A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Pallet Town...

	By Cabbit Lover

NOTES: Tenchi Muyo! and related characters are the legal property of 
Pioneer.  Pokemon and related persons, places, and things are the property 
of Kids' WB! and some Japanese company whose name I can't remember.  
Consider this story out-of-continuity.
 
	It was a typical day at the Masaki household: Tenchi was practicing 
swordsmanship with Yosho, Ayeka and Ryoko were fighting over Tenchi, 
Sasami was playing with Ryo-ohki, Kiyone was resisting the urge to kill 
Mihoshi, and, of course, Washu was tinkering in her lab.  This time she was 
working on a strange device.
	"Now, let's see," she said thoughtfully.  "The interocetor rods go 
here, the trionic destabilizers go this way..."  Finally, she stood before the 
finished device, which was basically a large screen attached to a bizarre 
intermixture of electromechanical odds and ends.
	"There!" she beamed happily.  "Now to turn this baby on."  She 
flicked a switch on the device, and a second later, the screen glowed.
	"Success!" crowed the mad genius.  "Now to take it out for a test 
drive."

	Soon, she had Tenchi, Ryoko, Sasami and Ryo-ohki, Ayeka, and 
Mihoshi in the lab, standing before the device.
	"You brought us into your lab just so we could watch TV?" wondered 
the ditzy Galaxy Policewoman.  Then she smiled.  "So, what are we gonna 
watch?"
	Washu put a palm to her forehead, groaning.  Exposure to Mihoshi's 
stupidity always gave Washu such a headache.  Collecting hrself, Washu 
calmly stated, "It's not a television, Mihoshi."  She demonstrated by 
putting her arm through the screen.  "See?"
	"Wow!" exclaimed Sasami.
	"That's some kind of gateway to another universe or something, isn't 
it?" asked Tenchi.
	"Very good, Tenchi," said Washu, smiling at Tenchi like a teacher 
approving of a student's insightful answer to a question.  "I just put this 
little doohickey together.  No big problem for a super-genius like me."
	"If those damn puppets pop out," whispered Ryoko to Ayeka, "get out 
the blunt objects."  Ayeka frowned and nodded, agreeing for once with 
Ryoko.
	"So why'd you do it, anyway?" asked Tenchi.
	"Oh," said Washu nonchalantly, "just out of boredom, to see if it 
could be done."  Then she smiled some more.  "I've found a great world to 
try it out on!"
	"Wow!" smiled Sasami.  "You mean we're gonna go to some whole 
new world?"
	"Yep!" said Washu mischievously.
	"Oh, boy!" squealed Sasami excitedly.  "We're gonna go someplace 
fun!"  And before anyone could stop her, she ran toward the screen, into it, 
and through it into the other dimension!
	"Sasami!  Wait!" screamed a concerned Ayeka as she leaped in after 
her sister, followed by Ryo-ohki.
	"Ayeka, wait!" shouted Mihoshi and Tenchi simultaneously, stupidly 
running through the screen as well in their panic.
	"We gotta go after them, don't we?" asked Ryoko.
	"Yeah, they might get hurt," agreed Washu.  She grabbed something 
that looked like the remote control for the "TV".  "We'll need this to get 
back."
	"And we'll need this," said Ryoko, "so Tenchi's dad and grandpa don't 
freak."  She hung a sign on the door to Washu's lab saying:
	" Gone to parallel universe.  Be back in 5 minutes."

	Meanwhile, in that other universe, Ash Ketchum, his friends Brock 
and Misty, and their respective Pokemon were walking to Pallet Town 
when they encountered something very unusual...
	"Hey, what's that?" inquired Brock.
	"That" was a large, glowing rectangle.  It was also (though of course 
none of them knew it) the other end of Washu's dimensional transporter.
	"I don't know, Brock," shrugged Misty.
	"Pika?" said Pikachu curiously.
	"Togepi?" wondered Togepi as well.
	"Maybe if I touch it..." wondered Ash.  He walked up to the glowing 
rectangle, reached out...
	And got head-banged by Sasami as she and Ryo-ohki came flying out 
of the gate.  He wasn't much luckier a few seconds later, as he became the 
landing pad for Aeka, Tenchi and Mihoshi, and then Washu and Ryoko.  *I 
wonder if this is how Team Rocket feels when they "blast off"?* was his 
last conscious thought before he blacked out.

