Kaiton
vze2jcwc@verizon.net


	"Hello...Professor."  The voice was rich with sarcasm, the deep
baritone oozing menace as it boomed all around her.  She looked in all
directions but saw nothing but darkness around her, no sign of the
speaker could be found.  "It has been quite a long time...perhaps you
don't remember me?"  Her spiky hair bristled at the statement, she
never forgot anything!

	She called upon the power of the gems and felt the heady aura of
energy engulf her in a nimbus of arching electricity.  She fashioned
an energy sword, the long rod pulsing in the darkness, and she thought
she could see strange objects shuffling in the shadows.  "Come out
now!"

	The figure laughed out loud at her statement.  "You presume to
dictate orders to me?  It seems you've lost your mind dear
professor...to think you can control me."  A looming apparition
appeared outlined in white, a thick cloak and long hair clearly
identifiable in the darkness.

	"Kagato?"  Washu tensed as the shadow laughed again, the sound
echoing off the cavernous chamber.  "Kagato is that you?"  Suddenly
she felt the power drain from her body, the flows from the gem sucked
out of her veins and torn from her hands as the energy blade vaporized
from her clutching palm.  She fell to her knees, she had no power left
to stand up, but she weakly pivoted her head to look into the shadow's
face.  Washu knew he had shielded her powers...difficult for even the
most powerful of beings but child's play to her one-time student.

	"I'm surprised that you allowed Kagato to abduct you from the
Academy...he never seemed to have the guts, but now I know he
doesn't."  The figure chuckled at his own joke.  "Have you taken any
more students?  Or shall I say, 'stud'ents?"  A blazing weapon, a
thick-bladed sword screamed into creation from his right hand, and he
promptly pointed it straight at her throat.  "Do you remember that
time in your office at the Academy...when the dean was visiting but
you ordered me under your desk-"

	"Yes!  Just don't talk about that...now."  The blade dipped
lightly across her skin, as if tasting her flesh, and made a shallow
scratch over her jugular.

	"Oh?  Bringing back bad memories, Professor?  Speaking of
which..."  Washu felt herself levitated off the floor and propelled
into the air, only to be left suspended in front of his face.  She
screamed as the change took place, her body tearing painfully as it
followed his directions and not her vehement commands to stop, her
clothes were torn away as her skin split and stretched, only to leave
her naked in nothingness.  "You've aged well, I see."  A gloved hand
reached out of the shadows and caressed her bare thigh before swiftly
moving up and cupping the bare lips of her sex.

	"N-not!  Don't!"  Washu screamed as the silky hand traced the
outer contours of her lips, occasionally dipping into the centre for
lubrication.

	"Why not, Professor Washu?  You seemed to enjoy it the last time
I was allowed this pleasure..."  A thick digit split her labia and
pushed into her tunnel.  "Don't you remember it?  On the bridge of the
Soja?  Long before Kagato made the name infamous, don't you remember
our last time...DO YOU!?!"  The finger inside her moved swiftly in and
out, the tempo increasing as his voice rose and suddenly it wasn't his
finger but his member, the swollen head rubbing against the walls of
her sex.

	"P-please...don't..."

	"Don't what?  Professor?"  The pace sped up until she was ripped
away from the violence of the act by a tidal wave of pleasure crashing
against her body.  She screamed as he came within her, no longer in
pain or humiliation...but in orgasmic rapture as she felt his seed
move within her, impregnating her...

	...And just as suddenly as the pleasure rose, it was gone,
leaving a ghostly longing behind in her stomach.  Her thighs were wet
with juices and her nipples were painfully erect, but nothing had gone
on between them, it was all a remembrance.  "W-why did you..."

	"...Show you this?  Make you feel the pleasure again?  Because,
dear Professor, it makes the game all the more fun for me."  The
shadow disappeared, melting back into the darkness of her chamber,
leaving only his low cackle to echo off her walls.

	"Lights."  Washu rose from her seat, her clothing sticking to her
thighs with wetness, and the lights arose from all corners of her lab.
No longer was it amorphous darkness but a floating series of platforms
making up the hub of her laboratory dimension.  With a slight hand
gesture new clothes draped her body and her seat was dry, with another
a holographic display appeared before her.  Astral
projection...child's play.  No energy sources were detected or
recorded in the lab space, rather he had projected himself into her
mind, as she slept which left no trace of his presence or traceable
point of origin.  He could have been halfway across the galaxy or on
Earth, she couldn't tell.  Washu finally noticed that she was an
adult, not a child as she was when she drifted off to sleep, he must
have been close, at least in the same galaxy to force her change.  She
sighed, knowing he was coming and knew exactly why...

---Title---

Daughter of Darkness
A Ranma /12 - Tenchi Muyo! Altaverse
By Dr. Suekeiichi Kaiton (vze2jcwc@verizon.net)

---Nerima, Japan---

	"Just what do you think you're doing, Saotome?"  Nabiki was
pressed against the wall, the cold plaster chilling her exposed flesh
as the weight shoved her roughly off the bed.  If Ranma heard her, he
made no motion to acknowledge her, merely grunting softly and taking
another long drag off his cigarette.  "Saotome, if you push me off
this bed..." Threatening seemed to be her only alternative, well, the
only one that seemed to work, and she was gratified when his arm
snaked around her back and pulled her close to his body.  "What's
wrong?"

	Ranma blew a few rings of smoke at the ceiling and watched the
gray cloud dissipate in the air.  He offered his cigarette and Nabiki
puffed at it, settled on her side next to him.  It was light out,
birds were singing, children were frolicking out in the street and
Kasumi was humming as she set out the wash to dry.  These happy,
domestic sounds drifted into the cool room on the autumn day.
"Nothing to worry about, just some personal matters."

	Nabiki gently pressed her ear to the wall, listening to Akane
waking up in the next room, stretch and say good morning to P-Chan.
"You'd better get out of here, Akane just woke up."  He waved her off.

