"Tenchi Muyo!" and all characters herein are the property of Pioneer and AIC, save those created by the author. "Ah! My Goddess" is also the property of Pioneer. Tenchi Muyo! Odyssey Chapter Eighteen: Flash Point by William Nichols 07: 02: 23: 47 Washu was busily at work in her lab when Katsuhito slipped by her sensor system. He knew that every time he did so it would frustrate Washu, but it was so easy to do. It was simply a matter of a little meditation and using his Jurai power to mask his vital signs, heat signature, and what ever else Washu may be scanning for. Katsuhito silently walked right up behind her and decided to wait for his opportunity. "Where are you?" pondered Little Washu aloud. In her excitement over Kiyone and Mihoshi's return and Katsuhito's revelation she had forgotten to track the signature of Tenchi-ken. She was certain that Tenchi and Ayeka had finished what ever they were doing on Tyran Prime and moved on to the next phase of the Odyssey. The big question was where? "Be patient little Washu," came the voice of Katsuhito from behind her. "Don't do that!" she shrieked nearly jumping out of her skin. The old shrine master just chuckled as she tried to regain her breath. Somehow he always evaded her sensors and managed to sneak in right behind her. Every time. As Katsuhito laughed Washu was beginning to think about implanting a sensor beacon in him one night while he slept. 'Nah,' she concluded. 'He'd still find a way in here...' "Was my tale of any help to you miss Washu?" Katsuhito asked as he took a seat next to the diminutive genius. "That it was," revealed Washu. "I just hope I'm not too late." "Have faith in my grandson, Washu. He may surprise all of us." "I have all the faith in the world that Tenchi will be just fine." She paused for a second to pinch the bridge of her nose, trying to alleviate the throbbing pain. Too many hours of work and not enough rest were finally catching up with her. "But we both know that if I'm right it will take more than the Elders champion to turn the tide." "I know little Washu. But Tenchi, Ayeka, and Ryoko should be more than the match." "Last time it took the Elder's champion and THREE goddess to turn the tide. And in the end the champion was killed, and the goddesses were never the same. We expended so much energy to defeat the darkness..." Washu's voice faltered as more echoes of days gone by returned to her. "But Tenchi is different," comforted Katsuhito. "He has inherited the spirit of the earth and of Jurai." "I hope that is enough Lord Katsuhito," Washu said as she unsuccessfully tried to locate the keys signature. Katsuhito saw the growing frustration on her face and smiled. Even the great Washu could be stumped from time to time. "Enough talking like we are just a couple of fossils," he laughed. "If you try a cross spectral analysis you should find my grandson," he said as he rose to his feet. "Alright," began Washu as she entered the commands to her keypad. "There is an ion storm in quadrant oh-five-two that's making..." To her amazement the system locked in on the signature of the master key. "That was amazing," she said turning around to face Katsuhito, but he was not there. Washu blinked a few times to make sure her eyes were working properly and to be sure that he had not slipped into the shadows. Nothing. "That's really starting to bug me," she said to the air around her. Finally she gave up and went back to her work. ***************** Marnot was sitting silently by the rekindled campfire when a familiar voice came from behind him. "I see you survived the night." Marnot turned from the campfire as Baltus shimmered into view behind him. "What concern is it of yours," he replied in a sharp tone. Baltus narrowed his steel blue eyes on his ancient friend. "The Elder are not happy about this," he admonished. "You could have jeopardized the entire Odyssey." Marnot sighed and shook his head. "I would never do such a thing." "Then the princess means nothing to you," inquired Baltus. Marnot began to shift around and fidget with the spit that breakfast was cooking on, deliberately avoiding answering. "Tell me now or you shall be replaced on this Odyssey." "She..." he began slowly, "means...nothing to me." "Good," replied Baltus coldly. "See to it that you mean it." Before another word could be said Baltus vanished as quickly as he appeared. Marnot sighed heavily and continued to cook this mornings breakfast. He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, searching for the truth inside of him. What he could not see was the silent tear that slid down Ayeka's cheek. Marnot was returned from his deep thought by a mumble coming from Tenchi's direction. Obviously the young champion was having a good dream. "Ryoko..." he half-mumbled as he rolled over. A wicked grin slipped across Marnot's face. This was a perfect opportunity and his mischievous side would not let him pass it up. He balanced the spit against a rock and quietly crept to Tenchi's side. About this time Ayeka decided to get up. Imagine her surprise when she saw Marnot hovering over Tenchi. He held a finger to his lips and motioned towards Tenchi. The