Tenchi Masaki and all other characters except Kyo and Dr. Nova are copyright Pioneer/AIC Inc. The song and excerpts from "Porcelain" and elements from the music video are copyright by Moby, Ltd. Lyrics to "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" written and copyright to Genesis, Ltd. Elements to "The Evil Dead" belongs to Sam Raimi. This storyline and plot (everything except for the characters from Tenchi Muyo series, and the lyrics, songs and movie elements.) is copyright under Aaron Rutherford. You can contact Aaron at Archangel958@aol.com. This fanfic is purely original, and is an unofficial story about the Tenchi Muyo series. Prologue It's been almost a month since the unexpected visitor, Kyo, came to the Masaki household, creating even MORE chaos among the prominently-female group. He brought along Mihoshi's partner (against her will, and unintentionally), and close ties to others became clearer. But I'll just make things easier for everyone by saying that EVERYTHING IS BACK TO NORMAL! Washu welcomed the two visitors with open arms and syringes. Sasami enjoyed Kyo's company, while Nobuyuki started to be on the brink of insanity. "Too...much...estrogen..." can usually be heard to recall whenever he "accidentally stumbled" into the onsen, JUST when the women were bathing. Tenchi had someone to talk to that's finally his own gender, and Kiyone... she knows Mihoshi isn't dead. All was right with the world... you know what? I'm gonna try and stop the foreshadowing for a second to let you know that all is NOT right with the friggin' world. What, you think Lady Tokimi was just gonna take this lying down? NO! To be honest, she sent out a fleet of ships, all commanded by loyal followers, to investigate; and just to help things out, she joined in, as well. Track 1 Tenchi sighed as more dust blew upon the Masaki shrine. He seemed to get twice as many chores around the summer time. His father said it's purpose is to "augment" his allowence, but he bets the real reason is that Nobuyuki fell asleep after 5 minutes of sweeping. Visiting with friends became a rarity, but it was a rarity to begin with, since he lives as far away from civilization, as possible. Wiping his brow, he looked up to see a figure perched upon a cliff, staring into the sky. "Hey, Kyo!" Yelled Tenchi. The figure was startled by Tenchi, and fell down off the cliff. Kyo had been a bit more light-hearted ever since he and Kiyone came, but he still had a bit of moodiness in him. Those feelings clashed, and combined with the usual awkward stage a teenage boy goes through around that time, Kyo was a becoming human casualty waiting to happen. He and the others didn't mind, though. "It's just a phase", Grandpa said. The moaning from the fallen Kyo was quickly blocked out by the beeping of Tenchi's watch. It was 11:30: Time for Washu's "Class". He knew that it was going to be a busy day; Lord knows what Washu has in mind for her next experiment (Kyo volunteered, but pretty much had no idea what he was getting himself into), and they planned a trip to Auntie's house to visit, but mostly take a dip in her pool. The way things are going, Tenchi hoped that she'd be kind enough to forgive about what happened the last time they visited. He walked down the steps of the Masaki shrine and made his way to the portal-door, where inside, Washu's "class" was being held. A moment later, Kyo stumbled out of the underbrush and limped to Washu's class. Kyo twitched his right hand. The metal contraptions attached to his fingers were bizarre enough, but the cuffs and helmet of steel was just WIERD. He looked up to see Washu, getting the "class's" attention. The class quite simply consisted of Tenchi, Ryoko, Aeka, Mihoshi, Sasami, and Kiyone, all in the usual Japanese-school get-ups. "You comfy enough?" Said Washu. It was yet another experiment, with Kyo strapped to what seemed like an electric chair. "I'm a little..." "LET'S GET STARTED!" And Washu started up the machine, while the class shifted in their chairs and looked up at the giant screen. Washu puts on a graduate-ceremony cap and points to the screen, now turning from black to a neon blue, to static, to a compilation of screens. "Now, I'm just gonna recap on what we saw." And she pointed to one screen, which enlarged to full-screen size. "Our first specimen on the mind-tv-converter... thingie... experiment, was Ryo-Ohki!" She then played a snippet of super-deformed Washus, Ryokos, Tenchis, etc. and CARROTS falling down in an endless fashion. "Now, what is the majority on Ryo-Ohki's mind?" Silence. "Anyone? Anyone?" Silence still. "...Bueller? Bueller?" "Carrots!" Shouted Sasami! "And the lady gets a cigar!" Joked Washu, as she pulled up another screen. "The second was Mihoshi, whom I would like to thank personnally for volunteering ::cough::waste of time::cough::." The video showed crayon drawings of Ryoko with devil-horns, Tenchi with a halo and Kyo with a rain cloud above his head. "Now, what is the emphasis on THIS time?" "OH! OOH! I KNOW THIS ONE! CARROTS!" Said Mihoshi. The class shifted around and looked at her. "What? No!" Washu was dumbfounded. "It's..." Mihoshi simply stared at the screen, giggling incessantly. "It's... It...It..I..." Washu moved on. "The third one was from my precious, RYOKO!" And the third screen pulled up, showing, you guessed it, TENCHI TENCHI TENCHI! The whole video was played out like an RPG, with Ryoko, Tenchi and Ryo-Ohki on the "good side" and Aeka in some sort of morphed dragon form, on the "bad side". Ryoko held up her arms, and a sign saying "Summon" appeared on the top of the screen. The camera moved up, and Ryo-Ohki (in ship form) and Mihoshi and Kiyone in the Yagami came out of the darkened sky, unleashing a salvo of energy upon Aeka. A white "9" appeared right next to her, followed by an immeasurable series of zeros. Aeka turned red and melted into the ground. Ryoko celebrated the winning battle by jumping into Tenchi's arms. They both embraced, and Ryoko locked her legs around Tenchi-- then the screen turned black. "I'd show ya more, but ::cough:: Sasami's with us, and it gets a little... NEXT EXPERIMENT!" And she pulled a lever. A surge of energy shot through the wires, and right into Kyo's headgear. The screen turned to static as the chair started to pick up data from Kyo's brain. It didn't really HURT him, but his eye twitched a little (it was a habit of his). The invention worked fine, but once the feedback had been recieved, it immediately start to play the video, but know that Washu didn't cue it up; it just started on it's own. The video played like a stylish music video, with Moby's "Porcelain" being played. The setting was at Tenchi's house, and everything was tinted a dark blue as Kyo walked onto the front porch. Ryoko, Aeka and the others may SEEM perfectly fine with Tenchi, the truth is they depend on him, and evidently take him for granted, sometimes. Parts of this were shown in Kyo's "music video", but was displayed very subtly. Kyo walked past Ryoko, hiding in the shadows, until Tenchi walked down from the stairs. She materialized right in front of him, and he typically face-faulted, and FREEZE! The two are frozen in time. Kyo, startled, looked at the fleshy statues of Ryoko and Tenchi, and continued on. He looked into the window of the door leading to Washu's room, and he can see Washu scrutinizing some sort of biological creature in a tank. The creature exploded into pieces of rainbow- colored mass, and she turned around and laughed triumphantly-- and FREEZE! Washu is another frozen pantomime. "So this is goodbye." Said Kyo, lip-synching to the lyrics to Moby's ballad as it played on. He turned around to see Aeka and Tenchi (again) staring out to the azure sun. He looked around again to find himself no longer inside the house, but on a cliff overseeing the rural region they all live in. Tenchi and Aeka spoke of something, but was lost in the wind as they looked into eacho other's eyes-- and FREEZE! Locked in time forever. Turn around again to see Kiyone and Mihoshi, struggling to start up the engine to their destroyed Yagami. Mihoshi passed Kiyone the wrong bottle of lubricant-- and FREEZE! Mihoshi is frozen while recoiling in surprise from the explosion; Kiyone and the explosion were also still. Kyo clumb down the cliff, and ended up at the Masaki tree, and could see Sasami playing with Ryo-Ohki; Sasami playfull tossed Ryo-Ohki in the air, while Ryo-Ohki "miya'd" in happiness. This moment was captured forever-- FREEZE! And a black flash flew by, to show a final glimpse of Kyo's fevered mind. He had set up a camera, and was patiently waiting for the family to get in place for a picture. All the girls hung over, near and under Tenchi, embracing him somehow, and Kyo snapped the picture... Once the flash dissipated, he was alone to himself; what happened to the girls?