Disclaimer- All original characters and previous events in the world of Tenchi 
Muyo are not mine. They are the property of AIC and Pioneer. The following story 
and any new characters are mine and mine alone. This story has been written 
because I love this series and felt that if Pioneer is not going to be prompt 
with a 3rd OAV then I might as well throw my hat in the ring. This story is just 
for fun, and I hope that anyone who reads this enjoys it. The following events 
will take place in the OAV timeline and one year after MNE. Well that's all for 
my opening rant. I hope you enjoy the show.


Tenchi Muyo!- Will of the Goddesses

"Ryoko's Gamble"



	"I know that this wager should be for all the marbles, so to speak," 
stated Ukarit. 

	"I've got no problem with that," replied Ryoko. "So like I said before, 
what should we bet on?"

	Ukarit rose and started to walk around the table. "Well I am a man who 
lives and dies by the gods of luck. So I think that we should leave this up to 
the hands of fate." He stopped near her chair and sat on the table. "We should 
make it a random bet on a random person." His yellow eyes thinned. "Just one 
rule."

	"What?"

	"I choose the person, but you can choose what we do with him." He extended 
an open hand. "Deal?"

	Ryoko knew that she couldn't back out now. After hearing the suggested 
wager, she knew that she would have a little trouble getting out of this place 
if Ukarit did not get one more chance to win back some of his money. And Tenchi 
would not like it if she started blowing things up just to get away. That left 
her little choice. Ryoko grasped his hand firmly and shook. "You got yourself a 
deal."

	Ukarit gave her a slick smile and started looking around the room for 
their soon to be patsy. She watched his all yellow eyes go wide to match his 
smile. "I choose him."

	The demoness followed his pink finger. "I must have done something good 
lately," she said under her breath. Looking totally out of place, Tenchi came 
walking into the Muzzle with a bewildered look on his face. "I guess we should 
go break the news to this guy," she told Ukarit. "Why don't I do it? Men 
generally go along with things when a pretty girl asks them." She batted her 
golden eyes twice at Ukarit.

	The former pirate swore he blushed slightly. "Seems fair. He's all yours." 
Ukarit gestured at Tenchi.

	Ryoko rose from her seat and walked quickly over to Tenchi. She did not 
want these guys to know about her powers just in case things fell apart. Tenchi 
was asking the bouncer at the door something when Ryoko grabbed him by the left 
arm. "Honey!" she cooed. "I've been waiting hours for you to get here. He's with 
me," she told the bouncer. Ryoko pulled a stuttering Tenchi away.

	"Ryok..," he started to say.

	"Shut up and listen for a second," she interrupted him. "Just follow along 
and do your best to keep up with me." She grabbed him by the arm and moved back 
to Ukarit.

	Her grin went from ear to ear. "This guy says he's up for anything we can 
dish out," Ryoko gloated.

	Ukarit walked up to Tenchi and looked him up and down. "So you say. You 
understand what is about to happen, boy?"

	Tenchi swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, sure."

	"Excellent," said Ukarit. He turned to Ryoko. "So, Oko? What little task 
will you bet he can or cannot do?"

	Ryoko gave Tenchi a once over as if she were seeing him for the first 
time. He swallowed again and looked back at her with his brown eyes. She 
answered his look with the warmest smile she could muster. His eyes softened a 
bit and he relaxed. The former pirate noticed Tenchi-ken tucked in his belt. "I 
say we give him a test of skill and agility."

	She motioned to the blaster at Ukarit's hip. "Are you a good shot?"

	He raised an eyebrow. "I would say that I'm a fair shot."

	"I wager that he can deflect any barrage of shots that you and your boys 
fire at him," challenged Ryoko. Tenchi went pale at her declaration.

	"Now this is interesting," commented the pink man. "Life or death bets are 
the most exhilarating." He looked at Tenchi. "I hope, for your sake, that this 
woman has not signed your death warrant, my boy." Ukarit reached into his vest 
and pulled out a bronze colored sword hilt. "Do you at least know how to use one 
of these?"

