Forever Ryoko
By Starhopper
DISCLAIMER: Must I? Fine, I do NOT own a single, darn thing. Ya happy now?
Whew! Last chap for "book 1". Chap 10 will be the first chapter of "book 2": Forever Masaki. Just a warning before we get started on the last chapter of the first part of the trilogy!
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Chapter 9: Nagi Leaves, but EVIL Awaits
Two months till the wedding. Ryoko had counted the days on the calendar of constellations propped against her pillow. It was all planned out in her head. The ceremony would be held at the Shrine, pedals of every flower available would ride on the air, and he would be waiting, in front of their friends and family.
"I do promise to love, cherish, and protect you, my beloved," Her lips formed the words happily as the imagined wind and scent of lavender graced her face, cooling the red cheeks.
"I promise to love, cherish, and protect you, Ryoko," He would say, squeezing her hand in his, hidden beneath the sleeve's robes.
And Grandfather, downed in his Shinto Priest's outfit, would gaze down at them approvingly. With a simple, "Promises made today will be followed through until the ends of their days, until the end of time," his gritty, age-worn tone would grow soft as he would whisper, "Love and honor each other, and never forget what has drawn you together."
Love, love, love . . .
"Ryoko?"
"Yes?" She replied to dream Tenchi, as they drank from the same cup, symbolic of the life they would share.
"Never mind, I don't want to wake you. Shh, go back to sleep . . . "
Ryoko could feel her head being patted, though the husband standing before her was motionless. With a start, she opened both eyes in surprise. "Huh?" From out of the corner of her eye she could see an arm securely draped over her waist. She lay warm and exhausted on her side, snuggled deep in his embrace, the visions of her lovely day dissipating as she took in the darkened room; moonlight streaming down from the window above them.
Left palm cupped loosely to her ear, Ryoko settled back into the futon and pillow.
"It was only a dream," she barely whispered aloud, slightly disappointed. "Oh, well, it will be reality soon enough."
* * *
"So it shall," Odosuoni stretched back in her chair and formed a plasma ball in her palm. Taking aim, she fired it directly at the holographic cyan spiked head still on the consul pool. "YAAAA!" she cried as it sailed right through Ryoko's forehead. "If that doesn't kill her, then I have some other things that will."
"Really?" the Master's voice surrounded her, as he, himself phased in tall and mighty as ever. "I have some bad news . . . "
"What bad news?" the red head sprang from the consul chair, prepared to stand up to and demand anything from her creator. "What else could have gone wrong? Is Ryoko not the one that we want?"
He shook his wrist in a silent "no". "But I'm afraid that Washu was able to decode our calling card left at the Jurai incident." His eyes defied her fiery amber ones. "Needless to say that Jurai military is involved and on our trail."
"So?" Odosuoni sat back down at her seat aside the stone consul, "We can defeat Aeka and Washu put together. It's Tenchi and Ryoko that we'll have to really deal with, right?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because you are the one who created me, made me do your dirty work, and even-"
"Stop right there," the Master nodded his head and Hi and Kaze appeared on each shoulder. "You are the one who's been watching and studying them for the past two years. If anyone, you should know if it's Ryoko and Tenchi that are problems to reckon with or the rest."
"Yeah," Hi called in backup.
"The Master is correct Odosuoni," Kaze told her smartly, the blond hair falling down and completely covering the Master's right side.
"Oh shut up!" Odosuoni screamed at the top of her lungs, the entire ship quaking with the force of those adenoids. "I don't care anymore, alright? I'm powerful enough, I could take out all of them right now, even Ryoko."
"But we must wait for the perfect moment, within those six to nine months!" The Master called out in fury, raising his hand up towards the already abounding heavens. His first creation rose with it, struggling with kicks and fidgets. "You will not attack, not now, not when we've come so far."
"I will attack!" Odosuoni cried out in rage, her eyes flashing flecks of burning red. A great bolt of lightening surged through her body, licked out of the fleshy case, and struck The Master's raised arm. He howled as the great body fell to the floor, Hi and Kaze perched in the air just has they head been without a body to cling to. "You can't stop me, no one can!"
"I can and I will!" he swore, his fingers outstretched, trying to stretch the lengths of his powers to the racing Odosuoni, racing, running towards the main command consul. But, with an aggravated sigh, he felt his powers drain from the disabling wound pulsing in his left arm.
