Wild Boot: The Net Games
By David Farr
	
   Tenchi Muyo is copyright of AIC : Pioneer LDC, INC. ReBoot is the
property of Mainframe. Ranma 1/2 is copyrighted by Rumiko
Takahashi/Shogakukan,Inc. All are used here respectfully for the
purposes of fanfiction. This story may be redistributed only if
unchanged and no fee is charged.
   The prequel to this story "Wild Boot", other parts of this story  my
other works of fiction and a full list of copyrighted material used in
this fiction may be found at:
   http://www.homepages.co.nz/~djfarr/

*****

Tenchi: I was a normal sprite,
	Learning, Training  and Processing
	Then They came,
	And life got a lot more complicated.

*****

v 2.2.2: Break Out

	The prisoner stared past the glowing bars of his cage into the darkness
beyond. His arrogance shone on his blue face, despite his incarceration.
Whoever had captured him had left him with his clothes, a damaged blue
padded suit hidden beneath a forest green robe. A small pair of glasses
perched upon his nose. Long silver bangs rested on his shoulders.

	He shifted slightly, golden eyes focusing on another patch of darkness.
"So Washuu, have you come to gloat?" he inquired in a measured and even
tone.

	A child-like woman stepped out of the darkness. She was much smaller
than the  imprisoned man yet her gaze met his with equal strength. Her
clothing was a uniform, a formal outfit of greens, blues and blacks
similar to the man's robes. Silvery skin reflected the blue bands of the
cage bars.

	The woman stroked one hand through her long red spiky hair. "Oh no,
Kagato, just come to make sure you're tucked up nice and comfy." Her
voice held an innocent arrogance clothed in a nasal tone.

	Copying the movement Kagato reached up and flicked aside his forelock. A
satisfied smile came to his lips as Washuu's eyes focussed on his
temples.

	'Green veins?' Washuu thought, 'He didn't have those when he first came
to me.' Her eyes strayed from this anomaly to the gold and black Icon on
his chest and, not for the first time, she wondered about its
significance. Like her own it was a half-and-half circle with an
inverting diamond on it, but he had never explained the difference in
colour.

	"It must be comforting to be in the superior role once more professor."
No emotion crept into the man's voice. "You were lucky that Cyber Patrol
bimbo stumbled onto your cell when I left it unguarded."

	"Yes, not even I foresaw that example of the Chaos theorem. Still as the
greatest genius on the Web," she put a cheesy and self congratulatory
smile, "I took advantage of the situation and turned the tables on you!"

	"I'm sure the two Juraian Princesses were a lot of help too. Especially
where that ditz was involved," Kagato stared at her, still with that same
knowing half-smile.

	Washuu hid her face behind a fan with the red sun motif. "Oh, even pure
chaos can be tamed. Of course it takes a real genius to handle someone
like Mihoshi!"

	"So now you have me, you'll return to Jurai and see that I stand trial
for my dastardly crimes." He spat the last two words out.

	Washuu's fan vanished and she glared angrily at the man. "You bet your
bitmap buster! You subverted my work, MY DAUGHTER, and destroyed entire
systems in your insane QUEST! I'll see to it that you spend the rest of
your process in the deepest file tree I can find!" Turning she strode
into the darkness.

	Left alone in the darkness Kagato's smile turned into a victorious sneer
and he started to chuckle under his breath.

*****

	As the door to the makeshift, but powerful, brig slid shut behind the
assembler another girl glided up. The newcomer was clothed in a long
formal dress of purple, cream, and light blue robes. Like Kagato her skin
was blue, although Washuu knew that if the pair were related it was so
distant that the skin colour was the only thing they shared. As always
she presented herself with the grace and dignity her position as first
princess of Jurai demanded. A circlet peeked out under the fringe of her
deep purple hair and a silver and white version of the standard Icon
clasped shut her robes.

	"And how is our prisoner, Miss Washuu?" she asked, her speech perfectly
enunciated.

