Hmmm, not much preamble... :)
[...]
"Yeah, right," Ryouko snorted derisively. "Like what? A giant undersea
monster awakened from its ancient slumber and grabbed the entire
population
of the planet?" Ryouko made a 'monstrous' sound and wriggled her
fingers in
Aeka's direction. "That sounds like the plot to some cheesy late night
movie."
As Ryouko finished her declaration, gigantic tentacles hundreds of
feet
long and dozens of feet across shot out of the water and wrapped
themselves
around Ryo-Ohki, halting her in mid-flight.
"I hate you," Aeka said calmly to Ryouko right before Ryo-Ohki was
dragged
into the icy depths of the ocean below.
HAHAHAHAAAA!!!! You MUST be breaking some kind of literary wall there,
but I'm stumped as to what kind. :) :) :) :) :) Five smileys for that
one.
Vacation Days
Chapter 7
YAY!!!
[...]
First light for the remaining crew of the Rack N'Ruin and their Galaxy
Police partners turned out to be a couple of hours after light first
struck.
Maybe I'm just being dense, but that sentence confuses me.
Malgaunt had insisted, and eventually won the argument, that in
order to recover the Shihana they were going to have to be prepared
for any
eventuality. That meant making the time to take everything they could
possibly need in order to ensure that things ran smoothly later. So
once
again the crew went through the inventory of what they had salvaged,
then
thoroughly reexamined the ruins of the ship one more time.
A handful of additional items were recovered on their second
inception.
inspection(?)
Onita found and claimed a high powered
high-powered
plasma rifle and Funuyaki dug out
plasma rifle, and...
some water treated
water-treated (although I suggest "waterproof")
cloaks to help keep them dry in case of rain. A handful
of other small, useful items were discovered by the others as well.
It was as Onita and Ariana searched the remains of the rear of the
ship -after the Galaxy Police officer had pulled aside some heavy
pieces of
what were once armored plates from a heavily reinforced room- that he
spotted a shiny turquoise block that was fifteen feet long and ten
feet
across. Unlike most of the other remains of the ship, it was intact
and
without even a scratch upon it.
"Neratron," Onita said under his breath. It was an incredibly
resilient
substance that could transform directly from gas to solid. Among other
things, it was frequently used as a cheap alternative to contain
prisoners,
its unique molecular structure putting them in a form of basic
suspended
animation. Its advantages were that it cut down on the amount of space
required to keep prisoners and one did not have to worry about feeding
and
maintaining them. On the downside, the suspended animation was not
always
one hundred percent effective and occasionally the prisoners died
while
entombed in the substance. That complication failed to stop some less
scrupulous individuals and governments from using it anyway.
Ugh. Unpleasant, but highly plausible.
[...]
"A Sasquish." It was an odd being to be among the group of pirates.
In
general they
general, they...
were a race that tended to be well respected
well-respected
throughout the
galaxy. They were most famous for being very talented negotiators,
with
sharp minds and quick wits. That they also tended to stand between
seven
and ten feet tall, bore very sharp teeth and sharper claws, and
weighed in
around five hundred to seven hundred pounds of solid muscle that could
break most other sentient races in half without halfway-trying
I'm not sure about the hyphenation. Any takers?
did not hurt
in most of their negotiations either.
Of course not! Might is always a great deterrant. :)
Onita had never met one himself, but
Sasquish were usually spoken of in terms of great respect.
No play on Sasquatch, of course. ~_^
The last of the Neratron changed into mist, allowing the Sasquish to
be
free of its prison. Onita watched closely, for if anyone suspended in
the
substance did not open its eyes within the first thirty seconds of
being
freed, it usually never opened them at all. Within seconds after it
was
freed, the Sasquish's eyes fluttered open as it reoriented itself to
the
world it had been awakened to. Onita noticed that the creature
appeared
male, given its lack of clothing and Onita's own basic knowledge of
Sasquish anatomy not being all that different from many other males of
various species, his own included.
He continued watching closely as the Sasquish slowly rose to his feet.
Once
Onita was sure he could stand on his own, he turned to Ariana. "That's
some
puppy."
The next thing Onita was aware of was being hoisted into the air as
though
he were a small child and the Sasquish was a rather large parent.
