Circa 23,000 BC

     	Prince Fortitude followed his sister into the huge cavern beneath the
palace.  A thousand years ago, the founder of the kingdom had carved this
cavern, using her vast magical powers, and planted a tree.  The Tree of
Life, which sustained all living things upon the Moon.  It had taken the
combined power of the Five Ruling Wizards to create it, and its power was
almost beyond human comprehension.

      	Unfortunately, now it was dying.  The prince cried quietly.  He
could see that the rot had spread.  For decades now, the tree had
struggled with a disease that no one knew the cause of...or the cure.
Five years ago, after the destruction of the Star Kingdom, the disease had
begun to win.  Only an experienced eye could tell the difference, but it
seemed that nothing could stop it.  Even the Silver Crystal had been of no
avail.  While it could purge the tree of disease, the disease always
returned.  There had to be some deeper cause, but no one knew what it was.
One day, the Tree of Life would die, and all life on the moon would die
with it.

      	"Why have we come here, sister?  To stare at the face of our
destruction will avail us nothing."  He sighed.  

      	He could not understand why she smiled at him.  "There is something
that we had forgotten about trees, you see..."  She lead him around the
tree to the other side of the cavern, where a huge crystal construct stood
that resembled a giant glowing flowerpot made of diamond.  In the heart of
the construct stood a tiny five foot tall tree, with only a handful of
branches, but upon those branches were green leaves, and tiny shafts of
light shone down from the branches to the ground beneath them, like the
vast shafts of light that shone forth from the leaves of the Tree of Life.

       	Fortitude stared in shock.  "You...you...You made a...You made..."

       	Serenity laughed.  "The days of the Five Ruling Wizards have passed
and perhaps may never come again.  However, there was something we didn't
know about the Tree of Life."

      	"What?"

       	"I can hardly believe we never thought of it before, but I was so
used to thinking of the Tree of Life as more an artifact than a real
living creature..."  She paused.  "So it took my daughter to think of the
possibility that the Tree of Life might actually have seeds."

       	Fortitude blinked, then laughed.  "This would have made settling
the outworlds a lot easier if we had realized this a long time ago."

      	"I did not know it could talk, either.  We've taken it for granted
for so long..."

      	"It talks?"

      	The tree's bark shimmered and a woman stepped out of the Tree of
Life.  She was tall and thin, dressed in shimmering green robes.  Her face
was lined with age, but there was no gray in her hair, which was a bright
shining green in color.  Her skin was dark brown, like the tree's bark.
"I do indeed.  Thank you for bringing your Prince of the Sword,"  the Lady
of the Tree said.  

       	Fortitude knelt instinctively.  "I am honored to meet you.  How may
I be of service?"

       	"You must take my daughter and leave this system before it is too
late."  The Lady of the Tree gazed sadly at both of them.  "The end of all
things is upon us.  I shall die soon, and this world with me.  All the
kingdoms are doomed.  You must take a portion of this world's children and
my daughter and flee while you still can."

      	Prince Fortitude turned to his sister.  "But I am your Prince of the
Sword.  I cannot leave you in your hour of need!  If doom approaches, I
must stand and fight by your side."

      	Serenity sighed.  "It must be done.  You must lead those who I have
sent with you.  Rule them wisely and well, my brother, and perhaps one day
your descendants will be able to return to us.  Do not forget us."

      	"I will go then.  And I shall never forget you or our world."  He
turned to the Lady of the Tree.  "How should I address you, and what is
your daughter's name?"

      	"You may call me whatever pleases you.  I have had many names and
none.  But my daughter's name is Tsunami."
     

****************************************************************************

Chapter 4:  "Visitation Day"

****************************************************************************

     	Ryu finished mixing the chemicals together.  This was so easy he 
could do it in his sleep.  I learned to do this when I was five, he 
thought, letting his mind drift to thoughts of his girlfriend.  Nene-chan
is so smart and beautiful, he thought.  I just...I wish I knew what my
parents will think.  Great-Great-Grandfather will explode, I know that.  
I'm sure Dad will approve...who knows what Mom will think.  Great-Grandpa
will probably laugh his head off because Great-Great-Grandfather is angry,
and Grandpa will probably hit on Nene...I wonder what... His mind drifted
a little too much and suddenly the beaker shattered in his grip.  He
sighed.

      	His roommate, Shiro, sighed.  They were lab partners and roommates, 
and Shiro knew Ryu did this sort of thing all the time.  That's probably 
why his hair is spiked all the time, Shiro thought.  I bet he did 
something to it by accident and it stuck that way.  Ryu is brilliant at 
theory, but he always spazzes out during lab work.  "Focus on the 
present, not on tonight, Ryu."

      	Ryu sighed.  "I just...you know how much I love to go dancing and..."

     	"Look, if we don't finish this experiment, we can't write it up and 
turn it in by 5 so we CAN go dancing."  Shiro said.  

     	Ryu nodded.  "Well, there's more where those came from."

     	Shiro sighed.  Good thing Ryu's folks are rich so he can afford to 
replace everything he breaks.  Cause he breaks a LOT of stuff.  

**********************************************************************

     	Manami roared down the road in her Genom Shogun 345.  It was a red 
sportscar capable of massively exceeding the speed limit.  The latest 
Bob and His Chainsaw tape was blaring at about 30 decibels over the safe 
level.  The windows were down, so the whole world got to share.  This 
included her roommate, Shinobu, who was screaming at the top of her 
lungs.  Not that anyone could hear her over Bob and His Chainsaw.

      	"You don't have to drive 200 KPH on the way to Colonel Chicken!  
The FOOD IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"  It was futile to even try to stop 
Manami, Shinobu knew.  Normally, Manami was shy and demure, but behind 
the wheel of a car, she drove like a woman possessed.  Not to mention 
this awful retro-trash, uh retro-thrash she listens to.  She also had this
odd habit of shouting hello to the two pillars that her family had donated
to form the new gates of Tokyo University, every time she drove past them.
And a few other weird habits, Shinobu thought.  Maybe she's insane.

     	Manami ignored her and sang along with the song.  She had a 
beautiful voice, even singing something ugly like this.  Shinobu sighed.  
I should have realized that rooming with someone with blue hair would be 
a mistake.  