	"As annoying as usual," she sighed. "And how many times do I have to
tell you Aeka," she pulled a massive bazooka from nowhere, "CALL ME
LITTLE WASHUU!" Somehow she towered over the taller girl.

	A bead of energy formed on her brow. "Yes little Washuu."

	"That's better," Washuu said, returning to sweetness and smiles. Then a
concerned look passed over her face. "If you're here, who's with
Mihoshi?"

	Washuu's expression immediately became contagious. "Oh my, I do hope she
has not--"

	"Miss Washuu, Princess Aeka!" A voice called, coming from down the
corridor. As they turned the sound of running feet reached their ears and
the third member of their party came dashing up, stumbling as she came.

	In her home system the people had developed brown bitmaps under the
glare of an intense tear and, like many of her people, she had escape the
rather inhospitable environment out onto the web. Realistically her only
way out was to join the Cyber Patrol, a group funded by the government of
Jurai with intent of making the Web a safer place for sprites.
Unfortunately this left Mihoshi wearing an outfit that made her look more
a flight attendant on a luxury cruiser than a first class detective.
Washuu's eyes lingered on the girl's Icon, a stylised CP logo, indicating
the extra security code she possessed.

	"Mihoshi, you haven't been touching things in the generator room again
have you?" Washuu inquired, hopeful.

	Mihoshi skidded to a stop, took a deep breath and start talking. "Oh, I
was going down there just to check up on some things, you know make sure
the cell energy wouldn't run out or anything, but when I got down to that
level there were all these funny green glowing lines on the floor and
walls, and my alarm went off so I decided to come find Aeka, since it is
her ship and all, she might know what's going on."

	Washuu's face fell. "Green lines?" The image of Kagato's temples flashed
into her mind. "Aeka, check Kagato, then get Sasami. Take Mihoshi too.
I'm going down to the generator room!" The pair watched as the small
sprite vanished down the corridor.

*****

	The main deck of Aeka's ship Ryuoh could easily have been mistaken for a
park. Large trees held their foliage above paths that wandered out of
dense shrubbery to circle sparkling blue energy lakes. There was no
engine room and no complicated conduiting. Instead the ship was powered
by the single large tree sprite resting in the centre of the ship.

	Space trees like Ryuoh had developed in the system of Jurai, allowing
the inhabitants to construct web ships of immense power that could safely
traverse the dangerous data storms without suffering from degradation.
Slowly the network of Jurai expanded their influence across the web,
finding other systems and by their presence alone, encouraging the
creation of similar object-based technologies. Still, nothing had come
close to mirroring the power of a Juraian battle crusier.

	The bridge of the ship was a raised dais resting before the tree Ryuoh.
It was from here that Aeka, and her alone, could command her beloved ship
and it was here that she had brought Mihoshi and her young sister Sasami
to wait.

	Sasami was still oh-one, only ten megacycles since compiling. Like her
big sister her bitmap colour palette featured mainly blues. Two long
pony-tails of long sky-blue hair sprouted from the sides of her head,
arcing down to her waist. She wore a less conservative outfit, better for
playing in, but still formal enough for a princess of the network of
Jurai. Her silver and white Icon glistened in the light of the control
displays.

	"Spam!" Washuu cursed, popping up into the cavity of a nearby tree. "I
can't believe he did this!" Her hands clasped behind her back, the
assembler strode out onto the bridge. "How long to our destination?"

	Taken back by the vehemence in the smaller sprites voice, Aeka recoiled.
"We are almost there now, it is only a matter of a few hundred
nanoseconds. May I ask what has gone wrong?"

	"Kagato tricked us!" Washuu raged. "He let himself be caught so we'd
take him to wherever Ryoko was, hoping to get us and Yoko's sword all
together in one place! Before he faced us he gave Ryuoh a
secondary-infection of some virus-infection he's picked up!"

