Child's Play
Chapter Six: BOOM

    The carrot fields seemed at first to be silent, as the dust and clods of
earth slowly started to settle.  As the air cleared, a glowing bubble, half
buried under the dirt, seemed to be forcing its way to the surface like a
radioactive gopher.
    "Well, Tenchi," smirked Washu as she patted dirt off her shirt, "seems
you do know how to generate light wings after all."
    Tenchi nodded, his face covered in sweat, as he lowered his arms.  The
yellow bubble disappeared, almost seeming to run like water into his hands.
He stared down at them, seeming to be too deep in thought to realize how
close to death he had come.  He was wearing the white and tan Jurai-style
combat uniform which had come into existence the second he had used the
power
of the light wings.
    "What happened?" asked Mihoshi as she held onto a shaking Princess
Sasami
and a meowing cabbit, "Why did Ryoko attack us?"
    "Well, it isn't Ryoko anymore," said Washu as she climbed out of the
hole
that had been blasted around Tenchi's protective energies.  "It was the
masses regaining control."
    "Why would Ryoko allow the mass to regain control?" ask the Galaxy
Police
Officer as she also dusted herself off and checked her hair.
    Washu shook her head, "Listen bubblehead, Princess Ayeka has somehow
used
the cube to break the bond between the zero chambers and the control
capsules
I planted within the masses.  Remember your missing control cube?  Now the
masses are free to follow their natural impulses.  Or should I say mass? The
leader is going to try to reunite them and when they do..."
    "When they do what, Miss Washu?" continued Sasami, holding onto the
crying Ryo-Ohki.  The cabbit was staring at the horror of rows of devastated
carrots and slowly slipping into carrot withdraw.
    "HEY!" shouted Tenchi, waking up from his thoughts, "Ayeka and Ryoko are
going to wake up with the other thing waiting right there for them!"  He
started to stumble and then run down the hill towards his father's house.
    Washu pointed to Mihoshi and Sasami.  "Stay," she commanded and than
followed Tenchi, her body becoming a blur as she shot down the side of the
hill.

    'Where the hell am I?'  Ryoko stepped out of the cold steel box, mist
flowing about her feet, as she held onto her head.  'I was watching them
working in the field and than I am here.  God, what a headache.'
    Ryoko glanced up at what seemed to be a hint of movement below
eye-level.
 Something brownish, like clay, was standing between the frosted coffins,
with glowing red eyes.  And hands.
    "SHIT!" said Ryoko just before the blast hit her.

    Princess Ayeka had not yet moved out of her zero chamber.  When she had
awakened, she had taken a few seconds to get her bearings and enjoy the feel
of cold padding under her behind and the feeling of having height again.  It
was a delight to have a figure again, to feel the soft skin of her arms and
flex her long graceful fingers.  The wave of light and the sound of the
explosion that came through the crack she had made between the two steel
lids
of the chamber startled her and took her by surprise.  "What is going on?"
she said to herself as she peeked outside.
    "Oh my."
    Standing in the middle of the lab was a tiny version of herself in what
looked like her body sculptured from brownish clay.  To her right, barely
within the limit of her vision was Ryoko.  Ryoko had seen better days, as
she
not only burnt and smoking all over, but had been slammed into the wall so
hard that she had made an impression in it.  The demon's eyes looked glazed
and even as she was trying to pull herself out of the stone the tiny Ayeka
was moving towards her with glowing arms.  She continued to struggle,
sending
a flow of stone chips raining down onto the floor as she finally pulled her
right arm free, totally oblivious to the threat walking towards her.
    'The MASSES! I forgot all about it.'  Ayeka shook her head and, even
while she started to slide through the crack between the lids and step out
of
the chamber, corrected herself.  'No, you remembered, you were just NOT in
the mood to let that knowledge stop you.'
    Princess Ayeka called up all her power, the fields of her energy
rippling
and flowing about her like snow in a blizzard.  She smiled and said, "Ahem.
Excuse me, but you are wearing my face and I can't allow that."
    The tiny mass body turned about, both arms totally encompassed by the
red
burning glow, like two oversized soldering irons on overload.  Ayeka was
slightly unnerved by the tiny face that was looking back at her.  Not only
did it share her childhood appearance, it also seemed to be angry.  Really
angry.
    'I hope it doesn't remember being spanked', thought Ayeka as she lifted
her arms and prepared to beat back its attack.  If Ryoko could recover in
time they could attack it in turns, like an avail and a hammer, one striking
while the other acted to deflect the creature's energy. Ayeka was sure she
was ready for the attack.  There was only one problem.
    When the blast hit her, it hit her from behind.

