This sequel to Journies of the Brave takes place about 2 years after the original and has basically the same characters. I would suggest reading Journies of the Brave before reading this. You can look for it or ask me for it. Enjoy this leg of the story:

The wind kicked up around the two combatants as they stared each other down. They both clutched their bottakes with white knuckles and attempted to anticipate his enemies first move. Neither one of them dared to flinch towards their foe, so they stood there, letting the wind blow debris across the dirt ground. The trees sorrowful song could be heard as the wind blew through their branches and attempted to bend them in half. The leaves were a constant torrent of color that blew against the sides of the combatant's faces. The cloudy sky started to let loose a few stray rain drops, threatening to rain upon the fighters if they did not continue the fight soon.

Finally, one of them got impatient and rushed the other. A single slice of his bottake was all their was to be seen as they sped to speeds that made light look slow. A swish of a sword or a dent in the ground was the only evidence that they were even there.

No normal human could've comprehended the swiftness of their moves enough to follow them, but luckily, Ryoko wasn't even a human. She watched as her two room mates went at each other, one obviously straining to keep up with the other. She had no problem following both of their movements and grandpa, it seemed, was the same way. He sat on his front step, protected from the light rain and watching the two swing away. She looked over towards him and he waved her over. The tree branch she was sitting on was exactly fitting her ass to nicely, and neither was getting rained on, so she teleported over to his doorway.

Grandpa offered her some sake and she happily accepted as she sat down to watch the fight. She looked over at him and asked him a question, " Is there a point to them fighting? You already know who's going to win."

Without looking back at her, Grandpa responded, " You can never be sure of ones ability level until he is up against all odds."

Ryoko lifted her saucer, " Fair enough for me," and drank the entire thing in one gulp.

One of the fighters hit the ground and immediately got back up and charged. Grandpa yelled, " Watch your left!" The charging fighter got a bottake to his left side and went flying along the ground. Ryoko smiled slightly as her prediction had come true. Grandpa walked over to the fallen man and whispered some advice into his ear and wondered why his grandson, Tenchi Masaki, was having such a hard time grasping his lessons. The victor of the fight, Knucks, easily absorbed his words and style into his own, making him an amazing sword fighter. It was amazing that over the two years they had trained together, Knucks had left Tenchi in the dust.

Knucks was down on one knee, breathing heavily because of the added weight of his tank top. Ryoko looked down at him and asked, "What's wrong? Tired?"

Knucks looked up at his girlfriend and laughed. Ryoko and himself had grown together even more over the last two years. Even though they were an item within the fist he arrived, they had gotten to know each other a lot more, and therefore, growing closer and closer. They still had limitations, mostly because of Tenchi and the rest of the house. The worst thing they could do was hold hands around the others, and kiss when they were alone. They weren't even allowed to sleep in the same room, but Ryoko still snuck into his room sometimes, while nothing ever happened.

Knucks refocused on her question and responded, " Just a little winded is all."

Ryoko smiled and offered her hand to him. She pulled him to his feet and held onto his hand as he asked, " What are you doing up here? Ayeka stop being fun?"

Ryoko laughed, " I had to quit bugging her because Sasami said so. Not to mention I did kinda wanted to see you."

" Really? Why on Earth would you want to see me?" Knucks pulled her a little closer to him and kissed her on the forehead, " Be right back." He walked over to the now standing Tenchi and asked, " How ya feeling?"

Tenchi caught his breath and looked up at him, " Well, I feel about the same as I look, like crap." They both chuckled a little as Grandpa left Tenchi's side and let him stand on his own. He wobbled a little, but regained his balance and extended his hand, " Good fight."

" Good fight." Knucks shook his friend's hand and tried to keep him balanced. The rain suddenly came down harder than before and forced them all to move indoors, " I guess we'd better be heading back before they send out a search party."

" Sounds like a good idea to me."

" And that's where I come in boys," Ryoko grabbed both men and transported them through the rain to their home. They landed on the wooden deck outside and wrung their clothes out a little before going inside.

Knucks' shirt weighed a lot more than it usually did, and was a pain to get off. Tenchi was as wet as he was, and Ryoko was almost completely dry, " How on Earth aren't u soaking wet?"

Ryoko smiled, " Because I'm smarter than your average alien." She made a face at the both of them and laughed. Knucks looked at Tenchi and they knew they were thinking the same thing. They both stuck their hands out from under the awning and got a hand full of water and threw it on Ryoko.

Ryoko's face went from happy to shocked in record time. She frantically wiped at her clothes in a useless attempt to get the water off. She was now freezing cold, and looked up to see Knucks and Tenchi running away from her. She instantly teleported and snagged both of them up, flew over the lake, and dropped them in.

Knucks and Tenchi both struggled to break the surface of the lake to get air. Knucks reached the top first and took a deep breath while wiping the water from his eyes. He thought he heard Ryoko's unmistakable laughter, but didn't see her above the lake. Tenchi's head emerged from the water and choked up a little bit of water while Knucks started to swim to shore. He and Tenchi came to the closest shore line and saw a laughing Ryoko staring down at them, laughing her head off, " Wow. How'd you guys get so wet?"

Knucks smiled and looked at Tenchi before he grabbed her ankle and threw her into the middle of the lake. He quickly got out of the water and pulled Tenchi out before telling Ryoko, " Probably the same way you just did honey!"

No sooner did he say this than did he see Ryoko's head pop out of the water, with her eyes glowing red. Knucks saw this and knew it was time to start running, and Tenchi knew better than to get between her and her prey, so they ran in separate directions.

