"Tenchi Muyo!" and all characters herein are the property of Pioneer and AIC, 
save those created by the author.  This is a fanfic, and is not for profit.

Tenchi Muyo! 
Odyssey
Chapter Twelve: Whirlwind by William Nichols

Where we last left our heroes:
After searching the Temple Museum of T' K' Mai Tenchi makes a familiar 
discovery.  "These obelisks must be gateways," said Tenchi as he tried to find 
some writing that had not been defaced.  These things had always been covered in 
writing.  Something had to have survived.  He walked around the monument and 
took a knee.
	"I think I found something," he called out.
	"L-l-l-l-lord T-T-T-Tenchi!" squeaked Ayeka.
	"Not now!"
	"Young Champ-i-o-n," sang Marnot.
	"What is it?" he said as he popped his around the obelisk.  The click of 
twenty or so pulse rifles being armed greeted him.
	"That," replied Marnot flatly as he raised his hands.  Ayeka quickly 
followed suit.  
"You are under arrest pending termination," barked the group commander.  
Reluctantly Tenchi stepped out from around the obelisk holding his hands up.
"I can explain," Tenchi began only to be knocked down.
"Quiet!" barked the commander as he cracked his rifle butt across Tenchi's jaw.  
"Explanations are not necessary, only your compliance!"
"I wouldn't have done that," quipped Ayeka.
"I said 'QUIET' you Juraian whore," he spat turning his rifle to Ayeka.  It's 
capacitor hummed to life.  He had no qualms about terminating her right on the 
spot.
"Just trying to warn you," she added quietly.
"Don't push me," he barked he barked at her.  At that moment Marnot reverted to 
his usual form, but about a foot taller.  A few of the guardsmen took a step 
back as the guardian spirit towered over them.
"It is just that I get extremely pissed when somebody harms the champion," 
growled Marnot.  "It is my sacred duty to see that no harm befalls him en route 
on this Odyssey."
"If you move another millimeter," began the commander as he changed his aim from 
Ayeka to Marnot, "I will aerate your forehead!"  He fingered the trigger of his 
pulse rifle as he sighted Marnot's brow.
"Try me," smiled Marnot.  Ayeka screamed as the pop of a hypervelocity shot 
leaving the muzzle echoed through out the hall.  To hers and everyone else's 
amazement the shot passed right thru Marnot without leaving so much as a mark.  
A wicked grin crept across his lips as he stared a hole thru the thunderstruck 
commander.
"Don't be fooled by this Juraian devil!" barked the commander as few of his men 
began to backpedal.
"I'm no Juraian," laughed Marnot.  "But a devil?" he asked in a voice of many.   
"Now that I can be!" he finished with a growl.  A white aura began to burn 
around him as his eyes became as fire.
All the while no one had been paying attention to Tenchi.  When he had fallen 
back, it had been against the obelisk side with the medallion shaped 
indentation.  Slowly he slipped the medallion out of pocket and began to feel up 
the side of the monument.  About the time of Marnot's little show began he 
slipped the medallion into place and turned it until it clicked in.  Instantly 
it sank into the obelisk, unleashing the monuments once dormant power.
"What the-," began the commander as the long defaced script on the obelisk began 
to glow white-hot and burn itself back into the monument.  As the last glyph 
reformed a beam of searing blue light erupted from the obelisk's point, 
shattering the roof of the museum. 
"What's happening?" exclaimed Ayeka as the force of the blast knocked her into 
Marnot.
"A temporal vortex has opened!" he said bracing Ayeka.  A white aura began to 
cleanse the area around the monuments base.  "The sanctuary is realigning 
itself!"
"It is trickery!" barked the commander.  "Open fire!"  With that he and his men 
took knees and opened fire into the radiating obelisk.  They stopped as an 
ethereal figure stepped out from the flame.
"Hurry!" said Tenchi as he extended a hand to Ayeka.  She accepted it and 
followed him into the vortex.  Marnot looked back at the cowering guards and 
shot them an obscene Juraian hand gesture, an extreme insult on Tyran Prime, 
before he too ran into the flames.
"Bastards!" screamed the commander as he rallied his men.  Unwaveringly they 
charged head long into the closing vortex.  As the temporal energies dissipated 
a tremendous energy was released.  A force equivalent to a small thermonuclear 
device was unleashed in the confines of the temple, incinerating much of the 
museum.  After its energy had been exhausted the medallion sank further into the 
obelisk, until it was completely enveloped in the stone.  When it did the once 
emblazoned script faded back into obscurity as it had been for millennia before, 
and shall be for millennia to come.
A few moments later the authorities arrived on the scene.  Only the burnt out 
husk of the temple remained along with one guard, who was mumbling incoherently 
to himself.
"What is he saying?" asked the city commandant.
"Something about a 'Juraian devil'," was the answer.  The commandant walked 
amongst the shattered remains of what had been the most revered place on Tyran 
Prime.  The charred visage of T' K' Mai still stared down upon him.
"They shall pay in blood!" he howled enraged.

