Disclaimer:  Tenchi Muyo! and it's related characters do not belong to me,
they belong to AIC and Pioneer. I make no money off of this, so please
don't sue me.

Why Me?
Part 7
by Rose and Jared

        The morning was perfect.  Birds were chirping, the sun was just
beginning  to top the mountains, and all was peaceful in the Masaki house.
All were asleep, dreaming....well all except for one.  Washu, the red-headed
intergalactic scientist, was up and ready to work.  Yawning widely, she opened
the door to her lab and walked to her workstation.  She had plans for the day,
and she had to set them up now or face the possibility of her subjects
disappearing.

        The Masaki household awoke to an early morning scream of horror,
that, while not exactly typical, was still not as rare as it ought to be.

        That scream was Washu's.

        Ryoko awoke just as the scream started to die off.  Blearily
opening one eye, she identified its source, and briefly debated the moral
issue of risking herself to see what was going on, or letting someone else
go to the lab and tell her later.

        Seeing Mihoshi rushing in that direction along with Tenchi and
Ayeka, Ryoko concluded there would be enough distraction for a *short*
trip to the lab to see what was happening. Rising, she teleported.

                                        *      *       *

        "EEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeee......."

        "Cindy."

        "Cindy."

        "CINDY!!!  SHUT OFF THE ALARM CLOCK ALREADY!!"

        Sitting up I cracked my eyes open.  Hoping against hope that if I
didn't open my eyes all the way I would be able to go back to sleep after I
shut the screaming monster up.  Glancing around I took in my surroundings.
Seeing the futon, the dresser.....and the purple-haired girl running out of
the room... I realized I wasn't in my dorm anymore.

        Sighing at the injustice of having such a good night's sleep
interrupted, I wondered if it was worth getting up to see what the racket was
all about.  I stretched a bit, then got up to find something to wear.  There
was no sense in pretending I'd be able to go back to sleep, so I figured I'd
at
least be presentable when I went downstairs.  So I grabbed some clothes and
headed off to the bathroom.

                                        *     *     *

        Sasami was already up and cooking. Leaning out of the kitchen to
see what the fuss was, she mentally calculated that there was time enough
to see for herself. Turning down the heat on the stove, and making a few quick
adjustments to what she had prepared, she trotted over to the base of the
stairs.  All the while wearing Ryo-ohki as a hat.

        When she got there she noticed Rose slowly walking down the
stairs.  Her face had a puzzled expression, and she was looking around as if
trying to find something.

        "Rose-neesan, I think the noise is coming from Washu's lab."

        "What is it with Washu and screaming?  Wherever she is someone is
always screaming," Rose said with a sigh.  "Oh well, better go in there and
figure out what's up.  I think everyone else kinda beat us there."

                                        *     *     *

        Tenchi burst through the door into Washu's private sanctum onto a
scene of disarray and disorder. Washu was unusually frazzled as she struggled
with her keyboard, and small robots were running back and forth dealing with
pieces of wreckage. A pair of massive, super-strong construction arms finally
unfolded after a night of straining and warping against each other, their
mighty
selves attempted to fold back into storage position only to freeze halfway
because of metal parts stressed and malformed by the pressure.

        With the household crowded and hiding partially behind him Tenchi
strode in and addressed the little scientist.

        "Hey, Washu, what's wrong?"

        "What's wrong!? I'll tell you what's wrong. I've lost two primary
data bank into unmapped subspace. It's going to be *at least* five hours of
work
to find them! My manipulatory arms are going to require a full repair cycle
before
they can return to rearranging the bulky equipment I'm going to need to
*start* the retrieval operation, and some of my security robots against
unwanted intrusion have been vaporized!"

        "Wow!" Mihoshi spoke up from the back. "Do you mean that you've
been robbed? Well, then this is definitely a case that falls within the
specialty of the Galaxy Police! We'll have those criminals identified for you,
Washu."

        "Oh really?" Washu darted her an inscrutable look. "Then perhaps
you'd care to examine the clues?"

        An empty bag and a pile of potato chips appeared in the air next
to the small scientist.

        "These were found at the scene of the crime."

        "Oh!" Mihoshi glittered. "You saved my potato chips! I spilled
them last night and... Oops. You mean all this is *my* fault?" She cringed,
biting
a fingertip.

        "Uh huh." Washu sported a pair of minor fangs and was moving a
finger toward a control when Ayeka's voice interrupted her.

        "Washu, I don't mean to disturb you, but isn't this the tank that
was filled with the stuff Rose-san was covered in?"

        Attention rotated away from the doomed galaxy police officer and
onto the tank, where a young man hung suspended among the shreds of what had
once
been a white outfit. Thankfully enough remained for modesty. But his clothes
looked like he'd fought close quarters with a tiger.

