The New Island

Cleaning up the messes that the savages made took little time; cleaning up the physical and emotional aftertastes of victory took a little longer. The Eternal Nightmare--now called Ryoko again--spent the better part of an hour bathing in the sea. She practically scrubbed her skin red as she tried removing the war-paint, but eventually, she would just decide to keep it on. Ayeka, to Ryoko's glee, kept her stripes on as well, and even the tigerskin clothes she had worn.

Ryoko, as always, decided to make fun of Ayeka's new garments. But the princess-turned-warrior was not ashamed of herself in the least. In fact, she displayed her outfit proudly, and did not blush even once when Ryoko made her comments. Ayeka had to wonder how Tenchi or Sasami would take this new look. They would probably have taken it on the floor, after a good faint.

With ghosts of her war-paint still etched on her body, Ryoko sighed as she floated around the island. It was her task to clean up any messes and scour for any new resources; Ayeka would be rebuilding everything that had been destroyed, as well as fashioning new tools and weapons to replace the ones that had been stolen. These jobs did not take long now that the girls were actually cooperating with each other; in fact, it barely took an hour.

Once the damages had been repaired, both girls retired to their house. It had been an exhausting two days, but in the years to come, both would boast and brag about the battle, and how much fun was had. Ryoko would always tease Ayeka about that "space pirate" bit, and the tigerskin clothes she wore, and Ayeka would always counter with how Ryoko got caught by the primitive men. Both ended their jibes with a hearty, friendly laugh.

Diary of Ayeka, warrior of the island

August 1st

I am no longer the little girl that ruled over Jurai. I am no longer the spoiled brat of the galaxy, that "vain pain" scourge of the universe. I am no longer the enemy of space pirate Ryoko. I am no longer a princess. I am no longer Ayeka. She is dead now, dead from life on this island. She has passed away into flames, and now the phoenix has been reborn, and I have been reborn, and now I am anew as Ayeka, the Burning Tiger, the warrior and guardian of the island.

And it feels good.

Now that this lovely place is ours again, I have suggested to my friend the importance of giving it a name. She formerly did not care for the idea, but as time went by, Ryoko continued to like it more and more. We have made countless suggestions, but I am unsure as to how to approach this. I wanted to name it "Ryoko and Ayeka island", and she the opposite, but we both agreed that it was too long a name.

Then she had the brilliant idea of combining our two names into one. Ryokoayeka island? It sounds Hawaiian, personally, and I rather like it. Ayekaryoko island, her idea, is not too unappetizing either… Well, we'll come up with a decision soon.

Yours faithfully,

Ayeka, warrior of "Ryokoayeka island"

Journal of Warrior of the Night, Ryoko

Ayeka still won't give me the time of day--but at least she's friendly to me now.

Well, say good-bye to the old space pirate Ryoko! Just five minutes ago, I told Ayeka that I was going to retire from my position as space pirate. Yup, from this day forward, I'm a fellow warrior of the island, the Eternal Nightmare! Of course, it really doesn't matter--I don't know if we'll ever get rescued off this island. Oh, well. I'm having some fun here and there, anyway.

Ayeka wanted to name our island. At first, I thought it was bull, but now I'm starting to like the idea. I offered names like "Ayeka and Ryoko island", and "Ayekaryoko island" (my favorite), but we're rejecting them all. I told that she-devil that her name needs to be first. Doesn't Ayeka come before Ryoko in the alphabet? I guess it's not important; we shouldn't lose our friendship over such a stupid matter anyway.

Well, we'll just have to wait then, won't we?

Lots of love,

Warrior of the Night Ryoko

"How about… Ayoko island?"

"Nahh… your name's hardly even in there."

"Oh. ……What about, Ryeka island?"

"Now my name's hardly in there!"

"Sorry!! It's really hard to think of these things!" Ryoko sighed, and put her arm across Ayeka's shoulders.

"Hey, relax tigress. Here, how about… uh, Ayeko island?"

"No, I don't like it," sighed the warrior. "What about… Ryoka island?" Ryoko sneered and stuck her tongue out at the name. "Well, what would you like?!"

"Hey, don't get excited, tigress!" muttered Ryoko. "We just seem to have an artistic disagreement, that's all." Ayeka sighed, and nodded her head quickly.

"You're right, you're right. This is nothing to lose our friendship over." Ryoko smiled playfully, and dug into her head for more names.

"Oh! I've got it!!"

"What, tell me!!"

"Okay, here it is!!" Ryoko lowered her voice, and brought her friend's ear close to her mouth. In a whisper, she revealed her name.

"Oh!" gasped Ayeka. "Perfection!!"

"But of course!" sang Ryoko. Ayeka gave her friend a look, and a love tap to discipline her.

"Don't get cocky, now…"

Diary of Ayeka, warrior of the island

August 1st

This promises to be a short entry. With Ryoko's help, I have decided on a proper name for our island. Henceforth, it shall be known as Ayeoko Island. I hope I spelled it right.

Yours faithfully,

Ayeka, warrior of AYEOKO island

PS--that feels so good to write!!