Previously on Continuum T:
After facing his clone and defeating him by evolving to the next stage of human development, Tenchi has told his alien friends all about his past, the fights with Sel and his ascension to a Super Saiyan. Although he has now become a Supreme Saiyan, two stages on from a Super Saiyan, the main topic of discussion is Tenchi's evolution to homo validus, meaning powerful man. There is only one part of the legendary prophecy left, and everyone is convinced that Tenchi will succeed. However, I'm not too sure. The last part of the prophecy was lost aeons ago, so we don't know if Tenchi will survive or not. I hope he does, because I kind of like this job now.
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Continuum T, Part X – K'oko Attacks!
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"And so, by transferring the transitional phase variance through the magnetic polarising coils, I can create an energy beam which is strong enough to power my invention. That's how it's powered. Any questions so far?"
"No, little Washu," everyone chorused. Washu had dragged them into her lab to show off her latest invention. True, they weren't doing much anyway, but they considered doing nothing at all to be much more interesting than Washu's latest contraption.
"Right. Now. The parcorporal inducing gamemometer works like this. The power is distributed through the guided indicators here, here and here. This one leads to..."
Everyone silently groaned. This wasn't at all interesting to them.
Suddenly, a blast of air hit them from behind. Everyone turned around to see what caused it. Stood behind them was a short white rabbit standing on its hind legs. Light green stripes crossed its chest and large ears, which reached down to the ground. It had a small horn on its head. With it was a tall yellow fox, also on its hind legs. It had a white chest and a long bushy tail. It wore purple fingerless gloves reaching to the elbows, through which claws protruded. The two looked as if they had come straight out of a manga comic. They both looked as if they were fairly young for their species. They both had serious looks on their faces.
"I am T'rea," the rabbit creature said. Its voice suggested that it was male. "This is R'na." He gestured towards the fox creature.
"We need your help," R'na said in a female tone. "We are Sliders. I believe Washu can explain us."
Everyone turned slightly to look at Washu. Washu just stood there amazed. "Sliders? Really?"
"What are Sliders?" Mihoshi asked.
"Oh, um, Sliders are beings that can control dimensions, and even create new ones. Besides deities, they are the most powerful entities to ever exist," she explained. "They have found a way to write themselves into the very fabric of existence. Therefore Sliders are digital. They are composed of data, which they use and store in slightly unique ways to each other. They store their data in their own dimensions, which they create to store themselves in. The more data they have, the stronger they are. Because of their ability to manipulate dimensions, they can 'slide' through them at will, hence the term 'Slider'.
"If they are strong enough, that is, if they have enough data, they would then be able to digivolve, short for digitally evolve. They change their shape, and even their identity. They become a lot stronger. The process is a lot like when you evolved, Tenchi, when you fought your clone. However, their strength, even in their base form, is immensely superior to your own, even if you are Super Saiyan 3."
"That's right," T'rea confirmed. "However, we need your help. We have encountered a foe that is far stronger than us. Out of the twenty Sliders that exist, only three are able to digivolve at will. We are two of them. The third is K'oko. However, K'oko has been infected by a virus. It attacked his digital structure, manipulating him, giving him unprecedented strength."
"It also took control of him," R'na continued. "The virus mostly controls him. His original self does break through, but very rarely, and only for a few seconds. Now he is obsessed with destroying everything, all dimensions. We cannot stop him."
"Why did you come to us, then?" Ayeka asked.
"Yeah, if you're the strongest beings to ever exist, why are you asking us for help?" Ryoko asked.
"Not you. Tenchi," T'rea said. Tenchi gazed at him.
"What? Why me?"
"Are you aware of the definition of strength, Tenchi?" R'na asked.
"Yes, it's a person's potential, right?"
"Right. We have been watching you for some time now, Tenchi," R'na said. "I was there watching you when you first fought Sel. I could see your potential was greater than most other peoples."
