Tenchi Muyo: Forces of Darkness Chapter 1: The Enemy Approaches Part 1- "The Nightmare" Disclaimer: I don't own or claim any of the Tenchi Muyo characters or situations. They are all owned by those wonderful people at AIC Pioneer. Any other characters were created by Jay the Dragon. Please don't sue me!!! I'm broke, so all your efforts would be futile ahahahahaha!!! But please don't anyway. Thanks! Authors note: This is my first attempt at a fanfic, so it's bound to have some imperfections in it somewhere. I'm pretty sure I have all my Tenchi-verse info straight. However, I would really appreciate it if someone told me about anything that isn't accurate. Please be nice though! Remember it's my first, and I worked really hard on it. It's been through pre-readers, who enjoyed it, but while they are anime fans, they're not Tenchi experts. I appreciate any feedback-good or bad. My email is jaysdragon51@yahoo.com. Thanks and enjoy! ^_^ (I hope.^_~) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a beautiful October day outside. Tenchi however, was trapped at his desk, feeling extremely drowsy. He had been slipping in and out of sleep all afternoon. he thought. Tenchi glanced up at the clock on the wall. he thought excitedly. The day at school had moved by unbearably slow. Tenchi rubbed the dark circles under his eyes, and wiped sweat from his brow. The classroom seemed unusually hot and muggy, despite the cool temperature outside. he thought to himself. Looking at his Sensei's balding head, he noticed two stray tuffs of hair that resembled horns. He started giggling uncontrollably. "Is there something funny you'd like to share with the rest of us Mr. Masaki?" Sensei asked sternly. "Uhh...no of course not." Tenchi said, trying not to laugh. "I just thought I saw someone familiar." His sensei raised his eyebrow in response. "You're a very strange boy Mr. Masaki. Could you please stop disrupting the class so I can do my job?" "Of course, it won't happen again." Tenchi bit down on his tongue to make himself stop laughing. The sensei frowned, and returned to his lecture on Comparative Economics. Tenchi sighed and looked out the window to avoid the glare from the back of his head. Tenchi watched as the leaves blew along the ground. The wind picked them up and swirled them around in an almost mesmerizing pattern. Slowly the world seemed to dim out. Tenchi felt his forehead touching his desk and jerked himself up suddenly. Tenchi thought. He looked up at the front of the room to see if the sensei had noticed. He was continuing to pull down graphs and charts to show changing trends in different areas of the economy. Tenchi glanced at the clock again. Tenchi let out a sigh of relief. "Alright class, we have one last activity for the day." Tenchi's sensei announced. A look of horror crossed Tenchi's face as he reached in his desk and pulled out an Economics video. Tenchi pleaded in his mind. The sensei started the video. Suddenly, the sensei turned out the lights in the classroom to remove the glare on the TV screen. Tenchi thought, sliding down in defeat. The colors of the screen blurred in Tenchi's site, and soon he felt the cool touch of his desk on his forehead. ****** Tenchi felt himself falling into space. He opened his eyes and found himself floating through what looked like a department store. he thought. He felt a sudden wave of heat, and was thrown to the ground by an explosion. He covered his head to avoid flying shards of glass, and other furniture. When the smoke cleared, Tenchi looked up to survey the damage. He heard shouting, the clashing of weapons, and a woman's scream. A woman's screen that sounded a lot like... "Oh my god, Ryoko!" Tenchi yelled. He tried to run toward the sounds, but his legs seemed to weigh a ton. He could only move unbearably slow, but continued to struggle his way towards the sounds of the battle. "I'm coming Ryoko!" Finally, Tenchi rounded a corner and found the combatants. Ryoko looked like she was about to collapse. Her battle suit was torn in several places, revealing deep gashes. She stood ready to fight, but to Tenchi's horror, she was missing all three of her gems. Suddenly, a figure shrouded in black appeared in front of the space pirate. The figure revealed an enormous energy sword, and taunted Ryoko to come to him. Ryoko glared at the figure and charged as fast as her wounds would allow her. "Ryoko, no!" Tenchi screamed. The figure brought a crushing blow down on Ryoko, and she collapsed without much of a struggle. "YOU MONSTER!!!" Tenchi screamed. He tried to charge but found himself unable to move. He could only watch as the figure lifted Ryoko up, using a handful of her cyan hair, and broke her neck with a sickening snap. The figure tossed Ryoko's ruined body aside, and melted into the shadows. "Ryoko!" Tenchi tried to reach to her, but instead began to fall away. He lost control of his body and fell into a deep well of blackness. ****** Tenchi woke suddenly in the dark classroom. He was breathing and sweating heavily, and had to slowly sit back in his chair to regain his senses. His skin was clammy and cold from fresh memories of the nightmare. "I wonder what brought that on." he said to himself. As he regained his composure, he really noticed for the first time where he was. "Oh great!" Tenchi groaned. "I must have been asleep for like two hours!" The classroom was empty, and the sun was already beginning to set. As memories of the nightmare began to fade, Tenchi started to gather his supplies. "At least I didn't get in trouble." He said, wiping sweat from his brow. As he did, he pulled back a piece of paper, which read -I'll see you for an hour after school for the next week!