__________________
     /                  \
    |  A Terrible Power |
     \__________________/

For the purposes of this story, all forms of Ki, Chi, telepathy and 
other "internal" energies are carried under the global banner of 
"magic". If you find this too offensive, do not read any further.


Thanks to my pre-readers:
Ben
aevan
Kevin D. Hammel     http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~khammel/
Isawa Kazeko        tanzelax@reviewpe.com
Blood Blade         http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/5920

Please distribute this work unaltered and crediting the author.
dzillman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dzillman/fire

==============
Part 2: Tenchi
==============




From inside the kitchen, Tenchi's father Nobuyuki watched with glee as 
Ryoko lead Tenchi away. Oh, finally the girl had shown some initiative. 
She would make a man out of Tenchi. Running to the shrine, Nobuyuki 
kneeled down in front of the picture of his wife.

"Achika, dear. Ryoko is going to make Tenchi a man! Oh, how I have 
waited for this day!"

Ryoko was a strange girl; what with the teleporting, phasing through 
walls and the whole energy-blasts-and-magic-sword routine. Sometimes 
Nobuyuki wondered how Tenchi would have acted if he had been presented 
with another girl, someone more similar to is own dear departed Achika. 
Someone who was quiet where Ryoko was brash, cultured where she was 
unrefined. Perhaps a princess rather than a pirate. He sighed and 
looked at the picture of his departed wife. It did not matter really: 
Tenchi had found the woman he loved. That was enough for Nobuyuki.

Maybe Ryoko's  more aggressive nature was what the boy needed. 
Obviously Tenchi was not as much of a ladies' man as his father, but he 
was about to become a man anyway. Nobuyuki sighed as he walked back to 
the kitchen to prepare himself a snack. With any luck, Tenchi and Ryoko 
would be busy for most of the day.

"Where is my grandson?"

"Yaah!" Nobuyuki almost amputated a finger with the kitchen knife when 
Yosho spoke from just behind him.

"I thought I asked you not to sneak up on me like that."

Yosho gave him a flat stare. He asked the same question again without 
any change in inflection.

"He's gone off to the goblin cave with Ryoko. Oh, isn't it just so 
romantic. Think of it, just the two of them in such a spooky place. 
Poor Ryoko is probably holding onto him out of fear... Or something 
like that. Maybe I should get my camera and video it for them? I know 
that they'll appreciate it later in life."

Yosho did not seem to be listening, instead speaking over the top of 
his son-in-law. "You have done well, Nobuyuki. I will speak with the 
boy, then I shall be leaving for a few days. Nothing must happen to 
Tenchi in my absence. Is that understood?"

"Um. Yes. Of course..."

The old man with the completely grey hair had wandered off halfway 
through the sentence, muttering something about Tenchi being destined 
for greater things. Nobuyuki was worried about his father-in-law. The 
old man had seemed perfectly normal until a week ago. Up until then, he 
had been content to stay in his shrine, meditating or teaching Tenchi 
how to use a sword. 

Everything about Yosho had changed a week ago when he had seen a 
blurred piece of footage on the news. It was one of the Sailor Senshi, 
and she was fighting some sort of monster. Immediately Yosho had gone 
silent, staring intently at the screen. For the next three days Yosho 
had bought every single newspaper and magazine that he could find. 
Nothing escaped his grasp until he saw a picture of Sailor Moon. It was 
one of her classic poses; skirt flapping in the breeze, with a big 
smile and her right hand extended in a 'V for Victory' gesture.

Ever since then he had been a changed man. Now he was cold and distant. 
In the past he had been the very model of a gentleman, never demanding 
and never complaining. Since he had seen the photo of Sailor Moon, he 
had almost become a different person. He was imperious and commanding. 
Nothing seemed to meet his demanding standards any more. Tenchi was 
treated as though he was either delicate spun glass or a slave at the 
old man's beck and call. He ignored Nobuyuki almost constantly but he 
seemed to almost hover over Tenchi. 

And Ryoko, poor Ryoko. Tenchi's little friend seemed to be getting such 
a hard time from Yosho. So far he had not said anything too offensive, 
but Yosho knew that it was only a matter of time. Sooner or later, 
Yosho would let Ryoko hear one of the blistering comments that he had 
been muttering under his breath. He had started calling her names, and 
casting dispersions against her alien heritage. Nobuyuki sincerely 
hoped that he would not need to correct his father-in-law, but he must 
not ruin Tenchi's chances for happiness with Ryoko.

Through the kitchen window, Nobuyuki could see Yosho walking up the 
path to where Ryoko had taken Tenchi. Tenchi's father sighed in 
discouragement. He had sincerely hoped that today would be Tenchi's 
day, but it looked like the old man would interfere with that. 
Hopefully he would not say anything that would damage the children's 
relationship.

Inside the goblin cave, Tenchi was being dragged along by Ryoko. She 
had wound the rope around his arms and body, allowing her to dictate 
his every move. Although he struggled and complained about how they 
should not be there, his heart was not in it. By the way that she 
smiled at him, Tenchi knew that Ryoko was enjoying her little game. 
Ryoko had told him that she used to be a space pirate, before she had 
met him. Perhaps that was why she like the idea of dragging off the 
unwilling captive. He struggled a little bit more, whining to Ryoko 
about how she had kidnapped him, how he wished some beautiful alien 
princess could rescue him from the terrifying space pirate. All that 
did was make her smile even more.

His grandfather had always warned him away from the cave, saying that a 
gremlin had once been imprisoned there. Tenchi had never actually 
believed him until Ryoko arrived in his life. After all, when a 
beautiful alien woman floats into your arms, it can cause you to re-
evaluate a lot about what you thought was true.