*******

"What was that?" retorted Washu as an indicator light blinked on her computer 
screen.  She punched up the data stream and studied the parameters.   She 
whistled in amazement as the specifics came through.
"That was one hell of an anomaly," she began.  "Now where are you," she mumbled 
trying to fix its coordinates.  Her face went blank when the computer 
triangulated the anomalies location.
Tyran Prime.

*****

"Just once," moaned Ayeka as she pulled herself up off of Tenchi and Marnot, "I 
wish that we could do that with out landing on top of one another."  Marnot 
picked himself up and extended a hand to Tenchi.
"The champion is spoken for," he smiled, "but I kind of enjoy having you fall on 
top of me like that princess."  Tenchi just sighed as Ayeka tried to control her 
temper.
"Beast," she said under her breath.
"Only when I choose to be," replied Marnot, his face taking on wolfish features.  
Ayeka just shook her head.  Tenchi blinked a time or two to adjust his eyes to 
the lowered light in the sanctuary.  This is how the temple had to have appeared 
millennia ago he thought.  He took off the backpack and began to search for the 
palm lights again.  
"That was a fine piece of work," complimented Marnot as he took one of the palm 
lights.
"But we lost the medallion," commented Tenchi.
"Have faith young champion," began Marnot as he scanned his surroundings.  "It 
shall be returned to you."
"What's that?" asked Tenchi the muffled sound of boot falls echoed in the 
distant.  Marnot stopped for a second to attune the sound.  
"It appears our friends have followed us," he said grimly.
"How many?" inquired Ayeka.  
"At least a dozen, maybe more."  
"We've got to move," said Tenchi as he took the lead.  Ayeka picked up the pace 
as well.  Marnot grinned as Tenchi and Ayeka pulled a way from.
"He is a fine champion," he said before he sprinted after them.  Tenchi was 
beginning to wonder if the guards were still behind them when they came to a 
dead end.  The corridor extended to the right and to the left of them.  
"Which way?" mused Ayeka.  Before they could deliberate on the matter a 
hypervelocity shot barely missed Tenchi's head, scorching the wall in front of 
him.  They quickly dashed to the right taking refuge in the ell.  
"We've got to draw their fire," began Marnot as more scars were made on the wall 
in front of them.  "I'll go," he began.
"No," interjected Tenchi.  "I'll go.  You take Ayeka and keep her safe."
"Tenchi," began Ayeka.  "That is too risky."
"The champion has decided," stated Marnot.  Tenchi nodded to Ayeka and handed 
her the master key.  "I believe the ways will rejoin further on," continued 
Marnot.  "We shall wait for you at the chapel."
"Alright," breathed Tenchi as he prepared to dash across the hall.  The shots 
had stopped but the footfalls of their assailants were still coming.  He offered 
a quick prayer for guidance and strength to whomever may be listening and 
sprinted across the opening.
"Be safe," thought Ayeka as Tenchi ran through a barrage of hypervelocity shots.  
Just as he dove for cover one of the shots tagged his backpack, sending him 
tumbling.  Tenchi landed hard on his right shoulder and thanked the gods it 
wasn't his left.  He scrambled to his feet and motioned for Ayeka and Marnot to 
get going.  The guardian nodded and pulled the reluctant princess down the 
corridor.  
Tenchi could hear the commander's voice bark orders in the Tyran tongue instead 
of the galactic basic he had been speaking earlier.  The words had a certain 
guttural, yet rhythmic quality about them.  But now was not the time to ponder 
intergalactic linguistics.  He knew all too well what the commander had ordered.