-- FREEZE! All the girls: Ryoko, Aeka, Sasami, Washu, Mihoshi and Kiyone were kept, frozen in time... Tenchi is nowhere to be found. They were all embracing nothingness. Kyo's blue-tinted eyes started to sparkle softly, then stopped. This green iris in his eyes were now nonexistant, as he viewed the incomprehensibly saddening picture. The smiles painted on each's face, happy for something; some unknown thing. What would they say if Tenchi was gone? What would they do? Kyo prayed that they wouldn't stay like this. It was merely an empty, blue photograph of the girls and nothing more. It was unbearable in it's tranquility and solemnity; there was no more Lady Tokimi for him, now. No faith in anything, anymore. All there is-- all he can have-- is the Masaki family and the girls. Even then, he can't HAVE the girls; he accepted that. He wanted a family snapshot, but what if the family's heart is emptied out by the one that they've taken most for granted? Kyo wants to know. Kyo is without purpose. Kyo incomplete. "Hey, guys! C'mon, we're goiong to Auntie's house!" Nobuyuki had popped his head in the dimensional door (after a while of searching for them.). Tenchi looked at his watch; 30 minutes had passed in a flash. A school bell rang inside the room, and everyone got out of their seats and made their way to the door, outside, and to the van. Washu turned off the machine and unhooked Kyo. Clasping his right hand around his left wrist and rubbing it, he asked Washu, "Was that too much? Should I have watered it down a bit?" They both exchanged laughs as they followed the others out. Track 2 The ride in the van to Auntie's house was rather uneventful. Sure, it was crowded, but that was commonplace. Ryoko didn't mind; she just HAPPENED to be stuck in missionary position with Tenchi for the whole time; but don't think Aeka didn't mind that. "Get away from him, vile woman!" Was heard from the backseat. Washu and Nobuyuki listened from the front seat, while Mihoshi and Sasami were playing cards in the middle row. Kiyone had trouble with sitting on the edge, and had her rear-end plastered against the window (male passers-by didn't care.). Kyo negotiated with the seats, and found a perfect place right between the front and middle seats, the suitcases, and the floor. He just lied down, staring up at the curved window and the clouds floating by. "You want a piece of this?!" Slaps against cheeks and pulling of clothes can be heard as Ryoko and Aeka continued their fighting. Throughout the tussle, Kiyone managed to turn on her portable mobile-report. "Kiyone reporting." She started. "I had just recently been patrolling the outer system of Jupiter, when an Unidentified Flying Object soared through my radar at unbelievable speed..." "Hey! Shake it, don't break it, baby!" Came a voice from outside the window. A group of teenagers were enjoying the view they had of Kiyone from their car. "Pause." She said, and opened the window and tossed an earring-grenade into the open window of the car. They swerved around, screaming in terror as the car exploded in the distance. She closed the window and resumed her report. "What is this "it" they keep talking about?" Said Kyo. "I followed the trail, and I soon discovered that the object had crashed into earth. I went there to investigate, with intentions of arresting the person or persons operating that vehicle, until I discovered something even more shocking; the princess and heiress to Jurai, the space-pirate Ryoko, reknowned scientific genius Washu..." "I AM A GENIUS!" Yelled Washu from the front of the seat. "And my presumed-dead partner... oh, God... Mihoshi were ALL IN THE VICINITY OF THE AREA. Even stranger enough, they all seemed to call this "Japan" home. After a while of persuing, I found the operator of the object, whom was also a follower of Lady Tokimi, and a part of the group of radicals worshipping her!" Kyo groaned from the floor. "Arresting the follower, whom answered to "Kyo", proved VERY difficult, as I discovered that he had the ability of Telekinesis, and destroyed my side-arm without even touching it! What was even more shocking was that he had gems embedded into his wrists-- JUST LIKE SPACE PIRATE RYOKO! But before he destroyed my gun, I fired once into his back (just to paralyze him for while), which in turn, made him lose contol of a gigantic sphere of energy..." She started to lose herself. "It collided into my patrol ship..." She burst into tears. "And DESTROYED IT! But that isn't even the worst part; the sad thing is..." She looked to her left to see Mihoshi, smiling blankly at her. "I'm making a damn report for no apparant reason!" "I got a full house!" Sasami declared. Track 3 The van pulled up to the dirt driveway at about 12:30 in the afternoon. Tenchi was the first to get out, running into the forest while Ryoko flew after him. "Come back, Tenchi!" Ryoko yelled as she entered the forest. "If you put your hands on him, or so help me I'll RIP YOU APART!" And Aeka chased after Ryoko. Washu jumped out of the van, while Kyo opened the sliding door and made his way to the back to get the luggage. Nobuyuki met with Auntie and exchanged friendly words (fine, ALMOST friendly.). "How many women are here, this time?" "Uh... heh-heh... six? Oh, and we have another visitor. Kyo! I'd like you to meet Auntie Masaki!" Kyo looked around to answer, but pulled out a piece of luggage perfectly suspended between several others. Needless to say, Ryoko's beams of energy can't nearly hurt as much as what she carried in the suitcase. Nobuyuuki consoled a now freaked-out Auntie as they went inside. "Now don't worry, Auntie. We'll just let him sleep in one of the rooms that doesn't have anything fragile or flammable in it!" Kyo's head popped out of the freshly-fallen suitcases surrounding him, with someone's bra somehow strapped to his head (for unintentional comic relief, of course.). At about 1:30 in the afternoon, everybody managed to break things in; all the suitcases were unpacked, and everybody had all their items set up. Tenchi eased his sore muscles by resting in the hot-springs. He was hiding behind a rock, with his head half-way in the water. If he needed to hide from Ryoko, he would have to take EVERY precaution available to him. That had to apply, for as soon as he sighed with relief, Ryoko phased into the male hot-springs. Disregarding proper conduct, she had only one half of her two-piece bathing suit on. Tenchi had to find a dark place to hide. He noticed one opaque area under a rock, and slowly glided there, with the blood dripping from his nose making a stream. Ryoko scrutinized the entire place, until she came upon a small log floating in the water. "Hmm? What's this?" She said, as she picked up the wet log. (Extra points for those who know what happened next) The log gave off a fierce, electric discharge, and Ryoko growled and in pain. After the shock left her body, she opened to her eyes to see Aeka slowly rising from the water (a la Kurtz from "Apocalypse Now".). "You really think I'd be stupid enough to not know you'd do this again?" Aeka gave her usual evil laugh, as more logs started to surround Ryoko. Inside the house, Kyo was getting used to the change of scenery. He walked along the bridge with Sasami, Mihoshi and Kiyone before they left to bathe in the hot springs. He had just stumbled upon a rather large room, with a stage, some windows looking out into the canopy of trees, a bar and a piano. He gave a look of curiosity as he gathered the surroundings. It was a long walk around the house, so he leaned on the piano, with his palm outstreched, striking a few of the keys. A couple of bars rang up, and he jumped back. "Oh, I see you found the lounge!" Said a voice from the outside. Auntie walked into the room, addressing a frightened Kyo. "You don't get out often, do you? That over there is a piano! You hit the keys there, and it makes a sound. You make music on them." Kyo looked back at the piano, still a little nervous. He sits down on the chair, and taps on a couple of the keys. They ring out in c-sharp. He looks back at Auntie, who smiles and ushers Kyo to do some more. Track 4 Washu stared out into the forest, perching herself on the edge of the bridge. The recent experiments have been taxing, and she craved rest. The woods' solitude gave her the peace she needed, until a small log smacked her right in the forehead, making her topple off of the hand-rail, and onto the bridge floor. She sat back up, rubbing her left temple in pain, and cursing under her breath. "I hope Aeka knows a good doctor... huh?" The small log that hit her rolled to her side, seemingly beckoning her. Washu picked it up and slowly rotated it, viewing the markings. They LOOKED as if it were Aeka's but it just didn't seem right... and right when her doubts came, the log opened to show an eerie light, shooting into her eyes. The light had gone right into her soul; she didn't blink. After a moment, the log closed and dropped down to the ground, leaving Washu to herself. She got back up, and made her way to the hot- springs. "Mihoshi?" Kiyone's voice echoed down the empty hallway. It was bad enough that Mihoshi was nowhere to be found; the cold water dripping down from the wet towel wrapped around her caused additional discomfort. "MIHOSHI!" She started to walk down the hallway; perhaps Mihoshi had gone AWOL again, or perhaps she fell down from a high cliff, or perhaps she took a bath while using a hair-dryer, or perhaps she slipped on some water, which made her slam into a refrigerator, which toppled over and crushed, electrocuted, and froze her at the same time. "God, this might be a good day, after all!" She started to skip as she made her way down the hall, until she came across Mihoshi, curled up in a fetal-position on the floor. All of Kiyone's dreams slowly melted away... "URRRGH! Mihoshi, didn't you get enough sleep already?" Mihoshi opened her eyes, and slowly stood upright. She stared at Kiyone with her big, blue... wait... they're not blue... GREEN eyes! And she spoke to her in an unusually high-pitched, slightly nasal voice. "Weeelllll, aren't we the nosy ones?" She said, confidently. Kiyone was dumbfounded. "I mean, what's wrong with a person getting a little R&R, once in a while? Perhaps to get one's thoughts together: I HOPE SO!" "Uh...uuuhhh...." Kiyone