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/

*****

Ranma: I live in the games
        I search through systems, peoples and cities,
        Meeting new friends and enemies,
        Defending their hopes,
        And Dreams
        My Code:
        To Mend and Defend.

V3.3.3: Of Games and Guardians

        Flashes of lightning illuminated the angry clouds of pulsating purple
energy that arched between the clusters. Tendrils reached out and spun
into deep swirls, continuing in an endless dance of mystery and beauty
that had continued on without rhyme nor reason for as long as there had
been systems. Many gigacycles had passed in unobserved emptiness, but
then the AIs had come, and in time they had been followed.

        This was the third sea; a place where sprites did not belong. The Net
was safe and well travelled, the Web less so, with its fierce datastorms
and degrading packet loss, but this place did not allow for any of the
laws of those places. This was Game Space, floating somewhere in the
metacodic void above the systems but below the User.

        When they had first ridden the current of that ocean they'd been in no
condition to truly experience the sensations. They had thought themselves
nullified, and in truth the only thing that saved them was the hack that
had enabled two of them to safely play games. Its buffering, combined
with the game sprite's code, had served to carry them onwards.

        The next time they had ridden the games they suffered the full
experience. There was no pain as their bitmap and code was converted into
a floating mass of sentient energy. At first they had simply let the
currents carry them to the next game and into the next system, but in
time they had learnt how to propel themselves through the seas. Not that
had helped. They still had no way of navigating.

        'That way,' it wasn't speech, more of a direct communication.
Information usually conveyed by a nod or a pointed finger was included in
the message. All four streamed off, riding a burst of energy across to
the forming game.

        At first it appeared as a wire frame amidst the clouds, which they
slipped through, as a brown layer settled over it, constructing an
unnatural monochromatic landscape. The four hovered over the landscape,
waiting. Colours started appearing, pinks, greens and browns across the
hills that faded to black in the crevices. Then the sky above them was
painted in a deep aqua.

        Next, the wireframe forms of plants and background features formed, and
then they too were covered in bright colours, leaving them standing
eerily still. Moments past before the Game Sprites started forming,
including the bodies of the four. With that their codes halted, so they
never witnessed the painting of shadows and final touches of the game
compiling.

        "Warning: Incoming Game!"
*****

        They had split up, Ranma deciding to take his chances in a secret route
through the tunnels to the game's goal while the others kept the User
busy. It was a risky plan, Ranma would be alone with no one to back him
up, but they'd decided to run it that way.

        The tunnel he swam down ended suddenly, opening into a massive cavern. A
soft blue glow was emitted from the moss and lichen covering the walls,
illuminating the massive hall, letting him see the numerous holes and
tunnels leading out.

        'I don't like this,' he thought, hovering in the shadows about the
entrance. 'Too open.'

        "--ccccchhhhhhhiiiiiiiii!" One of the tunnels suddenly spat out a
figure. The blue glow reflected in her silver scales as she tumbled
across the cavern. A flick for her tail and a twist of her fins
stabilised her.

        Slight movement from one of the distant openings caught Ranma's eye, and
he shifted to see the beak of a giant eel sliding free of the darkness.
Fortunately the girl seemed to sense the creature, but froze as she gazed
into those massive eyes.

        Ranma gripped his trident, but before he could react, a second figure
was spat from the tunnel. "--kkkkkaaaaa!!!!!" The triton slammed into the
mermaid, sweeping her out of the eel's reach.

        As the monstrous aquatic menace circled around for another attack, Ranma
kicked out, propelling himself forward. He drew back his arm, holding his
trident ready. Judging his moment, he thrust the weapon forward as the
eel reared up.

        He pulled out and stopped, watching as the trident struck the tip of the
eel's beak. "I don't think so," Ranma announced as the two sprites turned
to look at him.

