Forever Ryoko Part II: Forever Masaki
By Starhopper
DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN THEM! AND DON'T ASK ME TO!
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Wow! 15 reviews? Obviously you guys like this story, so here's more!
Enjoy the bliss and magic of marriage!
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FM: Of Wedding Jitters and Explosions
"Well my son, are you ready?"
Tenchi Masaki turned to his father, who had come astride to stand abreast with him on the hill overlooking the lake. The twenty-year old smiled. "Of course dad. I've been ready for at least a year and now that the time has finally come-"
"You don't know if it's the real thing." Nobuyuki finished for him with a solemn bowing of the head.
"Yeah," Turning back to the landscape that arched before him, the anxious groom squeezed and released his fists which lay at both sides. "But it's all worth it." His thoughts drifted from the ceremony itself to his beautiful bride. He could just see Ryoko now, nose red from the drinking party last night, a playful glint in those entrancing golden eyes . . .
His daydream was interrupted with a pat on the shoulder from his father. "Tenchi, if only your mother could see you now, standing at the very brink of this new world you and Ryoko are about to explore together. You have no idea how proud your mother and I are of the both of you."
Old as he may get, Tenchi still reddened every time something like this happened. Anytime there was talk of his mother. Oh well, she would understand if she had lived to see this day. "Thanks dad."
The wind came down from the northern foothills of the mountain range, gathering the fallen flower petals into a cloud, exploding like crashing waves as it hit the hill on which father and son stood.
Nobuyuki watched the meandering petals with fleeting glances. "It's time."
Looking to the side of where the last blossom had fallen, Tenchi took a breath, and turned his gaze back up to the sky.
"I know," Squinting he could almost swear that the clouds' dimples and shadows formed the adoring face of his mother. The crevasses and fissures left open through the collision of five massive clouds formed her cheeks, dark eyes, and a wide, approving smile. Some rays from the sun played upon the cirrus clouds which gave the appearance of her hair as it had been in youth, long and in strands, as opposed to the restrictive tail that she had worn in her later years.
Facing his father's familiar face once more, Tenchi's tone drew low in respect. "Do you think mother approves?"
His father's face fell in surprise. "Tenchi, do you seriously think that she'd disapprove?" Shaking his head, he continued on. "No," his eyes looked up to the blue heavens above along with his son's. "I believe that she's looking down on us right now, and couldn't be happier."
"Ya know dad?" Tenchi gently pushed past his father and started down the hill. "I think you're right." He turned back with a smile that could kill.
"Wait Tenchi!" His father shouted back.
Standing at attention, looking back over his shoulder, the groom waited for Nobuyuki to follow. As soon as he had caught up to the short distance his son had gained on him, Mr. Masaki huffed and said, "Let me at least walk with my son to his wedding ceremony."
That trademark blush overwhelmed Tenchi and he pressed cool fingers to the hot cheeks.
Searching for conversation, his father blurted out, "Ryoko's a great girl,"
Shoving his numb hands down into warm pockets, Tenchi kicked a stone out of the path and replied, "Don't I know it."
"You should after four years."
"Believe me dad," he stopped, turned his head to meet Nobuyuki's, and stared him hard in the eye. "I know."
"Well, no time like the present right? It was good that you two waited until you were twenty and she was." with hand motions he sought for the missing age. "Oh, I forget."
"704 dad, approximately." Tenchi filled in the blank, mumbling it beneath his breath. "Please don't remind me." It was a subject that had been on his mind too much . . . ever since their talk about two years ago in the bath. Ever since Ryoko had promised to age along with him, so that when he went, she would never have to endure such grief and go along with him.
"Well she has the physical appearance of at least 18 years," His father continued on, seeming not to notice any distress from the man walking with him. "That has to be good for something, if not fooling the neighbors."
Tenchi chuckled and sighed. "Yeah, but I don't know. There's just something that isn't right about cheating her immortality."
"It was her decision." Nobuyuki contended, wagging a finger. "Let her live with it."
"But I'm the one living with her!" He cried, dragging the wonderfully warmed hands out of their pockets and into the air. "How am I supposed to live with it?"
"Now see," the father put a hand firmly on the son's shoulder. "You're getting all worked up over nothing. It's jitters my boy, pure and simple jitters."
* * *
"It's jitters Ryoko, pure and simple jitters."
The space pirate looked up from underneath the hood of her wedding kimono. Her eyes glared between the cyan spikes crushed under the weight of the ivory hood. "Don't tell me they're jitters." She seethed, "I'm not the one who's nervous."
Glancing around Ryoko's old room, Aeka surveyed the damage. "Well, let's see here," she pointed to the shattered remnants of a looking glass, "There's the broken mirror-"
Crossing her arms over her chest, the other woman replied, "So? Seven years bad luck isn't going to affect me any."
"And the dresser-"
Ryoko's gaze followed the accusing finger to the shards of wood lining the floor and the massive hole in the wall where the beautiful cherry pine bureau used to be. "We needed another window in here anyway." She explained.
The princess turned and threw a glance over to the first kimono, lying in shreds on its hanger.
"It wasn't very figure flattering," Ryoko huffed, smoothing the creases out of the new kimono that she wore. Brushing the fabric, she ran her nimble fingers down her flanks and came back up around the hips. "Don't you think this is better Aeka?"
Pursing her lips in thought, the First princess of Jurai answered shortly, "Yes, well at least you didn't blow the door down."
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Washu poked her head in, the rest of her body following soon after. She strode on over to the twosome. Nodding approvingly at the ceremonial gown, she bent and looked into the eyes burning from beneath the hood. "Is there a Ryoko in there?"
The woman in question ran a quick tongue over her teeth and replied, "Yes there is," in monotone.
"Feeling a little tense, are we?" The genius snickered as she began to walk about the room, examining the damaged artifacts with care. Picking up a shard of wood, she cocked a brow and gave a look to Aeka.
"I believe it's simply jitters, Miss Washu." The Princess told her, then pointed silently behind to the sitting woman in the wedding kimono. "Don't you think?"
Before Washu had a chance to answer, the lounging figure in the chair rose effortlessly in the air, turned, and let the golden eyes endowed to her glow and burn. "I believe that the Princess has outstayed her welcome for a time . . . " Locking elbows and forming the attack position, the other two women stood frozen in horror and bewilderment as energy trickled down the tips of Ryoko's fingers and coalesced into a ball in her palms. "What do you think, Washu?" the space pirate questioned the genius, the hood still covering her eyes in shadow.
"What do I think?" Washu squeaked before dragging Aeka out the door just as a ball of red, glistening fire crashed into the door with a laugh from Ryoko. "I think I'm safer downstairs!" shouted the magenta crested woman, falling down onto the couch in the living room with Aeka safely lying on the ground beside her.
The busybodies diverted, Ryoko levitated back down into her chair and blew cool air onto her burning hands. Leaning back as far as the chair allowed her, the space pirate took a breath and looked up, saw through the ceiling, and to the great vastness of the blue sky above.
"Tenchi," she breathed as her lids shut closed, her mind wandering to that field of flowers behind a lonesome hill. It was there that she had cried for him, cried so hard that she thought she might have lost all the water inside her that there was to cry. During those first few days after he ran into the woods, she had spent so much time there; consoling herself and at times firing confused and aggravated blasts at a flower as target practice. It was also there that she and Aeka talked about what would happen if they did find him. All these scenes of the past filtered through her mind as she lay there, too excited to sleep and too exhausted to wake. That field of flowers was her mind; a place where history repeated itself and dreams came true.like children.
