Galaxy 1001D presents:

Washustein; or the Modern Mad Scientist

Starring Washu Hakubi as Doctor Washu Fitzgerald von Washustein

Tenchi Masaki as Tenchi Mancini

Mihoshi Kuramitsu as Mihoshi Gerstell

Aeka Masaki Jurai as Ayeka Jurai

Sasami Masaki Jurai as Sasami Jurai

Tenchi Muyo and all related characters are © AIC/Pioneer/Genon/Funimation. This story is written solely for entertainment and is not intended to make a profit in any way.

Based on "Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus" created by Mary Shelly

And "Tenchi Muyo" created by Masaki Kajishima

Chapter Four: Payback's a Witch

Alas, Mihoshi's ruse did not last long. The next day, Washu cornered her in the kitchen. "What happened to my animals?" Washu yelled as she grasped the straps of Mihoshi's apron and straddled the tall blonde with her legs in order to look directly into her terrified blue eyes. "All of the cages are empty! They aren't in the barn or the stable! What did you do with them?"

Ryo-ohki meowed timidly from Mihoshi's shoulder.

"Uh, nothing," Mihoshi lied. "Nothing at all. See, your little rabbit thing is right here. Care for some lunch?"

"What happened to the rest of them?" Washu snarled, her heels digging into Mihoshi's sides. "What happened to my wilde-beast? What happened to my weasel-cow? And what happened to my cockatrice?"

"The cockatrice, is that the one that was the combination of the rooster and the snake?" Mihoshi asked innocently. "I haven't seen it."

Washu jumped back down to the floor and put her hands on her hips. "Even if you had left the cages unlocked, there would be some signs of their passage. Where have you taken them?"

"Here, have some food," Mihoshi offered as she took a steaming bronze bird out of the oven. "You'll feel better after you eat. And then we can look for your missing animals!"

As the steam cleared from Mihoshi's culinary masterpiece, Washu took a suspicious look at the bird. "Does that chicken have a snake's tail?"

"I don't know," Mihoshi said innocently. "Does it?" If there was one thing that Mihoshi was good at, it was acting dumb.

"You cooked it, didn't you?" Washu's eyes narrowed. "You cooked my cockatrice. My attempt to create a legendary beastie and you plucked and cooked it. Is that what happened to my wilde-beast?"

"Well you have to admit, it goes good with gravy!" Mihoshi admitted.

"No it doesn't!" Washu cried as she slapped at the blonde, only this time it was Washu who was lying. The wilde-beast was delicious with gravy.

"Come on, give it a try," Mihoshi said as she put her hands up to block the blows. "You said that you weren't interested in your weird hybrids anyway, give it a try." When Washu seemed unmoved, the blonde added, "No one in the world has ever tried baked cockatrice, you'll be the first."

A bell tolled in the distance. "Get the door," Washu said through grit teeth, "before I throw you out it."

"Okay!" Mihoshi said as she dashed away from the furious redhead, Ryo-ohki hot on her heels. "Right away, master! I'm getting the door now!" When she got to the door, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Boy that was a close one. Saved by the bell." She opened the door. "Yee-ah!" she screamed.

Standing at the door was Lady Ayeka Jurai and her nine-year-old sister, Sasami. At least Mihoshi thought it was Lady Ayeka. "Mihoshi?" gasped the surprised aristocrat. "I should have known," she grumbled as she took off her bonnet.

"Why Lady Ayeka!" Mihoshi gasped. "Your hair! It's gone… purple!"

"Yes, I know," Ayeka muttered through clenched teeth. "Very observant. So you work here now, do you? I'm not surprised."

"Oh please don't fire me again!" the blonde sobbed as she fell to her knees and clutched at Ayeka's legs.

"I can't fire you again, you don't work for me anymore," Ayeka assured her. "Now get off! Let go of me, will you?" she said as she struggled to escape Mihoshi's grasp. "I need to speak to the so-called lady of the house."

