Sorry to keep you all waiting!
Here's Chapter 7!
The Choushin: A Preface to War (#7)
A Tenchi & company short story by Gary Littlejohn
-------------------------------------------------
All Tenchi* characters and the like are trademarks of AIC/Pioneer.
I did not invent these characters, I simply thought up the situation
for them to be in.
--------------------
It was 700 years ago, but I remember it quite well...
It was such a peaceful day, that you never would have guessed
that something so disasterous would happen to put an end to it. Ours
was the mightiest nation in the galaxy. Truly, we were once a rowdy
bunch of pirates, but all of that changed with the coming of Tsunami.
Tsunami, our goddess of fortune, who taught us how to be civilized,
how to rule firmly but with justice, and how to craft amazing and powerful
ships from the trees which she bestowed upon as as gifts. We were her
chosen, and because of that, we felt that we were invincible.
We never would have dreamed that there were others like Tsunami
in the universe. However, it seems that the existance of a singular
powerful entity is impossible. In fact, there may be more than two of
these god-like beings. We may never know how many exist, but we know
that there are at least two after that fateful day.
Riding in like a thunderstorm from the very bowels of hell, Ryo-Ohki
emerged upon planet Jurai, making no disguise of her hostile intent
towards the planet. Her powers were so great that even our most adept
pilots, at the helms of our most elite battleships, were brought down as
if they were gnats. Ryo-Ohki's screeching cries still echo in my ears
every time I remember that day.
But nothing could have prepared us for what the attack really was.
It was not simply an attack on our planet, but an attack on the very core
of our power, the space trees. Exiting from Ryo-Ohki came Ryoko, who was
like a compact killing machine. No matter how many attacked her, all were
slain. She seemed to have no feelings or regard for life in the slightest,
the way she so casually dismembered our troops. Her face, when I was able
to catch a glimpse of it from a survailance monitor, was cold and expressionless,
as if this were just the everyday grind.
At the time, things were getting a little out of hand because the
princess, my granddaughter Sasami, had gone missing. We feared that she had
been killed, but continued to look none the less. A moment later, I could
sense distress of some sort coming from the royal tree chamber. I feared the
worst. I thought that Ryoko had broken into the chamber and was destroying
the trees. I was able to use the survailence system to look into the tree
chamber, and just as I suspected, I saw Ryoko standing at its doors.
She began to advance inward, but showed no hostility towards the trees.
Suddenly, a ship crashed into the side of the chamber and Ryoko's face jerked in
one direction as if she had heard something or noticed something. I tried other
monitors, but couldn't see what she had due to damage to the system. However,
after a moment of her standing and looking downwards with a blank expression on
her face, she flew up and out of the room. This was the beginning of her appearent
withdrawl from the planet. Whatever it was that she came to accomplish had ether
been a success or a failure. We could not tell, but we intended to somehow
capture her and question her.
The fact that she was retreating did not halt our attack, and so she did
not halt her's either. She viciously ordered Ryo-Ohki to blast the Tenjyu* at
various places, including the gardens behind Ayeka's room. Ayeka seemed a bit
upset by this, and was quick to take rash action. She boarded her newly formed
Ryu-Oh and attacked Ryo-Ohki head on. In the end, she was almost destroyed.
If it weren't for Yosho and his ship Funaho, it would have surely been Ayeka's
final day. Blasting off in Funaho, Yosho was able to chase Ryo-Ohki and Ryoko
off the planet and into space, and he tailed them all the way to Earth where,
appearently, the final battle was fought.
Now, one might ask how Ryoko gained so much power. It would seem that
it was bestowed to her by a god-like being, much like the trees were bestowed
unto us Juraians.
"Seto-sama**..." Kanemitsu began, not seeming to know what to say about
this. "Why do you bring this up suddenly?"
"Because," I said "It looks like there's something very interesting
happening on Earth. Not only have we just lost contact with Azusa-chan, who was
in orbit, but we have also picked up a high level energy pocket from the planet."
"An energy pocket?" he asked, inquiring about what was on my viewscreen.
"Yes, and it matches the level of power that was seen on that fateful day
when we were nearly brought to our knees." I said, gravely.
"Seto-sama..." he seemed amazed. "Could it be that you are taking things
seriously for a change?"
"Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow. "I am very serious! This could be really
interesting!" I cackled, carrying my laughter well beyond necessity.
Kanemitsu sighed and then began to walk back towards the teleporter.
"Kanemitsu-dono***" I said, trying to sound as serious as possible.
He looked back at me.
"Will you and the sector seven armada accompany me to Earth?" I asked. "I have
a feeling that we could be facing a crisis of most serious proportions."
"A crisis?" he asked, curiously.
"Yes..." I replied calmly. "It seems like the gods are getting restless..."
Back on Earth...