	"She'll just take her bath and we both know how long she takes,
I've got plenty of time..." He took a final drag before handing it to
her, holding it in and closing his eyes.

	"So what're you thinking about, Saotome?"  She finished the fag
and crushed it out on her nightstand, her breasts swaying enticingly
over his chest as she sat up but if Ranma felt any stirrings of
passion at their display, he kept them well hidden.  "Something's
going on in that head of yours.  You know you get all silent when
something's bothering you."  She enjoyed the intimacy of their time in
the early morning.

	"I said it's nothing, Nabiki, just something I have to do today."
He abruptly sat up and swung his legs from the bed, the thin blanket
pulling over his six-pack and thighs as he stood.  A few empty beer
cans clattered from where they'd discarded them last night.  He picked
up his pants and fished a few hundred-thousand yen notes on her desk.
That was simply the arrangement.

	"Where do you get the money...I'll never figure it out."  Nabiki
watched him dress as she lay on her side, head propped on one arm, the
other on her thigh.

	"You shouldn't ask questions."  Ranma slipped on a black Chinese
shirt and left his almost-empty pack of cigs on her desk as well,
throwing the condoms atop the pile.  Not that he needed them, Nabiki
had been on the pill since sophomore year and had been taking them
even more judiciously in the past year, ever since their arrangement.

	 "And why not?"

	"Because it isn't any of your business."  There it was again,
that strict tone of his that chilled her through and through, the
voice that carried an implied threat of grievous bodily harm.  "I have
to do something today, I don't want anyone to follow me."  He laid a
few more bills on her desk.

	"I think you already 'did' something today..."  She smirked at
his back.

	"No one, Nabiki."  His hand gripped the handle and he left
without a word, the door clicking shut behind him.  Nabiki grinned as
she left the warmth and safety of her bed, stretching her tired
muscles and relishing the pleasurable soreness between her legs.  Yes,
today was shaping up to be a good day, she thought.  She heard Akane
leave the bathroom a few minutes later and could hear Ranma's bland
pleasantries as they crossed in the hall, smiling as she pictured the
bewildered look on Akane's face as her fiancée treated her with a
modicum of respect.

	She dressed hastily, wanting to surprise him in the bath but
sobered as she heard him exit the bathroom as she was buttoning her
shirt.  There would be other times.  She shoved the condoms and
cigarettes in her desk drawer and pocketed the yen in her purse, fully
anticipating an impromptu shopping spree later.  Nabiki knew he loved
it when she wore a new outfit or a new revealing negligee.  And she
certainly didn't want to disappoint him.

	Kasumi was serving breakfast when she appeared in the dining
room.  Her father and Mr. Saotome were already at the shogi board and
Ranma and Akane were already fighting over the miso soup.  It was
shaping up to be a thoroughly normal day in Nerima.

---Okayama, Japan---

	"Get off of me, Ryoko!  I just want to eat my breakfast!"  Tenchi
Masaki parried Ryoko's chopsticks with his own, not in the mood for
being fed like a baby.  Mihoshi seemed not to notice, Yosho was silent
as was Noboyuki, Sasami was chipper as always, and Aeka was visibly
angry.  All in all, a normal day for the Masaki household.

	"You heard Lord Tenchi!  He said he doesn't want to be bothered
by a disgusting space hag like yourself!  Now go away!"  Aeka
vaporized Ryoko's chopsticks with her Jurian powers, laughing as the
pirate flexed her fingers trying to pick up her breakfast.

	"Who's gonna make me, miss prissy pants!?  You!?"  Ryoko stood
from the table, hands crackling with power as another fight seemed
inevitable.  The rest of the family took cover in the kitchen but
continued to eat as the fight was a daily occurrence.  "Ha!  I'd like
to see you try!"

	"You...you monster!"  Aeka shook in fury and fired a glob of
energy at the smirking face that infuriated her so.  Ryoko erected a
barrier and smirked as the first blast was deflected outside easily.

	"Is that all you have, little girl?"  Aeka growled and fired
three more bursts, each one more powerful than the last.  Ryoko
deflected the first two, but the third ripped through her non-existent
barrier and blew her through the wall and outside.  "What the hell was
that?"  A charred space pirate coughed and spat out on the lawn,
watching as Aeka gloated and cackled madly.  Her head spun as she felt
a familiar signature behind her.  "WASHU!?  What's the meaning of
this, mom!?  I could've taken that hit easy, why'd you shut off my
powers?"  She grabbed the collar of Washu's uniform, pulling the small
girl right into her vengeful face.

	"I don't think that's the right way to speak to your
mother...Ryoko."  Washu closed her eyes and suddenly Ryoko wasn't
holding a little pipsqueak with red hair but a voluptuous woman with
an auburn mane falling down her back.  "And I did it because we need
to have a little mother-daughter talk."  The greatest scientific
genius in the universe roughly pinched her daughter's ear and dragged
her, kicking and screaming, into her laboratory, not letting go until
the pair was in the safety of her dimensional rift.

	"Let go already, Washu!"  Ryoko pulled and pulled on the taller
woman's wrist but didn't so much as budge the slender fingers pinching
her pointed ear.  Of course it came as a total surprise when Washu
abruptly left go of her ear as she tugged away, resulting in half of
Ryoko imbedded in the wall.

	"A careless daughter just means more work for mom."  Washu sighed
in exasperation and levitated Ryoko's stunned mass from the retaining
wall, simultaneously repairing the damage.  "Ryoko...Ryoko, wake up."
She shook her daughter firmly by the shoulders.  "I have something
extremely important to tell you!  You must listen!"

	"Wha...why are you spinning mom?"  Ryoko quickly shook off the
effects of her unintended crash, and stood, with a bored expression,
in front of her mother.  "So what's the big deal?"

	"You and I may have to leave Earth."  Ryoko face-faulted, not
expecting that particular answer in the least.  She pulled herself off
the floor and grabbed Washu by the lapels again.