After a time the pair reached the end of the cave. The rock corridor 
abruptly ended with a solid stone wall, liberally festooned with wards 
and glyphs of all sorts. Although he knew she would release him the 
moment he seriously asked, Tenchi gulped when Ryoko turned. The look on 
her face was pure predator. It was hardly helped by the fangs that 
clearly showed from her wide grin. 

Lifting softly from the ground, Ryoko purred and floated over to him, 
draping her arms around his shoulders and rubbing her cheek against 
his. Feeling his pulse quickening, Tenchi wondered what Ryoko had 
planned next. You never could tell with Ryoko: she could be coy and 
playful like a kitten in one moment, or change to as romantic as a 
trashy shojou manga the next. When she turned to him with that smile of 
hers, his heart skipped a beat.

"A fearsome goblin, ne, Tenchi?"

"Ah... well, that's what Grandfather used to tell me."

"You should recognise the goblin, woman."

Ryoko spun around in surprise. Yosho! How had he managed to sneak up on 
her like that? He had always eyed her strangely, but recently he had 
been downright annoying. Maybe he couldn't "perform" any more and it 
was getting to him. Maybe the thought of his young, virile and very 
attractive grandson flirting around with a woman as beautiful as her 
upset the old man.

"You say something, old-timer?"

"Yes, I was just commenting that I would expect you of all people to 
recognise the gremlin that the villages imprisoned in the cave all 
those years ago. Here, let me show you."

With a subtle movement, Yosho placed his palm flat against the rock at 
the end of the tunnel. He did not seem to need to use much force, but 
suddenly the rock began to glow white then it broke into thousands of 
small fragments. The interior of the cave was well lit, showing the 
presence of a stasis crystal suspended in the middle of the room. 
Within the crystal, Ryoko could just barely make out the mass of red 
hair.

"She fell to Earth several hundred of years ago. Naturally the poor, 
terrified villagers buried her and the crystal she was trapped in. When 
I came into this chamber many years later, I had time to study the girl 
in the crystal. Slowly it dawned upon me: this was not some goblin, she 
was a prisoner of some sort."

Yosho stood near the door and let Ryoko enter and look closely at the 
figure in the crystal. Sarcasm began to drip from his voice. "Obviously 
there was no way for the person inside to ever set themselves free, it 
had to be a prison. A prisoner? Someone that dangerous on our planet? I 
mean, she had to be dangerous, why else would she have been in there? 
It took me weeks of study to understand what I needed to do."

Eyes turning to pieces of granite, Yosho tracked Ryoko as she rounded 
the crystal and came face to face with the desiccated mummy inside. "It 
was very difficult to destroy the life support in her prison, but I 
think you will agree that the results are everything that I desired."

The low evil chuckle of the old man could barely be heard under Ryoko's 
scream. "MOTHERRRRRR!"

Ignoring the sobbing alien, Yosho sliced Tenchi's ropes with one quick 
stroke from his bokken. Taking the boy by the shoulder, he led his 
grandson down the corridor to where it was quiet enough for them to 
speak. "I am leaving for Tokyo for a few days, Tenchi. You will remain 
here during that time. I literally mean here. No school, no visits to 
friends. You will stay at the house. Do you understand me?"

Tenchi looked at his grandfather in shock. What was going on here? What 
had happened to the kind and slightly eccentric man he used to know? 
"I... I don't..."

With a strong grip on the boy's ears, Yosho drew his face level with 
Tenchi. "Then I will say it again. Do. Not. Leave. This. Home. Until. 
I. Return. Do you understand now?"

Taking Tenchi's small nod as agreement, Yosho walked out the cave 
ignoring the boy until he began to retreat to his girlfriend. "And 
Tenchi... If you get the alien pregnant... I will make you kill her 
with your own hands."

*	*	*

Walking down the quiet streets of a Tokyo suburb, Yosho smiled at all 
the people passing him. Everyone probably thought he was a lovely old 
man, so happy and charming. In reality, he was rejoicing in the fact 
that soon all of the worms surrounding him would be ground into the 
dirt. The foolish mortals with delusions of grandeur would again know 
the true terror of a Saiya warrior. He knew he was weaker now that he 
once was, but with Serenity by his side, their might would again be 
unequalled. 

Juuban was a pretty suburb. Trees and flowers, shopping malls and 
arcades. Hardly the sort of place that a Queen of Serenity's importance 
should be forced to live. Serenity should have a palace of crystal, 
beautiful and stunning in its glory, just like she was. Once he freed 
her from this travesty she was living under, he would get their slaves 
to build them a new palace. It was far too long since he had been 
treated like the Emperor that he was.

To anyone else, Serenity's secret identity would have concealed her 
from prying eyes. Yosho had an advantage over everyone else. He knew 
Serenity like no other. He had lived with the woman for the best years 
of his life, and he knew her magical aura better than any enemy or 
friend possibly could. Even at a kilometre's distance, Yosho had known 
where she was. Slowly, inexorably, he advanced on her home, revelling 
in his plans for their future.

Just as Serenity had requested, he had produced more healthy sons for 
her to command. Currently their powers were suppressed, but soon they 
would be available to her. All Serenity would need to do was get close 
enough and she could mentally trigger the commands needed to make them 
the greatest fighters in the system. Nothing was too good for the woman 
that he loved.

Finally Yosho arrived at his destination. It was a plain house, 
unassuming and hardly befitting a princess, let alone a queen. 
Somewhere in here would be his wife, her mind polluted and clouded by 
the personality of whatever girl her daughter had been. With just a 
little use of his magic, Yosho would be able to force back that 
simpering, nice personality he had seen on the news. When Serenity had 
access to her powers again, nothing in the world would be able to stop 
her from controlling the body. 

