DISCLAIMER: THE CHARACTERS HEREIN ARE NOT MY CREATION NOR WILL THEY BE MY CREATION NO MATTER HOW MUCH I WISH IT; THEY ARE, HOWEVER, THE CREATION Masaki Kajishima. I ALSO DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS HEREIN, AND REGRADLES OF THE EXTENT OF MY DESIRE THAT THEY WERE MY PROPERTY, I HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF GETTING STRUCK BY LIGHTINING, THREE TIMES IN THE SAME HOUR WHILE I'M STANDING IN A DITCH WEARING A RUBBER WETSUIT AND AM CROUCHING IN A PHETAL POSITION, THAN I DO OF PIONEER/AIC, WHOM ARE THE LEGAL OWNERS OF THE AFOREMENTIONED CHARACTERS, GIVING THEM TO ME. THE Ferrari F50 IS A LEGAL TRADEMARK OF Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. FRUIT OF THE LOOM IS A LEGAL TRADEMARK OF Fruit of The Loom, Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE STORY OF "Tenchi USA" AND ANY THING WITHIN THE STORY THAT HAS NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY PRESENTED ELSEWHERE IS MY IDEA IS MY CREATION AND MY LEGAL PROPERTY. DON'T DO ANYTHING TO IT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT (c) 2001 _______ _ _ _ _ ____ ____ | | |_ _ __ | _ * | | / \ / \ | /__\ |/ \ / \ |/ \ | | | \____ |____| | | | | | | | | | | \ | | _|_ \__/ | | \__/ | | | \____/\*\____/*_|_ _|_* ____ . // ___ ____ \\ | \ __ _ | /| | * _ | _ | | / __ _ __ | | / \ |/ \ -+- | --- | | / \| |/ \ -+- / / \ |/ \ /__\ |___/ | | | | | | | | | | | | / | | | | | _|_ \__/\ | | _|_ _|____| | \__| | | | /__| \__/ | | \__/ | ____ __ \__/ / \ | _ __ _ _|_ __ _ / \ | |/ \ / \ |/ \ | /__\ |/ \ |--< | | | | | | | | | | | \ \____/ | | \__/\ |__/ | \__/ | |\__/ Tenchi USA | (Beta) Part 1 - Light Zone | Chapter Beta | "The stones that Critics hurl with Harsh Intent A Man may use to build a Monument." --Arthur Guiterman Scientist's Dilemma The owner/designer/builder of the Soja II was sitting in the ship's lab. The task that currently occupied the majority of her thought was what to do regarding Ryoko's immense life span. She did not want her daughter to go through some of the things she had gone through in her long lifetime. She knew that she could do it. The question was not whether or not she COULD do it. The question was whether or not her daughter wanted her to do it. If she knew her daughter--which she did--she would want to have the long life span just to break a record or something similarly pointless--at least Washu thought it was pointless. The "it" in question was reducing Ryoko's life span to about 65,000-years. It would not be a difficult task for the genius. The main thing that was troubling her was whether or not to ask Ryoko for permission to inject her with the proper chemicals or to surprise her with it. If she asked Ryoko what she wanted, Ryoko would choose not to allow her mother to do the procedure and end up having what Washu thought would be a horrible life for it. If she did it without asking and if Ryoko somehow discovered what she had done--which somehow the scientist knew she would--she would hate her forever for it and never speak to her again. And Washu did not know if she was willing to ruin the rest of her own life by permanently destroying a bridge that had taken almost a hundred years to build between her and her daughter just to better the life of her daughter. "Ahh!" Washu yelled out in frustration. She needed something to give her mind a break from such depressing thoughts. She looked around her lab for something to do. Her eyes came to rest on the test platform she had used on Tenchi about an hour ago. "Hmm..." she thought audibly. Immediately she pulled out her holographic laptop and began examining the data she had collected on Tenchi. After scanning through it for a few seconds, she stumbled upon something rather interesting. I wonder what these are... thought the redhead. After leaning in closer to examine the data on her screen, she instantly made a connection, which lead to another connection and another and another and so forth. Her hand flew with lightning speed to press a button on her holo-top. She spoke into her holo-top's built-in microphone, "I see Tenchi's out of shape..." Gems "Hello, Tenchi, Ryoko," greeted Washu as they entered her mini-lab on board her massive space vessel, the Soja II. "Hey there, Little Washu," Tenchi returned her greeting. "Hi, mom," Ryoko said. "So, Little Washu, you said you have something to help me get in shape?" asked the young man as his sword-fighting instructor stood patiently to his side. After a few seconds of typing on her holotop, the scientist spoke up, "Yes, I do." "Really! Will I have to do any weight lifting or anything like that?" he asked. "...Well... no, not really. But, it will be extremely painful. I promise you, though, that after the procedure is completed, you will never have to work out ever again." The swordsman in training did not have to reflect over Washu's offer for even a second in order to come to a decision. "Okay," he said rapid and unhesitatingly. For all his life, Tenchi had hated working out or doing any kind of heavy lifting or any number of similar difficult jobs. This was just the type of thing he had wanted his entire life: a way to get in shape without doing work. That and something "more" had influenced his decision. "That's it?" asked Ryoko. "Don't you even want to know what she's going to do to you?" "No, I'm willing to believe Little Washu when she says it'll be worth it in the end. I mean, she did do a great job with my sword training." Ryoko nodded her agreement. It wouldn't do her any good to argue. Tenchi's tone made him seem very set on this. And whatever his motives were, she wasn't even going to consider trying to talk him out of it. Furthermore, there was a strange nagging in the back of her mind, something almost supernatural that was compelling her to believe that this was supposed to happen. It was almost as if some unknown deity had preordained it. "Besides!" Washu boasted, "I am the number one scientific genius in the universe!" "Haha," chided Tenchi as they began walking deeper into her lab, "I'm almost beginning to believe you on that one, Little Washu. I'm still not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, though." Washu and Ryoko both chuckled lightly in response. The scientist led them to an extremely large metal door. It was almost twenty feet tall and wide. At its center, within Washu's reach, was a small numeric keypad. Tenchi watched over her shoulder as she punched in the sequence, pressing an "enter" key between each number, 14-21-13-2-5-18-0-1-0-19- 3-9-5-14-20-9-19-20-0-9-14-0-20-8-5-0-21-14-9-22-5-18-19-5. "Well, that's predictable," said Tenchi in a monotone. "Is it now?" asked Washu with no hint of concern for her top-secret password. "Hehe," laughed the earthling high school student. "That code, if you change the numbers--except the first number one--to their respective letters in the alphabet with the zeros being spaces, it spells out 'number 1 scientist in the universe'." "Doesn't need to be any more difficult than that," said Washu as the gigantic door opened with an audible pneumatic hiss, revealing itself to be almost four feet think. Behind this door was another slightly smaller door with a retinal scanner of to its side. Washu also opened this door. Behind it was yet another, this one with a palm print identification scanner. Behind which were several more doors each one becoming progressively smaller. The multitude of doors reminded Tenchi of a Russian babushka doll, you open the top and there's just a smaller one inside, inside of which was yet another smaller one and so forth. Washu continued opening doors until she came to a tiny six-inch by six-inch door at her eye level. When the six-inch square door opened the lab's lighting seemed to dim considerably. Inside this door was... well... nothing, just pitch-black darkness. "Um, Washu? What's