DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. You probably knew that, I don't
think anyone writing a story of this page does. It wouldn't be 'fan fiction'
if they owned the characters, it would be...I don't know what, maybe you'd
call it a script? Anyway, the point is, these characters (oh yes, except for
Victor of course, *he's* mine) belong to Pioneer and/or AIC. I'm only
borrowing them because I'm not original enough to create enough characters of
my own to make up a story. Please excuse the fact that I can't spell Mr.
Masaki's name properly, he will be refered to as "Dad" for the purposes of
the story.
    A little side note:The guys down in Legal still aren't sure if it's
legal for me to do this, but I'm not talking if you aren't. Besides, I never
much liked those Legal guys. Just a bunch of old men in a tiny room with a
lot of computers proof reading fan fiction to make sure we can't possibly be
sued, drinking imported water from Mexico (how's that for brain power?), and
eating Cheese Doodles. Their keyboards are permanently stained orange because
of it. And let's not go into their cleanliness, or rather lack there-of. But
I'm getting side tracked. On with the story.

    VM Toumbes Presents:
        The Game

VMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVMVM

    Tenchi opened his eyes only to see a red shaft of energy right above
them pointed at a woman who seemed to be radiating power which bounced
between her and the small logs around her. The two strange women glared at
each other, still more enegry flowing from said glares and slamed into the
opposing females force halfway to it's target. The women growled at one
another softly.
    To say that Tenchi had a rude awakening would be one hell of an
understatement. To say this was not common for Tenchi would be an even
bigger
one. He sighed, and tried to stay as still as possible. He choose to address
the woman to his right, the one with the energy shaft and spiky cyan hair
first, seeing as she was a greater danger to him right now. Come to think of
it, she was *always* the greater threat of the two.
    "Ryoko, I'm sure Ayeka is here because it's breakfast time and she
found you watching over me as always. This made her angry, as always, and
she
challenged you in an effort to keep you away from me because, and this is
probably a quote, 'Lord Tenchi is not your man, he does not wish to be
bothered by a monster such as yourself, least of all so early'. Am I right?"
    Ayeka turned slightly red and became suddenly very amazed by that
wall over there. Tenchi nodded, knowing he must have hit home. He got back
to
diffussing the situation.
    "Now then; It's very nice to know that you both care enough for me to
protect me in your own ways. However, Ryoko," She looked down at him, her
sword vanishing, with a questioning look on her face. It was like she really
didn't see what was coming. "You shouldn't worry about my well being at
night
so much, not that I'm not grateful, as I said. And Ayeka," Ayeka looked at
him, her logs having also vanished, her head hung towards the ground. She
was a little more intune with the situation. "You shouldn't feel so
threatened by Ryoko, but I thank you for trying to keep me safe from any
possible enemy. Now, you two go to breakfast, and don't fight along the way.
Neither of you were wrong, I'm not blaming anybody for this. So please,
would
you excuse me while I get dressed?"
    Ayeka turned to leave, turning red again at the thought. Ryoko put on
her usual devilish grin. "But Tenchi, you just said you like having me watch
over you." Ayeka snapped back around, her mouth already open to berate the
former space pirate, only to see her phase through the floor laughing.
    Tenchi sighed and began to get dressed. Another day, just like any
other. What was it going to take to get those two to stop?

    On the way to breakfast, Tenchi ran into Victor in the hall. Tenchi
couldn't help but notice how worn out he looked. He smiled to himself.
Victor
almost ran into him, still not quite awake enough that he should be walking.
    "Oh, sorry Tenchi. I almost didn't see you. How are you?"
    "I'm alright, and yourself?"
    "Tired, as you may have noticed."
    "Should I take this tiredness as a sign that Ryoko *wasn't* watching
over me the *whole* night last night?" Tenchi asked with a sly grin at the
edges of his mouth. The royal seer laughed.
    "As a matter of fact she wasn't. She actually started guarding you
around...six thirty I guess, as that was when she left our room."
    Tenchi checked his watch. "It's eight now, you must have gotten at
least an hour sleep, how can you still be *this tired*?"
    "Yeah, I did sleep for a little while. It wasn't enough."
    "How could you get so tired that a good hours of sleep wouldn't be
enough?" Victor looked to see if anyone else was in the hall, then beckoned
Tenchi closer.
    "Do you remember when Ryoko was working at the fair, trying to sell
'Space Toad Oil'?" Tenchi looked puzzled for a second. Victor saw this and
when on a little. "And do you remember how she was able to shill for herself
then?" Tenchi thought a second, then his eyes went wide. He held up two
fingers and Victor nodded. Tenchi hurryed to the toilet for toilet tissue.
He
was going to need a lot to stop a nose bleed this size.