champion was grinning and mumbling something that was inaudible, but from the looks of things he was having a very good dream. Ayeka hushed a giggle as she realized what was going on. "Ryoko..." mumbled Tenchi again. This time Marnot played along. "Yes my dear," he purred impersonating Ryoko's voice. A smile shot across Tenchi's face. Obviously his dream just turned up a notch. For her part Ayeka was doing her best not laugh. Marnot knelt down and brought his lips close to Tenchi's ear. "It's time to wake up love," he said in Ryoko's voice. "Mmmm..." uttered the still sleeping champion as he rolled over and opened his eyes. He fully expected to find Ryoko lying next to him. Instead he found a wildly grinning guardian spirit. In the distance a flock of birds took flight as Tenchi's scream pierced the morning quiet. "That was perfect!" howled Marnot as Tenchi regained his bearings. "I agree," added Ayeka. She was laughing so hard her side was beginning to hurt. "That..." began Tenchi as he tried to catch his breath and slow his heart rate, "was anything but funny!" Marnot just laughed harder at Tenchi's stern expression. "It was only a joke," he pleaded in Ryoko's voice again. "You were in on this too?" he said to Ayeka who was wiping a tear from her eye. "Yes," she laughed. "Some you friends you are," grumbled Tenchi as he got out of his bedroll and began to fumble through Washu's backpack. "And where are you going?" asked the still laughing Marnot. Tenchi's answer was the roll of toilet paper he held up before walking off into the woods, still grumbling. Ayeka and Marnot sat in total quiet until Tenchi was out of sight then the fell back into hysterics. "I needed that," said Marnot finally. Ayeka smiled as she began to roll up her sleeping bag. "As did I," she added. There was too much that needed to be said between them, but now was not the right time. "Princess," began Marnot. "I apologize for my actions last night. I was out of line." "No apologies are necessary," Ayeka replied as she took a seat next to him. "I understand a little more now than I did then." "You heard Baltus this morning, didn't you?" asked Marnot as his heart sank into his boots. Ayeka nodded. "And I know you were coerced into saying what you did," she replied. "Your first duty is to guide Tenchi through this ordeal, not flirt with lonely Juraian princesses." Marnot sighed as Ayeka finished. He wanted to contradict her, but the knew the truth in her words. Yet his own feelings kept trying to betray his stoic countenance in the matter. "I will honor your request from last night," he finally said. "Thank you Marnot," whispered Ayeka as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, causing the indomitable guardian spirit to blush. "Did I miss something last night?" asked Tenchi as he returned from the woods. Instantly Ayeka and Marnot scooted apart and tried to act as innocently as possible. "The princess was just, she was just..." stammered Marnot as he tried to come up with a viable excuse. "Telling Marnot how good breakfast smells," finished Ayeka who was beginning to sweat. "Ri-i-i-ight..." said Tenchi as he scratched the back of his head. Ayeka and Marnot both tried to act inconspicuous while Tenchi sat down across from them. "Speaking of breakfast," continued Tenchi as he rotated his left shoulder, "what's to eat." To his surprise all the soreness was gone. In fact he felt better than he did when the Odyssey began. "I see you have recovered," Marnot said to Tenchi as he handed the young champion a slice of the roasted critter. "What ever you did worked," replied Tenchi in between bites. "Marnot could have gotten into trouble for doing that," said Ayeka as she too began to eat. "How so?" "The Elder could have chosen to punish me for using the healing touch like that," explained Marnot. "But they were impressed by how you handled that Tyran worm." Tenchi cringed visibly at the mention of Ksnis. Compared to Ksnis fighting Kagato and Kain had been walks in the park. "He was skilled," added Tenchi out of respect fort his opponent "But most importantly I got the medallion back." He pulled the gold disk out from around his neck and showed the newly acquired diamond of the wind spirit. "Well done," complimented Marnot. "Daphne gave it back after all." "Daphne?" asked Ayeka sarcastically. "She was the guardian spirit," replied Tenchi trying to avoid the subject. "One known for her tastes in men," added Marnot trying to get a rise out of Tenchi. "And the escapades she has with them." Tenchi nearly choked as Marnot revealed that little bit about Daphne's past. "Just a guardian spirit?" asked Ayeka trying to further Marnot's fun. "Nothing happened!" exclaimed Tenchi beating his chest. "Sure..." said Ayeka and Marnot. 'Great,' thought Tenchi. 