in there?" asked Tenchi. "A quantum singularity." "A what?" "A black hole." "A... a... a black hole! Washu, you can't be serious!" "Yes, I'm perfectly serious," she stated matter-of-factly. "Don't worry, it's in a containment field." She allowed a small, automated syringe by the side of the 6-inch door to extract some of her blood and compare her DNA to the genetic code held in the seemingly overprotective safe's super computer data bank. "Neutralization of quantum singularity commencing," announced a computerized voice. The light slowly started to return to the mini-lab. The voice spoke again, when all of the lighting had returned, "Neutralization, complete. Gravity containment field power shutting down." The black hole was gone and all that remain inside the safe were no more than three small, spherical, turquoise gems, all of them approximately three eighths of an inch in diameter. "All that for just those three gems?" asked Tenchi in a critical tone. Ryoko agreed with Tenchi, "Yeah, isn't that a little much?" "No, not for these. They can't be created and they can't be destroyed, you see, that's how I was able to store them inside the singularity," explained Washu. "They are the only ones in either of the universes. These three gems, Tenchi, hold more power than you could ever dream of imagining. I've tried in the past to access this power. The first time was to use the power for the original Soja's weapons systems, before I upgraded its engines and renamed it 'Soja II.' The second time was when I was creating Ryoko. I was going to attempt to make her be able to access the power of the gems directly and, therefore, make her be able to access unfathomable energies to use with her abilities. That failed when..." Washu paused and gave an apologetic nod to Ryoko. "...When Ryoko-mindless-prototypes one, two, and three all exploded in flames when they attempted to access the gems. But something...something almost...divine, tells me that it will work with Tenchi. "Furthermore, I examined the test data on Tenchi's bone structure and organ placement. He has three more bones than the average humanoid. Each of these bones is like a small...socket, where something is supposed to be inserted. He has one at the based of his neck, and one in each of his wrists. And, guess what. These 'sockets' are all the exact same size and shape as these gems." She held up the gems, "It's almost as if you were fated to use these things." "Are you sure that this is safe?" asked Ryoko. "Well...to tell you the truth, I'm only 98% certain that it won't hurt him." What Washu didn't say was that ninety-eight percent certainty was uncommonly low for her. "That is why I am only going to give him one of these gems for now. I am 100 percent that just one gem won't do any damage to him that I can't fix." Washu looked at Tenchi. "Tenchi, the nature of this operation prevents me from being able to use any kinds of sedatives or pain killers, it's going to hurt a lot. If you don't want to go through with this, you don't have to. There is a second option: I can just increase your muscle mass and reprogram your metabolism." Tenchi gulped as he decided to stick with his original decision. "Something tells me I should do this." "I'll ask one last time just to make sure," began Washu as her emerald eyes pierced deep into Tenchi's brown eyes. "Are you absolutely certain that you want to do this?" The tone of Washu's voice made Tenchi think about his choice some more. Deciding to keep with the plan he kept his eyes locked with the scientist's. "Yes, I am absolutely certain that I want to do this." "Okay then!" Washu beamed happily. She had been in possession of the three gems for as long as she could remember. And also for as long as she could remember, she had somehow known of the gems' power even before she had been able to confirm it. Ever since the day she had finished the construction of her subspace lab, almost nineteen thousand years ago, she had desperately wanted to find a way to tap the gems' awesome power. It seemed almost as if tapping that power was an integral part of her existence. Almost as though she had been created for that task. Now she finally had her chance! Washu returned two of the gems to the safe and pressed a button at the safe's side. "Re-activating containment field," the computer voice spoke again. "Creating quantum singularity from free taus and muons from Particle Super- Collider/Accelerator. Quantum singularity formation in: 5 seconds." There was a five-second long pause at the end of which the lab's lighting was once again severely dimmed. "Warning, quantum singularity is active." "That should keep 'em safe," said the scientist. Washu then led Tenchi and her daughter to another area of her lab as she explained the operation to Tenchi, the safe's doors automatically closed behind them. "Okay, Tenchi the first thing I am going to do is place your left arm, just below the elbow, in a special vice to prevent it from moving. Then, I'm going to make an incision just below your elbow and sever the motor nerves to your hand. What that will do is prevent you from being able to move your hand so that you don't hurt yourself when I'm operating on your wrist." All the while, Tenchi was trying desperately to keep himself from worrying, but to no avail. _She's the number one genius in the universe,_ Tenchi, he tried to tell him self. It probably would have worked, had he fully believed it. "After this, I will make another incision on the inside of your wrist. This will be a very large and deep one too. When I've made the opening large enough, I will then cut your sensory nerve and your motor nerve will also be severed a second time. Then I'll connect both ends of both your sensory and motor nerves through the gem. I will then place the gem in one of those 'sockets' I was telling you about earlier. After that, I'll reroute your blood vessels around the gem because, if I'm not mistaken, a small portion of the gem will remain protruding out of your skin. And, then the last step is for Ryoko to close up the incision using her newfound healing ability. "Now, the only thing I'm worried about is that I have to do this whole operation in three minutes. Before you lose too much blood and die. But, don't worry too much about it, I am the number one scientific genius in the universe!" she told everyone. Somehow, that fact did not provide much consolation to the genius. Although the level of her intelligence was a proven fact, she was still prone to make mistakes like everyone else was. "Washu, I really hope you know what you're doing," stated the earthling. "You'd better, Washu!" warned Ryoko. "Don't worry, I do," _at least I hope I do,_ the scientist added in her mind. Painful Surgery Tenchi was clamping his teeth so hard that he thought they would shatter were he to increase the pressure he was putting on them. The young man was strapped snugly to a metal table. His left arm was stretched out to his side and held immobile in a well padded vice. The vice had a large shroud around it to prevent Tenchi from seeing the carnage Washu was inflicting on his helpless limb. If one were to ask Tenchi, he would say with more than certainty that what he was going through at that moment was definitely the most excruciatingly painful thing he'd ever experienced. Little did he know just how soon he'd be proven wrong. He silently hoped that Washu wouldn't screw up. For all that, he was hiding his pain very well. He wasn't screaming or complaining. At least Tenchi thought he was hiding his pain well. Ryoko was sitting on a chair and holding Tenchi's free hand in an attempt to comfort his pain. She couldn't really tell if it was working or not though. What she could tell was that Tenchi was crushing her hand. And all this time she had thought he was going to be the one in pain! But, Ryoko felt she had