        The girl was the first to react. Her fins twitched, turning herself back
to the eel. Hands cupped she concentrated for a moment, then fired off a
massive burst of electricity that sent the eel reeling. Some quiet part
of Ranma's mind noted that her blast seemed very skilled for someone who
moments ago was frozen in fear.

        "Let's get out of here!" Ranma snapped, then flipped himself over and
started swimming.

        Only moments later the shadows of the tunnels reclaimed him. As his eyes
adjusted to the dark, the silver scaled mermaid came up along side him,
the other triton slightly behind. The girl was breathing hard, and it
occurred to Ranma that neither had his training. He slowed down, then
stopped, twisting about to face the pair. Surprisingly, the other triton
seemed not to be showing any signs of exhaustion.

        "Thanks for the rescue." The young man smiling slightly.

        The girl nodded, the movement sending her bobbing slightly. "Yes, thank
you. It was most timely."

        Ranma grinned at them. "That's my code." There was a crash, followed by
a wave of pressure that pushed then a little further down the tunnel.
"Stupid game sprite. It didn't even realise this tunnel was too small."
Turning back to face the pair he put on his friendliest smile. "I'm
Guardian Ranma Saotome."

        "Tenchi Masaki," the triton offered, "and this is Princess Aeka."

        Ranma nodded his head respectfully. "Your Highness. May I inquire as to
what format you are the heiress to?"

        "I will one day be net.cfg of the Jurai.net, but you may call Aeka."

        "Jurai.net? Never heard of it," Ranma shrugged. "I'd love to stay online
and chat, but I was making for the treasure before I encountered you. My
friends are trying to keep the User busy, so I've got to hurry." He
glanced at the darkened tunnel. "We'd better stick together, there's
nowhere safe down here."

*****

        "The User's headed this way," Mihoshi commented, her mini-sub's aqua
thrusters pushing her back beneath line of the ridge. "Just another
minute and it will be exactly where you want it."

        Washuu nodded, her head hair swinging in the sea. The time unit was new
to her, yet she understood. Again she wished for Tenchi. The boy was the
closest thing they had to an expert on games and maybe he could explain
all inconsistencies she'd noticed.

        "Good, when the User gets here, we pull on this seaweed." Washuu
indicated a vine hanging next to her. "That'll yank the driftwood out
from under the boulder, allowing it to roll down the hill. At the bottom,
the boulder will smash into the nest of those eels, causing them to swarm
out and attracting the wolf fish. The User will be unable to stop before
hitting the feeding frenzy and will be consumed. Got it?"

        Inside her mini-sub Mihoshi thought for a moment. "Ah... no," she
hazarded. Washuu face faulted and Sasami groaned.

        "Right. Sasami, go take a look would you?"

        The young mermaid princess nodded and flicked her tail, sending herself
floating up to the ridgeline. As she peered over the edge, Ryo-ohki swam
happily about her, mewing.

        "Okay Washuu. He's almost in position." Sasami's report prompted Washuu
to wrap a claw around the seaweed. "Uh-oh."

        "Uh-oh. What's Uh-oh?"

        Sasami pulled herself up a little further, peering into the murky water
below. "There's someone in some kind of black suit out there. I think
he's about to..." She winced as there was a flash of light and Sasami
ducked as a wave of force roared over the ridge. "... attack the User."

        "WHAT?!" Washuu scrambled up the rocks to stare down into the valley
beyond. The massive form of the User dwarfed the black figure and its
weapon. Yet blast after blast cut through the water. Slowly the User came
about, bringing its weapons to bear on its attacker.

        "What is she doing?" Washuu demanded, glaring across the ravine.
"That'll never do enough damage!"

        Suddenly the attacking sprite shot upwards, dodging the lethal energy
spat out by the User. Engines roared to life, carrying the massive shark
sub up after the fleeing sprite. As the pair crested the distant
ridgeline, long tentacles extended outwards, entangling the sub.

        Washuu leapt down onto Mihoshi's back. "It's an ambush. Let's go help!"

