Please C&C.  This and previous chapters can be found
in web browser format at:

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/rolfwind

START:
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: 
I don't own the characters. Pioneer and AIC do.  I own
this story though.

KEY:
<> - indicates thoughts
[]- mental communication


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


THE UNMASKING PART V


CHAPTER 5 : ISN'T SHE A DOLL?


Ryoko sat there tracing her fingers over her lips. 
She couldn't think straight the entire day, much less
the last hour. 

<Tenchi, mentally ill?  And what would Washu know
about this? Has she been hiding something?  He's been
instituting mental blocks for years?> 

That was all hard to believe, but from what has she
seen today, and the sincerity and urgency in the
other's voice, it convinced her that it was possibly
real, at least partially.

Tenchi was stirring beside her, and she glanced over
at him.  He yawned deeply for at least a minute, as if
he were asleep for several hours, and looked about
tiredly.  "Ryoko, can I have my privacy, please?  I
need to get dressed."

Ryoko smiled warmly at him, wondering if she should
act normal or not.  Running her index finger in
circles directly on his sternum, she whined, "But
Tenchi!  Can't I just stay here a little while
longer?"

Tenchi, however, was already clutching his sheets to
his chest, and motioned his finger toward the door. 
Ryoko gave out a small pout, "Oh, ok, but what about a
good afternoon kiss."

Tenchi blanched and stammered, "R-Ryoko, please, not
now."

Ryoko heaved an over-exaggerated sigh and started
phasing through the door, with the words of the
directions of the other Tenchi in her head.  That she
has to let Washu know what she's seen this morning.
She went ahead and walked like a normal human down the
stairs, as she sorted out her thoughts.

Sasami ran out to her and took her by the hand,
tugging it so hard that Ryoko  was forced to pay
immediate attention to the distressed blue haired
princess.  "What is it Sasami?"

The little princess flapped her digits back and forth,
indicating to the ex-pirate that she should stoop
down.  As she lowered her head close to Sasami's
level, the girl cupped her hand over Ryoko's ear and
whispered urgently, "I went into Tenchi's room again
to wake him up.  Ayeka and Tenchi's dad did too.  But
he was wouldn't wake up again..... and he had on a
black shirt again." 

Sasami let Ryoko go, and looked up at her pleadingly. 
"Do you know if he switched clothing?"

<He was wearing a white shirt, when I looked at him. 
What did the one say?  "Rememeber, don't let anybody
else in on this other than you, Ayeka, Nobuyuki, and
Washu, otherwise it will get very dangerous for all of
us."  Better not say anything at all in this case.>

Ryoko patted the little princess on the head, "I
really didn't ask him Sasami.  I wasn't paying
attention to what he was wearing either, if you know
what I mean."

She winked at the little princess, who giggled a
little seemingly contented with the answer, and ran
off back outside the house.  Sasami went out the glass
double doors and disappeared rounding the corner.

Ryoko went to the kitchen, and opened the fridge.  The
shelves of food, drink, and miscellaneous items were
neatly ordered, each article had its exact place,
perfect organization down to the minutest of details,
no doubt a product of Sasami's handiwork. 

Spotting a flask of sake, she greedily wrapped her
hands around the smooth, chill surface, a little
slippery from the dew formed on the opaque glass.

Walking back to the living room, the ex-pirate sat on
the couch, which unfortunately was occupied on one
side by Ayeka watching an alien TV program. 

On the intergalactic entertainment center was a
typical soap opera, with all the expected drama, a
constant stream of pure, raw, powerful emotions by the
actors and actresses.

Sipping on her drink, straight from the bottle, Ryoko
wasn't paying any particular attention to the outside
environment surrounding her.  Rather she was thinking
of the everything that she found out thoughout this
busy day.

One hand hand, she was deeply overjoyed beyond
comprehension.  Tenchi loved her, at least one did and
that was enough for her.  Feeling his gentle touch,
all the attention he had given her in his room and
that kiss was really fancy icing that topped the cake.
 Her eyeballs wandered down, only to catch her own
fingers tracing her lips again, an entirely
unconscious action on her part.

Moving on, she gathered her thoughts in bits and
pieces, as they were scattered by the whirlwind that
this day unexpectantly began.  Deeply confused, there
was this mattor of another Tenchi, with feelings for
Ayeka.  Also they seemed to know about alot of the
stuff that was going on, about her, about Ayeka, and
that somehow, in someway beyond her mental grasp, they
were apparently much older than she thought.

Not only that, but they made it clear one knew her and
one knew Ayeka since their respective childhoods,
*one* that she didn't remember or even know she had. 

And his violence toward Nobuyuki.  Ryoko justified it
though, <He sounded very regretful about that, so
there's no real problem.>  But what about the malice
toward Ayeka and Washu, that was something to
consider.  <Not that I like them all that much anyway,
but....it's so unlike him, or at least what I expected
of him.>

Mentally shrugging it off, her mind wandered to
thoughts about Washu, the gems, what did she know
about all this?  It sounded as if she knew a lot about
this, as the other one implied.

For the space pirate, it was like her world was just
flipped upside down like a pancake. <How did this
happen so fast?>

Deep in contemplation, Ryoko was startled by Ayeka's
voice. "Did Lord Tenchi kick you out of his room
again?  Not that I would expect any better treatment
for a monster like you."

Ryoko looked over at her couch companion, and it
bought back some words <"I swear, there will be one
time that little bitch makes one snide remark too many
about you, I won't care how much he loves her. I'll
just throttle her throat until she croaks like a
Jurain toad.">

Not bothering to retort back, the space demon
hurriedly got up, "Uh Ayeka, I think I'll talk with
you later."  Ignoring anything else her rival had to
comment on that, Ryoko phased out of the room before
the princess could get in a word edgewise.

Ayeka stared at the wall where her brief couch
companion had departed, wondering what was up today,
as they did not have one of their usually daily fights
yet.  <Is she ok?  That conversation before was very
strange, perhaps I should have asked Sasami about it
afterall?>

Shrugging the thoughts off, the first princess of
Jurai leaned back comfortably in the couch and turned
the volume up.  On the advanced crystal clear screen,
a drama was playing out that involved a powerful
family mired in love triangles, politics, and even
stronger opponents that planted unwitting pawns in the
families' circle.  <These soaps are really something
else.  Really nice and relaxing, I never had time for
these on Jurai......>

Ryoko stood staring at the orang door which was once a
storage closet, now the entrance to Washu's lab. 
Hoping the small amount sake she imbibed would give
her some courage, the space demon took a small
footstep forward and stopped.

Closing her eyes, she resolved her will, taking
strength in the twin's words of a promise they somehow
extracted from her deranged mother, that she promised
to never do tie her up again.  That night her
vulnerabilities and weakness were all too clear, and
she hated every bit of that night.

<When did they do that?  After I came out of the lab?>

That night she would always remember vividly, she put
her trust in someone only to have it betrayed at the
lowest level.  Smiling, she recalled Tenchi was up
late at night for some reason.  They went on a walk
around the area and gave her some reassuring words to
comfort her.  That was the one and only pleasant thing
from that experience. 

<Maybe that's why he's mad at Washu.  Not that I
believe for a minute that little bitch would keep her
word, but if *her* Tenchi was in trouble, I need to do
this.>

Drawing in several deep breaths, she opened the closet
door.  The annoying clanking of the metallic crabs by
the door irritated her to no end.  Quickly slamming
the door shut, she made sure the artificial
crustaceans didn't make any more noise, grabbing them,
stopping their incessant journey, oscillating back and
forth between the door and air.

A momentary lump rose and stuck in her throat.

Coughing violently, she finally managed to croak out,
"Washu!"

No answer except for the echos of her own voice
calling out to the redhead.  After several seconds,
the unattended laboratory guest became impatient.

"Washu!"

A huge holo-screen popped up in midair, over ten feet
in height, with the tireless inventor's face plastered
over it.  "Ah, my favorite daughter come to give her
mom a visit!"

Annoyed at the very sight of her mother, the cyan
haired daughter tapped her foot impatiently, unwilling
to play these games.  "Washu, we need to talk and talk
now!"

Washu's flinched at the uncaring, angry tone her
daughter has taken up against her recently, but her
broad leer didn't vanish.  "Sure!  Just hop onto the
transport disk and it'll take ya where I'm working."

For a few seconds nothing appeared.  Then, rising
silently out of the floor, a large, flat, rounded
silver disk appeared.  It was at least ten feet in
diameter, but had the fragile appearance of a paper
airplane wrapped in perfectly smooth aluminum foil.

Hesitantly setting one foot upon it, the lab guest
tested her weight on it several times, before bounding
on the floating contraption.  She stared down at its
mirror like surface, seeing a perfectly undistorted
reflection of herself.

Smiling down at her own visage, she imagined wings
arching over her back and grinned giddily, one fang
protruding over her lips.  <He called me his angel,
and that I'm perfect!>

Lost in her own daydreams, Ryoko didn't even notice
she arrived at her destination.

"So what did my favorite daughter want to talk to me
about?" came Washu's phony sweet voice.

Ryoko, knocked out her mental meanderings, shook the
haze from her head.  <I'll ask the questions around
here!>

"Washu, I just wanted-"

A rough clearing of a throat stopped the speaker dead
in her tracks.

