Disclaimer:  Don't own Tenchi.  Don't sue.  You know the drill.

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Ryoko felt the parched air of Olmeck burning in her lungs.  The temperature on 
this rock had raised 40 degrees F above its norm.  It was still habitable for a 
being with Ryoko's hardiness, but it was a far cry from pleasant.  The magma-
flow under the continental plates had been increased by the heat, so violent 
tremors shook the ground beneath her.  Since arriving, she'd seen two lava 
eruptions, and the weather kept shifting dangerously. Beneath her she spotted a 
blazing forest fire that was being whipped into a frenzy by the strong winds, 
and she wondered for the millionth time exactly what she'd gotten herself into.  
"Remember the bet," she repeated to herself.  If she won, Hotsuma would be 
waiting on her hand and foot for the next week.  She intended to make the most 
of it when she won.  She grabbed her radio to Hotsuma, and gave it a quick test. 
"Okay, I'm crossing the northern great continent, heading for the Northern 
Capitol," she barked into the transmitter as dust blew about and caught in her 
throat.  

The transmitter crackled to life and Hotsuma's voice cut through the static, 
"Tsk. Tsk.  You're getting slow, Princess.  I reached the Western Capitol five 
minutes ago."  She could picture the haughty smirk on his face and groped 
mentally for any words to wipe it away.  

"Yeah, well, I guess I just collected more goods at my first stop than you did," 
she gloated into the microphone.  That should do it, she thought happily, as she 
did a barrel roll in the air.  They were each stockpiling their finds in 
separate cargo bays, so she couldn't be sure how much he'd already appropriated 
from the city ruins.  But he couldn't be sure about what she'd already recovered 
either.  This was going to be beautiful!  

A cluster of tall spires appeared over the horizon, and Ryoko increased her 
speed to meet them.  She searched for a shorter, opulent building tucked in 
along the skyline.  It would have a gold domed tower and probably statuary along 
the edge of the roof.  That would be their central place of worship, and Ryoko 
knew from experience that the Olmecks had a weakness for golden artifacts in 
their shrines.  

She arrived at the city limits and hovered above the collection of buildings.  A 
flash of light caught her attention.  "Bingo!" she cried in excitement, and she 
zoomed in on the target.  He face fell when she realized that a quarter of the 
dome had collapsed from the constant earthquakes.  Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! 
She hoped that the building's contents were still salvageable.  

Ryoko glided in through the shattered dome, and squinted into the darkness.  
Small pieces of debris and plaster dust rained down in a steady stream around 
her, as the building shook again.  The structure was already compromised from 
the repeated quakes, so she had to hurry!  Her gaze fixed upon a gold and silver 
circle with gems set into various points and smaller circles hanging from its 
interior.  The altar beneath it had given way, so it lay on its back in the 
rapidly collecting dust.  

Ryoko quickly wove her way through the chunks of ceiling and broken furniture, 
as she sought out the large and valuable piece.  Another tremor hit as she 
reached it, and more of the ceiling came crashing in on her.  She cursed vividly 
and rolled to her right, while clutching the circle tightly against her chest.  
Splinters of wood caught her skin and clothes, and she winced.  She came to a 
stop next to the buggy corpse of the shrine keeper and yelped in surprise.  He 
had acid smell that accompanied the smells of rot and death.  It wasn't 
something she could place beyond being a smell she'd come to associate with 
bugs.  

Ryoko climbed to her feet quickly, and caught sight of an exquisite statue of a 
shrine guardian.  "I guess you won't be needing this," she told the still 
corpse.  Maybe, this would be her lucky day after all.

In the Western Capitol, Hotsuma was encountering obstacles of his own.  He had a 
sizable collection of goods piled in a park that he was using as a base of 
operations.  They were lovely, but he still hungered for the big score.  He 
wanted that one glorious piece!  He wanted the hoard of treasure waiting to be 
discovered!  He refused to let Ryoko beat him at this bet.  He wasn't a man to 
accept losing at anything.  

