DISCLAIMER: Tenchi and the gang, as well as the universe they dwell in, are 
properties of AIC/Pioneer.  This particular story, the characters I'll 
introduce, and the world *they* dwell in, however, are mine, all mine (ha, ha, 
ha!).  Any resemblance to pre-existing characters or situations is purely 
coincidental.  In other words, don't sue me, please!
	Referential disclaimers will follow at the end of the part.



No Need for the Fourth Wall
By John Carter


Part One: Into the Void...





	It was a miserable afternoon at the Masaki household.  The rain had 
started a few hours ago, and had only gotten worse since.  Ayeka sat on the 
couch in the living room, contentedly embroidering one of her old kimonos.  It 
was a perfect day for sewing, <if I could be unconcerned about Lord Tenchi being 
caught in the unpleasant weather,> she added as an afterthought.  The house was 
surprisingly quiet, save for the sound of Sasami preparing dinner in the 
kitchen.  Mihoshi was gone, having left earlier to deliver a report to her 
Captain.  Washu was in her lab, and had taken Ryoko with her, albeit kicking and 
screaming.  All-in-all, the house was pleasantly free of distractions, save 
those within Ayeka's own mind.
	She laid down her work for a moment and stared out the veranda windows, 
watching the downpour pensively.  <I hope Lord Tenchi is all right,> she 
thought.  <He hasn't returned from the fields, and so I can only assume that he 
took shelter in the tool shed.  He certainly can't be working in this dreadful 
rain.  He must be disappointed that the rest of the day will go to waste, 
though.>



	From the tool shed, Tenchi was watching the rain, doing a little dance and 
crowing, "I don't have to work anymore!  I don't have to work anymore!  I don't 
have to --"
	With a surprised yelp he tripped over his hoe, falling into a stack of 
empty baskets, which tumbled over and buried him.



	Ayeka picked up her sewing again.  <Oh, I suppose Lord Tenchi is sensible 
enough to take care of himself and not get into any trouble.  I shouldn't worry 
so much.>



