Eve of darkness Part 2 By Vincent M. 'Max Raven' Eskilsson ------------------------------ Disclaimer: All Tenchi Muyo! characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer. I did not create them, I'm only using them in this fanfic. I would like not being sued, because my cash for the moment is all used up on anime. Eve is a character created by me, so I guess it's copyright Vinnie 1999 on that character and stuff (i.e., please ask me before you use her in a fanfic). ------------------------------ "I'm very sorry, but Jurai cannot help them. Furthermore, you are not allowed to help them. You are the crown princess of Jurai, and in this situation, it would be best for you and your sister to return home to Jurai.", Azusa's voice echoed over the monitor. "But father...", Aeka tried to argue. "No buts, return home, that's all I have to say." The screen went black, as the transmission ended. "Looks like we won't get any help from Jurai.", Kiyone said. "It certainly seems that way.", Aeka admitted. "Oh my, we're really in trouble!", Mihoshi exclaimed. The three of them were standing in the now grown Ryo-Oh. They had left Sasami in the house along with Ryo-Ohki. The cabbit had still been trying to comfort the little girl when the others had left. "All right. We're going to need all the help we can get, so Mihoshi and I are going to get someone.", Kiyone said. "And what about me?", Aeka wondered. "You heard your father. You and Sasami are returning to Jurai." "I don't want to go!" "Don't act like a spoiled kid Aeka, an order is an order." "I am not going back to Jurai at a time like this!! Azaka! Kamidake!" The two guardians appeared next to Aeka. "Yes ma'm?", they both asked. "Escort Kiyone and Mihoshi of my ship." "Yes ma'm." "Aeka! You can't do this!", Kiyone exclaimed shocked. "And why not?! I _am_ the crown princess of Jurai." "Ungh! Very well. Mihoshi, let's go!" The two left the ship for Yagami, escorted by Azaka and Kamidake. Azaka and Kamidake reappeared next to Aeka. "They have returned to the Yagami.", Azaka. "Good. Now we're going after Lord Tenchi." "Yes ma'm.", Kamidake replied. "Kiyone? Why did you want Aeka to return to Jurai?", Mihoshi asked. "Because it's too dangerous for her, and since she's the crown princess of Jurai, we can't be allow her to be endangered.", Kiyone replied. "Oh. So where are we heading?" "The planet Tarrum. We're going to get someone." "Oh... Who are we going to get?" "Nagi.", Kiyone answered Mihoshi. Ryoko slowly awakened from her sleep. Her eyes refocusing, she saw her mother looking down at her. "1.5 seconds later than I had expected. How are you feeling Ryoko?" "Uhm... I'm ok I guess." She rose from the bed, and stood up on the soft carpet. Ryoko's body ached all over. Then, the feeling just flowed off her body, just like she had stepped out of water. "Where are we?", she asked. "It would appear we're imprisoned at the moment.", Washu answered her. "By who?" "That is yet to be revealed. However, I've finished my analasys of Eve, and I came up with some pretty interesting facts." "Like what?", Ryoko sneered. "That her DNA-structure is partly consisting of a higher dimensional life form's DNA, and partly is constructed by the DNA-structure of an old 'friend' of ours." "What 'friend'? Kagato?" "Kain." Ryoko lifted Washu off her feet, yelling at her: "You damn Washu! I thought your dimensional cannon finished that damn creature!" "It looks like someone must have interfered." Ryoko looked around the room they were imprisoned in. It wasn't that bad. In fact, it would have fitted as a luxurous hotel room, a rather expensive one. A large wardrobe occupied the south wall. Plants were hanging from the roof every here and there, giving a relaxed tone to the room. There was even a huge pool in the middle of the room, if anyone needed to take a bath. Next to the pool there was a changing screen, and close to the screen was a small showering boot. The floor was made out of marble rocks perfectly aligned in squares and was at most places covered with soft carpets. There were three large beds, all with clean white satin sheets. On the left side of Ryoko's bed, Tenchi was still sleeping. "Tenchi?", Ryoko asked worriedly. "Don't worry about him my dear, my calculations show that he'll wake up within 3 hours." "What?" "He's exhausted. His struggle took it's toll on his powers. Let him sleep." "Sure, but what should I do until then?" Washu smiled at Ryoko, a bright, happy smile. "Ryoko, dear, I don't seem to remember, what was your size again?" Nagi was sitting down in a bar. She was rather depressed at the moment. 