TENCHI MUYO: EXILE
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EPISODE #1: Day of Reckoning...

	Yukinojo double checked the signal, to make 
 certain it wasn't a residual signal from an old 
 distress beacon or television channel broadcast.
 Once both of these possibilities were dismissed,
 the AI set about the twin tasks of pinpointing 
 the location where the signal was emanating from; 
 and determining the identity of the transmitter.
	The first task was fairly simple. With most
 of the Galaxy Police gone, there weren't quite so 
 many signals to sift through, so the AI quickly 
 tracked the signal to earth.
	"Mihoshi." He sighed, somewhat relieved. 

	
	Mihoshi moaned in her sleep and rolled over, 
 murmuring something about Kiyone being the best.
	Kiyone flushed a bit when she heard how Mihoshi 
 was moaning and her own name mentioned. Could Mihoshi be 
 in love with her? They had had a lot of adventures together, 
 and come to think of it, wasn't Mihoshi always getting 
 really upset when they were separated or when she tried to 
 leave without her?
	"Mmmmmmmmm...." Mihoshi moaned, passionately. 
 "Kiyone....."
	Kiyone's face went beet red. 
	"mmmmmm.... so goooooood..."
	Kiyone was extremely glad they lived alone.

	
	Galaxy Police Detective First Class Mihoshi sat in a
 comfortable lounge chair and slowly savored the most 
 delicious chocolate cake she had ever eaten. Above her, a 
 sign reading "Happy Birthday, Mihoshi." was suspeneded by Azaka 
 and Kamidake.
	Two humanoid cabbits, Ryo-ohki and Kenoki, who had also 
 been Mass-Enhanced at some point, were cheerfully Miya-singing 
 "Happy birthday to you." to her and in the corner, Ryoko looked
 a little too happy. But when Mihoshi saw Trakal tied up with the 
 bows from a few of the presents she'd unwrapped and with one of 
 the party hats stuck on his muzzle like a doctor's mask, she 
 understood and laughed amusedly.
	"This is such a good cake." she told her partner. "Kiyone, 
 you're the best cook in the whole galaxy..."

