NOTE: All characters original to the Tenchi-Muyo! TV1 series
portrayed in this story are the sole property of AIC and Pioneer
Animation. Any appearance of them in actual life is purely 
coincidental. Tenchi-Muyo! material and paraphernalia
listed within is Copyright Pioneer Animation 1997 (c). Kyoto
Minamoto, Muriyaki Kushiragi, Chisako, Chi-Ohki, and all other
related characters are the sole property of Joe (Chi-Ohki)
McKenzie and appear through permission from Joe (Chi-Ohki)
McKenzie.

 

 

Send all C&C to muriyaki@hotmail.com (for storyline and fight
scenes) and/or keiichi_dono@hotmail.com (for intercharacter
relationships and continuity). Thanks for reading! 

 

 

Episode #15:

No Need for a Rescue!

 

 

In our last episode, "No Need for a Coup!" the lives of our 
heroes and heroines had once more been drastically disrupted.
Tenchi and his family were forced to flee from Jurai after a 
coup, led by the treacherous Lord Sato, killed most of the 
Supreme Council. As they fled, they picked up the missing 
members of their family of friends, whose lives had also been
thrown into turmoil. 

All had been rescued--except for Kyoto and Ryoko, who had been
taken into the custody of the Dark Matter Division, a 
long-thought-disbanded secret organization affiliated with the
Galaxy Police. The DMD had been quietly rebuilding itself and 
had finally overthrown the Galaxy Police and the Galaxy 
Federation, and had set itself up in its place. This was largely
due to the efforts of Azusa, the ruthless Emperor of Megami
and Kiyone's uncle.

Before the long task of righting what has gone wrong can be 
started, one must first gather his or her allies. And so, 
Chisako sits at the gates of the dad's secret base of 
operations, a large space station codenamed "Installation
X," hidden in the starship graveyard of Sargasso, and its 
occupants prepare to recover their friends.

 

However, the about-to-be-rescued party is unaware that their
liberation is at hand.

"Please, feed us!" begs Ryoko, tears streaming from her eyes. 

Normally, she would have broken down the door, vented her 
considerable anger on the guard until he was a bloody stain on 
the wall, and gone down to the prison's mess hall to gorge 
herself. 

There are, however, several factors that keep this from being
a "normal" (even for Tenchi and company) situation, not the 
least of which is the fact that she and Kyoto can barely move,
thanks to the power-drainage collars around both their necks.
"We'll do anything you want, anything!" Eighteen hours without
food has forced her anger aside in favor of despair, and now her
mournful face is pressed up against the clearsteel window of 
their cell door.

The guard on the other side of the door smirks and slides the 
window open. Ryoko leans forward, hopeful.... and flies back as
the guard's fist connects painfully with her jaw. She slams into
the wall with a whimpering sound.

Kyoto is at the door in an instant. The rage in his eyes is 
almost tangible. "Lay another hand on her, and so help me, 
I'll--"

"You'll do what?" sneers the guard as he slaps the window shut.
As he hears the transparent slab slam home, Kyoto slumps. The 
guard is right; there really is nothing he can do.

He walks back over to Ryoko and settles himself next to her, 
pulling their one blanket close around her. She crawls closer
to him and rests her head in his laps, sighing as he rests a 
hand on her shoulder. As he looks at his wife, he feels his 
heart breaking. Since his internal constitution is far different
than hers, he can go far longer without food, and it is very 
likely that he will still be coherent even after she has expired
from starvation. He releases a sigh, stroking her hair, and he 
sends a silent prayer up to every deity he can think of, 
including his mother and aunts: Please let us get out of 
this....

 

The answer to his prayers is sitting in a sensory blind spot in
the massive station's shadow. On Chisako's bridge, plans are 
being laid out. 

During her Academy days, Kiyone had had an interest in 
architecture. Consequently, she had spent a lot of her free time
looking up prototype station and outpost designs. One day, she
had "accidentally" accessed a database that she wasn't supposed
to, and found an intriguing new design for a sector command
post. It was never used, but she kept a copy of the plans. And
now, years later, Kiyone Masaki, Empress of Jurai, is putting
them to good use. 

The plans are simple: Chisako has apparently automatically
contacted Chi-ohki, but it will take him two days to arrive.
So, for forty-eight hours, the occupants of Chisako have to do 
that always-difficult thing.

Blend in.

Kiyone and Tenchi will be teleported into one of the laundry
rooms, steal uniforms, and basically mingle, gathering what 
information they can. 

Washu will begin hacking Installation X's database to find where
Kyoto and Ryoko are being held.

