Another Disclaimer (weather or not you want to hear one): As I've said before I DO NOT OWN THE GOD DAMNED SHOW! If I did own Tenchi Muyo you'd be seeing this episode now wouldn't you? Well you're not which means I don't own it so leave me alone. The entire Masaki household (save Nobleukey) stood in Washu's lab, looking at the sleeping body of Type Zero; and patiently awaiting the explanation the little genius would give them. Washu was hard at work reading the data her scanners gave her as they checked Type Zero's body, measuring everything about him from height to weight, energy output, type of armor he wore, weapon systems he carried, and most importantly, whether or not he was human. "Hmm.very interesting." Washu mumbled as she studied the data. "Miss Washu, have you found anything interesting?" Ayeka asked, while keeping her guard in case the boy awoke, like the rest of the people in the room. "Well I've found something of interest already." Washu said. "Well what did you find out?" Ryoko asked impatiently. Washu just shrugged her shoulders and replied. "All my scanners say that this boy is as human as Nobleukey." Needless to say, they were all shocked pretty well by Washu's news. "There is no way he can be human! This- this THING defeated Azaka and Kamidake like they were nothing!" Ayeka shrieked. "Yeah, humans are weak, short life-spans, high sex-drive, lack of proper technology. Just regular terrestrial creatures." Ryoko added, crossing her arms. "Human, that's what the scanners say and they're not defective because I checked them for my experiment earlier." Washu explained. That clicked in Ryoko's head and she remembered the experiment Washu had spoke of earlier. "Washu, what was your 'Grand Experiment' anyway?" She asked, not throttling the little genius for once. "Well it's a long story but I'll fill ya in." Washu said happily. Pretty soon the Masaki family was seated at desks in front of the bed Type Zero slept on, waiting for Washu. "Remember the last time we had a class?" Sasami asked Mihoshi, who giggled. "Yeah, that was fun and funny, I hope this class is fun too." Ryoko and Ayeka both grimaced, memories of electrocutions and large objects crashing on their heads still quite fresh in their minds. "Don't remind me." They both said drably. "What did happen?" Tenchi asked only to be hushed by Yosho as Washu appeared at the front of the class. "Hello class, I'm your teacher Professor Washu and I'm here to teach you all a course in dimension compression and fusion!" The class looked at Washu blankly. "What's that?" Mihoshi asked blankly. "Well my simple-minded pupil let me explain. I was in the lab earlier when I thought 'I've sent people and other matter to other dimensions, so what would happen if I sent something bigger to another dimension?' Then it hit me, I would send another dimension to another dimension!" The entire class, even Yosho, looked at Washu in a mix of horror and awe; yes, they believed she had finally flipped. "Miss Washu! Do you know what kind of chaos you have just brought onto us all? With so many people being moved you'll throw them into confusion when they meet the habitants of this dimension!" Ayeka yelled, fearing for herself and Sasami as well. "Don't worry Ayeka, when I sent our dimension I made sure that none of that confusion would occur by moving our universe to a universe approximately 1017 years into the future and downloading the last 1017 years of history to the minds of every human being (or otherwise) on this planet and in the universe in less than 3.2 nanoseconds. So in other words, it's like another day for everybody, save a few changes here and there. Nobody's the wiser except for everyone in this classroom." All Washu got was blank stares from her class. "Wow, what does it all mean Washu?" Mihoshi asked blankly, forcing the genius into the facefault to end all facefaults. "Weren't you listening to what I just said?" "Umm.I think so, why Miss Washu?" "Never mind, run along Mihoshi" A beeping noise alerted Washu, who looked over where Type Zero lay. "Ooh goody, our guest of honor is about to awaken!" She said with the giddiness of a schoolgirl. "W-Washu, are you sure that he won't be able to attack us?" Sasami asked as the "class" walked over to the table where Type Zero lay, stirring. "Trust me, he won't be able to get through the shield I built personally for high energy creatures." Washu replied smugly. "Shh, he's waking up." Tenchi said as he backed away from the table instinctively. The