        Shampoo really hated her game form. The thick tentacles that had
replaced her legs were useful, letting her reach out and ensnare almost
anything, even the User, but the sickly green colour scheme of her skimpy
outfit (which Ranma wasn't about to appreciate) clashed with her hair.
"Stupid game sprite, throw stones!" she snapped.

        Growling, RyoGA bent down and shoved his rocky hands into the ground.
While the slab appeared to be torn out of the stone, RyoGA knew from
experience that they'd be no hole, such was the reality of games. Heaving
with mighty muscles of stones, he threw the slab at the captured shark
sub. It arched through the water and smashed into the port diving plane
next to the rotor, crumpling it.

        "Stupid! You supposed to hit engine!"

        A lance of light striking through the water cut off RyoGA's reply.
Moments later a torpedo joined it, slamming into the side of the sub. A
wall of water rushed past them as the User's hull imploded under the
assault.

        Mihoshi and Sasami cheered as the User's Shark Sub slid from the
tentacles and glided down to the ground. Standing atop Mihoshi's hull,
Washuu noticed that the ambushers were not looking so elated. She watched
as the User plowed into the seabed, sending up a cloud of silt, and
wondered what was wrong.

        Moments later, she had her answer as the ruined sub flickered out of
existence, and a fully functional sub appeared over it. The shouts of joy
died in Mihoshi and Sasami's mouths as the mammoth submarine powered
away.

        With a single thrust of her tentacles, Shampoo thrust herself upwards.
"What you think you doing?!" She loomed up over Washuu and the others,
causing them to jump backwards in fright. It took a moment for the
assembler to realise that Mihoshi had tilted backwards, forcing her to
scramble for purchase on the mini-sub's hull.

        "Calm down, Shampoo sugah." Ukyo the frogman swam up, her watersled
pulling her into the conversation. "I doubt they knew wha' they were
doing."

        "But was such a good plan," Shampoo pouted.

        "Excuse me," Washuu interrupted, still dangling from Mihoshi's
periscope, "could you explain what just happened."

        "Sure, sugah," Ukyo grinned, treading water. "In this game the User has
thirteen lives. Every time we take 'im down, he just pops up as good as
new. We got a friend whose off trying to win the game while we've gotta
slow down the User."

*****

        Outside the game, Ryoko still found herself caught within Kagato's
holding field. The sprite who had abandoned her Tenchi stood not far
away, staring at the game cube in the window. He'd barely twitched in the
time since the cube had fallen, just staring passively at the display as
the seconds ticked by.

        Okay, so it hadn't actually been seconds, the game had arrived only
nanos ago, but with her beloved on the line it seemed so much longer.
Ryoko had watched many games from her file folder deep in the storage
vaults, and had seen the devastation. She had fallen for young Tenchi,
who had often come down to the vaults to play, and when his grandfather,
the same sprite that locked her in there, started taking Tenchi into
games, her energy spiked.

        Now Tenchi was trapped in a game along with the mismatched group they
had rescued from Ryu-oh. Games were hard enough without having to putting
up with a pouting princess and the insane ranting of an assembler that
insisted Ryoko was her daughter.

        "You worry too much, Ryoko," Kagato commented, not taking his eyes off
the window. "Yosho's heir should be more than capable of winning a game,
but this does give me the time to clear the field of any annoyances." He
turned, a quiet, but smug, grin on his face.

*****

        Katsuhito, Tenchi's grandfather and the self-exiled prince Yosho of
Jurai, stood at the entrance of the vaults. A steady stream of binomes
hurried past him into safety. The viral infection was spreading fast;
already most of the system had been abandoned to the spreading green
veins as they covered buildings and vehicles.

        "My baby!"

        The scream caused Katsuhito to look up. At the end of the passing column
he could see two things. First the approaching wave of green lines that
swept across the landscape towards them. The second was the bawling baby
binome lying on the ground not far from the infection.

