Wild Boot: The Net Games
By David Farr
	
   Tenchi Muyo is copyright of AIC : Pioneer LDC, INC. ReBoot is the
property of Mainframe. Ranma 1/2 is copyrighted by Rumiko
Takahashi/Shogakukan,Inc. All are used here respectfully for the purposes
of fanfiction. This story may be redistributed only if unchanged and no
fee is charged.
   The prequel to this story "Wild Boot", other parts of this story and
my other works of fiction may be found at:
   http://www.homepages.co.nz/~djfarr/

-----

	The two sprites squared off across the room from each other. The old
man's wisdom and age showed on his face, although his green bitmap showed
no sign of wear. He had run the data storage vaults for as long as any
sprite in the system could remember, always found wearing the same
outfit, cream robes and his glasses that had an annoying habit of
reflecting light.

	His gaze was calmly directed past the wooden blade he held, towards his
young grandson. Only sixteen megacycles old the green bitmapped boy stood
resolute, staring at his grandfather past his own raised weapon. He
wasn't an exceptional sprite, but his noble code and honest outlook
showed readily on his face. Plus the milliseconds of training he'd been
through had made him both strong and fast, despite his ordinary
appearance.

	"Now boy," the old man snapped.

	The youth launched himself across the room, yelling a war cry and
brandishing his sword. Swords clashed as the older man effortlessly
parried the blow and with a flick of his wrist sent his opponent's weapon
arcing through the air. The sword embedded itself in the wall and
vibrated for a few nanos. Seconds later the boy slammed head first into
the tissue thin door to the closet.

	"Your going to have to practice more before you can get those access
keys, Tenchi." The old man said, getting to his feet and heading for the
door. "Don't forget that your chores are part of your training."

	Tenchi waited until his grandfather was gone before turning, grinning
stupidly around the thin crystal access keys between his lips.

*****

v 2.1.2: Shrines and Consequences

Grandfather: Yosho hunted the web,
	Through systems, peoples and cities,
	Searching for the web creature Ryoko.
	Here he found her,
	Battled her,
	And defeated her,
	Saving the system from her destructive rampage.
	But she processes still,
	Sealed deep within these archives,
	Trapped by his sword.

*****

	Tenchi's home system was called Nippon, and the sprites of the net would
have called its inhabitants provincial, if they'd known it even existed.
This was mainly due to the fact that the sprites of Nippon did not
believe the existence of processes beyond their own system, well a few
did, but they were just random.

	The Masaki family ran the systems core data vault located in the very
centre of the forest encircled by the city. Here they tended to the
files, aided in the researchers of the increasingly few interested
sprites and formatted new data for storage. As the next caretaker for the
vault Tenchi had access to all the separate storage bays throughout the
transfinite layout of the building. All, that is, except one, its door
lock keyed to a unique access key that his grandfather carried about.

	Nervously Tenchi ran the access key through the reader. His grandfather
had often told him of the legend of the web creature trapped within the
room, locked there by Tenchi's own ancestor, Yosho. That had simply
sparked his interest. When the old man had found out, he had immediately
forbidden him from going near the room, thereby fanning the embers of
Tenchi's curiosity.

	The card reader beeped harshly, as if making fun of Tenchi's attempts to
unlock the door it protected. Grumbling he fumbled with the cards until
he found another he hadn't tried. This one brought success as the lock
reluctantly gave an acknowledging chime. With a hiss the doors to the
info bay opened, revealing a wrecked room beyond.

	Shattered lights flickered, sending shadows skittering across the floor.
As Tenchi stepped inside an exposed conduit sent out a shower of sparks,
causing the boy to flinch.

	"Just a surge," he muttered, looking about the room.

	Dominating one wall was a data retrieval unit, connected to a storage
room on the level below. The large claw that could reach down and bring
up windows from below was stuck in a cycle. Continuously it started down,
struck the doors blocking the access way, then reset to its default
position to try again.