Everyone else will stay on Chisako for the moment, waiting
for the prodigal Ohki.


Kiyone's floor plans, while helpful, are not entirely accurate.

The laundry room which they meant to teleport into is, instead,
the bathroom of a small bachelor's quarters.

Tenchi's face is etched with confusion. "Kiyone-yoni,
this isn't...." Kiyone is frantically checking the map in her 
hand. "I don't get it, this should be the--" A thought occurs
to her, and groaning, she slaps her forehead. "Great. I think
we have the wrong layout."

"The wrong layout?" repeats Tenchi, hoping that this is a joke.

"Yeah. I printed out layout version A. They must have used 
version B."

Tenchi can never get mad at his wife. There are, however,
times where he comes close. This is one of those times. Tearing
his gaze away from Kiyone, so he can suppress the urge to yell
at her or do something violent, he fixes his eyes on the closed
door and starts counting to ten.

He has reached seven when the door slides open and a man, 
looking like the typical young military grunt, starts to walk
into the bathroom. He stands there blinking for a few minutes,
comes fully awake, and whips a nasty-looking weapon out of 
nowhere. He aims it at the two strangers in his bathroom and 
pulls the trigger. 

A second before the blast hits them, Tenchi and Kiyone exchange
glances and hop to either side of the beam, letting it burrow
a dresser-sized hole in the bathroom wall. Even as the soldier
brings his gun up for a second volley, Kiyone has her own gun 
out and is tracking on his head. She squeezes her trigger,
and a lance of blue light pierces his temple. He is dead before
he hits the floor. 

Tenchi is now looking at his wife with a look of horrific
shock. After a moment, he finally manages, "Kiyone-yoni?"

"Tenchi-yon...." The horror on Kiyone's face matches her 
husband's. She shakily holsters her pistol and collapses
into his arms. It takes her several minutes to stop quivering
and sobbing. During this time Tenchi is hugging her tightly
against him, stroking the back of her hair and whispering
soothing words into her ear. Finally her breathing steadies
and shallows, and he carries her to the bed. He then sets to 
work cleaning up the damage done. By the time that she awakens,
her blaster is wiped of fingerprints and in the corpse's hand,
and they are safely ensconced in unoccupied quarters several
levels up. 

 

* * * 

 

"Hmmm...." Washu reaches up and rubs the sleep from her eyes.
She has been up for nearly sixty hours straight, and she's 
starting to hallucinate. 

Nobuyuki approaches her wearily. He had been a little afraid
to enter the lab after an incident where she whipped out a 
mammoth meat clever and started chasing him, screaming,
"Come back, Mr. Hamburger!" 

"Um.... Washu, would you like some tea?"

"Certainly, Mr. Hamburger, I would love some tea!" 

Nobuyuki gulps, sets the cup down at his wife's elbow, and bolts
out the door. 

Washu chuckles and promises to herself that she will make this
up to Nobuyuki. She then turns back to her work. The access
that Tenchi and Kiyone had gotten her through a personal 
computer aboard the station has been invaluable, but she finds
herself in the possession of too much information. Oh, she's
been able to find the prisoners' blocks easy enough, but there
are over a hundred of them! How is she supposed to find one cell
out of--

Oh, wait, there it is. 

The supreme folly of having near-impenetrable security: you get
so complacent that you forget to hide your secrets. 

Cackling to herself, she copies the location--block
13, cell #33013--and saves it to her computer's memory. As an 
afterthought, she decides to check in on Mr. and Mrs. 
Masaki--and quickly regrets it. 

Kiyone and Tenchi are taking advantage of the lull to "enjoy"
each other's company--sort of a pre-battle warm-up, although
Washu knows that there will almost certainly be a post-battle
celebration and maybe even a during-battle break.... "Don't
those two ever get enough?", even as she knew the answer. Oh, 
well, at least those two can handle themselves when it comes
to fighting, she thinks dryly. Now if only Chi-ohki would get 
here....

As if triggered by her thoughts, the commo bands she had been
monitoring suddenly fill with terrified shouts and then static.
A holo screen snaps up and on it she sees burning wreckage
in the wake of a red streak of light. Said streak of light slams
into the side of Installation X, causing a tremendous explosion.
Washu grins. 

"He's here!" She then pages the trysting couple. She has it well
enough timed that... well, let's just say that she caused an 
early conclusion. Needless to say, Kiyone is not pleased. 

The passage of thirty-seven minutes finds them all on the bridge
in their combat modes-- that is, everyone but Nobuyuki and 
Tenchi's daughters. Tsunami in particular is furious about the
forced detainment from battle, seeing as she has a burning
desire to spill the blood of those who have harmed members
of her family, but she cannot sway Tenchi. 