    The rest of the day was the usual. Sasami's great cooking, Washu down
in her lab being anti-social, Mihoshi and Kiyone stopping by to use the
bath,
Mihoshi being thankful since they can't afford the public bath at all,
Kiyone
slapping her and telling her not to speak anymore, Dad trying to break into
the ladies bath, and training with Grandfather.
    And the fighting. How could he forget the fighting? The house would
have been destroyed along with everyone inside (which was all of them at the
time, as the GPs had just arrived) if not for quick thinking on Kiyone's
part. She turned Ryoko towards the bath, Sasami threw open the door, and the
blast intended for Ayeka went into the bathrooms dimension instead. Next,
they tossed Ryoko in herself (along with a few dozen decanters of saki) and
shut the door. Tenchi opened the door again, and blocked it open, thus
cutting off the ladies bath and locking Ryoko inside. Cold, but it had to be
done. Mihoshi cried for an hour because now she couldn't take her bath, but
she perked up when she heard it was dinner time. They eventually took a vote
and came to the conclusion that yes, they should let Ryoko out now. They
found her lying on top of a large pile of empty flasks, too drunk to even
move. Dad ran for his video camera, and nobody could blame him really. It
*was* funny to watch, given the strange way Ryoko was snoring after all that
saki.
    "Snooooore...belch...snooooore...belch..."
    The next morning, Ryoko was sober again somehow, just in time to get
into the same fight with Ayeka over Tenchi's sleeping form. Tenchi talked
them down again, and ran into Victor in the hall yet again. He seemed even
more tired this morning.
    "What happened this time, Ryoko couldn't have...not after how drunk
she was...could she?"
    "No, but she could still snore. Didn't sleep at all last night. You?"
    "Barely, I was up most of the night thinking."
    "What about?"
    "Okay, here's a riddle for you. You, with all the knowledge in the
univrse, literally; How do you get two girls hell-bent on disliking one
another to forget their differences and just act normal once in a while?"
    Victor laughed. "Not even if I worked with our resident genius could
I help you with *that one*. But, I can at least get them out of your way for
a while if you like?"
    Tenchi gave him a lop-sided smirk. "I know you can keep Ryoko busy,
but would Ayeka go for that?" Victor smiled himself, both at the joke as
well
as at the idea that Tenchi may have been growing more calm on the given
topic, if not as calm as Mr. Masaki would have liked.
    "Not what I had in mind, but maybe another time. I was actually just
thinking I could use them as test subjects for a psychic power I've
developed
recently. It would put them into sort of half-comas for a while. Very easy
to
reverse and Washu would be watching their vital signs of course; perfectly
safe." Victor explained to Tenchi. Tenchi shook his head.
    "Victor, I don't know. Maybe this wouldn't be such a good idea."
    "MISS RYOKO! I ORDER YOU TO REMAIN HERE!" Voice drifted up the stairs
to them. The second voice was more calm and low, they could only pick out
the
occasional piece of what was said.
    "Ayeka...Tenchi needs...on...?"
    "I'M SURE LORD TENCHI DOES *NOT* REQUIRE YOU'RE HELP IN PUTTING HIS
PANTS ON!"
    "Maybe...help...?"
    "NO, HE DOES NOT NEED YOU TO TAKE THEM OFF EITHER!"
    Victor looked at Tenchi, one eyebrow raised.
    "So, how long did you say they'd be in comas?"
    "HALF-comas."
    "Yeah, whatever, but *how long*?"