	"And why would we do that!?  Tenchi needs my protection!  Who
knows what Aeka might do with me out of the picture?"  Ryoko pulled
out all the stops, fanged teeth and flat eyes, demon horns and a
snake-like tongue all came to bear in her verbal assault on Washu.
There was only one problem with her attack, with one glance into
Washu's eyes Ryoko stopped the attack, thoroughly surprised by the
emotion she saw in the jade eyes of her mother.

	It was fear.

	Ryoko really didn't want to know about something that was
powerful enough to scare Washu, the self-proclaimed 'Greatest
scientific genius in the universe'.  What was worse was that it wasn't
just fear, it was utter terror.  Washu shivered and her eyes darted
around the lab as if every workstation held some phantom and every
shadow a monster.  The shock was so great that Ryoko dropped Washu to
the floor and stepped back, her mouth agape.

	Neither spoke for many minutes, Ryoko processing the fact that
Washu of all people was frightened, Washu continuing to dart her eyes
around her lab space.  Finally Ryoko found the courage to speak, her
voice a shallow whisper in the dark.

	"Is...what-who?  Wh-what is it?"  Ryoko's cat-like features
turned serious as Washu looked her right in the eye.  "Is
it...Kagato?"

	Washu looked down at her hands, saw them tremble as she tried to
force them under control.

	"Is it...?"

	"No.  It is not Kagato...it is something more powerful than you
could imagine."  Washu brought up a holoscreen of the Soja's bridge.
"You remember the Soja, don't you?  Alright, it was a stupid
question."  Washu magnified the picture until the great viewscreen and
organ were visible.  "This was the Soja you knew, the one controlled
by Kagato, the one used for destruction."  Abruptly the view changed,
the organ gone, replaced by a more normal-looking control space with
science consoles around the viewscreen.

	"Wh-what...?"

	"This is the Soja I built.  It was meant to be my personal
laboratory so that I could further study your gems...but certain
circumstances came up that made that work impossible."  The view
screen disappeared and Washu sat heavily on her floating cushion,
looking very old and frail.  "It all started very normal...everything
was going according to plan, even Kagato was working out as a pupil,
the Science council was under my thumb...everything..."  Washu's eyes
blanked for a second, as if seeing something in the far past,
something she'd prefer not to see.

	"What happened?"  Ryoko had never seen Washu like this before, so
vulnerable and childlike, even if she looked like a woman.  "What
changed?"

	"I was a fool...I caused it..."

	"Caused what!?  Answer me Washu, I won't leave Tenchi!"

	"You will leave with me...or Tenchi and the rest of them may
die."  Ryoko froze.  They had always tackled each new enemy together,
Tenchi never lost with the Light Hawk Wings, Aeka or herself would
always get kidnapped and Tenchi would rush to their rescue...never had
Ryoko thought they would die.  "We have to leave soon, he may be near
here even now and I have no intention of staying here for him to pick
us off."  Washu raised a hand and the lab went dark, all power shut
down.

	"Why do I have to go?  You caused this mess...why drag Tenchi and
me into it?"  Ryoko passed over her obvious grammatical faux pas and
crossed her arms underneath her breasts.  "You made the mistake...you
fix it...what does this have to do with me?"

(You are my daughter.)

	"What!?  How could he be touching reality!?"  It couldn't be
astral projection, no ghost could invade more than dreams.

	"Wh-who are you!  What do you mean?"  Ryoko looked around at the
darkened lab, feeling a strange presence around them.

(You are my daughter, Ryoko.  I am your father.)

	"Ha!  You must be stupider than I thought!  Everyone knows Washu
created me using Masu and her ova, I don't have a father!"  Ryoko
began shooting energy balls into the darkness, accomplishing nothing
but destroying portions of Washu's lab.

	"That's right, Ryoko!  Don't listen to him!"

(Yes, don't listen to me...why not listen to that slut you call
mother?  What have you told her?)

	"How dare you call Washu a slut!"  Ryoko was suddenly filled with
outrage that someone would call her mother a slut.  Washu remained
silent.

(I see...you have told her nothing.  I am coming Washu, nothing you do
will hold me back...)

	Ryoko relaxed as the presence winked out of existence and light
returned to the lab.  Washu lay back in her chair, dark circles under
her eyes.

	"This can't be happening...this can't be happening...this can't
be happening..."  But even then she could not convince herself of the
truth in the statement.

---Nerima---

	Machiko Furusawa stood up from her knees.  The roof was deserted,
so no one was able to see her wipe the whitish-yellow fluid from her
lips and daintily lick her fingers clean, nor could anyone see that
there were wet spots spreading on her panties as her skirt was
discarded on the railing.  She straightened her shirt and withdrew a
cloth to wipe the remaining goo from her glasses.  That had really
been good, she was surprised he had asked.  "So what do you want?"

	"You used to live in Okayama...right sensei?"

	She was taken aback by the nature of the question, she had been
expecting something of a more sexual nature...especially given the
man's physique.  "Y-yeah...I grew up there...why?"  She replaced her
glasses once the fluid was gone and went about wiping the wet spots on
her undergarments.

	"Do you know of someplace called the Masaki Shrine?"  He was
leaning against the railing surrounding the roof, smoking a cigarette.

	"Yeah...an old temple in the woods, kinda creepy place if you ask
me, my family once went there for the New Year.  I guess you could say
it's kinda famous because supposedly a wandering samurai named Yosho
trapped a demon in the cave behind the shrine, and the Masaki family
is entrusted with guarding the tomb.  At least that's what the priest
who gave us a tour said."  Machi walked up behind him and ran her
slender fingers over his buttocks and around to his crotch.  "Are you
sure there's nothing else I can help you with?"