	In her lab, Washu surveyed the piles of equipment strewn all over the 
floor for a moment before turning to Ryoko.  "I want you to take all these 
things to the Repair Bay, set up the machines to run Program 39, and then bring 
the completed device back."
	"What?" Ryoko asked incredulously, staring at the seemingly endless sea of 
metal.  "Why me?"
	"Because you were the one who broke the thing in the first place!" the 
genius snapped back.  "Honestly, and I thought Mihoshi was a curse on my 
inventions.  Now, shoo," she made a dismissive gesture, "I have work to do."
	Grumbling, Ryoko floated off and set about her task.  Washu, meanwhile, 
turned to her ethereal laptop.  She could have easily had the machines take care 
of everything -- indeed, that was Ryoko's exact thought at the moment -- but the 
real motive behind the menial chore wasn't revenge.  She needed Ryoko out of the 
way while she took care of a few things.
	Cracking her knuckles, Washu began inputting commands into the computer.  
<I normally would never use this program,> she thought, <but my safety -- Hell, 
the safety of the whole household -- might depend on it.>  Entering the last 
line, she triple-checked the parameters.  <One mistake, and the cure will be 
worse than the symptoms.>  Satisfied, she hit the "Enter" key.
	The world around her faded to black.  There was a sense of disorientation, 
as space, time, and even her own thoughts and memories became meaningless.  In 
an instant everything snapped back into focus, and the shock hit her like a wave 
of ice water.  The logical part of her mind worked frantically to pin down some 
sense of reality, but her pragmatic side simply told it to sit down and shut up.  
She was standing in a small room that appeared to be half office, half library.  
Despite the fact that the weather was sunny, all but one of the curtains were 
drawn and the overhead light was on; and despite the fact that the electric 
thermometer listed the outside temperature as 75 degrees Fahrenheit, the window-
unit air conditioner was running.  Computers lined two of the walls, and a young 
man with long brown hair was sitting at one in the far corner.  A gray Maine 
Coon cat was curled up in his lap, and Led Zeppelin's "Zoso" album was blaring 
over the speakers.  The man wasn't paying any attention to his work, cat, or 
music, however.  He was staring at Washu with mingled amazement and 
apprehension.
	"Um... hi, Little Washu," the author said cautiously.  "What brings you to 
this side of the Fourth Wall?"
	"That," Washu replied, pointing at the computer screen, which currently 
read, "Grumbling, Ryoko floated off and set about her task."
	"You don't think the line reads well?  I'll admit, I mentally tripped over 
it at first, but --"
	"No, no, no.  I mean, I want to make sure that this fic isn't going to be 
some sort of preemptive counterattack." [see "On Crossing Over: A Speculative 
Essay"]
	"Oh, no, of course not.  I wouldn't do that."
	Washu gave him a piercing look.
	"Seriously, I wouldn't.  Not to you, at least."  He paused and cleared his 
throat, as if uncertain of how to proceed.  "Uh, whatever happened to the whole 
MST thing, anyway?  It's been almost four weeks since we did that presentation."
	"Well, I was going to ask Weber-san to take you, but the thought of 
leaving you stranded with Vegeta was just a little *too* cruel.  I decided to 
let it slide.  This time."
	"Thanks, I guess."  He levered the cat off his lap and offered it to 
Washu.  She took it, as confused as the feline appeared to be.  "Support his 
legs, or he'll struggle."  The author stood as she did just that, placing her 
arm so that the cat appeared to be standing on it, his front paws resting on her 
shoulder.  The author stepped around her and made his way out of the office, 
through the dining room and into the kitchen, Washu and the cat following.  "His 
name is Gandalf, by the way, but we just call him 'Burt,'" he said over his 
shoulder as he opened the refrigerator.
	"'Burt?'" Washu asked, laying down Gandalf.  The author removed something 
covered in tinfoil and wrinkled the wrapping.  Gandalf immediately charged over 
with a distinctive "burt" noise and began rubbing against his legs, meowing in 
such a fashion that it sounded more like squeaking.  "Oh."
	The author opened the package and offered a piece of watermelon to the 
cat, who sniffed it and stared at him expectantly.  "Dork," he muttered at the 
Maine Coon, replacing the melon and placing the bundle back in the refrigerator, 
pulling out, instead, a bottle of apple juice.  Grabbing a cup from next to the 
sink, he filled it.  "Want anything?"
	Washu shook her head.  The author screwed the cap back on, placed the 
apple juice next to the sink, drained his cup, and put it in the refrigerator.  
He made it as far as the opposite counter before he stopped.
	Washu just slapped her hand across her eyes and shook her head.  "Dork," 
she muttered.



	Ryoko sighed in frustration and took an account of her progress.  About 
half of the machine parts had been gathered and taken to the Repair Bay.  That 
had been the easy part, though.  All that was left were small pieces and, even 
worse, nuts and bolts.  Washu, however, would probably slip a gear if anything 
was left out.
	"While I'm stuck here doing this, Tenchi's probably come home and Ayeka's 
flirting with him," she growled.



	In the tool shed, a pile of carrying baskets lamely said, "A little help?  
Anyone?"