5 perfect months had come to an end about 3 days ago. She hadn't been keeping much track of the time really. It could've been 4 or 14 days ago. Right now, she didn't really care. She took another sip of the fourth drink she had ordered in this bar. "Ciao?", Ken-Ohki asked her. "Leave me alone Ken-Ohki, I don't feel like talking.", She answered. "Ciao...", Ken-Ohki said, concerned. She hadn't believed it when she heard it. Her whole existence was screaming "Nooo!" when he, calmly, told her that he didn't love her anymore. And she remembered her own voice, strangely calm without any trace of what she was feeling in it, answering him; "Very well". And she remembered crying when he had left, feeling so helpless, so small, lying there alone in her bed. She took another sip. The fool. She had given everything up for him. Her life as a bounty hunter 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ryoko. She had even given up chasing Ryoko for him. Not that she thought she was ever going to resume the hunt for Ryoko. She didn't have any will left to track her down. She finished the drink she held. Her hands signalled the bartender. "Yes?", he asked her. "Another one please." He filled her glass, then he wandered off to another customer. Nagi moved the glass to her lips. A hand on her shoulder. "Nagi?", a voice asked behind her. "Who wants to know?", Nagi responded, taking a sip of her drink. "I do.", the voice answered. Nagi turned around, looking into a familiar face. "Oh... Galaxy Police detective Kiyone. How nice of you to join me.", Nagi said, emptying her glass again. Kiyone took a seat next to Nagi's. That stupid partner of the GP detective took a seat next to her. "So what do you want?", Nagi asked, waving for the bartender. "We need your help.", Kiyone answered, saying exactly what she wanted directly without making any ways around the subject. "Why?" "Tenchi, Washu and Ryoko have been abducted by someone." "Why should it concern me? For all I care they can rot in Hell." "You really don't care?" "Exactly my point. Another one please.", Nagi told the bartender, who started filling her glass. "I thought you were after Ryoko?" "Not anymore." "Why?" "That's private matters." "You look like someone who's just been left by her boyfriend.", Mihoshi said, her big blue eyes staring at Nagi. "You're very bright for being such a bubblehead.", Nagi said. "Well, uhm, thanks I guess", Mihoshi answered. Nagi emptied her glass. Maybe something to do could help get her mind off the pain she felt inside of her. "Well, let's go. Are you coming?" She rose from her chair, left the payment for the drinks on the bar, and left, Kiyone and Mihoshi following closely in her tracks. "Come on Tenchi, give me a kiss." The woman moved closer to him. "But...", he managed to say. "What's wrong?" "You, I mean... I don't remember..." "You're so silly Tenchi.", the woman replied. And with that, she leaned close to him, and their lips met. Tenchi was shocked at first, then he recovered. He responded to the kiss, his lips opening up, their tounges meeting. They just stood there for what seemed to be an eternity. The trees moved gently in the breeze, the birds were singing, and in some way, it all seemed more real now. Then their lips moved apart, gently, unwillingly. "I don't even know your name...", Tenchi mumbled. "Eve...", she responded, smiling gently. And everything went white again. When he woke up, he could still hear the singing of the birds, still see the trees moving gently in the breeze. He moved his hand to his lips. It had felt so real. He wondered where he was. Some sort of large bed with satin sheets. "Tenchi!!!!", Ryoko yelled at him. "Ryoko? Where are we?", he asked. "Trapped is what I heard", she replied. Tenchi noticed what Ryoko wearing. She was wearing some sort of green dress with skintight sleeves and puffy shoulders. It revealed her body in one way, and covered it up in another, leaving much to imagination and still, in some way, not. It suited her perfectly. Tenchi gasped. "You like it?", Ryoko asked him. "Uhmm...", he managed to say. Then he passed out, nosebleeding. "Guess he does.", Ryoko said, grinning. Eve marched down the corridor towards her room. The floor was covered with carpets, the latest whim of her mother. Eve unlocked the door and sat down on her bed. In her own room, she was free of her mother intruding on her thoughts. She was rather thankful for it, as she needed some privacy at times. Her room was a small one, everything in it crammed together. The bookshelf on the left of her bed, her desk on the right, filled with papers with drawings. And it was all in perfect order. Eve let out her hair. She sighed out and laid down on the bed. And slowly she drifted off to sleep. Nagi wandered around in her apartment which had been her home for the last 5 months. Some things she threw away, other things she packed, and some food she had in the fridge, she ate. Ken-Ohki was hopping around in the apartment, happy about his master feeling better. When Nagi was finished, she turned around facing the two detectives. "I'm finished here. Let's go.", she