Strolling up to the front door, he took one glance at it and bashed it 
with the back of his fist. Weak he might be compared to a young 
Saiyajin, but compared to a mere human, he was incredible. The wooden 
door launched itself off the hinges and flew across the room. Judging 
from the scream that he heard, he had managed to hit a human with it, 
probably a child. A quick glance revealed that it was a boy. Yosho gave 
a derisive snort and stepped inside. The survival of the boy was no 
matter to him. 

Looking around the living room, Yosho smiled. Luck was still with him 
after all this time. It was obviously fate that Serenity would come 
back to life, otherwise all of these gifts would not keep dropping into 
his hands. With one hand he grabbed a woman around the throat. She was 
older than the picture of Sailor Moon, and she bore a distinct 
resemblance to Serenity. This must be her mother.

"Sailor Moon! You will be in this room in ten seconds or I will begin 
to disassemble your mother!"

Ten seconds passed without the beautiful defender of love and justice 
making an appearance. Since her mother looked like she was about to 
pass out from lack of oxygen, Yosho dropped her at his feet and grabbed 
a finger. With a savage yank, he dropped the digit on the ground. 

Smiling at the blissful sounds of a woman's screams, Yosho did not need 
to wait for long. He had felt that Serenity was nearby, so she was 
obviously waiting to see if he was serious. Sailor Moon's mother's 
siren like wailing brought the girl into the room in a great hurry.

Holding onto the bleeding hand, Yosho surveyed his wife. She looked 
just like her daughter did all those years ago. Complete with the 
degrading sailor suit that he had insisted the Senshi wear. He snorted 
at that. Queen Serenity would never have been seen dead in an outfit as 
ridiculous as that, but here she was. It was enough to make him laugh. 
So he did.

Sailor Moon stood there with hands on her hips and looked a mixture of 
confused, angry and frightened. Confused that someone who she did not 
recognise would be able to find her at home. Angry that they had 
attacked her brother and mother. Frightened that this person seemed to 
be completely calm about facing the Earth's strongest defender.

"I am Sailor Moon! Defender of love and justice! For injuring my 
mother, I will make you pay, Negacreep!"

Yosho gave a condescending smile. Ahh, the naivete of youth. All too 
often kids need it beaten out of them. Moving with his best speed, 
Yosho darted forward and placed his palm against her forehead.

"REMEMBER!"

And she did.

Magic stripped back the façade that had been imposed by the real Sailor 
Moon. Tsukino Usagi was battered aside as the inherited memories and 
personality of Queen Serenity magically brought themselves to the fore. 
In one agonised moment, Sailor Moon screamed and collapsed to the 
ground. Seconds later, the young girl rose again and looked around in 
confusion.

There was no difference on the outside, but Yosho could tell that his 
beloved wife was back the instant he looked in her eyes. Sailor Moon's 
eyes had been vacant, filled with hope and love and other trivialities. 
Serenity's eyes... Serenity's eyes were filled with pain and hatred. 
They boiled with restrained power, and promised a slow, painful death 
for anyone that was foolish enough to try and stare into them.

Yosho did more than that. He locked gazes with Queen Serenity - still 
in the ridiculous outfit - then stepped close and drew her in for a 
long, deep, passionate kiss.

She resisted initially, shocked at his audacity. After a few moments, 
Serenity leaned into the older man, arms twined around his neck as she 
stood on her toes to meet him. When they finally separated, Serenity 
looked at his face and sighed. 

"It's you, Yosho. No-one else could possibly kiss like that. But what 
happened? You’re... old..."

Pulling her close again, Yosho luxuriated in the feel of his wife's 
body once more before answering her question. Since the noise was 
beginning to get on his nerves as he tried to talk to his beloved, he 
gave the late Tsukino Usagi's mother a swift kick to the temple. The 
woman flipped halfway across the room to lie as limply as a rag doll. 
The way blood continued to seep from her ear and the stump of her 
finger indicated that she was still alive, but that did not really 
matter.

"Something went wrong with the reincarnation spell. You.. You were gone 
a long time. A very long time. But you're back now."

Serenity gave scowl anyone from the Silver Imperium would have 
recognised. It promised pain, death and vengeance. "Yes... I remember 
now. There was a bomb. It exploded just as the spell was being cast."

"Do you know who did it?"

Serenity laughed. "Oh, yes. Only one person could have possibly placed 
that bomb there: Sailor Pluto. No-one else could possibly have arranged 
for a time bomb to be built into the palace's wall, set to go off at 
just that moment."

Looking pensive for a moment, Serenity waved her hand and dispelled the 
silly outfit she wore. It was all right to humiliate the once powerful 
Senshi by making them wear those clothes, but she was the Queen. At 
least, she had been the Queen, and she would soon be Queen again. 
Cloaking herself in the long, off the shoulder, white dress that she 
favoured, Serenity thought for a moment then looked up at her husband. 

"You were going to arrange for more generals to be available for me. 
Where are they?"

"Without your powers of mind control, I have been forced to leave them 
in their homes. Once you get close to them, you will be able to 
activate them and enslave them instantly.
"Over the centuries that I waited I also managed to perfect a special 
mental programming for them. Buried deep in their minds are the 
complete learning of my lifetime. Within minutes of your activating the 
Saiya heritage, they will be the perfect fighting machines. Invincible 
and skilled."

For the next few minutes, he related where his grandsons were. Tenchi 
was one, awaiting her at his home in the mountains. Another was a boy 
attending school in the greater Tokyo area, a place called Furinkan 
High School. The eldest grandson was a couple of years ahead, and 
currently a student at Nekomi Technical. His last grandson was a 
problem child. Because of indiscretions that had occurred several 
hundred years ago, his last son was magically bound within a tree at a 
nearby temple.