     	They roared past a police car.  Its siren came on.  Shinobu 
sighed.  Now we'll never get to Colonel Chicken.  I should never have 
moved to Mega-Tokyo, she thought.

***************************************************************************

      	Ryu and Shiro ran home once the lab was completed.  Their home was 
Shinohara Dormitory, named after some arms manufacturer who had donated 
money to renovate the dorm after the Kanto Quake, nine years ago.  It was 
an upperclassmen coed dorm, with men and women on alternating floors.  

     	As they got out of the elevator, they could hear partying noises.  
Loud music was blaring from somewhere near...no, IN their suite.  Ryu 
sighed.  "I guess Taka passed that test he had been studying for and 
decided to party,"  Shiro said.

      	Ryu sighed.  "Well, he can party all he wants.  We're going to be 
gone."

      	They walked into the room, and in the living room of their suite, 
they were rather suprised to see Taka, Terri, Andy, Shiko, and some girl 
Shiro didn't know were busily drinking and dancing wildly around.  Taka 
and Andy were Shiro's suitemates.  They lived in the other bedroom of the 
suite.  Taka and Andy were both tall, thin, and black haired, with 
identical gold-rimmed glasses.  They liked to pretend they were twins, 
but they didn't really look much like each other.  Shiko was Andy's 
girlfriend, a complete airhead of a blonde, complete with flower in her 
hair.  She was majoring in sociology of all things, though how she passed 
her classes was beyond Shiro.  Terri was short and thin, with a very 
pretty face, blue eyes, and long red hair.  She had dated Ryu for a
while, then they had broken up, but now she was after Andy, despite him
already HAVING a girlfriend. The other girl...there was something familiar
about her, Shiro thought.  She was well built and wearing somewhat
revealing clothing.  Despite the sake jug she was chugging from, he could
see she had an elfin face, with green eyes.  She was trying to drink and
dance with Taka at the same time.

     	He looked over at Ryu and whispered, "Hey, is that Taka's girlfriend 
I keep hearing about?"

     	Ryu paled.  His face turned several interesting colors, ans his lips 
moved wordlessly.

     	Shiro sidled over to Ryu.  "She an ex-girlfriend of yours or..."  
Suddenly, Shiro realized the girl had spiked green hair, exactly the same
as Ryu's.  "Your sister?"

     	Ryu shouted, "MOM!  WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

     	The room froze like someone had dropped anvils on everyone.  

     	Shiro looked at the girl.  She looked to be maybe 3 to 5 years older 
than Ryu at MOST, if not less.  "That...you..."

     	The girl laughed.  "My SON!"  She leaped over to Ryu and hugged him.

     	Taka froze in place.  "You're...Ryu's...mother?"

     	Ryu sighed and hugged his mom.  "Hi, mom.  Has something gone wrong 
back home?"  Mom hadn't come to visit him once since he went to college.  
Not that he blamed her.  She had a lot of work to do, and it was a long 
way to come to just see him.  Especially since he came home for the 
holidays, anyway.  

     	She laughed.  "What, a mother can't come to visit her son for fun?"

     	Ryu smiled.  "If this was fun, you'd have Dad with you too.  So 
what's up?"

     	"Let's party a while, then we can..."

     	Terri said, "She's your Mom?  She told us that..."

     	Ryu's Mom was across the room in a flash, putting her hand over 
Terri's mouth.  "Now, now, I'm sure Ryu doesn't want to hear about..."

     	Ryu went over to Terri.  "Mom, this is my friend, Terri Jones.  
Terri, this is my mom."

     	Ryu's mom took her hand off Terri's mouth.  "Oh, you're THAT Terri!  
Nice to meet you."  She paused.  "Oh wait, are you the girl who dumped 
him for another girl?"

     	Terri giggled, "Actually, I'm the girl he was dumped for."  She 
wasn't, but the alcohol was starting to talk FOR her.

     	"MOM!!!!!!"  Ryu shouted.  Maybe her not visiting wasn't such a bad 
thing after all...

******************************************************************************

     	Manami and Shinobu sat in Colonel Chicken.  Shinobu sighed and 
pushed her brown bangs out of her eyes.  I really need a haircut, she 
thought.  Manami ate delicately, as if at a formal dinner.  She had even 
spread out a tablecloth for the table.  All traces of the maniac who had 
somehow outrun the police a few minutes ago were gone.

     	Shinobu ate and watched Manami, trying to figure out how she could 
be so weird.  Her hair was long, tied back in a pony-tail that nearly ran 
down to her feet, and she had purple eyes.  She was dressed in a purple 
blouse and a long black skirt.  Manami always wore nice, expensive 
clothing.  Her manners were impeccable.  She could make eating a chicken 
leg look like she was giving a lecture on etiquette.  

     	"So how are your classes going, Shinobu-san?"  Manami smiled.  "I 
think I got an A on my Calculus test.  Mother will be pleased."

     	Shinobu said, "Pretty well."  She paused.  "Are you an only child?"
     
     	Manami laughed faintly.  "I have a half-brother.  We have the same 
father, but different mothers."

     	"Oh.  So what do your folks do for a living?"  Shinobu asked.  I 
hardly know anything about her folks, she thought.

     	Manami blushed.  "It...It's a state secret."  

     	"Oh wow, your dad is like a James Bond type?"

     	Manami laughed a little.  "Mom too, sort of."

     	There was an explosion outside.  Shinobu blinked and dropped her 
chicken leg in her lap.  They both looked out the window.  A boomer was 
headed straight for Colonel Chicken, guns a-blazing.  The staff and 
customers panicked, running everywhere.  

     	"We've got to get out of here!"  Shinobu yelled.  

     	Manami frowned, her lips pursed tightly.  "Insolent robots.  
Something needs to be done about them."

     	"Not by us!"  Shinobu grabbed Manami and dragged her away from the 
table.  Manami delicately dropped her biscuit back in the box and began 
cleaning her hands as Shinobu tried to drag her towards the bathrooms.