	Ryoko attempted to peer through Ryo-ohki's eyes, but the cabbit was still 
in the kitchen with Sasami.  She considered just abandoning this pointless task 
and going to check, herself, but even if Tenchi was there, Washu would just come 
out and drag her away again.
	<That Washu...  Where does she get off telling me to do something like 
this?  It wasn't my fault her machine was poorly made.  How was I suppose to 
know it would shatter so easily?>
	Ryoko turned, intent on giving her mother a piece of her mind.  However, 
Washu was gone.  Where her laptop normally would have been was, instead, a 
shimmering curtain of white.  Ryoko teleported over and examined it with mild 
curiosity.  The "curtain" was opaque, but didn't appear solid.  A view of the 
phenomenon from the other side resulted in the same, but it was invisible from 
the side.  "What the Hell is this?" she muttered, attempting to poke it.  Her 
finger slid through, and an unseen force grabbed her arm, yanking the rest of 
her after the finger.
	Like Washu, she suffered disorientation, then a sudden shock, from passing 
through the Fourth Wall, and also found herself in the office.  The room was 
empty (Washu and the author being in the kitchen) except for an orange tabby 
curled up in the chair in front of the only online computer.  The cat blinked 
lazily up at her as she attempted to regain her bearings.  Unlike Washu, Ryoko's 
mind had trouble with the transition, and she spent a few moments in a frenzied 
panic as her frame of reference was thrown off.  Finally, she managed to sort 
everything out, and noticed the cat.  "What?" she asked it.
	The cat stretched and stood up, still staring at her.  It meowed.  Ryoko 
didn't know what it said (or if it said anything at all), but, figuring it was 
harmless enough, she reached out to pet it.
	A second later she withdrew her arm and stared at the stump where her hand 
used to be.  The tabby sat back down, licking the stray bits of flesh from its 
paws.  "Oh for three today," Ryoko sighed, regenerating her hand.
	She heard the sound of footsteps from the other room, and Washu entered, 
followed by the author.  Washu blinked in surprise when she saw Ryoko.  "What 
are you doing here?" she demanded.
	"I got sucked through the gateway in your lab."
	"That shouldn't have happened.  It only responds to...  What were you 
doing touching that thing?!  You were *supposed* to be cleaning up the mess you 
made."
	"Hey, I wouldn't have been --"  Ryoko paused, noticing the author.  "Who's 
the hippie?"
	The author did a stagger-duck that might have been a face-fault, were he 
an anime character.
	"He is that which shapes our very lives," Washu said cryptically.
	Ryoko looked at the author in astonishment.  "Kami-sama?"
	"No, the author."
	Ryoko face-faulted.  "That joke's already been done before!"
	"Blame it on him."  Washu pointed at the author, who looked like he was 
contemplating sneaking away.
	The space pirate rounded on him, causing him to freeze in his tracks.  
"Speaking of which, what's with the intro?  It's always a sunny morning at the 
beginning of a Tenchi fic."
	"Exactly," the author and Washu both said.
	"Oh."



	"There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a 
stairway to heaven," Ayeka sang quietly, attempting to slide a length of gold 
thread through the eye of the needle.  Tenchi hadn't returned home yet, but, 
then again, the rain hadn't let up, either.  <Lord Tenchi is a big boy, mother 
hen.  He can take care of himself.>



	In the shed, the pile shifted a little, and a hand thrust out from the 
top, clenched in a fist.  Tenchi extracted himself, standing triumphantly over 
the fallen baskets.  "Ha," he gloated at them, "now who's on top of who?"
	He took a step towards the door, tripped on a basket, and was buried under 
a pile of knocked-over hoes.
	"Ow..."



	As before, Ayeka laid down her work and sighed.  <Oh, who am I fooling?  
He may be gallant in times of danger, but when it comes to everyday life, Lord 
Tenchi is butterscotch pudding.>



	Tenchi muttered from under the pile of wood and metal, "It's not like I'm 
butterscotch pudding or something..."



	"That joke's been done, too!"  Ryoko said accusingly to the author.



	A horde of English villagers shouted, "Get on with it!"



