Standard Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the Tenchi Muyo series or Pioneer. The Echo Side is a song off The Amazing Jekel Brothers CD by The Insane Clown Posse. I am in no way affiliated with ICP, Psychopathic Records or anything else. Now here's my fic. "Hahahaha! Welcome back....to hell!" Jynx, Epion and K stood in front of Lucifer. "You thought you could escape....fools. Oh well, I suppose I must give you all credit...at least you escaped. However...your no longer welcome here.....or in heaven for that matter. So....I'll let you decide it's either you go back as my knights or you go to The Echo Side." Jynx's eyes grew wide with fear. He heard of The Echo Side before. A place better than heaven and worse than hell. It all depended on if you could translate quickly. He knew that in The Echo Side you decayed. At least in Hell you stayed in tact. He knew if you were smart you'd do well to stay still. "Wanna give us a second?" "....alright." The three got in a huddle. "Hey what's The Echo Side?" "Like hell but not." "Nice." "Well what happens if we go back to Earth?" "Then we have to kill in the name of that son of a bitch." "But only one person a year right?" "Yeah...lets do it!" "You guys go ahead I'm gonna go check The Echo Side out first." "Are you sure?" "Yeah. Listen go find Kiyone and everyone see if they can help us out." "Don't count on it. You did try to kill ‘em." "So did you?" "Wanna try again?" "...no. We might as well make peace even if they don't accept it." "Ok Devil Boy here's the deal. I'm gonna go run through The Echo Side once then go to Earth. Even if I have to die or spend eternity in pain I have to see it. When I get out I'll go to Earth." "Excellent but no one's gone in and come back." "Then I'll be the first." "We'll see. And you two?" "Oh we're going to Earth." "Fine. Good-bye." K and Epion vanished. Jynx stood at the door to the unknown. "Go ahead." Jynx pushed the doors open to see a vast world of an eerie blue. It went on forever. He stepped through the door. The doors began to close. Lucifer gave one task to Jynx on his journey. "If you make it back bring back The Red Magician's hat." The doors slammed and Jynx began t slowly walk around after a few days of walking his legs became dead. They began to decay and he had to drag himself around the ground. After a little bit of that a wicked looking man with a long black tongue leaped from the sky like an eagle taking flight and landed on Jynx's chest. He licked the back of his neck and said "?yawa luos rouy worht uoy yhW .yas ew tahw niggid uoy fI .tigel efil ni eveileb eW .this taht kucf lived eht kucF" Jynx stared at the odd man again. The strange looking demon looked into Jynx's eyes. "?yawa luos rouy worht uoy yhW .yas ew tahw niggid uoy fI .tigel efil ni eveileb eW .this taht kucf liveD eht kucF" Jynx began to understand what he was saying. He tried to answer. "?naicigaM deR ehT uoy erA .wonk t'nod I" ".sgel ruoy laeh nac eH .mih oot uoy ekat lliw I .oN" There was no more need for talking. The strange man ended the conversation by introducing himself. ".razauQ si eman yM" ".xnyJ" Quazar led Jynx through The Echo Side. As the journey stretched onward in The Echo Side Jynx continued to decay. Eventually they came to a large gate. At the entrance their stood two figures. They claimed to be called Relvod. The horrific figures started to chant. ".og nac uoy dna su teaB !etag siht hguorth tnaw uoy teb I" "seY." Jynx dragged his mangled body towards Relvod after a very short fight Jynx was laid out. Quazar hwoever flicked his wrist quickly and Relvod fell. Jynx managed to gather up enough strength to drag himself through the gate. ".razauQ uoy knaht ,hO" ".hE" As soon as they passed through the gate Jynx's body was restored. As they continued a rather large figure. "I am The Red Magician." "What? You speak...well right." "Yes, much like you've learned our language I've learned yours. Also I know why you're here." "Really?" "Yes.....you've come for my hat.....here...take it." "Uh, thanks." "Your welcome. I have you catch however. You are to take Quazar to Earth with you." "Um, ok." "I will give him a disguise." The Red Magician waved one of his mighty hands in the air and Quazar melted into the ground and reappeared. He looked generally the same but a little more human although it seemed to work well he still had the long black tongue. "Go now...hurry or