Ep 7 - Power

I'm Russell Piper, and what you're about to read is my first real attempt 
at a fanfiction.  It's based around Tenchi Universe (Tenchi TV) and the 
OVA so most of the main characters you've seen from there will 
appear here as well.  It also crosses a bit with Dragonball Z with the 
existence of Dragonballs and immensely powerful warriors.  Ryoko 
and Tenchi had finally chosen to be together, and Aeka is still living at 
the house for now.  You'll see when it happens.  Anyway, I'll stop 
flapping my yap and let you get right to the story.  Enjoy!  Send all hate 
mail / fan mail to russael@mediaone.net.

	Sleeping peacefully after a hard day's worth of work, Kiyone 
and Mihoshi lay on their futons, engrossed in a deep slumber.  The sun 
was poking it's way through their window and it lay across their 
bedspread, but stayed away from their faces, almost as if it knew 
enough to let them sleep.  Mihoshi shifted to a more comfortable 
position, the only noises made were a soft moan and the sound of fabric 
rubbing against fabric.  Kiyone drew in a deep breath and stirred 
slightly, but then drifted back to sleep a second later.
	The sun, which was shining brightly, began to grow dark, as 
the wind outside of their window increased in velocity.  Mihoshi turned 
over again, pulling the blanket over her head to drown out the noise 
from the wind.  A few moments later, a pair of loud, primal screams 
roared into their ears, as they both sat bolt upright in their beds and 
immediately looked outside their window.
	"What is going on here?!  Why is the sky so funny looking?  
Who screamed?"  Kiyone threw back her covers as she ran to the 
window.  Mihoshi stretched and yawned, totally unconcerned at what 
was going on around her, until the house began shaking.  Her eyes went 
wide as she also shot out of bed and grabbed onto Kiyone's waist.
	"Waaahh!  Kiyone!  What's happening here?  I'm scared!"  
Mihoshi squeezed even harder, causing Kiyone to start making 
croaking noises.  "Kiyone?"  She looked up at her face, which was 
turning blue, and then let go.  Kiyone collapsed to the floor, taking in 
deep breaths from being crushed.
	"It's an earthquake or a tornado, you idiot!  We've got to get 
out of here!"  Kiyone bolted for the door followed closely behind by 
Mihoshi.  They ran down the stairs and outside the back door and into 
the yard.  Stopping and staring at the two bright green lights over the 
lake, they noticed everybody sitting on the ground, staring at the same 
thing.  They quickly ran over to find out what the heck was going on.
	Mihoshi watched in awe, as they ran over.  "Oh wow, look at 
the pretty green lights!"  She giggled.  "I wonder what they're doing 
here though?"
	"What is going on here?"  Kiyone shouted over the roar of the 
wind and the rumbling of the ground, which subsided a few moments 
later.  A second after that, both green lights vanished, and were 
replaced with a massive shockwave in between the two, nearly blowing 
everybody over onto their backs.
	The original Russ jumped behind everybody, his own ki 
exploding around him as he yelled at the top of his voice, and put up a 
huge ki dome over everybody's head, shielding the house as well.  He 
remained standing with is fists and teeth clenched, as he concentrated 
on keeping the shield up.  A second later, a white light engulfed him as 
his karate gi changed from green to blue.  Azaka and Kamadake 
cautiously lowered their own forcefield.
	"Hey!  Can you hear me?  What the heck is going on here?!"  
Kiyone shouted at the very top of her voice.  Aeka, Ryoko, and Tenchi 
all turned toward her and waved her over.  "Would someone PLEASE 
tell me what is going on?"
	"Russ is giving us a demonstration of what's to be expected to 
happen when Zorpheus arrives," Tenchi shouted.  "Remember from last 
night?"
	Kiyone thought a moment, and nodded her head.  "Who is 
fighting?  Russ is standing right over there!"  She shouted, pointing a 
finger at the original Russ, who was continuing to concentrate, holding 
the shield up.
	"Russ split himself into three parts!  Two of them are up there 
fighting, and I guess the original is the one standing over there!"  A 
moment later, an intense shockwave caused the ground to shudder, 
despite the shield.
	Everybody turned back toward the battle, but they couldn't see 
anything except the many shockwaves that were exploding in the air.  
An instant later, both combatants became visible, and then vanished 
again, resulting in another shockwave.
	"Hey Russ!  What's going on?  We can't see anything!"  
Tenchi yelled over the loudness of the sonic booms.
	"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he said, through clenched teeth.  
Continuing to concentrate, he made his way over to the group and knelt 
down, his green ki still burning around him.  "Relax a moment."  Russ 
placed his hands on Tenchi and Ryoko's shoulders, causing them both 
to cringe slightly, as a white shimmering glow engulfed his hands, and 
a moment later, the glow made it's way to their heads.
	"Whoa, what the…" Tenchi stuttered, as the dual Russ' started 
to become visible.  At first, they were only green streaks, slamming 
into each other at an incredible pace, but within a few seconds, both of 
their bodies became completely visible.  
	Everybody else turned to look at Ryoko and Tenchi, watching 
them as their eyes and heads darted all over the place, as they could 
now plainly see what was going on.  Russ stood up and moved over to 
Katsuhito and Nobuyuki and did the same thing, and then moved over 
to Aeka and Sasami, and then over to Kiyone and Mihoshi, and finally 
he made his way to Washu, and once again performed the same 
technique.  He moved over to Azaka and Kamadake.  "Can you see 
them?"
	"No.  They're moving too fast," said Kamadake.
	"Well, let's see if this works on you.  It's harmless, so even if 
it doesn't work you won't be damaged or injured."  Russ placed his 
hands on the two logs and once again the while glow emanated from 
his hands, and transferred itself inside the wooden guardians.  "Can you 
see them now?"
	"Yes!  Oh my, are they fast," said Azaka.
	Russ looked over at Ryo-Ohki, who was sitting on top of 
Sasami's head.  "Can you see them, Ryo-Ohki?"
	She meowed a response and shook her head.
	"Okay, let's try this then."  He placed his hand on her head, 
lightly petting her as the white glow transferred itself to her mind.  
Immediately she started meowing like crazy and watching the action 
unfold.  He laughed and then backed off some ways and resumed his 
stance, concentrating solely on keeping the shield up.
	"Incredible.  Look at them go!  Man, are they fast!"  Tenchi 
shouted over the shockwaves, from his seat on the ground, has his eyes 
followed the battle.
	Both Russ' stopped for a moment, and one of them engulfed 
himself in a bright white flash, and his green gi became orange, so now 
everybody could tell them apart.  Almost as instantly, the orange Russ 
raced at the one in green and tried to slam his fist into the other's gut, 
but it was blocked, resulting in another massive shockwave, rumbling 
the ground as if a bomb went off nearby.  The one in green retaliated by 
swinging his foot at the other's head, narrowly missing as the orange 
one ducked, then brought his own leg up to kick the one in green in the 
side, but was blocked.  The one in green grabbed the orange Russ' leg 
and hurled him into the ground, but he managed to stop himself about a 
foot above the ground and zanzokened away, just as the green Russ 
tried to slam his arm into the other's chest.  The green Russ spun 
around in time to see a blue energy ball being hurled at him from 
above, and he punted the energy ball away, causing it to sail into outer 
space and explode.
	Seeing an opportunity, the orange Russ raced at the one in 
green, slamming him in the face with his foot and sending him crashing 
into the lake, creating a huge splash that went nearly a hundred feet in 
the air.  Charging up energy in his hands, he let loose a hailstorm of 
energy balls into the water, causing many more small explosions that 
churned the water as if in a hurricane.  A second later a huge, blue 
energy ball rocketed out of the water, heading straight for the orange 
Russ.  He quickly blurred away and rematerialized a few feet away, just 
as the blast sailed through his former position.  Barely having time to 
think of an attack, another ball of energy was heading straight for him, 
forcing him to zanzoken away to another spot.  Now, expecting another 
energy ball, he braced himself for the blast, which never came.  The 
green Russ phased into existence behind the orange one, and tried to 
slam his fists into his back, but narrowly missed, as his opponent spun 
around with his foot outstretched, trying to kick him in the chest.  The 
green one blocked it and grabbed his foot, ready to throw him into the 
ground, but the orange one spun around, using his captured foot as a 
pivot, and brought his other leg up, successfully smashing his leg into 
the green one's head.  He recovered quickly and began a barrage of 
punches and kicks, which were blocked or dodged.
	Getting irritated, both Russ' landed on the ground and raced at 
each other, locking both their hands together in a test of strength.  Their 
green ki exploded around them, as one tried to overpower the other.  
The ground shaking grew even more intense, as a crater started to form 
under both of their feet.  Their grunting and yelling could just barely be 
heard over the roar of their ki and the earthquake they were causing.  
The orange Russ lost patience and slammed his foot into the green's 
stomach, forcing him to break the hold and jump back.
	The dual Russ' zanzokened away, reappearing back in the air, 
where a flurry of punches and kicks ensued.  Both tried to make an 
offense, but every attack was countered with an identical attack from 
his counterpart.  Fists and feet slammed into each other, causing more 
shockwaves.  The green Russ zanzokened a dozen feet away and hurled 
a blue energy ball at his opponent, who swatted it away easily, but the 
distraction worked.  The green Russ zanzokened behind the orange one 
and slammed him on top of his head with both his hands, causing him 
to fall like a screaming bomb and slam into the ground, making a small 
crater.  He quickly got back up and shot back into the air with a green 
vapor trail following him, both fists out in front, trying to slam them 
into the other's stomach.  The green Russ shot off higher into the air, 
also leaving a green vapor trail, as the one in orange caught up.  Both 
Russ' slammed into each other multiple times at a mind-blowing rate, 
creating many sonic explosions.  They both turned around and raced 
back down toward the Earth, as they both blurred out of vision, 
reappearing across the yard, where another flurry of punches and kicks 
ensued.  They both zanzokened out of sight, but this time they 
reappeared about five feet in front of everybody, just outside the shield 
perimeter, where they continued to exchange punches.  They landed on 
the ground, continuing to try to break though the other's defense.  The 
orange one finally connected a punch on his opponents jaw, sending 
him flying through a tree over two hundred feet away.  The tree trunk 
shattered under the force of the blow, and fell over.

