Author's notes: Many of you might have wondered why I submited a updated version of Part 1 of my story. Mostly, I thought that there were a few thing I left unclear about the first story. Not to mention add a few new parts to the story. I guess that's why some fan-fiction authors sometimes submit updated versions of stories they had already posted. Another reason is that the first story was submited after the events of September 11, 2001, and I personally wanted to add a small tribute to the men and women of the Fire Department of New York and the New York Police Department, who had members who had perished when the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed. Even a fortysomthing person from Kennewick, Washington, like me, at take heart in the courageous spirit of those who are now gone. Therefore, at the bottom of my stories from now on will have that small tribute. I would also like to give thanks to Aldrich Baustista, a.k.a. GenSao, for providing a forum for us fan fiction authors to present the work of our devotion, Tenchi Muyo! I would like also to give a small gripe to AOL/Time Warner, who I would like to kindly ask them the next time Tenchi is shown on TV, that they would kindly show it on HBO or Cinemax, so that the viewing public who do not have access to DVD or a VCR can experience Tenchi the way it was ment to be shown. Cartoon Network did a good job, but they cut too much out of it to add more commercials. Editing for broadcast TV, that I can understand, but the digital swimsuits are a bit much. That taken care of.ON WITH THE STORY! A Carrot Patch, A Clean House, & A Burglar, Pt. 2 Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction by Elwin "Blaine" Coldiron-bigkwell@aol.com DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo" and characters were created by Hiroki Hayashi and Masaki Kajishima and are the property of AIC/Pioneer. I do not own the series, nor the characters. I just write the fiction. The burglar is my creation. This story is based on the OVA continuity, sometime after Episode 13. ******************************************************************************** ********* Ayeka, Sasami, and Mihoshi were walking down the road where the Masaki house stood. All three were coming home after a busy day grocery shopping. Both Sasami and Mihoshi had generously offered to take the burden of the purchases, but Ayeka had insisted that she carry the lion's share of them. Soon, it be aparent that Ayeka was way over her head with the carry, especially after near falling out of the bus while overburdened with flour, eggs, and milk. It took a few minutes for the loads to be redistributed amunst the three, and soon they were aproaching the gate, where Azaka and Kamidake stood guard. "Welcome back Princess Ayeka, Princess Sasami, and Detective Mihoshi." Azaka said as the robotic Juraian guardians greeted the trio. "Did you have a good day?" Kamidake added. Before Sasami had a chance to answer, Ayeka said quite loudly, "No I haven't had a good day. That bus driver nearly caused me fall down, stopping so hard the way he did." "But Ayeka, you carrying too many groceries at the time, not to mention you stood up before the bus stopped fully." Sasami said. "She's right." Mihoshi added. "We did ask to take some of the groceries, but you said that you can do it just fine. I mean, really Ayeka, this whole compeating with Ryoko thing is not healthy for you at all. Not to mention all those fights you have with her is not doing the house or Tenchi any good. Like just the other day when Ryoko volentiered to clean the house, you made this real nasty remark about -- OUCH!!!" Mihoshi's monologue is stopped in mid-sentence by a well placed kick in the shins by Ayeka. 'I hated to do that.' Ayeka thought. 'Althought Mihoshi is a real scatterbrain, she does mean well. But I had to stop the ditz somehow so we can get these groceries in the house, then finish cleaning the house like Ryoko had promised to.' She didn't truly believe that Ryoko would live up to her promise and fully expected to find the pirate lying down on her rafter, drunk out of her mind. Their conversation at the gate would have continued had it not been for a very loud explosion in the hills near the house, in the direction of the vegetable gardens. "OH! WHAT WAS THAT?" Mihoshi cried out as lept on top of Ayeka, who was still holding her share of the groceries. This little piece of action caused both girls to fall over. (Fortunatly, the eggs haven't broken.) "WILL YOU GET OFF ME AND ACT LIKE THE POLICE OFFICER THAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE?" Ayeka