Tenchi-Muyo! (No Need For Tenchi!, This End Up) is (c) AIC * Pioneer LDC, Inc. Aa! Megami-sama! (Oh My Goddess!) is (c) by Kousuke Fujishima, Kodansha, TBS and KSS Films. Aa! Megami-sama Muyo! (Ah! No Need For My Goddess!) A Tenchi-Muyo! and Aa! Megami-sama! crossover fan fiction By Luna Hinomura http://fly.to/Luna's Chapter 3: Demon Caller "Tenchi, you said we could go and see the cave today!" Washu complained from my doorway. Rolling over in bed, I covered my ears with a pillow. Apparently, she'd never learned the meaning of 'sleeping late'. I think I mumbled something, but I was too tired to remember what it was. Jeez, at least Tsunami let me sleep when I wanted to. I wondered what would happen if their "Almighty" or whatever sister Tokimi came to my house. It'd be just too much. I had a horrible time last night explaining that Washu was Tsunami's sister, and trying to tell Dad that Washu didn't appreciate him hitting on her. My grandpa didn't seem to be too surprised to see a newcomer, though. In fact, he almost seemed to recognize her. "TENCHI!" Washu screamed through a megaphone right into my ear. "AaaaaaAAH!" I said, promptly falling out of my bed. I put my hand against my temple, my ears ringing and my heart pounding. I could even feel my pulse through a vein on my forehead. It felt like it was about to burst. "Washu... Please don't ever do that again..." "You *did* promise." "Not this early! It's the weekend! I'm tired from working in the fields, not to mention all the chaos that's happened since you came here. Even Tsunami wasn't that bad. And by the way, that's not a pun." "Chaos, hm? Well, it's true, even if it isn't a pun," Washu said, smiling. But her grin disappeared suddenly, and she looked very serious. "Tenchi, I really want to see the cave, and I'd like to go as soon as possible, ok?" "All right," I sighed, standing up, "but let me eat breakfast first. Tsunami probably made something for us. And why are you still in your 12-year- old form?" "Didn't Tsunami tell you how much energy it takes to change between the two forms, child and adult?" "Yeah, I think she said something about that, but you Goddesses have a lot of power, right?" "We may have a lot of power, but casting spells takes a lot of power too. The only reason I can change to a 12-year-old at all is because for me, this is the age that is easiest to transfer back and forth to and from. The same goes for Tsunami to Sasami." "Why does Tsunami call her younger self Sasami? Do you have a form you want me to call your younger self?" "I already told you!" Washu exclaimed as she hopped down the stairs. "Huh?" "Just call me Little Washu!" She laughed. "Anyway, Tsunami likes the name 'Sasami.' It was a nickname Lady Tokimi gave her. Little Tsunami doesn't sound as cute as Little Washu, now, does it!" She said it more like she was stating a fact than asking a question. "Oh." By this time, we'd reached the dining room, and Sasami was sitting at the table holding a pair of chopsticks. Her eyes lit up when she saw me coming in. Well, even if her pink eyes were strange by human standards, there was beauty and kindness within them. The Goddess of Kindness, and the Goddess of Chaos... Almost complete opposites. I wondered about their parents. After all, they looked nothing alike, so why did they call each other 'sister'? "Good morning, Tenchi! I made you breakfast. Your father and grandfather have already eaten," she said, getting up. "No, that's ok, Sasami, don't get up. Thanks for breakfast! This is great!" I said, sitting down. "You're quite the chef, Sasami-chan," Washu said. "Thank you, Sister Washu. Oh, Tenchi, you don't have to bother with the dishes, I can handle it," she said, then turned to her sister. "While I'm washing the dishes, Tenchi can show you the cave." "Have you seen it?" "Yeah, I walked by there once. There's nothing interesting there." "If you say so," Washu said, looking out the glass door to the lake by our house. "Miss Washu?" I asked. "Hm?" "I don't want to seem presumptuous, but you appear to be preoccupied. Is something wrong?" "No, it's nothing, Tenchi," she said, her gaze returning to her plate. She began to eat. , I thought, echoing Washu's words. * * * * * "Well, well, well, Washu. Fancy meeting you here," Grandpa said as we walked up the steps to the Masaki shrine. Grandpa was standing at the top of the stairs, sweeping fallen leaves. It was getting really close to autumn, and some leaves were coming