Life As I Knew It
Chapter Five
"A Missing Space Pirate, Part 2"
The southern sun was beginning to set, its rays losing the ability to penetrate the tree line with every passing moment. A calm breezed weaved its way through the never ending timber, gently moving the limbs with its soothing sound. Down below on the ground, however, the mood was something much more undesirable. For two people could not tear their gazes off of the other, each soul utterly in a panicked state. One was hell bent on defending her life; the other was lost in the transition of confusion that lay in an intangible wake. Around them, signs from a recent battle dotted the landscape. Trees still smoldered with red hot coals, small craters left scars in the forest bedding and trails of smoke lingered randomly about.
Ryoko's breathing was rapid and inconsistent, a tale tell sign of possible internal bleeding and even lung damage. Yet here she was, standing defiant as ever in the face of this stranger before her. Ryoko's knees trembled with weakness, barely able to stabilize the forces of her own weight. Her eyes, while glazed over with the adrenaline induced spirit of a warrior, were otherwise lucid. She wouldn't die until she knew Justin would as well; there was almost no mistaking that.
Justin's mind was unable to comprehend the situation that constantly unfolded before him. All he could do was stand there and stare blankly at Ryoko's fierce composure. His mind was locked up; his senses were overloaded several times their capable capacity. He ran the numbers through and through and every time he reached a conclusion that made less and less sense. Justin was fully aware of the destruction around him, the extreme physical harm that had befallen Ryoko, but never in his wildest dreams could he believe that he was the cause of this. There was just no way.
"Ryoko?" Justin whispered, trying to remain calm, "I need you to focus and tell me what happened here. I need to know what all this is about. Please, tell me."
Ryoko took another cautious step back, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. No, she couldn't let him get inside of her head again. For all she knew, Justin had planned this out all along. This was her fault, she should have seen the warning signs in front of her; she shouldn't have been so easy to lay trust on someone again. Hell, Ryoko thought, it was even possible that Justin was a bounty hunter, here to capture her and claim the luxurious reward on her corpse. Given that this was true, then Justin was the cruelest and most cunning person Ryoko had ever met. It would mean he was vicious enough to make him seem harmless, then psychologically and physically tear you apart until you are too weak to fight. But what was this game he was playing now? Was it just another part of his twisted nature?
Ryoko finally found room in her head to formulate a response, "Are you working alone? Who sent you here? Tell me now."
"Who…sent me here?" Justin replied confused, "Don't you remember me telling Washu how I got here? I don't remember anything."
"Don't play games with me boy," Ryoko scoffed, "nothing you say is going to help you get out of here alive, so you might as well confess everything now while I grant you the opportunity to clean your filthy conscious."
Something was definitely wrong here. This had to be some sort of mistake, Justin thought. Was Ryoko even coherent enough to see her own surroundings?
"Ryoko, I need you to calm down," Justin said frantically, "There's been some kind of misunderstanding and I really want to help you through it. But I need you to tell me what the hell happened here!"
"Just look at me!" Ryoko screamed, "You did this! All of this! And now you have the balls to try and play innocent while you come back and finish the job? Get real!"
Ryoko extended her right hand out in front of her, palm facing downward to the ground. Her eyes narrowed to a razor-like precision. A red beam of light assembled itself out of thin air. She grabbed the saber, clutching it will all of her might.
"Ryoko!" Justin yelled as his eyes widened.
"Go to hell!" Ryoko bellowed as she lunged forward.
The instinctive nature inside of Justin's core screamed from deep down, forcing him to dive out of Ryoko's mad dash towards him. He collided with the unstable ground beneath him, feeling a dull pain reveal itself from the impact of the fall. There was no doubt in Justin's mind, that if Ryoko was in prime fighting condition that this would have been over in mere seconds. But he couldn't let her fight, not in the horrible condition that she was in. He reached for Kiyone's gun on his hip, but to no avail; it was lost somewhere in the clearing.