- It was signed by the bald devil himself. "Damn." Tenchi grumbled ****** Ryoko lay watching the sun set over the Masaki household. She had been sunbathing on the roof, waiting for Tenchi to come home. "Where on earth is he today?" she wondered aloud. As she lay watching the colors blending into the sky, she heard Sasami calling her name for dinner. "It's about time! I'm starving!" she said gleefully. She teleported to the dining room, and instantly arrived at her usual spot at the table. She found Aeka already there. The princess was looking down at the table, but looked up long enough to shoot Ryoko an angry glare. In response, Ryoko pulled down her right eyelid and stuck out her tongue. The princess looked up angrily, but Ryoko only gave her an innocent look. Aeka lowered her head in thought again. This time Ryoko stretched out her mouth and blew a raspberry. Aeka snapped her head back up only to find Ryoko whistling and looking off in the opposite direction. Aeka's face began to glow red from frustration. "I know what you're doing you monster woman!" Aeka fumed. "Can't you ever leave anyone alone?" Ryoko looked hurt. "Why, whatever do you mean Aeka?" she asked sweetly. "Oh, you know what I'm talking about!" Aeka said angrily. Tenchi finally arrived home after his long walk from the school. The nightmare he had experienced was still in the back of his memory. He thought smiling. He opened the door and heard the familiar sounds of Ryoko and Aeka arguing. Tenchi breathed a sigh of relief. He walked in to the dining room, and suddenly found Ryoko in his arms. "Tenchi, Aeka is going crazy!" Ryoko whined. "I was sitting here minding my own business and she just starting yelling at me." "You know that's not what happened!" Aeka gasped. "You were doing what you do best, being an annoying pest!" Ryoko jumped from Tenchi's arms and stood face to face with Aeka. "Alright princess, you wanna fight? I'm ready for ya, let's go, right now!" Ryoko began discharging electrical energy from her hands. Aeka began generating the Jurian protection shield around her. Tenchi suddenly stepped between them. "C'mon you two! All you ever do is fight." Tenchi yelled. "Can't we get through one day without you guys trying to kill one another?" The two girls stopped their onslaught, and looked away from each other. "Now apologize to one another." Tenchi said, crossing his arms. Both girls started to protest, but Tenchi only raised his hand to silence them. Aeka sighed and looked at Ryoko. "I'm sorry I snapped at you Miss Ryoko." Aeka said looking at the floor. "Maybe I wouldn't if you weren't so pesky all the time." Ryoko glared at Aeka. "Now wait a minute Aeka." Tenchi started. "And I'm sorry I snapped at you princess." Ryoko interrupted. "Maybe if you act like such a spoiled little brat all the time..." "Hey Ryoko!" Tenchi started. But it was too late. Both girls discharged a massive amount of energy causing an explosion in the dining room. Sasami walked into the room, balancing her carefully prepared meal. "Hey guys, here's dinner." She stopped short upon seeing the chaos of the dining room. Tenchi, Ryoko, and Aeka lay in a daze amongst the charred remains of the room. A sweat drop formed on Sasami's head. "Umm...I hope you guys are still hungry." she said laughing nervously. ****** On the other side of the Universe... An enormous crimson colored ship, roughly the size of a small planet, cruised silently through space. Carefully stenciled across the hull was the word "Akira". On the main bridge, a tall, dark man dressed in elegant robes watched the scenes unfolding in the Masaki household. The picture was being projected on a large view screen. Next to him, a short blonde girl watched the screen intently. "Zoom in on Ryoko." the man spoke. "Right away lord Vash." One of the many bridge officers answered. The screen changed to a close up of Ryoko, who was wolfing down her chicken and rice, unaware of the stray food covering her face. "These miniature probes of your are amazing Rival." Vash said to the girl. "Thank you my lord." She answered. "They are necessary to collect the data I need. If I am to create a being powerful enough to defeat Ryoko, I must understand everything about her." Rival brought up her virtual keyboard, and began typing commands. The screen froze and pictures of Ryoko's gems appeared. "I've determined that Ryoko's powers are generated by these three gems. They appear to emulate the powers