Disclaimer: I have updated the story. It will still be an Aeka + Tenchi, without the script format. Also, this may get a little... Dark. Aeka's 725th Birthday Part I: No Need for Tragedy ________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________ Written by the very misunderstood Ultima Trev... _____It is a bright, sun shiny day in the city of Okayama, Japan. The date is September 21st, A.D. 1994. A certain Juraian prince is waking up to go to his college classes. "That was a good night's rest," the young adult says in a yawning tone. Tenchi's eyes suddenly grow wide and his face displays fright. "Oh no! Today is Aeka's 725th birthday, and I forgot to get her a gift!" "Come on Tenchi, you don't need her. I am much more pure than she is." Ryouko then phases out of nowhere. "Ryouko, give it a rest. Forcing me to choose in-between the two of you is only going to slow down my decision process," Tenchi says with a stern voice. "Tenchi, why can't you choose right now?" Asked the notorious space pirate. Tenchi shows Ryouko the door. "Ryouko, can you please leave me alone? I need to get ready for my college classes." "Humph!" Is all that comes from Ryouko before she dematerializes. _____As soon as Tenchi is in the appropriate attire, he heads downstairs. In the kitchen, Sasami is cooking breakfast while Ryouko and Mihoshi are waiting for their serving. Ryouko is a bit inpatient as she scratches the table, while Mihoshi is listening to a Megumi Hayashibara CD on her Sony Discman. On the other hand, Tenchi is praying that Aeka has not awakened yet. If she got wind of his forgetfulness, he could only imagine the ruckus that would be caused. He slowly sneaks into the kitchen, trying not to attract attention. "Ohayo Tenchi, remember what today is?" asked the youthful princess. "Of course I do." Tenchi tried to hide the fact that he had forgotten... "Good. If you had forgotten, Aeka would have been in a fury," said the 2nd crowned princess of Jurai." "It's just too bad he didn't remember her birthday until he woke up this morning," said a mischievous Ryouko. "Uh-oh," inputs Sasami. "Don't tell her, okay? I'll be sure to get something on my lunch break, hopefully," claimed Tenchi "Well... Since I don't want to ruin your honorable reputation, I can manage not to tell," inputs Ryouko "It would appear that Mihoshi's not paying attention, what about you Sasami?" asked Tenchi "I won't tell! My sister frightens me when she's angry." inputs Sasami. "Appreciate it." _____Later at the bus stop, Tenchi meets up with his good friend Amagasaki. Both Amagasaki and Tenchi are going to a Business Management class, for they are both hoping to become big corporate businessmen someday. "Hey there Tenchi, what's up?" "Ohayo Amagasaki. It's Aeka's birthday, and I pretty much forgot until the last minute." "So, you didn't get her a gift?" asked Amagasaki in a frightened tone. "I forgot that as well," Tenchi responded. "I'm sure she will be furious!" flamed Amagasaki. "Tell me about it." "Perhaps you should buy her some jewelry from my cousin's shop during lunch break," Amagasaki suggested. Tenchi shrugs. "It's worth a try, I guess." "I'm sure he can fix you with something for as low as 2,000 Yen." "Only 2,000 Yen? You've got to be kidding!" said Tenchi in disbelief. "We'll see..." _____The bus finally arrives. Since it's a good 20-minute drive to the campus, Amagasaki shows off his new Laptop PC. ( It's 1994, so the specs aren't gonna be anything close to an AMD Athlon Palomino CPU coupled with DDR SDRAM. ) It had a 100MHz 486-DX2 processor, 32MB of fast page RAM, 500MB HDD, Windows 3.1x, 1MB VESA bus video, and a 14k modem. All of those components were top dog eight years ago. "Wow Amagasaki, I'm impressed. I bet you get fantastically fluid frame rates with DOOM," said Tenchi. Amagasaki smirked, "Almost as fluid as the 100MHz Pentium desktop I got." "No way! When did you get that?" _____Amagasaki and Tenchi were the top students in the school. They always maintain a GPA of at least 3.85, while the average GPA of all the students is 3.50. The University of Okayama was well known for it's top-notch education all over Asia and Europe. And since Tenchi and Amagasaki get their work done at a fairly fast pace, they spend free time playing a DOOM deathmatch on the school's Local Area Network. That's what they'd do up until lunchtime. "You think we can manage to make it there and back to the campus before class resumes?" asked Tenchi. Amagasaki replied, "It's only two blocks away." "That's good." "Don't worry, we have plenty of time." When they step inside, the see a guy wearing medieval knight's armor armed with a medieval sword. Everywhere you could see not only jewelry, but also medieval weaponry. Axes, swords, maces, armors, shields, hand cannons, anything pretty much. Not your average jewelry shop in the least. "Ph34r m3! I am H4xor th3 L33t!" ( Translation: Fear me! I am