the decaying process will begin again." The two ran as fast as they could out of The Echo Side. When they crossed the gates into hell Lucifer nearly jumped out of his flesh-woven chair. Jynx threw the hat at Lucifer's feet and made his way to Earth. Once again the stairs appeared before Jynx. The two ran up the stairs as fast as they could. When they reached the top they were standing in front of Tenchi's house. Epion and K were standing by a tree waiting for him. "Holy shit! You made it through!" "Yeah, wasn't easy." "Who's this." ".algguj efink dekciw eht ,razauQ" "What the fuck did he say?" "He said he's Quazar, the wicked knife juggla." "Oh. I'm Epion and this is K. Can he understand us?" "I think so. Anyone home?" "Yeah, Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka and Washu." "Well shall we." "Hey wait a second....who are we? Are we the dark knights? or what?" "How about....no. How's The Echo Siders?" "Dude, that sounded so weak. How about....dig this ok....K, Epion, Jynx and Quazar?" "I like it. Well...let's go." The group walked to the front door and knocked in a very nonchalant manner. Ryoko was the one who answered the door. Her first reaction was firing a photon blast through Jynx's chest. The blast did in fact hit him but it didn't seem to do anything. ".....yeah nice to see you too." "What?" Ryoko drew her sword and started to slash at Jynx. Every time the sword connected it did no damage. "You done? You know we're here to apologize not fight." Ryoko let her sword dissolve and didn't know what to think. "Surprised?" "Uh..yeah." "Everyone here?" "No, Sasami, Kiyone and Mihoshi are on Jurai." "Hmm well then time runs short. So us a favor and tell abody that we stopped by and apologize. Aight?" "Uh-huh." Ryoko was still in disbelief. She thought they were dead. She knew it. Tenchi came up behind her. "Ryoko what are doing?" "Th-there-there..." "There what? Was someone at the door?" "....yes.....Jynx, Epion, K and some other guy." "Ryoko that's impossible. They're dead." "No Tenchi they were here. I hit them with my sword and blasted them but nothing worked. They were dead on but didn't do anything!" Ryoko was at the brink of tears. She leaned against Tenchi's chest looking for a shoulder to cry on just in case she couldn't hold it back. "What did they do Ryoko?" "...apologized." "What?" "I know...but they did." A loud shriek was then heard coming from the lab. When they got there Washu was talking to none other than Jynx and Quazar. Epion and K were just kinda walking around. "Washu are you alright....oh man....Ryoko was right." "?thgif ot hsiw uoy oD" "What?" "No. Quazar not now." "Where is he from Jynx?" "A place called The Echo Side. It's a very strange place." "What is The Echo Side? I've never heard of it." "A place through the back door of hell. It's very strange and I don't think I'd want to go back." "No that's impossible. Washu is a goddess she'd know about it." Jynx and K began to laugh but Epion stayed quite. "I'm sorry. Please I respect you as a genius but a goddess is a little far fetched." "You don't believe her?" "...no. Alright I didn't really want to turn any of this into a fight but well c'mon goddess destroy me. I won't even fight back." "........ok." Washu began to draw her sword and attack Jynx with all her strength. Nothing worked. "Alright I think that's enough. Well since everyone's here might as well get this over. Time is of the essence. We would like to formally apologize for what we did." Their was a cold silence in the room. "Why did you three do what you did?" "Power trip." "Yeah." "I don't really know why I did." "Well...I suppose I can forgive you. What everyone else does...well I wouldn't get my hopes up." "Already thought of that. We're stuck here for a while so we figured we might as well just say ‘sorry' and everything." Being back in the lab felt strange to Jynx. He couldn't help but glance Washu's way every once and awhile and he knew she was doing the same. He still loved her and hoped she still loved him but he had to face reality, after everything that has happened he knew they couldn't be together. It killed him inside but what could he do? "Listen where are you going now?" "I guess Jurai and then to Galactic Police HQ." "Why?" "Gonna go see everyone else and maybe turn myself in to the fuzz." "Alright...if your sure that's what you wanna do." "Not really but it's the right thing. C'mon