    Ryoko had just pulled her last limb out of the stone wall, taking a lot
of the stonework with it, and collapsed onto the cold floor when the
Princess's scream seemed to fill the room.  Ryoko had enough energy to look
up and watch Ayeka pass out.  She was also able to witness the two masses
form into one masses.  'Or is that MASS?'  It stood up over the curled up
Princess, a mixture of Ayeka and Ryoko.  An iron taste seemed to be in
Ryoko's mouth and did not go away as she tried to swallow.  'Great', thought
Ryoko as the red glow of the mass's arms seemed to slowly fill her vision, '
My hair and her face.'  Ryoko pulled herself up by power of her will, blood
dripping down her chin, her torn dress covered in white powder and said,
"Hey! Come and get some."
    As the creature turned to face her, Ryoko calmly formed an energy sword
in her right hand and thought, 'I HAVE to stop watching Bruce Campbell
movies.'

    Tenchi and Washu raced down the dark hallway, Washu slightly ahead of
Tenchi.  'I hope we get there soon', said an adult voice inside Washu's
head,
'because if we don't there won't be enough of those two to fill a shoe box'.
    'SHUT UP!' The child within did not want to hear that.  Washu could feel
Ryoko's pain, but that was a good thing.  Pain meant she was still fighting
back.  Also there was always the slim hope that maybe Ryoko and Ayeka could
work together as they had done before when confronted with danger.  Surly
Ryoko alone was powerful enough to hold on JUST a bit longer.
    As Tenchi ran behind Washu, his heart pumping so hard he could feel it
and his face dripping sweat into his eyes, all he could think of was: 'Why
does this outfit make me feel like Tony the Tiger?'

    Ryoko smashed through what hand been a power system monitor and bounced
off the wall behind it.
    'Boy is that thing pissed.'  Ryoko stood up, using a steel leg from a
nearby table as a crutch, and glared across the dark room.  The mass was
walking slowly towards her, eyes and arms glowing, taking its time.  'I
can't
take much more of this.  I have too...oh boy!'  Ryoko shot upwards and
allowed the blast of energy to obliterate the wall that had been behind her.
    'Duh!'  Ryoko tossed the leg at the creature like it was a spear, but
the
brown monster just yanked the steel out of its body and closed the wound
without leaving a trace of the hole behind.  'I forgot I could fly!'

    Both Tenchi and Washu came to a halt when they noticed the black smoke
and the ruby red glow that could only mean one thing.  "Oh no," whispered
Washu as she leaped the last few feet, entering the zero chamber room,
"My-my
stuff!"
    Computer units had been smashed, power lines pulled out of the wall,
lights shattered and the whole lab looked like something out of hell.  Even
flames seemed to be bellowing up from holes punched into the floor, reaching
up towards the blackened ceiling like mad belly dancers.  Washu felt
something she rarely felt during her long life.  Rage.  The MASS was not
just
protecting itself.  'It's acting like an emotional being.  The control units
must still have fragments of Ryoko's and Ayeka's emotional states.'
    Out of the smoke, out of the ruin, stepped a figure out of the young
Tenchi's worse nightmare.  The mass's glowing eyes seemed to be staring out
him out of a jigsaw of Ryoko and Princess Ayeka.  One arm belonged to Ryoko,
a brown gem in the wrist, while the other belonged to Princess Ayeka, the
sleeve of a kimono perfectly in order.  The hair had become confused too,
with two huge ponytails coming out of spikes.  Tenchi for a split second
wished he had remembered to bring the sword.  'Fine time to remember that
now
knucklehead!'  Tenchi tried to swallow, the hot air drying his throat.  'Oh
man, why is its eyes glowing?'
    The figure before them than started to glow all over.  Every limb, every
surface and every curve started to become a deep reddish glow.
    Washu glanced over to Tenchi and said, "That doesn't look good."
    Tenchi had just enough time to roll his eyes before all hell broke
loose.