	"Good god, they're going to destroy each other!"  Tenchi 
shouted over the noise, looking over at everyone.  Nobody seemed to 
notice Tenchi's outburst, as they were all transfixed on the battle.
	Ryoko leaned over to Tenchi.  "I'm sure glad he's on our side!  
There's no way I could compete with something like this," she shouted.  
"He's the fastest person I've ever seen.  He could have really hurt us 
when he was sparring with us earlier!"
	"You're not kidding," he responded.  Looking behind him at 
the original Russ, his concern increased a little as he saw the sadistic 
grin on the blue Russ' face, even though he was still concentrating on 
holding the shield to keep the shockwaves at bay.
	"Hey Washu!  Can you explain what's going on?  How is this 
even possible?"  Ryoko yelled over to her mother.
	"I have no idea!  This is the first time I've ever documented 
something like this," she shouted back.  "Their power level has neither 
increased or decreased during the duration of this battle.  I wonder if 
he's capable of even MORE power," she yelled, looking back at Russ.  
Her phantom computer materialized in front of her as she typed in a 
frenzy, documenting everything she was watching.
	The Russ in blue grinned at the comment, knowing full well 
that he could easily blow away what they're currently observing.  Just 
doing a Kaioken Attack at level two would double his power and speed.  
And going Super Saiyan would increase it by at least a factor of fifty, 
but it required a lot of energy to transform, so he didn't do it often.  Not 
only that, but the violent emotions a Super Saiyan experiences also 
deterred him from going to that mode.
	Katsuhito continued to watch intently, observing his moves 
and his attack style.  Never before seeing this style of fighting, it was 
quite a learning experience.  Several of Russ' moves that he watched he 
figured he'd remember, and try them out during a sparring match with 
Tenchi.  Even though Tenchi was no match for him, it was good 
practice.  Even better, he wanted to learn Russ' technique and style of 
fighting in its entirety, just in case his current style, even though super 
secret and rare, failed him.  However, he knew he couldn't reveal his 
own style of fighting, unless Russ learned it from that little sparring 
match earlier.
	"I should've brought my camera out here to record this," 
Nobuyuki said to Katsuhito.  "This is great action stuff!"
	"Sorry, but a camera wouldn't be able to pick up their 
movements," Russ shouted from behind, just barely hearing his 
comment.  "I had to enhance your own senses just so you could see 
them!"  Nobuyuki looked disappointed, but that quickly melted away as 
both Russ' materialized a couple dozen feet away, exchanging fists and 
kicks.
	Aeka continued to watch with mixed emotions.  This wasn't 
the guy she sat with last night.  This one was bloodthirsty and 
extremely violent.  She felt frightened of this side of Russ, as they 
continued to battle out in front, and the one behind her watched with 
amusement.
	*What am I getting myself into?  I had no idea he was like 
THIS!  Did I make a mistake in trusting him?  What if he turned against 
me in a fit of rage?  I could never defend myself against him, and 
neither can anybody else here… not even Ryoko!*  Continuing to 
watch the battle unfold, Aeka thought about him a little more.  *He did 
say that he was here to defend the Earth, so his motives are good.  And 
he was very nice to me last night, and he never tried to take advantage 
of me either.  Maybe his heart is in the right place, but why is he so 
violent?  And why is he enjoying this?  It's barbaric!*  She wrung her 
hands in front of her.  *Should I really give him a chance?  So far, he 
hasn't done anything wrong, and he's been helpful and very nice to 
everybody, even that monster woman.*  She glared over at Ryoko who 
was intently watching the battle, huddled next to Tenchi.  *At least that 
fight is over with.*

	The orange Russ zanzokened to the ground and brought his 
hands out in front of him, charging an energy beam.  "Big Bang 
Attaaaaaaack!!!" He screamed at the top of his voice, as a monstrous 
yellow beam roared out of his hands, streaking it's way toward the 
Russ in green.  The force of the beam blew all the dust out from under 
him, resulting in a huge windstorm and another shockwave, just from 
the launching of the beam.
	The green Russ saw it coming, and prepared a counterattack.  
As the beam reached him, he slammed his fist into it, altering its course 
directly for the Misaki home.  Everybody except for Katsuhito 
screamed in horror, as the beam neared the house's position.  
	The Russ in blue saw it change course and start its descent.  
Realizing that he wasn't generating enough energy to keep a forcefield 
of that size intact, he had to power up even more.  "Kaioken Attack 
times TWO!" he screamed, as his ki turned from green to red, and 
burned with an intense fury, as his power shot through the roof.
	Washu's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when the 
scouter beeped and started recalculating his new power level.  
	Russ realized that it probably still wasn't enough to stop a 
blast of that size.  "TIMES THREE!" he screamed, as his ki and energy 
expanded even further and higher, and he braced for the impact.  
Washu and Katsuhito almost immediately started suffering an intense 
headache as his power skyrocketed, and the scouter recalculated his 
new level again.  The Big Bang Attack slammed into the shield, 
cracking with overwhelming energy and causing a minor tremor.  It 
then exploded, doing no damage at all to the house and the surrounding 
area.
	The two Russ' stopped their fighting and floated back down to 
the ground in front of everybody, as the Russ in blue disengaged the 
Kaioken and returned his ki level to normal, and his ki changed back 
from red to green.  The splitting headache both Katsuhito and Washu 
had immediately subsided.
	Washu rubbed her temples and checked the scouter.  "I… I 
don't believe it.  This has to be a mistake.  It calculated your energy 
level at fourteen million, one hundred thousand!  How is that 
POSSIBLE?  How much more energy are you hiding?" She yelled, 
even though it was now quiet, since the battle ceased.
	"I told you, the four million, seven hundred thousand was my 
base power level.  I can go much higher than that using special 
techniques," Russ said, looking insulted.
	"HOW much higher?"
	"A lot higher than what I'm leading on here.  I can't say for 
certain, and I'm not going to try powering up to my maximum.  Not 
only that, but that scouter cannot measure a level as high as mine."
	"Wow.  And you need to get stronger than what you are 
already?"  She asked, eyeing him.  "That's absurd!  You're the 
strongest person I've ever seen, in both real life and documented 
history!"
	Russ chuckled.  "Thanks, but I'm no where near the strength 
of some of the other Saiyan warriors that have lived.  Their history 
documents were few and far between, so it's no wonder you don't 
know about it."  Remembering what went on a moment before, he 
glared at his two counterparts.  "Try to be more careful with those ki 
attacks.  I was fortunate to see it coming and had enough time to 
counter that."
	Both Russ' nodded toward the one in blue, and faced each 
other again, then blurred out of sight to continue their battle.
	"One other thing you guys," the Russ in blue began.  "Do not 
try to sense a power level like mine when I'm charged up that high.  
Just try to block it out.  That headache can get much worse than what 
you experienced, depending on how high I go."  He rubbed his chin.  
"If you guys had a higher ki level for yourselves, there wouldn't be a 
problem."  Russ turned toward Washu.  "That scouter has a limit of 
twenty million.  After that, it usually either shuts down, or explodes 
from overload, but I don't need to go that high today."
	*So he can go up to at least twenty million now.  Amazing.  
I'm going to have to see if I can get this scouter to calculate an 
estimated level for him, or build a machine that can do that.*  Washu 
grinned evilly a moment and then glanced at Russ.
	Washu and Katsuhito nodded, then turned their attention back 
to the orange and green clothed Russ' as they prepared to go into round 
two, their green ki burning intensely around each of them when they 
both rocketed off into the air.  As they both reached the apex of their 
ascent, the green Russ zanzokened to a lower position and started firing 
hundreds of small yellow energy balls, all of which were screaming 
like fireworks to his opponent.  Just before they reached their target, the 
orange Russ blurred out of sight and rematerialized about fifty feet 
away, as the energy blasts sailed through his former position and went 
up in a crescendo of miniature explosions.  The green Russ quickly 
changed his target and continued firing, as the orange one raced off, 
dodging all the blasts that came too close to him.  He quickly changed 
direction, making a beeline back for the green Russ, charging his own 
ki blast and launching it quickly, as the many smaller blasts from the 
green one bounced harmlessly off the much larger energy blast.  
	Realizing it was going to slam into the ground and cause all 
kinds of damage, the blue Russ quickly blurred in between the green 
Russ and the energy blast, and gave it a roundhouse that sent it out of 
Earth's orbit.
	"I told you guys to be more careful!!!"  He snarled at both his 
counterparts.  Almost as instantly, he got another idea to make things 
more interesting.  Slamming his foot into the green one's chest, sending 
him crashing into the ground, the blue Russ sped off to the orange one 
and started his own flurry of punches and kicks.  A moment later the 
green Russ materialized next to both of them, and attacked the Russ in 
blue.  It quickly became a double team, as both the green and orange 
Russ attacked him, as he speedily dodged, blocked and parried all their 
blows.
	Everybody on the ground continued to watch in bewilderment 
as now all three Russ' were now in a frenzy, trying to land a blow on 
each other at a rapid pace.   The orange one finally succeeded and 
planted a foot in his stomach, sending him to the ground.  The blue one 
landed on his feet as he blocked another attack by the green one as he 
sailed past and landed behind him.  Landing in front of him, the orange 
one took up a defensive stance as the one behind him prepared to 
attack.  The Russ in blue placed both his hands toward his opponents 
and let lose a large energy beam from his hands, slamming into both 
participants, knocking them back hundreds of feet.  A moment of 
silence ensued, as he stood idly and smirked, and glanced back at 
everybody, watching their faces smiling at their reactions.  He 
zanzokened behind everybody and put up the ki shield once more, and 
told his two counterparts telepathically to put on one giant, grand 
finale.

	The orange and green Russ' appeared in the sky, hundreds of 
feet apart, as they both began charging their signature energy attack.  
Both participants placed their hands outstretched in front of them, 
palms facing outward, as a yellow energy ball formed out in front, 
crackling with blue lightning bolts, that was surrounding the yellow 
sphere, which was continuing to grow in size.
	"This is it!  Hold on to your sanity!"  Russ shouted from 
behind everyone.  Both energy balls were now nearly six feet in 
diameter, and still growing.  The crackling of the blue lightning bolts 
continued to grow more intense, as the size of the ball finally started 
touching both hands.
	Finally, the ball was finished charging, as it was now ten feet 
in diameter.  "BUSTER… CANNON… FIRE!!!!"  They screamed in 
unison.  Massive, yellow energy beams roared out of the balls, 
surrounded in blue lightning, and slammed into each other in between 
both participants, making one of the largest shockwaves ever seen.  
Some trees were uprooted and flung away like toothpicks, but the 
ground remained intact.  The floating onsen was tossed around a little, 
but fortunately, it was a very stable structure.  The roar of both beams 
was deafening, as everybody shielded their faces, even though the 
forcefield protected them.  The force of the shockwave slammed into 
the shield, causing a large tremor in the ground and the air, and then the 
only thing remained were hurricane forced winds and the roar of the 
beams.
	The two heads of the beams were in the middle of both the 
orange and green Russ', as they began a massive test of strength and 
will.  Both continued to scream and apply pressure, but neither wavered 
nor gave any ground to the other.  Unconsciously, they both began to 
apply even more power to the beams, causing them to grow even larger 
and more intense, but keeping their own ki level steady.
	Nobody could see the two Russ' anymore, since they were 
both hidden behind the energy ball that the beams were coming from.  
It was so bright that it was difficult to even look at, but everybody 
shielded their eyes and watched, waiting to see what was going to 
happen and who was going to win.
	The head between both beams finally had gotten so big from 
the buildup of energy, that it started growing unstable, and lost its 
round shape.  Both Russ' saw it at the last moment, but it was too late.  
The mass of energy between the two detonated, and went up like a 
hydrogen bomb, engulfing both participants in the explosion.  
	The Russ on the ground moved his shield as quickly as he 
could.  "Kaioken Attack Times THREE," he screamed, and attempted 
to contain the blast, but some of the energy leaked out of it, but not 
enough to cause any damage.  The two doppelgangers inside the shield 
were consumed, as the explosion finally died down and faded away, 
leaving nothing but a ball of smoke.  Russ wiped the back of his head 
with his hand, lowered the forcefield, and disengaged the Kaioken, as 
the sky and wind returned to normal, and all the shaking of the ground 
subsided.