Kyo and Momoko are equally perturbed at Tenchi's insistence
that they too remain behind. While subconsciously they 
understand his reasoning, this does nothing to lessen their 
anger at those who took their parents. Tenchi finally relents,
which drives Tsunami and Sasami to start ragging on him. 

It all too soon becomes apparent that none of them will stand
for being left behind and Tenchi is forced to acquiesce.
Nobuyuki and Mirei make no protests about being left behind,
seeing as they are likeliest to be a liability in this raid. 

 

* * *

 

For thousands of troopers aboard Installation X, it's lunchtime.
Hence, they are caught completely off guard when two GP PA suits
appear in the center of the cafeteria and open up with their
guns. Tenchi had hoped for a minimal amount of bloodshed,
but the militant nature of the DMD personnel and their sheer
numbers had negated that option. 

It only takes Mihoshi and Mitsuki a couple of minutes to clear
the room. Amazing what a few kinetic-energy flechette rounds
can do. The two detectives then jet off down the corridor
to see if they can find the station armory. Mihoshi is feeling
somewhat ill from what she has had to do. Mitsuki is feeling
the same. Both girls are doing their best to steel themselves
for the gruesome tasks ahead. Dealing with what they've done can
come later. 

Tsunami has no such compunctions as she skewers several DMD 
operatives with a Light Hawk blade. As far as she's concerned,
the worthless pigs deserved their fate. 

For their part, her parents are feeling rather ambivalent
about what they've just had to do. Behind them lay the bodies
of over a hundred operatives. They had tried just knocking
them out, but when it takes you fifteen minutes to knock out two
operatives with thirty more on your back, the options for 
non-lethal action tend to disappear. 

 

* * *

 

Kyoto is thrown back against the wall for the third time in as 
many minutes. Ryoko screams. "Kyoto! Stop doing this!"

Sweating heavily and gritting his teeth, Kyoto continues
to grapple with the collar around his neck, even though his 
actions send ripples of pain throughout his body. After being
thrown back against the wall again and regaining his breath,
he manages to gasp, "I've gotta... get this... stupid thing...
OFF!" 

And he yanks on it violently. His efforts are immediately
rewarded with a fierce electrical charge that is actually
visible. He shrieks and collapses to the floor again. 

But he does not let go, even though the charge steadily 
escalates. Finally, he manages to work a fingertip underneath
the inside of the collar. It takes a supreme effort, but he 
moves the fingertip along the inside until it comes to rest on a
small notch. He presses on it... 

...And the collar falls, inert and harmless, to the floor. 

Ryoko is at her husband's side in a split second, gently 
caressing his cheek. "Kyoto... you did it!" 

He looks up at her, smiles weakly, and nods. "I need a drink..."
Catching his eighth wind, he rises to a sitting position and 
presses his finger onto the inside of Ryoko's collar. "Just hang
on a second, sweetie...." His finger finds the notch again,
and he presses it. Her collar falls off, and she falls a second
later into his arms. 

Now that the collar restraining her is gone, Ryoko finds herself
feeling completely awake for the first time in days. In the 
place of experimentally flexing a muscle, however, she points
her right index finger at the door and looses a bolt of yellow
lightning. The hatch disappears in a flash of light and a puff
of smoke. The guards hurl themselves into the cell, their 
weapons at the ready.

It takes Kyoto one second to dispatch both of them. He then bows
theatrically to his wife. "Your carriage awaits, my lady."

Ryoko smiles and takes his hand. "Charmed, I'm sure." They leave
the cell, not sparing a backward glance.

 

Unaware that the captives have just freed themselves, the 
younger generations of the Masaki and Minamoto clans are 
trudging toward the cellblock where Kyoto and Ryoko are being
held. 

There are a lot of guards in their path, but that doesn't bother
them, not after what happened to them in the alleyway. The path
they cut is long and bloody. Entrails and internal organs are 
strewn all over the place. As with Mihoshi and Mitsuki, thinking
about what they've had to do can wait till later; but it helps
to remember that these men and women would not have hesitated
to kill them. 

They round a corner, expecting to find another wave of guards.
They raise their weapons in anticipation... to find themselves
face-to-face with the very people they were there to rescue.

Momoko's and Kyo's battle attire immediately flickers out to be
replaced by their regular clothes, and they run forward to 
embrace their parents. Ryoko, now crying, hugs her daughter
and son to her tightly. 

"I'm so glad you and dad are safe, mom..." sobs Momoko. Kyo is 
too choked up to make a coherent sentence. Kyoto wraps his arms
around his family. 

