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
And Ryoko as the Monster-woman
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 Twelve: Ayeka's House
"Mihoshi!" Washu bellowed from her bedroom. "Get in here, and bring my ungrateful daughter in here too!"
"What is it, Master?" Mihoshi asked chirpily as she entered.
"Mistress," Washu corrected.
"Oh there's no need to be formal," Mihoshi smiled genially. "I'm just the housekeeper. I work for you, after all."
"No, I'm the mistress, you fool!" the redhead snarled in exasperation.
"You're a mistress?" the blonde gasped in disgust and shock. "Well I think that you should be ashamed of yourself, Master! Just think of the feelings of the wife!"
"What?" Washu raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Well you said that you were the mistress, Master," Mihoshi shrugged. "I just wonder who the wife is. I had no idea that you were fooling around with another woman's man."
"Bend over Mihoshi," Washu beckoned with her finger.
"Yes?" the blonde said as she bent down, expecting Washu to whisper something in her ear. Instead the redhead slapped her in the face. "Ouch!"
"Now where is that worthless creation of mine?" Washu asked her.
"Which worthless creation?" Mihoshi asked. "You've created a lot of worthless stuff around here."
"Mihoshi, bend over," Washu said wearily as she beckoned with her finger.
"Okay." Slap. "Ow! That really stings!"
"Now where is young Eve?" Washu asked.
"Ryoko, Master," Mihoshi corrected. "She prefers to be called 'Ryoko'."
Slap.
"Now where is she?" Washu asked. "She went to the bathroom right on my bed, and I want to literally rub her nose in it before you clean it up. Have you seen her?"
"Uh, no, Master, I haven't," Mihoshi replied while rubbing the sore spot on her cheek. "I haven't seen her since lunch."
"Well now that she's talking she has no excuse going to the bathroom wherever she pleases," Washu grumbled. "Has she gotten better at walking yet?"
"Oh yes, Master!" the blonde gushed proudly. "She's up and walking and running and everything! She could probably walk all the way to town if she wanted to!"
At that moment, Ryoko was strolling through the streets of Ingolstadt. "This walking thing is really easy!" she smiled as she hopped, jumped, and skipped along. "I wonder what else I can do?"
Back at Castle Washustein, the mad scientist and her assistant searched for their wayward creation. "She isn't here Mihoshi," Washu decided. "No, stop looking in that cookie jar. Let's face it. She isn't here. Now if you were only a week old, where would you go?"
Later, at the stately mansion of Lady Ayeka Jurai, the lady of the house was being fitted for her wedding dress.
"You look beautiful, Ayeka," Sasami smiled with both admiration and a hint of jealousy. "You look like a princess!"
"Thank you, Sasami," Ayeka blushed modestly. "I didn't think this purple hair and crimson eyes would go with anything, but I think we finally found a wedding gown that works."
"I can't believe that you're getting married next Saturday!" her sister gushed. "This is so exciting! I never thought that papa would allow you to marry a commoner!"
Ayeka gasped and then swallowed nervously. "Er, father isn't due back from his sailing trip until next week, is he?"
"That's what his last letter said," Sasami nodded.
"Good," Ayeka nodded imperiously. "When he returns it will be after the fact. He'll have no choice but to give us his blessing."
"I don't know, Ayeka," Sasami scolded. "Father's going to be awfully mad…"
"He's living in the last century!" Ayeka scoffed. "If the aristocracy wants to survive this one we've got to change with the times! Scientists like Tenchi are the way of the future, I just know it!"
"And Tenchi is awfully cute," Sasami added slyly.
Ayeka laughed self-consciously and put a hand to her bosom. "Oh that's not important," she lied.
Both the Jurai sisters broke into laughter.
"It's going to be so wonderful!" Ayeka gushed. "I'm so happy! Nothing could possibly spoil this for me!"
At that moment the doors opened and in stepped Ryoko, the Washustein monster. "Hello guys! Here I am!" she sang.
