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 Six, Part 1
Know Thyself
Washu swore colorfully as a long gash opened up along Tenchi's belly. Admittedly it was just one of many, but they just kept coming. If this continued for too much longer, or if the wounds got more severe, even the system she had him locked into wouldn't be able to keep up!
"What the hell is going on in there!" Washu growled. Her hands a blur over her ethereal computer as she tried desperately to keep up with both Tenchi's growing list of injuries and Ryoko's deteriorating condition. "C'mon Ryoko-chan, I know you hate people poking around inside your head, but your going to kill him at this rate."
That's when Washu's holo computer disappeared in a flash of light that nearly blinded the petite scientist. Blinking her eyes to try and clear the spots from her vision Washu brought up her back-up screen and cautiously reconnected it to the monitoring systems watching Tenchi.
"He used the light hawk wings?!?" Washu exclaimed, frantically reinitializing her computers link to Ryoko's life support system. "Tenchi, if you've hurt my little girl any worse than she already is..." the threat trailed off as she looked at the readings in front of her in amazement. "It... it's helping... the rate of deterioration has slowed by 35.623 percent... She must be feeding off the energy!"
Shaking her head, and filing that information away for later analysis, Washu got back to work, pausing only for seconds to check on Mayuka, still sleeping peacefully (thank god!) in one of Yukinojo's bedrooms, over the various ""baby monitors"" she had set up.
"C'mon Tenchi, hurry!" she whispered.
Tenchi couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this comfortable. He wanted nothing more than to stay just like he was. Totally relaxed, his head cushioned on a warm lap, gentle, delicate hands running idly through his hair. Her, he was sure it was a woman, scent was familiar, comforting, but at the same time managing to be exotic and intoxicating. He couldn't see who's lap it was, and he just couldn't seem to convince himself to open his eyes.
"My Tenchi." the voice was familiar, feminine. It felt... right.
But wasn't he supposed to be doing something? Tenchi's brow furrowed. He was supposed to find something. No, someone. Someone very important to him...
"Ryoko!" Tenchi sat up with a shout. His eye's flying open just in time to see a ghostly figure of the girl he was looking for fade away like so much mist, her expression sad, longing.
His eyes wide, Tenchi looked around at the scenery that surrounded him. All around him was a patchwork of different places. None quite in focus, and none quite lined up with any of the others. They did have one thing in common though; each and every piece of landscape looked like a bomb had hit it. A large bomb at that.
It took a few seconds for the smell to register, but when it did Tenchi fell to his knees, retching. That's when he noticed the bodies. Thousands of them, millions of them, scattered about like so much garbage. Young and old, male and female, humanoid and others, there was no discrimination here. Their blurred, indistinct, features seemed to stare at him accusingly even in death.
"What is this?" the young prince muttered to himself, shutting his eyes tightly to block out the sight. It helped, a little. Then he heard them. They were barely whispers. Carried on the wind. Or maybe they were the wind. He couldn't tell
"Murderer." They accused. "Monster." They hissed at him from among the buildings. Screams of fear, of anger, of pain, and of death, echoed around him. From the skeletons of crumbling architecture they howled at him. The cries of people mourning their lost loved ones, of children for parents, and of mothers for their children. All of them gone forever.
Tenchi's pressed his hands over his ears, curled himself into a tight fetal ball... and screamed.
Washu's hands were a blur over the keyboard of her computer. The screen was displaying two separate waveforms, one ice blue, the other a deep crimson. But they were starting to run together, the blue beginning to mimic the red.
Cursing loudly Washu spun around and practically punched a large button set into the side of the capsule holding Tenchi's body. The response was immediate. The form inside the capsule convulsed violently, straining against the bonds that were holding it still, the mouth opening in a silent scream
Suddenly Tenchi was screaming for a whole new reason, pain lancing white-hot across the whole of his body, sending him into convulsions. It lasted only seconds, felt like an eternity, and when it ended he couldn't do anything but lie limply on the ground for several minutes.
"What the hell was that?" he gasped, pulling himself into a sitting position with a groan. It took him a second longer to notice the change. He could still hear the voices, but they weren't completely overwhelming like they had been. He could block them out with only a little effort. Getting unsteadily to his feet, Tenchi looked around the patchwork landscape again, looking for any clues as to what to do next.
The song was so quiet at first that Tenchi wasn't sure if it was real or just his imagination running wild. The melody wavered in and out, right on the edge of hearing and in competition with the voices that were still muttering at him accusatorily. Closing his eyes tightly, Tenchi concentrated on the oddly familiar music.
"That way." He muttered to himself, opening his eyes and setting off at a jog towards the sound. As it got louder the tune became more and more familiar, but Tenchi still couldn't place where he'd heard it before. Finally after crawling through the cratered, disjointed cityscape for what felt like an eternity, Tenchi stumbled into the courtyard of a massive cathedral. It rose above him in a series of delicate spires and arcs that looked too thin to supported their own weight. It was, in contrast to almost every other building he'd seem in the disjointed landscape, seemingly intact.
As he approached the entrance he spotted a dark purple stain that he instinctively knew had to be blood, even if the color was not what he expected. Stepping carefully past the stain Tenchi followed the thread of song, louder now, down a dim passage way into a chamber large enough that it's roof and opposite wall were hidden in the darkness. The only light in the cavernous room emanated from a simple, if skillfully crafted wooden cradle about fifty meters away from him, down a series of steps.
Making his way carefully down the wide steps Tenchi approached the cradle, the song becoming clearer and clearer with every step. Before long he was standing above the simple wooden cradle, looking down into it. Lying inside it, nestled carefully on the blankets inside was a gem. A twin for the one on Ryoko's wrist and the ones still embedded in the Tenchi-ken, it glowed crimson, almost vibrating with the song that emanated from it. Kneeling down, Tenchi carefully reached for the gem...
Washu started in shock as the waveform that represented Tenchi's mind disappeared completely and without warning. One second it was there, the next gone.
"Oh Kami... " Washu gasped. "Tenchi."
She felt the oily grasp of her masters mind slip away from hers for the first time in months, leaving only a faint, distracted presence sitting in the back of her head. Surprised but pleased, Ryoko reveled in its absence. She briefly considered running, hiding, but quickly banished the thoughts from her mind and memory for fear that Kagato would notice it and punish her again. Besides, his touch would probably not be gone for long, and even that thin thread that was left would be enough to alert him of any such attempt.
This time her mission didn't require her to fight anyone, simply to sneak in and steal a holy object from one of the larger temples. The primitives of this world had no way to stop her and no weapons that were of any threat to her. No need to fight, no need to kill. The thought was followed by a sense of relief that was almost enough to make her smile. Almost.
Flying low over the simple thatch-roofed huts of the village below Ryoko sped silently towards the huge, fragile looking cathedral that dominated the skyline. As she approached it's glistening white spires and arches Ryoko realized that the structure was far beyond the capabilities of the local people. A relic of an age long past perhaps, or maybe built by visitors from another world. Either way, it at least partially explained Kagato's interest in whatever was inside.
It didn't change a thing though. The job was still a simple one. Phase in, grab what she had come for, and leave. Simple.
She slowed to a near hover as she approached the main wall of the building. Stretching out her senses for the source of power she knew lay just beyond. Nothing. Frowning slightly she tried again concentrating deeply. Still nothing. Shrugging Ryoko floated forward, and promptly hit her head on the very solid exterior of the building.
"Owww..." Ryoko mumbled annoyed. "Well if I can't phase..." she muttered, and teleported.
"Ouch." She groaned, peeling herself off the side of the building. "Dammit, how in the hell is this thing shielded!?" she growled angrily, igniting her sword. "Well take THIS!" she shouted, swinging at the wall. Her sword simply sputtered out when it hit, leaving the stone surface completely unmarked.
"Guess I'll have to use a door." She sighed in defeat, letting herself sink to the ground. Landing silently she started walking around the buildings perimeter looking for an entrance. To her dismay there was only one on the entire structure. A simple arch, maybe twice as tall as she was, led to a similarly undecorated passageway maybe two-dozen meters long. She was maybe halfway down the passage when she felt it.
That final, half-there tendril of Kagato's presence... vanished. No pain, no resistance, no nothing. It was simply gone. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Ryoko laughed. Laughed with a pure joy she hadn't felt in... well never. And she kept on laughing, finding herself unable to stop even as tears rolled down her cheeks, her stomach started to cramp up, and her legs gave way.
"Well I must say, I don't think I'd have ever expected to see something like this." a soft voice, tinged with a trace of laughter, commented from nearby. "A demon in one of the great temples, overcome by something as simple as her own laughter. What a story this shall make."