They hadn't really talked about little ones that much since their engagement. He was always off at school, leaving Ryoko to dream about a son or a daughter. Having children with the man that she loved, a man that she would do anything for was a blessing, and she hoped with all her heart that someone was hearing her prayers. And if someone where to take all that away, like this EVIL character that had her head marked, she would become angry, spiteful, and resentful once again of life and it's promises that it never could hold.
Oh well, on with the wedding . . . then children . . .
* * *
"They really didn't need that door anyway, right?" Kiyone asked Washu and Aeka. All the "bridesmaids" were dressed in simple pale lavender kimonos, with light blue, almost sky blue sashes around their waists and pink cherry blossoms sitting behind each left ear.
"Oh, you don't live here anymore do you?" Washu grunted sarcastically, taking a long sip of sake. "You need some sort of sound barrier with those two."
Wrinkling her nose, the teal-tressed GP officer shook her head, trying to erase that mental picture.
"Never mind that," Aeka continued on, grabbing the rice wine bottle out of the genius' hands. She took a mouthful and swallowed. "What are we going to about Ryoko?"
"I don't know, she's awfully moody these days and those firings?" Kiyone shrugged and took the bottle from the Princess's hands. "Do you think she's pregnant?"
"Who's pregnant?" Mihoshi asked innocently, walking out of the kitchen with Sasami following behind, a tray precariously balanced in her arms.
"No one is," Aeka said sternly. "At least I hope not."
"That would make things a whole lot worse." Washu smiled evilly. "I mean, we have EVIL on her tail, not to mention a wedding to pull off."
"And now a baby!"
Kiyone scowled at her partner. "We don't know if there even is a baby, Mihoshi."
"Exactly. It's most likely jitters."
"You can't attest every action Ryoko makes to jitters, Aeka." Washu pointed out, swiping the sake from Kiyone's dawdling grasp. "Remember your fight two years ago?"
"Of course I do, but,"
Kiyone rose and took the bottle back from Washu. "No 'buts' Princess Aeka. Ryoko just does what she does."
"And there is never a reason why." Aeka mumbled grouchily.
"No, there's a reason.' Washu put the mouth of the bottle to her lips and threw back her head. "We just never know what it is."
* * *
"Pregnant?" Odosuoni had just sat down at the consul when Mihoshi's words echoed through the pool. Completely ignoring the rest of their conversation, the re-haired woman jumped up and sang, "Oh yes! I shall strike them down in one swift blow!"
Her ship hummed under her boots as she stood at the control panel, looking out over the blueness of the Atlantic Ocean. She was far enough out of the atmosphere to see both North America on the left and Europe on the right. Surveying these two landmasses and taking quick dives over the Caribbean, she came to the conclusion that Japan wasn't in this particular hemisphere of this speck in the universe.
Why does Jurai even bother with this water-droplet? She thought exasperatedly as maps keyed into the ship's systems were brought up for her viewing. Every large, mainstream island complex was a hologram, appearing with blips and beeps from the mastermind computer.
"Ah," Odosuoni looked over the Galapagos, Cuban, Mediterranean, Hawaiian, Japanese, Aleutian, and even upper Arctic ocean Islands, hoping to see something that would point her in the right direction. Finally, again considering the possibility that she misjudged the calculations of the hemisphere, she came to the conclusion that she was indeed lost.
"Oh well, if Ryoko's pregnant like they say she is," she reached over the panel to flip up a few navigational switches, "I have a good nine months to stop and ask for directions."
* * *
Leaning over the banister from ground level, Aeka summoned all her Jurai strength to fill her lungs with air and project, "RYOKO!!!!" And yet there was still no answer . . .
"Maybe she has the door closed," Mihoshi tried casually, plopping down on the couch aside Sasami.
"It can't. It was incinerated due to that last blast, remember?" Washu reminded the blond GP officer through gritted teeth.
"RYOKO!" Aeka let out again, this time taking not one, but three bold steps up the stairs, "GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"
"Well yelling isn't doing any good," Sasami pouted, giving Ryo-ohki reassuring pets as her older sister took a few more steps towards the Space Pirate's lair. She cringed and covered her ears as the whole house should've shook. "And yet you keep on trying Aeka."
Sucking in a deep breath, (Full of courage and bravery, she hoped.) the First Princess was gone in a purple flash, charging full speed up the stairs. Before anyone knew where the first one had gone to, Kiyone was following as guard. Grabbing her subatomic particle converter from seemingly nowhere, the genius disappeared as well behind the other two. Upon reaching the second floor, Washu found both Aeka and Kiyone pressed against the walls surrounding the smoldering crater where the door had once been.
Laser brandished against her lavender breast, the teal-headed GP officer leapt out from her hiding place and over into the room, gun ready to use. The other cowards, (er, women) shut their eyes tight, expecting a cry from Kiyone, and a fiery glow burning outside their vision.
When all was quiet, the other two waiting outside opened their eyes slowly and, feeling their way along the wall, went inside the room and stood next to their friend. There, damaged and torn as the mirror, bureau, and kimono were, they were still there. But the anxious bride was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is she?" Aeka turned to Washu.
The genius shot her a 'don't look at me' look and countered, "Where do you think?"
"Well don't ask me," Kiyone replied to the women guarding her back, her focus still on the empty, lonely room.
"She didn't run away . . . did she?" Washu cocked a brow as she took inventory along with the officer.
"Don't be stupid." Aeka shot back, "She loves Lord Tenchi, we all know that, and she knew it first."
"Well, she's not here now, and the wedding," Kiyone shook her wrist free of the sleeve to check her watch. "Is in two hours!"
"Great, better send the search party out.any ideas where she could be?" Washu grunted, standing on tiptoe in order to look out of the high windows.
Without a thought, Aeka raised a hand and said, "My guess would be wherever Lord Tenchi is."
* * *
"Tenchi?"
Letting Nobuyuki continue on ahead, still preaching about marital bliss and spousal tips, Tenchi slowed his pace and stopped by a tree.
"Ryoko?"
"Yes."
Putting a hand against the bark, the groom leaned closer to the edge, wanting to hear her voice, but never to see her before the ceremony. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh," her voice was heavy and exhausted, "Everyone is making such a big fuss. Why didn't we elope?"
He chuckled, that whole discussion flooding back into his memory. Finally, he spoke exactly his reason that he had come up with that night. "Because we have family who want to see us up there at the Shrine. Family who love us and care for us."
"Family who do anything to piss us off." She took a sigh. "You should've seen Washu; all 'is there a little Ryoko in there'?"
Tenchi stifled some laughter with a hand on his mouth.
"Oh, and Aeka . . . so what if I'm a little emotional these days?"
Laughter abruptly stopping, Tenchi paused. "What exactly do you mean when you say 'emotional', Ryoko?"
"Uh, well, like my fire when you kiss me?"
"Did you?"
"No . . . no. None of the others are injured, though Washu could be . . . " he could hear her inhalation as she pressed on with the recountence, "I don't really know for certain, I heard a thud after I blew away the door."