down. "Yes, Mr. Masaki, Tenchi and are going to see the cave next to the Masaki shrine," Washu replied. "Is that so? Well, let me just warn you, don't go into it." "Grandpa, why can't we just look around and see the Demon?" I asked. "You can go up to the gate, but you must stop there. The Demon is dangerous. I've told you time and time again, you don't want to go in." "But why, Grandpa?" "Tenchi, don't argue with your elders," Grandpa said, finished with his sweeping. "You can look through the gate, but don't try to open it. Come back when you're finished, and we'll practice your swordplay routines." He headed back to the shrine. "It's ok, Tenchi, I don't mind just looking through the gate." "I've always wanted to see the sword, but I'm scared of seeing the Demon. As long as no one breaks the seal on the cave, the Demon will sleep there until the end of time," I said, gazing at the cave. "Let's go, then," Washu said, pulling me (more like dragging, actually) towards it. She brought me all the way up to the rusty gate. I took one look at the padlocks and chains around it, and knew there was no way we could get through it. "See? There's no way to get into the cave. I've tried. Believe me, I've tried." "I guess you're right..." she said softly, just an edge of disappointment in her voice. "I'm sorry I got you so excited about this cave. It's bothered me ever since I was little." "Tenchi!" I heard my grandpa call. "Are you finished yet?" "Sorry, Washu, but I have to go." "I'll stay here awhile, ok, Tenchi?" Washu asked. "Sure. There's nothing to look at anyway," I replied, walking away. When I turned to go down the stairs, I thought I saw a brief flash or glow of light through my peripheral vision, but when I looked back at Washu, she was only holding the padlock, gazing at it strangely. Come to think of it, the idea of a Demon in the cave had plagued her ever since she had arrived here, but that was no different from what I had felt ever since I was born. * * * * * "Sasami? I wanted to ask you something, to learn more about System Jurai. How does it run?" I said, walking in the house after my vigorous sword training exercise. Those things just wore me out. Ah, well, it was a great way to pass the time. "Well, Lady Tokimi, Washu, and I are the three main Goddesses in the Goddess Technical Helpline, and we are the only three that are Goddess First Class Unlimited. Others are below us. Washu is the Sysop, and she has to make sure everything is running smoothly, and has to monitor it constantly." "Wow. What do you do, Sasami?" "Well, I'm sort of like the antenna," she said. "The what?" "The antenna. We have a lot of Goddesses who receive phone calls from everywhere, but I am the only one with the power to transfer the wishes to the Almighty One of System Jurai, Lady Tokimi." "So you're the only one who can grant a wish?" I asked. "No, all the Goddesses can visit people and receive their wishes, but they can't transfer it to Lady Tokimi." "Do you have to be there with the person to grant their wish?" "No, that's what the other lower Goddesses are for. They're like smaller antennas who transfer wishes to me, and I transfer the wish to Lady Tokimi. Normally, I rarely give consultations, but I had some free time on my hands when I visited you." "I'm glad," I said, smiling. "Me too," she replied. The door slid open, and Washu walked in with a sigh. Her hair was unkempt, and she was breathing hard, like she'd run all the way down the stairs. Her clothes were dirty too, covered in dirt and debris. Seeing us, she straightened up immediately and pretended nothing was wrong. "Are you ok, Washu?" Sasami asked. "What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just...fell. On the way back," she replied, brushing leaves out of her hair. "You what?! Those steps are steep! Did you slip and roll or something?" I said, worried. "No, I just fell to the side. Into the bushes. I'm tired, I don't think I'll eat dinner," she said, walking up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with Sasami. "But tonight is Tenchi's last night before his school starts again!" Sasami protested. "Oh. Well, I'm sorry, Tenchi, but I'm *really* tired. I'll see you whenever I wake up," she yawned, going out of sight as she navigated a bend in the hallway. "That's ok," I called, not knowing if she could hear me. "Well, that's weird," Sasami said, raising an eyebrow. "What is? She's just tired." "Yeah, but she shouldn't be that tired unless she used too much