to be strong to help him through this. So, unlike the young man she was trying to help, the space pirate wasn't even gritting her teeth through the pain. Besides, once he let go of her, her hand would heal itself almost instantly. On the opposite side of the shroud, Washu had just finished making the incision into the young man's wrist. She had to hurry now. Tenchi was losing blood, and fast! What she had not told Tenchi about the operation was that she would have to remove all the flesh that was in the so-called 'socket' in his bones. The socket was located just inward from the wrist joint, at the point where the ulna and the radius meet. Washu's hands were moving with a speed and precision she had not known she possessed. It was an amazing feeling, to see one's own hands move with such rapidity. Washu cringed but continued the procedure unhindered when she heard Tenchi's failed attempt to stifle a scream. For a moment she pondered how amazing it was that the boy had managed to last this long without screaming. Although his sensory nerve was cut at the wrist, the flesh in the socket was still connected to his nervous system. Washu quickly forced the thought out of her intelligent mind and hooked up both of the cut ends of both nerves to the large stone. The reason for connecting the nerves to the jewels was that Tenchi needed SOME way to control the energy within them. The scientist knew this was not the best way to do it but the other methods were far too painful for her to even want to consider them as an option. Especially after how she'd treated her daughter in the past. There, the nerves were connected. Now all that was left was to insert the gem into its socket. With fair amount of pressure, the surgeon pressed the gem into the socket with an audible "clack," that sounded almost as though she'd inserted a battery into a portable CD player. Tenchi could feel his flesh being removed. "Ahh!" he failed to stifle his first scream of the operation. Washu must have just finished doing whatever it was she had just been doing because at that time, Tenchi could feel her messing around with his nerves. It hurt worse than hell. Tenchi let out another scream. _Almost over,_ Tenchi thought to himself. He could feel a little pressure being applied. "Clack," the sound traveled across the shroud. Tenchi slowly felt the pain in his arm begin to lessen tremendously. "Waaa!" he heard a frightened, almost panicked scream coming from Washu. Ryoko tore her hand from his grasp and ran behind the shroud. The young man heard a muffled "Oh my!" coming from behind the veil. "What's going on!" screamed Tenchi. It was purely amazing there was no longer any pain whatsoever in his aforementioned limb. "Oh, n-n-nothing, Tenchi!" It was always an awesome sight to witness wounds as substantial as those she had inflicted on Tenchi just closing up without any "outside" help. Washu surmised that the addition of the gemstone to the young man's anatomy must have somehow provided him with an enhanced regenerative ability. That's when she noticed it. The gem began giving off a dim light green glow. It was slowly working its way up Tenchi's arm. "Um, Tenchi! Do you feel anything strange?" she asked her patient. There was a short pause. "Now that you mention it, Little Washu. My arm's getting a little warm right now." She walked around the curtain and looked down at Tenchi. "It's only gonna get warmer," informed the scientist. "Your body's beginning to access the gem's power. Try not to scream, it'll only make it worse." Tenchi cringed inwardly as Washu backed away from him. After a few moments, all of Tenchi's skin slowly started to bubble and melt from the amount of energy being drawn through it. The stench of his own burning flesh made him cringe along with the pain, it also made him want to vomit. He was melting from the outside in and the hair on his head was in flames. After a few minutes his body started to glow because his bones were glowing red-hot. The heat still continued to increase. The only thing keeping him alive was the regenerative powers he had gained only a few moments earlier. The vice that had restrained his arm, at this point decided to melt, therefore, freeing his arm--if not painfully. Shortly, all of his skin was vaporized from his body. He couldn't hold it back anymore, and he screamed loudly. Unfortunately, as Washu had said, screaming didn't help ease the pain. The scream caused him to inhale the air around his body, which was already hot enough to melt aluminum. The tissue in his lungs and along his esophagus began melting with the increased heat. He started to cough as he choked on the liquefied remains of his lungs. His body was now melting from the outside in and the inside out simultaneously. And, in an instant, as if it had been some strange editing mistake in a bad amateur movie, the heat was gone. Tenchi's body no longer glowed. The pain had vanished. He had his flesh again. His clothes were even intact--he was very grateful for that, especially with Ryoko in the vicinity, God only knows what she would do. As he stood, the young man quickly diagnosed his body's condition, and sighed loudly in relief when he discovered everything was undamaged as far as he could tell. He flexed his left wrist. Somehow, it seemed easier to move. Almost like a missing part had been replaced. The young man held his wrist close to his face to examine it. As Washu had predicted, a small portion of the gem remained jutting through his skin. "Little Washu, what just happened?" inquired the confused young man as Washu carefully approached him. Ryoko was lying unconscious on the ground behind her because Washu had been forced to sedate the retiring space pirate to keep her from running to help Tenchi and, therefore, experiencing the same kind of torture he was. "Well...Tenchi...that's the thing. I'm not really sure what happened. All I really know is it had something to do with the gem interacting with you for the first time," surmised the redhead. "Y'wanna try to find out?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "I guess," Tenchi decided. It would at least be something to do while he waited for his sparring partner's sedation to end. The Explanation Tenchi had just stepped off of the platform Washu had used on him not more than an hour ago to perform her tests. This time it had taken a few seconds longer. Washu had used quite a bit more accuracy in her tests this time. Tenchi made his way behind the typing scientist so that he could look over her shoulder and see her holotop's monitor. "So, what are you doing now?" he asked. With out a break in her rapid typing the scientist responded, "I'm writing a program that will compare all of the data from this test and the one I did on you earlier today." "Oh, so how long's this gonna..." "Done!" chimed Washu. "...Take," Tenchi finished pointlessly. "Oh." The young man scanned the compared data along with Washu. The data was mostly in the form of charts and graphs that were largely inexplicable to Tenchi, but there were a few diagrams and pictures. It was one of the images that caught Washu's attention. "You see that, Tenchi?" she asked him in an amazed tone. Tenchi leaned a little closer to the display for a better view. "Hmm," he said as he examined the monitor. His head was right next to hers and they were mere centimeters apart. He did not notice Washu blush slightly at their closeness before she reminded herself exactly whom she had put the past seventeen years of her life on hold for. On the screen there were two images of what appeared to be a human being, well, a cross-section of one anyway, colored in a mostly pinkish color. On both images the brain could be easily made out. On the image in the left half of the screen a long, thick, yellow line extended down from the brain to just above the pelvis-Tenchi assumed