first thing he saw when his eyes opened was a bright light that made him rub his eyes in pain slightly, something about this place seemed familiar to him, the light reminded him vaguely of something, something horrible. "Ugh, w-where am I?" He mumbled before noticing the people staring at him. "Who are you?" He asked the Masaki family. The room was silent, no one knew what to say, even Yosho was hesitant to make a move, and it was Mihoshi who made the first move. "Hi! My name is Mihoshi, I'm sorry for crashing my ship into you I hope you're not mad." Type Zero looked at Mihoshi blankly. "I don't understand when did that happen?" Mihoshi smiled. "When you were fighting my friends Ryoko, Ayeka, and Tenchi. Sasami says that you tried to kill them but like I said, I knocked you out of the sky by mistake, sorry." Type Zero immediately stood and bowed in shame. "Please, forgive me I hope no one was hurt, I must've went berserk, it happens from time to time, I do not know why." He said politely. "Nobody was hurt too badly, thanks to me." Ryoko muttered angrily. Type Zero then shook and deactivated his armor suit, which faded away revealing a pair of black slacks and a blue t-shirt. "Wow, did you see that?" Tenchi asked. Washu was impressed; he could morph betwixt his forms, and berserk? There was a great deal of information stored in this child, and she wanted to learn more. "What are you?" Washu asked, her curiosity overriding her normally sadistic nature. "Oh? I think I'm human, my name is Arrow, but my other name has preceded me." "Type Zero?" Sasami asked. "Yes, that's it, but that's the name of a butcher. And I prefer to just be called Arrow, or Li." Arrow replied sadly. "Where do you come from?" Washu asked. "I don't know, everything before I was twelve is a blank, I don't know what species of human I am, where I come from, or who my parents are. All I know is that I have done horrible, horrible things for as far as I can remember people are either terrified or extremely hateful towards me." Arrow explains. Yosho nods, he could feel that the boy was filled with a deep sadness, a form of sadness that only killing others against your will could bring. "Washu, I think it would be safe to let the boy out the field, he's harmless." Washu complied, and the boy stepped off the table and looked around the lab. "What sort of place is this? It's bigger than any laboratory I've ever seen." Washu smiled, she loved introductions. "You are in the lab of the greatest scientific mind in the universe! This lab has been the site of many a radical discovery, from the discovery of antimatter to the creation of Ryoko over there! You are in the lab of I, Little Washu!" Arrow nodded, he was impressed beyond belief. "Um.maybe it would be best if we moved this upstairs to the house. It's around dinnertime any way." Sasami suggested while she watched Mihoshi staring at a red button that did some god-awful thing. Washu caught Sasami's gaze and got the hint. "Yeah, it would be a lot safer.err I mean more comfortable to be upstairs, we can't be sitting around here all day!" Washu shouted as she shoved Mihoshi away from the button and towards the elevator, with the others following. Nobleukey let out a low groan as he walked down the path towards his house; a long day in Tokyo was only more exhausting for the fact that he'd be walking home to a probable battlefield. "I hope Ayeka and Ryoko decide to skip their evening scuffle, I'm not paid high enough to repair the house repeatedly." He seethed to himself. Suddenly, he heard a roar and looked up, to see a huge delta winged aircraft hovering above him. Is that a military aircraft? He thought before the battleship Kestrel overshadowed the MC-70 easily. "Oh my god! Wow!" Nobleukey shouted as he fell backwards, partly from the force of the MC-70's V/TOL engines. The Kestrel slowly came to a stop and hovered silently over the loud Valkyrie as the latter landed over Nobleukey without crushing him, and shut down its engines. What's going on here? He thought as he quickly ran out from under the plane and towards the trees, only to be stopped by a young woman's flying kick. "Alright pal, whaddaya doing around here?" The brown haired, blue-eyed teenage girl asked as she grabbed Nobleukey by the back of his head. "Ow! I was just going home! Please don't hurt me!" Nobleukey howled as the girl began to slowly apply pressure to her hold. "Where do you live pal?" The girl asked with a grin. "Up the path, please let me go, I