The adrenaline was kicking back into Justin's veins, he was no longer thinking, just reacting to Ryoko's assault. She came at him again with another thrust with her blood red saber. With just precious feet to spare Justin dodged out of her way once again, saving his life in the process. He could feel the heat emanating from her weapon, a sensation that was rather unnerving. All it took was one blow from that thing, and he was finished. The weapon didn't appear to have any noticeable power source, it just was.
Justin hurdled towards the ground once more, landing again with every lack of gracefulness he could muster. Ryoko wouldn't seem to let up, and it occurred to Justin for the first time that she actually wanted him dead. As soon as he went to throw himself back up from off the ground, Justin noticed Kiyone's pistol lying in the dirt next to him. Finally, this was a chance for him to mount a proper defense, and maybe even possibly talk some sense into this woman. He scrambled for the weapon, managing to snag it while barely escaping another attack from Ryoko. This time was entirely too close for comfort. The residual heat coming from the blade managed to burn his right forearm, and the smell of singed flesh entered his nose. It was definitely a disconcerting wakeup call that if Justin made one wrong move it was over.
Ryoko noticed the weapon in Justin's hands and instantly hesitated to attack further; she knew all too well what that particular weapon was capable of. Justin primed the gun and pointed it straight at Ryoko's chest. He knew that answering Ryoko with violence of his own would only dissolve the already crumbling situation, but he felt like this was his only option at any forms of diplomacy.
"I may have lost my memory of who I was before I came here," Justin broke the silence, still pointing the gun at Ryoko, "But I know for a damn fact, that the person I am now is incapable of murdering another human being."
The space pirate lowered her blade, still staring at Justin with eager eyes, "I can't…" Ryoko cried as she held her head in her hand, "I can't tell if you really are him or not. You act the exact same. Even the way you look at me is identical."
"The way I look at you?" Justin responded, perplexed.
Ryoko looked back up, "That's why…I just can't allow you to live. I can't take that chance. I'd be putting everyone I care about in danger."
"Don't do this," Justin commanded as he gripped the gun tighter in his shaking hands.
Ryoko stared at her blade, "I don't seem to have a choice."
She closed her eyes and dashed forward. For a moment time stood still. Justin took aim and pulled the trigger. The gun unleashed a volley of high intensity projectiles straight towards Ryoko's position. With cat-like speed she dodged each one, flashed out of sight and then reappeared right in front of Justin. With no time to spare she swung her blade straight into his weapon, dismantling it into several irrecoverable pieces. Justin barely had time to react as Ryoko tackled him straight into the ground. He felt his bones crack as their combined weight crashed into the cold earth beneath them. At that very moment a small piece of paper managed to fly out of Justin's pocket, landing harmlessly next to him in the soil. He was too busy to notice it while trying to fend off Ryoko, who was trying desperately to get that blade of hers into his chest. Justin was terribly surprised as to how strong Ryoko was even in her fragile, nearly fatal state. His muscles strained against her might until his veins pumped acid, yet she still continued closer to his chest. Then, for some reason, Ryoko stopped.
She looked on the ground next to Justin's head and noticed the familiar piece of paper. In sheer curiosity she unfolded it, and immediately regretted the decision.
"You didn't…" Ryoko choked as she cupped her hand over her mouth, "You bastard."
It took just a second for Justin to notice just what exactly she was holding in her hand. When he finally recognized it, he knew for a fact that he had failed. There was nothing on his side that could possibly save his life now. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and Justin was convinced that Ryoko would never see reason. He laid his head back down onto the cold ground and stared into the sky as tears rolled down Ryoko's face. In his peripheral vision Justin could still see her blade glowing in her hands. At any moment now, he knew that it would be piercing straight through his heart, and the last thing he would ever see was the broken shell of a woman who he wanted nothing more than to help.
"Ryoko," Justin softly spoke, but unable to look her in the eyes, "you know you don't need to do this."
