Shadows Under Starlight
                              
                          Chapter 4
                              
                      "Reception Part I"

By Adam Christopher Leigh
Distributed by Tempest Creations

A Crossover of Epic Proportions

***

     Kazuki was a seventeen year old boy in Ionia City.  He
laughed like other boys, he played like other boys, he
imagined like other boys.  But he was not like the other
boys, at least not in the one way he knew.  He had a gift,
or at least that's what Gomo called it, and it made the
other boys scared so they fled when the saw him.  The only
person who didn't flee was Gomo, and Kazuki knew that the
only reason that he didn't was because he wanted to use him.
Use him to commit crimes.

     At least it made Kazuki feel needed, he desperately
wanted that.  Gomo was a real jerk and probably not one of
the most handsome individuals in Ionia, but he would be nice
to Kazuki while he did his crimes for him.  He gave him a
place to stay, supplied him with food to eat, and once and a
while he would come to talk.  Not very often at all, maybe
once every other time he `requested' him to do something.
But it was enough to make Kazuki feel less like a tool and
more like a person.

     Right now he was sitting in the room Gomo gave him,
holding an old, leather bound book with archaic lettering on
the cover above an embossed picture of an eight point star
with an equilateral triangle in the center and the twelve
symbols of the zodiac in the center of the triangle.  Kazuki
knew the ancient script innately and was easily able to make
out the title: `Grimorum Goetia'.  Supposedly, it was some
special book that was associated with magic, and, indeed,
Kazuki could feel a strange sort of warmth from it as he
held it, but it made him feel uneasy and he wanted to get
rid of it.

     But Gomo wasn't going to arrive for a few hours now,
he'd assured Kazuki this when he told him to go steal it, so
he had no choice but to sit on the hard bed and wait.

     He looked around his room idly, glancing over the few
possessions of his, a brass tankard, a small polished metal
mirror, a few gold coins sitting on the ledge of the window
that looked out over one of the lesser used cobblestone
roads in the city.  They weren't much, but it was what he
had.

     As he continued to idly look around the room, his gaze
kept unconsciously returning to the book sitting on the bed
beside him.  Where a few minutes ago he'd felt unsettled by
the tome, he was now slightly interested in it.  Before he
could really think it all through, he was gently sliding the
book back onto his lap and lifting the cover.

     The pages were written in an extraordinarily black ink,
with large, loopy handwriting that gave each page a majestic
look.  As Kazuki flipped through the book, however, it
seemed as though the writing slowly degraded, until it was a
nearly illegible scribble, as if the writer had been
struggling with death near the end.  There were several
blank pages at the end but the last written page ended with
a single, largely written word: KEY.

     As he read the word in his mind, the letters seemed to
glow blue.  Kazuki immediately shut the book and threw it
onto the bed beside him where it continued to give off an
azure glow.  He moved forward on the bed to kick it off,
then hesitated and moved off the bed and to the opposite
side of the room.  By now, the glow the book was giving off
was lighting up the whole room and probably attracting an
amount of attention from outside, attention he dearly wished
to avoid.

     Kazuki slinked over to the window and pulled a tattered
cloth curtain over the opening, hoping to block out some of
the light.  Without taking his eye off the book, he moved
back away to the wall and moved slightly towards the door.

     The book reacted violently to this and suddenly lurched
off the bed and into the air where it floated, unmoving,
with the cover facing down.  A few seconds later, it began
to hum a high pitched note that continued to increase in
volume until it was deafening.  Just when Kazuki thought his
ears were about to explode from the sound, the blue aura
around the book was suddenly replaced by a green one and
exploded into a column of light so bright it caused him to
shield his eyes.

     Still covering his eyes, he heard the sounds of stone
breaking and feeling pebbles beat against his legs as a wind
suddenly kicked up, pushing everything away from the column
of emerald light.  The sound returned again, much higher in
tone, and only for a few seconds before some force hit
Kazuki, knocking the wind out of him, and throwing him back
against the wall, knocking him into unconsciousness.

                             ***

     Shayla blinked and the world changed.  One instant, she
was tightly holding Makoto, flying deep into the heart of
the Eye of God, the next, she felt this incredible force
driving a spike between her and him, and suddenly, he was
gone, and she was standing alone.  All by herself... again.

     It took her a moment to focus on her surroundings.  The
trip was nearly instantaneous and far from painful, but all
her senses had been thrown into chaos.  If she wasn't aware
of the weight on her legs, she wouldn't have thought she
were standing.  Closing her eyes tightly, she willed the
fireworks in her brain to calm.

     When she opened her eyes again, the image was crisp.
Before her was a stone wall with a window carved out of it
and a small table below it.  Outside the window she could
see a large city, on par with some of the grander districts
of Roshtaria, with many people milling around, pushing carts
or leading cattle.  Very much like Roshtaria, her mind told
her.