Serenity looked up at her husband and placed her hands on his cheeks. 
"My dear husband! You suffered through so much to give me what I 
needed. While I waited for reincarnation, you waited here. All this 
time, so caring and vigilant. You've grown old waiting for me. You've 
grown... weak."

Yosho barely heard the sickening crack as his neck was turned to a 
sudden ninety degrees. His last thought that flittered through his 
dying mind was 'who would believe such delicate hands had such 
strength?'

Ignoring the haemorrhaging body of the woman that birthed her body, 
Queen Serenity stepped over the cooling body of her ex-husband and left 
the house. She had slaves to collect and a new empire to forge. Once 
the Generals were firmly under her control, she would seek out her 
Senshi. For their failure to help her resurrect sooner, they would need 
to be punished. She could see a bikini version of their current sailor 
suits being the new mandate for uniforms.

Then there was the traitorous Sailor Pluto. Now that she looked back, 
Serenity could easily see too many things that could be directly traced 
back to the wayward Senshi. Her ability to hide in the time stream had 
broken Serenity's control too often. It had allowed the woman to be a 
traitor to her Queen and Mistress. There was only one penalty for that, 
and Serenity looked forward to Pluto's slow death with glee.

First, however, Serenity needed minions. She would gather them and 
return them to this house to wait. First stop: the Masaki family 
shrine, home to Yosho for these last ten thousand years.

*	*	*

A tense wariness had hovered over Nobuyuki's home for the last three 
days. Everyone was worried about Yosho's absence. It was like hearing a 
shoe fall after someone came home: you knew the other shoe would have 
to drop some time, but you did not know when, and there was nothing you 
could do about it.

Everyone had been calm, almost happy the first day that Yosho had gone. 
None of the residents there had realised just how difficult Yosho had 
become to live with until he had actually left. Tenchi was freed from 
constant sword practice and endless badgering, and now had time to take 
long walks with Ryoko in the forests that surrounded the Masaki 
ancestral shrine. Nobuyuki felt similarly relieved; the ominous, 
demanding presence was gone, and he could relax and read the occasional 
dirty magazine.

By the end of the second day, Tenchi was wondering whether he should 
simply return to school and apologise to his grandfather when he 
returned. Certainly, if Yosho stayed away for much longer, Tenchi would 
not be able to jeopardise his education on something as thin as Yosho's 
wild desires. Despite Tenchi's studious nature, it did not take a great 
deal of enticement by Ryoko to convince him to stay home on the 
Tuesday.

It was a glorious day on Tuesday. There was not a cloud in the sky, and 
from the front porch of Tenchi's house, you could see the entire lake 
spread out like a bright blue coin. Tenchi sat on a bench with on arm 
around Ryoko and another on holding his cup of iced tea. Earlier in the 
morning he had worked in the carrot fields to satisfy the insatiable 
Ryo-Ohki. Now, in the heat of the mid-day sun, he could relax in the 
shade and appreciate how good like can be.

"Ehh, Tenchi. Who's that?"

Looking where Ryoko pointed, Tenchi squinted his eyes and could just 
make out a white shape advancing up the long road to their home.

"No idea. She looks too short to be a teacher."

Ryo-Ohki gave a brief noise then scampered off to get another carrot. 
As they watched the girl come closer, Tenchi felt Ryoko tense up beside 
him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm... I'm not sure. I sense a great power..."

The girl was close enough to get a good look at now, and Tenchi could 
hardly believe that she was the one Ryoko was talking about. The girl 
looked young enough to still be in Junior High, and somehow he had a 
hard time being afraid of a little girl in a wedding dress.

Tenchi and Ryoko rose to meet the girl as she advanced to within twenty 
meters. Rather than staying with his arm around her waist, Tenchi was 
surprised when Ryoko subtly disengaged herself and stood a couple of 
feet distant. He knew her powers well enough, and if she needed that 
much distance, she must be expecting to have to put up a serious fight.

Voice tight with aggression, Ryoko called out to the girl. "Who are you 
and what do want?"

The girl continued to advance. "I am Queen Serenity. Soon to be ruler 
of this system."

Ten meters. Ryoko summoned her sword and held a glowing ball of energy 
in her off hand. "No closer. What do you want?"

Eight meters. Serenity smiled. "What do I want? I want him. I want the 
world. I want the entire UNIVERSE!"

Five meters. Ryoko interposed herself between Serenity and her beloved. 
No crazy woman with delusions of grandeur would get her hands on 
Ryoko's man. Without Serenity moving or even changing the small, 
condescending smile that she wore, they both heard Tenchi scream in 
agony and collapse to the ground.

Ryoko flicked her eyes to the side and took in Tenchi lying curled up 
on the ground, holding his head in agony. Without a second's 
hesitation, Ryoko decided that this 'Queen Serenity' was the cause of 
all Tenchi's troubles and jumped to the attack. 

Giving off a slight whine, Ryoko's energy sword cleaved through the air 
and slammed into some sort of shield only centimetres from Serenity's 
head. With a look of surprise on her face, Serenity switched her full 
attention to Ryoko. "My, my, my. I never expected such a level of power 
here. I shall remember you; you will make a most fitting slave once my 
Senshi have been reclaimed."

Seeing two more strokes of her sword having no more effect than the 
first, Ryoko jumped backwards and began focusing energy. She was not 
the most wanted space pirate in the galaxy without reason, and that 
reason was her power. She would show this upstart little bitch not to 
mess where her Tenchi!

Without any apparent concern, Serenity lifted a short sceptre and 
pointed the end at Ryoko. The end of the sceptre held a large, 
vulnerable looking, clear crystal. Ryoko smiled at the thought of just 
how easily she would crack that crystal and flatten Serenity. Brilliant 
orange power powered from Ryoko's cupped palms, and began to impact on 
the powerful shield that Serenity had raised. 