	The sun was shining and the birds were once again chirping, 
even though it looked like a hurricane had hit the place, but for the 
most part, the area was undamaged.  The ball of smoke blew away, but 
incredibly, both the green and orange Russ' were floating in mid-air, 
totally unscathed, aside from scuffed clothes.  They landed on the 
ground in front of the blue one, bowed, and merged with the original.  
Russ turned toward everybody and bowed, acknowledging the stunned 
look on everybody and grinning.
	"So… what did you think?"
	Silence answered him as they all continued to stare, unable to 
speak or say anything from the shock.  Russ just grinned even wider, 
knowing he wowed them good.
	Katsuhito was the first to recover from the display, and he 
smiled, walked over, and put his hand on Russ' shoulder.  "That was 
absolutely amazing.  I'm certainly glad you're on our side."
	Russ smiled and bowed again.  "Thank you.  I'm glad you 
enjoyed the show."
	"Well, I need to get back to the shrine now.  I'll see you later."  
Katsuhito turned and slowly walked back toward the steps, grinning the 
whole time.
	"Well, what about the rest of you?  Impressed?"
	Most everybody nodded, and then smiled, as they began to 
idly chatter with each other, and with Russ.  Aeka stood up and walked 
over to him, concerned about something.  "You looked like you were 
enjoying that.  Were you?"
	Russ was taken aback, but he then faced the ground, unable to 
meet her gaze.  "I'm a Saiyan.  I have the blood of a warrior race 
flowing through me.  The only time I'm really, truly happy, is when 
I'm fighting, or preparing for a fight."  He realized that what he had 
done was in total contrast as to the side he allowed Aeka to see 
yesterday.  "Yes, I did enjoy that.  I enjoy fighting the most.  It was the 
original reason my race existed.  To fight."  He gazed into Aeka's 
amethyst eyes, not knowing what else to say that would make much of 
a difference.  "I'm sorry, Aeka.  But this is a side of me that exists, and 
cannot be ignored."
	In total bewilderment to Russ, she smiled and nodded her 
head.  "I'm glad you were honest.  I've never met a Saiyan before you."
	"In reality, it isn't often that I actually DO fight.  Most of the 
time the side you see of me is what I've been this whole time, being 
nice, friendly, and calm.  I would never do anything to hurt any of you.  
All of you have been so nice to me and didn't care about my 
appearance, or my race, or why I really came.  And when I did tell you 
why I came, it still didn't matter, and you continued to show me 
kindness.  That's something that I'll always hold dear to me."  Russ 
smiled and nodded his head.  "Anyway, I worked up quite a sweat, so 
I'm going to go take a bath and cool off for a while.  It's super hot out 
here."
	Everybody nodded in agreement as they all stood up to go 
back inside.
	"I'll fix us some lemonade to cool off with," offered Sasami.  
"It'll only take a few minutes."
	"That sounds good Sasami!  Let's go."  Tenchi and company 
went inside the house, leaving Russ in the middle of the field.

	"Whew, man it's hot.  Feels like a hundred degrees with this 
humidity."  He looked up at the onsen and decided against going in.  
"I'll just jump in the lake and cool off for a while."  He leapt into the 
air a good twenty feet, and dove into the water, cannonball style, 
creating a huge splash.  Coming up for air a moment later, he shook the 
water out of his hair, took in some deep breaths, and disappeared 
beneath the surface of the water again.
	Russ caught sight of a large fish swimming by, and deciding 
to test his reflexes, he shot off after it, chasing it all over the lake 
bottom.  Using his ki to propel him even faster, he caught up with the 
doomed fish and grabbed its tail, then brought it to the lake surface, 
breaking through the surface to get another breath of air.  He let the fish 
go and let it swim away, watching it until it got out of sight.
	Feeling more relaxed, he began floating on his back, 
concentrating on nothing at all except for the sound of the water 
lapping up against his ears and the coolness of the water.  He continued 
to relax for another ten minutes, then jumped out of the water, soaking 
wet.  Powering up slightly, he snapped his ki around him, drying him 
and his blue gi almost instantly, and feeling the heat rush back to his 
skin from the hot and humid summer air.
	A few moments later, he got an idea and teleported to his 
spacepod, opened it up and reached inside, producing a large stereo 
boom box, and a handful of CD's.  Teleporting back to the house, he 
flew up to his window and landed inside, placing his stereo on the desk 
and the stack of CD's next to it.  "Oh man, it's even hotter up here than 
it is outside," he grumbled to himself.  He picked up his stereo and the 
CD's again and flew back outside, closing the screen behind him, and 
made his way over to the shrine.  He spied a large cliff overlooking the 
lake and made his way over there, and landed under a tree, sitting down 
and resting the stereo and CD's next to him, as he took in the view over 
the bluff.  He sighed peacefully and rested his back against the tree, and 
he picked out the first CD he wanted to play, put it in the player, and 
picked out the first song he wanted to hear.
	Cranking up the volume, the music began with what sounded 
like some sort of Indian chant with a drumbeat, and then a full 
orchestra kicked in.
	A young girl began singing:

	[In Japanese]  
	"The dark night sky above,
	Exists to expose our hearts as,
	They call out to each other,
	When the two of us are apart."

	The orchestra increased to an apex, and the girl continued to 
sing, as Russ closed his eyes and allowed his imagination to take him 
away.  He thought back to the original animation he heard the theme 
from, Record of Lodoss War - Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, and the 
name of the song, Kiseki No Umi.  He increased the volume of the 
stereo a little more, listening to the fullness of her voice and the power 
of the orchestra, as he took in a deep breath, and mentally replayed the 
introduction to the show in his mind, seeing the dragons soaring across 
the screen, and the main characters, as they sat on the horse and 
charged through the field.

	Inside the house, everybody sat in the living room, drinking a 
tall, ice-cold glass of lemonade.  Tenchi and Ryoko sat together on the 
love seat.  Ryoko continued to flirt with Tenchi, as she slid her hand up 
to his crotch, causing him to turn blue in the face, but he managed a 
grin in Ryoko's direction, which only caused her to flirt even more.  
Nobuyuki continued to watch the two out of the corner of his eye, not 
wanting to look directly at them since he knew what Tenchi's reaction 
was going to be.  Ryoko leaned over to Tenchi and whispered 
something in his ear, making Tenchi redden.  She continued to whisper 
naughty things as Tenchi continued to blush even harder, and 
eventually a little trickle of blood started to stream out of his nose.  She 
giggled and slid herself closer to him.  "And don't think I won't, 
either," she whispered seductively.  Tenchi just shook his head as he 
tried to force himself to calm down.
	"Come on, Ryoko," he hissed.  "Please don't do this in front 
of everybody.  It's embarrassing!"
	"I know, that's why I do it," she said, giggling, and staring 
lustfully into Tenchi's eyes.
	Kiyone and Mihoshi sat on the couch, next to Nobuyuki, since 
they didn't feel tired anymore, and didn't have to go back to work for a 
couple days, unless there was an emergency.  Kiyone thought about 
how much of a burden they were to the house, and had been debating 
on moving out, to live on their own.  Of course, Mihoshi probably 
wouldn't like the idea, but Kiyone felt that she didn't do enough to 
deserve to stay at the house, living and eating for free.  She was the 
responsible one, and she did not want to mooch off of anybody any 
longer.  Deciding on bringing it up later to Mihoshi, she steeled a 
glance at Tenchi and Ryoko, and blushed when she saw Ryoko's look 
of lust as she continued to flirt with Tenchi.
	Aeka looked around, choosing to ignore what was transpiring 
on the loveseat, and realized Russ was absent.  "Where's Russ at?  He 
got out of the lake a short while ago and then vanished."
	"I don't know.  He's probably outside somewhere," answered 
Sasami.  Ryo-Ohki meowed an agreement, as she was now perched on 
Sasami's shoulder.
	Aeka frowned slightly.  "Oh, okay.  I'm going to go take this 
glass of lemonade to him.  I'm sure he's really hot from that massive 
fight he put on for us outside."
	Nobuyuki rose from the couch and reached into his pocket, 
drawing out his car keys.  "I'm going to be going shopping for a while.  
I saw something that caught my interest, and it would give me an 
opportunity to get myself into a hobby.  I'll be back in a while.  See 
everybody later, and keep cool."  He walked out the kitchen door and 
then turned around.  "Oh yeah, thanks for the lemonade, Sasami.  That 
was great."
	She smiled.  "You're welcome father.  I'll make more later."  
He nodded and left the living room.
	Aeka filled up two glasses of lemonade and tossed in some 
ice, and also left the house.  She made her way over to the stairway 
leading up to the shrine, and proceeded to make her way to Tenchi's 
training area.
	About half way up the stairway, she could hear some music 
coming from a little higher up the hill.  Curious about what she was 
listening to, she made her way over to the bluff, and listened for a few 
moments, as she saw Russ sitting under the tree with the stereo next to 
him.  The music was very soothing and unusual, as she watched him.  
*Wow.  He went from a rampaging barbarian to one of the calmest 
people I've ever seen.  And he has good taste in music too.*  She 
quietly crept over to where Russ was sitting, when he opened his eyes 
and looked directly at her, and smiled.
	She returned his smile, as Russ turned down the volume of the 
stereo.  "I've brought you some lemonade," she said, as she handed 
over the glass, which was dripping with condensation.
	"Thank you very much," he said, then took a drink.  "Ahhh.  
This is great!  I didn't think lemonade could taste this good."
	"Sasami made it."
	"Oh?  I'll have to thank her," he said, and rested his head back 
against the tree, as the music continued to its finale.
	"Why didn't you come inside after you got out of the lake?"
	Russ looked uneasily over at Aeka.  "I'm not much for groups.  
I'm more of a loner," he said, as he looked away.  "I've been alone for 
a long time.  Zorpheus and I used to hang around together when we 
were partners and allies, but that ended some time ago.  And before I 
met him, I never really had any friends, so I was alone then, too."
	Russ slid over a little as Aeka sat down next to him and leaned 
back against the tree.  She was still clothed in the karate gi that he had 
given her earlier.  They both sat in silence, taking in the peaceful 
serenity of the land, and the comforting rhythm of the music, until it 
finished and quieted down, allowing the ambient noises of the forest 
and the light breeze overtake their ears.
	"That was very pretty.  I had no idea you liked music like 
that."
	Russ reopened his eyes and looked over at Aeka.  "Most 
people assume the kinds of music they like by their appearance.  I do 
that.  When I saw you, I imagined a few tunes that I figured would suit 
you almost perfectly."  Russ grinned.  "You probably thought I was 
more into heavy metal or techno, or something like that.  Well, if you 
did, you're partially correct.  I love a large variety of music."  He 
reached over to the stereo and selected another song from the hundreds 
of titles on his CD.  "Listen to this one," he said as the stereo began 
playing, the sound of a guitar strumming some chords, and a male 
singer began, as a bunch of electronic instruments and loud music 
began thumping through the speakers.