"Oh that's right, I don't," Mihoshi stood up as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Right this way my lady. The master is in the dining room."

"The master?" little Sasami whispered to Ayeka. "There's a man in the house?"

Ayeka shrugged without comment.

"Lord Washu, Lady Ayeka and Lady Sasami are here to see you," Mihoshi announced when she led the two into the dining room. Washu was sitting at the head of the table gnawing on what appeared to be a chicken leg, the cooked remains of the cockatrice before her.

"Lady Washu, you idiot," Washu corrected without looking up from her food.

"Oops!" Mihoshi blushed. "I'm sorry, master! Lady Washu, you have guests. Lady Ayeka and Lady Sasami are here to see you, master!"

"What is this 'master' stuff?" Washu growled as she threw the bone away. "I'm a 'mistress' you fool! Can't you tell—huh?" Washu's green eyes widened as she saw Ayeka and her long purple hair. "Aha-ha-ha!" she slapped her knee in a most unladylike fashion. "Ha-ha-ha! Ayeka! Your hair! It's turned purple! It worked!"

"You fiend!" Ayeka cried. "You did this, didn't you? You did this when you found out that Tenchi and I are seeing each other! You couldn't leave him alone could you? You had to get back at me! What was it? Something in the wine perhaps?"

"Nope!" Washu crowed. "It was the chocolate!"

"The chocolate?" Ayeka put her hand over her mouth in horror. "You mean that Swiss chocolate wasn't from Lord Tenchi?"

"No, it was from me!" Washu grinned evilly. "You think you can take my Tenchi from me, but now you have another think coming!"

"Now listen here you sadistic slattern!" Ayeka spat. "It wasn't just me; I shared some of that candy with Sasami." She removed the bonnet from her sister's head to reveal that little Sasami's hair had gone sky-blue. "What have you got to say for yourself, you horrible harridan?"

"I say that you better stay away from my Tenchi if you know what's good for you," Washu smiled. "It's your word against mine, and I've got a noble title too, ya know."

"You! You…!" Ayeka clenched both her teeth and her fists. "I've got half a mind to thrash you within an inch of your life right now!" She pointed an accusing finger at the redhead while striking a melodramatic pose. "Consider this a duel!"

"You must have only half a mind if you think you can beat me," Washu sneered. "I'm a master fencer and out of your league, Ayeka."

"We'll see about that!" Without warning, Ayeka closed the distance between them and slapped Washu right out of her chair.

"Now of course you know this means war," Washu said as she picked herself up. She was about to say something else when Lady Ayeka picked up the chair and broke it over Washu's head.

"It will be war if you don't stay away from me and my sister," Ayeka warned the injured redhead. "Tenchi can make his own decisions, and he chose me! All right, I admit that I was jealous when you two were engaged, but I was big enough to step back and wish the two of you the greatest happiness. I expect you to do the same. If you dare come near me again I'll wring your neck and throw your scrawny body off a cliff, do you hear me?"

"Perfectly," Washu growled as she sat on the floor and held onto her aching head. "Deaf people can hear you."

"Good," Ayeka put her hands on her hips haughtily. "Come Sasami. I think we're done here."

"Yes, Ayeka," Sasami nodded as she followed her sister.

Ayeka paused by the door to taunt her rival. "Oh Doctor Washustein, you could always tell people that I attacked you, but I wouldn't bother. It's your word against mine, and I've got a noble title too, you know. A ha-ha-ha!" Her witchy cackle echoed through the castle as she and her sister left.

"Wow," Mihoshi said stupidly as her employer picked herself off the floor. "That's the same thing you said to her, Lady Washu!"

"Shut up!" Washu growled as she clenched her fists. "That witch is going to pay! And I know the best revenge! Success! I will get Tenchi back by proving that I'm not insane! Even if it costs me every last shred of my sanity!"

"Washu, did you really turn Lady Ayeka's hair purple?" Mihoshi asked.

