I'm on vacation mode, so reply privately. A copy of this fan-fic can be
found on my website. -->Luna
Tenchi-Muyo! (No Need For Tenchi!, This End Up) is (c) AIC * Pioneer LDC, Inc.
Aa! Megami-sama! (Oh My Goddess!) is (c) by Kousuke Fujishima, Kodansha, TBS
and KSS Films.
Aa! Megami-sama Muyo! (Ah! No Need For My Goddess!)
A Tenchi-Muyo! and Aa! Megami-sama! crossover fan fiction
By Luna Hinomura
http://fly.to/Luna's
Chapter 10: Demon's and Goddess's Revenge
Ayeka buried her face in her hands and cried. Sobs racked her body as
she mourned. <It cannot be true,> she told herself. <They *must* be
alive... Oh, Lord Tenchi... Lady Tsunami...> She felt strange in
experiencing more pain with Tenchi's death than she had when Yosho had left
Jurai. Well, back then, she'd still had hope. Now, though, even the lies
she tried to tell her heart couldn't convince her that Tenchi was still alive
and well. With her vision obscured by her tears and hands, she didn't see
when Ryoko teleported onboard Yagami.
Instead, she heard a plethora of voices exclaim "Ryoko?!" simultaneously.
"Ryoko?!" she echoed, the pain and agony suddenly extinguished by her
quick temper. "How dare you! If you had only left Souja at a more
convenient time, Tenchi and Tsunami would... Would still be..." She broke
off and repressed a sob, unable to continue. <Would still be alive...> she
finished to herself.
"I know," Ryoko said a-matter-of-factly.
"Then why on earth didn't you--" Ayeka began.
"Now, Kiyone! Attack with Yagami!" Ryoko yelled, cutting her off.
"What *are* you doing?!" Ayeka exclaimed. "Both Tenchi and Tsunami are
*dead* because of you! Don't you have any...any remorse at all?! How can
you come in here so calmly and simply order Kiyone around?"
"You might want to hold onto something," Ryoko quipped, a strange edge in
her voice. She sounded slightly detached, as if she had nothing left to live
for.
"Huh? Aaaah!" Yagami was suddenly shaken by blasts from Souja as Kagato
fired back with his own Life-force bolts. Ayeka fell to the ground, hard,
her side taking the impact. She pursed her lips stubbornly and pushed
herself back up, ignoring the pain in her elbow. It didn't and couldn't
compare to the pain within her heart. "Ryoko, what in the name of Lady
Tokimi are you doing?!" she demanded again.
"Don't use Lady Tokimi's name like that, and hold on a second, Ayeka,"
Washu said, typing rapidly on her translucent laptop. "I'm trying to locate
Kagato by sensing his Life-Force Energy. It won't take long."
"Continue your attack, Kiyone," Ryoko said. Then, Ryoko sighed and
turned to Ayeka. "Revenge," she said tersely. Then, as an afterthought, she
added, "Care to join me?"
For the first time in her life, Ayeka felt intrigued by Ryoko's words.
She smiled. "Very well."
No sooner had she spoken that Ryoko teleported back to the Souja, this
time with both Ayeka and Mihoshi. "Let's go," she said to the two, and
Mihoshi nodded in reply. Ayeka blinked, and considered her options, but
nodded as well. Whatever Washu had planned could wait.
* * * * *
"There! I found him!" Washu exclaimed, smiling. "Aren't you happy,
Ayeka? Ayeka...? Huh?" She looked around, noticing that everyone else had
vacated the area. A twinge of annoyance entered her mind. "Jeez... I
really wish you'd learn to think before you act," she said. "Kiyone, do you
need some help?"
"Damn that Mihoshi...! She left with Ryoko and Ayeka!" Kiyone said.
Blinking, Washu stared at Kiyone. "Well, that doesn't really answer my
question, but... Don't worry; I'll stick around for a while. Besides, it'll
take me some time to find out how to get to Kagato through all his wards.
Ryoko did it one way already, so it was easy for her."
"Thank you," Kiyone replied coldly before another blast from Souja struck
them.
* * * * *
"Well, now, what should we do, Ryoko?" Ayeka asked. "After all, you are
the only one who has been here before."
"Shut up," Ryoko replied absentmindedly, with no real feeling behind her
words. She pulled off one of her earrings and let it embed itself as a gem
on her left wrist. All three of them were clothed in their battle uniforms.
For once, Ayeka had dismissed elegance in favor of effectiveness. Her
uniform consisted of loose-fitting garments held in place by bands, with
pants instead of her usual dress. She even had triangular battle stripes
across her cheeks. Mihoshi's uniform was the same as before when she and
Kiyone had attempted to arrest Ryoko, and Ryoko knew her own was a black and
red bodysuit with red markings, complete with her own black markings across
the contours of the right side of her face. "Since there are three hallways,
why don't we just each take one? They all lead to Kagato." She punched her
right fist into her left palm. "I'll get him," she declared. "Don't worry."