	Being the only the only thing in the room in one piece, Tenchi started
towards the unit. It didn't take him long to find the problem, someone
had thrust a sword into the control panel, interrupting the process. From
experience Tenchi knew there was no way to halt the unit once a command
was started, so obviously that person had not wanted whatever was being
retrieved to come up. The sword had cut the door's opening circuits, and
the unit was trapped trying to complete a function that could not
possibly work.

	Still, there was no reason for the sword to remain where it was. Tenchi
gripped it and pulled it. Surprisingly he tumbled backwards as the blade
slid out with ease. Unfortunately this was because time had not been kind
to it. The once proud weapon (if the stories could be believed) had more
holes in it than a bad action movie's plot.

	Experimentally he swung the sword, it's blade whistling through the air
strangely. As he did the doors to the storage below hissed open,
distracting him. The damaged blade struck a hanging pole and shattered
into a million pieces, sending shards streaking across the room.

	"What the...?" Tenchi gasped, watching the claw descend into the room
below. This was impossible. The door's circuit had been severed, it
couldn't possibly have rebuilt itself.

	With a clunk the arm stopped moving. There was a whirr and shortly the
metal limb started up once more. As it emerged from the recess Tenchi
could see that within it's clutches the claw contained a dark window.

	An unnatural silence fell upon the room as the window's image of
darkness started shifting. Twitching with tension nervous, Tenchi leant
forward to gaze into the black. A black claw oozed from the surface
reaching out to touch the terrified Tenchi's face.

	Paralysed by fear Tenchi did nothing as the oozing claw cupped his check
and slipped around behind his head. Then the darkness rippled and a
grotesque red mask slid from the inky blackness. Glowing eyes glared from
the demonic visage, getting closer and closer.

	The sword hilt clutched tightly in Tenchi's hand crackled to life. Blue
light flooded the room and the black figure howled in pain. With a cry of
fright Tenchi finally broke free and scrambled away from the window. He
crashed against the control panel and watched as the figure in the dark
window oozed out of the window. Realising what he was leaning against
Tenchi turned and started punching in commands.

	The mechanical arm whirred to life, pushing the window back down into
the storage room below. Howling, the web monster clawed at the edges of
the floor as it's window sank back into the floor. Tenchi held his breath
as the arm stopped, then started back up and sighed deeply when the arm
returned empty and the doors hissed shut once more.

	Tenchi sank to his knees. "I'm giving these keys back to grandfather and 
doing all the chores he wants."

*****

	The buzzer sounded, signalling an end to the lesson and the beginning of
lunch. Tenchi, like the other students in the class room, picked up his
file folder and pushed it into his desk. He scrabbled around in the case
for a few moments looking for his lunch before his hand closed around
something. It felt wooden, with a regular lumpiness to it. Curious he
pulled it out.

	'Oh yeah, the sword hilt,' he thought. He'd seen nothing like it before,
most of the hilts he'd seen used a metal pallet, not wood, and it
appeared to have been woven together. The end of the hilt away from the
where the blade had been, held three blood red jewels. He wondered
briefly what had happened to the creature. 'Grandpa never mentioned
anything, so I guess it's sealed away again.'

	Suddenly a voice cut into his musings. "Hey Tenchi, what you got there?"

	Tenchi looked up at his friend and reflexively wondered if he had been
in an accident. It looked as if someone and punched the sprite in face,
bruising his nose so badly that it had been discoloured. He suppressed
the comment immediately however, because that was how his friend always
looked.

	"It's nothing," Tenchi muttered, putting the hilt away, "just a piece of
old junk code."

	"Oh," his friend said sagely. "So how was your holidays, meet any cute
girls?"

	Tenchi leaned back in his chair. "Are you kidding? I was stuck helping
grandpa at the storage vaults all holidays and the only girls you get
there are worms programs and phreaks."

	"Oh ho, bet you found a nerdette in one of the vaults, and got it on
with her," his friend joked crudely. Strangely everyone around them
ignored the pair of gossiping males.

	Tenchi joined in the laughter. "Very funny, making out with a weirdo."
He stopped laughing suddenly as the image of the web creature flashed in
his mind.

