No Need for Gems
"Ayeka, I'll be glad to explain everything to you. If I could get out of here!"
called a 15 year-old boy. The dark-haired, brown-eyed teen was stuck in a tree.
Not up a tree, _in_ a tree.
Outside the tree stood two girls Tenchi's age, one with cyan hair and yellow
cat-like eyes and one with long purple hair and reddish-purple eyes.
"Perhaps I could be of some service," said a female voice.
Suddenly the cyan haired girl yelled, "Tenchi! Is there another girl in
there?!?"
"No, Ryoko. It's the sword!" Tenchi replied.
"The sword?!?" the two girls said in unison.
"Mistress Ryoko, Mistress Ayeka, please step back," urged the sword.
Ryoko and Ayeka stepped back from the strange tree as the a symbol
embedded in it began to glow as did the jewels embedded in the hilt of the sword.
Ryoko and Ayeka shielded their eyes, and when they uncovered them Tenchi
stood before them with a wooden hilt of a sword in his hand.
Ryoko looked disappointed, "Not much of a 'Holy Sword' is it. Hell, it's
just a hilt, no blade. Let me see it." She reached out to take it, but as soon as she
gripped the hilt Ryoko received a powerful shock. Surprisingly, the energy just
arced around Tenchi harmlessly. The sword suddenly jerked away from Ryoko's
hand.
"Satisfied now?" asked the sword.
"Okay, I'll admit that thing has a lot of energy in it, but what good will that
do against Kagato if you have to get close right next to him to do anything. I mean
his sword is a good..."
Ryoko was interrupted by the sound of Ayeka clearing her throat. "Excuse
me? Really confused girl over here."
Tenchi sighed and began to explain what had transpired in the last 24 hours.
Then Tenchi explained to both Ryoko and Ayeka about the legend of the Jurai he
had learned about in the tree/cave. "And so that's pretty much it. Hey Ayeka, are
you feeling all right?"
Ayeka was pale in the face. "Yeah I'm... no." Her eyes turned to the back of
her skull and she fell to the ground with a loud _thunk_.
"That's going to leave a mark," said Ryoko almost smiling.
"You know I almost expected that," said Tenchi. "Ryoko, take us back to
my house."
"Do we have to take her along too?"
"Of course, we just can't leave her here!"
"_You_ can't leave her here."
"Ryoko..."
"Don't worry, just remember I'm doing this for you, not her." Ryoko
grabbed Tenchi by the shirt collar and concentrated on Tenchi's house.
The sickening feeling passed over Tenchi as they dematerialized and
reappeared in Tenchi's room. He took of his white shirt and tossed it to Ryoko.
"Wet my shirt and bring it back to me."
"Fine, whatever," she said as she walked out of the room.
Tenchi picked up Ayeka and put her on his bed. "Ayeka, why did you have
to find out?" he asked his unconscious friend. "I wanted to keep you out of this."
Tenchi sighed and wondered how he had got dragged into this.
He looked down at his sword, "Ryoko's right about you, Sword Tenchi.
What good are you if I have to get right next to Kagato to do anything?"
"Master Tenchi, you have misunderstood. The energy dispersed when
somebody else touches me is a defense mechanism. As my name suggests I am a
sword. My blade is made of energy and only activates when you are in trouble."
"Like Ryoko's weird energy dagger thing."
"Yes, similar."
Ryoko came back into the room and handed Tenchi his wet shirt. "Here."
"Thank you, Ryoko," he said as he put the wet shirt onto Ayeka's forehead.
He got up and put on a new shirt. "Well, there's nothing else I can do. Except wait
for her to wake up." He yawned and got up.
"Where are you going?," asked Ryoko.
"I'm getting some pop, I need something to keep me up. You want any?"
"No I'm fine. Hey, why don't you get some sleep. I'll look after Ayeka."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"All right, good night."
"Good night."
Tenchi yawned again and walked down a flight of stairs and lied down on a
couch. He almost immediately fell asleep.
Ryoko turned to Ayeka and frowned. Meddling little girl. Why did she
have to get involved. She'll only get in the way. Ryoko thought. You know all
it would take would be one quick stab right through the chest and she'll be out of
my way for good. Ryoko dismissed the thought however. Nah! Tenchi seems to
be able to stand her, though I don't know why. So I guess I'll have to put of with
her too.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Ayeka stirred and slowly opened her eyes.
"Well, is there a worse sight to wake up to," said Ayeka disgusted.
Then again... "Whatever. Listen you want me to take you home are do
you want to walk?"