"I was there when you defeated Sel six years later," T'rea said. "I saw how you became a Super Saiyan, far stronger than anyone else in the Universe, with the exception of your clone, that is. We were both there when you defeated Kagato. You had renounced your Saiyan powers, instead using the less powerful Jurian powers you had. This showed you were adaptable."
"When you fought your clone, you advanced twice within a short time to Super Saiyan 3, or Supreme Saiyan. When you still weren't able to defeat your clone, you evolved to homo validus, Powerful Man. We knew then that you had the potential we need. We need your strength to help us defeat K'oko."
"Where is this K'oko?" Tenchi asked.
"He's following us through the dimensions. He can sense our residual presence in existence. He's tracking us so that he can destroy us, erase our data, so then no-one will be able to counter him during his destructive quest."
"But if he erases your data, you won't have any left," Sasami said. "Does that mean you'll die?"
"Yes, it does. But we don't intend to die any time soon," T'rea said. "That is why we're going to face him. We shall fight him in a dimension far from any others. But we need you to back us up. If we should fail to stop him, you would be the last chance existence has against him."
"Still, no pressure, right?" Mihoshi said. Everyone else just stared at her.
"If Tenchi's going to fight, I'll help him," Ayeka said.
"Me too," Ryoko added.
"And I suppose we'll go with him too," Washu said.
"I'm afraid that would be impossible. K'oko has constructed a fighting arena in a new dimension," R'na said. "While we could take you all there, none of you would last three microseconds against K'oko. Tenchi is the only one who has the strength to even survive in there. The rest would all be vaporised pretty much instantly. It would be best if you stayed out of the fighting."
"I can sense K'oko. He's nearing our position. We must go now," T'rea said.
"Right," the fox replied. "Let us go."
They all vanished.
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They reappeared in a field of short grass on the edge of a cliff. Below it was water. The weather was nice. The whole place seemed tranquil. But this was a complete contrast to what would happen here soon.
"Not exactly my idea of an arena," Tenchi laughed nervously.
"So where is this K'oko?" Washu said.
"Don't worry," T'rea said. "He'll find us."
No sooner had the rabbit spoken these words then a gust of wind shot out from a spot near the cliff's edge. K'oko had appeared.
K'oko looked like a cross between a monkey and a large thin bear. His fur, which covered nearly all his body, was dark purple. His long arms rested their hands on the ground, as he stayed almost upright. A white cloth was wrapped around his left arm. What seemed like the top half of a skull rested on his head above his face. His red eyes surveyed the group of people there. He was about three times as tall as R'na, who herself was much the same height as Tenchi.
"Destroy," K'oko hissed, sending a chill through everyone. R'na and T'rea leapt forwards.
"Don't try to interrupt the battle," R'na said. "K'oko would wipe you out in a breath."
R'na and T'rea ran at K'oko. R'na leapt into the air and spread her arms wide.
"Diamond storm!" she shouted. Many white fragments appeared in front of her, before shooting forward at K'oko.
T'rea opened his mouth wide. "Bubble blast!" he shouted, before shooting a bright green ball of energy from his mouth at K'oko.
K'oko shielded from the diamond storm with the back of his hand, and caught the bubble blast in the other. He clenched both hands and the attacks disappeared.
Undeterred, R'na flew forwards at K'oko's head, while T'rea head butted his chest. R'na swung a fist and hit K'oko square on. The impact caused him to sway backwards, and T'rea's head butt sent him reeling away. They launched at him for another attack, but K'oko swung one of his large arms around and hit them away.
"No!" Sasami shouted. She tried to run forwards to help them, but Tenchi had grabbed her shoulder. She looked at him and pleaded. "Tenchi, let me go. He's hurting them."
"I know, Sasami. But you can't help them. You would only get yourself killed. Stay here."
Sasami sniffled and stayed where she was. She looked over at the fox and rabbit, which were picking themselves up.