"Yes it's what she deserves," Washu grimaced. "Why else do you think I bought all that chocolate? I was experimenting with something that would leave that purple-haired poop-noddy humiliated for daring to court my Tenchi! I would have used the flatulence version but it wears off in a few days but the hair coloring version is permanent!"

"Y-you made a flatulence version?" Mihoshi paled. "You mean if someone eats the candy they will get gassy?"

"That's right," Washu crossed her arms and nodded. "I created a chemical I added to the chocolate that would cause some of the most obnoxious farts imaginable! It would be impossible for her to see Lord Tenchi! It would take her months to live down the humiliation!"

"Uh… did you experiment with all of the chocolate or just some of it?" Mihoshi asked in a shaky voice.

"Just some of it," Washu shrugged. "I bought a whole bunch because I didn't know how much I needed until I perfected my formula. Why? You didn't eat any of it, did you?"

"Oh no, no…" Mihoshi said nervously before a rude noise erupted from her direction.

"Mihoshi!" Washu growled. "You did eat some of it, didn't you?"

"Maybe…" Mihoshi blushed as another nauseating noise was heard.

"You didn't feed any of it to my animals did you?" Washu asked the flatulent flunky. "I told you they had fragile digestive systems! You didn't feed any of it to them did you?"

"Maybe…" Mihoshi repeated as yet other eruption of gas escaped.

"You idiot!" Washu stomped her foot. "No wonder they died! Did you ever feed chocolate to that dog of yours that ate table scraps?"

"Oh yes," Mihoshi smiled. "He seemed to really like it, too." Her smile vanished as a sound like a tuba emanated from her dress.

"How many times did you feed your dog chocolate?" Washu asked her.

"Only once," Mihoshi answered. "He died the next day, but at least he got to enjoy the taste of milk chocolate once in his life. It's a good thing he got to eat some before he died, huh?"

"You are such a moron," Washu muttered under her breath.

Outside, Ayeka and Sasami got back in their carriage. "Take us home, Udo," Ayeka ordered as her footman shut the door. "We are done here."

"Ayeka, there's something in the carriage with us!" Sasami whispered as the carriage moved forward.

The purplehaired girl listened, and then her eyes widened in fear. "Why you're right, Sasami! Do you think that woman placed a scorpion in here or something?"

"It's under the seat," a nervous Sasami reported.

"Oh my! And the vehicle is moving!" Ayeka gasped. "We can't get out! I suppose we better tell Udo to stop the horses!"

At that moment, a little brown blur leaped up, bounced off the wall of the carriage, and landed on Ayeka's lap.

"EEEEYAH!" she screamed.

Sasami yelped when the tiny creature hopped off her sister's lap onto her own. "Ayeka! It's okay! It's only a rabbit! I think…"

"Miya!" the little creature meowed.

"Since when does a rabbit make cat noises?" Ayeka asked suspiciously.

"I don't know," Sasami admitted. "It looks like a rabbit, but it has the head and shoulders of a cat."

"And a rabbit's ears," Ayeka added.

"Ayeka we just discovered a new kind of animal!" Sasami gushed. "Turn the carriage around! Doctor Washustein could tell us what kind of animal it is!"

"Certainly not," Ayeka huffed. "If this is a new species of animal, I am not letting that woman get into the history books by discovering it. It will be our little secret. We'll take it home with us and keep it as a pet and let nobody know about it."

"Oh Ayeka!" Sasami smiled. "We can keep it? Can we really?"

"Certainly Sasami," Ayeka smiled. "It seems to like you. And I can't think of a better revenge against that woman than keeping a discovery like this hidden."

"Do you hear that?" Sasami smiled at the little brown rabbit-like creature. "You can come home with us!"

"Miya!" the little cabbit smiled.

Meanwhile, back in the dining room of Castle Washustein…

"So how is your baked cockatrice?" Mihoshi asked the little redhead seated at the table.

"It tastes like chicken," Washu replied.

NEXT: God's Domain