    After breakfast, the whole extended family (save for Dad who was at
work and Grandfather who was still at the shrine) were gathered in the
living
room to hear what Victor had to say.
    "People, I've recently developed yet another psychic power, one which
I feel will be a great help to us all. I can influence the brain to generate
interactive visual hallucinations to fullfil your whims." Washu nodded as
the
others waited for an explaination. Victor waited for a reaction, but didn't
get one. Washu leaned in an whispered to him.
    "Plain Japanese, they don't get it when I talk that way either."
    "Alright, look at it this way; you all remember the Dimensional Tuner
that Washu made? Same thing, except safe." Washu was visibly inraged by
this,
but said nothing. The others nodded.
    All gave a collective "OH!"
    Victor went back to his speech. "Now then, to test it out, I want to
try the very limits of this. I need two of you who are willing to compete in
a simulation, and so I thought it natural to choose Ryoko and Ayeka."
    "Hah! Duh." Everyone turned to Mihoshi just in time to see her turn
bright red. "Oh, did I say that out loud?"
    "Excuse me Victor, but what lead you to believe that I would agree to
be used as your test subject? I can see you ordering your wife around in
this
manner, but *I* am the princess of a sizeable kingdom."
    "Firstly, I was not going to *order* anyone to do this, I was just
expecting the two of you to agree given the extra incentive I've worked out.
But you aren't interested, (amazing considering), so I'll just see if anyone
else-"
    "Excuse my interupting, but exactly what do you mean by that, 'extra
incentive'?"
    "Well Ayeka, seeing as any two people who agree will be female, given
the abundance we seem to have here, Tenchi has agreed to take the winner on
a date...of the winner's choosing."
    Ryoko smiled at that. "Well then, I'm glad I still have the rope from
our date in Washu's cave, seeing as we were interrupted before."
    THUD! Victor looked over, than down.
    "Oh, not again. Washu, take him into your lab, see how much blood he
lost *this* time. And run some x-rays on his nose, see if you can figure out
why that happens." Victor shook his head. "In any case, are the two of you
willing to be my first victims?"
    Both shot up as soon as the sentence was out of his mouth. Both
answered as one.
    "HAI!"

    Shortly after, the two rivals were on a pair of hospital beds in
Washu's lab under the stairs. Wires linked their minds to equipment nearby,
displaying all of their vital signs. Ryoko looked up at Tenchi and smiled.
Then, her face took on a strained appearance. Her heart moniter became
erratic. Washu was about to go to work on the problem, then she stopped. She
grabbed a note pad out of a hole in space and began writing. After a while,
she stopped, smirked, and turned to Ryoko.
    "Show off." She handed the pad to Tenchi. "Morse code. Not sure how
she did it, but this is what she said." Tenchi looked at the pad.
    ~See you in the cave, lover. Check my pulse rate.
    He looked up to see Ryoko smiling and pointing at her moniter. Her
pulse rate was changing slightly, then leveled out at sixty-nine.
    Nose bleed.
    "Alright, enough of that Ryoko. Now, you may feel dizzy when I go
into your minds, but it should pass quickly. See you both inside." With
that,
Victor put a hand on either of their foreheads. They both dropped off to a
peaceful sleep in a matter of seconds.
    Washu turned on a pair of big screen televisions she had. Bare in
mind, this is Washu-esque big screen. A low estimate would be ten feet high
and twice as wide. On one, Ryoko could be seen lying on the ground, her head
tilted left. On the other, Ayeka with her head tilted right. Every now and
then, a pair of black lines would come from the top and bottom of the screen
and cover the picture.
    "Washu, can't you fix that? What's wrong with the televisions?"
    "Nothing Tenchi," Victor said, surprising all those gathered in the
lab. "Those are eyelids. We're watching through their eyes. Right now, they
are both still too weak to stand and are just looking at each other. Don't
worry, it'll pass soon."
    DING!
    "Washu, what was that?"
    "Popcorn. Step back behind the yellow line would you all?"
    They all stepped back quickly, not knowing what was coming. However,
this was *Washu* they were talking about, so it had to be bad. Holes openned
in the space in front of the screen and seven arm chairs fell out of them.
Four full size, two slightly smaller, and one about two feet tall, if that.
Ryo-Ohki jumped into her tiny chair, Washu and Sasami settled into their
mediums, and the detectives and the men sat in the others. Plastic orbs, red
on one size and blue on the other about one foot in diameter, fell into
their
laps. Another, half this size, fell into Sasami's lap as well. They all
looked at Washu as she turned hers so the red size faced down, unscrewed the
top, and began eatting the mound of popcorn in the other side, now a red
bowl. She looked up at their questioning looks.
    "Well, how else was I going to keep it from spilling?"
    The others followed suit, Sasami passing the small bowl down to
Ryo-Ohki.
    Washu grin. "Now then, on with the show!"

