Disclaimer - Tenchi and the crew are unfortunately not my property. I had no part in creating them, though I am desperately trying to figure out how to give myself Ryoko's abilities. I am not writing this for the purpose of making money, though if any kind souls see fit to give donations I will not complain. I am writing merely because I'm an obsessive person in general and I really need to get it out of my system. Mayhem is my creation however, and anyone using him without my OK will anger the Great Shaven Cat Goddess and cause her to sic her elite pack of Killer Llamas on you. Criticism is welcome, flames are ignored, praise will inflate my ego greatly, and make sure I actually finish this one-day. Enjoy.
Many thanks to my talented editor, and fellow fanfic author, for his help in making this readable. THANK YOU DREZ!!!!
Mayhem, Chaos, and General Messes
Chapter 4
Storytime & InterruptionsIt was a beautiful day by almost anyone's standards. The sun was shining, there were only a few small, scattered, cottony, clouds in the sky, the birds were singing and all that other fun happy stuff humans generally associate with a nice day was going on. Which in of itself was kind of unusual considering the fact that this nice day was going on around the Masaki shrine. Usually by this time of day all the birds had been scared away by the sound of explosions and other assorted violence, and the air would already smell of ozone and burnt vegetation. The reason for this relative quiet can be found in the living room, and is extremely nervous.
Mayhem had settled himself on one of the living rooms comfortable array of seats while the group waited for Washu to fish out the equipment she needed from her lab. Ryoko stood behind him, her arms crossed in front of her, her body language tense and alert. Ayeka had chosen to take one of the seats nearest to him, acting as a barrier between him and the rest of the group. He shot her a small, thankful smile for this, which she replied to with a slight smirk and a barely noticeable nod of acknowledgment.
The place beside Ayeka was taken by Sasami, who leaned against her Sister, obviously trying not to nod off as they waited for Washu to get her equipment together. Guilt twisted his heart in his chest once again at the sight of the exhausted child. The odd little half-cat half-rabbit creature that he'd vaguely noticed following the group before rested in the little girls lap, nuzzling up against her. On the other side of Sasami the boy, Tenchi, if he remembered the name correctly, sat eyeing him with obvious curiosity.
Kiyone sat across from him. Idly playing with her sidearm and occasionally shooting him a stern, warning, glare. Beside her, the second GP officer just sat staring at him, her face scrunched up in thought, looking slightly confused. Finally she stopped chewing on her lip and asked him a question, raising her had to get his attention. "Umm... Do you want a snack or something Mr. Mayhem?" she asked, her voice friendly.
"A snack?" he asked, genuinely surprised. The rest of the people in the room merely settled for groaning softly or rolling their eyes at Mihoshi's question. Kiyone stopped playing with her gun to rub her temples in an attempt to ward of the migraine she could feel starting to form.
"Well yeah!" she responded brightly "I mean, you must think we're the rudest people in the whole universe at this point, the way everyone is acting!"
He couldn't help it, he really couldn't, all the guilt, all the tension of the past few days, and the absurdity of Mihoshi's statement did him in. He started laughing, and kept on laughing until his stomach muscles were aching and he was on the floor. All the tension in the room seemed to disappear all at once as the confused group watched one of the most feared criminals in the galaxy roll helplessly on the floor, trying desperately to catch his breath and regain a semblance of control. Ayeka knelt beside him and asked him if he was all right, which only succeeded in setting off a new round of giggles.
"Well he's lost it." Ryoko commented snidely, though he could hear a slight chuckle in her voice when she said it.
Ignoring the comment for the moment, he pushed himself into a sitting position and with considerable effort brought himself back under control. "Actually, I could use a snack Miss..." He raised an eyebrow in question, giving the blonde young woman a broad smile.
"Mihoshi!" she answered returning his smile. "I'll be right back." she said cheerily and stood up to get something from the kitchen.
"Oh, Mihoshi, one other thing..."
"Yes Mr. Mayhem?" she asked turning around to look at him, her expression curious, but still cheerful.
"Thank you." He said, smiling gratefully.
"Your welcome!" and with that she bounced off to the kitchen, humming absently to herself.
Hoisting himself back onto his seat he gave the watching group an embarrassed grin. "Sorry, didn't mean to go nuts on you just then... but I really needed that. It's been a tense few weeks for me. Even if I ignore what's happened over the past three days or so."
"If the police reports I've read are even halfway accurate, I believe it." Washu remarked as she entered the room, hauling a cart piled high with vaguely sinister looking machinery. "Now if you'll hold still while I set everything up." With that she started plugging things in, taping sensors to various parts of his body... and to top things off, an oversized, light and sensor studded, helmet that looked like it came straight out of an old B-movie. "If this light turns red your lying, if it turns yellow your telling us the truth but leaving something out, if it stays green your telling the truth." She explained briefly, pointing at an oversized light above one readout screen.
"Umm... is all this really necessary?" he asked nervously as she finished hooking everything up and Mihoshi rejoined the group. She placed a tray of snacks on the table before plopping back into her seat to watch, munching happily on a cookie.
"Unless you really want to wait a day or so for me to make a refined version of the machine..." Washu let her voice trail off, an amused smirk on her face.
"Ummm... so what's next then?" he answered quickly, absently grabbing a cookie from the tray.
"Why don't you just tell them what you've told me Keith." Ayeka suggested softly, ignoring the looks the rest of the group gave her when she called him by his previously unknown first name. "Or at least an edited version." she amended upon noticing the pained look he gave her at the suggestion.