"Where are we going?" panted Ayeka as she tried to keep pace with Marnot.  About 
that time a pulse shot scarred the wall to their side.
"At least they can't aim well," joked Marnot as they hauled down the corridor.  
Ayeka failed to see any humor in the fact that the people shooting at them had 
poor aiming skills.  "Ahead," said Marnot as they came to an antechamber.  The 
approaching chamber was lit by numerous skylights and arched windows compared to 
the dim torch light of the hall.
"To my left," breathed Marnot as they dodged behind a column.  "We can ambush 
them here," he explained to Ayeka who was trying to regain her wind.
"Very well," she said.
"We can't get them all but we can slow them down," continued Marnot as he began 
to take the form of a werewolf.  
"That is not necessary," said Ayeka as the soldiers drew closer.  Marnot looked 
a little puzzled as she ignited the blade of Tenchi-ken.  "Allow me," she 
begged.  Marnot returned to his human form and took a step back, not exactly 
sure what Ayeka was going to do.  He had a personal policy never to argue with 
foul tempered princesses holding energy blades.
With a yell Ayeka sliced through the column in front of them as their pursuers 
came to the antechamber.  The blue hot blade of Tenchi-ken made easy work of the 
two-meter thick column.
"Nice," commented Marnot as the column fell partially blocking the doorway.  
"That should keep them busy for a while."
"Thank you," said Ayeka as she extinguished the blade.  "Where to?" she asked.  
Marnot looked around the chamber as they headed to the other end.  Meter high 
golden runes circled the top of the walls.
"Can you read this?" he asked Ayeka.
"Not very well," she confessed.  "My ancient Juraian is not as polished as it 
should be."
"That is understandable," continued Marnot.  Ayeka was not sure if that was an 
insult or not.  She let it pass by as Marnot read the inscription.
"Dedicated to Mistress Tokimi; Lord of the Winds; Dominatrix of all that shall 
Change; Master of All.  Honor her essence.  Change comes to all.  All shall 
change, save the two at her side.  Heaven to Ocean, Ocean to Earth, Earth back 
to the Heaven: All shall change."
"No mention of the spirit stone?" inquired Ayeka.  
"None princess," he continued.  Before he could finish the inscription the shock 
from a muffled blast swept past them.  They looked back to see the entrance to 
the hall covered in smoke and debris.
"Figures," commented Marnot as the first of the Tyran soldiers emerged from the 
smoke.  "Someone always carries demolition charges."  He and Ayeka resumed their 
sprint towards the other end of the chamber.
"They would not be good little soldiers if they weren't prepared," huffed Ayeka.
"I know," continued Marnot as they dashed out of the chamber, "but it is 
slightly annoying."
"Always."

****

Tenchi could hear the squad of soldiers following him draw closer.  By the 
sounds of it there were at least seven people following him, may be more.  He 
dashed around the next corner as the first shots whizzed past his head.  When 
that stray shot had barely tagged his backpack earlier the force had knocked him 
down.  He could just imagine what being hit by a full strength would do to him.  
Actually he tried not to imagine what such a hit would do, but the image of 
himself being perforated in a volley of fire kept splashing across his mind.  He 
cursed himself for reading all of the sci-fi comics that he had over the years.  
A fertile imagination is not what he needed right now.
After rounding a corner Tenchi came to an abrupt halt: the room in front of him 
moving.  Not in the sense of vertigo or motion sickness, but the floor was 
rising up and down in about four meter squares.  They would rise up about five 
meters then come back down.  What purpose they served was beyond Tenchi, but he 
could use them to his advantage.  He peered around the corner to check the 
Tyran's position.  They were still following him.  Judging their distance from 
their footfalls Tenchi got on one of the pillars as it began to rise.  It 
reached its apogee as the Tyran soldiers poured into the room.
"Where is he commander Ksnis?" inquired one soldier as they surveyed the rising 
and falling platforms.
"Come out!" barked the commander as he and his men poured into the room.  "Face 
your termination like a man, if a piece of Juraian excrement like yourself can 
do such a thing!"
"Not today!" yelled Tenchi as he came flying off the top of the platform, Light 
Hawk sword drawn.  An arch of blue light followed as he cut through the barrels 
of two pulse rifles.  As he hit the ground he rolled to his left avoiding the 
fire from the others.  
"Die!" screamed the commander as a hail of yellow energy slugs perforated the 
spot where Tenchi had been.  Using his own skills augmented by the power of 
Jurai Tenchi bounded off a descending platform and disarmed several soldiers.  
He caught one of them on the down strike, trailing iridescent blue in the wake 
of his blade.  As he landed he dropped down to avoid the butt of a pulse rifle 
being swung towards his head.  From there he swept a foot around toppling the 
soldier.  The falling Tyran lost hold of his rifle and Tenchi kindly split in 
two for him.
Pushing off again he vaulted over the three remaining Tyran soldiers and landed 
behind them.  Two spun around only to have their rifles sliced apart by the 
white-hot blade of the Light Hawk Sword, followed by a stiff roundhouse kick, 
incapacitating them.  The third swung his around like a club, trying to catch 
Tenchi off guard.  Skillfully Tenchi parried the blow and sent the Tyran 
tumbling.  
As he was about to disarm the soldier he hears the capacitor of another rifle 
hum to life.  He dodged to the left just as a hypervelocity shot superheated the 
air where he had just been.  It struck the still staggering guard with a 
horrible force.  He arched back, screaming in pain as the full strength shot 
began to burn him away.  Finally the screaming stopped as the energy shorted out 
his nervous system.  The lifeless body fell to it knees then toppled over.  A 
charred corpse is all that remained of the Tyran solider.
"That is the price of failure," commented the commander as he stepped out from 
behind a descending platform.  "And the fate of all Juraian pok ta who defile 
the name of T' K' Mai!" he finished leveling hi rifle at Tenchi.  Tenchi was not 
afraid of the commander, or his weapon.  He only wondered if the Light Hawk 
shields could absorb that much power.
"Your T' K' Mai is really Tokimi," began Tenchi as he tried to get under the 
skin of the commander.  "She was one of the Juraian trinity that fell twenty 
thousand years ago."
"Lies!" barked the commander.  "T' K' Mai is the chosen of the Tyrans.  Not a 
Juraian whore."
"T' K' Mai," said Tenchi slowly, deliberately slurring the gutturals, "is as 
Juraian as Tsunami, who I know on a personal basis."  The commander's ire was 
beginning to rise.  He had heard just about as much of this rubbish as he could 
stand.
"You know the false Juraian?" he laughed.  "Another reason to terminate you."  
The commander raise his rifle and fired.  At the same instant Tenchi hurled the 
Light Hawk sword at the rifle.  Guided by the will of Tsunami it shot from his 
hands like a bolt of lightening, catching the pulse rifle just as the shot was 
leaving the muzzle.  A tremendous flash of blue and yellow light followed as 
Tenchi and the commander were knocked back.  When the flash dissipated Tenchi 
found the commander standing perfectly still looking at the smoking remains of 
his rifle.
Rage flashed through the commander's eyes.  He spat a guttural profanity in the 
Tyran tongue before he lunged towards Tenchi.  Tenchi tried to side step the 
commander but his tackle hit home.  He pushed Tenchi back into rising platform, 
jarring his already tender left shoulder.  The commander saw Tenchi wince from 
this and capitalized.  He delivered several thunderous blows to his gut before 
tossed Tenchi aside like a rag doll.
"Weakling," commented commander Ksnis as he flexed his knuckles.  The ribs of 
this little Juraian were tougher than he thought they would be.  He would just 
have to make him suffer even more to make up for that.

