Tenchi and his grandfather were exchanging blows.  While Tenchi was
trying
with all his might and was sweating heavily, his grandfather didn’t seem to
exerting any sort of effort fending off his grandson.
        “Come on, Tenchi!”  He said, “You can do better than that!”
        Tenchi ground his teeth and continued attacking.

        Meanwhile in Tokyo, Ryoko was modeling new outfits for Eric.  The
two had
been in Tokyo for a few hours and had already bought Tenchi his birthday
present.  Now they were shopping for themselves.

        “I need to talk to you guys.”  Washu said walking into the living
room.
        “What about?”  Kiyone asked looking up from a magazine she was
reading.
Sasami and Mihoshi were on the sofa watching TV.
        “It’s about Eric.”  Washu said sitting down near Kiyone.
        “What about him?”  Kiyone asked curiously.
“Well I think that he’s more than he seems.”
“What makes you think that?  He seems like a good guy.”  Kiyone looked over
to see if Mihoshi was paying attention or not.  “Mihoshi!”  She snapped
angrily, “Pay attention to what Washu is saying.”
“Sorry.”  Mihoshi said.
“Well while Eric seems like a nice enough and normal enough guy, he hasn’t
really been doing what he said he was going to do.”  Washu stated simply.
“Huh?”  Kiyone and Mihoshi said in unison.
“Well,” Washu began, “he came here to write a report, supposedly, he is
supposed to be a history major in school.  He’s been here for over a month
now and he only spent about one week getting information about that report.
Ever since then he leaves the house everyday, I’m not sure what he does all
day but I don’t think he’s really working on that report.”
“What do you think he’s doing?”  Kiyone asked, “He spends a lot of days in
the house with Ryoko too you know.”
“True,” Washu smiled, “but what really bothers me is something that happened
a few days ago, well almost a week now.”  Washu’s expression grew serious.
“I’m sure you remember when he and Tenchi came into the bathhouse, well
after we all left he had a conversation with Ryoko that was very
interesting.  Well, first he got her drunk, and then he asked her how she
would go about capturing me.”
“What?”  Kiyone said surprised, “Why would he ask something like that?  Do
you think that he’s working with Dr. Clay?”
“Maybe.”  Washu said thoughtfully, “If that’s the case though, Clay had to
have had his escape planned for quit a while now.  No I don’t think that’s
it.  What is really strange is that I was in Ryoko’s mind while it was
happening, but then after he asked, I couldn’t get into her mind, I was
somehow blocked out.  After I was able to access her mind again, she had no
memory of him asking that.  He obviously didn’t know about the link I have
with Ryoko otherwise he wouldn’t ask that.  But he did something to her, I
just don’t know what.”
“Why don’t you ask Ryoko?”  Kiyone querried.
“Because, she likes Eric.  Especially now that Tenchi is spending all this
time with Aieka.  She’s latched herself onto him.  If I brought up something
like that to her, she would just get angry with me.”
“What about Tenchi?”  Kiyone asked.
“Tenchi likes him too much to.  He’s the only male friend Tenchi has now
that we’re all here.  Tenchi can talk to him about his problems, they have a
bond.”
“Well since he’s so close to everyone, why would he want to capture you?”
Kiyone seemed confused.
“He’s a snake in the grass.”  Washu stated simply, “Whoever sent Clay to
capture me sent Eric too.  That’s what I think.”
“Hmmm.”  Kiyone looked away thoughtfully, “What do you want to do about it?”
“Nothing.”  Washu stated simply, “I have no proof, only a suspicion, I just
want you three to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, that’s all.”
“Aye, aye!”  Sasami said cheerfully, “We’ll be like detectives Mihoshi!”
“Wow that would be great!”  Mihoshi said happily.
“Mihoshi!”  Kiyone said shaking her head, “You ARE a detective.”
“Oh yea.”  Mihoshi laughed, “I guess I forgot.”
“That’s a surprise.”  Kiyone said sarcastically.
Washu laughed, “Anyway,” she began, “I just.”  She stopped and stared out
through the glass door.
“You what?”  Kiyone turned to her, “What?”  She followed her stare out the
window and gasped, she saw four robots, all about six feet tall and metallic
gray in color, they all had laser rifles and an insignia on their chest that
Kiyone thought was vaguely familiar.  As one they aimed their rifles at the
house, “Everyone get down!”  Kiyone yelled diving and knocking Washu down.
“Huh?”  Mihoshi began as she saw them dive.
Lasers suddenly shot through the door, shattering the glass and making holes
in the walls where they hit.  Sasami and Mihoshi screamed and jumped behind
the couch as the shots came in.