The Jurai sisters' eyes bulged out in shock, and the maids attending Ayeka gasped and put their hands to their mouths. Before them was a feral woman wearing a blue dressing gown bisected by lime green stripes. Her wild, uncombed hair was an unnatural cyan white. Her eyes were yellow like an owl's. Her large flappy ears made her look even more animalistic. And even worse, the boots she was wearing went out of style last year!
"Mommy!" Ryoko cried as she lunged forward and embraced a baffled Sasami. "I've found you! It's me! Little Ryoko! Isn't this great? We're a family again!"
"Ryoko!" Sasami gasped. "You're walking! You can speak! What happened to you?"
"Meow," Ryo-ohki added.
"I guess I'm just clever," Ryoko smiled. She glanced over at Ayeka. "Eeka!" she grinned as she dashed over and hugged the flabbergasted bride to be. "It's me! It's Ryoko!" She hugged her so tightly that Ayeka's skin became as purple as her hair.
"Let… go of me!" Ayeka grunted as she pulled Ryoko off her. A tearing sound was heard and she howled in anguish. "Oh! My dress!" The sewing on her sleeve hadn't been finished and it was still pinned in place. Now it was loose, and in Ryoko's hand.
"Oops, sorry about that," Ryoko said as she looked at the torn piece of white cloth in her hand. "Well, that's okay. You can get a new dress. White isn't your color anyways."
"What do you mean, white isn't my color?" Ayeka growled. "This is my wedding dress!"
"Your wedding dress?" Ryoko raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What's that?"
"It's a dress that you wear when you get married," Sasami explained.
"Married?" Ryoko asked. "What do you mean?"
"When two people want to spend the rest of their lives together they get married," Sasami told her.
"Okay, let's get married then," Ryoko smiled. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"No silly," Sasami giggled. "A girl can only marry a boy."
"Oh, really?" Ryoko put her hand over her mouth bashfully. "Um, in that case, I'll marry Tenchi."
"What?" Ayeka looked up from her damaged wedding gown to pay full attention to the conversation between Sasami and Ryoko. "Wait a minute. What did you say?"
"I said 'I'll marry Tenchi'", Ryoko repeated unwittingly. "I don't really know any other boys. And he's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. What about it?"
Ayeka held her breath and tried to control her temper. It wasn't Ryoko's fault she was simplifying things so much. She was only a week old and had no idea what she was saying.
"What's the matter?" the cyan haired woman noticed Ayeka's distress. "Still upset about your dress? I know how to fix it."
Ayeka howled in despair as Ryoko tore the other sleeve off her body in one deft movement.
"See," Ryoko smiled, winked, and wagged her finger. "Now the left side matches the right. Now it's nice and even. Everything's fixed."
Ayeka's face turned as purple as her hair as she yelped, growled and made nonsensical shrill sounds.
"Hey, are you okay?" Ryoko grew concerned.
"YEE-OH!" Ayeka howled.
Suddenly a door burst open and Tenchi Mancini tore into the room. "I heard screaming! Is everything alright?" he asked.
"Tenchi!" Ryoko's eyes filled with stars.
"Ah! Ryoko! It's you!" he cried.
"Tenchi! It's me! Ryoko!" she cried as she embraced him. "It's me! I can talk! I understand things now! Isn't it great?"
"You can talk!" he gasped. "But you're only a week old! This is incredible!"
"I know, isn't it amazing?" she grinned. Suddenly she shuddered as she hugged him. "Wow… What's going on here? This feeling I get when I'm hugging you… It's not like when I hug the others…"
"It's not?"
"No," Her arms caressed his body, as if searching for something. "When I hug you I get this weird feeling. I feel like doing something…" Suddenly she wrapped her legs around him and started rubbing herself against his body. "Whatever it is, I feel like doing it a lot…"
"Doh!" Tenchi exclaimed. He glanced over at his livid fiancé. "Uh, Ryoko," he laughed nervously. "Whatever it is, you don't want to do it with me, do you?"
"I sure do," Ryoko frowned in concentration as she continued to rub up and down on him. "It's this weird feeling. I never felt it before. It's both in my heart and where my legs connect to the rest of my body. Do you ever get feelings like that?"