***

"This is getting old," huffed Ayeka as she and Marnot tried to evade the Tyran's 
pursuing them.  
"That it is princess," replied Marnot.  The sanctuary had changed several times 
since they left the great hall.  The first hall was octagonal and rotating, 
making life difficult for anyone trying to traverse it.  What followed that was 
a series of meandering passages that left one not knowing whether they were 
coming or going.  Finally they had pulled out of that mess and seemed to be what 
was a normal passageway.
"We should have dispatched them when we had the chance," said Marnot.
"I know," began Ayeka.  "You've told me at least a dozen times by now!"
"Just making sure you know."  In their haste to escape from their pursuers 
neither of them noticed the flagstone that they had just run across was sinking 
into the floor.  The first sign of any trouble was when the floor in front of 
them ended abruptly.
"That's nice," commented Marnot as the floor in front of them gave way.  Ayeka 
steadied herself on the guardian spirit as a chasm opened up between them and 
the other side of the hall.
"We can't stay here," she commented as the first pulse shots began to land 
around them.
"Tell me something princess," began Marnot as he eyed the ledge across from 
them.  It was several meters lower than the one they were on.  "How much do you 
weigh?"
"What?" exclaimed Ayeka, not amused in the least at Marnot for inquiring about 
such a thing right now.
"Tell me," he continued as large black wings began to extend from his back.  
Before Ayeka could reply he scooped her up into his arms.
"About forty-five kilograms," said Ayeka as she wrapped her arms around his 
neck.
"I hope you're right," said Marnot as he took a running leap into the chasm.

***

Tenchi gasped for air as the Tyran commander's fist drove into his gut again and 
again.  He had managed to land a few solid shots on the commander, but his 
shoulder prevented him from doing anything to serious.  Right now he a way out, 
to regroup and it did not look like he could find one.
"You are a pathetic excuse of a Juraian," spat commander Ksnis as he threw 
Tenchi down again.  "And for what you did to T' K' Mai's temple your whole race 
will suffer."  Tenchi managed to get to one knee as the commander gloated over 
him.
"I feel sorry for you," said Tenchi.
"You, feel sorry for, me?" laughed commander Ksnis in contempt of Tenchi's 
incredulous statement.
"Yes," panted Tenchi as he managed to get back to his feet.  "Your hatred and 
prejudice have blinded your people.  Until you overcome them you will always be 
in Jurai's shadow."
"You will die for such lies," hissed the commander.
"Maybe," said Tenchi as he held out his right hand, forming the Light Hawk 
sword.  The commander drew his short energy sword and ignited its red blade.  
After a moment of decision Tenchi and the Tyran commander lunged for each other.


The Odyssey shall continue in Gale Force.


William 'Thundergod' Nichols 1/13/02