said meekly, as Mihoshi grabbed her by the hand and led her to the hot springs. "Hi, Washu!" Yelled Sasami as Washu (fresh in her bathing suit), entered the womens' hot springs. "Hey, what'd you do to your hair? It's all short and curly!" Washu said nothing, simply staring at the springs, with the water reflecting against her... blue eyes? "Gee, this water is so cold!" Washu jumped out of the water and grabbed Mihoshi's bag. She stuck her head in the bag, her hands searching furiously for something inside while Sasami looks on, curiously. After a moment or so, she took her head back out, with a side-arm in her mouth. "This'll do the trick!" She set the side-arm on "Mercury Neural- override" and tossed it into the springs. "WASHU! WHAT IN THE NAME OF HOLY HELL DID YOU JUST DO!!??!?" Kiyone was there just in time to see the whole thing. "I was just trying to warm up the water." Mihoshi responded nonchalantly. "Yeah, it won't do anything wrong if the override isn't set at mercury, or any other elements above it. "WHAAAT?!" Kiyone's face twitched at the sound of Mihoshi's... intelligent remark. "Uh-oh..." Washu gave a kawaii face-fault and scratched the back of her head. The area where the side-arm sunk to started to glow a bright yellow, as Sasami looked on, now in awe. The yellow light spready across the entire area of the hot springs. Mihoshi, Washu, Kiyone and Sasami screamed in fright. Then, Ryoko shot out of the water, with her right hand grasping Tenchi's head. Tenchi could be heard yelling something, but was muffled, for his face was buried in Ryoko's chest. Finally, they could see Aeka grasping onto a bit of Ryoko's hair. All three of them forgot what they were doing, and stared at the yellow-light glowing from the hot springs. "It's gonna blow!" Nobuyuki and Auntie Masaki conversed quietly under the soft piano-playing, courtesy of Kyo. He seemed to take to it quite easily. After a pause, a few bars were hit, then he stopped. Nobuyuki and Auntie clapped. "Requests?" Said Kyo. His face was glowing as he talked with an upbeat tone. "How 'bout "Across the sea?"" Asked Nobuyuki. "Oh, I love that song!" Auntie proclaimed. "Yeah, that's a good one." He immediately started to play. "One of Sinatra's best. Ahem... the summer wind... came blowin' in... from 'cross the sea..." SPLASH! Through the window, a gigantic tidal wave came charging into the lounge. Ryoko, Tenchi, Washu, Aeka, and Mihoshi were seen as they came careening through the room, until finally, they all slid to a halt at Kyo's feet. Kyo stopped playing, turned around and looked at the stunned group. Their eyes are replaced by swirls of confusion and dizzyness (like in typical anime-style), and they had punch-drunk smiles. Kyo smirked and said, "You know, if you keep makin' those faces, they'll stay that way." Track 5 Nighttime fell upon Auntie's house. With a rolling of the bedsheets, everyone made their respected areas of slumber... "C'mon, Tench! Just once..." "Ryoko, your scaring Sasami." "Why do you have to be shy all the time? You know what you want..." "HE SAID NO, RYOKO!" Aeka had to watch the entire debacle from the threshold of the door. "C'mon, guys! Don't fight!" Another voice came from behind Aeka. "You stay out of this, Mih... huh?" Aeka and Ryoko looked at a doe-eyed Washu. "Why do you guys always have to fight? I don't like it! It's so sad..." Washu teared up and ran off, crying. Ryoko, Aeka and Tenchi followed the crying noise with their eyes. Concluding, they all looked at each other. "So... uh..." "Yeah! Well, I..." "Um.. Lord Tenchi, I..." A moment of awkward silence filled the room. Mihoshi walked by with a few scraps of the freshly blown-up side-arm in hand, singing a song played earlier. "Rael, imperial aerosol kid, exits in the daylight, spray gun hid..." She looked into the room that Tenchi and the girls were in. "Uh... guys?" They were still confounded by the Washu's sudden mood swing. "C'mon! We need to get our beauty sleep." And Mihoshi grabbed Ryoko and Aeka's arm, leading them out of Tenchi's room. Tenchi could her Mihoshi talk as they head down the hall... "Now, this is just between us girls, but I think I got this "Beauty sleep" thing down; Ryoko, you should listen in on this. You need 35 hours of sleep a day... I think, some sort of cucumber to place on your eyes, a BRA... "I'M NOT SAGGING, MIHOSHI!" Tenchi breathed out as they finally left. Not to say that he was finally calm; hearing what Mihoshi just said left his blood running cold. "My God, she's wacko." Said a voice from the ceiling. Tenchi noticably freaks out, and looks around for the voice. He crawled back into bed, and since the most convenient position for him is on his back at the moment, he had a clear view of the ceiling... Kyo had been there the whole time; placed his back against the ceiling, with a blanket and pillow with him by some sort of anti- gravity trick. "I'm serious, Tench. She's a couple screws short of a bench... or whatever metaphor you guys say on earth." "No, you got it right." Kyo nodded, and slowly levitated down to the floor... fine, he nodded, and because of the sudden movement, he flipped and slammed on the floor, with the pillow and blanket coming afterward. Tenchi looked at Kyo, who seemed to go into a long moment of thought. "Hey, Tenchi." "Yeah?" "I was just thinking... I don't think I'm... fitting in, with the rest of you guys." "What do you mean?" "You guys always seem to be... I dunno how to put it..." "Go ahead..." "...I don't face-fault or fall down NEARLY as often as you guys! Of course, that's just what I think... A pause. "Well, g'night, Tench." " 'Night." Kyo and Tenchi immediately fell asleep, not even acknowledging the log that rolled from the broken hole in the ceiling and onto the floor, right next to Kyo's left hand. It opened, revealing the same eerie light explained before... only the light seemed more... tangible, like a fog. At any rate, the "tangible light" seemed to ooze right onto Kyo's left hand, covering it, and disappeared. The same thing happened in Ryoko and Aeka's room. Rather this time, a log shot through a broken part of the north window, and fell between them. It opened, and a fuschia-dyed gas enveloped the room (and the girls with it.). Track 6 "Tenchi, did you get the bags in, yet?" "Hold on, dad." All the girls were in the van, anxious to leave. It had been a nice day yesterday, but to be honest, it was a bit frightening. For example, the next morning when Tenchi woke up, neither Ryoko or Aeka even spoke to him, nor did they fight. If he walked by, they would just sit and stare. Tenchi didn't even want to THINK about what's going on with Mihoshi and Washu... or is it the other way around? Anyways, the last wierd thing wasn't really even that wierd. Kyo had seemed to had lost a bit of his hand-eye cooridination. When he tried to place a suitcase in the back of the van, he would get disoriented and hit his head several times (with the suitcase) before actually putting it in successfully. He was now in the front of the van, gently nodding his head, as if he was nearly about to fall asleep. "Hey, Kyo. You don't look so good. You alright?" Asked Sasami on the way home. Kyo responded with some heavy breathing. "Hello!" Kyo started to snore a bit, before falling silent. "Miya?" Ryo-Ohki tip-toed across Kyo's lap, looking at him with curiosity. He raised his left hand and caressed her fur. Ryo-Ohki streched out over his lap and started to doze off... before his left hand grabbed her by the ears, flinging her around and around and tossed her at the back seat. "Miya!!!!" Nobuyuki was watching him the whole time. "Kyo? Ya feeling well?" Kyo snored on. "DAD! TRUCK!" Track 7 It was about noonish when the van pulled up to the gate of the Masaki house-hold. Nobuyuki stopped next to Kamidake and rolled down his window. The giant log guard slowly turned to him and ejected a few letters from his mail- slot. "Good morning, sir. How was your trip?" "It was good! Any messages for us?" "None at all. The weather today will be sunny, with increasing clouds at evening time. This message will self-destruct, unless I'm told otherwise." Everything was unpacked and in order, and Tenchi had no chores scheduled for today. To pass the time, he continued reading "Catcher in the Rye". He didn't really care for the book, but it had to be finished to complete an assignment for English class. Nobuyuki was in the kitchen, talking with Washu and Grandpa, and Tenchi could faintly hear a part of the conversation. "So, anyway, that little accident will be our little secret, alright?" "What was he doing, anyway?" "Dunno. But he THREW something while he was sleeping, and that honestly freaked me out. So, anyway, our little secret?" "Right." "Washu? Our little secret?" "..." "Washu?" "These glasses are soooo cute!" They face-faulted and fell to the floor. The faucet turned off in the bathroom, and a splash can be heard. Kyo was feeling a little groggy, and needed a little cold water to wake himself up some more. After a moment of self-reflection, he took out a towel to pat on his face, then started to brush his hair.... yet after a minute or so of clean motions of brushing back, his left hand smacked him in the forehead. He stopped with a look of confusion, then started to brush again, only this time his left hand made a fist and clocked him right in the jaw. Kyo was overcome with fear, and he jerked around to see if anybody (i.e. Ryoko) was doing this to him. No one. He got out of the bathroom and climbed the stairs to his room, so he can find something to write on. "Man, Holden's