Settling back into his chair with a sigh he began his story. "Well, I was on a cross country trip to visit my grandparents..."
It was freezing out under the starlit desert night, and he was cursing his rotten luck that his car had decided to die a good ten miles from anywhere. Of course just about every place in New Mexico was a miles from anywhere. He probably would have been more surprised if the van had broken down in town or even near a house. It was his own fault for trying to get the last hundred miles to his Grandparents place out of the way that night, but still.
"Well at least I had my hiking pack with me." He muttered under his breath as he readjusted said pack to a more comfortable position. Of course, as comforting as it's presence was, the packs weight was still more than enough to slow him down.
That's why the lights he saw on the horizon an hour after he'd left were extremely encouraging. Right up to the point the got close enough for him to tell that they were a good dozen meters off the surface of the road. It was enough to give him a really bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and bringing to mind years of UFO specials on TV. The fact that it, whatever it was, was completely silent didn't help. He found himself suddenly glad that he'd emptied his bladder just a few minutes before, otherwise he may very well have pissed his pants then and there.
The beam of white light that engulfed him a few seconds later really just confirmed his fears. He had just enough time to let out a shocked "Crap." before he lost consciousness.
"You were kidnapped?" Mihoshi exclaimed, surprised. "How awful!" Kiyone rolled her eyes at her partners question, trying to figure out how she managed to miss the irony of the statement.
"Abducted." he corrected with a pained smile. "I don't think they were specifically going after me."
"Please, continue Keith." Tenchi encouraged.
"Well anyway..."
When Keith woke up he had a migraine that made his head feel like it was going to cave in. That and the slowly fading numbness he felt every place else were the only things he could really notice for a while. The next thing he noticed was the background noise. Keith could hear hushed voices that could have come from any human mouth mixing with whistles, growls, hoots, and a dozen other noises he couldn't relate to anything he'd ever heard before. The next sense that returned to him was his sense of smell. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, all Keith could smell was himself and the heavily recycled air of wherever he was. His sense of touch returned to him shortly after as the last of the numbness faded. It was cold, not unbearably so, but enough to notice, and he was lying one a hard surface made of what felt like wood. All and all it wasn't terribly pleasant.
It took him a good 15 minutes or more after that before Keith could even open his eyes. The scene that greeted him when he did though wasn't anything like what he'd expected. He found himself in a dimly lit cell... bare except for what must have been a toilet, a sink, and the tiny cubbyhole he was resting in. The presence of his pack in one corner just confused him. "Why the hell did the leave me my pack... I'm mean they took the time to take it off me, why'd they leave it in the cell with me?" He muttered to himself, pleased to find that he could at least talk.
"Actually they didn't do anything but dump you in the cell." came a soft, slightly throaty voice from above. A second later a pair of rather well formed legs swung into view from above. "I'm the one who took your pack off and put you there." With that the person hopped down from their perch.
The young looking girl that jumped down was slightly shorter than him despite the fact that she stood on her toes, her feet seemingly a cross between a humans and a cats. She was covered in a thin, extremely fine layer of tawny fur that did nothing to conceal the sleek form and toned muscles underneath it. Her ears were in the right place, give or take a few centimeters, but they were longer, with pointed ends standing well away from her head and ending in tufts of pure black fur that matched the mane that tumbled from her head to about halfway down her back. A long tail swayed lazily behind the cat-girl, a black tuft of fur at its end matching the ones on her ears. Her slit-pupiled eyes flashed silver in the dim light and she gave him a grin that displayed a fairly impressive set of fangs. Her clothes were rather simple, a pair of shorts modified to give her tail freedom of movement and a white tank top that left her stomach bare. Keith absently noted that she did have a belly button.
"Hey, no need to stare, you look pretty odd to me too Hun." the cat-girl said after a bit, obviously a bit amused at his reaction.
Keith furrowed his brow and listened closely as she spoke. "Your not speaking English are you?" despite how he phrased it, it wasn't really a question.
The girl shrugged, the gesture doing interesting things to her suddenly all-to-human form. "And your not speaking Tahklatian." she replied glibly. She parted her hair to reveal a small scar just behind her ear. "Everybody here has one, I think they implanted a translation device of some sort when they snatched each of us."
Keith felt behind his ear and rubbed at the new scar, even that small movement was a real effort. "Why?" he asked quietly. "I mean why did they take us, why did they do any of this? Whoever they are."
"I don't know." the girl admitted with a shrug, taking a seat on the edge of his, for lack of a better word, bed. "I actually got her at the same time you did, more or less. You've been unconscious for 5 of this places days."
"Five days?" he asked, surprised.
"Yep." she confirmed, "How are you feeling anyway? You haven't moved more than an inch since you woke up."
"Like someone's been using me as a punching bag for all of those five days." he responded with a slight groan. "So, what's your name anyway?" he asked after a quick, completely ineffective attempt at sitting up.
"My Clan name is Talia." she answered. "My truename is knowledge you'll have to earn. You?"
He raised an eyebrow at this but shot her a quick grin as he answered. "Well, my friends all call me Mayhem. I'll tell you my real name when you tell me your truename."
She gave him a wry grin before giggling slightly. "Fair enough Mayhem."
"It took me a week or so before I was back on my feet." Keith explained, "So I didn't meet any of the other residents of the ship for a bit. I just learned what Talia did. She'd bring me food from the mess hall and tell me what she'd learned during that day." he said, a small, wistful smile on his face.
"So did you ever find out who kidnapped you?" Mihoshi asked, her eyes wide.