yelled, throwing Mihoshi off her and then getting back on her feet. "That came from where Ryo-Ohki has her carrot patch!" Sasami said. "Oh she's going to be upset. She worked so hard on that garden." she added mournfully. Then the three heard a strange voice screaming, following with a splashing sound. "Azaka! Kamidake! Go to where that explosion came from, then find Lord Tenchi and meet us at the house." Ayeka commanded at the guardians. "Yes, ma'am." the two spoke in unison and vanished. Now the three heard more screaming from that same strange voice, and they saw Ryo-Ohki in her spaceship form hovering over the lake. Something was definatly wrong here. All three girls quickly set down the groceries and set off towards the house. Mihoshi had her blaster drawn just in case. *** Tenchi had just came from the gardens, which were close to the shrine, and was now heading for the house. He was inspecting the damage there when he saw Ryo- Ohki and heard the screming. Expecting the worst, he ran down the footpath. He was now in the habit of carrying Tenchi-ken with him at all time, owing to the episodes with Kagato, the masu creature, and Doctor Clay (not to mention his 'duel' with Seriyou). He hoped that he can get away with using just the sword and not have to use the Lighthawk wings this time. As he was approaching the house, Tenchi was met by Azaka and Kamidake. "What are you two doing here?" Tenchi asked. "Princess Ayeka ordered us here." Azaka answered "And to fetch you." Kamidake added. "Anything wrong at the garden?" Azaka asked. "Nevermind. We've go to get to the house!" Tenchi said breathlessly "Here," Azaka said, "I'll give you a lift!" "Thanks," Tenchi said, "that'll save a bit of energy for me." He climbed on top of Azaka, and the three floated towards the house. *** The burglar had never seen anything like this in his life. Rather that ponder the mysteries of the events unfolding before him, he took of on the dockway towards the front gate. Ryoko was stagering to her feet when the burglar knocked her off the dock and into the water. She landed with a big splash. The cad was halfway across the dock when he saw three figures racing towards the dock. One of them appeared to be armed. The burglar then doubled back and headed back towards the house. Ryoko at this time had just pulled herself back onto the dock when the burglar came back, knocking her back into the lake. He then ran on the dirt path on the side of the house towards where he hid his car. It was then he saw another unbelieveable sight. The two wooden pillars that had made up the gate of the property were now floating towards him. And on top of one of them was the boy from the house. Not thinking straight at this moment, he headed back towards the house when explosions of water and mud started spraying on him. Ryo-Ohki, still in spaceship form, was blasting energy bolts at the burglar, all the time howling and yowling in rage. However, since the burglar was too close to the house, she couldn't get a direct shot, so the burglar was only getting dirty. Tenchi, from his vantage point on top of Azaka, cringed inwardly as he saw that the intruder to his home was NOT a destroyer from another world, but a petty burglar. 'Now,' Tenchi thought to himself, 'we've got a bigger problem. We gotta get this guy to Washu, so that she could clean out his memory of this.' Tenchi certainly didn't want this guy to relate the events of today to the world. Their house would become a media zoo if he did. *** Now feeling cornered, the burglar did the only thing left open for him at this moment. He dove through the muttons of the sliding door (by chance the only part of the door NOT strenghed by Washu). Once inside, the burglar started looking back and forth, hoping to somehow find a place to hide. He considered going upstairs, but thought that would take too much time. Moving to the dining area, the burglar then saw a door that aparently led to a broom closet. Not thinking that this would be the first place the occupants would look (what can I say? Petty crooks have no brains), the burglar opened the closet door and ran in. A brief scream, a flash of light from under the crack of the door, and all was quiet. *** Outside the house, the whole group gathered on the dock near the front door. Ryo-Ohhi had transformed back into her animal form and took her place on top of Sasami's head. For the second time, Ryoko had pulled herself out of the lake and stood coughing and trying to dry herself off. Stories were exchanged and now the group resolved to enter the house