The tremors were becoming more violent and coming faster.  Yet another quake 
struck the city, and Hotsuma felt the ground lurch fitfully beneath his feet.  
Without further warning, the land crumbled beneath him spilling his hard won 
goods into the shadows of a deep cavern, as he desperately took to the air.  
With a frustrated yell, he flew down to assess the damage to his spoils.  

Jewelry, art, and what valid money he'd discovered lay strewn about the dirty 
stone floor.  As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he could begin to make out 
large openings in the walls.  Of course!  The Olmecks were giant insects, more 
like ants than anything else.  These were their old tunnels, their catacombs.  
This was what he'd been dreaming of!  These creatures were smart, and the most 
valuable assets they had would be where only they had access.  The payoff would 
be in these carved out rooms of earth.  A smug look settled over his features as 
he quickly teleported his stash back to Gaiyan at the centralized pick-up point 
and quickly returned to explore the channels which ran beneath the city.  

He flew low to the ground with his hair streaming behind him and a small 
electric light cutting a path before him.  This path only led him farther down, 
deeper into the earth.  The air got hotter and staler the further he pressed 
into these tunnels, and in his mind's eye it took on the shimmery quality of 
heat.  "The magma must flow in a channel nearby," he thought.  He'd seen enough 
lava breaking to the surface today to understand the precarious situation this 
put him in, and he smiled dangerously as his resolve strengthened.  

He turned into a side passage, which opened out into a large round room.  The 
chamber contained burial statues and effigies of the royalty whose exoskeletons 
had been long ago been laid to rest here.  Treasure blanketed the entire back of 
the chamber, but what really caught Hotsuma's attention was in the far left 
curve of the room.  It was a circle of precious gems set into the darkened wall.  
The smallest stones were the size of Hotsuma's fist!  In the darkness, the 
great, vibrant stones seemed luminous, and he was reminded of other places and 
times.  He remembered Yugi's world and the darkness.  

Yugi had ceased to have any concept of time, before his voice had been the first 
to whisper into her ear.  In that black tomb, she was lonely and terrified and 
completely insane.  Slowly the sensory deprivation and emptiness wore away at 
her, until she was little more than a shrieking husk.  In that delusional state, 
her mind had given birth to a friend and defender.  He had promised that he 
would always protect her.  He had whispered to her about revenge against those 
responsible for her torment.  He became ally and father, until slowly she became 
something like herself.  Irrationality and anguish still plagued her, but she 
could finally think a little.  She could think, and she could hate.  And she 
gave birth to more protectors to help her and to keep her from that pervasive 
darkness.  

These new servants were different, he'd realized.  They didn't have desires of 
their own.  They didn't plan and calculate.  They obeyed Yugi's commands and 
were otherwise empty of soul and substance.  Yugi had changed from creating 
allies to creating minions.  More and more Hotsuma found it sickening and found 
his own half-life sickening.  He vowed that he would be more than a shadow 
marionette.  He would be more than any creature born of flesh.  He would achieve 
feats that they couldn't, and perhaps finally he would be complete.  

Hotsuma forced back the memories and began prying the jewels from the cave wall.  
He tested the heaviness of the humongous diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires in 
his hands.  The Olmecks were even richer than he'd supposed.  He pondered what 
other marvels he could find in these tunnels.  

Ryoko growled in frustration as she tried once again to heft the bulky shrine 
statue.  Its sharp edges cut into her fingers once more, as she struggled to 
move the damned thing.  
"Crap!" she hollered, as she edged it off the pedestal.  Suddenly, its full 
weight hung in her hands and the lightened pedestal rose, as it triggered a 
secret door behind her.  "Well, well.  What have we got here?" she mused, before 
dropping her haul back at Gaiyan and returning to explore.  The weather had 
taken a turn for the worse with more winds, lightning, and pelting rain, and 
anywhere that wasn't outside seemed like an excellent place to search.