of a goddess. I believe that was the reason for her creation." "A goddess?" Vash asked. "How do you know that?" "It's easy." she answered. "You know how I've been observing the Masaki family ever since Ryoko was reawakened?" "Yes. Go on." "Well not that long ago, when Washu was being held captive by Dr. Clay, It was revealed that Washu has some kind of background with Tokimi. I'm not sure what the connection is, but I do know that Washu had some reason to create gems with the ability to generate and channel all that power. My theory is that she is attempting to simulate Tokimi's power. However, my camera was destroyed when Clay's ship exploded. Due to a delay in the video feed, I didn't get the whole story." "I see." Vash said. "Hmmm...These powers also resemble those possessed by Juria Trees. I wander if she has the ability to summon the Wings of the Light Hawk?" Vash asked. "That remains to be seen." Rival answered. "We do know that the boy has this ability. "I will be able to reproduce and even extend these powers once I get the necessary DNA samples." "So you still plan to get samples from them all?" "The design will be based mostly on Ryoko, but collecting samples from them all will allow me to further enhance the abilities of my design. After all, we are dealing with some of the universe's strongest powers." The only trick will be finding a way to generate the power in question." "Oh?" Vash questioned. "We know from the experience with Clay that the gems cannot simply be cloned." Rival stated. Vash nodded. "Well, once I get the DNA needed to produce these powers, I'll still need some way of channeling that energy." Rival finished. "Any ideas on how you're going to do that?" "I'll figure something out. People don't call me a scientist just 'cause a wear a lab coat ya know!" Rival snapped. Vash glared angrily at her. "Alright scientist. Just don't forget the same person that rescued you from the brink of death is also funding all your little experiments." "Your right, I'm sorry." she apologized. "Very well. Carry on with the plan as scheduled." Vash said. Rival nodded and went back to typing on her keyboard. Vash left the bridge, and headed for his private VR training room. he thought. Vash smiled slyly as he continued on to his destination. ****** It was late evening when Ryoko and Aeka had finished cleaning up the dining room mess. Now, Ryoko was floating quietly up the stairs towards Tenchi's room. As she did, she thought about how her relationship with Tenchi had grown in the past few months. It started when he decided he trusted her enough to return all her gems. He prayed for their return from the hilt of the sword. She had been overjoyed at feeling her complete power returned to her. Ever since that day, they had been more open in their conversations. Tenchi was even more comfortable around her. He no longer flinched or seemed as nervous when she was around. However, all throughout dinner, he had remained almost totally silent. She thought. As she reached the top of the stairs, she noticed his bedroom light was still on. She reached Tenchi's door and started to pass through, but then thought better of it. She pulled back and knocked. "Tenchi, are you still up?" she called. "Yeah I'm up." He answered. "Do you mind if I come in?" "No, go ahead. I need someone to talk to anyway." Ryoko passed through the door, and found Tenchi lying back on his bed, listening to an older American rock band. The music was deep and depressing. "Who are you listening to?" Ryoko asked. "A band from the early nineties called Pearl Jam. They've got a couple songs that seem to fit my mood right now." Tenchi sat up and turned off the stereo. "Ryoko we've got to talk about something..." Tenchi started. "I'm sorry I blew up the dinning room before dinner! It was just that Aeka was..." Ryoko interrupted. "No, that's not what I want to talk about." "Really? I thought you were upset. You were so quiet during dinner..." "Nah, I'm not upset over that. Honestly Ryoko, I've gotten so use to you guys blowing stuff up around here it doesn't even bother me anymore." A sweat drop formed on Ryoko's forehead. "Yeah we are kinda prone to property damage, aren't we?" Tenchi nodded. "So, if that's not it, then what's up?" She asked. "You know how I came home so late?" Ryoko nodded. "Well, I fell asleep in Comparative Economics class at the end of the day." Ryoko busted out laughing. "So, what's so bad about that?" she said laughing. "I'm sure your not the first person to fall asleep in class Tenchi my darling." Tenchi shot her an annoyed look. "Alright, alright I'm sorry. Go on with your story." She floated across the room and sat beside him on the bed. "Anyway..." Tenchi started. "While I was asleep, I had this really vivid nightmare that I just can't seem to get out of my head. I think that maybe if I tell someone about it, it'll make me feel a little better." Tenchi looked up into Ryoko's yellow felinoid eyes. "Can I trust you not to tell anyone else about this?" "Of course Tenchi." Ryoko answered, putting her arm around