"That was the easy part actually. They didn't really try and hide it." He met Mihoshi's wide blue eyes as he answered. "Slave Traders." Mihoshi and Sasami both gasped. Kiyone's face got hard, a tight-lipped frown marring her normally lovely features. Washu just nodded slightly, though Keith could smell a wave of anger radiate from her at the revelation. Ryoko and Tenchi exchanged a brief glimpse, their expressions surprised. Ayeka, who had heard this before, reached over and gave his hand a brief, encouraging squeeze.
"Well anyway, from what we gathered from the other prisoners what they'd do is grab individuals from pre-star travel worlds and sell them to whoever was willing to pay the price they asked." He scowled briefly before adding "Apparently it was considered a mark of high status in certain circles."
"Did you ever find out why you got so sick that first week or so?" Tenchi asked, a small frown on his face despite the curious note in his voice.
"Errr..." Mayhem rubbed the back of his head nervously as he thought about how to answer the question. "Have any of you seen any security footage of me fighting?"
Washu, Kiyone, Tenchi, and Ryoko nodded almost in union to indicate that they had, the rest of the group just got blank looks on their faces.
"Well, those of you who have may have noticed that I'm a bit faster and stronger than the human norm."
"That's one way of putting it." Washu commented with a smirk. "No normal human should be capable of half the stuff you did in the fights I saw, but then again your not exactly a normal human are you?"
"Well..."
For the past three weeks the routine had been almost mind-numbingly unchanged. Twice a day for about an hour at a time they were herded out of their cell by an imposing guard that towered over him by a good two feet. If that had been all, he might have considered making a break for it. However, as imposing as the guard was, the gun he carried was even more so. Add that to the fairly obvious remote weapons mounted at intervals along the corridor ceiling... and both he and Talia agreed that cooperation would be the wisest course of action.
After leaving the cell they would be taken to the mess hall. A large room filled to the brim with narrow metal tables with narrower metal benches... all bolted securely to the floor of course. The walls were bare hull plating, with one large window looking out into space on one side. This wasn't there to keep the prisoners happy. Instead the fact that it was obviously designed to open served as an implied threat about what might happen if they got out of hand.
As best they could tell groups of prisoners with similar physical needs would be brought in at regular intervals and were given a half hour to eat. (He was pretty sure that the group before theirs breathed an entirely different atmosphere because the room always smelled slightly of sulfur for the first ten minutes or so of their time there.) The other prisoners ranged widely in shape and form. There were three or four that could have passed for humans if you didn't look too closely. Others were actually rather like Talia, their basic physiology more or less humanoid, but with traits that were far from human. One individual looked like a centaur straight out of a Greek myth... so long as you ignored the fact that his facial features were proportioned wrong. The rest... were alien enough that he really didn't have anything specific to compare them to.
One in particular stood out among them though. It was about as tall as he was but considerably more massive. He was pretty sure it qualified as a vertebrate, but the chintinous plates and spines that studded it's skin hid most of the details of it's anatomy. Even it's arms were hidden most of the time. All three of them would blend in with the rest of the creature's body to the point that they were practically invisible when It wasn't making use of them. The end result was that it looked like little more than a three-legged ball of black spines. If that had been all Keith probably wouldn't have paid much attention to the odd creature, as it came from an extremely primitive world, and really didn't have much to offer to the conversations. It never even bothered to give a name or planet of origin. The reason it stood out so much was it's behavior.
For the first few days it simply hid in the darkest corner it could find and watched the room. After that it started focusing in on some of the smaller prisoners, nine tiny red eyes peering out from among the spines. Finally after about the tenth day after Keith first started going to the mess hall, it happened. One of the smallest prisoners, a tiny, fox-like humanoid named Fanrel that had managed to endear herself to a number of the other people in their group got to close. It moved almost to fast for him too see, one black clawed hand snaking out to grab the tiny girl by one of her legs. He heard a snap as her leg broke and pale pink blood stained her clothing as it's claws bit deeply.
He was moving before he even realized it. Several of the other prisoners close behind him. He didn't even feel the change, despite the fact that it was radical enough to pop every button off his flannel shirt and shred the sleeves. The furred, clawed hand that took the Things arm off at the halfway point didn't phase him, as he was too busy getting Fanrel as far away from It as he could. It's high pitched wailing and the stomach-wrenching smell that accompanied the thick black ichor that dripped from it's severed limb were bad enough that he didn't notice anything had happened to him even after he got the small being away from it.
"Why did you steal my prey from me Demon!" The thing shrieked, it's high pitched, clicking manner of speech grating even after being translated into something he could understand.
"Your ""Prey"" is a sentient being!" Talia growled from beside him, answering for him while he busied himself in removing the severed limb from Fanrel's leg and treating the wounds as best he could, while trying not to throw up from both the smell of the ichor and the sight of the small beings wounds.
"It is not of my people! It is rightfully prey!" the Thing screeched back. "If it is not strong enough to defend itself it is for whatever can catch it to consume!"
Talia was practically shaking with rage. "You so much as touch any other person in this room and I swear to the Mother I will rip you in half and use your sorry carcass as a toilet." She hissed, her claws extended.
It hissed back and spread it's spines, it's two uninjured arms coming into full view, the central one displaying an oversized, blade-like spine, as it took a few skittering steps in her direction. The only thing that stopped it from turning into a to-the-death fight was the hiss of gas being pumped into the room. The entire group was unconscious in a matter of seconds.
