Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo and all things Tenchi
are still the hostages of Pioneer/AIC.
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TENCHI MUYO! RYO-OHKI PLUS ONE!

EPISODE ONE: Ryoko Ressurected / The Protector Awakens
-CHAPTER ONE-
-The Battle For the Keys-

Katsuhito Masaki paused and looked around. "Tenchi!" he
called. He scanned the landscape, then noticed the cleaning
supplies that were still lying on the steps. "Hmm." He mused
as he made his way, quietly, up to the Shrine.

Within the Shrine, Tenchi searched hurriedly for the keys to
the gate. "Where did he put them?" he asked himself.

Tenchi was in his late teens. His dark hair was cut short in an 
unruly approximation of a 'flat-top' with a small ponytail in 
the back. His dark eyes were a little wider than those of most 
boys, giving his face an almost girlish quality which stopped 
just short of looking actually feminine. He wore a pair of jeans 
and a plain t-shirt. Upon his feet he wore Japanese style sandals.  
He was a typical Japanese high school student. Hestudied hard, got 
passing grades in most of his classes and was fairly well-liked by 
most of the other students. He had a bit of trouble with the female 
students. They made him feel terribly self-conscious. He was never 
quite sure what to say to them. That was one of his flaws.

Another was his rather insatiable curiosity about the Demon's Cave.

The door of the Shrine opened to reveal a small cat sleeping upon 
the porch. The cat was a stray who, like Tenchi, came to visit
every summer. Tenchi, who had neither the time nor money for a pet
of his own, liked to think of this stray as his cat. However in 
deference to its true owner, he simply called it "Kitty", since he
didn't know what cat's actual name.

"It was curiosity that killed the cat, Tenchi." 

Tenchi whirled to find his grandfather just behind him. He stumbled
back in surprise, nearly falling over.

Katsuhito held a set of keys up. "I bet you were looking for these."
he grinned.

"So, that's where they are." Tenchi covered his mouth with a mumbled
"Oops."

"You weren't trying to sneak in there against my orders, were you?"

"No, I wasn't." Tenchi replied. It was an outright lie and they
both knew it.

"It is the ancient law of this Masaki Shrine." Katsuhito told his 
grandson. "And you are no exception to that legacy. But, really, you 
want to see what's in there, don't you?"

Tenchi's face took on a decidedly cheerful look as he nodded .

His grandfather dangled the keys casually. "Here they are," he jingled 
them just a little. "if you can take them from me. Let's see how good 
you really are."

Tenchi paused to consider his best strategy, then lunged forward with a 
wide punch which his grandfather blocked easily. 

Katsuhito tripped his grandson and sent him tumbling across the room 
and into the closet. He stood up and turned to Tenchi, who was lying 
sprawled out on the floor, half in the closet. "Work harder." He told 
him. "And remember, your chores are part of your training." He left
the Shrine without any further comment.

"Hmm?" Tenchi muttered. He couldn't say anything more, however, for 
dangling from his lower lip was the ring upon which hung the keys to 
the Demon's Cave.


-Chapter Two-
The Forbidden Cave

Tenchi ran toward the cave, laughing happily. At last he would get to 
see the remains of the demon his ancestor had battled so long ago. He 
couldn't wait to see it. He had grown up on the yarns his grandfather 
had spun under the hanging lanterns of the Shrine gardens while the 
cherry blossoms fell about them and the stars twinkled above them. Now, 
at last, he would finally get to see the demon his grandfather had 
spoken of. 

"Curiosity killed the cat?" He laughed as ran. "Lucky for me I'm not a 
cat!" 

He quickly came upon the locked gate and paused with nervous wonder. 
As he stood there, trying to get up the courage to open the gate, his 
mind turned back to a time when he had been just a little boy.

He had been about five years old and had wandered up to the cave. His 
grandfather had found him there and had not been very pleased. 

"Tenchi! Boy!" Katsuhito had walked up to him with a stern look. "Why 
must you come here time after time when you know it's not allowed."

"But, why is that, grampa?" Techi remembered asking.

His grandfather's reply had been most disturbing. "Because, Tenchi, a 
demon sleeps here."

"A demon? No!" Tenchi had been a bit frightened, but also a bit 
curious.

"It's true." Katsuhito crouched down so he could be face to face with 
his grandson. "Now, I want you to listen carefully because what I am 
about to tell you really happened. It was a long time ago. A demon came 
here from out of the sky. Its strength was enormous and terrible. It 
burned our houses, destroyed everything. People feared the demon 
because of its terrible powers."

"What happened to the demon?" Tenchi asked, both his fear and curiosity 
piqued by his grandfather's words.

"One day, a ship like a dragon appeared in the heavens. On its back 
rode a mighty samurai. He fought the demon using a sword containing 
great spiritual powers. Now the demon sleeps, held prisoner by his 
sword. That samurai was Yosho. Your ancestor Tenchi. Remember your name 
and what it means: Heaven and Earth. You must remember, and respect 
your ancestor. Remember."

Tenchi's mind returned to the present to find that his body had already 
opened the gate. 

Tenchi stepped into the cave and eventually found the small cabinet 
which had been built to protect the sword. He opened the cabinet door 
and saw the great sword his legendary ancestory had once used. Reaching 
in, he gave it a couple of tugs. It finally pulled free. He drew it 
from its scabbard. A look of annoyed disappointment came over his face. 