	Seeing Tenchi's sudden change of mood his friend recoiled. "Don't tell
me you actually did? That's disgusting!"

	Tenchi's fist smashed into his face in answer. Thanks to his training
and his anger this meant that his unlucky friend was knocked off his feet
and managed to do two mid air flips before coming to a stop imbedded in a
row of lockers.

	"Jerk!" Tenchi snapped, and stormed out.

	"Janitor!" someone yelled in following silence.

*****

	Tenchi lay on his back staring up at the sky dome, when he had come up
onto the roof it had been peaceful blue and with white clouds. However at
some point he had drifted off-line and the system had gone off-line for
the cycle. Through the canopy of the system he could see the web, data
points twinkling in the inky blackness.

	"Ah great, now I've missed my classes and everybody's gone home for the
cycle," Tenchi groaned.

	The soft ring of a bell caught Tenchi's attention. Sitting up the young
sprite spotted a small black kitten sitting alone in one corner of the
roof. Tenchi moved himself into a kneeling position. Mewing quietly the
kitten ran towards him.

	"How'd you get up here little one?" he asked, opening his arms as the
small creature leapt into his arms in a jangle of noise. However part
through the jump both kitten and sound faded out.

	"What?" Tenchi asked aloud.

	He was answered by a musical chuckle. Spinning around he located its
source, a woman sitting atop an energy tower. Her bitmap silvery bitmap
reflected the world about her, the lights of the city sliding along her
skin as she moved. It looked strange, but then strange pretty much summed
her up, from the tips of her spiky cyan hair, through her tight matching
robes to the red shoes with the brass bells.

	She cradled something against her cheek and smiled contentedly. "Ryoko,"
she said, and tossed the object to Tenchi.

	He caught it, and looked down, it was a collar and a brass bell, just
like the kitten had been wearing. "Huh?" he grunted, looking back up at
the girl.

	For the first time he saw her eyes. Golden and cat-like they gleamed in
the soft light. "That's my name."

	Tenchi had barely heard that last comment, for the gleam of the light
had made a connection in his mind. "You! You're that monster from the
vaults!" he blurted.

	Ryoko gentle wrapped her arms around herself. "Seven hundred megacycles
Tenchi, in that cold, dark place. All I could do was think. Think about
what had been done to me, and the vengeance I would seek when I escaped."

	Tenchi gulped, that was not good. "So what's that got to do with me? I
didn't lock you up there! Some guy called Yosho did, and he died hundreds
of megacycles ago."

	Ryoko grinned maniacally at him and floated into the air, a globe of
energy forming in her hand. "So maybe I just need to work off my anger!"
she cried, hurling a bolt of energy at Tenchi.

	The young sprite scrambled out of the way as the roof detonated, sending
up a cloud of pixels. Cackling with joy the web creature fired more
bolts, missing the running sprite by only a matter of pixels.

	Breathing hard Tenchi turned hard and sprinted towards cover. A break in
the explosions caused him to glance to one side, only to find Ryoko
soaring along next to him, a grin on her face.

	"You're going to have to run faster than that to escape me, Tenchi!" At
this range Tenchi couldn't help but notice the fangs in her month.

	Suddenly Tenchi swung about, dashing back the other. Ryoko, surprised by
this turn about, continued forward, until she hit the side of a vent.
Only a soft hum signalled the impact and Ryoko reappeared on the other
side, unhurt by her trip through the solid object.

	Her grin widened and another energy ball formed in her hand, this time
however it elongated into a glowing shaft. However her pause had given
Tenchi time to reach the door down into the building. Growling Ryoko
threw the energy sword at the closing door.

	The explosion sent Tenchi flying down the stairs into the deserted halls
of the school. Scrabbling to his feet, Tenchi could heard the soft hum
again and Ryoko appeared at the top of the stairs.

	"Don't hurt yourself Tenchi, leave that to ME!" Ryoko cackled, throwing
another blast.

	In the confusion following another near miss Tenchi ducked into a nearby
room, closing the door behind him. He sat, breath baited, leaning against
the door. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Ryoko's silhouette
slide past the window, then vanish with that same strange hum.