"Um.... sweet as this scene is, we've got to get going!" insists
Sasami. "More guards will get here any minute!" As if cued by 
her words, a volley of laser fire goes whizzing past their 
heads. They start running. 

 

* * *

 

A platoon of DMD troopers, the very best on station, are rushing
towards the lift to cell block 13, cell #33013, to aid their
compatriots in foiling the rescue attempt. Being elite troopers,
they naturally believe in their own innate superiority.
So, it is understandable that they are not intimidated
when they round one corner and come face-to-face with an 
eyepatched Ohki dressed like an LA police detective.

"Feelin' lucky, punks?!" he hisses in a fair imitation of Clint
Eastwood. 

The leader of the black-suited troopers laughs. "Hey, it's a 
cabbit trying to stop us!" 

"Might this impress you?" The cabbit pulls out a heavy 
multi-blaster: a squat, bulky weapon that is the most powerful
handheld weapon in the arsenals of both the Galaxy Police and 
the Dark Matter Division.

Said cabbit quickly proves his skill with the weapon, raking
it back and forth in particle-beam mode. The DMDers quickly
perish, and the walls and floor around said cabbit are also 
decimated. Soon said cabbit finds that he's falling through
a Yagami-sized hole.

Two floors down, Tenchi and Kiyone have just finished wiping
out the guards around them, and they're taking advantage
of this "private" time. They're about halfway along in their
"free time" when the ceiling above them caves in and a large
pile of bulkhead comes crashing down in front of them. They are
holding each other, blinking, as they see a familiar figure
wade out of the wreckage. Kiyone is the first to speak. 
"Chi-ohki!" 

"In the fur!" The eyepatched Ohki looks distastefully
at Tenchi and Kiyone, noting that neither of them is completely
dressed. "To quote your daughter Sasami, 'Naughty!'" He motions
down the corridor. "Well, you coming or not?!" 

(It is at this moment that Tenchi groans and Kiyone moans "Too
soon!" in disappointment.) 

It is a testament to the Ohki's self-control that he does not 
comment. Oh, well, it'll be better to tease them in front of 
everyone... 

As they round another corridor, they find a platoon of guards
rushing right into their faces. Tenchi snaps up his Light Hawk
Wings in front of the three of them, and the guards' fire 
bounces off harmlessly. 

"Aw, I'm sick of this shit!" Chi-ohki again reaches into his 
little sub-space pocket and extracts what looks like a bazooka
and rests it on his shoulder, as best as an Ohki can. "Tenchi,
Kiyone, duck." 

He squeezes the trigger.

The muzzle of the weapon begins to crackle with yellow-white
energy, energy that begins to compress into a sphere. A ripple
of white light begins to form at the aft end of the ball, 
drawing it back into itself slightly, and then slamming it 
outward, like driving a cue ball into an eight ball. 

The supercharged ball soars forward towards the group as if 
being tossed and detonates in the center of the platoon. 

The blast rips outward in all directions like the shock wave 
from an N2 bomb. Tenchi and Kiyone are both forced to throw up 
their Light Hawk Wings just to keep the wave from plowing them
over. The shock wave generated by this blast knocks everyone
else aboard the station to the floor. The threesome are forced
to start running a second later as the deck around them begins
to crumble. Roughly two-fifths of the station is destroyed
by that single blast. 

And it's not over yet. 

 

* * * 

 

Katsuhito has been luckier than the rest of the group when it 
comes to spilling blood on this mission. He still has a few 
non-lethal fighting tricks he hasn't taught Tenchi, and he has
the crew of the station's main command deck tied up in the 
corners of the cavernous room. 

Unfortunately, he is neither very computer-literate,
nor does he know any non-destructive tricks for deactivating
the terminals (he can't find the OFF switch ^_~), so he had 
resorted to beating hell out of the equipment. 

Of course, that did not make him an exception to the shock wave
that threw everyone to the floor. 

After rising off the floor, he quickly takes his leave of the 
chamber. As he makes his way down through the levels, he chances
upon Mihoshi and Mitsuki, who have had to abandon their PA 
suits, which were too heavily damaged in the aftermath of the 
blast. The three of them continue on their way toward cellblock
13, cell #33013.


* * *

 

Kyoto, Ryoko, their offspring, and Tenchi and Kiyone's offspring
have been slugging their way through the seemingly endless
waves of guards. However, they have finally managed to link up 
with the others. The group is about to start making their way 
back to Chisako --who has by now docked herself with the 
puncture that Chi-ohki had made during his arrival-- when they
are blown to the ground by a massive explosion a few meters
behind them. 

