Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Underneath it All ❯ Descent ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Tenchi Muyo, obviously, so why bother?

 

 

Underneath it All

By Ovrboost

 

Chapter 1: Descent

 

It was oddly beautiful. The flashes of light, streaking blindly into space, ultimately missing their target added to the symphony of light playing out on the view screen.

 

Spinning gracefully, dancing through the heavens like the shadow of a ballerina, the dark and intimidating pirate ship was almost hypnotizing.

 

“This ends now” remarked the eloquently dressed man, readying himself for what was about to happen.

 

Closing his eyes in concentration, the young man extended his senses out beyond himself, taking greater control over his ship. Between his hands, an intricately carved piece of wood, which could only really be described as a sword hilt, minus the blade, floated uninhibited, beginning to glow a faint blue.

 

Small bolts of blue energy crackled, and sparked along the surface of the hilt, every once in a while reaching out to make contact with the outstretched arms of it's master.

 

The power was nearing it's peak as the young man replayed recent events through his thoughts, adding emotion to his accumulating power.

 

*------

 

The beauty of the royal gardens never ceased to amaze him, the rolling fields of green, gracefully speckled with bright flowers invoked feelings of peace, and serenity. A fitting place to escape the turmoil of the royal court.

 

“Yosho?” asked a delicate voice from behind the prince. Turning, a smile crossed his features, as he took in the sight of his betrothed.

 

“Hello Ayeka, I'm glad you could make it, we have much to discuss.” said Yosho, his voice soft.

 

“Yes of course Lord Yosho, I wouldn't dare miss this chance to speak with you, seeing as how our duties rarely afford us the opportunity.” Her voice matching the occasion perfectly.

 

A pang of guilt hit Yosho, as he contemplated what it was that he was about to say. He wanted, needed to tell her that he loved her, but only as a sister, and nothing more. He had no intention of actually marrying Ayeka; the power struggles alone would tear them both apart. He also knew that telling her this would be devastating.

 

The first prince stepped up to Ayeka, embraced her hands with his own, and brought them to his chest, all the while gazing straight into his sister's eyes, her very being.

 

The sudden intimacy caught Ayeka off guard, and blushed a deep crimson, yet she held his gaze. “Ayeka…” he started softly, yet was unable to finish as a sudden flash of light behind him captured his attention.

 

It took a moment for the booming sound of the explosion to reach them, followed shortly by a gust of wind. The two watched in horror, as a Juraian tree ship, or rather the remnants there of burned brightly after having crashed into a portion of the royal palace.

The shock had barely registered, when an ominous black ship passed overhead, so low, that it nearly took them off their feet. Several warships closed in on the pirate vessel, and the dark, laughing figure that rested on a branch of one of Jurai's oldest, and mightiest trees. The figure then launched a few energy blasts, in tandem with the dark ship, causing another explosion that enveloped another ship.

 

 

Between the two, Yosho was the first to react, grabbing the hilt of his sword from the inner pocket of his royal robes. Breaking off into a dead sprint towards the action, Yosho energized his sword, Tenchiken. He could hear Ayeka's desperate cries behind him, begging him to wait.

 

`Good bye Ayeka…' thought the first prince, as he mentally called out to his tree ship, Funaho.

 

*--------

 

Lord Yosho, first prince of the Juraian royal empire, opened his eyes, and gazed once again at the view screen displaying the pirate's ship before him. Yes it truly was beautiful, this dance, this symphony of destruction.

 

Tenchiken glowed a bright blue, slightly shaking with the power flowing through it, as its' master relayed mental commands. Interfacing with the command, and control circuits of Funaho, energy was diverted from life-support, and all non-essential systems to the twelve quantum blaster arrays mounted on the ship's wooden bow. Each array glowed brightly from the charged energy.

 

Twelve massive energy beams shot out from the ship, converging on one spot, unfortunately for the pirate ship, it was too late to avoid it. The beams struck the ship squarely, and directly beneath the red capsule which housed its' sole occupant.

 

The craft lurched sickly off to the right, as the resulting explosion caused a huge plume of billowing smoke, and debris to flood out from the spaceship, clouding Funaho's view screen as it crossed its' path once more. Seemingly out of control, the ship lurched further left, spinning wildly as it made contact the atmosphere of a nearby planet.

 

After having watched the pirate's entry into the planet's atmosphere, another screen appear next to the main view screen, informing Yosho that the ship's inhabitant had indeed survived the crash. Yosho grabbed Tenchiken from before him, and walked swiftly away from the bridge.

 

*-------

 

The valley was beautiful, yet strangely quiet. Rolling hills covered with lush, green trees surrounded the small clearing.

 

Only moments ago, a menacing black spacecraft roared into the valley, spewing black smoke, taking the tops of the trees foolish enough to stand in the way of its descent from the heavens. Once it collided with the ground, it gouged a deep trench, before coming to a stop in the middle of a small lake. The water steamed from the heat of the fallen ship. Two black columns which formed points at their ends, jutted out from the water's surface.

 

On a nearby shore, lay an unconscious body. Laying face down, in a semi-fetal position, the body is obviously female, wearing a form fitting red and black battle suit, her cyan hair matted against her body, still wet from being washed ashore.

 

`Ryoko…' said the eloquent telepathic voice.

 

Suddenly, the once-unconscious female began to convulse, low sobs emanating from her, as she pulled her knees up to her chest.

 

`Ryoko, you worthless piece of filth… GET UP!' the voice lashed out within her head.

