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


"The Hunted"


	The cabbit ship Ryo-ohki entered a new star system and slowed her speed to 
match that of a comet. Inside the red sphere of her bridge, there were two 
passengers. One lay in a futon fast asleep. The other was sitting in her chair 
looking into a crystal that was serving as a mirror. Ryoko sat there with her 
legs crossed, as she looked herself over in the crystal. She was wearing a very 
form fitting dress with a red and green design that wound its way down to her 
feet. Ryoko ran both hands through her spiky, cyan hair and nodded. "I'm 
definitely going to have to do something about this." The demoness reached out 
and touched another crystal. A view screen appeared. "Ryo-ohki, check the local 
news and see if we made the headlines here too."

	The screen fizzled, and a blue skinned female with red hair appeared. 
"...are still many questions about what is happening in the core regions of the 
galaxy. Rumors are saying that the mighty Juraian Empire has fallen, and a new 
power has formed in its place." The blue woman shuffled a stack of papers. A 
picture of Ryoko appeared next to her head. "In local news, it seems that the 
infamous space pirate Ryoko has once again appeared in the rim territories. 
Ryoko and her gang escaped from authorities on Dewtil just two days ago. All 
citizens of the rim territories are warned to stay away from Ryoko. She is 
considered armed, dangerous, and extremely hostile. She is known to fly in the 
ship known as Ryo-ohki." A picture of the cabbit in ship mode appeared next to 
her own.

	Ryoko huffed and banished the screen. "Looks like they still don't like us 
out here, huh Ryo-ohki?"

	"Meeeow," agreed the ship. 

	"Run a scan of this system and give me a read out of populated planets 
when you're done," asked Ryoko. "We need to do some shopping."

	"Meoooww."

	Ryoko smiled at the cabbit's response and returned to looking in the 
reflective crystal. Her hair would definitely call attention to her identity. It 
was time to do something different for a while, just until she and Tenchi were 
in safer territories. Ryoko opened one of Ryo-ohki's subspace draws and took out 
a bottle of water. She poured some in her hands and ran her hands over her hair 
until it was straight. When it was wet, her cyan hair went straight and fell 
past her shoulders. For the next few minutes, Ryoko attempted to braid her hair 
into one long braid, just as Sasami had once shown her. It took a couple of 
tries, but she was finally able to do it. In the end, there was a single cyan 
braid running down her neck and between her shoulders. Ryoko pulled a red ribbon 
out of thin air and tied a small bow just above the small patch of spiky cyan 
hair at the bottom of the braid.

	"Gotta have a little of me in there," she commented with a smirk. There 
was a yawn, and Ryoko turned her chair to watch as Tenchi pulled himself up from 
his futon and stretched. The futon disappeared as soon as he rose.

	"Good morning, Tenchi," said Ryoko with warm smile. For once she didn't 
feel like pouncing on him. Maybe it was the fact that Ayeka wasn't around to 
annoy. She shrugged inwardly and returned to the crystal.

	"Morning, Ryoko," he greeted in return. He yawned again. "Where are we 
today?"

	"Ryo-ohki is checking on that," she answered. Ryoko spun around to face 
him. "How do I look?" She flashed a smile and batted her eyelashes.

	"Uhhhh," came the usual response to such questions. Then the scratching of 
the head started, and Ryoko knew that whatever answer she got, it would not be 
completely true. "You...uhhh... look nice," answered Tenchi finally. The head 
scratching stopped, and Tenchi returned to normal. "Why the change?"

	Accepting that was all she was going to get out of him, Ryoko sighed and 
turned back to the crystal once again. "Well, since I am a space pirate again, I 
can't just go around showing off my hair in all its natural glory. It marks me 
too well. So, I'm changing my look temporarily."
													
	"Meow," interrupted Ryo-ohki. A screen popped up with a star chart on it.

	Ryoko leaned towards it. They were not that far away from a decent trade 
planet called Tiuy. "Take us to this one, Ryo-ohki," ordered Ryoko pointing to 
Tiuy on the map.

	"Meow! Meow!"

	"Yes, don't worry, I won't forget carrots," said Ryoko.

	Tenchi raised his hand. "Um, excuse me, but what's going on?" 

	"We're just going shopping for some things," replied Ryoko in an off hand 
manner.

	"What things?" asked Tenchi warily.

	"Just stuff."

	"Okay, what stuff?"

	Ryoko turned around again with a cross look on her face. "Tenchi! If you 
are going to act like this, then I am not taking you down to the planet with 
me."