"When I woke up back in my cell later on I hadn't reverted to my normal form yet." He shot the group a broad smile, showing off a set of fangs that would have looked perfectly at home on a lion. A set of fangs that hadn't been present the last time he opened his mouth. Mihoshi yelped and fell off of her seat, Sasami gasped quietly, but the demonstration only warranted raised eyebrows from the rest of the group.
"Well that explains why that one guy screamed so loud in the security footage." Washu remarked dryly. Keith blushed red at the comment.
"You mentioned fur." Tenchi observed. "Exactly how extensive is the change?"
"Well I have fairly complete control of it at this point, so I usually don't go much beyond fangs and claws." He began, "The complete change though... well, any of you know what a werewolf is?"
"Like in those Earth horror movies?" Ryoko asked.
"Something like that." He said with a grin, the fangs gone again. "I stay humaniod, but my arms get a bit longer, my legs a bit shorter, gain a tail, my face gets a bit more animalistic, claws, fangs, fur, ect..." He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "Most of that's really just cosmetic stuff though. The real changes are internal, and a lot of them are more or less full-time, permanent changes."
"Well that explains the unusually dense musculature, the modified structure of your bone tissue, and the higher than average metabolism." Washu remarked. "What?" she exclaimed indignantly at the looks the group gave her. "Did you really think that all of this was for something as simple as a lie detector?" She said, gesturing at the cart of equipment.
"So anyway..." Mayhem said, giving the diminutive scientist a nervous glance.
It took him the better part of a day to figure out how to change back to his normal form. And even then he noticed that there were a few details out of place. His canines, while not quite fangs, were more pronounced than before and sharper. His hair was noticeably thicker than it had been... a fact he was actually elated about. But the most obvious thing, to him anyway, was the silver sheen his formerly green-gray eyes had taken on.
The next two weeks were uneventful. Every few days a new being would be added to the group in the mess hall, but things were relatively quiet. The Creature that had attacked Fanrel never showed up again, and the little being herself was reintroduced only a few days later, her leg in a cast but otherwise fine.
The only thing that really broke the monotony of being there was the companionship of his cell-mate. She was from a world at about the same stage of development as Earth. Perhaps a bit more advanced, but not by all that much. She was intelligent, quick witted, friendly, cute... and fast asleep.
Keith sighed slightly as he watched her sleep. Her world had a much shorter day than Earth's, and it was taking a lot of time for her to readjust to the ships day/night cycle. He'd gotten used to the twenty six and a half hour day after the first week of so, but Talia would occasionally just crash completely. Like now. When that happened it got ridiculously dull in the bare cell. He'd already re-read the books he'd had in his pack several times now, and the batteries on his gameboy were long since dead. So here he was, sitting quietly against the far wall watching Talia sleep, curled up in his sleeping bag, her delicate features serene.
It was actually not a bad way to pass the time he admitted to himself. But it still left him too much time to think. He knew his family must have been going nuts by now. His Mother was not the most level headed person at the best of times, she must have been going out of her head by now. His Father was too much like him to go entirely to pieces, but however gruff the man may have been at times, he loved his family dearly and it must have been tearing him up inside. His sister...
Keith shook his head angrily, squeezing his eyes shut against the tears he could feel forming. To distract himself he started running through a few exercises he and Talia had worked out to help him learn how to control his shape-shifting abilities. Concentrating on his fingertips he willed them to changed. The feeling of bone changing shape underneath the skin was weird, but it didn't hurt, just tingled slightly. As it changed shaped, the nail grew around it, pushing back the soft skin and giving the curved, pointed, bone underneath it a razor sharp cutting edge. That done he willed them back to their normal shape. He did this over and over again, each time trying to do it a bit faster. He'd vary their shape each time as well. Making them shorter, longer, straight, curved. He became so absorbed in the activity that he didn't notice Talia wake up.
"Aww, no fur this time?" the cat-girl asked with an exaggerated pout.
"Not this time." He replied, sticking his tongue out at her jokingly. "I personally think I'm shaggy enough as it is." He emphasized it by rubbing the ragged growth of beard on his cheeks. "Besides, one furball per cell is enough." He added the second comment with a wink and a broad smile.
"I may be furry, but I'm hardly a ball." She retorted with a wicked grin, stretching languorously on the bed to emphasize her point.
He wolf-whistled, only half jokingly, in response. "So Talia, pleasant dreams?"
Talia's face fell slightly, her smile becoming slightly sad, but before she could answer the door of the cell slid open with a hiss, two of the imposing armored guards regarding the two with cold stares. Keith and Talia exchanged confused looks; it was still a good two hours till they were due in the mess hall.
One of the guards spoke, his voice distorted by the helmet he wore. "You're coming with us. Now."
Keith could remember a time when he'd enjoyed auctions. Admittedly he'd almost never bought anything at the ones he'd attended, but seeing what people were willing to spend their money on and for what reason was always interesting. People would spend ridiculous sums of money on useless items if they were being sold for the right cause. Or if they felt the item was a sign of status. Some of the weirdest things were considered a sign of status.
For some reason though, Keith was finding it very hard to take an interest in this particular auction. At least not the kind of interest he usually took. It might have had something to do with what was being auctioned off.
"This fine specimen we captured on a primitive world called Earth." The auctioneer was a fat, jovial looking man. His deep purple hair was slicked back. Oily with whatever he used to style it. He was dressed in garish clothing that Keith assumed was expensive, if tasteless. If it hadn't been for the chains securing his hands and feet in place he probably would have kicked the man. As it was he settled for giving the crowd the most psychotic, I'm going to kill you all, type of grin he could manage, displaying the fangs he'd grown just for the purpose.