"Please don't speak," Ryoko replied, the agony in her soul was almost palpable, "Please don't speak, so you can die with what little amount of dignity you may have left"
At that moment Justin stared into Ryoko's eyes, but he was unsure of what he saw. It was déjà vu all over again, with the feeling of encumbrance on his mind that diluted all sense of what was real. He could feel his heart beating, his body swimming in a vast ocean of adrenaline. Was this how the body prepared for death? Everything was euphoric and surreal.
Ryoko lifted her blade, the energy crackling just above Justin's sternum. Her breathing was becoming more erratic, and she could feel the warm flow of blood consistently leaving her open wounds. There wasn't much time left for her, and yet she hesitated to inflict the final blow on this boy lying beneath her mercy. It seemed that her humanity was the only thing stopping her. She just couldn't determine whether he was the right one. After all, how could you tell? There was absolutely no room for error here. With every passing moment Ryoko weakened while her indecision grew. The blade began to uncontrollably shake in her hands. It was now or never. Ryoko closed her eyes. It was now or –
Just then, Ryoko fell unconscious and her weakened body plummeted on top of Justin's chest; the blade harmlessly dispersed into radiant streams of matter around them, then slowly faded upwards into the sky like flower pedals. Justin just lied there, staring up at the orange-stained sky above him. Slowly but surely, his senses began to return, and the world around him became more tangible than before; Justin continued to stare into the sky, through the atmosphere and even through this very universe. What had just happened here? He felt as if this world had just played a sick joke on him. It would seem, however, that while his near death experience had just passed, Ryoko was now about to experience one of her own. Justin could feel the warm blood against his clothes; the sheer amount of it frightened him. It was simple logic: the more blood you lose the closer to death you are; and Ryoko had already lost a lot.
Justin propped himself up, carefully cradling the unconscious space pirate in his arms. His hands were already tarnished with Ryoko's blood, and she had so many wounds it was extremely difficult to determine where all of it was even coming from. The thick smell of iron kept his adrenaline pumping and his senses alive. Ryoko looked so frail like this; it was almost as if she was a different person entirely. Or perhaps, this was the gentle little girl that really existed behind so many thick layers of her personality. It was an honestly fucked up observation, given the circumstances, but Justin was finally able to recognize a part of her that was real. Still, the situation was entirely unbelievable, yet it was happening. Justin tried hard to not allow himself to become choked up. He needed to concentrate.
Immediately he turned his attention to the sky, looking for any possible signs of Ryo-ohki. He had no idea how far into the forest he was, and he had already forgotten which direction he had approached from.
"Ryo-ohki!" Justin screamed, his vocal chords already straining from the effort.
Suddenly, Ryo-ohki exploded into view above, raining down a heavy front of warm air currents onto the forest bedding below. Justin delicately wrapped Ryoko in his arms and stood up; strangely, she felt remarkably light. Ryo-ohki immediately sent down a blinding ray of light onto Justin's position below. He closed his eyes and let the sensation of brief weightlessness consume him. A second later Justin felt the solid surface of onyx flooring collide with his feet. He immediately laid Ryoko down onto the cold floor and made his way towards the central console. Several crystalline rhombuses appeared from the abyss above his head, and Justin observed in wonder as they began to dance around Ryoko's unconscious body with an elegant cadence. The crystals all began to beam out strange waves of light around her body.
"Is that helping her?" Justin asked.
The dancing crystals all seemed to meow in unison.
"Good," Justin replied, "Let's set a course for home then; I don't care how fast you go! Break a world record if you have to."
The ship instantly began gaining altitude and quickly took off into the night sky. Justin felt his legs adjust to the change in inertia all around him. The display in front of him showed their current position in relative distance from their destination. Ryo-ohki was on auto-pilot at this point, but he couldn't seem to get his mind off the idea that something was bound to go wrong. As the adrenaline started to finally subside within his veins, Justin began to grow more aware of the situation, but more importantly, what Ryoko had said earlier. He began replaying the events through his mind over and over, trying desperately to find an answer hidden deep within. There were volumes of demanding questions spinning through his head right now. What exactly did Ryoko mean? Her words continued to perpetuate and confuse.