"He's too strong like this. We need to digivolve," R'na said.
"But if we digivolve now, we might lose our last chance to win," T'rea argued.
"True," R'na agreed. "But we must digivolve. We can't last like this much longer."
"Right."
They both crouched down on the ground.
"What are they doing?" Ayeka asked.
"Digivolution activate!" R'na and T'rea both shouted. A partially transparent small bubble surrounded each of them. They rose into the air, rolling the beings.
"T'rea digivolved to..." T'rea's voice sounded.
"R'na digivolved to..." R'na's voice was heard similarly.
Suddenly their images changed. The bubbles shattered, and the shards disappeared. Two beings dropped from where the bubbles had been. The one in place of T'rea looked slightly like him, but much bigger, about twice the height of Tenchi now. Red stripes crossed his cheeks. He wore blue pants, which were cut off near the bottom. An ammo strap crossed his chest and looped around his body. His hands were replaced by what can only be described as chain gun barrels. There were three small metallic claws protruding from the front of each of them. A red upturned triangle featured on his forehead. He seemed older and wiser. "G'ago!" he shouted.
The one in place of R'na also looked like her, but this creature was on all fours. Nine tails took the place of the one previously there. A red and white striped pole was twisted loosely around her neck, and ended in golden knobs. A yin yang symbol featured on her forehead. Her overall appearance was older, more adult and wiser. "K'yubi!" she shouted.
"What happened?" Ryoko asked astonished.
"They digivolved," Washu replied. "Remember, I told you that when they digivolved, they changed their physical appearance and even their identities. T'rea digivolved to G'ago, and R'na digivolved to K'yubi. That's who they are now."
G'ago and K'yubi ran forward at K'oko.
"Laser shot!" G'ago shouted. He aimed his hands at K'oko and fired a barrage of green energy blasts at him.
"Fox tail inferno!" K'yubi shouted. Her tails fanned out, and a white flame appeared on each of the tips. The flames launched at K'oko.
K'oko was hit full on by the onslaught. He was thrown back to near the edge of the cliff. He had several cuts and marks on his body, out of which black spheres were leaking.
"What are those coming out of K'oko?" Mihoshi asked.
"I don't know," Washu replied.
The black spheres started to rush back to the cuts. As they re-entered the body the cuts started healing. After a few seconds they were gone. K'yubi gasped. "He regenerated himself! How?"
"It must be the virus inside him," G'ago said. "We're not going to win as long as that virus controls him."
K'oko stood up and grinned. "Destroy," he hissed. He crouched down, and a sphere appeared around him. It rose up into the air.
"He's digivolving!" Sasami gasped.
The sphere shattered, revealing a large creature. It seemed to be a cross between a stuffed bear and a fox. It was mostly humanoid, except for its colours, which were mostly white and light brown, its size and its long arms and fingers, which reached nearly down to the ground. It had long ears, which were draped down behind its shoulders. Three relatively small horns appeared on his forehead. He was very tall, about six times as tall as G'ago.
"Attack!" K'yubi shouted. She ran forward, jumped and curled her body around. It glowed light blue. "Dragon wheel!" she shouted. As the bright light spun, a dragon's head, also made of light, appeared out of it and rushed at K'oko, dragging the rest of the light behind it in a beam. K'oko dodged out of the way just as it passed. The light faded to reveal K'yubi, in about the position of the dragon's head. She collapsed onto the floor. She was weakened by that attack.
"Quick fire!" G'ago shouted. He released another barrage at K'oko. K'oko started back flipping to avoid it. G'ago jumped up and forwards, using his big fan-shaped ears to glide along, still firing. K'oko back flipped still, until he reached the edge of the cliff. He somersaulted backwards off the edge, and fell towards the water. G'ago landed and ran to the edge. K'oko was hovering a few metres above the water, seemingly unhurt. He looked up and grinned at G'ago. G'ago hurried to K'yubi as she struggled to get up.
