Outsiders, chapter 3: the revival a fanfic by Whitestar Here we go again. Part 3. I don't think this has ever been attempted.(the revival, that is). Of course with my luck, that's because it's impossible. Never stopped me before. Anyway, for those of you who've been just dying to read this (all both of you) I'll continue the story without further ado. As for the revival, you'll find out soon enough. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blip.... Blip.... Blip-Blip-Blip-Blip-Blip..... Kiyone glanced at her kawaii little timepiece. A present from Mihoshi, its body was a plastic rabbit with an impossibly huge grin, especially because rabbits can't grin. Apparently the designers, being Human, had neglected to care about this. Now, the hands were pointing at almost the exact time she had expected. "Always punctual, aren't they" Tapping a few keys, she brought up an extrapolated image of the treeship's expected trajectory based on the information just recieved from the system perimeter satellite which had just detected it. It told her nothing she had not known before. "I'd better go tell them." she muttered as she rose reluctantly and shuffled towards the door. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, a scene similar to the one still playing on the monitor in the GP headquarters of Terra was displayed on one of the primary stations in the 3rd core interface of Washu's lab. Once again Washu wondered what exactly could make the Jurian nobles so collectively nervous that they would recall the princesses. If the power recently demonstrated to her was any indication of what lurked out there, they were at least justified in doing that much, and probably more. Dismissing the thought, she immediately began searching for the menacing phantom which had managed to threaten the greatest empire in the Galaxy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Miya Miya! *Finally* It seemed like they had been waiting for hours. A thought traversed the minute distance to the crystal before her, and the starfield image on the surface behind it shifted fluidly to another indistinguishable starfield. Except for one part. Years before, the image of a Jurian treeship would have brought nothing but calculated aggression. Ironic, that now it should be such a good omen. At last, She would be free of that little prudish nuisance. And to think, after so many fights, that the end should come like this, Aeka leaving by her own will, and by that of her precious Empire. With another burst of thought, Ryoko made the ship's ETA known, and Ryo-Ohki began to move slowly back towards the marbled sapphire she called home, her first real home. After all, she thought, turning from the still painfull reminiscensce to a more hopeful thought. A smile spread across her lips. With Aeka out of the way, it was only a matter of time before Tenchi was hers at last. With that prediction, she slipped back into her mind to nurse a fantasy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To a human mind, reentering Einstinean space would have been disorienting at least. Even with a mind capable of existing in or out of four-dimensional space, the shift was a shock to one's awareness. If one opted to keep it active for the duration. The bulky form of the Culler shifted position slightly. It really was a nuisance to have to inhabit a human, but, he supposed, a necessary evil. Snapping out of his reviere, the master surveyed his domain. Everything was pretty much as it was three days, five hours ago, at the last star. A primative surge of lonlieness was instantly repressed. If only he had been able to finish the purging of this body's neural tissue before starting. But enough with "what ifs", now to the buisness at hand. Calling up fresh readings of the vicinity, he saw what must have, at its outset, seemed a plan sure to be sufficient to deal with him. That's what beuracracy did to an empire, though. 11 Jurian treeships lay in wait for him behind a quarter-dozen barren planets. He sighed. It was time to show the empire to stay out of his way. In a few moments, he had calculated the Jurian fleet's probable attack formation. With one more thought, he gave instructions to deal with it, and then sat back. The hulking ship lurched into motion, entering the trap laid for it, as it was expected to. Moving at once, treeships burst from behind a few planets to surround the invader. A few of the nearer ones released their directed gamma beams, followed by those behind them. One, behind its target, boosted to overtake the prey and impale it with the platinum spike sprouting from its side. The radiation was refracted by a parabolic displacement field intended for that purpose, and instead curved towards the small globe protruding from the top of the ship. There the beams were absorbed harmlessly by its crystal lattice. Small blue spheroids sped from their ports and into the midst of the treeships, now trying to maneuver around to flank their enemy. At the programmed time, they activated their mechanisms, and generated powerful gravitational fields, ripping two of the closer ships into pieces. As the others tried futilely to escape the forces exerted upon them, a calculated flow of particles arced through the void to meet with them, rupturing their sides as they struggled against the insurmountable tide of gravity. They slowly accelerated backwards, only to be crushed like so much glass, their mass added to that of the artificial singularities that now warred in the deapths. The platinum spike neared one of the exaust ports of its target. Energy crackled to life, and arced to its tip. The energy traveled through its length to the living wood it grew out of. A mass of tiny explosions racked it as xylum adapted to carry electricity overloaded and burned out. Though it now floated dead, the treeship, with its spike, still bore down on its enemy. A plethora of red energy beams, resembling a cone, streaked to their common focal point, at the base of the spike, and spread away from each other, forming a red double cone. The focal point moved across, cleanly shearing the spike from its base as platinum ionized under multiple gigajules and ceased to hold. The spike, now free, slid down from its place of attatchment and floated away. The behemoth continued to move, in its signature stately manner, towards the distant star known to inhabitants of the third ball of rock orbiting it as Sol. A tiny flitter hovered among the debris, moving no more than it had during the entire event. Inside it, a stream of photons crossed the dimensional interface. