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 5, Part 1
Setting Out"Well, the long range comm. array's shot." Kiyone groaned, pulling herself out from the tight maintenance passageway with a grunt, and wiping her brow with one of her arms. The dark haired detective was wearing her uniform pants, now stained with grease and dirt, and a similarly grubby tank top. "The asshole hit her pretty hard on his way out. My own damned fault for leaving the Yagami parked in such a vulnerable spot I guess." She added with a grimace.
"So not only did Washu commandeer the faster ship, but she took the only one with a working communications system as well?" Ayeka asked, frustration evident in her voice, her hands tugging nervously at the shorts and t-shirt she had borrowed from the taller Mihoshi.
"More or less." Kiyone answered, getting to her feet with a grunt. "Getting Ryoko treated is the main priority after all."
"It's not like Heero to be this sloppy." A scruffy looking, dark-haired young man mused from behind Ayeka, where he was leaning against a workstation. "I wonder why he didn't hit Mihoshi's ship too?" Keith asked, curious.
"Oh my Yukinojo's to smart for that." Mihoshi answered cheerily, her substantial blond ponytail bouncing slightly when she nodded her head in emphasis.
"That's true." Kiyone sighed. "Yukinojo is a full fledged A.I. ship. He probably just put up his shields and dodged. I imagine that Heero was running too fast after that hit he took to get off more than a quick broadside."
"Well I keep saying you should upgrade Yagami's computer Kiyone." Mihoshi told Kiyone in a slightly lecturing tone, wagging her finger in emphasis. "The one she has now is just so boring!" Mihoshi said.
"Well excuse me for preferring a ship that's actually some fun to fly," the teal-haired detective shot back in irritation, her expression softening almost immediately when tears started to form in her blonde partners sky-blue eyes.
"It was just a suggestion Kiyone, you didn't need to yell at me you know." Mihoshi sniffled.
Kiyone sighed, rubbing her temples to ward off the all-to-familiar feeling of an oncoming headache. "Sorry Mihoshi, I'm just a bit irritated at this whole situation."
"Well, now that we've established that we can't just call for help, perhaps we'd better get moving." Ayeka interrupted, her soft voice taking on a commanding tone.
"We should be ready for hyperspace in five." Kiyone replied heading towards the cockpit. "C'mon Mihoshi, lets get to work."
Ayeka felt the Yagami shudder slightly as her hyperdrive was engaged, and squeezed her eyes shut until the slight nausea that usually accompanied the shift from realspace to hyperspace passed.
"You alright Ayeka?" Keith asked curiously, coming up behind the violet-haired girl.
"I'm fine." Ayeka replied politely. "Hyperspace always makes me a little queasy at first." She elaborated when he raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"I think I have something for that somewhere in here…" Keith offered, starting to root around in the little dimensional pouch hanging from his belt.
"Oh, thank you for the offer Keith-san, but It's already past." Ayeka replied, giving the slightly scruffy young man beside her a small smile.
"You sure?" Keith pressed, returning her smile with a slightly teasing one of his own.
"Yes, I am quite sure." Ayeka replied, smacking him lightly on the arm. "I must say, for one of the galaxies most wanted criminals, you spend an awful lot of time worrying about other people." The young princess teased as they started down the corridor again.
"I know." Keith sighed in mock resignation. "I've been trying to kick the habit for years, but it's just too deeply ingrained I'm afraid. It's always getting me into trouble." He added dramatically. This actually got a real laugh out of Ayeka.
"I was going to go to the observation deck for a while." Ayeka started. "Would you care to join me? I would welcome the company."
"It would be my pleasure M'Lady." Keith replied with a warm smile. Ayeka blushed.
If she had been at the palace, they probably would have had half the palace out looking for her if she had been this late getting to bed. Ayeka grinned slightly at he thought. "And if they knew who's company I had spent that time in…" the grin turned into a small giggle. Closing the door to the quarters she was sharing with her younger sister as quietly as she could manage, the violet-tressed girl tiptoed over to Sasami's bed, tucking the covers the younger girl had kicked off back around her sprawled figure.
"Sweet dreams Sasami." Ayeka whispered with a smile, kissing her younger sister on the forehead before standing up to get ready for bed herself. Opening up the one battered and charred piece of their luggage that had actually survived the attack, Ayeka quickly came to the conclusion that none of her night clothes had survived. Sighing slightly in annoyance, she considered her options and came to the conclusion that she may very well have to use the oversized t-shirt she was wearing now as a night shirt and simply leave it at that. After all, her only other real choices were to sleep in her underwear or in the nude. Neither of those options really appealed to her.
She had just unbuttoned her borrowed shorts when someone knocked on the door lightly. "Just a second." She called, trying to be heard without waking up her little sister and hastily re-buttoning the shorts. Sliding the door open, she was surprised to find Keith standing there. "Keith-san? What can I do for you?" the young princess asked curiously, she had talked to him less than five minutes earlier after all.
"Sorry if I'm disturbing you Ayeka, but I was just about to my quarters when a thought occurred to me." Keith answered in a whisper.