correctly that this was the spinal cord. From the spinal cord, there were countless other thinner, also yellow lines branching out in random directions, resembling a tree. On the right image, there was no line for the spinal cord. There was, however, a large, bright red dot on the left wrist. From this dot, a myriad of yellow lines extended out into the body. "You see?" inquired the genius. "I'm not really sure but from what I remember from biology two years ago, I assume that these are maps of two nervous systems. Right?" stated Tenchi. "Correct," affirmed Washu. "I'm guessing that that red dot is this gem," he said holding up his wrist. "Am I right?" "Correct," she repeated. "So, I no longer have a spinal cord?" he asked tentatively. "Nope. And I suspect that all that heat was the gem destroying your body while keeping you alive at the same time so that it could build a new body for you that was more...compatible." It has been said that with Washu "suspecting is knowing." "Then how am I controlling my body?" asked Tenchi while flexing his left arm to help make his point. "Well, I'm not totally sure but, if my hunch is right..." the scientist typed something into her holotop. A few moments later, a fluctuating blue line was drawn connecting the brain stem of the right image to the red dot in the same image. "What's that blue line, little Washu?" "That, Tenchi, is exactly what I expected. I've overlaid a map of your psychic energy. That blue line represents flowing psychic energies. Your brain is now connected directly to the gem via a psycho-energetic link. That gem," said Washu pointing to Tenchi's wrist, "_is_ your spinal cord." The young man took a better look at the gem in his wrist. "I guess I better protect this thing, huh?" "Yup!" she agreed. "Now, Tenchi I want you to try 'n' access the power held in the gem." "...How?" "Um...I hate to admit this but...I'm not sure, actually...uh...just try concentrating on the gem and drawing energy out of it," Washu guessed. This was something she had neglected to plan on. Once you're able to access the gems' power, how do you use it? Tenchi took the scientist's suggestion and tried it. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the gem. He began to see the gem in his mind's eye, and he could feel the power it held. He tried everything he could think to do in order to extract that power but nothing worked. No matter what he tried, he failed in drawing the energy from the turquoise stone in his wrist. "I can't Washu, it's not working," he said downcast. "Hmm..." Washu had to think about that one. How could she have been so absent minded? How! She chastised herself. Oh well, she knew she'd figure it out eventually. "Well, just forget about it for..." "He will learn to use the gem at the appropriate time," came a very soothing feminine voice with a slight lisp that only enhanced its beauty. "Huh? Who's there?" asked Washu in surprise as she looked around for the source of the voice. Her lab was supposed to be impenetrable! How the hell did some one get in without her permission! And, furthermore, how the _hell_ did someone get on board her ship without being detected! "It is I," said a stunningly beautiful young woman as her form faded into existence in front of them. She had brilliant blue hair that cascaded down to her ankles like a waterfall and was wearing an extremely ornate, blue and white kimono. On her forehead was a strange olive-colored marking of two circles side-by-side. "Who are you?" the scientist asked the woman. The girl seemed somehow familiar to her but Washu was certain that she had never in her long life met anyone that even closely resembled the apparition before her. "I am she who commands the seas," she announced emotionlessly calm. "What the heck do you mean by that?" posed Washu. "Exactly what I said," spoke the stranger. "Please listen to me. Tenchi, I am sorry you had to experience such pain but it was necessary. The gems have accepted you as their master. "Lady Washu I command that you give the other two gems to Tenchi. When you, Washu give him the Tenchi-ken, the gems will be placed in the base of its hilt. He is not yet ready to bond with those gems. Do not worry, when the time comes, he will know how. "Also; Tenchi," she moved closer to Tenchi. When she walked, she seemed to do so without moving her legs. As she approached the young man, the emblem on her brow began glowing with a yellow light. When she reached him, she placed her right hand on the back of his head, closed her pink eyes, and pressed their foreheads together for a few brief seconds. "I have unlocked it, use it as you see fit," she whispered after she had parted from Tenchi. For a few short moments after the contact, the emblem of three triangles pointing downward glowed yellow on his for head before disappearing. "I must leave you now. When I am gone you will have forgotten that I was ever here. But you will know what I have told you," she finished as her visage faded away. "Did you hear something?" Washu asked Tenchi. "No, why?" "Oh, never mind then, it was probably just my imagination," said Washu as she shrugged her shoulders. "Why don't we test the strength of your new body?" "Sure..." "'Kay, follow me," she said, standing up from her floating cushion. Without comment, Tenchi did as he was instructed. The scientist led him quietly to the opposite side of her colossal mini-laboratory. They stopped in front of a box shaped device about the size of a washing machine. It had a small metal rod protruding from the center of its top. At the end of this rod was a grip. "Now, Tenchi," began Washu while flipping a switch on the box, "stand on top of this box and pull upward as strongly as you can with all of your body, and it will measure the force with which you're pulling." She activated her holotop and typed a few keys. "Sounds easy enough," said the young man. He did as he was told. To his side Washu was staring wide-eyed at the numbers on her holotop's screen. They were rising fast. They had just passed four. It was purely amazing that he was able to apply that much force to it. Six. The redhead's eyes were easily the size of a chicken's eggs. Six-point-five. Seven! He was slowing down now considerably. Seven-and-three-quarters. Eight. He stopped. "Are you done?" "Yeah," groaned Tenchi as he let go of the device, "How much was that?" "Well, that's simply amazing! You were pulling on that thing with a force of 8.0519 corosols!" "Corosols?" "One of the universal units of measurement for force." "Oh, and is that a lot?" "Yeah that's a lot!" proclaimed Washu. She continued at a lightning pace, "It's a logarithmic unit of measurement. Three is twice as much as two, and four is twice as much as three, et cetera. You convert it into non-logarithmic units by using the number of corosols as a power of three-point-oh-three-four. The resulting unit of measurement is corosiens. So you were pulling with a force of about 7605.75 corosiens, which, as luck would have it, are equal to your SI unit for force, the Newton. Convert that into what you're used to, pounds, and it comes out to be about 1711-lbs of force. My daughter can do just above 9.4 corosols, about eight thousand-pounds." She did all of the calculations in her head. "So, I'm pretty strong then?" Tenchi said in monotone. "I would say so." "Cool..." he said flatly. He hadn't been very surprised after the amount of boasting Washu had done about the gems' power. She had originally planned on using them to power the damn weapons systems of an entire ship. And she had mentioned that the ship she had planned on using them on was the Soja. If this ship was the Soja II and if it was really the second most powerful ship in the universe, then the original Soja must have been comparably powerful then, probably less powerful. And here, he had one of the gems entirely