Ryoko looked up through tears of joy towards the source of the voice. An elegant looking woman stood at the end of the short passage, watching her with a kind smile on her face. Her skin was a blue so dark that it almost appeared black. Long, pure white hair fell down her back in an elegant cascade between the large, delicate, bat-like ears that dominated the sides of her head. Her lower pair of arms were crossed over her slim hips in a relaxed fashion. She clasped the upper pair in front of her in a gesture of greeting when Ryoko glanced up at her. Her garb was simple. A sleeveless, cream-colored dress that hung to her ankles, belted at the waist with a dark-blue sash.
"Well seeing as you've come this far, you may as well enter the rest of the way." The woman continued, her smile still firmly in place.
"A priestess inviting a demon into her temple..." Ryoko started, her voice unsteady from the laughter that was still trying to force its way out. "Are you sure that's wise?"
"Wise or not, it is what I feel is right." The woman replied lightly. "And in any case, it is not my place to turn you away. The temple belongs to everyone who chooses to make use of it. Even the occasional demon." The last comment was thrown over the priestess's shoulder as she walked back the way she had come.
No matter what she tried Washu couldn't find it. That simple, singular, mental signature that represented Tenchi's mind was simply gone. The only thing keeping his body alive at this point were the machines that engulfed it. Not even the shock that she had used earlier was getting anything more than a reflexive response.
She could feel hot tears welling up, and she couldn't stop them. Two of the people she loved more than anything else in the universe were dying before her eyes and she felt so helpless...
"NO!" she shouted angrily. "I won't let it happen! You are not going to die on me Tenchi! You're going to save my daughter and both of you are going to come back to me!" With that she open her link to Ryoko's mind, searching desperately for any trace of the young prince.
Ryoko stepped into the main chamber of the temple cautiously, tears of laughter drying in streaks on her face. The room was almost as plain as the passageway that she had just left. Gleaming-white, seamless stone arced high above her. A plain dome, brightly lit by a crystalline ring of triangular lights about two thirds of the way up. The floor was a series of terraced rings, wide enough to be used comfortably as seats, but low enough to serve easily as stairs. And in the center stood what she had come to take.
A plain wooden staff, gnarled and stained with age, stood seeming balanced on its end in the center of the chamber. Even from where she stood, a hundred meters away Ryoko could feel it humming with power. To her eyes it almost seemed to vibrate where it stood, singing a song that hung just beyond the edge of hearing.
The priestess was sitting about halfway down the steps, a baby cradled in her lower pair of arms, singing. Her voice was a crystal clear alto, perfectly on key, and achingly beautiful. The song itself was simple, calming, comforting. Ryoko found herself humming along to it almost unconsciously, the tune almost immediately taking up permanent residence in her head despite the fact that she couldn't understand a word of it.
"What's that song about?" she asked quietly as she started making her way slowly down the stairs towards the staff.
The priestess shrugged her upper pair of arms, continuing to sing. When she finally let the song fade away she replied in a thoughtful voice. "I don't know." She said with a smile. "My mother used to sing it to me as a child. Perhaps one of the scholars could tell me, but I think I rather prefer not knowing."
"Why?" Ryoko asked, still only about a quarter of the way down the steps.
"Because not knowing what it's about I can assign any emotion I like to the song." The Priestess replied simply.
Ryoko didn't really understand but she sensed that that was probably the best answer she was going to get out of the young woman.
"Is the child yours?" Ryoko asked, more for the sake of talking than anything else.
"Are all demons so full of questions?" the young priestess laughed. "No, I did not birth her. I am merely watching her for the night while her mother is away."
Ryoko simply nodded in reply, not really sure what to say next.
"I take it demons don't get much chance to practice the art of small talk?" the priestess observed after a long silence, her gentle smile still in place.
"Do you have to keep calling me that?" Ryoko replied, now about halfway down the steps, less than three meters from the young woman's seat.
"You mean demon? Well then, what would you prefer I call you?" the priestess replied casually, patting the place beside her to indicate that Ryoko should sit down.
"Ryoko." She replied quietly, still standing.
"Well then Ryoko, you may call me Tandra." The young priestess replied, her smile widening briefly. "Please, sit down. You look simply exhausted."
"Why are you treating me so kindly?" Ryoko asked quietly, sitting down after a moment's hesitation. "You said yourself that I'm a demon."
"Everyone is equal in this place Ryoko. Demon or angel. The highest kings to the lowliest peasant. Even God herself. That is why there is only one entrance. So everyone enters this place the same way as everyone else." Tandra replied kindly, reaching over to give Ryoko's shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"But I'm dangerous!" Ryoko replied fiercely, the tears back again, though for a different reason than before.
"How so?" Tandra replied, arching an eyebrow, her voice holding the slightest trace of amusement.
"I can..." Ryoko's reply trailed off as she tried to form her sword and failed. She could feel the energy of the gems as clearly as ever... but she couldn't make use of it. Every time she tried it slipped from her grasp like water through a sieve.
"As a said Ryoko," Tandra replied softly, "everyone is equal in this place."
Washu stretched her mind as far into Ryoko's as she dared, looking for any trace of the young prince, and failing miserably. Far away she could feel the slightest hint of her daughters conscious self, but every time she tried to approach, Ryoko retreated deeper. And there was a curious echo that was complicating things even further, making it hard to focus.
An echo? The answer struck the ancient scientist like a freight train and she hastily withdrew her mind from her daughters. Typing with renewed fervor she returned to the task at hand, trying hard to ignore the timer that counted steadily down towards zero in the corner of the screen.
"I came here to steal that you know." Ryoko said after a few minutes, gesturing towards the staff that stood at the center of the room.
"If you can take it, it's yours." Tandra replied absently as she laid the sleeping child in a simple wooden cradle and tucked her in.
"What?" Ryoko replied, genuinely surprised. Most religious groups were practically fanatical about their holy relics. Yet this woman said she could take what amounted to the center of the temple with not so much as a hint of concern.
"The staff of judgment decides it's own path." Tandra replied, looking Ryoko in the eyes. "This temple has been blessed that it has chosen to stay with us for so many millennia, but if it chooses to leave with you this night we will accept it."
"You make it sound like that chunk of wood is sentient." Ryoko noted.
"It is." Tandra replied with a shrug. "Maybe not in the same way as you or I, but it is."
"So you're not going to try and stop me then?" Ryoko asked, eyeing the priestess suspiciously as she stood up. Tandra merely shook her head no, her soft smile firmly in place. Ryoko gave her one last curious glance, shrugged, and started towards the center of the room again.
She could feel the power radiating from the staff almost as a physical force now. It was practically intoxicating to Ryoko's senses, and by the time she was within arms length she felt almost drunk from the staff's influence. Her head swimming she reached for it, her hand curling around wood polished smooth by the hands of generations, and lifted it easily from it's place.
"I guess it's decided to come with me." Ryoko half-gloated, smirking at the still serene priestess. Then it hit her like the proverbial ton of bricks... she could see... everything. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head, and her body convulsed like she had stepped on a live wire.
She could see through the eyes of everyone and everything in the city, from Tandra sitting mere yards away, to the mayor's pet cat, watching his master stumble half-asleep through the kitchen. She could hear every conversation, from the throaty whispers of lovers in their beds, to the intricate calls of insects competing for mates. She could smell the salty tang of sweat radiating from a teenage boy as he necked clumsily with his first girlfriend, and the sharp metallic smell of fresh spilled blood as an old man lost his life to a starving beggar turned robber. She could taste the sweetness of candy on her tongue as a child snuck a piece from her father's private stash in the middle of the night, and the bitter taste of medicine taken to fight off a lingering cold. She could feel the almost painful rasp of a newborns first screaming breathe... and the agony of childbirth as the newborns mother brought her twin brother into the world.
And the emotions...oh Kami, the emotions! Joy, anger, hatred, love, mirth, wistfulness, excitement, curiosity, jealousy, lust, fear, disdain, sadness; emotions she didn't have names for. They overwhelmed her almost instantly, and she could feel herself slipping away.
The staff clattered to the ground, slipping from Ryoko's numb fingers onto the polished wooden floor. The cyan haired girl remained standing where she was, her face turned to the ceiling, eyes wide open. Her mouth hung open and her breath came in shuddering gasps. Her cheeks were wet from tears again. Tears of joy, of anguish, of laughter, of fear, of pride, and of longing. Tears cried by hundreds of people throughout the city, and by Ryoko herself.
