Previously on Supplement DB:
A couple of dozen little demon creatures have appeared, looking nothing like Gollum from "Lord of the Rings". Ahem. Tenchi and Aki defeated them, and Tenchi collected another DragonBall. Unfortunately he missed one, and now he is destined to wait another eight months until it comes back. When you think about it, life sucks.
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Supplement DB, Part VI – God II
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"Tenchi, I know that since you fought K'oko, you haven't done anything like a schedule for us, have you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, what I mean," said Ryoko, "is that you haven't given anyone any days that we can be with you."
"Oh, you mean the time sharing thing?" Tenchi caught on. "Why, do you want me to start that again?"
"Well, yes," Ryoko said. "I had some really good things we could do, but Aki ruined my only day with you so far."
"Come on, surely you like Aki now?" Tenchi said. "He's been here two and a half months, despite him saying he was going to leave ages ago, and he's not shown any signs of turning evil again."
"You know, he's just leeching off us," Ryoko said.
"No, he's leeching off me," Tenchi replied. "And no more than the rest of you are."
"Anyway," Ryoko said, wanting to get back to the subject, "I just want to know that I can have a full day with you, without the others to interfere. I really had some special things planned."
"Well, I could ask the others," Tenchi said. "If they don't mind, or if they want to start the time sharing thing again, I will do."
"Thanks, Tenchi," Ryoko said, appearing behind him and wrapping her arms around his neck. She nuzzled up next to his cheek, and Tenchi returned the action.
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Tenchi had brought the issue up over dinner. The others didn't mind, and Ayeka did say that she was actually going to request that soon anyway.
"So, great!" Tenchi said. "We'll start this weekly thing again."
"Can I know what's going on?" Aki requested.
"I guess," Tenchi smiled. "We're going to do a random draw. Each of these lovely girls will be given a random day, and that's when they spend the day with me by themselves."
"And everyone's alright with this?" Aki asked.
"They were the week you showed up before," Tenchi replied.
"Oh. Did I ruin anyone's day?"
"Mine," Ryoko said.
"Ah. Sorry. Can I make it up to you?"
"Just don't try and kill Tenchi on my day again, okay?" Ryoko said.
"You got it."
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So they did a draw. It was the same routine, being names in a salad bowl. Having happened only once before, it can hardly be called a routine, but it was going to happen a lot more times after this, so it was a start of one.
Sasami got Monday.
Ryoko got Tuesday.
Washu got Wednesday.
Mihoshi got Thursday.
Ayeka got Friday.
As that day was a Saturday, Tenchi had the weekend to himself, before the week would begin. As before, the usual rules stood. No provoking people into fights, or the provoker lost their day. No switching of days. And changeover was at nine in the morning.
Aki just watched this strange lottery with interest and bemusement. Why they agreed to do this instead of any other way was beyond him.
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"Hey, Tenchi?" Aki asked. They were changing to go to bed.
"Yes?"
"Why do you do that thing with the days? Why don't you just choose one of the girls?"
Tenchi took his shirt off and threw it into a basket.
"Because I love them all," he replied. "Besides, this way is good enough, isn't it?"
"Yes, but do you love one of them more than the others?" Aki asked.
"Well, I do know my true choice," Tenchi said.
"What?"
"When I became God, I suddenly realised my subconscious choice. Which of the girls I most want to be with."
"Have you told them?"
"Soon. Someday." Tenchi finished undressing and climbed into bed. "Why all the interest, anyway? Is someone lonely at night?"
"No," Aki said rather too quickly, turning away to hide his embarrassment. "I was just wondering why you continued to call them all your girlfriends if you knew which one you truly desired."
"We're all not ready," Tenchi replied.
"So who is it, anyway?" Aki asked, as he too got into bed. "Who's the lucky girl?"
"I can't answer that," Tenchi said.
"What? Why not?"
"It implies I've chosen only one girl," Tenchi said, turning the light off.
"You mean you truly desire more than one of them?" Aki asked, stunned.
"All of them," Tenchi said solemnly. He laughed. "Of course not all of them. Anyway, good night, Aki."