	[In English]
	"I wanna take you on a roller coaster,

	I wanna tell you that I'm feeling closer,
	I wanna push it right over the line,
	I wanna push it right over the line,
	The line… 
	The line…"

	Aeka cringed a moment, then listened at the many 
instruments, the vocals, and the fast rhythm of the song.  Surprisingly, 
it was rather catchy, as Russ' foot moved with the beat.  Russ turned up 
the volume of the stereo a bit more and smiled, as he continued to 
watch Aeka's expression.  About three minutes later, the song ended, 
and Russ hit the stop button on the player.
	"What was that?  I couldn't understand any of the lyrics."  
Aeka looked a little confused.
	"That song was by Lunatic Calm, and the name of the song is 
Leave You Far Behind, and it came from an American movie, called 
The Matrix.  It's a great techno song.  That movie contained a lot of 
action and martial arts.  It was really cool.  If I can find a copy of it 
somewhere, I'll show it to you, but I don't think you'd be interested in 
something like that."
	Aeka shook her head.  "Probably not.  But anyway, what else 
do you have on that CD?"
	Russ laughed.  "I've got hundreds of songs.  Any particular 
genre you'd like to hear?"
	"Well, that first song you were playing.  Could you play 
another one from that album?"
	"Yeah, I've got a few more titles from that on here.  Let's see.  
Ahhh, how about this one," he said, has he selected another song.
	The song began playing, sounding like a waltz.  A piano and 
several other instruments began playing as well, as a young woman 
began to sing.

	[In Japanese]
	"The way that you embrace me from behind,
	The words of your land you softly whisper to me,
	Romantic in a way that almost tears at my heart,
	I am your prisoner.

	Lo sono prigionera,
	Tonight you have gently bound me up in your arms, my 
love…"

	They both listened to the waltz as it continued, both of their 
minds drifting in imagination.  Aeka imagined an endless field on Jurai, 
the wind blowing softly as thousands of flower petals drifted past, as 
she stood with her arms outstretched, smiling, and twirling slowly, 
caught up in the beauty of the planet.  Russ replayed the introduction to 
the animation in his mind, remembering the dragon that perched itself 
on top of that large hill, with its wings spread wide.
	Four minutes later, the song wound down and ended, as Aeka 
opened her eyes and smiled.  "That was really nice too.  What was that 
called?"
	"That was Eternity, from Record of Lodoss War, an animation 
I used to really enjoy.  The other song you heard was from Chronicles, 
a TV spin-off from that series."
	Aeka nodded, and drank the rest of her lemonade and Russ 
followed suit, finishing off his lemonade in a few gulps.  He cringed a 
bit from the tartness, but it was good… very good.  He wiped his 
forehead with the back of his hand and sighed.  Reaching over to the 
stereo once more, he selected Days of Summer by Yanni, and hit the 
play button, turning down the volume so it was just loud enough to hear 
without actually having to pay attention to it.
	"It's really nice here.  So calm, peaceful, and quiet.  Nothing 
like the city I used to live in," Russ said, looking over at Aeka.  "Could 
you tell me about your planet?  I've never been there before."
	Aeka thought a few moments and closed her eyes.  "It is a 
very beautiful place," she began.  "It has many of the same things you 
can find here on Earth, just different varieties.  We have some of the 
most beautiful flowers you've ever seen, in many colors, such as reds, 
blues, greens, and violets, and other colors as well."  She sighed a 
moment as she thought back to her planet, bringing up old memories of 
the many things she had seen and done.  "One of the things that I used 
to love doing, is walking through our garden maze.  Sasami loved it 
too.  It was very large, but it was very beautiful.  The bushes were 
always so neat and trimmed, and they were always lush and green.  In 
the middle of that maze, we had a large fountain, where I used to sit 
and dangle my feet in the cool water.  I used to spend hours walking 
through that maze, shirking my duties as the First Princess, just so I 
could be alone.  The buildings were always artistically crafted, and all 
of them were made from the wood of Jurai's trees.  A lot of the 
buildings were actually made inside trees as well.  Inside the Royal 
Palace, there was a huge area, inside a hollowed out part of the place, 
where our Royal Spaceship Trees were grown.  It was really nice, and I 
used to like to spend time in there as well, conversing with the trees."
	Russ sighed.  "I've been to many planets, but Jurai sounds like 
a wonderful place.  Are there any holidays there?"
	"Oh yes.  As a matter of fact, the Startica festival of Jurai will 
be starting in about two weeks.  It always has lots of things to do, and 
they shoot off fireworks, and there are many shops to buy or do things 
at.  It's similar to the fairs that exist here.  It lasts for several days."
	Russ sat, thoughtful for a moment.  "Do you think it would be 
possible for us to go to the Startica festival?  I'd love to see it."
	Aeka looked up and smiled sweetly.  "It would take us a long 
while to get there.  I don't think Tenchi and his family could spare that 
kind of time."  She hung her head slightly as her expression changed to 
sadness.  "I do miss my planet and its people too.  I'd love to go home 
for a visit and see everybody again."
	"How far away is Jurai from here?"  Russ smacked his head.  
"Never mind.  I wouldn't expect you to know.  Let's go to my ship.  
That can tell us exactly how far away it is."  Russ stood up and turned 
toward Aeka, and offered his hand.  She smiled and accepted his hand, 
and he carefully helped her to her feet.  "Would you like to walk, fly, or 
teleport?"  Aeka looked a little confused, and she didn't answer.  Russ 
noticed it and snickered to himself.  "Well, if you don't mind, we'll fly 
to my pod.  It's a little ways from here, and we'd get there a little faster, 
and get a real nice aerial view of the place.  Plus, it'll be your first 
flying lesson," Russ said, and smiled, thanking his memory for storing 
that.
	"Okay.  This sounds exciting," she said, as she stepped closer 
to Russ.
	"You can do this quite easily, actually.  You already have the 
necessary power to fly, but you just need to learn how to control it to 
do that.  Close your eyes and think about your forcefield," he said, as 
she shut her eyes, a small smile still evident on her lips.  "Okay, good.  
Now, think about how you form your forcefield, and how you 
command it to appear and disappear at will."
	She thought hard, nodded her head, and mumbled a yes.
	"Think about how you call your power to bring up your 
forcefield.  You command your energy to form into a shield."  She 
nodded her head slightly, continuing to concentrate.  "You can do the 
same thing, but you can force your power to levitate you into the air, as 
you can force your power into a shield.  You just change the command, 
or how you want to manipulate it.  You can will yourself into the air, as 
you can will your forcefield into existence.  You can will it to do many, 
many other things as well."
	A light breeze began blowing, ruffling her gi and her hair, as 
Russ watched her concentrate.  Her determination was amazing.  Russ 
had only seen one other person who had the same determination and 
concentration that she was displaying.  Zorpheus.  His power, 
determination, and will to win had brought him out on top of many 
battles that were fought, when they were allies, like the first time he 
went Super Saiyan.