	Tenchi took Tenchi-ken from his belt. "I have my own."

	"Good," replied Ukarit. He tossed the bronze hilt over his shoulder. 
"Clear the floor of tables!" he called out to the entire bar.

	"Sure thing, boss," called back the bar tender.

	Ryoko went wide eyed. "You own this place?"

	"If I didn't, the owner's going to be pissed after this is all over." He 
burst out laughing.

	The main area of the Muzzle was cleared of all tables and chairs. Ukarit 
invited Tenchi to step out there. The Juraian prince tensely walked out there 
with his sword in hand. Ryoko wasn't nervous at all. She had been watching 
Tenchi train with his grandfather for years, now. This little exorcise was no 
different than when the old man threw those endless barrages of stones at him. 
Well maybe it was slightly different because one miss and Tenchi would have a 
new hole in him. That last thought suddenly made her go cold. What had she just 
done? "Calm down, Ryoko," she told herself. "He'll be fine. You do stupid 
things, but you wouldn't have done this if you didn't have faith in Tenchi."

	Tenchi-ken flared to life, and Ryoko's attention was focused on Tenchi. 
The moment the sword came alive, all nervous signs left his face. Ukarit and his 
four men stood fifteen feet away from Tenchi. Ryoko held her breath as their 
blasters powered up. All at once, a dozen red bolts of energy raced for Tenchi. 
The demoness watched in stunned silence as Tenchi defied fate and deflected bolt 
after bolt. He was a blur as Tenchi-ken seemed to be everywhere at once. This 
amazing feat went on for an entire minute before Ukarit finally signaled for 
them all to stop.

	The pink man holstered his gun and shook his head. "Well I'll be a dog's 
blistered ass. He did it." He snapped his fingers, and the chip dispensing robot 
rolled over holding Ryoko's credit chip. Ukarit took the chip and passed it in 
front of the robot's scanner. Then he tossed it to the cyan haired woman. She 
caught it easily and deposited down the front of her dress. "It's all there," 
stated Ukarit flatly. "Eight hundred seventy five thousand creds. I salute your 
luck, my dear." He grinned at Tenchi. "And you were very impressive. Are you 
interested in a job?" Ukarit started laughing again. 

	Tenchi smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. He was about 
to say something, when Ryoko rushed to his side and threw her arms around his 
neck. "Oh my! You were amazing!" she cried in a girlish voice. "I want to thank 
you personally!" She was acting, but of course the last part was the truth. "How 
about we go somewhere private and get to know each other better?" Ryoko yanked 
on Tenchi's right arm and pulled him towards the door. 

	"Some guys get all the luck," muttered Ukarit. 

	Ryoko was so busy getting her and Tenchi out of the Muzzle, that she 
didn't notice someone follow them out the door.

_____

	Tenchi let himself be pulled along down the busy city street. "Ryoko? What 
just happened in there?"

	She had her arms around his chest and was smiling from ear to ear as they 
walked down the street. "You just won us a whole crap load of money, my Tenchi." 
He could feel her warm breath as she whispered in his ear. Tenchi blushed deep 
red and began to pry Ryoko off of his chest.

	Suddenly there was a high pitched meow, and Ryo-ohki landed on his head. 
Ryoko let go and took the cabbit in her hands. She kissed her on her furry 
little head. "Oh, my little Ryo-ohki," she cooed. "You were brilliant as well. I 
wouldn't have won the three hundred grand without you."

	Tenchi gave her a cross look. "Something told me you were cheating those 
guys." Ryoko frowned slightly. "And what was with sticking me in front of those 
blasters?" he asked her sternly.