        "Oh my, there isn't supposed to be anyone in there, is there
Washu?"

        "Hey guys, did we miss anything?"

        Sasami trotted up to the device, still wearing Ryo-ohki. "Hey,
Washu, is he alright?"

        "So what's up?"  Rose asked, and pushed through the crowd around
the tank.  Peering in she saw what had them all transfixed.  "Jeez Washu-chan,
you
collect stray people as a hobby?  What did you do to this guy?"

        Washu thought for several seconds, then blanked her current
project and began typing controls. She'd only hit two or three before nodding
and
rising up, walking over to the nutrient tank. Standing next to it she closed
her
eyes and held out one hand in a presentation stance. "Ryoko, Rose, I'd like
you to
meet your brother."

                                                *     *     *

        Upon hearing this a totally new feeling swept over me.  It was a
mixture of complete surprise, disgust, disbelief, and incredulity.  My mouth
hung
open, and my shoulders slumped.  Shaking my head I looked around to see what
the
others thought of this little tidbit of news.  Massive Facefaulting. Only
Yosho and Washu remained standing.

        I couldn't believe my ears.  It was impossible, things like this
do not happen to me!  My life had not been perfect before the events that
brought me here, but at least it was a bit more predictable.  In my home
dimension
the only thing I had to worry about was getting a good grade on the next
test, and dodging the trolleys when I had to cross the street to go to class.
Here
life was getting crazy.  First I wake up to find out my entire genetic code
had
been mutated.  Next I find out I'm now related to two people because of
it.  Then I find out about all of the *lovely* super powers I have, not to
mention the possibility of me living for a lot longer than I'd expected.  But
this event took the cake.  Now, added to all this crazy mess, I find I have a
brother.

        Groaning with the injustice of it all, I rubbed my temples.  I
started to feel a headache coming on.  Not surprising when one tries to make
sense
out of utter chaos.  Turning to Washu I asked, "And exactly how did this all
happen?"

        Washu opened her mouth to answer, but stopped, looking over my
shoulder. Looking, I saw Ryoko making a fist in one hand while her eyes
sqeezed shut. An expression of absolute rage appeared on her face.  I was
about to ask the obvious question of "What's wrong?" when she suddenly
rushed past me and grabbed the small scientist by the front of her shirt.

        "What do you *mean* suddenly dumping all this family on me?!!"
Ryoko shouted inches from her mother's face.

        Washu was somehow not remotely upset, answering softly. "Ryoko, I
created you using my own ovum. You are my daughter. I also charged the
protoplasm that bonded with Rose and this one with my ovum as well. Their
genetic
structure has been totally rewritten by ours with cosmetic deviation only.
They are
our family now. Yours and mine."

        The space pirate blinked.

        "I'll set out another place for breakfast!" Sasami called,
vanishing to the kitchen.

        Looking at the figure floating in the tank, I considered going
after Sasami to tell her that he probably wouldn't be joining us for a while.
But
I wanted information more, so I turned back to Washu and repeated my ealier
question, "And how did this happen?"

        With a resignated sigh Washu said, "I had hoped that you would
take this better.  After all, we're getting more and more members in our
family.
How can you not be pleased?  As for your question Rose, I'm not exactly sure
how
this fellow got here, but you can rest assured that Mihoshi had something to
do
with it."

        "Yeah, where that bubblehead is concerned anything can happen."

        "Waaahhh, Ryoko-san you're so mean!!!!  I didn't mean to do
anything.  I was just looking at the album and the hair fell in. All I did was
fix it!"
Mihoshi sniffled.

        Washu looked disbelieving, as did the rest of the crowd.  Now I
knew Mihoshi was a little thick from our first meeting, but a quick glance
around the
room quelched any idea I might have had that it was all an act.

        Ryoko leaned over and said, "I'd be more interested in how she
*fixed* the problem, ne?"  Lifting an arm, Ryoko gestured to the ruins of the
lab.

        Wincing in sympathetic pain to for the machines, and the person
who had to fix them, I nodded.  Mihoshi was dangerous if left alone with big
machines.  Not that I had any big machines to worry about, but I'm sure that
the
others had experienced similar disasters.

        "Washu-chan, are you going to take him out of there or what?  I
mean, granted he's probably been in there most of the night, but is it
healthy?" I
asked.

        Frowning slightly the red-head said, "It won't hurt him, it is
oxygenated fluid so he's still breathing.  But it would be a good idea to get
him out
before he wakes up.  No sense having him thrashing around and creating
more of a mess."

        Going over to her keyboard she made a few quick strokes and the
fluid slowly began to drain out of the chamber.  When all the fluid was gone
the clear
casing of the tank lifted, leaving the slightly worse for the wear young
man lying at the bottom.