Kyoto is the first one on his feet, and so he is the first one
to see their final assailant. 

A Katsuda Munitions "Spartas ATAC" hovertank. 

Seated in the turret is none other than the head torturer
that Kyoto and Ryoko had had the "pleasure" of meeting earlier.
Plastered across the torturer's face is a look of malicious
delight, and he has his arms crossed smugly across his chest.
"I shall delight in gorging myself in your suffering as I slowly
disembowel you!" 

"Charming, isn't he?" murmurs Kiyone sarcastically. 

"He's never coming to one of our parties," replies Tenchi. 

Their conversation is cut short as Kyoto ignites one of his 
energy broadswords and morphs his attire to that of combat.
"Get everyone back to Chisako, I'm going to finish this once and
for all." 

Tenchi nods and begins hustling everyone back in the direction
of the boarding hatch. 

The man astride the tank laughs again. "You shall not escape
me! My sinful desires will be fulfilled! I shall delight in your
torment, I shall gorge my soul with your moans of agony, I 
shall--" 

He is knocked from his perch a second later by a well-placed
kick, courtesy of Kyoto. The green-haired ex-pirate is grinning.
"I hope you were planning on adding 'shut up' to that list." 

"Prepare to die! Fire!" The hovertank's main cannon fires, its
discharge almost identical to that caused by Chi-ohki's
gun. The effects are amazingly similar. Once again, Tenchi and
company are sent sprawling to the deck with multiple levels
crashing down behind them. The shock wave is still on their 
tail, and Tenchi and Kiyone once more rise to their feet and 
project their Light Hawk Wings in front of everyone else. 

"Hurry up!" yells Tenchi. "Kiyone-yoni and I can't hold this 
much longer!" 

He suddenly hears Mihoshi say in an alarmed voice, "Oh my!"

Her exclamation is clarified a second later when Mitsuki groans,
"The boarding tube... it's busted!" 

"How did that happen?!" demands Kiyone. 

Washu has her hololaptop out and is scanning the wreckage.
"Hmm..... it appears to be the result of a gravitic-disruptor
blast." 

"Oh, so that's what they call it!" 

All eyes turn to the fat, eyepatched Ohki, who is now dressed
in a Dragons* cap. 

"Hey, why's everyone lookin' at me?!" 

"Do something!" screams Tenchi. "We can't hold this forever!" 

"Okay, I'll do something!" And the fat Ohki transforms.
Soon, he has been replaced by a giant, spiked starship. An 
instant after that, the group, with the exception of Kyoto,
finds themselves on Chi-ohki's bridge. 

"That works," comments Ryoko. "Now, let's get back to Chisako." 

The passage of another instant, and they are now all on the 
command deck of the now drifting Chisako. 

 

Back aboard Installation X, Kyoto is dancing around on the 
wreckage. He has good reason to, for there is no floor left!
The head torturer's frenzied firing has punched giant holes in 
the floors and bulkheads around him, and their section's
structural integrity is now dangerously low. 

"Fire again!" yells the head torturer. 

"Um, Sir, um, are you sure that's wise?" 

"Shut up and keep firing, boy-o, or you'll find yourself in the
nearest airlock!" 

"Sir, at the rate that we're firing this entire section will be
that airlock soon!" 

The head torturer pulls his short combat knife from its ankle
sheath and slits the operative's throat and then throws the 
dying body from the tank. "Stupid boy, now I shall take control
myself!" He slips into the gunner's saddle and centers the 
reticule on Kyoto. "Prepare to face your maker, you 
abomination!" He squeezes the trigger--

--to have the tank split in half around him. Kyoto is poised
in a kempo fighting stance behind him. The torturer slowly turns
around, fear evident in his eyes for the first time. "What is 
the secret of your power?!"

"It's all in the rice, asshole!" With this, Kyoto slices the 
head torturer in half... diagonally! 

The dying man is coughing up blood as his two halves topple
to the floor in opposite directions. A second later the 
remaining bulkheads surrounding the dead man and the bisected
tank collapse, opening the area up to vacuum. Unaffected
by this sudden change in climate, Kyoto begins to do the belly
crawl towards the center of the station. There is still one task
left that he must perform. 

 

* * * 

 

Chisako's staggering firepower has gotten her out of more than
a few tight scrapes. 

It is doing so again now, for the bridge crew that Katsuhito
had so nobly left alive is repaying that kindness by untying
themselves and opening fire on the smaller craft. 

Amazingly, most of Installation X's exterior weapons are still
functional and very similar in make to that of Chi-ohki's
gun. 