for his own use! "Yeah it is," responded the genius with a raised eyebrow. What was he thinking? "Are there any more tests you want to do?" After a moment's thought the scientist said, "Nope, Tenchi. I don't think there are any more. Why don't we go get Ryoko and put her somewhere more comfortable than this cold floor in this cold lab? The sedatives I gave her should wear off in..." Washu paused to look at the time read out on her holotop, "about another forty-five minutes." Damn Cop! Tenchi let out a gratified sigh of relief as he gently placed the sedated Ryoko on the bed in her room aboard the Soja II. Little Washu had asked him to carry her daughter. He would have preferred not to but he was bound by his stubbornly altruistic belief in the merits of chivalry. The whole time he had carried her, he could not help being unnerved by Ryoko's rampant beauty. Who wouldn't? You'd have to be blind not to. A satisfied grin graced the petite scientist's youthful face. She could not help but notice the way Tenchi had been behaving while he was carrying her daughter in his now very strong arms. He had obviously been trying very hard not to ogle her too noticeably. But, occasionally, he would briefly glance at her face and a tiny smile would play for the briefest of instants upon his attractive face. She considered this test a success. "Let's head up to the bridge, Tenchi. You're gonna need to learn how to drive a spacecraft, and I've got a simulator up there," suggested the redhead as the door closed behind them. "'Kay," agreed Tenchi. What else was there to do? He would have liked to spar some more. It had been lots of fun for him earlier that day. And he was going to be competing in a sword-fighting _tournament_, no less, in a few days but, alas, his instructor was thoroughly KO'ed. A few minutes later the two of them, Tenchi and Washu, arrived on the Soja's bridge. It was a comparatively small, half-circular room, having a radius of about 30-meters. It was, strangely enough, located in back of the Soja rather than the front. The curved portion of the room was facing aft and was mostly transparent so that one could look out and see the stars. All of the control panels were holographic and a person could pass through them as though they weren't there. "Why, Washu-" began Tenchi. She noisily cleared her throat, interrupting him. "Little Washu. Why is the bridge in the back of the ship? Wouldn't it be better in the front?" he asked. "Well, at the time I designed this ship, its main purpose was going to be combat, 'specially large-scale assaults. By putting the bridge in the after portion of the ship, it's located in an unexpected place and makes it more difficult for an enemy to destroy the ship's command center." "Makes sense." "Tenchi, my boy, you should realize that I do very few things that don't make sense." "Captain Little Washu," came the ship's rarely used, monotone computer voice. The ship could, per se, "speak" but it did so only out of urgent necessity or when a command from its owner would necessitate a response and it would respond only to its captain. "Yes, Soja what is it?" "It appears that the prototype vessel that has been following us has deactivated its fek and is now attempting to establish a com' link." "Put it through," commanded Captain Washu. Unbeknownst to all of the passengers of the ship, except for Washu, there had been a ship following them ever since they had picked Ryoko up the day before. The ship that had been following them was a state-of-the-art self-evolving prototype GP cruiser. The technology it had been using in an attempt to conceal itself from Soja's sensors was what was called a first-generation quadratic cloaking field emitter. It was shortened to the acronym FGQCFE, which was awkwardly pronounced "fekseefee" because of this awkwardness; the name was eventually shortened once again to just "fek." Feks are considered to be the universe's most advanced cloaking device and most of the universe's top scientists--Washu had been unavailable for questioning and, therefore, no one had asked her opinion--consider them to be 100% undetectable by anything. It did not work on the Soja. The technology on board the universe's number one scientific genius's ship was approximately three hundred years ahead of anything available in either of the two universes. The Soja's sensors had pierced through the comparatively primitive fek's cloaking field like a red-hot knife through butter. "Yes, Captain Little Washu," responded the ship. A gigantic holographic monitor flashed to life at forward end of the room. A second later the image of a female with blond hair worn under an official- looking blue cap appeared on the monitor. Tenchi estimated her to be in her mid- to late-twenties. She was wearing a blue uniform with a white lapel. Although he would never admit it willingly, Tenchi had a "thing" for blondes and so he thought she was incredibly beautiful, no, cute would be a better word. "This is Detective Special-Class Mihoshi Kuramitsu of the Galaxy Police," she said in a serious tone. "Halt your ship immediately." "As you wish, officer," responded Washu. "Soja, stop." "Yes, Captain Little Washu." The Soja lurched slightly as its extremely well designed inertial zero- point energy-driven engines immediately kicked into reverse to slow the massive ship. "Thank you, ma'am." "It's no problem, officer. What is it you wanted me to stop for?" she asked although she already knew the answer. "I have reason to believe that you might be harboring the wanted fugitive Ryoko, last name: unknown," the detective quickly responded. "Uh, Miss Mihoshi?" came a slightly nasal voice over the communications link-up. "Uh, yes, Yukinojo?" asked the police officer as she turned to face slightly upwards. "Miss Mihoshi, it would be wise for you to begin velocity-modus reduction procedures right now." There was a long pause as they watched Mihoshi looking down, supposedly at a control panel, with a slight look of confusion on her face. "Um, Yukinojo..." she asked. "How do I do that?" Had they face faulted any harder; Tenchi and Washu probably would have cracked the mirror-like floor. Tenchi and Washu were standing again when Washu decided to spare a glace out the giant view port. "Soja, speed up," ordered the scientist. "I cannot comply," responded Soja. "During non-combat operations my prime directive is to not harm living entities. My engine blast would destroy the GP cruiser." "Um, Tenchi I think we should run," said the redhead in a calm and detached tone of voice before she took off running like a cheetah. "Huh?" Tenchi looked to where Washu had been looking. Through the view port he could see the distance between the Soja and the Galaxy Police cruiser closing, very rapidly. For a brief second or two he was too frightened to move but his survival instinct quickly kicked in and he also took off running. "Ahh!" screamed Mihoshi. "Yukinojo! Stop!" "I have initiated reverse-gravitational breaking," responded Yukinojo, "however, I am unable to slow rapidly enough to avoid a collision." "Uh..." "We are going to crash," summarized ship's computer as though it were speaking about an everyday task like taking out the trash. "Miss Mihoshi, I recommend that you activate your restraint system." "Umm? Uh?" responded the officer cluelessly just before being flung through the Yukinojo's cockpit windows. It had been only seconds after Tenchi and Washu had begun their mad dash from the bridge when the Galaxy Police ship collided with the Soja, wedging itself airtight into the bridge. When Tenchi heard the collision, he reflexively turned to look over his shoulder just before being impacted by an unnaturally flying GP woman. The force from the collision shattered several of Tenchi's ribs with an audible crack, and the blond woman's momentum simultaneously sent them sliding