Tandra descended the steps to where Ryoko stood unmoving, making no sound as she walked. Retrieving the staff from where it lay she returned it to its place at the center of the temple, her hands forming an intricate sign as she bowed reverently to it. That done she turned back to Ryoko, guiding the unresponsive girl back to where she had been sitting before with an ease born of long experience. It was nearly two hours before Ryoko recovered herself enough to talk again.
"Wh... what happened?" the cyan-haired space pirate asked in a shaky voice.
"The staff showed you as much as it could without harming you." Tandra replied. "It has been looking for someone who it can show all that it can see since before anyone can remember. When I made my attempt it showed me nearly a quarter of the city, and I held onto it for a little over ten minutes. Others have seen as few as a hundred other minds, or as much as half the country. But no-one has ever seen even a fraction of what it can see."
"There you are..." Washu muttered under her breath as she carefully separated the echo she had noticed from the background clutter of Ryoko's mind. "Now what are you doing in there Tenchi?" Without warning the signal that she had so carefully extracted went haywire, becoming a thousand times more chaotic and scrambled than before.
Trying to stay calm Washu looked desperately through her readings, but the pattern calmed back to what it had been before she could decipher anything from it. Quickly saving the data for future analysis, Washu turned her attention to figuring out what, if anything, she could do to get Tenchi out of the memory he was trapped in.
"I've got to go now." Ryoko said in a quiet voice, getting unsteadily to her feet and turning towards the entrance of the temple.
"Are you sure that's wise Ryoko?" Tandra asked. "That was quite a shock you just had... perhaps it would be better if you stayed and rested for a while longer. You are welcome to use my quarters for the night." The priestess offered.
"No... thank you." Ryoko replied after a few seconds, not turning around. "I have to go before he comes for me."
"Who?" Tandra asked softly.
"Kagato." Ryoko replied, her voice slipping into a monotone. "My master. If he thinks that I tried to run away..." the cyan-haired girls voice trailed off, and she shuddered.
"We can protect you." Tandra offered, concerned by Ryoko's behavior.
"If only that were true." Ryoko whispered, starting towards the temple's entrance again. The temple was powerful, she had felt that power herself... but it was nothing compared to the might of her masters battleship, the Souja.
"Well Ryoko, did you have a nice vacation?" the voice chilled her to the bone. He stood in the archway, tall and imposing, a nasty, superior, smirk firmly entrenched on his face.
"Kagato." Ryoko breathed, rooted to where she stood by fear.
"I must say, I am very disappointed in you my dear." The tall man said, looking at her over the top of his glasses. "You haven't figured out how to neutralize this temple's dampening field yet have you? And it's such a simple little thing. I really wish you wouldn't force me to do these things to you Ryoko, but how else will you ever learn?" Kagato asked, and before Ryoko could do anything in response she felt the oily grasp of his mind invade hers, robbing her of control over her body.
"Ah Ryoko, what is this? What have I told you about talking with the locals? This simply will not do." Ryoko pleaded with him mentally, she knew what he was going to make her do, but he just ignored her.
Ryoko's body turned to face Talia, an evil sneer twisting her features, and leaped. The dampening field the Temple generated may have seriously reduced her strength and speed, but she was still dozens of times stronger and several times faster than any normal human. Talia didn't even have a chance to shout before Ryoko's hands closed around the priestess's throat, and squeezed.
Washu watched the pattern on her screen representing Tenchi worriedly, whatever the young prince was seeing in Ryoko's memories... it couldn't be pleasant. "Hold on Tenchi, I'll have you out of that memory in just a few more seconds..." she muttered, her fingers a blur above the keyboard of her holotop. With a last stab at the enter key the pattern being displayed flashed from red to blue and started to smooth out.
The vision disappeared in a flash, the gem he had picked up falling from numb fingers onto the marble floor of the temple around him. Dazed and disoriented, Tenchi fell to his knees; his face streaked with tears and his breath was coming in ragged sobs. He'd known that Ryoko had been forced to do some terrible things in the past but... he could still feel the priestesses' throat in his hands... starting to collapse... Tenchi's stomach lurched, and he curled up into a ball until the nausea passed.
"I didn't want you to see that." The voice was quiet, mournful. He would've recognized it anywhere.
"Ryoko?" the young prince asked, his head snapping up to look at the source of those quiet words. What he saw was an apparition. A ghostly figure sitting with her arms around her knees less than two meters away, her expression sad and forlorn.
"Why are you here Tenchi?" Ryoko's ghostly form asked, her voice quiet, defeated, tired, completely unlike the Ryoko Tenchi was used to.
"To save you!" Tenchi blurted out, not sure of what else to say.
"I'm dead Tenchi." Ryoko responded, "I'm happy I could see you one last time... but you need to leave before you're trapped. Mayuka is going to need her father." She added, a sad smile gracing her features for a brief second.
"No you're not Ryoko! " Tenchi snapped, the way Ryoko was talking was starting to scare him. "Washu can save you, you just need to wake up!"
"Wake up?" Ryoko responded, confused.
"Washu can save you." Tenchi explained, trying to keep his voice calm. "But you need to be conscious for it to work." The young prince explained, reaching a hand out towards Ryoko's ghostly form.
"What makes her think I can just wake up?" Ryoko asked, ignoring Tenchi's outstretched hand.
"Please Ryoko... try" Tenchi asked in a quiet, pleading, voice, letting his hand drop.
"Why should I!" Ryoko shouted, standing up quickly and turning away from him.
"Wh..." Tenchi started, surprised... now that was a response he hadn't been expecting.
"You've seen it now! You've seen what my life has been like!" Ryoko shouted, tears in her eyes as she whirled around to face him again. "The only time in the five thousand years I've been alive that I have been happy has been these past few years with you!"
"But those days are gone Ryoko." Tenchi said, bewildered. "You said it yourself, you've been happy these past few years."
"For how long though!" Ryoko nearly wailed. "How long until you choose someone else and I'm all alone again!? Just let me die and find my peace!"
"Who said I was going to pick someone else?" Tenchi demanded, "And even if I did, why would you be alone? You have a family now Ryoko! All of us love you!." Ryoko didn't respond, refusing to meet his eyes.
"Please Ryoko... just try." Tenchi pleaded, standing and taking a step towards her. "I'm not going to leave until you do."
Ryoko's head snapped up to look at Tenchi with narrowed eyes. "That's not fair and you know it Tenchi." She hissed angrily.
"I'm not going to let you die Ryoko." Tenchi replied, meeting her glare without so much as a flinch.
Washu nearly collapsed in relief when Ryoko's eye's snapped open, the pain she was in easily apparent. Fighting back tears the diminutive scientist immediately started the procedure she had spent most of the trip to the planet putting together. She watched anxiously as the masu filling the tube swarmed towards her daughter, flowing into her wounds and replacing the lost and dead tissue more rapidly than any technique she could have developed. She almost didn't notice when the cylinder holding Tenchi opened and the dark-haired youth pulled himself out, quickly wrapping the towel she had provided around his waist.
"How is she?" he asked breathlessly, coming up behind Washu.
"She's going to live." Washu responded, "Now go check on your own daughter, she woke up a few minutes ago and Yukinojo is about to fry a circuit."
"Alright... how long..." Tenchi responded, his voice trailing off.
"About six hours." Washu answered. "Oh, and Tenchi..."
"Yes Washu?"
"Thank you."
Mayhem, Chaos, and General Messes
Chapter Six, Part 2
Closing the Net
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Keith whispered in Ayeka's ear. "This place is just a bit more high-profile than I'm normally comfortable with." He added, waving an arm to indicate the lavishly decorated lobby of the Grand Jurai hotel.
"At this point we would likely attract more attention if we were to go to anything but this Hotel." Ayeka whispered back. "After that mess at the ice-cream parlor it would surprise me if there was anyone on the planet who didn't know we were here."
"It's not my fault that you guys disguised me as the 10-year running Jurian Light-Sword Tournament champion." Keith pointed out.
"I didn't know he was." Ayeka replied, a bit sheepishly.
Keith didn't get a chance to reply as the hotels manager hurried up to their party. "Princess Ayeka, Princess Sasami, Lord Seriyou, Lord..." the manager trailed off, obviously desperately trying to place a name to Katsuhito's face.
"Katsuhito." He supplied, smiling to let the harried looking man know that he wasn't offended.
"Welcome to the Grand Jurai Hotel." The manager greeted, bowing low to each of them in turn. "We will have the Emperor Suite ready for you in just a few minutes, we just need to move its present tenants..."