    The girls awoke to find themselves on the ground between a pair of
large towers; one black, one white, a bridge running from the top of one to
the other. They were on their backs, heads tilted to face one another, but
were unable to get up. Their bodies seemed to weigh a great deal, which was
somewhat frightening for both of them to think about. After a while, they
managed to stand and scanned the area around them.
    >Ahh, glad to see the two of you up and moving. Sorry for not telling
you about the brief side effects. In any case, as you must be wondering, I'm
speaking to you telepathicly of course to lay out the premise of the game. I
would ask that you direct your attention to Ayeka's right hand please.<
    They looked at her hand and were surprised to see a gold emblem
rising out of her palm. Ryoko looked at her own hands and found nothing.
    "Now then, this emblem is the key to a door at the top of the white
tower. The way up there is through the black tower. Ryoko, for you to get a
key of your own, you must go through the maze in the white tower. For the
record, your power to phase through surfaces has been mentally disabled. You
can still fly, fight and teleport out of the maze, but it wouldn't do to
have
you just walk straight to the middle. At the center, you will find a
monster.
Kill him and the key is yours, and thus Tenchi is yours for an evening. At
the same time, Ayeka will be going through another maze to reach the bridge
up there. First through the door wins Tenchi. Any questions ladies?"
    "Yeah, I got one Victor; what's the point of all this, huh?"
    "Just as a test of my ability Ryoko. Feel free to leave the game if
you wish, but then Ayeka wins by default."
    "Well, I for one feel that Miss Ryoko is clearly not in the mood at
the moment, so perhaps it would be best for you to rouse her out of the game
now and-"
    "And let you win?! I don't think so. Just stay out of my way. Which
tower is mine again, Victor dear?"
    "The white one Ryoko. And no, I did *not* make it easier for Ayeka
to keep you from cheating, nor did I make it easy for you just because we
happen to be married. Just stating it now so there's no arguement when one
of
you wins. Now, you're on your own, except for any general questions that
come
up along the way, which will be broadcast for both of you. Again, no playing
favorites. May the best woman win."
    As soon as the disembodied voice died away, the two hurried to their
seperate towers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryoko
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The door to the white tower swung open, then slammed shut as soon as
I was inside. I considered the options and choose to start out by going
left.
After leaving the front entryway, I found that light in the maze ranged from
dim to non-existant.
    I chuckled at how simple this was. "Victor clearly made it so I could
win. Probably out of gratitude for the other evening. I'm not one to toot my
own horn, but who wouldn't be grateful?" I split in half and faced myself.
My
left self tore a strip from the bottom of her dress and tied it around her
chest, flattening it to her highness' level. "Sorry Ayeka, but you lose this
one." My other self gasped, then spoke as snobishly as possible. "But you
are
married and it would not be right to date another man. If only you were as
prim, proper, and stuck-up as I am, you would know that it is a mortal sin
to
so much as *think* of so much as *looking* at another man while bound by the
laws of matrimony." I rejoined and went on my way.
    I found a stick on the wall, and by hitting it with a small energy
orb I created a torch for myself.
    <No doubt that was the reason these things were there. Wonder what
other surprises are waiting to make themselves known?>
    I got my answer all too soon when I saw what looked to be a green
monkey run around the corner, something hanging from it's neck. A closer
look
showed it to be the key I was meant to find.
    "Come here little monkey. Give mommy Ryoko the nice shiny around your
neck. That's it, just a little closer...HAI!"
    I released a blast of power into the monkey, surely destroying it.
This was going to be a lot easier than I had expected. Through the smoke and
dust the shot had kicked up, I saw a pale blue blur pass through the wall on
the right, cross the hall, and go through the wall to my left. When I could
see again, there sat the monkey, quite healthy. The key was gone from it's
neck, a sign in it's place.
    ~Baka Ryoko-chan!
    "Grrrrr! Fine, I'll just go after the blue thing, it must have the
key." I flew at the right wall...SLAM!...oh right, no phasing. "Guess I
should remember to tell Washu she was right. Anger *does* 'shut down the