"You're joking."
"Tenchi, I wish I was."
He stepped back as she reached a hand out from behind the tree. It was soft and delicate, the simple embroidery around the sleeve's hem giving the admirer an idea of what the rest of the gown looked like. Stepping back up to accept it, he gave it a squeeze of reassurance.
"Don't worry about it dearest." He consoled, gently massaging their tightness with his thumb. "In a few hours it'll all be over and we will be off in Space on our honeymoon."
Now it was her turn to give his hand a squeeze and then pulled away. "If we even make it till then."
"What?" He had never heard this sad, sorry tone before.
"I'm scared this time Tenchi."
"About EVIL?"
"Yes, and also . . . "
He grabbed her hand back and saw one of the cyan side locks fall into view, then out again. "Now it's my turn. If I ever lost you." He purposefully didn't finish, wanting the thought to sink in and perhaps change her mind about the aging thing.
"I know." She answered in barely a whisper.
"We've never lost before."
"We've never been married before."
A long, dead silence came between them as reality itself became more and more real. Any minute now, a giant ship could land and take Ryoko away forever. At least let her marry him first, and be known as Ryoko Masaki for real for a minute. Finally he spoke up. "See you in a couple hours."
Pulling her hand back, she waved goodbye. "See you then Tenchi."
"Love you Ryoko." She could have no idea how much he wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was all right.
"I love you."
He stood awhile longer, listening to the leaves brush against her skin as she raced towards the Shrine. He really was lucky to have her. As so many times before, he thanked fate for throwing them together, and the stars up above for making the right decision.
* * *
"Ryoko, there you are!" Sasami cried happily, standing at the top of the stairs to the shrine. Turning back to the bridesmaid procession following her, she called down to them, "Hey you guys I found her!"
Aeka was the first to come up. "Ryoko! Don't you ever do that to us again!" She came to the bride's side at a gallop, with Ryoko remaining as calm as ever, hands drawn to her sides. "Do you hear me?"
"She hears ya, but I bet my atomic charger that she's not listening."
The pirate beamed, "Damn straight."
"Oh Ryoko!" Mihoshi made a beeline from the steps. She gave Ryoko a bear hug, then straightened back, brushed away all the imaginary dust on the ivory kimono, and turned serious. "You really shouldn't go running off like this, not in your condition."
"Mihoshi!" her partner screamed as she came to the other two standing with a miffed and confused Ryoko.
"Huh?"
What condition?
"Look Bubble-brain," she threatened, pulling the blond away by the large lavender collar. "I told you that there isn't a baby."
"Baby?"
But before Ryoko could have her questions answered, Washu had pulled her into the woods. "We only have approximately one hour and thirty-five minutes left until you make your vows."
"I know, but what were they-"
Washu looked up from brushing away the loose petals and twigs caught in the kimono. "Crossed wires . . . that's all."
Submitting to the whims of the scientist, Ryoko stood with hood drawn, sparkle in her eye, ready for the main event to commence.
* * *
"Alright!" Odosuoni yelled as the other maps blinked off and descended into darkness, leaving only the Islands of Japan. The ship was hovering just off the coast of New Zealand, a mere hour from Japan by space. "Now let's get Okayama on gear and move out!"
* * *
"Wow . . . it's so beautiful." Mihoshi exclaimed, looking about her as she made her way through the aisle made by the separation rows of chairs. On one side was Tenchi's immediate family, on the other were his friends from school. Mihoshi only recognized a couple of his classmates, but none of the actual aunts and uncles. It wasn't a very big gathering, just the people who mattered most to the Groom, since the bride had no family to speak of.
"Will you watch where you're going?" Kiyone gave her a little shove, throwing her partner out of her thoughts. Behind Kiyone was Washu, and behind her, Sasami. Last, but never least was Aeka, with Ryo-ohki hopping behind. After every girl had made their presentation, they came to kneel on the ground leading to the Shrine office stairs, facing the seated guests. Heads bowed, as the Shinto priest appeared at the edge of the clearing, each woman had her fingers crossed in her lap, giving the bride a nudge if any should be needed.
Yosho came to stand in front of the girls, at the head of the chair rows, and opened a large tome in his hands.
All lay silent. The wind whipped, tossing unbound hair and flower petals alike up from their respective grounds. Then suddenly, from out of the left corner of the guest's vision came the groom, dressed down in almost black mandarin collar coat and sheer wide-leg pants, his growing hair tied at the nape of his neck with a single blue ribbon. His head raised, Tenchi walked forward to meet his bride.
At the same time, Ryoko had also appeared, shuffling in from the right. The ivory kimono that she wore glistened like new fallen snow in the sun's light. Her head bowed, she walked quietly along, face completely covered in shadow. As she neared their meeting place, the intricate stitching on the hems of hood, sleeves, and kimono rim became much clearer to the guests. They were in fact tiny silver balls, sewn in 3D star- bursts; each swapping places with a gold leaf from time to time. It was symbolic of their marriage; silver stars from space for the bride and golden foliage from Earth for the groom.
Drawing nearer and nearer to stand in front of Yosho, both Tenchi and Ryoko suddenly stopped and looked up. For high above them was a ship, dark almost blood red in color, streaming a line of blackened carbonic steam, which shattered as it touched the cool atmosphere.
Screams of horror wrenched themselves from the guests as the red dot became larger and larger until a white flash of light blinded their vision, followed by an explosion behind the Shrine. Then another between the fallen bride and groom.
By this time, the Masaki family had thrown themselves to the ground, covering their heads and necks with flailing hands. The guests had ran down the steps back to the house where their cars were parked and were most likely never coming back to the quiet countryside of Okayama ever again.
Meanwhile, back up at the Shrine, the blasts were still pelting the hillside. The women were screaming, trying to run for the cover of the forest. Tenchi came to Ryoko's side, dodging the smoldering crater blown between them. Still conscious, she got up and ran hand in hand along with her love, in the direction the others had gone. Subconsciously, only a few knew where it was safe . . . Washu's old cave.
Pushing her little sister ahead of her, the two Juraians collapsed at the entrance of the cave, Sasami sobbing out of fear, and Aeka frozen with thoughts for the others. Kiyone and Mihoshi had been right behind them . . .
BOOM!
The smoke from a recent blast shrouded the two GP officers as they came running and coughing to the cave entrance. Composing themselves, Aeka and Sasami pulled them in and, all together, withdrew themselves from the entrance, and started to recede farther within the rocky lair. Again the ground shook, this time knocking Kiyone off her feet and onto the floor.
"Damn!" She swore under her breath, but a smile passed through her lips when Sasami held out a hand to help her up.
The little princess suddenly looked around her and pondered, "Where are Tenchi and Ryoko?"
"And Washu?" Mihoshi wondered aloud. "And Grandfather and Mr. Masaki?"
"Great, we're separated again!" Aeka slid down the cave wall to sit against it and stretched out her legs. Taking a breath, she rubbed her face exasperatedly.
"Of all the times that EVIL could've attacked." Kiyone mumbled, slunking down opposite Aeka.
"Well, I'll tell you one thing. We've been together long enough to know that we seek out each other when there's trouble. Chances are they're all together like we are now." Aeka told them, lighting each face with a flicker of hope.