	He recovered a few minutes later.  "Hey, where am I?" he wondered.  
"What happened?"
	"Sorry," said Sasami.  On the spot where she and Ash had clonged 
cabezas was a bandaged strip of gauze.  Ash felt his own head and found a 
similar bandage.
	"Hey, now I remember!" he realized.  "You're that little girl who 
came out of that glowing rectangle!"
	"Yeah," admitted Sasami.  "Sorry about flying into you like that."
	Then she looked around.  "Hey, where Ryo-ohki?"
	"Is that what you call that new Pokemon?" asked Misty.  "Pretty 
weird name...I thought it was called a OMya-Mya', or something.  Anyway, to 
answer your question, it's over there."
	There the little cabbit was, all right, playing with Pikachu, Togepi, 
Squirtle, and all the other Pokemon.  Sasami squealed with delight at the 
sight of all those cute little creatures.
	"Aren't they CU-U-UTE?" squealed Mihoshi.  Ash immediately took 
out his Pokedex to make sure the glass wasn't broken by Mihoshi's high-
pitched squeak.  Seeing that it was safe, he aimed the Pokedex at Ryo-
ohki.
	"Unidentified Pokemon...Correction: Subject is non-organic."
	"Non-organic?" wondered Ash.  "How can that *be?*  Even Onix and 
Golem are organic creatures!"
	"YouOd have to ask Washu about that, uhhh..." said Tenchi.
	"Ash," said Ash, catching Tenchi's obvious request for his name.  
"Ash Ketchum."
	"Tenchi Masaki," said Tenchi.  They shook hands.
	Speaking of Washu, she was engaged, along with Ayeka and Ryoko, in 
beating the living crap out of Brock, who'd tried to hit on all three of 
them.

	Meanwhile, Team Rocket was watching from hiding.  They were 
especially interested in Ryo-ohki, the cute furry thing.
	"Ohhh, isn't it cuuute?" squealed Jessie.
	"Even for a Pokemon, it's adorable!" cried James.
	"Meowth!  Awww!" cooed Meowth.