"You will do no such thing." Ayeka interrupted, making the manager flinch a bit. "The sentiment is appreciated Sir, but whatever suite is open will do just fine." Smiling gently to let the frazzled looking man that she wasn't upset she added, "I am not so spoiled that I would ruin someone else's vacation for something as silly as a hotel room."
"But Lady Ayeka," the Manager started to protest, looking to Keith for supported.
"Whatever is available will do fine." Keith confirmed, shooting the man a grin. "I'm certainly not going to argue with her." He added shrugging helplessly. Ayeka threw him a dark look before turning back to the defeated-looking manager.
"Now, if you don't mind good Sir, it has been something of a long day. If you would be so kind as to show us to our room."
On the busy streets surrounding the Grand Jurai hotel, a dozen armored transports, the GP logo emblazoned prominently one their sides, sped towards their target. Inside the behemoths, dozens of officers in full riot gear listened to the briefing that was playing over their headsets.
"Alright men listen up. We have confirmed that Lord Seiryou was on Jurai as of this morning, meaning that the man presently staying at the Grand Jurai is an imposter. On top of that, according to our sources, the imposter is most likely Class-A Criminal Mayhem. Our sources indicate that he and his gang somehow survived the destruction of his vessel, and stole a resident officers ship... after killing her and her partner." The voice paused, and officers in every transport exchanged nervous glances with each other. The standing orders concerning Mayhem were clear. Shoot first, and shoot to kill. As nothing short of a lethal shot was supposed to slow the guy down.
"There is unfortunately one more piece of tragic news. The planet that he was forced down on... was the temporary residence of the crown Princesses Jurai. It saddens me to report that both are confirmed to be dead... killed in our targets escape." There were shocked murmurs and gasps as the officers heard the news. After giving them a moment to absorb this information, the briefing continued "Now the plan of attack is being displayed on your combat decks... study them well because we don't have any time to do milk runs on this one people."
The heavy wooden door of the "Princess" Suite closed behind the last of the bellhops, maids, and other assorted staff with a loud thunk, and the group let out sighs of relief in near perfect unison. Sasami made a beeline for the overstuffed ring-shaped couch that dominated the center of the main room and flopped down, yawning hugely.
"I see someone's tired." Keith commented with a grin, after taking out the device that had been altering his voice all day.
Sasami replied by sticking her tongue out at him, smiling. Keith chuckled and quickly removed the various components of the disguise, leaving him in a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt.
"Ah... that's better." he sighed with relief as he draped the heavy Jurian robes that had been covering up his normal clothes over the back of a chair.
"Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Sasami's got the right idea, I'm exhausted." Kiyone announced.
"Me too." Mihoshi yawned in agreement, her big blue eyes already half closed as she and her partner half-stumbled towards the door to one of the bedrooms.
"I believe I shall retire as well." Katsuhito added, claiming one of the other four bedrooms for himself. "Sasami, if you fall asleep on the couch your going to be sore all day tomorrow."
"Hai." Sasami replied sleepily, standing up and walking towards one of the bedrooms.
"You guys get some sleep then, I have a few things I want to check out." Keith responded, heading for the door. "I'm going to see if I can get a hold of a few of my contacts, see if they've heard anything unusual."
"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Ayeka asked, a slight hint of concern in her voice.
"Why Princess, don't tell me you're actually worried about me." Keith responded, turning around to throw her a grin.
"Hardly." Ayeka replied with a smirk of her own. "I would just rather not have to break you out of prison tonight." Keith rolled his eyes in response.
"See you guys later." Keith said, listening for a second at the door before slipping out the heavy hardwood door.
Keith hadn't made it more than five meters down the hallway when he heard it... the distinct triple-click of a personal holocamera. Swearing under his breath he spun around, covering the distance to the far wall in three strides. Forming his fingertips into thick claws, he unceremoniously dug them into the wall around a decent sized air-vent and tore it out of place.
"AHHH!!!" Kanno screamed as Keith pulled him out of the vent by his shirt collar. "Oh Tsunami, please don't kill me, pleasepleasepleaseplease." The young man babbled. "I won't tell anyone, I swear."
"Shut up before I rip your tongue out kid." Keith snarled, letting his face go slightly feral just for the added effect.
"Are you in position?" Lord Heero's smooth voice, only slightly distorted by the headset, spoke into her ear.
"Yes Lord Karishima." She replied, tucking a stray lock of midnight-black hair behind one long ear. "At your command."
"Excellent work my dear. Wait until the police enter the building before you make your move. Other than that, I leave everything to your own discretion."
"Thank you my lord."
Ayeka was sitting on one of the overstuffed couches that dominated the suite, idly flipping through the hundreds of channels that the holo-TV had access to. She had shed the heavy outer kimono she had been wearing. It was a winter kimono, and she had been all but boiling all day because of it, despite the absence of any of the normal layers underneath it. This left her lounging in the khaki shorts and purple t-shirt that were all she had been wearing underneath. For whatever reason, she couldn't convince herself to go to bed, despite the fact that she was exhausted from the past few days events. She nearly fell off the couch in alarm when the door to the suite flew open and a rather scary looking version of Keith stormed in, dragging a frightened young man behind him.
"What happened?" she asked, surprised. "Who is that man?"
"A fucking reporter." Keith growled, kicking the door shut before dragging the frightened young man over to a chair and shoving him down into it.
"Oh Tsunami." Ayeka sighed, rubbing her temples in a decent impression of Kiyone.
"No kidding." Keith snorted, his grimace displaying a mouthful of very sharp teeth. "The question is, what the hell are we going to do with him." Kanno nearly passed out at the look Keith shot at him when he said this.
"First off Ke..." Ayeka started.
"DON'T use my real name in front of other people Princess." Keith snapped, interrupting her and making her flinch slightly.
"Fine then MAYHEM." She snapped back, her tone icy. "First off, stop scaring the poor man... not to mention me."
Keith looked at her in surprise, catching her scent and noticing the slight tinge of fear that colored it. "Ah Christ." He muttered, forcing himself to calm down and letting his features return to normal. "Sorry `bout that Ayeka."
"Just don't do it again." Ayeka replied, her voice still a bit icy, but her scent losing the tinge of fear. "Now as for you," she began, turning her gaze towards the now slightly confused form of Kanno, "you are the young man from the ice-cream parlor, are you not." Despite how the sentence was phrased, it wasn't a question.
Kanno nodded his head in confirmation, still watching Keith warily.
"What is your name?" Ayeka asked, trying to put as much warmth into her voice as possible.
"K-Kanno." He replied, his voice unsteady from nerves. "A-are you really the Crown Princess?" he asked , his gaze darting nervously between her and Keith.
"I am." Ayeka confirmed.
"Then why..." Kanno's voice trailed off nervously as he glanced back at Keith.
"That is a long story I am afraid." Ayeka sighed. "Suffice it to say, Mr. Mayhem here is not what everyone accuses him of being. Even if his social skills could use some work." She added with a slight smirk.
"Gee. Thanks." Keith deadpanned in response, sticking his tongue out the violet tressed princess before returning his gaze to Kanno, his silver-green eyes fixing the young reporter with a hard glare. "Have you reported anything to anyone yet?" he asked the young man, his voice harsh, almost a growl.
"On-only the pictures I took at the ice-cream parlor." Kanno replied nervously, still watching Keith fearfully despite Ayeka's reassurances.
"Well that's something at least." Keith muttered. "Well Ayeka, any ideas on what we should do with this guy?"
"Well, unless you happen to have someplace we can hide him for a few weeks..." Ayeka started, shooting Keith a questioning glance. When he shook his head no she continued, "then I suppose we will have to take him with us." She finished with a sigh.
Keith couldn't resist. "Wouldn't that be kidnapping Princess?" he teased. "Hardly appropriated for someone of your station don't you think?"
"Kidnapping?" Ayeka replied in a mock-offended voice. "I am most certainly not going to stoop to your level Mr. Mayhem. I shall simply have Kiyone and Mihoshi place our guest under protective custody."
Keith laughed, and Kanno sunk even farther into the overstuff chair, a look of doom on his face.
At the entrance of the hotel, armored transports screeched to a halt, and GP troops poured out and into the brightly lit lobby. They looked like ants from her position on the roof. She grinned coldly as she watched them scurry far below. She was tempted to wait until they were in the suite as well before making her move... but that would probably displease Lord Heero. Ah well, it would be a pretty explosion either way. Grinning, she pressed down on the small button on her bracelet, and the top floor of the opposite tower bloomed into white-hot flames.