'All I need is for them to tale something like that to Ryoko when this is over! She'll kill me!' "Your indiscretions are safe with me," laughed Marnot. "I believe it is time that we continue this Odyssey." "Agreed," said Tenchi as he held the medallion up to the morning light. A ray glinted off it starting the now familiar process. A swirl of multi colored light sprang from the medallion and took the form of the forest clearing that had been camping in. All of them watched as the holographic image passed through the forest clearing and across a nearby plain. A herd of antelope dashed across the steppe as the flat land gave way to beginnings of a barren expanse. From there it swept into a canyonous area. Steep cliffs colored burnt reds and browns towered overhead as the dark orifice of the next sanctuary was revealed. Letters blazed across the image before they solidified into readable script.. "Here in lies the element of fire, essence of Washu," read Tenchi. "Washu," said Ayeka quietly as the imaged faded from sight leaving only the script, which likewise faded away. "So we are after the fire stone," mused Marnot as he rubbed his chin. "Near as I can tell we have at least twenty kilometers to cover before we reach the canyon." "You could have landed us a little closer," jabbed Ayeka as she put out the campfire. "Eh, it's a livin'," commented Marnot as Ayeka stuck her tongue out at him. "I was just looking for a clear spot for the champion to rest. Besides I have no clue as to where the sanctuary will decide to reveal itself." "I see." "That and the hunting smelled good around here," he added bearing a fang or two, which seemed to grow as he did. "The truth is revealed," said Ayeka faking a sense of wonder in her voice. "All right!" said Tenchi trying to referee between Ayeka and Marnot who seemed to back to their normal selves. "Lets get moving." As they left the small clearing and began to make their way through the forest a pair of eyes appeared from the darkness. They watched Tenchi, Ayeka, and Marnot until they faded into the shadows of the forest, then they faded away as well. *** "Come on, answer!" said a somewhat irritated Urd as the phone seemed to ring forever. It had been nearly five days since Professor Washu had called her and she was starting to wonder about what might be going on. 'A quick call to heaven might help,' she figured. Finally the connection was made. "Yggdrasil Operations," came the voice from the other end of line. "This is Urd, goddess second class," she began as she twirled the phone line. "Please connect me to Peorth please." "One moment please." Urd sighed as the cheesy elevator music played along with a recorded asking to be patient while her call was connected. Finally Peorth answered. "Urd!" she said. "How are Belldandy and Keiichi doing?" "Fine, fine. Listen: is there some danger brewing that we should know about?" "We've been busy restoring Yggdrasil ever since the Celestin incident," Peorth began. "So I'm not up on everything that's going on." "So there's no great danger threatening the earth then?" asked Urd skeptically. Peorth was hiding something and she knew it. "Why ask?" "Oh nothing really," Urd said sarcastically. "Its just that Professor Washu called me a few days ago asking me to be ready to come to Okayama at a moments notice." Dead silence passed between the two goddesses. "Hello? Peorth? Are you there?" "I'm here," Peorth finally replied. "You do know that they have selected another champion don't you." "Who has selected a champion?" "THEY have selected a champion," repeated Peorth placing extra emphasis on the 'they' part. Urd's eyes widened as it dawned on her who Peorth was talking about. "Oh my..." *** Dead silence permeated every part of the lab for the first time in its existence. In a corner not far from her daughters stasis field Washu sat reading the ancient text that she had 'retrieved' from the science academy. Everything had to be perfect, down to the minutest detail. "Little Washu?" asked Sasami as she walked up behind the engrossed genius. No response. To make matters stranger Sasami couldn't even hear her own voice. She looked up to Kiyone who just shrugged. "LITTLE WASHU!" Kiyone yelled at the top of her lunges, but there was still no response. This went on for a minute or so before Washu realized someone was in the lab besides her. "Oh!" she said, but Sasami and Kiyone only saw her lips move. Washu slapped her forehead as realized why Sasami and Kiyone had such confused looks on their faces. She hopped down from her cushion and walked over to one of her machines. She smiled and hit the large red button on the control panel. With a soft whir the machine powered down and all the usual sounds of the lab returned. "Is that better?" asked Washu as she smiled at her machine. "I guess," said a confused Kiyone. "What was that?" "Yeah?" seconded Sasami. Washu laughed maniacally for the first time since this whole ordeal started. "I was trying to read in here but there was too much noise," she elaborated. "So I got the wild hair and decided to build a sound wave dampener!" "A sound wave dampener?" asked Sasami. "Sound travels in waves," began Washu as she pulled down a chart. "My machine- "Little Washu," interrupted Kiyone. She knew that it was better to stop Washu before she got started, or you would be there for a while. A long while. "You seem to be feeling better." "Yep," replied the diminutive genius as she hopped back up on her floating cushion. It floated down a bit then readjusted its height