    From above, streaking down from the ceiling hidden by smoke and flame,
came a red line of energy, a bolt of pure rage formed into a spear that
slammed into the head of the mass, just as Ryoko's voice shouted, "I'm not
done with you yet!"

    The glowing figure seemed to expand, as the explosion rippled down the
body and spread outwards.  Tenchi seemed to be watching the whole thing in
slow motion.  'Come on Hawk-Light Wings, where are you now?'  The heat and
energy waves spread wider, turning broken control panels and power centers
into nothing.  'Tsunami!'  Even the flames and smoke were being brushed
aside, like paint being wiped off a canvas.  The body had lost all form or
structure, now just one large blinding supernova of white light.  Suddenly,
out of the corner of his left eye, he saw a blur of brown flying towards the
mass.
    Ryo-Ohki.  The cabbit seemed to be expanding even as it flew towards the
ball of energy.  Becoming a spaceship as she shot herself towards the
violator of her sacred fields.
    MEOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!

    Katsuhito, also known as Yosho, looked down at his green tea as ripples
seemed to flow over its surface.  'Earthquake?'  He turned to Azaka and
Kamidake who were waiting by his office door.  He had been talking to them
about helping him expand on Tenchi's teachings.  Now he frowned and said,
"Did you feel that?"
    Both Guardians seemed to be checking their own senses before answering.
"Yes," said Kamidake after a few seconds, "there seemed to be a great
release
of energy.  While it did seem to be centered near here, I can't seem to
pinpoint it."
    "Do you think it is dangerous?" stated Azaka, its sensors stretching
themselves to their limit trying to categorize the energy that had recorded.
    Katsuhito frowned, "I don't know."

