"Katherine, don't you don't have to_" he was cut off when
Katherine forced him away with a bolt that sent him back to the
fleet. 

     She turned to the oncoming enemy and thought, {Cain, Ness,
anyone. Please forgive me.} With that, she powered up her
thrusters and flew at the rest of the fleet at full speed.
Judging from the amount of larger cruisers, she figured it would
be best to attack there. As expected, the pirate fleet aimed all
their weapons at her and fired.    

     She twirled and sent most of the energy blasts away. Seeing
her target, she activated her self-destruct mechanism. This is
where it would all end, but it did have consolation. She would be
free of the guilt this body carried.  

     Seeing her go off into the volcano, Saber searched through
the battlefields for the Yagami. After dispatching several
fighters that pursued him, he finally found the command ship
being chased by three bombers. Powering his thrusters to the
maximum, he gave chase to the bombers and one by one, met their
end in a flash of light. Flying alongside the Yagami he said,
"Mr. Masaki!"

     "Yes?"

     "We need to pull back!"

     "We've got a new ally, and she might be able to even the
stakes for us a bit."

     "Are you completely sure of this?"

     "I wouldn't be saying this if I wasn't sure."

     "Very well then." Tenchi said into his headset. Switching
the frequency to the fleet, he announced, "All units, pull back
and assume a defensive formation!"

     The order was heard by both Teknos and Juraian alike. Though
they did not understand, they did not argue as they all pulled
out of the crossfire of the pirate ships. 

     Elsewhere...   

     "CRYSTAL HAWK!" Katherine cried and with that, her power
began to manifest about her body. With more and more gathering,
it began to shape itself into a hawk. The hawk began to flap its
wings, destroying any and all ships that dared get in her way.
Clearing her eyes, she looked ahead to the point where she would
finally let go the safety of her self destruction. 

     Then, a single high concentration shot pierced her crystal
hawk and her heart. The hawk dissipated and the pressure from all
the other ships began to get worse. With blood pouring out of her
wound, she dodged what she could and flew straight at the command
ship. She was only meters away from the front of the lead ship
when another beam shot through. 

     She landed on the outside of the ship and looked ahead to
see the rest of the monstrously large battle cruiser. {Close
enough.} she thought as she released the safety from her internal
bomb. A dark yellow haze grew about her. She pushed herself on
her hands and knees and looked up to see everything was getting
bright. That was the last thing she saw.  

     The defending fleet saw the resulting explosion and gasped.
The sphere of dark light that consumed half the fleet of pirate
ships was easily half the size of Earth itself. 

*************************************************

     On Earth, Nodoka pushed herself from the crater that had
been created using her person as a tool. 

     She looked up and saw the massive explosion that took place
above her. Though not sure, she figured that whoever went through
that had no chance of survival. If it meant that Sword was dead,
then she was happy. 

     She looked up to see two lights flying straight towards her.
She tried to stand up and pull out her weapon, but Sword's last
attack had taken most of, it not all, of her strength. Soon
enough, her armor dissipated, yet was fortunate enough to keep
her kimono on. 

     Struggling to get to her feet, she noticed that both lights
had vanished and were replaced by women in full plate armor.
There were not Teknos, but at least they did not seem to be
aggressive. 

     The one with the metal plate on her face turned to her
companions and said, "It appears that she is one of them."

     Almost as if on impulse, the one with the blond hair walked
up to her and asked, "You ok? It looked like you took a pretty
bad fall."

     Lying on her side, Nodoka looked up to Mina and nodded, "I
must really be getting old. My back hurts."

     Smiling, Mina picked up the elder Saotome woman and swung
one of her arms over her armored shoulders. "Hey, Ames. Think you
can give me a hand here?"

     Amy nodded, and from the liquid metal arm, she produced a
hand and placed it in Mina's free hand, keeping that same
emotionless look. "Here you go."

     Frowning, Mina retorted, "Ha ha ha, real funny. Just go back
to the boss and tell her everything's ok." With the expected
reaction, Amy smiled. 

************************************************* 

     Back in space, the leader of the pirate fleet had been
killed in Sword's last hurrah. Without the leader to push them
on, the pirates pulled out and left the Earth. 