and find the burglar. As an added percaution, Azaka and Kamidake were told by Ayeka to stay outside, just in case the burglar slipped passed them. The burglar was not on Ryo-Ohki's mind at the time. The little cabbit sitting there, mewing sadly at the thought of her destroyed carrot garden. Ryoko couldn't help but look and feel sorry about her contribution to Ryo-Ohki's misery. "Hey, Ryo-Ohki?" Ryoko started, "I don't know if this will do any good, but I'm sorry about your carrot patch. I never ment that to happen. And--I'm sorry about that 'big, woody pith' crack." Ryo-Ohki looked in Ryoko's eyes and mind and knew that she was sincere about her apology. A small smile and a bright 'meow' had let her know that it was accepted. "Well, it wouldn't have happened in the first place if you didn't threw that energy ball at that burglar!" Ayeka snapped. "HEY! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO AT THE TIME?" Ryoko yelled at the princess. "Perhaps use a little restraint, not to mention thinking with a sober mind. You probibly were drunk at the time, instead of cleaning the house like you promised to." Ayeka answered. She had smelled the sake on Ryoko's breath when Ryoko yelled at her. "WHY I OUGHTA--" Ryoko began as a aura of energy began to glow from her hands "WILL YOU TWO SETTLE DOWN! WE STILL GOTTA FIND THAT BURGLAR AND GET HIM TO WASHU!" Tenchi came between the two and pulled them apart. "You're right, Lord Tenchi." Ayeka said. "We'll settle this at another time, Ryoko." she said, glaring at the space pirate. "Fine with me!" Ryoko answered, returning the glare It was agreed that Mihoshi, who had her blaster, would enter first. Tenchi would follow, then Ryoko and Ayeka would bring up the rear. They had insisted that Sasami would stay outside with the guardians. She reluctantly agreed, but Ryo-Ohki would accompany the others. Mihoshi entered, blaster drawn, and looked down the hallway. She signaled it was clear, and then Tenchi, with sword in hand but the blade not ignited, followed. Ayeka then crept past the broken door. It was after everyone (except Sasami) had entered the house that a loud scream was hard. Almost everyone involved jumped nearly a foot. Tenchi had his sword ignited and braced for combat. But what they found was Ryoko, who was wide-eyed and very angry. "I DON'T BELIEVE IT! MUD! THAT CREEP HAD TRACKED MUD ALL OVER THE FLOOR! AFTER I SPENT THE WHOLE DAY SWEEPING AND SCRUBBING THIS ENTIRE HOUSE, THAT JERK HAD THE NERVE TO GET MUD ALL OVER THE FLOOR. OOOOOH AS SOON AS WE FIND HIM, HE'S GOING TO REGRET THE DAY HE CAME TO THIS PLACE! I SWEAR IT!" Ryoko screamed, nearly tearing out her own cyan-colored hair in the process. Everyone watching Ryoko having her fit sweatdroped. It was then that Ayeka noticed the rest of the house. With the exception to the muddy floors, the house was in exceptional shape. The windows were clean, the walls were scrubbed, and the furniture was dusted and vacuumed. All things considered, it was a very good job. "Perhaps I was a bit hasty in critizizing your work, Ryoko." Ayeka whispered. "You've done a excellent job." "Really?" Ayeka's reaction supprised Ryoko. Unfortunatlly, Ayeka couldn't let a complement go without getting off one catty remark. "Of course, one day's excellence doesn't exactly make up for a lifetime of laziness." She followed up that crack with one of her trademark chuckles. Ryoko simply scowled at Ayeka and grumbled, "Thanks a lot, Princess!" "Pipe down, you two," Tenchi hissed, "or that burglar might hear you." "Well, he's definitly heard Ryoko screaming." Ayeka whispered. "We should for any signs of a urine puddle. Perhaps he went upstairs." "I got an idea." Mihoshi said. "Will wonders never cease. Mihoshi's got an idea." Ryoko groaned. Not knowing that Ryoko was being sarcastic, Mihoshi whispered, "Why don't we follow those muddy footprints. It'll be a lot easier than everyone splitting up." She was right. The footprints would lead them in the intruder's general direction. The four of them followed the footprints into the dining room. When they got there, they stopped. The footprints had apparently led them to the entrance of the closet -- which was also the entrance to Washu's lab. There was silence for one minute when Ayeka finally asked, "Tell me, Lord Tenchi. Is Washu still in her lab?" Staring at the door, Tenchi answered, "Yeah. She was this morning." Upon hearing this, Mihoshi then then got all teary-eyed and said, "Oh no! What'll she do? We don't know what that fiend will do. I mean, he's so big and Washu's -- " Tears began to flow from Mihoshi's eyes