brain and it's usual, higher functions to be replaced by a set of more
primative, dominate thought processes which grip the mind and launch it into
a frenzy a kin to that of a reptile defending it's home/mate/food, blah blah
blah.' Who knew?" I laughed to myself. "I just wish they could hear me now.
Comparing life to one of Washu's lectures, in a coherent manner no less.
Hah!
Ryoko no baka!"
    As I continued to pat myself on the back, I went back to navigating
the maze. Left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right. <Wait a
second,
that brick looks familiar. I know I've seen that one before, I recognize the
inward curve. Where have I-> I rubbed the bump on my head, which was vaugely
the same size and shape of the imprint in the wall. <Guess that's the one I
ran into. Okay, we'll try a right instead>.
    Right, right, left, right, left, left, right, left. Again, the same
brick. This went on for maybe half an hour before I managed to find a round
room which must have been the center of the maze. There was the blue
blur, her key around it's neck. I charged at it, sword held before me...and
went past as it casually side stepped. I spun around and slashed it again,
this time almost catching it's arm as it dodged. I split in two, a
blade in both of my left hands, ready to cut it whichever direction it went.
The blur stood still, jumping at the last second.
    WHAM! THUD-THUD.
    Both of my selves hit and fell to the floor. I fought this way for
aged, never even landing a single blow. I finally tired of the battle and
teleported outside to give up. And there was Ayeka, just leaving the black
tower....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ayeka
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I ran into my tower, knowing that I was bound to win. Why, I needed
only to get to the top of this tower and I would win. Ryoko had to actually
fight her way to a key. This is too easy!
    I ran up and down corridors as I laughed at the poor girl. She never
had a chance. I stopped. What if Lord Tenchi had planned it this way? He had
Victor insure I would win a 'fair' contest as a rouse to date me without
*that woman* presuring him about it. Why, she had to be right. It was the
only logical explaination for this.
    "Hahahahaha! Oh, but to see the look on poor Ryoko's face when I win.
She's going to be so upset." Ayeka jumped back and forth, standing in as
regal a pose as she could on one side, puffing out her chest and holding up
her hair on the other. Not as effective as Ryoko's way of splitting in two,
but it was workable.
    Regal; "Well Miss Ryoko, it looks as though I have won." Hop to the
other side, lift the hair, and put on an overly harletish voice. "No, I'm
not going to allow it. I'm overbaring and whiny, what more do you want
Tenchi? Here, look at the nice new dress I bought off a corner girl, don't
you like how it shows too much of my grossly disperportionate body?" I
continued, knowing how right I would be.
    "Besides, Lord Tenchi would be sure I shall win because Ryoko is no
longer available. True, a casual tryst can be allowed, if only barely, but
as we all know this is not what Ryoko would plan. She choose her path with
Victor, so Tenchi and Victor shall be sure she honors that path."
    By now I had wandered the halls of the tower and had somewhat lost my
way...alright, I was completely lost. I ran up and down stairs for what must
have been hours, but to no avail. I kept returning to the door out, even if
I
only ran up the stairs as far as possible. At last, tired and defeated, I
finally opted to just go outside and face my loss. But as I stepped out, my
opponent was just materializing before me....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Outside
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Ryoko and Ayeka faced each other, both stunned by the sight of the
other. Ayeka broke the brief silence that followed.
    "Well Miss Ryoko, I assume you now have the key are were merely
waiting to gloat to me about it?"
    "Listen you, I don't have the key, I was just comming out here to say
I gave up, but if this is how you're going to...wait a second. If you're out
here, at the bottom of the towers, I take it you gave up also Princess?"
    "Actually, I was just...well you see, I was going to...what I meant
is...." She sighed to herself and shook her head. "Yes, I give up. You win."
    Ryoko flew into the air, happy as could be. "I won, Tenchi is mine
for the taking at last. And, if I may offend your royal personage, there
will
be some taking involved, if you catch me Ayeka."
    >Actually, as you both stated you have given up, *neither of you* are
the winner. You'll be back in the lab in just a moment.<

