DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tenchi Muyo or any of the characters. The events in this story are of my own imagination. The 3-G racer and racing concept is borrowed from the game WipeOut.
FOREWORD: The Race For Tenchi is a racing theme-based alternate universe fic. Seeing as this is an AU, there are few differences between this and the other Tenchi universes. Hopefully, if I've done a good job, everyone who reads this story will understand that. Some of the characters from Tenchi in Tokyo will be used. Feel free to hate the TiT characters, but, please, don't hate me for using them.
AUTHOR: Dreamr
E-MAIL: TrueDreamr@Hotmail.com
LAST REVISION: 18 February 2004
BEGIN.
Tenchi stood in front of the thin door to Team Hakubi's group trailer. The entire towed expanse of living space was a run-down mess. This place gave trailer park trash a good name. How such a successful team could live in such squalor was beyond him. He felt almost embarrassed bringing Sakuya to such a place. Although Ryoko had not explicitly said that he could bring a date, it had been implied by her off-hand comment before scampering across the racers.
"Tenchi, are you sure this is the place? I mean, look at it. What do they do with all their money?"
By the sounds of the cavorting inside, Tenchi could make a pretty good guess where the team's winnings went. The large rubber trash can just beside the door was already half-full with various alcoholic beverage containers.
"Well, I'm sure it's better on the inside." Tenchi hoped as he knocked on the door. The occupants grew momentarily quiet as someone other than themselves made his or her presence known. The door suddenly swung inwards. Ryoko stood before them, dressed in the most garish outfit (he did not dare call it a dress) Tenchi had ever seen. She was wearing red and white, skin-tight spandex from the waist down. Above that she had a very disturbing orange and black vest with long coat-tails. Tenchi's first impression was that she looked like a court jester. All she needed was the cap to complete the outfit.
"Tenchi!" Ryoko squealed in initial surprise. "Glad you could... uh..." Then she noticed Sakuya. "Who's that with you?"
"Miss Hakubi, I'd like to--" Tenchi didn't even get his introduction out before Ryoko interrupted him.
"Oh, heck, no! Call me Ryoko. Miss anything makes me sound like an old maid."
"Right. Well, this is my girl-friend, Sakuya Kumashiro."
"Hi." Sakuya waved with apparent enthusiasm.
"You didn't say you had a girl-friend."
"Um, actually, I did."
"You did?"
"Yes." Tenchi firmly answered, daring Ryoko to withdraw the invitation with his tone. Ryoko locked her eyes onto his, searching for any weakness or uncertainty. She felt her heart quiver when she found none. Impressed by his strength of character, she stood aside, even holding the door open for them.
"I guess it's all right. Come on in." As she stood aside, Ryoko noticed her pit crew were all looking in her direction and smiling.
"What are all of you staring at?"
As one, the five men raised beer cans and answered alike.
"You!"
Ryoko slapped a hand to her face in disgust.
"Get back to your game."
"Yes, ma'am!" They cheerily answered, returning their attention to the cards they held in their hands.
"As I was saying... Glad you could make it."
"Well, you did invite us. So... is this it?"
"Yup. It's just a little team spirit thing."
"Right." Looking around, Tenchi did not see much spirit except for what was in the six pack of cans Ryoko was holding in her right hand.
"Here you go." Ryoko handed an unopened can of beer to Tenchi. He promptly handed the can to Sakuya without so much as batting an eyelash.
"Thank you, Tenchi."
"You're welcome."
Ryoko watched the exchange with less than hidden envy. Reluctantly, she pulled another can and handed that one to Tenchi as well.
"So." Ryoko said matter-of-factly while Tenchi and Sakuya stood before her. The young lady next to Tenchi happily popped the top of the can and took a few sips of the content before looking around the trailer's interior. When she saw the card game going on at the table, she turned fully to the table and her eyes began to gleam.
"Are you guys playing poker?"
The five men looked at her with knowing smiles.
"That we are." One of them answered. "You know how to play?"
"I play a little bit." She naively answered.
The mechanic's smile grew wider.
"Why don't you join in, then?"