"Do you think so Aeka?"
"If you think about it Sasami, you will too."
Kiyone grabbed a loose pebble and threw it down the dark corridor. "Where could they be?"
"Hey," the light blue pigtails of the second princess jerked up in alarm. "Where's Ryo-ohki?"
* * *
"How could this have happened?"
Ryoko sighed, burying her head deeper into her fiancé's chest. "I knew something was going to happen today besides a wedding . . . "
Tenchi's father looked up in despair. "You two were so close, just so close - a couple minutes and you would at least have been legally married."
Both Tenchi and Ryoko looked up solemnly and replied in unison. "Please don't remind us,"
"Well, since we're not winning or losing any battles in here, let's go." Ryoko abruptly moved out of his arms and stood at the entrance to the basement. Leaning against the frame with her right shoulder. Ryo-ohki scrambled up to the left one in support. "They ruined my wedding . . . my day," She started, her back to the Masaki men. "I intend to let EVIL know exactly what I think about interruptions." Looking over her right shoulder, Tenchi saw the wetness that her eyes held. This was really important to her. "Tenchi?"
He nodded to the men standing aside him and came up behind her. "Ryoko." Linking his arm through hers, they ascended the stairs in respectful silence.
The other Masaki men stood in awe of their bravery and love.
* * *
"MIYA!" Ryo-ohki screamed as she sped towards the Shrine, where the red, roughly same-sized ship was sending blast after blast after blast.
"Show 'em Ryo-ohki!" Ryoko bit at the words harshly, a crazed expression on her face as she sent her ship careening up into the atmosphere at top speed. They came back at full momentum, using the air current as a slide to skim the treetops and send the red orbs directly into EVIL's ship. They crashed into what appeared to be the hull, making it teeter wildly as it tried to stay level with space and ground.
"Ha!" The space pirate leaned in closer to the orbs which she piloted and pushed them forward, giving Ryo-ohki a spurt of energy to skirt the ship, soar over the range, and come back for another pass.
"Uh Ryoko," Tenchi managed through a gulp, "You're beginning to scare me."
"Beginning to?" Ryoko answered back with a coy smirk.
He looked her up and down, taking in the image of his soon-to-be-wife-if- she-didn't-get-killed-first completely at ease in her element. She had taken off the wedding kimono, folding it neatly into a cement safe and buried it ten feet under the floorboards of the living room, then had donned her black and red battle suit. He, himself had done practically the same thing with his ceremonial garb, and taken on his Juraian Samurai outfit that Azaka and Kamidake had presented him at his departure from the royal planet.
"Damn it!" Ryoko cursed loudly, swinging Ryo-ohki out of the way of an oncoming blast, the edge of the projectile skimming along one of the ship's 'wings'. As if to join her pilot's rage, Ryo-ohki let out a blood-curdling scream of pain.
"Is she okay?" Tenchi asked, leaning in with her as she wove through the range, coming back at a different angle of attack. He could feel Ryoko's body tense, the anxious, nervous heats emanate off her and hit him in the face.
"A bit shaken, but we've had worse," she swerved suddenly as a stray bolt from the red ship sped its way towards them. "Now all we need to do is hit the consul and we have EVIL at bay.at least for now."
"How do you know?"
"Tenchi, don't you see that," another blast shot by them, "Shit! Don't you see that pulsing beacon at the top? That's a static signal, meaning that's where the navigation, control, life-support systems are."
"You hit that, and the ship is dead?"
"Yep, and that's what I'm going to do if mister or misses EVIL doesn't mind."
Setting a firm hand on her shoulder from behind, Tenchi smiled and said, "My Ryoko, you are a fighter."
"You bet your sweet ass I am. Born and ready for this type of action."
His other hand found her cheek just as Ryo-ohki was hit again, this time on the consul orb in her center.
"Tenchi, hold on," Ryoko sent Ryo-ohki flying straight into the air, reaching the atmosphere, then Ozone layer in a matter of minutes. Ryoko rose from the levitating sitting chair and walked to the right of the control orbs. Bending, a crystal of Ryo-ohki rose from the floor and met her golden eye to golden eye. From that connection, a new, never before seen viewing screen opened directly above them.
Looking up, Tenchi held his breath and Ryoko came to his side. She wrapped her arms about him and stared up along with him. For there, hovering directly over Ryo-ohki was the mother or all ships. It stretched for miles in a great white arc, on which an acropolis of gigantic proportions sat in the middle.
* * *
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Washu screamed, pounding her fist on the happily humming machine. "Why won't you work?"
"Data input insufficient." It spat back in its electronic monotone tongue. "Data input insufficient." It repeated again, lights flashing in annoyance.
"Data input insufficient?" She asked her creation, hands on hips. Angrily, she punched the keyboard forcefully with her fingertips. "I'll give you some sufficient data." Biting her lip, she continued on, entering all information relevant from the past year or so into its memory bank. Finally, after three pages of binary code, she lurched back and pulled the red lever down hard.
The machine stalled a minute before beeping, "Data sufficient, scrolling . . . "
"Ha!" the genius leaned back in her chair, very satisfied with herself. She could hear the explosions, like mere echoes from her dimension. As soon as the first blast struck the Shrine, she had immediately teleported to the lab with the help of her first and greatest invention . . . the handheld teleporter. Since then she'd been frantically running around, hoping that some electronic computer, or splicer would spit out the information she needed to deal with this interruption.
"Data secure . . . translating . . . "
Stretching, Washu sat back up and leaned in towards the screen with a single blinking cursor. Suddenly the pages jumped as words, sentences, paragraphs started to fill the system up. Clicking back to the top, the Genius skimmed through all the technical jargon, mish-mash of computer errors and finally to the records of the ships zooming about in the Milky Way. Scrolling slowly, she finally came to the one marked, 'Abandoned'. It fit all the specifics of the one that was now wreaking havoc on the Okayama countryside, not to mention the local Shinto Shrine. Red, carbonic fuel plates, compact, a white fire only known as 'Blaze', and even a descriptive detail on where it was found.
"Wow," the little genius breathed after reading the inventory on this ship dubbed 'Cell I'. "And yet this ship has traveled across the universe without any crew to pilot it." Coming back to the location part, she read the account of the Galaxy Police officer who had discovered it. "Completely abandoned, eh? Wait," Skimming through it, she came to the description of one of the rooms. " ' . . . White, dark, but warm. It felt like someone was breathing on the back of my neck as I walked through it. Finally, opposite the front door, was a giant machine. It was triangular, about twenty feet in length, wide enough for a humanoid to lie down on. Next to it was a lever, thirty feet long, pointing out horizontally, 90 degrees to the floor. Aside from it was a standard tuner or converter of some sort, with readings of "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10" on it.'"
She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, taking in the information shining right in front of her. "Converter . . . " she pondered aloud, gazing around her lab for something that matched the description. "Could it be . . . "
From out of the corner of her emerald eye, she could see her own converter, but instead of numerical symbols, such as the mundane, '1-2-3-4 . . . ' it used physics language to explain what it did to, (And most likely bewilder) a visitor. Indeed, it matched the description proportion to proportion. It was, in fact, a dimension tuner.
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Well, any good? Tell me in a REVIEW if you would be so kind and you might get more!