Suggest: ...he were a small child and the Sasquish a rather large
parent.
A very
large and somewhat homicidal parent as he found himself being
suspended in
mid-air by the throat and unable to breathe. Onita was a powerful man,
very
powerful, but he was helpless in the grasp of the far stronger
Sasquish.
His blows had no effect, mostly due to the thick hide of the alien.
"My name is Pupei! Not 'puppy'!" The Sasquish uttered in a growl
through
gritted teeth. He roared once into Onita's face; the fetid breath from
being entombed in Neratron sending a wave of nausea through the Galaxy
Police officer as his vision began to grow black.
Semicolon usage - the second clause has a dependent verb. Suggest: He
roared once into Onita's face, the fetid breath from being...
Ariana watched the scene with amusement. "Oh, I forgot to tell you,
Pupei
...you: Pupei...
is something of an outcast among his race. It has to do with a
chemical
imbalance in his brain that can't be corrected. It makes his temper
somewhat volatile, especially when compared to others of his species.
On
the other hand, he's even stronger than most Sasquish and can bench
press
well over one ton under standard gravity conditions. But I see you've
discovered that on your own. Nice detective work."
Darkness began to claim Onita. His hand fumbled for his side arm, only
to
have it fall to the ground when his fingers failed to properly latch
onto
the weapon. His thought processes were so jumbled he wasn't sure if he
could have aimed it properly anyway. Besides, he also was uncertain
who he
would have shot first: Pupei for strangling him or Ariana for setting
him
up and laughing about it.
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" A voice boomed from the doorway.
Ariana's amusement turned to chastisement as she saw Stargrave
standing in
the ruins of the doorway to the ship's brig. "It's... ah..."
"Save it!" He said over her stammered excuse. He moved quickly, yet
gracefully, towards Pupei's side. The Sasquish' grip remained firm as
Onita's eyes rolled into the back of his head,
no comma
and his struggling became a
shadow of what it once was. "Release him."
The order was firm,
no comma
and commanding, yet Pupei did nothing. "He called me a
puppy! I hate that!"
This time Stargrave's voice dropped lower, yet continued to carry its
same
commanding tone. "I gave you an order. Now release him."
Pupei turned, and bared his teeth at Stargrave. Sa'bre failed to even
blink
at the implied threat while Ariana's sidearm was in her hand in an
instant
and she tried to get a clear shot at Pupei's head.
Suggest: ...in an instant as she tried to...
"If you refuse my order again, I'll finish what a started the last
time you
defied me."
The effect was instantaneous as Pupei released Onita. The Galaxy
Police
officer dropped to the ground hard and was gasping desperately for air
as
he laid prone on the ground. Pupei gave one last low growl towards the
captain, but backed away. His hand subconsciously fingered a long,
jagged
scar that ran diagonally across his chest from the top of the left
pectoral
to the right end of his stomach.
Stargrave made no motion to help the slowly recovering officer.
Instead, he
waved his hand toward Ariana and Pupei, indicating they should follow.
Without bothering to glance in Onita's direction, Sa'bre called over
his
shoulder, "When you can walk again, meet us outside the bridge. We're
almost ready to go." The trio left without another word.
Malgaunt scowled in the direction of Stargrave and his two returning
companions. "Where's Onita and who's the rather big fellow?" He
directed
the questions towards the captain.
"The Sasquish's name is Pupei. He survived the crash by being frozen
in a
block of Neratron. He's going to be very useful to us. As to your man,
Lieutenant Onita, Pupei had a disagreement with him over the
pronunciation
of his name. Your man suffered no permanent injury and should be
rejoining
us shortly." Stargrave gave a non-committal shrug and looked over the
supplies. He began mentally inventorying what they should take and
what was
going to have to be left behind.
The mental tally was interrupted as Malgaunt warned, "We're in this
together, Sa'bre. We can't afford to have infighting among our people.
Mine
will keep in line. You had better keep a tighter reign on yours."
"On the few of them are left, anyway,"
Suggest: "On the few of them that are left, anyway,"
Funuyaki added from her position off
to the side of the gathering, where she was keeping as much to herself
as
she could.