	Ryoko's head was bowed as she answered. "Well, I've seen you practicing 
with old man Katsuhito for years now. When I saw you come into the bar, I knew 
that you would be able to handle anything I came up with," she said in a subdued 
voice. "Until you came in, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I had the money 
from the card game, but then Ukarit challenged me to a winner take all bet. I'd 
accepted it before I could stop myself."

	Tenchi was suddenly overcome with guilt. She had only gone off to make 
sure that they would have enough money to survive whatever was ahead of them. 
Yes, she had gotten him stuck in front of four blasters, but she had only done 
it because she had complete faith in him. And here he was scolding her. 

	He slowly put his right arm around her shoulders as they walked. "I'm 
sorry for snapping at you, Ryoko." She started to blush slightly. "I know that 
you were just trying to help. Only, let me know what you're planning to do next 
time. Okay?" She gave him a small smile and a nod. 

	They walked that way for another few minutes. Ryo-ohki had made her way to 
Tenchi's left shoulder and was happily meowing a little tune. Tenchi could not 
help but notice the warm feeling he was experiencing. It felt very nice to have 
his arm around Ryoko instead of trying to run away from her. Tenchi realized 
that he was, no matter how briefly it showed itself, seeing the softer side of 
Ryoko. The side that she used around Mayuka. He frowned at the thought of his 
daughter. He had to believe that she was all right, as was the rest of the 
group. Grandpa, Kiyone, Mihoshi, Little Washu, Sasami, and Ayeka.

	Ayeka's face flashed in front of his eyes. She was frowning at him. Tenchi 
was suddenly very self conscious of himself. His inner voice began to scold him 
for letting his emotions run away with his better judgement. It was not fair to 
Ayeka for him to be holding Ryoko like this. The fact that she was not around 
made it even worse. Tenchi adamantly reminded himself that he could not allow 
himself to choose between the girls. To do so would be disastrous for all 
parties involved. Tenchi carefully removed his arm from Ryoko's shoulders and 
placed both hands in his pockets. He was not sure, but the Juraian prince swore 
that Ryoko had whimpered quietly.

	"So," he said quickly in order to move past the ruined moment. "Did you 
get a chance to find out where we are?"

	Ryoko already had her "tough as nails" attitude back in place. "Nope. 
People don't talk much in high stakes card games." She swiveled her head and 
searched the street for something. "If we get to a data terminal, I think I can 
probably access the tourist info or something."

	"What do the terminals look like?" he asked.

	"I guess they kinda look like phone booths," replied Ryoko with a shrug. 

	They spotted a terminal not far from where they were standing. They two of 
them waded through the crowd to the data terminal. A pointy eared humanoid was 
about to go in, but Ryoko reached out and shoved the guy away. Tenchi was about 
to say something, but figured he had better not. He'd already hurt her feelings 
once, and there was no real reason to do it again. Ryoko stood in front of the 
terminal typing away on its keyboard. Tenchi stuck his hands back in his pockets 
and leaned up against the booth while he waited. When the sound of tapping keys 
stopped, Tenchi turned to look at Ryoko. "What did you find out?"

	"I don't believe it," she gasped.

	"What?" asked Tenchi. He did not like the tone of her voice.

	Ryoko turned around and looked him in the eyes. "I'm not quiet sure how to 
tell you this, Tenchi." She started to tap her index fingers together. 
"According to this thing, we are on a planet called Dewtil."

	"So?" Tenchi shrugged. "What does that mean?"
													
	"If my memory is right." She hesitated before finishing. "Dewtil is on the 
other side of the galaxy from Jurai."

	It took Tenchi a second before he realized that his mouth was hanging 
open. "You mean we're on the other side of the galaxy?" Ryoko nodded. "Well, how 
long will it take us to get back to Jurai?"

	"That's the real trick, Tenchi," answered the demoness. "Ryo-ohki can make 
small subspace jumps while in hyperspace, and that cuts down on a lot of travel 
time. The thing is, though, Ryo-ohki can only do that if she has the correct 
sector coordinates."