"I'm not a bad person…" Justin quickly mumbled to himself.
He turned around and walked across the bridge over to Ryoko. By now, Ryo-ohki had Ryoko fully encased in a strange looking field made of pure energy. Her wounds had stopped bleeding, yet she still lay in a noticeable pool of blood that reflected eerily against the onyx. Another crystal descended from the ceiling, this time taking direct notice towards Justin. The rhombus circled around him, almost as if inspecting his body. Justin was confused, but didn't question Ryo-ohki's authority. As the small figure scanned his body, Justin began to notice several irregularities in his own breathing. The realization was troubling. Was it internal bleeding?
"I knew you'd turn out interesting the moment I laid eyes on you; but I must admit that even this situation was quite the surprise to me," A familiar voiced appeared from behind.
Justin turned around and saw Washu staring back from one of the forward ship monitors. He wasn't sure what to say, let alone if saying anything was even a good idea to begin with.
Washu narrowed her eyes, "I saw everything down there just now. And I want to apologize in advance for betraying your trust, but since this morning I've had Ryo-ohki keeping an eye on you. In time, I hope you can forgive me."
"Forgive you for what?" Justin asked, his mind beginning to unravel.
"I guess we'll have to see won't we?" Washu answered cryptically, "Ryo-ohki, you know what needs to be done."
The rhombus that encircled Justin began emitting its own beam of light identical to the ones that surrounded Ryoko. Suddenly, it felt as if all the nerve endings in his body decided to fall asleep simultaneously, forcing him to his knees. Breathing became progressively harder as control over his body regressed. Justin looked up at Washu in the monitor; in his skewed vision he could tell that her eyes reflected remorse back into his own. His mind grew incredibly tired, and in this strange moment an overbearing sensation for sleep bombarded Justin's thought processes. The beam of light had casted a spell on him, and before long Justin was attempting to find a comfortable spot on the floor to rest his troubled being. His eyes, however, were still fixated on the monitor. The scientist stared back as she waited on the inevitable.
"But know this," Washu softly whispered, "I believe you, and I'll make sure that everything is going to be okay."
Justin winced at Washu's words; and then there was nothing but silence.
I reached my hand out into the abyss. Cold: that's what I felt moving around my skin. I had never really noticed it to be honest, the difference between hot and cold. In a sense, you could really only describe it as two literal opposites. It was equally interesting, how our bodies would always yearn for the contrary when one side of the spectrum faired too extreme for our liking. But cold was something entirely different. The tone of the world instantly changes, and a hint of silence overbears our surroundings. It opens up the mind to the idea of serenity; but also the idea of lifelessness. For in this environment there is no life around me, yet there is no struggle. There is only serenity.
At least that's what I felt as my motionless body drifted through this strange, empty volume. I had no idea where I was, or how I had gotten here. All I knew was that there was nothing to do in this plane of existence except to think. And that's what I had been doing for what seemed like days now. But it was difficult to think. Trying to recollect what had transpired over the past couple of days was like trying to find a single unique lego buried somewhere in a large cardboard box. When I closed my eyes and concentrated, I could see blurry images. It was possible these were parts of my memory, but I was too uncertain to bury that possibility as fact.
And yet I could dig further down, far into my past and see a vivid, crystal clear image of my closest loved ones. Amazing really, it was like standing in front of a television screen and watching a recording of your life played back to you. Embarrasing? Yes, much like those ancient video cassettes of our infant selves opening up presents on Christmas morning. While we would be serenaded by Fischer Price toys, our family members would be ogling over how adorably innocent we were. It honestly makes me red in the face to even think about it. Jump forward a few years, and the same cassette tape shows us riding a bike for the first time without training wheels; a sheer sign of positive childhood development.