	 "You two Saiyans are dead.  Your entire race is the scum of 
the universe, and I'm here to remedy that, which Frieza failed to do.  
Prepare yourselves," said Quadel, a Tenma-jin, standing some fifty feet 
away, the orange dust and dirt blowing about, distorting his figure.  He 
was tall, just over seven feet, towering over both Zorpheus and Russ as 
if they were children, however, both Russ and Zorpheus were pretty tall 
themselves.  Quadel's eyes were blue, but plain, and his blonde hair 
flowed behind him in a long mane, nearly two feet in length.  His royal 
blue robes swirled around him, and his Saiyan-like armor was black, 
instead of the typical white with yellow, and his boots and gloves were 
black.  
	They were in the middle of nowhere, nothing but rocks and 
dust for miles, the perfect place for a fitting end to someone's life.  The 
air was thick with dust, making it difficult to breathe and see, and the 
oxygen was very thin, making it one of the most hostile environments 
to do battle in.  To make matters worse, the air had a tinge of methane 
gas, making the whole place smell like rotten eggs.  Rocks and giant 
boulders littered the ground, and the sky was orange, clouded by the 
enormous amount of dust.  There were two suns in the sky, providing 
plenty of light, even though the dust.  The temperature was remarkably 
pleasant, and even more so with the stiff wind that was blowing.  Both 
Russ and Zorpheus took in their surroundings, and then turned their 
attention to their opponent.
	"I see we have another one who labels people, just by their 
race," Zorpheus sneered.  "What are we about to get into a fight over 
anyway?  We didn't do anything."
	"Shut up," Quadel growled, his complexion seething with 
hatred.  "All you Saiyans are the same.  You come, acting all nice and 
crap, and then you stab that person in the back.  You're all sneaky, 
lying, cheating, low down, disgusting bastards."  He balled up both his 
fists in rage.  "All of you think you're innocent.  All you ever want to 
do is fight and hurt people for your own selfish ambitions.  Even Frieza 
knew that, which is why he hired your race into service.  You were a 
valuable asset to him, until you tried to kill him, forcing him to destroy 
your home world."
	Russ and Zorpheus looked at each other and shrugged.  
"Okay, that's all true, but what did WE do?"  Russ scratched his head.
	"You are a Saiyan.  That's your only fault."
	"Oh, that's it?  There's GOT to be more to it than that," 
Zorpheus said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
	"I told you to shut up."
	"Why are we wasting our time with this idiot?  I'd rather go 
back to that planet we were just at and pick up those babes!"  Zorpheus 
almost started drooling as his mind went back to that topless bar.
	Russ rolled his eyes and smacked him on the back of the head.  
"Would you please pay attention?  That guy standing over there wants 
to KILL us, okay?  Besides, those places are disgusting.  The only girl 
I'd want to see naked is the one I fall in love with."
	"Oh, where's your sense of adventure!  You're never going to 
get anywhere if you don't LOOK!"
	"Good grief.  And you wonder why you get kicked in the 
crotch so often."
	"That's why I keep an industrial strength jock strap down 
there now," Zorpheus said, snickering.  Russ turned a few shades of 
pink and recovered a moment later, then shook his head.
	"SHUT UP YOU TWO," Quadel screamed, his face contorted 
with rage and hatred.  His ki exploded around him in a brilliant purple 
flash as the ground gave way and cratered under him, kicking up tons 
of dust and rocks and sandblasting both Zorpheus and Russ as they put 
their hands up over their faces.
	"Wow, this guy has some strength, but we should be able to 
tear him apart, no problem."  Stepping back a few feet, Zorpheus' ki 
roared to life around him in a blue explosion, causing a hailstorm of 
rocks to shoot away from him as the ground began to crumble and 
shake.  Russ screamed, more from irritation than pain, from being 
sandblasted on two sides now.  Zorpheus started laughing at Russ' 
predicament, until his ki exploded around him in a green flash.  Russ 
glared at him a moment, then grinned.
	"Time to go to work.  You want to go first, Zorpheus?"
	"Uh, okay.  No problem.  I won't even break a sweat."
	"You're getting overconfident again, Butthead.  Just pay 
attention to what you're doing this time."
	"Put a sock in it, Beavis.  I'll be fine," he said, now walking 
over to Quadel, who was about finished powering up.  Russ realized 
what was said a second later, and started laughing.  *Beavis and 
Butthead.  Oh brother.  That wasn't even on purpose!*  He laughed 
even harder, and after recovering, he started concentrating on the task 
at hand.
	Zorpheus and Quadel stood directly in front of each other, 
each sizing the other up.  Their blue and purple ki's were nearly 
touching, as their gaze bore into each other's eyes, daring each other to 
make the first move.  Standing off to the side, his green gi glowing 
around him, Russ watched, and waited.
	"What's your name, anyway?  I'd like to know who's ass I'm 
about to mop the ground with," Zorpheus said, his lips turning into an 
amused smirk.
	"My name is Quadel, and your name doesn't matter.  Get 
ready to be trounced, and to pay for the sin of destroying my home."
	Both Russ and Zorpheus stopped a moment, and then realized 
this was all about revenge.  "Okay, so now we know this is about 
revenge.  WE didn't destroy your planet, okay?  We're not like that."
	"You're all alike.  Prepare to die," Quadel snarled.
	Slowly, Zorpheus tossed his cape to the side, exposing the hilt 
to a sword that was sheathed on a belt around his waist.  Quadel began 
laughing, as he removed his own cape and tossed it into the air, letting 
the wind carry it away.  Thinking Zorpheus was distracted, he speedily 
balled up his fist and hurled it straight into Zorpheus' face, but he hit 
nothing but air.  Zorpheus tilted his head to the side just enough to 
allow him to miss him completely.  Taunting him, Zorpheus grinned 
widely and snickered as he took a few steps back and unsheathed his 
sword.
	The sword was very unusual.  The blade didn't shine like 
steel, but rather, looked heavily oxidized and old.  It was fairly thick, 
but it wasn't extremely wide.  Shining bronze, the hilt and handle were 
fairly large, with a violet jewel placed in the center that glowed, almost 
as if it had power of its own.  Nearly four feet long, Zorpheus brought 
the sword out in front of him, holding it like a samurai warrior.  Russ 
snickered in the background, always getting a kick out of his stance 
with that sword.
	"I still say your Schwartz isn't big enough!  Get a six or seven 
foot long sword and you'll be all set!"
	"Shut up, Russ!  I use what I'm good with," he yelled back, 
never taking his eyes off of Quadel.  "Besides, having a Schwartz that 
big isn't agile enough!"
	"Whatever," Russ sighed, taking in a deep breath, and then 
coughing.  "This place smells like someone farted!  I bet it was that guy 
over there," he shouted, pointing at Quadel, who was now quaking and 
turning purple with rage.
	Quadel fired a blue energy ball at Russ, catching him off 
guard and sending him flying through a boulder, causing it to shatter 
into a million pieces.  
	Seizing the opportunity, Zorpheus lunged at Quadel, slamming 
his knee into his gut, causing him to double over and fall to the ground.  
Zorpheus stared at him for a moment.  "One shot and he's down?  What 
a pushover."  Zorpheus stood over Quadel's hunched form, grinning, 
until his arm shot up into Zorpheus' face, sending him high into the sky 
and causing him to drop his sword.  Quadel stood up as if nothing had 
happened, all the redness gone from his face.
	Zorpheus stopped in mid-air, still recovering from the surprise 
attack.  His surprise now replaced with anger, he shot back down to his 
opponent, stopping about an inch above the ground, then setting down 
gently, as his red eyes burned into Quadel.
	"Lucky punch," Zorpheus growled, rubbing his jaw.  "I won't 
be as careless next time."
	"Carelessness has nothing to do with it.  You suck as a fighter.  
You should've seen that coming."
	"Excuse me?"  Zorpheus questioned, as he began a flurry of 
punches and kicks, all of which were dodged, effortlessly.
	"You're too slow.  The only pushover here is you.  Allow me 
to demonstrate," he said, as he caught one of Zorpheus' fists, and 
planted his foot in his chest, knocking the wind out of him.  Recovering 
quickly, Zorpheus swept his foot at Quadel's feet, but he jumped over it 
and slammed his fist into Zorpheus' head, knocking him back a few 
paces.
	Zorpheus was stunned for a moment, but he overcame it 
quickly.  "Okay, enough screwing with you.  Allow me to show you 
what I'm really made of," he said, as he tensed his whole body.  The 
ground began to rumble and break apart, as the rocks and boulders 
lifted off the ground and shot into the air, and the dust swirled around 
Zorpheus.  Russ finally reappeared next to another nearby boulder, 
rubbing his head.
	"Kaioken Attack…  TIMES TEN," he screamed, has the 
ground shattered under his feet in a massive shockwave, and his ki 
faded from blue to red.  Quadel's eyes nearly bulged out of his head, 
but he maintained his composure, doing his best to keep his emotions 
hidden behind his poker face.  Once Zorpheus was ready, he put on one 
of his most sadistic grins, and lunged at Quadel, smashing his foot into 
his face, sending his opponent hurtling though a pair of massive 
boulders and creating a very long and deep trench when he hit the 
ground.
	Disengaging the Kaioken, Zorpheus' power returned to 
normal and his ki returned to blue.  "Ahhh, that always gives me a 
rush!  Whooooo!!!"
	"Yeah, but he's not dead yet.  He probably has something that 
can enhance his ki as well.  Possibly a transformation or two like 
Frieza."
	Almost as if on cue, Quadel zanzokened in front of Zorpheus, 
seething with intense anger as the veins in his arms and head began 
protruding.  "Very impressive.  But I know something just like it," he 
said, as he tensed up even more, and his purple ki began burning 
around him like a raging inferno.  Keeping his gaze locked with 
Zorpheus', he began powering up to a higher level.  The earthquake 
worsened as the ground continued to break apart and shatter, and 
Quadel's primal scream drowned out almost all other sound.
	Russ watched with minor concern, knowing he could still 
effortlessly defeat him if he transformed into a Super Saiyan.  
However, Zorpheus was still unable to achieve that transformation, 
since he lacked a motivating factor.  Thinking that this may be a great 
opportunity, he would try to fake getting his butt kicked, and hope that 
it was enough to push him over the edge.  If it didn't work, he could 
easily dispatch Quadel with as much as a flick of the wrist.  This guy 
may be big, but that only made him a bigger target.  Russ rubbed his 
hands together and grinned.
	"Hey Zorpheus," he shouted over the roar of the earthquake 
and fiery ki that burned around Quadel.
	Zorpheus turned.  "What!  I'm busy here," he shouted back.
	"Let me take a crack at this guy.  I'm bored!"
	He turned completely around and stared at Russ.  "What's 
your problem?!  I can handle this guy, no sweat!"
	"Maybe, maybe not.  He's still not at his maximum and he's 
real close to yours!  Just let me take care of it, okay?" Russ shouted 
back.
	Zorpheus furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders.  
"Fine, knock yourself out for all I care."  He moved over to his sword, 
picked it up and swung it around, and then sheathed it.
	"Oh, thank you so much!  You're too kind," Russ said, his 
voice filled with friendly sarcasm, as he walked toward Quadel, who 
was still charging his ki.  "Are you still powering up?  Hurry it along 
man!  We're the younger generation!  We're impatient!  Let's get this 
show on the road you slow-poke!"
	"You're the impatient one, Russ," Zorpheus sneered from 
behind, and Russ grinned at his comments.
	Quadel ignored him, as he continued to push his power even 
higher.  As Russ stood there sensing his level, he realized that even a 
Kaioken at level twenty wasn't going to work.  He needed to go Super 
Saiyan, but he also needed to make it believable that he was getting his 
butt kicked.  Just as he was about to transform himself, Quadel 
finished, his ki radiating around him in an inferno, as his hair fluttered 
under the force of his ki.  Looking into Russ' eyes, Quadel grinned, and 
began to laugh as he drew himself up to his full height.  Zorpheus 
looked unconcerned, but he knew at that moment he couldn't win 
against a force like that.
	"Impressive.  It's now my turn to power up.  Don't freak out 
too much," Russ said, also grinning.  He took a few steps back, and let 
loose a loud howl, as his ki changed from green to gold, his hair from 
black to gold, and his eyes from black to green.  All of his muscles 
doubled in size as he grew a few inches, and his ki went through the 
roof as his mind was swept over with violent emotions and images.  In 
a matter of seconds, he stood, fully transformed, with his golden ki 
pulsating around him in golden flames.  Quadel looked only mildly 
impressed.
	"A Super Saiyan.  How quaint.  Let's see what you can do," 
said Quadel, as he took up a fighting stance.  Russ followed suit and 
prepared himself for combat, as they stood about ten feet apart from 
each other.
	In a flash, Quadel slammed his foot into Russ' chest, catching 
him totally by surprise with his speed, and then allowed himself to slam 
through a boulder before stopping himself.  Russ was uninjured, but he 
made it seem that he was.  Breathing hard and moaning as if in pain, 
Russ charged Quadel again, and began a flurry of punches and kicks, 
all of which were countered with an identical blow.  Russ shot off into 
the air as Quadel followed closely behind, but then Quadel zanzokened 
just above Russ and slammed both his fists into his back, causing him 
to cry out in mock pain, as he careened down to the ground, where his 
impact made a huge crater.  Not giving any time to let him get back up, 
Quadel charged an energy beam and fired it at Russ, where it impacted 
and created a huge explosion, kicking up tons of dust and rocks and 
obscuring everybody's vision.
	Russ saw the beam coming with time to spare, so he lowered 
his ki when the beam impacted, causing some major injuries.  He 
realized he needed to get some real injuries of Zorpheus was to believe 
what was going on.
	As the dust settled, Zorpheus got a good look at Russ, who 
now was bleeding from several places, and he was kneeling on the 
ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood.  He became nervous, as he 
knew if Russ couldn't beat him, he couldn't either.
	"Hey Russ!  What's wrong?  You should be able to mop the 
floor with this guy," he said, his voice full of concern.
	*Great, it's working*  "I'm having a hell of a time here!  I 
can't breathe very well and I'm out of air!  I'm seriously messed up 
here, man," he shouted over, as he stumbled to his feet.  In an instant, 
he was face down in the dirt again, as Quadel floated behind him with 
his foot outstretched.  A huge smirk creased the features of his face.
	Russ groaned and tried to get back up, however at that instant 
Quadel once again planted a foot in Russ' back and then stood on it, 
causing him to squirm and cry out in pain.  He looked over at Zorpheus 
and grinned, and once again slammed his foot into Russ' spine.
	Zorpheus quickly powered up and raced over to Russ' aid, but 
Quadel saw it coming, and while standing on Russ' back, he spun 
around and gave Zorpheus a roundhouse, sending him away and 
slamming him through another pile of boulders.  Undaunted, Zorpheus 
dragged himself back to his feet, his nose and lips bleeding, as he once 
again charged at his enemy and starting a punching frenzy.  Quadel 
easily dodged and parried all his blows, as he started laughing.
	While continuing to dodge the blows Zorpheus was doing, 
Quadel took his free hand and aimed it at Russ, and began firing yellow 
ki blasts into his back, further crippling him and causing him to scream 
out in pain and agony.  Quadel, laughing the whole time, charged up 
his ki very rapidly and caused a giant explosion, which further injured 
Russ and blew Zorpheus away like he was a rag doll.
	*What the hell is wrong with me!  Russ always saves my ass 
whenever I'm in a bind, but now he's down and out of it!  He always 
saves my rear.  But now what?  Should I just stand here and die?  I 
can't beat him like this.*  Zorpheus landed several dozen feet away and 
the only sound in his ears was Quadel's laugh and Russ' scream of 
pain.  *That's it.  I'll beat him, or I'll die trying!  NO MORE will Russ 
have to save me.  I'll save him and myself for once!  I'm a Saiyan!  I'm 
a WARRIOR!  Not some pansy that makes excuses as to why I can't 
fight!  I can DO this!*
	He slowly dragged himself back to his feet, sheer 
determination and prowess overriding his better judgment, as he 
powered up the Kaioken attack to level twenty, the highest he could go.  
His body screamed in protest and wrenched him down with intense 
pain, but Zorpheus ignored it as he once again charged Quadel, who 
was continuing to bombard Russ with ki blasts.  Moving faster than he 
ever moved before, Zorpheus slammed his fist into Quadel's jaw, 
sending him sprawling and causing him to slam into another pile of 
boulders a couple hundred feet away.  Zorpheus stood over Russ' 
broken and bloody body, as Russ had barely any ki left, and he was no 
longer a Super Saiyan.
	Russ slowly rolled onto his back and looked into Zorpheus' 
eyes.  "I… can't go on," he coughed out, as his mouth spilled over with 
blood.  "Do you feel the power ready to snap inside of you?  Use it.  
Embrace it.  Call it… out… and…" he sputtered, as he fell 
unconscious.
	Zorpheus looked at Russ' broken and near lifeless body, as he 
felt the power within him rise up like a blazing sun inside of him.  His 
rage was unequaled, and he felt his sanity snap, as a new power 
exploded inside of him.  Clenching his fists and growling as he allowed 
the pain and anguish of Russ' defeat cloud his mind, the sky turned 
dark and the horizon glowed, as the ground under his feet gave way to 
an incredible force.  Quadel blurred into sight about twenty feet away, 
and Zorpheus locked his gaze on him, as his hair stood on end and 
flashed gold for a moment.  Yellow lightning streaked through the sky 
and slammed into the ground just behind him, as he began to embrace 
the full, raging power inside of him.  The ground continued to rumble 
and break apart, as his hair flashed gold once more.
	Quadel began laughing.  "Oh, look.  Another Super Saiyan 
who can't finish his transformation.  What a pushover."
	After a long minute, Zorpheus felt the power surge through 
every cell in his body, and he released a primal howl, as his 
transformation became complete, his hair and ki gold, and his eyes 
green.  Extremely violent emotions flooded his mind, as his ki pulsed 
around him, and he finally embraced his awesome new power.
	Russ, who had faked that he nearly died, grinned slightly, as 
he relaxed in his crater.  Zorpheus slowly walked over toward Quadel, 
who was still grinning.  About a foot away from his face, Zorpheus 
stopped and looked into Quadel's eyes, hate and rage burning in them, 
as he slammed his fist into Quadel's chest, causing him to throw up a 
mouthful of blood, and making him to collapse to the ground.
	"You're dead," Zorpheus said, his voice nothing but cold ice.  
He reached down to Quadel, who was gagging and coughing, and 
picked him up by the throat, and began to squeeze slowly, a mixture of 
torture, pain, and a slow, agonizing death being his intention.  Quadel 
struggled and grabbed Zorpheus' arm, but it was like grabbing onto a 
piece of hardened steel that was cold and unforgiving.  Zorpheus 
slowly continued to squeeze, as Quadel began choking, but that didn't 
faze him in the least, as he squeezed even more.  He felt the organs in 
Quadel's neck begin to buckle and get crushed under his hand, but he 
didn't stop.  A moment later, Quadel's neck snapped, killing him 
instantly, but that wasn't good enough.  Zorpheus continued to squeeze, 
as Quadel's neck became smaller and smaller, and finally what was left 
of his neck turned into a red, organic matter when all of his organs and 
bones in his neck were crushed into paste.  His head fell off his 
shoulders, his body crumpled to the ground, and what was left of his 
neck oozed out of Zorpheus' fingers.
	Russ picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off 
a little, examining the many cuts and abrasions he had over his body, 
and his green gi was torn to shreds.  Walking over to Zorpheus, who 
continued to stare into nothingness, he stopped himself, and hoped 
Zorpheus wouldn't go totally insane and try to tear him apart too, but 
his worry was unneeded, as Zorpheus let out a huge sigh, and allowed 
himself to return to normal.  He turned and facefaulted when he saw 
Russ standing about five feet away, smiling and giving him the thumbs 
up.
	Zorpheus clenched his fists.  "You're just FINE?"
	"Yup," he nodded.  I figured it was about time for you to get 
that motivating factor to turn you into a Super Saiyan."
	"I… see," he said, looking at the ground in front of him.  "I 
thought you were really dead."
	Russ chuckled.  "I deserve an award for that performance," he 
said, now laughing.  "I'm glad it worked."
	Now smiling, Zorpheus patted Russ on the back.  "Thanks 
man.  You're the greatest.  But you're still an asshole for making me 
worry like that."
	Russ exploded laughing and slapped Zorpheus on the back.  
"You did it, not me.  But anyway, congratulations!  Now, the only 
thing left is for you to control it.  What you did to Quadel," he said, 
looking at the mess, "was really nasty."
	"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, now getting a real good 
look at what he did.  "Well, what do you say we go back to that titty bar 
and go pick up those girls?"
	It was now Russ' turn to facefault, but he recovered quickly 
and grinned.  "Okay, but I'm not looking or touching.  You can do 
whatever you want."
	"YES!  Uh, I mean, okay, let's go," he said, smiling from ear 
to ear.  Russ just shook his head as they lifted off the ground and flew 
to their spacepods, a green and blue vapor trail following them both.