From her stolen memories, Serenity knew that her daughter had used this 
very spell only days ago to defeat Beryl the traitor yet again. No 
matter how much power her daughter had managed to dredge from the 
Imperium Silver Crystal, she had hardly even began to tap its true 
power. This was why Serenity had been Queen of the entire solar system. 
She was as far beyond Ryoko as Sailor Moon was to an ordinary human, 
and Ryoko would not even have been able to beat Beryl. It was hardly a 
fair fight at all.

Of course, fair fights were exactly what Serenity hated. You did not 
win victories and cower entire populaces by being fair. That was why 
Serenity's smile broadened even more when Tenchi slammed into his 
oblivious lady friend and knocked her flying.

Ryoko looked up at Serenity and Tenchi from where she lay fifteen 
meters down the hill. Tenchi had changed somehow. He was bigger 
physically, and exuded a aura of power more palpable than that of 
Serenity. Strangely enough, he even had a tail, a small, furry tail 
that waved around behind him as he held his hands together containing a 
crackling ball of energy. Most frightening of all was the blankness in 
his eyes. No fear, no hatred, no dread of hurting her. Nothing. Tenchi 
was no longer in control.

Serenity light laid a hand on Tenchi's arm and restrained him from 
vaporising Ryoko and a large portion of woods behind her. "Don’t. I 
will have uses for her later. Go. Return to my daughter's home and 
prepare it for me. I shall bring your brothers there shortly."

With that, Serenity and Tenchi turned their back on Ryoko and began to 
walk away, ignoring her as though she were completely insignificant. As 
much as she wanted to stand up and attack Serenity's exposed back, she 
realised that she was inconsequential. She had not managed to beat 
Serenity alone, how could she possibly beat both of them together? With 
a rising fear in her, Ryoko watched as both people suddenly took to 
their air and flew away from Nobuyuki's home. 

"Fly away from me, will you, you kidnapping bitch? Ryo-Ohki! Get here 
now! We have to save Tenchi!"

"Miyaaa."

Turning to look behind her, Ryoko spotted yet another unannounced 
visitor. This one sat on the wooden bench that Ryoko and Tenchi had 
occupied only minutes ago. Calmly the woman patted the little cabbit 
and drew forth sounds of animal pleasure as she presented the cute, 
little creature with another carrot.

Ryoko was not sure what worried her more, the fact that her spaceship 
was currently nestled in the arms of another intruder, the fact that 
this intruder seemed to radiate exactly zero magical aura, or the fact 
that the woman had managed to get past Ryoko during the fight, without 
being seen by either her or Serenity. There was really only one thing 
to do in a situation like this, so Ryoko summoned her weapons again to 
try and make today one loss and one win.

"Put away your weapons. You have no need to fear me. I am on your 
side." Gently the woman in the short black skirt and white bodysuit 
placed the cabbit on the ground and shooed Ryo-Ohki over to her 
mistress.

"Please, sit next to me. I will need your help. Please."

Ryoko ignored her and picked up Ryo-Ohki. Looking into the cabbit's 
large eyes, Ryoko spoke seriously. "Come on, we have to go save 
Tenchi."

"Don't bother. Serenity is more than a match for you any day of the 
week. And Tenchi... Tenchi is even stronger than you can possibly 
imagine."

"I have to try."

"Yes, but without my help, you will fail. If you are willing, I can 
provide everything that you will possibly need to defeat Serenity and 
save your boyfriend."

Ryoko looked at her askew, but she did not throw Ryo-Ohki into the air 
so that she could transform into a spaceship. "Why? Why would you help 
me? What do you want from me in return?"

"I don't want anything from you other than rescuing Tenchi. I am doing 
this because I have opposed Serenity for the last ten thousand years, 
and it is my sworn duty to stop her again before she destroy this 
planet and make herself Queen once again."

Hesitating, Ryoko took a step towards the woman with the long green 
hair. "Who are you? How can you help me?"

The woman smiled and stood, showing that she was tall with a regal 
bearing. Brushing her long hair backwards and straightening the bow on 
her chest, she bowed. "My name is Sailor Pluto. I was once enslaved by 
Serenity in the same way that Tenchi has been. If Serenity is not 
stopped, she will do that to many more people, until such time she has 
an unbeatable army.
"My powers are too weak to face her in combat. All I can do is act 
behind the scenes. Changing things to work in our favour, and altering 
the occasional event to bring about a better future. I can get you 
almost any ally that you need, and I can help you to fulfil your desire 
to save Tenchi.
"I am the Guardian of Time."

"Guardian of Time? You mean you can time travel? Well why didn't you 
stop Serenity before she took Tenchi?"

Sailor Pluto sighed and picked up her time staff from where it leaned 
against the wall. Ryoko gave a short start. She could have sworn it had 
not been there just a few moments ago. "I cannot prevent what has 
happened because that would violate causality. Causality says that for 
every effect, there is a cause. 
"If the glass is empty, you must have drunk it. If you love Tenchi, you 
must have spent time with him. If I know that Tenchi is the one that 
must be rescued, he must have been captured. 
"If you are willing to help me, I can help you. At the moment, you are 
my only hope to save Tenchi before he begins killing."

Ryoko looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded her head. "All right, 
but if you're too weak, we'll need some extra firepower."

Sailor Pluto smiled and moved slightly to the left. "Firepower like a 
Juraian cruiser and one of their princesses?"

Even as Sailor Pluto spoke, the front door opened and swung through the 
space she had been in only a moment before. An irate looking Ayeka 
stepped out and glared at Ryoko. "What have done with Tenchi-sama, you 
monster woman?"