	Tenchi sighed in relief, then for the first time noticed the strange
sizzling sound. "What is that?" he mumbled and crept forward to peer
further into the room. Much to his horror the room beyond was in a mess.

	A section of the roof had caved in during the battle on the roof, and
the rubble had fallen onto a collection of containers sitting on the
desks below. The contents of the shattered containers now sizzled and
crackled as they slowly oozed their way across the floor.

	"Unstable energy," Tenchi gulped. "I'd better get out of here." He
started towards the door.

	"Tenchi," Ryoko's musical voice sang out.

	Tenchi froze and scanned the room, looking for the web monster. Seeing
no sign of her he decided his mind was playing tricks and continued
towards the door.

	"Tenchi."

	This time Tenchi was sure he'd heard her, so turned to look closer.
Moments later Ryoko's beautiful face melt through the display window. As
Tenchi backed up against the wall behind him the rest of her quickly
followed. Casually floating across the goo covered floor, she held out a
hand and created another energy sword.

	"I like you Tenchi, you're very good prey," she gave him a predatory
grin. "But now I've come for you."

	Tenchi turned to run for the door, but was halted by a chair slamming
into the wall before him. Scared, he turned his back on Ryoko. "If I'd
known I was going to quit file today, I wouldn't have processed all that
homework while school was off-line."

	A drop of energy formed on Ryoko's hair. 'If I'd known he was going to
react like this, I wouldn't have played with him as much.'

	"Wait a nano," Tenchi whispered to himself, "I might just have an idea."
Without thinking it through he spun around and pointed out the window.
"Oh my code, what's that?" There was a short pause. "I've just used the
oldest hack in the readme." He turned slowly to see Ryoko's reaction,
then almost collapsed in shock.

	Ryoko was looking out the window, happily scanning the area beyond.
"What? What is it? I  don't want to miss anything!"

	Surprised by her distraction (not to mention naivete) it took Tenchi a
few nanoseconds to remember to make good his escape. He made it out into
the hallway before Ryoko noticed.

	"There's nothing there," Ryoko commented, turning back to face Tenchi,
but the only thing she found was the broken chair. A low growl slipped
from her throat as she clenched herself together. "I can't believe I fell
for that! He's going to pay!" Energy crackled about her, striking out at
objects around her.

	The sudden explosion of the unstable energy tore out the wall and
propelled Tenchi down the hall. He bounced and skidded to a halt, then
scrambled to his feet. Facing the wall of blazing light he sadly looked
down. "No one could have survived that tear. Pity, she was kinda cute." 
He clapped his hands together.

	Like death itself a dark shadow loomed out of the crackling light. "My
code, she's alive!" Tenchi quickly dove down the corridor and around the
corner as Ryoko emerged from the inferno.

	"That is NO way to treat a LADY!" Ryoko screamed, and shot off down the
corridor.

	Slowly Tenchi started moving down the stairs as the web creature grew
closer and closer. Lucky for him as Ryoko raced passed a mirror her
vanity got the better of her and she had to pull back and examine
herself. Much to her horror she found gazing back slightly burnt woman.

	"Look at my bitmap!" She immediately started primping and cleaning
herself.

	Tenchi sighed and slid down the stairs to the lower floor.

*****

	Darkness and silence filled Tenchi's homeroom. Quietly the boy sprite
wove through the desks headed for his desk. He slid behind it and, trying
to make as little noise as possible, started transferring files to his
PDA. Once that was completed he picked up his bag and dropped the thin
device in.

	Meanwhile up in the hallway Ryoko finished brushing the soot off her
bitmap. She straightened her clothes then smiled at herself in the
mirror. "You are one beautiful web creature." She gave herself a grin.
"Let's go." She drifted backs and faded out as she approached the wall.

	Back downstairs Tenchi almost shot through the roof when the klaxons
exploded to life. He glanced at the source of the noise, a small flashing
light on the wall. "Oh, just the interface integrity alarm." He cocked his
head 
to one side. "Of course half the building has to be unstable before it goes
off," he commented casually. The small light reminded him of something. "The
flash memory module on her wrist! It contains her system hacking
algorithms! If I can remove it, she'll be powerless!" Tenchi grinned
crazily. "Yes, I can beat her! It's easy!" he cried.