	"Okay, okay," the author, Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko said as one.
	"Who's scene was it?" the author asked.
	"Mine," Ayeka replied, picking up her sewing again.
	"Right."  The author repositioned the mouse.
	"Um," Tenchi interrupted, "before we start again, could we please stop 
with the shed jokes?"
	"No."
	"Oh... okay..."
	Ayeka sighed.  "Butterscotch pudding," she muttered.
	Ryoko glared at the author.  "Seriously, it's not right to make Tenchi the 
fall guy.  He's the main character, for crying out loud!"
	"Yes," Ayeka chimed in.  "That's what Mihoshi is for."
	"Hey," Mihoshi protested, "that's not very nice, Miss Ayeka."
	The others started.  "What are you doing here, Mihoshi?" Tenchi asked.  
"You're not even in this part of the fic."
	"Um..."  Mihoshi looked around.  "Actually, I was looking for the 
bathroom."
	Collective face-fault, except for the author, who performed his stagger-
duck again.
	"Besides," the Galaxy Police detective continued, "I've got lines in the 
fic, now, so they have to pay me."  She glanced at her watch.  "I've got to be 
getting back.  See ya."  With a wave she walked off.
	The others stared after her.  "That woman is smarter than we give her 
credit for," Ryoko said in the silence.
	"Not really," the author replied.  "None of you are getting paid."
	"WHAT?!"  The characters rounded on him, murder in their eyes.



	"Get on with it!" the English crowd yelled again.



	"Yes, right, of course."  The author clapped his hands.  "Places, people.  
Let's pick this up from line 48 of the last page."
	There was a general shuffle as the characters scrambled back to their 
respective scenes.



	Washu just watched and shook her head as the author and Ryoko stumbled 
back into the scene.  "Honestly..." she grumbled.  "It's a wonder the Fourth 
Wall hasn't collapsed by now..."



	Activity in the kitchen ceased.  Sasami stepped into the living room, Ryo-
ohki perched on her head, as the cabbit was wont to do.  "Dinner's ready," the 
younger princess called over.  "I'm going to get Ryoko and Miss Washu.  Could 
you please set the table?"  Not waiting for a reply, Sasami disappeared into 
Washu's lab.
	Ayeka sighed, folding up her kimono and replacing her sewing supplies back 
in their basket.  <Oh well,> she thought, rising and making her way into the 
kitchen.  <There goes my peace and quiet.  It was nice while it lasted...>



	Ryoko snatched a mallet labeled "Foreshadowing" from the author.  "Enough 
already!" she yelled.  "The title of the part alone says enough."
	The author stared at the mallet.  "Where'd that thing come from?" he 
asked, bemused.
	Ryoko blinked, looking from the mallet to the author and back, and then up 
two paragraphs.  "You were just holding it."
	"I don't own a mallet."
	"Of course not," Washu said, malleting him with a second one.  "You're 
male."
	Ryoko stared down at the author, who was in a crumbled heap, twitching.  
"Um, Washu, he's not an anime character..."
	"Oops..."



	Sasami peered around the empty lab, noting the shimmering curtain of white 
energy and the half-finished clean-up job.  "Hello?" she called, but the only 
answer she got was an echo.
	"Wonder where they are..." she mused to Ryo-ohki.
	Ryo-ohki meowed a couple times.



	"Lazy bastard," Ryoko muttered.
	The author, his head heavily bandaged, picked up the tabby.  "Nugget," he 
said, scratching her rapidly at the base of the tail, causing her fur to rise 
and eliciting a meow from her, "kill."  He tossed Nugget at Ryoko.



	"Do you think?" Sasami asked, staring at the portal.  She approached it 
cautiously and, like Ryoko, inspected it from all angles.  "You sure they aren't 
somewhere else in the lab?"
	The cabbit meowed, shaking her head.
	"Okay..."  Taking a deep breath, Sasami stepped through.
	The darkness swept over her, and she felt the disorientation of everything 
she understood being stripped away and rendered useless.  Panicked, she called 
out for the one being that could protect her.  <Tsunami!> she thought 
desperately.
	>I am here,< came Tsunami's comforting voice.  >Do not be afraid.  It will 
all be over --<  All at once the darkness fled, and, with a shock like passing 
through an ice-cold waterfall, Sasami found herself in the author's office.  
>...soon,< the goddess finished lamely.  Sasami felt the stirrings of the 
displacement that Ryoko suffered from, but, like Washu, Tsunami casually swatted 
it away, leaving her charge/past-self to concentrate on her surroundings.
	What Sasami found was the author curled up in a fetal position in his 
office chair, hands clutched to his head and arms pressed over his ears, and 
Ryoko, her face covered in deep scratches, standing in the middle of the room, 
singing at the top of her lungs in a key normally well beyond her range.
	"And in this orchard there was a hold
	That was hanged with purple and gold
	And in that hold there was a bed
	And it was hanged with gold so red