"Washu, can't you do anything to help them?" Tenchi asked.
"No, I can't," Washu said. "And it seems as though they're using their full power."
"Didn't you say that they were made of data, and that that's what makes them strong? Can't you just give them more data?"
"I could, but the way they store data is unique to anything and anyone else. It would be very hard to find out their data's configuration."
"But if you did, could you then make some more data for them, so they could use it to become stronger?"
"I could..." Washu's voice faded. She summoned her light keyboard and started furiously tapping in commands. "I'm scanning their dimensions. The ones they store themselves in. If I can determine the configuration of them, I can construct a matrix similar to it. An amplifying data matrix would theoretically increase their strength by a factor of three. Potentially they would be able to digivolve again and become even stronger. This won't take long."
As Washu continued her work, the others watched K'yubi and G'ago. They themselves were watching K'oko from the top of the cliff. They then looked at each other and nodded. They jumped off the edge and flew down to K'oko.
"I've got it!" Washu exclaimed. "I've made the alterations. They should be three times stronger now."
Tenchi nodded, and ran to the edge of the cliff. "Washu has added a data matrix to you!" he shouted. "You should be able to use it to digivolve again!"
"Right," they said. "Matrix digivolution activate!"
They started shining until they became bright light. The lights grew to form new shapes.
"G'ago matrix digivolved to..."
"K'yubi matrix digivolved to..."
Suddenly the lights disappeared. Two figures were revealed. One was a large robot, vaguely humanoid. It was mostly green, but with a few bits of white and black. A large horn was on the sunken head. On his back was what looked like a thin barrel, stretching from shoulder to shoulder. Metal wings came from his back. "R'pid!" he shouted.
The other figure was also mostly humanoid. Long beige robes covered her body, and her face looked like a yellow fox's, but more human-like. The long sleeves covered her hands. On her shoulders were large protrusions, also covered. Overall she looked like a mage in her robes. "T'au!" she shouted.
"What now?" Ryoko asked.
"G'ago digivolved into R'pid, and K'yubi digivolved into T'au." Washu said.
"I can't believe that robot used to be a small rabbit," Sasami said.
R'pid aimed his arms at K'oko. "Rapid fire!" he shouted. Several small missiles shot out of his arms and flew at K'oko. They all impacted causing several large tears to appear in K'oko's body, which released more black spheres.
"Talisman blast!" T'au shouted. She waved her arm in the air, causing a symbol to appear. The symbol glowed and projected itself at K'oko in a beam. It hit, forming a large hole straight through his chest, and separating his body at that point. More black spheres spewed out from the hole.
"We got him!" R'pid cheered.
"Think again," K'oko hissed. His body regenerated, reabsorbing the black spheres and healing the wounds.
"He regenerated himself again!" T'au exclaimed.
K'oko brought his arms back over his head and flung them towards R'pid and T'au. A strong gust of wind caused by K'oko made them fly backwards. T'au skimmed across the surface of the water, while R'pid impacted a cliff wall. He bounced off it and fell into the water.
R'pid regained herself and landed on a rock jutting out from the water.
"It's no use. We can't win against him. He's too strong," she said.
"We have to try," R'pid said, bursting up out of the water. "If we give up now, reality is as good as nothing."
K'oko started sinking into the water.
"Where's he going? Is it over?" T'au asked.
"I don't think so. Not by a long shot," the robot replied.
K'oko had completely submerged. Another form reached out of the water. It was dark purple, and could only be described as a clown. The reason for this is that it had a large pointy disc protruding from his neck, making his appearance seem that of a clown. There was an evil look on his face.
"He digivolved again!" Tenchi exclaimed. "How can he keep doing that?"
"That's his final form," Washu said. "All Sliders have only three forms, and that is K'oko's last one. He's incredibly strong now, though. All the Light Hawk Wings wouldn't amount to anything against him. Super Saiyan 3 certainly couldn't."