"When we originally picked him up we didn't expect much honestly." The auctioneer continued, giving his audience a conspiratorial wink. "A house-servant perhaps, maybe just a pet." The rotund man gave an exaggerated shrug when he said it, but his grin just got wider as he continued in a conspiratorial tone. "But instead we found something rather interesting buried in his genetic makeup. It was completely dormant, but we were curious, so our wonderful doctors did some tinkering to change that."
Mayhem snapped his head around sharply to glare balefully at the auctioneer, an involuntary growl starting deep in his throat. Now this... this was interesting, if more than a bit nerve-wracking. The auctioneer brought up a small device, pointing it dramatically at Keith as the lights were dimmed and a low spotlight was focused on each of them.
"And what they found..." the auctioneer paused dramatically, "was this." With that the rotund man pressed a button on the device. An arc of blue energy struck the tightly-bound Keith full in the chest, making his hair stand on end, and sent pain streaking through his body as the energy coursed across his form. Keith's initial scream turned into an anguished howl as his body changed, and his instincts took over.
Straining against the chains that held him, Keith's form seemed to ripple as blood vessels formed and expanded within muscle tissue, the muscles bulging underneath his clothing. A second ripple passed over his form as a thick brown and black pelt grew in, his hair darkening to a midnight black, the hair on his lower arms and legs following suit. His face seemed to stretch, his jaws lengthening and his teeth changing to fangs. His ears seemed to slip upward and reform, becoming purely canine. And lastly his feet stretched and his ankle almost disappeared, forcing him to stand on his toes, and popping his feet out of his boots with an audible snap as the laces broke.
Gesturing to Mayhem's feral form with a sweep of his arm, the auctioneer smiled hugely at his shocked audience. "Now, for this potential gladiator we'll start the bidding at a mere 2 million Jurai."
"Let me guess," Kiyone interrupted, "you were bought by Duke Satoshima, right?"
"Huh?" Keith blinked, trying to gather his thoughts. "Oh, no, not at that point anyway."
"Then who did they sell you to?" Tenchi asked, his voice curious.
"A middleman," Ryoko cut in, her voice dripping with disgust "A trainer of some sort probably."
"And the lovely lady gets it in one." Keith said, shooting Ryoko a small grin.
"Most of the people who could afford to buy a gladiator slave, and afford to keep one, generally thought themselves above dealing with slavers." Keith explained. "So instead, a trainer would buy potential gladiators and train them before selling them to the people who would actually have them compete. Besides, a gladiator is a big investment, what with all the pay-offs and such, no point in buying one that'll get killed first time out."
"Well that makes sense I guess." Kiyone commented with a grimace of distaste, remembering some of the encounters she'd had with slavers in the past. "You wouldn't happen to know the location of the training center, would you May... err... Keith?"
"Ummm... actually, it doesn't exist anymore." Keith responded, scratching the back of his head nervously. He shuffled his feet a bit at the curious silence that followed, looking down at the ground as he tried to avoid the group's collective gaze.
"What happened to it?" Sasami asked, cutting in before anyone else could ask.
"I burnt it to the ground." Keith responded, his voice low and dangerous as he glared at something unseen. A handful of seconds later he shook his head as if to clear it. "Sorry, bad memories." he spoke quietly into the silence.
"Anyway, you said the genetic coding for your new abilities was already present?" Washu interrupted, breaking the tense silence.
"So they said." Keith answered with a shrug. "I haven't had much opportunity to confirm it, but whichever ancestor gave me the genes may very well be the source of the whole werewolf legend in the first place. Or at least one of the sources anyway."
"Fascinating." Washu murmured softly. "Would you mind if I took some samples later?" The diminutive scientist asked in her cutest voice, trying hard to look innocent.
"What kind of samples did you have in mind Washu-chan?" Keith replied, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, an exaggerated, wolfish, grin on his face.
"Why Mr. Mayhem!" Washu replied, clasping her hands together and doing her best innocent little girl act, "Whatever could you be implying?"
"Ahem!" Ayeka interrupted before Keith could answer Washu's question, fixing them both with disapproving glares. "You two can flirt later. Right now there are more important things to discuss."
"Sorry Princess Ayeka." Keith responded in a singsong voice.
"Spoilsport." Washu added.
"Anyway... where was I again?" Keith asked.
"The gladiator training camp!" Mihoshi answered cheerily, reaching for another cookie from the table. "It's too bad Heero isn't here. I bet he'd be really interested in this story."
"H-Heero?" Keith stuttered, the color draining from his face.
The ash-gray galaxy police cruiser orbited high above the surface of the Earth, all but dead in space. Aside from it's highly unusual coloring, it's owner had heavily modified the cruiser for his own purposes. It's primary power source was built from blueprints smuggled at a high cost from the Galactic Science academy. It's weapons array included devices that had been banned by nearly every sentient race in the galaxy, and it's shields were better than anything short of a Jurian warship's light hawk wings.
In this nearly silent ship a handsome figure contemplated his next move. Elegant hands were steepled in front of him as he listened to a conversation happening several hundred kilometers below his ship on the planets surface. A thin bitter smile marred his almost beautiful features as he listened to the voice of his quarry.
"H-Heero?" Mayhem's shocked exclamation came over the speakers.
"I do believe that is my que." Heero said in an amused tone, a broad smile on his face. "Soon. Soon my Lord will be avenged. Soon the mongrel wolf will be dead, and I will be free." Heero whispered, his voice suddenly harsh. Leaning forward slightly, he let one elegant hand moving to almost casually brush across a control panel. "It is a pity about the princesses though."