"What the hell!!" Came out of my mouth naturally when I saw what was in that room.
I saw Sasami, lying slouched against the wall, being strangled by a very familiar figure.
"Tsunami!" Tenchi exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
Tsuanmi's head turned to look at us, her eyes were aglow, a fiery red. I know
that glow. It was the same one I had when I attacked Jurai so long ago. I knew from
that very instant that she meant nothing but trouble, and the fact that she didn't stop
squeezing Sasami's throat was a good indicator as well.
"Tsunami!" I yelled "What the hell is wrong with you? Snap out of it!"
She said nothing, and kept strangling. I couldn't take anymore. I formed my
beam sword, leapt forward, and swung straight down at Tsunami's wrists. The sword seemed
to pass through her as if she weren't really there.
"A waste of time..." a voice came from behind us. We turned only to see Washu
standing in the hallway, her eyes also glowing red. "You only have one gem, sweetie."
Tsunami let go of Sasami and stood, staring at Washu.
Washu raised her left hand and gave me a look that could freeze fire. I felt
my power being pulled from me by force. I looked at my wrist and noticed that the gem
on it was glowing. It soon vanished, only to re-appear on Washu's wrist. She did the
same thing for her right wrist, effortlessly pulling one of the gems from Tenchi's
sword into it. The finall gem was pulled from his sword a moment later and appeared
on Washu's neck, just above her chest.
"It's not right..." Washu said plainly. "To involve others in this, sister.
Especially our most peaceful sibling."
Tsunami growled at Washu, then spoke, her voice sounded as though it were being
put through a distortion filter.
"Maybe you're right." she laughed "And here I thought you had grown senile and
forgotten about us, older sister."
Washu smiled. "I couldn't, even if I wanted to."
Well I was utterly confused. I had had just about enough of this nonsense. I
walked right up to Washu and yelled...
"WHAT THE HELL!" came naturally from my mouth as I screamed with confusion.
-----
* The Tenjyuu is a large tree on Jurai, and the royal family lives inside of it.
** Sama is an honorific suffix, denoting not only that ther one whose name it is added
to is respected, but also implies that you are not as great as that person.
*** Dono is a suffix that is much like "san", but has a militaristic ring to it. In a
military situation, you would not only refer to your equal ranking peers as "-dono",
but also the ones who are underneath you in rank.
-----
To be continued
(C)December 2002 Gary Littlejohn
garylisk@yahoo.com - Comments welcome
Here's Chapter 7!
The Choushin: A Preface to War (#7)
A Tenchi & company short story by Gary Littlejohn
-------------------------------------------------
All Tenchi* characters and the like are trademarks of AIC/Pioneer.
I did not invent these characters, I simply thought up the situation
for them to be in.
--------------------
It was 700 years ago, but I remember it quite well...
It was such a peaceful day, that you never would have guessed
that something so disasterous would happen to put an end to it. Ours
was the mightiest nation in the galaxy. Truly, we were once a rowdy
bunch of pirates, but all of that changed with the coming of Tsunami.
Tsunami, our goddess of fortune, who taught us how to be civilized,
how to rule firmly but with justice, and how to craft amazing and powerful
ships from the trees which she bestowed upon as as gifts. We were her
chosen, and because of that, we felt that we were invincible.
We never would have dreamed that there were others like Tsunami
in the universe. However, it seems that the existance of a singular
powerful entity is impossible. In fact, there may be more than two of
these god-like beings. We may never know how many exist, but we know
that there are at least two after that fateful day.
Riding in like a thunderstorm from the very bowels of hell, Ryo-Ohki
emerged upon planet Jurai, making no disguise of her hostile intent
towards the planet. Her powers were so great that even our most adept
pilots, at the helms of our most elite battleships, were brought down as
if they were gnats. Ryo-Ohki's screeching cries still echo in my ears
every time I remember that day.
But nothing could have prepared us for what the attack really was.
It was not simply an attack on our planet, but an attack on the very core
of our power, the space trees. Exiting from Ryo-Ohki came Ryoko, who was
like a compact killing machine. No matter how many attacked her, all were
slain. She seemed to have no feelings or regard for life in the slightest,
the way she so casually dismembered our troops. Her face, when I was able
to catch a glimpse of it from a survailance monitor, was cold and expressionless,
as if this were just the everyday grind.
At the time, things were getting a little out of hand because the
princess, my granddaughter Sasami, had gone missing. We feared that she had
been killed, but continued to look none the less. A moment later, I could
sense distress of some sort coming from the royal tree chamber. I feared the
worst. I thought that Ryoko had broken into the chamber and was destroying
the trees. I was able to use the survailence system to look into the tree
chamber, and just as I suspected, I saw Ryoko standing at its doors.
She began to advance inward, but showed no hostility towards the trees.