The new archway led down a set of worn steps to the mouth of a wide earthen 
tunnel.  Ryoko could tell that it descended sharply into the blackness beyond.  
She made sure that her supply of flares were handy, and that she had backup 
flashlight, then she ignited her first flare and headed into the catacombs 
beneath the shrine.  

The walls were rough and plain, and Ryoko wondered if she would ever find 
anything of value as she flew deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels that cut 
beneath the planet's evolved exterior.  Perhaps these paths were merely a 
throwback to the days before Olmeck's civilization had developed.  No, they were 
too well maintained to no longer be in use.

Ryoko couldn't discern how far into the tunnels she'd flown with still no hint 
of treasure, but as the walls around her began to shake with the next tremor, 
she decided it might be in her best interest to hurry.  She also decided to 
check in with Hotsuma and let him know what she'd discovered.  "You still alive 
over there, partner?" she croaked into the radio.  It lapsed back into static as 
she released the transmit button, and she waited anxiously for a response.  This 
rock wasn't a place where she wanted to be alone.

"Alive and well, Princess," Hotsuma's smooth voice purred from the receiver.  It 
filled the air around her, sounding more lascivious in the intimacy of the 
shadows.  

"Good to know I won't have to fly Gaiyan away from this wasteland by myself.  I 
just wanted to let you know that I've made a new discovery, pretty boy!" she 
baited.  "I've found a series of tunnels under the planet's surface, and I'm 
going to scope them out."  

"I'm in the tunnels too.  Looks like I'm," he paused obviously rummaging for his 
GPS, "eighteen miles northeast of the western capitol."  

"What?  You've been in the tunnels that long, and you didn't tell me about 
them?" Ryoko demanded angrily.  How dare that jerk hold out on her!  Not that 
she'd found anything of value in this maze anyhow.

"I was under the impression that we were under a bet.  It certainly isn't my 
place to help the competition," he reminded her.  Ryoko gritted her teeth, 
realizing that meant he had most assuredly hit upon something valuable.  That 
bastard!  She wasn't about to give up now.  

"Shall we find out if these tunnel systems meet up?" Ryoko suggested slyly.  
Maybe it would lead her into a richer area if she headed into his territory, she 
thought gleefully.  It was certainly worth a shot.

"All-right by me," Hotsuma agreed.  "Just remember that we only have about an 
hour left, and check in if you find anything that might slow you down," he 
instructed.  

"Hey, who made you the boss?" Ryoko growled obstinately into the microphone.  

"The boss?  I wouldn't dream of it," he promised glibly.  That intimate male 
quality resurfaced in his voice, and Ryoko grinned at what he was suggesting. 

"You haven't won yet!" Ryoko chuckled into the transmitter, before blasting down 
the passage.  There was treasure down here, and she was going to find it!  

 About a mile up the tunnel split, and after consulting her global positioning 
system, Ryoko took off down the right-hand fork.  Pay dirt!  She'd landed in a 
chamber full of cultural artifacts.  She fingered a sculpture that was at least 
a thousand years old.  The atmosphere in this room had preserved it perfectly.  
Paintings, jewelry, and antiques filled the space.  She picked up a pair of fine 
horn goblets with gemmed rims.  Sake always did taste better from a stolen cup.  

She looted through the relics for the ones she found most valuable and pleasing, 
and she secured those with her stash, before continuing.  A sudden rumble sent 
her spinning into the hard wall with a yelp.  Her shoulder would probably be 
bruised from the blow.  Another shifting of the earth around her slammed the 
back of her head against the dense stone.  She felt suddenly dizzy and sick, and 
knew that she must have a severe concussion.  These quakes were stronger than 
she'd expected, and she had a very bad premonition suddenly.  

She was too dizzy to teleport back to the ship or safety, and she was further 
hindered by her blurred vision.  Instinctively, she flew down the passage at top 
speed as the walls around her continued to shake and groan.  Somewhere behind 
her, she could hear the heavy sounds of falling rock as the tunnel began to 
collapse.  A cloud of dust billowed along the path, and she coughed as she 
fought to outrace it.  

