Lord of the Demons ***************************************************************************** Disclaimer: I never in my life had anything to do with AIC nor Pioneer. I never had anything to do with the creation of Tenchi Muyo! or any related project. I am a simple fan attempting to find my place in writing. So to sum up this disclaimer; PLEASE DON'T SUE, cause I ain't got money. Thank you! ***************************************************************************** Chapter 4: Beckoning Space and the Evil Planet The rush to get ready was prominent at the Masaki house as everyone ran about the house packing things up to get ready for their adventure out into space. Ayeka soon came out of her room dragging a trunk that was much bigger than her. She drug it down to the living room and set it up against a wall. Ryoko fazed through her room door with nothing in her hands and suddenly saw the huge trunk in the living room with Ayeka leaning up against it. She frowned and flew down to the princess. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked. "What do you mean?" Ayeka demanded. "Ryo-Ohki is not hauling that trunk all the way out in to the middle of who knows where." "This contains everything a person would need for long travel." "Like what, dare I ask?" "Like extra clothes, food, water, my hair dryer, and of course my make-up." "What are you going to use make-up for?" "What do you think? Oh wait, I forgot, you never use it because you figure Tenchi prefers a wrinkly old bag!" "Well I think that's better than a powdered up faker!" "Alright Ryoko I have really had it!" "Come on I'm ready!" They stood off as sparks came off of them both. They stopped however when they noticed that their argument had caused everyone in the house to stop and watch. They both turned red and chuckled a bit before walking away from each other. Soon everything was ready to go as Mihoshi locked the doors to the house. Everyone stood at the edge of the lake outside his house waiting for not only Mihoshi to return, but for Ryo-Ohki to transform into the ship that would carry them to the fight for Jurai. "Okay Tenchi, I did it!" Mihoshi called as she ran toward him with the key. But, before she made it to him, she tripped on a rock and the key to the house flew away from her grasp. Everyone made a jump for the key but ended up in a pile as it plopped into the lake. Tenchi groaned as he found that everyone had pretty much landed on top of him. Everyone finally got ready for their travel into space. The key unfortunately wasn't found. But some how it was behind everyone as Ryo-Ohki prepared for her transformation. She started to shake violently as sparks of blue energy came off of her body. Her fur stood on end and the red jewel on her head glowed like a fire. She then leaped into the air and soon, transformed into the spacecraft. Tenchi looked at Ryo-Ohki while Ryoko flew up to her ship. She fazed through the hull and floated onto the deck. "Okay Ryo-Ohki, get the others on board and lets go!" Ryoko said enthusiastically and Ryo-Ohki meowed with the same enthusiasm. A beam of light came from the bottom of the ship and engulfed everyone. They all disappeared but reappeared on the deck of Ryo-Ohki. The huge trunk of Ayeka's landed with a loud thud that rang through the ships deck. "Okay Washu, this is your show now, guide Ryo-Ohki to Hades," Ryoko said as Washu pulled out the Mr. Tracker IV. "Thank you Ryoko. Alright Ryo-Ohki, are you ready?" Washu asked and the ship gave a meow of approval. It began to pull away from the surface of the Earth and make it into the upper part of the atmosphere. But then Ryo-Ohki suddenly gave a screech as it slowed down. Everyone toppled over from the sudden stop and looked at Washu. "She says that there's too much weight and she can't quite make it out of the atmosphere," Washu explained. Ryoko looked up and then smiled. "I believe I can solve our problem," she said and got up to move to the trunk Ayeka brought along and she stared at it. "Ryoko, don't even think about it," Ayeka demanded. Ryoko smiled devilishly as she nonchalantly raised her hand and opened the hatch. "I'm warning you Ryoko!" Ayeka yelled staring at her precious trunk. Ryoko however leaned against the trunk and looked at Ayeka. "Think about what?" she asked innocently as the trunk slid out the open hatch. "Whoops, I guess I shouldn't have leaned on it while the door was open, oh shoot, now all of that stuff is gonna fall to earth and get ruined." She closed the door and turned around to watch Ayeka faint. She began to laugh hysterically as Washu hit her over the head. "Ryo-Ohki says she can now get past the atmosphere, so I'm not gonna punish you severely for that one," Washu stated to Ryoko who rubbed the bump on her head. Atmos sat on a lone mountain and meditated. He growled a little but then fell silent. He was in deep thought over things that had once happened. He thought about the Royal Space Academy. Then about Tokimi. 'My lady, nobody knows that you gave me this strength, not even the great Washu, hmmm, marvelous,' he thought to himself before kicking his head up quickly. "So, they're on their way . . . I can feel Washu's energy, but . . . she knows my location, and I can't have them coming here immediately. I need to throw them off." He closed his eyes and was surrounded by a red energy field. Washu sat in the pilots chair guiding Ryo-Ohki along while the others either ate something or slept. She watched the controls and nearly went to sleep herself until Sasami walked up and cleared her throat. Washu looked down at her as she asked a question. "Miss Washu, how long are we from Earth?" "Ten hours," she replied. "And Jurai?" "Four hours." "Kay, thanks Washu," Sasami said and walked over to her sister. Washu smiled and returned to her work until she saw a sudden energy build. Her eyes became wide as Mr. Tracker IV exploded and threw Washu from the seat. Everyone gasped and ran to her. "Miss Washu what happened?!" Tenchi yelled in concern. "That son of a bitch, he wants this to be a wild goose chase!" she yelled as she climbed back up into the seat of Ryo-Ohki. Blood ran down the right side of her face from the explosion. "Who, Atmos?" Ayeka asked. "Yes, he doesn't think I can find Hades without Mr. Tracker IV well he has an awful surprise waiting for him. I threw the controls when Mr Tracker IV exploded but, Ryo-Ohki, do you remember the course we were on?" Ryo-Ohki meowed in response and Washu smiled. "Then go Ryo-Ohki, take us to Hades." Ryo-Ohki meowed again and changed direction slightly. Washu rubbed her ear and finally found that it was bleeding. She stared at the blood on her hand and frowned then clenched her teeth and balled her hand into a fist. "I will get you Atmos, the king of Jurai was only minor battle compared to what we're going to do." Atmos began to laugh and he jumped off of the mountain. When he touched down he looked at the sky and started to laugh once again. "Dear Washu, I can't fool you I suppose, oh well, I guess the "greatest genius in the universe" can't be fooled by mere directional loss. Ah, but it will be nice to see her again . . . perhaps I could catch up on old times with her while I deliver her to Tokimi." He kept his gaze locked on the sky and then smiled. "They are going to land soon, I should get myself over to where they will land and welcome them to their final day." He laughed as he disappeared to go forth and greet Tenchi and his friends. To be continued. . . ***************************************************************************** Next Chapter: Tenchi and all of his friends land on the planet of Hades and find Atmos waiting to welcome them. This is it, the battle you may or may not have been waiting for. It will be Tenchi Masaki verses Atmos on the next chapter: Chapter 5: Zerohour on the Planet Hades. *****************************************************************************