"Oh this is wonderful, it's even better than I had planned," exclaimed the
inter-galatic genius, while she began to type in the code for the electrical
pulse.

	"What's better than you planned Washu-chan?" asked a voice from over her
shoulder.

	"Gaahhh!!!"

	Washu's hands slammed down on the control panel, and spun around. Her heart 
beat accelerated, and then took a dive when she realized who had spoken.  A
flush 
appeared on her face as she demanded, "MIHOSHI!!!  How did you get in here?" 

	"Ara....well I opened the door and walked in to find you.  I was 
getting bored cleaning by myself.  Sasami went outside to hang up some clothes
to
dry."

	"......how did you get past my security?" Rose Washu could understand, 
she had programmed it to ignore her.  But this one was supposed to be 
stopped before she got five feet into her lab!  "Hmm...I'll have to go 
through the programming again."

	"Ne....Washu-chan.  Should Rose-chan look like that?"

	Turning around the scientist saw Rose begin to glow a bright blue, and that's
when for the second time that day someone began screaming.

						*     *     *

	Watching Washu at the machine made me nervous.  It seemed where 
she was concerned the things always made things uncomfortable. The ones 
in her lab kept doing unfriendly things.  The last time I was only in one 
of the containment fields for a short time, but found out quickly that the 
perimeter gave quite a shock.  

	"Don't move.  The headpiece is going to be lowered and it won't 
work at it's optimum if your head is moving about.  And I know it's hard, but 
try not to touch the site while it's working," I heard her call out.

	"Oh wonderful," I muttered as the mass of metal and wires descended.  When it
stopped moving I noticed that it was actually quite large.  It obscured my
vision and I couldn't see what Washu was doing anymore.

	I started to get nervous.  It wasn't long after that that I heard 
a startled exclaimation, and all of a sudden the inside of the headpiece lit
up.

	It wasn't a painful sensation, but it was distinctly uncomfortable.  
Then it seemed the level of energy began increasing because I was begining to 
feel slightly burnt around the edges.  About this time is when a searing pain 
began in my temple, and I screamed.

	Thankfully the sensation only lasted a short time, and when the 
glow stopped, so did the energy.  The headpiece lifted, and it was as if the 
pain I had just experienced had never happened.

	Turning toward Washu I noticed that it wasn't just me and Washu 
anymore.  It seemed that everyone had come running to see what had happened.

	Ryoko floated over with a slightly worried, but more of a gloating expression
on her face.  When she was only a few feet from me she said, "I told you so."

	Silently fuming at her I got up and walked over to Washu.  I wanted to know
what had happened.  The least she could have done was warn me that I was 
going to be shocked like that.  Then maybe I wouldn't have screamed and had 
Ryoko gloating over me.

	"All right Washu-chan, what's up.  Why'd you shock me like that?"

	"Well, I was going to use a lower voltage, but I was startled by 
Mihoshi over here and my hands slipped on the keyboard.  On the brighter side
though, 
I bet the itching sensation is gone though."

	"Well....hai."

	"WAAAHHH!!!  I'm so sorry Rose!!  I didn't mean for you to get 
shocked like
that!" Mihoshi wailed, tears flowing down her face.

	"Uhh...well, don't worry about it.  It didn't do any harm."

	Sniffing a bit the happy expression soon reappeared on the galaxy 
police officer's face.  As I looked around I saw the concerned looks on 
everyone's faces.  "Ano...I'm ok, really.  Why don't we go back to what we 
were doing before?" I suggested.

	A brief glance at Washu for confirmation, and the group headed on 
it's way out to the house.

					*     *     *

	The crowd all exited the lab and Ayeka started sniffing as Tenchi 
closed the door. "Hey, what is that smell?" She asked, a bit puzzled.

	Mihoshi sniffed the air as well. "Hmm! It smells like dough!"

	Yosho sampled the oder also. "There's cheese to it, and a sauce I 
can't identify."

	Looking at each other, the group moved in mass to the kitchen. 
There they found a young man with his back to them humming merrily to 
himself as he sliced something. One such strange dish was on the table 
all cut into slices and looking like it half the pieces had already been 
eaten.

	"Hey! What are you doing here!!!" Ryoko shouted right in back of 
the man's head.

	"Gaaaaahhhh!!!!!" SMASH! The group looked out the new hole in the 
wall at the quivering pile of stunned human outside it. After a moment he 
relaxed and wheezed.

	"Sorry. My mother calls it a well-developed startle reflex."

	"Are you that boy we found in Washu's lab?"

	Jared blinked up at the ancient priest. "Yosho?" His eyes tracked 
around quickly. "Ayeka? Sasami? Ryoko?" His eyes shrank to mere 
pinpricks. "Uh oh."

