with Lina and instructions on how to contact me if she needs more.  So you be a good boy from now on, hear?"

Xellos didn't say a word.

*****

The End

*****

Author's Notes

It just occurred to me how similar "The Great Cabbit Search" and "The Game" are to the TV show "Sliders".  I won't claim that it influenced me at all since I never really liked the show and managed to miss all but a very few of the episodes.  I don't even know if it's still on.

Review Responses

Dennisud – I've read Roas Atreides' work (I wonder if he's any relation to Muad'Dib?) and I like it.  I don't know if I've ever read any stories by Mike Haney though.

Alighthawk – No Royal Flush.  I was a card short:  Ace – Tsunami, King – Tenchi, Queen - Ayeka, Jack – Ryoko, Ten – Sasami, but no Nine.  They had to be a member of Juraian royalty either by birth or marriage.  I could have used Yosho but he wasn't there.  Washu wins, all Xellos had was a pair of princesses or three sorceresses, either of which Washu easily beat.

Rowan Seven – Glad you enjoyed it.

Priest – I don't know if this was a big enough ending for you but…

Vsdefender – You may be disappointed in the AMG! video stuff unless you read the manga first.  While still good, a lot of the characters in the manga (like Mara and Banpei) aren't in the videos except for the opening credit sequence.  Banpei is in the movie though as is Peorth, but she's not as much fun there as she is in the comics.  She's much too serious and she's not spewing flowers everywhere.  As far as Slayers, Xellos doesn't appear until the second season (Slayers Next).  As for Noboyuki's comment; yeah, given the way Mihoshi was all over Kiyone in that episode (NNfPartners) I definitely think he had a bit more in mind, although I'm not sure they did.

Agami Starwind – Thanks.  I've read a few of your fics too.

BobR

1/29/2002