(I'm telling ya, I'm starting to like cliffhangers . . . *flashes evil grin*)
By Starhopper
DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN THEM! AND DON'T ASK ME TO!
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Wow! 15 reviews? Obviously you guys like this story, so here's more!
Enjoy the bliss and magic of marriage!
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FM: Of Wedding Jitters and Explosions
"Well my son, are you ready?"
Tenchi Masaki turned to his father, who had come astride to stand abreast with him on the hill overlooking the lake. The twenty-year old smiled. "Of course dad. I've been ready for at least a year and now that the time has finally come-"
"You don't know if it's the real thing." Nobuyuki finished for him with a solemn bowing of the head.
"Yeah," Turning back to the landscape that arched before him, the anxious groom squeezed and released his fists which lay at both sides. "But it's all worth it." His thoughts drifted from the ceremony itself to his beautiful bride. He could just see Ryoko now, nose red from the drinking party last night, a playful glint in those entrancing golden eyes . . .
His daydream was interrupted with a pat on the shoulder from his father. "Tenchi, if only your mother could see you now, standing at the very brink of this new world you and Ryoko are about to explore together. You have no idea how proud your mother and I are of the both of you."
Old as he may get, Tenchi still reddened every time something like this happened. Anytime there was talk of his mother. Oh well, she would understand if she had lived to see this day. "Thanks dad."
The wind came down from the northern foothills of the mountain range, gathering the fallen flower petals into a cloud, exploding like crashing waves as it hit the hill on which father and son stood.
Nobuyuki watched the meandering petals with fleeting glances. "It's time."
Looking to the side of where the last blossom had fallen, Tenchi took a breath, and turned his gaze back up to the sky.
"I know," Squinting he could almost swear that the clouds' dimples and shadows formed the adoring face of his mother. The crevasses and fissures left open through the collision of five massive clouds formed her cheeks, dark eyes, and a wide, approving smile. Some rays from the sun played upon the cirrus clouds which gave the appearance of her hair as it had been in youth, long and in strands, as opposed to the restrictive tail that she had worn in her later years.
Facing his father's familiar face once more, Tenchi's tone drew low in respect. "Do you think mother approves?"
His father's face fell in surprise. "Tenchi, do you seriously think that she'd disapprove?" Shaking his head, he continued on. "No," his eyes looked up to the blue heavens above along with his son's. "I believe that she's looking down on us right now, and couldn't be happier."
"Ya know dad?" Tenchi gently pushed past his father and started down the hill. "I think you're right." He turned back with a smile that could kill.
"Wait Tenchi!" His father shouted back.
Standing at attention, looking back over his shoulder, the groom waited for Nobuyuki to follow. As soon as he had caught up to the short distance his son had gained on him, Mr. Masaki huffed and said, "Let me at least walk with my son to his wedding ceremony."
That trademark blush overwhelmed Tenchi and he pressed cool fingers to the hot cheeks.
Searching for conversation, his father blurted out, "Ryoko's a great girl,"
Shoving his numb hands down into warm pockets, Tenchi kicked a stone out of the path and replied, "Don't I know it."
"You should after four years."
"Believe me dad," he stopped, turned his head to meet Nobuyuki's, and stared him hard in the eye. "I know."
"Well, no time like the present right? It was good that you two waited until you were twenty and she was." with hand motions he sought for the missing age. "Oh, I forget."
"704 dad, approximately." Tenchi filled in the blank, mumbling it beneath his breath. "Please don't remind me." It was a subject that had been on his mind too much . . . ever since their talk about two years ago in the bath. Ever since Ryoko had promised to age along with him, so that when he went, she would never have to endure such grief and go along with him.
"Well she has the physical appearance of at least 18 years," His father continued on, seeming not to notice any distress from the man walking with him. "That has to be good for something, if not fooling the neighbors."
Tenchi chuckled and sighed. "Yeah, but I don't know. There's just something that isn't right about cheating her immortality."
"It was her decision." Nobuyuki contended, wagging a finger. "Let her live with it."
"But I'm the one living with her!" He cried, dragging the wonderfully warmed hands out of their pockets and into the air. "How am I supposed to live with it?"
"Now see," the father put a hand firmly on the son's shoulder. "You're getting all worked up over nothing. It's jitters my boy, pure and simple jitters."
* * *
"It's jitters Ryoko, pure and simple jitters."
The space pirate looked up from underneath the hood of her wedding kimono. Her eyes glared between the cyan spikes crushed under the weight of the ivory hood. "Don't tell me they're jitters." She seethed, "I'm not the one who's nervous."
Glancing around Ryoko's old room, Aeka surveyed the damage. "Well, let's see here," she pointed to the shattered remnants of a looking glass, "There's the broken mirror-"
Crossing her arms over her chest, the other woman replied, "So? Seven years bad luck isn't going to affect me any."
"And the dresser-"
Ryoko's gaze followed the accusing finger to the shards of wood lining the floor and the massive hole in the wall where the beautiful cherry pine bureau used to be. "We needed another window in here anyway." She explained.
The princess turned and threw a glance over to the first kimono, lying in shreds on its hanger.
"It wasn't very figure flattering," Ryoko huffed, smoothing the creases out of the new kimono that she wore. Brushing the fabric, she ran her nimble fingers down her flanks and came back up around the hips. "Don't you think this is better Aeka?"
Pursing her lips in thought, the First princess of Jurai answered shortly, "Yes, well at least you didn't blow the door down."
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Washu poked her head in, the rest of her body following soon after. She strode on over to the twosome. Nodding approvingly at the ceremonial gown, she bent and looked into the eyes burning from beneath the hood. "Is there a Ryoko in there?"
The woman in question ran a quick tongue over her teeth and replied, "Yes there is," in monotone.
"Feeling a little tense, are we?" The genius snickered as she began to walk about the room, examining the damaged artifacts with care. Picking up a shard of wood, she cocked a brow and gave a look to Aeka.
"I believe it's simply jitters, Miss Washu." The Princess told her, then pointed silently behind to the sitting woman in the wedding kimono. "Don't you think?"
Before Washu had a chance to answer, the lounging figure in the chair rose effortlessly in the air, turned, and let the golden eyes endowed to her glow and burn. "I believe that the Princess has outstayed her welcome for a time . . . " Locking elbows and forming the attack position, the other two women stood frozen in horror and bewilderment as energy trickled down the tips of Ryoko's fingers and coalesced into a ball in her palms. "What do you think, Washu?" the space pirate questioned the genius, the hood still covering her eyes in shadow.
"What do I think?" Washu squeaked before dragging Aeka out the door just as a ball of red, glistening fire crashed into the door with a laugh from Ryoko. "I think I'm safer downstairs!" shouted the magenta crested woman, falling down onto the couch in the living room with Aeka safely lying on the ground beside her.
The busybodies diverted, Ryoko levitated back down into her chair and blew cool air onto her burning hands. Leaning back as far as the chair allowed her, the space pirate took a breath and looked up, saw through the ceiling, and to the great vastness of the blue sky above.
"Tenchi," she breathed as her lids shut closed, her mind wandering to that field of flowers behind a lonesome hill. It was there that she had cried for him, cried so hard that she thought she might have lost all the water inside her that there was to cry. During those first few days after he ran into the woods, she had spent so much time there; consoling herself and at times firing confused and aggravated blasts at a flower as target practice. It was also there that she and Aeka talked about what would happen if they did find him. All these scenes of the past filtered through her mind as she lay there, too excited to sleep and too exhausted to wake. That field of flowers was her mind; a place where history repeated itself and dreams came true.like children.