	The man turned around.  "No, you've just given me all that I
need."  She pouted, hoping to get off herself and mentally cursed men
for their selfishness.  The man gently ran his finger over the curve
of her jaw and down her shoulder, around the smooth curve of her small
chest and down to her navel.  "Now I wouldn't just leave you like
this, sensei."  His callused hands plunged down her panties and she
immediately climaxed so powerfully that she passed out, her scream cut
short.  "I would leave you like this...professor."  With that the man
leapt down to the ground.

	Nabiki had just finished her lunchtime run, selling photos of her
sister to the boys and selling photos of Ranma to the girls, and was
now settling down to eat her lunch when Ranma arrived through the main
doors carrying his bento.  He walked up to her and sat under the shade
of the tree, opening his bento as she ate.  "Anything new?"

	"I felt a strong energy signature around just now...could be
Ryoga."  Ranma opened his lunch and ate the entire contents in twelve
seconds, not even missing a grain of rice.

	"Really...then I better write up some odds."  If there was a
fight, she could make a killing if she told the students Ryoga had
just undergone some new training.  "Is something bothering you,
Saotome?"

	"No.  But I have something to do after school, remember what I
said."  Ranma leaned back against the tree, watching the students
around him look at his strangely as he ate with Nabiki.

	"Yeah...no one...I get it, Saotome."  Nabiki finished and looked
at him dozing under the limbs.  "Why didn't you sit with Akane?  You
could have told me this later."

	"I already was punted into Leo once today...I simply didn't feel
like doing so again."  He never opened his eyes, but she could tell he
was watching her every move.  "Tonight, Nabiki."

	"Again?  That's four times in so many days, you must have come
into some real money to afford this..."

	It had been rather simple.  Six months after the Saotomes arrived
at the Tendo Dojo, Nabiki was treated an insight into the real Ranma,
not the Ranma that was engaged to Akane, but the scheming and mature
Ranma.  She fulfilled some of his 'needs' from time to time and
received cash in return, however, where he got the money she didn't
know.  Ranma seemingly had no job, no bank account, and no hidden
savings yet he always left her hundred-thousand yen notes...another
mystery.

	"You're not getting a yen more, Nabiki.  Just be satisfied with
what you get...don't become greedy."  He stood up then and walked back
into the school building, not acknowledging the stares his classmates
gave him as Nabiki sat there, alone.

---Okayama, later that day---

	"Aeka, I'm worried about Ryoko and Washu.  Both of them haven't
eaten a thing all day and haven't said anything either."  Aeka was at
the shrine, sweeping the office porch.  Tenchi was with her, sweeping
the temple grounds.

	"I was wondering why it was so quiet...it feels nice to not hear
her annoying voice for once."

	"Come on Aeka, I know you don't mean that..."  Sasami knew that
deep down Aeka held some degree of respect or camaraderie with the
space pirate, it was just Tenchi that got in the way.  "Something's
really wrong with them...I think we should ask them what the problem
is."

	"That's a good idea, Sasami."  Tenchi laid a hand on the young
princess's shoulder and let Ryo-Ohki jump from his head down to hers.
"Who knows what the problem could be..."  Together, the three began
the arduous walk back to the house.

	Ryoko was still lying on her rafter. Ryoko didn't move.  Washu
hadn't said anything since the morning, nothing to explain the
stranger's appearance or allegations.  Did he tell the truth?  What
was so dangerous that even Washu feared it?  She didn't really want to
know the answers, but somehow she knew that she would get them, sooner
or later.

	She phased through the rafter and floated down to Washu's closet,
entering without fanfare only to find the diminutive scientist (back
in child-form) typing away at her console.  As she flew closer she
could see a young man's face on one screen, a schematic of the Science
Academy database on another.  The last, and the console Washu was
working on at the moment, proved to be from the GP mainframe but
displayed the same image of the young man.

	"So who's the guy?"  Washu jumped from her chair and shut off all
the holoscreens, turning to regard Ryoko with a sharp eye.  "You
trying to catch a man,  Washu?"  Even her little joke dropped like a
lead weight in the serious atmosphere of the laboratory.

	"I hope you thought about what I said...will you come with me?"

	Ryoko shook her head sadly.  "No...I have to stay with Tenchi."
Washu frowned and stood from her seat.

	"You do realize that if he so chooses, everyone will die...don't
you?"

	"Listen, Mom, you haven't even told me who the guy is or why
you're so scared of him...why should I abandon Tenchi for your pack of
lies!?"

	"Because it would save his life."  Ryoko turned around quickly to
see the stranger, but only saw the inky blackness of the lab.  Washu's
eyes glazed over and her legs began to shake violently.  She simply
fell to her knees, her mouth agape.  "Not to mention your own."

	"Show yourself you creep!  Stop hiding in the shadows all the
time, face me like a real man!"  Ryoko shot a burst of power at the
shadowed entrance to the lab.  Washu began to weep.

	"I was a real man once.  Until your mother killed me.  How was
Kagato in the sack, hmm, Washu-chan?"  The shadows began to coalesce
in the centre of the lab, swirls of inky blackness leeching from the
air.

	"No...no...no..."  Washu began rocking herself back and forth,
unwilling to look at the figure.

	"Not much, hmm?"  The figure emerged from the cloud of darkness,
floating a foot off the floor and radiating enough power to vaporize
the Emperor of Jurai.  It was a young looking man with black hair that
flowed down his back and held together with a red ribbon.  He wore the
same small spectacles Kagato wore, only his were distinctly thinner,
more almond shaped.  Thick green and purple robes hung off his broad
shoulders, the green cloak flowing to the floor, the purple robe
underneath clasped at his waist with a metal belt.  He wore the same
Science Academy insignia as Kagato below his throat, clasping his cape
around his shoulders as he drifted into the light.  The stranger was
easily six feet tall, with bare hands and soft slippers that moved
gently as he levitated in front of his victims.

	"Wh-who are you...Kagato?"  Ryoko slitted her eyes and went into
battle mode, the power of her gems covering her body in crystalline
armor.