End Chapter Six
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 Six, Part 1
Know Thyself
Washu swore colorfully as a long gash opened up along Tenchi's belly. Admittedly it was just one of many, but they just kept coming. If this continued for too much longer, or if the wounds got more severe, even the system she had him locked into wouldn't be able to keep up!
"What the hell is going on in there!" Washu growled. Her hands a blur over her ethereal computer as she tried desperately to keep up with both Tenchi's growing list of injuries and Ryoko's deteriorating condition. "C'mon Ryoko-chan, I know you hate people poking around inside your head, but your going to kill him at this rate."
That's when Washu's holo computer disappeared in a flash of light that nearly blinded the petite scientist. Blinking her eyes to try and clear the spots from her vision Washu brought up her back-up screen and cautiously reconnected it to the monitoring systems watching Tenchi.
"He used the light hawk wings?!?" Washu exclaimed, frantically reinitializing her computers link to Ryoko's life support system. "Tenchi, if you've hurt my little girl any worse than she already is..." the threat trailed off as she looked at the readings in front of her in amazement. "It... it's helping... the rate of deterioration has slowed by 35.623 percent... She must be feeding off the energy!"
Shaking her head, and filing that information away for later analysis, Washu got back to work, pausing only for seconds to check on Mayuka, still sleeping peacefully (thank god!) in one of Yukinojo's bedrooms, over the various ""baby monitors"" she had set up.
"C'mon Tenchi, hurry!" she whispered.
Tenchi couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this comfortable. He wanted nothing more than to stay just like he was. Totally relaxed, his head cushioned on a warm lap, gentle, delicate hands running idly through his hair. Her, he was sure it was a woman, scent was familiar, comforting, but at the same time managing to be exotic and intoxicating. He couldn't see who's lap it was, and he just couldn't seem to convince himself to open his eyes.
"My Tenchi." the voice was familiar, feminine. It felt... right.
But wasn't he supposed to be doing something? Tenchi's brow furrowed. He was supposed to find something. No, someone. Someone very important to him...
"Ryoko!" Tenchi sat up with a shout. His eye's flying open just in time to see a ghostly figure of the girl he was looking for fade away like so much mist, her expression sad, longing.
His eyes wide, Tenchi looked around at the scenery that surrounded him. All around him was a patchwork of different places. None quite in focus, and none quite lined up with any of the others. They did have one thing in common though; each and every piece of landscape looked like a bomb had hit it. A large bomb at that.
It took a few seconds for the smell to register, but when it did Tenchi fell to his knees, retching. That's when he noticed the bodies. Thousands of them, millions of them, scattered about like so much garbage. Young and old, male and female, humanoid and others, there was no discrimination here. Their blurred, indistinct, features seemed to stare at him accusingly even in death.
"What is this?" the young prince muttered to himself, shutting his eyes tightly to block out the sight. It helped, a little. Then he heard them. They were barely whispers. Carried on the wind. Or maybe they were the wind. He couldn't tell
"Murderer." They accused. "Monster." They hissed at him from among the buildings. Screams of fear, of anger, of pain, and of death, echoed around him. From the skeletons of crumbling architecture they howled at him. The cries of people mourning their lost loved ones, of children for parents, and of mothers for their children. All of them gone forever.
Tenchi's pressed his hands over his ears, curled himself into a tight fetal ball... and screamed.
Washu's hands were a blur over the keyboard of her computer. The screen was displaying two separate waveforms, one ice blue, the other a deep crimson. But they were starting to run together, the blue beginning to mimic the red.
Cursing loudly Washu spun around and practically punched a large button set into the side of the capsule holding Tenchi's body. The response was immediate. The form inside the capsule convulsed violently, straining against the bonds that were holding it still, the mouth opening in a silent scream
Suddenly Tenchi was screaming for a whole new reason, pain lancing white-hot across the whole of his body, sending him into convulsions. It lasted only seconds, felt like an eternity, and when it ended he couldn't do anything but lie limply on the ground for several minutes.
"What the hell was that?" he gasped, pulling himself into a sitting position with a groan. It took him a second longer to notice the change. He could still hear the voices, but they weren't completely overwhelming like they had been. He could block them out with only a little effort. Getting unsteadily to his feet, Tenchi looked around the patchwork landscape again, looking for any clues as to what to do next.
The song was so quiet at first that Tenchi wasn't sure if it was real or just his imagination running wild. The melody wavered in and out, right on the edge of hearing and in competition with the voices that were still muttering at him accusatorily. Closing his eyes tightly, Tenchi concentrated on the oddly familiar music.
"That way." He muttered to himself, opening his eyes and setting off at a jog towards the sound. As it got louder the tune became more and more familiar, but Tenchi still couldn't place where he'd heard it before. Finally after crawling through the cratered, disjointed cityscape for what felt like an eternity, Tenchi stumbled into the courtyard of a massive cathedral. It rose above him in a series of delicate spires and arcs that looked too thin to supported their own weight. It was, in contrast to almost every other building he'd seem in the disjointed landscape, seemingly intact.
As he approached the entrance he spotted a dark purple stain that he instinctively knew had to be blood, even if the color was not what he expected. Stepping carefully past the stain Tenchi followed the thread of song, louder now, down a dim passage way into a chamber large enough that it's roof and opposite wall were hidden in the darkness. The only light in the cavernous room emanated from a simple, if skillfully crafted wooden cradle about fifty meters away from him, down a series of steps.
Making his way carefully down the wide steps Tenchi approached the cradle, the song becoming clearer and clearer with every step. Before long he was standing above the simple wooden cradle, looking down into it. Lying inside it, nestled carefully on the blankets inside was a gem. A twin for the one on Ryoko's wrist and the ones still embedded in the Tenchi-ken, it glowed crimson, almost vibrating with the song that emanated from it. Kneeling down, Tenchi carefully reached for the gem...
Washu started in shock as the waveform that represented Tenchi's mind disappeared completely and without warning. One second it was there, the next gone.
"Oh Kami... " Washu gasped. "Tenchi."
She felt the oily grasp of her masters mind slip away from hers for the first time in months, leaving only a faint, distracted presence sitting in the back of her head. Surprised but pleased, Ryoko reveled in its absence. She briefly considered running, hiding, but quickly banished the thoughts from her mind and memory for fear that Kagato would notice it and punish her again. Besides, his touch would probably not be gone for long, and even that thin thread that was left would be enough to alert him of any such attempt.
This time her mission didn't require her to fight anyone, simply to sneak in and steal a holy object from one of the larger temples. The primitives of this world had no way to stop her and no weapons that were of any threat to her. No need to fight, no need to kill. The thought was followed by a sense of relief that was almost enough to make her smile. Almost.
Flying low over the simple thatch-roofed huts of the village below Ryoko sped silently towards the huge, fragile looking cathedral that dominated the skyline. As she approached it's glistening white spires and arches Ryoko realized that the structure was far beyond the capabilities of the local people. A relic of an age long past perhaps, or maybe built by visitors from another world. Either way, it at least partially explained Kagato's interest in whatever was inside.
It didn't change a thing though. The job was still a simple one. Phase in, grab what she had come for, and leave. Simple.
She slowed to a near hover as she approached the main wall of the building. Stretching out her senses for the source of power she knew lay just beyond. Nothing. Frowning slightly she tried again concentrating deeply. Still nothing. Shrugging Ryoko floated forward, and promptly hit her head on the very solid exterior of the building.
"Owww..." Ryoko mumbled annoyed. "Well if I can't phase..." she muttered, and teleported.
"Ouch." She groaned, peeling herself off the side of the building. "Dammit, how in the hell is this thing shielded!?" she growled angrily, igniting her sword. "Well take THIS!" she shouted, swinging at the wall. Her sword simply sputtered out when it hit, leaving the stone surface completely unmarked.
"Guess I'll have to use a door." She sighed in defeat, letting herself sink to the ground. Landing silently she started walking around the buildings perimeter looking for an entrance. To her dismay there was only one on the entire structure. A simple arch, maybe twice as tall as she was, led to a similarly undecorated passageway maybe two-dozen meters long. She was maybe halfway down the passage when she felt it.
That final, half-there tendril of Kagato's presence... vanished. No pain, no resistance, no nothing. It was simply gone. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Ryoko laughed. Laughed with a pure joy she hadn't felt in... well never. And she kept on laughing, finding herself unable to stop even as tears rolled down her cheeks, her stomach started to cramp up, and her legs gave way.
"Well I must say, I don't think I'd have ever expected to see something like this." a soft voice, tinged with a trace of laughter, commented from nearby. "A demon in one of the great temples, overcome by something as simple as her own laughter. What a story this shall make."