*	*	*

As soon as Ryoko agreed, Sailor Pluto went into action. Where most 
people had to use draining and obvious teleportation, Sailor Pluto 
could simply slip sideways through reality, moving into the time steam. 
Although time travel took a subjective period of time, to anyone 
watching, it could be entirely instantaneous. All Sailor Pluto needed 
to do was travel back to exactly the same time and location that she 
had been in, and there was nothing to indicate to an external observer 
that she had ever left.

Walking smartly through her castle, Sailor Pluto dropped into a chair 
and brought up a console. Typing swiftly, she entered in a description 
of just what she had been talking about, and exactly what she had been 
intending to do with Ryoko. If Pluto was manipulating the flow of 
events through history, it could be weeks or months before she returned 
to the time and location that she had just been in. Without a detailed 
set of notes, she would never know where she had been.

With that done, Pluto tidied up the first of the loose ends that her 
conversation with Ryoko had left. In her eagerness to follow Queen 
Serenity and find out what had happened, she had forgotten to take her 
time staff. The staff was not necessary for time travel, but it did 
make things easier. From memory, she must have left it in her bedroom, 
so that was where she tried first. 

Looking around her bedroom, Pluto wondered just how someone as 
compulsively organised as herself could live in such a mess. The royal 
bedchambers on Castle Charon were Pluto's only real sanctuary from the 
rest of the world. Thanks to a temporal barrier that she had created 
around the room, it ensured that she had always left at least five 
minutes before anyone entered. All that meant was that Pluto had one 
place that she could really let her hair down and relax, and the room 
showed it.

Moving her way to the huge double bed in the middle of the room, Sailor 
Pluto worked her way through spare sailor suits, old magazines and her 
favourite comfortable tracksuit. Pushing aside the bed covers, Pluto 
hunted around and eventually found the time staff. This, of course, was 
the second time staff, since she was still carrying one in her hand. 
Taking the original time staff in her left hand, Pluto willed herself 
into the time stream and back an objective half hour. 

Looking out of the no-space that was time, Pluto looked down on herself 
talking with Ryoko. From her point of view, everything was frozen, as 
time had no meaning where she was, other than another dimension she 
could move freely in. Taking care to ensure she left the staff from her 
bedroom, Pluto gave her historic self a present. "Left hand", she 
chanted. "Old staff in left hand."

With that safely tied up, and the whole progression of the staff's 
existence maintained in the correct order, Pluto set about seeing just 
what was needed to allow Ryoko to be able to save Tenchi. Returning to 
her castle, Sailor Pluto activated her massive computer, drawing upon 
one of the most complete databases to ever exist. She was still not 
sure when she would actually set up the computer, but she knew she 
would get around to it some day. Ever since Castle Charon was built, 
the computer had existed. Shortly after she had taken possession of the 
castle, the computer had appeared, along with an instruction book in 
her own handwriting. Definite evidence of time travelling and 
tampering.

Maybe having an accurate, searchable database of galactic history was 
cheating, but Pluto liked to think of it as being prepared. Her future 
self had obviously had a good reason to give her the computer, so she 
had no reason to dispute its existence.

Scrolling through a history of some of Ryoko's past, Pluto was careful 
not to look at anything recent. Causality again. If she looked at 
something that defined Ryoko's motivations, then Pluto would be trapped 
in the inescapable cause-effect chain. She could not change Ryoko's 
presence at that one time and place, since that would change the past 
as Pluto knew it. For all she knew, the past had already been changed 
by someone else, but that did not matter, since her memories only 
reflected the past that she knew.

Time travel was enough to give the most convoluted lawyer headaches, 
but the laws were immutable. If you knew something had happened, it did 
happen. Nothing could change that. If you did not know what happened, 
you were free to influence it as much as you liked. Exactly how this 
affect people that had known those events... that was something Pluto 
tried to avoid thinking about. It kept her up at night and made her 
grumpy, and a grumpy time guardian is something to be avoided.

Finally, Pluto found what she wanted. There, as little as seven hundred 
years ago. Ryoko had been visiting one of the Juraian royal gardens. 
Jurai as an empire would certainly have the power to crush Serenity, 
but they would probably devastate Earth in the process just to save 
themselves. Juraian royalty was noted for their great powers, however. 
Powers augmented by their living ships.

Pluto leaned back in her chair and thought about how she could manage 
this. What they needed was a Juraian princess, someone powerful enough 
to distract Serenity long enough for Ryoko to save Tenchi. Relatives! 
That was the key! If she could have a princess with a vested interest 
in Tenchi, she would be assured of getting the help that she needed. 

Unfortunately, Yosho would have checked Nobuyuki's heritage to make 
sure that he would have been a suitable father for Tenchi. Which means 
that Pluto would need to arrange for a Juraian princess to be 
interested in Tenchi, rather that someone acting as a concerned 
grandparent or something equally valid.

Pluto sighed and rubbed her head. She hated to do this to Ryoko, and 
she hated the idea that she was bringing yet another powerful alien to 
Earth, but there did not seem to be much choice. Translating herself to 
the Jurai of seven hundred years ago was a strain, but nothing that 
Pluto could not handle. Besides which, any changes she made here were 
almost certain to have no effect on Earth. Until they were needed, that 
is.

Looking down on a scene at the Juraian Royal Court, the guardian of 
time found exactly the right people to help her with saving the Earth. 
Firstly was a young prince and princess. The prince was apparently 
quite smitten with Ryoko, since the two of them headed out for a short 
cruise around the galaxy together. Sailor Pluto let time move forward 
of its own accord until the princess was alone in her room. 

The little princess was crying as Sailor Pluto walked into the room. 
Bright, well tended purple hair cascaded down the girls back, and Pluto 
stroked it gently as she sat on the bed next to the princess.

"Hush now. Hush. It will be all right."