Outside, two black spheres fell away from the hull of the ashen cruiser and into the atmosphere of the blue planet below.
"This Heero..." Keith started, stuttering slightly, "...about 8 cm taller than me? Long blond hair? Blue eyes? Annoyingly good-looking?"
"That's him!" Mihoshi answered cheerily.
"Oh shi..." Keith started to say.
The spheres impacted almost simultaneously, one hitting the lake with a resounding splash and consequently destroying the deck, the other taking out the storage shed and the past weeks harvest.
"What the hell was thAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Ryoko's startled outburst quickly degenerated into an anguished scream, which was joined by the pained exclamations of the rest of the group as the air was filled with a skull-splitting electronic shriek.
Rolling on the floor in pain Washu barely managed to send a quick set of mental instructions to Ryoko, who quickly let off a barrage of plasma blasts through the wall, blowing the closer of the two spheres to hell.
Staggering to her feet Washu shook her head violently trying to clear it, but merely succeeded in aggravating her already massive headache. With a practiced mental command she activated her remote terminal. Or at least tried to. "Kuso." She cursed when she realized that their attacker had also managed to put up a dimensional jammer of some sort, blocking her access to her equipment. She continued cursing in that vein for several seconds longer and in a good dozen languages when she realized that she couldn't hear anything either.
Keith could feel blood trickling out of his ears, but his hearing was already starting to return as his healing reflexes kicked in, mending his ruptured eardrums almost instantly. Looking around he could tell that the rest of the group wasn't as lucky. Ayeka, Sasami, and Kiyone hadn't been affected as badly as had been, or at least there was no blood coming from their ears, though all three of them were still on the ground. Sasami was obviously unconscious, passed out from shock. Mihoshi had blood streaming from her ears but had managed to get to her feet despite the massive amount of pain she was obviously in, similarly Washu was on her feet, but he could see the signs of shock starting to set in even from across the room as she staggered, her face almost shockingly pale. Ryoko had blood trickling from her ears as well, but was fully alert and wasn't displaying anything more than slight signs of being in pain. Tenchi staggered to his feet even as Keith watched, three glowing triangles flaring to life on his forehead even as he did so.
Almost inadvertently catching each other's eyes, Tenchi and Ryoko realized the same thing at almost the exact same time. "Mayuka!" their twin shouts made Keith wince, his ears still sensitive.
"I'll get her!" Ryoko shouted ineffectively, disappearing from view as she teleported out of the room.
The first volley of weapons fire struck an instant later.
Ryoko was still disoriented when she phased into view beside Mayuka's crib, stumbling slightly as she scooped the screaming infant into her arms. Hugging Mayuka to her chest, she unconsciously projected the whole of her defensive shields around the tiny girl just as the room around them was burnt to ash by the first few blasts of weapons fire. Ryoko fared little better then the room as the intense heat caused her dress and hair to burst into flames and nearly seared her skin off. Screaming in pain, Ryoko tried frantically to teleport while keeping the fields that were protecting the helpless child in her arms intact.
Desperately picturing Tenchi in her mind she forced herself to concentrate despite the pain. She could feel Tenchi's power flaring not ten meters away. All she had to do was get back to him and they'd both be safe.
The bolt hit her hunched form just below her right shoulder blade. Burning it's way through her abdomen before exiting briefly through her stomach and continuing on, taking her left leg off just inches below the hip. Water in the tissues around the wound flashed to vapor instantly. The resulting hydrostatic shock destroyed internal organs and shattered bone. With one final incredible act of will Ryoko teleported again.
Tenchi grimaced slightly as he concentrated on keeping his light hawk wings spread far enough to cover everyone in the room as the first volley demolished the house around him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Keith looking at him, surprise evident on his features. When he heard the by now familiar sound of Ryoko teleporting in and the scared, angry squalling of his daughter he let out a breath he hadn't been aware he had been holding, but forced himself to concentrate on keep up the shield.
Washu's scream of horror almost broke that concentration. With a muttered curse Tenchi twisted his head to see what had caused the diminutive scientist's outburst. The sight that met his eyes...
Keith watched awestruck as the shield Tenchi was creating flared, highlighting the young man's features, twisted into a gruesome mask of anguish and rage, with almost blinding white light. With an anguished scream Tenchi, pulled one of the three wings from it's place in the shield, struggling briefly to maintain the shield with only two wings, and threw it.
The Wing shot upwards faster than Keith could track, the incoming stream of weapons fire parting and dissipating around it.
Heero's eyes widened as every early warning system in his ship came alive, the cabin turning red and the scream of alarms threatening to split his skull. On little more than instinct, he wrenched the controls to one side and slammed the throttles as far forward as they'd go.
It saved him... barely. The shining wing struck his port engine. Tearing through his defensive screens and armor like they were nothing more than tissue paper. It demolished the engine, and every system near it without ever slowing down, and passed out the back of the ship in a geyser of flame and debris.
"What in the name of Tsunami was that?" Heero cursed even as his hands flew over the controls, jettisoning the damaged sections of his ship seconds before they exploded. Quickly realizing that his ship wouldn't survive another hit like that Heero brought the ship around, and ran.
"Ryoko!!!" Tenchi half screamed half sobbed as he kneeled beside the mangled form of the former space pirate.
"Don't touch her!" Washu shouted through her own tears as Tenchi began to reach for Ryoko's form. "Don't move her." she sobbed.