     	It was too late.  The boomer crashed through the doors and fired a 
missile into the kitchen.  Shinobu closed her eyes and said a prayer for 
her soul.  The explosion rocked the restaurant.  There were more 
explosions outside.  When she opened her eyes, the kitchen was on fire.  
Dead and unconscious customers were strewn everywhere.  Somehow, she and 
Manami had emerged unhurt.  Unfortunately, the boomer now turned its 
attention to them.  Its red eyes glowed in the dark of the devastated 
store.

     	Manami frowned.  Shinobu cried.  I'm too young to die, she thought.

     	The boomer leveled its gun at them slowly.  Shinobu wondered if it 
was just playing around with them, or what.

     	The gun blazed to life...and nothing happened, with an audible 
click.  Shinobu gave a great sigh of relief.  "It...It's out of ammo."

     	The boomer opened its mouth wide and the particle beam cannon in 
its mouth began to glow.  Shinobu screamed at the top of her lungs.  Then
a beam of purple light shot from the doorway and blew off the boomer's
head.  Shinobu blinked as the charred corpse collapsed.  

     	Shinobu turned and looked at the doorway.  A woman, completely 
unarmed, with long blue-black hair that went down to her feet in the 
back, tied into two long pony-tails stood in the door.  Her eyes were 
large and purple, and she looked to be around 25 or so.  She was 
wearing a nice blue and green flowered kimono.  There appeared to be 
no way whatsover she could have fired off an energy beam, unless she had 
a hard suit hidden under her clothing.

     	Manami said, "Mother!"  She walked over to her mother and hugged
her.

     	Shinobu said, "..."

     	Manami's mother hugged her back.  "It is good to see you, daughter."

     	Shinobu looked around.  Something vaporized that boomer's head.  
Whatever it was, it wasn't here anymore.  Maybe a Knight Saber had 
wandered by.  "Ma'am...did you see what killed that Boomer?"

     	Manami's mother blinked.  "Oh, I k..."  She paused.  "I saw someone 
in armor running away as I arrived."  Her voice sounded a little odd.
Shinobu quickly realized it was an accent she couldn't quite place.  It
sounded ever so slightly archaic.  

     	Shinobu smiled.  "Wow, it must have been one of the Knight Sabres."

     	Manami was laughing faintly.  "Something like that.  What brings you 
here, mother?"  She paused.  "And how did you find us?"

     	"A friend at your dorm said you had come here.  We'd better go get 
your half-brother before his dorm gets leveled."

     	"Why would his dorm get leveled?"  Shinobu asked.

     	"I'm not the only one who came to visit you two,"  Manami's mother
replied.

**************************************************************************

     	Somehow, things had further degenerated at Ryu's room, and everyone 
but him was really thoroughly drunk.  His mom was regaling them with a 
tale.  "And then I fired the main lasers and BOOM!  Dari's entire 
fortress blew to bits!  We took all the silk and dyrilliam back to 
Episilon Gamma V and sold it for big bucks!"

     	Everyone laughed.  "Your mom has a really active imagination,"  
Terri said to Ryu.  "She's cool."  She paused.  "So she's not really your 
ex-wife?"

     	Ryu slapped his forehead. "MOM!"

     	Mom laughed.  "Naah, my real husband has cute brown hair and he's 
sooooooooo good in bed and he..."

     	Ryu almost screamed.  "MOM!!!!!!"

     	"And he's going to be the emperor one day!"

     	Everyone laughed.  Ryu wished he knew some way to just drop dead.  
At least Mom wasn't hitting on his roommate anymore.  "So why exactly are 
you here, Mom?"

     	"We're gonna extract a hoooorible revenge on some people!  Blow up 
their house and kill their dog and pillage their fields and..."

     	Taka and Shiro, both now drunk, laughed.  "You with the Yakuza?"

     	Mom laughed.  "Sure!  Why not!"  She got up and bared her left arm.  
"I'll get a big tatoo of Sonic the hedgehog!"

     	Everyone laughed.

     	There was a knock at the door.  Ryu winced.  Too many people have 
met Mom already.  He opened the door.  "Hello?"

     	His half-sister, Manami was there, and her mom too.  "Aeka-sama!"  
Ryu said, hugging his step-mother.  

     	Terri blinked.  "HEY!  Aren't you dating someone else?!"

     	Ryu blushed.  "Everyone, this is my step-mother, Masaki Aeka, and my 
half-sister Manami.  Manami, Aeka-sama, this is..."

     	"ZAT YOU, Aeka-chan?"  Ryu's mom shouted.  "C'mere!  I saved some 
sake for ya!"

     	Aeka frowned.  "She's drunk."

     	Ryu sighed.  "She was drunk BEFORE I got home."

     	Aeka stormed over.  "Ryoko!  We have very important business to take 
care of!"

     	Ryoko stood up.  "Ohh, is that a come-on?"

     	Aeka turned beet red.  "Ryoko!!!!!!!"

*****************************************************************************

     	Tenchi and Youshou stood before Emperor Azusa of Jurai.  Like him,
they were dressed in the finery appropriate to the high and noble
traditions of the house of Jurai.  "Your request is denied,"  the emperor
said.  "I need you here, not gallivanting around that backwater planet
again."

      	"I must go.  She is my daughter,"  Youshou said.

      	"I'm sure those we have already sent will be adequate to do the
job."  The emperor frowned.  He suddenly had a bad feeling.  Perhaps it
was realizing that his granddaughter's survival was possibly in the hands
of Mihoshi...

      	"You really think so?"

      	Tenchi remained silent.  The emperor frowned.  Why wasn't he
speaking?  The feeling of unease grew.  They've tricked me again, he
thought.  "I still can't let you go."

      	"I knew you'd say that, father.  That's why we're transmitting this
from somewhere far outside the Juraiian system.  I hope you like these
robots Wasyuu built for us."

       	Misaki laughed.  Azusa frowned.  "Youshou..."

       	Tenchi-bot smiled.  "We'll see you when we bring back my aunt."

       	Azusa sighed.  I think I should have beat my children more
thoroughly when they were little.  He turned to Funaho.  "So, were both of
you in on this?"

       	Funaho smiled.  "Do you think he would have gotten out of the
system without you knowing without our help?"