guys. C ya ‘round." The group disappeared like a dream. Meanwhile on Jurai however a similar situation took place. They reappeared a little ways outside the palace. "Listen, you guys go in there and we'll go up to HQ." "Alright see ya." "Peace." Jynx and Quazar disappeared and reappeared at Kiyone and Mihoshi's desk at galactic police HQ. There was no one there so they took a seat and waited for them. After a few hours of sitting around they got bored. Quazar started to juggle his knives for fun and Jynx decided to try an intercom. "Hello?" "Yes? Who's this?" "None of your business. Where's Kiyone and Mihoshi?" "On their lunch break. They should be back in little bit." "Alright then. Bye." "Wait who is this?" "Friends." "Alright I'll tell them you're here." "No don't. We've been away for a awhile and we want this to be a surprise." "Alright." More time passed until finally Kiyone and Mihoshi came back. Their first reaction was shock but that quickly gave way to fear and then a sense of duty. "Jynx! What are you doing here? We killed you." "Yeah but when has dying ever stopped me?" "Hi Jynx!" "Heh, hello Mihoshi." "Why are you here?" "Few reasons. First to apologize for what me and my friends did and ask for your forgiveness. Also I might turn myself in." "Jynx your in the middle of galactic police head quarters. Do you tink you can escape?" "Hey, we got in without anyone knowing. So....I said what I wanted to say. Later." "Wait!" "...yes?" "........we forgive you." Jynx smiled and faded away. "That was...weird." "Yeah! But how? Isn't he dead?" "That's what I thought. Maybe it was a ghost." "Maybe....Kiyone I'm scared of ghosts!" On Jurai Epion and K were saying there piece to Sasami. They had no need to talk to Makido. The group met back up in the darkness of space. They didn't need air. They we're already dead and indestructible. "Well?" "She was pretty scared." "Figured that much. What'd she say?" "Nothing. She nodded and turned away." "Hmmm. Not good." "What about Kiyone and Mihoshi?" "They said that they forgive us." "Well lets see, Tenchi, Mihoshi, Kiyone and Ryoko. That's 4 to......3. Think we did alright?" "Yeah. But...I dunno something ain't right. Seems like we forgot someone." "......no. Well not unless you include Yosho and Ryo-ohki." "Oh that reminds me. Anyone see Yosho in the furnace?" "No." "No." "What about you Quazar. You see a guy named Yosho in The Echo Side?" ".oN" "Jynx...I'm sorry but this guy's gonna drive me nuts." "Hey, deal with it." ".......what about our house? Wanna go back there?" "Gone. Fell apart a long time ago...let's just put up a new one. We may not die but it's still cold out here." "Alright then. Earth. I heard of a place called Nagasaki somewhere. It's in Japan but it's more of a city than....well you know what I'm saying." "Fine. Lets go." The group traveled to Nagasaki. It was indeed big. No where as big as Tokyo but it was still big. They decided to build a place a little ways outside of the city. It wasn't as good as their last house but still good. "Nice. Hey guys I'm gonna take off for a little bit. I'll be back in a little bit." "Where you goin'?" "I dunno. Just somewhere very peaceful." "Demon cave? Seemed nice enough." "Yeah, might as well." Jynx started walking out the door and out a little ways. Quazar stopped him. "?uoy htiw emoc I naC" "Sure." On the long walk Jynx realized that Quazar didn't talk much but had a lot of childish characteristics when he did, almost like Mihoshi did. "Hey Quazar just outta curiosity how old are you?" "450." "Hmmm." The journey was a very long one. It took many days. Usually Jynx would just teleport their but he wanted to walk. Eventually they made it. "Ahh. Well I think it was worth it." "?ecalp siht tuoba taerg os s'tahW .ti teg t'nod I" "It's nice. Just a place to relax." The leaves started to fall off the trees. Jynx sat down and leaned against a tree. He let the leaves fall around and on him and laughed a little. "?ynnuf os s'tahW" "Nothing. It's just that I haven't done this in a long time. Believe it or not Kiyone and I use to do this. Just come out here, sit down and chill out. Usually we....fell...asleep." As soon as he finished his sentence he fell dead asleep. Having never seen anyone sleep Quazar thought he was dead. Not knowing anyone else he teleported over to the Masaki house and got Washu. "Yes, what?" "!od ot tahw wonk t'nod I !gniklat saw eh elihw