across the smooth floor until they crashed into a wall. He wouldn't be surprised if the officer also had some broken bones. Her vision was blurred and all she could make out were the figures of two people standing over her. One had long bright-red hair and the other had short black hair. That was just about all she could make out. "Will she be okay?" asked a hushed male voice. "Definitely," a female voice responded quietly. She tried to say something, but her lips would not follow her commands. "That's good," granted the male voice as her vision faded back into infinite blackness. "Yeah, I don't want a cop's life on my hands," Washu replied bluntly. "No, I don't think that would be a good thing," Tenchi concurred with sarcastic sarcasm. "Anyway... enough of that. Let's get to that ship of hers and make sure that there was no one else on board," she suggested. "Yeah, wouldn't want a cop's partner's life on your hands either," he concurred with a light chuckle. It was amazing thought Tenchi. He had to have broken several ribs catching her, but he was already perfectly fine. His new healing ability was incredible. As they started back toward the Soja's demolished main bridge, the super- genius repeated Tenchi's words with the same amount of irony he had used. "No, I don't think that would be a good thing." Just as Tenchi and the scientist reached the mini-lab's exit, Ryoko came barreling into the capacious chamber. On her face she wore a very enraged expression. The moment the pirate's eye met Tenchi--alive and well--her expression instantaneously changed from pure anger-seeking-to-inflict-hell to one of pure bliss as she immediately forgot about her desire to pummel her mother into a coma. Without a break in her step, she changed course and clamped tightly onto the newfound object of her affections, she allowed her momentum to knock the two of them to the floor and at the same time was sure to place her sufficient breasts precariously close to his face. "Hi... Ttteeennnccchhhiii!" she purred seductively. "Um-uh-wha-well-um..." Tenchi stuttered as he slowly pried her off of himself. "Ryoko," began her mother, "it seems we have an unexpected guest." "Really!" she let go of Tenchi and jumped to her feet. Tenchi slowly stood up also. "Now listen, Ryoko," commanded the redhead. "She's a GP. She was following us ever since you joined us yesterday. She was severely injured when her cruiser crashed into Soja's bridge." "I better go heal her then," she said glumly. The most wanted felon in the universe did not give a damn who it was she particularly hated to see people hurt when there was something she could do about it. "Follow me," said Washu. "Tenchi, you go see if there's anyone else aboard her ship." "If there's anyone else on board, I'll bring 'em here immediately," said the young man as he hurriedly departed the lab. The wanted pirate silently followed her mother back to the unconscious policewoman. Just as Ryoko was about to begin healing the officer, Washu stopped her. "Don't you need to shape-shift first?" "I can't. It takes too much out of me to be shape-shifted and to heal someone at the same time. And I can't heal her then shape-shift because healing wounds as bad as hers will leave me too exhausted to shape-shift," informed the cyan haired young woman. "Then why don't you just let the regeneration bed take care of her?" "What? You don't recognize her?" asked Ryoko. "No," _maybe I should have kept better track of the intergalactic news nets for the past couple decades,_ thought Washu. "Hmm, I'm not surprised, actually. Most people wouldn't. As a pirate, though, it's always been a good idea to keep track of this kind of stuff." "Okay, who is she then?" "Detective Special-Class Mihoshi Kuramitsu of the Galaxy Police Ninth Investigation Unit. Her grandfather on her mother's side is Grand Marshal Ito Oshii of the Galaxy Police." "That still doesn't explain why you're going to heal her yourself," commented her mother. "I'm hoping to score some points with the GP-GM," she candidly stated. "Also, it takes energy for me to remain shape-shifted. If you did heal her and I were to shape-shift, it would just end up being pointless anyways because I'd eventually get too exhausted and revert to my normal self." "'Kay, just let me take her gun from her first." Yukinojo Tenchi was standing in front of the light-blue GP cruiser and looking up at its cockpit. "Now how the heck do I get up there?" he asked himself out loud. From looking at the sleek ship he could not hazard a clue about how to get into the thing except to climb in through the shattered cockpit windows. The only problem with this was that the vessel's nose was held high above the floor, almost thirty feet. He couldn't just climb up the ship's side because its hull was made of a very slick and hard material. It also seemed as if the ship had been carved out of a single giant piece of metal because there were no grooves for him to ascend with. He had an idea, "Soja?" he called. There was no response. "Damn it!" he griped to himself. He was hoping the Soja would have helped him but, no, it had to respond only to Washu. Now what'll I do? he asked himself. After several minutes of deep thought a second idea finally made itself known. _Why the HELL didn't I think of that sooner?_ Tenchi mussed angrily. If he was stronger now, didn't that also mean that his legs were also stronger? Without another second's thought he jumped as high as his youthful legs could send him. His head impacted on the bridge's forty-foot high ceiling with a dull metallic thud that resounded throughout the large command center. "A... little... too high," he moaned in pain as he stumbled trying to regain his balance. Number two was a charm. He landed perfectly on the cockpit window's edge. Being extra careful not to cut himself on the sharp shards of... whatever the hell it was that the window was made of, he slowly lowered himself down into the wreck's hull. "Wow, nice," he said to no one as he scanned the ship's cockpit. "Freeze," came the same nasal voice he'd heard over the com' link a few minutes ago. "Huh, what!" said Tenchi in surprise as he quickly raised his hands above his head. "This is Galaxy Police cruiser Yukinojo serial number: 1178e057f8523934g98, you are under arrest for breaking into a Galaxy Police vessel," responded the voice. "Huh? Wait, no! This is all some sort of misunderstanding!" screamed the young earthling. "Oh really now..." remarked the ship as a robotic head lowered from the ceiling with a mechanical hum. "What am I misunderstanding then? Did you not board this ship without permission?" "I'm seeing if there's anyone hurt on board!" he shrieked a little irately. The mechanical head moved closer to Tenchi. "What happened to Miss Mihoshi?" it asked. "She was badly injured, so we've taken her to the... med-bay," he did not think that "lab" would be a good thing to say, "so that we could take care of her wounds." "Excluding you, there is no one on board," said the ship's computer. "That's good. Umm, don't move, right now this ship is all that's keeping the air in our ship. I'm gonna go check on the Detective." "I can let you go but first I have to inform HQ of this. As a prototype, I am not authorized to contact HQ myself. I can initiate the com' link but I am not permitted to speak over it." "Umm... Uhh...okay. What do you need me to say?" "Just relate everything that happened here to HQ. Please stand next to the command chair." Tenchi stood juxtaposed to the only chair in the cockpit and faced the bow of the space vessel. "'Kay." "I am now initiating a high-priority com' link," notified the ship's computer as the robotic head returned to its niche in the ceiling. There were a few beeps and then a large, black holographic monitor filled the fore portion of the cockpit. Its edges were striped black and yellow and in its center in a red, blinking, non-descript typeface were the words: HIGH-PRIORITY COMMUNICATIONS LINK ACTIVATED. HIGH-LEVEL ENCRYPTION IS ACTIVE. --- CONNECTING... After a few seconds of waiting the screen changed to the image of a man with large bags under his eyes who looked like he was in his late thirties. He was wearing a uniform similar to Detective Mihoshi's but with more decorations. He was looking down at his desk. "Ah... DSC Mihoshi, I see you've finally decided to re-..." the man stopped mid-sentence when he looked up and saw Tenchi. "Who the HELL are you and where's Mihoshi!