Snorting, Ryoko amended, "Little Washu, -"

More coughing stopped the would be questioner again.

Clenched her fist and teeth, she yelled, "Look!  After
what happened last week I'm not gonna call you 'mom'
or 'mother' so you can just forget it."  Making her
position perfectly clear, she sneered down at her
creator, who had a pained look in her face for a split
second.

Starting her question again, "Washu, how old was I
when I was taken by Kagato?"

The ancient scientist didn't bother to wipe off the
ecstatic look on her face, "So my daughter finally
wants to know about her childhood?!"

Patience was wearing thin again, Ryoko threatened,
"Ok, if you can't answer questions, I'll leave." 

After turned around and walking a few steps, Washu
rushed in front of her. "Wait, wait, wait!  Don't be
so hasty dear, please, I'll answer them.  I promise."

Excited that she had a chance to have a
mother-daughter talk relented and answered quickly, "I
guess you were around fifteen or so."

Ryoko nodded, her next question was going to be much
harder. "D-did I fall in love with someone by then,
like have a boyfriend?"

Her mother smiled mischievously, "Having second
thoughts about Tenchi?  Giving him up so I can have
him, perhaps?"

Tired of playing these constant mind games, Ryoko
growled her displeasure and turned toward the waiting
pod. 

Washu cursed herself, she knew she shouldn't be
pressing her luck, and desperately answered, "No, no! 
You didn't have any boyfriends.  You didn't even like
boys yet.  Tenchi's your first if that's what your
worried about."

Washu felt the confusion and happiness coming from her
daughter in waves.  Curious, she contemplated probing
in her daughter's mind, but held back.  Afterall, she
hadn't done that for a week out of respect for what
happened, and more importantly, to regain her
daughter's trust. 

Ryoko turned, and was now face to face with the
redhead.  Confusion played on her face, constricting
her eyebrows and pulling the edges of her lips down. 
"Did you have a talk with Tenchi last week about an
alliance or something like that?"

Washu creased her own eyebrows together, "No... why?"

The mother felt even more confusion coming from her
daughter, and it was deepening at a stead pace.  "And
that he's mentally ill? Did you speak to him about
that?"

Puzzled at the line of questioning, Washu replied,
"What are you talking about Ryoko?! All of his brain
scans are fine."  Cracking a small smile, she cackled,
"Though his hentai pattern could use some major help."

Ryoko's confusion spiraled downward, but did the only
thing she knew in these circumstances, she pressed on.
 "Did you do something to the gems last week?"

Flustered and perplexed by the line of questioning,
Washu sharply scoffed, "Ryoko, you know you have the
first gem.  The other two are in the Tenchi-ken.  I
don't even have any access to them."  She stared at
her daughter strangely, pondering that she should
start setting up a mental examination for her child.

Drawing in her breath, the ex-pirate was stumped.  She
faced away from Washu's piercing gaze and closed her
eyes.  <She must think I'm nuts!>

Her eyelids fluttered open and she breathed out, an
idea hit her!

"When Nobuyuki showed you those photos this morning. 
What happened after that?"

Washu put her hand to her chin, looking every bit the
thinking academic.  <I didn't know Ryoko knew about
that.  But I wasn't really thinking of her at the time
anyway>

"You know about them?"

Seeing her daughter affirm that fact, Washu licked her
lips, "Well, I was kind of shocked at first.  So I
went with him upstairs to Tenchi's room, in case he
needed help.  Tenchi and his dad started yelling but
they calmed down when Ayeka and Sasami showed up. 
They left and we three stayed in room for a private
talk.  It turned out the photos were fake, costume
make-up or something like that."

Washu laughed nervously, "Goes to show what happen
when you jump to conclusions.  Anyway, I went down to
sleep."  She admonished slightly, "Do you know how
little sleep I get lately, fixing this place back
up?!"

Not expecting a reply, the redhead added as an
afterthought, "It was pretty stupid of me.  I should
have examined them closer.  Well, that's all over and
done with.  Now, what's up with all these weird
questions?"

Ryoko shook her head adamantly.  "That's not what
happened at all."

Her mother frowned, "Are you sure you're okay? Maybe
we need to do another physical?"

"No way!"  Steady her frayed nerves,  Ryoko asked,
"Can you feel remembered sensations through our link,
like touch?"

Washu bit her lip, excitement building up in her,
"Only.... only if you open your mind to me all the
way.... if you're willing to do that, that is."  She
looked up at her daughter pleadingly, desperate at
this chance to start rebuilding a relationship.
"Ryoko, if there is something you want to show me,
I'll won't take advantage of it. I promise."

Ryoko pursed her lips into a straight thin line.  <Am
I ready? Do I even trust her enough?> 

Nodding to herself, she sighed, "Can we sit down?"

Washu snapped her fingers, "Done."

Ryoko looked behind her, and sure enough there was a
floating cushion.  Like the transport disk, she
distrusted her mother's playthings and cautiosly
tested it with her hands.  Ryoko didn't want to be
made a fool of and have herself land on her butt on
the floor.  Seeing the device did indeed stay afloat,
she took her place on it. 

Washu was sitting on an identical one, one leg in an
indian position, folder, and the other drooping over
the edge, with her hands folded on that knee.

Looking pleased with herself, Washu smiled,  "Now my
little Ryoko, what is it you wanted to show me?"

Closing her eyes in order to concentrate better, Ryoko
slowly spoke with utmost seriousness, "I want to show
you what I saw this morning."

Her mother sighed, bored, hoping it would have been
something more interesting.  "Oh okay, I'm ready."

The cat-eyed woman started projecting the day's events
through their shared mental link, starting with
Nobuyuki waking her.   And Washu was definitely not
ready for what she saw and started stammering through
some of the scenes, trying to piece together what was
happening.

The images stopped, Washu was panting heavily from the
exertion and her eyes were wide open.  Summoning her
holotop, the redhead denoted that fortyfive minutes
had passed since they started.

Washu looked back up at her daughter with widened
eyes, and Ryoko stared back with narrowed ones.
"Washu, how are you involved?"

For one of the few times in her life, the Universe's
greatest scientific genius was left speechless. 
Eventually she sputtered out, "I-I know as much as you
Ryoko dear.  I have no idea what's going on?!"

Considered this revelation, the former space pirate
reiterated her course of action, "The other one said
we need to show their past memories to us two,
Nobuyuki and Ayeka."

Washu bit her lip, "Well, you should be pretty happy,
one of them is in love with you."

Ryoko couldn't help suppress a wide smile coming to
her face until her mother inserted, "Hmmm.... he *is*
a good kisser, I'll think I'll try him out first
hand."

"Damn you Washu!  This is serious!"

Washu sighed, "I know.  There are a few things we have
to check out first. Have you *ever* seen him like this
before?"

Ryoko shook her head violently, "No, never."

Washu summoned her holotop computer back up and
started typing incessantly.  Ryoko sat back in her
cushion, staying silent, until her creator's jaw
dropped.  "What is this?! There's a forty five minute
glitch this morning in the video logs... and total
halt on all types of monitoring as of one o'clock this
afternoon."

"Huh? What do you mean recordings?"

Blushing slightly, the scientist stated
matter-of-factly, "I record all parts of the house. 
It's just to make sure you guys are safe."

Her daughter smirked unhappily and sneered, "So you
can observe us like lab rats you mean."

Deciding to put an end to the subject, Washu tried
what is often the most successful tactic, switching
course.  "The lab monitors and recorders are gone too.
 And it seems like I can't start them again."

Ryoko looked her strangely, "What do you mean, can't
start them again?"

The diminutive scientist frowned and snapped her
fingers in frustration.  "I don't know the reasons
why, but the computer is denying me access to that
part of the system.... this hasn't happened to me ever
before.  I can't record any type of activity right
now.... video, audio, infrared, astral patterns,
nothing."

Washu, ever the one to think things out logically,
spoke her suspicions out loud.  "I don't know much
Ryoko, but it seems that Tenchi somehow must have
gotten control of the gems, which might contain our
memories.  He accidentally could have gotten our
memories mixed up with his.  I don't have anything
else to explain it."

Her daughter's eyes bugged out, "He could have my
memories!"  <What if he saw all the violence, he'll
hate me for sure, but he doesn't?>  She jumped flew
forward and grabbed the woman, who inhabited a girl's
body, and demanded, "How do those things have
memories?  What are those gems?"

Dangling in her child's grasp, Washu ventured forth
anyway.  "I don't know a whole lot about the gems
except that I had them since I can remember.  Before I
made you I put them on a couple of times, and saw
things..... how do I say.... bits and snippets of
someone else's memories.... I don't remember exactly,
everything was so vague.  I guess they can somehow
absorb the wearer's memories.  Maybe Tenchi put them
on previously and relived our memories, that would be
my best educated guess..... the other things, well I
have no clue...."

Putting the redhead down, Ryoko shook her head, "What
do we do now?"

Washu tapped her fingers together, <Some brain
scanners and computers from elsewhere are needed.>

She typed into her her holocomputer and a bearded,
green haired man, appearing well past his prime,
appeared on the screen. 

The caller smiled sweetly.  "Ah, Professor Kirish,
hello."

The bearded man scowled at first before his face
erupted into a reciprocating smile.  "Professor Washu,
it's been a while, hasn't it? What makes you come
calling?"