have a family to take care of!" Nobleukey replied. The girl let Nobleukey go and kicked him hard down the path, a flight of twenty yards. "Go home old man, things are going to get real ugly soon so you may want to get away." Taking that as a chance he may never get again, Nobleukey ran like hell towards the house where the Masaki family was enjoying dinner with Arrow. "So who was that Amber?" Another young man asks from the roof of the MC-70. "Just a civilian, no threat." The girl replied to the brown- haired, brown-eyed young man. "According to my calculations the Prototype should be in the area within 2000 yards Amber." Another young woman with blonde hair and gray eyes said as she walked up to Amber. "Hmm, that means that he could be in the house up the hill up from here, contact the Kestrel and tell them to prepare to fire a few warning shots around the house up there and get ready to move in. Clay, Joy, let's get ready." Amber says to the boy and girl, who obey without question. Arrow sighed when he finished his plate and leaned back until he was lying down. "It feels great to finally eat, it's been weeks since the last time I ate." He remarked almost nonchalantly while keeping his near monotone voice. "Arrow, how did you end up in our yard? Did you fall from an airplane?" Sasami asked as she served Ryo-ohki a plate of carrots. "Ooh I know what happened!" Mihoshi shouted before Arrow could speak. "Well, I was coming back from patrol when I saw him fighting these airplanes that turned into robots! He cut them to pieces, but the last one he attacked blew up really big and sent him flying towards the ground!" She finished after failing at making what she just said sound really exciting. Sasami, Ayeka, Ryoko, and Tenchi looked at Mihoshi and just began laughing their heads off. "Airplanes that turn into robots? You have got to be kidding me!" Ryoko shrieked as she kept laughing. "I'm sorry Mihoshi, but I think you've been watching too many cartoons!" Tenchi yelled as he kept laughing. "She's telling the truth." The laughter in the room died immediately and all eyes were on Arrow. "Let me explain; the military of earth is made up mostly of aircraft and tanks that can shift to an anthropomorphic fighting mode, these vehicles are known as battlers. Some are fully capable of space combat, as were the ones I fought earlier, others are regulated to ground and atmospheric duties. All are very dangerous and the pilots, who are part of the military, can be as young as ten years old. There are many models of battlers, but the ones used most commonly used are the MiG-31 Foxhund Battler for air and space combat and the M1A2 Abrams Battler for land and undersea combat." Sasami was mesmerized, real fighting robots and she was old enough to actually fly one. "Wow, I wish I had one." She said to herself quietly. "Oh, um, why did you get into a fight with the Battlers Mihoshi told us of Arrow?" Ayeka asked. "It's a long story, but I'll make it as short as I can. 500 years ago, Earth was visited by an extraterrestrial coalition hoping to form an organization dedicated to keep the peace in the known universe. Earth accepted and for it's strategic location it was made the capitol planet of the Solar System Alliance. Working on mistakes and techniques used in the 20th an 21st centuries, (AN: That's a whole 'nother story folks) the SSA as it was called formed a separate military entity called simply the Solar System Alliance Military or SSAM that was responsible for the protection of all citizens of the alliance. For centuries it was okay, but recently, in the last 50 years, the military has been distancing itself from the SSA, pursuing it's own interests and so forth. By ten years ago, the SSAM had control of almost half the Alliance's territory, yet they managed to keep the SSA and its citizen's blind to this. That's when a group that is now known as the Marines struck, and began fighting back to free the SSAM controlled areas of the Alliance territory." "So why hasn't the SSA done anything about this and try to help the Marines, and why aren't the people doing anything to speak out against this?" Yosho asked. "As far as the common people are concerned the Marines are dirty terrorists and the SSAM are the hour's heroes. And all the SSA can do is draw up peace treaties and sanctions against both sides, enforced by the only non-corrupt military strength in the Alliance, the Alliance Secret Service and another organization called Soldiers of the World." Arrow