        There was no thought, just reaction. The landscape and people about him
blurred as he shot forward past the last of the refugees. His arms
extended as he skidded across the landscape and he scooped the child off
the ground.

        Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet slid away towards the
ever-approaching infection, sending the tall sprite sprawling. Glancing
back, Katsuhito saw the glowing green veins gather up around his
outstretched leg.

        Giving a loud cry, Katsuhito thrust forward, leaping into a fast run.
Ahead of him, he could see binomes gathered just within the massive
gates. On either side of him he could feel the viral infection keeping
pace with his own quick steps.

        "CLOSE THE DOORS!" he screamed. The binomes blinked in confusion. "CLOSE
THE CRASHING DOORS!" One of the CPU binomes leapt up and slapped the door
control, starting the large doors grinding down towards the ground.

        Katsuhito continued his run, the green lines of the infection of the
surging over post boxes and consuming lampposts. Taking a deep breath,
the old sprite drew on his last strength to thrust himself forward,
diving with the baby held before him. He flew forward, struck the ground
and skidded forward, coming to a halt as the door clanged shut.

        The crowd about him burst into applause as the mother gratefully took
back her child. Grinning inanely, Katsuhito stood and took in the
congratulations of the binomes about him. He nodded and gazed through the
crowd, glad to let his rescue boost their morale.

        A loud metal creaking silenced the cheers. Everyone turned to gaze at
the massive metal doors, fearfully looking for evidence of them breaking.

        "It's only a matter of time," Katsuhito murmured darkly, the light
gleaming off his glasses, hiding his eyes. "Only the User can save us
now."

*****

        "Excuse me, Guardian Ranma."

        The Guardian slowed a little, falling back a little as they swam through
the dark tunnels. "Yeah?"

        Aeka glared at him for a moment angered by his familiarity, but the look
was lost in the darkness. "If the User is a large submarine, why do these
tunnels exist? Is it not impossible for him to enter them?"

        "Nice to see you thinking," Ranma commented, not looking back and
ignoring her undertones. "The answer is that the user has a second
smaller sprite that can leave the sub and swim down here. There's lots of
power-ups and extra-life coins hidden in these tunnels, plus this
shortcut that we're following of course."

        "I see, but--" She was silenced by Tenchi's sudden stop.

        "What is it Tenchi?" Ranma swam up next to the other Triton.

        "That light up ahead, I don't trust it."

        Ranma looked up, and could see the shadow's on the tunnel's walls
starting to lighten as they sloped around. "You're right. Might be a
lantern fish or something. We should go slow."

        "Right." Tenchi nodded.

        Slowly, the trio advanced, stretching their senses outwards. As the
tunnel turned it started to widen, at last coming out into a brilliantly
lit cavern. Peering out there could see the cavern continue upwards to
the very surface of the water.

        "That's our way out," Ranma whispered. "But there's a problem."

        "Isn't there always," Tenchi returned, gaining a grin from Ranma.

        "Let me show you." The Guardian-Triton pulled back his trident and
hurled it into the cavern. After a few moments a swarm of small fish shot
out walls to attack the weapon. In only a matter of moments the feeding
frenzy was over, and the piranha vanished once more, leaving only empty
water behind.

        Aeka gasped, raising her hands to her mouth. "How are we supposed to
move through that?"

        "Slowly and without making a sound," Ranma replied.

*****

        The explosion's shock wave sent rock, plants and shards of metal flying
through the water. Ukyo turned to look at the red-haired sprite treading
water next to her, her gaze questioning.

        Washuu grinned sheepishly. "Okay, a bit too much."

        "A bit?!" Ukyo exclaimed incredulously. "Are you insane?! That's the
best deletion I've ever seen! There's nothing left!"

        Above them the user flashed back into existence, and continued on his
unrelenting course onwards.

*****

        Ranma kicked slowly, barely able to feel the water flowing past him. His
immediate goal, a steady column of bubbles that signified an upward
current, wasn't too far, yet it seemed further than he'd travel so far.