That comment earned her a glare from Stargrave that would not only
have
struck her dead, but reduced her to ashes as well if it could. That
look
was followed on its heels by an equally lethal looking
lethal-looking (I think)
stare from Ariana.
It took a great deal of effort on Funuyaki's part to refrain
commenting to
Ariana about how some dogs took after their masters a little too well.
My, my. We're all just one big, happy family, aren't we?
After another tension filled moment -in which Funuyaki felt a curious,
prickly sensation from the back of her neck- Stargrave relaxed and
gave her
a smile that radiated even more lethality than the glare had. This
time
Ariana did not bother matching Stargrave's outward change (not that
Funuyaki thought she could match it) as both she and Stargrave turned
away
from the officer and returned to inventorying the goods. The moment
Stargrave turned away, Funuyaki felt the sensation disappear. She
shook it
off as just her finely honed officer's warning sense giving her an
appropriate warning that her life had been in danger.
Hmmm... that was ominous.
Her thoughts returned to those of solitude. About the only people that
had
bothered her since the crash were Malgaunt, when he ordered her or
asked
her opinion on something, and the gray wrinkly bag of flesh,
Autolycus.
Curiously, she found herself charmed by the... whatever he was, and
honestly regretful that they had not met under different
circumstances. He
was easy to get along with and had a sharp mind, despite his age. Also
Also,
he
lacked the hard edge the other members of the Rack'N Ruin had, despite
his
won status as a pirate. They might have even become friends. But they
had
met under their current conditions, and as charming as he was, he
still
represented part of the difficulties that plagued her. Not that the
others
were not suffering continuing troubles of their own. Troubles that
were
becoming progressively worse as time wore on.
Among them was that Fera was dead. Somehow
Somehow,
Funuyaki instinctively knew
that, although she could not say how she knew or why. She was
beginning to
wonder if any of them were going to get off the rock they were
stranded on
alive. As the casualties on Funuyaki's 'side' continued to soar, she
had to
admit it was not an unrealistic expectation.
Funuyaki was still considering her options when Onita finally joined
them.
He was as Stargrave had promised, apparently unharmed save for the red
marks at his throat, and those were becoming fainter by the second.
Far
from surprising, Onita headed directly for Malgaunt. Funuyaki
considered
joining them before she realized she didn't particularly care what had
happened to her excessively muscled partner.
Her eyes followed the animated discussion that was just out of her
earshot.
Onita shot a glare towards Ariana. Although the look promised a great
deal
of suffering, it wasn't anywhere near as menacing as the one that
Stargrave
had used earlier, or the glare Ariana was now giving him in return.
Funuyaki found herself idly wondering who would kill whom first if it
came
down to a duel. She knew Onita was skilled in combat and had a
tendency
towards excessive violence, but her money would have been placed on
Ariana.
As much as she couldn't stand the woman, she exuded an air of
controlled
lethality.
Perhaps overuse of "lethality". Maybe "deadliness"?
The glaring cut back to more manageable amounts as Malgaunt ordered
Onita,
then Funuyaki, to begin gathering the supplies they would need to take
with
them. Funuyaki sighed and went to work, thoughts about her comrades
falling
from her mind.
As they began rounding up the equipment, Stargrave saw that Angstrom
was
assisting and obviously gathering together some items that were
intended
for one taking their overland journey. Stargrave made his way over to
Angstrom and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't bother getting
anything
together. Your job is to stay here and guard the transmitter."
The older man appeared hurt by the order. "Even with our pup- I mean
even
with Pupei helping out, you're still going to need every able bodied
being
you can get. Joffry can watch the transmitter just fine."
"Joffry has two broken legs and would hardly be able to react in an
emergency." Stargrave shook his head. "I need someone reliable staying
with
the transmitter. It's our only way off this planet. If anything
happens to
it, our recovery operation is going to be meaningless. I need you
here."
Reluctantly, Angstrom assented. He was obviously depressed as he began
helping the others pack their things. Stargrave watched him for a few
moments, and once convinced that he would be compliant, turned to
Autolycus.
Stargrave watched him for a few moments and, once convinced that he
would be compliant, turned to Autolycus.
"I can't see any reason for you to go along."