replied. Yosho nodded. "The atrocities being performed by the military in secret are so horrible that it's a miracle that they haven't surfaced, the shock would bring about the end of the Alliance as we know it and cause a terrible and endless war. That's why the Marines are fighting so hard to stop it, because we want stability and peace more than anyone else." Arrow sighed and sat up. "So you are a Marine?" "Yes Yosho, I am a Marine." Tenchi stood up, a new fire in his eyes. "I'll help in any way I can!" Ryoko raised her hand. "If Tenchi's going to help then count me in too!" Ayeka, Mihoshi, Washu, Sasami, Yosho, and even Ryo-ohki seconded the motion to help Arrow. "Thank you, we can always use more help." Arrow said with a smile. Suddenly, Nobleukey barging into the house breathing heavily and clutching his sides interrupted the dinnertime conversation. "There's.something.out.side." He said between breaths. Tenchi, seeing the condition his father was in, rushed to him. "Dad, what happened?" He asked as he helped Nobleukey to the couch. "These two huge aircraft landed down the hill, and a woman kicked me, she told me that something terrible was going to happen soon." Nobleukey said with labored breaths. "Did the ships look unusual?" Arrow asked, his eyes narrowing. "Yes, one of them was a huge flying battleship, and the other one was smaller but sleeker, it had delta-wings and two smaller wings behind the front of it." When Nobleukey made that description, Arrow became very, VERY, scared. "They found me." He muttered before there was the loud roar of a few passing energy beams that hit the hills north of the house and shrine, with a devastating explosion that knocked everyone down. "What was that?" Tenchi asked as he got back to his feet. "I know who it is, it's the Black Dawn Team." Arrow said before Amber's voice carried through the air via microphone. "Long time no see Prototype! It has to have been at least six weeks since we crushed you at Fera plateau on Natu, so how are ya?" Amber asked via microphone, followed by silence. "Who's the Black Dawn Team?" Ryoko asked. "The elite of the SSAM, there's only three of them, but they have wiped out entire regiments of Marine and SSAM alike by themselves. They have no mental stability and tend to show no mercy, not even to children for they are only children themselves." Arrow explained. "We have to get out of here." Tenchi said as he walked to the door and peaked down at the Kestrel, which was deploying 50 Foxhund Battlers to take Arrow out. "We need to, but we can't, they won't let us get away now." Arrow said. "So we'll just have to kick them around ourselves." Ryoko said as she phased through the wall to the outside. "Wait Ryoko!" Arrow shouted as he ran out the door after the space-pirate with Ayeka and Tenchi on his heels. Ryoko grinned as the Foxhund Battlers began walking up the hill slowly, in gun-mode, looking for Arrow. "They look like fun." Ryoko thought before flying towards them low and fast. As the Foxhund Battlers advanced up the hill, one of them stopped and suddenly began to short circuit. "Hey Grissom, what the hell is going on over there?" Another Foxhund pilot radioed. The pilot never replied, for at that moment the Foxhund exploded with devastating force, and Ryoko rose from the blast, beam sword in hand. "What the hell is that?" Another Foxhund pilot asked as she targeted Ryoko, who attacked the Battler and chopped both its arms off. Turning around she fires an energy blast that blows the Battler up. Ten other Battlers turned and opened fire upon Ryoko, who vanished and reappeared behind one and sliced it in half with a long beam sword while blasting another with a pair of energy blasts that pass through the cockpit and engine reactors, with messy results. "It teleports! Scatter now and attack!" A pilot shouted as he opened fire with a pair of missiles on Ryoko, which slam into a shield created by Ayeka. "You aren't going to lay a finger on Arrow!" Ayeka shouts as she punches the left leg of another Foxhund, blasting it clean off. As the Battler fell, Tenchi took the initiative and chopped both arms to render it harmless. As the Foxhunds began to drop like flies at the hands of Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko, Amber watched from the cockpit of her Battler, a one of a kind Su-27 Flanker Battler. "My, it seems our favorite prototype has some very powerful friends. Let's see them survive a full power shot from the Kestrel." She remarked as she