deid dna gniklat saw eH .gnieyd ro daed si xnyJ" "What?" Quazar grabbed Washu's wrist and teleported to where Jynx was sleeping. "So?" "!daeD" "I can't understand you. Wait do you think he's dead?" Quazar nodded quickly. "No. He's sleeping." Quazar looked at Washu with a puzzled look. "He's fine, watch." Washu leaned over to Jynx's ear and whispe "Hmmm." Quazar didn't know what was going on. ".esuoh eht ot kcab gniog m'I .driew rouY" "Hmm, see ya." Quazar bowed and disappeared. "Funny little guy." Jynx started to laugh. "What?" "Eh, he just said that about you." Washu laid her head on Jynx's scolder and started to doze off. "Washu.....I still love you." She was asleep. She didn't hear it. Jynx teleported her back to the lab and laid her on her bed. He looked back over his shoulder and disappeared. "Jynx...I love you too." Washu sat up in her bed and started to cry. Back at the cave Jynx reappeared sitting on a branch high up among what leaves stayed connected. ".....oh...why does life have to be this way? It's not fair! Eh.......it's not fair." "Life's not always fair." "What?" Jynx jumped up and looked below. Ryoko was looking up at him. He floated up to the branch. "I said life's not always fair." "Heh....no, certainly not. So, what're you doin' here now?" "Nothing, just walking around. Whatd'ya mean ‘now'?" "Nothing, I just ran into your Mom is all. Thought it a little strange to see you." "Oh. Hey I want some answers if you don't mind." "Alright." "How come I couldn't hurt you?" "I dunno. Really I have no clue." "Ok then, why'd you come back?" "Honestly?" "Yeah, that'd be nice." "...wanted to see your Mom again." "Oh that's almost sweet." "Heh, yeah." "Why?" "...because I love her and missed seeing her." "What about Kiyone?" "We didn't love each other and we both knew it. I think we were...well I hate to use the word desperate but I don't think I can avoid it. We needed to feel loved so we pulled a blindfold over our eyes but eventually it came lose and we could see again." "Eh, that's kinda sad." "More like pathetic." ".....hey what's with the clothes? I've been meaning to ask you that." Jynx forgot that he wasn't wearing his typical type of clothing, instead he donned a cape that wrapped around his mouth. The cape was pitch black and covered his entire body. He could easily wrap himself up in the cape and become invisible at night. "Oh, it's a cape made for assassin work. You can't see me at night. Well you can up close but it makes sneaking in places a lot easier." "Why do you have that?" "Because I have to kill one person a year. It's a rule. If I don't I go back to the underworld. I can go back right away if I want but I don't think I will." ".............." "What?" "Nothing. You know it's kinda weird how you guys just showed up." "Like we've ever done anything normal." "No but still. After all you've done you actually said you were sorry. What kind of criminals are you?" "Nice ones." "Still, why apologize? Why waste your time?" "Because it's the right thing to do. So far were 5 and 2." "Whatd'ya mean?" "Well so far Tenchi, Washu, Sasami, Mihoshi and Kiyone have forgiven us. You never said anything and neither did Ayeka so I figured that's a bad thing, but to tell ya the truth I didn't expect Ayeka to say anything. She's too much of a snob." "Hahahaha! Oh, well I forgive you if Tenchi does." "Thanks." "Hmm. No problem. See ya." "Bye." Ryoko took off back to Tenchi's house. She stopped after a little bit of walking. "Jynx...why did you say life isn't fair?" "You wouldn't understand." Ryoko nodded and continued on her way. Jynx sat back down and fell asleep in the tree. The next day he was awoken by the sharp sun light in his eyes. "Ugh.....oh man. What a night. What time is it? Whatever. I'm hungry better go into town for a quick bite." Jynx jumped from the tree and started to walk into town. On the way there he was stopped by a group of kids. "Hey buddy. Got any cash on ya?" "Sure. But it's not for you." "I like the cape. How bout you give it to me?" "How about you fuck off?" "How bout I cut your neck?" "Heh. Try it." The young ‘hooligan' whipped out a knife. He took a quick slash at Jynx. Jynx moved grabbed the kids arm and tore it from his shoulder. The blood flowed down the young man's body as he screamed and dropped to his knees in pain. "Well? Aren't you gonna ‘cut my neck'? Get up." "Ahhhhhh! My-My arm!" "Man you are such a bitch. Come