Ryoko looked up through tears of joy towards the source of the voice. An elegant looking woman stood at the end of the short passage, watching her with a kind smile on her face. Her skin was a blue so dark that it almost appeared black. Long, pure white hair fell down her back in an elegant cascade between the large, delicate, bat-like ears that dominated the sides of her head. Her lower pair of arms were crossed over her slim hips in a relaxed fashion. She clasped the upper pair in front of her in a gesture of greeting when Ryoko glanced up at her. Her garb was simple. A sleeveless, cream-colored dress that hung to her ankles, belted at the waist with a dark-blue sash.
"Well seeing as you've come this far, you may as well enter the rest of the way." The woman continued, her smile still firmly in place.
"A priestess inviting a demon into her temple..." Ryoko started, her voice unsteady from the laughter that was still trying to force its way out. "Are you sure that's wise?"
"Wise or not, it is what I feel is right." The woman replied lightly. "And in any case, it is not my place to turn you away. The temple belongs to everyone who chooses to make use of it. Even the occasional demon." The last comment was thrown over the priestess's shoulder as she walked back the way she had come.
No matter what she tried Washu couldn't find it. That simple, singular, mental signature that represented Tenchi's mind was simply gone. The only thing keeping his body alive at this point were the machines that engulfed it. Not even the shock that she had used earlier was getting anything more than a reflexive response.
She could feel hot tears welling up, and she couldn't stop them. Two of the people she loved more than anything else in the universe were dying before her eyes and she felt so helpless...
"NO!" she shouted angrily. "I won't let it happen! You are not going to die on me Tenchi! You're going to save my daughter and both of you are going to come back to me!" With that she open her link to Ryoko's mind, searching desperately for any trace of the young prince.
Ryoko stepped into the main chamber of the temple cautiously, tears of laughter drying in streaks on her face. The room was almost as plain as the passageway that she had just left. Gleaming-white, seamless stone arced high above her. A plain dome, brightly lit by a crystalline ring of triangular lights about two thirds of the way up. The floor was a series of terraced rings, wide enough to be used comfortably as seats, but low enough to serve easily as stairs. And in the center stood what she had come to take.
A plain wooden staff, gnarled and stained with age, stood seeming balanced on its end in the center of the chamber. Even from where she stood, a hundred meters away Ryoko could feel it humming with power. To her eyes it almost seemed to vibrate where it stood, singing a song that hung just beyond the edge of hearing.
The priestess was sitting about halfway down the steps, a baby cradled in her lower pair of arms, singing. Her voice was a crystal clear alto, perfectly on key, and achingly beautiful. The song itself was simple, calming, comforting. Ryoko found herself humming along to it almost unconsciously, the tune almost immediately taking up permanent residence in her head despite the fact that she couldn't understand a word of it.
"What's that song about?" she asked quietly as she started making her way slowly down the stairs towards the staff.
The priestess shrugged her upper pair of arms, continuing to sing. When she finally let the song fade away she replied in a thoughtful voice. "I don't know." She said with a smile. "My mother used to sing it to me as a child. Perhaps one of the scholars could tell me, but I think I rather prefer not knowing."
"Why?" Ryoko asked, still only about a quarter of the way down the steps.
"Because not knowing what it's about I can assign any emotion I like to the song." The Priestess replied simply.
Ryoko didn't really understand but she sensed that that was probably the best answer she was going to get out of the young woman.
"Is the child yours?" Ryoko asked, more for the sake of talking than anything else.
"Are all demons so full of questions?" the young priestess laughed. "No, I did not birth her. I am merely watching her for the night while her mother is away."
Ryoko simply nodded in reply, not really sure what to say next.
"I take it demons don't get much chance to practice the art of small talk?" the priestess observed after a long silence, her gentle smile still in place.
"Do you have to keep calling me that?" Ryoko replied, now about halfway down the steps, less than three meters from the young woman's seat.
"You mean demon? Well then, what would you prefer I call you?" the priestess replied casually, patting the place beside her to indicate that Ryoko should sit down.
"Ryoko." She replied quietly, still standing.
"Well then Ryoko, you may call me Tandra." The young priestess replied, her smile widening briefly. "Please, sit down. You look simply exhausted."
"Why are you treating me so kindly?" Ryoko asked quietly, sitting down after a moment's hesitation. "You said yourself that I'm a demon."
"Everyone is equal in this place Ryoko. Demon or angel. The highest kings to the lowliest peasant. Even God herself. That is why there is only one entrance. So everyone enters this place the same way as everyone else." Tandra replied kindly, reaching over to give Ryoko's shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"But I'm dangerous!" Ryoko replied fiercely, the tears back again, though for a different reason than before.
"How so?" Tandra replied, arching an eyebrow, her voice holding the slightest trace of amusement.
"I can..." Ryoko's reply trailed off as she tried to form her sword and failed. She could feel the energy of the gems as clearly as ever... but she couldn't make use of it. Every time she tried it slipped from her grasp like water through a sieve.
"As a said Ryoko," Tandra replied softly, "everyone is equal in this place."
Washu stretched her mind as far into Ryoko's as she dared, looking for any trace of the young prince, and failing miserably. Far away she could feel the slightest hint of her daughters conscious self, but every time she tried to approach, Ryoko retreated deeper. And there was a curious echo that was complicating things even further, making it hard to focus.
An echo? The answer struck the ancient scientist like a freight train and she hastily withdrew her mind from her daughters. Typing with renewed fervor she returned to the task at hand, trying hard to ignore the timer that counted steadily down towards zero in the corner of the screen.
"I came here to steal that you know." Ryoko said after a few minutes, gesturing towards the staff that stood at the center of the room.
"If you can take it, it's yours." Tandra replied absently as she laid the sleeping child in a simple wooden cradle and tucked her in.
"What?" Ryoko replied, genuinely surprised. Most religious groups were practically fanatical about their holy relics. Yet this woman said she could take what amounted to the center of the temple with not so much as a hint of concern.
"The staff of judgment decides it's own path." Tandra replied, looking Ryoko in the eyes. "This temple has been blessed that it has chosen to stay with us for so many millennia, but if it chooses to leave with you this night we will accept it."
"You make it sound like that chunk of wood is sentient." Ryoko noted.
"It is." Tandra replied with a shrug. "Maybe not in the same way as you or I, but it is."
"So you're not going to try and stop me then?" Ryoko asked, eyeing the priestess suspiciously as she stood up. Tandra merely shook her head no, her soft smile firmly in place. Ryoko gave her one last curious glance, shrugged, and started towards the center of the room again.
She could feel the power radiating from the staff almost as a physical force now. It was practically intoxicating to Ryoko's senses, and by the time she was within arms length she felt almost drunk from the staff's influence. Her head swimming she reached for it, her hand curling around wood polished smooth by the hands of generations, and lifted it easily from it's place.
"I guess it's decided to come with me." Ryoko half-gloated, smirking at the still serene priestess. Then it hit her like the proverbial ton of bricks... she could see... everything. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head, and her body convulsed like she had stepped on a live wire.
She could see through the eyes of everyone and everything in the city, from Tandra sitting mere yards away, to the mayor's pet cat, watching his master stumble half-asleep through the kitchen. She could hear every conversation, from the throaty whispers of lovers in their beds, to the intricate calls of insects competing for mates. She could smell the salty tang of sweat radiating from a teenage boy as he necked clumsily with his first girlfriend, and the sharp metallic smell of fresh spilled blood as an old man lost his life to a starving beggar turned robber. She could taste the sweetness of candy on her tongue as a child snuck a piece from her father's private stash in the middle of the night, and the bitter taste of medicine taken to fight off a lingering cold. She could feel the almost painful rasp of a newborns first screaming breathe... and the agony of childbirth as the newborns mother brought her twin brother into the world.
And the emotions...oh Kami, the emotions! Joy, anger, hatred, love, mirth, wistfulness, excitement, curiosity, jealousy, lust, fear, disdain, sadness; emotions she didn't have names for. They overwhelmed her almost instantly, and she could feel herself slipping away.
The staff clattered to the ground, slipping from Ryoko's numb fingers onto the polished wooden floor. The cyan haired girl remained standing where she was, her face turned to the ceiling, eyes wide open. Her mouth hung open and her breath came in shuddering gasps. Her cheeks were wet from tears again. Tears of joy, of anguish, of laughter, of fear, of pride, and of longing. Tears cried by hundreds of people throughout the city, and by Ryoko herself.