      	Azusa sighed and wondered once again if anyone ever told him
ANYTHING.

**************************************************************************

     	Ryu and Manami finally managed to clear everyone out of Ryu's room,
then locked the door.  Aeka sat at Ryu's desk, while Ryoko sprawled on the
bed.  "C'mere with me, Aeka-chan!  Come join me in bed!"  She laughed like
a maniac.

      	Aeka turned an even deeper shade of red.  "Ryoko, you're being quite
improper."

      	Ryu sighed.  "I wish Dad would convince Mom to stop drinking."

      	"Well, considering what you did the other night,"  Manami began.

      	"Or what YOU did the other day?  Shall we trade interesting stories,
sister?  Like that concert, eh?"

      	Manami blushed and fell silent.

      	Aeka smiled.  "Oh, you went to a concert together?"

      	Ryu nodded and glared at Manami.

      	Manami said, "Yes, the Tokyo Chamber Orchestra performed a little
while ago.  We went to that together."   It was true; they had.  Nene,
Manami, Shinobu, and Ryu had gone about two weeks ago to the chamber
orchestra concert when they played on campus.  

      	"So, did you just decide to drop in and surprise us?"  Ryu asked,
praying this was just a surprise visit and not the start of major trouble.

      	"We have to find your aunt Meylia and teach those who have been
hunting her not to take up arms against the house of Jurai."

      	Ryu blinked.  "What aunt Meylia?"

      	Aeka thought a moment.  "Well, technically she'd be your great-aunt
and my niece.  I think.  Hmm...if you look at it one way, she's actually
your cousin..."

      	Ryu's head began to hurt.  Trying to understand blood relations in
his family always made his head want to explode.  "Why haven't we heard of
her before?"

      	"Youshou-sama thought she was dead.  Then we got a message from
Funaho.  The tree, not my mother.  She was alive and had awakened to her
heritage.  The Genom corporation wants her dead, and we intend to find out
why and put an end to it.  No petty company will be allowed to threaten a
member of the house of Jurai.  We have to find her grandchildren as well,
so they can learn who they truly are."

      	Ryoko sat up.  "We're gonna kick some ass and take some names!"

      	Manami said, "So that's why Aunt Mihoshi is here."

      	Aeka nodded.  "We sent her to infiltrate the ADPolice."

      	"What about Aunt Kiyone?  Where is she?"

      	Ryoko laughed.  "She's doing some REAL work while Mihoshi makes a
big mess and distracts our enemies, whoever they are.  Although Mom's
doing the really dangerous job..."

      	"What's she doing?"

**************************************************************************

      	Dr. Martin lead the new Research Engineer through the halls of the
GENOM Research Tower.  He stopped at a door labelled 'Boomer Morgue'.
"You'll be starting out here.  Your job is to pick through all these dead
boomers and see what we can learn from them to improve future designs, as
well as salvaging whatever you can salvage."

      	"Am I the only person who does this?"

      	"For now.  The last set of technicians were fired when they went on
strike and the old supervisor just got moved up.  You can get help if you
need it, but for now, you'll be working on this.  If we like your work,
you should be moved up to main research in a few weeks or months."

      	The woman nodded.  "Good.  I prefer not to be disturbed."

      	Dr. Martin soon familiarized the new tech with the equipment
available, then left, letting her go to work.

      	The woman began reading labels and checking case histories.  Soon,
she came to a drawer labeled, "33-S #4056.  Deceased, 4/26/2033".  She
consulted this one's case history, then smiled sadly.  Yes, this would
make a good start. Such a tragic story.  Poor child...

****************************************************************************

     	Quincy continued paging through his electronic mail.  Much of it was
trivial, and he wished again that there was some way to weed out the
garbage without his having to read it.  Then came something not so
trivial:

*Date: Oct 1 2034 20:25:31 -0600 (JST)
*From: Z <zeta@alpha.genomnet.com>
*To: Quincy <Quincy@omega.genom.org>
*
*Subject: Them.
*
*     I've finally tracked down the one who slew Y back in the '80s.
*However, that's not all the news I have.  More importantly, the Jurai
*have come to Earth.  The one we found must have contacted them somehow.
*Expect trouble.  We must meet.  I have contacted Shiva, but have yet to
*recieve a useful reply.  Perhaps we will succeed now where our
*predecessors failed.

     	Quincy nodded.  He knew it would come to this.  He had hoped they
would come.  That was why he had not yet made a truly serious effort to
reel her in.  He paused for a moment, then began to type his reply.

************************************************************************

     	Lt. Yamano walked over to Nene and tapped her on the shoulder.
Nene started, leaped up, saluted, and stood at attention.  "Yes, Ma'am?"

     	"That's yes SIR, Officer Romanova."

     	"Uh, yes Sir."

     	"Telephone call for you.  Make it quick."

     	Nene nodded and ran to the phone.  "Hello?"  

     	It was Ryu.  "Hi, Nene-chan.  Change of plans.  My parents are in
town and want to meet you.  Hopefully, Mom will sober up before you get
here."

     	Nene blinked.  "They came by surprise?"

     	Ryu nodded, not that Nene could see him nodding.  "Hai.  Come on
over when we planned, and we'll all go out to dinner instead."

     	Nene nodded.  "Okay!"  She walked back to her desk and sat down with
a happy smile.

     	"Good news, Romanova?"  Lt. Yamano asked.

     	"My boyfriend's parents are in town!  I finally get to meet them!"

     	"Ahh, talking to your boyfriend while you're on the clock?"

     	Nene sighed.  "Where am I jogging to this time, Lt.?"

     	Yamano laughed.  "Here, take this to Accounting.  If they don't get
this by 5 PM, none of us will get paid on time."

     	Nene took off like a rocket.  She raced through the computer
department and slid down the railing of the stairs to save time, then
vaulted over the side and leaped halfway down the next flight of stairs.
To her own surprise, she actually landed without falling down.  She
sprinted down the hallway, past the shooting range, and into the next
staircase, which she started taking three steps at a time.  Flying out the
doors at the bottom of the stairs, she sprinted into the accounting
department, only to realize she had no idea WHERE in accounting to take
the papers.  A nearby secretary looked up.  "Those the vouchers from
Communications?"
     