	"My Ryuoh!" Aeka cried. "Oh my poor, poor..."

	"Hush!" snapped Washuu, still pacing back and forth. "It's not that bad
yet, the infection is only in the outer units, including MY GENERATORS!
We might get to that system, but we'll have to destroy most of the ship
once we get there, to prevent the tree from becoming infected." She
stopped, anger clearly on her face. "I can't believe HE TRICKED ME!"

	"Wait a nanosecond," Sasami interjected, "we don't know if brother Yosho
is with Ryoko."

	Washuu grinned. "Good point, but his sword is all that can hold Ryoko in
place, so if we find her, we find it."

	"And that's what Kagato believes." Sasami summarised.

	"I believe so."

*****

	"Give me the sword," the web creature begged.
"Pppplllleeeeeaaaaassssseee!"

	Tenchi backed away, unfortunately Ryoko's strong grip on the front of
his shirt kept him from going far. She had tried seduction, only Tenchi's
shyness had knocked out that idea. Once he'd awoken Ryoko had tried
threats, that worked worse, she'd simply discovered that the sword
protected him. So she fell back on pleading.

	"For the last time, I'm not giving it to you!" Tenchi cried. "You'll
just run amok again and destroy things!"

	Ryoko released his shirt and floated backwards across his room, hands
clasped before her. She was the perfect picture of sincerity. "Oh, I'd
never do something like that!"

	Tenchi's returning gaze was sarcastic. "My school." He turned to look
out the window. The light of the tear could still be seen over the city.
	
	"Okay, so I got a little carried away," Ryoko giggled as if trying to
forget the incident. "Anyway, I only want the modules so I can get out of
this backwater system."

	"HEY! This is my home!" Tenchi's voice was strained.

	"Sorry, but I only want them so I escape before SHE arrives." Whoever
she was, Ryoko obviously didn't like her. "She's a virus!"

	"A VIRUS?!" Tenchi tried to pull back again, with as little success.

	"She's like a virus, just when you think you've gotten rid of her, she
shows up again. If she gets her hands on me that data store will seem
like such a nice place!" Her golden eyes were big and pleading.

	Tenchi looked at his reflection in her silvery skin. "You just want the
modules?"

	"Yep. Got it in one!"

	Tenchi glanced down at the sword. The three modules glowed slightly in
hilt, as if awaiting their return. "So how do I do this?"

	"Just concentrate on returning them," Ryoko replied with a shrug.

	A serene look swept over Tenchi's face as he followed her direction.
Ryoko watched his face, and smiled slightly at his handsome face. She'd
always enjoyed watching him, especially when he was like this.

	Closing her own arms she reached out, as if to hug him and started
concentrating on the flash modules. Power flowed into her as the transfer
began. Once more the hacking algorithms contained within flowed into her
awareness. Ultimately knowledge was power, especially if you knew how to
alter the system environment.

	Ryoko opened her eyes and looked into Tenchi's worried face. 
Dramatically she raised her wrist. "Ryo-ohki, vessel of the web, I summon 
you forth from the darkness of the your prison!"

	The modules glowed, beams of light striking out at random about the
room. Tenchi went cross-eyed as he focused on one that had alighted on
his nose. In a slow graceful dance, the beams swept across the room to
focus on one point. A pool of darkness formed on the wall and the light
flickered out. Tenchi and Ryoko both stared at the wall for a few
seconds.

	"MYA!" a high-pitched voice cried, then a small brown/grey blur bounced
out of the hole and into Ryoko's waiting arms.

	"I'm happy to see you too Ryo-ohki," Ryoko cooed, nuzzling the little
animal. "Was it cold in that hidden directory?" The child-talk sounded
strange coming from the tough web-creature.
	
	Tenchi stared in wonder, ignoring the black hole as it slid shut.
Ryoko's new "friend" was a cat-like creature with a massive pair of ears
that reminded him of a rabbit. It was cute and looked happy, not exactly
what he'd expected from a software pirate's web ship. "Is that, is that
your ship?"