Tandra descended the steps to where Ryoko stood unmoving, making no sound as she walked. Retrieving the staff from where it lay she returned it to its place at the center of the temple, her hands forming an intricate sign as she bowed reverently to it. That done she turned back to Ryoko, guiding the unresponsive girl back to where she had been sitting before with an ease born of long experience. It was nearly two hours before Ryoko recovered herself enough to talk again.
"Wh... what happened?" the cyan-haired space pirate asked in a shaky voice.
"The staff showed you as much as it could without harming you." Tandra replied. "It has been looking for someone who it can show all that it can see since before anyone can remember. When I made my attempt it showed me nearly a quarter of the city, and I held onto it for a little over ten minutes. Others have seen as few as a hundred other minds, or as much as half the country. But no-one has ever seen even a fraction of what it can see."
"There you are..." Washu muttered under her breath as she carefully separated the echo she had noticed from the background clutter of Ryoko's mind. "Now what are you doing in there Tenchi?" Without warning the signal that she had so carefully extracted went haywire, becoming a thousand times more chaotic and scrambled than before.
Trying to stay calm Washu looked desperately through her readings, but the pattern calmed back to what it had been before she could decipher anything from it. Quickly saving the data for future analysis, Washu turned her attention to figuring out what, if anything, she could do to get Tenchi out of the memory he was trapped in.
"I've got to go now." Ryoko said in a quiet voice, getting unsteadily to her feet and turning towards the entrance of the temple.
"Are you sure that's wise Ryoko?" Tandra asked. "That was quite a shock you just had... perhaps it would be better if you stayed and rested for a while longer. You are welcome to use my quarters for the night." The priestess offered.
"No... thank you." Ryoko replied after a few seconds, not turning around. "I have to go before he comes for me."
"Who?" Tandra asked softly.
"Kagato." Ryoko replied, her voice slipping into a monotone. "My master. If he thinks that I tried to run away..." the cyan-haired girls voice trailed off, and she shuddered.
"We can protect you." Tandra offered, concerned by Ryoko's behavior.
"If only that were true." Ryoko whispered, starting towards the temple's entrance again. The temple was powerful, she had felt that power herself... but it was nothing compared to the might of her masters battleship, the Souja.
"Well Ryoko, did you have a nice vacation?" the voice chilled her to the bone. He stood in the archway, tall and imposing, a nasty, superior, smirk firmly entrenched on his face.
"Kagato." Ryoko breathed, rooted to where she stood by fear.
"I must say, I am very disappointed in you my dear." The tall man said, looking at her over the top of his glasses. "You haven't figured out how to neutralize this temple's dampening field yet have you? And it's such a simple little thing. I really wish you wouldn't force me to do these things to you Ryoko, but how else will you ever learn?" Kagato asked, and before Ryoko could do anything in response she felt the oily grasp of his mind invade hers, robbing her of control over her body.
"Ah Ryoko, what is this? What have I told you about talking with the locals? This simply will not do." Ryoko pleaded with him mentally, she knew what he was going to make her do, but he just ignored her.
Ryoko's body turned to face Talia, an evil sneer twisting her features, and leaped. The dampening field the Temple generated may have seriously reduced her strength and speed, but she was still dozens of times stronger and several times faster than any normal human. Talia didn't even have a chance to shout before Ryoko's hands closed around the priestess's throat, and squeezed.
Washu watched the pattern on her screen representing Tenchi worriedly, whatever the young prince was seeing in Ryoko's memories... it couldn't be pleasant. "Hold on Tenchi, I'll have you out of that memory in just a few more seconds..." she muttered, her fingers a blur above the keyboard of her holotop. With a last stab at the enter key the pattern being displayed flashed from red to blue and started to smooth out.
The vision disappeared in a flash, the gem he had picked up falling from numb fingers onto the marble floor of the temple around him. Dazed and disoriented, Tenchi fell to his knees; his face streaked with tears and his breath was coming in ragged sobs. He'd known that Ryoko had been forced to do some terrible things in the past but... he could still feel the priestesses' throat in his hands... starting to collapse... Tenchi's stomach lurched, and he curled up into a ball until the nausea passed.
"I didn't want you to see that." The voice was quiet, mournful. He would've recognized it anywhere.
"Ryoko?" the young prince asked, his head snapping up to look at the source of those quiet words. What he saw was an apparition. A ghostly figure sitting with her arms around her knees less than two meters away, her expression sad and forlorn.
"Why are you here Tenchi?" Ryoko's ghostly form asked, her voice quiet, defeated, tired, completely unlike the Ryoko Tenchi was used to.
"To save you!" Tenchi blurted out, not sure of what else to say.
"I'm dead Tenchi." Ryoko responded, "I'm happy I could see you one last time... but you need to leave before you're trapped. Mayuka is going to need her father." She added, a sad smile gracing her features for a brief second.
"No you're not Ryoko! " Tenchi snapped, the way Ryoko was talking was starting to scare him. "Washu can save you, you just need to wake up!"
"Wake up?" Ryoko responded, confused.
"Washu can save you." Tenchi explained, trying to keep his voice calm. "But you need to be conscious for it to work." The young prince explained, reaching a hand out towards Ryoko's ghostly form.
"What makes her think I can just wake up?" Ryoko asked, ignoring Tenchi's outstretched hand.
"Please Ryoko... try" Tenchi asked in a quiet, pleading, voice, letting his hand drop.
"Why should I!" Ryoko shouted, standing up quickly and turning away from him.
"Wh..." Tenchi started, surprised... now that was a response he hadn't been expecting.
"You've seen it now! You've seen what my life has been like!" Ryoko shouted, tears in her eyes as she whirled around to face him again. "The only time in the five thousand years I've been alive that I have been happy has been these past few years with you!"
"But those days are gone Ryoko." Tenchi said, bewildered. "You said it yourself, you've been happy these past few years."
"For how long though!" Ryoko nearly wailed. "How long until you choose someone else and I'm all alone again!? Just let me die and find my peace!"
"Who said I was going to pick someone else?" Tenchi demanded, "And even if I did, why would you be alone? You have a family now Ryoko! All of us love you!." Ryoko didn't respond, refusing to meet his eyes.
"Please Ryoko... just try." Tenchi pleaded, standing and taking a step towards her. "I'm not going to leave until you do."
Ryoko's head snapped up to look at Tenchi with narrowed eyes. "That's not fair and you know it Tenchi." She hissed angrily.
"I'm not going to let you die Ryoko." Tenchi replied, meeting her glare without so much as a flinch.
Washu nearly collapsed in relief when Ryoko's eye's snapped open, the pain she was in easily apparent. Fighting back tears the diminutive scientist immediately started the procedure she had spent most of the trip to the planet putting together. She watched anxiously as the masu filling the tube swarmed towards her daughter, flowing into her wounds and replacing the lost and dead tissue more rapidly than any technique she could have developed. She almost didn't notice when the cylinder holding Tenchi opened and the dark-haired youth pulled himself out, quickly wrapping the towel she had provided around his waist.
"How is she?" he asked breathlessly, coming up behind Washu.
"She's going to live." Washu responded, "Now go check on your own daughter, she woke up a few minutes ago and Yukinojo is about to fry a circuit."
"Alright... how long..." Tenchi responded, his voice trailing off.
"About six hours." Washu answered. "Oh, and Tenchi..."
"Yes Washu?"
"Thank you."
Mayhem, Chaos, and General Messes
Chapter Six, Part 2
Closing the Net
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Keith whispered in Ayeka's ear. "This place is just a bit more high-profile than I'm normally comfortable with." He added, waving an arm to indicate the lavishly decorated lobby of the Grand Jurai hotel.
"At this point we would likely attract more attention if we were to go to anything but this Hotel." Ayeka whispered back. "After that mess at the ice-cream parlor it would surprise me if there was anyone on the planet who didn't know we were here."
"It's not my fault that you guys disguised me as the 10-year running Jurian Light-Sword Tournament champion." Keith pointed out.
"I didn't know he was." Ayeka replied, a bit sheepishly.
Keith didn't get a chance to reply as the hotels manager hurried up to their party. "Princess Ayeka, Princess Sasami, Lord Seriyou, Lord..." the manager trailed off, obviously desperately trying to place a name to Katsuhito's face.
"Katsuhito." He supplied, smiling to let the harried looking man know that he wasn't offended.
"Welcome to the Grand Jurai Hotel." The manager greeted, bowing low to each of them in turn. "We will have the Emperor Suite ready for you in just a few minutes, we just need to move its present tenants..."