him. "O.k. here it goes..." Tenchi started. He told Ryoko the details of his dream, including the dark figure that struck her down. "It was so strange...I wanted to help you, but all I could do was watch." Tenchi finished. "Weird...I didn't have any powers?" Ryoko asked. Tenchi nodded. "I couldn't see clearly, but somehow I could sense that your gems were gone." "So, what kind of food have they been feeding you in school?" "Huh? What are you talking about Ryoko?" "Well something had to cause you to have such a crazy dream. We should have Washu examine it to see what kind of mind altering chemicals they might be putting in that stuff." "Give me a break, there's nothing in the food! Thanks for taking this seriously Ryoko!" Tenchi said, pulling away from her. "Oh come on Tenchi! Lighten up." Ryoko said as she pulled him back next to her. Tenchi sighed. "I guess your right, Ryoko. It was probably just a dream." "Of course it was just a dream! You worry to much." Ryoko said giving Tenchi a bear hug. Tenchi wiggled out of her grasp. "Thanks for your help Ryoko." Tenchi said. "Anytime my love." She answered looking into his eyes. "You wanna know what I think is interesting?" "What's that?" Tenchi asked. "You were really worried about me, weren't you?" "Well...Yeah." he answered. Ryoko moved closer to him. "You know the worst thing for me would be that you and I never got to share our love." Tenchi gulped nervously. "Maybe we should try a kiss. You know...just to see if it would work out between us." Ryoko backed him to the edge of his bed. "Ummm...I don't know Ryoko, I mean..." "Ohhh Tenchi, don't worry! We're meant to be together anyway." Tenchi stopped trying to struggle and looked into Ryoko's eyes. Tenchi thought. Tenchi got closer to Ryoko, embracing her in his arms. Ryoko thought excitedly. She felt his warm embrace, and closed her eyes as Tenchi moved to kiss her. His mouth was only centimeters away when an unexpected explosion knocked him to the floor. Ryoko, still waiting on her kiss, fell flat on Tenchi's bed. She looked up in surprise, and was furious with what she saw at the door. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Aeka bellowed at the top of her lungs. "Can't you ever leave lord Tenchi alone you vile monster!" Ryoko jumped up and met Aeka head on. "You don't even know what you're talking about!" Ryoko yelled. "For your information Tenchi and I were about to declare our love for each other!" "Nonsense! I won't believe it! This time you've gone to far Ryoko!" As the two stood arguing, Tenchi began to regain consciousness on the floor. "Ho my head...man what the hell happened? He looked up to see Ryoko and Aeka deadlocked in battle. "Oh, I shoulda known." Tenchi stood up and started towards the two combatants. "What is your problem Aeka?" Ryoko yelled, as power began discharging from her hands. "You're my problem devil woman!" Aeka yelled as she summoned her shield. Tenchi thought. Instead of trying to separate the two he headed for the door, ducking for cover. As he reached for the handle, he was knocked back to the floor by Mihoshi bursting in. She stepped over Tenchi's dazed body to get to Aeka and Ryoko. "Come on you guys! Can't we all just get along?" She asked sweetly. The girls stopped fighting and glared at Mihoshi. "NO!!!" They shouted in unison. Mihoshi was blown across the room onto Tenchi's bed. More than a little dizzy, Tenchi stood once more. He reached for the door again, and was flattened against the wall by the entering Washu. "Hey Tenchi, where are ya!? Wanna be my guinea pig for a few experiments?" She looked around and scratched her head. "Now where is he hiding?" Tenchi groaned from behind the door. "There you are!" The red haired scientist chirped excitedly. She grabbed his hand and started to hall him off to her subspace lab. As she stepped out the door, she ran into a red faced Nobuyuki. "Hey what are all you girls doing up here in Tenchi's room?" He asked, grinning sheepishly. "If it's a game you're playing, is there room for one more?" "Umm...errr...Well..." Washu stuttered. "Tenchi? Tenchi?!" a voice interrupted from the stairs. Both turned to see Katsuhito approaching. Tenchi came out of his trance and jerked away from Washu. "What is it Grandpa?" he asked rubbing his head. "Where were you this afternoon? You missed all your training. As punishment, you will have double your chores at the Shrine for the next week." "All I wanted was a little peace and quiet..." Tenchi sighed. ****** To Be Continued. Alright, here's the first part of chapter one. I hope you liked! I've decided to post the chapters in two part installments. This way I can keep organized better. Here's a list of things to come.a sort of preview for chapter1 part2 and upcoming events. Chap1 part2: Who are Vash and Rival? Why is Rival, a genius in her own right, hell bent on destroying Washu and Ryoko? What kind of terrifying power is Vash trying to hide? And what of Tenchi's nightmare? Was it really some kind of vision into the future? Find out in the next installment: "Secrets Revealed!" Later.^_^