"Well as unusual of an occurrence as that may be Keith…" Ayeka replied, a teasing smile forming on her lips, "what does it have to do with me?"
"Ouch." Keith deadpanned, "That was a bit harsh." He added with a lopsided grin. "I guess you don't want to borrow that nightgown again after all." He said flippantly, starting to turn around.
"I…" Ayeka started, a bit surprised at the offer, though she supposed that she should be getting used to him lending her things at this point. "I would appreciate that very much actually." Ayeka admitted. "But are you sure? I mean… it, and everything else you've lent me… they were hers, weren't they?"
Keith's grin faded a bit, but didn't disappear as he turned back to face the violet-haired girl, who looked almost as nervous as she sounded. "Yeah, they were hers." Keith confirmed. "About half the stuff in this thing is." He elaborated, patting the deceptively small pouch hanging from his belt. "The thing is, if she was here, she would have made the offer herself."
"She must have been a wonderful woman." Ayeka replied after a moment's silence, lifting her eyes to meet his.
"She was." Keith said, a wistful smile on his face. Rooting around in the pouch for a second he pulled out the thick woolen nightgown he had let her use before, handing it to her. "Goodnight Ayeka-chan."
"Goodnight Keith-san" the first princess of Jurai replied, blushing a bit. Deciding that lecturing him about what he called her would likely just serve to encourage him, Ayeka just shook her head in mock exasperation and closed the door to her quarters as he strolled away.
Interstellar travel is, as a general rule, boring. Sure the interruptions could be amusing, but the traveling part... well it was just dull. The scenery almost never changed, and on the rare occasions that there was something interesting to look at, it was rarely for more than a few seconds. At least not at the speeds most starships moved at while going faster than light. So the experience tended to consist of waiting... and waiting... and, well you get the idea.
Of course the experience wasn't turning out to be quite as bad this time around. For the first time in a while he wasn't the only one on board. Of course, the fact that pretty much everyone else on board was asleep meant that the young man, known to the galaxy at large as Mayhem, was still pretty damned bored. Of course, even when the rest of the group had been awake it'd been pretty quiet.
Keith shivered in the Yagami's air-conditioned hallways. It was kind of weird. While he'd been in a number of GP cruisers, (most of the dark-haired fugitives ships had been GP cruisers at one point or another in their lives after all) it'd rarely been with the crews still onboard. And here he was on a fully crewed one, as a passenger, and of his own free will. With a soft swish the door to the small bridge slid open.
Kiyone was leaning back in the command chair, her eyes shut, her breathing shallow, and her head lolling to one side. Fast asleep. Completely vulnerable. Grinning evilly he leaned over, put his mouth close to her ear... and blew gently into it.
Waking up with a yelp the teal haired detective nearly fell out of her chair, half drawing her blaster in surprise. "Do you want me to shoot you!?!" Kiyone hissed at him angrily, re-holstering the pistol as he flopped into the co-pilots seat, grinning hugely.
"Not particularly," Keith replied with chuckle, "but some opportunities just have to be taken advantage of. Besides, it's your own fault for sleeping at your post." The dirty look Kiyone shot him only made the young man grin wider. "But seriously Detective, if your that tired maybe you should go to bed."
"If that bubble-headed partner of mine would actually get up here and relieve me like she's supposed to, I would." Kiyone replied with a yawn.
"How about you let me take over until Mihoshi arrives?" Keith suggested in a reasonable tone. "I've flown this model on a few occasions, I'm relatively sure I can handle her alone for as long as I need to."
"Do I want to know why you've flown advanced model GP patrol ships before?" The teal haired detective asked tiredly, shooting a suspicious glare at her passenger.
"Probably not." Keith responded with a chuckle.
"I didn't think so." Kiyone sighed. "Lets give that partner of mine a few more minutes."
"If you insist." Keith shrugged, scanning the Yagami's controls and readouts with a practiced eye.
"There's one very important question you never got around to answering before your storytelling session was... interrupted..." Kiyone said after a few minutes of silence. Keith just looked at her, one brow raised in silent question. "Did you actually kill Duke Satoshima?"
"Yes." Keith responded after a short pause, his voice quiet. "But it was in self defense, and in the defense of a friend."
"A friend?" Kiyone pressed, her tone curious, but carrying a touch of sympathy. There was no trace of hostility in her scent either, Keith noted with a sense of relief.
"Talia." Keith answered quietly, unconsciously reaching up with one hand to grasp something underneath the thin cotton of his T-shirt. "If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it at the moment." He finished after a moment's silence.
"Gomen." Kiyone apologized quietly.
"Don't worry about it." Keith replied, waving away the apology.
"Out of curiosity, how are we going to explain my presence on board to the rest of the GP?" Keith asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "Or the Jurian government for that matter? Your colleagues aren't very fond of me at the moment."
Kiyone shot him a wry grin. "We're not going to explain anything to anyone."
"Huh?"
"Until we can get all the evidence assembled... you are not here." Kiyone elaborated. "Washu worked up some fake ID and a disguise kit... use it."
"Detective Kiyone, I'm shocked." Keith deadpanned, "That's downright sneaky of you."