	Tenchi threw his arms into the air. "AAARRRRGGGHHH!" he cried and stalked 
off to the other side of the bridge. Ryoko gave a hearty chuckle and resumed 
looking at herself in the crystal.

	Less than an hour later Ryo-ohki slipped past the Tiuy s and landed 
outside one of her larger cities. The cabbit transformed and landed on Tenchi's 
right shoulder. Ryoko lead the way into the city. The three companions entered 
the city's walls not ten minutes later. The city itself was enclosed in a 
circular wall that rose fifty feet into the air. Ryoko felt at ease when she saw 
that the streets were not very crowded. 

	"Will you tell me what we are buying now?" asked an exasperated Tenchi.

	She gave him a sideways glance while they walked. "First we need to get 
you some new clothes. No offense Tenchi, but your clothes are starting to 
stink."

	Tenchi grimaced. "If you would just let me use Ryo-ohki's subspace bath, I 
could clean up a little."

	The space pirate gave him a sultry smile. "But Tenchi, you can just use it 
when I do." He ended that part of the conversation by not responding. Ryoko 
could not help teasing him. One, he made it so easy. Two, he was always so cute 
when he got flustered.

	"Fine," she relented finally. "You can use her bath when we get back, but 
I am still buying you some new clothes. You stick out like a sore cabbit in your 
field jacket."

	Tenchi said nothing, but continued to follow her non-the-less. Ryoko took 
that as a good sign. The demoness passed by several stores until she saw one 
that she liked. She grabbed Tenchi by the collar and dragged him inside a store 
called The Rugged Man. When they exited half an hour later, Tenchi was holding a 
plastic bag with his field clothes in it. Ryoko took a couple of steps back 
smiling the whole time. "You look great!" 

	"I feel weird," complained Tenchi. Ryoko did not know why. He had on a 
pair of dark navy pants with a yellow stripe running perpendicular down his 
right thigh. Next he wore a similar yellow shirt and a black, waist length 
jacket.

	Ryoko floated over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I still 
think you're cute," she purred.

	Tenchi went red faced and scrambled out of her arms. "Let's keep going," 
he suggested.

	Ryoko pushed her disappointment aside and walked along side Tenchi. She 
looked around and spotted the next store that she was looking for. The space 
pirate snatched Tenchi by the arm and moved towards her next goal. "Where are we 
going now?"

	"In there." Ryoko pointed up at the sign. It read Giorad's Guns Ammo and 
Surplus.

	"What do we need to go into a gun store for?" asked Tenchi.

	Ryoko stopped and looked at him with all seriousness. "I can take care of 
myself, but you need something else besides that sword."

	"Hey, Tenchi-ken and the Light Hawk Wings are plenty of protection," he 
answered defensively.

	The demoness crossed her arms and raised and eyebrow. "And can you call 
the Light Hawk Wings at will yet?" Tenchi got an embarrassed look on his face 
and did not answer.  "Thought so. The Tenchi-ken will only get you so far when 
guns come into play. So, we are buying you a blaster." Considering the issue 
closed, she grabbed him by the arm again and dragged him into the gun store. 
Ryo-ohki, who had fallen off Tenchi's shoulder in the struggle, just hopped 
inside after the two of them.

	Ryoko walked right up to the glass counter to talk to the sales clerk. A 
humanoid creature with gills on the neck looked up as she walked in. "Business?" 
he asked.

	The demoness planted her elbows and leaned forward. "I'm in the market for 
a blaster for my boyfriend here." She could feel and hear Tenchi turning red and 
sputtering at that remark. 

	The salesman reached into the glass case and pulled out a few pieces. 
Ryoko looked them over, already knowing that she did not want Tenchi handling a 
single one. "I'm looking for something with a little bit more punch, but still a 
blaster."

	The gilled man nodded and put a black box up on the counter. He clicked 
open the latch and revealed exactly what Ryoko was looking for. She could tell 
it was a GP issue blaster even though the serial numbers were burned off. "I'll 
take it along with half a dozen power packs and a holster." The space pirate 
produced her credit chip and placed it on the counter.

	The chip was scanned and everything was packed into a small box. Ryoko 
retrieved her chip and handed the box to Tenchi. "Thanks, pal," she told the 
clerk, and they left. "Now we go and buy some food."

	An hour later, they walked out of the food vender's district. Ryoko was 
walking with her hands clasped behind her back, while Tenchi was left to carry 
all the packages and supplies they had bought so far. By this time, Ryoko was 
satisfied that she had accomplished all their shopping needs. The three of them 
left the city and kept going until they were far enough away from prying eyes.