"Oddly enough, I was thinking the same thing about the mission
altogether,"
Autolycus said as he looked up at his captain.
Stargrave saw that the statement had attracted everyone else's
interest.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Autolycus took a deep breath and began. "Give up the Shihana, Sa'bre."
"You must be joking!" Stargrave snapped.
"Far from it. This plan of yours was faulty from the beginning, as I
would
have told you had I suspected that you were talking with the Yagdagron
with
the intent on recovering the Shihana. Now that your well thought out
well thought-out
plan
has fallen completely into pieces, it's time to cut your losses and
get out
of here. Raise a distress call on a general frequency. Since the
Galaxy
Police won't be the ones responding, whoever picks us up won't know
who we
are. As long as we don't have the Shihana with us, they shouldn't have
any
reason to not take us off this miserable planet."
"I'm not leaving the Shihana behind!" Stargrave snarled. His
increasing
anger caused Ariana to move closer to him, though she made no openly
aggressive movements towards Autolycus.
"It's just a tool, one that has become more trouble than it's worth
having,
no matter how important you think it is. Look at all we've lost in a
matter
of hours and what do we really have to show for it? Just a bunch of
bodies.
of hours, and what...
Now everything we have lost can be replaced in time, but the most
important
thing is that it IS replaceable. But to continue on the course that
has
caused us to lose so much would be madness." A sadness entered
Autolycus's
Autolycus'
eyes. "Give up this foolish dream of vengeance and let go of your
past,
Stargrave."
"What do you know about my past?!"
"I know enough to tell you that if you continue on this course with
the
obsession you have, you'll just succeed in destroying yourself."
Stargrave trembled with anger, then, almost as if he realized who he
was
arguing with, he calmed down. Slowly, he took a deep breath to relax,
then
spoke in a much more controlled voice. "Even if what you say is true,
it's
my choice. Besides, I have absolutely no intention of failing anymore.
I'm
poised on the edge of achieving my dreams, and only a fool would turn
back
at the moment of his greatest triumph."
"Sometimes it's the bigger fool who doesn't change his dreams,"
Autolycus
said quietly.
Rather than becoming angry at the continued defiance, Stargrave bent
low
and stared Autolycus directly in the face. "You're right, but
sometimes
it's the bigger fool who changes his dreams when confronted with the
possibility of failure. Life is about risks, and I will not shirk in
my
dreams because of fear or possible failure."
Autolycus gave up his arguments. His form seemed to slump slightly in
the
baggy clothing he wore.
"You don't have to come along if you're worried," Stargrave said as he
began packing things again.
Autolycus shook his head. "I'll be coming with you for a while
longer," he
assured them as he watched the others begin to pack their things as
well.
"We can't spare anyone to help you along," Stargrave informed him.
Autolycus snorted at that. "I can keep up without any help. I have my
ways."
Much to the others' surprise, Stargrave grinned, the first time he had
done
so since they had crashed. "You do at that, old one. You do at that.
Now
let's get going"
punc.: "...let's get going!" or something.
He took a moment to pull the locator out and examine its
viewscreen once again. The blip still remained at the exact same
coordinates it had before. If it stayed that way for one more day, it
would
be his once again. And then he would prove Autolycus wrong as the
galaxy
trembled at his feet.
Oof! Suggest some kind of scene break marker:
~~~~~
Tenchi rolled around a bit, still somewhat in the throes of the latest
part
of a dream. The one that led into it was a faint blur, but the current
one
was more than enough to capture his full, dreamlike attention. In it,
he
was placed in some horrible situation in school in which he was
interested
in several very attractive classmates who continuously rejected his
blatant
romantic overtures. In it the girls had no names, but they all seemed
hauntingly familiar. There was the somewhat ditzy blonde hall monitor,
the
somewhat snobbish purple-haired class president, and the somewhat
rough and
tumble cyan-haired class rebel. Every time he tried to come onto any
one of
them, that girl would hit him and say she wasn't interested in him and
that
he should try to harass one of the other girls. Each rejection caused
the
class to laugh at him, but he still persisted in spite of the
humiliation.
He was sure one of them would break down and like him eventually. He
just
knew it.