	"Don't bother with the battle suit, Ryoko, I am the one that gave
your mother the gems and I can take them back."  He thrust a hand out
at Ryoko, concentric circles of energy plucking the gems from her
wrists, leaving her to crumple to the floor in exhaustion (Think of
Kagato's attack at the end of Tenchi Universe, the one that wounded
Ryoko).  Her legs suddenly felt like rubber, her head a metal weight
she couldn't lift from the smooth floor.  "Care to surrender?  It
would make your life so much easier..."  The gems floated above her
head, rotating slowly like a halo around her spiked hair.  She vainly
tried to reach for them only to grasp thin air.

	Ryoko struggled to stand, wobbled and fell on her rear, gasping
for breath and glaring daggers at the tall man.  "Never!!  My Tenchi
will get you for this!"  The man smirked slightly and the gems flew
into his hand, one moment later the gems disappeared into the flowing
robes he wore.  He waved the empty hand at Ryoko writhing on the
floor.

	"Don't worry, daughter, I have no intention of hurting you or
your beau.  I only want your mother."  The man floated over to Washu
and with a flick of his wrist she was pulled into the air, fully
mature and naked.  "Tsk, tsk, lo how the mighty have fallen...eh,
Professor?  But don't worry about our daughter, I won't harm a spiky
hair on her head...no I'll save all my vengeance for you...my
beloved."  The man flicked his wrist again and this time Washu flew
through the air, crashed into the wall of her lab and broke through to
the living room of the Masaki family in a spray of sparks and
circuitry.  "They don't make compressed dimensions like they used to I
see..."

	"Why are you doing this!?"  Ryoko was clutching onto one of the
consoles to stand.  "Who are you?"

	"I am Divus Honturi...last survivor of Pandora."  The man gave
her a stern smile, one tinged with regret she thought, regret and
remembrance.  "As for why I do this...best to ask your mother."  The
shadows swallowed him once again and he was gone leaving Ryoko
powerless, Washu unconscious, and the galaxy in terror.

---Later---

	"So what's this all about?"  Tenchi sat next to his father and
Katsuhito in the living room, across from Ryoko, the girls, and Washu.
The latter was sporting a new outfit, instead of wearing the old
Science Academy uniform Washu wore a set of deep blue robes, similar
in design to those found on the planet Jurai.  "I come back in from
the fields and our living room is destroyed and Washu-chan's
unconscious on the floor!  What happened?"

	Ryoko didn't answer, she just sat on her cushion and looked at
the floor, waiting for Washu to explain the whole story.  Aeka looked
peevish at the attention Ryoko was getting, Sasami was sitting
nervously next to her older sister, and Mihoshi was snoring softly
from underneath the table.  Katsuhito was watching Washu very closely,
almost afraid of what he might hear.  Finally, Washu began her tale.

	"We should have left this morning, Ryoko, if we had left then all
of you would be safe.  He won't stop at anything for his
revenge...he'll hunt us all down for millennia if need be...all to get
you, Ryoko."  He had done something to her.

	"Shut up!!!  Just tell us what this guy wants!  And how does he
know you?!"  Ryoko lifted her head from the futon lying to the side of
the table, unable to sit up.  She had become crippled without the
gems, the power that allowed her to do the amazing things she could
was now absent and she even found moving impossible.  "You know more
than you're telling, you had files on him!"

	"I know a lot about many things, Ryoko, that doesn't mean I have
to tell you all about them!"  Washu had seemingly ashamed and
embarrassed by the entire conversation, all present knew she had a
prior history with the man, but where the connection was...that was
the question.  No one else knew that he was Ryoko's father, neither
Hakubi women volunteering that particular info.

	Ryoko smiled very cruelly.  She knew something that might just
turn the conversation in her favor, something strange that the man had
said as he faded.  I've got you now Washu, she thought as Sasami
placed another wet compress on her forehead.  "He said he was the last
survivor of some place called-"

	"Ryoko!  Be quiet!"  Washu leapt to cover her daughter's mouth
but had difficulty using her grown appendages.

	"-Pandora."  Sasami dropped the bowl of cool water on Ryoko's
face, drenching the pirate who simply sighed, knowing there was
nothing she could do.  She looked up at the table.  Aeka fainted dead
away, Yosho's face tightened and Mihoshi just snored away.  Washu was
stretched on the floor, sobbing into her arms as her dirty secret was
revealed.  "What?  What did I say?"

	"Perhaps it was a good idea that I called my father and mother
when I sensed that energy spike.  If what you say is true, Ryoko, then
they need to know about this."  Yosho stood from the table,
effectively postponing the explanation.  "They will be here tonight, I
imagine.  We will wait for them to arrive before Washu explains
herself."  He padded slowly out the door, intent on meditating for
some time, this was quite a mess indeed.

	Tenchi regarded his grandfather's departing form and looked
around at the dazed faces and Washu's weeping form.  "What's
'Pandora'?  Why is everybody so upset?  Aeka?  Sasami?  Mihoshi?
Anybody please explain what's going on!?"  He was on his feet at the
last, trying to make sense out of the myriad reactions.  What was
powerful enough to make grandfather worry...unless...

	"It's not Kagato, Tenchi."  Ryoko weakly spoke from the bedroll.
"It's something even deadlier."  She was apparently not missing
anything, so the retired space pirate closed her eyes and tried
desperately to repair the flows of energy in her body.  Sasami picked
up the empty water bowl and Ryo-Ohki, before dashing into the kitchen.

	Washu knew that she would have to tell them all, tell them all
about her secret shame.  Funaho already knew about the gems, as did
Misaki and Azusa, but now she would have to tell them how they came to
be in her possession.  Time was certainly running out...

---Nullspace---

	"...furthermore, Tokimi-sama I suggest-"

	"You will not suggest anything to her grace."  D3's streaming
head turned swiftly to regard the intruder to the realm.  Lady Tokimi
was as stunned as her first lieutenant, her shadow form drifting in
the darkness before swiveling to look at the intruder standing
brazenly in the centre of her audience chamber.