told them. The trio left the apartment, closely followed by Ken-Ohki. "Azaka. How long will it be until we reach where she has taken Lord Tenchi?" Aeka asked the Guardian. "We cannot say for certain, but we expect that the time it will take is approximately five hours.", Azaka answered. "Five hours? Very well. I should have expected that, though. I expect Mihoshi and Kiyone will take less time?" "They will have reached the same destination within four hours, if they are not sidetracked." "Very well. I will go to my private chambers now. I don't want any disturbance unless it is of the uttermost importance." With that, Aeka turned and left the bridge. Nagi was in her quarter, thinking silently to herself while she was sitting on her bed, when someone knocked on the door. "Come in.", Nagi whispered. Kiyone entered. She looked a bit worried, a very unusual expression, coming from her. "Detective Kiyone.", Nagi said softly, "Whatever brings you here?" "You want to talk about it?", Kiyone asked her. "No. I'd rather not.", the short reply came. "Very well. You know, I've wanted to ask you this for a long time." "What?" "Why are you after Ryoko?" "Oh, you don't know. Well, neither does Ryoko. It started a long time ago..." "Hey sis! Check this out!", the boy with red hair and brown eyes who seemed to be around 13 years old called. "What kind of crazy thing have you come up with now?", the woman asked, who appeared to be around 20 years old. "Don't tease me like that Nagi! I really come up with good stuff!" "Yeah. Like last week: your 'Ultimate Training Machine', was it? The machine that broke down after only 4 hours of training?", Nagi replied. "It's not fair. I hadn't designed it to put up with so much stress. You're the one who broke it. It's not fair, you're the best fighter on this whole planet!" "Sorry about that Nimu. Now, what was it you were going to show me?" "Ciao!", a voice called. "What was that?", Nagi asked. "That's my latest invention. Ken-Ohki, say hi to Nagi." "Ciao.", the white cabbit jumped up in front of Nagi and nodded at her. "Well, that's cute. A new pet.", Nagi said. "It's more than a pet...", Nimu began. Suddenly, the the sky became dark as a huge spaceship descended over the planets surface. Green light soared through the air, and amongst all of this, a cyan-haired demon, a terror, surely a creature from hell itself it seemed to Nagi, laughed as she slaughtered the poorly defended inhabitats. Then, she saw. They both saw. Ryoko and Nagi gazed into each others eyes and knew that this was a challenge created in the heavens by the mighty gods, as they played with weak humans lives. They knew, only one of them could walk away from the battle, and they both felt that they finally had met a worthy opponent. Nagi pulled her whip. Ryoko lunged forward towards Nagi, slicing and cutting, but not hitting the agile warrior. A cloud of dust got thrown from the ground as Nagi lashed her whip towards Ryoko, hitting the demon dead center in the face with a blow that would incapitate a normal human. Nagi deactivated the weapon, confident that the battle was over. She was more than surprise to see Ryoko's face coming out of the dust the whip had pulled up, not only alive, but unscythed. "What kind of monster are you?", Nagi gasped. The demon only grinned - grinned, at her, the powerful Nagi, the best fighter in the entire sector! - and extended her energyblade once more. They fought for what seemed to be hours, while the huge battleship turned the once green landscape to dust around them. Nagi was getting exhausted by the battle, and from what she saw, the demon woman didn't even have a single sweatdrop on her. Nagi had a feeling this battle would be her last, but then, something interferred... "Ciao!", the white cabbit screeched as it lounged for Ryoko's throat, attempting to give Ryoko a serious injury. The shout was cut short as the demon just extended her left hand and sent the cabbit flying. "Ken-Ohki, get out of the way. Protect Nimu instead.", Nagi hissed. Then it dawned on her. If Ken-Ohki was here and not with Nimu, it must mean that her brother was... Ryoko was going to strike at the undefended woman, but something in the opponents eyes, something she thought that she was the only one to experience, stopped her. Pain. Then a voice called Ryoko in her mind, forced her to turn her attention away from the battle and return to the large battleship. Kagato was pleased with his adept. She had been most efficient when disposing of the civilians. He was only slightly disturbed by Ryoko not killing that woman. After all, what did one life more or less matter, when you decimated whole planets? She would surely die soon anyway, he thought to himself, as he sped away from the planet. The important thing was his price. Soon, his ship would be infused with enough power to bring even the mighty