as she thought of what manner of horrors that Washu was enduring. All this was observed by Ryoko, who then just look at the door and couldn't believe why everyone was so worried about. "I wouldn't feel sorry for Washu, guys. I'd feel sorry for that burglar. If I know Washu," she then turned to face Tenchi, Ayeka, Mihoshi, and Ryo-Ohki, "and believe me, I do, she's probitly got him tied up in her lab, ready to do who-knows-what to him." Ryoko then walked to the door to open it. It was at that moment that the closet door opened, and the self-proclaimed 'greatest scientific genius in the universe' stepped out. Washu was mildly surprised by the assemblage in front of her lab door. "Oh," she began, "so you're here already. I guess that saves me the time finding all you." "Little Washu, we need to ask you something." Tenchi began. But before he could ask, he was interupted by a sound coming from the lab. "HAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPP! GET ME OUT OF HEARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!" "Oh him? He's fine." Washu answered. Everyone else facefaulted. "Look everyone," Washu began, "I know what's happened, and I can assure you all this jerk is not going anywhere soon. Come inside,"she said, beaconing them into her lab, "I'll show you. Oh, and Ayeka, you can tell Sasami it's safe to come inside." After Sasami entered the house, the group then entered Washu's lab. There, striped to his underwear and bound by one of Washu's restraint droids (the same ones she uses when she wants to examine Tenchi), was the burglar. The poor guy had a look of object panic on his face. Inwardly, Tenchi felt a pang of sympathy the burglar. Everyone else had a look of shock on their faces. All except Ryoko. Ryoko turned to the group and said, "See? What did I tell you?" "You know, it is so hard to find the right test subject for a project that you work so hard to accomplish." Washu started, as Ryo-Ohki lept into her arms, "It was getting to the point that I may have to find my usual subject for this particular one," Tenchi gulped as this prospect as Washu continued, "but then this little situation developed, and then the perfect test subject happens to walk right in my door." A bright smile graced her churbish face. "Just think - - a real, live burglar -- here in my lab!" "Uh -- Washu," Tenchi began, "just what are planning to do with him?" "Well now that you mentioned it," Washu said, "this is my latest experiment in remidial behavior modification. If everything goes according to my hypothisis, this so-called person will be a new man." She then shot the burglar her trademart mischevious grin. "And if it doesn't," she added, "well -- I can just say it was worth the trouble." There were horrified glances all around -- especially with the burglar. He had a paniced look on his face. He took at Washu and said, "Look, little girl -- I didn't mean to hurt anyone. Listen, you just let me go and we'll forget about this whole thing. Okay?" The bright smile that was on Washu's face suddenly vanished. Her eyes closed and, while still holding Ryo-Ohki, turned away from the assemblege. When she spoke after what seemed a long time, it was with a sullen tone. "Didn't mean to hurt anyone? How dare you say such a thing. You fully intended to harm this family when you decided to break into this house. Even if all you ever stolen was the television, that could have been easily replaced. But even worse, you tried to add murder to your list." Washu seemed to cluch Ryo-Ohki tighter. "If Ryoko hadn't saw what you were about to do and had not warned Ryo-Ohki when she did --" She seemed to be trembling, as the thought of posiblly losing one of her cherished family entered into her mind, "-- I don't want that thought even in my mind!" Washu then turned around and stared the burglar straight into the face, her emerald eyes flashing with almost mindless anger. "I'm going to make sure," she screamed at him, "that you are never do something like this again!" The burglar's eyes were in tears, think that this was going to be his last moments on Earth. Then Washu did something that scared him even more. She once more flashed her cheery smile and radiant personality and said in a cheerful voice, "So why don't you just relax, and it will be all over in about a minute." "OH MY GOD," the burglar yelled, "GET ME AWAY FROM THIS GRADE SCHOOL LUNATIC!" "Grade school?" Washu asked. "I haven't been there for over twenty thousand years. Surely I'm way ahead of that." "Huh?" The burglar replied. "WASHU? DON'T HURT HIM!" Tenchi pleaded. "WE JUST NEED YOU