“What was that?”  Tenchi turned toward the house, “did you?”  He began,
“OW!”  He yelled as his grandfather hit him on the head with his wooden
practice sword.  “Why’d you do that?”  He cried angrily rubbing his head.
“You should never let your guard down in battle no matter what.”  His
grandfather calmly stated.
“Yea, well, I thought I heard something.”  Tenchi muttered looking over
toward the house, as his eyes scanned the woods around him he saw Aieka
watching him, “Aieka!”  He said with a smile.
“I guess practice is over for today.”  Tenchi’s grandfather walked away,
“I’ll be at the shrine if you need me.”
Aieka and Tenchi sat down and began to talk.

“Mihoshi use your cube!”  Kiyone yelled as she popped up from behind the
chair and fired off a few shots at the robots.  The shots hit a shield that
was protecting the robots and did nothing to them.  They returned fire and
Washu and Kiyone both ran from the cover of the chair that was now full of
holes.  Washu hid by the stairs and Kiyone jumped through the open sill into
the kitchen.
“It’s not working!”  Mihoshi was crying as she fidgeted with the pink cube
trying to get it to do something.
The robots entered the house; Kiyone fired off a few more ineffective shots
and ducked back down.  “Damn it Mihoshi!”  Kiyone yelled angrily.
“I think I got it!”  She stood up and turned a piece on the top and the cube
let out a barrage of laser blasts that sent the robots stumbling back, “Take
that!”  She yelled triumphantly.  The smile quickly faded from her face as
the smoke cleared and she saw the robots standing unharmed.  She gave a
slight cry as they began returning fire at her; she ducked back behind the
couch.  Kiyone used the opportunity to fire at the robots more, but it still
did nothing.
“Give up, Washu.”  Clay’s face called out, “You don’t stand a chance and you
know it.”
“Clay.”  Washu said angrily, “What are you doing here, didn’t you learn your
lesson the first time?”
“That was just a fluke and you know as well as I.”  Clay said angrily, “This
time there is no escaping me.”
Washu said nothing but thought frantically, how could she get out of this?
Kiyone and Mihoshi seemed to be unable to destroy those robots, Tenchi and
Aieka were off doing god only knows what, and Ryoko.  Of course!  Ryoko!
Washu smiled, she would just contact Ryoko and Ryoko would be here in no
time, she was dying to get even with Clay.
Ryoko, she thought, he’s here I need your help.

Ryoko stopped in mid stride, they were walking down a street, they had just
finished shopping for some new outfits.
“Ryoko?”  Eric looked at her, “Are you okay?  You seem kind of distraught.”
“There’s trouble back at home.”  She stated simply, “We need to get back
there!”
“Why?”  Eric began, “Even if we leave now we won’t get there in time to do
anything if something really is going on.  It’ll take at least two hours to
get home.”
“There’s a faster way.”  Ryoko said biting her lip, “Come with me.”  She
grabbed him and dragged him towards an alleyway.
“Hey!  Wait!”  He cried as she dragged him into the alley.

“Okay Clay, I give up.”  Washu stood up, “Just let the others go.”
Clay laughed, “Of course, I have no interest in them, you are the one I
want.”
Washu nodded, “Very well, I’ll go with you.”
“A wise choice.”  He said smiling.
“How did you escape from the galaxy police?”  Kiyone demanded.
Clay laughed, “The galaxy police.  What a joke!”
Kiyone growled angrily, “Hey, we managed to catch you once, we can do it
again!”
“Hehe, yes I’m sure you will try.  But last time I was caught due to Zero
and Ryo-ohki, and since I don’t have to worry about them this time, I don’t
think I’ll have any problems getting away.”
Ryo-ohki growled.
“Now lets go, Washu.”  Clay turned to leave.
“Not so fast Clay!”  A voice said angrily.
“What?”  Clay spun around and saw Ryoko, in her battle suit, sliced one of
his robots in half with her energy sword.  “Get her!”  He cried as the robot
detonated.
The other robots all began firing at Ryoko, she teleported behind one and
sliced upward, cutting it in two.  She then appeared in front of another and
decapitated it.  The other robot turned and was about to fire but then
Kiyone jumped up from behind the wall and fired at it’s unprotected back,
destroying it.
Ryoko smiled at Kiyone and then turned to Clay, “I’ve been waiting for this
for a long time.”  She began walking slowly towards Clay.
“Matthius!”  He cried backing up, “Now is the time to live up to your part
of our deal!”
Everyone seemed to ignore the cry except for Washu, “Matthius?”  She rubbed
her chin, “Why does that name sound familiar?”
Ryoko continued to advance on Clay, “No one is gonna save you from me this
time.”  She smiled and pointed the sword toward him.
“Matthius!”  Clay said again, more urgently this time.
“Put that thing away Ryoko.”  Eric walked in from the kitchen.
“He needs a lesson.”  Ryoko continued to walk forward.
Eric suddenly was in front of her, “Stand down Ryoko.”  His face was
unusually serious, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Ryoko was shocked and confused, “What?  What’s going on?  What are you
doing?”
“I’m here to get Washu.  And if you get in my way I’ll have to hurt you.”
He bit his lip, “Please don’t make me.”
Ryoko stood there, “What?”  She looked hurt; she didn’t know what to say.
He smiled sadly, “Sorry, but I have no choice.”
The words made her eyes widen, she didn’t have a sword through her but she
felt like she did.  Tears welled up in her eyes, “Eric.”
“Don’t call me that.”  He seemed angry, “My true name is Matthius.”
“Why are you working for Dr. Clay?”  Kiyone demanded.
He laughed, “I’m not working for Clay, I’m working for someone much more
important.”
“Who?”  Kiyone demanded.
“Lady Tokimi.”  He said.
Washu’s eyes widened, “I know that name.”  She said quietly.
Ryoko held back her tears and bit her lip, “Get out of my way!”  She
screamed as she charged Eric with her energy sword in hand.
Eric, or rather Matthius, held up a silver and gold decorated sword handle,
and a blue energy blade that was identical to the tenchi-ken came out of it.
  He blocked her blade with only one hand without moving from his position.
“Don’t Ryoko.”  He said.
She jumped back and unleashed a barrage of energy blasts at him; he nimbly
jumped aside and charged.  Ryoko managed to block his sword but only barely
and he pressed so hard that her blade was nearly cutting her, he still
pushed forward and her back slammed into a wall.  Mat then jumped back and
went right and then forward again, Ryoko tried to follow but he was too fast
and he slammed her again into the wall.  She teleported over by the
television and held her sword ready.  The wall where she had been was
cracked and dented from her.
Matthius stood ready, and motioned for her to attack him.  She grinned and
fired a blast towards him, rather than dodging, he simply knocked it aside
with the sword and charged Ryoko again, the two clashed and began exchanging
blows.  As their swords crossed Ryoko used her free hand to punch Matthius
in the face, he staggered back surprised.  Ryoko took the opportunity to
attack and brought the sword down across his chest, he staggered back more
and brought his hand up onto the wound she given him.  Blood began seeping
onto his shirt.  He looked angrily at Ryoko and vanished.
“What the?”  Ryoko began looking around, suddenly her eyes widened and her
mouth opened, she screamed.