"Thanks." Kiyone replied wryly, biting back a yawn.
They made a fairly unusual looking group as they walked down the street away from the spaceport. Four Jurian nobles, apparently being escorted down the busy streets by two GP officers but none of the normal attendants.
Ayeka and Sasami were wearing their normal garb, their status given away by the style and expense of their clothing as well as by Ayeka's tiara. (One of the suitcases they used as dressers had by some miracle, thrown clear into the lake by one of the first shots.) Ayeka's kimono was an emerald green with delicate, abstract, designs picked out in pale blue thread. OF course underneath the outer kimono she was reduced to wearing a pair of slacks and a pale blue silk blouse that Keith had pulled from his dimensional pouch, but it wasn't noticeable. Sasami was wearing a similar kimono, though hers was blue and green over a powder blue jumpsuit befitting a child
Katsuhito, Yosho (they still hadn't explained that one to Keith yet), had dug up what was probably his last intact traditional Jurian outfit. An overcoat of white with red trim covered an ash gray shirt. His black pants looked as if they belonged on a samurai, the loose, billowing pant legs making an interesting contrast with the carefully fitted clothing on his upper body. On top of that the old man had adopted a set of mannerisms that almost made Keith want to bow down. Or trip him.
As for Keith, well the disguise Washu had cooked up was the antithesis of the Mayhem persona he'd worn as a matter of course for years. The hair was elaborately and perfectly styled... not to mention cotton candy pink. The face underneath was handsome, but almost feminine in its delicacy. The robes were flashy, expensive, and on the borders of good taste. Not to mention the fact that they were all pastel pinks, yellows, and blues. Ugh. Combined with the voice modulator under his tongue, the false pads on his fingertips, and a number of other small devices hidden about his person, it was about as perfect of a disguise as he'd ever run across.
"What's my name supposed to be again?" he whispered quietly to the violet haired girl walking beside him, grimacing slightly at the lisping, effeminate voice that slipped from between his lips.
"Seiryou" Ayeka whispered back, giggling.
The planet they were on had been Mayhem's last stop before he'd made his final run for Earth just a handful of days before. And if the trail left by Heero's wounded ship was any indication, it was where their quarry had run to first.
Unsurprisingly, the planet was still crawling with GP ships and officers gathering as much data as they could before they officially closed the case against Mayhem. Admittedly they weren't actively looking for him, he was still officially dead after all, but it was still making him nervous. Disguise or no disguise he still felt like someone had painted a target on his back.
"Are you sure this disguise Washu cooked up is enough to keep them off our backs?" He whispered, leaning close to Kiyone's ear.
"For the fifth time, yes." Kiyone answered, the slightest hint of irritation evident in her tone. "Are you always this jumpy?"
"Only when I'm in shooting range of a dozen or more people who would be more than happy to kill me on sight." Keith shot back in a tight voice.
"Keep this up and your going to add one more person onto that list." Kiyone threatened, eliciting a giggle from Ayeka. Keith grumbled something uncomplimentary sounding under his breath, but shut up. "Now everyone stay here, Mihoshi and I are going to see what information we can get out of our fellow officers. We'll be back in just a few minutes."
"That will be fine Kiyone." Ayeka responded, giving the detectives an encouraging smile. "Good luck."
"Thanks" Kiyone acknowledged. "C'mon Mihoshi."
"So..." Keith started as they watched the teal-haired detective drag her blonde partner into the local GP station. "Anyone up for ice-cream?" He asked, gesturing to a small parlor across the street from them.
Well it was official. He was broke. He was going to have to pick up a part time job in order to earn money for a ticket home. "Well, no one ever said being a freelance photographer was going to be easy Kanno." he mumbled to himself. "Should've known that somebody as notorious as Mayhem wouldn't let himself get caught on some backwater world like this one. Dammit, I've been following this trail for months too."
Ding-a-ling
Kanno looked up at the sound of the door chime reflexively, and his jaw nearly hit the floor. He almost laughed out loud when he recognized the group that walked in the door. This would set him up for the rest of the year! With practiced ease he slipped on a small monocle headset, and plugged it into his palm holo-camera.
Princess Ayeka of Jurai, on an outing in public... something that hadn't been reported by any tabloid in around seven hundred standard years... and she was with her rumored husband-to-be! Kanno was practically drooling at the scoop that had literally walked into his hands. And the way the two were acting around each other! How close they were standing to each other, the casual way they were interacting... he had evidence to support the rumors that had been flowing out of the royal court all year! OK, so maybe it wasn't exactly proof, but it was enough for the tabloids.
Propping the small camera casually beside his water glass, angled perfectly to catch the small groups every action, he pulled out his notepad and started writing furiously. Every tabloid in the universe would want these pictures!
The parlor was obviously popular Ayeka noted as they stepped inside. There was a significant line, though it seemed to moving quickly in the face of the staff's efforts, and at least two thirds of the tables were occupied, and the rest seemed to be filling rapidily.
"Why don't you guys grab a booth, I'll get the ice-cream." Keith suggested, obviously noticing the same thing Ayeka had.