wierd." Tenchi concluded as he placed the book back on the table. This small moment of letting his guard down was taken advantage of, as Ryoko dove right into Tenchi's arms. "RYOKO!" "TENCHI! I WANT YOU SO BADLY!" It's safe to say that she can act very capricious, but never in a manner like this. "I WANT YOU! I YEARN FOR YOU! WE MUST MAKE PASSIONATE LOVE NOW!" "G-GET OFF OF ME!" Throughout the struggling, Tenchi managed to see Aeka a small ways behind Ryoko. "Aeka! Thank God, help me out!" "Of course, Lord Tenchi." She slowly walked towards Tenchi, unbuttoning her kimono. "No, don't do that!" "I grow tired of my innocence!" She threw herself upon Tenchi. "I want to lose it with you!" Tenchi simply didn't speak for a moment, then shouted out at the top of his lungs. "KYO!!!! HELP ME!!!" A voice can be heard from upstairs. "I wish I could, man, but I got some problems of my own!" "What are you talking about?!" "...GHAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Kyo seemed to be thrown from the top of the stairs down to the floor. "Ouch." Tenchi could see Kyo fighting off something, but couldn't get a good enough view between the two lust-driven women holding him. He managed to move between the exposed skin surrounding him to see Kyo fighting off... his left hand! And it was apparant he wasn't doing well. The left hand punched him around a couple of times, then grabbed the back of his head and slammed him against the wall. "Tenchi! Try to defend yourself! This thing is a madman!" All of a sudden, Mihoshi bolted out of Washu's lab, complete in a scientist's lab-coat. "Kyo! Whatever you do, DON'T PROVOKE IT!" "Huh?! How'd you know that..." "Just fend it off the best you can! I'll be back in a flash!" And with that, Mihoshi slammed the door. Behind the door stood Washu, with her facial expressions unusually vacant. "Why don't you try cutting the hand off?" She said. Kyo and his left hand looked at her, then looked at the kitchen. "Don't give it any ideas!" But it was too late. The hand started to drag him along into the kitchen to grab a knife, only to crawl to a stop. Kyo rested his head on the ground, only to be picked up by his left hand and placed between the refrigerator and the open door. ::WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!:: "Ryoko, stop it!" "I don't care if they're around , I want to do it NOW!" ::WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!:: "Gonna feel this in the morning..." "Take us, Tenchi!" Kiyone sighed heavily as she stared out of the window. Some sleep now would be nice, but admist the screaming and clanging of items in the kitchen, all she could do was watch the world go by... and her career with it. ::DING- DONG!:: The doorbell rang out, sobering the madness inside the house. Ryoko and Aeka stopped caressing Tenchi for a moment, and Kyo and his hand froze (just when he was about to be brutally mangled inside of the garbage disposal.) "Coming!" Shouted Kiyone. She moved her way to the door, not even noticing Tenchi and the girls in a position that most parents would scream at if they saw, and Kyo lying down on the floor, almost unconscious. She opened the door, revealing a tall, dark, sinister figure, cloaked in his very own shadow. "Excuse me, may I speak to a Mr. Kyo?" "Uh..." Kyo's hand led him into the living room and right to the front door. He gasped at the sight of the menacing figure. "Kyo... could you come outiside for a second? I need to have a little chat with you." One of the doors opened, and Grandpa walked out of the guest room. He looked at the tall man in the doorway, then back at Kyo. "Kyo, do you know this man?" He couldn't respond, the hand led him out. Grandpa could then see Kyo and the dark figure walking a way's out, then stopping. They're bodies silhouetted against the setting sun. "Hmm..." "Who do you think he is?" "I don't know, Kiyone. I'm guessing he must be an acquaintence of Kyo's." Kiyone and Grandpa stared at the two conversing shadows. Kyo's hand didn't seem to act up at all. The conversation, though, was long-winded, and ended up with the taller shadow disappearing. Kyo headed back to the house, and right to the front door. "Kyo! What did that man say to you." He stopped, and said, "I'll tell you at dinnner." Track 8 Half of Sasami's body leaned into the hallway. She had her usual cooking apron on, and Ryo-Ohki was on her head. "DINNER'S READY!" "Miya!" Washu came shooting down from upstairs and ran right into the kitchen. "Oh boy! I'm starving!" Was heard from her, right before she slammed into an open refrigerator door. Mihoshi and Kiyone were then seen walking out of Washu's lab, talking. "And THAT is how you can make napalm using just gasoline, a LOT of styrofoam and some free time!" "Mihoshi?" "Yeah?" "...WHAT ARE YOU!?" "Tenchi! Kyo! Time to eat!" Tenchi was walking as if his shoes were sealed in cement; Ryoko and Aeka were hanging on his legs. Kyo came out of the lab as well, also walking as if his feet were in cement. ::THUD! CREEEEK! THUD! CREEEEEK! THUD! CREEEEEEK!:: As a temporary solution, Mihoshi embedded Kyo's left hand into a cement block almost half his height. They all went to their specific places at the table, with some trouble. Mihoshi and Washu were a little confused on where their seats were, Tenchi had to throw Aeka and Ryoko to their seats like kicking off slippers, and Kiyone fell over Kyo's cement block a few times. "What's on the menu tonight?" Mihoshi asked. Sasami served them all a bowl full of pasta, vegetables and what seemed like sliced nuts. "Yakisoba with water chestnuts!" Kyo was eager to be served. "Man, I'm a big fan of water..." He looked at his left arm, which was flailing wildly in the cement. "Can't do anything NOW, can ya! Thought you were so smart, huh?" "Um.. Kyo." Kiyone spoke up. "Who was that man earlier?" Kyo gulped down some pasta. "His name is Dr. Nova, one of Lady Tokimi's followers." Kiyone, Mihoshi and Tenchi gasped. Washu just said, "Sounds like a drink!" "...He told me everything 'bout their plans... turns out that I was on a suicide mission. If I died while I had the vessel with me, it would actually TAKE my body and fly itself back to the palace, actually hi-jacking my mind and body." "AH! So, it would take over your dead body, tap into your brain, and "Re- boot" yourself. The vessel, now thinking it was YOU, would fly back to Lady Tokimi's place, thinking that it finished the mission." Kyo stared with his mouth open, then shook his head and continued. "I somehow botched the job, blowing up the crystal and releasing the entity inside. Lady Tokimi didn't like that at all... I then found out that she didn't want the vessel... she wanted the ENTITY inside it... some sort of "vessel of knowledge", I guess." He paused for impact. The audience then figured out, and gasped. "All of Lady Tokimi's followers (well, the dedicated ones) have a mental link to her. They'll have a powerful advantage over the other followers by being able to use telekinesis, but comes at a cost... she will know what's on their mind ALL THE TIME, not one moment's privacy... she learned of my location by manipulating my mind, and relayed that to her other followers." "You mean she sent FOLLOWERS after us?" Nobuyuki said, anxious. Kyo paused for a moment. "Dr. Nova is the first." Fright fell over the dinner table. "He told me that HE is the first wave. He started off the attack by tossing one of THESE..." He took out one of the small logs with strange etchings. "...Into our vicinity. They're ancient Juraian capsules filled with some sort of enzyme that, when mixed with other ingrediants and herbs, create potions that give different stimuli." He looked around the table. "They were used to weaken us first, so we'd be more susceptible to the next attack." "NEXT attack?" "Ryoko and Aeka's sudden burst of affection, Mihoshi and Washu's personality change (I lovingly call them Mihoshu and Washi), and my own freakin' left hand getting a life of it's own is responsible of him... that being said, the reason WHY they're doing this is because they're after ME. Before the entity left the Earth system, it went into my head and... influenced these emotions inside of me. That's just ONE thing the entity is capable of doing, and Lady Tokimi wants to find out what it is, and if it can be re-located. She wants to hit me where I live, and render our defences useless so she can take me back and find out what this entity can do." "But why did he leave?" "Well, Lady Tokimi has a reputation of being... merciful. She gived me 3 hours to decide whether I'll go quietly... or Nova'll go on a riot, destroying everything in it's path, THEN get me." They all face-faulted. "Huh... now that I think about it, she isn't really THAT merciful." "You seem to be talking it well. Have you decided?" Grandpa asked. "I don't know... I've grown so fond of this place; it has a hold on me, yet I don't want to hurt any of you." He looks around the table. "No, not at all...." The dinner commenced after Kyo finished. It went by without a hitch or interrupion, though Tenchi and Kyo could barely eat, with the forewarning on their minds. "What are they gonna do if Kyo refuses?" Tenchi asked to himself. Dr. Clay was trouble enough; he could only imagine what Dr. Nova and the other followers could do. "You guys ready for dessert?" Sasami asked, then immediately headed into the kitchen. "Sasami, you're a human cuisinart!" Mihoshi... sorry, MIHOSHU said with enthusiasm. "Cuisinart? Isn't that that one painting that was banned from that museum?" Washi responded. Typical face-faults among everybody. Almost