        "There's an advantage to telepathy," he thought at the other pair.
"Makes having a private discussion easy."

        "We won't disturb the piranhas?" Aeka inquired.

        "Obviously not," Tenchi returned. "Nothing had happened yet."

        "So tell me, Lord Ranma," Aeka thought, "what is a guardian?"

        "Hmmm, long story." He focused on their journey for a moment. "But I
think we have the time." He grinned, although the other two couldn't see
it. "We were taught that once, long ago, the systems were separated by a
wild cyber-sea. Travel between cities was rare, and so the goods they
carried were valuable. Software pirates of course started operating the
trade routes, attacking ships, disrupting trade and even attack systems."

        "Reminds me of Ryoko," Aeka sniffed mentally, although she managed to
not make the accompanying movements.

        "Who?" Ranma inquired.

        "She's a software pirate I freed recently," Tenchi replied. "Although
she's not that bad."

        "Huh?" Ranma hesitated. "Never mind. You can tell me later. Anyway, with
pirates preying on the ships, someone needed to do more than merely
react, so a group started hunting down the pirate ships and bringing
order to the cyber-seas. They did a pretty good job, forming the loose
collection of systems into an ever-growing network. In time the seas were
calmed and formed into the Net and the group became known as the Guardian
Collective, because that was what they were.

        "But as the systems grew and prospered new menaces came, the games,
instabilities in the interface, and viruses. Each problem was overcome,
in time, and the Protocols of the Guardians expanded to aid in protecting
them." Ranma fell silent, his story finished. His small amount of
momentum carried him into the bubbles and the current grabbed him,
starting him floating upwards.

        "In truth my own network of Jurai had a similar beginning," Aeka
admitted as she relaxed into the currents. "Except we had the aid of our
ancestors, the Space Trees. Their power made it possible to deal with the
web creatures and the terrible degradation of the web."

        "The web?!" Ranma exclaimed in the vaults of their minds. "Now I'm
impressed. What about you, Tenchi? What's your story?"

        "Well, I don't have either of your backgrounds..."

        "But you do, Lord Tenchi," Aeka interrupted. "Kagato himself declared
you the heir of my brother Yosho, as such you can call on the power of
Jurai. This makes you an extraordinary sprite."

        "Ah, yes." Tenchi was glad that the other two weren't able to see him,
he was sure his blush was showing through his scales. "Still, until
recently I thought I was just an ordinary sprite. My grandfather was
training me to be the protector of the storage archives. He taught me
gaming and fighting in case the archive was caught in a game."

        "He did a good job," Ranma commented. "You're better than most of
defenders I've met, and believe me, I've known some pretty dedicated
defenders."

*****

        Sasami concentrated for a second on the large rock outcropping. It was
an interesting sensation, shifting the frills on her face to catch the
light and focus it on one spot. Briefly, she wondered if this was what
her sister Aeka felt when she was running the Juraian subroutines.

        The lance of light sliced through the rock, separating it from the
cliff-side. It was easily ten times larger than Sasami, and she wondered
just how the sprite below was planning to move with it, let alone catch
it.

        As it was, the massive rock only fell a few pixels before coming to rest
on the rocky shoulders of RyoGA. The game sprite grunted, and started
forward to the edge of the precipice beyond. He paused, gazed for a
moment at the approaching wake, then hurled the massive rock.

        Gracelessly, it arced through the air, and dropped towards the black
shark sub-marine. At the last moment the User skidded to a stop, but the
projectile clipped its nose, sending it spinning into the darkness. For a
moment there was silence, then a pair of loud crashes, and finally an
explosion illuminated the crevice.

        Two green tentacles snaked down and wrapped around the rocky sprite.
"Stupid game sprite miss again," Shampoo accused. A single thrust of the
rest of her tentacles lifted RyoGA off the seabed.

        Ukyo sped past. "That's three down!" she cried. Moments later Mihoshi
shot after her, Washuu clinging for dear life to her periscope.