The little girl - no more than eight, surely - looked up that the 
stranger in her room and sniffled. "But Oniisama has gone off with that 
terrible pirate!"

Pluto hushed her and comforted the child. She told her that everything 
would be all right, that her brother would be back in days, or months 
at the most. Even as she spoke the words, Pluto knew they would be 
lies. The young prince had often said he had no interest in the throne. 
He would take this opportunity and escape from Jurai and the royal 
court. 

When the girl had recovered, Pluto sat her on her knee and cleaned up 
her face. "That's it, you're a princess of Jurai. Ladies don't cry like 
that do they?"

The little head shook, and big eyes looked up at the woman. "Who are 
you? I don't remember seeing you here before."

"My name is Sailor Pluto, and I came here, just to comfort you."

"My name Ayeka."

Pluto did not stay long after that, just long enough to ensure the 
little princess got to sleep. Although she had only been with young 
Ayeka  for a short while, Pluto knew the seed of discontent had been 
sown. In time, she would search for her brother. Although Ayeka was 
born some seven hundred years before Tenchi, she would spend most of 
the time searching for her brother in hibernation, preserving her youth 
for a certain boy she would meet on Earth.

It was not destiny that would draw Ayeka to Earth that fateful day, it 
would be more manipulation. While Ayeka was in hibernation - only weeks 
before Serenity's revival - Pluto slipped into her ship and informed 
the ship's  computer that there was a distress call from a Juraian 
patrol ship. Of course the princess awoke and answered, travelling to a 
restricted system and meeting a young man by the name of Masaki Tenchi.

The rest, as they say, was history.

Her good deeds for this millennium done, Sailor Pluto returned to 
Castle Charon. With only two subtle changes to the timeline, a Juraian 
princess of great power had now fallen in love with Tenchi. After she 
had a short rest, Pluto would return to the exact moment she left. 
Saving the world was demanding work, but it could wait on the 
convenience of the Guardian Of Time. She wanted a long, hot shower 
first.

Cleaned, refreshed and in a new uniform, Sailor Pluto re-read her notes 
of the conversation with Ryoko and moved through the time stream. 
Looking at herself, Pluto waited for exactly the right moment. Present 
one instant, gone the next. As deftly as a seamstress, Pluto inserted 
herself back into reality and took a step to the side. Ayeka should be 
arriving any moment now. Perhaps an introductory line...

"Firepower like a Juraian cruiser and one of their princesses?"

Even as Sailor Pluto spoke, the front door opened and swung through the 
space she had been in only a moment before. An irate looking Ayeka 
stepped out and glared at Ryoko. "What have done with Tenchi-sama, you 
monster woman?"

Ryoko was surprised for a moment. Where had this person come form? Then 
she remembered. Ryoko realised that it must have been the shock of 
having Tenchi kidnapped that made her forget about Ayeka for a moment. 
Of course, it would not just be Ryoko saving Tenchi. She might be a 
pain, but Ayeka would certainly do her best to save Tenchi.

"Ryoko has done nothing to Tenchi. It was a woman called Queen Serenity 
that has kidnapped your friend."

Ayeka turned around about to shout abuse at the tall woman in the very 
short skirt when something clicked in her mind. "Do... Do I know you?"

Pluto was impressed. This princess had a most impressive memory. From 
her point of view it would have been seven hundred years ago, and even 
then it would have been for only a few moments.

"No. You do not. Tenchi has gone to the Juuban area of Tokyo. An evil 
woman has taken control of his mind. Unless we can rescue him, the 
entire human race is in danger."

"Tenchi-sama!"

It did not take long to convince both women to bring their ships and 
make their way to Juuban. The plan was simple and elegant. Ayeka's 
powerful force fields would temporarily capture Tenchi and the queen 
long enough for Ryoko to save Tenchi in Ryo-Ohki. Nothing would go 
wrong.

They landed well before they would be spotted for the house that had 
once been home to Tsukino Usagi. Walking the last distance, the three 
women saw Tenchi standing guard outside the house. Ayeka pointed and 
whispered fiercely. "He's got a tail!"

"Tenchi's grandfather is a Saiyajin. When Serenity took control of his 
mind, she somehow activated his Saiya heritage. He will be a most 
powerful opponent. Do not underestimate him."

Nodding, the two women burst out of hiding and ran for Tenchi. Pluto 
stayed where she was, knowing that she could ill afford to risk herself 
in the coming battle. There were still more men to save, she was sure. 
Not to mention the fact that Serenity would be out there somewhere.

Tenchi was an excellent guard, and spotted the two attackers before 
they had covered a quarter of the distance to him. With a snarl of 
rage, he brought a bright blue ball of energy into his hands and cast 
it at them. Both aliens dodged, but only just. Ayeka was knocked flying 
as the small wooden shield generators surrounding her took the brunt of 
the attack. 

Coming to her feet again, Ayeka could see Ryoko throw her cabbit into 
the air. That small animal was actually a miracle of technology, which 
immediately began transforming into a massive crystalline space ship. 
While Ryoko began to power up for an attack if anyone else arrived, 
Ayeka cast her shield around Tenchi, constraining him, locking him in.

Before Ryoko could get Ryo-Ohki to teleport them up, Ayeka screamed in 
agony. Despite the power that a princess of Jurai possessed, Tenchi 
seemed to be able to still move. Her small shield generators were 
shaking and howling with the difficulty of constraining him, and she 
could see cracks beginning to appear in the energy shield as Tenchi 
battered away at it from inside.

To take things from bad to worse, the front door of the house opened, 
exposing a young woman in a white, off the shoulder dress. Serenity's 
face creased into a mask of fury and she brought up her sceptre...

