A/N: now the gang, thanks to The Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe, gets to view the insanity of Ayeka's psyche. I do not own Tenchi or Indiana Jones.
Ch. 3 Back to reality, for the moment…
"Washu, will Ayeka be alright?" Sasami voiced the concerns of most of the Misaki household. They were all gathered in Washu's lab, more specifically, around a small clinical table where Ayeka lay. There were various machines evaluating her heart rate, blood pressure etc. Washu smiled at them, "Don't worry, Ayeka will be fine. She'll have a pretty big headache when she wakes up, but other than that, she should be fine." An audible sigh was heard. Tenchi smiled, "That's good to hear, thank you Washu." Washu's smile quickly turned maniacal, "But I do have an idea…" "Oh god…" "I just invented something that will, essentially, let you view someone's dreams…" Tenchi completed her sentence, "…and you want to use it on Ayeka, right?" "Well, What do ya say?" Ryoko grinned, "I'm in." Mihoshi, Nobuyuki and Sasami all eagerly echoed Ryoko's sentiments and Tenchi and Kiyone, seeing as they were both outvoted, reluctantly agreed. Washu walked into the deeper part of the lab and returned with a helmet like device she placed on Ayeka's head, then sat down and began typing furiously on her transparent laptop, "Now if I can just get the right frequency…aha! There we go!" The group looked up on the large screen as they saw…
Indiana and Mihoshi had dumped their stuff off at the hotel and were heading over to the offices that Dr. Misaki Jurai had been using there. "Dr. Jurai?" A distinctly male voice spoke, making both Indiana and Mihoshi turn around to see a young man with brown eyes and black hair. He was wearing black slacks and a white shirt. (Tenchi:"Why in Venice?" Whashu shrugged, "Hey, this isn't my subconcious.") Indiana grinned, "Yes?" The young man grinned, "I thought so. You have your mother's eyes. I'm Dr. Tenchi Masaki, I was your mother's assistant here in Venice." "Nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Indiana Jurai and this is an associate of mine, Dr. Mihoshi Kuramitsu." (Ryoko burst out laughing at this point, that is, until Washu hit her with a "genius hammer") "Hi there!" Tenchi nodded, "The pleasure's mine. Now, let me show you what yourt mother was last working on."
About twenty minutes later they were in front of a large cathedral, Mihoshi stared at it, "It's…a church?" "Yes, it's a library now and this was where your mother was conducting some study Dr. Jurai." "Indiana will work." Tenchi smiled, "Indiana it is then, shall we go in?" The Church itself was identical to any of your run-of-the-mill gothic architecture, with the exception of the engravings on the pillars that flanked the huge stained glass window picturing a pair of knights, one elderly and the other youthful. Tenchi stood in the middle of the floor; "This was the puzzle she was working on right when she disappeared…Um, Indiana?" "Interesting…" "What?" "These engravings…they're roman numerals, 'eight', 'nine' but no ten…that must be the clue, let's check the other pillars." The trio looked at the other pillars with no success. Tenchi started looking at the walls and Mihoshi was checking god knows what. Ayeka stared at the floor for a moment before looking at the two engraved pillars, saying aloud, "Eight, nine…" She climbed the stairs to the second level and looked down, "TEN! There it is." Sure enough, the marble on the floor had formed a big roman numeral ten. Grabbing a post from the ropes, she waited until the librarian was going to stamp a book before slamming it into the floor. The librarian stopped, stared at her stamp and as she stamped another book, Indiana slammed the post again; breaking a large enough hole through the floor so that a person could fit through. The librarian was left staring at her stamp, however. "Alright, I'm going in." As Indiana moved to go, Tenchi grabbed her arm, "I'll go, too. I insist." "Alright, Mihoshi, watch the entrance and let us know if there's anything that seems suspicious, okay?" "Sure thing, Indy!"
Indiana was the first one to drop down into the petroleum filled water. "Great, this water's contaminated." Tenchi dropped in right behind her, "We have to wade through this?" "Afraid so. Let's go, Tenchi." They waded in silence until they hit a large stone slab; Tenchi walked up to it and pushed it. He was rewarded with a shower of mortar. "Well, this looks like an opening…" He shoved on it again, and it moved a bit, but not much. ( Ryoko had recovered from her encounter with the 'Genius hammer'. "Wow, Tenchi you're so effectual." Washu: (pulls out 'Genius Hammer') "Say something Ryoko?" Ryoko: "Um…no, nothing, mom!") Indiana watched him and sighed, "Move aside Tenchi." He looked back and nodded, moving to the left just as Indiana charged at it with as much speed as the knee-deep water would allow. After the shower of mortar and dust cleared, there was an entrance large enough for a person to fit through, and a grinning Indiana next to it, "Come on, Tenchi."
Meanwhile, Mihoshi was pacing by the hole, "Gee, they sure are taking a while I wonder if I should go in after-" She was so engrossed in her thoughts the next thing she felt was whacked in the back of the head by someone.