TO -- " but before he could finish, Washu punched several keys on her holo-laptop and a bright glow filled the lab. All those who were present shielded their eyes as the light's intesity increased. The burglar's own shrieks were deafening. To him, this was the end. He began thinking about how his life could have been better if he had listened to his father and taken up shrimp fishing. Even with the bright light, it felt like the entire room was spinning very rapidly. He didn't like this part, for he always had a queasy stomach. Just when he felt like he was about to puke, it felt like a great upheaval had occurred and he started faster and faster into a gradually darkening blackness, fall faster and faster until.. "AAAUGGGHHHH!" the burglar sat up bolt-upright from his futon. He was back in his flat in the Tokyo slums. Scattered all over the floor were empty bottles of sake. He got up and looked out the window. There, in it's usual parking space, was his beater of a car. The burglar chuckled lightly -- it was all a dream. But why did it feel so real? The jerk looked at the sake bottles on the floor and concluded that he should change to a better brand of drink. He looked around his room. There was a notice on the table near the door, telling him that his rent was two months past due, and it had to be paid up in full or face eviction. So reluctantly (for his head was still pounding), the burglar got himself dressed so that he can look for an easy mark. His first stop was the Ginza, since it was always crowded and an easy place for a bit of purse snaching and pickpocketing. The busy streets also made escape. It wasn't long before he found his first target: a businesswoman with a large purse and a breifcase, who was busy with a conversation on her celluar phone. Her purse was clutched very loosly in her other hand. As he began to make his move, the woman turned around and, from the burglar's viewpoint, her face began to change. Her black hair grew in length and changed from black to reddish- pink, her eyes from brown to green, with an girlish grin and mischef in her eyes.. "YIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!" The burglar's scream caused the woman to look up and hurry away from him. The jerk could only stand there, his heart pounding as though it was going to escape his chest. Franticly, he searched around looking for another person to steal from. But all through the day, he had the same results, the same frightening face in his nightmare. As he was searching, he (and everyone else on the Ginza) failed to notice a small device hovering in mid-air and following the burglar. Watching from her console in her lab, Washu smiled a satisfied smile as her behavior modification program was aparently having a positive efffect. Beside her, Tenchi and Ayeka also watched, and their faces had a look of relief, knowing that he wasn't permantly harmed as a result. "See? What did I tell you? You didn't think I was going to harm that loser?" Washu finally said. "And this way, at least he'll be on his way to, hopefully, an honest living." "That's intresting, Little Washu." Ayeka said. "But tell us, how did erase his memory of his experinces over here?" "Acually, I couldn't." Washu said. "His memory of what happened here were enhanced by the scare he received by Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki. To permantly remove that part would've caused serious brain damage, or even death. So I thought, why not change the context of that memory as a dream. A real NASTY dream. That was pretty easy, since the average human only remembers ten percent of what they dream. At least that way, I could safely remove parts of his memory that would lead him back hear. And even if he tried, I even rigged the ignition system of that clunker he had hidden so that the engine would blow up and be useless. Then he'd be in a REAL jam." "I don't get it, Washu," Tenchi asked, "why did he scream at that lady like that?" "Oh that was my remidial program at work." Washu answered. "Anytime that idiot even thinks of commiting a crime, he will have a hallucination of the scariest thing he had ever experienced. It's a good program, but I don't believe that the Galaxy Police would ever use it. But it might come in handy in studying how many brainwashing programs might work and figuring out cures for such programs." "So, what's going to happen to this guy?" Tenchi asks as he and Ayeka quietly moves for the door. "Well, either he's going to get himself straightened out and find a real job, or he's going to starve. I'm betting on the former."Washu