	Outside Ryoko heard him with her sharp hearing. "You think so, huh?!"
She gathered another ball of energy and released it at the room Tenchi
was in.

	Tenchi, hearing her retort, just had time to scramble out the window
before the room exploded behind him. He dashed across the courtyard,
frantically glancing behind him, searching for signs of pursuit. He kept
going until his head collided with Ryoko's soft bosom.

	Tenchi bounced back and collapsed backwards, landing on his butt. He
looked up in horror at the web creature.

	Ryoko gave him a predator's grin as her sword formed. "It's been a nice
game Tenchi, but now the end has come." She slashed forward slicing
through the air.

	Instinctively Tenchi threw his bag up before him, trying to block the
blow. A flash of blue light illuminated the shocked faces of the pairs as
the bag slid in half. Ryoko back-pedalled as the bag disintegrated in a
column of energy.

	The sword hilt Tenchi had found in the data storage hovered in the air
before him. "Wow," he muttered, reaching out and plucking the sword from
the air. Experimentally he swung the hilt, hoping for something to
happen. It didn't.

	Growling Ryoko stepped forward. Unfortunately her foot fell upon a rake
someone had carelessly lying on the ground, sending it arcing up towards
her face. Angrily she smashed it out the way.

	At the same moment a energy blade sprung out from the Tenchi's hilt
sword. Entirely of it's own violation the sword dragged him forward,
slashing clumsily through the air. Amazingly the sizzling energy cleaved
right through Ryoko's outstretched arm, right behind the memory module.
The severed hand dropped away, letting the small round module bounch a
couple of times before exploding in a ball of flames.

	Tenchi and Ryoko looked at each other, surprise showing on their faces.
Ryoko pulled back and shrugged despondently. "Defeated again, story of my
life." She waved her stump about as she spoke.

	"Ah," Tenchi pointed at her arm, "sorry about that, I mean it wasn't me,
it the was sword, you know, it had a mind of it's own."

	"Huh?" Ryoko was confused for a moment, then noticed her glowing stump.
"Oh, that." She smiled brightly and picked up the severed hand. Waving it
with a flare she held it against the stump for a moment then released it.
Tenchi held his breath for a moment, until Ryoko waved her newly healed hand at
him.

	"Amazing." Tenchi clapped in awe as Ryoko performed a deep bow 
and sunk slowly in the ground. He stood there, watching the spot into which she
had vanished for a few nanoseconds before the building behind exploded into
a ball of flickering light. The wail of distant sirens reached his ears.

	"I'd better get out of here before I get into real trouble."

*****

	Sighing, Tenchi slipped through the stairwell door and up the stairs.
Luckily no one had spotted him leaving the school and his father hadn't
heard him come in. Still, it was nice to get home, away from the insanity
that had followed him from the data vault.

	He tromped up the stairs to the door to his room and thumbed the button
to open his door. Hissing, the metal slid away, revealing his perfectly
ordinary room, complete with his ordinary bed.

	"What a long cycle," Tenchi muttered, ignoring the fact that he had
slept through half of it. As he warily trudged across the room he dropped
his bag, then flopped onto the bed.

	Something felt wrong, and it only took the young sprite a couple of
nanoseconds to realise that he was lying atop more than just a mattress
and sheets. In fact not something, but someone. A sinking feeling of
dread filled him as he leapt to his feet. Quickly he yanked the covers
off the lump in his bed, revealing a slumbering Ryoko.

	Mumbling she rolled over as she slept, her clothes shifting to reveal
what was supposed to be hidden within. Her cat eyes cracked open and she
gave him a sated smile. "Welcome home Tenchi," she purred.

	Tenchi rolled his eyes and did the only thing he could think of. He
prayed.

-----

-----------
Rarstarr,
David Farr
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
djfarr@ihug.co.nz