"As much as I hate to admit it, I need you to take me home. After all you
can't expect a pretty girl like me to walk the streets alone can you? I might get
mugged."
"Yeah, we wouldn't want that to happen would we?" The muggers don't
deserve something that bad. She grabbed Ayeka by the shirt and concentrated
on... wait she didn't know what Ayeka's house looked like.
"Well what's the matter? Make with the teleporting!'
"I can't if I haven't seen your house. How the hell am I supposed to take
you somewhere if I don't know where it is?!"
"Well can't you do something else?"
"Yeah, just hang on!" Ryoko began to float and Ayeka began to kick and
scream.
"What are you doing!"
"I'm flying you home what's it look like! Now stop fidgeting so I don't drop
you and tell me where your house is!" Ryoko took to the sky as Ayeka gave
directions in between all her complaining. When they got there Ryoko more than
happily put her down. "You happy now! Now remember the only reason I can
stand you is because you're Tenchi's friend, so don't expect me to be doing you
anymore favors."
"Likewise."
Ryoko sneered as she disappeared back into Tenchi's house. She went over
to Tenchi's sleeping body and looked at it. Oh, Tenchi. Why did it have to be
someone like you? Someone kind? Someone gentle? Why couldn't be some kind
of evil person? Someone cruel? She sighed. I don't want you to die. She
extended her hand and gently ran her fingers down his face. Good night,
Tenchi. She disappeared back into her own room and was startled to see Washu
in her room.
"Welcome home, Ryoko."
"Mom! What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you. You were over at Tenchi's house, weren't you?" Ryoko's
silence was enough of an answer for Washu. She sighed. "I see and did you
accomplish your mission?"
"No."
Washu was startled by this news. Ryoko had always accomplished her
missions. No one had ever been able to be as powerful as her except Kagato.
That's how she designed her. "I don't understand," she said as she grabbed
Ryoko's wrist and checked the gem embedded in it. "Is the gem still working?"
Ryoko pulled her wrist away and turned her back to her mom. "No, the gem
is working fine."
"Then what's the problem?"
Ryoko blushed and cursed herself for doing so.
Washu chuckled to herself, but it was loud enough that Ryoko heard it.
"And what is so funny?!?" she yelled letting her anger get hold of her.
"It's just as I predicted."
"What! How the hell were you able to predict something like that!"
"Mother's intuition, of course. Not to mention the fact the way you always
stare at him."
"S-s-s-so. That doesn't mean anything."
"I'm not finished yet! There was that time you just happened to have your
arm casually draped over him after the accident. Not to mention how mad you get
whenever he talks to Ayeka. And the biggest piece of evidence is that it's taken
you over a week to accomplish a simple task like killing a fifteen-year old boy."
Ryoko remained silent throughout the exchange, cursing herself for being so
readable. I wonder if Tenchi's noticed.
"Am I right?" asked Washu raising an eyebrow.
She sighed and said, "What am I going to do? Tenchi's got the sword and he
wants to face off against Kagato and free us."
"You mean you told him?"
She nodded and replied, "Everything except..."
"The explosives implanted in our bodies?"
She nodded again. "I tried to tell him, but the words just couldn't come out.
I mean I know what will happen if Tenchi defeats Kagato, but I also know what
will happen if he doesn't."
"Well I'm working on that as we speak."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I mean what did Kagato give you before you left?"
"Nothing... wait he took my gems for about an hour to upgrade them. Then
gave them back to me."
"Upgrade, huh? Yeah, right," said Washu. She snapped her fingers and a
small semi-transparent laptop appeared out of nowhere and floated in front of her.
"Those explosives have to be in the gems. We have to destroy them."
"What!?! Then how am I supposed to fight with Tenchi without my power?"
"You think I summoned my astral PC just for kicks?" she asked as she typed
on the keyboard. She turned the computer monitor towards Ryoko and asked, "Is
this Tenchi's sword?" The monitor displayed the hilt of Sword Tenchi with a long
blue energy blade coming out of the open edge.
"Yeah that's it. So?"
Washu pressed a few more buttons on the keyboard and the image enlarged
to show just the hilt. "These gems look familiar?"
Ryoko gasped. Now that she had a closer look she recognized the
connection. "They look exactly the same!"
"And the power readings are also identical. It seems that Kagato copied the
design of the gems from the sword and made blueprints to give me. But I'm not
sure if those gems are compatible with your anatomy. Bring Tenchi to me after
school tomorrow."