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Tenchi was rudely awoken the next morning by his alarm clock. The incessant beeping jerked him prematurely from his dream, and made him quite angry. He went through the usual routine of throwing a shoe over at his alarm clock, and listening contentedly to the sound of collision, before going back to sleep.
Only the alarm clock didn't stop. Tenchi growled and threw the other shoe. Still no end. He got up and drifted to his desk.
His alarm clock was reading a time of 5:46 am. It was set to go off around half seven.
Tenchi followed the beeping across his desk to the Dragon Radar. He turned on the light, blinked as it came on, and eventually made out the reading.
The last DragonBall had appeared. It had about an hour and a half left to go, so Tenchi wasn't in much rush. He pulled on some clothes and returned to his Radar.
The reading was gone. No more DragonBall. Tenchi was sure it said at least an hour. He shrugged it off, as he was still tired, undressed and crawled back to sleep.
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Aki woke up early that day, but not due to Tenchi or his rummaging around for clothes about six o'clock that morning. He dressed and saw that Tenchi was still asleep. He was about to wake him up, but then remembered.
"He's a Super Saiyan 3," Aki whispered to himself. "I don't know what kind of powers he has. He can probably sense everything in this room right now. Still, if he can, he should be able to stop me from dropping this shoe on him."
He picked up one of Tenchi's shoes, inexplicably already on his desk, and held it over Tenchi's face.
He dropped it. It hit Tenchi's face, causing him to jerk awake and yell out in pain.
"Erk." Aki stepped away and came up with a story.
"Hey, sorry about that, Ten," Aki said, laughing nervously. He rubbed the back of his head. "I was just throwing them back over to your bed, but I guess I really am a strong thrower."
Tenchi knew what Aki had done. Aki was worried that he was going to start yelling at him, or something.
"Okay then," Tenchi said, massaging the pain out of his nose. "What time is it?"
"You're not mad? I mean, it's about seven," Aki said.
"I guess I'll get up then," Tenchi sighed. He got out of bed and went to get some clothes.
"Hey, Ten? What were your shoes doing over on your desk this morning? The alarm clock hasn't gone off yet."
"Oh, that was real? I thought it was a dream." Tenchi started hopping around the room, pulling his pants on. "The Radar started beeping, but it disappeared before I managed to get to it."
"Oh, another fast one?" Aki asked.
"No. I'm sure it said at least an hour, but it just disappeared, just before I was going to jump there."
"Well, maybe someone or something touched it," Aki said. "You know, like Ryo-Ohki did with the other one?"
"I hope so. Try looking for it. Sense the other Balls, to see what to look for," Tenchi said, pulling on his shirt. "I'm too tired at the moment."
Aki looked, trying to sense the five Balls downstairs.
"Tenchi, I can't sense our Balls," Aki said. "I don't think they have an energy signature."
"Shoot," Tenchi said. "So the last Ball is out there somewhere, probably being a paperweight as we speak. And we can't find it."
"Yes, darn," Aki agreed.
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It was about lunchtime. Tenchi had told the others about the missing DragonBall, and they had offered sympathetic words. One of the best ideas was to place a message around the world, asking if anyone had seen a DragonBall. Yes, it was probably a futile attempt, but it was the best they could think of. The DragonBalls gave off no distinguishing signals at all, so Washu couldn't use any of her machines, like her Tricorder, to find it.
As it was Sunday, Tenchi could do what he wanted. He just so happened to spend it with Sasami. He was continuing to train her. She had advanced remarkably well over the past week since she had started meditating. She was already able to focus her energy, and had formed her first energy ball about ten minutes ago. Later on, Tenchi was going to teach her how to fly. Flying was the best was to improve energy control, as the better a person flew, the better they could control their energy. Plus it was also good fun.
There was a knock at the door. Mihoshi went to answer it, and froze.
"May I come in?" Tenchi asked.
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The new Tenchi was now sitting in the main room, graciously sipping a drink Sasami had made for him. The first Tenchi and his clone, the second Tenchi, were sitting opposite him.