        "Rose-chan, would you and Ryoko-chan be dears and bring him over
here where I can get him cleaned up?"

        Shrugging I walked over and grabbed the guy's shoulders.  Looking
over to Ryoko I saw that she had that defiant expression on her face, which by
this time I knew to be her Don't-Order-Me-Around-Because-I'm-A-Big-Bad-Space-
Pirate
look.  When I caught her eye I put a very annoyed expression on my face and
jerked my head toward Washu.   Her mutinous expression gradually changed,
and with a resigned sigh she stepped over to give me some help.

        Hefting the man, we almost dropped him. I had to keep readjusting
my grip as his clothes were so badly torn they kept sliding apart in my
hands.  Ryoko just pulled off both his boots and stockings and gripped his
bare
feet.  Pretty soon I followed her example and tore off his shredded sleeves.
Lifting him again, we carried him over to where Washu had prepared the bed, me
suddenly thankful that I had gained Ryoko's strength. This guy looked (and
weighed) like an althlete.

        Washu quickly sifted through the discarded bits of cloth and came
up with a leather wallet. She flipped through it rapidly and concluded
happily,
looking at a card.

        "Hmm. Well, according to this, your brother's name is Jared."

        "What else do you know about him, Washu?" Ayeka leaned forward in
the kind of concern she often displayed for anyone who wasn't a space
pirate.

        Washu held out the wallet to her side in presentation. "Only that
he carries Russian Rubles, Ukrainian currency, a lot of Japanese yen and US
dollars,
has three library cards and two fitness club memberships!"

        "So how do you know his name?" Ryoko demanded ignorantly.

        "Oh, it was on his college ID card."

        Facefaulting.

        "According to this class schedual he also takes archery, martial
arts, and acting. At least those are the ones I assume are *voluntary*
choices rather than requirements. Hmm, now who are you, really?" Washu
was leaning over the sleeping face.

        I took a quick glance to his face and the rest of his body and I
figured that he wasn't going to be waking up anytime soon.  And if his
experience was
going to be anything like mine then that pretty much guaranteed him being out
of it for most of the day.

        Just then Sasami came back in and announced breakfast was ready.
Filing out at the end of the group I noticed Washu wasn't joining us.  Turning
back slightly, I called out. "Hey Washu-chan, are you coming to breakfast?"

        "......now where could he come from?  Once the data is recovered
I can extrapolate, maybe with some better luck than Rose...."

        With Washu mumbling on like this I realized that she hadn't heard
me, and likely wouldn't have heard an atomic bomb going off next to her.  The
last bit of information I had overheard dampened my spirits somewhat, and I
hurried out of the lab, thinking that I'd bring her something later.

                                                *    *     *

        Seeing that everyone had left, Washu tapped some keys on the
computer and the repair drones she had invented long ago in case of just
such a Mihoshi incident.  They performed their task in no time flat, and the
interdimension machine that had caused such problems was back in it's original
condition.

        A quick medical exam of the boy that had given Washu such a start
revealed that he was healthy, but would not be waking up in the near future.
Taking a pair of scissors Washu clipped a small strand of dark red hair from
his
head and walked over to her DNA screener.  A short while later the machine was
humming happily away as it worked on the sample, comparing it to every other
sample it had ever been fed.

        "Ahhhh, now that should take a little while.  Hopefully I won't
have the problem with his DNA that I had with Rose.  It wouldn't be a new
challenge for my galactic genius to puzzle out....unfortunately, it would be
nice
that I could find out the answer to two problems at once."

        Glancing at her patient she felt secure enough to leave him alone
to go to work on the perplexing situation Rose was in.  Scans of the room when
she
had arrived had been no help, and the change in her genetic structure had just
settled down.  Unfortunately, an original sample hadn't been obtained, which
would have made her job much simpler.

        "Well since she's here, I plan to keep her here for as long as
possible.  She and Ryoko seem to have so much fun together!"  Washu chuckled.
"I'll
have to find a way for her to feel more a part of the family."

        Turning back to her console Washu began typing away, comparing
the scan she had gotten the other day from Rose and Ryoko.  It was shortly
after she
had read the machine's report that she began laughing.  If anyone had walked
into the lab at this point in time they would, upon hearing the slightly
maniacal pitch of laughter, turned around and thought very carefully about
ever
coming back in.

                                                *      *      *

        Dreams are an interesting place to become familiar with the
architecture of your own mind, and Jared had control over his dreams like few
others
could boast, having been able to turn the tides against nightmares since his
earliest childhood.