As if this were not bad enough, Katsuhito had not anticipated
there being an automated distress signal, one broadcasting
a priority signal requiring any armed ship within receiving
range to respond. Consequently, the DMD's backup has arrived.
Even more disturbing is the fact that these ships, while 
appearing to be normal GP superdreadnoughts, are equipped
with wormhole drives. 

Everyone on the command deck is holding on for dear life as 
another volley of particle fire hits home. Washu is at the 
central holoterminal.

"This isn't good!" yells Washu, holding onto Nobuyuki.

"Duh, Washu!" snaps Ryoko. 

"So, what do we do?" asks Tenchi as he does his best to keep 
everyone else calm.

"You run like hell, that's what you do!" Heads whip around to 
see Kyoto's face on the main commo screen. 

Ryoko looks up pleadingly at the screen. "Kyoto get your ass 
back here now!"

Kyoto shakes his head. "Gotta finish something that should have
been done a long time ago. See you guys in a little bit." His 
image winks off the screen, and as if responding to its master's
words, Chisako engages full FTL speed away from Installation
X. 

"What?! No!" Ryoko starts pounding at the holoterminal.
"Go back! Kyoto's still there, go back!" 


 

 

Back in the center of Installation X, Kyoto is focusing and 
collecting his energies. It has been fifteen years since he last
did what he is about to do now. The last time, he wiped out all
life on the Eurasian supercontinent of another Earth. Back then,
the woman he loved had been torn from him. Now, his family has
been attacked. As in the last case, there can be no forgiveness. 

In the back of his mind, he feels the subconscious "fully 
charged" light go on, and he grins. He brings up his arms, 
points his hands at the glowing reactor, and releases. 

One moment, Installation X is floating space amidst a fleet of 
DMD starships at the center of Sargasso. The next, it has 
transmuted itself into a small nova. All the ships around it are
immediately vaporized; their crews do not even have the time to
scream. Only Chisako, which is barely holding steady at one step
ahead of the shock wave, escapes intact. 

If you ask Ryoko Minamoto, however, they might as well have just
died there. She is slumped on her knees, her face buried in her
hands. Momoko and Kyo are kneeling next to her, hugging her; 
their are no words of comfort that do not seem trite at this 
moment. 

Mirei is gazing out the viewport as she watches the bright glow
fizzle and go out, leaving a thin cloud of dust behind, all that
is left of Sargasso and Installation X. "Good-bye," she 
whispers. 

There's a sudden flash of light on the command deck, followed
by a column of smoke. Coughing is heard, and then finally a 
familiar voice says, "I think --cough, cough-- I used --cough,
cough-- too much --cough, cough--..." 

"Kyoto!" 

"Dad!" 

"Daddy!" 

The three other members of the Minamoto family rush over to hug
their patriarch. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just give me a little space for a sec--"
Kyoto flickers out, then flickers back in again, completely
untouched. "Ahh... good as new." 

Ryoko grabs him by the collar and growls into his face, "If you
ever do that to me again, I'll kill you, I swear, I'll bring
you back to life and I'll kill you--" Her ranting is cut short
when he presses his lips to hers. Her body goes limp against
his and when she pulls away she is slightly flushed. "Kiss me 
again, Kyoto." 

"Well, I think we better leave these two alone!" Tenchi starts
ushering everyone else off the command deck. 

Momoko has a "oh, how sweet" expression on her face as she 
watches her parents kiss, while Kyo just looks disgusted. 

Kiyone would have made her own comment about their kissing,
if her lips were not already pressed up against Tenchi's.
The emperor of Jurai carries his empress off the command deck,
presumably towards their room in the Masaki house. 

 

* * *

 

It's "night-time" at the Masaki house, and the three daughters
of Tenchi and Kiyone are in their room, sipping hot cocoa and 
talking about "girl-stuff." 

Mirei points at a picture in a photo album Sasami had pulled
out. "Sasami, who are they?" 

Sasami takes a look at the picture. In it are three students. 

One is a lanky, intense-eyed blond with a dry smile on her lips,
and auburn eyebrows, belying her true hair color. The other girl
is purple haired and brown-eyed, with a happy-go-lucky
expression on her face; the young man has darkish brown hair and
eyes to match; as well as a confident but easygoing air about
him. 

Sasami studies the picture for a moment, then smiles in 
recognition. "Oh, those are some classmates of mine from 
college. I roomed with them for a while." She furrows her brow
in concentration as she attempts to dredge up the names. "The
blond girl was named Reiko Akagi, she was a computer science
major. She was very nice, but she got a little too much into her
studies; there were times when we had to literally force-feed
her so she wouldn't starve while studying. The other two--"
She thinks for a moment, "--The girl was named Misa Katsuragi;
she studied psychology and her boyfriend a lot. I caught them
being naughty on more than one occasion!" 