	"But I thought that you and Ryo-ohki had been all over this galaxy?" said 
Tenchi.

	Ryoko tilted her head to the right. "Yeah, Kagato did drag us all over the 
galaxy and beyond, but I did all that traveling with Ryo-ohki's parent. In a 
sense, Ryo-ohki is the same as she was before we came to Earth, but she doesn't 
have all the traveling data that she used to. She only has coordinates for Jurai 
territories." Ryoko spread her arms out. "We are very far away from the Juraian 
Empire. Yeah, they know about Jurai out here, but this is a world on the virtual 
edge of the galaxy. Even the GP rarely come out here. Planets like these are 
usually controlled by either big corporations because costs are cheap, or by 
gangsters."

	Tenchi was still dealing with the fact of where they were. "What do we do 
then?" he asked while shaking his head. 

	Ryoko's face was very serious. "We get on Ryo-ohki and start moving. No 
matter what, it's going to take us a long time to even get close to the outer 
Juraian colonies, or what's left of them. The best we can do is download local 
star maps into her memory and just go from planet to planet trying to map a 
decent route home."

	This news was very depressing to Tenchi, but he only let himself dwell on 
that aspect for moment. The simple Earth boy turned Juraian prince took a deep 
breath and looked up at the woman in front of him. "Let's get going. No matter 
what, we have to get back to Jurai and stop Ziasha."

	Ryoko stared at him for a second. Then, slowly, a smile crept onto her 
face. "This is gonna be one hell of a trip. Okay Ryo-ohki, you ready? Ryo-ohki?" 

	Tenchi looked at the cabbit on his left shoulder. Ryo-ohki was standing 
there with ears and hair standing on end. That was when Tenchi noticed that they 
were alone in the street. Something was definitely wrong. "Where'd everybody 
go?" Tenchi-ken was in his right hand.

	Suddenly, twenty or so gray armored men surrounded them. Each one of them 
had a rifle or blaster pointed at Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ryo-ohki. Red spheres of 
energy appeared in Ryoko's hands. They both turned their heads as the gray 
armored men parted to let someone through. Tenchi recognized one of the guys who 
had taken part in the bet at the bar. The green scaled lizard in a red jump suit 
had a blaster pointed at Ryoko. "Krix," said Ryoko quietly to Tenchi.

	"Space Pirate Ryoko," said Krix in a crackling voice. "Under the Hunter's 
code of the Bounty Hunters Guild, you are now my prisoner as are your 
companions."

	"Hey! That's a load of crap!" she shouted. "I know for a fact that my 
galaxy wanted file is expired!" The energy in her hands disappeared as she put 
them on her hips. "There ain't no price on this pretty little head anymore."

	Krix laughed at her. "That's on the other side of the galaxy," he hissed. 
"Out here, there is still a hefty price on 'your pretty little head'." 

	Ryoko looked at all the guns pointed at them. "I thought bounty hunters 
worked alone?"

	"You have a reputation," the lizard said simply.

	Tenchi could feel the heat emanating from Ryoko as she began to gather her 
power. He started to focus his power through Tenchi-ken. It seemed that there 
was no way out of fighting these guys. "I'll die before I let you take me or 
Tenchi," growled Ryoko.

	"Fair enough," replied Krix. "The bounty for your corpse is still 
substantial." Krix charged his gun and took aim at Ryoko's head.

	A bolt of red energy fired, but not from Krix's gun. The back of the 
lizard's head exploded. Other red bolts rained down upon the gray armored men. 
Cries of pain filled the air as these men were mowed down. Ryoko added her own 
energy blasts to the fray sending bodies every where. The remaining gray troops 
started to take cover and return fire to their unknown assailants. In all the 
confusion, Ryoko grabbed Ryo-ohki from Tenchi's shoulder and threw the cabbit 
into the air. 

	"MMMMMMMEEEEEOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!" cried Ryo-ohki as she transformed into 
ship mode. 

	Ryoko's arms wrapped around Tenchi's waist, and he was lifted off the 
ground. As the two of them floated towards the cabbit ship, Tenchi saw the pink 
skinned Ukarit walking down the street with his blaster in hand. He looked up at 
them and showed them a green toothed smile. "You owe me one, Ryoko!" he called 
up. "But I'll forget about it for a kiss!"

	"I'll owe you!" answered Ryoko with a smile. 

	"Thanks!" shouted Tenchi as Ryoko teleported them to Ryo-ohki's bridge. 
Ryoko dropped into the pilot's chair and kicked Ryo-ohki into full speed. The 
cabbit ship soared into space away from Dewtil and started the long journey back 
home.

_____

	The red hulled Yagami set down on the landing pad without a hitch. Kiyone 
powered down the ship's systems one by one. Sasami was asleep in the copilot's 
chair. Kiyone smiled and gently awakened the little princess. Sasami yawned and 
blinked twice. "Are we there?" she asked.

	"Yup," said the GP. 

	"Yay!" cheered Sasami. "I've never been to the Royal Science Academy 
before. I bet they have all kinds of cool things like in Washu's lab." She 
hopped out of the chair and ran out of the bridge with the tails of her light 
green kimono flowing behind her.

	Kiyone got up from the pilot's seat and headed for her room. She didn't 
think walking around in her GP uniform would be a good idea. Once in her room, 
she ditched the blue and gray uniform and changed into a pair of tan slacks, a 
white shirt, and a very light blue jacket. Next she took her GP issue blaster 
and tucked it into her belt under her jacket. With one last adjustment to her 
orange headband, the teal haired woman went to join Sasami and Washu at the 
entry ramp. 

	"It's about time you got down here," snapped Washu. "What took you so 
long?" The little scientist had remained in her traveling clothes.

	"Did you really want me walking around out there in my uniform?" Kiyone 
put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

	"Hmm, guess not," said Washu. "Let's go then. Now stay close to me because 
everyone down here is just a little bit touchy when it comes to dealing with 
outsiders."

	"You mean like you?" muttered Kiyone.

	"Whatcha say?" asked Washu over her shoulder.

	"Nothing," replied Kiyone hurriedly.

	Sasami took hold of Kiyone's hand while they walked away from the Yagami. 
Kiyone was very surprised at how well Sasami was taking all of this. Everything 
she knew and believed had been virtually destroyed. Yet, the thirteen year old 
was still as cheerful as ever. Kiyone only wished that she could be as brave as 
Sasami was being. She thought about the fight on Jurai, and how she had not 
really made a difference during it. Her shots had bounced right off of Ziasha's 
shield, and when the man had noticed her and Mihoshi he had simply dealt with 
them as if they were merely insects.

	Kiyone definitely did not like being treated like an insect. She vowed at 
that very moment to make Ziasha regret ignoring her as a threat. There was no 
sure way how she would nail the bastard, but Kiyone knew that when it was all 
over, she would have the distinct pleasure of slapping cuffs around Ziasha's 
wrists personally.

	The GP pulled herself out of her dark thoughts as they left the landing 
bay and entered the docking terminal of the Academy. Kiyone had never seen so 
many people walking around in lab coats. Men and women of all kinds were either 
typing on keyboards, driving hover skiffs, going and coming from other ships, or 
just plain talking about some experiment or another. Washu led them through the 
silver tunnels of the spaceport without even glancing at the activity around 
her. The three of them exited the tunnel and found themselves looking at the 
center of the Royal Science Academy. 

	Kiyone was surprised to see green grass growing all around them. In the 
distance, there was a gigantic domed building surrounded by pillars. Mechanical 
towers floated above the grass from the tunnel all the way to the domed 
building. Hovercrafts could be seen going back and forth from tower to tower. 
Washu started walking, and the other two followed automatically. 