     With the battle complete, the Teknos of Earth, the Yagami,
and half of the Juraian fleet took a landing in the center of
what used to be Kansas City. 

     "What a mess." Tenchi said, looking through the ruins of a
city that at one time, housed millions. Beside him walked the
unoffical leader of the Earthen Teknos, Salian. 

     "You're telling me that. I found the planet in this
condition when I came to it several months ago. But take it from
me boy, I have seen much worse." She said, pushing aside a
fragment of a door that was in her way. 

     "Well, I know for a fact what I am supposed to do, but since
you told me that the Teknos were a secret and now that the secret
is out, what are you going to do?" he asked, turning to her.

     She paused and looked to the morning sun, "We have no choice
but to leave. The human population as it is, is scared of races
other than their own, were they to find out, it would throw them
into an anarchaic panic. Someday, we may be able to return."

     "But where will you all go to? Since Io has been the only
planet that I have seen that even comes close to holding life, I
doubt that there's anywhere else you can go. I'd ask the Holy
Council for an uninhabited planet, but they're just as xenophobic
as Earth is." he said dejected. 

      It did not seem to faze her in the least. "We will search
for a world. After all, we Teknos were meant to survive. We're we
not?"

      Tenchi sighed as his wife came up from behind him. "Ten."
He turned. "We just got a word from the fleet, they're detecting
something on the other side of the sun."

     "What?" He said, walking past her and to the Yagami.
Curious, Salian followed him as he placed on the headset and
tuned the frequency to the fleet. "Commander, what's going on?"

     The commander's confused voice came through, "Well, after
detecting it, I sent a scout ship to see what was up and well,
you're not going to believe this but, there's a planet on the
opposite side of Earth's orbital path."

     "Wait... are you saying that this planet you're talking
about, just appeared out of nowhere?"

     "Yes sir. Not only that, it's a planet that's more than
capable of holding life on Earth. Multiple environs, somewhat
mountainous, large oceans, you name it, it is there."

     "What about plant and animal life?"

     "Plenty of that. In fact, I would say it was Earth's twin.
Only difference being that mankind never existed there." 

     Salian smiled and said, "Looks like the Mother has blessed
us once more. I'll let the others know about it, and since not
all of us are capable of flying all the way there, as humans
often say: Can you give us a ride?"

     Both Tenchi and Kiyone sighed, "Yeah, just don't use those
kind of sayings ok?"

     Salian huffed and walked off. Once she was out of earshot,
Kiyone turned to her husband, "Seems a bit too good to be true to
me."

     Tenchi nodded, "Tell me about it. I mean, somehow, there's
got to be something that we know about that is connected with
this. But what?"

     "THAT, Tenchi-dono, is something you'd better figure for
yourself." Said a voice from above them. Both Masaki looked up to
see Washu sitting on the upper rafter with a rather large smile
on her face.

     "Washu... was this," Tenchi gestured to the information
about the other Earth, "your doing?"

     Washu's smile only got bigger as she replied, "Now, how many
times did I ask you to call me  Little' Washu?" Both Masaki
winced at the reminder, "But no. Part of it, yes. But not all of
it. It's how fate works Tenchi-dono, to confuse those who cannot
see the entire picture. Bye." she ended with another smile and
rolled backward and into wherever she vanished to.

    Kiyone turned to him, "And she was kicked out of the academy
because she was  considered' crazy?"

    Tenchi shrugged, "That's what I heard."

****************************************

    "But what do you mean we got to leave?" Ranma said with
indignance to Salian and most of the other Teknos. "I mean, Akane
and I've been living here all our lives and now we got to leave
just because we're Teknos and we transformed?"

     Nodoka put her hand upon her son's shoulder, "Ranma, if
you've forgotten, we're not exactly human anymore. So, the rest
of society will not exactly welcome us with open arms. We have to
go, for the better of our home."

      Ranma sighed and figured that he just could not win. Nodoka
walked in front of her son and continued, "You're not alone my
son. Most of us have lives are going to leave behind because of
this and we don't like it any better than you do. You think that
I would want to just abandon Genma now?"

     Ranma looked up and blinked, "What do you mean?" 

     His mother sighed, "Only recently, I've discovered how wrong
I was. How I treated your father, how I was to you about your
crystal, and so much more." She let go of her son and began to
walk from the group. 