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Umm... Uh... I'm Tenchi Adams. Detective Mihoshi is in the med-bay aboard... my friend's ship. She was badly injured and her wounds are being taken care of as we speak." "How the HELL did this happen!" he then heatedly yelled. Tenchi explained the events of the past few minutes as calmly and clearly as he could. With every word he spoke he could see the desk jockey's face becoming more and more of a deathly shade of white, fear slowly showing itself on his face. The fear was vastly evident on his face and in his voice when his spoke, "I've got to tell this to the GM. He's definitely going to want to hear about this. Give me a second. And you stay here! Oh, how typical!" he moaned as the monitor went blank. "Okay..." said Tenchi to empty screen. GM sounded like a very important position. A few minutes later the officer's face returned on the monitor. "I've told the GM what you told me. He still wants to talk to you, though. You'll probably find out why when you talk to him. I'll transfer you over to him now." Before Tenchi could respond, the screen went black once more and not a second later displayed another face. His features were strained. To Tenchi this man looked like he was in his late-fifties. He had slightly long blond hair that went down to just above his shoulders. His eyes were a bright emerald color that resembled... Tenchi had to admit to himself that he couldn't quite place the resemblance, but his eyes definitely seemed somewhat familiar. When the man spoke he did so with strength and confidence and a strong air of intelligence in his deep voice. "I am Grand Marshall Oshii," he introduced himself. "The commander told me what happened to my granddaughter. How is she doing?" The earthling swallowed a lump produced by the word "granddaughter" before speaking, "Um, last time I checked she was still unconscious but her condition was stable. It looks like she'll be fine." Marshall Oshii exhaled in relief and allowed his expression to become less stern. "That's good. Now I don't have to worry my daughter panicking so much." He scratched his jaw. "Where is the next place you will be making port? And when?" he amended his question. "Well, um, right now we're heading for Jurai. We should be there in about three 'n' a half days." "Oh, you're going to watch the tournament," surmised the Grand Marshall. "Well... compete, actually." The Marshall's face turned as grim as his voice was when he slowly spoke. "Oh, I hope you win. Good luck." "Thanks." There was an awkward silence. _What is it about this tournament that makes him so glum?_ Tenchi asked himself before the quiet lifted. "Well, Mihoshi was assigned a new partner just yesterday, she doesn't even know about it yet. I'm going to tell her partner to meet you on Jurai when you get there. So don't be startled when a GP shuttle contacts your ship. Here's a picture of her," in the top right quarter of the monitor an ID card quality image appeared. It was of a teal haired woman with blue eyes and an orange headband. "Here, can you relay this information to Mihoshi when she wakes up? Her new partner's name is Kiyone Makibi. She's a brand-new Detective Third-Class fresh from the GP academy. She graduated first in her class with awards in..." he paused as he looked down to read something on his elaborate desk. "Marksmanship, and hand-to-hand combat; and is very skilled in the use of a combat yo-yo. Oh, and she is also qualified to operate dimension-class weaponry. "Could you please give me the name your ship is registered under so that she will be able to contact you more easily?" "Well, um it's not my ship but, its name is 'Soja II,' I'm not sure if that's what its registered under though. Or even if it is registered," Tenchi added under his breath. "Um, let me see," he began typing on a console at his desk, "ess, oh, jay, ay, two... Ah, yes, this ship is registered to one Washu Hakubi is that correct?" "Yup," he confirmed. "Let me see here, it is registered as a," the GP-GM's eyes became the size of silver dollars, "galaxy-destroyer-class vessel!" That revelation surprised Tenchi. If the power of the gems really were comparable to that of a ship capable of destroying a galaxy... did that then mean that he could destroy a galaxy? He shuddered visibly at the thought; he did not believe that any one person should be capable of wielding that amount of power, even divinity. To him it was a very scary thought. He made a mental note to ask Washu about that later... "Well, if that's all, I think I'll go check in on Officer Mihoshi now. And, I'll be sure to tell her everything you asked me to." "Yes, that's all," the monitor went blank and disappeared. Tenchi climbed out of the ship's cockpit and leisurely made his way back to the lab. "It seems that my child has failed after all," a beautiful feminine voice rang throughout the pitch dark. "Fortunately for her she did not know the true reason behind my suggestion, or I would consider this her failure. It seems that her true target has survived her attack." "And what are you going to do about this turn of events? Are you going to kill him?" asked an elderly male voice. "I wish that I could just destroy him, it would make things much easier... but, if I did it, it would only be a temporary solution." "I see. What are you going to do, then?" he replied. "Well, for now... nothing." "The longer you wait, though, the more powerful he will become. Wouldn't it be wise to at least take some action?" With his comment the woman's anger could be felt growing for a few moments before it grudgingly subsided. "You make a very good point." There was a long silence during which orders passed into the male's mind. "The Council will not approve," he advised. "I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE COUNCIL!" her voice bellowed through the unlit chamber. She paused for a second. She could not let her anger get the best of her; he was too good an asset to waste due to a petty comment. "The Council will do as I tell them. They are no longer needed anyway." "Are you saying what I think you are?" "It does not concern you, Senator," she replied smugly. "You have your orders, I suggest you follow them." "Hmm... I shall do as you command." The darkness slowly lifted to reveal the face of a young woman with spiky cyan hair looking down at her. The woman looked familiar. Where had she seen her before? She gasped as she realized who it was that was staring down at her. Space Pirate Ryoko! She reached for her gun. Not there! The space pirate laughed heartily. "Don't worry I won't hurt you. We were expecting that reaction, so we took your gun from you. It's right over there," she pointed to a nearby counter, "if you want it." "Really, you're not going to try to hurt me?" asked the police officer. The wanted criminal laughed again. "Why would I do that after I've just saved your life?" "You saved my life?" the officer asked innocently. "She sure did," boasted Washu. "This regen' bed was broken." What she didn't say was that there were ten more in various places around the lab. Mostly near the more... dangerous areas. "Yup," confirmed Ryoko. "Wow, thank you so much!" the cop replied in an amazed tone as she sat up. "It's no