They hadn't really talked about little ones that much since their engagement. He was always off at school, leaving Ryoko to dream about a son or a daughter. Having children with the man that she loved, a man that she would do anything for was a blessing, and she hoped with all her heart that someone was hearing her prayers. And if someone where to take all that away, like this EVIL character that had her head marked, she would become angry, spiteful, and resentful once again of life and it's promises that it never could hold.
Oh well, on with the wedding . . . then children . . .
* * *
"They really didn't need that door anyway, right?" Kiyone asked Washu and Aeka. All the "bridesmaids" were dressed in simple pale lavender kimonos, with light blue, almost sky blue sashes around their waists and pink cherry blossoms sitting behind each left ear.
"Oh, you don't live here anymore do you?" Washu grunted sarcastically, taking a long sip of sake. "You need some sort of sound barrier with those two."
Wrinkling her nose, the teal-tressed GP officer shook her head, trying to erase that mental picture.
"Never mind that," Aeka continued on, grabbing the rice wine bottle out of the genius' hands. She took a mouthful and swallowed. "What are we going to about Ryoko?"
"I don't know, she's awfully moody these days and those firings?" Kiyone shrugged and took the bottle from the Princess's hands. "Do you think she's pregnant?"
"Who's pregnant?" Mihoshi asked innocently, walking out of the kitchen with Sasami following behind, a tray precariously balanced in her arms.
"No one is," Aeka said sternly. "At least I hope not."
"That would make things a whole lot worse." Washu smiled evilly. "I mean, we have EVIL on her tail, not to mention a wedding to pull off."
"And now a baby!"
Kiyone scowled at her partner. "We don't know if there even is a baby, Mihoshi."
"Exactly. It's most likely jitters."
"You can't attest every action Ryoko makes to jitters, Aeka." Washu pointed out, swiping the sake from Kiyone's dawdling grasp. "Remember your fight two years ago?"
"Of course I do, but,"
Kiyone rose and took the bottle back from Washu. "No 'buts' Princess Aeka. Ryoko just does what she does."
"And there is never a reason why." Aeka mumbled grouchily.
"No, there's a reason.' Washu put the mouth of the bottle to her lips and threw back her head. "We just never know what it is."
* * *
"Pregnant?" Odosuoni had just sat down at the consul when Mihoshi's words echoed through the pool. Completely ignoring the rest of their conversation, the re-haired woman jumped up and sang, "Oh yes! I shall strike them down in one swift blow!"
Her ship hummed under her boots as she stood at the control panel, looking out over the blueness of the Atlantic Ocean. She was far enough out of the atmosphere to see both North America on the left and Europe on the right. Surveying these two landmasses and taking quick dives over the Caribbean, she came to the conclusion that Japan wasn't in this particular hemisphere of this speck in the universe.
Why does Jurai even bother with this water-droplet? She thought exasperatedly as maps keyed into the ship's systems were brought up for her viewing. Every large, mainstream island complex was a hologram, appearing with blips and beeps from the mastermind computer.
"Ah," Odosuoni looked over the Galapagos, Cuban, Mediterranean, Hawaiian, Japanese, Aleutian, and even upper Arctic ocean Islands, hoping to see something that would point her in the right direction. Finally, again considering the possibility that she misjudged the calculations of the hemisphere, she came to the conclusion that she was indeed lost.
"Oh well, if Ryoko's pregnant like they say she is," she reached over the panel to flip up a few navigational switches, "I have a good nine months to stop and ask for directions."
* * *
Leaning over the banister from ground level, Aeka summoned all her Jurai strength to fill her lungs with air and project, "RYOKO!!!!" And yet there was still no answer . . .
"Maybe she has the door closed," Mihoshi tried casually, plopping down on the couch aside Sasami.
"It can't. It was incinerated due to that last blast, remember?" Washu reminded the blond GP officer through gritted teeth.
"RYOKO!" Aeka let out again, this time taking not one, but three bold steps up the stairs, "GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!"
"Well yelling isn't doing any good," Sasami pouted, giving Ryo-ohki reassuring pets as her older sister took a few more steps towards the Space Pirate's lair. She cringed and covered her ears as the whole house should've shook. "And yet you keep on trying Aeka."
Sucking in a deep breath, (Full of courage and bravery, she hoped.) the First Princess was gone in a purple flash, charging full speed up the stairs. Before anyone knew where the first one had gone to, Kiyone was following as guard. Grabbing her subatomic particle converter from seemingly nowhere, the genius disappeared as well behind the other two. Upon reaching the second floor, Washu found both Aeka and Kiyone pressed against the walls surrounding the smoldering crater where the door had once been.
Laser brandished against her lavender breast, the teal-headed GP officer leapt out from her hiding place and over into the room, gun ready to use. The other cowards, (er, women) shut their eyes tight, expecting a cry from Kiyone, and a fiery glow burning outside their vision.
When all was quiet, the other two waiting outside opened their eyes slowly and, feeling their way along the wall, went inside the room and stood next to their friend. There, damaged and torn as the mirror, bureau, and kimono were, they were still there. But the anxious bride was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is she?" Aeka turned to Washu.
The genius shot her a 'don't look at me' look and countered, "Where do you think?"
"Well don't ask me," Kiyone replied to the women guarding her back, her focus still on the empty, lonely room.
"She didn't run away . . . did she?" Washu cocked a brow as she took inventory along with the officer.
"Don't be stupid." Aeka shot back, "She loves Lord Tenchi, we all know that, and she knew it first."
"Well, she's not here now, and the wedding," Kiyone shook her wrist free of the sleeve to check her watch. "Is in two hours!"
"Great, better send the search party out.any ideas where she could be?" Washu grunted, standing on tiptoe in order to look out of the high windows.
Without a thought, Aeka raised a hand and said, "My guess would be wherever Lord Tenchi is."
* * *
"Tenchi?"
Letting Nobuyuki continue on ahead, still preaching about marital bliss and spousal tips, Tenchi slowed his pace and stopped by a tree.
"Ryoko?"
"Yes."
Putting a hand against the bark, the groom leaned closer to the edge, wanting to hear her voice, but never to see her before the ceremony. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh," her voice was heavy and exhausted, "Everyone is making such a big fuss. Why didn't we elope?"
He chuckled, that whole discussion flooding back into his memory. Finally, he spoke exactly his reason that he had come up with that night. "Because we have family who want to see us up there at the Shrine. Family who love us and care for us."
"Family who do anything to piss us off." She took a sigh. "You should've seen Washu; all 'is there a little Ryoko in there'?"
Tenchi stifled some laughter with a hand on his mouth.
"Oh, and Aeka . . . so what if I'm a little emotional these days?"
Laughter abruptly stopping, Tenchi paused. "What exactly do you mean when you say 'emotional', Ryoko?"
"Uh, well, like my fire when you kiss me?"
"Did you?"
"No . . . no. None of the others are injured, though Washu could be . . . " he could hear her inhalation as she pressed on with the recountence, "I don't really know for certain, I heard a thud after I blew away the door."