	Holding Ryo-ohki out, Ryoko smiled at him. "Meet Ryo-ohki. She's not my
original ship, that one was too badly fragmented after the battle with
Yosho, but she put this little thing's source code in a hidden directory,
and it hatched when I woke up."

	"So what are you supposed to do? Wait for it to compile up?" Tenchi
demanded.

	Ryoko let out a low chuckle. "No, of course not." She reached out and
snagged Tenchi's collar as she lifted into the air. "Come on!"

	"Ryoko wait!" Tenchi cried as the pair flickered out of existence.

*****

	Nobuyuki's surprise when he saw his son and his new girlfriend vanish
before his eyes was nothing compared to what he felt when they reappeared
right behind him. Tenchi was hanging onto the woman as if his process
depended on it, which it probably was, they were floating in mid-air two
levels above the nearest solid plane.

	All he had wanted to do was record Tenchi's development. Okay so it was
spying on his son, but as a father it was his duty. Discovering that his
normally shy son had sneaked a beautiful and sexy woman into his room was
too good to believe, so he needed something to prove it. Only this wasn't
what he'd expected.

	"RYOKO!" Tenchi complained again as they hovered there, not hearing the
thump of his father hitting the level below.

	The girl gave him a smile. "Ryo-ohki! LET'S GO!"

	"Mya, mya, MYA!" cried the small creature, somersaulting out of the
pirate's grip. In mid spin, she started to spin and contort, her form
distorting into long crystal shards. After the rather painful looking
transformation finished a massive craft, built as if two crowns had been
stuck about a large red globe. A single massive spike pointed down
towards the system.

	"Tenchi, meet Rho-ohki!" Ryoko proclaimed, gesturing to the huge web
ship.

	"Wow," was Tenchi's only comment as the pair vanished once more.

*****

	The two windows floated before Washuu, one acting as a display, the
other as a keyboard. Her fingers blurred across the later, Squares of
light shone as her fingers encountered the window and information
flickered past, faster than most sprites could read.

	Aeka stood not far away staring at her own display windows. Dominating
one window, larger than any system based tear, was the entrance to their
destination, nothing more than damage in the web interface. Such holes
were common, and the chaotic energy attracted the web connections of many
systems.

	"We're not going to make it," Washuu grumped. "The infection will breach
the main unit before we reach Nippon. Damn Kagato!"

	"Where is he Miss Washuu?" Sasami asked, stepping up to the assembler's
side.

	Washuu turned to the young princess, seeing the worry creasing her face.
"That, my dear is a good question."

	"There!" Aeka jabbed a finger at the display.

	Everyone was suddenly by her side, staring at the point she was pointing
at.

	"What? It's the tear," Washuu stated, squinting hard. "I'd have expected
this from Mihoshi, not you."

	"I saw a flash of silver, a ship, I'm sure!" Aeka exclaimed.

	"That's impossible, this is a proscribed area. No ships allowed," Washuu
returned.

	"Maybe we should send out a mayday, in case sister Aeka did see
something," Sasami suggested. Everyone stared at her for a second.
	
	"Right," Washuu announced, spinning and heading towards her console.
"Aeka, you do that, I'll try to bolster the defenses."

	Aeka turned back to the displays. "Open hailing frequencies!" A blank
window popped open before her. "Mayday, mayday. Ship..."

*****

	"... in distress. Any vessel hearing this message is asked to aid in
evacuation." Ryoko chuckled as Aeka's image repeated her message in one
of Ryo-ohki's control crystals.

	The bridge of the cabbit turned web ship was little more than the top of
the sphere at the heart of the crystalline structure. Red on the outside,
the sphere still allowed light in, giving Tenchi and Ryoko a half
hemisphere view of the multicoloured data streams of the web. Inside
various diamonds floated about a column in the centre of the deck.