	"How dare you disrupt the sanctity of Tokimi-sama's chambers,
begone with you foul intruder!"  D3 shot a concentrated blast of
energy from the gem embedded in his forehead, striking the stranger in
a blast of pyrotechnic plasma.  "All who dare to challenge Lady Tokimi
will have to first deal with me!"  The floating dais billowed acrid
smoke into the black nothingness as Tokimi watched in amusement.

	"As you were saying, D3..."  Tokimi shifted her focus back to her
advisor as he turned away from the ruined platform.

	"Yes, Tokimi-sama.  I suggest that we first deal with
Tsunami-sama, as Washu-sama's powers-"

	"Are highly overrated."  The same droll voice sounded from the
intact floating island.  He was dressed in long robes and wore a long
dark ponytail tied at the end down his back.  "It's a pleasure to see
you again, Tokimi-san."

	D3 turned back, his blank eyes glowing red in anger.  "How dare
you presume to address Tokimi-sama in that way!"  The stranger
shrugged, the light emanating from D3's eyes glinting off his thin
professorial glasses.

	"Would you prefer I call her 'Tokimi-chan'?"  D3 blasted another
volley at the intruder.  The man simply raised his arm and the blasts
were reflected harmlessly back at the apparition, the casual ease with
which the man shielded himself disturbing Tokimi greatly.

	"D3."

	He stopped his attack, his eyes still burning like hot coals as
carmine trails swirled from his eyes.  "Yes, my lady?"

	"Leave us."  D3 looked awestruck by Tokimi's request, his anger
gone for the time being, but her tone brooked no argument.  "I have
nothing to fear from this...man."  Reluctantly, and with much glaring
at the stranger, D3 faded from view.

	"I will return presently, Tokimi-sama."

	The man just snorted contemptuously.  "He's very pushy isn't he?"
Soft slippers levitated off the platform, bringing the drifting figure
to the head of Tokimi's massive image.  "It's been a awhile."  He
smirked again and spread his arms out wide, throwing back his long
mane of black hair and pointing his toes at the endless tunnel beneath
them.  He screamed as the change occurred, his astral body shedding
the comparatively weak flesh and streaming into the dark chamber.  His
face appeared out of the inky blackness, twenty-times the size of his
humanoid façade and matching Tokimi's projection, his tall body
wrapped in form-fitting robes with the distant shadow of three figures
behind him.  One shade possessed long straight hair, another
stretching spiky hair to her ankles, and the centre figure was a
mixture of the two with straight hair down her back and spiky
protrusions at the top.  It was Lady Tokimi's shadow behind him.
"It's good to see you survived."

	She was surprised to find him here again, but she should have
expected his arrival.  "I wish I could say the same for you, Divus
Honturi."  She smiled cruelly, showing perfect, white pointed teeth.

	  "Tut, tut, is that any way to treat your ex-husband?"

	"HOW DARE YOU EVEN SUGGEST THE IDEA THAT I WOULD BE CIVIL TO
YOU!!!!!"  She roared from the prison of her shadow.  "YOU ARE THE ONE
RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!!!!!"  She pulled at her gown, unable to
extricate it from the cage of darkness.  "YOU TRAPPED ME HERE!!!"

	"It was for your own good, I did it to all of you.  It saved you
from the purge and that's all that matters."  Honturi wavered for a
bit in the air, his gloved hands pressing into the invisible barriers
of her cell, testing the limits of his own handiwork.  "I must say you
aged well."

	"Shut up!!!"  Her projected aura grew until it covered the entire
span of her chamber, the red anger seething around her body so much
that the shadows of destiny disappeared from behind her.

	"Excellent!  I see that your powers haven't grown rusty with the
passage of years, darling."  The man's aura laughed heartily, exposing
white pointed teeth in counterpoint to her own.  "You can still expand
with the best of them."

	Tokimi suddenly realized that she was beyond the dimensions of
her prison, larger than his projection in her anger.  She was free.
Lady Tokimi was free after countless millennia of stasis and planning
against her sister, she was free again!  Her arms expanded across the
rounded corners of the cavernous room, and wrapped the man's aura in
her talons.  "I'm free, Honturi, I'm free once again!"  She laughed as
her aura shrank back to normal size.

	"Tokimi-sama!  I have arranged for...for...what!?"  D3
reappeared, his white apparition staring in bewilderment at the
stranger's aura around him and the renewed clarity of Lady Tokimi's
power.

	"D3, I must depart.  I entrust authority to you until I return."
D3 never acknowledged her, stunned as he was as her freedom and the
stranger's powers, no wonder he had been unsuccessful in his attacks.

	"See ya, by the way, I'd shave if I were you.  You're never going
to get any women at all if you're all hairy."  The man regarded D3
with a smug smile before gasping Tokimi's arm and disappearing.

---Aboard the Imperial Yacht, Haruna---

	"My liege, we have detected a small life capsule off the
starboard bow, shall we retrieve?"  The flight technician looked up at
the Emperor Azusa sitting atop the throne high above.  Misaki and
Funaho stood on either side, whispering to him over the strange
message they had received.  "My liege?"

	"...And so the message just came through the regular transponder
channels, I assume Yosho procured some of Washu's equipment, clear as
day like he'd done it thousands of times before!"  Misaki, as Captain
of the Royal Guard, was responsible for screening the Emperor's
messages.  "All he said was: 'Washu has been attacked, we need you to
come immediately.  This may be the truth behind the secret of Jurai.'
Now let me tell you, Funaho-chan, that certainly got my attention!"
Azusa's teeth crackled as he grit them together.

	"Mother's shouldn't have sons, all they do is go off and find
women, have children, and never call you back again."  Funaho dried
her eyes with a kerchief.  Azusa's forehead bulged  with the massive
veins pulsing underneath.  "Oh do calm down dear, I'm sure Yosho
called us for a good reason, or he better have or else he's going to
have a red bottom!"  The bridge crew around the Empress blushed,
trying valiantly to hold back the laughter.