For her part, Washu tossed her hair to the side. 
"Professor, I need to ask you a small favor, if I
may?"

Her colleague's previous frown threatend to resurface,
"Washu, you may put away the formalities, so spit it
out already.  I will appreciate getting back to my
studies."

She nodded in understanding.  <Us professors were
always busy at the Academy, weren't we?  That
Professor Kirish, he was always blunt and to the
point, a rare quality among intellectuals.>

"I just need some brain scanners and accompanying
computers, Kirish.  Nothing fancy mind you.  And I'll
need several as soon as possible."

He typed offscreen for some time before replying, "I
can send five now and four in the morning, is that
enough?"

Washu grinned, "That's plenty, we actually don't need
that many."

The older man waved his hands dismissively, "We just
got ours upgraded.  Call this a donation to an outcast
hack such as yourself.  Send over the coordinates and
they'll be on their way."

Washu clenched her fists at the insult momentarily,
finding it hard to maintain an appreciative smile.  As
typed at her console she informed him, "There they
are, professor."

Professor Kirish snorted, "Goodbye, *Professor*
Washu."

Washu was about to wish him the same but the image
went blank.   Dropping her cheerful guise, she grunted
and punched her fist through her holocomp, fortunately
her hand went through the thing.  "Damn that arrogant
bastard."

The one standing off to the side asked, "What's with
him?"

The scarlet haired beauty explained, "It's nothing. 
Most of those in the academy are specialized in
something or another.  They consider me a jack of all
trades, and.... a master of none.  Nitwits."

"Oh!  How long will those thing take to get here?"

Looking on the screen, Washu mentally calculated the
slower subspace routes, "Well, it's five now, should
be here around three hours."

"I think we should let Ayeka and Nobuyuki see my
memories in the meantime."

"Ryoko, are you absolutely sure you want to go through
with this?"

The one addressed clenched and pumped her fist, "Yeah,
why not?!  Hell, I need to know what's going on."

"Only checking, get them and I'll have everything set
up."

Ryoko teleported onto the transport disk, feeling even
more confused than when she left. 

Peering down at silvered mirrored surfaced again, only
for a few moments, she looked up again to see she was
already at the familiar, orange, red door. 

It perturbed her to no end at the speed of which
everything was going.  <Damn, that went fast..... just
like everything else happening today.>  Sneering at
the two artificial crabs hanging by the door, Ryoko
made extra sure to slam it hard on the way out.

Ayeka was still watching television, as her rival
expected.  That specific channel was running some kind
of soap marathon today, it seemed.  Phasing over in
front of the couch, her spiked cyan hair intentially
positioned to block the action behind, Ryoko asked,
"Where's Nobuyuki and Tenchi?"

Ayeka scowled at the interruption of her
entertainment, leaned to the side to continue
watching.  Not paying much attention to the space
demon, she motioned outside, "Lord Tenchi's tending
the carrot patch, and his father is outside getting
the grill set up.  He thought it'd be nice to have a
barbque today."

"Ryoko, about this afternoon's conversation.....",
Ayeka turned her head but her intended audience was
nowhere to be seen.

Ryoko smiled when she saw Nobuyuki in a worn out white
apron, with old faded grease stains that never quite
went out despite repeated washings.  Of course, it had
'Kiss the Cook' imprinted on it, in large emblazed
lettering.

<Maybe I should get an apron too.... but it'd have
'Kiss the Crook' on it.>

She inwardly laughed at absurdity of the image, he was
fumbling with various utensils, the apron and his
oversized chef's hat, tilted over his face on one
side, was a stark contrast to Sasami's neatness and
competence.

While he was busy fiddling with the old rusted
charcoal grill, preparing for the night's meal she
asked him, "Nobuyuki, could you come to Washu's lab
for a moment, there is something we need to show you."

Startled and surprised at Ryoko's sudden appearance,
Nobuyuki jumped up,  thoroughly dislodging his hat
before he scratched the back of his neck.  "Oh sure, I
guess.  Will it be quick?  I have to get this grill
set up by the end of the hour for dinnertime."

"Oh, yeah," she lied.  More honestly she smirked
mischievously at him, "It's about who Tenchi likes.  I
found out this morning but don't say anything to him."

A look of supreme joy filled Nobuyuki.  He excitedly
begged, "Who is it?!  Who is it?!"

She wagged her finger teasingly in his face, "You'll
have to come into the lab to find out."

Nobuyuki nodded happily, with a sudden gleam in his
eye and a huge leer decorating his face.  He started
mumbling about how he knew that boy would come around.

The ex-pirate felt mildly bad about not telling his
father the whole truth of the matter.  <But he'll find
out in time anyway.  Anyway, with what he's going to
shown, seeing is believing.>

Nobuyuki was excitedly trailing behind her as she
headed back into the house, in order to get Ayeka. 
Teleporting onto the couch, she nabbed the remote,
which was lying between the two in the folds of the
leather. 

After Ryoko zapped the television off, the plum haired
princess protested strongly, "Hey...., it was just
getting to the good part...."

"Every part is the good part for you princess!"

"Now that's not true and you know it...." came the
protest.

Ryoko held up her hand, indicating a wish for silence.
 Not willing to accept commands, Ayeka was about to
open her mouth.  Her rival impatiently cut in, "Look,
we need to go down to Washu's lab. I found out who
Tenchi really loves."

Ayeka's attitude immediately changed and her eye
glimmered in a sudden mix of anticipation and fear,
"Who?!"

Washu's daughter kept her face perfectly neutral as
well as her tone, teasing the princess with her
unreadable expression.  "Come and find out."

She began heading to the lab door, Tenchi's father in
tow. 

Ayeka was left sitting still on the couch, her heart
rapidly beating.  <Can it be true?  Tenchi loves one
of us.  And if Ryoko is only inviting me, that
means..... it's one of us!>  She quickly composed
herself, smoothing out her garment, and caught up with
the two.

Both started firing questions at the ex-pirate, but
she refused to answer any of them.

Meanwhile, Washu was sitting in her lab quietly
contemplating this new and unexpected situation, there
was no work to set anything up, the preparations would
be done with a push of a few buttons.

Unwilling to open herself to anyone else, Washu
admitted to herself that was scared.  After being
recently released from the Souja, she took upon
herself to probe her daughter's mind. 

<I thought I knew pretty much everything about that
young man, except for the secrets of the Light Hawk
Wings, of course.  I conducted so many tests, gathered
so many samples.... and nothing like this would have
occured to me.>

<Who are these two people?  My daughter's instints
were correct, these two must be two seperate entities.
 They act and talk too differently.  To be truly only
one person.... that would be......>

<And what of his control over her lab?  How extensive
is it, how far does it reach?>  She scowled at the
very thought, someone else in control of a lab that
*she* created from scratch.

<How that is possible?  Very improbable without my
memories.>

Logic led her deeper down this train of thought, and
she smiled sourly in realization, <He must have my
memories.  I saw him fight, that's mostly my style. 
His fighting style had some variations, he must have
incorporated Ryoko's style, though it would take a
trained eye to see it.  So he must have her memories
too, with the information he knows. And his links?>

Her mental gears were in overdrive for a while, but
every road she took explained nothing, it ultimately
became a circular loop of unanswerable questions.  She
lay down on her back, closed her eyes, and waited for
the group to come in.

Not too long afterward, the trio arrived in the foyer
of the lab.

"Miss Ryoko, I wish to know finally what this is
about."

The one addressed stopped in her tracks, "You two have
to promise me that whatever you see in the lab won't
leave it.  That you'll won't ever mention it to anyone
else."

Both of her invited guests questioned her about this. 
"Why....."

At her wit's end, she wheeled around and faced them in
anger.  "Dammit, I don't have time for this.  Promise
me!  Otherwise you can go back upstairs."

The two nodded dumbly at the outburst, and saw that
the pirate's sour mood left no room for argument.

In unison, the two pledged, "I.... I promise."

They kept asking more questions on the way to the main
part of the lab and Ryoko kept on ignoring them.

When they finally made it to their destination, Washu
was there to greet them.  Immediately, she went to
work, "Ryoko, dear, you can sit down and put on this
helmet."

Ryoko noticed that to her side a chair had popped up. 
 Ensconced in its back was a helmet, with what
resembled lightbulbs encircling its body.

She plopped down in the contraption, reflecting that
it was much more comfortable than one of the
confinement models.  The headpiece positioned itself
automatically over her head.

Washu asked, "Ayeka, is that tiara of yours always
connected to Ryu-oh?"

"Of course, Little Washu."

"Can you hand it over please?"

Ryu-oh's life partner clutched protectively at the
tiara, it hadn't left her head in ages, since she
bonded with that tree.  "Why should I take it off?"

Nodding understandingly, Washu pointed out the
transporter, "Sorry, but then you have to leave."

Ayeka ran her fingers over the smooth, polished,
hardwood of her tiara, her key to her spaceship tree. 
Having worn it so long, she has completely forgotten
what her forehead felt like without it.

<Is it worth whatever Ryoko is going to show them? 
What if it's some type of hoax by those two?  Washu
could be eccentric sometimes, but she's already taking
care of Ryu-oh.......>

[Ryu-oh, I'll be out of reach for a little while,
don't worry.]  Untying her side braids free from the
ornament was an arduous task, taking the better part
of a minute to prevent any tangles.