"Wow! I never knew that Yagami had all these secret rooms! Isn't this
great, Kiyone? Uhh, Kiyone...?" Mihoshi looked around. "Oh, Ryoko, where
is Kiyone?"
Ryoko rolled her eyes and scowled. "We're *not* in Yagami anymore. This
is Souja. And we're going to go after Kagato without Washu." It was hard to
hold back the critical tone in her voice, so she let it slide. Knowing
Mihoshi, she probably would never have noticed.
"What?" Mihoshi's bright and cheery expression became one of utter
despair. "But I don't know what to do without Kiyone!" she protested.
Without answering Mihoshi, Ryoko simply turned around and looked at the
three hallways. She closed her eyes, and thought of Tenchi again. His warm
smile... His kindness... She'd known him ever since he was born, and had
dreamed of the day when they would meet and he would make her dreams come
true forever. It didn't seem likely now. Without a word, she flew off
through the left hallway, letting Ayeka and Mihoshi decide their own path.
Lesser demons began swarming around her and attacking her as she flew
through the air, but a quick blast of Life-force Energy dissipated each of
them. Onwards she flew, knowing either certain demise or glorious
retribution awaited her at the end of the antechamber. She really didn't
care either way as long as both Tenchi and Ryo-ohki were no longer alive.
The hallway ended abruptly at a dark wall made of a strange material. It
wasn't solid, and yet, it was opaque. The grayish wall was constantly
swirling around in seemingly random patterns. For some reason, it annoyed
her. She reached up and gingerly touched her hand to it, and it went through
as if the wall was made of nothing. She took in a deep breath and made up
her mind.
Carefully, she stepped through the wall.
Eerie music reached her ears as soon as she'd gone through. The room she
entered was enormous and the ceiling was too high up for her to see it
clearly. Extremely long curtains hung from the ceiling and were pulled aside
by an apparently invisible force. Kagato was at the other end of the room,
playing a dreary dirge on a gold and white organ, which was also extravagant
in its size. Ryoko took a step forward, but stopped when she heard someone
behind her.
"Well," Ayeka quipped. "It looks as if he's been expecting us."
Nodding, Ryoko continued walking up to Kagato, Ayeka walking beside her.
Together, they approached him. As they drew near, he ended the dirge and
stood up to greet them.
* * * * *
As Mihoshi entered the same room, she blinked and looked around,
wondering where Ryoko and Ayeka had gone. "Ummm, hello?" she asked
tentatively. "Ryoko? Ayeka?" No one replied, and there was no one there as
far as she could tell. She ran back and looked through the strange wall, but
saw no one. "Oh, no!" she wailed. "I'm lost!! Kiyone? Kiyone...!" She
turned in the opposite direction and peered into the distance. "Ryoko?
Wait!" Waving and yelling, she chased after them.
Or, at least, she was running in the direction she'd *thought* they'd
gone. It was just *so* hard to tell now that Ryoko and Ayeka were so much
farther ahead than she was. Gritting her teeth, she ran as fast as she could
towards them.
* * * * *
"Welcome to my throne room," Kagato said, bowing elegantly. "I do hope
you enjoyed the dirge, Ayeka. Ryoko."
The pain within Ayeka welled up suddenly, and she launched herself at
Kagato with a fury she'd never shown before. Instead of igniting her sword,
she used her fist, powered with Life-force Energy.
It didn't affect him at all. The instant before Ayeka struck him, his
Energy shield appeared, preventing her from being able to touch Kagato.
"That's quite rude of you, Ayeka. How dare you attack me before we've
even said one word to each other? I suppose I shall be forced to teach you a
lesson." At the word "lesson," the energy from his shield focused upon
Ayeka's fist, and forcefully threw her backwards. Ryoko blasted him in the
face next.
"Aah!" he yelped, caught off guard, though Ryoko's blast had the exact
same effect as Ayeka's punch. "Where *are* your manners?" he said, attacking
them again with his Life-force Energy, all the while never moving an inch.
Soon, both Ayeka and Ryoko were too weak to move. He strode over to Ayeka,
each of his footsteps resounding through her head like hammers. "Now you
die," he said, pointing his palm right at her face.
"No..." she whimpered, trying to get away.
"You're in no position to order me around," he said, sneering. Energy
began gathering in his open palm.
Ayeka took one last deep breath. "I'm sorry, Tenchi..." she whispered.
She closed her eyes and prepared for the death that was certain to come. She
heard the blast and sensed the Life-force Energy, but felt no pain, and her
consciousness still remained. <What...? Oh!>
Washu was there in her adult form, her glowing palm pointed at Kagato,
whose clothes were slightly singed, and lightly covered in soot. They looked
at each other, each one attempting to stare the other down. Kagato was the
first to speak.
"So we meet again," he said, smirking. "Hello, Washu. Or, shall I say,
*Funaho*."
End of Chapter 10