*	*	*

Pluto puffed as she sat in the nothingness of the time stream. Tenchi 
was so strong! She would never have believed that a human / Saiyajin 
cross could be this strong. Ayeka's shields would have been powerful 
enough to hold Yosho for at least half an hour before he broke free. 
Tenchi was almost free in under a minute.

To make matters worse, Serenity had arrived. Her sheer combat strength 
would possibly have been enough to defeat Ryoko and Ayeka. With her 
mind control abilities, she could bend them to her will and keep them 
as an additional pair of pawns.

Cursing her luck, Pluto wondered how she could possibly save the 
situation. Nothing short of a star cruiser would have both the 
firepower and the speed to get there and make a difference. But 
cruisers were so big and clumsy! To get a cruiser there, without 
violating causality... she would have to take just about anything she 
could find. Someone insignificant... someone who could have an excuse 
to be in the area.

An anonymous tip to the Galactic Police a few weeks ago sorted that 
out. By the time they had gotten through the paper work, someone should 
be popping into the system any moment, ready to send aid to Jurai's 
princess.

*	*	*

Three weeks ago.

Mihoshi was relaxing and enjoying a very nice cup of tea when her 
computer blinked. "Ano... A message for me?"

Since there was no-one else in the ship, she guessed it must have been 
for her. Even if it was addressed to sector HQ. "Space Pirate Ryoko! I 
must stop her!"

Mihoshi diligently followed the instructions in the message. This was 
her one chance! If she got this right, Kiyone would forgive her for 
that whole incident with the boiling coffee and the ambassador last 
week. Capturing the dreaded pirate Ryoko would be enough to earn even 
Kiyone's respect! 

Suddenly, there she was. Ryo-Ohki flew through space as though there 
was not a care in the world. Well, Galactic Policewoman Mihoshi would 
soon fix that! What followed was one of the most terrifying experiences 
in Mihoshi's life. She chased Ryoko for days, eventually following her 
into a crash landing on a small planet, third out from a restricted 
sun. 

Life had been good since then. Mihoshi had met Tenchi, Ayeka, Sasami 
and Ryoko. Most importantly, Kiyone was back. Everyone was just so nice 
on Earth! Kiyone was a bit upset at having to work all the time, but 
Mihoshi was happy enough to be able to spend time on such a pretty 
planet with all her new friends.

Speaking of friends, where was everyone? Mihoshi wandered through the 
deserted Masaki house looking for her friends. She had heard Ayeka-san 
yell at Ryoko-san earlier, but even they were quiet now. Not even 
Tenchi was around. Mihoshi began to feel very nervous as she looked 
around the deserted house. It was scary.

Sticking her head into the kitchen, Mihoshi sighed in relief. "Sasami-
chan! Do you know where everyone is?"

The cute little girl, younger sister to Princess Ayeka shook her head. 
"Oneesan went out to talk to Ryoko-neechan, but she hasn’t come back 
yet. Do you think they will be back for tea?"

"Ano... Perhaps? Here, Sasami-chan, let me make the tea for you."

Pulling out her control cube, Mihoshi gave it a few twists. Now, if she 
remembered rightly, this one should bring out some tea...

*	*	*

Pluto returned to reality to watch the defeat of Serenity. She had not 
wanted to bring in a cruiser, but that sort of brute power should end 
Serenity's reign quite quickly. The only problem would be the 
indisputable evidence of aliens. But you can't have everything.

Watching Serenity begin her powerful Moon Sceptre Elimination against 
Ryoko, Sailor Pluto fervently hoped that the alien woman could survive 
it. Then, before the queen could fire, a woman appeared out of nowhere 
above the queen. In a tangle of arms and legs, the blonde woman in the 
Galactic Police uniform distracted Serenity just long enough for Ryo-
Ohki to finish its transformation.

Serenity glared up at the woman on top of her. A black with blonde 
hair? What had happened to the world while she was gone? Finding that 
she was pinned under the interfering interloper, Serenity reached out 
with her mind, reached out to establish control over yet another slave.

"AHHHHH!!! So vast! So empty! I can't stand it! There's nothing there!"

"Ano... Oh, Tenchi-san! I've found you all!"

Ayeka looked at Tenchi who had stopped struggling for the moment. "Get 
the air head and get us out of here!"

Ryoko did not need to be told twice. Grabbing the collar of Mihoshi, 
Ryoko dragged her off the distraught queen and signalled Ryo-Ohki. In a 
flash of light the four of them entered the ship which screamed out of 
the atmosphere in a great hurry. With her control broken over Tenchi, 
it would be some time before she would be able to find him and try to 
gain control again.

*	*	*

Pluto sighed with relief as she moved back to Castle Charon. The first 
General had been saved. Serenity's power base was already weakened. She 
wished she knew what had happened right at the end there. Her message 
to Galactic Police HQ should have brought down a space cruiser, not a 
single officer. Not only that, but how did that woman manage to resist 
Serenity's control?

Taking just long enough for a short meal and a sleep, Sailor Pluto 
returned to the time stream. She needed to track Serenity's movements 
while Pluto had been with Ryoko preparing to save Tenchi. Looking from 
outside reality, Sailor Pluto saw Serenity enter the small temple that 
Sailor Mars and her sister lived. In the back of the shrine, Serenity 
struck a terrible blow to the ancient tree that waited there, revealing 
a young man with long white hair...

---
End Of Chapter

Sorry about killing Washuu-chan like that. Unfortunately, I think she 
would be a little too powerful for this story. Just remember, she is 
the universe's greatest scientific genius - and cute too. Given an 
hour, Serenity would never find her. Given a day, she would be 
invulnerable. Given a week to prepare, she would be invincible. 

If I had left Washuu-chan in there, I think she could have fixed 
everything without any real struggle. But then, I'm biased.

---
End of author's rant