			***

	Sasami turned the gyoza over in the frying pan while
 Tanaka stir-fried a mixture of fresh vegetables in the wok.
	"Thanks for helping me out, Tanaka." She said.
	"It's the least I can do." Tanaka smiled. "And I need the
 practice. Especially if I'm going to be a wife soon."
	"Wow!" Sasami grinned. "Are you gonna marry Tenchi?"
	Tanaka she her head. "I'm going to marry Trakal." she replied.
	"Oh." Sasami sounded disappointed.
	"You don't think I should marry Trakal?" Tanaka figured the
little girl was just worried about him not being human.
	"I think you should." Sasami giggled. "But my sister and Ryoko are
always fighting over Tenchi and well..."
	"And you thought it would be funny if someone else came along and
swiped him out from under them while they weren't looking?"
	Sasami nodded.
	Tanaka grinned. "Maybe someone will." She shrugged, adding a dash
of mirin and continuing to stir the veggies. "It'd be really funny if 
it
was Mihoshi, don't you think?"
	Sasami considered this for a moment. "Yeah, I guess so." She
replied.
	Realization dawned on Tanaka's face. "You're in love with Tenchi,
aren't you?"
	Sasami nodded.
	"I wish I was old enough to marry Tenchi." She sighed.
	"Well, who knows, by the time Tenchi gets it together maybe you
will be old enough."
	Sasami smiled.
	The front door slid open and then shut again.
	"Sasami," Tenchi called to her, "I'm home."
	For a moment, Sasami imagined herself as Tenchi's wife, fixing a
hot meal for her husband, who'd just returned from a hard day at 
work. At
times like this, it took a bit of effort on her part not to walk into 
the
hall and offer her cheek for him to kiss, like she saw housewives do 
on
some of the American TV shows the set picked up thanks to Washu's 
satellite dish.
	"Oh, hello Tenchi." Sasami looked around, but saw no sign of her
favorite cabbit. "Where's Ryo-ohki?"
	"I'm afraid there was a small problem." Tenchi sighed.
	A moment later, Trakal walked in carrying Ryo-Ohki. 
	The cabbit was unharmed, but looked unhappy. That was quite
understandable given the little handcuffs around its forepaws.
	Trakal was reading a list of charges to the kawaii cabbit.
	"Thirty four counts of carrot theft... tampering with a police
investigation by eating said carrots... conspiracy to steal said 
carrots..." 
	"Trakal!" Tanaka laughed. "Oh come on, dear? Please? For me?"
	Trakal smiled. "...However.. since my fiancee likes you, I'm 
dropping all charges."
	Ryo-Ohki miya'ed happily as Trakal released her from the 
handcuffs. She hopped into the bushel Trakal had been carrying and
quickly devoured three carrots, before Trakal pulled her back out.
	"And just what, may I ask, do you think you're doing?" He
asked her in a stern but calm voice.
	Ryo-Ohki wriggled out of his grip and hopped away, 
grabbing a carrot as she went.
	"Hey! Come back here!" Trakal shouted as he gave chase.
	Truth was he could've caught her quickly, but he loved
the chase, the adrenaline, the exhiliration... 
	Ryo-Ohki darted under Washu's floating onsen, the 
tiny jewel on her forehead glowing, sending a signal to 
the irrational bath. As Trakal ran under the drainage spout, 
the contents of the entire onsen came pouring out on him.
	Tenchi gulped. Trakal was still fairly new and no
one had really gotten used to him. Especially not Tenchi.
The girls were easy to adjust to. They had their quirks, but 
all of them at least looked human... well except Ryo-Ohki, so 
in their case it was like "oh, you're from another planet? How 
nice. I'm glad to meet you."
	But Trakal not only wasn't human, he didn't *look* 
human. He had an appearance that said "Yeah... I'm an alien. You 
wanna make something of it?".  He'd worn a mask in 1970, but only
because he didn't want to mess up the timeline, and because his 
work as an operative required him to do so. But now, amongst 
people he knew and trusted, particularly Tanaka, a girl from 1970 
who'd fallen in love with him, Trakal rarely wore the mask, 
reserving it for 'special' occasions.	
	Trakal shook most of the water from his fur, then strolled 
into the house and into the upstairs bathroom where Ayeka was 
blowdrying her hair.
	"I'm commandeering this for official police business." He 
informed her, firmly, as he unplugged the blowdrier, pried it from 
her hand, and took it into his room.
	Ayeka gave a little growl. "Azaka! Kamidake!"
	The two logs appeared.
	"Get my dryer back! Now!" Ayeka ordered.
	They started to leave.
	"Wait." Ayeka grinned evilly. "I want you to teach that monster
a lesson." She told them.

	***

	"Thank you for coming," Mihoshi smiled. "May I take your order?"
	"I'll have a large everything." A familiar voice replied. "For
here."
	Mihoshi blinked and stared at the man for a long moment, then a
look of realization hit her. "Wow! You must really love our food!"
	"No," the man replied. "I just know how long your reports take."
	"Reports?" Mihoshi seemed upset. "Oh my! I didn't know we were
supposed to fill out reports here! I never filled one out! Oh, please
don't fire me sir! I'll get to work on them right away...."
	"I meant your Galaxy Police reports." the customer replied.
	Mihoshi laughed. "Oh, Trakal!" She exclaimed, merrily. "I didn't
recognize you!"
	"Trakal's alive?"
	"Yes." Mihoshi replied. "He's staying with Tenchi. Who...?
	But the figure had left before Mihoshi could ask who he was.
	Mihoshi blinked and took the next customer's order.

	***

	The middle aged man spent all night trying to find this Tenchi,
but no one in the city seemed to know who he was. He went back to 
where Mihoshi worked but she'd already gone home and he had no idea 
where she lived.  He stopped in at a cafe and saw a woman slumped 
over the bar, talking in slurred tones.
	"I could've been in the SIU." She said, letting everyone hear
her. "But my (hic) partner just *had* to come (burp) excuse me... 
along and screw things up!"
	She fell over and burped again.
	The man stepped forward and picked her up. "Come on, Detective."
he told her. "Let's get you home."
	
	***
	
	Mihoshi went into the kitchen the next morning and found 
Commander Sarnd sitting at her table, drinking coffee. "Sir!" She 
saluted. "Detective First Class Mihoshi is ready to serve."
	"Where's Trakal?"
	"He's living with Tenchi."
	"I asked all over town." Sarnd took a sip of his coffee.
	"Tenchi doesn't live in town." Mihoshi laughed at him. 
	"Oh." Sarnd nodded. "So, where does he live?"
	Mihoshi told Sarnd where Tenchi's house was.
	"Thank you, detective." Sarnd replied.