Meanwhile, now having reached the main control bank, Odosuoni looked out of the viewing window with pride. There, far below her ship, was a small blueberry sized earth. "It's time for action, enough of this waiting," she sneered, moving over to the navigation field.
"Projected time till landing, twenty four hours and counting . . . " the computer read off.
"Twenty four hours till your demise Ryoko," She whispered, "And twenty four hours until my freedom."
* * *
"Twenty four hours and counting!" Ryoko sang out, lounging on the living room couch.
"How many times have we heard that?" Aeka sang back, feigning irritation.
"About Twenty-four times today," Kiyone joined in on the singsong fun. She pulled the blanket up over her knees.
"I like Ramen and carrot sauce!" Mihoshi rang out the loudest, causing the rest of the girls to stare unappreciatively at her.
"( is equal to 3.141592654 . . . " Washu mumbled as she closed the door to her dimension, and joined the others, who were rolling their eyes. "What's the matter with you?"
Ryoko glared at her and smiled. "Nothing, just unbelievably happy, that's all."
There came a thumping down the stairs and a hooded Nagi appeared in full Bounty Hunter garb. She stopped at the bottom, raising her head, but eyes covered with the shadow of the hood. "That's my cue. I'm leaving now."
"Wait, you have to help us, Nagi," Mihoshi called at her.
"I don't have to do such a thing," the Bounty Hunter contradicted, waving a finger. "It was a temporary truce, I warned you about EVIL, and now I'm leaving."
"Goodbye Nagi!" Ryoko waved from her position on the couch. "Don't forget to come and fight after we've taken care of these bastards!"
Aeka gave her a look and moved closer to her friend's ear. "What are you saying? We need all the help we can get!"
"I'm also drunk," she laughed as her red nose quivered with withheld giggles. " I have no idea what I'm saying . . . Why else would I be singing?" Looking the First Princess up and down, the space pirate snickered, "Besides, I don't think we should worry about me, how about you?" she motioned towards the bags under Aeka's eyes. "Ever heard the word 'sleep'?"
Indignant, Aeka huffed and moved back over next to Kiyone and Mihoshi. "I don't even know why I try!"
"Neither do I," Ryoko sputtered, swinging an arm down onto the other side of the couch where the bottle of sake laid waiting.
"In that case, I'm off." She looked around in search for her light brown cabbit. Pausing, Nagi looked up to the five women sitting on or around the couch. "Have any of you seen Ken-ohki?"
Mihoshi shifted to raise her hand. "I saw him a few hours ago, hopping along the lakeside with Ryo-ohki." She told the Bounty Hunter.
"Since you've arrived they've been inseparable, Nagi." Sasami's lithe little voice spoke up from the kitchen doorway.
The woman turned to see the second princess. Her lips curled up in a smile. "Thank you Mihoshi, and I thank you little girl." With that, she walked across the large room, slid open the porch sliding doors, and continued her search outside.
"Anyway, where were we?" Ryoko asked to nobody in particular and with bouncing shoulders, continued, "Oh yeah, twenty-three hours and counting . . . "
* * *
"Ken-ohki?" Nagi crouched behind a bush, cupped her hands to her mouth, and let out another plaintive call for her missing ship. "Ken-ohki! Come to me right now!"
"Sow?"
"Ken-ohki?" Nagi turned to find the cabbit sitting dutifully behind her, Ryo-ohki sitting at the base of a tree not more than fifty feet away. Without a word between them, the Bounty Hunter stood and turned away from the gray cabbit. "Come Ken-ohki, it's time to leave."
"Miya?" Ryo-ohki looked to Ken-ohki, then back down at the forest floor.
"Sow," turning, the other cabbit did his best to bow like the gentleman that he was. "Sow."
"Miya." Ryo-ohki meowed solemnly.
"Come Ken-ohki," Nagi commanded once more, this time walking away from the pair.
Ken-ohki hopped in the footsteps of his master. Disappearing from Ryo- ohki's sight, deep into the darkness of the woods, the cabbit turned her face to the sky as the ship Ken-ohki burst through the branches and into flight.
"Sow!"
"Miya!" She watched him ascend into the blue sky until he became nothing but a small dark spot in the vast blueness of the sky. Then nothing.
* * *
"Approaching the Earth, approaching the Earth!"
Odosuoni smiled wickedly down at the planet that lay so ably for the taking. "Soon, they'll be gone."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*
Talk about your cliffhangers huh? Well, onto bigger and better things. . . .
LIKE THE WEDDING!
REVIEW if you wish to be a guest or just a bystander at the wedding of the century!