      	Nene nodded.  "Hai!"

      	"Take them to recieving on the next floor down."

      	Nene screamed and sprinted out the doors, down the hallway to the
stairs.  A tac squad was coming up the stairs as she entered the
stairwell.  She barrelled right through the middle of them, sending
startled troopers crashing into the walls as the manic redhead zoomed down
and out onto the next floor down.  Looking around, she spotted the sign
'Accounting:  Reciepts Recieving'.  She ran in the door and dumped the
papers on the front secretary's desk.  "Did I make it?"

      	The secretary smiled and hit a stopwatch.  "Not bad.  You beat the
time of the girl last week by twenty seconds.  Yes, you made it."

      	Nene gave a big sigh of relief.  "Whew, I'll get paid."

      	The secretary blinked.  "Actually, this signifies you all got paid
last week..."

      	Nene quietly facefaulted.

*****************************************************************************

     	Tenchi and Youshou sat in a nice quiet city park, one of the few
left in Mega-Tokyo.  By some miracle, it had survived the Kanto quake
unscarred, except for the collapse of a swing set.  The replacement for
that swingset was now being occupied by two young girls, around age eight,
by Youshou, and by a five year old boy.  Having been co-opted by the
children, Tenchi was busily pushing one of the young girls back and
forth.  She laughed as she swung.  "So who are we waiting for, Grandpa?"
Tenchi asked.  

      	"Some very distant relatives of yours, Tenchi.  Well, one of them
is.  He's descended from a woman I married back in the eighteenth century.
I've remained close to their line for many years."  Youshou swung back and
forth slowly.  His stomach rumbled loudly.  "They should be here by now."

      	"I'm getting hungry too, but we shouldn't eat this close to dinner
time."  Tenchi smiled at the little girl as she laughed and started
shouting something about flying.

      	"You sound like your mother...or my mother for that matter.  We
won't eat for a few hours, because it will probably take Ryoko that long
to sober up enough that she won't be shouting in public about you being
the next emperor or something."  Youshou leaped out of the swing.  "Let's
go get some Ramen while we wait."  He laughed faintly.  "That's one area
where this planet is more advanced than Jurai...I can't get good ramen to
save my life back there."

       	Tenchi laughed and said goodbye to the small children, then
followed his grandfather.  "Well, when you're emperor, you can change
that."

       	Youshou laughed.  "Maybe we'll open Disneyworld-Jurai while we're
at it."

      	They both had a good laugh.

*****************************************************************************

     	Nene knocked on Ryu's door.  The door opened a crack.  "Who is it?"
Ryu asked.

     	"It's me, Nene."  Nene had dressed up in a nice long green dress.  It
was somewhat formal, but she hoped it would make a good impression on
Ryu's parents.  

      	The door opened and Ryu pulled Nene inside, then slammed the door
shut.  Nene blinked.  She could hear sounds of violence from Ryu's room.
He sighed.  "Come on...Mom and my step-mom are at it again."

      	Nene followed Ryu across the 'lounge' part of his suite to his
bedroom.  Inside, two women were beating each other with pillows while
Manami tried to pull them apart.  She wasn't having much luck.

     	"I am NOT drunk and I will not lay down and take a nap before Ryu's
girlfriend gets here!"  the tall woman with green spikey hair said.  Nene
blinked.  That must be Ryu's mom...she really does have spikey hair.  

     	The other woman sighed.  "Have you no sense of dignity?"  She looked
a lot like Manami and Nene guessed that was her mother.

     	Ryu cleared his throat.  "Umm..."

     	"You should know the answer to that by now, Mother,"  Manami said.

     	"Tenchi will NOT be happy if your first impression on whoever we're
waiting for is that of a drunken lout!"  The other woman said, waggling
her finger at Ryoko and aiming low for Ryouko's legs with the pillow in
her hand.

     	"Ummm...Mom, Aeka-sama..."  Ryu tried again.

      	"Don't lecture me, Princess."  Ryu's mom stuck out her tongue and
bopped Aeka on the head.  
       
      	"EXCUSE ME!  NENE IS HERE!!!!!!"  Ryu shouted.  Nene stuck her
fingers in her ears and staggered back a step.

      	Everyone turned.  Manami and Aeka blushed in unison.  Ryu's mom
leaped over to Nene.  "So you're my boy's girlfriend!"  She hugged Nene so
tightly that Nene could hardly breathe.  

      	Aeka turned to Nene, tried to say something, then apparently changed
her mind and said nothing.  A few moments later, she bowed.  "I am ..."
She paused.  "Aeka Masaki, Ryu's step-mother.  Nice to meet you."

      	"Nice...to...meet...you..."  Nene choked out.  "I'm Nene Romanova."

      	Ryoko said, "And I'm Ryoko Hakubi-Masaki."  She finally let go of
Nene and looked her up and down.  "Hmm.  Nice clothing.  Good hair color.
Nice figure.  Cute face.  Survived that hug."  She turned to Ryu.  "You
have my permission to get married any time you like."

     	Nene and Ryu both blushed.  "We hadn't...umm..even thought about that
yet."

     	Aeka said, "Tenchi-sama is looking forward to meeting you.  Come,
Nene, we can talk in the car."  She turned to Manami.  "You do have room
for five, don't you?"

     	Ryoko laughed.  "I can always carry a few if you don't."

     	Aeka closed her eyes for a moment, apparently trying to stay calm.
"That shouldn't be necessary."

     	Manami said, "Well, it might get a little crowded with three in the
back."

     	Ryoko laughed loudly.  "It'll just be some good family togetherness!
I'm sure Nene won't mind sitting in Ryu's lap."

     	Nene and Ryu both blushed.

************************************************************************** 

     	Soon, but probably not as soon as Aeka might have wished, they made
their way to the Platinum Falcon restaurant, high atop the Shinohara
Towers Office Building, a very expensive place.  Tenchi and Youshou met
them there.  They didn't have any trouble getting a table, though the
waiter kept giving Ryoko and Ryu's hair some funny looks.  

      	They managed to place their orders without any disasters, but then
the hardest part of any restaurant trip began:  waiting for the food to
arrive.  Tenchi said to Nene, "I understand you're a policewoman?"