"Destroy," K'oko hissed. A circle of black spheres suddenly spread out from him. The other Sliders flew back up to the cliff. They were just about to land when they stumbled. They fell to the ground.
Sasami gasped. "They've changed back to their first forms!"
T'rea and R'na stood up, and then collapsed. They didn't seem to be able to move. Tenchi ran over to them and grabbed them.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm sorry," R'na said, in a very weak voice. "You'll have to take over now." The effort of speaking was too much for her, and she fainted.
"Just hold him until we're better," T'rea said, just before he fainted as well.
Tenchi dragged them back to the others, where he laid them down. He then started walking towards the middle of the cliff, between his friends and the edge.
"Tenchi, don't!" Ayeka said concerned. "You'll be killed."
"I must. Someone has to stand up for existence. Otherwise we're all dead." Tenchi paused. "And I'm not going to die until I know I've done my very best at trying to save reality."
With that he continued walking. K'oko had flown back to the top of the cliff, and was stood close to the edge of the outcropping. Tenchi saw him and stopped.
"I am all that is left between you and Armageddon. I swear, I'll do everything I can to stop that from happening." Tenchi readied himself. "I know I'm almost certainly going to die, but there is a chance that I'll survive, and that is a chance I'm more than willing to take, if it means saving the Universe."
"Destroy."
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Tenchi started yelling. His short hair quickly grew very long. It clumped together in bits, and turned yellow. A huge energy aura appeared round him, reaching up almost four times as high as he was. His eyes turned green, and his hair swayed down behind his back, reaching down to the back of his knees.
He stopped yelling and looked at K'oko. He seemed indifferent, perhaps even a little amused. Tenchi frowned.
"The Supreme Saiyan form may not seem like much," he said, "but so far all I've seen of your abilities is fast reflexes and regeneration. I'll bet you don't actually have much in the way of experience with energy blasts. Let's see how you fare against a kameya-meya."
With that he pulled his arms together in front of him, and positioned his hands at his side. "Kah!" he shouted. A bright white energy ball formed in his hands. "Meh! Hah! Meh!" He pushed his hands in front of him. "Haah!" he yelled, releasing the blast. It flew straight at K'oko, encompassing him completely. The entire area was filled with energy.
Tenchi lowered his hands, hardly having broken into a sweat. He looked at where K'oko had been, and saw that he was gone. He had been completely vaporised.
"That was incredible!" Washu exclaimed. "The energy he shot at K'oko was twice as much as the output of a supermassive black hole! And he's not even tired! His strength must be unprecedented!"
"Look, K'oko's gone! He must have been destroyed," Ryoko said.
"Nothing could have ever withstood an attack like that, Ayeka said.
Tenchi frowned. "That's only a sample of what I can do, K'oko!" he shouted. "Give up now or I shall be forced to use my entire strength!"
"What?" Mihoshi asked. "K'oko's dead. Why is Tenchi talking to him?"
"He's not dead. Not at all," Sasami said in a small voice.
K'oko reappeared out of thin air. He seemed unharmed. "Destroy," he said again.
Everyone except Tenchi gasped. Tenchi himself stood ready.
K'oko reached forwards with one hand. A large purple energy ball formed in his grasp. He shot it at Tenchi. Tenchi crossed his arms over his chest and formed a barrier. The ball impacted the barrier and exploded in a small explosion. The smoke cleared to reveal Tenchi lying crumpled on the ground. He groaned and rolled over.
"Tenchi!" everyone shouted.
"He's stronger, than I thought," Tenchi gasped. He slowly got up, and fell down again. "If only I knew how to evolve. I know some things, but not enough. I have to try. I must try. I must evolve. That wasn't K'oko's strongest attack. I'd never survive if I don't evolve. I must evolve. I MUST!"
Tenchi flashed brightly. His whole body glowed a dazzling white. He rose slowly into the air, the white light rolling into a sphere.