"An excellent idea." Katsuhito agreed. "I'll have a lemon flavored shaved ice please." The rest of the group quickly gave their orders and claimed one of the larger booths while Keith got in line.
Almost immediately after they took their seats Ayeka was reminded of one of the primary reasons she liked living on earth.
"You're never going to believe who sitting behind you." The girl was obviously trying to be quiet but she was too excited to whisper properly and Ayeka was having no trouble hearing the every word said. Though the rest of her party seemed to have no trouble ignoring the conversation.
"Who?" the second girl asked, her voice curious. "And why in the world are you talking like that?"
"The first and second princesses of Jurai!" the first girl hissed excitedly.
"Uh-huh, sure." The second girl replied sarcastically.
"I'm serious Yuki." the first girl insisted. "Look over at the checkout line for Tsunami's sake! Who do you see ordering?"
"Who are you... holy!" the second girl, Yuki, responded. "It's the first princess' fiancée!"
Ayeka nearly fell out of her seat. Fiancée!?! She was going to kill her father, he'd promised! She took a deep calming breath, reminding herself that rumor often traveled faster and to more people than real news. Yes, that's right, it was merely rumor, nothing more.
"Are you all right sis?" Sasami asked worriedly. "You look a little upset."
"It's nothing." Ayeka reassured, smiling gently at her sister. "Just a bit worried about Lord Tenchi and the others." It wasn't the exactly truth, but she didn't see any reason to bring her sisters attention to their... admirers.
"Don't worry sis." Sasami said returning Ayeka's smile with a bright one of her own, "Washu and Tenchi will save Ryoko."
Ayeka started to protest the inference that she was worried about Ryoko of all people, more out of habit than anything else, but the words died on her lips. "Thank you Sasami. Your right of course."
"Christ that was weird." Keith complained as he slid into the seat beside.
"What was weird Ke... Seriyu-san?" Sasami asked curiously.
"Just the way people are acting around me." Keith shrugged. "It took them about twice as long as normal to get the order filled because they spent so much time bowing and shit."
Ayeka whapped him lightly on the back of his head before responding, "The price of being royalty I'm afraid. Oh, and do watch your language Seriyu-sama, there are children present." She added when he opened his mouth to protest.
One the best of days a GP stationhouse was controlled chaos, but this… this was just insane Kiyone reflected as she and Mihoshi stepped through the doors. Officers were running around, people were shouting across the room, it was just nuts.
"What's going on in here?" Kiyone demanded, grabbing a passing officer.
"Someone took out the sectors GP communications nexus." He replied briefly before hurrying on.
Kiyone grabbed another passing officer, this time getting a solid grip on the young woman's arm. "What happened to the communications nexus? How bad is it?" She asked the harried looking woman.
"We don't know for sure." The young woman replied breathlessly. "From all indications it was sabotage. The station simply blew up. If you have an urgent message you need to get out however, the civilian communication lines are all up and running." The woman replied irritably, "Now if you don't mind I really have a lot of work to get done Detective." With that the young woman pulled her arm free of Kiyone's grasp and hurried off.
"I guess we'll just have to go to the normal post office and send the message there then." Mihoshi suggested.
"It's not that simple Mihoshi." Kiyone sighed. "The civilian lines just aren't secure, and this isn't information we can send over open channels like that."
"Why not?" Mihoshi asked confused.
"Well first off, Heero has access to GP equipment, it'd be child's play for him to intercept any message we sent over civilian communication lines." Kiyone explained with practiced patience. "And secondly, this whole incident involved an attack on three different members of the royal family. Four if we include Mayuka. That's just not information you want to send out over open channels. It'd be on the news in five seconds flat."
"Oh…" Mihoshi responded.
"Ah well, guess that'll just have to wait. We'd better see if anyone spotted Heero's cruiser and get that APB issued."
"Excuse me, Seriyu-Sama?" a young woman, only a little older than Sasami, but still well into adolescence, asked nervously, bowing deeply.
Ayeka elbowed Keith sharply after a second's silence. "Oh, err… yes young lady?" Keith asked, completely bewildered.
"Would you sign this for me? I'm your biggest fan." The petite blonde let out in a rush, holding out a picture. Keith blinked, looking at the picture. It was a photo of the person he was disguised as standing beside an absolutely HUGE trophy, holding a Jurian light-sword proudly, a superior smirk entrenched firmly on his face. With a shrug he started to reach for the pen the girl was holding out… and paused when he realized that he had absolutely NO idea what the guy's signature was supposed to look like.
"I'll tell you what miss, I'll do something even better." Keith responded after a moment's hesitation. Reaching into his multi-dimensional pouch he retrieved an instant holocamera that one of the previous owners had left in there, quickly checking to make sure it was still working.
"Excuse me sir, would you mind taking a picture?" Keith called to a young man sitting at a nearby table.
Kanno nearly fell out of his seat.
"Well that was a complete and utter waste of time." Kiyone muttered as she and Mihoshi weaved their way through the lobby of the stationhouse.