    The two awoke, able to look around and talk, but too tired to do much
else. Just how Victor had planned it. They looked up at him.
    "So Victor, perhaps you'd like to tell me why I was unable to make
any progress in my maze? What happened to 'no-playing-favorites'?"
    "Yeah, and I want you to know that until you tell me how the hell I
was suppose to kill that thing, the supply is cut off!"
    THUD!
    Kiyone looked down. "Oh lord! I say we just leave him there this
time."
    "To answer both of you, I did not play favorites. You could have won
very easily."
    Ryoko glared at him. "Oh yeah? How?"
    Victor smiled. "What was really stopping you?"
    "I didn't have a key!"
    "I couldn't reach the door!"
    Victor smiled more. "You are both wrong. Ryoko, you had the key from
the start, more or less. And Ayeka, you didn't need the tower to get to the
door. That is, if you had been willing to work as one. Ryoko could have
flown
you both up to the door, Ayeka could have opened it, and you could have gone
through together. You both would have won a date with Tenchi. So, have we
learned our lesson ladies?"
    They both nodded as best they could in their immobile state.
    "Yes, of course. Miss Ryoko, let us never fight again, agreed?"
    "Agreed. I can't think of one reason why I would want to fight with
you after that."
    "Nor can I."
    "Well I can!" All attention turned to Washu. "As long as you're still
unable to get up, I give you this for your listening pleasure...." She
turned
on the recorder in her hand. A voice, like a nasal Ryoko, came out of it.
    "But you are married and it would not be right to date another man.
If only you were as prim, proper, and stuck-up as I am, you would know that
it is a mortal sin to so much as *think* of so much as *looking* at another
man while bound by the laws of matrimony."
    Ayeka gasped. "Miss Ryoko! How dare you say such a thing, let alone
think for a second I would-"
    "No, I'm not going to allow it. I'm overbaring and whiny, what more
do you want Tenchi? Here, look at the nice new dress I bought off a corner
girl, don't you like how it shows too much of my grossly disperportionate
body?" Washu smiled as she held up the other tape recorder that had just
played a sultry Ayeka.
    "Oh, *now* I see how it is Princess!"
    "Well, it's not as though I was speaking an untruth the way you were,
am I not right?"
    "If I could move, I would hurt you!"
    "I would like to see you even try to harm me without those *things*
tipping you forward!"
    "It's not a problem I mind really. In fact, that's *exactly* the sort
of problem *you* need to meet men!"
    It went on for hours no doubt, but by then the others had ran out,
Tenchi being carried by the detectives. Victor sighed and glanced down at
Washu.
    "You know, for such a great genius, you *fully* missed the point."

Author's Notes: I'll admit, not as good as it could have been, but I'm
learning, be it ever so slowly. This power is going to come up in a rather
frequent manner, just to warn you. Two ideas are already churning at the
back
edges of my mind. One which I am borrowing (with permission via E-mail) from
a fellow writer. I won't say who, no need for you to guess what I plan. The
other is all my idea, and the more tempting of the two, if I can pull it
off.
It will no doubt be lengthy and time consuming, but I feel it would be worth
my time and effort...if you the readers back it up enough to keep it going
of course.
    Well, the guys down in legal are on their way up to yell at me for
bad mouthing them, so I'll have to say au revoir for now. Oh, one last note,
write to me at VM Toumbes@aol.com with any C&C. I need to know you're
reading, or how else will I know to keep writing?

    ~VM Toumbes