     Blinking, Ranma ran up beside his mother, "Mom, I..."

     Nodoka interrupted him with a plea, "Ranma, can you ever
forgive your foolish mother for treating you so horribly?"

     Ranma nearly snorted, "Mom, if you didn't keep on beating
me, my ego would've just gotten worse. And it was bad enough
before Akane was changed and all.

     "All of Dad's talk about me being the best was just a bunch
of crap. Sure, I appreciate all that he taught me, but he wanted
me to be something that no one can be, unbeatable. Can you
believe that it took me 15 years for that simple idea to get
through my head?" he ranted. "In other words. Mom, don't worry
about it." 

     Nodoka looked to her son and her sad face slowly vanished.
She whispered, "Now I know you're a man among men."

     He sighed, "Please mom, can we forget that whole  man among
men' thing? It's gotten on my nerves over the past century."

     "Oh, sorry." Just then, a sharp pain appeared in her back.
She doubled over and landed on her knees and hands. After her son
helped her back to her feet, she said, "Now I know how you felt
after fighting me. Fighting Sword has got to be one of the most
humbling experiences I've ever gone through."

     Ranma smiled, "That makes two of us then."

     Back at the site where all the other Teknos were speaking...

     "So, it's decided, all the Teknos, save for the Space
Knights Teknos, will go with the Juraians, where they will be
dropped off on this new planet. There, I will personally instruct
them in the ways of the First Generation. Until they are called
again, they will remain there, until we deem it neccesary to
introduce ourselves to Earth once more. Anything else?" Salian
spoke.

       Tina rose her hand, "If I may, I want to go to this
planet. After several experiences in the past, I found it
recommenedable that I join them. The main reason being for the
safety of the people of Earth."

     Salian nodded. She knew all too well of Tina's  little'
attitude problem and it was she who recommend Tina should go with
the rest of the Teknos to the other planet. Maybe there, Tina
could find the solace she was secretly searching for.

     Since there were no other objections and ideas placed before
them all, they all went their separate ways to gather what few
possessions they had to bring with them to the planet. 

     Several hours later...

     Seraphina Brown stood at the exit of the transport cruiser
and stared at the world she was to leave behind. A ruined world,
which she loved nonetheless, and she was leaving it behind for
its safety. 

     The transport they were to use was a larger ship, when its
supplies were unloaded and modified on planet to carry the Teknos
to the new planet. 

     Yet, that was merely the beginning of how sad she was. At
one time, there was a man whom she was taking a liking to. He was
gentle, kind, patient, and respected her for who she was. Yet, he
sadly perished in the Second Impact and had no idea of he died or
not. 

     {Yoruto-kun... if you out there somewhere... don't forget
that I love you and always will.} She thought regretfully.

     A hand from behind brought her back to reality. She turned
to see Nodoka look to her nod, and then walk back inside the
cruiser. She understood how she felt. Though it was comforting,
it could not ease the pain Sera felt. 

     Soon enough, the gangplank began to receede into the ship,
the doors closed, and she watched as the doors closed for the
last time on Earth.


     The hovering thrusters flared to life as their power
propelled them into the stratosphere. There, they would travel to
a new world, a new life, and a new generation of guardians who
sacrified all for the safety of their home.

The End.

[Warhammer comes out for the REAL long author's notes.]
WH: Ok, notes for the Tenchi only segment.

     If you've seen my signature, you know exactly why I've
paired those two up. Also, I REALLY wanted to get flamed by the
fanboys of Ayeka and Ryoko for making sure neither one will get
Tenchi. And I don't even like the guy that much. 

     Several of my friends made a note that it was rather strange
to them that Ayeka suddenly went from Yoshou to Tenchi just like
that. The above could be a reasonable explaination as to how it
happened. Also, in most fics I've read, Ayeka's often treated as
a near brainless, spinless, perky princess. To say that I was
throughly disgusted would be an understatement. In the OAV, I
liked Ayeka because of her maturity shown in Episode 3... but
after that, it just went down hill. And when Kiyone came along, I
finally found the only female character in TM that I like.

     Examine the first two kana in each of the Uchikishi's names.
If you've read the Balance, you'll know who they are. BTW: They
had two other sisters named Ichiko and Niko. 