Ryoko nodded and responded, "Yeah, sure. Tomorrow's the last day of
school, so it'll be a half-day."
"Good now let's get rid of that gem," said Washu as she stood up and left
the room.
Ryoko gulped, nodded, and followed. She hated removing the gems. She
had done it a couple times before and hurt _really_ bad. She was led to a broom
closet which Washu opened. The sensors on the door recognized the DNA
structure of Washu and Ryoko, allowing them to enter a new dimension that
contained Washu's laboratory! Duuuh, duh duh duh, duh duh duh duuuh!
Ryoko turned to Washu and remarked, "Did you just rig some speakers to
play the theme of 'Dexter's Lab' every time you walk into the lab?"
Washu put a finger to her mouth. "Shhhhh! You want me to get sued by
Cartoon Network! You see the last note is a half-step higher than the last note of
'Dexter's Lab.' That makes it the theme of 'Washu Laboratory"! So what do you
have to say about that?" inquired Washu, who had returned to her original 12-year
old like state.
Ryoko rolled her eyes and replied, "Whatever. Let's get this over with." She
stepped on to a metallic platform. Washu stepped up to a control panel and typed
in a sequence. A metal arm came down from the entanglement on other
mechanical limbs and attached itself to Ryoko's right wrist. Another small
instrument came down. This instrument had a shackle like attachment on it. The
shackle had a hole in it. It positioned itself so that Ryoko's gem was visible
through the aperture. Ryoko suppressed a scream of pain as some force extracted
the gem from Ryoko's wrist. The shackle and arm released Ryoko and she rubbed
her wrist. "I hate that part."
Washu picked up the gem and placed it in a small canister. "There that
ought to take care of that. Now you've got school tomorrow, so get some sleep.
You might be able to get two more hours in."
"Yay, two whole hours."
"Now."
"Yes, Mother. I'm going, I'm going." She turned around and left Washu to
her work. She laid down in her bed and began to drift off into sleep. The last thing
she saw before slipping into sleep was her imaginary projection of Tenchi on the
ceiling. She smiled and said, "Good night, Tenchi..."
Washu watched her daughter fall asleep and smiled. She typed a sequence
on a control panel and the image of Tenchi, which Ryoko thought she had
imagined, sprawled on the ceiling disappeared. "Good night Ryoko."
"Ayeka, I'll be glad to explain everything to you. If I could get out of here!"
called a 15 year-old boy. The dark-haired, brown-eyed teen was stuck in a tree.
Not up a tree, _in_ a tree.
Outside the tree stood two girls Tenchi's age, one with cyan hair and yellow
cat-like eyes and one with long purple hair and reddish-purple eyes.
"Perhaps I could be of some service," said a female voice.
Suddenly the cyan haired girl yelled, "Tenchi! Is there another girl in
there?!?"
"No, Ryoko. It's the sword!" Tenchi replied.
"The sword?!?" the two girls said in unison.
"Mistress Ryoko, Mistress Ayeka, please step back," urged the sword.
Ryoko and Ayeka stepped back from the strange tree as the a symbol
embedded in it began to glow as did the jewels embedded in the hilt of the sword.
Ryoko and Ayeka shielded their eyes, and when they uncovered them Tenchi
stood before them with a wooden hilt of a sword in his hand.
Ryoko looked disappointed, "Not much of a 'Holy Sword' is it. Hell, it's
just a hilt, no blade. Let me see it." She reached out to take it, but as soon as she
gripped the hilt Ryoko received a powerful shock. Surprisingly, the energy just
arced around Tenchi harmlessly. The sword suddenly jerked away from Ryoko's
hand.
"Satisfied now?" asked the sword.
"Okay, I'll admit that thing has a lot of energy in it, but what good will that
do against Kagato if you have to get close right next to him to do anything. I mean
his sword is a good..."
Ryoko was interrupted by the sound of Ayeka clearing her throat. "Excuse
me? Really confused girl over here."
Tenchi sighed and began to explain what had transpired in the last 24 hours.
Then Tenchi explained to both Ryoko and Ayeka about the legend of the Jurai he
had learned about in the tree/cave. "And so that's pretty much it. Hey Ayeka, are
you feeling all right?"
Ayeka was pale in the face. "Yeah I'm... no." Her eyes turned to the back of
her skull and she fell to the ground with a loud _thunk_.
"That's going to leave a mark," said Ryoko almost smiling.
"You know I almost expected that," said Tenchi. "Ryoko, take us back to
my house."
"Do we have to take her along too?"
"Of course, we just can't leave her here!"