        In dreams Jared reigned absolutely over his person and his
environment. Successful battles against multilimbed demons, black pits,
strange creatures and all that would normally make a dream intensely
frightening were his normal cup of tea. It had been awhile since he'd had
anything that could realistically classify as a nightmare. Failing all
else he could freeze time or summon light that would burn away any
creature of darkness.

        Jared was intimately familiar with the architecture of his own
mind, including its flaws.

        That was why, wandering around his abode there, on one of those
rare days when he was somehow not out fighting any demons, and not even
aware that he was ignoring the telephone/door-knocking equivalent of
someone or something trying to wake him up, he was surprised to stumble
across a renovation.

        Seeing as how this was a dream and everything existed as a
metaphor anyway, it was as if a team of movers and construction crewers
had taken a previously empty wall and bolted bookshelves thick, deep, and
high upon it. In fact it had ceased being a wall so much as an recessed
library (who cares that the wall had previously been straight and was now
a side room? Such is the way of dreams and the things they are made of).

        Curious, Jared's dream self wandered into this new subsection and
began to explore.

        The new addition was encyclopedic and broad in scope, though
narrow in topic. Mathematical facts that were usually just jotted onto
mental scrap paper to be thrown away later were now neatly collated and
bound into books, far many more books and facts than *he'd* ever been
exposed to, much less expected to need. Then there were sections devoted
to chemistry, biology, botany, physics... In each there was only a
foundation of knowledge, but in every case that foundation was laid with
such precision and careful attention to comprehensive detail that the
knowledge itself was almost advanced.

        Quietly dubbing this new section his Science Library, Jared
resolved that he would have to spend some time there in future to become
familiar with its contents, with the end in mind of perhaps getting some
use out of them.

        Wandering further through his dream home, Jared's representation
of self came into the living room, where he found that someone had been
playing with this as well.

        A TV set was as good an equivalent to a communications metaphor
as many were likely to find. And, like most people, Jared got one or two
linguistic channels very well, and perhaps a few hints of others through
the static.

        Someone had come in and set him up with a killer satellite array
and a few hundred extra channels were coming through as bright as day.

        Finally curious as to who or what had been adding things to his
mind, Jared turned from his dream and began to focus on that bothersome
call he'd been ignoring, swimming out of the surface of his dreams to
find it.

                                        *      *      *

        Breakfast seemed to be going normally.  At least as normal as I'd
ever seen it.  Ayeka and Ryoko were fighting again, Tenchi was trying to stop
them,
Mihoshi was crying, and the others just went on as if nothing was
happening.  Seeing how Tenchi was struggling to keep the two of them from
destroying
their immediate surroundings I thought of trying to help.  But I thought
back to the last time that I had gotten between the two and decided to leave
it to him.  He did have more experience with it, after all.

        Despite the craziness, it's consistancy was comforting.  It was
perhaps the only thing that was predictable around here, and I had had quite
enough
of the unpredictable thank you very much.  I wondered what the plans were for
the
day, I didn't really feel like staying in the house with Ayeka and Ryoko.
That
would be seriously hazardous to my health, even if it did make things
interesting.

        As I finished my breakfast I noticed that Washu's place was still
empty.  Looking over to Sasami I saw she was talking avidly with the little
cabbit.  Although apparently one sided, the occasional yes or no question was
answered by the creature.

        "Sasami-chan, do you think you could help me put together a tray
for Washu?"

        "Sure, Rose-oneesan.  Let me just go get a tray from the kitchen."

        "Are you sure you want to do that?" A voice said from over my
shoulder.

        Jumping slightly, I turned to see the face of Ryoko.  Rolling my
eyes I said, "She has the new kid to entertain herself with.  What could she
possibly
want with me?  Washu's probably so engrossed with her calculations she won't
even notice when I put the tray down."

        "You never know what goes on where she's concerned." She replied
with a shrug.  "Don't say I didn't warn you."

        And with that she went in pursuit of Tenchi, who had probably
left for school while I'd been talking with Sasami.

        Two minutes later I was walking into Washu's lab with the tray of
food.  Walking in I navigated as best I could to the location where the
morning's
excitement had taken place.  A glance told me that although the boy and
machines were here Washu apparently wasn't, but some flickering lights on
the edge of my vision sent me off in that direction.  One turn and a short
hallway later and I was back in the lab that Ryoko and I were in the day
before.

        "Washu-chan I brought you some breakfast."

        "Call my Okaa-chan.  How many times do I have to say that?" Washu
replied without taking her eyes from the screen in front of her.

        Smiling nervously I brought the tray over, and just as I was
setting it down on the floor near her I felt her stick something to my temple.

        "Hey!!" I cried, "What are you doing?"

        "Oh nothing, nothing.  Don't worry about it.  Thank you for
bringing the food.  Why don't you go play with Ryoko for a little while?"