Never having done this, Ayeka was having minor
difficulty focusing on the task as she was keenly
aware that the small gathering's attention was on her.
 Sighing in relief, she finally finished undoing her
braids.  In ancient Jurain, she commanded, "Ke narem
endu cassoc rellik ge Ryu-oh."

The tiara simply slid off, as if it placed on an oiled
surface.  The first princess could not help but smirk,
remembering that her little sister thought that the
tiara could be taken off by simply tugging at it. 
Giggling to herself, Ayeka could not help but think,
<Bonded to the very goddess powering the trees, you
would expect that she knew all their secrets.>

She shook her head, recalling the numerous nights that
Sasami tried to sneak up on her to take off the tiara,
without realizing that she'd have an impossible time
getting it off. 

Tracing her fingers over her own bare forehead, Ayeka
could not get rid of the feeling that she was suddenly
naked and vulnerable, never having fully realized the
warm protective feeling her tiara gave her.

She carefully handed her prized key to Washu, who
carelessy tossed it into a subspace hole.

"Miss Washu! That tiara..."

Not bothering to correct the princess on her preferred
title, Washu assured, "Don't worry Ayeka, that piece
of wood is quite safe."

Impatient with the proceeding, Ryoko snapped out, "Are
we ready yet?"

Washu inputted a few commands into her terminal and
answered.  "Yes, on one condition, you two won't speak
until it's over, got it?"

After they promised, they were still surprised with
confinement models popping out of the ground behind
them, complete with bindings and gags. 

A large screen appeared mid-air, and the room
darkened.  It started playing Ryoko's memories from
the events of the day.  Sometimes straining against
their personal prisons, Ayeka and Nobuyuki felt like
yawning at the footage of the first few minutes but
then their eyes opened wide.....

It was over around an hour later, with the two still
wide eyed.  The screen faded, a flurry of questions
ensued.

"How come I don't have a bruise?  And those photos,
how could I have just listened so easily to those lies
about those horrible things?  And Tenchi never calls
me by my name."

Washu shrugged at Nobuyuki's questions and thoughts,
quite simply not knowing how to answer them.

"Why does they hate Tsunami?  And why does the one
hate my brother and me so much," Ayeka inquired,
shivering all of a sudden, totally shocked to the core
of her being at the rancor the one of them showed, as
well his use of language.

Washu was at a loss.  "I suspect he has both absorbed
the memories from the gems, my memories and
experiences, Ryoko's memories and experiences,
perhaps.  It could be from her being put into the
cave."

Ayeka absorbed this but still was upset, "But that
makes no sense, how could he have watched me grow up? 
That doesn't explain all the other things."

The scientist conjectured, "I know it doesn't explain
everything or even close to that, but maybe he's
confused. All those memories are a lot to absorb.  I
don't have anything better to go on at this moment."

Nobuyuki opened his mouth several times, not managing
to get the question out for the first few times, "I
have two sons?!"

The redhead confirmed his theory, "Few entities can
create duplicates, for a short time.  From experience
I can tell you it's very draining manifesting a second
body.  I have the ability, Ryoko had it, even Kagato
could do it before he captured me."

"They're also known as shadows, because in reality
it's not real.  If something happens to it, like
getting killed, it's no big deal.  The original is the
puppet master pulling the shadow's strings.  However,
I suspect these two are seperate entities."

Ayeka blurted, "But who is this Tokimi?"

Scratched her chin, Washu smiled fondly.  This back
and forth question and answering reminded her of her
fargone days as a teacher.  "Dr. Clay mentioned her. 
I don't know, but she was looking to talk to me.  Must
have been his boss."

The first princess smirked, eyeing at the redhead
suspiciously.  "From the memories, it sounds as if you
know what's going on."

Downcast at being led down this road of suspicion
again, Washu replied, "I know you won't believe me but
I don't."

Ayeka pressed on further, "Why was he able to wear the
gems?  What are those weird tattoos?  How did he get
all that knowledge about Jurain customs and tradition?
 And why did he know my original hair color?"

She held out her hands in a gesture as if to say,
"Don't look at me, I'm in the dark here as well."

The princess turned to her rival and accused, "That's
why you nagged me with all those questions before
lunch.  To see if he was right."

The former cave dweller retorted, "Well yeah.  It was
all so crazy, I was making sure it wasn't a dream or
something."

Everybody and everything went quiet for a while.

Washu spoke up, breaking up the uncomfortable silence,
"I think the best course of action is to see these
past memories as the one suggested.  And I have a
foolproof plan."

She started discussing her idea on how to get Tenchi
down there and see the memories. 

Talking for at least ten minutes, Washu finally
finished explaining.  "Don't forget, nobody else
should know!  It'll important to act normally around
him."

The participants of this gathering nodded silently. 

The lab's owner summoned a subspace portal, and out
popped Ayeka's tiara, handing it to the princess while
asking, "Can you block your thoughts from Ryu-oh?"

"My tree only knows what I wish it to know, Little
Washu.  Next time, I need not take it off, I assure
you."  Ayeka sighed, feeling much better as she slid
her precious tiara back on and commanded it to stay in
place, "Ke mepu endu cassoc rellik ge Ryu-oh."

Tenchi had already grown tired working on the carrot
fields that afternoon, and he was wiping the
perspiration off his brow.  He sighed, frustrated at
himself for getting up so late.  Wondering why he was
exhausted so soon, the carrot farmer shrugged it off,
and placed the blame squarely to that silly talk he
had with his father and Washu way to early in the
morning.

<Really!  Those were so obviously.... ugh, how could
Washu even be tricked by that?>  Pulling out the last
of the weeds he detected, he checked the time and
noticed that it was nearly seven forty-five.

Ayeka had come out to meet him a little over an hour
ago.  She explained that his father was late getting
the grill to work and dinner would be postponed until
eight o'clock. 

She was strangely hesitant around him, more than
usual, but he dismissed it as her usual reserved self
by the time she went on her way.  Tenchi's face
flushed in embarassment, Ayeka kept peeking over her
shoulder on the way back to the house. 

Standing up and surveying the fields, Tenchi looked
upon his handiwork with pride.  Everything was
unweeded, the ripened carrots were picked, and he was
don.

He bent down and picked up his tools and the
heavy-duty basket full of carrots, which he strapped
onto his back. He looked into the direction of the
house and started walking down the road.

After putting the tools and carrots into the shed, he
grinned broadly as he smelled one of his father's
burnt bar-b-ques.  <Dad could never manage to get it
completely right.>

Walking out to the patio, which was situated by the
lake, Tenchi quietly laughed to himself as he saw the
smoke clouding the area, making everything hazy. 
Already seeing the rest of family on the steps of
porch eating, the Ryo-ohki's carrot picker joined
them.

When everybody finished with dinner, Sasami went
inside to wash the dishes and Washu decided to take
the opportunity to make her move.  "Tenchi, could you
get your sword dear?"

"Oh, why Little Washu?"

Washu smiled sweetly, "Just because."

Wondering what's up, but not in the mood to quarrel
with the only person who can fix the house when one of
his other guests wrecked it, the guinea pig ran up to
his room anyway, to retrieve the master key.

Walking back to the table, he sat down and told her,
"It's in my pocket, Little Washu."

Batted her lashes at him, Washu cooed, "Oh Tenchi, are
you doing anything tonight?"  She asked it the
sweetest childlike voice she could manage.

Upon hearing the question, the young man suddenly
sweatdropped.  Whenever Washu asked him anything in
that voice it usually meant one of two things:  she
flirting with him, which in itself could cause a fight
to break out, or that she getting ready to do some
experiments on him, probably in his underwear.

"Actually, Miss...er...Little Washu I have a ton of
homework I need to get done tonight, you know."  The
young prince started pawing at the routine itch on the
back of his head while looking around, plotting an
escape route.

"Thanks for reminding me, I'll think I'll get started
on it now.  Dinner was great Dad, only a little more
burnt than what Sasami cooks."  He flashed the little
girl a smile, causing her to giggle and blush
slightly, and started getting up.

The redhead waggled her index finger scoldingly at
him, "Tenchi, it's only Monday night and don't tell
lil' old me that would rather spend the evening
scribbling on paper than with yours truly."  She put
her right hand on her chest and made a dramatic pose,
one worthy of an opera.

Getting hot under the collar, he couldn't really think
up an excuse.  The holder of the master key was
looking around, desperately hoping that Ayeka or Ryoko
would start a scene with the diminutive genius, so
that he could sneak off.  His wish was granted.

"Miss Washu, Lord Tenchi's schoolwork is more
important than him being experimented on like some lab
rat."

The scientist cocked an eyebrow at Ayeka, "What did
you call me?"

"Miss er...um Little Washu."  Ayeka's previous fiery
attitude was doused.

Ryoko, though, decided she had enough as well. 
"Washu!  Your not going anywhere near my Tenchi,
especially with that stunt you pulled on me last
time!"

The princess's temper was apparently reignited and her
courage resolved when Ryoko spoke up.  "I agree! 
Sasami told me all about how you were handling him
last time, all tied up and in his underwear no less!"

The two rivals growled at that, and looked at each
other before Ayeka announced, "So it decided.  Lord
Tenchi has better things to attend to tonight."