of her Life-force Energy." "Life-force Energy?" I asked confusedly. "Yeah, that's what we use to do our spells. It might sound strange, but to me it looked like she'd been in some sort of battle." "Battle?" The Demon? It couldn't be... "It's probably nothing. Maybe she fell and needed to use her power to heal herself. Or to stop her descent, if she fell near the top of the stairs, and kept rolling." "I guess so..." "Wait, didn't you once say Goddesses couldn't lie?" I asked. "Yeah, but Washu is the Goddess of Chaos, you know." "Does that mean some things about Goddesses don't apply to her?" "Sometimes. Chaos works in strange ways." I'll say... * * * * * Leaving for the first day of school, I grumbled to myself about having to leave Sasami and Washu by themselves, since my grandpa would be up in his shrine composing strange prose like "Be not frightened by your friend's new hairstyle. It would be wise to change your own." or something like that. Almost like one of those worthless American stereotypical Chinese Fortune Cookies. He's got a strange sense of humor. Well, once in awhile he came up with something interesting. Rarely, though. Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I turned to look at my house and the shrine. Washu hadn't woken up yet by the time I'd left, but Sasami had bade me farewell, packed me a lunch, and sent me on my way. Smiling, I turned back, hurrying so I wouldn't miss the bus. * * * * * "So, Tenchi, what did you do all summer?" my classmate, Amagasaki asked me once the teacher was finished lecturing. "Oh, nothing much, just helped around the house. Shrine stuff, sword stuff, the usual." "Bummer. Did you meet any girls?" "Sort of," I replied, deliberately trying to be elusive. I couldn't risk letting people know that I had two Goddesses living with me. "Nothing but dried-up mummies, huh?" Amagasaki joked. "Just like last year." "Yeah," I said, laughing along. I guess I'd used that 'dried-up mummy' line a lot, even when I first met Tsunami. Of course, unlike Tsunami, he understood the joke. If you could call it that. It wasn't really a joke, more like a sarcastic statement. "Tenchi?" he said, pulling me from my daze. "Hey, Tenchi!" He leaned in and lowered his voice. "You seem kind of spaced out... Don't tell me you were so hard-up that you slept with a mummy!" By the time he finished his sentence, it had drifted from a quiet murmur to a deafening shout. The whole class had heard. "Oh, wow!" Sakuya said from my right. "You're quite the Casanova." She turned to the rest of the class. "Did you hear what happened to Tenchi?" "Hear what?" "Tenchi did what?!" "Eew! How gross!" "I thought you had class, Tenchi!" "Didn't you say you met some girl named Sasami?" "But he said Sasami was around the age of 10!" "That's disgusting! You're sick!" Aw, jeez... "Get a life, clown!" I yelled, punching Amagasaki, and sending his obese figure crashing into the wall. *DING* *ding* *DONG* *dong* "Yay! It's lunch time!" "Man, I'm starved!" "I thought the teacher would never shut up!" "Hey, Tenchi, ya comin'?" someone called. "No..." I said. "I'll, uh, catch you later..." I ran out of there as fast as I could, going to my favorite spot on the roof, where I could always be alone. Placing my hands behind my head like a pillow, I settled down on my back and stared upwards at the sky. "Get a grip, Tenchi," I said to myself. "Amagasaki was just being a jerk, like he always was. Just explain to them that they misunderstood his joke, that's all." From my position I saw birds soaring by overhead, calling to each other. The clouds drifted leisurely through the air, and it was so peaceful... I could stay there forever... * * * * * I opened my eyes, expecting to see exactly what had been there before I closed my eyes. I got a big surprise. "It's night *already*?!" Rather than big fluffy clouds, I saw small sparkling stars, and rather than hearing the pii-pii of birds, I could only hear the chirrup of crickets. "Aw, man! I can't believe I fell asleep and I missed all my classes! What a great impression to make on the first day of school," I muttered. "What am I gonna do now?" "Tenchi..." "Who said that?!" I called, glancing around. "Tenchi..." "Where are you?!" "Up here, Tenchi..." I looked up in the direction I thought the voice was coming from. There was a girl who looked a little older than Tsunami, maybe around the age of Big Washu, sitting on top of the big metal box that held one of the many air conditioners