	"These are just some of the simpler facilities," she said while pointing 
to the towers. "All work is reviewed at the main center up ahead." She gestured 
to the dome. "But all the real work goes on in underground labs all over the 
planet."

	"Wwwooowww," breathed Sasami.

	Washu continued to explain some of the customs to be aware of while they 
were at the Academy. Kiyone could not help but notice how Washu had taken on the 
tone of a professor ever since they left the Yagami. Her lecture continued until 
they finally reached the steps of the Academy Center. Washu stopped and handed 
Kiyone a small white circle. "Put that on the grip of the gun under your jacket. 
It will mask it from the sensors." Kiyone nodded and took the thin paper like 
circle.

	Washu turned and led them through the doors to the Center. There were more 
beings in lab coats walking around in the main hall. The hall itself was 
circular with doors all along the walls and a large information desk in the 
center. Surrounded by an air of authority, Washu walked right up to the desk and 
waited for the human attendant to look up. 

	The pale skinned, brown haired man finally looked up and blinked his hazel 
eyes. "Good day, and what is your reason for coming to the Center today?"

	Washu kept her face neutral. "I am Professor Washu Hakubi, and I have 
returned to the Academy to reclaim some items I left in my lab."

	The pale man typed on a keyboard for a moment and then shook his head. 
"Sorry, Professor, but I cannot let you in."

	Washu lost all composure. "WHAT!?" she shouted. "Why the hell not!?"

	"I'm sorry, but your contract with the Academy expired over three thousand 
years ago," he answered. "I cannot allow you to enter with an invalid ID."

	Washu reclaimed her composure and gave the man a thin smile. "Listen, just 
reactivate my contract. I know you can do that from here."

	He shook his had. "No, sorry. It is against Academy policy. You will have 
to resubmit your resume and wait for the department chiefs to review it. Then I 
can consider giving you a temporary pass."

	Washu made an audible sigh and wiped a hand across her brow. "I guess 
we'll just have to do this the hard way." She turned and walked a short ways 
from the desk. The small scientist moved past Kiyone and Sasami and stopped.   
Kiyone's eyes bulged when Washu spun around with a plasma pistol in her right 
hand. Its blue barrel was pointed at the man behind the desk. "Now, give us some 
temporary ID cards," she said calmly.

	He went even paler if that was possible. "Y...you're bluffing," he 
boasted.

	Washu grinned and cocked an eyebrow. "Am I?" 

	The barrel of the pistol moved a fraction of an inch to the right and 
fired. The orange fireball flew right past the man's head taking most of his 
hair with it. Everyone in the hall stopped and stared in awe. Then Washu bots A 
and B appeared on the red head's shoulders.

	"You don't mess with Washu! She's the best shot in the entire universe!" 
cried A.

	"That's right, buddy! She can hit a fly on a wall!" added B.

	"Washu's the GREATEST!" they both cheered and disappeared behind her neck. 

	Without anymore delay, the pale man threw three ID cards over the desk. 
"Here you go, ladies. Have a nice day." He promptly fainted after that.

	Washu's gun disappeared, and she picked up the ID's. Anyone else in the 
room had already moved along, pretending that none of it had happened. Washu 
clipped a card onto her jacket. Kiyone and Sasami clipped on theirs as well. "My 
old lab is a few levels down," informed Washu. "We'll get on an elevator and go 
straight there."

	They walked in silence down another silver hall and entered an elevator. 
Washu punched a code into the elevator control pad and they started to move. 
Seconds later the door slid open, and they walked down a dark hall to a single 
steel door. "This is the entrance to your old lab?" asked Kiyone.

	"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it my lab, now that I think about it." 
Washu stopped in front of the door. Her laptop appeared in the air, and she 
started typing. "It was kind of like my office. This is where I would come to 
think about things. It was in here when I first thought of Ryoko." Washu 
continued to type, but Kiyone still saw a sheen of unshed tears in her eyes. 