immediately, Sasami came out with a pie almost twice the size of Ryo-Ohki. She placed the pie down on the middle of the table, then the whipped cream came next. Ryoko was barely containing herself. "Ryoko, pass the whipped cream." Kiyone said. "Nnn...Nhghh..." "Ryoko?" Ryoko grabbed the whipped cream and extended her hand so Kiyone could reach it, that is, if she WAS able to reach it. Ryoko's eyes were glazed, and the arm shifted around a little. When Kiyone finally managed to reach over and grab the can of whipped cream, she had even more trouble taking it away from the now distant Ryoko's grasp. Eventually, she was able to yank it out of her hand, but went a little overkill, and she recoiled, smacking Tenchi in the face. While the usual dinner time chat started, Ryoko started to shiver a bit; Dr. Nova's aphrodisiac is taking full force. Her eyes started to glisten and twitch as Washi sprayed the whipped cream on her slice of pie. Pressure and blood filled her head, and her heart racing. "Um... Sasami, could you pass the milk..." "I WANNA SLATHER WHIPPED CREAM ALL OVER YOUR BODY, TENCHI!!!!!!!" Tenchi's pupils slowly shrunk to nothingness. Nobuyuki, asking for the milk in the first place, immediately forgot about it. The awkward silence that seems to come often has now come again, as Ryoko's comment hushed all conversations at the table. The only sound was the clacking of a glass of milk against the table; Kyo had his hand on the glass, and couldn't even think of something to say (NO ONE COULD), so his only response was the quivering hand. Everyone else's response: Open mouths. ::...DING-DONG!:: Kyo broke the glass he was holding. "That must be the door! I'LL GET IT!" Kyo said, vainly keeping his voice from squeaking. He dashed from the table to the door, thanking the person for coming at just the right time. He then stopped; it's Dr. Nova, and he knew it. The moment of truth-- stay or go? He bated his breath and opened the door. "Excuse me sir, but have you ever thought of joining the kingdom of..." He gave a laugh, and slammed the door. "It was just the Jehova's witness, guys!" ::DING-DONG!:: "Man, they're stubborn!" He opened the door again... It was Dr. Nova, this time. "Have you decided?" Kyo looked down to the ground, gathering his thoughts together. He was joined by Tenchi and Grandpa, who gave him a bit of reconsiliation. "...I'll go..." The figure smiled, and outstreched his hand to take Kyo. ::SHING!:: Kyo was absorbing some energy while in the moment of thought, and materialized a beam-shuriken in his left hand, completely destroying the cement block. "But not without a fight, of course!" "You fool!" "I don't want any part of this ludicrous goose hunt, anymore!" "Very well... if that is your wish..." Dr. Nova's cape hung over his entire body, just like Dr. Clay. It was the same color, too, though he was a bit taller than Clay himself; that, and he didn't have that wierd hat. The cape shot back in a blast of wind, and the logs started to glow. Kyo remembered why his left hand was in the cement block. "Oh God..." And Kyo's hand started to make vicious swings at him. Dr. Nova laughed at Lady Tokimi's former follower, now being attacked by his own self. "You seem to forget... there's a reason why Lady Tokimi has chosen myself as her formost follower... I AM DR. NOVA, MANIPULATOR OF BODIES, AND THE... GOODEST... FOLLOWER... MAN!" Tenchi became frightened by Nova's dominance over the situation. He was much more powerful than Dr. Clay, and from what it looks like, the worst is yet to come... Actually, it's already here. Tenchi could manage to pick up Ryoko and Aeka talking. "You get the whipped cream, I'll get the whips." "I'll ready the chains, too!" "THAT'S IT!" Tenchi shouted, and butterfly-kicked Dr. Clay. He stumbled back a few steps, giving him just enough time for Grandpa to throw him the sword, materialize it, and slash the cape off of him. The cape fell into the lake, with it the logs. They electrocuted in the water, releasing the potions that dissolved into the water, now useless. Kyo gained control of his left hand again, Mihoshi and Washu reverted back to their normal selves, and Ryoko and Aeka fell out of their sudden arousal. The four were confused as hell, while Kyo advanced to Dr. Nova, with weapon unsheathed. Dr. Nova got up, and brushed himself off. "Ha. That little toy sword of yours got you out of jam... but just how much can you REALLY trust it?" He disappeared in a breath of wind. Kyo and Tenchi sighed with exhaustion, not even knowing that just behind Dr. Nova, the stars started to glow brighter... closer. They both went inside with the others, just in time to catch Ryoko and Aeka, fallen to the floor, and in tears. Aeka embraced Tenchi, while Kyo managed to catch Ryoko. "I'm sorry, Tenchi, for acting that way." She said, barely holding back her tears. "I didn't want to be so carnal, Tenchi-san." Kyo looked at Ryoko. "Are you all right?" She also had trouble with ceasing the crying. "I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SECOND BASE!" Kyo gave a look of confusion. "There, there... let it all out..." He looked up again to see Washu at the doorway, looking up to the sky with some sort of radar-like device in her hands. Tenchi noticed that too, and they both walked over to her to see what she was doing. "The radar's goin' nuts... somethings' closing in on us, FAST!" "How many are there?" "Hundreds... no, thousands!" "Are they ships?" "500 meters... 400 meters..." "I think it's the invasion..." "250 meters.... 100 meters... 25 METERS..." "T-that's impossible! it has to be right next to..." ::WHAM!:: "G'AH!" Kyo got knocked senseless by some sort of rock, and fell to the ground. Washu picked it up and looked at it. Her face turned intense. "...It's a small ship." Kyo picked himself up and looked at the miniature ship. His eyes grew wide, and the anger started to boil up in his veins. He threw his hands in the air and yelled. "Droids? YOU SENT THE DROIDS FOR THE INVASION!? YOU IDIOTS!" "What droids? What're you talking about?" He put his hands down and spoke again in a normal tone. "These droids are small ships, used only for our leisurely services..." He said, while restraining his tempation to laugh out loud. "...::chortle::You can't make a full scale invasion with a thousand freakin' DROIDS! HA!" He turned around to face Tenchi, and put the droid right in his face. [target acquired. ATTACK] The droid eminated that sentence from it's synthetic vocal cords, then immediately started to shoot Tenchi with a purple ray. He covered his face with his hands and bent downwards. "G'haaa! What are you doing!?" "Relax!" Tenchi rose back up. The purple ray hit between his forehead with no signs of damage. He put his hand in between the ray; it didn't hurt. "Huh?" "That's their strongest attack!" Washu was dumbfounded by the droids' mediocrity. "A puny black-light?" Kyo tossed the droid to the ground. "They'll be releasing wave after wave of those droids, but as long as they all attack the same, we should have nothing to worry about." Another one came zinging by and smacked right into the back of Kyo's head as they all went inside. Track 9 Aeka and Sasami retired into the living room for the rest of the evening. Aeka was drinking some tea, while reflecting on the day. Sasami was reading some more dating manga that she found while in Nobuyuki's room. The invasion had begun already, with wave after wave of droids shooting a barrage of purple light down onto the house, with no effect at all. Rather, it just made waves of flourescent energy that flew by, almost like they were driving under street lights. "It sure is quiet, right now. Do you think the droids will do any harm, Sasami?" Aeka asked, while observing the waves. "Tenchi said there's nothing to worry about. I don't know; I kinda like it." "Yes, it seems so... romantic." "Yeah." Meanwhile, in Washu's lab, she was busy working under extremes to make retaliation equipment, in case things get a little drastic. The solaced plantation of trees gave little shading, nor little protection for her not to be seen. But Washu didn't care; inspiration can hit at the most bizarre times. Mihoshi and Kiyone were sitting down on a couple of chairs, notebooks in hand, and cameras resting on their hips. Washu was up on a rather high platform, feverishly typing on her computer. All was dark, except for the spotlights that beamed down upon them all. Washu cleard her throat. "Ladies and... ladies! May I have your attention please?" Kiyone elbowed Mihoshi, who immediately fell asleep on her shoulder. "Is it breakfast yet?" "Little Washu productions presents... THE NEWEST LINE IN FASHION AND ARTILLERY!" Multi-colored lights soared around the room as the run-way of a fashion show can be seen. Tecnho music blared around as different fashion models, adorned with knives, howitzers, and machine guns strut around the runway. The two galaxy police officers eagerly took notes and pictures. "Our first showcase..." No one came out. "Uh... heh heh... OUR FIRST SHOWCASE!!!!" No one came out. Washu jumped down from her platform and made her way behind the curtains. "Get out here!" "I look like an idiot!" "Oh, no you don't, it's fashion! Now get out here and strut your stuff!" Washu immediately came out to greet the audience, microphone in hand. "Our next showcase is Tenchi Masaki!" Tenchi slowly groped out from the curtains. "He's walking along a forested area without a care in the world. Notice his sky-blue shirt, with collar and elongated sleeves as they accent his svelte body, and his jeans JUST fit enough not to get