        Looking at her strangely I left the lab, and began to rub my
temple.  Whatever she had stuck there had apparently either fallen off or been
absorbed into my skin.  I favored the latter.  My search for Ryoko proved
fruitless so instead I went to the kitchen to see if I could help with
anything.

                                        *     *     *

        "Tenchi????" Ryoko whined playfully, scratching at his door while
her tail lashed about.

        "Lemme alone!" Tenchi called back, in the midst of changing
clothes. Pulling off the shirt he'd slept in he noticed the wooden ring
of Juraian craftsmanship he wore. The ring Ayeka had given him when
they'd gone out to fight Kagato.

        He smiled. "Guess I won't need this anymore." He pulled at it but
it would not come off. Twisting harder, he heard the activation sound and
despite his cries he was spinning in space as his Juraian battle armor
materialized over him.

        Looking at his hands he moaned. "Oh, great. Now how do I get back
to my normal self? Hmm? What's that?" He picked up a small object that
had fallen out of his robes. Seeing it, he smiled. "Oh, I remember..."

        Ayeka walked out of her room yawning. Well, crazy morning or no,
it wouldn't do for a noble princess of planet Jurai not to behave herself
properly. She supposed it was time to get ready for the day. Then she
caught sight of Ryoko scratching at Lord Tenchi's door.

        "Ryoko, such behavior! You should be ashamed at yourself."

        There was a flash of light and a deactivation sound from Tenchi's
room. The door opened suddenly and Ryoko fell to face plant on his floor.

        "Oh, Tenchi. Good Morning." Ayeka smiled.

        "Ah, Ayeka. Just who I wanted to see." Tenchi walked out in his
normal clothes, walking straight over to Ayeka as if Ryoko didn't exist.
He held out his hand with the strange object in it. "This is for you."

        The princess blinked at it. "That is from the Royal Tree."

        Tenchi nodded. "Tsunami said it was for you. She said it was
Ryu-Oh's seed."

        "Ryu-Oh's seed?

        He looked embarrassed. "Yeah. I forgot to give it to you. I'm
sorry."

        Ayeka took the seed in great emotion. "Ah! Thank you. Oh!"
Realizing she was holding his hand, Ayeka dropped it swiftly. She
blushed. "I want to say thank you."

        Tenchi scratched the back of his head. "Oh, don't bother, please.
Really."

        "Oh! But I must. Now I can bring Ryu-Oh back to life! Thank you.
Thank you. I mean this so much. Thank you."

        "That's wonderful!"

        "You're wonderful."

        Ryoko, brutally ignored while all this was going on, began to
cry. "Tenchi?" He went on ignoring her in favor of Ayeka and Ryokoİs face
fell into abject misery.

                                        *     *     *

        When Tenchi had come down the stairs dressed for work in the
fields Ayeka had seemed very happy for some reason and went straight into
Washu's lab.  Ryoko flew out of the front of the house and I was with
Sasami and Mihoshi cleaning house.  Although it's not what I would have
picked to keep me occupied I didn't want to sit around and do nothing.
But with the way Mihoshi kept prattling and messing up I was starting to
go a little crazy.

        Fortunately I was able to relieve some of the feeling by
vacuuming.  The noise was enough to drown out most of her wailing.  Mihoshi
seemed to be a very nice person, just.....not all there all the time.

        The spot where Washu had touched my temple earlier was begining
to tingle and itch.  At first I tried to ignore it, but as time wore on
it became downright annoying.  Rubbing it didn't help, itching it didn't help,
it
was like a bad misquito bite.  Finally I could take no more and decided to go
see Washu.
Turning off the vacuum I went in search of Sasami, and found her in the garage
doing laundry.

        "Sasami, I'm going to see Washu for a few minutes.  I'll finish
the vacuuming when I get back." I called to the small girl.

        "Ok Rose-neechan.  Tell Washu that if she wants anything cleaned
she should bring it out now," she replied.

        "No problem," I answered, and made my way to the belowstairs
closet which housed Washu's lab.

        I made my way as quickly as I could to the last place that I had
seen the red-headed scientist.  When I finally saw her sitting at a console in
front of a large machine marked "TRANSCOMBINATE DNA PROCESSOR", I sighed in
relief.  Stepping up my pace to jog, I called out at the same time.

        "Washu-chan!"

        My call was greeted with a slightly annoyed expression, and then
with the sweetest smile imaginable, with the deadliest eyes imagineable she
queried, "And what did I tell you to call me?"

        Seeing the look in her eyes, and recalling the experiences that
I've had, along with the experiences of others I quickly replied, "Okaa-chan!"