"What's the boy's name?" asks Mirei. 

"His name was Ryo Kaji. He studied business administration
and physical education. He and Misato were very nice, but they
only had eyes for each other, a lot like Mommy and Daddy. I 
think they got married and started working for some government
agency." Sasami laughs as she sees the picture beneath that.
"They were also taking care of a new breed of warm-water
penguins." She points at the picture, indicating the two 
penguins in it. "Their names were Pen-Pen and Pen-Pen-Pen.
Still don't know why." 

She and her sisters pause for a moment in their "girl talk" to 
listen to the noise coming from the room next door, muffled
though it is by the triple-layered soundproofing. It is none 
other than Tenchi and Kiyone, performing their nightly ritual
(and if I need to spell out just what the hell that is, then I 
think you're a little too young to be reading this, ne ^_^?).

"They've been making noise for a long time now," comments
Mirei. "What are they doing in there?"

"They're being naughty!" laughs Tsunami.

Mirei looks slightly confused. "What do you mean, ‘naughty?'"
Her two new sisters look over at her in disbelief, but the 
bafflement on her face is genuine.

Sasami takes the initiative and leans over to Mirei, and 
whispers what "naughty" means in her ear. The 
former-ghost-girl-now-princess blushes, and then laughs. "So 
that's what all the noise is!"

"And they do that all the time!" continues Sasami, giggling
herself. The three girls listen for a little longer, until the
commentary accompanying the tryst takes a turn that the 
princesses don't want to hear.

Mirei sighs, a wistful look in her eyes. "They sound just like
my parents...."

"I thought you didn't remember your parents?" asks Tsunami,
propping herself up on one elbow.

"I don't, not really," admits Mirei. "But I do remember what 
they were like. I remember that they were kind and loving and 
very much in love--just like your--our--parents."

Sasami, a little emotional now over Mirei's revelation,
hugs her new sister. "I'm sorry, Mirei." A smile, however,
can never stay long away from Sasami's face. "But you have a new
family now, and we all love you."

"That's right," agrees Tsunami, as she idly thumbs through
one of the picture albums. "Oh, Sasami, who're they?" 

In the picture, as in the last one, are a boy and two girls.
The boy, a fairly content expression on his face, is fairly
nondescript with slightly shaggy brown hair and blue eyes. The
girl on his left, the one with the huge grin, has long, auburn
hair, with sapphire eyes and a pair of cat's-ear-like
ornaments in her hair. The girl on the boy's left, the one with
the slight smile, has creamy-white skin, wide cherry eyes, and
short hair a few shades bluer than Sasami's. 

"Oh, that's Shin Ikari, his sister Rika, and his girl-friend
Azusa." Sasami has a mischievous grin on her face. "They were
all very naughty!"

"Together?!" Mirei's face is coated with a look of nausea and 
disgust. 

Sasami squints her eyes and sticks out her tongue. "That's
icky! No, not together! Rika would always just walk in on Azusa
and Shin when they were... doing that naughty thing." She 
laughs. "I always thought that she wanted to be naughty with 
him. I don't think he knew that, though." 

Both Tsunami and Mirei squint their eyes and stick out their
tongues at this. And then begin to bop Sasami over the head with
their pillows. 

 

* * *


Tenchi is paying a price for the previous evening's activities
at the breakfast table. Not quite awake, he is sitting 
upright--barely--but his eyes are closed, and there has been 
more than one instance where Kiyone has had to pull him back 
upright.

Nobuyuki looks with mild concern at his son--mild because this
is a rather common occurrence at the breakfast table when he and
Kiyone come to visit. "Tenchi, are you awake?"

Tenchi responds by dropping his face back into the platter
of fish and rice.

"Ah." Nobuyuki is not surprised, although he has noted that when
not on vacation, his son and daughter-in-law do this very often
and are bright and chipper the next day. "Kiyone, could you 
please take Tenchi back to bed?"

Kiyone blushes slightly. "Dad! We just finished!"

Nobuyuki groans. "That's exactly what I didn't want to hear 
at--" he checks his watch "--nine in the morning."

"Speaking of which," interrupts Washu, "what are we even doing
up this early? None of us are going to work or school."

Nobuyuki stretches and yawns. "Kyoto said he wanted everyone
up bright and early for damage assessment."

"And why are we even listening to him? It's not like this is a 
Navy ship, where we're his crew!"