“Tenchi there’s something I need to tell you.”  Aieka rubbed her hands
nervously, unsure of how to continue.
“Sure, what is it?”  Tenchi smiled and took her hand.
She blushed, “Well, you know that I like it here, but I’m not going to be
able to stay here forever.”
Tenchi said nothing, Aieka swallowed and was about to continue, when
suddenly they heard a series of explosions, “What in the?”  Tenchi stood up
and looked towards the house.
“Uhm, it was probably just one of Washu’s experiments.”  She said quickly
not wanting to be interrupted.
“Maybe,” Tenchi said slowly, “maybe we should start heading back to the
house anyway.”  He turned to her and gave her his hand, “Come on, better
safe then sorry.”
She nodded and took his hand, the two walked in silence for a time toward
the house, “Wasn’t there something you were going to tell me, Aieka?”  He
looked at her.
“Well yes,” she swallowed nervously, “Tenchi, I.”  The sound of Ryoko
screaming interrupted her.
“Ryoko!”  Tenchi dropped the princess’s hand, “Come on!”  He yelled and took
off at a dead run toward the house.

Ryoko’s body slid off of the sword and landed limply on the ground, the
stain on Mattius’s shirt had stopped spreading, but there was still rage in
his face, though it had softened since seeing Ryoko’s body on the floor.
“Good.”  Clay said smiling, he took something out of his robe and punched a
few buttons, a black hole appeared and his ship came out of it.  The ship
landed and four more robots came out of it.  “Let’s go Washu.”  Clay said
smiling.
Washu bit her lip but began slowly walking toward the ship, there seemed to
be nothing that could stop Clay now.  Washu walked into the ship and the
robots followed, Clay chuckled and turned to Matthius who was still looking
at the lifeless form of Ryoko, “Time to leave, Matthius.”
Matthius looked up at him and nodded, he then scooped up Ryoko’s body and
began walking toward the ship.
“Why are you brining that with?”  Clay was surprised.
“She’s not dead.”  He paused in front of the ship, “And she’s one the
strongest here, so she wont be able to come after us like she would if I
left her here.”
“Very well.”  Clay said walking into the ship.
“Eric!  What are you doing?  What’s going on?”  Tenchi stopped in front of
the ship breathing heavily.
“Sorry buddy.”  Matthius said with a sad smile, “Do yourself a favor and
don’t get involved anymore than you already are.”  The ship closed and took
off into space.
“What happened?”  Tenchi turned to the others who stood there.
“We’ll tell you on the way.”  Kiyone said walking out towards the lake.
“On the way to where?”  Tenchi said running after her.
“Wherever they’re going.”  Kiyone said quietly.

-well thats ch5, i hope everyone is enjoying this so far.  Time for the pace
to get picked up a little.  Any comments email me.