	Sasami was in the midst of all the Pokemania.  Even if Ryo-ohki 
hadn't been there, she was drowning in cuteness, and the little Pokemon 
were happy to oblige in playing with the little princess.
	Meanwhile, Tenchi and the others were reporting their findings.  "It
seems these creatures are called Pokemon," Tenchi explained.  "Every 
human on this planet seems nuts about collecting them, for some reason.  
They even put them in tournaments and stuff!"
	"It sounds like it'd be interesting to more fully observe this planet's 
culture," decided Washu.  "I mean, is it all they do, or -- "
	"Don't knock it till you've tried it, sister!" shouted a female voice.
	"What the...?" asked Tenchi and company.
	Suddenly two characters leaped from the trees, a blue-haired man 
and a redhead.  They both wore a uniform composed of a white shirt with a 
red capital "R", a black undershirt, white pants, black boots and black 
gloves.  The woman's uniform looked a little slutty.
	"To protect the world from devastation!" crowed the woman.
	"To unite all peoples within our nation!" announced the man in a 
snobbish-sounding accent.
	"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
	"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
	"Jessie!"
	"James!"
	"Team Rocket!  Blast off at the speed of light!"
	"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
	A catlike Pokemon jumped down and added, "Meowth!  That's right!"
	"Aww, man..." groaned Ash.
	"Not *these* losers, not *now*..." whined Misty.
	"Why can't they leave us alone?" moaned Brock.
	Their Pokemon made similar noises of complaint and annoyance.
	The Tenchi crew took one look at the badly-dressed Team Rocket and 
keeled over with laughter.  "Wh...whoo...ha ha...who the *hell* are *you* 
guys?" asked Ryoko.
	Team Rocket grew sweatdrops on all three foreheads.  "Weren't you 
*listening?*" demanded Jessie.  "We're Team Rocket!"
	"And we want that new Pokemon!" ordered James.
	"So give it up," threatened Meowth, "if you know what's good for 
you!"
	"ONew Pokemon'?" wondered everyone.
	"They must mean Ryo-ohki," deduced Tenchi.
	The Tenchi crew fell down laughing again.  "You...you...you clowns!" 
Ryoko howled with laughter.  "Ryo-ohki's *not* a Pokemon!  She's not even 
from this dimension!"
	"ONot from this dimension'?"  Now it was Team Rocket's turn to be 
bewildered.  "HUH?"
	*"Idiots!"* shouted James.  "Do you think you can fool us *that* 
easily?  *We* know a Pokemon when we see it!"
	"And when we see it," added Jessie, "we *want* it!"
	"Meowth!  So hand it over!" Meowth threatened again.
	"*No way*, Team Rocket!" said Ash.  "Pokemon or not, Ryo-ohki 
belongs to our friends!"
	"And you can't take her away from them!" added Misty.
	"Yeah!" finished Brock.  "Why don't you go back to whatever rock you 
crawled out from under?"  He said that mostly to look tough in front of 
the girls.
	"Oh, so it's you again!" said an unimpressed Jessie.  "Hmph!!"
	"If you're so hot on protecting your Ofriends', Ash," warned James, 
"you'll have to fight us!"
	He whipped out a Poke-Ball.  "I choose...*Koffing!*"
	"I choose..." began Misty.  But Ryoko clapped a hand over her mouth, 
at the same time grabbing Misty's arm before she could pitch the Poke-
Ball.
	"No, Misty!" ordered Ryoko.  "If *they're* going to think Ryo-ohki's a 
Pokemon, *I'm* going to *use* her for one!"
	Misty stared at Ryoko hesitantly.  Then she said, "Oh-*kayyy...*"
	Ryoko whipped out Ryo-ohki.  "Ahem...I choose *Ryo-ohki!*"
	"Koffing, use your Smoke Screen, *now!*" ordered James.  "Your 
biggest yet!"
	Koffing hoarsely called out its name as it spurted out clouds of 
smoke.  James' plan was to sneak up on Ryoko and grab her pet OPokemon' 
in the confusion.
	*Oh, is THAT how this game is played?* thought Ryoko sneakily.  *I 
thought so!*  Tossing Ryo-ohki into the air, she shouted, "*Ryo-ohki!*  
Starship Transformation, *now!*"
	Team Rocket was treated to the most awesome sight in its wicked 
career: the sight of a baby cabbit morphing from its adorable, deceptively 
weak form to that of a powerful alien spaceship!
	"Uhm....ahh..." said James as Team Rocket stared at the giant 
spaceship.
	"Uh-oh," said Jessie.
	"We're dead," finished Meowth.
	Ryo-ohki transported her friends, new and old, into her new 
spaceship form.  When they were inside, Ash commented, "Whoa!  We're 
*inside* Ryo-ohki?!"
	"That's right!" chirped Ryoko.  Then she commanded, "Ryo-ohki!  
*Fire laser cannons!*"
	The cabbit-minded spaceship obeyed, opening up full-blast on Team 
Rocket.  As the ground exploded underneath them, Team Rocket was 
engulfed in a ball of fire which flew away from the site.  As they flew off 
into the distance, they shouted, *"Looks like what's left of Team Rocket 
is blasting off AGAIIIINNNN!!"*
	
	Later, the two groups prepared to go their separate ways.  "But do 
you guys *have* to go?" cried Ash.
	"Sorry, Ash," said Tenchi.  "This was good for a lark, but my dad and 
grandfather are going to miss us."
	"And *we've*  gotta get going, too!" added Brock.  "We've got that 
tournament in Pallet Town, remember?"
	"Say, that's *right!*" said Ash.  "Maybe I can give you something to 
remember me by!  Let's see, my badges?  Anything in my pocket?"
	"As it just so happens," said Washu, "I've brought a camera!"
	The group got in front of the camera.
	"Say, Opolycarbonated neotriglycerides'!" grinned Washu.
	"Uhh, can we say Ocheese' instead?" asked Ash.
	"Whatever floats your boat," said Washu boredly.
	*"CHEESE!"* they all said, and the moment was captured on film.
	Finally, Washu and friends returned to their dimension, leaving Ash, 
Misty and Brock to walk to Pallet Town.

	Ironically, Team Rocket had crash-landed at the town's hospital.  All 
three were heavily bandaged, and Jessie was on the phone with Team 
Rocket's boss.
	"So, you think you can foot the bill for plastic surgery?" she asked.  
"Yeah, yeah, I know...that lousy Ash Ketchum!" she muttered half to 
herself.
	She looked down at her chest.  "Oh, *these?*  Oh, I think I'll give 
them another year."

	THE END