Tenchi Muyo: Exile! #2
	"Farewell, Trakal/Hello, Naoki"	

	The Alteration Chamber looked like an iron 
maiden. Fortunately without all the spikes. Trakal 
stepped in and relaxed as Washu closed the door. A
moment later, blue gas filled the chamber. Trakal
closed his eyes as consciousness left his body. 
	Outside the chamber, Washu watched the 
Draalthi vanish, knowing that from that moment on,
Trakal would no longer exist. 
	
	"I hope Naoki's okay." Tanaka sighed as
she paced outside Washu's lab.
	"Naoki?" Tenchi asked. "I thought your 
fiance was named Trakal."
	"It is," Tanaka replied. "But now that
Washu's making him human..."
	"Making him human?" Tenchi asked. 
	"His boss showed up." Tanaka explained. 
"He said that if a Draalthi stayed on Earth, it 
would upset the timeline."
	"So she's making him human?" Tenchi 
wanted to know.
	"Yes." Tanaka replied.

	Washu pushed a few buttons and opened 
the Alteration chamber. The door slid open
and the gas that had built up around the 
chamber's occupant began to dissipate...
	
	***

	He was semi-conscious, had been like
that for some time, suffocating. A hand was 
holding him up by the throat, squeezing his
neck. He was being strangled, but only enough
to daze him, not to kill him. He opened his
mouth in a soundless, near-breathless, scream.

	***

	He woke up screaming. 

	He sat up, panting, trying to catch 
his breath. For a few minutes he was disoriented,
trying to figure out who and where he was.
	Where came rather quickly. He was lying
on the floor.
	"But who's floor?" He asked himself. 
"Am I in a hospital? In someone's house? In my
house? Who am I?"
	"Naoki!" a redhaired woman he recognized
but didn't know exclaimed upon seeing him.
	Naoki? Was that his name? It seemed wrong,
but she seemed to expect him to respond to it, so
he did.
	"I'm okay. I must've been..." he searched 
for the word. "...sleepwalking." he finished.
	"Its okay." The redhead told him.
	"WHo are you?"
	"Me? Only the most brilliant mind in the 
Galaxy."