        "Now was that so hard?" Washu asked as she turned back to her
typing.

        "Aa.....uh....no," was my intelligent reply.

        "So what's up Rose-chan?  Why did you come to see your mother?"

        "Well, Sasami told me to tell you that she's doing the wash, so
if you want anything done to take it out now.  And I really wanted to ask you
what
you did to me before, because my temple is giving me fits." I sighed as I
rubbed
my temple...yet again.

        "It's giving you trouble?  So soon?  Well that's a surprise, I
expected it to take at least a few days for it to penetrate fully.  Hmmm....it
must
have been one of the side effects of you absorbing the protoplasm."

        "So can you do anything?" I asked in desperation.

        "Oh....of course, just follow me for a second."

        Falling into step behind the diminutive scientist I soon found
myself in yet another section of the lab.  There were no containment fields
here,
although along the way I had seen some truly impressive containment units with
even
more impressive otherwordly creatures.  All that seemed to be in this lab
were a chair with some sort of head piece over it, and a machine of only a
moderate size.  Quite a step smaller than many of the others that I had seen.

        "Just have a seat in the chair and we'll get started.  It shouldn't take more
than a few minutes."

        "Thank God."

        As I sat down I tried yet again to relieve the itching at my
temple.  For some reason it seemed deeper than before, not on the surface of
the skin.
I wondered if I should be worried about this.

                                          *     *     *

        Dreams cleared and Jared awoke.

        This was not something that ever caused him any particular
difficulty. Even if he didn't want to wake he could merely return to
sleep with a thought, unless something was wrong.

        Something was presently wrong enough to stir him out of some of
his deepest dreams.

        He opened his eyes.

        Nope, not the usual environment. Looked like a mad scientist's
lab, and he, coincidentally, was waiting on a bed that was wide and soft,
yet still held an uncanny resemblance to a surgical table. He tried
standing up, but spent several moments swimming against a light retaining
field. Lack of purchase prevented him from leaving the bed.

        Not having spent the last several months in intensive training
under world-caliber martial artists for nothing, Jared produced a combat
quality gymnastics ribbon and flicked it out to grab a spine on a nearby
machine. He used the hold to pull himself out of the retaining field,
landing unsteadily on the floor.

        The remains of his shirt then decided to give up the ghost and
slide off of his chest, and he was woozy enough to guess that he was
probably ravenously hungry.

        He didn't usually get hungry, only tired, so he had to infer
hunger from subtle signals such as dizziness and a near-inability to keep
to his feet. Some wild and distant corner of his mind remarked that an
outragious amount of healing had been done, and it still wasnİt quite
finished. So could he kindly send down some more fuel for repairs?

        And could he send it in bulk? The hardhatted thought addressed
its clipboard. Yeah, the construction teams are standing idle and if you
want that work done better get snapping and send down the material.

        Healing was something his mind tracked very efficiently.

        Retrieving his combat ribbon he stumbled toward a door while
rewrapping it around his wrist, for once truly grateful that he'd not
elected to carry spatulas. Right now he'd not be able to heft the weight.

        As he navigated the doorway the redheaded young man found enough
mental power to note several things, in addition to sniffing out the
nearest kitchen that is. The first was that his waist pouch must have
fallen off somewhere, depriving him of his usual techno-toys. The second
was that he was alive. This was shocking because last *he* remembered he
was going down for the final time under the claws and power bolts of his
enemy. So, either he had somehow won anyway, been kidnapped, and lost his
memory (a far less unlikely scenario than it seemed), or someone had
effected a timely rescue.

        He found the kitchen.

        Glass of milk, sandwich, toast, cheese, hmm, that looks good.
Objects began rapidly disappearing into a good analog of the infamous
Saotome stomach. Reigning himself in before he emptied the fridge
entirely Jared measured out ingredients and started a convenient
breadmaker on pizza dough. Doing a quick judgment based on what he could
observe he elected to make two batches. Pepperoni was not to be found
anywhere so he substituted ham, which he would later slice, then began
rooting through cupboards looking for tomato paste and pineapple. No
pizza pans, but big cookie sheets would do just as well. Square pizza had
never killed anyone.

        Grabbing oregano and things from the spice rack he went to work
making sauce.

                                        *     *     *

        "Things are progressing much more quickly than anticipated," Washu thought,
"The change in Rose's DNA structure must have allowed the acceptance of the
recombinant enzymes more quickly because of it's similarity to mine."

        "Don't move.  The headpiece is going to be lowered and it won't work at
it's optimum if your head is moving about.  And I know it's hard, but try not
to touch the site while it's working," she called out to Rose.

        "Ok, first we have to do a scan, and see exactly where those little
suckers are in relation to where they're supposed to be," Washu muttered to
herself.