said, laughing her famous mad scientist laugh. "Now Tenchi --" She turns only to find the door to her lab disapparing after it closed. "Hmmm. I really wish should get a lock for that door." Washu mused to herself. Tenchi really felt bad that he had to leave Washu's lab like that, but the thought of her getting that 'last sample' was too terifying to behold, and Ayeka didn't like staying too long in the lab herself. The house was practically back to normal. Ryoko cursed up and down most of yesterday cleaning the dried-up mud from the floor, and was now asleep on her rafter. The door that was busted up by the burglar was repaired quickly and even the muttons were strenghened. All in all, a normal day -- except for one member of the family. Ryo-Ohki sat forlornly on the couch in her 'little girl' form. It seemed that the tears were running continueouly from her eyes. Next to her, Sasami was trying to cheer her up when Tenchi and Ayeka came up to them. "What's wrong with Ryo-Ohki, Sasami?" Ayeka asked her sister. "She still sad about her carrot garden getting blown up, Ayeka." Sasami answered It was then that Tenchi reacted as if remembering something, which he did. "Is that it? Well, I think I got a surprise that you might like, Ryo-Ohki." he said. "A surprise, Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka asks "What kind of surprise?" "You'll see." Tenchi answered. "Why don't you come with me to the garden, Ryo- Ohki?" The cabbit girl looked reluctant to go, fearing what she'd see. "C'mon, you'll like it. Sasami? Why don't you and Ayeka come with me." Tenchi said. Then, as an afterthought, he turned to Ryoko and called her name. "Y-yes, Tenchi?" she answered sleepily. "Why don't you come with us, too?" he said. He would rather have both Ryoko AND Ayeka come with him than have a fight on his hands. Ryoko nodded sleepily and floated of the rafter. "I don't understand?" Ayeka asked. "Why did you invite her to come along. After all, she caused Ryo-Ohki's misfortune." Ryoko gave the princess a dirty look, which Ayeka returned. "Because," Tenchi said, "she might find this to be a relief." Both Ryoko and Ayeka found this answer very curious, and decided to put any bickering aside to find out the answer to the little mystrery before them. As the five of them walked the path, Ryo-Ohki began cringing, thinking about a big crater where her garden was. However, as the group came over the bend, Ryo-Ohki's face blossomed in one of the most beautiful smiles anyone has ever had the privlege of seeing. Thanks to those who created all the smallest miracles in this universe (and the universe is a very BIG place), Ryo-Ohki's carrot garden was intact. In fact, the only casulty of the energy ball's impact was the big stump that had restricted the garden's size. It had been blown into wood chips and only a modest crater marked where the stump previously was. Of course, Ryo-Ohki could care less. She was at the moment buzy dancing around, meowing happily. "See?" Tenchi said to Ryo-Ohki, "Your garden's allright. And from the looks of it, next season you'll have an even bigger garden. Are you willing to try again, Ryo-Ohki. Ryo-Ohki nodden happily and said, "Meow, Meow, MEOW!!" Ryoko felt relieved and overjoyed at this sight. Ayeka simled her gentle smile. And Sasami danced around with her furry friend. Tenchi glanced over at the garden and said, "Hey. It looks like some of the carrots are ready now. Ryo- Ohki, would you like me to pick a few?" he asked. She nodded yes. Ryo-Ohki watch eagarly as Tenchi uprooted eight perfect carrots and trimmed their leafy tops at the base. He washed the carrots with water he had in a thoughtfully filled canteen and handed them over to her, saying, "Here you go, Ryo-Ohki. Eight carrots that you've put a lot of love into." Her eyes were wide and teary with joy as she held the fruits of her labors, move evident since they were spared instant disintegration two days before. But then, a thoughtful look came over Ryo-Ohki's face. She turned around and gave Tenchi a carrot. Surprised, he accepted, bowing and saying his thanks. She then proceeded to give Ayeka and Sasami a carrot each, since both of them during the growing season offered their help in the growing. Both Juraian princesses thanked Ryo-Ohki promptly. There were a carrot each for Washu and Mihoshi, who also helped, but were not present. Then strangly, Ryo-Ohki came up to Ryoko and handed her a carrot. Ryoko was puzzled, as was everyone else. "Why are you giving me one?" she asked. "I didn't do anything to help." Ryo-Ohki answered with a sentence of meows, as