Heh. I'm trying to figure out if you're prepping the reader for some
eventual decision on Tenchi's part or just teasing us to distraction. :)
There were other, non-romantic interests in the dream as well. There
was
the tall, pale, greyish-haired teacher with the small glasses on his
nose,
who seemed to have a bad tendency to come after Tenchi with an energy
sword
whenever he got an answer wrong.
Heh. Kagato-sensei!
There was the spiky red-haired school
nurse that kept trying to give him enemas, and then there was his
younger
sister, who would pop in periodically and say 'poor Tenchi', and offer
him
support. Somehow, they all seemed faintly familiar to him, although he
couldn't place a name with any of the faces.
Eventually
Eventually,
the frustration within the dream affected him enough to that he
enough so that he (?)
came out of it and groggily awakened a little. He was too exhausted to
force his eyes open, and a part of him wanted the dream to turn out
better
anyway. Distantly, he felt himself fluff up his squishy pillows and
made
make
his head more comfortable before trying to drift off again.
Oh, no! Poor Mihoshi's going to get all the wrong ideas... or the right
ones. :)
It was still a
bit cool, so he tried grabbing his blankets to cover himself up. After
his
hands fumbled around and found nothing, he became dimly aware and took
a
moment to allow his sleep drowsy mind to come up with the information
as to
why he couldn't find the blankets.
Right, he was sleeping on the cold ground of an alien planet with no
blankets to keep him warm. The additional detail of there not being
any
pillows either also entered his thoughts as well. It took several
moments
for that detail to be accurately processed before the conflicting
information really registered. His memory told him he had fluffed up
some
squishy, yet firm, pillows several seconds ago. It took another moment
for
enough higher functions to switch from their sleep cycle to going
online
and make sense of the situation.
tense confusion: ...and making sense of the situation.
Where would a couple of squishy, yet
comfortable pillows come from? And why had he developed a sudden
craving
for milk?
GAH!!! Got milk?
Eyes flew wide open as Tenchi realized that his 'pillows' were covered
in
an orange material, and found out exactly why they were so squishy,
yet
firm as well.
Suggest: Eyes flew wide open as Tenchi realized that his 'pillows' were
covered in an orange material and he found out...
"ACK!" he
"ACK!" He...
sat up, using his hands to help rise by pushing himself upward.
That he placed them directly on Mihoshi's 'pillows,' and that she gave
off
a low moan as he did so, made him panic even further so that he
overrode
his natural instincts and simultaneously released his hold by ripping
both
hands away from their contact point. With no method of support, he
went
crashing back down face first in-between Mihoshi's breasts once again.
On
the bright side, they served to cushion what might have been a painful
experience, very nicely.
Tenchi assessed the situation.
Yeah, uh-huh. Assessed.
Evidently, at some point during the night he
had sought a more comfortable position on the hard and cold ground and
ended up sprawled out directly on top Mihoshi
top of Mihoshi
and used her as a makeshift
mattress.
Well, at least he's getting some use out of her. *BA-DUM! SWISH!*
Currently, their bodies were pointed in the same direction; he
was just lower than her.
Now THERE's a double meaning for ya!
His face had been resting on her chest and the
remainder of his body was stretched out across hers. By some miracle,
Mihoshi had not been awakened yet.
If anyone had come by, the position would have been explicitly
compromising. For the first time since they had crashed into the
planet,
Tenchi was grateful for not being within half a galaxy of anyone he
knew.
He would never have been able to explain what was going on. But luck
was
with him for a change. All he had to do was extract himself from being
on
top of Mihoshi and no one would be the wiser.
He started to get up when Mihoshi's legs suddenly wrapped themselves
around
his lower back, tightly, as he discovered a moment later when he tried
to
raise himself off her and found he was effectively locked into the
position
he was currently in. He tried raising himself up on his knees, but
Mihoshi's legs kept themselves wrapped around his back, tightening a
bit as
he tried moving his hips up.
[Talk about thighs of steel. And I thought Ryouko was strong.]
*SNORT!*
"You be quiet!" Tenchi hissed. At that moment, Mihoshi moaned
slightly.
Tenchi had enough time to whisper, "Oh shit," before Mihoshi wrapped
her
arms around his head and smothered him into her cleavage.