Hacker the Leet! ) "Oh my God, he's gonna kill us!" shouts Tenchi. "Calm down Tenchi, that's my cousin H4xor. He has a thing for medieval antiques." _____H4xor takes off his armor. He is 7' tall, and he wears all black with gothic face paint. His shirt is an Emperor shirt. He also has a Children of Bodom necklace. "Your cousin is Gothic?" "Oh yeah, his favorite bands are Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Children of Bodom, Moonspell, Opera IX, and Type 'O Negative." "What up cus?!" yells a somewhat insane H4xor. "Yo, we're here because my friend here needs to buy some jewelry for one of his girlfriends." "One of his girlfriends? How mush girlfriends does he have? ARE YOU A CASANOVA?!!" "Not at all," Tenchi inputs. "He's just kidding. He has five girls living with him," Amagasaki says with a grin. _____Tenchi sighs and shakes his head while Amagasaki and H4xor laugh on hysterically. It takes a good two minutes for their sanity to return to normal. "Well Mr. Casanova, I just might have the thing for you. Take a look at this," say H4xor as holds out a gold ring with a blood red jewel. "This my friend... Is the Ring of Darkness!" "Ring of Darkness?" asked a not-so-amused Tenchi "It has a real cool history behind it," said Amagasaki. "Indeed," implied H4xor. "This ring was once Lucifer's. He had lost it in the battle with the rival Arch Angel, St. Michael. Because Lucifer lost the ring, Michael was able to throw him into the fiery depths of Eternal Damn Nation. Most importantly, this ring has to power to open the portal between Hell and Earth." "That's some fairy tale," said Tenchi with a sigh of misbelief. "Tell you what, this ring is on the house. The thing just scares me," insisted H4xor. He places the ring in a case and hands it to Tenchi. "Really?!" "Sure thing," H4xor insisted. "Thanks for the help cus!" "Welcome, just don't complain when Lucifer gains access to our realm and goes postal." "Don't worry, I won't anything like that happen," claimed Tenchi. "Glad to hear it." "Later cus!" said Amagasaki. _____Tenchi and Amagasaki leave. H4xor then goes wild, and dances like a fairy. He is overjoyed that the ring is out of his hair. I has freaked him out for so very long. "That fool has no idea what he is getting himself into, but I'm not complaining! Now I can sleep at night without a sword under my pillow!" _____On the bus home, a vision came to Tenchi. Tsunami had come. She had news to tell him, news that could change Tenchi's course for the future. Since he was in public, they had to use telepathy. "Tenchi, I must have a word with you," demanded the Goddess. * What is it? * "Tenchi, there is a great disturbance. Someone who has powers greater that Lady Tokimi's own is coming. He is pure evil, and seems to have a mysterious link with God himself." * Who is it? * "I can't say, not even Tokimi knows who it is. All I know is you need to stop it." * Am I capable? * "Only time will tell." _____Once they get off at the bus stop, trouble awaits. They could feel earthquakes, the clouds were developing at an unnatural pace, and the lightning was blood red. Ryouko was there as well. "Tenchi!" Ryouko yells in a shaken voice. "What is it now?" asked Tenchi. "I don't know, some creep named who calls himself Beelzebub materialized out of nowhere and killed both Washu and Tsusami." "Beelzebub? Are you sure that's his name?!" "Yes, does it sound familiar?" "What's going on Tenchi?" asked a curious Amagasaki. "Amagasaki, please go home. There seems to be a family crisis here." "I understand" says Amagasaki. He willingly abides Tenchi's word and heads home. "Beelzebub is one of the names for the Anti-Christ!" Tenchi then gets a thought in his head. * Is this the ring's doing? * "Tenchi?" Tenchi then puts on his game face. "Let's go." _____Ryouko flies off with Tenchi running close behind. They reach the area of the Holy Tree of Masaki shrine, and a horrid sight it is. The three Choushin are dead, mounted on a crucifix. There was two more people in view, one was the younger version of Yosho, the other one was a giant red guy. In the area of 8', 360lbs. He was bald, and had two horns that were a good two feet long. He wore all Black with the exception of his pure steel boots, he has a Golden Pentagram necklace, two Angel wings, a tail with a large arrowhead-like tip, and he also had the coldest green eyes. "Grandpa!" Yelled Tenchi. "Stay back Tenchi, I will deal with him myself!" "So that's the Angel of Darkness?" whispered Tenchi. "I guess so." _____It would appear Yosho and the Anti-Christ have been battling for some time now. Yosho is holding one arm across his abdomen to cover a large cut, and it would appear blood is draining from both his mouth and nose. Beelzebub on the other hand was not even scratched. He was able to kill the three Choushins with ease and is on the verge of a flawless victory against Yosho. "This is so amusing, even the