though she were talking to her. Everyone else looked at this exchange and sweatdroped. Ryoko looked up and said, "She told me that she was giving me that carrot because I cleared out that stump in her garden." She then turned to Ryo-Ohki and said, "But I nearly destroyed your garden, Ryo-Ohki. I don't really deserve this carrot." She then handed the carrot back to the cabbit girl, but she refused to accept it, instead meowing another sentence. Ryoko listened as Ryo-Ohki explained. As she did, a gentle smile graced the space pirate's face. "I'm glad you think that of me. Thank you, Ryo-Ohki." "Well, what did she say?" Tenchi asked. "She said," Ryoko began, "that she knew that I never ment to harm her garden. And she thanked me for warning her about that the burglar was going to stomp her to death. Also she said that because the stump is gone, she going to grow a lot more carrots next year and we are all welcome to have a few if we want." "That's great, Ryo-Ohki!" Sasami said. "And don't you worry. I'll be sure to give you all the help you all the help you need." "And I'll see if I can knit you a hat, Ryo-Ohki." Ayeka added. "That way, it won't be as warm working in your garden." "And I promise you," Ryoko finished, "that next year, I'll help you out. And you can hold me to that one." "Really, Ryoko," Ayeka said, "since when have you offered to help anyone?" "Well what about the house, Miss Prissy?" Ryoko shot back. "I promised to do that!" "That was different!" Ayeka growled. "You obviouslly had some ulteriour motive in cleaning the house, since you spend all of your time doing nothing!" "HOW WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SHOVE THAT CARROT YOU GOT WHERE THE SUN DOSEN'T SHINE?" "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!" "AYEKA, RYOKO, PLEASE DON'T FIGHT! NOT IN RYO-OHKI'S GARDEN!" "MEOW MEOW MEOW!!!" Tenchi just simply turned around, slumped his shoulders and groaned. The garden may have survived a burglar, but now it seemed to be doomed to torn up in another Ayeka-Ryoko knock-down, drag-out fight. Why can't this family ever get a break? ---------------------------------------------- EPILOGUE--ONE MONTH LATER ---------------------------------------------- This had to be the worse month in the burglar's life. It seemed that every time that he would try to rob a house, pick a pocket, or do anything for a fast yen, the same pink-haired nightmare image would appear and scare him out of his wits. He figured that he would try to find out if the house in his dream existed. But before he could get out of Tokyo, his car's engine blew up. Two days after that, he got evicted from. his apartment. Finally, out of despration, he had to do the only thing left -- he had to get a job. Having no practical skills, the only job that he could land was at a fast-food restaruant, where he right now was working at the front counter. He had contiplated lifting out the till, but the fear of seeing the pink-haired girl made him think otherwise. Still looking down, the burglar approached the counter when a customer stepped up. "Good afternoon," he began, "may I take -- your -- Oh no!" He was staring face-to-face with a policeman -- the same policeman whose apartment he had broken into and barely escaped from. "Good afternoon to you." the cop answered. "Could you step around the counter please? And stop banging your head on the counter. You'll hurt yourself that way." *** Watching from her monitor, Washu had shook her head wearily and said, "That jerk just can't get a break. Well at least we won't have to worry about him -- for at least two or three years." She stiffled a yawn and shut down the monitor, then returned to the job that has occupied her for the last five days. Seven days ago, a hyper-tachyon stream had moved close to Earth orbit. Washu, in coordination with Galaxy Police and the Jurai Imperial Fleet, was monitoring the stream's path. Mihoshi was on patrol as a result of this alert. Normally, neither fleet would not divert ships and manpower because of this -- but because four members of the Jurai royal family were in residence on Earth -- the two princesses, Tenchi and his grandfather -- the caution was warrented. During her stay on Earth, Washu had, at length, studied the theories of the greatest scientific genius of this planet -- Albert Einstien -- and had to marvel how such a much-touted man could be so off-base on some basic facts of phyiscs. She thought his 'unified field theory' held a bit of promise. And of course, 'E=mc2'-- to her -- was mildly amusing. But she couldn't believe how wrong his theory of