"That's great, Sasami," the new Tenchi said. "Just as I remember. Thanks."
"So why are you here, um..." Aki asked.
"Oh, call me Neo," the new Tenchi said. "It's a nightmare, I know. Coming up with different names for each different Tenchi you meet. The current Tenchi, Aki, Neo, that's me, Future Tenchi and so on."
"Future Tenchi?" Tenchi asked.
"Oh, sorry," Neo said. "Did I say that? I didn't mean to."
"But what do you mean?" Tenchi asked.
"Well, if you must know, you're going to meet Future Tenchi some time from now. Hey, look, instead of asking questions, how's about I just tell you everything?"
Tenchi and Aki just nodded. The girls were also there, but they were staying out of this conversation. Three identical Tenchi's was just too much to handle.
"Right," Neo started. "I'm Tenchi Neo Masaki. I am a future version of you. I came back to get this for you." Neo reached inside the cloak he was wearing and pulled out a DragonBall. "This is the five-star DragonBall. It's the Light Ball, as the image inside it shows a big star, made by the five small ones. But anyway, this is for you." He handed it over to Tenchi. Tenchi took it, and put it down.
"That DragonBall appeared this morning," Neo continued. "It's the one you were going to get this morning, but it disappeared before you could. That's because I got it. This Ball was buried under three miles of solid stone, so you wouldn't have been able to get it anyway, not in time at least. So I did.
"I'm from the future. I got all the DragonBalls together and wished back my God form. Shenron's a really nice dragon, but he is rather impatient. Anyway, I came back to help you, as I was in your position when I was you. I'm here to warn you about the future, and to give you some help. But before you start going on about paradoxes and causality loops, remember that all this has already happened anyway."
"Are you going to help us destroy this wizard then?" Aki asked.
"Nope," Neo replied. "But I can tell you where he is, so you can go face him. He's on the planet Auze. Washu can find it."
"So why aren't you going to help us?" Tenchi asked.
"Actually, I've got something else to do here," Neo replied. "You'll find out soon enough."
"But what's going to happen?" Aki asked.
"Asking about your future, Aki?" Neo asked. "Come now. Don't you like a surprise?"
"No."
"Fair enough. You're going to go to Auze soon. You'll meet the wizard, who'll start messing around with things. Things I'm here to try and clean up."
"Like what?" Tenchi asked.
"Let's just say it involves a tear in time. I'm here to help sew it up again."
"Help with who?"
"Me and myself. Other versions of me, from far into my future. You'll meet them soon enough. The next one you're going to meet you'll know him as Future Tenchi. Oh, when you get into serious danger, you'll know when I mean, just run as fast as you can, Tenchi. Distract the danger from your girlfriends, and save them. Just remember that you'll survive, but not if you don't floor it."
"This is all too much to handle," Tenchi sagged back.
"Oh, it was," Neo replied. He took another sip to wet his throat. "Aah. This is incredible, Sasami. I haven't tasted this for ages."
"What do you mean?" Sasami asked.
"Does anything happen to her?" Ayeka asked.
"Well, it's not as though I can't say, but I'm only going to tell Tenchi," Neo said. "He knows pretty much everything I do, so he'll know what to do with it."
Neo leaned towards Tenchi. "Shall we go for a walk?" he asked.
Tenchi nodded slowly.
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They went for a walk. Neo just looked around at the scenery for ages, admiring and being astonished by everything he saw. Tenchi just let him walk, feeling Neo would talk to him when he was ready.
"It's incredible, Tenchi," Neo said. "You really should be proud to live here. I haven't seen a sight like this for at least a year."
There was a pause, where Tenchi would have asked what he meant, but that was taken for granted.
"When you come back here, after messing around with the wizard, you're going to see me and the other two Tenchi's. We're all going to be trying to contain a temporal rip, in your front garden. We're going to fail, and the rip will widen and destroy everything around up to about a mile out. Your house will be destroyed, your family killed and your friends vaporised."
Neo looked down, as Tenchi stopped, open-mouthed in disbelief.