	Aeka continued concentrating, but unknown to her, she now 
hovered about six inches off the ground.  Russ continued to look on, a 
wide grin on his lips, as he walked over and stopped just in front of her.
	"Okay, now, continue concentrating, and don't open your eyes 
just yet."
	"Mmmm hmmm," she moaned out, just barely audible.
	"Don't open your eyes, but you're actually about six inches 
off the ground right now.  Keep concentrating."
	Her facial expression changed slightly, but she did as she was 
told, and she continued to hover just above the ground.  "Excellent.  
Now, slowly open your eyes and look directly at me.  Do not look 
down, because you're most likely to break your concentration when 
you do."
	Slowly, she opened her amethyst eyes, and focused them on 
Russ, as she was now about the same height as he was.  Russ nodded 
and smiled, and gave her the thumbs up.
	"Awesome.  You're doing great!  Now, slowly let yourself 
back down."  Aeka descended slowly to the ground, where she landed 
softly.  She opened her eyes widely as she clasped her hands in front of 
her.  "I don't believe it," Russ said, letting his arms dangle at his sides.  
"I figured it would take you a couple days, and here you learn it in less 
than five…"
	"Oh Russ," she cried, throwing her arms around him and 
hugging him.  "Thank you so much!  That's something I've always 
wanted to learn but could never figure out!  Thank you, thank you, 
thank you," she said.  A moment later she realized she was hugging 
him, and she quickly released him as they both blushed a deep scarlet.
	"You're very welcome," he said, scratching the back of his 
head.  "I'm glad you learned it so quickly.  But now, you need to learn 
to control it a little more, and learn how to move while in the air.  
Levitating is nice, but not going anywhere when you do is not."  Russ 
walked over to the cliff and lifted himself into the air, then hovered 
over the edge.  "Come on out here.  I'll catch you if something goes 
wrong."
	Aeka hesitated, but she closed her eyes and concentrated, and 
lifted herself off the ground, almost effortlessly.  Reopening her eyes, 
she pushed herself forward, slowly, as she stopped in front of Russ, 
also hovering over the edge of the bluff.
	"Excellent.  Now, just stay here a moment," Russ said, as he 
floated back over to the tree and picked up both glasses of lemonade, 
his stereo, and his stack of CDs.  He shoved most of the CD's into his 
pockets.  "Now, follow me.  We'll go to my spacepod, but first, we'll 
make a pass by the house.  Is that okay?"
	She nodded, and Russ began to slowly move away, and Aeka 
followed.  Incredibly, she kept up with him, almost as if she wasn't 
trying.  He increased his speed a little more and leveled himself off for 
straight flight, and Aeka did the same.  Russ continued to watch her 
carefully, as her clothes ruffled in the breeze and her hair flapped 
lightly, as she smiled and giggled at her achievement.  A few moments 
later, they were at the house and Russ lowered himself to the ground in 
front of the sliding glass door, and could now see everybody still sitting 
in the living room.  Aeka landed lightly beside him and continued to 
smile, as everybody inside stared at both of them in disbelief.
	Sasami ran out the door and grabbed her sister in a big hug, 
giggling the whole time and watching her with awe.  "Aeka!!!  You 
FLEW!  How did you do it?"
	She smiled.  "Russ told me how.  It's actually pretty easy.  It's 
a wonderful feeling and sensation to be able to fly like that.  It's no 
wonder Ryoko does it so often."
	Sasami looked at Russ, who contented himself with a shy grin.  
"Can you teach me to fly?"
	"That's up to your sister, if she'll let you do what is necessary 
to learn how to fly.  I may be able to teach you the technique, but I 
don't sense enough ki from you to be able to achieve that feat."  Russ 
looked up at Aeka, and smiled.  "What do you think?"
	"I don't know.  She's still very young, and I don't want her 
getting hurt."
	"I understand that.  But there won't be any sparring or 
anything like that involved in her training.  Just some exercise to raise 
her ki level.  The stronger she is, the more ki she'll gain and control."
	Sasami looked disappointed.  "Please?  Come on, Aeka!  Let 
him train me to fly!"
	"I'm afraid not, Sasami."
	"Fine, then it's instant ramen for you tonight," she said, 
looking at the ground.
	"Sasami!  That's not fair.  I'm only looking out for your well 
being."
	"That's nice and all, but I want to learn how to fly, and the 
reasons you gave me don't seem very good.  I want to learn!  If I don't 
like it, I'll stop."
	Aeka looked into her little sisters pink eyes and sighed in 
defeat.  "Okay, have it your way."
	"YAY!"  She ran over and gave Russ a hug around his waist.  
"Did you hear that?  You can train me to fly!"
	"I heard," he said, scratching the back of his head and 
withering under Aeka's glare.  He then mustered a smile.  "Well, why 
don't we go inside now?  I'm frying out here."
	Sasami spied the large stereo Russ was carrying.  "What's that 
for?"
	"It's just my stereo that I listen to.  I won't play it loudly in the 
house or anything.  I'm going to haul this up to my room and I'll be 
back in a few moments."
	"Wait, what kind of music do you have there?"
	"I have a lot of stuff.  These CD's have hundreds of songs on 
them.  Got to love advances in technology," he said, grinning.
	"Do you think I could listen to some of them later?"
	"Sure, I don't have a problem with that.  You'll need this 
stereo to read the discs though.  They're in something called MP3 
format, but the players only recently started coming out, and they can't 
be read in normal stereo systems."
	Aeka continued to look back and forth between Sasami and 
Russ, keeping quiet the whole time, until Russ began walking toward 
the door, in which she followed behind him, and Sasami trailed her.  
Russ lifted off the floor and floated up to the upstairs hallway, nodding 
an acknowledgement to the chorus of hello's that came from everybody 
who was seated.  Aeka came inside and sat down on the couch, where 
Nobuyuki was sitting, which had a vacant seat next to it for Russ when 
he came back down.
	"So, the princess can fly now, can she?"  Ryoko said, grinning 
from her seat, which was now almost on top of Tenchi.  He grinned, but 
he was also blushing lightly.
	"Yes.  Russ showed me how.  It's a neat sensation."
	"Yes it is.  That's why I fly practically everywhere I go."
	Russ floated down from the landing and disappeared into the 
kitchen, where he filled both glasses with water and set them down in 
the sink, and then floated back into the living room where he touched 
down on the floor behind the couch, letting his hands rest on the back, 
behind Aeka.
	"Oh, before I forget.   That was great lemonade, Sasami.  Very 
delicious," Russ said, patting the little princess on her head as she 
smiled and giggled.
	"You're welcome."
	Washu stood up from her seat and walked over to her lab door.  
"Russ, I finished your gravity enhancer.  Come on over here and try it 
out."
	"Wow, already?  That was sure fast."
	"It was nothing for the greatest scientific genius in the 
universe," she said, re-inflating her ego.
	"Excuse me, everyone.  I'll be back in a little bit."  He stopped 
when he saw the look of horror on Aeka.  "Is something wrong?"
	"Oh, no… nothing at all.  You go on ahead," she said, her face 
betraying her voice.
	Russ continued to watch her, and then stepped closer.  "I think 
you're fibbing.  What's bothering you?  Come out and say it.  It's best 
to be open and honest with your feelings."
	Aeka stared at him in shock and shook her head.  "I said it's 
nothing.  Just go on."
	"We'll talk about it later then," he said, making his way over 
to the lab door where Washu was waiting, an evil gleam in her eye.  
Everybody else stared at Aeka, who was now shifting uncomfortably 
from her seat in the couch.