	"Sir?"  The technician tried once again to break the close
conversation between the Royalty.

	"WHAT!?"  Azusa bellowed from the throne, a heavy aura blazing
into existence around him.  "WHAT IS IT!?"

	The technician hid under his console.  "...Uh...just an emergency
pod off the starboard bow...shall we commence retrieval?"  He feared
for his life.

	"Yes, by all means, by Space Law M87, paragraph XXVI, we must do
all we can to help those stranded."  Misaki gave the navigator and
science officer a big thumbs-up with her puppy-dog eyes.  Funaho
pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.  "What type of
escape pod is it?"

	"A mark II Hibernator, a Galaxy Police exclusive model.  Our
sensors show that there is definitely something alive inside, even
though the pod has been out here for many months."  It was a common
feature on GP pods to come equipped with a hibernation cell, allowing
the escapee to use minimum life support and therefore survive longer
in a hostile environment.  "Our records show that this pod, serial
number 123456789963852741, was loaded onto the Yukinojo."

	"Mihoshi's ship?  No wonder the person left, it's probably a
convict.  Have a security detachment there when the body is thawed, I
want no interruptions in our voyage to Earth."  Funaho and Misaki
continued to chat away as the pod was brought inside the protective
dome of the Haruna.  The carbon frozen humanoid was removed and placed
in stasis with a quick-thaw subroutine.

	The security guards knew they should have been more alert, they
knew but they didn't care as they lounged around the block of ice.
That situation allowed Kiyone to grab one of their sidearm and rampage
around the sick bay shooting at invisible Mihoshis until she was
heavily sedated.  When Funaho called down to ask what the disturbance
was all about, the doctor simply chalked it up to hibernation
sickness.  Still, everyone on board sympathized with the teal-tressed
GP officer as all space-farers were well aware of Mihoshi's
destructive tendencies.  After undergoing a routine check-up and
physical, standard for all hibernation victims, especially those
exhibiting signs of hibernation sickness, Kiyone Makabi was released
and allowed to visit the bridge.

	The doors opened on the lift and she was stunned into silence by
the grandeur of the Juraian ships, the limitless starscape outside and
the imposing throne of the Emperor.  Steeling herself, she marched
forward, flanked by rows of Juraian Knights.  The captain himself
announced her entrance and ushered her to the foot of the throne.

	"Officer Kiyone, we are currently en-route to the Planet Earth
and regret that we will be unable to drop you at a GP outpost.  You
will have to bide your time as pressing matters of state have made
themselves known."  Azusa sat at the very top of the gilded staircase,
Funaho and Misaki flanking his armrests.  "Once we reach Earth you
will be able to return to GP headquarters, I believe your partner,
Officer Mihoshi will escort you back."  The Emperor did not notice the
manic gleam in Kiyone's eye or the way her fingers twitched on the
trigger of her gun.

	"Sir!  We have reached Earth orbit, your Imperial majesty."

	"Excellent."  Azusa and his wives arose and walked down the gold
staircase, walking calmly past Kiyone and onto the nearby
teleportation pad.  "Prepare no escort, the Royal Family will deal
with this ourselves, Officer Kiyone you may accompany us to the
surface."  With that the four humanoids were gone and the Masaki's
problems were multiplied tenfold.

---Later...at the Masaki Household---

	"Mihoshi, I'm going to kill you!!!!!"  Kiyone leapt at the
smiling GP officer snoozing on the porch, wringing the blonde's neck
and grinning evilly as the ditz gagged before expiring in the warm
sunlight.

	"Kiyone?  Are you all right?"  Mihoshi backed away from the
murderous grin spreading across her partner's face.  Kiyone was so
strange at times, calling her names and waving her sidearm at her like
a criminal, and of course that time she blasted half of Kiyone's head
off as she cleaned her gun could be to blame.  The surgeons had
assured her that the teal-haired woman would make a full recovery with
a reconstructed neo-cortex, even to the point where they retained all
her memories.  The blonde just couldn't understand why her partner was
so angry, it's not like she did it on purpose...

	Katsuhito stood in front of his father, his mother next to him,
and regarded his estranged progenitor.  Tenchi, Aeka and Ryoko watched
the tense meeting from the table, where Ryo-Ohki helped her master to
sit up.  Bother men watched each other, unwilling to break eye
contact, but the hatred between the two of them was palpable in the
air, like a gas-filled room awaiting a spark to set it ablaze.  Misaki
held Sasami closer, squeezing the life out her daughter and Washu only
watched the episode with detachment, looking forward to neither her
explanations nor the aftermath.

	"You have called us all to this little back-water planet in the
middle of nowhere because a man attacked Washu!?!?!?!?"  Azusa roared
as he shook his fists in mighty rage, levitating off the floor.  "If I
had ever met the woman under normal circumstances I would try to
attack her as well!!  How dare you disrupt the throne of Jurai for
such a trifling whim!"

	"'Back-water planet', dear?"  Funaho smiled sweetly at her
husband, simultaneously shooting him a cutting glare.  "Am I then
'back-water', and unfit to be your Empress...dear?"

	Asuza's tirade died a horrible death as he dropped to the floor
and groveled a little bit under his wife's strong stare.  "T-that is
not what we meant!  We only meant that...that..."

	"That what!?"  Funaho's aura blazed; Katsuhito stepped back a
bit.

	"T-th-th-that is not the point!  The point is that Yosho called
us around the universe for a minor issue!"

	"We will have words, husband, we will have words..."  Funaho
powered down.  Yosho coughed politely, grasping everyone's attention
back to the subject at hand.  "Yes, son?"