        A minute later when the results came in her eyebrows shot up.  The enzymes
were in the perfect position, all she had to do was send the correct
electrical
pulse and they would activate.


        "Oh this is wonderful, it's even better than I had planned," exclaimed the
inter-galatic genius, while she began to type in the code for the electrical
pulse.

        "What's better than you planned Washu-chan?" asked a voice from over her
shoulder.

        "Gaahhh!!!"

        Washu's hands slammed down on the control panel, and spun around. Her heart
beat accelerated, and then took a dive when she realized who had spoken.  A
flush
appeared on her face as she demanded, "MIHOSHI!!!  How did you get in here?"

        "Ara....well I opened the door and walked in to find you.  I was
getting bored cleaning by myself.  Sasami went outside to hang up some clothes
to
dry."

        "......how did you get past my security?" Rose Washu could understand,
she had programmed it to ignore her.  But this one was supposed to be
stopped before she got five feet into her lab!  "Hmm...I'll have to go
through the programming again."

        "Ne....Washu-chan.  Should Rose-chan look like that?"

        Turning around the scientist saw Rose begin to glow a bright blue, and that's
when for the second time that day someone began screaming.

                                                *     *     *

        Watching Washu at the machine made me nervous.  It seemed where
she was concerned the things always made things uncomfortable. The ones
in her lab kept doing unfriendly things.  The last time I was only in one
of the containment fields for a short time, but found out quickly that the
perimeter gave quite a shock.

        "Don't move.  The headpiece is going to be lowered and it won't
work at it's optimum if your head is moving about.  And I know it's hard, but
try not to touch the site while it's working," I heard her call out.

        "Oh wonderful," I muttered as the mass of metal and wires descended.  When it
stopped moving I noticed that it was actually quite large.  It obscured my
vision and I couldn't see what Washu was doing anymore.

        I started to get nervous.  It wasn't long after that that I heard
a startled exclaimation, and all of a sudden the inside of the headpiece lit
up.

        It wasn't a painful sensation, but it was distinctly uncomfortable.
Then it seemed the level of energy began increasing because I was begining to
feel slightly burnt around the edges.  About this time is when a searing pain
began in my temple, and I screamed.

        Thankfully the sensation only lasted a short time, and when the
glow stopped, so did the energy.  The headpiece lifted, and it was as if the
pain I had just experienced had never happened.

        Turning toward Washu I noticed that it wasn't just me and Washu
anymore.  It seemed that everyone had come running to see what had happened.

        Ryoko floated over with a slightly worried, but more of a gloating expression
on her face.  When she was only a few feet from me she said, "I told you so."

        Silently fuming at her I got up and walked over to Washu.  I wanted to know
what had happened.  The least she could have done was warn me that I was
going to be shocked like that.  Then maybe I wouldn't have screamed and had
Ryoko gloating over me.

        "All right Washu-chan, what's up.  Why'd you shock me like that?"

        "Well, I was going to use a lower voltage, but I was startled by
Mihoshi over here and my hands slipped on the keyboard.  On the brighter side
though,
I bet the itching sensation is gone though."

        "Well....hai."

        "WAAAHHH!!!  I'm so sorry Rose!!  I didn't mean for you to get
shocked like
that!" Mihoshi wailed, tears flowing down her face.

        "Uhh...well, don't worry about it.  It didn't do any harm."

        Sniffing a bit the happy expression soon reappeared on the galaxy
police officer's face.  As I looked around I saw the concerned looks on
everyone's faces.  "Ano...I'm ok, really.  Why don't we go back to what we
were doing before?" I suggested.

        A brief glance at Washu for confirmation, and the group headed on
it's way out to the house.

                                        *     *     *

        The crowd all exited the lab and Ayeka started sniffing as Tenchi
closed the door. "Hey, what is that smell?" She asked, a bit puzzled.

        Mihoshi sniffed the air as well. "Hmm! It smells like dough!"

        Yosho sampled the oder also. "There's cheese to it, and a sauce I
can't identify."

        Looking at each other, the group moved in mass to the kitchen.
There they found a young man with his back to them humming merrily to
himself as he sliced something. One such strange dish was on the table
all cut into slices and looking like it half the pieces had already been
eaten.

        "Hey! What are you doing here!!!" Ryoko shouted right in back of
the man's head.

        "Gaaaaahhhh!!!!!" SMASH! The group looked out the new hole in the
wall at the quivering pile of stunned human outside it. After a moment he
relaxed and wheezed.

        "Sorry. My mother calls it a well-developed startle reflex."

        "Are you that boy we found in Washu's lab?"