so that she was right under her study desk. "I have been going over this and it's really fascinating." Kiyone looked over Washu's shoulder to see if she could understand any of the text Washu had been studying. To amazement the page was blank. "But Little Washu," she began trying to figure out what was going on. "Did we get the wrong book?" "Only certain people can see the writing in this book," Washu began as she scribbled a note on her ledger. "Isn't that right Sasami?" The little Princess looked somewhat confusedly up towards Kiyone before she glanced at the page. She gasped as she saw the writing and glyphs appear before her very eyes. Washu smiled as Sasami began to read the verse. "Sasami?" Kiyone asked as the young princesses eyes darted from line to line, or what looked like from line to line. For her part Kiyone still saw a blank page. "I knew you could see it," Washu said confidently. *** "Are we very far away?" asked Ayeka as the red and oranges of the setting sun began to color the alien sky. "I would say we have to cover six more kilometers at least," said Marnot as he held a hand up to shield his eyes. Everyone stopped for a moment as Tenchi checked Washu's orb. The chronometer said that just less than eight hours had passed since they began their hike. "The days must be shorter here," he commented as he powered the orb back down. "So it would seem," commented Marnot. "We need to find a place to camp for the night." "We can't waist the time," Tenchi said as he thought of the time constraints on this Odyssey. "Remember," began Marnot as he laid a hand on Tenchi's shoulder. "Time will be suspended for such periods." "I'll have to take your word for it," said Tenchi as he resumed the hike. According to Washu's orb they had a little under a week to find the other two spirit stones before Ryoko's time ran out. Before Marnot had scared the living daylights of him he had been having the most pleasant dream about Ryoko... "And why are you smiling?" inquired Ayeka. "Oh nothing," said Tenchi as his blush got even brighter. "It's one of two things," began Marnot as he ticked the options off on his fingers. "He was either thinking about that dream he was having this morning, or he was thinking about Daphne." "I was not!" shouted Tenchi in defense of himself. "Which one?" goaded Ayeka. "The dream or miss Daphne?" "Could have been both," said Marnot rubbing his chin. "That is what I would have dreamed about," he said as Ayeka shot him a look that could mummify someone on the spot. "That is if I was the champion," he added in an attempt to save his skin. "So tell me," began Ayeka. "What did this Daphne character look like?" "Yes," seconded Marnot. "What form did she take this time? A winged nymph? The half-nude Venus rising from the ocean? " "She was fully clothed!" replied Tenchi. "And she looked normal to me." "Normal?" "Well she did take Ryoko's form once," admitted Tenchi somewhat sheepishly. "Ryoko clothed or Ryoko nude?" prodded Ayeka. Tenchi just shook his head in disgust. He never dreamed that Ayeka could take such delight in tormenting him. Then again he did drag her off on this Odyssey. Tenchi let a sly grin creep onto his face. He figured he might as well go along with them now, but after this was over he was going to place a call into Jurai and have a talk with Misaki. He was certain that she could provide him with something embarrassing to hold over Ayeka for this... "I think we have embarrassed the Champion enough for one day," Marnot said with a laugh. "We need to make camp before it becomes completely dark." "Is it wise to camp on an open plain?" asked Ayeka, thinking about whatever may be lurking about. "I feel sorry for what ever decides to bother this group," laughed Tenchi. "I concur," added Marnot. "Between the three of us we should be able to handle whatever might come lurking along." *** "That Princess!" fumed Ryoko's spirit from the astral plain as she watched Ayeka and Marnot tease Tenchi. "I will get her for that!" She wanted to help Tenchi so much it hurt at times. Many years ago as she watched him play as a young boy outside her cave she promised herself that if she was ever freed that she would protect him always. And now she was stuck in some parallel realm unable to do anything but watch. Ryoko sighed as she watched them make camp for the night. "Tenchi..." The Odyssey shall continue... Thanks again for following Odyssey and I hope you are enjoying this little tale of mine. About the last chapter: I know the way I portrayed Yosho was out of character of what we see in the series, but we never really get to see his youth. I just portrayed him as a brash, arrogant young noble out to prove him self. As most teenagers he had a pretty bad case of the "me" syndrome and I wanted to create a series of events that might explain the reasoning behind his more humble nature that we see. Also I tried to blend the OVA with the events in Tenchi Muyo in Love II (Tenchi Forever). After thinking about a little more it needs a little tweaking, but I feel that it will work for the purposes of this story. Once again I thank you for reading Odyssey. Thank you. William Nichols