Washu appeared thoroughly bemused at their antics;
suddenly she smiled deviously, "Tell you what girls,
what if I allow you to watch what I'm doing to Tenchi,
underwear and all?"

Ayeka was about to rebuke her, however, she calmed
downed and blushed.  Ryoko sneered in Washu's face,
"What are you up to Washu?  This better not be one of
your tricks."

Her mother wore an unreadable expession, "No tricks. 
But if Tenchi doesn't come with me tonight.... I'll
just find another time to test him.  Alone."

His two love interests growled again. 

Common sense kicked in and Ayeka accepted the original
offer, "Well, it is my duty to see to Lord Tenchi's
safety.  Since he would protect me."

Washu scowled but Ayeka easily ignored it.  "What if
we cut a deal Little Washu?  We watch, only to ensure
Lord Tenchi's safety ,of course..."

Ryoko snorted, "Yeah right...."

Ayeka glared at the monster woman before continuing,
"....and you don't experiment on him for two months."

Watching the three woman negotiate his evening away,
Tenchi became miffed that others were deciding things
for him.  "Hey!  Don't I have any say in this?" he
piped out much more timidly than he intended.

Of course, no one paid any attention to his remark. 
"Two months! Two months apart from my guinea pig?!  I
don't think so.  I'll be extra generous and give you
two weeks."

Her daughter asserted herself cleary, "One month,
Washu!  Take it or leave it.  Or I'll make sure
Mihoshi will start making unannounced visits to your
lab!"

Wincing at this, Washu was glad to know that Mihoshi
was in space making another report, if she heard that
comment she might get ideas.  <If that girl ever got
ideas to begin with, sometimes I wonder what runs
through that ditz's mind.>

Even his father took part.  "Wait I'm coming as well. 
I need to record to record my son's development.... in
life of course."

Washu rose away from the table, rubbed her hands
together, and announced,  "Deal!  Let the games
begin!"

Running over and grabbing a very flustered teenage boy
by his wrist, Washu started pulling him toward the
storage closet door, which happened to be an entrance
to her lab.

All Tenchi could do was memorize the scene behind him,
wondering if this was the last time he would see the
house alive. 

Nobuyuki, Ayeka and Ryoko followed the two closely
behind to the dark depths of the lab. 

Katsuhito decided to go back to the shrine, seeing no
need to interfere with the crazed scientist's plans. 

Sasami smiled at all the previous fuss, only slightly
concerned about her great nephew's safety.

Tenchi accepted the situation, like he always did. 
<As if I had any choice.>

"Little Washu, what exactly are you going to be
testing this time?"  Tenchi remembered the first time
the genius said she got all the samples she needed,
except for the "most important one."  He desperately
hoped she wasn't going to try that again, especially
with Ayeka and Ryoko around.  He could imagine their
reactions to that.

<On the other hand, with those two around, Washu would
be less likely to try that stunt again.>  Being
molested by a woman inhabiting the body of a twelve
year old wasn't his idea of fun.

<I can't call up the wings at will anyway, yet.  Washu
wants to study them pretty bad.  Even with all the
stunts she pulls, I wouldn't want to disappoint her.>

"Well Tenchi, I've been studying your mind for some
time.  Whenever you tried to call up the Light Hawk
Wings in my lab, I noticed that your brain was trying
to access areas that have mental blocks on them.  I
don't really know the purpose of these blocks but I've
worked out something that could possibly circumvent
them.  If everything works out, I think then maybe you
could call on the wings at will."

"And my Little Ryoko, Princess Ayeka, and even
Nobuyuki will participate as well."

The former space pirate shouted, "I'm not little and
I'm not yours!  I don't like this idea of yours one
bit and I thought only Tenchi was going to be
experimented on!"

Her mother's face stayed expressionless, even though
inside she winced.  It always hurt her when Ryoko
pushed away so much, however, some hidden part of her
mind nagged at her that she was solely the one at
fault for that.

"Fine.  If you don't want to help, the exit is that
way."  The lab's owner pointed back toward the
entrance they came in from.  She added, "New deal,
only active participants are allowed here right now." 

Mentally contacting her child, she had to remind Ryoko
of something important.  [Remember, the one said that
the key to the memory blocks is not only in his mind,
but yours and Ayeka's as well.]

The cyan haired woman thought about it, if that was
true, it was something she simply had to do, there was
no use of skirting around the issue.

"Little Washu, you said only active participants are
allowed. What would I be required to do?" asked Ayeka,
suddenly nervous at this turn of events, as it was not
what was planned out beforehand.

The ancient adolescent brightened up considerably.
"I'm glad you asked.  You two were present when Tenchi
here called up the wings, you, Ryoko, the first time
around, and you, Ayeka, the second time around.....so
I'd like to have access those memories as well."

Both nodded, Tenchi yawned bored, Nobuyuki looked
truly lost, and Washu grinned.  <Mi plan is working
perfectly.  Tenchi doesn't seem to suspect a thing.>

They entered a large empty hall.  Washu cracked her
knuckles and asked rhetorically, "Alright is everybody
ready?"

Without awaiting a response, she typed, not on her
usual holotop, but into another computer.  Tenchi
immediately felt the familiar sensation of what seemed
to be one of her machines appearing behind him,
stripping him to his underwear in nanoseconds.  It
positioned a brain scanner, a type of flashing light
bulb helmet, on his head before strapping him in
place, albeit vertically.

He looked around and saw Ryoko, to his right, and
Ayeka, to his left, situated in a V configuration,
binded to machines much in the same fashion as
himself.  His father was standing off to one side.

Tenchi noted sourly that while the two girls were held
in place like he was, they were fully clothed. 
"Little Washu, why am I the only one stripped down?"

"Well, its not really my type of thing, but I can fix
that, just for you, my naughty little guinea pig!"

"Really?"

"Sure, why not?  Now do you want to see them in their
underwear, topless, or should we go for the full
frontal nudity?"

Confused for a second, until the realization hit him
how Washu was going to 'fix' the situation.  He could
feel a nosebleed coming on from the mere suggestion.

Ayeka was practically breathing fire.  "Miss Washu!  I
hope you are not suggesting what I think you are!"

"Oh Tenchi," came a soft, sultry voice to his right.

He looked over at Ryoko, who winked at him.  "Who
cares what Miss Priss says, go for the full frontal
nudity.  Its not like Ayeka has that much to hide
anyway.  She's as flat as an ironing board!" 

The ex-pirate cackled at her own joke, much in the
same way her mother does, and Tenchi groaned inwardly.
 If anybody knew the exact wrong choice of words to
use, it was Ryoko.  He accepted the inevitable, before
a fight could break out, and sighed with defeat,
"Little Washu, just forget I said anything and lets
get this over with please."

The scientist came up to him, and strapped a rod, made
of some type of metallic alloy, in his hands, binding
them with a strange type of cable.  "Little Washu,
what are you doing?"

Winking at him, she smoothly replied, "Nothing
important."

Typing command again into the computer, the redhead
worked for at least fifteen minutes while everybody
else was idling away impatiently. 

Washu was getting nervous, the time to start
confronting Tenchi was fast approaching.  That is how
they had planned to draw his true selves out from the
protective shell they erected.  <Hopefully the one
Tenchi is correct.  Everything else is going according
to plan.>

This time Nobuyuki planned on being more direct and
aggressive compared to that morning.  It was Washu's
suggestion to do so, but he was supposed to go easy
when she gave him the signal.  He sighed and got to
work.

Rudely awakened from his nap, which he fell into while
bored waiting for Washu to prepare herself, the young
Masaki looked up only to see Nobuyuki in his face,
this

"Tenchi, I just found duplicates of those two photos
in the attic this afternoon.  These don't look like
make-up at all, like I thought at the end of our
discussion this morning."

Faced directly with the two photos, the son's eyes
widened for a split second, only to calm down again. 
"No dad, believe me, that's just make-up...."

Nobuyuki cut him off, shouting, "No! This isn't
make-up!"

Squirming around, Tenchi amended, "Actually, I-I fell
down the stairs of the shrine and...."

His father interjected again, "I would have known
about that, you're only like three and half in these
photos!"

Writhing in his binds more violently, Tenchi adjusted
his story, "What I meant to say that Grandpa and I
were at sword practice, and we really beat each other
up that day...."

"Bullshit Tenchi!  Your grandfather would never be
capable of hurting you like this!"

The prince growled deep in his throat but talked very
slowly, "You don't know what that...."  Stopping
midsentence, Tenchi closed his eyes and hissed out,
"Believe it, all it is, is make-up for a costume
festival, Daaaad."

About to rebuke his son again, Nobuyuki just opened
his mouth before a loud ping interrupted.  Washu was
sitting on the borrowed terminal and cleared her
throat, "Sorry about that, the computer had an error. 
We'll be at least ten more minutes."

The older Masaki calmed down, "Tenchi, I'm sorry.  I
know we discussed it before, but I guess looking at
them just made me upset.  They look so real!  No
wonder I let you throw away the first set.  I'm really
sorry for bringing this up before everyone around
here, I should have done this in private."

Tenchi stopped fighting his restraints and smiled,
"That's ok dad."  Scowling at Washu, "I thought we
were trying find out all we could about the wings, not
this again."

The scientist reassured, "Oh yes, of course.  We
sorted that mess out this morning.  I'm only
interested in the Light Hawk Wings."  Washu hoped the
lie was convincing.