"It's just a rusty old piece of junk!" He glared at it. "Give me a 
break. The sword that cuts through a rock?" It looked more like it 
could get broken by a rock than break one. As he lowered it in 
resignation, it struck a rock with old markings on it. As expected, it 
broke into fragments. But it also split the rock in two. The two halves 
fell apart. Tenchi gasped in amazement, then noticed the cave's entrace 
was now blocked by a stone. "What do I do now? Okay, think genius." He 
prompted himself. He turned and looked. Behind him, where there had 
been only a rock wall a moment ago, was now a passage leading deeper 
into the cave.

"Oh, a passageway. I wonder where this goes?" He wondered at first how 
to get to the bottom, then noticed the series of designs etched into 
the otherwise smooth slope. They were big enough to put his feet into. 
He could use them. He stepped into one, his foot ankle deep in water.

"That's cold." He complained, stumbling back in surprise and hitting 
his head on the low ceiling behind him. "Ow, my head!" he complained. 
"I... AAAAAH!" he suddenly amended as he lost his footing and tumbled, 
unceremoniously to the bottom of the slope. The hilt of the ancient 
sword follwed, hitting him on the hit. "OUCH!" He stood up and grasped 
the hilt, unsure of why but feeling a bit safer with it in his hands.

Small spheres of light danced about. They popped about his head, trying 
to scare him off and not particularly succeeding. He kept moving until 
he noticed that there was light up ahead. For a short while he thought 
he had opened the gates to hell by mistake. But this, to his relief, 
proved to be wrong. "Phew. It's just a giant glowing light. That's all. 
Time to go..." he voice faltered as his gaze felt upon the skeletal 
remains resting upon what looked to be an old altar. "A demon sleeps 
here. It wasn't just a legend." He heard a noise and was startled at 
first, until he realized he'd just dropped the sword hilt in his 
surprise.  

As he bent to retrieve it, a skeletal hand clasped his arm.
Tenchi froze in terror as the demon awakened from its ancient slumber. 
The demon caressed his face and leaned forward. For some strange reason 
Tenchi thought the thing was going to kiss him. He knew this was 
utterly absurd. But for some reason he was absolutely sure that this is 
what it was going to do. Before it could get close enough, however, 
there was a sudden flash of light and both the demon and Tenchi 
stumbled backward. 

Tenchi started running and didn't stop until he was back to the room in 
the cave where he'd found the sword. Unable to close the wall back up 
with his bare hands, he quickly noticed the severed rock. It had 
marking on it similar to those on the wall. Mabye...  He pulled the two 
halves togther. At first nothing happened. But when he tied the halves 
together with a tree vine, the wall closed back up.

Tenchi sat there, panting breathlessly. 

"I'm gonna give those keys back to grampa and do as many chores as 
he says!" he decided.

As he headed home, he utterly failed to notice the beam of light which 
shot up into the night sky.

***

Far off in the heavens, an escape pod drifted through the darkness. 
Within the gleaming metal walls, its batlike occupant slept in 
ancient slumber. The cryo unit in which he slept had begun the 
thawing process late the previous night as it had been programmed to.

The creature shivered, violently, as his body temperature returned to 
normal. He felt weak and very ill. His heart was pounding, trying to 
keep up with the newly increased flow of blood through his veins. 

Once his body had reached a warm enough temperature, the computer the 
scientist had implanted in his brain to control his new eyes and 
regulate the nerve impulses to and from his cybernetic arm switched on.
He opened his eyes and looked around him. "Computer?" He asked.

A computer switched on. "Its nice to see you up and about." The 
computer sounded incredibly cheerful.

"Thanks. Now, mind telling me where I am?"

"You're in an escape pod. We are currently heading to Earth to 
rendezvous with Ryoko. There is another vessel also heading in that 
direction. We have been monitoring from an undetectable distance for 
some time now."

"Now that makes sense. It were close to monitor them, how can we be 
undetectable." He looked around at the various gadgets. "Got a coffee 
maker around here? I'm freezing."

"Correction, you are recouperating from hybernation sickness. 

"Well, either way I'd like some coffee."

A panel in the wall opened to reveal a seven hundred year old cup of 
stale coffee.

"Got anything fresh?" He sighed.

"Just kidding!" The computer opened a panel next to the first one, 
revealing a fresh steaming hot cup of coffee.

Taking the first sip caused the batlike creature to burn his mouth 
slightly. It nearly dropped the cup in surprise.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" the computer apologized. "I should've warned you. Your 
body isn't used to heat right now, so you have to be a bit careful."

"Now it tells me." The creature mumbled, irritably. "So, where's the 
burn ointment." He reached into his pocket and found a tube of 
medicated burn cream. "Never mind. I've got it." He applied some to the 
inside of his lip, first making sure it was okay to do so. He wasn't 
surprised when the burns vanished instantly. The scientist who had 
raised him had been quite brilliant. "How soon until we reach..."

"Earth."

"Hmm... Pretty boring name for a planet."

"We'll be arriving in two days." the computer informed her. "The land 
mass where we will be landing is know, to the inhabitants as Japan."