	"Mya, ma-mya," Ryo-ohki announced excitedly from about them. "Mya?"

	"No, we aren't," the pirate replied, lounging in a seat formed of
crystal. "She can just stew in whatever trouble she's got herself into!"

	Tenchi stepped up. "This is the sprite that's chasing you?!" He watched
as Ryoko nodded. "And you're just going to abandon her? How can you be so
heartless?"

	Ryoko floated out of the chair. "Come on, she's made my life a misery.
Why should I help her?"

	"Ah..." Tenchi thought quickly, he needed a reason that'd appeal to her
base nature. "Because then she'd owe you," he pointed out.

	A feral smile broke across her face. "I like the way you think. Ryo-ohki
let's go rescue ourselves a princess!" She thrust her finger outwards.

	"MYA!" Ryo-ohki exclaimed, taking off at high speed.
	
*****

	The tranquillity of Ryuoh's bridge was broken by screams and blaster
fire, both of which were issuing from the panicked Cyber Patrol
detective. Mihoshi's weapon was cutting through the vines that snaked
their way down from the surrounding trees.
	
	"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" she wailed. "Why are they attacking us?"

	Floating next to her, arms outstretched, Aeka didn't respond. Her
concentration was on holding up the force field that kept the vines from
reaching the four sprites. The vines were one of the more passive
internal defences her space ship could muster, capable of restraining
anyone, even if that sprite could teleport.

	"Because the virus has corrupted Ryuoh's friend or foe recognition
database," Washuu replied, continuing tapping on her keyboard. Thankfully
that wasn't connected to Ryuoh, so Washuu could still work on a cure.
Unfortunately the virus, although not as powerful due to the secondary
infection, was still too complex for her to retro-engineer without a lot
more equipment.

	Click, click, click. Everyone stopped and stared at Mihoshi as she
continued to pull the trigger of her gun. Bolts no longer flew from its
barrel, instead only a light flashed on the top.

	"Out of energy," Aeka commented in her most disapproving tone.

	"This is bad, very bad," added Washuu, looking up from her keyboard.
	
	No longer hampered by Mihoshi's constant and chaotic firing, the vines
wrapped around Aeka's force bubble, plunging the group into a darkness
lit only by the glowing characters on Washuu's display and the energy
arcing off Aeka.

	Sasami moved closer to her sister and wrapped her arms about the older
girl's legs. "Sister Aeka, I'm scared."

	Moments passed without a sound, then Aeka grunts of exertion became
audible in the silence. The crackling streams coming from Aeka
intensified, and it became obvious to those inside that the force field
was no longer a sphere.

	Washuu looked up from her monitor, her silver face under lit in a
strange blue. "The vines are exerting too much force, the Lady Aeka can't
keep this up! We're DOOMED!"

	Aeka's cry of pain echoed in their ears. Sasami could feel the tension
suddenly leave her sister's body as the princess started to topple down
on top of her, then the other two slammed into her. The surrounding vines
rushed in, threatening to encase them all, then suddenly fell away.
	
	"That sword sure makes for a useful gardening tool," a snide voice
remarked as the vines collapsed about them.

	"RYOKO!" a young man exclaimed. "Just grab them and let's get out of
here."

	The three stood confused, supporting the unconscious form of Princess
Aeka, for a nanosecond. Floating not far away was a woman with a
hairstyle and bitmap a lot like Washuu. Just beyond her a young man,
looking incredibly mismatched with his companion, wielded a glowing blade
against the attacking vines.

	"Right," Ryoko raced over and grabbed Washuu's arm. "Alright everyone,
hold tight, here goes the Ryoko express." Washuu just had time to grab
Sasami and Mihoshi, who were holding Aeka, before Ryoko teleported them
out. Moments she reappeared and grabbed Tenchi, vanishing with him.