"I wouldn't lie to myself, you know that," Neo said. "That is what is going to happen. Only you will survive, because you can use instant translocation. The others are going to try desperately to get to you, and nearly reach you, but the tear engulfs them. Tenchi, you have an obligation to create the Universe. You can't let the tear touch you and obliterate you, no matter what. I know it's going to be hard, letting them go, but you must. Otherwise, everything will never have existed at all. You can't do that. You must save yourself, even if you can't save them."
"They die?" Tenchi whispered. "They all die?"
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I must. You must be living in the near future from as soon as you come back. You have to use your foresight to sense when the rip's going to give, and get out of there before it does."
Tenchi sagged down to his knees, the reality of the situation finally hitting him.
"I know you're a good guy, Tenchi," Neo said, crouching down and hugging him gently. "I hate to give me bad news."
A tear made its way from Tenchi's eye, down his cheek and dripped to the floor.
"Just remember one thing," Neo said. "Don't tell the others anything, not even Washu or Aki. And don't tell them your true choice. You know what I mean. Just don't tell them. It'll just make it harder to leave them. Tenchi, there's nothing you'll be able to do. Trust me. It was hard on me, too, but I overcame it."
Neo looked around.
"All this area will be flattened," he said, as Tenchi produced another tear. "But some time after that, life will come again. Just about here, where you are, a seedling will grow. You'll nurture it, feed it and it will become a rose. What I'm trying to say is, don't let this knowledge stop you from doing what you have to do. You must collect the DragonBalls and regain your deity. It's the only way you could change anything."
"Can't you just turn back time, and make all of this never happen?" Tenchi asked.
"You know I can't," Neo replied. "I'm not that powerful. Two of me, maybe, and probably three, but not myself. This is rewinding the entire Multiverse we're talking about, not a cassette tape. It's just something you're going to have to face. Trust me, you'll get through it. I did."
"So they all die?"
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Washu was busy with her computer, trying to locate the planet Auze and specifically where the wizard was, when the two same people walked in. Sasami and the others ran up to Tenchi.
"Tenchi, what did he tell you?" Ryoko asked.
"What happens to us?" Ayeka asked.
"Come now, you lot," Tenchi said, holding back his sorrow. "You know better than to ask your future. Washu, have you found the wizard yet?"
"Not yet, Tenchi," Washu replied.
"Hey, guys, want anything?" Aki offered.
"Actually, I have nothing to do for a while, so could I stay here for a bit?" Neo asked.
Everyone just looked at him, shocked at the prospect of having a third Tenchi around. It was as if the Masaki house was now a hotel, the number of people living there.
"Don't worry," Neo said hurriedly as he saw their expressions. "I only need to stay one night."
"But Aki only needed to stay for a few days," Ryoko said. "That was before he stayed here for a few months!"
"Fine then," Neo said. "I'll go find a hotel or something. No, no, it's alright," he said as Tenchi started to protest. "Trust me. I'll just hang around somewhere else until I'm needed back here." He gave Tenchi a knowing nod, which Tenchi understood and received.
"Okay, well, see you later, Tenchi," Tenchi called as Neo left. Neo paused ever so slightly, before carrying on across the bridge over the side of the lake towards town. He waved as he went.
"Don't tell them what I told you," the voice penetrated Tenchi's mind. Neo was talking to him telepathically. "And don't tell them your true decision, either. You'll have plenty of time to grieve, so just hold it in for now."
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Tenchi did so, as the night went on. He refused to let on what Neo had told him, and Washu edged closer to finding the wizard's location. Tenchi could use his instant translocation technique to take them there, so they were just waiting to go.
The wait continued on to the next morning. Washu had worked throughout the night, despite Tenchi demanding that she get some rest. Then, at about ten that morning, the wizard was found.
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In the next episode of Supplement DB:
The journey through time and space begins. First to Auze, then back to Earth and through time, all the way back to meet a ten-ton carnivore with a taste for Tenchi! "Me, Myself and I" will feature all sorts of events and meetings not possible without time travel. They're off to see the wizard, the wicked wizard of Auze. Oh yes, and Tenchi gets eaten alive, but don't let that put you off.