	"I believe that since everyone is gathered now that we commence
with Washu's explanation."  The group sat in the living room, served
tea by Sasami and cakes by Ryo-Ohki, letting some small amount of
gravity fall from the situation.  "This is a matter of grave
importance, no matter what you think Father.  I told mother that this
might be the secret behind the power of Jurai for good reason, the
stranger was reported to have been 'The Last Survivor of Lithone...er
Pandora.'  A matter important to us all."  It was true, since Ryo-Ohki
and Ryoko's gems held the power of Jurai to a certain extent, and the
stranger said that he gave the gems to Washu, then his existence could
unravel the secret of Jurai.  'The Last Survivor of Pandora' was
supposed to be a myth, a fairy-tale told to young Juraians to cow them
into bed, of a monstrous being capable of destroying the universe
itself.

	Washu stood for a few moments in silence, standing before the
crowd with a holographic display behind her.  Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki
watched as their mother coughed for silence, Tenchi watched Aeka and
Sasami wince at every mention of the word 'Pandora', the royal family
doing likewise.  Kiyone was still in her dreamworld of various
horrible ways for Mihoshi to die and as such didn't notice when the
ditz spilled her tea in her partner's lap.

	"For Tenchi and all others not familiar with the full story and
history of Pandora, I have prepared this presentation, I hope you will
find it educational.

	"Pandora was a galaxy Empire stretching across all of the cosmos.
The capital was New Haven, a gigantic city built upon the regulating
shell of the Armas star at the centre of the universe.  It is said
that the Empire ruled from the moment creation ended to the first day
of the Jurai dynasty.  Peace ruled the universe and Pandora  was the
highest place of learning and technology before or since, it is said
that they had harnessed the powers of God himself to aid them in their
rule.

	"Armas was the central star in the Pandora system until around
the Ninth Orbit of Creation, when it began to go nova.  This would
have been the end of Pandora had it not been for the Two Goddesses,
who trapped the sun in a regulating shell and brought about the Golden
age of Armas.  Not much else is known of the Empire save that around
Nine hundred and ninety nine billion upon trillion...Orbits the Empire
was destroyed.  Only one person was said to have survived, along with
the avatars of the Two Goddesses, Tsunami and Tokimi."  Tenchi looked
wide-eyed at Sasami, Mihoshi snored a little in her sleep, Azusa's jaw
clenched and the Empresses looked calmly back at Washu as if the whole
story was boring.  Ryoko remained silent, waiting for her mother to
finish the explanations.

	"The man we are dealing with here is Divus Honturi, 'The Last
Survivor of Pandora', Starkiller, the Death of Space and countless
other names, rightly so as he went insane after Pandora fell and the
Dark Ages began.  In the Galaxy Police database he is not listed as
'Divus Honturi' but 'Seitak Ieu'Kinochi' attributed to the destruction
of entire solar systems and millions of races."  Washu pushed the
button on her podium and a picture appeared on the screen, of the same
man that attacked her earlier.  "I met him at the Royal Science
Academy, he and Kagato were my disciples at the time...until I found
out what he was."  She had run an energy-signature test on the both of
them and found that his reading destroyed her most sophisticated
computer.  When she demanded an explanation he had told her of his
lineage, and consequently he had seduced her.

	No, perhaps that is unfair to say, for Washu could not help but
enjoy his company, perhaps even loved him, so he did not seduce her
but they rather fell in love.  It was with his help that the Soja was
built and because of his vast knowledge of Pandora's technology that
she was the brilliant scientific genius she was today...

	"...washu?  Washu!?"  Washu shook her head to clear her thoughts,
noticing the stocky sensation between her legs for the first time and
stepping nearer the podium so that her audience could not see her
arousal.  "Are you alright?  Are you able to continue?"

	"Y-yes.  Yes.  He and I became...involved in the next few hundred
years and...and...and it was with him that Ryoko was conceived aboard
the Soja on it's maiden voyage."  Ryoko raised her hand.  "Yes,
Ryoko?"

	"I thought you said I was a result of your ova combined with a
Masu."

	"Yes, you have Masu in your system but I needed your egg
fertilized for life to begin so...so...so..."  Washu trailed off,
reliving past experience and mumbling to herself, slowly tears began
to crawl down her face as she slumped to her knees.  The group stood
to help her...

	"...So you strung me along and made me impregnate you for your
own experiments, after which you tried to vapoirize me with the Soja's
Dimensional Cannon and blew my atoms out the bulkhead."  Honturi rose
from behind his lover, lifting her up from the floor by the back of
her shirt and dangling her in front of Ryoko.  "I can tell you that
that hurt.  How did you like the presentation...if was good wasn't it?
Although Professor did get a few things wrong about me:  I was insane
but now I'm not, that and the fact remains that she picked Kagato and
I because we were good-looking.  Dear Proffessor here was just looking
for a good lay."

	"Bastard!"  Ryoko screamed from her futon, Tenchi and Ryo-Ohki
holding her down for her own good.  Azusa and Yosho were spellbound,
neither knew what to do; here was the most powerful being in the
universe and he wants to kill your friend.  What are you going to do?
Try to stop him?  "Tenchi will get you for this!"

	Honturi chuckled as Aeka and the Royal family powered up for
battle, full conflict regalia worn and energy swords at the ready.
"Yes, I'm sure he will, but for now I'll just take litle Professor
here and Tsunami."  He gestured with his hand at Sasami and the group
huddled closer to protect her.  "As if you ineffectual cannon fodder
can do me any harm...Tokimi!  Take your sister and let us be off!"
The woman appeared behind the family and smashed them into the walls
with a massive blast before plucking Sasami (merely stunned) from the
wall and to his side.

	"You won't get away with this!"  Ryoko croaked from the floor.
"I'll hunt you down for eternity if I have to but I will get Sasami
and Washu back!"

	"You don't have eternity, soon this world will end and Pandora
will raise again!  If you wish to retrieved your loved ones, come to
the centre of the universe...I'll be waiting!"  He mockingly waved the
wounded goodbye and vanished through the portal Tokimi wove in the
fabric of reality.

---To be continued?---