"At least we found Heero's ship." Mihoshi pointed out, waving a hand vaguely in the direction of the impound lot.
"What's left of it you mean." Kiyone snorted. "The entire interior is incinerated and the shuttle bay, something that the ship wasn't even registered as having mind you, is empty." The only thing it tells us is that he was in the system at one point or another."
"Oh, I wonder what's going on over there?" Mihoshi asked, pointing at the ice-cream parlor across the street as they stepped out the front doors. A rapidly growing crowd surrounded the place, all of them trying to get a look at what was going on inside.
"You know what to do, right?" Despite the way it was phrased, it wasn't a question.
"Of course Heero-san" the elderly GP officer replied, his voice tight.
"Is something the matter my friend?" Heero asked, his carrying only the slightest hint of disapproval at the officer's attitude.
"Why are you involving the crown princesses in this affair?" the man asked, turning to fix Heero with a steely gaze.
"I did no such thing." Heero replied with a smirk. "They chose to involve themselves. It was no fault of mine."
"But to endanger them simply to get one man!" the officer protested.
"Is it not slightly late in the game to acquire a conscience my dear chief of police?" Heero replied, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"But..." the chief started to protest.
"I heard that your youngest daughter just had her first child recently?" Heero cut the chief off, his tone conversational. "A lovely little girl from what I've heard. Takes after her mother apparently."
"You wouldn't dare." The chief growled leaning on his desk. His thick eyebrows and beard making him look almost feral.
"I wouldn't dare to do what?" Heero asked, almost sounding genuinely surprised. "My dear friend, you mustn't take every little conversation I try to start as a threat."
"I have enough evidence to…" the chief threatened weakly.
Heero laughed.
"My dear man, such a silly thing to say." Heero said, a cruel grin on his face. "You should know by now that for every scrap of evidence you can bring to bear against me, I have a mountain that I can present about your activities. Imagine how your family would feel if all of that was to come to light."
"All right. I'll do it." The chief replied, his voice small as he slumped into his chair in defeat.
"That's a good man."
Mayhem, Chaos, and General Messes
Chapter 5 - Part 2
Foreign Lands
Yukinojo hung in space, seemingly motionless against the vast backdrop of stars and galaxies. Of course, in deep space, even low superluminal velocities don't elicit much movement of the backdrop. However once Yukinojo finished with his present course adjustment... there. As Tenchi watched through one of the large windows on the observation deck, the stars seemed to start flowing around him. Blurring gradually into streaks of light that stretched and then faded as she picked up velocity.
Tenchi knew he should have been sleeping. He was exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. But he couldn't sleep. He was afraid that if he did, he'd wake up to find her dead. He'd never even had a chance to answer her, never even had a chance to decide on his answer. How did he feel about her exactly? It was quite honestly a question he'd tried very hard to avoid for the past few years.
He loved all of them dearly, he knew that much for certain. Sure they were loud, argumentative, never gave him any space, and could drive him nuts... but that's the kind of stuff family was supposed to do. Though he wouldn't have minded if they'd stopped wrecking the house every other week.
He'd been a single child all his life, and after his mother had died he'd felt very alone. His father, as much as he'd loved his son, had often had to work long hours when Tenchi was growing up, and he'd only seen his grandparents during school breaks. The past few years... he hadn't ever felt alone.
Ayeka and Ryoko though, they both wanted to be more than to be just family... and if he chose one he might very well lose the other. Of course, now it looked like he was going to lose one of them anyway.
"Tenchi, if you don't stop brooding and go to sleep I WILL drug you!" Washu threatened groggily as she trudged onto the main deck, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Even Mayuka's being better about sleeping than your are!"
"Sorry Washu." Tenchi responded, his voice dull, and barely loud enough for the redhead to hear. "I'm not handling this very well, am I?"
"No, your not." Washu answered bluntly. "But I guess that's understandable, and it's not like I was doing any better when it first happened."
"How can you be so calm?" Tenchi asked, the slightest touch of heat in the question.
"Because If I don't stay calm I can't help her." Washu answered softly. "Because if I let myself start crying again I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop." Tenchi didn't respond, merely continued staring out into space.
"She's not going to die Tenchi," Washu continued after a few seconds, "I won't let her. But I AM going to need your help to do it. Now get some sleep."
"I'll try." Tenchi answered quietly. "Washu..."
"Yes?" Washu asked, pausing at the entrance to the crew quarters.
"You never did tell me where we're going..." Tenchi said, fixing the diminutive scientist with a slight glare for being left in the dark.
"Why, we're going to go pay a visit to Ryoko's father, that's all." Washu replied, managing to put on one of her normal mad scientist grins for a brief second. "Goodnight Tenchi."
The planet below him shone a pale blue-green, dotted with tiny patches of brown, emerald and gray. Wispy clouds cast long shadows over the shallow sea that covered the majority of the planet's surface. Tenchi guessed it was beautiful, but he really wasn't in the right state of mind to appreciate it. "Is this the place?"