        Jared blinked up at the ancient priest. "Yosho?" His eyes tracked
around quickly. "Ayeka? Sasami? Ryoko?" His eyes shrank to mere
pinpricks. "Uh oh."

        "Uh...hi." Rose waved from inside.

        His brain began connecting facts. Unfortunately, it didn't
connect many of them and not in the right order. He skittered backwards a
bit.

        Ryoko teleported out and confronted him. "Hey!... huh?"

        With speed born of already supercharged muscles pumped full of
adrenaline Jared was up off the ground and racing away at cheetah-like
velocity, running the combat statistics of the Tenchi crowd through his
mind in panic and concluding that the lake was his best bet. Already he
was running through a scenario in his mind where he dove under the water
to peel off most pursuit, then rolled away under bushes and through
hiding as the only way to escape the teleporting Ryoko.

        She teleported to his side and he realized that he wasn't going
to get that lucky.

        Ryoko was happy. It'd been awhile since she'd had a reaction like
this. Besides, she'd had alot of disappointments that morning and decided
that now was a good time to take care of them. She could play with her
Obrother' for a bit and show him who was boss right from the front.

        "Hey! This is pizza!" Rose called from inside, picking up a piece
and sniffing at it before sampling. Her mouth began to run with saliva.
She didn't *dislike* Japanese food, but getting back to something
American made her stomach remember why it still loved her.

        The rest of the household was filing outside and watching as
Ryoko formed a ball of energy around her hand to punch the fleeing
newcomer.

        Jared caught Ryoko1s action out of the corner of his eye and he
automatically switched modes.

        The blast threw him twenty feet.

        Jared jumped up from his fall into a defensive stance, his newly
acquired martial arts senses informing him that his opponent was only a
brawler, without style. But a VERY GOOD brawler and with a power level
high enough that she didn't need much finesse.

        There wasn't any cover nearby. Escape was pointless.

        A lot of skill and a little bit of power could stand an even
chance against someone with a fair amount of both, and someone with a
huge amount of power could easily defeat someone with less skill. It was
a balance, both things measuring separately, but in the end it was the
total of both that made the difference.

        Frankly, an Amazon elder *might* be able to take Ryoko on, but it
would require at least that level of skill to stand a chance against her
level of power. Competent though he was, Jared knew that gift of learning
martial arts swiftly or no, he only stood a ghost of a chance of getting
out of this with some scraps of hide still stuck to his body.

        Which is where Anything Goes came into it's specialty.

        He pointed over her shoulder and shouted. "Look! Ayeka is coming
onto Tenchi!!"

        Unfortunately, the second that bought him was three seconds too
short to get to the nearest cover, and when Ryoko turned back she was MAD.

        He leapt over her fireball and rolled under her energy blade,
snapping up in a full body handspring to plant both feet under Ryoko's
chin. She took it like it was a light tap, batting him down with her off
hand. Emergency switches were already flipping in the young man1s mind,
disconnecting pain and fatigue, tapping more heavily into his body's
resources and bouncing him back out in a spin that connected three kicks
against Ryoko's person and dove away running when she phazed out of the
way of the fourth.

        Ryoko rematerialized with her sword of energy in her hand and
loosed a blast that sent him scampering. It was pitiful really.

        "Hmm, now you die." She gloated toward him, eager to see his
reaction.

        Jared's eyes narrowed, his gaze level. "Go right ahead and do it.
Just expect me to go down fighting."

        He laughed softly, but with some bitterness. "You can only kill
me, Ryoko. And it's not anything I'm not prepared for. Mere menace has
nothing to compare to calculated cruelty, and I1ve suffered under some of
the cruelest men on this world. I've had those close to me die in my arms
and the people I care most about in the world reject me. Compared to that
there's nothing you can do that'll hurt very much."

        She blinked. Jared leapt for her, but found himself hauled back
by his shoulders. Looking up he saw Yosho pinning his arms.

        "There now, that's hardly a way for family to behave, is it?
Ryoko, you should welcome your brother. It's not every day you get to
meet someone so like yourself." Yosho smiled down at him. "There now, why
don't we all go into the house? Sasami can make us all a nice cup of tea.
Hmm?"

        Jared came down off of combat mode and started looking around
himself. The entire Tenchi household was out on the lawn staring at him
in surprise. Swallowing, he realized how very loudly he'd responded to
Ryoko's jibe. Washu was standing there with her holographic keyboard for
once not interested in typing.

        Sighing, Jared ducked his head. "I prefer milk, if you have any.
Tea is against my religion." He acquiessed.

        Yosho patted him on both shoulders, friendly, but both of them
could sense that the elder was in complete control of his actions if he
chose to exercise it. Suddenly Jared screeched to a halt.

        "Uh, did somebody say that I was Ryoko's brother?"

End Part 7