	Lu li lu lay lu li lu lay
	The falcon hath bourne my mate away"

	The tabby, Nugget, was stalking around Ryoko's ankles, meowing at the 
space pirate.  Ryo-ohki simply leapt off Sasami's head and placed her paws over 
her ears.  Sasami, resisting the urge to do the same, asked the calm Washu, 
"Miss Washu, why is Ryoko singing the 'Corpus Christi Carol?'"  She wondered 
momentarily why she knew what the song was, but the thought made her head hurt 
worse than Ryoko's singing.
	Washu looked surprised that Sasami was there, but didn't say anything yet.  
They both waited as Ryoko finished the next verse.

	"And on this bed there lyeth a knight
	His wound is bleeding day and night
	By his bedside kneeleth a maid
	And she weepeth both night and day

	Lu li lu lay lu li lu lay
	The falcon hath bourne my mate away"

	Ryoko stopped singing when she noticed Sasami, grinned, and answered her 
question for Washu.  "He has a concussion," she said, jerking her thumb at the 
author, who, like Ryo-okhi, was unfolding himself now that the song was over.
	"That's mean," Sasami protested.  "You shouldn't torture him just because 
he has a really bad headache."
	"He also had his cat do *this* to me."  Ryoko touched her face, and the 
scratches sealed up.
	The princess looked down at Nugget, who stared back and meowed.  "How 
cute!"  She bent down to pick it up.
	"Sasami, don't --"  Ryoko blinked in amazement as the psycho-cat not only 
allowed the girl to hold it, but also started purring.  She looked at the 
author, who just shrugged.  Turning back to Sasami, she said, somewhat weakly, 
"Um, Sasami, that cat is dangerous.  You shouldn't..."  Sasami hugged Nugget to 
her and rubbed noses, which the tabby endured with a patient expression.
	"She isn't dangerous," Sasami contradicted.  "She's a good kitty, isn't 
she, Ryo-ohki?"
	The cabbit obviously didn't think so.  She pressed her ears flat against 
her head, arched her back, and hissed.
	Sasami freed one hand and rapped her knuckles lightly against the cabbit's 
forehead.  "Stop that."  She placed Nugget down on the desk next to Ryo-ohki.  
"Now, make friends, you two."
	Ryo-ohki looked up at the tabby.  Nugget seemed to withdraw into herself, 
and then slowly stood up, a growl building in her throat.  The cabbit stared 
into the other's hazel eyes, and then slowly backed away, seeing the face of 
Death for the first time.  Nugget bent her front legs slightly.  And then she 
hissed.
	With a scream, Ryo-ohki threw herself off the desk and bolted from the 
room, the tabby in hot pursuit.  The sound of them tearing across the carpet 
vanished into the hallway.  "Ryo-ohki!" Sasami yelled, running after the pair.  
With a muttered curse, the author followed, leaving Ryoko and a distracted Washu 
alone in the office.



	Tenchi finally finished extracting himself from the pile of hoes.  "I 
mean, we don't even own this many hoes," he was muttering to himself, continuing 
a conversation he had started while working his way out.  He carefully stacked 
the baskets and farming tools against the wall, and, not moving his feet, 
conducted a thorough inspection of the floor.  "Okay, nothing for me to trip 
over..."  Taking a deep breath, he walked to the door.
	Nothing happened.
	He exhaled.  "Finally.  The weirdness ends."  He reached out and grasped 
the door handle.
	It was locked.
	"Nooooooooooooo!!!"