"Is she alive?" Tenchi asked, his voice soft and his face white.
"Yes... for the moment." Washu answered faintly, reading the young prince's lips, her face drawn and pale. "I can't access my lab." The diminutive scientist sagged obviously struggling to stay conscious. Neither she nor Tenchi noticed when Mihoshi scooped up the still crying Mayuka and cradled the child to her chest, her blue eyes wet with barely suppressed tears.
"Why not?" Tenchi asked, his voice desperate, as he grabbed Washu's shoulders, shaking her.
"Something's interfering!" she cried back at him. "And I can't..." her voice trailed of with a sob.
Keith watched them, feeling helpless. Turning away from the scene before him he set to work on helping the rest of the group. Mihoshi, tears trickling from her eyes against her will, was curled up in one of the intact chairs, murmuring softly to the infant in her arms. Kiyone had forced herself into a sitting position but obviously wasn't going to be moving anytime soon. Ayeka was awake and had pulled her still unconscious sister into her lap.
"There was a splash." Kiyone murmured, her head between her knees. Unsteadily looking up at him she elaborated. "Ryoko got the sonic weapon that hit near the shed, but whatever landed in the lake might be what's causing the interference."
Keith sprinted towards the lake, ignoring the heat from the burnt ground as it soaked through the soles of his boots. Skidding to a halt beside the lakes edge, he hissed slightly as one of his feet slid momentarily into the scalding hot water before he could stop.
"Where is it... c'mon c'mon where the goddamned hell is it!" he shouted in english as he scanned the frothing surface of the lake for something, anything that might be causing the interference. "I'm not letting you kill anyone else going after me you bastard." he muttered under his breath, the image of Heero's smirking face flashing briefly in his mind.
There! A glow, maybe 6 meters from shore. He pulled out the 9mm Kiyone had returned to him and slapped in a clip of the "special" ammunition he'd put together for hard targets.
CRACK!!! First round missed, forgot to compensate for the refraction of the water. Dammit!
CRACK!!! Second round was dead on target, but bounced off the metal shell with a dull clang he could hear through the water. To much water in the way. SHIT!
CRACK CRACK CRACK!!! Three more dull clangs as the rounds ricocheted off the objects metal skin. Fuck!!!
One option left. Backing up a few meters Keith performed a long running dive into the lake, eyes shut tight against the painfully hot water. Kicking hard he propelled himself down. His fingers brushed smooth metal, even hotter than the water, it practically burnt the skin from his fingertips. This close he could hear a low thrum emanating from the object.
Quickly placing the barrel of the gun against the objects surface, eyes still shut tightly against the burning hot water, he pulled the trigger again four times as fast as he could manage.
CRACKCRACKCRACKCRACK!!! He could hear the rounds punching through the metal skin of the object that time. The thrum died. Pushing off the lake bottom he shot towards the surface.
Washu's ethereal computer flickered to life between her and Tenchi, and the tiny scientist was typing the second it appeared. Less than five seconds later Ryoko's form was encased in a pale green bubble of energy... and Washu finally stopped forcing herself to stay conscious and passed out.
Katsuhito arrived less than a minute later, two slightly charred guardians in tow.
"Tenchi!" He yelled, skidding to a halt in the remains of the living room. "Is everyone all right?"
Tenchi just looked from his grandfather to the still, barely recognizable form of Ryoko, tears threatening to spill from his eyes at any second.
"He's in shock." Kiyone replied in Tenchi's stead, carefully getting to her feet. "Mihoshi's probably deaf until we can get her ears fixed up, but she should be all right otherwise." The teal haired detective continued, wincing slightly at the sound of her own voice. "I've got a migraine from hell, but I'm used to it at this point."
Katsuhito bit back a smirk at that.
"Washu's going to be out of it for a while... I don't think her younger form handled the shock very well and she pushed herself hard to stay conscious." Kiyone continued, her tone businesslike. "Sasami is definitely out of it, but it's just shock most likely... Ayeka's been fading in and out, but I think she'll be fine too. She can probably walk with only a little help if we need to move her. I don't think Ryo-Ohki was affected by the sonic attack itself, but when Ryoko..." her voice broke at the name and she took a deep steadying breath.
"When Ryoko was hit Ryo-Ohki went unconscious. I don't know how badly she's been effected."
"Mayuka?" Katsuhito asked quietly, his voice deceptively calm.
"She's fine." Kiyone said, a sad ghost of a smile passing briefly across her face. "Scared, mad, and very very upset... but fine. That soundproofing Washu installed in her room protected her from the sonic device for the most part... and Ryoko..."
"Ryoko saved her." Katsuhito finished for the Teal haired detective. "We should get everyone up to the shrine for now. We can decide on a course of action after everyone has been tended to."
"OH!" Kiyone exclaimed, "Keith!"
"Are you all right young man?" A grandfatherly voice asked from above Keith. "How do you feel?"
"Boiled." Keith mumbled into the warm, wet, ash he was lying on.
"I see." the voice commented wryly. "Would you like a hand up?"
"Maybe later," Keith moaned rolling over gingerly. "Who're you?"
"Ayeka's big brother." Katsuhito replied with a smirk.
"Ah... She told you that I apologized? Right?"
Mayuka had finally quieted down. The exhausted infant was dozing comfortably in Mihoshi's arms, cradled comfortably against the generous pillow that was the blonde detectives chest.
"Lucky kid." Keith muttered under his breath, a small smile curling his lips for the briefest instant before he turned his attention back to the task at hand.