Gee, where've I seen these before?
Tenchi was about to shout at Mihoshi to stop when he heard a loud
snore
come from her again. As impossible as it seemed, she must have been
still
asleep. It seemed either she was grabbing him in response to some
dream, or
her grasping actions were instinctive. In either case, he still had a
chance to get himself out of the situation without having to give a
lame
and unbelievable sounding excuse as to what he was doing on top of
Mihoshi.
Sure, knowing Mihoshi she'd believe him, and amazingly it would be the
truth, but he would still feel stupid in having to admit to crawling
on top
of her like some kind of pervert in the middle of the night.
Dont' worry, Son, she'd rather you be a pervert and do that than not.
Suggest: Sure. Knowing Mihoshi, she'd believe him, and amazingly, it
would be the truth, but he...
As he was still in the process of trying to reevaluate
reevaluate or evaluate?
the situation, he
started to feel lightheaded. It took him a moment to realize that it
was
because he was buried facedown in Mihoshi's cleavage, pressed firmly
against her and with little room to breathe. Mihoshi's arms had a firm
grip
around his head, and the most he could risk doing was turning his face
slightly so that he could free his nostrils and could get some decent
gulps
of air.
Once he got some fresh oxygen, he tried coming up with another
solution.
The way things were going, he was beginning to think he'd rather fight
Kagato again than having to deal with extracting himself from his
sleeping
partner. It would have been easier to deal with, in any case. He was
still
trying to come up with something, when he heard Mihoshi begin to
murmur in
her sleep.
"Oh yes, I like it when you say things like that. It makes me feel so
wanted."
Wanted. Dead or Alive. Masaki Tenchi. Accosted a Galaxy Policewoman in
her sleep.
Tenchi felt at odds with himself.
Hmmm... I'm trying to decide if this is unusual or not.
There was a feeling of disgust at
eavesdropping at what was obviously not meant for his ears, yet at the
same
time a voyeuristic desire also made its presence known as his ears
strained
to hear more of what was going on in Mihoshi's dream. Being helpless
in the
situation, he relaxed and continued to listen as she murmured again.
"Ohh, what would the others think if they heard you say that about
me?"
Floating power logs! Energy swords! Mallets... no, wrong series.
That piqued his curiosity further, the feelings of disgust falling by
the
wayside. Was she dreaming about him?
Feh, he wishes.
Mihoshi: "Oh, Katsuhito-dono!"
Tenchi: ...!
"I bet Aeka and Ryouko would get angry. They get jealous so easily if
they're made to feel inadequate. Thanks for choosing me."
O_o
So it was about him. He should have known. Still, it was to be
expected.
ARGH! Someone needs to knock him down a peg or four.
She had made her interest in him known, even if she was not quite as
forward as the other girls tended to be. The other girls probably
dreamt
about his as well. His pride swelled at the implication as Mihoshi
spoke
again.
"Of course, I'd be happy to help you with the cooking, Sasami."
HAHAHAAAA!!! Touche!
Facefaulting while lying flat and being smothered in someone's ample
cleavage is a physical impossibility, a universal law that even Washuu
could not break even if she felt inclined to try. That was the only
thing
that prevented Tenchi from doing so at that moment.
:)
After Mihoshi had quieted down, Tenchi tried coming up once again with
something to get him out of his predicament. Her hold was as tight as
ever
and gave no indication of easing off in the near future. She was going
to
wake up eventually; even Mihoshi could not sleep an entire day. He
needed
to do something to get her to release her deathgrip without waking her
up.
And then it occurred to him,
him:
an idea so simple, yet so brilliant, that even
Washuu would have patted him on the back for coming up with it. The
way to
make Mihoshi release her grip would be to do something to her to make
her
shift that grip, and there was an easy, and completely innocent way of
doing it.
...an easy, and completely innocent, way of doing it.
-or-
...an easy and completely innocent way of doing it.
Tenchi would tickle her. Sure. That would work. No problem.
*sound of reader slapping forehead and moaning*
The only difficulty would be in deciding where to tickle her. Many
people
were ticklish in their sides, and Tenchi had perfect positioning to
try
there. He began running his fingers along her sides, waiting for the
right
moment to jump out of her grasp the instant it was loosened when she
laughed. After tickling her sides for a few moments, he felt her
tremble. A
wide smile broke across his features as he felt her hold shift and
then...