    Tenchi looked up from the dust covered floor and tried to peer through
the darkness that surrounded him.  "Washu?" he asked the air, hopefully.
    "I'm alive," said a small voice nearby, "or at least I hope I am.  This
could be some kind of afterlife."
    Tenchi stood up and coughed.  'Nothing broken.  A few black and blue
spots but nothing broken.'  "What happened?"
    Suddenly there was light.  A glowing ball of light, like a tiny sun,
with
solar flares and dark spots.  Washu smiled as she stepped over to him.  The
light source was hovering over her head as she answered, "I think I know.
Or
should I say, I think I know because I think I see what happened."
    She pointed across the wreckage that was once a brand new laboratory.
As
the air was slowly cleared by hidden vents, Tenchi was able to piece
together
what she was pointing at.  Ryo-Ohki was in her ship form, jammed against the
far wall, her spikes imbedded into the ceiling and floor.  She had flown
across the room, increasing her size along the way, her spiked wings leaving
grooves.  Smoke and darkness seemed to be flowing about her and Tenchi
realized that most of the far wall seemed to be missing.  Beyond he saw a
boiling mass of nothing.  Like an oil slick that kept moving and turning in
on itself.
    "What is that?"
    Washu started to work her way over the rubble towards Ryo-Ohki and the
far wall.  "That my boy is the alternate universe in which this part of my
lab is housed.  The walls kept it out."
    "Is-is it dangerous?" asked Tenchi even as he started to follow her.
    "Na, just boring.  That's why I had the walls."
    "Oh," said Tenchi as he stepped over a large, smoldering piece of metal.
    "Hey, a little help here," piped up a voice from a pile of stone.
    Washu and Tenchi moved as fast as they could over the battlefield and
started to help the battered Ryoko out.  As she stood up and stepped clear
of
the crater her fall had caused she glanced about the room.  While rubbing
her
right hand against the sticky blood on her chin Ryoko asked, "What happen?
Where is the Princess?"
    "She should be OK," replied Washu as Tenchi started to look about in
panic.  "Ryo-Ohki kind of shielded us from the energy."
    "What do you mean kind of?" asked Ryoko as she leaned on her tiny
mother,
glancing over at the mewling spaceship, "She seems to have blocked it
totally."
    "Not really," said Washu, always the teacher.
    "Princess, wake up? Are you OK?"
    Princess Ayeka, having been farther away from the finally explosion was
able to stand up with Tenchi's help and nod, "Yes Lord Tenchi, I will be all
right."  Her appearance said otherwise, as her left arm was just hanging at
her side and her hair was slightly singed.  She smiled at Tenchi, noticing
he
was in uniform that appeared whenever he used the light wings.  'He looks so
handsome.'
    The four staggered over to Ryo-Ohki for a closer look.  Washu, acting
like the tiny girl she had not really been for thousands of years, moved her
body between the spaceship and the wall and pointed a finger, "See?"
    As the other three peeked over one of Ryo-Ohki's spiked control
surfaces,
they realized that the wall was not just missing parts of itself.  It was
totally gone.
    "She trapped the energy between her own body and the wall."  Washu
smiled
and patted the spaceship as the wind from the other universe played with the
red streamers of her hair.  "She was built for the dangers of space.  The
wall was built to kept the boredom of THAT space and time out of my lab."
Washu seemed to straighten her back and all three realized at the same time
she was now in lecture mode.
    "The amount of energy trapped was massive and it found the easiest way
out, like water going downhill.  The wall was weaker than Ryo-Ohki and gave
up first.  The energy went THAT a way."  Washu smiled and hands on hips
turned to face the others.  "Simple really.  Only Ryo-Ohki, being not just a
pet, but a ship, would know that without having to think about it like us.
Am I a genius or what?"
    "Are you a nut?" said Ryoko, too tired to yell.  "This is all your
fault.
 If you hadn't-"
    "Shut up," said Tenchi.
    Ryoko and Ayeka both glanced at Tenchi, their eyes becoming wide.  He
had
said the word with silent power.  His eyes and face had become very calm.
    "You are both alive, but the fact is you have BOTH acted in such ways I
don't know HOW you could ever repair the damage you have done."  Tenchi
sighed and looked up at Princess Ayeka, "For you to use the control cube is
such a manner is disgraceful."  He shook his head and than turned to Ryoko,
"And you have been less than civil.  You have pushed the buttons and limits
of everyone's good will."
    "Tomorrow we are having a family meeting.  My father and grandfather and
myself will decide what type of punishment to hand down to you after dinner.
Until then, do please stay in your rooms.  Am I clear on that?"
    Princess Ayeka was so caught off guard that all she could do was bow,
while Ryoko gave a short nod, still slightly shocked.  Washu just smiled and
turned to pet Ryo-Ohki, "You can turn back now, I'll get you some carrots."
    "Meow?"
    Washu than turned to Ryoko and Ayeka who were too shocked to move,
watching Tenchi make his way back across the room to exit the lab.  "Than I
will put you two into my gel tank.  It will give you time to think of what
you have done and maybe even design a defense for your trial tomorrow."
    Ryoko stared at her Mom and creator, "Trial?"
    "Oh course," said Washu as she picked up Ryo-Ohki, who had changed back
to a tiny, smoking, mewling cabbit, "what did you think family meeting
means?"

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Tenchi Muyo! and related characters and timelines was created and is owned
by
AIC and Pioneer.  The people at AIC and Pioneer are not the result of time
experiments.  I had nothing to do with any of them NOR the Hindenburg
cloning
project.  This is my first fan-fic, so don't sue me, I'm very sensitive.