     	Nene nodded.  "I work for the ADPolice in their communications
department.  It's hard work, but I really like being part of it."

     	Ryoko said, "A cop eh?  Hmmmm...."  

     	Ryu smiled.  "Don't worry, you're safe from her, Mom."

     	Everyone except Nene laughed.  Nene was simply confused.

     	Nene said, "So what do all of you do for a living?"

     	Tenchi froze up and looked over at Ryoko and Aeka nervously.  

     	Ryoko winked. "We're Yakuza.  Don't tell anyone."

     	Aeka and Tenchi facefaulted.  Ryu laughed.  Manami blushed.  "We
are NOT Yakuza."

     	Youshou said, "I'm afraid we can't tell you too much about what we
all do for a living.  National security, you see."

     	"Wow, you're ALL spies and stuff?"  Nene felt a little excited, like
she was in a spy thriller.   She'd always thought Ryu was joking.  

     	Ryoko laughed and winked.  "I'm a notorious pirate."  

     	Tenchi said, "I hope it doesn't bother you that we can't talk about
our past too much, yet.  We'll tell you everything we can, but..."

     	Nene said, "Well, maybe you can answer this one question..."

     	"Yes?"

     	Nene said, "Which one of them are you married to right now and which
one did you marry first?"  She pointed to Aeka and Ryoko.

     	Tenchi bigsweated.  "Uhhh...."  

     	Ryoko leaped over and hugged Tenchi.  "He's all mine!"

     	Aeka frowned faintly.  "Not ALL yours."

     	Manami blushed and tried to act like she wasn't REALLY there.
Youshou laughed heartily.  "Both of them.  That's answering both of your
questions, by the way."

     	Tenchi blushed now.  This was going to be far too much fun to try
to explain.  

****************************************************************************

     	Celia was about to finish closing up the Silky Doll, when a customer
started banging on the door.  She sighed and walked over to the door.
"Can I help you?"

      	It was that klutzy blond from a while ago.  "You have to HELP ME!"

      	Celia sighed.  "With what?"

      	The woman began waving a box of stockings up and down.  "Something's
gone horribly wrong and I can't get them to work right!"

      	Celia opened the door the rest of the way.  "Come in."  The woman
came in.  "Your name is Mihoshi, right?"

      	Mihoshi nodded.  "Officer Mihoshi of the ADPolice!  At your
service!"  She saluted.  

      	It figures, Celia thought.  

      	Unseen by either of them, a man quietly walked up the hallway to the
front doors and raised a pistol.  Ahh, I can take out the bimbo who
knocked that display case on me last time, too.  

      	Mihoshi pulled a tangled mess of torn pantyhose out of the box.
"It's all got holes in it and it's a big mess and I ..."

      	"Was it like this when you got it out of the box?"  Celia asked.

      	Mihoshi continued to wave the box around.  "Well, no, but after I
washed them, they all tore!  And they got kinda charred too."

      	Celia noticed this now.  "They look almost like they were on fire."

     	"Well, my dryer broke so I had to use the oven."

     	Celia pondered briefly why the ADPolice didn't test for intelligence.
"Well, I can't give you a free replacement since you damaged these
yourselves, but..."  She suddenly spotted the man with the gun, right as
Mihoshi snagged her arm on a mobile display and sent it flying across the
shop. She fell down, crashing into Celia.  The man's first shot ricocheted
off the flying display case and the second went through the now empty
space where her chest had been before she fell down.  

      	Mihoshi shouted, "EEP!  Boomer attack!  FREEZE, ADPOLICE!"  She sat
up, whipping out her gun, which promptly flew out of her hands.  For a
moment, all three observers froze in place, watching the gun tumble across
the room.  The man tried to dodge too late and the gun struck him square
in the forehead.  His last thoughts were, I really HATE blondes.  Then he
hit the concrete and had pleasant dreams for a while.

****************************************************************************

      	Dinner had arrived, and Nene was telling everyone interesting
stories about her place of work.  "And then these boomers attacked our
headquarters!  It was a nightmare. They took control of the computer
system.  To make matters worse, the chief's niece, the one I was
telling you about earlier, was IN the building!  So, of course, I knew I
had to make sure she got out alive."

      	Ryoko laughed.  "Be glad Mihoshi wasn't working there yet or none of
you would have gotten out alive."

      	"That's not a very nice thing to say, Ryoko,"  Aeka said.  

      	Ryu laughed.  "Well, they would have gotten out alive, but they
wouldn't have ENJOYED it very much.  Aunt Mihoshi never gets you killed,
but it sure FEELS like it sometimes."

      	Nene laughed.  She was really enjoying this dinner.  She wished they
could tell her more about themselves, but the stories they had told her
were very entertaining, and it was clear to her that there was a lot of
affection in this family, despite the bickering between some of them.  If
Ryu thinks he can have two wives like his dad though, I'll kill him, she
thought.  "Yeah, that's what Leon says about her.  Daley's supposed to be
back pretty soon, though.  I wonder who they'll put her with next."

      	Ryoko looked assessingly at Nene.  "So you all blow away rampaging
robots for a living, eh?  I guess you must be a pretty good fighter."

      	Nene laughed nervously.  "I'm getting better.  I've been working out
with Ryu and ..."

      	Ryoko winked.  "Besides the horizontal work-out?"

      	Ryu said, "MOM!!!!!!"

      	Tenchi buried his face in his hands.  Aeka and Manami turned a
crimson shade.  Nene blushed.  "We work out at the gym, too.  Uh, I
mean..."

      	Now Ryu blushed.  Aeka frowned at Ryu faintly.  He sighed.  "Mom,
what would you do if we started asking you questions like that?"

      	"Answer them in detail of course!"

      	The next sound was Tenchi banging his head on the table.

***************************************************************************

      	Priss roared down the street, driving nowhere in particular.  She
didn't have anything better to do, so she was just roaring along, looking
to find some cops to outrace when they tried to give her a speeding
ticket.  It wasn't satisfying her.  Maybe I should go dancing, she
thought.  That didn't appeal either.  She couldn't figure out why.