"This is it." Washu confirmed from Yukinojo's pilots seat. "The home planet of the masu. The life-form I used as a base for both Ryo-Ohki and Ryoko." Tenchi just fixed the diminutive scientist with a blank stare in response. Washu sighed, "Do I really have to spell it out for you Tenchi?"
"Yes." Tenchi replied bluntly, his voice tired. Washu sighed, and swiveled in her seat to face him as Ryo-Ohki started her decent through the planets atmosphere.
"You remember when the masu I had in my lab escaped that one time, right?" Washu asked.
"That's when Ryo-Ohki gained her humanoid form, right?" Tenchi responded.
"That's right, she assimilated them and used the extra material and their own innate desire to follow the will of their leader in order to gain a new form." Washu affirmed, her voice taking on a lecturing tone. "Ryoko, having an almost identical relationship with the masses, is perfectly capable of assimilating with them as well."
"And assimilating enough of them will save Ryoko?" Tenchi asked eagerly.
"Well it's not quite that simple." Washu said with a sigh. "Ryoko's regenerative ability is extensive, but even she has limits. A full third of her body mass was vaporized by that blast. Almost her entire epidermal layer received serious burns, and the because of hydrostatic shock and heat, a number of her internal organs are little more than dead tissue, including one of her lungs and a portion of her heart. If the blast had hit just slightly more to the left and damaged her spinal column... she would have died before I got the stasis field up." Washu paused for a second, eyes closed as she tried to maintain control of her wavering voice.
"Even if we manage to get them to assimilate with her, I'm still going to have to perform some fairly extensive surgery." Washu continued, fixing Tenchi with an intense stare, making him flinch a bit. "But to be honest, that's the easy part. The hard part is that Ryoko is going to have to be awake for there to be any chance at all of getting the masu to assimilate with her."
"Awake?" Tenchi exclaimed incredulously. "How in the world are we supposed to wake her up?"
"That's why I brought you along actually." Washu replied.
"Huh?"
"I am going to put you in deep telepathic contact with her. Once your in, you'll need to make contact with her conscious self and convince her to wake up." Washu explained, "How you do it is up to you, but you only get one shot at it."
"Why me?" Tenchi asked, baffled "You're the one with the mental link."
"..................." Washu mumbled almost inaudibly, looking down at the floor and chewing on her lower lip.
"What was that Washu?" Tenchi asked, a touch of concern in his voice.
"She doesn't trust me." Washu repeated a little louder. "I can get into her mind... but I don't think she'd let me find her conscious self, let alone hear me out."
Tenchi remained silent for a while, looking critically at the little scientist as she did her best to look very interested in the floor. "All right." he finally responded, "I'll do it, but..." Washu looked up at him nervously, "when all of this is done, promise me you'll at least try and work things out with her."
"...Hai..."
"Ummm... so tell me again why they aren't attacking us like last time?" Tenchi ask nervously as Washu carefully scooped up another of the little creatures' dubbed masu.
"Because I have a field set up around the area to disguise our respective energy fields from their senses." Washu explained calmly, gently setting the small creature in the liquid-filled tank holding Ryoko's still form. "And before you ask, I attracted them here with that." she added, pointing to a meter tall device set up a short distance away. "It mimics their mental signals to attract them. Now get back to work, we need a dozen more before we can get started."
A mere five minutes later the two were done. Inside the clear crystal cylinder the small shapeless forms of the masu swam lazily around Ryoko's mutilated form and the various machines that surrounded her, a few occasionally stopping to nudge curiously up against her. The machines themselves surrounded her. Each and every one poised to start working the instant the stasis bubble was dropped. Tenchi placed his fingers against the glass, looking closely, waiting for Washu to signal her readiness.
"Ryoko." He started, his voice a whisper. "I know you can't hear me... but, I'm sorry. Sorry for running away all the time, for leading you on, for making you wait..." he paused for a second; squeezing his eyes shut tightly against the tears he could feel building. "I mean, I should at least have answered you in some way or another..."
"You can tell her all of that later Tenchi." Washu said quietly, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "There's just one more thing to do before we start. You have the Tenchi-ken, right?"
"Hai."
"Return her gems. They shouldn't be affected by the stasis bubble." Washu said softly. "She'll need all the energy she can get."
Tenchi took the sword from his belt and touched it to the glass with a soft ting. Closing his eyes, he prayed. Thirty seconds later, it was done, the gems fading from the places they had held on the Tenchi-Ken for centuries, and reappearing on Ryoko's wrist and at the base of her throat. "It took longer than when I returned the first one." Tenchi observed quietly.
"It was probably just the stasis bubble." Washu reassured, her quiet voice matching his own. They stood there for a few minutes, Tenchi trying to mentally prepare himself, Washu merely observing. "Come on," she said, breaking the silence, "lets get you hooked up."
He couldn't see anything. He could barely wiggle his fingers, let alone move anything larger. He could feel the restraints around every part of his body, forcing him to remain absolutely motionless. Tenchi suddenly felt extremely thankful that he wasn't claustrophobic, though if he had to deal with this for too much longer that might very well change.
"Tenchi, you're really going to have to relax." Washu's slightly nasal voice sounded in his ear through the oversized headset covering his eyes and ears. "I know it's not terribly comfortable in there, but it's all very necessary."