"You're joking."
"Tenchi, I wish I was."
He stepped back as she reached a hand out from behind the tree. It was soft and delicate, the simple embroidery around the sleeve's hem giving the admirer an idea of what the rest of the gown looked like. Stepping back up to accept it, he gave it a squeeze of reassurance.
"Don't worry about it dearest." He consoled, gently massaging their tightness with his thumb. "In a few hours it'll all be over and we will be off in Space on our honeymoon."
Now it was her turn to give his hand a squeeze and then pulled away. "If we even make it till then."
"What?" He had never heard this sad, sorry tone before.
"I'm scared this time Tenchi."
"About EVIL?"
"Yes, and also . . . "
He grabbed her hand back and saw one of the cyan side locks fall into view, then out again. "Now it's my turn. If I ever lost you." He purposefully didn't finish, wanting the thought to sink in and perhaps change her mind about the aging thing.
"I know." She answered in barely a whisper.
"We've never lost before."
"We've never been married before."
A long, dead silence came between them as reality itself became more and more real. Any minute now, a giant ship could land and take Ryoko away forever. At least let her marry him first, and be known as Ryoko Masaki for real for a minute. Finally he spoke up. "See you in a couple hours."
Pulling her hand back, she waved goodbye. "See you then Tenchi."
"Love you Ryoko." She could have no idea how much he wanted to hold her and tell her that everything was all right.
"I love you."
He stood awhile longer, listening to the leaves brush against her skin as she raced towards the Shrine. He really was lucky to have her. As so many times before, he thanked fate for throwing them together, and the stars up above for making the right decision.
* * *
"Ryoko, there you are!" Sasami cried happily, standing at the top of the stairs to the shrine. Turning back to the bridesmaid procession following her, she called down to them, "Hey you guys I found her!"
Aeka was the first to come up. "Ryoko! Don't you ever do that to us again!" She came to the bride's side at a gallop, with Ryoko remaining as calm as ever, hands drawn to her sides. "Do you hear me?"
"She hears ya, but I bet my atomic charger that she's not listening."
The pirate beamed, "Damn straight."
"Oh Ryoko!" Mihoshi made a beeline from the steps. She gave Ryoko a bear hug, then straightened back, brushed away all the imaginary dust on the ivory kimono, and turned serious. "You really shouldn't go running off like this, not in your condition."
"Mihoshi!" her partner screamed as she came to the other two standing with a miffed and confused Ryoko.
"Huh?"
What condition?
"Look Bubble-brain," she threatened, pulling the blond away by the large lavender collar. "I told you that there isn't a baby."
"Baby?"
But before Ryoko could have her questions answered, Washu had pulled her into the woods. "We only have approximately one hour and thirty-five minutes left until you make your vows."
"I know, but what were they-"
Washu looked up from brushing away the loose petals and twigs caught in the kimono. "Crossed wires . . . that's all."
Submitting to the whims of the scientist, Ryoko stood with hood drawn, sparkle in her eye, ready for the main event to commence.
* * *
"Alright!" Odosuoni yelled as the other maps blinked off and descended into darkness, leaving only the Islands of Japan. The ship was hovering just off the coast of New Zealand, a mere hour from Japan by space. "Now let's get Okayama on gear and move out!"
* * *
"Wow . . . it's so beautiful." Mihoshi exclaimed, looking about her as she made her way through the aisle made by the separation rows of chairs. On one side was Tenchi's immediate family, on the other were his friends from school. Mihoshi only recognized a couple of his classmates, but none of the actual aunts and uncles. It wasn't a very big gathering, just the people who mattered most to the Groom, since the bride had no family to speak of.
"Will you watch where you're going?" Kiyone gave her a little shove, throwing her partner out of her thoughts. Behind Kiyone was Washu, and behind her, Sasami. Last, but never least was Aeka, with Ryo-ohki hopping behind. After every girl had made their presentation, they came to kneel on the ground leading to the Shrine office stairs, facing the seated guests. Heads bowed, as the Shinto priest appeared at the edge of the clearing, each woman had her fingers crossed in her lap, giving the bride a nudge if any should be needed.
Yosho came to stand in front of the girls, at the head of the chair rows, and opened a large tome in his hands.
All lay silent. The wind whipped, tossing unbound hair and flower petals alike up from their respective grounds. Then suddenly, from out of the left corner of the guest's vision came the groom, dressed down in almost black mandarin collar coat and sheer wide-leg pants, his growing hair tied at the nape of his neck with a single blue ribbon. His head raised, Tenchi walked forward to meet his bride.
At the same time, Ryoko had also appeared, shuffling in from the right. The ivory kimono that she wore glistened like new fallen snow in the sun's light. Her head bowed, she walked quietly along, face completely covered in shadow. As she neared their meeting place, the intricate stitching on the hems of hood, sleeves, and kimono rim became much clearer to the guests. They were in fact tiny silver balls, sewn in 3D star- bursts; each swapping places with a gold leaf from time to time. It was symbolic of their marriage; silver stars from space for the bride and golden foliage from Earth for the groom.
Drawing nearer and nearer to stand in front of Yosho, both Tenchi and Ryoko suddenly stopped and looked up. For high above them was a ship, dark almost blood red in color, streaming a line of blackened carbonic steam, which shattered as it touched the cool atmosphere.
Screams of horror wrenched themselves from the guests as the red dot became larger and larger until a white flash of light blinded their vision, followed by an explosion behind the Shrine. Then another between the fallen bride and groom.
By this time, the Masaki family had thrown themselves to the ground, covering their heads and necks with flailing hands. The guests had ran down the steps back to the house where their cars were parked and were most likely never coming back to the quiet countryside of Okayama ever again.
Meanwhile, back up at the Shrine, the blasts were still pelting the hillside. The women were screaming, trying to run for the cover of the forest. Tenchi came to Ryoko's side, dodging the smoldering crater blown between them. Still conscious, she got up and ran hand in hand along with her love, in the direction the others had gone. Subconsciously, only a few knew where it was safe . . . Washu's old cave.
Pushing her little sister ahead of her, the two Juraians collapsed at the entrance of the cave, Sasami sobbing out of fear, and Aeka frozen with thoughts for the others. Kiyone and Mihoshi had been right behind them . . .
BOOM!
The smoke from a recent blast shrouded the two GP officers as they came running and coughing to the cave entrance. Composing themselves, Aeka and Sasami pulled them in and, all together, withdrew themselves from the entrance, and started to recede farther within the rocky lair. Again the ground shook, this time knocking Kiyone off her feet and onto the floor.
"Damn!" She swore under her breath, but a smile passed through her lips when Sasami held out a hand to help her up.
The little princess suddenly looked around her and pondered, "Where are Tenchi and Ryoko?"
"And Washu?" Mihoshi wondered aloud. "And Grandfather and Mr. Masaki?"
"Great, we're separated again!" Aeka slid down the cave wall to sit against it and stretched out her legs. Taking a breath, she rubbed her face exasperatedly.
"Of all the times that EVIL could've attacked." Kiyone mumbled, slunking down opposite Aeka.
"Well, I'll tell you one thing. We've been together long enough to know that we seek out each other when there's trouble. Chances are they're all together like we are now." Aeka told them, lighting each face with a flicker of hope.