"_You_ can't leave her here."
"Ryoko..."
"Don't worry, just remember I'm doing this for you, not her." Ryoko
grabbed Tenchi by the shirt collar and concentrated on Tenchi's house.
The sickening feeling passed over Tenchi as they dematerialized and
reappeared in Tenchi's room. He took of his white shirt and tossed it to Ryoko.
"Wet my shirt and bring it back to me."
"Fine, whatever," she said as she walked out of the room.
Tenchi picked up Ayeka and put her on his bed. "Ayeka, why did you have
to find out?" he asked his unconscious friend. "I wanted to keep you out of this."
Tenchi sighed and wondered how he had got dragged into this.
He looked down at his sword, "Ryoko's right about you, Sword Tenchi.
What good are you if I have to get right next to Kagato to do anything?"
"Master Tenchi, you have misunderstood. The energy dispersed when
somebody else touches me is a defense mechanism. As my name suggests I am a
sword. My blade is made of energy and only activates when you are in trouble."
"Like Ryoko's weird energy dagger thing."
"Yes, similar."
Ryoko came back into the room and handed Tenchi his wet shirt. "Here."
"Thank you, Ryoko," he said as he put the wet shirt onto Ayeka's forehead.
He got up and put on a new shirt. "Well, there's nothing else I can do. Except wait
for her to wake up." He yawned and got up.
"Where are you going?," asked Ryoko.
"I'm getting some pop, I need something to keep me up. You want any?"
"No I'm fine. Hey, why don't you get some sleep. I'll look after Ayeka."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"All right, good night."
"Good night."
Tenchi yawned again and walked down a flight of stairs and lied down on a
couch. He almost immediately fell asleep.
Ryoko turned to Ayeka and frowned. Meddling little girl. Why did she
have to get involved. She'll only get in the way. Ryoko thought. You know all
it would take would be one quick stab right through the chest and she'll be out of
my way for good. Ryoko dismissed the thought however. Nah! Tenchi seems to
be able to stand her, though I don't know why. So I guess I'll have to put of with
her too.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Ayeka stirred and slowly opened her eyes.
"Well, is there a worse sight to wake up to," said Ayeka disgusted.
Then again... "Whatever. Listen you want me to take you home are do
you want to walk?"
"As much as I hate to admit it, I need you to take me home. After all you
can't expect a pretty girl like me to walk the streets alone can you? I might get
mugged."
"Yeah, we wouldn't want that to happen would we?" The muggers don't
deserve something that bad. She grabbed Ayeka by the shirt and concentrated
on... wait she didn't know what Ayeka's house looked like.
"Well what's the matter? Make with the teleporting!'
"I can't if I haven't seen your house. How the hell am I supposed to take
you somewhere if I don't know where it is?!"
"Well can't you do something else?"
"Yeah, just hang on!" Ryoko began to float and Ayeka began to kick and
scream.
"What are you doing!"
"I'm flying you home what's it look like! Now stop fidgeting so I don't drop
you and tell me where your house is!" Ryoko took to the sky as Ayeka gave
directions in between all her complaining. When they got there Ryoko more than
happily put her down. "You happy now! Now remember the only reason I can
stand you is because you're Tenchi's friend, so don't expect me to be doing you
anymore favors."
"Likewise."
Ryoko sneered as she disappeared back into Tenchi's house. She went over
to Tenchi's sleeping body and looked at it. Oh, Tenchi. Why did it have to be
someone like you? Someone kind? Someone gentle? Why couldn't be some kind
of evil person? Someone cruel? She sighed. I don't want you to die. She
extended her hand and gently ran her fingers down his face. Good night,
Tenchi. She disappeared back into her own room and was startled to see Washu
in her room.
"Welcome home, Ryoko."
"Mom! What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you. You were over at Tenchi's house, weren't you?" Ryoko's
silence was enough of an answer for Washu. She sighed. "I see and did you
accomplish your mission?"
"No."
Washu was startled by this news. Ryoko had always accomplished her
missions. No one had ever been able to be as powerful as her except Kagato.
That's how she designed her. "I don't understand," she said as she grabbed
Ryoko's wrist and checked the gem embedded in it. "Is the gem still working?"
Ryoko pulled her wrist away and turned her back to her mom. "No, the gem
is working fine."
"Then what's the problem?"
Ryoko blushed and cursed herself for doing so.
Washu chuckled to herself, but it was loud enough that Ryoko heard it.
"And what is so funny?!?" she yelled letting her anger get hold of her.