caught in any underbrush." Tenchi rolled his eyes. He KNEW what she was gonna say next. "Uh-oh." She said with a poorly-rehearsed look of fright. "Someone just read a book about raising the dead, and demons are floating everywhere in the woods on a constant search for a body to possess!" She put her arm on her forehead and closed her eyes, as if she were about to faint like a thespian woman in a play. "Oh, what's a boy to do!?" She gave an evil smile, and Tenchi raised his right arm well above his head, revealing a chainsaw strapped to his hand. "That's right! He'll fend off deomons using a handy-dandy BUCKSAW strapped to his arm! Take THAT, deadites!" The two officers jumped up and applauded. "You're a genius, Washu!" "...Do you guys always have to say that?" Mihoshi looked harder at Tenchi, and a dim bulb brightened. "Wow!" "What?" Kiyone said. "He looks JUST LIKE Bruce Campell!" "Yeah!" Tenchi put his arm back down. "Oh, I do not!" Ryoko slowly levitated across the hallway, and she could see a small light coming out of Tenchi's room. The flame within her started to rise, again. She slowly opened the door to the room, peeking her head in, cutely. "Tenchi... Oh!" Tenchi wasn't in the room. Actually, she saw Kyo standing at the window, with his arms folded next to his back, looking out the window. He didn't acknowledge Ryoko's comment, just stared on. "Kyo, you alright?" "..." She walked up to Kyo's side and watched the light show with him. "It's nice to get some peace and quiet once in a while. God, it's so calm." She glanced at Kyo. He had a warmth in his eyes not seen in a while; not seen by her, or anybody else. As the lights shot by, she could see his slightly-permed light-brown hair glisten. Gone was the tall, menacing boy that she fought with, replaced by an innocent soul, yearning for peace of mind. The lights flew by their thin bodies, fading away. "I wish things like this could happen more often." "Like that?" She pointed out to a blue light in the distance. "...No, that's different." And the light shot into the window, enveloping the two teenagers. "Oh, SH...." And Kyo's voice dissappeared, along with him and Ryoko. There was a banging of furniture in the living room, Washu can barely keep her concentration. "Our next... uh... our.... DAMMIT!" She jumped down from the platform and walked to the door, grabbing the handle. The door immediately flew open, slamming into her face. Aeka and Sasami bolted into the room and shut the door, revealing a dizzy-eyed Washu behind the door. "Th-the droids have gotten to Kyo and Ryoko!" "WHAT!?" They all said in unison. "W-when I went up to see if Ryoko was seducing Lord Tenchi..." "Will you stop calling me that?" "I saw both of them disappearing into this blue light! Th-th-then..." "Yes." "IT CAME AFTER ME! I RAN DOWN AS FAST AS I COULD, GRABBED SASAMI AND RAN INTO HERE! IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE... AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And the blue light flew into the window. Sasami, Aeka and Washu disappeared into the light. "Kiyone, I'm scared!" Kiyone kicked Mihoshi away and started blasting the blue light. It had no effect, and it started to come near her. "Oh, why won't you die! Have you any idea what ammo costs, these days?.... OH NO!" And the GP officers disappeared, and Tenchi followed with them. "Miya? MIIIYYYYAAAA!" As well as Ryo-Ohki. Track 10 Sasami slowly opened her eyes, and a fierce, bright light entered. She covered her eyes and stood up, squinting her eyes. When she got used to it, she opened her eyes to see everyone lying on a bright, metallic floor. She looked around; the entire floor was of metal, with a giant, blue, circluar pattern. The room was gigantic and, again, circular, and windows were replacing the walls.... The windows were looking out into... outer space... the windows were "barred" by golden, curving slabs, shaped like crop circles. "She finally got to us..." Came a voice from behind her. "Huh?" She looked around to see Kyo leaning against a willow tree, with his legs and arms crossed. It was obvious he was in a moment of thought, before. A willow tree was in the center of the entire room; vines shot up from the ground at about a 10 feet radius from the tree itself, and rose up to the ceiling, vanishing into it. "Lady Tokimi finally got to us... I'm surprised she went all out and used her big guns..." "Huh?" "She had a back-up wave of droids, who had an advantage over the other droids by teleporting things, and well... here we are." "W-where are we?" "We're in outer space, in Lady Tokimi's shrine. This is the prisoners' quarters." "Where's Washu-chan?" "When I regained consciousness, I saw Washu being led out of the room by a couple of guards." His eyes looked intense. "Lady Tokimi informed me that she wanted to talk to her, but the reason she never gave me. I bet they're talking right now. That's probably why the guards took her away..." He looked past her to see everyone coming to. "How long were we knocked out?" " 'Bout a half an hour." Tenchi rubbed his head. "Uuhhhhh.... Where are we?" Kyo streched his arms. "Sasami, would you mind telling them?" Sasami let everyone in on where they are, and Kyo added in other bits of information. "This is where the prisoners are held before interrogation. It's been used several times, and can pretty much block in ANYTHING. It's no use to try to phase out; it can stop you. Also..." Kyo points to the golden circles. "Those circles barring the windows are what keeps us in... I don't really know what they DO, exactly... but I've heard some pretty gruesome stuff." "Oh, come on, it can't be that bad!" Ryoko said, with her energy fully regained. She flew over to the circles and placed her hand through them. Strangely enough, the hand disappeared, as if it went through a dimensional gate. "See? It's just a bunch of bull they made up!" And she stuck her head though the circle. About a moment later, she stuck her head and hand back in. Ryoko's head was covered in slime, and her neck surrounded by a dismembered tentacle. "Okay, I've thought this through." She calmly spoke. "There's no way to get out. If we DO go into the circles, then we become fish food." She took the tentacle off of her neck, and wiped the slime off of her head and hands. "What do we do now?" Mihoshi asked. "We're just gonna have to ride it out, at least until Washu gets back... hopefully." The minutes and hours achingly passed, and everyone rested under the shade of the tree. Each second passing by felt like a slow burn. Their hunger rose, and their energy started to fade away. The lights from up above felt like they were burning their skin. "Oh... I'm so hungry... Kiyone, can you go to the kitchen and get us some food?" "For the last time, Mihoshi, WE'RE NOT HOME!" "C'mon, guys, don't fight!" "I need food, I'm starving!" "Miyaaaa!" Ryoko tried to materialize a beam-sabre, but it fizzled out shortly after. "Why would someone do something so ghastly as lock us in here with no food?" Kyo could barely manage to make a beam-knife. He immediately phased it out, to conserve energy. Hunger was setting in, fast, and he needed to do something quickly. Ryoko and the others lied down on the ground, holding their stomachs and staring at the door, waiting for Washu to come back. "Oooohhhhh...." Sasami moaned. She tossed and turned to different sides, cringing in inexplicable pain. "Mommy.. I want my mommy..." She shed a bitter tear, dropping to the floor. Kyo's left eye twitched; part of the vision he had from the music video seemed to bleed into reality... He spun around to face the tree. Tenchi crawled to her side to try to comfort her, only to see Kyo sliding his hands against the tree. "Kyo... what are you... doing?" "..." "Kyo?" "Hiiyyaa!" Kyo stabbed a beam-knife into the tree, making a hole. The others stared on in confusion, as Kyo stared at the hole, seemingly absorbing it. Almost immediately, he placed his mouth over the hole, and started to suckle fom it. The others gasped in horror and shock. "What on earth are you doing, KYO?!" Ryoko yelled, alarmingly. He stopped suckling for a moment, and slowly leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. A faint, translucent-white substance trickled from his mouth. "It's food..." He quietly stated. "The tree is a source of a life-giving combination between sap and nectar, which is fermented inside, taken through the vines and up to the servants' quarters." "You think it'll help?" He leaned his back against the tree again, and slowly slid down it, finally sitting upon the floor. "It has an unusually high alcoholic content, combined with different sugars that will keep you going strong for quite a while... "Oh!" "Trouble is... I don't know what effect it will have on you guys.... for sll I know, it could..." He was immediately silenced by a detached vine, hitting his head. Ryoko slashed through one of the vines, gushing sap-nectar. She lustily started to drink every drop of life-giving "Saptar". "Ryoko, what in God's name are you doing? You're damaging the..." Aeka was then silenced by Ryoko, who came over to her and shoved the cut vine right in her face. "C'mon, princess! Have a drink!" She said, a little tipsy (you could tell by her voice and the blush under her eyes.). "Absolutely not!" "Why? It can't kill you..." And she opened her mouth and JAMMED the vine right into it. Aeka gave a look of shock; it slowly faded away as her eyes became glazed, and her face red. Behind them, Kyo slashed another vine. He walked over and picked Sasami up, and took her to the vine. Tenchi assisted by taking