Focusing back on the screens, she breathed in
silently.  Two brain patterns did indeed emerge, and
they were significantly different from each other. 
One, while slightly different from her original
readings, was still well within the normal range.  But
the other..... she has never seen one this bad
before.....

[Ryoko, take a look at this...]  Washu pleaded,
practically inviting her daughter into her mind.

Ryoko was able to see through her mother's eyes,
catching the image of the terminal screen, she
blinked.  [Yeah so what?  It doesn't mean anything to
me.]

[Ok, I'll tell you.  One brain pattern is in the
normal range, the other one is totally erratic, even
worse than just erratic.]

Ryoko, wondering what this was ultimately leading to,
asked,  [What do you mean?]

[This other person.... this other person is totally
psychologically damaged my dear.  We usually put
people with these type of patterns into mental
institutions.  Maximum security institutions.  This is
the most erratic brain patterns I've ever seen, and I
seen them all.]

Her daughter was shocked, [What?! Neither of them
seemed so bad!]

Washu closed off her end of the link, and began work
on decoding the mental blocks.  This one was
especially hard to recognize, but she had a clue on
how to begin.  Ignoring the frequent protesting and
whining from all those strapped in, the scientist
continued diligently grinding away at it for least an
hour and fifteen minutes.

It took that long to have it figured out.  Washu
scowled, it didn't feel right, internally she knew
exactly where to look.  Anybody else with the same
opportunity would have never recognized the small
signs.  She felt almost as if some external force was
guiding her path. 

The most devious part on the blocks were that they
would have been impossible to decode without Tenchi,
Ayeka, and Ryoko all present.  She had to overlap
their patterns in a precise sequence to even begin
detecting any memory blocks present.

[Ryoko take a look at this.] Washu crowed out through
her link.

[What is it now?] the space demon asked, bored out of
her wits.

[Remember all this information..... just...... just in
case this doesn't work.]

[How should I remember all that?!] Ryoko demanded.

[Just take a look.  You have a perfectly engineered
brain, with excellent short, mid, and long term
memories and -]

Not wanting to sit in a lecture, her creation cut in,
[Ok, ok.  I looked already, get on with it.]

Not taking any particular insult at her daughter's
crudeness, Washu concentrated on finishing her work as
fast as possible.  After she put her finishing touches
on detecting and decoding the mental blocks, Her
breathing stopped again.

Even though there was no need for it, she whispered
across her link, [Ryoko!]

Ryoko, while trying to act bored externally, roared
back mentally, [Hey, are we going to get the show on
the road here?  What is it?]

[Tenchi has no mental blocks as of this moment.  I
suppose whoever they are, both are reawakened.  Ayeka
has memory blocks.  And you......, you have a ton of
them.  Every single one with the same signature,
except for the one you inherited from Zero.  Even your
forgotten childhood, it could.... no... must be
blocked because of them too!]

It was very trying for a certain cyan haired woman to
keep her face neutral.  [What..... why?!]

Determination hardening her face, Washu scowled. 
[That is what we're going to find out.]

Putting the finishing touches on the decoding
algorithm, Washu pressed several buttons.  Three
theatre size screens popped out of nowhere.  "Ok gang,
let's see what we have can find out."

One screen went on, Tenchi's screen, showing a scene
from his point of view.  It seemed that he was sitting
in a darkened cell, prison bars preventing any
possible escape.  He had a hand dangling out between
the metal, and kept on focusing down the hallway,
waiting for somebody or something.

The Tenchi in the lab started flailing about and
protested loudly, "Little Washu!  I thought we were
going to watch the times I summoned the Light Hawk
Wings."

Washu tapped her cheek.  "I did say that, didn't I?" 
The sneaky scientist pouted in completely phony
innocencence.  "You see I got all this new equipment
from a friend and I must have adjusted the time frame
wrong."

Tenchi growled, "I knew you were up to something,
Washu."

His cocky grin gave her pause and he directed his
arrogant leer at her.  "Lab Computer, I, Tenchi, take
full master control.  Restrict all other access.  Lock
down the lab."

A short beep rang out and a robotic voice echoed
throughout the area, "Confirmed."

Looking around wide eyed even though nothing apparent
happened, Washu screamed out her anguish, "What the
hell are you doing?!"

Everybody else watched perplexed as the two stared
each other down.

She knew she was in trouble as soon as her central
computer responded to his commands.  Sticking out her
hands, Washu growled in total frustration when no
holocomp appeared. "How did you do this, take control
of the lab I built up from scratch?!"

Tenchi taunted, "My, my.  Soooo many questions,
suuuuch a little bitch!"

He shut his eyes, concentrated for a few moments, and
summoned the master key to him.  Currently it was
contained in one of Washu's glasslike containers.

Ryoko called out to her mother, [Can't you do
anything?  Like release me?]

Washu answered back, [Hold on, hold on... I'm
formulating a back-up plan, without control of the
lab, it will be much harder to fight back.  I hadn't
exactly expected this.]

As it's master called it, the beige hilt trembled more
and more, before streaking like a purplish gold comet
across the room.  Hovering before him a few feet above
the floor, it awaited his command. 

And it's owner did infact bark out orders, "Area
protect, cut off all links.  Lab computer, release me
from confinement." 

"Confirmed."

Tenchi dropped down, still clothed only in boxers. 
Washu came running towards him, as he jeered, "Very
clever Washu.  These rods in my hands, they prevent
the formation of energy swords no doubt."

The redhead formed her two crimson energy swords and
went into an offensive stance, completely sure that
she had her opponent on the defensive, "Who the hell
are you?!"

Tenchi grinned and in the air before him, two energy
swords formed, his own crimson and midnight black
blades.  Stopped in midstride, the universe's greatest
genius was alarmed at the sight of this ability. 

Nobuyuki ran for cover, away from the combatants, but
all the doors in the hall were locked.  Ryoko and
Ayeka, confined, could only look on in amazement, not
breathing out a single protest.

Aggressively going into the attack, Washu fought the
two floating blades, while Tenchi appeared to be
mentally controlling them.

His swords moved like they were attached to a human,
and expertly blocked and parried her attacks so that
she was slowly maneuvered away from his body.  During
a lull in the battle, with Washu panting, unused to
the heavy exertion of fighting two disembodied energy
blades, both swords broke away from the scientist. 

Speedily, they flew towards Tenchi and swung,
precisely within a hair's breadth, cutting off the
metal cables that kept his hands bound with the rods. 
Taking hold of both energy swords, the young prince
asked bored, "Don't you think this swordplay is
getting old, Washu?  I beat you every time, lately."

Not having fought in several thousand years, she
briefly wondered if Tenchi was delusional.  Instantly,
she had seen an unmistakable sign of him teleporting
out, and mimicking his tactic, she did the same,
leaving a doll at her previous location.

Ryoko saw what was about to happen, and screamed,
[Washu, watch out, he's waiting for you!]

Not having heard her daughter's mental warning, Washu
phased back into another part of the room and
immediately felt the Tenchi-ken pressed against her
forehead.  The last words she heard was "Trance."

The other, heard him keep speaking, "Really Washu, I
know all of your little tricks."

Next, he teleported beside Nobuyuki.  His father
scratched the back of his head, and nervously
stuttered out, "W-wow Tenchi.  You sure can do... lots
of...."

Smiling warmly, his son assured, "Don't worry Dad. I'd
never hurt you, intentionally."

Trying to act more relieved than he felt, the older
Masaki said with fatherly pride, "I never knew you
could do all this-"

Interrupting Nobuyuki, Tenchi tapped the hilt to his
father's forehead. "Trance..... and you never shall."

The girls kept on staring at Tenchi, and occasionally
stealing glances at each other, bewildered at how this
carefully planned situation got overturned so easily.

Washu and Nobuyuki were in the exact same positions as
they were before, unmoving, it seemed nothing could
disturb them.

Ryoko stayed calm, knowing instinctively that Tenchi
wouldn't hurt her.

The princess, on the other hand, squirmed against her
bindings when he came closer but Tenchi took no
notice.  Ayeka squemishly screeched out "Please, don't
hurt me!"

"Uh huh......... trance."

Passing the former space pirate, he didn't even take a
look at Ryoko.  Her head was simply another target for
the master key, "Trance."

For the second time that day, her eyelids went down
like lead weights, and her mind lost control of her
body.  Steadying all her willpower, she fought for the
use of her own eyes and eventually found that she
could open them at least half-way.

Now two Tenchis were in front of her, one glaring at
the other.  "Now this is proof you and that little
bitch are doing something together.  How are you doing
this?!  Tell me!"

Chiten innocently asked, "Doing what exactly?"

His twin bit his own lip, "Well, from what I see from
their memories, Nobuyuki found those duplicate photos
in the attic this afternoon.  I don't believe that for
a second!"

"Why not?  Seems reasonable to me."

Tenchi growled, "Another set of those photos in one
day?!  What did Achika do, have an entire stack
printed out, to send out for Christmas?  Her memories
may have been degraded, but I damned well know she did
not make duplicates!  And why would Washu have taken
the precaution of putting anti-energy rods in my
hands?  She wouldn't do that, unless she was actively
trying to prevent...."