	"Uh...hi." Rose waved from inside.

	His brain began connecting facts. Unfortunately, it didn't 
connect many of them and not in the right order. He skittered backwards a 
bit.

	Ryoko teleported out and confronted him. "Hey!... huh?"

	With speed born of already supercharged muscles pumped full of 
adrenaline Jared was up off the ground and racing away at cheetah-like 
velocity, running the combat statistics of the Tenchi crowd through his 
mind in panic and concluding that the lake was his best bet. Already he 
was running through a scenario in his mind where he dove under the water 
to peel off most pursuit, then rolled away under bushes and through 
hiding as the only way to escape the teleporting Ryoko.

	She teleported to his side and he realized that he wasn't going 
to get that lucky.

	Ryoko was happy. It'd been awhile since she'd had a reaction like 
this. Besides, she'd had alot of disappointments that morning and decided 
that now was a good time to take care of them. She could play with her 
�brother' for a bit and show him who was boss right from the front.

	"Hey! This is pizza!" Rose called from inside, picking up a piece 
and sniffing at it before sampling. Her mouth began to run with saliva. 
She didn't *dislike* Japanese food, but getting back to something 
American made her stomach remember why it still loved her.

	The rest of the household was filing outside and watching as 
Ryoko formed a ball of energy around her hand to punch the fleeing 
newcomer.

	Jared caught Ryoko�s action out of the corner of his eye and he 
automatically switched modes.

	The blast threw him twenty feet.

	Jared jumped up from his fall into a defensive stance, his newly 
acquired martial arts senses informing him that his opponent was only a 
brawler, without style. But a VERY GOOD brawler and with a power level 
high enough that she didn't need much finesse.

	There wasn't any cover nearby. Escape was pointless.

	A lot of skill and a little bit of power could stand an even 
chance against someone with a fair amount of both, and someone with a 
huge amount of power could easily defeat someone with less skill. It was 
a balance, both things measuring separately, but in the end it was the 
total of both that made the difference.

	Frankly, an Amazon elder *might* be able to take Ryoko on, but it 
would require at least that level of skill to stand a chance against her 
level of power. Competent though he was, Jared knew that gift of learning 
martial arts swiftly or no, he only stood a ghost of a chance of getting 
out of this with some scraps of hide still stuck to his body.

	Which is where Anything Goes came into it's specialty.

	He pointed over her shoulder and shouted. "Look! Ayeka is coming 
onto Tenchi!!"

	Unfortunately, the second that bought him was three seconds too 
short to get to the nearest cover, and when Ryoko turned back she was MAD.

	He leapt over her fireball and rolled under her energy blade, 
snapping up in a full body handspring to plant both feet under Ryoko's 
chin. She took it like it was a light tap, batting him down with her off 
hand. Emergency switches were already flipping in the young man�s mind, 
disconnecting pain and fatigue, tapping more heavily into his body's 
resources and bouncing him back out in a spin that connected three kicks 
against Ryoko's person and dove away running when she phazed out of the 
way of the fourth.

	Ryoko rematerialized with her sword of energy in her hand and 
loosed a blast that sent him scampering. It was pitiful really.

	"Hmm, now you die." She gloated toward him, eager to see his 
reaction.

	Jared's eyes narrowed, his gaze level. "Go right ahead and do it. 
Just expect me to go down fighting." 

	He laughed softly, but with some bitterness. "You can only kill 
me, Ryoko. And it's not anything I'm not prepared for. Mere menace has 
nothing to compare to calculated cruelty, and I�ve suffered under some of 
the cruelest men on this world. I've had those close to me die in my arms 
and the people I care most about in the world reject me. Compared to that 
there's nothing you can do that'll hurt very much."

	She blinked. Jared leapt for her, but found himself hauled back 
by his shoulders. Looking up he saw Yosho pinning his arms.

	"There now, that's hardly a way for family to behave, is it? 
Ryoko, you should welcome your brother. It's not every day you get to 
meet someone so like yourself." Yosho smiled down at him. "There now, why 
don't we all go into the house? Sasami can make us all a nice cup of tea. 
Hmm?"

	Jared came down off of combat mode and started looking around 
himself. The entire Tenchi household was out on the lawn staring at him 
in surprise. Swallowing, he realized how very loudly he'd responded to 
Ryoko's jibe. Washu was standing there with her holographic keyboard for 
once not interested in typing.

	Sighing, Jared ducked his head. "I prefer milk, if you have any. 
Tea is against my religion." He acquiessed.

	Yosho patted him on both shoulders, friendly, but both of them 
could sense that the elder was in complete control of his actions if he 
chose to exercise it. Suddenly Jared screeched to a halt.

	"Uh, did somebody say that I was Ryoko's brother?"


End Part 7