The next area was filled with waist deep water and cabbits were everywhere. There was a ledge along the side that was long enough for a person to edge across. Tenchi sighed, " Great, Cabbits." (Sasami: "What's wrong with Cabbits?")So tell me Tenchi, what happened to my mother when she disappeared." "I can't really say, I had gone over to our office to pick up some files she had requested and when I returned she was gone." Indiana sighed, "I thought as much, but it was worth asking, I suppose." "Can I ask you a question, Indiana?" "Huh? Oh, sure." "Is your name really Indiana? It just doesn't seem like the kinda name Dr. Jurai would give her kid." Indiana laughed, "Well, You're right. My given name is Ayeka Misaki Jurai, but my father always called me Indiana when he was alive and I've come to prefer it to my given name. It's probably a bit eccentric, but I am a bit of an eccentric person. Aha! Here's the end."
At the back end of the tunnel was a sepulcher, the top was an engraved figure of the man on the brier, and he was dressed like one of the knights in the stained glass window. Tenchi grinned, "We've found the tomb of Sir Kamidake! This was what your mother was looking for!" Indiana moved to the foot of the sepulcher, "No what she was looking for…" she pushed the top off, "…is the marker!" She climbed onto the edge and pulled out a large piece of rag cloth and a wax crayon. Tenchi stared at her as she placed the rag over the knight's shield and began rubbing the crayon over it, "What are you doing?" "I'm making a rubbing of the shield, that's the marker." "Just like your mother." "Yeah, but she would have never made it past the cabbits, she's deathly afraid of them." Tenchi turned around after a few minutes because he heard a lot of commotion from the previous room. "Um, Indy?" "Yeah?" I think you might want to look at this." "What are talking abou-oh bloody hell." Cabbits were pouring in from the other room and fire was on top of the water. "Damn, it must be the petroleum! Tenchi, we need to swim under the sepulcher lid!" Tenchi needed no further urging and dove right into the water coming up under the lid. Indiana came up right next to him, and said, "This air pocket won't last very long, we need to find an exit. You stay here!" With that, she put her fedora on his head and dove under. As soon as she left cabbits started coming into the lid, desperate to escape the fire. A few seconds later Indiana came up, grabbed her fedora and put it on her head, "I found an exit, come on!"
Outside a couple enjoying a leisurely lunch in a street side café were shocked to see two people climb out of the manhole wet and bedraggled. The woman with purple hair wearing a fedora, white button down blouse, bomber jacket and brown slacks said, "You know, I just remembered why I really hate Venice." The other, a young man with black hair wearing a white shirt and black slacks, could only nod and continue to expel the petroleum ridden water from his lungs. Indiana turned back to face the church only to see a group of four men and one woman with teal hair leaving the building. "Tenchi, those must be the people who set the fire, after them!" The two of them ran up to the canal and hopped in the nearest motorboat.
The group grabbed two of them and began to actually chase Tenchi and Indiana. Indiana stared at the pursuing boats, unholstering her revolver as she said, "Geez, and I thought this was supposed to be the other way around." One of the men in the boat of two men fired at them from a twelve gauge, Indiana ducked and fired back, "Jesus, haven't these guys heard of a fighting chance!" Her shot nailed the guy in the head; she fired at the guy in the boat with the woman and missed, "Hey Tenchi." "Yeah, pull closer to the boat with the woman in it." "WHAT!" "Just do it, Masaki." Once Tenchi (with much complaining) pulled up broadside against the other boat, Indiana jumped on board and knocked his revolver out of his hand. He swung at her, but she elbowed him in the gut and knocked him off. She then turned in time to block the woman's attack and pin her against the end of the boat. Without a pilot the boat had drifted backwards towards a large motor on one of the more commercial boats. (Ryoko: "Now it's getting good!")
Indiana started interrogating the woman, "Why were you trying to kill us?" "You're after the master key." "Did you have anything to do with the kidnapping of my mother?" the woman was silent, Indiana pinned her closer to the boat, "Answer me or we'll go to hell together!" "My soul is prepared, is yours?" Indiana didn't answer, but held her there, the blades was coming closer…"Um, hello?" no answer. "Okay, okay, my soul isn't prepared, but I can't talk if I die!" Just then Tenchi pulled the boat up to the nose of the one the two were currently on. Indiana pulled the woman over, tossed her onboard Tenchi's boat and jumped on, just as the other one was chewed up in the motor. As the boat pulled up to shore, the woman undid the first two button of her shirt, revealing a tattoo of a Celtic looking tree on her upper chest, " I am Kiyone Makibi of the order of the divine tree of light. We are the guardians of the holy sword. However, we were not involved with the capture of Dr. Misaki Jurai." "Where is my mother now?" "Tell me, do you seek the sword for your own aggrandizement, or hers?" "Neither, I just am trying to find my mother." "Head to the castle Rosenstein on the German-Austrian border. You'll find her there, Dr. Ayeka Jurai." Indiana watched her leave, "well, she's got her information straight that's for sure. Let's head back to the hotel, Tenchi."
Well, there's chapter three for you! Misaki and Ryoko make their grand entrances! Comments are welcomed and appreciated!