	Russ followed Washu into the closet and shut the door behind 
him, and a moment later, they both emerged in her lab.
	"That's pretty cool how you created your lab in a different 
dimension.  I know a few people who do the same thing."
	Washu turned, stunned.  "How did you know this was a 
different dimension?" 
	"I'm not an ignorant barbarian, as you may think from what I 
was doing earlier.  I'm actually fairly intelligent.  One of my favorite 
subjects was science.  I never could stand chemistry though," he said, 
laughing.  "But Zorpheus was the one who was more interested in 
science than I was.  I was more into music."
	"That's very interesting," she said, walking over the platform 
as another door appeared out of subspace.  "Follow me.  Your gravity 
enhancer is in here," she said, opening up the second door.
	"Okay."
	Passing through the second door, they wound up in another 
area surrounded in computer units and other various contraptions.  Russ 
immediately remembered this room as the one he ended up in after the 
first time he entered Washu's lab and was restrained.  She walked over 
to a console and lifted up a small device that had a band attached to 
both ends.  She held it up and brought it over.
	"This is it.  You simply attach it to your arm or wherever, and 
tell it how much gravity you want.  You say something like, 'I want 
fifty times Earth's normal gravity,' and it'll activate itself, thus giving 
you the added gravity."
	Russ took the device in his hand, and wrapped it around his 
arm.  "Thank you, Little Washu.  This'll be a big help.  Let's see if it 
works," he said, and took a step back.  "I want fifty times Earth's 
normal gravity."
	The little machine beeped while Russ gradually began to feel 
heavier, as the gravity around him increased.  Within ten seconds, he 
was at his requested level.  Stretching out a bit and becoming 
accustomed to the gravity, he looked back at Washu and smiled.
	"This is great.  How high can it go?"
	"Up to two thousand times normal Earth gravity."
	"Excellent.  I really appreciate this.  Is there anything I can do 
to repay you?"
	She turned thoughtful for a moment.  "Would you allow me to 
examine you?  I'd love to get some data on your physiology."
	Russ' brow beaded with sweat for a moment, and he then 
sighed.  "Okay.  What do you want me to do?"
	She snickered lightly as that evil gleam in her eye returned.  
"Just take your clothes off except for your underwear.  I'm going to use 
that mechanical globe again to perform most of the scans."
	Groaning, Russ removed both his shirts, exposing his 
extremely muscular form, and he then removed his boots and his pants, 
folding his clothes neatly in a pile on the floor.  He returned the gravity 
machine to normal and removed it, and then he stood up straight and 
looked at Washu, who's eyes were super wide and her face was as red 
as the crab that hung over her lab door.
	"Uh, Little Washu?"
	She snapped out of her trance and continued to blush lightly.  
"Oh, sorry about that," she said as she hit a button on one of her 
consoles.  A moment later the globe appeared behind Russ and lifted 
him off the floor with its arms, and a headpiece filled with wires and 
blinking lights plunked itself over Russ' head.  Washu's phantom 
computer materialized in front of her as she typed in some commands, 
watching the screens flash dozens of graphs and statistics.
	"So, what do I do now?"
	"Just relax a few minutes.  This won't take too long," she said, 
as she moved to another computer that was hooked up to the globe.  
"Let's see…  organic pattern, astro pattern, psycho-layer pattern, 
overdimension, parallel pattern, hentai pattern… " The graph was flat.  
"Ahem… hentai pattern…" The graph still was flat.  "Rats.  I get the 
same readings with you as I do with Tenchi."
	Russ turned blue for a moment as she cackled evilly from her 
position behind the computer.  The screen cast an eerie glow onto her 
features, making her appear even more devilish.  She walked over to 
Russ and smiled.
	"Would you mind if I took a sperm sample?"
	If Russ were in a position to facefault, he would have.  "YES, 
I'D MIND," he growled.  "The most I'm going to let you get away with 
is a blood sample."
	Washu's disappointment became apparent as she once again 
produced a syringe and an alcohol pad from her pocket.  She rubbed 
down Russ' arm as he tensed himself, waiting for that painful prick 
from the needle.  He closed his eyes and waited… and waited… and 
waited…
	"All done."
	Russ' eyes shot open as Washu held up a vile of blood.  
Breathing again, he allowed himself to relax as he heaved a huge sigh 
of relief, and the lights on the headpiece began blinking again.
	"You're right, that didn't hurt at all.  All the other needles I've 
ever gotten stung like crazy."
	Washu chuckled.  "I've got magic fingers," she said, as she 
gave Russ a hug.  "Thank you for the scans.  That will provide me with 
some very valuable data."
	"You're welcome.  If you're interested in another piece of 
technology that I'd like to have constructed, I may… now I only MAY, 
I won't say that I will…  give you that sperm sample."
	Washu fell to the floor from total shock.  "Wow, really?!  I get 
to put together a new invention and get a sperm sample as 
PAYMENT?!  How can I say no?"  She was so overjoyed with 
happiness that she nearly tripped over her computer.  She recovered 
quickly as her eyes sparkled.  "You're the best, Russ.  It's too bad Aeka 
as already claimed you to be hers or you'd be mine in a heartbeat."
	Russ blushed.  "Thank you, Little Washu.  I've never been 
sought after by anybody before.  It's… a different feeling than I've ever 
had before.  As I told Aeka earlier, I've been alone for most of my life, 
except for the times I spent with Zorpheus, fighting evil wherever it 
reared its ugly head.  But truthfully, I've really never been truly lonely.  
I've always had my training to keep my mind occupied."
	Washu sighed.  "The same goes for me, except I had science 
instead of training.  I've been alone for over twenty thousand years," 
she said, quietly, as Russ nearly said something he shouldn't have, 
about her age, from surprise.  "I had a husband and a child once, but 
they were taken away from me.  I've never seen them since that 
dreadful day," she said, trying to hide her sorrow.
	"Do you remember their names?"
	She shook her head.  "I've only got fuzzy memories of them 
now.  I wish I could remember them more clearly."
	Russ squirmed against the restraints.  Washu noticed, and 
released him, as he landed lightly on his feet.  "Nobody knows about 
this yet, but I can read minds and memories from others.  I can pick out 
specific events, or entire memories.  Faces, loved ones, memories you 
thought you never had or had forgotten about.  However, if you have 
twenty thousand years of memories…  That's a lot of data for me to 
sort through, and a lot of faces.  But, if you think about your child and 
husband, and remember them as best as you can, I think I can find 
exactly what you're looking for.  All you have to do is ask, and I'll try 
my best, to make your wish come true," he said, as he began to get 
dressed.
	Washu looked at him, a tear rolling from her green eyes as she 
sniffled softly.  "No," she said, shaking her head.  "What's past is 
past."
	Russ noticed her downcast face and placed a comforting hand 
on her shoulder.  "If you ever change your mind, don't ever hesitate to 
ask me.  I'll be there for you, as a friend, or as your lab rat too," he 
said, chuckling and smiling.  Washu looked up and also smiled, 
sniffling away her sorrows.  "If you ask, I'll even try to help you find 
them once again, so you can see your child, and see how he or she has 
been growing up."
	"Thank you, Russ.  That's the nicest offer I've had in a long, 
long time," she said, smiling, and drying her eyes on her sleeve.  She 
turned and gave him another hug, and Russ returned it warmly.  "That 
feels so good.  Thank you."
	"Anytime."
	"Well, anyway, what is this other invention you want me to 
put together?"
	"It's a regeneration capsule, or a healing pod.  It's kind of like 
a large contraption, where you put someone inside of it, and it fills up 
with synthetic DNA of whatever subject you're putting into it, and it 
can heal physical wounds very quickly."
	"Really?  It's a medical chamber?"
	"Yeah, of sorts.  It's a precaution for me, and for anybody else 
here who needs healing quickly, or for taking care of major 
emergencies," Russ explained.  "When I battle with Zorpheus… we're 
both going to be really messed up when we're done.  Honestly, it's 
probably going to be me.  He's a slightly better fighter than I am, and 
I'm just a bit stronger and faster than he is.  We both basically cancel 
each other out, but I'm pessimistic, so that's why I say that."
	"If you say so.  Just bring me the plans and I'll put it together 
for you, okay?"
	"Sure.  I need to head over to my spacepod anyway to figure 
out how far away Jurai is from here."
	"What for?"
	"I need to figure out how long it would take to get from here 
to there, in Earth Standard time."
	Washu shook her head.  "I can tell you that right here," she 
said, once again bringing up her phantom computer.  She quickly hit a 
few keys and a map from Jurai to Earth appeared on the screen.
	"WOW, Jurai is really far off.  How long would it take for a 
ship to get from here to there?  Uh… one of your ships, I mean.  Maybe 
Kiyone and Mihoshi's shuttle, or a space taxi or something?"
	"It would probably take a week to ten days to get from here to 
there.  Ryo-Ohki would take about a week."
	Russ scratched his head.  "Well, I suppose I could call one of 
my good buddies to come and give us a lift.  His ship could make it 
from here to there in half a day."
	"Huh?  That's impossible.  No ship is that fast."
	Russ chuckled.  "My buddy's is.  It's big too.  I'll go give him 
a call and see if he can spare a couple days to give us a ride to and from 
Jurai."
	"What else has been invented that I don't know about," she 
pouted.  "I guess seven hundred years imprisonment as made 
technology advance on me quite a bit."
	"Well anyway, I guess I better let you get back to your 
experiments.  I'm sure Aeka is about to explode from anxiety from 
waiting."
	"You aren't kidding.  Thanks for your help.  All your help," 
she said, smiling.
	"Like I said, anytime."
	Russ turned and started to leave the lab, then turned around.  
"Would you like to go to the Startica festival with us, if we do go?  
Everybody deserves a vacation sometime," he said, his eyes pleading.
	"Yes, I'd love to.  I haven't been to Jurai in a long time."
	"Great.  If all goes well, we'll be leaving in a week and five 
days.  I hope that's plenty of time to plan for your vacation."
	"Plenty.  Thanks for the offer."
	Russ turned and left the lab, as Washu returned to the part of 
her lab where she was on top of her platform, surrounded by many trees 
and other plant life, where she began to analyze the scans she took of 
him, smiling the whole while.  She hasn't felt this good and giddy in a 
long time.