radioed said battleship, which pointed its main guns at the battle area. "This is too easy!" Ryoko yelled with glee as she landed on the head of a retreating Foxhund Battler and drove another long beam sword down through the entire center of the mecha. "Hey, they're running away!" Tenchi said as the remaining 24 Foxhunds lifted off the ground and shifted into flying mode and raced away from the house. "They are trying to get out of the way! Run for the love of god!" Arrow yelled as he flew in; in his armored suit form of course. But before they could run, huge yellow beams of energy hammered the hillside, causing huge explosions that sent Tenchi and the others diving for cover. Tenchi coughed up dust as he stood up and looked around. "Is everyone okay?" He shouted into the settling dust. "I'm okay Tenchi, Azaka and Kamidake came to me and Ryoko's aid." Ayeka called through the dust. "I'm fine, don't worry." Arrow said as he pushed a fallen tree off him. "Doesn't this look familiar, huh Prototype? Just like Fera Plateau, you had the advantage, and then we showed up. And of over 20,000 Marines involved in the battle, only you survived. I pray we repeat the Plateau all the way, we don't want any more allies crawling out to help your sorry ass." Amber said through the microphone. Arrow let out a low growl, he remembered the battle so well, and some of those people were his friends, people who he had promised they would live to see another day on the night of the battle. "Amber! Come down here and fight coward!" Arrow yelled as he blasted straight into the air and right for the all- black Flanker Battler. "Come and get me prototype.' Amber replied to herself as the Flanker went into a steep climb immediately. As Arrow climbed after Amber beams from the Kestrel surrounded him. "Oh no." He whispered before he took six hits in the back from air-to-airs from Amber. "Poor Prototype! Did you hurt yourself?" Amber asked as the Flanker Battler shifted to gun-mode and drew its weapons of choice, a pair of long bladed axes. The Flanker dives headlong at and shoulder barges Arrow into the ground and drops towards him axes first. Arrow rolls out the way of the blades and flies straight up as the Flanker lands with its feet skyward. The Flanker stands up and is kicked down the hill by Arrow, who draws both his beam sabers and attacks. Here he comes.Amber thought, as Arrow got closer. "Now Joy! Hit him!" Just as Arrow was in cutting range of the Flanker, he ran into a wall of cannon fire which blasts him straight up, following the cannon fire was twenty small missiles that race above Arrow and blast back towards the ground, hitting Arrow and sending him towards the ground. "C'mon Clay, go for the goal!" Amber yells as the Flanker Battler kicks Arrow like a soccer ball. "He shoots, and." Clay shouts as his Battler, a Su-37 Terminator Battler appears from its ambush position and kicks Arrow back towards Amber. As Arrow nears the Flanker Battler, another Battler equipped largely with heavy rifles and built in missiles rises from in front of the Flanker and kicks Arrow into the ground at the base of the hill. "She scores!" Joy yells as her Su-34 Fastback Battler strikes a pose. The three Battlers walk down the hill and stand over the unconscious body of Arrow. "Poor, poor prototype, it really pains me to see you like this. And we used to be such friends." Amber says as she raises an axe over Arrow and swings down hard to finish him off, only to hit something hard. It was Tenchi. "Leave, and do not return." Tenchi said as he held the blade of the axe in his hand with help from the powers of the lighthawk wings. Amber, Joy, and Clay were surprised by the courage and the power that Tenchi was displaying at this moment. "Who the hell is you kid?" Amber said sloppily. "My name is Tenchi, that's all you need to know, now leave and never come here again." Amber was pissed now, she wasn't one to take orders from pipsqueaks, and she especially wasn't going to take orders from this one. "Punk, I don't take orders from punks like you!" She yells as she swings the other axe and hits nothing but dirt. "Huh? Where'd they go?" Clay asked as the Terminator Battler turned around only to get whacked in the chest and face area by spaceship form Ryo-ohki. "Now this is a fair fight, eh princess?" Ryoko asked Ayeka, who laughed and used her shield to push all three Black Dawn Team Battlers into the ground. "AH! Amber I can't move!" Joy yelled as she fought her Battlers controls. "You