All of these memories remained perfectly intact for me to access. It was as if I stood in front of a computer terminal with a cable hooked straight into my brain. The part that troubled me the most was my lack of ability to see the most recent events. Something was blocking me from seeing anything. So here I am, stuck in this place for days now and trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. I can't even begin to describe the eeriness of this place. There exists no light that I'm aware of, and yet I can see my body as if it was illuminated by stadium lights. There was no gravity either, so my body has been constantly drifting mindlessly like space debris. No sense of time either, at least not relative to the outside world. My watch refused to work here, so I could only go on instinct – something that didn't seem too reliable at this point. And what was most "intriguing" to me was that I felt like my body was high on something. My subconscious tells me that I'm swimming in a massive pool of eviscerated irony. But what's so ironic?
I digress. Clearly my time spent here is already thinning out what's left of my sanity. I needed to figure out this little puzzle once and for all. Perhaps my vision was too poor to properly recognize the environment around me, but I had this strange sensation telling me that I was not alone here after all. My eyes were either playing tricks on me, or I truly was witnessing a dancing shadow that would sometimes cross paths with me. It was noticeable even in this realm of darkness; it was darker than black.
"Well, it's about time you noticed me," the voice finally called out.
"Is that you?" I replied.
There it was; the shadow was now clearly in front of me, staying just beyond my reach.
"Well now, that's quite an intriguing question indeed. What is 'you'? What exactly is the nature of this beast?"
Speaking in riddles, something I was already too familiar with in this place.
"Look at you! It's pathetic to see you like this; in this state of complete ignorance. I find it insulting that you can't even recognize me! Tell me, how long has it been since you've lost your memory: three days? Five? Ten?"
"I wasn't exactly keeping track," I responded.
Something was changing within the environment; I could feel a strange metamorphosis taking place in the time and space around me.
"Of course not. If only you knew what you were like before your little incident with the cosmos. My, it would probably be quite the shocker to you. I wonder what that poor excuse for a scientist or that wild haired beauty would think of you if they knew the truth."
"The truth?" I asked, my stomach starting to slowly churn.
The shadow in front of me began to grow, I could see its jet black outline slowly starting to engulf the surrounding area.
"Yes, the truth. It's a dangerous thing to a person in a situation like you. You do realize that the only reason you're still alive is because of Washu right? If you had stumbled upon this world at any other point in time, you'd be dead in a moment's notice. It was only through her scientific curiosity that Ryoko didn't cut you down. A part of her probably regrets that decision, I'd wager. I can see them right now, you know. You did quite the number on Ryoko; I'm pleasantly surprised that she even survived that grueling ordeal. But after all, she's survived me before."
Ryoko. That name sounds familiar. It's so hard to think.
"Of course, knowing you, you probably saved her life just so you can show her empty compassion before you murder her in her delicate condition. Oh, but of course her mother wouldn't allow that. You'd have to kill Washu first in order to get to Ryoko. And I'm sure the other residents in that lovely home would disagree with your actions as well; might as well kill them all too. And then…"
The shadow continued growing. I knew that it wanted to swallow me whole; and I was powerless to stop it.
"And then…you'd finally have to deal with that arrogant boy Tenchi Masaki. Oh how I despise him and his stubborn behavior. He doesn't even deserve to be cut down by the King of Jurai. But I'm in a predicament here, so I guess you will suffice."
I had to do something.
"So here is the plan, my brain dead brother: I'm going to get you out of this drug induced coma you're in, and you're going to follow my instructions exactly to the letter. If you don't, then I'll destroy every atom of your being."
But what could I even do? The darkness was beginning to close in.
"I understand the details of this little arrangement do seem somewhat biased towards myself, but I hope you can understand that I'm simply doing this for both our benefit. In time, I think you'll come to thank me. Now, let us begin…."