Sakuya cracked a big smile.
"Tenchi, do you mind if I play?"
"No, of course not, Sakuya." Tenchi answered without hesitation. He knew from college that Sakuya had a bit of a gambling habit. It was nothing serious. But she knew several popular casino games, and how to win at most of them. Although he could have said no to her, Sakuya would remember later. There was an extra folding chair set against the wall behind the door. As Sakuya took the chair from it's place and opened it so she would have a seat, the men moved apart, giving her a place at the table.
"Tenchi."
Taking his eyes off of his girl-friend, Tenchi returned his attention to Ryoko. He nearly jumped when he noticed how close she had moved to him. He took a small step back, inadvertently putting himself at just the right distance to notice just how much cleavage her outfit showed. Tenchi tried to remember why he hadn't noticed such an obvious aspect of her outfit upon first seeing it. After a second he realized it was because the steps to the door were lower than the trailer floor, thereby keeping the opening in the front of her outfit from casual view. His curiosity satisfied, Tenchi returned his eyes to a more appropriate location. He immediately noticed Ryoko's knowing grin. He'd been caught.
"Come on over here, Tenchi. I've got just the thing."
Ryoko moved away from Tenchi while holding his sleeve. She meant to drag him to the couch so that she could introduce him to her favorite video game. But seeing him give her a healthy lookover, she felt the familiar surge of excitement that always accompanied the realization that someone found her attractive. Tenchi had only looked for a second, but the way he had looked told her enough. Smiling from ear to ear, she led Tenchi to the couch.
"Have a seat, Tenchi. I'll get the controllers."
"Controllers?"
"Mm-hmm."
Leaving Tenchi to sit, Ryoko went directly across the small entertainment room to the entertainment center. If the outside of the trailer was squalid, this particular area of the interior was like a luxury suite. The entertainment center was extravagantly equipped with all the latest sound and holographic display capabilities, including total sound immersion speakers, a 3-D holographic projector, and 3-dimensional interactive holographic game system. If she had been by herself, Ryoko would have simply crouched down in front of the screen to turn everything on. But, since Tenchi was sitting right behind her and she wanted to impress him with her looks, she bent over instead.
Seeing Ryoko's intended display, Tenchi quickly looked over his shoulder at Sakuya. She was already hunched over the table with a small stack of chips. She happened to glance his way and waved at him. He gamely waved back.
"Okay, Tenchi. We're all..."
Ryoko started to fume when she turned around and saw Tenchi flirting with the annoying trollop at the card table. Of course, she was his girl-friend and he was entitled to flirt with her. But that didn't make Ryoko feel any better. Having heard Ryoko talking to him, Tenchi turned back to the front so could see what she wanted.
"Yes?"
Barely stifling her annoyance, Ryoko continued where she had left off.
"Like I was saying, We're all set-up."
"Set-up for what?"
Ryoko just smiled as she set the holo-pro controllers down on the floor in front of them.
"You'll see."
A few seconds after she sat down a short distance away from Tenchi on the couch, the holo-projectors came on-line, immersing Tenchi in a world of sound and light. He was surprised to find himself in the introduction to the new 3G racing game simulator. He was even more surprised to find that it was actually a remake of an older game.
"Oh, wow!" He exclaimed, looking around the translucent 3-D world. "This is amazing!"
"Isn't it?"
"But, why this game? I mean, we'll both be back on the track next week."
"Oh, I thought you might like a rematch."
"A rematch, huh?"
"Yup."
Tenchi thought about it for a second, then smiled. It was, after all, just a game.
"All right. You're on."
Ryoko's smile grew as immense as her excitement.
"I'll set it for the real track. It's got some fake tracks, too, if you want to try those later."
"Well, lets start with the real one. I've never played this before, so I need a few minutes to get used to it."
"Oh, it's easy!" Ryoko assured him. "All the controls are interactive touch-pads. Just slide a finger through the display and it does what you want."
Reaching out into the air, Ryoko pushed a hand through the large start icon. Several options popped up in mid-air. She snatched at them rapid-fire until the open world view was suddenly replaced by the interior of their respective racers.