	"Sorry Tenchi," Ryoko said, sitting at the computer.  "You need to stay in 
there for a couple more minutes."  She cracked her knuckles and rolled her head 
until her neck popped.  "Okay, now, how shall we do this?  Nuclear explosion, 
maybe?  Ooh, maybe opening a pit into Hell?  Or maybe I'll just have Mihoshi 
land on her..."  The space pirate cackled wickedly.  With everyone else out of 
the house, Ayeka was a clean target for whatever evil destruction Ryoko could 
dream up.
	"We're leaving Sasami alone with him in his bedroom, you know," Washu said 
absently, still distracted about something.
	Ryoko snapped out of her reverie.  With a curse, she teleported across the 
house.  She found herself in a well-kept but crowded bedroom.  The author was 
sitting on his desk, holding Nugget on his lap.  Sasami was lying on  her 
stomach on the floor, staring under the author's bed.  "Come on, Ryo-ohki," she 
was saying.  "Everything's safe, now."
	From under the bed, Ryo-ohki issued a series of meows that made it clear 
(to Ryoko, at least, who understood the thoughts behind the sounds) that she 
wasn't going anywhere until that orange killing machine was on the other side of 
the universe.
	"You'd better take her to another room," Sasami said apologetically to the 
author.  "Ryo-ohki's afraid of her."
	"Alright," he replied, hopping up and crossing the hallway, where he threw 
Nugget into another room and closed the door.
	Ryoko drifted over to the author's former perch and took it herself.  She 
glanced around, noting the stacks of CDs in the bed's headboard and the shelf 
full of books and anime DVDs.  "Nice place you got here," she said as the author 
came back in.
	With a noncommittal grunt, he climbed onto his bed and sat at the head, 
leaning against the headboard.  "Yeah, I guess so."
	Sasami also climbed up on the bed, which made Ryoko a little nervous, 
sitting at the foot.  "Kinda reminds me of Tenchi's room," she said.
	Ryoko got up and drifted over to the bookshelf, picking through the 
alphabetically organized DVDs.  "You think?"  She scanned up the farthest stack, 
passing by the complete set of Trigun, and stopped at one particular title.  She 
looked over her shoulder, giving the uneasy author a wicked grin.  "Of course, 
Tenchi would never have *this* in his collection!"  She whipped out the 
incriminating anime.
	In an instant the author was interposed between her hand and Sasami.  He 
danced around, attempting to keep his body blocking the DVD as Ryoko attempted 
to expose it to Sasami.  "It's not -- I mean -- I didn't -- That is -- I'm not 
into that kind of stuff!"
	"What kind of stuff?" Sasami asked innocently, trying to see around the 
author.  "What is it, Ryoko?"
	"It's 'Legend --" Ryoko began.
	The author hurriedly spoke over her.  "-- of Bagger Vance!'  A really 
crappy American movie about golf.  It's extremely boring and guaranteed to put 
you to sleep.  I have no idea how it got into my collection.  In fact --"  He 
managed to snatch the DVD from Ryoko and, in the same motion, hurled it through 
the window over his desk.  "Avant!  I banish you."
	The three of them stared after it for a moment, and then Ryoko shrugged.  
"Whatever."  She turned back to the bookshelf as the author heaved a sigh of 
relief and sat back down.  She began removing DVDs to get a look at the VHS 
tapes behind them.  "Huh... you have these in dubbed?"
	The author looked over her shoulder at the tapes in question.  "Yeah.  It 
was back when I was vehemently anti-sub.  I wish they hadn't cancelled that DVD 
collection.  I'd like to have the Japanese version, if only to hear 'Boys Be 
Free.'"
	"What are you two talking about?" Sasami asked, moving closer to see into 
the bookshelf.



	In the office, Washu felt it, and realized what had been bothering her for 
the past few minutes.  "Shit!"  She turned and ran, hoping she would make it in 
time.