*****

        "Only another few minutes," Ranma commented, continuing to gaze up. The
mouth of the cave was slowly opening up above them, revealing more of the
sparkling blue waters. "So this Ryoko's now under the control of this
Kagato guy?" He paused a few seconds. "Why does that name sound
familiar?"

        "Yes," replied Aeka, "according to Miss Washuu he added a backdoor into
her code while she was compiling. He apparently boasted a lot to Washuu
while she had him imprisoned, including telling her what had become to
her daughter."

        "Talkative was he?" Ranma inquired.

        "He did not seem to be the few times I found myself in his presence. He
just watched me with a calm face and that horrible smile in his eyes."

        Tenchi frowned in thought. "I don't like the sound of that. Am I the
only one who smells a null there?"

        "Silver hair and a blue bitmap?" Ranma asked, still in thought.

        "Yes... do you know him?"

        "I can't be sure," Ranma replied. "I seriously doubt it. The guy I'm
thinking of was deleted a few gigacycles ago."

*****

        Shampoo floated up over the rise, her metal eye highlighted red. Slowly
she lowered Gun and sighted it on the approaching bulk charging towards
her. Thanks to the advanced targeting function built into both, a
crosshairs appeared in her vision, letting her fix on the User's sub.

        "Gun, command line: bind." The weapon beeped in acknowledgement, then
Shampoo pulled the trigger.

        Gun's barrel spat out a ball of blue energy that sizzled as it slide
through the water. Neither blast not sub altered their course, until only
moments separated them. Suddenly, the ball split apart, spreading into a
web of energy strands larger the sub. Apparently unaware of the net, the
User plowed into it, and passed harmlessly through.

        "SPAM!" Shampoo cursed, diving back into cover. The group hidden there
felt the rumble as the massive form passed overhead.

        "What happened?" Sasami asked, floating beside the half-octopus-sprite.

        "Game has cheat protections. Gun not part of game, so is not able to
affect game." Shampoo frowned. "There trouble, this last level. We waste
too much time and we lose game."

        Ukyo nodded. "That means we have to stop playing safe."

        "And your plan is?" Washuu inquired.

        "Full out attack, but only low power blasts. We annoy him and get him to
chase us."

        "B-but, that's dangerous," Mihoshi whined, bursting into tears inside
her sub.

        "Betta than sittin' back and loosin' the game, sugah."

        "We'd survive," RyoGA rumbled, "and ride the game out, but you three
would certainly be nullified."

*****

        The city of Atlantis was in sight, the User had almost finished this
game. It almost seemed too easy. Okay, so he'd lost almost half his
lives, but getting through the game first time was unusual. It would only
be a few more minutes and he'd have the treasure.

        *BOOOM*

        The torpedo slammed into the User's aft, shredding his armour. Slowly he
came about to see a horde of sprites swimming towards him. Another series
of blasts followed the torpedo, all slightly off target.

        His torpedo ports slid open. He had time, and lots of lives. This was
going to be fun.

*****

        Ranma burst from the mouth of the cave, glad to be moving again. The
blue-scaled mermaid princess paused for a few seconds, staring after him,
before flicking her tail and sliding off after him. Passing the safe
point last, Tenchi was forced to swim hard to catch up.

        "What's the hurry?" he gasped, pulling up beside the guardian.

        "Check out four o'clock."

        Tenchi glanced over his right shoulder to see a series of flashes in the
murky distance. "What's that?"

        "My three friends, another mermaid, a mini-sub and a crab-warrior
attacking the User," Ranma replied. "They're trying to keep it busy."

        "A mermaid?!" Aeka exclaimed, trying to peer over her shoulder and swim
at the same time. "Sasami is in a battle?!" A bright line of light served
as an answer, followed by a distance explosion.

        "MYA! MYA! MYA!" The horizon was lit up by a flash of light.

        "Funny, I didn't think this game had UFOs."