     The songs used in the fair and the one Kiyone chanted in the
public bath were from the music disc of Mystere Live. A Las Vegas
show I have seen and have marveled at the inhuman acts these
people preform. Plus, the music is pretty boss too. The * is
suppoed to saw that the song she was siging was in the middle of
track 6 of Live version. If you intend to get the music to
Mystere, I recommend getting the Live version. 

     Now, if you can find the reference to FF7, I commend you.

     Why the reference to the Scarlet Letter? Got me. I just
needed a character, where their vengeance caused their inevitable
death. And Hester Prim's husband was a pretty good example. 

     Also, the sermon on Cyanide. It's standard doctrine that
Christ taught there... well, at least in my religon it is. I am
not sure about other christian sects, but I was only using as a
reference, if I offended anyone, I am sorry. 

     Now, onto the second section of the story. I wanted to write
a short sidestory fic about how Nobuyuki was doing living on
Jurai and how he would mellow out about seeing his son go on.
Sadly, it will have to wait for a while. 

     On an important note: I am not satisfied with this one. I will 
rewrite it so that it will be better once I get back.

     Next, the whole farmer cracker bit was just a little bit to
explain that I don't know a thing about people in the
southeastern United States. I am not saying that all people in
that area are like that... just some. 

     The bombing the spidercrab scene was somehwhat inspired by a
short scene of Starship Troopers. As offensive as it may be, I
couldn't help but cackle with delight at seeing the insects get
blown to bits. Hehehe.

     And a little detail that I forgot while writing, was that
Nephlyte did take out that Lahdam that Saber once rode. 

     Let's face it, no body really likes Galt execpt to kill off
the old fart or to just put him in a sanitarium. So I decided not
to even bother going into detail about his death. Yet, when it
came to Marlo and Balzac's scene... lets say one of the more
popular characters died that day. I surmise there was a bit of
yaoi about those two in dojinshi form a while back, when Tekkaman
Blade was still popular. 

     On the little bit of chaos I caused, using Sword, let's just
say it's a small recap of the Second impact, only that people
were dying for no good reason at all. Imouto says that I might be
overdoing it a bit, but hey, overkill is good in some cases. 

     Now the whole fight scene involving Sword. Were it not for
the Megami, everyone on the good guy side would have died and the
pirates would have either gotten Earth or die at Sword's hands.
You take your pick. Sword as monsterouly powerful as she is just
living after all the efforts of those weaker than her couldn't
beat her alone, or just kill everyone off, ala Anno-Baka Hideaki.

     The Tina/Ranma scene was a sort of ending to the little
 tryst' they had in the last chapter of Machine's Blessing. But
rest assured, Tina won't kill Ranma... hurt him yes, but kill
him, no. 
 
     The Yagami scene flying through the space pirate infested
space was inspired by one of my oldtime favorite movies, the Last
Starfighter. Lost of explosions, lasers and what not to satisfy
anyone's lust for space fights.

     Finally, Katherine's sacriface was only meant for personal
redemption, she had not the intrests of Earth or the others in
mind. It was selfish, true, but she wanted to free her soul from
the prison she was placed it. Sad isn't it?

     Like I've said before in many of my fics, we as humans,
don't know crap when it comes to the great eternal perspective of
the universe. We're nothing... well, not nothing, just real
small. It makes me feel so insignificant... but then again I
always feel that way. ^_^

     If you know of Z-Tron Dreams, you know the plain fact that
Shara, Mother of the Teknos, is the one who requsted that planet
be created. In one of those rare moments where all three Megami
co-operate, they came up with that little planet just for the
Teknos. Neat huh?

     Plus, if you can guess who Sera's boyfriend is, than you are
a better man that I, cause my brain is fried from writing this. 

     Until my next fic... in 2000.

[Warhammer walks out for the last time.]     
Teknos Warhammer-
-Knight of the True Fiancee
-Offical Nodoka Saotome Guardian
-Self Proclaimed Guardian of Kiyone Makabi
-Fanfic hero for the Underdogs
-And so much more

View his fanfics at: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/4853/index.html

"Special FX by Industrial Light and Morons."
-Michael J. Nelson, MST3K, Space Mutiny
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com