	"It's you," Ryoko said, handing her the three "Magical Girl Pretty Sammy" 
OVA tapes.
	"No!" came Washu's voice from right outside the room.  But it was too 
late.  Sasami took the tapes, and her eyes widened as she saw herself and Ryo-
ohki on the covers.
	The Fourth Wall collapsed.
	The shockwave threw Ryoko, Washu, and the author to the ground, and the 
intense flash left them momentarily blinded.  All the while there was a high-
pitched shrieking, not of Sasami, but of the universe, crying in pain as its 
fabric was ripped asunder.  Then, as suddenly as it all began, everything 
stopped.  Where Sasami had once been was a black tear in mid-air.  The others 
picked themselves up, and Ryo-ohki, who had still been hiding under the bed, 
crawled out to see what the commotion was.  The cabbit took a quick stock of the 
situation, taking in the rip and a missing Sasami, and leapt through the hole in 
reality.
	"Ryo-ohki!" Washu shouted, but the cabbit didn't hear her.
	Neither did Ryoko, who, with a scream of "Sasami!" also rushed through the 
tear.
	"Dammit!  Those two never stop to think!"  Washu slammed her fist against 
the author's door in frustration.
	"What the Hell just happened?" the author asked, shaken.
	"When I designed the program to come here, I put in a safeguard to ensure 
that the integrity of the Fourth Wall would be maintained.  I built the 
parameters for myself, at first, but then threw in a backup just in case Ryoko 
got curious and came through.  But I didn't count on anyone else, especially not 
Sasami and Ryo-ohki, also passing through.  The Fourth Wall was under heavy 
strain from them being here, so it couldn't handle what happened when Sasami 
came in contact -- however distant -- with an alternate version of herself."
	"So where is she -- and Ryo-ohki -- and Ryoko?!"
	"This sort of occurrence always throws the subjects to the point of least 
resistance."
	"Like in Chrono Trigger."
	"Yeah, if you want to think of it that way.  But in this case, instead of 
throwing Sasami to the place in the timestream of least resistance -- the End of 
Time -- it threw Sasami to the one reality in the multiverse that has the least 
possibility of Fourth Wall interference."
	"Such as?"
	"Well, seeing as any anime or fanfic reality you go to is subject to 
rampant intervention from this side of the Fourth Wall, the place of least 
interference --"
	"-- is a place that doesn't really exist."
	"Exactly.  If it doesn't exist for all but a few people, then there aren't 
many forces from outside the Fourth Wall acting on it."
	"Okay.  So what unreal place did they end up... at..."  The author's eyes 
widened as he realized the answer, even as Washu gave it to him.
	"The one closest."  She reached out and tapped his head.  "The one in 
here."



End of Part One

*********************
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
	Thus ends part one of what I hope to be several.  I had originally wanted 
to do more with this part, perhaps with the scenes of each of the girls waking 
up in their new locations (indeed, the name of the part was suppose to be "Into 
the Void and Out the Other Side"), but I figured that this was a good place to 
stop.  With luck, you all aren't saying "Thank God!  The torture's over."  If 
you aren't, thank you for reading, and I'll try to have more, soon.  And if you 
are, well, thank you, anyway.  Send any feedback (tasteful feedback, please) and 
such to <copycatzero@aol.com>.
	By the way, if "No Need for the Fourth Wall" has already been used, 
someone please tell me.
	And now, as promised...

REFERENCIAL DISCLAIMERS:
	The "Kami-sama" joke is a variation on Thomas Doscher's, from his spam fic 
"Ryoko Wins Tenchi for the Umpteen-Billionth Time."
	"Stairway to Heaven" and its album, "Zoso," are properties of Led 
Zeppelin.
	The "butterscotch pudding" joke is from "Digimon: Season Three."  I don't 
remember exactly which episode.
	"Get on with it" is, of course, a Monty Python joke.
	"Corpus Christi Carol" is a traditional Medieval song, but the version I 
used was the Benjamin Britten one that appeared on Jeff Buckley's "Grace" album.