"Homo sapien evolved to..." Tenchi's voice called out.
It spun faster and faster, and suddenly stopped. The sphere quickly took form, and landed on the ground. The glowing stopped, revealing Tenchi's evolved form.
"Homo validus."
Tenchi swung his arms round into a ready stance.
"Armour, activate," he called. The segmented armour covered his exposed metal skeleton. "Photon blade, activate. Energy shield, activate." Armour segmented around his right arm, giving him a raised and extended forearm, which reached just beyond his hand. An energy blade appeared out of the end of it, a metre in length. A small circular section of the forearm on his left arm shot out a little bit, and a circle of energy expanded from it, until its diameter was about the length of his arm. Tenchi adjusted his stance.
"You may have been stronger than me when I was a Supreme Saiyan," Tenchi said, "but I have evolved, and now I'm stronger than ever. Even though my second evolutionary form can't focus energy attacks, so I can't use any kameya-meya's against you, I can still attack you in other ways. You seem to do well against ranged energy attacks, but your size suggests that your hand-to-hand combat skills are limited. Let's see how limited they are!"
With that Tenchi rushed forwards, his shield defending him, his sword reaching behind him. When he got close to K'oko, having avoided or deflected all of his attacks with the energy shield, he swung the sword around and sliced him across the chest. It seemed to have no problem doing so. But Tenchi had forgotten something.
Large black spheres, the virus, came out of the cut. One hit Tenchi, sending him flying backwards until he rolled to a halt near the side of the cliff. The virus returned to K'oko and healed him, as it had done so before.
Tenchi got up and charged again. For a second time his attack was in vain. He stood up and deactivated the sword and shield.
"You may have the virus to protect you, K'oko, but you can't be invulnerable. Maybe my spatial energy missiles will do more than surface damage. Shoulder launchers, activate."
More armour segmented its way into two vertical cylindrical shapes on Tenchi's back. They moved out and round, resting on Tenchi's shoulders, as if on hinges. Handles snapped down from the bottom of the front of the barrels, which Tenchi grabbed.
"Missile launch!" he shouted. Two tear-shaped bolts of energy emerged from the ends of the barrels and shot at K'oko. K'oko merely reached a hand at them, and caught them. He clenched his fist, and when he opened it again, the shots were gone. Tenchi was shocked. One of the things he had learnt due to his evolution was that the energy missiles would vaporise anything within several tens of metres of the point of detonation, and that they detonated upon contact with anything. K'oko shouldn't have been able to stop them.
Meanwhile, T'rea stirred. He had regained consciousness. He tried to get up, but he was still too weak. The small rabbit-type creature collapsed onto Sasami, who was trying to take care of them.
"T'rea, don't move," the young girl said. "You're still too weak to do anything."
"But I have to," was the reply. "I need to help Tenchi."
"No, you need to rest. Tenchi's keeping K'oko busy. Neither of them are losing, so he should be able to carry on for a while, at least until you regain your strength."
T'rea sighed and relaxed himself.
"Keep it up, Tenchi," he said quietly. "We'll help you as soon as we can."
Back on the battlefield, the fight continued. Tenchi had activated an arm-mounted laser cannon, which he was using to shoot at K'oko. K'oko was firing blast after blast at Tenchi, all of which Tenchi was dodging. Then something unexpected happened. K'oko disappeared and reappeared behind Tenchi. Before he could react K'oko had shot Tenchi, sending him flying back near to where the girls and the two Sliders were. He struggled to get up, as he was clearly severely hurt.
R'na had awoken by this time. The fox watched Tenchi struggling.
"Tenchi, don't give up!" she called.
"Yes, we know you can do this!" T'rea shouted.
Tenchi looked at the Sliders. He found new determination, and stood up.
"You're right," he said. "I can do this. I can do anything I want. I've survived this far, so I can keep on doing so. I have to, for the Universe. For my family, and for my friends. I have to carry on, to save them. I must fight, and I must win."