The radio at her hip buzzed to life, and she heard Hotsuma's voice.  "Ryoko!  
Ryoko, are you okay?  I'm about a mile away from you according to the GPS, and 
it sounds like all hell is breaking loose from your direction," he hollered.  

Ryoko fumbled at her belt for the radio, but with her attention diverted by the 
promise of further cave-ins and the pounding in her skull, the device slipped 
from her fingers and was lost forever in the dark.  She knew better than to even 
slowdown.  Hotsuma would probably assume the worst when she didn't check in, and 
she wasn't sure if he would try to find her after that or simply take off 
figuring her for dead.  She had to reach him fast!

She coughed on the dust cloud, as she opened her mouth to call out.  "Hotsuma, 
if you can hear me, this whole tunnel is coming down!" she screamed.  It would 
be no use, she knew as she could barely hear her own voice over the din of 
crashing boulders.  Hotsuma's tunnel might not even lead into hers!  There was 
no way he could possibly hear her cry.  

She tried to phase through the wall to the next tunnel, and she felt the nausea 
increase with the effort.  She still refused to slow down as she noticed her new 
surroundings.  Cracks were appearing in the tunnel floor, as magma bubbled up 
and pooled on the top of the stone.  This was much worse.  

Unable to attempt another phase, Ryoko simply blasted a hole high up on the wall 
ahead and hoped it wouldn't speed the collapse.  As she struggled to race 
through it, something heavy slammed into her.  It knocked all the air out of her 
lungs with the force of its impact.  She could feel herself falling out of the 
air, and she screamed as she realized that she was about to hit the fresh stream 
of liquid rock that now flowed beneath her.  

Before that could happen, a strong arm caught her around the waist, and she was 
pulled tightly against a broad muscular chest.  Fingers in her hair happened 
upon the raw spot from her earlier collision with the wall, and she drew in a 
sharp breath at the sting of pain that the contact sent coursing through her 
head.  There was a voice yelling from somewhere far away it seemed.  She 
couldn't understand what it was saying.  

Someone was shaking her.  Where was she?  Earth?  Who was there?  Was it Tenchi?  
Was he angry with her for trying to come between him and Sakuya?  Was he angry 
with her for leaving?  No.  Even in her confused state, she knew that she was 
far from Tenchi and Earth.  Her head ached, and she wanted to vomit, and she was 
so sleepy, and if whoever-it-was didn't stop shaking her she was going to get 
seriously pissed.  

She opened her eyes reluctantly and was bombarded by the sudden onslaught of 
light and sound.  She was staring into the very worried face of Hotsuma; even 
through her blurry vision, it was suddenly the best sight she'd ever seen in her 
life.  "Ryoko!  Why the hell didn't you answer me?" he was screaming as he 
relaxed his grip on her shoulder and let her body come to rest against him 
again.  

"The r-radio got smashed during the collapse," she choked hoarsely, as tears of 
relief sprang to her eyes.  She smiled and snuggled against Hotsuma thankful to 
be alive.

"You scared the hell out of me," he growled, still venting his worry and 
frustration.  Ryoko could feel his grip tighten, as he sighed and bent to kiss 
her forehead.  Moments later they were reminded that this was no time for 
reprieve, as a pillar of magma from the growing pool shot up to their right.  

Hotsuma dove to the other side, and the space pirates crashed through a damaged 
wall into a hidden chamber.  In the center of the room, a large gem unlike any 
jewel either had ever seen before sat on a high altar.  It radiated colors, as 
they stared at it, hypnotized by it strange chameleon colors.  The walls were 
shattering around them, as the magma boiled up higher.  

Heedless of the danger, Hotsuma moved in for the piece.  A hand suddenly reached 
out and drew his focus back to Ryoko.  Her eyes were still bright with tears, 
and she looked like she was in pain.  "Leave it," she said quietly.  "Just leave 
it.  I want to go home to Gaiyan."