problem, Officer." "Oh no, please call me Mihoshi... um, what's your name?" she asked. The pirate face faulted. How could she have already forgotten? "I'm Ryoko." "Umm... that name sounds familiar... umm..." Ryoko's eyes bulged at Mihoshi's bubble headedness before she decided to take advantage of it. "Hmm, probably just sounds like another name you've heard somewhere before." "Hmm," the officer shrugged her shoulders, "probably." She looked at the area around her. "Hey, where did that little girl go?" "Girl?" asked Ryoko. "Yeah, you know the long-haired redhead with the emerald green eyes, about twelve years old, about ninety pounds. She has a slightly wide jaw-line. She was wearing a modified version of the old Science..." "Oh," she laughed slightly, interrupting Mihoshi. "You mean Washu. She's not twelve; she's older than twenty thousand." She laughed a little more before continuing. "She's also my mother." "Oh... well where'd she go?" "Don't worry about it she's probably off doing some crazy science experiment." More On Mihoshi "There!" announced Washu happily when she had succeeded in hacking into the Galaxy Police Personnel Files Database. "Now let's see," she said to herself. "THIS FILE MAY TAKE SEVERAL MINUTES TO LOAD," was printed at the top of the screen. Damn, she thought, that's gigantic. It was huge considering that the average data connection used in the universe ran at about one thousand TERAbytes a second, that's one _billion_ kilobytes downloaded in a second. She looked under the directory for "Kurami-". Washu read the last names off out loud, "Kurami, Kuramia, Kuramiaba, damn, lot's of Kurami- names." She scrolled down several pages. "Kuramiacu, Kuramiacua, the GP is friggen huge! I wonder how many people are in the GP!" she thought aloud and scrolled down several hundred more pages. "Kuramisu, Kuramisu, Kuramisuai," she went down some more, "Kuramita, Kuramitab," more scrolling, "Kuramitrze, Kuramitta," SCROLLING, "Kuramitsa. Ah! There it is Kuramitsu, Mihoshi." She opened the file and scanned the table of contents: TABLE OF CONTENTS: ------ 1...............SUMMARY 2...............ACADEMIC HISTORY 3...............ACOMPLISHMENTS, AWARDS, AND MERIT 4...............FAMILY HISTORY 5...............PERSONAL HISTORY 6...............SERVICE RECORD 7...............RECOMMENDATIONS "Hmm, that sounds interesting" Washu selected "ACADEMIC HISTORY" The screen changed and top genius of the universe began reading. SUMMARY OF ACADEMICS: OFFICER MIHOSHI GRADUATED AT THE TOP OF HER CLASS FROM THE GALAXY POLICE ACADEMY WITH THE HIGHEST GRADES EVER GIVEN TO A FIRST-TIME CADET. HER RECORD WAS EXCEPTIONAL AND PROMOTION IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. INTELLIGENCE TESTING: HER SCORE ON THE UNIVERSAL STANDARDIZED INTELLIGENCE TEST WAS THE HIGHEST EVER FOR A GALAXY POLICE OFFICER AND SHE IS OFFICIALLY ONE OF THE TOP TWENTY MOST INTELLIGENT PEOPLE IN THE UNIVERSE. OFFICER MIHOSHI IS ALSO CONSIDERED TO HAVE SOME OF THE BEST OBSERVATIONAL SKILLS EVER. "No... it's not possible," thought Washu aloud. How could someone that can't even stop a primitive cruiser-class vessel be that smart? Maybe, she thought, she would find it later in here. MARKSMANSHIP: OFFICER MIHOSHI IS AN OUTSTANDING MARKSMAN. HER ACCURACY WITH A HANDGUN AND A BLASTER RIFLE IS UNMATCHED. HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT AND SWORDSMANSHIP: THIS IS THE ONLY AREA OF OFFICER MIHOSHI'S TRAINING WHERE SHE WAS NOT EXTREMELY PROFICIENT. THIS SHOULD NOT HINDER HER ADVANCEMENT IN THE FORCE. IT IS ALSO BECAUSE OF THIS THAT WE RECOMMENDED SHE NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE CAPTURE OF CLASS-B OR HIGHER ASSASSINS. QUALIFICATIONS: Washu stopped reading. The rest was all just a bunch of crap she didn't need to know anyway. She went back to the Table of Contents. "Hmm," she selected "SERVICE RECORD." Washu was now tremendously curious as to what happened to DSC Mihoshi to cause her to act the way did. Washu purposefully read. STAR DATE: ONE YEAR AND TWO MONTHS LATER, DETECTIVE FIRST-CLASS MIHOSHI KURAMITSU WAS RESCUED DURING A SECOND RAID... Second? Oh, reverse chronological order, realized Washu and skipped down to the previous entry. STAR DATE: DURING A RAID TO TAKE DOWN THE MILITANT TERRORIST ORGANIZATION KNOWN ONLY AS "TOKIMI'S FOLLOWERS," DETECTIVE FIRST-CLASS MIHOSHI KURAMITSU AND HER SQUAD WAS CAPTURED AFTER AN EXTREMELY LARGE AMOUNT OF WHAT HAS BEEN DEAMED BAD LUCK. DURING HER IMPRISSONMENT DECTIVE FIRST-CLASS KURAMITSU WAS SUBJECTED TO EXTREME AMOUNTS PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TORTURE; WAS VIOLENTLY MOLESTED AND ABUSED; FORCED TO WITNESS MANY EXTREMELY VIOLENT AND GRUESOME HOMICIDES; WAS KEPT... Washu couldn't bring herself to read any further, so she skipped back to the next event. STAR DATE: ONE YEAR AND TWO MONTHS LATER, DETECTIVE FIRST-CLASS MIHOSHI KURAMITSU WAS RESCUED DURING A SECOND RAID TO TAKE TOKIMI'S FOLLOWERS DOWN. SHE WAS IMMEDIATELY TAKEN TO THE SCIENCE ACADAMY'S HOSPITAL FOR TREATMENT OF HER INJURIES AND FOR RENOURISHMENT. AFTER SHE HAD RECOVERED FROM HER WOUNDS, DETECTIVE FIRST-CLASS MIHOSHI KURAMITSU WAS TAKEN TO THE SCIENCE ACADAMY'S CENTER FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE WHERE SHE UNDERWENT THE LATEST PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENTS FOR VICTIMS OF EXTREME TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT WENT WELL, BUT SHE WILL MOST LIKELY NEVER BECOME FULLY RECOVERED. SHE IS STILL ONE OF THE TOP TWENTY MOST INTELLIGENT PERSONS IN THE UNIVERSE, SHE IS STILL CAPABLE OF EXTREMELY HIGH LEVEL THOUGHT, AND HER OBSERVASIONAL SKILLS ARE STILL AS THEY WERE PRIOR TO HER ORDEAL, BUT SHE HAS AN ALMOST IMPERCEPTIBLY DIFFICULT TIME WITH SIMPLE LOGIC AND HER SHORT TERM MEMORY IS SOMEWHAT SKETCHY. ONE THING THAT WAS NOT NEGETIVELY AFFECTED BY DETECTIVE FIRST-CLASS MIHOSHI KURAMITSU'S EXPERIENCES WAS HER MARKSMANSHIP. IT SEEMS, IN FACT, THAT HER MARKSMANSHIP HAS IMPROVED FOR UNKNOWN REASONS. SHE IS NOW ABLE TO HIT ANY TARGET(S) WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING SAID TARGET(S) WITH NINETY- PERCENT (90%) ACCURACY. IN ORDER TO REMOVE HER FROM HIGHLY STRESSFUL SITSUATIONS, DETECTIVE FIRST-CLASS MIHOSHI KURAMITSU IS RECOMMENDED FOR A PROMOTION TO DETECTIVE SPECIAL-CLASS. THE LESS STRESSFUL ENVIRONMENT AND FREEDOM OF JURESDICTION OF THE POSSITION SHOULD PROVE EASIER FOR HER TO HANDLE AND HELP TO KEEP HER OUT OF TROUBLE. "Hmm, so that's what happened," said Washu to herself. "Hmm... 'Tokimi's Followers' why does that sound so familiar?" Washu exited the Galaxy Police Personnel Files Database. She then typed the search string "TOKIMI" into the database used by her lab. This database contained every single bit of information known in the entire universe no matter how insignificant. Sure, not all of it was understood, but everything was there. "SEARCHING..." the computer replied in text on the screen. Washu leaned back on her floating cushion and closed her eyes. A few minutes later the computer told her with a beep that the search had been completed. She looked up at the screen. "SEARCH STRING 'TOKIMI' NOT FOUND." "What?" bellowed the scientist, "Impossible!" That meant that Tokimi didn't exist. Why would somebody make a following for something that didn't exist? Frustrated and not really giving a damn anyway, Washu got up, stretched, and went to re-join her daughter and the police officer. End Chapter Beta -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since I forgot to do this for the last chapter, I'll do it 2X here. Special Thanks - Chapter Alpha: Roas Atrades for proofreading and for catching all those stupid mistakes I made early on. Jeremy Stubbs for post-proofreading these even though he despises anime. (Everyone's entitled to their own opinions.) Special Thanks - Chapter Beta: Roas Atrades once again for proofreading.