"I believe you Washu-chan, but if you don't mind me asking..." Tenchi replied nervously, "What exactly does all of it do?"
"Life support primarily." Washu replied, her voice matter of fact. "Your brain was never meant to do the whole out-of-body thing Tenchi, all of this is what's going to keep your body from shutting down while you're not in it."
"So what happens if Ryoko..." Tenchi started.
"If she dies with you still in her mind, you could die with her." Washu interrupted, anticipating the question. "I'll try and pull you back if I can, but I can't make any promises." She paused, briefly, and her voice was quiet, when she continued. "I won't force you to do this Tenchi. If you change your mind at any point..."
"Washu." Tenchi cut her off, "I want Ryoko back as much as you do."
"Arigato." Washu answered gratefully. "All right then, there's just a few more things you need to know then." She continued after a few seconds, slipping quickly back into her professor persona again. "What your going to be dealing with the huge majority of the time you spend in Ryoko's mind is going to be her unconscious self. It will NOT react on any level other than an emotional one, and there is no guarantee that she will even recognize you."
"I understand." Tenchi replied when the red-haired scientist stopped to take a breath.
"No you don't Tenchi." Washu replied sharply. "That girl has seen and experienced more horrible things than you could ever imagine in the course of her life. Those experiences are a large part of what you are going to be dealing with. Her mental defenses are lethal, and the love of her life or not, they are more than capable of targeting you."
"All right, all right. I've got it." Tenchi replied, with a sigh. "How long will I have?"
"I'll be able to keep her alive for about two hours after I drop the stasis bubble, but your sense of time is going to be more or less non-existent while your in there. Just move as fast as you can and find my little girl."
There was a rush, an indescribable cascade of light, sound, sensations, and flavors as his senses went haywire, and he found himself standing rather unsteadily on a jagged landscape of black and white crystal. The rough terrain spread out underneath a sky filled with fast moving, boiling clouds, glinting brightly when the occasional patch of sunlight broke through. All around him, delicate clusters of wafer thin crystal spires bloomed like desert plants, sparkling softly in the intermittent light.
"Beautiful." he whispered quietly. It was a harsh beauty to be sure, but breathtaking all the same. Shaking his head to clear it he took a step forward, and halted as soon as he put his foot back down, the polished obsidian crystal creaking ominously under the pressure. Looking anxiously at his feet, he gulped nervously before taking another, much more careful step. Again the surface creaked, but much more quietly.
Taking careful steps Tenchi started out across the crystal landscape, looking for any clue what to do next. After what felt like hours, he found himself standing at the top of a long, steep, slope of milky-white crystal, looking out over a wide valley. At the center stood a broad dome, the same crimson as Ryo-Ohki's, but with one crucial difference. It was cracked. And not a small crack, or even just one crack, but a latticework of deep cracks that radiated out like a spiders web from a small hole near the top of the structure. Well relatively small anyway. The dome itself seemed huge, even from this distance. He couldn't even begin to make a guess at its exact dimensions without a reference to compare it against though
"That's probably a bad sign." He muttered to himself, trying to ignore the gnawing sensation the sight caused in his gut. Looking around carefully for any easy way down the valley, he came to the rather quick conclusion that there wasn't one. Gritting his teeth he took a careful seat on the edge of the slope, doing his best to ignore the ominous noises the action elicited from the crystal underneath him.
"This is a bad idea." the young prince muttered to himself, gulping nervously as he looked down towards the valley floor. With one final prayer to whatever gods might happen to be listening, he pushed off. And slid down the ice-slick crystal surface yelling at the top of his lungs.
He hit the bottom of the slope with a crunch of breaking crystal. Razor sharp fragments ripped the back of his work coat to shreds and tore into his back painfully. Getting painfully to his feet Tenchi managed to add a sliced-up left palm to his list of injuries. He was still trying to extract a stubborn sliver of the milky-white crystal from one of the deeper cuts when he heard it.
It was halfway between the rustle of leaves and the ringing of a fine crystal glass being tapped lightly and repeatedly. And it was all the warning the young prince had. If it hadn't been for his reflexes, ingrained deeply by a lifetime of training with his grandfather, he may very well have died then and there.
"I'll have to remember to thank Grandfather." Tenchi thought wildly as the thin crystal blade shattered against the ground where he'd been standing, the pieces flying everywhere like crystalline shrapnel that further ruined his clothing and left several impressive nicks and scratches on his exposed skin.
He forced himself to keep moving despite the pain that flared every-place he'd been cut, dodging away from the dozens of crystalline blades that arrowed towards him. "Where are they coming from?" He thought, desperately scanning for the source of the attack even as on of the thrown blades open a long, shallow gash across his belly.
"There!" he practically shouted, spotting one of the plant-like crystal clusters he'd been admiring before as it shifted with the odd noise that had warned him the first time and launched a cluster of wafer-thin crystals at him. And it wasn't the only one. All around the clusters shifted as if blown by the wind and launched their deadly blades at the young prince.