     She wondered if this was Earth and decided to ask
Makoto.  Turning to look at the rest of the room, she tried
to find the suited man she was traveling with.  Two things
surprised her, first, Makoto wasn't in the room, which
wasn't very grandiose and seemed to be on the shabby side,
at least by El-Hazard standards, and second, three other
people, all unconscious and all male, were in the room with
her.  One was on the edge of a bed facing the wrong
direction, another was lying on his side against a wall at
the foot of the bed in a disorderly fashion and the last one
had his back up against a wooden door and legs in front of
him.

     The man on the bed was very tall, definitely taller
than Fujisawa-sensei, with dark brown hair, dressed similar
to Makoto, wearing a black coat over a ruffled white t-shirt
and blue colored pants.  He was breathing deeply and
sweating, but still unconscious on the bed.

     The two boys on the floor, obviously younger than the
man on the bed, both had dark brown hair but one, dressed in
a loose fitting blue vest with baggy pants that reminded
Shayla of the kind Lons used to wear, had longer hair that
fell down to just above his eyes and looked rather unkempt.
The other one had much shorter hair except for the tail of
hair in the back of his head.  He was wearing a brown outfit
with white highlights and dirt covering parts of it as if he
had just been working in some field.

     Something wasn't right, and as Shayla looked closer she
noticed that it wasn't dirt marks on the boy's outfit, but
burn marks.  She realized that her outfit was also scorched
in areas and the room had a slight ozone smell to it.  When
she found similar burns on the man on the bed, she began to
worry that she had accidentally done something she wasn't
aware of.  She did feel a bit disorientated when she
arrived, had she lost control of her power?

     A million thoughts flew through her head.  Should she
run?  Would they be angry at her?  How would the authorities
of this Earth react?  Then should she try to help them?  But
how?

     Before she could give herself a migraine from stress,
one of the men moaned and started to move.  It was the boy
at the foot of the bed.  Shayla debated going over to see if
he was all right and finally decided that helping was
probably the best thing given the situation.  She took a
step over to the boy and bent down, putting a hand on his
shoulder.

     "Hey, are you okay?" she asked the boy.

     "Uhnn," the boy groaned.  "Ryouko?"

     "What?"

     The boy looked up to Shayla, blinking his eyes a few
times as he tried to focus.  "Who are you?" he asked.

     "My name's Shayla Shayla," she replied.  "Are you all
right?"

     "I'm ... fine," the boy struggled.  "Ryouko..."

     "You said that before, what does it mean?"

     "Is she okay?  Where's Ryouko?"  The boy tried to get
up the suddenly collapsed back down, yelping in pain and
clutching his leg.  "Agh, my leg's twisted."

     "Calm down," Shayla tried to soothe the man.  "There's
no other woman here other than me."  The boy sighed in
despair.  "Hey, listen," Shayla continued, "can you tell me
something?"

     "What?" the boy said, suddenly sounding very tired.

     "Is this Earth?"

     The boy stared back at her and turned rigid.

     "What's wrong?" Shayla asked.

     "Another one," the boy breathed and fell back to the
ground, hitting his head hard against the wooden floor.

                             ***

     Leon didn't know what happened before he lost
consciousness, he remembered staggering through the Plant
when a bright light suddenly flared up behind him.  He
turned to see what it was and that's where it ended.  Now he
was groggy and felt as though he was lying on something
soft.  He tried to open his eyes but he was too tired to
part them or open his mouth to respond to the almost
indistinguishable murmurs he heard in his ear.

     Suddenly he felt a cold hand on his forehead and his
instincts finally kicked in, telling him he didn't know
where he was, how he got there, or why he felt sort of sick
and it would be a good idea to get that information right
about now.  Adrenaline was being produced and pumped through
his veins to fight back the sleepiness and nausea and his
eyes shot open.

     A young woman with tanned skin, fiery red hair and
wearing a bandanna with a gem in the center was looking down
on him with her hand on his head.  For a moment, he thought
he was seeing things, that his mind had flipped and decided
to cross Priss with Nene.  After a second glance, he
confirmed that he wasn't seeing things.

     She looked away to as he looked up, allowing him to
become aware of another person in the room.  He glanced down
and saw a man standing at the foot of the bed he was lying
on.  He looked young, probably still a teenager now that he
thought about it, dressed in rugged clothes of brown hues.

     "He's still warm," the woman said to the man, quickly
retracting her hand.  "He might not get up for a while."

     Leon slightly moved his arm against his side and felt
the familiar bulge where his sidearm rested.  At least he
still had that, just in case things were worse than they
seemed.

     The man looked down at the ground then, as he rose his
eyes, they locked onto Leon's.  "Oh," the man said.  "Good
morning!"