the vine and holding it above her. "Sasami, drink this..." Kyo opened her mouth and Tenchi poured the saptar. She hesitantly gulped it down, gradually getting used to it. A drunken smile grew on her face, and she started to dance around, singing some Juraian song that could barely be recognized under her slurred speech. Ryoko and Aeka joined in, while Tenchi and Kyo face-faulted. Kyo brushed some hair away from his face, and leaned back. "Well, it's good to know that they'll be alright." He said with a laugh. "Let's give this to Kiyone, Mihoshi and Ryo-Ohki... And you should have some too, Tench." Before you know it, it was happy hour. Mihoshi danced haphazardly, occasionally slamming into Kiyone. They both laughed it off, and immediately started to waltz together. Aeka, Ryoko and Sasami still sang that Juraian song, still incredibly intoxicated. Tenchi, fighting off the drunken stupor, tried to talk about his frusterations with school... to Ryo-Ohki. Kyo laid on the ground, with his back against the tree. He had his arms folded, and was in a deep zen-like moment of thought, with his eyes closed. Even through the tripping and the singing, he managed to get some time to himself. After a while, he felt a pressure on his body. He opened his eyes to see Ryoko staring at him, almost falling out of her kimono. "Hi, k-k-kyo-nii-chan!" His eyes widened in shock, then gave a nervous laugh. "Uh... hi... Ryoko...chan...ha ha!" He said while scratching the back of his head. "You know ::hic:: I've never told you before... but I'm a little fond of you, too... ::hic::" "Uh... thanks?" He said, his voice gradually tightening and changing pitches rapidly. "You know, if there weren't ssssooo many people arrrround... ::hic:: we could..." And she whispered in his ear. Most of it was slurred, but he got the gist of it. His left eye twitched as she giggled like a school girl. Track 11 Like triptophan after Thanksgiving dinner, the saptar took it's effect, and everyone... well, pretty much everyone fell asleep. Kyo didn't really drink a lot of the saptar (he was just testing it), so he was the only one awake. Still lying against the tree, he watched the stars pass by outside of the window. It was such a placid state; he too wanted to sleep. But, just as he was nodding off, he could hear a door open. He immediately rose his head back up, and looked at the giant temple doors. One of them was open, with a small figure just at the threshold. "Kyo?" He squinted his eyes. "Washu?" "Could you come with me?" Washu and Kyo walked along a brightly-lit corridor, with doors frequenly passing them on each side. "Where were you, little Washu? "I was talking with Lady Tokimi." "Oh..." "We talked for quite a while, and I told her about how much you wanted to stay." "H-how did you know?" "You gave off different signs, now and then. You know: subtext. That one "music video" we saw yesterday was a dead giveaway." "...Wow." "She wants to talk to you now." "About what?" "That's the thing, I haven't the faintest. I don't even know if she'll let us go or not... Well, we're here!" They both reached another giant set of doors, both of them plated gold. She opened one of them. "I'm going back to the others; I heard the drinks you guys got are GREAT!" "You'll like it, I'm sure!" "But... just promise me one thing..." "What's that?" She motioned him with her finger, as if to tell a secret. "Don't make a horses-ass out of yourself, 'kay? I think I gave her the wrong impression the first time around..." And with that, she ran down from where they came, and disappeared. He slowly walked inside to the altar, with his mind in a flutter. "First time?" He thought to himself... It was different from the last one, from when he first saw her. The entire place was pitch-black, but seemed to have some sort of stair-case; a blue light illuminated a path of steps climbing up into the pitch-black sky. Only the steps, and himself were illumiated blue. He gulped, and slowly started to climb the steps. When at last he got up to the final step, all there was was a circular platform, about 35 feet in diameter, and illuminated blue. "I think I understand your situation, young one..." A voice eminated from all directions, and Kyo fell down, scared. "L...Lady Tokimi!" She appeared right overhead. Her entity was ominous and frightening. "Is this too much for you to take in? I understand..." Her entity disappeared... rather, her entity dissolved into tiny specks of diamond-dust, which collected and swirled down to the platform, a little away from Kyo. It gathered again, and Lady Tokimi re-materialized, except that she was now the same size as Kyo, and with an entire body to match. Her flowing robes billowed around her, and her deity-like appearence made any fear disappear. Kyo stood upright again. "Would you care for a drink?" She motioned her right hand, and a table melded up from the platform. Two wine glasses with a gold-colored liquid appeared on the table, and levitated towards both of them. Kyo took the glass and sipped some of the wine down; the fresh, honey-tasting liquid warmed the inside of his body. "It's a good year, I'll bet." "The best we have." "Mmm." "...I realize what you're going through." Kyo gave a concerned look as he took another sip. "When you arrived on the planet "Earth", I didn't account for what emotions you would be put through... To be honest, I had no idea what the vessel of knowledge, when opened, would do to a person like yourself. I'm sorry I didn't do anything about it." "...You didn't need to." "I realize that now, and I realize that taking you and your friends hostage was a brash and horrible thing to do... please forgive me." Kyo was shocked. "But now, I DO know what the vessel can do..." "Huh?" "When the vessel went through you, it gave you thoughts, feelings and emotions that you would NEVER think ever existed. Not only that, but you seemed to take in the thoughts of others around you. It was too much to take in then, and I see that now." "But... I..." "Want those emotions? Yes! They're new and frightening, but over time, you got used to them; embraced them, if you will. I don't desire to know anymore about the vessel.... and you..." He gulped. "I will release the others, and you can stay on Earth with them." A tear of joy ran down his face, and he bowed down. "THANK YOU, MISS TOKIMI!" "But... knowing what the vessel does, I know NOW that it's not finished..." "I beg your pardon?" "The vessel not only teaches the person or persons around it, but it ENLIGHTENS them with something much more... poignant. However, something interferred with it, and the entity of the vessel flew away before it ever had a chance to FULLY enlighten you." "I don't understand what you're trying to say..." "Kyo, if there is any hope in maintaining peace of mind, you MUST find the entity, so it can finish what it started." "...But how? How will I do that?" "Kyo, soon you will go on a lone journey of self-discovery. Your map will be the universe, and your ally will be your faith and courage... and... maybe somebody else, I'm a little hazy on that part, but you WILL do it." "How will I know when to go?" Lady Tokimi gradually started to dissolve back into a diamond-dust, then disappear. Her voice can then be heard as an echo. "There will be a sign, telling you to go; if you trust your mind, and let your emotions go, you can't miss it!" Then silence. Kyo finished off the wine, then slowly descended the stairs, more confused then ever. "There will be a sign... let my emotions... go!" Kyo accepted his foreshadowing, and all confusion disappeared. He walked out of the room, and made his way down the cooridor and back into the prisoners' quarters. He walked back inside, only to see the room completely empty. The severed vines were strewn about as he picked his way across the floor. "Tench? Ryoko? Aeka?" He called out. There was no answer, until.. "MiyyyaaaaaAAAAAAA!!!!!" Ryo-Ohki (in ship form) flew up close to the window. The purple dome opened up to see Tenchi waving. "TENCHI!" "Hey! Ryoko found a weak spot in the bars, and we got out!" "WOOOOO!!" Ryoko drunkenly yelled, with half of her body hanging out of the ship. Tenchi dragged her back in as Kyo phased on board. "Hey, guys." He said, nonchalant. Everyone still in their intoxicated stupor, they all let out some incexplicable groans that sounds like "Hi" but could have probably been "Uuuuunnnhhh." Kyo took a spot of the floor (next to a window), and layed down, with his back leaning against the window. "Hey, Kyo, what did Lady Tokimi talk to you about?" "Oh, she was talking about something, but I sorta phased out halfway through the conversation... "pick up q-tips", I think it was." He had to keep what she REALLY said under wraps; he didn't want to tell anybody right now... maybe Grandpa Katsuhito when they get home... yeah... he'll talk to him about it...but telling everyone else might be a little nerve-wracking to them. It didn't matter, because he had another matters... "Hey, K-k-k-::HIC::" "Kyo." "Hey, Kyo!" Washu drank more than her fair share of saptar, and she hung on Kyo's shoulder, staring at him with her green, plastered eyes. She repositioned herself by wrapping her arms around Kyo's neck and locking her knees on top of his legs, preventing him from running. "I was just tthhhinking :hic:..." "You're talking pretty loud, Washu." "When we get home, we can go to my lab, and you could be in my :giggle, hic: next experiment..." "Uh! I-I-I..." "C'mon! It's not like it's gonna kill..." Before she could finish her sentence, she immediately fell asleep, right on top of