*****

        "Memo to self," Ukyo muttered, watching as what little was left of the
User floated down to the seabed, "don't ever threaten the little girl
when the cute cat thing is nearby."

        Sasami giggled as Ryo-ohki weakly meowed in her arms. "Thank you,
Ryo-ohki."

        The few armour plates left after the blast disappeared and the User
reappeared. Immediately everyone started attacking. Rocks, torpedos and
blasts of light cutting through the water. Despite the attack the User
continued on, ignoring the sprites and making for the treasure.

        "Crash it!" Shampoo spat. "We need buy more time!"

        "Is there any point?" RyoGA rumbled, pulling another massive slab free.

        "Ranma is there!" Shampoo returned. "We just need buy him more time!"

        Washuu looked thoughtful, then clicked her claw thoughtfully. "I note
that there is a period of nanoseconds that the User is inactive whenever
he is deleted."

        Ukyo nodded in acknowledgement. "Right, everyone, CHARGE!"

*****

        "SWIM!" Ranma urged. "SWIM LIKE YOUR PROCESS DEPENDS ON IT!"

        Both Tenchi and Aeka were startled by his sudden exclamation, so were
left behind as he surged forward. Glancing back, they could now see the
fuzzy shape of the User looming out of the murk. Less frequently
explosions could be seen, but it was obvious that the sub was gaining on
them.

        Turning ahead that they could see the glistening spires of Atlantis.
Their fins and tail bet hard, thrusting them through the water towards
the distant buildings. A glowing pile of gold and gems slid into view,
Ranma's distant form almost vanishing in glare.

        The thrumming of the black shark submarine engines grew louder, giving
the pair no reason bother to check behind them again. Neither wished to
know exactly how little chance they had.

        Suddenly a discharge sounded behind them and a large wall slammed into
them. The substance wrapped around them, sweeping them forward and
collecting Ranma as it continued onwards. Forcefully they crashed into
the ground, just short of the goal.

        "Can anyone get free?!" Ranma called, struggling in the quickly
hardening goo that surrounded them.

        "I am sorry, but I am completely trapped," Aeka gasped, glad that her
head was clear, but noting that it was getting hard to breath.

        Tenchi didn't answer. Instead, he was stretching out with his arm. He
couldn't see, but he could feel something just beyond his, if he could
just grab it he was sure he could get free.

        "Tenchi?" Ranma called.

        His fingers clawed at the ground, trying to find purchase. Just a little
more, just a little more.

        "Tenchi?!" Aeka screamed.

        Suddenly the goo about him gave and he moved forward the inch he needed.
Quickly he grabbed the object and pulled with all his might. His hopes
fell as the object gave and he fell back.

        "Game over." The soft voice announced.

        Tenchi brought the object he had grabbed before him, feeling dejected.
For a few seconds he stared at his reflection in the golden disc.

        A haze of purple sailed up over him and the disc vanished. He just lay
there, on top of the dome of Ryu-oh's remains, staring at his empty hand.
Even the thumps of the others crashing onto the hull behind him didn't
earn a twitch.

        "Lord Tenchi!" Aeka cried, leaping to her feet and running over to stand
over him. "You saved us!"

        Tenchi blinked and. "I did, didn't I?"

        "Yeah, good work," Ranma muttered distractedly. "What in the web is
this?"

        Everyone gathered together at the top of the dome and stared out. The
system was dark, and in the dusk-like light every one could see a
nightmarish landscape constructed of jagged spires and twisted shapes,
all highlighted with glowing green veins.

        "He's infected the entire system," Washuu exclaimed.

        Ranma's face tightened and he spoke with a quiet strength. "This is
bad!"

        "Very bad!" Tenchi agreed, equally serious.

-----------
David Farr
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
djfarr@ihug.co.nz         katsuhito@planetjurai.com
"Die-cast construction, it's a lost art." 
     - Optimus Primal, Beast Wars.