     Leon sat up with a grunt and rubbed his forehead.
"That's the last time I wrestle with a boomer," he said.

     "How are you feeling?" the woman to the side of Leon
asked.

     "I'm fine," Leon quickly said.  "A little dizzy but
I'll be all right.  Where am I?"

     The woman looked uneasily to the man who returned the
glance before looking to Leon.  "We don't know," he
admitted.  "And the person who we think knew, just left in a
hurry."

     "What?" Leon said.  "Who are you people?"

     "I'm Shayla Shayla," the red headed girl said and
turned to the boy.

     "And my name's Tenchi Masaki," the boy continued.  "Uh,
we really don't know how we got here or even where here is."

     "I'm Leon," he identified himself.  "You say someone
does know, though?"

     "Yeah," Shayla said.  "I woke the kid up and he got all
wide-eyed, then said sorry a hundred times before picking up
some large book and running out the door."

     "Why didn't you go after him?" asked Leon.

     "Well," she grumbled.  "I *was* going to, but Tenchi
here said we should find out about you first."

     "Well then," Leon said getting uneasily to his feet.
"Lets just find someone and see if they know how we can get
ourselves home."

     "We would but..." Tenchi began.

     "But what?" Leon asked.  The boy turned to Shayla and
Leon followed his gaze.

     "I come from a land called El-Hazard," she explained.

     "El-Hazard?" Leon asked.  "Never heard of it.  Is it
Spanish?"

     "No," Shayla shook her head.  "And I doubt you ever
would have heard of it.  It's in another dimension."

     "Another dimension," Leon repeated slowly almost to
sound out every syllable.  "You're joking?"  He looked to
Tenchi who nodded solemnly.  "You believe this?"

     "I've had stranger things proven to me," Tenchi
assured.

     "I was with my friend Makoto who is from Earth and was
trying to get back there," Shayla continued her story.  "We
used the Eye of God to send us there but somehow we got
separated, and considering it took Ifurita twelve thousand
years to get there, I guess it was guaranteed that we'd take
a detour somewhere along the way."

     "So you're from another dimension?" Leon clarified.

     "Yes, and I suspect, so are you."

     "Me?"

     "Somehow we got pulled along with her," Tenchi
supplied.  "Either we've time traveled or changed dimensions
because this doesn't look like the Earth I know.  See for
yourself."  He moved to the window and motioned past the
burnt curtains.

     Shayla stepped aside as Leon moved past and looked out
the window beside Tenchi.  Extending out a good distance was
a large city of stone buildings cobblestone roads.  The
streets were busy with people and cattle and Leon could see
a rather large marketplace down the road a bit.  It all
looked very reminiscent of medieval European design and
reminded him of the pictures he'd seen of Daley's trip to
France last year.

     Leon pulled his head back in through the window and
slowly turned around to face Shayla and Tenchi.  "Okay, so
it's a little rustic," his rational mind tried to convince
the two.  They remained silent.  "Dimensional travel," Leon
recalled.  "Okay, so what do we do, assuming you're right?"

     "Uh... I really don't know," Shayla admitted.  "I never
thought I'd be separated from Makoto."

     "How about you, kid?" said Leon to Tenchi.  "You got
any ideas?"

     "Not really," he said.  "I'm sure Washuu will find us
eventually, but other than that, I dunno."

     "Who's Washuu?" Leon asked.

     "Oh, she's this twenty thousand year old girl who lives
under the stairs in my house," Tenchi explained.  "She says
she's the greatest scientific genius in the galaxy, so
she'll probably figure out a way to get us home."

     Leon blinked.  "Twenty *thousand* year old... *girl*?"
Tenchi nodded.  "I suppose this is what you mean by
`stranger things proven to you'?"

     "Kinda, that's not the most incredible thing that's
happened to me.  But it's a long story."

     "I'm not going anywhere."

                             ***

     Gomo walked swiftly down the corridor of carved rock
holding the Grimoire wrapped in paper.  His pudgy form not
allowing him to move any faster without having to stop to
take a breath.  Even as at the speed he was going, he was
beginning to feel tired, but he pressed on, if only not to
keep his employer waiting.

     The cavern tunnel began a slight incline before opening
into the grand hall.  Gomo stopped as he entered and leaned
against the entrance to the hall for a moment as he caught
his breath.  The difference between the grand hall and the
corridor he took leading up to it were as great as night and
day.  To have hidden such an extravagant dwelling beneath a
thousand feet of rock seemed crazy to Gomo.  If you could
afford to create something so magnificent, why not show it
off?