Kyo. He just combed her hair with his right hand. "G'night, little Washu." He crawled out of her tight embrace and walked over to the on-screen panel, looking up at it. Tenchi was making attempts to talk to Ryo-Ohki. "Ryo-Ohki? Set course for Earth, cooridinates.... uh.... 1480 and 2264.12." "Tench." Kyo was looking up at the panel while listening in. "Yeah?" "I don't think you picked the right cooridinates." "Why?" "We're going to Neptune." "Oh.... just head for our house!" "Nice recovery!" "... There's no response." Kyo looked up at the panel again, watching a transparent-red meter steadily rising. "Huh..." "What is it?" "According to the map, we're not that far away from Earth..." "Yeah?" "Then why is Ryo-Ohki going faster?" "Are there any ships trailing us?" "Mmm.... No, there's nothing on the radar." A pang of fear shot through Kyo. "Tench?" "Yeah?" "Did Ryo-Ohki drink any of the saptar?" "MIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAA::HIC:AAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The cabbit's voice rang throughout the ship, and panic was instilled in the two boys. "OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD!!!!!!!!!!!!" "What do we do!?" Kyo ran over to Ryoko, and shook her, trying to wake her up. "RYOKO! Wake up, we've got a problem!" She just snored. "RYOKOOOO! BIIIIIG PROBLEM!" He smacked her around a couple of times, to no avail, and sighed. Tenchi grabbed the pilot-seat gems. "I'm gonna try to steer it." "NO! WAIT!" He made a hard left, and pulled back, trying to break somehow. Instead, the ship rolled on it's axis, and started to vertically spin at a maddening pace. When the spin finally supsided, Tenchi and Kyo peeled themselves off of the ship's ceiling, and fell to the floor. "Why's everyone spinning?" "I'm gonna throw up..." "YOU'RE STILL SLEEPING!?" "Ugh...." After they regained their center of balence, they looked around at the surroundings. Kyo looked at the outside window; Earth was clearly in view, but they were closing in on it at an unbelievably quick pace. "RYO-OHKI! SLOW DOWN!" The ship began to rumble, vibrate even. They looked at each other. "What's it doing?" "Dunno. Maybe it's the atmosphere entry?" Kyo then noticed something with the rumblings-- it started to stop and begin again periodically, in irregular intervals. He listened to them, taking note. He gave a look of surprise. "I GET IT!" "What's she doing?" "The rumblings are in intervals... she's talking in morse code!" "Do you know what she's saying?" "Hold on..." Kyo started to listen at the repeating message. After a moment or so, his look of fascination melted into that of confusion. "What's she saying?" Tenchi asked again. "...I can quit whenever I want to." There was a moment of quiet solace, before Tenchi figured the message out. "...WE'RE GONNA DIE!" "Don't panic! We need to think of a way out of this mess." The ship's warning siren blared on, as the panel showed the Earth's distance, quickly decreasing. "Okay! I got it!" Kyo looked at the panel; they were in the atmosphere. He gave a nod of approval. "Right. I'm gonna brace the girls for impact, and try to make Ryo-Ohki land in a place of water." He then ran to Mihoshi and took out her Materialization Cube. He flipped it several times to make a cowboy hat appear. "Tench, you take this cowboy hat, climb outside to the top part of Ryo-Ohki, and... well... you ever see Dr. Strangelove?" "Yeah?" Kyo looked at him. "Oh no... NO! You can't make me do this!" "It's for our own good!" "I'M NOT GONNA RIDE RYO-OHKI LIKE A BULL! NOT ONLY DOES IT MAKE NO SENSE, BUT IT WON'T HELP US OUT AT ALL!" "Yes it will!" "No it won't!" "YES IT WILL!" "NO IT WON'T!" The siren blared louder. "FINE! I'LL DO IT!" Kyo turned the ship so that Tenchi can climb out of the top window with ease. He jumped off of the floor and grabbed the outside of the top window. There, he positioned himself to the nearest spot and flipped over to it. Kyo flipped the ship back around, and tried to guide it to the nearest body of water; there was no need to, as they were conveniently nearing the lake just outside of the Masaki house. "YAAAAAAAAA-HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "You're doin' great, Tench!" "MIYAAA? MIIYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "What the hell?" There was a bright flash of light, with Kyo and the others enveloped in it. Tenchi stopped riding for a second to see the ship glowing white, and disappearing from under him! He covered his eyes to shield himself from the intense light. When it dissipated, he could see the girls, Kyo, and Ryo-Ohki (back in cabbit form) plummeting towards the backyard lake; he, too, was falling with them. "KYO! What happened?!" "I DON'T KNOW! I THINK SHE DID IT ON HER OWN!" "WE'RE GONNA DIE!" "Actually, if we keep falling this same way, we'll hit the lake without a scratch!" He was almost right; everyone except Tenchi and Kyo fell into the lake and washed up on shore, without a scrape; they both landed on shallow water that moved away to the undertow. Track 12 Tenchi opened his eyes to see his Grandpa and Father looking at him. "Tenchi!" His Grandpa said. "You came to, finally." "Tenchi!" Nobuyuki immediately hugged him, disregarding his bodily bruising. "We're SO glad you're home! Oh God, I thought I was gonna get a heart attack..." "Didn't you want his empty room, son?" "NOT NOW, DAD!" Tenchi immediately jumped off of the sofa, looking around at the surroundings. He was back, inside of the house. "W-where's everyone? KYO! RYOKO! AEKA!" "There's no need to shout, son. They're all right." A voice came from the top of the stairs. "But I don't think you go see them..." "Kyo!" Kyo slowly descended the stairs. There were a few black marks on his forehead and some bruises, but he didn't seem to mind. Actually, he had a warm smile on. "You all right, Tench?" "Ugh... I got little headache, but that's pretty much it.... what about the girls? Are they alright?" Kyo's smile faded away. "Uh... you... COULD say they have a headache, too...::cough::" He motioned his head to upstairs. "Why don't ya come with me, and I'll show you what I'm talking about." Tenchi and Kyo stood at the door of Aeka's room, aspirin in hand. Tenchi reached his right hand out to open the door, but was stopped halfway by Kyo. "Wait... I'll go in there first. If we both go in at the same time, they'll get confused and disoriented." "That bad, huh?" Kyo shook his head. "It's... not a pretty sight." "FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY, KEEP IT DOWN!!!!!!" "SHUT UP!" "IT'S TOO FREAKIN' LOUD!" "Oh, my stomach..." Tenchi and Kyo quickly glanced at the door, freaked out by the screams coming from it. "Oh, I get ya." Kyo nodded. He opened the door and splayed himself against the wall. "Here we go..." He gave a deep breath, gulped, and inched slowly towards the room, stopping every time he heard a cough. "What's taking you so long?" "I'm going, I'm going! I'm..." He was interrupted by a barrage of coughs, hacks and moans. "Dear God, it's like something out of a horror film." Kyo was still gathering enough courage. "OKAY! NOW OR NEVER!" He made the "Cross" gesture, flipped around and darted inside, closing the door. Seconds later, he shot out of the room, gasping for air. He dropped to his knees, clutching his thoat. "Y...Your turn...::COUGH::" Tenchi skulked his way into the darkened room. Mist from the humidifiers made for a very frightening setting as he tip-toed across the bodies lying on the floor, curled up in blankets. Kyo looked on, rubbing an ankh between his fingers. There was little light in the room, only that of the opened door; it was the evening-time, anyway. He picked his way among the six bodies until he reached the body at the end, kneeling down. "Ryoko?" The body moaned and shifted around. "Tenchi... is that you?" "Yeah." "Oohhh. I feel so faint... hold me, please..." "You stay away from him, you devil..." Aeka would finish her sentance if she weren't so hung-over. "C'mon guys, don't fight..." "WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!?" "TOO LOOOUUD!" "Oh, I'm gonna lose it..." "Tench! Get outta there, man!" Kyo heard the outburst, and his heart quickened. "Hold on!" He looked back at Ryoko. "Tenchi... could you do something for me?" "Yeah..." Ryoko slowly rose up and whispered softly into Tenchi's ear. His nose was nearly about to explode with blood. "Could you get me some more aspirin?" The pressure quickly subsided. "Sure." She dropped her head back on the pillow and fell asleep again. "Woman..." Aeka managed to finish her sentance before going back to sleep. Tenchi walked back out of the room and closed the door. Kyo had his hands closed on his face in prayer. "How much did we all drink, anyway?" "Well, I only drank some to test it... you didn't drink a lot either, Tench...." "What about the girls? How much did they--" "About an army's worth..." "They drank an army's worth of alcohol?!" "And they didn't even throw up ONCE! Not even Sasami! I mean, MAN! They can really hold their liquor!" Tenchi and Kyo walked back down the stairs. Tenchi looked into the kitchen. "It's pretty lonely without the girls around..." "Yeah..." "Dunno what I'd do if they were gone..." "It's so quiet." "Yeah..." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Yeah." "So... who's gonna make dinner?" Tenchi face-faulted. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of "The omipresence", and the beginning of a whole new adventure, with Tenchi and co. I'm gonna take little hiatus, mostly to get the feeling in my legs back, then start up on another fanfic.