and me both sister!" Amber replies. As Ryo-ohki hovered over the three Battlers, the Kestrel acted, it's captain ordering to fire at will at the spaceship, which takes only three hits before Ryoko and Ryo-ohki are howling in pain. "They won't last" Tenchi thought as the ship faltered to stay aloft. Arrow suddenly awoke and stood up. "What's going on?" He asks Tenchi, desperation in his voice. "That ship has Ryoko and Ayeka under fire, we have to help them!" Arrow looked at the Kestrel and drew a beam saber. "Tenchi, let's double team it." Tenchi nodded and created a lighthawk sword just for the occasion. "Let's.go!" Tenchi said as he and Arrow ran at the Kestrel, swords held high. Amber saw the two young men rushing the Kestrel and cursed. "Kestrel, pull out! You are in danger of attack!" The Kestrel's captain didn't reply; he had figured that the spaceship was the threat, but he failed to notice Arrow and Tenchi make their attack. Tenchi jumped over Arrow as he raised the sword over his head and Arrow raised the sword before they both vanished, and reappeared standing on the Kestrels stern; Tenchi standing with the lighthawk sword to his side and Arrow with his beam saber held behind him. The Kestrel stopped firing as it divided into four pieces and fell to the ground harmlessly. Tenchi and Arrow jumped off the Kestrel as Ryo-ohki fired a hundred revenge shots that tore the Kestrel's wreckage apart, creating several large explosions. "Team, I think it's time to run" Amber said as the Flanker managed to grab a flash grenade from it's side and tossed it, blinding Ryo-ohki, whose yowl broke Ayeka's concentration and allowed the Black Dawn Team to retreat to the MC-70. "You're one up on us Prototype! But don't think we'll cut you much slack next time!" Amber shouted through the microphone as the MC-70 lifted into the air and simply vanished (thank you light-speed technology). Later that night, Tenchi winced as Washu finished taking care of his injuries with a simple shot. She was chuckling as she administered the solution, which made Tenchi as healthy as he ever was. "You and Arrow did very well out there, you two are almost equal in strength." She said softly as she put a band-aid on where she gave the shot and handed Tenchi a lollipop. "There you go widdle Tenchi, alright, NEXT!" Tenchi walked away, snickering when he heard Washu telling Ryoko that she needed about a thousand shots, and headed outside. "Hey Arrow, where'd ya go?" Tenchi asked, wondering where said boy had run off. "Over here Tenchi." Arrow said as he tossed a rock across the lake, watching it skip. Tenchi walked over to Arrow and stood next to him. "What's up Arrow?" Tenchi asked. "After Washu gave me that shot, she asked me if I was interested in donating some sort of 'sample' so she could see how human I was." Tenchi laughed and threw a rock himself. "Trust me, that means she likes you Arrow." "In that case I think I'll sleep outside.away from the lab." Arrow and Tenchi had a short laugh and both threw rocks across the lake, that's when Tenchi noticed the mark on Arrow's hand. "Hey what's that?" Tenchi asked, pointing at Arrow's right hand. "Oh this, it's just a birthmark." Arrow said as he showed Tenchi a very tattoo-ish birthmark. "Wow." Tenchi uttered as he looked at the mark, which was a snake-like dragon that was colored green with an orange belly. "Some birthmark, all I have is this." Tenchi remarked as his Jurian mark appeared on his forehead. Arrow and Tenchi both began laughing. "Tenchi?" Arrow asked after the fit of laughter. "Yeah Arrow?" "Thanks for saving my life, I owe you one." "Well, you would've done the same for me, but all you really owe me is your friendship," Arrow smiled and extended his hand. "Deal." Tenchi shook Arrow's hand and smiled. "Let's head inside, it's getting late." Tenchi said as he headed off to the house. "Race ya!" Arrow shouted as he ran by. "Your on!" Tenchi shouted back as he chased Arrow to the house. Amber sighed as she looked at her report on the incident near the Masaki house and sighed. "Damn, now I'm going to have to write more of those sad letters." She said with a bit of a sadistic grin. Author's Notes: Damn that was a long one, huh? Well onto a preview, Arrow is getting along well with the Masaki house residents while half a world away (and beyond) Marines are gathering to find their MIA comrade, as well as a mysterious woman in a red spaceship who seems to want Arrow's head on a platter. Doesn't she look familiar?