Jurai empire to an end and to turn him into the eternal ruler of the entire Universe. Nagi found her brother lying under a pile of debree of the former house. His breathing was very irregular, and blood ran in streams from his mouth down over his face. As Nagi pushed the rock aside, he opened his eyes, his brown eyes stared at Nagi, passed her, like her face was nothing but a pane of glass. "Nagi?", he coughed. "Yes it's me. You're going to be alright, just hang in there!" Nimu coughed as he laughed, spurting blood from his mouth with every breath. "I don't think so sis... Could you help me up?", he asked her. Nagi helped her wounded brother up. Seeing the entrails almost falling out of her brothers stomach, she tried hard not to barf. "This way", Nimu said as he staggered into the remains of the house. Nagi followed him down into the basement. Some bricks had fallen down, but otherwise the space was intact. Nimu almost fell the last three steps he took towards the machine, a cylinder shaped device, large enough for a human to stand inside, but not with much comfort. >But of course, comfort isn't this machine's purpose<, Nimu thought as he looked at the machine he had built earlier. It would serve it's purpose. Nagi stepped up next to her brother to help him, and was surprised when he pushed her inside the machine and slammed the door shut. "This device I constructed to lengthen a person's lifespan. It's still untested, but my calculations all check out fine. It will lengthen your life with centuries, even milleniums. It is also capable of cure disease and heal wounds.", Nimu explained. "But, if it's capable of healing wounds...", Nagi began. "It's too late for me, even if the machine did manage heal my wounds, I'm not sure it would be able to take the stress such an action would induce on the machine. It might even blow up. Besides, the powersource is only enough for one time, and the machine is completely unmovable." With that, Nimu activated the machine. "One last thing sis. Ken-Ohki is also a spaceship. I included a telepathic device in his brain, adjusted to your and my specific DNA patterns. Promise me you will put it to good use in avenging my death." Nimu coughed. "And sis", he added with a weak smile, "you always were the better fighter." With that, Nimu collapsed to the floor, his eyes going completely blank. Nagi screamed out in pain, as it felt like thousands, no millions, of needles pentrated her skin. She screamed out in pain again, and the room, her brother's corpse lying on the floor, everything went black. "And there you have it. I woke up with Ken-Ohki sitting patiently in front of me, waiting for me to wake up.", Nagi ended the story. "And that's why you're after Ryoko. I see." "Yes. I will defeat her, sooner or alter." It was green all around her. A forest, filled with all kinds of trees and bushes. She reckognized the place. She'd been in it a hundred times before when she was a kid. It was her mother's garden. The garden had always been so sterile, everything in perfect order, minituosly checked by Tokimi's machines. Something called for her... Drawn to a part of the garden she'd never seen before, she found a beautiful fountain, with a perfect circle of . She moved closer. The fountain called out to her, begged her to move closer... A few more steps, and she'd be there. "Come to me my child... Come to me..." whispered the fountain. She was there. She looked down into the clear blue water. Her face, the image of a child. Quckly changing, transforming... Now older... The face of a 20-year old. Darkening... Transforming into something... Evil... The very core of evil. She stared down into a giant purple eye. "There you are, my child...", words filled the air. "Who... Who are you? What are you doing in my mothers garden?", she asked. "Don't you reckognize your own father?" Darkness enveloped her. A giant face grinned at her, laughed at her. "Accept your heritage, and leave your false form behind. Become your true self!" Her human body, thrown like a ragdoll behind. Only SHE remained, and she welcomed the power... A scream... Someone crying out in horror... So familiar... It was her, she was the one screaming! When she opened her eyes, an eternity later, she thought she still was THERE, alone with herself... Her body was covered with sweat, and she was breathing heavily. Who was that? What did he, _it_ want? The memory still hadn't subsided when she put her clothes on after the shower. Fixing her hair, she pondered what she was going to do next. ------------------------------ And that's it for this episode of Eve of Darkness. You like? Send mesa comments. Thine opinion art valuable! The 'finishing' chapter will be coming soon, and is not going to be as delayed as this one was. Anyway, comments to: _8thlegion_max@mail.bip.net That's all for now. Vincent M.'Max Raven' Eskilsson