By Starhopper
DISCLAIMER: Must I? Fine, I do NOT own a single, darn thing. Ya happy now?
Whew! Last chap for "book 1". Chap 10 will be the first chapter of "book 2": Forever Masaki. Just a warning before we get started on the last chapter of the first part of the trilogy!
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Chapter 9: Nagi Leaves, but EVIL Awaits
Two months till the wedding. Ryoko had counted the days on the calendar of constellations propped against her pillow. It was all planned out in her head. The ceremony would be held at the Shrine, pedals of every flower available would ride on the air, and he would be waiting, in front of their friends and family.
"I do promise to love, cherish, and protect you, my beloved," Her lips formed the words happily as the imagined wind and scent of lavender graced her face, cooling the red cheeks.
"I promise to love, cherish, and protect you, Ryoko," He would say, squeezing her hand in his, hidden beneath the sleeve's robes.
And Grandfather, downed in his Shinto Priest's outfit, would gaze down at them approvingly. With a simple, "Promises made today will be followed through until the ends of their days, until the end of time," his gritty, age-worn tone would grow soft as he would whisper, "Love and honor each other, and never forget what has drawn you together."
Love, love, love . . .
"Ryoko?"
"Yes?" She replied to dream Tenchi, as they drank from the same cup, symbolic of the life they would share.
"Never mind, I don't want to wake you. Shh, go back to sleep . . . "
Ryoko could feel her head being patted, though the husband standing before her was motionless. With a start, she opened both eyes in surprise. "Huh?" From out of the corner of her eye she could see an arm securely draped over her waist. She lay warm and exhausted on her side, snuggled deep in his embrace, the visions of her lovely day dissipating as she took in the darkened room; moonlight streaming down from the window above them.
Left palm cupped loosely to her ear, Ryoko settled back into the futon and pillow.
"It was only a dream," she barely whispered aloud, slightly disappointed. "Oh, well, it will be reality soon enough."
* * *
"So it shall," Odosuoni stretched back in her chair and formed a plasma ball in her palm. Taking aim, she fired it directly at the holographic cyan spiked head still on the consul pool. "YAAAA!" she cried as it sailed right through Ryoko's forehead. "If that doesn't kill her, then I have some other things that will."
"Really?" the Master's voice surrounded her, as he, himself phased in tall and mighty as ever. "I have some bad news . . . "
"What bad news?" the red head sprang from the consul chair, prepared to stand up to and demand anything from her creator. "What else could have gone wrong? Is Ryoko not the one that we want?"
He shook his wrist in a silent "no". "But I'm afraid that Washu was able to decode our calling card left at the Jurai incident." His eyes defied her fiery amber ones. "Needless to say that Jurai military is involved and on our trail."
"So?" Odosuoni sat back down at her seat aside the stone consul, "We can defeat Aeka and Washu put together. It's Tenchi and Ryoko that we'll have to really deal with, right?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because you are the one who created me, made me do your dirty work, and even-"
"Stop right there," the Master nodded his head and Hi and Kaze appeared on each shoulder. "You are the one who's been watching and studying them for the past two years. If anyone, you should know if it's Ryoko and Tenchi that are problems to reckon with or the rest."
"Yeah," Hi called in backup.
"The Master is correct Odosuoni," Kaze told her smartly, the blond hair falling down and completely covering the Master's right side.
"Oh shut up!" Odosuoni screamed at the top of her lungs, the entire ship quaking with the force of those adenoids. "I don't care anymore, alright? I'm powerful enough, I could take out all of them right now, even Ryoko."
"But we must wait for the perfect moment, within those six to nine months!" The Master called out in fury, raising his hand up towards the already abounding heavens. His first creation rose with it, struggling with kicks and fidgets. "You will not attack, not now, not when we've come so far."
"I will attack!" Odosuoni cried out in rage, her eyes flashing flecks of burning red. A great bolt of lightening surged through her body, licked out of the fleshy case, and struck The Master's raised arm. He howled as the great body fell to the floor, Hi and Kaze perched in the air just has they head been without a body to cling to. "You can't stop me, no one can!"
"I can and I will!" he swore, his fingers outstretched, trying to stretch the lengths of his powers to the racing Odosuoni, racing, running towards the main command consul. But, with an aggravated sigh, he felt his powers drain from the disabling wound pulsing in his left arm.
Meanwhile, now having reached the main control bank, Odosuoni looked out of the viewing window with pride. There, far below her ship, was a small blueberry sized earth. "It's time for action, enough of this waiting," she sneered, moving over to the navigation field.