"It is his ship," reminds Kiyone. "Besides, he said it wouldn't
take more than a few hours; just find out what needs what 
service and point the automechanics in that direction."

As if to endorse the ease of the job, Tenchi starts snoring. 

"Kiyone, take him to bed," advises Nobuyuki.

"Dad, I thought I already told you about that!!!"

Nobuyuki groans. "NO!! Just put him in your bed and let him 
sleep! By the way, how come you're so chipper?"

Kiyone blushes. "Well... you know, the guy generally does the 
bulk of the work in things and--" Deciding that she's said 
enough-- judging from the looks of everyone else around the 
table-- she loops one of Tenchi's arms around her shoulders
and she begins to haul him up the stairs. 

 

* * *

 

As Kiyone had said, the job of damage assessment was easy and 
quick. Chisako's superior shields means that the extent of the
repairs is picking things up off the floor and putting them back
on their shelves. However, there is a problem that no number
of automechanics can solve.

"We're out of food?!"

"Now, we're not completely out of food," reassures Kyoto. "There
is still the food in the houses, and on the fruit trees on the
arboretum decks. But, yes, the food cyclers are out of material,
so what 'real' food we have--is all we have."

"Okay," says Tenchi. "But how did you find this out?"

"It was thanks to Mirei here," answers Kyoto, motioning to 
Tenchi's newest daughter. "She had come up to the command deck,
and asked what the cycler was. When I told her, she asked if she
could get some hot chocolate. When she tried, she said it didn't
work. I checked, and found that the cycler was out of the raw 
material needed to produce the food."

"Well," says Ryoko in a relieved tone, "we still have plenty
of food in our house--"

"Um, no, we don't." This comes from Kyo, who emerges from the 
kitchen of the Minamoto house--where everyone is gathered
at the moment--holding a jar of pickles, the only thing left in
the pantry. "Mom, the pantry's empty." On impulse, he pulls out
one of the dills and bites in. He spits it out a moment later.
"And they're spoiled, too!"

A collective groan issues upward. Ryoko has a frantic look on 
her face. "What about the fridge?" 

"A half-empty bottle of milk that expires--whoa, two months
ago; the leftovers of last week's beef pot; a couple of celery
sticks; a half-eaten tofu patty; and an unopened bottle of soy
sauce." Kyo, who is the first to check the fridge, delivers
this report. "Y'know, we really need to get groceries more 
often." 

"Well...what about the Masaki house?"

Katsuhito and Nobuyuki look somewhat sheepish. "Well....
remember that we have been living a virtual bachelor life for 
some weeks now...."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" asks Muriyaki pointedly.

"Sorry," amends Katsuhito. "Anyway, um.... We... haven't really
had any need to cook.... We've been...."

"Living off of fast food," finishes Nobuyuki.

"So what was breakfast?" asks Kiyone.

"Umm.... the last of the food in the house...." admits Nobuyuki,
who adds, "If it's any consolation, there's plenty of booze 
left."

"So where'd all the food go?"

"That would be me." Everyone turns to see Chi-ohki bounce up, a 
New York Mets cap turned backwards on his head. "I figured
it was my rightful reward for rescuing you guys.... there any 
left?"

Grinning, Kyo tosses him the carton of milk. "It's all yours."

"Thanks, kid." The fat cabbit catches the carton and bounds
outside. After a few moments, they hear Chi-ohki hacking and 
coughing. "Ack! That milk is spoiled!"

"Oh! That reminds me!" Sasami tugs on Kiyone's sleeve. "Mommy,
is it okay if the other girls and I show Mirei the Ohki saucer?"

"Sure, sweetie, just let me tell your father." Kiyone leans up 
and whispers in Tenchi's ear. Tenchi smiles and nods. Excited,
Sasami grabs Mirei's hand and tugs her off out the door. Tsunami
and Momoko follow close behind.

Tenchi turns to look at the goddesses. "Can you three help us 
out on this score?" 

Tsunami shakes her head. "We would if we could, but we can't.
You see, ever since we left the Triad, our powers have slowly
been fading. By the time the process has ended, we will have 
little more in the way of special abilities than Kyoto. We 
cannot help you in this regard."

Tenchi struggles to contain his exasperation. "Well, Kyoto,
you said it's not hopeless, right?"

"Not at all," agrees Kyoto, who suddenly grins wickedly.
"I just hope you really like fruit...."


The End

 

 

 

 

Footnotes:

*A Japanese baseball team. Hey, we could have used another
team named the Carp. I only know of the Dragons, Carp, and 
Giants.