_____

	Garthinial watched the cyan haired woman he had battled on Earth. She, 
that boy his master wanted, and the small creature left the city and headed out 
towards a hilly area some distance from the city. His mizrens lurked in the 
shadows awaiting his command to attack. He sent the mental order and followed 
soon after. He wanted to take part in the battle himself. After all, he and the 
woman still had a fight to finish.

_____

	As soon as they had been out of sight, Ryoko had teleported them all to 
the sight were Ryo-ohki had landed earlier that morning. Tenchi released a sigh 
of relief when he put down all the packages. "Did I really have to carry all 
that myself?"

	"Oh, I'm sorry, Tenchi," said Ryoko in all honesty. She had hated not 
being able to help him back in the city. "But you had to do that. It just 
wouldn't look right if I was the one carrying all the packages." She struck a 
demur pose. "A lady just does not do such things," she added in an Ayeka like 
voice. She caught Tenchi trying very hard to suppress his laugh.

	"Ryo-o...", started Ryoko when Tenchi suddenly jumped and tackled her to 
the ground. Unsure what to make of his sudden action, Ryoko just lay there 
blushing wildly. *Damn that Zero*, she screamed in her head. Then she saw why 
Tenchi had tackled her. The tree she was standing next to was sporting a large 
hole in it. The hole was dripping with acid.

	Ryoko watched as Tenchi jumped to his feet with Tenchi-ken burning with 
power. She rolled over to see Tenchi cut down one of the all too familiar lizard 
monsters. Anger raced through Ryoko's being. She teleported and appeared five 
feet above her last position. A quick scan of the area showed lizards closing in 
from all sides. Her rage was personified by a shower of energy blasts in all 
directions. Inhuman cries of pain filled the air. Tenchi had backtracked and was 
standing just below her in a defensive position. 

	Her danger senses flared. Ryoko grabbed Tenchi and teleported just as the 
demon she had fought on Earth attacked from above. She reappeared and dropped 
Tenchi on the ground. "I've been waiting for another shot at you, buddy," she 
growled. An energy sword came to life in her hands, and Ryoko charged the demon.

	It made a sickening laugh and extended its burning talons. Ryoko 
teleported from side to side as she neared, and then appeared behind the monster 
to strike. It glided to the left dodging her slice. Ryoko parried the first 
talon and whipped her head around. Her braided ponytail shot forward releasing a 
stream of hair needles. Her needles struck the demon in the shoulder, but it 
lunged at her undaunted. Ryoko parried and countered, but started to wonder if 
she was strong enough to defeat this creature.

_____

	Tenchi sliced another lizard in half, turned, and kicked another one in 
the head as it charged. A quick thrust and it joined its friend in hell. Tenchi 
looked around for the next attacker, but he only saw corpses from Ryoko's 
earlier storm of blasts. Then he saw her battling with a larger monster in the 
air. It slashed at her with burning claws, and Ryoko phased backwards to fire a 
cone of red energy. The demon deflected the blast with its wings and charged her 
again. 

	Tenchi did not need to be a master in combat tactics to see that Ryoko was 
not winning the fight. He pushed against the inner barrier around his Light Hawk 
Wings, but it once again held firm. Without the power of the Wings, he was 
grounded and unable to help Ryoko. Something brushed up against his leg. Tenchi 
looked down to see Ryo-ohki jumping up and down. The Juraian prince knew what 
the cabbit had in mind. He deactivated Tenchi-ken, picked up Ryo-ohki, and threw 
her into the air. 

	"MMMMMMEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

	Ryo-ohki beamed Tenchi and the remaining supplies up immediately.

_____

	As Ryo-ohki roared and transformed, the demon spared a quick glance to see 
what was happening behind him. That fraction of a second was all Ryoko needed. 
She soared past him severing his right wing. The monster roared in pain and fell 
to the ground. Ryoko then vanished and reappeared on Ryo-Ohki's bridge. "Get us 
out of here, Ryo-ohki!" she cried.

	"MMMMMMMMEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!!!!!"

	The cabbit ship flew into space and away from Tiuy.

_____

	Garthinial knelt on the ground watching the cabbit ship disappear into the 
sky. It seemed that the boy would prove slightly more difficult to capture than 
anticipated. He rose and twitched at the pain from his damaged wing. The wing 
was already starting to regenerate, but there would be a white scar where the 
woman had sliced through it. The pain was something Garthinial was not used to. 
It had been some time since he had been wounded so in a battle. The woman was 
indeed powerful, but he had not even begun to bring his own power into play. 