Suddenly, a ship crashed into the side of the chamber and Ryoko's face jerked in
one direction as if she had heard something or noticed something. I tried other
monitors, but couldn't see what she had due to damage to the system. However,
after a moment of her standing and looking downwards with a blank expression on
her face, she flew up and out of the room. This was the beginning of her appearent
withdrawl from the planet. Whatever it was that she came to accomplish had ether
been a success or a failure. We could not tell, but we intended to somehow
capture her and question her.
The fact that she was retreating did not halt our attack, and so she did
not halt her's either. She viciously ordered Ryo-Ohki to blast the Tenjyu* at
various places, including the gardens behind Ayeka's room. Ayeka seemed a bit
upset by this, and was quick to take rash action. She boarded her newly formed
Ryu-Oh and attacked Ryo-Ohki head on. In the end, she was almost destroyed.
If it weren't for Yosho and his ship Funaho, it would have surely been Ayeka's
final day. Blasting off in Funaho, Yosho was able to chase Ryo-Ohki and Ryoko
off the planet and into space, and he tailed them all the way to Earth where,
appearently, the final battle was fought.
Now, one might ask how Ryoko gained so much power. It would seem that
it was bestowed to her by a god-like being, much like the trees were bestowed
unto us Juraians.
"Seto-sama**..." Kanemitsu began, not seeming to know what to say about
this. "Why do you bring this up suddenly?"
"Because," I said "It looks like there's something very interesting
happening on Earth. Not only have we just lost contact with Azusa-chan, who was
in orbit, but we have also picked up a high level energy pocket from the planet."
"An energy pocket?" he asked, inquiring about what was on my viewscreen.
"Yes, and it matches the level of power that was seen on that fateful day
when we were nearly brought to our knees." I said, gravely.
"Seto-sama..." he seemed amazed. "Could it be that you are taking things
seriously for a change?"
"Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow. "I am very serious! This could be really
interesting!" I cackled, carrying my laughter well beyond necessity.
Kanemitsu sighed and then began to walk back towards the teleporter.
"Kanemitsu-dono***" I said, trying to sound as serious as possible.
He looked back at me.
"Will you and the sector seven armada accompany me to Earth?" I asked. "I have
a feeling that we could be facing a crisis of most serious proportions."
"A crisis?" he asked, curiously.
"Yes..." I replied calmly. "It seems like the gods are getting restless..."
Back on Earth...
"What the hell!!" Came out of my mouth naturally when I saw what was in that room.
I saw Sasami, lying slouched against the wall, being strangled by a very familiar figure.
"Tsunami!" Tenchi exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
Tsuanmi's head turned to look at us, her eyes were aglow, a fiery red. I know
that glow. It was the same one I had when I attacked Jurai so long ago. I knew from
that very instant that she meant nothing but trouble, and the fact that she didn't stop
squeezing Sasami's throat was a good indicator as well.
"Tsunami!" I yelled "What the hell is wrong with you? Snap out of it!"
She said nothing, and kept strangling. I couldn't take anymore. I formed my
beam sword, leapt forward, and swung straight down at Tsunami's wrists. The sword seemed
to pass through her as if she weren't really there.
"A waste of time..." a voice came from behind us. We turned only to see Washu
standing in the hallway, her eyes also glowing red. "You only have one gem, sweetie."
Tsunami let go of Sasami and stood, staring at Washu.
Washu raised her left hand and gave me a look that could freeze fire. I felt
my power being pulled from me by force. I looked at my wrist and noticed that the gem
on it was glowing. It soon vanished, only to re-appear on Washu's wrist. She did the
same thing for her right wrist, effortlessly pulling one of the gems from Tenchi's
sword into it. The finall gem was pulled from his sword a moment later and appeared
on Washu's neck, just above her chest.
"It's not right..." Washu said plainly. "To involve others in this, sister.
Especially our most peaceful sibling."
Tsunami growled at Washu, then spoke, her voice sounded as though it were being
put through a distortion filter.
"Maybe you're right." she laughed "And here I thought you had grown senile and
forgotten about us, older sister."
Washu smiled. "I couldn't, even if I wanted to."
Well I was utterly confused. I had had just about enough of this nonsense. I
walked right up to Washu and yelled...
"WHAT THE HELL!" came naturally from my mouth as I screamed with confusion.
-----
* The Tenjyuu is a large tree on Jurai, and the royal family lives inside of it.
** Sama is an honorific suffix, denoting not only that ther one whose name it is added
to is respected, but also implies that you are not as great as that person.
*** Dono is a suffix that is much like "san", but has a militaristic ring to it. In a
military situation, you would not only refer to your equal ranking peers as "-dono",
but also the ones who are underneath you in rank.
-----
To be continued
(C)December 2002 Gary Littlejohn
garylisk@yahoo.com - Comments welcome