Tenchi got to his feet and stood upright. His enhancements had deactivated automatically, leaving just the metal skeleton.
"I must win!" he shouted.
Tenchi glowed a brilliant white. The light expanded slightly, forming a new shape.
"Homo validus evolved to..." Tenchi's voice called out.
The light faded, revealing a person, half man, and half machine. The left eye was half framed by a metal plate, which went back over his bald head to the peak of it. A few wires connected the back of his head to the robotic left forearm, the metal waist and hips, and the left metal knee. On other parts of the body small metal components blinked in different colours. What looked like black body armour was attached tightly around his whole body, except his head. His overall appearance was similar to a Borg drone, only slightly more organic.
"Homo supremus. Supreme man."
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Tenchi had evolved again. Everyone present was astonished. Tenchi got into a ready stance. He stretched out one hand and formed a small energy blast. He smiled at this, and released it at K'oko, not with the aim of attacking him, but with the need of somewhere to release it. Sure enough, K'oko absorbed the blast, causing no damage to himself.
"Now that I'm able to form energy attacks again," Tenchi said, "you're in trouble."
He raised his hands above his head, ready to form a Masenko Blast.
"Masenko..." Tenchi said, the tone of his voice going higher. A huge sphere of blue energy grew quickly in his hands. He brought his hands together, causing the blast to shrink in size to that of a tennis ball. It grew brighter as it did so, and was so bright that no-one could even look near it. Tenchi swung his hands in front of him, moving the ball at the same time.
"Blast!" Tenchi yelled, releasing the glaring ball of energy. It flew at K'oko, tearing straight through his outstretched hand and into his chest. The ball suddenly expanded to its original size, enveloping K'oko in an intensely hot explosion. Tenchi had hopped back to the group with him, and formed a barrier to protect them. They were unscathed. K'oko, on the other hand, had disappeared.
"Is he dead?" Mihoshi asked.
To answer her question, K'oko reappeared in the same position as before.
"How is he surviving my attacks?" Tenchi asked angrily.
"He's sliding to another dimension," R'na said. "Nothing you do in one reality can affect another. He'll always be able to escape serious harm if he slides."
Tenchi stepped forwards.
"If he can avoid serious harm like that, I can still harm him superficially. Maybe if I damage him enough like that, he'll give up."
Tenchi reached out his right arm. A metal band on the forearm near the elbow expanded in length to just shroud Tenchi's arm. Another metal form snapped out of the end. A chaingun barrel. Tenchi aimed it at K'oko and started firing. The bullets it shot were completely ineffective. Tenchi lowered the barrel slightly, then raised it back up and continued firing. This time, however, bright green energy shots were being fired. These seemed to do a bit of damage against K'oko. Tenchi stopped firing and released some kind of energy grenade at him from the barrel. It impacted K'oko and blew up, causing moderate damage to his chest and arm. K'oko healed himself.
"Destroy," he hissed. He raised his hand and formed a large energy ball. He threw it at Tenchi. Tenchi deactivated his chaingun arm and crossed his arms in a defensive posture. The energy blast hit, and a large white explosion billowed out from the middle, encompassing both Tenchi and the onlookers. Luckily they weren't vaporised, as Tenchi had shielded an arc from the explosion, in which the girls and the Sliders were.
The explosion dissipated. Tenchi lay on the ground. The explosion had seriously hurt him. He flashed white, and his form returned to homo sapien. His long brown hair, long due to the Supreme Saiyan transformation, flowed out around him.
"Tenchi, are you alright?" Ryoko shouted.
Tenchi just groaned and stirred slightly.
"Tenchi, get up!" Ayeka shouted. "He's doing another attack!"
Tenchi looked up at K'oko. He was forming another purple energy blast in his hand.
