Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki+1 EPISODE 3
Episode Conclusion

Tenchi stoked the fire for a few minutes, then sat back down.
Ayeka looked down for a moment, then looked up at him. "I guess I
misunderstood certain things," she told him. "Since you were with
Ryoko, I thought you were her friend."

"I'm not." Tenchi admitted. "But I think I started all of this by
opening the gate."

"The gate?" Ayeka prompted.

"Near here there's a cave with a gate in front of it. Ryoko was
locked up in it." Tenchi explained.

"My brother Yosho did that." Ayeka explained.

Tenchi nodded. "That's what the legend said." He remembered.

"Ayeka," Tenchi asked, concernedly, "what do you plan to do now?"

"Well, I guess I'll keep looking." Ayeka replied. "I must find my
brother. You see, he's my fiance."

"Fiance?" Tenchi looked confused.

"Yes." Ayeka nodded. "Perhaps here on Earth it is odd for a girl
to marry her brother. But on Jurai it's not." Ayeka studied the
fire a bit, then continued. "Even though our parents arranged it,
I was happy about it."

"I guess his ship must've crashed like yours and... well... he
was probably forced to..." Tenchi faltered a moment. Then a smile
came across his face. "So you should.. Cheer up! Cheer up,
Ayeka!"

Ryo-ohki miya'ed nearby as she looked up into a bin of carrots.

"You want this carrot?" Tenchi asked her, taking one from the bin
and waggling it at her.

"Miya!" Ryo-ohki's eyes wobbled with delight at the offer.

"Here you go." Tenchi tossed it close to Ryo-ohki. The cabbit
hopped happily over to the offering and began to devour it. "Wow!
So, you like carrots, huh?" Tenchi smiled. "Well, if you eat
enough someday you'll grow up to be a spaceship."


*****

Chibishi walked into Ryoko's room. "Ryoko?" He asked. "I sensed
you were upset."

"Go away, Chibishi." Ryoko muttered, morosely.

"Okay," Chibishi started to leave.

"No, stay," Ryoko amended. "Mom's gone. My daughter is heaven
knows where." She looked at him. "You're the only family I have 
left."

Chibishi hugged her until she pushed him away.

"Hey," Ryoko told him, "you might be my little brother, but 
you're also a major pain in my backside."

"That's what little brothers are for, Ryoko." Chibishi smirked.

*****

"Well, its finally cleared up." Tenchi told Ayeka as he stood up 
from the bench where he was sitting. "Shall we go home now?"

Ayeka nodded, then reached up to take Tenchi's hand. She was 
smiling as he helped her to her feet.


A short time later, after they had both put their clothes back 
on, Tenchi was carrying Ayeka toward the house again. 
"Ryoko's cave isn't far from here." Tenchi suggested. "Maybe we 
could find a clue about your brother there.

Ayeka nodded in agreement as she rode on Tenchi's back. All at 
once, she spotted a large, familiar-looking tree off in the 
distance. 

"What's that?" She asked.

"That's the Holy Tree of Masaki Shrine," Tenchi replied. 
"There's all kinds of legends surrounding it. One says you can 
make it rain if you pray for it. And another says that a wish 
made under it during a full moon will come true. Would you like 
to see it?"

Ayeka nodded.

They reached the tree within a few minutes Tenchi carefully set 
Ayeka down onto the small island surrounding the tree. Ayeka 
went to it and examined it. "There's no doubt about it." She 
told him. "This is Funaho."

"Funaho?" Tenchi asked.

"Yes. My brother's spaceship. Remember there was a tree like 
this in my ship?" Ayeka examined the tree carefully. "This is 
the mind and heart of the ship."

"So this becomes one of those spaceships?" Tenchi asked, 
excitedly.

"No, not this one." Ayeka replied regretfully. "This one has 
taken root. It can't become a spaceship anymore." She tapped it 
with the sword she was carrying.

"What are you doing?" Tenchi asked.

"Accessing the ship's memory."Ayeka explained. "It'll tell me 
what happened to my brother when he arrived here."

The ship's memory appeared as a hologram. Its images showed 
Yosho and Ryoko's chase through the stars first. The next set of 
images were of the battle and the taking of Ryoko's gems. Then, 
they showed something unexpected. Yosho and Ryoko in a tender 
embrace, their lips touching. Ryoko was wearing wedding clothes.

"NO!!!!!" Ayeka screamed in horror.

"Is something wrong?" 

Tenchi and Ayeka turned to see Ryoko standing there with Sasami 
and Ryo-ohki.

"Ryoko!" Ayeka fumed. "HOW DARE YOU SEDUCE MY BROTHER?!" she 
charged at Ryoko who stepped neatly aside. 

Ryoko laughed, gleefully, as Ayeka fell into the pond. "You 
know, Princess," she suggested as she hovered upside down, 
placing her face near Ayeka's, "you really should change into a 
bathing suit before you go swimming."

"Why you..." Ayeka growled as she lunged at Ryoko.

Ryoko waved, cheerfully, and disappeared.

Ayeka fumed in the pond for a bit before she stepped back out. 
"Tenchi," She said, gripping his hand, and putting her nose into 
the air, "let's go home."

Tenchi simply scratched his head in confusion as Ayeka pulled 
him back to the house.

Sasami chuckled as she watched and waved.

****

Sasami sat bolt upright as the nightmare faded from her mind. 
Unable to get back to sleep, she went outside to get some fresh 
air. She sensed that she was not alone and looked around, 
tiredly. "Who's there?" She asked.

Chibishi was sitting on the porch with Ryo-ohki in his lap. He 
was petting the cabbit. 

"Oh, its you, Chibishi." Sasami smiled. Then she frowned as she 
noticed the look on his face. "What's wrong?" She asked

Chibish pointed upward.

Sasami looked. And gasped.  Hovering over them as a large 
spaceship. It wasn't Juraian, but Sasami recognized it.

It was the ship from her nightmares.

Ryoko, who had been sleeping on the roof, also  sensed it. She
glared up at it, remembering the pain she'd endured aboard it
so long ago. She sensed that someone was in her cave. It felt
like a violation to her. Rage boiled in her. 

*****

In Ryoko's cave, a man with light greyish blue hair stood 
holding a ball of blue-white flame.  He stared into it, smiling.

"So, Ryoko," he smiled, wickedly, "you've finally collected all 
that I desire."