Knucks found himself laughing as he ran from Ryoko. He knew that he would be in trouble if she caught him, but she wouldn't be catching him anytime soon. He stopped and turned around to see a giant column of water shoot into the air. He now thought that he might've gone a little overboard and running away was definitely a good idea. He removed his weighted shirt and tossed it on a nearby branch, easily tripling his speed. He prepared to take off again when he heard something from the nearby woods. He turned to the tree that he set his weights on, but they were now being drug on the ground into the woods be something unknown.

Knucks had no idea what was dragging his shirt, but he ran after it anyways. He dodged branches and roots while trying to keep track of his shirt. The low light in the woods made it near impossible to see the many things protruding from the soft soil. He saw sunlight up ahead, which couldn't be so since it was cloudy outside. The opening in front of him in the dark woods seemed to be getting smaller as he got closer. He ran faster and dove through the hole, just before it closed.

Knucks rolled a little bit right into a puddle of water. He stood up and took a few steps backwards. He silently cursed himself and thought, ' I'm never going to get dry at this'

Suddenly, the puddle he was just in evaporated at an incredible speed. All of the water had been dried up in a matter of seconds, even on his clothes. He looked up to find the source of the light, but he found no sun, just intertwining branches that shown light through its cracks, like a hand sewn blanket had been placed over the sun. The small meadow he had stumbled into seemed to be a peaceful place, with small flowers, lush green grass, and one giant tree in the center of it all. The tree itself looked as natural as the rest of the place, but Knucks felt a power in it he hadn't felt for a long time.

Yet another weird thing about this place was that there was no animal life to be found. Only plants seemed to inhabit the small paradise. There was a relaxing warmth to the air and a welcoming energy, seemingly pulling him towards the tree itself. It made for an overwhelming urge to just let go and fly at the tree, as if to embrace it.

Knucks heard a small fit of laughter, like that of a child's, coming from the tree itself, but he couldn't move immediately because of the relaxation effect of this enchanted forest. He couldn't force his limbs to move as quickly as he wanted them to. The tree creaked and moaned as a small girl stepped out of the tree, and it reminded him of how Ryoko phased through things.

Knucks stored the information away in his already hazy mind and tried to focus what little attention he had to the little girl stepping out of a tree in front of him. He reached back for his bottake to find it long gone, probably in the lake somewhere. He knew he could barely stand, let alone walk, but he still tried to take a wobbly step forward, only to fall flat on his face. He had vaguely realized that he had tripped on something and looked back at his feet to see what it was. He had found what he came here for, his weighted shirt, but now it didn't seem that he could leave as easily as he came in. His arms felt like ooze and his feet where under his weight, making it near impossible for him to lift them in his current state. He felt his eyes getting heavy in exhaustion he had never felt before. His senses went wild every moment he closed his eyes, hearing a thousand laughs and seeing ghastly faces, forcing him to do the opposite of what his body wanted.

Suddenly, all of the relaxing feelings and exhaustion went away and Knucks felt his energy returning. He slowly stood up and regained his composure as the little girl turned towards him. She had been looking at the tree, and she had also been a ghost but minutes earlier. She walked slowly towards him, her feet never quite touching the ground. He kept his guard up, despite her calm look and friendly smile, he would not be caught with his guard down. She stopped just a few feet from him and spoke, " What business do you have here?"

She spoke with a soft child voice, full of innocence and yet, a certain commanding under note to her voice forced Knucks to answer, " Just trying to get what's mine." The young girl's eyes widen slightly and Knucks felt the exhaustion take him into a deep slumber.

----------------------------------

Ryoko helped Tenchi off of the ground and wondered where in the hell Knucks was. She had flown after him after he had thrown her in the lake, but she was only able to find Tenchi. Knucks, according to Tenchi, ran in a different direction than him, making it harder to find him, " We'd better keep looking for him. He might be in trouble."

Tenchi brushed himself off a little bit as he heard Ryoko speak. It was funny how she wanted his help after tackling him to the ground looking for Knucks, " I say we go back home. Washu will know where he is and they'll be getting worried about us too. Knucks an handle himself, and if he were in trouble he would be fine. I don't want to leave him out here either."

Ryoko looked around the trees, to thick for even her feline eyes to see through. She knew Knucks was a big guy and nobody would give him any trouble, but she still had a bad feeling about just leaving out here to fend for himself, " How bout you go back and tell everyone what happened while I stay out here and look a little bit more okay? And tell Washu to open her link with me so I can actually talk to her."

Tenchi was about to protest when she lifted herself off of the ground and began to float above the trees, " Wait!"

Ryoko stopped, " Oh what now Tenchi!"

Tenchi scratched the back of his head and asked coyly, " Will you at least give me a lift home?"

Ryoko rolled her eyes and then an idea struck her, " Even better Tenchi! I'll give you the ability to fly there!"

Tenchi's eyes lit up, " Really? I can fly?"

Ryoko landed on the ground, smiled, and lifted Tenchi off the ground by the arm, " Sure! Anybody can fly, you just have to have the right motivation. Are you ready?"

Tenchi shook his head, and Ryoko brought her arm with him in it back and threw him forward, " Have a nice flight!"

Ryoko waved him off and chuckled slightly as she could hear his wail for help. She saw him land right in front of the house and pumped her fist at her accuracy. Her smile wore off slightly as she turned back towards the dark woods and felt a rain drop splash on her hand. She cursed mother nature before zooming towards the trees, looking for her boyfriend.