       	As she roared along the road, she suddenly realized she was driving
past Genom tower.  Her recent nightmare flickered into her mind briefly.
Damn tower, she thought. I hate you and everything you stand for.  She
gave Genom the bird.  That didn't satisfy either.  She started to get
pissed off at how she wasn't enjoying anything she did, but she couldn't
get into that either.

      	This sucks, she thought.  Why am I so bored tonight?  Because you're
alone, replied a voice in her head.  I LIKE being alone, she replied to
herself.  You'd rather be with him, the voice replied.  I would NOT!  she
thought to herself.  Shut up!  Well, he did get off work at eight.  You
could go see him right now, the voice suggested.  I don't NEED to see him,
she thought at herself, turning her bike towards his apartment without
even thinking about it.  

	Priss had a sudden feeling she was being watched.  She looked
around and spotted a woman in a business suit standing at the nearby
intersection, waiting for the light to change.  Something familiar about
that woman, she thought as she drove off, leaving the woman far behind
her.

      	The woman smiled faintly, crossing when the light turned green.
Next stop, Tokyo University, she thought.  

***************************************************************************

     	"So, I thought to myself, HEY, I can drag Tenchi off for a little one
on one, ya know?"  Ryoko said.  "Of course, looking back I can see I
should have tossed a sheet over Azaka and Kamidake or something so they
wouldn't SEE me and TELL her, but when you're young, you don't think of
these things."

     	Nene laughed.  "Azaka and Kamidake are who?"

     	Aeka had her face buried in her hands on the table, simply
spluttering every once in a while.  Manami was patting her on the back,
over and over again.

     	Youshou looked ready to just die laughing, while Tenchi quietly said,
"Her bodyguards, sort of."

     	"Oh wow!  Your own personal bodyguards!  Your family must be rich,
Aeka-san."

     	Aeka actually looked up and smiled faintly.  "You could say that,
Nene-chan.  My family is VERY rich."

     	"My family is fairly well off, but we're not that rich.  Now back in
Russia, that was another story."

     	Youshou said, "Ahh, you are of the Imperial Romanoff line?"  He
didn't sound surprised at all.

     	"Yeah!  If they hadn't had that revolution, I'd be a princess right
now and heir to the throne."

     	Aeka reached across the table and squeezed Nene's hand.  "You have my
condolences on the loss of your inheritance, Nene-hime."

     	Ryoko grinned.  "I told you my son would find a good wife, Aeka, but
noooo, you wouldn't believe me!"

     	Ryu simply smiled and hugged Nene-chan.  He got an impish grin on his
face.  "You see, Aeka-san is related to the Emperor."

     	"Oh wow!"  Nene was impressed.  No wonder they can't talk about some
stuff.

     	Tenchi laughed.  "Let's not go tossing our bloodlines around, okay?
Ryoko-chan might start feeling inferior.  All she got from hers was spikey
hair."  He winked at Ryoko who laughed.

     	"And a few magic tricks."  She began juggling small globes of energy.

     	Nene stared in awe.  "Wow!  How do you do that?"

     	Ryoko laughed.  "Mom.  I got all my tricks from Mom."

     	"Is she a professional stage magician?"

     	"She's a professional annoyance,"  Ryoko said, dismissing the energy
balls.

      	Tenchi said nothing because he was too busy praying Ryoko wouldn't
try and show off by summoning a monster or something else foolish.  By not
much of a coincidence, Ryu, Manami, and Aeka were also praying the exact
same thing.

      	"Do you think she could teach me that trick?  Or could you?"  Nene
had no clue how Ryoko was making the little globes of light appear, and
she was starting to get curious.  

       	Everyone began to laugh.  "Mom's always looking for new
guinea pigs,"  Ryoko said.  "I'm sure she'd be FAR too happy to teach you
this trick..."

       	Nene said, "I guess your Grandmother didn't come?"

      	"Oh, she's around town somewhere.  Her new job keeps her busy, she
says.  She also keeps making this really obscure hints..."  Ryoko said.

      	"Obscure hints?"  Manami asked.

      	"Like she's pregnant or something...She keeps talking about me
having sisters soon or something.  Who knows.  With Mom, sometimes you
just don't WANT to know."  Ryoko said.

      	"Wow.  How old is she?"  Nene asked.  "If I may ask."

      	Tenchi started to speak, but Ryoko interrupted him.  "20,000 years."

      	Nene laughed.  "In other words, don't ask?"

      	"That's about right,"  Tenchi said.  

*****************************************************************************

     	Professor Hiyama was in her office, working late.  Well, at the
moment she was talking to her husband long-distance on the phone.  "Yes,
dear.  I'll stop working and go home and eat before I die, dear.  Try not
to flirt with too many women at the conference."

     	She listened to his reply, then said, "I love you too."  She hung up
the phone and began piling papers and books into her briefcase.  She felt
the faintest of chimes ringing in her head.  Trouble.  She opened her
office door and looked around the hallway.  Everyone else had gone home,
but she heard footsteps.  "Is someone there?"

     	A woman walked around the corner into sight.  She was tall with long
dark greenish-black hair.  Her eyes were lavender and she wore a dark
green suit.  Dr. Hiyama recognized her on sight.  She frowned and stepped
out into the hallway.  "What are YOU doing here?"

     	The woman smiled as she always did.  "Just making a social call."

     	Dr. Hiyama frowned.  "You don't DO social calls."  

     	"You're right.  The two of coins."  She turned to leave.

     	Dr. Hiyama blinked.  "What does the Tarot have to do with this?  Why
don't you just come out and say what you want so I can tell you to go play
with your staff?"

     	The woman laughed faintly.  "Feeling hostile today?"

     	"You have that effect on me.  I've had enough of your manipulation
and tricks.  I couldn't care less about whatever you're trying to achieve.
I'm a lot less gullible than I was when I first met you and I won't let
you use me again."  You disgust me, she thought.  Especially when I catch
myself acting like you.

      	"You have no right to judge me."  The woman frowned, her amusement
gone.

     	"I have EVERY right."  

      	"You have not seen what I have seen.  You have not..."

