Tenchi Survivor
Day 10
Jose Philipe Mendola

Authors Note:

It was a wonderful morning to be up. The sun rose over the distant storm clouds giving the sky an orange and purple tint.

Katsuhito had been knee deep in water since 5 trying to catch some breakfast. He had been passing up on one fish that had been swimming near his feet for some time now. On occasion, he would lash out at the occasional big fish. It was now 10:30 in the morning.

Tenchi was out in the jungle looking for loose firewood. More than once he had thought he heard Washu calling him from somewhere. Every time he went to look, no one was there. He had been hearing that all morning. Was he going crazy because of the lack of the modern world? Then again, it was probably the berries he had been eating since he first set out this morning. Black and white-checkered patterned berries always DID screw up ones senses.

'Hey!' Someone yelled at Tenchi.

Tenchi looked around and finally saw who called for him.

It was another kid, probably close to 19. He had black hair that just missed his eyebrows. His facial expression looked as if he was permanently annoyed. To top it off, he wore a red jumpsuit.

'What the hell?' Tenchi asked himself.

'Are you coming or not Tetsueo?' the kid yelled. He turned around; his red jumpsuit had what looked like a blue and yellow pill on the back.

'Woah.' Tenchi said, walking in the opposite direction Kaneda was.

Ayeka and Mihoshi were hanging around the campsite, repairing the damage to their housing.

'I've never seen a coconut that big before.' Mihoshi said 'That thing came right through the ceiling.'

'No kidding.' Ayeka said as she patched the gaping hole that had been created. 'It's a good thing no one was hurt.'

Ryoko stumbled by the shelter outside.

'Not too badly anyway.' Mihoshi added.

A sizeable wind had blown across the island the other night, bringing a storm with it. Because of the tropical storm that had come in, winds were up to 65 miles and hour around 11:00 PM. The coconut trees that were on the island decided to give up their payload last night, dropping close to 1300 coconuts within an hours time. A hefty coconut had fallen off one tree last night and crashed through the roof, splitting on Ryoko's head.

'The only fortunate thing,' Ayeka continued 'was the fact it stopped Ryoko from doing god knows what to Tenchi.'

Mihoshi nodded in agreement.

They continued working in silence for a few minutes.

'So how did that Washu thing strike you?' Mihoshi asked Ayeka.

'It proved to me that a lot can happen on the island. Stuff we never considered even. It really tells me that we have to be careful with what we say and do from now on, as to not anger Jose and get in a spot just as bad as Washu, or even worse.'

'Does this shirt make me look 'big'?' Mihoshi asked, oblivious to the fact that Ayeka had answered her.

'Though I'm sure you wont be a problem for Jose.' Ayeka sighed.

Ryoko stumbled through a coconut grove. Ever since her run in with the renegade coconut, her equilibrium had been thrown out of whack.

She was almost sure that she had walked past the shelter, but then again, she had just talked to a penguin.

'Ow, my head.' She said, rubbing at her wound.

Ryoko traveled through the grove for another few minutes. She stopped short at a clearing.

Where no trees grew, some of the coconuts had fallen on the ground. Ryoko stared at the coconuts.

On the ground, they spelled out 'DIE'.

As Ryoko stared at the coconuts, one fell next to her. She sidestepped it, and another fell.

Thinking the deadly nuts were out to kill her again, Ryoko took off at a run, stumbling into a tree or 8 on the way.

The camera panned up, where Jose was in the tree, arm full of coconuts.

'She's too easy.' Jose said.

The rest of the day was fairly easy. Katsuhito had finally come out of the lagoon, weighed down by razor clams and some kind of bottom feeding fish. Not the best thing they could be having, but it was their only option.

'I'm getting of tired of cooking for all of you.' Katsuhito said that evening. I think it's Ryoko's turn to cook.'

'Rocks and salt water.' She reminded the survivors.

Ayeka sighed.

Looks like I'm next.

Jose had shown up in the middle of the conversation. He listened intently, and it reminded him that he was quite hungry again. He dug into his pocket and produced something wrapped in a Subway paper. Along with it, he pulled out a large drink.

As they kept talking about food, Jose began to eat his.

One by one, the survivors noticed what Jose was doing. They just stared at him, until Mihoshi was rambling on and on to no one about god knows what.

'What's everybody looking at?' she asked as she looked around.

'What?' Jose mumbled through a mouth of bread, roast beef and lettuce. 'Oh, the food.' Jose put down his sub and took a chaser of Sierra Mist. 'You kids and your food. Well, I wish there was something I could do, but I'm really short handed.'

The survivors sat in hungry silence as Jose finished off his food.

Jose got up, and in doing so, MIGHT have dropped a sliver of a pickle. Whatever it was that fell from the wadded up paper, all 5 survivors dove for it.

After a brief scuffle, Ayeka came out on top. Jose watched in amazement as she ate it, seeming content.

'Hey, my quarter!' Jose said.

Ayeka shrugged.

'That's good quarter.' She said.

The survivors returned to their logs, sitting back with their horrible foodstuffs.

While they were eating, Tenchi reached into a nearby shrub and came back with a few black and white checkered berries. He popped them into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. Looking content, he sat back. His eyes immediately glazed over.

'Tenchi.' Katsuhito said 'are you ok boy?'

'Fine!' Tenchi snapped, suddenly sitting up and becoming a mix of violent and paranoid. 'I'm fine! NOTHING! Go away! What berries? YOU'RE THE one holding raisins! Quiet, all of you! I'm holding them for Ghandi! Just let me sleep!' With that said, he sat back again, seemingly relaxed.

The survivors just looked at him.

'I wonder what that was all about?' Ryoko asked.

'I have no idea.' Mihoshi said 'I've never seen him do that before.'

Ayeka leaned closer to Tenchi, looking him over. He had strange, dark blue smudges on his hands and around his mouth.

'Do you see something?' Katsuhito asked startling Ayeka.

'No.' she said, pulling back from talking too fast before thinking. 'I mean, no.' She decided to keep it that way for now 'No I don't.' Better to keep her findings to herself.

'Hey,' Ryoko addressed Mihoshi 'do you ever worry about you and I being alone with Tenchi after Ayeka and Katsuhito are gone?'

Mihoshi took it into consideration.

'I hate to be the bearer of bad news,' Katsuhito said, putting down his dinner 'but I'm not going anywhere.'

'And I ASSURE you I'll be here longer than you.' Ayeka added. 'I'm not about to lose to the likes of you.'

'What is that suppose to mean?' Ryoko demanded, standing up, and in the process spilling her plate of food.

'What that means,' Ayeka said standing up as well 'is that I'll SEE you leave before ANYONE wants me gone. I'm not leaving Tenchi with a monster like YOU.'

'MONSTER!? That's it!' She dove over the fire pit and attacked Ayeka.

'You kids.' Katsuhito said finishing his dinner 'What am I going to do with you?'

Tenchi, still conked out on the berries, heard and saw nothing except for a city crumbling, many people dying, and the second coming of Akira.

'Nope.' Mihoshi finally said to an empty seat where Ryoko was before she went after Ayeka 'I'm sure I'll outlast all of you.'

End of Day 10