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A mere few moments later, those same photons crossed another interface, only to discharge themselves, thus delivering the information they were emitted to convey. Danza unlinked himself and stepped away from the terminal, passing through the portal and into the light of Sol. His eyes altered their dimensions in ways no human, indeed, no natural organs could, focusing on the scene playing out a few hundred meters away. The princesses of Jurai bid their final farewells to those they had become so close to in such a short time. They both stepped away, Aeka setting her face in a determined expression, and awaited the beam which would take them away from this plaanet. It came, both of them vanishing behind the green pillar of light cast from the heavens before it withdrew, leaving nothing. The figures remaining stood only a few seconds before turning and returning the way they came. Tenchi turned to look at the giant tree which stood some distance away, and then walked slowly back with the rest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What was so different about tonight? After all, Ryoko had spent many nights on the roof of the Masaki's house, and tonight should have seemed no different. But tonight the scene seemed more... vibrant somehow. In fact, ever since Aeka had left, everything had seemed slightly better. Colors were brighter, the countryside looked quite beautifull in the moonlight right now. She lay on her back and stared at the moon for a while. As she slowly started to drift off, a shadow gradually covered her face. Thinking someone was there, she snapped her eyes open, only to find herself still alone. She sat up, looking for the source of the shadow. The search led her back to the moon, or to what was left of it. A black form was obscuring most of the moon. After sitting there dazed for a few seconds, she jumped to her feet and shifted into her battle suit. *Nagi!* Why did she always pick the worst times to show up. As she gazed at the silhouette eclipsing Luna, the angry expression dropped from her face. *That's not Ken-ohki. Its ...* Her eyes grew wide as she remembered what Aeka had said about the threat to her precious Empire. Once she realized what was happening, she jumped off the roof and floated to the ground. Her mental link to Ryo-ohki flared to life, rousing the cabbit awake. She came bouncing out through one of the near wall to stand and Miya inquisitively. Ryoko picked up her ship and initiated the transformation by hurling her upwards. She followed, flying up to meet the crystaline ship now hovering in the sky and phasing into it. Cabbit and master soared away from Terra to meet the object which now floated menacingly in the heavens. Within a few seconds, Ryo-Ohki had closed the distance between the two vessels. Ryoko managed to restrain her killer instincts long enough to transmit the galactic signal for "identify yourself". This uncharacteristic leniency availed her none, however, as the enemy responded with a pinkish beam that lanced to the nearest of the cabbit's crystaline "ears". Cursing her foe's unprovoked hostility, Ryoko recovered quickly and spat out her orders. The cabbit danced to the side and pelted the invader's mottled surface with beams of her own. Each of the half dozen golden rays were bent upwards to the crystal protruding from their target, and were absorbed. The crystal managed to absorb a few more barrages before it shattered, creating an expanding cloud of glassy dust. Ryo-Ohki managed to hit her enemy a few more times, its shielding now useless, before a greenish ray encased the cabbit in a semitransparent field. A few more beams were deflected harmlessly into space as they passed through the bubble. On board the cabbit-ship, Ryoko was standing, trying futilly to discern what was holding her ship defenseless. She sensed a disturbance across the room, so she spun, activating her reddish blade. The large man who had just appeared didn't give her a chance to use it, however. He lifted a hand quickly, before Ryoko could move. Green-bluish lightning arced to her glowing sword and it extinguished. The energy moved to the rest of her, and she snapped back slightly before becoming immobile. He hefted his considerable bulk over to her, still forcing energy through the air. She managed to lower her head and look at her assailant before dropping into unconsciousness. As the insistent miyaing surrounding the two died away, so did the lightning streaks between them. Both of them glowed briefly before dissapearing, leaving the space empty. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A sharp pain flashed through him. He let it continue just long enough to determine the source before blocking the sense responsible. It took a few seconds to analyse the signal which had caused it, after which he stood, trying to determine the cause. Abruptly he snapped out of it and fairly fley towards the house that stood nearby. Phasing back in on the inside of the wall, he saw Tenchi slowly descending the stairs. He stopped halfway down and turned, bewildered. "You felt it too?" "You mean.." "Ryoko, she's in trouble." he was still progressing towards the door which ages ago had opened into a mundane closet. Reaching it, he raised one hand and moved it in an inscrutable pattern. A second later, the door opened to reveal Washu-chan in the doorway. "He's got her" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenchi waited. He had been told to wait across the bridge from the small island where Ryu-Oh stood. Washu, on his left, was typing furiously, so there was nothing left for him to do but wait. Across the bridge he could see a slight shimmering effect around the enigmatic visitor. *What's that sound?* He hadn't noticed it before, but it was getting louder. The bubble before the great tree was beginning to glow. As he watched, a protrusion began to extend from the huge trunk dominating the island. A few sounds of surprise from beside him notified him that this was important. The glowing bubble was obscured as it was encased by red tendrils extending from Ryu-Oh's new limb. Suddenly, the whole tree began to glow brilliant white, and he had to cover his eyes. When the glowing stopped, he looked again to find the tree was gone. When he looked up, he was amazed to see a vaguely familier shape high above the now empty island. "Coming?" that was from Washu, who had started across the bridge. Still amazed, he followed slowly to the center of the place where the great tree once stood before he was engulfed by the brilliant green transport beam from above. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's it for chapter 3. Has anyone else thought of doing that? Oh well, I don't have much to say here, so just come back for part four soon. I still haven't decided how long this will be.