"I can't stop it," Tenchi said quietly. "When I was Supreme Man I only just survived it, but now I have no chance. I can't even evolve again, because I still don't know how. I'm going to be destroyed."
The spectators were all shouting Tenchi's name.
"They're going to be destroyed as well." Tenchi sagged his head. "I'm sorry."
K'oko threw the energy blast at Tenchi, who still lay there.
"There's nothing I can do," Tenchi said. "I have failed."
The blast impacted.
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A large white explosion filled the entire area, encompassing everyone there, with the exception of K'oko. Tenchi hadn't stopped the blast, and now the explosion was felt by them all.
The white detonation stopped expanding, and, as quickly as it had increased, it grew smaller until it surrounded Tenchi by a few metres. The onlookers were still alive, staring amazedly at the white ball in front of them. Residual wisps of what looked like white smoke slowly rose off them as they watched the ball twisting and contorting. A voice, Tenchi's, came from within.
"Homo sapien evolved to homo validus. Homo validus evolved to homo supremus. Homo supremus evolved to..."
Suddenly, the white vanished to leave a figure.
White wings, like dove wings, loosely surrounded the crouched figure. He wore an elaborate white robe with large red and gold patterns and trimmings. It fit fairly tightly to the body, which looked human. On his forehead was the universal symbol of eternity, above three splayed silver stripes running up his nose and diagonally up just above his eyes, similar to his Juraian battle markings. A gold cloth band went over the centre line of his head and came to an end in a point just before contact with this symbol. The other end tailed off between the ends of the wings where they joined the body. Aside from those things the figure seemed to be Tenchi.
He stood up and folded the wings behind his back.
"Deus omnipotens," he said. "All-Powerful God."
Everyone just stared in sheer amazement.
"I have evolved to the most powerful being ever. I am the Chojen One, the highest of Gods. I am Neo. I know everything. I am infinitely powerful."
Tenchi turned to K'oko. "And I shall destroy you." Without moving, Tenchi summoned an energy blast and shot it at K'oko. It moved infinitely fast and blasted a hole through his chest, nearly separating his body. The virus spilled out of him. Tenchi concentrated and vaporised it. Even so, K'oko still managed to regenerate his body.
Tenchi frowned. "Long range attacks are weak against you. Try this."
With that Tenchi flew forward, his fists clenched and glowing with energy. His wings still stayed tucked behind his back. He swung back and was about to hit K'oko squarely in the face when he did something completely unexpected.
K'oko ate him. He opened his mouth and let Tenchi fly in, before closing it again. The wisps of energy rising from those gathered there stopped and vanished. K'oko grinned.
"Destroy."
He slowly began to advance on the others. When he reached half way he yelled out in pain and clutched his head. He shook violently and squeezed his head in agony. Then it stopped. K'oko removed his arms to reveal a different face, kinder and bright. It wasn't just the face that had changed, but the whole body, changing to a yellow and pink striped colour. It seemed that the evil in him had gone.
"The virus," T'rea said.
"It's all gone," said R'na.
"Thank you," K'oko said in a smooth calm voice. Then he started to disintegrate, blown apart by the gentle breeze from behind him. He completely vanished, this time for good.
"It's all over," Sasami said quietly.
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Tenchi had not come back. Washu's hyper-dimensional computer couldn't find any trace of him, not his body nor his mind or soul. It was as if he had never existed. The Sliders had spent a week afterwards searching all the dimensions for him, but without success. Tenchi was gone.
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In the next episode of Continuum T:
The search has ended, but still no sign of Tenchi. He seems to have completely gone. Devastated, the girls have left Earth, returning to wherever they felt they should be. But, back at the Masaki Shrine, something has happened, in "Because Every Story Needs a Happy Ending". Has Tenchi returned? If so, does he now know the secrets of the Universe? Will the girls find out, as there is now no way for anyone on Earth to travel through space? Will this story ever end? Find out in the next episode of Continuum T.