reletivity was -- especially his statement that NOTHING was faster than the speed of light. Naturally, she thought, old Al had never experienced hyper-tachyon streams. In a universal sense, these streams are thin -- about twenty-five kilometers wide. But the particles travel at about three to five times the speed of light. Any celestial body larger than ten kilometers that crosses these streams are usually obliterated when the paraticles make contact. Washu had spent five sleepless days and nights watching over the stream, waiting to see if the stream would cross into Earth's orbital path. It was two days ago when she learned that the stream was, in fact, moving away from Earth. Washu had relayed the information to the GP and the Jurai fleet. Satisfied with her findings, both fleets had relaxed their patrols and returned half their fleets to their normal duties. Washu, however, remained at her computer console, because there was another danger which these streams posed. These streams had a bad habit of catching anything bigger than half a meter and smaller than ten kilometers and sending them on a joyride to end all joyrides. While they were good at catching items, hyper-tachyon streams didn't hold on to them very good. Any celestial body with sufficant gravity is captible of pulling these items out of the stream and towards such bodies. And some of these objects had often held VERY nasty surprises. Washu had spend two days watching for anything that might fall out of the stream and come crashing towards the Earth. She could do without sleep for five days in a row -- but she was awake for seven days and now it was beginning to show. Washu wearily grabbed her cup and took another slug of coffee in order to stay awake. A week before, she asked Mihoshi to go to the store and get her favorite brand of coffee. It was at the store when the blonde GP officer received the call from Yukinojo, her shuttle's AI, about the hyper-tachyon stream emergency. In the rush to get back to the Masaki house, Mihoshi had not paid attention to what she was grabbing and picked up Washu's brand -- but in decaffinated. Thus Washu, who was tired at the time and had not looked at the lable, had made a pot of coffee and was now consuming its contents. She could barely keep her eyes open. Her emerald-green eyes were bloodshot and baggy. Sleep nagged at her brain. Maybe just a little snooze, just for a minute.. "AUGH! No! Gotta stay awake." Washu roused herself. She redoubled her efforts and continued to monitor the stream. But it was so hard to focus her eyes at the displays. She shook her head several times in one minute, but it seemed to be a futile gesture. Finally, fautuge won out over determanation, and Washu's head plopped down on her keyboard and she fell asleep. So deep was her snooze, that she didn't hear a tiny alarm go off as an object fell out of the stream. *** It was three and a half meters around, metal with a ceramic fiber thermal covering, and it was falling steadily towards the Earth. It was a standard lifepod, the kind found in any large ship. On the outside, near the hatch, a small display panel was located. On the panel, displayed in the galactic standard language, a message blinked, 'Hibernation mode-low power'. Inside the lifepod, a sleeping figure is strapped down in a seat, to prevent it from floating around. It was a human-looking form, female, with dark teal hair, wearing a red-orange headband and the uniform of the Galaxy Police. On the interior of the pod, numerous graffiti and drawings are scrawled on the walls, as well as cartoon-like figures of a familiar looking person getting killed in various ways. The words were writen in the galactic standard, and they all said the the same thing -- "KILL MIHOSHI!" It has be a long journey for the figure sleeping in the pod -- Detective First Class Kiyone Makabi -- and now her pod was making it's way to a group of islands on a blue green planet. If she were awake at the time, she would have no idea that she was heading for a reunion with the one person responible for her current situation. But she's asleep, which doesn't matter much anyway. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Okay, the same thing as the last time, if anybody had something to say about this work, please make it in the form of a MST. I might read it and get a laugh out of it. Also, if there is any fan-fic author who can make a story out of the epilogue, please feel free to do so. Just be sure to give me some credit.--EBC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- 9/11/01 FDNY-NYPD--The real heroes.