	"I will pay you back the sting you have given to me, daughter of Washu," 
promised the demon. "I will deliver ten times the pain you have caused today." 
And the demon knew exactly how to hurt her. Dealing out physical pain would be 
easy enough. Garthinial wanted to emotionally scar her. He had seen her go out 
of her way to protect the boy. Master Ziasha had said that killing the boy would 
be acceptable under certain circumstances. Revenge seemed a good enough reason 
for the demon.

_____

	The Dark Heart came to a stop before a domed platform floating above 
Jurai. Ziasha teleported from the bridge of his ship and appeared inside the 
dome. The interior of the dome was a gigantic green house. Acres of space trees 
all in rows went on and on. They were all still fairly young, but that did not 
matter for what Ziasha had in mind. The black Light Hawk Wings appeared in front 
of Ziasha. He grasped two of them and converted them into spheres. The Champion 
of Tokimi raised his hands into the air and released the spheres of Light Hawk 
Power. 

	The two spheres rose steadily into the air until they were at the apex of 
the dome. Then they rained down bolts of power all over the space trees inside. 
Each of the trees slowly began to change color and shape. Their silvery trunks 
became black. Green leaves dropped from branches that began to deform. When the 
spheres stopped discharging power, every space tree was black and deformed. 

	Ziasha gathered three more of his Wings and combined them into a larger 
sphere. He tossed the sphere into the center of all the trees. More energy 
lanced out in all directions to cover each tree. Next, Ziasha waved his hand and 
a portal opened. Gray eggs the size of a grown man's head started to pour out of 
the portal and hover over all the deformed trees. The eggs did not stop coming 
until there was one over every tree. Ziasha closed the portal and took stock of 
his handy work.

	"The Light Hawk Power will excelerate their growth, and those demon eggs 
will assimilate with the trees to form my new fleet." Ziasha threw his head back 
and started laughing. 

_____

	Pain suddenly shot through Sasami's head. It was so intense that she cried 
out. The door to her room on Yagami slid open, and Washu rushed in. Sasami had 
both hands on her head while she rolled around on the ground crying.

	"What's the matter Sasami?" asked Washu. She tried to get a hold of the 
little princess, but Sasami was thrashing too wildly.

	"It hurts!" cried Sasami. "Something's wrong, Washu! Tsunami is in pain! 
Oh, it hurts! Make it stop, Washu!"

	Her head was on fire, and her limbs were ice cold. Sasami tried her 
hardest block it out, but it was too intense. Her thrashing started to lesson as 
her body became exhausted from the pain. Then she felt Washu's arms around her 
shoulders. The scientist was rocking her back and forth slowly.

	"It'll be all right, Sasami," she was saying. "I'll find out what's going 
on and put a stop to it all. I promise." Part of Sasami's mind found a special 
comfort in the sound of Washu's soothing tone. Sasami was not sure why, but it 
made her feel better. Eventually the pain stopped, and she fell asleep in 
Washu's arms.

_____

	Tenchi put a hand on his forehead as a dull pain started to manifest 
around his temples. The pain started to increase, and Tenchi felt his legs begin 
to weaken. Suddenly, he fell backwards and landed on his rear. 

	Ryoko was at his side in an instant. "Tenchi!" she cried. "What's wrong?" 

	Tenchi was shaking his head. "I...don't...know," he gasped. "My head just 
started hurting. I feel like... something inside of me was just torn to pieces." 
He opened his eyes and looked at her. Her golden eyes were filled with concern. 
"Something terrible just happened, Ryoko." The pain started to subside, but his 
head still ached. "I think Tsunami is in trouble."

	"Then what about Sasami?" Tenchi was thinking the same thing.  "I hope 
that she's all right," added Ryoko with a worried look.

	"So do I, Ryoko," agreed Tenchi. "So do I."


To be continued...

Notes- Okay then. Let's start with the subspace bath that I said was on Ryo-
ohki. It is my belief that Ryo-ohki must have one, or Ryoko can transport the 
onsen at the Masaki home. I say this because the floating onsen appeared after 
Ryoko appeared and before Washu. So I think that Ryoko had something to do with 
its creation, therefore, why can't Ryo-ohki have a bath? I think that is all for 
questions about origins of stuff here. Send comments as always to 
Roas1@hotmail.com.