...tighten. Her legs grasped at his waist with a power that he could
scarcely believe, and his face was smothered into her chest again. Low
moans of passion could be heard as she cried out, "Oh yes, Tenchi!
Yes!
Keep doing that! Keep touching me there!" Her hips began bucking up as
she
continued moaning.
O_o
o_O
Tenchi stopped 'tickling' immediately.
Wimp.
That had not been his fault. How the
hell was he to know that that area of Mihoshi's body was a sexually
sensitive one? She was an alien, for crying out loud! And what was
worse
was that his own body had begun to respond to the rather animated
reaction
Mihoshi had to his stimulation.
Well, at least he's quasi-normal.
Tenchi needed to extract himself from her before something happened
that
both of them would really regret. Unwilling to give up on his original
plan, which was good but had suffered from faulty execution, Tenchi
began
to run his fingers under Mihoshi's armpits. With any luck, she would
at
least try to scratch the irritation and release him. If she reacted
the
same way again, he would just yield to the inevitable and wake her up
to
face whatever consequences followed from his actions.
Even Tenchi's rotten luck wasn't able to hold up. Mihoshi began to
giggle
as he tickled her there. Almost immediately she loosened the grip on
both
her arms and legs, and Tenchi used the opportunity to get off of her
and as
far away as he possibly could. After a moment, Mihoshi's giggles
subsided
and she began snoring once more.
"I need a vacation," Tenchi moaned as he flopped back on the ground.
*laughter* Even his vacations are exhausting. :)
Tenchi woke Mihoshi up an hour later. Almost when she had awakened,
she
looked at him curiously, then blushed. Guessing at why she was
blushing,
his reaction was to blush in kind. After several minutes of blushing,
and
the internal voice cooing in a sarcastic voice about 'what a man he
was,'
Tenchi and Mihoshi grabbed a quick meal of flat tasting
flat-tasting
rations before
turning to the problem of modifying the anti-gravity web to run on its
own
power. Unlike with the
Unlike the previous...
previous modifications Mihoshi had done back at the
ship, this one proved to be more difficult. It took them hours of
using a
minimum of tools to hammer, bend, and otherwise nearly rebuild from
scratch
a working power supply to the sled. After working for most of the
afternoon, they had at last rigged up a small vehicle that was little
more
than the two long rods and a hovering power core that they could pull
through the air behind them. Still, it was the only option they had.
"Which way do we go?" Mihoshi asked as they began to set off.
"Over there." Tenchi pointed to some hills in the distance. He thought
he
remembered passing them on the way over, and in any case they would
help
provide cover for them should the people that were trying to get their
hands on the orb come looking for them. It was the best they could
manage.
The duo set off for the hills.
Again, suggest a scene break line of some kind.
[...]
Stargrave brought the device closer in an almost protective gesture.
"Hardly. This is the only means we have to track it. If we lose this,
we
might as well be looking for an Argathian Tick in a Fildebeests Punt."
And we all know how tiresome that is!
[...]
Mihoshi refrained from giggling, instead content to bask in Tenchi's
obvious enjoyment of the scene. The wave of emotions that washed over
her
at the knowledge that something she had pointed out had made Tenchi
feel so
happy surprised her. It made her feel content, and yet much happier
than
she had been in a long time as well. It was most confusing.
Poor Miho. She doesn't even completely understand her deeper emotions.
She was still trying to sort out her emotions, and failing, when she
saw a
large, furry figure approaching the mouth of the pass they were in. It
took
Tenchi several moments longer, until the figure actually entered the
pass
itself, before he realized it was there.
[...]
Hearing none of the expected sounds of violence, Mihoshi opened her
eyes
and saw that block of Sasquish standing in front of her, not more than
five
feet away. She looked curiously at her glove. Wow! I forgot I had one
of
these."
Missing opening quotes. "Wow! I...
Man, Tenchi is just all thumbs in this story. Good thing no one's had to
rely on his, ah, skills as yet. Or will he pull it out of the hat right
at the end? Maybe the LHW's are one of the few things that can destroy a
Shihana plant. Whatever.