      	"I have not sent people to their deaths when I could have prevented
it!  I have not lied and cheated and stolen in the name of some vision.  I
have done my best to help people with my abilities.  Sometimes I may have
had to hide that it was ME who took action to prevent ending up in a damn
laboratory or worse, but I never did anything to hurt anyone.  I'm not a
child you can intimidate and lecture any more.  Now GO away."

       	The woman watched the professor quietly without speaking.  "Perhaps
you have grown up after all."  She turned and left.  And I have gotten
what I wanted.  

       	Professor Hiyama fumed, but she would never find out what the woman
had wanted this time.  She went back to her office and ended up leaving
about five minutes later than she had planned.  As a result, she didn't
see her old college roommate picking someone up in the parking lot, for
her visitor did not intend the two to be reunited...yet.

       	Also unseen by Professor Hiyama, the woman now headed far across
the city, on her way to accomplish her next objective.

*************************************************************************

      	Mihoshi paced about with Celia's cellular phone while Celia and
Macky watched the handcuffed would-be killer.  "No, you need to send
someone to get him because I don't have a car!"

      	Macky turned to Celia.  "This looks just like that guy who got
clonked in the head by that display case the last time she was here."

      	Celia said, "No wallet.  I don't recognize him either, except from
that incident.  Maybe he was gunning for her."

      	Macky nodded.  "Either that or this was one heck of a coincidence."

      	Mihoshi said, "I'm at the Silky Doll."  She paused.  "No, this is
NOT a whorehouse!"

      	Celia overheard and blushed faintly.  

	Macky laughed.  "I wish."

      	Celia clonked him with a handy box of stockings.  

      	The man moaned and began to wake up.  He saw Celia looking down at
him and felt the handcuffs.  "Shit."

      	She smiled coldly.  "So which of us were you trying to kill?"

      	"I don't have to say nothing."

      	Celia nodded.  "Get the vise grips, Macky."

      	"Hey, I got rights!"

      	Mihoshi shouted into the phone, "No, this is not a prank call!  Come
on, I need some HELP here!"

      	Macky laughed.  "Do we look like cops to you?"

      	The man paled.  "Well, she's a cop!"

      	Celia smiled.  "She's ADPolice.  Their standard procedure is to blow
the head off of criminals and ask questions later."

      	The man paled.  "But I'm not a boomer!"

      	"Well, the only real way to be sure is to oh...throw you off a
building and see if you survive."  Macky offered helpfully.

      	Mihoshi glanced over.  "Did someone say this guy was a boomer?"

      	The man began to sweat heavily.

*****************************************************************************

      	Andrea sighed.  Late night duty on communications.  Gotta love it.
She walked over to Naoko, who said into her mike, "If you're a cop, why
are you calling from a cellular phone?"

      	Andrea winced as the reply erupted out of Naoko's headphones.
"WAAAH!!!! Stop picking on me just because I'm off duty and my stockings
had holes and I had to go to the store and someone tried to shoot me
and..."

      	Andrea sighed.  "She's a cop."

      	"How can you tell?"

      	"Trust me.  She's Leon's temporary partner."

      	Naoko blinked.  "Oh...She did sound kind of familiar."

      	Andrea sat down and sighed.  This is gonna be one of THOSE nights,
she thought.

***************************************************************************

     	Mihoshi sat down by the prisoner.  "Are you SURE you're not a
boomer?"

      	The man began to cry.  "I'm not a boomer!  I'm not!"  He had been
through interrogations before, but this was the worst one of his life.
He'd say anything just to get the blonde woman to go away, he decided.  

      	The Tokyo police who had had the delusion that THEY would be
conducting the investigation were very surprised when the man began to
tell them everything he knew.

*****************************************************************************

      	Macky said to Celia, "She still hasn't answered her pager."

      	Celia swore softly.  "What about Priss and Linna?"

      	"Linna's on the way.  Priss hasn't called us yet either."

      	Celia continued to read through various police records Nene had
hacked into and downloaded to Celia's network a while ago.  They were
months out of date, unfortunately.  The computer gave a tiny ping.  'Match
identified'.

       	The man who had tried to shoot either her or the ditzy cop was
Richard Yamato.  Had faced eight counts of murder, been convicted twice.
Basically a rather cheesy, two-bit assassin, though he was usually
successful.  Mostly worked for private individuals.  Last conviction 2029.
Released four months ago.  Last conviction was on reduced charges of
manslaughter.  

      	Not much to go on, she thought.  I'll have to see what my contacts
can find out.  "Keep bugging them."

     	Macky nodded.

****************************************************************************

     	Quincy stood by his window, looking out at the city.  More precisely,
he was looking across town towards one of the residential districts that
had been rebuilt after the Kanto Quake.  "Are you SURE that he is there?
We cannot afford such a large scale commitment unless we are certain to
take him."

      	"He has returned to Mega-Tokyo.  He would not have been so foolish
unless his plans were finally to be set in motion."  The other man was
tall and thin, with light olive skin and incongruous curly blonde hair.
He had a sharp, angular face and dark green eyes.  

     	"But what are his plans?  Our efforts to infilitrate his agents have
been completely fruitless."

     	"You should have killed him back in 2029."

     	Quincy turned and frowned.  "I seem to remember that we TRIED.  And
that you were the one who said further action would be a mistake."

      	"And you listened to me?"  The man grinned infuriatingly.

      	Quincy sighed.  "Don't you take anything seriously?"

     	"She's out there.  The one I must destroy. THAT, I take seriously.
Anything else is just for laughs.  Even your plans, Quincy, or should I
say..."  he began.

      	Quincy frowned.  "You never know who might be listening."  He turned
and stared out the window.  "Well, that diversion I arranged SHOULD keep
the Sabers busy."

      	The other man smiled.  "Perhaps the Queen of Swords will show up and
we can kill two birds with one stone."

      	"I hope they all show up.  At least then we might have some idea how
many of them have arrived and how powerful they are."  He paused and
thought.  "Arrange for Shinohara Industries to be to blame for this."

      	The man smiled.  "I already have."

      	Quincy said, "What name SHOULD I be calling you by, anyway?"

      	"You may call me...Wallace.  Yes, that will do nicely."

****************************************************************************