for our school. She had spiky light blue hair, lighter than Sasami's. Her hair kind of reminded me of Washu's, actually. "Hello, Tenchi," she said, her eyes closed. "Who *are* you?" I asked, perplexed. "Ryoko," she said, laughing. "My name is Ryoko." Then she opened her eyes. Big, yellow, catlike eyes that glowed... Glowed... Like a Demon's. "No way! You can't be-- You can't be-- that Demon?!" "It was cold in that cave...and dark. You know how long I was trapped in there? Seven hundred years. And I didn't like it, I didn't like it at all! All I want now is *revenge*!" "It's none of my business how you got in there, and I definitely didn't wake you up!" "You didn't?" she said confusedly. "No! And the guy who trapped you in there was my ancestor, Yosho!" She paused a moment and chewed on her bottom lip, digesting my words. Finally, she held her hand up with her palm pointed towards the sky and said, "I don't care." Huh? "I just need to take my anger out on you, *right now*!" Reddish-orange energy began traveling into her hand, and when she tightened it into a fist, a sword appeared. A sword like I'd never seen before. It had no handle, yet it followed her hand's every movement. It seemed to be made of pure energy, or pure light. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed, running away from her. Her laughter filled the air, as she leapt down from her post and slashed around me with her sword, creating dents in the roof of my school. I turned a sharp corner, and she followed, flying through the air. She began throwing bolts at me, bolts of energy that looked a lot like her sword. I grabbed the doorknob leading to the stairs that would take me back into the school, trying to get back home. Oh, if only Tsunami was there, she would save me. A blast of energy exploded behind me, flinging me painfully down the stairs. I picked myself up gingerly, grateful that I hadn't broken any bones, and only received a few bruises. I could see her shadow behind me, fading in and out of existence. Very, very, weird! Running through the hall, I passed by my classroom. That's when I realized I'd forgotten my book bag, but it gave me an idea. I dove through the door. Sliding it closed quietly, I prayed to Kami-sama that she hadn't seen me. Holding my breath, I watched as her silhouette passed by, no doubt her eyes and ears searching for the tiniest movement or sound. When she was gone, I let out a relieved sigh, and headed over to my desk. "I hope she's gone," I said to myself as I picked up my bag and collected my stuff. "I'd better get outta here." I screamed from surprise as the fire alarm went off, and fell over my seat. "GAS FUMES!!!" "So there you are, Tenchi," Ryoko said, walking through the opposite wall from me. She created her sword again. "It's time for your lesson, school boy..." "Stop it! You'll cause an even bigger explosion, there's gas leaking somewhere!" "'Gas'? Wha-what is 'gas'?" Oy. I could just see it now. The headlines would say _Outstanding Student Blown to Bits at Local School_. If I'd known I was going to die today, I wouldn't have done that much homework over summer vacation! "I think...that I might just have an idea..." I murmured. Pointing, I said excitedly to Ryoko, "What's that outside the window?!" Oh, Kami-sama... I just used the oldest trick in the book... She was *not* going to buy that one... "Ooh! What is it? I wanna see!" I facefaulted. Majorly. Picking myself up, I crept back out into the hallway. As I left, I heard her saying, "I don't wanna miss it! Hey, I don't see anything..." Running as fast as my legs could take me, I hightailed it outta there. That's when the explosion came, picking me off my feet once more and depositing me all the way down at the end of the hall. There was no way she could have survived it. I clapped twice, and bowed. Old shrine habit. She was kinda cute, but I'd rather stick with Tsunami, and-- My eyes bugged out as came sauntering out of the flames, her hair, clothes, and body covered in soot and ashes. "Hey!" she barked at me. "What are you trying to do?!" She dashed at me, passing by a mirror. "Oh! My hair is a mess! Look at my clothes!" she said, forgetting all about me and dusting herself off. "Thank Kami-sama..." I whispered, creeping out the front door of the school. Once I got to the courtyard, I ran... ...right into her, my face crashing unceremoniously against her... Um... Bosom. "Catch!" she yelled, tossing another of her force bolts at me. This