"Do you think so Aeka?"
"If you think about it Sasami, you will too."
Kiyone grabbed a loose pebble and threw it down the dark corridor. "Where could they be?"
"Hey," the light blue pigtails of the second princess jerked up in alarm. "Where's Ryo-ohki?"
* * *
"How could this have happened?"
Ryoko sighed, burying her head deeper into her fiancé's chest. "I knew something was going to happen today besides a wedding . . . "
Tenchi's father looked up in despair. "You two were so close, just so close - a couple minutes and you would at least have been legally married."
Both Tenchi and Ryoko looked up solemnly and replied in unison. "Please don't remind us,"
"Well, since we're not winning or losing any battles in here, let's go." Ryoko abruptly moved out of his arms and stood at the entrance to the basement. Leaning against the frame with her right shoulder. Ryo-ohki scrambled up to the left one in support. "They ruined my wedding . . . my day," She started, her back to the Masaki men. "I intend to let EVIL know exactly what I think about interruptions." Looking over her right shoulder, Tenchi saw the wetness that her eyes held. This was really important to her. "Tenchi?"
He nodded to the men standing aside him and came up behind her. "Ryoko." Linking his arm through hers, they ascended the stairs in respectful silence.
The other Masaki men stood in awe of their bravery and love.
* * *
"MIYA!" Ryo-ohki screamed as she sped towards the Shrine, where the red, roughly same-sized ship was sending blast after blast after blast.
"Show 'em Ryo-ohki!" Ryoko bit at the words harshly, a crazed expression on her face as she sent her ship careening up into the atmosphere at top speed. They came back at full momentum, using the air current as a slide to skim the treetops and send the red orbs directly into EVIL's ship. They crashed into what appeared to be the hull, making it teeter wildly as it tried to stay level with space and ground.
"Ha!" The space pirate leaned in closer to the orbs which she piloted and pushed them forward, giving Ryo-ohki a spurt of energy to skirt the ship, soar over the range, and come back for another pass.
"Uh Ryoko," Tenchi managed through a gulp, "You're beginning to scare me."
"Beginning to?" Ryoko answered back with a coy smirk.
He looked her up and down, taking in the image of his soon-to-be-wife-if- she-didn't-get-killed-first completely at ease in her element. She had taken off the wedding kimono, folding it neatly into a cement safe and buried it ten feet under the floorboards of the living room, then had donned her black and red battle suit. He, himself had done practically the same thing with his ceremonial garb, and taken on his Juraian Samurai outfit that Azaka and Kamidake had presented him at his departure from the royal planet.
"Damn it!" Ryoko cursed loudly, swinging Ryo-ohki out of the way of an oncoming blast, the edge of the projectile skimming along one of the ship's 'wings'. As if to join her pilot's rage, Ryo-ohki let out a blood-curdling scream of pain.
"Is she okay?" Tenchi asked, leaning in with her as she wove through the range, coming back at a different angle of attack. He could feel Ryoko's body tense, the anxious, nervous heats emanate off her and hit him in the face.
"A bit shaken, but we've had worse," she swerved suddenly as a stray bolt from the red ship sped its way towards them. "Now all we need to do is hit the consul and we have EVIL at bay.at least for now."
"How do you know?"
"Tenchi, don't you see that," another blast shot by them, "Shit! Don't you see that pulsing beacon at the top? That's a static signal, meaning that's where the navigation, control, life-support systems are."
"You hit that, and the ship is dead?"
"Yep, and that's what I'm going to do if mister or misses EVIL doesn't mind."
Setting a firm hand on her shoulder from behind, Tenchi smiled and said, "My Ryoko, you are a fighter."
"You bet your sweet ass I am. Born and ready for this type of action."
His other hand found her cheek just as Ryo-ohki was hit again, this time on the consul orb in her center.
"Tenchi, hold on," Ryoko sent Ryo-ohki flying straight into the air, reaching the atmosphere, then Ozone layer in a matter of minutes. Ryoko rose from the levitating sitting chair and walked to the right of the control orbs. Bending, a crystal of Ryo-ohki rose from the floor and met her golden eye to golden eye. From that connection, a new, never before seen viewing screen opened directly above them.
Looking up, Tenchi held his breath and Ryoko came to his side. She wrapped her arms about him and stared up along with him. For there, hovering directly over Ryo-ohki was the mother or all ships. It stretched for miles in a great white arc, on which an acropolis of gigantic proportions sat in the middle.
* * *
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Washu screamed, pounding her fist on the happily humming machine. "Why won't you work?"
"Data input insufficient." It spat back in its electronic monotone tongue. "Data input insufficient." It repeated again, lights flashing in annoyance.
"Data input insufficient?" She asked her creation, hands on hips. Angrily, she punched the keyboard forcefully with her fingertips. "I'll give you some sufficient data." Biting her lip, she continued on, entering all information relevant from the past year or so into its memory bank. Finally, after three pages of binary code, she lurched back and pulled the red lever down hard.
The machine stalled a minute before beeping, "Data sufficient, scrolling . . . "
"Ha!" the genius leaned back in her chair, very satisfied with herself. She could hear the explosions, like mere echoes from her dimension. As soon as the first blast struck the Shrine, she had immediately teleported to the lab with the help of her first and greatest invention . . . the handheld teleporter. Since then she'd been frantically running around, hoping that some electronic computer, or splicer would spit out the information she needed to deal with this interruption.
"Data secure . . . translating . . . "
Stretching, Washu sat back up and leaned in towards the screen with a single blinking cursor. Suddenly the pages jumped as words, sentences, paragraphs started to fill the system up. Clicking back to the top, the Genius skimmed through all the technical jargon, mish-mash of computer errors and finally to the records of the ships zooming about in the Milky Way. Scrolling slowly, she finally came to the one marked, 'Abandoned'. It fit all the specifics of the one that was now wreaking havoc on the Okayama countryside, not to mention the local Shinto Shrine. Red, carbonic fuel plates, compact, a white fire only known as 'Blaze', and even a descriptive detail on where it was found.
"Wow," the little genius breathed after reading the inventory on this ship dubbed 'Cell I'. "And yet this ship has traveled across the universe without any crew to pilot it." Coming back to the location part, she read the account of the Galaxy Police officer who had discovered it. "Completely abandoned, eh? Wait," Skimming through it, she came to the description of one of the rooms. " ' . . . White, dark, but warm. It felt like someone was breathing on the back of my neck as I walked through it. Finally, opposite the front door, was a giant machine. It was triangular, about twenty feet in length, wide enough for a humanoid to lie down on. Next to it was a lever, thirty feet long, pointing out horizontally, 90 degrees to the floor. Aside from it was a standard tuner or converter of some sort, with readings of "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10" on it.'"
She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, taking in the information shining right in front of her. "Converter . . . " she pondered aloud, gazing around her lab for something that matched the description. "Could it be . . . "
From out of the corner of her emerald eye, she could see her own converter, but instead of numerical symbols, such as the mundane, '1-2-3-4 . . . ' it used physics language to explain what it did to, (And most likely bewilder) a visitor. Indeed, it matched the description proportion to proportion. It was, in fact, a dimension tuner.
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(I'm telling ya, I'm starting to like cliffhangers . . . *flashes evil grin*)