	With no targets the vines retreated once more into the trees, leaving
the bridge once more calm and serene. That is until another figure
appeared. Kagato looked about, dusting off his robe. "So Washuu, you've
managed to escape again, but I know you too well. You will follow me, and
in that is your downfall."

*****

	Ryo-ohki's bridge looked and sounded like a disaster area. Aeka had
recovered just as Ryoko had returned with Tenchi, her arms draped
unnecessarily around his neck. While the pair argued both Sasami and
Mihoshi thanked Tenchi for the rescue, to which he modestly replied it
was nothing. Meanwhile Washuu stood off to one side watching everything
and fanning herself.

	"I asked you where is my brother?!" Aeka demanded, a series of small
logs appearing around her.

	"And I said I have no idea!" Ryoko screamed back, energy crackling about
her. "Is this anyway to repay the person who saved your process?!"

	"Hmph! You probably thought you had something to gain!" Aeka turned her
back on the pirate.

	"And what do you want pipsqueak?!" Ryoko demanded of Washuu, looming
over her.

	"Your bitmap's deteriorated," the small assembler observed, stepping
around the pirate. "So has your structure, that must be slowing you
down." She poked Ryoko.

	Ryoko spun angrily and glared down at her. "How would you know ya little
shrimp?!"

	Washuu rapped her on the head with her fan. "Don't talk that way to your
mother!"

	"MOTHER?!" Ryoko repeated incredulously.

	Having lost Ryoko's interest Aeka wandered over to the other small
group. Tenchi was still trying to answer questions, some invasive (from
Sasami) and other inane (from Mihoshi).

	"Excuse me." Aeka's voice was back to its calm polite self as she
address the young man.

	"Ah... yeah?" Tenchi was busy scratching the back of his head.

	"May I look at that sword you were using?" she inquired, pointing at the
hilt the young man still carried.

	"Sure, here." Tenchi offered the sword to Aeka.

	Aeka didn't even bother taking it from his hands, instead just sighing
and shaking her head. "It is as I thought. That is my brother's sword.
Tell me, do you know where he is?"

	Tenchi looked down at the hilt. "The original owner? He died, I think.
At least that's what the tale Grandfather told me said. I found this in a
data store."

	Tenchi winced as Aeka's face fell. The princess sank to her knees, tears
welling up in her eyes. "Yosho, dead? It, it can't be? Not after all I
have done."

	"Mya! MYA!" Ryo-ohki cried, cutting through both conversations.

	"IT'S WHAT?!" Ryoko exclaimed, spinning about.

	"No, he can't," Washuu breathed as Ryoko flickered across to the
controls.

	"What is it?" Aeka demanded quietly, climbing to her feet.

	A window display appeared in answer. The large tear was gone, instead a
large silver globe containing an image of Tenchi's home system sat in its
place. Ryuoh's tail could be barely seen, sliding effortlessly into the
picture.

	"RYO-OHKI, AFTER HIM!" Washuu yelled, pointing at the display.

	"Myyyyyyyaaaaahhhhh!!"

-----

Author's Outtakes.

Just a funny joke I thought of but couldn't use.

*****

	"Ryo-ohki! Let's go!" Ryoko exclaimed.

	"Mya," the small creature replied saddly, turning to face her. It tapped
the air and a window popped open between them.

	"'This Shareware version of Ryo-ohki has passed its expiration date,'"
the pirate read. "'While it will continue to be a friend and playmate,
the web ship form will no longer be available. Please contact Washuu for
information on how to upgrade to the retail edition.'"

-----

Author's Notes.

	Well, I hope this is enough of a departure from the OAV continuity for
you all. Don't worry, the distance will just keep growing, especially as
it becomes more involved with the rest of the Wild Boot story lines.
Speaking of which, anyone spot the reference? I hope you did, I made a
BIG point of it.
	Comments about Ryoko's powers. I've described them as algorithms that
allow her to hack the system environment. This does not mean she
-----------
Rarstarr,
David Farr
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
djfarr@ihug.co.nz