Kneeling beside the elder of the Jurian princesses, Keith fished a small medical device out of the open GP med kit lying beside him. "How's that Ayeka?" He asked after a few making a few careful passes over her ears with the key chain sized object. "Can you hear me alright? No pain?"
"Yes, I'm fine... thank you." She responded after a few seconds, tearing her gaze away from Ryoko's mangled form, lying on one of Katsuhito's spare futons in one corner of the shrine, still wrapped in the green energy field that Washu had encased her in. Tenchi sat beside her in a silent vigil, answering every question directed at him in a dull monotone and as briefly as possible. Ayeka blinked back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, before continuing in a voice that held just they slightest trace of unsteadiness. "My ears are still ringing though... it makes it hard to think straight."
"Nothing I can do about that I'm afraid." Keith responded, throwing the upset girl a soft smile. After a slight pause he continued, answering her unspoken question. "As far as I can tell, the field Washu threw around Ryoko is a stasis cocoon. It's not a cure, but it'll keep her alive until she can be properly treated." Keith reassured, though even to his own ears the words sounded hollow. Not sure what else to do he wrapped an arm around the violet haired princess's shoulders and pulled her into a comforting hug.
Slightly embarrassed, but too exhausted to really object, Ayeka mumbled against his chest, "You realize of course that this is highly improper of you Mr. Mayhem."
"Hey, I'm one of the galaxies most wanted criminals... I'm not expected to be proper Princess." He answered in a teasing tone, his voice barely louder than hers, and a slightly sad smile on his features.
"You kidnapped me not more than three days ago, scared the living daylights out of me." Ayeka said with a tired, half giggle, half sob. "And now your holding me in your arms..." another giggle/sob "...and trying to comfort me."
"Life's funny that way, isn't it?" Keith responded with a soft chuckle of his own.
"Thank you." she murmured, her eyes drooping shut. She was asleep seconds later, the combination of the medicine and her own mental and physical exhaustion overtook her.
Carefully standing up, the sleeping Princess cradled in his arms, Keith padded silently over to where they had set up the makeshift beds for Washu and Sasami, setting her down gently beside her sister and covering her with one of the remaining blankets.
"Your welcome Ayeka." Keith whispered.
Standing up with a soft groan and a creak of long-abused joints Keith looked down at the row of sleeping girls with a soft, slightly sad smile. Sasami had almost immediately rolled over and snuggled up to her older sister, mumbling quietly in her sleep before settling down again. The blue haired little girl had woken up for a brief period shortly after they had evacuated everyone to the Temple with the assistance of two slightly charred, but intact Guardians and Tenchi's Grandfather. She hadn't been awake for long though, quickly falling asleep from the medication Keith had given her. They hadn't told her about Ryoko yet. She didn't need any additional shocks. She was sleeping peacefully and would probably be fine by morning though.
Washu on the other hand... The petite scientist was asleep, but he doubted she was actually getting any useful rest. She was tossing and turning fitfully in her sleep, her face ghostly pale and strained. Her hair was matted, and she was drenched in sweat despite the fact that it was a fairly cold in the temple. Her expression was heartbreaking. Tears occasionally trickling from the corners of her eyes as she mumbled unintelligibly into her pillow, the sounds occasionally turning into soft shuddering sobs that shook her petite frame.
Silently moving over to kneel beside the distressed girl, Keith brushed Washu's hair out of her eyes and readjusted the covers around her. "C'mon girl, relax." her whispered trying to take his voice as soothing as possible.
"Ryoko..." Washu cried softly, the name trailing off into another round of sobs.
"Hush," Keith whispered, squeezing the sleeping girls shoulder, trying the comfort her. "Your friend will be fine until you've recovered. You saw to that Washu-chan." he whispered. "The other girls aren't giving this much trouble, so why are you?"
"RYOKO!" Washu shouted sitting up suddenly. Keith landed on his butt with a heavy thump in an effort to avoid having his nose broken by her forehead.. "Where is she?" Washu slurred, looking frantically around the room with blurry, unfocused eyes.
"She's over there." Keith said pointing towards the appropriate corner of the shrine. "The stasis field is holding steady and while she's certainly not getting better she's not going to get any worse either." Keith reassured, scrambling to kneel beside the distraught girl again.
"Let me see her." Washu mumbled, trying rather unsuccessfully to get to her feet.
"Later, right now you need to get some rest and let your system recover." Keith said, trying to gently push her back down onto the futon. "You're not going to be of any help to Ryoko in this condition."
"He's right Washu." Tenchi's soft voice came from just behind Keith.
"Chan!" Washu reprimanded, sounding very much like an overly tired child.
"Hai, Washu-chan" Tenchi replied with a ghost of a smile. "Keith-san's still right though. You need your rest."
"But my daughter..." Washu protested weakly, her voice trailing off into an incoherent mumble.
"I'll make sure nothing else happens to her until you wake up." Tenchi promised, gently pushing Washu back down onto the futon and covering her back up with the blanket.
"Y'd bttrr..." Washu mumbled threateningly before falling into an exhausted slumber.
"Daughter?" Keith asked quietly as Tenchi stood back up to go back to his place beside Ryoko's still form.
"It's a long story." Tenchi answered, his voice the one of a man who was really not up to telling a long story.
"It'll wait." Keith answered quickly. "You should get some rest too." he added a few seconds later as Tenchi took his post sitting beside Ryoko, leaning against the wooden wall of the shrine.
"Goodnight Keith-san." was Tenchi's only reply.
End Chapter 4