	"So has anyone been in here in all this time?" asked Sasami.

	"Anyone who would have tried to get in here would have been vaporized by 
my security system." She stopped typing and a holographic crab appeared in front 
of the door. It waved its claws at them, and the door opened. 

	Kiyone was very surprised to actually see a real office. It was sparcly 
decorated with a single chair and a wall of monitors. Washu snapped her fingers, 
and the room was filled with yellow light. She dropped into the chair and 
started typing on her holo keyboard. All the monitors flashed to life with 
streams of data. 

	"So what are you looking for?" questioned Kiyone. 

	Washu was typing at light speed. "Not sure, yet," was all she said. She 
waved her left hand and several floating pillows appeared. "Make yourselves 
comfortable. This is gonna take a while."

	Kiyone and Sasami looked at each other and sighed. They pulled up some 
pillows and sat on them. Sasami reached into her kimono and pulled out a deck of 
cards. "Glad I brought these," she said. The two of them started to play the 
first of what would end up being many games. 

_____

	The first thing Washu did was run a search for the name Tokimi. This 
computer contained all her original research prior to her imprisonment in Souja. 
She scowled when the search came up negative. Upset but not discouraged, Washu 
accessed the very first entries she had made when she came to the Academy. It 
was so long ago, that it was almost like reading the life of another person. As 
she scrolled by her early years, Washu realized something odd. Not once did she 
ever talk about her life before she came to the Academy. Come to think of it, at 
this moment she couldn't think of anything before her Academy days. 

	"What's wrong with me?" she asked herself. "Why can't I remember what I 
was doing before I enrolled in the Academy?" 

	Washu started reading faster. Years rolled past her scanning eyes. 
Unchecked tears fell down her face as she read about the day she had been 
married, gave birth to her son, and then the day he was taken from her. The 
tears continued as she relived Ryoko's birth. Shortly after, the entries stopped 
just several days before Kagato tricked and trapped her in Souja's subspace 
world. Washu sniffed and rubbed her eyes fiercely. She checked quickly to see if 
the other girls had seen her cry. Kiyone and Sasami were fast asleep on the 
pillows. 

	The red headed scientist slumped in her chair. Her first attempt at 
finding some answers had done nothing but bring up a lot of painful memories. 
The only thing that she had discovered was that her life just seemed to begin 
with the Academy. Anything before that was a complete blank. Washu absently 
started punching keys on the keyboard. A diagnostic program started scanning the 
entire database for irregularities. Her head fell back on the headrest. She was 
just beginning to doze off when an alarm shrilled through out the office. 

	Kiyone and Sasami fell off their pillows, but Washu simply lurched forward 
and looked over all the screens. "What in the hell? How did that happen?"

	Kiyone's head peered over the pillows. "What's going on now?"

	Washu was furious. "Some one broke into my computer!" She was typing like 
a mad woman. "Several key files have been accessed and downloaded." Access dates 
appeared on the closest monitor. "This is dated over a thousand years ago. But 
this is impossible. Not even Kagato was able to get in here. I know from Ryoko's 
memories that he tried repeatedly to crack my security, but failed every time." 
She tapped her index finger on her lips. 

	Then she realized something. This was what she was supposed to find here. 
"Whoever took my files, will lead me to the answers I seek." They will lead me 
to this Tokimi. Another piece fell into place. Washu snapped her head around to 
look at the other two girls.

	"What?" said Sasami.

	"It was Clay," answered Washu's hushed voice. "Somehow that one eyed 
bastard got into my files."

	Kiyone was standing behind Washu and looking at the screens. "What did he 
take?"

	Washu's expression was very serious. "I dunno, yet. As soon as I do, 
however, we're going on another field trip."

To be continued...

Notes- I'm not gonna say much for fear of accidentally giving away future plot. 
Any comments go to Roas1@hotmail.com