great Yosho can't even harm me. I was expecting so much more from you." Lucifer then hold out his palm. "Sweet dreams." Lucifer charges up a gargantuan amount of energy and launches it. _____Yosho is able to shield it. but he gets knocked back a good 20 feet or so. Tenchi and Ryouko such to him. While they are rushing to him, Lucifer senses something coming from Tenchi. "Interesting, that young lad has a power greater than the legendary Yosho, but there's more to it that." Lucifer grins with ecstasy. "He has the Ring of Darkness. If I steal it, the gates of Heaven will open. Doing so will enable my army to invade. The pleasure of victory will soon be mine, I'll make both St. Michael and St. Raphael wish they were never born." "Grandpa! Wake up!" Tenchi shakes Yosho, hoping to get a response. Yosho has very little life energy left. "Ten... chi... promise... me... you'll... look... after... Aeka..." Tenchi is going mad. "Grandpa, you can't die! You can't die like this!!" "I'm sorry, it is too late for me. Just look after Aeka for me..." Yosho's life energy then gives out. "Grandpa, don't do this to me!" Tenchi forms tears in his eyes. "Don't feel too bad, you all will be reunited soon. All reunited in a corrupt Heaven, a heaven overtaken by the most powerful Angel ever to live!" Lucifer then proceeds towards his prey. "Ryouko, gather the others and get as far away from here as possible!" Tenchi says in an extremely furious tone. Ryouko was in shock as she heard Tenchi's voice. It was as if he someone else, someone who lacked a conscience. "I will do so." Ryouko then dematerializes. "As for you..." Tenchi gets up and stares a hole into Satan. "I have a deal for you, give me the Ring and I'll grant you and your family a quick death. You are fooling yourself if you think they can escape my wrath." Lucifer show his vicious fangs, smiling as if he won the lottery. Tenchi summons the Light Hawk Sword, and walks towards Lucifer's position. "I will do no such thing, I will make you pay for your crime." "That's quite noble, but you can't defeat an Arch Angel. The battles I fought with the Choushin and Yosho were effortless. Let me show you the power... the power of the Light Hawk Trident!!" Beelzebub uses material conversion just like Tenchi, and forms the Light Hawk Trident. _____Tenchi's hatred for Lucifer was deepening by the second. His head was filled with images of all the torturous things he could possible do to his loved ones. Tenchi was just about to charge, but something got in his way. "Lord Tenchi, you can't defeat him on your own!" Aeka has shown up, and fears the worst for the one she loves. "AEKA, GET OUT OF HERE!! GRANDPA WISHES FOR YOUR SAFETY, SO GET TO A SAFE ZONE NOW!!" Tenchi yelled in a harsh tone. "Oh, this is fun" Lucifer raises his hand, and it's pointed in Aeka's direction. "I WON'T LET YOU KILL ANY MORE!!" Tenchi charges Lucifer with the Light Hawk Sword. _____Tenchi is closing in fast, but Lucifer is not worried. He stands his ground and continues to charge up his ki blast. Tenchi lays the sword down with all his strength. "That felt like a flea bite kid." Lucifer's energy then sky rockets, and unleashes the blast on Aeka. _____Tenchi made an attempt to shield it, but it wasn't good enough. The blast crashes into Aeka at full force, knocking her senseless into a tree. "AEKA!!" Tenchi dashes to her aid. Aeka is badly injured, and can't speak up very well. "Tenchi, run away. Don't confront him, please." "AEKA!!" "What a way to celebrate one's birthday, AH HA HA HA HA HA!!" Lucifer laughs maniacally. "Tenchi, even in death I will always love you. I hope you live a happy life, like you always have." "Aeka, snap out of it! You're not going to die." "Tenchi, I can't, I don't have the strength to go one." "AEKA, LISTEN TO ME, I PROMISED YOSHO I WOULD LOOK AFTER YOU. YOU CAN'T DIE!!" "I'm sorry Tenchi, 'tis my fault." "You can't die now, because... because... "...Because?" BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! I love you Aeka..." "Tenchi, that's something I've wanted to hear for my whole life..." _____They go in for a kiss that seems like centuries long. Tenchi has at last found the one he loves, and one Juraian princess will now be happy forever and forever. Sadly, Aeka's life energy has come to a halt after a mere twenty seconds. The one he has discovered his love for is fading. "No. No. NO. NO. AEKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! "The score is now 5 to nothing. Perhaps it would be wise for you to surrender now." The Angel of Darkness then advances on Tenchi's position. "I will NEVER, EVER let you get away with this!" Tenchi's hair and pupils then turn blood red. End of Part I. Sorry if it was TOO DARK, but tragedies always make a story more powerful. Then again, I'm not too fond of sad endings. That said don't expect Lucifer's crime to go unpunished. -Ultima Trev (superutimatrev@netscape.net)