     Standing erect, Gomo smoothed out the wrinkles in his
lavender colored shirt, pulled the end of his black vest,
and walked down the red carpet that led from the entrance to
the throne.  To either side of the carpet were large stone
pillars with tragic scenes of battle carved into them.  Gomo
only recognized a few, Xanafur versus Gabriev, Shabranigdo
versus Seilphied, the Water Dragon King helping Silphied
seal away Shabranigdo, but they were all exquisite and cost
a lot to be made.  As he got near to the throne, the pillars
parted from the carpet and created a circle around throne
and the dais in front of it.

     The throne was covered in shadows and Gomo couldn't see
if his employer was in or not, but he decided to be better
safe than sorry and knelt on the dais.

     "Back so soon?" a whispered voice filled the great
hall.  Gomo raised his eyes to look up at the throne to see
a single red eye gazing down upon him.

     "Yes, Lord Uther," Gomo replied in his deep and
trembling voice.

     "You have it then?"

     "Of course, Lord Uther," said Gomo as he held out the
wrapped book in front of him.

     "Open it."

     Gomo did so, tilting the cover so that the little light
that was in the great hall shined on it as to show it's
authenticity.  He felt a tug on the book and he opened his
hands as it floated above them then sailed towards the
throne into the shadow's hands.  Gomo could hear the book
being opened and the pages being turned.

     "Excellent, you have done your job well in bringing me
this book," Lord Uther whispered.

     "It was easy, my Lord," Gomo said with a smile.  "With
the young boy I had under my employ."

     The red eye squinted.  "You delegated this
responsibility to a boy?" The voice accused.

     "N-n-not just a b-boy, my Lord," Gomo panicked and he
always stuttered when he was panicked.  "He's on-only
seventeen an-and his magical s-strength r-ri-rivals *hers*."

     "The sorceresses?" Uther asked.

     "Yes, my Lord."

     There was an uneasy moment of silence before the shadow
stood and stepped towards Gomo, allowing the light to fall
on him.  He was dressed in a tight black tunic that showed
off his large bulging muscles with a simple ebony plate mail
covering it and a low slung sword in a dark blue scabbard.
The light still refused to show his face but his long grey
hair cascaded over his shoulders and onto the long blood red
cape he wore.

     "The name of this boy," he simply demanded, towering
over Gomo.

     "Kazuki," swallowed Gomo.

     "Kazuki," repeated Gomo.  "Very well.  Consider this
boy no longer your responsibility. I will look into him and
determine his value."

     "As you wish, my Lord."

     "Dismissed," Uther gestured with his hand, sending him
away.  Gomo got to his feet, turned sharply and nearly ran
down the carpet out of the Great Hall.  Uther stood in his
wake, watching him run, until a woman nearly half his size
came up to him and bowed her head of blue hair.

     "Master," she said.

     "Kill Gomo," Uther said flatly.  "And find this Kazuki
boy for me."

     "Shall I kill him as well, my Master?"

     "No," Uther said after a second of thought.  "Bring him
to me, I want to meet this boy wonder."

     "By your word," said the woman before disappearing in a
flash of greenish light.

     "A rival of the great sorceress," Uther mocked.
"Indeed.  We'll see what this boy can do for me in finding
the other three parts," he held up the book in his hand to
the light, "of the great Solomon's key."

                       -End Chapter 4-

Author's Notes:
     Big big big big big big thanks to everyone who e-mailed
me concerning the first three parts to this story.
Especially to Angus MacSpon who provided me with a much
needed grammatical check for all three parts, and Jeanne
Hedge who's synopsis pages not only have helped me
infinitely in the past, but who has concisely informed me of
my errors concerning nuclear plant operation and has given
me the information necessary to fix chapter two so it seems
more plausible.  As for this chapter, you can pretty much
figure out what the final series to be crossed over is,
although you'll not see the inverted wizard, as Chris calls
her, for a while.  Of course, the big question on your mind
is what happened to the other three travelers?  Well... keep
reading to find out!

     Oh, and if you're wondering, I do have a thing for
Roman Numerals in the Chapter titles of my fics.  I dunno,
maybe it's a side effect from watching the Back To The
Future series so many times...

     `El-Hazard: The Magnificent World' was created by
Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura and is copyright c1995 by
AIC and Pioneer Entertainment (USA/JP) L.P.  "Bubblegum
Crisis" was created by Suzuki Toshimichi and is c1987 by
A.I.C., Inc. & Youmex, Inc. Licensed to AnimEigo by Youmex,
Inc. for English Translation, Dubbing, and manufacturing.
"Tenchi Muyou! Ryo-ohki" was created by Masaki Kajishima and
is Copyright by AIC, Pioneer Entertainment LDC, INC., and
the Tenchi Muyou Committee.  Manufactured for, distributed,
and dubbed by Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P.  While this
story contains characters and situations from this anime and
used without permission, this work is c1999 Adam Leigh.  Not
for sale or trade.  All Rights Reserved.

Adam Christopher Leigh
Omicron@sprynet.com