[...]
Pupei backhanded Tenchi, sending him sailing several feet away and
into the
side of the pass wall and right under an overhang. Pupei took a moment
to
admire his handiwork. "Nice try, kid. But this is where you get what's
coming to yo-" A rock hit Pupei directly on top of the head.
Pupei paused in his 'parting speech' and looked up. At first, he was
concerned that a third person might have been hiding and had
positioned
themselves above him for some kind of assault. But when he looked up,
he
saw no one there. Relaxing, he looked back towards Tenchi. He was
about to
begin his speech again when a low rumble came from above. His head
jerked
upward, for he thought he recognized the sound and understood what the
first stone had heralded. Sure enough, just as he looked skyward, he
saw a
large portion of the pass wall, the part that the fourth laser shot
had
hit, give way and come falling down the towards him like a gray wave
of
water.
Pupei lunged forward, hoping to make it under the overhang Tenchi had
fallen under, all the while knowing he wasn't going to make it. A
prayer
passed his lips as he felt the first, and largest of the rocks, hit
him
squarely in the back. A Sasquish's hide could withstand a great deal
of
abuse, but tons of stone falling from that height was far too much,
even
for someone as durable as Pupei.
Tenchi covered his ears as the roar of the miniature avalanche
deafened
him. He too sent a silent prayer to the heavens above; one in which he
hoped the overhang he was under would not collapse from the weight
from
above. Less than ten seconds after it started, it was over. Tenchi
waited
for the dust to settle, and his hearing to return, before scrambling
out
from the underhang and running as far away from the area of the pass
that
had collapsed. Just because the initial wave was over did not mean
there
would not be a second rockslide, perhaps even worse than the first.
EGAD! Tenchi has mastered the most dangerous technique of all: THE
MIHOSHI EFFECT! *Cue large drum beats.*
A couple of minutes passed, and when it appeared that nothing else was
going to fall down, Tenchi relaxed. He looked at the place where his
opponent had been and found himself feeling sorry for the large alien
in
spite of the fact that it had just tried to kill both himself and...
"MIHOSHI!" Tenchi turned to see where she was. She appeared to be in
the
same condition as she had been when he had lost sight of her. She was
laying face first on the ground and well away from the rockslide.
Guilt shot through Tenchi as he made his way over to her and carefully
picked her up. How could he have forgotten her so quickly? True, he
had
been attacked, cut, and nearly buried alive, but once it was obvious
he was
out of any immediate danger he should have been at her side. Instead,
he
had stared at a big pile of rocks while Mihoshi could have been dying.
If
anything happened to her, it would be his fault for not reacting in
time.
Awful hard on himself.
[...]
"Err, then what are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm just playing with the numbers here." Mihoshi listened with
amusement at the funny sounds each button made when she pressed them.
"The
code has to be some combination of them. I can make it open when I
find out
the right one."
"And how long are the codes, usually?"
"It could be anything up to twenty five different digits."
Tenchi felt a headache come on. "Mihoshi, do you have any idea how
many
different twenty five number combinations are possible on a twenty
digit
pad like that? The idea that you can just randomly punch buttons and
hope
you somehow come up with the right combination is-"
*WHIRR...THUD*
*sigh* Tenchi's lived in his own universe long enough that he ought to
know better by now. :)
"Ohhhh, that's really pretty. You know. I think that second orb inside
the
first one is made out of polynison. That's strange because it's
really,
really expensive and to use that much of it would cost a small
fortun...Tenchi, why are you hitting your head into the ground and
saying
'Why do I even bother' over and over again?"
:)
Tenchi didn't answer,
answer;
-or-
answer -
he just kept hitting his head into the ground and
hoped that after enough times, it would eventually all make sense to
him.
Either that or he knocked himself into unconsciousness. Either way it
would
make things less frustrating.
And several feet away, one of the most lethal killers in the universe
remained where it was, only two shields away from blossoming as it was
created to do.
Yikes!!! Talk about high-concept!
Very nice, DB. Can't wait for more. Thanks for sharing!
Ja ne!
Dave
************************************
D.F. Roeder
Fanfiction - http://www.flash.net/~dfroeder/index.html