	Aeka was wringing her hands and was about to lose all her 
patience when the lab door reopened and Russ stepped out.  He smiled 
at Aeka, who jumped up from her seat and briskly walked over.
	"Are you okay?  There doesn't seem to be anything wrong 
with you," she said, examining him.
	"No, no, I'm just fine.  Would you like to go to my spacepod 
now?  I need to give one of my friends a call and see if he can give us a 
lift to Jurai.  His spaceship is incredibly fast, and can get us to Jurai in 
about a half a day, or around twelve hours."
	"Really?  That's it?"
	"That's all," Russ said, grinning.  "Do you think everybody 
could go in that case?"
	"I don't see why not."
	"Hey, what are you two talking about?  Go where?" Ryoko 
asked from the couch.  Tenchi had just about passed out from all the 
torment and flirting Ryoko was doing to him.
	"Would everybody like to go to the Startica festival on Jurai?  
That begins in about two weeks."
	Sasami jumped up from her seat on the couch.  "Really!?  I'd 
love to go!  We can visit Azaka and Kamadake again, and I can see all 
my old friends and stuff!"
	Russ' expression shifted to confusion.  "I thought Azaka and 
Kamadake were those two logs you guys have?"
	"They are, but there are human ones too.  They're currently on 
Jurai, serving the emperor."
	"Oh."  Russ turned and made his way over to the door.  "Well, 
I got to go contact my friend to see if he can spare a few days to give us 
a lift.  His ship is huge, so there will be plenty of room for everybody.  
Should I go talk to him or forget about the whole idea?"
	Everybody looked at each other and nodded.
	"Sure."
	"Why not?"
	"Okay, I'm game." 
	"We could use a vacation."
	"Okay then, it's settled.  You want to come along Aeka and 
fly around a little more?"
	She nodded and followed him outside.  Sasami also ran out the 
door and latched onto Russ' waist.
	"Can I go too?"
	"Sure," he said as he knelt down.  "Grab on.  We're not going 
far."
	Russ and Aeka both lifted off the ground, with Sasami 
hanging on Russ' neck, giggling away.  Ryo-Ohki ran out the door and 
started meowing at the top of her voice, as she leapt into the air and 
transformed herself into a spaceship.
	"Holy sh… uh, holy smokes," he corrected himself.  "That's 
pretty cool.  She'd actually be able to fit into my buddy's ship's 
docking bay.  This is great," he said, as he leveled out his flight and 
soared over the treetops, making his way to his spacepod, with Aeka 
following closely behind, smiling and just enjoying the feeling of 
freedom.  "We can have her take us up to my friend's ship when he 
arrives."
	Sasami giggled as she hung on tightly, looking down at the 
trees and back at Aeka, who also smiled and chuckled lightly.  Ryo-
Ohki flew just behind them, her massive bulk shading them from the 
sun.  It was a short flight, as Russ had landed his spacepod nearby.  He 
descended to a small clearing, which had a small, white ball near the 
middle of it.  Ryo-Ohki transformed back into a cabbit and landed on 
the ground at the same time Russ and Aeka did.  Sasami let go of Russ 
and landed on the ground before he had a chance to kneel and let her 
off.
	Sasami saw the gleaming white metal of the pod and ran over.  
"Wow!  So this is your spaceship?"
	"Yup.  That's what I travel around in."
	"That thing is pretty small," Aeka said, walking up beside 
Sasami and Russ.  Opening up a control panel, he keyed in a few 
commands, and with a loud hiss, the door swung open, revealing a 
mass of controls and a pilot's seat.
	"Well, in reality, I don't need anything bigger.  I always travel 
alone.  Zorpheus and I had our own spaceships so we took those 
separately.  We didn't have anything bigger at the time so we had to 
use these things," he explained, while sitting himself down inside the 
pod.  He keyed a few commands.
	"Hailing," his computer responded in its nasal, feminine voice.  
"Please wait."  Russ lightly drummed the seat's armrest as he hoped 
he'd catch the captain while he was awake and on the bridge.  "Picking 
up an acknowledgement… channel open."
	"Hello, Dominoes Pizza.  Can I take your order?" came a gruff 
voice from the comm. system.
	"Yeah!  I'll have a large thick crust with double cheese, ham, 
pepperoni, onions, and bacon," Russ said, trying to keep from cracking 
up.  Sasami and Aeka looked at each other in complete confusion.
	"Okay, your total comes to… ugh… this calculator sucks," 
said the voice, as he began laughing like crazy.  "RUSS!  How have 
you been doing, buddy!  Long time no see!"
	"TOM!  Whazzzaaaap?" Russ roared over the comm. system, 
laughing the whole time.
	"Ugh, don't you ever get tired of doing that?" he said, still 
chuckling.  "What's up?  How are things?"
	"Well, they're pretty good, all things considered.  How are 
things on your end?"
	"Boring as hell.  Save me, man.  Give me something to do, 
dude," Tom said, almost begging.
	Russ facefaulted and smiled.  "Hey, do you think you can 
make a trip to planet Earth and give me and some friends a ride to and 
from Jurai?  The Startica festival will be starting over there and we'd 
like to go, but we don't want to spend a week traveling to get there.  I 
thought of you because of your ultra cool ship and I also wanted to 
show it off to everybody," he said, snickering.
	"Give me a break.  It's my ship and you show it off.  Bleah.  
Well, when does the Startica festival start, exactly?"
	"About two weeks from today.  I'd like you to get here a 
couple days early so we can get there with plenty of time to spare, and 
do a little sight seeing."
	"Hmmm, yeah.  I can do that.  I'll be there at noon, three days 
before Startica begins.  That way we can spend a day traveling there, 
two days sight-seeing and do some catching up, and then the festival 
will begin.  Sound good?"
	"Make it two days before.  The people I'm with don't have a 
huge amount of time to spare."
	"Well, okay.  Suit yourself.  Do you need me to send down a 
shuttle or a transport?"
	"No, we've actually got one here.  She's really cute."
	Silence came over the comm. system.  "Did you say, 'She's 
really cute?'"
	Russ laughed.  "Yeah.  Don't worry, because you'll see her 
when you pick us up.  When you do arrive, keep your ship cloaked.  
The Earthlings here still aren't a spacefaring race."
	"Okay, no problem.  I'll just decloak and jam their radars or 
whatever until you get onboard, and then we'll go.  Is that okay?"
	"Perfect.  And by the way…"
	"Yes?"
	"Don't flirt with any of the girls that I'm bringing with me, 
okay?  They'll rip you a new one if you do," Russ said, a hint of 
sarcasm in his voice, but sounding completely serious.
	"Aw, come on man!  Don't you think you're asking too 
much?"
	"I'm serious.  I won't be the one to save your rear when one of 
them shoves a ki sword up your butt."
	"Uh, okay.  Hey, I'll see you then!  Good to hear from you, 
and it'll be great to see you again!"
	"Okay!  Talk at you in a week and five days!  Catch you 
later!"
	"See ya," Tom said, and then static crackled through the 
comm.
	"Alrighty!  That went well.  We got ourselves a ride to Jurai," 
Russ said, a huge smile on his face.  Aeka and Sasami continued to 
stare at him as if he sprouted a third arm.  "Uh, is something wrong?"
	"What was that language you were speaking?"
	"Japanese, of course," he said, scratching his chin.  "Oh, I get 
it.  We're old buddies and we have our own… unique way of 
communicating with each other.  It's all well and fun."
	"I see," said Aeka, as she blushed slightly.
	"Well, shall we be heading back?"
	"Yeah.  Sasami, have you started lunch yet?"
	Sasami looked at her sister in horror.  "Oh no!  I forgot all 
about it!  I guess I could fix up some cold cuts or something," she said, 
looking distressed.
	"Ahem.  I can help you if you want, Sasami."
	"Oh, could you?  That would be a great help!"
	"Sure.  Let's go, before everybody wonders if we ran away or 
something."
	Ryo-Ohki bounded on top of Sasami's head and meowed an 
objection.
	"I'm sorry, I didn't actually mean that.  Oh, never mind.  Let's 
go.  Climb on, Sasami," Russ said, as he knelt down and allowed the 
little princess to grab onto his neck.  He hefted her onto his back, and 
before lifting off, he sealed his pod again, taking care to make sure it 
was locked up tight, and then he lifted off into the air, with Aeka right 
beside him.
	"You're really getting the hang of this, Aeka!" Sasami said 
through her giggles.  She just smiled and continued to fly along with 
Russ.  Ryo-Ohki had jumped off of Sasami's head and landed on Russ' 
mass of hair, as she meowed her contentment.
	"That's a bad place, Ryo-Ohki.  Remember, I'm allergic to 
you and I don't want to start sneezing too badly."
	She meowed a couple times in disappointment, and then sat 
down on Russ' back, snuggling against Sasami's head, causing her to 
giggle even more from being tickled by Ryo-Ohki's whiskers.
	A short minute passed, and they landed at the Misaki home, 
just as Nobuyuki pulled up in the van.  Russ knelt down and let Sasami 
off, and stood back up, watching Nobuyuki shut off the van and hop 
out.
	"Where'd he go?"
	"I have no idea.  He said he was going shopping for 
something," Aeka responded.
	"I wonder if he bought anything?" Russ said, as he made his 
way over to the van.
	"Ahhh, perfect timing.  I could use a pair of strong hands 
here," Nobuyuki said, as he opened up the rear of the van.  Russ, 
Sasami, and Aeka all gasped at the sight of the new addition to the 
household.
	"Oh wow, that's awesome," Russ said.  "I can't wait to play 
it."