Faced with the challenge of addressing his
complement's concerns, Chiten scratched his chin. 
"Hmm..... maybe Washu put those on because she thought
accessing our brain could trigger the Light Hawk
Wings.  In that case, it was to protect her lab, as
futile as the attempt may have been.  As the photos, I
don't know...."

"I know you two are lying.  I see it plain as day,
those falsehoods show clearly across your eyes.  What
the two of you are scheming, I don't know."

Tenchi finish interrogating his lookalike and went up
to Ayeka.  "Do you want her to die?!  Tell me the
truth, or ....."  His inky colored energy blade
started tracing up towards the Jurain princess's
throat, "See, I'm willing to do it too."

Chiten's throat momentarily constricted, but with his
loved one in danger, he pulled within himself, and the
three triangles on his forehead flared to life. 

Tenchi moved the sword ever closer to Ayeka's throat,
when his energy blade intersected a newly materialized
bright light, the area burst with electritrical like
power.  Jumping back, he saw that Chiten's three wings
have crystallized in all their splendor, protecting
the princess.

Howling with rage, he recklessly banged his sword
repeatedly against the wings, but to no avail for they
held solid.  Chiten asked, "Are you done harassing
her?"

Tenchi calmed down from his rage, however, he ignored
the question and walked up to the doll Washu left
behind.

He stuck his tongue out at it and then tilted his
head.  Laughing quietly Tenchi remarked, "You know,
one of these dolls would be as good.... no.... better
than the real Washu.  Don't you think so?"

"What do you mean?" ask his confused copy.

"I'll tell you."  Tenchi picked it up the doll.  "We
could lock Washu up in a stasis crystal.... just like
Kagato did."  Contemplating where he was going with
this, Tenchi smiled brightly before he continued. 
"And then the doll could be programmed to do Washu
type stuff."

He flipped the doll around, so its back was facing
him.  "No one would miss her with the doll around. 
Programming it would be easy, eighty percent of the
time all it has to do this...."  Tenchi grasped the
doll's arms and summoned a holo-top.  He began
manipulating the doll in a strange parody of typing,
flailing its arms around.  Tenchi chanted loudly,
"tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap,
tap, tap, tap."

Broadly grinning, Tenchi was ecstatic, "You see! 
Brother, look at this!  I can't even tell the
difference, can you?"

Looking down earnestly at the doll he inquired, "Are
you the real Washu?  I just don't know!  Woe is me,
what a conumdrum."

The puppetmaster had the doll crane its neck
backwards, looking up at him, while he was speaking
for it in a high pitched voice, "No, I'm just a stupid
little bitch."

Slapping his cheek, Tenchi exclaimed, "So you *are*
the real Washu!  My god, I can't tell the difference."

"At other times, the doll has to be really disgusting,
just like the real thing...."  Tenchi slowly started
walking the doll toward his doppelganger, having it
jump exaggerated leaps and bounds, side to side. 
Cackling maniacally, as he closed in on his twin, the
high pitched voice came back, "Tenchi!  We forgot the
most important sample, didn't we?  How should I
extract it?"

Chiten froze in place at the suggestion, but as soon
as the doll was pressed against him, he began
stumbling backwards to avoid it.  His taunting
doppelganger pressed his attack relentlessly until
Chiten up against the wall.

In a doll's voice Tenchi continued, "So Tenchi, should
I get it orally?"  He pressed the doll's head against
his lookalike's crotch and imitated the appropriate
inappropriate lewd noises for the situation, "Mmmm....
hmm......(slurp)(slurp)(slurp)..... oh your so big
Tenchi!" 

Blushing in embarrassment, Chiten protested rather
meekly, "Stop it."

Uprighting the doll, Tenchi asked, "So you must want a
hand job instead?" 

Chiten pressed against the wall and cringed.  Tenchi
was trying to guide the doll's forearm into his
doppelganger's boxers.  Cackling out loud because he
managed to slip the figure's arm into his twin's
boxers, Tenchi proclaimed,  "Lets shake the dew off
this lily! Shall we?"

Getting very flustered, his victim pleaded, "Get that
thing off me, will you?!"

Chiten backpedaled many feet away, along the wall,
while his brother laughed insanely.  Tenchi mocked in
his normal voice, "So you want that thing to get off
on you!  I'll keep that in mind."

He reverted to using the high pitched voice again, "So
you want the full course, the total package.  Okay,
but just for you Tenchi!"

Tenchi forced the doll to stand up straight with it's
hands above its head, and started humming, "Li Da da
da, ka dum dum, hmm hm hmmmm."  As he hummed, the doll
was manipulated into doing a strip tease, slowly
taking off the mock science academy uniform.

As soon as the uniform was off, it was naked.  Tenchi
gasped loudly in his normal voice, "Dr. Clay was
wrong, you can tell the front from the back very
easily, brother!  Look at this, see what I mean?"

Shaking his head and sighing exasperated, Chiten
moaned, "Actually, I don't know what you mean."

Shocked, his double scolded, "What?! It's *very*
obvious, the front is where it's head is facing
forward. Don't you know that?"

Rolling his eyes, Chiten snorted, "How perceptive of
you."

Tenchi continued unhearing, "Look brother, she wants
to give you a lap dance!"  He place his feet on the
back of the puppet's feet, holding them down, and
raised its arms above its head.  Swinging the doll, so
that the hips went in a slow circular motion, he
huskily growled, "Brother, isn't she a good dancer? 
Doesn't she turn you on?  Can't this beautiful doll
make you forget about Ayeka."

Laughing, Chiten waved his hand dismissively,
"Whatever."

"Come on, she'd be perfect for you.  She'll never say
no to you.  Look at those eyes, she's been staring at
you all this time.  Hasn't even blinked for the last
ten minutes.  If that's not love, what is?"

Stopping the figure's ludicrous dance, Tenchi began
weilding the doll's arms so that it was touching
itself.  "Look brother, now she's pleasuring herself
for you, isn't it sexy?"  The hands of the thing
roamed over itself, from where its breasts are, to
what was passed as its crotch.  The doll was handled
to rub itself more and more, Tenchi barked out, "Lab
computer, a glass of water."

After the customary confirmation beep, he pulled out a
glass from subspace.  Spilling it out over the front,
lower half of the doll, his giggles increased in
speed.  "Look brother!  See how wet she is for you? 
All that just by touching herself, looking at you. 
Doesn't that turn you on?  Isn't this a dream doll? 
Come on, admit it, you want her, don't be shy."

Deciding to humor Tenchi a little bit, Chiten pointed
out, "Sorry brother, it doesn't have anything down
there.  Since it's totally flat, I'm afraid she's just
not for me."

Saddened to hear that response for exactly three
seconds, Tenchi brightened, "Oh, that's okay! I can
fix that."  He summoned the master key to his hand,
placed the handle near the dolls featureless crotch,
and ordered, "Lab computer, I want a transportable
subspace hole right here."

After the confirmation beep, Tenchi leered, "Now
brother, she's *all* yours."  He danced the doll
toward his twin.  Chiten blanched and edged nearer to
the wall, but stumbled, falling down. 

The puppetmaster used the high pitched voice, "Oh
Tenchi!  Don't be afraid.... its only me.... Washu....
Washu.... Washu.... and I need a screw.... screw....
screw..... from you... you... you...."

Clenching his fist, Chiten beseeched, "Can you stop
this foolishness?  Now."

Charging forward with the doll in his hands, Tenchi
forced it to fall on his doppelganger's chest.  He was
pressing the figure's head against Chiten's mouth, all
the while mimicking lewd kissing noises.

Chiten pursed his lips in disgust, desperately trying
to swat the doll away from himself.  Tenchi gleefully
slid the toy's crotch closer to his twin's face, and
commanded in the high pitched voice, "Tenchi!  If you
really don't want to kiss the lips up here, you can
kiss these."

Speaking normally again, Tenchi dictated, "Lab
computer, pour out of the last subspace hole, one
thousand toy crustaceans."

Dozens of small crabs flooded out of the subspace hole
every second, spilling onto his dopplegangers face and
chest.

Tenchi put his hand up to his cheeks and wailed,
"Brother!  Oh my god, what happened?!  Eww.... she has
crabs.  I knew she was bad news as soon as she started
coming on to you.  But I knew you wouldn't listen. 
That's what you get for screwing a doll, on your first
date no less. I'm *ashamed* of you."

Chiten spit out several of the tiny plastic crabs,
seriously pissed off, "Damn it!  Knock it off, 
you.... you.... you perverted demon!  Stop your
nonsense right now!"

More interested in the drama of the moment than his
doppelganger's warning, Tenchi clasped his hands
staring off into the distance, and screeched out, "Why
didn't you listen to me?!  That thing probably was
with Dr. Clay last time, no wonder its diseased!  Will
you live brother?  Please!  I can help you get through
this."

Chiten swatted off the little crabs and the doll.  He
droned out wryly, "I'm sure I'll survive."

Tenchi's features contorted into the mask of pure
ecstasy, "Really!  Do you mean it?!  I couldn't bear
the thought of losing you. And at such a tender young
age too."

Summoning a holo-top, he started typing into it,
losing any sign of happiness, "You know, something
else very strange happened here.  I'm going through
the records of the lab and there was absolutely no
logging of any type since this afternoon.  One o'clock
to be precise.  Don't you think that's weird?"