"Projected time till landing, twenty four hours and counting . . . " the computer read off.
"Twenty four hours till your demise Ryoko," She whispered, "And twenty four hours until my freedom."
* * *
"Twenty four hours and counting!" Ryoko sang out, lounging on the living room couch.
"How many times have we heard that?" Aeka sang back, feigning irritation.
"About Twenty-four times today," Kiyone joined in on the singsong fun. She pulled the blanket up over her knees.
"I like Ramen and carrot sauce!" Mihoshi rang out the loudest, causing the rest of the girls to stare unappreciatively at her.
"( is equal to 3.141592654 . . . " Washu mumbled as she closed the door to her dimension, and joined the others, who were rolling their eyes. "What's the matter with you?"
Ryoko glared at her and smiled. "Nothing, just unbelievably happy, that's all."
There came a thumping down the stairs and a hooded Nagi appeared in full Bounty Hunter garb. She stopped at the bottom, raising her head, but eyes covered with the shadow of the hood. "That's my cue. I'm leaving now."
"Wait, you have to help us, Nagi," Mihoshi called at her.
"I don't have to do such a thing," the Bounty Hunter contradicted, waving a finger. "It was a temporary truce, I warned you about EVIL, and now I'm leaving."
"Goodbye Nagi!" Ryoko waved from her position on the couch. "Don't forget to come and fight after we've taken care of these bastards!"
Aeka gave her a look and moved closer to her friend's ear. "What are you saying? We need all the help we can get!"
"I'm also drunk," she laughed as her red nose quivered with withheld giggles. " I have no idea what I'm saying . . . Why else would I be singing?" Looking the First Princess up and down, the space pirate snickered, "Besides, I don't think we should worry about me, how about you?" she motioned towards the bags under Aeka's eyes. "Ever heard the word 'sleep'?"
Indignant, Aeka huffed and moved back over next to Kiyone and Mihoshi. "I don't even know why I try!"
"Neither do I," Ryoko sputtered, swinging an arm down onto the other side of the couch where the bottle of sake laid waiting.
"In that case, I'm off." She looked around in search for her light brown cabbit. Pausing, Nagi looked up to the five women sitting on or around the couch. "Have any of you seen Ken-ohki?"
Mihoshi shifted to raise her hand. "I saw him a few hours ago, hopping along the lakeside with Ryo-ohki." She told the Bounty Hunter.
"Since you've arrived they've been inseparable, Nagi." Sasami's lithe little voice spoke up from the kitchen doorway.
The woman turned to see the second princess. Her lips curled up in a smile. "Thank you Mihoshi, and I thank you little girl." With that, she walked across the large room, slid open the porch sliding doors, and continued her search outside.
"Anyway, where were we?" Ryoko asked to nobody in particular and with bouncing shoulders, continued, "Oh yeah, twenty-three hours and counting . . . "
* * *
"Ken-ohki?" Nagi crouched behind a bush, cupped her hands to her mouth, and let out another plaintive call for her missing ship. "Ken-ohki! Come to me right now!"
"Sow?"
"Ken-ohki?" Nagi turned to find the cabbit sitting dutifully behind her, Ryo-ohki sitting at the base of a tree not more than fifty feet away. Without a word between them, the Bounty Hunter stood and turned away from the gray cabbit. "Come Ken-ohki, it's time to leave."
"Miya?" Ryo-ohki looked to Ken-ohki, then back down at the forest floor.
"Sow," turning, the other cabbit did his best to bow like the gentleman that he was. "Sow."
"Miya." Ryo-ohki meowed solemnly.
"Come Ken-ohki," Nagi commanded once more, this time walking away from the pair.
Ken-ohki hopped in the footsteps of his master. Disappearing from Ryo- ohki's sight, deep into the darkness of the woods, the cabbit turned her face to the sky as the ship Ken-ohki burst through the branches and into flight.
"Sow!"
"Miya!" She watched him ascend into the blue sky until he became nothing but a small dark spot in the vast blueness of the sky. Then nothing.
* * *
"Approaching the Earth, approaching the Earth!"
Odosuoni smiled wickedly down at the planet that lay so ably for the taking. "Soon, they'll be gone."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*
Talk about your cliffhangers huh? Well, onto bigger and better things. . . .
LIKE THE WEDDING!
REVIEW if you wish to be a guest or just a bystander at the wedding of the century!