time, I had no way of avoiding it. I braced myself for impact, praying that I would come out of this alive. But it never came. "Tsu-Tsunami?!" I exclaimed. Tsunami was there, standing in front of me with her arms extended... *Protecting* me... "Impressive," Ryoko said. "Take this!" she launched at Tsunami, sword flashing. But Tsunami was surrounded in a shield of blue, which Ryoko couldn't penetrate. "Damn," Ryoko cussed, her sword disappearing. "Can't you even let Tenchi fight back?!" "I won't let you hurt him," Tsunami said a matter-of-factly. "If I had it my way, I wouldn't fight a monster like you!" I yelled at Ryoko. "Monster?! What makes you call a pretty young girl like me a m-monster?!" "Oh, come on! You can fly, you walk through walls, and you blow up things...!" "All very good reasons, but not good enough!" She placed both her hands on the shield, sending energy directly into it, trying to exhaust Tsunami's power. The shield began to crackle, spewing sparks in every direction. "Tsunami, be careful! Don't hurt yourself!" She didn't reply, too busy trying to ward off Ryoko's attack. Her eyes narrowed, and she put more power into the shield. I could see smoke coming from where Ryoko's hands were touching the shield, and suddenly she yelled in pain as the shield detonated from all the Life-force Energy it had absorbed. Tsunami and I were unscathed, but Ryoko... Ryoko had lost both her hands. She stared blankly at us for a moment, then averted her eyes. "Oh, well," she said sadly. "Another day, another battle lost, that's the story of my life." "Uh, what about your hands?" I asked after a pause. "Hm? Oh, watch." She held out her arms like what *would* have been palm- up if she'd still had her hands. Crossing her forearms, her wrists began to glow red, and the hands regenerated themselves. "Good night," she said, bowing and disappearing into the ground. "Tsunami?" I said after we'd recovered from Ryoko's abrupt exit. "Yes, Tenchi?" "Thank you for rescuing me." "Oh, you're welcome, Ten--" Another blast of flames from the burning school hit us from behind, knocking us off balance. I heard the siren of fire trucks approaching. "Uh, we should probably go before they catch us with circumstantial evidence." "Right. I have enough energy left to teleport us there." She closed her eyes, and cast a teleportation spell. The surroundings melted away, and I had the briefest glimpse of a fireman's face, his jaw open in awe. Then, we were in the foyer, right inside the front door of my house. "That was a really cool spell. Are you tired?" I asked. "I-- I need to rest now. Fighting that Demon took a lot of my strength, and the teleportation just about took the rest." "You go ahead and rest, Tsunami. You deserve it." She nodded, and headed up the stairs to the guest room. I walked into the living room, and noticed that piles of boxes which had originally been in our storage room underneath the stairs were laying around the room. Dad and Grandpa were there trying to clean it up and reorganize it. "Hey, Dad, Grandpa, why are you cleaning it up? You *never* clean anything up." My Dad turned to me. "Well, Tenchi, you're finally home! Washu's moved into the storage closet." "The closet's tiny! She can't live in there!" "Take a look, Tenchi," Grandpa replied. I peeked in the storage closet, expecting to see the same old storage closet. "WHOA!" I exclaimed. It wasn't a storage closet anymore! Instead, Washu had completely remodeled the inside, or something. That's the only way I could explain it. The room was huge! It was even bigger than my whole house! "Oh, hello, Tenchi," Little Washu said, turning around from her laptop. She was sitting on a floating cushion, and her laptop was really strange, it seemed to be made out of something grey and translucent. "I hope you don't mind, but I used my computers to reroute the destination from your storage door to my subspace laboratory." "Laboratory? But you're a *Goddess*, not a scientist!" "Au contraire, I am both. Tsunami must not have told you. It goes with the Chaos thing, ok? Anyway, I have to get back to work, so go to bed." Perplexed, I stumbled upstairs into my bedroom, collapsing on my bed. For some reason, my bed seemed slightly lumpy. I knew that Tsunami was in her bedroom, Dad and Grandpa were in the living room, and Washu was in her lab, so...? Taking a deep breath, I pulled back the covers slowly to reveal... "Mmm... Welcome home, Tenchi," Ryoko said, smiling. End of Chapter 3