	***
	Yosho noticed the smoke coming from the mountain cabin as he
made his way to the Shrine office. He strolled quietly to the cabin
and knocked on the door. There was no response so he knocked again.
After the third try, he opened the door carefully and peeked in.

	Trakal was lying on the floor near the bench. His uniform 
was laid out on the drying rack and his hair was dirty and tangled.
Yosho shook Trakal, to wake him. 
	"Hmmmm..." Yosho mused, quietly. "We'd better get you home."
He piled Trakal's clothes on top of him, feeling that putting them on
him would only add to the heatsickness he was apparently suffering,
and then lifted the ailing ex-cop and carried him back to the house.
	"I found him in the cabin." he told Tanaka as he placed
Trakal on the bed.
	"He's awfully warm." Tanaka replied. She ran to the bathroom 
and came back with a basin of cold water and a few facecloths. "Do 
you have any fever medicine?" She asked Yosho. "Just in case?"
	Yosho shook his head. "I wouldn't." He told her. "We don't 
know how his species might react. It could kill him."
	"You're right." Tanaka replied. 
	
	Sasami walked into Trakal's room and saw Tanaka kneeling by 
Trakal's futon. Tanaka was stoking Trakal's fur and dabbing his 
forehead with a cold wet cloth. "Tanaka, it's breakfast time."
	"I can't come." Tanaka replied. "Trakal's very sick, Sasami."
	"Oh." Sasami said quietly.
	Trakal tried to speak, but weak as he was, it just came out 
as a moan.
	"Now now, "Tanaka admonished him, "you rest. Don't try to
talk."
	"What's the matter with him?" Sasami asked.
	"I don't know." Tanaka wept softly. "But I think he's dying."
	Trakal moaned a sickly little disclaimer which didn't sound
particularly convincing.
	Tanaka stroked his muzzle, gently. "Poor thing
	Yosho walked in and knelt beside the bed with a towel and
some bowls of ice-water. He started to dab some medicine on Trakal's 
forehead, but Tanaka stopped him.
	"Please," she told him, "let me. He is my fiance after all."
	Yosho nodded and handed her the bowls and the towel.
	Tanaka took them and began to gently apply the medicine.
	"Come on, honey." she whispered, "please be all right. I 
don't want you to die. I love you." She bent down and kissed his
forehead. "Yosho, his fever's not coming down."
	"He needs to soak in an icebath for a little while." Washu
told them as she walked in. "He's got a bad case of heat sickness. 
He should've been more careful about remaining near a hot fire for 
so long."
	"What do you mean?" Tanaka asked.
	"He must've fallen asleep in the mountain cabin while trying
to get dry."
	"But how'd he get wet in the first place?"
	"Oh, that's easy." Sasami told them. "My sister dunked him in
the pond for swiping her blowdryer."
	Tanaka was furious. 
	"I will never forgive her if Trakal dies."
	"He's not going to die." Washu assured her. "Just get him into
the icebath for a while and that should take care of him."
	"And how do we dry him off?" Tanaka asked.
	"We could stick him in the microwave." Ryoko suggested as she
strolled past the room.
	"Not funny, Ryoko!" Tanaka called out to her.

	Sarnd rented a car from a local dealer and headed toward the 
Masaki Shrine. On the way he thought of what he'd learned from Kiyone
and Mihoshi. 

	Trakal was in love.

	Sarnd frowned. The idea of Trakal being in love was astonishing.
The Draalthi had always been emotionally cold, focusing only on his 
job
and scoffing at the idea of any relationships. Now he was in love in
spite of these claims. Sarnd was in a bind. If he scolded Trakal for 
falling in love, he would discourage him from any further 
relationships,
which he definitely did not want to do. On the other hand, Trakal's 
relationship with the Earth woman did violate the Galaxy Police laws
against interfering with Earth's timeline. A Draalthi on Earth could
damage the train of future history.

	He drove on, trying to figure out what to do. He could pretend
to get lost. Then he wouldn't have to confront Trakal. But he wanted 
to see the young Draalthi. To confirm that Mihoshi was, for once, 
right. That Trakal was in fact alive. He drove on, trying to 
formulate a plan of action.