"Ryoko!" Ayeka snapped as she pulled the young woman off Tenchi. "Will you get off him? Tenchi is my fiancé!"
"What does finance have to do with anything?" Ryoko asked.
"No I mean we're going to get married!" Ayeka hissed.
"Really?" Ryoko blinked. "Congratulations! Can I marry him too?"
"No you can't marry him too!" Ayeka clenched her fists and stamped her foot. "You can't have more than one spouse! Only one to a customer!"
"Oh," Ryoko looked down disappointed. "Well in that case, can I marry him instead of you?"
Ayeka frown became an exaggerated grimace as one of her eyes twitched.
"Uh… what Ayeka's trying to explain is that I already promised to marry her," Tenchi blushed. "Sorry."
"Oh," a crestfallen Ryoko pouted. "Oh no. I don't want to go back to Washu's house. She is so mean and always yells at me."
"She does?" Sasami clasped her hands in sympathy. "Oh, poor Ryoko."
"Not only that, but she locks me in my room,' Ryoko moaned. "She acts like I'm a pet or something. She really is so cruel."
"I was afraid of this," Tenchi sighed. "It's the reason I broke up with her."
"Hm?" Ryoko glanced over to him with curious eyes. "What did you say?"
"Uh… nothing," he mumbled as he looked away, but it was too late.
"He was just about to tell you that he broke up with that horrible Washu," Ayeka sneered. "Just in the nick of time, too. He had promised to marry the little troll."
"He was?" Ryoko paled. "How awful! I've only been alive for a week and I've had to live with her the whole time! I can't imagine having to put up with her for your entire life!"
"You got that right!" Ayeka nodded, channeling her frustration of her ruined wedding dress into a venomous attack on Washu. "When Tenchi was engaged to that woman I hid my tears and wished them the best of luck, but when Tenchi promised to marry me she changed my hair purple and turned my eyes blood red!"
"Wait a minute," Ryoko frowned in concentration. "Tenchi was engaged to Washu? Does that mean that he promised to marry her first?"
Tenchi grew alarmed and made halting and shushing gestures with his hands but no one paid attention to him.
"That's right," Sasami nodded as Ryo-ohki balanced herself on the child's head. "Tenchi promised to marry Washu first, but had to break it off with her when he discovered what a terrible parent she would make."
"Yes, he had to think of the children," Ayeka gloated. "Honestly, I feel sorry for any offspring that woman would have whelped. The poor things would be so neglected…"
"Ahem," Tenchi cleared his throat noisily. He then made a coughing noise that sounded vaguely like 'Shut up'.
"I know what you mean about neglect," Ryoko nodded. "Honestly, she never gives me the tiniest bit of love or attention. I tell you, she's dangerous."
"You got that right," Ayeka muttered before she scolded her fiancé. "Tenchi I can't believe you ever promised to marry that horrid woman! Uh…" Too late, Ayeka finally noticed Tenchi silently signaling her to be quiet.
"So Tenchi promised to marry Washu first before you, huh?" Ryoko asked as she clasped her chin in thought. "But you aren't married yet, right? Good that means there's still time for me to marry him first."
"What-what! What-what?" Ayeka sputtered.
"What's the matter, hard of hearing?" Ryoko asked, then she cupped her mouth with her hands and shouted at the purple haired woman. "I SAID 'THERE'S STILL TIME FOR ME TO MARRY HIM FIRST!'"
"I heard what you said!" Ayeka growled. "I just can't believe that you're only a week old and already you're trying to steal my fiancé! You really are the spawn of Washu aren't you? Everything she makes is corrupt!"
"Hey, that sounds like fighting words, Eeka!" Ryoko snarled.
"AYeka!" the purple haired woman shouted. "There's an 'I' sound at the beginning of my name, you moron!"
"You're starting to sound just like Washu!" Ryoko growled. "Looks like I came to Tenchi's rescue just in time. Otherwise he'd have to marry a shrew like you!"
"Shrew?" Ayeka hissed. The two women faced each other, growling like animals as lightning crackled around them.
"Oh boy," Tenchi sighed as he covered his eyes with his hand. "Now we're in for it!"
Next: The Taming of the Shrew