and pick a fight with me and cry when you get hurt. Tell you what you can have this back and sew it back on. Later." Jynx threw the arm to the ground as the rest of the gang either surrounded him or helped the fallen member. "What you all wanna die?" A commotion was heard within the group and they advanced on Jynx at once. He counted 11 in all. As they started walking 6 fell to the ground dead with knives in their chests. Jynx looked behind him and saw Quazar juggling his knives and K and Epion standing in the back with weapons drawn. K pulled his hand back and grabbed another knife. He tossed it into a rather tall members forehead. Epion swung his chain whip around and it wrapped around a member. He pulled it back quickly and the young man fell in half. It was a slaughter as one member after another was killed. Until the only ones alive were a young girl and the boy who had his arm ripped off. Jynx made quick work of him. He pulled a gun out of his cape/cloak and shot the boy in the back of the head. He walked up to the young girl and grabbed her by the back of the head. She was crying. It was like looking death in the face. Their faces were covered by the same cape/cloaks. All were identical but each one was just a little bit different. "Are you afraid?" "P-please don't kill me." "Heh, you should of thought of that earlier. Quazar do your thing." Just then Sasami started walking up behind them. Quazar started to juggle the knives faster and faster and walked into the young girl. She was blended. Sliced up all over and died. Sasami was horrified. She saw it all from aways back and knew what the kids did but still. "Should I revive them?" "Hahaha yeah." Jynx created a fog like Makido did and the kids were all revived and totally healed. "Now, next time you think you can mug someone think of what happened today." The kids ran away as fast as they could screaming and Jynx and his friends just laughed. "Jynx!" "Huh, Sasami?" "....that was terrible! Your not any different!" She ran off the other way. K chased after her. Even though she was a little girl again he still loved her. Jynx followed them. He saw k talking to Sasami but she looked reluctant to listen. After they were done Sasami hugged K. Jynx couldn't help but think of how they more or less reflected what was happening with him and Washu. "Hey guys I'm off again. I know what I have to do." Jynx walked past Sasami and K and towards Tenchi's house. As he did he seemed to grow young. He arrived in Washu's lab as a 12 year old. He snuck up behind her. "Washu, I love you." She turned around and laughed a little. "Jynx?!" "Heh, thought this might help." Washu lunged at Jynx and hugged him as tightly as she could. "Oh...Jynx. What about your...'job'?" "Well don't worry about it. Washu...I love you." "Jynx. I love you too but....I dunno...love never seemed to work for me. I don't think I'm meant to love." "Washu...love isn't about purpose. It's about the warm feeling you get when your around someone that you know you'd give anything to be with. Don't you understand that?" "Really Jynx, do you really believe that?" They both went into their adult forms. "Yes....I do. I know what love is. Washu I do love you." "Jynx I love you too but I don't think you understand." "......guess not. What am I not understanding?" "I just don't think it would work." "......alright. Bye." Jynx sunk into the ground and back to The Echo Side. The decaying effect wouldn't work on him anymore he left K and Epion on Earth. Quazar came down to see why he left. "Jynx why'd you leave?" "Quazar! Wow you speak my language." "Yes, I've learned form you and your friends." "Good." "Why'd you leave?" "I can't stay there. You go up though. Stay with K and Epion. Do me one favor though. Watch over Washu." "Are you sure?" "Yeah." "Alright. I'll see you later." Quazar went back to Earth. The rest you can pretty much figure out for yourself. Quazar protected Washu. Washu was pretty depressed when she figured out what happened to Jynx. Every so often Quazar went back to talk to Jynx and deliver messages from everyone on Earth. A week after he left Washu was typing at her computer when she turned around she saw smoke coming from the floor. Slowly the words "I'll always love you. Never forget that." were burned into the floor. After a few minutes the burns disappeared and Washu was left with memories and Quazar's delivery service. -The End