In desperation he called out for the light hawk wings... and sagged in relief when the familiar surge of energy ran through his being. The next volley of blades hit dead center... and shattered against the wings. The world around him seemed to flinch, and even the rustle-ring of the clusters took on a nervous tone.
He could feel his heart pumping loudly in his chest; hear the rush of blood in his ears. He wondered briefly if it was all in his mind, or if his body was actually reacting to everything he was experiencing.
"Ryoko!" he yelled to the landscape around him, his voice pleading. "It's me, Tenchi! I'm here to help you... PLEASE!!!" The last shout echoing off the high walls of the valley, fading slowly into complete and utter silence. Slowly, cautiously, he let the light hawk wings fade.
"Mew?" the sound, as quiet as it was, made Tenchi jump.
"Kitty?" Tenchi asked, baffled. Sitting at his feet, looking up at him curiously was his cat. The one that had disappeared the summer he had released Ryoko from her cave. "What are you doing here?" He asked quietly, kneeling down with a wince to scratch it behind the ears. The chocolate brown cat pressed her head against his hand, purring happily.
"So, can you show me where Ryoko is Kitty?" Tenchi asked, quietly, not really expecting a response. To his surprise the small cat almost immediately pulled away from his had with a soft meow and started padding towards the dome. Not wasting time to question what was going on, Tenchi got to his feet and followed as quickly as the still fragile crystal surface, and his wounds, would allow.
They covered the distance to the dome in what felt like much too short a time. The smooth red crystal almost seemed to glow from close up. More significant to Tenchi's mind though was the lack of any visible entrance into the dome. "So, where do we go from here kitty?" Tenchi asked quietly, looking down at the small brown cat at his feet. In response it mewed once, and walked right through the solid looking red crystal.
"Now why didn't I see that one coming?" Tenchi muttered under his breath, he'd forgotten for a moment that he was walking around in Ryoko's head. Of course there weren't any doors Tenchi realized, she didn't need them. Hesitantly, Tenchi placed a hand against the crystal wall before him.
"Warm." Tenchi breathed. The crystal pulsed underneath his hand. Waves of comforting warmth that seemed to travel through his entire being in a steady rhythm, soothing the stinging cuts covering his body. With a start Tenchi realized that it was a heartbeat. Ryoko's. Or a representation anyway he amended, recalling Washu's warnings.
Taking a deep breath, Tenchi pushed, trying to will the crystal surface beneath his palms to let him through. His hand slipped through the surface as if was nothing more than water. He followed it with the rest of his body before he could think of the implications, eyes tightly shut and holding his breath. It was like... well he wasn't sure what to compare the experience to. It was kind of like walking through warm gelatin, but more pleasant than he'd imagine that would feel. Or maybe like being back in the womb.
What he found on the other side of the dome made him pause in wonder. After the harsh beauty of the landscape he'd just crossed, Tenchi had been expecting something... well different. A wide field, with tall grasses the color of Ryoko's eyes, had certainly been one of the last things he would have guessed. The dome, a perfect sky blue on the inside, radiated a warm light, bathing Tenchi and his surroundings in a comforting glow. In the center of the field on a low hill, a small tree grew.
"Barely more than a sapling really." Tenchi reflected, his voice barely a whisper for fear of shattering the serene landscape before him. The only thing marring the scene before him was the gaping hole in the arc of the dome above him. Through it he could see the turbulent sky he had been traveling under since he'd arrived.
The young prince was barely ten feet from the tree when he spotted the cat again, it was sitting on one of the trees slender branches, watching him wade his way through the tall grasses with what Tenchi could have sworn was amusement.
"How'd you get here so fast Kitty?" Tenchi asked shaking his head as he reached the tree. The small kitten, it's perch barely above Tenchi's head, blinked sleepily at him and yawned.
"That's what I thought." Tenchi muttered shaking his head. "So what do I do next?" He asked himself, sitting down at the base of the tree with a wince. He was surprised to note that the wounds had mostly closed, and there were no shards of crystal to be found anywhere on him. He was still feeling very tender though, and his clothing was more or less shredded. With a sigh he pulled his shirt and jacket off, the loose strips and gaping holes were interfering with his movement, and set them aside, draped over a small boulder that poked out of the hill a few feet away from the tree.
With a sigh Tenchi leaned back carefully against the smooth bark of the tree, grimacing slightly as the trunk pressed uncomfortably against some of the larger wounds on his back. Carefully readjusting his position, Tenchi considered what to do next. The dome had been the only thing of any remark he'd seen since arriving, and the cat had led him right to it. It just had to be significant... it was the only lead he had.
Tenchi bit back a yawn. Gods he was tired. And the warm light and peaceful atmosphere weren't helping. His limbs felt so heavy, and the grasses around the base of the tree were almost criminally soft. He tried to shake his head, and found himself lacking the energy to do it. The tree trunk didn't even feel like a tree trunk anymore. It was too soft, and too warm. Against his will his eyelids drooped shut, and as he drifted off. Tenchi could have sworn he felt someone wrap their arms around him...
"My Tenchi."
End Chapter Five