The double whimpered, "I guess that I just forget to
turn it back on."

Tenchi arched his eyebrows, "Oh, I didn't even know
that you were supposed to turn it off."

Chiten's gaze fell down to the floor and didn't come
back up.

Tenchi grabbed the crumpled doll, and in one of his
mood swings, ran it over to Ayeka.  He held the doll
up to her and used the doll's voice, "Lets test the
crown bitch of Jurai, shall we?"

The doll poked its hand on her breast, and gave out he
gave out an exaggeratedly long, screeching, feminine
moan, "Ohhhhh."

The puppet's hands closed over its mouth, "My, my!  A
reaction truly worthy of a crown bitch, from Jurai no
less."  In a fit of rage, he tossed the Washu
lookalike to the side, and snarled at the zoned out
princess, "Do you want to go jump-roping, bitch?  Do
you?  I'll take no answer as a default 'yes.'"

His brother raced over, blocking Tenchi from Ayeka,
using his body own body as a shield.  "Now you stop
that!  You promised you wouldn't hurt her."

Clucking with his tongue three times, Tenchi mused,
"Sometimes brother.... I wonder.  Is a promise still
valid to a person who's betraying you?"

"I'm not betraying you."

Tenchi sneered, indicating what he thought of that
particular pronouncement, waved his left hand in the
air materializing a demon mask.  In completely fluid
motions, he set the mask on his face and formed his
red and black energy swords.

Chiten was advancing with his blue and green energy
swords.

Tenchi growled threatenly, "This time.... you die."

Smiling sadly, his lookalike yawned mockingly, "You
say that every time."

The two went at each other with a fury, blades
clanging at each other all over the place.  After only
five minutes, both seemed tired of the whole affair.

Ready to win this using psychological tactics, Tenchi
backpedaled and used threats that rankled his
counterpart.  "When I win, I'll go jumproping with the
purple haired bitch.  With her own jumprope.  Then
I'll hang her with it.  On the branches of Funaho,
ne."

His twin's expression remained the same so Tenchi
continued, "Actually, I strip her naked, and shove her
into the great Yosho's bed.  And after I get him so
drugged up, he wouldn't care what animal he's
fucking."

Chiten lost his cool demeanor and hissed, "I've heard
enough from you lately...."

The provoker went on jibing, "And she'll be
screaming," he moaned softly in a higher voice,
"Yosho..... Yosho...... Yosho...... Yosho.  All night
long.  Would you like that brother?"

Apparently not, as he communicated through clenched
teeth, "Your only trying to bait me."

Tenchi tilted his head, "Then I'll string them up by
their jumpropes together, so they can rot in
eternity.... forever, side by side.  Isn't that....
romantic?"

The two leaped at each other, Tenchi brought his black
sword up to block his twin's two sword while he swung
his remaining blade under his doppelganger's occupied
defenses.

The red buried deep into Chiten's chest, Tenchi yelled
out, "Finally let me be rid of you!" 

The stabbed one fell back as his counterpart kept on
pressing against him.  Tenchi wrestled his double to
the ground, pushing the sword through him ever deeper.
 Holding the blade for only a minute more, he began
clutching at his own chest before falling face first
onto the floor.

Five minutes later, Chiten sat up.  At first, his
breathing was ragged and shallow.  He closed his eyes,
the three striped power symbol flared briefly, and he
summoned the Light Hawk Wings.  Those bright white
mysterious floating formations passed through his
body, healing the damage instantly, but he did not
bother materializing the armor.  His breathe steady,
he admonished his twin, "You idiot!  Always the same
stupid result.  Every time."

Tenchi, himself, came about a few minutes later,
totally out of it.  "We need to get some sleep, there
has been way too much activity lately."

Chiten called out, "Clean up this room.  Dispose the
garbage into the incinerator."

The confirmation bell rang, while the everything
cleaned itself up.  All the items scattered on the
floor went to disposal, including the crabs,  the doll
and its clothing, the anti-energy rods, and those
pesky pictures.  Seeing the fabricated Washu puppet
disappear, Tenchi said his farewells, "Au revoir mon
cherie."

He tiredly wark, "I don't know what's going on but
I'll find out soon enough.  Whichever way you found to
hide your secrets, I'll get around them."

Chiten groaned, "Let's just get to sleep."

Tenchi dragged Washu into her chair, settling her in a
sitting position, while his twin put Nobuyuki into a
leaning position next to their unoccupied confinement
unit.

Tenchi gazed around, "Well.  Whatever your hiding, it
must have happened after one this afternoon.  That's
all I need to erase, and you and Washu can't do
anything about it."

He first approached Washu with the sword, "Institute
memory block, memory change.  You won't remember
anything specific that happened from one in the
afternoon up to when I arrived at the table for
dinner.  It's due to a headache you recently had, but
now thankfully it's gone."

Tenchi continued the commands, "Ayeka, Ryoko, and I
came down here after dinner so you could study my
memories, and their memories of me using the Light
Hawk Wings.  Nobuyuki came down here to watch.  You
seen the expected times I used the Wings in the battle
with Kagato on the Souja and after the break-up of the
Dr. Clay's ship. You learned nothing new, and it was
all in all boring."

He lanquidly sauntered over to Nobuyuki, Ayeka and
Ryoko, giving them all similiar instructions, but
tailored to each person.

Ryoko saw both of them walk up to Washu, and each
kissed her on the cheek.  "I love you and will protect
you."  They did the same with Nobuyuki.

However, when they approached her and Ayeka, they
glare at each other, before parting.  One came up to
her, "Ryoko, I love you and I will protect you to the
end."  His hands lifted from his sides, she belatedly
realized it was to cup her chin, so she quickly shut
her already slitted eyes completely.  The next and
only sensation she felt was his lips press intensely
against hers for a good five minutes.  During that
time, she was peripherally aware that his counterpart
was vowing and doing the same thing to Ayeka.

During the latter part of the kiss, an occasional
cough blasted from the side.  As Tenchi removed his
lips from hers, his fervent heat left her like morning
dew evaporating from grass.  She bacame irritated as
she heard Chiten complain, "Could you take any
longer?"

No one answered back, but a soft caress came, tracing
her entire cheek, under her chin, and over her lips. 
There was breathing near her ear, as a finger kept on
repeatingly outlining its outside edge, "My beautiful
angel, I will always love you."  Then she heard his
footsteps lead him away.

The two Tenchis merged, and they went over to the
confinement model where Washu bound him in previously.
 "Lab computer, lock confinement model."  The
tentacles of the contraption wrapped around his body. 

He summoned his sword and instituted a similiar memory
change on himself as he did on all the others.  Now he
only gave some specific instructions before finally
finish, "Lab computer, turn on all activity logging
and monitoring in one hour, report a hardware failure
glitch to Washu as for the reason of it stopping. 
Unrestrict access to the lab.  Revert false master
control to Washu.  Return to holding crystal.  Awaken.
 Done."

Like the previous time, Ryoko could see in her mind's
eye the avalanche coming, roaring towards her with no
escape.  While it came closer and closer, she willed
herself to look away but she couldn't.  At what seemed
the last second, the avalanche hit an invisible wall,
and the sea of white ebbed away.  In the distance,
beyond the hazy fog of white, she saw fast forwarded
images of Tenchi using the Light Hawk Wings on the
Soja and on Dr. Clay's ship.  Then she came back to
reality.

Washu was leaning back in her chair, the first person
to respond, "Well that was redundant, I guess we'll
just need another way of finding out how the Light
Hawk Wings work."

Ayeka tiredly yawned, however Nobuyuki grew more
excited, "Son, I never knew your powers were that
strong.  No wonder all these women around here have
the hots for you, you're their protector."

Tenchi blushed, and scolded back, "Dad!"  Ryoko
watched the scene, still amazed how things could get
back to normal so fast.

Tenchi looked around, "Little Washu, can you let me
go, I'm tired and want to go to sleep."

Washu grinned at him, "Let these others go upstairs,
and get some sleep down here, my little guinea pig."

Tenchi groaned out loudly, Washu cackled with glee,
Nobuyuki tried to cheer him on, Ayeka protested, and
the former space pirate weakly joined in with her
rival.

A few minutes of small talk passed by, before
everybody was transported back into the house, with
the single exception of Washu.  Tenchi went upstairs,
presumably to sleep.  Ayeka and Ryoko went on the
couch to watch television.

"So Ayeka, what did you think of tonight?  Did it
explain anything we saw of my memories?"

The princess yawned again, "Well, it was interesting,
but it took a little long.  What about your memories?"

"You don't remember anything I showed you this
afternoon, or anything odd that happened in the lab
just now?"

Ayeka shook her head, "Whatever do you mean?"

Ryoko ignored her, and knocked at the lab door.
Washu's face appeared and the one witness with an
intact memory knew she could go in.  Walking inside
the lab, she saw the scientist on her cushion,
grinding the time away her holotop.

"Washu, what did we do tonight?"

Supremely irritated with thet stupid question, the
redhead snapped, "We watched Tenchi use Light Hawk
Wings.  Don't tell me you fell asleep?"

Ryoko licked her lips.  "Washu, can you open your
mind?  There is something I need to show you."


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


Authors Note: 
PLEASE REVIEW, THANK YOU!

Email: 
rolfwind@yahoo.com


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'