"It's just as I predicted."
"What! How the hell were you able to predict something like that!"
"Mother's intuition, of course. Not to mention the fact the way you always
stare at him."
"S-s-s-so. That doesn't mean anything."
"I'm not finished yet! There was that time you just happened to have your
arm casually draped over him after the accident. Not to mention how mad you get
whenever he talks to Ayeka. And the biggest piece of evidence is that it's taken
you over a week to accomplish a simple task like killing a fifteen-year old boy."
Ryoko remained silent throughout the exchange, cursing herself for being so
readable. I wonder if Tenchi's noticed.
"Am I right?" asked Washu raising an eyebrow.
She sighed and said, "What am I going to do? Tenchi's got the sword and he
wants to face off against Kagato and free us."
"You mean you told him?"
She nodded and replied, "Everything except..."
"The explosives implanted in our bodies?"
She nodded again. "I tried to tell him, but the words just couldn't come out.
I mean I know what will happen if Tenchi defeats Kagato, but I also know what
will happen if he doesn't."
"Well I'm working on that as we speak."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I mean what did Kagato give you before you left?"
"Nothing... wait he took my gems for about an hour to upgrade them. Then
gave them back to me."
"Upgrade, huh? Yeah, right," said Washu. She snapped her fingers and a
small semi-transparent laptop appeared out of nowhere and floated in front of her.
"Those explosives have to be in the gems. We have to destroy them."
"What!?! Then how am I supposed to fight with Tenchi without my power?"
"You think I summoned my astral PC just for kicks?" she asked as she typed
on the keyboard. She turned the computer monitor towards Ryoko and asked, "Is
this Tenchi's sword?" The monitor displayed the hilt of Sword Tenchi with a long
blue energy blade coming out of the open edge.
"Yeah that's it. So?"
Washu pressed a few more buttons on the keyboard and the image enlarged
to show just the hilt. "These gems look familiar?"
Ryoko gasped. Now that she had a closer look she recognized the
connection. "They look exactly the same!"
"And the power readings are also identical. It seems that Kagato copied the
design of the gems from the sword and made blueprints to give me. But I'm not
sure if those gems are compatible with your anatomy. Bring Tenchi to me after
school tomorrow."
Ryoko nodded and responded, "Yeah, sure. Tomorrow's the last day of
school, so it'll be a half-day."
"Good now let's get rid of that gem," said Washu as she stood up and left
the room.
Ryoko gulped, nodded, and followed. She hated removing the gems. She
had done it a couple times before and hurt _really_ bad. She was led to a broom
closet which Washu opened. The sensors on the door recognized the DNA
structure of Washu and Ryoko, allowing them to enter a new dimension that
contained Washu's laboratory! Duuuh, duh duh duh, duh duh duh duuuh!
Ryoko turned to Washu and remarked, "Did you just rig some speakers to
play the theme of 'Dexter's Lab' every time you walk into the lab?"
Washu put a finger to her mouth. "Shhhhh! You want me to get sued by
Cartoon Network! You see the last note is a half-step higher than the last note of
'Dexter's Lab.' That makes it the theme of 'Washu Laboratory"! So what do you
have to say about that?" inquired Washu, who had returned to her original 12-year
old like state.
Ryoko rolled her eyes and replied, "Whatever. Let's get this over with." She
stepped on to a metallic platform. Washu stepped up to a control panel and typed
in a sequence. A metal arm came down from the entanglement on other
mechanical limbs and attached itself to Ryoko's right wrist. Another small
instrument came down. This instrument had a shackle like attachment on it. The
shackle had a hole in it. It positioned itself so that Ryoko's gem was visible
through the aperture. Ryoko suppressed a scream of pain as some force extracted
the gem from Ryoko's wrist. The shackle and arm released Ryoko and she rubbed
her wrist. "I hate that part."
Washu picked up the gem and placed it in a small canister. "There that
ought to take care of that. Now you've got school tomorrow, so get some sleep.
You might be able to get two more hours in."
"Yay, two whole hours."
"Now."
"Yes, Mother. I'm going, I'm going." She turned around and left Washu to
her work. She laid down in her bed and began to drift off into sleep. The last thing
she saw before slipping into sleep was her imaginary projection of Tenchi on the
ceiling. She smiled and said, "Good night, Tenchi..."
Washu watched her daughter fall asleep and smiled. She typed a sequence
on a control panel and the image of Tenchi, which Ryoko thought she had
imagined, sprawled on the ceiling disappeared. "Good night Ryoko."