"Practice run." Ryoko informed Tenchi of the purpose of this demonstration. "It's a generic racer most teams can start with on the circuit. It's a wimp ship compared to mine. But for a beginner it should be good."
"Oh, so I'm a beginner, am I?"
"Until you prove otherwise." Ryoko grinned at Tenchi.
"I see." Glancing around him, Tenchi found the acceleration and guidance controls. As Ryoko said, they weren't standard stick controls, but linear touch-pads. Touching the near-end of the accelerator slide image made his racer move forward at a slow speed. Releasing the accelerator left the speed control at it previous position. Tenchi played with the accelerator for a few seconds, alternating goosing it and reducing the output by varying amounts until he got the idea of how sensitive it was, and how well the game simulated inertia. Of course, he couldn't feel the inertia like in a real racer, but the outside image still reflected what he expected of a racer. It was a fairly good representation. When the racer thudded into the side of the track, he even noticed the slight shimmer of the safety shields. The guidance control was even easier to use. In fact, he found he could guide the faux ship with one finger.
"Jeez, maybe they should put these controls in a real racer."
Ryoko's knowing chuckle seemed quite ominous to Tenchi.
"What's so funny?"
"We did."
"You're kidding! Is that legal?"
Suddenly, Tenchi saw another racer flash past him at full speed. The image was so close that he nearly jumped out of his seat.
"That was you, wasn't it?"
The image surrounding Tenchi was not opaque. He could still see the real world around him. But only barely. Seeing Ryoko's displays was completely impossible from inside his own display.
"Catch up and find out."
Tenchi stared at the holographic racing track for a second. His resolve hardened, and he pointed the racer down the curving trail.
"All right. Here we go." He said, giving the racer a swift kick in the pants.
The race was on.
It was some time later when someone threw her arms around Tenchi's neck right as he was about to catch Ryoko on the final leg of a long fast track. Tenchi jumped in surprise.
"What the -- ?"
With Tenchi's attention diverted, the racer continued on it's course unguided. Sakuya's cute face was right next to his.
"Having fun?"
"Ah, yeah. Actually, this is pretty cool."
With her head inside the confines of the holographic display, Sakuya was able to see everything that was going on. So, when the outside of a rather imposing curve suddenly loomed in front of her, she couldn't help but notice.
"Tenchi, look out!"
Tenchi looked forward, but it was far too late. His imaginary racer plowed into the wall at full speed with an astoundingly loud bong sound. Ryoko immediately started cackling at the distraction that had just sealed the race for her. She couldn't help teasing Tenchi just a little.
"Don't get distracted!"
With a growl of determination, Tenchi returned his attention to the race. But Sakuya stayed with him. Her lips gently tickled his earlobe as she whispered into his ear.
"Tenchi, we've been here almost two whole hours. I wanna go home."
"Just a minute, Sakuya. I'm almost done."
"I wanna go now." Sakuya punctuated her desire by licking the fringe of Tenchi's ear.
Tenchi's attention quickly began to waver as Sakuya used her feminine wiles to convince him her interests were best for both of them. His in-game performance quickly degenerated to little more than a joke as his racer careened from wall-to-wall. Ryoko's racer zipped past his, lapping him easily.
Seeing Tenchi's racer at a virtual stand-still as she flew by him, Ryoko used the opportunity presented by a long straight-away to peer through her holographic display at what was going on beside her. Although she couldn't actually see inside Tenchi's display, she could see Sakuya was still half in with Tenchi. Ryoko didn't have to see what was going on inside to envision it. She ground her teeth with jealousy. Angrily, Ryoko swatted at the pause icon as hard as she could. The pause menu came up and she quickly exited the race, causing the holo-controls to disappear. The game world was still visible, but they were no longer obscured from each other by the cockpit displays.
"Well, I think that's enough of that!"
Tenchi's eyes snapped open. At the same time, Sakuya released her teasing grip on his ear.
"Ready to go, now?"
"Uh... yeah. Yeah, we've been here for a while. I think it's time we headed back to the hotel."