 

She sat up, hugging her knees, while she continued to cry unabated. Between sobs, and in a desperate voice she whispered; “Leave… me…. alone, Kagato.”

 

`Very well, Ryoko… Allow me to remind to once again, who is in control.'

 

“No…” Ryoko whispered, knowing full well what was going to happen.

 

Across the clearing, Yosho stood silently watching the demon with curiosity evident on his features. This was not the laughing demon he witnessed destroy half of Jurai, what he saw before him now reminded him of a lost child crying out for her parents to guide her home. Conflicting emotions raged within his mind. He had no idea as to how he should proceed. It would have been so much simpler had the demon remained just that.

 

Extinguishing Tenchiken, yet keeping it at the ready, Yosho closed the distance between himself, and the sobbing woman

 

Suddenly, the woman let out a soul piercing scream, withering on the ground, clawing madly at her skull, cutting deep with her fingernails into her scalp and face. She continued to scream, as blood flowed generously from the gashes, before they healed themselves, covering her face and hands with blood, also staining a fair portion of her cyan hair a disturbing crimson. Then she stopped.

 

Yosho stared, horrified by the nightmare playing out before his eyes. “My… God…”

 

Ryoko, having heard his words, stopped examining her hands, and slowly brought her head up to leer at Yosho.

 

“Yes…. Master.” said Ryoko, as she limply rose to her feet. Standing straight, with her head hung, shoulders hunched, and arms hanging limply by her sides, she floated up slightly off the ground. Simultaneously, Ryoko produced her red energy sword, and raised her head just enough to reveal her sickening grin. Blood dripped from her chin, and fell onto her sword, creating a sound similar to drops of water on a hot frying pan.

 

Without warning, Ryoko lurched forward, flying towards the still shocked Juraian. Reflexively, Yosho ignited Tenchiken in time to block the swipe at his head. No sooner than the blades touched, she teleported out of view, reappearing behind him, cutting low.

 

Pivoting on the ball of one foot, Yosho simultaneously leaped back, while swiping his sword through the area she occupied only a split second ago. Energy blasts slammed down from above. Luckily for him, they were easily deflected by his energy shield; unfortunately it couldn't stop Ryoko, as she slammed into him. The force of the impact sent him flying into a nearby tree.

 

Almost immediately, Ryoko reengaged him with her sword, providing Yosho the opportunity to devise an effective plan to disarm, and subdue her, as well as get a close up look at the face that would haunt his dreams for centuries.

 

After a long while, it was becoming obvious to the prince, that Ryoko was tiring from the extended combat, her technique began to get sloppy. As if to prove his point, she overextended a thrust aimed at his midsection. Sidestepping, he brought up his own sword, slicing cleanly through her wrist.

 

Both combatants froze for a split second, as Tenchiken absorbed one of Ryoko's gems. She reacted by reforming another sword in her opposite hand, brought it across her body, and sliced deep into Yosho's thigh.

 

He cried out from the sudden pain, while bringing his sword reflexively down, and through her other wrist.

 

The sudden loss of power from her gems, caused Ryoko to stumble back, drunkenly, her glazed over eyes seemed to flicker for a moment, yet the maniacal grin continued to seethe with blind hatred. Yosho unconsciously let his guard down, thinking she might fall, just as she teleported.

 

Turning quickly around, he was met with the sight of Ryoko diving towards him, ready to claw him to death. Yosho crouched low, and thrust Tenchiken into, and through her throat.

 

Ryoko hung, impaled by the light sword, as her final gem started to float down towards the sword hilt, still clawing at the air wildly. Her mouth opened, and closed wordlessly, but it was her eyes that caught Yosho's attention. The dull, yellow eyes seemed to phase, almost blink between its' current color, and something different… something alive.

 

The rabid expression on her face suddenly transformed into a look of sadness, pain, and defeat. Her sad, golden eyes gazed into Yosho's, wordlessly pleading him to end it, end the pain.

 

The change in demeanor was so sudden, that Yosho disengaged Tenchiken, and took a few steps back, wondering what he had done, as he watched her curl back up into a ball, tears flowing freely down her face.

 

“Please…” she breathed, barely audible; “Please kill me…” her golden eyes, glazed with tears, gazed with quiet longing.

 

Realization hit Yosho, and it hit hard. What he was fighting, what destroyed half of Jurai, was just a puppet, a tortured soul forced to kill. He glanced down at Tenchiken, the red gems embedded there in the wood glowed with energy.

 

“PLEASE!” she nearly screamed the word, reaching out towards Yosho with her hand. Guiltily he actually considered it, after all a part of him thought it would be considered merciful. He looked once again, at his sword before replying.

 

“…No, I can't do that. Not to an innocent person…” his voice came out, almost surprising himself with his words.

 

Again, she collapsed to the ground, pounding her fist in the dirt, before drawing herself into a fetal position. Her soft cries spoke volumes on desperation, and sorrow.

Yosho stood silent for a minute, before doing the only thing left for him to do, the one thing only a day before he would have never dreamed of. He kneeled down next to the broken woman, and took her into his arms, with a soft embrace. Her desperate cries had pierced his soul, with every sob; he sought to tighten his embrace, all the while trying to whisper reassurances into her ear.

 

It didn't take long for Ryoko to latch onto Yosho, at first she recoiled into herself, but eventually the tender words spoken to her persuaded her to return the embrace. She held on, crying into his shoulder, as if her life depended on it, and in a way, it did.