"You will do no such thing." Ayeka interrupted, making the manager flinch a bit. "The sentiment is appreciated Sir, but whatever suite is open will do just fine." Smiling gently to let the frazzled looking man that she wasn't upset she added, "I am not so spoiled that I would ruin someone else's vacation for something as silly as a hotel room."
"But Lady Ayeka," the Manager started to protest, looking to Keith for supported.
"Whatever is available will do fine." Keith confirmed, shooting the man a grin. "I'm certainly not going to argue with her." He added shrugging helplessly. Ayeka threw him a dark look before turning back to the defeated-looking manager.
"Now, if you don't mind good Sir, it has been something of a long day. If you would be so kind as to show us to our room."
On the busy streets surrounding the Grand Jurai hotel, a dozen armored transports, the GP logo emblazoned prominently one their sides, sped towards their target. Inside the behemoths, dozens of officers in full riot gear listened to the briefing that was playing over their headsets.
"Alright men listen up. We have confirmed that Lord Seiryou was on Jurai as of this morning, meaning that the man presently staying at the Grand Jurai is an imposter. On top of that, according to our sources, the imposter is most likely Class-A Criminal Mayhem. Our sources indicate that he and his gang somehow survived the destruction of his vessel, and stole a resident officers ship... after killing her and her partner." The voice paused, and officers in every transport exchanged nervous glances with each other. The standing orders concerning Mayhem were clear. Shoot first, and shoot to kill. As nothing short of a lethal shot was supposed to slow the guy down.
"There is unfortunately one more piece of tragic news. The planet that he was forced down on... was the temporary residence of the crown Princesses Jurai. It saddens me to report that both are confirmed to be dead... killed in our targets escape." There were shocked murmurs and gasps as the officers heard the news. After giving them a moment to absorb this information, the briefing continued "Now the plan of attack is being displayed on your combat decks... study them well because we don't have any time to do milk runs on this one people."
The heavy wooden door of the "Princess" Suite closed behind the last of the bellhops, maids, and other assorted staff with a loud thunk, and the group let out sighs of relief in near perfect unison. Sasami made a beeline for the overstuffed ring-shaped couch that dominated the center of the main room and flopped down, yawning hugely.
"I see someone's tired." Keith commented with a grin, after taking out the device that had been altering his voice all day.
Sasami replied by sticking her tongue out at him, smiling. Keith chuckled and quickly removed the various components of the disguise, leaving him in a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt.
"Ah... that's better." he sighed with relief as he draped the heavy Jurian robes that had been covering up his normal clothes over the back of a chair.
"Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Sasami's got the right idea, I'm exhausted." Kiyone announced.
"Me too." Mihoshi yawned in agreement, her big blue eyes already half closed as she and her partner half-stumbled towards the door to one of the bedrooms.
"I believe I shall retire as well." Katsuhito added, claiming one of the other four bedrooms for himself. "Sasami, if you fall asleep on the couch your going to be sore all day tomorrow."
"Hai." Sasami replied sleepily, standing up and walking towards one of the bedrooms.
"You guys get some sleep then, I have a few things I want to check out." Keith responded, heading for the door. "I'm going to see if I can get a hold of a few of my contacts, see if they've heard anything unusual."
"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Ayeka asked, a slight hint of concern in her voice.
"Why Princess, don't tell me you're actually worried about me." Keith responded, turning around to throw her a grin.
"Hardly." Ayeka replied with a smirk of her own. "I would just rather not have to break you out of prison tonight." Keith rolled his eyes in response.
"See you guys later." Keith said, listening for a second at the door before slipping out the heavy hardwood door.
Keith hadn't made it more than five meters down the hallway when he heard it... the distinct triple-click of a personal holocamera. Swearing under his breath he spun around, covering the distance to the far wall in three strides. Forming his fingertips into thick claws, he unceremoniously dug them into the wall around a decent sized air-vent and tore it out of place.
"AHHH!!!" Kanno screamed as Keith pulled him out of the vent by his shirt collar. "Oh Tsunami, please don't kill me, pleasepleasepleaseplease." The young man babbled. "I won't tell anyone, I swear."
"Shut up before I rip your tongue out kid." Keith snarled, letting his face go slightly feral just for the added effect.
"Are you in position?" Lord Heero's smooth voice, only slightly distorted by the headset, spoke into her ear.
"Yes Lord Karishima." She replied, tucking a stray lock of midnight-black hair behind one long ear. "At your command."
"Excellent work my dear. Wait until the police enter the building before you make your move. Other than that, I leave everything to your own discretion."
"Thank you my lord."
Ayeka was sitting on one of the overstuffed couches that dominated the suite, idly flipping through the hundreds of channels that the holo-TV had access to. She had shed the heavy outer kimono she had been wearing. It was a winter kimono, and she had been all but boiling all day because of it, despite the absence of any of the normal layers underneath it. This left her lounging in the khaki shorts and purple t-shirt that were all she had been wearing underneath. For whatever reason, she couldn't convince herself to go to bed, despite the fact that she was exhausted from the past few days events. She nearly fell off the couch in alarm when the door to the suite flew open and a rather scary looking version of Keith stormed in, dragging a frightened young man behind him.
"What happened?" she asked, surprised. "Who is that man?"
"A fucking reporter." Keith growled, kicking the door shut before dragging the frightened young man over to a chair and shoving him down into it.
"Oh Tsunami." Ayeka sighed, rubbing her temples in a decent impression of Kiyone.
"No kidding." Keith snorted, his grimace displaying a mouthful of very sharp teeth. "The question is, what the hell are we going to do with him." Kanno nearly passed out at the look Keith shot at him when he said this.
"First off Ke..." Ayeka started.
"DON'T use my real name in front of other people Princess." Keith snapped, interrupting her and making her flinch slightly.
"Fine then MAYHEM." She snapped back, her tone icy. "First off, stop scaring the poor man... not to mention me."
Keith looked at her in surprise, catching her scent and noticing the slight tinge of fear that colored it. "Ah Christ." He muttered, forcing himself to calm down and letting his features return to normal. "Sorry `bout that Ayeka."
"Just don't do it again." Ayeka replied, her voice still a bit icy, but her scent losing the tinge of fear. "Now as for you," she began, turning her gaze towards the now slightly confused form of Kanno, "you are the young man from the ice-cream parlor, are you not." Despite how the sentence was phrased, it wasn't a question.
Kanno nodded his head in confirmation, still watching Keith warily.
"What is your name?" Ayeka asked, trying to put as much warmth into her voice as possible.
"K-Kanno." He replied, his voice unsteady from nerves. "A-are you really the Crown Princess?" he asked , his gaze darting nervously between her and Keith.
"I am." Ayeka confirmed.
"Then why..." Kanno's voice trailed off nervously as he glanced back at Keith.
"That is a long story I am afraid." Ayeka sighed. "Suffice it to say, Mr. Mayhem here is not what everyone accuses him of being. Even if his social skills could use some work." She added with a slight smirk.
"Gee. Thanks." Keith deadpanned in response, sticking his tongue out the violet tressed princess before returning his gaze to Kanno, his silver-green eyes fixing the young reporter with a hard glare. "Have you reported anything to anyone yet?" he asked the young man, his voice harsh, almost a growl.
"On-only the pictures I took at the ice-cream parlor." Kanno replied nervously, still watching Keith fearfully despite Ayeka's reassurances.
"Well that's something at least." Keith muttered. "Well Ayeka, any ideas on what we should do with this guy?"
"Well, unless you happen to have someplace we can hide him for a few weeks..." Ayeka started, shooting Keith a questioning glance. When he shook his head no she continued, "then I suppose we will have to take him with us." She finished with a sigh.
Keith couldn't resist. "Wouldn't that be kidnapping Princess?" he teased. "Hardly appropriated for someone of your station don't you think?"
"Kidnapping?" Ayeka replied in a mock-offended voice. "I am most certainly not going to stoop to your level Mr. Mayhem. I shall simply have Kiyone and Mihoshi place our guest under protective custody."
Keith laughed, and Kanno sunk even farther into the overstuff chair, a look of doom on his face.
At the entrance of the hotel, armored transports screeched to a halt, and GP troops poured out and into the brightly lit lobby. They looked like ants from her position on the roof. She grinned coldly as she watched them scurry far below. She was tempted to wait until they were in the suite as well before making her move... but that would probably displease Lord Heero. Ah well, it would be a pretty explosion either way. Grinning, she pressed down on the small button on her bracelet, and the top floor of the opposite tower bloomed into white-hot flames.
End Chapter Six