"Great!" Sakuya turned to a steaming Ryoko and smiled. "It was really nice of you to invite us over. I was afraid everyone would be really competitive and not want us around."
Ryoko tried to smile through her gritted teeth.
"Heh-heh. It's... not quite like that."
"Well, I'm glad to hear it." Tenchi replied as he got to his feet and made his way towards the door with Sakuya on his arm. "I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly."
Ryoko turned over on the couch, facing the door while propping herself up with her arms on the back of the couch. She cast an angry glance at Sakuya, then returned her attention to Tenchi. It was obvious why he was leaving so quickly. But still, she had been hoping he wouldn't be the easy type.
"Hey. Whatever you gotta do."
Tenchi turned to the door, only to get it right in the face when the closure swung open unexpectedly without so much as a may I. Washu Hakubi came striding into the trailer.
"Okay! I finished retuning the anti-grav controller. It should be top-shape for the next race." Pausing in her pronouncement, Washu noticed the new couple standing next to the door, who were busily inspecting Tenchi's nose for signs of damage. "Who's this?"
Sakuya directed an annoyed glare at this new woman.
"You really should be more careful. What if Tenchi had been hurt?"
Washu's eyebrows danced as she tried to decide if she should be curious or indignant. She eventually settled on a combination of both, with one brow raised, and the other lowered.
"Excuse me, but I live here."
"Sorry!" Tenchi apologized for the incident regardless of who was responsible. "I'm Tenchi Masaki." He introduced himself with a bow.
"Oh! Now I get it!"
Sakuya also introduced herself in the same manner.
"I'm Sakuya Kumashiro."
"And you brought a chaperone. Good thinking. She won't be able to sink her claws in so easily."
"Eh?" Tenchi looked at Washu in confusion.
"Hey!" Ryoko shouted at Washu from the couch. The red-head laughed out loud.
"Ha-ha! I'm just kidding."
From her position on the couch, Ryoko could see that Sakuya didn't appreciate Washu's humor. The girl looked her way just long enough to see if she were watching. Ryoko smiled malevolently, and Sakuya quickly looked away.
"Well, we were just one our way out." Sakuya reminded everyone.
Smiling now that the tense moment had been avoided, Tenchi turned to Ryoko to thank her for the invitation again. He was going to bow, but he happened to notice that he could see right down Ryoko's front again due to her slightly inclined position over the back of the couch. His pause was enough for his girlfriend to notice. Sakuya took one look and nearly blew a fuse. Ryoko had been flirting with Tenchi all evening. This was just too much. She grabbed his arm and began physically dragging him through the still open door.
"Well, thanks for having us. Goodnight!"
Tenchi was still staring when the door slapped close in his face. Ryoko just stared at the door. She was so intent on Tenchi that she failed to notice how quiet it was in the room, or the fact that Washu was studying her very carefully. A sly grin slowly spread across Washu's mouth.
"I wonder what you're thinking about?"
Ryoko broke her vigilance to remind Washu to mind her own affairs.
"Shut up!"
With a couple of snickers, the five male mechanics that made up the rest of Team Hakubi began to file to the door.
"Done already?" Washu asked, giving the men a disapproving look.
"That girl cleaned us out."
Washu started laughing as Ryoko turned away to sit on the couch like a normal person. She sat still, thinking about this evening. Tenchi wasn't the type she usually went for. But Ryoko still felt attracted to him. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was that she found so appealing about him. While she continued to consider this, Ryoko noticed Washu heading to the washroom.
"Washu."
"Yes, Little Ryoko?"
"Don't call me that. And I want you to find out more about that guy."
"That doesn't sound very professional to me."
"He said that this was the first time he ever played this game. But, he almost beat me."
Washu peeked out the washroom door.
"Really? I thought that was your favorite game."
"It is."
Washu withdrew back into the small room with a thoughtful humming sound.
"I'll see what I can find."
Ryoko grinned. Her interest was definitely professional. But that didn't mean she couldn't use the information Washu would soon acquire for personal reasons, as well.
END.
AFTERWORD: Next, Party time!
